Oct. 31: Month in review

Later today, October will end. Here’s how I spent this month.

special days i celebrated this month and how:

• Today is Halloween, and in our house, this year marks a bit of a change: Katie is going to the varsity football game instead of trick-or-treating. Is it possible that 2013 was her last year of traditional Halloween activities? It bums me out a little, but not a lot.
• My favorite part of Halloween is answering the door to trick-or-treaters. Occasionally I’ll dress up (for my own enjoyment, because the kids never care—whatevs). Today my Timehop app reminded me of one of those times when I posted helpful advice on Facebook:

• I went shopping for tonight’s costume components this week, and when I purchased leopard print pants the clerk held them up and said, “Oh! These are exactly the kind of thing I would buy.” I said, “I probably shouldn’t tell you they’re for my Crazy Cat Lady costume then, huh?” She grimaced. It was shitty of me to ruin her day, but I figure I was doing society a service—right? (I know. Still shitty.)
• Our dogs are three years old! We keep waiting for giant Lucy to calm down, but so far she’s as crazy and puppy-like as ever. Since we don’t know Maya’s actual birth date, but her estimated age is about the same as Lucy’s, we decided to make them have the same birthday.

• On the dogs’ birthday, the humans in the house got cupcakes, and the pups got Doggie Paella (treats, hot dogs, cheese, and peanut butter). (Yep, we’re dorks.)
• Other October birthdays: Ted, Cristina, Erin, Jim, Alex F’n, Sherilee, and today, Uncle Paul and Chris Eff.

i saw things with my eyes:

Many, many movies:

• Nerd alert! Victor and I had our very own Avengers movie-fest. While this movie genre is definitely not my favorite, it was pretty cool to watch them all in a row. Over several days we watched, in order: Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel’s The Avengers, Phase Two: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Still left to see: Guardians of the Galaxy. In May, there’s another Avengers movie coming out (I love the first part of this trailer), and in July, Phase Two ends with Ant-Man (starring Paul Rudd—rawr). Phase Three starts up in 2016 with more sequels and movies about other Marvel characters. The Iron Man movies are definitely my favorites. I enjoyed the Thor stuff least, since sci-fi is ridiculous to me.
• Whatever other movies I watched are obviously not worth mentioning, cuz I can’t remember any of ‘em.

Television:

• I started watching Call the Midwife (Netflix) a year or so ago, but I couldn’t get into it—it was like A Baby Story to me, which lost its appeal really fast; I mean, why would I repeatedly watch a show that ends with me inconsolable from watching strangers have babies??? I recently gave CTM another try, and really am loving it now. I hate getting hooked on stuff that ends. That can really be said about most things in my life.
• New shows this season seem mostly disappointing. Mysteries of Laura seemed like it had so much going for it, but it’s truly terrible. John Mulaney, a comedian I adore, has a show that’s also quite bad. Gotham’s premise and cast is good, but after five episodes, I think I’m done with it. 
• I’m happy to have my old favorites back: SVU, The Mindy Project, Modern Family, The Middle, CSI, The Blacklist, The Simpsons, and Grimm (it’s set in Portland, so the sci-fi-ness of it is tolerated).
• Where is Parks & Rec? I will definitely miss this show after it ends this season. Sad face.
• This clip from The Tonight Show is so much funnier than it should be. You must watch.

Other stuff:

• We saw Portland Center Stage’s production of Dreamgirls. I thought it was incredibly well done, so much so that I went twice.
• Still. So. Much. Football. The regular season ended last weekend, and playoffs start tomorrow. We started in September attending games in 100° weather, and last weekend watched in rain, wind, and a wind chill factor of something like -43°. We are some dedicated parents. And kinda dumb.

this month’s good and bad:

• Apologies to my friends who have dedicated their lives to physical therapy, but I really hate physical therapy. It’s very ouchie. They say my ankle’s range of motion is slowly improving, but I think they’re lying and just enjoy hurting me. Also, the sign outside their office looks like this:

• We got to see Daryl when he visited from Florida for a few days. Hoping we’ll see him again (with Sally and Presley) at Thanksgiving.
• My nephew’s band’s new album just came out. Check out Tetherball here.

i likes to share pics I’ve found on the ‘net:

These seem familiar, and I apologize if I’ve posted them before. Enjoy anyway:

I’ll close with this good news: Every day that passes now is one day closer to the end of all the psycho-level of pumpkin spice latte hype.

Nov. 1: Halloween aftermath

Alright, I’m trying to light a fire under my blog again, and have decided to attempt another blog challenge. This one will require much less thought because it’s mostly going to involve photos. Here’s the list I plan to loosely follow; if I feel like photographing something that’s not on the list, I’m just gonna.

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My favorite part of Halloween is handing out candy. The costumes, the littlest kids figuring out the trick-or-treating routine, the proud adults waiting on the sidewalk, the kids who recognize me from school and run back to their parents screaming SHE’S PTO!… I love it. We seemed to have more kids come by last night that in the past few years—the warm-ish, dry weather, maybe?—and it was pretty much nonstop doorbell ringing from 6-8:30pm.

