Trick or Treat!!!!

A man was walking home alone late one foggy night, when he hears

BUMP

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BUMP

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BUMP

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behind him.

Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him

BUMP

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BUMP

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BUMP

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Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him

faster

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faster

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BUMP

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BUMP

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BUMP.

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him.

However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping

clappity-BUMP

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clappity-BUMP

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clappity-BUMP

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on his heels the terrified man runs.

Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps. With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door.

Bumping and clapping toward him. The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup!

Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket

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and

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The coffin stops!

Happy Halloween Everybody!!!!!

{The Weekend}

I've really had a different weekend than normal. Austen was sick on Friday with a sore throat and fever and we kept home from school. Saturday we had plans to go to P'ville for Mardi Gras. No, it's nothing like the one in New Orleans....it's a flea market downtown followed by a huge parade that night. It's like a City homecoming. Everyone comes home for Mardi Gras. You get to see old friends and catch up on life.

Anyway, Mike, who wasn't really excited to go anyway, got elected to stay home with him Saturday. I drove Nick, Nathen, my Mom and Chelle Saturday morning. I noticed Friday night, while watching the Cardinals kick some kitty butt, that I was getting a sore throat. I was really hoping to not miss out on going home. By the time I got home on Saturday evening I was really feeling bad. I ended up not going to church at all on Sunday, which is very unusual for me. I literally slept off and on all day. I would have thought it might have helped me get well faster but no sign of that happening yet. My nose is running like crazy. UGH!!!

Here are a couple of my favorites from this weekend....
This is the Pirate Jack....He's such a sweetie. He was riding a pony.














And me.....















I have this CJ I'm in...sorry SJ girls if you're reading this...that is about your hometown. I didn't really have any pictures of the town I grew up in. So this weekend I made the best of the opportunity of being home and took a bunch of pictures around town of the landmarks that haven't changed too much. Lots of memories. I still couldn't go out to my old house....I'm just not ready to see it. I thought about it for a while, but ended up in tears, so I figured it wasn't a good thing yet. There are so many changes since we sold it and I think I really don't want to see it in the new way. It would be like reading the final paragraph in that chapter of my life....I'm not ready for that to end so I'll leave it for a while longer.


Well, I guess that'll do it for the weekend update. My thoughts aren't very connected - sorry about that. I'll catch ya later.

{TT 13 - Edition #5}

In honor of Halloween, and since I won't have another TT 13 before then, today's topic is Candy. Specifically, my Favorites.

1 - Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups
2 - Peanut M&M’s
3 - Almond Joy
4 - Snickers
5 - 3 Musketeers
6 - York Peppermint Patty
7 - Lindt Swiss Chocolate – Lindor Truffle White Chocolate (the yellow wrapper)
8 - Lindt Swiss Chocolate – Lindor Truffle Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter (the orange wrapper)
9 - Kit Kat
10- Hershey’s Bar with Almonds
11 - Red/Strawberry Licorice
12 - Mr. Goodbar
13 - Oh and Kissables….
14 - and Take 5
15 - ooo, Boston Baked Beans
16 - and definitely Hot Tamales
17 - I forgot the Ice Breakers – Blue (mints and gum).....

Gosh....it was hard to just pick 13. As you can tell I'm a chocaholic - LOUD & PROUD!!!

Our fearless choir leader cancelled choir tonight since the Cardinal's are playing game 4 of the World Series. If she would go on and have choir, Mike and Nick would be the only tenors there. They would ALL suddenly come down with some contagious, 8-hour sickness. MEN - UGH!!!!!! Yeah, I want the Cards to win, but you know, they are going to play whether you watch or not, oh and you watching isn't gonna help them. DUH!!!! I plan on using the night to my advantage though. I have to do some cooking for Saturday (making White Chili) and hopefully I can get some scrapping in too. My fingers are crossed.

Have a great afternoon everyone....you can make it one more day....woo hoooo!!!

