Halloween Party!

Yesterday was our Second Annual Toro-Vivoni Family Halloween Party and today my energies where completely depleted. So I took the day to contemplate on the mess, clear only part of it, and leave the other part for tomorrow.  I also did laundry and asked my daughters to refrain from any loud noises. The sound of silence is so intoxicatingly delicious.

This may all sound like nonsense, but I feel like this month has crept up on me and has left me all loopy. The plans I had for this month are only half way completed and I am a bit disappointed, but I decided to get back on track with the Halloween Party.  Getting the house all decorated, making all the Halloween Food, getting the kids all sugared up.

What I did not expect was to have so many kids in the house and all with such a Sugar Rush that made my night turn into a blur. Screams of delight filled the house, kids running and laughing and playing. And, did I mention SCREAMING?

The menu included Halloween Themed Mac n' Cheese, Mummy Hot Dogs, Chocolate Cupcakes with Purple Marshmallow Filling, and Orange Vanilla Frosting with Halloween Sprinkles, We had chocolate cookies with Halloween shapes, Tomato, cheese and Olive Aliens, Apple-Almond Monster mouths, Rotten Apple Juice with Gummy Worms inside (all taken from Disney's Family Fun Magazine, plus Halloween Oreo's, and Chips, and regular Juice and Water. But after all that I realized that there was not enough food and too much sugary stuff so we ended up ordering Chinese Food from the restaurant of the parent's of two of the kids in the party.

My cousin in law brought over some masks to give to the kids to decorate and she brought some foam paper and some foam stickers and I gave them markers, and glue and they had a blast making their masks.  Then they played Hedbandz Game and ran around some more and finished watching a movie.  Just a few minutes before midnight the house was empty, except us who live in it on a daily basis and all was quiet again. We snuggled into bed and said our good nights.

Here are some pics from the party, I hope you enjoy them.

Bloody Footprints

Mummy Hotdogs

Cupcakes, Cookies and Breadstick Bones

Spider Web

Making Masks

Rotten Apple Juice with Gummy Worms

More Snaks

My oldest with her mask

My little one and her mask

So how was your Halloween? Did you make a party at home as well? How do you like to celebrate?

Do you always feel tired?

Hi, everyone, I have been out for a while. Even though I thought that I would have some more time on my hands in the past 12 days I have been actually more busy than normal. Taking care of more stuff and at the end of the day being too tired to even get on the computer to write or do much to that matter. But I am coming back. I have realized that I need to Manage my time more efficiently. Anyone of you have some tips for me?
I need to figure out how to clean, help with homework, spend time with the family, work, Blog, Blog Hop, Write, Exercise, Study for my Online Classes etc. I'm so tired!

Anyway. I read this article on The Surprising Reason You are always Tired and I immediately thought of checking this out as I do take Synthroid for my thyroid and I always imagine that my tiredness is only due to lack of sleep, but I want to make sure that it's not just that.

Everyone please read this article if you suffer from tiredness. These kinds of articles have actually saved my life. I used to suffer from depression, wouldn't loose weight even with diet and 4 hours at the Gym a week, and I was always tired, had dry skin and hair loss. I actually saw a commercial on TV that mentioned all my symptoms and suggested going to the doctor and check for hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone) and I actually had it. Since I started the medication the depression went away in less than a week and I felt much better. But for the past 2 years I still can't loose weight, am always tired and my skin is dry so I wonder if I need a higher dosage of my medicine. I go every 6 months to get my levels tested but they doctor always says it's normal. But I am going to go to my doctor and have him evaluate my medication carefully to see if a bit more of my medicine would actually improve my tiredness and help me loose a bit weight and help improve my skin. I will print this article out and bring it to the doctor and see what he says.

Anyway, do any of you have had this happen to you? How about with anything else? Has an article ever saved your life? I want to hear your story!

Only 4 days Left!!! Ipad2 or $500 giveaway!

Just a quick reminder to enter our Ipad2 or $500 Giveaway! Please click on the link at the top left corner. It's only 4 more days. Don't miss out!!!

Always listen to your kids intuitions

Last year as we were looking for a Middle School for my daughter I was looking out for Art Schools because my daughter is very into Art. However there where only two art schools that would be available for my daughter to apply to and they were both pretty far from my house.
A neighbor mentioned a school MS 51 that had a big art program and it was very close to my home, yet not in the same district. I was told that I could just go to the Dept of Education and appeal the case and try to convince them to let my daughter into that school.
I thought it was worth the shot. I decided to go to the school's Open House and take my daughter to see if she liked the school and to talk to the principal to see what our options were.
After the Open House was over I asked my daughter if she liked the school. She said that she didn't want to go to that school, that somehow when she went into the school she had a bad vibe, she had a bad feeling as if something bad had happened to her in that school. And yes, I did say that in the past tense. She did feel as if in the past something bad had happened to her there even if that was the first time we ever went to the school.
At this moment I had to make a decision. Should I push my daughter to apply to this school or should I just let it go an not even bother applying.
Well, I decided  to let it go. I went with her gut feeling and did not apply.

Today, one year later I read this article in Yahoo News:

Latin Kings street gang makes Park Slope junior high’s handball courts home base

With this I just realized that if I had not listened to my daughters intuition and pushed her to go to this school who supposedly is in a much better neighborhood than where we live in, then I would have had a heart attack today just to think that my daughter was exposed to gang activity in her own school. I thanked God for giving me the wisdom to listen to my daughter's gut feeling.

I make a call out to everyone out there to listen to your own gut feeling, and if your daughter or son ever tell you that something just doesn't feel right, listen to them, even if it doesn't make any sense at the moment.

It could save your life, or to say the least, a lot of suffering and/or aggravation.
Have you ever had a story similar to this, whether you chose to listen to your instincts or not. I want to hear your story! :)

Picture of the Week - Sun Hiding

I took this picture last month. It was dark, the sun was being covered by the rain clouds. I think it looks impressive, it matches with the upcoming Halloween Celebrations.

Speaking of Halloween, in the upcoming weeks leading to Halloween we have some cool stuff going on. I will have an interview with author Bambi Gray, writer of the series of Books that started with Blood Cursed.
I will also be having a book giveaway and I will be having a small Halloween Party at home for the kids and will give you some ideas of the things we are going to be making.
Also don't forget to participate on the Ipad2 or $500 cash giveaway the link is on the button on the left side of the page. Don't miss out, come back soon and often! :)

Steve Jobs R.I.P

I saw this image on Facebook in the profile of a friend of a friend. I really liked the message it portrays so I wanted to share it you. I would love to read your comments about it!
RIP Steve Jobs.

It's Finally Here! The IPad2 Giveaway!!! Enter to win BIG!

The day has finally come!  Wouldn't it be awesome to win an IPad2? How about winning $500 USD Cash!! The Holidays are fast approaching and what better way to start off the Season than this?

7onashoestring.com has organized this wonderful event and we have teamed up with 35 amazing bloggers to bring you this great giveaway! The winner will have their choice of an iPad2 or $500 in PayPal cash {USD}.

It’s easy.
From October 3rd until the 24th, go to the Rafflecopter below and follow each blog on GFC {or other mandatory link} and then hop over to the Facebook and Twitter entry pages. Once you are done “liking” each page and “following” each Tweeter, come back to this page and click “I did it!” on the form. Yes, it may take a little work but you are shooting for a fabulous prize here!


Good luck! Make sure to come back each day for your daily entry... a simple tweet to your followers.