The last few weeks in the Momilies household have been a bit rough. One of the Perfect Child's friends revealed something life-changing to her, through tears and much distress. The Perfect Child was scared for her friend, and not sure what to do. So she did what many a teenager won't do.

She came to me. I asked a lot of questions, thought about things, talked/asked some more questions, talked to a friend of mine who is a social worker, talked to my husband, and decided that we had to reach out to this child in a troubled situation. The next step was to talk directly to the troubled child, which I did, only to find most of what she had told the Perfect Child was either not true, or she would not fess up to. There was nothing we could do to help her, and worse, the troubled child then got angry at the Perfect Child for talking to me in the first place, and has broken off the friendship via a series of text messages. The Perfect Child is upset, but she's also holding her head up, because she knew she did the right thing.

And I am very proud of her for doing so. She did exactly the right thing, the thing we've taught her to do. She was sure that her friend was in trouble. For all we know, the friend is in trouble, but at this point there is not a lot we can do. I feel bad that the Perfect Child has lost a friend. This type of collateral damage is difficult to watch, and even more difficult to excuse, when we know our intervention had much to do with it.

But as caring, rational adults, we could do nothing less than to attempt to help. And as a caring, thoughtful teenager, the Perfect Child felt she had no choice but to involve us. Everything that was done was necessary.

So this afternoon, killing time on the Internet instead of writing my novel, I ran across the following article. At its base, it is about a teenager who did the right thing, she knew a friend was in trouble and went to an adult. But atop that are some surprising details about how texting nearly cost a 12 year old her life, because her mother wasn't paying attention, and the 12 year old didn't feel she could talk to her mother.

I am so glad my daughter knows she can talk to me. Even if it cost her a friendship in the process, she came to me, and she doesn't regret it. Neither do I.

Girl, 12, driven to suicide attempt by text messages

Gregory Maguire, author of the Wicked series of books, wrote a little Christmas story in 2008 called Matchless. It is a retelling and "enhancement" of the Little Matchgirl story by Hans Christian Anderson. In fact, Part II of the book is virtually a reprint of that very story, with only a couple of minor changes (moving the story to Christmas eve, and having her see the spirit of her mother rather than her grandmother).

This was a very quick read, it took maybe 20 minutes tops. The Little Matchgirl is a very sad story, and the beginning and middle of Matchless are equally dim. But the story has a rather happy ending.

But this is a very shallow read. Very shallow. It was intended to be read out loud, and I'd have probably enjoyed it more if it had been read out loud by a smooth English-accented voice, say that of, oh, I don't know, Alan Rickman maybe.

Yes, that would have made this better.

Anyway, this is book 24 for the year, which means I have met my goal of 2 books a month for the year. And it's not December yet! I've got a few others to read, hopefully before the end of the year, but not before I am done with NaNoWriMo, which ends November 30th. My novel is going quite well, although it is nowhere near done.

So yesterday was just a bangup day all around. I had just come back from a week in Colorado, attending a conference where I am considered somewhat of an "expert," to an office that was little changed from when I'd left. I find it amusing and distressing that the Universe has such an easy time of bring things back into balance for me.

My conference was great, I networked with a lot of people and had a lot of requests for my content from last year's presentation at the same conference. This year I hosted one roundtable on copyright issues and alternate format production, as well as giving a 1-hour presentation on the new Kindle DX device. I am one of the top people in my field, and lots of people look to me for information and opinions about software and hardware. It is nice to know I'm good at something, and to be respected for what I do know. I am often challenged, as well, to explain why my campus does things the way they do them, when other campuses don't. And I like those challenges, because it makes me think about other ways to do things, and opens me up to change.

So, it was a great week, I learned a lot, shared a lot, and felt a whole lot better about myself by the time I got home.

Which lasted until about 10:30, when I had to attend our weekly "Professional Staff Meeting." Don't let the name fool you; the meeting is for those in our department who are "professional" rather than "classified," which to most people means "exempt" and "non-exempt." Anyway, the meetings include my boss, the other coordinators, at least one of our network infrastructure guys, and our one and only Senior tech (the other one resigned a month or two ago). These meetings seem to be more in the way of the boss getting us to do her work for her, than about anything else. We talk about upcoming projects and anything going on that the others may need to know. At the end of the meeting, I was showing off my Google schwag from the conference (a little Google keychain done in Braille - hard to get and pretty rare), and the boss and senior tech made some snarky comment about the schwag while I was talking about our keynote speaker from the conference, who happened to be a bigwig at Google. I'm talking, and they are laughing.

