I survived Halloween

I'll get a picture of the kids up. It's on the camera and I'm too tired/lazy to get them off right now.

So I was determined that this year the kids would have an easier time trick or treating. Last year, most of the people on our street either didn't have candy (seriously?), were gone, or in one case, a very confused new immigrant who graciously gave the kids some granola bars. I heard that Edmonds, the city north of us and where my parents are actually from originally, hosts some big bash downtown with all the stores. I looked into driving, but we actually hadn't gone up there since we've moved here and I realized it's been 20 years since I've been in that area. I decided that since I didn't know the parking situation, maybe this was a good time to try out the bus system. We packed the kids into the car, drove to Costco where the major bus transfer station is, and walked up the street to the bus station. I started to have a panic attack because 1) I didn't know if the bus was going to be on time, plus it was apparently on a different schedule and route because of this Halloween festival, 2) if we were at the right bus stop or if we were supposed to be at the transfer station, 3) it was POURING, and 4) Liam LICKED the bus stop bench. But the bus arrived on time, and we got off at the stop we were supposed to and realized we should have gotten off at the previous one, walked back and finally found a burger joint to have dinner. This place looked like a dive, but it had the BEST BURGERS (yes, I had a burger; I don't do pescetarian all the time). They were messy and delicious and I'm so going back and trying the salmon sandwich. We then walked back to the downtown area were it was starting to get a little crowded.

I was totally impressed by this Halloween bash though. The police actually set up barriers so there were no cars and all the merchants for about 5 city blocks really got into it. Nearly every single store was handing out candy. Last year apparently there were over 5000 people there, but it wasn't until after about an hour that it started to even really feel like it was getting crowded. It was well lit, people were mostly polite (though there were a couple of teenagers that I wanted to smack because they kept getting in front of the kids, and this was obviously meant for younger children), music was playing and it was very, very easy. My favourite was two guys at a real estate agency with Obama and Romney masks handing out candy together. However when we passed on the way back, only Obama remained, making me feel like it might have been cosmic foreshadowing. We're definitely going back next year but I think I'll forego the bus (which still worked out really well) and just drive since there was plenty of parking if you get there early enough and are willing to walk a little bit.

Today I was decided to get some housekeeping stuff done. Mostly because our landlord finally decided that the flooding the water heater was causing was bad and got around to replacing it. So I kind of alternated between watching Sherlock episodes and poking around my house doing little things. I feel like I actually accomplished some stuff even if it doesn't really look like it. Oh well.

Yesterday I:

Dropped off treats at the kids's classes and then went to the bank
Cleaned the kitchen (becoming a bit obsessive about this)
Tried to donate blood but was rejected because my pulse was too high. I'll try again next week.
Did some mechanical turks because I was bored (mechanical turks though amazon is a great way to earn a couple of extra bucks every month if you need to. I made $250 last summer)
Survived Halloween

Today I:

Paid bills
Grocery store
Cleaned out the kid's extra shoes and vacuumed the inside of the shoe cabinet and cleaned the foyer
Repacked the kid's clothes into a plastic container, getting rid of 4 cardboard boxes and freeing up a lot of space on my garage shelves, rearraigned the shelves and put stuff in the shed. I expect the extra space to last about 2 seconds.
Climbed up on my car to put new light bulbs in the garage door opener
Got out the portraits we had done 18 months ago and ordered picture frames
I've dumped the laundry on my bed so before I can go to sleep I HAVE to fold it, which I am now off to do with a couple of loads of laundry washing.