Funny Thoughts About Life's Crazy Happenings

Butt Beans

2009-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Alaena has reached that nice chatty little age. Some of it is recognizable language, and some of it is jibberish, but she's getting really good at repeating things you say. Well pretty much.
She repeats body parts. If you say nose, she'll point to her nose and say, "NNOOOOOSSSEEE"
If you say belly, she raises up her shirt and says, "BEELLLLLLYYYYY!" This turned out to be pretty funny the other day because she had a one piece outfit on. I said belly, and she spent 5 minutes trying to pull up her outfit so she could get to her belly and point to it. She couldn't get to her belly, so she refused to say the word.
We'll get her to repeat the things she is eating as well. However today mom got her to say butter beans, and it came out "BUTT BEEEEAAANS!" Somehow it doesn't seem quite as appetizing that way.

A Night in "Future Daddy" Training

2009-05-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm sure all of you parents out there have been where I was last week. Alaena had strep, and she was on several different medicines. And in a word she was ORNERY. She didn't want to be held. She didn't want to be put down. She didn't want her cup. She didn't want her food. She pretty much just didn't want anything. So finally I laid her in her bed because I knew what she really needed was rest.
I must mention that my boyfriend Shawn was at my house while this cry fest was going on. He says he wants children. And he got some training let me tell you. Because he is used to happy Alaena. The Alaena who rarely ever cries. The Alaena who goes to sleep almost the very second you lay her in the bed. But he got introduced to sick Alaena. And sick Alaena isn't the happy-go-lucky baby I normally have.
So as I said above, I laid Alaena in her bed. As most of you can probably guess, the real screaming commenced. And she put up the battle to end all battles in fighting sleep. She would scream, then she would whimper, then she would hold her breath, then she would stand up and yell "MAAAAAAAAA!"
And although it was breaking my heart, I knew that I had to hold to my resolve because I know my child, and rarely does she EVER fall asleep outside of her bed. And she was crying even when I was holding her. So it pretty much was just a wait and see how long it takes her to cry it out.
And through it all, Shawn was saying, "I can't stand it. Pick her up. Let her play."
And I would say, "She needs her rest. She was screaming before I put her in the bed, and it's not playtime, it's sleep time."
To which he would say, "I know you're right."
This conversation went on at least every five minutes for two hours. That's right I said two hours. When she finally fell asleep Shawn said, "I know that's what's best for her, but I sure am glad I'll never be a MAMA because I sure couldn't do it!"
And I just laughed thinking he sounded pretty much like a typical dad!!

Being Me, Being Free

2009-05-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to my niece and nephews end of the year program, and if you've never been to a program where 60 to 70 three and four year olds sing and say parts, well let me just say, you haven't been living life!
Anyway, it was all really cute and sweet about how each of us have a promise from God that He has a plan for our lives. They had little lines about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and my nephew said he just wanted to be bigger. This drew a lot of laughs from the audience because he is quite obviously the shortest child in the class.
But the best moment of the program came during a song called "Being Me." Apparently my nephew really took the words of the song to heart because he broke out of his shell during that song. He was the loudest one of them all. Literally, and it was quite obvious because he held the notes at the end of each and every line at the top of his lungs.
So it went something like this:

BEING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
BEING FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
BEING ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL I CAN BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The entire crowd was almost in tears with laughter. Bad part about it? The battery on the video camera died. Hope we can find a copy of it somewhere!! Because it was so adorable.
And of course Alaena danced during the whole thing and clapped her hands. Which I think probably nudged Trace on a bit more. Ahhh, to be three and carefree again!

Once Upon a Time in Raegan's World

2009-05-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Since moving in with my sister a few months back, I have been driving Raegan and Trace to school each morning. This has led to many interesting moments...some good, some bad. Some mornings the begging not to go to school lasts the entire ride to school. Other mornings the two are totally happy little campers who joke and tell stories. And on mornings like that, I hear Raegan's once upon a time stories. Here are a few snippets I have overheard from the backseat in the last few months:

"Once upon a time there was a princess who had to kiss frogs, but it was gross."

"Once upon a time Goldilocks went to see her grandmother, but the wolf ate her and said my what big teeth you have."

"Once upon a time there was a little baby named Alaena and she had a sister named Raegan." (Raegan is fully convinced that Alaena is now her sister because they live in the same house.)

"Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a tooth growing in from behind that went to the dentist." (Some of her stories are based on real life. Her permanent tooth is growing in behind her baby tooth. In her mind this was apparently good story making material.)

"Once upon a time Raegan and Trace went into the forest and saw deers, and they dropped the hammer on the four wheeler." (This story was a bit disturbing to my mom since she's told my dad in no uncertain terms that "dropping the hammer" on the four wheeler is strictly forbidden)

The best thing about these stories is the tone of voice she takes when telling them. She could definitely have a career at Disney one day because a story teller she is. I'm just glad I get the chance to smile at these little stories now!

Moon Sand: A.K.A. the Ruin of All Things Neat and Tidy

2009-04-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

If any of you have children around the age of 5 or so, I'm sure you've heard of Moon Sand. Nifty sand that molds into shapes and gives children hours of enjoyment. But this wonderful invention for children is the cause of many hours of cleaning for parents.

My sister had the idea to get an outdoor table for Moon Sand that had a lid. A great idea in theory. But a 3 and a 5 year old get little enjoyment out of keeping Moon Sand IN the table. It looks better to them on the Carport. Because who doesn't love a multi-colored sandy carport?

Especially when it starts raining? My poor boyfriend. He had just blown off the carport and had everything looking really good. He said, "We'll have to make some ground rules for when I clean off the carport." But he was laughing.

If he can lay down ground rules on getting Raegan and Trace not to make any messes on the carport, we're gonna get him to lay down some rules for the inside too. For example, "Don't take your change banks out because Alaena may try to eat pennies." Fortunately she's never swallowed any, but it hasn't been for lack of opportunity.

Aahhh life with kids. Definite fun times!!

Don't Drink and Drive

2009-04-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, Alaena is only 14 months old, and I thought I had raised her better, but she had a drinking and driving mishap today. My mom babysits her, and she gave her some milk, and Alaena was sitting on her little car drinking it.
She has a habit of leaning way back when she drinks her cups. Well, this time she leaned a little too far back and fell off the car.
So my mom said, "Alaena, don't you know you shouldn't drink and drive?"
My nephew heard this, and he is now following Alaena around the house saying, "Don't drink and drive, Laena. Don't drink and drive."
At least she's learning early I guess! Guess I'll have to check that milk...

Ha! Ha! Ha! Grammy!

2009-03-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday I learned that my child has quite a sense of humor. My mom didn't quite see it that way, but everyone else got quite a laugh out of it. My mom comes to mine and my sister's house to keep Alaena everyday.
A few weeks back we re-did all of the locks at our house. And the new locks don't have to be unlocked to open the door from the inside. Which may not be a good thing apparently.
We have a gate that closes on our driveway where we can let Copper roam the backyard. Yesterday morning my mom went out to close the gate to let Copper out, and she left Alaena standing at the kitchen door watching her which is what she always does.
However, just standing there wasn't enough for Alaena yesterday. She wanted to play with the door. So she pushed the door closed. Unfortunately mom hadn't unlocked it to open it.
So she got locked out, and her key was on the kitchen table beside Alaena. Thankfully the next door neighbor was home and was nice enough to allow mom to call me. So I ran home on my break and let mom into the house.
Alaena was standing at the door laughing at mom when I got there. Here I was expecting her to be screaming or to have fallen down the steps, and she was standing there laughing. So I laughed with her!
I believe I have some quite interesting years ahead of me!!

She Made a Break for It

2009-03-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

During the last month Alaena has become quite mobile. She's only slightly slower than a bolt of lightning when she gets down and going. This becomes a bit of a problem at church.
Yes, she has definitely hit that age where the nursery is a heaven sent blessing, but Sunday night was a bit different because Alaena's dad came to church to meet her for the first time. So the nursery wasn't really an option.
I learned that my child she has learned some conniving skills. She can turn her beautiful baby blues on some unsuspecting person (a.k.a. Papaw) and slide down to the floor during the church service because she just looks so cute that you want to give her what she wants. And she can within 5 seconds flat be at the front of the church trying to climb onto the stage.
However, when mommy gets ahold of her again, she can also get her little leg popped for using her cunning skills during church time. Mommy just has to avoid that accusing look in those beautiful baby blues! Hard as it may be!

Promised Pics of the Snow

2009-03-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is the only pic I have of Alaena in the snow because she had bronchitis last week, so I bundled her up quickly, sat her down, and took the picture. Apparently she doesn't have a high opinion of snow. Here's Raegan preparing to go down the slide that is full of snow. I don't know that I've seen either her or Trace on the slide in a good while. Apprently snow adds joy to sliding. And here's Trace, the human slide snowplow. And here's Copper, Crystal's basset hound just before he bounded off through the snow like a rabbit. He ran around like a crazy dog for at least half an hour. You see my car in the background. It was covered with snow UNDER THE CARPORT because the wind was blowing like crazy.

Don't Even Think About Taking Our Snow, Mister!

2009-03-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Well, it finally came. A few weeks before spring, we here in NC finally got a big snow. To all of you out there who get "real snows" don't laugh when I say that this 7" of snow is a big snow. Because to me, and all of my fellow North Carolinian friends, it is. And it is GORGEOUS! I will post the pics in a couple of days.
But for now, a couple of funny Raegan stories. Before our beautiful snow came freezing rain. An entire day of freezing rain. The temperatures hovered close to freezing, so it didn't really affect the roads much, but the powerlines and trees were covered in ice. And you know what that means, power outages. So while I was in church yesterday morning, our power went out. Much to my sister's dismay, since she was at home in the cold house because she now has the bronchitis funk.
We had plans to make Sunday dinner at our house, and I had my mind all set for the roast, pinto beans, deviled eggs, creamed potatoes. The roast and pintos weren't a problem, because they'd been in the crock pot since the afternoon before, but I didn't get my deviled eggs!
The funny thing was that as soon as my dad pulled into the driveway, our power came back on. And Raegan said, "Paw paw turned our power back on, LOOK!"
Because apparently just working for a power company makes you all powerful at turning power back on, and all you have to do is simply pull into the driveway of the house you want to have power! LOL!
Then later last night the snow started pouring down, and we were watching it out the window (because that's what people who rarely ever see the white flakes do, we watch this rare marvel as it comes down!) And the man across the street started putting salt out on his driveway.
Raegan said, "What is he doing?" And I said, "He's melting the snow on the driveway."
Raegan almost went into hysterics. She said, "But I want the snow, don't let him take our snow!!"
I assured her that the tiny bit of salt in his bucket couldn't possibly take our snow. And we wouldn't let him in our yard with the salt. It's a shame I have to work today and miss so many silly little comments I'm sure that Raegan and Trace will be making about their first big snow!
But I plan to be home early enough to let Alaena see it for at least a few minutes!!

You're Not Taking Her!!

2009-02-27T04:50:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been another week that I haven't posted, but Alaena and I have both been down with the bronchitis funk. No fun at all. I stayed home from church on Sunday, and I stayed out of work Monday and Tuesday. Due to the fact that I work for a company who has laid off workers this year and may lay off others, I decided I was going to drag my sick butt to work on Wednesday. So my mom offered to let Alaena spend the night with her Tuesday night so that I could get some rest.
Now this was not an easy offer to take. Alaena has NEVER stayed away from me overnight. I cried at the thought, and I cried when mom and dad took her. But Raegan's reaction was classic. She carried Alaena into the bedroom, locked the door and said, "You're not taking her!!"
So my daughter has now been part of a hostage situation. Crystal negotiated Raegan out with the promise that Alaena would be back the next day. But it was still a very begrudging handover.

Watch That Attitude Baby 'Laena

2009-02-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

Well it is official. My child has my attitude. Send up the prayers now, would you please? And if I haven't told you lately, Mom, I'm really sorry for all that backtalking when I was but a youngster!
Alaena and I are spending some time at my sister's house, and unlike my house which is one level, Crystal has stairs. And the stairs draw Alaena like a beacon, saying "Climb me, Climb me!" So she flies towards the stairs oh about every second and a half.
I've said "NO!" about a million times. I've picked her up and carried her elsewhere. I've popped her hand and even her little backside. But still the stairs have a pull that seems to be unconquerable.
But what's worse is that the other day I pulled her away again and then turned around, and my sister said that Alaena gave me a look and mouthed toward me some undistinguishable baby talk.
So pretty much, she told me off in her little language I guess. And she's just one. Boy I've got some interesting times ahead of me. I just pray that I can keep from laughing while I'm trying to teach my little girl that it really is in her best interest to listen to me!!

Alaena's One Year Old Pictures

2009-02-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas Pics

2009-01-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

Getting some love from Mommy!!

She liked the bows better than anything.

Getting her great uncles to let her do whatever she wanted!

Tearing off that first tiny piece of wrapping paper cautiously since we'd been telling her "No, No!" for days!

How 'bout you hold the box, Ma?

Another dress? Really?

Really ripping into it!

Showing off her new "pony"

Trying to find a way to escape the Smith clan!!

With my Grandma Smith

Trying to figure out if the bag is worth her time!

With the Hurd cousins.
With the Smith cousins.

With Aunt Crystal

Colby trying to sleep amidst the chaos!
I love Christmas!!!

Playing with some of her new stuff before opening gifts from Grammy and Pawpaw!

Okay, Ma! I know how this works now, get these little people OUT!!Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families!

How Old Is Jesus?

2008-12-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

My sister and her hubby have done a great job teaching Raegan and Trace about the true meaning of Christmas. They believe in Santa, but they also know that Santa isn't what Christmas is really about. They know it's about Jesus' birthday.
As a matter of fact, they may have done too good of a job driving home the fact about Jesus' birthday. Because the other day while driving down the road, Raegan asked my brother-in-law, "Daddy, how old will Jesus be on His birthday?"
Like any good husband, He turned the question over to my sister. He called her at work and handed Raegan the phone, and Raegan asked Crystal, "Mommy, how old will Jesus be on His birthday?"
I'm not really sure that they gave her any kind of definitive answer. I think saying "Over 2000 years" would have been a little mind boggling to an almost five year old. But hey, at least she knows whose birthday we'll be celebrating!

Tuesday's Top Ten

2008-12-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

For today's top ten I give you the top ten things I have to do before Christmas:

1. Buy a gift for my mom and dad. I have bought a few little things for them, but I'm stumped about what to get them...

2. Buy a gift for my brother. This is easy. He takes money or gift cards from anywhere.

3. Buy a gift for my brother-in-law. This requires going to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy a gift certificate because this is what he wants. I really should have already done this, but I never go to Dick's so I haven't.