I suddenly felt like that nerdy, socially awkward, pimple-faced fat girl I was in high school. The one whose jokes were never funny, who never had anything but socially awkward, pimple-faced friends who happened to own scientific calculators, and never got asked to the school dance.

I was completely deflated. They heard not one word about how powerful the keynote speaker was, because they were busy snickering at their inappropriate joking. I might as well have not been there for anything except comic relief. If I was not quite sure of my standing in the department before now, then I am certainly well-aware of it now. This is disturbing on so many levels, not the least of which is that I work hard and know my stuff, and have had no problem being respected up until the new boss came on board.

The new boss that I had a hand in hiring.

And on my record, there are now four people that should not have been hired at that campus, that I had a hand in hiring. That thought alone is pretty humbling.

I only have to make it through 11 more years, then I can retire. My hope is that the boss doesn't make it that long. And I'm going to turn down any request that I be on the hiring committee for the next boss. I don't want to have anything to do with it.

In a half hour or so, the shuttle will be here to pick me up from my hotel and take me to the airport for a mid-afternoon flight back to St. Louis. It is always really hard for me to head back to Missouri after I've been here. Yes, I'm ready to go home and wash my clothes and sleep in my own bed and be with my kids and eat some regular food, but I won't wake up tomorrow and get to look at my mountains. That is always hard for me. When I am here, near the mountains, I feel like I am home. Someday, I know, I will live here. I lived here before, in some former life, and I will come home to here, someday.

I've been making this trip in November every year for about six years now. In all those years, I have never been blessed to get snow while I was here. This year, I got snow, a lot of it. There was probably 8 inches or so overnight. It is gorgeous, and in true Denver fashion, the roads are already clear and traffic is moving normally. My flight should take off on time, which I will be grateful for. I hate sitting around at the airport, which has particularly BAD free wifi and no power outlets and my laptop cannot run without being plugged in now that the battery is crapping out.

This was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. I will miss the double-headed shower. I will miss that amazingly cushy bed and the fabulous all-cotton fluffy bedding. I will miss fast wi-fi and Earl Grey tea with real cream. This is already the chosen location for next year's conference, so I'll get to experience it again, I'm sure.

And of course, I have a few pictures to share. Here is before and after from my window. Before was Monday, after was this morning (Sunday).





And these are just some pretty snow shots from right around the hotel.





And of course, the snow is already sliding off the roofs around me in big sheets. In Missouri, we lament the snow. Here, life goes on, and very little changes. And I like that. No panic!

I am at my annual adaptive technology conference in Colorado. We are in Denver this year, technically Westminster, in a really nice Weston hotel. Despite the fact that they are nickel-and-diming everyone to death on the little stuff (cost me $5 to "receive" a package through their dock that contained the handouts and cd's I mailed ahead for my presentation), it has been a good experience. I love the shower and wish I could take it home with me. People that know me know that I really don't like water, and I don't like sitting in water for very long (even though a hot tub feels good, I don't do it often, and I rarely take an immersion bath), these showers are wonderful. Two heads, that can be aimed different directions. Hot water on my lower back and still able to wash my hair? Bonus!

So yesterday I went to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I don't have a car this year so have mostly stayed put or gone where I could walk easily. I'm sitting at a table by myself, checking email and eating some particularly tasty fried potato wedges with salsa, and some of my colleagues are coming in as well. From the 180 attendees at our conference, there are probably 25 blind people. I always say we are all all, in our line of work or daily lives, going to encounter disabled persons of all kinds, but I think the blind disabled are the most difficult for us to help. Do we walk up and just grab them and lead them, do we watch the (painfully) slow process of them using their cane to navigate their way to an empty table? How do they order from a menu, and aren't they missing out on the beauty that is food, i.e., the look of it? I work with blind students every day and wonder these things.

