Last Day of NaPalmBloUpMe

Welp. The day is finally here. Last day that I HAVE to post. (doing little dance in my chair right now) Tweren't so bad as I thought it would be.

December is upon us and it is time for me to decorate. I don't believe I will be putting lights upon my house this year. Unless I can con a man to do it for me. I'll keep you informed. But I will spruce up the inside with Christmas cheer where I can. Maybe after I post this, I'll go pull out all the stuff. Then probably get a case of the bah-humbugs and put it all back.

31 days and beginning to count down now...

Yesterday

Had a really good evening yesterday. I watched the Season Finale of Dancing With The Stars (on ABC.com) and a very good friend and I ate pumpkin pie and drank hot cocoa. Mine had marshmallows in it. Sometimes I forget how well this man knows me, yet he always seems to find a way to remind me.

Oh, and J, when you read this... bottom right hand without a visual marker, and in the "O".

Made a special trip to Market Street where my son works to go over some insurance paperwork he had received and while I was there I picked up a few things. One of which was some artichoke heart chicken salad that their deli makes. It is, quite simply, to die for. Lunch was scrumptious.

Going to be a lazy evening tonight. I'm looking forward to it.

The Joys of Christmas Past

Looks like I missed another post yesterday. I actually didn't even know I had missed it until I logged on this morning. Sorry about that. I suppose I'll double post again today to make it up to all of you! Yeah, it WOULD be better if I actually had something interesting to say, but I don't.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had hooked up my old hard drive and had been digging in that a while back. Well... I dug in it a little more yesterday and all of the old photos I thought I had somehow not copied over from my other computer, I found. It brought back some interesting memories and feelings.

Some of the pictures I found are of Christmas, 2003. This was a Christmas that was kind of a big deal to me, even though it was 4 years ago. It's hard for me to imagine that it's been 4 years already...

In November of 2002, the love of my life and I decided to move in together. Seeing as how I had been divorced since 1990, this was a huge step for me. For years, my family would have Christmas at one of the family's homes so that one person didn't have to stress about it year after year. After Christmas 2002, and since I now had a family of my own, I decided that Christmas of 2003 was going to be mine.

I hadn't remembered much from that Christmas that I hosted... until I found these photos. It brought back memories of how it felt to live with S. and how absolutely in love with that man I was. I smiled fondly looking upon the pictures of my dining room before I had completed the remodel, yet not long after I decided I couldn't stand the way the dining room wallpaper looked ANY MORE! Which is why the drywall is prevalent in some of these photos. Why I thought I could finish the remodel before Christmas arrived, I still don't understand. And it actually didn't get finished for a while, since 7 days after I hosted my first family Christmas, my world pretty much blew apart. Possibly the main reason I don't remember this Christmas very well. Of course, looking at the horrendous dining room, no wonder S. left me.

I remember that Jynxy had just come into the family, so he was still a kitten. I remember the disaster that was my crock-pot hot chocolate. I remember how happy I was that day. I remember how perfect everything felt.

For those that may not know, I did eventually crawl out of my hole and finish the kitchen. I'm adding some photos of the finished product just to show you that no matter how much we may not want it to, the world keeps moving on. I really miss my dining room / kitchen.

My Son And My Niece:


Spazz And Jynx On The Christmas Table:


My Grandmother Not Long After She Broke Her Hip (This was the only time I have ever seen her in a wheel chair. She will be 104 in January and still walks upright)And My Dad:


The Christmas Table And The Drywall (Note the over abundant cat accessories pushed under the table):


My Mom With A Background Of The Beginnings Of The Texture Process I Had Started:


My Sister-In-Law And My Niece:


The Finished Product:

Day 27 of BloMeNaPo

After 27 days of trying to come up with something to say that someone might be interested in reading, I've come to the conclusion that there is no point to this whole post every day for an entire month. Unless you are into stressing out or are overly competitive. I'm not into either. But come round next year if I still have this blog up and running, I'll do it again. Not sure why. I didn't really learn anything other then I'm able to babble on about absolutely nothing day in and day out. I think if I had someone who I lived with that I could work off of... you know... a daily insult of my significant other, what he did that was stupid that day... or a 5 year old. But I don't. Just my cats. And me. Can't really talk about work. Nothing interesting there happening anyway, unless you count the gossip and the he said / she said stuff. But I'm of the opinion that stuff like that should stay behind closed doors.

December will start my Xmas countdown and the last cigarette countdown. Both of which should make for at least a bit of semi-entertainment in the blog. And after the last smoke, which I will probably share in great detail, we have the withdrawal blog posts. I KNOW you are all excited about those.

Now go tell someone that you love, that you love them.

The Cowboys

I got a suggestion in my email for a blog topic. "How great the Cowboys are".

I googled 'the cowboys' and got a bunch of responses for a John Wayne movie.

I know nothing of the Cowboys this year. Except I think they have more wins then losses so far. So... Go Cowboys!

Can you tell I'm a big football watcher?

Yeah... I'm really not.

But I do like pizza. Not that there is much in common with pizza and the Cowboys except maybe more people eat pizza during a football game. Maybe. I'm not really sure since the John Wayne movie information didn't really say a lot about it.

Mmmm... pizza. I think I need to order one.

How many more days for this NaPoBlowMe left?

