Halloween, how I love thee

Completely wrong time of year to be thinking about Halloween.... for most.  I think about Halloween several times during the year , if not most of it.  This is such a great holiday!  Houston is not nuts like me.  He thinks about holidays within their respective month.  Ha ha!  Maybe I should take a page from his book.  For now, I will stick to my completely nutty way and think of this holiday during random times of the year.

Since the bug has struck me now, I figured I would give you some reasons I like Halloween.  So here we go!

First off... Totally crazy food.  Whoever used this one is a genius!

Crows... Maybe I'm weird, but I love crows.

Zombies!  Lucky for me that I found this shot.  Most photos of zombies, aren't exactly G rated.

Fog.  Maybe it's because it automatically makes you wonder what's out there...

 Werewolves... I have no idea why, I just do.  I like Vampires too, but after Twilight I have to say that it WAS NOT because of those movies that I like them.  It was WAY before that, that I liked either of these classic monsters!  I never saw Twilight and never plan to.  Sorry to say that Twilight alone has served a major blow to these two classic creatures.

The Headless Horseman.  I have always loved Washington Irving's classic story.

Who can get through that part of the year without watching "The Great Pumpkin"!?

Now just horror movies in general...  This is from one of my favorites.  It's French made.  It's called THEM.  I love all sorts of horror and I don't only watch it during the month of October, but the Halloween vibe everywhere sure makes me more keen to watch them regularly.

Trick or Treating!  I don't do this anymore. (I think people would be a little bit weirded out by it)  But I still love to see little kids all dressed up and their favorite super hero, classic monster, fairy princess, or whatever else tickles their fancy.

Last and my most favorite.... The smell of burning pumpkins.  I love it!  Jack-o-lanterns in general.  I at least carve one every year.  If I could and had enough time I would carve a bunch.  If only to smell that burning smell.  None of this fake candle crap for me.  It's got to be the real deal! 

I know there are other things that I love about this holiday, but for the life of me I can't think of them right now.  I also love costumes.  I couldn't find a good picture to post so I will just say it.  That's what sparked my interest in the holiday yesterday.  I think I know what I'm going to be.  I really like this idea and hope that I don't change my mind.  I wont tell you yet.  You'll just have to wait and see when October finally rolls around.  But until then, here are a few of my favorite Halloween(ish) short films.  One that I couldn't get in one video is Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Just know that I like that one too.  Enjoy!

This first one is a stop motion short by Tim Burton about the unforgettable Vincent Price...

This next one is a cartoon short called "Season's Greetings"  by Michael Doughtery


Thanks for taking this random journey.  Now you wont be alarmed if you see me smelling Jack-o-lanterns. ;)

Going from Night to Day!

The shoes I bought, I was very happy with. But like I said in that post, I wished I could have got some shoes that weren't black.  I got this huge itch for summer yesterday, which is REALLY weird.  Normally summer is not a season I look forward to.  So this post is sorta perfect for it.

I was unable to find shoes in other colors, but I had a huge break through and found an actual purse (I have never had an actual purse) that is my favorite color of yellow and I really like it. Double plus!  Ha ha!  I have been looking for a long time for a purse that I like... And have never found one.  I'm the picky sort I guess.  I like animal textures as well, but I was a bit hesitant to get a purse that was full blown Alligator or whatever.  So, another plus, this purse is snake skin textured, but I didn't have to go skin 12 snakes to make it. It's made of genuine leather not real snakes. Ha ha!

Another weird plus is that this purse is hand made. The husband and wife team who made it only made 2 like it.  It will be a pretty huge miracle if I see the person who owns the other. Ha ha! I bought it on a site called Etsy.com.  It wasn't ridiculously expensive either!  When I bought it I found out that it has to be shipped from Morocco.  So that's a slight downer.  I have to wait for about 5 or 6 days before I can actually use it and the shipping was a bit more. 
Anyway, I'm pretty excited about it.  It seems to shock people that I like yellow.  You just never know with me. Hahahahaha!  I'm pretty weird I guess.

Valentine's Day.... Not just for lovers.

 Valentine's Day...

  Maybe it's because I am no longer single and I can look back and see that Valentine's Day is not just for the sappy lovers, but it really isn't.  I was thinking how blessed I was to have Houston as my husband and realized that it's not only him that Valentine's Day is for. It's for everyone you love.  Family, Friends, neighbors, your dog or cat, whoever you want.  In thinking this I came to the conclusion that it's a bit irritating that some people think Valentine's Day is the worst holiday. I don't at all!  I even went and visited my dog so she had some love too.  So I hope everyone's Valentine's Day was wonderful, not matter who you spent it with. 