4. Buy a gift for my sister. She wants a gift certificate from the Spa Personal Appearances. The trouble with this one is that I'm not quite sure where this place is. Finding new places is not one of my strengths...

5. Buy a gift for my cousin Scott. I have NO IDEA what to get him. None at all. He never asks for anything. Ever.

6. Buy some stocking stuffers for Alaena, oh and also a stocking. I've been stocking slack...

(There is certainly a money spending trend going here...)

7. Buy some wheat bread for our Christmas party here at work on Thursday.

8. Go to my Raegan and Trace's Christmas program at school on Thursday.

9. Go Christmas caroling with the church.

10. Be in the Christmas play Sunday night.

So it's gonna be a little hectic around here before Christmas. What last minute things are you guys gonna be doing?

Monday, Monday!

2008-12-15T05:14:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are at Monday again, and I can hardly believe it. This past weekend was a little hectic. But I've learned several things. First, I learned that Alaena is apparently going to be very likely to get bronchitis. That is something that is not going to be much fun, but at least now I know so I can watch her very closely and at the first sign of a wheeze, she'll be headed to the doctor.
I also learned that my child gets very hyper after a nebulizer treatment. I mean, we're talking feet can't be still, crawling and walking around in circles hyper. I would go to put her down, and her feet would be moving a million miles a minute. It was hilarious, but also very tiring because I had to chase after her making sure she didn't get into the Christmas village, the Christmas tree, etc. But it was a fun weekend.
Lastly I learned that a night of sleep after a night of no sleep is heavenly. So I'm in a great, well-rested mood this Monday morning. I hope all of you are too! Have a good one!

Tuesday's Top Ten

2008-12-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

Today for my top 10 I give you my top 10 favorite recent pictures of Alaena:

Just kicking back, this may be one of my favorite pics all time of her:

Bring on the grub! She may not have gained weight very fast, but she is serious about some food!

Crawling, this is a rare site. Normally she is trying to walk around things, so my crawling pic opportunities are rare!

Excited to see mommy! That is the smile I come home to every day. And the smile that makes it SOOOOO hard to go to work in the morning.

Ma, put the camera down! I'm trying to eat!

Hmmm...if I'm really sneaky, maybe I can get this block from the nursery into my diaper bag...

These teeth are good for something...

This is one of her favorite things lately. Since she's dicovered her tongue, it's rarely in her mouth.

Another fine example of showing off the tongue!

And finally, Christmas card pic 2008. Showing off all eight of those pearly whites!!

Life in the World that is Trace

2008-12-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

This past Friday I went after I got off of work at 12 to pick up my niece and nephew from school for my sister. My niece was going to her cousin Emma's for the night, and Trace was coming to my house. Now normally picking them up from school is no big deal. They usually say that they've both been great, and they both usually have stickers in their folders.
USUALLY.
Not so on Friday. Apparently Friday was Raegan's day to test the limits of the K-4's rule about talking during lunch. It was also apparently her day to pick up her "BEST FRIEND EVER" who is apparently a K-3 student while they were in the bathroom. I don't believe it's a specific rule, but apparently it is frowned upon to pick up K-3 students in the bathroom. In any event, Raegan ended up with 2 demerits, marring a week of demerit free perfection.
Let me just say, it is not fun to pick up my niece when she has gotten two demerits. It puts me in the "bad guy" position with her, and I do not like it. I guess I've got to get used to that position though considering Alaena is quickly learning to test her limits.
Anyway, I had to drop Raegan off at her house with her dad. I didn't stay long. I didn't want to see her get into trouble. I mean, it wasn't really bad things. After all, she didn't hit the kid, she just picked her up because she was her "BEST FRIEND EVER!" Apparently best friend exuberance isn't appreciated in K-4. Oh well.
Trace rode on with me, and we hadn't even gotten out of the driveway before he said, "I had a good day. I got a sticker. Sissy had a bad day. She had a bad day."
Now this wasn't said in a cocky tone. He sounded pitiful. He felt so bad that Raegan didn't get a sticker or candy like he did. He may be only 3 years old, but he has more compassion than most adults. Well, he has compassion for his sister at least.
His love for the deer isn't quite so obvious. My dad is a hunter, and he was out hunting when Trace and I got to the house. This was quite upsetting to Trace because he LOVES his Paw-paw, but I promised that he would see Paw-paw soon.
When my dad got home, Trace asked him, "Paw-paw, did you shoot deers in the forest?"
And my dad told him that he saw some deer, but he didn't shoot any.
Then Trace said, "Paw-paw, when I get big like you, I'm gonna take my water gun, and shoot me a deer."
Because apparently water is lethal to deer. Who knew?
The next morning Trace asked dad to take him to the ocean on the tractor. We live about 5 hours from the nearest ocean, so dad was like, "Huh?"
So Trace said, "You know, the ocean in the forest." So our lake has now been upgraded to an ocean. Maybe I should keep this a secret. I don't want Ruffin becoming a hot tourist spot. It ruins it for the locals.
So don't tell anybody about the Ruffin ocean okay?
What funny things happened to you guys over the weekend?

Thursday Thirteen

2008-12-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

For this Thursday I give you Thirteen Things I'm wondering about:

1. I'm wondering why I haven't gotten back some wrapping paper that I ordered for a fund raiser back in September (apparently no one has gotten anything back and the guy is contacting the school!)2. I'm wondering why in the song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" there is a line about scary ghost stories. I mean the song is about Christmas, not Halloween. I guess it's possible they are talking about the story, "The Christmas Carol" but I wouldn't consider that a scary ghost story. So still I wonder if they just put the line in the song just because they couldn't think of any other line to put there.3. I'm also wondering why in the song, "Up on the Housetop" poor little Will got a hammer and lots of tacks. Maybe I'm too modernized, but I just can't imagine that at any time in history tacks were considered the best gift ever by any child. I feel a little sorry for Will myself.4. That brings me to the song, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." First I wonder why someone would actually want a Hippopotamus for Christmas enough to write a song about it.5. Then I wonder how many children have pitched super tantrums to their parents begging for a Hippopotamus for Christmas since this song was written.6. I also wonder if anybody likes the song, "The Little Drummer Boy" Now, I have heard that Mandisa has a great version of it, but I'm talking about the original slow, seemingly eternal version of "The Little Drummer Boy" where these shrieky sopranos say, "Cooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeee they told meeeeeeeeeeeee, Par Rum, pum, pum, pummmmmmmmmmmm" while the basses in the background go, "Pum, pum, pum, pum" I really have never gotten this song...7. Now I'm kinda wondering why I listen to so much Christmas music I don't understand...8. And I wonder if any of the rest of you have turned your radios to the 24/7 Christmas music station in your area.9. Or if any of the rest of you have been seen going down the highway belting out, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause"10. I'm also wondering when I'm ever gonna find time to get Alaena's pictures taken so I can send out Christmas cards.11. And when I'm gonna find time to wrap gifts (especially considering I haven't gotten my wrapping paper yet, see #1)12. Then I wonder if the Christmas play at church is going to come together before December 21.13. Then I wonder why I'm wondering about all of this stuff. And why I'm not just taking time to enjoy this wonderful season. So that's what I'm gonna do now... What do all of you have on your minds today?

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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Taking Things Into Her Own Hands

2008-12-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is now behind us, and we are charging toward Christmas full steam ahead. Last weekend was spent by most of my family members putting up the Christmas decorations, getting the ornaments on trees just right and such.
Well, at my house the ornaments were added to the tree. My sister had no such luck. Her husband had put the ornament box in the top of their building where only he could get to them, and he was on duty (he's a policeman). So she just put up the tree, figuring he would get the box of ornaments later.
The rest of the weekend was busy for them, so the ornaments never got added to the tree. Apparently this distressed my four year old niece a little more than my sister and her husband realized. A fact they discovered on the way home from church Sunday night.
My niece has hit a prissy stage, and she has begun carrying her little purse everywhere she goes. And it is often filled with random things, from fake lipstick to my nephew's little cars.
But Sunday night on the way home from church, she told my sister, "Mommy, we can decorate our tree now!" And as she said it, she pulled several icicle ornaments that she had "borrowed" from the Christmas tree at church out of her purse.
Apparently she thought the church's tree was quite overloaded while her tree at home was completely barren of ornaments! Crystal of course told her that she shouldn't take stuff, but I'm pretty sure she had a hard time not laughing while she was doing so!!

Random Number Picker Says the Winner Is...

2008-12-01T05:16:00.000-08:00

Well, as promised today is the day that I announce the big winner of the giveaway, and the winner is...Crystal!
And I promise, there was no partiality in this drawing. I simply put everyone's names in order of how they were given, and her number was the one randomly drawn.
Thanks for all the participation. And keep looking out for more giveaways. I may just do this again!!

Tuesday's Top Ten

2008-11-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

My cousin Christy started something on her blog a few weeks back called Tuesday's Top Ten. So, I'll go with her on this one, and today I give you the top ten things that will bring certain death to your cell phone!!

1. Dropping a phone in a swimming pool. Now, one of the great things about cell phones is that you can use them anywhere, but if you happen to put your cell phone in a towel, be sure to tell someone it's there before they pick up the towel to use it and sling your cell phone into the pool. (This happened to my mom's cell phone.)

2. Dropping a phone into an electrical pipe that holds wire. Now the phone may still be usable, but you will not get it back. Due to the fact that you could possibly be electrocuted in the retrieval. (This happened to my brother's cell phone)

3. Dropping a cell phone into a man-hole that is filled with rain water. The nasty gross rain water will surely ruin your phone quickly. (Also, to my brother)

4. Snapping your phone in anger over something the person you are talking to said. (My brother, again, do you see a pattern here?)

5. Dropping your cell phone into a toilet. Now this is completely avoidable, NO ONE should talk on a phone in the bathroom. (My brother however doesn't adhere to this rule. Hence the toilet water ruined phone.)

6. Dropping a phone in a dog's bowl. This doesn't cause immediate death, but it will shorten your batteries life, and you will barely be able to get one call through without recharging your phone! (My niece did this to my phone)

7. Throwing your cell phone against a brick wall (my cousin did this.)

8. Allowing a three year old that your are babysitting to remain alone in the room with your phone. Especially if said three year old has anger issues and didn't want you to leave the room. (This happened to my sister in law's phone.)

9. Washing your cell phone in the washing machine. Again, no immediate death, but a short life is predicted for your phone. (My sister in law did this to my brother's phone)

10. Spilling corn on your phone. This results in immediate button death. Apparently corn juice has more lethal powers over phones than water. (This happened to my phone last week)

The upside of cell phone death? Getting a new cell phone. Thankfully, I got a really good deal on mine. Have any of you ever had a cell phone ruined somehow?

And a reminder, there are only five more days to enter the GIVEAWAY! Be sure to get your name in by the 30th!!

A Bloggy Giveaway

2008-11-14T05:34:00.000-08:00

Well guys, in the spirit of the soon approaching Christmas season, I have decided to do a bloggy give away. I will be giving away a Beauti Control Snowflake Set. It will include the Snowflake Body Wash pictured above.

The Snowflake Body Polish

The Snowflake Body Creme

The Snowflake Lip Conditioner

And the Snowflake Show of Hands

All you have to do for a chance to win this giveaway is go to my Beauti Control Page and come back and leave a comment about one item you might like! Also, if you mention this giveaway on your blog and let me know, you'll get two entries! Entries will be taken until November 30, and I'll announce the winner on December 1!

Added note, also, if you could leave your email address in the comments so that I can contact you if you win, I would appreciate it!

Thursday Thirteen

2008-11-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

Today I present to you Thirteen random thoughts:

1. I'm really into the Biggest Loser this season. I DO NOT like Vicky though. She is EVIL. I really hope she gets voted off soon.
2. Alaena has recently learned that she can put her arms through her crib and reach the Diaper Champ. I'm trying to double and triple check that I don't leave any diapers sitting in the top because apparently 9 month olds don't know you shouldn't play with diapers (thank God she hasn't gotten any dirty ones!!)
3. I just found out that my friend Christa is having a little boy. So exciting, a future hubby for Alaena! LOL! Seriously though, I'm really excited for her.
4. Not only that, but my friend Allison is having a girl so Alaena gets a best friend and a hubby all within a couple of months!
5. I'm seriously glad I have friends having babies because that means I have someone to share the baby wealth with. People were seriously generous when I had my baby showers for Alaena. But now that she's outgrowing stuff, I am quite short on storage space. So they are getting the mother load of stuff, Christa will get the neutral stuff of course. For some reason she didn't feel her little boy needed a pink swing! LOL!
6. I went the other day to buy my dress for my friend Leah B's wedding in June. We're on a downswing of the bridesmaid thing I think. Only a few single friends left. But this actually was a pretty dress, AND I got to buy it 2 sizes smaller than the one in the wedding I was in BEFORE I was pregnant, so I'm very excited. That means all those salads are paying off!
7. Not only have I been eating salads, but I have been working out on the Wii Fit which really makes working out fun, but I have been bad this week because when Alaena was sick I got out of the groove of daily workouts. I've got to get back in the groove.
8. Speaking of groove, for Christmas I asked for the Dance, Dance Revolution game, so that I would have a variety of work out options.
9. I also asked for the Jillian Michaels game because after watching her on the Biggest Loser, I seriously think her workout would really whip me into shape!
10. Of course, I may not need all of these workout things because chasing Alaena around is becoming quite the workout in and of itself. She is pulling herself up walking around stuff, and she is INTO EVERYTHING.
11. Because she is into everything, she has learned the words, "No, no!" And she is doing her part to teach them to my dog Colby. She chases him around going, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Poor Colby, but he loves her!
12. Because my child is so hyper, I am looking for active toys for Christmas, in order for her to put her energies into something that it's okay for her to get into!
13. And believe it or not, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, and I am almost done Christmas shopping. Now this may not be amazing to you in any way, but I have never finished shopping before the week of Christmas. This is truly a momentous occasion!!
So, what's been going on with all of you?

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Thursday Thirteen

2008-11-06T06:01:00.001-08:00

Being that I'm trying to get back into this funny blog thing, I figured what better way than with a Thursday Thirteen? So here is a Thursday Thirteen about trying to hook three car seats into the back seat of one small sized SUV...if ever you have to do this, well, GOOD LUCK!

