It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want Too!

Alright, so it's not mine, but close enough. I gotta be the one to put this sucker on, right? Over the years, birthday parties have gotten crazier and crazier! They gotta have themes. All the plates have to match the invitations, the napkins, the decorations.

Oh, and on top of that, they are going home with goodies!!! WHAT? I never understood this concept. Come to my party and I'll bribe you by sending you home with tons of trinkets and treats that you will never use and lose! We went to a Build-A-Bear party where all the guests were given $10 gift cards! I couldn't wrap my mind around that one. The biggest bribe of them all, come to my party and you get to Build-A-Bear for free, oh and bring me a gift too! I couldn't even imagine the bill for that parent! Glad I wasn't her!

Remember the good ole days when all your friends came to your house? Your mom made a cake and you played relay games like blowing up a balloon, running to the end of the drive and sitting on it to pop it and then run back to tag the next person in line. Or, carrying an egg on a spoon and racing back and forth to see which team could do this the fastest! All without worrying about prizes! It was all for the fun of it. Later, you could whack a pinata, eat the cake, open gifts and everyone had a good time!

Luckily, this seems to be the going trend again and I'm glad that it's back. I was never one for the trinkets and goody bags!

So, tomorrow, we will have numerous kids running rampant, playing relay games, whacking a pinata, eating cake and just having a bunch of fun at a no-theme birthday party! You know, everyday life! Now, let's just hope the weather holds up!

Tweet, Tweet-a-tweetle Leet

So, there's this thing out in the cyberspace world called Twitter. I'm sure most of you have heard of it. www.twitter.com . I signed up about a year ago, but really didn't do much with it. I mean, how to write in 160 characters or less, what you are doing RIGHT NOW! Well, mainly, I was sitting at my computer! But, then I realized that you could "Tweet" from your cellphone. But, I wasn't doing much from there either and I didn't really have anyone to follow. Over the course of the year I found some of my friends on there and would keep tabs on what they were doing.

I have one friend who tweets like crazy. She's a real smart cookie with a long history....oh wait, that's another song. Back track....well, she is really smart and uses every new toy to her advantage. She's got Twitter wired for sound among her blogs, museums, and other techno stuff!

I just recently figured out that if I clicked on who I'm following and turned the device status to on, then I would get text messages on when they "tweeted". I know, I'm slow, but I'm learning! I think I'm going to have to up my text messaging ability to unlimited pretty soon!

This is a great networking tool especially in the business world! Not only can I tweet with my friends, but I'm also able to keep up with my colleagues! I can already see this will be great when I attend the HSMG conference in May. So, all of you in the guild and otherwise who are on Twitter, come follow me @shadowfax0704 . Those who have yet to join Twitter can find me at http://twitter.com/shadowfax0704 . Just put in the comments section that you found me on my blog so I'll know who you are!

Oh, and if any of you Twitter experts know of more tips and tricks out there, please let me know. I am still learning my way around Twitter and would love to know more!! Just add your comments below.

And now, in 160 or less? Putting out a great blog on the joy of tweeting!

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor......

Who says living out in the middle of nowhere isn't interesting. Many of you hear me talk about the many musings of country life. Well, it's an endless stream of bizarre goings on. We have the dead lady that lives next door, the fake illegals across the street and with them comes their horse who, apparently, hates living there!! She's always breaking out and coming to our house! Pretty much, every day (or night) she comes for a visit. I guess it wouldn't be bad if we wanted a third horse, but considering she comes into our barn and then breaks into the food bins, it gets a little tiresome. This last time, she yet again, broke into the feed bags and consumed a half bag of feed. Yes, I know it is bad for a horse to eat that much food. We called her owners only to find out he was out of town. All throughout the day we chased her and ran her down the road only to see she returned. We let the dogs out after her and she nonchalantly brushed them off. I guess she got tired of me chasing her out of the barn as she sauntered to the end of our driveway and laid down for a nap! Much like a stray dog wandering the street and deciding to catch some rays in the sun! She didn't even move when my husband came home from work. She just casually lifted her head as if he might disturb her beauty sleep and then stretched out even more! At this time I looked across the street and noticed the neighbor's son jumping on the trampoline! Uh, did he not notice his horse had been missing all day and all the previous night? I yelled to the jumping child to come and retrieve his horse. He promptly came over and when I asked him if he had been home, he said why yes he had. I told him that we had his horse and all I received was a grumbled, "Oh." I then proceeded to tell him that his horse had eaten a bag of our feed and I had been chasing said horse out of our barn all day. Nary a word of sorrow or concern for the horse or any trouble we had gone through was spoken from this creature of a boy. Needless to say, I was not happy about the situation and spoke to the father when he returned from out of town. Apologies were given from the father (but no compensation of the feed) and we were told that the horse was finding a new home, which did happen.

