Boo! To You

It's Halloween. But it doesn't feel like it. Maybe because it's somewhat warm for the last day of October. Or maybe it's because of the fact that we aren't passing out candy this year. Since we had so few kids last year, and there are not very many really young ones in the neighborhood at the moment, we decided to just skip it. Of course, I still went to Walgreen's yesterday and bought us a little candy! I mean, after all, it's Halloween! Gotta have some candy!!!

We did make pizza today, which was about as festive as we got. I brought in my decorative ceramic jack-o-lanterns last night, they are on the fireplace hearth. Tomorrow, they'll get put away for another year. Along with the jack-0-lantern placemats I have. I had a pumpkin shaped ceramic container I used as a sugar bowl, but I couldn't find it. I have a sneaking suspcion that it became part of a goodwill donation a while back, but it was accidental if it did. But I can't find it, so that's probably what happened to it.

We've spent quite a bit of today running outside to the back deck frequently, to look at the sky. Specifically, at the B-17 that's in town and has been flying around all day. It's the Aluminum Overcast, the same one that was here last year. It's wonderful to see her, she is one of only 12 left in the entire world. 12!

I'll get my book list posted in the next day or so. It's not nearly as big as usual. I've had a lot to do this month, and some of the books are the big, thick kind that I love to read but haven't had much time for.

I managed to get some crocheting done today! My Walgreen's trip yesterday was actually for something in the way of a glove or bandaids for my split skin. The candy was just because I was there and it was on sale. Anyway, I wound up buying liquid bandaid. Not sure if that's the exact name. But it did the trick. It stung when I put it on first, but then it sealed up the places on my fingers and they are much better today. They still hurt if I bump them, but they don't just ache by the sheer fact of air touching them. I think it's been close to two or three weeks since I've been able to crochet. It wasn't fun.

But I'm much happier now. Just ask Billyboy!

Prayer Request

Froggy brought this to my attention, but there is a prayer request I'l like to post. It's for a lady named Louise.

In San Antonio, she's known as Elf Louise. Here's her website, it should be self-explanatory but her organization is absolutely wonderful. I was involved with it several years myself.

http://www.elflouise.com/main.php

Froggy mentioned that Louise has been diagnosed with cancer, I think it's breast cancer but I'm not positive on that.

Any prayers would be helpful.

Random Thoughts & Musings

This is the tree outside my office, it is suddenly "on fire" and is beautiful. Until today, when it rained and we had lots of wind - which deposited quite a few of those leaves all over my car!

This is a recipe for disaster if there ever was one. Both dogs have had a condition lately that we've called "Burning Rubber Butt" and now with both dog rear ends together, it's only a matter of time until everything in this house melts from the stench!

This picture is blurry, sorry about that! This is the Fenton (what else is there, really?) piece that Froggy got me at the flea market last summer. It's a cranberry opalescent hobnail vase, I can't remember the years it was produced but it's not recent by any stretch of the imagination. It is fairly rare, especially to find it in such a good condition. She got a very good price for it, which I might have paid except that I was trying to make my Fenton $$ last and get as much bang for the buck as I could. And I did get a lot of bang for my bucks! But I'm very thankful, Froggy! It's on the new wooden shelf that Bill built for me.

Here's the shelf! Both hummingbirds are Fenton as well. I'm thinking that I need another piece (or two!) in cranberry or rose pink to go on the shelf. But since I don't currently have any other pieces...

Well, I'll see what I can do about remedying that situation! :)

Anyway, the shelf was going to be a very pale pink but the color I bought turned out to be a lot closer to pepto bismol pink than the label & sample showed. Also, the varnish coat caused the paint to bubble so I got the sander that Bill bought me a couple of years ago and sanded all the paint off. Then I hit it with Kilz, and then painted it a green color that is very similar to the green fabric on the bulletin board I made a while back. The green paint is paint that I originally bought well before we moved, the label said it was 5/30/04, so I've had it a while. Bill was going to replace the curtains on the sliding door we had in our bedroom in the old house and he was going to put up a wooden curtain rod. I bought the paint to use on the curtain rod. Then a month later, Dad left us and we bought our then-new home in a matter of weeks so the curtain rod never actually got painted beyond the kilz coat and is in fact hanging up in the garage. Where it's been for 5 years and will probably stay until I can think of a use for it! But I did at least find a use for the paint!

