Speaking of Hookers...

Revolution afoot??

2008-04-17T08:15:00.000-06:00

If you have ever wanted to do something good for your community but haven't known how you could help, now's a good time to get involved.

About a month ago, the citizens of Enid voted to pass a bond issue that would be paid off in 20 years. The money comes from our property taxes and was going to add about $15 a month to the property taxes to get this thing paid off. We all pretty much felt like that was a doable thing. THEN this week, the City Commissioners passed a decision to pay it off in 5 years instead - that means a LOT more than $15 a month now. They say it will save a lot in interest in the long run. You know, that's great, but that's NOT WHAT WE VOTED ON. We voted on paying it out over 20 years.

The fact that they can make these kind of decisions without bringing it to the people is just wrong. That's called a DICTATORSHIP. They claim that they talked to a vast number of people - bullshit, they did not. They claim they surveyed people. Really? No one seems to have gotten this survey...

People say "well, you should go to the meetings if you don't like it". BS again - in a normal city , maybe. But I've watched those meetings. I've seen people get up and give very impassioned speeches and then the mayor will cut in and say, "You have three minutes". Then when they are done, he grunts and says "Next!". He could give a shit less about anything anyone has to say.

There is a small faction of people that are doing the research necessary to recall the mayor and the city commissioners. I don't know that this has ever happened in Enid and I imagine that's why they get away with it. We have to show them they cannot be shady and lie like that. We cannot back down from their Nazi antics. So if you are presented with an opportunity to sign a petition to recall the mayor or the commissioners, I hope you will take it.

As I mentioned, the research is being done and there have to be a certain number of signatures and then they get presented to the city clerk for authentication and then there has to be an election within like a month. What sucks is that they way I understand it, the mayor's name goes right back on the ballot, so we have to have someone willing to run against him. If no one will run, we get the same crappy treatment we've been getting.

I realize these people volunteer to do this and they may have had good intentions when they went in, but you CANNOT go against the wishes of the people like thay have done - they are why people hate politicians. They are why the city council in Enid is likely to never be trusted again. So please, exercise your civic responsibilities and get these people OUT.

Laundry is the Devil and Other Random Issues

2008-03-11T23:36:00.005-06:00

What the hell happened??? Who came into my house and threw up dirty clothes every where I look? Jeez. Every time I get all excited about having the laundry caught up, I find a pile of sweaty soccer clothes or an errant sock somewhere. I go to take them to the laundry room and discover the hampers full again. I freakin' hate laundry. A lot. Like I would rather shoot myself in the face.

I swore that I would quit telling people my ideas because every time I do, someone steals them and makes money and I just get cranky. But I was just thinking, why don't they make beer in 2 liter bottles? Do you know how cool that would be? I mean, you can get pitchers of beer - a 2 liter would just be like a pitcher to go. That would kick ass. You could put it in the fridge and get as little or as much as you wanted. If you just wanted a few sips, you wouldn't have to open a whole can and then be forced to drink it so as not to waste it. Ima suggest it to someone...

I'm also trying to figure out what maggot crawls into my kids' brains JUST at the time the judges on American Idol start to talk that makes them all four ramble about asenine shit and ask me absolutely pointless questions at the same time. I know they do it on purpose. I think it's a team effort to see if my head will explode. Speaking of AI - DUDE - David Archuleta did not do well and that country version of Eight Days a Week was just creepy.

Which brings me to another thought. People always get mad at Simon. I mean, I get that people don't always like to hear what he has to say, however, he's almost always right. Seriously. if you remove all emotion from the situation (i.e. you got sucked into the contestant's story about her mama died and her baby has penumonia and she's on welfare so you feel bad for them) and look at the facts of the performance, he has an alarming accuracy rate. But people just hate him. I don't get why people are so adverse to hearing the damn truth. I guess the world has become too politically correct and people have just lost all sense of dealing with reality - it has to be all covered up with fluffy bunnies and they have to glitter blown up their ass all day or something. I say this because over at our Ghost Diva blog we get called mean all the time and accused of attacking people. Well, that's just stupid. We tell the truth about things or we call people out for being stupid. My theory is if you don't want to get called an asshat, don't be an asshat. To me, that's really not that hard. It's like people that bitch about going to jail. P.S. - don't buy crack. It's not that hard.

