Halloween Hunter

Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween is a special holiday in Tunica because everyone really gets into it. Many people organize hay rides to ride their little goblins all around town, trick-or-treating. We probably had six hayrides full come by the house.

Our great friends Parker and Jill always do a huge, scary, Halloween house, and in the past it has always been the most popular one on the block! So imagine how happy and surpised we were when Jill called this afternoon and said that although Parker wasn't here, she still wanted to do Halloween up right! Becuase it's what he would have wanted.

And boy did she do it up right! Jill's family came into town and cooked, decorated, and dressed up. We had a great time handing out candy all night long. I don't think anyone had as much fun as Mr. Tom, though.

Here's how Tom spent the evening.....

See anything spooky in this picture at first glance?

If you look a little closer you'll see.....

Ahahahahah! So funny.

For all you gals who are not married to an avid hunter, this is what we call a Guilly Suit. Guilly Suits are primarily used for turkey hunting, and secondarily used to traumatize small children on Halloween.

This is the sidewalk to their front door, and Tom squatted here all night scaring the trick-or-treaters! He tried to target mainly parents and teenagers, but I do believe that few toddlers will have nightmares tonight and be damaged for many years to come.

But it was absolutely hilarious to watch him lay there waiting until an unsuspecting victim would casually walk by and then - BAM! - a scary swamp thing lept from out of the bushes!

We're so evil, I know. But like I said, we have a Halloween reputation to uphold here.

After the trick-or-treating subsided (Tunica has a 7:30pm curfew on Halloween night which is AWESOME) we all gathered in Parker and Jill's house for chili, potato soup, and lots of Halloween treats.

Here are a few of my favorite goblins out for the night!

Lydia the Ladybug and Samuel (aka 'Baby Bex') the Indian!

Love his face! Bex said all night long Samuel's been saying, "He in the bushes, Momma. He scare me," talking about Tom! Bless him....

Beautiful Reeves as a pink bunny

Samuel (second from right) with his three cousins...a whole tribe of Allisons!

And the winner of the night....The King himself!

Our next door neighbor, Webb. Too much for my soul!!!

Charlie's first Halloween! So freakin' cute.

Charlie with his buddy, Mac the lamb.

Leland as a gorgeous fairy!

Hope you all had a great Halloween like we did! Happy Haunting, everyone!

A Fun Birthday!

Happy Friday Bloggies!

I'm so glad Friday is here...my favorite day of the week!

Last weekend I did a long run of 7 miles. I was dredding it because I thought it would be a really sad event, but it actually wasn't that bad.

I had told myself that I was going to finish the full 7 miles if it took me half the day! I set out around 6am on Saturday, determined to finish by noon. Thankfully, it didn't take that long. :)

I have some goals as far as my time goes, but I am still running to finish at this point. So I won't beat myself up too much if I don't meet my time goals.

I had decided I'd be happy if I finished in under 12 minute miles, and REALLY PROUD if I finished in under 11 minute miles. And I'd fall over of SHOCK if I finished in under 10:30 per mile.

Well, I was very pleased because I finished in 1:13:50 which is a 10:32 pace. Not bad, huh?!?!

I felt good during the run, but afterwards not so much. I just didn't feel myself all day long. I tried every trick in the book for post-run blues....Emergen-C, lots of water, a little caffeine, a nutritious lunch. But I still had a headache and felt very weak all day.

I think it was the lack of sleep because when I got home from work I took a quick one-hour nap and felt like a new woman.

I have an 8-miler planned for tomorrow, so more on that next week!

My mom and I had a great time during her visit. On sunday we went to a festival in Memphis. The day started out fun, and before we got rained out we had a delicious lunch at The Arcade.

Mom got the Sweet Potato Pancakes...oh my stars they tasted like CAKE!
And I had one of my favorite foods...PIZZA with tomatoes, basil, and feta cheese. I cleaned my plate!

These pics were pre-rain, as evident by only the slightly frizzy hair instead of the drowned-rat look we rocked later that afternoon.

Mom brought me these beautiful flowers and a bottle of wine from her Italy trip! We are saving the wine for an extra-special occasion.

On Monday, my actual birthday, we had an *awesome* champagne lunch at Firebirds in Memphis.

Complete with free dessert. It was redonk.

Followed by a long day-o-shopping. I found lots of fun finds all over the mall!

Monday night we went to my in-laws for our traditional steak dinner and grocery-store-bakery-cake. This grocery-store-bakery-cake is the best thing you'll ever put in your mouth. I may or may not have had a few peices for breakfast the next morning.

