it's just not the halloween season without 'em

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  I love everything about it - the scary movies, the zillions of shows about ghosts, the candy, the costumes, the ability to dress the way you really want to without being looked at strangely.  Oh, is that just me?

There are certain movies and shows that I have to watch every year.  You know, like the way some people have to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" every Christmas.  *shiver*   






Disney's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow."  A Halloween staple for me since grade school.  We got to watch movies for fun twice each year; once for Halloween when we got to watch this, and once in the spring when we watched The Lorax.  They'd pull down the screen, pop popcorn, shut off the lights and we just sat there, hypnotized by the clicking, whirring sound of the film going through the projector.  As for the movie itself, it was just the right mixture of humor and elementary horror.  It seemed so much longer back then though.  I'd still take this one over the Tim Burton movie any time.  (Apologies to Mr. Depp)



The Exorcist.  This movie still creeps the begeezus out of me.  The first time I tried watching it at a friends' house, we hid under the covers once things got going.  Never saw the full thing until about 5 years later.  It was that dang face that kept flashing on the screen.  Now when I watch it, I watch the director's cut with that dang crab walk that's just not humanly possible and...well...uber-creepy.



A Nightmare on Elm Street.  The original.  The best.  The first modern horror movie I had ever seen and I loved it.  Today it's campy and a bit dated, but it's still a necessity.  Oh - and I suppose this would give Johnny Depp a little Halloween list redemption.



Vincent Price movies.  House on Haunted Hill, The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Wax...  Campy, creepy, full of screams and classic.



"Scariest Places on Earth" marathons.  There's one on some channel every year.  What is it about the show that I love?  The macho families deciding to investigate haunted locations, losing their cool and screaming like children?  The melodramatic host?  Linda Blair in leather?  Zelda Rubenstein's awesome narration?  Yes.  All of the above.  And speaking of Zelda...



Poltergeist.  Or as my son used to call it - Poultrygeist.  The face peeling, the clown doll, the living steak and Zelda's "This house is clean."  Classic!  Of course, I have to watch it in conjunction with Poltergeist II.  "God is in his holy tem...ple."

The list goes on.  There's the original Halloween, Blair Witch, Nightmare Before Christmas and I might add Paranormal Activity to the list as well.  Then throw in every show about hauntings and staged haunted houses and I think we have it.  If you're wondering if I've forgotten Charlie Brown...no, I haven't.  I am probably one of the few people who can live without it.  I don't really care about the Great Pumpkin.

Happy Hauntings everyone!

october's educational post (here's someone you don't hear about very often...)

Ever heard of H. H. Holmes?

Eh...didn't think so.  Do the names Dahmer, Bundy, or Gacy ring a bell?  Well, add him to the list either by his given name, Herman Webster Mudgett, or by his alias.  This was one of America's first serial killers - convicted of 27 counts of murder in the first degree (though it is suspected he might have killed up to 230 people) between the years of 1888 and 1894 and the abundance of his murders were committed not far from me - Chicago.  The backdrop of his spree - The World's Columbian Exposition (better known as the 1893 World's Fair).

This guy wasn't just any old murderer - he built his own "Murder Castle."  He "inherited" a drugstore from a couple - the man died, the woman mysteriously disappeared - and Holmes decided to build a grand building across the street.  The first floor being his drugstore and various other shops, and he opened the rest as a hotel for those attending the nearby fair.  This was no ordinary hotel. Sealed rooms, gas chambers, secret passageways, doors leading to nowhere, chutes that went from bathrooms to the basement where a giant furnace, vats of acid and even a stretching rack were located.  He didn't just kill - he had fun with it.  Halfway through construction, he fired the crew and hired a new one so that nobody would learn too much about the building, get suspicious and go to the police. 

Before he started murdering people, he was a bigamist.  Apparently he had a way with the ladies.  Once he started his new life in Chicago, one of his lovers disappeared and he found another...actually many.  Funny thing is, many of them disappeared too.  His hotel employees were obligated to take out life insurance policies that Holmes would pay for, but also be the beneficiary of.  Guess what - employees disappeared too.  Most of his victims were his lovers, female hotel employees, and hotel guests.  A few men and children's bodies were found as well.   Many of the people were looking for a new life, had little family or were from places far away where it was difficult for family to come search for them.

