The boys went trick-or-treating and came home with a nice little stash. Aunt Jenn came with us since Daddy is in Iowa this week. We got lucky– after two streets, Max was ready to go home and look at all of his candy.

Last year, I ran out of candy and had to ‘borrow’ a little from the boys’ buckets before turning out the porch light. This year, I thought I was being smart by buying about twice as much candy. This is where Murphy’s Law kicks in– we got like ten trick-or-treaters. I’m glad I didn’t buy more chocolate, because I have ZERO willpower when it comes to chocolate. Resisting Smarties is much easier.

I slept last night– the first real sleep I’ve had since last Tuesday. I guess my body finally just gave up and decided to go back to sleep after coughing fits. Today has been a little easier, though I still feel like I could use a week-long nap.

Happy thing: getting to see friends on Sunday. I needed that!
Not-so-happy thing: repairs to the minivan to the tune of $850. Ouch.

I am SO GLAD that I spent 45 minutes cleaning up the boys’ playroom this morning. Every single ball from the ball pit was put away, each puzzle piece placed in the correct puzzle, every one of their sixteen million Hot Wheels placed tenderly into the car bin. I even sorted the wooden train tracks by shape, putting them in separate bins so they could be found easier– so beautifully OCD!

2 hours later, inspired by Max’s howls of “the playroom is SO CLEAN!!!” — it’s been destroyed. I just heard them dump out the biggest toybox. The balls have been spread out again. The train tracks? Built into a nice formation and then scattered on the floor. I should know better, really. At least they’re having fun.

Yesterday afternoon we managed to cover the living room in paper scraps… but it was worth it. We put together several robots from ReadyMech, and some trucks from Boooon City.

Insomnia visited again last night, and it’s just not fair. I want to get well… I need that sleep. I feel sad, for some reason, and like something bad is going to happen. I don’t know what is looming, but I don’t like it. Josh’s mom is in the hospital. Josh is flying home tonight. A friend is flying in from Boston today. My sister is getting her wisdom teeth taken out today. We almost got hit by another car while taking Max to school today. Another friend is flying to Missouri tomorrow. Lots of little things, you know? Of course, I’m also on edge because I’m sick, I’ve not slept much, and umm, well, I’m trying to stay sane in the land of motherhood.

Max has a carnival at his preschool today– petting zoo, face painting, the works. He’s also excited because he gets to eat lunch at school, which is a treat. I made bread last night so he could take a PB&J sandwich. :) Here’s his costume, and then a picture of what Khai did while we assembled all of the trucks and robots yesterday:

Last night’s post has disappeared into the ether– I know Josh did some server upgrades and such, so maybe he ended up having to restore from a backup somehwere in there. I’ve not been able to get in touch with him today, so the world may never know. At least not until tomorrow.

I know it was there this morning, because I got a reply notification via email… but everything was gone by the time I went to the page itself. Sigh.

Anyway, I’ll reiterate the links I’d posted, because they’re worth sharing. I don’t remember where some of them came from– I have a bad habit of opening new tabs a dozen at a time, then looking through them when I get the chance. No breadcrumbs that way. Sorry.

First, who doesn’t need a Halloween Smoke Machine Robot for the front yard?

Flock is a new browser that keeps popping up all over the place. It ties in with Flickr, del.icio.us and makes blogging a snap, too. I hope I’ve got some time in the near future to play with it.

Customizable stamps! Hopefully, I’ll remember to take a cute photo of the boys to turn into a stamp for Xmas cards. Seriously, I get panicky thinking about it (less than two months now) and we’re not even doing presents for anyone except the kids and Josh’s mom and sister. Which is one of the reasons we’re not doing more presents. It’s not supposed to be stressful. [This one’s from Lifehacker– thanks, Amy!]

Paper Forest is a great paper crafting site. In particular, I loved the paper trucks that Amy posted about recently.

More paper madness: Paper Source makes me giddy. I love paper– the texture, the color, the pattern. I want to order three of everything.

This entry was written by a friend of Tracey’s, and it’s been bouncing around in my brain since I read it. I keep thinking about it, and so here it is so you can think about it, too. Also, be sure to check out Sweetney.com– it’s always, always a good read.

More paper, and more robots! From boingboing: ReadyMech robots to print, cut out, and assemble. I think this will be the boys’ craft project today.

Max is going to start speech therapy next week– half an hour each Tuesday afternoon. Afterwards, I’ll have fifteen minutes or so to discuss and assess the exercises we’ll be doing at home. I’m excited for him– it’s so hard seeing him get frustrated.

We have to pick up some toys, fold some laundry, and then make some paper robots!

Why does feeling sick make me want to whine? It doesn’t make anything better. Hopefully some rest will help; everything hurts at the moment.