Empty

I have absolutely nothing to blog about today. I put it off till this evening just so I might encounter something to write about. It didn't happen. But it made me wonder if there comes a point in being a blogger where you just run out of stuff to say. Where you dot the end of a sentence and just know... there is nothing else to write about.

It's cold outside. I'm warm and cozy inside. 30 days till Christmas.

Campfire Buddies

I could say several things about this photo. Number one... my house is really not as cold as these guys make it out to be. This was this morning, but right now, it's a cozy 67 where I'm sitting. But I just woke up and by the time I leave for work, it will probably be over 70 in here. My little stoves work well.

Second, lets go ahead and inform Jynxy... YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! But hey... as long as he's comfortable, I guess that's all that matters, right?

You would think, being the cat person that I am, I would have a bed for each of these guys. Well... I once did. But sometimes Jynx gets an attitude and pees on things that are just sitting there asking to be peed on. Actually, we've only had a couple of instances with him and for the most part, he's a pretty good boy. I've got two more perfectly good beds that can't be used right now. I'm thinking of trying to wash them, but I'm not sure if they are washable. I will be investigating further. This bed you see was donated by my not-so-local animal shelter. Three of the cats in the picture came from the city I work for, so sometimes I get special treats from our animal control officer for being such a kind and responsible pet owner.

If it were but 5 degrees colder here, we would have feet of snow on the ground. As it is, it has been rainy for most of the day (the part I was awake for) and we have quite a lot moving in still. It's about 8pm now and I'm curious as to how cold it will get tonight and if this rain will turn into the white stuff. I love snow. It just reminds me of days of my youth and it's just so pretty when everything is covered. We had several snow days last year, and I'm hoping with the early snow on Thanksgiving, it is a precursor to another snowy year. I hope so.

May I suggest a pan full of simmering water, a few dashes of cinnamon, a few dashes of cloves, a few dashes of nutmeg, and a splash or two of vanilla to make your house a little less dry and to make it smell wonderful this holiday season. Sometimes I'll even had pumpkin pie spice as well. Just make sure you keep adding water and keep an eye on the pan ever so often.

Now off for thanksgiving leftovers as I am currently experiencing several brown outs and I need to shut down. I think I heard the sound of a transformer blowing in the distance as well.

Hypothyroidism

I was diagnosed with this over a year ago. Actually... I think it's been about two years now. It is something that is easily treated, once the right amount of meds are found. Some days, though... some days are just hard.

I originally went to the doctor because I couldn't get out of bed. Literally. All I wanted to do was sleep. I would get up and go to work (if I hadn't called in sick that day) sleep on my lunch hour, get home and go back to bed and sleep till the next morning. After about a week of this, I finally got into the doctor and SURPRISE, your metabolism is shot and you were heading for a coma. So I'm on medication but there are still some days, like yesterday, where all I want to do is be in bed. This is way beyond my normal laziness, though. Needless to say, aside from a quick trip to my parent's house, I stayed in bed. This doesn't happen very often any more. But I do still have my days. Maybe it was too much turkey that brought it on. Either way, I failed to post yesterday, so I will post for you twice today.

I'm not making an excuse for not posting... I'm just sayin'... sleeping was top priority yesterday. I'm fine today, though. :-)

Now... everybody get the sound of Homer Simpson in their heads and think of him singing Spider Pig as you gaze upon Spider Cat:

Thanksgiving Day

Tuesday night I was looking for a blank VHS tape to record House for my daughter. I don't have any blank tapes, but I use to tape everything, so I was just throwing tapes in the old VCR and trying to find one that I didn't mind taping over. In the process... I found a treasure. In the midst of about a hundred non-labled VHS tapes, I found one that contained home movies of my children when they were very young. Christmas, Easter and various preschool plays. I haven't watched beyond that, because my sentimental heart was about to burst. I had a friend at work tell me you can get stuff like this put on a disc and I think I'm going to have to look in to that, no matter the expense. This tape is just too precious to my heart to lose. I will be taking this tape, along with a box of Kleenex to my parent's house today to show my mom.

I just can't express how seeing my children again so young has made me feel. It is the most surreal feeling in the world. I'm so thankful that I have been blessed with seeing my children grow up, yet to see them so young again makes me wish I could go back to that time and stay there forever... where no one had to grow up. I think all three of us had such young and untainted hearts at that time. Looking back, I just don't think I appreciated that time enough. I know I did, but 20 years later I just can't help feeling this way. Do my parents think the same things looking at old photographs? Do they remember, as I remembered tonight, their youth, their precious children when they were still children and holding them and feeding them and do they yearn, as I did watching that video, that they could do it all over again?

There is footage of both of my brothers, my Nanny who was still sprite enough to get around without a walker and who was still able to see well, my mother, my dad, and me in my early 20's.

This year I'm especially thankful for my family. I am always thankful, but after watching us all... it is even more so. I'm thankful for finding that video when I did.

Happy Thanksgiving all. May you find your youth in pictures or videos of your childhood and may you hold on to that this holiday season.

***

Thanksgiving was wonderful today. It snowed... and iced a little. But it was beautiful. What little of the video my mom watched was as wonderful as I would have thought. My kids didn't want any part of watching themselves at that age and I don't understand why. Maybe it is one of those things that they will only be able to appreciate when they have kids of their own. I'm just not sure. I'm sad that they don't understand how much it means to me now, though. And I believe I embarrassed my son by playing it and that was not my intention at all. Again... maybe someday he will understand. Anyone who knows me at all, knows how much my kids mean to me. I could go on for pages and page with detailed accounts on how much I love those guys. but I won't.

