Couture Halloween Dress

This is my Couture Halloween Dress

by world famous designer Dianne Slattery.

 

4 AM

It's 4:00 AM. I am wide awake. I still have 2 hours to sleep. I don't want to get up. Maybe if I close my eyes I can go back to sleep.  My mind is buzzing with activity. This is what happens when I try to force myself to sleep. I start thinking and making list.

What am I going to have for dinner?

1. Grilled Cheese

2. Mac n Cheese

3. Cheese

4. Bacon

5. Homemade-Tomato soup with grilled cheese and bacon - yeah, I have got that big tomato I need to use...

6. I think we will have sloppy Joes and use the big tomato in it.

Toss, turn.

House work that needs to be done:

1. empty dishwasher

2. make dinner

3. clean up dog poop outside

4. laundry

fluff pillow, toss, turn!

What am I going to do for my birthday?
That question leads to thoughts of Birthday /Christmas list for my gig a low:

1. Electric toothbrush

2. Travel pillow

3. Garbage can 

4. Slippers

5. I am forgetting one

Get up go to the bathroom, go back to bed, force my eyes closed...

Who have I offended this week? Who do I need to apologize to?  ( I know it's only Tuesday)

1. Person A

2. Person B

3. Person C

Flip over fast, now I am mad it is 4:30!

Who have I offended and I don't care?

1. Person A, scratch person A from above list.

I turn on my back and listen to my gig a low snore.

1. I need to exercise 

2. I need to exercise

But I did yesterday and the day before, cant I have a day off?

Now I am hot, I kick off the covers.

What do I have to do at work today?
1. Find the perfect parking place
2. Wonder what the boss is going to have me do today
         Plan A
or
         Plan B
I am hoping for plan B

Worry about Thanksgiving party

Now I am cold. Pull the covers back up.

It is 5:00 AM. I give up and get out of bed. Nothing much I can do at 5 AM, the guys and the doggies are sleeping. I check facebook, email, and news on the computer. Thankfully ChaCha is up so we play words with friends.
Oh man! I hope I sleep better tonight!

Saturday

Today I had a very busy day. First I went to a Mormon emergency fair. I am not sure what they are preparing for? Armageddon, earthquake, fire ??? It was not an advertised event. I had insider information this event was happening, so I decided to crash the party.

This is what I found out, the church encourages people to dry can foods in #10 tin cans. Members can foods like dried milk, rice and dry dog food. You can go to a Mormon cannery or you can check out a canner and do your canning at home. It seems to me they take the canning process pretty seriously. The tin can lady and her husband were very nice. Down a few booths in the glass jar canning and dehydration area I a received very a chilly reception. Maybe it was because I was showing a little cleavage. It was obvious I did not belong there because many of the church women looked as if they were from little house on the prairie. There were a few younger women that looked "normal."

I did get a few winks from a man church member.

Next it was on to lunch with Dahlia. I was so happy to see her. Her beloved dog died recently. I feel really bad for her. I know it was a huge loss for Dahlia and her husband. We had a good lunch, I had to run off to my next event.

I went to the local library to promote libraries being accessible to people with disabilities. (The wealthy library are accessible that is.) It was fun to watch how people at the library reacted when I asked why these programs are not in the poorer areas of the county.  I was told it was because the more affluent areas have "friends" who are willing to fork out the big bucks for the upgrades.

My job was to show the "upper class" how the local library now has high tech and low tech gadgets to help all kinds a people. I was in charge of a Kurzwell computer station. Its a great program for people with dyslexia or low vision.
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/default.html.

One of the fun new items the libraries are getting is called "roll a nater." It's a rolling walker with a basket and a seat, so elderly people can pick out books and put them in the basket. If they get tired rolling up and down the aisles they can have a sit.

Trying to drum up interest the librarians and tech guy made this choreographed dance with the rollanaters to the song BAD by Michael Jackson. It was pretty hysterical watching (what most people would consider reserved) librarians doing this crazy dance with the walkers.  Only about 6 of people showed up to watch.  Most people were inconvenienced that the library lobby had dancing librarians with walkers.

The library had all kinds of informational booths, guide dogs for the blind, even a miniature horse. No one seemed to care. The word did not get out to people with reading, vision or hearing problems.

If you or your family does not have some one struggling with disability's why would you care if the library is accessible or not? During the 2 1/2 hours I was there I only showed 4 people the kurzwele program. Most were connected with the library.

Out of the Mouths OF Babes

Shorty's  little daughter asked if they could go visit a coal mine. Shorty asked her daughter what she thought was in coal mines! RUBIES her daughter said. No, Shorty said its coal, do you know what we use coal for?
Yes, that is what Santa puts in your stocking when you are bad.

:)

Assocaite

Some people associate songs with a memory, some people smells, as for me I associate food with memories.

