This Is Halloween

I'm pretty sure I used the same title last year, but since that is the only Halloween song I know of, it comes to mind automatically. And I do love the Nightmare Before Christmas, even back before it was owned by Disney, I was enamoured by Jack and Sally.
Halloween was fun this year, much simpler than years past because we only went to school parties, and no others, I only bought one costume, and we grew our own pumpkins. Sierra was waffling about whether or not to trick or treat because we told her this would be her last year, in the end she went with her little sisters and we put together a vampire costume from years past. Emma decided she wanted to be Thing 2 of Dr. Seuss's Cat In The Hat fame, and our next door neighbor was Thing 1. They borrowed the costumes from her cousin, and the girls were very cute. Kate wanted to be a scary witch, but when it came down to it, the scary costumes were not very much fun, but the hot pink/silver sparkly Barbie witch costume was TONS of fun, so Kate was a glam witch, which suited her personality much better anyway. Rob was a pirate, and trick or treated with our girls, and the next door neighbor's girls and their dad who was dressed as Frankenstein. Rob was also sweet enough to bring Kate around with him during the elementary school costume parade, which Kate loved. We are one of the few elementary schools left anywhere that still has a costume parade, which I think is really sad because the kids have so much fun, for them it competes with trick or treating in excitement.
The day after Halloween (every year) is November 1st. This year that meant the first day of NaNoWriMo- aka National Novel Writing Month. I signed up this year determined to finish. I had an outline ready (legal- but writing before the 1st is not) and my netbook ready. I made a calendar that tells me how many words I need done each day. The goal is 50,000. Today, Novemeber 16th, I am at a little over 20,000, which is a little behind (I need 26,672 before bedtime) but I know I will finish, which is very exciting, even if my first novel is, in NaNoWriMo lingo a craptastic volume that "sets new records for suckitude." I can do craptastic!

Cliff Notes

We've been doing a little of this and a little of that. But no matter what, it never slows down. I've been thinking a lot lately about how being an adult is a lot different than I thought as a kid. For some reason, I was sure that adults were always bored. Well, I can honestly say that I have not been bored in over a decade. And I have learned that you really never know what is coming next.

So much has happened in the last three weeks that I'm going to boil it down to the Cliff Notes version of life Templeton. Get ready to follow my stream of consciousness... conference weekend at the cabin with fam, Dad and my cousin Jared, 12th anniversay celebrated with dinner at the Roof in SLC (view of temple & city) a fun quick two day trip to Phoenix with Jana while she took her Pediatric Boards (also I think the only time I have been alone for more than 20 minutes in the last decade!), Rob got his permanent crown on front tooth, got a little netbook in preparation for Nanowrimo next month (National Novel Writing Month 30 days- 50,000 words), passed out six donation boxes for women's shelter, Kate on steroids (watch out!!!) planted 50 bulbs, 1 rose bush, 3 flats of pansies, and pulled my weight in weeds, trying to sell van, picked out new car, extended Templeton family pictures Emma got stung by a bee while waiting but smiled anyway, Humanitarian Night at RS (we're making procedure dolls/gowns for Primary Children's Hospital- kids use them to understand what is happening to them, assembled hygiene kits and school kits for the Humanitarian Center, and planned some new projects), watched poor Sierra devote every waking moment to her mountain of homework, drove to allergyshots/swimming/skating/ballet/gymnastics, finally got the front room floor installed, Emma brought home her first big chapter book from the library ( it was as big a milestone for me as riding a bike- I let her stay up late to read), and finally, cried with my friend and 1st counselor who lost her beautiful first baby just three weeks before his due date. Our whole neighborhood chipped in to send a beautiful white flower arrangement to the viewing yesterday. The whole experience reminded me how everything we have is a gift, and our time to enjoy them is short, sometimes, painfully short.