As for my actual Valentine's Day.  I didn't get flowers.  Houston wants to get them for me but he didn't want to get them ON Valentine's Day because it's sort of a give in to get them.  He wants it to be a surprise.  He even asked if I would be mad that I didn't get them ON Valentine's Day.  Ha ha!  Nope, I wasn't.  It will be interesting to see when and where I get them...  So much more fun!  He was the best and got me new earbud headphones to use at work.  I'm very excited about that.  As for his gift.... I kinda can't tell.  It's too hard to explain and I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear it anyway. But I did hand write him a letter.  It took forever because I wanted it handwritten, but I think my handwriting is horrible.  I actually rewrote it about 3 times.

For dinner we went to Tepanyaki Japanese Steakhouse.  I had never been there before.  It's was Awesome!  We got 3 of our friends and their wives, or dates, so we would have a full table.  Now for my embarrassing moment... I totally just about biffed it outside the restaurant in one of the new pairs of heels I bought.  The exact pair were the pumps.  Yeah... it was totally awesome. Anyway, when our group got there and we were seated, we ordered and waited for our chief (or whatever you want to call them)  It was so awesome!  This guy was so talented. 

 (the above is a stock photo, not while we were there.  It's exactly the same though)
He did this cool egg routine to make the ham fried rice that I ordered. He made it all in front of us.  He also made this onion volcano.  He stacked the onions on top of each other and filled the inside with a flammable liquid and lit it.  It was crazy.  The whole dinner was so much fun.  Towards the end of the cooking he threw shrimp to us that your supposed to catch in your mouth.  I was so scared I was going to get slapped in the face with a shrimp.  He didn't give you any time to think about it.  When you open your mouth a shrimp is already flying at you.  I caught mine miraculously.  Houston got 2 tries and caught both. The chief was so impressed that he gave Houston a high five. Ha ha! Totally worth going back again!

That was our Valentine's Day.  It was wonderful!  I'm glad I could share it with Houston.  He is the best.  I'm so blessed to be with him.  It think the song below  a good way to express myself without you having to read a novel about how I feel about him.  (forgive the "bride" line and Juno movie poster.  You get the jest)

Cinderella found her "glass" slipper(s)!

So, I haven't bought shoes in such a long time.  I needed some new heels for church because at the moment the only pairs I own, are a pair of black boots, and my wedding shoes.  I sorta gave away the other possible church shoes I owned, like a retard... yeah.  So!  Now that I have gotten my first pay check, it was time to invest in some new ones.

I wanted to get some different colored ones and I looked in at least 5 different stores for some today to no avail.  :( As I was about it give up I remembered that I have always seemed to find heels I liked at Kohls.  So...  I went there.   I wasn't able to find colorful ones but I was able to find, not one, but TWO pairs I liked, and in great Kohl's fashion they were on a major sale!  I wanted just a pair of pumps, and here they are...

Just plain black pumps but I needed a pair, and I like!

Then there is the other pair.  My friend Erin told me that they totally looked like me, and I have to say that I totally agree.  A little weird but awesome nonetheless.

Like I said, a little weird, but I really like them.

That is the end of my shoe story.  I'm glad I found something and saved a bunch in the process. No color, but that will be for another day.

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic

You might be thinking I've decided to join the armed forces, but no,  I haven't.  That is the first part of the oath you take when you are sworn into the postal service.   Our trainer laughed and said that pretty much if all the armed forces die off, it's up to us postal workers to defend the country. HAHAHAHA!  So let's hope and pray that never happens.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this job.  It's going to be crazy hard, but once I get the hang of it I should be fine.  Every person I've talked to who works for the post office says it's the best job they have ever had. So, once I get pasted what that call the, "Holy crap" stage then it will all click and make total sense.

