Theres No Place Like Home..........

Halloween Fact for Today:

The Winchester Mansion

(one of my personal fascinations)

(true story - really)

After the tragic deaths of her baby in 1866 and husband in 1881, Sarah Winchester - the heir to the Winchester Rifle fortune - sought the help of a medium to console her. The medium told her that there was a curse on her family because of all of the lives that had been lost due to the Winchester Rifles. And the spirits of the victims were angry and seeking vengeance. She was told by the medium that she must "build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon, too. You can never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live. Stop and you will die." She had roughly the equivalent of $25,000 a day at her disposal. In 1884 she bought a house in San Jose, California and started building onto it. She continued construction on the house for 38 years, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for the entire 38 years until the day of her death on Sept. 22, 1922, and built continiously without any kind of building plan or knowledge of construction. There are alot of weird things in the house, such as stairways that go nowhere, doors that open to nothings, etc. It is a popular belief that she built it this way to "confuse" the ghosts. But others think it was simply due to her lack of knowledge about construction. The house is believed to be haunted to this day. There are about 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms. The house also has 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two basements and three elevators. The number thirteen and spider web motifs, which she considered to be lucky, reappear around the house. Several different tours of the house are available, including flashlight tours at night on dates around Halloween and each Friday the 13th.


The house is located at: 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House


http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Spooooooky !!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Other Car is a Broom

Halloween Fact For Today:

The Origin of The Witch's Broomstick:

The witch is a central symbol of Halloween. The name comes from the Saxon wica, meaning wise one. When setting out for a Sabbath, witches rubbed a sacred ointment onto their skin. This gave them a feeling of flying, and if they had been fasting they felt even giddier. Some witches rode on horseback, but poor witches went on foot and carried a broom or a pole to aid in vaulting over streams. In England when new witches were initiated they were often blindfolded, smeared with flying ointment and placed on a broomstick. The ointment would confuse the mind, speed up the pulse and numb the feet. When they were told "You are flying over land and sea," the witch took their word for it.

(from http://www.halloweenishere.com/history.html)

(There are more of us than you think!!!!)

My Birthday Pics

Halloween Fact for today:

Not really a historical fact, just one from my personal life. "There are more of us than you think." I'm finding out this statement is true. At my new work my new Director (the big boss who is above my nurse manager and 2 times about my charge nurse), told me that a few years ago when a bad batch of OB doctors were finally let go from the hospital and not permitted to practice there anymore, Jill - my director, and a bunch of the nurses got together and did a cleansing on the unit. They "actually" / "symbolically" cleansed the unit by sweeping out all the bad energy with a broom, and filled the unit with sage incense, and did a little cleansing ritual. Very cool. I knew I was in a good place.


So I finally uploaded all my birthday pictures. Here they are.

October 5, 2007 - my 37th birthday

We started out with breakfast at The Ole Brass Rail ( the Rusty Nail as Martin used to call it - I miss Martin), aka: the place I fondly refer to as my "church". I can't count the number of mornings I have stumbled out of here. Open at 6:30 am for all of us nightshifters. And the food is phenomenal.

Cheyenne and Mommy at breakfast.

Daddy's Little Girl.
The Shinesta.

Tummy all full, time for my birthday manicure and pedicure.

My nail girl ---- Trenny.

I feel so Paris Hilton. Little flowers and everything.

Next we see a yard sale down the street.

We both find a bike we like.

Me and my new bike.

Its an old cruiser. Like I had when I was a kid.

I haven't "breaked" with my feet since I was like 12. I love it.

I wanted to get a new tattoo for my birthday. Just a little one. A ladybug.

Decided on Club Tattoo, and they actually had an opening at like 4 pm. So Royce dropped me off and went to pick up the kids.

(Do you see the bike - the ape hangers??

Had a small orgasm even before I got in the door.

I must have one someday.)

Keith doing my ink. He's done a few of mine.

My little ladybug. Isn't it cute?

(I think this will be my "bug" foot - I already have my spider there too.)


