THEY'RE BACK...

It's been awhile since I've spoken about orbs.

Which must seem strange to some, seeing as my blog title is "Orbs 'r' Us" and I seldom talk about THEM?

Believe it or not, I do, think about other things...;0?

anyways...

Orbs are always in my pictures, but lately my pics, have been empty?

I can some times sense a presence [spooky kind] in a room. I believe everyone does sometimes...you know " like someone/thing is watching you...hair stands up on the back of your neck" feeling?...that kind!

Xmas morning, during present unwrapping at PoD's place, I experienced that kind of feeling!

It wasn't a feeling of dread or sadness, just something extra? It wasn't all of the time...just once in awhile.

There was lots of noise going on: 6 adults trying to talk above 4 rambunctious kids, 8 dogs moving around in the back bedrooms [wanting out] 3 cats ..."and a partridge in a pear tree'...her in-laws were there for the holidays.

I took pictures whenever that feeling came over me. It wasn't until I down loaded my pics, that I saw that, I finally had "Orbs" in some of them!

To the "dust mote people"...where are the rest of the dust motes?

My allergies ran ramped during that melee! The room should have been crowed with dust motes!

It wasn't until a couple of days later that PoD and I talked, that the topic of orbs on the pics came up. She too, had been feeling the eeriness of the corner where we had been sitting. I had never once, during gift opening, mention my feelings about the sensations that I was experiencing. I wrote it off to the overload noises and how my head was starting to hurt...made me feel out of sorts?

PoD said that she had experienced a few odd moments when her company was there. She would catch a glimpse of something that was just slightly out of her sight range. I think the spirits that live with her didn't like excessive noises either!

I like to think that others[?] enjoyed the spectacle also...it was a fun day!

Hope everyone else had their Xmas Spirit too....;0

Some Assembly Required

‘Twas the night before Xmas when all through the house

I searched for the tools to hand to my spouse.

Instructions were studied and we were inspired,

In hopes we could manage “Some Assembly Required.”

The children were quiet in their beds, while Dad and I faced the evening with dread:

In the kitchen, two bikes, Barbie’s Town house to boot!

And thanks to Grandpa, a train with a toot!

We opened the boxes; my heart skipped a beat…

Let no pieces be missing or parts incomplete!

Too late for last minute returns or replacement;

If we can’t get it right, it goes down in the basement!

When what to my worrying eyes should appear,

But 50 sheets of directions, concise, but not clear,

With each part numbered and every slot named,

So if there were failure, only we could be blamed.

More rapid than eagles the parts then fell out,

All over the floor they were scattered about.

“Now bolt it! Now twist it! Attach it right there!

Slide on the seats, where metal is bare!

Hammer the shelves, and nail to the stand.”

“Honey,” said hubby, “you just glued my hand.”

And then in a twinkling, I knew for a fact,

that all the toy dealers had indeed made a pact

to keep parents all Xmas Eve night, with “assembly required” till mornings first light.

We spoke not a word, but kept bent at our work,

till our eyes, they went bleary; our fingers hurt.

The coffee went cold and the night it wore thin before

We attached the last rod and last pin.

Then laying the tools away in the chest, we fell into bed for we-deserved rest.

But I said to my hubby just before I passed out,

This will be the best Xmas, without any doubt.

Tomorrow we’ll cheer, let the holiday ring, and not have

To run to the store for a thing!

“We did it! We did it! Toys are all set for

the perfect, most perfectest Xmas, I bet!”

Then off to dreamland, at last sweet repose I gratefully went,

Although I suppose there’s something to say for those self-deluded

I’d forgotten that BATTERIES are never included!

-stolen from another weekly "Bean"

Following instructions was never my problem but "BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED" was definitely one of them!

ALL I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM SANTA

1. Encourage people to believe in you.

2. Always remember who's naughty and who's nice.

3. Don't pout.

4. It's as much fun to give as it is to receive.

5. Some days it's OK to feel a little chubby.

6. Make your presents known.

7. Always ask for a bit more than what you really want.

8. Bright red can make anyone look good.

9. Wear a wide belt and no-one will notice how many pounds you've gained.

10. If you only show up once a year, everyone will think you're very important.

11. Whenever you're at a loss for words, say "HO, HO, HO!"

-stolen from those weekly "Beans" mag

Santa has always been a favorite of mine!

I HAVE taken the "Christ" out of Christmas! I've replaced his name with an "X" and that's how I can answer "why I call it XMAS"!

For me, the poem above states it better, with it's humour intended.

I even collect Santas.

Over the years I have amassed quite a few and manage to keep adding to it.

Santa runs a close second to my Halloween decor. My kids always know what they can buy me.

I have tons of other Xmas decor [mostly snowmen] and with there being no room since moving to this new location, I had to part with them. My grand kids got the excess! If I want to change up decor I can always borrow it back ;)

My most favorite Santa is the one I got shafted on. It's home made [no, not by me...I was too lazy] and the woman charged WAY too much. Lesson learned...always ask the price first! We were exchanging services and she OBVIOUSLY charged much more than I did! The only good thing was, she did not too bad of a job...

My addition this year was 2 fibre optic ones. They were a two-for one deal.

I've even put some of them to work! The Coffee Mug Santas, hold my pens/markers. Some are used as toilet tissue holders [you know...constantly blowing the nose gets expensive]! I've even have Santa lights.

I got my new mascot into the joy of the season. I've watched many a vehicle slow down and take a gander. Their smile was my reward!

I wanted to put a stuffed Santa on my bench this year, but I couldn't figure a way to secure it, without it looking like I kidnapped him?

I've had to "nail down" the outside decor lately. Vandals have been having "fun" at mine and other's expense. This summer, it was the appearance of 3 flamingos, 2 cows and 1 gnome. The flamingos & cows found their way back home, but Mr. Gnome, is still here!

I started decorating early this year [right after Halloween]. My grand kids decorated the artificial Xmas tree. Their dad had secured it into the ground [stakes and all] right in the middle of my front yard. We even secured the plastic balls on the tree, so they wouldn't blow off by the terrific wind that we get here! The nice touch to it, was the foot high pink ribbon for breast cancer sign. It was staked into the ground in front of it. All looked good, the kids were proud of their work!

