Happy Birthday To Me

And this was the highlight of my day and I'm SO not complaining:

Merry Christmas 2009

Every year as a child, I would wake up on Christmas morning and look outside to see if it had snowed.  For the first time in my life, when I woke up THIS Christmas morning, there is a blanket of snow and ice covering everything.  It's my very first white Christmas.

Now I sit here eating a piece of pumpkin bread, sipping my hot coffee waiting on the house to warm up.  I still feel pretty tired from the last few days of baking and other holiday stuff and if it wasn't Christmas morning, I would finish my bread and coffee and go BACK to bed.  I might still if it's early enough.  I only have about 45 minutes of dark left before the sun comes up and sets the snow aflame with sparkles.  I would like to get a picture of that.  But for now... here's some pictures from our "blizzard like" conditions that we had yesterday that led to this morning's white Christmas:

I missed church yesterday.  I got so preoccupied with the turkey and having everything ready to eat that the time got away from me.  Then with the snow and things going very badly traffic wise very quickly I just didn't want to chance driving home in the dark.  Yeah, I know I'm a big baby.  But by the end of the night, all of my family was safe at the places they needed to be, the dinner was a success with my daughter proclaiming that it was the best turkey she had ever eaten in her life (only the second one I had ever made but I proclaim it my first because the only thing I remember about the first one was pulling the packages of body parts out of the cavity) and finally pure exhaustion took over and I  passed out a little after midnight.

All in all... it was a magical Christmas Eve.  The snow will melt quickly this morning once the sun comes out, but for now it's 24 degrees and alls frozen solid outside.  I'm thinking I'm feeling a nap coming on already...

Xmas Eve

Wow.  It's here already.  It feels like just yesterday that I put up the tree.  People have asked me the last week, "Are you done with your Christmas Shopping?" and I always think to myself... are any of us ever REALLY done? 

I have to make a quick trip this morning to Walgreen's.  I was there yesterday and I saw what I needed for something else that I was wanting to do for someone but I needed something else with me before I could get it.  Ah... don't ya just love holiday vagueness?

The last few days have been unbelievably beautiful.  Yesterday, especially.  This morning I awoke to a Winter storm system moving in which has prompted a Winter storm watch around these here parts.  Not sure if it will get cold enough to do much damage, though.  I did notice that just West of here, they are encompassed in an ice storm.  For those that are not familiar with Texas weather, when we have Winter weather it is most often in the form of ice, not snow, although, I can't remember when we had a really good ice storm around here.  I remember one time as a child, it iced so bad that our neighborhood street turned into a solid sheet of ice and that no one could even think about going anywhere.  We ice skated in our sneakers that year.  Our Winter weather watch says we have to watch for blowing snow.  I've never seen that warning before.  Right now it's raining pretty good and the winds are up... we are experiencing blowing rain.  And  as usual... we will not be having a white Christmas. 

If all goes well weather wise, I will be attending a Christmas Eve service with my family this evening.  It's the one time of year that my family can get me into a church.  But if it gets too nasty, like the weather warning suggests... I will not be going.  I will drive in snow covered roads but I don't do ice.  

It's 6:30am now.  Walgreen's opens at 7.  Gotta beat the crowds!  Ya'll enjoy and be safe this Christmas Eve.  

Ninja Christmas Kitty

You Know It's Way Too Cold When...

Definition Of Nom:

Passing Gas

The only person, aside from my children, who I ever felt comfortable farting around left me. It also happened to be the only time a guy ever broke up with me. Well... the only time it mattered. So women, be warned. He may SAY he likes it when you fart around him, but does he really? Really?

When I was growing up, fart was not a word that was allowed to be used. I didn't fart as a child. I passed gas. I also didn't pee or poop. I puddled and pottied. Then I met the father of my children, who's voice will forever fill my head with the phrase, "A fart is always good for a laugh." Needless to say, I took great pleasure in trying to out-fart my children as they grew into the fine, upstanding and gassy young adults they are today. To be honest, though, my daughter seems to have been spared the over amusement of her farts. She's quite the young lady and for me as her mother... well, let's just say that miracles DO happen. But my son... oh, boy. He is definitely his father's son.

I was in Walgreen's the other day just doing a little light shopping. I ventured onto the Christmas isle, which was empty at that moment. I noticed a lady, maybe in her 70's, come onto the isle with me. Then I noticed that she slowly walked up behind me and then she stopped. Let out a very audible fart. Pause. Another very audible fart. Then slowly moved on down the isle. I didn't laugh. I didn't even acknowledge that I heard anything. I just kept flipping through some holiday bows like she wasn't even there. I turned and looked at her as she reached the end of the isle and I know the look on my face would have made for good hidden camera show footage.