***Big Sigh***

Can this day be over now??? Just wonderin'. *sigh* I'm so done with work, I just wanna go home. We're going out for dinner tonight. Our chiropractor has gift card days every once in a while and everyone that goes in that day gets a GC. We'll they have had 3 different days for Eckert's cards so I have over $100.00 in GC. So tonight we're going out to dinner at the country restaurant. No Cooking for me tonight. :D

I've been contemplating my crop today....thinkin' of a project I can do as a make-n-take....and am getting some really cool ideas from the girls at Create My Keepsake. I want to do something that is reasonable for me to donate all the supplies for but that is cool/fun/neat/creative. Hopefully consultants from SU, CTMH, and CM will all be there doing make-n-takes as well. It's looking like fun.

My dear momma just bought Nick a cell phone...Lord help me....he'll be so happy though. Bless his heart. My baby isn't a baby anymore....I can feel a LO coming on out of this though.

I'm gonna get ready to close up shop. The Cardinals and the World Series are in town and St. Louis is a zoo....So until next time......

The Cardinal Train Is Comin'....WOooo WoOOooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been a bad blogger this week

EDITED: Date was wrong.

I only updated twice. Wow. Oh well. I'm here now and that's what counts I guess. So yeah, I blew the Thursday 13 again yesterday. *sigh* The sad thing is, I wasn't even busy. I just couldn't come up with 13 things to post. So this morning I get an e-mail from my aunt that's pretty cute, so I thought I would share that as my TT, with 5 extra points thrown in for lateness, LOL.

PERKS OF BEING OVER 50

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

3. No one expects you to run -- anywhere.

4. People call at 9 pm and ask, "Did I wake you ???? "

5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

7. Things you buy now won't wear out.

8. You can eat dinner at 4 p.m.

9. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

11. You no longer think of speed limits as challenge.

12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

13. Y ou sing along with elevator music.

14. Your eyes won't get much worse.

15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.

17. Your secrets are safe with friends because they can't remember them either.

18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.

The weather is yuck now. I am so not a cold weather person and this morning, bright and early, it's like 34 degrees. It's waaaaaay too cold. The only plus is that the leaves are looking pretty. I wanna take Nick out this weekend for pictures before all the leaves fall. I heard we're supposed to have rain, maybe the rain will hold off and I can get a few pictures in.

I finally remembered to upload somemore of the pumpkin patch from a couple weeks ago. Here are some of Nathen. I really struggle to get him to look natural when I take his picture. He does too much "posing." After typing that I realized that he's like my dad, who passed away before the twins were even born. Dad always had this fake posed look about him in every picture. Anyway here's a couple of my favorites of Nathen:

This one is of Nick, the day before his 16th Birthday. We were up really late the night before and Nick was struggling to wake up on Saturday. I just thought he looked real cute - Bucket-Head. ;)

One more picture.....

This is my darling cousin ~ Jackson. Nathen spelled out his name with the dominoes. I wish I could have gotten him closer to them but I was afraid he would knock them over. He was so cute.

I just have to add this before I sign off for the weekend....I like the Cardinals since they belong to us but I'm not a sports fan. I do want to just let everyone know, in case you aren't aware, that they are on their way to the World Series. WOO HOO!!!!!! How exciting for St. Louis and the fans.

GO CARDS!!!!!

No, Friday the 13th didn't get me but Tuesday the 17th did....I was blindsided with a migraine. Sheesh. Haven't had one of those for a while. I ended up going home at noon and slept till a little after 5:00. I've been a little groggy today but I think I'm finally coming out of it, now that it's 4:00 p.m. I just feel like the inside of my head is bruised.

OMGOSH!!! I heard the saddest song on the radio today by a new artist - Jason Michael Carroll. Hopefully you can hear it by going to his MySpace account. Click on the song title below. It's called:

Alyssa Lies
My little girl met a new friend just the other day
On the playground at school between the tires and the swing
And she came home with tear-filled eyes
When she said to me daddy, Alyssa lies
Well, I just brushed it off at first
Cuz I didnt know how much my little girl had been hurt
Or the things that she had seen
I wasnt ready when I said you can tell me She said

Alyssa lies to the classroom
Alyssa lies everyday at school
Alyssa lies to the teachers
As she tries to cover every bruise

My little girl laid her head down that night to go to sleep
As I stepped out the room, I heard her say a prayer so soft and sweet
God bless my mom and my dad
And my new friend Alyssa, oh, I know she needs you bad Because

Alyssa lies to the classroom
Alyssa lies everyday at school
Alyssa lies to the teachers
As she tries to cover every bruise

I had the worst night of sleep in years
As I tried to think of a way to calm her fears
I knew exactly what I had to do
But when we got to school on Monday, I heard the news

My little girl asked me why everybody looked so sad
The lump in my throat grew bigger with every question that she asked
Until I felt the tears run down my face
And I told her that Alyssa wouldnt be at school today

Cuz she doesnt lie in the classroom
She doesnt lie anymore at school
Alyssa lies with Jesus
Because theres nothing anyone would do
Tears filled my eyes
when my little girl asked me why Alyssa lies
Oh daddy, oh daddy tell me why Alyssa lies

My heart just aches for the children that this happens to. I know from experience, not me but some of my family, the terror, shame, guilt, and hurt that adults are able to put on kids. Please, please, please hug your children or even someone else's children today. They are so precious and should be cherished.

Thursday 13 {on Friday the 13th}

In honor of Friday the 13th I thought it would be fun to do something scary and spooky. But since I really don't get into the FT13 thing, I couldn't really come up with anything. Besides the fact that this should have been done on Thursday. *sigh* Anyway...better late than never, here's yesterday's 13:

Pet Names

*Duke
*Duchess
*Rover
*Patches
*Jodi
*Chica
*Buffy
*Bubbles
*Rocky
*Snowball
*Maime
*Big Red - actually it was a chicken and it was my dad's idea to name him.
*Chloe (if I ever get another)

Well, it's friday.....WOO HOO. Another week down. Gonna be a busy weekend. Tonight we are going to church with the Youth Group, tomorrow we're gonna be doing the Birthday Party thing, and of course Sunday is chruch. So I'll probably be out till Monday. I might try to upload some more pics of the Pumpkin Patch (I forgot my memory card yesterday and today).

OH, if you are into Christian movies today "One Night With The King" opens. It's a movie based on Tommy Tenney's book Hadassah. The story of Esther. It's an amazing book. Go to the GodChasers web site to find a theater near you.

That's all for today. Have a great weekend everyone.

God Bless!

Happy Wednesday!!

This is the latest LO I've been working on for about a week. I will have a similar one for Nathen when I'm done but I just finished this last night and am so excited at how it turned out I couldn't wait to share. I'm sorry the picture isn't real clear. I was trying to get one real quick before leaving for work this morning but it was overcast and wet out so I had to take it inside.

I am totally in love with this one. It came out just as I envisioned. That rarely happens to me.
Oh yeah, I'm gonna do something with Nick too. I just have to get an opportunity to get some good pictures of him.

Been hanging out at Create My Keepsake lately and they are having a weekly challenge to win a freebie. The only requirement is to use polka dots on the LO. I didn't plan it that this way but when I got done with this I realized I could enter it in the contest. How Sweet!! I'm going to try for a better picture tonight and upload it tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Since Blogger seems to be cooperating today, lets try the pumpkin patch pics....First set is Austen. That kid is such a photo magnet. In the second pic you can see the St. Louis Skyline.



I desperately want to upload one of the girl that went with us, but her dad is really paranoid about her pic being on the web so I can't. But I have to say that it's probably the best pic I've ever taken. The lighting is right, it's not blurry, she smiling perfect, etc.

Well, that's all for today. Have a great evening.

Stay Tuned for Tomorrow's Edition of Thursday Thirteen plus some more of the pumpkin patch. Blogger isn't letting me load any more.

