Fri Oct 28 - I ended up staying late Thursday night until after 9pm at work, went home, crashed, got up sometime close to 4-ish, got to Denny's near work by 4:45 am for breakfast and coffee, and was back at my desk by 5:30 am Friday morning. And good news, I got not only the rest of the chapter finished that I'd been laboring on the night before, but by the time my instructor had reviewed 2 chapters, I had the third one done too. Now he's reviewed all of them again, and I'm trying to give him the 4th for review plus make all his suggested changes from 1-3.

There's 10 chapters like this, and we got 2-3 done in a day, and it just has to be done and at the print-house by Friday. So sadly, next week is going to be REALLY long and painful, especially since Thursday is supposed to be the business meeting for my shire, which means I usually leave early on that Thursday from work, to go sit in traffic.

But besides working long and late, I also managed to get my checkbook balanced and all my bills paid on payday (which is my goal bi-weekly, but doesn't often actually happen *on* my payday-Fridays). So, Yay me! *clap clap*

Of course the double-motivation was also because we were throwing our little Halloween party Friday night and I had quite a bit of shopping to do on the way home. If there's ever a tendency for me to spend too much money, it's on the things needed to be a good hostess: excess at the coffee bar of splendor, excess when I'm cooking a meal for a friend at home, excess for hosting a party. I have less guilt spending money on others than myself, and I adore being a good hostess.

It was no different Friday night, buying sodas and drinks, chips and dip, Halloween candy and treats, and on and on. But all is well, and the party was a HUGE hit. Mel and her sister had decorated with 4"-wide orange ribbon curls over the doorways and windows and bookcases. There was a lit carved pumpkin outside to greet our guests. She'd created a skeleton out of carrots and celery (really, it was amazing, and I have a photo!) with a bowl full of homemade humus for the skull/brains. We had tiny pumpkin-shaped votive candles. And a decorate-your-own Halloween cookie station.

I picked up some chicken-franks-corn-dog-bites and some chicken-nuggets for that "when we can't eat chips or sugar any more and are dying for something hot, yummy, and filled with protein" moments. (I'm also very glad I did, because we went through all three boxes and fed some hungry people.) At one point I did have to walk over to the 24-drugstore for another several 6-packs of something, since the boys who visited tended to be beer drinkers. But well, now I know.

And it was probably half-and-half who came in costume: Several gals had "naughty school girl" type outfits, with short plaid mini-skirts and a variety of other accessories. One "true" costume for a guy who was "Chocolate Batman" (imagine a batman outfit but all in shades of brown, um, complete with tights, tiny superhero shorts, and a cape). One girl-in-wings-with-dark-scary makeup. One guy-in-face-makeup-as-The-Crow. Two folks in middle eastern/persian outfits (basic SCA middle eastern). And one more girl-in-corset-and-fishnets outfit that wasn't quite the naughty school girl, but she looked great too.

I got lots of photos of everyone who attended, and several photos of my roomie, who changed into 4 different outfits throughout the night (to the amusement of everyone).

Sat Oct 29 - This morning I remembered how much work parties really are, since not only did we have shopping and setup and hostess duties yesterday, but clean up duties this morning. Mel was really tired near the end of the party so I was the last one up to close up the house. Most everyone was gone by 12:15 am, although 4 of us sat up talking for another 30 minutes or so, and then 2 left, leaving one guy just waiting for his headache to go away fully (work faster, drugs!) before driving home. So he and I chatted for another 30+ minutes, and then I was able to finally shower all the blue out of my hair (which made my hair look black: the effect I was going for), before finally crashing.

This morning we finished washing dishes, taking out the trash and recycling, finding somewhere for all the excess soda pop in the cupboards (please, be a soda drinker and come visit me!), vacuumed, and put away all the chairs and small folding tables. The ants attacked my bathroom trash this morning (no idea why, there wasn't anything in there) so now I'm ant-attacking my bathroom in earnest. I used to get just the lone 1 or 2 ants wandering through my bathroom (which makes absolutely no sense) but now I'm finally over-cleaning rather than just killing them one by one.

For this evening's party up at Morgana's, the theme is "High Goth Tea: Lace and Hats" so I still need to (a) bake scones, (b) make my hat, and (c) finish a tiny bit on my lace over-dress for my outfit. I had to cancel going to Albra's for my several-years-out-of-date birthday giftie, but we're going to reschedule some time to curl up and do that chat another day. This of course frees up her schedule for the afternoon party preparations, so all is well.

Just have to research a few more recipes, stop by the grocery store for the last of the scone ingredients, and finish my party preparations. Then tomorrow is the Lyon Bard event so I have *tons* of prep for that still (eep!) but I'll write more about that later.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Saul. For sticking with me, not telling me to take a flying leap, and making me a better person. I love how our friendship continues to improve, becoming more solid every day. (And I'll be friends with you, no matter whether you grow back your beard or decide to keep it off. *grin*)