Happy Halloweenies!

Those happy Halloweenies would be us!

We like Halloween around here. Even the boys finally find a reason to leave their troll-cave, to

join in the important business of scaring the living shit out of almost* anyone and everyone they can.

[*There is an automatic exception made for anyone under the age of 8 and/or wearing pink fairy princess wings. It seems to be a rule that all little tiny, under-5 girls come with a set of

pink wings. Are they issued at birth?]

The front yard is decorated, intensely. We have the largest collection of styrofoam tombstones on the entire street. A casual passer-by might even make the mistake of thinking we're DONE decorating. Ha ha ha ha ha!

The real work begins right at dusk. That's when the lightsticks start getting cracked, and the light-up ice cubes (YES, I still have a bunch of those damned things!) get banged on things, and all the final, glowing, eerie touches are put on things. That reminds me, I have a ghost to finish!

Do we go overboard? Well, I'd have to emphatically say yes; but we have a rep to protect here! Over the last couple of Halloweens

here in Gridley, a town that takes holiday decor very, very seriously, we've expanded our decorating each year. It's worth it, to be the house that the kids all say "Wow!" over. Anna even had a boy tell her about this great house she HAD to see. . . her own.

And, this year, surgery is after Halloween, not before. Gee, I wonder when surgery will be next year? Kidding, kidding. Last year I wasn't able to really get out there and enjoy it the way I wanted to because I was recovering from the massive cancer surgery. Anna went trick or treating last year with a GIANT group from around the neighborhood. I guess our neighbor Brandy organized it, and Jamie was going along to chaperone, so she offered to take Anna along since I wasn't feeling well. That's Jamie for you - always asking if she can help me out. She is amazing!!

I'm hoping that a big group is going again, so that I can go along this time. I want to decorate my Labradollie with a pretty collar made from lightsticks and take her trick or treating. Doesn't that sound like a good idea? I think so. Good doggie socialization practice.

We have enough candy for the entire U.S. armed forces. The boys take care of monitoring the candy bowl on the porch, while playing statues in their all-black, faceless robes. As mentioned before, anyone too little or sporting wings is purposely not scared, or Lloyd or I give them their candy, but anyone from about middle-school age onward is fair game for the boys to scare the pants off of. Oh, but they have so much fun! The squeals and screams of teenage girls is just music to the ears! ;-)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I am progressing slowly but surely toward being ready to leave for surgery. This is very difficult for me this time, and I don't know why it's so hard. I think I'm fully over my flu (Tamiflu ROCKS), just very tired still, and I think it's more of a mental block getting to me. I'm forcing myself to stop, relax, and slash the to-do list by at least 3/4. That's pretty darn radical for me, huh?

Radical and HARD for me to do...but I'm doing it. I will admit to massive anxiety attacks since last night though. The anxiety makes me just want to get it done faster so that it's done. I'm really torn trying to figure out what would get rid of the anxiety better-- getting everything DONE as fast as humanly possible so I can be DONE, or just doing a tiny bit at a time and knowing that I'll manage to be ready in time somehow. Urgh!! Lots of anxiety!! I want to just relax and enjoy Halloween, but I feel like I can't d

o that; I have to work, work, work until I've got every last thing ready to go.

I know that it will all work out and be done and be fine. Intellectually, I do know that. Doesn't help the anxiety any, but I know that.

I should get up and get to work on some of that stuff, shouldn't I? Yup, I should. And I will, but I do have a couple other things to do first.

One of those things is setting up a new blog. Not to replace this one--this one will continue to be the source of information about all of my medical fun and games. The new blog will be primarily to act like a billboard, giving information and requesting information on this insane Fremont cancer cluster that's developing. I think my list is

up to 19 people now, MY AGE, who have been hit with cancer in their 30s. This is completely insane, and totally unacceptable, so I'll be continuing to try and get information on as many people as I can, to pass along to the actual authorities on this stuff, the nice folks at the CDC. I am both fascinated and terrified to see what comes of this.

With that, I'm off, reluctantly, to be productive, so I can goof off to the extreme later!!