Fear and Parenting in Las Vegas

Two weeks ago, my personal snowglobe got a serious shaking.

My dad had a heart attack.

Then came congestive heart failure.

And his diabetes went haywire.

And his kidneys suffered.

There were lots of nearly sleepless nights, phone calls, emails, texts and posts about his progress.

I tried to hold it all together. The show must go on. There was work to do, Halloween goody bags to stuff, school festival booths to be staffed, tooth fairy visits to engage. Life.

I had great support from family and friends. Meals, airport pickups, babysitting. Calls, texts, emails, facebook message, tweets all came in. It was fabulous.

I even managed to squeeze in a slice of birthday cake.

And then, Thursday, I lost my shit.

Maybe it was knowing that Dad was going to be okay after all. Maybe is was the completion of projects that allowed me to ignore the stress that was building inside. Maybe it was just PMS.

But I lost my shit and did the ugly cry.

And it felt really good.

And now I’m moving on.

I’m going to stop beating myself up for all the things that aren’t getting done or done well.

Like…

Posting these really cute videos of Boo and Doodle from my birthday.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC2_tM4l67A]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KNOUijw5KQ]

Keeping up with my review blog.

Promoting my Parents Connect potty training gig.

and

Promoting my own contest.

If something has to give, the stuff here has to be it.

So, instead of running a whole voting thing to see if Stinky or Aimee Greeblemonkey wins the Halloween Photo contest, I’m sending both of them a copy of Aliens in the Attic because they’re both winners.

Now, I’m going to focus on taking care of my dad, having a fun Halloween with my kids and spending time with my family.

Thanks everyone for your well wishes and support. I promise I’ll pull my head out of my ass soon.

The winner of last week’s SITScation swag bag giveaway was….

Kel!!!

She won with her “Favorite U2 song entry” : “All I want is you”. Brilliant choice if you ask me.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-TssRlmmBE]

And for the record, LoriB was right. I have a thing for drummers.

Don’t forget to get me your Halloween pics for this week’s giveaway/contest. You can win a copy of Aliens in the Attic of your very own!

This is the week that we celebrate all things dark and scary. For some cultures, it is the week to remember and honor the dead.

For me, it is the week that is marked with a chocolate sheet cake covered in green colored coconut flakes and mallow pumpkins with a Linus cutout on the top.

It’s my favorite week of the year.

That’s why I told my Dad that he’s not allowed to die this week.*

He thinks I’m kidding.

But I’m serious. Dead serious.

Because I have some serious celebrating to do. I’ll wait until next week for my cake, but I hate having presents unopened in my house, especially if they’re for me. But let it not be said that I’m totally selfish. I love to give as much I love to receive.

So, the good folks at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (via their PR people at Bender/Helper Impact) are giving me presents that I get to share with you. I get five copies of their upcoming DVD release of Aliens in the Attic to give away.

Here’s how you can get your copy. Send me your favorite Halloween pic, from this year or years past. It can be you, it can be your kids. Hell, it can be your neighbor’s kids. You can:

• Post them to your site (and link back to this post). Put a link to your post in the comments here.
• Post them to Flickr and send me the link to them in the comments here.
• Post them to Twitter and make sure you include “@FandPinLV” so I can track it.
• Send them directly to me (at FandPinLV(at)gmail(dot)com) as a low-res .jpg.

Here ‘s one of my favorites from last year…

One way or another, get them to me. Entries are due by midnight (pacific) on my birthday, Wed. Oct. 28. All entries will be posted the following day and then voted on. The top five vote-getters will receive a copy of Aliens in the Attic. The top vote getter will get some other really cool mystery prize. Trust me, it’ll be good.

So save your cards and letters. If you really love me this year, send me your Halloween pics. They’re the gifts that keep on giving.

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*For the record, I don’t want my Dad to die any week of any year. But, if he’s gotta go, I’d really wish he’d wait for a less prominent holiday/anniversary to do it….like Arbor Day.