What msbelle said. There was a little girl at this party on Saturday who I swear was JUST a babe in arms! But no, now she's enormous.

I don't like the color yellow, though, and the Landmarks Commission wouldn't let me change it.

But for that...

I love Willow St.

Awww, Dylan as a present and Em as Pinkalicious are much too cute.

I had a quiet Halloween. Watched "Red: Werewolf Hunter" in what passed for morning for me and ended the night with The Walking Dead.

No trick or treaters but that's okay as I was not expecting any and therefore had not prepared.

They've caught somebody in that local murder case - he's been charged with 5 counts of first degree murder, 1 count of sexual assault and 1 count of arson. Forensics has not finished with the burnt remains - so no id on the victim yet. (Local story about the arraignment here.)

I saw two people walking on the Prairie Path this morning so some fear has already been allayed.

We handed out (and by we handed out I mean I sat on the sofa and smiled at people who peered inside the house) candy to probably 20+ kids. Friend's daughter was a ninja princess (her call entirely).

There were lots of fireworks going off nearby. Is that a normal Halloween thing? Apparently it is here.

I have done too much shopping. But this friend always makes me shop. Her neighbourhood has a condensed artsy store feel, and I don't even know where those clothes would be in LA.

Fedora!

We weren't home, but we rarely get kids. We did put together 2 little pumpkins of candy for our across the street neighbors' kids.

The present costume is awesome, Jess! And look at Dylan's face. Cutiehead!

Looking for advice from the Hivemind:

We've been working with our local pet cemetery about arrangements for Max. The pet cemetery is part of a complex of cemeteries run by the same corporation. (The complex involves separate cemeteries for each of various religious heritages.)

In the past, there was one employee who handled the pet cemetery exclusively. She understood pets and pet owners, and we had a good working relationship. Unfortunately, within the last few months, she left the company. (Reason unknown -- we've asked, and nobody will tell us.)

So now we're working with one of the funeral counselors at the main office. And he's got it into his head that we should buy a private mausoleum for all of our cats to be together after they go.

I confess, the idea has its appeal. However, not $65,000.00 worth of appeal (plus interest charges), which is what the most basic mausoleum would cost. Plus, if we leave the DC area after we retire -- and at this point, that's our plan -- we'd like to take them with us and re-bury them in our new neighborhood. So, no, it isn't going to happen.

We've told Counselor that it isn't going to happen now because we're financially strapped from 3-1/2 years of constant vet bills. (Which we are, somewhat, though we've exaggerated the degree to Counselor.)

Counselor isn't giving up. He now says he's come up with another financing plan that may work for us.

We want to keep things civil with Counselor, but he's giving us another stressor we don't need. For one thing, we aren't getting the level of service we used to get from Former Employee. (Example: There's a house on the pet cemetery grounds, complete with a room that was used for viewing. We can't use it anymore, and according to Counselor, we can't have a viewing for a pet at the main office because of state laws.) Hubs is also worried that Counselor may get vengeful if we give a flat-out no at this point.

Anybody got any ideas on how to tell this guy no, or at least get him off our backs until after Max's service, while keeping things civil?

There were lots of fireworks going off nearby. Is that a normal Halloween thing? Apparently it is here.

It was when I was growing up. There's lots of fireworks being set off year round in the public housing near my place, but I guess last night was just too cold and rainy.

What neighborhood are you in ita?

I would say "Thank you for the attention you've given this, but hubs and I have discussed this and we really want [insert a detailed plan of exactly what you want]."

I think if you have exactly something in mind the counselor will have a harder time going against your wishes.

Fred, could you just try saying that you're not in the right headspace to make this decision now, but you will think about it for the future, and you will get back to him about this after the funeral?