Another way to bring the outside in.

I came across this on my Internet travels and thought I would share. I really like this idea but I'm sure Vampire Kitini would like it more, which would cause me to not like the idea nearly as much. : ) The mat currently goes for around $193.00 US dollars so it's a little pricey. I think I paid $10 at Kohl's for my current bath mat. This is a very unique item and I'm all about finding interesting things. Plus it would be fun to dance around and water the moss. hee hee

Who left when you arrived?

I was making my blog rounds today and Creepy Cupcakes had a cool post that I had to steal. : ) Click on the image below to be brought to a Web site where you enter your date of birth. It tells you who else died on your birthday (various years) and if there were any natural disasters that occurred in your birth year.

138,685 People

Natural disasters in 1980
1. Grand Island, Nebraska tornado outbreak
2. Kalamazoo tornado (K-zoo is an hour away from where I was born. I didn't even know about this until now!)
3. "More Trees Down" derecho (wind storm)
4. eruption of Mount St. Helens
5. United States heat wave
6. western Wisconsin derecho

Tons of people died on my b-day in various years but the only names I recognized were:

1999: Shel Silverstein - American poet & composer
1994: John Wayne Gacy - American serial killer (executed)
1977: Joan Crawford - American actress
1863: Stonewall Jackson - American Confederate general
1818: Paul Revere - American patriot
1774: King Louis XV of France

People who died in 1980:
John Lennon - Shot to death by a mentally ill fan. For those who grew up under a rock, he was in The Beatles. : )
John Bonham - Choked to death on his own vomit after consuming a large amount of alcohol. He was the drummer for Led Zeppelin.

I'm going to making another "death" post sometime this week. Stay tuned.

You're killing them!

I ran across some cool unique items today. Check out Hanging Harry and Dead Fred. They have other pals but I liked those two the best.

Creepy cool party decoration!

Here's something for your next dark get-together. They're quite unique and everyone will want to know how you did it. Check out the instructions here. I haven't attempted this project but if I ever do, I'll let you know how it turned out.

Vegetarians are screwed.

In my previous post, I told you that Twinkies are not vegetarian friendly due to the beef fat that's added. Bleh. There are so many products that you would think are safe for vegetarians but they aren't. One item is McDonald's french fries. This may be one you have heard of before. There was a law suit against McDonald's in 2001 brought on by vegetarians and people of the Hindu faith because of the fact that McDonald's fries contain a beef by-product and the public was not told. People who practice the Hindu faith consider cows sacred and someone had said that eating a cow was like eating their mother.

Prior to 1990, McDonald's cooked their fries in 93% beef tallow (fat) and 7% cottonseed oil for flavor. They switched to cooking their fries in 100% vegetable oil due to society concern over cholesterol. They omitted the fact that when the fries are initially prepared, a beef extract is being added to maintain their beefy flavor. In their disclosures, they put "natural flavoring" as one of the ingredients in their fries. By "natural flavoring", they meant beef fat.

Here was one of McDonald's responses to inquiries about their french fries:

The company uses a miniscule amount of beef flavoring as an ingredient in the raw product and it is not required by law to list it as an ingredient. Instead beef flavoring falls under the term "natural flavors".

According to the FDA, that is perfectly within the guidelines. I'm not going to get started on the FDA but let's just say I trust them as far as I can throw them...and they're a big organization.

So what do the french fry ingredients say now?

Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivitaves]*), citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (may contain one of the following: canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent. *Contains: Wheat and milk (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients).

The crap that we eat is horrifying. Most of what we taste are chemicals made in a lab. One more thing I want to mention. TBHQ in the ingredients above stands for tert-Butylhydroquinone. Consume enough of it and you'll get stomach tumors, cancer and it can damage your DNA. Read that last sentence again. You know what else alters our DNA? Radiation. So eat enough fries and maybe you'll grow another arm? It's Chernobyl on a smaller scale.


Final note: McDonald's does not use beef products in their french fries in India due to the amount of people that practice the Hindu faith. They also do not use beef products in predominately Muslim areas such as Africa, the Middle East and southeast Asia.

Twinkies are not vegetarian fare.

