The truth be known... Part I

Here is the first truth revealed about me from my last post.

#5 is.... true!

Yes. I had a troll family when I was very young, maybe about 5 or 6 years old. 

My brother just 18 months older than me would get some soup boxes from the store and we would partition them off into rooms. You know a Jell-O box covered in bits of old flannel make a perfect size bed for trolls. And the Sears catalog gave us many TVs, pictures for the walls and even curtains for the windows. Large buttons made a nice seat and old bits of fabric for carpet make the house nice and comfortable for trolls. We also saved our pennies and mom let us buy a roll of wood grained contact paper so that they had fancy paneled walls! Wood paneling was all the rage in the '60s!

Yea... nerd boy! LOL

A little white lie

I did a post like this a while ago and I thought it would be fun to do it again.

Here are 5 things about me; which one is the lie?

1. I got my nose broken in a game of pool volleyball.
2. I have been on TV several times.
3. I have rappelled face first off of a 75 foot cliff.
4. I bought a Jeep once but ended up hating it. I sold it less than a year later.
5. I had a troll family when I was a kid. I made a house for them out of a cardboard box.

Leave me a comment and let me know which one you think is the lie.

I will give you the full story in future posts and then come clean about the lie.

Thanksgiving Weekend Adventures

I should be calling this the weekend shenanigans!

This is what happens when you combine:

Drinking cider all day at the renaissance fair

moi

+Adding some rum from the Cayman Islands

This really is the brand name of the rum!

+Crazy friends

monkeys and leopards and tigers, oh my!

Yes... we all wore our onesies to the bonfire! 

Of course we danced around the bonfire and drunk walked (stumbled) into people's campsites!

No... there was no back-flap on my onesie, but there were sock monkey feet! And pockets.... 

And yes... I was calling my drink "BBD in cider" heeheehee

Had a great time! My liver needs a break though....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought I'd have a go at Sean's TMI Thursday blog challenge:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
1. Do you travel or stay local? Family or Friends? Host or Guest? 
This year will be kind of non-traditional. I'm baking a turkey-breast and when it's done I will head south to the closing weekend of the renaissance fair near Houston. I friend is driving up from the Corpus Christi area and we will have a small meal in the campgrounds.

2. Parade: Love it? Leave it? Never let it go? 
I have not watched the Macy's parade for over a decade. I do not like it... it seems to celebrate the season of "commercialism" that we are coming in to. UGH!

3. Favorite Food? 
Turkey! (only white meat) and pumpkin pie.

4. Favorite holiday movie or do you watch football? 
When I was a kid I used to like the Charlie Brown specials... now; not so much. I don't care about football and I don't watch any holiday movies. Some would think this is boring but I don't care.

5. If you do holiday decorations, for which holiday and when? 
I do not like the gaudy, over the top holiday decorations that a lot of people like. Being a proud Pagan I usually put a natural pine bough at my front door and that's it!

6. Black Friday. Thoughts? Feelings? Soapbox? 
I'm going to get on my soapbox about this one. I hate it! It is about greed and commercialism! The "mad rush" into a store to be the first one to buy something seems foolish to me. In the banking industry we know that more fraud is done during this time of the year... that doesn't seem very christian to me. I will not go near a store on the Friday after Thanksgiving!

Bonus
People traditionally give thanks on Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? 
I am thankful for life. I am content. I have great friends and loved ones. My family is no longer trying to convert me back to the 'gospel'. I may not have the best health, but I'm doing way better than some. I embrace life to the fullest and that is what I am thankful for! 

In Dog we trust

In the beginning there was a pet. And the pet was a Dog! And he was a good doggy!
(or she was a good puppy)

So reads the "Book of  Dog"! And don't dispute me because the Book of Dog is the absolute truth!

OK... this is the same argument that religious people use to say that their religious opinion is the right one. I think this is a good simile.

The feelings about having a pet is the same feelings as one has for their religion. Some people think that having a furry mammal is right. Then they are divided on whether a dog or a cat is better. Some splinter groups think that a gerbil or a ferret or a rat is better.

Then you have another flock of people who likes birds and they insist that a bird is the best pet. But what about the people that love reptiles? I hear that snakes, iguanas and other reptilian creatures make good pets.

So who is right? Try to tell a cat lover that cats are evil and that dogs make a better pet! How would you feel if you were condemned to live forever in a crazy cat lady's house if you were a dog lover? Yikes.

And then there are those that don't believe in having a pet at all... or just chose not to ever have a pet.

So please people... don't be quoting your opinion of the bible as absolute truth to me!!

The deep blue sea

Cayman Island Adventures Part II

When we weren't dressing up as pirates last weekend we spent our time on the beach and in the water.

