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This is why I've been silent the last few days: Too much Halloween prep going on around these parts. From setting up the handprint bat craft for tomorrow's party to creating the King Boo Costume, I've been a regular with rubber cement, scissors, and paper scraps. It is raining at the moment, so we're crossing our fingers that tomorrow won't be as wet. But on the other hand, perhaps we can finally use some of those excellent umbrellas that my kids begged me to purchase last year that we...

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The kids have been counting down to Halloween. Of course they have. But now that the spooky decorations have been up a bit, they've worn their costumes several times already, and The Toys 'R Us catalog showed up in our Sunday paper, they're on to Christmas. Yup, they've skipped Thanksgiving (and my birthday, thankyouverymuch.) Today Splig drew the below picture to tell Santa that he's reallyreallysorry that he broke his other Wall-E, and maybecouldyaplease gimme a new one? As irony would...

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Left: We put up the rest of our Halloween decorations today, including a tall spooky tree. Splig decided the box in which the tree came would be a perfect play space. Right: We were late to the Cat's soccer game. I am ashamed to say I lost track of time because I was unsuccessfully cleaning the house. (I say "unsuccessful" because whatever room I'm not cleaning ends up dirty, and so forth.) But seeing this itty-bitty soccer player made me smile in the midst of my stress.

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Not so long ago, a friend sent me a link about Jenny McCarthy being upset that McCain "snubbed" her by not meeting with her. She had been excited initially because he apparently said he believes there is a connection between the thimerosal vaccine and autism, as she does. And about a year ago, one of my email autism groups went wild as they all ran out to buy her book, expecting miracles. (And now she has a new book out, too.) While I appreciate the vigor with which she wants people to believe...

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T. Rex By The Cat Stegosaurus By Splig

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There was an odd traffic jam this morning on the freeway, and then another on a road with unexpected major construction. As I sat, waiting, I remembered how several years ago I was over three hours late to a job interview because of traffic. I had given myself extra commute time, but storm-related flooding halted traffic. Thank goodness for my cell phone, for I was able to phone my interviewer to let her know I was stuck and to give her updates every so often. But nonetheless, I remember...

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Today I sent out an email to the parents of the Cat's class soliciting volunteers, paper products, googly eyes, and all that other wonderful stuff for an elementary school Halloween party. It is hard to believe we're just a week and a half away. All this time I've thought "we're at the beginning of the month," but we aren't. (That means I've got to get painting that box to create the Cat's Mario Kart for his "King Boo," a task that seemed way in the future when I posted their costumes for the...

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During the debate, Senator McCain kept confusing Down syndrome and autism, using the latter's diagnostic label in the same discussion in which he remarked that Sarah Palin “understands special needs better than almost any American I know.” That certainly irked me, because Palin likely knows very little about autism. And since Trig is young, she doesn't have a full grasp of what life will bring him as an individual with Down syndrome. I pondered this as I wrote about my concerns about Palin last...

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The Cat gave a presentation today. Preparations alternated between pulling-teeth and enthusiastic participation. He loved making a cut-out of his "community service worker" and was giddy about trying to figure out just how many meetings a State Senator might have in a year, during a 4-year term, or during his or her entire time in the Senate (if re-elected) if he or she has 5-6 per day. But he rolled around on the floor when he was supposed to be dictating his thoughts to me. He sighed and...

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The Cat's soccer game this weekend was a letdown. He had fun, which is the main part, but he sat out the second half because a soccer ball hit him in the tummy. He didn't seem concerned, later explaining that he felt much better sitting and watching his teammates. Although he played hard during the first half, he and his team lost the game. Meanwhile the parents on the sidelines were being quite boisterous with their screamed instructions to their poor kids. Splig and I shivered in the cold....

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I was walking one direction, two ladies were walking in the opposite direction. I overheard the following: "... well, yeah, but if the ballots don't arrive in time, there is not much we can do. I mean, I'll ask them who they want to vote for, but I'll have to do it. Obviously I am going to vote the way they want me to vote, so it isn't a like I'm being dishonest, but of course I am going to have to forge their signatures and stuff..." My guess is that she either works in a nursing home (thus...

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The boys dressed up a few weeks early in honor of the Halloween Party at their gym. Splig won second place in the costume contest with his imitation of a pirate. The Cat's costume wasn't quite complete; it will involve a cardboard Mario Kart car, but I knew the car wouldn't be useful for preforming gymnastics (and I didn't have time to make it) so he went without for the purposes of this particular event. As always, both kids had fun hamming it up at the gym, and their enthusiasm continues. I...

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This is not a cooking blog. But for today, humor me. Friday October 10th is World Egg Day, and in honor of this, I will share with you one of my favorite egg recipes. For the sake of completeness, I have posted a Flickr set of our adventures, plus have created little videos throughout the process. (Husband remarked “What’s with the multi-media extravaganza?”) Usually folks only consider omelets, quiche, deviled eggs, and other very “eggy” tasting dishes to be made from eggs. But there are...

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Oh sure. I could talk about how eager I am to play Palin Bingo or how I am just a tad concerned to see a second boarded-up house on our block. I could post pictures of an extraordinarily-eager Splig in his brand-new pirate costume that will likely not last until Halloween because of the love he's already shown it. (Don't worry, I will, soon.) And then there is the bit about how I talk about how stressed I am, but that just gets cliche after awhile. The Cat had a dentist appointment yesterday...

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The Cat scored his first in-game goal on Saturday. This is notable since both Husband and I never scored goals during actual games for our respective childhood soccer teams. I recall an assist, but never a goal. This isn't the first victory of recent days:

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