Trick or Treat!!

Spooky- BFF 137

       Even though I lived in the next town, when my Dad had a stroke…it was me that found him. It seemed like I always got stuck with the horse $hit things like finding my mother dead, and my Dad after he had his stroke.  He told me after that he was happy I did find him.   It was me that stopped by the house everyday and took in the mail, laying it carefully on the desk in his bedroom.  It was me that saw to his wishes and needs before he died.  Even shortly after he died, I still stopped in to bring in the mail and check on the house.

      One day I stopped in to bring in the mail much like I had on all the previous days.  However, this time turned out particularly spooky and I will never forget it.  While I was in the house my daughter was outside with my husband playing on the swing set my Dad had bought her for her frequent visits.  I still couldn’t believe my Dad was really gone.  The house was silent when I let myself in.  I made a beeline for his bedroom where I noticed the temperature seemed to drop to almost chilly.  Just like always, I flipped on the light switch and approached his desk.  That is when I saw it.  Chills ran up and down my spine as I was drawn to a small oval pin decorated with a picture I had seen before of two children walking on a bridge being watched by an angel. Where had it come from??  I felt uneasy as I picked it up and examined it.  I had never seen it before in my life and couldn’t imagine where it had come from.  My skin dotted with goose bumps as I hurriedly turned out the lights and rushed out of the house.

        I came upon a surreal image of my daughter swinging with my husband watching.  The sun had started to go down and dusk had fallen.  I looked over towards the east side of the house  and my breath caught.  There in the shadows were the ghosts of my parents!  “I must be seeing things!! How can this be??”  As I started forward, they turned, smiled,  and then walked away disappearing as I watched.  I strained my eyes.  I looked down at the angel pin in my hand and looked back to where their ghosts had once been and wondered if I was loosing my mind.  I wondered at the time if in my grief if I was only seeing them again because I wanted to so badly.  The only problem was that their images were so real.  Not only that, here was this angel pin that I had never seen before laying precisely in a place I couldn’t have missed it.  Instead of being frightened, I was intrigued.




          Several times since I have seen one or both of my parents in the shadows and in the mist watching over me.  On several occasions I have felt their presence.  I want to believe it is them and not my wishful thinking imagination.  It was just plain spooky!  Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Date with the Boogey Man- BFF 136

       Over the weekend I took my kids to a Halloween party hosted by our neighborhood fire department.  The kids dressed up in their costumes and away we went.   We discovered that the fire department was decorated with spooky spider webs and symbols of Halloween.  Within the interiors volunteers served up hot dogs, popcorn, and apple cider and we took full advantage of it!  Free food?? Count me in!! 

        There was a bouncy house, a pumpkin painting station, and a massive bonfire.  They even gave out free reflective bracelets to the kids.  Although my son begged to be allowed to try out the bouncy house,  I refused his request.  Seemed like a good way to get trampled to me.  The bouncy house was filled to capacity with jumping screaming kids as it was.  I knew if I let him go in, he would never want to come out and the whole evening would be spoiled in the blink of an eye.  Bouncy houses always remind me of a smaller version of the play land zoo of screaming wild kids at McDonald's.  Kids go in happy, and come out kicking, screaming, and throwing a pi$$y fit because once in, they never want to leave.  Personally I did not want to deal with that kind of self inflicted drama on that particular night.  I was there to have fun!!

       What really drew the crowds was the hayride through the haunted woods and the line was testimony to its popularity.  Everything from ghouls, Mario from Nintendo gaming fame, to the illustrious Harry Potter surrounded us.  A pair of ghosts moved through the never ending line handing out treats to the kids.  Despite the droves of people that lined up for their chance to be terrorized by unknown forces and boogey men in the woods, the line moved fairly quickly due to at least 4 tractor pulled wagons.   

           When it was finally our turn we climbed up and took our place on the provided hay bales.   We could barely contain our excitement!  We didn’t know what awaited us as the wagon moved slowly into the pitch  black night.  As we approached the woods we came to a lonely set of railroad tracks with warning signals flashing.  As our wagon crept across the tracks the blinding light of an approaching train drew closer giving everyone a jolt.  Zombies, goblins, and boogey men rushed up to the wagon out of the darkness eliciting screams of terror and nervous laughter.  One scary fellow stood along the path, and I could have swore he was not real…when suddenly he darted toward the wagon.  He scared the living be Jesus out of me.  I am so glad I didn’t have to pee at the time because I would have peed my pants for sure!   Instead of screaming…my reaction was to bust into a fit of giggles.  Everyone else was screaming and boogey men and women appeared at every turn.  Zombies approached moaning and bubbling cauldrons could be seen in the distance.  At one point we passed an abandoned graveyard and were startled to discover  its inhabitants busting out of the ground.   Spooky spider webs hung down from above and blood covered boogey men darted from out of the darkness and from behind trees grabbing at the wagon‘s occupants.  


