Avoiding

The baby is asleep, the perfect time to do the dishes. What am I doing instead??? Blogging. Just because I don't want to face the blasted dishes. Ugh! Well, I better get to it, he's not going to stay asleep much longer...

Something New

It's a shameless plug. I have posted a few new things on the Weird Little Blog... Enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 11.27.05

We finally saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night. It was well worth the wait. The CGI looked so real. Dave & I cried when Diggory died and then I cried again when his dad was saying, "my boy, my boy...". It still gets me. I was also moved by Dans' performance in that particular scene, he wouldn't be moved. It was wonderful. The direction under Mike Newell was the best thus far. I think it has made a big difference to have a British director at the helm. I enjoyed the first two films immensely and the third was good as well, but a bit bland on the colour. The fourth film was everything I had hoped for, the colour saturation was back, the CGI was brilliant and the acting was flawless. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend this film wholeheartedly.

Thankfulness

This Thanksgiving has been one of sadness and joy. Can the two co-exists? Of course they can. We miss the hubbys' parents because they are so far away. We rejoice in the ability to be able to spend the day with my family. These are a few reflections on today's' joys and things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my husband and child,
My Mom, Dad and Sisters and their families.

I am full of thanks for phones that will allow us to call Papa and Gammie in Chicago and still get to speak to them on a day in which we would normally be together.

I am thankful to my husband for being the spectacular man he is and for him being such a wonderful dad to our son.

I am also thankful that My Lord put me in a country where I can worship Him in freedom and I am thankful for all the people that He has put in my life.

And finally, I am thankful for being able to share this with you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Your Eyes Should Be Violet

Your eyes reflect: Mystery and allure What's hidden behind your eyes: A quiet passion

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

I once had that colour of contacts. I like my brown/green hazel eyes better. :-)

You Oughta be in Pictures...

Well, we are finally back from L.A. It was a fruitful trip. Owen found favour again with the scouts and one in particular called him for a "call-back". She told us to call our local modeling agent, who works with all the "movers and shakers" out in L.A., and tell them to put him to work. She told us that there were several agents who wanted to work with him but he had no experience. She wants us to build his portfolio and resume here in Houston and in a year or two he'd be ready for some bigger opportunities such as movies and big time commercials.

We just got in not too long ago. I have more details, but I am totally knackered. More to follow. Love to you all! m.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye...

All Hail to the lovely people of Bloggerland!!!!!!!

Dreamer's Reality will be open to all
who would care to peruse.
Please take care to not misuse.
For on a plane we doth ride,
to see the coast on the west side.

To L.A., we go today,
for unto a talent search we go.
We shall return on Monday,
details then, you all shall know.

Ooo Child, What HAVE You Been Readin'?

Lately, when I blog, I have had scenes of Jane Austen books meandering through my head. So much so, that it has been rather distracting me from what I was trying to get through with my own words. Which according to my fortune cookie, "I have a charming way with words." Hmm. Some people would differ, I am sure.

In the last 12 months I've managed to get quite alot of reading done. Last November on our first trip out to L.A., I started the very first of the Jane Austen novels, "Sense and Sensibility" from there I plowed my way lovingly through each book until I was finished with every last word of her wonderful works. "Pride and Prejudice" and "Northanger Abbey" were my favourites! I do think my mind is telling me that it is time to "re-visit" these pages. Start at number one and go clean through to the end of the last one. That's the way I like to read. Leave no page un-turned!

After reading J.A. I read "The Inheritance" by, Louisa May Alcott. I was moved by the story, someday I'll get around to reading the other novels written by her.

Then I delved into the Borrowers' series, very entertaining. Then I rambled through "The Chronicles of Narnia". It took me a long time to get through these books, but admittedly not as long as it took me to get through all of Tolkien. The book that I loved the best was "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and "The Last Battle" ( I feel that "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" goes without saying...). I did have to take a break from this series to continue the on going saga of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". I sprinted through that one and got back to the books at hand (CoN).

Then going onto the last of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, "Blood Canticle". I have been a fan of hers since 'Interview With A Vampire" came out in paperback. We saw the movie & I bought the book. I was hooked. Since then, I have read almost everything she's written with few exceptions. (I never could get through "Cry to Heaven".) I really think that Annes' heart was not really in "Blood Canticle". It was lacking the passion she had in her other books from the Vampire Chronicles. You could really tell that her focus had shifted. She has written a work of fiction about my Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ. It is about his "lost years", as I call them, his childhood. We all speculate and wonder what his child hood was really like, so I am interested to see what she has to say on the matter.

