TGIF

What a week...It's finally Friday...5QF!

1. What is your worst memory of your siblings?

Leah I remember her crying all the time and being very dramatic about it.  When she was like 6 or so I took my GirlTalk and recorded one of her fits of her "fake crying and wailing"  It only made her madder :)  I used to giggle when she got spankings...she did when I got spankings too though...  Don't feel bad for her because she was stronger than me and would wrestle me to the ground quite often.
I don't really have bad memories of my siblings...

I don't ever remember having any bad memories of Melissa.  Of course our age difference has a lot to do with that...   I do have to state here that my memory is horrible though.. But she was such a sweet child.  I do remember getting onto her onetime and spanking her.  I spanked her too hard and left a red hand print on her butt.  I felt awful and i'm pretty sure I never spanked her after that. 

2. What was YOUR naughtiest childhood memory? (Must be something YOU did, no pawning it off on someone else!) 
Again, I have a horrible memory, or maybe I just block out the bad stuff but I remember putting a quarter in my mouth, and then lying to my mom about putting it in my mouth when she had just watched me do it...I got a spanking.  I'll always remember that spanking too because I learned my lesson and man it hurt...Leah giggled.  Ya know I don't think I lied ever to my mom after that...

3. Where do you like to go to relax?
A bubble bath or out to my front lawn under the oak trees...trees help me relax.

4. What was the last thing you won?
I never win anything anymore. I think the last thing I won was an argument with Sean.

5. If you could be on a game show, which would you choose?
Who wants to be a millionare.
 

So My chickens are starting to flock to me when I walk within their view..  It's funny because they take off running towards me, their heads bobbing back and forth.  It's acutally a little frightening.  I'm not sure why, but they kind of scare me a bit....their beady eyes have no love in them.  If I sit on the front steps they will jump onto my lap/sholder/back/arm/etc..it's quite hilarious

Does this make me white trash??  I think I'm going to try and pull it off as hippy chic instead of white trash...See I'm trying to save the planet and Go Green by laying my own eggs and using chickens to eat the mosquitos instead of pesticide....

Keep my cousins Jason & Miranda in your thoughts and prayers.  If you'll remember their house and cars were flooded in the Nashville TN floods. They are having to gut the house from the water level down..  Here's a photo that Miranda posted on her facebook today...It must be hard for them.

Have a Great weekend!

Quarters

Alright It's Wednesday... I have nothing to blog about..nor any photos to post.  So I'll post something totally random...

When we were little girls we used to LOVE to play at the quarter machines outside of walmart...or any restaurant that had them.  You know what ones I'm talking about?  The ones that had all the cheap toys inside the plastic ball??  And the ones with the "claw"??  I could probably buy a house with all the quarters I've wasted in those machines or at least build a house of stuffed animals because I did have an uncany ability to get a stuffed animal every time in the "claw" machine...  I should put that on my resume under "special Skills...."

So have you ever experienced this??  ...you haven't thought of something in years and then all the sudden the topic is brought up 5 times in a week?  Or haven't ever heard a word before and then you hear it 4 or 5 times shortly after that??  Well this happened to me on the quarter machines last week.  I haven't thought about those things in years and then all of the sudden they are brought up everywhere!  It's like God wants me to think about quarter machines??

This weekend We ate at a restaurant that had a claw and Mom bet me I couldn't get a stuffed animal...and I didn't!!  This was very unusual for me given my past history.  It was like the claw didn't work like it used to...   Then yesterday there was a special on TV talking about how the claw machines are rigged so that when you press the button for the claw to grab it gains pressure to close then immediatley looses pressure so it can't hold on to the prize...what cheaters!!

The second quarter machine flash back I had was when mom brought up the story of the "army man"  I had totally forgotten about this story... You may not find it as funny as I did but you just have to know my sister to find it funny...  This Sister (The "Middle" child)  ha..  See we were at a restaurant and they had a quarter machine.  The front of the machine showed all the cool prizes you might win like a super cool tatoo, or a shiny ring, or some soldier figurines for boys...  I was probably about 8 or so and Leah was 5 ish.  We had gotten a quarters from mom and we got some pretty cool cheap prizes that would probably end up under the seat of the car in .5 minutes... Well  Leah had her eye on something in that machine and apparenly she hadn't gotten it yet with all the other quarters she had spent so she begged for one last quarter to use on our way out the door.  She just knew she was going to put that quarter in and get exactly what she wanted.  

