BOO!!

When I was a kid, I used to go trick or treating with my sister and a few of my brothers, (the older brothers took off with friends). We would dress up with whatever we could find, usually as a Hobo, Aunt Jemima  or a Gypsy. We always used pillowcases to put the candy in. We would cover a lot of blocks and come home around 10-11 pm exhausted. So when I had kids of my own, we did the same thing with them. I think they enjoyed it. Or was it just us still having fun and telling them that they still have 3 whole blocks to cover? Than we did the same thing with a few of the grand kids too. 

Here are a bunch of Halloween photos of my kids over the years, with a few others thrown in. 

The Unhappy Bride

They were so cute!

From the looks of what she is holding, I think she was in charge of cups for her school party.

 Holly Hobby and my little garbage man!

Little policeman and my big baby Jennifer

They were KOOKY SPOOKS that year. How cool were they?

Can you tell that even their dad loves Halloween?

When your dad is a mailman, you become Mailman Jr. 

My lovely little lady and again we have an Indian. 

My little girl was growing up..or out?

and out again!

Their cousins Michael and Cherie

The last time I dressed up for Halloween. Left, me, the pretty one. Center, Jennifer, not sure, and on the right, well I'm not sure again. Deck of cards maybe? But there was a lot of hair going on. 

Clowning around! I use to wear that blouse and thought I needed the make up to match it?

Tommy before his makeover 

and Tommy after the makeover, plus a black eye. 

Hoping everyone going trick or treating and has a lot of fun. Grab those pillow cases and get going. You still have 10 blocks to cover. 

Do you have a favorite costume from years ago? 

  

The Big Storm

How many hours did you spend watching the once in a lifetime storm on the east coast today?  I put in 12 hours of CNN, FOX and the Weather Channel today. I was glued to all the networks. I couldn't get enough of the news people risking their lives standing in waist deep water, winds knocking them over, and rain flying sideways on to their faces. The whole time they were yelling about other people that were out and about in the hurricane. Well, those people that are sightseeing, probably saw the news people playing in the storm. Of course they want to come out now too.

The news people seem to get more extreme for each storm. I did laugh at the news guy who was showing that the water was ankle deep on the boardwalk, and got his foot stuck between the boards.

It was very windy here today too and it was odd to watch the hurricane on TV and listen to the wind outside. Sound effects I guess. 

I suppose tomorrow I'll be glued to the news again. I need to know that everyone is safe and dry. 

Hopefully, I will be able to get the dishes done too. 

Remember Way Back When?

I was looking at a few items from way back when. There are a lot of memories when you see so many things that you can't buy anymore. Well, I suppose you can buy them somewhere, but not something you'd see in the stores. 

I always thought these were fun to play with. There was also a flat wiggly that you could pet and it would move as you petted it. I can't remember the name of those though. It was in the late 60's or early 70's. Actually, it was just a piece of fuzzy fabric that had a name and was all the rage.  

And why was this called Mr Bubbles? Mrs Bubbles sounds more appropriate, doesn't it? 

Who ever thought that these would go out of style one day?

I think you can still buy these at specialty store. I was always undecided if I really liked these or not. 

We sure got a lot of use out of these as kids. We would fill them up with kool-aid and wait all day for them to freeze. 

Remember the Mood rings? The stone in the ring would change colors depending on your mood. 

And everything was Groovy!!

What item do you remember from way back when?

Peace Out

Peas

As I was making dinner tonight, and putting the peas in a saucepan, I wondered why I always have to have peas with my chicken and dumplings. They just make the meal complete. I can hear a certain someone gag on that comment. I even went to the store, just to get the peas for dinner.  

So that got me to thinking about what other foods people eat together. I think the top of the list would probably be cranberry sauce with their turkey dinner. It kind of ruins the dinner without it. 

I have to have tarter sauce with any fish I eat. Except tuna fish for sandwiches. But come to think of it, it might actually be better than mayo. The sample lady at Costco this week was giving out samples of tuna mixed with mayo and hot sauce...I passed on that one. I always have to have dill pickles on my sandwiches, and hamburger. It wouldn't be the same without pickles. None of those icky sweet pickles either. I can't eat an egg without ketchup. Or popcorn without salt. I find any steak or prime rib is boring without A-1 sauce. Hotdogs have to have mustard. It just isn't a hotdog without it.  

My mom is the only person I know that has to put salt in her Campbell's chicken noodle soup. Whoa, too much sodium there mom. She said no, salt is good for you..lol

So what foods do you have to have together? 

Lost in Town

Went for a 3 hour drive with my mom. Figured I'd find some pretty Fall colors. Took the big camera and had it ready for quick shots. I decided to go to the other side of town that is more rural, hoping to see lots of changing leaves. I was about 10 miles out in nowhere land, and the trees were mostly evergreens and no color changing trees. I decided to turn around and go back to town. But which way is town? I'm not sure which way is which. I'm not lost, am I?

And this is what I saw on that little road I turned on to. Wow, just beautiful. I think it was worth getting lost for. 

And I was still lost. I had to pull over and use my GPS on my cell phone. But we had no connection so far out in "where the Hell are we land". Than my mom starts getting nervous and saying things like "I don't want to sleep out here tonight" or "do we have enough gas"? So I had to reassure her that we would find Port Orchard again soon. As I'm looking at the gas gauge and wondering if we have 2 blankets in the trunk for sleeping with tonight. 

Thought this was a neat looking tree we found on our travels. We kept going left and we finally found our way back to town. We really needed ice cream after our adventure. Reminder to myself to put crackers and water in the trunk for getting lost next time. And jammies, a few pillows and a bedtime snack. 

