Happy Halloween to all of my wonderful friends. I don’t want to scare you guys too badly since I apparently know a lot of crybabies who won’t watch the videos.

The first is a movie trailer for “House of 1000 Muppets”

The next is just for shits and lots of giggles. I give you “The Zombeatles”

Have a scary time trick or treating with your kids and if you are among the fortunate ones going to Adam’s (miss me) have a great time and safe travels!

     I love you all!!!     

I was in the den, playing around on Crackbook, and I heard a noise….a loud noise.

A rattling of the windows, a vibration of the floors, a rumble so loud I couldn’t hear the television in the other room….

Hmmm…..Could it be Obama? No. He was down the road at Widener University yesterday. Was it McCain? Eh. It was a helicopter…..a very loud helicopter.

I live five minutes away from I-95 and since it was rush hour, it surely could have been one of those traffic copters that routinely makes its way back and forth. I am also fifteen minutes away from a trauma hospital. MedEvac copters  fly overhead frequently. Every so often we have heard the deep, chest pounding sound of Air Force One as a president has traveled to and from our state.

“Babe? Do you have on the news?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What’s happening? Is there an accident on 95 or maybe a politician in the area?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering what’s up with the helicopter that’s been flying around out there.”

“What helicopter”

“Oh, come on! How can you not hear it??”

“Do you mean the lawn mower running next door?”

DOH!

********************

And a huge Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies…..Way to go guys!

The babies are here. They have been fed. We have played and laughed. They have been to the potty and been changed. Now they nap.

I won’t hear a peep from them for two hours, so I came to the computer to check emails and maybe read a blog or two.

I have a book that I like to read while they nap. There are plenty of movies on television and on my video shelves. To my right on the desk, is an unread “Rolling Stone”, a “Reader’s Digest” and a “Better Homes and Gardens”.

Downstairs, a load of laundry awaits the dryer. A load of towels is creeping ever higher to the washer door. Dishes with oatmeal grow crusty in the sink.

I have plenty to do.

But I will sign off the computer. I’ll turn off the television. I’ll place my earbuds in my ears and turn on the ipod.

And I’ll lean my head back and breathe deeply.

And enjoy the calm.

I have said this a few times in the past couple of days and I think maybe I should just get it all out there.

I am afraid of numbers.

Not phone numbers, bank accounts or sizes, but geometry, calculus, advanced algebra.

Why? I really don’t know. When I was in school I did well in math with the basics. Addition, subtraction, division and multiplication were fun for me. I enjoyed learning how to put these things together. I can balance a checkbook down to the penny. I can go shopping-knowing I have only $300 in my pocket- and have the cashier tell me that my total is $298.99. (Seriously–I have witnesses!) All without the aid of a calculator.

But something changed. I don’t really remember where. Maybe it was long division. Maybe it was square roots or that 0010010101110101 crap. I still don’t get it. I still don’t need it. (Even though countless math teachers assured me that “someday, you’ll need it!”) All I know is that once in high school, I would freeze. My mind would go blank. My mouth would suddenly go dry. My palms and pits would get flopsweat. It wasn’t just test anxiety. It happened in class. It happened while being tutored. It happened while dad tried over and over to tell me how the numbers meshed.

As my kids grew up, they would ask me for help. My eyeballs would burn and my heart would begin to pound. So I’d pass them on to my dad who could solve damn near any number problem thrown at him. Why didn’t I inherit that gene?

Then, they learned a new math. IMP. This is when the teachers in all of their infinite wisdom want a ten year old to explain why 4 + 5 = 9. ?  WHY? BECAUSE THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS DECIDED SO!! Isn’t that good enough? My kids could do the problem. They could show the work. They could get the answer right. But they couldn’t explain why it was right. And they were penalized for it. (Because each was considered a separate part of solving the problem. Don’t know one part? Lose points)

I think it was a conspiracy cooked up by mathematicians who feared that with the advent of calculators and computers, their jobs as math teachers was becoming obsolete.

Who needs to learn math? I have a calculator on my phone!

Them: ternate, laminate, baronet    Me: tern, baa, ear

I play “Scramble” on Facebook. It is a game like “Boggle”. There is a square of letters and you must find the words in adjoining letters. You have three minutes to do so.

Them: heriot, tribe, titre   Me: girt, ego, trio

I know words. I can spell them too. But I seem to have lost the knack of using them in conversation. Is it being surrounded by children all day that has caused them to fall by the wayside? I used to say things like “I have an encyclopedic knowledge of the language”. I would say “I am enamored of the author’s imagery”. Now I say “I like that book.”

