Tagged!

Mabel Lou here... I've been kinda quiet lately as Mom is busy with her niece's wedding and her stupid annual tax project and she's been hoggin' the 'puter! But when Bart and Ruby tagged me in a post, I HAD to answer.

I can be  "a tad" dominate.

1.  Describe yourself in 7 words:

Smart, Alpha, Suspicious, Demanding, Sassy, Sweet, Cuddler.

Who wouldn't wanna cuddle with this???

2.  What keeps you up at night?

Racoons, Possums and whatever else dares to wander in our backyard! Just this week, Mom slept as the racoons swam in our pool and took the lid off my food! The nerve! I woke her up so we could protect the foodables and get those rascals over the fence!

     See the Possum????

3.  Who would you like to be?

Are you kiddin' me?  Let's see, 

• I sleep in a queen sized bed with my mom (heated mattress pad in the winter and a nice breezy fan in the summer!);  
• I'm fed "Mabel Lou Stew" often with my favorite duck twice a day; 
• Snackies (beef jerky!) for looking cute or when I guilt my Mom for leaving me; 
• Cookies (duck and chicken jerky) before bed; 
• My mom works from home most of the time and calls me her "Snoopervisor" - which means I'm in charge; 
• I have a nice softie bed to lay on in every room of the house. Two in some! You should see how I get my mom to chase the sunlight with my beds when she's working in the shop! 
• We go to breakfast where I have my own favorite waitress who brings me all kinds of amazing foodables. Yesterday's take: pancake batter French toast w/ eggs over easy, scrambled eggs, pancakes and a side of bacon!
• AND... trips to the creek EVERY day where we run into our friends all the time! 

So... who would I want to be??? ME! Wouldn't everyone???

  LOVE my creek!

4.  What are you wearing right now?

My bubble collar. Mom bought two and let me pick the one I wanted... ;-)

My Bubble Collar

5.  What scares you?

When the school sets off fireworks on the 4th of July. They used to not bother me but now they do. Our big vicious wind storms that blow our patio furniture around freak me out too. I curl up in our hallway where there are no door or windows during those!

I also hate really deep water! Don't like getting my tummy wet unless I want it wet!

 Unhappy me... Those fireworks are LOUD!

The first Creekhiker logo came about when Mom snapped this pic of me avoiding a deep hole!

6.   What's the best and worst things about blogging?

The best is realizing how many cool pups there are out there. The worst is the time suck. I would rather be at the creek!

Mooom??? Please turn off that 'puter! You can read blogs after dark, k???

7.   What's the last website you visited?  

One Pic Pony by Velvet Sacks. She is Mom's first blog friend and we like looking at her picture site too!

Ms. Velvet takes some nice dog pictures ya'll!

8.  What's one thing that you'd change about yourself?

I would give myself normal dog hips so I could sit without hurting myself. But... without my greyhound heiny, would I run as fast??? Probably not... OK. I would like to be able to sit normally and still run like a fast greyhound... best of both worlds!

My greyhound hips make me find inventive ways of sitting.

9.  Slankets?  Yes or no...

Absolutely NO...

 ...but stealing Mom's blanket is a okay!

10.  Tell us something about the person who tagged you.

Bart is so sweet and so funny... and let's not forget interesting! Ruby and I didn't like each other at first...but we worked it out and we're good friends now! She's my least irritating girlfriend! They are both lots of fun and don't mind me making fun of them when they wear stupid pawty hats!!!

Bart and Ruby - hat lovers!

I'm supposed to tag some more pups and their people but I hate doing that... so, if you'd like to play along, please post your link in the comments!

All About the People

Oskar is asking all the dogs to write about their people this weekend. Click on Oskar's logo to participate or read more about doggie bloggers.  So here's our "tail" straight from the dog's paws:

This blog is officially my mom's ... but clearly, I am the star.

My mom hates having her picture taken. She literally hides from the camera but this is her Facebook profile picture:

This is one of her favorite photos of the two of us:

O.K. so she likes being all mysterious but those two pictures should tell you a lot. She laughs a lot...usually at me or herself and ... she loves ME!

