Nine Minute Dream

I awoke to the sound of the pop of the radio as the alarm came on. Now days that's usually all it really takes to wake me, even if the volume or station setting is off a little on my clock radio, an otherwise disastrous situation is averted by my ears being attuned to the sound of the radio coming to life without the voices. However today there was nothing wrong with the sound on the radio, I heard the pop then the voices from the talk radio station (the only one that comes in on the radio from my basement bedroom) followed as the two men excitedly discussed some video they had made about a room they thought was scary. I didn't hear enough of the conversation to grasp all that they were saying only that if we wanted to see the video they had it posted online, and that seeing the video was enough to scare them... then I moaned, rolled over, felt for the snooze button and gave it a light push. Soon I was drifting off to sleep again with the voices of the men echoing in my mind, "The scariest room ever... the scariest room ever... the scariest room ever..."

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"They say it's the scariest house EVER!" the woman explained, gesturing to the house across the street. "It's not a really old house, but it was recently sold, and the new owners put all new windows in, and ever since they did, the house has seemed to come to life, and everyone is afraid of it, the owners even moved out."

I stared hard at the light gray exterior of the old rambler, tilting my head left then right, trying hard to see something that would suggest it was anything more than a regular house. Watching me carefully, the woman smiled and with widening eyes motioned for me to follow her into her home, she seemed excited about whatever thought had just come to her.

I followed the woman into her house, through the living room, down the hall, and into the bedroom of a young boy (son or grandson, I couldn't be sure which since her age suggested she could be a young grandmother). I didn't know this woman, I didn't know how I came to be at her home, I only knew that I was driven by curiosity to follow her and to find out more about "the scariest house ever".

Walking past the young boy, who looked to be about 8, as he sat upon his bed, we walked to the large picture window in his room. The window was on the south side of the home, and as the woman drew open the curtains, I discovered that the room had a perfect view of the afore mentioned house across the street.

"Now watch." she said with eager anticipation, "look at the windows."

I fixed my eyes on the equally sized picture window of the other house, half doubting anything of worth would happen, when suddenly I saw movement in the curtains.

"Close the curtains please!" the boy moaned from behind me, "It scares me.

Soon the curtains parted just enough to relieve, what appeared to be, the figure of a woman in a dress. I tried to hard to focus on the image as my heart raced, but try as I may, the form never became entirely clear to me.

"She may never look completely whole to you." the woman chuckled, "Everyone seems to be able to get as far as you are now when watching from the other side of a window, like in a house or a car that's passing by, but she never comes into full focus." The woman's tone suddenly drew more serious. "Except to me."

I turned my gaze from the scene before me and gave her a questioning look. Her face was solemn and I detected a hint of fear in her. Without needing to voice my questions, the woman move to the answers as she turned and headed for the door.

"For some reason I can see her fine, and she watches me from her house. Sometimes she stands on the porch, but usually she just stands at the windows." As we walked from the room, the boy leaped from beneath the covers of the bed (where I assumed he went once the request for the curtains to remain shut had been made) and ran to the window to pull the curtains closed. A tinge of guilt washed over me for having forgotten his request to shut the curtains, but he just ran out of the room after us and didn't seem too effected, so I drew my attention back to my guide.

As I followed the woman, I found we were walking back to the living room and heading once again outside. Pulling the door open we stepped out on to the porch and I turned to say something to the woman, but her sad expression and eyes locked on something (I could only assume it to be the house that now stood behind me), made me forget my train of thought. I followed her gaze as I turned once again to the house and gasped at what I beheld.

My knees got weak, my heart raced, and a chill ran up my spin. I couldn't find my voice let alone coherent words to vocalize, but somehow I managed a small mousy squeak to escape form my throat. There on the front porch of the house stood a woman in a light colored floral dress. She was old, and she wore her gray hair up in a bun. Her eyes burned into me and I could tell without having to ask, that I was indeed beholding the fully focused image of the woman I had seen in the window before.

I could feel the woman behind me pulling on my arm trying to get me to turn around and saying things I couldn't understand, but I couldn't seem to react. I wasn't sure if I was afraid to take me eyes off the ghostly figure because she might sneak up on me and harm me, or because she could disappear and I wouldn't be able to see her again, but I barely even blinked.

"You see her!" I finally heard the woman cry as she stepped in front of me and forced my eyes onto her own face. "I know it, you see her, the color is gone from your face and you are shaking."

