The beat goes on..........

So starting to blog again, hard stuff. I've gotten wayyy out of the rythym of writing down what I think and what I feel. Who knew you could forget how to write stuff down? Damn you Facebook *shakes fist*.

Family update I suppose. Mom is doing okay after losing my dad, it was really really tough for her at first. She had completely NEVER lived on her own in her whole life - she went from living with my grandparents to living with my dad. She was so incredibly lonely. So, screw it, we bought her a dog - a little Scottie puppy - MacDuff gave her something to take care of and I truly think he saved her from going crazy from the lonliness. Then for some reason she decided to get another dog, so Mom now has two dogs - MacDuff the Scottie and Hamish the Cairn - they are like friggin bookends and run her life. hahaha. Mom spends the spring and summer here and the most of the fall and winter at her place in Florida - this is the happiest she has been in years.

Grandma was diagnosed with senile dementia and thinks I'm trying to kill her for my inheritance. Yup all those hundreds of dollars would make me murder her. *sigh* She is finally in a "retirement" home and I'm not allowed to visit. Grandma will be 91 this year and her heart is....fragile and I cause her so much stress etc. that they are afraid that my visiting will kill her. With any luck she'll forget who I am soon and I can visit her again.

Katie-o still lives with me and I love her face. She's not working or going to school - she did one year of uni and failed spectacularly due to anxiety. I'm trying to get her to get a job at least so that she doesn't end up an unhappy hermit like me. She doesn't date - she's not interested at all. Not that she's interested in girls either, she says she's asexual and not interested in either sex. She has also informed me that unless there is some kind of miracle happening that I'm not getting grandchildren from her either and that it doesn't really matter as Jamie is trying to populate the world lol. Which lead us to Jamie............

Jamie is living quite far from me (bout a three hour drive)and has so far given me *possibly* two grandchildren. The first one a girl named Isabel was taken by CPS from the hospital as her mother was unfit. I didn't find out about Isabel until she was 7 months old and I had to make the decision on whether to take her myself or not. I decided that I'm just too old to raise another baby and that any child really deserves a home with parents who desperately want them. So I let Isabel be adopted by some new parents and I hope every day that she's happy and loved. Then Jamie told me about another baby that was due to be born this summer that he said he was the "baby daddy" but there was a very very very good possibility that he was NOT the father. I told him I wasn't getting involved unless there was a DNA test to prove it - I couldn't take another Isabel situation. Other than that, he seems to have finished changing girlfriends the way he changes socks and he's been with this one for nearly a year. I still haven't seen him though we talk on the phone etc. - it's been eight years nearly.

I'm still with BT. He's a good man and I just love the hell outta him. We are still a work in progress LOL. The cats are eleven now and just starting to slow down and show their age. Still fat and happy and rulers of their world. They wait every day for the pidgeons to land on the balcony and torment them lol.

I'm still depressed, still anxious, still agoraphobic, still have social anxiety and generally hate people in real life. My newest medication keeps me on an even keel at home so no great highs, no desperate lows and I can on occasion actually leave the house alone during the day to do things. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. I spend a lot of my time on Regretsy reading snark and laughing. I've made some real friends on there and we spend nearly every night chatting on chatzy sharing our days and fears and lives.

Back in Black

Well, I'd better get out a duster cuz man o man this place is covered in dust and cobwebs. I had the sads for quite a while - first Sam, then my dad, then my best friend Sioux and finally my little dog Toto. So basically, deep dark depression excessive misery etc. I don't know if I have anything to actually write ABOUT but I figure why not give it a shot again and considering I pretty much hate Facebook and want to kill it with fire lol. So we'll see how it goes, I guess.

Memories

I don't know how much you know about scottish families but when they get together everyone has "their" song that they sing. When I was a kid, my parents parties always became a sing along after a few drinks. This is the song I remember my dad singing as "his" song at all the parties, I can't even listen to this without picturing my dad and crying. alot.

I belong to Glasgow

One of my dad's favorite songs was "I belong to Glasgow" and at this point in time I have a few songs stuck in my head that relate to my dad.

My father Alexander Lindsay Liddell passed away Thursday September 18th at 12:30 pm after having a massive stroke on September 11th. It was a mercy that he did not survive this cerebral hemorrhage as he could not speak, swallow or move. My father would have been 72 on Monday September 22. So go in peace Daddy, we loved you more that we ever could have put into words.