1. My niece Raegan and nephew Trace went to mine and my parent's house last night because both their mom and dad had to be out of town for work today. They were very excited about going!
2. Alaena has moved to a big girl car seat out of the infant car seat, which is a very important detail. Because the big girl car seat takes up more room than the infant car seat.
3. Raegan and Trace are both in the big booster seat type of car seats, the kind that recline and have cup holders and all. You know, the ones that take up a lot of room...
4. We got Raegan's seat in the middle beside Alaena's seat which is on the passenger's side and got Raegan buckled up. All seemed to be going well, seemed is the key word here.
5. We then tried to put Trace's seat in behind the driver's seat. There was one tiny problem. It was hanging halfway off the seat and out the door.
6. So we tried to move Raegan's seat over, but it wouldn't budge.
7. Then we came up with the brilliant (read very stupid) plan to unbuckle Raegan's seat and slide it forward a bit in order to buckle Trace's seat because there was plenty of room for all three seats, we just shouldn't have buckled Raegan before placing the seats, or so we thought.
8. Well, we got Trace in and buckled then began the grueling task of buckling Raegan's seat.
9. Now, I should note that the buckles in my back seat are very oddly placed which makes them tough to buckle even without a mac daddy car seat in front of them.
10. We tried everything, we held Raegan forward while trying to snap the seat belt, at which point she said, "Umm, somebody is hurting me, could you stop?" Since we didn't want to hurt her, we stopped.
11. So Crystal hops into the back of the SUV and tries to force the seat belt in from that angle (because we couldn't reach it from the front or the sides because Alaena and Trace were both in their seats buckled in)
12. Crystal couldn't get it from that angle either.
13. So finally my dad comes to the rescue. He tells Raegan to hop out of her seat grabs the seat and puts it in the back of my car. Buckles Raegan into the seat belt and tells her to sit still. So we drove illegally from the church to my house, but I made Raegan get back in her seat on the way to school in the morning. I don't think she minded because she kept saying, "Are you sure the police aren't gonna get me?" on the way home last night.

As I said, if ever you have to face such an adventure, I wish you well!

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Trying to be Funny Again

2008-11-05T05:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't been funny in quite a long while. Life has gotten insanely hectic in the last year since becoming a mom, but I really want to start this blog back, so I can share some stories from the funny moments of my life.
This past Sunday was a pretty special day in my family. My niece Raegan got baptized. This has been something she's gone back and forth being excited about and scared about, but she was determined she was ready to do it.
And let me tell you, when she came into Christmas play practice Sunday afternoon, the child was prepared for her baptizing during the evening service. She had on Ariel swimming goggles, and hand and foot flippers. She told me she was going to wear them to get baptized, and she was dead serious. My sister had to inform her that no she would not be wearing the swimming gear to be baptized.
So my niece went into the baptismal pool with a bit of apprehension about getting water in her eyes.
But no worries, she came out with a huge smile on her face and informed my sister that she "liked this baptizing thing."
Check out this video for a baptism laugh. I'm just saying that my mom and dad would have KILLED ME!
Courtesy of ChristianClips.com

Swimming

2008-10-09T10:51:00.001-07:00

Thursday Thirteen

2007-08-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Name That Brand Edition

I got to thinking the other day about how we get to know brands by their taglines, so for each tagline listed here, name that brand:

1. "Makes Mouths Happy!"

2. "Zoom Zoom!"

3. "We work hard so you don't have to!"

4. "Gimme a break!"

5. "We didn't invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich" also "Eat More Chicken"

6. "You're in Good Hands"

7. "Bet you can't eat just one!"

8. "Have it your way"

9. "Real. Comfortable. Jeans."

10. "I'm free to do what I want, any old time!"

11. "It's the Network!"

12. "Eat Fresh!"

13. "Fast, effective heartburn relief with calcium. Something your body needs anyway!"

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You Gotta Wonder Why Some Things Run in the Family

2007-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Something happened the other day that made me remember some funny times of when I was a youngster. Actually it's more about when my brother was a youngster. See, when he was 2, 3, 4 years old, my mom had the hardest time keeping clothes on the boy. It was very rare to see him in more than a diaper (or later on his big boy undies.) (Yeah, he's gonna totally kill me for this post!)
Anyway, if he could get out of mom's sight long enough, he'd lose the diaper or undies too. And then he'd run streaking through the house. His favorite place to stand? In front of our COMPLETELY GLASS screen door. Yeah, he was an early exhibitionist. Fortunately he eventually realized that showing his stuff to the world wasn't the best idea.
But he apparently passed his bad habit on unknowingly. The other night my niece came to revival and informed me that, "Buddy got nek-i-nit in his crib." My sister's translation of this funny bit of information was that when she had gone to get my nephew up from his nap, she found him completely naked. Diaper, shorts and shirt thrown over the side of the crib.
I see days of chasing a young streaker around the house in my sister's future. Fortunately for her she has chain locks on her front door that my nephew can't reach. So at least he won't be on display for the whole neighborhood like his bad example of an uncle!

I Know This Is Mean But...

2007-05-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Did anybody else laugh out loud when Miss USA fell last night at the Miss Universe pageant? I don't normally watch the pageant, but it took place in Mexico, and when I tuned in they were showing sites near where I'm going last week. Then of course I was caught up in it and had to see where USA stood in the rankings. (She ended up at 4th runner up!)
And I'm totally klutzy, and I totally would've done the same thing. But I just had to laugh because you expect them to be so perfect! Okay, I'll be nicer now!

Kids and Their Amazing Ears

2007-05-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

When I was little, my mom always told me, "You hear what you want to hear." You know the whole, I heard her when it was good for me, ignored her when it was bad. I think it could be better said that I heard everything, I just filtered out the useless junk (read the stuff that talked about me getting into trouble.)
But amazingly, at the most opportune times, I could pull the information that she thought I'd never heard out of the recesses of my brain and quote her word for word. Unfortunately, this resulted in my being called a smart mouth. (Which I think is a total contradicting statement, by the way. I mean all your life parents pushed you to be smarter, then when you said something that showed your "smartness," they used it against you!)
Well, my niece, Raegan, has already gained this lovely ability. And I must say that her use of it will probably excel mine by far. Of course she has the normal symptoms, you know, not hearing when her mom tells her to pick up toys or to sit in timeout for 5 minutes.
But last Wednesday night she showed an amazing talent. See, there has been a Ralph Sexton revival going on here in Greensboro. For the last two weeks my church has taken our Wednesday night service to the revival.
This past Wednesday, Raegan was getting a little out of hand. So my sister did what all good Christian parents do. She pulled Raegan into her lap and told her that the preacher was trying to tell everybody about Jesus, and that if Raegan didn't calm down, nobody would be able to learn about Jesus.
Without missing a beat, my niece turned to my sister and said, "Mommy, he isn't talking about Jesus. He's talking about hell."
Apparently my niece was listening better than my sister! So, the next time you think you're little one isn't hearing you or anything going on around you. Beware, because your words can come back to haunt you in the most unexpected ways!

See NO Evil

2007-05-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, I saw this little test at Shalee's blog and I figured since I'm getting so much grief about NOT posting, that I'll make two posts in one day.
I totally agree with these results. I even have my halo hanging up here at work on my cubicle, no seriously, I do!

How evil are you?

I suggest you all go out and take this test, just to see if you're you know, as angelic as I am or utterly evil!

8 Random Facts

2007-05-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, Dawn at Whispers of Sunshine tagged everybody who read her blog to list 8 random things about themselves, then Gibee from Kisses of Sunshine tagged me to do 7 random things so I'm gonna do a little combo of both requests here.

Here are the rules she listed: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here's the randomness:
1. I only like pretty tissue boxes. Preferably ones with purple or pink or some pretty bright colors on them. I hate the dull looking boxes at funeral homes, and ever since I was but a youngster I wanted to color the white tissue boxes at the doctor's offices so they'd be prettier.
2. I chew straws after I am done using them. This is apparently a family habit because my dad does it, my sister does it, and my brother does it.
3. I still have a few coloring books and some crayons at my house, even though I'm 24 years old. Sometimes when I'm really bored or if I'm stressed, I'll color for something to do or get my mind off of the craziness of life.
4. Ever since I was but a youngster I've made up little songs about my pets that I sing to them. I don't know what triggered this, but eventually I started writing actual songs that made since, so apparently I've always had the writer thing in me!
5. I put hot mustard on McDonald's Sausage and Gravy biscuits. It doesn't LOOK all that appetizing, but IT. IS. DELICIOUS!
6. I believe from the bottom of my heart that a smoothie just isn't a smoothie unless it has bananas in it. My sister tells me I'm totally wrong about this. But I'll stand by my thoughts and if I order a smoothie, it will be with bananas!
7. I can pretty much quote any Judy Garland movie. Especially Summer Stock, Meet Me in St Louis, and The Harvey Girls.
8. I'm not pregnant! No, I shouldn't be for those of you who are wondering, but when I went to the doctor the other day they made me take a pregnancy test even though I told them there was NO CHANCE I was pregnant. I'm never "on schedule" but they wouldn't believe that. Just wanted me to take the test, so rather than argue with them all day, I did it just to make them happy. And guess what, I. WAS. RIGHT! DUH!

Now I have not a clue who to tag. If you haven't told about your randomness, share all!

Thursday Thirteen

2007-05-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things About My Honduras Trip

1. The camera on my phone decided to stop working while I was in the Atlanta airport last Monday morning.

2. This wouldn't have been such a bad thing, but I saw the poster child for the phrase, "It takes all types to make the world go 'round." Honestly, this man had on orange sandals; orange, yellow, and pink plaid pants; a pink, blue and purple striped shirt; an orange undershirt; glasses that had hot pink frames, one handle blue and one handle purple; and to top it all off a straw hat complete with purple flowers. So why of all days would my camera decide not to work on the day I saw that man?

3. After having a little laugh (oh, admit it, you would've laughed too!) I got on a flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I got a row of three seats to myself. So I stretched out while reading then while watching the in-flight movie, which honestly I can't remember the name of but which was really strange and I probably would never buy it for myself (If I remembered the name of it that is!)

4. After 3 1/2 hours we landed in Honduras. Talk about HOT. Especially considering it had been 40 degrees when I left Greensboro that morning. It was over 100 degrees there. And HUMID.

5. The night before we arrived there had been an unexpected drenching rain in San Pedro Sula, so we had to make our way through flooded streets. All I could think of were all those severe weather training courses I have to take here at my work and how they warn you over and over to never drive through standing water. Well, that rule was out the window!!

6. We went to the plant and worked from there, but I'm sure you don't want to hear those ~~boring~~ extremely exciting details. After work we checked into The Hilton Princess San Pedro Sula. Pretty nice place!!

7. That night we went to a restraunt called Pat's. It was a pretty great steakhouse, however, I started feeling a bit queasy that night (and still do) I'm blaming their salad. Why, oh why did I eat the salad? Oh well!

8. Tuesday was more work and little play. Though we did go to a great restraunt with outdoor seating that night called Don Udo's. They played 70's, 80's, and 90's American music. The guy who drove us around all week said that Hondurans LOVE American music. And why shouldn't they?

9. Wednesday was a LONG day. We worked until about 6:30 Honduras time. That was 8:30 my time. I was dead on my feet.

10. We went straight to a restraunt called the Copantl from the plant. This was an outdoor restraunt on top of a seven story hotel. The view was amazing, and I got so caught up in it that I almost forgot how tired I was. Plus I had me a virgin Pina Colada. (Yes virgin, no rum for me!) It was yummy!

11. Thursday we went to make sure that the guys at the finishing location had the program down. They did, and I was told that I communicated well in Spanish. Who'da thunk?

12. We went back to the Copantl that night because we were all too tired to think about a new place to go, and it was the best place we'd gone. We watched several brush fires breakout on the hillsides surrounding San Pedro Sula. According to driver guy there are constantly fires there because it is so dry (unless of course they have some freakish unexpected rainstorm that you know floods the streets!)

13. Friday we flew back home, or at least we tried to. The flight from Atlanta to San Pedro Sula was delayed, and we didn't take off until an hour and a half late. Then we were running low on fuel, so the pilot decided to stop in Montgomery, Alabama rather than try to make it back to Atlanta. This would have been fine except for the fact that while in Montgomery we were informed that there were MAJOR storms in Atlanta and we couldn't land there, so we had to wait out the storm in Montgomery. Again this would've been fine, but Montgomery doesn't have customs, so we couldn't leave the plane. Four hours I sat on this plane. At least I had three seats to myself again (where I had enjoyed the movie "The Road to Tarabithia" on the flight home.) Two hours into our wait we were informed that the storms were passing, but that our pilot's time had run out so we had to wait while another pilot was flown in. To make a long story short, we landed in Atlanta after midnight. The one good thing about that was that customs lines were pretty much non-existent! Then they shipped us to a hotel where we were given reduced rates. Bless their hearts! They gave me a reduced rate to a room that when I walked in had one unmade bed, towels and condom wrappers on the bathroom floor, and the stench of cigarette smoke. Unfortunately I had been given THE LAST room at the lovely Ramada Inn South Atlanta. So I piled up my clothes on the unmade bed and slept on top of them because I'm telling you, I wasn't trying to touch anything in that place!!

So to sum it all up, Honduras was great. Atlanta not so much!

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Thursday Thirteen

2007-05-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here in forever, so I decided to make this Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Random Things About My Life Right Now

1. I leave for Honduras on Monday morning. And I'm thankful for the extra sleep I'm gonna get since we have a 7:20 AM flight rather than a 6:00 AM flight!

2. This is a work trip, not a pleasure trip, though I do love the fact that I get to go for free because I love to travel.

3. Since I'm going to be gone my cousin Tracy, who is my roomate, will be looking after my cat. It's her job to make sure he doesn't discover the duck.

4. Which reminds me, I haven't told you about the duck. At Easter time, Tracy brought home a duck and named it Pippin. She tried her best to convince me to buy a chick and name it Merry, so that we could do the whole "Chandler and Joey" chick and duck thing. I didn't cave!

5. Fortunately it's warm outside now, so the duck is happily splashing in his wading pool in a little fenced in area of the yard.

6. This doesn't make Tracy's dog Elly very happy! She liked having the duck in a box in the bathroom where she could go in and make sure he was still there every five minutes.

7. Speaking of Elly, she has woken me in the midst of the night a few times this week by barking loudly at the bay window. This is not her norm, and Tracy and I have yet to figure out what or who she is barking at, this is a bit unnerving because she normally sleeps all night. We're hoping there isn't a crazy stalker near our house!

8. I'm not so-so worried about it though. Basically because worrying doesn't do any good!

9. But I can't help but worry just a little bit today because my Grandpa Smith went into the hospital last night with chest pains.