So I'm watching the poor hostess, an older lady, try to figure out what to do with all these blind people. there were probably a dozen of them in the restaurant at the same time as I was. She scurried about trying to find the Braille menus, and shoved them onto the laps of the blind people when she found them. Never mind that probably half of those people didn't real Braille and would have preferred someone read the menu to them instead. She was just flummoxed, and unsure.

And I understand that. I am often flummoxed and unsure. Every semester I encounter a new student who has a disability I've never had to accommodate before. I am always having to learn new things, and try new things. The hostess' discomfort was amusing, to a point, as I could see she was trying her best to help, albeit not always doing the best job at it. The blind people she was serving were courteous and flexible, which of course put everyone at ease. I have to hope it was a learning experience not only for the hostess, but for anyone around who may have been observing these exchanges of information. We all should make a point of being honest with ourselves about what we fear when it comes to the disabled, and also make a point of learning how best to accommodate what we see as debilitating from our own perspective.

In the case of a blind person, always ask them if they need help before you help. Do not assume they need you to lead them, or that they want you to lead them. Do not assume they know Braille; only ten percent of blind people in America actually read Braille. Always ask how you can help them, and they will be happy to tell you. Most blind people are very vocal, extremely flexible, and understand your discomfort. They are human, too, and will have their personalities and needs, and can be vastly different from one another, just as all humans are.

I learn so much every year when I come to this conference. Probably a quarter of the attendees have some form of disability, and are all disability service providers working in an educational setting. That is just an amazing thing, in my mind.

Oh, and blind people? Sometimes they are the fastest walkers I know! I can hardly keep up with them when they have their move on.

Veterans Day, called Armistice or Remembrance day in other countries, is a day in which we celebrate veterans. But what is a Veteran?

It is a man or woman who served on military duty during an armed conflict or war. Any military person serving now who retires or finishes their duty with the military can be considered a veteran. My brothers are veterans, as they served in the navy during the Falklands War and the War on Beirut in the early 80's. My dad, who served in the late 50's just after the Korean War ended, is not a veteran, even though he served four years in the army. Any military person serving during wartime, regardless if they were deployed to a war zone or not, are considered veterans. Seeing battle is not a requirement to be a veteran; serving during a time of conflict is.

I hope this clears a few things up. Just like the Fourth of July isn't about our military, and Memorial Day is about our military who died in combat, each of these days has a special purpose that is being misunderstood by many people.

We should always be thanking our active and reserve military regardless of whether or not there is an active conflict or not. These men and women are the backbone of our nation's defense. But do not call non-conflict military, retired or not, "veterans," as they are not. Reserve that for those that stepped up to volunteer during times of war. That is what we are honoring on Veteran's Day.

This is my third day in Colorado at my annual conference for geeks who work with disabled people. I've run into some old friends/colleagues, and met some new ones, and the weather has been beautiful. There has been no snow and it doesn't look like there will be any, but that's okay. Two days in a row I've taken a massive walk at lunchtime just to enjoy all that fresh mountain air.

It is, for me, home sweet home.

I did not rent a car this year, although I think I will pick one up on Saturday afternoon, when the conference is done and I still have one more day before I fly out. I need to get up to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory in Boulder and stock up, and drive up to Nederland and get my "fix." That is the town I'll be retiring to in a dozen years or so.

I'm staying at a Weston, which is rather posh. The shower is lovely, two heads you can direct up and down, so one on my head and one on my lower back felt wonderful after sitting all day in a terrible hotel banquet room chair. The beds are cushy, I have a view of the mountains right outside my window, and I have a little fridge in my room. I'm going cheap and eating Ramen and cheese sticks and apples and chocolate banana bread I brought from home. I do everything cheap these days, so we can still have what we need at home. The economy is still kicking all our butts, Klown isn't getting a whole lot of hours at work and there are rumors we won't get pay raises at the college next year. I wouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, I'm learning a ton of things, wishing my family could be with me (maybe next year, if I can save up enough money), and enjoying just being in Colorado.

Several things today brought back some long-ago memories for me, that I was a bit surprised about.

