Organization For Bat Conservation

We were lucky enough to get a visit at our library from the awesome people at the Organization for Bat Conservation. They operate out of the Cranbrook Institute of Science.



I apologize for the dreadful photographs! But please check out the video!



We had a great time and I was really happy to see all the kids learning how special bats are and how vitally important they are to our ecosystem. Bats are our nighttime guardians, eating literally millions of insects every night. But sadly, humans are their biggest threat.

If you'd like to learn more, please visit the Organization for Bat Conservation.

My Dad is responsible for all of this beautiful-ness. :)



For more A Thousand Words Thursday visit Jen @
Cheaper Than Therapy

Guitar Rug WINNER!!!

Guess who won my super cool Guitar Rug Giveaway from Beddingsets.com????

By random draw of all entries, it's...

Danielle aka Yellie @ Finally Finding Me...I Think!!!

Congrats to Danielle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned!! More great giveaways are coming soon!!!!!!!

The Haunting In Conneticut - Movie Review

The Haunting In Connecticut, from LionsGate Home Entertainment, stars some familiar actors - Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Kyle Gallner (HBO's Big Love), Martin Donovan (Showtime's Weeds), Amanda Crew (Final Destination 3) and Elias Koteas (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

Supposedly based on actual events, this movie depicts a family already in turmoil, who rents an old Victorian home closer to the hospital where their son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), is receiving treatments for cancer.

Upon moving in Matt begins to have disturbing visions involving a young boy and a menacing mortician, but fears that it may be side effects of his treatments. However, it isn't long before everyone in the family realizes that they are now living in what was a funeral parlor with a very dark history. All this demonic activity naturally needs to be exorcised out of the house, and when Matt befriends a fellow patient, Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas), he helps them out with this task. Unfortunately, things do not work out as planned.

Watch the trailer



I'm sad and disappointed to say I don't really have anything much exciting to say about this film. The entire screening I just sat there questioning, "Why don't they just leave?!"

In fact, I had a lot of questions. For instance, if Matt's afraid of sleeping in the basement, why doesn't he bunk in another room? The house is huge. Of course I know it's because he needed to be within close proximity of a mysteriously locked room for the sake of the story - but I'm just sayin'.

The special effects were good, but it was nothing special.

And there were a few scary parts in the movie. But I could have just been easily startled because I'd started to fall asleep. :(

Honestly, the best part of this DVD, in my opinion, were the special features. "The Fear is Real: Re-Investigating the Haunting", a two-part documentary, was pretty interesting. As was "Anatomy of a Haunting" - which features Barry Taff PhD and Psychic, Jack Rourke.

My very favorite special feature though was "Memento Mori: The History of Postmortem Photography". (Of course, I am a huge fan of postmortem photography, so yes, I'm biased. This ten minute documentary would probably easily bore most.) I was very excited to see that the commentator was none other than Stanley B. Burns M.D., author of Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America - a book that I would LOVE to own, except used copies are going for like $400, so too bad for me! :(

If you would like to get your own copy of The Haunting in Connecticut so that you can judge for yourself, it is available today at the LionsGate Shop.

Three Things You Didn't Know About Me...

I skipped third grade.

I've never been on a real vacation. Trips, yes. But not a REAL vacation.

I will put off cleaning my car as long as possible. It's pretty gross. :(

My Random Thoughts Turned Out To Be Not So Random Afterall

Random Tuesday Thoughts... Hosted by The UnMom


So, I quit taking my medicine and I actually ate something today.
And enjoyed it!
Yea, that stuff is poison.
I probably shouldn't have taken myself off of it abruptly like that. But... I did.
I live to tell. And I'm not hearing voices or anything.

To be honest, my mood was good while I was taking it.
I just couldn't handle the side effects.

At least I think it was.
Of course I was being super extra nice to everyone.
Just in case I actually was as close to death as I thought.
So, who really knows?

I've mentioned before that I'm not a tv watcher.
Except for that one very special show that only comes on in the Summer!
(And also in the Spring if there's a writers' strike. Yay for the writers' strike!)
BIG BROTHER!
(Oh! And Peanuts specials! I do so love those!)

I have no idea why I like this show. Or why I like it so damn much!
But I do. I really, really do!

So anyhow, since every Summer (and one lucky Spring!) I'm like a tv virgin all over again, I'm always taken aback by the barrage of advertising on the screen.

Last night I saw a commercial for Latisse. Their lovely spokesperson is Brooke Shields.
Latisse is a topical prescription drug (aka chemical) that you apply on the edge of your eyelid to help you grow longer, thicker and darker eyelashes.

Okay, this is a wonderful option for those suffering from an illness or side effects of a treatment that causes them to lose their eyelashes.
I think that's great.

But, let's keep in mind here that Latisse is made by the same folks who make Botox.