When we got in the car Leah had a pout on her face and was real quiet for the ride home, which was unsual... Mom finally asked her what was wrong and she replied.   "I got a STUPID army man!"  ...I don't know why that makes me laugh but it was just really funny. 

We loved those quarter machines...we colleced smiley face stickers...tattoos to wear on our arms during softball tournaments, and of course wads of gumballs!!

The tattos had to be fierce if we wanted to look cool during softball season!!  The smiley faces went on my mirror and if you had more than your friends you were really cool...

I'm prettty sure gretchen has inherited many of the stuffed animals won at thoses claw machines...most of them are headless :)  

 So was I the only weird kid that was obsessed with those machines???

Sister

Since I posted photos of me and my sisters yesterday, I thought I'd give you a little story about my sister Leah. Leah and I fight...a lot. We love each other and get a long well, we just tell each other exactly what we think and that leads to fights. We used to fight about who was looking at who "Sheeeee's loooking at meeee," then who had who's Barbie, then who wore who's shirt on Monday when the other wanted to wear it on Tuesday. Now we don't have actually fights, we just yell and get mad and then apologize 10 minutes later.


Leah is extremely beautiful. She is extremely talented when it comes to gymnastics and riding horses and lots of other things. She is a gymnastics and cheerleader instructor at our home town and she is going to school to be a dietitian. She is extremely health cautious, which is something I only dream of being. She has a beautiful figure and hair that people would kill for. She is really sweet and really fun to hang out with but on top of all that she is EXTREMELY dramatic.

Leah's got more of an attitude than me or Melissa do. She speaks her mind, no hold barred.  She doesn't care what people think of her and she likes to do her own thing. Really, I'm kind of nervous about posting this because depending on her mood, Leah will either laugh or yell about this post. I'm just hoping she doesn't read it :)

One weekend I came home to find Leah on the couch in a fetal position whimpering and mom cooking lunch. When I asked what was wrong with Leah, Mom replied that she had cramps and wasn't feeling very well. Poor Leah has really really really bad cramps. Like to the point that she throws up and gets really sick. I feel bad for her, I really do, but the whimpering was a little much in my opinion. She also has really bad mood swings and when it's her time of the month in our house you know to just stay out of her way. It's also that way when it's my time of the month, I'm quite a moody biach. It must be something in the water?

I ignored Leah's death bed sounds and started talking to Mom about various things but kept being interrupted by a random moan, groan, whimper, flat out scream, from Leah. I started getting a little flustered at her for being so dramatic, and I guess the look on my face was apparent because Mom said to just ignore it and let her be dramatic. So Mom and I went on talking and fixing lunch and Leah kept on moaning and whimpering as if her arm was being chopped off.

You know how when you hear an alarm going off in the morning and your stomach just cringes? Well, that's what Leah's whimpers were starting to do to me. I tried so hard to ignore it..I mean I really did, but I just couldn't handle it anymore. I finally Yelled into the living room at her "Leah, Oh my gosh QUIT! It's not that Bad!"

That was a mistake... Leah slowing rose up from her fetal position turned her neck Exorcist style to look at me and in an voice that was deeper and gruffer than James Earl Jones yelled "SHUTUP BITCH."    She also gave me a look that was pretty close to pure evil. 

I'm pretty sure I almost hit the floor I laughed so hard. She was so mad and my laughing only made it worse but I just couldn't help it. A voice that deep and horrific should be physically impossible for a girl her size to create but somehow she did it and I've never laughed harder in my life!! I guess next time I'll just ignore it....well probably not.

I love you LeaLea, Sorry if this post embarrassed you!!

Praying,

Bad Children

Is it sad that at the moment I only want kids so I will have something to take photos of other than my dogs? I'm obviously not ready for children...

