I have a vision...

in my mind it goes something like this >>> Come on girls we are going to the pumpkin patch! Our day will be filled with a fun excursion through a beautiful field of pumpkins. We'll pick our own and take lots of beautiful photos. We'll head to the maze and figure are way in and out as team work.

The field was beautiful, the selection process was more "ewww there are worms on this one, ewww my stem broke, ewww this is too heavy I can't carry it" than the joyful hair blowing in the breeze unaccompanied by whining that I had anticipated.

^^^ this one claimed the pumpkin was too heavy for her to carry. 

Pumpkin frolicking in all it's glory!

Bumpin into friends...

My green pumpkin is better than your green pumpkin...

Let's compare...

Which way to the pumpkins?

There was a lot of non cooperation in that corn maze. One wants to go one way, one the other <  > ???

I can hear the Fleetwoood Mac song "Go your own way" play in my head.

This particular pumpkin patch is located very close to home. I always want to get some shots of this old car whenever I pass by. (I really WANT the old car for my own property but I can't lift it by myself to take it home!)

I had a few loss of patience moments somewhere around the time my 5 year old wanting to push the wheel barrel of pumpkins that were too heavy for her and I had to pick up the tipped over barrel- oh I don't know- 3 times or so. All in all we had a fun time... I think...

I'm Going In...

A glimpse into the world of a Mom with a teen!!!!

The room of a teenager is no place for a wussy...

It's the entrance to the "Twilight Zone" ** do you have that music stuck in your head now?**
Whenever I am about to enter I am never unarmed.

I'm usually humming the theme song from "Jaws"as I fire a round of febreze at my targets. (I've had lots of target practice)

                                          ^^^^^ and this is the CLEAN laundry!!!!!!!!!!


So just what exactly does she do in here? She only comes out to eat????

Tumblr a/k/a teenagers version of blogger.

She watches educational TV....

She cleans her room^^^^^

And does homework????

                                     ^^^^^Lives on coffee, cell phones and computers... having everything within arms reach because...you know... getting up is an issue...

Not embarrassed to wear unmatched socks...
....an unzipped backpack randomly thrown on the floor is pretty much the rule rather than the exception. Why actually place it somewhere like the closet????


I always tell her when she grows up and has a house of her own, her Dad and I are coming over and randomly throwing our socks and laundry on the floor, leaving water bottles and coffee cups scattered about  her house and will pile up our clean laundry in a basket. We will leave it unattended for so long, not only will we not remember if it is clean or dirty but it will actually begin to smell again. 

Meeting Zelda

 Mr. Red Saltbox is one of these people who enjoys yard sales. He actually got me into it and not the other way around. There is something hilarious about a man who is almost feverish with glee because he got a hammer for a quarter.
 Last year he found probably the single most fantastic yard sale of all time. He came home with his truck loaded, tin coffee pots clambering to make room for the oil lanterns. Pottery precariously piled to the roof,  home spun curtains spilling out the windows.


 When he gave me "The Reveal" it was like a magician act pulling out the hankie that extends to south east asia from his pocket.
 The "yard sale lady" took a liking to him and invited him to come back with me for a "private showing." (insert wink here)


 That's when I met Zelda. She and I had met before at a very popular overpriced country store in my area that is now closed. ( Did I mention it was overpriced?) I wanted her for myself then, but not enough to pay the near 80.00 price tag.
 Imagine my delight when "yard sale lady" opened her trunk and tossed her and several hundred collectable Raggedy Ann dolls on her bed. It took a bit of coaxing..okay prying of the hands open and maybe there were a few kicks in the shin involved to get her to give it up. After the shake down  negotiation transpired Zelda and I rode home on her broom.

^^^she's like a member of the family. She has been known to take a seat at the dining room table on holidays in place of relatives we are not speaking too. 

A little of this...

and a little of that...

stay tuned my pretties...I see more photos of my halloween escapes in your future... **cackling*

Perfection redefined

~ If you feel your life is not perfect---- you need to change your definition.

 This will be a series that I will label under this header from time to time. I will even log the posts in as episodes.

 Like a bad tv show, your friends train wreck lives, tales from the ER and, you know, those Wal- Mart people **gasp** you will look on in horror yet not be able to tear yourself away.

Episode 1

Does Martha Microwave?

I'm so not Martha. I wanna be but I am the more condensed version. The partially hydrogenated, no assembly required,  where is the easy button,  express checkout, I like the outcome but not the process type Martha.

 In my efforts to be a fun and creative Mom that will imprint fond memories into my children's lives that will hopefully overshadow all my imperfections I decided we would have "Caramel Apple Making Night."

Now Martha would have planted seeds from an apple in the ground in her backyard and grown an orchard of trees.

Having 24 hour access to all her apple creating desires, she would then hustle her billionaire bootie out there and pick a bushel and wash and line them up in her perfectly designed gourmet kitchen. She would have fabulously decorated handmade apple sticks

 that she would easily insert into the apples stem side, after removing the stem with her finely crafted stem remover. She would have pre planned and made her caramel from scratch.

After that she would have the precision and intellect for knowing how to get the caramel dipped apple perfectly round and magazine picture perfect. All placed on a unique and beautiful server for maximum presentation. 

MY VERSION:

Out food shopping for the week and see a box of caramel apple mix on display in the produce section and the price is right: 2.99. I chuck it in my basket thinking- this will keep the kids busy for 5 minutes and will be a great photo opportunity!

Apples are pricey at 3.99 a bag but can't make caramel apples without them. 

In the cart they go. Apple picking taken care off. Check.

Fast forward to last night. 

Kids you wanna make some caramel apples? Tahlia- me me I wanna make them. Brianna- ***screaming loudly from the depths of her teenage hideaway aka bedroom*** I'LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE!!!!

20 minutes later...

 Tahlia stabbed her 3 apples in the belly button.  Note to self >>>>>Microwave caramel apple mix only makes 6 apples.

Brianna makes her appearance and the fun begins.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^Notice the computer

 My presentation- so not Martha...

But yummy just the same.

Don't judge me.