29.11.10

Contgrats are in order...

...for my cousin Rachel, and her lady Katherine, who just got married!

23.11.10

But wait...


It isn't supposed to look like this at sea level, unless you are at some pole or another. It isn't even winter yet!

31.10.10

Happy Halloween

This picture is a little blurry, I guess the person taking the picture had had a couple of drinks too many? Mr. Punxxi has white hair because I sprayed it that color. Halloween is my favorite day. We had a party that worked out well, and was a lot of fun.Especially since it was kind of a last minute deal. Next year we will plan ahead then I will be able to get more decorations, I really want a fog machine!

24.10.10

What goes around comes around

Just when I got the new laptop all set up and  the old one packed and ready to mail off to Ms J, I was running an update on mr punxxis desktop and it crashed  and not a crash I can fix...well it has been behaving badly, I was going to run the BIOS update then check for virii and other crapola. It got to the part where it was going to  reboot, it just blacked out and wouldn't even POST. I spent the next several hours on the phone, first with the extended warranty people who have set up an inhome repair ( I hope) and then online with Dell, New Delhi division so that I could have a cd of the drivers sent to me since they don't ship them with new computers anymore .
The point is that how fun is a new,mega wonderful, amazing  and speedy laptop when you have to actually (gasp!) share it? All I can say is thank god we use carbonite to back all of  our files/pictures  etc . It made it so easy to transfer everything over here to the new kid . Don't worry, I share everything with mr.punxxi, even tho he lies and says oh i have to check my email or i have to do some banking, mostly he is playing hearts or slingo.  Me, I do important stuff, I read all of your blogs!

17.10.10

ya hoooooooeyyyyyyyyyyy

The new lappy will be here tomorrow...2 days early! I can't wait. Then the data transfer begins and when it is set up you will get to see it. The Amazing Gracealien. What? you don't name yer toys?

4.10.10

I have gone insane

Today I ordered a new laptop, and no one will know until it shows up.  But look at it, much better than this one memorywise...I will probably give this one to my grandaughter. She has just started college and if Mr. Punxxi  doesn't want this Toshiba, it's all hers ( she never asks for anything!!!) Here's what the new baby will have ( it is being built as I type, should be here on the 20th)

1 224-8107 Space Black - Anodized Aluminum 


1 317-5661 Intel Core i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache) $0.00

1 317-3664 6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3) $0.00

1 330-8812 Alienware M17x 150W A/C Adapter $0.00

1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p) $0.00

1 320-8987 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870 $0.00

1 342-0671 256GB SSD - Samsung Solid State Drive $0.00

1 313-8796 AlienFX Color, Plasma Purple $0.00

1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x $0.00

1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English $0.00

1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp $0.00

1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00

1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language $0.00

1 313-8569 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) $0.00

1 421-1304 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software $0.00

1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software $0.00

1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio $0.00

1 430-3739 Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology $0.00

1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On $0.00

1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty $0.00

1 908-2207 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year $0.00

1 922-3410 Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year $0.00

1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 $0.00

1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware $0.00

1 994-3730 Warranty Support,Initial Year $0.00

1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $0.00

1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed $0.00

1 421-2611 AlienGUIse Theme Manager with Breed Theme $0.00

1 421-1573 Alienhead 3D $0.00

1 421-1591 Alienhead 3D $0.00

1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR $0.00

1 330-6175 Standard Nameplate $0.00
 I honestly don't know why I bought it, I already have 2 pc's and a laptop and a netbook..I guess that is why I have an iPhone and an iTouch which is the same as the phone but no phone or camera ...of course the new ones will have the same camera dealie as the iPhone .Oh toys, how we all love them.wth he buys golf stuff i buy technology.

17.9.10

So long summer.

That means its time for boots again! Yay.It also means that I better clean my dusty bedroom now that the windows aren't open  24/7.  It has been raining all week, just the usual Oregon weather. Bah, as in humbug.