Depression and cherries and cleaning - oh my

Sorry for the long away but things kind of got on top of me for a while.

The whole thing with Sam and Heather really threw me for a loop. I've never actually known a child that passed away and it makes you so very sad. Not a great excuse but I just couldn't stop thinking about her and circular thinking is a really hard trap to get out of. Luckily, my friend Sioux was not willing to let me just sit here and moulder and cry. We went and picked six buckets of cherries and then we spent the better part of a week pitting, baking and cooking. We made 70 jars of jam, 18 large pies and 8 small pies. It will be a very very long time before I want to see another cherry nevermind eat one LOL.

I also found something called FLYlady and it has been helping me get this place into some kind of order. I'm quite proud of myself actually. I cleaned out my kitchen, sorted my linen closet, cleaned out the bathroom, sorted the storage room, did all the laundry scattered about the place, thinned out my bookcase and the hall closet is next on my list.

I've also been busy with my brothers cottage. We gots renters. I even have a title LOL Property Manager. I've been doing all the booking, cleaning, getting the contract signed, taking the money and setting up the pages on the websites. It's been going really well so far and he's even been paying me for my work LOL. This weekend I'm off to the cottage with Katie and a couple of friends as one of them is going to Uni in a week or so and they want to have a weekend away (girl bonding or something lol) - I'm just basically going to cook and be their chauffeur. You can even take a look at the cottage if you want - www.cottageportal.com and look under Trentview Cottage on Rice Lake in Ontario.

BT was really sick over the weekend ( we call him Typhoid BT as he passes all his illnesses on to us lol) and true to form, Katie and I are both sniffling just as we are going away for the weekend - typical. So I'm back now and ready to bore the pants off you - hey now put those back on it's just a figure of speech - geez those american boys LOL

Finally

Well it's all over but the sadness.

Yesterday was Samantha's funeral. It was a lovely simple ceremony with many many supporters for Mark and Heather. I spent three days with them last week trying to help and not get in the way. I wanted to help them so badly, just do anything that would take some of the burden off their shoulders but also trying really hard not to intrude. It's that terrible grief, another presence in the room that is so strong you can almost touch it.

Heather is out of the hospital now and recovering physically but oh the sadness, just soul wrenching heartache. Rebuilding a normal life is going to be so hard but they have each other and their love is so strong, they have family who love them and friends who would do anything for them. Katie and I are going to spend a few days with Heather in a couple of weeks and we are going to do silly things. Girly stuff, painting toenails, facials, possibly dying hair just for the hell of it. I'm hoping that the sheer mindlessness of it all will give Heather a little bit of normal at least for a little while. *sigh* Sad is very tiring.

It's not fair.

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.

Samantha was a beautiful vibrant 12 year old girl. She died Saturday night in a fire in her home. She was the daughter of my friend Heather - also known as Rowan Mayfaire 79. Heather herself is in the hospital. My heart is breaking. Life isn't fair, so very really not fair.

UPDATE - Heather is in ICU, with a trach and will be sedated for 2 to 3 weeks (according to hubby). I've called the hospital and they won't tell me diddly other than she can have no visitors. Heather has smoke inhalation and some burns, Nick is alright and is already out of the hospital. I'll post as soon as I find out anything else. I know that both Mark and Heather will be touched and thankful for all your good wishes and condolences. I'm going to post the newspaper article about the fire.

This was in the Hamilton Spectator June 23


A 12-year-old girl is dead after being discovered in a closet during an early morning fire yesterday, while her mom and brother wandered the streets blocks away.

Samantha Allan was found by crews searching her Ramsden Drive home, near the Linc and Upper Sherman Avenue, around midnight.

Her 29-year-old mother, Heather, and four-year-old brother, Nicodemus (Nick), were located about two blocks away from the home. Police said Heather was covered in soot and may have been in shock.

Hamilton Staff Sergeant Bob Watts said a preliminary investigation shows the fire may have been caused by the girl's brother.

"We're leaning at this time to a four-year-old playing with matches," Watts said.

The Fire Marshal's Office, which was investigating at the home yesterday, could not confirm matches caused the blaze.

"We're here at the scene right now to go through it to either corroborate that or to refute it," said investigator Mariano Perini.

