The house next door is stalking me...

So, wow, the fact that I haven't written anything in a while became painfully obvious as I stare at the blank computer screen for at least 20 minutes. Sitting there, staring back at me, glowing, humming, mocking..... Bleh..

I had logged on here a few times in the last year, but really didn't read too many posts. Today I decided to delve through some of my favorite bloggers, and I now feel like I have just come out of a blogging coma. While I slept people got married, pregnant, broken up, and some are just gone completely. I was a little confused at first when I visited a particular blog that was once hosted by a 20-something woman who was wonderfully confused and curious about life and its surroundings, to now find that the address now belongs to a 10 year old, displaying their crayon drawings... I was thinking, "wow, has she suffered some sort of brain trauma...?" That is still an option I suppose, but I think that is probably unlikely...

So those of you who don't follow/stalk me on facebook, this last year has been quite full of changes. We've moved back to my childhood town of Skiatook, which is a mere fraction of the size of the town I was living in, which is nice. And The Boyfriend has taken a job out of the country, so he is gone for several weeks at a time, which royally sucks, but it looks like it will be coming to a close soon.

So other than that, I wont bore you with all the details of the happenings of the last year, for my life is quite boring from an outside point of view. So instead, I'll just move on with the "now"..

As I approach my 32nd birthday, I realize how increasingly paranoid I have become over the years. That fact has been apparent to me for quite some time now, but was really driven home this morning.

Other than the fire warning, and occasional smell of someones hopes and dreams burning along with their property and homes, the weather has been quite nice these last few days. Highs around 80, and evening lows anywhere from 55 to 65. Its been great. I enjoy the warmth and the sunshine during the day, and the cooling calm in the evening. So yesterday being like any other, I decide to open my curtains and windows, and get some breeze as I sit and fold laundry.

I should back-track for a moment, and state that the home we are living in is my grandmother's, and is quite old. As is all of the nearby houses in the neighborhood. The house next door has sat empty for I don't know how many years, and is in the need of a bit of work. Last winter, a retired couple bought the house, and have slowly begun on said work. They don't live there as of yet, but are there for a few hours during the day, about three times a week. So for the most part, the house is empty.

So on with the story. Laundry. Nice day. Windows open. From my one of my bedroom windows, i can see through the neighboring house, in what would be the back of the kitchen and dinning room. I saw something that was a bit odd looking, but I tried to not put too much thought into it.... Its not my house, or my business. But after several minutes, I just couldn't ignore it. This is the view from my bedroom:

Now, i cant help but notice that upon further inspection, it looks like someone sitting, staring through the window.

Now, the general idea of someone sitting in a room staring at me through the open window for all this time was not the unsettling issue. Because frankly, that's exactly what I was doing, so I couldn't exactly judge.. I was successful at convincing myself that what I was seeing was a vase or some other object sitting on a counter, because the figure in question didn't move. After dark that evening I quickly shut the curtains, because all I could think about was that now that thing, whatever it is, has advantage over me, since it could see me but I could no longer see it. (because supernatural-esque mystery beings always have night vision...?) Yes, I have apparently gone insane. The next morning, I open my blinds again, and the mystery object was gone. No one had been at the house that day, and none of the windows were open, so I could come up with no valid reason for its absence. Other than my apparent lack of rational mental process.. After deciding to just ignore the issue, I look back out the window (come ON, why would I not?!?!) and notice the "thing" is back. So basically, I have either completely lost my mind, or there is something unexplainable and other worldly going on next door, and it likes to watch me fold laundry through my bedroom window. I don't really like my options...

Sometimes the mind wonders...and sometimes it runs away..

And now for something totally irrelevant...

Training Future Strippers, One Little Girl At A Time...

As my thirty-cough-cough birthday swiftly approaches, I can't help but reflect on the ironies of life. For one, when I was younger I thought adults were all just a tad on the brink of a mental disorder. Now that I am one, I don't think that anymore, I KNOW it.. Second, I could never understand the drama in getting older. I always thought I would welcome it with open arms, embrace each new year, each new age, each new step in my life. Now I find myself batting at it with a broom, trying to shoo it away, like a stray cat covered with mange and scabs, circling my legs and trying to find the perfect moment to shoot in through the open door... And I'm not even middle aged yet....I can't wait to see what that crisis is like...

