1. I was the only person in my house doing Halloween this year. Well, I should qualify that. Downstairs Neighbor S told me in advance that she wasn't going to decorate and wouldn't be home Friday night. I have no idea what Upstairs Neighbors E & T did. Perhaps they took their daughter -- Mini-Upstairs Neighbor C -- out to visit friends. But they weren't around. And Diagonal Neighbor P took her daughter and... whoever else she has either living with her or visiting for regular and/or extended periods, carved and lit ten jack-o-lanterns, and vanished until 9:30pm.
And none of them left me any candy! I had five bags, but kids started coming by at 4:45pm and I ran out at 6:30pm, less than two hours later. I then turned off the porch lights to discourage people from knocking on the door, but the lit jack-o-lanterns caused some confusion on that front. :-(
Next year I'm going to ask everyone to give me and/or Downstairs Neighbor S a couple bags of candy if they're not planning to be around, since our neighborhood is THE hot trick-or-treating spot in Ithaca, and I hate disappointing kids when they come around.
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2. A thing I did today: dumped ten jack-o-lanterns into the compost bin.
It's a joint bin for our house and the house next door, which is also owned by Landlady and Landlord Dude. There is some kind of local or regional program that rents or sells these bins, and then sends a truck around to all the known bin locations every Wednesday morning to empty them if they're out by the curb. Downstairs Neighbor S complained to me a while back that nobody was regularly wheeling the bin to the street, so I decided I'd deal with it every two or three weeks. She wants one of the resident men to claim the chore -- she gets a little weird about gender roles and physical work -- but I figure that there's no point in her trying to guilt people who obviously don't care when I can handle things instead.
(Incidentally, this is why I am also the one who takes out the communal recycling bins. Former Diagonal Neighbor K used to do that, before he and his family bought a proper house and moved out, but that was just because I worked closing shifts so he'd usually gotten to them before I returned home on Sunday nights. Downstairs Neighbor S thinks Upstairs Neighbor T or one of Diagonal Neighbor P's male houseguests should claim that chore too. I think she's being silly. I mean, does she want the chore to get done, or does she just want to lay pointless guilt trips on people who clearly have other priorities in their lives? I, for one, would rather make sure the bins get emptied on schedule. There is no need to wait for a man to do something I am perfectly capable of doing myself.)
Anyway, I hauled the bin out to the curb and then thought to myself, "The jack-o-lanterns are starting to sag and grow mold. They will probably look passable for another couple days, but the compost will get taken tonight, and we're past both All Saints' and All Souls' days, so there's no superstitious reason to keep them around..." and I carted all ten of them around the side of the house and chucked them into the bin, one or two at a go. It was rather therapeutic, watching them go smash. :-)
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3. I voted this afternoon. Yay democracy!
I also picked up a very tasty slice of zucchini bread from the accompanying bake sale -- my precinct is an elementary school, because Ithaca did not get weirdly paranoid about voters and schools the way various parts of America did over the past generation -- and left a donation in return.
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4. I picked up some supplies for a new batch of chicken soup this evening. I wanted to also get some broccoli, to steam as an accompaniment for the two chicken thighs I won't toss into the crock-pot -- they come in a six-pack and I only need four for soup -- but the grocery store was completely out of broccoli. Sadness. So I bought a yellow squash and a red bell pepper and I will make a batch of stir-fry instead. It's more work, but it stretches farther -- three or four meals instead of just two. One makes do. *wry*
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