it's been forever...

i am crafting away...

& trying like heck to get holiday gifts ready.

i can't take pictures...

well, i can...but i can't post them.

it would be just my luck 

that the people i'm making them for 

would see them

& then pffft...no surprise.

here...

have some pictures of some recent happenings...

 

xox.

magic tree

i bought munki a wee magic tree.

i LOVED these things as a kid.

as it so happens, munki loved it too.

we took pictures every hour

and decided on a collage to show all of the pix...

❆❅❄ ☃ ❄❅❆

in other news...

can't help it...we're starting to gear up for the holidays...

as in christmas!

when living at home...we always waited until after my dad's birthday

(which is december 1st) to decorate.
as soon as i moved out...the day after thanksgiving became fair game for decorating.

we have not decorated it...but we brought the tree in the house yesterday.

they're not plugged in yet...but we hung christmas lights.

(& i'm giddy because matt just bought me old school C9s!!!)

it was 58 degrees yesterday, so we took advantage of that.

last year, we waited to hang lights & about died in 20 degree weather.

now, we're all prepared and the exposure to the cold should be limited.

and my frankenneck will love me for that.

because my frankenneck hates winter and cold.

another reason for holiday excitement 

is that my parents will be here for christmas!

i cannot even begin to explain how much this elates me.

the only thing that could make it more perfect...

would be if my brother and my nephew & niece could be here as well.

and now i'm off...

have some goodies to bake for munki's school

& i need to get my ingredients together for the pies

i'm taking down to the in-laws' on thursday...

have a fabulous monday!

xox.

little talks...

madness...

i feel completely out of touch with everyone...

and for that, i apologize.

things have just seemed completely non stop since school started.

the three of us tossed around sicknesses for a bit...

and just when we thought it was all gone, it sort of came around again.

that was about 6 weeks of icky.

and then last weekend, we moved munki's bedroom downstairs.

didn't sound like too big of a deal...

it ended up taking all weekend...

and then we had no computer for a few days

until yesterday, when matt & i ran cables and cords from the basement

up into the attic room (where the office/studio now is.)

so...now we do have a running computer...

& i finally unpacked all of my office stuff...

(which kind of took all week)

and now today, munki has the day off from school...

and i still have a gazillion things to do...now with munki in tow.

it's not bad...honestly.

it's just non stop busy.

people often wonder why munki is an only child...

i often wonder how people handle more than one child.

she's not even really an issue...

she doesn't play sports...

she only does 4H...which is only in the summer...

but i feel like i am constantly on the move.

i think it's mostly the animals.

they're just furry children.

one of them is always into something

or complaining/whining to go out or come in

(that's just the dogs)

unless you count the chickens, who raise quite a ruckus

if i don't let them out of their coop right away in the morning.

thank goodness i'm not big on sleep.

(or sleeping in at least)

someone is always needing their nails trimmed

(cats, dogs, bunny)

someone is eating something they shouldn't

(that's ALL of the cats & both dogs)

there is always something...trust me.

i think that having all of these animals is like having a lot of kids.

thankfully munki listens (most of the time)...

that doesn't happen too much with the fuzzy kids.

anywho...

we're all alive and well...just on the go.

xox.

jorge

want to know what's awesome?...

getting a halloween gift!

what, you've never gotten one?

neither had i...until this past weekend.

i know i say it a lot...

but my husband is pretty damn fantastic.

he bought me an r/c zombie as a halloween gift.

it is ridiculous how much i love this zombie.

i've named him jorge.

(as in hor-hay)

i only went with the spanish version 

because i already have a zombie bunny named george.

why george, you ask?

george romero, of course.

 

♥ ☠ ♥ ☠ ♥

♥ ☠ ♥ ☠ ♥

the down side to jorge?

munki does not like him...at all.

munki LOVES all sorts of monsters & monster movies...

the one thing she cannot tolerate is zombies...they terrify her.

and since jorge is not only a zombie...

but a walking, groaning, moaning zombie...well...

it makes my heart sad.

because while i love all things monster-y...

zombies have been my favorite since i was a kid...

and saw night of the living dead.

i think this is the one thing that she and i don't love together.