10. I'm praying for him though, and I know he's in God's hands, so I'm trying not to stress it! But I would appreciate your prayers as well!

11. Other than all that stuff I've just been doing laundry (I had like an entire mountain of it!)

12. I also had to clean my bathroom and bedroom because there's gonna be a Pampered Chef party at my house tonight. Yummy food!

13. Oh yeah, and I'm dreading packing for next week's trip. I REALLY don't like packing, just travelling. I need to be rich with servants who will pack my stuff, but such is life! LOL!

What's been going on with you!

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Thursday Thirteen

2007-03-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things I Need to Do Before Travelling to Mexico on Monday

1. Get some springy type shirts, I only have sweaters and things. I'm pretty sure that I won't need a sweater down there.

2. Find out if my cell phone will work down there.

3. Clean my house, I haven't had a chance since I returned from Kansas City last week because I went to South Carolina over the weekend then had to stay with my sister Tuesday night, then had church last night.

4. Get a lot of training materials completed to take with me.

5. Buy some bottled water. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times, that I don't need to drink the water down there. Okay, I'm listening!

6. Learn to like lukewarm drinks because apparently I don't need to trust the ice made from the water either.

7. Try to get my hair trimmed. My style needs to be shaped up in a bad way.

8. Leave instructions for several things that HAVE to be done here in Greensboro while I'm working in Mexico next week.

9. Do some cross-training with my co-worker so he can work on the instructions above.

10. Try to decide how much stuff I want to pack

11. Find some comfortable shoes that I will be allowed to wear in our sewing facility.

12. Buy some food for my cat so he won't starve to death next week!

13. GET A LOT OF SLEEP because I have to fly out EARLY Monday morning!

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A Visit With Shalee

2007-03-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised, I'm gonna rehash my visit with Shalee here today! Of course if you have read her version, you already know that we truly despised each other, and all the talking, and laughing, and more talking was merely for show. I mean she did have children after all, we couldn't be rude in front of them.
Especially when they were so entertaining and polite. Her son filled me in on everything about "Lego Star Wars." I mean, how else would I have ever learned that stuff? I had to laugh at "Mr. Right" because he was just a tad jealous of his son because he had discovered Star Wars at the young age of 7. Apparently Star Wars didn't come out until "Mr. Right" was around 10, so his son has three years on him there!
Honestly though, Shalee has two of the most well behaved children I've ever seen. She and her husband only had to say something once in a normal tone of voice, and those two would listen in a flash. There's a lot of love and respect between those kids and their parents. You can just tell. And, AND, when the two got into a bit of a tiff on the trampoline, Shalee spoke to them for a minute, and the two apologized and MEANT it. Now, it's not that tough to get a kid to BEGRUDINGLY say, "I'm sorry." But to have them mean it, now that takes a motherly kind of gift. A gift that Shalee truly has.
Now, I won't share all the things we talked about because Shalee has some pretty great suprises coming out on her blog in the next few months. Just trust me on this, you need to keep up with what she's saying there!
Other things I won't share because well, "ahem" I would just have to blush being the single girl I am! LOL! Suffice it to say many laughs were shared, and I was able to tolerate my time in the beautiful Kansas weather fairly well!
Then I was tied up and dragged to the basement and forced to watch American Idol. A show that, if you've read this blog before you know that I hate. (Riiiiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttt!) Then Shalee had the audacity to steal the words right out my mouth and say the exact things I was thinking after EVERY. SINGLE. CONTESTANT.
How rude is that? I mean to steal your own guests words. COME ON! And then I had to eat pie AND drink coffee. I mean that must show you that Shalee is like the most awful person in the world, and her husband was right there in on the whole thing. (Seriously though, the pie was GREAT, and like Shalee's daughter said, you couldn't taste any burnt part! And the fact that I can't really de-seed apples didn't even matter. Yeah, I'm sticking with strawberry things or hiring someone to peel and de-seed my apples!)
Anyway, after the torture of American Idol and pie were over, I was forced to take a picture with my captor for the evening. (Which by the way I need copies of because being the dummy I am, I forgot my camera!) Then I was given a ride back to my hotel where more laughing (to keep up appearances of course) was done. Then I was invited back to their house for Wednesday night, but I wasn't able to go! Phew!!! LOL!
In all seriousness (which totally goes against the name of this blog!) I had a great time, and I'm so glad that I got to meet Shalee and Mr. Right and their two great kids! It was a blessing I needed during a hectic week of work! The dinner was great, the conversations were hilarious, and the hugs were welcomed! Pretty much it was a hit! If YOU ever get the chance to meet Shalee, you should, after all, maybe you'll like her better than I did!

Thursday Thirteen

2007-03-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things That MUST Be Said (Even though it's Friday and I was supposed to post this on Thursday!)

1. AMERICAN IDOL is a singing competition people. That means you vote for the people who can ACTUALLY sing. Not the person that you think is nice or whatever. Yes, I hate it that people will be sad when they leave the show, but I also hate having my ears tortured by AWFUL singing week after week because some people are getting pity votes. There, I've said my piece about that.

2. It's Friday, which means I get off of work at 12! I just had to say that because I'm happy about it!

3. I get to meet this funny lady next week! Is that exciting or what?

4. I'm so glad that my cousin Christy has rejoined the blogging world after an extended absence! She's just such a great blogger, you must visit her!

5. NC State beat DUKE last night! Now, I'm not really an NC State Fan, but I will pull for them if they aren't playing the Tarheels. And I'm glad when ANYBODY beats Duke!

6. Actually the first four games in the ACC tournament yesterday were upsets, leaving people around here saying that it truly is March MADNESS!

7. The Tarheels play at noon today! I will be very caught up in that game! Go HEELS!

8. Daylight Savings is this weekend, which means we lose an hour of sleep. This usually doesn't bother me that bad, but I have to be at the airport by 4:30 Monday morning (how UNGODLY of an hour is that?). But my body is going to THINK it's 3:30 making it that much more UNGODLY!

9. But that's okay because I LOVE to fly, and I want to go to Kansas City because after all, if I didnt' go to Kansas City, I couldn't meet Shalee!

10. I'm taking a Karen Kingsbury book with me on the plane, which probably means I also need to take some tissues because well, if you can read one of her books and not cry you can't be human! LOL!

11. I hope not to cry too hard though because, well, I don't want to look like a freak with red, puffy eyes when I meet the people at our Kansas City office!

12. I'm taking my Wii with me so I can excercise at night. I don't want to lose my boxing abilities!

13. I'm completely out of thoughts right now, so I'm gonna go!!

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Thursday Thirteen

2007-02-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Predicitions About American Idol

Yes, I admit it, I'm an American Idol-aholic, these are my early thoughts about this year!!

1. If Tuesday night shows any sign of what the guys future singing will be like, I believe they will be out of the running early.

2. That isn't to say that I didn't like ANY of the guys, just that so many girls were SO good last night

3. I believe Sanjaya might go home tonight, though I honestly think his performance Tuesday night may have been a work of sabotage by his sister (who picked his song, after SHE didn't make it past Hollywood, kinda funny huh?)

4. I think that Paul Kim should go home, I've never really cared for him from the beginning, and I really don't like feet, so the fact that he sings barefoot is just weird to me

5. My early favorite is Phil Stacey (the bald guy with big eyes) on the guys side, I also liked Blake Lewis (the ever famous beat-boxer who surprised us with a great voice on a ballad)

6. Stephanie Edwards is an early non-favorite for me, not due to the fact that she can't sing. I thought her vocal abilities were good, but I hate it when people drop to their knees on stage, and she did this on her VERY first performance.

7. As far as that didn't impress me with their vocal abilities, I would have to say Antonella Barba and Leslie Hunt were the absolute worst for me. Though there were a few others that just didn't have rememberable enough performances for me to remember.

8. Jordin Sparks is a young girl, but she CAN FLAT WAIL! Loved her last night.

9. I also liked Melinda Doolittle, the former back-up singer who proved last night that she totally deserves a place in the spotlight.

10. But MY ABSOLUTE favorite OVERALL is Lakisha Jones, the single mom who worked at a bank before this stint on American Idol. She is humility all over, and as Simon said, she sang last night on a totally different level.

11. After watching last night's show, I don't think this year will be a bit boring.

12. I have a feeling that maybe the guys will try to bring it next week (I hope so anyway)

13. I guess we'll know by tomorrow who will be going back to their day jobs!

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Okay, So I've Been Told I'm Not Funny Anymore

2007-02-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

My sister complained to me yesterday that I never post here anymore, and she's right. My time has been spread thin, and I've not had a chance to post on both of my blogs. So I chose to post to the devotional one rather than this one.
But since my sister whined about me not posting, I'll give you a little tidbit to laugh at today.
About a month back I purchased a Nintendo Wii. It's a lot of fun, and actually pretty good excercise. (If you don't believe me, try the boxing, if your arms don't hurt the next morning, let me know!)
Anyway, my niece wanted to try it. She just turned three. Let me tell you, if you ever want to see something funny, watch a three year old play a Wii. IT IS HILARIOUS.
She wanted to play the Cars movie game, because she LOVES the movie cars. Now it's kind of tough even for an adult to play, but I figured she would have just as much fun racing around everywhere anyway.
I wasn't disappointed. She slammed Lightning McQueen into every wall on that track. But the funniest thing was that she kept saying, "No, Lightning, you're not supposed to go over there." Then she'd jerk the remote the opposite way and slam him into a tree on the other side of the track, and so on and so on!
It was too funny!

Thursday Thirteen

2007-02-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Reasons It's A Really Great Day

1. Jesus loves me (He loves me every day, so really every day is a great day!)

2. It's almost Friday

3. My cat didn't hide my keys this morning (for more info on this go here! )
4. I bought a Selah CD yesterday! It's one of their older CD's that I had at one time and my brother took and now can't find! It's a GREAT CD!

5. The TARHEELS beat the Blue Devils last night! Woo Hoo!

6. God gave me the lesson I need to teach on Sunday last night while I was reading my Bible.

7. It's a beautiful, sunshiney day!

8. I'm healthy, not a trace of a sniffle or cold! YAY!

9. Survivor starts tonight! I know, I know, I know, but reality TV is addictive!

10. Grissom also comes back to CSI tonight! I'm really glad because he's one of my favorite characters on the show!

11. I'm going to Chuck E. Cheese with my niece and nephew tonight (and their parents of course!) Anytime spent with them is a great time!!

12. We're coming close to the end of the work week!

13. Oh, and did I mention that CAROLINA beat DUKE!

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Thursday Thirteen

2007-01-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Reasons North Carolina Has The Most Insane Weather

1. This past Sunday it was 75 degrees here in North Carolina

2. Meaning it was sunny, warm, just a slight breeze

3. Kind of like a spring day

4. Instead of a mid-January day

5. We wore flip-flops for crying out loud

6. Monday was only slightly cooler

7. And Tuesday was a bit cooler still, and the slight breeze turned into a stronger wind

8. Yesterday Charlie Chill hit the air in full force

9. It barely got to the 40's

10. This morning I woke up, and it was snowing

11. Yes, I said snowing, the ground is covered

12. I like snow, but this is the weirdest week ever

13. From flip-flops on Sunday to heavy coat and snow boots on Wednesday

Yep, NC has the weirdest weather ever!!

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She Lost Her Car Again

2007-01-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love infomercials? Those great extremely long commercials that tell us about the great new products that have been invented?
I spent a lot of time watching TV over the last two weeks because I've been sick. And I spent a lot of time at my parent's house, so I watched a lot of TV with my dad. My dad HATES infomercials. Basically because most products out there really didn't require much brain power to invent and are pretty much pointless, but tons of people are willing to pay the obligatory $19.95 to have the "new, amazing" product rushed to their homes.
For example, there is a new product out there called "My Lil Reminder". This is simply a digital recorder that will record a short message to remind you about things you may forget. For example, on the commercial the lady can't remember where she parked her car, but the "Lil Reminder" changed her life by helping her remember that she parked in blue section, row 18.
This infomercial is particularly annoying, and everytime it came on dad would groan, "That old lady lost her car AGAIN." Made for a lot of laughs.
Are there any really annoying commercials that you hate?

And I Thought Knee Highs Were for Old Ladies

2007-01-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my niece came home from church with my parents. I've been at my parents house since Thursday because I've had the flu. So it was nice to have her come see me since I've been laying around doing nothing.
If laughter could cure the flu, I'd be fully recovered by now, just let me tell you because she had me in stitches the whole afternoon with her antics.
But she topped it all off when she put on a pair of my mom's knee highs that she found and started prancing around the living room in them. She thought she was the stuff. I laughed like crazy at her. I guess maybe knee highs aren't just for old ladies....

Thursday Thirteen

2006-12-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Christmas Traditions My Family Has (or Had in the Past!)

1. Our whole family loves to sing, so we always go Christmas caroling with the church. Love it, love it. It's so nice to spread Christmas cheer to those who aren't able to get out and enjoy the season.

2. For as long as I can remember I've been a part of the Christmas play or cantata at my church. I even wrote a few of the plays. This is something most of my family takes part in as well. It's fun to see it all come together after all the practice.

3. On Christmas Eve we all go to my Grandma and Grandpa Cockman's house. These are my mom's parents. The family on that side is huge (Mom has 2 brothers and 4 sisters. Plus all of their kids which comes to 16 grandkids in all, plus the grandkids children which stands at 3 right now, plus all the spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends. Just put it this way, there are a LOT of people there. But we always have a fun time catching up with each other.)

4. Sometime on Christmas Eve my brother and I get together with our cousins Scott, Tracy, Will and Chris to do our gift exchange and to watch, "One More Sleep" better known to the rest of the world as "The Muppet's Christmas Carol."

5. When we were younger and still lived at home, my sister and I shared a room. My brother had his own room because he was a boy (bum!) But on Christmas Eve mom always made him sleep in our room because he was sneaky, and he would try to get a peek at the presents.

6. When we'd wake up on Christmas morning we'd all sit there and talk about what we thought we'd gotten. The rule was we had to wait until at least 5 to wake our parents. As soon as the clock struck five we would all yell together, "Mama, Daddy, wake up. IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!"

7. Mom always passed out the gifts. Basically because she was the only one who knew who was supposed to get what. See she'd write names on the packages in tiny print where no one could see it. We spent the weeks before Christmas trying to find our names written on the packages. Sometimes even she couldn't find where she'd put the name on Christmas morning, and she'd give the gift to the wrong one of us. But it just made for more Christmas laughs.