First, this morning the Perfect Child and I went shopping to put a few things on layaway for Christmas. As we wandered through the aisles of the local KMart, we saw the usual displays of "great gifts for the holidays" types of things. There were racks of perfume/after shave "gift boxes" and holiday hosiery, and of course the sausage-and-cheese-and-tea boxes. And on one end cap was a whole selection of furry little pillow/animal things with zippers in the back, for storing your pajamas on the bed each day.

I never had one of those growing up. My jammies went under the pillow, or in the dirty clothes basket, but never in a cute little zip-up-pillow thing that looked like a unicorn or teddy bear or basket ball. But my farm-girl cousin had one. I remember it clearly. It was a once-white teddy bear with deflated legs that zipped in the back. When I would spend a week there, she would make our bed every morning (we shared a big iron bed when was there) and put her jammies in that little bear-pillow thing. I thought it was neat, but weird. I've never bought one for my kids nor desired to buy one. I hadn't seen one in years, so they caught me a little bit off-guard when I saw them.

The second bit of a trailing memory came in late afternoon. The Perfect Child has been babysitting regularly for a divorced couple who live down the road a bit. They have an apparently amicable divorce and spend a lot of time together as a family, when they aren't being mad because one or the other of them has a new boyfriend/girlfriend. Be that as it may, the guy part of this couple is a hoot, and he is also just an overgrown boy. He has a hot car (some sort of Camaro or something that he keeps in the garage and only brings out on special occasions) and a go-cart. He's been bugging the perfect child to drive it, and today she did. She had a blast, and learned a thing or two about driving while she was at it. It reminded me of some of the things I got to do as a kid and a teen, things that I wouldn't have learned if not for the efforts of some man or other to teach me. I learned to shoot a pistol at about her age, and I had already learned to catch and ride a mostly wild horse at my uncle's place, and was driving tractors and ATV's. It made me nostalgic to see her stepping outside of her little safe box and doing something unusual, and having fun.

And later in the afternoon, while I was getting ready to BBQ and Trouble and the Perfect Child were playing their little "maidens in a castle" game in the back yard, a small red-tailed hawk landed in the tree just above the fence. He sat there for a very long time, looking around, not fifteen feet from us. We didn't seem to be bothering him at all. Finally, he flew off, skimming the ground between the trees and going up between the houses up the hill. We've had hawks in that tree before, but never that close to the ground, and never when we've been outside. It was amazing and wonderful.

In 36 hours, I will be in Colorado. It was over 80 degrees here today, and I can say that's enough of that. Can't wait to see some snow, cooler temperatures, and a mountain or two. I'm ready. Now the clock just needs to move forward.

Oh, and NaNoWriMo has begun. As of this moment, I have 12,500 words in the bag, progress I am very happy with. So glad I'm doing it again this year.

I know, I'm behind. Took me forever to read this one, not because I was piddling around, but because I loaned it to someone when I was half-way through it. So, I finally finished it, although I've had it for a close to a month!

Against All Gods is a great little read, pretty short but very powerful. Written by A. C. Grayling as "Six Polemics on Religion and an Essay on Kindness," the book really struck a huge chord with me. As I get older, and I hope more mature and more rational, my "belief" systems in all things deific are on the wane. In fact, if someone were to ask me at this very moment what spiritual path I followed, I would have to say none. I may claim Paganism or recovered Catholic or lapsed Lutheran, but when it comes down to it, I do not believe in a higher power, and haven't for a very long time.

What I am, if I follow the essays in this little book, is a Humanist, or an Ethicist. I am either too rational, or too stupidly unfaithful, to have any belief in an entity that will come along and rescue me from my ills, which are 99% self-induced. The reality? I must pull myself out of my own pits of despair, since I dug the pits to begin with. They are my problem and my problem alone. Against All Gods rather reinforces that for me. Here is a quote from the end of the very last essay, "The Alternative: Humanism:"

For that is what humanism is: it is, to repeat and insist, about the value of things human. Its desire to learn from the past, its exhortation to courage in the present, and its espousal of hope for the future, are about real things, real people, real human need and possibility, and the fat of the fragile world we share. It is about human life; it requires no belief in an afterlife. It is about this world; it requires no belief in another world. It requires no commands from divinities, no promises of reward or threats of punishment, no myths and rituals, either to make sense of things or to serve as a prompt to the ethical life. It requires only open eyes, sympathy, and the kindness it prompts, and reason.