I went back through and read HP#6 again, to make sure that in my zeal to soak up all the details, I didn't miss anything the first time. I like to read these books multiple times. You start to really see the patterns of the plot when you do this. IMESHO (in my ever so humble opinion.)

Before I travel in to the life and times of Jesus, which I am going through them anyway in bible class, I have to get through my current read and the next one in the cue.

I am currently reading a very academic book about the book of Revelations from the Holy Bible. It was written by a good friends grandfather who was either a pastor or a professor of Theology. I've always been fascinated by Revelations and am pretty good with symbolism, but I really thought that I needed some guidance with this book and in Bible class, we are only up to Ezekiel. Not too bad for having gone from Genesis 1:1 to Ezekiel in about 2-3 years. I love my pastors class. He has a real gift for teaching. He makes it enjoyable, informative and relatable. He's brilliant!

When I am done with this one, I will move on to Phantom of the Opera. A paperback copy of the novel came with the DVD and being one who doesn't like top waist things, I will read it. It doesn't hurt that I have seen Phantom in several film versions and have the CD, DVD, and sheet music to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera AND I have seen the stage production. MIL & PIL bought me tickets for my birthday one year. They truly are dears!!! I also have a cup that changes colour when a hot beverage is put into the cup to show the mask.

So, if you have done the math, I've read almost 25 books this year. That's a lot of reading in anyone's book. Pardon the unintended pun... I have also started blogging this year as well, so mhn has been a busy minded girl.

Unsolicited advice from MHN for short is, go out a pick your self up a book and start reading!! Love to ya! m.

Yet nother Quiz...

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.4
Mind:	5.8
Body:	5
Spirit:	7.2
Friends/Family:	7.4
Love:	9.1
Finance:	6.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Interesting...

Indiaiynke, I'll get a real post up soon! Thanks love!. mhn.

Another Frappr Map??? :-D

"'Allo! My Name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father. Prepare to die!"


Just kidding!! Hey, I've installed this Frappr map thing, with Tina's help. :-) Thank you, dawlin'!

If you are so inclined, please leave your name and stuff on my list. I'd love to see where everybody is from who comes by for a visit! Thanks, mhn.

Which Monty Python Holy Grail Charachter Are You?

You are Sir Bedevere! Wise and creative, you are
able to counsel others as well as come up with
some really ingenious plans of attack...sort
of.


Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla





Been having fun with the silly quizzes. Got a problem with that?????

Which Action Hero Would You Be?

Borrowed from the Goober Queen!!

You scored as Captain Jack Sparrow. Roguish,quick-witted, and incredibly lucky, Jack Sparrow is a pirate who sometimes ends up being a hero, against his better judgement. Captain Jack looks out for #1, but he can be counted on (usually) to do the right thing. He has an incredibly persuasive tongue, a mind that borders on genius or insanity, and an incredible talent for getting into trouble and getting out of it. Maybe its brains, maybe its genius, or maybe its just plain luck. Or maybe a mixture of all three. Captain Jack Sparrow 79% James Bond, Agent 007 71% William Wallace 71% Indiana Jones 67% Maximus 67% Lara Croft 63% Batman, the Dark Knight 58% The Terminator 58% El Zorro 54% Neo, the "One" 54% The Amazing Spider-Man 42% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

The Stupid Quiz!

Yea! I'm only 2% stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave Finally Posted!

The Scooter Commuter finally published a post on his blog. Please go check it out! Tks!

I Was Going to Quit, But Decided to Post This Instead.

As a Christian you are held to higher standards. If anyone knows you are Christian, you are judged either rightly or wrongly by what they see you doing, saying, reading, writing. It has come to my attention that I have been back sliding and not representing the person God wants me to be.

Perhaps I haven't lived up to His ideal. All I know is that for the first time in a VERY long time, I have a sort of balance in my life. I have spent the last three years being severely depressed to the point of needing medication and that medication not really working. I have been afraid to leave my house and really not wanting to, and only doing so under duress or desperate need. It's only been in the last month that I have been able to check the mail. Sometimes, I still don't take it out of the box if I think that there is a bill in there.

In the last three years I've been suicidal, completely enraged for weeks on end, paranoid and just a real mess. I'm trying to work my way through all of this complete dysfunction, somedays I do ok and others I just plain screw up.

