Tag Archives: Bert the Birtday Gorilla

Late Blog Posts Are Apparently an Option

     AAAAaaand the late posts continue, as I type in my Lame Post Friday post early(ish) Saturday morning.  I probably shall never feel I am up early again unless it is 5 a.m. or earlier, just so you know.  I open today with a bit of half-baked philosophy.  I was on Facebook yesterday and a friend posted a list of advice.  Most of it was pretty good, but one said to choose to feel happy, being sad should never be an option.  I flashed on drill sergeants saying, “Failure is not an option,” meaning of course that it was a shameful option (ooh, here I go philosophizing again).  Anyways, this is what I commented:
     Except the part about being sad should never be an option. Some things ARE sad, and sometimes we have to allow ourselves to feel sad. You can’t always choose how you feel. That said, you can tell yourself things that might help you feel better, you can choose to have a cheerful attitude, you can accept feeling sad and that might lead you to feel happy sooner. The whole “you can just decide to be happy” idea has caused me no end of grief and sadness, because I felt something was wrong with me when I would try to choose happiness and only end up feeling more depressed. Sorry about the long comment. Perhaps I should put it in a blog post.

How could you choose not to smile at this scene?

     I like to put I a picture after two long(ish) paragraphs.  This fits in with the theme, because it falls under the heading Little Things That Bring You Joy.  Longtime readers know my late dearly missed husband Steve and I liked to dress our skeleton Bonita for the season.  He was really a great one for decorating for various holidays.  I am unfortunately still trying to unbury my house from the mess I let it get into over the last few years (I confess since even before Steven died).  However, sometimes decorating the mess makes me feel a little cheerful.

Bert the Birtday Gorilla wanted to get into the act too.

     I’m afraid Bert looks more Hawaiin than Easter, but I did not want to spend too much time searching my house for decorations, and I felt it was the wrong thing to do to buy more stuff when I am trying to get rid of things (although the dollar store had some cute stuff!).  I felt good about myself that I had been cleaning for a while before I dressed up Bonita and Burt.
     Now I feel good about myself , because I have managed a blog post of over 400 words. Yay!  What will my Saturday bring?  I do not know, but I hope an on-time blog post.

It is the Monstrous Time of Year!

For this week’s Monstrous Monday Post,  I took some pictures of the evolving Halloween decorations at my house.

His name is Harold Ghoul.

I purchased this ghoul from a neighbor’s yard sale this year.  Our other ghoul,  Elliott Ghoul,  is in the front window.  I could not get a good picture due to reflections.

A work in progress.

You can’t see the Keep Out tape very well, and I need to place the scarecrows more advantageously.

I am especially proud of this little group.

The black tulips that Bonita is holding were a prop from Spring Into Murder, one of the dinner theatres written by me (regular readers know I like to mention my murder mysteries at any opportunity).  The gorilla in the mask is Bert the Birtday Gorilla.  I got him at a post-Valentine’s Day Sale for Steven’s March birthday, a number of year’s ago.

Lots of little things here!

I meant to put just a few things on the mantle, but once I got started…

The shirt is too worn out for me to wear, alas!

Since this Santa Claus stays out all year, I like to dress him up a little for Halloween.  Maybe next year I will try a vampire cape or witch’s hat.  It is nice to have these little improvements from year to year!