A Birthday Shoutout and a Damsel in Distress

First off today I have to wish my mom a happy birthday! I love you mom! You're the best!
Secondly, I'm going to share a funny story about my niece because well, she's just cute!
Sunday night after church my sister took my niece, Raegan, to McDonalds to let her play in the play place for a bit. This wasn't their normal McDonalds but one that my niece had said she wanted to go to because the play place was "better."
Anyway, not only was this play place "better" it was bigger. It was higher, and I'm sure it was more fun. A few other people went with them to McDonalds, my cousin Tracy, my cousin, Christy, and Christy's boyfriend Josh.
Well, at least Christy says that Josh is HER boyfriend. Raegan, however, feels differently. She has claimed Josh as her own, and tells everyone that Josh will one day marry her.
So, it was no surprise to them that when Raegan reached the top of the play place tower that she shouted down saying, "Josh, you my boyfriend. Help me. Help me!" And you know what, he did. He climbed to the top of the play place and slid down with her several times.
Yeah, she's got that damsel in distress thing down pat. Maybe I should take a few lessons from her!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Weird Little Facts About Me

1. Before I get into bed I have to set my pillows in the right order. Two behind me, two under my head, one to hug and one at my knees (Yes, I have a lot of pillows!!)

2. I can't sleep with my back to any doorway. I guess if anyone ever breaks in or anything I want to face them head-on. I don't know.

3. I always set my alarm to about 45 minutes before I actually HAVE to get up so that I can have that joy of getting to sleep longer.

4. I can't drive with the steering wheel all the way down. I'm a short person so I have to drive pretty close to the steering wheel, so I think that's why.

5. I make random calls to my friends about the funny things I see driving down the road (They do this too, so I'm not the only one!!)

6. I like things to be symetrical (Pictures, candles, etc)

7. I alphabetize my movies.

8. I HATE to shop. Especially during the Christmas season. Give me online shopping anyday.

9. I usually eat burgers, sandwiches, etc by first eating the top piece of bread, then eating what's in the middle and ending with the bottom piece of bread.

10. I never trust oven timers. My mom and dad have a gas oven, so things would cook quicker in there, so I now have the habit to double check what I'm cooking like every few minutes.

11. If I'm reading I can zone out the rest of the world. I learned this by having an annoying little brother who was NEVER quiet. (I love him now though!)

12. I like being alone. No, I'm not depressed or anything, but I'm a writer, and I love my solitude. (Not that I want to be alone 24/7 or anything, but I don't mind being by myself if I have to be.)

13. I won't eat sliced tomatoes because they look GROSS on the inside.

14. And here's a little extra one, I can't touch foam rubber. It sends chills up and down my spine if I do. Seriously, I even ran from my 2 year old niece once when she was trying to touch me with a piece of foam rubber.

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A Toddler and the Rodeo

I spoke yesterday on my other blog about going to the rodeo this past Friday night. Over there I talked about the blessing I received while I was there. Over here I'm gonna tell you something funny that happened. Well, several funny things really.
See, we made a girls night of it. It was me, my sister Crystal, her daughter Raegan (who is 2 1/2) and our cousin Tracy. Raegan had talked for days before the rodeo about going to "see the cowboys." It even became part of her play. See, she has this pink stuffed dog that she named Oreo, who eats pink Oreos and lives in pink dog house inside of her pink playhouse. Yes, the child has an early obsession for pink.
Well, she started to say that she was going to watch the pink cowboys ride the pink bulls and horses. (Wouldn't that have been a sight?)
She talked and talked about it, but a few times she got mixed up just a bit. Instead of saying that she was going to see the cowboys ride the bulls, she would say that she was going to ride the cowboys. Then she asked my cousin Tracy if she was going to ride the cowboys with her. We couldn't help but bust out laughing, but Tracy quickly informed her that she wouldn't be riding any cowboys.
I believe my sister has quite a few things to teach my niece before she gets to the teenager stage!

HELP!!!!!!

