Trick? No thanks, I'll have the treat!

Happy Halloween! It's been a crazy day here...I'm still sick, but made it to work for most of the day, but was in meetings where I talked a lot all day, so I have no voice left. Then there was a mad rush through dinner to get out trick-or-treating. Sophie was fascinated by the whole thing, just looking at everyone who was dressed up and smiling at all the neighbors. We live in a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating...about 40 houses in 2 developments with very little traffic.

Sophie was a leopard cub. Here she is this morning before her school party. K tried to get a shot with her ears on, but she wanted nothing to do with them.


After dressing as Harry Potter last year, EJ decided to be Hermione (from Harry Potter) this year. All we needed to buy was a wig:


Sophie agreed to keep her ears on if she could sit on EJ's lap for a few minutes.


We took Sophie to a few houses and then K and EJ did the rest of the loop. While Sophie and I passed out candy, she was happy to keep the ears on, as long as she could be distracted with bags of pretzels in each hand.

She was so cute, right down to her little pumpkin shoes:

Hmmm....wonder what Mom's hiding in this box? Every time I open the lid, it cackles in a witch's voice...

Oh, look! Lindt chocolate bars!!! Yummy! But darn, they have nuts and I can't eat those yet!

Before we eat one, let's check out the nutritional label. Um, Mom, this doesn't look healthy...

Perhaps we should take them all out of this box so no one eats this unhealthy stuff...

Later, Hermione came back and dumped out her loot on the kitchen table.

I thought I might get a nibble, but she immediately went to work categorizing and counting the candy (63 pieces total - 5 M&Ms, 2 bags of popcorn, etc.). And ZERO chance of me stealing any.

But that's okay, I'll just work my way through the rest of the case of Lindt bars. Just don't tell that nice woman at my office who runs the Weight Watchers at Work program. I'll just bite my tongue through tomorrow's meeting.

Anyway, hope you're enjoying a sugar high right now...

And just in case you think I'm passing out Lindt bars because I won the lottery or something, I'll let you in on a little shopping secret...there are Lindt chocolate outlet stores, and in late August, they were selling these candy bars for 25 cents each! We average anywhere between 50-80 trick-or-treaters each year, so it only seemed logical to buy a whole case of them. That's right, 144 bars for $36. I'll have to see if they offer this promotion next year...!!!

Thanks to being sick the last few days, I haven't yet mustered up the stamina to write anything heavy about the Sox winning the World Series. I'm thrilled, but not in the same magical way as 2004...this win seemed more destined after the terrific season they had (even with the shaky last few weeks). I do hope they re-sign Mike Lowell, who in my mind was quite worthy of the MVP - not that I would have been upset had Pedroia won it either. Curt? Take him or leave him. He still seems like a valuable contribution, but maybe not $12 million valuable. Maybe for $8-10 million I'd keep him. I think Wakefield will be back...I mean, winning 17 games at his age is something to be proud of. Coco will most likely be traded now that we know Jacoby Ellsbury can cover the outfield sufficiently.

As for A-Rod and the possibility of him playing shortstop for the Sox (since I hope Lowell will be at third), I say NO THANKS! Not that I don't think he's a talented player who will break a lot of records and make it to the Hall of Fame, I just don't think he's a team player. I also just can't imagine him being warmly welcomed in Boston by the fans, or even by most of the players (remember the infamous shoving match with Varitek? or the ball-swatting incident with Arroyo?). Let's hope he finds greener pastures elsewhere...