Happy Fuddy Duddy Ween!

It's that time of year again.  The pumpkins are being carved.  Candy bowls are filling up.  Zombies and vampires and creatures and ghouls are making their homes on front lawns and in windows and in trees.  The kiddos are getting dressed up in their favorite costumes, and if you live here in Austin (where there are only about 17 kids), the adults are getting their slut/zombie outfits together.  It's turning cold and everyone is hoping it doesn't rain for the year's only freaky scary holiday...Halloween.

Now, here's the thing.  Halloween is a great holiday.  It's a lot of fun.  People are excited.  There are parties and parades and pinatas and tricks.  No matter what day of the week, people go out in hoards to drink and be merry.  And, this year I have just come to the conclusion that I simply don't care.  I don't.  At all.  I want to.  I want to love Halloween.  I don't hate it.  I'm going to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  I'm going to eat candy because the husband brought some home.  I have been invited to Halloween festivities.  But, for some reason, I just don't care that much.  And, I don't know why!  I always thought it may be because I wear glasses, so all my costumes have to incorporate glasses which is honestly just no fun.

I kinda feel like when it comes to cooking or photography or things like that.  My generation, especially in my town, should really enjoy these things.  And, it isn't like I hate them.  In fact, I quite like when others do these things.  I just can't pretend that they are for me.  And, that's the way it is with Halloween.  I just kinda don't mind not dressing up or doing anything.  I feel like a fraud in cool town.

I feel the same way with New Year's Eve.  There's always so much pressure.  I only get nervous when I am supposed to be having fun. When it's required and should be a given, I tend to panic and have not so much fun at all.  It's a bit deranged, I know.  But, in that, I don't mind so much not caring much about Halloween.

Now, oddly, as I have gotten older I have started to love the hell out of Christmas.  I used to hate it.  I love presents and food and whatnot.  But, the happiness and joy always made me sneer.  But, the older I get, the  more Avon porcelain Christmas trees and pink paper angels I want all over my house.  This year I'm even gonna make the Jodler hang up lights.  Oh yes, I am.

But, back to Halloween.  I don't know why I just don't care.  But, I really don't.  I wish I cared more.  I think it might make me more fun.  Or not. It might just me more nervous.  All that being said, though, I hope everyone has a great one.  I will eat candy in your honor!  Happy Halloween!

Maybe I can get behind this kind of Halloween.  Michael Myers ain't got nothing on these people.

I'm Having a Love Affair for 21-23 Minutes at a Time

So, when it comes right down to it, I may be an oddball of human society.  I mean, sure I am just generally an oddball of human society.  But, I am talking about a different reason. I am a lover of the Great American sitcom.  I know lots of people like sitcoms, but I LOVE them. It is my preferred genre of television.  And, I can't really tell you how much I love TV.  It's my favorite thing.  I love it. I have it on all the time.  I like the noise, but mainly, I love the shows! I'm pretty sure that makes me a freak.

There have been LOTS of sitcoms over the years.  And, I pretty much like them all.  I have a great love of some.  Roseanne is by far the best ever written.  The Cosby Show is hilarious and lovable and pretty dang good.  The Office (both versions) funny and is easy to relate to.  I Love Lucy is a classic that cracks me up.  The Big Bang Theory is just great because I know some Sheldon Coopers and most of the cast of Roseanne is on it.  All in the Family was groundbreaking, but it was also just dang funny.  Reba is just silly enough to make me love it.  Arrested Development...well, nothing need be said to that.  You should just understand it.

Of course, there are the lesser known sitcoms that no one remembers, but I loved dearly.

 

Stark Raving Mad.  Look it up. It was Monk before Monk was cool.   And Doogie after he wasn't.

It's Your Move.  Hotty Bateman back in the day.  Man, I loved that show. 

I Married Dora.  Fellow weirdo Juliette Lewis in an immigration fraud comedy.  It's actually pretty awesome.

Double Trouble.  Twins who are Peg Bundy's sisters.  And, they dance.  In the 80s.  I loved it.

The Torkelsons.  I just loved this show.  It was cute! They were country when country wasn't cool.  I don't know if it's cool now, either.  But, I still like this show.

Just the Ten of Us.  This may have been my favorite forgotten show.  It was a spin-off of Growing Pains.  It was better than Growing Pains.  I can't believe they canceled it.  I blame Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street.  I think she scared people.

One thing I am grateful for is Netflix streaming.  They have a lot of sitcoms on there.  I have watched many series in their entirety because of that sweet, sweet technology.  Sadly, I have watched all of Family Ties, Frazier, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Office, Last Man Standing, Accidentally on Purpose, Traffic Light, 10 Items or Less, and Make Room for Daddy just to name a few.  Not all are great.  Some are kinda dumb.  But, for some reason, I can just about watch any sitcom thrown my way.

Now, of course, there are exceptions.  For the life of me I can't stand Cheers, News Radio, According to Jim, Rules of Engagement, and The Simpsons (if you consider it a sitcom).I can't bear them, and I don't know why.  And, that may be odd because I don't hate Frazier, but I sure hate Cheers.  And, in fact, I don't like Kelsey Grammer.  So, go figure.  But, in my opinion, these shows are unwatchable.  And, I will flat out admit that I like Two and a Half Men...both kinds.  

