See? It's Not All That I Do...

I haven't even turned the TV on today. I'm not thrilled with Saturday programing to begin with, it seems that it's a fat burner review, followed by a dehydrator ad that lasts an hour, and then something for the latest exercise gadget, then another food preparation product and on & on until mid-to-late afternoon, at least on most of the channels I feel like watching. I could find something, I'm sure, sometimes I catch some good movies on one of the premium channels on Saturdays, but, believe it or not, I just wasn't in the mood to stare at the box today.

I'm a little worried about Rhi, though. She still hasn't gotten out of bed & she's usually up fairly early. I know she was out until about 2 this morning, but that doesn't normally cause her to sleep this late. Who knows, maybe she has a hangover. It's not like she'd tell me or anything.

I do plan to have a talk with everyone later on today about the house, because we laid down rules for both of them when we said they could move back in & neither one of them is doing anything they agreed to. I'm tired of it.

Stuff

I know this is going to seem like I must watch TV constantly, I don't, really, I just remember a lot of what I do watch. I was watching the FBI Files yesterday, and it was about an undercover DEA agent who was trying to infiltrate & bring down the Medallin drug cartel. There were things brought up that he had to do to establish undercover character that I had really never thought about. I guess I just thought that you went in with this character & hoped that they believed you, you know?

He started out by meeting a low-level person in the cartel, and making a deal to buy a bunch of unlocked cell phones to use in his "mob business." He had to do this so he could kind of build up to asking about drugs & even told his connection that he was hesitant to even mention drugs at that point, because he didn't know if the cartel person was a cop or an informant or what. That was brilliant thinking to me, it really made him a lot more believable. After a few more transactions he started meeting higher level contacts, until they brought in an interrogator to make sure he wasn't undercover. They were having this interview, and the questions started to get pretty difficult for the agent & he pulled it out by acting the way he believed a true member of the mob would & the guy bought it & accepted that he was what he said he was.

It ended up with him ordering a bunch of cocaine & them screwing him over by bringing 9 tons of marijuana instead, so he told them he'd store that for them, but they weren't getting it back until he got his shipment, and they were able to get enough evidence against them to arrest all of them. It was a pretty fascinating episode & it definitely made me think.

Welcome to the World

Our friends, Gary & Summer welcomed their newest addition to their family this week, little Daen Norman. I'm really excited to see him, I love when our friends have babies. I'd like to get a look at his crib bedding and the colors they did his nursery in so I can make a taggy blanket for him that matches. I still need to makeone for little Cerridwen, since I never got around to making it after she was born like I planned. I'm thinking that's the last of the babies for a little while, anyway, unless Liz & Chris decide to have another one in the near future or someone else gets pregnant.

Anyway.

Troy seems to be feeling a bit better, although he seems like he's being very careful with his food today. I hope he'll feel a lot better with a full night's sleep, I know a lot of it is that night shift wears him out so much these days. Erin seems to be better today, too & Rhi, other than being bored, seems to be feeling really good. They both wemt out on a walk awhile ago, but i'm going to text her in a few minutes because I think dinner is just about ready. I put a pork loin in the crock pot this morning & it's smelling delicious right now.

Poor Guy

Troy came home this morning & told me he wasn't going in tonight. He said that he hurts all over & just doesn't feel well. I guess for the past two nights, he's gotten nauseated after he injects his insulin & last night he was actually sick from it, so he may need a new bottle or something, I'm not sure. I feel badly for him, he'll feel guilty all night about not going in, but honestly, he won't do them any favors by going in sick.

A lot of people have asked me what he does, and it's kind of hard to explain, even though the official title is "security guard" that doesn't even begin to talk about what his job actually is. He works at a chemical manufacturing plant, and along with the security function that he does provide, he takes care of material handling, industrial hygiene, and safety issues, like filling fire extinguishers & taking care of the safety showers. He often fills in when there's a computer problem & the IT staff is gone & also drives the ambulance when needed. I think that the title of his job gives an entirely different impression, and one that really isn't accurate, at least for him.

I just hope that he's feeling better by the time he goes back to work on Wednesday night.

The Shopping Time of Year

We're getting ready to start (and hopefully finish) our Christmas shopping in the next couple of weeks. We've cut way back this year, mostly due to finances, but also because we're trying to get back to where the holidays feel like more than a bunch of gifts waiting to be torn into & discarded or forgotten within a few months. Sometimes, I'm thankful that my kids (or Troy for that matter) aren't that into sports. At least I don't have to become an instant expert on football or golf equipment, while I try to figure out what would be the best thing to buy them, you know?

My kids like music, games, snuggly blankets & clothes. Their dad likes the same things, pretty much. It makes my shopping experiences pretty easy & I'm pretty good at figuring out what to get in each category so it's pretty fun, too. I know what I'm getting for all of them already, I hope they like what I choose. I think my niece is getting a handmade journal & a jar of journaling prompts this year. I hope to inspire her to start keeping a record of her life, so she'llk be able to look back & read about her childhood one day. I'm hoping she'll enjoy it & not think I'm just being cheap.

