Tuesday, October 28, 2008

A Bloggy Halloween...

Yes, even though I'm incredibly irritated by Halloween...this is really funny and I still like funny. That's my job...to like funny.


Things that go bump
in the night

My brother-in-law, Ed, was walking home from the Elks club late one
foggy night last week, when behind him he hears:
BUMP...
BUMP...
BUMP...
Walking faster, he looked back and through the fog he makes out the
image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street
toward him.
BUMP..
BUMP...
BUMP...
Terrified, Ed began to run toward his home, the casket bouncing
quickly behind him.
FASTER...
FASTER...
BUMP...
BUMP...
BUMP...
Ed ran up to his door, fumbled with his keys, opened the door, rushed in,
slammed and locked the door behind him.
Not so easily deterred, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket open and clapping,



clappity-BUMP...



clappity-BUMP...



clappity-BUMP...


The terrifying coffin was on his heels!



Ed ran faster than he ever had before!!


Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, Ed locked himself in.




His heart was pounding; his head was reeling; his breath was coming in sobbing gasps.


But to no avail...


Suddenly, with a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door,


Menacingly Bumping and Clapping toward him!



Ed screamed and blindly started reaching for something, anything to defend himself...




but all he could find is a bottle of cough syrup!






Desperate, exhausted, and out of options (kinda like Wall Street),

he threw the cough syrup at the casket...
And...
The coffin stopped.
Have a happy Halloween.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Oh, be careful...

So, there's this song out now, in contemporary christian music (i.e., on K-Love radio at klove.com), that I heard many times before its meaning really got through to me. I listen to K-Love at work most days, because it keeps me sane during a busy day, and keeps my mind focused on God.

Anyway, the song. It's called "Slow Fade," and much of it centers around a church song I learned when I was a little kid. It's the song that goes:
Oh be careful, little eyes, what you see
Oh be careful, little eyes, what you see
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love
Oh be careful, little eyes, what you see.

The group singing the song talks about how it's a slow fade, when you give yourself away...black and white turn into shades of gray, etc.

At the end of the song, there is an actual little kid singing that, like we used to do before Sunday School at church. And for the first few times I heard the song, it never occurred to me. I've always had issues with gruesome, scary, non-happy movies or TV programs. If I see one, I will run the gruesome, scary, icky, or unhappy parts through my head over and over, feeling bad for the people involved. Because I'm an expert at self-torture like that.

I finally realized that the song is talking, at least in part, about the very thing I just described with unpleasant movie/tv viewing. I'm in control of what I let myself look at . If I don't put the crap in my head, it isn't there to bother me. Duh!! (I know most of the planet has probably already figured this out; I'm slow. Learn to love me anyway.)

So here's the stupid part. Stupid me, that is. Today, I'm sitting here watching TV, enjoying the quiet while the kids are with friends. I'm channel-surfing. I rarely get the chance to do that anymore, and I thought it would be fun. And I hit the "up" channel button over and over, until I came to TNT. Now, I should have known. TNT is not known for their happy, cheery programming. Except now they're playing "Pretty Woman," as I type. Whatever. This morning. I stumbled up on "The Ring."

This is a horror movie. It is not gruesome, particularly. It's one of those thriller-type movies. And I got completely engrossed in the storyline. So, I watched most of it. Parts of it, while not being gruesome, were disturbing. And of course, I ran the disturbing parts of this stupid movie through my head for most of the afternoon, being upset that fake people did this stuff way back when. Sigh...

It occurred to me, driving home from picking up the kids, that I was in control of how much of my day I let this stupid movie eat up. And then, I finally started to feel better. But meanwhile, a few hours of my day were used up, worrying about fake things happening to fake people.

I wonder if I'll ever learn...

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Who passed Finance Class???

That's right...little ole' me! That horrific class is completely over with! Woo-Hoo!! Par-Tay!!





More news...the 19-month old with the amputated toe? She is doing great and may go home from the hospital today! With a cast, but still, home! She "amputated" it (I know, dramatic terminology, but that is what they call it) when whe was sitting with her daddy on an ATV. This particular ATV did not have a chain guard, and her toe got into the chain, and ...yeah...I can't type any more about that or I'll pass out. But the toe is reattached, the doctor is extremely happy with the blood flow, and says she is a miracle. This same little girl, when her mom was pregnant with her, had only one functioning kidney. Now both work just fine. She has two miracles already, at just 19 months! I can only imagine what God will do with her life.





Thank you, leechies!!



(I found a pretty leech to post a picture of. It's completely fake.)


Sunday, October 19, 2008

Quiet weekends

Well, it's been kind of exciting around here. Too exciting in some ways. Here's some random stuff that has happened lately:

I got a phone call at 10:30 Monday night. It was my friend, informing me that she and her husband and 19 month old daughter were in town, because the 19 month old had amputated (fancy word for cut off) her big toe! They were (and are) at Phoenix Children's Hospital. The toe is reattached, but as of yesterday the doctors were not really happy with the level of blood flow. They are using leeches to help circulate the blood (they don't hurt, and they cover them up so the baby can't see). It is kind of cool to watch. We're waiting and praying the toe heals, and that the vessels connect again.

My mom's recliner was worn through where one's feet go, on the little rectangle of wood and fabric that prop the feet up. So today we went to JoAnn fabrics and picked out some complementary (not free, but goes with the chair) fabric. I remembered Nancy Face telling how she and Kris Face reupholstered the chairs for Lauren & Ted, so I stapled the fabric right over the top of the other fabric (they did it the right way and removed the other fabric first, but I figured I wouldn't mess with that on this chair. It looks much better!).

Finance class; stupid, boring finance class with the "good ole boy" teacher is finished!! I don't know what my grade is yet. We have five weeks of classes, and as of today, he has only posted scores through week 3. As of week 3 I have an A-. I just hope I pass this and don't have to take it again...ugh.

My next class is marketing. So far, I have read several paragraphs of the book and it is not hard to understand. I think I'm in! :)

My kiddos are in Disneyland with their grandma and aunt. They left eaaaaaarrrrrrrly Thursday morning. They always go during at least part of the week. I was going to try and go with them this time, having saved up a bit of vacation, but my boss is out of town and the new executive assistant they hired has worked with us a grand total of 2 days, so it was not a good time. :(
Oh, well, Tony the husband and I got a quiet weekend to ourselves! And the kids had a lot of fun. They prank called us last night at midnight, but we were both still awake...ha! Got 'em!

My mom is busily planning Thanksgiving dinner, which we always have at her and dad's house. There is a beautiful Thanksgiving platter at the Cracker Barrel store, and I want to get it for her. The kids and I always go over to their house the night before Thanksgiving and have a sleepover, where we get ready for the next day, and play cards, and watch movies. It's fun. I could stop by Cracker Barrel on my way, because there is one on the way to their house. I just might...

I discovered a lovely thing to read online. It's on the "Prairie Home Companion" website, and it's called The View from Mrs. Sundberg's window. I love it. So relaxing, and good advice, and recipes! How could it get better than that?

I hope you all have a lovely Monday tomorrow.