A Short-Story, The Honeysuckle Incident

I shut off the vac. In the absence of it's industious roar I could hear the squeals of little boy delight and the screams of abject terror. Sighing deeply I left off the never ending housework when there are childern around.
I went out onto the porch, stepping over my black chow Pudgin (don't ask), and looked up just in time to see one of my nephews, Patrick, careen around the corner of the house, his face pale and tears in his eyes. Behind him in hot pursuit came his four year old baby brother, Dalton, giggling that evil laugh that you only hear in a Stephen King movie. He had something in his hand raised up as if to throw it at his fleeing brother.Pat rushed up the steps and hid behind me.
"What is going on out here?"
"Dalton's trying to kill me!" Pat wailed. "He's throwing honeysuckles on me."
I looked at the white blond-haired, big blue eyed mini demon in front of me and saw that in his hand he indeed held a tiny honeysuckle blossem. The wooded area behind my house was covered in them.
Normally the throwing of honeysuckle blossems would not matter, but recently we found out that Pat was allergic to the nectur inside. He had sucked it out along with his brothers last summer and blew up like he had been bee stung. Which resulted in a trip to ER, many doctor visits, and shots. Understandably he was very paranoid about honeysuckles.
"Dalton, why are you chasing your brother with that?"
"Fun!"
I shuddered. I swear Dalt sounded just like that kid off of Pet Semetery.
"Dalton, sweetie, I want you to find something else to entertain yourself besides terrorizing your brother."
"No!"
Why is it that that is the first word every child learns first?
"Do it or you will come inside for a nap."
He started to cry.
"Don't want nap." He stomped his little dirty feet. "You're mean. Going tell my mommy."
"Yeah, right. I'm shaking in my flip-flops."
He stomped his foot again, threw down the blossem as if to make a dent in my porch, and ran off toward the swingset, Pudgin right behind him.
"What if he does it again?" Pat said, sniffling.
I looked at the red-headed eight year old. Time to nip this paranoria in the bud, pun intended.
"Patrick, did Dalton force you down and stick the honeysuckle in your mouth"?
"No."
"Did the honeysuckle spit evil sweet-smelling goo at you?"
"No..."
"Did the blossem sink little teeth into your skin to suck out your blood?"
He just stared at me.
"Then I don't think you'll fall over dead if a honeysuckle should hit your skin. Now, go play-quietly-while I finish the housework."
He shuffled off the porch and headed in the other direction from Dalt. Somehow, though, I knew was not the end of this. I fully expected to be back out here breaking up another fight within the hour.
As I turned to go back inside my eyes landed on their older brother, Cory.
"Why didn't you stop this?"
He shugged.
"I knew it wouldn't hurt him and it was fun to watch."
I let out an aspirated sigh and headed back in with a slam of the screen door.
And it was only alittle after ten am.

Me, So not the "Liberal, Artsy Person

When I introduce myself to people for the first time as an artist, they get perceived ideas as to what I’m supposed to look like. You know…the whole bohemian look. Weird clothes, ethic jewelry. They also expect me to be a card carrying liberal.

Ok, I’m not a deep person. I don’t care for social indi films, deep thought provoking books, politically correct conversations, or interactive art forms.

I love action films, zombie flicks (my hero is Alice from Resident Evil), my fav books are paranormal romances and urban fantasy, conversations filled with laughter and jokes (the politically incorrect ones, too.), and any kind of art that does not smack of avant garde. (I hate that stuff. I have seen some stupid stuff get praised as great art only because those with the money apparently think they have to like awful art to be in the In Crowd).

I will admit that I like world music, but much prefer hard core rock (Korn, Disturb, Metallica, Rob Zombie, etc) and ethic jewelry (mostly Southwest and Native American though), but I’m a jeans and t-shirt girl with a conservative bent.

***Doing right now-watching Alien vs. Predator. Blood and guts, screaming and running, shooting and fighting. My kind of movie.

