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Good morning. It's *that* time of year! MEOW OW OW OW OW. Coastal low formed and then ripped up the coast of the northeaster US last night/this morning. Oh, those *hurt* the fibro. Dang nor'easters. Ouch.
Did my usual cat juggling. LilMiss was freaked out by the wind and ran into our house and freaked out again b/c she realized it was the wrong house. Took forever to calm her down, poor cat. Poor Hubby, too. He is *so* unnerved by cat behaivor sometimews. You'd think being married to me would've clued him in by now.
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PLEASE KEEP PETS INDOORS THE NEXT DAY OR TWO. Halloween is a prime time for animal mutilation and killing across North America. Please, especially if your pet is *black* (cat or dog), keep it INSIDE. Yes, people are that way. Case here about 15 years ago, someone found their black cat stuck to their porch by a kitchen knife. Why? It was Halloween, and black cats are evil and witches and all that other bullcrap.
Why is it unlucky to have a black cat cross your path? I've no idea. Mostly I think of it as a chance to pet a cat. Then agian, we adopt black cats in my family. They're animals who need homes. Natch.
On black cats: THey're first to be euthanized and last to be adopted in North American animal shelters. How dumb is that?
Even mostly-black cats or tuxedo cats are at risk too, btw, so be aware. Ditto dog owners. Black dogs, particularly smaller ones, can get treated nasty too.
BTW, the only time I've had bad luck when ANY cat crossed my path? I was walking downstairs with a crate of stuff, and the kitten was underfoot. It was fall down or squash the cat. I fell. Broke four bones in my foot. Didn't hurt the cat, though. And, btw, it was a calico!
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Halloween-ish thoughts from my oown life...
My dad hated coffee. When my mom is mad at him, she puts a cup of coffee by his urn of ashes.
My dad was an atheist. (Actually, a believer who was angry God didn't do a Dumbledore and magic everything better.) So my mom put all her religous statuary on or next to his urn, too. To "keep him in there".
When alive, my dad really disliked my mom's fluffy calico cat (the kitten in above story, actually, died of cancer about 15 years ago, poor gal). Nobody knows why. He liked other cats. Anyway, when the cat died, Mom put the urn of the cats ashes on top of my dad's ashes and said, "There! Now she'll sit on you and you can't bitch about it!"
When my mom is really upset, she turns my dad's urn upside down. (It's shaped to do that, fortunately. Or unfortunately.)
Allt his, btw, predates her brain tumor by, oh, well over a decade. Mom holds grudges. Why, I don't know. Too much trouble. *yawn*
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For those who want to know, a quick tutorial in Halloween history: http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
Interesting to note, many cultures celebrate these in-between moments (halfway between the four major solar holidays of solstices/equinoxes, sometimes called "cross-quarter" festivals). In my mom's culture, this was when you set out a feast to remember your deearly (or thank-God-they're-gone) departed, and you left all shots of liquor on the table *untouched* so the "old men" could have it. (That is,t he spirits of your departed.) Presumably, if the old men spirits weren't drinkers, then every other spirit got the chance to down a shot. Yes, that's odd to some, but is it really that much stranger than, say, going around in costume so angry ghosts can't find you and wreak vengeance? ... Hmm.
May Day, btw, is the counterpoint to Halloween. Flowers, life, dancing, celebration... and winding ribbons around a pole like you're adoring a phallic symbol. I've never been able to see those May Day ribbon dances without rolling my eyes. "Yay, let's decorate this big stick!" Ummm.... Sorry, but no way a girl thought of *that* tradition.
The "may pole" was originally an actual living tree, and they just danced around. The use of a big dead stick and ribbons came along later, when traveling troupes of entertainers would perform the dance or one similar to the original, to entertain audiecnes in general. By the 18th century, the maypole dance we know now was more or less adopted, and the point is to dance in pattern so the ribbons held by the dancers plait beautifully around the pole, then the dancers retrace their steps exactly to unplait the ribbons, and tie the ribbons off to the ground. Presumably, this represents something, but given my hubby's sniggering adolescent sense of humor, I'm not gonna venture any guesses beyond "yeah, it could be weirder..."
