Happy Halloween!
I actually get to be happy for it this year, seeing as how it's on a Saturday. Normally, we have to race to carve pumpkins, eat dinner, get dressed up and head out to trick-or-treating in just a few short hours. And then, upon returning home, rushing the kids through their candy gazing and grazing in order to get to bed at some resemblance of a decent hour so wake up for school isn't a nightmare.
Not so this year!
Although...
If you could all cross your fingers and toes for us, that would be great. We're supposed to have rain much of Saturday, which would really put a damper on the outside fun and fright we have planned for Star and his friends. Thanks.
This week was full of gross, scary things perfect for Halloween...
1. I got a phone call from school, and, as any mom of school-aged children knows, a call from school in the middle of the day is never, ever a good thing. This time, it was because Cuckoo threw up in class. I picked him up, and he vomited over and over again throughout the day. I am thankful that he is a rock star at predicting it. He hit the bucket every single time, so I didn't have any extra laundry to do or floors to scrub.
2. I sat down to send some emails, but when I wiggled the mouse to turn the computer back on, I got a black screen with warning words on it. (You know that screen? The one where the computer forgets that it is in the year 2015 and reverts to the look of a computer from 1984.) Turken had tried to get on a site for school and done something horribly wrong. Thankfully, computers of 2015 are way smarter than in 1984, and smarter than me for that matter. It was able to diagnose and fix the problem all by itself.
3. It's Halloween and I haven't purchased or made a single costume. I haven't really even asked any of the kids what they want to be beyond Turken getting ready for his dress-in-a-costume soccer practice last week. Things could have gone really, really wrong. Thankfully, we have a box full of costume bits in the basement and kids with good imaginations and low expectations. While I was outside, Giant and Cuckoo got themselves dressed up for trick-or-treating.
4. In the town where I grew up, many years ago they decided that trick-or-treating would always be on a weekend during the day, regardless of when Halloween actually fell. Yup, they really know how to suck every bit of fun out of an exciting experience for kids. I'm thankful that where we live now is old-school. No trunk-or-treat. No daytime nonsense. Here, kids get all dressed up and go door-to-door to talk with the neighbors and have fun getting to be out walking around at night.
5. Thursday after dinner, I turned the kitchen faucet on. Instead of clean water flowing out, it gurgled and spewed black nastiness all over the sink and me. The black stuff was followed by brown water. All the sinks, all the toilets had nothing but brown water. We let the water run and run, we flushed and flushed, but it wouldn't go away. I called the water company, but apparently it wasn't an emergency. Nobody called me back. We used bottled water to brush our teeth. The next morning it was still like that, except now all of my sinks and toilets were stained brown. I called the water company again, and she said they were flushing the lines yesterday. If I run the water for 10-15 minutes, it should be fine. I ran the water for 20 before it started to look better, but only the cold water. I then had to empty the water heater, seeing as how that filled with the nasty brown stuff. It took until about 2:00 in the afternoon to get all the water from all the faucets and toilets cleaned out. But, I'm thankful that we had water, even if it was brown. At least we didn't have to start using the outhouse.
6. I lost my sunglasses. I hate driving without my sunglasses. It hurts my eyes. (Did you know that blue-eyed people are more sensitive to the light? (Science fair project knowledge comin' at ya, right there.)) This isn't the time of year that sunglasses are displayed for purchase everywhere, so I went many days without them. And then, a friend text me and said she found a pair of glasses in the couch cushion. Exactly where I had been sitting when I went to meet and cuddle her new baby. Eureka! Now, I just need to find some time to go pick them up...
7. This summer, I had a good list of families purchasing eggs. I never had to turn into crazy egg lady in order to get rid of them. Unfortunately, I've had to disappoint all of those new customers and tell them no more eggs until spring. The chickens have gone into their annual freeloading phase for the winter. No eggs for you! But, with 25 chickens, we are still getting 4-8 per day, enough that I don't have to buy them unless I want to hard-boil some.
8. Star has 8-10 boys coming over for a small Halloween party tonight. I have always wanted to have an all-out Halloween party, seeing as how we have the absolute best property to have a good one. It's never happened, though, for a variety of reasons. I'm using this as a practice party to see if we can have a bigger one next year. We're having a big bonfire and I mowed a maze into our back field. We'll be sending the boys through it, in the dark, two-by-two, with only one flashlight per pair. My family (except for Star) will be hiding in the tall weeds to jump out and scare the boys. I can't wait to see how it goes.
9. I have been on the ball this fall getting neglected projects done. On Friday, the Tub Doctor was supposed to be at my house at 10:00 to strip and reglaze our tub. He didn't get here until 1:30 and finished up at 7, as we were eating dinner. It completely messed up my plans for the day, but my tub is now done. He did a great job. And, he completely looked, sounded, and talked like Zach Galifianakus. It made me smile to talk to him.
10. My oil light in the van came on every time I accelerated from a full stop. I called my mechanic, seeing as how we're such good friends (He knows my voice.), and he told me either I needed oil desperately or I needed a new engine. I could not for the life of me find the dipstick to check my oil, so I ran into a JiffyLube. I felt better (and less like a dips***) when it took 3 guys who do this for a living to locate and remove the dipstick. It was bone dry. No oil whatsoever. Zip. Zilch. Nada. This makes me nervous, because I'm good about getting my oil changed regularly, but I'm glad that it was a simple fix for now. I won't be breaking down in a blaze of glory somewhere on IN-135.
And that's 10.
Anything scary happen to you this week?
Have a great time trick-or-treating or passing out candy or eating candy or partying or whatever it is you plan on doing today/tonight.
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