I’d be barefoot earlier in the spring

After going with Alex to have his eyes sliced on for LASIK surgery and having my neck twisted into a near paralytic state by the chiropractor (totally worth it, by the way), I can honestly say that the scariest thing I experienced in the entirety of last week was hearing that whales have boogers. And they can sneeze.
I was cruising along only halfway paying attention to the radio, dreaming that I was on spring break like the rest of my current college friends, when a lady began telling her story of her own vacation. I started paying a bit more attention since I was so relevant to my current state of wishing. She and her boyfriend had taken a boat off the shore to do a little fishing when they came upon a whale! They ran to the side of the boat and watched as he began to surface again. Once he reached the top, he sneezed. The lady thought that it was just water that sprayed her from the sneeze, but she was wrong. Oh so wrong. Instead, she ended up covered in boogers. Whale sized boogers. And that is a very scary thought.

Not only is it the Monday after my least favorite day light savings time, it’s also the first Monday of Spring Break- of which I am no longer allowed to participate since I decided to become a grown up this year. I finally am making enough money to go on a trip without going into debt and I’m not even invited. Thanks for adding insult to injury, big girl world. Oh yeah, and it’s raining. The only thing I want to do is crawl back into bed and somehow detox myself of social media for the rest of the week so I don’t have to feel the “fear of missing out syndrome” every time a beachy picture is posted and hashtagged “#SB2013”….one that I’ll never get to post. I am trying to live vicariously through my luckier friends but instead it’s turned into a sickness that I’m now quenching with orange juice, new sunglasses, and trips to the tanning bed. Not exactly the same as a cocktail on the beach.

But despite the rain today, it’s not too bad down here in Mississippi. We had a spectacular weekend with temperatures in the mid 70’s. I tried to purchase a lounge chair from the Dollar General down the road to get a little “vacation” of my own, but they didn’t have them in stock yet. And honestly, I don’t have a discreet place to really lounge at the house…I’d be more or less laying out right off the corner of a major highway. Maybe I can pretend the roar of the cars and semis are actually the roaring waves. Yes, I like this plan. And since I’m not ever very good at “springing forward”, I didn’t make it to church on Sunday, but Alex and I took the dogs for a ride around the farm (technically Alex took me and the dogs…) so I guess you can say I got my sermon by taking in and appreciating all of God’s creation and the welcoming of a new season- all from my favorite passenger seat with a good cup of coffee and no shoes.

My daily bible verse this morning also helped bandage my wounded, no Spring Break, overslept spirit: “This is My COMMANDMENT- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you WHEREVER YOU GO.” – Joshua 1:9
I love the exclamation point in that verse and wanted to add one after every sentence in the verse, but I guess I don’t exactly get to punctuate what God says…so I’ll just compensate by putting words in all caps and bold.

Wishing you all a well and beachy week! If you’re ever having a dull moment, I would usually suggest dreaming of being on Spring Break…however that seems to only aid in my frustration. So instead, appreciate that SPRING HAS SPRUNG and it’s getting warmer and the days are getting longer. Hallelujah!

Now let’s go see if the Dollar General store has received a shipment of lounge chairs yet so we can set them up by the road and really feel beachy. Just beware of flying sneezes…whales have boogers, so I can now assume that other large animals do as well. At least Alex has perfect vision now and can help me spot them…and my back and neck have been adjusted so much that I could probably do a few flips in celebration of it all…..but let’s not get too crazy.

Love always,

Addie

“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.” – Nadine Stair

getting old. seriously, cereal-ly.

Well we didn’t make it to the ruins this weekend on our adventure. We vowed that we would go if we got up and on the road by 8am. And those of you that know me know exactly why this plan didn’t work. A bottle of wine while making these plans meant that I slept til 9ish instead. Oops. So we quenched our adventure bone with a scenic drive down to the Carrollton, AL “haunted” courthouse. And yes, we did see the face in the window! Here’s the story behind the face:

Story of the face

The story that I was told (pre-visit to see the face) was that Wells was held in the garret (very top room) of the building because the jail house was full on that particular night. I was also told that the lightning strike killed Wells and his face is forever etched in the window by his “ghost” to prove his innocence.

Not sure about the validity of any of it, but there is definitely something weird in that window. The glass has been replaced several times under the witness of very public audiences, but the face continues to re-appear. I didn’t get a picture but I found one that looks just like what I saw with my own eyes. (It’s hard to miss thanks to the arrow sign that someone has hung on the old building.) No one is allowed in the courthouse currently because it is under renovation.

The face! Ahhh!

We also did some research on other haunted attractions in the area and learned of a very scary “3-Legged Lady Road” in Columbus. Legend has it that if you “entice” her, a lady with three legs will come running at your car and the goal is to beat her across the bridge at the end of the road. She will beat on your car and try to run you off the road, where she will then kill you. Some people have even reported dents in their vehicles after the happening. We decided that if a lady ran at us, we would have to run her over- which could have bad results if it turned out to not be the 3-legged lady- so we opted out of that particular “ghost hunt.”

Yesterday, the entire day was devoted to trying to make a house a home. Hanging pictures, assembling closet fixtures, folding and re-folding clothes, finding a spot for everything, and even a little carpentry work were the main honey-do’s that were crossed off at the end of the day- right before ordering take out and crashing in front of the TV. I’m pretty sure this is what getting old feels like…

And finally, we meet Monday again. This Monday welcomed me with a sore back and no coffee left in the pot by the time I made it in to work. Geeze. Fortunately, I received my birthday month discount card from Anthropologie in the mail, easing the pain a little bit. I also ran across this bible verse that reminded me of my sweet sorority sisters and our amazing  values that we continuously strive for…meaning that no matter how stinky my day starts off, I should always keep my thoughts on God and how He wants me to react:

1 Peter 3:10-12 “For whoever would LOVE LIFE and see GOOD DAYS must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must SEEK PEACE and PURSUE it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

And in case you need a laugh, here’s a few that might do the trick:

Morning People…ehh

Chemistry jokes get me every time…

woudn’t it…?