I shook me head in an effort to regain my thoughts. She was right, I was visible shaking, and my throat was dry and hoarse as I stumbled to form words that never amounted to much. Suddenly remembering the boy I turned to find him, hoping he wasn't scared, but he had disappeared into the house and was not witnessing my fearful display.

Turning back around I stepped past the woman, off the porch and onto the grass. It was not very dark out, as one may suspect it to be when dealing in ghostly encounters, and my fear turned to curiosity.

"Why has she come outside?" I asked, fixing my gaze once again upon the specter.

"I don't know, she just does every now and then, I try not to pay too much attention."

Gathering my wits and finding strength in the knowledge that I was not alone, and courage in the fact that it was not yet utterly dark out, I started making my way towards that street. "So let's find out."

I didn't hear the cry of protested I expected to hear from behind me, instead just silence. As I reached to edge of the street I stopped and looked behind me to see if I was going to need to do any convincing to get her to follow me. I was met with a stare that read half fear, and half curiosity dying to be satisfied. After a minute of contemplation, the woman's body visibly relaxed, and she started to make her way to me.

I sort of expected the ghost woman to disappear as we got closer, but there was no change at all as we approach, only her eyes followed us. As we took the final steps that placed us a few feet in front of her, she turned to her left and gazed upon the house next door to hers. Waiting in vain to find out if there would be further communication, I finally asked her if she wanted us to visit the house next door. Still receiving nothing more from the ghost woman, I took the answer to be yes, and led the way to the house next door.

Stepping up on the porch, I knocked, then stepped to the side and turned so I could see not only my still nameless friend, and the person who would come to the door, but also the figure that waited on the neighboring doorstep. To my surprise, I found that the ghost woman was not waiting on her porch as I had suspected, but had instead followed us, and was now lingering on the walkway at the bottom of the steps. I barely had time to regain my composure from my surprise when the door opened to reveal a petite smiling woman of about 70, and her husband who lingered further in the house but stood to see who their visitors were.

"May I help you?" The older woman beamed.

"Yes," I began, "we just have a random interest in the house next door to you here," I said gesturing, "as well as it's former owner, and we hoped that you might be able to help."

"Of course, we'd be happy to help if we can, please come in."

We were led into the house, and the woman seemed to have forgotten all about closing her front door as she got caught up in her excitement over having visitors. Feeling there was no reason the couple should not know about the rumored haunting of the house next door, I just came out with it, and told them everything. They both smiled as I spoke, unaffected in a negative way by anything I said.

"Well," the older woman said jumping to her feet as I finished my short tail, "we did know the woman who lived next door when she was alive, and we even bought her living room set in an estate sell after her death." she said sweeping her hand around the room. I looked down at the sofa I was sitting on, and then moved my gaze to the open doorway where the ghost woman stood, as the older woman continued to explained that they had all the furniture reupholstered.

For the first time the ghost woman's face had changed from an expressionless stare to a look of anger. I felt a bit scared and felt I should let the others know she was not happy about something.

"Well for heaven sake!" The old woman snapped, "It's not like it's yours anymore, this room gets a lot of light, and we thought this was a better color for it." She looked blankly around the room as she spoke as if hoping to somehow see who she was talking to, though the apparition was not visible to her.

Looking back to the door, I no longer saw the ghost woman. The couple asked us to follow them to the kitchen for some refreshment, and I reached up to close the door as the three of them walked out, but I accidentally closed it too hard. The older woman and my sloothing companion both whirled around and came back into the room.

"Is that any way to act?" The clearly feisty older woman hollered into thin air.

Before I could even react, I felt an elbow jab into my side from the empty seat next to me. Not knowing whether it was my imagination, guilty conscience, or the now invisible ghost woman, I heard the words loudly in my head, "don't let them think that was her."

"It wasn't her!" I blurted our hastily, "It was me I'm sorry, I tried to close it without standing up and accidentally slammed it."

The two women relaxed and continued on with their journey into the other room, as I heard a faint knock on the door. In hindsight, I'm surprised that the thought didn't occur to me that the young boy could have come seeking the woman, but somehow I just knew it wasn't him. I got up and went to open the door, feeling suddenly guilty that I may have shut her out on accident.

As I opened the door, I was drawn out by a power unseen. The sky had grown darker, and though I could still not see the ghost woman, I felt it was her who moved me. I mechanically moved across the yard and back to the haunted house. When I found myself in front of the picture window, I turned to face it, and beheld something strange. The curtains flew open and I could see that the lights in the house were on. The room was fully furnished and the living room set was clearly the one I had been sitting on in the neighbor's home, only in looked as it had when the ghost woman lived.

