A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Halloween is coming up in a couple of months. Any parents out there dressing up?

You rarely see an adult dressed up for Halloween around here, unless they’re at work. I guess because there aren’t any clubs in the area, people don’t feel the need to get all gussied up in sexy costumes and hit the town. I guess I can see where they’re coming from (although even if I were to find a club to go to, I just don’t see myself wearing anything terribly revealing there).

The last time I dressed up for Halloween was the year before Pumpkin was born. I was working at a discount store, and they allowed us to dress up. I got all decked out as a vampire. I bought a cape, wore a slinky black dress (which I had the body for then), painted my face white with black around the eyes, bright red lipstick, silver jewelry, the whole bit. I even got my hands on some plastic fangs, although I couldn’t bring myself to wear them while I was working. I was afraid I would slobber on the customers.

I’ve considered dressing up to take Pumpkin trick-or-treating, but I don’t know if I will or not. I don’t do much planning for Halloween until after her birthday. That gives me a few weeks, but it never seems to be enough time to put anything together. Maybe this year will be different.

Hope you had a great one! Mine was pretty good, except for a trip to the emergency room (more on that later). We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, watched fireworks, and found me a laptop.

We didn’t go to the store hunting for electronic deals. We just went to Hubby’s cousin’s house. Her husband refurbishes computers, and Hubby asked him if he could hook me up with a good laptop. He showed us a brand new one he had gotten a great deal on when he bought some parts, and I fell in love.

Hubby talked him into holding onto it for me and letting him make payments on it. So if all goes well, I’ll have a laptop in a few months. I’d love to have it now, but I’ve been waiting for well over a year now, so I guess I can wait a little longer.

We spent the night down there and came back this morning. Everybody had a good time. I almost didn’t go, but now I’m glad I did.

To all you dads out there, hope you’re having a wonderful day! I lost my dad 4 years ago, so the closest dad in my life is Hubby. I haven’t gotten to spend much time with him today, but I did help Pumpkin make him a card and a piece of artwork.

I’m proud to say that Hubby is an awesome dad. When Pumpkin was a baby, he had no qualms about taking care of her while I worked, or giving me a break when I needed it. He was the only one who she would let rock her to sleep at night. There were times when he would be playing with her, and she would look at him in this certain way that reminded me of those cartoons where the characters’ eyes become heart-shaped. It sounds silly, but you could just see the adoration in her eyes.

She sees me at home a lot more than she does him nowadays, but they still spend quite a bit of time together. Anywhere he goes, she wants to go. They just have a beautiful relationship, and I hope it always stays that way.

I’m such a spazz. I meant to post a nice Mother’s Day message on Saturday, but I never got around to it. I thought about it yesterday, but I was too busy enjoying my Mother’s Day to turn on the computer. At any rate, I hope all you moms out there had a good one.

Mine was pretty good. Pumpkin made me a Mother’s Day booklet at school, and at first she said I couldn’t have it until Mother’s Day. But she just couldn’t stand to wait, and ended up insisting on giving it to me on Friday night.

It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. By the time I was done looking at it (and listening to her read it to me), my eyes were filled with tears. Some of it made me laugh, and some of it warmed my heart, but I will always cherish every last page. It’s good to be loved.

I talked Hubby out of buying me something for the time being. He says that he is going to get me something, but I’m hoping he forgets about it. We all had a good time together on the big day, and that was the most important thing. Flowers and gifts are nice and all, but right now we need to save up our money to work on the house and make the mortgage payments.

I rarely get all gussied up any more, but for some reason I took a notion to on Saturday. Hubby, Pumpkin and I were taking Hubby’s cousin and his daughter out to eat and to a few other places, and Hubby kept complimenting me on how nice I looked (even thought I was just wearing shorts and a v-neck shirt). So I decided to take it up a notch, and put on some earrings and a necklace. Not a big deal, just rather unusual for me lately.

I do love jewelry, but I’ve gotten out of the habit of wearing it. But if Hubby bought me some nice new stuff, I’d be rocking it each and every day. (Hint, hint, Hubby!) Jewel Elegance has some gorgeous diamond rings at nice prices that would make great Mother’s Day gifts. And if you want an even better deal, use coupon code THTM10P801321 to get 10% off!

