Throw the Monkey in with the chickens

I don't know why shoes and socks make me so happy. I'm sure an entire doctorate could be based on this issue. I don't actually feel the need to explore it though. I would like to just say here that it isn't all shoes and socks that make me happy. I'm not a shoe fetishist. Nor am I a sock sicko. I like these shoes and socks.

We are now recieving up to four eggs a day from these productive girls! The light here is dimming earlier every day though, so I don't expect this impressive production to continue much longer. It's a nice introduction to the joys that spring will bring.

My little monkey has taken a fresh shine to the hens. It's his "chore" to collect the eggs now. I let him in the run yesterday and he wanted to stay and hang out with the girls. He promised not to try to catch them. He kept his word. Though he did get them all a-flutter when he dashed around avoiding their curious pecks. He thought it was great sport.

I don't really know what happened to my kid. He cleaned the toilets yesterday too. Yes, he made a mess. But this is a kid who, until recently, insisted that he didn't need to learn to clean up after himself because his wife would do that for him. We had to have a little talk about that. I didn't need to worry, however, because now he's insisting he's going to be a bachelor like his uncle Zeke and never marry. Maybe that's why he has a sudden ambition to do chores.

Why so many pictures of him? Why not. I love it when I see him have such unexpected fun. Remember that this is a super-hero we're looking at. When you are constantly fighting bad guys your expectations for fun are pretty high. Fun is supposed to be exciting, but it's difficult to top erradicating villains. For Halloween he's going to be "Toilet-Plunger-Man". Obviously I will take pictures of this. Last year he was "Sword-Man" with about ten swords strapped to his mom-made super-suit. This year he will carry two plungers around as weapons and I will make a plunger logo for his super-suit. I must do this tomorrow.

I don't actually feel like making a super-suit but there is no way in hell I'm gonna let this kid down in the costume department when he has such interesting ideas. How much more tedious would it be if I had to make him a dracula costume? No one else on earth is going to be "Toilet-Plunger-Man". I'm willing to take bets on it.

I don't actually like Halloween now much. (I know that Lucille and Ulla are shaking their heads in shame "why are we friends with this no-good party-pooper?") It's true. Mostly I find it annoying. I hate handing out candy. I do. I don't mind buying it, I don't mind kids having the candy I bought, but I hate handing it out. There's a lot of anxiety attatched to handing candy out. I know it's supposed to be this magical affair of giving succor to joyful little children...how could that stress anyone out? Welcome to my world where the question of how much candy to buy is agonizing as it can never be answered well. I spend all night simultaneously worried that I'm going to run out of candy and worried that I'm not giving enough to each child and will consequently be hated by them all. Then there's the teen-agers that I don't even want to give candy to, the ones who come to my door wearing a stupid hat and their gym clothes holding out a capacious pillow case begging for cavities. I can't refuse them because they're big enough to sock me. Then there's the point at which my child needs to go to bed yet the doorbell keeps ringing even though I've put a sign out that I'm all out of candy. They still come. They can't read my sign. So I turn out all the lights, hoping the message will be clear.

I usually opt out of taking the kid trick-or-treating. I imagine it will be even more stressful. The parties are the worst. I don't dress up for Halloween. When I was a youngster it was my second favorite holiday and I took enormous pleasure and pride in my costumes. I entered into the spirit of the day with great relish. I loved all of it. The decorations, the costumes, the parties, the candy. Eventually the clothes I wore on a daily basis began to rival any costume I could have cooked up, so by the time Halloween came around I just felt it was too much effort. I got to dress in Renaissance clothes whenever I wanted, why on earth would I put myself out just to dress up and eat hors'doerves? I frequently looked like Heidi, a witch, a Swiss Miss, a peasant, and Carmen Miranda. I just lost all steam for Halloween.

Now I have this kid who adores decorating for everything. He would suffocate our house in lights if he could. He'd build an enormous haunted castle on our front lawn if I let him. I will never be able to drum up the kind of enthusiasm I had for this holiday as a kid, but I'm appreciating it from Max's point of view. I'm enjoying that he's so creative with his costumes.

I've had a sudden thought: all kids seem to be dazzled by lights and sparkle and don't have any concept of when enough is enough...it's weird how Las Vegas is such an adult town and yet it's lights are so over the top I would believe it if someone told me a five year old designed the whole concept of the strip.

I didn't intend to write another post today. I'm avoiding the huge number of things I really should be doing to prepare to have our new store location open by the day after Thanksgiving. I have so many orders to place. I have so much to sew, glue, arrange, and change. I have to change our phone service, DSL, all the official tax numbers need to have my change of address, new insurance...holy hell. I'm not freaked about it. I'm just feeling disorganized and a little bit dizzy with excitement. And yes, worry.

I guess I'll go place an order for tagging guns and other fun retail supplies. Have a great Friday night!