Happy Halloween!

It's the annual evening of fright! J. set up all our decorations and got the front lights to stay on so kids will know we are 'open for business'. Bought 7 big bags of candy. Minus one big bag due to pre-Halloween pilfering by two teen boys. Can't have any candy in the house or it's gone. Hoping for lots of trick-or-treaters so we'll use up all the candy.

I spent the day cooking - home made chicken rice soup. Delicious, if I do say so myself. Plenty of leftovers....we'll be eating soup for a week. Good thing I also made a big batch of dinner rolls - and had enough dough leftover to make a cookie sheet foccacia bread topped with rosemary, basil, thyme, garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese. Delicious! We're on the second running of the dishwasher today and still have another load to put in.

The past couple weeks have been full of work. Work and more work. J. is so busy that he failed to notice that he had time blocked off as vacation week before last. He worked the entire week and didn't remember that he was planning to be off. So he's taking off a 6 day weekend and is off tomorrow and Tuesday - and had Thursday and Friday off, too. Or maybe just Friday. Can't remember, actually. But he's been home which is really nice.

I've been so busy that I was at my desk at 5AM a couple days last week. Got so much done in the wee quiet hours of the morning....I really love that schedule - except for the going to bed around 8ish and waking around 3ish. That part sucks. But working in silence with zero interruptions is really great. I think I'd almost wish to be a hermit sometimes.

Election day is soon and our district has a ballot measure we're anxiously waiting to see how it goes. We really need it - we need to modernize our 80 year old middle school and make other modernizations and improvements to all our schools. We'll hopefully know by Wednesday morning. If it passes, it's a lot more work. If it doesn't, it will be more work in two years when we try again. It's been a very busy, intense couple months and we have the most amazing parent volunteers ever. These people put their hearts and souls into the campaign and worked their butts off - and I hope it passes.

Chloe will be hoarse by the end of tonight - barking her fool head off. Not that we're ever getting another dog - but if we ever did, I'd be sure to ring the darn doorbell constantly when s/he is a little puppy so it would become 'no big deal' to have a bell ring. Seriously - she is crazed when there's someone at the door.

Today is my sister's 49th birthday. I sent her a Facebook email last night. Got a reply today. The first communication we've had in close to four years. It wasn't much - but it was something.

I came across our email exchange from four years ago about a month ago - all the old hurt feelings resurfaced in about a nano-second. I should delete them. But I won't. They remind me why I gave up trying. And why I will keep my distance.

Still, I didn't see her in South Carolina earlier this month - and I would have liked to. At least then, the initial 'first time we've communicated in years' would have been over - for awhile.

It's over for awhile again now. I tried. I didn't expect much - and that's what I got back. Not much. And it's OK. Apparently, it's easier to let go the second time around. I'm not phased. It's back to status quo.

And at least I know I did try. I was the bigger person - I made an effort and communicated first. I don't really know why I felt I should - but I did - and I did it quickly before I could change my mind. And I'm not sorry I did. Maybe being farming neighbors will be next. Who knows. I don't. I expect nothing. And I won't be disappointed. I think we both realize there is no relationship to salvage anymore. Nothing to try to improve. I know her - and she knows me. And compromising isn't in one of our vocabularies. Nor is admitting when we've made mistakes and are sorry. We're both human and stubborn.

I don't want to be right. Or need to be. But I need serenity. I have that. I've had it for three years, 10 months and a couple days. Serenity is nice. I choose it over anything else.

Still, you can never have to many Farmville neighbors....