Supernatural

Do you believe in ghosts? I don't. That is until the GHOST HUNTERS, Jason and Grant come on Wednesday nights (on the SciFi) and CONVINCE me that there must be 'something' out there. I routinely freak myself out watching them and the TAPS team hunting the paranormal--the hair on the back of my neck prickle and I get that out of breath feeling. They go to purported 'haunted' locations with the goal of 'debunking' the alleged paranormal activity. They claim that they can explain away 80% of 'hauntings'. They supposedly only find 20% of cases to be true 'hauntings' or paranormal activity.

The TAPS team creeps around with high tech equipment. Electromagnetic Field meters, cameras, night vision cameras, recording devices and of course the ever present camera crew--who ALSO have 'personal experiences'. The camera crew has even been ATTACKED.......

My favorite episode to date is a lighthouse in St. Augustine Florida.....I SAW a black figure peering over the upper railing....it was super creepy.

I've been disappointed of late in recent episodes....there hasn't been ANY action...until LAST NIGHT'S SHOW. They got some good 'evidence', once again making my creepy meter shift towards the believer side.

Ok, I have some questions, though. First, WHY must they ghost hunt in the DARK? Huh? Why don't they look for ghosts and ghostly activity in the daylight where people can SEE IT? And how are disembodied voices captured on tape, but people can't hear them?

Now, I admire the TAPS team for their show premise....to investigate in teams..to try to 'debunk' instead of going in with pre-conceived notions of ghosts. To take pity on families with traumatized children. All quite admirable. However, in between creepy episodes, I revert to the 'NAH' side of the coin.

Now, Mr. Perfectly has had to perform his share of late night house searches....to squelch my unreasonable fears...he searches for mysterious smoke smells and funny noises.......he's quite patient with me, but I suspect that each Wednesday, as I DVR the latest Ghost Hunter episode, he sighs and wonders if he'll get a good nights sleep or not.

So, tell me.....do you have ghost stories? Do you have photographic PROOF? I anxiously await your responses.......tell me ALL about it.......I can't wait to hear about/see your ghosts.

The OCD of it all

Jonniker, yesterday, brought up several topics for discussion. I love her blog since she engages you to converse…to comment….it’s brilliant. Of course, I get all these ideas to type myself, and again get that whole ‘blog fear’ thing of am I stealing? Am I unable to form an idea on my very own? Will the blogger that inspired my topic be offended? It’s all too much to take in…I am a virgin blogger and I don’t know the rules….so hopefully someone will set me straight if I’m committing cardinal sins, or something.

Ok, Jonniker…I don’t wash my undies with my regular clothes. Clothes of like colors are washed together. I will, however, wash similarly colored socks with regular laundry. I wash ‘whites’ in HOT with BLEACH. This includes undies---of all colors and any kitchen towel. I’ve learned to try not to wash my bras in hot w/ bleach, because the purpose of a bra is to carry the weight of the girls in a proper manner, and hot water and bleach tend to reduce the effectiveness of this ability ……but I DON’T LIKE washing bras w/ regular clothes….not one bit. Let’s just say—dark, and MOIST. Shudder.

I’ve discussed my loathing of general household chores here. This leads to FURTHER question of my sanity, ( I am somewhat of a germaphobe) because, I will re-use a towel (my own towel)—they take up SO much room in the laundry, and a couple of uses won’t matter, BUT, I must have a towel with a tag. The tag always stays at the top of the body, so I can tell the ‘top’ of the towel from the bottom. I do not wipe my face or body with the parts of the towel that dry the nether regions…..ewwwww. I’m pretty obsessive about my towels…..don’t let any stray boys wipe their toothpastey mouths on my towel either……garrghhhhhh. I also do not enjoy SHARING a hand towel. I dread the bathroom in other people’s homes because I do not KNOW who has used the hand towel. If people have their ‘nice’ towels displayed for guest use, and all folded pretty..I use the BACK fold of the towel, in hopes that other people don’t suffer the same issues I have, and they used the FRONT. They should make pretty disposable towels for guest use.......