Emergency crews were called to the quiet neighbourhood early yesterday by an area resident who reported seeing smoke.

Once firefighters arrived, it was evident there was a fire burning in the two-storey home, said Hamilton fire safety officer John Verbeek.

The blaze is believed to have started in Nick's bedroom on the second floor.

Allan, whose legal name is Eaton, was found in the closet of her bedroom with no vital signs.

She was pronounced dead at hospital and a post-mortem examination confirmed she died from smoke inhalation.

Verbeek said there is no foul play suspected regarding her being in the closet, although investigators can't say for certain why she was there.

"Kids naturally get scared and they try to hide," he said. "It's not the first time that I've heard of a child being found in a closet."

Samantha's stepfather, Mark, was at work at the time of the blaze. He returned home while emergency crews were still on scene.

Verbeek said there was a working smoke alarm wired into the home's electrical system on the second floor of the home, although another battery-powered alarm at the top of the basement steps did not have a battery.

There was no indication from neighbours they heard any screams or yells.

The family had only recently moved into the neighbourhood, taking possession of the house May 30.

"They're still in the process of unpacking," Verbeek said.

Neighbours said they did not really know the family, although they mentioned seeing Samantha.

"I saw her out there playing with the four-year-old," said next door neighbour Donna Morris, "... It's hard to believe."

Heather and her son were also taken to hospital. She remained in the intensive care unit at Hamilton General Hospital yesterday, suffering from smoke inhalation.

It's unclear if her son was still in hospital yesterday but he was in good condition earlier in the day, police said.

Damage to the home is estimated at $50,000.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office has been called in to determine the cause of the fire.

That is standard practice when someone dies as a result of a blaze.


*sigh* Doesn't this just break your heart.

Friends who want an address to send condolence cards etc should contact my email.

Book Meme

Virginia Gal over at Gypsy Thoughts posted this and I thought I might as well give it a whirl.

MEMO
These are the top 100 or so books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users. Bold the books you have read, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.
*****

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Ulysses
Moby Dick
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian: a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Poisonwood Bible
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
Angels & Demons
Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
To the Lighthouse
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Dune
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes: A memoir
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
The Scarlet Letter
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
On the Road
The Catcher in the Rye
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
White Teeth
In Cold Blood: A true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
Treasure Island
1984
David Copperfield



Hmmm seems like I read a bit LOL

What the heck.

What type of Fae are you?

Okay I need some help

Well more advice really.

My brother is trying to rent out his cottage for the summer, on a week by week basis. I, of course, am drafted to help - this is my understood job after years of being big sister only THIS time he's gonna pay me to do it LOL.

Now I understand how to get it advertised here in the great white north BUT he'd really like to rent to foreigners - he thinks (and I kind of agree with him here) that they will take better care of his cottage and are less likely to steal his stuff. My problem is - I have no idea where to even start putting the info on the cabin so that european peoples can even think about renting it (and do I have to advertise in euros??? I don't understand those yet :() I need some help from the 'murricans in the crowd too.

Okay this is the cabin looking at it from the water's edge. Ignore the harley.



This is the view from the cottage looking towards the water - from here you can see the dock and size of the boat you can dock there.



Last but not least, a photo of the sunset from the waters edge. Beautiful ain't it?




Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks y'all.

What a Mom Says in 24 hours

I can relate.

Time to Review the ol' Blogroll

I guess it's time to review the Blogroll, I just did some editing on it and it has just occurred to me that there are several blogs on my roll that are, um, a bit risque and I know at least one of my new friends around here would probably like at least warning before she finds herself confronted by something she DOESN'T want to explain to her four year old. LOL.

I suppose I'll just go in alphabetical order just for clarity lol.

Beastliness - this "gent" lives in the UK and he is a very funny guy. Although I haven't seen much nudity on his blog, it is definately for adults only.

Blogois - B lives in the US in Washington state someplace. I've been reading her blog for a long time now and I feel like I know her. Heck I even won a contest there once and I have a lovely Blogois t-shirt! She is a wonderful writer - she wrote a wonderful creepy novel/short story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Domestic Psychology - oopsie seems I need to update that Blogroll AGAIN as I have her old address on it *sigh* anyhoodle - Cathy and her hubby Doug live with their tribe of wild indians (ok ok their delightful children - all five of them) They are warm and funny people who would give you shirt of their backs. They were enormously kind to me when I was at my lowest and I never thanked them properly. Love you guys.

