Fangirling. Seriously, It Isn't Pretty

image from Sourcebooks

Last night I got to indulge in a bit of fangirl time.  There are two YA authors that I really love, Laini Taylor and David Levithan. I savor their books. I always say I want to eat the words they write, to just spoon them into my mouth.

I have had the opportunity to "meet" both of these amazing authors at various book conferences. But meeting an author there generally means standing in line for a long time for a quick autograph or picture and maybe you get the chance to exchange a few words while they are signing your book. It's better than nothing, but still leaves something to be desired.

I've tricked myself into thinking that I actually know Laini Taylor. We've talked on Facebook and Twitter a couple of times and follow each other on Pinterest, but that's not really knowing someone.  She commented on my blog once and I felt like I won the lottery, but again, that's a cyber friendship acquaintanceship at best.

So, Laini was invited to come speak at an ongoing author series my library does and she said yes! I quite literally squealed and did a little dance at my desk when I found out she was coming to our event. And then I began worrying. What if I was asked to pick her up at the airport? I'd be tongue tied and self conscious and, just, ACK!

I bought my ticket to the event and when my boss asked me a few other staff members if we would like to join her and Laini for dinner the night of the event I said yes, but part of me was terrified by it.  What would I say to this writer I adore? Would she remember me from our past meetings, or from online, or do I blur in with all her other fans? I'm telling you, I was in agony!

There was a small, but public, reception prior to Laini's talk last night. I stood around with some of my librarian friends, anxiously looking at the door, waiting for this person whose writing has touched my heart to walk in the door. And I'm happy to report that when she arrived, she was just an awesome, normal person. Now, that didn't stop me from breaking into to a HUGE grin when she said to me, "Now there's a familiar face!" Or from giggling when she told me I pin the cutest dresses on Pinterest. And I may have gotten a bit giddy when she called on me by name at the Q &A after her talk. But I did OK on keeping it together. I think. I'm pretty sure I didn't even embarrass myself too much when I got to sit next to her at dinner.

I warned you it wasn't pretty. But I had a wonderful time and maybe, just maybe, I'll manage not to fangirl too much the next time I see her.

Most Impressive

I know I've complained a lot this school year about how pokey Ryan is in the mornings. I guess he likes to keep me on my toes (or else he was REALLY hungry) because the other morning he finished a muffin, a pancake with syrup, a glass of milk and his vitamins before I had finished a single cup of coffee.

"Wow!," I said, looking at his plate. "I'm impressed!"

Ryan wiped his mouth on his napkin, smiled at me and replied, "I know! I bet you thought I was going to burp real big after that and I didn't!"

Guess that does count as impressive if you're a six year old boy.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Halloween

The boys and I finally got our Halloween decorations put up yesterday. There are still a few finishing touches to do, like the spider lights in the front window, but other than that, the place is starting to look kind of festive.

 The best part is that I barely had to do anything. Wesley and Ryan were so excited to do the decorating that all I had to do was take the things out of the boxes. Ok, I'll admit that sometimes it was very hard for me to let go and not say "No! Not there!" but they were so proud of how they decorated the place all on their own.

The centerpiece of their decorating was the fireplace and mantle. It may be slightly crowded, but overall I think it looks pretty good.

Ryan came up with the very creative idea of hanging out spiderweb place-mats from the mantle. I like it!

Wesley added a few spider to the webs to help complete the picture

So the house is decorated, the costumes are gathered/purchased, the candy has been bought (as least some of it). I'd say we're well on our way to a happy Halloween.

Terms of Endearment

I use lots of terms of endearment when talking to the boys. Of course, I also sometimes use terms of annoyance (mostly when they are driving me nuts and are out of earshot), but let's focus on the good stuff, shall we?

My most common terms of endearment these days seem to be "My darling boy(s)" or "angel" or "my sweet boy." Nothing too out of the ordinary and, hopefully, not too embarrassing if I slip up and say it in front of their friends.

They must actually hear these terms instead of them going in one ear and out the other. Why do I think that? Well, the other night at bedtime, Ryan came over to give me a hug before going upstairs. After hugging me he took my face in his hands, looked me in the eye and said, "Good night, my sweet."