13.8.10

nice new shoes

This is what mr. punxxi bought me for our "original" anniversary...he said, they are so you!

14.7.10

Summer, finally

It has not rained for at least 2 weeks! I am stunned by this, last year it rained most of the summer and all my plants died, because it got too cold at night.
I just heard the most awful  noise outside the window, I thought that one of the cats had caught a bluejay, but when I turned around and looked out, I saw that it was a baby raccoon doing it's (very loud) distress call for it's mama. Mama was there in a couple of seconds. They are just starting to bring the babies out, they are so cute, and little enough that if they bite you they don't hurt because their mouths are too small. The last few years I have had babies eating out of my hand, a couple used to run up my arm, these are now the parents but are still wild animals so I am very careful with them..when they bite it hurts and breaks the skin . Since they are rabies carriers I try to be careful...so far I'm not rabid  :o)

26.6.10

Today

 feel pretty good, despite having  broken my left baby toe and having a nasty viral infection....I wonder if it's whooping cough, I just came back from California and they are having an epidemic  there. Of course being of the medical persuasion, I am , like many others of the same ilk, very non-compliant. I haven't even checked my blood sugar in a couple of months, didn't even take  my glucose meter to Cali with me.

23.6.10

why I miss California

Where else would you see a dog in pink goggles riding in a convertible Lexus?

3.6.10

I'm so ready...

...to go to Southern California, where there will be warm air...it won't be all that sunny because June is the month of gloom in SoCal. It has to do with temperatures in the desert and by the coast. I don't care tho, it is not wet or cold!  It is raining again today...I don't think it will ever stop, we have not had a real spring again this year, we are going from winter to winter it looks like. I will be glad to go down to see the oldest kid and a couple of grandkids, the youngest is graduating from high school, but she has already given out all her tickets so we won't be attending that, but we will take her out on the weekend for fun shopping...that is a tradition :o)
Now, I am trying to get some color on me so I don't look like a ghost, I have a few more days to work on it and then work on it down there. I have never been this white in my entire life. I have always been a beach baby and a fool for the sun. We are going to look at a few properties  while we are down there, just for future reference. Can't move if we can't sell this house, and it's been on the market for over 2 years. We don't have to move so we don't do dramatic price drops like some people have had to do. We did drop down 25k after a year and a half, but that is as far as we are going, anyone can make any offer that they want, because we do have a bottom line that is considerably lower.
If nothing else, it makes me keep the house neater than I would otherwise. If I think I have to stay here a few more years, I am gonna demand either new carpeting or  new laminate floors ( that is my choice...the carpet needed to be replaced when we moved in)
I went up to Seattle, Washington a couple of weeks ago, to hook up with  a couple of girls I used to work with. One of them was up there taking classes for her job as a nurse, she specializes in ortho. The other was a lady I worked with in Respiratory Care, but who has retired and just went along to see Seattle. That was the first time that I have gone somewhere by myself in about 20 years....it was fun and a much needed break from my son who is mentally disabled and sometimes a real pain in the arse. The older he gets, the harder it is to deal with him. He will be 39 next month but is mentally about 8 and has Schizophrenia on top of that. We are now looking into getting him back into group or semi independant living and getting him back to working. He has been on vacation for the past 5 1/2 years because they don't have the resources here that they do in a large city. It will take at least 90 days before we find out if he will be accepted into the program,  because they have to get information from every agency that he dealt with in Cali. Anyway I think he needs to be on at least one more medication, he is so angry and bitter all the time. That is because he is smart enough to know he isn't just like everyone else and he hates it. We are thinking we all need a break from each other, maybe that will help...I know it will help us. Between Mr. Punxxi's mom and punxxikid we are surrounded by   demands and anger and nasty words , we need a break! That is why Cali is looking so good, they will both still be here, she lives in a retirement home and he will be staying with a couple of different friends since he decided that he didn't want to go with us. We were going to make him because we know that he would have a good time once he was there, but he was being so nasty that we made arrangements  and then told him that he wasn't going.  I know it sounds mean, but Mr. Punxxi and I are thrilled to have no tension for a couple of weeks!

