Thanks to all of you who came by our house trick-or-treating tonight! We had a blast! We saw so many great costumes tonight...a monkey (Ashton), Mr. Incredible (Carter), a couple of princesses (Madison and Abby), a Japanese woman (Kynlee), Gwenevere (Kameryn), a karate master (Karis), and a lot of other scary kids who I don't know. :) We got rid of some of our candy, but we didn't even get close to getting rid of it all! I took a picture of how much we had after all the trick-or-treaters, but I can't post it tonight. I'll try to get it on here later.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! I'm off tomorrow to Conway to keep Josh through the weekend! I am so excited! It's been two months since I've seen him...I bet he's changed so much!

Self Control? What's that?

The number one place on earth to really test your self control can be found just a couple of miles from my house. WalMart. You all know what I'm talking about. Most of the time, I go in with a list...this is what I need. This, and nothing more. I'm on a mission. I have to dodge several strategically placed obstacles along the way, tempting me to purchase a book here, a delicious holiday-decorated sugar cookie there, but most of the time my mission is successful. I make it out with what's on my list on not much more.

There are those times, however, where my will is not strong enough to resist the temptation. Like today, for instance. I went in with a list consisting of several run-of-the mill items. Milk, body wash, laundry detergent, paper towels, cereal, green beans, and a little Halloween candy for Tuesday. Simple, right? Not a chance.

I get to WalMart and park, and right away my vision is assaulted with the first challenge. Pumpkins. They've been there for weeks, and I have been strong for weeks! Today, though...Halloween candy on the brain...I think, "I need to do a little decorating for fall. I need a pumpkin!" So, I get one, choosing from the sad few that are left behind. Then, walking into WalMart, I am automatically tested again! "I can't just put a plain pumpkin on my front porch...I need flowers to go with it!" So, I get flowers. "Okay," I think. "Now to my list." I go to my list, and get everything on it, plus a few other small things. Then, my real challenge comes. Halloween candy. It is on the list, yes, but now how much I am to get. That is up to me. Dangerous. I walk down the aisle filled with bright orange, green, and black bags stuffed with candy of all kinds. I see a bag, Reese's...yes! I need those! Then I see M&Ms. It's just not Halloween without M&Ms! Bubble gum! That was my favorite thing to get when I used to trick-or-treat! On and on it went...a pitiful display of my lack of self-control. I ended up spending way too much money and getting WAAAAY too much candy. You think I would've learned from last year, when we had NOT ONE trick-or-treater and we had candy left for months. Nope. I got twice as much as last year! I'm so weak!


Sooo...if you and your family go trick-or-treating Tuesday night, be sure to stop by the James's. There's a good chance you AND your child will get an enormous handful of candy that will put other houses candy-giving to shame. Your children will love me. You will probably hate me. If you need directions, just ask!

Charades

I played charades last night. It was SO much fun! I used to play all the time in college...that was one of the things my group of friends really liked to do. Sure, it may sound dorky, but don't knock it till you try it! A group of us were at Clayton and Mandy's the other night and Leslie suggested it, since she'd never played before. It was a great idea! I was surprised how many people had never played! We all made up things for the other team to act out. Some of the ones we acted out were "date" (that one was for the guys...they could NOT get it!), "The Little Mermaid" (that one was for the girls, and we got it in like, two seconds. We rock.), An Officer and a Gentleman (another guy one, and...can you guess...they didn't get it. It took some weird turns, "Sounds like Gentile..."), "Oops, I Did It Again", and "Pretty Woman". It was great fun. The girls definitely won. (Surprise, surprise!) Can't wait for the next round!

I'm back!

At the urging of Taylor's dad, I am posting! It's been about a week and a half, I guess, since the last time I posted, so I'm overdue. Nothing much has been happening. Actually, a lot has been happening, but nothing out of the ordinary. School's still going strong, and I'm still enjoying this year.

So there's a lot coming up that I'm looking forward to. Taylor and I are going to OBU to see Tiger Tunes tomorrow night. We're meeing up with one of my friends from there to eat supper and then go to the show together. It'll be great fun. Then Saturday we're going over to Mandy (who is pregnant!!! Yeah!!!) and Clayton's house for a fun get-together. The first week in November I get to keep Josh for the first time since this summer! I haven't even seen him since Labor Day. That'll be fun!

