"Big'' Birthdays

Birthdays....

A birthday is the day you celebrate the day you were born. Birthdays is one of the most exciting times to a child because to them birthdays mean cake, presents, and parties while the parents do everything in their power to make their children's birthdays fun and keep their innocence for as long as possible. Another year to a child means they are growing up, getting bigger, and they can't wait to become adults so they can ''do whatever they want''. Another year to a parent means their kids are growing up (sigh), getting bigger (double sigh), and turning into a more smart aleck version of themselves. It also means time flies, and if you blink life has passed you by in a matter of years. Your once little baby boy, has turned eight when it feels like he should still be three or four. Those first eight years flew by so fast that you wish there was a way to stop time because in eight more years your little baby will be driving.

As an adult, having a birthday doesn't really mean as much as it did as it did when you were a child. It is just another day and another year older. Cake means calories and extra weight, presents are usually stuff you need, and parties just aren't as fun. The only birthdays that you seem to care about are those ''big'' ones.... you know the ones. Some people try to escape the ''big'' ones, and pretend they are still in their 20's or 30's for a few more years and while nothing is wrong with that, I say embrace yourself the way God made you whether you are 20 or 70 and be proud of your age. Celebrate those ''big'' birthdays because not everyone is as lucky to live to their ''big'' birthdays. Eat that piece of cake, go buy yourself something that you really want, and have yourself a party with your family and friends. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed, and you may not live to the next ''big'' birthday. So, celebrate, and don't be sad because your age increased by another number, and if you do want to be sad... save it for your children's ''big'' birthdays, because that is a true reminder of how fast time has flew and it is sad.

I also would like to say, Happy Birthday to my mom who is having a ''big'' birthday tomorrow. I wish you another year of happiness, another year of health, and I hope your ''big'' birthday is just another day, but don't forget to celebrate! I love you.

My Bucket List

I know that I am only 28, but I want to accomplish and do a lot with my life. I have decided to start a bucket list and I hope one day to say that I was able to finish. The past ten years have flew by, and I wish that I could slow down time. Unfortunately, that is not how life works and instead of trying to slow down, I have decided to embrace it and start marking off things I want to do. I don't want to look back when I am old and say I should have done this, or I should have done that. 


                                                                         Bucket List

1. Learn to play guitar.
2. Write a song.
3. Write a book.
4. Get published.
5. Take an art class.
6. Learn ASL.
7. Go whale watching.
8. Get picture taken with a someone famous.
9. Run for public office.
10. Live somewhere far away for 6 months.
11. Point to a random place on map and visit.
12. Go to the West Coast.
13. Take vocal lessons.
14. Go rock climbing.
15. Learn to kickbox.
16. Taking dancing class.
17. Learn to ride a bicycle.
18. Ride on a motorcycle.
19. Save someones life.
20. Change someones life in a positive way.
21. Ride in a hot air balloon.
22. Go skiing.
23. Jump into a pool.
24. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
25. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
26. Run in a marathon.
27. See the Northern Lights.
28. Act or be an extra in a movie.
29. Go zip-lining.
30. Milk a cow.
31. Sing Karaoke in public.
32. Watch a turtle hatch.
33. Send flowers to a total stranger.
34. Give blood.
35. Carve my name in a tree.
36. Pay for someone's meal behind me at a drive through, or a stranger in a restaurant.
37. Help build a house for Habitat for Humanity.
38. Send care package to a soldier.
39. Stay in a Bed and Breakfast.
40. Tour a wine vineyard.
41. Go on a cruise.
42. Ride a train.
43. Golf 18 holes.
44. Skeet shoot.
45. Climb an indoor rock wall.
46. Go to Kentucky Derby.
47. Take a self-defense class.
48. Slide down firehouse pole.
49. Find something cool with a metal detector.
50. Send a message in a bottle.
51. Start a book club.
52. Watch a space shuttle launch.
53. Take an improv class.
54. Go to a book signing.
55. Leave a 100% tip for a waitress.
56. Enter a writing contest.
57. Own a pair of designer shoes.
58. Read "A Tale of Two Cities"
59. Learn Calligraphy.
60. Go on a ghost hunt.
61. Order room service.
62. Write letters to five people that have positively influenced me.
63. Make a time capsule and bury it...then go back years later and dig it up.
64. Go geocaching.
65. Ride in a limo.
66. Dress up fancy and go somewhere ordinary.
67. Host a theme party.
68. Go to the Opera.
69. Go to a NFL game and a baseball game.
70. Sew a memory quilt.
71. Buy something off some strangers wedding or baby registry.
72. Try 10 new foods.
73. Go to outdoor movie.
74. Be debt free.
75. Hand write letters to friends and family and mail them.
76. Watch a foreign film.
77. Take a photography class.
78. Get paid to take pictures.
79. Try extreme couponing.
80. Go 2 weeks without spending any money.
81. Give up T.V for a month.
82. Eat at a restaurant alone.
83. Buy something from an infomercial.
84. Drive across the Golden Gate bridge.
85. Ride in a Taxi
86. Ride the Pacific Coast Highway.
87. Go Sailing.
88. Shop on Rodeo Drive.
89. Drive over London bridge in Arizona.
90. Read the entire Bible.
91. Participate in a murder mystery dinner party.