So you've decided to become a vegetarian. You're not eating any meat, poultry, seafood, or by-products of animal slaughter. So the occasional Twinkie is okay, right? Wrong! If you look at the ingredients on a package of Twinkies, you'll see numerous items, including some you may not be able to pronunciate. Over 30 of the ingredients are either made in a laboratory or are derivitaves of things like coal tar or petroleum. I'm not making this up people. One of the ingredients you'll see is "vegetable and/or animal shortening". So guess what Twinkie uses? Beef fat. Yep, as you bite into that soft pillow of sweetness, you're eating lard from a slaughtered cow. Um, gross.

Take this job and shove it!

I quit my job today. Yep, you heard (read) me right. I've been with this company for 8 years and even moved to another state while working for them. I started in a new position last fall and never got proper training. They would have me sit with people to learn some things and the rest I had to ask. Our auditors require that we have documented procedures but the auditors don't know that most of them are outdated. I knew, of course, because I tried to use them to train myself and found out they were inaccurate.

So what exactly led to my actions today? Mainly corporate drama. I had been relying on a couple co-workers to help me out when I had questions and I found out that one of them had been feeding me wrong answers on purpose and the other just wasn't listening to what I was asking. So I got in trouble for doing things wrong. When I explained that I had asked my co-workers for help, I was told that they weren't making these mistakes so basically it was my fault. Nice. In all the jobs I have ever had, this is the first where I got in trouble for mistakes. This is the first job where I've had multiple mistakes and even though the mistakes were being made because I was given incorrect information, my boss wouldn't even listen. She's buddies with the co-worker that was giving me wrong information on purpose so of course she sides with her and not me.

The whole thing reeks of BS. I had all I could stand so I put my documentation together to show that I wasn't making these mistakes on purpose or because I was guessing at how to do things. I met with Human Resources, told my side of the story, handed in my badge, and adios! It's sad that I had been with the company for so long and I don't have another job lined up. My health insurance is due to terminate next Tuesday. This economy is awful so I'm crossing my fingers that I can just find some part-time gig to get me by. My gut tells me that I made the right decision so it's all good. Things will work out in the end, I'm sure. Wish me luck!

I feel like such a rebel. hee hee

When you care enough to send the very best.

There are some people on this planet who really get under my skin. I wish they'd take a long walk on a short dock. I don't have the right amount of middle fingers needed to show these people just how I feel. Top offenders are as follows (in no particular order):

1. People who go under the speed limit.
2. People who pull out in front of me and I have to slam on my brakes.
3. People who use the 10 and under checkout lane when they have wayyy more than 10 items.
4. People who don't go when the light turns green. If I have to wait more than 3 seconds, you're either getting honked at or a nice hand gesture.
5. People who take a Sunday drive on any day of the week, including Sunday. This technically goes with item #1. If you want to take in the scenery, do it some place where I'm not.
6. People who ask how you're doing but don't really care like at a checkout lane. I know this can be an automatic thing but it's rude when someone asks you how you're doing and you respond with a, "Good, how are you?" and they don't respond.
7. People who blare their music in a quiet area. They're only doing this because they think they're cool. I can assure them that they are not.
8. People who screw up food orders. I said NO BEANS dammit!
9. People who hurt others for their own personal gain.
10. Liars. Nuff said.

For all of those lovely people out there, here's your prize:

If you wish to buy this, click here. If you're one of those people who are on the list above, I'll even put a bow on it. I won't be needing any bows though because people who visit my blog, would never be on that list. : )

Water, water everywhere...

...and not a drop to drink. This quote taken from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an English poet from the early 1800's. I'm a big fan of water and want to keep abundant clean water around from many years to come. Tomorrow is World Water Day. A day where we can begin to be more conscientious of our water usage. Below are a few tips on how to conserve and make good use of the water we have. Most are obvious but I included them just in case they're new to you.

1. Shut the water off when you're not using it. For example, when you're brushing your teeth. Only turn the water on when you need to rinse your toothbrush.

2. If you have indoor plants or herbs, set out buckets to collect rainwater and use that instead of tap water to give your plants/herbs a drink. Or if you don't have a place to collect rainwater, for some reason, use what's left in your cup when you have a drink of water that you didn't finish. Don't throw it out...use it!

3. If you've got a leaky faucet/toilet, get it fixed.

4. Spend less time in the shower and use a low-flow showerhead.

5. Watch how much water you're using for washing clothes. If you're not putting a bunch of clothes in the washer, don't select "large load".

All simple things to do!

