And Now For Something Totally Different...

...Costume pictures on Halloween!

Ladies and gentlemen, behold my husband, the Ursula:



And our little lobster:


And just for the sake of normalcy, since the above of my husband is so disturbing, Here is the every day Steve. See how normal? See how not I-am-woman-hear-me-roar he is?

The Night Before....

I used to sing this song all the time when I was little.
It just popped into my head so I started singing it and realized it doesn't even rhyme:

What are you going to be on Halloween night,
A witch or a goblin or a ghoul?
What are you going to be, well don't tell me,
Wait 'til Halloween and let me guess.

Well, whether it rhymes or not, do you want to play?

Answer this then:

What is Steve going to be for Halloween?

(kind of) Hint: Carter is going to be a lobster and I am going to be a ... well, my mother in law made me feel much better about not dressing up by saying I'm going as a.... Muggle.



p.s. Don't read everyone else's comments before guessing!!!

Now With Extra Dipping Sauce

Instead of clean my house to prevent a panic attack, I chose to overhaul the blogaroo. I'm pretty sure I just broke one of the cardinal rules of blogging by calling this a blogaroo, but wtf.

I was way behind on posting my monthly masthead (August). Now I'm not even going to try to keep up a monthly masthead. This is what you get until I'm dead sick of it. This sappy little ball of sunshine masthead and accompanying design.

Also featuring a link to my family updates. Mainly pictures and videos of Carter, for family and friends to keep up with the personal stuff. I decided to make that part private, so if by your definition you're my family or my friend, send me an email at kennalyn1 at gmail dot com and I'll send you an invitation with password for the family section of this website. (Yes I just called the blogaroo a website. Dooce refers to her blog as a website, so...)

Alright, well there you have it. Oh! If you want to be part of my blogroll, send me a cute button to use, please. Because my blogroll must be cute. kthxbye.

P.S. - Summer, I'm totally copying you with the signature pic. Please be flattered :)

The Calm Before the Storm

Ever since I was little I've had panic attacks. I didn't know they were panic attacks until a few years ago when I read From Panic to Power and realized, "oh thaaaat's what those were!" I'm still exploring myself and don't have it quite all figured out. I can only sometimes figure out the source of the attacks and even then, that source is "it's just a panic attack, that's what they do: attack".

Growing up I always had a really messy room and a pretty disorganized life. But it always bothered me. It wasn't because I'm messy by nature, it was because I had so many hobbies with so much accompanying STUFF and when there wasn't a place for every little thing, my brain couldn't handle it, so it would just flip a switch and poof! I could completely block out the mess until it got so bad I literally couldn't see a patch of carpet or close my bedroom door. And then I'd Tasmanian Devil my way through the mess for four hours until it was perfectly clean.

Luckily when I got married, I was able to quickly implement some better habits to keep things running smoothly. Er, Running. Today I don't have a perfectly clean house, but I obsess over having a perfectly clean house. What I am is a crazy perfectionist with no time. When I think of the word "laundry", I see all my sweaters folded by color on top of each other, perfectly aligned so that not one thread hangs too far outside the width of the rest of the stack. Socks that smell like dryer sheets, not one shred of lint stuck to them and rolled into meticulous rows in my dresser drawer. I've come to realize if I can't have all that right now, in this installment of the ever-revolving laundry project, my brain will start leaking out my ears. So as a preservation method, my brain blocks "laundry" out of my realm of existence for the night. I sincerely forget that laundry exists on my planet. My brain is preventing a panic attack that would occur if I try and fail to have the perfect closet tonight.

Well, why can't I just go all Bree Van de Kamp-Hyde on the place and make it perfectly clean 24/7? I really hope I figure this one out before I die. Ha!

So the last two days I've felt a strange itch under my skin, and I know what it is. For perhaps the first time in my life, I can tell that within a few days, or maybe a week, I'm going to have a grand maul panic attack. I just can't do it all. Work full time. Be a mommy full time. Be a wife full time. Keep the house clean. Cook dinner every single fricken night so we don't die of fastfooditis.

Right now? Right now I'm not even stressed about it. Tonight I'm cool. I'm going to go switch the wash and then empty the dishwasher. I'm may not be making a dent in the big projects I need to do, but I'm keeping the day-to-day at bay. But within several days I'll put my tenth finger in the dam. And then the water will poke an eleventh hole. And then it will happen.

