Halloween Victory

This just in:

The Terd & the TP take first prize.

Yessss!

BFFs

My friend Mary and I decided to go as the Terd and the TP for Halloween.

The costume judging has yet to take place.

I feel confident we will secure first place.

Bringin' back the papoose.

I took Jack to the grocery store tonight. I put him in one of those grocery carts with the little kiddie car on it (never done that with him before).

He's lovin' it - driving the car, honking the horn, the whole bit.

We round the corner and start down an aisle that is really crowded.

I hear Jack shout from the kiddie car, "Oh, MAAAAAAN! You've got to be KIDDING ME! Get OUTTA my way!"

People looked at me like, "hmmm, where does he get THAT behavior from?"

I wanted to shout out that I was the babysitter or something - but I didn't get a chance because he just kept hollerin'.

I gave up and just laughed. I didn't get too many smiles from the other store patrons, but I thought it was hilarious.

My Casting Choices for The Little House on the Prairie Movie

So I'm something of a Little House on the Prairie fan.

Well, Kurt and I were talking last night about some of the main characters - and who would do a good job playing them today. So! If they were to make a LHOTP movie, these would be my picks for some of the main characters:

Charles Ingalls

1. Viggo Mortenson

2. Dennis Quaid

3. Russel Crowe

Caroline Ingalls

1. Kate Blanchett

2. Gwynneth Paltrow

3. Nicole Kidman

Mary Ingalls (as a grown-up)

1. Katherine Heigl

2. Kate Hudson

Adam Kendall

1. Erik McCormack

2. Benjamin Bratt

Laura Ingalls (as a grown-up)

1. Jenna Fischer

2. Jennifer Garner

3. Kate Winslet

Almanzo Wilder
1. Owen Wilson

2. Matthew McConaughey

3. John Heder (Napoleon Dynamite)

Eliza Jane Wilder

1. Tina Fey

2. Uma Thurman

Harriet Oleson

1. Roseanne Barr

2. Kathy Bates

3. Megan Mullally

Nels Oleson

1. Sam Waterson
2. James Cromwell

Nellie Oleson (as a grown-up)

1. Angela Kinsey (Angela from The Office)

Dr. Baker

1. Willem Dafoe

2. Kelsey Grammar

Miss Beadle (Kurt used to think she was hot; not "conventional hot," more like "uptight hot")

1. Charlize Theron

2. Ashley Judd

3. Gillian Anderson

Mr. Edwards

1. John Goodman

2. Robin Williams

Reverend Alden

1. Tom Bosley

2. Malcom McDowell

3. Bernard Hill (the captain from Titanic and King Theoden from Lord of the Rings)

Mr. Hansen

1. James Mahoney (Martin Crane from Frasier)

2. Gene Hackman

Hey TempletonTales Readers! This is how to get your Blogger Stats

So Kristi told me that she mentioned that I am something of an IT person and that I could help you set up your Analytics account.

Let me start with this disclaimer: this is addicting. And kind of weird. And very cool.

So if you want to know who visits your blog, link it to Google Analytics. It's free and it's really easy to use. Once you set up your account and link it to your blog, it takes about 24 hours before you can see any data.

Visit this site and follow the instructions (click here) . Or send me an email (click here to open an email to me) and I'll send you detailed instructions (that I think are a little easier to follow).

One thing to keep in mind - if you pick a different blog template (like from Pyzam or something like that) you will have to re-link your blog to your Analytics account.

Good luck!

Hope's Birthday Bash

Hope's birthday was awesome! Thank you to all who gave suggestions for the party.

We had a Crazy Cookie Decorating theme - and it just that: CRAZY.

11 little girls, one little boy (Jack), 8 dozen flower cookies (provided by my friend Katie who makes the best sugar cookies in the entire world - she did the gorgeous flowers here on the left), a ton of frosting and even more candy toppings.

And when they were done decorating cookies, they decided to decorate their cake and ice cream (it was just so gross...).

It was insane - and so much fun.

I wanted to post some pictures, but I felt funny posting pictures of other people's kids without their official "okay," so I thought I'd just post a few pictures of what some of the cookies ended up looking like (and a pic of Hope and JackJack).

It was loud, silly and very, very sugary.

A good time was had by all...

Here are a few of the Crazy Creations...

Behold the Crazy Cookie MEGA Cookie

Decorating the cake and ice cream (eewww...)

Hope and Jack being crazy in their Crazy Cookie Aprons and Hats.

It was truly a wonderful day.

Yeah, that's definitely not a crayon mark.