I won’t hold my breath until I get another diamond. It’s just not in the budget right now, even at an awesome price. But I can dream, can’t I?

I’m rarely late in real life, but I’m always late with things like this. But for what it’s worth, I hope everyone out there had a nice Valentine’s Day.

Mine was nothing to write home about. I spent the day running all over the place, trying to get a bill or two paid and run some other errands. While killing time before I had to go pick up some stuff, I did find out that a local computer place does layaways. So now I know where to go when I’m able to make payments on a new laptop.

Hubby and I didn’t buy each other anything for V-Day, for the simple reason that we didn’t have any money. I bought Pumpkin a small heart-shaped thing of one of her favorite kinds of candy. And that was the extent of my holiday.

Mine went better than I thought it would. I ended up getting some money that I wasn’t expecting until after Christmas, so we were able to get Pumpkin a couple of things. We didn’t go all out or anything, just bought her a couple of things she had shown interest in. And she was a happy camper.

She did ask why Santa didn’t bring her the laptop she asked for. I told her that he probably thought she should be a little older before she got one, because they require a lot of care and responsibility. She was satisfied with that.

I had to return the MP3 player I got her. I’m glad I got it out and tried to put some songs on it before Christmas, because it didn’t work well at all. The earphones were horrible, and after I put a few songs on it they all started skipping. I just got the money back and put it toward her other gifts. I’m not really sure that she would be capable of taking care of that either, anyway.

After we opened gifts (or more precisely, after Pumpkin opened her gifts), we got ready and went to the in-laws’ to eat dinner. It was good, and Pumpkin got to play with one of her favorite cousins. But I was glad when it was over, because there were other kids there who are a pain in everyone’s butt. Their tiny house was crammed full, and the kids running around like banshees were just too much.

All in all, we had a good Christmas. But I’m still glad it’s almost over and done with.

I’ve been wrapping up my work for the day early for most of the week, and trying to spend some special time with Pumpkin while Hubby’s not home, then some family time with both of them, and finally some time with Hubby after Pumpkin goes to bed. It has done me a lot of good, but I was planning on working last night. My plans were thwarted, though.

Hubby called me and said he was bringing a friend of ours over to spend the night. Had it just been him I probably would have still worked some. But once they got here, they informed me that there were some more people coming over. So my work was done for the night.

We had a good time. We sat around and had a few drinks, listened to Hubby and friend play music, and played Uno. We talked about everything from snowshoes to getting a term life insurance quote to baking.

Even though it all came together at the last minute, it was great. Hubby and I both needed to have some fun and take a break from all of the stress we’ve been feeling lately. And fun we had.

Well, one of the ladies who owes me money sent me an email yesterday saying that she had put a check in the mail for a goodly portion of it. Normally I would be ecstatic, but I’m not. It is not even a week until Christmas, and every other check she has sent me has taken about a week to get here.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to finally be getting money I’ve been owed for six months (plus a little bit of interest), and it will help with the bills. But Christmas is still looking extremely bleak.

I will get a little bit of money later this week, and I’ll be glad to get that as well. But it will go toward our rent, not Christmas. I’ll be lucky if I can get Pumpkin another gift and scrape up enough money to bake stuff for everyone else. If Hubby brings that stove home and it fits and works well, that is.

I got my Christmas decorations up over the weekend. It’s about time. Pumpkin was about to go into fits wanting the tree up.

Our tree has just about had it, but it will hold up for this year at least. Next year might be a different story. If we weren’t in such a bind right now, I would plan on hitting the after-Christmas sales and finding a good deal on a new one. Oh well.

Here’s a little something to give you a good laugh and get you in the Christmas spirit. Right-click and save it to your computer. And although there’s really no bad language in it, you might not want the kids to listen to this one. It could cause an embarrassing situation if they were to decide to sing it in public.

Christmas Balls (from John Boy and Billy) Sorry, it’s gone now.