Halloween--one of my favorite days of the year! Mine was exhausting, though. It started at 6:45 when I woke up for school. I went to class today and it was open printing day. Great, thinks I, I have a lot to print. I've been trying to get this one highly overexposed but very cute picture into a decent print and it's been tricky. So I'm printing away and after 2 hours of our 3 hour class, there is a big thud and suddenly I hear water trickling from somewhere. Turns out someone broke a pipe on the big barrell washer that we use for the final wash and it held about 10 or 15 gallons of water. That effectively put an end to printing today. I finished up what I was doing and helped clean up a bit then left for Joey's school.

I got to the school about 10 minutes before the party was to start and got my spider-making corner set up. The party was only an hour but it seemed a lot longer than that. I ran my craft and then while the kids ate their cookies and drank juice, I read a spooky story called The Ghost Eye Tree by Bill Martin, Jr. It's a great story and the kids loved it. Then they went to the Costume Parade while spooky music played on the intercoms.

When the parties were over, I took my neighbor to get her car at the service area of the dealership which took about an hour. When I got home, I was just about 5 minutes ahead of Joey. By that time, I was very tired. Did I mention that I'm catching a cold? I think I successfully caught it, despite my best efforts to let it pass on by and nab someone else.

After Joey finished her homework, I let her watch TV for a little bit while I took a nap for about an hour. She got an extra 30 mins. of TV viewing but I don't think it hurt her much. And I needed the rest--I was pooped!

I fixed her dinner and got her all ready for trick or treating. She was Sailor Moon this year and wanted to make sure that her costume didn't get covered up by a coat so she had a turtleneck, long-sleeved T-shirt and sweatshirt under her costume along with elbow-length gloves. Under her dress, she wore leggings and foam boot-length spats. She stayed quite warm despite the very cold and rainy weather tonight. So warm, in fact, that she was overheated! Better too warm than too cold, I say. She looked pretty cute. Baylee came to beg the neighbors for candy with Joey.

Joey had 2 full-sized candy bars in her loot bag tonight. I wanna know which neighbors were giving out full-sized candy bars! I'm hitting them up when Joey needs to do fund raising! ::g:: She sorted out her candy and kept about 6 or 7 things (not counting all the gum and Tootsie rolls) and left the rest for the Great Pumpkin. Tonight, the GP will come to our home and take her offering of candy and leave a more lasting (and healthy) gift in its place. This year the GP is leaving her a Groovy Girls boy doll and a Dreamstreet CD. I think that's much more fun than a bowl of candy. The candy will go into a bowl and make its way to the photolab on Friday where people whose teeth and health I am not in charge of will have the chance to gobble themselves silly. Or perhaps I'll bring it to class on Monday.

Ever since Joey first went trick or treating when she was 2, she has made an annual offering to the Great Pumpkin and received a gift in return. She's pretty much on to me and I think next year we'll just make her a deal--she can trade her candy for a surprise or for money. My sister and her husband buy their son's candy for $10 after he takes out 10 pieces. They take it to the firestation the next day and feed all the bottomless-pit fire fighters.

I told Joey that she could eat as much candy as she wanted tonight. She ate 3 mini candy bars (one was actually a super-mini-bite-sized candy bar) and said she couldn't eat another bite. Not bad. She's such a funny kid--she is just not one of those types who will eat just because something is there. Baylee, on the other hand, will make herself sick on sweets. She'll even climb up on the kitchen counter of in an acquaintance's house to get to a cookie that she can't reach (much to her mother's great chagrin). She's highly motivated by food, especially sweets. I don't believe I've ever seen her turn something sweet down when offered, actually. But I've discussed her eating "habits" at length before. I worry about that kid. I'm just glad Joey is not like that. So glad!

My stupid finger hurts. Two days ago, I jammed the corner of a piece of sharp plastic (holding those cheese and cracker snacks) under the fingernail of my right index finger. It *really* hurt bad when I did it but I figured it'd go away. But it didn't go away. Yesterday I woke up with a throbbing finger and today I did the same. It hurts so bad that I can't let my hand hang down--I have to hold my finger up like I'm saying "I'm number 1." I think it's infected--when I squeeze it, it sort of oozes. Blech! Isn't that awful? Tonight, I pulled the skin down from the nail and Ed shoved some Neosporin under the nail and I put a bandaid on it. It really hurts--it even hurts to type. See what a sacrifice I make for you?

Let's see--how many ways have I hurt myself in the past 3 days? I bit my tongue very hard on Monday and made it swell up (and then re-bit it tonight--ack!). I jammed a sharp piece of plastic under my fingernail on Monday morning before school. In sympathy for that fingernail accident, I accidentally shoved something else under the nail on my middle finger (but that one isn't as bad as the first). I scraped the back of my hand with the sharp metal tab on the zipper pull of my jeans today when I was tucking my shirt in. And then I went and caught a cold on top of it all. I'm almost afraid to wake up tomorrow--I might break a limb or something!

Now I need to take some ibuprofen for this poor throbbing finger. (I wonder what kind of google hits I'll get with that one? I've been getting a lot of perv hits lately--go away!)

Later...

--L