We got the 2nd opinion on the chimney today. It does need to be repaired, but it is at least clean now. The problem it has is something that is probably related to the way it was constructed when this house was built. It wasn't constructed badly, but over time things change as a matter of normality and some of the bricks are a little loose. The first inspector told me that some of the bricks had fallen in and that we were in danger of losing the entire chimney, basically. Well, Bill didn't think that was right and after I cleaned the fireplace last week (dirty, messy work), I stuck my head in there and I could see what Bill was saying was right. So that's when we decided to get the second opinion. He came out today, and some of the bricks have loosened up a little which is what happens over time. The concern in that case is that if we have a really big, hot fire (and we usually do have that kind), a stray spark could concievably get behind one of the bricks. If that happened, we could lose the entire house and possibly us along with it. He gave us a bid to repair and it's similar to the first bid, but the work he wants to do looks like it will be better and will last longer. The two prices are virtually the same. So we are going to go with the guy from today. I'm not sure when, soon, but Bill's got to arrange the time off because it is probably a 2-day job. And we need to get it done before the roof work. He suggested that we not use the fireplace, unless it was a situation of an ice storm and no power but we have a little time before winter hits. Not a lot, but enough.

We may have missed our window on the roof, however. Winter is coming and it's not far. So, although we would prefer not to have to wait, it looks like it might be next spring before we can get the roof replaced. We know we have missed our weather window to do the painting outside that we need to do.

Sunday is rock garden day! It's been raining all day and it's just way too muddy & wet to even think about it today. Yesterday would have been good, but it was very windy and as soon as I went outside my allergies fired up and they are still around. There really isn't that much left to do, it's just been a matter of finding the time when it's not raining. And in NE Oklahoma, it rains pretty much all Fall!

Product Un-endorsement

I'm not big about product endorsements. I like what I like and that's about the end of it. However, if I DON"T like something I am very likely to talk about it.

This is one of those times.

I've done the research on this one, and although it sounds to horrible to be true - it's 100% true.

Neocutis is a brand of make up. I don't wear make up because my skin can't handle it, that is the only reason I don't. However, even if I did and even if I was paid to wear this brand it would never happen.

One of the ingredients is "Processed Skin Proteins" which sounds harmless, right?

But "Processed Skin Proteins" means something else entirely. This company has come out and admitted that they are using SKIN CELLS FROM ABORTED FETUSES. That's right, UNBORN BABIES WHICH WERE MURDERED.

For profit, no less.

There are times when I fear for the human race. This is one of those times.

There is no excuse for this one, no matter what someone says. There is no justifying this one. And yes, I did the research. Unfortunately, this is 100% true.

Itchy Fingers!

If I don't get to use this:

and do some of this:

in the VERY near future, I think I'll just lose my mind!

I hate HATE having my skin at times. Usually, I like my skin but not when the air is dry and it cracks. And bleeds. At the moment, it's the pointer finger on my right hand and the thumb on my left hand.

I'm going to have to figure something out soon, I need to seriously feed my crochet addiction.

Sunday Mustard

Well, I've already used the title Sunday Ketchup! Besides, I like mustard better than ketchup anyway. :)

This is a general idea of what we've been up to lately:

This little grey sweetheart was at the auction we went to Thursday. She was not for sale, she's a pet of the auctioneer and is very spoiled. And very friendly! She loves people. She came running up to the fence as soon as she saw Otter. Well, as fast as an obviously very pregnant donkey can run, anyway. Froggy, the picture I texted you was of this same donkey. No, we didn't buy her! But Otter would have, if it had been possible.

Lazy Frazy. He's actually licking the carpet, I don't know why but that's what he does.

I stuck my head into Otter's room and discovered Maggie, up in bed and as close to her Mom as she can get.

This is the office cat. She showed up a couple of years ago, and of course my older boss immediately was in her power. Otter calls her Miss Whiskers. This cat is extremely spoiled, and she's got us all well trained.

Here's a better shot. She was very skittish about the camera, she ran off as soon as I took this shot. Of course, she came back later on and begged for more food. She is the only cat I've ever known of who likes to have her belly rubbed like a dog.

We've been busy today. Bill had several things he did, including mowing the back yard and cutting a bunch of wood. And he also steam cleaned the carpet in Otter's room, her bathroom and the rest of the hallway. At which point the dogsters got put out! They weren't happy, but Oh Well!