It was one of those moments that made my heart melt, but might be considered a little creepy in a couple years. However, if he pulls moves like that on his future love interests - well, look out!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I was not mocked by my children one morning just because I could not form a complete sentence before having my cup of coffee.

I did not stare blankly at the self checkout machines at work one day, unable to figure out what to do next when I was trying to check out a book, despite the fact that I use the darn machines on a daily basis.

I was not so hormonal on my birthday that I actually yelled, "I can't believe we've been married for ten years and you don't know what size shirt I wear!" at my husband. And there is no way he is so wonderful and understanding that I am still happily married after that incident.

I did not refuse to go camping with my scouts (and hubby) because it was my birthday and cold, only to spend my birthday morning standing in freezing rain, sleet and wind to watch those same kids play soccer. 

I did not have a night alone with a queen sized bed all to myself and was unable to sleep because I missed my husband. That would have been kind of pathetic.

Happy Birthday with Friends

Yesterday was my birthday and although it started off rough, it ended really well. And I have to publicly admit that it started off rough because I was hormonal and totally blew stupid stuff out of the water. Once I got over myself (and away from the hailing, freezing wind on the soccer fields) I had a really good birthday.

There was lunch from a taco truck I wanted to try. There were pastries. There was a mani/pedi with my mom.

But probably the very best thing of the whole day was going out to dinner with a group of ladies that make up some of my girlfriends. While there were some notable absences (we missed you Danna, Cheryl, Erika, Rachel) I looked around the table and realized that these are some of my closest friends.

These are the women that I know without a shadow of a doubt would be by my side if life threw me a curve ball. We laugh together, drink together, b!tch together and accomplish a lot together.

At the table sat someone who has known me since high school, although we've really because good friends in the past 3 years or so. There was someone who has known me for probably 13-14 years. That person has held my hand through my tears when my life and the life of some of friends fell apart, inspired me to be the best I can be at my job, and always has time for me when I need her. My sister-in-law came by to wish me a happy birthday and brought her unique sparkle of life with her, reminding me how precious the life we are given really is. There sat women I have only known between 2-4 years, but I can't imagine my life without them. Around the table sat some of the greatest, most fun women I know.

It wasn't a late night out. No one was overindulging and we spent a lot of time talking about our husbands and our kids, but I would take a quite night out with these ladies over any raucous party any day. Because, as sappy as it sounds, friendship really is the best gift.

Just a Little Smackeral of Something

I often joke that I look forward to the day that my picky eaters become teens and start eating everything in sight.  I think I got a bit of a preview of that fateful time this morning.

Wesley came downstairs for breakfast and said that he didn't want to eat anything because he wasn't hungry. I don't want to force my kids to eat when they honestly aren't hungry, but I also know how horrible Wesley gets when he hasn't eaten in awhile and I wasn't about to send him to school without something in his stomach.

"How about just a pumpkin muffin?" I asked.  They are whole-wheat, with little sugar and no oil, so I figured it would sit okay on his stomach and give him some decent energy for the day. "You need to have something before you go to school because you eat lunch really late."

He consented, "Just a little something because I'm really not very hungry at all today."

"Just a little something is good," I agreed.

Wesley busied himself in the kitchen and when I peeked at his plate while he was eating I discovered that "just a little something" means to a growing nine year old boy. Apparently it means a muffin, bacon, a pop-tart and milk. I'd hate to see what a full breakfast looks like to him. 

Slow Poke

One of my biggest pet peeves (and I have a number of them) is tardiness. I can't stand to be late someplace. To me, on time to just a bit early is best. Luckily for me, Duane feels the same.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case with our youngest son. I think I recounted an incident last week when it took the child darn near half an hour to eat a bowl of cereal. I'd like to say that was an odd occurrence, but Ryan is usually the last one at the dinner table, still picking at his (now cold) food while the rest of us are clearing the table and loading the dishwasher.

