"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

OK, I've finally gotten around to setting up a blog so that all of the people who already know how gosh darn cool I am can keep up with my oh-so-fabulous lifestyle. I can't promise that I'll post everyday and I especially can't promise that I'll actually be funny. I will, however, make several lame and shameless attempts. I'll also only use first initials when referring to other people to respect and protect their privacy. There are some real whackjobs out there.

My thoughts this evening are Halloween oriented (duh!) and I happened to hear one of the best lines ever said in any cartoon special.... "There are 3 things I've learned never to discuss with people... religion, politics, and The Great Pumpkin." -Linus in 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' By the way, how come The Great Pumpkin never did show up? Linus' pumpkin patch sure as hell seemed sincere to me. If that's the way The Great Pumpkin is going to be, then I don't want him coming to my pumpkin patch. I'm going to erase all of the sincerity from it so it's not even a consideration on his list next year. So there.

As with most things, one thought led to another and I eventually landed on memories of past Halloweens. Here are my top two most memorable experiences: Halloween, 2000. It was my first Halloween with my then boyfriend, now husband and we were handing out candy to the few (6 maybe) kids who showed up at his place. The last one was some punk teenager dressed in black. Playing into the snottishness that possesses most kids that age (myself included when the time was right), I smirked and asked what he was supposed to be. His response? "A black hole." Deadpan. My response? "Great, tell that to the ER doc when you're wheeled in after being hit by a car." Deadpan. I knew at that moment that I had gotten old. Not old enough to prevent myself from smirking at the originality later on that evening, however. (OK, I still get a small grin on my face when I think about it)

The second memory was of an old woman (probably senile) in the neighborhood where I grew up. It was our first Halloween there and I went out trick or treating with my best friend, D. Thank GOODNESS! While we were trolling about, D casually said "We don't go there, the lady hands out raw noodles." My 6 year old mind was in complete disbelief until I returned home to my mother and 4 year old sister. Alas! They were not privy to such vital information and poor E (sister) got stuck with a couple of raw noodles. Lucky for her, she actually liked them (4 year olds will eat anything).

Time to wrap things up for tonight but I'll leave you with one final piece of trivia (Charlie Brown, of course, to suit the mood). It turns out ole' Chuck's dad was a barber by trade, that's why Charlie had no hair. :) Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it's true.

Now, let's all keep our chin up for the election on Tuesday. According to tonight's Redskins game, Kerry should win. I'm not holding my breath but I AM crossing my fingers. Go Kerry/Edwards! I'm pullin' (and votin') for you guys!

~Ms. V