Happy Halloween!

I'm at the Applebox with Rebecca, getting ready to flesh out my plot for my second National Novel Writing Month effort, which begins tomorrow. Eek. I know it will be fun but I'm concerned (in an OK way) that the 50,000 word goal will once again elude me. I do have a week in New York and a long Thanksgiving holiday planned this month after all. And jury duty, though maybe that will actually help. I do plan to go to as many write-ins as I can, I think that will help with the word count. And I have NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty's book (which I have yet to crack) as inspiration. (His inscription to me: "To Suzanne, This year we move into the promised land beyond 10K. The world needs your book!" Aw…) If you're wondering, it will be set in the same town as my last effort, but following a different character. My own little Peyton Place or Tales of the City (which I just started reading, and finding very inspiring as well).

I'm excited about doing the November novel thing this year, but other than that, tricks have been on the blah side. Maybe it's the post-improvement blues--not having any new big projects to accomplish is leaving my endorphins less stimulated or something. And we're in that trough of final details that I swore we would not wallow in--we really should touch up the paint, the artwork is still leaning up against the wall waiting to be hung, the last bits of décor are out of the garage but still in boxes in the craft room. Part of it is I haven't found the right shelving/furniture for the living and TV rooms, or curtains that we're replacing closet doors with. But I realize that even these last unfinished bits, small as they are, make me feel a little unsettled.

In even more mundane news:

Our sewer backed up on Thursday. I had taken the day off, hoping to have several pleasant hours of errands and relaxation in our gorgeous fall weather. Instead, I waited glumly and sans adequate internal and external hydration for the rooter guy, who was of course very late. He delivered the bad news that the drain runs directly beneath the cedar tree in the front yard and the roots have severely damaged the pipe. I did get quite the interesting view of the drain via their pipe cam, however. It cost us quite a bit to get the new clean-out installed, but M talked me out of the very expensive new pipe, which he thinks he can do himself for half the price. In the meantime, regular snaking appears to be in our future.

On the bright side, though it took hours, while waiting for the sewer assistance, I assembled all of the documents necessary to move the re-fi forward. Interest rates are still really low, so I'm hoping it will go through smoothly. Send good thoughts for a positive home appraisal--hope all of those improvements will help!

I had my toe cyst drained again, so my foot has been a little sore--should I worry that it's also a bit on the dark purple side? If it comes back again, I'll have to have surgery to fuse one of the joints together.

It's Halloween. It's lunchtime and people are already taking to the streets in costume, Death, an angel, clowns. M and I are meeting up with friends tonight and going dancing at a local club. Well, I'll dance, he'll watch and listen. We threw a festive office party yesterday, and it went very well, though it was more subdued than last year for some reason. I think lots of us are a little low energy around the office--it feels like it's been a long year and we did have a big show last week. I managed to pull together a vampire costume and received a number of compliments on my black wig. Maybe I'll don it again tonight, though I don't think it will stay on long.

OK, off to novel prep!