You Know You Want to See Him

YAWN!! Having my picture taken is BORING. Here's my fluffy horse, showing off his lovely, fluffy tail~!
He definitely stands out in a crowd, doesn't he?

Starvation and Other Irritations

Wow, am I cranky today! Not so much with other people, just in a general, overall way. I have been ravenously hungry all day, no matter how much I eat, for one thing. That always makes me cranky.

I'm going out to see Trigger after work, which should make me feel better. He got new shoes on Saturday and I haven't seen them yet! Plus the weather is awesome, so I may take a short trail ride this evening, if I can get to the barn before it actually starts getting dark...

The Originals

Here we have one of those formal Olan Mills shots taken in the early 80s..
My hair looks good.. Dig the blazer on Kimmy, and the glasses actually don't look too big in this picture. She still has snaggle teeth- Cute!.. Wes is absolutely adorable in this one.
And here's Wesley and I, ready for the meeting, as usual. We were the best of friends!

Classic Kingdom Hell

This is pretty much what our life consisted of in the 70s and 80s: Going to the Meeting. Note the faux wood-sided station wagon.. we had several of those things, bought them back to back. As if a station wagon were the penultimate car and we just had to have another one. We used to love to sit in the rear-facing back seat (the Very Tippy Back, we called it).

I have several nagging questions about this picture:
1) Why, why, WHY did our mother try to dress us like Little House on the Prairie every time we went anywhere??
2) Who is that little boy in the romper? He looks like one of the Children of the Damned (cue screechy music!)
3) Who ever thought that black tights and shoes went with that dress, Kimmy?? Is this a case of.. all of our other multicolored tights had holes in them? LOL

Later: Pictures from L's absolutely fabulous birthday party last night!

Well Drop Dead!

If you looked at a certain cross section of the pictures of me as a child, you could draw the conclusion that I had major anger issues.... ;-)

For example, there is this photo, taken after my mother put those ridiculous azaleas all over my head, had a good gutbusting laugh at me with my older sister (who in those days enjoyed nothing more than making fun of someone), and then made me stand to have my picture taken.

"Smiiiiile!...... You smile right now or you are getting a spankin!!!!!!!!"

This all started with me picking an azalea (because I like them and they are pretty, and they were the only flower I could get away with picking without having my butt handed to me) and putting it behind my ear like someone glamourous and Hawaiian I had seen on TV.. I think it might have been in the Miss America pageant.. this was back in the heyday of Miss America... but anyway, the reaction was amazing.

"Oh, you want to put flowers in your hair? Well then you have to do it like this! AND wear it to the Kingdom Hall." And the next thing I know, I am a laughingstock covered with foliage. I am not kidding, I actually thought that. Those were my actual thoughts. I was such a serious child! I fully expected to be spoken to and treated like an adult, and the more people called me cute or didn't take me seriously, or laughed at anything I said, the angrier I got.

In retrospect, how the heck would you take that child seriously?? I mean, seriously..

Kimmy Takes Over

These are great pictures..

Here we have the Princess at around 8 years of age.. maybe 9 or so. Dig the groovy plaid shirt. The Peter Pan collar has developed ruffles, and begun to follow us even into the wilderness on camping trips. I am lovin the snaggle-teeth. :-)

Once again we see my sister in our train wreck of a kitchen. We had the longest Harvest Gold phone cord in recorded history. It was so long that you could walk by it and get your foot caught.. depending on your body weight it would either jerk you back (me) or yank the phone completely off the wall (Mom).

This is one of Kimmy's frequent forays into the world of cooking. She needed her own cooking show, seriously. This picture is so cute! This was not the time she accidentally baked the dishrag into the cake, thank goodness. She was making something chocolate... Note all of the antiques spread out on that table! Mom still has the funky dish in the center, as well as the rest of that set, and I still have all of those Tupperware measuring cups and spoons!

Me and My Dread Disease

Beware.. this post is ultimately about funny old pictures.. but it does have an additional message. Be forewarned. Forewarned is forearmed, you see.

Now. Here I stand with W's dog, Buppy. Buppy was never my favorite of the pets, but any furry little thing to play with was better than none in my book. I have always loved cute furry things even if they were kinda dirty and smelled funny. ;-) He looks like he is waving at the camera here.
Ok, so here's where the "message" comes in. Does ANYONE look at these pictures and NOT see that I had a major posture problem? My kneecaps face each other. My toes point in. My back is perpetually arched. My shoulders are not even.