Them: neritic, nereid, citrine  Me:  tier, tin, rye

I considered one of those “Word of the Day” calendars, but how in the world would I ever be able to use a word like “vitriolic” in a sentence during the course of my average day?

Them: sleaze, leaden, taels  Me:  sale, zed, sad

I can do the New York Times crossword puzzle – in ink- in under half an hour, and get all of the answers right, but I still say things like “Shut up, Butthead” instead of  “Withold your opinion, ignoramus.”

I iz use ta be smert.

Ring,  ring!

Mom? I went straight to Shenanigan’s house after the softball game. I won’t be home until later. Maybe much later.

Ooookay…It’s strange for you to call and tell me that. What’s up?

I think my nose is broken.

Yes, this is the phone call I got about an hour ago. No, it isn’t Son2 again. This time it is Son1. Why do they have to mess up their faces?

He was playing softball. A pop-fly was falling between him and a teammate. Both looked to the sky. Son2 looked down to see where he was going and took a shoulder to the face.

Now, he is sitting at his girlfriend’s house, taking Tylenol and holding ice on the bridge of his nose. He is watching the Eagles play football (which everyone knows is more important than sitting in the emergency room!)

Is it a genetic thing with men? No matter how sick or in pain they are, they would rather watch sports than go see a doctor! I tried to explain that the ER would most likely have the game on. Not only that, but if everyone is home watching the game, there will be less of a wait in the ER! It’s a statistical fact!

Why can’t my boys break a finger or dislocate a shoulder? Why the face? They used to be so pretty!

*I never did find out if anyone caught the ball and made the out!

Being busy with the babies is really throwing off my groove. I have them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and that is really cool because after a day of picking up the baby or just rolling around playing with them, I have a day to recuperate.

But it also has it’s drawbacks. My housework is falling by the wayside. I don’t care. My house is far from being a pigsty but I’m beginning to see dust. Oh well. I just don’t have it in me today to do anything about it.

My boys have gone to the Flyer’s game (Hockey for those in the dark) Babygirl is hating me for making her clean her room, and Hubs is just tired. (He just got home from work.) I myself have a raging headache and I am just praying to God, Allah, Buddha, and Satan (Hey, ya never know which is gonna come through for me!) that this doesn’t turn into a migraine. It’s overcast and drizzling outside. It’s miserable outside and it’s rubbing off on me.

I’ll get around to the blogs tomorrow. I may stop in to facebook here and there, but I think that mostly I’ll just watch a few movies, snuggle on the couch with my dog and my man and order pizza for dinner.

Saturdays are for going with the flow and that’s what I intend to do today.

Once upon a time, there was a happily married young couple. They had two boys, five and ten years old. The boys were rambunctious and well loved by their parents. Yes, it was a happy family…..

but something was missing.

The woman felt outnumbered. Raised toilet seats were commonplace as were the ‘puddles’. The shoes were smelly and the laundry very dirty. She longed for a daughter. She wanted pony tails and dollbabies. She wanted dresses and tea parties. ”Let’s have another baby.” she proposed to her husband.”Are you stupid?” He exclaimed. “ Both of the boys will be in school soon and you will have your life back! Besides, work is getting slow and I have to find a new job.”

“Our grandparents raised their families during the Depression. We’ll find a way.”

So the man breathed near the fertile woman and nine months later, they found themselves in the delivery room. The man was excited, for even though he had two boys, he had never seen his wife give birth! He was here! It would happen soon!  He was holding her hand!

He was supposed to be leaving for his first day of his  brand new job!!

The woman said “Go. You need the job. I will be okay. My mother is here with me. Just be sure to rush home to me. Hurry! You need to be at work by 6am!”

She was right. Sadly, he kissed his wife and went to the new job.

Before he had even reached the hospital parking lot, his wife’s labor began in earnest. The doctor gave her an epidural. It seemed as though the labor slowed. She felt no more contractions. So the woman and her mother began making plans to go to lunch.

The doctor returned and lifted the sheet. “Let’s have a looksy and see how you’re progressing…..”

“Hello! Did you know that you had an eavesdropper on your conversation? You have a baby’s head sticking out of your hooha!”

Yes, that was how she arrived. It was a Wednesday morning. 6:31 on October 24, 1991.

At 6:45, the husband returned. It seemed that the boss was furious that the man had left his wife. “Go Home!” He was ordered. “Come back tomorrow!!”

The baby, who was cleaned and swaddled, was handed to her father. He looked at her with tears in his eyes and said “Hey, you.” He had never told his wife, but he had wanted a daughter more than anything in the world. She smiled at him, closed her eyes and they both promptly fell asleep. (A pattern that would repeat itself frequently.)

