Thank *god* Halloween is past. There is *way* too much fricking candy in my house now. Both kids came home from school with stuff, then we took them to the local shopping center where they always do trick-or-treating for the kids. We weren't going to take them out in the evening, but then Allie from across the street came over to ask if Alicia wanted to walk with them, so Craig ended up taking both of them out. They did our street and the next one down, and were gone for almost *two* hours. And I can't even get any more candy into their plastic pumpkins now, and there's still two bags left over from what the neighbor brought over for them. Oy.

I also went to the dentist this morning to get my permanent crown put on. It fit properly this time, thank goodness. No more going back until January!

I'm deeming my first month on Weight Watchers a success. I lost 10 pounds in total, and am on a steady decline. Exercising on the elliptical is still happening at least 5 nights a week, so that's good, too. I'm going to sit down soon and plan out the menu for our small Thanksgiving to make sure it's as WW friendly as I can get it. That's my best chance of continued success. Planning is everything.

Craig leaves for India tomorrow. He'll be back on the 17th. I'm focusing on how much I'll get done while he's gone and not the fact that he's leaving. I've done a quarter of the reading I need to get done by December, but there's still another 16 books to go. And I told Craig that I'm making getting all the outgrown kids' clothes sorted and ready to try and sell on Craigslist. I'm trying that before ebay. I won't get as much money for them, but it'll be a hell of a lot easier and right now, I just want it gone.

I love scales. Does that make me crazy? I love the rhythm, I love the fingering, I love everything about them. I even skipped ahead to find out other scales to learn. I think what it is, is that I much prefer fingering to strumming. It makes going back and practicing chords hard, lol.

Halloween is speeding up for us. We have a party tomorrow, two parties Saturday, each child has a party Tuesday, then a party in town Tuesday afternoon, and then trick-or-treating on Tuesday night. I'm fighting to get other stuff done.

I tried a new WW recipe for dinner tonight. A mushroom/leek/wild rice stew that gets done in the slow cooker. But the leeks completely overpowered the recipe, and I just don't care for it at all. Guess who's having salad for supper? :P

Craig made me watch Stealth last night. Tell me why again why I don't try harder to talk him out of movies he really wants to see?

Speaking of Craig, he leaves for India a week from today. He'll be gone until the 17th, which screws our plans for going to NC for Thanksgiving, but oh well. I'm anticipating getting a lot of stuff while he's gone. I have to. I have 25 books to read for the EPPIE's by December 5.

I'm not a fan of Halloween. Never really have been. I suck at coming up with costumes, and I've never really gotten the whole point of it. Christmas, on the other hand, is my holiday. I love having an excuse to buy things for people. I love the food, the festivities. I have a slight tendency to go overboard.

So, I am anxiously waiting to get past tomorrow. It's costume day at Alicia's school, then there's trick-or-treating among the small shops in town, and then trick-or-treating at night. I'm making Craig come home at lunch time so that he can take the kids out. That leaves me here to dish out candy.

Then, on Tuesday, I get to start planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas. :D I did promise Craig that I wouldn't drag out any of the Christmas movies until after Thanksgiving. The kids have never seen the American classics, so it'll be fun to share those with them this year. And it's our first Christmas that's just for us. Craig's parents aren't coming this year, and it's very unlikely any of my family is going to come though they've been invited. Just us. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll probably drive people crazy on LJ talking about my plans/recipes and the like. :)

Once I get past Halloween. Oi.