Now, I ask you, WHY did not one person ever ask any questions about this until I was a very sensitive pre-teen.. and then they treated scoliosis like it was cancer or spina bifida or something and acted like I was going to be drooling in a wheelchair before the year was out. Never mind that something like 75% of America has it in one form or another and it is easily treated in most cases with physical therapy and/or exercise.. if that doesn't work, there are several surgeries available.

I mean, honestly, people. If you suspect that your child has a physical problem of some sort, ask about it when you first see it, not 15 years later. And don't treat them like they're going to die any minute, and bring their embarrassing x-rays out at dinner to show everyone who ever comes over how critically ill your child is (who is out in the backyard wrestling with the dog and making mud pies in the meantime).

I mean, I know attention is important and stuff, but not at the expense of your child. Just saying. Did this become TMI? A little angst-y maybe? Eh well. The pictures are funny anyway.

My Debut as a Wedding Photographer

It was outdoors, so I had no control over the light.. but they turned out nice anyway.

Dress Up

I guess it is true that all little girls love to play dress up. We sure did.. Here I am as a 4-year-old, in our train wreck of a kitchen, dressed up as a strange bride-like creature. We seemed to have a plethora of old robes and negligees to dress up in, and we always turned them in to something else.

Note that this kitchen makes me nauseous every time I see a picture of it. ;-)

Here we are playing dress up again. We liked to put things on our heads.. bathrobes, sweaters as veils, old hats, weird hairstyles.. I look like I am wearing a red velvet barber sheet.. I imagine that this is the kind of thing Liberace would wear while having his hair cut.

Note that Kimmy has learned to take her glasses off in front of the camera at this point. ;-) I have more great pics where these came from.. I've scanned in a proverbial truckload this morning...

Antibiotics are Great

Yes, I have been under the weather for the past few days. I tried to avoid going to the doctor again, because I feel like I am there every three months, like clockwork, to complain of a sinus infection, an ear infection, etc etc. I finally went to the doctor yesterday morning, because it was getting worse, not better, and I have no time to be sick.

He gave me my amoxicillin, and when I asked how to avoid getting this crud every few months, he said "avoid all human contact." He can be a very funny guy sometimes.

I realize that I growl like a wounded lion when I am sick, especially when I am sick and have to work anyway (like all week this week), so to counteract that, I am going to post a list of things I particularly love today:

1) L, of course. He made me some mac & cheese last night. :-)

2) Trigger, of course. And the Monster. And Denver and Barnie. I love my furry kids this morning.

3) I am wearing some very cute Express jeans today. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but they look nice and that cheers me up, since I don't feel very nice.

And on that note, I am going to post a sign on my office door warning everyone to stay on their side of the doorway, and get to work.

Tomorrow: Pictures and commentary from TM's wedding yesterday. She's TG now.

Some Days It Would Be Really Nice to Be a Horse.

The Best of Intentions

I meant to scan some more old pictures this weekend, for interesting and funny posts here at the Dysfunction Junction.. but it didn't happen. I also intended to clean my house, wash my car, etc etc etc. What happened was that I did a lot of sleeping, went riding on Saturday morning, and made some garlic herb bread for L this evening.

The most successful parts of the weekend were as follows: A truly memorable nap on Saturday afternoon, and dinner tonight. Dinner consisted of pork chops stuffed with bleu cheese, lemon, herbs, and olive oil, and baked in the convection oven, served with mashed potatoes, the garlic herb bread, and salad. Yum.

I am feeling a little sick, to be honest, but I am not saying that out loud.. T is getting married this week, and I am her photographer.. I have a class to teach in the morning and band practice tomorrow evening. Tuesday is already shaping up as awfully busy as well.

So my stuffed up head, sore throat, and achy joints will have to suck it up and deal with it until at least the later part of the week. But then L's parents are visiting, so I had better be better by Friday afternoon.

So, no funny pics to post until later, unless I can find a cache I scanned and forgot about. Oh, and by the way, I guest-posted on the Blue Book yesterday. :-) My first guest-blogging experience ever. Thanks, Joe.

Time for a List..

Haven't posted one of my lists in a while, so here you go: A random List:

1) Went to the basketball game last night. It was fun. L was disappointed that my team beat his team though. Go Tigers!

2) Wedding planning is sort of fun the second time around when you know what not to do.

3) Anna Nicole Smith. Hmm. How much do you want to bet that drugs played a starring role in this "tragedy?"

