It's PARTY time....

OK, are you ready....???

Ethel & I make our entrance....

This was our lunch...two 3-foot subs, chips cheesecake, soda......and Kitty Litter cake!

The conference room was "spooked-out"...
Sarah Palin joined 2 residents from our "old folks home"

Cubicles were decorated....

We had other celebrities as well....

There was Wall-E........................

A VERY tall Jazz basket ball player...or are we..ah..they.. all very short...??

Chef Ramsey...........only nicer.

Indiana Jones....I've always liked him...

Then this old codger from the nursing home....

That's Ethel, my supervisor (Sacha) and a very mean pirate, Pat Morita (from the Karate Kid...geeze, he hasn't aged well as all...Red Riding Hood, and Toby Keith..

Sarah Palin...Pretty & Preggers...again..

Harry Potter and The Aging Beauty Queen...



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Life Alert

..."Help! I've fallen and I can't get up! Live Alert, save me!!"

HApPy hALloWeEN

-me

OK, for someone who doesn't really care for Halloween...

I seem to be doing a lot of "Halloween-related-stuff"...

Take tonight...because we are having a Halloween party tomorrow at work, I offered to make a...ah...um.... dessert.

The dogs really aren't "into" baking that much, so I asked the cat for a little help......

And this is our joint effort...TaDa! A Kitty-Litter cake!

Can you say YUM-O?

NO?

Are you KIDDIN' me??

Bones (the cat...and an appropriate name, don't you think??) will be hurt..I mean, she was really pooped-out...and she totally crapped-out on the clean-up...but, still, I felt it was a moving experience for the both of us..after all.....I didn't know she had it in her....

This?? Oh, it's a sneak-peek at part of my costume....just a little hint ...to go on...

Yeah.

Ah well. better get my beauty sleep...tomorrow's a big day at the office - all those young guys think they're the only ones who will enjoy the costume-contest part of the day.

(Insert evil laugh here...heeeeheheheheehe)

-me

Sssome thingsss ssseem sssimple...

..but are not ssssso.

Casssse in point - I had my very-front tooth worked on a few weekssss ago.

Went fine. No pain. No after effectssss. Sssimple, right??

I got "crowned" and it looksss great...

No after effectss, at leasssst not that I noticed until today..on they way home..in my car.

I ssstarted sssinging...and all wasss well, until the wordsss with the letter "Ssss" -

I heard me ...whissstle! Yesss! Whissstle!

Apparently, the way my very-front-brand-new tooth fitsss...has a whissstle...but only when I sssing...

So, from now on, Taylor Sssswift will have to sssing alone...

"we were both young when i firssst sssaw you

i clossse my eyesss and the flassshback ssstartsss

i'm ssstanding there - on a balcony of sssummer air

sssee the lightsss, sssee the party the ball gownsss

sssee you make your way through the crowd

you sssay hello.(.lalala... sssomthing sssomethiing.)..it'sss a love ssstory baby, just sssay yesss"

Oh yeah, little did I know...sssinging loudly in the car...all by myssself..

....that I was sssounding like Sssylvester the cat.....

Ouch.

Sssay goodnight Gracccie.

-me

Great Expectations....

..no..this is not a book review. Or a book report.

Hmm, I haven't thought about "book reports" in a l-o-n-g time.

Remember book reports?? Usually, being the procrastinator I am, I'd wait until Sunday night, then have to try to write it out (this was B.C. - Before Computers) while trying to watch Ed Sullivan....

So, back to Great Expectations....


Fall. Conjures up walking through crunchy leaves....and Mother-in-Law's rich, creamy fudge...and bright colors...Mother-in-Law's RiCH cREamY FuDGe......(worth repeating..)

"Hmmmmm..." says Mr. B...(not me...insert MY sad face here....)

And surprises in the mail?? No, that's a new one. So when you get something, it's really great, because it exceeded all expectations!
Take yesterday. Came home from Weight Watchers (yes, I expected to loose..and I did.. 1 pound..making the total 18lbs.)



Saw a box on the table and upon closer inspections, it was for ME!!

Laurie and Chris from Miss Flower (http://miss-flower.blogspot.com/) had a contest to guess how many photos this wonderful-photo-taking-couple took on their latest adventure...and.............I WON!

I know how great their photos come out, and I multiplied that by the number of days, and subtracted the required "sleep-time", divided that by the number of not-so-perfect ones, then added the time of year.....anyway.............the point is.....I WON! My guess was 1398 and the actual amount was 1348...Wow - that was for 2 weeks! If you haven't see their works, head on over to their beautiful site.http://miss-flower.blogspot.com/

Here is the sweet photo, that I thought I'd get in a padded envelope..but noooooo..

...they sent it in a beautiful wood frame (made by Chris) added a darling card (that I love the image soo much) and Laurie put in not one but 2 of her darling "Bits and Pieces by Laurie"..

See what I mean about Great Expectations?? If ya got 'em , you get 'em.

Thank you VERY MUCH Laurie and Chris!! I love it all :-)

Now go out there and have some Great Expectations of your own.....

-me

So, I was thinking today about...

...cars.

No, not the Disney/Pixar movie, silly!

Although there was nothing wrong with the movie..as a matter of fact...I really liked it.

Did you know "Larry the Cable Guy" was in it? Ya, he was..and they were all soo cute!!

I love kids movies..Still cry at Bambi...and at E.T. and even at Snow White...ewe, that scary witch, I didn't eat apples for months....or was that Cinderella??..and talk about scary...the mop scene in Fantasia...terrifying....