Me and little Lils! She is such a hoot.

And she loves her Unca Tom. You can barely tell in this picture, but she's doing her 'fish face.' This was right before she took her bow out and put it in his hair.

Tom got me this necklace/earring combo for my birthday! Very cute.

Tuesday was more shopping, followed by an evening of cooking (whenever mom comes to town we love to cook a crazy pasta dish...this trip is was an alfredo pasta with salmon and capers....yummmmm), Sex and the City 2 (which I was seeing for the first time, and watched the entire thing with a big goofy grin on my face....SO GOOD!), and dog cuddling.

She gets extra-spoiled when her Grandmama is in town!

And Wednesday it was farewell to Helen, and back to work! Since I had Monday and Tuesday off, this week has flown by, thank goodness!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Short and Sad....

Instead of short and sweet I titled this post 'short and sad' because I have some hard news to share (again...what is with this cloud of sad stuff over us lately???).

Conway Kitty went to heaven yesterday.

I know, I know, I am very sad too.

Yesterday morning around 10am we fed him before going to Memphis for an arts festival. Tom had promised to feed him around 4pm that afternoon. He is eating every 4-6 hours now.

Around 2 o'clock Tom went in to check on C.K. and he was curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly. Tom decided to take a nap and feed him in a couple of hours instead of waking him up to feed him.

So Mom and I were at the festival, where it poured rain all. day. long. Around 2:15 they shut it down early since all the artists were just getting wet and the sponsors (that's us) were grouchy. So we loaded up my company van with our booth items and headed back to the casino.

After about 10 minutes on the road, I was rear-ended by a woman in a small Honday Civic. No one was hurt, but her car was totalled bless her heart. When you work for a casino and have a 'wreck' in a company vehicle, there is a lot red tape to go through. So once back on property, I had to deal with all that.

Finally around 4:15 we arrived home, exhausted and looking like drowned rats! I went in to get Kitty and feed him and he did not look right. He was sort of sprawled out, more like a dog would sleep, instead of curled up in a little ball like usual.

When I picked him up, he was breathing but very limp and lathargic. And quiet. We cuddled him and kissed on him, and got some food and water down him. It was like he was so weak and sick that he couldn't even lift his head up, poor thing. It was so sad.

After spending some more time cuddling him and loving on him, and giving him some water, we let him rest for a bit. About an hour later, Tom went in to check on him and held him for a few minutes until he simply quit breathing.

I am so confused because I had done everything the vet had told me, and everything I had read on the internet. Food and water every 4-6 hours, lots of love and cuddling, keeping him warm by putting a medium-heat heating pad under a towel in his bed, making sure he ate and pooped regularly. Everything was fine, and then.....nothing.

After some googling, we think he might have had a little internal parasite? Because there was nothing wrong with him on the outside....no blood or weird stuff like that....so it must have been something internal. And I know what we were feeding him was right because his food came from the vet, and we fed him just the way they taught us to, by mixing it with water and giving it to him little by little through a sirenge.

So.

That is all.

I was sad and cried because I thought we had done all we could do to give him a good life, and I wanted him to grow up to be our pet. But I guess it just wasn't in God's plan for Conway Kitty.

*****

BUT on a happier note, I have the day off work today and Mom and I are going to spend it shopping because IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! Wooty-Hoot for a b'day and a couple days off work!!!

Have a great week, everyone. Please don't be sad for me. :)

Life Lately....

...has been kind of crazy around here!

I still feel like my normal routine is spinning out of control, but we are all still standing so all is well. Lately I feel like every time I make a 'plan' to do something, something else comes up and disrupts everything.

I have not been training as much as I'd like, sleeping as much as I'd like, spending quiet time as much as I'd like, but thus is life, I guess!

I am a big 'schedule' person, so this has been hard for me. But I think God is testing me....for what, I don't know, but I know he has a PLAN, too! So yesterday after reading this post on Caroline's blog, I decided to just give it all to Him and go with the flow. I know He has good plans for me so not to worry!

On Tuesday night, I came home to this:
Who doesn't love a bearded man in an apron, am I right ladies?

Y'all have seen these before in my kitchen....dove kabobs!

And a sweet little helper from next door who LOVES 'Mr. Tom.'

We had a group of guys (and a few gals) over on Tuesday night to cook some doves the guys had killed at a hunt on Sunday. Tom is getting soooooo good at cooking all this wild game! I am glad because I am good cook for the most part, but have a hard time with most wild game dishes(however, I can make a mean venison meatloaf that would make the Pioneer Woman proud). Everyone raved about the kabobs and roll-ups he made.