I guess some people are kind of freaked out or maybe even put off at my bluntness sometimes, but for one thing, I really don't know how to bullshit well enough to express it any other way than the way it is and I'm OK with that. I don't mind not knowing how to kiss ass and be fake. I take that back, I know how to kiss ass if I have to, but it's REALLY, like physically painful, hard for me. Sometimes if you mean what the fuck, you have to just say what the fuck, you know? What's the point in saying "oh my gracious" other than to simply not offend someone else? It's not like I say it at church or something. Sheesh. My point is I wish people would a) lighten up and b) deal with the truth in real words sans glitter up the ass.

Carry on.

(I'm serious about that 2 liter beer bottle thing...)

Speaking of Hookers...

2008-03-11T01:32:00.003-06:00

OK, OK, so I have been AWOL for a while. I apologize. I say that like I have readers, lol...
Anyway, things have changed a lot over the last few months. I left my job in November for financial reasons that caused a lot of stress and I got in a huge funk for a while and didn't want to talk to anyone or write, but I'm over it now. If you recall, I left my job that I dug back in March of last year to go to this other job and well, it wasn't the best decision I ever made. However, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, so I know things will work out OK. There is actually a chance that I may be going back to aforementioned job that I liked in the near future and that would be great, even if it's just doing some contract type projects for a while. I loved that office and I truly enjoyed my boss and thankfully, he was very gracious when I met with him to tell him he told me so. Instead of saying, "yeah, I told you so," he told me a story about something similar that happened to him, so he understood my situation and he was like I said, very gracious and kind.
As always, I have too many ideas sometimes and one of the latest ones has lead to another little business venture. I am a "red dirt" fan and it relates directly to that lifestyle of music. I say lifestyle because it's not so much a genre as it is an attitude. It's about not selling out and being true to yourself and being real. Generally the kind of music that falls into that category is a cross between country, rock, folk and blues. It's hard to put a label exactly on the kind of music it is because one song might sound like an old Hank Williams tune and the next one might rock your socks off. Anyway - I became friends with one of the guys that plays at a local bar here and his girlfriend and I had this idea that I pitched to her and she liked it, so we're starting a line of tshirts and other various apparel items geared toward female red dirt fans. I'm not going too public with it yet until I actually have a product in my hands, but it's in the works and I'm getting excited about it.
It feels good to be hopeful and excited again.
My husband won a trip to Cancun in April and THAT is also extremely exciting. We're talking about doing the zip line through the jungle thing. I figure after living through that whole ropes course thing, I can hack it.
It also seems that there are some folks that want my friend and I to speak at some up coming conferences in the fall. One is in Las Vegas and one is in Philadelphia and is directly linked to a TV show on A&E, that ought to be fun. Some crazy people also saw fit to give us a radio show on Para X radio, so that will be interesting and maybe even somewhat entertaining. We start that this Wednesday evening.
So, life seems to be getting back to normal after a very long time of sucking and I am so thankful for that. I was beginning to wonder...
P.S. - I hope David Archuleta wins American Idol this season.

Dance, Monkeys! Dance!

