08-13-18: First day of 11th grade for this kid! I’m so proud of him, from his multiple 4.0 report cards to his tenacious work ethic! Good job, kid! I am so proud of the man you are becoming! ❤️💕

We had such a good Halloween Party this year that it took me until JANUARY to get these photos edited. LOL! This year’s theme was food and people thought of the most inventive ideas! Enjoy!

Laura and Michael Moncur as Peanut Butter and Jelly

You can see everything after the break: (Continue Reading…)

I love this photo from Retronaut of an actor dressed up as the Mad Hatter.

I love how calm he looks in the photograph. He doesn’t look “mad” at all. How could an insane man sit so still and serenely? I much prefer Mike’s take on the costume.

The party was a BLAST!

Moncur Halloween Party 2012 Winners:

• Funniest Costume: Jen Savage as The Swedish Chef
• Sexiest Costume: Dawni Christensen as Elizabeth Taylor
• Beast of Show: Stacey Vest as Effie Trinket
• Best Potluck: Chelsea Jelsma for her Cream Cheese Jalapeño Bacon Wraps
• Scariest Costume: Laura Moncur as the Melting Nazi from Raiders of the Lost Ark

You can see the rest of the photos after the break: (Continue Reading…)

Today, the final installment of The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles has posted on Steampunk Stories.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Beyond Gretna Green (Part 1 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which Miss Isabella Davenforth travels to Moncur Castle and remembers the chiding of the current Lord Moncur about her situation.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Berenice and Mystery (Part 2 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which our heroine, Isabella Davenforth, is introduced to the Dowager Moncur and is asked to pass a test of fortitude.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: A Hard Day in America (Part 3 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which the Dowager Moncur reveals her true madness to Miss Isabella Davenforth.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: American Notes (Part 4 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which Isabella Davenforth brings forth two volumes of stories to the Dowager Moncur.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: What the Dowager Moncur Told Isabella (Part 5 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which the Dowager Moncur finally reveals to our brave heroine about her curious spectacles.

Since I wrote an entire story about my Halloween costume, you can imagine how excited I am for the party this Saturday! I hope it goes well!

Today, the fourth installment of The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles has posted on Steampunk Stories.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Beyond Gretna Green (Part 1 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which Miss Isabella Davenforth travels to Moncur Castle and remembers the chiding of the current Lord Moncur about her situation.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Berenice and Mystery (Part 2 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which our heroine, Isabella Davenforth, is introduced to the Dowager Moncur and is asked to pass a test of fortitude.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: A Hard Day in America (Part 3 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which the Dowager Moncur reveals her true madness to Miss Isabella Davenforth.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: American Notes (Part 4 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which Isabella Davenforth brings forth two volumes of stories to the Dowager Moncur.

This story will continue to post every Wednesday until right before the Halloween Party.

Today, the third installment of The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles has posted on Steampunk Stories.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Beyond Gretna Green (Part 1 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which Miss Isabella Davenforth travels to Moncur Castle and remembers the chiding of the current Lord Moncur about her situation.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Berenice and Mystery (Part 2 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which our heroine, Isabella Davenforth, is introduced to the Dowager Moncur and is asked to pass a test of fortitude.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: A Hard Day in America (Part 3 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which the Dowager Moncur reveals her true madness to Miss Isabella Davenforth.

This story will continue to post every Wednesday until right before the Halloween Party.

Today, the second installment of The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles has posted on Steampunk Stories.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Beyond Gretna Green (Part 1 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which Miss Isabella Davenforth travels to Moncur Castle and remembers the chiding of the current Lord Moncur about her situation.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Berenice and Mystery (Part 2 of 5) – Steampunk Stories: In which our heroine, Isabella Davenforth, is introduced to the Dowager Moncur and is asked to pass a test of fortitude.

This story will continue to post every Wednesday until right before the Halloween Party.

Mike’s parents just came back from their trip to Great Britain. While they were in Scotland, they visited Moncur Castle.

Moncur Castle by Gary Moncur from Flickr

Decrepit, tiny and roofless, it stands in a cow pasture. Still, it feels good to be able to trace our family lineage back to a castle in Europe, even if it’s a decrepit one.

I’m still out of sorts. My friend emailed me pictures of herself pregnant and full of belly. It’s hard not to be jealous. It’s hard not to be bitter. It’s hard not to take it personally when she knows my situation. Why would she email me those pictures?

She was feeling fat and she needed someone to tell her she was beautiful.

So I sent her an email telling her she is beautiful.

I’m still jealous and bitter, but now I’m angry at her for being inconsiderate. It’s time I realized that I’m her friend, but she’s not mine. It’s like those social networks where you make someone your friend, but they don’t add you back. I don’t think she has ever added me to her network.

