Favorite Childhood Books

1. The Little House on the Prairie books (my favorites were Little House in the Big Woods and These Happy Golden Years)
2. Strawberry Girl
3. Number the Stars (this was probably my favorite book)
4. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
5. Island of the Blue Dolphins
6. Bridge to Teribithia
7. A Wrinkle in Time
8. Camp Sunnyside series- did anyone else read THESE?
9. Amelia Bedelia books
10. The Story of Ferdinand
11. Harry the Dirty Dog
12. The Boxcar Children books- and plenty of reenactments with my cousins
13. Summer of my German Soldier
14. Sarah, Plain and Tall
15. Hatchet

Most Of My Childhood Memories Take Place Here

1. My grandpa's yard

2. The woods

3. The Crane gymnasium

4. The Keithley's house

5. Our Crane house

6. Mert and Donald's house

7. Our old yard

8. The park in Republic

9. Silver Dollar City

10. The Aurora Pizza Hut

11. The Berkstresser's house

12. Table Rock Lake

13. The creeks on my Grandpa's land in Hurley

Things That Remind Me Of My Great-Aunt Mert

1. Halls cough drops, the yellow ones

2. Roses- seeing them, smelling them. They grew beautiful roses.

3. She always called her purse her "pocketbook." I love that.

4. Pink Dove soap. I used to walk by it at the store and smell it just to remember her. I bought some at Schnucks this week, and I can smell it all over our house.

5. Her skin was always so cool, but it was silky and warm at the same time. She was the coziest person ever.

6. The song Make Me Down a Pallet On Your Floor by Gillian Welch. She used to make us cozy pallets in the living room to nap and watch TV with blankets and bed pillows. Their house always made me sleepy, because it was so comfortable and safe.

7. Any time I see someone lying on the floor with their feet pointed to the TV. She wouldn't let us lie like that because she said we wouldn't be able to have babies.

8. Back scratches- no one does them better than she did. She filed her long nails often and they were always perfect for a good scratch.

9. She had this blue/purple mole at the bottom of her neck on her chest. It used to freak me out.

10. Their radio in the kitchen used to play softly 24 hours a day.

11. Those little candies that are like caramel Tootsie Rolls that are either pink, blue, or yellow. And Hershey's miniatures. And Werther's Originals. Their candy drawer was the second one down to the right of the refrigerator.

12. Beauty pageants- we used to watch Miss America with my sisters and make score sheets and rate the contestants and pick our favorites.

13. They had the best cabinet that was also Mert's end table by "her seat" on the couch. It had Cool Whip tubs full of crayons, Big Chief tablets, coloring books, lined tablets, and those things you could draw on the plastic sheet with the plastic "pen" then lift up the plastic sheet to erase it. They also bought us those big 64 crayon boxes with the sharpener on the box, which was really fancy for us.

14. I would love to have the wallpaper that was in their kitchen and hallway.

15. This painting

16. Every time I drive by the Lebanon exit on Hwy 44- I used to go their with her and Donald to Mert's doctor appointments

17. Every time I make mashed potatoes, I use what I think is her recipe, but must not be, because they don't taste 1/100th as good as hers did.

18. She always, always wore those thick white support/control stockings. Those must have been really uncomfortable, and even more uncomfortable to NOT wear them, which makes me sad for her.

19. They used to decorate their huge cactus in the living room for Christmas instead of bringing in a tree.

20. Their 3rd bedroom was converted into a yarn room for Mert to keep her shelves and shelves of yarn and crochet supplies.

21. Fishing. Donald was a terrific fisherman, and he and Mert would take us out on their boat for the day. I would catch little tiny perch and then we would eat chicken nuggets and drink grape juice and Mert would put wet washcloths in ziploc bags and keep them in the cooler to cool off our hands and faces if it got too hot on the water.

22. I didn't really have a traditional grandma. She filled that role for us. She let us have candy and cookies and junky cereal and drink Kool-Aid with our meals and have cans of grape juice for no reason and was an amazing cook. They would take us to Wal-Mart to buy us anything we wanted. We would eat meals with them, and they babysat us. She gave her whole life for us.

23. She loved us like crazy. I hope that I can love that well.

24. I loved the smell of their house. If I remember really hard, I can still smell it. And sometimes it's mixed with their wood fireplace.

