A letter of WARNING about those Magic Erasers!

This was sent to me by one of my Neices:

Attention to all of you who look after children:

One of my five year old's favorite chores around the house is cleaning scuff marks off the walls, doors, and baseboards with either an Easy Eraser pad, or the real deal, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I remember reading the box, wondering what the 'Magic' component was that cleaned crayon off my walls with ease. No ingredients were listed and absolutely no warnings were on the box, other than 'Do not ingest.'

My package of the Scotchbrite Easy Erasers didn't have a warning either; and since my child knew not to eat the sponges and keep them out of reach of his little brother and sister, it was a chore I happily let him do.

If I had known that both brands (and others like them) contain a harmful alkaline or 'base' chemical (opposite of acid on the pH scale) that can burn your skin, I never would have let my little boy handle them. A Scotchbrite Easy Eraser was rubbed against his face and chin, he received severe chemical burns.

At first, I thought he was being dramatic. I picked him up, put him on the counter top and washed his face with soap and water. He was screaming in pain. I put some lotion on his face - more agony. I had used a Magic Eraser to remove magic marker from my own knuckles a while back and I couldn't understand why he was suddenly in pain. Then, almost immediately, the large, shiny, blistering red marks started to spread across his cheeks and chin.

I quickly searched Google.com for 'Magic Eraser Burn' and turned up several results. I was shocked. These completely innocent looking white foam sponges can burn you?
I called our pediatrician, and of course got sent to voice mail. I hung up and called the hospital and spoke to an emergency room nurse. She told me to call Poison Control. The woman at Poison Control said she was surprised nobody had sued these companies yet and walked me through the process of neutralizing the alkaline to stop my son's face from continually burning more every second.

I had already, during my frantic phone calling, tried patting some numbing antibiotic cream on his cheeks, and later some Aloe Vera gel - both resulted in screams of pain. The Poison Control tech had me fill a bathtub with warm water, lay my son into it, cover him with a towel to keep him warm and then use a soft washcloth to rinse his face and chin with cool water for a continuous 20 minutes. My son calmed down immediately. He told me how good it felt. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and after the twenty minutes was up, he got dressed in his Emergency Room doctor Halloween costume and off we went to the hospital.

They needed to make sure the chemical burn had stopped burning, and examine his face to determine if the burn would need to be debrided (from my fuzzy recollection of hospital work, this means removing loose tissue from a burn location). My son was pretty happy at the hospital, they were very nice and called him 'Doctor' and let him examine some of their equipment. The water had successfully stopped the burning and helped soothe a lot of the pain. I'm sure Tylenol was helping too.

They sent us home with more Aloe Vera gel, Polysporin antibiotic cream, and some other numbing creams. By the time we got home, my son was crying again. I tried applying some of the creams but he cried out in pain. Water seemed to be what worked the best.
After a rough night, his face was swollen and couldn't move his lips very much. The skin on his cheeks was taut.

Today he is doing much better. The burns have started to scab over, and in place of red, raw, angry, skin we have a deeper red, rough healing layer. I can touch his skin now, without it stinging.

If you are a parent or grandparent, this post is meant to save your loved ones from the horror these parents went through. Please share it with other parents, grandparents, babysitters, aunts and uncles ~ anyone you know who spends time with kids.

BLOGGER PROBLEMS

For some reason the computer I was using to blog on no longer lets me? I'm using my ancient machine to type this one out and it's unreliable at best!

All is still busy here at work and having to sit at the computer all day long makes me not want to sit there any longer than I've wanted to!

Will be continuing soon....

Bear with my blogging woes...

REMEMBERANCE DAY

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, May 1915 In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

BLOGGER PROBLEMS

Seems blogger doesn't like my l-o-n-g stories!

I started my story on the "Drama Weekend" and somehow it got cut off like I was finished! I know it's not the idiot behind the keyboard...or maybe it was? Anyways...I will try again to finish it...it was so brilliant in the first place that I'm not sure that my Alzheimer's will let me repeat the story...?

Now where did I leave off.... oh ya...

We spent the rest of the day [Saturday] doing our own things...I went swimming/hot tubing and others played video games. My ankle hurt so bad that going for a walk was out of the question so pain killers and a nap was my next accomplishment...what a way to waste a weekend!

