Halloween, the actual evening

Well, it had an ominous beginning: Liv fell on the way to the first house and was off her feed for the next hour, which included all the house-to-house. But THEN we got to the party. The party was where Liv had a most righteous evening and fine time was had by all.

In the photos you'll see the cake I made for the party and covered with fondant. (El F says it tastes like...um...some bodily location the flavor with which one would not ordinarily be familiar.) However, it was very popular with the kiddos because it was a jack'o'lantern. Yep, that's me-- a crowd-pleaser.

Anyway, despite my exhaustion and being completely SICK of Halloween by the time the actual holiday came around (see my FB page), it was terrific.

Kickin' it K'wood style

And following the kindergarten bash, there was trick or treating in downtown Kirkwood. All the shop owners sat outside their stores while trick or treaters came by for treats.

Afterward, a local band for children, the Babaloos, played in the plaza. Big fun!

Kickin' it kindergarten-style

Yesterday was the kindergarten Halloween bash:

Pumps of my dreams

When L-Mac and I went shopping (instead of to see Clinton), we spotted this GORGEOUS pair of pumps at Nordstrom. These with a little black dress for the weddings? (Okay, okay, maybe I have to buy them in black....maybe.)
Aren't they beautiful?















Although I have to say, El F spotted an even sexier pair in the shoe department today when I was showing him these-- the boy apparently knows what he likes on me. The back was closed and the heel higher. The website just didn't have a photo. In any event, I'm viewing the upcoming nuptials with joy for many reasons, several of them sartorial.

Oh and hosted a lovely impromptu dinner tonight-- Mel and her little girl came over for dinner: pizza and lots of wine. (Lemonaid for the girls)

Big fun.

K'wood Saturday

A walk on Grant's Trail and a trip to the Farmers' Market. (Note: I am taking my turn carrying the scooter Liv swore she wanted to ride on the trail. *sigh*)

Inventory

So. I took inventory this morning. Most women do this once in a while: I tried on a bunch of my old formalwear.

One out of two New Year's Eve little back dresses fit. The one that doesn't, I am probably not allowed to wear. It's short, short, short black velvet, low back, with a halter top. Very elegant, believe it or not. But probably not allowed on anyone in their 40s, no matter what.

The other one is another really classic little black dress-- sleeveless, form-fitting (but not too form-fitting) with a little tiny black ribbon under the bust. Not too short, but definitely short. Think I could get away with this one, although another few pounds gone would be better first.

One out of two (for lack of a better term) ball gowns fits. Strangely, both are silver. One is strapless-- that doesn't fit. (But why would I buy a strapless? Crazy.) And the other -- sleeveless with a scoop neck-- does. Funny thing? I bought the second one for a formal wedding less than 10 years ago and now I think it's too dowdy to wear. Strange.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, despite the low pay, teaching at the Y has some really GREAT benefits. The bad thing? I need to store or get rid of a LOT of clothes.

What a long strange week it's been (with apologies to the Grateful Dead)

It's been a long, strange week. My daughter is growing in understanding every day while I watch, stunned. It's cliche, I know. But I had no idea it would happen this fast.

And she's a Daisy scout now. And she has a best friend. And a little guy with a crush on her, and she on him.

Also, I'm physically exhausted. My dear Liv has taken to waking me at 2 am to crawl into bed. I enjoy holding her very much. It's a great feeling right up until the alarm rings at 0600 and it's time to start another day running.

I've taught a ton of classes, did a ton of training (for work) and actually hurt my own abdominals while teaching abs class today. That almost never happens. I guess my students will not be thinking fondly of me tomorrow when they wake up.

There's a movement afoot to make me move from water to land classes (sounds like evolution, yes?)-- just weight routines, not aerobics. Probably too late for this session, but the idea is appealing. With my teaching schedule and other comitments, I don't get much time in the weight room anymore. This might fix that.

In other news, I heard from someone I used to know well a long time ago-- just popped up out of the blue, thanks to electronic networking. There's nothing like it to make you remember who you were so long ago. I was young and so much hadn't happened to me yet. It's lovely to think back to those happy, halcyon times.

There was a whole group of us-- completely inseparable. We roamed like a pack. I'll never forget my roommate's look of terror the first time he got a tattoo (Trader Bob's in the City). Poor SOB. We all laughed so hard and he got so mad. Beer can towers in my apartment. Playing three man. Seeing our favorite bands. Pale Divine's farewell concert. We never got to a bar before 11 pm at the earliest. Nothing good happened before then, anyway. We played cards and talked trash (and I changed clothes about a million times) until it was time to head out. The boys placed over/under bets on my wardrobe changes for the evening, I believe.

And then there were a thousand misdeeds that we somehow got away with. It seemed all so daring and romantic back then. We were young, good-looking (well they sure and the hell were spectacularly so; maybe I was) and absolutely fearless.

