November 4th

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November 1st was the most BEAUTIFUL GODDAMN DAY, which I unfortunately couldn’t fully appreciate because I was suffering from the aftereffects of Halloween.
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Tippy toes.
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This pie turned out weird; all my pies turn out weird.
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A cozy afternoon spent on the couch with Ms Fuzzypaws.
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I picked out the shirt, she chose the jeans and bejewelled legwarmers.
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Yesterday I had a lot of work to do so of course I decided it was the perfect time to rearrange furniture and clean out Gwen’s closet. I moved her dresser out into the room proper; when we were planning her room we decided to put it in the closet because the room is so small and the crib + changing table + chair took up all the available space. I moved the chair out a long time ago since we never actually used it in her room (I had imagined late night feedings would take place in there but that wasn’t the case) and so there was a lot more space. I need to keep some clear so I can put out the folding crib I use for her lil friend’s naps, but I also need somewhere to put it when it’s not in use because it blocks the closet door.

ANYWAY. I’d been loathe to move the dresser out of the closet because I kept having flashbacks to when Sym was around Gwen’s age and she would empty her entire dresser AND wardrobe every. single. day. Just dump all the clothes out and also get changed fifty million times? So everything would be strewn about and half inside out and I never knew what was dirty and what was clean. It was incredibly frustrating and I didn’t want to relive it but I figured it was time to move the dresser. So far it hasn’t been that bad; Gwen’s been pulling clothes out but hasn’t emptied any drawers yet. Her favourite things to grab seem to be socks, hats and mitts, pajamas, sweaters and jeans. Like she’ll take out all five sweaters that are in her drawer right now and leave all the dozens of t-shirts and tank tops alone (THANK GOD). She does enjoy un-pairing her socks though, which isn’t that great.

I still need to do a little ~decorating~ in there to make it look nicer- although idk what the point of doing that will be as Gwen will just dismantle anything I put up. She and her little friend actually tore two of her bookshelves out of the wall a few weeks ago so I need to repair the holes and replace the shelves with something a little more toddler-proof. I took down the tree bookcase I used to have in the living room because all the daycare books were torn to shreds and took at apart but I still have part of it so I might put that in her room and move her old shelves to my office I guess? I’ll figure out something to do with them.

November 1st

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Halloween was such a huge success! I was worried it would rain and that Gwen would hate trick-or-treating, but really it went off without a hitch. I mean, it did rain earlier in the day, including the hour I spent outside putting up decorations (of course), but it stopped before 3 so it was fine for trick-or-treating. As for Gwen, she got right into the Halloween spirit. Normally she’s so shy she won’t even take a toy from her grandmother but she did great, stomping up all the neighbor’s stairs in her boots and her wolf suit and filling her little bag with candy. She was so cute! We took her out pretty early and left Sym in charge of handing out candy, then once we got back I stayed outside and took candy duty.

The only thing that was a little disappointing was I feel like a lot of kids skipped my place? Like I know it’s at the back of the house and kind of hard to find but I had so many decorations up, I would have thought it was pretty obvious. After a while I moved up from my landing onto the path in the backyard, and then I moved further up the path closer to my neighbor who was also giving out candy. I think part of the problem was a lot of my other neighbors put up decorations and then didn’t give out candy (why? WHY.) and some of the neighbors who did give out candy ran out early and so people thought there was no one else. next year I think I’ll set up shop at the front of the house instead, or maybe make some spoOoOoOoky signs directing people to the backyard?

Other than Halloween, here’s what was going on this past week. It was totally a crazy rollercoaster, so many great things happened and also some lame things. Here’s a +/- of the week:

– smashed my hand with a mallet while making Gwen’s Halloween costume
+ her costume turned out great and she loves it
+ I tweeted it wolfpupy on twitter, who proclaimed it “very cool”
+ an honest-to-goodness real famous actress bought a banner from my shop
+ I semi-unexpectedly got a cheque for a pretty alright amount of money that I can spend on whatever I waaaaaaant
– got the orthodontist’s verdict re: Sym’s teeth and it’s NOT GREAT, BOB:

Remember when I said they were trying to decide whether braces or implants would be the better course of action? Turns out the answer is BOTH. Braces AND implants. The extra space in her mouth left by her missing teeth (which are on the bottom, not the top as I previously thought) has caused her teeth to shuffle around on their own and have a lil tooth party, so she needs braces to shift them back to where they should be and open up the gaps properly so that she can get implants once she stops growing. She’s getting the braces in about a month, they’ll take about a year and a half to reposition her teeth, and then she has to wear a retainer until she stops growing and can get the implants when she’s like 18 or 19.

After the appointment where she learned all this fun stuff she was feeling pretty upset so I let her skip the rest of the day of school (it was already almost lunchtime anyway) so she could chill out at home and watch the Pretty Little Liars Halloween Special. I think she is worried about getting braces and also feels guilty about the money. Her dad has actually said that he’ll pay for them himself since I cut him a huge break two years ago by saying he didn’t have to pay child support anymore, but what I want to know is WHY DON’T EITHER OF THE DENTAL PLANS SHE’S COVERED UNDER COVER ORTHODONTICS???? Total BS.