The beach at our condo

There was a shipwreck really close to the condo and we snorkeled over there a couple times each day.

Shipwreck

getting ready to go out

We haven't got the film developed yet from the cheap underwater cameras we bought... but we saw some amazing fish: a huge stingray, lobsters, flounders, huge angel fish in neon colors and many others. I was in awe of the beautiful fish!

1st time snorkeler

We spent a lot of time walking on the beach too: exploring the tide pools, walking to a restaurant or just enjoying the sea and the beautiful beaches!

On Sunday we rented a van and drove to the other side of the island to visit an area called Rum Point.

pirates on a road trip

The views and the beach was amazing! Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life!

Those dots are my friends
out walking the shallow water

A sea urchin in about a foot of water

We had to shuffle when we were walking in the shallow water. We didn't want to step on anything...!

Our last night there we were rewarded with the best sunset of the week.

This was an amazing trip and probably the best vacation I ever had! It was difficult to leave paradise for reality.

Pirate Weekend Adventures

It was nice to sleep in my own bed after 5 nights away... but it was one of the best vacations ever!

I got there in the early afternoon on Thursday. Our condo was right on the beach! It was awesome!

view looking towards Georgetown

view looking down 7 mile beach

As soon as I got there I was ordered by the captain to "catch up" on the rum drinking. I changed into a pirate t-shirt and kept the pirate hat on that I wore through the airports. Within a few minutes we were drinking a mudslide in a bar on the wharf and were already posing for pictures with tourists from the cruise ships.

We got back in the late afternoon after a bite to eat and put on the snorkeling mask and fins. I was given a few important details of breathing while in the water and we set out. I'll save the snorkeling stories for another post.

Friday morning after breakfast and another swim with the fishes we got into our pirate garb, took pictures on the beach and then headed downtown. I swear to the gods that we had our pictures taken thousands of times! The crowds were huge and we could not walk more than 3 feet without someone stopping us to take their picture with us. All night long!

posing for pictures

Saturday was the big day. We got ready and were down on the wharf early. We went out on the ship and sailed into the harbor with thousands of people watching on shore and the wharf and on buildings and balconies and on the street!

Charles and I on the stern of the ship (by the mast at the back)

We spent the rest of the day... you guessed it... posing for pictures (and drinking rum)... until late into the night. We were going home from breakfast the next morning when we spotted the front page of the newspaper! Cool, eh?

That was the end of the pirate garb until it came time to fly home. One does not simply pack a pirate hat into their luggage....

And how was your weekend?

Pirate in the Caribbean

This picture is on the front page of the local Cayman newspaper!

Here is the link: cayCompass.com :: Pirates land in Cayman

Greeting from sunny Cayman Island, mon!

What a GREAT vacation so far! I'll write more when I return home.

But just wanted to stop in and say hello on a quiet Sunday morning in Grand Cayman.

Our condo is right on the beach.

This is our view looking towards Georgetown.

I think I'll save the Pirate Adventures for another post.

Y'all have a great weekend!

Vacation time!

Tomorrow I will wake up around 3AM. My flight is early!! [y'all need to drag the word out to a respectable Texan 3 syllables]

I'll be headed to The Cayman Islands for Pirate Festival. Woohoo! [Or should I say Aarrgghh!?]

I went to the doctor this morning; got some good 'meds'... so I'm not feeling as puny as I was last night! YAY!

The two couples that are going with me flew in today. I wish I would've gone then too... but I'll soon be joining them for some drinks and shenanigans.

BTW... I'll be wearing my pirate hat [on the plane] since I don't want to pack it [with the big feather I added to it].

Y'all have a great rest of the week and an even better weekend. I'll try to remember to get a lot of pictures.

Election Day Thoughts

Finally!!!

I will be so happy when this day is over! Woohoo!

And not just because my vacation starts tomorrow. 

I'm so tired of all the negativity and the rhetoric!

In other news... I've not been feeling well. And just before vacation too.

[sad face]

November Tarot

Rebirth Reversed

In the regular (or the Rider-Waite tarot) deck this card is Judgement card. This Druid Craft Deck calls it Rebirth as they think Judgement is more Christianized. The same renewing and following a new direction or a new call is the same as being reborn and doesn't sound as harsh as being judged.

But the card reversed means that I've heard the call and know the new direction I need to take... I'm just wary of taking it. I need to act and not stay at a standstill for this month.

Ok then.. give me a push if you notice me being slow or putting off taking this new course. Remind me not to be so hard on myself too!

(sorry, the pic is a little blurry... kinda like me sometimes... lol)