Trick-or-Treat

Tonight was trick-or-treat in our neighborhood...don't ask me why.  It makes absolutely no sense.  And it was FREEZING!  I had to work until after trick-or-treat started at 6:00, so Greg set up shop next door with the neighbors.  We were bums this year and didn't dress up or even decorate all that much, but Benjie & Steff went all out!  They made their costumes and Steff looked awesome!  Benjie made his mouse head out of a hamster ball and styrofoam. 

 

 
They had a pumpkin carving party Monday night, so they had lots of pumpkins to decorate their yard with.  Greg went over there while Mom and I took Grandma to dinner for her birthday and then we came back to the house for presents and cake. 

Now...my 911 story.  It's Monday morning and with a co-worker on paternity leave, I have had so much work to do.  We also just recently hired a young girl fresh out of college, and I hate to say it, but I don't think she has any idea what she's doing.  She IM's me Monday morning and says - I'm working on a site that has to be reviewed this afternoon and I'm freaking out because I completely screwed it up - please help!  So, I basically drop everything else I'm doing to try and fix this site.  And she was right - she really screwed it up.  I come across a problem that's going to be a real pain to fix and I'm so frustrated that I lean back in my chair, look up at the ceiling, put my hands up in the air and say, "Just shoot me!".  I take a deep sigh and get back to work.  No more than 5 minutes later (and I'm not exaggerating) I heard this insanely loud boom that sounded like it was right outside my window.  It literally shook my house.  I immediately think it's a gunshot and I drop to the ground, crawl into my bedroom scream for the dogs to come upstairs because I am certain that someone has just been shot and the killer is coming for us.  The dogs are barking their heads off and my heart is racing.  I'm too scared to look out the windows because I'm positive that the shooter will see me and shoot me.  So I'm sitting on the floor in front of the foot board of my bed and I'm debating what to do.  I have my phone in my hand and finally I say screw it and I call 911.  The dispatcher gets on the phone and I start rambling, "I live at ___ and I just heard an incredibly loud boom and I think it was..." and she stops me and asks me what city I live in.  I tell her and she transfers me to my police.  As soon as they answer, I started my rant again and they tell me that they are going to send a cop out.  As soon as I hung up the phone, I felt like a complete idiot, so I called my parents so that they could reaffirm my decision to call.  I didn't really think about the fact that the cop was going to want to talk to me...so I'm sitting in my robe talking to my dad when he comes up to my door, so I threw on some sweats and ran to the door to tell him what happened.  He said that he would look around and talk to some people.  His car was out front for about 20 minutes and then he drove away.  Then I called Greg...and he told me how silly I was to call 911, so I'm feeling pretty dumb.  It's about 10:30 by now, so I text my neighbor, Steff, to see if she heard it, too.  Hours go by and finally sometime around 2:00, she texts me back and informs me that our new neighbor (that live on the other side of Benjie and Steff) decided to set off some kind of homemade bomb out in the street.  She was getting ready to leave right as he set it off and she said she screamed so loud that she was surprised I didn't hear her.  She said when he saw her, he just started laughing about it.  The good news...I stopped feeling like an idiot for calling the cops.  The bad news...we have a new neighbor that apparently likes to set off bombs.  These are also the new neighbors that never put their dog on a leash and it is constantly down my yard making Bubby and Phil nuts!  The dog poops in Benjie & Steff's yard all the time, so they have just started flinging it back into their yard.  The best part...he stopped by with his daughter for trick-or-treat tonight and told Benjie and Steff to let them know the next time they are having a party so they can come over.

I probably told this story 6 times that day to all of my family members...and they all got a big laugh out of it, but it really did scare the crap out of me!  Later that night, Grandma was opening her presents, when all of the sudden...Boom!  It wasn't nearly as loud as the one I had heard, but still, we knew exactly what it was.  A few seconds later...Boom!  I couldn't believe it!  I haven't heard anything since, which is good - but I swear - the next time I do, I am calling my police department and I am telling them exactly who it is and what they are doing!  Seriously...who does that?!?