Dog Gone Monday

First of all, I don't generally have Mondays until Wednesday. Wednesday is my off-kilter day. Today, however, was Monday all the way around. Very early this morning I realized I had inadvertently left my bigger-than-life Shrek blown-up all night.W ith the storm coming in, the wind had turned him into near lift-off. Fortunately I was able to scrub the mission.
I drove down to Target to fill a prescription which they misplaced in a rush of sick people. It wouldn't have been as bad if it hadn't taken so long and I didn't have frozen food in my cart. I love those guys dearly, tho.. they felt really bad about it and to cheer myself up I quickly grabbed a bag of candy corn on the way to the checkout. Yep, " Clean up at the Halloween Candy, please." The bag got stuck on the corner of the shelf and tore open.
As I pulled up the cul-de-sac for home I noticed 2 HUGE dogs running free, both black but one with long hair and the other short. I am scared of dogs. I am terrified of big dogs. I am pathetically petrified of huge, loose dogs. These guys stopped in the street upon hearing my car behind them and barked at my car. I am safe in steel so I proceed up the steep driveway slowly and remain in my car a few minutes. I opened the door and quietly exited to see both of them at the foot of the driveway waiting for me. "Be calm, they sense fear, Kathy. Breathe." I'm remembering my melting groceries and step slowly to the trunk when one of them began to charge up at me barking!! I nearly fell over hopping back into my car. Eventually, the dogs left and trotted up the circle barking at something else. It was like being in the tabernacle getting back out,groceries and all, literally tip-toeing around the car and easing into my house without attracting their attention. They continued to roam and move aggressively I noticed, from the window. I called Animal Control and... well, I am more than happy to sign a complaint. Thanking goodness no young children were outside... the child in me that was there was enough. My husband, realizing the danger went out with a steel bar to make certain no children were around until they were out of sight. It has been over 2 hours now and I am still afraid. I think for sure I heard them bark as I began this. Hmm, I can't wait to find out who owns them. Not wanting to lose you with too many words, let's just say this was and still is a real Monday.

Scared Happy

I finished putting out my Halloween decorations earlier in the day yesterday, having purchased most of them on close-out from Target the previous year so they were new and unused. Two of the items were a white and a green skeleton head with only arms coming out the sides of their necks and no torso. Ugly little suckers, that when turned on, wiggle and move all the while saying, ( in those dead, low awful voices)" Where Are My Legs? No More Experiments!!" Eyes shooting back and forth, it is really creepy. So I set them down in front of my television for decoration and to turn on now and again for the grand kids and trick or treaters.
I was in a bad mood last night and over-killing myself with pity. I had been in my office most of the night when I needed to go take my evening medication. The front room was dark but for a ray of light from the hallway and you could hear Halloween bones faintly rattling outside in the wind.
With just a few steps into the hallway I could hear shuffling in the dark and was startled. I took a quiet step into the dark and suddenly saw two set of eyes rattling back and forth and as I gasped I heard in loud agonizing wails, "Where Are My Legs?" No More Experiments" !!! I let out a quick scream before I realized: Those ugly creatures had MOTION DETECTORS inside of them and I had set them off.
After laughing for sometime I realized what a gift it had been in not knowing; I had scared myself happy!!

Black Monday

It had been one of those typical Mondays until noon. Who ever thought that twelve o'clock noon could be called the Devil's Hour but yesterday that is when it started. My breakdown. I was taught early on to not visit your unhappiness on other people...just because you're miserable doesn't mean they have to be. But, if I had someone to talk to.. maybe I wouldn't turn into a living helium balloon. Things you are taught very young stay with you as you age and quietly embed themselves into your soul without your consent. It is what you do when the bad lessons come to the surface that really matters. Everyone needs someone at sometime for some reason and to deny yourself that necessary moment is to deny someone else of coming to your aid, of doing a good deed, or the chance to come to you. I hereby announce my most sincere effort to be more open and forthright, to tell others how I feel instead of staying silent. I will say "no" to things more firmly and do my best not to talk around the block instead of talking straight up the path. I will "try" to believe you don't have to be nice 24 hours a day, but I have my doubts as to being successful. Why can't you be nice 24 hours a day? I don't believe there is a time or justification for rudeness, abruptness and disrespect to name a few. You can be firm and steadfast but nice about it; you can rebuke a wrong, engage in verbal debate, confront a negative moment but you never have to become part of the dark side. It is amazing what calm assertion can do.
I had a bad day as a result of a bad few weeks. Instead of easing through each downturn I hid it away and forced it down until I let it show and made others quite uncomfortable. That was what I wanted to avoid all along.