Well, another Halloween come and gone. After nearly three solid weeks of rain, we had a bright, sunny, if chilly day. It was perfect. I started the morning by making the last of my grocery store and drug store runs, added a few fun things to the outside display (big cauldron of baby dolls with a sign "Baby Soup (you know you want some!)") and more spiderwebs and more lights, while The Perfect Child and Klown carved pumpkins. I then spent way more time than I needed to making up a Halloween mix on my iPod to play on the stereo during trick-or-treating, then did makeup and a quick sewing repair for Braveheart's vampire costume. Her mom was clueless about what to do, but I fixed it.

We had some wonderful trick-or-treaters, and lots of positive comments on our display. Klown had to work at the grocery store, but he got back in time to hear a few of the comments himself. As hard as we work on the display, it is wonderful to hear the comments. We can't wait to get started on next year's, now!

Today starts my usual November adventure. National Novel Writing Month started at midnight, and here it is 8 a.m. and I haven't even written a word! Well, that's because I need to get the laundry going and eat something and get some hot tea to calm my scratchy throat from being outside so much last night. Fortunately, I do have an extra hour today, and I didn't spend it sleeping! Now, if all those clocks in the house would just reset themselves...

Made this tonight and it was delish. I'm going to give all the steps because I think they are important, but you can substitute however you want.

Chicken Pot Pie

To prepare chicken:

Two large chicken breasts, bone-in
two stalks celery, broken into pieces
1 medium yellow onion, rough-cut into chunks

Put all ingredients in a large pot, cover with water, and boil until chicken is done and tender. Remove chicken from broth to cool, remove and discard onion and celery. When chicken is cool, debone and dice.

To prepare gravy:

Two cups chicken broth (use the broth from the chicken you just cooked, freeze the rest)
2 T. flour

Mix flour into broth and cook over medium heat until thick and clear. Salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare vegetables:

2 white potatoes, peeled and diced
1/3 pkg frozen mixed "country style" veggies

Place in steamer and and steam until done. Do not undercook!

To make crust:

2 c. biscuit mix
2/3 c. milk

Mix together until combined, then knead with floured hands twenty strokes. Do not over-knead.

To assemble pot pie:

In large casserole dish, mix together chicken, gravy, and veggies until combined. Spread evenly. Spread biscuit dough over the top, spreading evenly to a thickness of no more than 1/2 inch. Bake in 425 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the biscuit top is lightly browned. Serve immediately.

We are having an absolutely spectacular fall this year. This is probably the peak weekend, and I managed to get a few pictures when I headed out to Cedar Hill this morning. This is the one thing I will likely miss by moving to Colorado. They have Aspen trees, but it isn't the same as what we get here.

Ardi, you might not want to read this one. Unless you have tissues. Lots of tissues.

Yesterday Tater's "BFF" Gabby Abby moved to Kentucky. Her dad took a better job, and the family moved in less than two weeks. Tater has two BFF's, Braveheart and Gabby. Those three were like peas in a pod, and I know Tater is going to miss her friend.

Weirdly enough, I was the one with the tears. And I know it's not about Abby leaving, although it hurts me to know my daughter has lost a friend. My family moved when I was 10 and I've not forgotten how lost I felt for weeks in our new home, with no friends and a strange school. No, this isn't about Abby or my daughter.

It's about ardithquinne , one of my BFF's. Her and her husband are getting the incredible opportunity to move to Arizona and start a new life. Ardi has been unemployed since April, and her husband Jon has been under-employed (he works but it's not always full time) for a long time. And Jon has a friend in Arizona who runs a record store and has wanted him to move there forever and a day. Jon was able to transfer to the same store in Arizona, and Ardith quickly found plenty of work to apply for in her field. They have no children at home to worry about, or close family that need them nearby. What better time to snatch an opportunity like this than now? The best thing is that they are going to stay with friends (low or no rent until they can both get on their feet), and they still have the opportunity to come home if things don't work out. They live in a two-family building with Ardith's dad, and he won't rent out their apartment. So if things crash, they can always come back.

I say this has win-win written all over it.