25. My little sister always got to sit with Uncle Donald in his chair. I was always too nervous to ask if I could sit their, too. I'm glad I just let that be their special thing. I loved snuggling with Mert, so it wasn't like I had it rough or anything.

26. We used to play kickball in their front yard. I wish I remembered the bases. I think that first base was the corner of the wrought-iron fence around their front porch, and third base was a pine tree.

27. Their front driveway was a super-steep gravel one. They would say "push! push!" and we would all push the dashboard, seat in front of us, whatever thinking we could help push the car up the hill.

My Elementary School Field Trips

1. Kindergarten- Springfield Dickerson Park Zoo
2. First- Shriner's Circus in Springfield
3. Second- I don't remember. It was a bad year.
4. Third- Silver Dollar City and maybe "Peter and The Wolf" at Evangel or Drury?
5. Fourth- Fantastic Caverns
6. Fifth- Wilson Creek Battlefield & the Fish Hatchery at Table Rock Dam
7. Sixth- Skating rink in Springfield

Mix CD From High School My Best Friend and I Made- "Our Songs"

1. Dust on the Bottle- David Lee Murphy

2. Black- Pearl Jam

3. Back to Good- Matchbox 20

4. Heads Carolina, Tails California- Jo Dee Messina

5. Fishin' in the Dark- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

6. Glycerine- Bush

7. Vogue- Madonna

8. Tainted Love- Soft Cell

9. Cecelia- Simon & Garfunkel

10. Something to Talk About- Bonnie Raitt

11. Cumbersome- Seven Mary Three

12. 1979- Smashing Pumpkins

13. Shoop- Salt-n-Pepa

14. Killing Me Softly- The Fugees

15. Hey Jealousy- Gin Blossoms

16. Don't Fear the Reaper- Blue Oyster Cult

17. Strong Enough- Sheryl Crow

18. Man Who Sold the World- Nirvana

19. Long December- Counting Crows

20. Into Your Arms- Lemonheads

21. Can't Find a Better Man- Pearl Jam

My Elementary School Young Author Books

this post is in honor of Sadie, a very hip gal

1. 1st grade- Pizza Day- about a boy named Jerry who wakes up to find his bedroom is made completely of pizza. He had to eat himself out. "First he ate the cheese, then he ate the meat."
2. Can't remember my 2nd grade book & my mom couldn't find it in my hope chest.

3. 3rd Grade- Pocket Full of Poems- a collection of whimsical poetry that won me some district awards

4. 4th Grade- Home Again, Maybe- a gripping tale of two young girls who were nurses during the Revolutionary War. I was DEVASTATED this one didn't win. I put my heart and soul into that book. Stupid Warren beat me with a nonfiction book about bees. Whatever.
5. 5th Grade- Missing in the Meadow- a total Last Unicorn rip-off. I didn't care. I was still mad about getting robbed in 4th grade.

6. 6th grade-Kara Deaning Private Eye- a young girl who lives a double life as a detective busts a cocaine ring. I wanted it to be in-your-face and real, but I think it was racially inappropriate

What We Used To Buy From Our Schwan's Man When I Was Little

1. Chicken strips

2. Little deep-dish cheese pizzas

3. Patty melts

4. Orange push-ups

5. Raspberry push-ups

6. Ice cream drumsticks

7. Vanilla ice cream gallons

8. Chocolate ice cream gallons

Random Memories Of Birthdays Past

(per Cathy's request)

1. I always think I remember receiving this rabbit and gnome musical figurine, but I got it when I was 2. Is it possible that I remember that? My only other really early memory was when I was about 3 or 4.

2. I always had a pink birthday cake. Every year...strawberry cake with strawberry icing.

3. Our family friend Chris K. used to take me to eat Shoney's breakfast buffet for my birthday.

4. One year he also took me to the SMSU bookstore and I picked out a really nice SMS Lady Bears sweatshirt. It was my favorite shirt for years.

5. I had a party at the skating rink in Springfield. My mom had a panda bear cake made for me.

6. I got in trouble by my 2nd grade teacher for not inviting one of my friends to my party. She made me. That's weird now that I remember it. The girl did come. I don't know why I didn't invite her, because she was one of my best friends.

7. My friend Tasha got me a "Get in Shape Girls" set once. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It had a cassette tape, hand weights, etc. Tasha was really good at presents.

