Gypsies @ MindSay

Happy Halloween!  I'm exhausted, I just got back from my daughter's classroom Halloween party.  Those teachers and aides DO NOT make nearly enough money for the work that they do.  I've already decided that they will be getting quite a nice gift from Sarah for Winter Break.  Once I got home I checked to make sure my daughter's costume was all ready for tonight.  Of course, looking at the costume started me to thinking of all the costumes I've had over the years and I have couple that stand out in my mind.  The best costume that I had as a child was a "gypsy lady" costume.  Do kids even dress like gypsies anymore, or is that not politically correct?  Anyhoo, I was in 6th grade, the year was 1979, and I had decided that I would be a gypsy for Halloween.  Luckily, I had 4 older sisters whose wardrobes I could raid for clothing, jewelry and makeup.  It was the 70's everyone looked like a gypsy or a hippie.  I got myself dressed and did my own makeup for school and I looked ok, but when I got home my oldest sister told me she was going to take me to her girlfiend's house for a party.  My oldest sister is a perfectionist to the nth degree.  She wanted to redo my makeup and hair.  By the time she was done I looked incredible.  I looked like a mini Cher ready to go on stage in Vegas!  It was awesome and I even won a prize at the party.  The "funnest" (is that a word?) costume I remember was truly thrown together at the last minute.  I was 22 and my husband (then boyfriend) was working late.  We had made plans with my girlfriend and her boyfriend to come over after she and my "husband" got out of work to watch scary movies.  I was bored and told her boyfriend, who was a good friend of mine, to come over and we could pass out candy while we waited for them.  He came to the door wearing a full face mask of some kind of monster.  Haha, very funny, we passed out candy and got bored again.  I got the brilliant idea to go out trick-o-treating.  I put on the mask, a cape/poncho type thing to cover my body (remember big boobs, little girls don't have big boobs), and tennis shoes with little bobbie socks.  In my "outfit" standing at 5ft 3", and much more petite then, plus standing next to my 6ft 2" friend I looked like his little sister, and I was covered if I had to talk because I have a little girl voice.  Awesome!  I was a 22 year old trick-o-treater!  By the time we were done "tricking" the neighborhood we had a nice assortment of candy which quickly got eaten when movie time came.  How about you, do you have a costume that you'll never forget?  Halloween can be such an incredible time, a time when adults re-activate their imaginations, and kids revel in the fun & games.  Everyone have a safe and happy Halloween!

Another fun-filled day of mystery shopping!  Whee!  Free groceries rock!  They rock, but it sure does wear me out going to all the different stores to get them and then putting the reports in afterwards.  But, hey, I'd be a lazy woman to not go get free groceries.

I'm about to kick some nameless small childrens' hineys if they don't stop taking blankets, afghans, pillows, stuffed animals, and sheets outdoors and making forts.  I came in from all of this mystery shopping only to find all of the above victims of a nasty thunderstorm.  I was *not* pleased.  After unloading all of my groceries and having Rich break a half gallon jug of my wonderful Homestead Creamery Milk from Kroger's, I ended up with like three towels totally saturated in wonderful, hormone-free, whole creamline milk.  What a waste....

Needless to say, I had to do some laundry.  I go outside in the rain and gather up all of these various items that had been rained upon, bring them into the laundry area only to discover that the afghan has tons of EARTHWORMS embedded in it!  BLAH!  I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't care one thing about earthworms, but you can't have them in your washing machine.  Blick.

So I had to take it outside and pick all of the critters out of the afghan and then bring it back in and throw it in the washer.  I swear, I have ran it through one soak cycle, rinse, and spin cycle and it all still is just disgusting.  So I got up from my slumber and am now running it through AGAIN on the long cycle with some Odoban in the rinse.  I'll more than likely wash it AGAIN after that.  If I catch another child with things of this nature outdoors again, I'm gonna sell them to the gypsies....for real....seriously.

So I'm off to bed to start the insanity all over again tomorrow.  Klara has preschool, Will has story hour at the library, and Jared will want to be dropped off at school and not take the bus.  Perhaps I will get a nap tomorrow afternoon?  Neh....I doubt it....

It's a shame you can't simply go to the store these days without someone trying to hit you up for some "spare change".  Today, instead of the occasional homeless guy asking me for money, a woman and her child were standing in front of Walmart asking for spare change.  Usually, if I have change when I get hit up for some by a homeless person or panderer, I'll give it to them.  This time I didn't have change, so I told the woman that I'd probably have some when I came out of the store.  I walked into the store and by the time I could count 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, she and her young daughter (if it really was her daughter) who looked to be about 12 or 13 years of age came into the store and started following me around.  Apparently it was her daughter's job to ask for things in a pathetic tone and her mother had to respond, "I don't have enough for that dearie, wait 'til after this nice lady gets done getting her stuff."

Now, I had a dilemma. Do I call security or do I turn around and pimp slap this bitch like she was one of my ho's who didn't bring me my money.  I decided to be a lady today, mainly because of the child. (dang-it). Plus, I was curious to see how far this scam would go.  Anyway, they followed me all the way to the register where I handed her a dollar and said "Merry Christmas".  She finally left. The problem that I had was that she had her daughter involved with her pandering, but I understand that family scamming is common in Gypsy families. Oh well, you gotta pass on the family business I guess.