2008-03-11T00:49:00.000-06:00

So, I lived

2007-09-16T18:23:00.000-06:00

I know at some point I posted that I was applying for the Leadership Greater Enid thing, but I don't remember if I ever said anything else about it. My application was accepted and the first big thing was this weekend. We left yesterday morning and headed to Camp Redlands by Stillwater to participate in some team building stuff and a ropes course. The morning was the typical warm fuzzy getting to know you stuff and it was fun. But there was one exercise that made me want to shoot people. We already knew about my lack of patience, so that wasn't a big surprise, lol.
The afternoon brought the ropes course. I was fine on the ground but when I got up there - yeah, not so much. I had to climb up a pole which wasn't as easy as it looked, then had to walk across a log (way up in the air, by the way). Then I had to climb up to a small platform and walk across a cable while holding on to cables on either side of me. Um, that sucked. A lot. They were flippin' wobbly and I was thinking I would never make a good Indiana Jones at this point. So here's where I became terrified. I was shaky which just made the cables shaky. I made it across that and then the next one was even worse. It was loops made of cables that we had to step across, so you get one foot out there on one and one foot behind you on the other and let's just say, I didn't think my legs would split that much. Jeez. That one was the worst and about half way through it I was ready to bail. But I was thinking to myself, "I cannot quit. I have had 4 babies. I have spent the night in haunted prisons and tuberculosis sanitariums. I can do this. Plus, I can't tell Marty I quit." So I caught my breath and went to the end. It was freakin' MISERABLE. The instructor asked if I wanted to come down. Fuck yes, I wanted to come down. But I said not yet. So the next thing was another log, but it was on an incline, so you had to walk up this log and at the end, jump across NOTHING to another platform. Did that. Then the last thing was a cable that you had to go across sideways while holding on to some flimsy ass ropes. I just closed my eyes and went. I opened my eyes and thought, wow, I am as high as the trees. It was pretty cool, but I was still dying. I got a few feet from the end and my guiderope felt like it was stuck and I was like, crap, I'm at the end and can't go anywere, but I made it to the last platform where they unhooked me and hooked me up to a zipline. He said, "OK, just push off whenever you're ready." HA. I wasn't ever going to be ready to bail off of a platforrm 30 feet in the air. Was this guy new??? So I sat there for a minute, glad I hadn't once uttered the F word or wet myself, closed my eyes, and bailed off and went zooming off into the trees. WHEW. I shook for like an hour after that and was seriously fighting the tears because it was THE most horriffic thing I have ever done. But I was glad that I did it. I would have been so mad at myself if I hadn't. Plus Marty would have given me shit, and that was a big motivation :).
So for the warm fuzzy what I learned from this - that no matter how much I think I just cannot go one one more inch, I can manage to eke out more. Hell, now I've had babies AND completed a ropes course. I'll take having babies over the ropes any day. Without drugs even.
It was nice to have some of my friends and my dad there encouraging me. I made the comment that had it not been for them I wasn't sure I would have made it. I guess that's the whole point - to trust people you don't know, but I don't know that I could have done it. A lot of the people there didn't know anyone else, so I felt incredibly lucky to have people that loved me there, let alone people that I knew. Everyone was like "you did great" and all that and I was thinking yeah, if you call shaking like a leaf and wanting to cry like a little girl great, OK. Someone made a comment to me about me having a lot of self confidence and I can tell you that up there I was feeling about as unconfident as I ever have. I wish I hadn't freaked out, but it did refresh that mind over matter is what it's all about. That's something I preach and try to live by, but that stuff more or less goes out the window when you're 30 feet in the air hanging on to wiggly cables.
After all that, we had dinner together and then several of us went out for drinks and to watch our Pokes get their asses kicked. Suffice it to say it was a long night and way too much fun. And way too many drinks.
We had a speaker this morning and it was good, but I was SO tired and sore. I have sore muscles in places I didn't know I used. Plus, after staying up so late, I couldn't sleep, thus I was exhausted today. We got home and I crashed for about 6 hours.
I had a good time, met new people, made some new friends, and challenged myself to do something I didn't think I could do. The whole thing was a challenge on a lot of levels - you have no idea what you will do in that kind of situation until you are smack in the middle of it. I'm glad I did it.
We were encouraged to journal about it, so there ya go.

Wanna be a pin up girl?

2007-08-24T22:14:00.000-06:00

So, it's not enough that I already have too many ideas and projects, I had to add a new one. I want to take pin up girl photographs! They're smart and sexy and every size woman can be a pin up girl. I believe it would be very liberating and a great boost to the self esteem of a woman to see herself as a beautiful pin up girl!

Super Nanny can suck it.

2007-08-20T21:59:00.000-06:00

I came home tonight to a kid throwing a fit and acting ridiculous. I sent her to her room and she finally went after SEVERAL times of telling her. Then a second one started. She was telling me no and being a general smart ass and when I told her to clear off the dining room table, she threw it all on the floor and said, "There, it's clear." I sent her to her room, too, and she ignored me. I threatened to get the paddle. She said, "Well, can you just spank me and not make me go to my room? Because I'm not going to learn anything by going to my room, so just spank me." I said absolutely not. I made them eat dinner in their room and they spent the entire evening in there. At one point one of them was telling me that being in their room was fun because they had videos and could color and play. So I decided I had to do something to make my point. So this is what happened:
There were only two cars that drove by but she was HORRIFIED and telling me how mean I was. We went in and she apologized and told me she loved me so much and was sorry so much and said she wouldn't do it again. I told her she says that every time and she swore THIS time she really wouldn't. So we'll see. The other one was the one that really deserved it, but she had fallen asleep. She woke up for a minute and this one told what she had to do and she got all crappy and said well, SHE wasn't going to do it. If it hadn't already been dark, I would have taken her sleepy butt out there, too. I'm telling you, I DO AND DO AND DO cool things for my kids and these two have absolutely no concept of appreciation or gratitude at all. They're both very selfish and it's just odd to me because the oldest one is not at all like that. I'm just at the point where nothing I do matters to them, but this seemed to, so we'll see. The one in the picture called me "ma'am" even, lol. I'm NOT a mean mom at all, I'm just at my end with them talking to me the way they do.

Survivor - Aw, man....

