Contrary to most of the photos (and posts) on this blog, Katie does get girly from time to time.

Yes, she likes to wear shirts with cars on them.  Yes, she plays with trains and jumps in mud puddles.  But, she also likes to have dinner parties with her 'guys'.  She likes to carry around inanimate objects and pretend that they're babies.  Given a choice of colors to wear she'll most likely pick the item that is pink or purple.

When the day is through and our trains are put away and our Lightning McQueen shirts are tossed into our hampers, us tomboys like to get girly.

Here's GmaF showing Katie a thing or two about bein' girly...... 

Gripes

I went to Williams-Sonoma last week to pick up some turkey brine and cranberry relish.  I was in a rush because Katie was yelling at me.  "I WANT COOKIE-CRACKERS!!!!!!".   Sigh.  So, I grabbed the jar of brine and went about trying to find the cranberry stuff.

With the help of a store assistant I finally found it.  I thought to myself that I should check the ingredients just in case there was something that Katie could be allergic to in there.  I mean, what could possibly be in cranberry relish that she would react too?  Maybe soy....maybe?

Well, right there on the label it said it was processed on the same equipment that handles tree nuts, etc.  That's a definite no-go.  

Cranberry relish ~ OUT.  And you know what, the turkey brine said the same damn thing.  I did a quick tour around the store and even their old fashioned marshmallows had a nut warning!

So, I had to make a special trip to Central Market (kinda like Whole Foods) to find non-nut contaminated turkey brine and cranberry sauce.  Katie was happy.  She got to say "hi" to the crabbies and lobsters that they have for sale.

I'm old.  I turn 35 next month.  

About a month ago I injured a muscle in my neck while I was asleep.  It still hurts.

On Friday, I was trying to talk to my mom on the phone and give Katie horsie rides using one arm.  The next morning I couldn't inhale all the way because I think I pulled a lower back muscle.  That still hurts too.

Then today, I had to empty the leaves out of our huge-ass garbage bin and put them into our ginormous-ass yard waste bin.  (The landscaper guy put them into the wrong bin.  Grrrrrrr.  I guess I should be happy that I didn't have to rake them.)

Anyways, in the process I messed up my shoulder.  I'm not quite sure it's a muscle.  I think it's the joint.

Man, I suck.

Hey, NEMO!

Did I mention that Katie LOVES her Nemo costume?

She wears it just about every day.

See below for an example.....

Santa Spoiler Part Two

Okay, so I just realized that if there's no Santa that means there's no Easter Bunny and no Tooth Fairy.

Bummer.

Here's something really deep. 

Why did the Peanuts kids make fun of Linus for believing in the Great Pumpkin?  Santa is okay, but the Great Pumpkin is not?  What kind of message does that send?  Those kids are completely intolerant of people with different belief systems.  It's not right, I tell ya. 

I have more thinking to do.

Sorry, no videos or photos in this one.

Just me blabbing.

I made the worst tacos ever last night.  I have no idea what I did.  I admit that I did rubberize the chicken by overcooking.  But, I've done that before and have been able to salvage.  I put chili pepper in there.  I put some cumin in there.  They tasted like, um, nothing.  Nothing.  The avocado had more taste than the chicken taco meat.  They were horrible.

Last week, I managed to make instant mashed potatoes from scratch.  Yep.  You read that right. I must have overcooked the potatoes and then added way too much moisture.  It tasted like it was prepared fresh out of the box.  I am so talented.

Katie had Flamingo (a recently acquired 'guy') on her potty yesterday.  He was busy going poopy.  Then I hear this, "Flamingo is taking a dump."  I wonder who she picked that up from?

GmaF came for a visit this weekend.  We did lots of fun stuff and even went to see 'Lucy', a famous australiopithecus afarensis, who was visiting town.  Do you know that she's 3.2 million years old?  Anyways, Katie had three huge temper tantrums in one day.  That, my friends, is a record.  Kicking, screaming, crying.  I think we were the hit of the museum.  We certainly put on a show exiting the building.  They'll be talking about us for weeks.

