Friday, October 29, 2010

Trick or Treat

Every year I make a promise (to myself) that I will buy the costumes for next year as soon as they go on sale, and I will prepared for Halloween the following year.
Every year I forget all about it the minute it is over.

Last night found me at Wally World looking for a Batman costume. Of course they only had ONE and it was 100 times bigger than the boy who was going to wear it. Lots of Bat girl costumes though.

Wait, Bat Girl? Spider girl? Seriously?

I'm all for women equality. As a matter in fact, I have a career in a male dominated field. But come on! There is no Spider Girl, there is Spider MAN. There is nothing wrong with a girl wearing a Spider man costume if that's what she wants to be. No need to create super heroes that don't exist, so we can accommodate people's feelings.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Did not find Batman but found a Ninja costume, for the most adorable Asian-looking boy (and no, he is not Asian).

I was never fond of Halloween until I had kids. I guess since this wasn't something we did growing up, it was hard to get into the whole trick or treating thing. Until I had kids.

It's fun, the kids love dressing up and spooking each other, and the candy. Let's not forget the candy. So why are we starting to call it everything BUT Halloween? To make everyone happy. Are we going to start calling Thanksgiving something else too so we can be politically correct?

I like Halloween, I like the history behind it, but most of all, I like the excitement in my kids' face when they put their costumes on and become Spiderman, Ninjas and Vampires.
There is nothing evil about Halloween unless you make it evil. In my house, it's a fun day, when we get to be superheroes or scary people. I like that.

I think this year I'm going to be a tar ball, ha! Or a very tired engineer mom... Or a vampire...

Thursday, October 28, 2010

What the heck is that?

They have been staring at me for weeks. I can hear them laughing and mocking me. All this time I've been in denial. Of course, it doesn't help when people try to convince me I'm "seeing things".

If you know me, you know I'm not one to freak out about age. I have adopted the philosophy that age is just a number, and you are only as old as you feel. Of course, that means there are days when I feel twice my age, and others when I pretend I'm still a college coed.

This philosophy has served me well until this morning, when I saw the multitude of gray hairs that have sprouted out in my head!

Why me? I come from a long line of women who barely have any gray hairs. My 90 year old grandmother probably has less gray hairs than I do at this point. So why me? Why should I get this gene when no one else did?

My hairdresser, my husband, my sister; they've all tried to convince me I'm seeing things. That I'm the only person who can see them. Yeah, right. It is hard to hide gray hairs on black background, ask me how I know.

I know, I know. What happened to my philosophy on age? It's still there. I still think I'm only as old as I feel. My issue is, how can I feel 10 years younger when my hair keeps reminding me how close I am to my next milestone birthday? Mother Nature is simply not cooperating with me.

If I were a guy, I guess this wouldn't really face me. It's not unusual for 30-something men to have a few grays here and there. It adds character, right? But I'm not a guy, and I like my hair the color it is, thankyouverymuch!

I've tried to evict these offending grays, but they refuse to leave. As a matter in fact, they've brought their whole families, and friends to inhabit my head. Did they not get the memo? I am NOT old enough to have gray hairs!

So, these holidays I plan on getting acquainted with Miss Clairol and all her peeps. If you see me wearing a hat, you'll know our get together may have not gone as planned.