Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 - 8:59 a.m.
Greetings,
It’s a rainy Monday morning and I’m pretty happy all things considering. The time change gave me an extra hour of much needed sleep and my new job is a pleasure to come in to.
The air temperature outside is a crisp and cool 60-something and so my lavender sweater is just the ticket to keep me warm.
I’m drinking Folger’s vanilla flavored coffee and I have a Sponge Bob “Mermaid Man” Band-Aid on one of my fingers. I’m probably the only person in the world who can cut herself while making the bed. Let’s just leave it at that.
Saturday night was excellent. Everyone arrived around dark and so the Halloween lights were glowing along with the candy corn scented jar candle. We discussed our Working for a while, visited for a bit, ate excellent pizza from Café Roma, and then performed a very inspiring bit of magic in Tommy’s Chamber to the sound of the ocean.
Kristen and I made a last minute elixir run to Spend-a-Center and while we were buying flavored water, we happened upon what must be the very, very first batch of egg nog this season. So we got some for Tommy.
After the Working we sat around in the living room by candlelight and I drank, well, a lot of wine. In fact when the time changed, I was moved to exclaim, “HEY! It’s MAGIC! The digital cable box said 1:57 the last time I looked and now it’s 1:04!”
I introduced Kristen to Bolla Valpolicella red wine and she really liked it. So between the two of us we nearly killed a big bottle of it. The men drank Red Stripe beer except or Jaye who had to work early Sunday morning. He drank flavored water. But he still entertained us all with his “Monkey Paws” and that’s all I’m going to say on that subject. ;)
Kristen worked on her voodoo dolls while we talked and then at some point we watched two episodes of South Park – “Trapperkeeper” and “Underpants Gnomes”.
At this point it was after 4 a.m. and reluctantly I allowed Kristen and Austin to leave.
It was their first anniversary yesterday and I hope they had a tremendously fantastic time. They were going out to dinner in the Quarter last night for New Orleans style food.
I get to see Kristen four months in a row and Austin three months in a row and that makes me very happy.
We had to put Stela in the bedroom when Kristen’s craft box came out and so she got to sleep with us a bit Saturday night when we finally came to bed. She woke me up around 7 or so scratching under the bed so I had to kick her out and then I couldn’t sleep either so I got up, dragged a pillow and a blanket to the couch and read a book until I fell asleep again.
The next thing I knew it was 11:15 and a bleary-eyed Tommy stumbled into the living room wanting to know why I let him sleep so long. :)
It’s Halloween week and I’m excited. I have different wallpaper for my PC for every day. Today it’s the Invisible Man sitting in a blue plush chair with his pipe talking on the phone.
I’m pleased to report that I have received actual Halloween cards this year BEFORE Halloween. Kim and Arnold sent us some spooky Jack-o-Lanterns and Lish sent me a haunted castle and Tommy a pumpkin pie treat-or-treating at Mr. and Mrs. Jack O’Lantern’s house. The cards adorn the mantel top along with my harvest candle with the pumpkin and leaf-strewn shade, the black cat/Jack-o’-Lantern tea light burner and the scads of little decorative gourds.
Ken sent me his on Thursday, so it should be in my mailbox at some point this week. Hopefully not today since it’s raining and all my mail gets wet on rainy days.
Next month Tommy and I are going to Houston for a weekend to visit with friends, including Austin and Kristen. It should be quite the gathering. After that it’s Thanksgiving in North Carolina.
Ken is seriously considering coming to Crescentwood for New Year’s Eve, so cross your fingers for that one. That would be so much fun. I would make a lovely jambalaya dinner or maybe red beans and rice (or we could go out for Chinese) and we could caftan and swirl through the rooms of Crescentwood welcoming in the New Year.
Ken and I have spent quite a few New Year’s Eves together over the years. I think the first one was back in the late 80s and the most recent was 2001.
He has this thing about dancing on levels. When I lived in my condo, he would always make someone go down into the freezing foyer, someone go up the spiral staircase to the loft bedroom and everyone else stay in the living room so we’d dance on three levels.
I don’t know what we’ll do at Crescentwood since it’s a one-level shotgun. Perhaps do the old standby and have someone dance on the bed. Or maybe we could each take a different room to dance in.
I love New Year’s Eve!
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. It’s not even Halloween.
Tonight when I get out of work at 5:30, it will be dark. Ding dong, Daylight Savings Time is Dead!
Until next time,
Olrun
