Pumpkin Carving

Last night, we carved pumpkins.  I grew 2 pumpkins.  One was really really small. The other was just small. The Giant Man Child turned it into an eye.

The boys really got into the carving. The pampered chef training knives actually work really well for this.

We ended up with a scary face - #1 Son, Moon - Chuckles, and Eye - Hubby and Me.

31 Days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 31

I think I just completed Nester's Challenge to write about 31 days of change.  I think I have learned quite a lot from this series.  It is seriously hard to write every day about a subject and complete the project.  The sorry truth is that I didn't manage to write every day. I did a total of 26 posts. (I have a truth in blogging policy.)  I am going to show you my progress and it isn't show house worthy.  However, it is a lot better.  The first post is here. Thanks to all of you who stuck around for this journey and it was a journey!

BEFORE

AFTER

I am most proud that the floor is cleared.  There is one bookcase/desk that needs work but everything looks a lot better. Maybe there is hope for me.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

If you are like me, you always have to look this up every year.  Here is the recipe I use.

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Remove stringy fibers from seeds. Wash seeds under cold water. Blot seeds dry with paper toweling.

Spread seeds evenly in single layer on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and roast in preheated oven for 30-60 minutes. Stir seeds frequently to aid in drying. Seeds are done when dry and light  brown. Cool.

Getting my Halloween ON!

The kids made spooky houses the other day.  I decided to make a big one for my front window. I used Dollar Store poster board and some Dollar Store tissue paper too.  I love the Dollar Store.  I thought for the first time it came out decent. The Diva help me put up some bat clings.  It is a nice graphic image.

The Rat came out. He is my hubby's and he resides in the garage. The shelves are accessorized. I think the mini rats add something. When I am ready for Thanksgiving decor I turn around my Boo Pumpkins and lose the rats.

31 Days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 27

Are you tired of my office yet?  I am tired of it. I found the quote on my desk when I was clearing it off. Thought I would share.

Not to spoil the ending for you, but everything is going to be alright.

Today I was once again working on functionality. I got the Hubby to move the phone from out behind the monitor.  Wahoo!  Now, I can compute and talk on the phone again.  I know you all are relieved about that!

He also installed these metal paper holders I picked up at the end of September at JoAnn's on clearance for $2.99 a piece regularly $12.99. I thought I could put my current ads and coupons to be clipped in one of these.  I am not positive what I am going to put in the other quite yet. It might just hold school papers.

On the to do list or dream list is a bigger magnet board.  I saw this drip pan magnet board. 

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Heather on Pinterest

I think two of these would look great in this location. Below is the photoshop mock up. What do you think?

31 Days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 25

Today, I worked on filing and creating files for this year.  You know 2011!  I had let this go.  It ended up in this box. 

That wasn't really working for me.I sorted everything into some different categories. I had so much stuff I needed the cats help, NOT!

Credit Card
Medical
Home (mortgage, taxes, and misc home stuff)
Misc (this included life insurance, warranties, some financial statements that are received quarterly)
Shred (all old utilities, phone, trash, cable bills and general misc stuff that I don't need to keep for tax purposes)
Last Year Stuff

These files now reside in my file sorter for easy access and filing. I put some tabs on the folders to help with labeling them.

There is still a little left in the box but I made a big dent.  The main items left are from last year.

Q-Tip Skelton

We did this quick craft on Monday.  The original idea is from pinterest.  The actual skeleton head is from Bee in Our Bonnet. They turned out pretty cute.

Geo Monster Ball 2011

We had a blast at the Geo Monster Ball 2011 held in Lynden, WA.  It was a geo caching event. 

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online. (from geocaching.com )

We met lots and lots of  people from all over. It was the first time for us to do an event like this. It was really neat to meet others at all the different caches. We all had to swap stories. It also good for us novice cachers to get more info.

This was Nonna and Pappy's first time caching.They were such good sports.  They spent the whole day helping us geocache.

The first cache of the day for us was Lettuce Go Caching.  The clue was in a plastic lettuce. The title of this one just cracked me up. 

A lot of the caches were in plastic food. There were also a few in plastic hands.

Pappy even discovered a cache in a giant spider. 

The end of day, we all met up at the Lynden Pioneer Museum which no one in our group had ever been to. It really is a gem.  I would like to go back when it isn't packed as they have a replica of Main Street.One of the best parts was it had a honeypot.  Of course, I had to get my picture by it.

We ate dinner there and explored the museum. Many were there in costume both adults and kids. It was a lot of fun. We completed a scavenger hunt for clues to coordinates where there was one last cache. Unfortunately it had a few us stumped for quite a few minutes. But alas someone had better geo sense than us.

The Elephant in the Room

I am Poem

Happy,bright, funny, silly.

Related to Charlie, who is silly and a really funny klutz;

Mom who gives me good meals and great hugs; Dad, who really cares for me.

Who enjoys Teddy bears, swinging and playing games on the computer.

Who feels happy with stuffed animals, silly at home, and great when hugging.

Who needs Teddy bears, lots of love, and many warm hugs.

Who gives happiness to people playing games with him, gives frustration to his little brother, and gives happiness to most of the other people around him.

