I don’t do “horror”.  I don’t like scary movies.  I don’t enjoy suspense novels.  I can’t even handle haunted houses.  My husband however, loves the stuff.  His fondest memories from high school are of working the haunted house in town.  He thinks Steven King novels don’t qualify as “scary”.  Monster movies are totally his thing.  He’s been reading The Walking Dead comics since issue 1 came out way back when.  So, needless to say, he got very excited when he found out they were turning his favorite comic series into a t.v. show.

Yesterday, we watched episode one of The Walking Dead. I don’t know how he conned me into watching it, but he did.  All my facebook and twitter feeds are full of praise for this show, and honestly, I can see why.  It’s visually stunning, well plotted, and scary as all get out.

The problem is, it gave me horrible nightmares.  Plus, my 20 month old isn’t talking yet, and in the middle of the night, his grunts and whimpers in his sleep sound awfully zombie-like.

Add to that the time change, with kids being up and ready for the day at 6 a.m., and I’m not sure I’m going to make it through the day.  Every time I close my eyes, I see a half corpse-zombie crawling through the grass.  Or a horde of zombies attacking a tank.  (If you’ve seen episode 1, you know the scenes I’m talking about, if you haven’t, don’t worry, I’m not giving out spoilers.)

So, I think today may be a huge quantity of coffee day.

I understand episode 2 premiered last night.  Ugh.  Pray for me.

In other news, better news, happier news that may just distract me from the horrors my darling husband inflicted on me, I have winners!

I plugged the numbers into a random number generator.  Okay, really, since there were only 10 entries I grabbed 10 scraps of paper, wrote 1-10 on each of them and laid them on the coffee table this morning since we were up at 6 a.m. anyway.  Asher grabbed two of them and brought them to me.  Well, no, Asher grabbed two pieces of paper and shoved them in his mouth.  I fished them out and figured out who our winners are!

Drumroll please!

The winners  of a $50 gift card courtesy of Kodak Gallery are . . .

Entry number 4, Jessica Garcia and entry number 1, Dreamsweaver. Watch your email for a message from me.  I’ll need your address so I can have your prizes shipped to you.

Those of you who didn’t win, keep reading because we’ll have another give away soon!  Have a great, zombie free day!

Who loves photo albums?  You know I do!  I bet you do too. Well, lucky for me, I got on a list.  What kind of list?  A blogger list!  Somehow, Kodak found out about little old me and decided to give me a free photo album, and to give two of my readers free albums too!  You lucky readers you.

For Halloween, Kodak made all sorts of amazing new halloween themed photo albums, and through the 11th, you can order one for your very own.  Or you can hang on to your giftcard and do albums for holiday gifts, or for yourself of the year, or whatever.  Don’t tell Kodak I said that though!

So now that you’re all hot and bothered for one of my two $50 Kodak gift cards, allow me to sweeten the deal!  Now through the 11th, in addition to the really cool Halloween theme books, you can get 50 free Mommy Cards, and free prints if you order a medium or large size photo book.  I’m over the moon here myself.

How do you get one of these amazing cards?  It’s easy!  Head on over to Kodak.com and take a look at the goodies.  Then come back here and comment on what size book you like best, or what card design, or whatever.  Basically, tell me what you would order if you were lucky enough to win one a gift card for free Kodak.com products.  It’s that simple.

Somebody is going to win, actually, because Kodak and I are so generous, two somebodies will win.  It might as well be you!

You have until the end of the day on Sunday, the 7th of November to enter my giveaway.  It doesn’t give you much time, so hurry up and comment already!

Late last night, my 20 month old decided to grab hold of the top of my laptop and pull backwards, hard.  Luckily, he wasn’t hurt.  Unfortunately, he did manage to crack the screen on my computer, rendering it a useless brick.  An expensive useless brick that is.

A few years back, my husband bought himself a toy.  An Acer netbook.  It’s the teeniest tiniest computer I’ve ever seen, but for now, it’s all I’ve got.

He’s got $5,000 worth of computers and parts all over the basement.  I’ve got a $200 Lilliputian laptop, running linux I might add.  Obviously, I have no familiarity with linux.  He tells me it is in fact running Ubuntu, but really, to me it’s all “huh?”

I managed to get access to my blog though, without any tears!  Hooray!

So, here I am pecking away at a minuscule keyboard, trying not to be resentful that when his computer has the teeniest issue, he runs straight to Tiger Direct or Dell and gets whatever it needs, no questions asked, and when my computer is killed violently, I hear “maybe before the end of the year”.

At any rate, here I am, with 75% of the functionality I really need.  So, I’ll muddle though, and the blog is still functional.

Counting my blessings.

So, any advice on how to make this Ubuntu netbook fun?  Please?

You know I don’t “sell out” on my blog , and I’m not doing it now!  I’m just excited to be able to share something with you that actually works!!!

