Another Great One

As always, Halloween did not disappoint. 

Since I was working on Saturday night, I didn't get to go all out in costume and celebrate my favorite holiday but I did get to spice up the LBD a little bit.

Aiden began celebrating on Friday by going Trick-or-Treating at Grandma Deiker's office so his candy stash was well on its way by the end of the weekend. Aunt Dana even brought home a pair of Vampire fangs from her Halloween party for him to play with.

He is so spooky!

On Halloween night we went Trick-or-Treating in Randalicious' neighborhood (where I used to go) for the first time. Aiden was so independent and all "big boy" about the whole thing.

He rang all the door bells by himself, said "Trick or treat!" and "Happy Halloween" and lots of "Thank you's"

There was one house though that was just a little too spooky for him, so he took Daddy to the door with him.

All night he was great about holding hands and staying on the sidewalk. I was personally impressed by how many parents were out and volunteer safety patrols.

Aiden was so funny, when he passed a group of parents who said, "Spiderman, COOL!" He silently, coolly looked up at them and shots some imaginary spidey-webs at them. I don't know who thought it was funnier.

As we walked away I whispered to Steve, "Our kid is such an effing B-A"

On an even more amusing note, I decided to participate in Jimmy Kimmel's You Tube Challenge this year --

"Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I told my kid I ate all their Halloween candy"

Enjoy the results knowing, I promptly gave him a piece afterward because I felt so bad.

Creepy Croup Monster

I would say Aiden's cough began maybe Thursday. It was slight and rare. On Friday evening it was more pronounced as we were both partaking in a game called "sleep even though you can't breathe." And by Saturday afternoon, the cookie project I had planned for us (stay tuned for that post) became "Ummm Aiden, maybe you should take your zombie germs in the other room and color and I will let you know when you can come wash your hands 8 times then cut them."

I made plans with one of me besties to FINALLY see Paranormal Activity 3 that night, and asked my sister to babysit -- as long as she was comfortable with Aiden's cough of course. So Aiden hung out with her for a couple hours while I went to the movie.

It was sooooo good. The last 20 minutes was just continual jaw-dropping. Special effects, as per usual, were small, understated, and INTENSE. There was a scene in which it appears one of the children is sneaking up on the babysitter dressed as a ghost - a la white sheet. When the babysitter turns around the sheet collapses on the floor - shnikkies!!

Anyway, Aiden had crashed hard just before I picked him up and so I took the sack of potatoes home. By the time we walked around the block, up 3 flights of stairs and got inside, I decided we were going to be stationary on the couch. He was breathing a little heavy and I was worried about his cough, so call me a creeper but I pretty much sat there listening to him breathe.

Around 4 am he woke up, very agitated, like I have never seen before. Whimpering and crying, and he said, "Help me, cant breathe."

I scooped him up and we sped all the way to Swedish Hospital.

Luckily, the admission people have a soft spot for blonde haired blue eyed babies and got us in to see a doctor right away. Aiden was very cooperative with the doctors and they diagnosed him with Croup -- little did they know Dave already did this, but they wanted to take credit for it.

So next he got a dose of steroids to reduce the swelling in his Larynx (it's viral so no antibiotics) and motrin for his fever, then we just had to sit and wait and see what happened.Unfortunately, Croup gets worse at night for whatever reason - and this steroid treatment isn't something that you can get over the counter so they told us we might have to bring him back.

We got to go home after a few short hours there and tried to get some rest. He did really well most of the day and even spent some time walking around the apartment covered in a white blanket, not saying a word, and creeping me out big time. But as it got closer to bed time he got worse and worse.

Kelly brought us some chicken noodle soup which was so helpful and thoughtful. Turns out, Croup is contagious and Mommies who get it, don't get to sit at home on the couch and watch movies so I got a nice warm meal and after a steam shower we were off to bed....