2007-07-13T09:08:00.000-06:00

So I got the boot. My watermelon was the least great of all the great entries. I'm OK with that. It was fun while it lasted.

Survivor - Task Three

2007-07-10T10:04:00.000-06:00

So it was really hard finding a watermelon on this god forsaken island, but I did it. It had to represent what we've been going through here on the island and since all I really have is this stash of rum, I thought this was appropriate.

Shitty Blog Survivor - In Pictures

2007-06-27T09:51:00.001-06:00

Enjoy...

Shitty Blog Survivor - Week 2

2007-06-25T16:20:00.000-06:00

Well, dropping coconuts is only amusing for so long. Sooner or later people quit walking under you, so I built myself a nice little tree house. Of course, Nat's is made of bricks and Utopia has rabid sea turtles guarding hers, but mine is cozy nonetheless. Utopia made a mango radio so we could listen to Shitty Blog Radio. It sucked ass. They didn't like our slogans so much. Stupid? Stupid?? This smacks of the Pot calling the Kettle black, but I'm not bitter... This is SHITTY Blogs Club, not Brilliant Blogs Club, what'd they expect?
I'm glad I'm still here instead of being sent away in the dark on some shitty raft though. I've really grown accustomed to the people here even though a couple of them seem to have flat lost their minds.
I traded Chad some rum and a flash of the boobies for some beef jerky he found. That and Rose's cookies have left me peaceful warm and tired. Sometimes all I need is the air that I breathe and to... oh wait, sorry. I saw Mike writing thos lyrics in the sand and that song's been stuck in my head ever since.
Everyone finally got over being so paranoid and we have begun actually talking to one another and trying to figure out how to do things while we're here. Rose and I are planning a burger dance at the next full moon because Yummy refuses to eat, claiming she's saving her appetite for when she finds that McBurger tree, but you know, I have my doubts that one's gonna work. I may ask some of the girls if they want to be roomies with me in the tree house because I don't think they have much shelter yet, but Monty kind of scares me. She screams a lot. Chad just sits in that trench all day long. Watching. Waiting. I hear noises coming from it late at night. What's he building in there?
Mango is hanging out with Utopia some now and then but spends most of his time chained to that tree. I think she has designs to turn him into her house bitch now that hers was voted off the island. He carries a purse, though, so who knows how that will work out.
Our next task is to tell our story only using pictures. Let's hope we fare better this time around.

Shitty Blog Survivor - Task 1

2007-06-11T13:20:00.000-06:00

That damned Jeckles - He asked if we wanted to take a little boat trip and we blindly jumped right in for a little afternoon jaunt. I should have known we were doomed when he kept singing that damned Gilligan's Island song. What's more, it's stuck in my head now and I can't quit thinking about it. Professor and Mary Ann...Here on Gilligan's Isle....
So we're here on this island now and frankly, I'm a little nervous. Monty was looking at me like a juicy steak and a big baked potato with butter dripping down the sides so I had to hide. We haven't even been here that long - sheesh, you'd think she wouldn't be starving quite yet.
I already know I'm gonna have to make friends with Mike because he knows how to fish and stuff.
We haven't seen Jeckles since we got here. I'm pretty certain he's found my trunk full of candy bars and Dr. Peppers and is hiding somewhere, giggling like a little girl.
Anyhoo - the first task is to come up with a new Shitty Blog slogan. I have until Tuesday. I'm sitting up in a coconut tree so these rat bastards can't cheat off me.
That cunt, Professor Utopia, is down there building some kind of hot tub. I may have to kiss her ass some, too. But I think she may have used her mind reading thing she built from some sticks and palm fronds because she used "Shitty Blogs Club: Fuck off, we don't like you." I was going to use Shitty Blog Club: Fuck you. But now I'll have to come up with something better. Dammit.
I'm not so good at all this ass kissing, so I maybe I should figure out what I could trade. I managed to retrieve several bottles of rum and hid them last night when everyone went to sleep.
I don't even know all these people. There's some dude with a murse (a man purse for you lay people). He seems OK so far. But you know what they say about dudes with murses - there might be a head in there.
There's this one chic, Nat, I think I might like - she's got great taste in music and wears flowers in her hair. I hope she stays away from that funny plant I saw in the jungle earlier...
Sparky just mills about all the time, sometimes stopping to pick his toes. Not sure what's up with him.
Chad - pretty sure I could win him with some rum. He seems a little cocky, but likes to get his drink on, so we'll see.
I met a girl named Rose and I really like her - we um, have a lot in common. Gotta be careful though. Sometimes the nice ones are the meanest.
Then there's Yummy. She seems sweet, too, but I heard she likes to get naked and sing, so we'll see how this plays out.
I think my slogan will be:

Shitty Blogs Club: We think we're hot shit on a silver platter, but we're really cold boogers on a paper plate.

