Struggle Bus Morning...

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately...I'm hoping that the medicine I bought this morning to throw at this sinus/allergy mess works well enough for me to feel like a functioning human today.

In addition to being literally sick, I've been struggling to keep my mercurial personality in check today...[I know that this isn't a personality classification that I talk about very much...but it's a classification that I learned about while I was in college, shadowing a doctor who was rather fond of personality typing...here's a little bit of info on it, sorry that it isn't very detailed]

I'm also trying not to take the passive-aggressive road, this morning...though, I'll admit, I'm not doing too great of a job of that thus far. :/

Sooooo, all-in-all....I think it's safe to say that I'm definitely on the struggle bus this morning...yayyyyyy.

Damn.

Hibernation Sounds Like A Great Idea...

So jealous of Pooh right now...

I need someone to do me a favor...

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, please sedate me and wake me in January.

Thanks!

Tiny Death Star...

Hey, guys! Hope you're having a good morning!

No more cough drops!??! 

I apologize for my lack of posts over the last several days...I've been rather occupied with some visiting family and trying my darnedest to kick the cold bug that's been bothering me. After going through almost two whole bottles of DayQuil, I think I've finally gained the upper hand and have even (/gasp!) started to feel a bit better! Crossing my fingers that I'm back to 100% very soon!!


What else has been going on lately...

Umm...oh! My Tiny Death Star has grown to over 25 floors!

I'm not terribly certain if that's an actual milestone or not...but it's something, right?

Tiny Death Star is a game that my sister downloaded on her phone to entertain my kiddo while she kept him for me for a few hours a week or so ago...and of course, I downloaded it onto my own phone later on that same night!

It's very time consuming and mildly entertaining...but when I'd told my sister of my Death Star exceeding 15 floors just before the weekend, she laughed and said that hers still had only 6 floors...bringing to light that I tend to my Death Star WAY more often than I probably should.

I can't help it, though! Every time I tend to my Death Star (replenishing stock in the various stores, collecting items from recon droids, rearranging the work/living situations of my captive 'bitizens'...) I receive a menacing notification from The Emperor sternly reminding me that some other floor or bitizen needs my attention...and it must be reconciled quickly before Darth Vader is made aware!

...

Maybe I should delete the game from my phone after all...I'm not going to let some tiny Sith lord push me around!

(Or maybe I'll just turn of my notifications! hehehe)

Well, I'd better go...Darth Vader has noticed that the Cantina has run out of food I've got lots of work to do!!

I said I wanted a LARGE french fry!!

Hooray!!

Hey, guys...

So...many..cough drops...

This cold/allergies/virus/energysuckingplague is kicking my butt...I've been steadily losing Round 2 with what I thought was the same 'bug' that I had about a week or so ago...but now I'm not positive that it's the same bug at all. I'm starting to think that it's some ridiculously mutated version of itself and it's been running amok all over my respiratory system.

I finally gave up and bought some Day-Quil yesterday, and it seems to be helping a little bit...but I'll be glad whenever I finally get over this crud! Crossing my fingers that I can get well without giving the bug to my kiddo...

Some awesome news! My college roomie, and one of my dearest friends, had her first baby! I'm super excited for her, maybe even ridiculously so...she's the first of my friends to have a baby (I don't have any nieces or nephews either, yet...but that's really okay, I'm the oldest of my siblings anyway!) and I'm genuinely stoked!! I got a pictures of the little darling yesterday and I can't wait until I have a chance to go visit them! Road trip to Louisiana sometime in my near future? Yes, please!

Speaking of road trips...

I guess a car is a rather necessary component of a road trip to anywhere...I'm still dealing with an unresolved lack of car, but thankfully the battery issue with my borrowed one seems to be handled. I've come to the conclusion that the battery died due to the interior light being left on...a rather /facepalm sort of situation, but at least I don't have to replace the car battery just yet.

Okey dokey, I'm going to find some sort of hot beverage that will, hopefully, make me feel a little bit better...happy Friday!

Sugar Skulls...

Can I nap all day, please?

