Halloween!!!! It's only the best fucking holiday that exists. What could be better than being with friends, wearing crazy costumes, running around outside on a chilly October night, and coming home with a bag full of candy??!!

I hope you don't live in New Jersey if your planning to trick or treat,I heard a rumor about somebody snapping up un-natural amounts of candy at a Costco,I went to snopes and it's true,gives me the fucking creeps.And they got away.

if I take Ethan out tonight we're gonna end up fighting over his candy. He's going to be Superman and I have no idea what I'm going to be.

I am going to be in the hotel room. How more boring a halloween could there be?

i can't remember what i did last year for halloween. probably nothing. oh, i was at evan's mansion and we smoked way too much ganga and listened to Achtung Baby! at obscene levels and watched old scary movies. the year before that i went to a party dressed as a dominatrix and ended up getting tied up in a shower by my friend's husband and getting spanked. this halloween was simple. it was measured in chocolate and baseball. this is how it went: i went to bed really hungry the night before but eased my discomfort by promising myself a full day of chocolate and indulging, beginning as soon as i woke up. so i woke up and made a huge fritata and ate three cups of granola with soy milk and a lot of coffee. i went to work and the break room was, naturally, full of all kinds of candy and baked goods. i ate three or four chocolate pumpkin muffins. oooh. someone here at work just asked me to go to lunch with her. to be continued. i know you all will be sitting on pins and needles until i return!

i watched that tremendous yankee game. well it wasnt tremendous until bottom of the 9th, with 2 outs. then we went a block over to our friends house for a few beers on the porch.

I watched the game too,why did they take Schilling out and put in that Kim? It hurt.Not one kid came here,I even had spooky music playing,and a four and a half pound bag of candy. It was a combo bag of almound mounds and hershey bars,reece cups,reece sticks,and kit-kat bars.I don't like almound mounds or hershey bars,so I put them in the bowl first,it's still by my front door.

They pulled Schilling in order to keep him rested for game 7. He already played on 3 days rest. He threw 90 pitches last night and another 90-100 game one. Thats hard on a pitcher in 3-4 days time. AZ only has two good pitchers, and they are trying to juggle them over 7 games, which is tough. So, they had to pull him, or else run the risk of loosing him for games to come.

i actually felt full after eating so many muffins. they weren't really muffins. they were mini-muffins that tasted like they were baked with fudge brownie mix from a box. but feeling full didn't stop me. then i ate a whole package of jalapeno baked tofu, then a protein bar. all of this before noon. i forgot about food after that. i had my first big meeting at 3 p.m. yesterday. "big" meaning that i met with my boss and the woman who had been piecemealing the website together who has worked in this district for 14 years. "big" meaning that i had to lay out a plan for the short and long term planning of the web site, and a plan for getting students involved, and some other stuff. i have been really productive and really happy at this job. way happier than i ever was at the bank. it's not just a honeymoon phase either. it doesn't feel that way. i am not distracted by my usual distractions. i'm here 9-10 hours a day and sometimes i forget to leave my office and i don't even mind. it's really weird. anyway. i snagged a couple more muffins at a quarter to six on my way out of the office. when i got home i ate chicken and brussel sprouts, and then i hopped on my bike and rode up to sara's house to watch west wing with a bunch of her friends, all of whom are really cool. sara is cool, so it makes sense. there i drank half a bottle of wine that i brought last time i watched west wing at her house but nobody drank. sara drank the other half. and i ate two trick-or-treat size servings of M&M's and three or four single Reeces peanut butter cups, which i savored like fine cognac. during commercial breaks i made them flip the channel to fox sports so i could watch the game. i lingered at sara's house after west wing and watched to the bottom of the 6th. then sara left to go to several parties, so i got back on my bike, rode home, and walked across the street to the tavern where they have a lot tv's with the game on, and newcastle on tap. you know your life has changed when you go to the bar by yourself and you're the only girl in there alone, and you're drinking too much beer on a wednesday night, and the two guys sitting to your left look at you like you're an alien, and you couldn't give a shit about the nine foot leprechaun that just walked in the door or the frankenstein drinking brandy alexander's, but rather you can't unglue yourself from the big screen tv and your every breath depends on the next pitch from the mound. and then you walk home and you realize that just about just about three months ago you didn't care about sports, let alone the world series, or anything on television at all for that matter. i guess it's just a matter of needing distraction and taking whatever you can get. and needing chocolate. the next big chocolate holiday is valentine's day, but baseball season is well over and spring training's a month away.