I know. I know. But don't vote me off just yet...

Chocolate Jesus

2007-05-22T09:24:00.000-06:00

Inspired by Demon.

My anger management class pisses me off

2007-05-17T10:33:00.001-06:00

I've been a little inspired by the Sheeple in Enid that are meeting under the big tent at 7 for their kool-aid.
****************************
You might be a member of the Uptight Citizens Brigade if:

You can't have an adult conversation without getting offended every thirty seconds.

You don't know the difference between someone stating an opinion and someone being angry - just because I have an opinion doesn't mean I'm angry - jackass.

Your whole world comes completely undone if someone utters a remotely profane word and you immediately have to seek religious counsel about it.

Nothing bad ever, ever happens in your world because you are a Shiny Happy Person with blinders on that follows the crowd and you would gladly take a cup of the kool-aid if it meant maintaining the peace and anyone that dare comment on the state of the world is just a big meany head.

You think Harry Potter is the work of Satan.

You think Jerry Falwell was a stand-up guy. Those tellytubies are queers, by golly, and it's about time someone said so.

You will gladly allow the government to walk all over you because you have no voice at all to tell them to get the fuck off.

You would rather sit back and call people names for standing up for what they believe in than get off your ass and actually have a cause.

Shitty Blog of the Month? Moi?

2007-05-16T21:26:00.000-06:00

Thanks to you three people that made this possible! I love you.

Can't wait for Shitty Blog Survivor.

I've done it!

2007-05-16T21:25:00.000-06:00

I have proof that I have raised a well adjusted, independent thinking, intelligent child.

I saw a book on the kitchen counter last night titled "Harry Potter and the Bible" - it talked about the unhealthy fascination with magick [occultism] and how Harry Potter was against the Bible. Of course I wondered where it came from and Marty asked Bailey and she said a kid in her class wanted her to read it - she is a Harry Potter FANATIC. So I thought, OK, I will let her read it and make up her own mind and not say anymore about it. So this morning I asked her if she was reading it and she said, "No. I'm taking it back to him. I thought it was stupid on the first page." Thank God.
This evening she was saying that he had originally brought it to another girl in her class - the one whose mom won't let her child be at my house if we're going to be watching that Evil Harry Potter Business and the one who was told at my child's birthday party she had to come home if they started playing any Harry Potter stuff. The woman saw the words "Harry Potter" on the cover and wouldn't let her daughter read it - even though it's exactly what she's been preaching all along, she didn't even take time to see the "& the Bible"part of the title. DUH. Anyway - Bailey has been going to church with this family for the last couple of months and I was OK with it as long as they weren't preaching that stuff at the church, she said they weren't. So she tells me this woman said that if you go to church you can't believe in magic. I said, "Bailey, you can believe anything you want to, don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't believe in." And she said - wait for it - "I know, I don't listen to idiots." Thank God. My child is brilliant.

I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me.

2007-05-02T00:36:00.001-06:00

So we watched The Departed tonight and that was the first line of it and I thought, "Exactly. I'm totally using that."
Marty was giving me shit about my involvement on the Enid newspaper message board because I am, um, "outspoken" against some of the current city issues. I asked what if I ran for City Council and you would have thought I had just danced naked in the front yard or something. Just because I am outspoken and stand up for what I think is right and get a little passionate about it does not mean I am a total social retard. I am able to voice my opinion without cursing and throwing a temper tantrum, thank you very much. Why are opinionated people threatening? Why are we seen as mean or crazy? Are we all just supposed to be drones that sit back and say, "OK, run over me. No, really, it's fine." I'm not mean [notice I'm conceding a little to crazy].
Without passion, what's left? Anger? Bitterness? Where does that get you? I don't want to be angry and bitter, I want to be passionate and I want to stand up for what I think is right. What I don't understand is people that don't. I have started calling them the Sheeple. I decided a great t-shirt would be a picture of a bunch of stick people under a tent on the front that says: Welcome, Sheeple, to the Flock. Then on the back, the picture would be a pile of stick people and it would say above it: Membership benefits include free kool-aid. Because if you're just gonna sit back and let people screw you, you might as well drink the kool-aid.