It's not just at mealtimes either. Getting out of the house in the morning has turned into a real misadventure. I am a slightly OCD, Type-A, anal retentive, creature of habit. I have a morning schedule and have created one for the boys too.  I get them up at 7:45. That gives them 15 minutes to get dressed, make their beds, and comb their hair. I figure breakfast starts somewhere around 8:00 and lasts 15-20 minutes (roughly). That means there are 10-15 minutes for playing/brushing teeth and taking care of the cats before it's time to get shoes and jackets on at 8:30 and leave for school at 8:35.

It's not like I stand in the house with a stopwatch, but I do try to keep a eye on the time and keep us roughly on the above schedule.

Except some days, like today, my youngest child conspires against me.

Everything started off okay. I actually woke Ryan up a few minutes early, so when he complained that he was still tired and wanted to sleep some more I could say "yes" and look like a nice mom. He got dressed without complaint, ate breakfast at something more than a snail's pace and remembered to feed the cats. Sounds like a good morning, right?  Well it was until 8:30.

At 8:30 I told the boys to put on their shoes and socks, jackets and get their book bags.

At 8:32 Wesley had his shoes and socks and jacket on, had grabbed his backpack and was climbing in the car. Ryan started looking for socks. 

At 8:33 I yelled up the stairs for Ryan (who was still getting socks) to hurry up.

At 8:34 I went upstairs, grabbed a pair of socks out of Ryan's drawer and said it was time to go.

At 8:35 I told Ryan I was leaving without him and backed the car out of the garage. I wouldn't really leave without him, but figured if he saw the car wasn't in the garage it might drive my point home.

At 8:36 Ryan threw open the door from the house to the garage and screamed, "THESE SOCKS ARE TOO SMALL!!!"

At 8:37 I was back in the house half yelling "I don't care if your socks fit or not! We need to leave and you are holding us up! Come on!"

At 8:38 Ryan tried to leave the house again - this time with shoes on, but without a jacket or backpack. "Ryan! We're late! Let's go! Get your stuff!" I yelled.

At 8:39 I was wishing for something stronger than coffee in my travel mug

At 8:40 Ryan finally exited the house with everything he needed, climbed in the car in tears and hollered, "You didn't have to yell!"

At 8:41 (when I'm usually dropping them off at school) I explain that apparently I DID have to yell because we were leaving the house late because he couldn't get his act together.

We spend the next five minutes driving to school with Ryan crying about making us late. I tried calm my voice and be the grownup and explain that he was not going to be late to school and, while I might be a few minutes late to work, I wasn't going to get in trouble. However, we need to figure out a way to get through the morning without having a last minute battle to get out of the house.

Ryan finally calmed down, but as we turned onto the street where the school is, something occured to me.

"Ryan, did you ever brush your teeth this morning?"

Cue the tears again.

That that, dear readers, is why I walked into work and offered my youngest son to several of my co-workers. No takers though. Not even after I mentioned that he is housebroken, intelligent and knows a number of tricks.  Guess he and I are stuck together a while longer. And despite miserable mornings like this one, I'm more than fine with that.

I Do Believe That's a Dare

I don't like to think too much about Halloween until October hits. I mean, I love Halloween, but my birthday is in early October and I want my birthday to pass before I immerse myself in all things ghosts and goblins.

Unfortunately, having kids kind of changes that. They want to decorate the house before September is even over, and most importantly, you have to think about costumes.I don't know about your family, but in our family, once the calendar says "October" we seem to have at least one Halloween related activity every week -  most of which require costumes.

This year Ryan has decided (at least for the moment) that he wants to be a skeleton. Easy peasy. Wesley wants to be one of his made up feline superheroes from the Family Cat Team (also made up by him.)  We've found an orange cat costume and a red cape for him and a little makeup scar will complete the costume.

Or at least it will complete the costume in my book. Wesley seems to think that his costume will not be complete until his stuffed bear also has a costume. Preferably a panther costume with sharp claws.  I asked Wesley why his bear also needed a costume and he actually had a pretty good answer.

