The obligatory Halloween Post

This was a rather tame Halloween this year compared to those in the past. With the boys off at college and serving in the military, the girls were left to their own devices. They both devleoped their own costumes, and they were great. My teenage drama queen decided to be Zombie Marilyn Monroe and Niece was a Zombie Prom Queen. And let me tell you, I'm glad I wasn't her competition. The girls were also joined by our little friend Andy who was dressed as a character from Star Wars, Episode I Don't Know What (And don't ask me the character name. Even though I asked Andy many, many times over the course of the evening, I cannot for the life of me recall.).

All right, who knows how to drive this thing?

Marilyn Monroe with an Elvis lip

Who knew Zombies wore flip flops?

Great. Our driver left.

Stop smiling. You're supposed to be scary!

My date left me in this pumpkin patch and all I got was these dead flowers.

The Elvis lip again. Who knew Marilyn and Elvis were so close?

After their marathon makeup session (it took me about four hours total to apply all the fake skin and zombie-esque makeup and blood), we descended upon the Southern Belle Farm for some fun.  The girls really enjoyed running through the corn maze, encountering unsuspecting people coming around the corners. They had a great time and had lots of requests for photos and compliments on their costumes.

Later, the girls provided a great view for the other people in the pizza place. Pizza ... Zombies with bloody festering wounds. A great combo. After a quick run through WalMart (with more requests for photos that hopefully won't end up here), we called it a night. The girls were a little disappointed they were "too old" for trick-or-treating, but Sister L made up for it by buying out half the candy aisle. Hope you and yours had a great, safe Halloween, however you ended up spending the evening. Oh, and by the way, if you go through a roadblock with a Zombie, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It provides the guys and girls who have to work a little bit of levity.

Yes I am alive...

I am a bad blogger. A bad blogger in that I have not posted for the greater potion of a calendar year. But I have an excuse! Since my last post my son was transferred to his technical school in Gulfport, MS,

In the Classroom

I can make things!

and we made a few trips to see him,

I started seeing another doctor and had another surgery which I am still trying to recover from,

Told ya (and yes, those (14) wires are embedded in bone)

celebrated my son graduating from his tech school and coming home for a short visit, saw my nephew graduate (with Honors!) from high school,

SURPRISE! Look who made it home for your big day!

sent my son off to his first permanent duty station clear across the country, sent my daughter back to school as a Junior and went back to work, but not before learning to crochet.

Saw my little girl apply her skills:

And made a road trip to see my nephew begin his college career.

Road Trippin' to Savannah

Hopefully, I can get myself in gear and start posting again. Hopefully.

The Earth almost slid to a stop ...

A disturbing thing happened yesterday on the internet(s). Check out the article here. Thankfully, YouTube came to its senses very quickly.

I'm working on it...

We've been back from San Antonio for a couple of weeks and I'm still working on putting together a video of our trip. The Flip was the best and worked great AND I didn't drop it in the water on our tour of the Riverwalk. Bonus! It was a great trip, beautiful weather and most importantly, we got to see our Scootie for the first time in months. Woo hoooo! So stand by and I'll get it up as soon as possible. Promise.  For now, a snapshot of my pride and joy (and his "Flat Cousins" who weren't able to make the trip).

I'm a Flipper

Photo from here

I got my new Flip Mino HD yesterday and cannot wait to start using it to annoy everyone around me. So far, Sissy and I have just been goofing around, but I really am going to work it when we go to San Antonio to Scootie's graduation from boot camp. I hope I will be singing its praises from the rooftoops and not picking up the pieces after I've slammed it to the ground in frustration. We shall see. Of course, I am not being compensated in ANY way for my opinions (however, I wish I was!), which are just that. MY opinions. So far, so good. I was able to slip it in my pocket this morning on my way out the door with no annoying need for extra batteries, connecting cables, chargers, etc.

The website was super easy to order from, and the design options are excellent. You can even make your own, with your own photo! I did not choose that option ( I chose the design above), but if I order another in the future, I probably will. Also, because I ordered directly from Flip, I got a free accessory! I chose the power adapter, which allows you to charge the camera in any standard power outlet (instead of plugging into a computer).  There are bunches of retailers you can buy this camera from like Best Buy, Office Depot, Target, WalMart, etc. but you would be limited in what colors you could purchase at these places.

So, stay tuned for videos and we'll see how we like this little gadget. IF I can keep Sissy from converting it to her own use.

So I haven't been here in so long people thought I was dead...

As you can see, my blogging has been non-existent. I probably could blame it on a lot of things. Perhaps it's because I shipped my son off to bootcamp and the world around me seems so much quieter. Perhaps it's because of all the holiday hoop-la. Maybe I've lost my mojo. Well, today I was called on it and I guess I have to give in and post. I'll make it a long one filled with pics of what's been going on and maybe that will suffice for today. Here we go:

We had a going away bonfire chili party for Scootie

Scootie and Friends

The last shave...with an audience

The morning before "shipping day"

the biggest rice krispie treat i've ever seen, decorated by Sissy and Niece

ThankChristmas

He swears

This is REALLY happening

It's like the first day of school all over again

Flat Scootie is born

for some reason, I got NO DOUGHNUTS from this shopping trip

Flat Sccotie helps wrap gifts

My kids on Christmas Eve

Everyone loves (Flat) Scootie

Maybe a little TOO much

A-nut L and Andy

Flat Scootie gets first piok (pay no attention to the rolls [and I don't mean the crescents])

BTK gets humiliated...AGAIN

Me, too!

Happy New Year!

And, that should catch me up somewhat. Happy?