Otter did a bunch of chores inside the house for me, we both did laundry (and still have some left) and then we spent a lot of time outside playing in the dirt. Also known as working in the rock garden. I was hoping that we could get finished with it today, but we had so many other things we wanted/needed to do that we didn't have the time to spend on it. But we're nearly there. Oh yeah, we also hit a couple of thrift stores & ran a few errands.

Also, Otter's very much her mother's daughter. It's very easy to tell why. She has shoes. 22 or 23 pair as of Friday's count and she found another pair today. Bill asked her how many shoes she had on Friday, and he just about fell off the couch when she told him! He just couldn't understand why she needs so many shoes. His reasoning is that she's only got two feet and there are only 7 days in each week. At that point, I got involved in the conversation. I told him to not even try to figure it out, that it's a Girl Thing and guys just don't get it - they never will. She really does wear all of them, incidentally. I used to have lots and lots and lots of shoes. Then I broke my toes on my right foot when I tried to kick the couch into orbit. Now, I can't wear most types of shoes and certainly nothing with a heel because of the angle it puts my toes at. So I've switched my shoe addiction to purses. But it was more fun when it was shoes!

Winter is Coming!

It got into the 30's last night. The high 30's, but still the 30's. So in other words, it was cold. But then, I'm usually cold from September 1 to May 31 just because of the fact that I'm a South Texan through and through.

Lots of stuff going on lately, quite a bit of it is house-related. We got the estimate on the chimney repair from the guy that came out last week. But there are a few things he said that don't quite make sense, so Bill's getting a second opinion this week. Then we'll decide what to do about it. The chimney is dirty, but we have a serious question about whether the chimney is really bad or not in terms of the work that the cleaner says it needs.

Also, Bill is going to steam clean Otter's carpet tomorrow after church. Along with the carpeted area in the first bathroom and the part of the hallway he didn't get the other day. It will be a few days before the living room, he was waiting until after the chimney cleaning and since that still hasn't happened it's going to be a few more days until he gets to the living room.

We're also still working on the rock garden. We haven't been out there in several days, I think it was Tuesday afternoon when we worked out there last. We've had a few rainy days, which is normal for this area. Tomorrow (Sunday) has a chance of rain, but that doesn't always mean anything given the talent (or lack thereof) of the local forecasters! But if it's possible, we'll be out there and it is quite possible that we'll be able to get it all done. Possible, not probable - there is a difference! So, while Billyboy is cleaning the carpets, Otter and I will be outside playing in the dirt and rocks. We'll be having a Clara moment, in other words.

And since it's Fall, I have housecleaning to do. Which means that we (Otter, that does include you) are going to be busy the next several days. I clean pretty frequently anyway, but spring and fall mean that I have to CLEAN. Yes, I know my Borg Queen side is showing.

But one thing I haven't done in way more days than I care to count is crochet. My skin is doing it's thing. There are times when I really, really hate having sensitive skin (extreme sensitive in the words of the dermatologist - like I didn't already know that) and this is one of them. Happens every Fall and winter when the air gets dry. Not fun! I go through a huge amount of lotion. Maybe I should buy stock in one of the companies that makes it! :(

Yeah, that would be a good idea!

This, That and The Otter

I like puns, ok!

Otter has decided not to enter Maggie in the costume contest this year. She's had a problem coming up with a way to attach a fin where it won't fall off or tip the dog over. So it's shelved for this year. But it's probably going to happen next year. In the meantime, here's a few Maggie pictures in her clothing.

This is the bigger t-shirt, it fits closer to her tail part.

This was waiting by the front door, in hope that the big yellow bus would be bringing her mom home soon.

This is the first shirt, the smaller one. She was checking out the sleeves on her legs. She was a little mystified. But then she frequently is!

This is also the first shirt. The sleeves are tighter and longer.

This concludes the Maggie style show portion of this entry.

The dryer vent was cleaned out today. The chimney wasn't, it has some issues that we need to get fixed and we're looking into that. But now, I can use the dryer and it doesn't take (literally) 3 or 4 times to get a load dry.

We had a power outage last night. About 9:30, the power went out and flickered a couple of times. Then it quit completely. It was obviously the entire neighborhood. As I was reporting it, there were several other calls coming in. We found the flashlights and Bill fixed up his (work only) cell phone alarm. But I still slept badly, I was afraid that we would oversleep. I woke up at 2:00 and called the electric company then for an update, they said that there had been a serious car accident which is what we thought. At that time, they thought that it would be around 4:00 before our power came back on. We woke up with Bill's temporary alarm at 5:00, then about 15 minutes later the power came back on. It wasn't cold last night, but it was cool. But we have blankets, and Otter had a warm beagle, so we were fine. But I was very glad that the power came back on when it did - otherwise I would have had to do without coffee!

