My issue with costumes

So, my cousins threw an amazing Halloween Costume Party/Wedding Shower for my brother and his fiance.  I was super excited, since I haven't dressed up for Halloween in a while.  Excited until I started looking for a costume.  Ugh.  Why is it that every costume for women is sexy?!  Sexy nurse, sexy firefighter, sexy Alice, sexy Big Bird (seriously), sexy mouse, sexy Cinderella, sexy nun, sexy everything.  A.)  I don't have the body for those costumes B.)  Even if I did, I don't want my goods hanging out for all to see and C.) WHY?!

I asked what Leila wanted me to be and she suggested Alice (in Wonderland) or Cinderella.  Sounded good to me.  I spent hours checking the stores and was really disappointed to find that 95% of costumes offered for women are cut up to HERE on the skirt, and down to THERE on the tops.  Lame.  Don't get me wrong - I could have easily been a doctor in scrubs or a very drab witch.  Not my style at all.  I had to get creative, which I don't mind, but it would have been nice to at least have the option to just go to the store and buy something.  (And, yes - I did find some really cute non-sexy costumes online, but I wasn't willing to pay $100+ for a costume, and then shipping.)

I ended up going as the Mad Hatter from the new Alice in Wonderland.  I glue gunned a green boa onto a green shirt, made a fun brooch with tulle and playing cards (that you can't see at all - I'll try to get a pic)  I curled and ratted my hair, sprayed it bright orange, had a sparkly green top hat headband, a green bowtie, and did fun makeup.  (The only good shot of the makeup is me doing a silly, ahem, sexy face so I omited it)  I got some awesome blue feather lashes, and had fun with it.

Leila was Fancy Nancy and has the cutest costume, but was not in a picture-taking mood (shock of all shocks.)  I'll get some good pictures of my fancy girl in her costume on Halloween!

Tony wore his hockey gear, blacked out a few teeth and I punched him (just kidding - makeup) and was a hockey player.  Gianna was Fancy Nancy's "posh puppy"  I'll get some good pictures of her in her costume on Halloween, as well. 

I'm going to re-make the headband with bigger ears before Halloween.

The cute bride and groom-to-be were Fred and Wilma:

So, friends - what are your thoughts on costumes?  For the record I have no issue with sexy Halloween costumes at all, it just bothers me that it seems to be all. you. can. find.  What are you going to be this Halloween?  What about your kiddos?  Your dogs?  Talk to me, people!!

And just for funzies, a picture from a Jersey Shore themed birthday party me and my real-life guido went to last week:

PS - Have you entered to win Bakerella's book yet?!  Why not?  Go HERE!

Apparently I'm a pervert

So, I was coming home from running errands this afternoon {happened to be right after school got out - lots of kids walking home} and I opened my front gate and saw these two sweet faces looking at me from the window:

Their little bodies were shaking from their tails wagging so hard.  So, naturally I started making kissy noises at them.  How could I not?  About five seconds of kissy noises go by when I hear, in the nastiest tone of voice "Pervert!"  I turn around and see a little boy (maybe 8 or 9?) and he's giving me this awful look. 

Me: "Did you just call me a pervert?"
Him: "Yes.  Don't try to pick up on me again or I'll call the cops.  I know where you live."
Me: "Hey dumb dumb, look in the window.  I'm making those noises at my dogs."
Him: "Whatever, pervert."
Me: "Have a nice day."

Seriously?!?!  I'm all for teaching your kids about safety and stranger danger, but wow.  Oh well.  My dogs were happy to see me.

Hmm....

So, I was at Target this afternoon stocking up on random household thing. Two of the things on my list were toothbrush for Tony, and some razors for myself. Normal enough, right? I bought the razors and toothbrush - just grabbed whatever was on sale - and went home. I took the razors out of the package and noticed a weird (gross) smell. Um...it was coming from the razor. I read the package and sure enough they were melon-scented. Who would want scented razors? I just don't get it, and the fact that I don't like melons or their smells didn't help. Then I took the toothbrush out of the package and it was scented too! This one wasn't as bad - just smelled like dental floss, but still weird.

Has anyone else noticed random, scented products?! I guess I'll be paying more attention!

Sad.

All of the recent drama between Jon and Kate Gosselin has me pretty bummed. I don't know them personally, but have enjoyed watching their show and seeing a glimpse of their lives. Marriage takes work, kids or no kids, but I cannot imagine how much harder you'd have to work at your marriage with 8 children AND a reality show.

I keep reading crazy rumors about both Jon (whom I used to love) and Kate (who can be a beast to Jon A LOT, but still seemed like she love(d) him.) No matter what happens to their marriage I hope they can keep things civil and focus on their children, NOT their TV ratings.

Got another tattoo comment

Ugh. What is with people? Leila and I were at the Post Office this morning (three seperate times this morning, actually.) And we were using the automated postal center. A grumpy old fart of a woman was behind me in line, when she gasped (literally, gasped.) I turned around and asked if she was ok. She gave me the nastiest look, and said,


Her: "You have a big tattoo on your neck."
Me: "Yep. Are you alright?"
Her: "I just can't believe a woman...a mother, no less would get a tattoo like that. I just can't believe it."
Me: "That tattoo is actually just one of six. I have a really big one on my back. I think they're beautiful, and each one means something to me, otherwise I wouldn't have them."