Report From The Weekend

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend. Even though I ran almost all day on Saturday I feel so rested today and even though normal people shouldn't be required to work on Columbus day, I am still having a good day.

Friday my boss let me leave 15 minutes early. Wasn't a lot but I totally appreciated it since I was so bored, not feeling good and tired. Anyway, I went home and took a nap while Mike and the kids went out to dinner. We pretty much stayed at the house all evening. *PERFECT* since we don't have that opportunity so much.

Saturday, Mike has a softball tourney in Southern Missouri and when he was done he played golf with some of his buddies. I slept in a little then sent my oldest off to 6 Flags with some friends from church. The twins and I went to WM, Goodwill (found a brand-new-with-the-tags-still-on cool, pink, long, corduroy skirt for $6). We ran by the house to get our lawn chairs then went to watch Kaitlyn play soccer (the twins were bored out of their minds - Lisa thought they would love it - LOL) then we headed off to Eckerts. We took a million pictures!!! Actually I took a little less than 80, but not all of them turned out :( Here's a few of my favorites.

EDIT: GRrrrrrr!! Blogger is NOT cooperating. Maybe you can see them tomorrow.


BTW: Thanks for dealing with my lack of coherent thought on Friday (YIKES - that's a scary post).

Blah...

I'm having an "eh" day. Not feeling the best, really really tired, have a headache, don't wanna work, it's 4:35 and I'm sooo ready to leave. The phones aren't ringing, I have no work (I did it all this morning). *sigh* I wish my head would quit hurting. I wanna go grocery shopping tonight. I wanna make chili soon. I think I'm getting crabby. UGH!!! look out family. i don't even wanna use punctuation. I need to go to WM too. The boys need to pick out some costumes I guess. I'm not thrilled with doing that but I know they will want to dress up. *sigh* Lisa said Goodwill has some brand new costumes. I guess we'll go there first then head to WM for whatever is left. Nobody around on IM today to help keep me busy - Lisa's working, V is on holiday, Denise is in NY, Mom is working.....Enough idle chatter. Have a wonderful weekend. TTYM(Monday). Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share from our Eckerts excursion.

Tursday 13

FAVORITE SMELLS:

1) Slow Falling Summer Rain
2) A Fire In The Fireplace
3) Fresh Cut Grass
4) Newly Turned Dirt (throw back from my days on the farm I guess)
5) Vanilla
6) Cinnamon
7) Pumpkin Pie
8) Flowers (especially if they are for me)
9) Shine - perfume
10) Puppy Breath (Just call me weird)
11) Chocolate Cake Baking In The Oven
12) Curve (when Mike is wearing it of course)
13) Coffee Brewing

(Gee...look at that...it's mostly about food *sigh* guess that shows when you see me.)
So some more about food ~ Going out to dinner tonight with some friends. YEAH~NO COOKING FOR ME TONIGHT!!!!

In honor of this being Breast Cancer Awareness month I've purchased a Lisa Bearnson's All About Me SB kit. It was only $15.00 and a portion of the proceeds help support the fight against breast cancer. Yeah, so only $3.00 go to the fight but it's better than nothing. So check them out and place your order. If I understand it right, orders over $20.00 get free shipping so 2 of ya get together and go for it.

Guess that'll about do it for today. Peace Out!

Mark Your Calendars...

Tomorrow is the official Slap Your Irritating Co-workers Holiday: (I got this in an email and thought I would share. Some days I wish this were for real.)

Do you have a co-worker who talks nonstop about nothing, working your last nerve with tedious and boring details that you don't give a flip about? Do you have a co-worker who ALWAYS screws up stuff creating MORE work for you? Do you have a co-worker who kisses so much booty, you can look in their mouth and see what your boss had for lunch? Do you have a co-worker who is SOOO obnoxious, when he/she enters a room, everyone else clears it? Well, on behalf of Ike Turner, I am so very, very glad to officially announce tomorrow as SLAP YOUR IRRITATING CO-WORKER DAY!

