Ok, so I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box....

You know that ouchy arm of mine? Ok, yeah - so well, my arm has been hurting up by my shoulder, so after I got out of the shower....I put some Freeze It on it. And it helped, but, now my elbow is hurting. But, that's neither here nor there...

Back to that dull crayon business...I was in the kitchen doing dishes, and I got hot in the corner there with all that hot water running. So I was sweating a bit.

Here's where I get dumb. I take off my glasses to oh-so-daintily wipe the sweat from each side of the brow with each shoulder....in my most feminine way, of course.

However, if you will step back a line or two ....to where I said I put Freeze It on my shoulder?

Yeah - I rubbed it all across my eye! Smooth!

I felt my face getting tingly warm, and I thought, 'What the heck?'

Yeah, so - I wiped my eye again - with a clean section of my shirt. A non-Freeze It'd section, that is.

My vision was blurry for about half an hour, but, I think we're okay now. Yeah.

Just remember, folks - Freeze It + eyeballs - not the best combination! Like I needed to tell you that! It's only us Lucy Ricardo-types that need that information actually shared with us!

Oh yeah - and that ouchy arm? It looks worse today - you know how bruises go through their loverly array of colors....

I'll try to snap a pic if the camera will cooperate - it keeps eating the batteries!

Mean old blood-drawin' lady!!

Let me tell you what my captions say, as I'm just getting the hang of my JengoFett! Ok, it's not really called that - but, that's just how I remember it! It's really called Jing - you can find it at JingProject.com. It's really pretty cool, I'm just not that great with it yet. Anyhoo - counter-clockwise from the top.....(1) Those are birthmarks! Not ouchy! (2) Ouchy #1. Regular blood-draw bruising. Site of needle prick. :( (3) Even made the crook of my arm red. Wah! (4) Ouchy #2. Site of pure evil. In 22 years of psych. treatment, never had one of these. WTH is it, anyway? A blood blister? A blood somethin?

Ok, and then I just had to include an 'un-touched' photo for pure documentation purposes. Either that, or I'm just a weirdo.

Yes, it is true. I am a wimp. And I'm also a nerd who likes to show off her 'injuries'! HA!

Anyhoo - had some blood drawn today to test the level of Tegretol in my system and to make sure it's not completely killing my liver - yet.

And I was horribly injured! Horribly! It was awful!!

Ok, I might just be exaggerating....just a tad. But, I did find it interesting that I got some type of blood blister thingy this time. That's never happened before. And even the crook of my arm was reddened.

I think my body just would like to keep all of it's blood. Thank you very much.

Pregnant mare up there?

I was just looking closer at the sweet horses in my header, and I'm thinking the one on the right is a precious and pregnant mare! Anyone else agree with that? :)

Grandmamom's old red traincase

I have my grandmother's old red traincase on my dresser and I just love it and love having it there, out in the open like that! I miss the old luggage sets, the way they looked when I was a kid and when my grandmother was a young woman. But also, having it in here, in plain view, makes me feel like I have a piece of my grandmother in my room with me. And that just fills my spirit with warmth.

I also think of the days when my grandmother and her sisters and brother would ride the train to go somewhere. Traveling was a big deal then, a big affair. Everyone would get dressed up and it was a real treat. The journey itself was actually part of the trip.

I know the one time that I took the train, I absolutely loved it! I cannot wait until I can take my own kids for a train ride. Even if we only go a short way like I did (from Dallas to Austin) we will have so much fun!

I know we have a lot of totally cool modern conveniences in this day and time (the internet! could NOT live without it!) but, there are just some things about the past that seem so special and so magical. And I see a little bit of that 'magic' in my mind's eye every time I glance over at my dresser!

Too many clothes!

I have absolutely got to get my clothing nightmare cleaned out! I have way too many clothes, and they are just not getting put away. But I have noticed recently that the few clothes that I do wear are the only ones that really get ‘touched’ by me. And I had a light bulb moment that I should totally get rid of some.

I have been hanging onto way too many clothes. I had some lovely, sweet people give me hand-me-downs, around the same time. And it just overwhelmed me, because, there were so many clothes all at once. So I need to just buckle down and get to going through them.

The other issue is that I am hanging onto clothes that just don’t fit me anymore. I keep thinking that ‘overweight’ is a temporary condition (which I really do hope and pray it is) but, it’s been six years now. And hanging onto some of those clothes is just plain silly.

I’m going to use the tactic I learned from either FlyLady or Marilu Henner – I can’t remember which one of them it was, they both just totally rock, in my book! Anyway, the tactic is you have to either totally love the item – or wear it frequently – or it’s gone! Some of the items I know that I will keep are my wedding dress, my high school dance dresses (there are only four of them) and stuff like that. But other stuff, that I don’t completely love, and I’m just thinking, ‘I may be able to wear that as soon as I lose weight…’ – forget it! It’s gone! It’s going to be hard, but, I am really working hard to simplify my life and make things easier and more manageable, and this is one thing that has definitely gotten out of control!

One thing that I am afraid of is not having very many clothes left when I am done. This really would be a good thing, though, as it would simplify things so much, and as I do lose weight, I can go and buy new and pretty things. (My clothes really are pretty scrappy, anyway.) I could just buy one thing here and there, and eventually wind up with a nice wardrobe. It would be so cool if I had a friend with a plus-size store, so I could get wholesale clothing prices. Then I could really build up my wardrobe nicely. But then, of course, maybe I’d wind up in the same pickle I’m in now – too many clothes! LOL!

Halloween cuteness

Sammie really wanted to embrace nature this Halloween and be a tiger. She is completely obsessed with tigers right now. I'm not sure how she got off course of that, but, now she is going to be a vampire lady. Her costume is really pretty, but, I think kids in animal masks are just so cute. Of course, I imagine that had she gone ahead with that costume, we wouldn't have used a mask. The one time that I was a cat, I wore a headband with ears attached to it and painted my face to look like a cat. And that is more along the lines of what Sammie had been talking about. And I bet she would've made the cutest tiger ever! Well, maybe we'll have to try that out next year. This year - vampire queen it is!

Cooling pads for my migraines

The other day, I think it was Tuesday, I started getting a migraine. This was not surprising at all, as I get them pretty frequently. My migraines can be a nuisance to the whole family - plans get canceled, children have to play quietly, friends can't come over (or have to go home) and all of the lighting in the house gets turned down. They all get so sick of mom going around turning all of the lights off!

But then I remembered what my mom had put in my Christmas stocking! Cooling pads to go on my head when my head starts hurting! Awesome!

These things feel so good, but, they only really help if I use them early on in the headache. I didn't get it on quite early enough that day, but, I did get it on soon enough to offer some relief.

Anyway, being the geeky blogger that I am, I thought I should photo-document the occasion. But then I discovered that my camera was out of batteries. So I went into my daughter's room and swiped hers. It's just a cheapy little thing, but, it does the job. So the pics aren't the best quality, but, that's ok. You get to see what the pads look like and how adorable I look with one on.

You can see how red my face gets with the migraines, too, though. *sigh*

Anyway, I'm a dork and here's my migraine-y pics: