Thursday, December 30, 2010

Crimp, I Mean Limp, In My Style

My heels were unfortunately run into with a cart yesterday and although one can never claim it feels good it certainly brought around a load of laughter later in the day.

I was sitting around with the family and I brought up the little incident that had happened to me earlier in the day and I mentioned how we'd accidentally do that to one another when we were kids. It was always on accident, at least in our case it was, as I would hope no one would purposefully drive a cart into someones heels. Anyhow, I was nearly in a fit of laughter and I could hardly see straight with my eyes squinted up so bad with the smile plastered on my face over the memories of our reactions when we'd get hit with the cart.

The cart would make a clatter as it was jolted to a stop and you could almost see the victim's back get smaller in size as they'd cringe with the initial pain. The culprit would look with a wide eyed face trying to read how the victim was going to react. The culprit would try their best not to laugh at the whole situation but watching the unfortunate victim tighten up so fast like that makes you bite your lip to keep the smile off your face that says "I sympathize with you, I'm so sorry." The victim that was clearly walking in front of the cart would immediately freeze upon impact and then slowly turn around with that all too familiar glare in their eyes that makes you want to shrink and make their world a better place for them..........but it's too late and the damage has been done, the heels have been crimped with a limp. Can you picture it?

Oh memory lane...........

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tut Tut It Looks Like Rain

I woke up to a cloudy day that had rain in the forecast. I was outside working in the yard during the morning hours and began the job of searching for rogue weeds sprouting through the grass. As I made my way down the yard I heard a pitter patter that resembled the beginning sound of a rainstorm. I immediately looked up thinking I would see what was the start of the rainstorm all over the sidewalk and all I saw were about 6 wet drops in a select area.

I was so consumed with weed picking that I didn't even realize how close I was to the sidewalk and the streetlight at the corner of our yard. I looked up at the towering streetlight and saw a bird sitting at the very top of the light.

I'm so glad it didn't "rain" on me. LOL!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Find the Pickle!

There is a German tradition that takes place involving a Christmas tree and a pickle. Parents would hide a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree and then the children would try to find it. Whoever the lucky finder of the pickle was would get a special Christmas treat.

This year my sister decided to start that tradition. On Christmas Eve when we were all gathered from the nights festivities my sister sent us from the living room so she could hide the pickle ornament. When the deed was done she called us out to begin the great pickle search. We decided it would only be fair if our mom got to the tree first since us "children" were all feeling a little antsy about finding it first.

We excitedly rushed to the tree, calmly behind Mother (LOL), and began the search for the treasured green pickle looking high and low, inside and out. We had hardly begun the search through the Christmas tree when I moved my foot back to take a step and clunked my ankle bone against a wooden table leg. I immediately collapsed to the floor in a fit of pain and giggles, grasping my ankle bone with both hands. Rather than stop the process of the search due to my own faulty move I decided to get out of the way so my mom, brother and husband could continue the search without stumbling over me. On hands and knees I practically crawled between my husbands legs to a safer location, laughing all the way.

The intense search continued and after I massaged away the pain I was ready to get back into the game. I walked over to the tree and began looking through the branches for the pickle. After listening to my brothers comments about how he couldn't find it anywhere on his side of the tree where he was looking I felt rather guilty when I spotted it near the trunk of the tree in the middle where he had already looked. As much as I love my brother I didn't let those feelings stop me from snatching it up myself and yelling, "I found the pickle!"

How exciting that was! Next time I am in Arizona for Christmas it will be my job to hide the pickle and oh how I can't wait........

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Hit to the Head

I wish I could say I'm fully prepared for trailer life and anything it throws at me but yet again I was caught by surprise.

My husband was working on a few small "home" repair projects outside when I decided to start working on one of my own repairs. I was determined to get the new door holder in place so I could once again leave the trailer door open without it banging shut against the screen. I stepped outside and proceeded down the trailer steps leaving the door open so the dogs could see what was going on. As I was opening the package of materials a piece dropped to the ground and I bent down to retrieve it. At the same exact moment a gust of wind blew our way attempting to send the trailer door slamming shut. . . . . against my poor head.

I immediately stood up grasping my head with one hand and my husband who was standing a few feet away mildly said, "That sounded like that hurt." No kidding! I think it was more embarrassing than anything else and with a few tears sprouting from my eyes I couldn't help but start laughing at the situation and what I must have looked like as the image replayed itself in my head.

Nothing like a mild concussion to get your day going!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Night Watchman

Where to begin. . . . . .

The other night I was on the phone with a dear friend when I started hearing some strange sounds. It was a cool evening so we had our ceiling vents open and I heard a sound that made my senses go on alert. It sounded as though someone was tapping their fingers on the roof of our trailer. I cautiously got up off the bed from where I'd been laying down and peered up into the open vent half expecting to see someone staring back at me. I flipped the lights off in the bedroom so I could see into the darkness above me a little better and found nothing. I reassured myself it was just the wind that was to blame as it was causing things to blow around.

I continued my conversation with my friend and then my dog, Chloe, came up to me. I was picking up on the vibe that she needed to go outside. Secretly. . . I was not looking forward to going out into the night. I threw on a jacket, grabbed a flashlight and stepped out into the evening air with Chloe. I sent her off to do her business but all she'd do was stand there and stare at me.

It's very dark out here at night and we don't have a lot of room between our trailer and our parked vehicles and I continued hearing noises (most likely caused from the wind) but I let my imagination get the best of me. I would picture somebody peering at me from around the trailer or sneaking up from behind me and the noises began to freak me out. I had the flashlight on the whole time but it seemed right when I would shine it in the direction I wanted to "check" the light would go out! There I was standing beside our trailer, a wide eyed look on my face, a dog staring up at me, and I'm banging the flashlight against the palm of my hand willing it to turn on again all the while thinking this would be an opportune time for somebody to jump me. (I told you. . . . . wild imagination.)

So there I stood, darting the flashlight all around trying to check my surroundings with a dog that wouldn't go to the bathroom. I said forget it and we began our march to the trailer steps when I saw something sitting in the middle of the road, and it seemed to be looking in my direction. I had no idea what it was and when I tried to shine the flashlight on whatever it was the light wouldn't come on. Of course. After furiously clicking the button on the light and holding my breath it finally turned on and I shined it in the direction of the thing I saw. There sitting in the middle of the road was an owl staring straight at me.

That was the icing on the cake for me. I wondered how long he'd been watching me. My eyes were probably mirror images of his big eyes and I hustled Chloe and myself inside.

Whatever Chloe had to do would wait til daylight.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Cowpatria

My husband and I have moved to our newest location. A small town in the middle of the desert called Calpatria. However, with my own personal reasons I feel they should name this place Cowpatria.

We're living on a dirt lot with a few shade trees around us but that sizzling sun makes it feel more like summer than winter. We made camp on a space big enough to fit our trailer and both vehicles. Our "yard" size for our 3 dogs has definitely been cut down with both our vehicles being parked alongside the trailer. We have a small dirt patch with a few blades of grass shooting up from the ground, but perhaps I should say "had". I had to take our Benny boy outside on an emergency run and he went straight to the grass and chewed it down to nubbins.......much like a cow. He is our own personal black and white cow that has left us with little to no grass now. It's like a true Charlie Brown backyard.

So, with all the black and white cows around this farming community, including the one living inside my trailer, I feel the name of this town should be changed to Cowpatria.

Seems fitting.