His victims would suffer from the strangest forms of death.  Some were asphyxiated in their own well-sealed guest rooms by gas he would pump in through hoses. Some were sealed in a soundproof bank vault near his office where they would suffocate.  Others died of Holmes' badly-done abortion procedures.  After they were dead, some would be dissected and stripped of all muscle, becoming skeleton models then sold to medical schools.  Others were cremated or thrown into lime pits or even huge vats of acid.  He knew how to get rid of his evidence.

With the closing of the fair and bill collectors on his heels, Holmes decided to high-tail it out of Chicago and ended up in Texas, where he was going to build another...um...hotel, but he wasn't a fan of law enforcement down there.  He moved about for a while, probably killing a lot of other people as well, and then ended up in Philadelphia where he came up with another fine scheme...convince his associate to fake his own death and collect the life insurance money.  Except, of course, the person would end up dying anyway.  Holmes ended up convincing the dead man's wife (who had been convinced that her husband was in South America) to let three of their kids live with him.  There's a great role model for your kids! 

Holmes would lie to her about where they were staying when she would go looking for them.  She ended up hiring private investigators to find them, but unfortunately what they came up with was two decomposed bodies of children.  They finally tracked him down in Indianapolis in a nice little cottage he was renting.  In the chimney in that cottage, they found the ashes and teeth of the third child that had been travelling with him.  He ran again and was finally captured in Boston with his completely unsuspecting third wife.  I'm telling ya - ladies' man.

In 1894, a custodian at the castle ended up telling Chicago police that he was never allowed above the first floor of the building and that's when they decided to go investigating.  Over the next month, they searched the castle, found the secret rooms and means of disposal, but many of the bodies that were actually left were so decomposed or dismembered that they couldn't tell how many were actually there.  The castle ended up burning down due to a fire of "mysterious origin" in 1895.

What happened to Mr. Holmes?  Well, while he was in prison, he ended up making a deal with Hearst Newspapers for his confession.  He wrote his own story, and had it published.  His story did change over time though, first saying he was innocent, then toward the end of his time on this plane of existence saying he was possessed by the devil.  He was finally hanged on May 7, 1896...it was a slow death.  After that, he was buried in a concrete vault per his request so that nobody could dig up his body and dissect it the way he had done with so many others.

I had never heard of this man or the mass murders that took place in Chicago until I read a book about haunted Chicago of all things.  It made me investigate further and I ended up reading a book called "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson.  His book weaved together the story of Holmes along with the World's Fair and those who made it happen.  It was really fascinating - sick - but fascinating.  The Columbian Exposition is another topic that interests me, so I might be writing something about that a little later on.  Such a huge to-do and barely anything remains...

Anyhoo...I hope you've been educated a little bit today.  I know it's not the happiest of subject matter, but it's just so dang odd that you never hear about this guy.

the ultimate road trip

Spring Break 2011.  Last year around tax time, we decided, "Next year we're going to take our returns and go to Disney World."  A great idea!  One that we had come up with the year before and had to scrap because we had to use the returns for other things.  And yes, this time around the same thing is going to happen.  We still want to have a good trip this year though - something memorable for all of us and less expensive than flying to Orlando, so we've come up with the idea of doing an old-fashioned road trip.

We all love the idea.  The only issue is that we can't figure out where we want to go.  My husband has never been in the ocean, my son has never seen the ocean or mountains, and I'd love to get them there.  That opens up a whole world of possibilities, right?  Now, cross off anything in the Gulf because - well - it's Spring Break.  Not really a family atmosphere, ya know?  Also cross off going anywhere where we would have to drive through the Rocky Mountains because it's the 3rd week in March and the weather is pretty unpredictable up there. Add a few factors in like we want to be sure that there are activities for all of us to enjoy, we don't camp and we're on a limited budget and it makes the decision a little harder.

Some ideas we have come up with are Washington D.C. (tons of free stuff to do and not terribly far from the ocean, but hotels are a little pricey), a tour of BBQ hotspots (pretty easy, but the kid would probably get bored and there would be no ocean and no mountains), Maine (because we want to eat lots of lobster but again, not much fun for the kid), and a little jaunt through the Smoky Mountains to the lower east coast and back, but we wouldn't know exactly where our destination would be.