If you want a scary-funny movie, I recommend Monster House or Hotel Transylvania. Both are kid-oriented, fun, and one has the following dialogue (Hotel Transylvania):
"So, you're not going to drink my blood?"
"Human blood is so fatty, you never know where it's been."
Of course, for those of us who like not-that-scary, there's also all the classics like "Young Frankenstein". (Gene Wilder nad Peter Boyle performing Puttin' on the Ritz. Oh. Em. Gee.) And Monsters Versus Aliens (snarky riff off every sci-fi movie ever in history) by Dreamworks. "Shaun of the Dead" is a brilliant UK film that takes on the zombie genre, but beware the very salty language. (American audiences may faint. Seriously. Uses words we don't use in polite company. That said, many slang terms in the UK aren't used identically as they are in the US, and the vulgarity is definitely more teen-boy-friendly, but still... it's a fun movie. I'm not too put off by foul language. My dad was Navy, and my hubby cusses worse than *that*, especially if he drops his toothbrush in the toilet while peeing at bedtime. True story, alas. Oh, and "fag" in the UK is a cigarette. Just to illustrate how odd the slang differences are.)
And just about any Tim Burton film is a horror movie on some level, sooo....
Of course, there's the spoof of the "Scream" flicks, AKA "Scary Movie".
Or, like me, you can simply watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) reruns, b/c those guys mock anything, and I've been a fan since it debuted in my youth, soooo.... Yeah, I'm that nerd!
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And now that I've avoided depressing history (other than the personal kind)...
MERRY MONDAY to all and to all a good day:-)
(And if DS gives me a "form submission error", I swear....)
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Do you like being the center of attention?
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Name something that used to be free that we pay for now.
Today already sucks. It poured yesterday, I'm flaring again, my period is going to start any day now, and I didn't sleep. When I went to scoop the litter boxes earlier, I found a puddle of water on the floor. Looks like I have a roof leak since there's staining on the ceiling right above the puddle. I'm hoping that will just be a patch and I won't need a new roof. Then I got to my parents house and my mom gave me shit about how she hasn't met my bf yet. I told her that most of my free time has been on saturdays and she is busy that day (almost completely true, I was around yesterday but she doesn't know that). And now I'm at work and every annoying person has called, weve only been open 30 minutes. There's also a giant semi parked lengthwise across all the parking spaces out front and we had to ask them to move so people can actually park here. Novel concept to these people apparently.
Great Halloween History lesson! I've also taken a few falls for various pets throughout the years...but did accidentally step on Spartacus's foot yesterday. He yelped but is ok.
BBMom,
I saw your hunting question last week about my getaway to Rochester and I was. My friends and family down there set things up so that I didn't have to overdo anything in theory. Unfortunately, just about anything can be overdoing it...or so it seems. :-) It was nice getting out, getting some air...
Sis is making some slow progress as am I. Sparty is keeping me laughing...ummmmmm I'm very tired and a little sore again today, mostly because I went back to Rochester and picked up my Mom and did go out hunting just a little bit more. Got a bunch of @)$*(@#* snow already and it's suppose to snow three days this week again.
Hope you all have a great day before Halloween!
Kel
Miki, oh geez, the semi thing... That makes me nuts. That whole "Only my vehicle exists" mentality, yikes. Hope your day improves!
BTW, no worries on me wrangling wet cats. That's just life around here.
Today is another sit-and-knit day. Just vegging out to kill off last of Crud Virus. Now that Hubby is better, I can relax, LOL.
I've always wondered why we don't acknowledge Halloween Eve.....sounds spooky and it's fun to say.
Leo, so good to see you back! I bet that poor little Miss was a bit off just trying to escape the elements.