8. After we had opened all of our gifts, mom and dad would open their gifts to each other. Of course they always said, "I told you not to get me anything." But they always appreciated the gifts.

9. After all the gift giving hullabaloo was over, mom would cook breakfast while we cleaned up all the wrapping paper and put our new stuff in some semblance of order. She usually made fried tenderloin and eggs and biscuits. YUMMY!

10. Dinner has always been at my Grandma and Grandpa Smith's on Christmas day. Between 12 and 1. A huge group of us gather there as well. And lots of laughs are had as we retell stories on one of my aunts and uncles, like the time my uncle went hunting in WHITE jeans, or the time my aunt sat on the porch swing and it just collapsed. Then we all get calm, and my grandpa (who is also my pastor) reads the Christmas story.

11. Christmas afternoon my dad and my brother always go hunting together, usually with my Uncle Joel, my dad's brother.

12. Mom and I usually watch Christmas movies and just veg out watching the Christmas tree.

13. Then we have Christmas at mom and dad's house when my sister Crystal and her husband RJ join us with their two little ones Raegan and Trace. It's so fun to watch little ones open up their gifts. Mom has passed the gift handing out onto me, and she has started using gift labels, but I miss the days of searching for my name hiddens somewhere in the Christmas writing on the paper!

What are some of your family traditions on Christmas? Whatever they are, I hope you enjoy the Christmas season, and take the time to think about the true reason for the season, Christ!

Merry Christmas everybody!!

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Thursday Thirteen

2006-12-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Reasons Santa Might Have Picked Elves to Help Him Instead of Humans

1. He was obviously on a power trip. He wanted to stand head and shoulders above his entire work force.

2. He felt sorry for the elves who made the shoes and wanted to offer them something more fun and less stinky to do.

3. He figured elves wouldn't eat as much so there would be more food for him to eat. After all, you can't stay the big, jolly guy if you are hungry all the time.

4. He knew that the elves wouldn't expect health insurance or a retirement plan.

5. He figured no human would want the thankless job of cleaning up after the reindeer.

6. He knew that if he hired humans they'd be playing with the toys instead of building them (especially if he hired men!)

7. He figured he'd have a lifetime supply of cookies since the Keebler elves were the experts in cookie making.

8. He didn't want anybody the same size as him in the North Pole because they might try to overthrow him.

9. He figured it would add more mystery to his existence and make more people question, "Does he exist or not?"

10. He decided he'd never get in trouble over affirmative action because he had hired a complete minority.

11. He had tons of extra doll clothes and needed to hire someone who could wear them.

12. He wanted to feel important since he was the only one tall enough to reach the top of the Christmas tree.

13. Too many of the humans he had tried to hire were hunters in disguise trying to kill the reindeer.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

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Thursday Thirteen

2006-12-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things Tracy and I Did to Decorate Our House for Christmas

1. Do you remember a few weeks back where I told you about the giant Buddy the Elf cutout that was standing in my bay window? Well, he is now taped to my front door trimmed in pretty green garland. (This was Tracy's work)
2. One of my dad's deer heads that was left hanging above the mantle now has a green garland and red Christmas bow, bow-tie thing going on. (Also Tracy's work)
3. There are candy dishes full of candy (Tracy again)
4. There is a Christmas tree in front of the bay window with about 2500 white lights on it (This one was me)
5. There are Christmas knick-knacks on the mantle below the deer. (This was half me/half Tracy) One of these knick knacks is a picture of our cousin Scott last year at Christmas time wearing my nephew Trace's "My First Christmas" Santa Clause hat. It's a really funny picture in a Christmas frame.
6. There is also garland hung from the mantle with lights strung through it. (My doing)
7. There are lots of Snowman and Santa candles placed around the house. (1/2 Tracy, 1/2 Me)
8. A glass nativity scene is setup on the bar with garland and lights surrounding it.
9. A Christmas village is on our entertainment center on the shelf above our TV. (Thanks to Tracy's mom for the loan of the village!)
10. There are wreaths hung on several walls, making the place look festive.
11. There is another nativity scene on my dresser, and another one on a bookshelf. After all Jesus is the reason for the season, so you can never have too many nativity scenes.
12. There are lights strung from the canopy on my bed. This is one of my favorite things.
13. And last of all there is a Christmas wall hanging that spells out JOY, a bit of what I hope to spread this Christmas season to all that I see!

Merry Christmas everybody!!

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Just a Few Things to Brighten Your Day

2006-11-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody! I know that I haven't posted on here in a while, so I wanted to give you a few laughs for the day.
First off...here's a link to a Pickles comic strip that I read yesterday:
Pickles Comic Strip
I thought it was so cute. Kinda reminded me of my grandparents!!
And here's a Peanut's strip to give you a little smile on this "Blah" feeling Monday after Thanksgiving!
Peanuts Comic Strip
I just love Charlie Brown!
And to really make you smile here's a little story about my niece on Thanksgiving. My grandma's table is packed out on Thanksgiving with delicious food. Turkey, stuffing, honey-baked ham, homemade macaroni and cheese, gravy, and the list goes on and on and on.
My niece however couldn't find anything that she found appetizing I guess because she went over and whispered into my grandpa's ear, "Can I have a piece of cheese?"
Man, if we all had her taste we sure could save a lot on Thanksgiving meals! LOL!
Hope you all had a great one!

Thursday Thirteen

2006-11-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Random Thoughts I've Had This Week

1. Aren't dogs supposed to be the ones that chase cats? This thought went through my brain when my cat proceeded to chase my new roomie's dog through our house.

2. Why is it that one drop of rain turns every NC driver into a brainless person who knows nothing about driving a car? Thought this while driving to work this morning in the rain.

3. If sweating is good for you, why do you feel so icky when you sweat? I thought this while walking on the treadmill yesterday.

4. Why can't they come up with some invincible materiel that can't be scratched to make CD's with? Thought this when my favorite CD started skipping on my favorite song!

5. Why don't they give receptionists training classes on how to pronounce the names of the people that they have to page? I thought this when the receptionist paged a lady in my department and pronounced her last name "Aarvark" when her last name is actually "Admire."

6. Why isn't there a chute from my desk to the receptionist's desk? I thought this when I took like the 10th art disc of the day down the stairs to the receptionist. (But hey going up and down those steps is good excercise, so I shouldn't complain.)

7. How come that vegetable plate only cost me $4.27 tax included when the prices is supposed to be $4.99 before tax? I went to a restraunt to get a veggie plate twice this week, and both times the cost with tax was less than the advertised price without tax. I'm not complaining though!

8. Why don't cubicles have doors with locks? I thought this when my co-worker came into my cubicle with yet more artwork to take downstairs.

9. Why would the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman DVD be in the case for Aladdin? I thought this yesterday when I was home sick looking for a movie to watch. I just watched Dr. Quinn because I hadn't seen it in forever!

10. Why haven't we come up with some technology that helps you dress yourself in the morning without thinking about it? I thought about that this morning while I was trying to find some clothes for the day when I really just wanted to lay back down in the bed and go to sleep!

11. For that matter, why haven't we come up with something where we can just think about where we want to be and be there?

12. Why is it that number 12 is always the thing that I get stuck on when I'm making these lists?

13. How come God decided to bless me with such an adorable niece and nephew? I thought about this when I was looking at this picture:

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Thursday Thirteen

2006-11-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Memories From My High School Days

I posted on my devotional blog about a local high school burning down yesterday. This sad event made me think back on memories of my high school days and how sad I would have been if I'd had to miss out on events with my friends. So here are some high school memories I'm thankful I can look back on.

1. After prom my junior year my friends and I went midnight bowling at a place we called "redneck lanes" because the place was run by some rednecky guy. The guy pretty much let people do whatever they wanted. Two of my friends slid down the lanes in their tuxes. We laughed a lot that night!

2. My friend Leah I (now Leah F) and I shared a lot of double dates my senior year. Her boyfriend (now husband) had an old Nova that was gorgeous. We had so much fun riding around in that car!

3. We had a Spanish teacher that was just awful. She spoke Spanish with a slow, drawn out Southern accent (slower than any other Southerner I've ever met!) Anyway, she wasn't well liked, and she was known to smell up the upstairs restroom. Well one day my friend Christa and I were in there. I was standing there waiting for Christa, and Mrs. Hewitt walked in. Christa said from the stall, "It doesn't stink in here yet today. Mrs. Hewitt must not have been in here yet." Then she walked out, and I pointed to the other stall and mouthed, "That's Mrs. Hewitt." We ran like the wind out of there, and we hid. We had different classes, but I later found out that Christa hid under the computer table in the computer lab. Fortunately for Christa, Mrs. Hewitt never found out who it was. And we have a hilarious memory!

4. There was a guy in my class that was hilarous. His name was Josh, and his fingers on his left hand were really short. (I'm not making fun of him, he said it was his mark of greatness.) See, he had held his left hand in a fist the entire time he was in his mom's stomach and the fingers didn't grow like the others. So his right hand fingers were really long and his left hand fingers were really short. In our senior year speech class we had to make a speech about ourselves in third person. He wrote about "His mark of greatness" and how when he realized he had it, that he knew he was destined to one day rule the world. We laughed so hard in that class!

5. Speech class was the class where we did the senior play, "A Hillbilly Wedding". We had so much fun. I got to be "Ma Belsnickle" a backwoods woman with five daughters (the oldest of which was terrified to take a bath and loved rattlesnakes) and a lazy husband. The whole point of the play was getting the smelly, weird daughter married off. It was a lot of fun.

6. Choir was another favorite class of mine. I got the "Female Vocalist" of the year award my senior year. The thing was that I didn't expect it. I had thought it would be another girl, and when he said, "And this years Senior High Female Vocalist of the Year is..." I mouthed the other girl's name and almost didn't hear mine. My date was like, "Get up there." And I was like, "He said MY name?" It was funny, and I was shocked!

7. I was the salutatorian in my senior class which meant I had to make a speech at graduation. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. Yeah, that didn't happen! I don't think any person has ever had more family attend their high school graduation though. Seriously my friends and family filled up almost an half of a section of the church!

8. We went to Schroon Lake, NY for our senior trip. I was sick most of the time, which isn't too good of a memory, but I was better the day they went to the Olympic Park, and I got to go bobsledding. It was SOOOOO much fun!

9. We took that trip on a tour bus. 16 hours on a tour bus. But we made the most of it. We laughed and talked a lot. We screamed for our lives when the bus driver BACKED down an off-ramp in Philadelphia when he realized he'd taken the wrong exit. Then we finally settled down to sleep. One of the guys in my class was so little that he could fit up in the luggage rack, and that is where he slept!

10. Puffy, marshmellow coats were the fashion during my senior year. My friends and I all got one for Christmas. The funny thing was that there were four of us that hung out all the time, and two of us got blue coats and the other two got pink coats. We became known as the pink and blue crew.

11. I was in the National Honor Society, and we had the lovely job of running the break room. We served sodas and candy bars to the high school kids during break time. But for us that meant we didn't really get a break, which our English teacher thought wasn't really fair, so he gave us our own break (my friends were all in NHS too.) We got to be late to English everyday. I aced the class anyway though!

12. We got to go out to eat lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays during our Junior and Senior year of high school. My friend Leah I and I made more runs to Cook Out for an Oreo milkshake than I can count. And we'd sing along to the radio to the "evil" country music while we drove down the road.

13. We also took a trip with the entire Junior High and High School my senior year to a camp called "The Wilds" which is a great Christian camp here in NC. The Wilds has like a million steps from the bottom of the hill (where the dorms are) to the top of the hill (where the cafeteria and the chapel area are.) Well, we went every other year. So I went 8th, 10th, and 12th grade. Well, the Junior and Senior girls got the privelege of staying up in the lodge at the top of the hill! It was so fun to laugh at the guys who still had to climb the steps! I know, it was mean, but it was still funny! Another thing that was funny about the Wilds was that they would wake you up each morning with crazy songs like, "Don't Step on that Bug" or "Happy Trails to You!" Yeah, there are a lot of great memories we made there!

These are just a few memories I have!! Do you have any memories from your high school days that you'd like to share?

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Living With An Elf-Lover

2006-11-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

This week I'm getting a new roommate. My cousin Tracy is in the process of moving in. Hopefully she'll have everything moved in by next week.
Now, Tracy is a really funny, outgoing type of person, so I always knew that living with her was going to be interesting. And fun I hope! But when I got home last night I saw something I didn't quite expect.
Standing in my bay window was a life-sized cardboard cut-out of this guy:

That's right folks. I'm living with an elf-lover. This may be more interesting than I expected.

A Friday Chuckle

2006-10-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

So, my sister has been complaining that I haven't been sharing on my funny page as much lately, so I figured I'd share a little story on here to appease her! LOL!
Have you ever slept on an air mattress? I've had this lovely opportunity several times in my life. And every air mattress is different. When I was younger I slept on a very thin air mattress one time, and I felt like I might as well have slept on the floor because the mattress had no support.
I've also slept on an Aerobed and it really felt like a normal mattress. (No, this isn't a commercial for Aerobed, but really if you ever have the need for an air mattress, I'd suggest you get one of those!)
Anyway, this past weekend, I stayed with some friends of my brother's when I went to visit him. And I had to sleep on an air mattress. This thing was HUGE. It was like a double decker air mattress. I figured that would mean it would be really comfortable and all.
Well, it probably would have been, but it was lacking a bit of air I think, so I had to lay sideways to keep from sinking down into the depths of the air mattress. The laying sideways is an important part of this story.
This air mattress had a pillow section at the top. This section had a bit more air than the rest of the mattress. I decided to lay across that part of the mattress. Yeah, that wasn't a good idea. Once I got on top of the pillow section I rolled right off of the mattress and onto the floor slamming my back into a table they had by the window. Fortunately I didn't break anything in their apartment (or on myself for that matter.) I decided to sleep somewhere other than the pillow section, and I made a mental note to myself to bring my own air mattress the next time!

Thursday Thirteen

2006-10-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Random Things I've Been Known Say A Lot

1. Foolishment - same meaning as foolishness

2. Schmidty - I don't know where this started exactly, but now it's something that we yell when we're going down hills on roller coasters.

3. Hawthorne Heights is for Lovers - This is something that I saw on a shirt at Carowinds. Since then, we've yelled it while going down hills on roller coasters (we like to yell random things rather than just do the boring old "AAAHHHHH"!)

4. You Stink On Yourself - This is something my brother and I say to each other as a joke, it usually goes back and forth for a while.

5. BROTHER! - this is what I call my brother usually rather than calling him by his name. If I call him on the phone I'll say BROTHER rather than hello.

