my poor kitchen

My kitchen, and my cooking, has taken a hit since Christmas. I started out fine on Christmas cooking the butterscotch shortbread. It turned out great, and it was a lot of fun using the stand mixer for it. I took it over to the Moreau's house still warm when I went there for breakfast Christmas morning. I considered getting up early enough to cook it (successfully) and still get there early enough to eat with everyone a major accomplishment, especially after having our gift opening the night before. Kathy's brother, Bill, was especially fond of the shortbread and called them "to die for." He made me feel really good about it, that and having three of them before breakfast. There were very few of them left by the end of the day. I don't know why, but I didn't even try one.

Anyway, I came home after breakfast to cook the biscuits, corn casserole and some peanut butter cookies and the biscuits were the only thing that turned out, and they actually were a little problematic. I put two pans of them in, to save time, and in trying to get them out and doing something else at the same time (I don't remember the exact sequence) I had the cabinet above the stove open and the cookbooks were falling out and the pans of bread on the stove were knocked askew so I had one hand holding one up and one hand holding the other up and I didn't realize I was leaning some weight on the stove hood, which pulled out of the screw holding it. Sigh. Now it hangs down a little further each day and I'm afraid it's going to pull the other screws out by its weight so I've got it duct taped up.

Talking to MIchele last night, she suggested the Mighty Putty they advertise on TV, so I went to Walgreens and got it last night, but it didn't stick to the stove hood. So, my next step, I think, is to mix up a little and stick it into the screw hole so it, in essence, is a new hole and not a stripped hole. Maybe that will work.

To add insult to injury, tonight while I was fixing dinner, while my stove hood was glaring at me, I used my salt grinder to add the final touches to my dinner only to have the entire bottle come out as the lid unscrewed, which I didn't even know was possible. I tried to salvage my dinner by spooning the salt out of the food, but it was too salty to eat. Ack. Ack ack ack. Bleh. 

I've been trying to finish my dishes since I did my cooking on Christmas day, but mostly I go in and clean what I need as I need them. Oh, the corn casserole was too soupy but still had good flavor, but I was afraid to take the peanut butter cookies because the last couple of minutes... maybe even just the last minute of cooking they just smelled like the oil in them was bad. But only in the last minute. It was very odd. I didn't feel like risking everyone getting ill, so I just threw them away, even though I ate a couple of them and didn't get sick. Just didn't want to risk it. It was probably just my nose and being overtired.

So my plan is still to clean up and organize the kitchen back to normal. I have been working on the living room when I get out there like yesterday. I was going to do some running around today but it didn't work out for today. It's kinda hot here (60s- wow I'm spoiled. A sunny day and in the 60s and I'll wait for a cooler or cloudy day.) this week, so I can wait for a nicer day to run around. I took Ozzy out for a drive the other day. I took some pictures of the llama that watches the herd of black cows just up the street, and the herd has had babies, too. I'll try to get those pictures up. I also need to take a drive into OKC and get some pictures for the photo blog, but I'm kinda waiting for the right day. I'll know when. 

I got nice phone calls today from Heather and MIchele. It's always nice to hear their voices. I get to talk to Michele a lot, which I like, cause we were playing GH, but now that we're not I like the fact she still calls me just to chat and keep in touch. 

We still need to go to a movie. We were going to go on Christmas Day but I had to beg off cause of the cooking. It would have been fun, though. I tried to tell Josh so he could get the concept of Michele and I going to the movie together, but he still had at least one eyebrow raised, as he usually does with anything to do with me. The way her schedule works makes it easier for us to try and find a movie at the same time, even with the time difference, so we can be walking out of the movie at the same time and therefore talk about it as we leave the movie. I love doing that. I haven't tried it with anyone else back there, but it would work just the same. It's a little with Heather cause she works all day every day so it's her evenings that may or may not be open, and then she goes home to Bill and making dinner. And, btw Heather, you guys have Rock Band - do you still play online? The four of us can make a band online if we can ever connect when my XBox gets back, if you do still play online. There are a lot of accomplishment points you can only get in a full band. If you're interested. I think it might be fun. Michele and I have a great time. Did you ever get Guitar Hero World Tour? That's the really good one, but we have both GHWT and RB. Oh, we're playing the original RB, not RB2 cause Michele doesn't have it yet. Let me know if you guys are interested. You too, Michele.

Man, I can't wait to get it back. And to have it back and working well. If we get into this I wonder if I might need to upgrade my internet speed? I'm at the slowest DSL speed right now. It's not a problem for being on the computer, but I wonder if that's what has stopped us mid song. Dunno. We'll have to see when it comes back. Itching fingers to play......

The iPod stereo, to explain it a little more, is a wired plug-in. There is a empty space under the stereo where the wire stays, and when I get into the car I take the wire and connect the iPod and it picks up where it stopped off when it was disconnected. I started A Lion Among Men (the third in the Wicked series) and its started off good so I have high hopes for it. I don't mind at all connecting and disconnecting my iPod cause I take it with me everywhere I go anyway. I did find my Pink cd. I thought it was stuck in the old cd player but Josh had brought it in and carefully placed it in a prominent place where he thought I could find it- under something without actually telling me it was there, on the night he surprised me with the new stereo. I had looked everywhere for it and finally got it off iTunes again. Alex told me not to, but I did, and I think that's the reason why I found it. Don't care. I just wanted it on my iPod.

So that's it for today. Just waiting out time for the end of the year to pass. No marathons today. I'm waiting for the next World's Stupidest..... marathon on New Year's either Eve or Day. I'll have to check on that one, cause that show makes me laugh, and I can't think of a better way to bring in the new year than to laugh.

post Christmas

Things seem to be feeling like they're getting back to normal now. I took Ozzy out for a drive yesterday cause he has had to stay home during the holiday shopping and visiting times. We drove away from town, not very far, and visited the herd of black cows who just had some babies, and the watch llama was close to the fence so I tried to get some pictures, but the pesky other cars on the road kept coming up behind me and wanting to go the 50 mph speed limit. So, we went and grabbed some drive thru lunch and took it home and enjoyed it twice, for lunch and dinner.

I don't think I have mentioned that, when Josh borrowed my car, he had the stereo installed in it that he and Alex gave me for Mother's Day and my birthday. The week before, when Alex was over visiting, she picked up the stereo and put it in her purse when she went to the bathroom. I didn't even know it. Josh told me they steal from me all the time. Just kidding. He said. Anyway, they definitely surprised me. It was midnight when they returned my car and Josh was really tired, but was hungry, so he wanted to get food and decided to go to IHOP and invited me. I kept asking if he didn't want to take his food home but he said IHOP was okay, so we jumped in my car and I saw the stereo, which, if you don't remember, is an Alpine iPod only. There is no place to put a cd. When I get in the car I plug in my iTouch and I can pick whatever is on the ipod. And it looks really pretty, very up to date.

Tonight I started the book I got for Christmas, A Lion Among Men, the third book of the Wicked series. I pulled out of the garage and was setting it up before I drove to Walgreens, and was trying to get everything right, but the one thing I was a little off about was just how far out of the garage I was. The garage door came down and almost missed my car... almost. It scraped the front tip of my bumper and the dirt and stuff on the bottom rubber of the garage door left some nasty scratches, but they might be able to be rubbed out. Maybe.

Let's see, what else has been going on? The weather is much nicer, not nearly so freezing, less windy, but sunnier. It's supposed to be in the 50s this week, which is comfortable for me. The evenings are really lovely. 

I suppose that's it for tonight. I'm just trying to get back into a normal routine again. My XBox is at the shop and won't be back, I'm guessing, for at least another couple of weeks. sigh  But, when it comes back it will work when it's supposed to and that will be worth the time away. So, until then I try to avoid looking at or fondling the wireless headset that Josh and Alex got me. I can hardly wait until it's time to play online with Michele again so I can use it. She's using the time to get more songs under her belt that we can play together on Guitar Hero. Actually, she's working at finishing the game. That will mean when we get to play we will have all those songs we can choose from. Rock Band is fun but my first choice is still Guitar Hero.

