Pumpkin Carving

YAY! It hasn't taken me months to get these pictures up. We did our pumpkins on Tuesday, so not quite a week.

You only see 3 pumpkins, because someone stole Elijah's pumpkin right off the porch.

I can't believe they took it and were that desperate to get a pumpkin.

We let the boys paint their pumpkins.

We'd rather not let them play with knives just yet.

Ernie helping paint the little pumpkins that were suppose to be bats.

I didn't get the right paint, it kept peeling off.

Ernie being....

...I don't know. Ernie?

So it's getting better...(and another nice desktop pic)

It appears to be looking up for me.

Although I still have some issues, like credit card bills that are wrong, the van still needs to be fixed, and the furnace broke.....

Things are starting to look up.

I met recently with the Head of the Nursing Dept. She said I have enough credits to apply for the nursing program. So this is the last section (class) they are having for the ADN. I had a meeting with an adviser at Galen. So I will be applying to that school also. So pray that I get accept into the ADN for either school.

I will be putting in applications for BSN at multiple schools also. Although I'd really prefer just to get my associates.

Upcoming pictures include....

...painting pumpkins

...Halloween costumes (which I made their capes)

...some random pictures from recently

...still want to put some awesome pictures on from vacation (that we took in June.)

Could it get any worse???

Okay, so life occasionally sucks. It has it's ups, it has it's downs. Well mine seems to have been mostly down. There is a great positive side for a few things, but not many.
Negatives....
...This Saturday I leave my children for the first time ever. Overnight without my babies. (Yes, I've cried once already)
...I have NOT been sleeping. As if I don't sleep, I really haven't been sleeping.
...I am buried under so much homework it's stressing me.
...my kids have turned rotten on me. Elijah is official 2 1/2 and the half ages are always the worst. (Yes, that's right. There has been plenty of psych studies to support that too.)
...Elijah got stung by a bee. (He's not allergic, thank goodness. What a way to find out.)
...I write papers and print them and leave them at home.
...I forget we have quizzes and tests.
...I lost my wallet.
...I got DRENCHED coming home from school the one night. It didn't even rain around my house though.
...I found out I'm one credit hour short of being able to apply for the nursing program here. Adviser didn't know what she was talking about, so it screwed me. So I have to figure out what I'm doing.
...I have to write 3 papers by Friday evening.
...I have had swollen glands in my neck for almost 3 weeks and now on my second round of antibiotics. The first doctor was great, second doctor was an idiot. I'm officially over the doc's at my GHA office. (Another reason to stick with reading fam practice)
...My headaches have come back full force.
...I can't loose the weight I need to get back into my jeans. (Although recently I have lost 7 lbs, you just can't see where it went from. My face?) And I'm cheap and have refused for over 2 years now to buy new clothes.
...I'm finally giving in to buying new jeans. :(
...the internet hasn't been working at school real well, so I haven't been able to do my research paper.
...my van needs a new cv joint. Which is just another thing I have to fix and pay for.

That's all my whining for now. But I do have a lot of positives. Jesus loves me. Ernie loves me. He supports me. My boys may be rot and back talking me, but they are healthy and wonderful joys. I have great friends all around me. I'm alive.

I'm a feminist?!?!?!

Emily, step back! You have gotten to close! Maybe you've rubbed off on me.

I have come to realize, that quite possibly, I am a closet feminist.

Dictionary.com gives us these definitions:

1.
the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.
2.
(sometimes initial capital letter) an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women.
3.
feminine character.

Now I'm not going to say that I'm a radical feminist, but I am thinking that I'm all about equal rights for women and political and social views for woman. The degrading of women makes me sick. But I am NOT for a woman President, so maybe I'm not a true feminist.

You may ask, Cat, how did you possibly find out you are a feminist? Well, that's a very good question. It's this college comp class I'm taking. And that I think Sarah Palin, kicks some major booty. I think she's a smoking hot mama who totes a gun and some attitude. (Although, like I said, I would not vote her in as President of the U.S.)

Recently I had to write a reading response of a picture, that depicts Hollywood and it's "battle" with weight.

Now I wrote this paper and got a 10/10. I was very impassioned about the pressures put on young woman about being just perfect and stick thin. It disgusts me. Now I'm not saying I don't think about my weight, because I do, but I do NOT want to be so thin I could fly away when someone blows their nose. I think about my weight, because I want to be healthy. I want to be physically fit to be able to enjoy the activities I do enjoy and not just be exhausted. (And I do NOT like being asked if I'm preggo, I enjoy my round tummy, thank you!) Now, I do feel the pressures of being "too fat", but I try and ignore them.

Now we have another Essay due and I'm drawn to write about Dove's campaign For Real Beauty. I think it's a great campaign, but I also think there are a lot of negative things going on out there about it. No, these women do not have any deformities. No these women do not represent the majority of the population, but they are beautiful. And they are "normal". They don't look like a twig. So why berate them because they still aren't "big enough" for the "average woman"? It drives me batty. Go DOVE for stepping out there. Reading their ad campaign empowers me.

(Real Women Have Curves. Firming the thighs of a size 2 supermodel is no challenge. Real Women have real bodies with real curves. And Dove wants to celebrate those curves. Join these six real women who were asked to be in our ad campaign for NEW Dove® Firming. Get to know more about them and their experiences with the campaign. Help by telling more women to stand tall and celebrate their curves.)

I like it! I have curves and I love them! I've got a big ole booty and I know it. (All those black men seem to like it too)

;)

I also like Nike's ad http://www.xihalife.com/bbs/photos/cool/4927.htm No these women are NOT out of shape, that's not what nike is about people. But they are about realistic women that are athletic. These look like the bodies of a true runner/softball/volleyball/tennis player etc. They are REALISTIC! That's the idea.

I enjoy that I'm shapely. I enjoy food! I love to eat! I have no fear going out to a restaurant and ordering the big old sloppy burger while Ernie eats the salad. I have no problem ordering cheesecake and shoveling it down. I have no problem ordering the LARGE cookie dough flurry. I eat healthy most of the time, why not splurge! I also enjoy putting on a dress and having it hug and fit instead of hanging there. (I know, I don't wear dresses, but I like to try them on.) I like NOT being able to see my collar bone clear as day. I enjoy my "thunder" thighs, because they help me run (when I get to it). I like to show off my cleavage I've earned with having 2 babies. If I didn't eat I would probably have none of the above and be bruised and purple all the time. That's so what I dream of.

I wish that society would truly get it together and realize that Hollywood is just a sick and twisted fairytale.

I think I lost the train, but you get the point. And I know all these ads came out years ago, but they still get me going.

First Day of School 2008

My baby is growing up.

He is in preschool now!

He goes to St. Paul's 2 afternoons a week.
I will have you know there was no crying at all.

(I don't really cry.)

These pictures are taken on his first full day ALONE at school.

On the way to school.
Elijah is taking it well that his brother goes to school and he doesn't.

Showing off his new backpack.

When we told him we had to buy him a backpack for school, he instanly responds:

"I want a lightning mcqueen backpack."

So we went to a few stores until we found one.

In front of his new school and playground.

In the hall waiting for the door to open.

We go potty and wash our hands before we go in.

We turn our dirty hand over to clean outside the class!

My son is such a suck up.

He loves his teacher.

When asked to sit down before leaving,

He plopped right by his teacher.