Well, that's just dandy.

I woke up in a really good, energetic mood today. Yes, I realize how strange that sounds coming from me, the laziest person on the planet. Yes, I too am wondering how long this energy will last. Probably until I look in the utility room and see that pile of laundry again.

How do two people go through that much laundry in two weeks? How? Someone please explain it to me.

In any case, I'll give you a few little tidbits of my day so far. It's 8:00 am, which used to be 9 am, but my heart is still set on it being 7 am, because if it were 7 am, I would be back in Tucson.

So, let's number this, shall we? Like Monday Mumbles by the infamous, pant-unbuttoning Tooj.

1) I had a dream about my emerald ring last night. Not my wedding ring, which I can promise cost a lot more to obtain, lol, but my 24k gold emerald ring that my aunt gave my mother because it's my birthstone, and my mother in turn gave me. I dreamed I lost it. That would break my heart. So now it's on my right index finger, feeling awkward, because I haven't worn it in over a year.

2) There's a weird sounding siren outside right now that I'm trying to ignore, because I was just outside and it was clear as a bell. So it can't be a tornado siren, because tornadoes need two very different air currents, and that only can happen when it storms. Please don't tell me otherwise. I will panic. It won't be pretty.

3) They are making a movie of the video game "Prince of Persia", with the guy that directed Spiderman, Sam Raimi, and the main actor is Jake Gyllenhaal. Oh yeah. Awesome, awesome game to watch so I can't wait for the movie.

4) Andrew asked me if he looked bigger yet. Bigger as in, more muscular. I made him flex... then I punched his booby and said, "Ow. Yes."

5) Ever since I was a little girl, my bladder has been immediately and immensely effected by the sound of the shower running. Andrew is no exception: I now have to pee.

6) If my husband can remember to go to the commissary when he gets off work, I'll be making lasagna tonight. If he can't, he won't be eating, dang it. I want lasagna!! The only thing standing between me and it is the ricotta cheese I somehow managed to... misplace (or maybe possible kinda sorta didn't remember to buy...). LASAGNA!!!

7) I've been playing CafeWorld on FaceBook. There is no hope for me. I am addicted. I've even been setting alarms on my phone to tell me when something is done, so I can run to my computer and serve it...

8) Today, I need to do dishes, clean up the bathroom, and take the bird out of his cage for the first time in over a month... and then vacuum, because there will be bird seed everywhere.

Cards to buy this month: Nov. 5-- Mom and Dad celebrate 22 LONG years together
Nov. 10-- Ben turns 16
Nov. 12-- Amy turns 21
Nov. 26-- Thanksgiving cards for: Grandma and Grandpa Adami, Matt and Megan, Mattison gets her own :D, Steve and Chelsey, David and Rachel, Harmony gets her own :D, Grandpa Cavanagh, Mom and Dad, and Leslie, Chip, Ben and Phil.
Total: 12 cards

Beans. I'm gonna go bake some cookies.

Lots to do, lots to say, with a very somber ending.

I have loads of things to put into this post today, so I'm going to color code them.

For the Blogging Party hosted by the amazing, intellectual Alexes from One Cluttered Brain: Purple!

For the give-aways and other awesome things about Mrs. B, the Pagan Soccer Mom:
Orange!

For just the regular old Helen stuff, we'll go with....:
This color! LOL.

For the Blogging Party, I need to answer these questions. Alexes will then read them and match me up with another blogger... and I have no clue what happens from there, lol, that's all I understood. But I'm one of those learn as you go kinds of people, so I'll figure it out.

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging? I'm not much of a snacker... heck, as much as I truly love food, I'm not really much of an eater! Andrew and I are drinkers, lol, we could pretty much live off liquids. I drink chocolate milk while I blog :)

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without? You know, I would have to say, I wouldn't want to live without running water. Not really for any particular reason, except that unless there's an actual, well-built outhouse, I can't get my squat down pat. Some article of clothing always gets wet... so I couldn't live without that wonderful toilet, which would be impossible without running water!