A month later I awoke to find it gone! Along with it, the pink ribbon sign! All that was left was the extension cord [it was secured to the house] and 1 ball, lying in the street!

PoD and I spent a half an hour driving around town looking for it, thinking that it was decorating someone else's yard? It was gone!

I guess someone needed it more than I did?

I still didn't let that wreck my spirit!

My "new decorated tree" is secured to my place with 3 metal brackets with 2 inch screws! I even have some nice "presents" [sitting beside the tree] for them to swipe... if they desperately need to swipe something! They are brightly wrapped presents full of cat litter crap [I needed weight to keep them from flying away]! Hope they have a Merry Crapmas!

I got to go now and hang my stocking for "Santa Is Coming To Town"....

Merry Xmas To ALL and to ALL a goodnight...

This little bit of info was sent to me by my sister-in-law SewLady and my new update will be about my health...but you can enjoy this first, as I'm still waiting for my results...

The Alphabet
A is for apple, and B is for boat,
That used to be right, but now it won't float!
Age before beauty is what we once said,
But let's be a bit more realistic instead.

Now The NEW Alphabet
A is for arthritis;
B is the bad back,
C is the chest pains, Perhaps car-d-iac?
D is for dental decay and decline,
E is for eyesight, can't read that top line!
F is for fissures and fluid retention,
G is for gas which I'd rather not mention.
H is for High blood pressure--I'd rather it low;
I is for incisions with scars you can't show.
J is for joints, out of socket, won't mend,
K is for knees that crack when they bend.
L is for libido, what happened to sex?
M is for memory, I forget what comes next.
N is neuralgia, in nerves way down low;
O is for osteo, bones that don't grow!
P for prescriptions, I have quite a few, just give me a pill and I'll be good as new!
Q is for queasy, is it fatal or flu?
R is for reflux, one meal turns to two.
S is for sleepless nights, counting my fears,
T is for Tinnitus; bells in my ears!
U is for urinary; troubles with flow;
V for vertigo, that's 'dizzy,' you know.
W for worry, NOW what's going 'round?
X is for X ray, and what might be found.
Y for another year I'm left here behind,
Z is for zest I still have-- in my mind.

*I've survived all the symptoms, my body's deployed, and I'm keeping twenty-six doctors fully employed!!!

THE HEALTH UPDATE:

October 3rd, I landed back into the hospital with angina pain! It seems it was enough to have to send me for STRESS testing again. It also turns out that my cholesterol levels are too high, not to mention, my blood pressure!

That damn word!

STRESS!

Like it isn't bad enough that my life/work isn't stressful enough, that one has to go through all of that testing AGAIN! They have appropriately called it STRESS!

The added STRESS being...I had to travel out of province in order to get it done soon enough? It's either: We have TOO many people that are having these problems or not enough machines to keep up?

Well, I had mine done on the 16th and 17th this month...in Edmonchuk. Thankfully I have family living there or the cost would have been a lot higher! Money STRESS!

The thought of traveling there was STRESSful!
Not having done much driving lately, I didn't feel confident enough to drive myself [would have to borrow someones car]. Weather conditions [snow] not to mention having to drive in the city... made it even more STRESSful! Do I take a bus/train? Someone would still have to drive me to their depots and pick me up!

Luckily my Ex wanted to do some Xmas shopping [plus needed my help doing it] and offered the use of his car, plus do the driving. All I had to do was foot the bill. The most STRESSful part was whether I could be around him long enough without being TOO STRESSed out? It turned out to be not to bad after all, but it did still have some STRESSful moments!

I did receive good news that the physical end [walking on the treadmill] was great and not to worry about that part. The picture taking of my heart, has yet to come back. The word was that my doctor will have that info in a couple of days. Hopefully that it will tell him why my blood pressure/cholesterol won't go down?

The only thing to do now is STRESS about waiting...!

I AM trying to think positive?

HAUNT NIGHT PICTURES

This was the staging area. SewLady entertained the waiting victims here and tell them all about the museum addition and what the equipment was. When she heard the air cannon go off she would yell out to us waiting "victims entering" usually giving us the heads up on how many. We also were warned about the scare level by the age of the group. They were met with the view area of the "grocery store". This was a visual area before the long dark walk.

This started the scary part. Victims had to walk down a long dark hallway and all they could see was a blinking red light at the end. Most hate the dark and lots didn't want to walk down it but they had no choice! As they got closer to the end of it they could see that there was someone standing there. This was the devilish creature in red and most times they realized it was only a dummy. Then they had to go right and saw that there was another one at the other end of the dark hallway with a blinking red light also. I would sometimes take the place of the first dummy and hold the blinking light against my chest. I would hold still and let them go by or move just as they got up close to me. This was a tight spot and I managed to get wacked once! But it was worth it! Lots were faraid to continue after that. Many a guy forced their female partners to go first after that!

These shots are of the school room. You can see the only two clear orbs that I captured from the whole haunt. They are shown in the photo with the chalk board. I classify them as "orbs" and for those of you into "dust motes" why aren't there more? It got to be pretty dusty in there so I should have had lots show up as you can see the pics are pretty clear. If you bigify them you will see that they aren't quite round? Anyways, this was the area that the family of scarers haunted. They would sit on the desk or stand beside it and hold a book open...then they would slam it shut! That always got a got scream.

As you left the school room area you had to go down another dark aisle with a guy sitting in a chair. Sometimes there was someone hiding beside/behind him and they made sure that they kept the victims moving. This led to the "laundry" area. The old wringer washer as dimly lit inside and a face peeked out at you. this was the distraction for the ones hiding behind crates or under the table. In the dark and wearing all black made sure that they didn't see and if they did the person doing the scaring would remain still and it made on not too sure if they would "come to life" or not. This too got lots of scares!

