Trick or Treat!

*Shakes my Hello Kitty basket at you*

Gimmeeee Gimeeee treats!!



Happy Halloween, Folks!

A Moment of Silence, Please

MiniWarriors Dad called me at work today.

Jessica-the-Mantis has passed.

A moment of blog silence, please while we honor Jessica.

Grisly cricket and grasshopper head consumer.

Freaky foamy egg sack layer.

She was a good bug for she madeth the MiniWarrior smileth.

May she rest in peace.

...thank god.

Halloween Goodness!

2 days til Halloween, Folks.

TWO DAYS!

I love this Holiday.

Where else can you dress up in a zany outfits and pound on strangers doors--begging for free candy--without fear of a restraining order?

Hmm?

I ask you!

BRING IT!

Mantis Update: Jessica

Jessica still lives.

I spied on her yesterday as she hovered over her foamy egg sack all protective like.

I had been thinking of scraping it out of the habitat...

Now I feel torn.

She's guarding her little demon babies.

Argh!

What's a Kat to do?

As Promised: A Fall-tastic Road Trip

We took off at Noon, shaking the city dust off our feet and zooming towards the country.

I took the Old Scenic Hwy that snakes upwards through the tree lined Columbia Gorge.

The trees were in full Fall display. My coworker whooped out loud and flung her hands in the air, thoroughly enjoying the splendor.

I grinned so much my cheeks hurt.

We ended our day with a trip to Red Lobster and stuffed ourselves full on shrimp and Salmon steaks.

Good times, Folks. Absolutely good times.

Enjoy:

Vista House View Point: The wind was blowing so hard I was almost blown over.



Coworker hamming it up


Looking out from atop Viewpoint


Stairway to Falls


Multnomah Falls






A Peek of the Columbia River

Road Trip Goodness!

I'm taking off work today at Noon.

We have a lady working in our group who's from our Vicksburg Mississippi site. She's covering for one of our coworkers who is out due to Cancer surgery.

We have her for 3 weeks so I thought it would be nice if she could see more of our great Northwest then the inside of her hotel room and work space.

So, we are heading off to Multnomah Falls, about a 45 minute drive from work.

It's supposed to be a nice day, near 70. My Guy loaned me his convertible so we could get the full benefit of the rare Fall sunshine. WOO!

I'm bringing my camera. I promise to post pictures.

RRRRRRRRRRROAD TRIP! WOOOOOOO!

Egg-scuse me. I forgot to mention...

Jessica laid eggs.

There is a foamy egg sack stuck to the floor of the Habitat.

I Googled "Preying Mantis eggs" and read that in 3-6 weeks we will be seeing baby mantis'.

When my Guy was informed of this he made a noise not unlike a cricket scream.

hehehe

Weekend Goodness and Jessica the Mantis

Weekend was grand. We found a sitter for MiniWarrior so my Man and I were able to hang out with friends at their annual Halloween Bash.
Good times. Good times.

MiniWarrior has a new Mantis (god help us). He's named her Jessica.

Jessica is very active.
V.e.r.y.

She consumed the two grasshoppers left in the Habitat and was clawing at the Habitat door in an attempt for freedom and more food.

I fear we were on her list of edibles.

Friday, MiniWarrior and I tromped the fields of I-HOP to no avail. Nary a bug twas seen. I tried to warn MiniWarrior that bug season was over but he had to see for himself.

However, as we drove to the local swimming pool afterwards, for his Friday evening swim, his brown eyes were filled with disappointed crocodile tears and his lower lip was jutted out in a disappointed pout.

I took him Saturday to Petco and we bought Jessica-the-Mantis a baggie of crickets.

Lord. Help us.

As soon as I unloaded the baggie into the Habitat, Jessica snatched one up and started chomping. *shudder* Man that bug is quick! Creepy ass bug.

The best part of the weekend?

The remaining crickets started chirping and haven't stopped. I went upstairs to kiss MiniWarrior good night, after returning from Halloween Bash. and found him sound asleep underneath his pillow; the crickets chirping heartily in the Habitat beside his bed.

My Guy said, "Yeah. You ever see Silence of the Lambs? They weren't chirping, those were cricket screams. They just finished watching 4 of their friends get devoured by Jessica the Mantis!"

A Frazzled and Thankful Kat

Yesterday I ran into a wall of human meanness and out right rudeness.

I can't go into details as it was work related...but suffice to say--I walked away a very frazzled angry Kat.

I just don't understand the mentality of meanness. Of unprovoked rudeness. At 42 years of age I've smacked up against it from time to time, but every time, every time... it leaves me puzzled and dispirited.

The positive note on this frustrating day is the people that know me who went of their way, when they saw my anger, to help soothe me.

Every little thing that they did to help make my day brighter helped fill up that empty feeling that the frustrating encounter had left me with.