See, in our family the goblins sneak a rock into the child's trick-or-treat bag. Happened to Uncle Kirk and I every year when we were growing up and it happens to Wesley and Ryan now.  Wesley seems to believe that if he dresses up his bear in a scary costume and carries him around in the trick-or-treat bucket, the goblins won't stand of chance of getting past the bear to hide a rock in the treats.

Interesting theory. Kind of like a bear candyguard, instead of a bodyguard. But I've been watching those goblins for the past eight years or so and they are tricky little devils. All I can say is "Game on! Let the best goblin win." Winner determined on Beggars Night.

Blow to the Ego

Many of you know that my mom is one of my very best friends.  We do stuff together all the time and talk to each other pretty much every day.  Since my birthday is coming up this weekend, my mom and I have made plans to go get a manicures and pedicures that afternoon. Just kind of a girls outing.

I saw my mom last night and commented on how much I am looking forward to Saturday.

"What's Saturday?" she asked.

Oh, nothing, just the day she gave birth to me.   I gave her an incredulous look for a moment before we both burst out laughing.

And despite that little blow to my ego (since I firmly believe I should be the Queen of Everything on my birthday) I'm still looking forward to a great afternoon with my wonderful mom.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I know I did not leave a scout meeting muttering curse words under my breath. That would have completely undermined the scouting way.

When the "check engine" light on my car came on, there is no way I decided I'd wait for a day to call the service center just in case the light decided to go off on it's own. And despite my reluctance to call, I was not ticked off when I discovered they couldn't fit me in for an appointment for over a week.

I was not mildly insulted when I had to fill out a waiver at the roller rink for myself in case I got hurt, because filling out said paperwork made me feel old. And I certainly wasn't forced to eat my words when another grownup there fell and dislocated his elbow.

I certainly don't have flashbacks of a high-school aged me hanging out with Cheryl whenever I do something with her daughter, Taryn. That would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?

To the Faire

The whole W. family, including our "daughter" Taryn, headed to the Ohio Renaissance Festival today. It's been years since Duane and I have been and the kids (including Taryn) have either never been or have no memory of it. Hopefully we made some good memories today.

Once Wesley and Ryan could tear their eyes away from the knife thrower about to pop a balloon being held between a guy's legs, we did a little shopping.

Checking out the skull in the window

Animal charm necklaces

Wesley's version of trying on chain mail.

We told each child that they would be able to pick something to bring home as a souvenir. Boy, did that cause some agony today. Both boys wanted something they saw in the first 20 minutes - Wesley wanted a tail, and Ryan wanted a geode windchime - but we managed to talk them into waiting until we had walked the festival and they had seen everything. Good thing we made them wait. Not 10 minutes later they found marshmallow catapults that they wanted. But we still made them wait.

Time for a ride before the first show

Our first show to watch was The Swordsmen. We love them and see them every year we attend the festival. 

Dirk Perfect (one of The Swordsmen) posing for picture for Aunt Susan

All of the kids went on stage when the parade passed by. Don't my kids look thrilled?

A bit happier here

After the show ended, Wesley said to me, "I didn't really understand what happened in that show."  Which, if you've ever seen The Swordsmen, is probably not entirely a bad thing.

The next show we went too was the Mud Show. This show was filled with mud (duh), potty humor and wedgies. And of course my boys loved it. At the end of the show they were clapping and cheering "Encore! Encore!"

Next we headed to the games to give the boys a little something more active to do.

Flipping "frogs" onto floating lily pads

This picture was taken moments before Wesley changed his mind about the spinning ride he had begged to go on.

The ping-pong ball crossbows were a hit (get it? a "hit?")

Slide time

After they did a few rides we continued around the festival looking at stuff. Taryn was on the lookout for a new pair of horns and, once she found them, Wesley decided he needed a green pair for himself.  Again, we managed to convince him to wait until he looked at everything.  Although I have to admit, Taryn looked quite fetching in her new horns. Ryan also found two more things he HAD to have - more rocks and a sand art style candle - and we also forced him to wait some more.

Luckily, there were war horses to ride to help take their minds off all the things they wanted us to buy for them.

