I just don’t have it in me to blog lately. We have had the stomach flu (or something with similar symptoms) and well, life has just been so crazy that I haven’t wanted to share. Today I have been industriously cleaning my house in hopes that it will carry over to the rest of my life. While there have been a few external pressures that have been stressful; I also feel like it is a chance to take stock and set some goals to hopefully make life a little better from here on out. Allow me to share and promise a project in a few days.

1. Write down what I eat. (Not so much as a diet thing as a “getting control over anything I can actually control” thing.)

2. Pick up toys before dinner. (This is a perenial goal for me. I just think it would be nice for Mike to come home to a clean house-again still.)

3. Tell the girls one thing that I appreciated/liked about them during the day. Mike mentioned yesterday that I tell Emily she is cute more often than Megan. It made me realize that I need to make more of an effort with Meg. Emily tends to cuddle up to me, making it easy to share these things. I think this will be a genuine and meaningful way of letting the girls know how much I love them. It also seems like a nice bedtime ritual, something that I can share in a quiet moment. We’ll see how that goes.

One good thing about life is that I am painting again. (A benefit of taking a break from the book stuff.) I am really excited about what I am doing and look forward to sharing pictures soon. Now, there is a microwave waiting to be cleaned…

I love Halloween! With Mike’s birthday a few days before, this week is a par-ty! We added to the fun this year with a scary sized project of scraping and painting our giant chicken coup garage. We finished the manual labor in time to jet off to a night of partying, tricking, and treating. (Which, of course the girls took to with zeal.) Emily got her first couple of pieces of candy and wouldn’t let them go. She didn’t even want to put them in her bag. After a few houses, she realized that everything in the bag was hers and she was in. (Okay, everything is hers but the stuff we steal out of it. Come on, you know you do it too. It’s for their own good, they shouldn’t eat all of that junk.)

Here they are in all of their cuteness:

Meg as Sleeping Beauty for the 2nd year in a row.

Emily as a “pretty kitty”

Happy Halloween!