Coming Home Soon

We will be coming home tomorrow instead of staying until New Years because we are both freaked out about whats going on at our house. Some idiot tpd our pecan tree which makes us vulnerable to a break in. So we will be home soon.

In San Diego For Christmas

We arrived in San Diego last night before 9pm. We went to church this morning and Chip had a spiritual moment which had everyone in tears. He asked for prayers to help make him deal with things better. He wants to go to church more often and I think we should. I think it will do us both some good. I have missed going to church for a very long time. Well I will blog again tomorrow.

Crunch Time

Its almost time for us to leave for San Diego and I am nowhere even close to being ready. If I knew we were going months ago id probably still not be done hehe. Well I guess its easy crafts for the win.

Blogging On New PSP

My PSP came today and I am using it right now to type this blog entry. I am so happy! Although, it takes forever to type anything LOL.

PSP Arrives Today

My new PSP will finally arrive today. I am so excited about getting it. Since I bought it I would hardly consider it to be a Christmas present that I would wrap and put under the christmas tree. If it were for someone else then I can understand wrapping it but I bought it for myself. That might sound selfish to buy something for myself but it only opens up the possibility for others to buy me PSP games for Christmas. See? I'm helping to give people ideas of what to get me. Unfortunately I don't have the money to buy presents for people that is why I'm making presents. That is if I can put the PSP down long enough to finish making them lol.

Lemmings PSP Game

I think it was in 2001 my cousin Stephen introduced me to a game called Lemmings. He said it was available for download for free online somewhere so I found it and downloaded it and I really enjoyed it. Well, since I bought a PSP I was looking on the playstation website to see what games they had available for the PSP and found Lemmings there. I was going to just buy it at Walmart or Target or something at the high price of $40 but thought why buy it there for that price when I could get it at a pawn shop for less. So we were downtown yesterday and I went over to the Wooden Nickle Trading Company and they had it for $25 so I bought it hehe. My PSP should be here tomorrow so I can't wait to play it.

Helping

Yesterday and today we went over to Julias house to help her neice Jean and her husband Bill clean up a bit. She had a lot of "stuff" so basically we were bagging up clothes, shoes and purses to be sent to the goodwill. I think there were over 100 bags of just clothes. Anyway, it was back breaking and my foot was getting cramps but it was fun lol. I know it's strange to call that fun but it was. We went to the Olive Garden and I forgot my glasses on the table but thank goodness they found them so were going to get them tomorrow. I'm typing blindly right now hehe.

PSP

I've been really thinking about it for the last month and I really want a Sony Playstation Portable aka PSP. I've been looking at all these websites trying to find a good price and where is the best place to buy one, online or at the store. Well because Christmas is this month all the stores are out of them. Last night and this morning I saw the Walmart in Bakersfield (2 of them) had them still but then all of a sudden they sold out. But they still had some at their website and so I decided to just get one. I know I could've waited or you know, I don't really NEED one but I want one. I didn't want to buy a used one because I'm too afraid it might have a virus so I chose to buy a new one. It's the one with Daxter and Family Guy movie and also it has 1GB of memory stick. I wanted the Star Wars one but that didn't have a memory stick or a movie. Just the Star Wars game plus Darth Vader silk screened onto the back which I can almost guarantee will rub off. So I bought it and it should be here next week between Monday and Wednesday.

Safe Holidays

I just wanted to wish everyone very safe holidays. There isn't really much going on here. I'm knitting stockings for Christmas and I want to make some ornaments for the tree which by the way we haven't decorated yet hehe. I put it up but it hasn't been decorated. I want to buy a PSP for myself because I deserve a treat, however, I can't find one anywhere, not even on the internet. I don't want a used one because my neighbor told me his has a virus, yes a virus. They can go to websites and you can catch a virus from a website so if you go to a website with a PSP you can get a virus and I'm sure used ones are at risk. I have a 50/50 chance of buying a infected PSP so I just feel I might as well buy a new one. The Core ones which are $165 or something. The ones that come with a game are $199. I could buy a Nintendo DS but those don't go to websites nor do they play movies or let you view your photos or work as a mp3 player. I also saw a PSP with GPS capabilities, I assume you can buy the GPS for any PSP. I will have to wait until after the holidays to try and buy one. I'm sure they will be on sale after Christmas and/or New Years Day.