Yes, I took pictures of Taryn riding the war horse, after all, she's "our" kid too! Plus, I'm pretty sure there are pictures of her riding the horses at the festival some 15 years ago floating around someplace

We ended the day with the joust. The boys really enjoyed it - especially Ryan. It seemed to make him a little nervous, but he couldn't tear his eyes away.  At the end of the joust, they sell pieces of broken lances to raise money for the care of the horses (which by the way, are rescue horses). One of the knights jokingly told a story about how much he wanted a broken lance when he was kid and his parents wouldn't buy him one. He ended the story by saying, "And if your parents don't buy you one kids, it's because they don't love you."

Ryan called out, "That is so not true, Weirdo!"  Gotta love that kid's devotion.

So, are you dying to know what treasures the kids finally chose to bring home? Wesley decided on the marshmallow catapult. Ryan chose the sand art style candle. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with their choices.

Their favorite things from the day? Ryan said his was the joust, while Wesley stayed true to his third grade boy roots and chose the mud show.

And Ryan's already planning a return trip next year. 

Reporting for Popcorn Duty

Wesley and Ryan starting selling scout popcorn around the neighborhood today. Before we headed out, Duane and I went over what the boys should say when someone opened their door.

"Hi. My name is ______. Would you like to buy some popcorn to support the Cub Scouts?"

Nice and simple, right?  Well, despite it's simplicity, Ryan had a bit of trouble with it at first.

"Hi. My name is Ryan. Would you like to buy some popcorn to report the Cub Scouts?"

Luckily he's so cute that people decided to support his efforts instead of report him.

In The (Sort of) Still of the Night

Since becoming a parent I have learned that you never know what the overnight hours are going to bring. We've had wonderful, restful nights and nights of nosebleeds, projectile vomiting, tears, nightmares and just about everything in between.

But the last few nights have been unique in their own ways.

Duane has been trying to turn Wesley's nightlight off when he (Duane) comes up to bed at night.  The first night he tried it, we woke up in the morning to find the nightlight on again.  The second night was when things got interesting. About 3 minutes after Duane turned the nightlight off we could hear Wesley cry out for me in a frightened voice.

"What's the matter, Wesley?" we asked, pretty much knowing what was the matter.

"It's too dark in my room! It got really dark. I can't sleep!"

Duane dutifully got out of bed and went to turn the nightlight back on. In the twenty or so seconds it had taken Duane to get there, Wesley was back asleep and snoring.

I think we'll leave the nightlight on for a while longer.

Ryan has been doing his own "special" bedtime things as well. Let's see, there was the night I found him with asleep with two pillows Velcro-ed to the sides of his head (don't ask). There was the early morning he came into our bedroom while we were sleeping, and started stroking and kissing the side of my face and hair while saying that I am a good mommy and he loves me - which is cute now, but would be downright creepy if he was a little older.

And I don't want to forget the night I found him asleep on the floor so he wouldn't disturb his stuffed animals, who appeared to be camping out on his bed.

At least he was being thoughtful (?)

Searching for Bigfoot

Wesley and Ryan have a scout camping trip coming up here in about a week and a half. Wesley, being the more experienced scout, has been busily telling his little brother all about the things they'll do at camp.  One of the things Wesley is looking forward to is going on a Bigfoot hunt. This, of course, led to a discussion about what Bigfoot must look like.

Ryan: I think Bigfoot is probably kind of little, like my height, but with really big feet.

Wesley: No, I think Bigfoot is tall, like a grown up, but with only one really big foot because if both his feet were big, they'd have to call him Big Feet instead of Bigfoot.

School Skate Night - With Blurry Pictures

Tonight was the school skate party at the local skating rink. We haven't been to the school skate party since Wesley was in Kindergarten. He pretty much hated it then and announced that he was never going to skate ever again.  Ryan liked it that night, but at the time he was still in diapers and had a lot of padding on his rear end when he fell.

We've managed to avoid the school skate nights since then. We just never mentioned it when they came up and the boys didn't seem interested in it.

Yep, life was good. Until tonight.

