Not many holidays or occasions have a plethora of music associated with them. New Year’s has one song, Auld Lang Syne. Any love song might be attached to Valentine’s Day, but I can’t think of a specific song that comes to many-a-mind for the occasion. Easter has the one song about Peter Cottontail and his bunny trail. I can’t think of ONE Fourth Of July Song nor does any song come to mind for Thanksgiving. But Christmas and Halloween have a lot of songs. Christmas has songs written just for the Holiday itself AND the surrounding season. Halloween might have a few written just for it, but it seems like most songs that are associated with Halloween just got that way because they mention monsters. Additionally, songs that mention the devil, witches, pumpkins, ghosts, ghouls, the moon, werewolves, and anything “Halloweeny” seem to get lumped into the Halloween Song category. Ha, if it mentions candy, some might put it in the pile of Halloween songs . . . thinking specifically about Bow Wow Wow’s I Want Candy – even though that song has NOTHING to do with the sweet confection known as candy! It is my opinion that there are, presently, three main songs that the majority thinks about when they think about Halloween songs. Of course, I am not saying that there are not a lot of other songs, but I am just talking about the top three – what I think of as most people knowing and thinking of when they think of Halloween.
I think the top three are – and this is not in order of popularity or in order of which I think people think of them:
Thriller. Michael Jackson’s Thriller has scary sound effects. The video has monsters in it and then there is a cool dance associated with the song. I believe this is how it earned its place as one of the all time Halloween songs. Surprising to me, Thriller only made it to number 4 on Billboard Hot 100. It got to number two on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart in 2009, after Michael Jackson died.
Then there is This is Halloween. C’mon it is stating that it is Halloween. I think ever since 1993, when the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas came out, that has been a top Halloween song. The song was written by Danny Elfman and recorded by the cast of the movie. In 2006 Marilyn Manson recorded for a special release of the movie’s soundtrack. This is Halloween has not been around as long as Thriller, but I think it is here to stay.
And then there is the Monster Mash. This song has been around the longest. The Monster Mash was released in 1962. I am not sure if it has been a Halloween hit for 55 years, but I know that it has been a Halloween hit for as long as I can remember. In 1962, this song was number from October 20 to October 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has hit the charts again twice, once in August of 1970 and once in May of 1973.
So that my opinion regarding the most popular Halloween songs. Again, I am not saying that there are not others that are super popular, but I just think that these three are the ones that the majority think about.
What about you? What do you think? What song come to mind when you think of Halloween?
I don’t know when this was. I just found this. This is me and my brother. I thought it would make a good near Halloween Friday Photo post. I do not remember him dressing up as a woman. And I don’t remember this particular time I was a gypsy. But I know I was a gypsy often because . . . . do you remember what Halloween costumes were like back then? If you don’t remember (because you are too young) they were NOT GOOD. NOTHING like costumes today. The masks were hard plastic and just so different from now-a-days. So I preferred the “homemade” costumes and there was nothing like a gypsy costume. A flowing skirt, lots of jewelry and MAKE-UP! Oh I was in heaven. As I said, I was a gypsy a few years.
Ahhh, I was looking up black cats, because I was curious. When we were thinking about adopting the cats we have someone mentioned to me that it was hard for black cats to get adopted and she had to explain it to me. I mean, I am aware that there is a superstition around black cats, but I didn’t know that was what she was talking about. I think it is sad that a lot of black cats don’t get to live because of superstition. So I looked up Black Cats and Wiki told me otherwise. I mean in addition to there being a superstition that black cats bring bad luck, there are some countries that think black cats signify good luck. So YAY!
If you are Scottish you may believe that “a strange black cat’s arrival to the home signifies prosperity. In Celtic mythology, a fairy known as the Cat Sìth takes the form of a black cat. Black cats are also considered good luck in the rest of Britain and Japan. Furthermore, it is believed that a lady who owns a black cat will have many suitors. However, in Western history, black cats have often been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens, specifically being suspected of being the familiars of witches, and most of Europe considers the black cat a symbol of bad luck, especially if one crosses paths with a person, which is believed to be an omen of misfortune and death. In Germany, some believe that black cats crossing a person’s path from right to left, is a bad omen. But from left to right, the cat is granting favorable times. In the United Kingdom it is commonly considered that a black cat crossing a person’s path is a good omen.”
Some believed black cats could shape shift into human shape. Some thought they were so evil that there were mass killings of black cats. But some sailors thought having a black cat on the ship brought them luck. And some sailor’s wives kept one at home thinking it would protect their husband’s at sea. Pirates believed that the kind of luck brought by a black cat depended on the direction of its path, if it walked toward a person they would have bad luck, but if it were walking away they would have good luck. But in the United Kingdom they thought the opposite, coming towards a person good luck and walking away bad luck.
