It's Halloween!

Today I'll be decorating my front porch and yard for the first time since 2008. I went all out that year and then the next year I went to New Orleans and then last year we were at the baseball game. I carved my pumpkin today. I think it looks better in person:
I spent most of Sunday afternoon finding things and organizing things to have them ready. I mean it's been three years. I'm doing a few new things this year and some of the old and I will have lots of pictures in a few days.
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So while I was running around doing all this stuff, Barney came in the house and was acting all nuts like he was on a bad acid trip. He went under the daybed in the library and was howling like a loon and My Sweetie went in there to "talk him down." He was finally able to pull him out from under the bed to do a full body check (a "cat scan" if you will) which he always does when Barney acts oddly. You know, because he's an indoor/outdoor cat so he checks for injuries. Well he was perfectly fine and even started purring but then went right back under the daybed.
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My Sweetie has a theory. He said, "I think it's the front door. It even scares me." It's this:

Thought Fissures

This may sound odd, but I hardly ever look at myself in the mirror. Often I will leave a public restroom and moments later think, "Damn! I forgot to check my face." Yeah I wear make up on the few days I go out and of course I apply that in front of a mirror but that's close-up work and when I'm done I'm done. And when I do my hair on those days, I'm just looking at my hair. So tonight I caught a glimpse of myself walking by a mirror and it weirded me out. It was a strange blast from the past.
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Apparently my last haircut was not new at all, but some old replay. I'm not happy about that. Besides, I think my hair is too long for my age. Or I can just go kinda Katharine Hepburn and wear my hair up all the time. I guess I should figure this out when I'm not so tired.
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Oh and today I ordered a "slib of rabs." And then later while we were watching the game, I said something else backwards and My Sweetie asked, "When they took that blood from you today, did they pull out some of your brains?" And by "they" he was not talking about vampires. I had a doctor appointment. It was a kind of head to toe "look see" I guess. He even touched the top of my foot and said my foot circulation was good. Well I could have told him that. Why else would my feet be so freaking hot?
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I guess because I turned 50 this year, the doctor has to watch for all sorts of things. And ask me to do strange things, which I don't want to go into. Test things I mean, not strange things with the doctor. And not strange per se, just things I'm not ready to do yet. But he was happy with my general health, blood pressure, lung sounds and whatnot. So maybe I should just keep not looking in the mirror and it will keep me healthy.

Ponies and Rangers

I went to the last home game of The World Series and we won and it was fabulous and I saw some big ponies. Life is good.

One Tired Puppy

Thursday we went to the Texas State Fair where I think I walked about 18 miles. It was great fun: One of those perfect days where everything falls into place and flows ever so smoothly.

Ha Ha! Look! Fried beer. No I did not try that. For some reason I did not try any of the weird fried concoctions, but My Sweetie loved the fried pumpkin pie, as did my neighbor Carole. (She was the one that told us about it.)

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So that was on Thursday. Friday was the usual Meals on Wheels delivery and grocery store trip. Then Saturday was day one of The World Series:

We lost that game and it was horrible but on Sunday we won. We were there for SIX hours on Sunday. And today we go back for game five. It's a very long walk from where we park to the stadium. I feel like I'm some sort of professional marathon walker now. I hope it's another great game. On Tuesday I think I will rest.

Halfway Point

Today is the halfway point of my 50th year and I am celebrating by going to the Texas State Fair. My 50th year has been quite good so far. I'm looking forward to the second half.

Thought Points

• At the baseball game Saturday night (which the Rangers won, winning the ALCS Championship thus advancing them to The World Series), I sat next to a 15 year old boy who was 6'5" and wearing a baseball glove. It's the safest I've ever felt sitting near third base.


• Two things about me really irritate my mother: 1) I wash a shirt (or any item of clothing) after wearing it only a few hours and 2) I don't eat breakfast food very often.


• "dim-witted simpleton" is not a redundancy if you are talking about my cat.


• Most foods labeled as "haute cuisine" are things I would never eat and seem ridiculous to me. Fried egg with carmelized squash and tomatillo salsa? Give me a break.


• One of the new shows that I enjoyed has already been canceled. What's the point of watching new shows? Why should we even bother? (It was "Free Agents.")


• It's supposed to be cool today - in the 60's. I'm still cynical about that.


• If I had to give my hair a nickname, it would be "Puff Daddy."


• I told my daughter today that I think that feet, like ears and noses continue to grow as we age. She did not like this idea.


• I hope I was wrong about the feet thing.
  

And I'm Back

On Monday I had lunch with a crowd of family members:
On Tuesday Loretta drove down:

This is from Monday again. My stepDad looks thrilled. And the ladies on the right are two aunts and my cousin:

After lunch on Monday, my cousin Jennifer drove me and my nephews over to the beach:

And this was my last Day. Loretta and I went back to the beach:

I had a great trip. I need to go through more of my pictures. I am happy to be home with My Sweetie but I sure do miss everyone back in North Carolina!

