Happy Halloween!

I carved pumpkins today and now I'm toasting the seeds, and I really, REALLY want to go trick-or-treating. It's not just for the candy, people! If it were just the candy, I could go down the road to the grocery store and buy pounds and pounds of it, Snickers and Reese's and Blow Pops, etc. But all the candy in the world could never quite recreate the magic, the experience of trick-or-treating: pretending to be someone else, stumbling around in dried-up leaves, on darkened streets that seemed so ordinary during the day, clutching a pillowcase full of sugar, guided by luminous pumpkins, protected from the other goblins roaming the streets by only your mom or dad holding a flashlight.

In lieu of that, I went on a walk around my neighborhood (with Buddy) to see some of the jack o' lanterns and decorations. Neighbors out trick-or-treating with their kids probably thought I was a pedophile. But I don't care - Halloween is my favorite howl-iday!

Cheesy Halloween humor aside, I hope you boys and ghouls have a Happy Halloween!!

mum's the word

For pretty much the first time in my entire life, I have completely lost my voice. Oh, I've had assorted frogs in the throat and sometimes had a little bit of a husky, cigarette-fueled scratchy voice-thing going (despite that I've never smoked). But never really had my voice disappear entirely, retreating somewhere into the upper reaches of my vocal box, berating me with an occasional squeaky emergence. I think it has something to do with babysitting for nearly 12 hours today, which was fun, except yeah... a 3-year old who just didn't want to listen to anything I said today? Imagine all the sentences beginning with "No!..." that came out of my mouth today between the hours of 6:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

And just a few minutes ago, Dobey started barking his head off randomly, for no apparent reason, other than he likes to annoy the crap out of everyone in the house. (Not even kidding, this happens several times a week - the unceasing, completely unprovoked and unwarranted barking!! Why, Dobey? Why do you hate us so?!?) He had food, went out 10 minutes previous to the onset of the barking, is warm and safe, got a good tummy rub earlier this evening. What more could a dog want? No, he had to start barking and would not stop, so I let him outside again, where he was fine for about 2 minutes, until he started barking AGAIN. Which, you know, normally wouldn't be a problem, him barking OUTSIDE as opposed to ten feet away INSIDE, except it's nighttime and the neighbors probably want to shoot him as much as we do when he does that outside at 10 at night. So I went to the door, and he seemed like he wanted to come in, and I opened the door and he ran away and kept barking! Then I told him that that kind of assholery is not okay in the backyard, and that, my friends, really used up the last of my voice.

Which wouldn't be a problem, either, except I have to be back up at the crack of dawn again tomorrow, for another 12-hour babysitting stint! No voice and an obstinate 3-year old? Sounds like a party! I can't wait 'til tomorrow is over.

P.S. Thank God I have a job interview (yes, a real honest-to-God job interview) on Friday!

The Big 2... oh

In honor of my blog's 2nd anniversary, a meme about blogging.
From DM's blog.

1. Do you try to look hot when you go to the grocery store just in case someone recognizes you from your blog?

Hahaa. I’ll go to the grocery store looking however I want. Besides, I doubt my fellow shoppers or the person stocking the shelves is going to be like, “Hey, I love your blog!” If they did recognize me, it’d be more like, “Hey, you write that blog. Get a job, ya hippy!” Or maybe “You’re a lot shorter than I thought.”

2. Are the photos you post Photoshopped or otherwise altered?

No. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me, I guess. Most of the people who read my blog see me in real life, anyway, so they would just laugh if I majorly altered my photos.

3. Do you like it when creeps or dorks email you?

Um. No? Creeps, no, certainly. Dorks, well, I am kind of a dork, so I guess it just depends on what they want. But neither creeps nor dorks have e-mailed me.

4. Do you lie in your blog?

No, not really, despite the “mostly true” thing. Hey, there's the lie - they're not mostly true stories, they're completely true stories!

5. Are you passive-aggressive in your blog?

I don’t…think…so. What does that even mean? I don’t even know how one would be passive-aggressive in their blog, so I don’t think I am.

6. Do you ever threaten to quit writing so people will tell you not to stop?

No. Sometimes I think about stopping but then I think I’d miss it too much.

7. Are you in therapy? If not, should you be? If so, is it helping?

No. No. And no. Clearly I'm in denial, and should be in therapy for that.

8. Do you delete mean comments? Do you fake nice ones?

Not that many people leave comments on my blog. And I don’t think I’ve ever had a mean comment. Unless someone pretending to be God counts, which wasn’t mean, it was just confusing. Sneaky Voice of God.

9. What should a "good blog" have?

A voice. A little humor.

10. If your readers knew you in person, would they like you more or like you less?

The people who read my blog know me, for the most part, I think. I hope they like me more in real life than on the internets. Is there anyone out there reading who doesn’t know me? Please show yourselves!

11. Do you have a job?

Gah.

12. If someone offered you a decent salary to blog full-time without restrictions, would you do it?

Yes!

13. Which blogger do you want to meet in real life?

Erm, I don’t know. I guess I’m not that into the blogosphere. If I had to pick, I’d say finslippy or dooce.

14. Which bloggers have you made out with? (a)In real life? (b)In fantasy?

Ha, what? I don’t make out with anyone in real life, what are you talking about? But I totally fantasize about making out with Anne. And Amanda. And Aurora. Every blogger in my links, basically. That’s right, now it’s out there on the table and you all know my dirty little secret.

