To my dear big brother!  And it’s a biggie!  🙂

I’m not dressing up for Halloween this year, since Halloween is on a Sunday (library closed), and I’m not working on Saturday.  This is the first time in the last five years that I haven’t dressed up, and I kinda miss it.

Jim, on the other hand, has dressed up twice for Halloween this year, once for the party at his work (he is the activities director at an assisted living facility), and then tonight for a gig his band is playing.  I asked him if the rest of the band is dressing up in costume, and he just chuckled with his best grin and said, “Nope.”  “So you’re the only one who will be in costume?”  Another big grin, “Yup.”

Frustratingly, when I try to insert the photos of these great costumes, something I’ve successfully done many times before, the formatting of my entire blog gets messed up.  With luck, perhaps I’ll be able to add the photos at a later date, but for now I’ll just have to describe those costumes in words…  [Note: obviously, I’ve now added the photos – it seems that adding captions makes the photos upset the formatting of the blog, so I’ve deleted the captions.  But I’ll keep the next paragraph, since it’s already been written….]

Jim bought some black and white face makeup, and used the black cape that we bought him last year or the year before for Halloween.  For the party at his work, he dressed up as a truly scary vampire (and he even woke me up Thursday morning grinning ear to ear with his freshly applied vampire makeup).  No blood, just a big black widow’s peak, black lips, and a white white face.  And then for tonight’s gig, Jim pulled out all the stops and made himself up to look like Gene Simmons, referring to an old album cover for makeup specifics.  He looked pretty darn awesome!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

After my dental appointment today in Lexington, I stopped by the supermarket in Concord for a few things – honey mustard, oatmeal, orange juice – that are cheaper at that supermarket than anywhere else.  As I walked from my car to the store, I saw Louise, the mom of one of my former tutoring students, whom I haven’t seen in six or eight months, loading grocery bags into her minivan. 

“Hi, Louise,” I said, and she looked up and smiled. 

“Hi, Abby!  How are you?” 

Silently, and quickly, I reviewed my less-than-wonderful, fairly traumatic summer in my head, and thought about the sore throat that just cropped up this morning.  “Ok,” I said, “Surviving…How ’bout you?”

Louise looked at me for a second, then said, “Good, we’re good.”  A second of silence as she thought, and changed the subject, “Are you still tutoring?”

We talked very briefly about the neutral topic of tutoring, and then said goodbye – Louise continued to load her groceries, and I walked quickly into the store.  And we probably won’t see each other again for another six months, or even a year.

My Zappos order arrived last night with the top three shoe contenders (see my original shoe search post here), and we have a clear winner:  the Bella-Vita Wren peep-toe pump in black.  Though I was a little skeptical when I first tried them on last night, I tried them again today, with the dress, and am completely happy.  They’re actually comfortable!  And they look great with the dress!  Hooray!  Admittedly, they cost an awful lot of money  [not so much anymore…turns out Amazon has this same shoe for only $42!], but considering that this is the first pair of dressy shoes that I’ve bought in a decade (I literally haven’t bought any dressy shoes – other than the shoes I wore for my wedding – since Jim’s and my third date, which was over ten years ago), considering that, I think the price is reasonable.

The other two pairs of shoes that I ordered, which, unfortunately, will be winging their way back to Zappo’s, were the David Tate Starlight (in black pleated fabric, because grey was sold out in my size), and the Gabriella Rocha Neve flat in grey suede; both gorgeous shoes, but neither one fit my poor feet.  Thanks to Alyson for those suggestions, especially since my ultimate shoe of choice popped up on the Zappo’s “You Might Also Like” sidebar when I was looking at the David Tate shoe.  And thanks to Lizzie and Jean for their awesome suggestions, too; the book pump from Clark’s is definitely way cool, just not the perfect option for this dress and this occasion.  And, of course, a big thank you to long-suffering Jim, who put up with quite the evening last night as I tried on shoes and complained bitterly about my feet the whole time.

Now all I need to do is to miraculously get back in shape in the next two weeks…hmmmm…time to go dust off those weights.

Ok, loyal readers:  here’s a totally non-library, non-book, non-child related question for you:  what shoes would look good with this dress? 

I’ve been lusting after this dress for a while – when it first appeared in the Garnet Hill catalog in the spring I thought, “That’s the dress I need to wear to E—- ‘s wedding.”  E—– being, of course, Jim’s younger sister who will be getting married in a couple of weeks.  But I couldn’t afford the dress at full price, and then it disappeared from the Garnet Hill website altogether, which only made me want it more, of course.  And then, magically, the dress reappeared on the GH website when their big summer sale started – in the color I wanted (the grey crysanthemum) and in my size.  And it looks pretty good on, too.  Yay.

But here’s the dilemma:  I went shopping for shoes to match on Saturday, and realized two things.  1)  I don’t know the first thing about shoes, especially dressy shoes, and 2)  I have the ability to totally frustrate shoe salespeople with my strict limitations (no shoe that shows much of my feet, the shoe has to come in a wide size, no spiky heels, etc. etc. etc.).

So please help!  What shoe would look good with this dress, to wear to my sister-in-law’s wedding?  Important detail to note – the reception is outdoors, in a garden.

And just in case the link to the GH website stops working (if the dress sells out, for instance), here is the photo (click on image to enlarge):

I’ve been feeling a little grumpy today – technically it’s my day off, but I have quarts and quarts of work to do AND the house needs cleaning AND there are piles of laundry to get through AND I need to fit in stuff like taking a walk and having lunch with Dad and cooking dinner for Jim…you get the idea.  It’s a Bad Abby Day.  Kind of like a Bad Hair Day (which is also true for me today), but more all-encompassing.

But then I went on to Google just now, and had a good chuckle when I saw the ode to PacMan.  And then, even better, I realized that you can actually play that PacMan game.  Awesome!!!  Guess what I’ll be doing instead of work for the next twenty minutes or so…

Jim starts orientation for his new job today!  And he starts the new job for real on Monday.

Help me send him lots of good luck vibes!

As I mentioned many posts back, I’ve had some stomach issues recently, and am currently on a doctor-ordered regimen of medication and ultra-bland diet.  I’ve had to give up coffee, tea, orange juice, tomatoes, soda, anything else acidic, rich food, spicy food, beer, raw fruit, and anything difficult to digest (this even includes whole wheat bread).  For the last several weeks, I’ve been enjoying lots and lots of tap water, rice, cooked broccoli, white bread, yogurt, and bland meat.

But after all these weeks of my boring and less-than-flavorful diet, I’m only missing a single food.  There’s only one thing that I find myself craving beyond all sense and reason:  chocolate.  It’s not like I normally eat that much chocolate, either; when all’s right with my stomach I allow myself three small pieces of dark chocolate a day – at most.  There are many days that I don’t go anywhere near chocolate.  But these days the chocolate cravings kick in frequently and without remorse.

Watching the Vikings-Saints game this evening, I suddenly NEEDED chocolate.  I tried to assuage that need with a bit of homemade banana bread, but no go.  The little chocolate monster inside of me kept calling…and calling…and calling.  I took a couple of swigs of water, but the chocolate monster still called.  “Chocolate…chocolate…chocolate…give me chocolate…I won’t let you rest until you give me chocolate…”

What is it about chocolate, anyway?  Why does it hold such power?  Why is it so darn good???  How can a little piece of chocolate make life feel so much better?

Maybe chocolate is the secret to world peace.