Before starting this post I was standing in front of my gas Dearborn heater warming my hands. Two kitties at my feet. I let one rip in the silence of my early morning household and suddenly got scared that it was going to catch on fire because I was so close to an open flame. And that was my inspiration for today's post.

What I Really Want For Christmas

Because jewel encrusted is in right now... and the whole shiny and sparkley thing I have going on.

What I Want For Christmas

Clear And 23 Degrees

This is the time of year where I notice how incredibly drafty my house is. It's 23 outside right now, but it's a warmer 23 than yesterday's 23 because the wind is not blowing this morning. My goal is to get the inside of my house to reach 60 degrees at some point today.

My son is graduating college on the 19th of this month. About a week away. That young man has worked his rear off since he graduated high school. Having a full time job and going to school full time... I think he's not going to know what to do with all the spare time he will have. I've already chosen the box of Kleenex that I will be taking with me to the ceremony.

My visitor count has gone down drastically since I quit blogging. I'm the world's worst about not wanting to keep up with a blog when they don't update regularly. I think things are settling down here and I should be back a little more often than I have been the last couple of months. I'm at least going to try. Thank you for hanging with me.

Holiday PhoTos

                                   PHOTOS BY ME

                                                                 
                                                                 PHOTOS BY FELIX

Days... Daze?

I have an early morning mandatory insurance meeting this morning.  Bah humbug.  I'm leaving extra early because I don't want to have to drive in rush hour traffic... or the least amount possible.  It's bad enough that I'll be out on the roads during the sunlight after the meeting.  I've seen what the traffic going in that direction looks like when I'm coming home at the same time and I don't wish to participate. 

The only seasonal decorating I have done so far is opening a box of holiday Kleenex.  But it is a pretty cool box of Kleenex, if I do say so.  Might have to stop and get a tree on the way home.  Depends on how grumpy I am after the meeting.

The snow didn't keep going yesterday but the weather man said something about some accumulation of snow starting tomorrow.  If anything happens, I'm sure I'll have my camera out.

Guess I'll go get ready for the meeting, now.  Bleh.

It's Beginning...

...to look just a little like the Christmas season.  This is what I drove home in this morning and the view from my windows now.

I don't mind the cold near as much when Nature gifts us with this beautiful scene.  Snow is magical to those who live in this area.  I'm sure it's even more magical to those who NEVER get to see it.  All the way home my radio station was taking calls from people out in the first snow of the season.  That always assures me that I'm not the only one around here who sees snow and instantly has a smile on the face... resisting the urge to go out and dance around in it as I type this.

If this lasts for much longer, I'll upload some more photos later on.  Happy snow day!

Old

I took it upon myself to watch the AMA's last Sunday.  I don't normally watch award shows and I doubt I will again anytime soon.  My interest was in seeing Adam Lambert perform.  Before I get to Adam, though...

Maybe it's because I'm older and I grew up in a time of shows like The Donny and Marie Show, The Carol Burnette Show, Sonny and Cher... but I did not enjoy the American Music Awards.   I'm not into the gangsta, rap, pyro techy, over the top because they can't sing, Paula Abdo Choreographed scene.  How come nobody just comes out and sings any more? 

I love Adam Lamberts voice.  I think he is a remarkable singer.  His AMA performance has cured me of that, though.  Not only was the song horrible, but the whole sexually explicit gay thing was just trash.  I saw a clip where he tried to rationalize the performance by saying that if women can do it, so can he and if you have a problem with his but you like the women's then that's discrimination.  Well... I don't like either one, Adam.  I think it's stupid when women do it, I thought it was stupid when you did it.  I know that there are a ton of Adam Lambert fans out there that enjoyed the show.  I'm happy for them.  But I am no longer one and it makes me sad in a way because I really did enjoy what I saw from him up until the AMA's.

Holidayness

So tomorrow is bird day, thanks day, family day, Luby's day for me and mine. I hope you all have a great one.

Things are weird here at the Crazy household. Posting might still be scarce but I will come here when I can. In the mean time... be prepared for more photos than words.

Just Last Week I Was Wondering This Very Thing

Not Crazy Enough

About a month ago I told you about being approached by an ABC producer type person reference being a crazy cat lady.  You can read that here.  Well last night, that 20/20 episode aired.  A Friday the 13th special, in an off kind of way.