15. Do you usually act like you have more money or less money than you really have?

Yeah, I'm pretty out there in the open about my sad lack of money.

16. Does your family read your blog?

My sister-in-law does sometimes, I think. Hi Jennie!

17. How old is your blog?

Two years old today!

18. Do you get more than 1000 page views per day? Do you care?

I get excited if I get more than 20. And no, I don’t care.

19. Do you have another secret blog in which you write about being depressed, slutty, or a liar?

No, but maybe I should, for all the slutty things I do that I don’t want to talk about here.

20. Have you ever given another blogger money for his/her writing?

No, and I should since I do enjoy reading certain ones regularly.

21. Do you report the money you earn from your blog on your taxes?

No. And not just because I don’t make any from my blog. Because… oh, I don’t know. Never mind.

22. Is blogging narcissistic?

Yeah, probably, but who cares? It’s fun, it’s not hurting anyone (usually), and it’s a good way for people to keep in touch in a creative medium.

23. Do you feel guilty when you don't post for a long time?

Sometimes, even though that’s kind of unproductive.

24. Do you like John Mayer?

Yes. Why is this question in here?

25. Do you have enemies?

Probably, but none that have come forward recently. Hope no one out there is stewing over something I've done and not challenging me to fisticuffs.

26. Are you lonely?

No. Sometimes a little lonely, romantically. But no.

27. Why bother?

Because it’s so easy to bother!

So lately, my time, it has been all about the babysitting. I've been babysitting a few days every week for two different families who live right down the street from each other in Plymouth, very nice families with very nice kids (excepting the occasional tantrums).

On Thursday I took care of two kids for a mom who is a nurse and works 10-hour shifts four or five times a month. I had to be there at 6:45 am and left at 6:30 pm, which is kind of a crazy long time to babysit... though I realize that their mom spends longer periods with her children, when they're not at school and whatnot. Anyway, despite the early start and the long day, it was really pretty fun. The girl is 5 and goes to kindergarten in the morning, and I helped her get ready and walked her to the bus stop with her brother, who is 3. She goes to the same elementary school that I went to, and it kind of made me miss getting on the bus and heading off to school where I melted crayons on the radiator, ate snacks, and colored. And then I remembered that - oh yeah - I'm an adult now, which means I can tie my own shoes, stay up way past my bedtime, and eat ice cream any time I want! Forget elementary school, I can drive a car!

Anyway, after she went off to school, the rest of the day was devoted to playing some incarnation of a game where the little boy was an animal, be it Rudolph the Reindeer, the whale from Finding Nemo (why the whale and not Nemo or his dad, I don't know), or Spirit the horse. This kid cracks me up; he is just so goofy. First of all, when he says, "Yeah" it comes out sounding a lot like how Lil Jon says "yeah" in that Usher song - you know, something like "YAAAAY-YUH!" Preschoolers are pretty krunk these days, I guess. Second of all, he is always dressing up. And I mean, DRESSing up. They have a whole box of the Disney Princess costumes, which would belong ostensibly to his sister. However, he always wants to wear them, and as I see no problem with it and am rather tickled by this, I help him put them on over his clothes. Maybe he thinks we're going to a ball, I don't know, but it takes a man secure in his masculinity to wear a dress of tulle and shimmering brocade.

As much fun as it is hanging out with the five and under set, I'm still on the hunt for a job, which, you know, is great and all but oh, why can't I get a job? (Insert whiny rant here.) At least babysitting gives me something to do, and some money to pay the bills. And at least my parents love me and don't mind letting me leech off of them for a while, though I mind and feel kind of bad about it, like I'm a defective college grad because I can't get a job and am still living at home. If college were a factory, I'd be one of the products they'd have to recall, like a faulty toy that has the parts kids choke on. I'm a faulty toy. Sigh, sorry, I only spared you half of a whiny rant.

Maybe elementary school would be more fun than being an adult.

camp shack redux

Whoa, okay, so I've been a little busy lately (yes, busy, despite having no job! Take that, unemployment!) and still have not written about the Camp Shack Experience 2005... though it would seem that everyone else has.

So what do I say about spending a night in a shack in the woods with a few of my nicest friends (and believe me, I have some of the nicest friends a girl could have!)? Well, since a picture is worth a thousand words and Amanda took some damn fine photos of the blessed event, I'm not going to say too much - I'm going to show you! And by "show you," I mean, I'm going to make you click on a whole bunch of links. For your own good, y'all are far too lazy, heh.

There was hot dog eating and the requisite stick making to cook the hot dogs - wherein Nicole made the dinner and dessert stick, with my knife, I might add. I think Amanda's dad was impressed that this city girl carries a knife on her keychain. Amanda and I also had a chubby bunny contest, which turned yucky (cause eating eight marshamallows at a time isn't yucky, noooo) when Amanda unknowingly ate the marshmallows I had just gagged into my hand. This was followed by the Kelly one-woman marshmallow eating show. Lovely Amanda fell down many, many times on the aborted trip to the salt lick, and Aurora looked hot and Chelsea's body looked hot while I looked deranged. Meanwhile, Angie opened her mouth. But really, everyone looked hot and had fun.

All in all, it was a great night, and not nearly long enough. Looking forward to next year's reconvening of Camp Shack, for a whole weekend, perhaps?