I hope your day was just as fantastic!

I loath grocery shopping. My refrigerator shows it. But I have a couple of things I am going to make and take to my parent's house for Thanksgiving and seeing as how I don't keep marshmallows and a can of pumpkin on hand for every day use, I had to go buy some.

My first destination was Wal-Mart. Love the prices, hate the store. To me, it is just too big. It overwhelms me to the point that I avoid it like a visit to the gynecologist. Neither of which, I should avoid. I ended up at Target because there is always less people and the store is smaller and I just like the atmosphere better. You pay just a little more, but in the end, the trip ended up not being bad at all, I got everything I needed without having to search rows and rows and endless rows like I would have at Wal-Mart. Target is my most favorite store, EVER!

The cold front moved in within the last hour. Winds from the North gusting to 20 mph with an overcast sky. Three rain drops hit my windshield and from the looks of the radar, no more rain in sight. I love cold and rainy days the best. I really was wanting it to rain.

My lazy neighbors have their Christmas lights up already. He's been working on them for the past three days. I have to say, for all their laziness, their yard always looks nice and the lights he put up are really pretty and well done. I should think nicer things about them.

I wish everyone who reads this a very happy day tomorrow. Think of things to be thankful for and then share your thoughts with someone to see what they are thankful for as well.

This next picture I must preface with an explanation. I've sent you three different pictures that have as their subject my cats sitting atop doors. What I've witnessed, is them jumping onto a screen door, then climbing their way up to the top of the open door. Every person who has seen these photos has asked me... how do they get up there? I give them the screen door explanation. I'm writing this blog just now and I hear a bunch of noise coming from the kitchen area. Some day, when I hear strange noises, I'm going to learn to just go ahead and grab the camera beforehand because I have always needed it when the noises start. Needless to say, I failed to grab my camera this time as well and as I rounded the corner to see what was up, I thought my head was going to es-plode from what I saw. This is a picture of my back door. There is no screen on this door. It is wood... and glass. On the BACK of the door, there is a metal grating. The noises I heard sounded like nails on a chalkboard. After listening to it for a little bit, I finally had to investigate. This is what I saw:


Who needs to struggle with blog content when you have cats?

The Bachelor

Well... terrible, terrible ending to the Bachelor. I won't go into the gory details for those of you who don't watch this show, but in the end the guy is suppose to pick a girl after kicking off a total of 24 before her and he didn't pick any of them. He said good-bye to the final two, broke their hearts and in the end didn't choose any of them. What a complete waste of my time... not that it would have been a good waste of time had he chose someone. I didn't know he had the choice to not pick anyone.

So Winter is suppose to come knocking again tomorrow afternoon and be nice and chilly for Thanksgiving. I had to sleep with my air conditioner again yesterday... but a lot of that had to do with the neighbor's roof.

I need to make a trip to Walmart to get supplies for turkey day. Tomorrow will be the last chance I have to do that. I was going to go this morning, but one of the guys I work with kept me awake all night, so I'm more sleepy then usual. I'll actually have a house guest Thursday night and seeing as how I have nothing in this house to feed anyone aside from my cats, I should really pick up a few things in the feed my kid department as well. She said we are going to do girly things. I forgot how to do that.

Cricket has discovered that she can do the new fun thing on the back porch as well:



I'm seriously, seriously thinking of doing this to my house:

kat wallks

My life's desire is to become an eclectic old lady with a lot (but not too many) cats in a house that I own that I can just go off the deep end and delve into my hidden artistic weirdness and go crazy on the inside. Those cat wallks go right in with my theme. I am SO going to do this one day.

20 Things I've Learned In Life So Far:

1. Gravity is NOT my friend.
2. Life IS fair if you know how to look at it.
3. If every 5 years I asked myself, "Am I where I expected to be in life?", the answer will always be and has always been, no.
4. Family is the greatest gift that life will give you.
5. It may not be what you want, but it will always be what you need.
6. Some friendships are fleeting and only meant to last a short time, but the memories will last forever.
7. It is impossible to keep your children from growing up.
8. Having a young heart and an old body is just weird feeling.
9. You can choose to be happy.
10. Just because you want to play the guitar, doesn't mean you will be able to.
11. The hotness that is Johnny Depp was not so hot when he was younger.
12. Hearts actually CAN be broken.
13. There are very few considerate drivers where I live and work.
14. Some days, life just sucks.
15. Laura Lee is K.A. and J. loves me.
16. I know that my kitties love me as much as I love them.
17. Life keeps rolling on, no matter what.
18. I have a weird over sensitivity to shiny and sparkley things. They draw me like a magnet.
19. Roller Coaster Tycoon is my all time favorite computer game.
20. My neighbors are getting a new roof and sleeping today is going to be impossible.

If you watch no other videos today, you must watch these:
The cat and the blanket

Perfect Kodak moment

Laugh, smile, love... life is too short not to be happy.

Loooobeeees

I'm unbelievably excited about Monday evening. It is the season finale of The Bachelor. You may remember my post about all the TV shows I'm vesting my time in, well, The Bachelor has become one of my top favorite. I've only watched one other season and that was the very first season it was on. I like the whole romance aspect of the show, plus I like seeing the really mean and fake girls get the boot. The only reason I'm watching it this season is because the guy's from Austin. I seem to have an Austin thing going on this year.