My measly 4 cats were nothing compared to the competition. The lady with the least amount of cats only had 16, yet she felt she was not at the point of being a "crazy" cat lady. I'm thankful Ms. Joy Levy never called me.

DWTS - Semi Final Results

I was SO wrong. Johanna Krupa is gone. Donny made the finals. It should be a very good results show next week.

Land Of The Insane

It was not a full moon last night, but you would have thought it was.

I believe all of our crazy people have run out of their medicine because aside from a drunk guy, these are the only people who we dealt with yesterday and it started long before I ever got to work.

Crazy Lady called on 911 crying.  Crazy Deaf Wheelchair guy called 911 and screamed for a total of 3 and a half minutes straight, the time it took for the officers to get to his house.  Crazy Mexican Lady called because the black people kept calling her name.  We have other crazy people, but these are the ones that call at least every week and usually once per day and who all called last night on multiple occasions. 

Crazy Lady got asked to leave one of our convenience stores by the clerk and she had called about 5 times prior to the call I got... all for this same incident.

I never found out what Crazy Deaf Wheelchair was calling about.  He's the one who's deaf but who often calls about his neighbor's music being too loud yet he can't hear me on the phone and can not hear his doorbell or the officers banging on his door.  Not sure if this was what had him so upset last night, but it seems here lately, most of his calls to 911 have involved  a lot less words and a whole lot of screaming.  Last night there were no words at all.  It sounded as if he were being murdered.

And then there's Crazy Mexican Lady.  She often calls because of her daughter.  Her dead one.  The one that died 20+ years ago.  She often hears voices and often complains about people following her.  Black people's voices and black people stalkers.  Her words, not mine.

Then it died and I got a good nap in.  Nothing like feeling refreshed when  you get home from work.

So yeah... the crazies were out last night. 

DWTS - Semi Finals

I was wrong.  Last night was not the finals but the SEMI-finals. 

Good old Donny Osmond will probably be going home tonight.  I love him.  And as entertaining as he is and has been on this show, I just don't think he's as talented in the dance area as Joanna Krupa and Mya.  Kelly Osborn is not either, but when you watch her dance, you just can't help but love her and I think she'll stay for the semi-finals by audience choice. 

Night Life

You know it's time to drop everything and run outside when an officer calls you up to tell you that he's seeing some strange lights in the sky. I did. I still am debating if it was just stars we were looking at because the clouds were patchy where you COULD see some stars and they appeared to be standing still, yet the other star like looking objects appeared as if they were moving. If you have ever seen the shuttle orbiting the Earth, it looked like that... except there were about 50 of them. Some in clusters... some not. But the wind was up and the clouds were moving across the sky pretty fast and if it were daylight and I was lying on my back under a tall tree, the tree would have appeared to be moving, too. So I don't know. But it was cool thinking about it.

Speaking of cool... brrrrrr. The fire's on at my house and the windows have been closed and the Winter bedding freshly washed and put on when I got home this morning. Libby is running around like she's on fire trying to get someone to play with her. I wear out too quickly so I'm not much fun for very long. I hear her in the back rooms right now jumping up on the door frames, peeling away the paint with her claws. Crazy cat.

DWTS stuff if you wanna skip this part:
Tonight is the finals. I am predicting Joanne Krupa and Derek Hough will win this year with Mya and Dmitry coming in 2nd. Then Donny Osmond and then Kelly Osbourn. This, of course is before watching tonight's performance, so... I may change my mind after seeing the show, but by the time I get back here it will prolly be done. If ABC releases the show early enough tomorrow so I can watch it... OR... if I don't sleep well, which seems to be the running theme this week, I'll watch it live but I'll let ya know if I've changed my mind tomorrow before the show. I'm sure you will be on the edge of your seat waiting.

***
Something just went crash in the back. Libby got Cricket to play with her and I don't know if I wanna go see what they knocked over or not... guess I'll see it eventually anyway.

Stay warm! I will be. Right here:

LOL!

I was prepared to make some predictions and make you read my opinions on this season of Dancing With The Stars. Because of my sleeping schedule, I don't get to watch the show until the next day and sometimes not even until Wednesday and that's a day after the results show. You've been spared.

