You Never Call, You Never Write

I apologize for my lack of posting, I've been a bit overwhelmed by the to do list in my head. Now, my to do list is nothing like this gal's to do list. In fact, I feel like I should grab a few items off of her list so that my complaining might be (slightly) justified. I'm still adjusting to tackling projects in this new(er) phase of life: toddler-living-life-in-segments. You know: pre-nap, nap, post-nap, dinner time...aka witching hour, bedtime, repeat.

Now on with the show...or at least a quick update on our family:

Baby J:
She is in full-on Halloween mode. She is already wearing her costume daily, and talks about trick-or-treating with our 2 year old neighbor. Seriously, how do they even know about these things? We haven't even discussed the door-to-door-begging-for-candy part of Halloween. I knew she'd get most of her education off of the streets (or Noggin!).

Her Mimi and Boppa (my parents) came up for a visit and brought her the best toy (a toy that provides hours of solo play!). It is a set of plastic fruits and veggies that are held together with velcro, comes with a plastic chef knife, and inspires her to cut up fruit and veggies and make "de-wish-ish" food. Baked bananas, anyone?? (Aime - E would LOVE this. They have a BBQ set also!) Oh, wait, I didn't tell you the really best part - the old plastic cutting board that my Mom brought along from her kitchen and nonshalantely added it to the gift set. Oh, Mom, even Martha (the master of "never throw anything away") says that plastic cutting boards have a limited life expectancy.

Mrs. Jones:
We went to our favorite local farm for their annual Harvest Festival. I was counting down the days because I wanted pumpkins. These are not just ordinary pumpkins, these are organic pumpkins (I don't know why that matters when I'm only going to carve them, not eat them. Maybe our carvings will be safer to look at??), and they come in cool shapes and colors. For $20 a team of 3 people get 30 seconds to grab as many pumpkins as possible and keep them! I couldn't wait! My parents were in town for the weekend, so Mr. Jones, my dad and myself ran around like crazy people and got 14 pumpkins in 30 seconds. I have never been so tired in my life! I know I'm out of shape, but come on. I'm going to start training for next year.
Okay, remember the cutting board that my Mom "gave" to Sydney?? Well, I think that we have now officially become the Goodwill drop off site for my folks. My parents have lived in the same house for 30 years. I'll have to find a picture of their garage. You would gasp, and probably have a heart attack. I do every time I visit. Actually, for the past few years I've been secretly throwing things away while I'm at their house. In about 20 years I should have the place back into working order! Maybe that's why I've chosen my gypsy lifestyle - it gives me a reason to purge, purge and purge some more. I asked my Mom if she still had some of my old prom dresses for a potential Halloween costume. I'm not sure why I thought she would have thrown them out, but I have hope that she might get the urge someday. Anywho, not only did she bring me the dresses, she brought my high school graduation dress and gown, a dress from college that I am too embarrassed to even take a picture of (can you say floor-length plaid!), and my high school letterman jacket. Here's a quick trip down my wardrobe memory lane. I can't decide which one is the best: the short blue brocade with the LARGE lace detail (I'll have to find the picture with my side pony tail of curls, yikes!), or the long black brocade with the white satin straps that I had custom made (like I actually picked the pattern and the fabric and have no one else to blame for this! Oh, and you are missing the matching white satin bow in the back. I also wore long white gloves to finish the look. My date to that prom even went out with me a few times afterwards. Amazing!)

Mr. Jones:
I earned major wife points on this one! Last weekend, Mr. Jones and I snuck out of town for a night while my parents were adorning Baby J. with gifts and constant attention. (My dad even patted her back at nap time and bed time until she fell asleep. Love the grandparents, hate the re-training once they leave!) Mr. Jones' work gave away free football tickets. He would tell you that they were giving away free Jets tickets, and the Jets just happened to be playing at the Oakland Raiders stadium. We've made the pilgrimage to see the Jets at several different stadiums around the country, and I knew that the Raiders crowd is unlike any other. I grew up in LA when the Raiders were in SoCal. Mr. Jones didn't have to convince me to go to the game, in fact, he left the decision up to me. I am a football fan, and I really enjoy going to games, however, I can now officially add this to my, "Things I Never Need To Do Again List" (along with going to a Lollapallooza concert in a dirt field, and sleeping overnight at the Rose Parade. It took me two times to check that one off). Anywho, we went and I was glad to get to see Brett Favre in person, but I only needed to see him for 2 quarters. I was growing tired of the drunk fan in our row who kept falling out of his seat (I so wanted to get a pic of him, but wasn't descrete enough). Oh, did I mention that that Sunday was our anniversary?? That's where the major wife points come in. Katie - Chris would have a been a better date for Doug that day!

Thanks for reading my long-winded post. Updated Blog - Check it off the list...