So because this is the first time I've felt one coming on, let's see how this goes. If I can feel this gurgling beneath the surface, does that mean I can prevent it? Can I just hurry and clean out the storage room, move the office downstairs to the new basement, wash every window, get the dead plants off the front porch, et. al. and then sit... and wait... and see if it never comes?

*Seven Days*

You have seven days until Halloween. That's seven days left to prepare yourselves. Hopefully this will help.

Carpet Standoff

Just about the only item left on the list for finishing our basement is installing carpet down the stairs and through the hallway. The rest of the basement is hard floor. Yesterday we were looking at carpet options and a brilliant thought came into my mind. Since we're carpeting anyway, we may as well replace the bottom-of-the-line, poorly installed, {pretty sure} not-padded, "stain attractant resistant" carpet in the living room of the main floor. It's a small enough area and wouldn't add much cost, all things considered.

Steve of course is not a fan of the idea. Afterall, we just moved in 10.5 months ago and are the first to live in this house. I get it, I get it. Of course, it's silly right? OH, but look again:

Exhibit A: Just tonight I used a yard stick to knock a toy out from under the couch, and when I upset the carpet under the couch, a small cloud of dust erupted in front of my face. Yes, you read that correctly. Completely disgusting. So I immediately asked Steve to hold the couch up so I could vacuum every square inch underneath "at least five times, so bring your A-Game." I then spent over 20 minutes vacuuming one room. I stayed in one stationery spot, pushing the vacuum forward and back six times, then moved one vacuum width to the left, and so on. Even after all that, I can't get the carpet to fluff back up. It's all nappy and matted down.

Exhibit B: We moved into this brand new house 3 days after last Christmas, but before that, it sat empty, collecting dust for seven months. Must be how the dust cloud formed, and only vacuuming once before moving in and putting the couch over that spot just wasn't enough. Apparently. What else could be hiding between those cheap, baron threads?

Exhibit C (featuring Comic Sans, just for Meisha): Too bad this photo can't quite show you how dark this stain is. It was cleaned up less than one minute after happening, but that stain attractant just held on toooo tightly.

Exhibit D: The carpet installers sucked at their job. Every time I crossover from the living room to the kitchen, I play a little game called Don't Step On The Crack Or You'll Cut Your Foot.
And.... Carter's already old enough to shove his head into the corner of the couch to have a nap when he gets tired of playing.
This means we're WEEKS away from crawling, sports fans. Don't Crawl On The Crack Or You'll Slice Your Knees Open And Blood Will Gush Everywhere And Your Mom Will Completely. Freak. Out.

All I'm saying is, it's just a small amount of carpet... just a small living room and an eensie hallway. And I don't think it will look bad from the standpoint of the entry way if the crappy carpet going up the stairs doesn't perfectly match the upgraded carpet heading off to the living room...DO YOU???

Officially Relieved

It's hard to believe that six months have come and gone since our son was born. For most parents, the sixth month means sitting up, giggles, and the first little buddings of teeth. For us it means all that, but it also means permanence. Yesterday we had a very special day. We went to court to finalize our adoption and make everything official. A lot of adoptive families make a big deal of this day, inviting friends and family to court with them, a celebration afterwards. We didn't feel the need for all that, not because it isn't special, it absolutely is, but because it hasn't felt not-official up to this time...

It felt 100% official the second we walked into the hospital room the day he was born, nervous as can be, not knowing what on earth to say to this courageous woman asking to meet us to see if we were the right people to raise her precious son. How do you prepare yourself for a moment like that? How can you know the right things to say or the appropriate disposition to portray when meeting your future son's birth mother? Well you simply can't prepare. You just have to fill your pounding heart with courage and walk in the room. And if you're me, you can feel your pulse pounding through your fingertips and vibrating every strand of hair... until you see her face, smiling to welcome you into her hospital room. And then peace and understanding wash through you the moment your eyes meet. Yes, it felt 100% official the moment I met my son and his birth mother.

