Our first carved pumpkin!

I carved our first family pumpkin today! Yeah, I know.....Bad Mommy!
Well, we normally paint a pumpkin but this year I decided we should have a real carved pumpkin!

This is some of the pumpkin innards....I threw it in the yard because the deer will probably eat it up by morning.....if not......good fertilizer. As you can see the green grass has given way to brown as it has been in the fifties here (during the day). It's 32 right now at 12:01 am!

More pumpkin guts and SEEDS! Uh~huh, that's right! I'm gonna dry 'em, salt 'em, bake 'em and eat 'em! Yum! Kojak has never eaten roasted pumpkin seeds.....he's a coastal creature.

Inside......I've never carved a pumpkin on my own before and I didn't realize how hard it was to get all that stringy goodness out of there. Warn me next time people!

Anyway, the kids thought the pumpkin was the coolest thing since Sid the Science Kid (their favorite show).

Cameron and Jack!

James and Jack!

He was very curious!

Haley being dramatic, Cameron acting like he's avoiding the camera, James munching cake.
Mommy says "Say CHEESE"......James says "CAKE".
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Explanation please.........

I LOVE ROSES! And I have been watching my roses closely this year, they have been abnormally large and especially beautiful.

See, this one is just getting started. Man, that pink is awesome!

Wow! I took the above pics today!

This one and the two below I took last weekend! They're kinda blurry because I didn't realize my lens was dirty......Bad Lens! Anyway, I thought they looked kind of surreal so I kept them.

Note: the dew drops just kill me.....leaves me standing there in my bedroom slippers and pajamas thinking how beautiful nature is! *Sigh*
Then a spider tries to crawl across my shoe and I jump 10 feet in the air! Seriously!

Back to the point....as you can see the roses are all pink, light pink to brilliant pink.....but ALL pink!

So, can anyone explain to me how this very small, very WHITE rose popped up on my
PINK rose bush?
Sorry, just thought it was odd!

Portfolio assignment

I have started working on my portfolio assignment for chemistry......wait, have I mentioned this already? I can't remember.....chalk it up to this head clogging cold, no sleep and the 3 blue-eyed short people that keep me on my toes all the day long.
Anyway, I have to do a chemistry experiment and present it to the class on December 10th. I decided to come up with some pottery glazes of my own, partly because I wanted my project to be different from everyone else's. The others in my class are making all sorts of things from perfume, soap and aspirin to biodiesel and aspartame. Don't get me wrong I think those things are interesting but they are in the category of typical chemistry experiments. New Glazes? I love that idea! What can I say? I'm a potter and I love glazes.
Now, I was told a while back that having a degree in chemistry was a plus when it came to making glazes but I thought they were kidding. Well, the weren't....there is alot more involved in this than I anticipated. I think I'm getting there though.
I wanted to come up with some different colors with some special effects thrown in the mix. Right, now I'm working on some recipes for light blue, buttery yellow, pink and purple all with some textured and maybe speckled effects. I'm also working on a turquoise color too but only because I like to hear Haley "turquoise". I need to come up with 5 more recipes.
So, I will most likely be asking you all to preview some of the glazes and let me know what you think. Overall, I'm just hoping to come out of this with an A and maybe a few new glazes.

Okay, Seriously.......

It's 2008, I have 5 people living in my house and I don't own a washboard....nor will I ever own one! I'm a girl who LOVES her washing machine. SO, why is it that people think I can go without it for 3 or 4 weeks? Yeah, it's still under warranty but that does no good when the repair company keeps rescheduling. When they finally show up, they have to order the part and come back a week later. I told them what the problem was when I called for the repair. Now, I say again, what makes people think I can go without my washing machine? Lugging clothes to Mom's house while I'm sick is no fun! Okay, I'll stop whining now!

I'm coping here people......

JUST KIDDING!!!!! Well, I was coping last weekend with the whole "not getting into nursing school thing" but I'm passed that now, I feel better. And what better way to cope with disappointment and feel better than......you ready for this?

Apple Crisp

Cheesecake

And Fried Chicken!!!!
Oh yeah, nothing is better for drowning sorrows than clogging a few arteries right? Okay, you're right, running would do the trick too but I'm not really in the mood for all that!