One of the things that slaps me in the face, reminding me of my age, is the frequency I find things intended for children to be grossly inappropriate. A few weeks back I was shopping with a friend in the toy section at Wal-Mart. We found ourselves in the barbie section. (god only knows why..) At first glance we were visually taken over by bright pink boxes, calling out to unsuspecting little girls. Screaming at them to pick them up and throw fits in attempt to be able to take them home. After the first initial shock of the nauseating 80's hot electric pink shade, I start to notice the actual themes of said Barbies.

Now, I am aware that it is common practice for the Barbie manufactures to adopt a license theme, like movies or celebrities. But it seems like things have changed horribly since I was little. One model they offer is from the James Bond movies. Makes sense, right? They are beautiful, strong women who don't take shit from anyone..... But have these people even SEEN the movies?!?!? Here is one of the James Bond characters they are offering:


If you can't see the tiny text in the bottom left of the box, this little beauty is "Pussy Galore". PUSSY GALORE. Shall I translate the innuendo of her name for you? An abundance of the female sex organ. Abundance..... Yeah... That says "come and play with me kids, I'll show Ken what he's been missing." I just can't see purchasing this doll in good conscience for my daughter.

Me: "Look honey, I got you Pussy Galore to add to your Barbie collection!"
Daughter: "YAY! Pussy Galore! Pussy Galore"

Yeah....Not gonna happen.Then, of course I had to come home a do a little online research. And found this:No commentary necessary for this one, really. Because we all know how that one turned out...

Yes, that is in fact a Christina Agulera doll..

Then after close to an hour of seeing scantily clad celebrity after drunken celebrity, my gag reflex was being whole heartedly challenged, so I decided to switch gears and just look for normal everyday Barbies that just had messed up themes all on their own.......and found these:

Um......wow.... I'm pretty sure I have had nightmares like this...

And this one isn't so much disturbing, as just confusing.... The Barbie is picking up dog excrement with a pooper-scooper....which is the exact same substance in the dog bowl, and in the dog's mouth. I'm pretty sure that feeding your dog his own bile is not recommended by most vets... Just sayin. Is this promoting proper pet care? I don't think so.

"Sparky!! Did you poo on the floor again?!?!? Well guess what you get for dinner! BAD dog!!"

So shorty after, I had to put the Barbie theme to rest, because it was starting to become quite depressing. Things were not this way when I was little! It made me start to long for a simpler time. Which in turn made me remember hearing the same exact phrase muttered from my mother's lips, and my grandmother's lips...... So I quickly stopped.

And then I recalled the nightmare of the last few Halloween's, trying to find an appropriate costume for my daughter.

For the last couple of years I've tried to be creative while coming up with a costume for my daughter. While was growing up it never seemed to be a problem for me. Being that my mom was a seamstress, all I had to do was give her ample notice and she could whip me up something cool. After years of poodle skirts, zombie-esque shrouds, and many more, my "dressing up" days came to a pause. But times they are a changing.
After exhausting the princess, ballerina and more things of the like, I decided to ask my daughter for her input as to the costume she wanted to don for the festivities. I should state for the record that I never had this issue with my son, he always just wanted to be something dead and scary.. But girls are a whole different ball of wax.

My daughter decided (with the help of me and a family friend) that she wanted to be Hermione (from Harry Potter, for those of you were aren't down with the Potter speak). We took a trip to the nearest costume store to see what we could find.

I was horrified.After a good ten minutes of diligently searching through endless racks and isles, we found the "Harry" but not the "Hermione". Which actually the only difference was the absence of a skirt, replaced with a pair of pants. After asking the store clerk if he could lead us in the right direction, he pointed out a woman's costume that he said would be a good replacement.........

