they say opposites attract

My husband and I grew up one town apart. His town was 10 miles from my town. Yet, we never met until we were teenagers. He was 17, and I was 16. We were inseparable from that time on. Prior to that, however, we were quite different. This fact was reiterated the other night when we were talking about our young teenage years.

You may remember that our community has a movie theatre. It has been here FOREVER. Like any small town, there are limited opportunities for fun (besides the theatre). Therefore, many nights were spent catching a movie by small-town Paradisians (especially of the under-16-and-therefore-not-driving-anywhere-age).

Or so I thought.

Kev and I were discussing this topic, when he told me how much fun it was to sneak out of the movie theatre. It was apparently the "golden hour" of the week--the time when youngsters were unsupervised and their parents unaware of their whereabouts. (And Kevin's should have been aware. . .)

I tried to sneak out once. The concession stand girl caught me. She was a friend of the family. I didn't try that again.

Kevin laughed. He went on to explain that really, you only had maybe 90 minutes of free time, because you had to sneak back in and get some "good" kid to tell you all about the movie.

Um.

It dawned on him slightly after it dawned on me. I was THAT kid. The sad part is that I never knew it. I always thought it was really weird that everyone asked me all about the movie. I mean, if they really wanted to know, why didn't they just stay and watch it?

Kev just shook his head and said, "I can't believe WE got married." Neither can I.

100 things and giveaway!

This is the ubiquitous list containing 100 random things about me that you may or may not know and may or may not wish to know. Enjoy! (Don’t skip—there will be a test!)

1. I married my husband when I was 18 and he was 19, which is too young. . .
2. We’ve been married 10 ½ years, so it’s worked out thus far. . .
3. If I hadn’t married at 18, I think I would have joined the military or the peace corps at some point.
4. I have a strong need to save the world.
5. I am horrible with money.
6. If I handled our family’s finances, we would be broke, homeless, and naked in approximately 2 weeks. . .
7. I was riding horses before I could walk. . .seriously.
8. Who has time to do anything now? I haven’t ridden in over a year.
9. I was once featured on the “Headlines” portion of Jay Leno’s show because. . .
10. I once held the title “Beef Princess.”
11. I could NOT make that up.
12. I love to watch college football, and
13. I’m a huge Razorbacks fan! Go Hogs Go!
14. In my rebellious teen years, I was a Penn State fan. . .
15. I gave my parents many headaches. . .
16. That was not one of them.
17. I literally live 3 miles down a dirt road.
18. I am the world’s worst housekeeper.
19. I’m ok with that.
20. My husband is not.
21. I had 2 best friends in kindergarten.
22. It took me 5 months to remember one of their names.
23. They’re still 2 of my best friends. . .
24. Although there was an unfortunate cookie incident with one of them.
25. I am EXTREMELY loyal, but
26. I tend to carry a grudge (sorry, Bianca!).
27. I have a better sense of direction than my husband.
28. I have spent more nights going to sleep without my husband than with him.
29. I have never been outside of the United States.
30. I love to travel.
31. I’ve been told there are places where they don’t have Diet Dr. Pepper, so I’m rethinking this whole “wanting to travel” thingy.
32. I can converse freely with most language-delayed, Spanish-speaking 3-year-olds.
33. I’ve had 2 ½ years of Spanish.
34. I firmly believe chocolate makes all things better and all things are made better with chocolate.
35. I have a deer head on my wall, because
36. Marriage is about making sacrifices.
37. Let me know when it’s his turn.
38. I am highly competitive (think Monica on Friends).
39. My mom and I almost died when I was born.
40. My kids’ births were textbook. Totally predictable.
41. Yet miraculous!!!
42. I like old, cheesy Westerns, and I secretly think John Wayne was “da bomb.”
43. That sentence proves just how uncool I really am.
44. I like to play pool.
45. Like many other things, I’m really bad at playing pool.
46. I am positively, absolutely, 100% terrified of rodents.
47. I think squirrels are rats with furry tails.
48. I have eaten squirrel meat.
49. I played 3 sports (basketball, softball, and track) in high school, yet
50. I am EXTREMELY clumsy.
51. My mother-in-law wanted us to name our daughter “Grace.”
52. Our daughter’s medical bills prove we made the right decision.
53. I am a packrat.
54. I have a 50% chance of being crazy, based on my genes.
55. Seriously, we’ve done the math.
56. My husband might or might not be worried about what he got himself into. . .
57. I taught myself to crochet.
58. Like playing pool, I have learned to accept a level of mediocrity in my ability to crochet.
59. I have a tattoo.
60. I tried to feed my brother chocolate ice cream at 3 weeks of age. . .
61. He didn’t like it, which was the start of many disagreements to date.
62. We get along much better now that he (ok, his wife) gave me an awesome nephew!!
63. I love music of all types.
64. I can’t sing at all.
65. I come from a very musical family.
66. In my head, I sound just like Carrie Underwood. In reality, we only went to the same university.
67. I like Impressionist art.
68. No one in my family gets that.
69. While growing up, we didn’t have air conditioning until I was 12. . .
70. Or a microwave until 14.
71. Today, I don’t have a microwave.
72. I guess some things don’t change.
73. I am not a girly girl.
74. I love to camp—without electricity. . .
75. In a tent!
76. I will not leave my house without makeup on.
77. I LOVE to read. (anything—even a box of cereal)
78. I have had a few speeding tickets.
79. If you get enough “points” from speeding tickets, you get a letter that threatens the loss of your driver’s license. . .(not that I would know)
80. Apparently, my dad also got the letter once upon a time. . .
81. It must be in the genes. . .along with everything else (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.)
82. I was 28 years old before I saw the ocean.
83. Snow skiing scares me to death.
84. My husband dreams of moving somewhere we could ski.
85. I live in MY favorite place in the whole world.
86. I would like very much to save the world.
87. I’m starting to realize God doesn’t expect me to save the world.
88. If I could have any car in the whole world, it would be a Jeep Wrangler.
89. A Jeep is not a practical means of transportation for transporting 2 young children. Trust me.
90. My radio must be set to an even number. (5’s are ok, however.)
91. I’m quirky. . .
92. But hopefully, not #54 crazy.
93. I learned to drive a standard overnight. Literally.
94. My family is Southern in all things except tea.
95. I am worried that some of you will think less of me for that admission.
96. However, in our family, tea is unsweet, syrup is sweet.
97. I have never been to a concert.
98. I managed to graduate college with a toddler, which still amazes me.
99. I feel uncomfortable when other people tell me what an accomplishment #98 was.
100. I want to jump out of an airplane someday.
101. Despite taking calculus and advanced math courses, I am horrible at math.

