A weekend full of adventure

This weekend was Halloween and I wanted to go to the Halloween thing they were doing downtown but I knew my husband didn't really want to so in the end we went to the drive in to watch The Vampire's Assistant and Zombieland. Both movies were good but I really enjoyed Zombieland. It was really funny and I will probably watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

Earlier in the day I thought it would be a great idea to make these little Halloween brownie things on the Betty Crocker website. They were shown as being easy to make. hahaha mine were not really anything like the ones on the website.
I took some pictures to send to my mother and she said she laughed so much she nearly wet herself. Here are my Halloween treats tricks.

my little ghosts

my spooky spiders

Here is a picture of how they should have looked and in case anyone wants to attempt to better mine then the recipe is at the Betty Crocker website. Click here for the official recipe.

So I think that pretty much wraps up Saturday.

Since we had so much fun at the beach the week before we decided to go again and to bring a picnic so we could make a whole day of it.

We had such a lovely morning and afternoon. The dog was having fun trying to catch birds and we had a nice picnic. I was collecting seashells as I want to decorate a picture frame with some.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day:

i think this one looks like a dinosaur

just a little bit of driftwood

one of many jellyfish we saw

So the day was getting on and we were getting a lot of sun so we decided to take a detour on the way home and perhaps go to another beach. We ended up going to a beach just a little way down the road and that is where our day took a turn for the worse.

First off, we stopped the car, jumped out to grab a lovely conch shell that was still intact. It looked as though there was something still in it so we bagged it and put it in the back of the truck. Then we drove down further and stopped again. I jumped out looking for shells and saw of all things....a dead baby shark! How I wish I had taken a picture of it but unfortunately I couldn't because as my husband was calling to tell me, our truck had a very very very flat tire. We had driven over some branches and pop went our tire.

It really wasn't funny because we were right on the sand and couldn't go back the way we came as we had had to drive over branches and water. So, off I went with the dog in the other direction to try and find an exit. I walked for ages and miraculously found a secret exit that I didn't notice until we walked past it.

The dog and I walked back and I felt so sorry for him because he has never had that much exercise in his life. I thought he was going to pass out. It was funny because he kept licking water up and I didn't have the heart to tell him that salt water wasn't going to help his thirst much.

Anyway, we got back to the truck with the good news about the exit but it was no good. It was too far for our truck to make it as my husband had tried to move the truck and nearly got it stuck in the sand. He got the jack out and tried to change the tire but obviously it kept sinking in the sand.

We were about to call a recovery company (which would have been a nightmare trying to explain where we were) when a good Samaritan stopped and went off to try and find some flat wood for us to use. Luckily he found some and it worked!!!

We had caught the sun and were exhausted by this time but we were in goodish spirits as we didn't have to spend the night on the beach.

Throughout all this drama my husband decided to take a picture of the flat and here it is:

Now I really wish I had taken a picture of the baby shark but at the time I thought it would have been in bad taste to be off taking pictures whilst we were stranded.

We got home later and we all had aching bones. The dog pretty much went into a coma for the next day or so.

I was gathering all my shells together and as I was admiring my beautiful conch shell it started to move. It was still alive! I felt bad and although if I had realized it was alive at the beach I would have put it back, since we had it at home and people do eat these things we decided to cook it and remove the stuff inside. Oh god it was traumatic. Never again. It was scary and gross but my shell is lovely and when I get it all polished up I will post a picture of it.

For the time being our trips to the beach are off but I'm hoping this won't be forever as we have had a really nice time there this past two weeks.

Concert and a trip to the beach

Not this weekend just gone but the one before I got to go see my favorite band, Alice in Chains. They were playing this all day concert thing sponsered by our local radio station. We had no interest in seeing most of the other bands so we went in the evening.

The place was full of youngsters and I felt a bit old particularly when htis couple who had to be in their forties walked pasted us and the man said....'oh look those people are the first people I have seen who are our age'. I'm a whole decade younger than that! So, a couple of days later I got rid of my grey hairs and now it is blue black. Hopefully I have shaved a few years off with the new hair color.

Puddle of Mudd came on whilst we were waiting for AiC and oh my god they were awful. I don't know whether their singer was wasted or what but he sounded bad. He was so bad I was cringing for him. The crowd was loving it although I think vast amounts of alcohol may have helped with that.

AiC were great. It was the first time I had seen them perform outside and whilst I still prefer to see them indoors in a smaller venue it was a good show and they played quite a few new songs although I would have liked to have heard Your Decision live. Maybe next time.