The evening started off good...until the plays started! I got some more sleep! The last play wasn't too bad but was way too long! I enjoyed the actors and their abilities to sing, dance and remembering their lines to keep this l-o-n-g play going! When asked "what play did I think was the best...besides ours"....I would have picked that one for the talent that was shown. The only drawback to them being chosen, was their loss of points due to going over the time limit! The adjudicator thought differently and awarded the "Best Play" to a play I really did not like! As with the rest of the awards...I completely did not agree with her choices! Except ours!

This year, we received an award for our "Technical/Backstage" abilities! This means that the adjudicator and the stage manager, for the festival, liked our set, sound/lights, costumes and stage presence [during practice]!

Our Wilma came away with an "Honorable Mention" for acting...my opinion is that she should have won the main award for acting and the rest of us get the "honorable mention"...of course I'm biased!...but I figured that we were that good!

The evening had dragged on for so long [12:30] that we decided not to squeeze ourselves into the green room after the performances and go back to the condos to continue sleeping!

Up early again the next morning I hobbled down to the beach with my coffee/camera and take some final pictures before leaving...just so I'd have something to put on my blog!

The trip home was uneventful and I slept most of the way...

Summation of this year's festival:

-I got to see people that I only see at festivals [some talked to me and some didn't]...

-I got to see plays that hopefully we will never perform...

-I learned that our stage/facilities and town, is nothing to bitch about...

-I got to see a lake that I wouldn't mind camping at...if it wasn't so far away...

-I got to see a town that I will probably never see again...

All in all I'm glad I went because I learned that we CAN KEEP IT TOGETHER no matter what problems hit us!

If I had a vehicle to stick it on this would be the bumper sticker I would make for it...

Might be a new T-shirt slogan....

here is a test post....and a picture for your viewing pleasure!

Halloween Clip...Please Watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3uD2qIdffg

DRAMA WEEKEND

We spent 6 long hours driving to Kamsack from Dodge this past weekend for the "One Act Festival". The weather was fantastic and traffic was tolerable. Of course the driving was done by someone other than me...thanks BamBam and Pebbles for letting me hitch a ride!

The scenery was flat as usual [for Sask] and the trees had lost most of their leaves but going through the different towns and hamlets, made for interesting viewing. There's even a town that has a huge Santa statue in it!

We finally got to Kamsask and the first thing that I had to do was buy a bathing suit! It seems everyone else was told that there was a pool and hot tub in the place where we were staying at, but me? Alas, there was only one shop that sold clothing and naturally, a bathing suit wasn't one of their items. I settled for a tank top and shorts [cost me 28.00]! With that out of the way, we found that the 10 minute drive OUT of town to our accommodations, turned out to be 20 minutes instead! I do have to admit the place where we were staying was quite picturesque!

We stayed in what they called "Condos" at Duck Mountain Lodge located in a Provincial Park at Madge Lake. The first thing that greeted us, when we arrived, was a deer near the Lodge...great advertising shot if I had, had my camera ready! We got settled in quite nicely! Upon checking out the pool and hot tub we found a gift shop next to the registry area and guess what? They sold bathing suits! I picked one up for 16.00!

That night we attended the first 3 plays and I was not impressed. I'm not a big fan of dramas and the one that was a comedy wasn't very funny to me...others might have enjoyed it but I didn't! I judge a play by it's interest and if I fall asleep during it...it definitely doesn't get my vote!

Lets say I did a lot of sleeping that weekend!

After the plays are over, we usually attend a get-together party called the "Green Room", that usually means there's dancing and such. Upon entering this room, one noticed that it was wall to wall tables and chairs, with absolutely NO room for dancing! The only table that was left, was right next to the DJ's speakers...ear damage! Great music but I get frustrated when I can't enjoy it by not dancing! I was NOT IMPRESSED! Happily we didn't stay very long!

I have to add that our beginning of the the fun filled weekend was marred by that fact that our outfits for the "themed" green rooms were stuck in a post office somewhere [had to order late due to poor planning on hosting town] so we missed out on the fun of "dressing up"!

Anyways...

The next morning, upon waking early [my usual time, 6:30 am] I was greeted by the site of snow on the ground! I went for a walk in this wonderful stuff and took some photos of the area...

The above shots are of the "Condos"...ours being the two end ones [the lit window was the one I was in]...the next shots are of the walkway to the main lodge. It was very windy out and cold!

Our condos had kitchen facilities which included a coffee pot...but no filters or coffee grounds to fill it! I need coffee in the morning! So my walk was for 2 reasons...mostly for the coffee! The next shots are of the Lodge...

The snow melted later that day and we had beautiful weather for the rest of our stay.