I turned back around, finished my business and left, even said have a nice day to the mean old bag. I always brush it off, when I get a comment but it really bugs me and hurts my feelings. A couple of weeks ago Leila and I were at JoAnn's and I was wearing a dress, so my big tattoo (my favorite tattoo) peaked out a bit. Almost the same exact confrontation, word for word happend.



I guess these people have never seen "Bambi" and haven't heard "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all." Leila *always* tells me "Cute tattoo, mama!" Her favorite is the big one on my back, too. I'm thinking she needs this shirt.

*Sigh*

No, Sugar!

Sugar is very much a puppy - chewing on everything, wanting to play at all hours... A few minutes ago I walked in to find her chewing on one of Leila's favorite shoes.

Uh-oh....I can already hear Leila "No Sugar! That is not nice." *Sigh*

Getting the creative itch...

My work space is still not looking great. It's not this bad, but still not jewelry-making-able. I've been feeling the need to do something creative, but with my limited space and access to tools it's been hard. Fortunately I found a fun little tool that has allowed me to "be-jewell" things. I got this shirt for Leila on major sale at Baby Gap, and while it's cute it never jumped out at me. Then I decided to add some bling, and now I'm in love with it!

I can't wait for Leila to try it on! She loves bling as much as I do and I know she'll love it! Let the be-jewelling madness begin! Bwahahahaha!

First homeowner disaster

We've always heard about the "unexpected expenses" that pop up when you're a homeowner, and today we got to experience a major one...

Tuesday night we hooked up our washing machine. Threw on a load of wash and sat down to watch a movie. About a half hour later we heard water gushing from our bathroom. Tony ran to the bathroom, saw that the toilet was overflowing and flooding the bathroom with *ahem* let's just say unsanitary water. He shut off the water, and we looked at each other in shock. We turned off the washing machine (which turned out to be the cause of the problem.) We shop-vac'd out the water, only to realize that the other bathroom was flooded too, and some of the water had overflowed onto the carpet in our bedroom. Oh. My. gawd. (Today Tony ripped out the entire patch of carpet, and the floor mat underneath.) After both bathrooms were shop-vac'd (I've made it a verb) Tony decided to check the bathtub and shower to see that they were both filled a few inches with the *unsanitary water*.

Wednesday morning we had a plumber come and diagnose what the heck happened. Turns out that roots from the big tree in our front yard had grown over some pipes and cracked them in three places. When we turned on the washing machine the water pressure became too much and the water had to escape somewhere, thus overflowing our bathrooms. We got an estimate for what it would cost - the price was equal to a very nice vacation. : ( We had a few other plumbers out and got the same basic price quote. *Sigh* The plumber who originally diagnosed the problem came by early this evening to talk to Tony. He ended up cutting us a pretty nice deal (him and Tony really hit it off yesterday, and he mentioned that he likes firemen...lucky for us) The price is still a lot more than we were expecting to spend so early on in our home ownership, but not as bad as we were expecting. The job should be finished by Monday.

Please keep your fingers and toes crossed that nothing else goes wrong for us!

Direct quote

"The only good thing about today is 'Survivor' is on tonight."
-Me, this afternoon


Fast forward to a few minutes ago - I check the DVR to make sure it's setting "Survivor" and find out it's not on tonight due to March Madness. I hate basketball.

An open letter to my dog...

Dear Ramon,

I'm sure the turkey meatloaf we had for dinner last night looked really good, especially from your point of view. BUT, it was not cool of you to swipe that last big chunk that Tony was going to take to work today.

What was especially not cool was finding you eating it on our bed. Eww. In the future, please don't steal food and then eat it on my bed. It's gross.

Thanks,

Mama

Raccoons

Raccoons. I know a lot of people love them, but I am not one of them. Yes, they are adorable, but man are they mean! As some of you know I had an incident with a racoon, years ago when I was a counselor at Outdoor Ed. One of them was sleeping under one of my kid's beds, and I had to get it out with a broom stick. When it finally came out it stood up, tall as can be, puts it's arms in the air and hissed at me, all while walking towards me - I thought it was going to go all rabies crazy on me! Fortunately it didn't.

Last night around 1am I woke up to what sounded like someone breaking in. Tony was at work, and I was scared out of my mind. I realized the sound was coming from our patio, so I looked down from our bedroom window (right above the yard) and saw two giant racoons. They were going crazy in my yard! They were back there for over an hour, probably looking for food, but unless they eat dog poop (and who knows - they might) they didn't find any. They messed up Leila's play kitchen - knocked EVERYTHING off the shelves, took dirt out of the big planter box, and messed up one of Leila's swings.

Bastards.

Ouch!

