Happy Halloweenie!

BOOOOoooOOOoooo!

You Are An Attention Seeker

You're only human, so you can't help but want a little attention every now and then. You love the spotlight, but only when it's well deserved. You'd hate to be known for the wrong thing. And you also don't mind sharing the spotlight. You can easily give someone else credit or a compliment. You know there's enough attention to go around, and it makes you happy when your friends shine. You come across as: Friendly and interesting People may wrongly think you're: A little more modest than you actually are!

Are You An Attention Whore?

Box

Thursday night William and I were working on his math homework. I was trying my best to explain how to do one of the hardest problems and William kept playing with his pencil or staring off into space. Exasperated I said, "William, you've got to pay attention."

Still no results. Finally I threw my hands up in dispair and said, "I wish I could find a huge box to put you and your homework in, so you wouldn't have anything to distract you from it."

He sighed heavily and said, "I would say to the walls, 'Help me.'"

I bit my lip to keep from laughing and thought, "help me too."

The Weekend in Review

My head's much better. I didn't have any headache Saturday or Sunday...nor Monday or Today. I guess it's not cracked up after all.

I worked extra hard on Friday and was able to take the day off on Saturday. When I got home Friday to change and get my things together, the boys were excited to see me. William made a 100 on his project. I'm so proud of him. And Ben... he didn't get a good conduct sticker...but I'll write more about that later.

I changed into a pair of black slacks and a black short sleeve sweater. Ben asked me why I was wearing 'different' stuff...because he didn't see me wear it earlier. lol...the logic of kids. When I told them I was going to Al's, William said, "But I'll miss you." I hugged him, and explained that I needed 'grown-up time.'

The anniversary dinner was great. We went to the 360 seafood restaurant. I had the grilled flounder. Very yumilicous! Everyone had a nice time. The husband of the celebrating couple tripped me out a bit. I sat across from him and watched him eat after I was finished. He ordered a huge plate of steamed, crab legs, oysters, clams and shrimp. He was talking to Al and I watched him pick up a shrimp, dipping it in sauce without shelling it first. I thought that maybe he was involved in talking and didn't pay attention to what he was doing. But...he bit into the shrimp--shell and all. I figured he swallowed it because he didn't want anyone to notice he had made a mistake. But I was wrong... he ate all his shrimp with the shells on. And... he buttered and sour creamed his baked potato and picked it up with his hands as if it were corn on the cob and ate across the top of it like it was an ear of corn. I wanted to ask him about his shrimp but didn't know how to approach him. He has lived in the Asian world on and off during his Air Force years and I wonder if that's where he learned to eat shrimp shells.

Saturday-- Al had to work and I hung out with the cat. We did some housework and read. I watched some football. The Georgia Tech/Gators game and the Wake Forest/Carolina game. My ECU Pirtes kicked ass but I didn't get to see them. I had dinner ready when he got home. We stayed up a while and then hit the hay.

Sunday--was football day. The Panthers totally wig out after the first quarter or two. I knew Peyton Manning's crew would kill them but I hoped they would have made it tougher. I cooked some great food. Chuck eye steaks grilled on the George Foreman for lunch and for din...Chicken and veggies baked in white wine. And I made brownies. Al was a happy guy.

I felt very relaxed and rested Monday morning. Ah...the comforts of a lazy weekend.

Course I wasn't prepared for Fall when I walked outside yesterday...I didn't have any long pants or long sleeved shirts... talk about hard nipples! All day long!

And another..

she devil

my evil twin

(what I'm wearing tomorrow night when I take the nephews Trick-or-Treating)

Friday

I'm feeling some better today. Probably because it's Friday and that means I can escape for the weekend. It's been a long week of school, homework, headaches and rutabagas.

My mind is so fried today. All week I've been helping William with his homework. He's had a project to do, which we did. It was on Lumberton, NC. We did a poster. Then we had to practice multiplication tables and his math superstars (practice word problems like, "Ricardo is 4 years older than his sister Rosa. If you combine their ages the sum is 14. How old is Ricardo and Rosa?" I can figure it out, but he's having a hard time with math. Plus we had to do his spelling words and other homework, like reading his library book and assigned story from his reading book.