And that would not have been pretty.

Doggie Jail

Poor Maggie.

She can't quite figure this contraption out.

She'll learn soon enough.

HOOK 'EM!!!!!

3 YEARS IN A ROW! TAKE THAT, SOONERS!

Overflowing with Romance!

Today is the anniversary of when Wild Bill and I met. 1983. 26 years.

What are we doing to mark this momentus occasion?

Having pizza.

Then we are going to get started steam cleaning the carpet.

Real romantic, huh!?!

Maggie Moo!

It's not Maggie Monday, relax. It's just a post about Maggie on Monday. :)

Otter got a size 18 month grey shirt at Wallyworld today. It's the basis of the shark costume for the dog. When Maggie saw me holding it open at the neck in her general direction, she pretty much ran into the shirt. She is very obviously used to being dressed up and she really does like it. Of course, Big Brother Frasier immediately came over to her and pulled the shirt off of her. Then he chewed on it.

I took it away from him and put it back on her. All good up to this point, but she really did not like having to put her legs through the sleeves. Of course, part of that was probably because Frasier was trying to play with her at the time. He does that, you know.

Anyway, once we got it on her we discovered that it was just a little snug, so Otter might get the next size up (24 months) and cut the sleeves down. The shirt is a mock turtle neck, Otter might just cut the cowl neck off and see if that makes it fit better. But a larger size would also be longer, which I think it will need to be so that we can attach the fin to it.

My life has gone to the dogs! But they are cute dogs, so no complaints.

Froggy, there is no way I could even get near Frasier if I tried to put anything on him. It simply will not happen, so that's why he isn't going to have a costume for the dog parade. He's not left out, he's just not into dressing up. We tried to put one of Maggie's bandanas on him one time, he avoided us for hours after that!

I'll post pictures as we get Maggie Moo's costume situated. We got a couple of pictures tonight, but Maggie was more interested in going up to Otter than in posing for the camera that Otter was holding.

Halloween is Coming!

And the beagle is going to be a shark. A carpet shark, to be excact.

There is a farm and ranch store we like, it sells all sorts of things besides just farm & ranch supplies. They have a pet costume contest the Sunday before Halloween. Otter talked about taking the beagle last year, but we had some other things we had to do that day so we just went to look at the dogs. This year, Otter wants to take Maggie. There is a pet parade as well as the contest. (Froggy, remember Atwood's?).

One of Maggie's tricks is to roll over on her back when she wants a belly rub, and if nobody pays attention to her she will start to squirm and twist until she can reach anyone who happens to be close by. With her teeth! She doesn't bite, she just nips. But it does get your attention! Otter's been trying to come up with a costume idea, I suggested she dress the dog up like a baby - so we can put a diaper on her. But Bill suggested that she dress the dog up like a shark, since we call her the Carpet Shark when she's trying to get belly rubs. Otter loved the idea.

We have some left-over carpet pieces from the rent house, from the carpet that was destroyed, and no use for it anymore. Bill got a couple of small pieces out of the attic, and I brought them inside. Otter is probably going to get a small sized grey t-shirt to put on the dogster, then the fin will be made out of the carpet pieces. (Carpet shark, get it?). The fin will be attached to the t-shirt, but it will probably have to be strapped around the beagle belly so it doesn't fall off. We measured Maggie this morning, Otter had a great time measuring the dog and the dog seemed to like it too. We measured her belly, chest width, neck and just for fun we measured her tail and ears. And the tail wagged the whole time.

I'll post pictures later on, Otter is just getting started on the costume. She's having fun with it. And I think Maggie will enjoy it. But Frasier isn't going to be in costume. He'll go with us, but just for fun. Besides, Frasier's costume would be easy: Incognito Coyote!

Shot. Warm. Friday.

We got our flu shots this afternoon. I checked, and since I had not had fever nor actually thrown up they said I was safe to get the shot. So I picked Otter up at school and we went "around the corner" to the grocery store where the visiting nurse association was holding a shot clinic. They go to most area grocery stores and we usually go to the one closer to home, but the news made an announcement this morning about shortages of flu shots because it was running out already. Which it isn't! I asked about that when we were getting our shots, they said that once the news report hit they were immediately inundated. If the aim of the media was to encourage people to get the shot, they succeeded. We usually get ours as early as we can anyway. I kind of expected a run on them this year, with the hysteria over the swine flu. It's one we don't want, but we have decided against the shots for it. Just the regular flu shots for us this year.

