What I Made Today ...

They are apple. Yes, they are quite good!

To do

1. Make a beehive out of yarn for my daughter to wear with a borrowed tutu while carrying her striped cat, named Eli, dressed as a bumblebee for a local parade.

2. Learn how to bake the best pumpkin pie in the world (or at least in Circleville), because I really want to win the pie baking contest at Pumpkin Show. It will affirm to me that I can, indeed, use that square box in my kitchen apparently famously known as the "oven."

3. Redecorate. My house needs sprucing. Where's a good place to get ideas?

4. Get a hair cut and go red.

5. Experiment to find out what kind of materials could go into a rainstick to slow down the beans and rice -- Avery thinks chicken wire will be good, I think we should pound nails in a spiral into the stick. Maybe we should do both?

6. Dig up costumes to wear to Rennaissance Festival on Sunday with the children. I can't wait!

7. Clean junk out of purse. Continue to strive for the day that my car, house and purse will all be clean at the same time.

8. Bring in trash cans from curb (I dislike this particular chore and really miss having help with these sorts of smelly tasks).

9. Make vegetable soup and cornbread for supper soon.

10. Don't forget the little Snoopy cartoon mantra that hangs in my office: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a GIFT. That's why it is called the 'present.'"

xoxo Trina

Where have I heard that before?

Can you guess where this quote came from?

“A woman is often measured by the things she cannot control. She is measured by the way her body curves or does not curve, by where she is flat or straight or round. She is measured by 36-24-36 and inches and ages and numbers. By all the outside things that don’t ever add up to who she is on the inside. And so if a woman is to be measured, let her be measured by the things she can control. By who she is and who she is trying to become. Because as every woman knows, measurements are only statistics, and STATISTICS LIE."

Give up?

It's originally from Nike ad in the 1990s. I read it in a magazine when I was in college and wrote it in my journal because it struck a chord.

As I was driving today (I always have deep, existential conversations with myself while driving, don't you?), in my head, I had a pretend conversation with my doctor about my weight.

I said, "I am good at lots of things. I can set goals in other areas of my life, work hard, and achieve. So of COURSE it affects my self esteem that I can't meet this goal that is called losing weight. I wonder, why can't I do this? I do so many other things well, why not this? What's wrong with me that I am failing at this thing?"

The doctor, in my make-believe conversation, listens patiently and then tells me I'm not fat and to go home and stop worrying about it.

At that point, I smack her and demand liposuction ...

So I am posting this Nike ad quote that spoke to me once upon a time about what REALLY matters and give myself a little perspective. If you are like me and are a perfectionist and are way too hard on yourself about this stuff, I give you permission to have a little perspective (and some chocolate) today, too.

Ten things I think are funny ...

1. This joke: Where does a one-legged waitress work?

(Wait for it.)

IHOP.

2. Spirit fingers.

3. The word "shart."

4. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin pointing and waving.

5. "Belly Laughs" by Jenny McCarthy.

6. This leprechaun video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8
Who else here saw a leprechaun say yeah ... yeaaaahhh!!!

7. When models have "walk-offs."

8. Seasonal sweaters.

9. Joe's Gizzard City.

10. Mullets.

In honor of my friend Stacey, who passed away today at 34, leaving behind five beautiful children, I light a candle tonight to remember her legacy of courage and kindness.

*lights candle*

Ten things that happened in my life today ...

1. Pumpkin daughter has to have allergy shots, says our illustrious ENT. His last name is Drankwalter, isn't that an interesting surname?

2. I went shopping for a billboard for my program. Road trip!

3. I had lunch with a coworker who had a dream that me and her superviser were yelling at her. I told her she needs yoga and stop eating chocolate before bed. Good advice.

4. When I picked up pumpkin daughter from soccer practice, the sun was shining across the cornfields and everything looked the color of spun gold. The dust in the air with the sunshine was so beautiful, and I felt so at peace that it made me smile.

5. Me and aforementioned coworker found a number of whoopsie-daisies on the backroads in search of the perfect billboard. There was giggling and clutching of stomachs involved. :) If you think this little joyride on a perfect almost-fall day is sounding like a good excuse to get out of our offices and go country cruising, you are ... completely wrong. :D It was allll business. *bats eyelashes and looks innocent*

6. I bought a book of stamps. Now I can mail thank you cards to all my lovely friends who sent me school clothes for the pumpkin kids -- I am so grateful for the wonderful, generous people in my life. It would be so hard to be a single mom without them. *loves the friends*

7. Wished my little sister a happy birthday. She's 32 today, and for her special day, her youngest came down with the always fun hand, foot and mouth disease. She didn't seem too chuffed about it; when I visited pumpkin sister, pumpkin niece was out jumping on the trampoline with nary a care in the world. Got to love little ones who don't realize they are allowed to be miserable when they are sick.

