Our trick-or-treating was actually on Thursday, and we had lots of fun.  It’s a darn shame though that we lost our camera along the way, and even after numerous calls to the police station, it hasn’t turned up.  But after trick-or-treating, we went to our friends’ church party, and they took a Halloween picture of our whole family.  I wonder if they’ll sneak it into the newspaper next year to advertise their party.  They did that this year – imagine my surprise when I’m flipping through the paper the other day and there’s a picture of us from Halloween last year, dressed as a fish with my husband the monk beside me holding Pebbles Flintstone.

I just hope there wasn’t anything else too important on that camera.  Also, it was an expensive camera which my husband had won, not to mention the fact that we’re now without a camera.  We had to finish the rest of our Halloween celebrations without taking any pictures.  On tap today was the community Halloween party at the ice rink – there’s no ice in there yet.  Instead, they set up carnival games, bouncy castles, a cardboard box maze, and face painting for the kids.  They have hay (straw) rides through the “haunted” fields, and each kid that attends gets a bag of popcorn and a trick-or-treat bag to put their candy in when they win it from the games.  It’s very cool, and the best part is that it’s all free – including hot dogs and punch for the whole family.  For some reason, this year’s turnout was a bit lacking – less than 1/3 of the people from last year I would estimate.  I guess it’s because they had it after Halloween this year?  I don’t really get why that would scare (haha) people away – a free fun thing for the kids including dinner?  It’d be hard to keep us away!  Since I only have one Halloween picture of the kids and they’re cute, I’m reluctantly sharing the whole family’s Halloween picture, myself included – I love dressing up for Halloween and wanted to get more mileage out of my less-than-$5 80’s costume.  One of the funnest things about dressing up is being creative and finding things that make a costume for a bargain.  Next year I want to be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, so I’ll have to be on the lookout all year for a dress and shoes I can use.  Here is a list of people and costumes from this year:

Taylor – almost 9 years old – a costume she put together herself involving a dress, a cape, and devil horns
Sammie – 4 yrs – a princess
Disney – 2 yrs – a unicorn
Christopher – almost 3 mos. – a lion cub
Dad – an escaped inmate
Mom – a time traveller from the 80’s

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Considering the topic of this blog one could assume that I am about to write a post about a Bart Simpson-esque student deciding to pull the fire alarm or set a trash can on fire for a gag, then get caught by police and dragged before a judge to learn that the story dad or grandpa told him about the things he did in his school days are not just considered not funny these days but actually a crime worthy of a hefty fine and/or community service.

Well, I’m not going to tell that story.  Instead this is about the trick-or-treaters who missed out on our house for the hour we took out of this evening to check up on my grandmother.  Things started out normal enough.  She called and the one she wanted to talk to was in the bathroom, so she said to have her call her back.  No problem, and thank– {click}.  Sigh.  My grandmother always hangs up immediately following her last word.  When she’s done, she’s done.  So, when the call is attempted to be returned- no answer.  Okay, maybe she’s in the bathroom this time.  Try again- nope.  And again.  Nada.  Keeps trying, and panic arises.  You see, my grandmother is 86 and I’m told was having some chest pains earlier today.  Okay, time to go over to her apartment to see if she’s all right, still attempting to make contact on the way.  We get over there and she is happily in discussion with a pastor who also sells household goods, I guess for extra income.  She loves the products he sells, or rather sold, as apparently he is quitting that line of business.

So, long story short (everybody now: TOO LATE! 😛 ) what happened is she unplugged the phone she had in her living room because it had too many cords and one of the buttons sticks.  That left her with her bedroom phone, which wouldn’t be a problem since her apartment is pretty small except she had the ringer turned off so she wouldn’t be woken up when asleep.  Doh!  We hooked back up her phone, explaining to her that she could still take calls even if she couldn’t dial any number with a 3 in it, and that I would be happy to get her a new phone ASAP.  No more troubles with not being able to call her I hope.

Okay, we return and only get maybe two more trick-or-treating groups for the rest of the night.  Where have they all gone these last few years, seriously?  Maybe scares like the latest one of tainted chocolate candy from China [don’t worry unless you’re in Canada, says the company]?

If you really want to hear about my jobs these last couple of days, I think I’m going to have to make you wait until tomorrow.  It’s 11 now and I’m tired.  Good night.