So, really what the superstition of cats being bad luck equates to is black cats having lower adoption rates as cats that are not black. If you don’t have any sort of hang-up about a black cat and you are going to adopt a cat, I would encourage you to look at black ones first. Some people prefer to have black cats.
I’ve never had any superstitions about black cats so aside from not wanting two cats, I didn’t have a problem adopting a black cat. Although, I will admit that both me and my husband had a period of adjustment when the cats came home and were allowed out of quarantine. It was odd to have dark cats walking around. We were used to a lighter cat . . . a tabby. So a black cat and a tortie was kind of odd at first.
Our black cat is a super sweet girl who always has a lot to say. We are LUCKY to have her!
I like it when I have an idea for a blog post and I don’t have to think about what to write. I wish that were always the case. I like to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I just don’t always have that many posts in me. I have been struggling lately with posting on Mondays when I have been at my dad’s all weekend. Going through stuff and getting rid of items is proving more difficult than one would think. So many people and entities say to recycle and donate, but that is harder said than done. While trying to think of something to post about I got to wondering what I posted about on this day (or close to it) in the years past. So . . . speaking of recycling. (See how I did that?)
In 2009 I posted about the free songs iTunes used to give away. Do they still do that? Back then they used to give out cards at Starbucks and they had a code to a free song. I was introduced to a lot of artists and songs that way that I still listen to. I also posted about Collage Video which is a website you can get exercise DVDs from. I had liked the way they described the videos with a break down of minutes of each cycles.
In 2011, the 23rd fell on a Sunday, on October 22nd, a Saturday, I posted about being Ready To Receive. In my post I talked about when we first experience or hear about something sometimes we put up our barriers and we don’t want to accept it, so we really have to be ready and “open” to receive in order to actually receive and learn. I also mentioned Natural Time and how we are ready and open in our own natural time. While I wasn’t talking exactly about what was going on at the time, it was somewhat related to it. October 2011 is the year my mother-in-law was in a fatal automobile accident. She died October 23, 2011, six years ago today.
October 2012 I was making smoothies. In September of that year I had gotten my super blender for my birthday and I was making and drinking smoothies. I found that during that period I did believe the science behind the need to rotate the vegetables according to the family, but I never quite got it right. I wrote about it in my The Greens Go Round And Round post, but for me it was easier said than done.
October 23, 2013 fell on a Wednesday and I wasn’t posting on Wednesday back then, I was posting on Tuesdays and Thursday. On Tuesday the 22nd I posted about a yoga pose. I posted Icky Name, Great Pose which is about the locust pose (Salabhasana) where you lift your legs and chest up off the ground creating a back bend. On Wednesday I posted about how Messing Up Is Fun. It is about Nia and what a student felt about it.
I was actually thinking about my post from October 23, 2014 just the other day! But I didn’t know that. I was thinking about the “tea” that I had heard about that one blogger drinks when she is sick. She calls it Sick People Tea. I wrote a little bit about it and the oregano that is part of the recipe.
October 23, 2015 was a Friday. I wasn’t posting on Fridays back then. But we had our cats and on the 22nd I posted about them. The post includes some of the best pictures I have ever taken of them. They are pretty darn beautiful. On the 24th I posted about the difference between what are labeled Leisure Classes with the City of San Jose and what are Group Ex classes. Although the City of San Jose no longer has the “Group Ex” program we have SJCITY Fit, which is similar. You might want to check it out as their annual membership is a GREAT deal!
In 2016 I was posting on my current schedule of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The 23rd of October fell on a Sunday so the closest post to the 23rd is the 24th and I posted about Sunburns And Ants.
I do hope you will have a moment to click over and check out one or two of the posts from Octobers past. Which one has you wanting to click over and read it? Perhaps you can click over and like it and leave a comment.
There is always beauty. We might be too preoccupied to see it. We get sad, we get mad, we have all kinds of emotions and we get a lot of thoughts in our head that keep us from seeing it, but . . . it is always there. It also depends on how strict your definition of beauty is.
I snapped this last year three days after I found my dad dead. I felt kind of guilty because I was in awe of how gorgeous the day was. Yet, I felt like I shouldn’t be able to be entranced by such beauty, like I should just be sad and not recognize it. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let the wonder that God had created go ignored because I was sad. So, I took a few pictures as my hubby was driving us . . .
I thought I would share this beautiful day for today’s Friday Photo.