And here is my favorite photo from driving around. No Fall colors, but that water was like a mirror. Pretty as a picture! 

Dreams

Do you dream every night? For some reason I have a dream every night. I think it happens if I wake up during the night and than go back to sleep. Dreams are hard for me to remember, unless I consciously make the effort to remember. I decided to keep track for a week and write them down. They are usually odd or even on the funny side. When I tell Rod about them, he laughs and than tells me how weird I am. 

Most times I am barefooted, in a strange falling apart bathroom, a different house, and my kids are like 8 or 9 years old. There is always the same mall, the same casino in the middle of nowhere, or I am on a airplane and we are driving down the streets in town. We took off one time and I woke up. I don't fly anymore, so I think I make us stay on the street and just drive. It isn't easy with the wing span and all the traffic lights, and wires. But I also know the pilot is taxiing and looking for a place to take off from.

Here are a few of my most recent dreams from this week. 

1) I was in a red wagon with my kids and Rod, and we were going down a steep street full speed. Than all of a sudden, we were airborne and floating around like we were in space. We were doing flips and somersaults. 
2) I was in that house that I mentioned above, and Rod left. I kept trying to call him on his cell phone to see where he went. He said he was going to play cards with friends, but it turned out he was in LA at an event with Rosie O'donnell.
3) I was at that mall I mentioned and was browsing at an expensive Coach store. Than I was shown 2 very expensive hotel rooms under the store. It was a secret from most people. They charged $800.00 a night. Very fancy rooms. 
4) I was shopping at that mall with Jennifer and we were looking at bright purple fleece zip up bathrobes. Than we were driving on the freeway somewhere in Alabama and we stopped for gas. Rod was in his truck and I was in the car. Than we stopped at a creepy motel and the kids were little again. I remembered it was Thanksgiving and an hour before dinner time. I guess Dawna was there too, because she  took a raw turkey out of the frig and started cutting it up to help it cook it faster.
5) I was in my house and when I looked out the window, I saw that we were surrounded by murky seawater with a lot of broken pieces of white wood. There was a row boat next to my front door, and my mom got in it to show me that we could escape that way. She got out and came back in to the house and the boat sank. Than I could see that the water was clear and I could see the boat on the bottom of the water. Ryan and Ashlyn came by with a motor boat/jet ski to save us. It got away from them and Ashlyn jumped in to the water and stopped the boat/jet ski from drifting off.
6) I was in high school, (no clue why) and after PE (well, it was a room I was getting dressed in, so it must have been PE class.) and I was looking for my clothes. Everything I tried on was not my size and was missing some part of the outfit. Fast forward and I was in the store looking at clothes to wear. ( I should of just worn that purple bathrobe)
7) I dreamed that Kris swiped his debit card through my house heater thermostat and it showed his bank account information. I laughed and said next you'll be able to get cash out of that one day. He laughed and sure enough, all these bills came out. My thermostat became an ATM...How cool is that? lol

So tell me a few of your dreams. I know you all dream, and probably remember some of them. What dream do you remember the most? 

Where would you?

If you were told you could live anywhere in the world for 6 months, all living expenses paid, where would you live? You wouldn't have to work, or pay rent. All your food, clothes, car, gas, insurances, medical etc, would be 100% paid for. You could take your family with you. Your boyfriend/girlfriend or wife/husband, the kids, parents, brothers and sisters. You could use the 6 months to do whatever you wanted. You would be given cash every week. Let's say $2000.00. That would be for entertainment only.

You have to stay in the area you choose. Just a 50 mile radius is all that you can drive to. Would you choose the mountains or the ocean? Or maybe you like the heat and would choose the desert. You can fly, take a train, or get there by car. But you can't take a cruise. I hear the moans.

So now that you are settled in and you have your family with you, what do you do for fun? Remember, you are getting 2 grand a week. Do you use it each week, or do you save it up and use it towards the end of your 6 months? Give or take, if you saved it up for 6 months, you would have 48 thousand dollars to do something really big with it. I think I'd do something everyday with the $2000.00 a week. So I'd have close to $300 a day just for fun. And you can't take the money home with you after the 6 months.  

I know my place wouldn't be right on the ocean. The whole Tsunami thing has me freaked out. The desert heat is out too. I don't want to spend 6 months sweating with a headache. So maybe the mountains, but not in the winter. Oh yeah, you have to leave right now. You can't wait for the season you want. 

My place would be Melbourne Australia. I've always wanted to go there, but of course I'd have to fly, so that wouldn't happen in real life for me. I don't fly anymore. But since this is all hypothetical, I'm there. And yes, I checked to see if they have any casinos. 

I would bring my Kindle to read a lot. And my camera of course. I could do a ton of photos within my 50 miles. Kangaroo photoshoots? Since my house is being paid for, I'm pretty sure it would have a swimming pool to relax by. 

I hope my new place comes with a maid and a cook!! 

So where are you going to live for 6 months? 

Lavender Fields Forever

Lavender 

I took these during Lavender Days in Sequim Wa. Every July, we get to see these pretty flowers. Some are brighter and more colorful that others, but they are all beautiful. We just drive around and find the farms that let you go in and look around. And take pictures and more pictures...and than a few more pictures! 

The best smelling outhouse I've been in. The flowers were hanging inside too. 

I'd love to sit here and read a book and just enjoy all the flowers around me. 

This is one of my favorite photos of that day. Well, I liked the bench picture, and the last picture too. 

click photo to enlarge

Have you ever been lucky enough to see the Strawberry Lavender Fields Forever?