Tuesday was my monthly Art Guild meeting where I finally volunteered to be an active part of the group. I'm going to be the webmaster of the site! I'll be meeting with the President to go over particulars, but I think it'll be good experience for me. After the meeting, I stuck around to help hang the art show in the Library. This was a new experience for me. Everyone was asking where my work was. Maybe next year... I don't know. It's really cool to see all the different mediums these artists use and subject matter they're interested in. I'm learning a lot.

Bryn and Paige had a short week this week because of Teachers' Convention. And they were so lucky to have the perfect weather for it! I left for work Thursday with them still asleep. On my way home from work, Bryn actually called me! She and Paige (with their respective friends, not just those 2 together of course), went to see High School Musical 3 at the theatre. Bryn was callling me to inform me that she couldn't give Paige and her friends a ride home because her car was already full. Thanks. When I asked Bryn to give the phone to Paige so I could find out if other arrangements had been made or to let her know I was on my way, Bryn told me she had left Paige at the theatre already! Paige doesn't have a cell phone, so I couldn't call her. I didn't know what friends she went with so I made my best guess at one and called that parent to let her know I was headed to the theatre to rescue them. It all worked out, but why does it seem every outing planned by your kids always come back to involve you? The girls finally carved their pumpkins that evening and we got them outside. I carved Abby's. Aww.....

Friday was Halloween!!! I couldn't miss my weekly Step class at the Y and our instructor had a special circuit planned for us at the end: a relay race! She divided us into 4 teams and we actually had to run to one end of the gym, pick a part of a skeleton out of a fishbowl, run back and tape the part onto a piece of paper before tagging the next in line. Obviously the goal was to be the first team with an assembled skeleton. My team was definitely the eldest with Richard (who'd famous in our class) who is 82 and Mary who won't give her age but I believe she's in her 60s, and I'm no baby in that class myself at 44. Anyways, we won! I don't know how we did it, but our skeleton suffered for it when compared with the other anatomically correct ones. I stopped in at Village Hall afterward and cast my absentee ballot! I wasn't going to, but the news is making next Tuesday sound so terrible!


I had to take Paige out to complete her costume before trick-or-treating at night. Her group of friends went as the characters from Clue and Paige was Colonel Mustard. Pretty good, huh? Bryn went with a friend as pirates "Arrrrgh!" I was so excited for the great trick-or-treating weather! I helped Jeff to move our outdoor fireplace to the driveway so we could sit outside and the trick-or-treaters wouldn't have to walk so far. It really was a perfect night watching the costumed kids run door-to-door. Although we do have more candy left over than I'd like to have around the house. Bryn and her friend came back to the house and watched a movie while snacking on their candy and Paige was invited to sleep over at a friends.

Abby called us Friday night from the car. Wait a minute! What car? A girlfriend from UWL let Abby know she was going to Madison Friday. Abby coordinated with another friend (boy) from MSOE, who was coming to Madison to already pick up someone else, then going to Stevens Point. These two other boyfriends had already made plans with Kendal and Ali to visit them up at Stevens Point for the weekend, Abby was tagging along as a surprise! I'm sure they had a blast and I'm so glad Abby was able to see her best-est friends.

Saturday morning Paige and I got haircuts. The girls have already let me know that I don't look good with short hair. Maybe I shouldn't tout honesty quite so much. I took them out to the mall where I finally bought them each a pair of jeans that they desperately need. They to have been noticing the budget crunch that's going on everywhere.

Poor Jeff spent most of his freetime during the week and weekend fixing our toilets. That's right, make it plural. Our master bath one was the first to go with some kind of flushing problem. Which grew into a leaking problem. Then our powder room toilet was leaking. Next he noticed the girls toilet making noises which turned out to be it wasn't draining properly and therefore wasting a lot of water. Saturday he got both upstairs toilets working through lots of trips to the hardware stores and lots of internet reading on toilet plumbing. Our powder room toilet is currently residing in the garage because that problem requires raising some seal to be level with the flooring (which is what was causing the leak). So at some point every day this week, Paige posted an "Out of Order" sign on at least one toilet. Musical chairs.