Why did it take me 22 years to notice it?

Mike and I love to collect pictures of him with people in costume. Someday we’re going to have an entire website of just pictures of him with people. We have really old ones from Comdex back in the day. He posed with Jeeves from Ask Jeeves before it turned into just, Ask.com. We have a picture of him with Death and another from last year with the Podcast Pickle. I wonder how many we need until it’s a meme instead of just a really weird collection.

Betsy Devine clicked this picture of me back in March. It was right before I slipped into my latest binge nightmare. Looking at this picture has made me want to get back to that. I felt so strong and healthy and I looked pretty good. Last Sunday, I started back on the plan that I was on when I felt like that. Soon I will look as good at Betsy made me look that day.

It’s funny how a simple picture clicked so quickly can mean so much. Betsy was the only person who got a picture of me right at that time in my life. I’m always on the other side of the camera and I forget that sometimes I need to click a picture of myself in order to keep tabs. I remember seeing that picture in March and thinking that I looked fat. I remember pointing to my upper arms and hoping for better in the future.

Now, I would love to look like that for the rest of my life: upper arm flabbiness and all.

This boat is older than I am, so I can’t claim she was named after me. I do hold a page of Google search entries before her, though, so I can’t be jealous.

• Nelsons Boats – Donaghadee – Laura Moncur

Apparently, she’s for sale. This is what they say about her:

“Laura Moncur” the former Buckie Lifeboat, built 1961 and sold by the RNLI 1988. with 4berth cabin forward accessed through engine room or from maindeck. Galley / saloon aft. Central wheelhouse with radar, radio and navigation equipment. Twin Gardner 5LW diesels with all the usual lifeboat refinements. This boat has been excellently maintained by its owner and has had annual out of water re-fit, June 2005. including complete repaint.

Most of that description doesn’t really mean much to me. I like a boat with a saloon. Of all the descriptions that they use to make her sound appealing, I’m most uneasy with this one…

She is ready to be enjoyed by the next discerning owner.

Last week, I dreamt that I was a bad guy. I was part of a ring of bad guys and I had a job to do. I got stuck on an airplane on an International flight, so everyone was sleeping on the plane. I was proud of my criminal status. I pointed to my poster on the post office wall. It said, “The Laura Moncur.” I explained to the bystander, “It says ‘The Laura Moncur’ because they can’t comprehend the idea of a woman who is a mastermind criminal. They assume I must be an entity.” The irony was that I really was part of a crime ring and I wasn’t in charge. I just followed orders. That wasn’t enough for me. I wanted the world to believe that I was more than I was.

I woke up and realized that the dream was true about me now. I am a full-time writer now, but there is no way I could have done this if Mike hadn’t made the Quotations Page profitable enough to let me have this opportunity. Mike and I have worked hand-in-hand on the Quotations Page, but he is the one who diligently keeps the advertising profitable. I have no hand in that. All I do is add quotes and write my fingers raw. The money that the weblogs attract is minimal compared to what comes in from his quotations.

So, I am part of a ring of websites masterminded by Mike. I don’t need a poster on the post office wall. I don’t need to be “The Laura Moncur.” I am just me and that’s enough. At the end of the dream, Mike was on the flight with me and I was so happy to see him. That’s how it is in real life.

Use the form below to send me email and I’ll respond as soon as possible. Anything sent to me using this form may be posted on this or any other website.

I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on April 12, 1969, which means that I’m an Aries. I have a Bachelor’s Degree from Westminster College, with a double major in Mathematics and Education, neither of which have helped me write this weblog in the least.

My Motivational Quotes of the Day page is maintained by my husband, Michael Moncur. My first attempt at a weblog was the Quotes of the Week Page back in 1997, but I soon wearied of trying to write solely about quotations. This site gives me the freedom to talk about whatever I fancy.

I currently write for the following weblogs in addition to Pick Me!

• Merriton: My first fully dedicated fiction weblog. Stories about Merriton post every Wednesday.
• Starling Fitness: A weblog about diet, health, exercise and all those cool fitness products available out there. Updated every day and twice on weekdays because learning a healthy lifestyle needs daily positive input.
• The Quotations Weblog: We revived Quotations of the Week into a daily weblog that gives you more in depth information on the quotations that you love. Updated Monday through Friday.
• The Gadgets Page: Log on Monday through Friday for information about the gadgets that are supposed to make our lives easier and better. What works, what doesn’t, where can you get it and how can you use it to its fullest. Reviews of everything from toothbrushes to digital cameras.
• Starling Travel: You don’t need to know about $5000 cruises. You need to know something fun and inexpensive to do with the fifty bucks in your pocket. Traveling on the cheap every Monday through Friday.