How To Cure The Blahs

I have been feeling kind of blah lately. Fatigued, tired, drained, apathic, stressed, bored, depressed. This is so not me. I have always been a happy person. I thought that maybe it was just the winter blues and the return of warm weather and sun would take care of it.

Well, they didn’t.

So I went on a search for a cure for feeling this way (chocolate can only heal so much and Starbucks treatments can get expensive.). I found some interesting facts. There is a chemical called Serotonin that the body needs to maintain feelings of well-being. As well as Dopamine. I asked my mom’s doc about them when I took her for a visit. I was told that they cannot be found naturally so there is no supplement to take for them. The only way to get that feeling was with anti-depressants. So not for me. So I went to the Natural Foods Market (http://www.NFMonline.com) and asked one of their associates. He confirmed what the doc said.

Not to be discouraged I asked for his advice. He recommended 100mg of Rhodiola Rosea once a day to start and increase to two or more a day if I feel the need.

Rhodiola Rosea is found in the high cooler climates such as the Rockies, the Alps and the Carpathian Mountains (I just love saying Carpathian). It can help with mental alertness, memory, and a general state of well-being. Side effects are virtually nil unless it is taken in large doses.







Serotonin deficiency

Anxiety or excessive worry
Panic, fear and phobias
Pessimism
A tense state of mind accompanied by irritation and impatience
Obsession
Suicidal tendency
Repetitive thoughts
Low self esteem
Emotional behaviors like anger and aggression
Insomnia or light sleep
Craving for sugar
Post menstrual syndrome
Chronic pain
Abhorrence of dark weather


Dopamine deficiency

Reduced ability to feel pleasure
Flat, bored, apathetic and low enthusiasm
Depressed
Low drive and motivation
Difficulty getting through a task even when interesting
Procrastinator/little urgency
Difficulty paying attention and concentrating
Slowed thinking and/or slow to learn new ideas
Crave uppers (e.g. caffeine/nicotine/diet soft drinks)
Use these to improve energy/motivation/mood
Prone to addictions (e.g. alcohol)/addictive personality
Shy/introvert
Low libido or impotence
Mentally fatigued easily and physically fatigued easily
Sleep too much and trouble getting out of bed
Put on weight easily
Family history of alcoholism/ADD/ADHD


I feel like I have a little of both sets going on and I hope this herb will help me. I just started them, so we'll see.

Men, Tattoos, and Coffee Drinks

Our Ugly Pics

Mother’s Day has come and gone and now looking back at this past Sunday it really should have been called Sisters’ Day. Both of my sisters were down to visit with our Mom, but after about an hour Mom grew tired and went to rest and the various kids in the house (from my 9 year old niece to my 20 year old nephew) disappeared to do their own thing away from the prying eyes of grown-up. So us girls found our way out onto the porch to catch up. Catching up to us means discussing -the men in our lives, our brother in Florida (because he was not there to defend himself) and his weird messed up marriage, comparing our newest tattoos, checking out each others ring tones and pictures on our phones, and our favorite coffee drinks- among other things.

We really don’t live that far away-just an hour or two away from each other, but our lives keep us so busy we only get to see each other at holidays. I really love to be with Dianna and Angela and just talk, preferably at a Chinese restaurant.

It’s so funny how similar we are and yet how very different. Dianna is tall, brownish red hair and green eyed, has three girls, and works for the government. Hasn’t got a creative bone in her body. Only wants three choices when it comes to coffee drinks-iced, latte, or cappacino. Angela is tall, blond, and grey eyed. She has three boys, has a steady job as a dental technition, loves to do crafty things, wants only black coffee or a mocha fappacino, Me, I’mshorter than either of them, red haired and blue-eyed, no kids, a working artist, and I’ve tried about every drink at Starbucks and love hot tea.

But we are also the same as in we are into heavy metal music, have an addiction to tattoos, in love with Vin Desil ,and prefer cats over dogs.

Yeah, I miss my sisters when they are not here, but maybe it’s a good thing we don’t live closer to each other. I remember some of the fights we had growing up and the “heated discussions” we had as adults. Distance is good.