There are the rules you must follow:
* You can only slap one person per hour - no more.
* You can slap the same person again if they irritate you again in the same day.
* You are allowed to hold someone down as other co-workers take their turns slapping the irritant.
* No weapons are allowed...other than going upside somebody's head with a stapler or a hole-puncher.
* After you have slapped the recipient, your "assault" must be followed with something like "cause I'm sick of your empty brain always messing up stuff!"
* If questioned by a supervisor or police, (if the supervisor is the irritant), you are allowed to LIE, LIE, LIE!

Now, study the rules, break out your list of folks that you want to slap the living day lights out of and get to slapping.....and have a GREAT DAY!

And on another note, I have to say that Megan on SJ has added some totally cool smilies. She's a pretty cool chica. Thanks M's. :)

Let's see.......nothing more to share that you would really care about. I've not been able to get much scrapping done, been kinda busy.

Looking forward to the weekend (what else is new - LOL), I think I'm going to hang out with Lisa, take the boys to watch Kaitlyn (their best friend) play soccer and then we'll go to Eckert's for some apple pickin', and some PICTURES in the pumpkins & mums!!!! I hope they turn out. Lisa always gets amazing pics so between us we'll hopefully get something worth showing on Monday. Mike will be playing in a softball tourney on Saturday so I wont be seeing much of him.

Okey dokey, that's all for today. Have a great Hump Day everyone.

ACK!!! I've been tagged.

Actually it's kinda cool. It's my second tag and it only took me 6 days to find it. Yeah, I'm a little slow.

Ok, here's the scoop, Lily (Bluelilo) from Scrapjazz taged me. The Rules:
List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. And it continues on in a vicious cycle.

1) I absolutely WILL NOT touch dirty socks. I will pick them up in with a dirty shirt or something but I won’t touch them. UGH!!!!

2) I am a loner. I would rather be at home alone or with DH & Kiddos than go out with my friends (even if the kids and DH are invited). Every time I have second and third thoughts about not showing up for a party. Even though when I go, which is most of the time I force myself to go, I have a really fun time.

3) I like Monty Python And The Search For The Holy Grail. A total nonsense movie.

4) I don’t really like coffee. I just drink it so I can use the yummy coffee creamers from CoffeeMate.

5) Ok, more than what you ever wanted to know but when getting dressed, panties go on last. Told ya it was TMI. LOL

Ok, I’ll tag:
Faith
Ashley
Ashlee (CMK)
Christy (Floridascrapper)
and ummmm.....
Kristi Sauer.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Just Another Manic Monday

Now you'll have that song in your head for a while...just consider it a little gift from me. :D

Today has been absolutely insane at work. I've been really busy all day. On the plus side my day has flown by.

This weekend was really nice. The weather was beautiful. Played Laser Tag with the kids from church on Friday night. Had a lot of fun. We only had about 10 show up out of the 20 that said they were coming. They're teens so I guess we have to expect them to flake. *sigh* I laughed at all the right times at the "Drill Sargent" who was giving us the rules of play and he gave me a extra power. What exactly I don't know. I'm not real fond of dark, smokey places and had to fight down a little panic but overall - I had a great time.

I had a therapeutic massage Saturday morning. Normally I love them and the girl is really good but this one hurt. I am very sore - STILL!!! I feel like the layer, yes of fat, right under my skin is bruised and if you were to look at my back I should be black and blue. I don't think I am cause I believe Mike would have noticed. I am just very sore.

DH and I went out to eat at a little Bistro (hole-in-the-wall-yet-very-busy) in Edwardsville Saturday night for our anniversary. We went to Kohl's on our way home and I found some very sweet deals in the clothing department. WOO HOO for me. Sunday, of course, was spent primarily at church.

So that's all the updates from the weekend.

Oh I wanted to let you all know that the Month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so be sure to take care of business.

Also, this is Pastor Appreciation Month. So send your pastor a nice card, take him to dinner, buy him a coke/coffee...something to show you are thankful for the Shepherd of your soul.