Okay, if I burst into any song from "The Way We Were," somebody slap me. But they were very good times and, now that I've heard from the one most dear to me, I think I can be forgiven a little nostalgia and a little regret for letting that all float away somehow.

Good memories. A little sad.

Hair today....you know the rest

Well, it's showing no signs of becoming less curly, so we're staying with the Mary Martin in Peter Pan pixie do. Got yet another haircut today. Dang, this curly stuff grows fast.

In other news, I plan to spend the day cowering under my bed until Darth Cheney leaves the greater STL area tomorrow.

Trixie Triumphant

Finally, finally, finally-- at looong last I put together a routine that kicked the butt of my advanced aerobics class. Even the veterans came up to me after class and told me how good it was.

I'm telling you, I feel tremendously accomplished. Overjoyed. Ecstatic.

I hope I can walk tomorrow.

Why don't people talk about DILFs?

Okay, y'all know about MILFs, right? Rude term, yadda yadda.

Well, El F was teasing me a little this morning while running errands about becoming a MILF thanks to all the working out. (I told him I'd best have been a MILF to him prior to the workouts...)

But anyway. It occurred to me that there's all this talk about MILFs and no one talks about the delectable suburban dads that surface, every so often, around town. El F says that's because only GUYS really think like that.

Oh, really?

Well, if I could just draft the appropriate release forms, I might just have to start a website. Probably cause some idle speculation around the PTO, though...

Sucktacular Saturday

Well, as grand as Friday was, Saturday was pretty sucktastic.

We had two parties to go to-- one at the Magic House for one of Liv's kindergarten classmates, and one with some friends of mine who work, like me, part-time at the Y. She teaches on the side-- one of her classes is at the same time as one I teach. We play off each other very well. They are both hysterically amusing and their kid is both awesome and our babysitter. Anyway, suffice it to say I was really looking forward to Joe and Julie's party, particularly since we are somewhat starved for adult-friendly outings.

Then, Liv proved incontrovertibly that she is, in fact, a five year old.

She completely melted down at the birthday party. Wouldn't play, wouldn't talk, wouldn't eat. Couldn't be convinced to behave in any way close to civilized. She pouted. She stuck her hands in the cupcakes. She glared. AND, of course, I could not take her home early because I'd promised to drop a neighbor kid off on the way home.

So, yes. When we got home, Little Miss Meltdown went right to sleep and we missed the party. Sometimes being a grown-up just sucks.

A lazy Kirkwood Friday morning

This morning, in keeping with the tradition of hitting a coffee house on the mornings El Freddo is off work, we headed out WITHOUT our usual glut of newspapers. (Unlike Governor Palin, I can tell you we usually bring the NYT and the Post-D.) I'm on another news embargo. Can't stand to hear another syllable about either the election or the economy.

But I digress.

So some coffee and breakfast later (muffins for El F, bagel with sun dried schmear for me), we wandered out into the most beautiful autumnal morning. Crisp, clear weather-- not a cloud in the sky.

We meandered down to the Farmers' Market which just happens to be across the street from the church in which we were married. We sampled cider. Checked out prospective pumpkins. Looked in a bunch of oddball stores we like.

In short, we spent the morning doing not very much. Together.

It was nice.

Lineament is a good thing

Taught third class in three days today and am supposed to be taking another tomorrow morning, if not asked to sub instead. At present I'm bathed in lineament.

Question: why are all the women who have been taking this class for 20+ years not thin? I'm losing inches like it's going out of style and I've only been teaching for a few months. These are the same women, mind you, who complain that my class isn't aerobically strenuous enough. (They don't complain about the weight-bearing toning exercises and abdominal workout, mind you...all I hear during that portion is groans-- bwaa haa haaaaa!) Of course some women complain it's too hard, but that's beside the point.

Why aren't these women thin??

News roundup, part 2

So. I was supposed to sub for water aerobics at 9, when my buddy Melissa asked me to sub for her at 10:30. Result? Teaching two aerobics classes in three hours. I'm pooped and my pecs hurt. Going to bed.

********

New Liv vocabulary: Shaw's Arboretum where one can find lovely Mechanical Gardens.

News roundup

Well, crap.

I've not blogged in a while and I don't even know what to tell you. Lots of stuff going on.

Went out with Tony and Tracy to the Cards game last week-- got to see My Boys win for a change. (and happily, the Cubbies got wiped out of the playoffs this weekend-- hooray!) The game was great and the seats were behind 3rd. Fortunately the fly outs were mostly low, although one scared me pretty good-- of course that was the moment I hadn't been paying attention.



This weekend we were supposed to hang out at Shaw's Arboretum with Lisa, James and kids but it turns out there was Best of St. Louis going on-- $10 pp at the door. We decided in favor of a less expensive, but no less amusing for the kids, park nearby.

Still teaching water aerobics and abdominals. Still volunteering for every blessed thing at Liv's school, including herding voters on election day. (Yep, the school is a polling place.) Keeps me out of the pool halls.