I've never claimed to be perfect and I can never achieve perfection. I do the best with what I have and as I've mentioned before on this blog, I don't always succeed. I do find solace in my faith. It has helped me make this transformation from a total basketcase to a relatively sane person. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am not the only person in the world with problems or hot button topics in their life.

I do however, know myself better than anyone else knows me. I need to blog. Blogging has saved my life this year. I have to get out all the things that are toxic to me. If there is something that is bothering me, I need to purge myself of the feeling so that I can go about my daily life without being completely mental.

Not everybody "gets" the whole blogging thing and that's ok. Lucky them that they have somewhere to turn to get relief from this voice inside your head that questions every little thing you do or think. Maybe they are better at turning it off than I am.

Most of the time my readers set me straight and tell me when I need to back off from that "soap box" and chill. I need that. Everybody needs that. I have been a much better person for blogging in my opinion. Dave thinks so too. It has allowed me to become the person I was when my husband fell in love with me. I like me better now than I did even two months ago. I'm able to be me and not just wear the mask of me like I've been doing for so long. I'm sorry if you don't like me, but I am no longer going to wear that mask. Pretending to be someone that other people want me to be is taking it's toll on me.

Everyone has people in their life of whom they feel like they will never quite measure up. My mother is one of those people and I have a few others. I feel like I constantly have to prove myself or explain what it was that I meant when really all I was trying to do was just be. I really feel like I'm not good enough. I've always felt like this. I'm the freak with the gimpy arm. I'm the ugly fat chick, despite having a beautiful son and husband. I know that in most peoples eyes I am not worthy of any of the blessings that our Creator has bestowed upon me. Well guess what...I know that too.

I don't pretend to know what anyone else is going through. We all have to walk in our own shoes and alot of the time they pinch our toes and hurt our heels and kill our backs and by the end of the day or even the start of it left over from the day before you are so lost and frustrated you don't know why the Creator didn't take you in your sleep. And you wish that he had.

Then it starts all over again.

I am sorry if this is too much to lay on you, but this is me and if it is too much for you to handle, then don't read, don't come back. You honestly don't have to deal with me ever again. It's just as simple as taking me off of your favourites.

If you don't mind the occasional ramblings of a dweeb, then by all means come back. I should be a little better by tomorrow, through God's help.

I love you all. Good night. mhn for short.

Looks Like "It's" Going Back On

Damn it! Looks like I'm going to have to turn the word verification back on. I've been plagued by these kissing spammers, not to the extent of CakeSniffer, but close enough. Buggering tosspotting wankers!

Are You Uptown or Downtown?

You Are Downtown

You're a funky spirit that requires freedom to live. Your city girl persona needs adventure, diversity, and great pizza.

Are You Uptown or Downtown?

Sure enough, downtown Houston is one of my favourite places to be. :-) Really, downtown anywhere!

How Well Do You Understand Men?

You Have Your PhD in Men

You understand men almost better than anyone. You accept that guys are very different, and you read signals well. Work what you know about men, and your relationships will be blissful.

How Well Do You Understand Men?

Mystic Rock Bidding on eBay Goes Sky High!

ColdEarth found this lovely mystical, ethereal rock baring a Celtic Cross in his pocket after an outing with his Earth Angels on the beach.

He has put it up on ebay and the bidding war goes on.

Please bid for this mystical once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire this fantastically wonderful truly mysteriously mystical artifact!!!

Texas Ivy

Texas Ivy has a cartoon that shows what our blogs truly are. Enjoy!

Finally, the Halloween Costume; Plus a few other projects!!

As promised, I finally have downloaded all my photos to Flickr! It took a while because it's been so blasted long since I've done anything worth taking pictures of. Geeze my life is boring...

So this first photo has all of the things you'll need to make a woodland sprite costume on the cheap. A longsleeve shirt from Wal-Mart (which can be used later as a regular shirt), fall foliage leaves, red glitter balls and glittered leaves, red and gold spray glitter, green pipe cleaners from Hobby Lobby and a pair of pliers from the tool box from under the sink!



Don't forget the newspaper adds to protect your table surface. Use more paper than I did, the spray left a spot on my table. Good thing it was a K-Mart table and not Chippendale(sp)!



Leaves and Bits and Bobs.





Enough of the pretties, let's get down to brass tacks. Take all of the leaves off of the branches. They come off rather easily.



Owen was quite interested in the project, so much so that he didn't "mess" with any of the items on the table. He was really pleased that momma was "making" him a costume for Halloween. :-)



After you take all of the leaves off of the stems, spray them with the glitter paint. Oh, the glitter, I just LOVE glitter!!!!!