Boy was it a restless night. If I wasn't coughing Aiden was. We slept with the window open so Aiden could breathe the cold air like the doctor told us, and we spent a couple hours in the bathroom with the shower just running. We watched How to Train Your Dragon and Megamind and when the sun came up it was off to work for Mommy while Aiden when to snuggle up at Grandpa's. This is gonna be a long week for us.

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

I love Halloween. October is when all the scary movies come out. Being scared (while safely in my home and what ever monster is in the box) is a favorite pastime of mine. I crave really good scary books. Even B-rate horror movies do it for me -- don't judge me if I dare say they are my favorite genre.

Anyway, I found out this morning that one of my favorite Stephen King's is coming to TV - mini series style!!

If anyone is as nerdy as I...you will remember that last time this happened (not counting Nightmares & Dreamscapes) was Salem's Lot. Book gave me nightmare's for at least a month and the mini series did it a beautiful justice.

This has me so amped up for Halloween. I even asked my best friend if I could borrow the Salem's Lot mini series to get into the mood. Not that I really need it, because recently watched was 30 Days of Night and Dawn of The Dead...

Hottie Hartnett as a Vampire

Sara Polley fighting off the masses

While zombies are "the in-thing" right now, and I will admit, a personal obsession of mine...they will be around all year round, for years to come. So what I am looking forward to are some seriously chilling ghost stories. Those just don't come along as often.

Which is why I am so looking forward to...

the continued terrifying creepiness that is American Horror Story on FX

Paranormal Activity 3 which will be out in a couple days...

and as soon as I get a free minute I can't wait to catch up on the season 2 premier of Walking Dead

Then to tie me over for a bit, Bucket List Books is slated to read "The Woman In White" by Wilkie Collins for December - highly regarded as the first ever mystery novel.

Awesome sleepless nights ahead :)

Calling All Zombies!!

I got the best news this morning from the World War Z Blog....The movie starts filming in a coupe weeks and they just added Matthew Fox and Ed Harris to the cast (Brad Pitt starring). While not a big fan of Fox, I am so excited to hear about Ed Harris, I have a couple suspicions about which character he will be and I can't hardly sit still waiting to find out for sure. EEEEK!

Post It Pick Me Up

The last few days have been rough, just downright exhausting. I am having a hard time keeping my chin up for various reasons, and Steve, being the little know-it-all that he is, knew that last night I reached a breaking point.

I am constantly surprised at how well he perceives me and my emotions. There are so many areas where we differ so much that anyone might think we are completely incompatible. But there are a few important areas where we mesh perfectly...

A few years ago my beloved Slacker and Steve spent an hour discussing "dating requirements" -- when you enter a new relationship, what "interview questions" are important (ie- credit score? job? kids? etc.) So I formulated my own:

1. Who did you vote for in the last election? This is a trick question, I don't care about the who as much as I care that you voted. I am interested in ideas that are different than mine and more importantly I feel it is important that my generation makes its voice heard.

2. What is your favorite movie? This is extremely telling about a person. Guys who like chick flicks are very in tune with their emotions. Guys who like adventure/blockbusters are spontaneous and very macho. Guys who like thrillers are constantly thinking. Guys who like girls who like grotesque horror movies are the best ;)

3. What is your Zombie Apocalypse Plan? I'm not necessarily concerned with whether you believe Zombies are coming or not but whether you are into the Zombie culture.

4. Who has changed your life most significantly? I am mostly curious whether you will think outside the box or  if you have a touching story about a loved one. If you tell me that an ex ruined your life, you're telling me you are ruined.

Over the years I have learned about Steve in these ways without even asking...He voted in the last election in a way that he felt helped his son the most - how selfless! His favorite movie is The Big Lebowski -- like The Dude, he is laid back and trouble seems to find him. Our Zombie Apocalypse plan is something we have created together and we both agree that if either of us turns, we will kill each other immediately - I know this sounds morbid but you would not believe the huge discussion we had to come to this decision together. I have never asked him who changed his life most significantly because I am not entirely sure he knows at this point. Steve is very focused on the present moment, he doesn't believe in looking back or stressing about what's to come.