From the door at the side of the house, the one the led to the carport, I saw the ghost woman (no longer as a ghost) walk in with another lady, a larger lady who was a few decades younger. The ghost woman was dressed in the same dress I had seen her in before, and the other woman wore scrubs, plain purple pants and a purple floral top.

"That must be her nurse." I thought. The two woman lingered in the kitchen which was clearly visible from where I stood, and then as the ghost woman turned away, the nurse grabbed her around the neck and began to choke her. I tried to move or call out, but I was fixed where I stood, and no words would come. The ghost woman fought, she fought with all she had, but the other woman was bigger and stronger than her. At one point the ghost woman broke away, but her nurse swiftly grabbed her again, and in a moment the ghost woman's lifeless body was dropped to the ground.

Suddenly there she was again, on her feet, standing within arms reach of the woman who had betrayed her. I knew it couldn't be, she was dead, I had seen her killed. My eyes moved back to the floor, and there she lay, still, the nurse staring down at her. Once again my eyes moved back to the ghost woman, the once again dead version of her. Her face twisted in furry and with all her might she let out a blood curdling scream the made my blood run chill.

"MURDER!"

ஜ

I heard the pop again and my eyes flew open. I was in my room. The radio buzzed with voices again but the echo in my mind had been replaced with that of the ghost woman's anguished cries of murder. Every bone in my body was chilled, and my heart was racing. It was a dream, a nine minute dream that lasted as long as my snooze button. I felt haunted for several minutes as I lay in bed trying to shake it. It WAS a dream, but it seemed so real.

Premature Departure

I have found that most people have no clue what I am talking about, but I must share my tale despite this fact.

When I was between the ages of 8 and 10 years old, there was a Kellogg's cereal called Bigg Mixx, and I loved it! It was one of my favorites. This cereal was a combination of different flake and oats, covered with a sensational cinnamon and brown sugar mixture, that was very delightful to my young pallet. The mascot for this cereal was a giant beast created from a mixture of animals, and was called Bigg Mixx. He had the head and body of a rooster, moose antlers, the snout and tail of a pig, and the fur of a wolf, and to top it all off, he had crazy eyes. I liked this mascot, I thought he was cute, and I even sent in several proofs of purchase in order to obtain my very own, orange, plastic, digital watch featuring this crazy creature.

To my dismay, after a short 2 years, my beloved cereal was discontinued, never to be heard from again. I often think of this cereal and ask others if they can remember a better time when children had such a treat to share on Saturday morning as they watched their favorite cartoons. Sadly, most people either can remember it no longer, or were never privy to such a happiness as I experienced in my youth.

A couple of days ago I was once again reminiscing about my good friend Bigg Mixx, when I decided to try to find some tangible evidence, via the internet, that this memory of mine is more than a mere fantasy, dreamed up by the imagination of a person who has always enjoyed the simple pleasures of cold cereal. To my joy, I found a few internet sights offering up proof of the existence of this mythical creature and the story of it's short life.

After scanning through a few articles on the afore mentioned cereal, I was crushed to discover that my precious Bigg Mixx was voted, in 2007, as the 4th scariest cereal box personality of all time! PREPOSTEROUS! He's simply misunderstood! Even more now than ever can I understand how Frankenstein's monster must have felt! He too was a combination of body parts thrown together to create life, and people feared him and never gave him a chance, or they would have known how gentile he was.

So this is my ode to Bigg Mixx. May the few of us that still remember your simple, crazy, mixed together bliss, always remember, and try to reach out to those who don't appreciate you, and try to help them understand.

R.I.P.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ineMv7M_rI0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2oUqs9MJYM

Oh my holy freaking crapnoid!

I'm watching Wonderfalls, and I don't really like it, in fact, I don't recommend it, but it's like a train wreck, I can't make myself turn away... Perhaps I'm hoping it will somehow improve as time passes, but I feel there is a reason in only lasted one season...

In any event, it is only serving, at this point, to deepen my growing despair over my current situation in life. I feel for the main character in this show. She is a college grad working a stupid retail job, and is basically stuck in a rut while the lives of those around her continue to blossom and hold meaning... I would only be so lucky to have inanimate objects talking to me, it would liven things up.