(well, except the color pink)

anyway...

hope y'all had a lovely halloween.

xox.

beggars' night

i preface this with...

i love my husband and i love our home...

but for the life of me, i will never understand ohio.

halloween is october 31st.

that is when one should go trick or treating.

i understand parties & whatnot being on other nights...

but trick or treating?

really?

beggar's night

this is what happens here in ohio.

matt said he did it as a kid.

nobody ever went trick or treating on halloween.

what?

trick or treating wasn't this past weekend...

it wasn't friday night...

for our county, it was thursday october 25th...

from 5-7 pm.

so, not only was it on another night...

it has special hours.

(different counties, cities, towns have different nights or hours)

and people take it very seriously.

with a lot of houses, people sit out in their driveways 

in chairs with bowl of candy...
(others leave porch lights on)

waiting for trick or treaters.

at 7pm, said people pack up their bowls of candy

and go inside.

seriously.

i guess if this is how you've always done things, 

it seems the normal thing to do.

i have lived a lot of places (a LOT)

& not once did we ever trick or treat 

on any night other than halloween.

anyway...

munki wanted to dress up as draculaura from monster high...

so she did.

and she was cute and we had fun...

hope you have a happy halloween!

xox.

bat for lashes - what's a girl to do

every year...

about this time...

i listen to this song more than usual.

not because of the lyrics,

which could be construed as rather depressing...

but mostly because it's all halloween-y.

and the video is awesome.

i love bat for lashes.

i think natasha khan has an amazing voice.

anyway...watch the video...it's pretty damn great.

xox.

frankenweenie

♥ ☠ ♥ ☠ ♥

♥ ☠ ♥ ☠ ♥

xox.

this & that

it was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day yesterday...

yes, even in the cemetery/graveyard/field of stone...perhaps especially so.

☀ ☠ ☀ ☠ ☀

munki had a wonderful birthday.

on the day before...we went down to springfield to visit with family.

wyatt & munki spent a lot of time together...

thankfully, munki still wanted to go on her annual build-a-bear trip.

part of me fears the day she thinks she's too old for it.

this is her latest addition to her "way too many" stuffed animal collection.

 she named him pumpkin.

which, obvious or not, is the perfect name for him.

sadly, matt had to work on munki's actual birthday.

so, i promised to take pictures of everything.

lucky for y'all, i just plopped some of the pix into a collage.

and as for her cake...

she wanted chocolate chocolate chip cake 

with chocolate chocolate chip frosting.

that's a lot of chocolate.

and it's the first year she has asked for something other than strawberry.

so, i whipped up this incredibly chocolate-y cake of goodness.

her only request for the top...

was a dragon.

she was ecstatic...

& that's all that mattered to me.

the cake, by the way...

AWESOME!

i was super pleased with myself.

have a lovely day & be kind to one another.

xox.

 

october 8th, 2002

ten years ago today

was the best day ever.

it's still my favorite day...

every year.

happy birthday, madeline sumner!

she's an  amazing little girl/young lady

and i love her more than i ever thought a heart could possibly love.

i can't believe she's 10.

happy happy birthday to my dear munki...

my greatest creation ever.

i'll post more pix soon of birthday happenings...

have a lovely monday

xox.

chaperone

yes, i did it again...

decided that i should be a chaperone for another munki field trip...

this time with 4th graders.

i think they were even louder than when in 3rd grade.

we went to suter farms pumpkin patch and corn maze.

the field trip itself was fun and we had perfect weather.

the bus ride there, however, dear god.

cram 50 kids into a big metal box on wheels

and they all feel the need to talk...a lot...

loudly.

and i won't even go into detail about the highway driving

and bumps and butts and ouches.

my body doesn't agree with bouncing around on a school bus.

suter farms was amazing...

and beautiful...

and mr. & mrs. suter were amazingly wonderful people.

the kids had a blast...

they got to run through pumpkin fields to find their perfect pumpkin...

munki, always heads for the smaller & different pumpkins...