I wanted to eat at Casey Moore's - one of my very favorite places in the whole world. They say it is haunted you know. In fact right before we went on vacation we were there and Cheyenne saw a ghost. I will have to write about it later. Anyhow, one of the coolest places in Tempe. Hell, in Arizona.

The next two pics - Why I love Casey Moore's.

The first picture is of the bar. This is actually where the lady who lived here long ago died, it was her bedroom. Its such a great bar.

And this next one is just one of my favorite rooms. I think it used to be a porch.
Dinner with the kids.

Daddy's Little Princess.

Mr. Ryan - Crazy Man.

Double shot of Tequila for Mommy.

One tequila, Two tequila, Three tequila ------ oh wait, only 2 so far.

I really needed this one too, there were these nasty old rich Jewish women from New York behind me making comments about my kids. So, you should be proud of me, instead of turning around and stabbing them with my fork I just made sure and loudly ordered my double while the waitress was at their table. They were really starting to ruin my birthday groove. And there's nothing a little tequila can't cure, right?

Everyone full and happy -

Mommy slightly buzzed.

The restaurant is almost as beautiful as my kids. Make a nice picture.

Royce wanted to stop at Vision Quest to get me some birthday stuff. He got me a huge book on Wicca, a little Wiccan necklace - which has a very discreet little pentagram in it, so I can wear it to work and it isn't "offensive" or scary, but I know its there. Wasn't that sweet of him? And he got me a gift certificate to have a Tarot reading done. I've never had one done on ME. I'm always the one doing them for someone else. It was really nice.

Not too bad for 37.

We wanted to take the kids to play pool for awhile before we went by ourselves, so we went to Clicks. First bad decision of the day. It turned into a disaster. Don't let the cute children in the picture fool you. Balls and sticks everywhere. Tired screaming kids at the end of the day. Mommy had a couple more shots.

So we took the kiddos home, Tyler babysat for us, and then we went to The Breakroom for some pool.

A Long Island for each hand.

(Actually, one is Royce's, but the shot of Jager on the table is mine.)

Royce's shot.

I have got to get my ass in shape so this pose is actually sexy.

We ended the night at Bourban Street.

I had a great fantastical wonderful birthday and a great guy to spend it with. Thanks Honey for everything. Love you.

Halloween fact for today:

Did you know that "The Plague" spread over in Europe in the 12 century, which killed up to 2/3 of Europes population, was spread by rats; And the rats were so numerous because the Christians had killed all the black cats - believing they were the Witch's familiars.

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Being so close to Halloween, I am going to try and post everyday until then and make note of some interesting Halloween or Witchy facts in honor of the occasion.

Fact #1:Did you know .........the accurate name for October 31st is not Halloween, but Samhain. And it is pronounced "Sow (like cow) in". It is a documented fact of history that at one time the celebration involved human sacrifice. But did you know it was the criminals that were sacrificed? Actually, the criminals were saved up just for this celebration. I think this is a GREAT idea. Every Halloween we execute all the child molesters and rapists. Sounds good to me.

Well, I haven't written for awhile.

We went to California for a much needed vacation. It was glorious. Went to San Diego and up the Pacific Coast Highway, up to a little past Santa Barbara. I'm glad we went when we did, before all those fires. I can't believe we were just RIGHT there a little over a week ago. It is so beautiful there. We went to Sea World and the beach, and Royce really wanted to show me Santa Barbara and Solvang. Which I loved. But mostly I fell in love with Carpinteria. We stayed a total of 3 nights there. I'm so glad we got to go. I know I could have spent the money on something else, but I chose a vacation. We SOOOO needed one. I will post pictures later. And I still have to post my birthday pictures. Lots of pictures to post.



