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 Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 11:11 pm
-// G h o s t - W a l k . . .
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Sometimes it's hard to get the family to do something together. Usually someone doesn't want to go! A major kink in the "family time" plan. But I never force them to go. They wouldn't enjoy it if I did. I always mention they'll miss out on a good time. For this round I suggested a ghost walk, and wouldn't you know it all of my kids seemed thrilled to go! But when the day came ... Now that was another story.
Jay had unfortunately caught the cold Waya was just getting over, the teen refusing to leave the comforts of the sofa. Edward had been frightened with ghost stories thanks to Bricriu, and if Edward didn't go then neither did Hugo. The two like pea's in a pod. Since this was the middle of October, the weather was starting to get colder. Thanks to that Tasanee decided it was too damn cold to walk around a town hearing ghost stories, bailing on us as well. Thankfully, since he was staying home anyway, Jason volunteered to baby sit. Even if the price was set for $10 an hour!
This left me with Belinda, Bricriu, Waya and Sayid. Not too bad! With just those four it would be simple to keep an eye on them. I made them all put on warm clothing, Sayid and Waya looking the most uncomfortable but Belinda seemed to love her hand and mittens!
The ride to our destination was an hour long, lucky for Jay! The town was absolutely amazing. It was like we walked back into time where it was OK to leave decorations outside and not get them stolen. Each store down the main street had a scare crow out front. Most likely for some sort of contest for the community.
After I parked I refused to let my kids out of the car. Why? Well I grabbed a few glow sticks from my glove compartment and cracked them into life. They were all the same color so no child could complain they didn't get the color they wanted. Smart thinking on my part there! Once each of them were all set, we moved as a group to the meeting place. I of course had to go sign us in and pay for the tour, and had the pleasuring of finding out it would be another 20 minutes before we left! Oh great, how to occupy my kids. I glanced across the street and smirked. "Bingo..."
I took them for hot chocolate! And of course a potty call. By the time we finished in there, our tour guide was calling everyone to circle around him. He began with a very long winded speech about it wasn't his fault if you were hurt on this adventure. Of course he didn't want to be liable for anything that goes wrong.
As a group we were ushered off, I couldn't help but think we all looked like a herd of cattle as we crossed across the street stopping traffic. But our first stop of the evening wasn't all that far. It was a real estate agency. We all were told to get a good look at the front of the beginning as our tour guide went on to explain.
Take a look at this building, what do you see? It's very symmetrical isn't it? That's because it dates back to when Greek architecture was a major influence to our nation. On the first floor you see the door in the center of the building, a matching window on either side of the door. If you look up, you see a large door like window - at one time that was a door, and once again a matching window like the first floor on either side.
Now you might wonder, why.. Why was there a door on the second story? There's no steps. That's because this building was in fact a casket factory! What a perfect start for a building right? Over the years it's been many things, most recently you see is the real estate agency. But because the purpose of the building changed doesn't mean the stories have stopped. Just recently, over this summer, a woman at the agency told me of an experience she had!
She was working late one evening, alone in the building. She said to herself, "I have to use the ladies room. I wonder if I should lock up." Deciding that she was in fact alone, and saw no reason to lock up her office she left it wide open. It wasn't until she was leaving the ladies room that she heard someone at her desk, groping and grabbing at the papers on her desk.
She ran down the hall, turning and skidding to a stop at her door only to stop stunned, shocked and surprised! No one was in the room! However a foul odor had filled it. Needless to say she high tailed it out of there and doesn't work alone anymore!"
There was a few laughs among the crowd, even a few questions asked about the building before moving on. Our second stop was an old church, the first of three we'd stop at tonight. We learned about it's secret passage ways between the neighboring houses and how one man found the bones of a child in there. He also pointed out the architecture being Greek, as were all the buildings we were going to see.
As we went on we learned about other churches, gallows, burial grounds and cemeteries. One cemetery being the most interesting as a lot of escaped slaves were buried there under John Do titles. This was to keep bounty hunters from knowing who was buried there. Of course they would get more money for bringing home a live slave, but they still got something if they could prove the slave dead. We also heard tales of Indians, the Devils Hole one such story about a whirl pool in the river and the massacre that happened there. We even stopped at a few mansions to learn about the mysteries and ghost stories behind them. All in all it was quite the adventure!
At our last stop, warm apple cider was given to us. Bricriu was in line ahead of me, snagging two cups for himself before the man could stop him. I grabbed one for myself and turned when I heard a sound of distress. Sayid was behind me and he had his arms full of chest nuts. Both me and the man serving us laughed at the site. I grabbed a cup for him as well and as I held it up to my boy's lips the man asked me to wait but a moment as he ran inside. He returned with a bag and helped my son empty his arms, Sayid giving a grateful smirk before taking his cup of cider and running off to join Bricriu.