As you went around the corner you were confronted with this creepy dude. His eyes glowed red and the mannequin underneath the mask made him look real. He was only a half body and sat on a desk which mad him fairly tall. This was a distraction for the ones sitting around the table. The table was dimly lit with purple lights and had a singing candelabra as it's focal point. The bad boys occupied this area the most. The last night we had a very tall woman dressed in black and she held the huge creepy hands. These hands [no photo] were about a foot & half wide with the bony fingers outstretched and were painted white. She would stand still holding them down at her sides and when the victim would get close enough to see her she would lift them up high and growl. This usually insured that they would exit quickly, if not, she would follow them!

You had to pass by the "Grim Reaper" before entering the cemetery. I would stand by the guy and most had a hard time passing by us. Just as you thought you were safe [sometimes I wouldn't move] a huge white spider[on a skateboard] would come rolling out at them. Many did the "scary dance" as they thought it would get their legs. If that didn't work then I would "come to life" and follow behind them...that always got them good!

This last pic is of the entrance way to the cemetery. We had someone donation the use of his coffin/skeleton and air blaster. We had a security person at the exit operate this prop scare and when the victims would get close to the coffin, the skeleton would sit up. Most people from town would recognize this prop [he used it yearly in his halloween set-up] but still ended up getting scare because they would walk by a treasure chest which contained an air cannon. This was quite loud and made one deaf after awhile but scared the hell out of one anyways! You can't see the prop because the guy had already removed it before I had a chance to get a pic of it. We even had gravestones!

Sorry about the big spaces! I don't find this blogging stuff very user friendly.

The end of Halloween 2008!

MORE UPDATES...?

It's Halloween time!

WARNING....long story.....could be lots of grammar/punctuation errors...:)

I did a pay forward thing, with my brother Tank and SewLady this year. They had mentioned, when helping me with my haunt of our courthouse, that they would like to stop decorating [hugely] at their house and get their town's museum to host a haunt instead, using their stuff. I said that I would help them out with the layout and such if they had ever managed to accomplish this.

Well this year they did!

Knowing me, I couldn't just let them off with just designing their layout, I had to involve myself too. So I decided that my holiday this year would be in Devon, Alberta, doing a Haunted Museum! It also gave me an opportunity to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law, whom I've neglected over the years.

My ex [yes we still get along] had a doctor's appointment in Edmonchuk during that time frame and willingly let me cram as much of my haunt stuff into his small car. There wasn't an inch left to spare! We even managed to do some shopping along the way while we were trying to get there. It seems that we did have a few inches left for purchases. After getting lost a few times we did finally manage to find their place...the ex has a problem with listening to directions and everyone knows men do not like to be told where to go?

We managed to unload my stuff into her vehicle and got to visit awhile before Tank got home. My sister-in-law, SewLady, works out of her home doing accounting and sewing [thus her name]. She also teaches sewing and I managed to learn something about it from her while I was there. I found that this old dog can learn new tricks [sewing, that is]! My nephew was also getting married the day after halloween and she has been busy doing alterations on the bride's gown and a bride's maid's dress.

So we had a haunt to build and a wedding to decorate...we had our work cut out for us!

First, SewLady took us for a tour on where the haunt was going to be held. I must make a note to you all that it is a MUST place to see. The town Devon was built for the oil patch workers so they could live close to where they could work. The main museum was built on the original well site, showing the public just what goes on in the oilfields. It even had classrooms to help one understand just what they have to do to get that stuff out of the ground and even if you aren't into the oil industry, the history/displays in that place is amazing! I wished I had taken photos of the place to show you but I'm sure they have a site on the net somewhere. I also got to meet the volunteers that run the place and you couldn't meet a nicer bunch of people! Some even helped run the haunt.

The haunt was being held in the "Braun Hall", an old community center, that had been moved out to the site and was in the process of being set up as an additional museum to the new one. It held some of the hospital equipment taken from the demolition of their old hospital. It was kind of neat to see just what they used way back then. Anyways, this haunt was been held to help raise monies to help keep the lights on in this place.

I had thought that things with the haunt would be ready for me when I got there and there would be LOTS of helpers....all I'd have to do was fine tuning/directing? As things turned out, this haunt was no different than our haunt...all think that its a great idea to host one, just as long as someone else does the work!

The ex made sure he wasn't around to help...he had done his share by getting me there! He couldn't leave fast enough the next day...I guess giving me a lift was help enough.Some things never do change!

Saturday, Oct. 25 th, turned out to be a VERY WINDY [102 mph] day for unloading our stuff at the old hall. On the final load, Tank and I were the last ones through the door. The wind had made unloading very interesting not to mention challenging! Tank had kindly held the door for me and I managed to enter safely but paid no attention to what he might have to go through to keep that door open. Tank is not a small man! A gust of wind was able to hit with such a force that it slammed into the door, driving him off the steps! He was able to twist his body just in time to avoid hitting some huge rocks, landing himself on the ground beside them, but still ended up injuring himself by hitting his vehicle with his knee. Of course no one saw this happen and thus no one came to his aid! The fall managed to knock the wind out of him so he spent some time lying on the ground. The next I saw of him, was him limping through the doorway!

He could have been seriously injured or killed!

Sadly, someone in Edmonchuk, did die in that wind storm! A tree breaking off in that wind, landed on the guy's car killing him instantly!

Thankfully that is all that happened to Tank!

Tank, the trooper that he is, struggled through the pain that he was in and continued to help set up the walls for the haunt! There was only five of us [their son, DJ & future daughter-in-law, MT] to get that place operational for the grand opening on Monday night...only two days away!

First thing that had to be done was move the existing stuff, in there, out of the way and hopefully move it not too far away from where they had been positioned for the museum set-up. One of the big drawback was that one of the volunteers, for the museum, had decided that the floors had to be freshly varnished BEFORE we held the haunt? It was a challenge to move everything without scratching the floor and thoughts of, "what if it snowed or got muddy during the haunt nights...do we tell the victims to take their shoes/boots off?" This guy was pretty negative about the haunt happening anyways and did manage to cause us some grief while we set-up/ran it.