My mom called this morning and she has just decided, for the first time in years, that we will be having Thanksgiving at home with Turkey and stuffing and family time. In the recent past... I don't know... the last 5 or 6 years, I think, our family has congregated to our local Luby's to have our family dinner. This has made life easier on all of us, actually. But this morning, my mom was talking with friends and they convinced her we should do it at home this year and she really feels good about it. I'm really, really excited. I mean, I was excited before, because I always enjoy spending time with my family since I don't get to see them that often. But it's going to be nice to be able to kick my shoes off and just relax and not have to worry about being in public... which is funny that I write that here because my mom and I talked about my lack of interest of leaving my house, as well. I may or may not blog about that later. So, yay! for family time soon.

My Doorbell Is Haunted

There is nothing more disconcerting as when it is 2 am and your doorbell rings. For people who are a couple, this is a bit easier I would think, since there would be a witness to anything bad that might happen. But when you live alone, sleeping in bed with various felines draped over different parts of your body, you are sound asleep, and the doorbell rings, it can pump up your adrenalin so that after you get up, grab your phone, turn on every light outside of the house and look out all the windows, it's hard to get back to sleep. Why I was worried, really, still baffles me in the light of day. And here is why:

When my parents lived here, my dad installed a nice doorbell package. It is one of those wireless setups to make installation easier. The front doorbell ring is different then the back doorbell ring. Since the back door is used more often by family members (its the door we always went in when we were young and coming to see my Nanny) my Dad thought it appropriate that there be a bell back there as well. When I first moved in here, the back doorbell button's battery died and I've yet to find the kind of battery that goes in it. It's a weird stubby 12 volt thingy. So I took it down so people who came to see me didn't sit out there and push the back door bell and never get a response because the battery was dead. So last night, I believe the bell that sounded was the back door bell, which is always odd since there isn't a button back there. But in my sleep muddled brain, I second guessed what I had heard and then I wasn't sure which one I REALLY heard. So 2am turned into 4am before I was finally able to get back to sleep. Some days, being single becomes too obvious.

They both have randomly gone off before. Even my Mom was telling me about them going off in the middle of the night while they were here. Doesn't make it any better when it happens, though. I thought at one point that humidity was the cause. Seeing as how there wasn't any high humidity at 2am this morning, that theory was blown. I'm sure it has something to do with radio waves of some type and someone driving by or something. I dunno. But it makes me wonder how often it really goes off at night since I'm not here most nights.

It's back to work tonight and I just wish I had another two days off. There's nothing I really need to get done, but I just wish I had them off anyway.

I like this time of year because everyone loves each other as they snuggle by the fire:




And Spazz is ALWAYS by the fire this time of year!

I'm In Flotation Mode

I am totally in love with Imogen Heap. Her approach to music is wonderfully different and her talent is obvious, as seen in this video: Click here to see greatness

We are at the halfway point in November. Already. Which means I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it's going to be Christmas. Yesterday the wind was BLOWING and this morning I woke up and thought someone had put me in a freezer because I fell asleep with the windows open and when I awoke, it was 40 degrees outside. The last week it's been in the 70s during the day and 60s at night. But we've had no rain, which surprises me since I'm very attuned to when it's going to rain. (I'll elaborate one day) But today dawned very cool and very sunny and the winds are calm and I think the high is only suppose to be around 65 or so. Should make for a nice day. I REALLY need to get outside and do some branch clean up after all the winds. And my yard could stand another go around with the mower... just to cut down the weeds, though. Grass has quit growing for the season.

When one is poor, they will find ingenious ways to get the supplies they need to stay alive. Honestly, I don't consider myself poor at all. I have a steady paycheck that comes in twice a month, I have the internet, I have a roof over my head and anyone that knows me, knows I'm not starving. Yeah, it's tuff having kids and paying for those kids is something I've never ever felt obliged to do, but willing to do because I love them so. I would give them everything I have if I needed to. My son, being the independent that he is, has made things easier on me by having a full time job. He's a hard working kid and he will never want for anything because of his hard work... no matter what he decides to do. My daughter... well... my daughter has yet to find her niche in the work field. With her classes this year, it's left her not able to work except on weekends and although this gives her a little money for gas and food, it leaves her nothing for anything else. I agreed this past year that I would be able to pay for her apartment each month. And I can... but it leaves me with no room for anything extra and saving up for Christmas is just not going to happen this year. Anyway... the whole point to this explanation is this:

