What Ana Does

Just sharing a few more pictures from the Halloween Bash. Silly me, I didn't take any pics of the actual party, but a few friends did -- so I'll share them when I get a copy. "Mummy Dogs" -- Thank You Pinterest  Beverage Center ... Drink, Anyone? The Food Spread Across the Island. Who's Hungry? Scary Castle with Kid-Decorated M&M Embellishments "Beware" Of These DELICIOUS Cupcakes! More of My Dangling Spider Globes Dining Room - Spider Over the Table Happy Halloween!

Add caption I'm addicted to "Addicted to Rehab." I'll admit it. Watching tiny Nicole Curtis tear it up in historic homes in Minneapolis is what good TV is all about. "I just want brick!" And she inspires me. If that teeny little women can fix a broken window, hang chandeliers and scrap-up old tile, why can't I? And I think I've tackled a lot of home projects that I likely would not have, or been nervous to, if I didn't think Nicole could do it, too. I'm not blind. She's clearly working with a team of carpenters and other skilled men. And I love how she bosses them all around. (Glee!) So I'm not going to tear down a wall, or start retiling the kitchen. I'm not crazy. Nicole's just a good role model. Although, I need to remember this is her full-time job. She doesn't work full-time at an office and have young kids to distract her. And she's got the advantage of commercial breaks and time-lapse filming. That b...

The town we moved to in Illinois does Trick or Treating the Sunday before the actual Halloween. WHY?! To "keep the kids safe." Because, you know, it's terrible dangerous to walk around your neighborhood at twilight. And to not disrupt dinner or our normal after school/work chaos. It's total bunk.  They're in just as much danger wandering around on a Sunday afternoon. They're still knocking on stranger's doors begging for candy -- day or night.  We played along last year and it was a total let down. The girls begged all Sunday morning to get in their costumes -- which we did after lunch. It took them all of 20 minutes to get into costume and face paint. We headed out at 2:30 and as we hit up the neighborhood for free candy. But no jack 'o lanterns were lit. The scary lighting and music neighbors had strung up where summarily ignored. And we were back at the house less than an hour later -- completely DONE with Halloween. That's was it?...

I had my annual little visit to the lady doctor today. It was thrilling, as always. And, pretty short. This year, she asked a lot of questions about my calcium intake. Am I on supplements? Is it part of my daily vitamin? It's important to make sure I keep my calcium levels high, "at my age." Don't want to lose bone density and all that ... What I heard was: eat more ice cream, yogurt and cheese.  Splendid.

Many years ago, my sister Liza and I bought the SAME EXACT BIKE (model, color, etc.) at about the same time. She used it for navigating Georgetown, where she was studying. And I (with David) picked mine out for "riding" in the Bay Area on weekend. (Mostly, though, it just hung in the garage. Let's be honest.) We always thought this was funny and weird. Our tastes just match-up in some things, I guess. The day after we purchased our new SportWagen (see earlier post) I get a call from Liza. Guess who also owns a VW Jetta SportWagen (in a slightly different color) that she bought last weekend? Yeah. We spent 10 minutes oohhing about the moon roof and comfy seats. Scary sister connection!

A wizard and an owl hit the neighborhood up for candy on Sunday. So, everyone thought Leah looked like a turkey. I should have re-thought the color choices for the wings. Good news is, if anyone wants to be a turkey for Halloween next year, I'll be prepared. Knock Knock! On the Road to More Candy  Selfie -- Having Fun! Then is was back to the house for the Halloween Bash! (More on that later.)

This weekend, because it was the absolute worst weekend to spend in a car dealership (but that's just how we do these things -- we leased a car the weekend we got married, for pete's sake!), we turned in our leased Prius and bought a Jetta SportWagen TDI. This Totally Looks Like Illinois! The lease to our 2010 Prius was just about up, and while I loved it, there were two main issues we need to correct: First, the Prius, which is light-weight for ultimate fuel economy, was not built for Illinois winters. A strong wind had me gripping the steering wheel. And the snowy, icy commutes home from work stressed me out. I wasn't confident I'd stop at lights or stay on the road. And when the snow piled up on the driveway, the sad little car no longer made it into the garage. One night, it got stuck midway so we just abandoned it for the night -- in the middle of the driveway, in a blizzard. The other, is we simply need more cargo space. But not THAT much more. We weren...