Sorry I haven’t posted for a while (although I’m not convinced that anyone in cyberspace has noticed). I’ve been trying to sort things out over this past week. What kind of things you ask….well…

1. Bert and I have been working on a small home-based business and even though everyone thinks that the idea is fantastic, nobody really seems to think that we’re going to make it happen. This attitude has kind-of trickled down to me and I’m starting to question my motivation and dedication.

2. I have a job interview on Wednesday. I’m a long shot for the job but am going to go for it. It’s not an ideal job but I’m sick and tired of using the fabled promised job as an excuse for not agressively persuing other options. I don’t want to give up on my other job opportunity since it is amazing, but how long can I put my life on hold for?

3. Bert’s parents are worried about the fact that he doesn’t have a job that they can brag about. I don’t really know how to be a supportive wife here and now while also making sure that I push Bert enough so that he doesn’t look back on things in five years time with dissappointment.

Still haven’t finished sorting though…it’s harder than it looks.

Ok so we thought halloween was going to be lame with no party plans but, in fact, we had a blast. On the off chance that we might get the odd trick-or-treater or two (which would be a first) we stopped by the trusty doallr store to pick up some decorations. Half an hour later we had two leaf-filled pumpkin garbage bags on our lawn; the stairs were wrapped with a halloween banner; the front light was replaced with a red bulb; a witch was plastered on our front door; and spooky sound effects were piped outside.

At 4:30 we got our first trick-or-treater, and they kept coming. The doorbell would have been ringing all night - except that our doorbell is broken. Luckily our trusty guard-dog was up and barking every time a strange elephant, bumble-bee, pumpkin, witch…approached our apartment of doom.

Bert and I quickly scraped together a couple of costumes. I was a ninja and Bert was a nerd. Soon parents were getting their kids to pose so they could capture the halloween experience that we had created for all eternity (or as Bert, the nerd, said ‘until digital media decays’).

Our overall ratings…

Flow of trick-or-treaters: 10/10 (Jaime the ninja had to run to the store to get more by 5:30)

Inventiveness of the costumes: 7/10 (the cute little bear was our favorite but the university students with no costumes brought the average down)

Overall mood: 8/10 (it was 10/10 until about 6pm at which point we started to get a little sick of the halloween sound effects)

Life is more difficult when…

1. You try to write a blog entry with a 50 lb dog sitting on your lap.

2. You try to keep your feet dry when you’re wearing sandals.

3. You try to have a deep meaningful conversation with someone who’s wearing a toque and a hood.

4. You try to sweep-up leaves from the back deck on a windy day.

5. You try to screw a screw into the wall with the electric drill on ‘reverse’.

6. You try to wash a greasy pot with pine-sol.

7. You try to fight off a cold by taking echianacea and walking the dog at 7am on a cold fall day with wet hair and no gloves.

8. You try to impress your wife by installing drywall without an extra set of hands to hold it in place.

9. You try to do pretty much anything in Microsoft Office.

10. You try to get a stupid job in the most stupidly bureaucratic organization in the whole stupid world