November

As my decade blog-a-versary sails by, I feel like I should do some kind of thinkpiece about blogging (now somewhat passé, apparently), and what this means to me, and why I continue to do it for ten years (and counting) while others have dropped off, and this sort of thing.  But . . . that’s too much work!  The one thing I love about this spot is that it isn’t work.  I don’t advertise here, I don’t count my clicks and actually like my small audience – large enough to get access to some great brains, small enough that I am not really held accountable.  I can write polished, nice little pieces (I occasionally like to think I do), but can also post blather and not be too stressed about losing an audience.  The whole point is it’s not work.

And I don’t feel like doing a big long think-y thing right now.  Instead, let’s write about Halloween!

We had three minions this year.  The boys were DESPERATE to be minions.  I really wanted to do something cooler – like the Three Caballeros, or Angry Birds, or one of the zillions of ideas my brilliant sister came up with for triple costumes.  But truthfully – Jack remains somewhat weird about costumes, and Craig is of course one year old, and thus totally unreliable vis a vis actually wearing stuff that he doesn’t feel like wearing.  And we’ve had a LOT going on lately, giving me less time for using glitter pens on Goodwill kids’ black suits and dollar store sombreros.  And I went to Target to get a baby gift and voila – it was buy one, get one free on minion costumes, and the kids really wanted to be minions, so I BOGO’ed it, and then pulled out a yellow shirt and overalls that we already have for Craig to be Minion No. Three.  People exclaimed with joy at the cuteness of our 3 minions, and I sewed Craig’s little minion cap (meaning I got to do a tiny teensy bit of creativity), and I shall call it good.

Friday night, after attending Craig’s fall festival at the Montessori, I bundled the kids off with the Professor to be put to bed, and then got in the car and drove to New Orleans.  I spent a fretful night in the Professor’s tiny apartment, then work shortly before 5am to get dressed and get going.  I found a parking spot with relative ease (part of my plan, getting up so early), picked up my packet, and then went to find a quiet open spot on the grass in Lafayette Square and stretch. I did yoga stretches for about forty minutes, and it was amazing – my lower back felt loose for the first time in months.  After the starting gun went off, I ran the first six miles, and then basically walked the rest.  My lungs were great, my muscles felt fine, but my shoes are terrible (I haven’t bought new running shoes in a couple of years and they are almost no better than running barefoot),  and so I really felt every pounding step in my frame.  I walked fast, and finished in about 3 hours.  It was wonderful.  It’s always wonderful.  Best half in the country, as far as I’m concerned.

I drove home and rested up on the couch before getting the kids prepped for trick or treating.  They had carved pumpkins that morning and did a great job.  We got them dressed, and then we went to a much more fun neighborhood for trick-or-treating this year.  Tons of kids were running around, parents with go-cups in golf carts, giant Ford trucks pulling trailer flats full of witches and Elsas and ninjas and such.  The boys had a great time. Craig was beyond cute – marching up to the door and saying “Chickchee!” (trick or treat), and then “Cack coo” (thank you) once he received his candy offering.  He would also say “Ween!”, which I think was a much-abbreviated Happy Halloween.  Having charmed the homeowners, he would then turn to me, candy clutched in-hand (no putting candy in buckets/bags,  we must CARRY IT ALL), and say “Up? Up?” so that he could be carried to the next house.  The big boys ran off ahead of us, and I hobbled after them, sore and a bit sleepy after my half marathon.  I myself was dressed in a half-hearted knight costume, and I’d made the Professor wear a dragon cape, getting in the spirit of things.  It was about ninety degrees and we were all sweating like mad, no one hotter and more miserable than poor red-cheeked Craig, his hair bunched in sweaty wet ropes within minutes.  Eventually, the boys asked to be done, and we took them home at about 7 pm for the yearly tradition of dumping, sorting, and counting their spoils.

The Professor and I stayed up and watched The Shining (I got through most of it, though the dregs of the half marathon soreness had me nodding about halfway through).  Then we went to bed, and that was Halloween 2015.  I took down the Halloween decorations first thing this a.m., and we cleaned the house and did the laundry.  On to November!