halloween

This week I got to see Cornel West on campus--what a fantastic speaker. It was more than his referring to private conversations with “Brother Barack.” He puts things into perspective and despite all of his excitement and preacher-like cadences (or perhaps because of them?), he's a very calming presence... actually, I need to finish this blog entry soon because he’ll be on Bill Maher in a few minutes.

We had a great Halloween this year. In the afternoon my mom and I headed over to j’s school, where they had a Halloween “parade” with the kids in their costumes. j wore the same spider costume he had last year (glad I listened to P’s advice about getting the larger size!), and it was fun to see all the little ones dressed up. My favorite was the kid dressed as a slice of mushroom pizza.

Our presence having completely distracted j from any hope of a normal day, we took him home about 45 minutes early. Though we planned to have dinner before trick-or-treating, kids began at around 4:30, so P and j headed out early. The trick-or-treaters kept coming on and off until about 8.

I know it’s not everyone’s thing, but I like Halloween quite a bit, and am ecstatic that we finally live somewhere where a fair amount of kids come trick-or-treating. I’m already planning for changes I’ll make next year. The first is that I should buy some kind of luminaries to light the way to our door since it’s somewhat dark. Kids had to travel up two flights of stairs to get to our kitchen door, and the luminaries would make it safer. Also, I want to start collecting some more decorations, and get j in on the act sooner. (Over the last few weeks in school, he made the few things I put on the window here.) Oh, and more creepy stuff--we have some funky spaces in the front of the house that could lend themselves well to more Halloween decorating.

I took some fun pictures tonight... if you’d like to see them and I haven’t already sent them to you, send me an email. I’m not sure if j is getting too old for me to keep sending tons of unrequested photos. :)

playing catch-up

This may have been the longest blog hiatus I’ve had. It’s been a crazy month, what with all this administrative work, P being in rehearsal, and my mom moving a mere 10 minutes away from us. As of yesterday, however, P’s show is over, my mom is moved, and the administrative work is at least slowing down a bit. Lately work, especially this extra job, has been incredibly stressful and kind of depressing and I’m not sure how it will--or even should--fit into the rest of my life, but I’m trying to do my best for now.

School is going well for j. Because of the bus, he has long days, leaving at 8 and not getting home until 4:30, but we’ve definitely seen an improvement in his communication skills and behavior. According to his teacher, he’s an enthusiastic participant in all the activities--especially the singing. He still has trouble focusing on one thing at a time. All this isn’t a surprise, but it is nice to hear overall positive things right now.

And the election! Only one more week to go and I cannot tell you how much I long for next Wednesday when it’s all over. We’ve been talking politics in this house every day for over a year. j can immediately identify the candidates by sight:

“Barack Obama—-yea! John McCain—-ugh”
...though he sometimes, much to his parents’ chagrin, gets the commentary reversed.

He can also identify Michelle Obama and “Joey Biden!” and McCain’s running mate, “Tina Fey.” (I’m desperately hoping that come next week, he won’t need to ever know the actual name of the Republican VP nominee.)

It's funny, this writing thing. Getting down just the few above thoughts was a little rough since I haven't been doing it for a while. Must. write. more. often.