These are photos of me that have been used on this weblog.

September 2003 – Photo by Dawni Angel Photography

May 2004 – Photo by Michael Moncur

June 2004 – Photo by Michael Moncur

April 2007 – Photo by Laura Moncur

I decided to do steampunk for my costume again this year.

https://youtu.be/F5xWHjO0SQE

Before today, I had never seen the Weinermobile in person. Even better than the Matchbox version!

Today I realized why facial masks work.

When you’re feeling like you hate your face and you want to pinch all the pimples that aren’t even there, you can put on a mask. The mask takes about 30 minutes to dry. During that time you can’t touch your face. You can’t gouge out something that isn’t there. You have to wait.

Facial masks are just a thirty-minute time period where you can’t self harm.

My game entered a whole new level of crazy with the Halloween Fishing Tournament. We are fishing for candy fish.

I feel like this should be the moment when it just breaks the suspension of disbelief and I can’t play anymore, but it isn’t. I’m perfectly willing to fish for fish that look like candy.

I may be truly mad.

I have really enjoyed the latest version of Animal Crossing. We just finished up a big Halloween event, so my campsite is all decorated.

09-01-18: I made these slippers for Stacey Vest. They’ll be great for when it gets colder.

BTW, these are MY cankles. They looked WAY better on her. 😂

08-26-18: Morning walk around Daybreak before I head back home to STG.

08-25-18:

08-12-18: We have had this Ikea chest thing (Hol) sitting in its original box for about ten years. I finally put it together yesterday and sawed out holes so it can hold our water hose for the front yard.

08-10-18: Crocheted clothes hanger for the camper. I used this pattern: https://youtu.be/OVOyQJ7w660

Just bought a 1977 Nomad 18 foot camper! So excited!

Sean Moncur finally got his learners permit! I’m so proud of him!

Sean and his friends recently discovered the legends about beings that can be summoned by saying incantations in the bathroom mirror. This list surprised me that there were so many.

• 5 Malevolent Entities You Could Summon But Probably Shouldn’t

I tried to ally their fears about Bloody Mary by going into the bathroom without lights and a candle and saying her name the requisite number of times, but it just scared them so much that they wouldn’t let me say the last one. I remember being that scared when I was a kid and I kind of miss it.

WIL WHEATON posted this animated GIF on his Tumblr a long time ago and I saved it for the season!

Happy Halloween, my friends!

This is a really good tutorial showing you how to make it appear as if you have a reattached hand.

The technique is so good that it is gruesome.

If you are planning a scary costume this year, this technique is a great idea.

Via: She Wraps A Coil Of Wax Around Her Wrist — What She Turns It Into? This Is CHILLING…

I absolutely adore these Paranormal Pretzels from FamilyFun Magazine

These Alien Pretzels from Butter with a Side of Bread look awesome, too:

I am not bringing these to the Halloween party, but I REALLY want to eat them. Will one of you guys bring them to the party?! I promise to vote for you for the Best Potluck Dish.

I’m not one for carving pumpkins, but if you are, here are a ton of cool pumpkin stencils.

• Free Pumpkin Stencils | POPSUGAR Tech

Personally, I prefer those plastic pumpkins that never get gross and rotted, but that’s just me. It seems that pumpkin carving is still a fun Halloween activity that people seem to love. It’s one of the rare Halloween traditions that I don’t really care for…

Pop Sugar has a great collection of costumes for women:

• Creative Halloween Costumes For Women | POPSUGAR Tech

I particularly liked Katy Perry dressed up and Jane from the cartoon, Daria:

I liked this costume for sadness

I always love to see creative costumes for girls that don’t involve princesses or perfect people. Girls can be anti-heroes, too.

I laughed out loud when I saw this:

It reads:

If someone tells you it’s too early to be posting about Halloween, stop talking to them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.

This is ALWAYS true. Even if it’s July… or November…

My sentiments exactly!

As always, this is my favorite time of the year. I save all my haunted and costume related costumes all year long for this very month!

I know I have done it TWICE in the last twenty years, but I’m going as Uhura from the original Star Trek series for Halloween this year. I just need to find one of these things…

The last two times I dressed up as Uhura, I couldn’t find one and felt like my costume was seriously lacking because of it. How can I be as awesome as Uhura without her little earpiece communicator?!

I’m still looking and I hope to find something or make something before the BIG day!!

Whatever your Halloween plans are, I hope they are delightful!!