3. Beach, Mountains or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice? Mountains. Put me in a cabin in the mountains...but that's out of those three. If I had a choice truly? I want a sprawling ranch house in the middle of the desert, with horses and dogs, cats, chickens, and a BIG aviary full of cockatiels!

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty? Laundry. I hate laundry. 'Nuff said.

5. Prefer parties and socializing or staying at home with the fam? I love going to family get-togethers, either all of our family or my family with other people's families. I love it!

6.Favorite movie? The Long, Long Trailer, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

7. Do you sleep in your make up or remove it like a good girl every night? I don't wear enough make-up to worry about, so I usually sleep in it. I mean, cover-up and mascara? The worst that can happen is a dirty pillow and some clogged pores.

8. Where is your favorite place to shop? I like Kohls a lot... and Borders or Barnes and Noble!

9. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time? Write. I would write if I had more time and more inspiration to do so.

10. Are you a big spender or frugal? I spend too much, too often. It's always little stuff, but little stuff adds up FAST.


So now, let me tell you a little about the give away going on at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. First off, I don't know how she does it. She managed to do a give away EVERY day of October, but I couldn't even get my butt here to BLOG once a day this month for NaBloWriMo. Seriously. Mrs. B gets my utter admiration.

Today, she's got several give aways and I'll link all of them here. There's the book from Quirk Classics, called Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. There's a subscription to Circle Magazine. Last but not least, she's giving away a spooky keyring from Carioca Witch.

I'm crossing my fingers for that book. I read a little of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and it was both awesome and hilarious!

The wind is blowing like crazy outside and freaking me out more than a little. I watched some leaves going left, and then others were going right and I was thinking, "OMG, the wind is going in two directions... or maybe it's going in the same direction, but in a circle??" and then I freaked out even more because the words "wind circle" translate into "tornado" to me. Andrew's not home, he's in the field, so it's just me and the feathered menace.

Because I don't know if I'll be able to do it tomorrow, or the day after, I want to tell you about what happened one year ago on Halloween night.

Last year at this time, Andrew had been gone for only a few weeks to basic training. I was still in that guest-nice-do-it-all period with David and Rachel at the apartment, I was working 5 days a week in a brand new job, and not getting much sleep because Harmony cried if you looked at her funny...oh wait, she still does O.o.

Gramma took a bad turn just after the wedding, as though getting out of the house and to the ceremony took everything she had left. They put her in a place called Pepe's House, on the back side of TMC (Tucson Medical Center, where I was born), and every day that I had off, I went to see her. I saw her as often as I could...most days, she just slept. Some days she knew who I was and why I was there, but not often. Mom and I visted together a few times, but usually, it was just me. If she woke up, I would talk to her about Andrew, or I'd show her pictures of the wedding. She told me a few stories of younger days, but she ran out of wind fast.

Pepe's House was good to her. They had a harpist come every day and play in the halls, and it was beautiful. Gramma loved it, and so did I. They brought her what she wanted to eat, not what was good for her, and made sure she was as comfortable as she could be. She was dying of lung cancer, with COPD, and only about 10% of her respiratory system was functioning. When they examined her earlier that month, before she got so bad, the doctors were shocked and amazed that she was still relatively mobile. We knew better. If she'd have had enough reasons, the old woman would have held on another 100 years for spite.

On Halloween day, before work, I went to see her. It was a Friday last year...I held her hand, and I told her I loved her. I told her I would be back to see her on my next day off, and that she wasn't allowed to run off with any cute nurses or anything while I was gone. She was lucid, in good spirits, and she told me she would be there. When I left, I drove past an elementary school on recess. There were little witches and a mermaid on the swings. The mermaid was being pushed by Batman, and I smiled and wished I was that little again for a hundred reasons, but mostly so I could dress up and play on the playground, lol. It was exactly 20 days after our wedding.