Which was not.This costume is what a woman would wear if she were staring in the porn version of Harry Potter. (which I am told exists) Why he thought I felt this would be appropriate for my eight year old daughter, I have no idea. We were faced with costume after costume of the sluttiest children's costumes I had ever seen. Things like this:

I found many more pictures, but I can't muster the stomach to post them....because they get much worse.... And to find these I typed in "sexy children's costumes". No shit.

Maybe to start saving some time, we could just jump right into installing a pole into our daughter's room and give them an endless supply of body glitter and cheap perfume..

"Put that book down, honey. I bought you Carmen Electra's stripper aerobics video instead. And you don't need college! There is nothing wrong with paying your rent in slightly sweaty singles! It all spends the same. You're welcome."

Those Who Cannot Mature, Judge...

So, contrary to popular belief (and many many hours of trying to will it so) I have not fallen into a portal to another dimension. One where all the animals talk and everyone breaks out into song at any given moment. No...no... Ive just been here completely absorbed in reading. That and my sleep has been horribly thrown off, so I have been prone to massive mood swings, having my emotions go from one end of the shining "woman-spectrum" to the other... I felt that posting a blog that went from: "I had the best bagel today, I love you all!" to: why does my cat often look at me like I'm just not good enough?!?!" then finally to: "I am not in existence to impress everyone, why wont people just leave me alone and let me read?!?!?!", was not the best way to entertain readers. That is also not the best way to stay out of a state hospital.....so staying quiet was really best on all levels, really.

But, with the help of some pretty great last couple of days, and the fact that The Boyfriend finally made it back home after a two week business trip, I feel tons better. I've taken the boards off the windows, changed out of my fuzzy sheep pajama pants, and have stopped talking about myself in the third person. Heather is back on track! .....damn it!!

I had a startling realization today. It was one of those metaphorical light bulbs that goes off in your head, but once it comes on it turns out to be way too bright and cant be switched back off again....

My friend and I had decided to go shopping and run some errands. We stopped by our Mecca: Whole Foods, for some tea and vitamins. Then our other source of sheer elation: Barnes and Noble. And then the place that makes us constantly wonder why in the hell we keep going there, and also wonder why a startling percentage of the population has never heard of birth control or soap: Wal-Mart.

While walking through the store, picking out random groceries, my friend and I are quite enjoying ourselves. Talking about nothing in particular, joking around, laughing, and just simply enjoying being out of the house on such a nice day. From one completely obscure inside joke to the next, the laughing and joking reached a level that I'm quite sure others in the immediate vicinity could hear, but would not be disturbed by. Or was it?

That's when it hit me. Are we in the "annoying" category of the general population? In a time in our lives when we have reached that age where teenagers think we are old, and the middle-aged still views us as "kids", we have totally and completely encased ourselves in that warm shroud of confidence, welcomed self realization, and a general satisfaction of the direction (or lack thereof) that our lives have taken thus far.

I started thinking: How long has it been since someone new has joined our "group"? Do we even want that to happen? Would anyone else even want to? Not that these things matter, or should matter.... But at this point in my life I have realized that I have surrounded myself with the base, foundation, and building blocks of my being. I have the best friends that I have ever had, and probably (and hopefully) ever will. My kids are smart, happy, and healthy, and even though I hope to accomplish something great within this next decade of my life, I am satisfied with the step of the "ladder of life" that I have paused on.

But again, I ask myself: "is the reason for all that because I am one of those people that I oh-so-not long ago found to be really agitating? I make (somewhat) tasteful jokes in public, not caring who overhears. I thrust myself into a persona that is purposefully annoying, for the humor of it all. But the one answer to the question that really bothers me is: I don't care! Is that wrong entirely? Or is this what self confidence really feels like.....? (Being one of those that grew up never really feeling the definition of the word "self confidence", I find the tinge of guilt for strangers around me questionable)

After having this somewhat out of body realization, I quickly dismissed all hindering thoughts, and went right back to being annoying. Because after all, life is short, we should try to enjoy it while we can.