Who fears getting lost, getting beat up, and having his underwear hoisted up a flagpole.

Who wants to write an adventure novel, to see Rascal Flatts, and to travel around the world.

Who dislikes bullies, cheesy movies, and mean dogs.

Who sees other people as smart, silly and serious.

Who lived in California and Washington.

by #1 Son

My son finally completed his evaluation with Children's in late August for Aspergers. I struggled about whether to post this. I want to protect my son and I now realize that Asperger's makes him more than less. So, I want to share this part. (What's in a label?)

It took us a FULL year to jump through all the hoops and receive a diagnosis . That is entirely to long to ruminate on things. The verdict is HFA - High Functioning Autism. In most circles I believe HFA and Asperger's are used interchangeably.  It was not surprising to us the parents this ended up being the diagnosis.  IT is disheartening that it took so long for us to get to the experts. I really want to say I am totally fine with the diagnosis. I am not but that is my problem not my child's.  I find myself dwelling on all the missed opportunities or all the times I have been judged as a bad parent. (there have been so many times) We have Experts where were they when my child was struggling?  Why didn't they see this earlier?  Hey, my Kid is 13 years old where was his early intervention? Maybe I just need a moment to feel bad about this specifically how my son was treated by the school system and the judgement and hopelessness I felt.

If anything was reinforced for me in talking to the experts,we have been doing a fine job with very very limited resources and support. All in all, the label doesn't change the behaviors we have to work on though it does go a long way to explaining some of them..  This is probably not going to get my child or us parents any additional support. This isn't the golden ticket. It is really hard seeing it written down.  The reality is overwhelming. I fight against the urge to label behaviors anxiety, asperger, ADHD. The behavior is what it is. I can't get caught in the web of the labels.

This is the kind of stuff that keeps you up at night. So welcome to the elephant in the room.  Since you are here to stay, we will embrace you and your reality. My son has found his tribe and won't be voted off the island.

Here are a couple of articles/ blog post that are really resonating with me.
Austism : Putting Ezra First
Drinking the Skool Aid
Beyond the Broom Closet

31 days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 22 and Day 23

Failing, I am doing a little bit of that.  I had company this weekend and I have fallen behind. On the plus side, we have a new shredder and my hubby convinced my 9 year old this is a great job for him. Just a little TV and shredding on the agenda. I have a whole Costco bag of papers that need to be shred. Shred baby, Shred Baby! Hey Jillian Michaels, this is the only kind of 30 day shredding I want to do.

31 Days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 21

junk headed to Goodwill

My junk pile is getting smaller.  All of this headed to Goodwill this morning.  There will probably be some more but boy did feel good to see some stuff leave.

All I Want for Christmas

I saw this in Lowes with Mrs Epi.  I need my own inflatable Honeypot complete with Santa.  Do you think my neighbors would think I was redneck? It even has a roll of toilet paper on the outside and Santa opens and closes the door.  I  loved the occupied written on the door. We got a giggle from a Lowes Employee for taking these pictures. Maybe I should start a collection so I could add this lawn blowup to my lawn.

31 Days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 20

I was at GW, Goodwill, and ran across this file sorter.

I thought I could use this on my desk for files, ads,bill clipboard,  handy dandy notebook, current projects. The price was right: 1.99. I had to rearrange a little to get this to fit. I want the space in front of my desk to be clear to layout projects and to have a better work area.  I was just piling everything and I think that led to this to just being a dumping spot. Now, I need to see if this works in real life. The phone that was hanging on the hutch has to be moved because now it is behind the computer monitor.

Refrigerator Wisdom

ALWAYS DRINK COFFEE UNDER A TREE SO A LION WILL EAT YOU!

I found part of this saying on my frig.  The Diva helped make it longer. It just made me chuckle.

31 days to a Better Desk/Office - day 19

Bookcase 2 bottom shelves - before

Bookcase 2 Bottom Shelves After

Hitting the books again.  I worked again on bookcase number 2 on 2 shelves. It was mainly rearranging and dusting.  I just changed things up a little.  Hopefully it works better. I am also noticing that cleaning my office is having a trickle down effect in other rooms.  Such as , "Hey, that belongs in here' and "Put that where it belongs."  Things have a home.  I need to revisit the list I made for paper clutter in day 11.  I am finding this invaluable.

31 Days to a Better Desk/Office - Day 18



A little of this and a little of that sums up today's clean-up.  I cleaned the shelf under my desk.  There were actually two digital camera boxes (empty) under there for cameras that no longer work.  The accordion files are actual financial records that need to be gone through.  I didn't attempt that today as I killed the shredder. I just weeded out the stuff that was clearly trash.

shelf under the desk - before

shelf under the desk - after

I cleaned up another shelf on the bookcase. I don't have a picture of that. I also was working a little on my memory keeping box/scrapbooking . I will share that soon.

Frankenstein

We worked on Frankenstein's this morning.  Just a basic glue and cut project.  I was inspired by these Frankensteins found on Pinterest. 



by THE DIVA
photo by MD



By Big E
photo by ED

by Chuckles

Mine (couldn't resist)
photo by ED