Monday morning

Nearly 05:30, and I must be off to work soon. No overtime again! *happy dance*

I forgot to buy a corkboard yesterday, but I can remedy that this week. I got my pumpkin lights up yesterday, and they are much fun. This afternoon when I get home I will put up most of the other decorations (except for the fake cobwebs and the balloons, which will go up on Friday, as they are more time-sensitive in nature, in that the balloons will deflate and the fake cobwebs don't do very well out of doors for more than a few hours).

This week's schedule is a little borked, because I'm working evenings tomorrow instead of days, as I have a dentist's appointment in the morning. Ah well. Healthy teeth are important. In the meantime, the cats are fed, I've had coffee, and the day is young.

I might try making some spaghetti sauce tonight when I get home, depending on how much time I have and how I'm feeling.

Isn't my life exciting? Still, I wouldn't have it any other way.

"There's something prowling on the fence out there..."

I am rediscovering the joys of Hallowe'en this year. Not that I didn't enjoy it before, but getting all my own decorations somehow has sparked the little-kid kind of enjoyment that I haven't experienced in a very long time.

I've been researching how to carve pumpkins on the internet. Not that I don't know how to do basic pumpkin carving, but pdaughter's really cool pumpkin has inspired me to try doing something a little more complex this year. My artistic skills are next to nil, but I found some fun patterns on the internet that I'm pretty sure I can replicate, given enough time and patience. Maybe with a few years' experience I will be able to come up with my own patterns.

This afternoon, as I mentioned, I will be putting up the rest of the decorations. I am tempted to see if I can go buy my pumpkins today, too, but I'm not sure I'll have the time.

I'm really looking forward to having the kiddies come to my door for candy. This will be my fourth year running that I'll have handed out candy on Hallowe'en, and for the past three years I have been very pleasantly surprised by how polite the kids are. They all say please and thank you, and when they don't their parents remind them to. For the most part they are always accompanied by adults or older kids, and there are very few costumeless teenagers accosting me for candy. In fact, the teenagers all at the very least make the effort of wearing a plastic mask from the local pharmacy, which is nice. I expect that many of them can't really afford anything more, and perhaps lack the imagination to come up with something creative as a costume. So they get points for effort and a handful of candy.

I really hope that this year I'll be able to find regular candy. Last year I had a dickens of a time finding anything other than those mini chocolate bars, which I don't think are all that great as Hallowe'en candy. I mean, kids can get chocolate bars year-round. Hallowe'en is about candy: toffee, those red-and-white striped mints, licorice (*shudder*), toffee, fruit candies, lollipops, all that good stuff that'll rot your teeth.

There will be good food, good company, roasted pumpkin seeds, and possibly some games. I will have to find a moment to head out to Valet de Coeur and pick up some games for us to play, for at the moment I have none. I have a couple of packs of cards, though, so at worst that will see us through.

I am ridiculously excited about Hallowe'en this year. Dunno why. Maybe it's because this year I am entirely in control of how it will all play out, not that I didn't have fun before. I think I'm just a control freak by nature. :)