Friends joking with me to lighten my mood, and my loved one fussing over me, making a picnic of snacks and hovering by me while we ate...listening while I ranted.

I pocketed every little act of kindness inside me for I value it for the wonderful gift it is.

And I thank you for making me smile in what was a grey and dismal day.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Portland is having a bomb drill today so I will be evacuated soon.

You can read about it HERE

Ohhh happy days.

At least I'm at work and being paid to stand in the rain.

Corn Maze Goodness

Tromping on muddy pathways carved out of a corn field.
Snapping multiple pictures of friends faces pressed into corny farm picture frames.
Sitting in the shade of an apple tree, munching on its fruit shoved on a stick and smothered in carmel.
Wedged in traffic for 2 hours struggling with other Maze adventurers to get off the Island.
Removing mud caked tennis shoes and (finally) stepping through the doorway of home five hours later...

Priceless.

Good times, Folks. Good times.

Beginning of Maze


MiniWarrior Confused as to why we thought walking in mud was fun


Sunflower we saw several times. We were lost in the maze...


End of Maze: Hurrah!

A-Mazing We Will Go

We are off to visit a Corn Maze.
Pictures when we return.

Habitat Thursday: Update

picking up MiniWarrior from his Dad's house Wednesday evening.

"Hi Mom, I missed you! Guess what?"

"Hi Son, I missed you too. What?"

"My green Mantis (Mantie) ate my brown one (Sid)"

"He did?"

"Yeah. 'Cept he didn't eat his head...he ate his butt."

"Ewwww."

"Yeah it was pretty gruesome. Then the Green Mantis died."

"Right away?"

"A little bit afterwards. I think he got butt poison."

...


We drove over to I-HOP Grasshopper field after school on Thursday, armed with the Habitat with one lone grasshopper in residence.

5 Grasshoppers and a new brown Mantis later, we headed home.

On the drive home...

"Hey....HEY!" tapping on the habitat "Stop fighting! Mommmmmm! Two of my grasshoppers are fighting!"

I glanced over to see two grasshoppers engaging in rough grasshopper sex.

"Er...uh...bang on the habitat."

bang! bang! bang!

"Hey! GET ALONG!"

"Mommmmmmmm they're still fighting!"

MiniWarriors lower lip quivered and large tears filled his eyes

"They're not supposed to fight."

sigh

"Hun, they aren't fighting they're..."

"Oh wait! I think they were just wrestling. They've stopped fighting now!"

sag of relief

"I think one grasshopper pooped on the other one, though."

...

Last night, the grasshoppers were banging around in their habitat making quite the racket. Guido hopped onto a kitchen chair to get a closer look at the curious nose coming from the case which resided on top of the Bar.

His face says it all...

Kat Friday Paw~nderings

Today is my Friday--already! Where did this past week go??

Last night I was out to dinner with a group of friends. We got into a discussion about children. One of my friends has decided at 37 yrs of age she and her man do not wish to have children.

She spoke of how comfortable her life was and how she never really liked kids and just couldn't see raising any.

I told her that I thought she was brave for standing up and admitting that. For choosing to not to raise a child. Some people just aren't meant to be parents. And that's OK.

The conversation moved into the subject of my being an adopted child who grew up and is now raising an adopted child.

My friends man is adopted also. We talked about what it was like growing up adopted and about my decision not to tell my son he's adopted (for now).

"When did you know you were adopted?" I was asked.

"From the very beginning of comprehension."

"How did you feel about that?"

"It was my life support."

Quizzical looks sent my way

"Seriously. You know how other siblings tease each other and say, You're adopted when they really aren't?"

Laughter and nodding of heads

"Our Mother was so evil that when we were kids we'd tease each other and say, You're not really adopted...you're her REAL child! The teased person would scream in horror."

My friends laughed with me as they know some of my childhood stories but one lady who had come to dinner with another friend of mine was leaning forward and listening with rapt attention.

"I'm a birth mother" She said quietly.

I looked at her and smiled. "You know what? I think birth mothers are one of the bravest people I know of."

She gave me shy look and ducked her head, melting back into the table crowd.

"Seriously." I said, turning to speak to my friends sitting to my right. "You find yourself in a situation in life where you're pregnant and cannot or do not want to raise your child in that lifestyle. So you bundle them up and send them out into the world for a better chance than you feel you can give them."

"That, is bravery." I said, tapping the table in emphasis.

"You spend your adult years thinking about that child. Aware of everything you are missing. You live with that emptiness."

"As a child you don't really feel much of that pain. You're too busy growing up and experiencing life. Sure, you wonder. You pause and feel that ache of not knowing from time to time, but it's not the full center of your life."

The birth mother at the table had leaned forward out of the table crowd and was nodding her head. Her eyes were on me like lasers, drinking in my words.

