Riding Again

I finally feel recovered from the weekend only to realize it's already here again. We were up pretty late last night watching movies over at Shawn and K.C.'s place only to drive around after we left, listening to my iPod on a early morning Whataburger run. By the time we went to bed it was well past four. I was up a few hours later at seven to get Marcel to school on time. I'm not sure how I managed but he was actually there on time. I got home to crawl into bed only to find I couldn't sleep so I stayed up until it was time for our riding lesson.
I hadn't ridden in so long I forgot how much fun it really is. I'm finally at a level to where I'm not being constantly corrected on my bad riding skills or maybe they just decided to leave good enough alone. I really enjoyed just riding around plus watching Lana ride around on Daniel was really amazing. I can't believe how much progress they've made with him! He's starting to fill out so much and he's not looking so clumsy since he's growing into his legs now. I was really shocked and how well they rode together. For our lesson we did something a little new - straight away barrel racing! I had a blast trotting away on Tinker around the barrels plus he really loves to trot. It was hard getting him to walk towards the end of the lesson. I'm hoping next lesson we can hit a trail. K.C. enjoyed herself so much she convinced her man to get her six more lessons!!! Next thing she be convincing him she needs to rent a horse...
I think today I'm going to spend a quiet evening at home chillin with Lana and a few friends prolly. We ended up canceling the poker game tonight thanks to my dogs. I came home the other day to water spraying like a fountain by the office garage from a busted pipe the dogs broke in the yard. I ended up running to the hardware store minutes before they closed and installed a quick shutoff valve and figured I'd fix the rest later. So I get the adapter to connect it back to the house only to find that when the pipe snapped on the outside it must have broke inside the wall as well. What is it with us and water issues? We just had a major water leak in the yard a matter of months ago, our water heater bursts days ago, and now this. So rather than move the game in my house or have everyone tromp through my house all night I just figured I'd cancel. So now it's one more project added to the ever expanding list. I'll need to remove the paneling and sink in order to get to the pipes in the wall. Fun fun...

Fix plumbing in garage

Patch up attic on 3 car garage

Go through all of the storage stuff

Tear up the rest of the carpet

Install hardwood floors

Insulate rest of office

Fix upstairs shower

Sheetrock living room and office

Install lights and fans on the porch

Get the bus in the body shop
I won't even go into the list of "Fun" stuff...

Beer, Blood, Two Cakes, and Fifteen Pizzas Later

Well, I think I finally got the house clean from this weekend. I haven't felt that drained in a while. I swear to never plan two parties back to back after our usual Friday night poker. Who the hell let me smoke that crack???
On Friday, after picking Marcel up from school, I went straight to the airport to get Lana. She was gone almost a full week in Vegas. After visiting with her for a little while on our way home and grabbing a bite to eat, we went home to prepare for the poker game. We called it quits sometime around three I think after running a second game. We crawled into bed only to be up early the next day to clean, and decorate for the UFC fight which became a surprise party for Roel. To add a little more excitement to an already busy weekend our hot water heater broke spilling water all over the laundry room. I spent most of the day before the fight decorating and mopping up water. I was sweeping water into the drain all night long to keep it from spilling into the kitchen. Many beers later and half a cake later we called it a night and crawled into bed around five in the morning. I was pretty drunk and slept like crap. The house was thoroughly trashed and I remember vaguely K.C. walking around cleaning. My gawd, I don't know what we would have done without her because there was trash everywhere. Normally it's not a big deal but Marcel's birthday party was on Sunday bright and early (for us anyway).
I woke to a very nice buzzing hangover and a very excited eight year old. We took our cold showers, rushed out to the barn to meet our other hungover friends and commenced the birthday party of horse rides, face painting and racing. I felt half human sometime around one, once the buzzing in my head cleared. We migrated back to the house sometime around two for pizza, cake and presents. Chris past out on the couch a couple of times, Mike snuck off for a power nap before cake and presents, and Shawn fell asleep huddled in a ball of blankets later in the day. Despite the lack of sleep, the exhaustion, and hangover, I was thoroughly and completely happy with how things went. Fifteen pizzas later, two birthday cakes and lots of alcohol later we rested on Monday by going to Lowe's to buy a new water heater. I enjoyed my first hot shower since Friday night sometime around eleven at night before going to Walmart to stock up on groceries. I slept like a rock last night. I plan on doing the same tonight. Eventually I'll feel rested again. ;)
I've even managed to post the pictures from Roel's birthday party as well as Marcel's. Those who had cameras should email me what ya got so I can add em to the albums.
Off to take a nap I think...

