Kelly's Blog-on-a-Stick

More sleeptalking again lately! With two unique  variations, no less. Without further ado…

EPISODE 3

E: (something unintelligible and really really fast)

K: What was that, love?

E: (silence)

EPISODE 4

E: We need to move that..

K: What, babe?

E: (sitting one-third the way up and pointing into the sun room) We need to move… need to move… never mind, I’m too tired.

K: Oh, ok.

E: (totally gooses K on the behind)

K: HEY! That tickles!

E: (self satisfied half snicker followed by silence)

Seriously, she goosed me in her sleep and then acted all smug in a sleepy kind of way about it. Crazy Ellen!

December photo project aside, I want to share (with permission of the subject) a little experiment I have been conducting. It seems that my lovely wife, Ellen, is a bit of a sleep talker. Which is funny because she isn’t a vivid dreamer (side note: I am a very vivid dreamer, like the time I dreamt I was the cameraman for a show combining Deadwood and The Office. Jim, dressed in cowboy clothes giving me the ‘whaddayaknow’ look. Crazy, I know). She rarely remembers dreams, but something is going on in the subconcious because she does communicate with me in the wee hours.

The first episode, shortly after we got back from the homeymoon, went like this:

Ellen: mmph. nnn. guh.

Kelly (thinking E is awake): hmmm? what did you say, babe?

E: GGrrrfff. budguh. mmmm.

K (knowing I am getting a bit hard of hearing): Sorry, Love. I’m not hearing you. Say again?

E (after a few seconds): The guests can shoot the cake.

K: WHAT?

E: The guests can shoot the cake.

K (realizing that his lovely wife is a sleep talker): Oh, that’s nice babe.

E: mmph.

So now the fun begins. I realize it may be evil, but I figure if Ellen is going to wake me up talking in her sleep, I may as well have fun. Karma being what it is, though, my experiment bit me in the butt next time around, a few weeks later:

E: mmph. blrb.smmf…

K (ready to mess with her): I love you, honey.

E: I know.

I totally got Han Soloed on that one…

And now Ellen is getting more complex with the sleep talking. Just this week:

E: hhhhhhmm. vvgn…

K: What’s that love?

E: dfdfdfd. humnnnnnn.. ahhshhh.

K (thinking she may actually be talking for real): Not getting you, love. What was that?

E: My clothes…

K: yes?

E: are open…

K: uh huh.

E: are open…  season…

K (ahh, sleep talking): OK, babe.

E: I’m not wearing any clothes… mmmmffffffffffff….

K (chuckles quietly):…

So there you have it. My wife sleep talks and I try to have fun at her expense. She suggested I post them for posterity, so here you go. More updates as events occur.

In celebration of my epic failure to post a picture every day in December, I present a wonderful seasonal FAIL.

My mom found this box at the store and couldn’t pass it up. So much for truth in labeling!

What?? A bonus post? But I’m not a prolific blogger!! Well, maybe I’ll get the hang of this after all.

I figure that I should be able to find one, teeny-weeny little moment of transcendent beauty every day. I am an artsy-fartsy type as well as a blue collar wrench-turner. So for your pleasure, a moment of beauty from my day…

These are the rafters of the hangar where I work at quitting time. The sun is nice and low and very golden, even though my cellphone thinks it is smart enough to correct the color for me.

Anyway, thought I’d share… It was quite a nice way to end a day that I spent mostly folded in half underneath the instrument panel of a Cessna.

Here is today’s lunch, eaten at the lovely picnic tables in the hangar at RAM…

Three (yes three) beef/bean/cheese burritos, salsa, cheddar cheese Sunchips and a diet Dr. Pepper from the Speed-ee Mart down the street from work

OK, lousy lunch. I know, I know. My car has a crappy flat tire and I can’t get the lug nuts off because some moron at the tire place that I bought these from put the lug nuts on too tight, so I had to mooch my friend Steve’s car to go get some lunch.

“Why not just bring your lunch?” you ask? Because this morning was crazy with last minute gluing and stapling of bibliographies and sleepy twelve year-olds who stayed up late getting the bulk of his History Fair project done. No time to make a lunch…

Anyway. No major homework tonight and dinner is ready, so off I go for some good family time. Yay!

Here’s Wednesday’s lunch…

Leftover turkey, Ellen's awesome stuffing, nacho cheese Doritos* and a Dr. Pepper* (*from Jumpin' John's gas station)

I met Ellen at ‘The House’ for lunch where we stood in the kitchen and froze while we ate. No point in heating the place until we actually live there.

In the background are the matching fridge, stove and microwave that came with the place. I seriously never thought I would be jazzed about appliances (so un-bohemian), but these are wayyyyy cool. At least the fridge is cool. Get it??

Seriously, this fridge is the nicest appliance I have ever owned. It practically sorts the food for you in all the bins and whatnot. I feel kind of self-conscious and guilty, though, because I have felt like an anti-materialist most of my adult life. I freely admit that that may be a result of being poor most of that time, by western standards anyway, but it is still the default response I have to owning things.  What is a minimalist to do? Poor some freshly filtered cold water and crushed ice into an IKEA glass and ponder this dilemma on the huge front porch, I suppose.

So I am doing the December photo project this year…

I want to do this daily posting to help me get better at blogging. I was thinking to myself about how to make it sustainable because, as I readily admit, I stink at consistency and blogging. My first idea was to take a picture of myself wherever I was at a certain time of day, but that is tough because my job isn’t really flexible like that. Just stopping what I am doing and pulling out a camera every day at 9:15 am would get me fired, most likely. But taking a picture at the same time every day does sound like something I can remember to do.

One thing I do every day, on my own time, is eat lunch. Therefore, I am going to post what I had for lunch every day this month. Remember now… this is about building a habit. This is not about being a great photographer or brave art or any other lofty goal. I want to blog more. I eat lunch every day. I can use my cell phone camera. Easy. Decision made.

So, without further ado, here is what I ate for lunch today:

Fried chicken, fried okra, roll, honey, ketchup, hot sauce, Dr. Pepper (and one stray french fry)

Not the lunch I am most proud to present to the world, but I have a weakness for fried chicken. I AM from the south, you know… A side benefit from this project is that I will probably eat better (after today) since I will be sharing my menu with my thousands of adoring fans.

OK, first post has to be done so here it is…

“Blog-on-a-Stick” was the title on my first blog opened in Blogger about three years ago. It was a total failure. I had no idea what to write, or felt like I had to write brilliant prose that would inspire millions. Total flop.

I then opened “katsuras-liminal-space” on Blogger and kept it completely private. Just a place for me to do some necessary soul work and keep notes there. I love what I wrote, but still… not very prolific. Apparently writing is a bit of a chore for me. I am very much regretting not having a better habit of writing in the liminal space, because that time is over. I have completed a huge life-transition and don’t have a whole lot to document the process. I still have the blog and will probably still do some writing there, but only as a look back at that time, instead of writing about what I experienced as it was happening.

That is what I regret most about katsuras-liminal-space and what I hope to rectify in Blog-on-a-Stick. Wish me luck…