Quality time.

I have nothing deep to say. But I did get time alone with Max to make cupcakes yesterday. Yeah!

Boo.

Around here, people ring the doorbell and leave a note and sign this time of year. With candy or a gift, to boot! You hang up the sign saying you were “booed” and then pass on the joy to two other houses. It’s a fun tradition.

The truth is, I hate Halloween. I hate the begging for candy and the big deal that is made over costumes and the day without classes at school. I hate that over half of the 300 or so kids that come to our door don’t even bother to say thank you. I hate that we have candy in the house for a month after that fateful night.

But I love the fun of this Boo tradition.

The devil went down to Georgia.

We bought this violin from eBay for a steal when Davis took lessons in third grade. He played for two years. Then Reed took lessons in third grade. I am not sure, but I think he touched it about 5 times that year aside from in school. Now, Max is taking lessons. Had we rented an instrument, we’d have paid for this about ten times over by now.

Max loves the violin. He practices almost every day. He reads music beautifully! Yesterday, he performed for his grandparents. What a showman!

We’re thinking of renaming him Itzhak….

I can’t take all this rejection.

This is Sharon. A friend and the chair of the school’s Red Cross blood drive. She recruited me to come in today. I don’t mind giving blood. I do it all the time.

This is Charmaine. Charmaine is a nurse with the Red Cross. For someone with such a repetitive job, I must say she is extremely friendly and pleasant. I sat in her booth, ready for the dreaded finger prick and personal questions. (Have you been out the country? Have you had sex with {insert someone other than husband here}?)

This is the box for disposal and the blue thing is where the blood goes to see if it has enough iron. If it drops within 15 seconds, it passes. Mine failed. So, Charmaine took a little more from my finger (ever hear the expression getting blood from a stone?) and took it to the spinner. Sadly, the results did not improve.

This here is my rejection letter. I was sent packing. With only a band-aid on my finger to show for it. Well, I actually got a t-shirt for showing up.

It’s a sad day in Clarksville.

Criminals.

The kids’ table.

Here are my guys with their cousins. And my dad. He loved hearing them talk to each other. I think he can relate!

One is silver and the other’s gold.

photo credit to Kristin

Photo credit to Gnightgirl.

photo credit to Kristin.

So Kristin, Gnightgirl, Momo and I met this weekend. Well, I already knew Kristin. And Gnightgirl and Momo already knew each other.

We talked about everything and anything. We laughed. We cried. (Okay, we didn’t cry, but it worked so well in that string!)

I have so many stories, but fear for my life if I post most of them here. Yikes. Suffice it to say, we had a great time and I am happy to know those girls!

Pickled.

Dueling computers.

I awoke to the sound of keystrokes. Quiet little keystrokes.

This in contrast to hearing the children laugh downstairs or the coffee grinder starting or the alarm clock. And it was a couple hours later than usual, too.

I am sharing a hotel room with a friend. Usually, I get my own room – I’m just more comfortable. But she’s easy-going and I knew it could work. The room is very nice with luxurious bedding (very important to me!). And the room, at night, is pitch black. Gotta love it.

I dreamed about my friend’s 9th grade daughter. I was picking her up after school and couldn’t find her in the hoards of teenagers. And then, after they were all gone, she was sitting on the porch (porch???) waiting. It was a long dream – I saw every kid by face. It was odd.

But I digress.

As I slowly came to consciousness this morning, I heard the pitterpatter of little keystrokes. I didn’t know where I was or who the heck was typing! And then it came back to me.

So she’s in her bed reading The Sneeze and I’m in my bed typing this. (I already checked my favorite blogs.)

We must be a sight.

Fortunately, there’s no one else here to see us. (Jeff & Andrew sigh in relief.)

This afternoon, we’ll meet two of our fake friends – from the blogosphere – and hopefully they’ll be our real friends by dinnertime! I’m oddly nervous, I admit.

Kind of like a double blind-date….

More later.

Traveling….

It’s a long long long long way to go home
It’s a long long long long way to go home
Any which way you are tempted to roam
It’s a long long long long long long way
Way to go home

lyrics by Robert Hunter…

You may have guessed that I’m traveling…and am far from home. Way to be literal with the lyrics! So many Dead lyrics have been bantered around lately, I just had to find a way to fit some into today’s post! More about my travels in the next couple days.