Friday Goofy

History according to the creationists?:

Sleeping Around

There was a thing going around on Facebook a while back where you click the U.S. states that you've visited and I think it said something like: don't count states that you've only driven through. I remember thinking, Why not just ask which states you've slept in? For me, Missouri is the only state I ever spent time in without sleeping there. We spent most of a day at the Gateway Arch park. I actually took what I think is probably my best photograph there, but because it featured my second husband, I left that picture with him. Anyway, I think I should get this all down before my brain stops working.
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So, I'm going to list the states (alphabetically) I've slept in with a few notes about each one:

1. Alabama ~ This was just a few years ago when my daughter and I took that cross country road trip. On the first leg of our return trip, we were taking some back roads thinking it was a nice scenic route, but it was SO slooow. Plus we had spent way too much time touring the Blue Ridge Parkway before we even really got started. We were so happy to finally make it onto a freeway. Then we trucked and trucked and finally gave out. Kate said "All I want to do is sit and drink beer and smoke." So we stopped in Tuscaloosa at what we called the "Ratmada Inn." It was very rundown and the carpet was so gummy or something I kept my socks on and they became gross. But we didn't complain because it was the only smoking hotel we could find quickly and we wanted Out Of The Car. We actually had a good time.



2. Arkansas ~ I've actually slept there a few times spanning many years and all three husbands. My first husband and I spent the night in Hot Springs on the way back from N.C. And my second and I stayed in some "resort" roadside place several times on our way to Illinois. Maybe it was in Blytheville but I'm not sure. And my current husband and I have been to Hot Springs.



3. California ~ Well this would be too long for much detail, but I have slept in San Diego, San Francisco, Huntington Beach, some business park suburb near San Francisco and in Lancaster which is a small air force town in the Mojave desert. That was for my brother's first wedding and my memory of that plays like a weird movie in my head, but I don't want to go there.



4. Colorado ~ I have been there on three different occasions, but, and I am not trying to do a husband theme here, Colorado is memorable because I went on my first trip there with both my first and second husband. At the same time. Except my second husband was not my second husband at the time because that would be illegal. And just weird as hell. Oh and the cities in which I slept were Colorado Springs (twice) and Boulder.



5. District of Columbia ~ While this isn't an actual state, it is a place where I have slept on two occasions: First grade on our way to New York to visit relatives. We didn't just sleep over though, we did a day of sightseeing, and for my daughter's senior year in high school. We got lucky and caught the cherry blossoms on that last trip. Mostly I went to see the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian. Not sure why I was so into that at the time.



6. Florida ~ My first Florida trip is a tale worth telling. We had been in Durham about a year or two when a family from Connecticut moved into the apartment two doors down from us. We were all fascinated with them. At least I was. The girl was two years older than me and the boy was 5 or 6 years older. I was 13 or 14. One day I happened to walk out the back door and saw them packing a big camper on a large truck. I said, "Where are ya'll going?" They said Florida and somehow I talked them into including me. My parents said okay and gave me $50 or so and I packed some clothes and my toothbrush and off we went. I was a very strange child. It was a great trip. We went to Lion Country Safari and had lots of laughs. I guess I felt like I had to entertain them to justify my being there. And I did. My second trip was with a boyfriend, his dad and stepmom when I was 16 - to Disneyworld. My third trip was with My Sweetie in 2009.



7. Georgia ~ I went to a big concert event called "Champagne Jam" in Atlanta when I was 18 or 19 and think I slept there overnight but am not sure. I do remember cutting my foot on a beer tab - the old pull off kind. There was once a poster or album art or something which I can't find online that showed the crowd and I recognized my sleeping bag out on the field. My second trip there was with my first husband and toddler daughter. We stayed with my junior high/high school friend in Dunwoody - an Atlanta suburb. She had the perfect guest room. I'll never forget that.



8. Hawaii ~ My Sweetie and I went to Maui in 2004. That's where he spent his childhood, so it wasn't just a touristy thing. He showed me all his old haunts. That was a fun trip.



9. Illinois ~ My second husband was from an idyllic small town in southern Illinois, so I went there many times. That's where my daughter and I had our very first white Christmas. It actually began to snow about 6 p.m. on Christmas eve. I also once fell asleep in a beautiful old cemetery there. Years later I spent a few nights in a suburb of Chicago on a business trip.



10. Iowa ~ When the Motorola plant down here had a big reorganization back in the erly 90's, some of our friends went to Florida and some went to Iowa. My second husband's best friend went to Iowa. One year after an Illinois Christmas visit, we drove up to visit this guy and spent New Year's eve there at a party with other former Motorola friends. I always loved that guy. I should do a post about him.



