Jennifer Groft

1. Gus loves knock knock jokes. He spent about 6 months telling totally nonsensical jokes just using the knock knock joke pattern. But he finally understands how it works, or at least knows enough actual jokes to make it look like he does. Here is my favorite:

Translation:
Gus: Knock Knock
Me: Who’s there?
Gus: Megan
Me: Megan who?
Gus: Megan end to these knock knock jokes or I’ll knock knock you!

2. So it’s Halloween and I guess I ought to say something about costumes. We have this giant box of costumes that we have accumulated over the years. The kids are allowed full access to it through the month of October. For that entire month, it looks like a laundromat exploded in my house. The kids have a ball, sure, but I am so happy we will be going back to only normal mess. Then I have a whole month before they start dragging Christmas decorations all over the house. I might have some cute pictures to post if I remember to take my camera. (Or bother with my phone…)

3. I started making this one about our high school’s homecoming, but other than being annoyed that it is on Halloween, I’m too tired to remember why I was going to write about this. Too tired. I’ve been too tired and too stressed too much lately and I’m starting to fall apart. But this week I stumbled across a miracle cure. I couldn’t even believe that it had never occurred to me to try this. It’s so cool, you are going to want to try it too. It’s…

getting more sleep.

I know, I know, right? This should have been obvious. But when momentum just keeps carrying you right past bedtime, it actually takes more energy to go to bed than to just ride the momentum through the evening.

Two times over the last week I got more than 7 hours of sleep in a night and noticed that I was a completely normal person the following day. Well, not completely normal, who wants that? But I had a functional brain and didn’t feel like I was constantly facing imminent doom. I didn’t even cry when I dropped a jar of salsa while making dinner. (Not that I love salsa that much, but it is just that one more thing.)

So I stand (sitting, really) here before God and the internet to state that my entire fitness goal for November is to get more than 7 hours of sleep as many days as I possibly can. Bonus points for 7.5.

4. House update. The house is finally back on the market, just in time for the market to completely die out for the holidays. I have lots of swear words about this one. But, um, it’s making me pray more, so there’s that. And before I figured out that I could get more sleep it was making me cry more. But now I’m normal enough to put on eye makeup, relatively confident that it won’t drip down my face. Trust me when I say that with the drainage system my husband put in place, flooding shouldn’t ever be a problem in that house again. (Unless it is another one of those storms that floods half the city. Then all bets are off.)

5. A couple weeks ago we joined the 21st century and got a real TV. Okay, my dad gave us his old TV and a stand for it. So now the kids don’t have to watch their obnoxious shows while crowded around a kindle or sitting on dining room chairs around the computer. It even has an antenna so my husband can watch the occasional sportsy thing in his own home. We still don’t have cable, and don’t really have regular shows we watch, so it hasn’t yet become a time eater, and I hope it stays that way. My kids are too lazy to figure out how to log into the roku or xbox and stream video without someone doing it for them, so we still have some control. I have to confess, I really like it.

6. We have a dryer! I’m kind of excited.

I went for three full months, with nine people in the house, with no dryer. Yes, first world problems, I know some people don’t even have clothes to wash. But please! Let me just be super happy that one thing in my life just got a lot easier.

7. That’s all folks! Have a great weekend, Enjoy your Halloween, go to mass twice, and do something nice like take a nap.

Oh, and check out more 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!