I hope everybody has a fun, but safe Halloween.  There is no partying going on in this house this year.  

Bruce had a tooth extracted this afternoon, and the numbing meds are wearing off.  He is in pain right now.  Poor hubby.  His face is a little swollen, and I get the feeling he is not up for celebrating.  I just asked him how awful would it be to have a tooth pulled and be out of commission for Halloween as a kid?  It would be devastating!!!  I hope he feels better soon.  He took tomorrow off work to recouperate, so that should help.

Penny Lane is recovering from her surgery too.  She is more active and is eating just fine.  There is 1 problem though.  She has had diahrrea.  Bruce talked to the vet.  It could be from the anesthesia, the meds, or even the stress.  She is a pretty neurotic, high anxiety dog anyway.  But dealing with this is not fun.  She lets us know when she needs to go out, which is frequently.  But this morning....OMG!  It was a fitting start to a Halloween day.  Penny sleeps in a dog crate inside.  She loves her crate and usually puts herself to bed about 10pm most nights.  We usually lock the door just so she doesn't wander and get into trouble in the middle of the night.  I swear she sleeps right through until morning so it works fine.  But this morning...I could smell the evil all the way down the hall.  She had had an accident sometime in the night.  I was cleaning up poop, washing poopy dog blankets and scrubbing the dog with a wet washcloth at 6:30 this morning.  BEFORE I even had coffee!  I couldn't just bathe her, because she is not supposed to get these stitches wet.  It was NOT a good start to my day.

Oh well, we googled it and dogs can take immodium.  We even found the dosage per weight for dogs, so hopefully this will help with this problem.  I don't think she is sick with a virus or anything because otherwise she is recovering really well.  I just hope and pray I don't wake up to another mess like that tomorrow.  Bruce looks too much in pain to make him deal with it...and I don't know if I can do all that before coffee again.  

Our dog, Penny Lane, was spayed today.  The poor thing is so miserable tonight.  She is so restless and can't get comfortable.  She looks at me like she is accusing me of doing this cruel and awful thing to her.  I just hope she feels better tomorrow.  

Also?  Bruce went in to have an old crown replaced and the tooth is not able to be saved.  He has to have it extracted on Thursday, and eventually after that heals, he will have an implant done.  Apparently it can take up to 4 months to heal enough for the implant.  It's a back tooth with deep roots, so....ugh!  

I just hope he can get through this without too much pain.  A dog AND a husband out of commission is not my idea of fun!

It's getting down to 32 degrees tonight.  Bruce and I have been arguing about whether it's time to turn on the heat or not.  I keep voting for NO, but I think I have lost the fight for the season.  This nice chilly weather is the stuff that I dream about during the long, hot summer.  I sleep better if the room is cool.

The last thing I want is to crank up the heat.  Heat is a 4 letter word.  Oh well, he set it on 65 so hopefully it won't make me sweat...LOL!  

Anyway, I am thankful that it is finally Friday.  I have been trying to ward off some kind of bug all week.  Raw sinuses, sore throat, feeling tired.  It never turned into any full blown thing though so hopefully it's over.  A couple of days to rest and drink some Emergen-C and I should be fine. I keep meaning to get a flu shot though.  Maybe this weekend.  

Nothing much is going on here.  We are going to be low key this weekend, which is perfectly wonderful as far as I'm concerned.  

Finally we have a bit of sun after 2 solid weeks of intermittent rain, gloom and gray drizzle.  We spent yesterday at the river with Chris, Jessica and Jeff.  There was lots of good food and conversation on their screened in porch with the beautiful river views.  But it was a rainy, gloomy day.  Poor Jeff came here from Seattle to escape the rain and it never really cleared up for his whole week of vacation.  But maybe it's all over now for a while.  It's sunny, cool and dry today, and that is a beautiful thing.

Anyway, nothing much is going on since we got back from Boston.  It's all good though.  Everybody is fine.  The kids are all doing well.  Stephen and Hannia were here on Thursday bearing a still warm batch of homemade churros.  Very delicious.  I have talked to, emailed with, and Skyped Erica over the past few days  too. She is super busy and now has a grad student to mentor and is teaching a little bit as well.  In addition to her other work.  Bruce and I are pretty much the same, too.  Healthy and happy but busier than we would like.....

Which reminds me of something I keep meaning to write about.  I am confused about things like keeping busy and the virtues of relaxation and zen.  Some people swear by cramming their schedules full of everything from work to social engagements to exercise.....is that best?  There are others who claim simplicity and the art of living a peaceful existence is the way to go.  Less commitment, time to stop and smell the roses, etc....??  Some busy people see that as lazy.  I'm not sure that I do.  I haven't gotten it all worked out in my head just yet, but it's something I ponder fairly frequently.  Maybe one day I will figure it out.  

I really enjoyed our time in Boston.  I'm not sure if it's because the city was charming, or if it's because I had a week with Erica.  Either way, I had a blast.  We walked the freedom trail, had lots of delicious local cuisine, did a Duck tour in those vehicles that go on land and water.  That one was great...the guide was very articulate about the history.  And oh boy does Boston have a heap of great American history.  Then we drove right off into the harbor (haa-baa for Bostonians).  It was a lot of fun.

Hannia asked me if those New Englanders really have that intense of an accent.  The answer is YES!  They really do.  It's very different to my southern ears...LOL!  

We spent our last morning at the Langham hotel enjoying their incredible Chocolate Bar.  For $42 you can experience the closest thing to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory that real life has to offer.  There is a huge buffet of fancy desserts.  There was a giant chocolate fountain surrounded by fruits, pretzels and goodies to dip.  There was an ice cream bar with loads of toppings, and more stuff that I didn't even get around to see.  There was chocolate soup. Oh and cotton candy....LOL!  I ate tiramisu, and rice pudding.  I had a chocolate, banana and BACON tart.  I can't even remember what I ate.  It's amazing and decadent.  But it's not something I would do often.  The desserts were high quality, and beautifully displayed.  But after a few things, I started to feel a little bit icky.  Things lost their flavor and all I could taste was sweet.....but still, it was worth it for the experience.

We also went to a Drag Queen show and had a blast.  At one point Bruce got dragged on stage to dance....hahahaha.  There might be pictures of this event, but he might kill me if I share. One Drag Queen in particular seemed quite taken with him.  Our waitress was a tranny named DeAnna.  She was very talkative and tried hard to make us feel at home.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if all 3 of us were molested at one point or another....the show was VERY interactive with the audience.  The club is Jacque's and if you are ever in Boston they do shows 7 nights a week.  A bit risqué, but lots of fun.  For adults....

Anyway, it has rained every single day since we have been home.  I am dying for some sunshine.  But all our travels went smoothly, and Erica made it home safely today.  She was at a conference after we left town, but is back in York now.  It's hard to adjust to work and real life after having such a fabulous time, but we are managing.