Christmas Tree (Continued)

Well I just put up the Christmas Tree in the living room. It looks so good. There were 4 sections and I had to place the bottom in the tree holder and remove the giant red twisty hehe. All the branches are on these metal wires that fall down when you remove the twisty tie, it's really cool. I haven't had a christmas tree for a very long time. It took awhile to fluff it up but I got all 4 sections together and fluffed and it looks awesome. Now all we need to do is put the decorations on it. We got these shiny balls from the dollar store (they were actually $2) green and red and silver that look like little disco balls hehe. They are plastic so they wont break which is really good. I like decorations that I don't have to worry about getting stuck in the arch of my foot. We also have a bunch of Megs decorations that she used on her tree. As I said in my last blog about Christmas tree, were going to put candy canes on it and I'm going to crochet some decorations. It will be so nice.

Christmas Tree

We are supposedly going to go to Sears and buy a pre-lit fake christmas tree. The last time I had a Christmas tree I was 19 years old and my neighbors in the apartment building who were all gang members asked me to give them my tree with all decorations and I said no and they threatened me and so what else could I do? I gave it to them. So this will be my first tree in 18 years. I had no idea when I was 19 years old that I'd have to wait 18 years to get another tree. I can't wait to get it. We have some old decorations from our friend Meg from when she passed away, nobody wanted her Christmas ornaments so we took them. Also Opal has some decorations and ornaments which we can dust off and use. I'm just afraid that they are too fragile. I'm also going to be crocheting some snowflakes for the tree so all is not lost. I want to also make those little mini christmas stockings to hang on the tree branches with little mini candy canes inside them. That should be cute. I will have to put those instructions in my crafts section here.

Julia Lanier

Our dear friend Julia Lanier passed away this morning at around 2am. She was a friend of Chips mom for years and when Opal passed away in 2004 Chip began a friendship with Julia to help fill the void left when Opal passed (void for both of them). Chip and Julia talked just about every day on the telephone. She would call when there was a news story that she thought he would enjoy watching on TV and vice versa.

Chip used to take the bus over to her house and drive her to her doctors appointments with her car. Or he would just go with her and she would drive her own car. About 4 months ago when we got our car he brought a little foldable step ladder because a ford explorer is a bit high for a woman in her late 80's and he was going to bring her to her doctors appointment but ended up taking her to the emergency room instead. She was admitted into the hospital and was there for probably 2 weeks.

He visited her on a daily basis, sometimes 2 or 3 times per day, early in the morning, noon time and dinner time. The doctor released her to go into a nursing facility called Californian Care on Mt. Vernon Ave. She stayed there until she passed away this morning.

Julia didn't want anybody to do anything special for her after she died. No obituary, no headstone, no funeral at all. She will be cremated and put in an urn in the same plot as her husband. Because there is no headstone the only way someone will be able to visit her gravesite is if they go to the office and say hey, where is she? Then of course they will have to escort you there. Anyway, she is in a much better place (as they always say, but it's true).

Nintendo 64

I've been hinting around that I want a new game system preferably a handheld one. I would ideally like to get a Playstation portable (PSP) but those are so expensive right now. Or an x-box or something. Well, I have a N64 but I only have 1 game and its boring to just have 1 game so I went to ebay tonight looking at prices and found 2 n64 games really cheap and bought them along with a PC game for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone which maybe I can install on the laptop and play that in the living room. Maybe some day I will have the money for a cool new gadget but until then I will start buying n64 games.