I will, however kiss my dog....but I don't like to share bottles, straws or eating utensils with anyone. So, as you can see, I'm a plethora of contrasts.

What about you? Do you have any 'issues'? Do you have things within you that are stark contrasts? Do tell!!

Let's party like it's 2011

How was your Easter? Mine was lovely. My BFF Teenie's apparently was in the future.

She joined us for Easter Sunday Dinner of Ham, spinach salad, rice casserole, homemade rolls and corn at Perfectly's dad's house. She brought 2 desserts--fabulous. We gorged ourselves on food, and made fun smalltalk over dinner. We drank a nice bottle of Stone Hill winery wine that was quited aged (with sediment)....but further label reading indicated that it was best consumed when 'young'.....oh well...it tasted good anyway....She began telling us of her recent 'ski' trip to a man made mountain in St. Louis.......it was quite the ordeal, where she was heavily bruised and battered.

She confessed to taking old muscle relaxers that she had when she threw out her back "in 2011". I asked her...'in 2011?", and she said YES....remember when I messed my back up when I bent over to get groceries out of the car (making fun of herself for torquing her back while doing a simple task)....I stared at her, amazed...and she was all
'WWHHHHAAAAATT??? YOU'VE taken old medicine before haven't you???" Again, I looked at her amazed and put my hand on her arm and said, "Teenie, we haven't REACHED 2011 yet" She CRACKED up and realized what she'd said....and, backpedaling, said the muscle relaxers were from 2001.........hahahahaha.

Perfectly's dad moved the wine.

Skip to my Lou

I spent Saturday afternoon with my niece, Heather, her 4 yr old daughter, Maddison, and Heather's 4 yr old sister, Mia. I'm not all that great with kids.....the germaphobe in me doesn't really get on well with the toddler set. Maddi and Mia seemed THRILLED, however, that I was along for the afternoon. When we went to Hobby Lobby, BOTH girls were clamoring to go in with PERFECTLY.....to hold my hand (deep breathing, here--hands are the WORST for passing illness). We got through Hobby lobby and all it's glassware with no episodes, except Maddi exclaiming to Heather (and the other shoppers) that she had to POOP, really, REALLY bad.

Heather and I decided to run to the mall to see if the E.A.S.T.E.R. B.U.N.N.Y. was there. We didn't tell the girls where we were going or why. We parked in the lot, and once again, BOTH girls were anxiously awaiting my HANDS to hold. They were talking about running. I don't run. I asked them if they knew how to skip..and Mia proceeded to skip (in a 4 year old way), so Off I went, with a girl in each hand, skipping through the parking lot. I'm certain this was quite the site to behold....the fat a jiggling, the purse heavily falling off the shoulder onto my forearm.

The girls' PEALS of laughter made the spectacle all worthwhile. The 10 skips I skipped, made them LAUGH OUT LOUD, which was worth all the germs their little hands surely were giving me.

Malls no longer have a teenager with an attitude taking Polaroids for a rip-off $5. They now have 'photo packages' available for the parents to shell out big bucks for ($45.99 for the biggest). We just wanted some pics of the girls with the E.A.S.T.E.R. B.U.N.N.Y.

We called Mr. Perfectly, and he came to the rescue. He came with his camera in tow, and saved the day with some snapshots of the girls.



Afterwards, the girls got to choose some coloring books and 'bunny' glasses.


Maddi is on the left, and Mia on the right. I'm so happy I spent the afternoon with them. They were tons of fun and aren't they ADORABLE?

Promises...Promises

I know I've been titillating you with my promises of posting about girls night........well, I don't know how to take pictures from the camera and put them on the computer. Mr. Perfectly TRIED to teach me last week, but it didn't stick.......

I must confess, though, that I didn't get a photo of my chemical burned neck or zit--at least a close up...I did get some pictures of the girls and some feet.....so when I get to it this weekend, I'll post about our really fun night. Quiet, but fun.