9.5.10

Happy Mothers Day

Here in the states it is mothers day today. My  youngest son and husband bought me an iphone, which I got last week, so far I'm lovin' it even though I don't know how to do much with it yet. I  will print out a users manual next week, then I will study it. A few years ago I had a Blackberry with online access  etc. But then times called for austerity so I told him I would give all the online stuff up with the stipulation that when I started getting Social Security that I was buying an iphone and would pay the extra 30 bucks a month for being online . He said that is fair, so that's how it was . Now I haven't gotten a SS check yet, and he bought the phone for me. I will pay for  the online stuff tho when I do.I don't care, I am a freak about tech stuff, whether or not I know much about it. That is why in a house with 3 people living in it there are 4 computers, I am the one that sets them all up, installs and removes things, and listens to Mr. Punxxi whine when things don't work the way he wants them to. It is very funny to me because I never had a computer until 1996. Never worked with them which he had done for several years. Everything I know( not too much) I learned by playing with my first computer. It was a fun hobby, AOL had just gone to unlimited access, so I would spend all night online, talking to a group of people that went to a political humor board...the board is long gone, but now we are all on facebook together, we have met in person several times( in Las Vegas, mostly) The people I meet online are my best friends. I am somewhat afflicted with social anxiety, so it is perfect for me, I feel more confident online, maybe because I can edit my mouth, can't do that in public, yanno.  Anyway as you have noticed by now, this posts isn't really about mothers. Maybe that is because mine never was much of one, but she has been dead for 9 years  or so. I wasn't much of a mother myself, but I did do what I thought was the best thing for my boys when I divorced their father...I gave him custody and he raised them. 20 years later we got remarried and it is sooo much better this time around. We have a lot of fun this time. I guess getting married at 18 and pregnant puts a lot of stress on you. Anyway, I wish all the great moms out there happy mothers day, even to my honey, cos he was a great mother to my kids!
Oh yeah, the reason that I stayed up all night yakking is because I worked 12 hour night shifts at the time and always stayed on my same schedual on my days off, much easier on the body not to try and go back and forth.

22.4.10

OOPS

Well d/l movies online didn't last long as I was notified by Verizon that I was in violation of blah blah blah. Yeah well that is true, it is called stealing , so everything is deleted now and hopefully they won't have to give my info to the movie company, cos a 250000 fine is more than I can afford. I wonder how everyone else gets away with this stuff? I kept the movie that I paid for tho. Also, the rental house is rented, and to a stable type person at that, she is an Oncology nurse at the local hospital and all of her info is perfect. We checked her job and her previous rental and they were impeccable. Yay, no stress. Now if only we could sell our house( or find a handyman to take care of it cheaply). Everyone is sick here, the guys have a nasty cold, courtesy of the evil M-I-L) I must have an ear infection, because I get dizzy whenever I bend over or turn over in bed, things spin around. If it does't stop by Monday I guess I may actually go to the doc, maybe not. That is a  bad habit of most people that work or have worked in the medical field, you either become a hypochondriac or totally non compliant( that's where I am, I am the fool that treats myself) At least it gives me an excuse for being lazy for  a couple of days, falling over in public looks suspicious, yo know? The weather is still nasty and cold, rainy and overcast when it isn't raining, ah, spring in the Pacific Northwest, makes me miss the spring in the Pacific Southwest more everyday.