Just last night we were talking about how our animals might become a little disoriented in the new house and how we need to be extra careful not to let them out by accident.
And when it comes to all black animals....I grew up with them, and I still to this day gravitate towards an all black animal over any other color. Pudge and Izzy though were little white fluffballs when they were little. We didn't know Pudge would grow up to become a ragdoll. We rescued her and they people before her found her on the street wandering as a little bitty kitten and bottle fed her. Izz, she was just a farm cat whose momma was a siamese and they cat the 'papa' aka tabby wandering off. So she looks like a silver tabby and acts like a siamese.
Anyways, bring me your black animals and I'll love them and cuddle them and feed them and play with them.....(in my bestest George voice).
Leo...sending you warm cups of hot chocolate to feel better. Big dumb weather! Our little kurig is getting a work out with hot chocolate also lately.
Miki, Wow...that is not a way to start a day let alone a Monday! Semi drivers are a strange breed of people. Hopefully the truck got moved. And the annoying person just goes away. As for your Mom hun, wow. I would have told my mom to just lurk on his FB page like any other mom these days until our schedules worked out better.
And I really really hope you can patch your roof. I had to giggle at an infomercial I was watching yesterday. It's FlexSeal Tape. I often giggle at infomercials....but I have to wonder if this stuff really would work. They did show an example of a leaky roof and just by using this rubbery tape, it's going to fix the problem. When we moved into our home. The first fall that we were here and I had water pouring in through our kitchen exhaust fan from the ceiling. Our home warranty would not cover it. I was so PO'd!
https://www.amazon.com/Flex-Tape-Rubberized-Waterproof-Black/dp/B01N5Q3G8H/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509372704&sr=8-2&keywords=flexseal+tape
Kel, I was thinking of you when I saw where the snow was heading. We got nothing to brag about. And it's all gone now down here in this neck of the woods. But I was up at my Mom's over the weekend and it was still there. I was kinda surprised. It's too early for the snow to stick. But nothing is as bad as the Halloween Blizzard of 91'.
So I'm gonna ask...did you nab anything when you went hunting? I would have just loved to sit out there and take in all of God's glory around me. Well until I got too cold that is. But I sit and talk to the birds, turkeys, squirrels and hawks often here.
Good news on your Sis and you both getting better.
Angela, I wouldn't stress about having the flu and going to DBT today. Hope you feel better soon.
It's been a whirlwind here. Taking on moving on top of normal everyday life and holidays is proving it's challenging to say the least. Plus today we take Andrew in for his big eyeball appointment. 2hr long apt for a vision check. But I'm starting to take bets on whether we will get out with the construction going on in front of our house. Lots of heavy machinery again and they are leveling and such. This is day what....#5982 of this stuff? Should have been done this week, but there was a 2-4week delay.
Anyways, I'm off to go get stuff done. Hugs to all.
Wonder, oooh, whirlwinds bad when no sleeping! Bad bad bad. I send you restful napping!
I just started thawing candy for tomorrow's trick-or-treaters. Hubby bought, no lie, 800 pieces of candy total. Uh, we give 3 pieces to each kid, but we don't get THAT many kids.... Oh, there'll be candy for Christmas.
Leo, Thanks for the Halloween tutorial. I plan on checking it out at lunch time. I have stepped on my dogs many times, having 3 yorkies and 1 French bulldog is not easy with toys on the floor. And with my neuropathy my feet aren't always the best at navigating my way through the front room. And the puppies will still go sliding down the hallway chasing each other, and run smack into me, it hurts but is so hilarious to see. I do not like scary movies, so Charlie Brown's great pumpkin and Disney cartoons are my extent of celebrating Halloween through entertainment. haha. I hope you have a nice relaxing day as you continue to get over the virus.
Miki, that is a lot going on for you this morning. I seriously hope things slow down and get better. Just remember the day will go by faster with all of that commotion. Hugs for your rough Monday.