Sheba let it be known that she was unhappy that she didn't have any food tonight, so now that my bed has all be washed and remade I can finally go to bed. And here I have been bragging that she's been good for so long. Just like AA, this is back to day 1 for her. But I must have caught her right after because I got the sheets and cover off before it made it to the mattress this time. So, clean sheets and ready for bed. Night all.

muh dawg n stuff

 I was looking at Ozzy's photos I posted and noticed that his head is at a 45 degree angle and his mustache is even at the bottom. Not good. I still haven't taken scissors to him, all over. Yes, he has long hairs that need to be trimmed and cleaned up all over him. I'm not going to run him back to PetCo cause I imagine he's quite the handfull when they have him there, and his face is probably the last thing they do. It's not quite so obvious in the photos, but his eyebrows are the Schnauzer-type, in the sharp-in-the-middle kind, and they are hanging over and almost touching between his eyes. I don't think I realized, as a whole, just how silly he looks. He does make me laugh when I look at him. He has long hair under his arms (that just sounds stupid), and different places like his toes, but if I just pick up a pair of scissors, he gets this wild animal look in his eyes, or even worse, the sad, don't-do-this-to-me-me-mom eyes. I'm such a sucker. Josh figured that out a long time ago. 

Speaking of Josh, he came by today to borrow my car so he could get some work done on his and did a drive-by service call. I mentioned having trouble with my XBox. He turned it on and put a disc in it and, of course, GH came right on. "Of course," I said. He grinned, and opened it up and tried it again, and it did to him what it has been doing to me. I thanked him for trying that one more time, which was very thoughtful. Alex said it was the "new" Josh, that would go the one more time instead of just calling me crazy and walking away (kinda kidding).

So, he told me to do three things today (AND he made me repeat them): call XBox and start the return process, call Bose and start the return process and call Activision about my guitar(s) and start the return process. Egad!!! I don't want to do this stuff! Why do you think I've put it off so long? Sigh. I called XBox. I talked to the Indian man on the phone and only asked him to repeat himself four or five times. He told me the warranty was up on October 23rd, which was impossible since I didn't get it until Christmas day last year. I told him that and then asked for his supervisor. Ten minutes later he came back and connected me with her (I was very patient and polite). 

She was very nice and patient with me when I didn't realize what all entailed the hard drive (duh, I felt stupid), and she gave me the referral number and now Josh has to find the receipt or it will cost $99. If I have to pay it will be, in essence an extended warranty and I'm okay with that. I hope Josh is okay with that and doesn't stress too much about it if he can't find the receipt. The supervisor did say that it would be okay if we went a week after the date on the receipt, if he can find it. 

The Bose - umm, another duh moment. I have a Lifestyle 3-2-1 but I don't know which one it is, initials after it name-wise, and have to go look for the box or receipt or something. Josh would know but the last time we were on the phone he couldn't talk. He told me all he had to do was to take it into the store. What's wrong with that? That's what I want to do. I'll take that one. That's my choice. Why do I have to do this other stuff. I want it to be e-a-s-y.......

The guitar(s) - My GH guitar isn't acting right, and neither is the Fender guitar that came with the original GH. I did go to the Activision website and went to the service area. There they have pages dedicated solely to Guitar Hero, and there are questions about guitars not working, across all the game platforms. Since there are a couple of things, well, one thing I haven't tried, I have decided to try it before I go any further. How does that sound? Think it will work when Josh asks?

So, that's been my day so far. That and I had lunch. Woo hoo. big day. Ozzy's been sleeping away at my side, so his day has been quiet, too. Oh, I remember what I was going to put down. About Ozzy.

Ozzy was happily and quietly sleeping on the back of the couch, like a cat, when he let out this huge, and loud hiccup. It startled him and woke him up, and he looked around, then started barking, one bark at a time, like "Who did that? Where did that come from?" Ah my dog, ever on alert.

quiet day

Not much going on today. I just laid low so I could get out and about on Friday. I got to play some Rock Band with Michele last night, after trying for 45 minutes to get GH to play. This is a frustrating new development with my XBox but at least she got Rock Band and we have an alternative. Instead of playing together like we do on GH, we do scoring duels and tug of war on Rock Band. She gives me a real work out. Well last night she just trounced me. We always end the night playing Foreplay/Long Time by Boston, our favorite song on Rock Band. We feel like real rock stars playing it cause its such a blast to play. She accused me of letting her win the first night cause I lost it on the end free play. Yeah... we'll go with that, instead of me not hitting the last note.

It was really foggy today, from what I could tell, all day. It was a wet, heavy fog. We went out early this morning, before the sun was up, and it was, once again, really eerie and very still. I was going to take some pictures but I already have some of the neighborhood like that. Tomorrow I ... oh, Josh is going to have my car tomorrow. I forgot. Oh well. At least the car is clean, and I should be feeling pretty good. I thought I was going to have a headache this morning and took a relpax, and that kept it at bay. My shoulders are back to being like stone, which I'm sure doesn't help the head any, but whatcha gonna do. That's for after Christmas to find a chiropractor. Feeling good sparks me to actually DO things and TAKE CARE of things that need of taking care of. 

So, I guess tomorrow will be another day at home, taking care of things here, organizing things for Christmas. Everything that is to be sent has been sent, so now I just need to finish up my "for here" stuff. Kathy has been helping me a lot, as has Alex. She will be over here on Monday evening to make cookies, so I need to sit down and make sure I have everything I need to make butterscotch shortbread cookies. I'm not sure what she's going to want to make, but that's going to be my contribution. And I will make Josh's pumpkin pie this week. I need to check on what the schedule is for Christmas Eve, too.

That's it for today. Hope your day was good. Ozzy is happily on his back, snoozing away. Sheba has been in with us every time I open my mouth and talk while I pet Ozzy, getting her share of the pets. Looks like she's gone back to bed now, tho. I guess she doesn't like the shoot 'em up movie I've got on. So, take care and more tomorrow. 

no more squishy tires

I finally got my tires filled today. I went to the tire place across from Wal Mart and asked them if they could help, told them my sad plight and they had two guys fill my tires in less than a minute. The low tire light went off for the first time in months. I thought, as I drove home, how stupid of me it was to allow myself to get in the position of having a new car and not being confident of it because I allowed the tires to get so low. Shame on me. Funny how those things get away from you.

I also stopped and got the car washed, which I have done several times since I bought it, and cleaned out the inside a bit, which I haven't done (not trash, which I keep clean, but actual doors and stuff). The back seat was gross. I forget, since I never see it, that Ozzy leaves marks on the back windows, too, and stuff spills... Oh, I just need to look back there a little more often. We'll just leave it at that. Josh is going to borrow it on Friday so I thought I'd clean it up. Sorry Michele - I probably should have done it before you visited. It's funny how my "view" changes on a good day.

I've been watching a building go up on the service road that I take home. I noticed from the design of the building that it was probably going to be Mexican food - yay. Then it was definitely Mexican food, being Rickey's. It was just a matter of when. Going home today I noticed cars in the parking lot so I decided to stop and get a take out menu, then decided to take out when I smelled it inside. Turns out that today was their opening day! Cool. Love having a Mexican restaurant two miles from my house and not across the freeway. The lunch special is about $10 and is lots of food, and good, and didn't take too long. They didn't have take out menus printed yet but I got a business card, and food, and was happy the rest of the afternoon. I'll finish the rest of the chips and salsa after I finish this. Too late, must eat now. 

getting back to "normal"

I do have to put normal in quotes because everyone knows that normal is, for me, relative. My sleeping schedule is settling down and hopefully the migraines with it, but asleep before midnight and awake by 9 am isn't normal for me and never will be even if I do if every day for the rest of my life. 

I must, first of all, mention that it was 72 degrees yesterday and is 17 degrees today. Oklahoma weather is schizophrenic, and of course I love it. As usual with this year, I have procrastinated. Today was my day to do running around, but I won't actually do anything today as I have "squishy" tires. Michele was going to put air in them when she was here but it was cold and windy (with the wind chill it was 19 degrees then.... with the wind chill), and she wisely came home. I tried and tried on Saturday to put air in my tires but was confounded at every turn so now the lowest tire has about 18 pounds in it. I have no idea what a squishy tire does on frozen asphalt and I don't really want to put it to the test so I apologize to those of you who get late cards. Blame it on squishy tires and a fraidy cat me.