And once back to being myself, my friend and I finished up our afternoon quietly making fun of a woman who was wearing what looked like her own version of a pirate outfit. Black, rather tight pants, black knee-high leather boots, and a white shirt. Topping off this ensemble was a red sash, tied just enough above the waist for it to look odd. Or like she was going to fire some cannons and hoist the main sail......

Apparently at the age of 30, having self-realization-based ideas of betterment doesn't last very long. Either that or my attention span is too short to maintain a want for personal growth. Either way, I'm okay with it.

Hand-me-down pets have a strict no-return policy...

Of all the pets we have in this household, only one of them was actually chosen and purchased. The $3 Beta fish.. The lizard was a birthday gift for my daughter. Even though he is quite awesome, he is a bitch to feed and maintain. He has to be misted every day, several times a day, and will only eat live crickets... And before all this I never realized how fragile (and completely stupid) crickets are. You barely touch them and they fall apart, and they will drown themselves in the smallest amount of water while drinking if they get to close..... Kinda like that drunk uncle everyone has that they dread seeing on the holidays. And they smell. So again....kinda like that uncle. So in this instance I suppose its the pets food that is a bitch to take care of as opposed to the actual pet.

Our cat went through two owners before coming to us, all within a matter of weeks after being weaned. (This should have been a warning sign) And our dog, who is a pure breed Maltise, was abandonded during the coldest part of the year, right on the brink of a really bad snow storm. (ALSO should have been a warning sign) Me not being able to resist, and would not have been able to think of anything else but the poor puppy freezing outside, let him in. Now here we are one year later and he's still here. Its been two years for the cat.

This morning, I received more proof that my pets are disfunctional...

The dog and the cat share a water bowl in the kitchen floor. It is one of those that dispenses water into the tray as the water level goes down. Being that I am lazy, and usually have better things to do, it rarely gets scrubbed and filled up all the way. Usually I just pour a cup of water in there once or twice a day and call it good. But last night I realized it was getting kinda funky, so I actually took the time to scrub it out.

I scrubbed and cleaned this thing so well that the damn queen could have drank from this thing....not as if that situation comes up very often, or at all..... but the bullet point here is that it was clean, and full of sparkling clean, cool water. The pets rejoiced.

Also, being that I am a sucker and felt sorry for my little dog that gets locked in the kitchen at night (he has issues with his bowels and bladder during the night when there is no one to take him out every three hours..), and since it is still pretty cold, I gave the dog one of my throw blankets to sleep on..

Well........

This morning I stumble into the kitchen to start the coffee and step on the blanket to a most unwelcoming, cold, disgusting squish when I stepped on the blanket. Somehow during the night, the dog had worked it over to the water bowl, and it had absorbed ALL the water out of it...... and we are talking about a lot of water....like six cups.. So needless to say, the blanket was completely soaked.

THEN....and it gets soooooo much worse....

THEN I (while cussing mildly under my breath) pick up the blanket, to uncover a dead mouse.... This mouse had no sign of trauma or injury, so it appears to have drown. WHY in the hell would a home WITH A CAT have mice at all......but one that had actually survived out in the open of the kitchen long enough to drown in wet dog blanket?!?!?!

Now.....I have seen my cat eat an entire mouse, whole, before, so Im not quite sure what happened this time. Either my emo cat feels that he is too good to be eating live (or dead) things off the floor any more, or that last one didn't sit too well and he has decided not to make the same mistake twice. Either way, as I was disposing of it, he looked at it, and me, with great disgust.

Right then I felt like an old jewish mother, clutching her chest with tissue in hand, after discovering her only son has joined the circus instead of going off to medical school as she had hoped.. "What did I do to deserve such an ungrateful child?!?!"
What indeed?........

Maybe his mental capacity is part of the problem....?

Lazyness strikes again...

More pictures. Enjoy..

Tulsa sky

Flowers at the Zoo Rainforest

More berries.....with wood this time.....ha! *sorry*..

The White Owl in Tulsa

Circus

In Defense Of My Nerd Heritage...