I let Bill make the decision on this one, but I agree with his reasoning. The swine flu immunization has simply not been out long enough nor been tested enough for us to feel safe about it. It's not available here yet, anyway.

It's been very cool today, it was in the 50's all day. Grey, overcast sky and rain throughout the morning. It's going to be in the 30's tonight. Probably the high 30's, but still the 30's. So we turned on the heater just now. I don't like the smell of the dust burning off, but a friend of mine told me once that he thought it was the best scent in the world - because he knew that once he smelled that, he would be warm soon. Good point. We don't usually need the heater quite this early, but this year is colder earlier than normal.

I'm going to get the humidifiers loaded up and turned on shortly. I've been shocking myself for a few days now. The dogs have probably already gotten their spot staked out, they get right in front of the heater vent in the living room and snooze. Sometimes we have to move them out of the way!

We had Subway for dinner tonight. I like to make it easy on flu shot day, since I usually feel cruddy all evening. I don't feel the best at the moment, but it's tolerable. It's the normal reaction I have. My arm is a little sore, which is also normal. Otter usually has some arm soreness but not much else in the way of reaction. And there is ice cream pie in the freezer, which we'll get into a little later. Nobody has room for dessert! Froggy, if you were here I would share it with you. But since you aren't here, I'll have to eat yours for you.

Thursday, Fall Thoughts, Bugs, Weather, Dogs!

It's Thursday. I will be glad when it's Friday, but we aren't there yet.

It's Fall. And we have the Weather to prove it. Cool & misty, with periods of rain. We have a good chance of hard rain this afternoon, the tv stations are already putting flash flood watches up but that doesn't always mean anything. As Bill says, they couldn't predict a hole in the ground if they dug it themselves... By the way, a lot of what I put here is stuff that comes from Bill.

Bugs refers to the fact that we are passing some type of tummy bug around. It's already been around the office, but I think I got it from Bill. Who knows where he got it from, but he came down with it before I did and although both of my bosses have had it, they have not been in the office too much so I really haven't been around them. Yesterday, Bill woke up with it at 3:00 a.m. and then as an indication of how bad he really felt, he asked me to stay home with him. I started having symptoms last night, but not severe. Just enough nausea that I'm being very careful because I don't want it to get worse! So I decided to stay home today and take it easy, I'd like to avoid the worst symptoms if I can. Otter may have already had it, she had some symptoms a few days ago. But we are still planning on getting the flu shots tomorrow, having an ongoing bug might mean more of a reaction but it's a risk we have to take at this point. The flu is already starting to show up in this area, and there is also a possibility of not being able to get the shot if we wait since there are a lot of people getting it this year. Froggy - Otter and I have already been to Braum's and there is a strawberry cheesecake ice cream pie in the freezer. Billyboy hasn't found it yet, there was just barely enough room to hide it behind all the soups, beans, etc., that I have frozen in containers for him to take for lunch. Of course, we also bought a carton of neopolitan which served as a good distraction for him!

What's left? Oh yeah, Dogs! Well, in this case it means that both of them are causes for concern but for different reasons. Frasier's foot is a little swollen, the area on his foot looks a little bigger and redder but some of the hair might have grown back. I'm going to have to talk to the vet about it.

Maggie, well she's another story. She went through a spell very recently where she apparently forgot that she was housebroken. We're pretty sure that it started because she does not like to go outside when it's raining, because her "accidents" only seemed to happen when it was rainy. We were not really sure which dog it was, then Otter caught Maggie in the act. Since then, she hasn't had any more on purpose accidents that we know of, but there is a smell in the house that we've been trying to track down and it can only be one thing. Bill decided to get the blacklight that we used when we were selling on eBay, it illuminated glass items wonderfully. Blacklight also illuminates other things, including dog urine. Well, we found it alright. EVERYWHERE. It looks like that furry little brat has been having on purpose accidents for a long time, and probably not just because of rain. Some of the spots are obviously pretty old, but the majority of them seem to be new. Maggie had taken to sleeping in our closet and under our bed - and both places have huge areas. There are spots by the back door in the living room, in Otter's room, all over the place. We are going to have to steam-clean the entire house. We will probably buy a steam cleaner instead of renting one. I am not sure if I need to talk to the vet or not, since we don't think Maggie's done it since Otter caught her. But it is one of the symptoms of diabetes in dogs. It's not the only symptom, there are others, but she doesn't seem to have any of the other symptoms. However, it is something we need to watch her about.

