Distracted By Something Shiny

Who is watching Containment? Man, I love this little show. It's like an apocalypse done by The CW, that's so up my alley. But omg, the Thing that happened! With the person! I didn't see that coming! I didn't see it coming particularly with that person! Ugh, this show, what! As expected, I am all about the chemistry/tension between Leo and Lex - where is Leo, omg! But apparently I am a romantic at heart because the Jake n Katie storyline is my fav thing, I am obsessed with those two idiots. I really could give a shit about Jana and Suzy, but Teresa is a good character, her storyline caught me. And poor fucking Thomas, man. I am so pumped for the finale night! I can't believe it's gonna be over though. And that it didn't get picked up for a second season. I mean, it will end this storyline at the end of s1, bc it was always meant to be insular. But they did want to come back for a second season, with all new peeps, kind of like AHS-lite with an outbreak.

Also OITNB. I was spoiled ahead of time for ep 12, what happens, but not HOW it happens so that was a wreck. I have one ep left to go tonight, jeez oh pete man, this show is killing me. The shit with Healy. And Lolly. And Maritza. And fucking Humps, man, that dude is messed up. And just oh man, Suzanne's flashback. Poor Suzanne. This has been such a good season, despite its issues, I feel like they are shedding light on shit that needs it while keeping up with the characters and emotions we all know and love to watch.

Anybody watching either of these shows? Wanna talk with me?

We have a new addition to our family. Her name is Libby. I know she's not pretty, but she's ours and we love her.



( Proceed with caution! Don't say I didn't warn you! )

No, okay, for real - this is the newest addition to our Halloween decor. She is actually called Limbless Libby and I got her online. I won't say how much, but less than $100 and more than $50. My sister opened the box and yelled, "What have you done?!" I said, "I just want to represent my people." We were trying to convince The Nephew to come in for Halloween this year, since it's on a Saturday, but he saw her and was like, "If she's gonna be there, I'm not coming." She wasn't even assembled yet! I was like, "How can you be scared of something that you saw come in a box marked 'Amazon'?" (in the end, his dad refused to let TN come in, bc he gets scared so easily and we apparently do Halloween too scary or something, phewft.). My sister's friend from work was invited to join us for Halloween too - and this is a grown ass woman - and she was all, "No, I'm scared of your zombie lady, I saw pictures." And I was like, "I can't believe you, discriminating against certain zombies because of their disabilities!" I've already had so much fun making spoonie jokes about her that she was worth the money for that alone.

We've had to keep her inside though, because she is big and bulky all put together and Sis can't be hauling her in and out every time it rains, so instead we set her in front of the big windows in our living room. From outside, you can totally see her and the walker and everything. The step pad is stretched out to the corner, so we can stand in the corner, out of sight from the outside, and activate her whenever we want. It's gonna be awesome come Halloween night!

A couple of our friends may stop by on Saturday to watch us terrorize kids and we are kinda doing our costumes on the fly this year - what with Mom's health we are a little disorganized - but there will be pizza and wings and bread and wine and pop and candy and maybe some Buffy Halloween episodes this year. And, of course, terrorizing the neighborhood kids! Sis said maybe Libby was too scary for the kids and I said, "That's the point. They aren't my kids, so...too scary is the point." Because it's Halloween and scary is the point!

Here are two things you all might not know about me: My first fandom, at age 6, was The A-Team. I have a lot of feelings about this show. Like, a lot. I wrote my first fanfic for The A-Team, again, at age 6. I have a bunch of A-Team hats and I wore a bomber jacket for years because of Murdock. I love The A-Team. The original A-Team. Okay. Secondly, do you all remember like 15 some years ago when 7UP had those commercials for ‘Make 7UP yours’? And Orlando Jones was the 7UP guy? Yeah, I had such a crush on him from those ads. No one was allowed to talk when a 7UP commercial came on. All my friends thought I was very strange, being in love with that dude from the 7UP commercials. Yeah, I’ve been crushing on Orlando Jones ever since.

Last night - through the magic of the internet, specifically Tumblr - two of my fannish worlds collided. In the best way. Orlando Jones made an A-Team/Sleepy Hollow post and I reblogged it with some added comments. And then…he ‘liked’ my comments. And now my life is complete. This is the culmination of my crush, of my fannish existence, of my life, and from this day forward, everything else that happens to me, every day from now on, is just the whipped cream and cherry on top of my beautiful life-sundae.

No, I am not being over-dramatic about it. The A-Team meets Orlando Jones in something that was kind of, almost, an interaction with me and now my life has reached a beautiful peak of unicorns and fireworks, of soldiers of fortune and 7UP.

That is all.

Jon Stewart is retiring. I can’t…just no. This’ll be his last year at The Daily Show. I am so sad. Bad enough I lost Craig Ferguson this year. I feel like I just found out one of my best friends is moving to Australia. I mean, sure, I’ll see him once every five years or something, for a quick evening, but he’s not coming to my house for dinner four nights a week anymore. It really does feel like losing a friend. Sometimes being a fangirl sucks - I get too attached, dammit!

