My Favorite Workout buddy

This is my new best friend.

If you have never worked out with a kettlebell before...

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

This is my friend that even when I am just swinging it around,

makes me hurt because I'm trying to stay upright.

I can do a ton of exercises with it, and it won't hurt my poor, sad back!

Here's the only thing to remember:

When swinging it, have a good grip.

It can fly far.  ☺

I love October

I think it's really funny that I LOVE this month.   It's not my birthday month, it's not my anniversary; it's just a really great month and I'll tell you why!

IT'S OCTOBER!

I LOVE:

* that the Arizona Desert starts cooling off.  I love that all the creepy things go into hibernation when it's cooler.  

* climbing into bed with a heat pack on  my still sore back.

* being cold and putting my feet on Curt's warm legs. (He's not a lover of this, but oh well.)

* wearing layers!  I can't tell you how much I love wearing 2 long sleeve shirts.

* wanting to drink Cocoa with marshmallows.  (and I love making homemade marshmallows, they are super yummy!)

* that even though all the trees here don't change colors, the trees an hour north do.

* the week before Halloween.  It's dedicated to watching scary movies and reading a scary book!  This year it's "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova.

* Making Halloween costumes! (It's my goal to have the costumes done a week before)

* winning the costume contest at the parties!  We're totally winning this year.

* Halloween Parties: Gena's and the Trunk or Treat (Myra, I'm sad that you aren't having one)

* the kids' fall parties! 
* Pumpkins ~ I can't wait to use them next month for pies!
* seeing all the other kid's halloween costumes
* ghosts ~ I have such an interesting view of them and think it's cool.
* kids crawling into bed with me just to get warm.
* the weatherman when he says the magical phrase, "The high will be in the 80s today."
* the early morning bus because it comes when it really is early morning!
* the electricity bill goes WAY down because the AC is off.
* the kids go to bed earlier because they think it's later than it really is.
* Green Grass... need I say more?

So, here it is... October and I'm loving this month so far.  I spent last night with friends at a book club discussing a wonderful and beautifully written book.

 The Thirteen Tale by Diane Setterfield.  Seriously, this is one of my favorite books EVER!  You know how some people have to give a book a few chapters before they even care about it?  This is the one book that has you absolutely captivated from the first paragraph...

 " It was November.  Although it was not yet late, the sky was dark when I turned into Laundress Passage.   Father had finished for the day, switched off the shop lights and closed the shutters; but so I would not come home to darkness he had left on the light over the stairs to the flat. Through the glass in the door it cast a foolscap rectangle of paleness onto the wet pavement, and it was while I was standing in the rectangle, about to turn my key in the door, that I first saw the letter.  Another white rectangle, it was on the fifth stop fromt hte bottom, where I couldn't miss it."

If you love books, and read a ton of them like I do, this book is a "must read". 

Anyway, back to my day of costume finishing.  I have to make my daughters and adjust mine.  It's going to be a beautiful day.

Poo Paranoid

I had a great Sunday until Curtis came into me while I was playing the piano.  He came up with Hayden and turned him around.  Ugh.  POOP!    It was up the front, up the back and out the legs.  Holy Cow!  Did he save this up until he just couldn't hold it in anymore and then decide that he would impress his friends with how much he could produce?   It was pretty funny though, because Curt is a self-admitted "Poo Paranoid".  He can't handle it in the slightest.   I should get a video of this.  It's hilarious.  
What was funnier, was that as we were getting ready to leave church, Curt's Home Teaching Companion came over and told Curt that he had set up visits for 12:30 (we get out at 12).    He was so nauseous that he couldn't handle it anymore.  He freaked, I had to explain to Mike that Curt has this condition.  Mike called it a "Poophobia".  It's really hard not to laugh when Curt freaks over something like this.   He couldn't wait for Mike to come get him for the appointments to get him away from the mess and the smell.  I don't mind poop, I just get over it, it's part of being a Mom.  (But, even I almost lost it when I was showering the boy down.)