Because it is Fall, it won't be long until it's Winter. Everyone I've talked to seems to think that we'll have an early winter and a bad one. I'm kind of thinking that as well. I have already started my storm supply stock up. I have a few days worth of canned food and misc. stuff on hand, it has come in handy when we've been unable to get to the grocery store due to ice and so forth. I'm not obsessive about it, it's not like we could survive for months on it, but it's nice to have. Canned stew, chili, soup, crackers, peanut butter, candles, matches, stuff along those lines. And also a little bit of dog food, can't forget about the poochies no matter how much they drive us crazy!

I Must Have Rocks in My Head!

We started on the rock garden redo this afternoon. It's a lot of work, it's going to take us several days and it is hard, dirty work. But once it's done, it will be so nice. The rock garden will be larger and we're going to rearrange some of Otter's concrete animals a bit. As well as move the fountain-turned-planter back a few inches and see what else I come up with.

Basically, today's activities included moving all the aforementioned concrete animals out, all the fossils, limestone, geodes, "grammy rocks", statues, the TEXAS shape, the signs and any rocks that we thought were interesting and wanted to make sure they got back on top instead of buried in all the other rocks. Bill's wheelbarrow is now full of rocks and there are still a bunch more to go. Bill's got some large heavy-gauge nylon type plastic bags that we originally bought the rocks in, and as soon as he finds them :) we'll start putting rocks in them as well. Then, after all the rocks have been removed, we're going to pull all the plastic up, get the hoes and get busy re-leveling the dirt. Oh yeah, the fountain-turned-planter will still need to be moved out before we can level, but it's the last thing we'll move out because it weighs a TON. Or at least it feels like it, when we've had to move it. Then, after all that, we'll move the sandstone pieces that are my edge out of the way.

Then, after all that fun stuff, I am going to use the ground liner from the pool in place of the thinner plastic I used when we first put the rock garden in. It's fairly thick and should last for several years. This is a spot where I want to keep weeds & grass out of forever, so I'm not going to use anything such as newspaper which would biodegrade. The next step will be to do everything in reverse to put it all back in place. Although some of the places will be changed, Otter has a lot of concrete animals and some of them will be put on the other side of the trellis so that they'll be at the base of the trellis. But I have to level some of the dirt underneath the trellis, thanks to a certain small & fat beagle who shall remain nameless. Otter's concrete animals used to be in assorted places, there were some in the rock garden and then she had some of them placed in the flower bed that used to be along the back of the house. When we took that flower bed down, they moved to the rock garden.

I'll be glad when it's done. It will look very nice. Until then, I think I'll go take a motrin or two and hopefully my arms & shoulders won't be too sore to use tomorrow. And then I'll think about Mom, and how she moved all her rocks from one side of town to the other when we all moved. And she had way more rocks to deal with than I do, along with all sorts of other interesting objects.

My Find of the Year!

Fenton, obviously! I mean, what else did you expect from me? :)

I have been looking for a particular pattern for months. Many months. I've seen it once, at Salvation Army in the case where they keep the good stuff. That particular time, it was priced appropriatly. Which is way more than I will generally pay. So, I kept looking. And looking. And looking some more. Today, I found it.

Anyway, back to the story. I was looking for something else, for a project Froggy and I have going (be afraid Toadly!). I usually have seen a lot of the thing(s) I was looking for, but not now that I'm actually trying to find them. I was about to give up when I spotted something. Something that I had to look at a few times to accept what I was seeing. And then I immediately grabbed it!

It's in absolutely perfect, exquisite condition. The pattern is Cactus, Fenton produced it from 1959 to 1963. It's fairly rare, and even rarer in opalescent vaseline. Vaseline is greenish, it glows when exposed to a black light. It glows because it was produced with a slight amount of radioactive material in the glass, but it's not going to set off any geiger counters! I have a few other pieces of vaseline, but only one of them is Fenton and that one is actually Otter's.

Did I mention that it was $2.00? And it was at the Salvation Army where they usually have the good stuff in the locked cabinet (and usually overpriced). I think the pricing expert must have been off the day that this came in. Not that I'm complaining!

