Down under here I come!

I leave tonight for a vacation in Melbourne, Australia!  I've been dreaming, planning, and anticipating this trip ever since 2012, when my friend Lisa Luscombe invited me.  And today, it's actually happening!  

I will have plenty of pictures and stories when I get back.  I fully expect to have an Aussie accent by then as well!

Random puppy pictures

All the little things add up

I was scrolling through one of my favorite Internet sites the other day, looking at pictures of a celebrity who was making a personal appearance.  The celebrity had people all around him:  average joes wanting autographs, an assistant holding his coffee, and security guards holding back the masses.

 

As I studied the picture, I wished that I were a celebrity.  If I were famous, I'd have money to do whatever I wanted, people waiting on me hand and foot, and crowds of people jostling just for a glimpse of me.  I've always thought it would be cool to be a celebrity!  Oh, I know that there are drawbacks, but since I'm never going to be famous, those don't really matter. 

 

As I was studying the picture, I got a little sad because the likelihood of my becoming famous at this stage is practically nil.  But then I remembered that I have been asked for my autograph once (and it was cool!)  And that got me thinking, and I realized something.  I am lucky because I am the star of one show--my life!

 

Have you ever thought about how many accomplishments and achievements you have?  You may not be a big celebrity, but I'll bet that you've done a lot of things that most people will never have the chance to do.  And when I thought about that, it made me happy--and I decided to keep an ongoing list of things I've been lucky enough to do, to achieve, or to accomplish.  Without even trying I listed over 50 things.   

1. Been asked for my autograph
2. Had surgery
3. Had a cast
4. Had stitches
5. Been married
6. Bought a house
7. Sold a house
8. Had a fancy wedding
9. Had a European honeymoon
10. Spoken to a large group of people
11. Taught formal classes
12. Spoken to a large group of people without notes
13. Rescued dogs
14. Rescued a cat
15. Been too thin
16. Been skinny
17. Been fat
18. Learned more than one foreign language
19. Won an art contest
20. Appeared in a newspaper article
21. Graduated from college
22. Graduated from graduate school
23. Got a teaching certificate
24. Flown in an airplane
25. Flown in a helicopter
26. Ridden a roller coaster
27. Read over 100 books in a year
28. Lived with a roommate
29. Lived with a husband
30. Lived by myself
31. Donated time/money to charities
32. Directed a fashion show
33. Been a dresser at a fashion show
34. Been on a cruise
35. Been on a motor boat
36. Been on a large boat (not ship)
37. Been in all 50 states
38. Seen glaciers
39. Seen geysers
40. Seen volcanoes
41. Ridden a train
42. Lived in a house
43. Lived in a condominium
44. Lived in an apartment
45. Seen a double rainbow
46. Know how to swim
47. Know how to roller skate
48. Know how to ice skate
49. Know how to ride a bicycle
50. Taken modeling lessons
51. Won a prize for art
52. Been a member of a sorority
53. Stayed in a hotel suite
54. Been to a luau
55. Been to Europe
56. Been to Canada
57. Been to Mexico
58. Survived cancer
59. Been to a circus
60. Dived from the high board
61. Had someone tell me that they use something I taught them everyday
62. Had a best friend
63. Know how to cook

I know none of these are big things, but to me they are important things--the things that make up my life. 

What have you done that makes you the star of your own show?

 

Progress...

Excuse the peeling skin--and the ugly chicken neck (yuck!).  Next color will be the blue birds.

More color...

Some new color on the sleeve! We're going very slowly in order to minimize the trauma to my arm. Next appointment will be next week.

The cat's out of the bag...

The cat is now out of the bag, so to speak.  Since the first of the year, I've been working on a "sleeve" of tattoos.    Before we go any further...yes, I know it's extreme.  And, yes, I am well aware of the fact that my parents would have most whole-heartedly disliked this.  But, my parents are gone, and I'm me--and I like tattoos.  So, no negative nancy comments, please.

The sleeve is done is the American Traditional tattooing style.  There are eight elements:  dragon, sugar skull, quill and ink pot, blue birds, rose, sun, moon, and book.  It has taken approximately 30 hours to complete the initial line work and the shading.  I have color only on the quill and ink pot so far.  When it is complete, there will be color on all the designs (except the dragon which was completed before I began the sleeve).  

The sleeve draws a lot of attention, which is to be expected--and fine with me.  Some of the comments I've received crack me up.  According to one guy, the tattoos are "tight."  Another said that they are "vicious."  I still don't know if that's good or bad!  Also, I've certainly earned a lot of street cred with my students.  

Absolutely the most painful parts have been the upper, inner arm--and I have one picture where you can see bruises created when the excess ink is wiped off--and the crook of the elbow.  

As I progress more, I'll keep you posted!