I don't know a lot about my mom before I came along but I do know that she came from far away from here. She used to put me in a box and take me there...it's probably called Lucyana or something like that but I call it Granny's and Bailey's. My Granny and my cousin Bailey live just 10 houses apart. There's good eatin' at Granny's and I run off all the extra calories chasing Bailey. I don't get to go there with mom any more because the airlines charge too much money for that box. Mom wishes they would just let us sit together. But it's O.K. because I hated that stupid box and my Granny comes here every so often to cook for me.

My mom is home every day working on her computer, torching her glass beads or we go to the shop where she makes her rubber stamps. Mom also teaches classes at the local colleges - mostly on cookie decorating or beading. I can't go with her there but I supervise all the packing and unpacking that she has to do for that.

Mom says she used to have to leave home every day for work. She's done that a few times since I came here and I hated it. Mostly we are together all the time but she tells me that when she had my older sis, Maggie May, she was gone a lot and it would make her cry and she prayed and prayed to be a "work at home dog mommy." The last year of Maggie's life, Mom got her wish. But, now, she tells me she doesn't have enough work and that she needs to go back to working away from home. I know she worries a lot so I try to get her out to the creek as much as I can. That makes both of us really happy.

A few years after I got here, Mom had to have surgery on her feet and she was in a wheelchair for a long time. She gained some weight and that's why she's so funny about having her picture taken. But she told me I could put up this video of us that my auntie took on New Year's Day.

My mom was trying to help my auntie shoot a photo of Twinkie crossing a log in the stream. Only, we had a flood and there were no logs. Finally we found a small tree and every time Mom went to place it across the stream, I would steal it. I made my mom laugh soooo hard! We never did get to take a picture of Twinkie because I kept stealing that tree!

My mom says she loves to see me smile and that's why she takes me out to the creek every day. She is always making treats for me and she takes me out for cream when she meets friends at Starbucks or Coffee Bean. And she buys me an ice cream when it's hot. And she always cuddles with me on the sofa and sleeps with me.

I had a lot of other homes in my first four months. People would take me home and take me back to jail the very next day. I was sad. Then my Mom came and got me and I think I hit the doggie jackpot.

Search Amazon.com for rescue dogs

15 in 15

I've been tagged in Facebook Meme and, since I'm blogging everyday here on Creekhiker, I thought I would take advantage and just do it here. Directions below are from Facebook:

Here are the rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what movies my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note -- upper right hand side.)

1) It's a Wonderful Life (Ok - so I'm a sad sap who believes in angels)

2) Harvey (And invisible rabbits!)

3) Rope (Maybe I'm just secretly in love with Jimmy Stewart!)

4) The Commitments (I saw #4,5 &6 in a three week period. I was afraid to go to the movies again... I thought each of these was moving, breathtaking. Each for different reasons. See the Commitments for the music and the uplifting story.)

5) The Fischer King (Amazing story, Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams are top notch. See it for the heartache both men suffer. See it for the tale of healing and friendship. See it just to watch Robin Williams describe the elation of a really good poop!)

6) Dead Again (A whodunit where you don't see what's coming next and keeping track of the reincarnation of the lead characters through several lifetimes is dizzying. One of Kenneth Branagh's best as actor and director. His then wife Emma Thompson is spot on, as usual.)

7) Smoky and the Bandit (First film I ever saw multiple times)

8) The Hangover (Last film I saw multiple times)

9) Sharkey's Machine (First film I thought was too violent and doing the body count in my head for days.)

10) Amityville Horror (1st horror film and the reason I really don't enjoy them.)

11) Forrest Gump (1st hit I ever worked on)

12) Wired (1st big studio film I worked on that I KNEW would be a piece of crap!)

13) Say Anything (Who doesn't love Cusack?)

14) High Fidelity (Who doesn't love Cusack all grown up?)

15) The Usual Suspects - (I cannot stumble across this without watching to the very end)

Honorable Mentions:
16) Con Air (Cusack again,with Nick Cage in a terrible Southern accent, Malkovich as a badddd assss, and a plane full of tough actors, most of whom I worked with on another big studio piece of crap called Blood In, Blood Out. Really sweet guys and funny too. But, it's a plane wreck of a movie and another I can't pass up when it's on!)

17) Being John Malkovich (Malkcovich and Cusack together again in one of the strangest pieces of fiction ever written by Charlie Kaufman. And Cameron Diaz is unrecognizable in her ugly makeup! It's a hoot to keep up with the body switching!)

