Halloween Howls

Well I was born in a small town
And I can breathe in a small town
Gonna die in this small town
And that's prob'ly where they'll bury me ~ John Cougar Mellencamp

OK...so it is November and I haven't posted since September. Sorry. I started this "blog thing" after grad school as a way to express myself through writing since I was so accustomed to writing and basically addicted to it. Now, I am attempting to earn National Board Certification and have a lot of writing that I HAVE to do....and it keeps me quite busy. SO....please forgive my lack of attention to my blog. My writing is due March 31. Then, I have to take a written test. THEN, and this will be an enormous test in patience for me, I have to wait and wait and freakin' wait some more for the results (which won't come out until DECEMBER 2008). Only 30% of the candidates earn it the first time so I have a feeling that this will have my nerves RAW until December 2009 (after I retake the parts that I suck on). ANYWAY....enough of the pity party for now.

THE GOOD STUFF: Halloween was so much fun this year!!! The past two years Ethel and I partake of some liquid refreshments as we make our way around the neighborhood with our children (and her hubby Fred.....Hubby stays here to hand out candy). We meet and greet a large number of neighbors. We always have something to complain about. Last year it was cold. This year the mosquitoes were ferocious!!!!!!!!!! I think I was Daughter's hero when I threw some frozen beverage at a nasty child who whipped her with a jump rope about a month ago (hmm....life is always interesting with children). It was all in fun....Ethel even joined in. As much as I love going to "the real world" to shop and see what kind of things I'm "missing" by living on a barrier island, I adore where I live. Some locals took a bunch of pictures of trick-or-treaters and posted a slide show on the Island Free Press (the online news magazine for our area). It makes my heart smile to look at the pictures of all these children having a blast on Halloween. I am even more fortunate to say that I actually KNOW almost all of these people. Small town life is glorious!

btw.....Daughter and Ethel's son are in the 2nd pic on the slide show....my little darling (the amputation doctor complete with severed limb and bloody cleaver) is chopping off his head; Ethel's twin girls are in the 3rd pic; Darth Vader (several pics later) is mine....he's so "big" now that he went trick-or-treating with a friend and his family. Where does time go?