(since an unexpected amount of parents showed up) 

this was my small group of kids/girls for the day...

munki, sophie, and haley

(all red heads =])

and of course the red headed boy (aka dylan, yes that dylan =]) was there too...

♥

the girls taking off to go through the corn maze...

(look at all of that red hair!)

it was a great day...

i was exhausted last night.

being responsible for one child is one thing...

being responsible for kids that don't belong to you, 

and watching them go racing through a corn maze...

whew!

and look at the aerial view of this corn maze at suter farms...

(in case you didn't click the link above)

it was a good day.

~*~

and this weekend is munki's birthday weekend!

well, her birthday is on monday

which conveniently falls on columbus day...so, she has no school.

so, we're making it a long weekend event...

which is how your first double digits birthday should be!

i  still cannot believe i will have a 10 year old in a few short days.

have a great weekend!!!

xox.

hello, october...

♥

october is my favorite month, by far.

if for no other reason, october wins out over december

because it's munki's birthday month.

munki & i decorated for halloween on saturday.

the leaves are starting to change...

the air is crisp...

and there is candy corn everywhere...

how much better can it possibly get?

♥♥♥


also...because the instagram shot in the sidebar can never do it justice...

this never happens.
the cats are always scattered about the house...
but for about 30 seconds yesterday, the above happened...
i took the photographic opportunity handed to me
& then everyone headed in different directions.
at this exact moment,
 all i could say was holy crap.

i love them all...but damn.


xox.

day of the dead

i love picmonkey...

i was so sad when picnik went away in april and SO relieved

when they came back even better.

♥

i was getting impatient for the halloween goodies...

and then yesterday they showed up...

so, we've been playing.

& munki did this one of herself...

anywho...

munki & i are off to the apple festival...

have a beautiful saturday!

xox

one week

i've been sick for about 2 weeks now...

the last week being the worst

& i absolutely forgot about my blog for the last week.

shame on me.

moving on...

look at my beautiful bijou...

she's really quite amazing.

she turns almost totally green on mossy & lichen covered bark

& then turns almost completely grey

(shy of a couple of green bits around her eyes)

when she's hanging out on the rocks by her little "pond"...

and she also changes between several shades of green and grey.

mother nature never ceases to amaze me.

i picked two more pumpkins this morning, 

which you can see in my instagram feed over there --->

(if you're reading this close to my posting date)

we've had 1/2 a dozen eggs a day for the last few days!

the chickens are awesome!

all of our felines are doing well...

the pugs are...well, the pugs...=]

(but doing well)

and little miss munkipants is awesome as ever.

though she's been quite a handful lately, to be honest.

4th graders are weird.

i love her to death...but she's been kinda wonky lately.

(i don't even want to discuss that further)

she'll be 10 in just over a week.

i don't even know how that happened.

remember this kid?

damn, where does the time go?

i think once you have a living milestone, 

you just view time differently.

yesterday, munki received a surprise in the mail...

and look at the joy it put on her face...

the gift was from bethany...a friend from maine.

(whom we love and adore immensely)

she wasn't even aware that munki's birthday was coming up...

which made this even more special to her.

the ring belonged to bethany and she had worn it since she was 15.

she wrote in the card that it just really didn't fit her right anymore

and she wanted munki to have it.

♥

bethany is awesome...

& munki adores her...she has since she was 3 years old.

so yay, bethany for making the munki's day!

 have a wonderful weekend, friends & family...

xox.

pumpkins!

i picked our first 3 pumpkins!

i LOVE pumpkins.

how can one not like pumpkins?

they're so pretty.

 fynche & frank like pumpkins too...

also...fynche & frank got new pull charms...

and what started out as pumpkins turned into blythes.

sorry about that...

well, sorry to those of you that could not possibly care less about blythes.

have a wonderful friday & a fantastic weekend.

xox.

love notes

remember dylan?

well...yesterday, munki says she wants to show me something...

the above love note is what she shared.

then she says...

"i know i can't have a real boyfriend until i'm 30 or so...

(glad she's still clear on that)

but his note made me happy with tears of joy...

(have i mentioned lately that she's a drama queen in all extremes?)

but i'm really bothered that he's in 4th grade and can't spell friend...

