Coming Up Out Of The Fog

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think it's possible we are finally becoming ourselves again here in the Fear household. We've been sucker-punched by the respiratory flu, which started with Natalie and made its way through the rest of us, one by one. It's been a miserable 10 days. All of us, with the exception of Natalie, are still nursing one or more symptoms, but thankfully we are all finally on the mend.

I am very happy, though, that the fog of sickness seems to be lifting just in time for Halloween. We already missed one party, and we're not keen to miss any more. The girls are actually allowed to dress up at their new school, and there will even be a parade! Hooray! I loved Halloween parades when I was in elementary school, and was more than a little bummed when their previous school did not allow the tradition.

I don't think there is a costume contest at the school, though, which is a shame, because Bea would totally take it this year, as is her birthright. (Jay and I have both won quite a few costume contests in our time - no wonder we are a perfect match.......... what? Too sickening?) Jay made Bea's costume and I'm so excited to have her wear it. Natalie's costume is adorable as well, but I'm afraid people won't know who she is. I'll know, of course, since it was my childhood dream to *be* this person, but we'll see if anyone else can figure it out.

But anyway ... enough talk about costumes. There are so many things to do this week that I don't know why I'm still typing. I should get off the computer and:

1) Decontaminate my house, which looks like a mob came through it just to use every clean dish and throw used tissues all over the place.

2) Determine if it's worth sorting through the mountains of unfolded laundry to figure out what's really clean, or if it's easier to just throw it all back in the wash.

3) Figure out what I'm going to do for Jay's birthday, which is this week...

4) Finally go to a pumpkin patch with the kiddos, assuming there are any pumpkins left.

5) Find the cheapest place to buy Halloween candy, since word on the street is we get *a ton* of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. Not to mention our church's trunk-or-treat celebration. Jay thinks we should just buy candy for trunk-or-treat, and then use the candy the girls get that night to give out to the neighborhood kids on Halloween. I of course have ix-nayed that idea, but he seems determined, so I'm going to need to be extra vigilant.

There are many more things to add to the list, I'm sure, but I better stop if I want to have a chance to actually accomplish something today. Have a great Halloween everyone ... and whatever you do, don't get caught swiping your kids candy. Take it from me, it's very embarrassing.