So, there's that.  I am a freak.  I will miss Whitney.  I will pray to the Spaghetti that The Goldbergs last.  I can only hope that The Mindy Project doesn't go the way of Happy Endings.  And, I can hope that one day they will flat out just replay all of Designing Women and Gimme a Break!  I doubt they will, but a sitcom maniac can always hope.  

A Toe is a Many Splendored Thing

So, my first real blog back is not going to be about me so much as it is going to be about my dear, sweet husband.  Not only is he the greatest person I've ever met, but he also has toe luck like no one I have ever met.  If there is something near his foot, he will stub it.  If something is going to fall of the table, it will land on his foot.  There is nothing those poor baby toes of his haven't experienced...until last night.  Last night he experienced toe horror in ways I have never seen.

So, here's my sweet Babboo.  He's giving the old thumbs up.  He's smiling.  He's going to hate this picture because it makes him look much wider than he actually is.  But, he's got a good outlook. He's also laying in a stretcher in a hallway at the ER.

I'm here for physical not mental issues.  I promise.

So, what is holy toe brought us here?  What in the world of pain has landed us in the ER on a Friday night?

THIS!

Well, that doesn't look too bad.

So, it seems Hubby Extraordinaire was all about being a great guy last night.  We had eaten dinner and were having an early evening because we both had to be up this morning by 5.  So, we had dinner, and were sitting on the couch watching TV when he decides that he will make us some cocoa.  Since it was a very cool night (finally!), he thought we should snuggle up and drink some cocoa.

Off to the kitchen he goes.  He starts heating milk in a saucepan.  Then I hear it.  A thunk, a glass breaking and a holler.  And, it wasn't like a regular old glass breaking, it was more like GLASS BREAKING.  

I jumped up, and there hopping in the kitchen was my poor baby hopping around and bleeding profusely among an formerly unopened jar of pickles.  Blood and brine was flowing all over the place.  And, something was hanging off.  

We got him into the bathroom (albeit a bit difficult in his bare feet with a kitchen covered in glass), and there was his poor middle toe.  At first we both thought the end was cut off.  Luckily, we were wrong.  It was the nail being torn off and hanging by a thread.  It was cut and bleeding and yuck!  He himself was trying not to vomit and was quite grey.  His eyes, normally a glowing Prince Charming blue, had gone clear and seawater green which is usually reserved for HEADACHES.  So, I knew it was bad.  This toe wasn't looking good.  There was no amount of peroxide and generic Band-aids that could have fixed it in our house.  So, we opted for the ER.  Oh, and there was that profuse bleeding.  See up there?  See how he's bleeding through that entire roll of gauze on his foot?  Yep, I couldn't fix that.

So, we loaded up, stopped and got gas (by the way, I feel really bad because I was way too lazy earlier to get gas.  I should have gotten gas. I feel so bad about that.)  Anyway, off we went to the ER.  And, good thing we did because it was so much worse than I though.  I don't know how much less worse Jody thought it was because he was feeling it, and I was just staring at it.  But, it was bad.  Two hours in-after waiting for though a gun shot to the abdomen, a heart attack, a lady in labor, a lady in labor having a heart attack, a little girl with a broken arm, and a bad case of the asthma (which all deserved immediate treatment)-we found out that not only had he cut that damn roast beef eater to hell, but he had (as the doctor put it) pulverized the bone at the end of his toe.  We saw the x-rays.  There is just nothing there.  And, to top it off, he lost the nail, got 8 stitches (which is a lot in a toe), and may lose the end of his toe.  Also, the nail will probably not grow back.  So, when my man hurts his toe, he hurts his toe.  All good things for a drummer who has to walk a lot at his day job.  

Oh, I feel so bad for him.  You wanna feel bad for him, too?  I will post some fancy pictures of his poor middle toe.  They're gross.  They're hard to look at.  I was lucky enough to get used to it and got to see the whole ordeal in action!  But, oh my poor, poor Sweet Pea!  Oh, and the best part is that since it is an open fracture, it's prone to infection.  Guess who's allergic to penicillin?  And guess what happens when you pulverize a bone in your foot.  It hurts.  Guess who's allergic to codeine, a component of almost all pain killers?  You guessed it!  Poor, Gimpy himself.  I love that man, and I feel so bad for him.  

Wanna see it?  Wanna see the real it?  The toe in all it's glory?  I'll show ya.  I will!  Scroll down.  I'll give you a chance not to vomit if you don't want to.  So, I'll put them way at the bottom.  Well, if it let's me post like that.  I'm not so great with these fancy writing interwebs appliprograms.  So, it may just pop up right below these words.

Yay, it didn't.  

This is the cleaned up toe just before we got to see it in real life action! Please note on the big toe is the final growing out of blackened toenail when he dropped a laptop on his toe last year.  One door closes, and the damn window opens, I guess.

Yes!  This mutant thing is Jody's toe.  You see why we thought it was cut off.

And, the poor thing never got to drink his cocoa or eat a pickle!  Dang, that's some bad luck.

I'm Back on the Blogger, Again!

Well, Tumblr bites.  And, I may be getting older, but I am not yet old.  So, if I can't figure something out in this length of time, it's not worth figuring out.  Besides, this way is way more fun.  I have no idea why, but it is.  Actually, I'm terrible with change.  Not all change. I move more than most people change cars.  However, regular old change bothers me.  Not too much, but just enough.

So, I think I shall start this up again.  I wonder what I will talk about.  I guess I should have thought about that before I started writing.  Nah, that would be far too unlike me.  I'll come up with something.  Tomorrow.