The Reinvention of the Feared Jamaican Voodoo Posse

2007-04-19T11:17:00.000-06:00

Christina, my college roommate, will remember this, no one else probably will, but there needs to be a reinvention of the Feared Jamaican Voodoo Posse. Our mantra was "We are evil, you must die." Some of you will get it, others won't. I'm betting the gun toters and the ones married to rockstars with fears of aliens will. Although, you can't be a member of the Feared Jamaican Voodoo Posse and keep your shit locked in the attic, hooker. What good does that do ya during a home (or alien) invasion?
I agree with Smart Bitch's blog. If we all packed heat, there would be a lot less senseless shootings in the world because people would shoot back. BUT on the other hand, if I carried all the time, I would be liable to just shoot someone in the face when she looked at me stupid and told me my two year old was hurting her ears in the department store, so I don't know if that is such a grand idea. Ya'll know me and my tendency for hissy fits, so I don't know that having a firearm handy is really smart in my situation. I do think it would curb people just out and out being stupid though. Because as it stands, people just have some stupid stuff come out of their face sometimes and if you were able to just pull a handgun on someone every time they said something stupid, I bet there'd be a lot less of that. Not shooting them, just pulling it out, that would be enough to make someone think twice.
OK, I don't know why I am in a particularly violent mood lately. That's a lie, yes I do.
Last night I almost lost my mind on my children. I took all 4 of them to Wal Mart (stupid) and they just kept touching things. We went through a drive through and the three year old always decides that's the opportune time to SCREAM, so I gave up and didn't get to order myself anything, then when we got home, he stole the 10 year old's cinnamon crisp thing so she chases him down to get it back, she gets mad at him, and chunks it on the floor, breaking it into a million tiny pieces. On the floor that I just paid someone $65 to clean my house all day. I came unwound. Why do brilliant children become retarded like that? Is it the fast food? Maybe. Yeah, I know, I may feed my kids crap but they go on cool trips and stay in haunted hotels, so it makes up for it.
Then today I am trying like hell to find some guardianship papers I typed up, can't find them anywhere, so I call the court clerk and ask if I can come get a copy of the file. She says no, only the attorney can. I tell her it's Jennifer's case. She says Jennifer has to come copy them. I tell her I TYPED THEM in the first place, I just don't have them anymore. No. Jesus. Whatever. That has contributed a bit to my violent mood. That kind of crap crawls on me. I cannot come over and get a copy of the papers I myself personally created that I bet my name is even the notary on. RETARDED.
So, Amanda, that is why I did not leave a comment on your blog, I had too much to say.
So who's in for the Feared Jamaican Voodoo Posse? Monty?

I done lost my mind

2007-04-11T17:06:00.000-06:00

So there has been this ongoing debate over some things that have been going on in my city as of late and some people just went and done pisseded me off.
I have been very vehemently opposed to this new ordinance that the city council passed - um, without a vote of the people - and some people have been retarded enough to say things like "if you don't like it here, move". OK, fucktard. Then someone made a comment about the bridge being out STILL and some other jackass made a comment like "so, go around" to which someone replied there was a sign placed by the CITY on the alternate route that you could NOT use that street either and they were rightly irritated by this so yet another Bertha Better Than You said "The city cannot do anything you approve of huh????"

RIDICULOUS. YES. SOME OF YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIDIULOUS and I seriously wonder how you make it through a day in Leave it to Beaver Land. I am SO happy that you have no issues whatsoever with this ever so lovely little burg we all call home. I cannot believe that you think it's OK that we have potholes the size of a small village. I cannot believe you think it's OK that our own fire department broke a flippin' bridge. I cannot believe you think it's OK that NOTHING has been done to fix it at all. I cannot believe you think it's OK that there's actually a sign up on Oklahoma that says traffic from Randolph is NOT ALLOWED on Oklahoma - yeah, there really is, so NO YOU CAN'T GO A DIFFERENT WAY. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE????? You say go do something about it. What are we supposed to do? We're apparently not allowed to freakin' VOTE on these things - things are decided FOR us, not BY us. Then when we say we don't like it, we get called complainers. CRIPES.
So tell me please, what shall we DO about the potholes, the bridge, and various other things we are unhappy about? I watch the council meetings. I watch people go up there and talk and I watch the mayor say things like, "Well, I hear what you're saying Mr. So and So and we'll take that under advisement" in their condescending tone. Yeah, people will jump right on that.
We live here because of things we obviously like or even love, but we DO have the right to talk about the things we don't like. If you don't want to hear it, don't listen or don't read it. You have the right to respond, too. But you know what. You DO not have the right to tell us we should move if we don't like it or that we need to shut up about it. You do not have the right to tell us we're wrong because we're voicing our concerns for our community. If you are happy with the fact that your city government is running smack over you, good for you. Sit back and let it happen. But do not tell us we should.
Some of you asshats make me want to shoot myself in the face.

