Ghosts of Halloweens Past

For a number of years, every Halloween, my husband would get the flu. It started the year of Josie, when he called me the morning of the party. My (at the time) boyfriend, who only ever wanted to be left alone when he wasn't feeling well, called me and asked me to skip the party and stay home to comfort him. (Which I didn't do, because I had people depending on me to complete our costume. I swear that it wasn't because I wanted to go out and NOT get the flu...)

Every year after that, come Halloween, he was sick. To the point where people stopped thinking that he would ever show. (Not that it ever stopped him from getting a Halloween costume, he got a new one every year that he didn't use.)

Then last year, I was four months pregnant, and we were planning on heading to the same Halloween party that I went to every year (alone).

And he didn't get sick. And he got to use his costume. And no one knew who Dr. Horrible was. But I got to spend Halloween with my husband for the first time in many, many years.

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This post is part of the Celebrate Halloween SITS Contest. If you haven't already checked out SITS, you definitely should. They have the best blogging tips, and are a great place to find new and interesting blogs.

How much is too much?

Recently, Mama Kat has had a few posts about internet safety which have really hit home for me. I've always been a little paranoid about how much I share on the internet. I haven't really figured out how much I'm going to share on here. Right now, I haven't used any names, and I'm thinking that I'm going to keep it that way. I've been limiting the pictures I post, even though I usually love to show off my family and friends.

I know that I don't have a lot of readers right now, but I'm hoping to grow. So how much is too much to give away? And is there a point where I am not sharing enough? I started this blog as an outlet now that my life is so baby-focused. How much does it really help me if I have to edit everything I write about?

Writer's Workshop: Creepy Crawly Creations

I am not the most creative person. Especially when it comes to Halloween costumes. My costumes tend to be of the store bought variety. There are a few years in recent memory where I tried to be a bit more creative than "Sexy Alice" (although, I rocked Sexy Alice last year at four months pregnant).

A few years ago (a few more than I care to admit), I convinced two friends to do Josie and the Pussycats with me. It wasn't that long after the movie had come out, so there were the licensed versions available for purchase. We did not go that route.

Melody, Josie and Valerie*

The three of us went shopping at off-the-beaten-path stores to get the perfect outfits and accessories. The ears and tails were generic tiger accessories, but everything else I thought brought it all together perfectly. And even though we didn't have the generic movie costumes, people still recognized who we were.

We had ears! And tails!

That was an awesome Halloween.

* Masks have been added to protect the innocent.**

** I'm (apparently) not that innocent.

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This post is also part of the Celebrate Halloween SITS Contest.

You Capture: Orange

I wasn't going to participate this week, but I passed this tree while walking with the stroller this morning. I couldn't believe how vivid it was when all the trees around it were still green.

Writer's Workshop: About Me

This week, I decided to try Mama Kat's second prompt. I figure that it is something that I need to do anyway, and maybe it will motivate me to finish the redesign (which I think is taking me way too long). This is definitely a work in progress, but at least it is a start...

About Me

In April, everything changed. In April, I changed, so I'm not sure where to start. Who I am now? Who I was then? What I'm trying to get back? I guess I'll start at the beginning.

I was a bit of a princess.

At my bridal shower

I'll admit it, I was always a bit of a princess.

At my seventh birthday

And at twenty-one, I met my prince. Seven years later, we got married.

The big day

Life was blissful. We had a wonderful apartment in a luxury building. We had friends who we went out with regularly. We even had a pub where we were regulars. Then came April.

An even bigger day

Now I stay at home with my baby boy. We don't get out with friends, and I doubt that they would recognize us at the pub anymore. We have had to cut back on a lot of expenses since I'm not working (for a paycheck, you can't tell me that I don't work), and that includes moving to a place that doesn't have granite counter tops and gorgeous sunset views.

So now I'm trying to navigate this new world that we live in, and not loose my self along the way. This blog is about me, where so much of my life is now about someone else.

Please bear with me

I'm still planning on revamping this entire blog, including (hopefully) moving to a new domain. It's slower going than I had originally planned on. We've been dealing with sleeping issues (in that none of us is getting any), and I have been using my nights for other things, like spending time with my husband. Hopefully, the sleep will get better, and I'll be able to do a bit more here.

Army of Women

I want to get this out as early as I can, so it will be short (as the baby doesn't like it when I am not paying attention to him).

My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor. It isn't something that is ever really talked about in my family, but I think that it is pretty amazing. Breast cancer has also touched my husband's family as well, with another recent survivor.

It is because of them, and many other reasons that I supporting the Army of Women and their goal to get one million people to sign up.

“We are dedicating ONE day to reach ONE million women to sign up for the Army of Women. We are declaring October 1, 2010 the official Army of Women Day. We beseech all bloggers to blog about the Army of Women and empower women to take the next step by signing up and taking part in breast cancer research studies. Together, we can move breast cancer beyond a cure and eradicate it once and for all.”

There is no cost to join, and signing up allows you to hear about studies that you might be interested in participating in, it doesn't place you in the studies automatically. You have the ability to participate only in the studies that interest you. All people are needed, so please share this with your friends.