I knew what she was feeling, having talked at length with my own birth mom and the guilt and anguish she felt.

I turned and looked the birth mother in her eyes. "You know what? I found my birth Mom when I was 26 and it was wonderful. But you know what I wish? I wish I could have taken the pain from her of the years she gave up missing watching me grow. Most of all? I wish I could take the guilt from her. To let her really understand how damn proud I am of her for making the brave decision to not raise me at that tumultuous time of her young life. For going out and making something of her life and eventually having a family of her own that she could be with."

The birth mother looked at me with aching eyes then melted back into the table crowd.

A mothers love.

You don't have to have raised a child to feel it. It's there. I hope I helped her with some of the pain she is carrying by answering some of the questions I know, haunt her.

Hurrah!

New computer is built!



I zoomed over to CompUSA and purchased a new game to try out the new graphics card.
After much perusing, I chose OBLIVION.


It's a role playing game that has some pretty awesome graphics!




I played it for a couple of hours last night trying to get the game play down. It's a little more difficult than Dungeon Runners or Diablo II as far as movement game play--but it has the same premise.
You kill stuff. Then rummage the carcass for armor,weapons and cool stuff.



Good times. Good times.

Dahlings

I apologize for my lack of bloggage.
I shall endeavour to scratch out a post when I've acquired that elusive thing called sleep.

Mantis Thursday

It's become a Thursday tradition.

Thursdays, after school, I take MiniWarrior to the parking lot of I-HOP restaurant and we go a bug huntin'.

We scored big on this Thursdays hunt.

Two Preying Mantis and two grasshoppers.

(Sorry Mrs X)


The infamous Habitat



Bird nest we found on one of our walks.



Two Mantis' aka Mantie and Sid


Mantie attempting escape


Sid Peeking



Grasshopper: Saveeee meeeee!



Guido-the-cat discovers Mantis'


There you go. Now you are a witness to Mantis Thursdays.

Computer Carcass: Day of Mourning

My 4 (5?) year old computer has bitten the great dust ball in the sky. I think I'm sorta responsible for that.

Computh~enasia?

I had been given some new 1gig memory strips and plugged them in. Unfortunately, my motherboard and power supply were not strong enough to handle it.

I booted up my PC and POOF! Carcass. Sorta like the preying mantis gorging on grasshopper heads (sorry Mrs X). Too much of a good thing, I guess? :)

Yes yes...just call me kat-kervorkia.

Soooo. I went online with a coworker and we picked out some new insides for my PC case.

We can rebuild it.

Faster.

Stronger...




*cue empty pocket book music*

Good news is...when I'm done building it...I will have a new smokin' game machine!

WOO!

Bring it....BRING IT!

Ahve Been Awarded!

*sniffle sniff sniff*
I just don't know what to say! I'm honored :D
Thank you, LaChanson for this lovely award.

Monday Goodness

A few of you have been wondering how my move has gone and how things are going now that I've had a chance to settle.

To honor the privacy of the one whom I love, I can't divulge too much, but I will say this: this past month has been a wonderful time in my life.

I have never felt more taken care of or more loved.

I come from a chaotic background so the cocoon of gentleness I step into when I walk through the front door is an indescribable feeling.

MiniWarrior is thriving. He's doing wonderful at school and growing taller every day. He'll be outgrowing me soon! We caught a brown preying mantis on Thursday...along with 3 grasshoppers. (his last preying mantis was green so he was beyond himself with excitement over catching a brown one)

It promptly gorged itself on two of the grasshoppers heads, went into sleep mode then fell dead to the floor of the habitat when MiniWarrior went to his Dads, Saturday evening. What is it with the preying mantis dying after eating?? Freaky ass bugs...

On the work front, I heard that our jobs were funded through May of next year now. So I will be employed through the holidays :) WOO! Definitely good news. What the future holds after that, I really don't know. I pushed out my resume to different jobs while waiting for the news on my current job. I think I will continue to do so as our jobs are still on shaky ground. It was a real experience updating my resume and writing cover letters after 13 years at the same job. I'm definitely rusty.

Oh. I do have one more bit of news. Last night, I talked to the realtor who was selling the house I last rented...She asked me if I had ever seen any sign of bats.

"Bats?!"

"Yeah. Did you see any bats while you lived there?"

"Um. No?"

"Apparently this house has a huge bat problem. They are living in the fireplace."

"What?!"

"Yeah. Big brown ones."

"!!!"

"You never heard anything or saw anything?"

"Well that would explain why I heard things banging against the windows at night..."

"Oh yeah. That was probably them. They were big."

"!!!"

turning and shooting a look to my man

"I told you I heard noises at night!"

"Honey, having been in your bedroom and laying surrounded by all your hello kitty's staring at me with their freakish eyes, I just assumed when you said you were hearing things it was just the voices in your head."

...