I've been TRICKED!

I cannot believe that this weekend is Halloween. Seriously. Part of my disbelief is due to the frantic rush of finishing A BREATH OF MAGIC and turning the book in. Because everything else in my life pretty much stopped during the last weeks of writing.

Part of my disbelief stems from the fact that I've been dealing with a miserable cold/flu for the past 12 days. Thankfully, I think I'm almost over it. But come on, who pays attention to the calendar when they're begging the headache gods to give them a little relief? Not me, that's for sure.

The rest of my disbelief lies in the fact that how can another year have sped by so quickly? I remember last Halloween like it was...well, like it happened yesterday. I remember taking the twins shopping for costumes, and I remember the argument over said costumes, and I remember explaining to them why they had to wear a coat for trick or treating.

It couldn't have been a year ago.

But apparently, it was.

So this Halloween has swooped in without me really even being aware of it. We haven't carved pumpkins yet--heck, we haven't even BOUGHT pumpkins yet, I don't have one bag of candy in the house to hand out, and I had to look up our local trick or treat date/times this morning. Because I seriously didn't have a clue. We have, however, taken care of costumes. So that's done, at least.

The thing is, because I sort of view Halloween as the opening number to the concert of winter holidays, I'm already feeling behind. In a few short weeks it will be Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, and then New Years. I am so not prepared.

So. Not. Prepared.

And I like to be prepared. Normally, by now, I know what we're doing on Thanksgiving, and I have already begun making lists for Christmas shopping. I've had the carpets cleaned and I'm thinking about when I want to drag out the Christmas decorations (yes, seriously, I really do like to plan ahead). But I've done none of this yet.

Even more to the point, I don't WANT to do any of this yet. I feel like I need at least two more weeks before Halloween. Which brings me to the point of this post. I feel like I've been tricked. That somehow, someone pressed a fast forward button, and time has zipped forward much faster than normal.

It can't be Halloween this weekend. But it is.

I'm not prepared. At all.

And...um...yeah, I think that says it all.