I'm also excited because the holiday season is almost here! I know it's still a ways off, but I've been making plans with my fam about it, so it's on my mind. I love the holidays! I love getting together with family and having a good time. I get to see Rosie and Phillip on Thanksgiving. Then, the first weekend in Dec., my aunt, Taylor, and I are going to drive down to AL to see them. And then we get to see them AGAIN on Christmas!

Now I've posted. I'll try to do it again before another week and a half passes me by.

Days like today...

Okay, I'm back to being myself now. Actually, the being mad thing didn't last for very long. Being mad is just so exhausting. It's much easier to be in a good mood.

Speaking of a good mood, I'm in one today. I have kind of a long weekend...Friday I missed school. Okay, so it was for a workshop in LR, but I wasn't in class, so that's something. Although, most of the time I'd rather be in class than in a workshop. Monday I've got another workshop...this one in Monticello. So that's cool. Also, today is such a beautiful day! I love days like today...this is my favorite time of year. This and the spring. Any time where the days are sunny and bright and in the 70s. You can't help but be in a great mood on a day like today. And not only is the weather great, I'm not busy and rushed.

I stayed up later than I have in a very long time last night. Taylor and I stayed up until around 2 watching The Gilmore Girls. That was fun. And then we slept in till 11:30 this morning. That was also fun! I haven't been able to sleep in that long in AGES. I don't think Taylor enjoyes doing that as much as I do. He's more of a morning person. I'm more of a mid-morning person. We haven't done much today, which is a refreshing change from the usual. I've done about 4 loads of laundry so far and am working on more. Taylor's done the dishes and made us brunch. All in all, it's been a really laid-back and relaxing day. I needed this day.

I'm MAD!!!

Yes. I am mad. You ever in one of those moods where you're just MAD? Well, I am tonight. All week long, I have been completely exhausted. Partly because of the nature of my profession, but it's partly my fault, too. Sunday night I stayed up way to late finishing a book (I was so close to the end!) and the I couldn't sleep because I was scared. Yeah, books scare me, sometime more than movies do. Have you ever seen The Sixth Sense? That's what this book was like, only worse, cause the images I saw were from my imagination and much worse than those in the movie. Anyway, I got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep Sunday night...a sorry comparison to my usual 8. Then, when I came home from work yesterday, I was exhausted again, and we had company. The company served to temporarily put me in a great mood (we had so much fun!) but after they all left, I was back in my slump. However, I did it again. Stayed up too late watching a TV show. Again 4-5 hours of sleep. Today I had parent visitation at school from 3-7, and when I got home I was looking forward to relaxing and doing nothing but watching a movie. I got home, changed into my most comfy pjs (which look terrible, but feel great...), and got ready to settle down for a good movie. I looked around for the laptop (yes, we watch movies on the laptop because we don't have cable or a working tv) and it wasn't there. IT WASN'T THERE! I then called my husband (who earlier today asked me to keep my phone on and close by during parent conferences just in case he needed to get in touch with me...). No answer. Called again a few minutes later. Again, no answer. I called for about 45 minutes, and NO ANSWER. By this time, I was pretty agitated. Finally, he picked up the phone. Told me that he'd left the laptop at the shop, which is understandable since I wasn't there to give him a ride to the bowling alley like I usually do. (He had to walk today...the fate of a one-car married couple...) So after getting off the phone with Taylor, I decided to just go the shop real quick and get the laptop. Stop in, get the computer, and then relax in my bed with my movie. Easy, right?! WRONG. I got here, got in (after jiggling the key a minute or so in the lock), picked up the computer, and walked out. Whole thing, about 35 seconds. Then, I tried to lock the door. No such luck. Again, tried to lock it. Nada. For FIFTEEN minutes, I stand on Main Street in front of the door of the shop in my grubby, old pjs trying to get my stupid key to lock the door. I can't just leave the door there unlocked at night. So what do I do? What am I doing right now? Sitting in the shop. By myself. At night. The shop which has been broken into before. Two nights after reading a really scary book. On the night I was supposed to be having a NICE, RELAXING EVENING AT HOME WATCHING A MOVIE!!!!! AHHHHHH! So now I'm waiting for Taylor to finish bowling (which, at my last check, will be about an hour from now...). Two police cars just raced by the shop with their sirens blaring. I really am not having the best time. I'll probably try again in another minute. I just had to stop and vent for a few minutes. I feel better now. Whew! Sorry to all who read this looking for a cheerful post! Maybe I'l be back to myself tomorrow night.