This is another reason I'm not ready for children...I'm afraid I'll end up with kids like these...

Their poor mom...all she wanted was a photo of her kids for a Christmas card and they just wouldn't behave.



I mean, at their age they should know better than to act this way.



 I guess they don't...


Sorry Momma!  Maybe next year we'll behave long enough for you to get a Photo to send out for Christmas cards!!  Oh, and I think we all turned out pretty good :)


...I really need to tan

Walk down Memory Lane

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!

So I've been lurking at Erica's page for awhile and thought I'd finally post. I found these pictures of my Mom on Facebook, one of her high school buddies posted them. I thought this would be the perfect time to post them. Although this isn't my memory, it's a walk down memory lane...right?

The year was 1979 and Mom was just announced Homecoming Queen of her High school. (In case you can't figure it out she's the one in the middle with the crown on her head in the dark jacket)

Check out those weird lovely dresses and hair styles

My mom is very pretty. I don't know if I really look like her or not, sometimes I think we look just alike. Then sometimes, like in the picture below, we look nothing alike at all. I look like her more than anyone else in my family though. Maybe I'm adopted??My two sisters could pass a twins. I guess I look a lot like them. Maybe I'm not adopted after all. And here's my personal walk down my not so long memory lane.

Rewind to three and 1/2 years ago. Me and Sean first started dating. So young, so unaware of what we are getting ourselves into. Ah..Puppy Love, He was still a gentleman, and I wasn't griping about his dirty laundry yet.

And he were are last weekend. One year of marriage and two dogs later ;) Oh the pounds we've gained, the hair we've grown, and the Love we've blossomed!

Not so Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday will contain lots of words and no pictures. Sorry to disappoint my 5 readers.



Today our beloved house/outside cat, Snip died. He was black with four white feet, a white diamond chest, and a white strip on his chin. He looked like he was wearing a tuxedo at all times, kind of funny. He had a slight weight problem, slobbered like a dog, and always tried to claw you when you petted him.

I wasn't that close to him because of the slober and claws but but my sister really was. They aren't real sure what happened to him yet. They think some type of virus and maybe even rabies. There has been an outbreak of rabid skunks in the county and Dad killed a raccoon last weekend that he thinks might have been infected. It was acting all strange. They had to cut the cat's head off to send it in to test for rabies and it devastated my sister. It is kind of sad for her that she can't bury him...with a head anyway.

I am a dog lover so I don't get to attached to cats. I find them quite annoying, though in college I did buy a Persian cat for some silly reason. Because my Dad forbid me. I was attached to Miller at first, but I slowly became detached from him when he started peeing on everything and ruined lots of clothes and furniture. I gave him to my Grandmother who finally got tired of the pee problem and gave him away to some poor unsuspecting fool sweet woman.

I was surprised to hear mom tell me that Snip died. My mother has a history of keeping to herself when the cats die, she told us they (air quotes) "ran away." This started at an early age.

At 8 we were told that Boots "ran away". I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad found him dead in the storage shed, I still haven't gotten that one out of them. I think they feel bad because us small children looked for him for years. Leah actually thought we found him like 10 years later. A stray cat came up for food and Leah was certain he was Boots, he left a few days later, much to Leah's disappointment. The poor thing was probably confused as to why my sister kept calling him Boots and wouldn't quit chasing him around the yard.

Then there was Lucky, who turned out to be not so Lucky. Lucky was Snip's mom. She showed up at our barn with four kittens about 10 years ago. Me and my sisters were just in heaven playing with four small kittens. We gave two of them away and kept the other two, Snip, and Dolly--who is still alive and enormously huge pleasantly plump. Lucky met her maker one day in a hay pallet incident that we won't talk about. Mom just said she "ran away." Mom and Dad finally let me in on the secret but I was not to tell the other girls. I still don't think they know.... well I guess they do now if they are reading. Sorry to break it to you like this girls. She was a good Cat and received a good burial. I'm sorry you couldn't attend.