And also let's keep in mind that eyelash growth is incidentally a side effect of this medication, that is actually made for the treatment of glaucoma.

Read more information from the NY Times here.

This is not sounding good to me.
Personally I recommend getting some good mascara and a life.

This combined with my recent (and past) experience with pharmaceuticals, along with the experiences I've had with my daughters being on medications, I'm starting to really have a love/hate with the pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

My youngest daughter has had great success with the medications she's on. And my oldest is doing well with the ones she's on currently. However, we've experienced some living nightmares in the past with her medications, including a permanent tremor of her upper body that she now has to deal with everyday for the rest of her life.

I'm not dissing pharmaceuticals. In cases like my family's and many others I know, it can save your life.

But when a glaucoma medicine is now being turned into a cosmetic cash cow, and my insurance won't pay for me to at least try acupuncture... well, I'm not exactly suggesting that there's some kind of conspiracy going on, but it all smells a little fishy, ya know?

I won't even get into how many times I've waited in my doctor's waiting room, suffering from a five day long migraine while three pharmaceutical reps came and went ahead of me.

Or how when I worked in a restaurant we would cater for the reps so they could take lunch to their favorite doctor's offices.

Well, I knew this all along.
But it all just sorta hit me last night when I saw that commercial.

Pretty depressing.

On a lighter note, this Friday is Zoe's birthday! She's going to be 14!
She gets to come home for the day on Saturday and I'm going to have a little get together for her.
She's so excited! "I'm going to be fourteen, Mom! That's a huge deal!"
:)

It really, really is. Especially considering all that she's been through.
I'm so thrilled to see her doing so well and we are all anticipating her coming home for good.
I'm not sure when it will be exactly, but I know it will be soon.

Musical Monday ~ What Moves You?

~ Brought to you by Jori and Diane ~

Trinity is already preparing for her school talent show.
Because "It's only seven months away!"

Well, at least she'll be ready.

So I've been hearing this song over.and over.and over.

I used to like it...




I decided to show her the original Simon & Garfunkel version.
Ha! You should have seen the look on her face!!
"What the...?"



Ok, it's your turn!
What's moving you this week?

Post, link up and sign our MckLinky!

And be sure to make your rounds and
spread the comment love!

***

I feel REALLY bad about the MckLinky not working! :(
Especially because I know we have at least two new players this week.
So I'm going to list everyone's links here in the post for your convenience.

Please leave your post's URL in the comments section.
I'll try to keep the list as updated as possible but I do have a couple of appointments today.
I'll do the best I can.

MckLinky is in the beta stage so we do need to be patient.
Or we might need to go back to Mr. Linky for a bit.
We'll see.

Anyhow... here are our players!
(And don't forget to check out who's playing over at Jori's!!)

Thom @ Thom's Place 4 Well Whatever
Bunnykissd @ Diary Of A Crazy Rabbit Lady, Too
Carleen @ Life, Liberty And Good Coffee
Sarah @ I Blame My Mother
Eve @ Through Eve's Looking Glass
Caravan Trading Group @ Egypt Everlasting
Joy @ joy to the blog
Amy @ Keeping Up With The Schultz Family
Robin @ Cinnamon & Honey
Denise @ Full Nest
Cherie @ C'est Moi Trois
Amanda @ Moore Blog Life
Valerie @ It's A Wonderful Life

Camera Critters!

Love critters?
Even when they're naughty?
Then check out Camera Critters!

My Faith In Humanity Is Slipping...

They keep finding more and more missing bodies. Including children.

This is really.really.sick.

I'll Be Back In A Day Or Two...

But don't forget to enter to win my Guitar Rug Giveaway from BeddingSets.com!!!

Okay, gonna go puke now... :(

Love you guys!

Skin Free Giveaway Winner!

By random draw of all entries, the winner of my $30 Skin Free Gift Certificate Giveaway is sAm!

Thanks to all who entered!

Dead Wood - Horror Movie Review

I was lucky enough to get a chance to view a new horror flick that just came out on DVD yesterday!

Dead Wood, from LionsGate Home Entertainment, stars some newcomers - Fergus March, Rebecca Craven, David Bryant and Leighton Wise. It also stars Emily Juniper, John Samuel Worsey, Nina Kwok and Jay Worthy.

Written, produced and directed by a trio of British film makers - David Bryant, Sebastian Smith and Richard Stiles, Dead Wood was winner of Best Digital Effects at the 2007 B-Movie Awards.

You might think that this might result in a 'too many cooks' kind of mess of a movie, but in fact the story transitioned fairly smoothly, and I think they did a great job considering their budget.

I don't want to give away too much and ruin it for you, but I'll disclose this much...