If you leave near Fort Lupton in Colorado, be careful around your water!

Will we ever learn?

I talked about what happened with Travis the chimp in this story. Yesterday I came across two other recent situations involving primates. The first story comes from Planetsave.com:

A chimpanzee at Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo has been observed chipping at concrete to create discs to throw at visitors. He even made weapons at night to throw at visitors when the zoo opens in the morning.

While Santino the chimp’s retaliatory ways are amusing, they’ve also impressed scientists who believe this is the first evidence of a non-human animal being capable of making plans for the future.

“It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including life-like mental simulations of potential events,” said Mathias Osvath, a scientist who studied Santino for over a decade. “They most probably have an ‘inner world’ like we have when reviewing past episodes of our lives or thinking of days to come. I would guess that they plan much of their everyday behaviour.”

Osvath’s observations are only one of many studies that show that non-human primates are capable of some human-like thought. Another recent study showed baboons are capable of matching pictures and recognizing objects.

Unfortunately for Santino, the zoo didn’t think his stone-throwing ways were very cute. They’ve castrated the 31-year-old chimp, thinking it may lower his hormone levels and make him less aggressive.

The second story comes out of Thailand. Leilit Janchoom and his wife purchased a monkey named Brother Kwan. They bought him so he could climb trees and fetch coconuts for them to sell. Mr. Janchoom did not allow the monkey to rest and would beat him if he refused to climb a tree. It is thought that Brother Kwan eventually snapped and dropped a coconut on Mr. Janchoom's head, killing him on the spot.

Animals are smart, people, and you can't treat them badly or try to make a wild animal your pet because 9 times out of 10, they will get their revenge.

Alternative toys for the rest of us.

So I'm into the darker side of life, in case you didn't know yet. : ) I have a little wish list of things that I would like to buy someday. Things that I can't find at stores around here in my little conservative part of the planet. I thought I would share some of my finds for those who may be of like mind. Enjoy!

BEGoths dolls : If I were able to purchase any two, they would have to be Angelica Noir and Annabelle Lee.

Teddy Scares : My favorite of these is Sheldon Grogg.

Emily The Strange : In particular, Bad Bootsy.

Gorey Details : They have tons of fun toys. Like Skullboy, Lenore stuff, Furry Bones Bunny, Furry Bones Kitty, and although these aren't really toys, they're still pretty nifty. They even have Coraline dolls.

Who says we ever have to grow up?

Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate

What is bicarbonate ostylezene benzoate? It's actually a "who" not a "what". It's B.O.B. for short and he's a character in a movie that comes out soon call Monsters vs. Aliens. I hadn't heard anything about this movie until I was at Blockbuster the other day and saw this adorable cyclops stuffed creature that I had to have. I haven't bought a stuffed animal/creature in years but he was just too unique to pass up.

After I adopted B.O.B., I went home that night and had to read up on his character and the movie. Apparently he was created when a genetically altered tomato crossed with a chemically altered ranch-flavored dessert topping. Hmm. He's indestructible, has an insatiable appetite, and no brain. He says what he thinks because he has absolutely no filter, which can be a good thing. It sounds like he saves the day in the movie. Go B.O.B.! Stephen Colbert is the voice of the president and he's got at least one funny line, "Boys, set the terror level at code brown. Cause I need to change my pants." hee hee I'm so mature. See the trailer here:



I happen to think B.O.B. is cuter as the stuffed version so here's my recently adopted fellow.


And here he is with Vampire Kitini enjoying some sunshine. Yes, Vampire Kitini can withstand sunlight. He's just that powerful.

Which Living Dead Doll are you?

Holy crap my night has gotten away from me! I've had something I wanted to post for a couple nights now but keep running out of time. Maybe tomorrow? For now, I have this:

You Scored as Lilith You are a vampire, or at least if you were a doll. A word of advice, make sure there are no aspen trees in your backyard. (If there are, chop them down.) Aspen is the legendary wood used for stakes. I hope this advice helps you stay alive - wait - you can't die! You're immortal!

Another senseless killing in the name of God.

What goes on in the minds of people fascinates me. I came across an item on my local news Web site today and it was so bizarre that I had to know more. The story was about a 26 year old man named Andre Thomas (shown above) who murdered his estranged wife and two kids on March 27, 2004. Why did he do this? He claims that his family was possessed by demons, his estranged wife was acting like a whore and that his 4 year old son was the anti-Christ. The details of how they were murdered are in the article below. Afterwards, he went home, stabbed himself and then went to the police station. Thank goodness he turned himself in...who knows what else he would have done?

