So I just sent five kids off in their Halloween costumes for a night of trick or treating.

There was The Convict:

The Grim Reaper and The Mummy:

The Ghost and the Cowgirl:

(In order: Boy - 11, THCTD - 10, Fiver -6, Bulk - 8, and Bitty Girl -9).

And in other news, I signed up for NaNoWriMo for this year!  This will be my fourth year, YAY!

Now to think of something to write ...

First day of school mommy blues

So ... yeah.  First day of school.

My kids (five of them, ages 11 down to 6) have been driving me mad all summer.  See they LOVE school.

This is a good thing, of course.  All five are - despite my dumb-arsed blunderings - very good students.  Boy and Bitty have never been off the honour roll, ever, and Boy, Bitty, and Bulk (say that three times fast) are all in AGP (advanced / gifted blah, blah, blah). THCTD is a consistant A/B student and tests well. She just skates riiiiight under the line to be AGP.

Oh and did I mention that one (Bitty) is autistic (PDD NOS) and three of them are Dyslexic (THCTD, Bitty, and Bulk).  Bulk suffers the most - sometimes flipping whole words mirror image when he writes them - AND he has attention issues.

Yet they are all happy, well adjusted, keen students.

Wow.  How did Bodog and I do this?!

Both of us were mediocre students at best.  I could do English and Science passably without studying at all (and so I did not) and struggled with maths so badly i had to be tutored at one point and take summer school at another.  I hated school.

So when my freshly minted middle schooler, Boy, acted nervous this morning, I was floored.  After all, I have taken him to class the first day of school for 6 years now and walked blithely away, leaving him - and me - relaxed and confident.  This morning he was clearly upset and acted as if he was on the verge of tears.

WTF?

Long story short, I told him I loved him and I left.  Like I always do.  I despise those moms who cling and cry and beg their kids to be brave - whether it's first day of school or getting a shot at the doctors office - thus upsetting their kids even more and perpetuating another generation of crybabies and drama queens.  You gotta learn to stand on your own two feet.  The folks at the middle school will take good care of my boy, I'm sure.  I want to mother him but like the professor in Pokemon always says "there's a time and a place for everything, but not now!"

Have a good day, guys.  Momma loves you!

L to R; Fiver (yes he asked me to put his hair up like that), Bulk, Boy, Bitty Girl, and The Human Crash Test Dummy,

Finally!

I finally finished my slouchy hat that was taking me forever:

I really have no time to crochet, though.  It's awful!  My problem is that I cant seem to crochet and do anything else simultaneously.  I can't crochet and read (that would be awesome!) and I can barely crochet and watch a film on Netflix or Amazon.  When I try I end up missing stitches or some salient plot point. *sigh*

So can you multitask with crochet?  Does the skill come with time?

Oh, well.  Now I can start my Dr Who scarf!  Geekgasm!

(Official BBC pattern for the 4th doctors scarf from season 15 here.  This is the one I'm using.)

If you love Dr Who you might also like the freaky, geeky, and downright odd gifts from Evil Genius Tees!

Free is fabulous!

Just a couple of pics of some recent freebies:

I scored this pair of ... what are they called? Beach shoes?  Pool shoes? for FREE and they were in my size!  Only drawback ... they're pink.(Yes those are my fat feet. I was a size 81/2 before five kids and 150lbs of lard gained and lost. *sigh* now I wear a TEN! Oh, and that's my 35lb kettlebell.)

They're not VFFs but it's better than *shudder* conventional thick / hard soled shoes that are death on your feet!  I now only wear flip flops, pool shoes, moccasins, my mock Crocs (when it's cold and wet) and my new Invisible Shoes (pics up when the weather gets warmer!)

(*snort* Blimey, am I the height of fashion or what?  Sweatpants, white socks, and pool shoes. Wal Mart here I come!)

I also got these:

Three dozen pink roses.  Out of a dumpster.  Awesome.  My dumpsters love me!

And now, a completely gratuitus pic of my youngest son, Fiver:

Known as "the melonhead" for a reason.  Look at that noggin!

His cast came off Monday, BTW and the Ortho said the bones look great. *whew*  Of course he also said: "keep him off of high objects and don't let him play rough for a week or so." Both Bodog and I burst into laughter.