8. My favorite party was one where I invited friends to play at the park, my mom made spaghetti, and I had a sleepover. Guests were: Tasha, Shawna, Rachal, Elizabeth, and Amber.

9. At the above awesome party, my little sister also invited her friends Tara and Reagan.

10. Again, same party...I wish I could post a photo of my little sister's outfit for this party. Unbelievable.

11. My only surprise party was my 16th birthday. It was a bit lame. My mom really didn't know who to invite, so she left my best friend Katy in charge. Katy knew it might be social suicide, so she only invited some people from church (let's face it, they were dorks) and my 3 best friends at the time.

12. At that party, my friend Whitney stood on my kitchen counter with a German beer stein of my dad's and sang a German beer song. My dad loved it.

13. On my 17th birthday, I was really drunk at a party and kept wandering around saying, "It's my birthday, see my new shoes?!" I later passed out in my friend Sam's Jeep. He got me home somehow.

14. My 21st birthday was less wild...went to the local coffee shop with my 15 year old small group girls. They bought me a really nice pair of roller blades. Loved it!

15. For my 30th birthday, I was super pregnant with R. We ate dinner at my choice, Fitz's, and bought some furniture for our house at Good Works.

16. A sent me to Chicago with my big sister for my 31st. So fun!

17. On my 16th birthday, my parents got me a beautiful dark gray Honda Accord. I LOVED that car. I would drive it happily right now. Too bad I totaled it 2 months later.

18. My parents got me a beautiful diamond necklace for my 18th birthday.

19. For my 20th birthday, we had K-Life club (I was a volunteer leader) The K-Life guys wheeled out this huge cardboard cake and this really weird (at the time, I'm sure he's totally normal now) guy busted out and danced on me.

Unwanted Animals In My Houses

1. My childhood house turned out the occasional mouse.

2. That same house also had spiders and scorpions.

3. When we first moved to Arkansas, we returned from vacation to find a bird that had taken up residence in our house.

4. That house had a few mice, too. I did not like that house.

5. My first house in college- we lived through a month long roach infestation. I did love that house.

6. Our second house had a teeny-tiny ant problem. They were so tiny that they were almost loveable. We were able to easily get rid of them.

7. I walked in on a squirrel jumping out of my ficus tree in my first apartment in St. Louis. It was embarassingly one of the most frightening days of my life.

8. A blue-tailed lizard was in the bathroom of my parent's current house when I was home visiting this summer.

List From My 8th Grade Diary

(listing even back then...don't hate- I was pretty cool)

1. TV Show: The Wonder Years

2. Song: Love is on the Way by Saigon Kick or When I Look Into Your Eyes by Firehouse

3. Clothing Store: Maurices

4. Books: Island of the Blue Dolphins or The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

5. Teacher: Mrs. Grubbs and Mr. Redus

6. Food: Fried mushrooms at the Dairy Lane in Crane

7. Saying: Sha-reet/Sha-right (I think this was a substitution for saying "yeah right")

8. Restaurant: Trotters (I think that it really should have been the Italian restaurant at the Battlefield Mall...oh goodness, was that Pasta House?)

9. Movie: Can't Buy Me Love

10. Place to hang out: Braum's or Amber's downstairs

11. Game: Cards (??? I think I was grasping here)

If I Could Go Back In Time, I'd...

1. Attend Monterey Pop in 1967
2. Get married again (same husband, though)
3. Go to original Broadway "Wicked"
4. Spend more time with grandparents/family/friends who actually matter. I now know who actually matters.
5. Be nicer in high school

6. Have studied abroad for a little while

7. Be a British spy for the American Army during the Revolutionary War

8. Go see David Gray in some tiny pub when he was young and unknown

9. Taken my golf lessons more seriously

10. Seen Bob Dylan perform at the Newport Folk Festival

11. Invent the internet

Weird Things I've Done On Road Trips

1. Was so hungry that I ate the only thing I had in my car, an avocado. Peeled it bit by bit with my fingers/teeth and ate all the way down to the pit.

2. Went the wrong way on HWY 40 in Tennessee on the way back from Carson-Newman College. I had stopped for gas in Nashville and accidentally drove all the way back to CNC...added an additional 7 hours to my trip home.