It has been recently brought to my attention that there are those that do not agree with individuals proudly wearing and using the title of "nerd". Those that necessarily don't disagree, but are confused by the pride the nerd-folk hold in having this label. I felt that it was my duty to set the record straight. I'd like to begin todays lesson with a story...

The other day, The Boyfriend and I were laying in bed, having one of those random 2am talks, that generally spring up out of nowhere, and usually don't actually go anywhere, but instead ends when one or both of us simply passes out. The subject was junior high and high school, how it went for each of us, and how we survived. He seemed really surprised when I told him that when in junior high I only had one or two friends. And our school was so big that I rarely ever saw them. So a large majority of lunches were spent sitting by myself while dodging french fries being thrown at me from nearby tables.
"Really????" He kept saying. ".......really????" He has assumed that school stories such as this were only being exaggerated in movies and TV shows. Nope. Really. Preteens and teenagers are pricks. Period.

But alas, I survived (with minimal emotional scarring) and trudged on to high school. I had managed to make a larger amount of friends, and off campus lunches saved me from picking food out of my hair on a daily basis. This does not mean that I went without harassment. Everyday, several times a day, there were those that felt they were better than everyone else, and they were going to drill that into your head through public humiliation...... Again, I survived. A little more bitter toward the world and the general population, but alive.

So I grew up knowing the definition of the word "nerd". I blossomed feeling like the damn word was etched across my forehead. But I survived. And more importantly, I didn't change much. I kept right on liking all the same nerdy things I liked before. Even though every corner I turned, every magazine I opened, every show I watched, I was being shown, told, lectured on how girls my age were supposed to act, dress, and project. I stuck to the things I liked.

I was given (and deserved) the title of Nerd, and I wore it proudly! Proudly I tell you! And into my adulthood I have fallen farther into that catagory, and still wear the title proudly.

How, you ask? Well let me enlighten you...

A few years back my brother worked at a comic book/gaming store. He was in charge of the RPG and table games, which meant he had to learn how to play them so he could then in turn, educate the customers. So he brought games and cards galore home and practiced with me as his pupil. One of which was the Star Wars card game.

Awesomeness!!!

This was one that we decided we really liked, and played quite often... My brother had gotten one set from work, which consisted of a full set of Rebels/Jedi cards, (the good guys) and a full set of the Dark side (the bad guys). I always played with the Rebels/Jedi cards, because frankly.......they are awesome. So when we decided to retire the game for the time being, my brother gave me one set, and he kept the other. Which, you need both sets to actually play, so each set alone was basically useless. Remember that episode of the Simpsons where all the old men in Springfield were apart of that "order" and each one of them had a key, and as they died off their key would be placed in the large round lock? Then the last person living inherited what was inside...? Yeah, it was kinda like that, except with Star Wars cards.......and there is only two of us.....

And who else but a nerd has toys and action figures displayed in their living rooms.........at the age of 30?? To name a few, I have Spiderman figures, Ghost Busters toys, and Lego Star Wars toys and figures. (and I have friends that have collections that make mine look like a happy meal prize) And to top off the obsession I just this week spent several, several hours on ebay bidding on more Star Wars Lego figures. A few of which, I won, proudly. This next week will be the longest ever, as I stand closely behind the post man as he fills all 75 mail slots, waiting for him to deliver my figures. He may call the cops....it could get ugly.

The Obi Wan, above, is my newest addition.

Every week or so, my friends and I get together and have the same conversations, over and over again. Sometimes we expound and branch out.....sometimes they can get quite heated. But they usually all contain the same set of material. Star Wars, Angel, Firefly, The Office, True Blood, Buffy......it gets rough..especially when there is liquor involved.

So in closing, I am a nerd. I am proud of that fact. I survived the torment of junior high and high school, and have managed to skip the therapy. I earned that title back in my youth, and held on to it until we have reached a time where people claim it. They are proud of it. Because like the rest, they went through hell to get it, it took a hell of a lot of pride to accept it, and even more guts to display it with honor.

So, suck it...