25 Tidbits

I did this on Facebook, so I thought I would post it here too, since this is basically my 'journal of life' and I can look back someday and see what I thought about at 31 1/2! A few of my friends have passed it around and I learned so much from theirs - how fun! If any of you are on Facebook, take a few minutes and post your own in the "Notes" section of your profile - it's very fun to try and sum yourself up in 25 bullet points!!

Rules: You are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

Here goes:

1. For the first time since college, I feel that I am living exactly where I belong.

2. I am obsessed with the color red, wiener dogs, dll pickles, massages and my planner (not necessarily in that order).

3. I have never broken a bone in my life (probably because I was practically scared of my own shadow as a kid).

4. The thing that I want most in this life is to be in a happy marriage....and my biggest fear is that I won't find the right guy.

5. I have to make my bed every single day - it's just one of those neurotic habits I have (I have many).

6. In college I was known for my crazy theory that warm wine coolers got you buzzed faster than cold ones (Sigma ladies - I still believe that, by the way).

7. The day my Dad died changed me forever. I have never looked at the world the same way since that day....and that's not all a bad thing.

8. I love cold pillows and really hot showers.

9. My fantasy career is to be a photographer - landscape and nature.

10. I want to write a book someday....I just feel like it is slowly writing itself inside me - even if it's ultimately for my eyes only.

11. I had white-blonde hair when I was little.

12. Studying abroad in Spain was the best decision I ever made - and I don't even think I realized its impact or how lucky I was for many years after that experience.

13. I have very high expectations for myself, others and this world.....I get disappointed a lot and very easily....but I have also achieved more because of those expectations....

14. I hate mushrooms, olives, horseradish and beans.

15. I have an insatiable curiosity about EVERYTHING - I love learning. I know, I'm a dork.

16. Sometimes I feel like i was born without skin - I feel things deeply, both good and bad.

17. The national anthem always brings tears to my eyes (stole that one from Sara Larsen - good one!)

18. I love being a passenger in the car - to be driven somewhere when I don't have to pay attention and worry about anything is such a treat.

19. My dog truly is my best friend - she has dried every tear faithfully and loved me unconditionally even when I felt most unlovable.

20. I wish I knew how to play the guitar.

21. I absolutely hate fake small talk.

22. I think that being on the receiving end of a big, bear hug after a bad day is an amazing feeling.

23. My childhood pet hamster is probably still buried in our old backyard garden....in a chow mein box!

24. I still love the Golden Girls - there's just something about that show!

25. I really want to fill up my passport with lots of stamps.

Cliff Claven Day

I absolutely love ridiculously stupid 'little-known facts' - here are some good ones!

The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times. Oh go ahead...I'll wait...

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes or shark attacks.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty (50) years of age or older.

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

The King of Hearts is the only king WITHOUT A MOUSTACHE.

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one (1) olive from each salad served in first-class.

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (Since Venus is normally associated with women, what does this tell you)

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

Most dust particles in your house are made from DEAD SKIN!

The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer. So did the first ' Marlboro Man. '

Walt Disney was afraid OF MICE!

PEARLS MELT IN VINEGAR!

The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs...but, not downstairs.

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)

Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first U.S. president whose name contains all the letters from the word 'criminal .' (who thinks up this stuff???)
The second? William Jefferson Clinton (Please don't tell me you're SURPRISED!!!)

And the best for last.....

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

Stock Show Western Parade - ODDITIES!

The other day I blogged about the Fort Worth Stock Show Western Parade.....now I am going to show you the ODDEST things I saw at the parade - I thought they deserved their own post!

Here is a tiny little cowboy - in full western garb. Isn't he the cutest little cowboy you've ever seen???

And a western parade certainly isn't complete without bagpipers in kilts, right???

And if anyone was bored with just 'regular' horses, here are some zebra/horses pulling a stagecoach!

And if you were bored with 'horses' all together......you had a lady riding a longhorn steer!

I put this picture in here because I caught the sign for "35W" in there - it's the same "35W" that runs through Minneapolis. Just hop on it going south and come visit me!

And if you're into the miniature variety of things.....

And once again - why are we limiting this parade to just horses?? Let's let the doggies show their stuff! I laughed at this, thinking of how small of a cart I would need to get if Maggie were to ever try this! HA!