WHAT AM I DOING IN LIFE? I'm so utterly and completely LAME! I have a stink hole job, and I can't find a better one to save my life. I have no circumstances worth mentioning in the work aspect of me life... or pretty much in any other aspect of life either, if we get down to it.

I have friends, but somehow never see them. I'm tired when I get home from work, and as the year draws once again on fall and eventually winter (vomits in mouth and chokes it back down), and the days shorten, my desire to go out after work in the ever darkening evening is diminished exponentially. I have no ward to call home anymore, I'm not part of my South Weber ward anymore, due to boundaries being strictly enforced, and I don't feel like my new singles ward is where I should be. My only other option for church right now is a conventional/ "Family" ward, and I would really prefer not to go there either, I'll no doubt serve another sentence in the nursery there, and I'd really rather not. I have no guys in my life to make things even remotely exciting, and I am fighting against reality as it pulls me ever closer to 30, with nothing to show for it.

I'm in THE biggest life rut known to man at this point in time. I feel nothing but despondency when I look around me. My life is in ruins. It's depressing to think I'll be stuck at Big Lots the rest of my life... All 70 years that are left of it... (melts into a desperate puddle of pathedicness and and seep into the fibers of the mattress for a good, solid 5 minutes before recovering), I'm a little fatty with no social life and the energy of a 87 year old arthritic woman, the love life of leper, and the same place in the world that Frankenstein held... that of a nomad and a loser who is shunned by society and forced to roam from place to place looking for a niche the right size to squeeze into and rest for the remainder of ones life... which is becoming increasingly shorter as the long and dreary days of pointless existence take their toll...

Someone, PLEASE make the madness stop! I'm 2 seconds from running away and joining a traveling band of carnies just to mix things up and make things different from the eternal SAMENESS I am destined to endure!

Hawaii- August 2010

My cousin Tawni and I kept saying how we needed to take a trip together, but we never made it happen. Then on Father's Day we were chatting at our grandparent's house, and decided it was time to make it happen, so we made some plans, and in August, we went to Hawaii.

We had to go from SLC, to Las Vegas, to LA, and finally to Honolulu, but we finally made it. The trip from LA to Honolulu was a long one... literally and figuratively. I wasn't able to sit by Tawni, and I was sitting next to a 13 year old boy that TALKED my ear off the ENTIRE way! Holy cow! I was ready to just turn my ears off after that.

We took a cab to our hotel and crashed for the night.

The next day we got up and headed down for out "continental breakfast." Much to our disappointment, the breakfast consisted of... toast, a small cup of pineapple from a can, pineapple juice (probably from the same can as the pineapple), and if you knew to ask, a small croissant from the plate they hid from the view of the people.

We scarfed down our meager meal and headed off to find someone to take us the the Polynesian Cultural Center. We asked 3 cab drivers, no one knew what were talking about... They lived on this small island, and they didn't know how to find the biggest tourist attraction on it... strange.

We made our way back to the hotel, and found, to our luck, a concierge desk. The lady there was able to get us set up with a bus ride to the PCC and an entire package to get us set up for the day there. We took the bus up to the PCC and were set up with some tour guides. We had a girl from Fiji, and a guy from Ukraine as our guides.

We toured the PCC, and had lots of fun, and learned lots of stuff... then I noticed our tour guide from Ukraine was giving me the eye, soon he was approaching us and staring at me nonstop as I tried to make conversation with him... awkward... but he was a nice guy... and we are facebook friends now... ha ha... :) Later we went to a luau there in the PCC and enjoyed lots of yummy food and a little entertainment.

After eating we wandered a bit and took some pictures and then headed to the big show. It was a really cool show they put on and the dancing and such was great, we also got some yummy ice cream at intermission.

The next day we had plans for another luau that night, so we went to the beach during the day, waikiki beach. Tawni is afraid of water, so I had to urge her to get into the ocean with me, which she finally did, and we had fun and goofed off, took pictures, and got clobbered by waves when we got to close to shore. (ha ha ha)

The luau that night was good, but it was slightly disappointing after the fun night we had the day before at the PCC. The luau was on a beach though, and it was beautiful, and the food was good.

The next day we went to Pear Harbor and a flea market. Pearl Harbor was super interesting, and sad as well. I was noticing how many Japanese people were there, and I was a little surprised. The shuttle driver on the way home told us he has a lot of Japanese friends working on the island, and said that the Japanese visit a lot to pay their respects and ask forgiveness for what their ancestors did. He said they also fly over the same path they took to attack Pearl Harbor each year, and drop flowers in respect for the lives lost that day. Interesting.