Most of them even said “trick or treat!” when I answered the door—that’s one of my pet peeves, the kids who just hold out their bags without saying anything. They’re usually the ones who have mustaches and are driving their own cars from house to house. As always, our trick-or-treaters were mostly gracious and said “thank you,” rarely needing their parents’ reminder. I usually toss candy into each kids’ bags, but last night I held out the bowl and let them choose for themselves. It ended up being a fascinating peek into human nature. These are the types of kids we had:

1. Grab candy, barely even looking, and run off to the next house because MORE CANDY MORE CANDY MORE CANDY
2. Touch every single piece of candy in the bowl before choosing
3. Pick up one, then put it back and pick up another (sometimes repeatedly)
4. Ask if they can have more than one
5. Don’t bother asking; just grab a handful and run off (I did not like those kids)
6. Tell me they don’t like any of the candy and ask if they can have something else (I really did not like that kid)

I got lazy and didn’t do a lot of decorating this year, but Katie and I did copy something I found on Pinterest for our front door. This morning its hair was slightly mussed:

I especially like the sad little Sweetarts pack a kid left behind
(prob’ly the one who was dissatisfied with our choices)

We gave away almost all of our candy. The fact that most the leftovers were banana Laffy Taffy makes me think next year I’ll go back to choosing kids’ candy for them—at least then the leftovers are good.

Between getting Katie and Jack to their friends’ houses and keeping Lucy from eagerly greeting all the trick-or-treaters, neither of us had a chance to take a picture of our own dressed-up kids. Jack was a football player and Katie was an eighties girl (I did her makeup, thankyouverymuch). Big thanks to Stephanie and Val for these photos:

…and you can’t even see her righteous blue eyeliner with those gnarly glasses on.
Like, I’M SO SURE, Y’KNOW?

‘Twas fun this year, this Halloween thing. I miss having more input into my kids’ costumes, but that’s normal, I suppose. I still think Jack makes the cutest pirate ever, but he’s all WHATEVS, MOM. HASHTAG NO WAY.

Oct. 31: October in review

Time to sum up October at the Manullangs’ house.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• No big celebrations for us in October. Just the regular ones, y’know, like Tuesdays.
• Lucy’s first birthday was Oct. 22 and we forgot. Oops. She celebrated her big day like she does every day—tearing through the house, chewing on everything she shouldn’t, and generally being a loveable monster puppy.
• We celebrated Halloween, obvy. Katie was a nerd, Jack was a football player, and Victor and I were James Bond and a random Bond girl. All tremendous stretches, as you can imagine.

Books I read this month:

• I finished The Prisoner of Heaven, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Compared to his other books in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, it seemed like only half a story; however, I enjoyed it and it kinda made The Angel’s Game make a little more sense. I eagerly await the next book.
• I started The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak.
• My concentration is very short these days, and I haven’t been reading as much as usual. I hope to change that soon.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• I love having most of my favorite shows back on regular scheduling after a long summer of watching very little TV. ‘Round here there’s lots of Hulu watching of Grimm, Modern Family, The Middle, The Office, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Go On, Suburgatory…
• Katie and I saw Pitch Perfect. It was silly fun.
• Not a movie or TV show, but Victor and I saw a local production of the Broadway musical Avenue Q. Hilarious show.
• Very excited about Skyfall, the new James Bond movie (Nov. 9), and hoping Wreck-it Ralph (Nov. 2) will be a good family outing. Speaking of family outings, on Christmas Day, you’re going to find at least four Manullangs (and hopefully a Jenny-Saltmarsh) at Les Misérables!

Special or unusual purchases we made:

• I bought 50 mini pumpkins for the school’s Halloween party. Yes, that’s unusual.
• Mike’s Hard Pink Lemonade—it’s a special, October-only drink, and is very sweet and dangerously guzzle-able. Plus it helps fund cancer research—so it’s almost like you HAVE to drink it! If you don’t, I can only assume you like cancer.

This month’s disappointments:

• It was an incredibly stressful and busy month at school, and I found myself way over-committed. I plan to spend much of November catching up on sleep.
• I applied for a really cool part time job and didn’t make the cut. Bummer. All I want is a few (more) hours of fulfilling work each week with excessively high pay—is that so much to ask?
• Fall arrived. It’s my least favorite season, what with all the dead stuff and messy leaves and crappy weather and colds and flu. Pffft.
• I was very, very sad to hear that one of my cousins (actually, my cousin’s daughter) died unexpectedly. She was a few years younger than me. She went into a coma after having a bad reaction to medication and never woke up. We’ve also lost an uncle and aunt this year—not a good time to be a Saltmarsh.

My accomplishments

• It has nothing to do with me, but Katie’s cross-country team won their division championship, and Jack’s football team made the playoffs. I’m proud of my kids.

• I voted. Victor cancelled out one of my votes, but it was nothing important (to me). Better than most years. You’d think after 15 years of marriage that I’d have taught him better not to disagree with me.