Happy Monday! Don’t let a bad moment make a bad day, or a bad day make a bad week.

Love always,

Addie

“If each day is a gift, I’d like to know where I can return Mondays.” -Unknown

live it anyway.

Bold. It’s my favorite color scheme of all the Magic Markers. It’s my favorite style of coffee.  I also favor statements that are made in this manner- where they are vocal or physical, they always seem to convey the message well. Live your life accordingly- it can make all the difference.

While I’m being bold let me address a tragic epidemic that I seem to always be confronted with in the car: proper nose picking. Just because you are alone in your car doesn’t mean other drivers can’t see you. If you’re going to go digging for gold, remember two things: use your pinky finger (it seems more appropriate if it’s completely necessary- it’s also a less important digit to lose incase mom was right about losing it up there…), and keep it down to one knuckle. Eww.

Easy to say, coming from the girl who wore her shirt backwards for an entire day without noticing. Yep, that was yours truly just last week. What can I say; the different pattern on the back was a better compliment with my outfit than the front. Bold.

And now for a bold thought: how do we know God isn’t recycling our souls up there…? What if when we die, we really do come back? I’m not talking about reincarnation or meaning for this topic to pertain to religion at all. I’m thinking more along the lines of the possession and dispersion of knowledge. Where do people get original theories and ideas? What if Einstein’s soul had studied in another century and God recycled his soul to send him back and continue his research and quest. Maybe some people are built for discovering new methods and ideas that will essential help mankind move along with God’s greater plan and everything they need to know simply cannot be taught in one lifetime- so they get more. Maybe we’ve all been working on something for generations and we just haven’t realized it yet…Progressive. Bold.

Just read that Delaware passed a no spanking law- more specifically, they banned any and all “intentional pain inflicted to a child.” Well I don’t see a bright future for a country that will eventually be ran by children who weren’t spanked. Just doesn’t seem natural. My momma was a firm believer in not only spanking us, but using the paddle that my dad made especially for the occasion that Spence or I was being a turd. You better believe that it put the fear in me and straightened me out. Kid need to have a certain “fear” of their parents…not literally be scared, but more of an awe-like fear that’s described in the Bible in reference to how we revere God. Once they get older, they can appreciate their parents and no longer need fear infliction. I thought that “putting the fear of God” (literally and figuratively) in a child was part of parenting…better believe my parents did. To this day, one wrong look from my momma and I’m down like an 8-point buck on opening day.  Spanking shouldn’t be outlawed, it should be mandatory. With breakfast EVERY morning for some…in the words of Earl Pitts, “WAKE UP ‘MURICA!”

I finally found a burglar that I can relate to… a homeless woman in Sacramento was caught after breaking into a home. But this wasn’t your ordinary break it- though she did take some of the kid’s allowance money (which I would never do), instead of robbing the family blind, she preferred to spend her short time in the abode borrowing the shower. Yes, she broke into the house to shower. Can’t say that I blame her. Though I don’t mind skipping a day on showers, I can’t stand feeling gross- and in her case, I’m sure she did. (Before you judge me for skipping showers, know this: it’s not that I don’t like showers- cause let’s face it, everyone loves a good hot shower- it’s the aftermath. More specifically, it’s blow drying my hair that I HATE with a passion, but I regress. ) And the most relatable part of this story is the fact that she finished her shower off by helping herself to a Poptart. This usually would have gone unnoticed, but there was a small child or another Poptart lover like myself in the house because the subtitle of the news article said something like “even had the nerve to eat the last Poptart!” The nerve. I hope it was blueberry and worth it. Bold.

Next time you want to complain about something in your life, remember this: there is a girl somewhere in England or wherever else cookies are referred to as “biscuits” with a tic. Not the kind that suck your blood, which would be better in her case. Her tic causes her to say the word “biscuit” 16,000 (on average) per day AND she involuntarily bangs her head on nearby objects…sometimes even her own limbs. Know how she’s dealing with it? She’s working to help other people with tics. Get it girl! Bold.

In other news from England, a young girl wrote a message in a bottle and tossed it off a pier expecting it to float across the English Channel in hopes that her aunt on the other side might find it. Bet she was surprised when the message traveled some 10,000 miles and ended up in the hands of a grandma in Australia. I heard they’re really cool pen pals now. Jealous.

As most of you already know, I love coffee. How much? Not this much: previously employed engineers of NASA and Apple worked together to build “the perfect” coffee maker that can make your cup the “perfect temperature” every time. They said they loved coffee so much that instead of building a machine for coffee, they built the machine around the coffee itself to make it the best ever. It damn well better be for $11,111. I’d never….but I sure wouldn’t turn down a free sample if someone offered. And make it bold, please.

Talk again soon.

Love always,

Addie

“My whole life I’ve been telling myself ‘don’t be afraid.’ And it’s only now that I’m realizing how stupid that is. Don’t be afraid. Like saying ‘don’t move out of the way when someone tries to punch you’ or ‘don’t flinch at the heat of a fire’ or ‘don’t blink’. Don’t be human. I’m afraid and you’re afraid and we’re all always going to be afraid because that’s the point. What I should be telling myself is ‘be afraid, but do it anyway.’ Live anyway.”