Six things that make me happy

I've been tagged by Alexandra and Dianne. Alexandra's tag is to name six things that make me happy and Dianne's tag is to name six random things about me, so I hope to combine them both in one post!


Six Things that make me happy and random tidbits:

1. My Hubby, of course. He always makes me laugh and is so much fun to be around. A random tid bit: We are both the youngest in our families, but he was a late baby for his mother. His brothers and sisters were much older than him and he has nephews who are older than him.

2. Sewing/quilting. If you've read my blog, you know this already! Random tidbit: My first real quilt was made using the Georgia Bonesteel Lap Quilting System, because I didn't have a quilting frame and thought this was the only way I could make one. My Lap Quilting book is raggedy I've used it so much. The quilt was for my daughter and was a Sampler Quilt. Maybe I can take a picture of it while at her house some time to post here.

3. Reading the Bible and spiritual books. I don't do this nearly enough, but I feel such peace when I do. Random Tid Bit: I am trying to read the Bible before I do anything else in the morning. I get side tracked by the computer sometimes. I noticed the other day that the computer (dial up!) was so slow first thing in the morning that I couldn't use it until the virus protection finished updating. I think maybe God is trying to tell me something!!! Now I read the Bible while the computer is doing its thing.

4. Blogging. I never knew how enjoyable this would be and how many new friends I would make in the process. Random Tid bit: It took me much trial and error to figure out the whole blogging thing. I'm still not too good at lots of things. It makes me sad when I don't get many comments, but realize that doesn't mean the content isn't good. Comments make me happy! (hint, hint, hint)

5. Couponing/thrifting/deal shopping. This is a hobby that has the side benefit of saving money. Random Tid Bit: It makes me nervous to go up to the counter in a store with all my coupons. I feel like the clerk and the people in line behind me are irritated with me. I'm trying not to let it bother me. I do try to have my stuff organized and not make a stink when something won't work. After all, its only a dollar or two. I just say ok, and go on.

6. Just being home.... candles, music, sewing, gardening, cooking, cleaning, loving. Random Tid Bit: I think I could stay home for days and not mind. I don't have to be on the go like some people, who my husband jokingly says are working for the state packing the roads! LOL

I tag anybody who reads this and wishes to participate! Let me know so I can read the random things that make you happy.

Happy Fall! AND six new things

Its finally here! My sweet grandbaby says Happy Fall to everyone!



I was also tagged by the sweet Melinda of The Nest Egg to list six things about myself that you might not already know:

1. I may have alluded to this before, but its become more of a problem since I had the wreck this summer! I'm afraid of being in an automobile. Well not just being in an automobile, but one that's going down a street, road or highway. I do pretty good driving on familiar roads, but will not drive in the "big city". I don't know what I'm going to do about this, because the time will come when I HAVE to in order to get to a hospital or other emergency, etc. I have the sweetest hubby who drives me to these places now. I think I need to have him take me for driving lessons so I can get used to those big old highways. Today at lunch I went down the street my accident happened on and I'm still feeling shaky! LOL I may need to have some counseling on this issue....

2. I love music. I only took two years of piano lessons when I was 8 and 9 years old, but this gave me just enough information that I can sit down to the piano and play "easy" music. As in real easy! I bought some teach yourself to play the piano books and progressed a little. The piano in my house is in my sewing room and it actually belongs to my daughter, who took piano for 5 years. She will be getting the piano when we are able to get it moved to her home. So, no more piano for me. I love to hear my daughter play a piece called "Hymn". It moves me to another place in time.

3. I love to dance! I always wanted to dance and my husband is a good dancer. In our area of the South everybody does a dance called "the shag". It was invented in Myrtle Beach, SC, I believe. Anyway I printed out the basic steps from the Internet and practiced while holding onto a door knob. I'm no Ginger Rogers, but its so much fun. My hubby just throws me all over the place and spins me every which way. He's a lot of fun. We only get to dance in public once or twice a year, though.

4. I once exercised with Denise Austin's morning exercise program for 3 years without stopping (during the work week) For some reason I stopped and would love to do it again. She doesn't have her shows on Lifetime TV any more. I saw where she was going to have another show this fall, but haven't checked to see where. I try to walk during my lunch break when the weather is nice. That's my exercise routine for the moment!

5. Jobs I've done: Teenage farm worker, Woolco Department Store (exchange and refund clerk), N. C. Dept of Revenue (Inheritance and Gift Tax Division), Office worker in sewing factory, Accounting office worker, Office worker in a glass plant, and my present job (20 years).

6. I love to read self-improvement/self-help books. My favorites are: time management, cooking, sewing, health, spiritual, marriage, gardening, etc.

Thanks Melinda!

Tagged! Six Random Things About Me.

The sweet Melinda of "The Nest Egg" tagged me to list six random things about me.

So here you go!

1. I was born on George Washington's birthday 50 years ago. I have three older brothers and one older sister. I was walking by the time I was 8 months old. My Mama says I always tried to eat dirt when I was outside. She had to watch me like a hawk. This isn't good, since we had chickens in the yard in those days.
When I was growing up I loved dogs and wanted to be a veterinarian, but was severely frightened by a "mean dog" when I was 13 and never wanted to pursue that career again!

2. A funny story about my growing up years. One morning my older sister made my breakfast and had put pepper on my scrambled eggs. I started crying hysterically and saying, "The boys put boogers in my eggs!". Evidently they aggravated me a lot to make me think that. LOL (Sorry, hope you already had your breakfast!)

3. I have had three children, two of which are still living. My middle child, Josh, was born in 1984 and died in 1986. He had a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He's my Saint in heaven!

