Halloween. It's Coming. At Some Point. I Suppose.

This is us. The one showing lots of shoulder (in her Chengdu, China Marine Ball ball gown!) is the EFM who writes this blog. The one wearing a tux (James) is the employee who moves her (and their two sons) around all over the world. The red link, below, is how you can get in touch with me...

The time in Chengdu, China

Chengdu: city of fabulous food and beautiful Buddhist monasteries!

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

One of the most intriguing things about Chengdu is that it is a seamless blend of ancient and modern... all together, side by side.

Can't Live Without (non-State)

Crass-Pollination: An ER blog
The best ER nurse blog EVER!
Doctor Grumpy in the House
The best doctor blog EVER!
In Which...
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of seven. Her darling daughters are, goshdarnit, probably too young to be hoped for as my future daughters-in-law.
The Crib Chick
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of five. Hopefully two (Any two! I'm not picky!) of which are my future daughters-in-law.
the underwear drawer
An anesthesiologist who is possibly the most talented & entertaining writer ever. I've read her blog ever since she started medical school. No, don't know her in real life. Wish I did.
The Bloggess
This blog is both hysterically funny and hilariously irreverent. I actually let my 17 year old son read it (who loves it as much as I do!), but wouldn't even CONSIDER letting my 12 year old son read it. Which is about all the description it needs!

The grounds of Chengdu monasteries can be very, very peaceful...even though they are smack dab in the heart of a city of millions of people.

Specifics

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10/06/2010

Halloween. It's Coming. At Some Point. I Suppose.

Bless Connie's (Whale Ears and Other Wonderings) heart for bringing this topic up for the RoundUp on Friday, because I don't think I would have even THOUGHT about Halloween otherwise.

So. Halloween.

Well, thanks to Connie, I've started trying to get my lazy self into gear. Hey- I can't complain. I only have one child this year who cares that Halloween is coming or wants to do anything about it.

(NOTE: Moms with lots of young children who are feeling overwhelmed... it gets better. My 16-yr-old doesn't give a RAT'S about Halloween any more. So now I only have one to worry about. Which is good... and bad. Good because - less work! Bad because - probably only another year or two of doing this. *sniff*)

James got out of language school early today, so he and Zachary and I went to some hideous Halloween store and looked at costumey things. Because I'm not crafty, that's why. SOME WOMEN (read: Donna at Email from the Embassy) on this earth can do FREAKING EVERYTHING. Yeah, well... I'm not one of them. So to the hideous Halloween store we all went.

Fake wounds and fake looks-like-blood body paint later (he's going to be some wounded something- maybe a bloody zombie or something? Oh, and heads up, moms out there: the older they get, the more bizarre their costume choices. The cute stuff goes out the window as the age progresses. Enjoy your cute Halloween costumes while they last!) and we left the store, icky costume items purchased. One thing down!

The bigger thing? I decorate my home with library books. Yes, you read that right. No matter what the holiday, my home's decorations are library books. I get picture books for the holidays from the library and put them out on tables and such (and, of course, I read them to the boys). In fact...

This is one of my boys' favorite Halloween books. It's by Jerry Seinfeld, and it's HILARIOUS. It's also only something like $6 right now at Amazon. Not bad.

How else do we do Halloween?

Well, there's always my apron:

My Mommy-made-apron always matches the occasion. Because not only do I have an 1800's marriage (it works for us!), and not only do I cook all the meals, clean the house, stay at home, homeschool the children ad nauseum, I also always wear an apron while doing so. And am barefoot, more often than not. Yes, seriously.

(Nope. Not pregnant.)

I can't think of much else, other than the fact that we will probably get donuts on Halloween. We did a dry run this morning:

Orange. Colorful. Sort of fall and sort of Halloween.

So: Halloween picture books all over the house. Halloween apron. Halloween donuts. Store-bought fake wounds and fake blood. Yep, that's about as good as it gets.