This is what your hands look like after making sure that the leaves look "just right". Well, at least this is what "my" hands looked like after this part of the project.


Feel free to ask questions about the size discreptancy in my hands. I'd rather you ask than speculate. :-)

Here I am, the scary glittery hand monster. Or am I a frustrated mom? The former. I really enjoyed this part of mommyhood.



Close up of the leaves.



I used artificial foliage to make Owen's head dress. I took the pliers and cut the leaves from the thick part of the stems and separated them as needed. Then I took two pipe cleaners and measured Owen's head, then twisted the ends to make circle. Then I took more pipe cleaners and attached the leaves to the circle with the pipe cleaners. I must be a real momma now that I can make a head dress out of fake leaves and pipe cleaners. :-)



Did I mention that I love sparkly things? Here you can see why.


Here is the finished head dress.



I took the dried leaves and lightly tacked them onto Owen's shirt with a little thread. They stayed on pretty well, he only lost 3 leaves and I found two of them. Not too bad. :-)



Here is the finshed product with the shirt.



Owen finally gets to wear his costume!! He makes an adorable sprite, doesn't he.



They took pictures of the kids at Owen's school, so I got one of him and one of his class.





Here is the boy playing a game.



After he got his "prize."


Such a happy boy!

Getting a tattoo.



This is Owen's friend Zoe twirling in her Tinkerbell costume. So cute.



Owen really enjoyed himself for this Halloween season. We had his "Fall Festival" on Thursday and then on Saturday, we went to a friends house. This really should be another post, but I'm just going to put it all into this one.

I had this friend from middle school that I used to hang with all the way through to college. We hadn't seen each other since just before Dave & I got married. I was on classmates.com one day and came across her name and decided to send her an e-mail. I didn't expect to hear from her because it had been so long and I thought that maybe she had forgotten who I was.

Six months or thereabouts later, I get an e-mail from her saying that she remembered me. Too awesome!! So Saturday night after several e-mails back and forth we finally get to see each other again. She looked exactly the same, cute and bubbly!!! She has been married for ten years and has two beautiful daughters! They have this party every year celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas, I call it "HallowThankMas!"

Anyway, I made a cake for them because it was also their anniversary. It was not just any cake, but a "Checkerboard" cake. My mil bought me this checkerboard cake mold a few years ago for Christmas and I've been to nervous to use it for fear that the cake wouldn't turn out right.

Well, I pulled it out and used it. This is how the layers looked. Keep in mind that the cake was totally made from scratch, no boxed mixes for this "Domestic Goddess"!!!



Top Layer:


Note the alternating layer flavours: bottom:chocolate, middle:vanilla, top:chocolate...

Then came the icing. I swear, I had powdered sugar all over me and some on Owen! This was a true butter cream icing with butter and cream, not just shortening and milk or water.



Mary(my friend) has told me that she and the hubby like purple, so I put purple sotas (squiggles) on the top of the cake and to set off the colour I piped in green leaves around the inside edge of the shell border. Who would have thought that I was so talented. I'm not that good, but I do have a great set of frosting tips! <--- bugger won't let me change font colours!!



The finished product!! As Tina would say, "F*ckin' Deelish!"



I also made another dessert called a Four Layer Delight. Well, that's the church name. It is also known as the "Better Than Sex" cake! It almost is!!!
It's got a graham cracker crust that I add cinnamon and cloves to, a cream cheese, whipped topping, and powdered sugar mixture, chocolate pudding and then on the top more whipped topping and then decorated with double chocolate and caramel syrup. That is truly absolutely deelish! OMG it's good!!! Here's a pic.


Dave did a great job putting this one together so I could take a shower and get ready for the party.

We stayed until 11pm. Owen was knackered and Dave & I were too. The next morning I had to be at church ready to sing at 7:30am. It was Reformation Sunday & so I was there all day, well, until noon. When I got out I went to pick up Dave, Owen & Linda. Linda treated us to a seafood lunch at the Baytown Seafood. It was so good!!!

When we got home our neighbor, not the crazy one, was having abirthday party, so we went over to join the celebration. We had a blast! Owen was knackered yet again when we got home. It was a super busy weekend, but we had fun.

A Little Shout Out!

I have a new blogger friend who is 17. He lives in India and his name is Del Jee. He's got a few blogs already and he's a pretty good writer. Right now on his blog Talk with Me, he has pics of the fireworks they set off in celebration for Diwali. Go check it out and give him some love! :-)