Of Monster and Voodoo Dolls~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I am home,  hooray!!  I didn't think Home would look so good but it was a busy day, fortunately the trip home wasn't slow, but I think I am still tired from all that shopping.  Well Coralline marched from store to store like a drill sargent.  And she knew what she wanted.

She is in some ways maturing that little girl.

To Trisha and Lucretia I don't see why one can't collect the Monster High Dolls---I have a link and one can order them from Mattel, along with available accessories.

As a matter of fact my Sister thinks she might use them in part of her therapy, they are silly and non-threatening in their own fantasty-morbid way. 

When I came home and put my things away Sis came up to me and said "why not have a duplicate set here?"  "Of What?"  I asked.  "Of the Monster High Dolls and their things, book cases don't cost much at IKEA"  I looked at her for a second and asked "What are you getting at?"  and she replied "A playroom"  "And where would that be?" said I. 

She took me to the small room off the kitchen that use to be a maids room and it has a very tiny bathroom, no tub just a shower.  I had been thinking of using it for guests, but with Sis moving out I would have two spare bedrooms upstairs so that is not necessary, so I was thinking of it being a sewing room or something, but a playroom for dolls---I thought about it, the room is very plain so there are possiblities---I looked at Sis and said "O.K., but no racks or iron maidens" and she agreed.

While Sis is getting dinner out of the oven, I am planning for a play room, who says you can't collect dolls at our age. 

Of course Doyle might be baffled about this, but when I've gone into the basement area that is strickly off limits he asks me "Candle Time?"  and I reply "Candle Time"  if nothing else its good therapy and I do get results, I don't do it often but then I am my own woman.  I plot and plan carefully.

And now Sis is calling me to dinner.

Later Darklings

Holiday Plannings~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well we’ve worked out a Holiday schedule with Corallines parents, they will drop her off at my work on Friday’s when she’s let out of school and then we’ll travel home by public transportation, depending on how quickly we need to get home, so it may vary, we have Bart and Bus or Bus and Bus or Ferry and Bus, or maybe Doyle will pick us up depending upon his schedule.

Already I’ve made reservations to see “A Christmas Carol” at A.C.T., the S.F. Ballet’s “the Nutcracker”, and a Children’s Tea at Dunsmuir House where we’ll also take in a tour of the huge Mansion.

Other things on our agenda will be the Oakland Zoo’s Christmas lights, and taking in a local Christmas Tree Lane and maybe one or two other things, but we’ll see.

We will buy a live tree for the Family Parlor, but I’m purchasing an artificial one for the Formal Parlor (aka the Asylum).  We’ll buy the fake one this Friday, I’ll get off work as soon as they drop Coralline off and we’ll spend the weekend trying to assemble it and decorate it, but we’ll buy a real one  a week or two after, I am concerned about it being a fire hazard, but we’ll see.  My sister when putting some things in the Storage Room, came across boxes of old Christmas ornaments, so we’ll use those and if we don’t have enough I’ll buy more.  Some of them appear to be very old.

One thing we will do this Saturday evening is there is a tree lighting ceremony in a local community so we’ll attend that and get a bite to eat out at one of their local eateries.

I’ve not told Coralline what we are going to do, sometimes it will be all three of us and sometimes, depending up both my sisters’ and Doyle’s schedule either all of us or just Coralline and me.

It has been ages since I was a child doing child like things, my sister had that advantage when her two daughters were growing up.  And she hopes to have some fun with her grandchildren, right now it looks like the due date for Grandchild number 2 will be the beginning of January of 2013, and the older one has just turned two.  Marie is going to see her daughter and son-in-law the week after Christmas, her other daughter will be coming by as well; last night I heard my sister complain about how available jobs forces families to be miles apart, at least she’ll be able to take the train to Reno instead of driving all the way there, they live just outside of Reno so her son in law will come and pick her up at the station.

But she told me that with Coralline we both will have a measure of fun, Doyle is in the same position as Marie, his children will be visiting other family members, so he’s going to see them for a few days before Christmas and be back by Christmas Eve, so he’s hoping to join us for some of the Holiday doings.

He feels bad that he’ll be leaving me alone for a little while but I told him I’ll be so busy getting the house ready for the holiday dinner I won’t have a chance to miss him, except late at night.  At least both he and my sister will be here for the Christmas Dinner.

And I’m certainly looking forward to that.

Later Darklings

13 Goals that an Elder/Elderly Goth should follow~~~

Darklings,




I’ve discovered something while I was on my vacation, first, and it is so obvious----I missed my little 4 legged darling, Belladonna intensely, so much so that I was calling her babysitter every other day, which fortunately her babysitter didn’t mind, but I fully intend to take her with me as much as possible from now on.



Secondly, while going through some things and also being on vacation I re-discovered things that I had jotted down many years ago, goals that one should achieve, things that were told/taught to me by my family, some of which I’ve mentioned before but I think bears repeating.