  

Happy birthday, daddy!

 

 

Unbelievable to think that today would have been my father's 86th birthday.  Even more unbelievable that he's been gone for 25 years now.  Daddy was just the best daddy ever (in my opinion), and not a day goes by that I don't miss him.

 

So, in honor of his birthday, here is the second annual compendium of fun facts about my dad:

 

1.  Daddy only spanked me twice in my entire life; he left disciplining me up to my mom.  The two times he felt compelled to discipline me, I knew I was REALLY in trouble!

 

2.  He was the oldest of nine children and shared his first name with his father.  His father had no middle name, but to differentiate the two, grandpa  was "Ed, Sr."

 

3.  He collected stringed musical instruments:  guitars, violins, banjos, etc.  He had nearly 100 of them when he died.

 

4.  Every Valentine's Day, he gave my mom one of those old-fashioned heart-shaped boxes with chocolates inside.  When I was little, I always got a stuffed animal!

 

5.  Daddy was very generous--he would have literally given the shirt off his back if someone wanted or needed it.

 

6.  He bought a burnt orange-colored suit in the 1970s.  He never wore it because my mom made fun of him.  Thank goodness she did; he would have looked like a pimp in it!

 

7.  He rarely ever had properly fitting shoes when he was growing up--if he had shoes at all.  As an adult, he had recurring nightmares where he would be in a public place and look down and would have no shoes.

 

8.  Daddy loved to talk...to anybody!

 

9.  As fun and friendly as Daddy was when he was off work, he could still be a bit of a tyrant at work.  He wanted everything to be orderly and well-functioning at work, and if someone interfered with that, he could get cranky (to put it mildly).  His personal friends never believed it when mom would tell them about this side of his personality.

 

10. Daddy was in the army and earned his GED while he was enlisted. 

 

It makes me really sad that it's getting harder and harder to remember details about my father.  25 years is a long time to be away from someone.  I can remember his voice anymore either.  I do remember that the last words he ever said to me were, "I love you."

 

The feeling was, and is, mutual!

It's done, over, finito, finished, through!

That sound you heard last week?  That was me, sighing in relief!  The last hurdle created by my mom's death has been cleared.

 

In other words--my so-called "Winter Home" has been sold!  (I called it that because was just south of my current home, and people go south for the winter, so..."Winter Home.")

 

I can't believe it's finally gone. 

 

Hallelujah chorus ensues...

Malice

 

Here's the new "ink."  His name is Malice.  And, yes, all my tattoos have names.  There's Puff (the Magic Dragon), Sinistryx, Lucifer, and now, Malice.

 

And, in case you're curious--yes, it hurts to get a tattoo.  They are basically poking multiple needles in your skin for however long it takes to get the design completed.  This one took about 2 1/2 hours.  The amount of tenderness is also dependent on what part of the body you're getting tattooed.  Any place where the skin is close to the bone hurts worse--feet, shoulder blades, hands.  Fattier places--biceps, boobs--hurt less.  This one was probably the second most painful (shoulder blade was the worst).

 

Right now he's scabby and scaly, but is looking better every day.  Tattoos are not pretty when they are healing!

 

I feel like a rock star again!

New Year, New Me!

Many years ago, I started this blog because I saw cool people blogging about cool things, and I wanted to be one of them.  Of course, I'm not cool, and I don't ususally do cool things, so the blog was pretty "blah" and my interest waned.  When my mom died, however, I was left without my favorite outlet for my feelings and thoughts.  So, I revived Puff, the Magic Dragon.  Over the last two years, I have very much enjoyed sharing things with my readers.

 

Most of my posts are pretty mundane--about my dogs, or the vintage things I like to collect.  This post, however, is deeply personal.  So bear with me, and I'll return you to the dogs and collectibles soon.

 

I never dreamed that having my last remaining parent die would stir up such a storm of feelings.  Oh, don't get me wrong--of course I knew that I would grieve her loss.  But I assumed that I would grieve, and well, that would be that.  Little did I realize that her death would make me feel so many things besides just grief.  Suddenly, I had to be strong and do all the right things, because there was no one else to do them.  I've heard it said that you never really grow up until your last parent dies; I guess whoever said that really knew what they were talking about.

Over the last two years, I've felt so old, for lack of a better word.  So many responsibilities, so many decisions, with no one to help me make them.  I didn't even bat an eyelash when I turned 50 last September--probably because I felt as though I were 70! 

Something happened in November, though, that shook up my world--and when I tell you what it is you're going to laugh your heads off at my silliness.  Now those of you who know me, know that I'm single; one failed marriage was enough for me!  I don't generally pay too much attention to men.  I have too much other stuff to worry about.  However, when People Magazine published their "Sexiest Man Alive" for 2013, I noticed that their choice--Adam Levine--is a Hottie McHotterson!  Of course he is, he's the SEXIEST MAN ALIVE!  And, all of a sudden, hormones I forgot I had woke up and started to cha cha! 