On April 2, 2004, while in lock-up, he poked his right eye out because it was God's will. How on earth did no one hear him doing this? I find it hard to imagine he poked his eye and pulled it out of the socket in silence. Can this case get any stranger? You bet...read on.

On March 7, 2005, he was found guilty of murder after just 35 minutes of deliberation. The prosecutors immediately wanted to try for the death penalty and they got it.

On December 9, 2008, he poked out his left eye and ATE IT. I wonder if God told him that just poking out another eye wasn't good enough, you had to eat it too?

From what I understand, he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and is currently serving time in a psychiatric facility while awaiting an execution date.

This article was written by a lawyer and a paralegal so it has more detail than the other info I've read on this case.

So what do you think? Is he really schizophrenic or was he just putting on a show to try to avoid a harsh punishment?

I'm seeing green!

Wish List

When it comes to big purchases (car, house, furniture, etc.), I tend to be impulsive but I can hesitate on a small purchase for a long time. Makes no sense, I know. I have a small wish list of things that I would like to buy someday. One of the things on that list is the Angel DVD set. Don't get me wrong, I like Buffy but I liked Angel much better. Maybe it's because of David Boreanaz? He is quite delicious.


So what was I saying? : ) Oh yeah, DVD set. So the original price for all five seasons was around $150. Not a huge investment but not small either so it went on the wish list. Lo and behold I found it recently for $100 plus free shipping and handling!! Plus it comes in a cool box where the DVD set I saw before just came in separate cases for each season. This was too good to pass up so as we speak, someone is getting my Angel box ready to ship to me. I can't wait!

Hey, I ordered the fish!

I came across this story today. Thank goodness the widow has a sense of humor!

Project: Lampshade Cover

Years ago I was going to do my living room in a jungle theme. Don't ask me why I thought that was a good idea. I had a giraffe picture and a lion picture both in black frames on the wall and I had bought a brown zebra patterned rug to go on the floor. I also bought candle paint because I had seen some cool ways to do candles in animal prints. One of my friends at the time, had gotten me a small table lamp with a cheetah print lampshade cover. I ended up returning the rug and I never painted the candles because the theme never stuck. I was digging through old stuff awhile back trying to find stuff to sell on Craigslist when I came across the cheetah lamp. It really does not go with anything in my house now but I needed a small lamp for my computer desk so out it came.

My computer desk decor is black cats, pumpkins, spiders, headstones, cauldrons, etc. You get the idea. : ) Needless to say that cheetah lamp has been sticking out like a sore thumb for awhile now and between yesterday and today I finally did something about it. First, I was going to take off the cheetah fabric but I quickly found out that was going to be impossible. I had some black tulle that I was going to use but I would have needed a ton of it to cover the current print and by the time I was done, my lampshade would have looked more like a potpourri sachet. Not what I was going for. So it was off to the craft store.

The craft store was having a big sale on fabric...perfect! After rummaging through the plethora of fabrics, I found just what I was looking for. It was black satin with intricate flowers that had some red in it too. I guess you could say it's Asian? I got the fabric cut and then I was off to find some type of stripping to put around the top and bottom. They didn't have what I was looking for so I went home and figured I would work something out. After getting the fabric on, I looked at my project and thought it was pretty sexy, if a lampshade can be sexy, that is. I thought maybe the fabric alone would finish it off but the top and bottom looked unfinished as is. So off to another craft store I went.

The next craft store had exactly what I was looking for...black satin ribbon. I went to get it cut and turns out the amount I needed was the amount left on the spool. The lady at the counter said it was meant to be. : ) I got home last night and put the ribbon on and it was exactly what it needed. I went to inspect my project this morning and you could see cheetah print if you looked inside the shade so out came the paintbrush and black paint. I wasn't going to do anything with the inside but if you were sitting under the lamp or were taller than it, you were going to see it and it was quite atrocious. So after letting the paint dry for awhile, I have a finished project that I'm rather proud of. Before and after pictures shown.

Project: Album Cover

My new buddy, Eve, over at For The Love of Goth nominated me to do a fun little project, which was to build an album cover. The cover I made is shown above and yes, Mpwayungu was my Wikipedia article. Apparently it's an area in Tanzania so this project was fun and educational!

