Cat on the run

Oh my, I had a scary experience  yesterday.  One of the little neighbor girls (not Clara this time.) stopped by to show me her Halloween costume before she went out trick or treating (the costume was really cute, that’s not the scary part).  She must not have closed the door all the way.  When we went into the kitchen, the wind must have blown the door open.  When I realized there was a draft blowing through the house, I looked into the living room and saw the door standing wide open and Scout out on the front porch.  Yikes!  My cats don’t go outside…ever.

Heidi shouted, “Baby Goat” and started running toward her.  I got her to stop before she scared the cat and I walked outside, talking quietly to little (?) Scout.  I was able to gather her up and get her inside without her making a mad dash for the road, but it sure did scare me.

Then later, I heard that cat making just the most pitiful crying sound (for such a big cat, she has the daintiest meow).  I was worried that she had managed to get into something and was stuck.  But, no.  She was just sitting in front of the door.  I do not want to start this behavior.  Spook never makes a move to go outside and, prior to this, neither had Scout.  I’m going to have to keep an eagle eye on her for a while…and make sure those kids shut the front door!

aka: Baby Goat

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It’s a Spooky Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone.  That’s from all of us here at the zoo…you know, me, Spook, and Scout (or, as she’s affectionately known, the Baby Goat).

Spooky Halloween

 

Spook has a Halloween costume.  She hates it.  And looking at this, you can probably understand why.  Poor kitty forced to wear something so undignified.

 

I’ve never managed to put Scout in any kind of a costume.  She’s much bigger and stronger than Spook and doesn’t hesitate to use her strength to avoid doing anything she doesn’t want to do.  Wearing a costume would be high on that list.  However…

 

part vampire?

 

…like Dracula, she has fangs and isn’t afraid to use them.

Happy Halloween from my little monsters…happy haunting, y’all!

 

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Candy canes…not just for Christmas

Peppermint candy cane on my scanner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was browsing Amazon earlier today.  Thought I’d look at candy (for the children, people, for the children).  I don’t know if you can get better deals on Amazon for candy.  Right now, with Halloween just around the corner, you can find some pretty good bargains in your local stores.  But while perusing the sweets, I found some pretty amazing treats.

Did you know they sell violet flavored candy?  Or rose flavored candy?  I’m assuming they taste like the flowers.  Come on, don’t turn up your nose.  I made lavender jelly once using lavender buds I’d grown myself and it was awesome.  The candy is probably equally as tasty.

Then there are various candies from Mexico, Greece, Brazil, Japan, and so on.  Not being much of a world traveler, I hadn’t heard of any of them.  And I wasn’t feeling all that adventurous so didn’t order any of them either.  But it was interesting to read about them.  No, I wasn’t bored.  I was doing research.

The candy that made my mouth drop open was the, oh, how shall I say this,  interesting flavors of candy canes.  Yep, you know those red and white striped confections shaped like a cane that you find everywhere at Christmas time?  Well, there are some unusual flavors out there. The thought of eating the pickle-flavored candy cane actually made my jaw ache.  And then there was the bacon-flavored candy cane.  Really, I’m not making this up.  I know a lot of you love, love, love bacon.  But a candy cane that tastes like bacon?  Wow.  Check it out for yourself…heck, go ahead and order it and let everyone know what it tastes like.

http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements-12192-Bacon-Flavored-Candy/dp/B005OL1Q8K/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1379116521&sr=8-7&keywords=candy+canes

So, I guess it’s safe to say that candy canes aren’t just for Christmas any more.

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Today’s costume?

Colar Hair Spray (Photo credit: cote)

Uhh….yeah, my costume today was a rip-roaring failure.  It wasn’t so much a costume as it was (supposed to be) a sparkly make-up, glittery hair, dazzling jewels kind of thing.

Nothing worked out like I thought it would.  I bought this white spray stuff for my hair as well as some multi-faceted glitter spray and some stick-on jewels.  I thought I’d use this crazy stiff hair spray I bought by mistake (hate the stuff, why I still have it in the bathroom is probably a question for a psychiatrist…) and make my hair stand straight up, then spray it white, then spray the glitter spray on it and stick the jewels in while the spray was still wet.  Doesn’t that sound cute?

Ehh…not so much.  The white spray didn’t really do anything, it most definitely was NOT white…actually looked like I had a lot of grey hair…So anyhow, I had my hair , my not-white, almost grey-looking hair, standing straight out.   So I thought the spray-on glitter product might be able to save the day.  When I sprayed it on my hair, the standing-straight-out hair-do just wilted.  Great!  I tried to stick the jewels on my hair while the spray was still wet, but they kept falling off so I gave up on those (altho the kitten did have a good time chasing them around the bathroom floor, so they weren’t a total loss).   Then I looked like an old grey-haired lady who needed to wash her hair after she’d fallen into a vat full of glitter.  Not quite the look I was going for.

