Mindless Meanderings

Landscaping and blow-ups

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:16:02 GMT

Grrrr. So, our landscaper suddenly feels it necessary to rearrange all of our lawn Halloween decorations (and there are more than a few)!!

Ok, let me explain this a little. By "landscaper" I mean the landscaping company that we have that sends two guys over once a week to mow our lawn (and luckily rake the leaves in the fall). I think this might be a Jersey thing...or maybe just a local thing. A lot of our neighbors throughout the development have similar companies. And our lawns are not large. Those that are self-mowers don't even invest in ride-on mowers because there really isn't enough land. It's not laziness. It's just the Jersey mindset of being too busy doing other things. So, hire people to take care of the non-essentials and you have more time for the rest (like sitting in rush hour traffic and inventing new curse words when the person in front of you isn't going 5 mph over the limit). We even have companies (at least 3 different ones I can think of off the top of my head) that come around to clean up your yard if you have dogs. But, I digress.

This is the SECOND week in a row that our landscaper has suddenly decided to uproot the Halloween decorations in our yard that have been there for the past 3 & 1/2 weeks! And, of course, everything they uproot, they pile nicely for us on the middle of the gigantic blow-up decoration we keep deflated during the day. This means that I get to try to find all the holes I've already made in the ground and get it all back together after they leave. Not fun for me.

What are these decorations they keep moving on me? Well, in one part of the yard, we have a graveyard that I've lovingly expanded upon over the past few years. I'm up to 13 tombstones. I arrange them nicely, add a bail of hay, a skull, a buzzard, hands sticking out of the ground, oh, and a grim reaper that hangs from a tree and floats over the graves.

Near to this is our huge blow-up...and I do mean huge! Saw it at a warehouse club and couldn't resist! It's about 6 feet tall and 11 feet long. The scene is a zombie playing an organ. On each side, under an arch, is a zombie couple. It's rather elaborate, with blinking lights, music (which is turned off till Halloween night), and the couples spin slowly in a dance.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I begin celebrating and decorating on October 1st. And it takes more than one weekend to get everything set up (especially since I'm constantly adding stuff whenever I hit up the Halloween stores). So, having somebody come and mess it all up (taking out the spotlights that shine on the graveyard and the blow-up and removing some of the stakes that keep the blow-up in place, moving a few of the tombstones, etc), is not a good thing.

Consequently, there was an angry phone call made, including the threat of "you're people break it, you buy it". Let's hope it helps, shall we? Otherwise, anybody got a monster I can borrow to scare the hell outta these guys? Or something along those lines...

All I know is if they start messing with the stuff I have on my porch, all bets are off!

Closure

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:00:54 GMT

*Deep breath* OK, I have posted a story to the Bloodtiesfic community. Not sure why I'm so nervous...

Closure is a one-shot story dealing with some of the aftermath of Deep Dark from Coreen's view. She's one of my favorite characters from the Blood Ties TV series.

This idea popped into my head about a week ago and just wouldn't leave me alone...which is annoying because I'm in the middle of another Blood Ties fic that I've been unable to concentrate on! Hopefully, I can get back to finishing that one now.

Anyway, please let me know what you think! I'm always open to suggestions.

~Thanks!

bloodtiesfic - click here to read story.

Personal anonymity

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:32:16 GMT

So, this would be the first entry I've made in the first blog I've ever had. I must say, staring at a blank screen is a little daunting. Mostly, I've joined the LJ community to have another forum to post my fan fiction stories to. I'm sure I'll also make entries about any other random topic that grips my mind. I guess I'll just see how this all works as I go along.

So, what can I say about myself that I didn't already put in my bio? Not too much. I'm not a big fan of being overly personal. The name I write under is obviously a pen name. I like the anonymity provided by the internet. It gives a sense of freedom. In real life? None of my friends know I write or read fan fiction. I'm not ashamed of it by any means. It's just not something we have in common. Besides, in real life I'd be way to shy to announce my writing to anyone, let alone let a friend read it.

In real life, I live from paycheck to paycheck. I budget and try my hardest to save, but it never really seems to work out.

In real life, I spent three and a half years pouring my soul into a job I used to love, only to walk away in the end. It became like being in an abusive relationship and I finally saw (thanks to my friends) that the situation wasn't getting better.

In real life, I might not be obviously "ethnic" (so to speak), but I'm part of the first generation of my family born in America. The rest is still in Scotland. It's a huge part of me, and I'm damn proud of it.

In real life, I'm pretty shy until I get to know someone.

In real life, I'm very logical. I analyze (perhaps overanalyze) most things and my view on life can border on pessimistic. For all that, though, I try to see situations and people for the good I hope is in them.

Here, I can write stories, be creative, work my way through thoughts and ideas I couldn't anywhere else. See why I like the internet? I've been more personal here than to people I know in "real life". Quite the paradox.