Our haunt walls was the biggest problem that we faced for the set-up. This meant having a grid system of wires that had to be installed before the plastic could be hung. Thankfully DJ had already pre-made long rods with clip end loops to stabilize the grid and between him and Tank, they got it hung up. One of the cleaning staff's teenage son came in a little later and helped us tape the plastic walls on it...plus volunteered later to help out with manning the haunt. SewLady got to do all of the running around getting stuff that was needed and helped put together/dress her mannequins for haunt placement. We worked hard!

There was LOTS to be done and we were all getting pretty exhausted, so they decided to call it a day. I, as usual, lost it and said that there was more to be done... we couldn't quit! The shocked look on their faces told me all that needed to be said! So calming myself down and apologized later to SewLady, forewarning her that tiredness and lack of sugar makes me crazy! Thankfully that was my only hissy fit in the haunt set-up!

Setting up scares takes longer than writing about it but we managed to get it all done!

All that was left was finding helpers to man it!

SewLady is very good at making people want[?] to help out...short of twisting arms :).

We even had some boys call and offer their help. When I first set eyes on them, the night of the haunt, something warned me that it was going to be a bad mistake...I hate it when I'm right!

Monday...opening night!

Something I must relate first...during all of this set-up stuff/daily running around, SewLady and I spent a lot of time trying to find misplaced stuff! Her glasses, cameras, cell phone, my blood sugar tester, purses, etc!

So it was no surprise to us that we had misplaced the keys to unlock the door that night. So while we waited for Tank to go get the keys, we got to watch 3 very excited boys arrive with their father. All were slurping on big cups of slushies [tons of sugar] and couldn't stand still for one minute. Daddy dropped them and fled, leaving these bundles of energy with us. We couldn't even send them back as the haunt site was too far out of town for them to walk back. Being desperate for workers, I warned them as best as I could about fooling around in the haunt!

We now had a mad panic to get everyone dressed and placed for the best scare. I had a short time to teach all about how to scare properly...I like to call it "Haunt 101"!. Most want to jump out and grab the victim [customer] or yell Boo! The main rule, when I do a haunt, is "Touch nothing and nothing will touch you"! I can't stress this enough to the scare-er or scare-ee! Even if you know who the person is, they don't know that its you in the dark! MANY times I had to repeat this to the kids! The hardest part is making them realize that small movements in dimly lit areas can be much more scarier. Thankfully by then end of the evening they finally understood.

In our courthouse haunt we provided some food and water to the workers. Well we had water, cookies and some pop. The water was a good idea but the sugar only added to the kid's already high energy level!

Adding dead boys to my haunt ran through my brain a lot that night! The sane person residing in me made me resist the idea! That was my second pissy fit!

Our victim list that night was disappointing...25 people!

A lot was against us for this haunt:

- Too far out of town for anyone to walk to it. A shuttle service would have helped.

- Most didn't didn't even know there was a museum out there? The one good thing was, we made the ones who did show, aware of what was available for them to see. We had time between customers to do a bit of history on the place.

- A lot of people do not read their local paper! The haunt was well advertised in it and even had a write-up about me coming and lending a hand [which was kind of nice]. Our haunted courthouse and town even got a mention it.

- The entrance to the facility had no lighting, so it was near to impossible to see where to turn off. We even missed it one time and SewLady knew where it was! The museum has been fighting with the highway department and government bull crap, trying to rectify that situation. It's always been their problem!

- Poster advertising got put up too late. Sadly, Sewlady had been stuck with everything about this haunt and the overworking of one person ensured that something had to fail. Advertising has to be a priority to success. One person can do it, just as long as they don't have to do everything else! We did manage to put up three sandwich board signs advertising the night's event but most never even saw them.

A few more showed up for the second night [for the life of me I can't remember how many...28?]

The horrible boys showed up again, even though I told them that they wouldn't be needed! This time I told their father how bad they were, right in front of them and if they wanted to stay they had to change! It worked! They were very behaved and it might have helped that there was NO sugar available.

I did have lots of fun scaring people again! I sure miss that part of the haunt. Who knows maybe I host one in my old building [if it isn't sold by then] in 2009.

The third night, word of mouth must have worked it's charm because we had a whole 76 people!

I must add that we also had other adults helping too. The family that lived across the street from SewLady & Tank came out to help man the haunt. She fosters children and they got to have fun also. She controlled them so they were no problem at all. They manned the same area for three nights and knew just what to do to scare...I heard lots of screams from their area!

SewLady controlled the front staging area and would let us know how many were coming through. Tank controlled the outside areas and talked with the guests as they exited. There were many a histerical moments and he also got to hear their veiws on the haunt. Were had a rating of 12 out of the 1-10 many times and some even wanted to go back through again because they were sure the had missed alot from screaming/closed eyes.

This was my payment! Every scream made me smile lots! There might have been a poor turn out but what results from those who did.

The final night gave us over 100!

All in all I had fun...pictures of the final set-up will come next...blogger is complaining!

WISH I HAD THIS MUCH TALENT!

Can't stand the song [love the version of it], but man oh man what a display....enjoy!

MY PERFECT MAN?

MORE UPDATES.....?

Grad Decorating June, 2008: "Mardi Gras"

I managed to get through this years decorating and it was NOT without it's problems!

The big "S" on my forehead insured that the grad committee was able to pull off this year's theme! With comments like..."I'm soooo busy right now with ALL of the stuff I still have to do to pull this off, could you please do these LITTLE things for us", "I'm not sure how you want these things put together [table centerpieces] can you do it","here's the balloons, I don't have time to blow them up" and oh, by the way, our title for this grad is "Small Town, Big Dreams"?

What did that title have to do with Mardi Gras and how was I going to put that into the decor? Not to mention that I only found out about it at the last moment when it dawned on me that I hadn't inquired about it! Needless to say I was able to squeeze it in...Pod and I finished putting on the last touches of paint before it was due to be picked up for the day of set-up!

You never saw two happier people than us, when the stuff got there safely and found that we had LOTS of help in setting it up! Many hands made the load lighter and the only bad thing was having to direct all of them...but I wasn't complaining?