Something wicked this way comes...

2007-04-06T14:15:00.000-06:00

Yep - I help put this together and have been a speaker at the last two. We're not quite as weird as trekkies, but it's still a good time. This year we have some great speakers lined up. One of them is Troy Taylor, author of over 40 paranormal books, parahistorian (studies haunted history), and all around great guy. He's very funny, too, so that helps. The other one is still being kept a surprise until we have confirmation, but he will also be exciting.
The City of El Reno and the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes are getting very involved and are looking to make this a community event. I wish my town wasn't so stuck in the Bible Belt and would wake up and realize that people like scary haunted shit and would pay to see it so we could stuff like this here.
Anyway - tickets will be very affordable and if you are into history at all, you won't want to miss this one.

New Mexico - the Land of Enchantment

2007-04-03T14:53:00.000-06:00

So my friend and I took our daughters on a road trip for Spring Break and we decided to go to New Mexico. We stayed at the historic Eklund Hotel & Saloon the first night and then traveled on toward Taos.

Part way there, we came upon an adorable little town called Cimarron and decided to look around. There was a storm coming in and the locals told us we really should just stay there and not try to make it to Taos because the storms in the mountains can be pretty treacherous. We had no idea where we were really and then we saw a sign that said:

Now, the St. James Hotel has quite a haunting history. There are 26 documented deaths at the hotel and it was a wild and rowdy saloon of the true Wild West. We had no idea where this place was and we certainly had no idea we would run across it on our adventure. Both of us being ghost hunters thought it was pretty cool that we found it totally by accident. I was also excited to learn that Wyatt Earp, who my youngest child is named after (that's right, wanna make something of it? Wyatt Earp was a badass and "Doc" is not a good name for a child), stayed there on his way to Tombstone. We checked in and then spent the rest of the day wandering around Cimarron soaking up the Wild West history. We ended up at the Cimarron Cemetery and it was fascinating. It was obviously very old. There were three guys there with all kinds of camera equipment and we figured they were ghost hunters, too, but it turned out they were filming a documentary about the St. James and they were doing a segment on the ghost stories and asked if we'd be interested in making some comments for it, so we said sure. We found the headstone for Davey Crockett's nephew, who was gunned down at the St. James.

That evening, it turned out that our room was directly across from the bar, so we decided to have a few cold beers. While we were in there, we watched the video of the stories about the St. James. And then we met Duane.

Duane was a Cimarron local and he knew all the stories and apparently spent a lot of time in the St. James and had played the cowboy ghost in the video we had watched about the hotel. He was the real deal cowboy that worked on a ranch. He was there with his friend, Gary, and they asked the bartender if they could take us up to the poker room. They said yes, so off we went to the room where many a gun was drawn and even where the hotel was lost in a poker game to a TJ Wright. Wright was shot to death shortly after winning the hotel and he is said to haunt Room 18. It's locked and they won't let anyone in, not even staff. We tried. They won't budge. We did wander up there and knock on the door and just as I knocked, the clock chimed and we went running down the hall like scared little girls. It was quite comical. Anyway - back to the poker room. We went in and sat down and played a few hands of poker until the bartender came up and said it was closing time, so we went on to our room for the night. But not before Duane told us to go check out the hanging tree. He said it wasn't included in any of the historical stuff or the tours or anything and not everyone even knew about it, but that there was a hanging tree with a foundation built around it and steps leading up to it. He said we would have to get permission to get on the land where it grew and he told us where it was located. The next morning, we drove to where he told us and lo and behold, we saw it and there was woman outside that agreed to let us in the fence to get a closer look:

We headed on to Taos. The mountains were glorious and we got stuck in a crazy hail storm and witnessed lots of snow on the top of the mountains at Eagle's Nest. Taos was nice and we went to lots of neat little shops and ate at Michael's Kitchen which makes the biggest cinammon rolls I have ever seen. After a day full of driving in the mountains and shopping, we headed back to Clayton and stayed at the Eklund again and headed back home the next morning. It was a great trip and our kids will remember it forever. We're planning a ghost hunting trip back to the St. James sometime around the end of May.

Shitty Blog Survivor

2007-03-29T21:01:00.000-06:00

So there's this game called Shitty Blog Survivor. Last year's winner explained it to me thusly:

"Here's what happens: Jeckles gives us some fucked up tasks (like take a picture of yourself wearing 50 items of clothing-or naked...making up a Shitty Blog Survivor song AND singing it...what else did we do? OH, the Scavenger Hunt!). Then either Jeckles or a panel of "judges" gets to grade how well we did on our tasks--the lowest score (or actually, whoever Jeckles wants to pick) gets booted off the Island.

