Yep. Still crushing on Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy (hey, the guy’s mom’s name is Colleen, and she’s one tough cookie!), and tonight is the premiere for the third season. I’ve got it all DVR’d and ready to go so I don’t miss one single episode.

Are you watching 30 Rock? If you aren’t, you’re really missing out. (Didn’t I tell you about Friday Night Lights? You trusted me on that, didn’t you? So trust me on this.)

So go get your DVR set up. Right now. (I’ll wait.)

Oh, you’re not at home? Okay, then set your cellphone to remind yourself to do it when you get home tonight. Really.

Anyway, I’ve been savoring the last few episodes on DVD for season two, so I haven’t seen the last two of them yet. So I get to watch them and then go right into the third season. Yay!

Now, Music Man and I have been arguing over something in regards to the show. So if you’ve been watching, please weigh in with your opinion.

He thinks that Jack and Liz are going to get together. He thinks Jack’s fascinated by Liz.

I’m not so sure. I think they’re more like brother and sister. (Yeah, he’s fascinated by her…but more in the way I’m fascinated by a spider…from a distance.)

What do you think? (Keep in mind I haven’t seen the last episode from last season yet….)

So after 12 years of motherhood, I’ve got it down to a science.

If the weather is balmy and beautiful on Halloween night, I don a wig or some fake eyelashes or a hat, and go out with the kiddos and Music Man (and the dogs). I trudge through neighbors’ yards and accept a highly selective cache of candy (Take5, Almond Joy, and Skittles top my list).

There are also “adult” treats at various locations along the way–and over the years, Music Man and I have managed to scout out all of them. Certain neighbors have beer or other libations for the adults–if you know the secret password. At the end of one neighborhood block, in a court, all of the houses get together and put up two tables…one for the kids (candy), and one for the adults (jello shots, etc.).

Those are fun nights.

But…if the weather isn’t going to be pleasant (ie, at least 65 and dry), I am forced to stay home and pass out candy and drink hot mulled cider (spiked with butterscotch or apple schnapps of course) while Music Man takes the crew out. Darn. The things I do for my kids. Sigh.

This year, because it’s a Friday, I’m going to put on a big pot of chili and a pot of hot mulled wine, some cornbread, and other noshes. Another family [plus another couple with grown children] is coming over and the men will take all the kids out, and the mothers will stay with me and help me pass out candy….to the five kids we might get.

Oh, the tragedy. We’ll have to amuse ourselves in other ways by sampling the chili and testing the wine.

My only conundrum is this: We don’t get many kids (because we live at the end of a street where no one around us gives out candy, so not many people make it to our end), so invariably, we end up with a lot of candy left over.

So the question is: do I buy candy I don’t like, so I don’t end up eating the left-overs? Or do I buy candy I like, so I enjoy the left-overs? After all, the kids will have plenty of their own loot to enjoy.

Sigh. The trials and tribulations of being a Halloween Mom.

I have to share this really bad joke that my kids have been snickering about for days, and that I can’t help laughing over every time I hear it.

Please feel free to share your own groaners, too. Everyone needs a groan-laugh on the Tuesday before this interminable election is over.

So, here goes:

Q: Why did SpongeBob go to Detroit?

A: Because he heard Kwame killed Patrick.

*snort* *gasp* *giggle*

(Do you have to be from Michigan to get the reference to Detroit’s philandering, lying, perjuring mayor Kwame Kilpatrick?) (Or do you have to have kids who watch SpongeBob to get it?)

All-righty then. Share your bad joke that’ll make me groan. I deserve it, don’t I?

Well, Music Man and I attended a vampire ball on Saturday night. It was quite an experience! The musical guest was Voltaire, and we stayed for part of his show. Anyone know Voltaire?

Here are a couple of pictures of us before we left for the ball. My daughter isn’t the best photographer, so the one of me and Music Man is très blurry, but at least you get the idea. (I’m hoping to get my hands on the pics that my father in law took, so we’ll see.)

Did anyone else go to a fun Halloween party on Saturday? (It seemed to be the night for such parties.) Tell, tell, tell!