I must admit that the place looked wonderful when it was all done but with wonderful comes praises from others, especially from those who would like you to help out next year? I couldn't say NO loudly enough!

Needless to say, that fazed no one...I was approached again a little while ago and the sucker in me said a weak MAYBE..with strong conditions attached. Which I was again reassured that they would comply with it? Time will only tell!

Tell me how does one decorate for a "Ballroom" atmosphere?

What's the big thrill about pillars?

And yes, they are starting now!

I don't know what I'd do without the help from PoD! She has helped me get through many a stressful moment and I think of her as my magic wand! With her...presto...my work is done! I can't say THANK YOU enough!!! I done brung her up right! I also have to mention my wonderful son-in-law, Trebor, he's the dude who can't help out enough...he helped me bring back the stuff safely...THANKS lots!

Do you think I've buttered them up enough to help me again....?

More updates to follow?

WHERE DOES ONE BEGIN?

First off...I've totally enjoyed my time away from the pressures of blogging constantly!

Yes, I did miss having a place to vent some of my issues!
I found myself saying "I should put this on my blog!" a lot!
I guess what I needed was a good reason....my other followers [3] didn't plead as hard...:).

I dedicate all of my bloggings from here on in, to my brother Tank and Sister-in-Law, SewLady [who has reminded me to make sure all of my spellings, punctuations, etc, are correct...picky, picky... :)]. I can't promise no mistakes...sometimes one is just in a hurry?

UPDATES:

I think I left off with a statement about Suki's death "changing our lives".

Her death hurt me nearly as bad as losing my sister! Suki was my comfort when I was alone and she always acted like she cared about what I was going through and tried to comfort me to the best of her abilities. My children/grand children always help me but they do have lives of their own.

I STILL MISS HER!

Thumber and I get along just fine and she does what she can, but with her, it's not the same. Suki was a very jealous cat, demanded all of my attention and hated it when Thumber wanted to have her time. I must admit that it was my fault in keeping my distance from her and I was to blame for Thumber being so aloof. She is and always will be, a one-person cat! She does let my son, BillyRoo, look after her when I'm not around. Things with her are getting better!

Back to Suki's demise...

The vet had told me that her kidney failure was due to something that she had drank...possibly antifreeze? There was no way she could have gotten into any of that! One, I don't have any around and two, she was kept inside since moving to my shop/home! The only thing I know that she got into was the horrible water that came from the interior of my building..."the indoor falls". My roof had been leaking for years and I had to collect the rainfall in buckets. Suki just loved to drink out of them! I tried to keep them empty but she just had to drink from them anyways. I never did have to shoo Thumber away from drinking it...only Suki. I guess it slowly killed her!

So my reasoning is:
If the stuff in the ceiling/walls was that deadly to eventually kill my cat, what was it doing to me? The whole time I was living there I was ill with sinus infections, bronchial problems and generally felt bad all over! Since moving out I haven't been sick once!

Now:
Did I want my daughter and her family moving into there?
Even though we removed as much of the rotten stuff as possible and sprayed it all with bleach...did we do enough?
Both her and I have decided that we will not take the chance!

I relocated my business to where I am living now and I seemed to have gone back to working out of my home again? How I managed to squeeze all of my stuff into the small space I am in right now is a source of amazement to all who know me. Their questions were...how did I do it? Downsizing helped and great management of space...shelves everywhere!

I do have to admit that things have been so much better for me right now

Thats all for now...stay tuned for more boring issues.....:)

I'M BACK?

As per the request for me to continue my blogging by my brother Tank and sister-in-law, SewLady...I will give it another try?

Update soon to follow....

The Rainbow Bridge came yesterday, for one of my loved ones...

...around 2:00pm, one of my fur-babies, Suki, passed away from "renal failure"! She was 4 days away from turning 11.

I buried her last night at 11:11...on a clear and cool night which happened to be the start of a new moon?

I have more to say later about her untimely death and how it changed our lives?

But my heart is too heavy to continue right now...

R.I.P. my Suki Yama [ June 7, 1997 - June 3, 2008 ]

I MISS YOU ALREADY!

WTF

I was rudely awaken this morning by being flipped out of bed by my mattress/bedding, finding myself being wedged tightly between the frame and the sliding doors of my closet! The landing was soft, because of the bedding, but they also ended up trapping me because they encased me so tightly!

The first thing I did was panic because I'm not too crazy about being restrained like that! I felt like a beached whale tangled up in a fishing net! Then I had to laugh at my predicament...how was I going to get out!

Well, with a lot of wiggling and butt shoving the bed frame and closet doors, I managed to free myself. This only took a few minutes but felt like an hour! It was still dark out when it happened so I turned on the lights to see what time it was...4:47 am!

The real odd thing about this happening was the dream that I was having at the time! I had been replaying an incident from my past that happened between my two younger sisters, Buttons, Eener and me.

My parents were out and I was babysitting them. It was bedtime, I was really tired and wanted to sleep, but all they wanted to do was fool around! It didn't matter how much I shouted at them to shut-up and go to sleep...they wouldn't listen! They both shared a room and they were just across the hall from mine. So I planned my revenge!

It was dark out and there was hardly any light, so I was able to crawl across the hallway and sneak into their room. The closest bed to me belonged to my younger sister Eener. I slipped under the bed and waited for them to stop yakking. Finally they lay quiet for a few moments and that's when I reached out from under Eener's bed and grabbed her!

You should have heard the ear piercing scream that she let out! The scream was so loud that it ended up scaring Buttons. She reacted by screaming and flinging herself against the wall beside her bed! This caused the bed to shift, her mattress flipped and it pinned her!

Of course I rolled out from under the bed laughing...tears running down my cheeks. I turned the light on and found both girls in hysterics and crying! Then I realized that Buttons was more panicked than Eener because of the predicament she was in. She couldn't get out and it didn't help that she was still unaware of why Eener had screamed! She too was encased in her bedding!

Our parents came home to quite an uproar and I was in big trouble because of it!

