Room pictures!

Carpet goes in today, appliances last weekend and *crossing fingers*, we'll be in soon! This is the front room. Kitchen to the left, hallway and two bedrooms to the right. More pictures to be added as I transfer them in the pffffttttt techno-way I have.

Chocolate spiders

12 oz Twizzlers; chocolate flavor
4 oz Milk chocolate candy melts

Cut twizzlers into 1 1/2" pieces. Slice each piece in half lengthwise. On waxed paper place 4 legs (pieces) on each side and then drop 1 tsp melted candy in middle for body. Use a toothpick to smooth to uniform circle and connect all candy pieces. Cool completely before removing from waxed paper.

Gettin' down with our bad selves

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Happy Halloween!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

When I win the Nobel prize for Literature...

Classic reaction from Doris Lessing

You can bet your sweet bippy I'll ask for extra brownies that day.

Have a Jolly Halloween!

I am crazy for Halloween, for me it's more fun than Christmas and I (usually) get started decorating the minute September is put to bed. This year I'm waiting until we move so I don't have to pack twice but it's torture to see my neighbor's nifty decorations already up and mocking me in their spooky goodness.

The girls have started planning their costumes though it'll be a surprise what they finally decide on. My favorite so far was Wynter's Bride of Frankenstein last year though I do have lingering fondness for Rowyn's banshee.

What was your favorite costume (adult or child)?

New favorite authors

I tell you, talent is ripe for the picking in my family!

Syenna and Rowyn have started their own blogs and they're running screaming down the path of Halloween ghosties! Come say hello!

NaNoWriMo - OH NO!

What the heck have I done?

Just in case you haven't been keeping score, I'm raising five kids and moving into the ginormous house on the hill in the next month and I've decided to write an entire 50k word novel during November with the insane help of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). That works out to roughly 1666 words a day. Doesn't sound like much? Try it and I'll meet you on the other side of November to celebrate!

One of my more brilliant ideas? Probably not but since the first novel is stalled, this should be a good kick in the rear to get down some of the finer points of "filler."

Send brownies.

You have been BOO'd!

Halloween is the perfect time for good little goblins to come out and play. Spread the fun by leaving a bag of goodies with the Wee Ghostie poem and drawing below on the doorstep of a friend or neighbor's house the week before Halloween but don't let them see you! Click on the ghostie below and save to your computer, then print him out to add to your goodie bag!

Goodie bag ideas:
Candy
Puzzles
Games
Halloween DVDs
Toys
Coloring pages
Crayons
Fake vampire teeth
Halloween makeup
Stickers

Include this poem and the directions with your Wee Ghostie bag:

It all started with a little BOO
A knock upon the door and off they flew!
Halloween is almost here, the leaves are flying by
The pumpkins are ripe, there’s a witch in the sky!
Wee Ghostie came by the light of the moon
Put him in your window, it’s not too soon!

You have been BOO'd!
Choose two families and pass on a treat, make a copy of the ghostie and add it in so they can join in the fun! Put your Wee Ghostie in the window so others will know you’re part of the party!



Happy Halloween!

My favorite places

I'm on the net. A lot. And as I fumble around the baby and writerly sites, I pick up on some of the coolest blogs/websites out there. Just had to share some of my favorites!

Offbeat homes - my friend Jennifer's blog on some of the most creative and crazy houses on the planet.

Hippie sounds Another great site from Jennifer, she has excellent taste in music. ;)

Tree Hugging Family Get with the green, people!

Family Resource My buddy Julie's blog. Excellent information and she's a hoot!

Bea's Beatitudes My good friend Bea is a farmer in Tenn. A definite blogstop for herbal recipes, lore and great information -- sign up for the newsletter!

The Ardennes Ghost Project

Absolute Write -- I cannot thank this place enough for kickstarting my writing career. Seriously. If you ever even fancied a thought about writing, come and visit this amazing resource.

Many more coming but I need more coffee!

Feel better now!

I've been studying reflexology for years, combined with essential oils, this is a great simple way to better health!

Click here for your tooties!

So close!

We're in the final throes of housebuilding! Drywall started today!

1st day of school

Ok, I'm not as geeky as I look. It's taken me three weeks to figure out how to take the thingy out of the camera and upload photos to the laptop. Pfffttt. This is what I married Bryan for!

Oddpodz finals!

It's been a long time coming due to a recent overhaul to their site but the Oddpodz t-shirt slogan finals are here! Please vote for "work in progress" many many times. Mama has ten wee feet to shod!

I'll post a picture of the winner here!

Houston, we have space camp

And a visit from our cousin, Sophie!

of bats and men

Rowyn's GS troop worked on their Bronze Award this summer, completing three (and one more to come) bat houses for our area! I've been working with them on bat conservation and how they can make a difference! Great job, girls!

To create your own bat house, we loved these simple instructions: http://www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/boxbuild/Small1.html

Go GO Speed Racer!

Syenna took to race car driving like a...well, like a 10yr old race car driver. She tore up the track!

Feeling moddy

How fun is this? I was named the new Children's Forum co-mod for Absolute Write, one of the most respected writer's boards on the net! I highly recommend this board for anyone even thinking of writing; it covers nearly every genre and can help with everything from getting started to celebrating your first novel. Come on over and say howdy!

Who me? Write a book?

Yep. Call me a late bloomer. After nearly fifteen years of Bryan bugging me to write a book so he can retire in style, I've started a ghost story. Now I've written ghost stories before but not with this much spirit. ba dum dum.

Check back here for updates, I'm on chapter six of Beyond the Pale!

I'm a Rockin' Mama!

How fun is this? I was asked by a fellow AWer to be her first in a series of Rockin' Mamas at sheknows.com! The link is up today so go check it out. I'm talking about Wynter's birth, how the girls all had "y"s in their names and why I'm a bad-ass mama. Ok, not really the last one but it's my blog and I'll shake my bad thang if I want to. :P

Check it out before I'm going tomorrow!