The rest of the day, for me, was spent relaxing in the hot tub and swimming in the pool until it was time for us to go in for our practice time [2:00 - 4:00].

Some of us had come early and others joined us later [they had to work]. Our set had come later and we received distressing news that it was damaged from the trip! Frantically [with the help of the festival stage manager] we were able to locate tools to fix it and we were able to have time to practice! The other problem that we ran into was the size and layout of the stage we were to perform on...it didn't match with how we ran our performance and we had to do some major changes on how we entered and exited! The set had to keep kept outside in the lumber yard at the stage exit for our turn to set up for the play. Thankfully we had 3 strong men to accomplish this!

Other than that the practice went well!

Another disaster that we had to contend with was trying to find 2 new T-shirts that were the same color because one of the actors had decided to wash their shirt and the dyed color had ran and faded. Thankfully, I had thought to make-up new lettering, just in case of emergencies!

Then some of us spent the rest of the day relaxing in the pool and hot tub.

The craziness started when we arrived to get ready!

The changing rooms [for the actors] were located in the spare rooms of a Real Estate Office...two doors down from the theatre! The make-up room, in the back of the theater, didn't really have any room to change and NO WASHROOM!

I had some stomach problems [nerves] and fifteen minutes before we needed to go on...I was desperate to use the washroom! This meant going out the back [in the dark...the light was burnt out] and make a quick trip around the building next door in order to get to the front of the theater where they HAD washrooms! I was being very careful but ended up stepping into a hole making me fall on my knees!

I had twisted my ankle...actually felt like I had broken it! Luckily it WAS only twisted and I was able to hobble to the washroom and back to the waiting area backstage. All of the movement made it throb worse!

The SHOW MUST GO ON!

This is the motto that theater people live by and my accident wasn't about to keep me from going on. Luckily the others did most of the set-up when it was time for our performance and I could stay off of it as much as possible.

We were perfect in our performance and the audience just loved us! We got laughs in areas that were never laughed at before!

Wilma and J-Rod can be proud of their wonderful script writing!

I didn't freeze once...no stutter...nothing! I was proud of the fact that I didn't screw it up for them! I hardly noticed the sprain until it was time for me to storm off the stage...that part hurt! I hardly helped at all for the take-down! My fellow actors were so good that they didn't even need me!

The green room that night was crowded as usual and it was "Karaoke" night. Luckily for me Wilma and Bruno both hate it also and we went back to the lodge early. I took two pain killers and all my agony went to sleep!

Saturday morning [10:00 am] was our adjudication time slot. The adjudicator had some valid points to add to the script and comments for the actors. For mine she thought that I walked funny and that maybe I should have worn different shoes, until I told her about my mishap. Her comments included the fact to all of us is that...the show MUST GO ON!

May your day be full of TRICKS and TREATS!

Wishing you ALL a Happy Halloween!

A Spooky Story....

My new place is HAUNTED!

I haven't said anything until now, but the new place the I moved into is really creepy! The main floor is okay but the upstairs and basement are the hot spots for ghostly activity!

This house is one of the original homes that was built when this town was first discovered, so it should have lots of history!

PoD warned me [only after I told her of my ghostly encounter] that she saw what looked like a little girl sitting on one of the steps leading to upstairs! She said that she only saw the lower half of her body from the knees down and only for a moment!

I haven't seen her...what I saw scared the hell out of me!

Thumber has been acting very strange at nights [since we moved in there] and some times she will come down the stairs like "a bat out of hell"...all fluffed and running like she is being chased! She even looks back to see if it is still coming after her!

On occasions her and Suki look up a lot and act like there is something there and even bat at something like someone is holding a toy for them to play with. This creeps me out sometimes but I don't feel threatened by these actions...just a little spooked!

The upstairs has always made me feel uncomfortable especially the back bedroom that has the little closet over the steps. Many times I have found the door to this cupboard open when I've known that I've shut it...mainly because it creeps me out when it's open! The door is hard to open so I know it's not one of the cats trying to get into it! My son has the front bedroom at the head of the stairs and always shuts the door when he leaves because he hates the cats messing in his stuff! That door is even harder to open because it drags on the carpet...so you really have to pull on it to get it open...yet I have found it open when I've known that it has been closed? I've even heard sounds coming from up there that makes me think that my son is still home and is walking around up there...when I know that he's not! I've even been brave enough to go and check...finding nothing!

