Le Voyage!

The New Orleans trip went really well. We didn't get everything we wanted done, but that just means we'll have to go back. Things like the Absinthe house, a hookah bar, the carousel bar, chowing on some beignets, etc...

We did have quite a bit of alligator tail, some oysters, etouffee, gumbo, crawdad tails, and some time at a voodoo joint or two. We did our ghost tour, and stayed in our haunted hotel. Saw a great live band called Chicken on the Bone, at Bourbon Bandstand, very highly recommended. Got to see a couple small parades, which consisted of a small band of a few brass instruments and drums, along with the people the parades were for. We weren't sure if they were weddings, anniversaries, or just plain "hey, let's have a parade!"s. At any rate, they were really fun to watch! Saw some boobs... business owners put a bunch of beads on their second story balconies for patrons to throw down to those who earned them. Yeah, the tradition isn't confined to Mardi Gras.

Yeah, I want to go back. And I know my mother would accompany me again.

We were there when the Hard Rock Hotel building, which was under construction, collapsed... we were about 3 blocks away from it, but yet still didn't hear or feel anything. Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies (from American Horror Story: Coven).

Halloween is a week from today. Devon and I both have our costumes. He's going to be Slappy, the ventriloquist dummy from Goosebumps, and I'm going to be a lady scarecrow. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll leave you with a few pics I took on our trip, including a shot of Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies (from American Horror Story: Coven).

Shining On

It's finally that amazing time of year. Chilly. Autumn-y. Time for fires and hot tea. And of course Oktoberfest beer.

As for the art projects I mentioned in my last post, I did accomplish a bit. First is the wooden 20-sided die I bought my husband.

This, let me tell you, has been pretty meticulous work. But I'm pleased.

My first painting for my friend's hippie bar wasn't proceeding as hoped, so I took a different approach with my second canvas. Instead of sketching first, and being mindful of the lines, I loosened up and used nothing but paintbrush.

I think it worked out. My friend loves it.

Also did a quick Joan Jett sketch while I was stuck between projects. Nothing special, but kinda got me pointed in the right direction.

So now I need to finish the first painting I started, and start either a Poison Ivy or Catwoman to go with the Harley Quinn I have.

Speaking of Batman villains, Devon wants to go as the Riddler for Halloween this year, and he wants me to go as Ivy. Dude... I'm about 30 lbs over my "sexy" body, but... fine. If that's what you want.

I caught a documentary on tv the other day, and I loved it. It was Pink Floyd: The Making of Wish You Were Here. And it made me fall in love with the album. They broke down every song... The background, the meaning... It was fantastic. What's interesting is, maybe a week before I saw it, I was reading about the band, and the whole Syd Barrett story stuck with me. He was an original founder, and the first lead singer. But, that Syd disappeared and left behind a shell of his former self. Family claims it was mental issues, like schizophrenia, while his bandmates say it was an overuse of LSD. At any rate, Syd and the band separated, and a few years later they made Wish You Were Here. The first and last tracks -  the two-part Shine On You Crazy Diamond - is about, and dedicated to, him.

Anyway, it's actually available on YouTube, so... Give it a watch!

Everything At Once

Yesterday was Halloween 2017, and we did something different this year. The kid said he wanted to stay home and hand out candy and "scare people" in his spooky costume. So I took him to 2 places (we really don't know enough people around here to take him to) and brought him back home. However, he wasn't feeling like himself so he took his costume off and laid low. He'd gotten a tooth pulled earlier that day.

The kid and I's 2017 jack-o-lanterns.

I'm currently working as a bartender two days a week at a local bar for veterans. (Though it's open to the public.) I enjoy it. While the older clientele doesn't always tip the best, it's better than having the dramatic, troublesome younger crowd.

My sister's cat got outside one day a couple months ago and got herself knocked up... Hee hee... So we said whatever she had, we'd take 2. Well, lucky sis... mama had 6 kittens. Six! Wow. We videochatted a few times and I picked out the two we'd take. A boy and a girl. She took them with her on a visit to our mom's 3 days ago, and I met up with them to bring them home. They turned 8 weeks old yesterday, Halloween. Cute thing. I named the girl Frigga (Thor's mom & Odin's wife, at least in the comics. In Norse mythology, her name is Frigg) and my son named the boy Fire "because it rhymes"....okay.... But he just wanted the same letter. If I'd've known that, I'd've named em Luke and Leia, but my husband says there would've been weird sexual tension later as they grew up... haha.

Fire (left) and Frigga.

