Your nephew and I are kindred spirits, Jen. I went out the Halloween I was two, ran into my friend's big brother (who was 11) dressed up as an Indian brave, ran back to the house, and told my mother, "You close that door. You look that door. You don't answer that door."

She had to get a neighborhood teen to come hang with me in the kitchen, so she could answer the door and hand out candy.

Sugar high...please send Coffee Bean.

Har. Poor bitty Cindy.

Oh, Lee - I meant to post earlier that I loved the kitty bling skirt! So awesome.

One year my mom and aunt decided to dress up my cousin, my brother and my sister up as different Care Bears. Though they didn't mind at the time, it's not a year my brother or cousin care to see pictures of.

I can't really remember what I went as most years. I know I was one point or another RotJ Luke Skywalker, a Ghost Buster, Optimus Prime, a Ninja and the Grim Reaper, but that still leaves 6 years or so unaccounted for.

It took me two hours to get home. A clusterfuck so perfectly designed to keep a poor sick person from her couch you'd think I was cursed. But I am here with my gatorade and lonely candy.

buy 40 lbs of candy and get through it all

Dude. And I thought the houses were the reason we couldn't afford to live in your 'hood.

Oh! I forgot! So cute! Our one group ended up being (I assume, at this point) the only ones we got, but the wee witch, who was blonde and freckled and six-ish and not in the least scary, scrunched up her face at me and said "Hey, I know you!" Waving to the kids who are waiting for the school bus has its rewards.

But I am here with my gatorade and lonely candy.

Well, you know the only thing to do with lonely candy - put it out of its misery. Unless you're that kind of sick that doesn't want candy. I hate that kind of sick.

At lunch today I was treated to the sight of two women in witch costumes passing each other from opposite directions on 2nd Street. And a scraggly barechested guy in a homemade cape and helmet, though I'm not sure he was so much observing Halloween.

Ben and Chris's friend came by with a friend who dressed as an atomic wedgie. He even had ginormous undies that came up over the back of his head, and a padded fake backside peeking out the bottom back. HYSTERICAL. Ben's friend was a headless horseman. Chris's friend (a girl, whom he's going to marry) came as a really cute witch that would have made Willow lay off her anti-witch-costume screed.

We've also had a sumo wrestler.

On a dark stretch between houses, Casper said, "We are lost in the middle of the darkness" and sat down on someone's steps. She got 54 pieces of candy (and has eaten two, per my ruling; then we moved on to popcorn). They did our block, then one block of the big street, then the next side-street block.