And this last one was just adorable - the little dog just sat in its basket on the horse. It's the cowboy version of having a basket on the front of your bike. :)

Maggie & Me....err...I mean Marley & Me

OK, so I finally went and saw Marley & Me.....and I cried as much as I knew I would. I had been planning a 2nd date with a guy and he knew I wanted to see this movie, so he suggested it. I told him that I appreciate the fact that he remembered I wanted to see it, but that it would just be impossible for us to see it together - not on a 2nd date. I was certain that I would be a sobbing mess and that's not a pretty picture on a date!

I went after work on a Tuesday - by myself - and watched it. A good portion of the movie is very "Jennifer-Anniston-romantic-comedy"ish, but the last half hour of the movie made up for it. I cried for that whole last half hour and especially hard at the very end in the vet's office. OMG - I just sobbed. Loudly....well, at least I feel like it was loud since there were only about 8 people in the theater at the time (it was a 5:30 movie on a Tuesday).

After pulling myself together and leaving the theater, I drove home very sad and depressed. I gave Maggie an extra big wiener hug when I arrived home - with lots of kisses on her ears (my favorite).

The movie made me feel very uneasy about the whole fact that dogs rarely outlive their owners. Maggie has been such a constant in my life since I got her in the spring of 2004 at 10 weeks old. I can't imagine my life without her, but after watching Marley & Me, I just couldn't stop thinking of what I will do when that time comes. It makes me want to be physically ill just imagining it. So instead of thinking about that horrid idea, I just snuggled on the couch with my favorite furry friend and continued to enjoy every moment we are lucky enough to share.

Everyone Loves A Parade/March of the Thousand Horses

Recently, I went to downtown Fort Worth ("Cowtown") to see a 'western' parade - it was called the 2009 Fort Worth Stock Show's "All Western Parade". I tell ya, it was THE longest parade I have ever seen - we were there for almost 2 hours and it wasn't even almost over when we left. And there were NO motorized vehicles in the entire parade! It was filled with about a billion horses, cowboys, high school bands, every kind of sherriff's posse you could image, riding clubs, civil war reinactment soldiers, cowgirl organizations, the Wells Fargo stagecoach, clydesdale horses, etc. You name it, it was there. I saw LOTS of chaps, spurs, cowboy boots - I loved it all!

Here is what the Fort Worth Stock Show's website said about the parade:

Don’t miss the tradition of the Fort Worth Stock Show’s “All Western Parade” scheduled Saturday, January 17 at 11 AM, Downtown Fort Worth! The Stock Show Parade is held each year on the first Saturday of the Show. Nearly 100,000 spectators line the streets of downtown Cowtown to watch this spectacular annual event. Plenty of horses and other livestock can be seen – but no motorized vehicles are allowed!

I was a picture-taking fool at this parade - it was awesome! Everything was soooo Texas - just how I like it. It made me want to learn how to 2-step right then and there!

Here are some of my pics from the parade:

I love clydesdales!

The horses were GORGEOUS in this parade. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of them!

Here's the Wells Fargo stagecoach:

And what would a 'western' parade be without the mascot for the Texas Rangers baseball team??
Some southern belles on horseback:

Here's the Tarrant County Sherriff's Posse (this is the county I live in - includes Fort Worth):



Another sherriff's posse:



These ladies were awesome - they rode the entire length of the parade standing up on their horses!!



Some civil war reenactors:


Here's a high school band - they were playing "The stars at night, are big and bright.....deep in the heart of TEXAS!"

And last, but not least, a little Senorita on a mini horse - how cute!!

Angel Among Us/Tribute To Dad

Wow - I can't believe it's been 6 years today that my Dad died. That was such a terrible day, so I'm choosing to remember his life today, rather than remembering that horrible day.

Here are some pics of my Dad over the years:

This one is my favorite - just me and Dad.

Dad took Kristi and I trick-or-treating every year. For some reason, I remember that black hat he always wore so vividly.
Here he is where he loved it the most - 'at the wheel' of his boat. I think that's my sister, Kristi, waterskiing.
And when he couldn't be at the lake, he would monkey around in the boat....in our driveway!

At some point, he added the pontoon to his cache of watercraft...

Here he is, obviously proud of what he caught that day.