A couple of weeks ago I was laying awake [worrying about life] around 4:20 am, when I heard a crash coming from the upper level! It sounded like something had fallen off of something and broke when it hit the floor! Of course I got up to investigate? Thinking that the cats got into trouble! Both were snug in their beds and were looking upstairs when I found them! I checked upstairs...both doors where open [they had been shut] but nothing was amiss anywhere? Neither cat followed me either!

I find that the basement is the worst!

It's only a small space and half of it is dirt! From the moment I moved in there, I've hated the basement and I've only been down there once! It is the creepiest place I have even been in! I'd rather walk through a cemetery a night...then go down there! I keep my cleaning stuff, broom and mop at the top of those stairs and every time that I have to use them [which isn't very often] I quickly grab them and shut the door, without ever looking down to see if there is something there or not...I just don't want to see it if there is!

But the thing that I saw last month scared me the worst!

One night I was sitting at the end of my couch watching TV when I felt this creepy sensation of someone watching me, come over me and I looked over to the stairwell leading to the upper level and saw a head of a man looking right at me! He looked like he was peering around the corner wall and I couldn't see the rest of his body...just his face! It was only for a split second but long enough to see that the face was an angry one!

Both cats were freaked out as well...Thumber ran and hid under the couch!

As for me, I just sat there frozen...unsure that I had seen what I thought I had just saw? The image is still frozen into my memory!

I have never told my son about what I have seen or heard, thinking that I'll wait until he mentions something first before I tell him what has happened to me! One...I don't to scare him away or make him creeped out about the place and two...have him not want to stay there!

As for me...I'm used to places being creepy! As long as nothing touches me...I'll be okay....

I HOPE?

Well that's my spooky story for this Halloween...got to jump on my broom and get to work!

HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

THE PLAY WAS A HIT IN DODGE!

We are performing a comedy style play in an "One Act Festival" being held in Kamsack this coming weekend.

Yesterday we performed in front of our second audience, which consisted of about 100 people. We do this for judging our timing for laughter [hopefully] and sound control. All went off wonderfully! We did manage to raise some money for our trip...that was a good thing also!

We did have a few moments where we thought we might not have an audience as someone forgot to unlock the front doors?

Our playwrights: J-Rod and Wilma thought up this great idea about a group of long time friends getting together for drinks and a visit, while sitting on a friend's driveway.

We are sure lucky to have such talented writers!

The name of the play is F.A.C.C. [Friday Afternoon Cocktail Club]

The characters involved [in order of appearance] are:

Nemo...Bubble's husband [unemployed]

TJ....CJ's husband

CJ....TJ's wife [avid blogger]

Bubbles...Nemo's wife [ditzy Real Estate Agent]

Nat...Fitzy's ex-wife [stressed out working mom]

Jennifer...Fitzy's overbearing mom

Fitzy...Nat's ex-husband

Alana...Fitzy's 6 mth pregnant girl friend

The action takes place one summer afternoon on a Friday.....here's our set...

I actually held myself together and wasn't nervous at all...until I stepped out onto the set! My stutter problem hit me once! Thankfully no one noticed but hopefully it was just because I knew the people in this audience. I'm sure that once I step in front of strangers in Kamsack that it won't be a problem [I just have to keep telling myself that]!

Everybody loved my costume and I got lots of compliments on how well the hair coloring suited me. Does that mean I should dye my hair? I am tired of everyone thinking I'm older than I really am...I guess having grey hair doesn't help? Who knows...I just might...I do like the shock one sees when they first set eyes on you...like when I cut my hair short!

Anyways...we are still busy here at work and hopefully I can get a lot done before we leave on Thursday!

THE BRITISH INVASION

I was asked by the Kinsmen of our town to decorate our community hall for the fund raiser being held Friday night. Seeing as I was being paid for this, I asked [roped in] PoD if she would help me...reluctantly she did.

This was a fund raiser for our new hospital and they had booked a band called "The British Invasion"...4 guys who played songs from the 50's and 60's impersonating the bands "The Beatles", "Dave Clark 5", "The Kinks", "Gerry & The Pacemakers" and they also had a few others who did impersonations of "Elton John" and "Elvis".

The flurry of drawings started last Friday and we worked right up until Thursday at 6:00 pm before we were finally ready to hang them up. Why does writing this sound shorter that it took to do them?

Thursday night was our last play practise until our performance on Sunday, so I figured that the Kinsmen could put the decorations up after our practice...nope...they figured that they could have them hung an hour before the thing started. Don't think so!

So, Pod and I took 2 hours that morning and got them all hung up! Pics are of our efforts!