Who knew this would be so difficult!  Anyone out there have any suggestions?

i have to agree with the sleep talkin' man

Please tell me you've checked out the Sleep Talkin' Man.  There's nothing like a good chuckle in the morning, and this site gives me plenty.  A wife blogs about the things that come out of her husband's mouth while he's sleeping.  Simple, yet hilarious.  There is "controversy" over whether or not this is actual sleep-talk or if the writers of the blog make it all up, but seriously - who cares?  These insane random thoughts are merged together so beautifully that it doesn't matter where they come from.  I've posted some of my favorite quotes below...

"That's the difference between you and me. Your heart is filled with hate, and mine is filled with kittens. Mmmm, kittens. Meow."

"I think I'll become a decimal point. Cause it's got the power to make things look small or big, all at the same time. I want to have such power. Mmmm, power."



"The world's just not as sparkly as you want it to be. We should all carry some glitter and add a little bit along the way."

"Pay homage to toast. Prostrate yourself in front of it: hot, crunchy bread slice thingy. We shall celebrate with tea! Iguana tea."


"I'm in a totally zen-like state… Can't you tell how fucking zen I am?!"


"No. Don't look up. They're in the trees. Those tree cows. They're a deadly shot. They'll get you in the eyes. Get them down with threats of violence. And a bucket of grass, of course."


"Ghostly froggies. A-hoppin' and a-haunting. Oooooh, ribbit. Oooooh, ribbit."


"(singing) I'm gonna be the captain, I'm gonna be in charge. I'm gonna be the captain, I'm gonna be-... You can fuck off to the back and sulk there. (singing again) I'm gonna be the captain, I'm gonna be in charge.... Captain Bollocks! I shall be Captain Bollocks. On the good ship Scrotum. It's a small boat, but it'll pack a punch. We'll be able seamen in our boat, Scrotum."


"Yeah, you can find it on www.uselessfuckingpieceofcockshitesuckingtitfuck.com."

And the best one for us Wisconsinites:
"My badger's gonna unleash hell on your ass.  BADGERTASTIC!"

Hope you got a little chuckle out of these.  Seriously, follow this blog - it's a little piece of happy insanity every morning.

why is this surprising?

A couple of weeks ago, the media was abuzz with the story of the results of a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.  This 32 question survey on religion was given to 3,412 randomly sampled adults across the country and the results were interesting, but in all honesty I wasn't surprised. 

Disclaimer:  Remember, this is my blog - therefore my opinion, so don't go getting all pissy... ;P

Do you have any interest in trying the quiz yourself?  You can find a shortened version here.  If you do want to try the quiz, I hughly suggest you take it before you continue reading this entry...I don't want to give anything away.

Done?

Good.

I'll continue...

Now the findings showed that in this cross-section of the US, the people who scored the highest were those who consider themselves Athiests/Agnostics with people of Mormon and Jewish faith coming in a close second and third. 

This was absolutely shocking to some people!  I don't really know why.  I have found that a good section of people who I have talkted to who consider themselves Christian (and according to the survey, two-thirds of Christians) - whether they attend church every week or not - have never read the Bible completely, or only read parts of it.  Sure, they know the stories of the Bible, they know the quotable verses, but rely on sermons and their own personal beliefs to keep their faith going.  Many were brought up that way and it's more a family tradition - it's how they were raised.  (Please don't accuse me of lumping all Christians in this group - I know of many who study the Bible intently as well.  I just know there are many who consider themselves Christian without a deep knowledge of the Bible)  That is what they know, what they believe, and they have no need to investigate any further.

Many Athiests and Agnostics were raised Christian, but because they felt they didn't really agree with what they were being told, decided to delve deeper into the religion, usually starting out by reading the Bible.  Honestly, that is where many people decide it's not for them, or that it's the perfect fit.  After many people come to that decision, they search for another religion that fits what they already believe.

The results make perfect sense to me.  Was it just the fact that WASPs weren't deemed the most intelligent about something?  I know that can get them pretty grouchy.  (Oh, simmer down - I joke.)

Here are some findings that I did find interesting as this takes a look at all answers on a whole, not by religious affiliation:

I know religion is a touchy subject, so I'm not going to go on about anything other than saying that the results of this survey make for some interesting reading.  Be you Mormon or Christian, or Buddhist or whatever...knowledge of the things and people around you is always a good thing as well.