***
Had a very boring first night off, but it was a night off so it was still great, and an exceptional 2nd night off. Long time friends are the best because there's a reason they are long time friends. And it never matters what you do or don't do. Sometimes just a hug can go a very long way, especially for someone who spends the majority of her time touchless. It's the one thing I can really say I miss since I've been living alone. One quickly learns how not to take certain things for granted. But then I get PMS again and I'm thankful for the solitude.

***
Crazy Lady from work called 911 this morning. It was a transfer from Tarrant County dispatch. One of my officers had told me earlier in the shift that he had gone over to talk to her about her neighbor cutting her. She had a small band-aid on her finger. Anyway... that's what she was calling about... again.

When a person dials 911 from a cell phone, that call can end up pretty much anywhere. With the cell phone being in almost every household in America, the majority of our 911 calls are now coming from cell phones. It can be a dispatcher's worst nightmare, but I am also very well aware that because of cell phones, lots of people have been able to get help where as in my younger days, this would not have been a possibility. I suppose most of my frustration comes from the people who call 911 from a cell phone and just assume that a big magic map pops up with a stick pin indicating where their exact location is. Weeeeeeeellll... it don't work that way.

I have to admit... Tarrant County 911 has come a long way from where it once was. When cell phones first started using 911, you wouldn't even get a phone number to come up. Now, we can narrow some cell phones down to within a few blocks of where the call is coming from, but still... if someone is getting beat up... or worse... we prefer to get there as quickly as possible and if we have to search for a crime, chances are the bad guy is going to get away and we don't like it when the bad guy gets away.

Crazy Lady once called 911 for something ridiculous, as are most of her continuous calls to us, and it was during a time when I was getting slammed with real calls. That was the moment that I stopped being nice to her. I jumped all over her and I'm almost positive there was some yelling involved. After that little episode, it was a long while before she tried the 911 thing again. It was also a transfer, but that one was from Fort Worth dispatch.

I get lots of cell phone 911 calls for Fort Worth that I have to transfer. Being in the police business, it's a required job skill that you be curious. So if nothing is going on when I get one of these calls, when I transfer the call I don't disconnect and I listen to see what's up. I'll mute my side and just listen in. This is how I learned that I would never want to be a Fort Worth Police Department dispatcher. I know I am not the only dispatcher that does this because when you get a transfered call you can hear them disconnect. Sometimes it comes after they have listened to what the call is about and realize its boring and lose interest. Needless to say, I'm very conscious of that click.

When I got the transfered call from Crazy Lady from Fort Worth a good while back, I was not nice at all. I stressed the importance that she not call 911 unless it was a real emergency and suggested she go read the fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. I realized after my tirade to Crazy Lady that I never heard that familiar click. That they had heard how I had talked to Crazy Lady. And I laughed out loud wondering what they must think of that department's dispatcher. It still makes me laugh out loud.

Last night I wasn't mean, but I was quite short with her and when I asked her if an officer had already talked to her about the attempted murder, she admittedly named the exact officer who had told me about it earlier in the shift. "Click" Needless to say... I didn't hear the other dispatcher ever disconnect.

I love my job. LOL!

Happy Veteran's Day

It surprises me sometimes how  excited I am when it's my weekend when all I'm going to do is nothing.  Getting out of my car this morning, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I didn't have to drive again for two whole days!   I'm over the top with happiness.  I think I could easily fall into the agoraphobia lifestyle, just as long as I still felt safe enough to go out into my yard from time to time.  Not sure if the agoraphobics (agoraphobists?) allow such a thing, though.

Fall is here as far as the trees go around my place.  The neighbor's tree across the street threw up it's entire load in what seemed like two days... half of said load landing in my yard.  Not that that bothers me or anything... just an observation that made me smile a little when I saw it.   I see a few little stragglers left up there, but not many.  My oaks are just now starting to fall and my pecan tree is dropping nuts faster than the squirrels can pick them up and bury them away.  I had a few tasty ones the other day.  It made me think of my grandfather, who I never got to meet, standing under the same tree 60 some odd years ago and also testing the crop.  I was told that he cross bred that tree with another type so that the shells were really thin and the nuts were much bigger and that it has since gone back to the way it once was.  These are very small pecans.  My parent's pecan tree makes really large ones and I noticed when I was over there last that they are getting a pretty good crop this year as well. 

So it's November and all.  I wish the days would slow down just a little bit.  I'm really loving these beautiful days and I know the really cold will be here soon. 

For all you Northerners that might be reading this, 40 degrees is considered really cold in Texas.  And any time it is 32 degrees or less, we think we might as well be living in Alaska. 

Some November pictures for you: