I'm So Spooked

I hate Halloween with a passion....ever since I was a kid.  Even with candy.
In third grade,the sleeves on my princess costume itched.  One year my mother made me be the knave of hearts.  She even gave me one of her homemade date and nut tarts to carry.  I tore it into bits during the Halloween parade and never told her I didn't eat it.  I just threw the pieces on the playground.
As a grown up I never fared much better.  I am not too creative in the costume dept.  Just ask my kids or DH.  I've been a cat a lot.  One year I was a bag of garbage....oh, yes, I really was.
My only cool costume was a giraffe mask I got at the San Diego zoo.  It was really life like and I painted brown patches on a gold sweat suit.  I put black gloves on my hands.  I was so cool but unfortunately, I scared my little students half to death in the mask so I had to walk around the whole day with that heavy sweat suit on and no mask.  I looked pretty dumb.
We don't get many trick or treaters in our neighborhood so we hardly ever stay home.  Usually we go out to dinner.  This year, my daughter will be home and she loves Halloween and passing out treats so I have them.  I had to buy something I don't care for so I wouldn't eat the whole bag  like the whole bag of Smarties I ate a couple of weeks ago. 60 rolls! Yikes!
I don't like scary things.  Even old Bela Lugosi movies terrify me and I've never seen any scary movie in recent years because I know the special effects are so good I'd last about 20 seconds!  I don't even like to talk about them so I'll shut up now.
In case you aren't like me, have a Happy Halloween, stay out of trouble, and if your princess outfit itches, I feel your pain!

BOO!

Rainy Days and Mondays

It is pouring outside.  Literally pouring.  It is gloomy and ugly and I should be so depressed but I'm happy.  You know why?  Because the rain stopped the digging on my street and the jackhammer too!  YAY!  It is really noisy and I'm probably the only one who cares because most of my neighbors are at work.  They miss it.  It starts daily at 9 and pounds until 5--every day--for the last two weeks.
I don't know what in the heck they  are digging about.  I've seen trucks from every utility and the hole is square and DEEP!  You wouldn't want to fall in it, believe me.  It is right in my neighbor's side yard too.  It must be making them crazy--getting their lawn all dug up I mean.  Over the weekend the workers "fix" it and it looks like a T Rex went through their yard.
A rainy day like this is a great day to read a book but I just finished the last one I had last night. Too bad, guess I'll just stick to old movies and soaps!
Monday is a day when I like to get errands done. Luckily, I headed out early and beat the rain home.  I just went to the grocery store,nothing thrilling.
Monday is the day I do laundry...well, I should say one of the days.  Since we work out every day, the laundry piles up faster than a speeding bullet.  I can just keep up during the week, but over the weekend, I just let it go and wait until Monday, Laundry day.
Anyway, it's raining it's pouring, the old man is..............wait, that's it I'll take a little nap.  See ya!

This and That

I used to write my blog all the time when I didn't have a theme for the day.  Someone criticized me about it so I stopped doing it.  Well, I'm back!

First, never never make a right hand turn from the left lane across two lanes of traffic.  I've seen it twice this week and it is scary and DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On one of my soaps the director's name is Phideaux Xavier.  Now if you know any French you would figure out that PHI-is like FI and DEAUX is like DO.  Put them together and you have Fido....like the dog.  Here is some sage advice.  Don't name your kid after a dog--at least not one called Fido...or Spot....or RinTinTin.

Working out is good for you and sometimes even a lot of fun, but boy it sure stacks up the laundry.

Mary Worth is at it again in the comics.  She is helping a young woman choose her wedding dress and the friend with them is VERY critical( and probably jealous).  It's just like Say Yes to the Dress.  Whoever writes MW needs to get a new story line.  This one is much better on television.

I am so sick of the political ads I could puke.  I have been tuning in to TMC a lot lately just to avoid them.
Although I do get a kick out of the one where they make the candidate look like a Russian Czar!  It is hilarious.

I have discovered I talk to myself out loud when I am home alone.  Like my brain isn't going full speed ahead all the time..I have to chat myself up too.

I can get in trouble anywhere.  I am very good at it.  I don't mean to get in trouble but if I am honest or truthful or disagree, I am in hot water and usually get blamed for the whole problem.  I don't know how to stop it unless I just stay home and talk to myself while watching old movies or soaps with Phideaux.

An Open Letter to Clothing Manufacturers

Dear sirs and madams,

I am a 61 year old woman.  I am not fat and I am not thin.  I have more bulk in the middle than I would like. Some of my friends have more hips than they did or a bigger tush.  In other words, we aren't what we used to be.
On the other hand, we aren't our mothers either.  Matchy-matchy elastic waist pants and floral tops or animal print tops are not for us--well, at least not most of us.  I don't want to wear what my mom wore at sixty. 
I was part of the generation that stopped wearing girdles and wore pantyhose instead.  We gave up our skirts and blouses for jeans and tops.  We made pants suitable for office attire.  We burned our bras for heaven sake!
And now, you plan on dressing us like our moms who stayed home and took care of things and hardly ever worked outside the home!  Well, I won't do it and I know my friends won't either.
Now, on the other hand, I don't want to dress like my 22 year old niece either.  The "retro" look is something I already wore--when my body looked like I wanted it to.  I don't want to wear jeans that are "low rise".  I've got no hips to hold them up and I have a muffin top no matter what kind of jeans I wear.  I don't want to wear what they call "mom" jeans either.
I don't want to live the rest of my life in sports clothing either.  Or sweats.  Surely you can think of some other alternatives.  Oh, and that stretch fabric that clings to all our lumps and bumps?  You can lose that too.
Now maybe if I had a lot of money, there are clothes out there that are perfect for me.  But I am on a fixed income and I want to travel and enjoy myself.  I seldom have to get dressed up.  I just want to look up to date and casually chic.  Is that so much to ask?
I know I'm probably a candidate for What Not to Wear but I don't want to wear jackets and camis or chiffon tops or heels for that matter.  I'd fall off the heels...I have a hard enough time walking in the shoes I have!
Getting dressed every day is a chore instead of a pleasure.  Shopping which used to be my favorite sport is now depressing.  Can't someone out there in the clothing business try a little harder.
Put away the polyester matching pants and tops and give us some nice looking, comfortable clothes to wear.

Wonderful WINO

Yesterday was so beautiful that we decided to go for a long drive and see the fall color.  We saw some lovely sights but the two big rainstorms we had earlier in the week kind of emptied a lot of trees so that took away some of the beauty.
It is so nice to take a day off and not do chores or errands.  We did go to our WW meeting but we skipped our usual hike.  By 1pm we were off and running.  We took a route down to Amish country near us and then we stopped in Burton for some lunch--the best chili I ever had out and about, not that I order it very often. It was the perfect day for it.
We then continued north and ended up in our favorite wine area.  We tried to go to one of our favorites but they were out of the kind of wine we like.  So we ventured out and ended up at Spring Hill winery which is fast becoming our favorite.
We sat out there last Sunday in the sun on a 75degree day and we sat outside for a while yesterday.  They had big outdoor heaters and we sat right under one but after a while it was just too cold so we moved indoors.  It was packed with people and our server did some finagling to get us seats.  We sat in two big leather chairs and drank wine and ate the most delicious steak sandwich I ever had.  They grilled it outdoors and it had a wine reduction sauce on it that was to die for! 
There was a band and people were dancing up a storm.  I felt like I was in a dream as we never do this kind of stuff anymore.  For us to be out on a Saturday night after dark----well, it hardly ever happens!
It was so loud you couldn't really talk but the music was good and the wine was our favorite and we even had pumpkin spice cheesecake.
The crowd was an interesting mix of people.  The couples by us  were all about our age and we talked with them a little about our wine choices.   Some of the dancing couples really caught our eye--a dad and his daughter were really great together.  He was way older than us and she was probably in her fifties so it was really fun to see.  Then there was a lady in zebra capris and bright pink heels and a zebra top who looked to be about 70 years old.  Someone needs to nicely tell her to purchase a new going out wardrobe!  She looked so silly I never even looked at her partner.
Actually, now that I think about it, nobody over the age of 4 should wear zebra print capris and some discerning tots may disagree with me and say, nobody should wear them!!!

The whole day was fun in every way.  We should take the day off more often.

Pants Woes Again

Now my sis and I went to try on jeans today and boyohboy, it was a harrowing experience.  One size is just too large by a skosh and the next size down is so tight you have a giant muffin top--in my case, more like a loaf of bread.  Even if those stretch out, they are sure to be too tight in the waist.
And while browsing through the ten thousand pairs we saw, I had to keep hoisting up my jeans from the other day--you know the ones that fit like a glove.  I would really like to go out in public and not have my jean's crotch be halfway to my knees every twenty minutes.
Now I ask you, is that to much to ask?  I am not asking for a perfect fit or a pair of jeans that makes my body look 20 years younger. Honest! 
I know somebody out there is saying, just wear a belt , dummy.  Well, I don't like belts.  They show through your top and it looks stupid.  Plus it bunches up the jeans in all the wrong places.  So, no belt.
Some of you are going, duh, elastic top jeans.  Did you ever try a pair of those on?????  Like wearing a diaper unless it's jeggings.  Even then the top elastic turns over and is uncomfortable.
I have an answer for everything you can think of.....so stop it!
I know I will find the jeans that fit sometime soon.  But if you see me in public hitching up my jeans, at least you'll know why.