Oh, my score on the online quiz?  15 out of 15.  What was yours?

september's educational post (what a pain in the leg)

With the exercise that I've been doing to try to lose weight (though in actuality it's only keeping off the weight that wants to come back), I've ended up hurting myself.  Big surprise - I know.  After a few months of intermittent jogging, I've developed shin splints.  Lucky me!  I can still do my walk, but as soon as I start running, these things flare up and start yelling at me, so I have to stop. 

I ended up doing a little research on the pesky condition and thought I'd share some of my results.

"Shin splints is a general medical term denoting medial tibial stress syndrome, a slow healing and painful condition in the shins, often caused by the stresses of running, jumping, dancing, sprinting, etc."

Symptoms of shin splints:

• Pain over the inside lower half of the shin.
• Pain at the start of exercise which often eases as the session continues
• Pain often returns after activity and may be at its worse the next morning.
• Sometimes some swelling.
• Lumps and bumps may be felt when feeling the inside of the shin bone.
• Pain when the toes or foot are bent downwards.
• A redness over the inside of the shin (not always present).

"Shin splints can be caused by overly tight muscles in the lower leg, including the calf muscles and the shin muscles. Stretching on a daily basis and even receiving sports massage can help improve flexibility."


A possible contributing cause of shin muscle pain is the relative weakness of the muscles on the front of the lower leg (the shin), compared to the relative strength of the calf muscles, at the back of the leg (the calf). Shin-muscle strengthening exercises are usually prescribed to correct for this muscle-strength imbalance. The shin pain caused by medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints) usually lasts some ten (10) days, the pain slowly diminishing as the muscle-strength imbalance is corrected. The shin pain is attributed to a forced extension of the muscle, by the opposing calf muscles."

"Treatment for shin splints is as simple as reducing pain and inflammation, identifying training and biomechanical problems which may have helped cause the injury initially, restoring muscles to their original condition and gradually returning to training."

What can the athlete do about shin splints?

• Rest to allow the injury to heal.
• Apply ice or cold therapy in the early stages, particularly when it is very painful. Cold therapy reduces pain and inflammation.
• Stretch the muscles of the lower leg. In particular the tibialis posterior which is associated with shin splints.
• Wear shock absorbing insoles in shoes. This helps reduce the shock on the lower leg.
• Maintain fitness with other non weight bearing exercises such as swimming, cycling or running in water.
• Apply heat and use a heat retainer or shin and calf support after the initial acute stage and particularly before training. This can provide support and compression to the lower leg helping to reduce the strain on the muscles. It will also retain the natural heat which causes blood vessels to dilate and increases the flow of blood to the tissues to aid healing.
• Visit a sports injury clinic for treatment and rehabilitation.

"In order to properly treat shin splints and prevent them recurring, the causative factors must be taken into consideration. No matter how much rest, anti-inflammatories and massage are used, without correcting the cause of the injury, the symptoms will continue to return.


Biomechanical problems such as overpronation and supination can be corrected using running shoes or insoles (or orthotics). Ensuring shoes/trainers are suitable your foot type and for the activity in question.

For runners, try to avoid always running on hard pavements as they provide no shock absorption. Try running some of the time on tarmac, grass or even sand to reduce the shock passed through the legs."

Okay, so I completely copied and pasted from Wikipedia and SportsInjuryClinic.net, but I''m not very creative when it comes to explaining medical conditions.


Looks like my crappy shoes from Wal-Mart that are old and falling apart aren't doing me any good.  Unfortunately I don't have the funds to go out and buy myself a good pair of shoes.  At least I walk/run on a gravel trail and not on the sidewalk.  I learned that trick a long time ago.  Guess I'll just have to nurse these babies for a little while, start stretching, get back into it and see what happens. 

what the hell is this?

I was doing an innocent search in YouTube to see if I could find a clip from Willow to send to my friend and I came across this:



The song about Willow doesn't even start until 2 minutes into it.  I think I might have found my Halloween costume for the year!  Then again, maybe I'll pass...

not the "typical" female

I might be a female, but...

I do not enjoy chick flicks.  They're formula, sappy, unrealistic and boring.

I do not attend any book clubs.  I read books of my own choosing - some new, some old, both fiction and non-fiction.  And while we're on the subject,

I also do not read the latest trendy book series, romance novels, young adult books or hottest vampire series.

I do not bake.  I have tried, but I just can't do it if it's not from a box.  I can cook just fine, but don't expect me to mix flour, sugar, butter and a few other things together and come up with anything remotely edible.

