HEADLINES

My good friend Jenn, or "Lurch-Lady" as I like to call her, was recently tagged over at texas wife and mom. (Jenn, we really need to discuss your de-capitalization of TEXAS!) She participated by listing seven random thoughts as they randomly popped into her head. Once tagged, it seems to be customary to tag others to participate in the fun. I mean, Lurch-Lady was tagged by her friend Reagan from Mississippi, who was tagged by 24Crayons from Virginia, who was tagged by Kate, tagged by Zombieslayer, tagged by Beach Bum from South Carolina, tagged by Mike from Michigan, tagged by Meggie from Australia, tagged by Leanne from Australia, tagged by Nicolette from Netherlands, tagged by Tracy from Norway, tagged by Hege - also from Norway and with a bilingual blog to boot, who was tagged THREE times:

• by Monica from Norway, tagged by Kristen from Norway, tagged by Petunia from Norway, who was tagged twice,
  
• by Marianne from Norway, where the trail went cold on September 23, (Monica, Kristen, Petunia, and Marianne all had completely foreign language blogs! Check out Monica's blog just for kicks. Bet you can't read it either!)
• and by Hobbygasa from Gjovik, Norway (FINALLY, a bilingual blog!), tagged by Tina from Dixon, Kentucky, tagged by Carol from Las Vegas, Nevada, where the trail went cold on September 19.
  
• by Sylvia from Norway, who was also tagged three times!
• by Frokenij from Norway, tagged by Mrs. Darcy from Norway, tagged by Sina from Norway, (both completely foreign language blogs), tagged by Hobbygasa from Norway (same as above), tagged by Tina from Dixon, Kentucky (same as above), tagged by Carol from Las Vegas, Nevada, where the trail went cold on September 19 (same as above).
• by Ninne, tagged by Lilje, who was tagged twice,
• by Sina from Norway, same as above
  
• and by Kristin from Norway, same as above
• and by BIM-HD, where the trail went cold.
  
• AND by Merete, from Norway and a foreign language blog, which made it difficult to find the meme and it's origin and date because no 1-7 numbers were visible as they were on the other foreign language blogs.

(And yes...I DID take the time required to investigate how long this meme has been going and where it originated. I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to stuff like that! And Y'ALL - let me tell you, those Norwegian women can knit! I was amazed by all the pictures of the beautiful things they have created! AND...may I just ask you the question...do you find it completely incredible that this little meme has traveled AT LEAST from the United States, to Australia, to Netherlands, to Norway, and back to the United States between September 19 and today, and it has been bounced around ~ sometimes more than once ~ between AT LEAST twenty-seven people, not including the off-shoots of every OTHER person these people tagged? Me either!)

Silly Lurch-Lady!
SHE, apparently, had OTHER ideas... Instead, she wrote:

"Okay, I'm tagging..........no one, I could hardly find time to do this one myself!! I'm off to get the kids and myself dressed to go to Ladies Bible class and hopefully enjoy a fun lunch with all of my great girlfriends from church!! If you want to do the tag, be my guest!!! :)"

Of course, I called and harassed her after she didn't tag ANYONE! Being one of those "great girlfriends", I personally felt that I had the right to give her a hard time about not tagging ME! As a new blogger, I don't really get tagged ~ ever! (I was once tagged by Jenn BEFORE I started blogging publicly!) Lurch-Lady really needed to help a "great girlfriend" out with a tag opportunity, especially considering that I've been at a loss for words this past week. I told her that I would be happy to participate, but she had to actually tag me first. ~ no vague references about being her guest but a real black, white, and true tag. In other words, I basically called her and said, "ME! ME! Pick me for the meme!"

So, yesterday I made the headlines in her blog:

"Okay, Jill, you are it!"

That was the title of her latest post. Obviously, the harassment (as well as the shameless begging) worked! I have officially been tagged to list seven random thoughts as they randomly pop into my head. It was interesting to see how this meme evolved over it's traveling course. In the oldest link I could track, there were rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post rules.
   
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random and some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of post and list their names.
4. Let them know they were tagged by a comment on their blog.

On that note, here are some of MY headlines, or the random lines of thought that are running through my head...

