Most Popular

By far, the most popular costume of the trick-or-treaters tonight was a vampire. Second most popular was either pirate or gangster. Or maybe I should say, "gangster" since the majority of them were giggly white girls. There were a few kids who came by twice. I guess kids these days are that lazy that they just walk up the block and then back down the block for free candy.

The double-dippers weren't even slick about it. There was one kid dressed in a zoot suit with scars on his face who did it even though I commented on his outfit. And the young(?) lady with the pierced lip and no real costume stuck out as well. They really should have been more generic if they didn't want to get called out.

Candy

I always say I'm not that big a fan of chocolate, but whenever I have some in the house I seem to want to eat it. Like, I bought two packages of Reese's cups the last time my oldest nephew was over, and he only ate one. I saved the other one for him for a week or so but then I ate it the other day. Also, my godson got me a bag of Lindt truffles, and I've eaten a couple each day since he dropped them off on Tuesday.

However, I have a box of chocolate I haven't opened yet. It's supposed to be eaten with wine or something. Okay, the real reason I haven't opened it is because I haven't read the box.

Eating Good in the Neighborhood

So far, the best part of birthday week has been not having to cook. I've been out to eat or had leftovers everyday. I don't think I'll have to cook for another couple of days.

It's not that I haven't cooked so much as I haven't used my stove for anything but the tea kettle. I've used my microwave and eaten cold foods, which might be considered "cooking" to some. Personally, I define cooking as anything that requires more effort than re-heating.

Heart of Glass

I think I set the last of my TiVo season passes for the fall today, and I'm surprised none of the shows has been canceled yet. If you're curious, my list of shows is here.

The Tide is High

I hate the day after I color my hair because I like to give my hair 24-48 hours before I wash it again, and it looks obviously dirty after about 25 hours. I'm usually better about timing the dyeing with having to leave the house, but this time I didn't. It didn't look that bad, but I wore some distracting jewelry anyway.

Atomic

$2.00 winner! Thanks Count Fartula!

Sunday Girl

The church I joined sent me my second batch of "stewardship" envelopes since the first ones they sent run out next week. This time they got my name right. Well, the first set got my name right, which is a feat in itself, but messed up my title. The envelopes said Mr.

It's not the first time my name has caused gender confusion. It is made up after all.

Dreaming

I had this weird dream the other night that my hair was super long. Like Crystal Gayle long.



On a sort of related note, I got my hair cut today. Only about an inch off the length and some layers put in.

One Way or Another

I watched my littlest nephew at my house tonight, and we had a ball. He had fun exploring my house and got a kick out of my Halloween toys. We had a bit of trouble at the end of the night when he dropped his little chair on his foot, which caused him to cry and cough, but he settled down soon enough.

The babies I sit could never be as much trouble as one kid I watched back in my prime babysitting years. She literally cried from the time her parents left the house until they walked back in the door hours later. I think that was over twenty years ago, and I'm still traumatized.

Call Me

I spent tonight waiting for a call that never came. It's not like I sat by the phone or anything, but when someone says, "I'll call you either way" you expect to hear from them in a timely fashion.

Maybe they'll call tomorrow.

Nutty

What does it mean when you find part of an acorn in your basement? Are the squirrels back? Did it fall down the chimney? Are there even any trees in my yard that have acorns?

I don't want to think about it.

Gravy

Yesterday was supposed to be the end of a project, but it wasn't. Well, it was the end for some but not me. I went back today and will go back tomorrow. After that, who knows?

Meanwhile...

Today was supposed to be a day of rest or recovery or clean-up or goof-off. There's always tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Crick

I woke up with a crick in my neck. At least it's better than the weird thought-I-was-getting-the-flu-or-dying aches I had late last night.

Sometimes I feel twice (thrice?) my age.

Primed

I started priming my living room for painting even though I still haven't decided on a color for my walls. I began with the mantel because it's the wall that least needs priming.

If I could decide on a color maybe my living room will come together. I figure I need to make one big decision and the rest will follow. Pick a wall color, chose a window treatment, find some furniture, etc.

Sleeping In

I slept in today since it was a long week. It might be the last one for a while so I don't really mind.