11. Louisiana ~ Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is New Orleans. Not only have I been there many many times, I've actually been there with 6 different people. I still want to take my daughter. We had planned to do that for her 21st birthday, but that was when Katrina happened. I've also stayed in Shreveport twice. Once back in 1989 to go to the horse races on a Motorola group trip and also that was the last stop on the road trip with my daughter.



12. Michigan ~ Besides the 1982 SuperBowl in Pontiac when I stayed at the Ren Cen in Detroit, I have been there two other times, both were for the funerals of My Sweetie's grandparents.



13. Mississippi ~ Back when my daughter was a toddler, her Dad and I took a road trip to N.C. we stopped to spend the night in Vicksburg so that we could wake up on the Mississippi river.



14. Nevada ~ Las Vegas (too many to count) and Lake Tahoe (once). Why else would you go there?



15. New Mexico ~ My first husband and I were poorer than church mice. When my daughter was 2 or 3 his aunt and uncle invited us for a visit in Ruidoso. They were wealthy and retired and had a magnificent place, a "spread" really. We stayed in a guest house. They had chickens with fresh eggs, an apple orchard with homemade apple cider, a creek and some animals. It was all breathtakingly beautiful and something I will never forget.



16. New York ~ My first visit was as a child visiting Granny and some other relatives on Long Island. Then the two visits as a teenager to the city to see Duke games in Madison Square and New Years eve on Times Square. About twenty years later my visit with My Sweetie in Soho and then this year for my 50th birthday. All good times.



17. North Carolina ~ Well of course, I slept there. That's where I'm from. And I have slept all over that state.



18. Ohio ~ I had a rich Ohio boyfriend once. He was a Duke student, so that's how we met. He invited me to Ohio and we drove up to Michigan for that Superbowl. But I stayed several nights in Bowling Green.



19. Oklahoma ~ My first husband is from Oklahoma so I spent many nights there at his grandmother's house. She was one special lady.



20. South Carolina ~ Myrtle Beach was the place to go when I was a teen. I have spent many nights there, although to be fair, maybe sleeping isn't the right word: I was more likely passed out.



21. Tennessee ~ My daughter and I spent two nights in Memphis on our road trip partying on Beale Street. And I saw B.B. King!



22. Texas ~ That's where I live, so of course I've slept here. I've slept in Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington, Carrollton, Richland Hills, North Richland Hills, Irving, Hurst, Euless, Keller, Grapevine, Azle, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Galveston, Port Aransas and whatever towns I was in when I went camping on many lakes.



23. Virginia ~ In 2002 or 2003, Loretta and I went to Virginia Beach. It was great fun. A really neat little resort town with a free trolley bus that goes up and down the main road. We laughed a LOT! We still make jokes about that trip.

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I didn't realize this would be so long, but I enjoyed remembering all of it. And now I have it all written down so when I become even more senile, I'll have it. Except I probably won't be able to find it.

Getting Ready

I've been sort of an absent blogger lately because we have all this baseball going on and I am going on a trip on Saturday.
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The baseball is good so far, but I'm really excited about spending some time with Mom. I'll also get to see my brother, nephew, a cousin, two aunts and my best friend. I'm really looking forward to it.

On The Beatles (My Response to Ian's Post)

My old blogger friend Ian posted this post about The Beatles and as I was thinking about my response, I realized it was too big for a comment box and required its own post. (And ha ha Ian: by "old blogger friend" I am not calling you old, just referring to the age of our blog history. I bet you were wondering about that.)
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The Beatles, well, the idea of The Beatles in my brain is a kinda funny study of how my thought processes have evolved (devolved?) over the course of my lifetime. Here are the stages of my brain and the Beatles:

1. I'm a happy kid hearing The Beatles on the radio and singing along.



2. I'm a teenager and I'm all, "The Beatles? Who? Yesterday? Yeah, that describes them."



3. I'm a young adult. A Beatle has been murdered. The matryrization of The Beatles grows to a fever pitch. I rail against it. As usual, I stand firm and unbending against a wave. A wave that seems to have no cease.



4. I'm at the age of the "midlife crisis" which is really just a stage of questioning every belief and assumption you've ever had. I ask myself, "Are The Beatles that bad? Was I just disliking them to be unique?" I begin to listen to their songs instead of automatically flipping the channel.



5. I have passed the midlife crisis phase, have discarded former incorrect assumptions, accepted the value of other lifelong assumptions, and have even added new ones. The Beatles? Yeah, they still suck. It was nice to realize I didn't hate them all these years just to be a rebel with a pointless cause. They are just not all that. Now, The Stones? Yes, Ian. They rock.