It was a fun night with friends.

An update on the four-legged friends in our life...many people have asked for a Reba update to see if she's preggers or not! So here's the deal....

I have learned more than I ever cared to know about the reproduction process of canines in the last few weeks. For starters, dogs do not like to be watched while they are 'gettin' busy,' so to speak. Our dog doesn't, at least. Can't say I blame her.

That being said, we never actually witnessed any baby-making among Reba and Rascal. So since Rascal left our house in early September it has been a little bit of a guessing game.

We also learned that there is no such thing as a doggie pregnancy test (well, I'm sure there is but it's probably expensive and not really all the necessary), that they just do an X-ray on the suspected soon-to-be-mother at 45 days.

If our calculations are correct, Reba is around 44 days TODAY. So next week I am going to take her to vet to see if the X-ray shows any sweet little puppy fetuses.

We've weighed her, and she's only gained 5 pounds. The vet says this is not abnormal for a pregnant dog. And I think she is *totally* looking and acting pregnant. She is more tired than usual, and more clingy, if that makes sense. And she's filled out a lot around her middle.

So if she is pregnant (which I would bet she is), her due date will be sometime in the second week of November, and puppies will be ready to go to new homes around December 22!!! Christmas gifts, anyone???? :)

And then there's Conway Kitty...the bain of my existance. Kidding...sort of.

Conway is doing well and in a solid eat, poop, sleep, schedule just like a real baby! Ha! I have to feed him every four hours with watered-down kitty food in a sirenge. Yes, every four hours around the clock so that means waking up in the middle of the night in an effort to keep this cat alive.

I am hoping in the next couple of weeks, however, that we will be able to spread the feedings apart a little so I can get some sleep!

So that's the animal update for ya.

This weekend I am working at a festival in Memphis, and have Monday and Tuesday off. So my mommy is coming into town to play! I am excited to see her, and to celebrate the glorious day of my birth on Monday!!!!!

Woo-hoo! Have a great Friday, everyone!

I Hate Mondays

I feel like I always start the blog week out on a negative note by mentioning my disgust with Mondays, but I can't help it!

Mondays are my nemesis, and to top it off, I was greeted with a *super* annoying email from my boss this morning about breaks and office hours. Puh-leeeeeese, we're all adults, why does it matter if we take a 30 minute lunch versus a 40 minute lunch? Seriously?

But *anyway* enough of the Negative Nancy talk, on to something more fun and positive!

Saturday morning I worked a charity walk for the American Heart Association. I had to work our booth during the walk, handing out water, so I could not participate.

The walk took place at a baseball and concert complex in Southaven. So afterwards I did my long run for the week at the race site, which provided a nice break from my normal Tunica route. I LOVE running in new places!

I had a 7-miler planned, but around 5.5 miles I noticed that the race crew had already loaded out, I was all alone, and had seen a homeless creeper-man TWICE and he made me nervous. So I called it a day at 6 miles.

I finished in 1:03: 58 which I was really happy with. That's a 10:40 mile which is within my goal of under 11 minute miles.

This time included a short bathroom/GU break about half way through. I had a GU in Espresso Love flavor which was awesome.

Here are a few pics from my scenic, lovely running route!

Nice and sweaty!

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you're more positive than me today! Ha!

Warning: Crazy Rant Ahead

Okay so I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, you might want to save 12 minutes of your life and just NOT read this post.

I sincerely debated posting this because the whole thing sounds so very ridiculous, but I decided to because we're all friends, right? Everyone can use a little vent shesh among friends, after all.

*****

Sometimes I use this blog as a training tool.

Sometimes I use it as a scrapbook.

Sometimes I use it as a cookbook.

Very rarely do I use it as a diary.

Today is an exception.

Sometimes I feel like, when I'm uber-frustrated or worried about something, it helps me to get my thoughts in writing. By reading over what I have written, somehow things become more clear. I think it's God's way of changing my point of view, and shifting my focus towards the positive.

So bare with me as I start this post with 'Dear Diary,' instead of 'Hey Bloggies!'

*****

Last night I had a little mini-breakdown (bless Tom's heart...he is so patient with me and just lets me fume over the silliest things).

A breakdown that was triggered by the news that Conway Kitty required yet another trip to the vet this morning.

For some reason I let myself get so worked up and worry about if this cat is hungry, cold, unloved, lonely, confused, upset, hurting, I could go on and on. I mean, he's a three week old kitten. How complex can his itty-bitty emotions be? If he is fed and warm, clearly he is happy.