When I'm running low on funds and I have nothing left in the house to eat and I'm HONGRY, I'll call up Pizza Hut and they will bring me food in exchange for a piece of paper that they call a check. This is what you would call, floating a check. In the olden days, you could float checks to the grocery store, your bills, or just about anyone. It's all part of living from paycheck to paycheck and I've perfected this through-out my life. As most of you might know, you can't float checks like you use to. Regardless of the piece of paper that you hand someone, now it's taken electronically from your account right then and if you ain't got no funds in da bank, you ain't be gettin no groceries or anything else for that matter. Simple as that. Our illustrious pizza delivery boys don't carry around check machines, so floating a check to the pizza guy is easy. I order my pizza online these days. I like to order online because I can take my time and choose exactly what I want and change my mind a lot without having to worry about pissing someone off who has better things to do then listen to me hem and haw about what I might want. I really like this. So I order me a nice hot pizza from the Pizza Hut guys and I await my food. It arrives and I hand the guy my check, which I've done many, many times before and he says to me, "Did they not tell you we can't accept checks because our check machine is down?" And I'm like... "I ordered online, so I never talked to anyone and no one called." And the delivery guy is feeling all bad because he can see that my face is drawn with hunger and that I'm looking at him like a cartoon character who hasn't eaten in a month and is visualizing him as a roast turkey. So I try the old, "Dude, I order from you guys all the time and I've never bounced a check." And he looks at the ticket and I guess it says how many times I've ordered with them and he said, "yeah, I can see that you have." So he tells me to call the manager and see if it's all cool that he goes ahead and gives me my food, because really, what the heck are they going to do with the pizza except for throw it away or give it away later? If they take my check now, they can always process the check when their machine comes back up, right? The manager said no. I thanked him nicely, apologized sincerely to the pizza guy because not only will he not get his 4 dollar tip that I included in the check, but he probably won't get his run money for the delivery and the more I thought about this whole thing, the more stupid it became in my head. The LAST time I ordered from Pizza Hut was for my daughter and I. After ordering, and after waiting an hour and a half with no response I called the store and they said they were out of black olives and tried to call but no one answered so we just got dropped. No one ever called my phone. It was sitting right in front of me the whole time. So... after these two past instances, I've decided that Pizza Hut, although I love their pizza above all others, will no longer be getting my business. I called Papa Johns last night, by the way, and was eating hot pizza and yummy cheese sticks for less the price in about 30 minutes after the order was given. And it was really good. The Pizza Hut delivery guy DID leave the 2 liter of Pepsi for my troubles. I wish I had the 4 dollar tip in cash that I was going to give him on the check for being so nice and knowing how stupid his manager was, but alas... that's the whole point of floating a check.

This is hilarious! Please click this link! You will be glad you did.

24 - The unaired Pilot.

Cricket is feeling much better. Back to her running around and tearing crap up ways. But I'm okay with that. I like her better this way. I get a-skerd when my little ones don't feel well.

Speaking of the little ones... they are telling me it is time for naps. So naps it shall be.

Butterflies And Bumble Bees

I've been sitting here with this page up staring out the window and trying to come up with a witty topic for today's post.

The window is open and there is a soft breeze blowing in. The pink and white Lantana that is growing outside of this window is still in bloom and there are a butterfly and a bumble bee relishing the beautiful morning with dew kissed flowers. It's hard to imagine that at any moment, I could have my heater on and be freezing my bo-hiney off.

I've become accustomed to the sounds of construction going on. The big church across the way is becoming even bigger.

I need to take a picture. It's so big it is ungodly. I understand about the congregation getting bigger and needing more space... but seriously... quit trying to impress me with your lavishness. It doesn't work.

But this morning there is a distinct lack of noise outside and it is very noticeable. There's a small dog barking in the distance... small engine airplane going over. No car sounds. No lawn mowers. No outside vacuum thingys being used. It's nice.

So... anyway... uhm... yeah...this would normally be a day I don't post anything. ;)

Makin' Bread

...or making biscuits. Call it what you will... there is nothing more comforting to most cats AND peoples then when they start lovin' on you. I like this video not only for the picture part, but I really, really likee this song, too.



My Cricket is not feeling well. She was down yesterday, as well. It almost appears as if she's scared... but I think she is just sick. Haven't seen her eat today, but I did catch her drinking some water, so that's always a good sign. She didn't even want her banky yesterday and that really worried me. But I got her to go to it this morning.

I have to go to bed, so I'm heading there now. The sleepies have about gotten me. Ya'll have a great day!

Nosy Neighbor

A few of my neighbors are multi-motorized-yard-tool owners. For example: I watched the female part of one of my neighbors rake her yard into this pretty impressive pile of leaves. Then she came back with one of those outdoor vacuums that suck up dead leaves from your yard and proceeded to spend the next 30 to 45 minutes sucking that big pile into this tiny bag that she had to change often. I'm thinking it would have been faster to just scoop up the pile of leaves that she had already raked and dump them in a trash bag by hand... but I guess if she were to have done that, she'd have missed the chance to use the out-door vacuum. The neighbor next to her was out using HIS outdoor vacuum. His had a bigger bag, and he didn't go about hand raking prior to sucking. His way makes more sense to me. I mean, seriously... I thought the whole idea behind motorized yard tools, was to get stuff done faster and easier than you actually could do something by hand. Maybe I'm just a moron.

I'm a pretty good nosy neighbor. I have no true facts of any of my neighbors, really, so I'll sit on my back porch and make stuff up about where they are going and who that is visiting their home. I have named all of them, as well.

I have barking dog neighbor, whose dog will bark anytime anyone comes within a certain distance of his yard, which I really like because you always know when someone is around. This dog never barks otherwise. They have two small children (both girls, I think). I like the way the dad talks to them. He seems like he really loves those kids and it's always nice to hear them interacting. I don't think I've ever seen the mom but maybe a couple of times. They live on my east side.

