Do You Feel Like Your Being Watched..? I Do!!

Take a look at this picture....

See anything odd..?

Once you see it, you will understand why I shudder every time I glance over the fence to our back yard neighbors. 

The first time I saw it, it was over on their porch.  I could've sworn one of our neighbors was just staring at our house.  It didn't help that it looked like the person wasn't wearing any clothes.  Lol!  I spent an entire afternoon trying to:

 A. Figure out what they were staring at.
 
And..

 B. How on earth they could sit there and stare for so long.

Then I realized something.  Who, or whatever it was, was on their porch step, and I couldn't see the rest of their body. Even from our upstairs window. Come to discover, it was only the bust of a human form.  That made me feel better.  Not to mention, slightly silly for assuming that we had creeper neighbors, who were planning to murder us in our sleep.

As you can see in the photo above (If you've found it) that the creepy figure is now in their play house, eternally staring at OUR house.

Here it is a bit closer...

I was so interested in seeing what it looked like, that I got my big camera, with the telephoto lense on, to get a good look at it.

And here is a close and personal view of our watchful neighbor...

If that's not creepy, I don't know what is!!

So, the next time you are at our house.  Come and stand on our back porch to see for yourself. 

Donated Blood... Yeah, Me!

One other thing I forgot to mention that was apart of my golden year was donating blood. 

Rewind over a year...

There was one Sunday, in our old ward, the man speaking that day commented about how one of his New Years Resolutions was to do something that he was afraid of.  For him, as for myself, it's needles... So he decided to donate blood to conquer his fear.

Well, I got thinking about it and decided that I should do something that had to do with my fear of needles during my golden year.  Well, taking up hard drugs wasn't an option, *Kidding.. Totally kidding!*  So I did exactly what he did.  I donated blood.  I thought about it all year and ended up getting it done RIGHT at the last minute.   That's right, on my birthday that would end my golden year.  Phew!  Just barely made it!  I don't have a picture of myself because, to be right honest with you, I didn't know if it was okay to take pictures in there, so.... This is my picture of it...

Yeah!  Well, I'm a huge baby and couldn't go alone.  So, my dear friend Amanda came with me to hold my hand.  That made it so much easier!  Thanks Amanda for coming! 

As for my after thoughts about it... I was really quite shocked about how easy and fairly painless it was.  I think that has to do with the fact that some person out there is really going to need my blood to help save their life, or the life of someone they care about.  So no, they don't lie when they tell you that you will have a sense of accomplishment by doing it. 

Now fast forward....

I got my blood donation card in the mail in the first part of January. I swear, if not the same day, but the day after I got a phone call from someone at the Red Cross wanting to schedule me for another donation.  I know most people hate it when they call, because they will, guaranteed! But I was glad when they called me.  It makes it so much easier. You don't have to remember to schedule your appointment.  They call you!   Works for me.  So... as you might guess, I set up an appointment.  It was so spur of the moment, that I didn't have anyone go with me this time. 

So here you go, a new and better picture from my donation on Jan 28....

Because of all the storms back east, they were really hoping to get people to donate.  One blood type was specifically mentioned, because it's so in demand, I guess. (I really don't know much about blood, to tell you the truth...)  Which is what my blood is. So hopefully my little pint donation will do some good. 

Lucky me, while I was waiting for my turn.  The lady at the desk pointed out that the date in which, people donating that day could donate again, was March 25.  They had a sigh up sheet that you could schedule your next appointment.  Awesome!

So yes, I'm going to donate again in March.  I still can't believe I'm saying (typing) that.  It doesn't mean I love needles now, by any means.  But knowing that your helping someone out really throws all that "needle fear" garbage out the window. 

Golden Year Ends... Kitten... Stitches.. etc...

Quick recap...

Golden year ended, many awesome things happened, also some sad.  I don't think I could've had a better year.  As for notable events that weren't blogged about...

I'm a mommy!  He's little and furry, but I totally think it counts.

His name is Bazil.  ( As in Bazil of Baker Street... The Great Mouse Detective) 

That's his name because he looks like a little old man, and to us, Bazil is an old man name.  Especially with that white hair coming out of his ears!

We got him on November 16, 2013 from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  He was 8 weeks old when we brought him home (the picture above.)  We've decided his birthday is September 4, considering they never can really tell you the exact date.

Here are some pictures that span between when we got him to now...

Playing in the Fall decorations, as I attempt to get them put away.

He was teeny tiny when we brought him home.  We took him to the vet about 2 weeks after we brought him home, and he weighed 2lbs 7 1/2 oz

Cat and boxes... Of course he had to find the skinniest one to prove he could fit into it.

Yup, he believes the bed belongs to him...

 

 as well as our faces.

My mom brought her sewing machine to my house while Troy and Scheli are living there.  Bazil thought he needed to help with the mending.

 

He loves blankets!  He falls asleep in such strange positions sometimes.

He wants to be wherever you are so even my purse will do as a bed.

We gave him his first bath.  He looks so weird wet.  He's all white underneath!  He did good for us, but he would much rather remain dry.

He is our little baby.  I, in fact, call him "Baby Kitty" when he is being all snuggily. 

I get to spend lots of time with him and he makes me laugh multiple times a day. 

****************

As for the other big event....

 

I'll give you the embarrassing story first.

 

I was getting the Christmas Decorations out for the year.  I saw that this little Santa decoration had come apart from it's base.  This was seriously, the cheapest decoration I had...  I needed to get this big glob of hot glue off the base so I could make a new spot of fresh glue.  In my mind This was the best tool for the job....

Well, I hadn't been working at it a minute when I decided that sawing it off would be good...

The knife slipped, I felt a small poke, and thought dang, this isn't going to work... Then I looked down at my finger to see if I had even broken skin, and saw this...

At the time it was totally covered in blood.  I washed it off, not really knowing the extent of the damage.  I still had my wedding ring on and I could feel my finger swelling, pretty fast.  So I bit my lip and pulled my ring off over the wound.  That was a good time...  I didn't know how serious it was because I hadn't even noticed yet that it had stabbed all the way through to the other side.  I showed it Houston to see what he thought.  We came to the conclusion that it would be best if I went to instacare to get it looked at. 

I had to have stitches, of course.  5 total.  Houston held my hand the whole time, because I'm a huge baby.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see fatty tissue coming out of the bigger cut.  When Houston was watching them numb it, he said it was really gross because that numbing stuff makes it swell more, so more of that tissue was coming out.  I didn't watch, so lucky me  I didn't get to witness that.

So, my $0.50 Santa decoration, turned into $404.50 Santa.  Most expensive decoration I own now.

Now lucky you I took pictures of my finger healing process...

Yummy huh? 

Lucky me, I didn't cut any tendons, so it was literally just healing up the skin.  But now my poor ring finger is even more mangled than it was before.

Well that's it for major events.  Well, I did go to Disneyland again... That will have to be in another post.