Mike’s carvings 2014
Today’s post is a tiny departure from the norm. Since you’ve followed my Halloween preparations throughout October, I wanted to share details from our action-packed day. Here we go.
6:40
I woke up without an alarm to overcast skies. Rain in the forecast. Super excited, except that it’s Halloween. Hopefully it will rain before and after the candy gatherers come out to play.
7:30
Carpool three teens to school.
7:45
Wait for the school parking lot traffic to clear.Read a few of my favorite blogs. Leave a long comment on Pauline’s fabulous garden post (one of my favorite subjects of course) but apparently never hit the ‘post’ key. I’ll head back there today, trying to recapture in detail how much I love her garden and her post.
8:15
Tidy the kitchen and start some laundry. I live a glamorous life.
Under strict instructions from my youngest son, I remove all items from the deck. The fairy garden isn’t scary enough.
Line the walkway with pumpkins, candles and the aforementioned fairy garden.
Lining the walkway/ramp with candles and home-grown pumpkins
Inside, Mike guts three pumpkins and decides what to carve. He traveled the day before, up at 4:00 am and home at 10 so he’s tired. Lindy offers moral support. Mike chooses three of his pattern favorites.
Lindy offers moral support
Carving the deadly diva
The skies open up. Puddles form. Honest to goodness rain in San Jose. Giddy with excitement, but still hoping it stops by 5:00 pm. Go out to brunch with Mike, an incredibly rare treat on his day off from work.
Rain!
The rain makes everything look off-kilter
2:00
Well, someone has to fold the laundry.
2:30
Gather the teens from school. It’s still raining so my youngest son is indecisive about hanging black plastic on the deck awning. He waits.
Tasty treat trifecta: Candy corn for Mike, kitty treats for Lindy, and left over seeds and pulp for the neighborhood squirrels
2:45
Pick up a self-bake pizza, narrowly avoiding a car accident in the process. To my tremendous surprise, the driver follows me into the pizza place and apologizes! Life is good. Note: Halloween is the biggest take-out pizza day of the year. Back home, I review college application materials with my oldest son. UC applications open November 1st. He’s ready to go.
4:00
It’s now or never. With Mike’s help, my youngest son covers the awning and sides of the deck with heavy black plastic, saved from year to year for this purpose. His friend arrives around 5:00 and they scope out hiding places, adding black lights and string. The boys ready their masks. I repeat firm instructions: they’re not to scare anyone under the age of 14.
Converting the deck into a frightful state
5:15
Pizza in the oven.
5:17
Pizza devoured.
5:30
Race down the hall to get ready for the second of three Halloween parties. The boys man the door as the trick or treating begins in earnest.
Attaching the false eyelashes is always the trickiest part for me. I don’t wear much makeup throughout the year, so I’m always out of practice.
6:00
Dressed and ready to go, I continue passing out little bags of pretzels. Most of the little girls at the door ask if I’m Elsa from Frozen. I nod and said yes. I was going to make bookmarks to go with them. When did I think I was going to find the time? Next year?
8:00
We’ve passed out all the pretzels, a box of gummy candy, packets of cookies and granola bars from our pantry and anything else we can think of. 240 bags and buckets have passed by our door. The supply of acceptable give-away treats depleted, we post a note of apology and close up shop.
8:45
Walk through a cool mist to Lisa and Roy’s Halloween party a few blocks away. Eat. Socialize. Try really hard not to drift off in the comfy chair.
Halloween Party Hosts Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep
Late
At this point I am so tired that I’ve lost track of time. I manage to remove my makeup before crawling into bed, though briefly considered sleeping with it on. Yes, I was that tired. Drift off, patting myself on the back for finishing off my no-candy countdown.
Decal eye makeup, false eyelashes and some eyeshadow in between
If you’re still here, thanks for reading.
Today I’m readying our garage for voting tomorrow. Friends in the States, don’t forget to vote November 4th.
Val over at Nikitiland published a post of a similar name yesterday and included free, downloadable labels that say Happy Mail. She went on to ask:
Gardening Nirvana 