The weekend

I can't believe it's November. Saturday and Sunday were so totally beautiful. It was like September. I went home a little early on Friday, as it was in the mid-70s. I finally got my garlic in the ground and did a little weeding. I planted my Callicarpa (beautyberry) and puttered around with some other winterizing things while husband cleaned the downstairs windows. Woohoo husband!! For dinner I finally made the brussel sprouts. The original brussel sprouts (I spoke about a few weeks ago) went limp and I had to throw them away, but I bought more and made them on Friday. I did the olive oil, balsamic vinegar thing, cutting them in half and placing them face down in a pan and roasting them for 45 minutes in the oven. They were awesome. It was like candy. And no stink. And I also heard on NPR on Saturday that cruciferous veggies (brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and sauerkraut) offer you some kind of immunity boost against the flu virus which is good to know, what with the imminent PANDEMIC coming our way. Saturday I did door to door campaigning all day. My butt was dragging in the evening. It was good though, if not a little sad. We have a new issue in our township regarding police protection and possibly disbanding the police department all together and going to state police (which is nuts). Anyway, thats all anybody wanted to talk about. And I heard one awful story after another about specific incidents where an individual needed police and how we can't do without police protection. It was depressing to see that most of these stories involved husbands that were beating their wives and/or children and a few molestation stories. It's weird when you get an up close and personal look into the homes on a street that you pass by a million times a month and you realize all of the individual dramas that are going on every day. I'll never see those homes the same way again. I only wish I could have offered more than just words of encouragement.

Sunday I cleaned most of the day. I did the upstairs windows. Window cleaning is a job that really doesn't take much effort but offers immediate and long lasting results. Entire rooms look cleaner when the windows are clean. I add vinegar to my Windex which I swear adds an extra sparkle with the added benefit of giving the faintest hint of pickles. Tomorrow is the election, so I'll be spending the entire day at the polls begging for votes. Wish me luck. I'm not expecting to win, just because our township is overwhelmingly Republican, but I've gotten such good feedback from all of the voters I've talked to. Who know, I might be pleasantly suprised. I look at it as a first step in establishing myself in local politics, regardless of whether I win or lose. My name is out there and people are somewhat familiar with me. I'll be glad when this is over though. I feel like I have no time to do things I enjoy, because any free time I have should be spent campaigning in some form. And I have the overwhelming urge to spend an entire Saturday wandering antique stores or auctions for some reason.