A Lost Holiay

Today my children were out of school for Columbus Day, fall holiday, whatever you want to call it. It has been an interesting day that is going to end very soon with me sitting on the deck reading Cosmopolitan and eating an entire chocolate pie.

To work off yesterday's pumpkin cakes, I decided I would hit the exercise hard today. I did what should have amounted to 60 minutes of exercise, but it took me all day. This is why...

"Can I have another Band Aid?" Maisy must have asked this question 500 times. She knows there is a new box of Littlest Pet Shop Band Aids in the cabinet, and she is determined to injure herself just enough to use them all in one day.

"Columbus didn't discover America. There were many before him." Yes, Caitlyn, I know you are in a self-righteous, holier-than-thou phase in your life, but I didn't really see you turning down the chance to sleep late, now did I?

"There's a big scary man in the yard!" This one always manages to bring me from whatever I am doing, and as usual, it was Jackson EMC. It always is, or else someone equally harmless like the water man, the garbage man, or even a Boy Scout selling popcorn.

"Can I have another Band Aid?"

"Can I play with your iPhone?" No, no, and no. You might see my grocery list and decide to add a couple hundred dollars worth of snacks to it.

"There's a dead praying mantis on your desk." I was afraid of this this morning when I retrieved Big Fat Greenie from her container. She wasn't looking well, and I thought I'd put her on my desk for a while and see if she would recover. She didn't, so I had to stop my yoga session to conduct a funeral.

"Can I have another Band Aid?"

"How much longer do I have to read?" Well, Chance...you have to read until you finish that book you promised you'd finish before your break is over. Yes, I know the book is 400 pages long. No, I really don't have any sympathy. For the record, he did finish it and is now playing Wii and subjecting me to untold amounts of sports trivia that sounds something like this...

"Mama, did you know that the 2009 Philadelphia Flyers BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH..."

"Can I have a snack?" At last glance, none of my children were starving. I remind them of this fact when I take note that it has only been 27 minutes since the lunch dishes were cleared.

"Can I play with your iPhone?"

"I want to be Bubble Fat (Boba Fett) for Halloween." I admit, this was pretty cute, but if I don't finish this workout sometime today I am going to be Bubble Fat for Halloween, and every other day, too.

Today is going to go down as a loss, I'm afraid. I didn't really have a plan for today and I have paid dearly for that lack of plan. They got the upper hand early today and kept it.

Maybe I need a Band Aid. Nah...just the biggest drink Starbucks offers...that, and a chocolate pie.

So here it is October...the finest month of the year. The month of pumpkins, of my father's birthday, my husband's birthday, a month when I remember the most fun lady, Lucile Wallace on her birthday, Halloween, cooler weather, and yes...our wedding anniversary.
Let me stop for a moment to remember two things. We were married on October 30, 1993. I wanted a Halloween wedding, but I also wanted to be married at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, and they would not rent on a Sunday for a wedding. So, October 30 it was. It was also my grandmother Lucile's birthday, 75th if I remember correctly. We were standing in line, listening to the opening notes of "Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini," ready to begin the processional. Suddenly she looked down at the dress she had purchased specifically for the wedding and announced in a loud voice, "You know, this dress would be perfect for my funeral." Loud enough for all to hear, yet so funny and so very Mama. I was lucky to have here there at my wedding, lucky to see her in that navy blue dress and lucky to have pictures of her from that special day. I was also lucky enough to have her for just over two more years after that. And yes, we did choose the blue dress for her funeral. It was, after all, what she wanted.

October 30. 1993

To try to add to the special days in October, twice we tried for an October baby, and twice we succeeded in at least getting an October due date. Chance was due October 6 but made his grand entrance on September 14. Maisy was due October 30 and I was ecstatic with this news, thinking for sure she'd share a birthday with Mama or my Daddy. Maisy made her appearance on September 24, but at least shares a birthday with her grandfather Charles. An October baby was not meant to be for me and I guess it is a good thing. This month is so packed with events I'm not sure it could handle anything else.

So far, we have 22 pumpkins we have "rescued" from the pumpkin patch at Winder First United Methodist Church. I don't really think they are abusing pumpkins over there, but for some reason Chance and Maisy feel the need to rescue the not so pretty ones. When I take Caitlyn and Chance back this afternoon to work a shift at the patch, I feel certain they'll come home with a few more strays.

Harry with one of our rescue pumpkins.

My husband Charley turns 42 in a few days. He's calling this his "21 again" birthday and I do believe he feels closer to 21 this time around than he did back in 1989. He's a hard one to keep up with, but with the help of Jillian Michaels, Denise Austin and Tony Horton, I'm giving it a good try. I get points for delivering the four children that help "keep him young." I'm super excited about Charley's birthday present this year, and really hoping I can make it happen without him finding out what it is. That's hard when he works at the very place I intend to purchase it and I feel pretty sure he tracks my purchases, especially around birthday time. It wouldn't matter if I went to another Costco, it would still show up in the system and the surprise would be ruined. So, the best I can hope is that they still have it in stock on his special day. That way, if he ruins his own surprise, he at least won't have found out ahead of time.

I can't discuss October without discussing one of fall's finest pleasures...harvest ale. Right now I'm sipping a Samuel Adams Pumpkin Ale, available only in the seasonal 12 pack from Samuel Adams. I must admit this is not one of the better pumpkin ales. There are some really good ones out there, though...worth trying are Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Tumbler from Sierra Nevada, and last but not least Hex from my all time favorite, Magic Hat.
Me and Julie Lancaster, October 2010

"Tis the season to experience massive mantid losses, a sad time for sure. In the last three weeks I've lost about 10 of my babies that I hatched in March. I realize this is a long time for an insect to live, but I am always sad to see them go. For every one I lose, though, I usually take in another so that he or she can live out the final days in luxury, and if I'm really lucky, it will be a female with eggs still to lay. As I type, I have four Chinese mantid oothecae and about 15 Carolina oothecae. Baby mantids are always a possibility at any time (well, six to eight weeks after I decide I can't live without them, anyway).

I had the great pleasure of being referred to the other night at Maisy's Girl Scout meeting as, "that praying mantis girl." That's me!

So, I'm spending October planning for Charley's birthday, providing mantid retirement homes, leading two Scouts, one drama geek and one busy 3-year-old boy to their activities. I'm planning for our anniversary (seventeen years!), planning for Cub Scout camping later this month, thinking of Halloween costumes, and providing a pumpkin rescue service. I'm also enjoying my good friends and being thankful every day for friends, old and new, and for the circumstances that have brought them to me.


Maisy and Ginger Duren, October 2010

I'm eating a Paula Deen Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake and lifting a harvest ale in your honor. Cheers!