It's a Dead Man's (Lady) Party!

I LOVE Halloween! It's my favorite time of year! If you love Halloween, stand up and cheer! Okay, yes, a bit goofy, but I really do love Halloween! My blood turns orange starting October 1st! I get to pull out all my ghosts and goblins and animatronics and set them out all in and around the house! This year I added something new to my bag of tricks. I now have a dead lady sitting in the back of my car! Oh, she's so cool, this 6ft wonder of death! She's so beautiful with her long, white hair. Her white stripped dress that flows gracefully to the ground. Oh, and you can't miss her tri-colored glowing eyes that light up with the flick of a switch! She's just amazing. I call her "mom". I've been carting her around for awhile in the back seat of my car, with her safety belt on mind you, wouldn't want to get her hurt! She doesn't mind the heat of the day, she enjoys the same music that I do, and she doesn't talk much at all!

I have noticed that when I come out of stores that there are few more forehead and nose prints on my window than I've had before. But, the best reaction I have gotten and what has been the sole purpose for having "mom" in the back seat has been what happened Wednesday afternoon!

We were on our way back from Clear Lake in rush hour traffic and were on the feeder road when I noticed an SUV in front of me with two youngish boys in the back seat. They were probably 8 - 10 years old. They kept looking at my car, tilting their head left and right. At first I was thinking they liked my little Mini Cooper. But, then I saw one of them mouth "What's that?". Then, it hit me. The dead lady. They had seen the skeleton. I tried to hide the smile that was forming on my face and told my daughter, "Check out the kids in the car in front of us. They're trying to see Mom!" She was laughing, when all of a sudden, one of the kids pulled out his cell phone with the camera part flipped up! He was trying to take a picture of Mom! At that very instant a white car whipped in between their SUV and our Mini blocking their shot.

I felt bad for the two boys. I decided to switch into the next lane so that we could pass by the SUV. We were still in gridlock traffic, but a car let me into the next lane. Ever so slowly we passed by the SUV and the boys were still facing out towards the white car, straining their necks trying to catch a glimpse of our Mini and the dead lady. When, the one brother whacked the other on the arm and mouthed "Dude" and pointed out the side window. The brother with the cell phone quickly turned to the side with his eyes wide and took his photo, both of them with grins on their faces! They got their skeleton shot! We drove off and onward getting back into the lane we needed to get onto the freeway and happy to have made their day!

We can only imagine what stories they told their friends and family that evening! Here's to you young men for making the purchase of Mom worthwhile!

Can You Feel A Brand New Day!

After our week long not asked for camping trip, courtesy of Ike, I am about to really go on a REAL camping trip! It will be quite interesting considering they are not allowing us to sleep in cabins, use the kitchen facilities or the bathrooms at the camp site. I am being trained as part of the Girl Scout Outdoor Training so that I will be able to help lead our troop when we go camping. Yet, they will be able to use the cabins, regular latrines and the kitchen facilities! I am in charge of making the pitilator. Yes, I have no earthly idea what this was, but apparently it is a water jug, with a hole in the bottom, hung from a tree and a stocking with soap in it. An outdoor sink per se!

It will be fun and I am excited as I have camped before (okay so I'm not counting my Ike experience), but now, I do need to go get me a real sleeping bag as I guess Rayne's Cinderella one, just won't do! :)

Also, I just found out that one of my photos that I took at the Frog Exhibit from the Houston Musuem of Natural Science was picked up by Schmap Houston for their inclusion in their Fifth Edition of the Houston Guide! You can see it here: Houston Museum of Natural Science They had informed me back in August that they had seen my photo and would consider me as a finalist in their submissions. I just received their message this week that I made their edition. So, I thought that was pretty cool.

I did take quite a few Ike related pictures and will post them on my Flickr account. Luckily, we did not suffer any serious damage although the horses now have a new gate in the back pasture! We do have some minor roof repair to do this weekend, but thank goodness for beautiful weather! Rayne didn't miss any school since we homeschool, but again, the weather was nice and we enjoyed sitting out on the porch to learn lessons and still continue to do so.

I hope that those still without power get it as quickly as possible and glad that all my friends and family are safe.

Me and My Shadow

I have a shadow that follows me wherever I go. My shadow loves me and I love my shadow. I've had her for almost 9 years now and I know someday soon she won't be here anymore. But, as long as she wants to hang around, that would be wonderful! Although, I have two legs and two arms, my shadow seems to have four legs and a tail! Yes, my shadow is my dog. She is my Great Dane! No matter where I go, she is right beside me, leaning against me, always there.

But, as big as she is, just like any small child, she is scared of thunderstorms! If they are in the middle of the night, she climbs into our bed looking for the comfort of a parent! There's nothing like a 100lb Great Dane trying to cuddle in the covers! If it's during the day, she wants to be as close to me as possible! Even if it's trying to crawl under my desk in my office! She will get there even if it means breaking the keyboard in the process.