3. Peed into a diaper (I wasn't wearing it, just stuck it in there) on the way to Branson because I didn't have the mental strength to deal with two babies in a gas station bathroom

4. Always ended up in Oklahoma on my way home from Fort Smith in college

5. Lost a dare and had to ride to Memphis in the backseat floorboard of a friend's car

6. Have a bit of nightblindness/photophobia, and always had to drive at night wearing sunglasses

7. Evanescence's "My Immortal" used to calm W when she would cry as a baby (it was unbelievable) So, I listened to that song on repeat once the entire 6 hour drive to my parent's house.

Before I Became A Vegetarian, I Remember Liking My Mom's...

1. Cheesy round steak
2. Cashew chicken
3. Chili
4. Sloppy Joes

5. Fried Chicken Strips

6. Stuffed Bell Peppers

7. Chicken Salad

Why I USED To Enjoy Getting Sick

1. Calling in sick to work or getting to stay home from school

2. Laying in bed all day

3. I used to drink purple Gatorade Frost whenever I was sick

4. I always watched Remember the Titans, Moulin Rouge, and Almost Famous when I was sick as an adult.

5. When I was younger and sick, I'd get to watch Young and the Restless with my mom

6. It is nice to have someone take care of you

7. My old go-to snack when I was sick was rolled up wheat tortillas dipped in pasta sauce

8. A few years ago, I was really sick and stayed in bed for two days and watched every single episode of my Dawson's Creek dvds.

9. I used to love the taste of Children's Aspirin

10. I actually liked kids medicine...grape cough syrup was my favorite

11. I always liked doing my "make-up work" at home.

Why I Love Saved By The Bell

1. Zack's "asides" moments
2. Admit it, you sing that theme song randomly at least once a month
3. Slater's tank tops and jeans
4. A12...don't we all wish we had one
5. The Snow White and the 7 Dorks episode...."at first I didn't like all this drama, but now I trust you, so kiss me mama!" -Slater
6. Zack and Kelly's Prom
7. I would've hated to be at Bayside and not one of those guys...they ran the school! They were in every club (glee, student council, etc), had a band (Zack Attack), and dominated all the sports teams.
8. I still have my VHS tape of the Saved By The Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas I taped from tv. That video montage at Kelly and Zack's wedding was a tear jerker!
9. What I didn't like: Tori, the motorcyle girl. Ugh, she was randomly in episodes during the last season, and not even at graduation. Good riddance. She was butchy and awkward.
10. Who I did love: Violet Ann Biggerstaff. Or Bickerstaff. I don't know, but I loved her. Tori Spelling at her greatest.
11. Zack's cardboard cutout of Kelly in her volleyball uniform
12. Kelly reminded me of my older sister when she was in high school--pretty, cheerleader, squeaky clean, hotly pursued by the boys
13. The awkward brunette twins that never have any lines
14. "The sauce-a you can have, but the secret, she's-a mine." -Screech
15. I also really liked the Stacy Carosi character. Those Malibu Sands episodes were good.
16. They all got really great offers for college, but Zack (with his 1500s on the SAT), Kelly, Slater (what happened to his Iowa wrestling scholarship?), and Screech (valedictorian who got accepted to so many schools) all ended up at Cal U.
17. The Buddy Bands video
18. SBTB dealt with heavy social issues--remember the caffeine pills (sure you do), the Kapowski family financial struggles, the oil spill on campus, the drunk driving episode with Mrs. Turtle's car, and the homeless man they befriended at the mall during the Christmas holiday?
19. "In one word, would I do dope? Nope." -Zack
20. "Pick you up at 7:00?" -Slater, "No, I'll pick YOU up at 7:00" -Jessie
21. I would have also fallen for the charming Rod Belding. What a disappointment.
22. Loved the songs- Did We Ever Have A Chance, the rewritten School Song, and Friends Forever
23. Although it is always made fun of, the "I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so, so scared!" scene still brings chills and tears for me.
24. I read this article about Beverly Cleary's one condition for the new Ramona and Beezus movie...that it be timeless and not include any trendy clothing or current gadgets. I immediately thought of SBTB...think Zack's HUGE cell phone, all the Z Cavarrici jeans, Zack's huge basketball shoes he wore every day, well-all the clothes. Also, tons of references to what we now would consider early 90's pop culture.
25. I also didn't like that manager from the Max, Jeff. What a homewrecker. That Zack and Kelly break-up episode at the costume ball was brutal. Zack Attack singing, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (Slater and Jessie duo...they weren't really singing, right?)

