This stupid song is in my head....thanks Cindy!

My sister-in-law has a knack at getting annoying songs in my head. Since most of them from commercials, I am doomed to hear them often and get them stuck again!

This weekend she introduced me to one that I have never seen on TV but now is stuck in my head allllllllllll stinkin' day!

Here is the newest song addition:



Her other songs included one from Bow Flex home gym......the chorus of the song went something like this in a high-rocker voice: "Gonna make you want it; Get a rock hard body..." Luckily for you, I couldn't find this one on You Tube.

The only one I actually LIKED is the 1-800-Free Credit Report songs. She can sing the first one perfectly by memory. Instead of posting that one, I am posting my favorite one:

High school quiz....

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!! At the end, choose 10 people (or more) to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under the tabs on your profile page, copy and paste my note in the body of the note, delete my answers and type yours, tag 10 people (in the right hand corner of the app). Then click publish.)

IN YOUR SENIOR YEAR DID YOU...
1. Did you date someone from your school? Nope. I changed crushes yearly though. (I'm so embarrassed now....and so thankful I didn't get what I wanted.)

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Nope, and don't plan to either.

3. Did you car pool to school? No, it was maybe 5 blocks from my house and everyone else's house. It's not a big town.

4. What kind of car did you have? A Maroon Two-door Pontiac Grand Am

5. What kind of car do you have now? A beautiful silver 4-door VW Passat

6. Its Saturday night...where are you now? It's actually Monday, so um, I'm at home.

7. It is Saturday night...where were you then? Rarely on "the drag" and mostly with friends at the movies or hanging out at home. I was an introvert then as I am now. :)

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? I was a file clerk at State Farm Insurance.

9. What kind of job do you do now? I'm a file clerk at the Baptist Student Union. :) Okay, so maybe I do more than file now.....I run the office, answer questions, do PR work, design work, conference planning, and try to mentor college students. :)

10. Were you a party animal? Ha ha ha ha ha. That's funny. But I am now called the "Queen of Fun" by my close friends. :)

11. Were you considered a flirt? I don't think so....maybe ask all those brokenhearted guys their take on it. :)

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I can only sing/play in one key--off.

13. Were you a nerd? No. I considered myself in the middle socially.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? No. The principal LOVED me and still asks my parents about me when he sees them. (Insert halo!) :)

15. Can you sing the fight song? Every word. "Marlow Outlaws, Marlow Outlaws, winners we will be! Sing the song and win the fight. Stand up for your rights.....keep fighting! Marlow Outlaws, Marlow Outlaws, winners we will be! Go Outlaws, fight, fight, fight for vic-tor-eeeeeeeeeeeee!"

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Mrs. Bullard was really influential in my education. I loved Coach Newby and Coach Cobb.....

17. Where did you sit during lunch? In a car at Sonic, at DiCintio's Pizza, Dairy Queen......I don't think I ever at on campus.

18. What was your school's full name? Marlow High School

19. When did you graduate? 1995 (They had to ask....)

20. What was your school mascot? Per the fight song above, an Outlaw. There is a cool story behind it, so I like the mascot.

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? NOOOOOO way. I thank God every day that it is over. I didn't hate high school, but I like life better now.

22. Did you have fun at Prom? Not really. The highlight was at my junior prom--the senior homecoming King (as well as football star and hottie) asked me to dance just after being crowned. We grew up together and both accepted Christ at the same time when we were little. I would take back #2 for him! (But he is married, alas.)

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? We went in a huge group...so I talk to probably one person.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? I think so. I'm getting to the age that it would be fun to see people again and hear what's happened in their life since high school.

25. Do you still talk to people from school? A few....more now because of facebook. It's fun to reminisce about old times, clothes, relationships, hairstyles and teachers. Many people I went to school with from kindergarden through senior year. That's a lot of history.

26. School Colors? Navy blue and white

27. What celebrities came from your high school? Other than myself....none. :)

25 Random Things About Me

It's the thing to do these days, so here is my list. And too many people have tagged me to ignore. I don't know if it will be worth the read, but here goes.

01. This lady at my church (one who was there for charity help more than spiritual reasons) came up to my mom put her hand on her stomach and announced she was going to have a little girl before she knew she was pregnant.

02. I wrote a poem in the 4th grade about the four seasons and my teacher told me I was a good writer. That really started my love of writing.

03. I love serial books. When I was young, my aunt and cousin gave me "Trixie Beldon" books for Christmas, and to this day I love books with the same characters in different or continuing adventures.

04. I've only broken one bone in my life--my middle finger in the 6th grade. We were doing relay races and as I was coming back in (doing the "crab crawl") and the girl going out crunched my hand.

05. I've had a lot of pen pals in my life--when I was young and then in college I had "email" pen pals.

06. I am so bad at math that I took remedial math my freshmen year of college. Don't ask me to make change, balance your checkbook, or count past ten.