Salonpas Pain Relief Box

After 5 days in the car traveling to and from Boston with two toddlers, I ache.  My back feels like something ran it over, or at least it did.  A friend gave me a free sample of a Salonpas Pain Patch, and I used it and love it!  The pain relief was fast, it went on easy, and stuck! The patch is thin and flexible. I used it on my back, but it could easily go on a joint like a knee or elbow.  It’s medicated, so unlike those heat patches, this one works on real pain, not just moderate achy-ness.   The Salonpas is FDA approved, and lasts up to 12 hours!

Really, I love these things.

And the best part?  I have a bunch of them to give away!

All you have to do is fill out a form, and you can get your very own free sample for amazing pain relief.

Seriously, free, with a dollar off coupon for once you’ve decided that you like it.  You’ve got nothing to lose.

Salonpas is even running a contest at Pain Free and Proud where you can win all sorts of cool prizes.

You don’t even have to comment on my blog (but I’d love it if you would!), just fill out the form, and get your freebie.  Once you try it, don’t forget to fan Salonpas on Facebook.

It’s good stuff!

*Disclaimer:  I got a free sample and was compensated for reviewing this product, but the opinions are all my own, as are the recommendations.  I sure hope you know that about me.  I wouldn’t write for something I didn’t believe in.

Or letting go of perfectionism.

My cousin has a travel delay, and poor guy, he is stuck here in one of the “flyover” states until tomorrow.  So, we chatted through Facebook (isn’t technology grand) and he’s going to come on down for dinner tonight.

Historically, this would send me into a tizzy.  My house isn’t spotless.  My 2 year old has scabs on her face from a run-in (fall-in?) with our concrete patio on Father’s day, and I wouldn’t have any idea what I was making for dinner for my family, much less for my cousin and my folks who also are really looking forward to seeing him.

Today, that’s not how things are going though!  My house isn’t spotless, but it is clean enough.  I need to sweep up some cheerios from morning snack, and put away the cheerios and raisins which are still on the counter in the kitchen, but that’s it cleanup wise.  My house doesn’t NEED to be spotless.  Clean enough is totally clean enough!

I know what I’m making for dinner thanks to FlyLady and ChiveTalker.  I just need to run out to the store, which was already on the agenda today, and pick up a little more stuff to fill the meal out.  Two fish fillets won’t feed 5 adults and 2 toddlers, no matter how much rice goes with the curry. 

So, basically, I’m not flipping out and running around like a chicken without a head.  I’m letting my children watch Dinosaur Train while they play.  I’m enjoying my coffee.  Heck, I’m writing a post on my blog.

You know what, letting go of perfectionism is a really good thing for my sanity!

Hey, when the kool-aid is this inspiring, I’ll drink right up!

1. I’m grateful for my husband. He works crazy hours, but is still willing to get up with the kids in the morning so I have a chance to catch a few more zzzz’s.

2. I’m grateful for my adorable children. Their minds work in incredible ways and I’m always surprised by what they come up with.

3. I’m grateful for my friends, without whom I totally would be in a loony bin

4. I’m grateful for my mom, who knows when to help make grandiose plans, and when to reign me back in before I go off the deep end and buy 47 yards of fabric or a dog.

5. I’m grateful that we have a roof over our heads, and food in the fridge. All my worries are pretty much silliness because we have the things we need.

I’m actually grateful for more than just this, but the kool-aid is to list 5, so 5 it is!

Why am I calling this my “Not So Much Knitting Blog” lately?  Probably because my knitting mojo is gone gone gone.  I’m so tired, all the time, and knitting just isn’t fun anymore.  I still love looking at patterns, fingering and even buying yarn, planning out projects, and sorting through the yarn stash.

I just am not loving the actual knitting.

It feels like just one more thing on my to-do list.

I’ve completed one lonely knitting project this year.  Yes, you read that right.  One.  I’m embarrassed.

Can I be a knitter if I’m not knitting?

I don’t know.

What I do know, is that dealing with two toddlers 24/7 has me worn out.  My wonderful husband has been pretty much absent lately, as work has been requiring 90+ hour weeks from him since Passover.  I don’t understand it, but apparently they can get away with it.  So, by the time I get the kids down at night, I pretty much collapse into a quivering puddle of exhaustion.

Knitting isn’t something that is interesting me.  I wish it would.  I miss the relaxation, the de-stressing, the feeling of accomplishment I used to get from knitting.

I trust that my mojo will return.  I just don’t know when.

My friend Knitterary says sometime after the kids start school.  I fear she may be right.

Everyone else in the universe (it seems) is at BlogHer this week, and it’s even here in my wonderful city of Chicago, and I’m not.

I had more than my fair share of chances, and even nearly got a ticket today, but the stars did not align, or actually the $$$ did not align, and so here I sit.  Plumbing disasters, a wicked summer cold, and just utter nonsense conspired to keep me at home this weekend.

But I’m not bitter.  I’m jealous as hell of Jen, Ree, and Phyllis, but I’m okay.  I will live vicariously.  I will save my pennies and shekels for next year.  I will enjoy this weekend with my kids, and hopefully some time with my husband, and I will work to improve my writing, my blog, and my marketability, so that next year when BlogHer rolls around, I won’t be going “because it’ll be fun” but because it is a “business event” and that will be justifiable no matter what decides to blow up in my house at the worst possible opportunity.

So there!