Kel, the snow looks beautiful but I don't know how you handle it. The cold makes me hurt so much more. I'm glad you and your sister are making some progress, slow and steady will win the race. I find just living hurts, I can be pretty low key and just baking kills me. I hope you get some relief soon.
Angela, I'm so sorry you are sick and now down for sure. I really hope your flu stays under control and you don't have to see the doctor for anything. Hang in there and remember this to shall pass.
Wonder, I really want that flex-tape. I see it's out of stock on Amazon, maybe next time. haha. Are your boys excited for trick-or-treat? I can't imagine trying to handle everything you do. The second you said you sold the house and it made things more real I started praying and worrying about your pain and anxiety. You're doing great, you can do this!! Super hugs for a super women.
I had to have a very unpleasant GI test this morning. I don't want to gross anybody out so I'll just leave it at my neuropathy and nerves are seriously affecting everything and I feel scared. The neurologist is sending me to podiatry to get better shoes, but he refused a scooter at this point b/c I can walk. Yes I know I can walk, but I can't take my kids to the zoo b/c the pain is overwhelming. I almost hope my EMG comes back bad so they can see how much pain I'm in. It's scheduled for the middle of November.
We stood in line for an hour yesterday to try and win a Google mini and we won it. But the pain was unbelievable, and yet my doctors say I don't need help. Anyways, the girls are driving me crazy with it so I turned it off at 8:30 last night. I let them ask it for the weather this morning and back off it went. LOL I literally heard Hey Google... from 2pm yesterday till I got in the shower after 7. Then I got out and heard it again and said ok it's going off.
I hope everyone has a good day.
Sorry about your roof, Miki. We had a bad leak from a hail storm in our old house a couple of years ago. We did need a new roof, but that is not what happened with yours, so I hope it's an easy fix. I also hope things have calmed down at work. Your mom can just wait, if you ask me. Take care.
Glad you have been able to do some hunting, Kel. Also good that your sis and you are improving. Always good to see you here.
Such a bummer about the flu, Angela. It would be nice if you could catch a break, that's for sure. Just rest and don't worry about missing group.
I hope Andrew's eye appointment goes well, Wonder. Sounds like a long appointment. Hope the construction gets out of your way.
Sorry the doctor didn't get you a scooter, Twin. Maybe these next tests will change his tune. I don't know what a Google mini is. I'm not much for gadgets. Hope you have a good day, and that work goes fast.
I just got done at the dentist. I have my new crown. And I also got the Botox shots in my jaw muscles to prevent clenching my teeth. I hope it works. I'm like a vise.
Hubby and I did go out for our gourmet burgers on Saturday night, but I had a panic attack before we left. I almost told hubby I wanted to stay home, but I covered as best I could. Going out at night sometimes bothers me like that. I do not like driving/riding in the dark.
I've been having terrible shoulder pain for the last 3 days that wakes me up during the night. I sit there with the heating pad on and wait for it to feel better. The dentist chair did nothing for me today.
Our little Unicorn looked so cute last night for trick or treating. I was in too much pain to be anywhere, but I needed to watch my little grandson while my daughter handed out candy. I got a chance to rock him to sleep, though. He's so snuggly and warm.
I'll pop in later to see the rest of the posts. I'm having groceries delivered this afternoon. I hope I'm not sleeping.
puppymom, :-) I love how you danced off with the vacuum duster. :-) I hope you're not hurting too much afterwards, but I know how that goes. Hugs
But I do hope they get you some help. Is it possible to rent a scooter at the zoo? I know some fairs will rent them out. Or maybe see if you can find one second hand off of Craigslist? It's how we got one for my mom. Her doctor suggested it, but her insurance wouldn't cover it at the time. Anyways...I hope they figure something out for you soon, until then I've got plenty of time to pray as I'm working here for you.