I also had a cat named Popcorn, she was a calico. I was the only one she'd let touch her. She died at the ripe old age of 15 while I was away at college and Mom didn't tell me for like two months. I came home for Thanksgiving and couldn't find Pop and I asked Leah if she'd seen her, Leah's reply was, "Oh she's around here somewhere." At Christmas when I came home again and couldn't find Popcorn I asked Mom where she was. Mom replied, "Ohhh, Jenna she died before Thanksgiving. I didn't want to tell you until you asked." I was so pissed shocked. Leah had lied to my face! I confronted her on the situation of course and she explained, "Well she was around here somewhere, she's buried in the back yard." Thanks Leah, real sweet.

I guess Mom has realized that I am now a "big Girl" and can handle cat deaths as soon as they happen because she called me and told me we had a tragedy this morning, which really scared me. I was quite relieved to hear it was the cat and not a person. I guess she still doesn't think I'm old enough to know about the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny though. She hasn't told me they "ran away" yet.

Run Gretchen Run.

See Gretchen & Leah

Gretchen sees something. What is it Girl?Gretchen sees Deer.See Gretchen run after deer. Run Gretchen Run.

Hear Leah yell, "Gretchen, Come."

See Deer walk towards Gretchen.

Hear Leah yell, "Gretchen, COME!"

See Deer run towards Gretchen. See Gretchen run for the woods.

Run Gretchen Run!

Hear Leah yell, "GRRRRREEEETTTCCCCHHHHHEEENNN!!!!!

See Leah run after Gretchen. See Gretchen run towards Leah.

See Leah pick up Gretchen.

See Leah yell at Deer and wave her arms wildly. See Deer run away.

See Leah in field protecting Gretchen. Hear Jenna Laugh.

Hear Leah Cry.

Hear Jenna laugh harder

See Leah pull briars out of Gretchen's hair.

See Gretchen get a Spanking.... Poor Gretchen.

The most random blog ever.

This blog has no structure.. just bits of things thrown together

So I traveled a lot this weekend and while listening to the radio I realized that I've been singing the wrong words to a song for as long as I've known it! It makes me wonder...how many other songs do I sing the wrong words to in front of people? Do they secretly laugh at me on the inside?? In the Nickelback song Goodbye the line says, "I guess the present owner fixed it up." I thought it said "I guess the president fixed it up." I always thought that was a little odd but then I also thought he was talking about his home town, not his house, and I thought, "Well maybe the President (government) made some improvements to the city." I'm retarded. Anyway I wonder how many times I've loudly sang that song and the people with me secretly laughed.

Anyway Yea!! to Sean for winning more moneys this weekend at the Rodeo! He was a 4.9 to win 4th. He got a late start out of the box so 4.9 was pretty impressive. We stayed in Hampton until about 1:30. Sean was in the slack* and there were 30 other bulldoggers** in the slack. We got home about 3:00 am, and we overslept and were late for Easter Service by about 15 minutes. Oops.

If you'll remember Last weekend Sean bought a Big Screen TV with the money he won at the Rodeo, this weekend with the money he won I'm buying a new dishwasher!! No more hand washing dishes! I'm so excited. I'm going today to buy one at Sears. They are having a sale on all appliances 10% off original sale price. This Washer is already on sale so I'm saving about 50 bucks! The one that is in the house right now is broken and it was more expensive to get it fixed than to just buy a new one.

**Bulldogger-one who steer wrestles

*Slack-the extra bulldoggers who don't run their steers in the main performance+. They run either before or after spectators come to the rodeo.

+Main performance- the rodeo. The first people that enter the rodeo run their steer during the Main performance. There are usually 10 people in the rodeo on Friday night and 10 people on Saturday night. Any bulldogger to enter after all the spots in the rodeo are filled, run their steer in the slack. See Video of what steer wrestling looks like.