In addition to things I want to accomplish, I have compiled a list of places that I want to go.

                                                                      Places I Wanna Go

1. Hollywood, CA
2. San Juan Island in Washington
3. Chicago on St. Patrick's Day to see the Chicago River dyed green.
4. Paris
5. Kentucky
6. Maine
7. Niagara Falls
8. Glacier National Park, Montana
9. Grand Canyon.
10. Washington, DC
11. Seattle's Space Needle
12. Lake Champlain
13. Mount Rushmore
14. Monument Valley, Utah
15. Charleston, SC
16. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Harrodsburg, KY
17. Halen, GA
18. New Orleans
19. Alaska (wanna see Ice Caves while there)
20. NYC again
21. Biltmore Estate again
22. Hawaii
23. Sequoia National Park, CA
24. Savannah, GA
25. Cadillac Ranch
26. Lebanon, Kansas (middle of US)
27. Atlantic City
28. Louisville, KY
29. Assateaque and Chincoteaque Islands

Our First Kiss by Sheena Porter

Close your eyes
and picture my face
do I look nervous?

Open your mouth, and
think about me- because
I am thinking about you.

Now put your arms around me
and pull me close to you.
Put your lips to mine
and catch me because I am
falling in love with you.

Never Underestimate A Two Year Old

I think Trenton, who is now 7, snuck Caitlyn some sugar yesterday, because she was one wild cat!

It all began when Trenton went and got my fingernail polish that he got me for mothers day and asked me if I wanted to paint my nails, and of course I did. However, now that I have a little girl, she wants her little nails painted too. So I painted hers first with the color that she got me for mothers day, and I finished, put the top back on the bottle (tightly, I might add), and handed her the bottle to play with (like I always do). I thought, there is no way she can open the bottle by herself....WRONG....WRONG.....WRONG.....I was painting my toes, and this is as far as I got....

when little Miss Caitlyn shoved her little finger in my face, showing me that she had painted her nail, all by herself. Yes, people...she opened the bottle, all by her little self. So I quickly glanced around for bottle of fingernail polish that she had, when I seen it spilled all over our brand new couch. I immediately jumped into action, picking up the bottle, and grabbing her baby wipes to clean up the mess. Unbeknownst she is behind me pulling the wipes one by one out of the container and throwing them all over the living room floor. I then grabbed the wipes away from her, and continued to try and get the purple stain out of my brand new couch, while Trenton goes and gets the Clorox wipes. I told him I didn't need the Clorox wipes to take them back, but do you think he listened? NOPE.... He gave them to Caitlyn, who decided that she would try and pull all of them out too, except for one little problem....She got her hand stuck in the bottle. SOOO.... I had to pry her hand out of that, while wading in baby wipes, and trying to clean up the big purple blob on the couch, that wasn't coming out!
I decided to ask my sister if she knew how to get fingernail polish out of a couch, so she said ''shaving cream''....well it just so happens.... I have shaving cream! I run to the bathroom grab a can, and squirt some on the couch and start scrubbing, and I am really going at it, and I reach around to grab some more.... but guess who has it? None other than Miss Caitlyn, who surprise, surprise, is squirting it all over my other couch! I snatch it from her, clean it up, and take it straight back to my bathroom out of her little exploring hands. And when I come back into the living room, she has the VHS tapes out, unwrapping them like Christmas presents!

So... the lesson is.... NEVER, under any circumstance, underestimate a two year old!

Tall Tales

Well isa just have to tell you the story about my granny. Now my granny aint no crow you wanna pick with. She is a nice lady, it's just she likes to mind her own business. Well one day she was doing just that and minding her own business taking a little stroll in her back yard. Now her back yard is her little cubby hole...why there is everything back ar, even the least expected. I never suspected that she'd see what she saw, why it being such a quiet little spot and all, but she did and from what I hear it was quit big.....

It all started when my granny decided she'd go out to her bird feeder and check to see if the poor little birds needed some more food. She never once thought that she might be the food for something else, she just walked right on out there in the yard...well she got to about the little bush on the corner of her porch when she heard a little something, but she paid it no mind. Just keep in mind, my granny is a brave little ol' woman, and she walked on out a little further not looking ahead....why she walked right up to it, almost stepped on his foot!

Ahhh, you should seen her, I never seen such a brave woman hurry so fast to get back inside, why she jumped clean over the porch rail and scurried on in the house, she didn't even go around to where the steps where, she prolly wouldn't have made it anyhow, her being so scared and all....She rushed to my grandpa, which by the way was taking a nap and she started screaming at him, but he was mighty deaf so he didn't pay her any attention...why he coulda slept through the whole thing if sheda hadn't took that shotgun and fired it, why she shot a hole plum through the roof. My grandpa jumped to his feet screaming "WOMAN, what in jusifer are you doing with a rifle"??? My granny tried explainin' but my grandpa just laughed. My granny's still mad to this day and sometimes she still says to my grandpa "you'da let that bear eat me, caus you woulda been asleep".