Sorry for some of the blurry shots! We were both so tired that it felt like our arms were going to fall off but still had the rest of the day to finish working...which we had put on hold just so we could accomplish this for them!

Neither PoD nor I attended the function that night, as she couldn't find a babysitter or the inclination to search harder for one and me...I was just too dam tired! This dance was my type of music but I having no energy it would have been a waste!

The next day I was approached by the chairman of the hospital board fund raiser and he congratulated us on a job well done with the decor. He reported that all went well and over 200 people showed up to party! It's seems that even the band wanted to purchase a couple of the flags that I had made for their own use...for me, that's the best compliment ever!

I guess it was worth the extra strain after all! My only regret is not being there to see it happen!

Was it worth what I was being paid for, work wise....NO....advertising.....YES!

Hopefully I will be paid quickly....?

F.A.C.C. DRESS REHEARSAL

Tuesday night was our first dress rehearsal, with a small audience of family and friends! PoD and my grand kids were in attendance as well.

I thought I'd be nervous but I wasn't!

It did help that my make-up, costume and the fact that I had to add the lettering on the other actor's shirts, kept me so busy that I didn't have time to dwell on what might be going on in front of the stage. No time to sweat it!

Before I knew it...it was time to perform!

I now know that I CAN walk and talk in front of an audience! No screw-ups what so ever!!!

Thankfully I have a costume that I can hide behind and that it helps me to be someone that I'm not! Others might disagree...as some probably figure that I'm not acting!

On stage, I'm known as "Jennifer", an interfering mother-in-law, who gladly gives unwanted advice on how others should act [oops...I think I might do that sometimes] while dressing too young [oops...I think I do that sometimes also, after all why would I have those clothes in my closet], she comes off as quite a scary person and those who know her are wary of getting on her bad side [this I know is NOT ME...or is it?].

Okay...maybe I am "Jennifer" deep down inside!

The one thing that I do know for sure is...that I have NEVER treated my son-in-law like she treats her daughter-in-law...EVER!!!

This role does make one wonder?

Anyways...PoD and I got the set done and it only took us an hour to do it plus a half an hour of running around trying to get our act together. I must admit that it turned out not too bad for a rush job. The others were nice enough to tell us that also!

Upon completion of the play I asked my grand kids how they liked it and their response was that they thought the play was very funny, lots of swearing and that I was a scary person...not like me at all! At least my grand kids know who I really am! PoD's comment was that she had a "deja vu" moment as I was leaving the stage...something that I used to do when they were younger [mostly at their Dad].

All in all...I had fun!

Now all I have to do is make it through the performance on Sunday!!!

ANOTHER TAG GAME...sent to me by Blue

This one makes me wonder if there IS someone out there that IS gathering info in a round about way...."paranoid or what"? Definitely watching too-o-o-o much CSI?

Here my answers to this game...some might be true and some not...those who know me well know which one it is....mysterious or what....

1) YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (favorite stuffie + tail characteristic)

-"Hairy" Spider Tailess

2) YOUR GANGSTER NAME: (favorite kong-filler + favorite cookie)

-"Whitie Fig Newton"

3) YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color + favorite animal species)

-"Purple Kitty"

4) YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name + city where you were born)

-"Boney Edmonchuck"

5) YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name + first 2 letters of your first name)

-"Turgl"

6) SUPERHERO NAME: (“The” + 2nd favorite color + favorite drink)

-"The Violet Slushie"

7) NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

-"Phillip Louie"

8) STRIPPER NAME: (your favorite scent + favorite treat)

-"Sweet Pea Milky Way"

9) WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names)

-"Thelma Robert"

10) TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (your vets last name + major city that starts with the same letter)

-"Baker Boston"

11) SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday + favorite flower)

-"Spring Halloween Sweet Pea"

12) CARTOON NAME: (fav fruit + article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)

-"Cherry Pantsy"

13) HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast + your favorite plant)

-"Raisin Toast Aloe"

14) YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (“The” + Your fav hobby + fav weather element + “Tour”)

-"The Rock Painting Misty Tour"

And another one [tag] bites the dust....

Tagging....anyone who is bored or who has nothing to write about...

BUSY...BUSY...BUSY

Things around here are real crazy right now! I'm so tired that I can't sleep! I almost missed play practice last night and if wasn't for me giving my new phone number to Wilma, I would have!

Work has picked up and we are SO-O-O-O behind! As usual everybody wants there stuff yesterday!

