Chicks

I can fulfill the chick request since I was just outside chilling with them yesterday.

Scarlett & Chicka

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Nugget

The Girls

Lil and her chicks

Weirdstock, NY

One week ago today, I was in Woodstock, NY for cousin Julie's wedding (which will get it's own post, because it was special and deserves it's own spot).

First, let's talk about Woodstock, NY. It's...weird. Very weird. My Californian aunt used this adjective to describe every single thing in town. Multiple times. I think we all know that I fit in quite well among the weird, but I'm not sure I can recommend it to those of you huddled on the extreme right side of the closet. It's a VERY liberal town. They love The Gays. They smoke The Pot. They hate The War. They eat The Tofu. They do not trust The Government. They love The Buddhists, The Christians, and The Athiests equally. They are voting for The Obama.

I loved it. Except for the fact that I COULD NOT get a good meal in this town. What the hell. On our way to the Albany airport my mom and I stopped at a Ruby Tuesday because I was ravenous for something normal that had some flavor and was part of a franchise.

Here is a quick photo essay, for those of you who might like to visit, and for those boring souls who would not like to visit but would like to take a look:

In the town square.

Peace Flag Shirt. Originally created in 1968 to protest the war. Back by popular demand. Funny how fashion repeats itself. Sad how history repeats itself.

Lots of these sorts of people around. I think they just forgot to leave after the concert in 1969.

Is it awful that I found humor in an old lady in a wheelchair underneath a "Grateful Dead" banner? Yes? I know, I'm going to hell. I'll see half of you there.

Inside of the monastery. "Weird," my aunt said.

Outside of the monastery. I thought the concrete truck was very profound. Buddhists need expansion too.

Really, a charming town. No traffic lights. Philosophical or just plain funny bumper stickers everywhere. A shaving cream fight in the town square every Halloween. Very live and let live. The leaves and the Catskill Mountains were GORGEOUS. You'll see some more in the wedding post.

Happy Candy Eating Day

I'm skipping a shower to bring you all a Halloween Post. THAT is dedication, my friends. Here are some links:

Headless Horseman dog costume Sheer fucking genius
Looks good enough to eat My type of child abuse
Halloween in the time of Cholera Trick or treat and die
Halloween around the world Because there's more than just us out there! I know, it's shocking!

I have more but not enough time. I really should at least brush my hair.

FYI--

If you apply bronzer with a blush brush your cat has been licking, your face will burn for hours.

Twitter

I've decided to get a Twitter account.

I know, I know, I've always been against the idea in the past and I'm not even sure I'm entirely for it now, but "micro-blogging" by sending out 140 word or less messages here and there sounds like a good way to keep in touch with you all when I'm busy.

It won't replace blog entries, just give you more of me when I don't have time to sit down and write a real one. It also may challenge me to improve upon my Blackberrying skills...because my text messaging ability is still pretty laughable.

Here is the link: http://twitter.com/AshleysCloset From what I understand, you can also have it sent to your cell phone but I understand very little at this point. You might need my email address to begin following me (you will need a Twitter account, it takes 2 secs), if so it's ashleyscloset at yahoo dot com but written out like a normal email address.

You're going to have to deal with the neglect this week, at least I'll be able to tweet at you. Life's going to start getting normal again next week, I swear it. It must.

Welcome Home

My damn plane was delayed by an hour last night and I didn't get home until 2am. Then Mr. Ashley had locked me out, so I had to wake him up to get in and we were both up and talked about my trip until 3am-ish.

7:30am came QUICK. In no time Big Kid was climbing into my bed telling me he missed me. "I missed you ebery single day and it's 7:37...I don't wanna miss da mornin' news at school." I felt like I was in a walking coma while getting him ready.

little kid was thrilled to see me and I knew he would just freak if I tried to drop him off at daycare, so I called in sick for "library mom" (which wasn't a stretch at all, I am still sick) and decided to drop him at my mom's while I went to my business lunch meeting.

Unexpectedly, it was cold today. Everything warm that I owned had been worn all soggy weekend and was a crumpled mess in my suitcase. I chose the first thing even reasonably suitable, but I was far from loving it.

I was running late and in a panic to get out the door, but I let Murphy out real quick to go to the bathroom before I left. I called him back, nothing. That's when I remembered that Mr. Ashley had told me Murph had acquired a new habit of running into the woods and hiding there silently so he could run off with Tangerine our cat, and that Mr. Ashley was pissed about having to walk through the woods to go find him several times throughout the weekend.

I called again, offering a treat. I called louder, threatening his life. I thought I heard something, so I headed in that direction, my hair snagging on branches and my clothes getting burrs and bristles all over them, tromping through the woods in my wedges and trousers and shivering in my short sleeve, burr covered shirt. I turned and saw Murph wiggling out towards me, happy to see me but knowing he was in trouble and I yoked him up and spanked his skinny, wiggly butt and threw him in the house, threw the car into gear, threw little kid out at my mom's, and raced across town to the restaurant.

I picked most of the burrs off and swung by Gap first (restaurant was in a shopping plaza and I made great time) and bought a jacket on clearance so I looked halfway appropriate, but later in the day I found a clump of burrs in my hair. This is particularly bad because it was probably the prettiest lunch date ever. The three others are 8s and above on a scale of 10 and I'm not even that without burrs in my hair.

Oh well, it was a productive meeting.

Then I raced across town to pick up Big Kid, but since I told his teacher I was too sick to be library mom, I questioned showing up dressed in business luncheon attire so I stopped at the house, ran in and grabbed my jeans out of the hamper and switched the wedges for flip flops and pulled my crazy hair into a crazy ponytail and was only slightly late picking Big Kid up and did look and sound appropriately unwell.

I went back to my mom's to get little kid and decided to be nice and swing by the hardware store to get the rest of the stuff to make Big Kid's Plex the robot costume and both kids acted like total jerks while we were there.

Big Kid got about 100x mouthier than since I've last seen him and little kid was just testing, testing, testing. At the hardware store I picked up one of those doggie yard stakes because Murphy Louis lost ALL RIGHTS to freedom this morning and by the time we got home, I was seriously considering chaining the kids to it too.

They could use the fresh air and exercise and I could use the nap.

Stay tuned for pictures and my experiences and opinions in Woodstock, NY and pictures and the fun I had at cousin Jules' wedding. Good times, good times.