Yeah I know none of this is good for my diet but the cooking and baking helped me more than anything. I didn't get to eat much of it anyway. Kojak has a tendency to polish food off pretty quickly.
The cheesecake wasn't that great anyway......I'm still searching for the perfect cheesecake recipe.

So, any well loved cheesecake recipes from anyone would be greatly appreciated. *Hint-Hint*
Well, that's all for now.....gotta go study for a chemistry quiz.

I feel a little better now......

I talked with my advisor today and she told me that the 10 candidates that were accepted into the program already had Chemistry done. I was allowed to apply for the program because I was signed up to take Chemistry this Fall. At least I know I didn't do anything wrong.
So, Kojak and I have come up with a plan. We have decided that I am going to apply for the day program that starts in the Fall of 2009. If I get in, I would be finished in the Spring of 2011, which is only one semester later that if I had been accepted this time. In the meantime, I am going to finish Chemistry (which, btw, I have a 90 average in right now), and I'm going to take Anatomy & Physiology II this Spring. The only downfall to applying for the Day program is that I'm going to have to put the boys in daycare....I don't like daycare. Haley will be starting school in August so the only problem there is finding someone who will watch her in case my classes run past 3.
To sum it all up, I feel better, I'm moving forward, I hate daycare but have to suck it up, Haley starts school in August and everything else will have to be figured out as we go along!

Update

Well, I didn't make the cut this time. Apparently, most of the candidates met all the requirements but they could only except 10 for the program. So, I'm going to finish Chemistry, take Anatomy & Physiology II and try again next year. Don't get me wrong, my tear ducts are empty but I'll live. All I can do is try again!

Escaped turkeys.........

While I'm sitting here waiting for "THE CALL", you know.... the call that will either tell me what I'll be doing for the next two years (nursing school) or what I'll be doing for the next two months (crying), I figured I would let you all know what's going on and ask a favor.
You see there are these two "turkeys" who live next door to me. And those two turkeys decided that 40 years this month after their first date they would go on their first ever Carnival Cruise. On a ship with swimming pools, day spas, the open sea, shopping, 24 hour frozen yogurt machine, a room with a balcony and the food....oh, the FOOD! "That's wonderful, you say?" Well yeah, it is oh so wonderful........for the two turkeys. But here at my house, it's just.......well, it's just......just so unfair! The jealousy seeping out my every pore is unbearable. Hehehe! I mean, REALLY, who said they could just take off and leave their 28 year old baby here to fend for herself against her 3 rambunctious, messy making, accident-prone children? The injustice! So, just in case some of you happen to see these two turkeys (pictured below). Tell them that their daughter is sitting at home desperately envious and riddled with despair.

Mom and Dad, I hope you two have so much fun, you absolutely deserve every second of this trip....it is long over due. Be safe, Love you both, call me when you can!

Oh the waiting....

IS EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL!!! I should know before the 14th but, come on, that's a week away! I'm not patient when it comes to things like this! I went Monday to get my blood drawn and yesterday I got a TD booster, Hep B vaccine and TB test. It really was not at all like everyone told me it would be....go figure! I will be posting as soon as I find out something! That is, if I get in the program, so if I don't post anything by the 15th you know that I have elected to stay in bed and feel miserable for a week!
On a lighter note: I think I forgot to let everyone know that I added a slideshow to the bottom of my blog with pictures of the family. Okay, now you know!
And just in case I did actually tell you all about the slideshow already....ignore the above note....I have been diagnosed with LMS, ya know?......that's Leaky Memory Syndrome!
Loves!

One Step Closer

Well, I went to the group interview on Tuesday, although I should say that it was more of a group information meeting. There were no questions asked except by the candidates. There were 16 of us there and the program only allows space for 10. Everything went well so I am hopeful. I got the chance to meet with the Director and Assistant Director of the Foothills Nursing Consortium, both very nice people. I went today to get my medical forms filled out and will be going on Monday to get all my immunizations. Translation: I'm going to get poked about 400 times...okay, only 5 times but.....ugh! Anyway, I should know around the 13th of October whether I will be starting nursing classes in January.
So, for right now I am focused on my Chemistry, which seems to be paying off well. I got a 90 on my first exam last Wednesday. Yeah Me!!!! I'll be starting my portfolio project soon in which I will be developing my own pottery glaze recipes. Should be fun, maybe I'll end up with something really awesome! Or maybe I'll end up with glaze that looks like dried mud, who knows?