And Ben... his homework is easy. After all he's in the first grade. We have his done in a span of 10 mins.

With Lisa being at the house, I'm having to do more cooking. She tries to help but her idea of washing dishes is to run them under hot water and scrub them with my bottle brush.

Her wound is healing nicely. She still can't move her head any. The incision is clear and not red. I help her put ointment on it in the mornings and at night. I think she's getting the stitches out Tuesday.

And... Monday...there's teachers' workday and that means I don't have to drive the kids to school and can stay over at Al's Sunday night. Yay!

I'm going there tonight. He and I are invited to an anniversary dinner. If I get all my work done today, I'll probably stay until Monday morning. I could use an extended break from my house. Mom will stay with Lisa and the boys so I can get a break. Gotta love Moms!

To those of you whom I haven't emailed or sent offlines...well, I'm sorry and hope that I can catch up next week.

Love ya guys and have a safe weekend.

I wanted to be a Super Hero!!!!!

You Should Be a Social Worker

You are deeply caring and empathetic. You are able to take on other people's problems as if they were your own. Sensitive and intuitive, you understand human emotions well. Helping others gives you the most joy in life. You feel like it's your purpose in life. You do best when you: - Have a lot of responsibility - Greatly impact someone's life with your work You would also be a good philanthropist or stay at home parent.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Birthday Aftermaths and headaches

I wasn't around much yesterday due to a severe headache that I got from hitting my head on something. It almost knocked my lights out.

My birthday wasn't too bad. The highlight was chatting with J. And Ben's birthday drawing --he and I as pumpkin king and queen.

Al and I had a huge argument later that night...so bad that he actually hung up on me. It was one of those s/he said things. Funny how different the sexes communicate and how extreme the interpretations. I actually cried myself to sleep.

He drove down yesterday to apologize in person, but the damage was done and hard to fix. I was almost at the point of saying that I can't do this anymore, but he didn't give up until he made things better. Something he has never done in the past.

Love isn't about fuzzy romantic things--it's about working out differences and finding a sane middle ground to work together on.

My head is still achy and the bump is still there but my heart doesn't hurt. I'll take a headache over heartache any day.

A Quote By Martha Beck, O Magazine, February 2003

Every instance of heartbreak can teach us powerful lessons about creating the kind of love we really want.

Happy Birthday...to me...

A girl can wish....

Thanks Bob, Sarah HB and John...for the birthday wishes.

My friend Jeff asked if I could blow out 45 candles... all I know is that I can blow one...really good.

;)

Oh yea...b' fore I forget

Tomorrow is my birthday.. I'll be accepting presents between 11 am and 4 pm. If you need an after hour delivery, let me know...and it better be mighty good.

;)

Monday is fun day

Sorry I haven't had time to blog. My sister's surgery went well. She went in at 10 am and was out of the operating room at 1 pm. We had her home by 4. She did great. The tumor turned out to be a thryoglossal cyst, something that is rare in adults. It was almost the size of a ping-pong ball. She's got a mean cut across her throat and can't chew very well for now. Since she can't do much, she's staying with me and I'm taking care of the mini me's.

Getting them to school on time Friday was a trick but we had our act together this morning and they were there before the first bell rang.

A bunch of people came by yesterday to see Lisa. They asked some nutty questions;

"Will the stitches melt on their own or does the doctor have to remove them?"

"Did you wear underwear during the surgery?"

"Did your doctor stay for the whole surgery?"

"Will you wear turtlenecks now?"

"Does it hurt?"

and my favorite: "Why did they cut your throat when they could have gone down your throat and cut there?"

To cut or not to cut

... Lisa's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Please say a prayer or two.

Thanks.

You Are a Witch (or Warlock)

You are deviously brilliant and a perfect manipulator. You somehow always end up getting what you want - without anyone knowing you're working behind the scenes. Crafty and cunning, you can work your way out of any jam. And it's easy for you to get people to do what you want, whether you're working for good or evil. Your greatest power: Mind control Your greatest weakness: Making people your puppets You play well with: Ghosts

What Kind of Monster Are You?