And then it was time to go to work so I couldn’t really do anything to try to improve the look.  To top it all off, I was putting this Christmas, glittery bush up in a bush rack above my head and glitter sprinkled all over me, all over my clothes, my face, my hands, my eyelashes.  I can’t even tell you how many people commented on how sparkly I was today.  Come to think of it, the glitter from the Christmas bush may have improved the look.

Maybe tomorrow’s costume will work better…I hope!

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Scary stories

Michael Myers (Halloween) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So…since it’s so close to Halloween, I’ve been thinking about how we used to tell scary stories when I was a kid.  Seems like they were usually set in either a cemetery or on a dark deserted road.  You know…the boy and girl in the back seat of the car, getting a little hot and heavy, the windows all steamed up when suddenly…then take your pick…either the scary guy with a chain saw or an axe a)breaks through the windshield, b) saws through the roof, c) pops up outside the door window and whacks his way into the car…then of course, he kills the boy while the girl screams hysterically.  Yeah, maybe it seemed scary when we were kids…not so much now though, does it?

How about the girl (or girls) entering the dark house calling out for the boy she’s supposed to meet there.  Oh no!  Scary guy has already killed boy and his body is a) hanging from the shower head, throat cut, blood drip, drip, dripping in the tub, b) hanging on the back of a door, a knife run through his chest holding him to the door, c) down in the basement while his head is on the top shelf of the refrigerator just waiting for said girl to open the door and find it so she can scream hysterically.

Or girl and guy have been making out in a cemetery…argument ensues…boy drives off in a huff, wheels screeching, dust obscuring the car from view.  Girl sits in cemetery for a while, angry but certain boy will come back.  When she finally decides he’s a big jerk and isn’t going to come back for her, she a) starts making her way out of the cemetery, hears footsteps behind her, starts running while looking back over her shoulder, trips over a tombstone then screams hysterically while cowering on the ground waiting on scary guy to attack her, b) stumbles around cemetery trying to find her way out (I never said she was smart)…makes her way through the moss hanging from big scary tree only to have creepy, half-rotted hand pop up out of the ground to wrap itself around her ankle, girl falls down and screams hysterically, or c)  girl makes her way out of cemetery, walks back toward town along dark deserted road, sees boy’s car parked in middle of road waiting for her, she angrily walks up to passenger side door, jerks it open, sees boy sitting in driver’s seat , the tines of a big pitchfork run through his chest, girl screams hysterically.

I could never really relate to those girls…all that screaming gave me a headache, even when I was a teenager.  What’s with this waiting around for someone to attack you?  How about you find a weapon and pound the scary guy’s head in?  Yeah, okay…in the movies you can’t really kill those scary guys (Michael Myers comes to mind), but trying sure beats waiting around and screaming hysterically, don’tcha think?  Are you scared now?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 136

Image by **tWo pInK pOSsuMs** via Flickr

A pretty good day today.  I guess getting a decent night’s sleep helps.  I managed to get in about 7 hours last night and am hoping to do the same tonight.  It was crazy busy with people stocking up on all of the discounted Halloween and fall merchandise.  And yes, people have already started their Christmas shopping.  Back in my pre-retail days, I always set the goal of finishing all of my shopping by Thanksgiving.  Now I’m lucky to finish it at all.  Gotta love those gift cards.  And really, I like getting gift cards myself.  Then I can just go out and buy whatever the heck I want…oh wait, I pretty much do that anyhow…well, within reason…no trips to Paris or fancy shmancy cars…but you know what I’m saying, right?  There really are advantages to living by yourself.

I stopped at Kroger this morning before work to stock up on healthy dinners for the freezer at work.  I didn’t even realize they were having one of their mega sale things where you get $5 off your purchase if you buy ten items.  So, yes, I bought 10 Healthy Choice meals for work.  The one I ate for lunch today was really quite tasty…lemon pepper fish with rice and broccoli…only 350 calories and decent as far as sodium goes.  And, you know, that’s something I would be unlikely to prepare for myself so it’s a real treat to be able to throw it in the microwave and have a hot meal ready in 5 minutes or so.

I ended the day under on calories again.  Wow!  Two days in a row.  What’s going on? I also did some walking and strength training this morning.  And lots of walking at work, lots of walking, lots of talking…it’ll be nice to have tomorrow off and be able to enjoy a little peace and quiet.  I can be quite the talker, but I also like some time to myself.  I NEED time to myself in order to function.  I’ve been that way my entire life…never minded alone time.  I know there are a lot of people who want to be surrounded by people every minute of every day, but not me.  Being able to get away from people gives me time to recharge and go out and do it all again.

I’ve got to run some errands in the morning.  Then I’ll come home and clean house and do some cooking.  And maybe, just maybe, I’ll find a few minutes to do a little extra writing.  How about you?  What’s in store for your weekend?