19.4.10

Day of Rest

Even tho we just put the rental in the paper we are on an overnighter, DaPunx can tell them to call back on Wednesday.Unfortunately, the spa is not open until Wednesday...no biggie I still have 90 minutes @ the spa at home. So where am I? I am currently sitting in my beautiful  hotel room at a casino while the guys play golf. You can see what I am doing,typing this! I am also burning DVD's, cos ya know I am a major multi-tasker! I have 2 more to  burn, then I will look for some more..I am happy that I have had Avatar since Feburary,  and I haven't even finished watching it yet. I guess it goes on sale in a few days, the 22nd, I think. I burned Sherlock Homes last night, I will see if I can find Alice In Wonderland after this. Kick Ass isn't available just yet, but I am sure it will be soon enough. If anyone has any movie suggestions, send them along. Well off to read all you lovely people that I read, almost everyday.
xx
punx

16.4.10

One more day

I should be through cleaning the rental house by tomorrow. I am very happy to have that out of the way. If the real estate market were better we would sell it and buy another one to flip, but it isn't, so we won't yet. I think that  the last renter used it for a meth house, but I don't know for sure. I do know she was raising marijuana, because you can legally do that here if you have a medical marijuana card, which she did. You are only allowed to grow 6 plants, but according to one room mate she had the entire garage full of plants...This is a weird state, you can carry a concealed weapon and grow dope. I have a permit to carry a gun, but don't. I don't grow pot either, but know a lot of people that I can get it from, if I want. The law says you can grow and use it for medical purposes, but that if you work somewhere that has a no drug policy, even if you have a card you can be fired if you fail a u.a.. I will be glad when the place is rented out and I can go get a massage;I got  a certificate for one for my birthday but haven't been able to schedual it yet.

29.3.10

Spring Cleaning

Today we are cleaning out the guest room, getting it ready for our son, Dapunx, to switch bedrooms because that room has a closet twice the size of his present room. We installed blackout curtins, moved all the furniture out and shampooed the carpet. That is because of one of the problems with feral cats is that they will always mark their territory. I try very hard to keep things as clean as possible, but they are kinda sneaky about it at times. So, first I vacuumed the $#!& out of the carpet, then got on my hands and knees and scrubbed down all the baseboards with vinegar and water to make sure there is no kitty odor in the room, spot treated all the spots on the carpet and then MrPunxxi shampooed it. In the interim, we indulged me in my favorite sport...throwing stuff out and rearranging the left over stuff. I have in the past 2 weeks donated 3 extra large (50 gallon) trash bags of stuff out of my closet...not all clothing mind you, but I had a lot of stuff in my closet because I took the clothes hanging bar out of it last year and put in 5 rows of shelves. But I decided it looked messy all the time and since we will never take out house off the market, you just never know when someone might pop in to preview the house. A strange thing is that most people would like to hang their clothes in the bedroom closet, but I turned another bedroom into a closet/workout room, it  even has a t.v. by the treadmill(aka clothes hanger). Anyway the satillite dish guy will be out to install the cable in the back bedroom so that  DaPunx can watch t.v. in there. So out went all but 2 of the shelves we installed, I moved the top  one up as far as I could and put the bar adaptors on and hung a new bar in there so it looks like a real closet, again.
MrPunxxi is sort of a pack rat type, so I have been making him watch the programs about hoarders . He is not that bad, because that is an actual mental illness, but I think my kids might be, but DaPunx can't do it since he lives here with us . I would like him to go back to a group home situation, but we haven't really checked into it up here. He awlays says he wants to save up his money and move to an apartment by himself, but having the mentality of an 8 year old makes it impossible.
Well that's all I'm doing for today because it's my birthday and I try to sluff off as much as possible on it!  Besides, tomorrow I have to start all over on the room he is moving out of, the new guest room.

22.3.10

it's ba-aa-a-aakkkk

Well, the Verizon guy came and went and confirmed what I already knew, that my dsl modem was dead. I told mr.punxxi that was the reason we couldn't get online, but as usual he decided that I am only a blonde chick, and therefore could not be right( naw, he just wanted them to check it out 1st) So I called mr punxxi up and told him and that I was going to get a new one. Since he was nearby, he asked were I was going, so I told him Staples, he says,"I'll meet you there". As soon as I walk into the store he is standing there holding just the one I wanted, and for a very good price,too. He tells me that the store guy says this is what you want. I told him that as long as it was compatible with Verizon, it would be fine. I had just looked up this particular combo modem/wifi, it was
$155.00 @ the Netgear online store but 99.00 @ Staples  . This was the first time that he has ever taken the initiative to try to buy something "tech" and at least he paid for it which is a 1st too! But no, he didn't try to install it, but that was easy. Now my next project is to switch the printer over to wifi!

