It's the 3rd annual great November Hair Loss Festival '06!

For some reason, every November since my first son was born three years ago, my hair falls out like it's going out of style. Luckily it has always grown back!

The first year it happened, I attributed it to loss of hormones and the stress of having an 8 week old infant and a new job. I remember being in the bathroom at work, and standing in front of the mirror I could actually see light shining off my scalp through my hair. I lose the most hair right at my temples. It's hard not to obsess over it, but I am worried that one of these years it will fall out and that will be that! I'll have to start buying wigs.

I should probably get my hair cut short again, but it is longer than it has been in years, and I love having long hair. I will try to hold out for a couple of months until it starts filling back in.

Thanksgiving time is nearly here! I am so excited, more so than usual this year. We are going to spend the day with my older sister and her husband and my younger sister. We are buying a pre-made meal from Raley's and making side dishes and desserts. The desserts are my arena, and I plan to make a "mystery" pecan pie, a cranberry jello cool whip thing, and bread pudding. The meal comes with a pumpkin pie.

I went with old baby to have a Thanksgiving dinner at his daycare last night. It was fun, if you don't mind sitting on teeny, tiny little chairs and eating at teeny, tiny little tables. I made a crock pot full of au gratin potatoes. I have to admit, they were damn good eats! We have some left over for Thursday.

I am actually taking a five day weekend. My parents have been away on a cruise for a whole month, and are flying in to SFO on Monday. I am going to pick them up, and I decided to take the whole day off work and have a little "me" time. Of course, this will consist of me cleaning the bejeezus out of the house, but that's OK. It is always easier for me to clean when no one else is home. Must be why I never clean!

We are going to have our portraits taken at Sears on Friday as a Christmas gift for our parents. Of course, I wasn't thinking about what it would mean to get our pictures taken the day after Thanksgiving. At Sears. At THE MALL. I am sure I will remember quite quickly why it is that I never leave the house the day after Thanksgiving!

On another note, I am trying to think what to do for new baby's 1st birthday. Can you believe he is going to be one year old on December 10th? Where did the time go!! What a year it has been. I never really thought about the reality of having two kids. I guess it's not something you think about, it's just something you do. I have to say that although I could improve in my time management skills, I seem to have two very happy little boys. What more can a mother ask for? Maybe a happy little girl to go with those two boys?

I am fighting a head cold. New baby is sick too. I was home with him this morning, and my husband came home from work and is with him right now. I hate having a head cold. I don't need any help being more dense than I already am. Case in point, I drove all the way to work with my right blinker on. I couldn't hear the ticking because my ears are plugged up. The only good I can possible see in this is being able to make it the car ride home from day care with old baby without losing my marbles as he repeats the same phrase over and over and over and over and over again. Blessed release!

I wouldn't have come in to work at all, except the person who could cover my payroll duties is up to her armpits in extra work already. I also need to at least attempt to finish the payroll reconciliation for October for CA. We'll see how many mistakes I make before I finally decide I'm better off for everyone's sake being at home!

My good friend Keri is having her gastric bypass surgery this morning. Wish her luck!

These are the brave few who dressed up for Halloween at work. I didn't win a prize, but I was really just jumping at any chance to wear jeans to work! I am the ravishing plaid-clad gardener on the end.

The Halloween Costume that Wasn't

Then was again!

This is the costume I made for old baby for Halloween. Of course, after lovingly hand crafting it, he would have nothing to do with it whatsoever! I kind of expected that. He did run around with it eventually. It was fun to put together and I see a whole fleet of Thomas and friends in the future. Assuming I can find more boxes this size!

New baby's day care lady is, how should I put this, INSANE. I believe she has adult attention deficit disorder. The woman is wonderful with the kids, and new baby loves her to pieces.

She gave us a calendar with her days off, one of them being this Friday for Veteran's Day. She tells me this morning as I'm dropping off the baby "You know I'm open tomorrow, right?" I answered that I did not know she was open, I have already requested the day off work, and I am keeping old baby home too. She explained that she was confused about Vet's day. It is Saturday, not Friday. My husband is going to shit a brick when he reads this. He already gets ticked off at her easily as it is. For one thing, she insists on being paid Friday morning. When we first started using her, we didn't realize the check had to be there in the morning, so she called me at work and asked if I could bring cash. While I tend to roll with these things, my husband is sometimes a crotchety 80 year old man in a 30 year old body. He also is peeved that we still have to pay her even though she is taking a day off for holidays, and 2 weeks paid vacation every year. I try and explain to him that this is hardly unusual, but as she is our only experience with a day care, she is going to bear the brunt of all of these lovely new discoveries.

She is always saying to me "your husband thinks I'm crazy!!" I just kind of laugh, but I don't correct her. He's not alone in that assumption! She is a nutbag. A lovable nutbag, but a nutbag nonetheless.

I have totally negated the spinach salad I ate for lunch with the 18 pounds of miniature candy bars I have eaten today.

Did I at least break even?

Old baby got his haircut on Sunday. For once, mommy didn't have a bleeding ulcer by the time he was done! He sat on my lap, refused the plastic poncho, but sat relatively quietly and still while she cut his hair. I almost cried at how smoothly it went! I don't know what the difference was; probably just old baby growing up. I figured it would take a few more visits before we had it down, and I am hoping that next time he will be able to sit in the chair by himself. He had a small meltdown when we left though - he wanted to take a choo choo train away with him from their toy bucket. You win some, you lose some!

After the hair cut, we took the kids to the Nut Tree. We didn't stay too long, it was getting to be lunchtime and naptime. We can tell when old baby has had enough - he will start to cry on every single ride. You should see the photo album, nothing but old baby with a red snotty face on all the rides, yelling at the operators when they try and unbuckle him, and holding onto the ticket with an iron fist. It will be a few years before we try to venture to Disneyland with this one. Do they make child strength Valium?

I just finished up a meeting with my boss. I couldn't figure out why I inexplicably start to burp whenever I have a meeting with him. It is so embarrassing! I guess he just makes me nervous, and that makes my stomach act up. How funny! I hardly ever have meetings, so I am unused to the scrutiny, even if it is something benign. I have been working on account reconciliations and bottom line need the company to write off a huge amount of money. It is difficult for me to be handling something so very important. I am flattered that they trust me, and at the same time worried that my lack of experience is going to screw everything up big time. I feel like I started this whole reconciliation jive as a caveman, and I have slowly evolved to about the bronze age. Maybe one day I will spit this stuff out in one day and call myself modern man!