It CAN Happen to You

This past week or so has been a lesson learned for many of us in my small, Utah town. That lesson is that suicide can happen to anyone, from the best to the worst of families. A 14 year old boy, who was a friend of my god son, ran away almost 2 weeks ago. When we left, he took his mother's purse, which contained, along with cash & credit cards, some pretty heavy-duty, prescription pain medication. The police began searching for him immediately, and his community started the next morning. There was no sign of him, and no one had seen him. Last Monday or Tuesday his body was found, in his neighbor's unlandscaped back yard. He had been there since the night he ran away, when he had also ingested the contents of the bottle of pain medication.

I'm sure that his family thought their children were safe & that they would never take a medication that wasn't prescribed to them. I'm sure the thought of suicide never seriously entered their minds, let alone any other illicit use of those medications. I know this, because we never thought about until the past 6-8 months either, when it became a reality in our lives & even OTC pain relievers became the enemy & had to be kept hidden or not here at all. I hurt for this family though I have never met them & didn't attend the funeral. I know their pain, I have lived it many times in the nightmares that have followed Rhi's attempt last summer.

So, while everyone is looking forward to the holidays & planning what to buy for their loved ones, this family is trying to figure out how to go on without a member & trying to find meaning in their lives in the aftermath. I guess the bigger lesson is to keep all medications, including OTC varieties away from your kids, even after (maybe especially after) they become teens. It could save a life, really, so any trouble that it adds to the process for you would be worth it in the long run, right?

Yummy!!

Dinner was delicious. It may have just been a frozen lasagna, but having it come out of the oven and having good vegetables to go with it was a nice change. Sometimes in these very busy pre-holiday weeks I don't get a chance to make sure we get a good dinner every night, you know? It's definitely fall out there this week, time to put the MBT shoes away & dig out the boots. It's been raining & trying to snow for days. We have snow on the mountains already & it looks so pretty, it's putting all of us in the Christmas spirit already.

The pumpkin cranberry bread was freakin' wonderful, too. The bread is nice & sweet & the cranberries are still slightly crisp & sour, it makes a nice contrast both in the mouth & on the palate.  I'll definitely be making it again before all of the fresh cranberries are gone.

Spicy!

It seems like this time of year makes me want to surround myself with all of the spicy smells of autumn. I went out & bought a cinnamon gingerbread oil for my wall air freshener yeserday & it smells heavenly. That, of course, wasn't enough for me, I had to make a loaf of pumpkin cranberry bread today, so it's in the oven right now, competing (fragrance-wise) with the lasagne that's in there, too.

I bought a box of pumpkin spice tea, too & was happily surprised to find that it actually has pumpkin flakes in it. I can't seem to get enough of the smells of autumn, I love them year round, don't get me wrong, it's just easier to get a hold of things in those fragrances this time of year. Right now there's the wall air freshener, an autumn spice spray and pumpkin spice wax tarts. I swear, those fragrances are showing up in my house like promotional pens end up in my purse. I don't intend to add to the arsenal, but I pass them in the store & grab them up. I think I may be planning for the months when they are gone & my favorite smells are gone. What about you, do you have a favorite that's only available seasonally? Do you stock up? Am I crazy?

Halloweening

We had a really fun time taking the little ones out on Halloween. First we went up & down Dawn's street, while we were waiting for a friend & his kids to get there. Beth wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but she quickly got th hang of things. After about the third house she would work her way up to the front through the bigger kids, get up to the door & raise her hand up, reaching for candy. It was pretty cute, although all of the days of teaching her to say "trick or treat" & "thank you!" failed, since she forgot everything the minute we started walking around. Honestly though, she's 17 months old, we didn't expect much more.

After that, we headed out to the car dealerships, to go to the trunk or treating parties they were having. We only found one of them that was actually going on, which was fine because that was the only one that really mattered, since our friends Brad & Melissa were there working. We hung out there for awhile and Beth got to go to her very first haunted house, which didn't scare her at all.

Finally we headed up to Leigh Hill, which is, of course, one of the more wealthy neighborhoods here in town. We parked at the bottom & started our long walk up. We saw people pulling kids wagons full of trick-or-treaters, which I didn't envy at all, it was hard enough to pull myself up that hill. We made it up to the stop sign, which is almost at the top & went to our friend Ihanne's house for water. While we were there, he decided to head out with us for the walk down. He grabbed a horn o'plenty & went trick or treating with the kids, it was pretty cute.

Beth fell asleep before Dawn was out of the parking lot, but woke up right after they got to her house & seemed to be in a pretty good mood so they brought her out to the circle for our ritual. So, all in all, we had a really nice (and meaningful) Halloween/Samhain. I hope that all of you had a great time, too!