Ozzy is now all groomed and smelling much better. As you can see, his mustache is a little longer than usual, his Yosemite Sam look. As for the sitting up and posing, that was all his idea. I guess he knows now that when a camera comes out he sits up and poses all pretty.

So, I think the migraine phase is on its way out, and things are settling down again, Ozzy is soft and cuddly and smells good again. All's good here. Hope things are good everywhere else.

Electronics are making me crazy

After messing with the blogs all day yesterday, Michele called me after poker to play GH online. I've been having problems with my XBox (somehow, in the grand scheme of electronic things, this isn't a surprise) - it won't immediately read all the games. It seems to want to wait until the point of exasperation and then start. That's how it was the first time we played when Michele first got here, anyway. 

So, last night she called and surprised me cause it was a half hour past when she usually goes to bed. If we had planned ahead, I could have tried the game starting process earlier. But, she called and I put it in and for the next hour and twenty minutes I sat there with the remote opening and closing the tray, switching back and forth between TV and the game while we chatted. She got to play a little bit and got into the Options menu. She found the cheats, and cheated at it. She just put in some colors and actually found a cheat! I didn't even know you could do that - cheat on a cheat! Who'd a thunk it! Anyway, it opened up some songs for her and gave her air guitar, which means that there are guitars playing on stage and no people. I don't really think that would be one of my options.

I need to remember to get online and find some cheats. That was suppose to be my job after she left, but I forgot. I won't say I opened the songs the old fashioned way, cause I got a cheat when I pre-bought my guitar and it opened 84 songs. But she told me about Sharon had gone and gotten a bunch of songs from cheats of off the internet for their Rock Band on Wii cause they didn't know the ones they were playing. Cool! I want to do that, too. More important for Michele to do it, tho, cause we're limited right now to what she can play.

So it's looking now like our big cold front is going to be one cold day, on Monday, and 39 degrees. which still isn't as cold as it was on Michele's last day. The rest of the next ten days will be high 40s and 50s. Sunday is supposed to be 70. The weather here certainly isn't boring.

If the rest of the night goes well, I might try to take Bubbah for a walk tomorrow. We used to do that and I know he misses it. Heck, he misses the living room. But his hair is shorter now. Oh, I forgot that part. The first thing we did Monday morning after Michele got here, after her hugging him and nuzzling him and trying to run her fingers in his fur, was take him to the groomers. She was going to do it with or without me. So we dropped him off and went to the movies. Someone new did him and her interpretation of my instructions on his face has given him muttonchops. His mustache is longer than his little mouth, so he looks like Yosemite Sam, and his little eyebrows are already starting to point down, in their pointy little way. He looks quite distinctive, but the muttonchops have got to go. I'm going to have to wait until he's really sleepy to get the scissors anywhere near him to catch all the long spots that the groomer missed. 

So that's the news for today. Tomorrow, well, we'll let tomorrow take care of itself.

Crazy making

This is making me crazy, but I give up on this blog. I'm moving on to Ozzmatazz.blogspot.com. Blogspot is locking me out of this blog and everything I'm doing is blocking me at every turn. I'm just starting over, again.

***********

Nope, can't find Ozzmatazz. Made it this afternoon cause I couldn't do anything with Gravity, now I can't find Ozzmatazz and I have Gravity. Worse yet, I can't do anything with my photo site so I made a new one, but I forgot the .blogspot before the .com and now City Photo won't pick up my photos and all of my email accounts are used up and I just give up......

I'm sure there will be more later.

all day on the computer

The key word of the title is "day." I got up this morning, in the morning, and have been up since. I looked for Jackie online cause I didn't connect with her last night, and we spent most of the morning and early afternoon going back and forth on Facebook. Probably shouldn't have cause she should have been working, but eventually we caught up and she went off to her transcripts.

I still haven't taken Ozzy to the groomer so his hair is long, he's got a few mats and he's STINKY! I don't think he's too happy about spending this much time inside, either. He doesn't realize that when I was online with Jackie it was 30 degrees outside. There's a groomer in downtown Moore that I want to check out. I saw their ad in the Moore newspaper that got dropped on my driveway, and if they are nice and in anyway close to the cost of Petco, I'd prefer to keep my money in Moore. I don't want them to just pull and tug on those mats cause he'll yelp if you just tug a little on him, and don't EVEN mess with his feet! It seems like a small place might spend a little more time with him. (He's kicking and growling at me cause I'm in his way as he's rolling over to sleep! He's really getting to be a cranky old man as he gets older.)

So that's pretty much it for me today. Michele is coming to visit me on Sunday. She'll be here for three days. She's at a conference until Sunday morning in Tulsa, then she's going to rent a car and drive here, then turn it in either Sunday or Monday morning, then I think she leaves on Wednesday. I should probably be cleaning house or something, but I don't want to wear myself out. Ha! That's what I always say. I need to do the dishes and vacuum, but that really doesn't take that long. Thank goodness I don't need to turn the mattress again.

This morning, while I was waiting for Jackie to message me back, I was on the Netflix site, picking out my movies for the month-long free subscription Josh signed me up for. Now I have probably 150 movies lined up. I don't think I'll get to them all in a month. Cagey they are, those Netflix people.

I've already said it, but that's about it for me. Still not in the Christmas spirit. I'm not sure what it's going to take, but I sure don't feel it right now. Maybe it's all the gloom and doom on the news, but it's not "beginning to feel a lot like Christmas" for me.

heads up, finally

Thanksgiving is over, and it went pretty well, I think. Josh came over and had dinner, and did get a little sleep that night. I went over to his house the next day and took the leftovers and let the puppies out and took Ozzy for a ride, short tho it might have been, so Josh had some more turkey when he got home that night.

I don't know what I was thinking, but when I took Ozzy for his drive around the block on Thursday, I didn't wear a long sleeved shirt. It was sort of cloudy, but by no means was it clouded over. I had helped Josh with the speakers and didn't grab a shirt, so I guess I "broke" that, I don't know, that line of thinking. I haven't done it in years and I was tired and just hopped in the car with Ozzy for a quickie drive and, as I do, I want to believe that I can just be ok. 

So, here I am, after three days of migraines, thinking that probably wasn't the best idea. I'm sure it wasn't the only reason, but I think it was a contributor. Anyway, Ozzy was here, right by my side, the whole time. He was pulling for me to get to the living room, and we just might make it tonight. He just did his rooting and digging all over the bed and got himself under the pillow, so he's all set now, but I'm sure he'll be off the bed in a shot if I make a move in that direction.

Anyway, all better now, and tomorrow is a whole new month. Ack, it's going to be December.

scary little dog

Ozzy has been doing something new lately. I've caught him sitting in the bathroom, which is obviously dark, just sitting there. Didn't know why until tonight. Tonight, for some reason, I looked at him as he was sitting there, in front of the toilet, in the dark, looking intently at me, and I said, "Do you have to go outside?" and he took off like a shot to the door. Ho-o-ly cow. The dog is sitting in front of the toilet to tell me he has to go outside. I find this... funny, smart, and a little disconcerting.

Just wanted to get that down somewhere before I forgot.

Happy Thanksgiving. I miss you all.

no band time for a while

Michele flew off to Portland today to spend the holiday with Kathy, so no more band time for almost two weeks. At one point she said nine days and another she said eleven. But, we're going to try to catch a movie tomorrow. We figure it'll be the best time this week to catch one, before everyone is either off or busy with things to do. 

I just spent an interesting, wow, couple of hours maybe, catching up on my cousin's blog. She lives in Idaho. She's been doing this longer than me, but I didn't know she was doing it when I started (just to make it clear I'm not copying - I get enough of that from Josh. sigh Although I totally am on the Daily Photo, and thank you very much!!) Anyway, what a great thing it is to go back a year and catch up on what she and her family were doing, and what life for her was and has been like in the times we weren't in contact. I think it's awesome. (I need to get a new word. I'm tired of that one. If you have a new suggestion, I'd like to hear it.) She is a whiz on the web, and has had a couple of web business, but I think she should open a web design business, myself, but even more important, she owns, and rides, a bike, even if it is a little crotch rocket.