So last night, when I totally broke down, he reminded me - all you can do is all you are capable of. Take a step back, take care of yourself and and slow down. It's hard to stop caring when you have been hurt but you only need to care as much about someone else as they did when they hurt you.

And then to cheer me up and help me de-stress, we played the post-it game! I love the post-it game....

Whatcha got there buggie? Sticky notes: "Kane" and "For Sale  -->"

Oh it's worse than we thought! He's been hittin the booze!

No wonder you're "4 Sale" all you do is lay drunk on the couch!

Steve's Post-It

"Fuzzy Wuzzy  -->"

Couch's Post-It "Sofa -->"

Once Kane was roused from his drunk nap he posed with his Post-It

Dexter's first time playing - look how many he got!

Things are looking up today.

Gotta Keep Movin'

As soon as summer break began, it ended - but not without a bang!

This weekend was my best friend's bridal shower, I don't think I have ever been to one before but as I expected, it's mostly eating delicious goodies, opening presents and a silly game or two. What I didn't expect was to have so much enjoyable girl talk with the girls. It seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. There really is no remedy for the blues like a chat with the gals that takes you right back to the summer nights in high school. Sigh.

Bridesmaids enjoying some vino! MOH is too busy explaining the Silly Bandz Game

Bride to be

Roxy!

Naughty Time

After the shower I went out for a couple drinks with one of the girls which I rarely get to do - usually because of lack of funds, lack of time, or lack of sleep. We thoroughly enjoyed a couple "Sex on the Baker Street's" as well as the extremely drunk man dancing to the live 80s music at the back of the bar - his sexy repertoire included bird calls, shaking a bar stool above his head, and very very loud clapping. We also ran into an old friend of mine who I worked with at Elvis and chatted with him for a few minutes but all in all it was low key and I was in bed by midnight.

Good thing because Mother's Day was anything but restful. We had a BBQ at our house and enjoyed the sunshine - no one more than Aiden...

The water was pure mud about 15 minutes in

After some BBQ we went out to Clement Park to meet up with Steve's cousins. The guys played volleyball, the girls chatted over iced-tea, and Aiden dragged Grandpa to the swing set.

Aiden helping his second cousin Charleigh blow some bubbles

Stairs! Slide! Papa!

Showing Papa the bubbles

What a busy day, and a busy end to my little vacation from school. Maymester started yesterday, and it's going to be a BEAR. I was unaware that my critical thinking would be focused in Virgina Woolf - in the form of 7 books, 2 oral presentations, a 6 page paper, and a cumulative final. I was also unaware that one of the available lit classes this summer is The Zombie Renaissance. UGH.

I also spent a great deal of the day yesterday hashing out final plans for a bachelorette party so that one of the other bride's maids and I can write invites tomorrow. It's a little eerie how well things are coming together so quickly, like this might actually be happening in the near future or some crazy thing like that....

Welp - here's hoping I don't take after Virginia anytime soon by putting rocks in my pockets and walking into the river...

In Rare Form

Aiden has begun to explore the many facets of his personality recently. Sometimes he is shy. Sometimes he is loud, so loud your brain could melt. And sometimes he is a downright ham. I figure it's all a matter of figuring out best how to manipulate his parents and get what he wants...

Case in point - Aunt B's birthday party this past weekend. He wanted nothing to do with anyone and he didn't want to eat with the group. Until, that is, the birthday cake made an appearance. And then he flipped his little switch and got himself spoonful after spoonful of frosting...

See the more he appears to pout, the more frosting he gets.

Anyway, Aiden has made the last couple sick days a bit more bearable. He has provided awesome study breaks:

If one thing is for sure, Aiden loves that Boo dog :)

If anything else is certain, it's my through the roof stress levels. This makes no sense because school is done now (for a week) and I should be restful and gearing up for MayMester...

Potential reasons for stress:

1. Finding a new room mate
2. Planning a bachelorette party
3. Finalizing travel plans to NE
4. Cost of living going up, paycheck staying the same
5. No more medical benefits?
6. The fact that everyone seems to be pulling apart

How I plan to cope?