The weird thing about this tale is the dream, my experience that awoke me from it and the time in which I figured it happened...4:44?

Those who have kept up with my blog knows that I have a thing with numbers and the number 444 [to me] means an angel has contacted me.

So....did Buttons get back at me for my sadistic prank from our earlier years?

Also, out of the blue, I received a call last night from an old friend inviting me to go "garage sailing" with her this morning in the town-wide garage sale next to our town. "Garage Sailing" was a big favorite of Button's and mine. It's been over a year since I have attended one [I had to kick the habit]. With my business not doing too well and money being tight I hadn't really planned on attending it. PoD's not really into it too much [she's been doing this clean sweep thing] any more and missing my sister hasn't helped the desire either. So I thought..."why not"?
Making a mental note with myself last night to make sure to get up early enough so I could shower before going.

So...is this also a sign from her telling me that it's okay to go?

That's why this blog is labeled WHAT THE F__K!

Post 333....this number is supposed to be the devil's son's number...?

But seeing as I don't believe in the devil, I guess one should never mind the number!

The one thing I do believe in, is the evil that is in some people! Or maybe that some are so brain dead that reasonable thought never enters their brain...ever?

What kind of person would fire a dangerous projectile towards an occupied house?

I can't for the life of me, justify this act, let alone wonder why any person would own such a weapon that could fire this thing in the first place!

Why the rant....

Yesterday morning, PoD dug out a tiny dart that was embedded into the wooden frame of one of her veranda windows! She really had to dig deep to remove it, meaning that it had to of hit at a high velocity [I watch too much CSI]! If her or one of her kids had been standing on the step, they would have been hit in the head by it! The angle that it came from showed that it might not have been fired directly at her place but as far as I'm concerned it should have never been fired...period! The height of it suggested that it was fired from a high position...like someone standing in the back of a truck. A drive by?

We're not sure what kind of distance these can be fired from in order to keep their power, but if it was a short distance, as stated in target practicing, then it was deliberately fired at her house to bury itself that deep! Scary thought!

This is the tiny object I'm talking about...This picture shows these ones to be plastic but the one that PoD dug out of her window frame was made out of metal. I seriously think that even the plastic ones could dangerous! This is the type of object it is fired from...

Those darts can only be fired from a hand held air gun and not from an air rifle [we checked]! How would you react if this was shoved into your face...it sure looks real to me! It scares me to think that something like this is showing up in our small town! The sad thing is that these air guns/rifles are bought as a toy/game?

Needless to say we went to the cop shop and reported it! They should be concerned about the existance of these...what if they stopped a vehicle and found themselves looking down the business end of this "harmless" toy?

We're still waiting to hear from them...?

STRANGE AND SCARY NOISES....

It's okay to read this....I'm not whining [as usual]...

I had some excitement this morning [8:30] at work!

I was talking on the phone to PoD [she's home sick right now] when I could hear strange sounds coming from the back door area of my building. I got up to investigate [while still talking to her] and found nothing going on outside the back doors...also the noise had stopped when I had got up? Looked around, no sounds, so I went and sat down again. I didn't mention it to her at that time about these noises. Then a few minutes later it started again and I went silent...then she could hear it. "What's that noise" she said?

So I got up and went to investigate [she's still on the line]. The noise stopped?

The sound was kind of tinny, like the walls of the furnace, but it wasn't coming from that area. I checked outside again and nothing was around, or had been, as there wasn't any tracks in the new falling snow [yes it's snowing AGAIN]?

Very puzzling?

This was kind of spooking me and PoD too!

No noise, as I checked around again! So I went and sat back down. We kept talking, trying to figure out what it might of been, when it started once more, only louder! So I quietly tip toed to where the sound was coming from and stood listening...

"Oh my God" I said to PoD, chills running up and down my spine....

"You won't believe where the sound is coming from"? making chills run up and down both our spines!

It was coming from an area straight across from where I was standing and where there wasn't any tin to be making that sound! Or so I thought! Upon closer inspection there was my old trash compacter [from upstairs] and it's sides were tin!

On the line PoD is telling me to open it up and check it out. My first thought was that the noise was too loud to be a mouse and I wasn't sure I wanted to have a rat come barging out at me! But in the end I warily opened it...finding nothing! With all of the noise I was making...the banging sound came again...but closer to me!

Right beside the compacter, hidden, was an empty tin wash tub! I slowly pulled it out and what to my wondering eyes beheld...a tiny little mouse! He was soooo cute!

I guess with it trying to climb the tall sides and falling back in, made the inner area echo... making the noise sound larger than it should have been.

PoD and I had a good laugh over that one!

Now what to do with the mouse? Me being one that can't kill anything [except bugs] decided to release it to the wild...or the dumpster far enough from my back doors. I didn't need it to come back to visit!

The noise and experience made the heart pound for a minute and happiness over finding just what it was even better!

Nice way to start the day!

MORE CRAP ON MY CRACKER...

If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all!

I feel like this poor cat....

Once again I have gone through more nightmare situations than I'd like to handle!

It all started with the water heater crapping out at the place where I now live! Thankfully I don't own the place, so I wasn't hit with that cost, but I still had to endure living without HOT water! Luckily it got fixed [after three days of waiting for the plumber dude to get his act together]! You can breathe a sigh of relief...I can now shower!

Then the water heater at my work place decided to quit working!

Had to call the "ex" in and even he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it? It was only 3 years old? So I had to heat water in the microwave before I was able to wash alum sign blanks, dishes...etc. One thing I couldn't do, was being able to afford to replace it! So I had nothing else to do but live with it...after all third world countries learn do without!

A few days earlier, I had turned off the furnace because it was starting to be really nice outside, trying to save money? The birds were singing, the trees had buds forming on them, the air was even becoming unbreathable [people were preparing their lawns]...spring had finally sprung! I was even going to start walking in the evening!

Suddenly the weather takes a turn for the worse and a cold front hits us! With the colder weather the heat had to be turned back on! Guess what?

NO HEAT! [Yes....I paid the bills!]