(you and me both, kid)

but thankfully he wrote you are, because a lot of the time

on homework he writes your when it should be you're

or the other way around...

(she's definitely turning into me)

and he kind of scribbled the heart...

but his gesture was sweet, don't you think?"

(dear god, what is happening?)

i bit my tongue and smiled and said i was glad it made her happy.

she had already covered everything else .

i have to admit, with much pride, 

that what pleased me the most 

was that she noticed the grammatical errors...
(including that he capitalized Boyfriend)

and the fact that she decided to share it at all.

at 9 years old...

(yes, 10 in just over 2 weeks...eeek!)

i don't think i would have shared something like that with my mom. 

(mom, i love you...but...wow, i would have hidden that. )

i am still not okay with her growing up...

or her possessing the key to some kid's heart.

and yes, i am aware that me sharing this would be mortifying to her...

so let's not tell her, okay?

xox.

finally!

maggie finally laid an egg.

monday afternoon, i heard a ruckus in the coop
and went to check on the girls.

i was not prepared for what i found.

not only had maggie laid her first egg...

but it was HUGE!

all the girls have laid smaller eggs for the first few days

and then they have just gradually gotten bigger

and are now medium to large/xl eggs.

maggie's was twice the size of any of the largest eggs

that the other girls had laid.

i think she felt she needed to step it up since she was last...

and did she ever.

i took pictures, and they just don't do the size justice.

but maybe you can get an idea.

i held the largest brown egg we had 

(which is the size of an average store bought large)

and then put maggie's next to it...

i guess maybe we can forgive the poor girl for being late...

i would have waited too.

here's another shot with all of the eggs...

you can spy maggie's toward the back, on the right...

you know...the one that looks like a brown goose egg.

so...all of our girls are laying now...

just in time for the days to get shorter 

& eggs to become less frequent.

i honestly think i'll go without eggs 

before i'll buy them from the store again though.

we're all very spoiled now.

hope you are having a happy wednesday, wherever you are.

xox.

***edited to add...
not only was it her first egg...
not only was her first egg huge...
it was our first double yolker!!!

sharing

munki came home sick from school last thursday...

then she stayed home friday 

& finally started feeling better sunday morning.

at about noon on sunday...

i started feeling like crap.

munki is so good at sharing.

on a happier note...

look at my pumpkins!

this is somewhat of a progression collage of all of the pumpkins.

two of them should be ready to pick at the end of this week...

SO awesome!

the coolest thing about this, is that these are from the seeds of the pumpkin

that munki got in california last october 

when we went on our road trip with my mom & dad...

xox.

frogs

or frog, rather.

look how cute she is.

she kind of just showed up last night.

perfectly timed?

perhaps.

i was recently thinking about how much i missed sushi may...

my maine green frog that matt rescued & brought home to me several years ago...

she passed away in may of 2007.

i've been without a frog since...

& have truly missed having a frog around.

(before sushi may, there was phloyd...my ornate horned frog)

so...we'll see what the next couple of days bring...

but i think this little girl will be staying with us.

& yes, i'm already considering names...

xox.

more eggs

i can't help it...

look how beautiful they are!!!

olive...mint...blue...brown...


xox.

magic, indeed...

two brown eggs.

this happened yesterday.

the second happened just after my previous blog post.

i believe that they are henry & ruby's...

just from watching them yesterday...

but i'm not 100% sure.

i do believe, however, that maggie is our only slacker chicken now.

they're beautiful eggs.

yes, beautiful.

i have been checking on the girls every hour or so today...

trying to see which egg belongs to which girl.

i'll not be on the internet much today...

and my television probably won't be on either.

i'll never forget what today is...

but my heart can't take watching it all over the place.

have a lovely tuesday.

tell those you love that they are cherished.

xox.

magic

fynche is made of magic & sunshine.

this morning when i woke up, it was 51 degrees.

hallelujah!

i think (crossing my fingers) that perhaps our heat & humidity

may be behind us for this year...

i sat outside drinking my morning coffee & it was heaven.

i also took this little picture of fynche.

it was a wonderful start to my morning.

and while i was dropping munki off at school...

a small miracle happened...

either maggie, henry or ruby laid an egg.

finally!

