Been Busy, Busy!

Sorry folks, but I've been wildly busy. I just landed a gig writing for startcooking.com that has been taking up a bit of my time...aside from my real full-time gig, that is. So, I'm thinking about tofu recipes and coming up with ideas on how to jazz up hot chocolate. It's a really great site, actually. So I was instantly attracted to the work even though I really don't have the time to write any more than I already am.

Anyhoo, Halloween came and went and wouldn't you know that not a single kid came to our house! No one sent this new resident the We-Schlep-Our-Kids-To-Other-Neighborhoods memo. It finally dawned on me and I grabbed my Transformer clad 4-year old and we headed over to the brightly lit Cureton subdivision which was mobbed with so many kids that half the homes we went to told us they had run out of candy! Meanwhile, that left me with gobs of tootsie rolls to eat from my own bowl. Ah well, now we know the trick or treating drill for next year.

But for the 30 minutes we were searching for candy on our block, I finally met some new neighbors I hadn't seen before simply because the homes are so far apart and heavily wooded that we can hardly see each other. I did find out from my neighbor directly across the street that he's putting up his house for sale in January to his long-time second home in Florida. So, if you're interested in buying a house with a front porch on about 2 acres of land in the Marvin school district for around the $450k range, give me a shout and maybe you can run over to my neighbor before he hooks up with a realtor. It's amazing what you learn when you just talk to folks.

The weather has gotten nippy in the mornings here, but the sun warms things up on the back deck by mid-afternoon. We're having a splendid fall here in Charlotte, but we're still in need of more rain since we're still in a bad drought. The leaves have been slow to change color with all the lack of rain.

I've gotta head back to NY in a few weeks for a wedding, and then to Philly for a biz trip. I haven't had a good cheesesteak in years, so I'm looking forward to it. In the middle of all that, my father-in-law is coming to Charlotte for Thanksgiving, and he's already telling us he may move here.

Looks like we've got another one coming down!