Fall 2009

It is a real uneasy Sunday today and for no one reason. The temperature is perfect for Fall. The gray sky is speckled with blustery leaves of red, orange, yellow and brown. You can hear the hush of the breeze as it sweeps along picking up a howl or two, navigating the half naked trees. The sun only lightens the cloud spray, not quite able to shine. It is a scene for October and Halloween. If you close your eyes and listen real hard you can hear the faint whistle of children down the decade..echoes of the past that still linger;you can smell the leaves and the dust kicked and stirred.
I love this time of year and the signs of change. The summer is shaking itself off, ready to be cleansed and renewed. I am filled with the end of summer today.. shaking myself off and ready to be cleansed and renewed.

Curse of the Dead Woman's Shoes

It was early spring when I went garaging with my daughter and found the perfect sale. It was late in the day, the guy was hot and tired so most everything was free. I found a few blouses that were his mom's and a dress. But there on the truck bed ready to go the thrift store was a shoe box. At first they just looked like granny shoes but at a closer look the tan loafers were as close to new as you could get ,Velcro closing and my Big Foot size. I took them home and never wore them until just recently. For some reason I believe in wearing your shoes out and not having a million pair, unlike my daughter who loves shoes for all reasons and seasons.

I began wearing the loafers a couple of months ago to break them in and noticed that occasionally I would get shocked reaching for a can of peaches or a magazine. I blamed it on the floors. It didn't take long for my 2 grandchildren to notice that touching grandma sometimes was quite electric. I made fun of my granny shoes; paid no respect to the poor soul who never got to wear them out. We narrowed down the Land of Shock to Target Superstores and Wal Mart. I had vowed recently to stop wearing them shopping but yesterday I ignored the warnings in my head and wore them to a quick trip to Wal Mart.

Proceeding with caution I received only a few nips from the shelves and a sting or two from freezer door handles. Then, I saw her. A sweet, smiling woman who was sheepishly leaning in to get a large can of beer. She turned and saw me watching her nervousness so I quickly told her I bet she was afraid of being shocked. I pointed to my shoes and said, I know how you feel. She told me the store zaps her every time she shops there and never thought of her shoes. I told her mine were cursed...she said she bought hers used. Hmm, was the woman who first wore them still living I wondered. We laughed and returned to shopping. Minutes later as I went to open the door to retrieve a gallon of milk another hand shot out and we touched... SIZZLE, CRACKLE..POP we sent each other flying backwards each holding our hands in pain! The poor same woman and I had created quite the electical charge...the hair on our arms standing straight up! She wondered if it was the floor.. I told her my dead woman's shoe theory. I'd been disrespectful and now had the aches to show for it. We eventually laughed and vowed to never wear our special shoes to either Wal Mart or Target again. Tomorrow I got to Shopkos for a cheap pair of tennis shoes.

Life Is An Adventure

Life is an adventure. For as long as I can remember unusual things always happened; life was never as calm as those around me. I came from a dysfunctional family but I can't blame them for me propensity to draw trouble. I don't mean problem child, juvenile delinquent, troubled young woman. I mean the kind of trouble that includes falling into holes, bumping into closed doors, getting locked into bathrooms at 1:00 am.. but then, there's the good trouble. The good trouble like being there first when the horse bucked her off, when the car hit him or when she fell into a diabetic coma last April and nearly died as I laid keeping her warm. Good only due to being there when life was closest to its ebb and helping it back or ease it over. Good trouble in that all sizes of disasters can create or devastate who you are. In the most difficult of times I have chosen or God chose for me, to let them lift me up with new knowledge, new vantages of life and how delicate and unpredictable it is.

I invite you to travel down this road with me as I blog in memory and real time. I can't imagine that I have survived or experienced so much through out my entire life for it not to have some purpose or design. Fair warning that some of it is sad, frightening as well as bizarre, funny and like something from a sit-com. All you are about to read is true and in some cases, for obvious reasons, names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.