I do not watch Lifetime.  I think the only time I ever did was to watch a few episodes of the Golden Girls back before it was on 24/7.

I don't watch Sex & the City, drinking cosmos and dreaming of living that life.  I tried watching the show once, and it was just nothing like me, so that was the one and only shot.  I've never had a cosmo - nor do I care to.  If someone orders one for me, sure, but you'll never hear me say, "Hey girls, let's get together for gossip and cosmos!" 

I don't blow my money on the latest styles, designer labels, latest trends or dozens of shoes.  I am a clearance sale shopper when I finally get the money to spend on myself.  The clothing I do buy is classic so it can last.  Very rarely do I buy something that is trendy - but, I don't look dowdy or frumpy.

I detest Oprah....and her "followers"  I just don't understand why people will buy luxury items, read specific books and behave a certain way because one woman tells them to.  It's scary - a whole subculture of upper-middle class to upper class female drones.

I do not scrapbook.  I do not need to embellish memories of things that happened by adding colorful papers and stickers.  My pictures are either framed on the wall, in full albums or in (somewhat organized) boxes.

I do not go ga-ga over babies.  Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike them, but I don't feel the need to touch, hold, cuddle, smell or talk to every baby around me.  Don't take it as an insult, I'm sure it's very cute, but it's not something I'm compelled to do.

Not that there's anything wrong with females who like the things that I dislike...

Having said all of this, I am by all means a woman.  Curvy in all the right places (and a few extra curves that I'm working on getting rid of), looks damn good in a skirt, devoted mother, wife and daughter, enjoys the company of men, does her best to bring home the bacon and keep her family going, balances work and family with a little time for herself, loves having fun, learning new things, and reminiscing about the past.  I can go from exercising to finding my husband's lost screwdriver to meditating to playing Mortal Kombat with my son to cooking dinner without hesitation.  I won't play games unless we're both playing for fun, I don't enjoy crying, so I won't use it to make you feel sorry for me, and I won't bite unless you want me to.  ;)

I am not the stereotypical female, I am a woman.  And dang happy with it.

when the wall comes down

I am usually a very positive person.  Our circumstances in life aren't always perfectly ideal, we don't have much, but we are happy to have each other and are thankful for the things we do have.  Sometimes, though it just hits me and I get very sad.  The wall that I put up to help block out the negative comes crashing down and my mood goes along with it.  Today was one of those days.  I broke down.  I let the fact that I spent a little more money than I wanted to on groceries get to me and I couldn't control my sobbing.  Whoa.  Thankfully that doesn't happen to me very often.  I just forget that I'm human and have emotions that I may not want to show from time to time.  If I let them build and build like that, they're bound to overflow - for what seems like no reason at all.

I got through it quickly.  Still not happy that I broke, but it happens.  Just have to keep reminding myself that we are still happy, we're okay, we have a great family, and not let the little things get to me.

the dime store

In the days before the Dollar store, we had the Dime Store.  Those who came before us called it the Five and Dime.

The dime store was downtown within walking distance (or even a bike ride) to home and when you had a little extra allowance money, you couldn't wait to get there and choose from the vast array of goodies they had on their two levels of bliss.  Here's a compilation of some of my favorite dime store items:

Smarties Pops ruled!  

If I remember correctly, they were only 10 cents a piece, so I'd stock up.

Big League Chew

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who attempted to fit the whole packet's worth of shredded gum into my mouth...and failed.  Talk about a sugar rush!

Garbage Pail Kids

I spent quite a bit on these things.  Unfortunately, I never found one with my name.  

 Halloween Costumes

When Halloween rolled around, there would be aisles and aisles (okay, maybe it just seemed that way to a kid in grade school) of costumes in boxes.  Plastic masks and smock-type clothes coverings that somehow was both the costume and the answer to the question, "Who are you today?"  (I happened to have that Leia costume on the right)

Chirping Christmas Ornaments

I always felt sorry for the poor employees who had to sit there and listen to 5-10 of these things going off constantly.  Christmas was full of chirping plastic ornaments, silver tinsel, bad artificial trees, lights, and...ugh...all I can hear are those dang ornaments!

Garanimals

You'd never have to worry about mismatching your clothes as long as your animals matched.  How could life be any more simple?

Grandma Clothes

It was a wonderful world of polyester and boy did my grandma love it!

What about you?  Do you have any favorites that I might have missed?