We must conserve our resources, our parents, grand-parents and great-grand-parents knew this, but it is something that we forgot in the vast consumerism of 1970’s to now in the 21st century.



We must remember to:

USE IT UP

FIX IT UP

FIND ANOTHER WAY OF USING IT

MAKE DO

SAVE UP FOR IT

OR DO WITHOUT



What the youngsters or Baby Bats, now call re-cycling and re-purposing, the Elders knew long, long before.



And these things that I re-discovered---fortunately I’ve managed to achieve most of it, but even for myself, an Elder/Elderly Goth, one should never stop learning.



I’ve also looked into the shelf and freezer life of products as well for my pantry and I’ve discovered it is so important to date things, that way you can be sure to use it in time and rotate out without waste, a large indelible ink marker is very handy for that.



But Something else I’ve discovered and have updated and augmented.



These are:



Goals that an Elder/Elderly Goth should achieved

And what younger Goths or Baby Bats should aspire to….



1. Know Yourself, to truly know yourself you must be prepared to change your opinions as you learn and grow older.  For if you are not willing to know yourself, to be willing to learn and with learning change, then instead you will stagnate and never achieve anything.



2. Know your Job and Skills, learn from the masters who have done this before, sometimes the old skills are the best. Remember Scotty from Star Trek who said "The more they over think the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.” And remember what he also told a young La Forge who said "The tank can't handle that much pressure."

"Where'd you get that idea?"

"It's in the impulse specifications."

"Regulation 42/15: 'Pressure Variances in IRC Tank Storage'?"

"Right."

"Oh, that. Forget it. I WROTE it”



3. Learn and Grow, never be afraid to expand your abilities by continuously learning, that way life never grows dull or stale and it makes things interesting.



4. Apply knowledge with Wisdom, never ever think you know everything or have all the answers because YOU DON’T, be willing to admit that there are times when you could be wrong.



5. Achieve Balance, remember there are always two sides to every question, argument, situation and truth



6. Keep your Words in Good Order, it is always easy to use profane and foul language it is much harder to say things carefully without increasing the tension.



7. Keep you Thoughts in Good Order, it is always easy to jump to conclusions or to judge and condemn without looking carefully at the situation, remember the Indian prayer “Great Spirit, Grant That I May Not Criticize My Neighbor Until I Have Walked A Mile In His Moccasins"



8. Celebrate Life, in Life there is Death, in Death there is Life, it should always be a celebration, if you hear the tiniest squeak of a Hummingbird, see the flutter of a Butterfly, the inquisitiveness of a squirrels, the playful happiness of a dog, the relaxed attitude of a cat, the gracefulness of a fish, the soaring loftiness of a sparrow, then celebrate it, even if its just in your heart.



9. Attune with the Cycles of the Earth, we forget that to every Season there is a time for it, to ignore it is to throw your body and senses out of time and out of tune with the music of the spheres, celebrate everything and attune with it, from New Years to Valentine’s Day to Easter, to Mother’s and Father’s Day, Memorial Day to 4th of July, to Fall, to Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas, celebrate it, to ignore it is to bankrupt your soul and your self.



10. Breathe and Eat Correctly, slow down, simplify your life, enjoy the air that is out there, enjoy the sun, the moon, the stars, the day and the night, the rain, the wind, you do not need 100 pairs of shoes, nor all those apps on your Iphone or Ipad, sometimes it is good to disconnect from everything and just slow down, BREATHE and live life, to eating correctly we make the mistake of gobbling our food, we don’t savor it, we eat too many big Macs but forget the delightful crunch of a fresh apple, eating should be slowed down and enjoyed, from the taste to the smell, to the texture and flavor.





11. Exercise the Body, too long we sit at a computer ‘surfing the internet’ and denying the joys of the outdoors, even at night; we watch sports on T.V. but do not enjoy the physical interaction with friends and/or family, even if it’s a slow walk in the neighborhood you’ll get to meet people, discover little hidden treasures of shops and places, and missing the beauty of life around us.



12.Meditate, this is where you learn to listen to the stillness within, to bring the energies of the body into harmony to close your eyes and quiet the “monkey chatter” in the brain and in doing so achieve a blissful serenity that most people seek through drugs or over activity but really it is the stillness that brings it to you.



13.Honor the Higher Spiritual Power, yes there is something profound that is greater than ourselves, whatever your religious beliefs are, take time to say thank you to this Higher Power, if it was through the intervention by a parent, friend, co-worker, acquaintance or just someone in customer service who assists you to their best of their ability say “Thank You”, by doing that you honor them and you Honor the Higher Spiritual Power.



Some times it might be best to go on a Spiritual Retreat at an abbey or monastery to get yourself to learn to Slow Down and discover yourself and the simple joys of life, to go against the stream of “go, go, go!” and instead say “Why?”



Sometimes it can be the pleasure of doing childlike things, of blowing bubbles, of cutting snowflakes out of paper, of dancing with your dog, or gathering sea shells,   for to quote Captain Kirk "The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play." And we should all learn to play.



Later Darklings.