Bye October!

It's almost the end of October..two more months until the year is over. Halloween is at the door, and I can already smell the Thanksgiving turkey---oh, and don't forget Christmas... It's hard not to realize that the holidays are coming. I'm reminded each time I enter a grocery store or a mall. The turkey basters are all ready on display admist the left over, last minute Halloween candy, and from the corner you can already see red and green in the aisles screaming Christmas.

Are you ready?

Are we ever ready?

October was a weird month. October has never really been a good month for me--there are some memories associated with the month that I really don't care for. It includes the passing of a baby niece of mine, an anniversary of a large earthquake that shook my little hometown, and the beginning of end of my first marriage. My son Andrew most recently lost a former classmate this month due to a fatal stabbing. He was 16 years old. It was an incident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The suspects are known gang members and only one is in custody. Three still remain "out there". The victim was not a gang member, but was wearing red shoelaces-the color of his high school; my school. It boggles the mind that something could happen like this in my hometown-two blocks from the high school, and three blocks from the police station. We do live in a scary world. Andrew has been emotional, and has been asking for extra hugs, and sitting a little more close to me nowadays. He better never complain about his 10 pm curfew ever again!

Last night I put the finishing touches on Andrew and Nicholas' costume. Now that I have sole possession of my camera, I hope to post some pictures of Halloween events. I have Andrew's cereal killer shirt hanging in van, and it's pretty scary looking. Picture boxes of cereal boxes on a white shirt, with cereal glued on the shirt, with fake blood. Sounds harmless, but after Lizzy helped me with the blood splatters, we had it hanging by the front door, and it looked rather creepy under the moonlight.

Nicholas is a magician! I got a black cape, and wrote "Nicholas the Fabulous" with glue paint on the back of his cape, which got mixed reviews: "It sounds like a label for either a cheesy wrestler or a drag queen." So I added "the magician" at the end, and it fixed the "problem". Of course Nicholas heard these comments and didn't want to be teased, but after reminding him that most of his classmates couldn't read anyway, no would would know what I wrote. This morning when he was running in the playground at kindergarten, he felt better because no one did, and he seemed content enough to see how his cape blew in the wind.

Lizzy was so inspired by Nicholas' costume, she too has decided to be a magician, and her boyfriend is going to be a rabbit. This all inspired me of course to also dress as a rabbit, or should I say---COELHA. So, this should make interesting pictures.

My husband, Richard is going to dress like a dad and husband. He doesn't do Halloween, but that is okay, because he makes it fits the part most excellently.

Tonight I'm going to meet up with an old friend that I haven't seen since my "newly divorced, single days." Last time I saw her she was engaged with her now husband. It will be nice to play catch up with her over a margarita--hell, may be I'll even bring my camera after I delete all these advertising photos Lizzy took of tampons and fingernail polish. The other day she made me a hand model for a advertisment photo for nail polish. I will tell you, my fingers started to cramp up. I had to hold down a 4 inch crooked nail "gracefully" with the tip of my nail. Not as easy as you may imagine...

Yay...it's Friday!!!