A totally cancer-free post

TEN THINGS ABOUT ME:

I am both a neat freak and a slob –like I’ll complain that Michael didn’t put the tea back exactly where it belongs when the entire kitchen looks like a bomb hit it.

I have no hesitation about public speaking whatsoever. I’ll address a crowd of just about any size in a heartbeat.

I love cemeteries -- I espcially like to find a quiet spot where I can just sort of gaze out over all the headstones and the grounds…for some reason a cemetery view always seems to inspire me to write poetry.

One of my favorite songs to sing is Amazing Grace – yet I’m not Christian. Oh, and if I hear it played on the bagpipes I become a sniveling puddle.

My favorite place to be in the world is Cape Cod, Massachusetts…particularly Wellfleet or Provincetown. Spending time traversing those windswept dunes or strolling the quaint cobblestone streets fills me with a sense of belonging and peace.

If I had to choose one last meal it would probably be a burger, fries & chocolate shake (the vegan versions, of course).

Summer is my least favorite season – I absolutely hate the heat. Autumn is my favorite time of year.

Parting with books is very hard for me… I’m trying to be less sentimental and have managed to give away a few, but books are like old friends -- even the ones that I’ve outgrown are hard to part with because of the memories.

I’ve only left the country twice – both times to Canada. As a kid I spent two weeks in Ontario and then after graduation I spend three months working as a nanny for a wealthy family in their Quebec summer home.

I actually like cloudy, gray days almost more than sunny ones. There’s something about the way other colors pop against a silvery gray sky that speaks to me aesthetically.Thanks so much to lovely Lesa at Always Summer who gave me the two awards below, I’m honored – and I also can't tell you how good it was to do a fun post having NOTHING to do whatsoever with breast cancer -- gosh I really needed that!

Now I’d like to pass the awards on to the following fantastic blogs:

Already Pretty
The Small Fabric of My Live
Utah Savage
Ephemera
The Blue Kimono
Tessa Scoffs
La Belette Rouge
notSupermum
The Writing Instinct
Shallow Coffee
Brenda's Blog From Paraguay
Udarata Kella
Inside Out Style
Goodbye to Boobs
Stumble Into Style

Beautiful Blogger Award rules: - Thank the person(s) who nominated you and give a link to their blog. Copy the award and paste it to your blog. Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you have discovered.

Rules for Sugardoll award: Thank and link the person who gave you the award. Pass this award onto fabulous bloggers of your choice. Contact said blogs and let them know they've won. Re-post and state 10 things about yourself.

101 Dalmatians or I'm seeing spots before my eyes!

How about a post that doesn’t mention the “C” word, not even once?

And further still…how about a blog entry that just talks about simple mom stuff for a change…you know, the ordinary happenings of domestic bliss? These little seemingly mundane moments actually always end up being amongst the most delightful memories I have, so I thought I’d share this little slice of life.

Halloween happenings…

Megan will be a Dalmatian for Halloween (thus the post title). Megan is utterly crazy for Dalmatians…yet she really doesn’t care for the Disney movie. I think perhaps the villainous Cruella de Vil is a bit too much for her.

Daniel wanted to be a firefighter so this worked out kinda cute…but as any good mom knows there’s every possibility that Danny will want to be a Dalmatian too, and at the last minute of course. So Mama is making two doggie costumes just in case :) This involves white sweatpants and hooded sweatshirts and painting lots & lots of little black spots and dots all over them. I bought some cat ears & tails and will adapt them so as to look less feline. Voila – Dalmatians!

Michael and I usually dress up a bit to go with the kids trick or treating…much to Mike’s chagrin for he’s not a center-of-attention-kinda-guy ;) This year we are going as firefighters ourselves…we bought plastic fire hats and are putting yellow masking tape stripes on jackets we already had. That and some boots and well, there ya go – instant fire fighters.

Food fight…NOT
Some may wonder what vegans like us do about Halloween. It’s really not that difficult. Lots of candy is surprisingly vegan…stuff like most lollypops, Twizzlers, Good ‘n’ Plenty, some dark chocolate, taffy, pretzels, Oreo cookies, etc. That stuff Meggie keeps. The other stuff we trade her for treats we’ve already bought. She’s quite happy to do it – we’ve told her she is old enough at 8yo to make her own decisions about occasions like this and she still wants the vegan option. If she ever changes her mind, that’s okay too.

Daniel won’t be eating candy. Daniel doesn’t eat hardly anything. He will eat yogurt (soy) oatmeal, carrots, applesauce and prunes – all of it still the babyfood version. He won’t chew anything. Really, give the kid a cookie even and he’ll lick it or sniff it but he won’t bite it, lol. As strange (and frustrating) as that sounds I’m not really too worried. Perhaps not ironically Megan was the EXACT same way. But by the time she hit 3 ½ or 4 she began expanding her repertoire in leaps and bounds. This too shall pass for our Daniel. Patience...I’ve never heard of a kid going off to college who still eats babyfood prunes, lol.

Okay, that’s enough of a painting break for Mama – I’ve got lots & lots more spots & dots to address. Hope this little slice of life was at least somewhat entertaining. It sure was a nice break from “you know what” for me too ;)

To all those that celebrate I hope you have a howling good Halloween!!!!