Waya grabbed my attention with a clear of his throat and I smiled. "Waya... How cute." I teased. On his shoulders was Belinda who was in fact out cold. I plucked the girl from him, allowing him to shift out the knots in his shoulders and receive his cider. After it was a short trip back to the car!
When we all piled in I turned around to smile at my children. "I hope you all had fun. Bricriu I'm proud of you. You behaved and only scared that woman three times. Though she did deserve it." I said as I reached over to ruffle his hair.
Bricriu giggled. "Yeah, she screamedid so loud too! Like a scaredy cat."
I nodded then turned my attention to my other son in the back. "You too Sayid, you behaved good. even If you're as strange as ever collecting those chestnuts. I don't know when you picked those up, but you know what is awesome? You roast those over a fire and eat them! We'll do that tomorrow ok? Not all of them." I couldn't help but laugh at his face of protest.
Belinda was still fast asleep in her car seat, and I turned to smile at Waya. "Thank you for carrying Belinda. Yu all can sleep on the way home." I said as I turned around to start the car. It wouldn't be long before they all were asleep with exhaustion. When I got home I had to carry them all in one by one! But I was just glad to enjoy a night out with them.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 9:53 pm
-// P u m p k i n - C a r v i n g . . .
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"It's Hammerien!" Belinda screamed as she ran around the kitchen table, giggling cutely. She was in a lady bug outfit, her wings flapping a bit as she moved and her antenna bobbing.
Bricriu snorted as he looked at his sister, the boy dressed as .. Well.. Himself. "It's Hollowsween." He corrected his sister, only to be swatted lightly in the head by his older brother Jason.
"Don't tease her, and it's Halloween you brats." Jason said, putting the last of the pumpkins on the table. The family lived too far out to go trick or treating anywhere so Ballentine came up with an alternative. Allow the children to carve pumpkins while she hid little bags of treats through out the house and yard.
Six of the kids had hopped up to the table: Bricriu, Sayid, Belinda, Tasanee, Ed and Hugo. Waya and Jason where there as well but more for supervision.
Each child was given a pumpkin and a special knife to carve with. It was a knife that was supposed to be child safe, it sucked but did the job well enough! Jason explained to the kids how to carve the pumpkin with the following steps:
One, to carve a shape around the top, a circle the easiest. But for the kids it turned out to be more of a oval than anything!
Two, gut it out! This was a blast for them as they pulled the pumpkin pulp from inside, saving the seeds in a bowl to be eaten later.
Three, to draw a face on the front with a washable marker. The children seemed to enjoy this the most!
And lastly four, to carve the face out!
When the children were done Jason ordered them to go wash their hands in the bathroom. He took that time to clean up any marker left from the pumpkins and move them to the steps to go upstairs. A candle was placed in each one and then lit.
Ballentine came in just as he finished and laughed a bit. "Oh my! They all look so wonderful! Well all the candy is hidden, I want a photo of all the kids in costume before they go out." She said as she reached for the camera she brought out earlier that day. "Where are they?"
Jason smiled a bit. "Cleaning up.. They should be coming out in a minute. "
And truth be told, all six came out from random bathrooms in the house to relocate there in the hall. With mother's orders they all sat upon the steps. Each one was in some sort of costume. Belinda in her lady buy, Tasanee a butter fly, Bricriu put on a pair of glasses with a nose and moustache, Sayid one of Ballentine's skirts and lastly Ed and Hugo dressed as pirates.
With the picture taken Ballentine smiled at her children. "Alright! Go find your candy! It's three bags per person and each bag can be seen in some way. So go on and have fun!"
The kids took off in a frenzy and Ballentine laughed. Well she did something to make their Halloween special even if they couldn't really go out and trick or treat.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:34 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:38 am
-// H a i r - C u t - D a y . . .
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It was hair cut day for my family. Now, what is hair cut day? Well it's not the day I cram everyone into the car and drive them down to a barber or stylist to pay and arm and a leg for them to lose an inch of hair. No. I prefer to do it all myself. It's much cheaper that way!
Jason however always refuses to let me touch his hair. That's fine. I slip him a few bucks and he'd go get it done himself at a professional. I don't blame him there! Tasanee thankfully volunteered to go first, her hair was so long! We wet it down and after a few minutes I took off a few inches, the girl content with that.
Hugo had come in next, the boy a bit fussy over the situation. I had to take the quick way out and just chop the hair in front of his eyes so he could see again! Edward was the same way. Two peas in a pod, those two.