6. Charlie Chill has hit the air - this is what we say when it gets cold. If you get hit in the face by a cold breeze, we say that Charlie Chill smacked you upside the head.

7. Riiiiiiiiiigghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttt - This is my sarcastic way of saying that people are lying!

8. I don't drink beer in the day - This is what I say to my brother everytime he tells people (jokingly) that I do drink beer in the day. (For the record, I don't drink beer at anytime, or any alchohol for that matter!)

9. The wheels are turning, but the hamster is dead - this is something I say to an "airheaded" person who doesn't really get things even though they're trying really hard to get them.

10. Jippity - this is our word for nothing, for example when you call and ask somebody what they are doing, they might say "I'm doing jippity."

11. Could you use your turn signal??? - this is a bit of road rage slipping in. Nothing bugs me more than people switching lanes like crazy and making me slam on my brakes because they didn't use their turn signal. I need to work on the road rage thing.

12. Jesus loves you - I say this when I'm trying to make someone smile if they look a bit down. It's true, and usually people start smiling when I say it!

13. CASH!! - When we are doing sound checks when we go to sing my brother always leans into each mic going, "Check, check, check." Finally I'll scream, "CASH!" or if he goes, "Testing 1, 1, 2, " I'll go, "3, the next number you're looking for is 3!" Yeah, we joke around a lot!!

What are some random things you say?

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Thursday Thirteen

2006-10-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Funny Things I've Seen Lately

1. I saw a woman who had to be at least my grandma's age wearing a RED LEATHER MINI SKIRT. I laughed out loud while I gagged!

2. I saw a guy riding a Harley in a 3-piece suit, complete with tie. It was a funny site.

3. I saw a sign that said, "HUGE LADIES RING SALE." I guess they're discriminating against all the skinny ladies.

4. I saw my cat chasing a ball around the living room and then right out the front door. When he realized that he wasn't inside anymore he abandoned his toy and ran as fast as he could back inside. He then stood in the bay window whining for his toy that was trapped out there in the scary outdoors. It was really funny.

5. I saw a car yesterday that had lots of bumper stickers. But they had two together that just made me bust out laughing. The top one said, "I Love my German Shepard" The one just below it said, "Pope Benedict XVI." So reading it all together it said, "I love my German Shepard Pope Benedict XVI." People really ought to pay more attention when they put these things on their cars! LOL!

6.I saw my niece prance in front of the screen door in only her panties while the Bell South guys were talking to her dad on the front porch. For some reason she has decided she hates all clothes besides her panties and strips down to them constantly!

7. I saw my nephew decide that he just didn't want to be in his high chair (which is one of those that hooks onto the table) So he figured out how to unstrap himself and climbed up onto the table. My sister now has two toddlers, this should be fun!

8. I saw my friend Ari ride up the road from her house to mine (a several mile trip) on a lawn mower. She said, "Just call me the water girl." Seriously I'm really glad that she let me borrow the mower since mine broke down, but it was a funny sight to see her riding that thing up the road!

9. I saw an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" where the bratty girl, Nancy, gets put into the dunking booth.

10. I saw one of my youth fall and knock over a shelf (this didn't seem funny at first, but she was fine, and I had already told her to stay off of the shelf several times!)

11. I saw my cousins Tracy and Will do the feet beat, a funny little dance where you throw your feet up in the air and slap them with your hands. I then saw my two year old niece attempt this dance. Let's just say that a two year old doesn't have much coordination which is needed for the feet beat. It was hilarious.

12. I saw a sign on my co-workers box 0f Mountain Dew's that said, "Stop stealing my drinks!" Apparently the cleaning crew has been stealing Mountain Dew's from him at night, and he's fighting back with a sign!!

13. I saw my cousin Christy's boyfriend Josh wearing my niece Raegan's green hat with a flower on it. It was him I tell ya!

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Ahhh the Dreams of the Medicated

2006-10-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am normally a very light sleeper. I hardly ever reach that REM state of sleep where I dream. (Not a good thing probably)
But last night I was medicated. So I slept deeply. And dreamingly. Good thing about the dream...I was apparently getting married. Bad thing about the dream...I was a klutz even in my dreamy state.
I never actually saw the guy I was gonna marry (don't you just hate that?) I was getting ready for my wedding (which was going to be a double ceremony where my brother was getting married too.)
Thing was that just before I put my snowy WHITE dress on I ate tacos. Tacos, one of the MESSIEST foods known to man. I go to put the dress on only to realize that I still had taco juice on my fingers, and I got it all over my dress.
I don't really believe in omens and all that, but I can promise you this, there will be nary a taco in sight on the day that I get married.

Do You Get My Meaning?

2006-10-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

The other day Laurel Wreath did the Do You Get My Meaning MeMe. She offered up the following words to anyone who wanted to play along. So here's my meaning on her words!

Daisy - Apparently the flower of choice for weddings this year. I carried a bouquet of just daisies in one of my friend's weddings, and in one of my other friends weddings, I carried a bouquet of daisies mixed with other flowers. Both were really pretty and simple looking. But just let me tell you, DO NOT forget that you have a live bouquet in a vase and let the flowers die in it. Trust me on this one!

Helpful - This word brings to mind my 2 year old niece Raegan. She wants to help with EVERYTHING. Yesterday I walked out of the kitchen for just a minute because her brother had escaped and was making his way up the steps as fast as he could go. She tried to help me by dragging a chair over to the microwave and starting it up for me. Of course she put it in for like 45 minutes, much more than my enchiladas needed. Good thing that I wasn't gone long!

Green - This word brings to mind my grass right now. We've gotten plenty of rain over the last several weeks, and my grass is green. And tall. It really needs to be mowed. My intentions were to mow it today, but it's raining again. Oh well. There's always tomorrow...or next week...

If anyone cares to play along with this one, I'm offering up these words:

Friday

Crown

Music

Games

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

2006-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thirteen of My Favorite Animals

1. Monkeys - not the big really ugly ones, the cute little ones people have as pets.

2. Koala bears - seriously one of the reasons I want to go to Australia someday. I just think they are so cute.

3. Tigers - I just think they are gorgeous.

4. Chihuahuas - call them yippy dogs if you want, but I have three and I love them to death (well actually they live with mom and dad now, but they are still my babies)

5. Panda bears - another gorgeous animal.

6. Meerkats - I've liked this since the first time I saw "The Lion King"

7. Pugs - I just think they are cute with their little smashed in faces.

8. Polar bears - gorgeous, the polar bear exhibit is my favorite at the zoo.

9. Tropical fish - They are so pretty. I love the tropical fish tanks at aquariums.

10. Lions - I've always been a fan of "Narnia." Just love Aslan, so when I see a lion, I think of that.

11. Piglets - realize I didn't say pigs. I just think piglets are so cute with their curly little tails.

12. Horses - they are so graceful, I just love to watch them run.

13. Baby hedgehogs - They are the cutest little things.

Next week I'll do my least favorites. Do you guys have a favorite animal?

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A Birthday Shoutout and a Damsel in Distress

2006-09-26T09:30:00.004-07:00

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

2006-09-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!!

2006-09-15T06:05:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

"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

2006-09-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-09-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

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

Thursday Thirteen

2006-08-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen Actual Names In My Family That I'm So Glad My Parents Didn't Feel Obligated to Pass On!

1. Alti - This was my great grandfather's name. No middle name, just Alti.

2. Lesley, Wesley, Kesley, Fesley - Lesley and Wesley aren't really that bad, but these are the names of four brothers who are my mom's cousins, and all of them's middle name was Neil. Had their parents had another boy, they were going to name it Mesley (I honestly think that some of my mom's family may have been on crack!)

3. Bunk - Yet another of mom's cousins

4. Bayzalbie - You guessed it, my mom's cousin, Not really sure of the spelling of this, but it sounds like I spelled it!

5. Cleater - The wife of Bunk

6. Olita - Cleater and Bunk's child, don't you think that if you had to suffer through life with a name like Cleater or Bunk you would have given your kid a more normal name like May or something

7.Thomasedaby Northewe - I'm not so sure of the spelling of this one, but this is how it sounds, this was Alti's daddy, may explain why Alti got such a short simple name

8. Talmadge - my mom's uncle, I have heard this one before, but still it isn't a name I'd really want

9. Posey - my mom's other uncle, that's right I said uncle, they named a BOY Posey, I guess Talmadge would've been much better than this. Talmadge and Posey also had a sister named Ruperta (a name which I'm also thankful didn't get passed to me) and a brother named Bennie (my grandpa) Thankfully grandpa got the normal name of the lot!

10. Ossie - yet another of my mother's weirdly named cousins

11. Rosey Emmerinnis - My mom's grandmother, the one who named her child Posey

12. Delilah - my mom's sister, all of my mom's other brothers and sisters have normal names, but for some reason my grandpa and grandma decided to name my aunt after a Biblical harlot, actually I think it was a family name, probably the least weird one that they could find to give to one of their children! My aunt dropped this name when she got married!

13. Rudolph - This was my dad's uncle who died as an infant, and I put him in here simply because I couldn't let you think that all the weird names were on mom's side!

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Works for Me Wednesday

2006-08-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is my first time participating in Works for Me Wednesday. And since this is a funny blog, I'm gonna keep my advice on the lighter side. After all, I can't have word getting out that I'm making this blog too serious.
So I'm gonna share what works when you are living with your single brother. First, you must teach your brother how to boil things. This shouldn't seem so hard, but if you read this post you will see that teaching this skill is an absolute necessity. Second, you must remind said brother that there are other shows that are "preacher friendly" other than Sponge Bob Square Pants. (Full House has been a good diversion for us.) And thirdly, and this is most important, you must teach said brother to take the garbage out on Tuesday night (if you figure out how to accomplish this one, get back to me.) So far living with my brother has been great. Unfortunately, he's gonna leave for college before I get him fully trained. Too bad for his fiance, she probably would have really appreciated the help since they're getting married December of 2007!
To find out more serious things that work hop over to Shannon's!

The Panty Fairy...God Bless Her

2006-08-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know what you're probably thinking, but yes, that title said the panty fairy. See, my niece is potty training, well she is pretty much potty trained, but last week she had a bit of an accident.
My sister was at Walmart with my brother and my niece and nephew shopping for groceries. Well, my brother had gone off to another part of Walmart to get something when my niece informed my sister that she had to GO.
A search for my brother ensued since you can't take the buggy into the bathroom area at Walmart (what is up with that, don't they know people have little kids that are potty training) and my sister had a ton of stuff, so she needed my brother to stand with the buggy. She didn't find my brother before it was too late. My poor niece cried because she hates having accidents, though this one really wasn't her fault. Anyway, my sister lived just around the corner from Walmart, so they quickly bought the groceries and took my niece home.
My sister cleaned up my niece and was cleaning the panties and accidentally flushed them. You would have thought my niece had just lost a million dollars. She cried for an hour, screaming "The panties are NEVER coming back!". After all, it was a pair of Cinderella panties, a terrible loss to a two year old.
Well, my sister saw a pair of panties in the diaper bag just like the pair she'd flushed, so she pulled them out and said, "Look Raegan, the panty fairy cleaned your panties and put them back into the diaper bag." Fortunately my niece bought it, and she stopped crying. Thank God for the panty fairy!

The Nicest Drive Thru Guy Ever...And The Worst Cook In The World

2006-08-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Now, I don't think badly of drive thru workers. I mean they're probably paid minimum wage to get people (who are generally pretty ungrateful) their food as quickly as possible. So at fast food restaurants I don't expect to be served like I'm at a nice restraunt.
But yesterday I was very pleasantly surprised. I got to the place where they take your order and instead of hearing the ususally half-mumbled, "Can I take your order?" I heard a very chipper voice that said, "How can I help you?"
I gave my order and drove up to the money window where I was greeted by ANOTHER very chipper person. This Burger King must have been paying their employees right because they were all so nice, but to top it all off I got to the window to get my food, and I met the man behind the voice on the intercom. He asked me how my day was then he asked me if I was wearing contacts, and I said no (because I'd forgotten to put them in yesterday morning, don't worry my eyes are only like 20/30, so I'm not blind without them or anything.) Anyway, he said you just have beeee-autiful eyes. That was all I needed. I mean I almost tipped the guy. I have a new favorite fast food joint. And guess what, I didn't even have on mascara or eye shadow! How awesome is that?
Now to go from the best to the worst, I'm gonna tell you a little story about my brother and his meager cooking abilities. Last night I called him and asked him to put two pieces of chicken on to boil because I was running a little behind, and I wanted the chicken ready to throw into the pan with enchilada sauce when I got home.
So he says, "So I put the chicken and water in a pot and put the pot in the oven right?" He swears he meant to say stove rather than oven, but seriously, I'm glad that I'm the one cooking for him and not the other way around!
Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Thursday Thirteen

2006-08-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen Movie or TV Phrases That My Friends And I Use A Lot

1. "Oh my lucky stars" (from the movie Blast from the Past)

2. "Dear tiny baby Jesus..." (from Talladega Nights, the Ballad of Ricky Bobby)

3. "Well that's good." (from Lord of the Rings - what Pippin says when Treebeard says that the Ents have decided that Merry and Pippin aren't Orcs)

4. "Business, you will love business" (from The Muppets Christmas Carol, my brother can say this just like the guy in the movie)

5. "Could we BE more white trash?" (This is what Chandler says when he comes into his apartment to see that Joey has replaced their stolen furniture with lawn chairs)

6. "My mop!!" (from UHF)

7. "They don't KNOW that we KNOW that they know we know!" (From Friends. What Phoebe says when Chandler and Monica's relationship is found out.)

8. "I don't know!" (From the Chronicles of Narnia. What Lucy Pevensie says when Mr. Tumnus asks her why people shake hands)

9. "Inkin, blinkin, nodimus, nex, save us from the man with the hex" (from the Andy Griffith Show)

10. "Could you bring me some chapstick? My lips really hurt!) (Napoleon Dynamite)

11. "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a dodgeball!" (Dodgeball)

12. "I'm a tornado of anger, swirling about!" (Kicking and Screaming)

13. "Santa's coming?? I KNOW him!" (Elf)

What are some funny phrases you've picked up from movies?

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Tagged Again

2006-08-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Stacey at Broken Spirit for a meme. I must list 5 weird things about myself or my pet and then I must tag 5 people to do the same. I am going to list five weird things about the new little kitten my brother brought home last week!