Okay all you computer savvy people out there I really need your help! If you don't help, I may become the guest that no one wants to come visit their blog. See over the last couple of weeks things have been triplicating when I hit the enter button. Comments, posts, Mr. Linky links. Everything. And I don't know why? Any suggestions to help me figure out why this is happening? Any would be appreciated.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Movies or TV Shows I Loved As A Youngster

1. Mr. Rogers - I didn't really care about the part where he visited people or anything, I thought that was kind of boring, but I loved the trolley and King Friday and all his loyal subjects

2. Fraggle Rock - I loved this one so much that I bought the first season on DVD.

3. Full House - "How rude!" is a statement I used for a long time! I also have these seasons on DVD.

4. Beauty and the Beast - Still one of my favorite movies to this day.

5. Aladdin - Also still a favorite

6. The Lion King - Loved it when the monkey hit Simba upside the head and said, "It doesn't matter, it's in the past!" Too funny!

7. Family Matters - I laughed and laughed at Urkel's antics (see prime time television used to be family appropriate!)

8. The Bluebird - An old Shirley Temple movie, two little children followed a bluebird and the picture went from black and white to color kind of like in the Wizard of Oz. They went in search of better parents only to find that they already had the best parents for them.

9. Rock-A-Bye my Baby - A Jerry Lewis movie where his friends triplets get left on his doorstep, funny and sweet!

10. Geisha Boy - Also a Jerry Lewis movie. There was a rabbit in this movie named Harry, and my brother always called the movie, "Harry"

11. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - I've always loved musicals, and this has always been one of my favorites.

12. An American Tale (also the second one Feivel goes West) I thought the mice in these movies were so cute, but my favorite was the cat who made friends with the mice!

13. The Sword in the Stone - I loved how the boy became a fish and a bird, and I thought Mad Madam Mim was funny!

What are some shows or movies you remember from your childhood?

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So I Caught a Bouquet...Or Was the First to Get to It Anyway

See that really pretty purple and white bouquet in that picture up there? It's the one I caught at my friend Leah's wedding. Well, I was the first to get to where it fell on the ground.

But I'm wondering if I should feel guilty about it. See, the second closest was a little girl. A little girl who probably would've loved to have a really pretty bouquet.

I just grabbed the bouquet unthinkingly, though. See, since I've been in three weddings this summer, I've been using the bouquets as pretty decorations in my house. Two of the weddings used real flowers which lasted a while, but this bouquet is something that I'd be able to keep, and it would stay pretty in the nice vase that I keep flowers in.

Believe me, I have no hopes that since I got the bouquet I'd be the next one married. I mean after all, I don't even have a boyfriend much less a fiance!!

So should I feel guilty that I got to the flowers first? Would you have given them up to the little girl?

Forever Friends

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too?
I thought I was the only one!"
~ C.S. Lewis ~

Friendship is a precious thing. See those girls in that picture up there? They've been my friends since junior high. In high school we were inseperable. And last weekend was spent seeing one of them married off.

These are the girls that I share all of my crazy high school memories with. These are the girls who knew about all of my crushes on guys, and of course I knew about theirs. These are the girls who cried with me when I was upset. These are the girls that I shared snacks with when our school went to camp. These are the girls I saved a bus seat for on our senior trip. These are the girls that I try my hardest to get together with at least a couple of times a year (two of them have moved away.)

Over the years these are the girls I've grown to love as some of my dearest friends. And it's hard to imagine that two of these friendships started because we all liked the swings at recess! And the other one started because one of my friends played volleyball and became friends with this other girl.

Swingsets and volleyball, not very deep, life-changing things, but these two things gave me friends that I would never trade! I think C.S. Lewis had it right on this one. It's our similarities that bring us together, but what grows from that becomes a tie that binds us even through our differences!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I've Been Doing This Week

1. Working, gotta earn a living because I haven't found a millionaire that wants to support me yet! LOL!

2. Trying my hand at a little blogger design, not sure if I'll be any good at it yet, but it's fun to try.

3. Cooking, gotta stop eating out and spending so much money.

4. Going to church, love my church.

5. Spending time with my little brother before he goes off to school

6. Watching my sister cry because my brother is going off to school (it makes me sad too, but I probably won't cry a lot until he's actually gone, right now I'm just spending time with him and having fun times!)

