Just hanging around

I don't want to let another day go by without posting, so allow me to do a quick photo dump. Hmmm...dump sounds so unappealing. Let's say photo party.

Here is Miss P and friends at our Halloween-turned-Giants-baseball World-Series party.  My friend Lorrie created not only a delicious dinner but a 'donut on a rope,' game too. Paige reported that it is much harder than it looks!

At the Halloween school carnival with a gal pal. Yes, she is dressed as our dog Cooper. This year, for the first time ever, she ran around with her girlfriends and had no interest in a momerone (mom+chaperone).  I should have stayed working at the bake sale booth! Bad news: my car was rear ended again, on the way home from the event. Ruh-roh.  No fun. I'll spare you those pictures.



P's tribute to Cooper, haiku style, at school art event.

Despite some rain last week, the warm weather is holding on! I continue to work my tail off and have been jonesing for weekends full of nothing. Just playing games, reading, taking lazy walks with Cooper (and catching butterflies), movies, puttering in the kitchen, and just sitting around and talking.

More on our exciting downtime events soon...

Fall Bucket list -- Bay Area style

Craft time

We continue to bring on Fall, and I continued today to enjoy s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. (Although Ed would beg to differ that I actually slowed down enough). Exhibit A: Miss P and I made not one but two crafts. 

Craft 1: Have you seen this paper bag pumpkin? There are many variations on it. To make it you'll need:
lunch sack sized paper bag
orange paint
green paint
paintbrushes
old newspaper
some kind of raffia string, preferably green
brown construction paper
glue stick
rectangular tissue box (optional)

To start, cover your work area with newspaper.  Stand up your paper sack, this is where you may want to insert a tissue box or other rectangular object to help your bag stand up.  Paint entire outside of your bag orange. Let dry.

Roll over the top of your bag (so about two inches of inside is now outside) and paint the cuff that forms green. Wait for this to dry.

Insert balled up newspaper into the bag to puff/round it out.  Then tie with raffia. My raffia was more brown, so I just snipped off the ends so you couldn't see it.

Finally, cut a strip of brown construction paper and roll it up like a tube. Use a little glue stick to help the tube keep its shape.  Stick into the top of the pumpkin. Voila!

ahhhh....

I have found little pieces of heaven this weekend. 

You know how sometimes it takes being sick, to slow down.  That's been me.  Work has been chock-full in both an exhilerating, but also stressful (mostly) kind of way.  Lately, I have felt like a reading robot - so much of my existence is working on teaching kids how to read, and improving my practice on teaching kids how to read.  I am reading Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home, and there is a couple of lines in the book I relate to: 'I always have the feeling that I should be working. I always feel pressed for time, as if someone were shoving a pistol in my back and muttering, 'Move, move, move!' Doesn't that sound  awful? But I have uttered almost that exact quoute to Ed. (Except instead of the pistol, I feel like someone is throwing rocks at me, or kicking me.)  Again, sad, right? 

But back to the bits of Heaven....we have a Monday off, so it is a three day weekend.  Friday night, Miss P and Ed watched a Halloween movie on ABC Family or Disney, and I finally finished 'Where we Belong,' by Emily Griffin, just in time to take it back to the library.  Then, yesterday was a semi-lounging kind of day, with some work built into it (on my classroom and reading practices of course). Paige is such a doll, she came along with me and helped without complaint.  Afterward we treated ourselves to Halloween/S.F. Giants themed pedicures. P loved it! She is a pamering kind of girl.  By last night the fatigue of my brewing cold set in. 

Today, I took advantage of my semi-sick state, and Ed's double header date (Redskins 1:00, Giants 5:00), to take the morning off. Sort of.  Was up with the dog at 7:00, but then back on the couch, reading and sleeping intermittently until 10:30.  So often I want to read, but it keeps getting put off.  Ed did the church routine and errands with Miss Paige, while I read, read, read, walked Coopy, and just had quiet time.  I have not thought about work at all!

Besides reading Happier at Home, I'm also reading Raising Happiness by Christine Carter, and had the pleasure of hearing her speak with some girlfriends last Wednesday.  I'm loving the concepts of mindfulness, gratitude, and using them to focus on happiness in the midst of the busy everday.  I'll share more thoughts and ideas on this soon.  A blog that I love Enjoying the Small Things, also embodies this idea. Kind of like Life is What You Make it, right?

Halloween is alive and well...

at our house! Miss P and I were definitely due for some mother daughter bonding. So this, our first October weekend, became Halloween-palooza #1 of 2012.

Paige's favorite activity was playing Haunted Hotel.  Got a good tip from my latest Parents magazine about playing with your kids.  An improv expert suggests saying and/or doing something unexpected or wacky to liven things up (for yourself.)  So this mask has been making appearances.

We also cleaned and decorated. We had debates over scary scary, or happy harvest themes. 

And we made these Chocolate Chip Ghosties! How long has it been since I posted a recipe on the blog?!!

Here it is:

Chocolate Chip Ghosties

ingredients -

1 roll refigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 container white ready to spread frosting

candy eyes

steps:

Heat oven to 350.

Knead cookie dough and flour in a bowl until well mixed

Roll out dough onto a floured surface.

Cut out cookies with ghost cookie cutters and place on an ungreased cookie sheet

Bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned

Cool, then spread layer of frosting over each cookie. Finally, add the candy eyes.  I definitely prefer them to last year's Ghostie.

Have you started Halloween-ing?

San Diego!

Just got back from a whirlwind San Diego trip for Ed's 40th.  We stayed at the Hard Rock, and felt like we were in Vegas. Lots of socializing, pool time (it was hot), good food, and sports related adventures. I am more of a low-key girl, so I had to rally to keep up. You know, I am most comfortable sitting on the floor playing with my daughter and my dog.  But I guess a little glamour (if you call touring husband's old fraternity house glamour) helps break life up a bit! :)