"Ma Hair!!!"

The disapproving momma look...	Ma Hair!!!	Four hours later it's done!!!

I finally did it. I had it all chopped off. Every summer I bitch about how hot it gets with thick black hair, threaten to cut it off, then chicken out. Nevermind the peer pressure from my wife and a few others who insist I should just leave it alone. I've been wearing it long for over four years now and really just needed a change. I decided short with blonde and red highlights would work for now. I feel like I just lost a tumor off my head. I can drive with the windows down again without eating my own hair or being stabbed by it and no more headaches in the morning from sleeping on it! I feel great. Oh, my ponytail is going to Locks of Love. I mail it off tomorrow.
K.C. went with me and took the pictures. I lost count of the number of stylist there that disapproved of cutting it but at that point I was already determined to get it all cut. To make matters worse, it took me an hour and a half just to sit down to get cut. Then the lady who cut it off took near an hour to style it before sending me to the girl who was going to do my highlights. By the time the color was added, my hair conditioned and gelled, it was a little after nine when we walked out with my ponytail in a ziplock baggy. I was thoroughly exhausted, my stomach in knots, and I still had to go over to Johnny's house to visit with an old friend in town. When I got to the party Johnny offered to my my new groupie (how gay is that???), Dosha said the new do was sexy, and Lana says it's the perfect length for grabbing. It was a bit of a shock to everyone despite me talking about for years but I think overall everyone liked it. If they don't, they should keep that shit to themselves. ;)
It was a bit weird being around Josh again. Josh was someone I knew way back whenever there was a mystery smell it was "James did it", Micah still wore his hair long, and Chris had hair. All in love Chris! (In a non sexual way of course).
We went our separate ways after a rather nasty falling out that doesn't need to be aired here and we never made amends so it was a little odd to be in the same room with him again. All in all though, it was good to see him again. I was already exhausted when I did get there so we didn't stay long nevermind having a lot on my mind. It's was a pretty busy weekend that was followed up with Lana leaving on a plane for Vegas a few hours ago.
So tonight I'll stay up watching movies while Marcel sleeps. Prolly gonna eat way too much popcorn and ice cream, stay up way too late, and sleep horribly but that's to be expected when Lana's not here. Well, off to stock up on noodles, hamburger helper, and microwave dinners. She comes back on Friday. Someone check on us if the mailbox overflows and the dogs disappear...

Skulls, School, and Sweat

Marcel's back in school now. He would have had his first day of school on Monday but they weren't taking any registrations so they sent us home. So he missed the first day of school but they told us it wouldn't count against his attendance record. He was pretty disappointed about not getting to go. I hate seeing him try so hard to be a big boy especially when I can't fix whatever it is that's upsetting him. He toughed it out though and we got him all hooked up on Tuesday. He's been jumping out of bed but I know that won't last long. I guess I should enjoy it while I can.
This morning stuff takes some getting used to but I'm liking it. I stay up after we've dropped him off at school and I actually get stuff done. Probably not all the stuff I should be doing but I get stuff done nonetheless. I got both skulls to my reaper statues casted now and the foam is cut and ready to be routed. Tomorrow I'll actually latex the hands, route the foam, and add the chicken wire if I'm still feeling energetic. The weather has been wonderfully hot and mosquito free the past couple of days so I've actually been working in the backyard. It's a good way to avoid cleaning the mess I got in the garage but I really do enjoy working outside on the Halloween stuff. In between castings I run around the yard chasing Sally or playing fetch with Bree. Stitch is constantly underfoot of either dog literally biting at their ankles. It's really pretty funny to watch. I end up sweating my ass off but I do like the weather despite all the bitching I do about the heat. It's better than cooking in the stuffy heat of the garage under fluorescent lights.
I'll probably mess with it all some more tonight and start routing the foam pieces that way I can jump straight to the latex hands. I'm really wanting to knock these out so I can move on to some headstones. As soon as I get my driver's license issue taken care of, I'll be planning a trip to the graveyards out at Galveston. Turns out the precent where I received the no insurance ticket when I drove the bus back was never dismissed. They took the cashier's check I fedex'ed them for court fees and ignored the letter from my insurance company that the cashier's check was folded in. You know, the document stating I had insurance at the time the prick cop gave me a ticket despite showing him the title with the date of transfer being the day before. So now I have to fax three different offices proof of insurance and wait fourteen days to see if they correct the problem so my suspended license can be reinstated. The only reason I found out I was driving with a suspended license was because I got a blackmail letter from the Department of Public Safety stating they wanted their money or I couldn't get my driver's license back. Then to make it all the more interesting, I couldn't fax them proof since Verizon cut off our long distance privileges for not having paid a phone bill we never knew about since it was in another account under our name. I won't go into details on that pile of crap. Okay, I feel better now. I had to vent somewhere. Anyway, like I was saying - in the next week or two I'll be planning a Galveston graveyard trip to get some new ideas for headstones. ;)
On another note, I made this really kick ass background for my Myspace account. ;)
I like it so much I'm probably going to change the style of my site to match the x-ray look.