& it was speckled like fred's olive eggs...

matt & i were just telling them that needed to start earning their keep.

i need to keep a closer eye on them again

so i can figure out who it was.

yay for more eggs!

have a lovely monday.

instead of thinking of it as just monday...

think of it as the beginning of a brand new week

& do something wonderful with it.

xox.

thankful...

robbie.

my baby brother...

pain in the arse...

annoying...

stubborn...

crybaby...

pain in the arse...

tough...

goofy...

smart...

pain in the arse...

sweet...

caring...

brilliant...

pain in the arse...

talented...

patient...

great dad...

pain in the arse...

awesome.

he's my little baby brother...
(he was cute when he was little, i kinda liked him then) 

nowadays, he may have about 6 inches on me in height ...

but there was a day when that was not the case.

the days when i took advantage of being the big sister...

the days when i would beat him up just because i could.

he was SO annoying.
(don't think he didn't hit back, because he did...
he probably started it most of the time too =])

i ignored the comments from my parents...

"some day, he'll be taller than you...bigger than you...

& he'll remember these things."

it didn't stop me.

i didn't much care for him as a kid.

i loved him, but i didn't often tell him so.

it took several years.

& i do mean several.

then one day...we were just damn near inseparable.

daily visits & talking...

i don't know what i'd do without him.

there was a (too long) period of time

when i was basically without him...

i missed him everyday, but we didn't talk for about 4 years.

& that sucked.

BAD.

my heart ached all the time 

& the lack of his presence in my life affected my daily living.

okay, so we're both stubborn.

incredibly so.

but last october, 

i got to see my brother for the first time in 4 years...

it was almost like no time had passed.

the biggest difference being that he was now a dad to two.

i hadn't seen my nephew since he was weeks old...

& i got to meet my niece for the first time.

my heart exploded with love & joy & comfort.

it was at this exact moment that i realized

just how damn much i had missed him.

i knew i had missed him...

but it hit home just how badly i had missed him

when i hugged him.

i ADORE my baby brother...

& i love him more than i can find words to express.

(though he's still a pain in the arse...)

yesterday he had surgery...

 (heller myotomy)

i won't go into details, as that's a huge 17 year story in itself...

but, i was a mess ALL damn day.

the time difference between here & california didn't help.

(i was up and worrying before he ever got out of bed to leave for the hospital)

after a couple of hours longer than was originally thought,

the surgery was done and the doctor said things looked good.

(thank goodness for my mom's phone call)

i can't wait for him to heal & experience life

in a way that people take advantage of everyday 

without thinking twice about it. 

like i said, i don't know what i'd do without him.

i love the hell out of him.

he's my baby brother.

xox.

favorite things

munki's hands & acorns...

she brought these home from school.

they are the tiniest acorns i have ever seen.

she said she thought of me when she found them...

so, she started collecting them.

she melts my heart with her sweet gestures.

xox.

flock

whilst looking through photos the other day, 

i realized i didn't have any really recent pix of the girls.

especially not since they all got red combs & wattles.

well, the easter eggers don't have wattles, they have beards!

top row is henry...maggie...ruby

the middle pic is the first semi decent picture

where i managed to actually catch all of them in frame.

bottom row is ethel...etta...fred.

fred still has a tiny comb which isn't very red...

but she lays awesome eggs.

my EEs have been faithful layers since they started.

(one pale-ish blue green...one pale minty to sage green & one dark olive)

i'd always heard that they were rather unpredictable.

& our EEs started laying early (i'd heard they tend to be procrastinators)

our 2 reds & our barred rock (ruby, henry & maggie) however...

haven't laid one egg between 'em.

& they're generally the early layers...

(according to my chicken knowledgeable friends & backyardchickens.com forums)

so, who knows.

if all of that is true...it just fits right in with the rest of our animals 

that have weird traits and behaviors.

there's a surprise. (smell that sarcasm?)

have a lovely weekend...

xox.