Well Kids, its about that time of year again. 8 days until Halloween. My favorite religious holiday, as I like to say. People don't know how serious I am when I joke about that. All Hallows Eve, my absolute favorite time of year. I got my costume yesterday. Black witch dress, black witch hat with purple metallic diamond thingys, pentagram medallion necklace, and a makeup kit with purple sparkly eyelashes, lipstick and glitter. Halloween has never been such a practical time for me - there is an abundance of things in the stores that aren't usually there that I will actually use ALL year long. I got a nice little gargoyle caldron type thing that I will put candles in and use during spells, and all sorts of decorations that hell, I might just leave up. Lots of great things for my "Circle Time." That medallion with the pentagram, its supposed to be a part of a costume. I know I'll wear it again - soon. Circle Time. And hell, I don't really feel like I'm even in "costume" this year. My witch outfit will probably go in my closet, not in the Halloween box this year. I thought I could ride around with a little doggie in the basket of my bike - but wait, I'm a good witch (Glinda, wasn't that her name?).

So, I haven't written for awhile. Its time for a nice little Halloween story.

Once Upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away.......................

So...............the law of 3s. Whatever you put out there comes back to you threefold. Yeah, this is one not to mess around with. Call it Karma, call it the Golden Rule, no matter what your religious preference, Buddha, Jesus, The Goddess ---- there is a "law of 3s", maybe just with a different name. Remember my neighbor Teresa? Remember how every time she called the cops on us, for piddely shit - she ended up getting in trouble? Remember when she called the cops at 3 am because I had a pentagram in my yard? (And they actually came?) Or the time her mother, Nira, called them because Royce was cutting down our tree in the front yard? Or the time she sent her 110 pound 25 year old mexican national esposo over to confront my 280 pound husband to let him know if "the wives" had a problemo with each other the esposos should settle it? And then Royce chimed back in perfect Espanol that if there was a problem he wouldn't settle it with Pedro, he would be settling it with immigration? I could go on. I can't even remember how many times she has summoned the police, bogusly, to our house. Oh wait, my favorite so far was Father's Day 2005 when her mother, old lady Nira called Phoenix's finest because her pitbull - who happened to be in heat - escaped from the living hell her house must be, got into my backyard, and got it on with Shadow, my lab/pitbull mix. And proceeded to get stuck together the way dogs do. Standing in my alley, yelling at me to make them stop. Yeah, ----- not going to try and separate two humping pitbulls. So when I didn't rush over and dislodge my pit's spikey little penis out of her precious Cujo she calls the cops. So they come, are a little disturbed by the smell coming from her daughter's house (Lovely Teresa) and the sound of about 15 dogs inside. They question her - then she's not so happy about them being there. (Another valuable rule to learn - "If you don't want the cops in your house ---- DON'T CALL THE COPS!"). When they come over to talk to me, I inform them that Amelia, Teresa's daughter, had a baby about 6 weeks ago. And we've never seen it. Now, its either dead in the house, or worse ---- alive in the house. Keep in mind you can smell the house from the street. I request a Well Child Check. About 20 minutes later they emerge from the house, Amelia with a tiny baby in her arms. So basically its been continuosly in that shit infested, bug infested pit for the first 6 weeks of its miserable little life. Poor baby. 15 minutes later CPS shows up (keep in mind its a Sunday AND a holiday, and if you've ever been acquainted with CPS just how hard it is to get them to remove a child from a home). And about an hour later they take the baby. Happy Fucking Father's Day. And 2 days after that Animal Control removes about 15 animals from Teresa's house. Yeah, I think that one's my favorite so far. Just had to recount the past a little, in case y'all forgot what a living hell it has been living next to her. ( Did I just use the word "y'all"???? - Damn you Royce)

Well, apparently while we were gone on vacation this last week, Teresa was convicted of 4 counts of Animal Cruelty in an actual court of law. All week they have been taking animals out of her house. Finally.

And all this time we thought Nira was dead. Her house has been abandoned for like 2 months. Well, I find out that she is in a psych ward at veteran's hospital. Nice. Finally.

And of course whenever talking to Teresa I take credit for all the bad things that have happened to her, whether I had anything to do with it or not, which I usually didn't. But its cool that she thinks so. Now, I'm not that good. However, when frustrated so badly by her one night, and the fact that no one would help us, I cursed her during a full moon. Casting a little verbal spell that all the bad energy that she has put out there will come back to her.