On the Sunday we went for a drive down to the beach. It was a lot of fun. The weather was nice and the beach was pretty deserted. I love being near water so it was a lovely day for me.

We found some animal skulls and after doing some investigating it turns out one of them was a skull from a wild boar. it had a full set of teeth and a tusk. Very bizarre.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the beach that day:

an egret

the beach

a weird fish head. so gross we had to take it's picture
egret flying away
the dunes
skull
clouds
beach
beach
my lovely puppy...and half my husbandif you look closely you will see a little crab

Spooky movie

I watched a movie on some random channel last night. I think the channel is called This but I could be wrong. The movie was called The Believers and it starred Martin Sheen.
The movie was right up my street as it was about a spooky old blood cult that used the religion Santeria as a cover (sort of). I don't know much about Santeria but it sounds like something I would be interested in reading about. I will have to look it up.
The movie was made in 1987 and of course the 80's feel to it made it even spookier.

Anyway, in the movie this spooky cult man put a curse on this woman by rubbing her powder compact. Then she got this spot on her cheek that grew and took up the whole side of her face. It started pulsing and she went mental..like you would...and I think she was going to kill herself but of course Martin Sheen came to her rescue and took her to hospital. Actually, I think there may have been a spider in her cheek as when Martin Sheen called the ambulance there was a big spider on the phone line.

Very spooky thing here...I have a spot on my cheek the same as the lady in the movie. I've had it for weeks and have done so well in not squeezing it. However, it isn't going away. Obviously this is because someone must have cursed me! So this morning I squeezed it. No spider came out or anything but I do feel better now I've done it and hopefully it will go now.

The movie never said what happened to the woman after she went into hospital. I wonder if she died.

Bra shopping on the cheap

I just remembered this after I posted earlier about my overheating at Traders Village.

Traders Village is a big market. They have loads of stalls there and like all markets there are some good bargains to be had and some real cheap shit.

I got one of those little things that you can put on the table and hang your bag off. They are a cool little thing and I got one with a cool little picture on it. It was $1 so if it doesn't work I can't complain.

Anyway, the thing I remembered was looking at some bras. There were a whole load of them and they were 3 for $10. They were cheap shit but for that price who can complain if they cut your shoulders and back into ribbons.

My sister in law was getting some and I was having a look but wasn't going to get any as I haven't measured myself for my American bra size and apparently it is different to British and European sizes.

Oh my goodness...that means I haven't bought myself a bra for over a year. Isn't that awful?

Anyway, I explained to the little woman on the stall that I wouldn't be buying anything as I didn't know my size. Well she was not having this and started sizing up my boobs. I would have been insulted if she hadn't been so generous in her guessing of my cup size. hahaha if only I was as large up top as she was thinking.

She grabbed a bra and hooked it round me to see if it would fit. It was kind of funny in an...oh my god, a stranger is touching my boobs, kind of way.

Her brazen sale tactics worked though and I thought I would get them as cheapo bras to tide me over until I could measure myself properly and buy some nice ones.

It was so awkward. They were really tacky bras. You know the type...playboy bunny emblems on them and stuff. It was kind of hard to say...eww I don't want that tack...especially when my sister in law was buying some of those kind. Because I was umming and ahhing the woman went to find me some more and came back with this horrendous red bra that was just yuck. It was padded but not in a good way. It was also a really bad red colour. It was just disgusting and her selling point to me was hilarious. She whispered to me...."this would be a good one...good for Valentine's Day huh?". Umm NO! lol. Not only do we not really do Valentine's Day but my husband is not going to be thrilled by some $3 manky market stall bra and if he was then oh dear lord have I made a mistake.

Ah it was funny. Trying hard not to say that out loud I said something to the effect of....hmmm no, I don't really like it.

For anyone interested (and I'm sure you are not) I ended up getting a fairly ordinary white one, a bright green one (I have a lot of green clothes so I was being practical) and a blue t-shirt material one with a hello kitty emblem. I just couldn't bring myself to get one of the ones with the playboy bunny on. I am no playboy bunny, lol. If I had less of a choice and had to get one of those I would have spent time picking it off just in case I was in an accident and taken to hospital. I could just imagine the doctors or whoever thinking...the cheek of her wearing that, lol.