So we kept yesterday simple, because if court finalization means a huge, "ta-da! now it's official!" then what have the last six months meant? My mom came, and I'm glad she did because it was good to have some family there and our trial was timed perfectly in the middle of Carter's normal nap time. And yes, it was a trial. With evidence, witnesses called to the stand, and everything. And it all went smoothly, as we knew it would. If there was any problem, we would have known far beforehand. The judge kept things light, even asking me while under oath if I understood that my parental responsibilities would still be in place even when Carter becomes a misbehaving teenager.

After it was all done, we stepped into the elevator just outside the courtroom. I paused as I felt an unexpected feeling of relief seep through me. I hadn't worried about this day. I never once during the last six months thought about something going wrong with our adoption. I didn't realize I had anything to be relieved of. But perhaps even if I wasn't worried one bit, there is something to be felt about knowing things are official. Bona fide. Permanent.

Sneezing Is So Funny!

He thinks it is soooo funny when people sneeze or cough. Unfortunately I didn't get the camera out until he had been laughing for quite a while, so by the time I started recording, he was thinking this joke is a little OLD. The big long sing-song screech after the 2nd sneeze is his new favorite noise to make.

On My Way To The Office Today

The Name Game

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: Cocoa 3
(first pet & current car)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: Chocolate Mint Milano
(fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: M-Gor
(first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: Green Werewolf
(favorite color, favorite animal) 5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:Lyn Orem
(middle name, city where you were born)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: Gormc
(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: The Orange Fresca
("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

8. NASCAR NAME: Lucy Lyn. Ha!
(the first names of your grandmothers)

9. STRIPPER NAME: Heavenly Bit-o-honey
(the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)

10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:WL Alan Terry
(mother’s & father’s middle names)

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: Bezzant Boston
(Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

12. SPY NAME: Autumn Hydrangea
(your favorite season/holiday, flower)

13. CARTOON NAME: Strawberry Smocky
(favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)

14. HIPPY NAME: Peaches Palm
(What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME:The Inventing Raindrop Tour
(”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)

Basement Progress

We've been working on finishing our little basement for months and it's finally starting to come together. We still have some finishing touches, but here is a preview, and I need your advice on a coupla things.

Behold, the enormous wetbar. I don't know why I couldn't picture its massiveness during the design phase. I was picturing this cute little nook and, well...shabang! But it's growing on me, the size is okay for the room its in and I think it'll be great now that we're starting to move furniture down there.

Still need kick plates under the cabinets and something on the wall. The flooring is stained cement and we're in love with it. Two questions:

1. What on the wall?
2. That faucet is a little "HELLO!" for a basement wet bar, right? Thinking of swapping it for our smaller kitchen faucet. Thoughts?

Really excited about these window treatments I found at Ikea. What you see before you is a set of six metal tracks with which to slide these panels of fabric...
The quaking aspens and the dark brown were pre-made from Ikea, the 3 privacy-creating camel panels behind them I sewed today. Because each panel is on its own track, all six pieces can be pulled to one side of the window to let in a lot of light.

Need advice: do these windows (there are two in this room with the same quaky treatments) need something above them? Like trim? These are one piece of nature in an otherwise very industrial looking family room.

The paint has more gray in it than the picture shows, but see my creativeness? Same shade of paint in two finishes: eggshell and high-gloss.

And now for the FRIDGE OF DEATH, brought to you by my entertaining husband. If Martha Stewart were a manly-man, her name would be Steve. When the guys come over for football night, he is quite the host. This is all just for tonight. I'm scared.

****All the above pictures were taken this afternoon about two hours before Steve's football-watching, X-Boxing buddies arrived. The deal is, they can stink up the basement for as long as they want, and I get a quiet, peaceful time with my friend Natasha upstairs. We chatted and created a sewing pattern tonight. She left hours ago and I've been catching up on the blogosphere ever since. Just now I thought I'd brave it and see how bad it is down there. Here are my findings:

Brand New Family Room View 1:
(3 TVs, 3 x-boxes, 3 players)

Brand New Family Room View 2:
(2 TVs, 2 x-boxes, 4 players)

And this is after a few have gone home.
And it smells like an enormous fart down there.
And the FRIDGE OF DEATH is now 1/2 empty.
And church starts at 9am.
It's 1am now.
Can I have some sympathy?

This Is My Concentration Face

Look what I can do! Carter in the hallway SITTING UP! He just decided yesterday it's time, I guess, because the day before he couldn't do it for more than a couple of seconds.