If any of my followers or lurkers would like to do this project, here are the instructions:

1) Go to Wikipedia and hit the random link on the left sidebar, under the navigation heading. The first article you get is the name of your band.

2) Go to the website on The Quotations Page. The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your album.

3) Go to Flicker's Randomizer feature. The third picture, no matter what it is, is your album cover.

4) Use Photoshop or another photo editing software to create your album cover.

5) Post your album cover on your blog, along with this text. Be sure to nominate at least 5 friends (by leaving comments on their blogs with a link to your post), and tag me by leaving a comment so that I can see what you've created.

Mirrors

This is a continuation of my last post. The second movie I "rented" today was Mirrors with Kiefer Sutherland. I thought this was a good movie and the ending was not what I expected. There are a lot of horror movies out there that make inanimate objects frightening but mirrors are pretty freaky, if you think about it.

The first thing that comes to mind is "Bloody Mary", which I'm sure most of you have heard of. If you haven't, the story goes that if you chant the words "bloody mary" three times (or thirteen) while staring into a mirror in a dark room (or lit by a candle), that you will see the ghost of Bloody Mary. Mary was a supposed witch named Mary Worth who was executed long ago. There are many different versions with how to do it and what you'll see but that is the gist of it. I remember seeing a bunch of girls do it in the bathroom in junior high but I left before they stopped chanting because it freaked me out a bit but it stayed in my mind. I decided to try it one day that I was home alone...it worked. Although I didn't see Bloody Mary, I did see my deceased great grandpa. I will never forget that image. That was my first encounter with the paranormal. While living in that house, I would hear my name being called by a man but when I asked my dad if he had called me, he hadn't. Hmm.

It is said that you can see the future or find lost objects by using a mirror or pretty much any reflective surface, including calm water. I've heard of people painting a mirror black to use for magic or to see your inner self.

Mirrors have been seen as a way to trap spirits and demons. Before funeral parlors, the deceased would be in their own homes and when someone died, all of the mirrors in the house would be covered until the body was taken away for burial because if the deceased saw themselves in a mirror, they would be trapped. In the movie Constantine, a demon is tricked into looking into its reflection in a mirror and is forced to leave the possessed person's body and is trapped in the mirror.

You've heard that if you break a mirror, you'll have seven years back luck, right? Since mirrors can supposedly see and/or hold your soul, it was said that if you broke a mirror, part of your soul was trapped inside and since the mirror was broken, your soul was broken and that brought on bad luck. Apparently the Romans believed that your body renewed itself every seven years so it would take seven years for you to become whole again.

A mirror played a role in Snow White. Remember the witch would use the mirror to get answers to her questions?

Bram Stoker knew of mirror superstitions and incorporated that into Dracula. I can only assume he did this because it would make the vampire appear to be soulless because he cast no reflection in mirrors.

So the next time you look in a mirror, take a close look. What do you see?


Picture courtesy of Photobucket.

Religulous was not ridiculous but was hilarious.

Look! It's Bill Maher and Jesus in the holy land!

I was home sick today and decided to take advantage of my On Demand movie selection via cable. It costs the same as renting a movie at Blockbuster and I don't have to leave my house. Love it! The first movie I "rented" was Religulous, which was hilarious! Granted, if you have belief in a god, you may not find this very funny. Bill Maher isn't confrontational at all and freely admits that he doesn't know if there is a god or not. He doesn't try to sway anyone's beliefs either. All he does is ask questions. He's trying to get people to really think about what they believe, which I fully support. Don't believe in a religion just because your parents did!

So what made this movie so funny? The responses that he got to his questions. It's the people trying to support their faith yet contradicting themselves along the way, which I guess makes sense because the Bible contradicts itself too. I can't quote the movie word for word but the funniest part to me was when Bill was talking with a guy who believes in god and Jesus but doesn't believe in Santa Claus. Right, because there's no way that one guy can delivery gifts via chimneys one night a year but there is a god that keeps track of every single second and person in the world and is making everything happen. It does sound funny, doesn't it? So talking snakes, virgin births, and someone living in a big fish for three days is true? Sorry, I'm not buying it but I might buy the DVD. : )

Stay tuned for a post about the next movie I "rented".