If you don't complete a task, you get booted off the Island.
If you piss Jeckles off enough, you get booted off the Island.

Mostly he just makes the shit up as we go along. More fun that way."

SO... if you think you can hang, please come sign up to play. If we don't get enough players, they won't let the rest of us play. So get on it.

Heads up

2007-03-28T13:30:00.000-06:00

Beautification Nazis

2007-03-22T10:26:00.000-06:00

So my city decided to pass an ordinance to punish the people who keep junk cars in their yards. OK, I'm all for that, but they have decided the fashion in which they are going to do this may include jail time of 60 days. Yes, these hardened criminals may have to go do time in the big house for violation of this ordinance. We won't have room for the drug dealers and the meth heads, but by God, those evil junky car owners will not be free to roam the streets of our fair city anymore! We are putting our foot down and showing them we will no longer tolerate this insanity and this scourge which is sweeping through the streets of our little burg, ruining it, I tell you!
The supporters claim that it will keep small children from playing in these junk cars and dying when they get locked inside. Apparently that happens a lot. Never mind the drug dealers that are selling meth to our junior high kids. That's minor, really, in the grand scheme of all the junk car deaths I guess. They claim it's making our city look bad. Really? I thought it was all the empty businesses and the trashy houses and yards that were doing that. I guess this junk car thing fits in with the trashy yard thing.
If you really just have some shithole of a car sitting on blocks in your front yard with grass and trees growing through it - yes, make them get rid of that. But they are also talking about cars in peoples' back yards. Where other people can't even see.
Why am I up in arms about this? Because I have a car that sits in my back yard. It's a 1965 VW bug that I am working on restoring and I love it. It is one of my most prized possessions. I own it and I own the property on which it sits and I will be damned if some jackass will make me move it. I can't even get city water - they sure as hell aren't going to tell me what I can have on my property, especially when you can't even see it from the street.
It's also a sore subject with me because we recently had a bridge collapse because a fire truck that was too heavy drove over it. They kept driving - didn't even go back - and they saw it happen. Besides the questions that in itself raises, the city says it will take 6 months to fix. Bullshit. Thousands of people a day drive that street - me included because it's on my corner - it is necessary that it be fixed immediately, it's a major thoroughfare in this town. They don't have the money to fix a bridge, they don't have money to get stray dogs off the street, but they can afford to tow all these junk cars and then throw people in jail.
OH - and businesses are exempt from this junk car thing apparently. Hmmm... makes you wonder who the city is really working for - the citizens or the business owners. Methinks it ain't so much the citizens....
Whatever. This is the stupidest thing the city has done in a while.
Don't get me wrong, I want to see Enid beautiful, too. I just think there are other ways to go about it. They have been a bit Nazi-ish lately and it's getting old quick. I think I already told the story about them saying they were going to demolish a house because it needed new siding - yeah, they really did. There's a difference between trying to enforce codes and keep your city clean and infringing on peoples' rights and property. There just is, and the city hasn't figured that one out yet.

Southern Fried Jazz in the Woods

2007-03-19T20:46:00.000-06:00

I happened upon a wonderful musician on MySpace about a year ago. I listened to her stuff over and over and had one of her songs on my profile and bought the CD which I have also listened to over and over and even my kids love it. Her name is Datri Bean and she plays what she calls Southern Fried Vintage Jazz. If you know me, you know I love anything southern and fried, LOL. Anyhow - she was out on the west coast so I have never been able to see her but she is going back to Austin and has a show in Missouri next month and I sent her a message asking when she might get closer to Oklahoma. She said she could do a house concert, where I invite 30-40 of my closest friends and charge a cover and she plays a concert for us. SOOOO....
Friday April 20, 2007 at 8 p.m. we will be having a Southern Fried Jazz in the Woods concert out at Springwater Ranch [my parent's super cool log home in the woods]. Tickets will be about $12 each and it's BYOB. Bring your blanket and lawn chair - it's outdoors - and enjoy an evening of sittin' on the front porch drinkin' sweet tea jazz music with us. Message me if you're interested in buying tickets and for directions.
And let me add this - Enid rapper Infamous taught me a lesson about music - If you don't like all music, you don't like music at all - so even if this isn't something you normally listen to or buy, I bet you'd enjoy it anyway. Music all says the same thing, just in different languages.