**SANTA SPOILER AHEAD**

I am seriously considering whether or not to get Katie into the whole Santa Claus thing.  First of all, there's the whole lying thing.  Then there is the consumerism, the commercialism, the 'big-brother is watching you' aspect....

That said, I don't remember having much trouble getting over the Santa thing.  I had fun perpetuating the myth for my younger sisters.  I know that I got excited about getting presents from him every year and I'm sure that my parents had a good time sneaking presents under the tree and eating the cookies we left out each year.

But, then I think about all the presents that I got from SANTA over the years.  Instead of thinking to myself, "Wow.  Santa is one real cool dude for getting me that Caveman video game!"  I shoulda been thinking, "My parents rock."  After I found out about the Santa myth as a kid, I didn't go back and thank my parents for all the hard work.  Okay, so no kid would say thanks out loud.  But, I could've thought about it.  You see, I didn't even think twice about it until JUST NOW.  How lame is that?  Sigh.  Sorry, Mom & Dad.

Now that I wrote that paragraph up there, it seems like as a parent I want to get all the thanks. It seems a bit selfish.  Sigh.

Katie is too young NOT to think that Santa is real.  She has created a whole world in which Lightning McQueen gets a flat tire and then needs a hug.  A world in which she and Mickey Mouse catch Big Red Gooey Fish for Mr. Pettibone.

So, I'm not quite sure if these guys really exist for her.  They're invisible to me but she can tell me exactly where they are sitting in the room.  It's hard to know if she comprehends make believe yet or if she is just doing it.

That last sentence, like, totally doesn't make sense.   

I don't know.  Maybe we'll just celebrate Festivus.

So, I thought to myself, "Self, there are way too many videos of Katie on this here website!  I think it's time that I share some of the spotlight with other deserving folks."

Here's a guest spot from Uncle Nick.

He so craaaaaazeeeeee!

Throwin' a fist-bump your way, Big Guy.

"Orange Pumpkins on Halloween Night!"

Halloween was awesome this year.  Katie really got into it.  See that title up above?  Well, Katie made that up.  It's her Halloween song (it only has that one line, but it's still totally cool).  

She's actually been talking about pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and all things Halloween since the beginning of September.  Here are some of the Halloween festivities.....

Last weekend we went to a Halloween Carnival/Fundraiser.

Katie had a great time participating in such classic games as:

Ring Around The Bat, Spooky Golf and the ever popular, Bean Bag Toss.

This was one of her favorites.  Magnetic Fishing.

This week, one of the playgroup Mom's hosted

a Halloween party for the kiddies.  There were turkey hotdogs,

cheese sticks, watermelon chunks and Halloween cookies.  

Ah.  Could there be a better lunch menu for a toddler?

Now, when have you ever seen Batman, a cheerleader and a fish sit down

together for a nice story?  Never, huh.  Now you can say you have.

On Thursday night, we carved out Katie's pumpkin.

At first she was reluctant to stick her hands into the goopies.

But, she overcame that aversion very quickly.

Halloween day was dedicated to pumpkins.  Katie and I made

pumpkin bread together.  She helped me use the hand mixer, stir up the

ingredients, and also taste tested everything.  Including the flour.

Here is Katie's patented 'Double Spoon Stirring Technique'.

Please, do NOT try this at home.

We decided to attend a downtown Trick-or-Treat festival.

The bakery handed out cookies and the donut shop handed out, what else,

donuts!!!

Hey, look!  I found Nemo!

As soon as we got home, Katie wanted to start in

on her candy.  Because of the allergies, I took out ALL the

candy in her bowl and replaced it with four dum-dum lollipops and

some Smarties.  She didn't care for the Smarties, but loved the lollipops.  

She loved them so much, she felt the need to share

the joy with Daddy.

And so, Halloween is over.  Katie is already prepping for the

next big holiday.  We've got our Thanksgiving library books

out on the table for her to peruse.  It's time to let go of the

pumpkins and embrace the turkey.

But for now, it's good night from

Halloween town!