Movie Review & Sunday Stuff

Read this:

http://movies.msn.com/mom-pop-culture/toy-story-double-feature/story/feature/?GT1=28137

Toy Story was the second movie we ever took Otter to see at the theater. She was born in early 1992 and it came out in 1995, so she was pretty young. So young at the time, in fact, that she doesn't even remember seeing it in the theater. But it has been a major, MAJOR part of our life since it came out and we bought the dvd as soon as it was released.

It was always a tremendously good movie. There are a few lines that Bill has more or less adopted as his own and we still hear them from him. For a movie aimed at young children, it has always had a huge popularity among adults.

Then, in 1999, Toy Story 2 was released. And it was as good as the first, although for one specific reason we think it is the best of the two. There is a specific character which is extremely popular around our house. Anybody who knows us will know exactly which one I mean and why. We actually think that Disney should owe us royalties for that one! For very obvious reasons, that particular character was one of Otter's Halloween costumes and was probably her favorite. It was certainly a very easy costume to make!

So when Otter heard that Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were going to be re-released theatrically and in 3-D, there was absolutely no doubt that we would be in the theater for the double feature. We saw them today, they were as wonderful as they always were and since she doesn't remember seeing the first one in the theater it was almost like she was seeing it for the first time - instead of about the millionth! There was also a preview for Toy Story 3, which will also be in 3-D. And yes, in case it's not already obvious, we will see it in the theater. And it is definetely what we call a popcorn movie!

It was really fun to see the movies today, there were quite a few children who were young and were very obviously seeing it for the first time. It would have been worth the ticket cost & snacks just to see/hear their reactions. They were great. And I noticed that there were as many adults without children as there were with young kids and quite a few grandparents taking grandchildren. They are just the kind of movie that is popular with all ages, and it was a lot of fun.

Other stuff: Well, it's raining. Again. But it is Fall and that happens up here. A lot. It's also been consistently in the 40's at night.

Before we went to the movies, I took Otter back to the rent house. It was a trip down memory lane for her. She hasn't been there in a while, not since we first started getting it ready to sell. She wanted to go back to it again and then we drove around the neighborhood for a while. Lots of memories!

Frasier has another spot coming up on his foot, the same leg that has the tumor/cyst/growth. The older growth shrank up quite a bit but never went away. The vet checks it each time we take him in. Now, he's got a spot on the top of the foot but I'm not sure if it's a growth or if he's just licked the hair off. So we're watching it, and I might have to take him back in to see the vet. It wasn't there when he got his shots a couple of weeks ago. But he seems to be in good spirits, he's playful and doesn't act like anything hurts. Unlike before, when the first place came up. Maggie Moo, on the other hand, is crazier than ever. She just is.

OK, I'm off to catch up on laundry now. Laundry never ends!

Surprise!

Otter and I went to the pumpkin patch this afternoon. We saw a bunch of animals and I was going to post pictures, but I think I'll wait until the next time or so because I don't have a lot of time before sunset tonight and blogger is being slow about uploading pictures. But we had a great time. We petted a lot of goats, watched the turkeys, ducks & chickens, saw the camels, looked at the cavies and spent a great deal of time watching the piggies. There were several litters of piglets, they were so cute! And there were a couple of very protective mama pigs, they watched those babies intently.

The title refers to what I found when we got home. We stopped at the grocery store for a couple of things for dinner, since I had forgotten to take any meat out of the freezer. But what we bought (sliced ham, frozen Texas toast, vegetables & Pioneer brown gravy mix) will wait until tomorrow or Sunday. Because when we were putting it all in the fridge, we discovered that Bill had been shopping. He bought bagels, Digorno pizzas (dinner tonight), a bottle of the wine I like and then Otter informed me that she'd discovered something else when she went to find Bill to let him know we were finally home.

Sitting on my desk was this:

I moved it to the table so we can all enjoy them. There is nothing in here that Otter is overtly allergic to, Bill knows what to avoid as far as she's concerned.

Here's a better shot of the entire boquet. Please excuse the fact that it's in what is essentially a large beer glass! Bill didn't know where any vases might be, and now that I think about it I'm not sure if I have any that would have been big enough anyway. One time, he used the blender to hold roses so I suppose this is a step up! Also, the beer glass/pitcher is the one remaining souvenier Bill has from the bar his dad owned when Bill was a kid so it doesn't get used very often. It would be a shame to break it, it's got a lot of sentimental value.