Everyday Stranger - Helen lives somewhere in England with her hub, her twins and sometimes her 2 stepchildren. She is an awesome writer and a great read.

Gypsy Thoughts - Virginia Gal is a nice muslim girl from the US. I love reading her stuff - she sees some things differently and she travels to the most fabulous places. Such a jetsetter. lol.

I Need Stronger Medication - This is Tony and he was one of my very first friends in the blogosphere. He lives in Arkansas in the US, he is funnier than all get out, he's gay and I love him to death. He almost always makes me smile - well except for that last "rugby injury photo" - ewwwww stitches.

In The Gutter - this very nice lady is from the US but she lives in Britain with her hub while he is deployed in the military. They have five kids and well the chances for funny things happening seems to multiply with the number of kids lol. I'm new to her blog so things can only get better.

Infomaniac - this lady is another Canadian and her blog is NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR KIDS. Don't go unless you want to see many many naked people and funny funny irreverent humour. So if you go there now, you can't blame me for an penii you may encounter.

It's Always Something - Joan is another canuck who lives in Manitoba (otherwise known as the place in Canada with the coldest corner). Joanie is, umm, mature or experienced lol. She has a great sense of humour and some of the greatest Menonite recipes you'll find. Nice nice lady.

KristyK - Kristy live in New Mexico with her husband and their blended yours/mine/ours family of seven kids. I don't know how she does it but she does with amazing organization and tremendous love. I want her to adopt me! LOL

La Gringa's Blogicito - La Gringa is living life in the Honduras with her husband El Jefe. It is fascinating to read about her life there. I realize sometimes that even though I may be jealous of all that beauty , I need to thankful for just how good I have it here. Grass is greener syndrome, I'm sure LOL. Her pictures are so beautiful and her writing is wonderful.

Life after Nexcom - Mary Lou is a retired lady who live in northern Washington state. I almost feel like I'm talking to her when she writes and she also helped me through a very rough patch and I can't thank her enough. Since she's not old enough to be my mom, she's kind of like an auntie I don't see very often.

Mr Smith Goes to Delhi - I've just started reading this one about the Smith family - Mr and Mrs and their seven kids who have gone to Delhi for three years for Mr's job. I'm finding reading about their dealing with another culture very interesting.

My Boyfriend is a Twat - Now don't be fooled by the title of the blog. Twat rhymes with hat and in Britain it's another word for a twit. Zoe is the very very first blog I ever found, the first one I ever read and was the person who inspired me to give this a go. Posts there are a bit sporadic at the moment - Zoe has a very very sore back but I'm sure she will get back into the spirit soon. Heck she even wrote a book about her blog. So if you can get past the title, give her a go, you'll like her I promise. She even likes newts LOL.

Pax Romano - Pax is some kind of social worker kinda guy who live in New Jersey with his partner Whatshisname. Pax is a great writer, funny funny guy and very nice to boot.

Snicks - Snicks is another one of the people who I found very very early in this blogging thing. He writes very well (as a matter of fact he just started submitting articles for a gay pop culture bloggy thing AFTERELTON). He writes some of the funniest stories I've ever read - who can forget the fear of ducks post? LOL

Special K or Idle Thoughts of an Idle Person. Kat is one of the funniest, and I do mean THE funniest people I've ever read. She has caused me to spit my drink more than once LOL. If you are language sensitive, she may not be for you as she uses whatever word she needs at the moment but if you can stand a few "bad" words you'll love her! Kat introduced me to the concept of Luscious Mr Couch, Evil Mr Computer and Happy Underpants Time. Gad I love this woman LOL. I would SO sit down for a drink with her and probably laugh myself sick.

Taz and Pig - The Blog - Tazzy and Piggy are a gay couple in England and NOT SAFE FOR WORK (some, well, most of the time). Some people might find their language a little .....salty lol. I think they are crazy and funny and wonderful.

The More, The Messier - this very nice lady is raising 6 children - well 4 children, 1 teenage boy and one shrieking teenage girl monster lol. She is very very funny and if you enjoy funny kid stories- this is the lady for you.