By the time we were done at Pearl Harbor and the flea market, I was SO hot, SO sunburnt, SO dehydrated, and SO tired, that we went back to the hotel, went and ate dinner, and crashed. We went to bed early that night, we were bushed.

On Sunday we didn't have any plans, we mostly wanted to get some shopping in, so we went to the market area, and I bought lots of stuff for myself... and some for my family. :) Hey, it's my vacation. :)

That night we went to the pool at our hotel, and Tawni was in the pool, I was sitting on the edge, and this guy comes down. We were the only ones in the pool at the time (it was outside, but some hotel rooms were outside) and he came over and got in the hot tub behind me. I wasn't watching him, but Tawni pulled a face and told me to look at him. I turned to look and he was pulling the khaki shorts off that he had over his swimming suit. I said, "yeah, he came down with those on." Tawni said, "No, that's not the problem, it's that those are the second pair of shorts he's pulled off." I laugh and we go on talking. Then we hear laughing from the hot tub. I look and the guy is reaching across the hot tub, and I just assume he is laughing to himself at something he dropped in the hot tub. A few minutes later the laughing is louder and isn't stopping. Tanwi asks if he is alone, I say he is, she asks if he's on the phone, I say he's not. I turn and look again, and he is swimming around in circles along the edge of the hot tub laughing to himself. I just think he's weird but Tawni is scared, so we hurry in and go back to our room.

The next day we get up bright and early and head back home. Our layover in Las Vegas is supposed to be like 3 hours, but to our luck, we ask a guy at a counter a question, and the next thing we know, we are boarding a plane to SLC right then. My baggage shows up on my front porch in the middle of the night, and it didn't even cost us extra to get home 3 hours earlier. YEE HAW! :)

And that my friend, was a nutshell of Hawaii. It was fun, but now we are home again.

Now for my next trip in March, to Australia! YAY! :)

Lake Powell- June 2010

Not long after returning home from the cruise, my friend Jenny invited me and some other girls to join her family on a week long Lake Powell vacation. I had never been to Lake Powell, so I was not only excited to go on vacation with my pals again, but to experience Lake Powell.

We spent our days sleeping, eating, swimming, floating on tubes, wave running, boating, wake boarding, tubing, and in general just having a blast.

I had never tried to wake board before, so it was my first experience with it. I watch my friends try, and some succeed, and I watched Jenny's brother and his friends show us a thing or two about how it was done, but I wasn't getting up. Jenny's brother was trying to instruct us, but for some reason I couldn't get up. Later in the week Jenny's dad took us out. After trying once and not getting up, he told me how to change what I was doing just slightly, so I tried it, and I got up, I was so excited, we all were able to successfully wake board that week. My arms were sore, but it was a good sore... probably the only exercise I got all week, but I guess that's what vacations are for. :)

Thanks again Jenny. :)

Caribbean Cruise- April 2010

This was, so far, the biggest group we have had on our travels. There were 11 of us, and it took 3 rooms to accommodate us all.



We woke up nice and early Saturday, and made our way to the airport where we took our first flight to Atlanta, Georgia. We stayed there long enough to have some lunch and make our way to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We got into San Juan kinda late, so some of us went to bed and some went a wandered around the streets for a bit. The next morning we made our way over to the ship and climbed on board to begin our cruise.

(BTW- The computer is being weird about uploading pictures right now, I'll have to come back later and add them in, maybe...)

So we toured our ship, which happened to be the same ship we were on on our last Caribbean cruise, and just enjoyed a chilled out day.

The First day we had our first port in St. Thomas. The 3 of us who had been on the last Caribbean cruise together had been here before, but this time instead of going to St. John, we went to Water Island, and to Honeymoon Beach were we enjoyed a lovely day of swimming, tanning, playing, eating, and generally just relaxing. It was a nice little beach, we were not too crowded, and there was a lady from New York that had left the hustle and bustle of the city to set up her own little hut on these beach to sell yumm-o food to the tourists and the people on the island.

We made our way back to the stores by the ship and did a little shopping before hoping back on and getting ready for dinner. We filled up an entire large table with just our group, and people certainly took notice of the group with "All the single ladies", and several people commented on it.

As the details are beginning to fade some, due to my lack of promptness to get this posted, I'm sure I'm missing plenty of good stories, but I will just do my best.