The other day Jasmin and I went to Costco. I bought the "Torta Sandwich Rolls" (oh my 45 carbs per roll.)
I could not hardly wait to get home and eat one. YES, I made myself wait.  The first bite took me back along memory lane.

It all started when I was very young. All the parents on Nevis Street sent us kids to day camp. We were dubbed
"The Nevis Street Gang" by the camp councilors. We were rowdy and wild. Some how me made the camp councilors like us. When I turned 12, me and my foster sister were inducted into the world of camp councilors. Two of the "Nevis Street" kids did the neighborhood proud.


The camp leaders were: Carolin, she was a hippy who did not shave her legs or arm pits. She burned her bra. Carolin was also a vegetarian. I had never heard of that before. In my mind that was just plain weird. More so then not shaving your arm pits and legs. Paula, she always had a bandanna on, Jay, was a fun and silly song leader, and Steeeeveeee. Me and my foster sister had a crush on Steve. We pretty much worship the ground he walked on. Steve played guitar and sang folk songs. He had long brown hair. Me and Steve shared a birthday, so I felt I had more ownership rights.

Camp was 6 days a week. Five days at the park, swimming, making crafts, hanging out by the creek, going on hikes and singing.

One of the joys of being a camp councilor was that Jay would make up a song about you. We would teach the kids and they sang it everyday. Here is one of the songs "our leaders name is Steve, he always made us heave so we had to make him leave, up at the old day camp." Loved that song because it was about dreamy Steve.

Here is another song we sang by Jay. " Grandma is in the cellar, oh can't you smell her, she's cooking pancakes on a dirty stove, YUM- YUM! In her eyes there is matter and it's dripping in the batter and the  (making arm movment as if to wipe your nose) is running from her nose."

On the 6th night  we would spend the night at different state parks, camping with the "kids." Now that me and my foster sister were unofficial camp councilor we had the privilege of spending the night in "leader land." Leader land was just a about 20 feet from the "kids" but only leaders could sleep there.  Other then the pot and cigarettes nothing inappropriate happened. We would talk and laugh and eat M&Ms and have a great time.

The best part was after the camp out, when all the little kiddies were gone ( I was 12 after all not a kid any more) the camp councilors would have a party. I loved going to the party because Steve was there. Anyways, they always had "day camp sandwiches." They consisted of a sour dough roll , miracle whip,  the very cheapest lunch meat food product and cheese whiz. The ritual was to put miracle whip on the roll, next "lunch meat", cheese whiz topping, close the sandwich up, stick it in the microwave heat it up, chow down. (Caroline just put vegetables on hers.) Those were some of the happiest days of my youth.

The rolls I just bought at Costco tasted just like the rolls at the camp party. When I eat one I feel so happy.

I wonder do you have any food associations?

Picture

I took this photo the other day. It is my new favorite photo.

The Golden Calf Update 10/10

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.  They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it....

Haven't we Americans become just like the people who worshiped the calf? We worship greed.  Look at the golden bull on Wall Street. Funny in a symbolic way.

We have bowed down to Wall street greed. 99% of the people told the walls street gangsters someone has to get the short end of the stick why not us?  So we will take it, hold us over the barrel. We still naively believe we can live can  the American dream.

"Hay look what's that sound, everybody look whats going down" -Have you been watching whats going on all over the country? It started with Occupy Wall Street. People are getting mad.

People are fed up with:

• Not being able to afford health care. 
• Going bankrupt because someone in their family got sick.
• Not having a retirement.
• Not having a FREE and appropriate education K-12.
• Not being able to afford to send their kids to college.
• Students are defaulting on outrages student loans because there are no jobs when they graduate.
• Working two or three jobs and still can't make ends meat, or they can't find a job at all.
• Paying over $4 a gallon for gas, the oil companies are racking in billions of profit.
• Paying as much for a gallon of milk as it cost gas.
• Stalemate in Washington DC.
• Fighting with the home lone modifiers who got a bailout themselves.
• Big businesses getting bailed out by our government, in turn big business lay off thousands of American workers.
• Sick of being lied to by the politicians, who have lined there pockets with lobbyist who were hired by Wall Street.
• We do not want to pay $5.00 a month to spend our own money (Bank of America.)
• We do not want to pay more fees to get on a air plane then what we paid for the ticket

No I am not a socialist.

Most people I know don't want a government handout.  They want to make a honest living, but can't. People of all ages, creed and color are starting to rise up. Not just hippys and college students. Average Joes and Julies are starting to wake up and smell the 1% who have everything.

People get ready... this is an exciting time.

I would suggest a salvation prayer if you haven't already done so. If you don't know how ask your Christian friends or go to a local church. Jesus is the only true one we can trust. His word is the same yesterday, today and forever. Never changing. He can't be bought by Wall Street. Governments can't make him go away. They have tried for thousands of years without success.

To be continued as events unfold.

