Happy Corduroy Day

11/11 is Corduroy Day.

So wear those pants proudly and have a great day.

Mommy, Look

I'm eating a gem that kissed the sun and I find it's tasting delicious.

Celebrating Meals

Last Saturday, November 5 was Guy Fawkes Day.  It's also known as Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night.  What goes well with bonfires or fireworks?  Hot dogs, chips, potato salad, and lemonade.  So that's what we had for dinner.  Well, except for the lemonade.  We didn't realize we were out of lemonade colored flavored sugar water so we had grape colored instead.

I don't think I ate any of it.  Lucky and I weren't feeling very well that day.

Yesterday, November 8, was Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day.  We had spaghetti with garlic bread. 

Since it was also Bram Stoker's birthday, Jeremy took some pictures of bat boxes while he was out birding.

It was election day and it took less time voting than we were expecting.  We got an early start and took turns and still got done before the kids went to school.  I was expecting the whole day to be taken up with voting but I was okay that it wasn't.  So then we took turns birding.
I was still not feeling the best, but it was good to get out in the fresh air and at times just listen to birds.  I did a lot of sitting, but one of the times I was standing taking pictures of black-capped chickadees, one flew right at me and almost landed on me.  Unfortunately I was looking through the camera at the time so the fluttering by my hand and head completely surprised me and I flinched.  I think I surprised the chickadee, too.

I love birds.

You know you're a birder if...

Your 2-year old sees a video you're watching and asks, "What's that?"
You say, "A bird."
He replies, "Is that a house finch?"
You excitedly affirm that it is indeed a house finch.

Space Sandwiches

So... astronauts on the space station don't use bread because of too many crumbs that don't just fall on the floor like on Earth but float around, so when they want to make a peanut butter and honey sandwich, they use a tortilla.
So for Sandwich Day on November 3, we ate "space sandwiches."  Peanut butter on tortillas folded over.  We didn't have honey on them this time.

That night I went to Girls' Night, but I forgot to take a camera.  Sigh.  We had chocolate.  Lots of chocolate.  And lots of socializing.  And we watched a movie.  And it was great.
O.K.  Since I didn't take a camera, you'll just have to visualize it.  Brownies, cookies, chocolate cream pie, a spicy chocolate bar which our friend taught us how to smell and feel and really taste (she's been to chocolate tastings before), sugar cookies, crackers and cheese (thank goodness for something not sweet and chocolate to temper the sweets), and water to drink.  That's all I can think of.  I'm sorry if I forgot anything.  It was great and again well needed.  I love Girls' Night.  But I stayed up way too late and I'm exhausted today.  Ugh.
On another note about yesterday, Jr. Jr. and I took Nichole to dance class.  I let them each take a reasonable amount of Halloween candy in the van.  Jr. Jr. couldn't figure out what a reasonable amount was, but we were in a hurry to get out the door, so he took too much.  Sigh.  At one point after we got there, I saw him with a sucker in one hand and a package of Whoppers in the other.  Yeah, they were both open and he was eating them both. 

Sigh. 
Oh well, I ate a lot of chocolate last night at Girls' Night so I can't complain.

Plan Your Epitaph Day 2016

Just a few we came up with for Plan Your Epitaph Day, November 2:

Here lies Kristin.

She tried to decide which chicken to save

and died of old age.

Here lies Jeremy.

He made one too many jokes 

about his wife's cooking.

The kids would not go to bed.

Now they are dead.

Here lies Kristin.

She almost survived the day.

 

Here lie the kids

Because it is late at night

and they're asleep. 

Let's Go Hiking!

One day last week, I wanted to get some fresh air after Jr. Jr. went to school.  I wanted to go someplace close but where I might do some birding.  Jeremy suggested a few places including Battle Creek Falls area since someone had mentioned there was an American Dipper that had been hanging out at a certain body of water along the trail.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to go up there or one of the trails lower down, but Lucky came up to me and said, "Let's go hiking!"  He was so cute about it, I couldn't say no.

It was wonderful bonding time with that little guy.  We enjoyed hiking in the Fall colors.

Aah, too much sun.

That's better.

Lucky had fun being silly.

 And cute.

We did get to see the American Dipper and Lucky was very careful not to throw rocks in the water until it flew away.

He was very happy to have permission to throw rocks in the water, though.

It was a good Fall hike.