I spent the night on 4th Ave in Tucson with a friend, having a wild time, enjoying myself until way too late. The next morning, I got the phone call from my Aunt Shelly...Gramma had died sometime that night, probably a little after midnight. I was the last person she saw other than a nurse, but they said that the harpist had been there that evening. Aunt Shelly, my mom, and my aunt and uncles all agreed that she had been holding on to see my wedding day, and now that she had, she decided it was time to let go...

I tried to get ahold of Andrew, but there was no way other than a letter. He didn't know until almost two weeks later. And I cried. I cried for a long time, I cried often, and I'm not done crying yet. I'm crying now, and I was crying in bed this morning and last night.

When I think about it, I see the playground. I see them happy and playing, all dressed up, and I hope that was how Gramma left: happy. I like to think she left us still hearing the harp in her sleep, with my wedding pictures on her nightstand, and her beautiful, hard-working hands finally at rest. I don't know for sure, but that's what I like to think. I miss her.

Halloween has always been quite the night for me. It's the night Andrew told me he loved me for the first time, the night when my friends and I could be ourselves and not be called weird, and the night I lost one of the most important people in my life.




Happy Halloween, Gramma.

Wordless Wednesdays: Anniversary Pictures

Andrew

+




Helen

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Yay!!

The shpiel is very, very important.

I've decided to go a little deeper with my blog than I have before. Not necessarily today, but in the long run, I want to put more than my complaints, troubles, and daily happenings here. Why? I don't have a reason why. I don't even have a specific audience in mind, although I notice I tend to lean towards Mommy Blogs more than anything, even if I'm not a mommy.

My problem is that deeper means longer. Longer means no one is going to take the time to sit and read my mind. Maybe if I intersperse it with pictures and jokes, it won't seem so long...but it will still be long.

And I can't intersperse. My laptop was read it's last rites a few days ago and this desktop hates my very existence. It blames me for the virus that took it's brain.

I plead the 5th.

However, as I said, today is not necessarily a deep day. Today is a bread-making, laundry-folding, eat-the-last-corner-brownie-on-the-pretense-of-needing-to-wash-the-pan, celebrating kind of day.

Why do I need to celebrate? Let me explain. I got a phone call this morning from a place called Kirlin's Hallmark. Ah, yes, do you know of my adoration of Hallmarks in general? No? Mwaaahahaha! Why do I adore them? Let me list the reasons: Kristal, Amy, Anne, John, Julie, other Julie... ornaments, Christmas cards, Snoopy, WillowTree... I could go on and on. I loved working there, more than any place I've worked yet!

I start work at Kirlin's Hallmark tomorrow at 11:00 am, in a solid colored collared shirt, solid colored pants or skirt, and tennies, for minimum wage at about 25 hours a week.

You have nooo idea how happy I am. I am getting the heck out of Dodge, people, I am gone like a freight train, like the Seminoles around the Ocochobee... I am done staying here in this house day in and day out!! And I'll be making money for not being bored out of my mind.

Hi, welcome to Hallmark. What special person or occasion can I help you shop for today? Let me know if I can be of any help, get you a box, whatever you need, okay?

Sorry... I was practicing my shpiel.

I don't even have a title....

My laptop is dead.

Yesterday, I had to take Zedd back to the car doctor and on the way there, I had to stop very, very suddenly at a red light. It was either that or be a) photographed and sent my ugly mug in the mail and b) pulled over right then and there because there was a cop next to me.

Laptop went flying.

Not even 30 minutes prior, I was on it fine and dandy, typing up my Thankful Thursday post which I saved to finish at Borders while I waited on the car, so it had to be the brief flight it made from the passenger seat to the passenger floorboard... The screen does not work. Nothing. It turns on, makes all the right sounds like it's brought up my desktop; but I see nothing but black on the screen.

And I loathe this desktop. I hate being stuck in this little room, at this slow computer. It won't run IMVU and what am I gonna do there? I have a pack to take care of... I can't play CafeWorld on Facebook, and that breaks my heart...