And wah-lah. Abracadabra.

Most of her dogs taken away.
The baby taken out of her house.
Her mother's dogs taken away.
Her daughter moving out.
Her husband left.
Her citation from the city for a dirty house.
Her mom having a stroke.
Her mom going to the psych ward.
More doggies taken away.
Convicted of 4 counts of animal cruelty.
A ticket for a broken windshield.

Wait - maybe I am that good. Fine - just let me believe it for a little while, okay????
Is that so much to ask? Is that so wrong?

Yesterday I was putting up Halloween decorations. I was putting spiderwebs outside in the front. I hooked a couple of the strands onto her fence, which is a fence we share. I was minding my own business. She comes over to the fence, and says "This is my fence and I don't want any Halloween decorations on it." I stand up, look at her and say "Bite me." She is a little flustered and says "I don't want to bite you, I just don't want Halloween decorations on my fence." I say, "Well then go fuck yourself." She says, "Its my fence", I say "Go fuck yourself." She proceeds to rapidly walk to the other side of the house, and disappear. I take the webs off her stupid fence and nail them into the ground right next to it. That worked better anyhow. Ten minutes later the cops show up in front of her house. She called them again. We can hear them laughing from our house. They never did come talk to me.

Makes me want to put a goat's head and my quija board up facing her house. Hey, I think I may just do that quija thing.

She has pissed off the wrong witch.

And why the fuck isn't she in jail? Four counts? Aren't those felonies?

You can see how much energy I waste on this. I know this. It goes against my beliefs. It sucks the life force from me. It wastes my time. I know I am not the coffee bean in this story. I know I am feeding the wrong wolf. And yet, she gets to me on a level of pure evil. I hate her. She drives me nuts. If at this time of year I can make her just a little more miserable than she already is, I take pleasure in it. Thats sick. What is wrong with me?

Put my energy into life, into fitness, into my children, into my home, into my spirit. Meditate. Positive energy. What I put out there will come back to me.

And yet I just want to stab her in the eye.

Goddess help me.

I have recently found a positive avenue. Pool. Not the swimming kind, the billiard kind. I love it. I've been playing regularly for the last few months. I'm getting better. Yesterday I played in my very first pool tournament. It was at that little bar by our house. Only $5 to enter. We played Nine Ball. Now, I got my ass kicked severely 3 times, but I actually won 1 game. And I had so much fun. Love it. Every Monday night. Whenever I'm off work that night I will be there. Love it.

When I brake ----- I'll think of Teresa's face.

It was very good to talk to you Stephanie. I'm so bummed I can't come to your party. And I definately want to get together on Nov. 10th and see Charlie. The last time we went out felt really good. That "home" feeling. There's something about the people you grew up with.

Robin - I miss you so much. I didn't realize that I actually looked forward to working weekends because they were always with you. I miss the Rail. I miss talking. I'm glad we could talk the other night. Miss you.

Heather - if you read this, please email me. What I was afraid was going to happen is happening. I haven't talked to you for so long. We need to talk. I hope you are ok.

Nikki, I hope you like the spells. I will be doing some that week to. We can compare.

Loida, long time no see. I keep thinking about you, expecting you to drive up. I guess not this time. Its been a long time since we have gone this long without visiting. Miss you.

I miss my sisters.

Blessed Be !!!

So Friday the 5th was my birthday. We did lots of things, and I took pictures of everthing, which I will post on here when I can. It was a very good day. I'm at work right now. So, I was supposed to work last night, but they called me yesterday morning and said they "really needed help" Sunday morning. Ok, that works for me. The little thing they didn't tell me is that "really needing help" actually translates to "you are the only one here". Yep, I'm the only L and D nurse here today, with a nursery nurse and a tech. Nice. Thankfully we don't have any laboring pts right now. Nice little surprise though.

Thanks everyone who sent me a birthday wish.

3 more years till 40, can you even believe it? Its all good though.