Go here to see Mr. Perfectly's photo blog. He's good. Comment if you want...he likes to read comments....if you LIKE it that is!!!!

Today's photo is an awesome one of son #2 and Perfectly's dad. It's an awesome shot and a fabulous sentiment.

Gaffe Du Jour (via e-mail)

Applicant: "When can I expect my application to be processed, I applied Monday."

Me: Checked data base for online transactions--found nothing

Me: "Did you mail it in?"

Applicant: "Yes
Sent via Blackberry by AT&T"

Me: Print the e-mail and snicker at his stupidity w/ a co-worker.

Me: "We don't accept applications in this manner. The only way to apply is to go to (website we use at work) or to submit a paper application and a $100 fee."

Applicant: "I sent in the application with a $100 money order."
Sent via Blackberry by AT&T

Me: DOH.....Felt really stupid.

Roxanne

Although I doubt if I'm really the 'authority' on the subject, it's my feeling that our small city doesn't have many, well....'houses of ill repute'. I know because we are the Capitol city of my state and because we have legislators, that these services exist, but where and how, I'm just not clear. I also am always shocked by 'drug busts' in our community...I mean, I'm not naive enough to think it doesn't exist, but major 'busts'?

Anyway, there is one 'Adult shop' that cropped up in a residential neighborhood a couple of years back. It was all the scandal when it opened it's doors. After a period of time, it became a 'juice bar' with live dancers. No alcohol license, therefore alcohol isn't supposed to be served. Again, SCANDAL ENSUED in our community.

Recently, the 'juice bar' was the subject of a STING OPERATION....a sting operation in my little midwestern town? It seems like something like that should be reserved for big cities or something...maybe where prominent Governors are?

This sting operation involved the local sheriff's office calling to arrange a 'room' for a party. "Dancers" and a mattress were to be provided. Oh, and they were welcome to bring their own booze. So, the officers showed up, the girls showed up, and performed 'sex acts' which weren't specified--although I believe it may have been with each other. Now tell me......just how many offficers sat in the assignment room holding their hands up HIGH in the air saying "Oh, Oh, OH, Pick me....Pick me". Seriously....hookers AND booze on the job?

Oh, on a sidenote, hookers, party or not...would you really want a mattress provided for you? I'm assuming in the 'party' room.......so was it in plain view? Were there clean sheets? Hasn't anyone seen the Dateline NBC stories and the 20/20 reports on how disgusting public mattresses are? And I'm not sure I'd want a room full of my closest pals to watch me 'get it on' so to speak.

Ever since the big bust, the local newspaper has been FULL of comments in their online forum. I entertain myself by reading this forum. The bored, uneducated, gossipy people seem to find great comfort in blasting our city, it's residents and each other. I'm appalled at the grammar, spelling and general 'redneckness' of it all. I don't know.....for example one young lady, who I'm SURE knows what's really behind the 'sting', said something like (now, mind you, I'm paraphrasing) the fact that one of the 'prostitutes' that was arrested was from Romania, and the writer went to SCHOOL with the now prostitute, and she was 'like that' in Middle School......a second poster, who I'm sure was even MORE in the know, said that even girls in 'third world countries' don't behave like that. Now, I'm assuming she was referencing the FIRST poster and her comment about the prostitute being from Romania. Since when is Romania a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY?

Oh, and the tension between the people POSTING in this very public, newspaper forum. The 'regulars' all act like they are SO in the know about goings on in the
city.....they post every day, and argue like children.......

So, if your local newspaper has an open public form, I'd highly recommend you read it. The one here, at least, provides many baffled head shakes and lots of giggles. Yours may too!

Has anyone else noticed that Gov. Spitzer's wife looks like Mary McDonnell (from Dances with Wolves)?

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My computer capabilities aren't great, so I'm not even going to TRY to label each photo....the left is Mary McDonnell, and the right is Silda Spitzer. I kept staring at her during newscasts wondering why she looked so familiar.

Chicken Scallopini again for dinner. I'd highly recommend it. It's awesome.