20.3.10

Whine whine whine...

... yep, I'm all about the whines today, I will be offline for all practical purposes until Verizon decides to come and fix my DSL line. I haven't been on dial-up since 1996, it is intolerable!!!!!
xx
see ya all later

17.3.10

Happy Paddy's Day, saint or not

Well, last week we went to look at a new house, and even tho it had been listed at a million and a half when it originally went on the market, the bank is now selling it for a mere $543,000.00, It sits on top of a hill and has an ocean view, it is about 4500 sq. ft. but you  know what?  I could have drawn a better layout with my eyes shut!  Oh, it had a couple of nice features, and the possibility of a large profit down the road, but it just wasn't worth it to us. We are seriously going to try to sell the present rental we own, and look for another, to rehab and flip. We still have our house on the market, for the 2nd year, but since we don't have to sell it, it doesn't matter . Next month we will start doing serious open house days, and if we sell it we will have to find somewhere to move(yay), but we will still have to stay here in the bay area, until his mother joins his dad. Because of the economy, we aren't sure if we really want to move back to California or not,they have raised the sales tax down there to almost 10%, which is ridiculous. Anyway, so far the plan is to move to town to a house that needs little maintainance on the outside.
Mr. Punxxi is so very tired of rain, but who wouldn't be when you have 30 to 40 days in a row? Rain doesn't bother me much because I rarely go outside , but he being a maniac golfer, wants to golf in the sunshine for some reason...dunno why, he isn't gonna rust or anything :o)

10.3.10

oopsy

We are evicting our tenants, well actually we only want one of them to leave. The other says he wants to rent the house himself, and can afford the rent. The female that was there with the other two original tenants is a flake and has borrowed a lot of money from "new guy". According to him, she has had lots of family there ,loud parties, there are holes in the walls and she is a slob.  This is pretty much what I expect out of renters, but as long as the house is paying for itself, I don't care too much. It ultimately will be sold. Tomorrow we are going to look at a fantasy house up the hill from here. Fantasy because I know we will never buy it, unless I have won the lottery today ( I haven't looked yet). It looked pretty good looking in the windows, but tomorrow a realtor is going to let us in to look at it. It has views of the bay and the ocean it is on 3.19 acres and is a bit larger than this house. Since I have nothing to do anyway, I would have time to clean it. It is about 4600 sq ft, 4 car garage, nice deck, a kitchen to die for.I will take pictures of it tomorrow . It's fun to look even if it isn't feasible to even think we can swing a deal for it, but in this economy, who knows?

16.2.10

Feburary, where'd ya go???

Wow! This month is almost over , which is good because now we are past the anniversary and  St. Valentines day, the 11th and 14th respectively. We went up to Portland for a couple of days, had the car parked and never took it out again until we left.That is something we like, being able to walk all over the place and stop when and where we want, look at whatever strikes our fancy.  I don't usually drink at all because I am not overly fond of the taste of most alcohol, and having alcoholics on both sides of my family makes me somewhat careful with it.  But since it was anniversary night we had a bottle (2) of champagne. We were going to go out to a fancy steak house for dinner, but we did something so much more fun... we got sandwhiches and chips(crisps) from an Italian deli and had a picnic in our room, along with the champagne. Now that may seem weird to most people, but the fact is there are no Italian deli's in this part of the state, not even any within a 2-3 hour radius... you have no idea how much that sucks!!!! Just to order coldcuts, like coppacolio, would cost about 75-100 dollars, it's expensive stuff, but the shipping cost is the killer. We stock up when we go back to California, but it only lasts for so long. Did I mention that where we live, out here in the sticks, the biggest store we have is a Walmart Super center?  I don't care if nobody else likes to shop there, I love it! When you can save a couple of bucks per item, it is worth shopping there. It is also the largest employer in the area, since all those happy assed green people have killed off the logging and fishing industries. This place is where all the people that ran away to Canada in order to avoid the Viet Nam war came when Carter gave them all amnesty.. I will have to start taking pictures of all the ancient hippies up here. It is unfortunate that the whole town is pretty much dying, all the kids that go away for college, are not coming back here, there is nothing for them to do. They either leave the state, or move  up to Portland, as half the states population lives there. We have about 9000 people here, but I am interested to see what it is after they do the census. actually there are 200 people where I live, but we are pretty spread out.
I think we will be a little busier this year, we went to Portland, in May we are meeting a couple of my friends up in Seattle as they have to go to a nursing convention and then are spending a few days to look around after that. In June my youngest grandkid will be graduating from high school, so we will go down to California for that...and then the best part, in August we will go to Ann Arbor to visit the cool people( unless I can talk them into coming here) Oh yeah, next month is my birthday AND in May I will get my first social security check ..wheeeeeeeeeeeeee play money!!