Later that night as I was making fresh hamburgers for the grill, I heard quite a ruckus on our porch. Thinking by some miraculous feat the horse had come back, I peeked out our front door! We had a new visitor! It was a huge, fat possum hanging out on the railing. Having my handy dandy camera on the table, I set down the hamburgers and took a few pictures of this wayward feller! As I went back into the house to grill up our dinner, I went to grab the plate and noticed it was empty and looking at me with big eyes and wagging her tail was our Great Dane licking her chops! Sometimes I just happen to forget that our dog is bigger than the table!

And that, my friends ended our adventurous day out in the middle of nowhere! Dinner ended up being mashed potatoes and some other veggies, but we can't say it wasn't exciting!

People. People who need people.........

Everday we are always meeting someone. Whether it's someone who is helping you to carry boxes from your car, or it's a new aquaintance or friend for life even if they are of different political or religious persuasions. Just the other day I met a few more interesting people in my life. All extremely different from one another.

One was a Native American. He was a healer and had finished making a documentary and I had the privilege of watching a little bit of his unfinished movie. It was very interesting and what was more so is that sitting next to him, I was able to ask questions as to what different things were in his movie and why they were being done. He told me that he was burning Sage in the beginning to purify the things around him. Sage is always used to purify. I did not know this.

Another person that I met that evening was a scriptwriter who was in the process of filming his comedic/horror zombie movie! It's actually a really good, thought out process and sounds like it's going to be a great film! He's quite the character himself and very humorous so I'm sure this translates well into his movie. On hand was his producer who picked up the movie on the basis that it was different than most slasher, gore horror flicks.

I like the fact that on any given day you never know who you may meet. Like I said, very extreme from one another!

Sometimes I'm told I live in the past, but even in the past, I've known some interesting people as well. In my brief stint in college, my English professor had us write papers on where we would like to be in 10 years. I wrote that I would like to be a film maker with at least ten films under my belt. He called me up to his desk one day and said, "Filmmaker, huh?" I have someone you might like to meet." He invited me to meet his friend one evening. Always one for adventure, I agreed. His friend, turned out to be Samuel Bronston, movie producer. Mr. Bronston produced such films as El Cid, John Paul Jones and The Fall of the Roman Empire with such stars as Sophia Loren, Bette Davis and Charleton Heston. I spent the evening listening as Mr. Bronston regaled me with his stories of the movie business and Ms. Loren. He was a pleasant and sweet gentle man. It was a thrill to have met him and one that I will remember always.

I didn't get to become that filmmaker per se. But I've been lucky enough to have opportunities to dabble in it more now.

Our past is what makes up who we are today. We don't forget who the Beatles were. Their music still continues to play on all radio stations, much like the Rolling Stones, Rush, Elvis. Their music influences up and coming bands to create new sounds even if it's from the past.

Much like my life. Even if I talk about my past and bring it into the present, it could influence my children who can create something new from what I've learned. The only harm would be if you wallow in your past and never come out. But, I have no intention of that. I love what the future holds and welcome incorporating the past and the present to see what I can conjure up!

Freeze Frame

Ever since I can remember, I've loved taking pictures. I had a little Kodak Instamatic when I was around 9 or 10 and was always taking photos. As a child I fondly recall my grandfather with his Super 8mm cameras and the tape recorder hanging on his side so that he would have sound recorded movies. They fascinated me so. When I was in junior high, my grandfather gave me his Yashica camera with screw on lenses. I thought I had the greatest camera in the world! Of course it had an attachable viewfinder, so you had to guess that your photos were in focus. Good times! In my senior year of high school, I took a filmmaking course! It was a dream come true! We were given sound Super 8's to use and film our own movies! According to our teacher, we could make any movie we wanted, even soft porn! Yeah, tell that to a bunch of teenagers! My partner and I decided to make documentaries. I made one about her and she made one about me! It was great fun, but I wanted more! My mom let me borrow her Super 8 camera and I was off! I wrote a script full of kidnapping,stealing, guns, and suspense! There was a lot you could do in three minutes! Here for you now, for the first time converted from super 8 film is my First Movie!



My love for film and photography has never been sated and to this day I still continue to make videos with more up to date cameras, both still and video. Of course, the editing and sound have gotten a bit better.

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.