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Description

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

"I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . ."

For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts--of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.

And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting--with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . .

A multiple-award winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel, a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror.


~~~~~~~~~
I finished this book last night and was mildly surprised that it was pretty good. Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's son and he's been writing short stories under a pen name so he won't be writing in the shadow of his father. Someone leaked his identity though. The Wikipedia has more info on Joe Hill.

Joe jumps right in with the action and there is much blood. About a 1/3 of the way through I wondered if he wasn't going too fast with his story and if it would run out of steam midway.

At first it was hard for me to like the main character Jude, a hard-hearted death-metal rock god who called the young goth chicks he lived with by their 'birth state' and not their names. The current state "Georgia" was a goth stripper he met about 9 or more months ago. Of all the characters in the book, she's the one that really grew on me.

After the big climax where they face the evil and fight, I noticed there were about 20 pages left. Many of them were one page chapters. I think he could have tied up the aftermath without so many little chapters. I kept thinking "what a waste of paper."

I give it an A- rating. Joe Hill is a young author who will grow into a very intense horror writer one day.

Spider Vs. Sherrie

and the spider almost won! Thursday night was a total bitch! I couldn't sleep because if anything touched my right thumb it was excuricating. Plus it was really cool that night. I think the temp dipped to 41 F in the house. I put 3 blankets on my bed. Everytime I tried to put my cold right hand under them, I thought my thumb would fall off.

I slept very poorly. Woke up early so that I could pick up the magnolia cucumbers (seed ponds) out of the front yard. Mom's boyfriend was gonna come by and mow the yard for me. But when I put on my old t-shirt, I noticed that my right arm had long red streaks extending from the bite. Freaked me out.

I soaked the whole arm in Espom salt. But it pained me anyway. I barely got through the day with my work. When I got home Friday night, I soaked it some more. It felt a little better Saturday morning but the streaks were worse. So I spent all of the weekend babying my arm. It's better today. The tracks were the streaks were are still very sore, as if I bruised my arm.

Today the bite is looking good. No more pus or clear stuff leaking out (yea, don't you love to read gross stuff) and the swelling is down 80%. My arm is still a bit sore but I can type with both hands today and that's an accomplishment.

I found this quiz to be quite hysterical

...because I am prone to grammatical mistakes quite often.

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

You're a friendly person, but not the life of the party. You like making someone else's day - and you'll dress up if you think of a really fun costume. You definitely think of yourself as someone who has a dark side. And part of having that dark side means not showing it. Your inner child is bittersweet, thoughtful, and never too greedy. You truly fear the dark side of humanity. You are a true misanthrope. You're prone to be quite emotional and over dramatic. Deep down, you enjoy being scared out of your mind... even if you don't admit it. You are a traditionalist with most aspects of your life. You like your Halloween costume to be basic, well made, and conventional enough to wear another year.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

Spidey to the Rescue

While in my little storage barn, I think I got bitten by a spider. There's a funny looking swell of blisters on my right thumb. They are a little painful but not as painful as last night. Before I went to sleep I took a sterile needle and popped them. When I woke up this morning I immediately felt the sting from the bite. So I popped the blisters again to relieve the pressure, took a hot shower and then added some anti-fungus lotion to the blisters. A few years ago my sister had a bad spider bite and her doctor said to use anti-fungus lotion and the bite healed faster.

So I'm digging in the medicine cabinet for a band aid and all I have are spiderman and Spongebob band aids. I picked the lesser of two evils--Spiderman. It's colorful and blends in with my red top and denim shorts.

But I did make a mental note to buy some adult band aids.

Hmmm wonder if I have any spidey super powers?

Fair Photos

