Monday Update

Wow, I haven't updated since Friday. When I wanted to update on Saturday morning, the connection to the Internet was gone and I got too busy to try updating later that day. On Sunday I was just too busy.

I just got done calling in sick to work. I'm not really sick, just have to go sign legal papers for the mortgage refinance thingy. It's easier to call in sick than ask to take part of the day off at work. Especially today, an ad campaign was sent out over the weekend and it is expected to be very busy. I feel bad for my co-workers when I call in sick. But, like Doug says, they all have taken sick days this year and this will be my first.

We had a very busy weekend. Friday night we made homemade pizza, very yummy. Diedre, Sara, Nick and Ana all came over. We ate pizza and then carved lots of pumpkins. After Sara and the kids left we watched "Mean Girls." It is such a good and funny movie.

Saturday morning the girls and I went grocery shopping. It was very windy and cold. Chloe was planning a Halloween party with her friend Anna and received a call from her during our shopping trip. They decided Chloe needed to get to Anna's house earlier than expected for the party preparation. Chloe called Thomas and he came to pick her up from Hy-Vee so that Ashley and I could continue our shopping.

Later on Saturday we also needed to go to Sam's Club. Doug, Thomas, Ashley and I went to Sam's. On the way there we had to drop off some things Chloe had forgotten to take to Anna's for the party. When we got home we made lasagna (as requested by Thomas). The lasagna was very good, but Doug thought we should have added more tomatoes. Thomas went to a party with Diedre, they watched a bad "scary" movie.

Because Thomas was home for a few days, I decided to spoil him with all kinds of goodies to take back to the dorm with him. On Saturday night I baked a Magic Chocolate Swirl cake (for Soup Sunday dessert). I also made for Thomas, rice krispie treats, banana bread and puppy chow.

On Sunday morning I made peanut butter pixies (a favorite for Thomas). Of course, I did make enough of all the goodies so that we have some left at home as well. Doug was very busy Sunday morning making three soups. He made chicken egg drop, french onion (requested by Diedre) and pumpkin. He made the pumpkin because we still had two very small pumpkins left from our garden.

Chloe ended up leaving early because Anna called and invited her to her house for homemade pizza. Our guests started arriving around 3:00, Diedra being the first.
She brought little Halloween candy bags for Thomas and the girls. Mark, Wanda and Matt were the next to arrive. Wanda brought frosted cupcakes with choclate chip things that looked like orange pumpkins. Doug was so excited because when they got thier soup each took a different kind. Matt chose the pumpkin because he liked it the last time we had it. Brian showed up while we were eating and enjoyed the soup as well. We had banana bread and baguettes along with the meal. We also had two white wines, a White Merlot and a White Zinfandel. The best part was they were very inexpensive at $2.99 per bottle from Fareway.

When it started to get dark we waited for trick or treaters. We love our trick or treater so much, we bought 90 full size candy bars for the little ones and a mix of small candies for the older ones who should not be out anymore. We had one come early on and then we waited and waited and nobody came down our street. Ashley was very upset by this, she had gotten out her old cat costume and put on the ears, tail and bow tie just for the kids. We even strung out Christmas lights and put the lit pumpkins in the yard and on the side walk to try and attract the kids. Still nothing. Finally, Jacob and Sara called and said they were coming over with the kids in costums. They were so cute, Ana was an alien princess, Nick was a frog and Sara was a skunk. While they were here we did finally have a couple more trick or treaters.

Thomas had to go back to school Sunday night, the time just flew while he was home. He called when he got back to tell us his freezer frosted over into a block of ice and he had to defrost it. This was a new experience for him. He says next time he comes home for that long he will shut the refrigerator off.

Well, this is getting to be long enough. On Tuesday Thomas, Diedre, Bart and another of Diedre's friends will be driving down to vote. I am so happy that they are voting in thier first Presidential election. I know they will make a difference.