18.1.10

Strange "thinks" aka part 5

As I have been writing down memories of childhood,  I am forced to admit I am missing years . I have been aware for many years that I do not remember anything about the years of 23-26. But going back further, I can see long periods of time that I have no recollection of at all. I don't know if it is from disassociation or just supressed. Then there are other times that I recall but that don't seem real at all, sort of pushed by the wayside. One of those is when I married a psychopath/wifebeater/bordeline personality putz. I must have been at a very low point then. But I barely recall that 10 year span, I guess that is a good thing. Two things I remember are when he fragmented my nose. You have mostly cartilage in your nose, but at the very top is a little bone that protrudes slightly , that is what he fragmented, he broke it in 5 pieces, oh well, I always wanted a nose job anyway, and since I worked in a hospital, our insurance covered 80% because it wasn't considered cosmetic, then the plastic surgeon said if I would do it at the primary hospital he worked at, he would give me even more of a discount( you usually get a "proffessional courtesy" discount). I had no problem with that and ended up with a 3800.00 nose job for 83.00!!! That was pretty cool. The second thing that I very clearly remember is  lying on the floor of the kitchen and him beating my head on the floor. He was using my hair to pound my head, and he was pulling out tons of hair. When I swept it up later it filled a shopping bag, of course if it had been compacted in there it wouldn't look like so much. I used to have very thick hair, even tho it is baby fine. Now it's about half as thick. I supported this jerk for the entire 10 years we were married..he would get a job and it might last the day. He did have one job that lasted a year, but he got fired and the excuse was that he had lied about his criminal record. Well that is neither here nor there, but once I decided that I would no longer support him, it pretty  much went downhill from there ( major sarcastic tone). I did two things for him that he should be very grateful for, I got him  enough information that he was able to get his Marine Corps discharge changed from dishonorable to general, which meant that he could go to school and collect money on the G. I. Bill.  Since he already knew how to weld, he took welding classes to get a certification and the government paid for it. Of course he decided that isn't what he wanted to do. He decided that he wanted to be a truck driver like his dad. I was checking out different programs that the state offered. One is a rehabilitation program that anyone in the state could use. They had a truck driving program and then they let you use their truck to take the diving test in.The fact that he already knew how to drive a truck( his dad taught him when he was a kid)made the program a piece of cake. He finally got a job driving cross country and also picked up a girl whose father owned a truck stop in New Mexico. I should look her up and send her a thank you note, she is welcome to him and all his b.s.
This lack of memory goes back pretty far, I remember  the first school that I went to, but all I remember is that we had little cots to "nap" on, so that we didn't have to sleep  on the floor, and that there was a fireplace in the room. Thats all I remember about the 1st year.I have one vague memory of the 3rd grade, neither here nor there, I remember the 4th  grade because the teacher was a cool guy, even if he did believe in corporal punishments.  His name was Mr. Morita and he was from Hawaii. We learned a whole lot about Hawaii, he even told us about the bombing of Pearl Harbor because he lived there and was 7 years old at the time. That is pretty detailed memory.I don't remember grades 5,6,or most of 7th. 8th I remember because that was the very first time I went to the same school for the whole year. High school I vaguely remember, but it's pretty fuzzy. I remember the day JFK got shot, I was at school and heard  a radio talking about him getting shot, it must have just happened. So I went into my next class and told everyone that the president had been shot. I was a class clown type so people didn't believe me, until about 2 minutes later when the announcement came over the P.A. It really  kind of annoys me to not have clear memories of growing up, since I can remember earlier things so well.Not enough to go back to therapy tho :o)  !