18) Adaptation (Charlie Kaufman also wrote this and it's so amazing to see and hear how writers THINK. I felt like the guy was in my brain!)

19) The Wizard of Oz (I starting watching this movie when I was WAY too young for it. I always managed to be home alone when it was on and I would literally lay with my face in the sofa, legs kicking at imaginary gargoyles, too afraid to go toward the tv and change the channel! I was terrified of this. Yet, every year, I'd watch it again, certain that I was "big girl" enough to handle it. I finally gave up around 10 and haven't sat through more than 20 minutes of it since!)

A Is for...

If you are looking for my One World One Heart post, it's here and my other blog OWOH contest is here.

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I got this challenge from Alison. The challenge is to list ten of your favorite things that begin with a certain letter that is assigned you by the blogger. I was assigned the letter A.

Oh boy, here goes:

1) America - Land that I love. With all our problems, it is still a beautiful and amazing place to live. Not a week goes by that I don't think about my dumb luck at being born here.

2) Art / Artist - I have a deep appreciation for all creative endeavors: The vision, the planning the execution. All are fascinating.

3) Azul - Spanish for Blue. I only lived in Argentina for four months and spoke three words of Spanish before that. But there are still certain words that make more sense to my brain in Spanish. This is one of them...not just any blue. It's that really brilliant sky blue when there are no clouds and smog.

4) Aglio y Olio - Spanish for garlic and oil and my favorite pasta topping. Another Spanish phrase forever burned into my brain, this one from a young waiter named Aldo (Another "A" - the best waiter in the world!) at a restaurant named Broccolinos. I would go in on a cold and winter night, too exhausted to have one more conversation. Aldo would just bring me a plate of my favorite pasta. I would leave so happy, I could almost cry.

5) Argentina - While I'm stuck on Spanish, let's add in the only other country I've lived in for any significant length of time. I was lucky enough to see quite a bit of it... Breathtaking rivers, pristine beaches, rustic cowboy country, mountain deserts that reminded me of California, quaint wine country and the most amazing waterfall: Iguazu. Alas, I'm still hoping to get back and see Tierra del Fuego and those penguins!

6) Acorns - I'm often dumbstruck that huge trees can grow out of something as plain and simple as an acorn! When I'm out walking and find particularly interesting ones, I sometimes put them in my pockets. My mom still gets a kick out of this habit!

7) Aunt - Ahh... the next best thing to mom. I had two aunts on either side of my family that adored me. My mother's sister-in-law (Ann - another A!) would make me my favorite childhood meal every time I flew into Baton Rouge: Homemade biscuits and tomato gravy. When she died, I told her son that I wanted to "inherit" her biscuit recipe. But, she never wrote it down!

My father's only sister was, in many ways, my emotional mother. She's the one I would run to when I needed to talk. She never interfered, judged or criticized; she never tried to fix my problem. She listened, she hugged, she laughed, she cried and sometimes, if asked, would give advice. I've written about Sister / Sissy here before and how I know she visited me after her death. Just the other day, I was thinking about how miraculous that was...that she loved me enough to linger a little longer here.

7) Animals - I do love all animals, but I have a very weak spot for dogs.

8) Abnormal - I love this word - maybe because I've always thought of myself as abnormal. But the other reason is, I can't hear it without hearing that line in Young Frankenstein.... Abby Normal.

"Which brain did you take?"

"Abby's brain."

"Abby WHO?"

"Abby Normal."

It just makes me smile.

9) Apologize - I can't say I like it but I always do it, so I must like it! Even when I do nothing to apologize for! And I've been doing that since I could talk! Annoying! I do think a thoughtful apology can go a long way in mending relationships.

10) Ambrosia - Who doesn't love ambrosia???

And, since I cheated a little with Spanish words... I'll add a bit more:

11) Ahhhh - The sound I make when I finally call it a night and curl up on the sofa with Mabel Lou.

12) Advertising - I made a lot of money making commercials and I'm one of the weirdos who tape the big football game to see the commercials! I adore cleverly crafted 30 second films.

On the other hand, how about a few "A" things I hate:

1) Advertising - I LOVE my dvr so I can fast forward through most of those dreadful commercials.

2) Accounting - I HATE this part of running a business.

3) Abdomen - I dislike this part of my body the most. If I could cut it off, I wouldn't miss it!

4) Aches - the worst part of getting old.