This meant trying to operate machinery that isn't meant to be operated in cold weather but seeing as it wasn't too bad out, we managed anyways. Work just had to be done, heat or no heat!

We were managing...

Then the weather decided to crap on all of us AGAIN...bring back winter in it's worst form! Wham...2' of wet snow! Like everyone else I was just getting to enjoy walking outside without BOOTS and heavy coats on! I should have known better!

Well the temperature inside dropped from barely manageable to totally unmanageable! I even dragged [through HUGE snow banks] a portable heat from my residence, in order that I MIGHT be able to get some designing work done on the computer? NOPE...computers don't like the cold! Picture me sitting there with mitts, toque, boots and heavy coat on! The heater couldn't even keep me warm! My "ex" had promised to drop by when he could get out of his place to see what was wrong with the furnace. So I had to wait there until he arrived...which wasn't until 1:00pm. Meanwhile I managed to keep warm by moving around doing grad decorations!

After an hour of dorking around with the furnace he decided to check the electrical outlet...NO POWER was getting to it! It seems he forgot, that he had shut off the electricity from the power box, when he was checking out the wiring that we are doing upstairs in the renovations.

Why the power was being routed from the upstairs box is beyond my comprehension? I had checked the box downstairs and all had been okay! I never ever though that it would have been connected to upstairs! Another curse for the previous owner!

So this morning I now have HEAT and HOT WATER!

On top of everything here at work, my grand kids are down sick again with colds/coughs thus PoD can't come to work and my cat, Suki, isn't doing too good right now. I have had to decide between paying bills, feeding them and me or take her to the expensive vet! Sadly she has to pay the price. She was starting to enjoy the green grass I was bringing her from outside and it was helping with her tummy ailments...now it's frozen!

I'm trying hard to look on the bright side of things only...it's just that I can't seem to find it?

[Deep sigh]!

Well I'd better put the nose to the old grindstone and get some work caught up...

I just hope that the old grindstone keeps working?

ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY....

This may sound silly but I am only now recovering from the high emotions that hit me while I contended with the stress that comes from "stage productions"! Having to tell myself to quit thinking about set building/prop making/cat herding/prompting...etc, has been very hard and my final "pissy fit" at the end didn't help!

During these productions [which was about 3 different restaurants], I worked on a real high, forcing myself to try to remember everything during that time frame so I wouldn't let my fellow thespians down! So when I was hit with a "it's not my fault I missed my lines because I was almost poisoned by bad food" and everyone looks at me...hit me below the belt!

After it was over, I couldn't get out of there fast enough!

No one was really accusing me or pointing fingers but it made me accuse myself! When in actuality, the bad food wasn't my fault...they were supposed to have provided me with their own food daily...my job was putting it together for their usage in the play!

It was just the lowness of someone else's comments, to cover their inability to learn their job, that hurt me the most!

I tried to laugh it off as a small minor thing but couldn't...I'm too anal about what I do and how well that I do it! It was a flaw that just ate at me!

This made blogging impossible until I could rationalize my "pissy fit"!

My mom always preached to me..."if you haven't got anything nice to say...don't say anything at all and if you can't let it go...wait til' a cooler mind prevails"!

I'm cooler now!

As for our production...it went well! Thursday night saw a small crowd of 41 people and they enjoyed the show but were pissed off at us because there wasn't a bar. How can you enjoy a bad performance without the possibility of getting pissed to help one's self get through it? Friday's crowd was larger and were allowed to get pissed if needed to...all that commented later enjoyed it enough not to! Saturday showed us a "sold out" crowd. From comments all went great!

We had our flubbed lines but the crowd never noticed...thankfully they don't get to read the script! Prompters have to read it nightly! Our group was professional enough to pull it off! I even had great comments on the set and props...when they could find me.

But my job didn't end when the curtains went down. The set had to be made right for the next evening's production. This meant washing dishes, cutlery and getting the stuff ready to take home to fill again. So I had no time to go out and get my "pats on the back" for my job well done. Some of the others did offer to help me and some did help [thank you Wilma], but by then I had already completed my tasks. Every night I ended up trying to go to sleep only to have my exhaustion keep me awake. Mornings always came too soon! I worked each day [even Saturday] to keep up with the work that was finally starting to come in.

So in all...I worked myself into having a silly comment upset me!

It's from this last experience that I have finally realized that I'm just not young [or healthy] enough to do this anymore! Getting riled up over a stupid comment was the final straw for me!

I've decided that the younger ones need to experience the stress that comes from building something to please others! If I do anything for this group again it will only be something where I need not attend rehearsals or work too hard! I love community theater too much to just do nothing...maybe the table centerpieces? I don't think I could screw them up as bad as these last ones were[not my comment, I just got to hear it later].....?

There was one bright angel that struggled with this production with me and who also cared too much on how "we are slowly losing the finer points" that are needed to pull these thing off...Wilma! She was my "taxi driver" and an ear to bend after each rehearsal...she kept me on the straight and narrow...giving me the strength to finish it! Hopefully she doesn't get burned out also! Thanks girl for all you did for me!

Lastly but not the least ,was the help that my daughter gave me...even after she told me that she "wasn't doing anything for the play this year"! I enjoyed working with her on the building of the sets...she was the strength that helped put them together! She even filled in for Wilma once when she was away. She's expressed an interest in acting...maybe I just look after my grandchildren instead...?

I wanted to have photos to put in my blog on what I had accomplished this year but my camera must have sensed my mood because all of my shots are too blurry! Must be my old age shakes?

So now my "pissy fit" is over!

WE'RE BACK FROM VISITING THE WIZARD...

We actually came back on Wednesday!

I finally have enough energy to report our venture to the northern city for the long awaited 3 Act Festival!

I journeyed up there with Pebbles & BamBam and the trip was made even more exciting with at least 2" of snow on the road! We had left with plenty time to take it slowly...so we did. There was no wildlife to be seen anywhere!