This afternoon the boys got off the bus talking about skate night, begging to go to skate night, pleading to go to skate night. They even tried everything on their plates at dinner they wanted to go to skate night so badly.

So off to skate night we went. The last minute planning will explain why every picture from tonight is dark and blurry. Since we weren't planning to go to skate night, I didn't charge my real camera and the iPhone wasn't the greatest at capturing all the action.

And there was action. Wesley and Ryan both did a really good job skating. Yes, they fell, but they each got back up over and over. Ryan spent a lot of the night in the practice area using a "walker" but Wesley held my hand and did lap after lap after lap with me.  I never would have thought he'd do that.

Ready to roll

Taking his time

Getting balanced

Wipe out

Wesley is even asking when we can go skating again. What a difference a couple of years makes!

Their Entire Relationship in Two Pictures

"Hi Ryan. Do you want to play? Do you need anything?"

"I am SO going to get him!"

Case of the Mondays

Three quarters of the W. household has had a case of the Mondays at some point today. It may even been all four of us, but I have barely seen my husband, so I can't tell you how his day went.

Wesley woke up in such a bad mood he wouldn't even talk - and that's saying something for him. Instead, he moaned and groaned and grunted if I dared ask him a question. But the best part was when he refused to walk and dragged himself around the house on this stomach by using his arms while moaning, groaning and grunting. It was a party alright.

While Wesley was doing is impersonation of a grumpy snake, Ryan started complaining that the top of his foot hurt whenever he put pressure on it. He'd take a step and cry out "Ow!" And this lasted for twenty minutes until Wesley found his voice and began to complain about the changing seasons.

Wesley: I hate winter and it's getting closer.

Ryan:  I love winter.

Wesley: I hate it.

Ryan: Remember when we went sledding down the driveway?

Wesley: Remember when we just about froze solid?

On the up side their disagreement took their minds of their various aches and pains.

My day at work went really well, but after work it went to heck in a handbasket.

•  My "check engine" light came on and the car place can't fit me in for a week and a half. 
• Dinner didn't cook in anywhere near the time the packaging claimed it would take, so Duane didn't really get to eat before leaving to help out at the scout popcorn sale
• As the boys and I were finishing dinner, Duane called to say that yes, Ryan's den was having a meeting, but it wasn't at 7:00 like we thought - it was starting right then.
• I arrived to the meeting late (and in a bad mood) only to discover that no one wants to be the den leader, there weren't really any activities for the kids tonight, and the guy running the meeting would spend 10 minutes answering any question with a long anecdote when a quick, 1-2 minute answer would suffice
• After my hour meeting where nothing got done, I discovered that Duane still had another hour meeting to go to.
• Back home to the dinner dishes and messy kitchen were waiting for me from when I raced out of the house to arrive at the scout meeting late.

So now I'm cranky and trying not to be cranky, which isn't working. I still haven't figured out what to do about my truck since I don't really want to wait a week and a half even though it seems to be running fine. I've gotten some good suggestions from a couple of friends, but I have to find the time to actually do it.

Maybe I'll go have another piece of cake.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I am not reading a book so creepy that I almost called Duane up to bed early because I was too freaked out to try and fall asleep alone. And I certainly don't have to finish it because it's for a professional review.

I did not have a nightmare in September about not having started my Christmas shopping.

I did not tear up when Wesley was presented with his Bible at church.

There is no way that whenever the daughters of any of my friends come over I end up wishing (at least a little bit) that I also had a girl. 

Third Grade Bible Presentation

Today the third graders at our church received their own Bibles. I have to tell you, I was pretty excited for Wesley. I still have the Bible I received at my church in third grade, and, although it isn't the one I use on a regular basis, it holds a lot of special memories for me. I used my "third grade Bible" for first communion and confirmation. I used it all through youth group and it holds many highlights and unlined passages that spoke to me throughout my childhood/tween/teen years.

I pray that Wesley finds comfort, and questions as he reads his Bible and learns more God's word. I pray he will be inspired to grown in faith. I hope his Bible sees him through tough times and happy times and that it becomes marked up and worn with use.