5) Addictions - Even though I've had family members deal with these, I still don't get it.

6) Adolescence - Wouldn't do it again if you paid me.

7) Adolescent boys - I despised the times my Godsons went through the "I'm right and you're old and stupid" phase. So glad both are older now!

8) Ants - If you live in California, no matter how clean or dirty your kitchen, you will get ants! They make my flesh crawl!

9) Apathy - How uninteresting is that??? Care about something, dammit! It makes you passionate!

10) A$$holes - Self explanatory

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Well Inspired One, did I do a good job???

Pride and Prejudice

Carmon tagged me to write about six things I'm proud of and I have to say this is one of the most difficult things I've ever written! This took an enormous amount of soul searching this weekend.

I think the reason this is so difficult is the constant criticism I've dealt with my whole life. And when I ran away from home at 23 to start a new life here, I picked up my mother's charge and carried it quite well. I am my own worst critic now and there are days (months?) I find it simply impossible to hear a positive voice in my own head.

That being said, I set my own self-prejudice aside. Here goes:

1) I'll start with the easy ones. That I have my own business. It is very bittersweet to write this as, I am looking for a job. But I have been on my own since November 2001. And I hope somehow to keep things going while I work elsewhere.

2) I am a damn good dog mommy. My dogs all come from rescue and then I bring them home and spoil them rotten. Lots of petting, dog beds in every room, long walks, and good food (including nibbles from my plate). And knowing that I saved them from death row makes it even more special.

3) Vanity has never been a strong suit of mine. Every time I think I'm all that, I fall on my face...literally! And it doesn't help that I've had really pretty friends my whole life. Talk about a red-headed, freckled faced step-child... that was me. I have hated my looks my whole life and can run down a list of "wrong" things but this is about pride.

I have mighty fine hair! Yes, I've finally stopped hating it for being red and realized that these curls of mine really are something people pay a fortune for. My hair can enter a room and make a fine impression long before I do! Never mind that most days, it's up in a bun to keep me cool or stay out of the torch. When I need my hair to work for me... it does. And it's only taken me forty years to admit that.

4) If you ask my friends about me, they will tell you that I am the most honest and loyal person they know. That I am non-judgmental and have the memory of an elephant comes up as well. (Several of my friends refer to me as their personal hard drive!) Those are all nice things and I'm proud they think of me that way.

5) Getting harder here... I have a "Get 'er done" kind of attitude. Surprisingly, in spite of all that criticism I spoke of, one of my best memories of childhood was crawling in bed with my mom. She would take me in her arms and whisper in my ear, "Holly, you can do anything you want to as long as you have love in your heart."

It was years later when an astrologer friend read my chart for me. (I sort of thought of this as poppycock but hey, I support my friends.) She said to me, "You have a tremendous amount of love to give. And...you have an almost foolish belief in yourself. You actually believe you can do anything." That was in my astrological chart? I guess I must have believed my mom.

But that attitude has served me so well in my various careers. Anticipating the next move, not taking "no" for an answer and dealing with anything and everything are skills that have come in so handy. And... realizing that not taking "no" for an answer doesn't mean I have to get my way. It means helping someone realize something can work for both of us.

6)Super hard to write about this one. It was 15 years ago that I stopped calling myself a word I had heard whispered about me my whole life: Bastard. This may seem like no big deal in age of baby mommas testing 30 different potential baby daddies to see who the father is on national television, but when I came of age, it was a shameful thing. And it's terribly hard to let go of life-long shame.

I didn't let go of this word easily but it happened suddenly. The occaision was my mother's 70th. I had invited one of my favorite cousins from Gonzales, LA. As more than 70 people filled my sister's house, I barely realize my cousin had not arrived. When she finally walked in, she was followed by her mom. After greeting Mom, my cousin came over to hug me.

As she approached she said, "Mom told me all about your dad in the car on the way up here."

I froze with shame as she embraced me. What would this person I so adored think of me now... Now that she knew?

My cousin gives the best hugs. She is one of my top two favorite people to hug in the world. You know you've been hugged by someone who loves you after she embraces you.

And as she hugged me, I know she felt my shame. She pushed me back from her and looked at my face, my eyes full of tears. I could barely whisper the words, "I'm a bastard."