            As we approached the edge of the woods and inched closer to safety one zombie grabbed onto the wagon directly in front of us and demanded to be fed.  “Feed me!!” he begged in a ghostly voice.  The lady sitting beside me was tempted to throw her child’s pumpkin pail at him, but she couldn’t pry it out of her kids hands.  

          As terrified as my kids have been of the things that go bump in the night in the past, both were biting at the bit to get on that wagon and head off into the night to face the boogey man head on in the spirit of Halloween.  It was a night of pure Halloween fun and I applaud the Concord Township Fire Department for their efforts!!  A big thank you to all the people that made the party a reality.  We had a blast.   Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a truckers wife.

Transformer Coloring Pages for Kids

Transformer Coloring Pages for Kids

Copyright @ http://neverland-tinkerbell-coloring-pages.blogspot.com/

Helen Drutt

The other day I had the privilege of meeting gallery owner, professor, and jewelry and crafts collector Helen Drutt. My good friend Debra Rapoport has been exhibiting in Helen's shows for years, and she knew that she was a perfect candidate for Advanced Style.

Tangled Coloring Pages Free

Tangled Coloring Pages Free

Thrills and Chills: Could it be Satan??

      In the spirit of Halloween, an experience from my past came to mind that provided me with more thrills and chills than I could have bargained for.   Shortly after I first met my husband we went to our neighborhood Kmart to wander the store and see what was new.  Since we are both big kids at heart we were drawn to the game aisle and soon found ourselves eyeballing a Ouija board.  Although I had tried using a Ouija board before with my mom, my future husband never had and was soon eager to buy it and rush it to my house to give it a try.

       We sat side by side on the living room couch balancing the Ouija board between us on our laps.  We carefully placed our fingertips on the included plastic indicator.  Nervously we giggled as we decided what we would ask the talking board first.  We had both lost loved ones who we had been extremely close to and I think we both desperately wanted to make contact with each of them.  Not surprising then that the first question posed to the mystical board was “Is there anyone who would like to speak to us?”  After a brief hesitation the plastic indicator began to slowly move towards “yes”.  

         We held our breaths and asked the next obvious question: “who?” and the plastic indicator went wild and began to swirl across the surface stopping  at each letter in quick succession.  We read the letters out loud as they were revealed.  S - A - T-  A- N.   As the indicator finished the word it shot off the board right under our finger tips.  At the precise moment that our brains registered that the devil himself wanted to make our acquaintance a brisk wind blew through the living room.  From another room of the house,  my Persian cat Alicia May howled, screeched, and then raced down the center of the living room to the kitchen as if the devil himself was chasing her.  Pieces of paper flew in her wake.

 Satan!!! Holy hell!  We freaked out!  The Ouija board crashed to the floor as we jumped up scared $hitle$$.  The fact that Satan wanted to have a cozy chat with us scared the living be Je$us out of us.  The instant gut reaction was to get that crazy board out of the house NOW.   We rushed outside the back door grabbing a box of matches as we raced to the burning barrel which sat unsuspecting by a huge tree that bordered the property.  My dad had recently had the barrel dumped and as we threw the board, indicator, and box into the barrel we realized that the barrel was completely empty except for what we had just added.   My better half lit a match and threw it in the barrel.  We fully expected for the contents to burn slowly, so when flames immediately shot up into the tree tops burning hot and bright…we freaked out just a little more.   What in G0d’s name would cause the fire to burn so hot and so high?  Could it be Satan??  We fled to the safety of the house and watched the fire mesmerized as the flames shot from the barrel to the sky.

          After a short while the fire stopped as suddenly as it started and we went back out to the barrel to peer inside.  Every trace of the Ouija board was gone !   I am not sure what we expected when we bought that Ouija board, but I guarantee we got more than we bargained for.  That one incident made a believer out of me that a Ouija board was nothing to mess with and I have never attempted to again.  I learned from that experience to allow fate to take its course and once folks are dead it is best to let them  rest in peace.   If you go looking for the devil, you will surely find him.  Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.