Also, two nights ago I had to get up to pee like 6 times and I could not get comfortable. I was already going to the doctor’s yesterday, so I had them check for a UTI and yep, got one of those. Ugh. I feel so drained. It’s just a stupid little infection, but it makes me feel so spoonless. The last time I had a UTI, I passed out on the toilet and ended up in the hospital. So obvs, now I am all anxious about it, every time I go to the bathroom, I’m all, “Please don’t wake up on the floor, please don’t wake up on the floor.” And I have to take an antibiotic, which I am deathly allergic to like 80% of the ones out there, so even though I am sure this one will be okay, it makes me anxious. I hate even the possibility of death-allergies.

Tomorrow I have to go to the eye doctor, which, with drive time, is like a 5 hour day. So that’s going to suck. The BFF did 2 tarot readings on me yesterday, to practice her skills, and basically what we came away with was, ‘This week is going to blow and be a downer and just try not to be your own worst enemy and it’ll get better by the weekend.’ Which, yep, I will be my own worst enemy by getting all worked up about the chance of passing out, being terrified of the toilet, and afraid to take the medicine that will make me better. Boo all of that.

In funnier news, I tried to text my sister to ‘bring me some cran juice’ and it autocorrected it to, ‘bring me some dean juice.’ The BFF said that is probably not the thing to make a UTI better. lol So now I am just trying to relax as much as I can and make it through to Friday - cuz Galentine’s Day will be awesome! We are going to eat waffles for dinner in Leslie Knope’s honor.

That is all.

Thank you to everyone for your well-wishes for my Grandma. She made it through just fine, spent one night in the hospital and was released with the agreement that my uncle would stay with her for a few days.. It turned out not to be a biopsy at all, but rather a full-on surgery. They removed both her ovaries. She consented without even knowing what they were doing. The night before she told my sister, “Oh honey, I don’t even know what this thing is they are doing tomorrow.” /shakes head/ Thankfully it all went well.

( My Grandma Is A Riot. )

ION, yesterday was K’s 50th birthday, so at the clinic on Friday they had decorated with black streamers and black balloons everywhere and everyone was wearing black. I was told ahead of time to wear all black and I noticed almost all of the patients there - except for 2 teenagers - were all dressed in black as well. Apparently it wasn’t just a employee wide joke, they had spread the word to all their patients too! Of course, K didn’t know they were doing this and chose that day to wear his bright pink shirt, so he was like a stab of color amongst all the black decorations and clothing. After he left work, they cut down all the black balloons and stuffed them in his office for him to find on Monday. Also they gave me a piece of his birthday cake to eat. It was called Better Than Sex and omg, this is what I want for my birthday this year. It was chocolate cake with caramel and filling injected into it and it was all soggy and delicious and omg, my eyes literally rolled back in my head. One of the new aides asked why I got a piece of cake even though I don’t work there - (I think he was trying to hoard it all for himself!) - and he was told, “She’s our favorite, she gets whatever she wants.’ Ha!

That is all.

Halloween was awesome! I terrified all the children! We were steampunk vampires this year. I took my old pseudo-Cabbage Patch Doll and sat in front of the big windows. When kids were coming down the sidewalk, I’d bury my face in the doll’s neck and wait until they got almost up to the front steps and then lift my head. My mouth was caked in blood and I would snarl at them and throw myself against the window. It was hilarious! Several of them backed right up. Quite a few asked if I was real. One kid gave me a double thumbs up. A lot of the parents waved at me in appreciation, but like I’m going to break character and wave back. I only broke character, waved and smiled - though I was told my smile was also terrifying - for the really little kids who were too scared. It was so much fun and both Sis and The BFF looked great in their outfits and lizibabes made us some steampunk jewelry and The BFF had this amazing Victorian era ballgown that was like blood red, while Sis had this great platinum white wig. Also, despite the weather being 40 degrees and rain/snowing, we got about 100 kids, which was great.

( More under the cut for spaceage. )

It was definitely one of the best Halloweens we’ve had since we moved into this house. I can’t believe we have to wait a whole year for next Halloween! How were all of your weekends?

It's like I'm dreaming fanfic, I swear.

Last night I dreamed about Spike, Dawn & Angel.

( Under the cut! )

Yep. That was my dream. I was sad when I woke up that it wasn't a real thing that had happened because it was so sweet - everyone was so sweet and in love. And then I thought how it really came off like a fanfic, except who would write a fanfic where Dawn was a heroin addict? IDEK, but it was glorious. My dream gave me a lot of feels, okay!