1. With the exceptions of Rhino's Real Total Package, M4Mom, and Lurch-Lady, people reading this meme have NO IDEA how extremely difficult it is for me to sort out only seven of the seven hundred random thoughts that will run through my mind while typing this. Seriously! Mr. Brownstone told me I need to be tested for ADD. Mr. Brownstone never takes lightly anything for which he will have to shell out money. He is also not of fan of "labels" or of taking medication unless you truly need antibiotics for something. He must be serious about my short attention span if he's mentioning it.
2. I wonder if ADD is what causes my little problem with chewing gum. Can you get bored while chewing gum? Is it possible to forget why you put it in your mouth in the first place? It is for me. I am thirty-something years old and cannot chew a piece of gum without swallowing it. Seriously ~ Can.not.do.it. This is why I do not chew gum very often. Sometimes I swallow it before the flavor is even gone! Sometimes I swallow it while saying to myself, "Do not swallow your gum. Chew your gum. Do not swallow your gum. Chew your gum." I know ~ gum-swallowing is immature, and it makes me a little weird; but it's a struggle. The really weird thing...I didn't start this nasty little habit until adulthood. It just came out of the blue, and unfortunately, it seems to be an unbreakable habit.
3. I have at least five loads of laundry to do right now, and that does not include all the bed linens, or the towels, or what I will find lurking under the bed and in the corners of Tornado's room. It also does not include the two loads that I have already done that still need to be folded. Laundry is my nemesis. Really, it should be such a simple task, but it is my least favorite task. If I can ever get caught up, it will be simple because right now, I have to do at least one load every day just so the loads do not multiply. Laundry, you better hope we never meet in a dark alley. Your grime will be mine.
4. The background noise of the crowd at televised football games really gets on my nerves. That kind of white noise gives me a headache. The air conditioner noise gives me a headache, too. There is a battle over the thermostat between Mr. Brownstone and myself. I do get chilly but could live with the cooler temperature. It's really the noise I don't like, and I do not like to feel the air blowing either. (I just sneaked in there and bumped the temperature up a couple of degrees so it will quit blowing right now.) I also do not like to feel or hear the air blowing in the car. I could listen to the crickets call, or the frogs croak, or the birds chirp, or the rain, or the thunder, or the rushing water all day long. Please, though, never lock me in a room with crowd noise, or an overactive air conditioner! I'd be crazy by the time you released me.
5. I really miss my kids right now because they are at my parents' house for the night. I'm happy that they get to be around all of their grandparents so often, though. We are lucky like that. I love my family so much. It's such a great feeling to have such a great relationship with our parents and siblings. I don't know what I would do without my parents or the other Things. It's also a bonus because it's free babysitting whenever we need it. It's fun for all of them, and it's nice to have an occasional date with Mr. Brownstone. Mr. Brownstone still has it! I'm not always good about letting him know it, but he still makes my stomach flutter. He is very cute to look at and very funny to boot. Our kids are inside/outside beautiful! They are also very sweet and funny. Tornado is a master prank caller and is quite the teacher for Twister in the art of prank calling as well. Twister pranked called our messages three times today. The first one said, "Hi, this is Rochelle, Buddy's mom, and we would like for Tornado um tuuuh come over at 2 am in the morning tomorrow... well not at 2 am. Two am in the afternoon... after school and we would like Tornado to spend the night. Well, no. Tomorrow after school... the next day, um Monday? Wait, I messed up on my ...." CLICK! Now that, my friends, is a QUALITY prank call. Twister also called earlier this week and left a message that informed me my shirt was ready to pick up from "The Shirt Store" for one thousand and one dollars. When Tornado calls, it is a whole different ballgame. I have to say...Tornado has prank calling skillz, and that is "skillz" with a Z!
   
6. I am not sure if my friends know that I can play the saxophone. I used to be pretty good ~ you know...skillz with a Z. They were not hard to play, but my favorite songs to play were songs from before my time: "Brandy", "Smoke On The Water", and "Horse". I really think I could still play them if I could get my hands on a saxophone.
   
7. I have the best friends...ever! We have not all known each other our whole lives. Some of them I haven't even known for a year, and I haven't known ANY of them for more than two years. We just all came together at the right time, and we just fit. I feel like I have known them forever, and it's a great feeling. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that any single one of them would drop what they were doing at any given moment to come to our aid, and we would do the same for them. I can't imagine not talking to them several times a week. We are so happy where we are...living this full life!

Well, there's seven or more random and weird facts about me. I tag Chrystal, Jenni, Liza, Julie, Rosheeda, and then of course "Rhino's Real Total Package" and "M4Mom" - y'all can post your answers in the comment section here. Please play! I would love for ANYONE that reads this blog semi-regularly to also feel free to participate if you'd like. Please leave a comment for me in the comments section, if you decide to play along, so I can go read your answers! And if you are a brand new reader...YOU CAN PLAY, TOO! The more the merrier!

And Lurch-Lady...thank you so much for helping me find words again!

HEADLINES

http://xboxwife.blogspot.com/2007/10/headlines.html