I've realized that I've made six or so posts and I haven't mentioned my immediate family. (And they are the only one who reads this!) This is an older picture from about 4 years ago the only one I have on my computer. I'm the oldest of Three girls, Leah (center) is 21 and Melissa (right) is 17. My mother, Kim is a homemaker and My dad Mark, owns a trucking company. We have a small farm in Nashville and Dad and my sisters ride Cutting horses. Melissa is a cheerleader and Track star and Leah just recently one the World Finals Cutting Show. She was the show champion and won two buckles, a bronze trophy, a bridal, and an article in the National Cutting Horse Association Magazine. I went and spent Friday and Saturday with them in Nashville. Birdie had to get her booster shots down in Nashville so we introduced her to Mom and Dad's dogs, they played all day. Gretchen, Leah's Yorkie wasn't to thrilled about another dog in the house, she's a snob. Saturday Night was Prom and I helped Melissa get ready. She looked beautiful. They announced the Who's Who at NHS awards at prom and Melissa received most beautiful and most school spirit! God blessed me with an amazing family.

I found this article on Yahoo.com from this blogger. She has great suggestions on how to save a little money, which everyone needs right now! Here are six things shes says to drop from our shopping list to save a little, and what to replace them with.

• Air Fresheners- open your windows
• Bottled Water-use tap water
• Dryer Sheets-add 1/4 cup of baking soda to wash
• DVD's and Books- get from library
• Trash bags- use Grocery bags
• Wrapping Paper-use the news paper

Now, I disagree with about half of these and let me tell you why.

1. Air Fresheners: She says just open your windows. Now, I don't know where you live (since only two people will read this blog and I know you live in Arkansas you'll agree) But, in the dead of winter or the middle of Summer, opening your windows may save you money for air fresheners, but you will pay twice as much for your heat/air bill. Plus, chicken house/cow manure smell isn't much more pleasant than air fresheners.
2. Bottled Water: I agree. I'll just use tap water.
3. I'm a little back and forth on this one. On one hand, sometimes I forget to put in a dryer sheet and I can't tell a difference. And Baking soda would work fine. On the other hand, sometimes I catch a whiff of that fruitful expressions dryer sheet and it makes me smile. And when I have Static in my hair a dryer sheet works great, and the dogs really enjoy playing with them. Maybe I have an alternative to just getting rid of them all together. My grandmother saves her dryer sheets and once she gets a whole bunch collected she uses them to put in the drawers to keep everything smelling fresh. Hey! That kind of doubles for an alternative to #1 also!
4. DVD's and Books: I'm all for the library! Books at Hastings/Books-a-Million, can get a little pricey. As for DVD's...I don't know what library she goes too, but mine doesn't have the best sellers/new releases for rent. At Hastings they have a neat deal where if you turn the movie in early you get a little credit on your account for free movie rentals. That might help save you money.
5. Trash bags: I totally already do this! I use my Wal-mart bags in all the bathroom/bedroom trash cans.
6. Wrapping Paper: This is a cute Idea! Only one problem for me. I don't subscribe to any news paper. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette has papers for sale at any convenient store for 50 cents, but I could buy wrapping paper at the dollar store for a dollar. So I'm ok with spending the extra .50 and getting actual wrapping paper.
   

***Spoiler Alert*** Marley and Me

Saturday I watched Marley and Me with my mom. I Cried. Over all I give it 4 of 5 stars. (I deleted a star because he dies) I do realize that death is a part of life and that one day my chocolate children will go to dog heaven but I really don't want to watch a movie that shows the wonderful life and slow painful death of a Lab. I just didn't want to think about it. Why make sad shows. Why not just cut off the movie right before he dies where they all live happily ever after? And I know it's a book, but I can deal with sad books for some reason. I guess I just imagine in my head it not being so horribly sad?? I don't know why I can handle sad books but not movies..I never thought about that until just now. That's odd.

We had a great Easter Sunday, despite the rain. I spent my first Easter away from my family and spent it with Sean and his family. Their annual family softball game was postponed due to rain and so was the grown up Easter egg hunt. Instead we played dominos and watched golf. We ate lunch, potluck style, it was delicious!!

Well the work day is winding down so it's time for me to finish up. I've gone all day long thinking it was Tuesday. Bummer it's just Monday. Well have a good Monday!

Jenna T.