Free screening of District 9

On Thursday evening we went to a free preview showing of District 9. I got the tickets from FilmMetro and they give out more tickets than there are seats to make sure the theater is full so it could happen that not everyone gets in. We planned on leaving when my husband got home from work but there was a really bad thunderstorm and I was too scared to go outside. After a while the storm started dying down and we decided to go and hope that the storm had put everyone else off so that we could get in. Traffic was horrific and it took forever to get there and I started to think that perhaps we would not get in.

We got there eventually and we were at the right theater (see my previous post on My Life In Ruins for details of one of our previous attempts). We went in and a man pointed us in the right direction. Well, the queue was horrendous. I thought for sure we wouldn't get to see the movie and even contemplated leaving there and then but we joined the line and surprisingly we got in. They stamp your hand and check your bag and wand you. I guess so you don't record the movie. I bet it is only a matter of time before they start doing that for regular screenings too.

We went in and picked our seats. I thought it would be more organised to just put everyone in seats in order of when you enter but no, they left it as a free for all. We ended up right near the front so my husband could hang his gigantic legs out the side and be a bit more comfortable.

It took a while to get everyone in so my husband kindly went to get drinks and popcorn. I didn't want him to whilst we were outside in case we didn't get in.

Finally, the movie started. I didn't really have any expectations of it. I just knew that aliens had landed on earth. I actually really enjoyed it. It was done documentary style which made it more interesting to me.

There was one rather surreal moment and that was maybe halfway through the film. We were all caught up in the movie and out of the corner of my eye I could see something moving on the floor. It took me a minute to fully understand what I was seeing but it was a really small child crawling across the floor. It freaked me out. I don't know where the kid went but it was a weird little moment that kind of made me think....did I really see that?

Anyway, not a bad movie at all. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

Trauma of the week

Guess what was outside the apartment building. A snake. Thankfully a dead snake but all the same a snake.
Now, before I moved here my husband told me that it was entirely possible I could live here in Texas and never even come across a snake. Well, he was quite obviously wrong. This is the second snake I have seen in a residential area. The first was a ribbon snake lying on the concrete at the end of someone's garden. I saw that one when I went for a walk. It was far enough away from where I live for me not to be too worried but still, it was a snake. This one though is a big one and it is right where I live. Scary.
Oh I also saw a big snake when we went to a park but noone lived there so that was sort of okay.
I'm not used to coming across these scary things anywhere other than in a zoo so it is a bit traumatic for me to find one on my doorstep (almost literally).
All I can say is thank god for the person who killed it because I might just have had a heart attack if it had been alive.
I'm not really one for killing big things (this counts as a big thing) but really it is a pest. Whilst I would love to be all...I could never harm a fly....the fact of the matter is I could. I squish bugs and spiders all the time but I don't know if I would have had it in me to squish this. Thank goodness I didn't have to find out.

Apple chips

So I had the urge to bake something nice and since I have a lot of apples that are about to turn I have been looking up apple recipes.
One that caught my eye immediately was for apple chips (or crisps as I call them). So I decided to make them today. The recipe was beyond basic and I love fruit and veg chips.
My husband had asked me to make him chocolate chip cookies so I was doing that straight afterwards. It was one of the Betty Crocker mixes so I hate them as they have six billion too many chocolate chips in them.
Anyway, my chips required a lower temperature than the cookies did but I was getting fed up of waiting so I upped the temperature and the plan was by the time I was ready to put the cookies in my chips would be done.

Here are the chips:I bet you are thinking....mmmm they look delicious. Well, who knows. They have been disguising their secret scrumptious flavor underneath the charcoal smell.

The cookies came out great by the way. Shame I don't like them. I have just pulled out of the oven an apple cake creation which looks pretty good. I'm just waiting for it to cool down so I can taste it.

Mini tornado in the swimming pool

This was such a weird thing and I wish I wasn't the only one to have seen it because probably no one will believe it.
I was swimming the other day and there was a big gust of wind. It blew into the pool and it was like a mini tornado had hit. When I say it was mini I really do mean mini. I do like to exaggerate from time to time but I'm not going to sit here and say (type) a massive tornado came at me or anything. It was big enough that it blew our floaty noodle things around and it was heading towards me. Obviously my curse of an overactive imagination led me to believe that it was headed for me as some type of personal I must get her kind of thing and that somehow this mini tsunami type thing was going suck me under in the pool and drown me so I hopped over to the other side of the pool as quick as I could. Very gracefully I might add.
Now somehow my husband didn't see any of this and when I kind of brought it up in conversation I got the feeling he didn't believe me but it was true god damn it and it was really weird so I thought I would share.