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!