The Pissed Kitty Cometh - darn it - need to fix that one on the Blogroll too. PKitty lives in LA, has 2 (?) dogs now and an unknown number of cats. She writes very funny stuff but she is, occasionally, not very safe for work. Most of the time, it's pretty g-rated though. She has raised her sarcasism to an artform. And she's pretty good with photoshop too lol.

The Rocking Pony - New to this blog as well but I like her stories and man oh man can she write. She is raising four kids and runs her own online store that sells homemade childrens clothing. I like her.

This Could Only Happen to Me good grief another one wrong on the BlogRoll. Dani lives in Colorado with her hub and kids and I enjoy reading along with her life. Things are pretty quiet right now but it probably won't stay that way for long LOL.

Tunnocks Teacakes Forever - New read for me but he's a guy who lives in the back of beyond in Scotland somewhere. A little surreal at times lol.

Wendster's Blog - what can I say that I haven't said already about Wendy. I like her, she's funny and she makes my day.


Ok that's it - it that all seem to suck up-y and ass kissy? Ah well, I wouldn't have people I didn't like on my BlogRoll now, would I?


Update - all the links on the BlogRoll are now fixed.

Bored

In the immortal lyrics of Iggy Pop -
I'm bored,
I'm the chairman of the bored.
I'm an endless dull monologue.
I bore myself to sleep at night.
I'm bored.

Nothing much going on around here this weekend - did some grocery shopping, put gas in the car (gasp the prices oh my achin wallet) and sat around watching tv - ish stuff. I'm sooooo disappointed with Britain's Got Talent - although the kid who won was good...he just didn't compare to the boy with the sweet voice. He sang like an angel and he came THIRD!!! Stupid people.

One of the blogs I read (Everyday Stranger) is written by a gifted writer and mother of twins and she had a "mommy guilt" episode (her daughters leg got stuck between the crib bars in the middle of night and she thought she was still teething). It got me to thinking about all those moments were you took your eyes of the little monsters for a couple of minutes and *bam* something awful happens and you feel so guilty. Jamie was ummm active and there seem to dozens of these incidents to no doubt torture me into old age lol. There was the time he was running around the apartment with his bottle in his mouth and he fell and put both front teeth through his lower lip. O gawd the blood, the red red blood. Trust me, there was ALOT of it. I couldn't decide on whether to take him to the ER or not so I called my mom - she laughed and said calm down and not to worry about it. I didn't and he was fine - although he does have a small scar under his lower lip. There was the time he went snooping through a drawer when he was 5 or so while I was doing dishes and he found some rank old nail polish of mine (it was black with silver glitter and that should tell you how old it was lol). He starts playing with it and got some in his eye. At that point the shrieking began. I'm on the phone to 911 and they tell me to run water over his eye so I'm on the phone with them, balancing a 5 year old on the kitchen counter, there are dishes thrown on the floor, and I'm drowning my son upside down in the sink waiting for the ambulance. Ah good times LOL. The ambulance got there just in time to stop me from drowning the kid accidently while trying to save his vision lol. We all got to go to the hospital (I had to wake up 2 yr old Katie to come along), and we were at the hospital for 10 minutes and they said nothing wrong , no nailpolish in his eye, you can go home. Hmmmm we came in an ambulance, no stroller and we live oooo quite a walk from the hospital. Grand. Oh the memories LOL You know they had the nerve at the hospital to tell me that I need to watch him better, I was sooo mad and so terribly terribly guilty. Joys of motherhood.

Another blog I was reading, this mother's baby girl had discovered the toy value of tampons or at least the applicator LOL. I have a very funny "Aunt Flow" story. It didn't actually happen to me but to a woman I worked with. She was the oldest of four girls and her youngest sister was 9 or 10 at the time. Second youngest sister was 13 and had just ummm "become a woman" (that discrete enough for you guys out there lol) and her mother had bought her sanitary pads so youngest sister asked what they were and mom says "feminine napkins". Fast forward two days, youngest sister's turn to set the table for dinner, family comes and sits down and everyone is staring at horror at the side of their plates because there with the knife and fork neatly placed there is a pad at the side of every plate LOL She says her dad was trying so hard not to laugh that he was nearly turning purple. Now THAT is a story that will live in your memories forever like it has in mine LOL.

Seriously........