Heehee, the 'Love Yourself' Meme sounds dirty. This meme didn't seem to have a name, so I just made that name up - it seems fitting. I got tagged for this over on Tumblr, and though I am often too lazy to do these things, it was my first Tumblr meme-tag, so I jumped on it. Then it turned out to be an interesting meme. We are kind of taught not to go around bragging on ourselves, no matter how awesome we are, so this meme sort of forces our hand and makes us say nice things about ourselves. And I know a lot of people don't think about the things they have to offer or their good traits and this kind of forces you to look at yourself and be nice to yourself. Which sounds really sappy, but sometimes we just need to stop being such fucking goths about everything!

Anyways, I liked my answers over on Tumblr, so I thought I'd repost the meme here. And maybe tag some peeps - some of you who are still pretty active on LJ and might want to do this. Though you all deserve to think nice things about yourself and brag a little about your awesomeness. So feel free to grab and hit up your own peeps with this!

Here we go!

When you get this you have to say 5 nice things about yourself publicly, then send it to 10 of your favorite followers!

1. I am creative and full of ideas and various art forms.

2. I have no filter, which I view as a plus, because it results in some hysterical and awesome conversations.

3. I am always willing to converse with you about whatever you are interested in, even if I don’t know anything about it.

4. I am good with kids, entertaining them and treating them like equals (minus my usual cussing).

5. I’m gonna be straight up…I have excellent cleavage. (See #2)

And now I tag! dugindeep, shirebound, denig37, enablelove, lindahoyland, vikingprincess, elfscribe5, misslucyjane, princesslanie & sarahk_63.

This has been Pig N A Post #3, for Tuesday. I missed a week while The Canadians were home and oh boy, do I have some adorable stories about the kids to share! Hopefully Thursday!

My coughing is about 90% done. I have to do the breathing treatment every day or it comes back, but fuck it, I can do that all winter if I have too. When I was a kid, I used an inhaler, because my lung muscles weren’t as strong since I wasn’t as physically active. It shouldn’t be surprising that I need it again as I get older. Also, the hernia (did I even tell you guys about that?) has reduced itself and now I am just suffering from some abdominal muscle strains (at least I hope that’s it, because I really don’t want to have any scopes put anywhere inside me to check that shit out!). I am taking muscle relaxers, which swamped me with guilt to take them, but they have helped enough now that I am glad I did.

Anyways, I realized I hadn’t shared the actual funny stories that came out of all this coughing. So let’s do that now.

( It's all under this cut. )

I guess the moral of this story is my family has worked out a solid form of communication with one another, so easy even a 2 year old can make it work!

So, The Boy at therapy had been telling me how he was going to a Halloween party and he had no ideas for a costume and I was like, “Why are you telling me this four days before the fact? Why didn’t you tell me three weeks ago? I could have done some serious magic on you, man.” He was all, “Don’t you have any suggestions now? ANY?!” We decided to use his actual baseball uniform - (I wanted to go ‘zombie’ but I knew that would probably ruin the uniform and he needs it) - and went ‘skeleton baseball player’. He said he had no idea how to do the makeup, so I gave him a quick tutorial…just white & black face paint, do his whole face white and then I showed him where on his face to apply the black - (under the eyes, around the mouth and on the arches of his cheekbones). A pretty decent five minute/five dollar costume.

When I asked how it went, he said he changed his mind and stayed home to watch football. He said he’s just not that into Halloween. I said, “But it’s the one day a year where it’s okay for you to dress up and pretend to be someone else. Don’t you want to do that? Or do you like love yourself or something? You’re a teenager, how are you self-confident in who you are?” And he shrugged and said, “I dunno. I’m pretty good with myself. I don’t need to be anyone else.” I, of course, threw my hands up in the air and said, “OMG, all of K’s kids are so well-adjusted! It’s disgusting!” The Boy was laughing pretty hard. I'm glad he gets my sense of humor - (he puts up with his dad’s on a regular basis, so...).

But the PT clinics themselves had a contest between each clinic for best themed-costumes. The clinic I go to was doing a Zombie Wedding; bride, groom, priest, wedding party, guests. I saw the pics, it was pretty awesome! They won out by a landslide - (the only other clinic that did anything remotely interesting was the one that did a 80’s Workout Video Stars theme, which was pretty good).

My own Halloween went excellent! We all looked badass and my makeup came out amazingly - (I used a variety of colored eyeshadows all over my face; white, grey, gold, green, black and then dusted myself with charcoal dust from my art supplies. We probably had the best turnout we’ve had since the year we moved in - (when it was 70 degrees and sunny out) - and there were several kids who were afraid to come up the walkway to our house and a few kids who came up, saw me sitting in the old rocking chair and yelled, “What is that?! What is that?!” I hissed at them, as a witch does. My sister, at one point, took off her witch’s hat and replaced it with her Darth Vader helmet - (while wearing the black cloak) - and proceeded to walk around the neighborhood telling kids that, “The force is strong with this one.”

Here, have a few shots of our house with the fog machine turned on. The BFF picked it up for us and it was the best investment ever!

( Two Pics Under The Cut. )

Best costume we saw this year was a Princess Spiderman! Anyway, next year we’re talking about doing steampunk vampires!