Halloween Fun: Haunted Houses!

It's time for some Halloween fun! I just love this time of year- hay rides, mazes, pumpkin patches, costumes and of course haunted houses! There's a haunted house in New York City called Nightmare. It is NYC's largest haunted house, and for the first time they are doing a children's version of its famously scary haunted attraction.


KIDS DAY is a fun, friendly version of NIGHTMARE: VAMPIRES. No big “boos,” no scary monsters and LOTS of candy! It's set in the fictitious Museum of Vampyric Artifacts (MoVA), where you and your kids take a tour through a series of galleries that give an overview of vampires in history and the media, led by Count Dracula himself! When the Count's famous red velvet cupcake is stolen, all the exhibits come to life while you look for it. Don't worry, though, the kids are well protected: everyone will be given squirt guns full of magic water right at the beginning, and any monster they splash will immediately retreat. There will also be a short balloon animal show and candy will be given out in every room, so bring your trick or treat bags!

This sounds like SO MUCH FUN! It's appropriate for kids up to ten years old. I'm a Clevelander and WISH there was something like this in our area. New Yorkers - enjoy! If you take the kiddos, let me know how it goes!

Kids day is Saturday, October 24 from 10AM to 3PM. Tickets are $15.

To check it out and for more information, visit the Haunted House's website.

A Mish Mash Mad Mom

Some of you may remember this post, Too Many Hats, back from May. Obviously being a new mom and a twenty five year old recent college grad with a house and a family is tough. I've been going through my own personal stuff right now. The bad part about it is that it's been stuck in my head and I've been trying to figure it out without the support of my best friends, my rocks. My communication skills have been lacking over the past months. So bad that I've pretty much secluded myself by not feeling like talking on the phone, or even get out of the house.


I just feel trapped. I've been trying out how to not feel so trapped. I don't even know why I feel this way. Shutting myself in - no phone calls, no leaving the house - was the complete opposite way to deal with it. Little baby is growing up. He's not as "portable" as he used to be. I used to be able to toss him in the car and go. Let him sleep in the car seat. Not have to worry about him getting into much. That's not the case anymore. As he's gotten more mobile, I found myself becoming less mobile. I'm afraid to go anywhere when I get home from work because he needs to eat. He might be crabby the whole time. He might poop and I'd need to find somewhere to change him. I don't even go to the store because that means I'd have to bring him. I don't want to resent him, but I feel like I don't know how to balance all of this.

I need some bull shit in my life. Just good old fashioned bull shit. The kind of bull shit where I can sit around with my best friends and talk about what happened on Grey's. The kind of bull shit where I can take off the mommy hat for 30 minutes and just be myself. It's overwhelming to feel responsible for someone every single moment of every single day. I guess I've just been having trouble balancing the damanding feeling of motherhood with myself. The person who makes me, me. I feel like I've totally changed and might have had an identity chrisis.
And my blog! Ugh! I feel sooo guilty for not posting every other day like I had been! I just feel so lazy and have such a hard time getting my ideas out of my head. I hate it! I love blogging and I love my readers! I want you to stick around! Please don't let my lack of communication skills impede our bloggy love! ;)

I'm just learning that, as a mother, I will never have alone time ever again. Or at least not for another 18 years... My only alone time is in the car. When I'm driving to and from the sitter's. After that I have to entertain Josh for two hours before the hubby gets home. Then I have to entertain him.

I think I've finally figured it out. I've always been a person who things about the future and not about the now. Even when it comes to my future 45 minutes from now. I'm so busy thinking about everything else I have to do that I can't chill out for five minutes and call my best friend to tell her about the really embarrassing zit I have on my nose. I can't enjoy my son when I get home from work because I'm thinking about all the other work I have to do.

That's no way to live. I'm living in the now--- for the important "now" stuff. Save the future living for the actual future and not 45 minutes into the future.

Has anyone ever felt this way? Mother or not... I think we all deal with "growing up" in different ways. It took me to produce another life for me to actually "grow up." haha. There could be a punch line in there, but I won't embarrass myself.

What do you think? Are you going through this too?

Bumper Cars

This week has been a very rainy week. It's rained all day for at least five days in a row. Luckily, the rain stopped so we could enjoy our weekend. I picked Joshua up at the sitter's house on Friday night. It was raining pretty heavy. Visibility was low and there was a good amount of water on the roads. We got into the car and started our trip home.

Nearing the highway, traffic started to slow. There were lots of people trying to get home and out of the rain. I was going down a slight hill and suddenly two cars in front of me stopped. This of course caused a chain reaction. I was about two houses away from the car immediately in front of me. I stepped on the break only to have them totally lock up. I slid... and slid... and slid. Realizing I only had about 10 more feet before I hit the car, I started looking for options- maybe I could swing into a driveway really quick - maybe I could find an opening on the other side of the road and avoid a collision. No chance, I was moving closer and closer. I laid on the horn when there were about eight feet between my car and her bumper.

SMASH! I watched my hood wrinkle up before my eyes. Both Josh and I were fine but it scared him of course. This is just what I need... Hands shaking, I rummaged through my glove compartment to frantically pull out my insurance cards.

I saw the woman get out of her car and take a look at her bumper. Scratches, only scratches. Ok, this won't be so bad... think again. After making sure everyone was ok, I turned to take a look at the damage. Since I had seen the hood of my car rise up in folds before my eyes, I knew it wouldn't be pretty. The front bumper is cracked in the middle making the sides stick out and hang as if I folded it in half. The hood wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's crinkled up and exposing part of the cars "guts" on the side, but still, not as bad. How could her car have sustained such a force coming at it while mine crinkled up like a piece of paper?

We went to the police station and made our statements. I got a ticket. The first time ever... I've never had any kind of traffic violation or anything. Now, I'm in the system. No longer off the grid... My insurance is pretty good. I knew that if I got into an accident I wouldn't have $500 to pay plus the ticket so I've been paying a little extra to keep my deductible down to $100. THANK GOD!

Luckily the woman whose car I hit was very nice. We took down eachother's information and called it a night. After she left, the policeman handed me that nasty pink piece of paper. Scribbled in carbon copy, the offense was marked "safe distance." In the eyes of the law, no matter what the circumstances, I was too close. I flipped it over to see what the damage would be to my checkbook. $200!!!

WHAT?! I can't pay that plus my deductible! I'm a 25 year old recent college grad with a house and a family. Holy crap! Then I learned that I could go to court. If I could prove the damages were taken care of and no one was badly injurred, I have a good shot. I'll take it! I'd rather go to court and try to reduce my out of pocket by being reduced to court costs only than not take the chance and be out the full $200.

I know it's just a little fender bender and lots of people go through this, but I feel like such a criminal. My name will be in the public database for the court system. I hate the thought of that! I can't believe I caused an accident before I even got a speeding ticket... 

*sigh* I'll fill you in after I make my first court appearance. Hopefully my defense attorney skills/grovelling are better than my driving skills.