I love my big, grey dog!

I Fought The Law!

It seems we are having a bit of a tiff with the dead lady next door! She's not exactly there anymore as she's been dead for four years now, and her house has been empty, but her relatives are now giving us a bit of grief.

When we moved onto our property 11 years ago, the fences were already up in our back pasture. We don't know who built them or what, but they were there.

After the lady next door died, the fence line on her side started going into disrepair. We haven't really done anything to fix them, because frankly, we don't see the need. And, of course, her relatives have never done anything to fix them. We do have two horses and one has been going over to that property because of a hole in the fence.

We've used extra fencing and such to try and cover it up and seems to work part of the time, but every once in awhile he still goes over.

Lately, the son of the dead lady has been coming over to our house and very rudely stating that we need to fix that fence and if he sees our horse over there one more time, he's calling THE LAW. Now, that needs to be said, with true redneck slur.

Yesterday, during Tropical storm Edouard, our horse decided to visit the dead lady again and unfortunately the son and his wife were there. Now, if we do happen to see our horse there, we get him out as quick as possible and sometimes it turns out, it's not our horse, but our other neighbor's horse. This time it was ours. I really don't know how he got through except he was brave enough to jump over some of the fencing.

The son tried to blame it on an area where fence posts are knocked down, but barbed wire is up. Our horse does not go near the barbed wire and I proved it when I was trying to bring him back through. He bout near pulled my arm off not wanting to go by that barbed wire. Luckily, the wife saw all of this going on too. He went back to his favorite hole, but couldn't get back through because of the fencing.

In the rain, I set to work trying to unrig the fence so that I could get him to go back through. After many scrapes, mud, lots of rain and a bribery of food, he jumped back through. This time I believe I rigged it up a lot better that he won't go back on their property.

Then, THE LAW showed up! All they said, was are you going to keep your horse off their property? Well, duh, I'm sure going to try! It's not like I'm not!

After telling this to my husband, he said, hey, if they're willing to pay half, maybe we can work something out, but it's not our fence. If they want something, they're going to have to be willing to put something up as well.

If not, I don't think they'll like what we'll put up as they are trying to put their property on the market. I like this guy's idea and this will be our new fence!

YEEHAW!

Things to Do During a Power Outage

It was just your typical day. HOT! Was there rain finally coming over the horizon? Figuring it would be a good time to go into my workshop, I stepped outside. It was a full blown windstorm going on. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! After twirling in the wind for a few moments, I decided to get to work. I love being in my workshop and hearing the sounds of what's going on outside as things hit the roof. Usually it's just squirrels scampering across the top, running, playing, jumping.

I get all of my ingredients mixed up and head over to the microwave, put my hand on the door and.....all the power goes out. In the words of the sage and wise Erkel, I think, "Did I do that?". I wait a few moments thinking that it could be a surge, but to no avail. The power is out. Besides, the rain is coming down pretty hard now and looking outside, it keeps changing directions so I might as well stay put.

I stay in there for awhile getting things done, but without light and really, without a/c it becomes obvious that I should get back to the house. The rain has quit and it has cooled off a little, but not much.

Back in the house, the rest of the family is just laying around with the doors open. Not really much else to do when the power is out! Did anyone call the electric company? No! The power won't come on until 5:20pm, an hour from now. Number one thing to do when the power is out?
Take a nap! Wake up. It's 6:15pm. No power. Call the electric company again and it is now pushed to 8:00pm. Second thing to do when the power is out? Go find somewhere to eat that has a/c, possibly t.v. and something to do! A sports bar with interactive t.v.!!! We're there!
As we head down the road we see what the problem is. There is a huge power pole with power lines strewn across the road. We see fire trucks, but no electric trucks. I think this is going to take awhile! Turn around and head in another direction to get to the sports bar.

Note to self. There's only so much you can do in a sports bar.
1.Play interactive t.v. (BTW we rock at trivia!)
2. Play Texas Hold 'em Poker, a game where when you lose all your money, they magically give you more! Wouldn't it be great if Vegas did the same thing?
3. Eat

Before we head home, we call the electric company again to see if our power is finally back on......Due to lightning strikes and service calls to Houston and Louisiana, we estimate that your service will now be back on around 7:00am!

Uh, can we sleep here tonight?

The drive home is morose, dreading the thought of sleeping in a hot house, we talk about the olden days. But didn't they have high ceilings, or better yet, people who fanned them to sleep? I want one of those people!

As we arrive home in the misty rain, we do what most people do in a power outage, #3! Light candles, which brings me to the number four thing you can do in a power outage! Take pictures. What? Yes, you're bored, let's gather up the family and do a photo shoot. You're hot, sweaty. Those are the best pictures, right? Nahhh, I wouldn't do that to the wonderful people I love! Well, yes, I would, but not this time. Here is what I took.