7. Trying to make sure I have a roommate for when my brother leaves because I really don't want to live alone even though I could afford it.

8. Watching the Lord of the Rings movies with my brother, these are our favorite movies, and we try to watch them together every so often, since he's going away, we wanted to watch them.

9. Starting the 90 Days Through The Bible again, last time I got messed up in the middle because my dad got sick and life went kind of hectic.

10. Practicing the song that I have to sing at my best friend's wedding on Saturday.

11. Making arrangements to get my hair done for Saturday.

12. Jumping for joy because gas prices are going down a bit.

13. Being glad for the rain because we really needed it!

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Fresh Cat Anyone?

Let me just clear something up. I do not eat cat, so if you're thinking that's what my title implies and you were grossed out, don't worry, none of that will be said here!
No, this story is about one of my fears coming true. Remember in this post how I talked about being afraid that I might shut my cat up in the fridge? Well, my fears came true, sort-of. Actually, I didn't close the cat in the fridge.
Sunday when I left for church, the cat was playing with one of her toys, and I told her to behave and shut the door and left for church. I spent the afternoon at my sister's house because she lives just down the road from my church, then I went back for Sunday night service.
So there was a huge gap of time that I wasn't home (like 12 hours.) Anyway, when I got home, I heard the frantic meow's of my cat. So I went in search of her. At first I thought she was BEHIND the fridge, but she wasn't there. I opened the door to the fridge, just in case, and there she was between the door and the bottom freshness drawer, trying to claw her way out, mewing for all she was worth.
I picked up the mischievous little thing, glad she was okay. I mean, I may not have wanted a cat at first, but she has become part of daily life now, and I definitely wouldn't want her to die in my fridge.
I'm assuming that I just didn't close the door tightly enough Sunday morning and she was playing with the door and got it open. I'm hoping that anyway. I sure wouldn't want to have to get a refrigerator lock just to keep the cat out, though she hasn't gone near the fridge since Sunday, so maybe, just maybe she learned her lesson!

A Few Little MeMe's

I don't have tons of time this morning, so I'm gonna do a few meme's and leave it at that!
First off Aggiejenn did "The Pizza Box" Meme yesterday and tagged anyone who hadn't done it. Well, I haven't so I'm gonna!

1. What was your favorite thing about being a kid? One of my favorite things about being a kid was spending time at my grandparent's house. I loved to spend the night over there. I think one of the reasons was because I love to read so much and my brother had a way of being very noisy that hindered reading! So grandma and grandpa Smith's was a great place to go and read. I also loved hearing them pray every night. My grandpa has been the pastor at my church for over 40 years, and honestly when they prayed at night I would hear them go through all the church members and pray for their specific needs. It always made me feel loved and cherished to know that they were lifting me up each night.
2.What was your favorite subject in school? Choir and speech, I'm not much of a public speaker as far as giving speeches, but I LOVE to be in plays and write plays and such. So the performing arts were always my favorites. After that I'd say yearbook.
3.Who was your best friend when you were 10? Jennifer Carriker, we had the best times. We'd make picnics of toaster strudel and kool-aid and carry them down to a cleared out place in the woods where we could get away from her brothers and from mine! It was great, and one day when I sprained my ankle, she carried me back to the house, now that's a friend!
4.What would you change about your school, occupation, life right now? Right now I am where God wants me, so even though I might be tempted to change things, I know that God knows better than I do, so I better just leave things the way they are!
5.What's your favorite type of crust and topping on a pizza? My favorite pizza is a pan crust cheese lovers pizza from Pizza Hut, as far as pizza I can readily get, But I LOVE New York Pizza!

Now for the 2nd MeMe, Susan did this little meme on her blog the other day, and it looked fun, so I picked it up!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (your first pet and the street that you live on): Smokey Dairy

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your mom's side, your favorite candy) Lina Toblerone

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name) Hdaw

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Lavender Koala

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Dawn Greensboro

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name) Smiheco

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink) The Lavender Pepper

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers) Bennie Lloyd

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes) Lauren Strappy Sandals

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: ( mother/father's middle name and the next name you hear on the tv/radio/talk) Kay Phyllis