You probably think you've "seen this movie before", considering the plot sounds somewhat old hat - four friends, in the woods, a curious stranger enters the mix, people start disappearing one by one, etc. I defiantly see some Blair Witch inspiration going on, but it certainly turns out to be its very own supernatural thriller in the end. (Don't worry - no shaky camcorder thing going on! Otherwise I'd have turned it right off!)

There is very little in the way of gore in this film, which some people might like. I however LOVE gore, but that's okay. It still got a scare out of me! At least twice I literally jumped, and it takes a lot to scare me!

Honestly, I have to say that it did start off pretty slow. But that also contributed to my building anticipation, so it's not an entirely bad thing. I just have a really short attention span!!

I'm most impressed with the fact that, although this is a low budget film, and technically speaking you can tell, the special effects can be compared to some of the best films out there! That really made up for my needing to be patient to get to the good parts!

Overall, I really enjoyed it!

Check out the trailer!



If you're interested in having your own copy of Dead Wood, it is now available at the LionsGate Shop.

Mind Wide Open July Challenge

This my entry for July's Mind Wide Open Art Challenge.

It is available for purchase at my etsy shop.

*click to enlarge*

Voting IS NOW OPEN, and all the artists who worked so hard on their entries would love it if everyone could just pop over, check out all the beautiful pieces and vote for your favorite!

Random - I'm So Sick Of That Word!!

I swear to you, it's all my kids ever say. Random this. Random that. I mean, like, fer sure!

So, check this b**ch out! She cut me off at McD's this morning!!

They have a dual lane drive-thru at this McD's. The car on the left orders, then the car on the right. The car on the left moves up, then the car on the right.

Obviously this is too complex for her to understand. Because she totally just pulled up into my spot.




Srsly, not good considering I'm waiting in line for my first cup 'o caffeine of the day! And you know what, she didn't even care. No "Oops, my bad!" wave or anything. She's officially on my list.

I totally didn't mean to take this picture. I was trying to get shots of some cool antiques they have at my post office. But, heeeeey to the handsome postal man working there!


The little girl looks like a future women's prison inmate if you ask me. This is not based totally off the picture - you should have seen how she acted! Her brother (granted he was being a pain in the butt) was teasing her by holding something (couldn't tell what it was) just out of her reach. So, she promptly decided to smack him across the face, and then took a handful of his cheek in her little grip and practically tried to rip his face off. The mom told them, "Cut it out!", and then ignored them. I really thought the post office floor might have ended up covered in blood had they not left when they did.

On the way home we found ANOTHER tree with a face! They're everywhere!!



And here's a little something to always remember...


Okay, that's quite enough randomness for one day!

Need to ramble on incessantly for no real reason?

Join The UnMom for Random Tuesday Thoughts!

I Just Had To Tell Everybody!

My other blog, Wouldn't You Like To See Something Strange? was finally accepted by Alltop! Whoooo Hooooo!

It's listed under Alltop's Top Oddities News Section.

Yay!!!!!!

Comforters & Sheets & Pillows & Rugs, Oh My! - Guitar Rug GIVEAWAY!

I was really excited when I got the chance to browse through the BeddingSets.com online catalog. My oldest daughter is coming home soon and we'll be moving, and I really want to give her a chance to make some choices as to her bedding and decor in her new room.

They have so much to offer - bedding of course, but even more!

In fact, the first time looking around there, I got so caught up in looking at all the beautiful decorative pillows, bath linens and rugs, I'd run out of time to even start narrowing down some bedding choices!

(I love me some pretty pillows and rugs!!)

So, when you check out BeddingSets.com, know that you might be poking around for a while, because the selection is insane!



One lucky person is going to win themselves something from BeddingSets.com that I personally have picked out for you! (This was so much fun! I wanted to pick something really cool and I hope you agree!)

This AWESOMELY COOL guitar rug!!! It measures 5'2'' x 7'2'' and is machine woven in Belgium from polypropylene, which makes it extremely durable. This rug is ideal for high traffic areas, like a family room or game room. ($55.00 value)




A friend of mine can name all these guitars by brand in like four seconds flat! Can you believe that?! Can you? Boyd??? Also, I think he said two of the guitars on this rug are left-handed - can you tell which ones? (Just a little pointless trivia! lol)

Okay, I'll stop rambling and tell you how you can win this rug!!

** You must be a follower of this blog.

** Go to BeddingSets.com, browse around a minute, then come back here and tell me about an item you love!

{**Both of these are mandatory to enter, and count as one entry!}

*Tweet about this giveaway for an extra entry.

* Blog about this giveaway and include the text below for an extra five entries.

<Beddingsets.com offers a wide variety of bedding, rugs, decorative pillows and more for children and adults.>

And that's it!

(If you chose to tweet or blog about this giveaway, please leave me a comment letting me know so I'm sure to include all your entries! You don't have to comment multiple times, just give me a head's up, that's all.)

