Boo!

We've had just three trick-or-treaters tonight, one little lone football player (a Chiefs player, of course), and a vampire with his little sister, who was a pumpkin, I think (she had a coat on over her costume, so it was hard to tell. I told the vampire he was scary, and he said he was WAY scarier with his teeth, but they kept falling out, so he put them in his pocket.

I wore my black cat ears to work on Friday, but took them off after awhile, and forgot them and left them there. So yesterday when I went to Target I wanted to buy something else, and ended up with an angora headband with a gold angel halo on top. I've been wearing it tonight; Bob said it wasn't really appropriate, that I should have gotten devil ears instead.

I really only wanted to get something else because my dad is in the hospital again and I went out to see him today and I wanted to wear something that would make him laugh. I was kind of surprised to see that there wasn't much Halloween stuff going on at the hospital. My mom and her friend and I went down to the cafeteria for lunch and one of the cafeteria ladies told me she liked my halo. I thanked her and said I was surprised that no one was dressed up, and she said that they weren't allowed to, that it was thought that it might offend people. I can understand that, I guess . . . although not really. I definitely think that for the most part, it's pretty harmless, and I can't see how dressing up as a clown (which is what the cafeteria lady said she would have done) would have offended anyone. Except people who are afraid of clowns, of course, but I don't think that was the point.

I got my hair cut and colored on Saturday, and some of the people at the salon were dressed up. My hairdresser was a cowgirl, with jeans and boots and a cowboy hat, and a sheriff's star. One of the other hairdressers was wearing tall suede boots, jeans, a poncho, a tie as a headband and a shoulder-brushing earring. He was up to the front to greet his next client, and she exclaimed over his costume and said, "Wherever did you get those boots!?" and I thought, oh, for heaven's sake, he's just dressing like he did in the 70's -- those are his own clothes! And he said, "Oh, I've had them forever," and I thought, "I knew it!"

Not much excitement going on here, really. Bob went duck hunting this weekend, got home early this afternoon while I was at the hospital, and is upstairs sleeping. I'm doing laundry and listening for the doorbell, and it's raining, so I kind of doubt there will be any more kids coming.

But I'm ready if they do. I've got a big bowl of Jolly Ranchers and Twizzlers, which I'll take to work tomorrow if I don't give them all away tonight, and I'm sure I won't. I specifically bought things that I don't really like, since Bob and I ate two big bags of chocolate already this month--bags of (technically) Halloween candy bars that we couldn't resist. It's a bad time of year for eating well, certainly, with Halloween, then Thanksgiving coming up, and Christmas.

But I've been working out pretty regularly, trying to get to the gym three times a week, and I've been doing pretty well. The iPod helps alleviate the boredom at the gym--the last couple of times I've walked on the treadmill 30 or 40 minutes rather than my usual 20, so I think that's going to make a difference. Sometimes I listen to audio books, but if there's a lot going on in the gym, like a noisy class, or someone with a television turned up high, it's hard to concentrate, so I switch to music, which is distracting enough that I can do my workout with getting bored, but I don't have to listen to it closely. A fine line.

Paul was the winner of my Wishbones contest! Thank you to everyone who sent in an email entry. I'll give away something else soon, I think, but not sure what yet.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month