7.1.10

part 4

Since  we were allowed to wander at will, we played in the avocado groves most of the time. The only bad part is that people used to dump junk in there, and it was soon covered with leaves. Our grove and everybody elses ran together, there were no real demarcation lines.Anyway, I was playing in the next door grove, with the cult kids, barefoot as usual, and I jumped on a pile of leaves and landed on some shutters with nails in them, of course being the graceful little gazelle that I was, I managed to land on the nails, 5 rusty nails, 4 in one foot and 1 in the other. I was about 3 1/2 @ the time. I was afraid to tell anyone because I thought I would get in trouble because I had taken my shoes off. A couple of days later my mom was giving me a bath and she saw my feet and freaked out. I was in the Doctors office the next day, getting a tetanus shot...I was NOT happy about that!
After that we went back and got the shutters and pulled all the nails out and waxed the heck out of one side of the shutters and used them to "sled" down the tiers, so it had a good outcome. We also used to play in the oil fields because my grandpa worked there, they had lots of horses wandering around on the property, which of course made it thrilling to any little kid. My grandpa worked there because his cousin owned the fields, now here is the weirdest true thing  about my family I can tell you, at least that isn't a rather negative thing. His cousin was named Getty, as in J. Paul Getty,  rich guy extrordinaire. I never met any of them so it is only like a little footnote in my history. This guy looked just like my grandpa, their mothers we sisters. He owned a castle in England, it had been Anne Boleyns  home at one time, the cheap guy installed a pay phome because too many people came and made long distance calls from his house. Now if I were a multi-billionaire, I woulda let that slide, I think.
Here is something weird that I remember,when we lived in this house, I use to have hallucinations, there were always people running around the ceiling in the bedroom. Now most people will say, " no that was your over active imagination, it was just a dream". I will disagree with them forever, I was wide awake , I could be in or out of bed and still see and talk to them.
Why the hell would a laxative company make their product to look just like a Hershey bar( at least to a little kid)? Yep, that was me, the kid that ate an entire package of ExLax, becase it was a "candy bar".Anyway  the adults noticed that I had some chocolate on my face and asked me about and I told them that I ate the candy bar they "hid" in the bathroom. Mom says, show me and I did. They freaked and called the doc, who said just watch her. If that had happened today, I would have ended up in the hospital on an IV. I am surprised that I didn't die from that, since it would throw off the electrolytes and dehydrate you  terribly. I really don't know how I survived my childhood, I was a fearless in all things, except for being around people I didn't know, pretty much still very shy with strangers, but I am better now because I usually answer the phone or the door now, which I didn't for many years.  I find that I have different "me's", not that I am saying I am MPD( multiple personality disorder) but when I worked, I worked in jobs that I had to constantly interact with strangers and had no problem doing so, but as soon as I was in a different environment, I retreated to my other, painfully shy self. It was that way in school, I once walked out of a class because the teacher wanted me to stand in front of the class and speak for 2 minutes...couldn't do it, left school over it, that was my 1st year of high school.. aw, I digress yet again!  Well, now we are all bored, so I will go clean house, and watch the guys undecorate the outside of the house before it rains( a daily occurance here in the winter, at least it hasn't snowed here (yet) . I feel so sorry for you in Europe and the east coast here!
ttfn