It might be Tuesday!

Four day weekend + travel = mental calendar shutdown! Spending eight hours in the car left plenty of time to collect random thoughts. Luckily, Stacy is providing a place for me to unpack them. She is a super swell hostess, but don't get too close, or you might catch her cold. When you are done here, go visit and bring her some tissues!

While this sign intrigues me, as I might like to watch a "meat raffle", I operate under the assumption that the best Italian food comes from folks who can actually spell "Italian".

Last week this was going on in my back yard...
Doesn't this seem like the sort of thing the town would notify homeowners about? Thank goodness those backhoes have the "I am in reverse" beeping feature. Even better was the fact that the two operators (there was a second backhoe) were clearly taking turns going backwards to keep the beeping steady all afternoon...no, seriously, ALL afternoon.

Spongebob is showing his best yoga moves to try to sooth me after I read the reports that he causes a decrease in brain function when children watch his show.
And I thought I was just a bad parent because he encourages an annoying laugh and words like "imbecile".

It's pretty dark out in the morning when my son is getting ready for school. While we are not true vampires, neither of us turn on many lights as we bumble through our routine. Although, considering what was going on in the donut box I fed him out of last week, I might want to flick on an extra bulb.

Before you phone me in, he ate one of the powdered ones (white and powdery...not greenish and fuzzy). I think he had a yogurt as well, and yes, that is how I can justify a donut every once and awhile. Thanks to the daughter for notifying me of the situation, as she turned down a chocolate one, for there is a chance those might've appeared again the following dark morning.

I was not aware that our skeleton friend was poseable. I don't know the reason for the shame my daughter cast upon him, or if he is just Kung-fu fighting (you're welcome if that song gets stuck in your head).

While I was away, I got to take in a Trader Joe's visit with my sister..woo-hoo! We have his nowhere near as cool brother store, Aldi's in our neck of the woods. I grabbed the usual standards, and made a conscious effort to not break my current record for amount spent. I was much less stressed knowing I can return next month. Since I wasn't going hog wild, I decided to try a few new odds and ends. I got two 70% dark chocolate bars with caramel and sea salt (excuse me, not just any sea salt, but black sea salt from Hawaii). Oh. My. Goodness. I ate four squares yesterday (feeling safe as the store was still less than twenty minutes away), ate one square today and shared two with my mother. Now that I am home, I wonder how I will ration the remaining nine squares for the next forty-four days. How much Halloween candy will I have to consume to satiate my desire for that which I cannot have. (Just guessing that the squares will be a faded melty memory twenty days from now.) There were other varieties, but I think I will refrain on the next trip, as how could they be as yummy, or worse...what if they are even yummier!?
Moving on...

There is no place like GNOME! And since we had kidnapped someone's gnome, we couldn't return him empty handed...

Speaking of gnome, home, whatever! It was super awesome to return home to a package on the porch! The Swapoween fairy came!
Thanks to the super fab hosts Beth at Living a Goddess Life and Miss Angie at My So-Called Chaos! Most of all, thanks to my wicked fun swap partner Mary at My Family...My World for such thoughtful and spooktacular goodies. I can't wait to use them all!