Ok, you caught me. There is no test, and relax, I promise there will be no 200 list! There is, however, a giveaway!! Per Finding Him Bigger, this is a pay it forward giveaway. I will be sending out 3 $10 giftcards for Wal-Mart. (Get those stocking stuffers!) Winners will be chosen Tuesday morning at roughly 11 am.

If you want to win, please leave me a comment that contains your contact info. If you win, you have to pay it forward. (If you just want to comment on the disturbing things about me that you just read, please just comment and note that you're not interested in the contest. Try not to judge, people!)

**UPDATE: For anyone who has philosophical differences with Wal-Mart, let me just say that I totally agree with you. I was trying to make something more universal for some of y'all. After all, it has recently been pointed out to me that not everyone has Sonic. . .I would totally be swooning at this point, if people still did that. We can work around Wal-Mart if you prefer. Let's adjust contest to say a $10 gift card to any store I have access to. . .which is not all that much. . .but we'll work it out.**

You like me, you really like me

At the risk of sounding all Sally Field, I can't believe the support and encouragement I have gotten lately. You people are awesome! Domestic Accident, who cracks me up, gave me an award. This is the equivalent of a struggling actress getting a phone call from Nicole Kidman to say keep it up. Not that I need external validation or anything. . .Anywho, back to topic.

Here are the rules for the recipients:

♥ list 10 honest things about yourself

♥ pass the award onto 7 blogs that you find brilliant in their content or design

♥ link to the blogger who gave you this prize

♥ link to the blogs receiving the prize

♥ notify the recipients

My upcoming 100 post has 100 things that may make all of you change your minds about whether or not I'm on this side of the crazy fence (as if you had any doubts). I'm totally stealing from that list, when I tell you 10 honest things about me (because you know you don't want to know 110 things about me in one week).

1. My husband and I got married when he was 19 and I was 18. Don't judge.


2. It's worked out thus far. We've been married for 10 1/2 years.
   
3. I was once featured on Jay Leno's segment about Headlines,


4. because I was once the reigning Beef Princess.


5. Sadly, I could not make that up!


6. I am a huge college football fan.


7. I am the world's worst housekeeper.
   
8. I am a huge packrat.


9. I have eaten squirrel meat. (Don't judge.)


10. I like to camp. . .in a tent.

Ok, now that you've laughed at me, let's pass on the prize. Here goes.

I have noticed a great deal of negative feelings among many of us moms lately. Amy (By His Grace), Erica and those Krazy Kennetts, Steph at the Red Clay Diaries, and Elizabeth at Finding Him Bigger are SO great at encouraging the rest of us! They are so uplifting and enlightening. They make me think (and forgive myself).

As you may know, if you can make me laugh, you will be my friend for life. Queen B, Suburb Sanity, and Our Name is Blog make me laugh. . .repeatedly.

Thank you all for making my world a better place. . .one laugh or encouraging word at a time!