Hallowe'en Past

Late on Hallowe'en night
With a full moon bright
She sits and taps
Foot and keys
Thoughts wander, crash, careen
Trying to be heard, be seen
"Make sense of us
Catch us if you can"
(are they the gingerbread men?)
So catch them she shall
And maybe
The telling will be the reality
And the threads will weave fabric
And then, maybe not

The day - costumes to be ironed
(Do that the night before? nah)One to be shortened - how'd that happen?
Takes the scissors
Fails to check
Cuts the legs - no going back now
And then sees - the waist is at the butt!
Luckily the top is long
And she's a safety-pin hoarder
Races to the parade
Police officer in sight -
AARRGGH, no reminders today!
Finds the ninjas, her sons
Plants kisses and runs
To work, to here,
to lists of calls
The furniture repair, the eye doctor, the dentist, the friend
My oldest needed striped hair
Green, Blue, Pink
Tiara
Bracelets
Glitter makeup
And plans with friends
Needed a ride
Came home to hand out treats
So fun - it's been so long
Since I didn't take the kids
And thought
Who says our youth are rude, bad, up-to-no-good?
From every child
"Please/Trick or Treat/Thank you/Happy Hallowe'en"
Rang through the air
"You may take two."
"Oh thank you!"
Many exclaimed how wonderful
The candle-lit pumpkins looked
Five perched on the bench:
Three ghosts on a white pumpkin - no paint!
Dracula
Alien
A Cat on a limb
A scary jack
And the flow turned to a trickle
And then there were none
Good night, Hallowe'en
Good night, moon
Good night, Storyland

SWAPs and photos

I've participated in two complete Circle Journals.

What are Circle Journals? Check out this link: http://www.pagesoftheheart.net/artman/publish/article_923.shtml
Themed Albums - A Closer Look At Circle Journals

By Charity Hassel

We're taking a breather - or really, we're waiting for someone to make a color copy of each CJ for everyone, and get the copies bound at Staples. But that someone was out of work for 18 weeks, nursing her post-surgery shoulder back to health. Yeah, that someone would be *me*.

Anyway, someone suggested we do monthly SWAPs. We had several people too timid to do the CJs join us, which is fun. So far, we've completed four. Here are mine:

#1 Funny quote

#2 Favorite Wizard of Oz quote

#3 Halloween ghostie

#4 Thanksgiving gratitude bookmark

Grabbed again!

Just once,

I will not click a link

I will not find new 'gotchas'

I will not drool over others' work

Just once,
I will practice restraint
I will remember too much is ... too much
I will know that I check out plenty already

Just once.
Really.
And then
More than once.

But... I now have several more blogs saved as favs.
SIGH.

Some scrapbook designers' blogs grabbed me.
Really.
http://stacysbigpicture.typepad.com/ "Altogether Too Happy; Stacy Julian
http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/ "Bits & Pieces"; Cathy Zielske
http://rhonnadesigns.com/new/new.html "Rhonna Designs"; Rhonna Farrer
SIGH.

An Interesting, Unexpected Day

I know I haven't mentioned anything about the wedding; I promise I will - soon. I've been busy; I even went back to work. sigh.

This morning, I was eating my dessert AKA choc chip waffle breakfast when the phone rang. A Girl Scout staff member I know well said that there was a council meeting nearby and they didn't have a quorum. Would I be able to come save the day?

I was planning to make some moves in my Craft Studio. That's like saying I was going to clean. My allergies were twitching; I am allergic to cleaning. It may be mental, but all the same... cleaning. Yuck.

I said yes, and sat with BFF and some others I know. All in all, it took 90 mins from when the voting was supposed to start until a quorum was present. I must say I'm glad arrived late; that was a long wait.

I assumed I would merely be a vote; I would keep quiet. r-i-g-h-t. The voting involved amendments to the by-laws. By-law writing is an arcane art; BTDT. Those immersed in precisely wording by-laws start speaking some odd dialect, unintelligible to those outside the ropes. Several times, members asked questions - and I knew the answers weren't being understood.

I finally gave up and translated between by-lawese and standard English. We were supposed to state our names before speaking, but I didn't. As I sat down, I remarked that those I know who hadn't seen me knew I was there now. As soon as I said that, I was lovingly attacked with a hug. One of my favorite board members had rushed over as soon as she heard me!

When the meeting was over, several others came over to talk. Our former council CEO said I did a good job. Two officers asked me why I hadn't been doing anything lately. When I said I hadn't been asked, they said they'd change that. The strangest part, for me, is that I was just thinking last week that I wanted to become more involved again. We'll see....

My DD's godmother, the mother of my three godchildren, came up to me too. She works as the council store manager, and she's a leader. We ended up talking for almost two hours, going from the room to the foyer to outside. It was really nice to catch up. Our families haven't gotten together in over a decade, ever since my DSs kept commenting outloud on her kids' behavior. We have very different parenting styles, but I think with the youngest three turning 16 we may be able to try again.

All in all, it was an interesting, completely unexpected day!