Yes, we do have our little differences, and motorcycle preferences are one of them, but the important thing to me is that she has one and is regularly riding it. I get a pang of envy with every post that mentions it and her bike riding group. The obvious, one would think, response would be to just get one, but it hasn't worked out that way. Maybe it will. Maybe that's just a part of my past... that I will forever longingly remember and wish for. Who knows. I have Ozzy, and too much balance on my credit card. Josh's wedding is coming up and I have to put money aside for that. I have to be practical here, but I've been putting it out there to the universe for quite a while, but I think I have mixed feelings about it. Josh doesn't want me on one, and I know that. It scares him. Me driving a car scares him, as his only parent.

Phewwwwwww, Ozzy, for a little dog, can pack a wallop of a fart. Just thought you should know. I think my screen is melting, just a little bit.

Well, my thoughts have just run away with my sensory ability, so I think I'll just leave it here. I'm pretty sure after my eyes stop watering that I should probably take the dog outside. Geez, what the heck did I feed this dog? Wow. 

never say never

I knew it when it came out of my mouth at the doctor's office, about not having migraines for weeks. I know it had to do with not sleeping the night before, but I had migraines for the next three days after that, but I think I know why. I had a prescription refilled for Ambien but hadn't been taking it, but took it to get back to a normal schedule. Three days of Ambien, three days of migraines. Now, tho, I'm sleeping in really late, again, but I also know what that's about, too. I have another sleeping pill that's heavy duty that I ran out of and didn't take for several days and when I stopped taking the Ambien, I started taking it again. Maybe I should stop that one again and see how I do. I like getting up in the morning. I liked the way it was before I went to the doctor, cause I've felt like crap since then.

Except for playing GH with Michele every day. That's been a blast. She's gotten pretty good really fast. We ran into a little speed bump when one of our head sets stopped working. I could hear her but she couldn't hear me, so we just put our phones on speaker and play away. It's so much more fun that way, and I get lots more money and points, making lots more progress in the game. On the off times, I've been practicing on guitar, cause when she comes to visit she's going to be playing drums, and I'm going to be playing lead. Don't want to lose my chops. 

I was practicing this evening, thinking she might get online, just fooling around, making some more characters. I found out you get awards for making them, well at least one award for making a female character. I got into the award section to see what the awards were, to see what I had to do to get more. What started it was a TV show on the top bad videos from Rock Band and I saw Joan Jett and I wanted to make a character that looked like her. But, all the female characters look alike. I think you have much more diversity with the male characters.

Anyway, I made a female character and played Steely Dan, and it didn't suit her, so I went back and made another guy, cause the singer in that gig looked pretty cool. He turned out to be my "jazz guy," more suited for Steely Dan, and I finished the song several times with him. About that time Michele got on and wanted to play, and her mom was there and there I was with a new character. Not our usual band. That wouldn't be a big deal, but our characters are special, sympatico. They mesh. She hasn't played with Jazz Man. And she wanted her mom to see us play. Us, out two characters.

So we played at the Bone Church, which was a surprise cause Michele hates the Bone Church, but we KILLED there, getting well over 200,000 on almost every song. But, when the time came for the encore, my Xbox froze. She kept playing at her house and I kept trying to get it to read the disc again, let the dog out, did a couple of things, let it cool off, and eventually got it to start again. So, I called her back and Kieran (my guy - all my characters have Celtic names) jumped in and we played one more gig, so her mom got to see both our characters together, and we did okay - not my best gig, but I was pretty tired by then, and the gig was a speed metal one - same note 25 times, then change the note for 25 more times. I have a lot of trouble with that. I tried really hard to focus, but I was getting tired. By the end of that gig, Michele was tired, too, and we called it quits. 

She's leaving for Portland tomorrow for the holiday, so I'm not going to have any band gigs for a couple of weeks, so I'll have lots of time to practice guitar, but it'll be lonely. I like doing it online. This has been a lot of fun. But, with Thanksgiving coming up, there are things I need to attend to, also. Speaking of Thanksgiving, Rob and Marti sent me the absolutely cutest talking card... well singing card for the holiday. I opened it while I was driving and would play it again at every stop light. It made me laugh every time. Love that card. 

Josh has to work at 4 am on Black Friday so we're having Thanksgiving here. I'm making the pie Wednesday so it will be cold for him on Thursday and then everything else Thursday morning. It's just a matter of figuring out oven time. I'm looking forward to it. 

Oh, that's about it. My eyes are killing me. I'm going to take a migraine pill again, and I think I'm going to stop taking that heavy duty sleeping pill and see what happens. I was doing so well. I want to get back to that. 

excellent news

Alex called me late the other evening and asked, politely, if she woke me up, which she hadn't, and then told me that she had some news. She and Josh are now officially engaged, ring and all. She said that Josh told her he had a gift for her, as she was sitting there, exhausted after a ten hour day, then he proceeded to give her the dog, then the cat,  etc, but finally, after the typical Josh goofiness, had her shut her eyes and when she opened them he was holding out an opened ring box. Her response was, "Really?" "Seriously?" 

As we talked on the phone, she was describing the ring to me, and he was in the background saying that he was going to email a pic to me, then he said they were coming over, which they did. In short order they were over and Alex showed me the ring, which description and photos would not have done justice to. It's just beautiful. It's a brilliant cut, carat and a half total weight, traditional style with a large (and I do mean large) diamond in the center with three (I think) .2 carat diamonds the band on each side, and there are chips in there somewhere, too, but I don't remember where. I just remember being surprised to find there were even more diamonds when I looked at it close up. This is not a ring that you have to use a magnifying glass to find the stone. Ohhhhh no. This is a very beautiful ring. Oh, and 14 k white gold. Alex has very graceful hands and the ring really looks beautiful on her hand. They had gone shopping together, and Alex and her sister had gone together without Josh, but Josh bought it alone, and he did really well. 

We talked for quite a while, especially considering they both had to be exhausted after working long days and having the adrenaline of the moment, but the time did finally come for them to leave. When we were at the door, the subject came up about if he put the ring on her finger or not, and it turned out that he hadn't put it on her finger, but he had Googled which hand and finger was the right one, so he was ready. I thought that was so cute, and so she took it off and he put it back on her finger himself. They are so cute. I'm so happy for them. I know Kathy is thrilled that Alex finally has a ring. She's been calling Josh Alex's fiance for years and now it's official. They called her first and woke her up and told her, and her response was "really?" then "Really?!? " when it finally sank it. This is going to make Thanksgiving a lot more fun. 

I had to wait until Josh called mom and dad before I could blog about it. I asked him to let me know when he told her (he called her the next day) but he was working so hard he forgot to call. I called him, and her (mom)last night, so we're good now. 

As for me, I woke up yesterday I'm sure with a smile on my face. I realized I woke up happy. I had so much fun playing online with Michele the day before, and we were going to do it again, easier this time cause we had the logistics figured out. I called her and told her I was up, and when we were ready we played some. She had played some on her own so we had some more songs to play and she had moved up to medium. The plan was that we would play and then take a break in between to run errands that we both needed to do and then come back and play until we were tired. And that's just what we did. And it was great. At one point, we took a break to give our arms and hands a rest and just chatted through the headsets so long that we had to refresh the game. It was great. Just great. So easy and so fun. I know how hard it is on your hands and arms so it's a good thing she has work and can't spend the hours that I do or it might be really bad for her elbow. But she's catching on quick. I just can't tell you how much fun I'm having doing this with her. I'm so glad she finally got it. She told me Kathy (Portland Kathy, obviously) had to tell her to stop talking about getting an XBox and finally "pull the trigger." Thank you, Kathy!

