Sensory Overload

Ok, if your Thanksgiving was anything like ours, chances are you're still full. Speaking of which, chances are if you hit the 'Next Blog' link at the top of this page, you'll land on something Thanksgiving-related, so I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say, for the eight of us, we had approximately 70 pounds of food (pre-cooked weight... seriously, I figured it out) which is close to the weight of both of my kids combined... or say, my two dogs and my son... or half of my wife.... or 266.667 Loverboy albums (on vinyl, without the jacket), which are enough Loverboy albums to burn one every weekday for an entire year, if I took off a few holidays.... that'll 'Turn You Loose' you son of a bitch, and your leather pants too.
Sorry about that. Little pent-up hair-band anger.
...and yes, I did indeed get up at four in the morning to go shopping for one of those 'doorbuster' day after Thanksgiving sales. I'm finally one of those people, mock me if you must, laugh if you want to cause chances are I won't be able to hear you while I'm sitting in front of my big-ass new plasma TV I got at four in the morning for less than half price. So there.
We spent the rest of our long holiday weekend doing goofy weekend stuff. Sam had his first playdate with someone from his class, we spent some time at the park and the library, watched a few movies - and the coolest bit of all, took the 'Santa Train' into the city. For those of you who aren't on the SEPTA R5 line, the Santa train is a once a year ride that takes you from the suburbs into Philly on a regular commuter train all decked out with Christmas decorations, roving elves making balloon animals, and a three piece band complete with a tuba roaming up and down the aisles (I only mention that because it is really funny watching a guy playing a tuba trying to walk up and down the aisles of a train filled with kids and balloons while playing an enormous tuba). I have to admit, after getting up at four in the morning, I wasn't really looking forward to a train ride into the city with the kids. Once we got on the train though, I had a really good time. Big goody bags kept the kids occupied, and everyone singing and laughing every time the tuba got stuck on a luggage rack made for a pretty cool ride... I was almost jolly.
One thing we discovered over the weekend - both of the kids are bad at times, but there is one little difference. Most of the time, both of the kids are pretty well behaved. When Sam has his moments, he is bad because he is in a crappy mood and lets you know it... but when Lily is bad, she is just so damn funny it's hard not to laugh at her. Trouble, I tell ya, we're in for trouble.

Frankenstein, the Butterfly Princess, and the Cephalopod

Ok, so lets see... barrels of stuff has happened since last I blogged. Am I going to tell you about it? No. No I'm not. Why, you ask? Well, for one, I don't have that much time on my hands... and two, most of it just isn't funny.

We did have a pretty freakin cool Halloween though. I have to tell you, I love Halloween. Loved it when I was a kid just for pure candy sake, but now it's even better. The kids are hysterical to watch (we had two different Halloween parades to go to, and a Halloween party before we even got to the trick-or-treating part) and I still get candy out of the deal. Neither of them like nuts, so during the mass candy sorting at the end of the night, Sara and I will go through the pile and pick out anything nutty - including the supreme ruler of all candies, the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. My secret plan is to never EVER let them have one until they move out of the house... that way, they won't realize the pure majesty of the Cup until long after they can't take them out of my secret Cup stash. In case you haven't gotten it yet, I really love those things. Some candies come close, but the Cup has no equal... I've actually written in my will that before I am buried I would like to be encased in sweet peanut butter, and sealed with a thin layer of chocolate complete with those sharp little ridgy edges. To sum up, Halloween - hysterical. The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - delicious.

Oh, yeah, I was so consumed in the Cup I forgot to actually write about Halloween. Since my sister wrote a total of FIVE blog posts about Halloween (yes, you read that right - 5) I don't actually think I can capture the magic like she did, so I'll just tell you - Sam was Frankenstein, complete with neck bolts... Lily was not a butterfly, not a princess, but a Butterfly Princess, which apparently makes me a Monarch. (ha! I've been waiting years to use a sovereign ruler / butterfly joke...) Sara had a big egg costume, and I had a bacon suit (I've also been waiting years to dress up as bacon) Good times...

Jump forward a couple of weeks, and you know what occurred to me this morning? Don't really care what you do, my job is occasionally better than yours. Why you ask? This morning I spent about half an hour cleaning octopi.... sweet. Writing it, sounds a bit odd, but really, if I'm ever in a bad mood, throw a pile of octopus at me and it'll fix everything. Love em... almost as much as the Cup... really. It's therapeutic, cleaning the 'pus. Plus, I get to pick at them after they've been cooking for a while, right when they're perfect... right when the water turns to a dusty rose, and the tentacles that for a while curled up as fierce as they were when they were alive start to relax... mmmmm... lovely.

Oh, and a little bonus photo, a shot of the kids walking ahead of me in the mall.... flippin' adorable...