Wait, so people actually watch baseball?

no. im making everything up. i think sarah is actually referring to the hand ball championships televised live from Jakarta.

Whew. I also wathced tv, mainly "enterprise" and Drew Carey, which I haven't been liking lately but this one had me rolling. Next week are all the good season premieres.But when did the season start in mid november? Fox I'm looking forward to because I'm jonesing for Simpsons and Futurama, not to mention the Tick. I spend too much time alone in hotel rooms.

i really like Enterprise.

Jesus Christ,last night we're two ahead,then they put that g.d. Chin on again and everything went to hell in a handbag,but this isn't over till the fat lady sings.I just love Counsell.

yankee magic. unbelieveable huh? its that weak bullpen on AZ's part. "Chin"? You mean the South Korean Kim? now now J...don't go there. I actually felt really really really bad for him.. First south Korean ever to play in the World Series. He relieves Wed night in the 9th to give up two homeruns to loose the game, and in the bottom of the 9th last night he does it again. He's actually a really good pitcher, but so much is put on his shoulders. stern has been hilarious this week making light of the fact the redneck-looking nature of AZ playin "them damn yanks and jewwwwws and puerto ricans up der in NEWWWWW York cityyyyy" and the "Chin" comment kinda backed it up J. Your better than that.

Sorry,I meant kim

Fuck, couldn't keep my eyes open after 8 innings so I hit the sack. Figured they couldn't pull the same rabbit out of the hat two nights in a row. Me of little faith.

You notice Kim didn't play the last two games and we won. We wonaramadamadingdong.

in honor of halloween i made up a new recipe, bitches. these are for td1's halloween party at school on friday. basically, pumpkin muffins. ingredients 2 cups flour 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 1.5 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1-1/4 cup (or 1 15oz can) organic pumpkin mash 1/3 cup melted butter 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs beaten room temp 1/2 cup evaporated milk 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (i used some leftover candied pecans) turbinado sugar directions preheat to 375. in a bowl mix dry ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. you can just use a fork. add the sugar last and it will just dissolve right in. pour the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients and stir, but not too much. add in nuts if desired. spray a muffin pan with baking grease of your choice. spoon the batter into the muffin pan about 3/4 full. sprinkle generous amounts of turbinado sugar on top. bake for 20-25 minutes. it makes about 14 muffins. they look quite beautiful and taste delightful. you can't actually taste the cocoa, it's just a hint, but in my opinion it really deepens and enhances the flavor of the pumpkin.

Those would probably kill my child. *sigh* In the world of baked goods, there are few things I love more than pumpkin muffins. And bread. And cookies. And cake.

why would they kill him? is he allergic to everything?

Only the nuts would kill him. In addition to peanuts and tree nuts, he's also allergic to dairy, egg whites, citrus, tomatoes, and dogs.

ugh that sounds horrible. so does he get allergy shots or meds, or do you have to find a new home for henry?

Henry can stay as long as we keep him out of Ian Michael's room. He's never reacted to Henry and I was honestly surprised when it came up on the panel. Otherwise, we just feed him food free of the allergens. We keep an epipen with him at all times. The doctor said he should outgrow all of them except the nuts. He can also eat baked goods with eggs, but not a hard boiled egg or omelet.

Here's my obligatory magnesium link: http://www.dramatic-asthma- relief.com/asthma13.htm It discusses general allergy relief as well as asthma.

in addition to OT, we are using magnesium bicarbonate and vitamin b12 lotion to supplement the treatment of td1's sensory processing issues.

Kazu, I am allergic to cats.....

My youngest grandaughter outgrew both her peanut and strawberry allergies.Now I wonder if she ever really was allergic to peanuts.