Bricriu, oh there was a head ache! He thought it was going to hurt and so bit, scratched, screamed and hit just to try and get away. After I used a bit of my own hair to show him that it doesn't hurt he calmed down. That and the fact I allowed him to play with a pair of safety scissors and paper. A distraction to get the work done! I think that was my mistake...
Belinda came next, the girl babbling on about her new dolly Tasanee had given her. She was over excited to get out of the chair and go play again, so I gave her a quick misting with a water bottle, brush through and a trim. She really did look cute with that hair style though I left the curls a bit longer.
Lastly was Waya, the boy looking a bit unsure with me wielding the scissors. I had to reassure him a few times that I knew what I was doing ( well enough to do minor work ) and I wouldn't screw anything up. Reluctantly he had sat down.
"Aieyaaa!" A scream. I immediately knew it was Belinda and put down my scissors. "Bricriu!" Another scream from the small girl as she chased the boy down the hall. "You broke her! You broked her!"
A blue streak whizzed past me as Bricriu sought out a hidden spot under the kitchen table. I was able to nab Belinda up into my arms before she had a chance to pass me. "What on earth is going on?!" I asked.
Tear stained cheeks turned up towards me, Belinda sniffling. A doll with chopped up hair was shown to me, "He broke her! I said no 'n he broked her!" The doll was then beat against my shoulder as if that would fix it. It didn't, it just made my shoulder a tad bit sore.
"Belinda, honey... Calm down. We can fix it later ok? Mommy promises she'll fix it." Setting the girl down I barely managed to snag her back. Her rage was present in her eyes and she wanted to take it out on Bricriu. The boy wasn't any better, teasing and taunting her from under the table. I had half a mind to let her go, but what kind of parent would I be?
"Now Belinda." I put her down upon her feet, held one arm firmly in m hand and turned her chin to face me. "If you don't stop I'm going to put you on the steps for five minutes. You didn't like it last time remember? Give me the doll and I'll fix her later."
"NO!" Belinda screamed, struggling to tug away. "I wanna break him!"
"Belinda no." I said and gave her bottom a small swat. "Do you want to go sit on the steps?"
"No... I... " She burst into more tears, going limp in my arms.
"Don't you go anywhere." I stated to Bricriu as I lifted Belinda up into my arms to carry her out of the room. I gently pet Belinda's back to calm her, humming while walking. The girl went from sobbing to sniffles by the time we reached her room. I put her down for a nap.
I was only gone a few seconds. A minute tops. But that was all the time Bricriu needed to destroy Waya's hair. When I returned to the kitchen I found Waya sitting atop Bricriu on the floor. Both boys looked up at me.
"Mommy get him off! Heaaaavvvyyy!" Bricriu whined as he kicked his feet about, hands flailing a bit. Though Waya wasn't letting the poor boy up at all. "Waya off!" He whimpered.
Waya scowled. "Look at what he did!" Lifting one hand he displayed a orange brown curl in his hand. Words didn't have to be said as I figured out what went on. Bricriu had clipped off one of Waya's hair curls. Well one good thing came out of the situation... I hated those damn curls.
"Waya get off your brother." I said as I approached the two, helping Waya off Bricriu to take the small boy into my arms. "Now hand over the scissors." I said as I placed my hand out for them. "Bricriu now." Hesitantly a small hand placed a pair of scissors into my hand, and I gave a now. "Good.. Now go to you room." I released him and gave his bottom a swat. "No dessert for you tonight."
I watched as the small child pouted all the way out of the room, hearing his little stops upon the steps. I shook my head and glanced at Waya, flashing an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry kiddo... But it looks like the only way to fix it is to either make it even or cut them all off."
Waya reached up to his hair, stroking his lovely curls a bit. "I guess... Cut them off." The words were said with a little remorse. He had those curls since birth, one of the last things he shared with Cubi left. Sighing he moved to sit in the chair and close his eyes.
I frowned as I approached him, feeling like a firing squad on a criminal. "It'll do it quick." I whispered lightly as I put Bricriu's scissors down and grabbed the correct ones . It was a few simple snips and the curls dropped to the ground. I ran my fingers through Waya's hair, snipping a bit of the ends to give him a shaggy look.
Five minutes later I ruffled his hair. "All done kiddo...."
Waya glanced up at me with a placid face and hopped out of the chair, a 'thanks' muttered as he started out of the room. I took a moment to watch him and smile. He was growing, a lot taller than when he first arrived. A more mature hair cut was definitely becoming of him.
Time for a clean up! I laughed to myself as I glanced down to see what mess I had. Though to my surprise, "Sayid! What are you doing?! You can't collect the hair!" I shouted as I saw a long bony finger grabbing and chunks of hair. Ugh! This house is just so crazy sometimes!
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