OK, Colleen..focus....

Anyway...cars.

If you think about it they're all little "boxes" that carry us away..here there and everywhere.

A bunch of little boxes all scattered around, going this way & that...some boxes are cuter that others..
Remember Fred's car? Did Barney have one? Didn't think so... Wonder if Pebbles ever got to drive it or if her feet were too small....

Anyway, this is just one more thing we take for granted..maybe even forget what is was like not having one...........cars...not feet...keep up..

Or having one with a heater in the cold of winter and and air conditioning in the summer...yeah....so we didn't have a heater in Colorado...and we didn't have air conditioning in Phoenix.

But I have both now.

And, I L.O.V.E. my car. And yes, I do. I talk to my car. Thank her when she gets me to work safely.

Thank her stopping just when she needed to on the freeway.

Apologize when the birds poo on her.

And yes, I carry a Swiffer duster in my car so I can dust at stoplights, while waiting in line at the bank, or anytime I have a moment.

She's a silver Hyundai Elantra - pretty and sleek. She's the Silver Pearl...

And I appreciate her so much.

When I leave the Pearl , everything has to be turned off - all dials in the up position..
( I know the only one that really has to be turned off is the fan and the radio - but unless they are all in the up position, it doesn't look aesthetically pleasing...)

So, the next time you get into your car..thank her...or him...and appreciate the fact that so many people don't have one..and when you are tempted to gun your motor because the person in front of you is too slow..or honk your horn to show someone you're angry..how would your car want to handle the situation?

I would bet they have more patience and forgiveness than we do..

Love me, Love my car....

Love,
-me

What is it about "laundry"????

I know I've written about laundry before..but it seems it is a subject that requires additional thought..

Maybe it's because it happens all the time.."in sickness and in health..".. No matter what we have planned for the week-end, it includes laundry.

It's not like we don't have enough clothes for 2 weeks - but can you imagine the loads I'd have then? And, it's only Mr. B and me...I guess I used to do a ton more when the kids were little. And at times, at the laundromat!

The kids, now all way grown & on their own, still say that as soon as they could reach the top of the washer & dryers, they had to do their own...and it's true. Good training, I call it.

But, there's some inner-joy that comes from the laundry...when the number of socks match exactally..not that the washer eats them, but during the week, Lulu thinks their her "babies" and hides them...


And, when all of my undershirts are the right-way-out? Love that...silly huh? I guess I could take the time to turn them right-side out when I put them in the hamper..but somehow, that'd take the "surprise"out out of it...

Money. Yes, I do love to find money. Mostly the paper kind. And, as I've always said, "Finders keepers. Losers..........nanner nanner nanner"

The smells..no not as they go IN but as they come OUT.....

I'd love to hang some but I've yet to convince Mr. B that I need a clothes-line.

After all, I have a cute apron that's made to hold clothes pins and can make a totally cute pin-bag like one of those from Cath Kidson's line...


Anyway, as I fold the clean, fresh smelling warm from the dryers clothes, fluffy towels and rugged jeans, I am reminded that this is a labor of love..sort of like doing the dishes by hand - mindless, yet tactile opportunity to be quiet, use your senses, and remember those you are doing this for...

Happy laundry to you all.

-me

Witch's Night Out....

...If you're looking for the Pink Saturday offering, it's one post down..However, if you're looking for some really fun "Witch's Night Out" photos and my....

"Ground-breaking-twice-in-a-day"

post (remember, that needs to be read really deep and loud...in your head..)

So, OK, I live in Utah. Center of the LDS universe. Love it here. I am a "recovering Catholic" (those Nun's can dish out a TON of guilt & fear) and I admire much of the LDS beliefs..but can't get my head around all of them..so I tell everyone I am "Mor-th-olic" - a combo of both ...

Anyway, back to the Witches....it's a BIG deal here- at Gardner Village (I've written about this place before) and women plan for this a YEAR in advance! I don't plan that far ahead for my life, no less a "Witch's" gathering!

My sweet supervisor, Sacha, invited me this year and together with Tamara, the Office Manager and Allison, Sacha's good friend., we had Mr. B drive us (virtually NO parking available that night..some parked like a mile away & walked!)

eating, music, eating, laughter,eating, a Witch's parade, contests, and so on. But mostly it's "Witch Watching" - seeing the elaborate costumes (at least I think they were costumes?!) . And when women get together with not thinking about being embarrassed in front of men- they seem to let loose - See the evidence below:



As you can probably tell, I was a "Kitchen-Witch" (not much "planning time" here..) and yes, I had a spatula, measuring spoons and a tomato corer hanging from my hat..

And, like the little kids that go Trick-or-Treating, we had to layer..it was going to be COLD outside...

Trying to feed Mr. B some of my "Bat-wing-snake-stomach-ear-of-wizard stew"...

Some of the Gardner Village Host-Witches....

"Song Sung Blue" or at least until we were blue in the face..

I thought the flour on my face would make people believe I really DO cook..


Witches were EveRyWheRe!!

On the grounds....

In the shops....

In the restaurant...

(Guess I should have gotten there a little earlier..the "Senior" witches eat at 4:30...)

This is Big-Scary-Guy who was TALL!! He's sitting down with me...but...

...here he is in all his tall-ness-glory!

This is pretty Tamara...she has the most gorgeous red-hair...no really..under that red wig!!

We are a trio of Hot Witches for sure! Allison sat this one out - she's preggers..that, or she had a pumpkin under her dress,,,,

Too beat to Boo....

Happy Haunting to all!

-me