Sarah, those muffins sound delicious. Anything with pumpkin, really. Pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin enchiladas, pumpkin cookies.... I don't like canned much, but it's so easy to process from the pumpkin to toss in whatever you're cooking. Just cut in half, scoop out the guts, and bake like any winter squash. After you bake it, it's super easy to peel off the skin and freeze in chunks (think ice cube size, and do it on a tray first before throwing it in a freezer bag). When you want to use some, you can pull out as many or as few chunks as you want! Sorry to hear of your kiddo's allergies, Kazu. A friend of mine has a four-year-old with diabetes and a gluten allergy (can't remember, I think soy and strawberries too). I don't know what she'd do if her were allergic to dairy! Though dairy allergies are pretty common. I'm mildly allergic and both my sister and fellow are violently allergic to anything more than the smallest amounts. What are y'all dressing up as this year? I was thinking about dragging out my pirate wench costume again (not run-of-the-mill sexy, but three layered dresses plus a corset) but just thought of doing something simple based on Cecelia, the girl with the skeleton hand from Johnny Wander.

Sexy Lincoln

awesome.

Well, If I were a woman, I wouldn't rent a costume, cause that man held a cigar, it stains the costumes.......

i just posted that to my FB. Like literally 5 hours ago. Just like i do every year. :D

i was just saying to the better half today, that perhaps its the inner old crackpot coming out but the whole laundry list of allergies kids seem to have is a bit strange to me. is this symptomatic of our cultrue to over diagnose every thing or is there something else causing the multitude of allergies. is it really the fact we live in too sterile of a culture? i've heard that there have been studies to demonstrate that by keeping certain allergens away from a body, you can infact exascerbate said allergy. i dunno if there's truth to that. i fully admit to speaking from a place of ignorance on the matter. eva just ran through this list of things one of her schoolmates is allergic to and i was shocked at the volume of things this poor child can't have. I have to wonder if they made it to the "can't have" list because of a bad reaction, or because the kid was profiled and to play it safe the parents are avoiding any potential items that may cause a reaction. kazu how did you come about discovering everythign your shorty is allergic to?

I fed him things and he got hives (some worse than others). As he got hives, I eliminated those foods from his diet. One night he ate pesto that had cashews in it. He developed huge, itchy hives all over his little body. We gave him benadryl and then took him to the ER (where he also threw up). Last Monday we had an allergy panel done. The doctor confirmed the allergies I knew about and added dairy to the mix. Dairy doesn't give him hives, but rather, eczema, which I mistook as keratosis.

Patrick, you ARE speaking from a place of ignorance. I don't know what kind of "science" you subscribe to, but exposing children to allergens they are known to react severely to doesn't "build up" their resistance, it lands them IN THE HOSPITAL. Your post seems to indicate that you're ascribing some kind of overprotectiveness to measures taken to prevent children from experiencing life-threatening allergic reactions, and nothing could be further from the truth or, frankly, more offensive. I suggest you educate yourself. Avoiding certain foods is a damn sight better than hoping your epinephrine can be fished out of your bag in time.

Yeah, doctors are just handing epi-pens out like lollipops these days. I'm really not ready to deal with the allergy "skeptics." No, keeping my son away from peanuts and cashews will not exacerbate his allergy. In fact, each exposure has been measurably worse for him. The next time he eats a peanut could, in fact, kill him.

Dear disgusted, If you believe so vehemently in what you say, put your name on it or go to the basement with the rest of the trolls.

dear disgusted, when one fully admits speaking from a place of ignorance, its sorta takes away from any recourse that involves assoholic tone such as yours. so feel free to suck it. that said, i think its horrible so many little ones are so sensitive to their environment. and god, the cheese man, life without cheese. with all the other dangers in the world, its mind boggling that a peanut could bring someone down. Im empathetic first to the children. be clear basement dwellers. There is data depicting marked distinctions in allergies by international/industrialized vs. non-industrialized/rural vs. urban populations. The hygiene hypothisis for allergens doesnt, at a glance seem like total shit. We're starting to introduce Hazel to new foods and I was curious how you navigating the terrain. So far so good. Personally I have a few allergies with good, but they are all topical and involve itching. When I handle certain veggies (e.g. chopping) my hands will itch afterwards. Pumpkin carving did this. As do carrots, apples and potatoes. Its mild annoyance.