I'm going to leave this giveaway open until Tuesday, July 14th at midnight. I'll announce the winner within three days of contest's end. The winner will be chosen by random draw.

Good Luck!!

Musical Monday ~ What Moves You?

~ Musical Monday is brought to you by Jori and Diane ~

I heard a kinda new single out by Franz Ferdinand today while I was driving and it reminded me how much I like them. Hadn't listened to them in a while.

Here's the song No You Girls...



Now, over to you!
What's moving you this week?

Post, link up,
then come back and sign the new MckLinky!
(We're gonna try it out!)

And don't forget to spread the comment love!!!

Happy Musical Monday!

Blog Hopping!

The theme for this week's MckLinky Blog Hop is "Introductions".

Good Mourning, Glory! started out as my place to share my art and maybe vent from time to time. It's somehow turned into so much more!

Now it's my place to interact with all the great bloggy friends I've made, share ideas and stories, talk about cool products I've tried, show off my photography and family photos, and so much more.

I even have giveaways from time to time. You can always check the right sidebar under Current Events & Giveaways for more info.

I have two other blogs - Wouldn't You Like To See Something Strange? - my "darker" side, and more recently Good Mourning, Glory! Studios which is now the place I've dedicated solely to my art and a monthly Art Challenge. If you'd like to participate, click on over! July's theme is "Summer Days".

Also, my good friend Jori @ Jeff & Me + Three (soon to change cuz she's got a bun in the oven!) and I host a fun game every Monday called Musical Monday. Come by and play with us anytime! There's only one rule to Musical Monday - it's gotta be MUSICAL! So come share your favorite tunes and make some new bloggy friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have fun on your blog hop!

Aloha Friday!

Aloha everyone!

I'll be spending the entire day with both my girls today! Yay!

We hope to work on a few art projects and make some yummy salads.

If you're ever wondering if all we ever do around here all day is make art... well, yes that's just about true. (I blog too!)

In about a week though I'm going to be taking some time off from art and blogging because my most favoritest ever television show is coming on - BIG BROTHER! :)

It's LITERALLY the ONLY television show I EVER watch. Ever. I'm so excited!!!!

If you love this show (I know there's some of you out there! If you can admit to liking The Bachelor and American Idol, for sure you can admit to this!!!) and you're not yet aware, there is a new blog called Big Brother Fanatics for us all to hang out at and blab about it!!!

I am almost as excited about the blog as I am the show!!

Ok, so anyway....

According to my calculations, since I buy at least two sweet teas from McD's everyday at $1.06 each, in one year I am spending $763.20 on sweet tea!!!!!!!!!!!

WTH??!!!!! I need to learn to replicate McD's sweet tea at home. There's something special in that sweet tea though, and so I'm not sure I can pull it off. But now I'm on a mission to try. That's just freaking ridiculous!!

So, my question to you this week is...

If you had an extra $763.20 a year,
what would you spend it on?

***

For more Aloha Friday visit
An Island Life!

Cool Stuff Me & Some Of My Friends Are Up To!

My very good friend Pam @ Screaming Mimi has some of the most beautiful photography note cards at her etsy shop, Mimi and Friends.

(Yes, you know I like this one!)

Well, one lucky someone is going to win a set of 8 of her note cards - you get to choose!

Just head over to Fantabulously Frugal, read a terrific interview all about how Pam got started in photography and her future plans for her etsy shop, then enter to win!

***

You may recall a little while back me showing off .the.coolest.ever. birthday gift from my friend Dracenea @ Rabid Reflections. Well, since it is a Frankie, it seemed only natural that she submit him to the A Patchwork of Flesh gallery!

(I'm so proud to be the owner of the original!!
His eyes glow in the dark, you know!!!)

Head over to her submission and congratulate her on her fantastic work!

***

My friend Joy @ joy to the blog recently sold this gorgeous piece that she had listed at her etsy shop, Endearing Ephemera.

I know, I know! It's beautiful!!

But you can't have it! You snooze you lose!

But check this out!


And this!

If you love her creations half as much as I do, you should head over there before it's too late!

***

As for myself, well, I stayed up a little late last night putting together something to submit to my own very first Art Challenge over at Good Mourning, Glory! Studios. The theme for July is "Summer Days", so this is what I came up with.

Then this afternoon I got Trinity working on her submission (Kid Art is welcome and encouraged for my challenges!!) and here's what she did! I love it!

Since this is my first ever Art Challenge, I wanted to make it special, so I'll be doing a giveaway for my "Lazy Summer Days" journal to one brilliant artist who submits a piece to the July "Summer Days" gallery!

So I hope you (and/or your kiddos!) might decide to get to work on something you'd like to share! Click here for details on the Challenge!

So now you see why I keep myself so busy making things - I have to somehow keep up with all my talented and creative friends!