Happy Halloween everybody!

What are your plans for today?

Me, Harriet's trying to talk me into going to Antoinette's costume party. Antoinette invited us about a week ago. I'm not sure if I'm going, especially if Meredith's there like I think she will be.

Last night, somehow, we managed to pull off the 'Thriller' themed Halloween dance. Lindsey's dad let us use his lighting equipment and the smoke machines again. And I won second place in the costume contest, for something I threw together using Elizabeth's meet dress I found in a trunk last spring, and a wig Vee had around here for something else. Wouldn't you know, a boy dressed as Michael Jackson won first prize.

Oh, guess what? I'm going to visit Nicki in Colorado over Christmas break!

I don't think anything can prepare me for that weather. I suppose more than a year in Louisiana has spoiled me, even from PA winters. Nicki says they had over 3 feet of snow, already, and they were afraid they'd lost some of their ranch animals. I'm looking forward to seeing Aunt Joan and Uncle Dan and Adam and the twins, who are now about a year old.

Halloween

So, it was chilly out yesterday, and Kit and I were walking home from the student council meeting. Kit's family bought a house right down the street from me, which is cool. She didn't win her class presidency election (that Kylee Phillips did) but she did become a homeroom rep. Then she asked a question. "Haley, what are you gonna do for Halloween?"

Halloween. Right. Three days away.

I shook my head. I've still got no clue.

My family was never that big on the holiday. Especially mom. She used to call the holiday 'silly' and I think I only went trick-or-treating once, and that was right after mom and dad split up. Dad let me trick-or-treat and eat pretty much all the candy I wanted. Never mind that I was throwing up the next morning cause I was allergic to half of what I ate. So Halloween was never really a big deal for us Hotchkisses.

On top of all that, we've got to throw SOMETHING together for the Halloween dance. Amanda Peters, 8th grader and student body president, wants to do a Thriller-themed haunted house deal, in honor of the death of Michael Jackson over the summer. I do not know how we're gonna pull this off.

Sorry, y'all, for being MIA

That's missing-in-action, not Mia (as in Mia St. Clair, who went to Parkington this year). There's a reason I've been absent from the blogosphere as of late.

Well, guess who got elected seventh grade class president anyway, after all that drama? Yep, yours truly. Here's how it went down.

Caelan's mom got in an accident, so he was forced to drop out of the race. Not that he had any chance of winning, anyway. Maitte Luna (Marisol's sister)'s family moved back to Chicago, so she was out, too. Which left Meredith again running unopposed.

I was not about to sit by and let her walk into the presidency, at least not without a fight. I had talked to Megan and she convinced me that the presidency wouldn't really interfere that much with my new duties at the newspaper. Besides, deep down, even though I said I didn't want the presidency, I lied. I did want it, and I think I'm going to run for student body president if I'm still at Adams next year.

Unlike last year, when the voting was tight and contested, I got elected pretty easily this time. Harriet says I got elected because the kids recognized what a good job I did last year.

Oh, something else happened. I got an email from Hilary, and I have to tell you, she already looks different. She's attending a private school in California now. Harriet thinks she's lost weight, and when Hilary says she's a vegetarian now, you can believe it. Her hair looks like it's shorter as well.

Changed my blog template

It's all Sophie and Maura's fault, I tell you!
I decided my blog needed some jazzing up, thanks to seeing their cool templates on their site. So I decided to have Lindsey, my resident computer guru, spice up my page. Problem is, when she did, all my links went buh-bye.
So, could all of you post your blog addresses again so I could have her redo my links section? Thanks bunches y'all!

Picture Day -- Say Cheese!

Did I tell you I HATE School Picture Day?

I hate it for several reasons, but most of all, that contraption that's up top. That's gonna be in the yearbook this year as me, Haley Hotchkiss.

Meredith and Marisa, those banes of my existence, cut in front of me in the picture line, and they tried to take Antoinette with them. She looked back at me and then at them and decided to stay with me and Harriet.

Oh, and I made another major decision. I decided to run for class president. I figured I was gonna get chosen as a class rep anyway, so why not go for the whole shebang?

So, that's why I've been busy -- newspaper and with devising my class presidency campaign. Since the position remains unfilled, there's nobody to help the student body president plan the back-to-school dance. But this time, I'm not running so that I can win. I'm running so that Meredith Hopkins will lose. Because there's no guarantee that Maitte or Caelan could beat her in an election against her.

Catching up again

I'm sorry I've been so busy here in Haley-land. The paper has pretty much taken all of my time.

The above shot was taken at my birthday party a week and a half ago. I decided to wear the Sapphire Party Dress that Vee had bought sometime last year but I never had an occasion to wear. I was surprised that Antoinette showed up. I did not mention Meredith or ask her why she came to my party.

Hilary left this week (sniff), which has made me sad. Not sure when or if she'll be back. And I still don't know where Kristy is, she's still kinda in limbo at this point.

As for the class presidency, as of right now I'm not in the race. There are, however, two more entrants. One is Maitte Luna, younger sister of Marisol Luna. The other is this boy named Caelan Staub, who hardly says 2 words in class, usually, so I'm definitely surprised that he's decided to run for class president.

I've been neutral in the race and have decided not to support one candidate or the other, but, honestly I don't care who wins as long as it's not Meredith.

Death in the (extended) family

Harriet's great aunt (her grandma's sister) died last night.
She called me at 12:30 this morning to tell me. I doubt she'll be back in school for the rest of the week, especially since her great-aunt lived out of town, so I'm gonna try to get her assignments for her. I don't have all the same classes, so that's not gonna be easy.
I still haven't made up my mind on running for class president, but I'm getting a lot of pressure from both on and offline friends to run, and Megan even suggested I resign my position at the paper to run against Meredith. "There's no way she can coast into office unopposed," Megan said.
Speaking of Meredith, she came by the office today and she's already put out an ad in the paper with her picture on it and the slogan "Hop to Hopkins." Her smug mug already makes me gag.
My party the other night was pretty nice; although Harriet seemed kinda distracted. I now know why. She said her great-aunt actually used to sit for her sometimes. I never actually met the lady but she sounded real sweet.
And I think this explains some of Harriet's strange behavior over the last several weeks. I've already mentioned that she has an incredibly large and close-knit extended family that includes a lot of cousins and the like.
I'll probably go to her house tomorrow or so, if they're home.