Randomness

I've been a bit absent here the past few weeks but it hasn't been from a lack of nothing to write about. I've been so busy that when I sit down to write I say to myself I'll just do it later when I have more time. Later tonight turns into tomorrow and tomorrow turns into sometime this weekend. I feel pretty blah right now. I got all of three hours of sleep last night and stupid me thought a nap would help. I feel like dog crap. Now I feel drugged, tired, and sleepy. I ended up staying up watching TV until around 6am after company left. I had a pretty hard time sleeping and slept pretty restless all night only to give up finally around nine. I'll probably be crashing hard tonight and I'm looking forward to it because I'm still pretty restless.
I did do something pretty cool the other day though. Last weekend the girls wanted to go to this psychic fair that's held once a month so I figured I'd tag along. It was really pretty cool. I got my aura read, my palm read and a massage to top it all off. I was told that in another life, I was a "woman of the night." Yeah, everyone got a real big kick outta that one, let me tell you. At least I'm not an alien who receives regular downloads from the mother ship like one unnamed person... The lady who read my palm also said that I'm carrying grudges and guilt from previous lives and that I should really come to terms with them but I do have a few spirits watching over me beyond my guardian angel. I did get good news from her though. I've recently come to terms, in the past four years, with the other four personalities that have been clashing with each other. I thought I had it bad enough, last thing I need is more grudges,guilt, and multiple personalities to carry around right? I also got a picture of my aura and it's a big red halo all over. My head looks like it's floating in a sea of red. Somewhere in the picture are the mentioned spirits that my palmist mentioned or so I was told. I'd post the picture but Helen has yet to email me the scan of it (hint, hint). All in all, it was a good time despite finding out that I was once a whore... ;)
It was fun though, and the lady who gave me a massage was really good even if she did pray over me every now and then. I needed it pretty bad too, the massage not the praying, though I guess it never hurts right? It's time for me to cut my hair again and I wake up lately with neck cramps from having slept on it so it was awesome to have someone work the kinks out of my neck. I'm really tempted to chop it all off and just grow it out again. It would be fun growing it out again I think. Either way, I'll be getting a hair cut soon cause I can't stand waking up with a headache before I've even started my day.
Anyway, not a whole lot going on right now. The girls are have a girly night and I might just join them after maybe making a trip to Walmart. I'm going to be picking up a few spiral notebooks for Lana and me. We've been talking about keeping a dream journal for the past few months but I'd like to actually do it. I haven't kept one since high school and it'd be pretty neat to share with Lana. Marcel should be going to bed soon since he's finally on a regular schedule with school just days away. He's pretty excited. He's such a social little butterfly and I can't help but grin. I don't remember being so social at his age. He gets so upset when he doesn't have any friends around but I guess he gets that from his momma. I've always been bit of an introvert. Well, I'm rambling. It's the exhaustion and restlessness. I should go before I start over...
'Night!!