We went on our family vacation about a month and a half ago. The three of us and my mom. We'd planned on going to Florida, but that exact same week (which we booked 8 months earlier), that whore Irma decided to spread her love all over the poor state. So we quickly improvised a Plan B. We went to Kentucky, stayed at a cabin on a lake for 2 nights, which was quite nice. Relaxing. Though what was left of Irma - just off and on rain - began to hit us late into that first night. Oh well. After that we went to Nashville TN, which was about 2 hours away. The first place we went was the Johnny Cash museum, but it was in the heart of downtown, which was crazy. And it was Wednesday. The hotel we stayed in was a ways away, directly across the parking lot from the Tennessee Titans NFL stadium. That evening we went to Opry Mills, so Devon could experience a Lego store. There was a restaurant in the building called the Aquarium, which had a huge saltwater tank full of fish and rays in it. Pricey but awesome. That night Mom and I went out on the town. I'd looked on my phone for places with live music but didn't find much, and discovered that there was a music festival going on that required a $45 wristband to enter the participating bars. Nope. We'll just hope for the best. So we get downtown, find a bar with an artist performing, sit down for a drink, and I look at Maps on my phone. Jackpot! There was a goldmine about 2 blocks away. Broadway street, from 4th to 5th avenue, was Nothing. But. Bars. We get there and every single place was live music, no cover charge. But man, we drank bottle beers and each round was around $11. Nonetheless, a good time was had. We started at Rippy's, which had an AMAZING bartender, and worked our way down the street. One side, then the other. One bar had 3 stories. Live music on the first and second, and a DJ on the 3rd, which was a rooftop bar! First rooftop bar I've been on. Pretty cool, but better if the music was live. After wandering around the 2-block length of honky tonks for an hour and a half or so, we end up at Rippy's again. The bartender, who has been serving a busy bar all by herself, recognized us from earlier, greeted us, and brought us the exact beers we'd been drinking the first time we were there. Friggen awesome. I wish we'd gotten her name. The next day, we got to the science center in town for the kid, and then realize we have 2 more days of unplanned vacation. We end up going up to Evansville, Indiana for a brief stay - which included a Mongolian BBQ dinner and a Chuck-E-Cheese trip for Mini Me. Then we headed home, a day early. While it wasn't the beach, it was still enjoyable.

The view from our lake cabin.

Fifth and Broadway, Nashville

I get to see Elbow again! Next week! I'd hoped that John Grant was touring with them again, but it's someone else. No problem, maybe I'll like him too. But I'm pretty pumped. I haven't listened to their latest album - Little Fictions - enough to have it memorized, but I'll know the songs when I hear them played. Bottom line, I GET TO SEE ELBOW AGAIN!

Well, I think that's the majority of recent happenings. Vacation... Halloween... Kittens... Upcoming concert... Yep. Y'know, I used to be able to type like this on almost a nightly basis. Not anymore, obviously.

Ta, dahlings.

Crafty Carvings

Finally carved jack-o-lanterns yesterday. This year may be the latest I carved them. Less than a week before Halloween. At any rate, here's the result:

The smaller is Devon's. He chose that design, and I carved. (Has a totally lopsided grin, but sometimes those are the best!) The larger is mine. Not my favorite design. I didn't put as much thought and effort into it this year. But, I tried making up for it a bit afterward with a bit of creativity.

Cannibal Pumpkin says "You're next, Gourdo..."

I plan to make up for it next year. Maybe have a design that matches the intricacy that my Beetlejuice required. Or, if all else fails, just do the Ghost with the Most again...

Been at my housecleaning job for over a month now.

Oh! And I made one of the two recipes I posted about awhile back. Pappardelle alla Lepre. Ribbon pasta with rabbit sauce. While it could've had more sauce to it, it had a very good flavor and it went over pretty well.

Time To Gore The Gourd!

Hey there. Hope this finds you well. I met my newborn nephew over the weekend. Quietest baby I've ever heard. Barely cried. One of the first things he and I did was sit down and watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Good times! Nerdy aunt for the win.

Currently in the middle of my fourth week at the house cleaning job. While there are some elements I dislike, as you'll find in almost any job, I'm quite liking it. Perfect schedule, and I've already gotten a 25¢ raise. I get paid weekly, which is a big difference from the once-a-month that the school system had. But... I'm making about $200 more, monthly, than they were paying me.

Also over the weekend, we caught most of "Autopsy: The Last Hours of Phil Hartman" on tv. So now I'm getting ahold of the show NewsRadio, all 5 seasons. He died in between the fourth and fifth season.

Bought my yearly pumpkin today! Haven't sketched out a design yet, though.

Actually... just drew one up. We'll see whether or not something better comes along.

Excited it's October. Though once again, not getting in my quota of scary movies. I'll work on that the next two weekends.

Here's to many scares, fewer cavities, and fantastic autumn days... and of course nights!

Post Octo-Blog

Last night was Halloween. I worked. And was almost completely musically unprepared for my evening of paid cleaning. All I had was The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. I used to have Nightmare Revisited, which is very very excellent, but I think what I wanted most was a version of "I Put A Spell On You." I had CCR's version, and I would have liked to have had Marilyn Manson's version, but the one I really wanted was the Better Midler version. Say what you will about the woman, she did that song fan-f'king-tastically in the movie Hocus Pocus.

Alright, so I'm acquiring the Manson version, along with Nightmare Revisited, but the one I really want is proving to be hard to get. Gaah.

Still listening to Volbeat. Quite drawn to them for some reason.

Munching on baby dill pickles. So yummy.

Need drink refill. Hold please.

Back. And... YES!! I got it!

Victory dance!

I now have the Bette Midler version. Although... the audio is sadly lacking... perhaps it requires the visual version to make it 110% great.

This is one of my most favorite Halloween movies, if not my favorite of all. Like I say about most things I love, it's the humor in it that makes it great. Like the "burning rain of death" scene.

And, of course, when the three sister witches are lured into the oven by the learn-to-speak-French tape, they eventually exit, after being baked, with the eldest (Bette) saying, "Hello. I want my book. Bonjour. Je veux mon livre."

Here's the great scene. My thought process is getting sluggish, so I'll take my leave.
(I think my mom positively identified the greatness contributor long ago... just watch the way Bette Midler works her hands during the whole scene.) And Kathy Najimy's random rabbit ears at 1:23.

"Dance, dance, dance, until you die! Ah hahahahaha!"

 Sad to see October end. It could have been so much better than it was.