Well, the Halloween Carnival on Friday was lots of fun. They had more games than previous years, and the kids had a blast. Mark put me in "jail" twice, and thought that was hilarious. The second time, his friend Eddie borrowed my camera so he could take a "mug shot" of me (and no, you can't see it). Kira and I went through the haunted house, and fifteen minutes or so afterwards I could feel my hand again (she was really scared through the whole thing, although she bravely made it all the way through without actually crying....the people in the HH toned it waaaaay down knowing she was scared, which helped a lot). There was much running around by the kids (I think that if they did nothing else except open the gym and let the kids run around, they would still have a blast), and at one point Kira came running up to me baring bright green vampire teeth, which was rather disconcerting on a tooth fairy, but she loved it.

Kira did, in fact, win a prize in the Costume Parade, although hilariously, it was in the wrong age group. They had three groups, one for first grade and under, one for grades 2-5, and one for grades 6-8, with four prizes in each group. Kira won in the grade 2-5 age group, as did her friend Olivia (who went as a geisha, and looked GREAT). The judges were eighth grade kids, and they didn't really know what they were doing, but whatever, they all had fun.

After the Carnival, there was a middle-school dance, which Mark was staying for. The dance lasted until 9:30, and Mark was going to go home with MarkS for an overnight.

Well, a little after 10, the phone rings and it's Mark, telling me that MarkS's mom hadn't picked them up yet and there was no answer at her house. So I had to get dressed, get Kira out of bed (which was NOT a fun experience), and drive to the school to pick up the boys. Drove to MarkS's house, nobody was there. So I left a message on Mary's voicemail and drove back to my house. Just as we were going into the house, Mary drove up, all apologetic because the battery on the clock on the wall in her studio had apparently died at 8:30. I was more than a little grumpy at that point, and just kinda got through the thing, explaining that I was just going to keep Mark home at that point. The Marks were NOT impressed with me about that, and I don't think Mary was happy with it either, but too damn bad. This kind of irresponsibility on Mary's part had happened too often for me, and I'm done. I mean, I can understand that freak incidents like the dead clock battery can happen. But it seems like they happen ALL THE TIME with Mary, and really, if you know you're supposed to be someplace to pick someone up at 9:30, don't you look at the clock occasionally? And don't you maybe NOTICE if it says the same time two or three times when you look at it? Or is that just me?

Anyway, MarkS and Mary are nothing if not irrepressible, and would you believe that they actually asked (repeatedly!!) the NEXT DAY if Mark could have an overnight again? Um, NOT HAPPENING.

OK, what started out as a cheery little "we had fun at the Carnival" post has turned into another rant, and I really have other things to be doing today (like mountains of laundry, as well as making snacks for this afternoon's Brownie meeting, and other various household tasks). So I'm off. mk