I guess it was bound to happen, and I have absolutely no one to blame but myself. I've developed a bad habit lately, that when I'm done with a book I stick it on the top of my head board (I read in bed.) Tony's even asked me when I was going to move the books I was done with into "my library" (the bookshelves in the den - I really do have quite a little library!) Well, this morning I was rudely awakened by a stack of hardcover books falling down on my head. Youch! I'm not sure how they fell down, but they did.

You might think that I would have put the books away, but I didn't. I just re-stacked them. I promise to put them away soon - I don't want to be woken up like that again!

Hmm...

Not sure if I'm lovin' the serious faces on the cover, because, come on - they're New Kids on the Block. Oh, well. I'm not even going go try and act like I won't be buying their new album on September 2, because I totally will.

Who's with me?

Tired boy

Last night Tony and I were reading in bed. As it got later and later Ramon got thoroughly annoyed, and let us know that he was ready to go to bed. Still wanting to read, without being disturbed by our chihuahua I put my sleeping mask on Ramon. Much to my surprise he left it on, and quickly fell asleep.

*Sigh* He is one pampered pooch!

Hmmm....

Does anyone else find it funny that Vh1 just did an eight-part series "I Love The New Millennium?" Don't get me wrong, I watched all eight episodes, but everything they talked about I couldn't help but think "Yeah, that just happened." They couldn't have at least waited until 2011?

Just sayin'

Things that have annoyed me recently

Over the last few days here are some things that have annoyed me:

1. When Leila and I went to High Tech burrito and I ordered two "itty bitty chicken burritos" The guy asked what I was having, and I said an itty bitty chicken burrito. He asked if I was under 10. Um...do I look under 10?! He said I could only order one (for Leila) and I had to order off the regular menu. So I had to spend an extra $3 for the exact same burrito, slightly bigger. What does he care if I want to eat off the kids menu?

2. Why on earth does TLC have to show a preview for "The Singing Office" during every single commercial break? The show looks horrible! I want to be able to watch Jon & Kate plus 8 without having to mute the tv during the commercial.

3. No dogs allowed on beaches. Seriously, WTF? If you allow a horse, allow a dog. (And, no that's not a horse on the picture Ramon's standing in front of - it's a dog. There was another sign showing that horses were allowed.)

That's it....I'll make sure to let you know the next time something bugs me. : )

Beach day? Not so much.

On Friday we decided to pack up and head to the beach. After 30 minutes of filling our new family beach tote, and our matching new cooler we were ready to head out. Since we were headed to dog-friendly Baker Beach in San Francisco we brought Ramon along. Well, as we drove into the city we noticed it was dark gray outside. We stuck our hands out the windows and it was freezing. Since it was already 85 degrees in Pleasanton when we left at 9:30 am we figured it was sunny everywhere....wrong! I got on my blackberry to check out the weather for Baker Beach and 7 other near(ish) beaches. The highest any of them was expected to get was 63 degrees - not my idea of beach weather. Ugh.

Determined to touch sand and water Tony drove us to Half Moon Bay, thinking we'd get out for 20 or so minutes and play in the sand - that way our beach day wouldn't be a complete bust. We start driving in, and there's a huge sign: NO DOGS! Um...why would you allow horses, who sh!t giant turds everywhere and their owners (or riders?) rarely pick it up, but no dogs? (BTW - I packed three plastic baggies for the inevitable "just in case" poop.) Normally we would have ignored the no dog rule, but they had rangers monitoring the beach, and you had to pay to park. We figured the parking guy would see Ramon and tell us to turn around.

So, we started driving aimlessly when Tony takes a sharp right after seeing a sign for "Cowell Ranch Beach." Never heard of it, but whatever. We park our car, put Leila in the jogging stroller, and it's a good thing we did because it was about a 3/4 mile walk to get to the 100 or so stairs that lead to the beach. Sheesh - it was my workout for the day. We finally got down and Tony got to touch the precious sand. Ramon and Tony ran along the water, and then Tony took Leila from me to try and put her feet in the water..... hahahahaha! She was not having it, and honestly I can't blame the girl - it was cold and the water was colder.

So, after wasting probably $40 worth of gas the only ones who touched the water were Tony and Ramon, and that was only when the tide came too close while they were running. Next time we decided to have a beach day we'll be smart enough to check the weather reports.

Seriously?!

I love Rachael Ray. I have her cookbooks, I get her magazine, I watch her shows. I am fully supportive of her having her own line of products. Heck - I asked my mom for the Rachael Ray EVOO (extra virgin olive oil, for those of you not in the know) for Christmas last year - she just laughed at me. While shopping for a wedding present at Bed, Bath & Beyond yesterday I saw a Rachael Ray product prominently displayed in the front of the kitchen section:

The Rachael Ray garbage bowl. The whole idea behind it is that as you're cooking you put your trash in the bowl, so you don't have to break your stride and walk all the way over to the garbage can. I get the idea behind it - in fact I usually put an empty plastic bag in the right side of the sink for trash, but honestly - a $15 garbage bowl?! I can think of a thousand better ways to spend fifteen bucks. Sigh. If for some reason you just have to have one, you can get it herehttp://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&wrn=-280961097&SKU=14777563 or your local Bed Bath & Beyond.