4) Someone is playing a cruel joke on me at work. The AC is always on in my office and no matter what I do, it is always like a meat locker in there. Seriously, I have icicles hanging off my nose.

5) I think someone is playing a cruel joke on my body, too. I am losing weight (about 10 pounds so far) but have gone up a whole cup size because of my recent return to birth control pills at the insistence of my doctor. (Apologies to my readers who are somewhat prone to the vapors.. Yes, I am discussing breasts on the internet. Get over it.) So what's happening is that my pants are all too big and my shirts are all too small. What is going ON here???

6) I'm going to see Trigger after work! I only got to ride once last week, so we need some playtime! He also needs new shoes...

So this was a pretty long list. Cool. Tomorrow: Look for more old pics, if I can dig them up from the archives.

Better Day

Today I discovered Despair.com

I demotivated a bit and immediately felt better. Try it, you'll like it. Especially if you work in an office. :-)

Digo Nada

I and feeling pretty blah today.
Work was okay, but boring. I have band practice now, which on a normal day would be fun and exciting, but today it's blah because I don't feel good.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I will go back to see Trigger. He always makes me smile.

Sorry, I have no nifty pictures today. Blah.
I have shopping to do sometime this week, but I am feeling pretty blah about that too because I don't have a clue what to get L for Valentine's Day or his birthday which is rapidly approaching.

Ok, so I will concentrate on something less blah for tomorrow. :(

The Wonderful Thing about Trigger..

I had an awesome day today. I'll start with the end and end with the beginning. We had four cheese ravioli and marinara sauce with balsamic salad and garlic bread for dinner. L looks adorable in carpenter jeans. Before that I went to play with Trigger in the cold. He is such a good boy. We lunged for a few minutes..
And then went on a brisk trail ride. We ran like wild animals up and down the trails, and then came back to the barn for a nice brush and a turnout with all Trigger's friends.
We're best friends, you know.
Before that, I went shopping with A1 and found these absolutely delicious shoes! (Please ignore my extreme lack of tan. L has suggested MysticTan.. let's get spraypainted! Yeah~!) They are Jessica Simpson.. and they were too expensive, but I bought them anyway because they are SO AWESOME. I also looked at the tap shoes at Nine West, and I am strongly considering them for my wedding. At least that's an excellent excuse to buy them.
I mean, look at these shoes!!!! What a great day. :-D

Woah Nellie..

I don't know what to say about this except that it is strange. My sister is obviously playing dress up, which was our favorite game of all time. We also liked to play princess (but I always had to be the prince or the servant). Note that the Decorative Heads have moved from the living room to the bedroom.. Note also the red candle on the dresser.. We had a lot of candles that were never lit because Mom never took the wrappers off. They are probably in her storage shed, still in their wrappers. Note also that all of the pictures on the dresser are of us. Not a one of mom or dad or anyone else.

I'll leave you with this last picture.. Silver was such an awesome stickhorse. I still have him. He was carrying me, Kendra, Michael, and Eric here. And I am once again wearing the velvet shirt, like a little Liberace cowgirl...

The Back Forty

We had a seriously huge backyard. Like, we really could have had the pony I wanted desperately in our backyard. Instead of a nice pony, we had the Blue Goose, a suspiciously hearse-like vehicle. It was kind of a pre-SUV without any seats in it. It did have neat little shelves in the walls on the inside though. I liked to play in there. See my nifty Black Stallion shirt? My daddy defied copyright law to screen print a bunch of those shirts. I wore mine until it was too shredded to be considered a shirt anymore.
Here we are in our ginormous backyard, sitting at our own bright yellow picnic table (even our lawn furniture followed the color scheme!). We ate a lot of watermelon. A lot. My piece is bigger than my head. That's probably why I am wearing my bathing suit, while my sister is in regular clothes.

I suddenly am in the mood for watermelon and 100-degree summer weather... Hmm..

Come Sail Away

First thing today, I must tell you that it snowed last night and it's COLD.
So I am at home, working and drinking coffee with a giant dog sleeping beside me. It's time to post some pictures. Oh yes. Here's Kimmy in those magic growing glasses and one of our famous ribbon bows in her hair. She's really cute. I'm not sure if the sailor tie actually goes with the shirt or not, but there it is. I wonder who the present on the table was for. It certainly wasn't either of us, that's for sure. I'm wondering about that shirt... does it have the sleeves cut off, or is it supposed to look like that? I'm thinking someone got happy with the scissors...
Hm. The Littlest Mule indeed. And another strange velvet shirt...