Okay - so most of you know the last time Jack hit his head - I tried washing the bruises off because I thought they were crayon marks.

Well, today the "Serious Cry" was heard once again in the Goble house.

Jack was running, tripped and fell headfirst into the wall - the corner, no less. Thankfully our house has those bullnosed corners, or else I'm quite confident we would have ended up in the ER getting stitches in his forehead.

We were pretty concerned for a while - but he didn't show any signs of having a concussion (drowsiness, nausea/vomitting etc). So after icing it and repeatedly checking his pupils, we decided to keep our plans to go to Oak Glen to see Grandma & Grandpa.

He's got a nasty bump on his head, and it's probably going to be there for a few days.

But, on the upside.... I didn't try to wash the bruise off this time.

Don't call me Denise.

I work full time. I don't mind it most of the time. I need to work and I'm fortunate enough to have a great job that I enjoy (most of the time).

But there are days when it's really hard to drop your two year old off at daycare.

We are blessed to have the greatest child care provider ever. She's PERFECT for Jack. She loves him so much and he loves her too. Her name is Denise and she's been a wonderful blessing to us.

But....

Yesterday when I got home from work (Kurt picked the kids up this time), I ran in and gave the kids big hugs. Then Jack looked at me and said with great excitement, "come play with me Denise!"

I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach.

Like I said, I'm thankful for my job -I like my job - I NEED my job.

But it's hard sometimes...

Jack likes the ladies...

Jack on his first "date" with the one and only Miss Haley Templeton.

Aren't they cute?

Okay, so it wasn't all bad... (continuation from "Meltdown at the Patch")

There were some fun moments at the Pumpkin Patch before Jack's "event"

Here are a few hits and misses...

Hit #1: Travis & Jack enjoying a choo-choo train ride

















Hit #2: Hope enjoying one of the rides

















Hit #3: Kurt & Me
I hesitate calling a any picture mewith in it a "hit," but Kurt and I don't have too many pictures of the two of us that I like - and - Hope took the picture, so I automatically like it no matter what...

And a few misses.....

Miss #1: Trying to get Jack to smile for the camera

















Miss #2: Kurt & Jack
Jack comes by his lack of cooperation naturally



















Miss #3: The ever-elusive Family Photo
I'm picking something sticky and gross off my sweatshirt, Kurt is yelling something like "Where are you going?!" to Jack as he bolts from the scene and Hope just standing there waiting.... She's the only one in our family who seems to always be ready to have her picture taken.

Meltdown at the Patch...

It started out so nice.

Pumpkin patches and pony rides.

But 2 year olds are unpredictable. It ended quickly - and not so nice.
Kicking. Screaming. Wailing. Flailing.

Long day. No nap.

Sigh...

Identity Crisis

Something's happening to me.

I just had California Rolls for lunch. (gasp!)

And I liked it. (bigger gasp!)

But wait, there's more.

I used chopsticks. (holy cow, what have I become?!)

But that's not all!

I ate lunch...

by mySELF (I never eat alone) .

What's happening to me?

I don't even know who I am anymore.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part VIII

I have at least 10 tubes of lipstick/lip gloss in my purse at all times (and 3 different kinds of Chapstick).

You have to have options.

Perspective

I started the day complaining about having to make a presentation, having to get up earlier than normal, not having enough coffee - you know, all the things that make mornings so gross.

I thought that I had it so bad.

Throughout the day, I was reminded of how fortunate I am.

A friend of mine was in a car accident on her way to work this morning.

A sweet little lady who helps out at our church broke her hip this afternoon.

This evening, Kurt and Hope were in the car, and watched the car directly in front of them get t-boned at about 50 miles an hour.

Tonight, I'm home with my family.

We're all safe, sound and healthy.

I'm ashamed of my attitude this morning...

I have so much to be thankful for.

(The name of this painting is Grateful Heart; the artist is Kathy Ammon. It summarizes exactly how I feel)

Now's the time to find your happy place

Rough day at the dentist today....

When I feel better I'll drop some details on what went down.

But just so you have an idea of what to expect, I thought I'd share this picutre.

This guy was in the room next to me.

Yeah.

It was a dark day.

Much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I'm going to the dentist.

I hate the dentist. Well, not the dentist as a person. But the horrible things they do there.

My heart weeps.

My palms sweat.

My stomach turns.

My mind races.

I hate the dentist.

A salty, fossilized, titanium-like menace; available in all the colors of the rainbow

I hate Play-Doh.

I hate it when it when it gets caked into the carpet. I hate it when it solidifies under my kids' fingernails. I hate it when my son tries to eat it while my back is turned.