Dance Dates From Back In The Day

1. Sophomore homecoming- Chris Beaumont

2. Junior homecoming- Bryce Molder

3. Junior DBS Winter Formal- Cal Boudreaux

4. Junior Prom- Jared Hankins

5. Junior DBS Spring Fling- Bret Walker

6. Senior Homecoming- Kyle Judice

7. Senior DBS Winter Formal- Brian Guice

8. Senior Prom- Chris Moore

9. Senior DBS Spring Fling- Sam Glover

10. U of A Sigma Nu formal in Memphis- Graham Hale (I also took him to a Delta Zeta semi-formal. My college Greek days only lasted a semester)

Things I'll Probably Never Do Again

1. Eat meat

2. Be a bridesmaid

3. Smoke marijuana

4. Have a baby

5. Wear hotpants

6. Get married

7. Be a kamp counselor

8. Lactate

Cars I've Driven (in order)

1. My Mom's old Crown Victoria. White. Total cop car.

2. My favorite car ever...my first car- dark gray perfect condition 92 Honda Accord. Didn't last long because I totalled it, but I would kill to have it back.

3. Bimini blue Ford Tempo (sorry, Jenny)

4. Brand new (98) gray Ford Escort. Very cute car. That car took me all over the SEC in college.

5. My little sister's red Jeep Cherokee--we randomly decided to switch cars. She got the Escort, I got the Cherokee.

6. My current, 05, black Volkswagen Passat. Also, love it.

Proof Of My Somewhat Redneck Upbringing

1. I've been to many a "field party"

2. The floor of our old Datsun was deteriorated and you could see the road through the floorboard

3. Our glass door didn't lock well, so we would put a piece of wood in the track to keep it from opening.

4. We kept a frequently-used fry basket pan on our stovetop and used the same grease over and over and over and over again.

5. Tick checks=Every night

6. We had a propane tank in our yard (I would argue that this isn't white trash at all, but I've been told that it is very country..."oh, we're so fancy with our gas")

7. When I was a toddler, I was in a bad car accident with my mom. I was carried to safety by some Hell's Angels.

8. We kept an empty tub of Crisco on our counter for grease

9. We followed the high school basketball team's bus in our car on the way to games (hey, if they did it on Hoosiers, it's okay by me)

10. I've had to spit out the buckshot while eating meat

11. One of my Dad's best friends always wore a cowboy hat that was decorated with some sort of stone and turkey feathers

12. Our kitchen used to be taken over every morning because of calf formula preparation

13. My school was cancelled on the first day of deer season

14. I looked forward to events such as Toad Suck Daze and The Broiler Festival

15. There were no traffic signals in the town I grew up in

16. My brother had a crush on our (distant? not so distant?) cousin

17. Drove the haytruck when I was little enough to barely reach the pedals

18. We could put a letter in the mailbox with a quarter on top instead of a stamp

19. I've gotten to many places by riding in a truck bed on the tire well

20. My dad used to buy flannel shirts and wear them in the winter, then cut the sleeves off to wear them in the summer.

21. Grew up swimming in creeks and swimmin' holes. Table Rock Lake was like really fancy for us.

22. A gun cabinet was part of our living room decor.

23. Some of my uncles- Bud, Bobo, Wimpy, and Leon, and I have a cousin named Tommy Two (instead of junior).

24. There is a memorial in my grandpa's yard because some lady who lived there during the civil war killed two soldiers with an ax.

25. Our first matching living room furniture set was bought out of the back of a trailer.

26. We had a tin shed in our yard. (Dad built it)

27. I have referenced "bought air."

28. We used to pick walnuts and sell them.

29. More yard decor... three foot tall milk cans

30. My favorite article of clothing during freshmen/sophomore year were my jeans passed down from my dad that were stained with cow placenta.

31. Mom and Dad would go to field parties and leave us sleeping in the car.

Shows I Searched For On Netflix Just Now

1. Swan's Crossing (no luck)

2. Rags to Riches (nope)

3. The Littles (yes! and it's now in our queue)

4. Duck Tales (yes)

5. Get Along Gang (no)

6. The Wonder Years (they act like it exists, but isn't out yet)

7. Fraggle Rock (yes)