All you holy men and women, pray for us.

(Feast day information and ideas at Catholic Culture.)

Would you believe this hen still mothers these monstrously huge chicks? She sits on her “babies” every night to keep them warm. I believe there is a lesson in here somewhere for me, but I am not listening.

There are lots of cute, easy, do-able ideas for last minute Halloween costumes here and for All Saints costumes here. Not that I’m in a last minute panic or anything. I just happen to know about these links. I had all our beautifully complicated costumes ready ages ago. Of course I did.

so I am re-posting this fun link where your kids can carve an online pumpkin. No mess! Don’t forget to click “done” when you’re done to see your Jack-o-Lantern glow.

is sitting through someone else’s movie pick. All 143 minutes of it. Yes, I counted.

I tend to be a Frugal Franny. If I can possibly find one, I will buy the store brand of just about any household product you can think of. Just this weekend I happened to be shopping at a store where they were out of the generic brand mouthwash. I wound up spending almost $6.00 on a bottle of mouthwash. It almost killed me. But at least my teeth will be white.

But Frugal Franny goes out the window when it comes to dishwasher detergent. Dan laughs at me, but it really is true: I would rather wash my dishes by hand than use store brand dishwasher detergent. It’s a long and rather unpleasant story involving clumps, goo, and waking up to a dishwasher filled with greasy dishes where sparkling ones were meant to be. I’ll spare you the ugly details, but the bottom line is this: I’ll use Electrasol in a pinch, but if I get my way, I gotta have Cascade. And not a big dumb box of powder, either. I must have the fancy little pillow packs. I need the fancy little pillow packs. They are so very clean and efficient. They never let me down.

Enlighten us. What are your favorite household products? What name brands can’t you live without?

Outdoor temperature: 37 degrees

What’s for dinner: Grilled chicken

They won. It’s over. Let’s go to bed.

This game has been a real snoozer … for some of us. Gabby zonked out ages ago and was carried to her bed with great success. Daniel has been to bed, and up again, and to bed, and up again, and back to bed. I think the screams of the fans keep waking him. Raphael fell asleep almost mid-sentence telling me that he was … not … tired. I carried him to bed where he woke up to tell me again that he was … not … tired. Two minutes with his Mama lying next to him, however, proved otherwise.

Now it is 12:50 am, I’ve got a living room full of enthralled children, the Red Sox are winning 10-5, and like any true fan, I am wondering: Can’t they just end this thing already? I am pretty sure Manuela is asleep.