~ ~ ~

In other news, my oldest son has mange:

Oh, wait. Maybe it's just that his horrible sunburn from this past weekend (a really long outdoors outing) is peeling. But it looks like mange. Or leprosy.

But at least my leprous son is learning lots of Chinese. For behold (shameless showing off for the highly educated, very academic grandparents who care greatly about these sorts of things), a worksheet:

Not too shabby for only being... what? ... three weeks into the school year?

Therefore: His ENTIRE FACE may be disintegrating, but his brain is fully intact! And the brain is the important part. So it's all good.

(Also, I didn't want anyone to be left with the impression, since I'm homeschooling my boys again, that I think this area's schools are anything less than stellar. Because this Chinese class is just amazing. What a gift!)

~ ~ ~

[OKAY BLOGGERS: I am now going over to Connie's blog (since she's hosting the RoundUp this week) and I'm going to post a link to this in her comments section so that she will include it! And if I, who hate - and I mean that - HATE - all forms of self-promotion can do this, you can do it, too!]

Posted on 10/06/2010 at 09:22 PM in Homeschooling, Learning Mandarin Chinese, Matthew, Me, Posts referencing fellow State bloggers | Permalink

Comments

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I do all the cooking, well almost all the cooking Dave is a great cook he just doesn't have the time to cook very often. And I always wear an apron because I ruin my clothes otherwise. I love your Mommy made aprons, maybe that is what I will ask Mom for this year. Let's hear it for 1800's marriages!

Posted by: shannon | 10/06/2010 at 10:08 PM

I am glad that Matthew's brain is still intact, always a good thing.

I love the apron. I am not a huge fan of Halloween, but I LOVE all the fall colors and pumpkins and decorations. I love the idea of books as decorations, what a great idea.

Posted by: Emily | 10/06/2010 at 11:23 PM

I love the books as decor idea and will start going through bookshelves now! Sorry your son has mange, hope he gets better soon ;) , but awesome about the Chinese class. So good for him. Oh, and the weird costumes don't always wait for the teen years, my adorable 7yo chose to be cute kitty this year, but her other choice was to be a zombie... that girl can roll her eyes back so that all you can see are the whites. (I offered to buy her a cauliflower for a 'brain' prop).

Posted by: Connie | 10/07/2010 at 01:46 AM

I've never gone all out in decorating our house for various holidays. I do ooh and aah the homes of others that are tastefully decorated but it just seems like so much work. I like simplicity and don't have room to store seasonal decorations, so I really liked your library books idea. You use them and then you return them, so you don't have to worry about storage, how cool is that?

Also, cudos to your oldest for his serious brains. He is already writing in Chinese! After only three weeks in class! Unbelievable! He is wicked smart!

And yeah, I know kids costumes get wackier as they grow but I am so not ready to say buh-bye to the cuteness. Hopefully, our daughter will agree on cute costumes for a couple more years...

Posted by: Daniela | 10/07/2010 at 06:12 AM

Love the library book idea! And aprons?! You impress me.

We'll probably do either yeoman or ninjas this year. (We have bamboo "quarter staffs" and wooden katanas. Add black clothes or brown/green clothes.)

C9 is convinced that this apartment building will be a treasure trove of trick-or-treating. I dunno. Wanna bring your son over and join us for getting candy (and then hot cider?)

Posted by: TulipGirl | 10/07/2010 at 09:10 AM

Matthew's chinese is AMAZING!!! It is so awesome he gets to learn the language before you get there!! I am thinking I might steal your decorating idea for my house!

Posted by: Melissa | 10/08/2010 at 01:51 AM

This week's State Department Blog RoundUp is posted - and you're on it!

RoundUp

Thank you, and have a great weekend!

Posted by: Connie | 10/08/2010 at 03:50 AM

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James loves me. And our sons. And his job. But not having his picture taken. In 2011 he finished up over a year and half of training, and in the fall of 2011 we got to our first overseas post - Chengdu, China!