Seems like I am posting a lot about cats. I recently posted about how you can use a box and/or packing paper to entertain a cat or two. Either the box itself will do the trick OR your can bring life back to a forgotten toy by using it in conjunction with the box. Well, a couple of days later I was given a bag with something in it and when I empty the bag I left it on the floor. Next thing I know I hear a cat diving into it. Then she hides. We played a bit. Then a couple of days later I am in the room and I THINK I see Nessa come in the room, but I don’t stop what I am doing to look. When I finished what I was doing I looked around and there was no Nessa. And I think, “Dang, I really thought I saw her, I must have been mistaken.” I go to move the bag and I am surprised by a cat in a bag. She loves this bag.
Here is Nessa in the bag with Teagan playing from the outside.
Here is Nessa in the bag getting my finger.
Then on FaceBook I saw someone post a video about a guy who built his cats a maze made up of 50 boxes. I watched it without reading the story attached to it only to find out at the end of the video it was Cole and Marmalade. Awww. I love Cole and Marmalade! Many of us do! Click the picture to go to Youtube to the video in which Cole and Marmalade’s dad builds them a maze made out of 50 boxes. Then he throws treats in the boxes so they jump into the boxes to get their treats.
See? Boxes make the best cat toys! It is great exercise for them, too.
Last month we had some really hot days where it never cooled down. My idea was to not cook when it was really hot, but I didn’t know what to make. I mean, part of staying cool meant NOT getting in the car and going to the store! So, I was using what I had. I had decided to make chicken salad but give it a Mexican inspired flavor. I posted about it in September. In that post I mentioned my “regular” chicken salad. Well, I had a hankering for that the other day and I thought since I was making it, I might as well share the recipe.
I know there are probably a million variations on chicken salad. I used to never like it because of the celery . . . but I don’t use celery. Here is what I do.
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Chicken Salad
—1 12 ounce can of chicken (about 8 to 10 ounces)* —1/4 onion —½ cup pickles (4 stackers) —1 green bell pepper —1 tsp garlic powder —1 tsp garlic salt —2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise (between 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup) —sprinkle of pepper
Drain the liquid out of the can, then dump the chicken in a bowl. If you buy Kirkland canned chicken you have to use a fork to break up the chunks of meat. Chop the onion and pickles. Chop the bell pepper. Add all the chopped ingredients into the bowl with the chicken. Stir it up. Sprinkle the garlic powder and salt over the mixture. Then mix it up. Add the mayo . . . more or less depending on how mayo-y you like your chicken salad. A sprinkle of pepper (unless you like pepper, then add more).
Mix it all up. If you have time . . . let it set at least 20 minutes. This will let the flavors meld a bit. But if you are in a rush go for it.
*The can is 12 ounces but a lot of it is water, so I think you end up with about 8 to 10 ounces of chicken. So if you are using chicken that is not in a can, I would start there. Also, the ONLY canned chicken I will buy and eat is Kirkland. I have tried other brands and the meat does not look good. It looks dark and there looks like there are a lot of “parts” and not just chicken meat. So I ONLY use Kirkland (Costco).
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I like chicken salad because you can eat it on bread, making a chicken salad sandwich. Or you can eat it on crackers. Today I actually had some in a tortilla. You can fill up a lettuce cup and eat it that way. Or you can just eat it with a fork.
Unfortunately if you put it on bread you kind of have to eat it right away otherwise the bread gets really soggy. Because the combination of mayo, bell peppers, and pickles this mixtures get pretty watery. So, my hubby doesn’t get chicken salad sandwiches in his lunch. (Sorry, Honey!)
Just like I asked in my other chicken salad post . . . what do you put in your chicken salad? And what do you put your chicken salad on/in?
Here is a photo of some pretty flowers we have in our house right now. I wanted something to bring in the fall. We have had some nice temps here to remind me it is fall, but I wanted something colorful!
I probably should have warned you . . . I have a few cat post brewing. They have been swirling around my head. I thought it would be best (for me) to just get them out. You may have seen me mention that we have two cats. You may have also seen me mention that one cat is tiny and the other cat is big. They are actually about the same size, as in, the same length and the same height. And in fact, they are not large cats. I would say they are medium, if not small. The are NOT large. But one is heavier than the other. The heavy one makes us think we should try to have her eat less and the thin one makes us think we should feed her ALL the time. But I think she is comfortably thin. I mean, when I look at her or pick her up, I kinda freak out because she is soooo tiny. She is thin . . . her bones stick out and they knock together when you pick her up . . . but . . . she is in charge of her eating. It is not as if she doesn’t have access to food. She is just a very lean cat. If she had any issues that I notice about moving or toileting, I would be concerned, but she moves like the wind. Just last night I heard my husband make a flabbergasted noise in another room and I asked him what that was about. He proceeded to explain how Nessa, the thin one, just moves like there is no stopping her. It doesn’t matter what is in the way she will get around it, she will jump over it, fly past it, sail under it . . . just MOVE. She moves in very amazing ways so I am confident that she is pretty healthy despite her small frame. But . . . I still try to get her to eat more.