Then there's lawnmower neighbor who lives to my south. He's named because he REALLY likes his riding lawn mower and is out frequently using it. And I would, too. I'm rather jealous of him and his riding lawnmower. His yard is huge, so it takes a while to mow, the mower is really loud... but the coolest part is how fast this thing is. I'm use to my small poky riding lawn mower and I'll watch his... I swear he gets that thing up to 50mph at some points. They are an older couple with at least one grown daughter. I have actually verbalized with him, but not his wife, a couple of times. And we always wave.

At the north point, I have the new neighbors. They moved in a few months after I did. They are a younger couple, no kids... and at times there's a lady that lives there who has to be a lesbian. Don't ask me why I say this because I'm not really sure why I think this, but I strongly do. I've decided that she is the man's lesbian aunt and on occasion, her and her life partner have a spat and she comes and stays with him for a couple of weeks until nobody is mad any more. She's probably 50ish. The couple are probably in their late 20's, early 30's. Right now,though, there is a younger boy... probably in his early 20's who is at LEAST 7 feet tall living there. This kid is TALL! I'm thinking he is the female's younger brother. And I don't think this couple is married. And I think she is either Hawaiian or Samoan.

On my west side I have lazy neighbors, night shift husband, and Bratsville.

Lazy neighbors have the lady I was first talking about at the beginning of this post. Some mornings, I'll see the husband park his car in the street, walk past the trash cans after the garbage man has emptied them, along with a newspaper (or two) and not even look twice at them... then the wife comes home and takes the cans in along with the newspaper. It's mutual laziness in their household, but I guess it works for them. They have a daughter who is in high school.

Night shift husband neighbors have a grand-son that they babysit... a LOT! And I think the guy is kind of mean, but I'm not a hundred percent on that one. It may just be the way he sounds from his yard to my back porch. I think he works the same hours I do. I see her often with him doing yard work. And she can't pull into the garage by herself. She always makes her husband do it.

Bratsville is so named because this couple have a small girl and small boy and those kids are always coming out of their house to scream and cry. Mom or dad will come out and yell at them and they will usually return with more screaming and crying. Doesn't seem to be a very happy family. Last Christmas they didn't take down their decorations till mid-February. Their door is ALWAYS slamming.

So that's the neighbors that I see, watch and hear when I'm out on the old back porch watching the world unfold. I should really get a life, I know... and I'm probably over 50 percent wrong on my assumptions of my neighbors.

If ever you come to my house and see soda cartons on my kitchen floor... this is why:



Kittens-Coca Cola Box - The funniest movie is here. Find it

It's buuuuurning....

Today will be a 12 hour work day for me. Blah! I need the extra money SO bad right now, I have no room to complain at all... but 12 hours...

Yesterday morning I woke up in the midst of a dream. I dreamed that I was taking out one of my contacts and along with it, some pieces of my eye ball. This was disturbing enough to wake me. Upon awakening, I had this stabbing pain in my left eye. Makes me wonder if I was poking myself in the eye while I slept. I dunno. Anyway... I am a contact lens wearer. I sleep in them, I shower in them, I rarely ever take them out of my eyes. And I never have any problems with them. I've never had an eye infection. This pain that I woke up with, worried me enough to take out my contacts and resort to a pair of glasses that are all but brand new. I might have worn them twice before. I hate them. I like the way they look on me, but I can't stand the way they feel on my face. I cant' stand the fact my vision is limited to the lenses sitting on my face, lacking ALL of my peripheral vision. And waking up and everything being blurry... it freaks me out. I'm use to having my contacts in while I sleep so when I wake up, everything is clear as a bell. I've never considered lasik (sp?) surgery before. I've seen it done on TV and I'm sorry... it's just too new and too risky for me. Not enough people have had it done for a long enough time, that someone can't say you won't be blind 10 years after getting this surgery done. I'm sure they are doing studies as we speak... I just want to wait until I see a few of those before chancing it.

So... I went all day yesterday and all night at work and I wore my glasses. I bumped into things, I tripped up some stairs, I kept losing stuff below my lens' vision point. Within seconds of arriving home this morning, I had my contacts back in. No pain. And I can SEE! I can SEE!

Now I'm off to bed to try and sleep a few hours before I have to go back into work and work 12 hours. Pooninny.

To A Friend

Dearest J. I met you when I was 16 years old. Through thick and thin, you have stood by me from the moment we met, all through the years, to the present. We have been boyfriend and girlfriend, lovers, running buddies, room-mates and always friends. I can think of no one else who knows me better than you. You and I... we have a 23 year history... and no one can ever take that away from us.

I'm sorry I could never give you a family life that you so aptly deserved. I'm sorry that I could not love you the way you wanted me to. I'm sorry my mentality is such that we can't even live together. I'm sorry my mom hated you so. I'm sorry I could never make her understand otherwise. I'm sorry you rarely approve of the people I work with. I'm sorry we are different in so many ways. I'm sorry for every lie I ever told you. I'm sorry for every moment I made your heart ache. I'm sorry for all of those times I woke up and left when all you wanted me to do was stay.

Thank you for always understanding me, and when you didn't making me believe that you did. Thank you for sticking around. Thank you for being my best friend. Thank you for not holding where I work against me. Thank you for always wanting to hold my hand. Thank you for always thinking I am pretty, and telling me so. Thank you for not running away when you found out I was 16, even though through the years you have wished that you had. Thank you for always respecting my wishes, even when you shouldn't have. Thank you for living with me and helping me through one of the hardest times in my life. Thank you for sharing your life with me. Thank you for letting me help you when I could. Thank you for letting me be one of two hearts.