07. I'm fascinated with genetics. (You know those graphs of dominate and recessive genes?)

08. I think and express myself better through the written word than verbally.

09. My mom's mom ("Nanny") watched me when I was little....so I watched the soap opera, "Days of Our Lives." until I was in high school.

10. I learn best by being shown once and then doing it. It's common for me to learn things by just experimenting and figuring it out.

11. I love watching football but not really any other sports.

12. I'm an introvert. A perfect day would be one where I was alone and didn't have to talk to or interact with anyone all day. I love being alone.

13. I have really bad carpal tunnel and my hands and fingers go numb very quickly--even now as I am typing these I have to stop and move them to keep them from numbing too much.

14. I was the editor of my high school newspaper and won many monthly writing contest. I was almost a Journalism major.

15. I can't swim.....and still hold a healthy fear of water. Cruises don't really sound too tempting to me.

16. I was saved at Falls Creek in the 4th grade. I still remember the song that was playing and the person who lead me in the prayer. (It was Troy McCoy...and ironically, he and his wife's photo was in my dream last night.)

17. I made a commitment in the 8th grade to never drink alcohol.

18. Although I love reading and writing, I can't spell to save my life. I'm a horrible, horrible speller.

19. I love my knees. I think they are really cute. (This list is called RANDOM things, remember.)

20. I love audiobooks. It's hard for me to find time to sit and hold a book to read it, but I always have a book playing in my car or in the background when I am working on other things.

21. I'm a homebody. I love being at home, and it's hard for me to leave again once I am home in the evening.

22. My nicknames include: George-Earl-Clide-Fritz-III (all one), baby girl, sister, sis, HN, Nikki-no, Holly Nic, Dolly, Hol-Bol, Lolly, and Hols.

23. I cry at movies--especially when it involves the death of animals. (My sister-in-law still makes fun of me for crying so much at E.T. when I was little.) And I am a sucker for an inspirational or "based on a true story" type of movie.

24. I love learning new things. I always prefer watching TLC or History Channel or Food Network over movies because I have a higher chance of learning something new!

25. I am a late-morning and early afternoon type of person. I do my best work and thinking from 10:00-3:00.

I should've listened to my mom..

Yep, mom was right about a fair number of things.

In my defense, my mom tends to tell me mind-numbingly obvious things. She, for example, feels the need to explain how to use anything she gives me. Something like, oh, Windex. (She actually did this--and I was a college graduate at the time.)

So over the years I had a defense prepared for her advice-based attacks. It was something like this:

Step one: Eye roll.
Step two: Deep, pitying sigh. (Because she can't possibly understand.)
Step three: "Whatever, mom, that won't happen to me."

This exact scenario happened when I was wanting to order a senior class ring in high school. She told me I wouldn't wear it, and it'd be a waste of money. After performing steps one through three state above, I argued that I would wear it forever. Ha! I think I wore it for about a month and now it is in a jewelry box somewhere.

More recently, one of her pieces of advice has come back and bit me. After moving recently, I went through all these old pictures from middle and high school, as well as college. Mom always told me to write people's names on the back because, "One day you'll forget who they are."

Insert here eye roll, sigh, and "whatever." My defense at the time was something like, " I went to school with them for 13 years--I won't forget their names!!" Hmm. I should have written down their names--first and last--on the back of the pictures. Or maybe when I scratched out their face with a ball-point pen, I could have jotted down key words next to it to remind me why I was so mad at them. I didn't do either.

I'm just now getting to the age where seeing old school friends is fun. It's exciting to see what they look like now, where they live, and what they are doing. It's fun to laugh at old times and our past fashion and hair-style choices. Thankfully, with the use of MySpace and Facebook or other online communities, it is easier to reconnect and stay in touch.

I'm also getting to the age where I forget a lot. My good friend since middle school, Amy Z, is my connection to the past. I will forget someone and she will swoop in and remind me of a handful of stories and connections that I'd totally forgotten. Sadly, she is not a computer/email/virtual profile sort of person. This leaves me abandoned in the sea of forgetfulness, left to navigate myself to the shore of memories. And I can't swim! *Sigh*

So the moral of the lesson here is simple: write the names of people on the back of pictures. Oh...and I should have listened to my mother.

My dear country lyrics by Norah jones

Album: Not too late

'twas halloween and the ghosts were out,
and everywhere they'd go, they shout,
and though i covered my eyes i knew,
they'd go away.

but fear's the only thing i saw,
and three days later 'twas clear to all,
that nothing is as scary as election day.

but the day after is darker,
and darker and darker it goes,
who knows, maybe the plans will change,
who knows, maybe he's not deranged.

the news men know what they know, but they,
know even less than what they say,
and i don't know who i can trust,
for they come what may.

'cause we believed in our candidate,
but even more it's the one we hate,
i needed someone i could shake,
on election day.

but the day after is darker,
and deeper and deeper we go,
who knows, maybe it's all a dream,
who knows if i'll wake up and scream.

i love the things that you've given me,
i cherish you my dear country,
but sometimes i don't understand,
the way we play.

i love the things that you've given me,
and most of all that i am free,
to have a song that i can sing,
on election day.