Today, I'm kinda tired, but I think it's from the shopping at Wal Mart, which I did pretty fast, like I always do when Ozzy is in the car. I don't like to leave him there too long alone. But, at least I have food in the house. So, I will chill today, and may or may not play with Michele again tonight. That will be up to her. Either way is fine with me. I know we'll be doing it again, so I have it to look forward to. By the way, anyone out there who buys Guitar Hero World Tour and wants to get in on the band, let me know. It just makes it more fun. We need a singer and a drummer. At least for now. Michele is natural drummer and I think when she finds a drum set she'll move over. As for me, I'll stick with guitar, but I'm really enjoying bass right now.

woo hoo, we did it! we be jammin'

Well, we got the headphones figured out a little faster today, although Michele did have to wait for me, cause for some reason I was up until almost 6 am again. I really thought I was over that. Maybe the fact I didn't sleep this afternoon will help straighten that out. I tried to go back to sleep, cause she called me around noon and I'm always afraid of a migraine if I lack sleep, but I didn't, so I figured I didn't need it, so I called her back, but I had a heck of a time connecting online. My internet has been going off and on like Christmas lights for the past day or so, so I just kept at it and we finally got the headsets going, then we started in on the band thing.

We stopped pretending that I was any kind of expert on the game, and I looked on the internet for answers, the book was no help, she called the number listed in the book and nothing was any help at all, so we fiddled. Finally Michele found the answer, and it was in the game and not on XBox Live. We were making it too hard. We've gone over several speed bumps, we've learned a few things, but we spent hours today playing together and it was so much fun. It was great cause we could talk while we played and at the end, when we were both tired, she finally did what I told her to and created a custom character (important to be able to save your money) and named her band. I do know a little about it. Anyway, the first session that we played (she quit after a while to eat and play her shoot-em-up game and I just kept playing - I'm like totally hard core, man) she played as this behemoth in KISS makeup with spike armbands. Umm, ok. The second session she made a character that was really cool looking, and looking at our characters I said, "Do you realize they look related?" I thought that was neat, actually. But, she was still creating and made another character and while she was doing that I gave my character some tattoos and to show them off made my neat and tidy character look like a seedy bar crawler.... with good hair. She was working away quietly and then would laugh every now and then, but I'm not going to get a chance to see what she's done until we play again tomorrow. I'm excited about this. This is so much fun. But we can only play as far as she's played. She's going to have to play on her own and open up some more songs. I wish I had kept the cheats I got when I preordered my copy. It opened 84 songs. I keep everything, but I do remember thinking that was one thing I'll never use again. THIS IS WHY I KEEP EVERYTHING! So, it's up to her to put some time in alone practicing for us to be able to play more songs. But, I'm going to have to be careful cause I know what it does to my hands when I play a lot, and she has an elbow that's gone through one surgery, so I'll have to keep control of myself and put her first and not push her too hard to play just cause I'm having so much fun. Cause really, I can't tell you how fast time flew today and what fun it was doing that with her. I can hardly wait til tomorrow. So, on that note, goodnight.

jammin with Michele

Finally, after much anticipation, Michele's XBox 360 came in yesterday, and she got her game (well, games really, but the only game that really matters is GHWT - she got some shoot-em-up game, too, but whatever). She called me tonight after setting everything up all by herself (well done, I might add) and we started trying to set ourselves up to play online. After 2 hours or so, we had figured out how to talk to each other through the headsets and to get our names together on the band list, but we couldn't go anywhere from there. I have no idea how long we tried everything we could think of, but part of the two hours that it took us to figure out the headsets was trying to get out of that screen and into the music screen. We finally gave up and decided that we needed to find a 12 year old to tell us what to do now. So, we stayed on the phone and she went through the tutorial and I played my songs on the bass. I wonder if the fact that she hasn't gone all the way through the tutorial has something to do with it. I hadn't thought of that but she is still working on her skills and since she's in the tutorial it might not allow us to play co op until she's played some songs at a certain level. So practice might be the key to that one. I'll keep practicing, but she'll have to do her part, too. Unfortunately, she's got that shoot-em-up game to distract her from her practice. Ah, the uncommitted to their art. Letting themselves be distracted. I have to tell you, tho, it was weird playing guitar while listening to someone else play something different on guitar on the phone. But, not as odd as playing guitar and listening to someone play Call to Arms over the phone. But we did it until my phone was just about out of juice. So basically we had a game night together, and it was a lot of fun, but it will be a lot more fun when we can get the online thing worked out. I'll keep you posted. And if you know a 12 year old with a few tips, drop me a line.

surfing

I'm not sure what I was looking for today while I was surfing the net, but I came across CNN's tribute to the fallen soldiers of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They posted every photo with the age, affiliation, hometown and country, if they were coalition, and the story of their death. I thought I would go through them, being the least I could do to honor them in some way, but I didn't make it through the A's before I realized it was overwhelming. Too many names, too many roadside bombs, too much to take in. I finally decided to look up Pat Tillman, kind of Arizona's own, so I kept scrolling. 

One entry caught my eye as I quickly scrolled through. The story of his death was a lot longer than most and it had a link. It turns out that he is the first Medal of Honor recipient for combat since the Viet Nam war. The link was to an official site giving the official story, the narrative of the president at the posthumous presentation, a picture of the redesigned medal and other information about the soldier. I don't remember his name. I remember Paul Ray (his middle name) but not his last name. I was surprised that there have been so few Medals of Honor given out, but then again, this is the first time we've been engaged in big time war. Bosnia, Somalia, Grenada - the soldiers who fought there unfortunately didn't have the war machine behind them and went all too often unheralded for actions deadly and costly.

Anyway, by the time I got to where Pat Tillman should have been, he wasn't there. I checked a couple of times, but he's just not there. Maybe it's at the family's request but there are plenty of other stories that read "killed by friendly fire," sadly. The cover up is what makes his story stand out, though.

Enough of that. The only other thing I did today is start to play bass in Guitar Hero World Tour. I found out I can do that, and it's easy to do (not the playing but the arranging to play). You can play bass in the other games but it doesn't count for anything. In this one you make another character and off you go, and you still get points for your band. I made my character and they started me on beginner, which was so easy that I almost fell asleep. I went from beginner to expert in one day on bass. I can't play everything on expert, but I try songs on expert first, and if I absolutely can't play them, then I can go down by levels until I can. I really like playing bass. Totally different from guitar, but you have to watch the repetition factor, which gets to me. I forget what I'm doing and I lose my fingers. I did pretty good on Hotel California, tho, and that's got a great bass part.

That's about it for today, and it's not even 7 pm yet. Man, is my schedule messed up. But I think I feel a migraine coming on. I think it was scrolling through all those photos, to tell you the truth. Josh is coming over tomorrow so he can help me ship back a subwoofer to the factory and take a look at the sound system in my bedroom, and then Kathy's birthday dinner in the evening, so going to bed early isn't a bad idea. Besides, I really doubt I'll be asleep anywhere near 7, or 8, or 9...

post lasagna day

Josh called me last night to tell me that he really liked the lasagna, let me start with that. That makes everything worthwhile. I had a good time yesterday and it went really well. I got up, as I have been doinglately, mid morning and decided to start. Alex thought her parents might be home around three in the afternoon, so that was the time in my head I was working around. I decided to have breakfast first, so I had a bagel and some orange juice and then put a pot on the boil for the noodles.

I got everything together as the noodles cooked and got a great tip from the box about laying out the cooked noodles on waxed paper or cling wrap so they don't stick together, always a problem, so when they were cooked I did that. Awesome tip. I started on the Moreau's dish. The meat sauce was cold and it made it a little harder to deal with, but whatever. I just kept layering - I love making lasagna. I finished theirs and covered it with cling wrap, wrote out the cooking directions then put aluminum wrap on and put it in the fridge. Then, I got a smaller dish and did the same for Josh and Alex's dish. By the time I was done I had about a half a cup of meat sauce left. I tried hard not to go easy on the meat sauce on Josh's in order to keep some for me, but I did want some. I figured I could do what I did the night before and use it for spaghetti. The fact that I didn't have enough to make some lasagna for me was my own fault cause I used twice what was left to make myself spaghetti the night before and it was GREAT!

So, I had both dishes done and I called Alex, who was surprised that I was done so early. I was, too, actually. It was only one o'clock. I went by her house and dropped hers off and picked up the key to her mom's house. By the time I got there, Kelsey was there to feed the dogs (her parents were in Texas for the weekend and were coming home that night. I thought having something they could just stick in the oven would be nice after a road trip.), so I just handed it to her and didn't have to use the key. I drove home the long way and got gas at a no ethanol station. As soon as I walked in the door my phone rang. It was Alex. Kelsey had locked herself out of the house and Alex needed the key back. If I was still out and about I could have taken it to her myself, but I was home and tired, so Alex came and got it.

