To B(ald) or Not to B(ald)?

 For years I have wanted to buzz my hair. I'm seriously think I'm going to do it now that I don't have a husband to Ghost me over it(and so many other things...)

One of the main bones of contention for me and him was My sister, Baby Darlene, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Cancer a couple years ago. She's been going thru lots of therapies(as I call them) but she has always had the most beautiful long, thick Raven Black (with a natural blue sheen) hair . She gets it from our Native American blood. She asked me and my sisters one day if she did Chemo and started losing her hair, would we buzz ours too. She literally said it in jest- she would never truly ask us to do that in reality- but I immediately said YES- absolutely I would!!....Husband overheard me and when I got off the call with my sisters, he .. FORBADE ... me to even think about it. 

After all the stupid ways he had his hair cut and all the stupid styles he's had his beard and 'Stache  that I never said a word about, but let him enjoy his choices in peace. He's an adult- it's hair- do what you like with it. 

I told him I absolutely WOULD support my sister in whatever way I chose and that was the beginning of his "ghosting" sessions. I think that one lasted about a week and a half and was the beginning of our real troubles.

Time has marched on and many different types of treatments later, my sister hasn't  lost ALL her beautiful tresses, but there is a significantly less amount of it- and of all things it's started to turn a corn tinted blonde on the underneath and edges of her temples. It doesn't look bad at all- it's just not the norm for her.

So it's got me thinking again- why don't I just go ahead and DO it????? Who's going to stop me now?

It's A BUST!!!! and Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!!!

 Sorry about the delay in posting y'all. Last week was week from hell at work and as I have a working computer in my office, that is generally where I write my blog posts on my lunch. Alas- there was no such thing for me last week. Honestly, I went home every day so tired I fell asleep as soon as my behind hit the chair and there I stayed until around midnight when I would drag myself out of the chair, down the hall only to fall asleep literally before my head hit the pillow. 

We've been working on several projects at work and I'm managing two of them. It's very odd- I don't claim to be a supervisor(Ye Gads how I detest that title-but not the pay)... but my manager has referred to me as such, plus put me in charge of a couple of projects so I suppose I actually am- whether I like it or not. 

 If I could live off the money I would retire and work only part time like so many others are doing, but alas- I fear I will be working until Lunchtime the day of my funeral and only get the time off approved  then if I can find someone to fill in for me. (Fat Chance)!!!

Anyway- I'm rambling- so yesterday morning I woke up with a horribly scratchy throat and all the classic cold/flu symptoms except running a fever- so I'm assuming it's just a common cold. Not really surprising as my Granddaughter who lives with me was ill with the same thing the week before last.  Infection timing is spot on too. My daughter and I had taken on the chore of re-arranging Granddaughters bedroom while she was at her dad's for the weekend. She's been asking for a change for several weeks now so we finally had a minute to do it for her. There were some used tissues that had fallen in the floor at the foot of her bed and I gathered them up and threw then in the trash bin, and waited until we finished re-arranging her room to go wash my hands. Apparently, sometime in that process, I touched my face with my tissue-germy hand and my immune system , not being the fighter is was when I was younger, allowed the cold germs to invade my system. I swear I'd rather have the full blown FLU than a common cold. 

 As I have told before, we have a family one pot meal almost every Sunday- and I tried to cook yesterday even tho all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed. 

I made a big crockpot full of Pinto Beans and they turned out fine- I mean how could you possibly mess that up???

Then, I tried making a pone of cornbread- somehow managed to grab the A/P flour instead of the cornmeal- BUT- I realized what I had done before finishing it up- so I poured about 2/3 of it out and then added in the cornmeal- which in THEORY should have worked- but when it can out of the oven, I swear if I made more of them they could have been put in the garden and used as stepping stones.  It was so bad(hard) that my cats, who will eat a rubber tire if given the chance, wouldn't touch it. Then I made a pan of cathead biscuits- and overcooked them- almost(but not quite) to the inedible point. 

My sister Nina and her son came to dinner and luckily Craig had made a big pot of stew and  brought it with them so we had a lovely supper anyway.  I'm thinking I might start doing those dinners only the first weekend of the month... it's hard for everyone to get there and leftovers go to my fridge to die- or become a long term science experiment. I don't like wasting food, but I cannot force myself to eat the same leftovers 3 days straight after a no show dinner for 9 ppl. I freeze what I can, tho. That has come in handy a few times when something came up and we didnt have time to cook a proper meal. 

This weekend I had written down a whole list of Prep to do for Christmas decorating next weekend, but suffice it to say- not a single thing got done there either... so this entire past week has been a BUST.

Seems to be an ongoing theme for 2025. 

Next year will be better tho. I can feel it in my bones!!!!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!!!

I've Been Waiting All Year for This!!!

 So it's finally happened! The first frost of the season!!!

This is OFFICIALLY the beginning of the holiday season for our family-the first frost of the season !! We wait for this event all year long!

It's almost as anticipated as the first snow of the season- or even Christmas Eve!!!!

Halloween is great for the kiddos, but for the adults, we watch/listen to the weather forecasts from mid-September onwards. Anticipation builds week after week. We never know when it will be!  We've had first frosts as early as September 20th- and as late as December 11th. 

