Nothin' Like A Deal

While Lorelai took her nap this afternoon, I spent about an hour online searching for deals on toys.
Then...
Look what we found in the GARBAGE during our walk this afternoon:

Thanks, Kate

I was watching Jon and Kate tonight, and Kate perfectly put into words how I was feeling on Halloween. Lorelai was NOT listening to me when I was trying to take her picture and she ended up skinning her knee.
In the episode, one of the boys wasn't listening and ran off from the group...he then promptly fell and hit his head...hard!
Kate: "Sometimes God has built-in punishments."
This one is sure to become a staple in my parenting quotes list.

Proposals...

I know that the presidential election is the talk of the town...but I haven't heard many rumblings about the proposals that we Michigan residents also voted on.
One proposal was about medical mary jane...Proposal 2 was about stem cell research.
Both were approved.
Regardless of what you believe to be right or wrong concerning each of these issues, there were some SERIOUS issues with the content/wording in each of these proposals.
I am not in anyway stating my concern out of a lack of sympathy for sick people in need of relief or a cure.
I am quite sad for Michigan residents.
At least the veterans of Michigan will be getting an extra 1.2 million, thanks to that proposal passing. God bless them!

I Go Girl

Since we bought our condo new, it came with many builder's grade items, a.k.a. "crap". One of the first things we decided we would upgrade was the lighting in the kitchen. We have lived here for 5 years...guess what we JUST did this weekend!
I really like doing home improvent projects myself...great sense of accomplishment, money savings, and usually better results. I looked on as Tim installed the pendant light over the sink...but when it came time to install the new track light at the VERY HIGHEST point in our condo (about 14 feet), I decided I wanted a piece of the action.
Don't ask me why, but we only invested in a 6 foot ladder...you'd think with 14 foot ceilings we would have gotten something bigger. So, when it came time to work on the track lighting, we had a bit of a predicament. We solved this problem by propping the ladder up on the 4 dining room chairs. We also inserted planks of wood under the ladder legs to steady it...it still wasn't steady enough, so we also inserted 2 of lorelai's sesame street books under the legs. OSHA would have been proud, huh?
Once our ladder was "properly" rigged, I stepped up on it with the intent of doing a good chunk of the work.
I made it half way up and new there was NO way I could go up any further. It's one thing to stand on a shaking ladder, but to stand up on a shaking ladder on the step that says "this is not a step" AND have to use both your hands to work on something over your head (without hanging on) is a completely different thing.
Ugh! Defeat!
Here is Tim being his typical hero self:

And, just to toot Tim's horn even more, there was actually a point when he stood on the very top of that ladder. Why he never had a stint in the circus is beyond me.
Once we got the new lights installed, we spent 10 minutes going back and forth about how each of the 4 lights on the track should be aimed. I have to admit, it is great to finally have some light cast on our dining room table! Our lighting situation was so shoddy that guests actually started making comments, such as, "I have some lamps in my basement...would you like them?" So, I was geeked to finally have a nice bright fixture!
Tim's respone?
"I had a feeling these lights would be too bright...we need to install a dimmer switch."
Is there any kind of test you can take to see if you are part vampire?
Anyway, regardless of my inability to agree with Tim, I was on board with the dimmer switch idea because I will not say no to ANY kind of home upgrade we can possibly do. We picked up the dimmer switch that evening at Lowe's. It looks quite a bit like this one:

While Tim was out of town last night, the bag from Lowe's with the dimmer switch in it caught my eye. "Hmm...I bet I could install that!"
For the record, I have never attempted any electrical work solo and have minimal training. I figured I'd take a look at the directions to see how in depth the installation would be...and when I saw that they were pretty much on the skill level of a chimpanzee, I dove right in. After Lorelai went to bed, I cut power to the kitchen and got to work. I will admit that for the first 10 minutes, I was really nervous that I'd get electrocuted...but in the end I just told myself that even if I did get zapped, it would happen so fast that I wouldn't even have time to react.
I'm still not sure why that was comforting.
Anyway, we now have a brand new dimmer switch that works perfectly!
I also have a bit more girl power.

Halloween

Notice Lorelai's skinned knee...she sustained the injury while resisting to have her photo taken. I don't want to sound mean...so, you can just read my mind to see how I feel about that.
Notice also that the pirate in this picture demanded that eyeliner be part of his get up. Wow.


Hmm...let's see...this little girl is wearing a letter sweater and poodle skirt...looks to me like a 50's costume...yet, I still had a guy say "Oh! It's a sorority girl!"
Huh?


We had lots of fun trick or treating...as always. I'm a huge fan of Halloween and I look forward to the day we have our own house...so that I can go so over the top decorating that the neighbors think I'm nuts.

#594

Tim, Lorelai, and I went voting together this morning. I really looked forward to this as a family event. My parents always instilled in me the importance of voting by discussing whom they were voting for and by taking me to the polls if they could.
We had to wait an hour in line, but, luckily, Lorelai was pretty well behaved. I can honestly say I would have stood in line all day just to color in that little circle for each of the people I hope to see win. I proudly colored in each of my choices on the front of the ballot and then the back...and then I turned that ballot over and colored in my choice for president with extra ink just because I am SO in love with my choice.
Last time I voted for president, I think I went to bed with an upset stomach...I was so worried about what the outcome of the election would be and I felt VERY strongly that my choice was THE proper choice.
There are about 5 hours left until the first polls close in the US, and already I'm sipping on a double strong cup of tension tamer tea. It could also be said that the big mac I had for lunch was comfort food.
Just doing my civic duty.