Our Visit in San Diego

As you know we went to San Diego on Saturday morning / Friday night at around 2:30am November 16/17 2007 and we came home on Wednesday the 21st the day before Thanksgiving. We wanted to go early because Chip had appointments on Tuesday and Friday but he canceled the Tuesday one to stay until wednesday and I wanted to come home on Tuesday because of our cat. I only left her enough food and water to last a few days and when we came home her food dish and water was empty. She has the type of water dish that is like an arrowhead bottle. I don't know how many ounces of water it holds but it's not that much. If we were able to stay longer we would've but we couldn't. It's a shame we weren't there on Thanksgiving day. But while we were there we went to Sea World, San Diego Zoo and we also went to the San Diego natural history museum and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I am going to work on those videos soon today if I can so I can get them on YouTube for all to enjoy. I took lots of pictures while I will have to scale down for the website. I mentioned in my previous blog about the buttons. What a trip that was. Chip also encountered his own wierd moment too. When he was a kid he had this desk in his bedroom, it was a really huge desk too and so anyway I guess when he left the nest he supposedly took it with him and somewhere along the way it got lost. Chip mentioned that his mom asked him about it many times before she passed on and he felt so guilty about losing it. Well while we were there Chips brother was showing him around the property and showed him this shed and inside the shed there was a huge desk and this was the desk that Chip thought he had lost. Apparently his brother had gotten it at some point. So all is well and he doesn't have to feel guilty anymore.

Box of Buttons

When I was 19 years old I asked my mom for a button and she went into her sewing kit and pulled out a little clear box with a pink lid filled with many different types of buttons that she has collected over her lifetime and she handed it to me. I dumped it out onto the table and looked for the button I needed and put it all back and she told me to keep it because you never know when you are going to need a button. So I took it and I had it for many years.

When we lived in Hollywood we had this neighbor named Meg and one day between 1994 and 1999 I don't remember when, Chip gave this box to her without my permission. He didn't realize that this box of buttons, as insignificant as it may seem, meant a lot to me because it was my moms box of buttons. I felt like I couldn't ask for it back because I don't ask for a gift back after it was given. So basically, I lost it forever. Meg passed away in 2000 soon after we moved to Bakersfield and when we went to her house it had been ransacked and I never saw the box again.

Today we left Butch and Junes house (we came to visit early before Thanksgiving and came home today) and just before we left I went upstairs to see their tenants room that they are renting and as I was going down the stairs after looking at it I noticed this little box sitting on a shelf by the door. I went over to Chip and asked him if he gave my box of buttons to June and he said no and I said I just saw my box and so I walked over to the door and opened it and grabbed the box and opened it to find it was filled with buttons. Chip asked June where she got it and she said that she got it from the motel (they own some motels in San Diego as well as all over the United States). What that means to me is that the "friends" of Meg's who ransacked her house when she died took my box of buttons and one day they were in San Diego and just so happened to have stayed at Butch and Junes motel and accidentally left the box and it ended up in the lost and found and June just so happened to take it home.

The box found me! After all these years it found me. I firmly believe it too. What are the chances that I would ever see this box again? Here is a picture of the box. By the way, before Chip gave it to Meg I was bored one day and I had this sticky foil paper that you put over a book, it's book covers in the mid 90's and it is the type that when you look at the silver part it has colors and they printed it black with the silver flower outlines.  The top piece didn't stick so I glued it on and the sides didn't stick so I used clear packing tape and sure enough this has all that on it.  It is in fact my box that Chip gave to Meg.

San Diego

We are still in San Diego. Saturday we visted Sea World and today we went to the San Diego Zoo. We will be home on Wednesday and I will post the videos on YouTube.

Soy Cappuccino

When we got home from running errands I wanted so bad to make a cappuccino and we didn't have any milk. But I had some Soy Milk and I thought hmmmmm, I wonder. So I poured the soy milk in the milk thingy and made it like I always do and viola. It doesn't taste any different. In fact it kinda tastes a little better because the soy milk is vanilla flavored.

Early Thanksgiving

We are going to be in beautiful San Diego this weekend to spend an early Thanksgiving with Chips brother and his family. We have to do it early because Chip has appointments that he cannot break on Tuesday and Friday so it makes spending Thanksgiving on the actual holiday difficult. I think we are going to be able to go visit Sea World and of course Tijuana. What fun!

Reynolds Handi-Vac

Last night I saw a commercial for Reynolds Handi-Vac vacuum sealer. It's a new, cheaper way of storing food in the freezer. You've seen the infomercials for those food vacuums where you put something in the bag, hold the end up to the sealer and it sucks all the air out then it burns the bag so it seals then cuts it. Those things can cost anywhere from $100 - $300 depending on the type you buy. Well, the new Reynolds Handi-Vac is very small. You fill these ziplock bags with your food then zip it closed then put the machine on the air valve and press the button and it sucks the air out. When you need to open the bag to get something out of it you can then seal it again. Their website said that it's best if you just throw them out when done because they are disposible but I have a wierd feeling that they wont last too long so I'm gonna save the bags hehe. I bought the machine plus a box of 9 gallon size bags. I've been filling them up with everything, rice, espresso grounds, baby carrots, ham, spam and steak haha. I'm done for the night lol.