The excitment came when we were nearing the city limits! The truck that was pulling the trailer, with our set in, it suddenly hit a bump and started the trailer to rock and sway! Thankfully "Cowboy" kept things under control! Visions of "hard work" laying all over the ditch became my newest nightmare...not to mention the possibility of injury to the two guys in the truck! Luck was with us after all cause we arrived with that being the only incident!

Unloading took a short time as did the set up...all had arrived safely without any damages. It pays to carry tools...everybody knows that if your prepared for trouble - trouble never happens? We even managed to have a successful rehearsal!

The hosting club even provided us with a tasty lunch. They even let us use some of the food for our play...which was both very nice.

We accomplished so much that we all had time to do our seperate things.

I spent my time relaxing?

Managing all of the stage stuff [set placement, curtains, props & food] totally exhausted me, so I wanted my extra time to be spent resting...mostly so that I could party longer that night.

Seems fate still had some things in store for me....

I wanted to take advantage of the pool and hot tub, at the hotel. But it so happened that there was a dance festival being held this weekend, so both facilities were packed with noisy kids! The ones of us that had windows [we had a horrible skylight...no window] in their rooms, opened up to the pool, they had to listen to the noise! What was worse...?

I couldn't relax so I decided that I needed something to read to help me out. This meant going outside to a convience store across the way.

I got lost trying to get out of the building!

I don't like elevators at the best of times and the one that they had, made me nervous with all of it's noises! Deciding to use the stairs I went down too many floors and ended up in the basement. Seems that the area I landed up in was accessed by the outer doors to the rooms. I couldn't even find the entrance to the lobby! They had a hallway that was seperated by a wall and I went up and down it a few times before I figured out that it was not a seperate hallway...why it was built that way was beyond my comprehension? I figured that I must have wandered into the new addition? The door I did find, led me to the back parking lot! With my luck still holding, I went the wrong way and had to back track and ended up walking around the whole hotel! Something that should have taken a few minutes ended up being 20 minutes later!

I did have another embarassing moment...I forgot to make note of the room number as I left to pick up that something to read! Thankfully no one was around to watch me swiping my keycard at all of the rooms that I thought might be the right one. I did manage to find the right one and didn't have to go down to the lobby to admit my stupidity!

I finally did get some rest! Seems the searching for the book made me tired because I barely read it!

I did have more problems with my keycard while I was staying there!

Finally it was time for our performance!

It went smoothly except for a drop in the lines. I should have been there to catch it with a prompt but I had gotten myself into a mess with not taking my insulin on time. I had been running around seeing to everything and forgot how stress affects my sugar levels. I was crashing sugar wise and this slowed down my thought process, thus breaking my routine. Normally the area that they were in never had any problems so I wasn't prepared for it. It was becoming more difficult for me to move quickly from one set to another. This makes it one more reason why I shouldn't be doing this anymore. Especially not by myself!

Other than that the audience sounded like they enjoyed it!

Finally it was over and all that was left was the take down! I must say that it took hardly any time at all.

Sadly a sugar crash puts me into a mental funk that's hard to get out of and thought processing after one never improves without sleep.

But it was time to party!

It was nice to have an applause as one enters the green room. It's kind of a tradition that they do that honors the performing group that night. We got to eat right away...seeing as they wait for us on that also.

Our town is known for it's ability to party and we didn't disapoint them! Wilma had been at the first two green rooms and said that they had been boring! Our group likes to dance [me included] and dance we did! Sadly, [at 1:30am] I had to go to my room and left the younger ones to continue with their wild antics!

The nice thing was that the green room was held in the same hotel where we were staying so one could "walk" back to their room. Our rooms just so happen to be a long ways away! Guess what...my keycard wouldn't work in the door [yes, I had the right room!] and I had to traipse all the way back to the lobby to get them to program me another one. I was really tired after what felt like a 2 mile walk!

My roomates straggled in at 4 in the am. Hang overs were to be expected at 9:30 am when we went for our adjudication.

I had gotten up early [as usual] and had already eaten breakfast [slowly] waiting for some signs of life from the others? The group that were to perform that day had already left. Going up to the room to do my wake-up call found me struggling to use the "now hated" keycard! No such luck! Had to pound on the door to get some response.

I was more than happy to had over my useless keycards...I guess they're not made for my "magnetic" personality!

Our adjudication was great! The adjudicator had nice words for my set and remarked on my use of "spinning" sets. She used a more technical term but damned if I remember what it was. Poor Pebbles had to do her lines while running back and forth...it was some kind of teaching thing? Poor girl looked like she was ready to retch! The adjudication went on for 2 hours...but it was time well spent. We have some new ideas to try for our town performances!

Finally home time!

I came home to more cat puke on my rug...my poor Suki can't handle being away from me for so long...

All we have left to do is go back on Saturday to see the last performance and the awards...hopefully we did well?

As for home...I only have to read that play 5 more times! 2 practices and 3 performances. It won't be too soon for me!!!

WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD...?

Actually we're off to perform for the wizard?

We will be taking off at 8:20 am this morning and head up to the town way up north from us, for the long-awaited 3 act festival.

Practice last night was so-so and with Wilma not being there, my daughter PoD, stood in for her. She did pretty good for someone who has never read the script and only saw it performed once. It's pretty hard to read lines and go through the other actor's motions. The poor girl had told me in the beginning that she didn't want to do anything play wise but did end up helping me [no surprise] anyways. She helped with the building of the sets and also did some of the set painting. Thanks kiddo! I don't know where your mother would be without you?

We had to pack the sets/props up after practice...while it snowed out! Yup! As usual it just had to start snowing! I think it would have been too much of a shock if it hadn't! It did managed to dump at least 2" of the white stuff on us! Hopefully that's all the befalls us! It's pretty disappointing after all of the stuff had almost melted away!

My cat, Suki, wasn't too happy to see the suitcase come out this morning. I put it off as long as it was possible so it wouldn't stress her out too much? I'll only be gone one and a half days but that should be enough to stress her out lots, as it doesn't take much to do it. PoD did promise to check on her and hopefully give her a few reassuring hugs for me.

So wish us well and hopefully we'll be able to get our act together for tonight?