1 November 2001
Last year: I need to schedule a small dinner party or something.
Wow. Matt and I had bought two bags of miniature candy bars - we don't usually get a lot of trick-or-treaters, so we figured that would be plenty.
When the first group arrived, Matt let them each reach into the bowl to grab a handful. After watching one small hand that I felt was particularly evocative of an earthmover, lifting out more than I could have held, I said something in a snarky tone of voice about the candy not lasting long if he kept that up.
He looked at me like I'd suggested replacing the candy with arsenic tablets, but started putting a few pieces of candy in each child's bucket himself. (I only opened the door myself a few times. Matt had been planning to give away some of his unwanted comics to kids who were old enough - though I think we only wound up giving away about four comics all night. At any rate, I'd put him in charge of giving away the comics, so he had to open the door.)
After half an hour, Matt said, "I can see the bottom of the bowl..." I got up and retrieved the candy that had been left over from stuffing my birthday piñata. It all went into the trick-or-treat bowl, and we started being a little more stingy.
Still, an hour later, Matt closed the door after a trio of miniature fairies and said, "There's only one miniature Snickers left." We turned off the porch light with a sigh.
The year we bought five-pound bags from Sam's Club, the kids barely made a dent. This year? All gone, in an hour and a half. There's got to be a happy medium somewhere!
(It's just as well. I got on the scale this morning and came to the conclusion that I need to cut back on the sweets and junk food, or I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe when January rolls around. And I should probably get back on my bike, too.)
My favorite "Away" message of the night, though, had to be when we heard a particularly large group of them moving toward us. Matt put up: "Judging by the noise, there's either a Mongolian horde or a large bunch of trick-or-treaters coming this way. If they don't burn down the house and slaughter the livestock, I'll be back."
Word of the Day:
conundrum - 1: a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; 2 (a): a question or problem having only a conjectural answer; (b): an intricate and difficult problem
Current Projects:
- drawing
- Kris' afghan
- Hall stuff