Last week, was a week of heartaches, with PoD's Maxie and my Suki both quite ill! We spent most of our time, at work being closed, as we had to travel back and forth to our nearest center to visit the vet! Thankfully, of yesterday both cats are on the mend! A big thank you from me to Blue and Wilma for their well wishes to our cats...the only people who actually cared! Love ya both!

Stupid me stuck my hand up AGAIN and added more work to my schedule! One day I will learn or overload and explode...one or the other!

I was asked to decorate the community hall for this Friday for a function that is being held for our new hospital's fund raiser. Granted I'm being paid for it, but that's not the point...I really don't need the extra work right now [just the money]! Then I fell into the trap of agreeing to decorate the set for our play [dress rehearsal is tonight] and this will be added to my already busy work load today! This also sucks PoD into helping me as well! She has been taking work home to help us out on her own time and even her kids have been busy helping her! I definitely owe her and them BIG TIME!

I gotta run now...times awasting! Will blog again...hopefully soon...

This is what I feel like right now.....

ANSWERING A TAG...

My blog pal Blue has tagged me with this info quiz about me....

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

-A couple of years ago I found out that I have the same first name as my half sister who died many years before I was born...which I still find very creepy! All my growing up years, I'd hated that name and after leaving home...I'm now known by my middle name. Which some of my family still find hard to accept!

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

-At 1:45 am this morning...my cat Suki is ill and I can't afford to take her to the vet! I have to rely on alternative ways to help her out...making me angry at people who don't pay me [or make me wait] for work that I do for them!

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

-No...my hand cramps up when I do...I prefer to use the computer!

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

-Canned Salmon & Miracle Whip

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

-Yes...a girl & a boy and 2 grand children...a girl & a boy

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

-Yes...I think I'm an interesting person and can talk about anything except sports, computers, gaming and politics!

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

-Yes...it's my second language!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

-No...they've been removed twice...once when I was 5 yrs old and again when I was 15 [which by the way hurt like hell]...I'm waiting for them to make another comeback?

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

-No...never have understood those who do? Putting your trust in a rubber band doesn't make sense to me!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

-Porridge or Cream of Wheat...flavored with brown sugar

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

-No...I try not to buy shoes with laces! Bending over when your over weight makes the blood rush to one's face!

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

-Physically...arms and shoulders - yes...hands - no
-Mentally...yes
-Emotionally...so-so...I could work as a paid mourner at funerals...I cry easily
-Smell...no - bath regularly

13.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

-Don't care much for it...but I had to choose it would be Maple Walnut

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

-Their mannerisms

15. RED OR PINK?

-Red

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

-That I'm comfortable with being a loner?

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

-My sister...Buttons

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO PLAY?

-Yes...it's good to be truthful [or not] about oneself?

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

-Red sweats/white stripe down the leg with pink colored "Crocs" that have red flowers on them...I'm a colorful person

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

-Lunch

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

-The clock ticking and 2 computers running...I hate noise! Radios jabber too much and I prefer music when I need to move my butt! Right now I'm sitting on it!

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

-Purple

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

-Some fool trying to sell me something I didn't want!

24. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

-Yes...she lets me know that I exist and that I might be interesting?

25. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

-Swimming, Gymnastics and Equestrian

26. HAIR COLOR?

-Salt and pepper...more salt than pepper

27. EYE COLOR?

-My eyes change color with my moods: happy - blue, angry - steel grey, sad - aqua

28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

-No

29. FAVORITE FOOD?

-Home Fried Potatoes...but lately it's been just about anything...taking insulin makes me act like I'm starving!

30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

-Scary movies with happy endings!

31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

-BloodRayne 2...not a recommended watch...boring!

32. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

-Red

33. SUMMER OR WINTER?

-What happened to Spring & Fall...don't care much for Summer or Winter

34. HUGS OR KISSES?

-Depends on who's doing either...I'm very selective outside of my family!

35. FAVORITE DESSERT?

-Chocolate Cake or Jello

36. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO?

-Anything that is in distress...humans and animals alike

37. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

-To anyone who asks me for money!

38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

-Nothing...had my fill of reading while in the hospital for 18 days around xmas! Too busy and too tired to make the effort right now!

39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

-My Mouse with my hand attached to it?

40. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?

-Extreme Home Makeovers [makes me cry tears of happiness] and some CSI re-runs

41. FAVORITE SOUND?

-My cash register going "Ka-Ching" or money jingling in my wallet...but that's been so long ago that I'm not sure what it sounds like anymore? Other than that...birds chirping in the early morning hours.

42. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?

-Rolling Stones...in the beginning!

43. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

-Tijuana, Mexico

44. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

-I like to build things! I'm kind of an "artsy fartsy" type of gal

45. WHAT IS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO GET MARRIED?

-Never or Feb. 28th...not on a leap year!

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

-Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Who might want to play?

I challenge Wilma...as she's the only one besides Blue who I know that blogs!

And to anyone of my "lurker bloggers" who would like to pass this on to their friends!

Astrological Halloween
How each zodiac sign approaches trick or treating.

• Aries pushes the others aside to get to the door first.
  
  
• Taurus will only eat the finest Swiss chocolates.
  
  
• Gemini goes around the neighborhood once, changes costumes and goes around again.
  
  
• Cancer stays at home and gives candy to the other trick-or-treaters.
  
  
• Leo plans their costume for months, then won't go out because someone else had the same idea.
  
  
• Virgo wears a neatly-pressed suit and tells everyone they're a bookkeeper.
  
  
• Libra is still standing in front of the closet trying to decide on a costume.
  
  
• Scorpio isn't in it for the candy.
  
  
• Sagittarius will manage to wander to the next town.
  
  
• Capricorn makes a list of all the houses that give good candy and the optimal route to take.
  
  
• Aquarius builds their costume out of spare flashlights and spends all night tinkering when it shorts.
  
  

• Pisces skips the whole thing to compose poetry to the Moon.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!

Maxie does not have CANCER after all!

Thankfully we waited for the blood tests to come back before deciding his fate! Doctors can be wrong on visual diagnosis and one must get that second opinion...this being his blood work-up.

The best words in the world was hearing the doctor's assistant say "we have GOOD news"!

Seems what they were seeing, when doing the physical, was his throat/gum area at the back of his throat was raw and swollen on both sides, with lacerations! His blood worked showed that somehow he had most likely swallowed some cleaning substance that might have happened while drinking water out of the bathroom sink, toilet or tub at some point. Or maybe while laying in the bathroom sink [because it's warm] and might have picked up some leftover residue cleaner that hadn't been completely been washed off and was ingested while he was cleaning himself.

WARNING!!!

His ailment didn't just happen overnight! This happened over a long period of time and had been slowly eating at his throat! The vet says that these substances can be picked up anywhere people use these harmful cleaning substances and even the pesticides outdoors...all can be picked up on the fur/paws and subsequently ingested! All it takes is for something to open the skin and the caustic stuff will do it's job!

It's not only cats that have this problem...this can happen to your dog!

Hopefully this can be reversed! Maxie has had to stay the weekend at the vets because the next 48 hours is the deciding factor whether his health will pull him through...so he's not "totally out of the woods" as yet! One good thing was that his liver hadn't shut down and there seems to be no damage there!

I'm still waving my magic heath wand in his direction hoping that anything might help him to get by this!

Maxie after all is MY HERO...without him my daughter and grandson might not have survive the intruder that broke into their house in Edmonchuk 7 years ago! He deserves to live a long time!

HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR PET TODAY?

Watch this video!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhs64JnfC8c

BLOGGERED DOWN...

This week has been pretty busy for me here at work! So busy that I haven't had time to drop a few lines on my blog! I would have been more inclined, to post more, if I had any response to what I blog about from the lurkers that do drop by to amuse themselves! Then I realized that I had nothing to say to amuse myself...thus the hole in blogging...after all this is MY record for ME...lurkers CAN choose to remain silent...I DON'T care!!

WEATHER UPDATE...

Relentless hurricane-type wind on Wednesday...cold and biting to the bone!
Rainy gloomy day on Thursday...
Nice fresh morning today...TGIF
With the cold I said there was no bugs...I forgot about the creepy maple bugs! They are every where this year! Everywhere I look I see another on of these crawling on something...did I mention how much I hate bugs!!!

HEALTH UPDATE...

Tired....headaches from thinking and designing too much....
Cold....gone! Do have the usual fall sinus problems...

PLAY PRACTICE...

Finally found that I CAN walk and talk at the same time...lines are now memorized! Still in a confusion on what my outfit is going to look like? Set is still not up...but is NOT my problem...I have to keep reminding myself that! I do have some ideas on how to do it but will butt out and let someone else deal with it...or not? I tried to keep my brain from designing the set but years of too much building wouldn't let me! So if somebody needs help.....?
There's only 16 days left before our first performance!

HALLOWEEN...

Putting up decor where I live this weekend...shop is pretty well finished for what I wanted to have up there...the wind on Wed kept blowing the door open and played havoc with my decor so I had to keep repairing that...thankfully it was inside and not out!