Alright I need to a grip here. Depression doesn't just have teeth - that sucker has FANGS and it's sooooo hard to fight off. But I'm trying to shake it off.

I've been blog trawling and finding new and interesting things to read. I've heard all along about "Mommie bloggers" and some people love em and some people hate em. I suppose it all depends on whether you find reading about what someone else's kids do amusing. Personally I like those stories and some of these women are genuinely gifted writers (and comediennes lol). Not to say that there aren't a few that I've read where I got past three posts and got a little tired of "omg little jonny is such a perfect angel blah blah blah". I'm far more interested in the real people who admit that their kids drive them mental and they have plotted their escape many times lol. Since I only had the two kids and I come from a small family myself, I'm fascinated with really big families and how they cope with things. There are three that have had me really interested lately - The Rocking Pony
very funny lady with four kids. Next is The More the Messier - this way busy lady has SIX kids and is still sane (well mostly) - she has moody teenager problems and a wicked sense of humour. Last but certainly not least is Wendster's Blog She has four kids ranging from 18 to 4. Maybe I'm most impressed by her real bravery with her blog. She made New Year's Resolutions at, well, New Year's (duh lol) and she has kept them! One of her resolutions was to lose weight and *ahem* POST HER WEIGHT ON HER BLOG EVERY DAY!!!! There should be some kind of medal for that kind of bravery.

So that's what I've been doing lately - reading other people's blog archives lol. It has helped though to break that blogger block I had, I really am inspired now BUT I don't think I'll be posting my weight every day LOL

Hmmmm

I'm starting to wonder why I'm bothering to keep this blog going - self therapy maybe LOL.
Nothing much going on around here - got new migraine medication that makes me feel worse, getting new glasses so I can read things again. The house is still a sty, my ex is still...well, himself and I'm bored outta my friggin tree.

All growed up

Yes indeed that is my "baby" in the pictures below all gussied up for Prom. It seems like it was just yesterday that she looked like this -




Or even like this -



But I've always been amazed that my girl was so beautiful.

Her Prom was last week and even though it was expensive (oh god my wallet may NEVER recover) it was a once in a lifetime thing. And well, I got one hell of a deal on that dress !!! So even though she went "stag" with her girlfriends because the boys there aren't smart enough to want to date her OR she's too smart to date the boys from the shallow end of the gene pool (lol of course I could be the tiniest bit biased here lol), she had a good time and I'm glad she didn't miss it.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

I don't care what anyone else thinks - she is in MY world anyways.

Vacation Snaps

So I was on vacation with my friend Siouxie and Dan up in the cold cold north only it wasn't so cold. First night was kind of nippy but after that the weather got better and better and you really start to appreciate the beauty of spring, well, springing into being all around you. lol.

There being only a dodgy radio and no television, animal watching became our main amusement.
The first animals around (other than the birds) were the chipmunks.




Then there were the squirrels. There were the loud fearless and fairly obnoxious red squirrels and the much larger and quieter black squirrels. The red squirrels pretty much had the cabin staked out waiting for food but one black squirrel would sneak up and eat whatever he could get before getting attacked by the red squirrels. Then there was a coup. The black squirrel gathered all his friends and the black squirrel gang invaded. the red squirrels were not amused LOL.



There was one red squirrel who was very very ambitious. I caught a picture of him taking a whole doughnut. He took that doughnut and took it about three branches down from the top of a very high tree and stashed it. It was covered in chocolate so he must have been one very hyperactive squirrel that night LOL.



There were lots and lots and lots of chickadees, funny little things that they are. They have almost no fear of humans and are so fun to watch. One poor little one flew into the cabin window and stunned himself so he sat on the edge of the porch for a good ten minutes before flying away. He let me get sooooo close to him.




And then there were the blue jays, so beautiful but oh so noisy. They are the juvenile delinquents up there honestly lol. They are also incredibly camera shy lol, it took me nearly an hour to get this picture.



There was a fox but he was too quick for me and there were raccoons but really at 4 am I was thinking more about getting to the outhouse than getting a picture LOL

Break out the grease paint

More from the UK

Well Episode two of 2008 Britain's Got Talent is out and there may be some competition for that sweet voiced kid. Listen to this kid.



Must be some weird DNA combination of Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton.

Then there was this lady.....


I'm starting to think Britain has wayyyyy more talent than North America LOL.