Except for one tiny little thing. She's my BFF and I am going to miss her unbelievably. The two years that I've known Ardi, we've managed to forge a pretty close bond. We whine together about husbands, writing, friends who go haywire, and family that is just...out there somewhere. Our get-togethers almost always involve food, man-talk, and lots of laughs. Heck, Ardi is the one that got me in trouble at Barnes and Noble with the young chickie who was "all that." ("Back of whose head?") Every two weeks, I get to spend time with her, and I'm the better for it every time.

But that's going to be pretty hard to do when she's in Arizona and I'm in Missouri. And that gives me a big ole sad. She leaves in two weeks, and I'm already crying about it when no one is looking. I'm gonna miss her. I'm going to miss her more than Tater is going to miss Abby.

But despite that, I wish her and Jon only the BEST on their new adventure. I think it's wonderful, and I am envious that they are getting this kind of opportunity. Not too many of us ever will. They are going to do great in Arizona, I know it.

But that doesn't mean I don't get to be sad. My sadness, and the sadness of all of their friends that will miss them, says an awful lot about then, don't you think?

Okay, Ardi, pass me the tissues. I know you're sitting there reading this. *sob*

We went to the Halloween store looking for hands. We found everything else first. Left with only hands, so it was a really cheap date!

Definitely a successful project. I'm so proud of her!!

Pictures from our party are here.

We finally have a sunny day after days and days of rain and clouds and just ugliness. It won't last, we're in for more rain this coming week, so I'm going to enjoy this sunny day for all its worth.

And I'm going to do it by cleaning house and picking up clutter. I don't know what it is, but when work is overly busy (like it has been these past few months) the house seems to mirror my cluttered brain. Stuff everywhere, nothing put away, trash not taken out, piles of laundry, floors to be cleaned, you name it. And I'm not here enough to clean it up, much less to cause most of it!

I'm cracking the whip over the girls today to get their rooms picked up while I do other things. Most of my time will be spent putting things away/picking things up/taking out the trash. I honesty don't know how it gets this bad when there are really only two people here during the day. *looking at Klown and Tater* I am gone 11 or more hours a day, and the Perfect Child babysat four days this week from 7:00 to just before I got home. *once again looking at Klown and Tater*

Ah well, what's a sunny Saturday for, anyway, if it's not to clean house?

Also on my to-do list this weekend:

* create albums of Halloween party pictures to put up on the website for my out of town friends.
* get a bit more writing done on a Cabin in the Woods
* try to catch up on my Two Year Novel class, which I'm now 8 weeks behind in.
* get the rest of the pictures I have collected for four months on the digital camera and do something with them, like post them on this blog.
* make something fabulous for dinner tonight and tomorrow night. I don't know what, just something fabulous. Might have to hit the grocery store before I can do that, though, as I'm out of potatoes and carrots and onions and nothing I make can be done without those.

We are one soggy mess about now. We have had the wettest year I can remember in a long time. We got seven inches of rain last week between Thursday and Friday, and it's rained another inch the last two days. More rain to come, and long-range forecasts are for more rain. It's also been very cool, feeling much more like November than October.

Not that I'm complaining all that much about the chill; I rather like the cool weather and the dark nights. They are actually great for my creativity. Also gets me in the mood for Colorado.

I sit at work today with no computer. The motherboard has gone out again, the second time in two weeks. Repairs probably won't be done until tomorrow, so all I have is my lonely laptop which doesn't connect to the network files I need. Of course I have plenty that needs to be done and no way to do it. I hate twiddling my thumbs like this, makes me feel unproductive, and makes the day a lot longer.

But, today is my writing group meet-up, so I definitely have something to look forward to. And tomorrow? Circus!

Okay, I obviously have twisted friends. They are always getting me hooked on the weirdness that is the Internet. At least some of these things I've found myself online (like www.peopleofwalmart.com).

Today, on ardithquinne's recommendation, I checked out Regretsy. On the third or fourth page, I thought, well, yes, of course, because every goat needs a coat! Warning, this site is NOT safe for work, or children, and may not be safe for you. But I encourage you to check it out anyway.



Then there's Awkward Family Photos. This site is...indescribable. You'll just have to go see for yourself.