I probably have mentioned how I will put the wet food down and Nessa will lap up all the liquid. Then she will go away. Teagan will come in and eat off one plate. Then sometimes she will go away. Then later on Nessa will come back in and eat some. Then Teagan will come back in and sometimes she finishes what is left . . . but sometimes not. It is really difficult to track who eats what. When you try to watch them and monitor them then they don’t eat. So leaving them to their own devises, probably ends up that one eats more than the other. So with that in mind I discovered that Nessa likes one brand of cat food that Teagan does not. In fact, Teagan will only eat one kind that I have purchased so far. Nessa will eat others, but not Teagan.
One day Nessa was in licking her empty plate and I thought, “Hmmm. Maybe she will eat these fish flakes I have. (And have had for a long time.)” Oh my word! She gobbled them down. I thought, “Well, I don’t even know if Teagan likes them because Nessa just sucked them down.” So I decided to buy more.
Well, Teagan does not like them, but Nessa will gobble them up. She will gobble up a pile then look at me and make her little squeak for more. So I will give her more. Teagan will not touch them, even though they are bascially tuna. So . . . this is another thing that I can feed Nessa and not fear that Teagan will eat it all. But then I feel bad because Teagan asks for something, too. But the whole point it so get more food into Nessa.
Anyway . . . I just thought I would share this treat that my one cat considers crack-like. I think they might make us go broke because we are down half a bag already. I thought we had gotten them a while ago, but we just got them Friday.
Do you have a treat for your cat that they LOVE? What treats do you give your cat?
When we first got Spot the Cat I wasn’t working. I think I was home for a few months. But when we first got her I still didn’t want to get her a big scratching, lounging type of tower. I couldn’t decide on a tower and I thought it was a good idea to change up her play structures. I thought that having large sturdy boxes that we could change was better for her to play in. I thought it would help her from getting bored. When we first got her my husband worked at a company where there was often surplus boxes around. He worked at a box company so sometimes the mock-up box created for a client would go unused. About once every three or four months either he would bring home a box or we would use one that we had something delivered in. He and I took turns cutting the box. We would cut “doors” and holes in it so she could jump in and out of it or crawl around. It is amazing how much fun cats have in boxes. Eventually we got a tower, but when we had access to a big sturdy box we use it, too. We do the same thing with our two cats now. Boxes and packing paper seem to be items that bring endless hours of entertainment and/or help bring the interest back in a toy.
A while back we got something in a big sturdy box. My husband cut the doors and holes in it and we gave to the cats. They love it. I have made my husband suffer through keeping the box. I move it out into the garage (and this is where the suffering comes in because it gets in our way) every once in a while, taking it away from the cats. I keep it out there for a month or so, then I bring it back in. I think this one, I had it out there for a long time this last time I took it out because my husband threatened to throw it away quite a few times. When I brought it back in the house it was totally worth all of our “suffering”. Our cats, especially Nessa when crazy over it. They rubbed all over it and jumped in it. Nessa was ALWAYS in it. They love their box.
It works well because Nessa is such a tiny light cat, she can jump up on it. Teagan can be on it, but she is not as much of a jumper as Nessa. The chase each other in and out of it. We use the fliers to have them play in the box. They love it.
Christmas is coming so the house gets crowded with the tree so the box will be going out again soon. It will be out for a few months then come back in.
But the packing paper will probably stay for a while. We use that to entertain the cats too. It comes and goes. So many things come packed in packing paper we always have some around. The cats love that too. Teagan will NOT tolerate a flier being under the paper. Or anything for that matter. She can be sound asleep and if you put a toy under the paper she will jump up and pounce on it. She is hilarious when it comes to something under the paper.
Nessa likes to play with toys and the paper, too. It is really as if the toy is brand new.
Two easy ways to bring life back into a neglected toy – use it with a box or packing paper. Also easy and simple ways to give something to the cats to play with. The box alone and the paper alone provide entertainment. Add a toy to it and there ya go.
Does your cat love packing paper? Do your cats love to play in forts made of boxes? Do your cats get hours of entertainment out of packaging?
Does your cat love packing paper? Do your cats love to play in forts made of boxes? Do your cats get hours of entertainment out of packaging?
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