Vacation

Well, I took just a lil vacation here, ahem.
We didn't go anywhere but I only used the computer for urgent work stuff and tried to do a lot of stuff that either needed to be done or that I had badly wanted to do for a long time and never took the time to actually do.
Like,

- planting a winter vegetable garden for the first time.







- cooking and cooking for Thanksgiving. I don't know how people can eat that much food. But apparently it is possible.




- read a book. Yep, an entire one.
- took long walks. In the hope of shedding the 10 pounds gained at Thanksgiving.
- went out with a friend and ate a humongous piece of cake with 2 large coffees. I can't button my jeans anymore.
- played with my camera. A lot. But I still can't take a decent picture of my jewelry and I don't know why and it's driving me nuts.





- played one of the most fun board game ever with the kids. It's hilarious and you cannot be worried about spending an entire day playing this. Seriously.



This game is based on the equally hilarious comic book:



- decided to make some of the presents for Christmas instead of buying them.
- a gazillion trips to the craft store later, decided it was a bad idea.
- but i said I would do it so I am.
- Christmas is way over rated anyway. Right?
- No, it's not. I love Christmas.
- maybe everything will be better with a little eggnog. But, then will I still be able to cut straight lines? Need to try.

Tis Fall

Kind of. The temperatures during the day are still reaching 83F (27 C.) in the afternoon making it a bit difficult to think about Christmas at all. And yet, I've got to move my butt to be on time to send packages to family in France.
I'm trying to enjoy the weather with long walks with my camera. And the kids and the dogs. And now I've lost the thingy that goes on the lens to protect it. I've lost it in the house too. 2 weeks ago...I've even posted a reward, a generous one too. So far they have found my sunglasses that I lost 3 months ago, the little book where I put important phone numbers, lost 1 1/2 month ago and a pair of scissors that I didn't remember having. Do you think they still qualified as a lost/found object if I didn't know they existed?

The Good, The Bad. and The Ugly

These last 2 months have been very interesting. I really have a better sense now of human nature in general and my family in particular.
It started well enough.

The Good

Mark was on TV because he was refeering a soccer game.
I'm going to be in the paper because of the Jewelry Business.
This prompted Mark to say: " Watch out Posh and Becks!"
Hehe, he is cute.

There was Halloween.

My little sister is now officially qualified to take care of other people's children on top of her own. Congratulations Cilette!

That's it.

The Bad

3 weeks ago my son started to complain about his ankle and calf. Since it wasn't going away we took him to the doctor. It seems that there is a particular muscle there that can become a problem ( meaning it could come back again and again and again). So we gave him anti-inflamatory medication, iced the area after every effort and he tried to be careful.
So, when he was trying to be careful he was rushing with his friends across the blacktop and, this is not very clear how exactly, managed to crash.
He has now a bruise on his knee the size of a football, a bruise the size of the palm of my hand on his hip, his entire right elbow is one big bruise and so is the right temple. The most worrisome was of course the blow to his head since his eye was affected: he had a crescent of light on the side of his vision for a few minutes. His arm was also of concern since it could have been broken. So, emergency room. His arm is ok and his vision came back normal but the doc said to take him to the eye doctor for a check-up.
However, mr T. reports that his ankle and calf are just fine now.
Well, that's lucky.

And I have developed a strange thing with one of my eyes: it looks fine, it feels fine until I put my contacts on. Then it burns, water and become red if I rub. I changed contacts. Nada. The eye doctor thinks it's an allergy. I don't do allergy. I already never admit that I'm sick and to prove my point I work and cram more things than usual in my schedule because damnit, I'm not sick. So, an allergy? I don't think so.
I think it's voodoo.

Which brings to:

The Ugly

Big fight with my mother in law. I used to not be a patient person at all and I've gotten a lot better over the years. And then, after meeting Mark's family I devellopped A LOT of patience. Apparently there must have been a quota. And it was reached.
Maybe she is doing the voodoo thing.
In the meantime, we won't be seeing them for Thanksgiving and it sucks for the kids since they are the only family that we've got on this side of the pond with Mark's sister and her fiance who are going with the fiance's family this year as it was already planned.
Me, however, I'm feeling lighter and relieved. Go figure.

Thank god there is Mika :)

???

Laurienna comes back from the hairdresser.
She made drastic changes to her hair. It's way shorter and a bit spiky. And very dark.

Husband says:
You look great, I love it. And then he kisses his wife.

Daughter says:
I love it mama, it's cool.

Son says:
It looks less mature.

Seeing the look on his mother's face he adds:
You know, age wise.

Husband says to the son:
Do you want a shovel?

Son:
???

Husband:
So that you can keep digging. Deeper.

Sweet

As my son would say...What could be better than another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie? Mmmm? That's right nothing :)

Here is the Sweeney Todd trailer just for you:

People Are Insane

Courage and insanity, where does one end and when does the other one begin?

A jaw dropping video for sure!

The Zombie Cow-Girl