Well that sorta reminds me of the time when I thought I was bigger than my britches. I was about 7 or 8, and thought I knew everything. I never was much into girly things, like dolls and those funny misshaped barbies. I was more into the great outdoors and fishing, oh and I loved to go camping. My daddy always took me and we'd go fishing on the river at night, well I got to thinking one night while my daddy was asleep.... I could take the boat out by myself... I was big enough...and besides he'd never know. So off I went, but first of all I had to ''sneak'' out of the tent. It was nothing really, I mean I might have accidently stepped on a little something that my daddy needed in order to have any more kids, but I swear if I wouldn't have done that, I would have gotten to go fishing all by myself.

Ohh but then there is the time when me and my friend Jessie went fishing. She wasn't much into the whole idea, but I drug her along hoping she'd get into it so id have me a fishing buddy, but I really don't think she wants to go back, but all the more fish for me to catch right?....Ohh yea, getting back to my story.... I decided I would take Jessie with me to the annual fishing tournament held down in Speedwell. It took me a while to find an extra fishing pole, but I found one...oh did I find one... It was my pole from when I was little, it was bright orange. I loved that pole, but sense she was my best friend, I could lend it to her. We finally got there and we found us a spot to fish, and from the looks Jessie was giving me, I assumed she had never been fishing before, but she assured me that she had, so I let her take care of putting on the bait by herself. We were using that orange trout bait that comes in those really cool jars...Well she put the bait on her hook, and seemed to have done a good job, so I let her be so she could cast and I walked down the creek a little ways from her....Well, I had just enough time to bait my hook and cast when I looked up at Jessie and she was hollering and making such a fuss, yelling about how there was a snake in the creek! So up the river I started after her, but as I was almost to her to take a look, she changed her story and said it was just her bait that it had somehow stretched out to be the length of a snake....Now IM pretty sure most of ya'll are confused, well so was I! I couldn't figure out how that was possible, mostly because the bait was orange...So I decided to take a look at this soo called stretched out bait for myself, so I laid my pole down once again and started walking up the river towards her....when I look up and notice that she is holding this tiny little pole in her hands...and I know that I had that pole when I was a kid, but I also know it wasn't that short...and as I got closer I realized that her snake/stretched out bait was actually the other half of my bright orange fishing pole...Turns out the poor girl cant fish, nothing to be ashamed of, only thing is I need a new buddy to go fishing with now.

Redman, Coffee, and Oatmeal Pies

Everytime I close my eyes,
I can see you and your oatmeal pies.
You loved them with your morning, mid-day, and evening coffee.
You would eat them while watching Obama, Osama, and Moammar Gadhafi.
CNN, was your favorite station to get the news,
And in the winter, you'd be eating one of Maw's famous stews.
The holidays wont ever be the same,
But I'll always remember you and I watching John Wayne.
You never once called me Sheena, it was always simply ''Bug''
And one thing you taught me was to eat my grits and never drink straight outta the buttermilk jug.
And even though, I liked neither, I never complained
because you taught me that too, and you could always keep me entertained.
You told the best childhood stories and hunting tales.
You was one of the greatest hunters I knew and taught me how to follow the blood trails.
I remember when I was little and I tried your Redman
I wanted to be just like you and spit in a can.
Redman, coffee, and oatmeal pies, on earth, it was just a few of your favorite things
but now your up in heaven playing God the most beautiful music on harp strings.
Your family was your pride and joy and you loved us all with all you had.
You was a great husband, brother, dad, and uncle, but most of all my grand''dad''.


You was the best man I have ever met and I will miss you my beloved paw... Rest in Peace
9/11/11

Lifes too short

My brother said something to me a few nights ago that has stuck with me... He said ''lifes too short to be mad". I've heard other people say this before, but hearing it from my intellegent all knowing brother, made me really think about it. I am not an angry person and I think before I speak and I try with everything inside me to keep my opinions to myself. I pray for those that upset me and I try not to let what they say bother me. However, it is human nature to get upset if you hear someone talking about you, but thats their opinions and me and God know the truth about me. Whats important to me is not others' opinions of me, but whats important to me is my opinion of myself and I like myself. I think I have a pretty good heart, I love with all my heart and I care deeply about others, even those that cause me grief and pain because that is what God would expect from me and I expect it from myself.  I dont like confrontation, nor do I like to argue. I think an arguement is a waste of my valuable time. Dont get me wrong, there are some people that are worth the arguement.... but lets face it.... the majority of the people in your life just simply arent worth it. SOOO I completly 100% agree with my brothers statement. Life is just too short to be mad. Live your life how you want to, but be proud of the person that you are. If you wake up in the morning and your not happy with yourself, do something about it. If someone dont like who you are, that is their problem and thats their time they are wasting thinking about it and judging you. Dont waste yours worrying about what they said about you. You only have one life, live it! And Remember to love your parents, we are so busy growing up and living our lives that we often forget that they are growing old.