A howling good time . . .

So we went to our good friend's, Lars and Danielle Norlund's 2nd annual Halloween party. (We missed the first, as we were in Colorado. ) I have to admit, in the past, I had been very hesitant to let my kids dress up for Halloween. It's sort of a religious hang up that I've had; it stems from my upbringing that Halloween is completely of the devil and that we good christians are to have nothing to do with it. While I agree that Halloween in and of itself is pretty morbid and evil, I have resolved myself to the fact that there is nothing wrong with letting my children dress up in fun costumes and having a hayday in going door to door with big pillowcases, and filling them with as much candy as possible for one night out of the year. Afterall, I know in my heart that I don't love the devil or condone evil things. So, I will not keep my kids from the fun any longer, and with no remorse or guilt I will freely let them celebrate Halloween; as long as the costumes don't represent death or evil. We had a great time at the Norlunds' house, playing games, carving pumpkins, and eating lots of food and candy. Chris looked so disgusting that every time I looked at him, I nearly vomited! He was supposed to be a "derilict from our very own Lake County". I have to say, he looked very similar to the fine folks I've seen walking around our local Wal-mart here in Lake County. I, basically didn't have anything else to wear, and I wasn't about to go out and spend any money on a costume, so I pulled some treasures out of my closet and simply went as a "catholic school girl". Chris secretly told all of the guys at the party that I was a catholic school girl/stripper, and I couldn't figure out why they were all looking at me so funny and bug-eyed; that is until Chris told me "his secret." Christopher went as a "space age police man", but he forgot his helmet, so it didn't complete the look so well. Joshie was SUPPOSED to be Mr. Incredible, and we spent a good $40.00 on his costume at the Disney store, but he insisted that he wear his old, torn and beat up Spiderman costume from last year. I gave in and let him; he even wore his funky snow boots to complete the look - I think he looked alittle more like Napolean Dynamite on steroids!! Allie on the other hand looked absolutely adorable as a ballerina princess. (she LOVES pretty things - she has definitely become ALL GIRL!!) Needless to say, we had a great time and can't wait until Halloween to go hunting for candy!!!!

The cat is out of the bag . . .

Okay, so I guess that the word has spread. Chris and I are making plans to move back to Colorado Springs, CO. I know, I know, I know!!! Once again we are moving!! Your thinking - "They just moved!!" You're right, we did, and we love it up here in Hidden Valley Lake, but Chris has had this burning desire to start his own business for a long time now. He would start it here in California, but there is too much competition where we live and in the surrounding areas. Chris has been researching and studying the business market in Colorado Springs, and it will definitely be profitable there. Chris knows his industry well and I know he will do smashingly. We can't go there with the uncertainty of failure or success, for it is better to try and fail, than to never try at all.

We will still help Frank with the CD as much as we can, until we leave in May of 2006. (pic of Frank playing at his wedding about a million years ago!! Frank Dahling - you're STILL the rockstar buaby, and don't you forget it!! **commented with a british, slightly austin powers accent) So from here on out, we will be very busy folks, saving money, planning and setting up the business. I really feel okay about going back there, especially now that most of my family has uprooted and moved away from Sonoma County. Yes, bubs, your still here, but you're too busy anyways, fighting fires and arresting people!! By the way, congrats to Brett who is finishing up Police Academy and already has a job lined up with the Police/Fire Dept. of Rohnert Park, being a policeman/Firefighter!! (In RP you have to be both, who knew?!) Ladies, pay attention: Good looking, single,church goin' man in uniform making good money = WOW!! Anywho, six months is a long time before we move, but we have alot to do before then. We will make the time to get together with our dear friends as much as possible between now and then, so no worrys - we won't forget about you!

Getting older, Guinness and Skin Tags?!

I have been a little down lately. No my dog didn't die. I don't even have a dog. You see today is my birthday and I've been dreading it for some reason. It is my last year as a twenty-something. Looking in the mirror has not been fun. I'm starting to see those once foreign things called "fine lines" and gravity taking it's toll around my cheeks, under my eyes and other unmentionable places. I know, I know, it's vain but it's still not fun to be seeing these things on my face!! Oh, and I'll share a little secret with you; I noticed a little "growth" of skin under my armpit about 5 months ago. I didn't know what to do about it. A friend told me that she gets these "growths" all of the time and that she just cuts them off!! Cuts them off, I thought?!?! Are you freakin' crazy? Ouch! I was doing some research yesterday on the internet for a project I'm working on, and a little ad for cosmetic surgery popped up. Normally I wouldn't have thought twice to click on the "X" box to get it off of my screen, but a little twinge of curiosity nudged me to click on it. A website for a plastic surgery center popped on my screen. Fascinated, I looked at all of the possibilities of having a smaller nose, a tighter face, smoother eyes, spider veins zapped and perky boobs. It all looked grandious, I was ready; sign me up! I found out the general cost for all of these procedures and added them up. I was horrified as I saw the grand total -

Twenty thousand dollars!!! Twenty frickin' thousand dollars! Well, I left the website even more depressed than when I entered - afterall, I don't think that I'm going to have twenty thousand dollars to throw around in the next few years!! (I think that website was of the devil !!) Anyways, I went along with my day even more "down in the dumps" that when I started. I was in a generally, all around bad mood when Chris got home; I just wanted to hide. So after we put the kids to bed I retreated to my glorious bathroom.

On a side note, I absolutely LOVE my master bathroom!! I have NEVER had such a great bathroom! I have a double vanity sink, a shower and a huge oval tub. So I climbed in my tub, dumped some healthy seaweed soak stuff in and sat. After sitting for a few minutes, I realized that I don't just sit and relax too often!! It felt soo good! Chris knocked on the door about 10 minutes into my bath
and at first I was alittle irritated. But he came in to give me an early birthday card, so my irritation melted. He gave me a towel to dry my hands off and I opened the card. It said on the front, "There are two reasons why I want to be with you on your birthday: 1. I love you. " On the inside there is this wolf with his eyes bugged out with springs and it's tongue sticks out and it says, "2. I've seen you naked!" I got a good laugh out of that one!




It cheered me up to the point that I thought I would keep the spark of laughter going by finding all of the alcohol in the house, which consisted of a guinness beer and the last of the white wine in our fridge. (about 1 almost full glass) Pathetic I know, that I have to find alcohol to get my spirits up, but I really just needed to take my mind off of things. So I downed the wine and beer, and immediately I felt that warm, fuzzy sensation to my brain. I started laughing and then went rambling on about something like, "Well, screw the plastic surgery, I'll do my own plastic surgery!!"


"Hunny, get the scissors, let's cut off my ugly skin tag!!" So Chris is like, alright chick, you've lost it, but he went and got the scissors. He was frightened to death, but I just kept saying, come on, just do it, so on the count of three he cut it off. It pinched slightly, which led me to believe that if I wasn't liquered up that it really would of hurt! It bled and I just looked at it, laughed and yelled, "yep! It's a bleeder! We got a bleeder over here! He ran and got a towel and then I instructed him to go get the antiseptic solution and a band-aid. I couldn't stop laughing through the whole thing. Needless to say we had a GREAT night if ya know what I mean and I woke up today on my birthday feeling a renewed sense of being okay with who I am, even without all of the plastic surgery. (and no headache from all of the booze! Believe me, that's a good amount of alcohol for me) So goes the saying that "Beauty is only skin deep . . . "