Yesterday the bags under my eyes were so big they would have to be checked in and couldn't be stowed under the seat in front of me or in the overhead bins.

In other words, I really needed some beauty sleep.

Coming Soon

I started clearing off my mantel today so that I could put my Halloween decorations up. I don't have a ton of stuff but it's worth changing out the Actos buddies. Yeah, I meant to take them down sooner than October.

Love Bug

The guy who works at the parking lot where I usually park runs hot and cold. Today he was in a good mood and when I got my ticket from the booth he said, "here comes the love bug!" That cracked me up. Most days he just scowls at me.

ABC

I've been using my VCR to record shows that I should be watching live or online. The shows I had to record aren't available on demand or I could just watch them there. Since it's a pain to watch VCR tapes, I'm a few weeks behind on a couple shows. The biggest problem is that my VCR records in such a way that I can only watch the tape on the same VCR. Actually, sometimes it looks bad on the same VCR. I can't believe I used to live like that.

Punchie

I had a really great drink tonight called Crowne Punch at The Green Olive. It had Malibu rum, mango rum, pineapple rum, banana rum and a couple splashes of fruit juice, garnished with a lime. I'm not the biggest fan of ladies drinks, but I do like rum-based drinks.

I also recommend the calamari.

Ethnic Eats

Stuffed cabbage for dinner bought at a local-ish church. There were six, and they're big enough to last at least three meals. I'm not sure if they were from the same church that sold pierogies in the spring.

Bonus! They were free since my tia bought them for me.

Camera Shy

I forgot my camera today so there's no picture.

Safe Keeping

Dear former tenant:

I forgot to include these beautiful wine glasses in the two bags of beer mugs and drinking glasses I recently returned to you, which were stored in my basement for over three years. I will keep them in my dining room cabinets until you are able to retrieve them.

Love, D

How Hair Comes Alive!

I found this at Rite-Aid today so I bought it. We'll see how it works.

Mini-Mex

These Homies crack me up every time I open my medicine cabinet. I like the fiddle player best.

White Hot Chocolate

I was charged 89¢ with my coupon that said 99¢ medium hot chocolate. I didn't know how to fight that battle.

Brown Bag

Bread and Butter

This morning I made some toast with one of the two loaves of bread I bought at the grocery store yesterday. I also bought some pitas. I don't know why I bought so much bread except that I had a reason to buy each. Pitas for hummus that I plan to make, white bread for the BLT I want to make and wheat bread for toast and sandwiches other than BLTs.

But you know what I didn't buy? Butter. You know what I used up on Sunday making sweet potato pie? Butter.

I'm almost never out of butter. I usually have both salted and unsalted butter in my refrigerator drawer. I ate my toast with jam only. It could have used some butter.

Sunday Soup

Last week and today, I made a big pot of soup. Last Sunday I made 16 Bean and today I made Manhattan Clam Chowder from the leftover clams I took home from yesterday's clam bake. I ate the bean soup for a few dinners last week, and I plan on doing the same this week with the chowder. I would take it for lunch, but the microwaves at work might not do the soup justice. Plus it takes an elevator ride and at least five minutes to get to the micros. It's a complicated building.

Clammered

I went to my first clam bake this evening. Lots of food and drink. My group won some prizes in the raffles, too. The only thing missing was dessert. Are there usually desserts at these things? Every dinner should end with a sweet.

Peanut Butter Blahs

I've been in a lunch rut. I don't care for the cafeteria in my building--it's relatively cheap, but takes two elevators and at least 15 minutes to get there and back--so I've been packing my lunch. I've packed basically the same thing every day: a sandwich, a yogurt, an apple. I've varied my breakfast and snacks for the day, but lunch has been consistently boring.

Most days it's been a peanut butter on wheat bread sandwich. Today I mixed it up and ate my sandwich for breakfast and got a slice of pizza for lunch. The pizza is about the only thing that's worth making the trip to the cafeteria. I gotta figure something else out for lunch. Or limit the peanut butter sandwich to once a week.

Early to Bed

I've been meaning to go to bed early just about every night this week, but it hasn't worked out. I've had errands to run most nights, and I've been to the grocery store way too many times.
The end. I literally fell asleep while writing the above.