So the same people who shared hotel rooms in San Juan, shared rooms on the ship. I didn't seem to notice the first night together, in San Juan, but once on the ship, we discovered that we had a snorer in our room. Bless her heart, she was not aware of this tendency she had, but it certainly kept us up at night, and I guess one night it finally got to me and I lost it...
The next morning we were chatting at breakfast and the topic somehow came up, of snoring, and this is when we learned that the snorer didn't even know she snored. Later that day I approached 2 other girls in the group, and they asked me about how I had yelled at people the night before... I looked at them for a second to gauge their seriousness, and seeing that they meant it, ask "I did?" They looked at each other and started laughing. Apparently in my sleep I shouted, "STOP SNORING!" To my great relief the girl snoring was wearing ear plugs and never heard it, but the other two girls in the room now thought I was off my rocker, although they were glad I said what they were thinking... I pleaded my case to them, and they soon were laughing at me too, but I guess I'm going to have to control my thoughts in my sleep a little more since high emotion tends to bring out sleep talking.

Our second day on the cruise we were in Dominica, were we split up into 3 different groups and each took a different hike to different waterfalls in the rain forest. We couldn't all agree on the same hike, we we all went where we wanted too, which is a great thing about having such a large group, it's easier to break off when we each have different ideas of what we wanna do.

It was a fun hike, and we got to swim in the pool under the waterfall, which was really cold, but I enjoyed it. Then we hiked back out and headed back to the ship, stopping to do a little shopping before getting back on.

The third day we were in Barbados were we took a catamaran out and got to snorkel with fish at one stop, and sea turtles at another. It was cool to be that close to them, but it did scare one of our friends, and she headed back in to get away from the fish. After snorkeling we played on a beach and the guys that took us out gave us lunch and back in we went. One of the guys was a huge flirt and kept hitting on my friend and I, it was pretty funny.

The fourth day we were in St. Lucia and we took a bus up to the rain forest, and there we were split into 2 groups (because of our size) and we got to zip-line through the rain forest. Our guides were Melanie and Faron, who were a lot of fun, but they didn't get along with each other too well... But it was a good time. :)

The Fifth day, we were in St. Kitts, we decided there wasn't a lot to do there, so some girls went to a couple of beaches, and other, including myself, stayed on the ship and just relaxed and enjoyed the day.

The Sixth day we were in St.Maarten, we had been here the fist cruise as well, but instead of snorkeling here like we had before, we took a ferry over to another part of the island and hit some flea markets and then the beach before heading back again.

The next day were back in San Juan, and since it was Sunday some of us made our way to a church and got there part way through sacrament meeting. It was fast Sunday so we listen to the testimonies in Spanish, and afterward were greeted my several friendly members hoping to help us understand the meetings since they would all be in Spanish. There were some missionaries there that day, but they were afraid of us, a bunch of girls, since they haven't talked to girls much for awhile... ha ha ha... but eventually they came to assist us in translation. It was a nice day and we went back to the hotel to get other girls, and put our stuff away. We then made our way to the San Juan Fort to check it out. Some of us stopped to eat at a cute little bistro first, and then, regenerated, made our way to the fort.

It was a windy day, but it was cool because so many people were out flying kites on the grass by the fort. WE walked around to the entrance and commented on the fact that someone was going to end up getting clothes lined by one of the kites, and then on the way out of the fort, one kite attacked my friends Jenny and Kristianne, so we had to save them... it was sad cause the string hurt them, but it was sort of funny too... glad it wasn't worse. The next morning we headed home bright and early, and got home late... only to be greeted by snow! Poo! We enjoy a nice sunny vacation and come home to that? It's hard enough to come home as it is, but that makes it worse... But I lived. :)

Okay, sorry, that was the short version... Maybe more pictures to come...

Well...

I realize that I said my next post would be about my cruise, and that I said that a long time ago, but... here is the thing. I have not made my blog private because I really don't care who reads it, and sometimes people I know come across it through other peoples blogs, and if they don't know how to contact me, then they can't ask me for an invitation... BUT, as some of you may have noticed, I have been getting a bunch of comments in Chinese on my blog posts, and they are incoherent to me, and they are becoming more and more frequent, and are really just too much, I don't know these people and their comments are not useful since I can't read them. So, to sum it all up, I am THINKING about going private. I don't know whether or not I care, like I said, if certain people I don't know want to follow my blog, but I must request that all comments be in English (since that's what I speak, and this is my blog) and of relevance to the post. Thank you that is all.