Bleeeeggggh...I'm not feeling well this morning. My throat is sore, my sinuses are draining, my head is pounding, and I've got that un-welcome and yet familiar sense of overall malaise. [Malaise is the generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being...otherwise known as 'feeling yucky.'] The body aches are the worst, though...if not for the aches, I could probably take some allergy/sinus medicine and feel tons better. Muscle aches, I loathe you.



While sifting through my email this morning, I noticed I had a new advertisement from Paper Source.

Paper Source

Paper Source sells all sorts of paper goods...most of them frivolous, but undeniably adorable or trendy. Somewhere along the line, I agreed to receive emails and catalogs from them...I don't think I've ever bought anything from them, but I can't really justify spending extra money on paper novelties right now. Not to say that I wouldn't, though. They had some paper peony wreath kits earlier this year that were ridiculously cute!

Now that it's almost September, I guess retailers have deemed it appropriate to start bombarding everyone with their Halloween/Autumn/Fall wares. The Paper Source email was proudly advertising their new line of all things Sugar Skull.

I guess I'm a fan of sugar skulls...I think they're neat. Considering I'm overall a fan of things melancholy and macabre [I'm in literary love with Edgar A. Poe...and not just because it's trendy], seems to make sense that I'd at least like the idea of sugar skulls.

Adorable and sugary sweet...with just a dash of creepy!

I then realized that aside from the pop-culture aspect of them, I don't know much about sugar skulls at all. I vaguely remember reading a snippet on them when I was taking Spanish in high school...but it was probably just a line or two at the top of some coloring book page that was masquerading as 'busy work.'

Anyway, the sugar skulls are actually called 'calavera' and are an integral part in celebrating the Day of the Dead. [On my second read through of the information on sugar skulls...it seems like I remember a good bit about them from college Spanish courses...but sleep hazy me thought that it was all breaking news caliber information...hehehe sleepy me shouldn't be trusted with academic decisions] Interestingly, the Day of the Dead coincides with the Catholic All Souls and All Saints days. I can't speak for every Protestant denomination, but I do know that First United Methodists observe All Saints Day...I need to check and see if the date matches...it would be awesome if the Day of the Dead and the Methodist All Saints Day were on the same day!

Skeletal is the new sexy, right?

But anyway...I think it's a good thing that American 'culture' appears to be embracing aspects of other cultures so readily. I don't know if you've realized how sugar skulls have inundated portions of our American Halloween and Autumn traditions. Not sure what I'm talking about? If you run an internet search for skeleton make-up, a good portion of the results are a lot like the picture to the right...notice a resemblance to sugar skulls?

Skelita Calaveras

Another example is found in the popular Monster High line of toys. In 2012, Mattel released the new character. Her face is clearly modeled after the design of a sugar skull, and it's also reflected in her name. [Calaveras = sugar skulls, remember?]

I think it's a beautiful design for a doll, but the skeletal body is just off-putting enough to keep me from actually buying one.

Yeah, yeah...I'm almost 30 and will still buy dolls if I find them interesting enough. I wish I could say it's for collector's purposes only...but I'd really, really to play with some of them!

Finally, there's a new movie slated to come out this Halloween called "Book of Life." I honestly don't have the energy to go into detail about the movie [thanks again, malaise!] but here's the IMDb link, feel free to check it out:

IMDb - Book of Life (2014)

I'll probably go see it...twice.

The trailers that I've seen are bright, colorful, and boast a story reminiscent of mythology tales that I've heard many times before. Average-Guy loves Girl, Popular-Guy loves same Girl, Girl seems to teeter between both Guys, plot thickens as both Guys compete to win the affection of said Girl.

Throw in a villain that has his own agenda involving the previously mentioned Guys...sprinkle in a dash of Spanish folklore...add the voices of a few well-known celebrities...finish with a 'fantastic' director, and voila! You've got the basic recipe for this Halloween's box office, animated smash of a movie.

So pretty! 

The art is gorgeous! I'm already a fan of this character, and I don't even know what her name is!

I honestly can't even remember where this crazy train of thought was going...but I think it's time to let it go before I start rambling about skeletal cats with flaming heads...or something. Yeaaaah...I'll talk to you guys later.