Three Posts of Pictures Underneath This One.

I'm stalling until after midnight to post this so it will be my first post of the 30 day marathon. Let's see how well I do with it. You may be inundated with recipes, jokes, memes, and even a poem or two. If Merle can do it, so can I (but not nearly as well). Her blog is such a joy to visit. I never know what I'll find there.

They are finally asleep. What a circus the last few days have been.

Rochelle and Rebecca went to a Halloween carnival and then a small haunted house over the weekend with my friend and their mom. It seems like they did something else in between but now I can't remember what it was. A whirlwind of social activity in any event, most of it without me. I stayed home with Elcie whose leg was bothering her a little and tried to start feeling better.

I taught the girls a new (to them) card game called Spite and Malice, a form of double solitaire. If you've ever played Skip-bo, it's the same game with three regular decks of cards. I was growing weary of Go Fish and Crazy Eights. When I talk about my friend Dawn and I playing cards, it's what we play. No thinking required and the right thing for a school day morning.

Monday was more or less normal except for the great pumpkin painting on Monday night followed by cleanup. They did it all but somehow I have green acrylic paint under one fingernail.

Someplace in there we managed to eat and I'm sure I'm missing something. Oh, my cold (or what I thought was a cold) came back with a vengeance and I was sick most of the weekend. We'd been cleaning cupboards, woodwork, hit the high spots on the walls, trying to reorganize the girls' work area. You know, all the fun stuff. I'm sure much of my illness was a combination of dust and the fumes from cleaning supplies. Does it every time. I'm fine now and planning on cleaning bookcases and finding the rest of their winter clothing sometime this weekend. The days are still pleasant but probably not for very much longer and the mornings are chilly.

We decided to skip the theater production put on by the local high school this year. Good thing. It was cancelled because the theater backed out and there was no other place large enough. I think our clamshell in the park would have worked. I wonder if anyone thought about it. The stage is large enough and I've seen many small shows performed there (including Shakespeare in the park). If we'd gone yesterday, we would have wasted a trip and the girls would have been disappointed. Since they hadn't mentioned going, neither did I. It's always at least an hour and sometimes more standing in line and they've seen what is basically the same show every year for at least six years now. I was checking the paper today and discovered a new haunted house which more than made up for it.

Oh, did I tell you Elcie waited until 7:00 a.m. today to tell me she needed to bring an ingredient for nachos? I found one can of refried beans in the pantry and sent it. She told me later it was the wrong kind. It wasn't but it was a little different (black beans with lime) and the teacher used a can of her own. Fine with me. I could have run to the store and taken something over to the school but at some point she needs to learn to tell me these things a little sooner. She'd been carrying the paper around since last Friday.

Tonight we all (including my two friends and their kids) piled into two cars and went to "Trunk of Treat" at the Latter Day Saints church parking lot. They had a wonderful time so we went on to the haunted house. It turned out to be one of the best I've seen. A group of fairly young parents put it together. Free with a donation box at the end of the tour. Rochelle and Rebecca screamed at all the appropriate times and so did their mom. Elcie was forcing herself not to scream. I told her later the screams were a complement to the people who put it together. It meant they succeeded. She said next time she'd scream whether she meant if or not.

What else? We came home for hot chocolate which I let boil over when I turned my back just for a second. One mess. Then their dad was teasing Rebecca causing her to bump into Rochelle who was holding her full cup which then hit the floor. Another mess but nobody burned. By that time we had a kitchen full of people of course and a river of chocolate not counting the chocolate still on the stove which had been only partially mopped up. (It's done now along with the floor).

I'd bought a tray of Halloween decorated mini-brownies (on sale of course) earlier today on impulse. We'll celebrate the birthday on the weekend as planned but I stuck 11 candles in the brownies, and all (including a couple of neighbors who dropped in and both her parents) sang Happy Birthday. She loved it but could barely stay awake. She'd already fallen asleep in the car coming home.

Rochelle, on the other hand, was wired. She was bouncing all over the yard. Her happiness has been returning lately and she's much more like her sweet self. It was so good to see I didn't worry that she was overstaying her bedtime. Once she hit the bed, she was down for the count.

And now I'm beginning to wind down somewhat. Tomorrow is once again major shopping day for the household. Just took inventory and we're in pretty good shape for once. I may look for an outfit for Rebecca and a couple of long sleeve shirts for the other two. No jeans until we have a chance to go through what we have (still procrastinating on that one) but I may see some sweats on sale. I don't have much luck convincing Rebecca to stay in one place long enough to try on her older jeans to see what fits so I'll measure her inseam and go from there. It will be much simpler.

Of course it's almost time to be thinking about Thanksgiving once again. It's the 4th Thursday in November here so I have some time. I may pick up most of the staples tomorrow for both T'giving and Christmas. It's basically the same meal but Christmas is much simpler. The menu never changes. I wouldn't dare. All my gang are sticklers for what grandma cooks every year and they notice if something is missing. They each have their favorites.

Is everyone asleep yet? This is what happens when I don't write for a few days. November 2nd may consist of a few lines and a joke if I can find one.

I had a pleasant surprise the other day. An anonymous (unless he says otherwise) online friend noticed my phone number on the bottom of my email. He asked if it was real, I said of course, and he called me. We must have chatted for 30 minutes. It was great. He's a little distant for a face to face meeting but that was the next best thing and one never knows what may happen.

Elcie's class will be going to the theater in Fresno on Monday to see four productions of short stories. She'll see an except from Huckleberry Finn, Poe's "The Telltale Heart" and Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace". Oh, and I just remembered - Mark Twain again. "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". I hope she'll enjoy them all. I certainly would. I'll have to go back and reread The Necklace. Haven't thought about it since I was in Junior High myself. The others I still remember fairly well. She'll get to eat junk food. I'm sure that's what most of her class will choose rather than the school lunch or one packed at home and, as I've said before, a chicken nugget and a french fry won't kill her.

Thanks to everyone who commented. I'll try to get back to all of you in the next day or two. I hope. If I miss anyone, I apologize. We've been so busy lately and time gets away from me.

It's now 12:19 by my trusty computer clock and this will count as November 1st without cheating.

Take care everyone. For those of you who do Halloween, I hope you had a great time. I know all your kids were adorable and I'll be checking out pictures as soon as I can.