Text Message

It seems as though calling people on the phone or even email has become a thing of the past! People act as if they are inconvenienced when you call them on the phone. People have told me "I will never pick up my phone, don't call me, if you want me to respond text message." Have you ever got a text message the length of War and Peace? It takes 10 minutes to scroll to the bottom of the message. Text messaging has taken over the world. For the most part I hate it.

For me text messages come in handy when you have a short update - I am on my way, or lets met at 5:30, see you there, I am running a little late  kind of message.

People try to conduct business using text. They tell you the secrets of their soul using text.  They don't want to talk on the phone or even read an email. It drives me crazy. Here is the problem I have with using text for all my communication. I can't spell because I am dyslexic. My phone has a spell checker but it takes me a long time to write a text. Sometimes I cant read things that people write correctly.

If you are my boss and you are trying to tell me something very important, call me on my landline or cell phone. Text messages can be misinterpreted, or not clear. How do you ask questions and clear up a misunderstanding back and forth on text?

Here is an example of why I hate text messages.

I am working on two different events. A flower show and a Thanksgiving program. I am a part of the Thanksgiving team but not part of the flower team. My friend told me we had a meeting to go to for the Thanksgiving team. I was not sure about the time so I text message  Boss "A" to enquirer about the meeting. If I wanted a response I needed to text. Dang.

Text to Boss "A" from me do we have a meeting today? 
Text from Boss "A" no, we never set a date.
Text from me Ok. 
Text from boss "A" no meeting today
Text from boss "A" there is no meeting today sorry for the confusion. We will meet next week on the 10th. ALL MARKETING DOES HOWEVER NEED TO BE COMPLETED BY THE 5th SO WE CAN SALE AT THE FLOWER SHOW.  
Text from me I have no idea what your talking about marketing at the flower show, I am on the Thanksgiving team.
Text from boss "A"  all flyer's and tickets are to be done for the flower show for marketing, yes 3 of you are on the Thanksgiving team. So is Cassandre and Ann and they are in your book club. That is why our meetings are on Mondays.
Now I am starting to get pissed off.
Text from me  Marketing has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. That is two different issues. 
Text from Boss "A"  Not two different issues. If we hold thanksgiving meetings on Tuesday,you could not attend so we have the meeting on Monday. 
W-T-FUDGE.! Ok I give up. PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL ME BECAUSE I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HEAK YOUR TALKING ABOUT.

The Day of the Un Dead

I am very excited. The Foodie sisters have invited me and my gig a low to a secular Halloween party! I bet the Foodie Sisters are going to go all out with the food! I can't wait!

I used to love Halloween. For most of my growing up life, I would start planning my costume for the following year on November 1. I won countless 1st place costume prizes. I enjoyed the wild craziness, party hopping and all that went with that.

After growing up, getting married and settling into our new house, our street would turn into the place to go in town and bring the kids. Our street became nightmare street. We would all decorate our houses and scare the daylights out of the families stopping by. Our neighborhood families would work together in a team. The house a few doors down and across the street would scare people down the sidewalk, I would hide in the bushes waiting. I would jump out the kids/families would run out into the street to make a quick retreat. When they turned around my neighbor woud be waiting for them. Everyone loved it. We had hunted houses, and friendly houses. We would have hundreds and hundreds of kids. There was not gore, or people with axes in their heads. One guy had an unhunted house were he would play scary music, get a on a loud speaker and say "come hither little children see what I am cooking" He was cooking a pot full of candy. He lost his house now it sits vacant.

Then I became a Christian. Thankfully they had "Harvest Festivals" or "Trunker Treat." I could still have a costume (just not a sexy or ghoulish one.) Over the years I have watched Halloween get darker and more gruesome. I decided that I was going to quit Halloween. So I did. Until this year. When I got the invitation from the Foodie sisters.

The other day I went into the Halloween store and I was shocked. Halloween has become even more satanic. It so blatant. Now instead of using your imagination as part of the scaring, the money makers who develop Halloween decorations have come up with bigger then life size animated dead and undead things, that walk, crawl, scream, open coffins, hold lanterns, chop at you with a knife. The creepy store had this real looking undead guy whose body had been chopped in half, he crawls along your yard (or inside your house.) As he crawls there are tendons and ligaments that wiggle, he screams. The most nauseating figurine was a life size "dead" toddler that was chewing on it's foot. The bones were protruding and it was bloody. Ok I had had enough I was getting out of there. I hope the Foodie sisters don't have any of those super scary real looking dead or undead things wondering around their house.

My next question is what is my costume going to be? Hi I am a sexy vampire Christian, some how it does not seem to work. Maybe I should be Virgin Mary. That seems wrong too. Being a hippy is boring. Toga, no. Little Red Riding hood, seems to sweet, unless I have the wolf with me. There is no way my gig a low will be a wolf. I told my gig a low he could be Slash from the rock band Guns an Roses . I could be a tattooed gothic woman. I don't know!!

I bet the Foodie Sisters are going to go all out with the food! I can't wait!