William wouldn't get on a horse. But Ben did--the one right behind the seats. I couldn't get a shot of Ben looking at me. William grinned at me everytime he rode by. There's a little chubby kid in the seat behind Will. I watched as he tried to climb onto a horse but couldn't get his leg over. When his Dad, who was just as chubby saw him sitting in the seat, he asked, "Son, don't you want to ride a horse?" The boy gave a resigned shrug. I felt for him.


Cowboy Ben on the pony right before we left. William declined a ride. The grin on Ben's face is his mischievious grin. The one that he gives right before he gets into trouble.

This Mondy he didn't get a sticker because he wrote on the floor at school. I laughed but not out loud. This kid has balls of steel for a 6-yr-old. His desk is right smack in front of the teacher's. What he wrote... remains a mystery.

Back to the fair. It was fun. Next year I think I'll buy get on some of the more adult rides with William... live alittle, be young again.

Lump in the Throat

Well, when it rains it freaking pours! My sister has to have major surgery to remove a tumor that's in the muscle of her throat. It's grown rapidly in the last 3 weeks, going from a pea size to the size of a golf ball. Her surgery will be schedule within the next week. It's not gonna be easy. Her lower jaw bone and part of her tongue must be removed so the surgical team can get to it. Once the tumor's out, they will replace the parts removed.

It's totally freaked me out. So much can go wrong... I know, put my faith in the Lord. I do, but I also am practical.

She's more worried about her sons that she is about herself. With all my heart, I'll help her out and take care of them if she needs me to while she recovers.

Those of you that pray...please remember her.

I hope I don't sound like those people who always have something major going on...like this person dying, or this person is sick, etc. I try to have mostly sunshine in my blog...but on occassion there are major rainstorms that can't be ignored.

Thanks for listening.

Fair is as Fair does

Somehow I got wang-dangled into going to the County Fair with my sister and the nephews Saturday. We had fun. I'll post a few photos after I upload them to my pc at home. William rode a lot more rides than last year. We got some cotton candy and lemon-ade at a price that was beyond ridiculous. I think what got me the most was how rude the carnies were. Geeezzzz. Come on Guys, act like you like the job even if you don't.

I drove up to Al's later. He worked until 7 pm. I cooked some chuck eye steaks and made a large salad. We turned in early. He worked Sunday until almost 4. I watched the Panthers game and wondered out loud many times if we would pull it off. And we did.

I was happy to see that ECU won. Made my day.


It was sort of a quiet weekend. I guess we all need them sometimes.

Boi...wee

Man, it's gonna take a while to get used to the new glasses. My eyes got really tired last night after wearing them for 12 hours. I don't want to run to the Dr. Office with a complaint until I give my eyes time to adjust. The new prescription is stronger. I need to remember that.


I'm beginning to get into the groove of Survivor. I dislike more of the contestants than usual. I really liked James the Grave digger until him and that stupid poker player guy John-Robert showed how arrogent they were while looking for clams or snails or whatever they were looking for. They said plenty of sexist stuff in hearing range of topic--Courtney, the skinny chick from NYC.

And CSI... poor Sara. She has never seemed to really fit in with the crew. Since it's out that she and Grissom are an item, she's moving to swing shift. I felt tears well in my eyes, watching that last scene where all the gang is at a go-kart track and she's standing on the side with arm in a cast, watching them. Her battle to keep tears back and the song playing really moved me. And on another note, I hope they don't put Warwick and Catherine together. I know there's always been a bit of flirtation between them...but one intra-CSI romance is enough.

Haven't caught any of the new shows. I know, my bad. I'm ready for Nip/Tuck to return. And am enjoying the antics of Larry David on Curb.

I did catch a neat show at 7 pm on the Animal Planet channel. "After the Attack"-- people who have been attacked by Grizzlies, cougars, etc relive the event and face 'tamed/trained' animals to put their fears to rest. It was really interesting. I will keep an eye out for that show.

Gosh...came on to write about my glasses and somehow ended up on television shows.

and now... on to porn...

The Original Idols

I found the link to their myspace page.

Talk about walking down memory lane!! I had a huge crush of Rex Smith. Still considering going to the concert. Just depends on who I can convince to go with me.

New EYES