In the seventeen years since that day, the mother has brushed hair and painted fingernails. She has been there through girlfights, breakups and proms. She will do so until the daughter asks her to stop. (and she will continue long after that too)

The woman may fight with the daughter. She may ground her when necessary. She will tell her to change her clothes or clean her room. They will occasionally hate each other.

But the mother will  always love the girl – with the intensity of a million white hot suns.

Happy Birthday, Babygirl. I love you now and forever. 

I am not sure how to explain all of this but I will try to tie up the clues from yesterday.

1. Yes, it was Linda trying to get my attention. All of the signals were there.

2.  Pink roses are a sign that God requires our cooperation in using our ‘gifts’ or helping others to use theirs.

3.  Haley-O’s comment mentioned that Linda ” needs someone who understands and believes in signs “. Through a friend, I found her. This person stated that she wasn’t sure she still believed that “spirit reading” was somethng she still wanted to pursue. She was having doubts about where it stood in regards to her religion. But she was willing to listen for me. Before she read the post, she had googled images of autumn leaves. Then she found out that leaves were on my blouse and that was her sign to help.

4. Through emails, I had mentioned that I understood her reluctance, but I mentioned that God wouldn’t have given her a gift if He didn’t want her to use it. (Linda was a former nun, which kindof tied in religion)She envisioned had a religious image which was a parallel to a picture that Linda had drawn and displayed in her home.

5.  Linda loved attention and I thought that she just wanted me to write about her. This friend had an image of ’shearing’ which is a term used in metalwork (metalmom?) Linda had also done web designs so I feel that the post was meant to be.

6.   There were other clues that came out during our ‘talk’- some obscure but others more obvious. It would take a much longer post to try to explain it. Some things tied into my life but most actually related to my friend’s personal life specifically. (This is why alot of this sounds fuzzy to you. I am protecting her personal details)

7.  After telling my friend about ‘God wanting her to use her gift’, I felt the first peace I had all day. It felt like the message had been passed. I was so very calm internally. My friend was also feeling as though she had received a message.

I realize that not everyone out there is a believer in stuff like this. I, however, do believe, as I was raised hearing stories relating to ‘visits’ from family members. None of us are psychic and we don’t need to be in order to listen to what is being revealed to us.

Sometimes it pays to open your heart, mind and soul. You never know who will be touched by what you hear.

If you are into ’spirit visits’, ‘afterlife messages’, and other such communications, I hope you can help me out.

My friend Linda passed away roughly five years ago. I had met her through my friend Lostmahead, and had taken care of her as a home health aide for three years. When you wipe someone’s butt, you become fairly good friends.

Shortly before she died, her husband died. We all saw both events coming from a mile away. Anyway, when Linda passed, Lostmahead and I helped her daughters clean out the house to get it ready for sale. We were welcome to take anything that the family no longer wanted and the rest went to the Salvation Army.

I took a few articles of clothing (she had great t-shirts and sweat shirts so I took a lot of those) I also have a vase with pink roses on it (she LOVED roses), a large viney plant, and a few other items.

Lostmahead recently gave me a serving platter with pink roses on it and my first thought was that it matched the vase. It has been sitting on my dining room table because I must clean the china cabinet and find room for it. Therefore I see it frequently. Not only that, I bought a pink candle that I thought was pink grapefruit scented but it turned out to be roses. (Not something I would have bought.) It also sits on the table.

This has kept Linda in the forefront of my thoughts. Growing up, my mom always said that if you think of someone or dream of someone who has passed, they need your prayers. So I dutifully said a few for Linda.

Then today, while I was looking for something warmer to wear, I came across a few sweaters of hers. I set them aside. I quickly grabbed a pair of sweats out of my drawer to take out Bandit and they had been hers. Linda was notorious for being cold- even on the hottest days. I kind of laughed to myself and thought “Gee. This must be some kind of message.” and I continued my day.

I leaned over a chair to straighten the cover and my hair got caught on the plant. Tugging my hair was something Linda would do to me when I helped to pull on her socks. Now I was freaked and out loud I said, “Linda, if you have something to say to me, just say it! Stop fucking around!”

I took my shower and dressed and only afterwards, as I tried to figure out her message, did I realize that I was wearing a pair of knee high socks that were hers and a turtleneck shirt with autumn leaves on it.  All of this was unintentional on my part

How do I figure out the message? It must be something big for her to beat me over the head with so many coincidences all in one day. I’m usually open to this kind of stuff and this isn’t the first time I’ve heard from her, just the first time it’s come through like a train all in one day like this.

This is driving me crazy, so if you have any ideas on how to deal with this, let me know!! PLEASE!!