Now please don't think I am deluded!  I know Adam Levine is not my soul mate; I know I will never even meet him; and I know he wouldn't have anything to do with me at any rate.  But I'd forgotten how much fun I used to have when I was younger, obsessing over my celebrity crushes.  And, suddenly, I remembered that I'm not 70!  I'm only 50--plenty of time to have a good time and sow a few more wild oats! 

Not only that, this whole thing made me realize that I've been trying to act like my mother.  Not that there is anything wrong with the way my mom was--it's just that I'm not her!  Maybe that's why I've been having such a hard time.  It's like trying to wear clothing that doesn't fit.  You can't make it work, no matter how badly you wish it would.  I'm not my mom, and I never will be.  It's time for me to be ME again.

Since I noticed his hottness (and how did I ever miss it before?), I've had such a good time!  I'm listening to music again, I got a new tattoo (oh yes I did!), and I've just been having more fun in general.  So, thank you Adam Levine!  You'll never know what you did for me, but I do appreciate it.  You are a beautiful man!
 

Merry Christmas!

Merry, merry Christmas to everyone! 

Dashing through the snow

Okay, here in Texas (well, Dallas at least), we don't so much have snow as we do ice.  Last week we had just that, in spades!

Juneau and Sitka were pretty enthused about the cold weather, although Poquito was not interested in the least.  He rarely crawled out from under the blankets for the duration.

 

I was really ready for a thaw after being stuck at home for four days!

The ghost has been at it again

Last night my ghost stole the end of my shower curtain rod.  I've had trouble getting curtain rods to stay up in my shower ever since I moved back into this house.  Last night, I gave up and got a new rod, since the other one was in the bottom of the bathtub...again!  To make getting the shower curtain off the old rod easy, I just unscrewed the end.  I laid it down along with old rod, then I put up the new one. 

 

I got in the shower (to actually shower) and when I got out, the end of the rod was gone.  I looked everywhere--and it just vanished. 

 

My ghost probably put it with the picture of my dad that still hasn't turned up.

 

 

A little Sitka love

Poor Sitka doesn't get much attention, picture-wise, on this blog.  That's only because she's camera shy; in contrast, Juneau's a camera hog.  But tonight, I actually got a good picture of her!

 

Isn't she a pretty girl?  She's already got her snow nose* ready for any potential bad weather tomorrow and Monday.

 

*for those of you who don't own snow dogs, a "snow nose" is a (most often) temporary loss of pigment in the center of the nose. A pink to brown light stripe appears in the center of the nose, with the edges remaining black. The nose returns to full black color during the longer daylight months. Once thought to be a winter-only condition, dogs in warmer southern climates have also been reported to have snow nose, also called winter nose. As dogs age, the snow nose may stay around all year long.  From:  http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionsfaqs/f/snow_nose.htm

Seller's remorse

Predictably, I am having seller's remorse about letting go of a few things in my estate sale.  Two that come to mind are my bird cage and my yellow kitchen cart.  A month ago, I didn't want them, but now that they're gone, I can think of at least one place I could use both of them!  In fact, now I am nearly obsessed with finding replacements.  Crazy, huh?

 

I can't decide what's worse:  selling something and then wanting it back, or not buying something and wishing that you did!

I think I have a ghost!

Do you believe in ghosts?  Spirits?  Things that go "bump" in the night?  I confess that I do believe in them.  I know a number of people--all well-educated and completely trustworthy--who have had brushes with "otherworldly" experiences.  In fact, my best friend is one of them!  But that's her story to tell.

 

I have my own to tell! 

 

Several months ago, an old flower arrangement in my bathroom was inexplicably thrown to the floor when no one was in the room.  I had gotten up to go to the bathroom at about 3am and when I came back in at 7am, the arrangement looked as though it had been lifted and forcefully thrown to the floor.  Flowers and leaves were everywhere!  I was sleeping in the den at the time and the doors to the back of the house were shut--so the dogs weren't to blame either.  I jokingly blamed it on my mother's spirit, trying to tell me to get rid of the old arrangement and put something better-looking in its place.

 

Then just last week (right in time for Halloween, I suppose), something else weird happened.  I was digging through the desk drawer and found an old picture of my father as a little boy.  It was such a cute picture of him, wearing overalls.  Mom carried it with her in her purse.  I also found a note that my father had written to my mom from 1960 or so that she carried, and a photostatic copy of their marriage license.  All these were so neat, I pulled them out and put them on the desk to take to Hobby Lobby and have framed.