1. The poor kitten still doesn't really have a name. I've been calling her Kit Kat or KK for short. That'll probably stick.
2. The cat has an obsession with the refrigerator, seriously I'm gonna end up closing her up in there by mistake one of these days.
3. She is strangely attracted to me, though my brother was the one who rescued her. I'm allergic to cats, so I tried at first to stay my distance, but when I get home, she comes straight to me and hops up into my lap. So I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm just gonna have to take allergy medicine!
4. She also loves my closet. I don't really know why, there is NOTHING on the floor of my closet, it's just a floor with carpet.
5. Lastly she loves cell phones. I learned this last night while I was trying to catch up on reading blogs (I don't have a computer at my brother's house yet.) She kept trying to get my cell phone out of my hands. I hate to tell her this, but if she thinks I'm giving her my pink razr phone she is badly mistaken!

So there's 5 weird things about the pet that I really had no intention of having but have become friends with none-the-less! I'm gonna tag Susan (since she's finally back to blogging!), Dawn, Shalee, Aggiejenn, and Susanne.

A Weekend at Hotel GiBee

2006-08-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have to say that I give Hotel GiBee a 5 Star rating. My stay there was absolutely excellent. Not just because she is one of THE SWEETEST PEOPLE you will ever meet. No, if it had been based on service alone my stay would have been great. My room, the yellow room, was gorgeous. And she even had towels on my dresser that MATCHED my room, and of course they were folded in a fancy little way that just screamed GiBee. And she says she doesn't have it all together. Let me just tell you, I would have never known.
As soon as we entered the house we were offered SWEET TEA. And we could smell the lasagna and garlic bread that she had prepared for us to eat at her church before we setup our sound equipment. Seriously she treated us like royalty.
And her hubby was just as nice as he could be too. Watching the two together, I could tell that they have an excellent relationship with Christ in the center.
And little Hunter, well let me just say that he is one of the cutest little guys ever. I couldn't resist taking several pictures of him with my nephew Trace
The people at GiBee's church were just as nice as GiBee. I was hugged so much I could have sworn I was at my own church. Seriously, if you are ever in GiBee's area and you need a church to visit, I would highly recommend hers, but of course she'll have to tell you the details about it. Those are her details to share!!
Anyway, let me just say that getting to meet GiBee and her family and her church family makes me very glad that I started blogging. Meeting her in real life just solidified my thoughts that she was one of the sweetest people on the face of the earth!
And Hunter takes after her too, considering he didn't have one problem sharing his pacifier with my nephew Trace!

A MeMe to Start the Week

2006-08-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Susanne tagged me for a fun little meme, so before I tell you about my weekend at GiBee's I figured I'd do this!
1. One book that changed your life: The Bible of course, but other than that I would have to say the book Prayer the Great Adventure by David Jeremiah
2. One book that you've read more than once: The Christy Miller Series by Robin Jones Gunn, The Love Comes Softly Series by Janette Oke, actually I've read lots more than once
3. One book I'd want on a dessert island: Hmm, the Bible because I'd need it to keep from going crazy! After that I'd have to say a boy scouts or girl scouts guidebook, so that I could know how to build a fire and what berries I could and couldn't eat, that kind of thing!
4. One book that made you laugh: Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke, the scene where Marty makes biscuits for the first time is particularly hilarious!
5. One book that made you cry: ANYTHING by Karen Kingsbury, seriously, I haven't read one of her books yet that didn't make me bawl like a baby
6. One book you wish you had written: The Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury
7. One book you wish had never been written: The Satanic Bible
8. One book you are currently reading: When Heaven Weeps by Ted Dekker
Now to tag someone: I tag Christy and GiBee for this one!

Thursday Thirteen

2006-08-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen of My All-Time Favorite Books

1. The Bible (of course!)

2. The Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

4. The Christy Miller Series by Robin Jones Gunn

5. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
6. Whence Came a Prince by Liz Curtis Higgs
7.In the Grip of Grace by Max Lucado
8. The Left Behind Series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
9. The Newpointe 911 Series by Terri Blackstock
10. The Love Comes Softly Series by Janette Oke
11. Three by Ted Dekker (Actually anything by him)
12. The Annie's People Series by Beverly Lewis (Or any of her series!)
13. The Hidden Faces Series by Brandilyn Collins

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Would You Eat It?

2006-08-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

I was reading this post on Holymama's blog, and it totally made me think of something hilarious that I haven't shared with you guys!
It's not about something being dropped, but about something questionable being eaten. So here's the deal, my cousins Christy and Tracy and myself were at an outdoor concert. (I want say where to protect the innocent bad-toothed emcee!)
Anyway, the emcee for the event was walking by and he was eating one of those yummy, strawberry shortcake bars from Good Humor. Everybody was like, "Hey, where'd you get those. The emcee guy pulls two out of his pocket and threw them to random people in the audience."
Those I would have eaten. Those were in the packaging, but what came next blew my mind. Some guy, maybe 17 or 18 years old yells out, "Hey can I eat the rest of yours?" And the emcee guy GAVE it to him, and the kid ATE it!
Now Christy and I were grossed out, for multiple reasons. First off, the kid didn't know ANYTHING about Mr. Emcee guy. He could've had some contagious disease or something. Secondly Mr. Emcee guy had bad teeth. I mean seriously, I wouldn't have eaten anything after him. After all, I've told you how I feel about bad teeth. So anyway, Christy and I were sitting there thoroughly grossed out, and Tracy says, "Man, I wish I had spoken up before that kid. I really wanted one of those."
Christy and I were like, "Are you crazy?" I mean it was really hot out there but still!
Of course, we shouldn't really have been shocked, I mean she talked here about how she was tempted to pick up a gatorade bottle from the side of the road because she's so addicted to Gatorade.
Seriously though, my question to you fellow bloggers out there is this, Would you have eaten the strawberry shortcake ice cream bar that had been half-eaten by a bad-toothed stranger?

A Phone Call

2006-08-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

I had an exciting thing happen Friday night. I got to talk to GiBee on the phone. I actually talked to both she and her husband while they were trying to give me directions to her church.
This is my first "real contact" with a fellow blogger besides those in my family that blog. I can't wait until Saturday when we actually get to meet in person!
But the phone call itself is not what I really wanted to post about. I want to post about the fact that my cell service (though usually excellent) doesn't seem to want to work at my house. Now this wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that my brother and I decided that we wouldn't get a phone hooked up. We decided to just use our cell phones.
Well, I can hear people just fine so long as I don't move a muscle and keep one foot in the air and my tongue stuck out just so. Okay, so I don't have to do all that, but I'm wondering why I can't get good service where we live. I mean it isn't in the middle of nowhere. There are like a million housing developments near me, and there is a definite need for good cell service.
Do you guys have one place where your cell phone just wants to be ornery, or is it just me?

Thursday Thirteen

2006-08-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen Jobs I Wouldn't Want to Have (If you hold any of the below jobs, I don't mean this offensively to you, they're just jobs that don't really fit me!)

1. The person who rolls up and tapes a pair of underwear to fit nicely in the package (I think this job would be really dull)

2. The person who walks behind horses and other animals in a parade (This job would be gross to me)

3. The person who harvests this coffee (I wouldn't want to be the person drinking it either)

4. The person who has to take out the trash at McDonalds (or any place for that matter)

5. The person who cleans the restrooms at a convenient store - if there is such a person, which is kind of doubtful. (those are by FAR some of the nastiest bathrooms I've seen. I don't like to use them. I definitely wouldn't want to clean them.)

6. The person that lay asphalt on the roads. (This has to be a very hot job. Especially with the kind of heat we've been having this summer.)

7. The person who is the automated voice for major companies. (I hate talking to a machine when I have a problem with something. I'd totally hate to be the voice that everyone hated to hear!)

8. The person that had to refold all the t-shirts at Old Navy (People tear through those things constantly. If folding the shirts was my job, I'd stand by the shirt rack with a fly-swatter to slap hands away!)

9. The person who has to sit at the top of the big hill on the roller coaster to make sure that no one stands up. (Talk about a hot boring job. I mean, I love to ride roller coasters. It'd be torture to sit there all day not riding!)

10. The person that had to proof read text books for college level math (I'm pretty good at math, but talk about a boring job.)

11. The person behind the counter at the gas station (I've heard quite a few people cuss the gas station workers for the prices of gas. Yeah, like they make oil prices so high.)

12. The person who has to pick up the trash after a concert or sporting event. Americans really are littering folk. It's just common courtesy to throw your trash away people!

13. The person who makes those tickets that are on jeans (Oh, wait a minute that IS my job!
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Wednesday's What Am I?

2006-08-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

First off today I'd like to congratulate my mom who got yesterday's trivia answer correct. The answer was armadillo, and she got the brownie question right too. Steel Magnolias was the movie with a groom's cake in the shape of an armadillo!

Have you ever played "What Am I?" You describe yourself as an object, and people try to guess what you are.

For example:

I am round
I am used to write
I require ink

What Am I?
An Ink Pen

I thought it would be fun to play this with you guys today. I'm gonna give you a list of clues, and you can e-mail me at heathersmith1982@yahoo.com if you think you know what I am. Please make your blogger name the subject of your e-mail. Here we go.

I usually need a flash to turn out good
I look best on special paper
I keep your memories alive

What Am I?

E-mail me that answer people!

Tuesday Trivia

2006-08-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I've got an animal question for you today. You can e-mail me the answer to Heathersmith1982@yahoo.com, and leave me a comment here letting me know that you sent an e-mail (please make your subject line on the e-mail your blogger name.) Enjoy!

What animal can walk underwater, has no enamel on it's teeth and is the official state mammal of Texas?

Oh, and brownie points if you can name the movie that had a groom's cake in the shape of this animal!!

Okay people, get that answer!!

About the Teeth, and Some Other Exciting Stuff

2006-08-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, yesterday somebody asked me why I was so concerned about the teeth. The truth is that YES I have run across some fellas with REALLY BAD TEETH!
I'm not a completely insane person about teeth. I don't carry a toothbrush 24/7, and I don't have floss everywhere I turn. I don't picket on the streets reminding people of the importance of flossing.
But I do believe in CLEAN teeth. I'm not saying that teeth have to be the straightest movie star teeth that are glow in the dark white, but if a guys teeth are brown or black or not there at all, I can't get past it! So that's my thing about a guy having good teeth! They must be clean!
Okay, onto other exciting stuff. I made the decision this week to move out of my parents house and share a house with my baby brother. I think it'll be great, but I'm stepping out with a bit of trepidation. Currently there is only one TV in our house, and it belongs to my brother, and it is in his bedroom because he's been living there alone for a few weeks, and he didn't like hanging out in the living room alone.
So today I'm gonna go buy one of these:

Plus I might spring for a DVD Recorder (I'd put a picture of that, but DVD Recorders aren't really that pretty, so it wasn't really worth the trouble!). Right now we have no cable or satellite, but I'm thinking of doing local cable just so I can watch the news and the weather and all!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Thursday Thirteen

2006-08-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen Reasons Why My Dating Chances May Be D00med

This is honestly all in fun! I know God will send a man for me when He is ready to send him, but for a girl now-a-days, it can get pretty discouraging at times! These are just some random thoughts that have crossed my mind when I wonder why I'm still single!

1. Well, I've been a bridesmaid for 4 weddings, and I was a junior bridesmaid for 1 when I was younger. Isn't there a saying about, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride"?

2. It is becoming more and more of a trend for single guys to come out of the closet and say they are gay. (I don't like this trend at all, for more than one reason!)

3. According to this article I apparently live in THE WORST place for dating. (Thanks so much to Carmen for enlightening me about this joyful news!!)

4. I'm kinda leery of the whole online dating thing. I mean just because some guy says he's a perfect Christian gentleman with normal teeth doesn't necessarily mean he is!

5. All the guys I am somewhat interested in are usually VERY shy. I'm not the type to make the first move, so I'm left in a quandary.

6. I REFUSE to lower my standards. I would rather be alone then settle for someone I know I wouldn't be completely happy with. (My standards aren't insane or anything. Strong Christian, gentleman, good teeth, a job, that's all I ask!)

7. I don't drink or smoke or do drugs. I'm totally not into the party/bar scene. And I don't want to date a guy who does these things.

8. I have pretty feminine hobbies

9. I don't do very well with flirting. So I'm pretty limited in showing a guy I'm interested.

10. I'm not a size 2! I really don't want a superficial kind of guy who would only look at me because of my looks anyway, but there don't seem to be many guys out there looking for a "good personality!"

11. I'm not really the "outdoorsy" type.

12. All of the young guys at my church are related to me. So no options there!

13. All the good guys seem to be taken!

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Wednesday's Word Association

2006-08-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Well, no one took a shot at yesterday's trivia question! The name of the toddler proclaimed to be "The Next Tiger Woods" is Brayden Bozak. This two year old can hit a golf ball 60 yards as straight as an arrow. Me...I can't even make contact with the ball. Golf is definitely not my game!
Okay, now onto the word association! You guys know the drill, list what first comes to mind when you see the word!

1. Asia
2. Beach
3. Mountains
4. Tropical
5. Australia
6. North Carolina
7. Field
8. City
9. Country
10. Vacation

Have fun!

Tuesday Trivia

2006-08-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I've got a sports trivia question for you today. You can e-mail me the answer to Heathersmith1982@yahoo.com, and leave me a comment here letting me know that you sent an e-mail (please make your subject line on the e-mail your blogger name.) Enjoy!

What is the name of the two year old golf prodigy that is predicted to be the "next Tiger Woods"?

Dig up that answer people, and don't forget to leave a comment here to let me know that you're e-mailing me the answer so I'll look for it!

Interpretive Dance

2006-07-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that most of you have watched ice skating or ice dancing on television. They work to tell the story of the song with their movements. In ice skating when the tempo starts to speed up, the skater goes faster and faster until finally the skater leaps into a triple axle.
Well, last night a little girl did something like that at our Bible School commencement. The kids were singing the songs they learned at Bible School for the adults at our ice cream social. One little two year old girl really got into the music and started to spin and twirl and bow to the audience. She was doing a pretty good job of sticking with the tempo of the music too.
Until her brother decided to join in on her dance. He twirled and ran straight for her. He ran into her mid spin, and she crashed to the floor. She started to cry, I think more because her dance was ruined than because he had hurt her. But her tears didn't last too long. She started dancing once again just a minute later.
It's amazing how kids are able to bounce back like that!!
And it's too bad that we as adults feel too embarrassed to dance like that!

Wednesday's Word Association

2006-07-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Aggiejenn for finding the correct answer to yesterday's trivia question. The answer was Will Rogers.
Now, onto Wednesday's Word Association. Like last week, I'm going to give you some words, and you list the first thing that pops into your head. No looking at anyone elses!!

