Wek 36 and 37: Halloween Decorations, Bipolar, and Sick Loved One's

 So some of you were astutely aware that I did not blog last week.  I had the pictures ready but life has a funny way of intervening itself.  Last week was Labor Day Weekend so I had a 3 day weekend.  We did our annual fall shopping which was relatively uneventful (Pier One is closing which is a bummer because it was on our regular rotation of shopping).  I even got to talk to my Dad on Saturday and things seemed to be going well.  More on that in a minute.  So I was able to decorate for Halloween, well really Fall with a little Halloween sprinkled in.  Mostly it is about the lights.  And I picked up a new critter for my desk.  Everyone meet Spike:

 

 Don't worry, he is friendly.  He laughs at my jokes, which he is doing now.  

 Ginger likes only friendly dragons, so all my dragons are friendly.  But the only place that is really Halloweeny is my desk.  But the pictures will tell the story.  Here is our home decorated up:

We have the purple rooms and the orange rooms.  The living room and dining room are the purple rooms.

Our mantle with a couple of cute items on top and a ghost light in the fireplace that changes colors depending on what color you want your fireplace to burn as. 

Now this is what made Ginger, very, very happy.  This is our hallway (notice the shelves on each sides with Ginger's candle selection!).  Decked out in orange from front to back, Ginger smiles every time she walks in!

Okay the bedroom was purple and then turned to orange.  This room and the hallway I can change to orange or purple with the flip of a couple of switches.  It is currently orange.

By my side of the bed this is where my gang of Halloween figures hangs out at.  I could put them in the living room but they can get pretty rowdy. 

I always have to showcase my Victorian house that my Dad built for me.  It has a few lights flickering in there.  It could be the fireplace or ghosts.  If they are ghosts they are friendly.  Maybe they know Casper?

This is Pumpie.  Pumpie Pumpkin.  Our edition from last year in Gatlinburg.  He guards the candy.  Of course there is no candy in there, but don't tell him!

Walking into our dining room our fun (and Ginger's favorite glitter!) sign!

And lastly the mantle above my computer.  Complete with Spider venom, a crystal ball, a lightning haunted house and dragons.  

For those that aren't too into the Halloween thing, I have thought of you too.  Here is a cute picture of Sophie:

And why not, another one from her getting a piece of Dad's mini pancake:

One happy pooch.

 Yesterday I was able to get out and do a little running around to occupy my mind.  I came across some fun things.  I love vintage cameras, better yet vintage lens and I did really good yesterday with two finds:

A Canon AE-1 and a Pentax K-1000.  I go them really cheap and then found I had a gold mine.  The lens that came with them are phenomenal and I have already ordered adapters to put them on my new camera.  But the fun thing is film camera is coming back as a niche and I now have 3 film cameras I can play with (I already had another).  These lens are all manual but I am going to be able to do some neat things with them.  Stay tuned!

And then this.  I am a sucker for old books.  When I say old, I mean this is one I found written in 1896 with writings from Lewis Carrol, Charles Dickinson, Lord Byron among others.  For $9, I was pretty stocked.  

Spike is guarding the book.....

 

So why I did not blog last week.  Not that I need an excuse, but there were reasons this time around.

So Sunday Ginger had a pretty severe anxiety attack.  So I normally don't say this because I can gauge the severity of her attacks pretty well, but this was a really bad one.  Not the worst, mind you, but not a normal one she goes through.  What made this one bad is that bipolar was intertwined with the anxiety attack meaning hyperspirituality.  It makes for a rather vicious attack that has shock waves that trimmer for the next week or so.   Typically on these, her mind makes accusations about me and my motives and it is hard to distinguish between these two things: is this an attack from the devil or bipolar.  And it makes her feel like a punching bag.  Imagine this, fighting with your mind that does not want to turn off.  The good news, we have been down this road.  And I can distinguish between the disease and her.  The biggest help and the thing she wants to do the least, is talk to me about it because she doesn't want to hurt me.  She doesn't want me to think these thoughts are hers.  Which I don't.  I know my wife well.  We are getting over the hump on this but we are pretty much an open book here.   

And I wish that was the only thing going on.  I got word from my Mom on Friday afternoon that she had to take my Dad to the ER.  Go from talking to him on Saturday and looking forward to continued progress to this.  Long story short, he fractured a bone in his back from his first surgery and knocked his spine out of alignment from the second one.  He had some falls and apparently one of them did the damage.  So he is in the hospital and is going to have surgery to repair everything on Monday afternoon hopefully.  He is on a bit of a stronger pain medication, we are praying it does not interact with his Parkinson meds.  So please keep him and my Mom in your prayers.  It is not like we can have a whole bunch of people there in the waiting room to support each other.  Mom is the only one allowed in.  So shoot up prayers, good thoughts, excellent vibes, and anything else you can think of that the surgery goes well and the recovery as well.  Pray for strength for my Mom too.  We know God is in control, and we all know He is here in the midst of this storm with us. 

So I leave you with that.  If you hear any CCR or old hymns (my Dad loves both) think of him and Mom.  Thank you for all your love and prayers.  And for Dad, well, I leave this, a picture of the cover of his favorite book.  Godspeed on your recovery Dad.....

Baa