10-10-10

Just wanted to write that down.....it won't happen again in my lifetime!

Imagine

If he were alive, John Lennon would be 70 years old.  I can't believe it.  He is still locked in my brain as a long-haired, granny glasses wearing young dad caring for his son. 
I saw an artist's rendering that aged his picture to what he would look like today.  He had short hair and wrinkles and I thought--nope probably not.  I just can't imagine(sorry about the pun here) John with short hair and wrinkles.  Even Yoko Ono doesn't look that wrinkled and still has a remnant of her old style so why wouldn't he?  That artist wasn't very imaginative(sorry there I go again).
I don't know much about John Lennon to tell the truth.  He was the married Beatle so I never developed a crush on him--I went for George-the quiet Beatle.  I thought John was the most radical Beatle.  I thought he was the most sensitive and artistic Beatle.
I've heard him say some pretty outrageous stuff in interviews but heck, he was just a kid with worldwide fame and an audience that was eager to hear anything he had to say.
The magazine cover of him and Yoko in bed was shocking at the time.  Now it just appears to be artistic to me.
He believed in peace and getting along with others and kindness and selflessness and got murdered for it.
That is awfully sad to me.
Loved his music.  Especially Imagine and Woman...but I didn't need to see that imagining of him being old.  He is forever young  to me.

OBX

I followed a car home a couple of days ago on my way home from my workout.  The driver skidded his tires, roared his engines, had loud loud music going and revved up at the stoplight. So naturally I thought the OBX sign on his car stood for obnoxious.  He rabbitjumped every time a light turned green and I thought he was aptly signed. We got tot he part of the route where the speed limit is just 25 and I couldn't wait to see what ole OBX would do.
Son of a gun, the kid tricked me.  He slowed right down to the speed limit which gave me a chance to pull up close enough to read that sign.  It was one of those oval ones from places you visit--this one was for the Outerbanks!!!  OOOOOOHHHHHH--so that's what it stands for.  I should have known.  OBX-Get it?
Anyway, since then I've seen plenty of drivers that should have that sign--the obnoxious one I mean.  You know who you are.  You cut people off or drive too fast on a surface street.  You are the guy who turns right from the left hand lane in front of two other lanes of traffic.  Whoops--did  you never hear of turning around and coming back?
Or the person who crosses over the double yellow line to turn left into the shopping area near me--who is then in the oncoming traffic lane for turning left going the opposite way.  You wouldn't believe how many of those drivers there are.  If you drive up toward them, they always act like you are the one in the wrong!!  What driver's manual ever instructs you to cross over the double yellow line into oncoming traffic to make a left hand turn?  The OBX one, I guess.

Fare Thee Well

I just found out that my favorite museum is closing.  It is the Liberace museum in Las Vegas.  I am serious.  I just loved it there.  It was so funny and fun and I laughed so much.  I've hardly been to any museum where I laughed at all!
Liberace embraced what he was and flaunted it for all the world to see.  It was probably a gimmick but it was a great one and didn't detract from his undeniable talent.
When I was young, I thought Liberace was a hack and a joke.  One trip to the museum as an adult and I was a fan.
Don't worry too much.  The collection is going on tour and if you are lucky, it will show up in your town.  Don't miss it!

Buying Pants

You want to know the biggest giantest pain in the a** that we have been experiencing lately?  You guessed it--buying pants.  Both DH and I are getting heartily sick and tired of it.
First, we are never the same size from one brand to another.  Then, we have--um...let us say rise issues.  Then sometimes we find a pant that fits and by the time we wear it two or three times it no longer fits--the pants stretch out or something.  Especially those skinny jeans(and really, every jean I have purchased lately) that fit like a glove for the first day and then I spend the rest of the time I wear them yanking them up to my "natural" waist--you know, the one that has replaced your real waist....or  maybe that is our fake waist.  I'm just not sure anymore.
DH has a different problem.  He buys a pair and they fit great and then he goes to get another color and the same size, same store, same brand, supposedly, just a different color doesn't fit.  He now owns two pair of pants that fit.  He has had a weight loss and all his others are too baggy--think clown pants.
We probably shouldn't go pant shopping together because we just feed into each other's frustration.  By the time we are done we are cursing every pant producer on the planet.  Our frustration can feed into other areas of shopping like for shirts or shoes.  Thank goodness his size 14's require online shopping.  I don't know if we could bear it if we had to go to a store.
Anyway, I am wearing a new pair of pants right now.  They fit great!  But just wait until tomorrow and we'll see.