Our family Tradition for the weekend after the first frost is to all get together for  a Bonfire Night! We make a huge pot of Texas Style Chili(with beans of course) and have all the usual toppings on it- 

Cheese- some like sharp, some like medium, some like mild. I usually have mild and sharp  and everyone can  mix and match to their taste. 

Sour Cream. ( I like Greek Yogurt as an alternative- it's got a similar twang to it and is a little healthy- but again- I usually have both.

Diced onions or chopped spring onions. We are a family divided on this one. Exactly half like one and half like the other. We have both.

That's all the toppings.

We usually have a few big family sized bags of Fritos too. Chili is NOT Chili without the Fritos. We all agree on that point.

We all grab a bowlful and there is rarely any left because everyone goes back for second and third helpings. 

Afterwards, we light the bonfire(or firepit depending on the wind) and we make S'mores for dessert for everyone. The kids run around in the leaves and climbing trees or riding bikes while the adults make smores and trade stories of days gone by. No one is allowed to be stuck to their electronics on Chili Night! It's all about the simplicity of life and interacting with Family.

Honestly it's my favorite event of the year with  my babies... and Grands, and now Great Grands!!!!

I'm so Blessed to have this in my life again. 

Manic Monday...

 I promise I will get a post up today. Yesterday was a Manic Monday and I literally didnt have time to take a break at all. 

Let's hope today isn't a second Monday.

You Cant Win...

 You think you know your job.  I mean, Been doing it for years and years and years. 

You decide to do something you have done off and on for as many times as needed and you take the initiative to do it without having to be instructed and what happens? Apparently you aren't supposed to do it unless asked by the client. Oh and undo what you've done- but if  someone asks us to we going to  redo it to what you did to begin with. 

We cant win.

 

Upcoming Holidays.....

 The weekend was interesting to say the least. 

Saturday I cleaned the shared areas of our house, put away all the Halloween Decor and added more Autumn decor for Thanksgiving. 

Our bedrooms are our personal space to be kept/decorated as we want them( as long as it's not left to go filthy and attracting pests of all/any sizes and species, that is. I try not to look too often, my level of clean is a half foot about a normal person's.)

 I've deep cleaned & organized mine at least 20x since moving in in May and it's still not done to my satisfaction to be honest. Granddaughter is a typical teen- but I have to say recently she has started coming back from her Dad's visit and immediately straightens her room. Yay!! My daughter likes hers clean but lived in and I'm fine with that too. 

So shared spaces are looking awesome- BUT- I'm about to start moving everything around for Putting up the Christmas Tree and Christmas decor.

First of all, I put up an Autumn Tree. Small topiary tree we intended to use for the from porch, but it just looked so lovely on the dining table I decided to just leave it there for now. 

I took all the smaller bits of autumn floral decor and put them all on the topiary tree. They are not attached so when Thanksgiving is over I can literally just pick the floras and ribbons off and put them in a box and label it for next year. Reuse the tree for Our Christmas topiary next to the front door. 

Next weekend I'll be decorating my Bezzie's apartment for Christmas, but the following weekend I'll be making the window swags for the front of the house. Also  we have a HUGE over sized wreath for the porch light on the second floor above the front entrance, and a large one for the front door to co-ordinate colors with the swags.

It's going to be fun. I'm in my element!

Only my sister and nephew showed up for "Sunday Dinner At Vada's" last night. That's fine. I don't think it's realistic to expect everyone to be there every single Sunday. It's just not going to happen with a large working family. We are extremely lucky to get together on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll have to work most holidays- I was only off last year for Christmas because it was my first Christmas back from England and hadn't celebrated Christmas with my family in 13 years I was over there. That was the condition I had for taking the job- I wanted Christmas off that first year. But now it's back to reality. Working most Holidays. So I'm going to have to plan Thanksgiving and Christmas with perfect timing to be able to do it. It will be fine.

I'm Alive!!!!

 Seems I made it through yet one more October 29th!!

It started of on shaky ground at 5am yesterday morning- although I started out a half hour earlier as a precaution. On the road that never ends I narrowly avoided 4 deer at separate locations who decided I wasnt a threat to them as they stepped out in front of me- either that or they were sick of everyone's BS and decided to end it all. As I said- I narrowly avoided them all. HA!!!!

Then I got on the 4 lane highway and had another issue- an 18 wheeler wasnt paying attention and almost rear-ended me at a Stop Signal. 

At this point, I was 100% positive that THIS was my last day.... 

I got to work and was overly cautious there as well...  As I was on the drive to my Bezzie's house after work. We had hot dogs and I was especially careful to chew everything until it was mush before swallowing it. 

Then we watched Yellowstone until time to go to sleep. And then I woke up at 3am and rejoiced!!!!

 Today when I get home I'm going to put together my Modern Witches outfit(I'm positive I can put a convincing witches outfit from what I own) for giving out candy(IF any ToT's show up) tomorrow evening.

If they don't show up I get to eat all the Lil Debbies myself!! Hee Hee Hee!!!

And also I'm going to try to do an autumn theme for my nails.....I mean how hard can it be.... Green undercoat with autumn color blotches? 

Famous Last Words...............