8. I learned all about prime factorization courtesy of pumpkin son.

9. I used my crockpot (go me!) to make beef stroganoff. The kids said the noodles were mushy. Hmm. The kitchen is so not my special place.

10. My mother came to the food pantry at my work. Somehow, she got the impression she was only going to get $3.99 worth of food. Instead, they set her up with packs of meat, fresh fruits and veggies, milk, and all sorts of good stuff. She was impressed. It felt good that my mom thinks we do a good job with that part of our work. :) It was her first time at the food pantry, so I'm glad it was pleasant and she was treated with respect and caring. She had a hard time making herself go, but I encouraged her that it would be OK -- so I am glad that it was.

*yawns* That's all for today. Today is gone, today was fun, tomorrow is another one ... :)

What I Checked Out at the Library ...

*~*
Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Cracking the Millionaire Code by Mark Victor Hansen (If crack the code and make a mint, my blog will be the first to know rofl)

And the book I wanted to check out that was unavailable, which comes heavily recommended by my friend Marian: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, the story of "one man's mission to promote peace, one school at a time." I hear it is AMAZING. Anyone out there familiar?

I also checked for Twilight on the off chance that one of the paperback copies would be available, thinking maybe, maybe it had been long enough for the hype to have settled down.

No such luck. It is hypier than ever.

And thus ends this edition of pumpkintrina's eclectic book tastes. I warn you, I love literature and do a bit of writing myself, so these types of posts may be fairly common on my blog. Three unfinished novels gather dust at this very minute in my hard drive. The latest has a good hook -- it's the semiautobiographical story of two teenage girls, one of whom becomes pregnant. Her friend agrees to be her labor coach, and much silliness and drama ensues. The book is divided into three trimesters instead of parts ... *sigh* it needs finishing, I know. Along with the disorderly garage, the boxes of semi-organized drudgery in my basement and the roots of my hair. It gets done in the minutes between other things, slowly but surely in creative moments when the story becomes clear to me. Everything else in life requires such rushing, it's OK to take my time about this one thing.

Tonight, I'm not rushing. I'm also not writing. Tonight, I am on the other side of the pen. Time to start learning how to crack that darn millionaire code. :)

*dons reading glasses*

Good night. :)

~*~

Breaking the seal ...

~*~*~*~

*peers in tentatively*

So what do you think of my initial decorating? Too many pumpkins?

Oh, who am I kidding. There can NEVER be too many pumpkins!

Let's just get to know each other, shall we? I am Trina, and I hail from the part of Ohio where the glaciers receded, right on the the edge that separates the hilly Appalachians from the cornfield and soybean plains. It's a lovely place to live with four seasons and plenty of beautiful parks nearby.

My hometown has a very famous pumpkin festival, which you can learn all about here: http://www.pumpkinshow.com/ Seriously, you should go to that link and learn yourself up some. The Pumpkin Show is quite a wonderful thing! No bias here, of course. More on Pumpkin Show in another post -- it is coming up next month and I'm it will be the topic of many tired but happy posts.

Pumpkin kind of has a special place in my heart for one more reason -- hold on to your hats for this one. I conceived both my beautiful, talented, funny (again, a JOURNALIST's lack of bias here) during October.

Well, yes. During Pumpkin Show to be specific. Turns out pumpkin is a fertility enhancer in women, did you know? Any of the orange veggies, really, but the pumpkin really seems to do the trick for me. In fact, it works pretty well on loads of women in my county, because July -- ahem, you do the math -- is the busiest baby month of them all.

Gotta love that pumpkin!

So now you know I have two kids, my oldest son Avery is 12 and my daughter Audrey Violet is 8. Avery is a soccer jock and Audrey wants to be a kangaroo when she grows up. Isn't that nice?

I am a single mother, and the three of us get along very well most of the time and when we don't, well, look out for those posts in red letters, that's all I'm saying. This is hereby declared angry mother font.

Having bills to pay, mouths to feed, bacon to bring home -- I work, of course. By day, I am a super duper grantwriter. My technical title is DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, but it sounds so dull. What I really do is put my hand out and ask people to support programs that make a positive impact on the lives of those in my community who struggle daily with food, shelter, and basic needs. I'm pretty good at it, too.

But I am better at what I do three evenings a week, and that is teach adult literacy. It's the best job in the world, right after being a mom, which is what I do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter if I am at a desk, presenting at a conference, driving in a car, talking on the phone, traveling far from home, or whatever other things I get into along the way.

Being a mom rocks my socks. I have great kids. (Remind me of this next time I post about breaking up a disagreement. I go to red text just thinking about it.

I have friends here at blogspot -- some from the online playgroup I have been a member of for going on ten years now. *waves to Kirsty, Janet, Trish, Missy and any other July2Kers out there* Hi, friends!

I am so pleased to join you! *throws confetti* Happy New Blog Day!