I worked on the boys’ capes for their superhero costumes today, though I was tempted to just curl up in a ball on the floor and sleep. Ha! They’d never let me do that… it would be an invitation for them to climb on me, or pretend that mom is a soccer ball, or to drive cars and trucks over the mom-mountain. I opted to stick with the plan, and now their capes are done. I had much better luck this year than last year… all of my fingers are intact! The superhero logos come next, and with any luck I’ll be completely done tomorrow.

Apparently, I jinxed Halloween with the blogging of my costume plans. It looks as if there will be no partygoing this weekend. Cue the whining! At least I didn’t make the dress– I’d be even more sad to have the costume but nowhere to go.

I’m going to bed now. It hurts to breathe. Whine, ouch, whine, ouch.

Someone has been sitting on the remote control… the entire weekend was in fast-forward.

Friday afternoon we took a trip to ride the Pumpkin Express. Khai slept through the entire train ride, whistle and all, and Max was literally shivering with excitement. We played in the haybale maze, jumped in the bouncehouses, and climbed on giant pumpkins. We did not, however, buy any pumpkins there– they were $10 EACH! Ummm, no thank you. We bought $3 pumpkins on the way home, instead.

Somehow, I’ve managed to snag the greatest husband. Evidence: on Friday night he gave me a massage, oil and all. My back and neck really needed that. Then on Saturday, he watched the boys while I spent several hours with Katie, working on her framed paper sculptures. I arrived home to a clean house, and not only were the dishes all done, but laundry had been started, too. Oh, frabjous day!

Being in close proximity to these sick kids has finally caught up with me– I’ve been pretty miserable today. It’s finally cold outside, but I’m not enjoying it as much as I should be since I’m kind of cold and shivery on my own. Bleh. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

All other semi-deep thoughts are masked now by the bed calling my name. Tomorrow should be cancelled in favor of Sunday, Part II. We could all sleep in…

Current temperature: 56 degrees. Expected high: 76 degrees. WOOO-HOOOO!

The laundry has been folded, the living room vacuumed, the kitchen swept, the dishes done, the toys picked up, 2 loaves of zucchini-walnut-cranberry bread are in the oven, and the boys are happily running around, yelling and screaming all the while. I wonder why I’m tired.

Much of my musical influence comes from my parents– it seems there was always music playing, and not just on the stereo, but live in the living room. Dad always had his guitar in hand, and mom played everything from Carole King to ragtime on the piano. They had a banjo, an accordian, an autoharp, tambourines, rhythm sticks… it’s a miracle that I came out of that without any musical talent. They also sang together often, and even still, hearing that makes me so happy. There are so many good memories wrapped up in that sound. There was a lot of folk music in their repertoire, which is probably why I like that style…. and why I mysteriously know the words to so many old folk songs.

Enter Jonathan Coulton, folky geeky rock music master. Lyrically, I can only put him in a TMBG-esque category, which is an honor. ;) His songs are available under a Creative Commons license, which allows you to download and share them for free… though it’s good form to drop a couple of dollars into the bucket. I really like the IKEA song (maybe, as I told the Reverend, more than I like IKEA itself), and That Spells DNA. Also worth the download is Coulton’s cover of Baby Got Back. Yay, new music! [via RevJim.net… thank you!]

This morning I stumbled on This Bird Has Flown (turn your speakers down before you click!), which is a Beatles tribute album that celebrates the 40th anniversary of Rubber Soul, one of my favorites. I was excited to see both Ben Lee and Ted Leo on the list– and that each of their songs are available individually via iTunes. [via kottke.org]

My hubby is on an airplane this very moment, en route from Pittsburgh. Hooooooray for him fnishing his week up early… we’re ready to have him back home with us for a few days.

When I die, I want to be freeze-dried. Then what’s left can be taken up into the Colorado mountains (around El Weaveno Ranch, near Del Norte, please) and buried. Plant a tree on me! An Aspen would be lovely. [via boingboing]

I wrote a long post earlier, only to have the laptop crash! Rawr.
The breakfast dishes have yet to be done, and there’s laundry to fold. Some days I just DON’T WANNA. Okay, *most* days. But I do it anyway. The rewriting of the long post will have to come later.

Khai the Naked Toddler has not worn any item of clothing for more than an hour today, and then only because we were at the grocery store.

His said his khaki pants were hurting him, so off they came. Along with his shirt and socks, of course. He chose to wear his swimming trunks, and thinking that he might keep them on since he chose them himself, I let him. No! Fifteen minutes later, they were on the floor. He walked around in his diaper for a while, and then I convinced him during a diaper change that clothes might be okay. This time he picked some jammies. Fine, whatever. Ten minutes… they’re on the floor, too.

But… he used his little potty just now. *beaming* He shouted, “I DID IT, MOMMY!”

That somehow kind of erases the clothes thing for the day. :)