• The incredibly stressful and busy month at school had some very good results—all events were well-attended, fundraisers are on track to meet our goal, and corporate donations are pouring in. Yay! As each big event ends, I remind myself that it’s my last year at the elementary school and IT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE ME SAD. Maybe next year at this time I’ll feel a big empty spot, but for now I look forward to a life NOT run by PTO.

Anything else noteworthy:

I can’t think of a single thing, mostly cuz I’m . Here are funnies:

 

And finally, this is my friend Val.
Is she the cutest thing ever?
I think she just might be.
And that’s her way-sweet grandma in the background,
adoring her granddaughter.
I love that family!

Go ahead, November. Give me all ya got. I can take it. (And by “it,” I mean “a nap,” which I’d like several of starting tomorrow, thankyouverymuch.)

Oct. 26: A totally legitimate post

On nights like these, I miss Sabbath. There’s not much I regret about leaving my SDA upbringing, but having an excuse to take a day off and relax was pretty handy. All of the naps, none of the guilt!

Last night was the school’s multicultural fair that Shannon and I created pretty much from scratch. We should have just stolen an idea from the Internet, but instead we re-invented the wheel. Not the brightest idea, we repeatedly realized, but OH EM GEE, it turned out to be such a fun event! About a million people showed up—approximately 999,994 more than we expected—and families really seemed to have a great time. It’s so nice to start something new and then hear good chatter about it.

But it all wore me plum out. I’m absolutely exhausted and OH! What I wouldn’t give to spend a few days in bed, ignoring emails and texts and phone calls. But nooo, tomorrow I have to go to Jack’s football game at 1pm. After that I have to go to a pumpkin patch to buy 100 mini pumpkins for Family Night at 6:30pm. And at some point, I have to figure out a costume I can wear to Family Night that won’t get melted by the popcorn machine.

Since I have nothing interesting to say, here are funny things I’ve been collecting:

Enjoy your weekend, friends! If you have time, please nap the hell out of an afternoon for me.

Nov. 8: A list of things

Randomness because my thoughts are anything but incoherent these days:

1. The other night I watched part of that PBS thing in which Will Ferrell got an award. It was pretty funny. They showed clips of his performances over the years, and this particular one made me LOL fo’ realz. Blades of Glory is a stupid movie, but that one part kinda rocks, in that that-did-NOT-just-happen way.
2. I honestly don’t get what the big deal is about pumpkin. Everyone’s raving these days about pumpkin-flavored everything and I’m just so “meh,” because HELL-LOOO, it’s just pumpkin. BFD. You can eat it year-round, people. Sheesh.
3. Oh, but Pumpkin, our hedgehog niece? She’s adorable. (She belongs to Presley.)
4. When I told Vic I finally decided on the accent color for our bedroom, he acted like he didn’t even care. He was all “Um, OK.” Pffft.
5. Jack’s birthday is Sunday, and he’ll be 10 years old. Is it wrong that I’m so happy that he’s that far from baby-ness? I love having kids that are independent. Now if I can just learn ‘em to bring me beer.
6. This SNL sketch cracked me up.
7. Can someone give me a good reason to keep cable TV? Can’t everything be seen online these days anyway? I rarely watch TV on TV anymore; why am I paying for it?
8. Applying for work sure has changed. I’ve been updating my resume, and it’s taking way too much time because I’m finding conflicting advice everywhere I look. I mean, I know you’re not supposed to say you’re “detail-oriented,” a “people person,” or a “team player.” Duh. But some sites say you should always list a career objective and others say you don’t need one. Some say you shouldn’t list anything but work you’ve done in the past ten years, and others say to include everything from your first job on. Cover letters are optional? Whatever. And pink perfumed paper is a no-no? What kind of world are we living in, when a girl can’t make herself stand out from the rest by sending an application drenched in Sweet Honesty? Geez.
9. This Jogathon fundraiser I’ve been blathering about for the past two months? It’s completely over and we reached our goal! We reached our goal AND THEN SOME. Happy, happy Jen. Happy, relieved Jen.
10. Want some Christmas music? You don’t even have to ask; you know I’m good for it. I’ve been looking for new songs for this year’s CD and I’m finding some VERY cool stuff. Not Partridge Family cool, or Bobby Sherman cool, or Carpenters cool, but still cool. Trust me. You’ll find out soon.
11. I was very un-Halloweeny this year. I don’t know why, but I just felt DONE with the holiday before it even began. Normally I tolerate it—it’s one of my least favorite, all that death and gross stuff—but when the kids started talking about their costumes a couple months ago, I even tried to convince them they were too old to trick-or-treat. Mean momma, right? They both looked at online costume shops and came to the decision—ON THEIR OWN, I can’t emphasize that enough—that they’d make their costumes. Katie went as a ninja and Jack as a football player. I could not have been more proud of them. I don’t dare hope that they’ll do the same next year, do I?
12. Of course, there are times when costumes end up looking so fab that they’re worth however much effort it might have taken. Do I have an example? You bet I do! Here’s what my friend Stephanie and her husband did this year:

The ‘fros are just… killer, man.

I close this nonsense with recent Pinterest finds. You will love them because you have a twisted sense of humor like I do, you sicko.

 

 

 

(I love what’s in her lunch bag)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, doods.