I was in bed early last night. Oh, and by the way, I made sure the mondo mushroom made it into the Moreau's dish. Anyway, I was just watching TV and thinking, jokingly about a lasagna pot pie, when I figured out how to make one. I went into the kitchen and checked out my glass bowl, which is a pyrex and is ok for oven use, and used the remaining meat and made layers until the meat was gone. When it was done cooking, I moved it onto a small plate and it filled the small plate, so I did get to eat some of my own lasagna. Ironically, it was very filling and I only finished half of it. I'll make you a bet the lasagna goes a very long way. When Josh called me last night (which made me feel so good, he's such a sweetie and thoughtful that way), he said they had only eaten about a third of theirs.

This morning, I have already received two calls from the Harley Davidson store I visited. The first one was a survey about the visit and she asked about what I was looking for and about how much I wanted to spend. So I told her. Then, about an hour or so later I got another call from, I swear I think it was the owner, and he had a bike he thought I might be interested in, but it was $8500. I told them about my new car and that I couldn't afford it. If they are this interested in finding me a Harley, I might just end up with one. Someone might just turn in an old Harley in my price range. Who knows? If they're going to try that hard it's just a possibility. I can always say no.

So, that's about it. Ozzy tried to go outside this morning. We woke up to a really good rainstorm. He trotted happily to the front door and went outside for about four feet and stopped, looked at me, then realized that he was getting wet, then came back inside. I gave him a rubdown, which he really enjoyed, but surprisingly he wasn't really very wet for being in a downpour. It's not raining now but he's dead to the world and I hate the thought of waking him just to make him go outside to do his thing. I think I'll do the same thing and go back to sleep. 

lasagna day

I don't really know why I haven't posted in so long. I did go to a movie with Michele this week. We went and saw "Max Payne" which I liked and she didn't. But, since he is a cop, she had some major complaints about his procedures and would have written him up many times on his bad techniques. I, on the other hand, being enamored with New York City my entire life, loved the fact that it was filmed in the winter, which you rarely see, and they used the snow and rain for mood, and quite effectively, I thought. I also thought the photography was "arty" and dark, in keeping with the mood, and I liked that, too. So when Michele got out of her movie and called me, she said she wanted her seven dollars back, and I said I liked it. Still, I like going to the movies like that. I'm glad we figured that out. I can't believe it's been so long since we've done it.

After I came out of the movies I went over to the Harley Davidson dealership and looked at the bikes. I took my camera along and got a picture of the theater, which you can only shoot from the outside, unfortunately, because it's amazing inside, and wanted some shots of the bikes, too. I got a shot of a line of Harleys and decided to see what was inside. The first thing I saw, before I got inside was a little white bobber, which is almost the opposite of a chopper, very compact. I looked at it before I went inside. So, when I went inside and was met with a salesman rather quickly and he asked if I had found anything I liked, he mentioned he had seen me looking at the bobber. Man, these guys are good. I found out it was used, but only an '07, $10,000, and the payments for it would be more than my car payments. And to get it I would have to have $5000 down. No Harley for me. Big surprise. I did sit on it, and it did feel good, but it was a 1200, and I have no need for a bike that big, or that new. I'd be better off, if I get serious about getting a bike, looking on Craig's list and borrowing from my Visa or getting a credit union loan, but I'm trying to pay off my Visa, not add more.

Anyway, about the lasagna. After watching all the cooking shows with mom here, I had kinda built up an urge to really cook again, and for some reason, it's lasagna. I bought half the ingredients last week in a quickie market run cause Ozzie was in the car. I got the meat and the noodles but forgot the cheeses. So yesterday I decided I could start the meat sauce and let it simmer for a while. Alex had called and we were going to do some running around. I am making a big batch and Josh and Alex, and Alex's family are all going to get some. I just like cooking for a group. I grew up doing that. It's no fun cooking for one. Anyway, but the time Alex came, over the meat sauce was done and she got to taste it. Mind you, Alex works at an Italian restaurant, well, has worked at several Italian restaurants, so I felt bad cause I knew she couldn't be very excited about me making an Italian dish, but she thought the meat sauce was good and it's the foundation, so it's a good start. The funny thing is that I bought two bottles of sauce and needed one more, and I knew I already had one so I used it. It was Paul Newman's Sockeroo Sauce with bell peppers and stuff, so I dumped it in and out came the biggest sliced mushroom I think I have ever seen. I initially took it out, but Josh and I are the only ones who don't like mushrooms, and I've eaten them in pizzas and stuff and Josh eats them when he doesn't know they're in there, so I put it back in and I'm going to put it into the Moreau family batch. They'll appreciate it. All the other pieces are small. But that mushroom piece has to be three inches across. 

In fact, I should be getting up and starting the process now. I have noodles to cook and the layering process is going to take a bit and I'm pretty sure I'll have to take a couple of breaks. I used 5 pounds of meat, and the cheeses accordingly. It's going to be a lot of lasagna. But, like I said, I like cooking big. I'll let you know when the reviews come in.

Oops, there goes my firepit

My firepit on the back porch usually has the metal parts sitting upside down (so they don't collect water and rust), but when I looked out last night, they weren't there. Mind you, there was a hellacious storm front that went through, as you know from the hail storm that started it, but that really was nothing. Josh called me a couple more times, warning me that there was more hail coming, but once it was so loud that Ozzy barked, thinking that there was someone at the door, as the hail started. 

The wind was crazy, the lightening went on all night, the rain was off and on, but the hail was the cool part. The sad thing was that it was gone almost as soon as it hit the ground. It's just too warm yet. 

Although, this storm is bringing in a cold front, which I always like. When I was out running around yesterday, it was nice that it wasn't quite so hot. I did take my camera with me so I could take a few new photos with me. There were clouds in the sky and I think that always makes the photos more interesting.

Oh, sheesh, talk about a wandering mind. The firepit. When I saw the firepit last night, I had visions of having to wander the neighborhood looking for the parts that were missing, or hanging over my fence to see if they were in the big field next to my house, or worse, putting up flyers saying "Have you seen my firepit?" Well, I went out with Ozzy a little while ago and actually picked up the metal piece that was still there and thought about it. Hmmm, there was a bottom piece that I turned upside down and then I put the round metal net cover on top of that. Well, the metal bottom WAS still there, and I moved it to realize that and when I did that I saw that the cover was underneath. They just got turned completely upside down instead of flying away. Whew, good, didn't want to wander the streets looking for them. (wow, that was hard to read - good luck with that.) Anyway, it's all good.

hail yeah!

Josh called me a few minutes ago. He had been doing his weather-man duty (really, he's getting really good at it) since last night about the storm front coming in, so I got my running around done this morning. Anyway, it was raining when he just called, and he said he just wanted to warn me that I might be getting some hail in a few minutes. Then, WHAM, it hits he's while he's still on the phone and it's loud! I was in bed with the shutters next to the bed open watching the storm so I got up and watched from the door. He warned me that the shutters wouldn't protect me if they went through the door when a big one hit the door. The kid's a psychic. 

I told him that the ones in the backyard were pea to pecan sized but I went to the front yard where I saw this beauty. I am so glad I have a garage. Josh said he had to go cause he was going to call his friends on the

north side and warn them about the hail. This move to Oklahoma has opened a weather wizard in him I think he didn't know he had. Well, even if he did it wouldn't have been utilized much in Arizona anyway.

The next photo is the sky as it looked after I got the hail and took the picture and walked back to the backyard. It was over that fast. Even the rain is gone now. That's Oklahoma weather for you. 15 minutes and then it changes.

Halloween

Since this is the third or so time that I've uploaded these photos and tried to do this blog, I'm so hoping this will work. That will also explain why I haven't blogged in three days or so. I had a great time in Texas, but it took me a couple of days to recuperate. Not a complaint - more like a compliment. 

This first photo is me in my costume. Can you figure it out? The words in front say "Paper or Plastic?" I have handles on my shoulders and aluminum foil on my head, and of course, I'm holding Ozzy. Got it? I'm a doggy bag.