Andrew says we'll get it fixed as long as the price of fixing the screen does not exceed the price the we paid for the computer itself. If it does... we'll just have to look into getting another, albeit cheaper and less awesome, computer.

*sigh*

Add that up with a ruined awesome purse (ink catastrophe), Chip being taken to the hospital for emergency gall bladder surgery, Bennie with a broken wrist due to free running, cramps like my uterus wants to jump out of my body, and various other minor thingies, yesterday was darned fantastic.

But what I'm thankful for on Thursday was/is: I am thankful for a husband that I can laugh with. I blew a huge raspberry on the part of his arm right above the armpit, that tender little skin there, and he called me a butt bubble. I think we laughed like 5 year olds for a good 15 mins, lol, over butt bubbles and armpit raspberries and the entire fact that we were laughing about them...
<3

Tagged!!

"Sacre bleu! I meesed one!" Well, no, in this case, it would be, "Sacre Bleu! I've been tagged!" Little Mermaid on the brain, I suppose... anyway. I was tagged by none other than the Domestic Diva herself. And she's right: this was fun :)


1. Where is your cell phone?
In the bedroom, on the nightstand, where I left it when I got up this morning

2. Your hair?
Needs to be washed, lol

3. Your mother?
Is in Arizona, probably at work.

4. Your father?
Is also in Arizona, probably on the couch.

5. Your favorite food?

Italian... or chocolate... or anything that resembles food...

6. Your dream last night?

Totally not going to go there...

7. Your favorite drink?

Chocolate milk! Or creme soda... or hot chocolate

8. Your dream/goal?

To be a happy, and good, mother

9. What room are you in?

The dining room, kinda sorta

10. Your hobby?

I'm a certified professional bird taunter.

11. Your fear?

I'm afraid of being that person no one wants to talk to because everything that comes out of her mouth is negative and hurting.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?

Wherever Andrew is, with at least 2 kids and a dog, and this same stupid bird

13. Where were you last night?

Dead to the world lol

14. Something that you aren’t?

I can think of a whole lot of things that I currently am... OH, I 'aren't' playing Viva Pinata :D

15. Muffins?

Yes, please.

16. Wish list item?

Hyundai Accent... a little powder blue one with a black door stripe

17. Where did you grow up?

San Manuel, AZ

18. Last thing you did?

I used the bathroom :D

19. What are you wearing?

My black broomstick skirt and a cowl neck blue shirt with longsleeves

20. Your TV?

Is really big and in the den where it belongs

21. Your pets?

I have a feathered menace.

22. Friends?

Are all very far away, except for Teresa, who is busy often

23. Your life?

is amazing and fantastic compared to everyone else's in this world

24. Your mood?

Not bad, kinda hungry... really thirsty.

25. Missing someone?

Andrew, actually.

26. Vehicle?

Zedd.

27. Something you’re not wearing?

Earrings lol

28. Your favorite store?

I really like Kohl's

29. Your favorite color?

Pink, green, white and purple

30. When was the last time you laughed?

Yesterday maybe?

31. Last time you cried?

It's been a while.

32. Your best friend?

Megan :D

33. One place that I go to over and over?

STARBUCKS!!!!

34. One person who emails me regularly?

My mother -_-
35. Favorite place to eat?
Longhorn Steakhouse

I am going to tag.... all of you: Michelle, Clover Lane, Tooj, One Cluttered Brain, and Cassie

Wordless Wednesday

As always, a little less than wordless.

I can't seem to get a good copy of the video, so indulge me and click .

It's a video of Mattison, somewhere between 6 months and 12 months, I'm thinking about 7 and a half actually. She's eating a pear and staring out the bedroom window :)


This is Megan, me, and Chels at my bridal shower. Meg's holding Mattison and the wee little blondie in the back there is Jana. Other than Jana, and Leslie who didn't come (yes, that's right, my mother in law didn't come to my bridal shower, because she had other things going on and couldn't find the time), those are all of the Adami girls so far!