Which brings me to the 5th thing you can do in a power outage. GO TO BED! Not much else! Just go to sleep and hope that the a/c gods will provide and turn on your electricity! But, we did find some comfort in the ice that was melting in our freezer! Put those cubes in zip loc bags and toss those in the bed with you! It does help!

And, as you can see my dear reader, our power is back on! I am going to stand in front of the a/c all day today and not move and be thankful to the person who created this wonderful piece of machinery! I hope that everyone has a wonderful, cool day today!

I've Got A Headache

Now, now now. Get your mind out of the gutter. It's not one of those posts. Some of you know that I've been battling permanent headaches for about 9 years now. Boy aren't they fun!

Nothing like having a headache 24/7/365! After years of popping nine Tylenol and Alleve a day, I finally went and saw a neurologist. After thinking I was addicted to Tylenol and Alleve my doctor weaned me off those and lo and behold after curling up in a painful ball for 2 weeks that hmmmm....maybe it wasn't that doing the trick after all! I was diagnosed with non-aura migraines. Nothing shows up in an MRI and I don't see little black dots or things that are common with migraines. To me, they are just permanent headaches. You go to sleep with them, you wake up with them and they are there all day. Sometimes it's just a dull headache or it could be that I was just so used to it that it was like a little friend hanging out with me, chillin', letting me know they were still there! Other days it was monstrous and the only thing that would alleviate it was a cocktail of Tylenol and Alleve.

About 4 years and two months ago, my doctor put me on Topomax. It doesn't get rid of the headaches, but acts as a preventative. I wanted to take a natural route and try Feverfew, but the side effect to that is that it is also a blood thinner and I already have a problem with that. Every time I give blood, I'm told I need to lower my dosage on my blood thinning medication! :) Yeah, well, I'll just tell my body to get to work and do that for them the next time! I've tried Vitex too. I don't know what's in that herb, but for being a headache preventative that stuff just makes them worse!

My doctor joked with me and asked if I was against using regular medicine and I told him no, but if I could go the natural route, it would be great. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to happen. So, Topomax is now my best friend. It's not a bad drug. The side effects at least aren't as bad as some of the other things that are out on the market. Worst of it was the temporary memory loss. When you can't add 8+5 and have to count on your fingers, it sucks!! That was just at the beginning until my body got used to it, but it was kind of scary there for a bit! Still have problems with that every once in awhile, but most people think I'm a little off anyway, so that's okay.

Another side effect is tingling in my fingers and toes. Although that could be a good thing at times! Not so much anymore, but it still comes and goes. I associate it more now when I start to feel bad. Now everything is going in a cycle. I don't know if it's because I've been on this stuff for so long, but I'm noticing different effects the longer I've been on. Within the past four months I've been nauseous after eating. That's been a total drag. I feel like someone who's been working on a rig. Seven days on, seven days off. Some weeks will be good and then I'll have a bad week and with that, regardless of the preventative, the headaches return. The only thing I can take with this is Ibuprofen. It does help and so does Ginger. Man, that stuff works great! But, it's kind of a bummer when you want to eat, but you know what's going to happen afterwards. Tom has been wonderful through all of this as well. He just knows that I can curl up on him and he can rub my back until I fall asleep or I feel a bit better. Without him, I don't know what I'd do. Talk about being patient.

I've tried weaning myself off the Topomax thinking the headaches have gone. All is good for about a week and then they are back with a vengeance. There's no rhyme or reason why I have them or where they came from. It's just something I deal with.

Now, don't get me wrong, taking the preventative has helped immensely. I go through weeks and months without a headache at all, well except for those womanly times, but other than that, everything is fine and good with the exception of the nausea. Maybe one day, they will just finally go away.

I don't know if there is anyone out there who is or has gone through the same thing, but I know there are probably others out there just like me. At least I know I'm probably not alone going through this. I just hope this isn't passed on to my kids. This is definitely not my idea of a good time!

Music Makes the World Go Round

Beat on the Brat. People, people who need people. I used to rule the world. I've got to be where my spirit can run free. Everyone deserves a chance to fly. And I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. Could you take my picture? If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. Hike up your skirt a little more and show the world to me. Tides that I tried to swim against.


Music and words. All of these are great lyrics to fantastic songs. Some we hear often and others, not so much anymore. Even songs that don't have lyrics find a place in our soul. They reach in and grab hold of us and remind us of our youth, of places we've seen, people we could've been or were. People we want to be and still continue to strive to reach.

The music and beat encircles us, captures us, caresses, enraptures and takes us on a journey that exhilarates our body and mind. It leaves us happy, sad, melancholy, exotic, erotic until it eventually ends.

But, unlike some things in real life where we can't redo what we've already done, here we can hit replay and start it over again.