Letterboxing on Holloween

A few weeks ago I heard about letterboxing from my facebook friend Laurie Eller. It's a type of treasure hunt for letterboxes that are hidden in different places all over the US. So, I checked out my area online and discovered there were a lot! We went to two different ones today in cemeteries. What better time than Halloween to go hunting through a cemetery or two right? The clues took us all around the cemetery and into the woods. Here's Sydney looking in the pile of tree limbs for the box. It was only lightly raining but it added to the mysteriousness of the day. The girls really enjoyed following all the clues, rain and all.
We saw this really creepy stone. Looks like a Hollywood movie prop.

Just a normal Halloween day walking through the grave yard. While we were there we came across the grave of one of Sydney's classmates that died last year. His name was Ayden Crawley and he accidentally hung himself from a tree in his backyard, so sad.
Well, it's still raining and doesn't show any signs of stopping...should make for an interesting time trick - or -treating!

Pirate Day....Argh!

Today was dress like a pirate day at Salem elementary school. Just pay a dollar and the kids get to come to school dressed up like a pirate! (kinda like casual Fridays at work) Melia was all into it! It's amazing...I didn't know that I had pirate clothes just hanging around the house but the outfit turned out great! Melia enjoyed the 'finger hook'! LOL!

I told her to make sure she keeps the bandanna over her forehead or else she might look like a cleaning lady! hehe. She looked at me weird.

Mutant Ladybugs

Once upon a time (within the last 15 years or so) the farmers in our area were having problems with a sort of fungus or something destroying their crops so the scientists discovered a mutant ladybug that would eat the fungus and not harm the crop (or so the story goes...). So now every late October and the weather is nice we are bombarded with mutant ladybugs between the hours of 2 -5 p.m. We're not talking your adorable, bright red, cute little lady bugs here. We're talking about big, dull reddish brown, stupid mutant ladybugs. When I say bombarded I mean BOMBARDED! Just to step outside those suckers land all over you and in your hair and try their darnedest to follow you in the house. Once, at about this time of year, we painted our large oil tank outside and by the time we were done it was covered with said bugs just a wigglin and a squirmin away. Serves 'em right if you ask me. Anyway, outside is not the only problem. They crawl through any little window screen space and walk all over the windows and fly in crazy circular patterns above the lamps bashing their little bodies on the ceiling....very annoying! The most humane person will take a glass of water and gather the suckers in it and pour the water outside and save the bug. I am not one of those people. I get the vacuum out and suck them up, which is easy if they are just wondering around on a flat surface but it's trickier to suck up a free-flying one that is flying in a circular motion! You see the extension rod on the vacuum is only so long and pulling on it to reach the ceiling to chase down a bug is very tiring and takes determination! (and it probably looks totally ludicrous to anyone watching and not ticked off at a bug) Not only are these bug annoying because they attack you and crawl all over the house but they leave a very stinky stink if you tick them off. The smell is a sort of cross between metal and rotting...no, it smells like rotting metal (if that were possible.) So, every year they crawl out of hibernation, mate, and annoy us like crazy....thanks scientists!

Mindless Ramblings

I spend most days being followed....I get up to do something and have at least 2 little critters at my heals wondering what I am going to do next. Fluke could really care less but Max and Tater notice my every move. When I go outside to the barn or building Tater will jump up and down at my side and I swear she is thinking..."where are we going? what are we going to do? I bet it'll be fun!? where are we going? oh, boy!" then she'll spot a grasshopper and run to chase it. In the evenings Max will come and sit at my feet and just look at me. He'll tilt his head and talk with his eyes, "you're going to do something interesting aren't you? Isn't it time for you to go to the bathroom? I'll follow you and make sure that everything is safe. It's dark in there you know!" Max, my ever devoted body guard wants to be the first in a room, or won't leave the door if it is shut (no matter what side of the door he is on!) A shut door some how creates little paws that appear under the door, just making sure that I know that they are there. You know, moral support.
Tater loves to keep tabs on the neighborhood (from inside the house). She'll start with a small bark and then break into a full fledged rampage! "I heard something about .4 miles from the house! I must go check it out and let everyone know that I heard it! I must go!" So out she goes and runs around and barks randomly.
I took the girls to the eye dr. for their annual eye exams. I went to the eye dr. at the super-duper deluxe WalMart in Hickory.....SOOOOO much easier than the dr. that is in town! First of all, the dr. in town is so booked that it takes nine (9) months to schedule an appointment and then it takes four (4) weeks for the glasses to come in and there are only a few frames to choose from. What a hassle and so I said forget that! errrrr.... Melia got her eyes examined (well, they actually took pictures of her eyes) in Pre-K and they recommend getting her to an eye dr. Well, they (the eye picture people) harassed me to see if I had taken her to get her eyes examed for months until I told them to basically buzz off. So, Melia wanted glasses and Sydney couldn't didn't want to waste her time with another eye exam. I made an appointment and took them in and come to find out that Melia doesn't need glasses (she was rather disappointed, let me tell ya) and Sydney's Rx changed a bit. So, Sydney picked out really cute purple frames and they arrived in a week! OMG, this was SOOOO much easier than the other BS I/we had to go through! Plus these frames (which were only $9!!) are guaranteed for a full year!
Now Sydney is stylin in her cute and trendy purple frames, short hair cut, and Old Navy wardrobe (we did some fall clothes shopping, had a good time too!).
Yes, my Sydney has hit her tween years. She is 10.5 going on 16...we even put her boobs in training! (don't tell her I'm letting all of you know) She is counting down the days until middle school and lockers. I'm looking forward to it also (not the locker part...well, you know what I mean). I really enjoyed middle school and I think that she will to. She's in the stage where I still exist but I need to keep my distance. She's always been a touch-me-not but now there is added eye rolling. hehe! Ah, the days of adolescents!
We, well Melia, now has a cat. She named him Smokey but I call him Mr. Cat and now everyone calls him Mr. Cat so that is his name. (I need to change his name at the vet's office) Anyway, he was going to be a mostly outside cat but he has become a full fledged inside cat because any pet that I invest $$ in at the vet is going to be well taken care of. I took that little guy for his shots and a check up and we walked out of there with vaccines and tests from everything from rabies to leukemia! (because who wants a cat with leukemia? the radiation treatments alone would kill him and who wants a bald cat?) He had ear mites and I had to put drops in his ears for 5 days. I still don't think he's forgiven me for that...you know how cats can be. Next is getting him fixed and declawed mostly because whenever we play with him we look like scratching posts....we must fix that!
And that's pretty much it peeps! Until next time...