And CONGRATS on winning the google mini. We have so much fun with our echo here. We're always trying to stump Alexa. And before that it was Siri on the ipads. BTW, if anyone has a iPhone/iPad, ask Siri why Fire engines are red.
Puppymom, LOL...My broom and I, we're a hit duo here in the kitchen. And my vacuum cleaner....we waltz just as good as Cinderella. I draw the line at the toilet brush though, LOL.
Leo, wholly smokes, I thought I was overdoing it with two 200ct bags here. Plus I still need to get some little play-dohs for the little ones who can't have candy. I like to pick up a few treats for them. Maybe some glowstick packs too. Gosh I love seeing their faces when they get something.
Ida, if you can, post some pics of that little unicorn of yours. I truly love watching all the littles come up in their costumes.
Glad the dental work is done and now to get your shoulder feeling better. And my anxiety works like yours but I do better at nighttime, when I can't see my surroundings. Funny how anxiety works that way.
Well we got some good news on Andrew's eyes. His prescription is less now. Basically his Exotropia condition is officially healed. And he's just left with a minor little astigmatism. His new glasses will basically be readers. But the challenge will be to get him to not wear his glasses as much. Only for reading or school stuff.
I'm off to go relax, I was pretty wound up getting ready for this appointment earlier. Or, what I should be doing it burning off this energy and getting more non essentials packed. Getting close to done as done can be for a bit.
Trying to get stuff done around here. Not going well between phone interruptions and my feet. Currently on the couch with them parked up on the back of the couch.
Grey,overcast and a good day to stay in bed here. I cleaned the fireplace today. Since I can't use it due to raccoon damage, I bought a log insert that you put battery operated tea lights in. They flicker - it looks OK. I don't love it but it is better than nothing.
Getting another antique Victrola next weekend. We have a 1916 model that is electric in the living room. It gets played pretty often. This one is an earlier version that is a wind up floor model. I have to rearrange some things in the family room to accommodate it. Left to his own devices, my partner would simply shove bookcases around and stuff it in the most convenient spot. I will work on that slowly over the next few days. The new Victrola comes with a bunch of records too. It should be fun to see what is there. It belonged a friend's parents who have passed and the kids don't want it. They were going to put it out at the curb. I've been told that it is in pristine condition.
Ok back to shuffling around and finishing up my stuff. Twin - I'm sorry that you had a nasty GI test today. I just want someone to figure out what is going on with you and fix it. Hugs! Always thinking of you. I will check back later!
Sorry the weather is hurting you, Leo. *pours you some hot jasmine green tea*
That's really sad that people can't see black cats for what they are, just regular cats... and put them down. Even worse are the people who target them on Halloween.
Twin, that's a darn shame. Sometimes I wish pain was visible so doctors would believe us, epsecially a situation like yours. What harm would a scooter do? I'm sorry about your ibs pain. I imagine that feels awful. I hope there's light at the end of this tunnel and your doc can still help you.
Wow, Ida I'm glad you got some shots, even if it's only for your jaw muscles. That can help your headaches too -hopefully!
Speaking of clenching, I think I've been clenching in my sleep lately because I wake up with a stiff and sore jaw. Ever since my last round of botox I've been doing better, till this.
My husband stayed glued to his laptop all of yesterday and the later part of Sat. I kept asking him if he wanted to hang out with me, but he wanted to be in the room alone with the door closed. He goes through these phases... where it almost feels like he's shutting me out, not sure why. Sometimes days or weeks go by that he's avoided me, and I finally confront him and he'll say that I just didn't communicate enough or try catching his attention enough (like it's somehow MY fault). What a load of BS. He walked away from me in mid sentence yesterday and when I asked why he did that, he blamed that on me too. Saying, "Well, you didn't call me back after I walked off." He said because I didn't, I didn't keep his attention (therefore it's my fault). Yeah, like THAT logic makes any sense!
Anyway... I have a small box of guavas we picked (guava season is almost over), and if they're still good I may make a few jars of jam. I have acupuncture later today.