1. Enjoy Aiden's achievements - 6 requests to use the potty by himself in the last week
2. Keep my little fulfillments to myself - bragging doesn't make them any more rewarding, it only makes me a brat

3. Watch as many zombies with Steve as possible in the next 6 days - on the other hand I am really starting to worry about a pending apocalypse...

4. Mother's Day massage?

5. Finish my bookshelf :)

On to the next....

All day my brain has just been totally buzzing! I finished two amazing books last night and while it is bitter sweet to put them back on the shelf for safe keeping I was not disappointed.

First, I know I have been raving since Christmas about The Historian, but I promise to you, for very good reason. If you get the chance - pick it up. It was awesome in a way that I haven't ever experienced before. The closest thing to feeling this way about a book would have to be the Harry Potter series - you dont want to put it down until you finish. Of course this is much more adult but there really is something timeless about the good vs evil theme. This had an interesting element though of time running out vs endless time. Truly, just wonderful.

The image onthe cover is of the real life Vlad Tepes:

He doesn't look as scary as he is portrayed in the novel but he really was one awful dude - yeah the actual person Bram Stroker's Dracula was based on -- not a very nice guy. Anyway, I am really excited for this to hit movie theaters because Kostova said (and I quote) "Something I feel certain about is that Dracula should not be played by a familiar face because it's just not that scary; there's not the true strangeness you'll need in a figure like that with a famous actor." Now Sony just needs to get their butts in gear and get this thing produced!

One major image from the book I just have to share (by image I mean there are no pictures, I found this only after searching it in curiosity). This is St. George battling "The Dragon"

The other book that I finished World War Z didn't even compare to The Historian  but it was still really good because it got me thinking about modern warfare and possible future crises that we are sure to face, as a nation, and eventually as man kind.

Some of the most interesting "interviews" that stood out to me, were those of secrecy and corruption - all the people who were committing horrendous acts of violence and horror against other (non infected) human beings and blaming it on the fear of death by zombies...it didn't seem that far fetched to me. In fact I have a mind to believe that such things are already happening all over the world and the only thing that would change in the face of a crisis is that the rich dont have to pretend they are doing nothing wrong, they just get to do it, because who is going to stop them?

Other things I really liked (which also didn't seem far fetched) were about the will to live. There was a military department called DeStRes - The Department of Strategical Resources which among other things found itself occupied with the need to improve morale among surviors of the zombie war. People would just go to sleep at night with no physical problems and will themselves to die in their sleep. So the DeStRes people would travel all over the place to film survivors in action, taking a stand, then make movies out of hte footage and show them at refugee camps - suddenly those over night death numbers started falling. Really cool.

And I know I am rambling on now but there was one more really cool bit about (North or South?) Korea and how everyone thought before WWZ broke out, that they were planning an aggressive military attack on another country. To prepare they were building underground tunneling systems and cities where they would retreat after beginning their attack. Then suddenly, without attacking, everyone just disappeared. Somehow they knew something was going to happen. The interview is taking place after the majority of war efforts has come to an end and the interviewee is discussing how no one knows where the entrance to the tunnel system is so no one can tell this entire underground population "come on out it's safe now!" But the even creepier part is, what if they did find the entrance and opened it up to have millions of zombies come pouring out after the world has worked to overcome the majority of the zombie problem.

Overall it just really had me thinking about how various governments, populations, social classes, and individuals handle world wide crises and in a lot of ways World War Z is a best possible outcome type of result - especially when compared to "Dawn of the Dead."

Since there are 2 open spots on the night stand now I have picked up The Expedition of Humphry Clinker and for book club The Abstinence Teacher. I also am ready to wrap up The Romantics  - I can't take any extra wedding stuff right now. The girls and I spent hours working on oragami bouquets today, don't get me wrong I love to help and I love crafts but this wedding can't come soon enough, I'm ready to celebrate already...mmmm mmmm mmm wedding cake.