Halloween

I think I'm ready.

Intricately carved pumpkin - check.
Bags of candy - check.
Costume - check.

The niecelets came over for pumpkin carving, meaning that they found the most difficult design ever in one of those carving kits and then promptly ditched me while I scooped pumpkin guts. Two hours later, they turned off the TV and came to check on the progress of "their" pumpkin. *Snort* My hands are killing me. On the other hand, pumpkin seeds are roasting in the oven right now. Yum.

Bags of candy. We also give out glow bracelets, which the kids go for even more than the candy. Then Mom calls out from the curb, "Take candy too!" Yeah, we all know who ransacks the kid's candy haul after bedtime. The SO wisely decided to hold off until today to buy goodies. That didn't stop me from opening the bags tonight and setting aside a few choice tidbits for myself. I live for my November 1st Breakfast of Champions - 2 miniature Snickers, a roll of Smarties, two Twizzler sticks, and a handful of the peanut butter flavored taffy that comes wrapped in the orange or black wax paper.

Costume. My hair is nearly long enough again to don my old Magenta costume. The problem, I learned from a scary but funny run-in with a hooker in Dayton, Ohio years ago, is that out of the context of the midnight showing of Rocky Horror, my Magenta costume looks a little too much like a "working girl" uniform. (It turns out that a crack addict whore has zero sense of humor when you're sitting at the bus stop on HER corner at two in the morning. Even less so when I pointed out we were wearing the same boots.) Since our hovel is on the corner of a busy street, and we sit on the front stoop to give out treats, I think I'll try a costume with a little less, um, personality. Besides, I can't stand the look of pity from a five-year old Spiderman - that look that says there's nothing scarier than a woman who doesn't realize she's getting a bit too old to be running around in fishnet stockings and a bloody French Maid dress.