 

Just before I got ready to leave the house, I moved the little pile of documents and the picture to the coffee table so I wouldn't forget them.  I got ready to go, picked up the little pile, and left the house.  When I got into my car, I checked to make sure I still had everything.  The little picture of daddy was gone.  I retraced the few steps I had taken (just from the house to the car)--nothing!  I looked everywhere--in the drawer where I'd found the picture, the coffee table, under the coffee table.  It was totally gone! 

 

Call me crazy, but I think mom took it because she likes it so much!  Just to be on the safe side, I told her it was okay, that she could have the picture if she wanted it.  It's totally the kind of thing I could see mom doing! 

 

How about you?  Any ghost stories you'd like to share?

A better day

After having such a sad day yesterday, I consoled myself by buying some new patio furniture, since my patio is barren.  I also took some pictures of my babies.  As usual, Sitka wasn't having it, and Poquito was making funny faces, but Juneau--well, he's my photogenic child:

 

His hair is slowly growing back where he had surgery on top of his head.

It's all gone...

Today is one of those days where I've walked around sighing a lot.  And crying.  Sighing and crying.

 

It was the last day of my estate sale, and while I am happy to be rid of all that extraneous stuff, it also made me sad.  Sad to see things go that have been in my family for my whole life, or even longer.  Yes, I know I couldn't keep everything.  Yes, there was a lot of stuff that was just "stuff"--no sentimental value.  But there were a lot of things that I loved too.

 

In fact most of the stuff didn't sell.  Things I would have expected people to snatch up were left over.  I wanted to snatch it back--but I didn't.  A reseller came in and took the lot.  I watched the ornate white wrought iron bird cage that safely held my canaries go.  And the vintage yellow kitchen cart that came from a friend's mother. And my blue willow china from when I got married. 

 

I picked out a couple of things to keep:  the kitchen stool we had way back when we lived in Dallas, and I took with me to Baylor for my first apartment; a typing table from Wade College back in the day.  I used to type catalog cards on it almost everyday.  A duck decoy from my dad's study. 

 

I thought I'd feel relieved when the house was cleared out.  I probably will...next week.  Right now I just feel sad and alone.  So alone.

 

 

Happy birthday, Mom!

 

 

Today would have been my mom's 85th birthday!  Just like I did for daddy back on his birthday in March, I'll share a few things about her, things that made me love her!

 

1.  She was the most organized person I've ever met!  Yet, despite this, she once managed to lose a bunch of jewelry that she had hidden when we went on vacation.  She didn't find it until a couple of years later, stuffed in a hatbox!

 

2.  I never saw her inebriated or even tipsy, but she did love a cocktail--and it was rumored that in her younger days she could drink my dad's fraternity brothers under the table.

 

3.  She smoked from her college days until 1989, and hid it from her father.  She finally quit cold turkey after I got married, after several previous failed attempts to quit.

 

4.  Mom loved to talk, but even her friends said that she was hard to get to know.  When told that, she was completely mystified. 

 

5.  Raised a Catholic, she left the church when she got married because of she didn't believe in their stand on birth control. 

 

6.  She collected thimbles and amassed a collection of nearly 4000 of them!

 

7.  She had a soft spot for children and dogs--and both loved her.

 

8.  While she often read, I wouldn't have called her a "reader" like I am.  She only read when she had nothing else to do.

 

9.  Until I was in college, she was 6' tall and weighed 110 pounds.  She finally started to gain some weight when she quit smoking.

 

10.  She loved watching football!  One year I took her to a Cowboys game for her birthday (actually, at the time, the owners of the college where I work had a box, and they invited us to go to a game with them.  So, not only did she get to experience her first live professional football game, she also got the pleasure of sitting in a luxury box!)

 

11.  Mom was really good with numbers.  She always helped me with math and would have made a wonderful accountant.

 

12.  When she was in high school, she was in the Rainbow Girls, a masonic organization.  Despite the organization fighting her membership because she was Catholic, she rose to the position of Worthy Advisor (like the president).

 

13.  She didn't start quilting until after my dad passed away.  From 1989 until 2011, she made and quilted over 100 quilts, and won several state fair and quilting exhibition ribbons for her work!

 

14.  After my dad passed away, she began tutoring at my old elementary school.  She tutored there twice a week for 21 years.

 

15.  After I was born with so many physical problems, she refused to let me see any of them as a hindrance or even anything to be considered.  I grew up happily unaware that I was different than anyone else. 

 

Mom was such a big part of my life, especially after my divorce.  I miss her every day and will love her even after I'm gone.  Happy birthday, mom! 

Somebody got his stitches out today

Juneau had surgery on top of his head while I was in Seattle in order to remove some little growths that he kept scratching and making bleed.  He got his stitches out today and is a happy boy!  His hair is slowly growing back, but you can still see the "reverse Mohawk" on top of his head.