Saturday, October 25th

It is cooler this week, and figuring out what to wear has been a challenge.  I have plenty of clothing, but not everything is long enough to cover my bag.  Favorite tee's and blouses are too short.  Jeans are too high and either cover my bag too well, leaving little room for waste to fall away from my stoma, or they come right to where my stoma is and irritate it.  If pants come to the base of my bag, it is also uncomfortable.  It seems petty to whine about this, because as always, there people who are less fortunate and don't have choices in clothing. Some have to wear everything they own every day.  I am realize that I am fortunate.  Just not always comfortable.  Keeping warm is my main objective on cool days, so I have been dressing in layers.  This is a must.  It is difficult when the day starts out cool and then warms up, and I end up roasting. Don't get me wrong, I far prefer these warmer days, they are much easier to deal with on a physical level, but finding the happy medium here is also challenging.

I put on a red tee and cover it with a long sweater.  My low rise jeans, the ones that used to be my special dress up jeans, work well with this combo.  I am covered and warm.  Now I am ready to tackle the day. Today's mission is to get a Halloween party set up for my daycare families, before three o'clock.  I am going solo here, since Steve is in Boston for the day, but I think I will be okay.

I need to clean the driveway and rake the yard, then make it look a little spooky.  It turns out I have quite a bit of wet work to do today. The leaves are damp with dew, and  I need to hose down the driveway. It turns out to be good that I had to skip chemo yesterday. I usually clean the driveway in the beginning and at the end of the summer, but this is the first time it is done this year.  Although I sweep it often, to get rid of sand that migrates from the sandbox, leaves and various other detritus, nothing gets it clean like a good hosing down.

As the day goes on and gets warmer, I need to take off my sweater.  I find that when I reach over my head, my shirt rides up and uncovers my bag.  Somehow this just seems wrong.  It is one thing to have a little bit of it peaking out from the bottom of your shirt, another thing all together to have it totally exposed.  Even if it has a cover on it.  It's not like it is something that you see all the time, I never saw one until I had one.  I think the etiquette is similar to underwear, to keep it under cover. Even in your driveway.

I find an apron hanging in my kitchen and cover myself with it.  That does the trick, problem solved. I wonder if aprons could be the newest fashion fad?

I manage to hang cobwebs and decorations, make a leaf pile for jumping in and get most of my outdoor work done in time to make some apple crisp before I need to hang munchkin donuts from the tree that hangs over my driveway.  The donut tree has been a well loved Halloween tradition at my house for years. I tie munchkins on strings and hang them from the branches.  The idea is that the kids will catch them in their mouths without using their hands.  Some can do it, some end up helping the donut find their mouth, but all have fun, the littles and the bigs. We end up playing the game a few times over. Last year when I thought we were done, I let the kids eat the remaining donuts, and then needed to make a run to Dunkin Donuts to get more.  Some children arrived late and were so disappointed that they missed the game.  This year, I am prepared.  I purchased one hundred and fifty munchkins, which should last the whole party and cover anyone that arrives late.

Before long, my yard is full of super heros, ninja, a black cat, three pirates, a robot, a digger, a pumpkin, a clown, a unicorn, pajama girl, a skunk, a spider princess, a doctor, Sir Lancelot a blue bear and a tiger.  It is an impressive parade of costumes, even some of the adults are dressed up.  I don't get dressed up for this party. The one time I did, it was very simple. I dressed as a black cat, with ears a nose and whiskers painted on.  It freaked out too many kids, so I haven't done it since.

Everyone has a great time running around and playing together, and their parents have the chance to hang out and talk.   I love to see everyone together, and I enjoy directing the donut game and apple bobbing.

It is a very fun day that doesn't end until darkness is creeping in.  A few of the moms pitch in and straighten up enough that I can leave the rest until tomorrow.  This evening, I need to get going on the costume that Steve and I will wear.

We have been dressing up together for the past few years.  When the kids were little, Steve would haunt the house by himself while I took Kaileigh, Ayla and Alex out trick or treating.  My kids trick or treated right through high school, this is the kind of neighborhood we live in.  When they were older, my friend Elizabeth still had a child that needed to be accompanied, so I would go out with her.  It finally happened one year that no one needed us to go with them anymore, so she and I sat on my front lawn carving jack o lanterns and passing out candy.  It was so much fun!  Since then, I have been dressing up with Steven each year.  People look forward to visiting our house to see what will be going on.

When Steve arrives home from Boston this evening, he finds me on the kitchen floor paper maching our costume.  Now to let it dry.