Thank you, J... for being you.

To My Son

My son will be 22 in January. I had been 18 years old less then a month when he came into this world. I had been married for a little over 7 months.

You made me grow up and you made me understand what love is, the day you were born. You helped me realize how strong I was and you helped me see life through a boy's eyes. You were, and are now, a mother's blessing as a son. We butted heads when you were younger, but I never doubted the love I felt from you, or the love I felt for you. You started reading when you were 4, yet numbers came to be your specialty. You have brought music to my ears and heart since you first picked up an instrument and yes, I still cry a mother's tears of joy when I see you on stage now.

You have grown into a beautiful man, inside and out.

Thank you J, for being my son. Thank you for all the times you made me laugh while we were trying to do homework. Thank you for being so smart. Thank you for loving all things living and for not growing up to be a man who has to kill things to prove himself.

Thank you for being patient with me when I didn't understand you and thank you for helping me to understand you better. Thank you for loving your father when I no longer could. Thank you for being a mother's "first time" with everything you accomplished... first day of school, first to learn how to drive, first to graduate, first to go to college. They say being an oldest child is the hardest because the parents tend to practice on you so it's not so hard with the second child and so on. Thank you for unintentionally letting me experiment on you.

Thank you for finally learning that your sister was not put on this Earth to torment you, and that she loves you.

Thank you for loving me and allowing me to love you back. Thank you for your music, your smiles, your hugs and your kisses. Thank you J... for being you.

To My Daughter

I got out my external hard drive this evening and found a bunch of old pictures from my old computer. It's not exactly like looking through an old fashion hand held photo album... but it was close. In my next few blogs, I will be exploring some of those pictures.

My daughter will no longer be a teenager as of this coming March. She is the youngest of my two children. My baby. One of the top two on my list of things I was blessed with in life.

K was suppose to be a boy. When I did the whole sonogram thing with both of my children, neither time I wanted to know the sex of the child. My husband was the same. There are always those people who will tell you things like, "You know, I carried my son the exact same way" and the nurses would tell me, "The heartbeat is fast, and that usually indicates a boy" and then my mother's needle test in which a needle is hung from a piece of thread and held above the protruding belly containing the unknown entity, which has never been wrong, not wanting to give a straight answer... it circled and then would swing side to side... circle... and then side to side. I think side to side meant it was a boy and if the needle swung in a circle it meant a girl.
And there were other things, from other family members and in-law members and they all said she was going to be a boy. Then she came into this world and when I asked how "he" was, the doctor said, "What do you mean a 'he'? It's a girl!" And I cried. And my husband was crying. And it is one of the most clearest memories in my life.

She was blessed with the talents of words and song. She began reading at 4 and by the time she was 6, she was already using words I didn't know the meaning of... and was writing short stories. She's always had an outgoing personality, with just the right amount of shyness to not hinder her, yet show off her beautifully sweet personality. She grew into a beautiful woman in about a month's time.

Thank you K, for being my daughter. Thank you for making me laugh until my stomach hurt, for being open and honest with me when it was really important, for the words you write that show your inner demons, for being strong and for letting me see the world through your eyes with your pictures.

Thank you for loving your dad when I no longer could. Thank you for teaching me the things that you have, and for learning the things that I taught you. Thank you for "getting me". Thank you for letting me dress you up, do your hair and put makeup on you.

Thank you for not being a tom-boy.

Thank you for all the kisses, all the hugs, and all the times you have poked me in the boob. (Why you think this is funny, I still don't understand) Thank you K... for being you.

Cat-tastic!

This is a rare photo I was able to capture the other day. I can usually get two at a time, but rarely are there moments when I can get all four:

And as I was sitting here thinking of something to write about, this happened. Have I mentioned what a bad influence my older cats have on the kitten? She finally made it up.

And I'm trying for another pot of cat grass... but Libby keeps finding it:

Spazz doing his thang:

This is Cricket with her banky. She only nurses on this particular blanket. It's not a constant thing, but if you sit on the couch with her, she'll sit next to you and do this:

And then Jynxy doing his thang:

And just because I found this picture the other day and couldn't stand how cute it was, I'm adding a picture of Libby when she first came to our home when she was about two weeks old:
Okay... enough cat photos for one day. Although, you realize, I could take up the entire month with these things!

The Holidays Are Upon Us

Played hooky from work last night. Wasn't feeling well most of yesterday and about 9:30 it all came to a head and I called in. Definitely not something I do, especially an hour and a half before my shift starts. But I got no angry calls from anyone, so that was a blessing. I won't go into the gory details, but this morning when I awoke, I'm feeling better in some places, worse in others. My back, for some reason, is not feeling well at all.

This morning dawned cloudless and bright and the wind is breezy, but not terribly so. My windows are all open and it's a nice 63 degrees here at my computer by the window. I really love this time of year, although it can be frustrating opening and shutting windows twice a day. I actually had to turn on the air conditioner yesterday, and will probably do the same later today. But the mornings and evenings are gorgeous and worth the two hours that I have to shut everything up for expensive cool air. I think we have a cold front that will be coming in this evening and here in the next day or so, the low is suppose to be in the 30's. Nice.