With that, she pulled me into her again. "Holly, I don't ever want to hear you say that word again. I heard your parents love story. They loved each other. They loved each other for years before you came along.You are a love child.

And that's all it took to let it go. There's plenty of other crap I need to let go of but that was the first and the biggest. And it put a little pride in my backbone to stand up straight and say, "I'm a love child."

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Now I'm supposed to tag three and I don't have three. I'll tag Becky and Patrick.




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Six Random Redo

Alison tagged me for six random things about me which I wrote but after reading Velvet's post, dorky me realized I did it wrong! It was supposed to be six random things about me today.

Here we go again :

1) Woke up too late to hike in the heat.

2) Went to breakfast at Jeremy's. Mabel got cookies. I got the avocado omelet, pancakes & coffee.

3) Mabel and I only ate half of my breakfast. (NOT Mabel's choice!) I will eat the rest tomorrow.

4) After breakfast, I fell asleep til 12:30.

5) We went hiking at 7:30. Quiet and uneventful. But I'm certain that big old full moon made it hotter.

6) I torched a bit tonight and made a perfume bottle. I can't wait to see it so I probably won't sleep tonight.

Still waiting on Janet & Becky.

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Six Random

Alison tagged me for six random things about me. Here goes:

1) I HATE the smell of air conditioning! It's not the smell of the house closed up. It's that metallic smell of the a/c motor running that's really offensive.

2) I have a lead foot. I'm only comfortable driving when I can go fast. Apparently I was born this way. As a toddler, I loved being in the car with my 22-years-older sister. As soon as she got out of the driveway, I would start my mantra. "Go faster, Sister. Go faster!"

3) I always wanted to change my last name to that of my father...until I grew up and learned a few things about my paternal brothers. That ended that. They can have his name. I had his love.

4) My sister and I both wanted 16 children!!!! Our grandmother was one of 16 and we both loved her stories. We were both raised as only children (22 years apart) and thought it would be simply fantastic to have that many kids. We are both proud dog mommies.

5) I went through menopause in my twenties. It left a hole in my heart that I think will never be filled.

6) Never knowing when or how to tell a man I was dating the above allowed me to build huge wall around me, effectively pushing all pursuers away. Add in that I'm smart, direct, outspoken and opinionated pretty much puts the F*&^ Off sign on my forehead.


And that's that with that.

I'm supposed to tag six others but since everyone I know in blogger land has already been tagged, I'll hit two...Janet & Becky.

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Self Portraits

The other morning, I was just fascinated by the way our shadows looked in the creek with the early morning sun at our backs. I couldn't wait to get back there with my camera. Finally! A photo of me I like!

Her & Me

Us - A Self - Portrait

The Kiss

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Scattergories

I got this from Annie's Blog: "SCATTERGORIES" ...It's harder than it looks! Copy and paste into your blog and try it!

**Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following --they have to be real places, names, things ...nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

What is your name...........................Holly

4 Letter word....................................Hell

Vehicle................................................Hovercraft

City......................................................Hollywood

Boy Name...........................................Holllis

Girl Name...........................................Hillary

Alcoholic Drink...................................Happy Hawaiian

Occupation..........................................Head Writer

Something you wear..........................Hat

Celebrity..............................................Holly Hunter

Food......................................................Hushpuppies

Something found in a bathroom........Hairpins

Reason for being late...........................Hiccups

Cartoon Character...............................Hobbes

Something you shout...........................Hallelujah!

Animal....................................................Hippo

Body part...............................................Hair

Word to describe you............................Honorable

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Mabel's 8 Things Meme

Me, at the creek.

Hi there! Mabel Lou here. I got tagged by my Louisiana buddy, Butch. I must say, it's kinda hard to think of some things my mom hasn't blabbed told about me already... But here goes.

1) When I get lost while hiking with Mom, I run back to the car. If Mom's not there, I track her scent.

2) I love to pull tails to get others to chase me. It does not matter if you are a dog, a horse or a human. If I like you and want you to play, I will pull your tail.

3) Mom has a hundred nicknames for me. I know them all. I know what kind of mood she's in by which one she uses. Some of my names: Lucy, Lula, Lulu Belle, Mabel Babel, Baby Lou, May, Mabeline, Miss Piss, and The Stupervisor {That's Mom's nickname for most of her employers. Since she works from home most of the time, it's my name when I wander into the shop to try and get her to go to the creek NOW.)