This is Alex being a Guitar Hero. I think she looks great. It's too bad that the little details don't show cause she has a guitar bracelet on and guitar earrings. Her shorts are Guitar Hero shorts and, of course, the GH guitar.

This next scary one is Alex's sister, Paige, being a control freak. What she's holding in her hands are remote controls, and they are also in her waist and has two in each sock. Her make up is. well, freaky. 

The couple here are Kelsey and her boyfriend, Drew, and they came kind of as a theme. Kelsey, you will notice, has a necklace of chili peppers and is dressed in scrubs with a stethascope. She's Dr. Pepper. 

Drew is dressed in scrubs and covered with sponges and drinking a beer. He's a self-absorbed doctor.

The winning costume of the night is the last photo, the little lady, or should I say the rabbit sitting in the hat. That's Alex's grandma and she's the one who threw the party. There were cousins and aunts and uncles and, well, me, and not only that, but a recurring sewer problem that the city was working on as we pulled in on Saturday. They actually fixed it late Saturday night, I think it was, but neglected to tell her. Well, it kept it interesting. 

We drove back on Sunday afternoon, and I went to bed pretty much when I got home and got out out bed, um, today. I just stayed in bed yesterday and slept for most of the day. But, I have to say, it was so worth the trip. That was such a fun trip. I just love Alex's family. I just wish Josh could have been there for it. They all asked about him.

oh nooooo, tumblies

Yep, they're baaaaack, and in the same corner they began in. Oh well. I decided not to do the passing out candy this year, although that actually took care of itself by the time the "second shift" kicked in. I woke up in the morning and was up for a while, and Michele called me and we had a great talk, but I got really sleepy and had to go so I could sleep, and by the time I woke up it was almost 8 pm. Luckily I had already turned off the porch lights in anticipation. 

I did take Ozzy to Walgreens to pick up some prescriptions, which he always enjoys, and to pick up a couple of things for my costume tomorrow night at Alex's grandma's Halloween party. Alex texted me tonight to see if I was still going and I told her I wasn't feeling well but was still planning on it. We're leaving around 9:30 am tomorrow morning, but I've been getting up in the mornings and by the time we get there I should be able to get a hotel room and get some rest before the party. 

My costume, if it works out, is going to be easy, I hope. I'm going to turn myself into a grocery bag, and Ozzy is going to wear his baseball jacket, and a t-shirt. So, when I'm carrying Ozzy around I'm going to be a doggy bag, and if he's somewhere else, I'll be a bag lady. It should be a fun party, and I'll get to meet Alex's sister's new boyfriend, Drew, and get to see Oshkie, Annette's (Alex's grandma) puppy, again. I hope he and Ozzy will want to play. He's a pretty little guy, about the size of Ozzy, but I think he's going to end up bigger than Ozzy. He's a Maltie-Poo and has the softest fur and really interesting coloring. I'll try to get some pictures.

vanishing tumblies and GHWT

I can't believe I didn't post this a few days ago, but I keep forgetting. I talked to Dad on his birthday, which was Saturday and we were talking about the tumblies and he was trying to give me some ideas on how to get rid of them. He must not have seen the pictures cause he was talking about pulling them out of the ground and such. I told him my idea about stomping on them and he said that was a bad idea cause it would release the seeds. Well, that makes sense, and when we were talking, well, he was talking, I realized it would be really easy to take the trash bin and lay it on its side and just rake them in. Good idea. 

So, I was out doing something during the day on Sunday and happened to look around my front door to the fence, kind of checking things out for when I got started, and there was nothing there. They were ALL gone. I wondered to myself if my new neighbor had decided to get rid of all of them, so I went over to the other side of the house and they were all gone there, too. Okay. I went back into the house to go to the backyard and there were only a little left on the east facing side of the fence. The wind had changed again and blown them all away. Oklahoma wind is great... and weird.

The other news is that my weird schedule, which is now split in two, has allowed me to beat Guitar Hero World Tour on medium, which actually took me a little bit longer than I thought cause I've been a little down lately. This sleep thing is really strange. I got up at 6 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up and just started playing and played until I really couldn't control my fingers anymore, and beat the game, and it ended up being 11:30. That was with a trip to MacDonald's before 10 am for breakfast. I laid down and watched some TV then took a nap and didn't wake up until 7:30 and now it's 1 am. This is just weird. 

I took Ozzy out to Hastings looking for the new Pink album but they didn't have it, and I wanted to get a Catherine Deneuve movie I saw today, but they didn't have that either, but I did get three 2009 calendars. I know that sounds odd, because I search a long time to get the right calendars, sometimes way into the year, and this time there were a wealth of good choices right there. I got an ancient map calendar that will be perfect for the office, which has a map motif, and an Oklahoma landscape one that I will put in the kitchen so I can see some of the spots in OK, and a Boris Vallejo one for my bedroom. I love his paintings, and the only illustrator that comes close to his caliber is his wife, and if I had seen hers instead of his, I would have gladly bought hers. The Japanese style of illustration, and the current graphic novel style is just not my cup of tea. I love the way he captures the human body so realistically without it being hyper-realistically or cartoonish. I can't wait for the first time Josh goes through my bedroom to get to the backyard next year and sees it. Wonder what his comment will be? It's not like they're naked - they're just fantasy figures.

Anyway, that's my big day - make note of it - the first day I beat GHWT, on medium. But I kinda don't consider it as really beating it, cause it was too easy for me and I know it. I need to play on hard. I just wanted to open the songs up and get some cash and see what the songs were like so when I just wanted to play I would have some stuff I knew. Now the hard stuff starts.

did the sun come out today?

I guess the title says it all. It was another one of those days. I was up for a little bit, but didn't really feel all that well, without a real "thing" to put my finger on, so when I went back to let Ozzy out, I laid back down on my bed and that was pretty much it. I left my living room TV on pause all day. The good thing is the DirectTV has a screen saver (I really like a lot of the features of their DVRs). I was just laying down cause it was more comfortable than sitting up, which should have been a clue, but the next thing I know I hear the doorbell ring, and it's 7pm. The guy at the door was a street number painter, which I did. I passed when I first moved in, but the ones in the neighborhood look really nice, so I got one with a flag. The most used in the neighborhood are OU, OSU and upside down Texas (they really don't like Texas here). I'm happy with mine and it was only $20. I'm paranoid, so I didn't like giving these guys who operate out of the back of their rat trap of a car one of my checks, but he was here last year, and I got the license plate of his car. And besides, how many rat trap cars have I had? He probably has a big new truck that he drives during the day that he DOESN'T carry a zillion cans of spray paint in.

So, I turned on the TV for a while, and decided to post a photo, then I did Ozzy's post, and as long as I did those two, I did this one, even tho, as you can tell, I don't have anything to say cause I did nothing all day. I so need to get to a dentist. My jaw feels better, by a lot, but I wonder if I was/am fighting an infection? At least it's not hurting like it was. I hate to think that all the energy I have is to do the little bit I did with Alex yesterday, but that is my pattern - one day up, one day down.

up and at 'em today

Alex called me today and got me out of bed. I was half asleep but not motivated enough to get out of bed, so I was glad she called. She had Josh's windows tinted for their anniversary and we did the car swap thing. Eventually she came over and we played Guitar Hero for a little bit. She played the Guitar for a while, then she tried the mic from Rock Band, which worked just fine, so we did four or five songs. Alex is good at the singing part. I've never tried it. I liked the way it looked on GHWT (Guitar Hero World Tour) so I might try that sometime when I'm alone. I played this afternoon, too, and made some progress on the game, but I'm kinda stumbling around. There's not a lot of instructions written down. I suppose I could do the tutorial, but what's the fun of that?

I got an invitation in the mail from Alex's grandma to a Halloween party in Paris, TX on Saturday, a costume party. Alex is asking a couple of questions for me, regarding Ozzy, mostly. I'm expecting to stay in a hotel with him, since it sounds like they're going to have a house full of relatives that night. There is going to be a costume contest. Sigh. And they are trying to figure out driving combinations. Poor Mark. He lost his dad last week, and Alex just told me that one of his best friends from high school just came back to Altus, was moving back from California, and died a few days ago, so Mark won't be there. He must be reeling. So that may or may not be what I'm doing this weekend. It sounds like fun, but I do think I need a place where I can retreat to to rest when I need it, cause I've been having that kind of week.