It’s time for me to watch View From The Top again. I saw this quote from it and it reminded me of how great the movie is.

Did I ever tell you about a nasty habit that flight attendants pick up on the job? We learn to always keep smiling, even when we’re out of Bloody Mary Mix.

• Eric Wald

If you have never seen the movie, it is worth the watch. Here is the trailer for it:

This trailer makes it look like a goofy Mike Meyers movie, but it’s a charming and inspiring movie that always makes me feel better when I see it.

Today marks the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary for Mike and me. I have seen MANY Pinterest boards devoted to wedding dresses, decorations and food. Twenty-five years after the fact, I have a little advice about your wedding.

1. After 25 years, your wedding dress won’t matter. The likeliness of you wearing it again, it fitting your daughter, you even HAVING a daughter is so slim that it will just sit in a box, taking up space or you’ll use it for some ghastly craft project. Choose something cheap. Rented is even better.

2. The photos (and video) of your grandmother will be more precious than the photos of you and your spouse. Make sure the photographer takes NUMEROUS pictures of your parents and grandparents on both sides.

3. No one will remember the center pieces unless they are ugly or weird.

4. No one will remember the venue unless it is difficult to find or so exclusive that your guests have to jockey through security to get to the ceremony.

5. No one will remember the food or the cake unless it gives everyone food poisoning.

6. Plan to wear flats and have your dress hemmed for flats. If you wear heels, you’ll kick them off three hours into the reception and you’ll be tripping on your dress. Don’t forget to break in those shoes BEFORE the wedding. You don’t want blisters when you are standing for eight hours straight, welcoming guests and trying to dance.

7. Make sure the rented flower arch doesn’t have any silly ribbons or flowers hanging too low. Otherwise, all your pictures under it will have something in the way of loved one’s faces (like mine did).

8. Make sure there are enough seats. Chairs are more important than a dance floor.

9. Even at an outdoor wedding, make sure the food is inside to prevent bee attacks and fly swarms.

10. Watch placement of the podium at the bridal ceremony at an outside wedding so the pastor doesn’t get sunburned.

11. Send thank you cards. Save the addresses and send Christmas cards every year. This is how you find out who moved or died. That information will give you far more familial power than you ever desired.

I’ve seen the bridal industry get so bloated and overblown over the last twenty-five years that it disgusts me. Don’t spend so much time and money on your wedding. There is a whole life ahead of you aside from “your day.”

I have been coloring for fun for years now. It seems that there has been an explosion in adult coloring books, which I have enjoyed. Here are a few that are really nice.

• Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Patterns
• Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book
• Color Me Calm: 100 Coloring Templates for Meditation and Relaxation
• Coloring Books for Grownup: Celtic Mandala Coloring Pages

I’ve used Prismacolor colored pencils for my coloring, but the huge box, as awesome as it is, is unwieldy and bulky.

Plus, they NEVER look as good as they do in this photograph. The minute you start using them, you have to sharpen them. And then some of them are longer than others. And the whole thing becomes too much for my mind wishing for Zen can handle.

So, two days ago, I bought some Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils.

They are ALWAYS the same size because you just twist up when you need more color. The coverage is as good as Prismacolor. There are only 30 colors instead of 72, but I’m getting so blind that I really can hardly tell the colors apart anymore. You could probably hand me a 8 count box of crayons and that would be enough for me.

I didn’t like the box because I could tell it was going to be ripped and broken in no time, plus I couldn’t see the colors easily, so I made a pencil case out of some scrap material I had hanging around.

I didn’t use a pattern, I looked up pencil roll pattern on Google and found tons of pictures. After looking at all the pictures online, I just made mine based on what I saw.

The top material folds over the pencils so they don’t fall out of the case when they’re rolled up. The roll is very thick when rolled, however.

It might be bulky, but not nearly as bulky as the Prismacolor box. Plus, I have dropped those stupid pencil trays so many times that I just cringe seeing them now.

One thing I don’t like is that the Twistables don’t have the color labeled on the pencils. I have to go by the plastic color of the pencil and it doesn’t really match the colored pencil lead. So, I took the names for the colors off the back of the Crayola box and printed up a Excel spreadsheet with the names on paper. Then, I colored the boxes with the actual pencils and taped the labels onto the pencils with invisible tape. You can see how they look in the detail from the pencil roll photo.

If you want to do the same thing, you can download this Excel Spreadsheet and print it up.

• Labels for Crayola Twistable Colored Pencils 30 count

Now, I can color without worrying about pencils that want to spill and pencils that are shorter than the others. It’s portable now, so I can take it with me on vacation and enjoy it. I hope this idea helps you with your coloring enjoyment as well!