4) My mom sings to me. I act like it hurts my ears... she's really not a good singer. But, secretly, I like the rhythm of her songs. She told me she makes up songs to teach her pups their names. My song goes like this:

Mabel, Mabel
Sleeps on my table,
Mabel Lou, I love you.
Mabel, Mabel
Oh, she's so able.
Mabel Lou, please be true.

When I was a puppy, pretending not to like my mom's voice, my tail would give me away on this one.... and the creek song.

And in case you're wondering -- I DID sleep on top of a glass table on our upper patio when Mom left me alone as a puppy. The raccoons were bigger than me and I was scared!


5) I wouldn't stay off my mom's fainting couch when I was a puppy. It would make her so mad. Now, she lets me cuddle with her (or my Granny - see below) on it.



6) I love the creek... no big news here. But, I don't really like to swim! In fact, I get very nervous when water touches my tummy. That's why you see me jumping in our logo photo above. That was a deep hole!


I like it when Mom's Godson sleeps over.

7) I get very flirty around men. I wiggle my butt and shimmy all over. Some of my favorite guys are Mom's Godson and his buddies and dad. We see them alot. I have a human uncle in Louisiana I adore too. But my favorite guy ever is Curt. He's married to one of my mom's friends. They live far away but when they come visit, he lays on the floor with me. I get so excited when I see him, I pee all over him!

8) I don't like carbs. Most canines will eat anything thrown at them. Not me. I wait for the good stuff. But there are exceptions to every rule. I will eat bread that has been touching hamburger or hot dog. In - n- Out Burger fries... but only when they are hot. And sweet potato fries. That's it. No other carbs allowed. I really don't get why my mom eats them.

Oh, I tag Kadi. It's not fair that Butch got to write about himself and poor Kadi didn't! Sorry Velvet! And Miss Kitty.

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Seven Things Meme

MABEL LOU UPDATE BELOW

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Janet tagged me for a Seven Random Things / Facts about Me. So here goes.

1) I have an allergy to cigarette smoke. It's a real, honest-to-goodness, diagnosed by a doctor thing. I literally cannot breathe around the stuff. My mother has something similar but more severe. Once, we were all out at a Christmas light display in downtown Baton Rouge. It was around nine at night and there was only one other family in the park. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't seem to get away from the other mother's cigarette smoke. My poor mom went from being just fine to having her lungs fill with fluid from an allergic reaction to the smoke. And she had no inhaler with her. It was such a frightening drive home. My brother-in-law ran red lights and sped like a maniac while I sat in the back seat holding my mom up debating whether to hit the hospital or try and make it home.

When I think of leaving California for someplace cheaper, our laws which make it hell for smokers to find a public place to smoke is one of the things that keeps me here. I'm always shocked in when I travel other places and smell it, especially in a restaurant.

2) I'm 22 years younger than my 64-year-old (for a few more months) sister. My mother likes to say there's nothing slow about her. I like to kid her that she just wanted to give each of us individual attention.

3) I have a near genius I.Q. - 146. 150 is the threshold for genius. So that makes me smarter than most of the guys I meet and too dumb to join Mensa and meet smart men. Seriously, I'm convinced it's one of the reasons I'm still single. It's also been difficult for me work-wise. I can't stand it when I have a boss who won't look at the big picture. Or one who can't / won't make decisions.

4) My mother always wanted me to work for the phone company just like her (42 years) and my sister (30 years). I've always told her point blank, "I would rather have a bullet in my head." But she just doesn't get it.

When I was around 6, my the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made it a lot easier for a woman to get a "man's" job with the phone company. My mother was the second woman in the state of Mississippi to get a "man's" title. Her best friend was the first. They had to put up with a lot of verbal and even physical abuse. It seemed sexual harassment was invented for them. Once, after my mother had been injured on the job, the big wigs there tried to keep her from returning to make sure a man would get the job. But Mother wouldn't have it. The President of the company (and several other men) came to the house to talk Mother into early retirement. He told her she needed to go along and get along if she were to come back. She informed him that the phone company didn't pay her enough to let anyone pat her butt and pinch her titties. She got her job back and the harassment stopped.