But none of that compares to what happened today.

I was walking barefoot through the kitchen. Suddenly I felt what had to be a piece of broken glass penetrate my foot - between my second and third toe.

I look down at the ground convinced that I would see blood everywhere. I look closer. There, impaled between two of my toes is a bright blue shard of fossilized Play-Doh; just sticking straight out of my foot. I swear, the thing was 5 inches long and stronger than a piece of Titanium.

And of course, Play-Doh is full of salt, so that felt fantastic.

I begin to play tug-of-war with what now feels like a 7 foot long Titanium-like-Play-Doh splinter until it finally comes out.

Freakin' Play-Doh.

It's a menace.

A menace.

Book Readers of the World - Unite! (and give me some advice!)

So I really want to start reading more books. So many of my friends (and some of my new blogger friends: Celeste, Diane and Jen) are avid readers and I would like to join their ranks.

I'm so over TV. All I really care about watching is Lost and it's not coming back for like 9 more years; so I have some time now that I've dropped the habit of late night TV viewing.

So now that I'm ready to start reading more - I don't know what to do next. What's worth reading??? I could use some input from all of you on what I should read. Please give me your suggestions on some good books.

The last book I read was The Shack. I haven't finished it yet (see prior entry for more details on that). But I'm going to. (Celeste - I'm down for finishing it if you are - I'll let you know when I'm all done; maybe we can chat about it.)

So please! Give me some suggestions on books (no children's books please - I'm good on those); I'm excited to hear from you!

A sure sign that you have a good man is...

When he lets you have the last cold Diet Coke.

Jack's favorite bedtime story...

He loves this book - we read it two times in a row every night before he goes to bed.

He has parts of it memorized and he "reads" it along with me.

I look forward to it every day.

It's one those moments where I'm completely content...

Make-up Artist

Hope loves to "do make-up. "

Hers and mine.

I figured after my last self-esteem-building session at the Clinique counter, I'd be better off letting Hope make recommendations on my make-up.

Her choices for us?

Pink and Purple.

With lots of glitter because "everyone wants to sparkly-sparkle!"

Here's a look...

Welcome to Hope's Beauty in a Box!

The eyes are very important. Gotta go heavy color on the eyes.

And for lips? Bright pink mixed with purple. Only the best!

And don't forget the glitter spray. Perhaps the greatest invention the world of cosmetology has ever seen.

The finished product

My gorgeous, happy girl...

That's gonna leave a mark.

Jack fell forehead-first into the coffee-table tonight. He's a tough little dude so he stopped crying once I gave him big kisses. I thought all was well.

I didn't notice the stripes on his head until hours later when I was trying to wash them off because I thought they were crayon marks.

You'd think him screaming every time I touched it would have provided me with some sort of clue that the lines weren't crayon marks...

He finally said, "Momma owie - no touch!"

Oh dear... I felt horrible.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part VII

Yeah, Yeah - I said I wouldn't do this anymore. But I thought of one more thing that I think should be considered normal.

The clock on my nightstand is 45 minutes fast.

It never fools me into thinking it's really that eary (thereby making me move faster to avoid being late for something).

Even if it's 3:30 in the morning, I still know it's 45 minutes fast and just do the math to figure out what time it is.

I think it's perfectly normal.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part VI

(This will be my last perfectly normal post. All the other posts that I'd like to add to this series are probably a little too out there.)

So, for the final time...

I think it's perfectly normal to read magazines by starting on the last page.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part V

I own every season on DVD.

I know every single episode by heart.

It is now (and forever will be) my all-time favorite television show.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part IV

Everytime I see someone walking around and talking into his/her little cell phone headset I laugh out loud because it looks like they're a crazy person who is just walking around talking to themselves.

Today I tried it at Target. I wanted to see how many people would stare at me to see if I was actually talking on the phone or if I was indeed out of my mind and having a full-on conversation with myself.

8 people.

The reaction was the same each time. They'd stare at me for a second - and then I'd turn my head so they could see the little ear-thing. They would kind of nod their head in my general direction as if to say, "okay, you're cool" and keep walking.

Of course, the joke was on them because I really was talking to myself.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part III

I simultaneously watch TV, listen to music and work on the computer while talking on the phone.

I think it's perfectly normal; Part II

I am now listening to nothing but Christmas Music.






P.S.
If I may, I'd like to make a recommendation on your Christmas Music selection this year. The album is called Christmas Chillout. The group is called Crystal Theory.
You will love it. I tried to have one of the songs play when you visit my blog but I don't know how to do that.