Huge Coffee Cups

About a month ago we were at Albertson's and I saw they had these huge coffee mugs in the coffee section and I can't remember but I think they were cappuccino cups. We've been using them for many things like soup bowls, cereal bowls, huge coffee cups which I can never finish without spilling hehe. So tonight Chip said that he wanted a cappuccino (cause we have a cappuccino maker now) so I thought I wonder, instead of using the regular coffee mugs if I should just use the big ones and do a full pot for him and a full for me. So I did and that was such a good idea. I have so much energy lol. I'm AWAKE!

Back Up And Running

Ok I finally got my website back up and running. I was having problems with the horizontal line (candy cane above and under this entry) but I got it all figured out finally. I had to go into "photo shop" to move the icing in the background so it's wider so I can fit all the text in that space. The christmas bulbs were making it too big. It's all good now hehe.

Disappearing Act

My website disappeared tonight (Monday 11/12/07) because I deleted it all to start fresh so I could remove some unwanted things but it backfired and eventually it all got put back. Except there are some pages, lots of pages in fact that are missing. I haven't converted those yet to the gingerbread theme. I'm still working on that so as soon as I am finished it will be back. Thank you for your patience.

Too much work

I knew I had a lot of work to do on my website when I decided to change the theme but I had no idea I had so many pages to change. And I'm gonna have to go through this again after Christmas when I put in a new theme hehe.

Boring Work

Working on this website is making me fall asleep so I'm going to stop doing it for today. I got a lot done but not all of it. So anyway, the old pages are still in the navigation so there aren't any drastic changes. I will work more on it later or tomorrow.

Gingerbread Theme

I just bought a Christmas theme for my website (As you can see the Gingerbread theme) so this will be my Christmas theme. I will still be looking for a regular theme that I will use after the holidays are over.  I've only made the front page with this theme so far but I will be working on the rest of my website later.  It's going to be a job to get it all done hehe.

Theme-Pak

I am on the search for a new theme for my website. If you would like to help me in my search go to www.theme-pak.com (I use FrontPage) and look through all of their themes (or choose a category) and email me to tell me what you think I should make my theme. Make sure it is one of the themes that are $14.95 because I like the ones that are connected like this one. If I like it I will buy it and tell people that you told me to get it. Use the Email Me button in the menu to let me know what you think. Make sure you tell me who you are otherwise I won't know who to give the credit to.

My SparkPage

I have created a blog for My SparkPage (in the menu) so when I weigh in I can then blog to say what the weight is and/or how I feel and how the week went.

3D Cookie Cutters

I bought these 3D cookie cutters from Publishers Clearing House even though I knew I couldn't bake cookies but now I can WOOHOO! So now I can make some cookies for Christmas. I might even make them as Christmas presents. There are several different shapes like snowman and a christmas tree etc. I'll have to get a picture for the crafts section when I make them.

The Use Of Our Oven

We haven't had the use of a stove since we moved into Opals house after she passed away and so Chip decided that he wanted to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving instead of going out like we always do so he bought a package of cookies to bake. Well, I turned the oven on to 350degrees and it works. It's an electric oven but it seems to work fine. See, we haven't touched it because it's an old oven, it hasn't been turned on in 30 years. But it seems to be ok. Although, perhaps I'm talking too soon... Prepare for an edit to this post haha.

Under Wraps Pumpkin

Tonight was the last night for carving pumpkins.  I did the mummy face called Under Wraps.  Thanks to all of you who watched me carve them.  I know for some it's sort of lame to sit and watch someone carve a pumpkin but it's fun for me and fun for some people and how often do you get to go into a chatroom online anymore?  I never do so this was fun for me.

Stepping Out Pumpkin

Tonight I carved the Stepping Out pumpkin.  I've actually wanted to do that one for a very long time because I think it looks cool.  I've just always put other patterns ahead of that one so it's about time I did it.