But it changed something in her. When I would visit her job and we would go to the restroom down this long hall. She would look around to see if anyone was looking...there rarely was. Mother would lock the bathroom door, turn on the hot water full blast, tear off bunches of paper towels wet them and throw them away. She would put handfuls of toilet tissue in the toilet, flush, repeat, flush, repeat, flush repeat. Then she would use the restroom, more tissue, flush, flush, flush. Wash up, more towels, toss, more towel and toss. Then, she would crack the door and check the hallway. If no one was there, she left the hot water running. That's how much she loved her job. That's the life she wanted for me! NO THANKS!

5) My father died when I was eleven. It was one of the most painful events of my life. It only took 30 years for me to stop going into a depressive funk around the date of his death. It was around this time I knew I would move far, far away.

6) I feel dead people... seriously. I have that weird Pisces thing going on where we're supposedly unaware of which world we are in...real or afterlife. I often see spirits in my dreams and out of the corner of my eye. But, more often, I feel their presence. It's not scary (most of the time). And it has only served to reinforce my faith.

7) Jesus gave me a rosary. Not in person to me. He gave it to someone and told her to give it to me. But it was Him. I would rather He just hung out and talked for a bit but, I needed a special message that day and it came in a way that had my full attention. This one is quite a long story so I'll just leave it at that.

Since everyone I know in Bloggerville has been tagged, just tag yourself if you haven't done this one!

I Am From

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Jackie posted a challenge to create a post based on the "I am from" poem by George Ella Lyons. I had so much fun playing with this format. Here is my version:

I am from wood, cut fresh to build a house,

from Heinz ketchup,

catfish caught by cheating (with fish food and a dip net),

hushpuppies, French fries and fresh picked strawberries.

I am from green hills and muddy rivers, sticky hot and icy cool.

I am from the cotton fields of Mississippi,

and the dirty, funky streets of New Orleans.

I am from California, a grown-up runaway

stopped only by the Pacific.

I am from one-hand-short-gin-rummy-after-fishing

(so everyone could take a bath),

and practical jokes and lots of giggles.

I am from Smith and Spence; McElhaney and Meyer,

and Choctaw, Chickasee, Cherokee and Tangipahoa.

I am from the lines of

Edna Jane and Kirby General; Gideon and Anna Pearl.

I am from passion and laughter and carpenters.

From the Easter bunny who left hundreds of eggs

by the campfire in French Settlement.

From Santa Claus who hid my magic kit

in the wood box the year I found out his secret.

I am from “a can’t never could” and the belief

I can do anything if I have love in my heart.

I am from church on Sunday; Wednesday too…

until I got old enough to question

all the hypocrisy I saw there

and refused to return.

I am from Baptist and Methodist and Judaism,

but it is my Indian blood and the miracles I’ve seen

that taught me God is real and everywhere.

I am from Colorado Springs,

the place of birth but not my home.

I am a love child, my arrival hidden

from the world and revealed in lies.

I am a foster child from Hammond

until my parents could write their my story.

I am descended from those kids that

ran off every teacher Salem school ever hired.

I am the daughter of a glider pilot war hero,

and the strongest woman in the world.

I am from photos in the back of my head,

vivid color snapshots taken by my mind’s eye.

Memories and stories from here and yon,

ripe with characters bursting to be heard.

123MEME

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Velvet Sacks blog today suggested taking the closest book, turning to page 123 and writing the # 4,5, & 6 sentences.

Since I'm swamped with my new job and my old clients suddenly figuring out that if they paid me on time, I wouldn't be working elsewhere. Not to mention sales taxes and commissions to artists are due this week, my teaching gig started, the largest craft show in the world is going on and every person I know from my old job will be in town and many of them wanting my attention, let's just say, I'M BUSY! And since I lost the dang cord that connects my camera to this computer and there is no way to show you all those fabulous pictures I've been taking, this idea hit the spot tonight.

My closest book is Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words. I used it quite a bit when I was a freelance writer and my second closest book would The Chicago Manual of Style. But Bryson's little guide is small and stores easily by my desk and rarely fails to have the answer I need. It's a must for any writer.

Page 123, Sentences 4 - 6: (on the subject of like, as)"On the face of it, the rule is simple: as and as if are always followed by a verb; like never is. Therefore, you would say, "He plays tennis as if his life depended on it" (verb depended)

Although that is the rule, you may wish to suspend it at times."

So there. A grammar lesson to boot! Hope to be back with a more substantail post in a week or so.