We only had 9 trick-or-treaters. This after I bought twice the amount of candy as last year and made three whole jack-o-lanterns and everything. Ariel didn't even go out; she had a late nap and then when we woke her up she had a fit that lasted past 7:00 so Ken and Zack left without her. Zack raked in a healthy haul, anyway, and his spider costume looked great. I'll post pics soon.

It's bad enough knowing that a non-zero percent of everything we buy gets thrown out again because it wasn't eaten or played with or worn. Buying a whole suite of Halloween paraphernalia for Ariel and prospective guests that won't get used adds insult to injury. Ariel does like dressing up, so I'm sure the princess dress and crown will get used again within a year, and who knows, perhaps she'll want to be a princess again next year. Also, I made Zack's costume in such a way that all the spider gear can be cut off and it'll be a perfectly serviceable sweatshirt again. Go me!

I'll send the leftover candy (minus the Snickers bars) out with Ken next week to give away in class... but that's not what I bought it for, dammit.

We all watched "Monsters vs. Aliens" this afternoon as a family. I made popcorn and everything. Too bad the movie was mostly meh in the character design, scripting, humor, and animation areas. I asked Zack what he thought about a 27-year-old woman protagonist; was she as cool to watch as, say, Avatar? Zack shrugged and said "Sure." Good enough, then.

Caught up on sleep last night, happily. Even though I had another "running late" dream...so annoying. And I woke myself up with coughing several times. I'm starting to think I might have an allergy instead of a cold because this malady has lasted so long. Will fire up the Wii Fit on Monday, nevertheless.

Our house has been taken over by Spore. Not "spores;" just Spore. We got it for Zack as a gift for his meeting his reading goal for this quarter, and then he got me hooked, and watching me play got Ken hooked. Ariel is not hooked (yet), but enjoys lap-sitting and watching. It's much more entertaining (to me) than The Sims; that one was just re-creating real life, and I have enough of that already. Spore is about evolving a little animalcule into a sentient being which will be eventually capable of interstellar flight. Wheeee! None of us in the family are at the fire-starter stage yet, but Ken and I have centauroids--mine's an herbivore and his is a carnivore--and Zack has just been evolving one monstery thing after another.

Crap. All I need is one more thing to obsess over that isn't what I really should obsess over. But hey, it's a game interface! It's...research! Yeah, that's it. Research.

Read Cory Doctorow's "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town." Wish I'd read reviews of it before I did. It had some interesting premises, but ultimately wasn't very satisfying at all from a plot resolution standpoint. Too bad.

Haven't gotten on the WiiFit thing in at least 2 weeks. As soon as I get over this cold I'll face the music. I hope I can stay on target through the holiday season. I have/had only 4 lb to go to meet my goal! I like it well enough to keep on using it.

Zack wants to be a "devil spider" or is it "spider devil" for Halloween. I bought some black garbage bags, but I think it'll be easier to just get a couple of 3$ black sweatshirts from the thrift store and sew instead of glue all the arms. Will also buy a knit cap and some googly eyes. Ariel wants to be a princess, and I just got her a Target princess dress for that. I figure she'll use the dress all year long. She certainly loves the metallic pink shoes!

Hey, here's a fun video: The Silent Monks version of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. Only 3 minutes! Watch!