George W. Bush Pumpkin

Tonight I carved the George W. Bush pumpkin for the 4th time since the year 2000.  I carved it for a friend who lives near San Diego, CA and were going to bring it to her on Saturday Oct 27th.  Unfortunately, I had no audience tonight to keep me company but that's ok.  That's why I am doing it 4 days in a row.

Eye of Zomm Pumpkin

I carved the Eye of Zomm pumpkin tonight.  I started at 6pm PST and I finished at 6:35pm.  It was fun, only 2 people showed up  but that's why I am doing this 4 nights in a row to give people another chance to come and watch.  So come on people!  Watch me tomorrow hehe.

Spark People

I was doing a search on the internet for diets because I really need to lose some weight and I found this website www.sparkpeople.com and I'm really happy with it so far.  I signed up on October 1st (technically I signed up on 9/30 but this website goes by Eastern time so to them it was after midnight) and I've been following their direction for the last week.  They tell me, actually tell me what to eat.  Even though I know I'm supposed to eat fruits and veggies etc. I never really do it because I don't know what kinds to eat so I just don't.  I know that is a sucky excuse but it's true.   It's like if I am not told what to eat then I will just eat whatever I want to and I know that's bad.  But I'm learning from this website how to live better, healthier and to eat the right portions.  It will help my stomach to shrink so I can lose weight faster because the portions they give me will actually make me full and maybe I will get to the point where I wont eat the amounts they say to eat because my stomach will be too small to fit it all.

Check out their website.  They give you a meter that shows your progress.  I'm on there as MikeSM.  I'm putting a link on my site in the menu called My SparkPage.  I will update it at every weigh in.

Dr. Frybrain's Pumpkin Embalmer

9-4-2007

I bought this stuff to soak the pumpkins in so that I will have it in plenty of time for Halloween.  It's called Dr. Frybrain's Pumpkin Embalmer and can be found at www.jack-o-lantern.com for only $7.99 plus $5 S&H.  I am announcing early that I will be carving the pumpkins on October 19th - 22nd.  I will carve 1 each night because with this embalmer fluid I have to soak 1 pumpkin for 24 hours and so I can stretch it out to 4 nights instead of doing it all in 1 night.  Sitting there watching my webcam for hours and hours can get boring.  You can chat with me in my chatroom while I carve too.  This way I will know if someone is actually watching me lol.  When you go to that webpage you will be given a funny name.  Just click the name in the right pane and a window will popup so you can change the name and use a avatar.

Edit 9-16-09: Apparently the people who had Jack-o-lantern.com didn't want it anymore and it's gone.  You can go there and see stuff but it's not the website it used to be which is a shame.  But you can buy it here at Dr. Frybrain's Pumpkin Embalmer official website.  They sell it for $5.99 now and you can also buy a 5 gallon bucket for $5.99 if you don't have one.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I have finally finished the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which is Rowling's 7th and final book.  It is in my opinion most unfortunate that this will be her last Harry Potter book because I just love the story and it's not too difficult to read.  Harry Potter is a children's book but it has a strange adult following.  I think out of the 8.1 million books sold on Saturday the day it was sold about 90% of that are people ages 20 to 70.  It's a story for all ages not just the kiddies.

I will not be giving you a spoiler warning because I am not spoiling anything for anybody.  I keep my promise J.K.  I loved this book.  I laughed, I cried, I was concerned for the 3 main characters on their quest.  I cried some more here and there.  Let's just say, if you read this book invest your money in a box of tissues.  Or a roll of paper towels.  Or just get a beach towel, you never know.  Your sleeves are going to need to be put in the dryer if you have to resort to that.  Trust me.  I'm a guy and I cried like a baby.  And not all of that were sad tears either.  Ok, half and half.  I'm not kidding.  BUY IT!

Let me just end by pleading to J.K. Rowling.... "Please, don't stop writing.  If it can't be Harry Potter then something else, but don't stop writing."

Cynthia Lindsay

we celebrated the life of Cynthia Lindsay in her Malibu home.  There were quite a lot of people there to pay their respects.  Everyone adored Cynthia as she was always the life of the party.  At the very end Robbie's step-daughter Jackie took the kayak out and released Cynthia into the ocean to be with her husband and daughter as well as their pets.  She did a wonderful job and oddly enough came back dry.