Thinking about Thanksgiving coming up and of course Christmas stuff is all in the stores now along with holiday commercials on TV. For the last 6 or seven years now, my family gathers at a designated Luby's on Thanksgiving and we eat, drink and be merry and someone else gets to clean up the mess. It's worked out well for all of us, and eliminates any stress as far as cooking to impress goes. We always have a good time, but that's something my family has always done anyway... have a good time. Lots and lots of memories of family get togethers, and they are all good. No drunk uncle wanting to fight anyone... no aunt wanting to gossip about other members of the family. No... when my family gets together, we do it right.

This year... I think I will not be putting up a Christmas Tree. Or not a big one, like I've done for the last 20 some odd years. I had such a hard time getting motivated to do it last year, and Libby was still just under a year old and the most we ever saw of her after the tree was up, was this:
But the fun actually started when the tree first went up. She saw the tree as a threat and tried to destroy it from the beginning... long before the decorations had been put on:
So I've been thinking... with her still young enough to tear the decorations off and run with them, and on top of that Cricket, who will not be a year for a while yet, I just don't think I have the energy to play that game this year. I might buy a really small tree to put on my coffee table... but I'll have to figure out a way to anchor it to the table. And I'm sure I'll still have my fair share of finding stolen decorations in the end.

Did You Set Your Clocks Back?

It's November. NOVEMBER already! Time should slow down as you get older, not speed up.

So I got my living room rearranged. It's quite spacious. Although now that extra bedroom I have is cluttered terribly with my daughter's leavings and other stuff I put in there to get out of the way elsewhere. It will sit until I decide to tackle it.

So... I have absolutely nothing to blog about today. In fact... I'm so tired, I'm not even trying to come up with something witty or interesting to myself.

And now I'm going to walk slowly away from the computer so you don't see my un-guilt-ridden face...

I wanna know how much money this person made on this idea.

I'll Take A Raincheck!

I did a little research this morning. Specifically, on agoraphobia and social phobia.

Last week I posted about a couple of things that I would be doing this week. I'm here to tell you now, I did neither. And this is becoming a recurring theme in my life. Make plans, get excited about getting out, start to feel panicky when the time is approaching, get stomach ache, think of better things I could be doing around the house, not go. Halloween... stayed home. Last night I had plans with some friends from my previous job. Stayed home. Now... my daughter DID come over yesterday evening and we got to spend some nice time together with pizza and a movie, but she had already said she didn't mind hanging out at the house by herself until I got home. But before she even showed up, I had already started thinking of excuses as to why I couldn't go. Granted, some of the anxiety came from not being happy with anything that I had to wear... I'm limited because of shoe issues and by shoe issues I mean I've been sitting at my computer for the last 4 days and my feet are the size of cantaloupes and stuffing those melons in anything but tennis shoes is impossible and... I know, I know. I'm totally being a girl right now. But I really wanted to go last night and this morning I'm racked with guilt for the girls that really wanted me to show up and I'm mad because I probably missed a really good time... but I really enjoyed the time with my daughter.

I've been off for 4 days and I got a few things done... but not a whole lot... yet I feel it's been a very relaxing vacation and I'm not regretful, for the most part, on just taking it easy. I'm all about that pretty much year round.

And for the record... I don't fall into the categories associated with agoraphobia or social phobia... antisocial personality doesn't even come close, either. I'll take suggestions! :-)

This IS a mink scrunchie. This is horrific in so many ways.

Re-Thinking

Today will mark my third day of "vacation". I've accomplished nothing I had planned to do. But today I am going to make myself finally rearrange my living area. As I sat around on my duff last night, and the two previous nights, I was going over in my mind on how I want to do this, and where I want to put what. I finally have a pretty good idea how it will all work out and how much I'm going to love what I do. Then a strange thought occurred to me... when is the right time to make your kid's bedroom into a den?

Here are the facts:

When she's home and she actually decides to spend the night, she's in bed with me.

She has a nice apartment that she's living in (that I'm paying for) and unlike a dorm, she won't be packing up at the end of May and moving all her stuff back.

She has actually starting using the word "home" when talking of her place.

She hasn't slept in the bed in there since right before Christmas of last year. Granted, that had a lot to do with a boy that broke her heart, but a fact is a fact.

Who says I can't embrace my empty nest syndrome and use that as an excuse in case any feelings are hurt?

I think I might have a project on my hands. When considering where to put the computer desk and my little art center, it has always figured in with the living room since that is where I do all of my work. I've always had to with the kids at home. But now... NOW, I could use that extra bedroom to put both areas and leave my living room open and spacious... and won't it look WEIRD not having all of my stuff out and about? Hmmmm.... must re-think today's rearrange...

Children!

When you have small children, very rarely can you have anything of any value within three feet of the floor. I can remember a time when I thought to myself how nice it was to actually be able to put my pretty vases and little knick knacks around on my coffee table and end tables.

Then I decided to populate my home with things that are equal to flying one year olds. Not only can you not have anything of value on the coffee table or the end tables, but you can't put anything up high enough where they they still won't get to it.

And all those stories about cats hating water? Not true. Not true at ALL! I put up a nice little water display for Halloween. Here's a couple of pictures:


Scary and misty... Ooooo. Anyway... I foolishly thought this would be safe for overnight. No... not at all. I woke up and found that the contents had been dumped, knocked from it's stand and no one around to blame it on except me for thinking it would last through the night.

Silly me...