1. Casting
2. Blind
3. Chair
4. Third
5. Dude
6. Wrong
7. Yellow
8. July
9. Dare
10. Suite

Let me see those thoughts people!

Tuesday Trivia

2006-07-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Okay everybody, I think I'm gonna stick with the trivia thing. You can e-mail me the answer to Heathersmith1982@yahoo.com, and leave me a comment here letting me know that you sent an e-mail (please make your subject line on the e-mail your blogger name.) Enjoy!

Who said this?
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run over if you just sit there."

Dig up that answer people, and don't forget to leave a comment here to let me know that you're e-mailing me the answer so I'll look for it!

A Few Pictures of the Trip

2006-07-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

It's really busy today, so I'm just gonna share a few pics from my beach trip. Have a good one!

Here's Leah in the veil we made her wear into Wendys. She was a great sport about it even though she's really shy!

Here are the four of us that went. From left Marcia, Leah I, Leah B, and myself. We are standing in front of the waterfall at the Ripley's aquarium!

Here I am with the bride to be. We were sitting on one of the swings at the beach house. So relaxing!

About the Tickets...

2006-07-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

I got a question about all the tickets yesterday. And it made me realize that I don't think I've ever shared much about my job on here. Probably because this is supposed to be a funny blog, and in and of itself, a job just doesn't land on the funny side of things in most cases.
But for those who are interested, I'll share. And I'll try to make it as fun as possible! I promise!
Okay, you know those tickets that you throw away after you buy clothes? The strip with the size and the ticket on the waistband of jeans or a hangtag with a barcode? Well, I develop that stuff for VF Jeanswear. That's right, I develop trash.
And you'd think it'd be simple, but anything where marketing is involved is never simple. I mean those people nitpick over the color of a ticket for weeks. And I'm like, people are gonna throw this stuff away. But hey, it keeps me in a job!
So anyway, that's why my desk is loaded down with rolls of tickets. Maybe one day I'll get it cleared off. Maybe....

BTW, don't forget to go nominate your favorite blogs over at the Blogs of Summer!

Just click this link...

Thursday Thirteen

2006-07-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen Things On My Desk At Work

1. Ink Pens - Everywhere I turn so that I can just grab one

2. Lotion - My hands get dry because I work with paper a lot.

3. Scissors - to cut tickets

4. Lots of tickets (the kind that are on your jeans when you buy them at the store)

5. Notepads (none of them completely full. All of them partially used.)

6. Rubber bands (To keep bundles of tickets together)

7. A phone ( so that people can call me and complain if their tickets aren't right)

8. New ticket files

9. New art discs

10. Tape

11. Rulers

12. A scanner

13. My computer (without which I couldn't do much!)

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Wednesday's Word

2006-07-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

First off I want to congratulate Aggiejenn from Showered with Grace and Reflecting Him. She answered yesterday's trivia question correctly. The answer was Orville Wingait! Good job, Aggiejenn.
Now for Wednesday's word I'm going to do something a little different. I'm gonna give you a few words, and I want you to leave comments about the first thing that each word brings to mind! No cheating now, don't look at anyone else's, just list your own! Okay, here's the words:

1. Hip
2. Balance
3. Sing
4. Group
5. Hula
6. Smile
7. Ice
8. Goat
9. Dirt
10. Cook

Have fun, and I hope you all play along!!

Tuesday Trivia

2006-07-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Okay everybody. I'm gonna change things around a bit. Today I'm gonna give you a trivia question. You can e-mail me the answer to Heathersmith1982@yahoo.com, and leave me a comment here letting me know that you sent an e-mail (please make your subject line on the e-mail your blogger name.) Enjoy!

In the Judy Garland classic "Summer Stock", who was Jane's original fiance?

The Blogs of Summer Awards

2006-07-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Starting Thursday nominations will be taken for the best blogs of summer over at Bloggin' Out Loud!
Go over there and check it out and vote for your favorites!!

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What's Good for the Chick Is Good for the Chicken...

2006-07-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, let's get things straight first, I guess my niece would be the chick, and I'd be the chicken in this story! Anyway, my niece is potty training. She's pretty much completely potty trained only an occasional accident here and there.
The funny thing is that she apparently thinks we're all in training too. See, last night I took her to the potty, and she finished then she turned to me and said, "You need to go to the potty, Hedder." (that's what she calls me.)
I said, "No, I don't have to go to the potty right now."
She said, "Yes, go to potty."
Once again I said, "No, I don't have to."
She looked at me with a serious face and said, "You need to try."
I guess she figured that's what her mom always tells her. I laughed me head off at her because she was so serious. It took a bit of distracting to get her out of the bathroom and convinced that I indeed didn't have to go to the potty!
Two year olds are a riot!

Thursday Thirteen

2006-07-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Header Courtesy of Goofy Girl

Thirteen Things I Want To Do In My Lifetime

1. Go Bunjee jumping. I think it looks fun.

2. Go skydiving. I used think people were crazy for doing this, but the older I get, the more I realize that you have to take chances.

3. Get a book that I'm pleased with written.

4. Then get it published.

5. Go to Australia. My all-time dream vacation spot.

6. Go bowling in Canada, this has to do with a birthday card one of my friends got or gave me (I can't remember which) anyway, it said that we should go bowling in Canada so that when we got old we could say, "Remember that time we went bowling in Canada." So now we want to go.

7. Sing with Third Day. They used to call people up on stage to sing with them. I want to be one of those people!

8. Get married.

9. Have kids.

10. Go on a missions trip.

11. Go on an Alaskan cruise.

12. Build a house made of log or stone, well not actually build myself but have one built for me! Oh, and it has to have a waterfall!

13. Go to Ireland. I've just always wanted to go there!

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A Beach Trip

2006-07-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

I am so excited you guys. My friend Leah called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to go to the beach. I was like YEAH.
See, she's getting married in September, and she wanted a girl's weekend before she got married. Her fiance's parents have a beach house that they're gonna let us use, so voila a beach trip!
First off this is great because I haven't been to the beach in several years, but mostly it's great because I haven't gotten to take a trip with Leah since we graduated from high school 6 YEARS AGO!
Anybody else out there have fun times coming up?

100 Posts Already??

2006-07-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't believe it, but I've made it to my 100th post on my second blog. Most of you do 100 things about yourselves at this momentous occasion. So, that's what I'm going to do, but I'm just gonna share 100 things about this past weekend. Believe me, it will enlighten you a bit about me!!

1. I woke up early last Thursday morning to get my oil changed.
2. I got my oil changed at Walmart because it's cheap there.
3. Also I HATE going to garages, and I don't feel so out of place at Walmart.
4. My cousins Tracy and Christy went with me, so we could leave straight from there to go to King's Dominion.
5. I drove to King's Dominion.
6. I had never been there before.
7. I missed an exit that I was supposed to take to one of the highways.
8. I don't know why I did, I'd taken the exit many times before.
9. So we went on a little adventure and found a different way on a map so that I didn't have to turn around.
10. This only put us maybe half an hour behind schedule.
11. We stopped at a Wendy's to eat about halfway through the trip. This is where we discovered it was COLD in Virginia on Thursday. (Well cold compared to the lovely 95 degree temperatures we have been ENJOYING here in NC)
12. I ate a Fix and Mix Frosty despite the cool temperatures (don't get onto me, I was on vacation. There is no healthy eating on vacation)
13. I drove on to King's Dominion (no we didn't check into the hotel first. We were ready to ride some roller coasters)
14. The first ride we rode was a ride that takes you up in the air and you swing and you can pull a lever to turn these wing things so you twist around. It was fun, but Tracy wouldn't ride with us because she has a fear of swings.
15. We then rode a stand up roller coaster that I can't remember the name of right now because it wasn't much fun. Honestly, this was the slowest roller coaster I'd ever been on.
16. We checked out the rest of the park and then went to the concert for Thursday night.
17. We saw Kutless (who were pretty good in concert even though I didn't know many of their songs)
18. Then we saw the Newsboys. "I Am Free" was already one of my favorite songs. After hearing it live, I love it even more.
19. We walked through a herd of people to my car.
20. We drove to the hotel and checked in.
21. We walked to our room only to find it hadn't been cleaned. Yes, I know we should've checked into the hotel before we went to the park!
22. We called down to the front desk, and the lady told us she was there alone, but that she could give us some sheets and we could change the beds ourselves.
23. We were like, "Ummm....no."
24. Turns out several people had the same problem, so the manager was called into the hotel, and he switched us to a clean room.
25. There was only one problem with the room. It didn't have two double beds, it had one king size one.
26. They didn't have roll-aways, we called and asked for one.
27. So the three of us slept in the one bed.
28. Thankfully Tracy didn't mind sleeping in the middle.
29. Unfortunately, she almost crushed Christy to death in the midst of the night. Not really, she just rolled over on her, but Christy said she never realized it.
30. So we woke up partially rested, but still very excited for another day at the park.
31.We rode the Anaconda where we bought the picture, but blogger isn't cooperating, so I'll post it later
32. We also rode The Italian Job.
33. And a lot of other rides.
34. We rode the elevator to the top of the Eifel Tower. I wasn't sure I'd want to do this because I thought I might not like to be way up high if I wasn't moving at a high speed. Turns out it didn't bother me at all. However, Tracy rediscovered her fear of heights.
35. Tracy and I were very disappointed to find that both of the really fun looking roller coasters, The Volcano and the Hypersonic XLC, were closed. Christy wasn't disappointed because she didn't plan on riding either of them.
36. We rode some water rides and got soaked because it was hot on Friday. The chilliness from Thursday didn't stay with us.
37. We missed Pocket Full of Rocks because the lady at the concert gate told us the concert started at 6 when it actually started at 5.
38. We caught the tail end of Josh Finklea's message about giving to Compassion International.
39. After that we heard The David Crowder Band. They were pretty good. They aren't really one of my all-time favorites, but the concert was pretty fun.
40. Christy's boyfriend Josh came and joined us (don't worry, he stayed in a different room. Actually, we traded rooms with him because he had two beds, and we only had one.)
41. Next came Toby Mac. He is one of my favorites. After he was done, I was getting pretty tired of standing on my feet, but I couldn't sit down for long because...
42. The next group was Casting Crowns. If you've never seen them in concert, go. AWESOME!! I laughed, I cried, I worshipped. Just awesome! It was after this concert that my voice turned into a cracking, squeaking mess (and it still is!)
43. We went back to the hotel where we found a clean room for us, but not for Josh (but he was fine with it since he knew us, and we were the ones who had slept in there the night before)
44. We were tired, so we laid down to go to sleep not too long after we got back.
45. Tracy fell sound asleep quickly, which was good for Christy and I.
46. Because we had plotted to wrap Tracy's bed up in saran wrap while she was sleeping.
47. I really wish blogger would let me post pictures because it was hilarious.
48. The funniest part is that Tracy never woke up. We wrapped her bed with two full rolls of saran wrap.
49. Don't worry, we didn't put it where it would suffocate her!
50. And she laughed about it with us the next day, so we're still friends.
51. On Saturday morning we woke up and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest which is a great movie. You should see it.
52. There was a pirate ship outside of the movie theater when we came back out of the movie (our movie started at 10, which is apparently before they had the pirate ship ready, and for the record is like the earliest I've ever been to a movie)
53. Tracy had to have her picture taken beside the pirate ship. (Yeah, can't post that one either)
54. After that we ate lunch at Chili's with Tracy's college friend Angela and her husband.
55. Then it was off to the park.
56. By this time, we were all walking in a little slower (except for Josh because he hadn't already walked the park for two days)
57. But when we got inside we had lots of fun times. Christy and I skipped the Anaconda this time because we didn't think we could handle it after eating Chili's.
58. But we rode The Italian Job.
59. We also rode the water tube ride. Christy and I got soaked. I'm talking I should've worn a black shirt rather than a yellow one soaked. Yeah, I walked with my arms crossed in front of me for a while.
60. We then searched the park for a Chick-Fila because we were sick of hotdogs, hamburgers and chicken strips. We found it in the water park.
61. Then we made the long trek to the concerts.
62. We skipped most of them for Saturday because we wanted Josh to be able to ride some stuff.
63. But we got there for Jeremy Camp who made me cry with his testimony. I just love to hear him!
64. Then there was Third Day one of my all-time favorite groups.
65. The concert ended, and the last prayer was said.
66. We took one last picture, kinda sad because our much anticipated time at King's Dominion was officially over.
67. We then went back to the hotel to find two clean rooms (shocking isn't it?)
68. No jokes were played on Saturday night.
69. I think we were all way too tired.
70. We woke up Sunday morning at 9.
71. Then we packed everything up.
72. And Tracy and Josh did the checkout thing.
73. Then we went to Cracker Barrel.
74. And Tracy put us under the fake last name of Dingus. And she didn't listen well and didn't even get to hear them say it!
75. We got a waitress who didn't even have one star (if you know much about Cracker Barrel, their waiters and waitresses are rated with stars)
76. But we got all our food, and I left with a to-go cup of unsweet tea, so we were good.
77. Josh and Christy led the way in his truck.
78. Tracy and I followed them to highway 360, but then we had to make a pit-stop, so we lost them. (but it was okay, because we knew where we were)
79. Tracy bought some Skittles to throw out the window while we were at the convenient store.
80. And I bought some Gatorades (Tracy is addicted to the stuff)
81. We went down the highway.
82. Tracy threw some Skittles out the window.
83. We listened to the radio
84. And listened and listened.
85. We went 60mph
86. Then 45mph
87. Then 60mph
88. Well, you get the picture, there was a lot of back and forth in the speed limit!
89. Then we got onto 58 toward Danville, and we passed a space ship.
90. Seriously a space ship, I can't wait to post the picture.
91. We stopped and took a few pictures of it.
92. We drove more.
93. Listened to the radio more.
94. Got onto 29 S.
95. Finally got to the Ruffin exit.
96. Took a few more turns and finally pulled onto my road.
97. Carried the bags inside.
98. Laid down for a while.
99. Went to church.
100. Came home and CRASHED!

Hope you made it through my 100! If so, thanks! And I hope you know me a bit better now!

Wednesday's Word

2006-07-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Today's word is vacation:

Actual meaning: A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation, especially one with pay granted to an employee

Meaning to me: The time I am getting off of work for the next two days to go to KINGSFEST!

That's right, this will be my last post of the week because I'm going to King's Dominion for Kingsfest! I get to see the Newsboys, Casting Crowns, Third Day, Toby Mac and the list goes on! I'm so excited.
Anyway, I'll be back to visit your blogs next week! Have a good one!