I'm very spoiled. And I know it. And I'm not complaining one bit.

September Books and Other Stuff (Edited)

September's book list:

1. Beating Back the Devil, On the Front Lines with the Desease Detectives of the Epidemic Intellegence Service by Mayn McKenna. Long title. Very good book, I learned a lot from this one.

2. Simple Crochet by Erika Night. Not impressed!

3. Cozy Crochet - 26 Fun Projects From Fashion to Home Decor by Melissa Leapman. I got a couple of ideas from this one.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Book 6. Many times re-run. I started re-reading the series last month, but I read it out of order. Now I'm finished. For the moment, I'll read it again.

5. Dear Laura, Letters From Children to Laura Ingalls Wilder. This one was fun.

6. 24 Hour Crochet Projects by Rita Weiss. A few ideas.

7. New Ideas for Today's Crochet by Jean Leinhauser & Rita Weiss. Not much new in this one!

8. Stitch and B_tch Crochet, The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. I might buy this one, there were several interesting patterns in it. And for the record, if you want to insult someone who crochets then you call them a hooker. It's not a "nice" insult, it's a real one.

9. True Blue Police Stories by Those Who Lived Them, by Sgt. Randy Sutton. Very interesting and informative.

10. Easy Living Crochet edited by Carol Alexander. Not much.

11. Sensual Crochet, Luxurious Yarns/Alluring Designs by Amy Swenson. Not much at all, except for the fact that there were lots of pictures and some of them were swimsuits - which Bill liked and wants me to make. (No!)

12. Lark Kid's Crafts Crochet by Jane Davis. Every so often, I like to look at beginner or basic books because they sometimes have patterns I haven't seen. This one didn't have too much but it would be a good book for anyone of any age who wanted to learn.

13. Crocheting School, a Complete Course. This was a refresher for me, see comments on # 12. But I learned a few things I didn't know from this one.

14. Cursed by Carol Higgins Clark. Fluff, as usual. I read her books when I just want something to read but not anything heavy. It wasn't as good as her earlier books in this series, which is saying something!

15. The Secret by Beverly Lewis. Part one, I have ordered the next book in the series from the library but there is a long waiting list. I hope it comes before I forget this one! It was not as good as other books by this author.

16. Mortal Danger by Ann Rule. I've read this one before. Ms. Rule is one of my internet friends, I correspond with her and she is a very interesting person. The subject of the main story of this book is also someone I've corresponded with. This book is more scary than some of the other books Ann has written, it deals with spouses who aren't quite what they appear to be and has some very good information.

17. The Zombie Survival Guide, Complete Protection From the Living Dead by Max Brooks. This is one that Otter suggested I read, it was really a lot of fun. It's written as if it's a serious book, and it was really funny. There are a couple of other books written like this one and I think I'm going to see if I can find them. Very entertaining!

18. Coming Home by David Lewis. He's Beverly Lewis' husband and this book was good, but somewhat predictable.

19. When Men Become Gods by Stephen Singular. This book deals with the FLDS. It's a true story, actually several different stories, and very good. I'm actually still reading it, but I'm nearly through so it's on the September list. There are a lot of books that deal with the FLDS, and I have read quite a few. (Later edit: I see from looking back that this book was on an earlier list. I think I did read it before, but I'm not sure if I actually finished it. I think I thought that I had finished it because I was getting it confused with another book, and it was returned to the library before I was actually finished. I did read the entire book this time.)

Not as many books as last month, but we've had the rent house to keep us occupied.

Regarding skeeters, Froggy commented about a filter screen. Yes, I have one. Which is why we didn't look at the rain barrel when we first started to see/hear/feel more of the little suckers. I've killed a few of them today and there are still more. But they won't last forever. At least I hope not!

Since it's October, Otter and I put our ceramic jack-0-lantern pumpkins out on the front porch just now. We are probably not going to have candy this year, because there really are not many kids in the neighborhood that are old enough or young enough to still trick or treat. We had very few last year. Of course, if I don't buy candy this year we'll be inundated with kids ringing the doorbell even though the porch light will be out! But we're still going to the pumpkin patch, tomorrow after school. The one we like has a lot of animals and it's always fun to feed them.

I'm glad that it's nearly Friday. It's been an odd week, we've both been very busy but it feels like we haven't gotten anything accomplished at all. We are all very much in need of a Saturday!