Happy Hallowistmas!

What?  You’ve never heard of Hallowistmas?  Well neither had I until I made it up. 

Some of my family members spend the winter in warmer climates (man are they smart).  They tend to zip out of town near the beginning of November, which means we can’t all be together for Christmas.  If we all want to see each other it needs to happen in October. As you can see Hallowistmas was a holiday created out of necessity.  It’s the marriage of Halloween and Christmas.

Each year the aunts, uncles, cousins, and their kids get together with grandma & grandpa to celebrate this wonderful holiday.  The kids bring their Halloween costumes and share a great meal.  

Urlacher

The whole crew

Crafting with Auntie R

Hurry Up and Wait

I heard two interesting doctor stories in the last week.  One was from a colleague who had a check-up scheduled for late in the afternoon.  She was taken back to the exam room and proceeded to wait for about 30 minutes.  As soon as she got concerned that she was forgotten about she walked to the door to peek her head out.  Just as she opened the door the doctor was grabbing her chart from the door pocket.  OK, I guess he was just running a bit late.

The next story comes from my dear mother.  She had a check-up scheduled at lunchtime.  The nurse took her to the exam room right away.  Then 45 minutes pass and no one shows.  She needs to get back to work and it's pushing 1:00 by now.  She gets dressed and walks out the door.  There was not a nurse outside the door nor a receptionist at the desk to inquire what was going on.  My mom was pretty angry that this happened.  While she was on her way back to work the office figured out that she was AWOL and tried to contact her.  They called the office (no answer as it was still lunchtime), her cell phone (no answer because she was not in the mood to talk to them), the house (no one was home), and finally my father.  He told them he didn't know where she was and it was curious that they didn't know either.  Way to go, Dad.

She has not called to doctor back to schedule another appointment, yet.  I betcha she'll give them an earful next time she goes in.

Fast forward to today.....

I took the morning off for a doctors appointment. 10:00 was a great time. I got the kids off to their usual morning spots and even had a bit of time to run to Target.  I arrived at 9:45 to allow for any paperwork updates. I had all of that completed by 10:00.

I should have known something was up in the office when a lady in the waiting room asked how much longer she'd have to wait. They said not much longer, and 45 minutes later was her not much longer.

Tick, tick, tick goes the clock

At 10:40 I ask the receptionist if there's a chance I could be out of there by 11:15 so I could get to another appointment.  That appointment was going to be surprising M at school for a lunch date.  The lady pursed her lips, squinted her eyes at the clock, and then shook her head No.  Grrr, I had not told M about the lunch date so I chalked it up to a missed opportunity.  I thought about rescheduling for another day, but I already took the morning off and could hear the receptionist making appointments for the middle of November.  Double Grrrr.

I finally made it back to an exam room at 11:10.  Blood pressure, scale (yikes!), and the usual questions from the nurse were done super fast.  I asked how long I would wait for the doctor in an exasperated voice.  "It shouldn't be too long."  I've heard that before.

While I waited I checked Facebook, my Twitter feed, played some Solitare, downloaded the Tetris app, started this blog post...

Then I got the dreaded battery warning for 10% left.  Damn, better conserve energy in case this is a long-term stay.


Seriously, the clock read 11:48 when she walked in.


I walked out by 12:03.  Really?


Can't wait to go back next year.

All About Airplanes Weekend

As if we don't see airplanes enough in our lives, we practically spent last weekend with them.

Friday Night
Matt needed a pick up from the airport.  We graciously took the opportunity to see the planes at "the port."  Friday night is always nutty at the airport so I did not look forward to driving in there.  I was really not looking forward to the drive home when Matt said he had driven enough that week and would rather sit in the back with G.

Saturday
We had some errands to run and G needed a snack.  We just happened to be near the airport and stopped where the boys could watch airplanes land while snacking.

Since we were over that way, we decided to visit an aviation store on Irving Park that is usually closed when we drive by on Friday nights.  G talked Matt into a United Airlines playset; he got his first play with it at a picnic table outside the store.  No surprise the store is at the end of a runway so we got to see real planes take off while his pretend plane made some dangerous and evasive maneuvers. 

Sunday
M spent the weekend with my parents and she was due to come home on Sunday.  Mom said they planned to go to a little airport by their house for a monthly breakfast.  How could we deny the boy one more day of airplanes?  Contrary to our typical hang in the jammies Sunday, we were on our way by 8:15AM.

I think the best was saved for last this weekend.  Many of the customers at the breakfast flew their planes to the airport.  They parked in the grass just off the runway, which gave the land lovers a chance to peruse the different planes.

I was particularly happy to see that my grandparents came along as well.  Many years ago my grandfather was a certified pilot for small Cessna-type aircraft.  He told several stories and got to talk to many of the pilots.  I think G had a great time hanging out with him. 

G and Great Grandpa O

The kids and PAPA!

Now Matt is gone for a few days and we are airplane free.  Maybe that big pile of laundry will get folded, but I doubt it.

September Slide Show

September certainly zoomed on by this year.  Getting back into the swing of school and all of Matt' traveling had us busier than usual.  Since the month zoomed by, here's a zoom of the month.

A little brown nosing with my principal

My school Facebook posting.  It's tricky to come up with witty school appropriate sayings

Helping dad unclog the driain

Racing with G

Levitating

Water taxi & Renegade Craft Fair with T

Friday night fun with a tow truck

Too much Friday night fun with a tow truck

Picking tomatoes in Papa's garden

Testing the weight limit of the crib

Maybe we go to Starbucks a bit much?

Yes, every toy had to be dumped

Wore an 8 1/2 and needed a 10 1/2, whoops!

I still cry when Mufasa dies

After many, many, many days of rain the sun finally rejoined us

Yeah, I should do the dishes

:)

Can you believe my school library was purging this book?  Thankfully I saved it.

You always put your milk on the airplane wing, right?

Cupcakes :)

The Call of the Wild

Every family should have a call signal.

Not on your cell phone, an actual human to human sound or phrase that gets someone's attention or as a homing beacon.  I find that our family call signal is a wonderful resource when separated at the grocery store or across a large room.  However, in the past two years G has become a self-contained homing beacon.  You can hear that boy anywhere.

I realized the benefit of our family call signal this weekend at our favorite grocery store.  The deli always has an obnoxious wait; imagine grabbing the number 35 and seeing Now Serving #19 (yes, this is an accurate portrayal of all the time).  Seeing this as a colossal time waster, we split the list and try to knock out as much of it as we can before our number is called.  Matt and the kids went one direction and I went another.  The plan was to meet back at the deli.  Matt and the kids arrived at one end of the huddled masses while I had parked our basket at the other end.  As he scanned the crowd I sounded the family call signal and he immediately honed in on my 20.

The use of our family call signal is not limited to just large public places.  I frequently have to use it in the living room, basement, and backyard when calling the names of my family members is ineffective. 

It's a slightly Pavlovian concept, but believe me it works.  You should get one. 

What do the kids call you?

With what name do your kids' friends address you?  Hopefully nice names.  Do you prefer to be called by your first name or by your formal Mr. or Mrs. name?

First of all I am not a fan of being called Mrs. by our kids' friends.  I get called Mrs. all day at work and need a break from that at home.  Our kids address our immediate neighbors by their first names, and their kids address us by ours.  However, classmates that come over for playdates all call me Mrs. and our kids reciprocate the same formality at their houses.

Do you think it's OK to tell playdate friends that they can call me Holly?









Photos are accurate actor portrayals.