And of course, There I Fixed It is definitely worth a look. More uses for duct tape, pillars of concrete blocks, and incredible feats of recycling than should be allowed by law. SFW.

And if you're looking for fun/strange/thought-provoking pictures, fellow LJ'r Bean has an amazing picto-blog that I visit regularly. Sometimes profane, sometimes incredible, sometimes amusing, sometimes just artistic, there is an unbelievable collection of photos from around the world to peruse to your heart's content. Definitely mostly NSFW or not safe for children.

Last week went by so fast that I lost track of time. With the party coming up, that was all I had on my mind, and there was a flurry of activity getting ready for it. Our annual Halloween Party was this past Saturday, and boy, was it a good one! Lots of friends, lots of great food, lots of conversation and a very toasty firepit. It was wonderful. Pictures will be posted soon.

Getting ready for it, however, oftentimes means I forget something. Or several somethings. But no matter, everyone had a good time. ardithquinne came over on afternoon/evening and helped me with house-cleaning and soup-making. It may be the last time we get to just "hang" out before she leaves for Arizona. And I will miss her bunches. She was the cutest one at the party, in her black and pink gothed-up self. I felt totally beige sitting next to her! LOL

On Sunday there was much house-cleaning, especially floor cleaning, that needed to be done. The mud was everywhere from the seven inches of rain we had between Thursday and Friday. We swept and mopped and vacuumed. I really need to spend the money to get the carpets cleaned. I do not look forward to that, it's such an inconvenience. If I had my way, this entire house would be hardwood floors. Much easier to maintain. After the house-cleaning, we vegged the rest of the day. The house always feels so "happy" after our parties. It's like it absorbed all the happy energy of everyone who was here, and it just sighs with happiness for days afterward.

The surprise this week is really how cold it has gotten. We had a frost already, although not a hard freeze, and the trees have suddenly burst with color. They say we will warm up again next week, but it's been cool for a couple of weeks now, and I think we're in it for the long haul. The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a bitter winter for us, although the meteorologists are hanging onto their warm/wet el nino predictions. So far, it's been cool all year, and very very wet.

Friday I visited my doctor for a checkup and to get a script for my altitude sickness meds. I'm leaving for Colorado in less than a month! Can't wait! He also agreed I can go off the Zoloft, which has made me less than personable the last month or so. It also has cramped my ability to write, and I come home too tired/apathetic to do much at night, and I don't like that. Fortunately, Zoloft is easy to get off of. I also got my seasonal flu shot on Friday, something I desperately needed to do. I also need my pneumonia shot, but have to find a clinic to do it. And Friday I also had lunch with a friend in distress; I feel her pain and don't know what to tell her exactly except she needs to take care of herself and let things happen the way they need to happen. It gives me a sad to see her in such pain. :(

Tater and the Perfect Child had their yearly well-checks today, and all is good. They also got their flu shots. Tonight they are quietly in their rooms doing their own thing while mommy has quiet time in the living room (Klown is at work). It is amazing how quiet this house can get, and how much I love that quiet.

This morning the four of us headed to the thrift store for some serious shopping. Tater is outgrowing her pants (she has some long legs!), and I'm looking for flower pots for the row of jars full of rooting plants on my file cabinet at work. We scored on all counts, although I wish we'd found more than one pair of pants. We also scored a new living room chair for $10. It is gold and sits nice and tall and firm. The old chair was getting...embarrassing. It will go out with the trash in the morning. I got my $40 out of it over the last five years. LOL

Tomorrow it is back to work, for a busy week. Klown's birthday is Thursday, the Perfect Child is going to homecoming with a friend this coming weekend, Klown has a gig out of state on Saturday, and I have to negotiate getting a circus trunk from our house to a clown passing through town sometime Saturday afternoon. My weekends always manage to get rumpled up like this, it seems. Too much to do in too short a time. Wednesday is the writing night with my writing buddies. I have that to look forward to if nothing else!

This week I have to write my white paper for my presentation in Colorado. I always wait until the last minute then worry over the fact that my work is shallow and not as informative as it could be. It's my own fault, I've turned into a master procrastinator. I also need to get busy on some writing things, NaNoWriMo starts on November 1st and I have to be ready to go with the writing.

So, a busy week or two for me, then hopefully it slows down after that.