I've got my new glasses and thank heavens they're not like these! Flashback to the 70's! And the good news is that I can see again. Though it will take a little time to adjust, I can tell a big difference.

On the drive there two things made me laugh:

1) A radio promo for The Real American Idols (70's icons like the Bay City Rollers, The group that sang "Billy Don't be a hero, I can't remember all the bands--there were a load of them but the last name flashed cracked me up--Danny Bonaduce! I'll have to look up the link to the Crown. The tickets are only $20. I think it would be fun to see the show. What made me laugh was the idea of asking various friends or Al to go...and the looks I would get from them. It would be a hoot to see Danny I think.

2) I pass this sign all the time and can't read it until I get up close. Today I rode by and said, "The next time you see me, I'll see you first." As I kept driving, I imagined its reply, probably something like "That's the way it's suppose to be, babe."

When I got walked in the doctor's office, I was smiling really big, thinking of Danny Bonaduce and talking signs. They called me to the eyeglass showcase room and Thurman the eyefitter (my nickname for him) said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but do you always go around smiling so much. Every time I see you, you're smiling. Even when Doctor Masters gave you the grave news about possibly developing angle closure glaucoma, you still could smile at all of us. So...what's your secret?"

I sat thinking about it... and said, "Well, the secret is to get someone to tell you a joke so funny that you can't stop smiling. I'm pretty lucky. Someone told me a great joke in my teens."

It took him a minute before he realized I was joking. But now that I think about it. Life is good, even if you have to eat sour grapes once in a while.

I hope to get some good photos of me and my new glasses.

Cooking Sherrie

hey Robert...

I started a cooking blog

Cooking Sherrie

DJ Jeff Diamond's Blog

My buddy DJ Jeff Diamond of WNCT 107.9 in Greenville NC has created a blog on his page at the radio's website. Check him out and listen to him live from 9 am-2 pm. The link's on the homepage.

(I shamelessly plug people if I really really like them. So if you can convince me that I like you, I'll plug your site or cause for free, too.)

Xherrie, Warrior Princess

We've got misty weather today. Just enough misty rain to mar me glasses, mateys. Speaking of which, I wish my new ones would get here. I am having a horrible time reading and working on the PC. At night my eyes ache from strain. They ache so badly right now, all I want to do is close them for a few hours.

Yesterday was battle day. I battled with Dad over studio issues. I battled with William over doing his home work. I told him that his new name was "Chore" because he makes everything so hard. I battled with Al last night--mainly because he demanded me to do something for him, instead of asking. I hate when he's in that frame of mind. Usually I can turn down his volume with a soft word, but after battling all day and evening, I reacted to his demand with oil and water. This may sound like I'm making excuses for him. For the last 2 weeks, he's been working 14 hours and hasn't had enough sleep. I can understand that he's tired, but what I won't tolerate is him taking it out on me. So I guess there will be another battle tonight until we reach an accord.

October Begins

I loooove this time of year. Cool at night, warm during the day!

My weekend wasn't that bad. Drove over to Al's Saturday afternoon. He had to work until about 7:00 pm. I think I got there at 4:30. So I went to the grocery store and encountered racism. But that's for another post. For some crazy reason I was in a cooking mood, so I looked up some recipes I've been wanting to try, wrote down the ingredients and went to the store.

And boy, I did ever manage some excellent cooking. Friday night, we had kiwi chicken, curried rice and lentils and a salad made with iceburg lettuce, avocoda slices, shrooms, tomatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. I even created an Asian flavored dressing. For dessert, we had raspberry chocolate brownies.

Al loved it. We turned in early, because he had to work yesterday. I slept in a bit, and would have slept longer but the durn cat kept jumping on me. She's so spoiled. All she wanted was for me to fetch her balls.

For Sunday's dinner, I tossed together a burgandy beef recipe for the slow cooker. The beef was so tender that you could cut it with a fork. It was served over elbow noodles. I whipped up some steamed brocolli and another salad. It so turns me on when Al makes all these yummy sounds when he's devouring the meals I make.

He got home around 4 and we watched part of the Panthers game. What the heck has happened to them??? I swear they are pretending to play football. They've got the talent to win. I just don't know. It's disheartening to watch. I actually took a long nap after half-time.