I think my main frustration stems from the fact that I have no idea how to help him when he is crying or not eating or what have you....

And a big part of the reason I was upset is because I had to take him back to the vet this morning (for reasons that are a little gross so I won't go into it), which meant my whole morning was off because I had to leave the house early (our vet, like everything else, *she says with gritted teeth* is about 25 minutes away from our house and my job), which meant getting up extra-early, which meant getting up extra-extra early if I wanted to work out. Which I did want to, but I didn't. Instead, hit the snooze button a thousand times, thus getting up about an hour and A HALF after I had planned. Thus rushing around and leaving the house WITHOUT breakfast OR a workout, and WITH wet hair.

*And,* Bex and Mr. Bex are coming over for dinner tonight and I had really wanted to do some things to get ready for them, and have a nice relaxing night with friends. But I didn't wind up having time or energy to do any of the things I wanted to do, and now I'll have to rush around to get my house looking the way I want it to look. Aaaaaaalllllllllll with a kitten living in the bath tub (not that they care one single bit...they are so laid-back, I am the only one that cares how the house looks).

Oh, and did I mention my job makes me stupider by the day?

Sigh.

Do you see where I'm going with this? I just get so worked up when my regular schedule is disrupted. It's like I can't just go with the flow. Or adapt.

I have all these schedules...work schedule, workOUT schedule, Bible study schedule, Tom's schedule, this freakin' kitten's schedule *again with gritted teeth*....and I don't even have human kids yet.

Another reason to stress....how am I going to handle human children if I fall apart over a three-week old kitten?

I mean, really, Drama Queen.

So after going through the above thought process about a million times last night, and as I lay waiting for my alarm clock to go off this morning, I had a big giant pity party for myself.

Then, as I was watching the Today show, on one of my two TVs in my warm home, while putting on $50 worth of department store make-up, in my beautifully decorated bedroom, and chatting with my precious four-legged daughter, it all dawned on me.

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I am so darn lucky.

Blessed is really a more appropriate word.

Blessed....

• that God has given me a humane heart
• that I DO have the time and resources to get this orphaned kitten healthy
• that my body is strong enough to where I can skip a workout or two and get back at it
• that I have a job, and more importantly, a PAYCHECK
• that I have a network of women who invited little 'ole me to join their Bible study
• that I have a house to clean
• that I have a house
• that we have a freezer full of meat and vegetables to prepare a dinner with great friends
• that we have great friends
• that I have this understanding (and good-looking to boot!) partner to go through life with who just lets me go off on crazy rants and still manages to love me
• and that tomorrow is a brand new day.

Deep breaths....okay, I feel better after getting it all out.

Thanks for listening. Sorry for the crazy rant. That is all. :)

Animal House

I wish I was talking about this animal house:
Unfortunately, I'm not.

I'm talking about a literal animal house.

That would be MY house.

Tom and I found (another) orphaned kitten over the weekend, and have been trying to play 'mommy' to it for the past few days!

This one is a little older, bigger, and stronger than our last kitten. I took Kitty to the vet on Monday and they said he looks surprisingly healthy to be separated from his mama at such a young age. We think he is about 3 weeks old. At first I had him in a box in our guest bed room but it was too small---he was able to climb right out!

So now he is currently residing in our guest room bathtub. Ha! He's kind of hard to photography...very squirmy.

When he first arrived, we thought he was a girl so tossed around names like Loretta, Patsy, and Martina (trying to stay with country-music-singer-pet-names, here).

Now that we know he's a boy, Tom wants to name him TOM CAT. I said, so what would I call you? Tom Man? heh heh.

One of my co-workers suggested Conway Kitty (get it...like Conway Twitty). So the jury is still out on the name for our orphan kitty.
This sweet girl is not too fired up about her new little brother. She doesn't know what to think of him, and sometimes just looks at him and whines. Bless her heart....Please pray for Conway Kitty because I have no idea what I'm doing. We have to give him this kitten milk replacement and yes, it smells as gross as it sounds but he seems to love it.
Last night I ran outside for the first time in a week and God blessed me with another great run! I did 5 miles in 52:43 which is good for me.

My goal lately has been to average under an 11:00 minute mile for all distances over three miles. This run was around 10:30 so I was very happy. Under three miles, I aim to get it down under 10:00 minutes.

After my run I spent some time loving on this sweet angel because I think she's been feeling neglected since Conway Kitty came into the picture.

Oh, Mommy I love your sweaty face

I love your sweaty face so much, let me kiss you on the lips.

Happy Wednesday, all! Half way to the weekend!