SADNESS...

Yesterday PoD and I took her cat Maxie to the vet to find out why he stopped eating, drinking and was having problems with his mouth/jaw. PoD thought it might be an abscessed tooth or sore throat? Diagnosis was jaw and throat CANCER! Blood tests sent away will show today how bad? Hopes are that dosages of "steroids" MIGHT help but odds are that he might be too far gone! Keeping all digits crossed and hoping that waving "magic health wand" will help! Won't know outcome until after 4:30 today...will be a longgggg day!


Now you lurkers know what I know....


Oh by the way....there's only 19 days left until Halloween!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.....to all AND BY THE WAY....THERE'S ONLY

DAYS LEFT 'TIL HALLOWEEN

RENOVATIONS UPDATE...

On Saturday, Trebor and I spent about 3 hrs cleaning up the last mess that we made the last time he was here. Who would of thought that it would take so long! Granted, while I was cleaning, he was busy tearing more down!

In Dodge, we are only able to take stuff to the dump on Thursdays [3-8:00pm] and on Saturdays [2-6:00pm] so we have to plan our days accordingly.

This weekend, Trebor's brother [Sined] and sister-in-law [Kcinna] and her kids were coming to have Thanksgiving with him, PoD and my grandkids. They were supposed to have arrived Friday but vehicle problems delayed them until Saturday around 5:00 pm or so.

Renovations started in earnest on Sunday after lunch. This time Trebor and I had help from BillyRoo and Sined. Our first mission was to fix the roof damage [inside], so that when the snow flies, the weight of it won't make it bulge inwardly! We also re-supported the roof where there was no support!

Seems I was right about the place being a "rooming house" in the olden days! They built the walls for the tiny rooms [I figure there was 8 rooms] and then installed the roof. So when the "Idiot who owned the place before" renovated, he removed bearing walls and that's what helped the roof to slowly collapse! Thankfully, Sined had done renovations before and was able to give us some great ideas on how we should go about fixing and shoring! We we got quite a bit done and we still have some more to do, but this is what it looks like now...

Here's all of the rotten rafters that held up the ceiling in the bedroom, dining room and kitchen...

On the ground where they belong! To the dump is next!

THANKSGIVING SUPPER...

Meanwhile PoD and Kcinna were busy making our Thanksgiving feast! I had put my contribution to the meal [ham] in the oven at noon to slow cook while I helped the guys. In my case I would rather build than cook! We stopped for supper around 6:00pm and ate a wonderful meal! The girls did a fantastic job...my ham was so well cooked that it fell off the bone!

Trebor and his brother decided that they wanted to keep working on the place so they went back and tore out more stuff! They also added a couple more support posts...so we now have added 4 metal posts that will now hold the roof like it should have before!

While the guys were busy fixing, PoD, Kcinna and I did what we like to do when it gets dark! We decided to visit Dodge's Cemetery!

THE PARANORMAL PART...

We are all into the Paranormal! Kcinna happens to be very in tune with the spirit world and we like to do scary things when she's here! She attended our last "Paranormal Group's Tour" in the Courthouse and we've always talked about doing the cemetery after dark!

We had some problems happen to us before we managed to finally get investigating done!

We started out in Kcinna's vehicle, got to the cemetery before we realized that it was too dark [we forgot our flashlights] and too cold [freezing wind] to continue! On our way back home we had vehicle problems [fan belt broke] and had to switch to PoD's car! Arming ourselves with heavier coats, two flashlights and hot coffee we started out once more!

Finally we were able to start!

When we got there the first time we heard what sounded like someone playing a flute? Sound carries pretty far on the prairies and we figured it must be coming from one of the homes nearest to the cemetery [about a mile away]? Anyways, it was gone when we started out the second time?

It was horribly cold out! The wind was so bad that it froze our hands [no one thought of gloves] and our hot coffee quickly turned cold!

We started with my friend Liz's grave and I took photos of all of the grave sites around hers! We wanted to do more but it was just too cold, my hands were freezing and my camera started acting up, so we cut it short and went back to my shop to down load to see what we did get. We were quite amazed at what came out of our little venture...

Remember...it was very windy out there, so if there was any dust/dirt problems with the shots there should have been lots on all of the pics!

This is us leaving!

All in all we had an exciting day...kind of different for a Thanksgiving! I must give thanks that I have family to help me out!

Bet you never had a day like mine!

Happy Thanksgiving!