The Quilt List, and introducation

The other night Jenny was over and we got in this discussion about me writing a book. (Tim suggested to me that I write a book called "The Quilt List" that is based on the people who I have made quilts for over the past few years.) This idea seems overwhelming. I'm not that good of a writer.

Although I don't know about a book, but I might start sharing some of the stories on here. I can share about the quilts--but more about the people who have received them so far. Therefore, here is my first post. It is more of an introduction to the topic. More "chapters" and quilts will come.

The Love of Quilting: An Introducation

As long as I can remember, my Granny Kimbrough was known for two things—good home cooking and making quilts. Chicken and dumplings and vinegar green beans, chocolate pies and coconut creams were always requested at family dinners and just about any time in between. And every person in the family had at least one or two “Granny quilts.” As the youngest of 15 grand-children (with just 20 days separating me with the great-grand children), I probably got more than my share of spoiling-and quilts. All of us, though, no matter where we fall in the generational line, cherish our Granny quilts.

As a child, I would spend many afternoons with my Granny and Grandpa playing on the old shag carpet as she watched her beloved “soaps” on the large turn-knob TV. It’s funny what you remember about a place. Above the TV was an old painting (a reproduction) of a man praying before a meal. It's a very common painting, and as a child it filled me with a melancholy ache that I couldn't quite place. Over the years, I’ve seen it many times in antique stores, and it always brings back memories of grandparent’s cozy little home.

Then there is the smell of Oil of Olay. Even now, it brings back memories of that tiny bathroom in their house where I would dab the stuff on my face like Granny would always do. I would make frequent bathroom trips to dab that lotion on before I went home for the night. The smell was her--and I wanted to take it with me.

The "middle bedroom," which was usually filled with a full-sized bed covered with a white knobby blanket, was always a favorite room in my Grandparent’s house. Several times a year the bed was removed and stored so that Granny could quilt. The loom would take up the whole room. For hours at a time, she would sit and quilt. Many times I would play at her feet just inches away from her masterpieces-in-the-making. Sadly, I never thought to ask her about them.

It would be another twenty some odd years before the “hobby” (I use quotes because it is more of an obsession) would interest me. I wish now that Granny could teach me how to do those perfect stitches, which got looser as her eye-sight faded in the latter years. I wish I could sit with her as she quilted and ask her questions about her life--hear her stories. I would ask about the Dust Bowl and the first time she drank a soda. She could tell me about falling in love with Grandpa and living in California. We could sit and quilt and make masterpieces together.

But I can't.

She went to be with Jesus my sophomore year of high school. I missed my opportunity to learn hands-on skills. She did teach me, though, that time and love could be passed on in many forms. Love can be eaten in a perfect meal made just for you. Love can be smelled in a little bottle of lotion that you hope will keep you beautiful for your one true love. And love can be stitched into fabric and wrapped around you.

I miss my Granny. I miss my daddy too, who is now with her in Heaven. I think I will go pull out the quilt she made for him and wrap up in it. I will wrap myself in their love.....and dream.

MySpace Reality Check

Lately I have been going through a self-destructive funk. Basically, I do the very opposite of what I want to do. Which makes me feel worse about myself, and get generally discouraged about life. And so the cycle continues. WHY!?!?!

Then on Sunday I got to talk to a dear, dear friend about these and many other heart issues. We eventually got to the whole singleness issue. (Sorry to you married folks...suffer along with me.) Ugh.

She has a lot more to hope on than me, but it is still hard to not worry there is something wrong with you. I know there is nothing good, nothing worthy about me. It's only through Christ that I am compete, worthy, and acceptable. And it is only through His GRACE and undeserved favor that I will ever get married. Unfortunately for me, knowing all good and perfect gifts come from above and waiting patiently don't always go hand in hand.

But thanks to MySpace, I am reminded, yet again, why I am waiting. Today I got two messages from two men. One guy (we'll call him "The Shirtless Wonder") simply told me I was "gorgeous" and asked me if I wanted to have his baby. Hmm, Mr. Shirtless 22-year-old, tempting!! Thankfully, I have (in my past) anticipated such questions arising and thus established a policy against having complete strangers' babies. If not for that policy, his abs might have made me reply instead of delete.

The other man, we'll call him "Divorced Daddy," wrote a long, horribly punctuated run-on paragraph about all the pros of his character. It was both comical and pathatic all in one. The public school system failed him. Really. A 37 year-old-man should be able to construct sentences by now. Call me a jerk or a snob...but I do enjoy well contructed sentence every once and a while.

Yeah, waiting stinks. But MySpace taught me two more things today. One, my "MySpace" self is both intruging and hot (to at least some small, although pathetic, sector of the public); and two....keep waiting.