Have you gotten any cool freebies lately?  What about my Paleo tweeps?  Free meat?  Yard sale minimal footwear?  Thrift store weights?  Tell me about them!

Mrs Evil Genius - filmmaker

*whew* Busy!

Just wanted to duck in and say that I wasn't dead. :D

I've been having a ball with my new toy (actually a lovely and thoughtful xmas gift to EGH from TypeA SIL) a Flip camera.

Check out my v. first effort - an under-our-house romp by EGH - then go over to The Chi of Cheese blog/vlog and center your cheesy energy and seek the Way of the Cheese (and peruse the reviews on vid).

Making movies is so much fun! And time consuming ...

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In more mundane news I am now within 10lbs of my goal weight! I have lost just over 120lbs since mid March (2007)! I am SO CHUFFED!

In case you're interested, here's my post on my diet. I plan to do a lot more stuff on dieting, I think. Assuming I get two seconds to rub together. *rolls eyes*

I have decided one thing and it's this: You should never diet to LOOK better.

Diet to FEEL better; diet to increase your chances of being around to annoy your kids longer; heck, diet because smaller sizes cost less. But never diet so you'll look better. Cuz, y'know what? We all get old. And no amount of paste and paint, lotions and ointments, fad diets and fab fashions - and even surgery - will stop the process.

After a while everyone looks old.

The best you can do is be fit and happy. I personally want to be 85 years old and stomping determindly (if slowly) around my barnyard in my print granny dress, apron, and wellington boots whilst EGH sits in the house playing the latest incarnation of online gaming (probably brought about in virtual 3-D by an implant in ones head).

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And now, the gratuitus baby pics!

International cracker thief, The Human Crash Test Dummy (caught here on security camera), waits impatiently while technical expert, Fiver, rewires the door to the London National Bank of Bickies in an attempt to open it:

Meanwhile, weapons expert, Bitty Girl disguises black ants as bank patrons so they can sneak in unnoticed and plant tiny explosives:

Just another average day at the Secret Hidden Lair.

Ramen love and Drama hate!

Just a few silly pics of The Brood enjoying some ramen noodles I made as a quick side for some broiled chicken.

Boy helps out his fork:

Bitty Girl and The Human Crash Test Dummy eat like young ladies. Sort of. Note the fancy cutlery work on THCTD's part.

The Incredible Bulk eschews cutlery:



Ditto Fiver, but at least he's eaten his green beans and chicken:


Well, let me get back to work. I've nothing to distract me now that I've abandoned my bulletin board due to high drama. *rolls eyes*

What? Oh, hell yeah, I'll share the story with ya, lol.

Get this: I apparently (read: supposedly) offended another board member with what was intended as a light-hearted college football rivalry joke.

Now, what would YOU do if you're on a bulletin board and come accross something offensive? I always immediately question it - that is, I ASK the person if she meant it that way. Especially if I don't know her (and understanding how nuances get lost with written media).

But this chick, instead of just going "whoa, I hope you didn't mean that seriously, cuz I found that offensive" (in which case, I would have apologised immediately) - climbs up on her high horse and pronounces down her nose that she went to that school and she's not that stereotype and we shouldn't bandy that sort of thing about lest we suddenly devolve into folks who think the 'n' word is acceptable.

I'm sorry? Excuse me?

The whole implication that my making a college rivalry joke meant that I really thought it was literally true, really shocked me and hurt my feelings.

So, I tried to make a joke and she tried to make me feel bad because SHE is hypersensitive.

I failed. She succeeded.

The amusing bit was that she condescendingly told me that her simply disagreeing with me didn't make her reaction ugly. Uh, no, honey. You're overreacting and being a pissy bitch; you are being ugly. Hello!

Ahh, well, there's always one or two on every bulletin board, I guess. *sigh* I just wish they'd stay off of that one. I haven't decided if I'm going back as my threshold for self-absorbed drama queens is low.

Blimey. Most of those folks were my friends and I miss them already. It's quite an eclectic group, clever and (usually) full of humour.

Jeez. How sad is it that those folks are the only adults I 'speak' with (aside from EGH) sometimes for days at a time?

Did I roll eyes yet? Did I?