Here's an old-school picture of my parents - circa 1991 or so.

Note to self - don't mess with the guy who has a blow torch belt contraption!

Here's one of Mom and Dad as they began their trek down to south Texas for the winter with the RV.

I miss you Dad!

On The Border/Roadtrip to Mom

Well, the date has been set for my annual trip to visit my Mom in south Texas - I leave February 12th and I'll be down there for several days! This year is a lot different than previous years since I'm already in Texas.....but it's still a long trip because Texas is so freaking huge (it will be about an 8.5 hour drive - plus stops for food/gas/bathroom)! Instead of flying, I'm going to be taking a roadtrip in my Mazda (with "Amanda" my GPS, of course) so that I can buy bigger items in Mexico when we go shopping there. In previous years, I didn't have my own house to decorate with a big vase/pot or chiminea.....and those things wouldn't have fit in the plane anyway! This year I will have a house to decorate, as well as a car to lug it all home in. YES!

I was also contemplating adding an extra day or so to explore Austin, San Antonio or any other exciting city along the way. But even if I don't...I will still be driving across Texas - uncharted territory for me! Can you imagine all of the adventures I might have?!

Urban Hunting/Maggie On The Prowl

For the past few weeks, Maggie and I have been walking 3 miles in the morning before I go to work. This has been something we both enjoy.......until today. Our walks start early enough where it is still dark when we start, but the sun comes up throughout the walk and it's light by the time we're home.

Today, we were about halfway through the walk and Maggie was lagging behind me (something she RARELY does - she's full of energy all the time). So I look behind me and she has got a live mouse in her mouth that she just plucked from the grass along the edge of the sidewalk!!! Like any red-blooded normal female, I screamed and yanked on the leash to scare her so she would drop the mouse. Thank goodness she did get startled and dropped the mouse as I was jerking her away! It all happened in a split second - I didn't know what to do - she has never 'caught' anything before! She likes to chase all animals, but is always on a leash, so she never actually catches them.

I was soooooo grossed out by this, even though it's really quite natural for dachshunds to do this. After all, she is a hound by breed and the mini dachshund was originally bred to hunt rabbits (the standard size dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers) in holes - hence their weird long shape with short little legs, and a long nose. But still - she's the most domesticated, spoiled wiener in all the world! She has Pupperonis at home! She doesn't need a nasty mouse! ICK!!! I still get a chill thinking about it!

Opportunity Lost...

Today I had a realization - an "A-ha" moment, if you will. As I was catching up on Facebook activity, I saw that my friend Holly from Ohio added a bunch of pictures to her profile (she's new to Facebook). Some of them were of the girls in our small group having fun 'at the lake' (Beth's lake place near the Indiana border). It was great to see those pictures and remember the fun and friendships I had there.

At the same time, seeing these pictures made me sad for a couple reasons.....the first one is the obvious - I miss these friends a LOT and it's hard to be away from them, especially since big changes have happened to a couple of them since I left. But the second reason that the pictures make me kind of sad is that I have VERY FEW pictures from the 4 years that I spent in Ohio. After my marriage ended in late 2004, I just stopped taking pictures (partly on purpose, partly unconsciously). It was a crappy time in my life, so why would I want to 'relive it' in pictures for all time in some sort of photo album. However, I made some fantastic friends during that time and we did some really fun things as well, but I was too busy protesting the camera to capture those fun moments forever.

I am so glad that we went whitewater rafting as a group in West Virginia a couple summers ago - what a fabulous bonding weekend! I had so much fun (and not just because I was the only one who got lots of sleep in our tent when our tent-neighbors were loud and kept the rest of the girls awake all night long) and I will never forget that trip. I am very thankful that I coughed up the money to buy the DVD and the CD of pictures that they offer after the trip down the river was over (they have a photographer riding down the river in a kayak with the group of rafting boats, taking 'action' shots and then they make a DVD of it set to music, as well as CD's of the pictures.....I got both!!).

But when I look through photo albums, there is a huge gap in there where history seems to have stopped for a few years. I know my Mom lost all desire to take pictures after my Dad died too - it's probably just the brain's way of protecting our fragile hearts. I see that gap of 'history documentation' as very unfortunate, but I know I won't forget my Ohio experiences & friends, but it would be nice to have the photos as well!