 

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Happy Halloween…want some candy?

Have you seen the little ghosts, goblins and assorted monsters running around the neighborhood tonight?  I’ve seen lots of those,  but I also saw some teenagers dressed up as, well, I don’t know what…maybe ladies of the evening would be the way to describe it.  Yikes.  My mom would never have allowed me out of the house looking like that, even if it was only a costume.  Come to think of it, I wonder if it was a costume…could it have been her every day attire?  I’m kidding, I’m kidding…I’m pretty sure it was a costume.

Spooky decided to get dressed up one last time this holiday season.

What a little trickster…looks like she’s had one too many Killians, doesn’t it?

We had dress up day again at work.  I work with some imaginative people…

Well okay, Brenda doesn’t look all that thrilled to have her picture taken, but she’s a hoot!

one good thing about a fake moustache…you can take it off when you eat lunch…

Is that Princess Leia?  No, it’s Princess Aleah.

I ate a few Tootsie rolls today, but kept it under control.  How about you?

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 127

Image via Wikipedia

So are you ready for Halloween?  I finally did something about some Halloween costumes for my three-day work weekend…we’re dressing up each day and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on costumes…because, well, really, how often do you wear them? So I found a cute little feathery witch hat on a headband, figured I’d wear that with black pants and a black shirt, some black nail polish, some dark eye make up (I never wear dark eye make up, it doesn’t look good on me) and red lipstick…ooh…scary!!  I figure that costume will be good for Saturday and Monday.  Then I bought a scrub top at Goodwill today that I can wear Sunday with a white lab coat from my college days…hmm…Dr Patti…now that’s really scary!!  At least I finally did something about the whole Halloween costume thing without spending a lot of money.

Wish I could say I did a good job with my eating today, but I didn’t.  Only 1 fruit and 1 veggie for the day.  See, that’s what happens when I don’t plan my menu for the day.  I’ve got tomorrow’s lunch and snacks prepared, so I know tomorrow will be better.

I did walk for 30 minutes and did some range of motion exercises.  That’s about it.  Well, I did take a nap this afternoon for about an hour.  That was nice, really nice.  I have to get up around 3:30 in the morning as we have another early morning truck…unfortunately I think it’ll be raining in the morning…and much colder than this morning.  Oh well, we’ll get through it, might have soggy socks for part of the day, but we’ll make it.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? 

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 125

One hundred twenty-five days…and still standing.  Who would have thought that would happen?  And my 125th day was a pretty good day…ended up eating 8 fruits and veggies for the day, so that’s a vast improvement.  I stopped to pick up lunch for my boss and thought about getting something for myself…then realized I’d brought a good healthy home cooked meal for my lunch, no need to buy fast food when I had good food sitting in the fridge just waiting to be warmed up in the microwave.  That’s a step in the right direction.  And I’ve already got tomorrow’s lunch and snacks prepared and ready to go.

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise?  Well, I did walk for 20 minutes and did range of motion exercises for that crazy shoulder of mine.  And we did have a truck that it took us about 3 hours to unload and stage, so a lot of walking and lifting involved in that.  So not a bad day for exercise, not the best I’ve had, but not bad.

 

I was kind of not in a good mood when I first got to work.  I guess I get a little discouraged when I see how much work there is to do and start wondering how in the world we’re ever going to be able to get it all done.  I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s just that time of year when it seems overwhelming, but that we’ll get through it…somehow…

 

Halloween..it’s coming…what in the world am I going to do for a costume for work?  And why do I always wait until a few days before Halloween to think about it?  Any quick and easy suggestions?

 

 

 

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 124

I hate to be a downer, but I’m afraid that’s what I’m going to be tonight.  I had the weekend off work and didn’t really accomplish a lot.  I had lots of things planned, but only managed to get a few of them done.  I’ve got to snap out of this funk I’ve been in lately.  Okay, I know what I need to do is simply do the things I know I need to do…no matter whether or not I want to do them, whether or not I feel like doing them, whether or not I’m in the mood to do them.  It’s like exercise, you may not be in the mood to do it, but if you just start you’ll usually find yourself feeling better and better as you go along (not always, believe me, I know that). 

I didn’t bake the kale chips I intended to bake today.  I did kind of clean the kitchen though.  And I have my lunch and snacks prepared for tomorrow.  Unfortunately tomorrow starts super early…5 am again, blah!  So I really need to try to get to bad early tonight…try being the operative word…it’s not easy to go to sleep on demand, well, unless you’re a teenager, then you can usually sleep for 16 out of 24 hours every day.  Ahh…those were the days and we were too young to realize it!

And Halloween is coming…do you buy the candy early?  Aren’t you afraid you’ll eat it and then just have to go out and buy more?  Or do you buy candy that you don’t really like?  Hmm…now there’s a thought…oh…now if only I could come across a candy I didn’t like…

Image via Wikipedia

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