“It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals..."

How many of you had to take your children out trick-or-treating for Halloween?
How many of you did this in the cold, driving rain?
How many of you nearly killed yourselves going up steep steps, slippery with wet leaves, in the dark?
How many of you almost got nailed by drivers going too fast on rain-slicked streets, paying no heed to small ghosts and Power Rangers and pumpkins?
And lastly, how many of you nearly choked to death on a roasted pumpkin seed?

Hmmm. I see.

I only had to deal with the last. Because my kids were all sick this Halloween. Sick enough to stay home from kindergarten, sick enough to forgo the preschool Halloween party, sick enough to have to go see the doctor TWICE in one day.

I never like it when my kids are sick; their hoarse little coughs and feverishly red cheeks wrench at my heart. I hate that when they are sick, they just want to lie around on the sofa, being read to and fed juice and ibuprofen, watching TV. They are too spiritless to even fight with each other; it’s heartbreaking.

But if I had to pick a day for them to be sick, the Halloween on which it poured rain all evening long would be, well, actually, my second pick. (My first would be Christmas Eve, specifically the one on which we all got the stomach bug and spent the holiday lying around the house, pale and wan, and completely unobligated to participate in the be-cheerful-goddamnit horror that is Christmas at the in-laws’ house.)

***************

I started The Thirteenth Tale. I sat in the coffee shop all morning, reading, and nursing the first peppermint mocha of the winter, and chewing my fingernails. I plan to stop on the way home, have some buffalo bites, and finish it while I still have fingernails left. I have to buy it. Right after I pay off my laptop, and the phone bill upon which appears the phone call to Australia. I lurve you, Suse, it was worth every penny, H be damned!

***************

I have watched the fifth season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” over the past week. Not as funny as the season with the restaurant opening, but Larry David at his least funny is considerably more hilarious than most people at their funniest. And I say that with the zeal of the convert, as the first time I was made to watch, I had to keep getting up and leaving the room, it was just too PAINFUL. Now it’s painful but it’s funny. Humor that makes you cringe – it’s a good thing.

***************

Has anyone out there read both Coraline and Brief History of the Dead? I need to discuss the similarities in those two books regarding the concept of one person’s consciousness creating existence/environment. With someone who has read both and might have a clue if what I am saying is even remotely interesting, or if my background as a post-bacc English major is rendering me insufferably…insufferable.

***************

Why did I have an entire document in my blog drafts folder, with only one word typed in:
fishcotti
What the hell do you suppose I meant by THAT?

***************

And speaking of food, I have a nice chunk of flank steak thawing in the fridge, awaiting an attempt at Joke’s Cuban Granny Pants (see also Bec’s version). I had a version of this, Ropa Vieja, at a baby shower recently (I know, not typical shower food, but neither were the gifts typical baby shower gifts; in fact, most of them were alcoholic in nature, which is fitting (and of course, only consumed safely, after delivery, so keep your hair on) since the baby was L’s SIXTH. She needed liquor WAY more than she needed another onesie or receiving blanket.)
I ate way more than my share of this delicious stuff, and have been craving it ever since. So we will see how it goes. Of course, I will be the only person in my household eating this, as it fails the acceptability criteria of everyone else but I think I will manage.

***************

1020 words and counting...for those of you following along at home....