Have you been ghosted?

Have you been ghosted, or perhaps Booed? Do you have any idea what I'm talking about? Our last ward did this and we discovered that our new neighborhood does it too. Basically someone ding dong ditches some goodies at your house and you are left with a sign to hang on your door to show that you have already been "Ghosted", and instructions to do the same to two other houses. Let me tell you, you either want to be one of the first people to get this, or the very last.

We were ghosted a few days ago and when we went out to do our ghosting we saw no less than three cars driving around our little neighborhood trying to ghost someone too. It can be a little awkward when your neighbor comes out of his house to get his treats and and sees you across the street ghosting someone else. No really neighbor it wasn't me. It was one of the other 3 families out driving around. And this neighborhood doesn't do a measly plate of cookies. No, you give a whole bucket full of goodies and toys. When we went out two nights ago we had a difficult time finding a house that hadn't been done. Especially trying to find a house with kids as one of our buckets had stickers pencils and erasers in it. Not one that we thought our empty nester neighbors would appreciate. But we finally had to pick some random houses and were glad to be done.

I guess then that I can' t blame the neighbors who saw fit to ghost us last night despite the ghost sign already on our door. At least I got my wish this time and we were done on the last night so that I feel guilty about not doing it again.

By The Way . . . .

Alan moved his backpack back how it was. I think he got tired of the straps falling off his shoulders.

What I Remember

As I was at the grocery store the other day I took time to peruse the Halloween candy. I'm torn between offering good candy to the kids and not going broke buying candy for the hundreds of trick or treaters. It was tempting to buy the candy right then but that would have been pure foolishness. Neither John or I have any self control when it comes to candy so there would have been little hope of the candy actually making it to Halloween. Seeing the Halloween candy made me think of a past Halloween.

In my house growing up the kids made it difficult for the candy to last until Halloween so the candy was kept under lock and key (literally, my mom had it padlocked in a metal box). I do remember one year however where my mom brought out the Halloween candy early. It was twenty years ago tonight. It was the the night of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. If your are not from the Bay Area you probably think of it as the San Francisco earthquake but the epicenter wasn't really close to San Francisco. But that is besides the point.

I remember that afternoon complaining to my mom in our backyard. What was I complaining about? Well I was nine, so of course I was complaining that I was bored. Moments later the earthquake struck. I was a Californian and this wasn't my first earthquake, but I knew that it was a big one. It only lasted 15 seconds, really a short quake, but it was a 6.9, and large enough to wreck havoc. My family was really blessed. Plenty of broken dishes and other small material things, and minimal damage to the house, but we were all safe.

My Dad and older sister were at work and of course the phone lines were wiped out so we couldn't get a hold of them. I was worried about them but my Mom was calm (or at least she pretended to be), so that eased my fears. Since the entire Bay Area was headed home at the same time their normal 30 minute commute stretched to hours but they arrived home safely. Out of the whole day though, one thing stands out, and that is what we did that evening.

We did what my family does best. We sat around and talked. My Mom got out the bag of candy she had bought for Halloween and we sat around the kitchen table talking and eating candy. I actually enjoyed the evening. I remember ward members who lived nearby coming to our house to check on us. As scary as the situation could have been, sitting around with my family listening to stories and eating candy, it was a great night. I really got to appreciate my family and what really matters that night.

It's funny how out of everything that went on that night, what is most clear is eating Halloween candy and talking with my family. I can still remember what the bag of candy looked like,and the bubble gum that was in it. I know my kids are going to go through scary situations in their life but I hope what they remember most is the time we spent together.

The Costume Box

Almost as exciting as Halloween night was the night we pulled out the costume box. Being the youngest of seven my mom had accumulated quite the collection of Halloween costumes. You could taste the excitement as we pulled out each costume remembering what we had done in years past and trying to figure out what to do in the future.

This last weekend the kids got to pull out our costume box and experience the same thing. It was so fun watching their excitement as the went through each of the costumes. I love how with no suggestions from us the each gravitate towards their own costume.

"I'm a Boy Witch"

I think someone is not sure what he wants to be.

The Motivator

Have you ever watched the show Wipe Out? Our kids love it. We love watching it with them. You know the "Motivator" that comes down to get people to attempt the big balls? I have found that using the "Motivator" at home has increased the speed at which our kids get moving and doing their chores or other tasks. It still means I'm going to spank you if you don't get moving but they start laughing and calling out to bring on the "Motivator". We don't "spank" our kids, we "Motivate" them.

All Expenses Paid* Vacation

We moved in two and a half months ago. We unpacked like crazy for a weekend so that we could survive in our house then we concentrate all our time on getting our old house ready to rent. By the time we were done with that we had lost our motivation and started to just live in a halfway unpacked house. That lasted a few weeks until we invited people over and then realized that we no longer had the excuse that we had just moved in to explain the boxes in the kitchen. We got to work and got everything unpacked. Things aren't perfect, there are still cosmetic changes we want to make, but we are all moved in. Except for well, er, um, this.

This is our, ahem, "guest room". Also known as the room we shove everything into when we don't know what to do with it. To be perfectly honest I am completely unmotivated to do any work in there. I think it's going to stay that way until I am forced to clean it.

So how about it? The weather's great! 80 degrees! I'll even cook you breakfast.

*By all expenses paid I mean you get a roof over your head and you can eat my food. Travel expenses are not included. Two little boys running wild in the house are.