Fall and fun are pushing the blog to the back burner

I am increasingly neglecting the blog.

What can I say? Too much other stuff to do. Real stuff. Fun stuff.

For starters, keeping the house in order is a challenge. Bottom line: We have too much stuff. We ought to be able to live with the space we have. But it's all a matter of how the space is configured. We need our new kitchen ... and construction should begin Wednesday. I cannot wait! We will have bedrooms for everyone, an eat-in kitchen, a new half bath, and, of course, the remodeled kitchen area. I have already enumerated the many inadequacies of the current space. Suffice to say I - we - will be very happy to get this done.

But enough kvetching.

We had an incredibly fun weekend. Friday Gary was off work. I wasn't terribly productive, but we did get the pool closed. Gary had the pool company do the actual closing (though he may do it himself next time), but we opted to save ourselves $200 and put the cover on ourselves. We hauled it from the shed, laid it out, and got it all hooked on - which involved unscrewing the bolts from the ground and stretching the hooks over them, a process that involved a system with a pipe and a rubber mallet. It's definitely a two-person job, but the whole thing only took us about an hour. I cannot believe they charge $200 - I am so glad we did not fall for that.

But now our pool looks sad. When I look out the window, I no longer see the shining blue water, but a dull grey tarp.

But I'm not seeing a deck anymore either, as Gary has already started disassembling it so we can get the foundation poured. It will be ugly around here for a while. But no uglier than the kitchen I see every day.

Friday night, friends Dan and Helen invited us to join them for a tailgate party at the country club. We cheered the Boilermakers, sat around the fire, and danced to the band. It's a local cover band, originally made up of a bunch of doctors. It's a reconstituted version now, but a couple members are my neighbors, including the parents of Sylvia's new best friend. So she was totally jazzed to run around with her friend Bella, along with Bella's sister, who is the same age as Sylvia's good friend Scotlyn, daughter of friends Dan and Helen. It's a small world in these parts.

The girls were so funny - they jumped up on stage to sing back-up and they danced, danced, danced (well, unless they were running around on the golf course).

We hadn't quite decided whether or not to re-join the country club. But I think we will. We have a pool, so that's not such a big draw. But the golf course is nice, and Gary likes to play. The food is great. And it is so close - we can walk. We have particularly fond memories of the Christmas Eve dinner and Mothers Day brunch .... oh, yea. I'll be on the phone this week.

Saturday was Purdue v. Minnesota. We had great seats - better than our own tickets, as someone gave them to us - so Gary and Alison could see Purdue's loss in all its glory. I ran some errands, took care of a few things around the house.

Then Saturday night, we attended our neighborhood progressive dinner/Halloween party. Where I won best costume - the trophy is adorning the living room mantle piece. Along with Gary's/Alison's trophy.

I can't tell you any more about my costume because I will be wearing it again next weekend. What I can tell you is:

- Alison and her friend Emily were fantastic accessories, though they could have stood on their own - but they were better with me
- Gary, too, was great, though he could have gone on his own - once again, he was better with ne
- I was not the only one in my costume - there were three of us. We all three won, and we are rotating the trophy. We were all great, all with different takes on the same idea. And people loved us. I confess, initially I was a little bummed about not being the only one, but really, three was better than one.

The party was such fun - lots of funny costumes, and the folks here in the hood are a good group. Halloween is a good time to test everyone's sense of humor, and judging by the number of political-themed costumes (I saw John McCain and the First Dude at this party, along with a nun, a hippie, playing cards, a Jonas Brother and Hannah Montana - not kids), humor here on the hill is alive and well.

(The biggest surprise of all? When my neighbor, who is a very prominent, very well-connected Republican, showed me his Republicans for Obama button - I knew his wife was voting for Obama on the down-low, but I wouldn't have guessed him. Just goes to show what a critical election this is.)

I have photos, but I can't post them til next weekend. But we - especially Alison - were a certified hit.

It's been a good fall. In more ways than one. The trophy I brought home - that I am sharing - is emblematic of the many positive changes in my life.

Even though it has a tiny skeleton on the top.