I don't think a lot of people know exactly what their mail carrier does.  Well, here is a very brief explanation. All the mail is sent to the proper Post Office.  The carrier has to go through each class of mail and sort it.  (Luckily the first class letters are already sorted into route order as well as some of the others).  Once you've sorted all that mail. (which takes forever)  you have to load it out if the case and put it into trays to take to the vehicle.  There are also packages of all sorts that you have to know what type they are and how to handle them on the street. Once your to the street it is supposed to be the easy part. Ha ha! 
I will be driving one of these... (What they call the Cadillac of mail trucks) ;)

Come to find out, it's really true that dogs LOVE to go after the mail man.  Everyone who trained my little group had dogs stories. Little tid bit for ya.  Every mail carrier is given dog spray.  It does NOT hurt the dog.  It's for the post mans protection.  So if your dog runs towards the mail man, don't be surprised if it gets sprayed.  Please don't be mean to the mail man.  Your dog may love everyone but the post man may not know that, and if he feels threatened in any way he is trained to do that. Or in more severe cases, he will just stop delivering your mail to you until the dog is either restrained properly or taken away. 
So hopefully I have this....

and not this.....

I also found out something else very interesting. I tell you so that you will know for yourself, because it either applies to you now, or will later.   A friend of mine asked me why her mail lady wouldn't ever hand her the mail when she was a kid.  At first I didn't know... I thought that was really weird.  Well, that was a HUGE part of our training.  First reason is,  they are not a responsible party.  Second and WAY more important,  the Post Office does NOT want to have accidents with anyone least of all children.  I have driven around in the post office vehicles and I can tell you from experience that it is VERY hard to see around the vehicle.  So please keep your kids away from the vehicles. I heard some pretty sad stories of kids getting killed because they were playing around them.  Don't be alarmed if the post man/woman is mean to your kids.  It's their job to keep them safe and the best way to keep a child away is to make them not want to approach the vehicle at all.

Well now that I've given you all a class on the post office.... Ha ha!

I'm excited to get started.  I'm still training and such but soon enough I will be out there and passing along your mail.  Not to mentioned getting paid again.  YAY!

Maggie's surgery and Phynix's curiousity about it...

Last summer sometime we noticed that Maggie had this weird bump on her butt.  We didn't think much of it at first until it started to get bigger. We thought it was one of those anal gland issues. (Gross)  So I took her to the vet and come to find out it wasn't.  Bad news was that it was either a cyst or a tumor.  I was not excited about it.  The vet said that it would need to be removed soon because of how close it was to other areas.  (Her backend, you get the idea)

Anyway, so we decided to wait until after Christmas and see if it got any bigger.  Well,  it did.  So I wanted to get it taken care of before I started at the post office.  The surgery was yesterday.  She did wonderful.  She was a bit sluggish yesterday, but today she is pretty much normal.

Now the funny part.  My parent's were watching my niece Phynix today.  On there way back from picking Phynix up, they explained to her that Maggie had been to the "Doctor" and had a cut.  So, they had me explain to her about it and show it to her. (We showed it to her so she would be careful around her backside)

Here is the funny photo and followed...

HAHAHA!  We thought it was hilarious.

I was pretty sure no one wants to see a picture of the actual cut. This was the next best thing, so my post would have a photo.  Once Phynix looked at it she said, "That's so interesting"  That made it even more funny! She kept telling me to take a picture of Maggie's butt.  I did not. Ha ha!  Then she felt it necessary to tell us that Maggie needed to go back to the "Doctor".

I love how curious Phynix is about everything.  She even told Maggie it would be okay and that she was a good "boy"  (She knows she's a girl but says boy every time)

New Years Resolutions revised... Plus, job update!

Awhile ago I posted some resolutions that I wanted to achieve this year.  I haven't given up on any of them just revised them a bit.

First off, Yoga.  So, I'm still doing it but some friends and I are doing the P90X, 90 day challenge, so I do Yoga once a week with that.  Houston was awesome and got me a yoga kit for Christmas!  Mat, block, and strap! The mat has inspiring words on it.  So, while I'm sporting the downward dog position, I can be motivated.  Always a plus! ;)

(Sorry about the totally retarded hair) Ha ha!


P90X is pretty intense but it's so much more fun to do with friends.  We laugh and cheer each other on.  The Yoga supplies come in handy on other of these work outs too. Yay, for that! I'm still not able to do a regular push up, but I'm working on it.  I call my arms, my T-Rex arms.  Slowly but surely! 

Still working on Japanese.  Just getting through the Hiragana alphabet. That's going to be a huge task but I'm going to do my best.

Job update!
I start at the post office on the 18th!  It's taken forever but I finally have a light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm a bit nervous, but I know I can get it done!