Weekend update

M & I both worked hard all day Saturday to get our chores (and my grading) done in time for date night. Our last date night, two weeks previous, I basically ruined. Fairly early in the evening, I decided to clear some dust from an item in my basement by blowing very hard at it. A large, sharp, pointy, spear of debris flew into my eyeball causing significant pain and scratching to it. I spent the entire rest of the night in severe pain, picking my runny eye, because I wasn’t sure if the pain was all due to the scratch or if there was a portion I hadn’t gotten out. My eye was very sore and nasty for a couple of days, but then it cleared up.

M had planned this date night as our night out for my upcoming birthday. As always, I had no idea what we were doing but knew I had to be ready by 4:45 and be fairly dressed up. That proved to be a little tricky, because I was having one of those days where I didn’t like the way I looked in anything I put on. I finally settled on an outfit, not because I loved it, but because I ran out of time. I actually liked the skirt/blouse/sweater combo I ended up in, but didn’t really like the tights or shoes I had on with it. They were better matches for the previous outfit that I had rejected. So I made it through the night and nobody pointed out that my tights were not the best choice for the color scheme of my outfit. J

After a delicious dinner of bangain bhartha (YUM!), we went to the Coronodo Performing Arts Center in Rockford, IL. I’ve blogged about the Coronodo before, but have to reiterate what a beautiful theater it is! Just spending a couple of hours in there looking at the feast of beauty that is everywhere is enjoyable, so a good performance on top of that is an extra bonus.

The show we saw was the Rockford Symphony Orchestra playing “Halloween Pops”. Each time we have heard RSO, we’ve been quite impressed by them. This time was no exception. They hit it out of the park with their first piece! In addition to the symphony, there was a classically-trained actor from NY there, telling some short Halloween-type stories. He had a rich baritone-bass voice and with his perfect diction, captivated all of us. I have always been drawn to the dark/macabre, so the music and the whole theme of the night worked for me.

My favorite portion of the evening was the final act, his classical reading of Poe’s classic, The Raven. I LOVE Poe. I love The Raven. I love to hear it read aloud by true thespians, so the whole experience was a score for me.

Sunday was kind of a whirlwind day. We had to go to Madison in the afternoon for L’s dance rehearsal; then back home to a few chores; then time to get ready for Trick or Treating.

L played a very cute prank on her dance teacher. The big performance is next Sunday, and everyone gets a bit stressed, as preparations and practice is pretty intense at this point, especially her teacher. The girls’ hair length is quite important in this style of dance, and Meenakshi always stresses when the girls get their hair cut or trimmed that it may not be long enough by the next performance. L showed up for rehearsal wearing her little play wig, which is her hair color and looks frighteningly authentic. It’s also very short. Meena saw L, put her hand up over her mouth, and said, “Oh my god!” She then said, “Did you CUT your HAIR?” L immediately broke into giggles and took the wig off. Meena was able to then breathe a sigh of relief and laugh.

We proceeded with our normal Halloween traditions after that. A quick, early dinner of pizza at my parents’, where Logan & Colton joined us. We headed out for ToTing from there, walking from my parents’ home to ours and back. All three kids had full buckets. Since L doesn’t eat most of her candy (not a big candy eater, and she only eats the vegan goodies), she had given most of it to the boys by the time we dropped them off at home. We got back to our house a bit after 9 and tried to get her settled in for bed. The very small amount of candy she has left will probably sit in her bag until I get tired of looking at it and dispose of it a few months from now.

All three of the kids ended up in “scary” costumes this year. Logan was a devil; Colton was a skelton; and L was a werewolf. She and M went shopping a few weeks ago, without me or my input, and returned home with the werewolf mask and gloves. I assumed that M explained to her the problems with a full face mask like that, as she’s never had or worn one before. I learned last night that he did not. She didn’t like the condensation and constant wetness dripping in the rubber face mask. She didn’t like that it was kind of hard to see out of the eye holes whenever the mask shifted. She didn’t leave the gloves on very long, because she couldn’t use her hands in them. She was a bit whiney about the whole thing. I KNEW she wasn’t going to like the mask experience, but I assumed that he had explained it all to her, and she said it wouldn’t bother her and wanted to get it anyway. If I were there, I would have explained in graphic detail what she would experience wearing that big mask. She might have listened and chosen something else, but she very likely would have agreed, said she didn’t mind, and still proceeded to whinge about it.

Back when they got the costume, she came home wearing it. Daisy and Jezebel were at the side door looking out (as usual), so they saw her approaching. Daisy became very frightened and started backing up, and two little turds actually eeked out of her butt—she was that terrified of the mask at first site. L took that as a great endorsement that she was indeed a very scary werewolf. Daisy’s fine with it now.

Jasper should have been able to go collar free yesterday, but alas, it looks like it will have to remain on him for the foreseeable future. Though the stitches are out and the inside has healed well, the outer part of the incision has not been able to heal up the way it should. Jasper is obsessed with getting at it and has learned to scratch it open with the edge of his collar. I can’t find any means to block him from doing this. I routinely come home to find that the edge of his collar is smeared with fresh blood. It is so frustrating, because if he would just leave it alone for two days, this whole nightmare would be over. My poor little guy just doesn’t understand that, so he is making a lot of unnecessary suffering for himself.