I�m a stay at home Mom, sort of. It�s almost 11 this fine sunny day and instead of being on the phones I have fed my baby and am working on house tasks. This evening I will be off to the restaurant for another unproductive night (since when did it become OK to tip your waitress 10% for good service. I even noticed they were struggling to open a package and brought them a pair of scissors (Thank you so much! No, Thank you for the lousy tip) still it�s something. My Darling is convinced he can handle the family bills if I can at least pay my own credit cards (thank you ex-husband for that albatross) and car payment. I�m not so sure but then for once I am not the keeper of the budget. This is both a good and a bad thing since I am a raving control freak and it takes considerable control not to wrest the reins for my Darling and do it myself. It�s not that he is doing anything wrong it�s just that this arrangement requires a great deal of trust on my part and trust is something I have very little of (thank you again ex-husband.

Speaking of the ex, I applied for my passport yesterday. Come January 1st my family will need them in order to cross thru Canada on our way to my folks in WNY. I was hit with two surprises. One, it seems that even infants will require passports so Baby Boy was off to the auto club for a photo (oh so cute even the lady said so) and then to the County Clerk where he swore (my Darling raised his right hand for him garnering laughs from the ladies in attendance) well we swore for him, that the information presented was true. In case you didn�t know both parents must be present to request a child�s passport (in order to prevent one parent from absconding with the child to a foreign land unbeknownst to the other. Two (this is the part about the ex) I was required to fill out additional paperwork about my previous spouse including his name (can you say Bozo?) SS# (how would I know that was four years ago this January) and birthday (once again no idea, I blocked it all out). The woman was understanding and said that as long as I was close in the birthday and had the right name that I should be OK. It�s the whole change the name thing biting me in the a$$ again. Then again not taking my husbands name is already biting me in the a$$ and Baby Boy hasn�t even started school yet. Damned if you do and damned if you don�t.

Today�s task is to see if I can get rid of the cat pee smell in the spare room. The women who lived here must have had no sense of smell whatsoever. After stripping out the old carpet, treating and sealing the walls and floors it is only the spare room that stubbornly resists all attempts to be rid of the eau de cat pee. It seems that room was the favorite place for putty cat to relieve himself. I have tried the enzyme cleaner from the pet store and washing first with floor cleaner followed by the enzyme cleaner and at the moment I am contemplating removing the duct and replacing it with brand new unpeed apon ducting. Any suggestions?

Also, I have to replace the valves for the washer and hook up the new hot water lines on the hot water tank. I�m sure to have more success plumbing than removing odor. It�s been a while since I worked on copper plumbing (the RV was all plastic) but I�m using compression fittings so at least I don�t have to sweat pipe which is quite the art and I am out of practice.

Today is Halloween in case you live under a rock and it has become a sad attempt for generation X to try and hold on to their youth. What once was a child�s night of trick or treating has become a holiday rivaling New Years for adult reveling. Rather than traipsing about the neighborhood with children in tow adults throw huge elaborate parties spending hundreds of dollars on costumes and decorations. Halloween is big business now and the children have been lost in the shuffle forced to take the adult hand me downs in the form of inappropriate sexy costumes for little girls (I�m talking 8-12) and no one left to tend the door for trick or treaters. I will dress for work but only because is pleases the children who will come in tonight dressed as goblins, ghosts, pirates (boys) sexy pirate, sexy fairy and sexy witch (girls). It�s a sad statement on what is still an incredibly bigoted society. I�m a little relieved to have a baby boy rather than a girl. At least all I will face is trying to teach him not to objectify women and that girls can do everything boys can do (except pee their name in the snow, sigh, boys). I will still have a hard row to tow. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Anyway, the reason this day is significant to me is it signals the imminent arrival of NaNoWriMo. For those of you who are not familiar with the acronym it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is the annual writing event challenging writers to write a novel (50,000 words) in the month of November. I have participated for three years successfully writing 50,000 words only once. This year would (will?) be my fourth year (attempt). I had given up on the idea early on this year assuming that with a full time job, new house an new baby it would be impossible to find the time to write anything. Gosh, it�s been days since I have posted here let alone put 50,000 words to paper (computer). Even now I type one handed while I feed Baby Boy. But now that my full time job has vanished and I have all day (in between Baby Boys waking periods) I am thinking I might try again this year. Of course I have no idea what I should write about. My first successful attempt was fiction but I am not in a fiction kind of mood this year. I have gone through an radical change over the past few years and I wonder if I might explore the path I traveled to this place. I wonder if I can be honest enough to make the exercise worth my time and also whether I am ready to let others know the truth as I perceive it. Hell, I�m not sure I am ready for the truth.

OMG! Where has the time gone. I have to get some work done before I head to the restaurant tonight. The dirty clothes are piling up so I am off to change the valves and get the washer up and running.

Toodles.

I wish you Peace

~alison~

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