Oh, how could I forget this. I talked to my dad yesterday for his birthday and we were discussing the tumblies and how to get rid of them, and I finally decided the best way to go about it was to take the big trash can to them, lay it on its side and rake them into it, keeping them as intact as possible, so they wouldn't release seeds. So this morning I get up and when I let Ozzy out in the front yard I take a look around the side to see how they are looking (the last time they had shifted again to about 5.5 to 6 feet high on my side of the fence and lower on my neighbors, cause of another wind shift.) Well, imagine my surprise when I see NO tumblies. I look on the other side of the house, none there either, and none in the backyard except for a very few that are caught up in the garden and are up against the gate on the east side. Wiped clean. It's been a very weird experience, but I guess it's done now.

toothache...no, jawache

For the past couple of days, I've had some real pain in my right jaw. Yes, I know I need to go to the dentist, cause even the 15mg of oxy doesn't take the pain totally away. Whoopie, on The View, had to have emergency dental surgery, and was telling everyone the importance of taking care of your teeth. I have a kind of dental coverage - its a discount card, but I haven't found a dentist to go with it. I got a bunch of flyers in the mail that had a Find a Dentist flyer with it. If I can get it together tomorrow, maybe I'll do that. I'm still so hinky about going to the dentist, but at this point it's more dangerous for me not to go than to go. I talked about cutting the oxy in two before but I took a whole one this morning and didn't get out of bed until 7pm. 

Didn't play any Guitar Hero tonight. I watched Dancing With the Stars, called my dad and wished him happy birthday and talked with him for quite a while. The movie I sent him got to him on his birthday (very cool) and they watched it this afternoon. The reason it was very cool is because its the same movie that my brother bought him. hehe. Nice to be one top of things once in a while. It sounded like they were having a good time. Then, it turned out, mom started telling Rob about my blog. She and dad have been reading them. Mom has been reading all three of them, but dad has only been reading two of them. Rob took the address down, so if he starts checking it out too I guess that'll make my readership start getting close to the double digit range. Wooo hooo.

Talking to dad gave me a good idea for how to get rid of the tumblies, I just have to get a day when I feel like trying it. I'm going to take my trash bin to the fence and lay it on it's side and try to rake the tumblies into it. Dad suggested that if I trampled them down I might end up with even more weeds than I had this summer (fence high, if you had forgotten). I think it might work out pretty well.

When Jan was here, she was walking in the back yard, she made mention that, well, however she said it, it was painfully dangerous to walk barefoot in my backyard. The weeds I didn't pull out, that just got cut down, have turned into dangerous little daggers that are hiding amidst the grass. No, it doesn't sound too inviting, doesn't it. They are too deep to pull out, and you can't get a grip if you could. 

That's about it. Ach, it's Monday so I should give myself a shot tonight while I'm thinking about it and get it out of the way. Man, this month is flying by. I got an invitation from Alex's grandma to a Halloween party in Paris, TX, on Saturday. Alex is going to find out about whether I can bring Ozzy, and it is a costume party, and there will be a contest. Alex's grandma is such so cool. I really love her- she's funny and quick and warm and inviting. She has a little puppy named Oshkie that I think Ozzy might like and another dog named Misty, I think, but I won't take Ozzy unless it's ok with her. It sounds like it's going to be a pretty big party so I might be staying in a hotel. No problem. I'm sure there's a La Quinta in Paris, I hope. Hmmmmm, costume, costume, costume. I must ponder. 

new guitar

I actually wasn't sure I was going to be able to hold out until midnight, believe it or not, last night, cause I was tired. I kind of listened to TV with my eyes closed, trying to stay awake. Finally, I decided to drive over to Game Stop at about quarter til midnight and there was a line of about ten people... no, ten 15 year old boys, standing outside the door. Sigh. I decided to stay in the car with Ozzy. When it got to be a minute or two before midnight and I saw people coming out of the store one at a time, I decided I should just buck up and stand in line.

So, there I stood, me, in the midst of mostly preadolescent boys and one or two fathers and two men, post college age, alcohol on their breath, right behind me. Man, did I feel out of place. But there I stood, waiting for my new guitar and game. I watched the little boys coming out of the store one at a time, most of them carrying the complete game boxes, which were bigger than they were. When I was the last one at the door outside, I talked a little bit to the store guy, who was really talking to the men behind me, but as soon as the door opened I shot inside, put down my receipt, got my box and a Guitar Hero pick and instructions for a cheat that will open 84 songs for Quickplay and I headed home. Well, I headed for MacDonalds. 

There was a long line at MacDonalds, and even after, not only being the only female, but the oldest one at Game Stop, being at MacDonald's  was the first time since I've been here that I've been uncomfortable, bordering on afraid, and feeling old. The kids behind me were loud and obnoxious, and I think they knew the kids behind them. They kept honking their horn and yelling. I usually keep the window down so Ozzy can hang out and smell the air and look around, but they were so loud and the way they were yelling, and the tone of their voices, plus it being Saturday night, I rolled up the window and locked the door. Not only that but I put the Guitar Hero down into the foot area so it couldn't be seen and got my phone handy. I just didn't know what to expect. I have never felt so vulnerable here. I didn't like it. The service window took too long making my coffee and they started honking again. I got out of there and watched behind me all the way home. Paranoid, I know, but it spooked me.

So I played until 3 or 3:30 and went to bed, thinking I would just sleep in, but Josh called me at about 11:30, asking if he could come over and take care of a couple of things we had planned, which, of course I said yes. He wanted to watch the Cardinal game, and today is his and Alex's anniversary but it's worked out kind of odd for them. The plans between the two of them are off a beat or two. Anyway, he changed out my router with his and now I'm wireless again, so my iPod can get back on the internet and the XBox can get back online, not to mention my computer, which needs some brain surgery. He also got a chance to play some Guitar Hero and he really likes it. The guitar is much better - heftier and more realistic looking; the setlist of songs is really good; I got to make my own player, which I like in any game, and the character looks really good; the movement of the characters in the game is really smooth - the singer in Beat It actually does Michael Jackson's dance and Josh says the guitar player in the song actually moves like Eddie Van Halen (wouldn't know). Anyway, I like this a LOT better than Rock Band 2, by a lot. Lot. Lotta lot. and I haven't even had it for a day yet.

So, I'm not sure how much you're going to hear from me in the next few days. I'm doing this right now cause I'm going back to bed. I'm tired. This is going to throw me off (like that's something new). Talk to you soon, but know my fingers will be painful claws by the time I come back. With a grin on my face.

counting down til midnight

Tonight at midnight I can go to Game Stop and pick up my copy of Guitar Hero. Of course, today I got up at 11:30 am. Today I would have liked to have slept til 8 pm. Well, no, that would have really bugged me. I was happy to get up that early. Ozzy and I went to Walgreens and got the pencils, so I can vote (#2 pencil required to vote by mail here) and some other things. We had to stop by the pharmacy so Ozzy could visit his favorite pharmacist, Miss Debbie. She was very happy to see him. When I was getting ready to go and continue shopping, he climbed out of the cart and sat on the counter, like, "Bye mom, I'm just staying here with Miss Debbie." She tried to give him some treats, but I don't know if she realized that he wasn't interested in the treats, he wanted her to pet him. 

Anyway, I put him back in the cart and we finished our shopping, then went to Sonic for lunch, then home. My tooth was bothering me, so after lunch I took one of the oxy tabs and settled down to watch Epic Movie, a bad parody movie, but slept through it. That was the problem with the tabs in the first place - they are so strong in the tab form that they make me sleep. They're the reason that my sleep is so far off, so either I don't take them or, and I'm kinda debating this in my mind, I might try cutting them in half, making them stronger than 5 mg but not as strong as the 15. But they're tiny little suckers.

That's about it for today. I've already done the other two blogs, so I'm caught up on that and Ozzy's had a ride for today. He'll be very happy when we go out again tonight for the guitar. I can hardly wait to see what the new guitar looks like. It's supposed to be heavier and a bit bigger, and the song list has at least one country song on it, although it is a Willy Nelson song. 

Well, you know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow, quite happily. Later.