4. Pregnancy and child births: I was VERY sick with morning sickness with my first child, Lori. She was born in 1980. At that time the doctor would give you a prescription for this called Benedictine. With the medicine I was able to get through the morning sickness. With all three of my children I dilated to 2 centimeters 2 weeks before they were born. I was only in labor with my first for about 6 hours. The Dukes of Hazzard were on the tv when she was born. The most beautiful sound memory I have is the first time I heard her cry. I love to remember the sound!

With my second child, Josh, I was NOT SICK A DAY. I did have gestational diabetes and didn't gain nearly as much weight as with my first. My water broke and he was born 2 hours later. He was pronounced healthy, but the next day the doctor became worried because there was a heart murmur that normally went away within a few days. We were sent to Chapel Hill Hospital and there we learned that he had a fatal birth defect and would not live long. However, he lived 2 years! A gift from God!

I also had severe morning sickness with my third child, Jacob, but no medicine this time! My delivery was quick with him too. The doctor broke my water and he was born about 30 minutes later. He started making noise and hasn't been quiet since! Lol. I love that boy!

5. Both of my children went to public school, but if they were born now, no way would they go to public school. I would definitely home school them.

6. I'm a paralegal. I wasn't educated to be a paralegal, but have done this work for 20 years. The state of North Carolina has a program now that allows you to be certified based on on the job training. So I have a nice pretty certificate that says I'm a paralegal. Funny, I feel the same.

If you would like to reveal six things about yourself to the blogging world, please let me know. I'd love to learn more about you.


Thanks Melinda for the Tag!!!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Melinda at the Nest Egg. I can tell by reading her post she is a very sweet person.

Here are my answers:

Name 5 kind things I do for myself:

1. Go to the library and get as many books as I want!
2. Recently "doing nothing" on my lunch break. This means I avoid running errands and try to get away from my desk to take a walk, or another enjoyable thing. (see no. 1).
3. Worry Less, breathe deeply when feeling stressed.
4. Doing my nails, plucking my eyebrows, applying lotion or anything that makes me feel feminine or pampered.
5. Use time spent staying with my mother to rest and read.


Name 5 kind things I do for my friends, children or spouse:

1. I try to cook each member of my family their favorite foods as much as possible.
2. I pack my grown son's lunch for work.
3. I take lunch to my sweetie when he is too busy to come home on Saturdays.
4. I send unexpected surprise packages to my daughter and her family in the mail.
5. I make handmade gifts for my friends at Christmas and make sure we remember my coworkers' birthdays at work.

Name 5 kind things I do for strangers:

1. Leave extra coupons under the edge of items in the grocery store I don't plan to buy.
2. Hold the door for who ever is coming behind me.
3. Offer help to those who look lost or need directions at the courthouse I work near.
4. I "try" to be polite and patient with people on the phone at work, even when they are not being nice to me.
5. Let other drivers in front of me when they are trying to get out into traffic.

Name 5 hobbies:

1. Sewing/quilting/crafts
2. Blogging
3. Couponing, thrifting, yardsaleing
4. Reading
5. Gardening

I tag:

Sort of Frugal
Hearts in Service
Happy Hearts at Home
Elizabeth's Simple Journey
Little Pen Pen

Book Tag and Thrift Store Book Finds

I was tagged by Alexandra to do the following:

~Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages
~Open the book to page 123 and find sentence number 5.
~Post the next 3 sentences
~Tag 5 people.

The area for the laundry can be anywhere: in the basement, closet with a stack washer-dryer. All you need is access to electricity, plumbing, drainage, and a vent to the outside of the home for your dryer.

Often this area of homemaking becomes such an awesome task that a lot of stress is created due to our inability to keep up with the volume of clothing. I remember one lady with ten children telling me that one of her loads of laundry had 78 pairs of socks. That's a lot of socks!

(That's more than 3 sentences, but I couldn't resist!)

Book Title: Emilie's Creative Home Organizer by Emilie Barnes, Updated and Revised.

I bought this book at a library book sale for a quarter. It is paperback and pretty tattered, but I go back to it again and again. Emilie Barnes is one of my favorite authors.

I'm not sure who to tag! Leave me a comment if you'd like to be tagged by me!


I also wanted to show you some children's books I found at a thrift store for 25 cents each. They are vintage, hardback, in excellent condition and I would consider them classics. Sometimes you have to dig around in thrift shops. This particular store is very small and stuff gets piled on top of stuff. I was digging around in the toys looking for classics such as Fisher Price, etc. and found these like new books under some boxes. All of the books that were on the book shelf were worn out and ragged. I'm sure these would have been gone if they were out in the open.



Happy Wednesday!

Seven Things About Me Tag

I've been tagged by Mrs. Warmth to list 7 things about me.

1. I'm a little obsessive/compulsive in that I have to check behind myself over and over in certain areas. I check, recheck and double check the stove, coffee pot, iron, curling iron to make sure they are turned off and unplugged. I check the doors to be sure they are locked over and over. At work I check behind my work over and over. This comes from having a mother who worries over everything and it has rubbed off on me. Hope I don't pass this along to my daughter, but I'm afraid its too late!!! LOL. Also I don't want to repeat mistakes of the past and I'd rather check the stove 3 times than to worry about it all day!!!

2. I love piano music, especially when my daughter plays. I guess I just love music. It moves me to another place in time. I can play piano just a little. I took lessons for 2 years when I was really young.

3. I like cats, but I don't want one in the house ever again. I buy a cat or kitten calendar for my office every year and have outside cats that I really like alot. I have a kitten now whose motor runs if you just look at him straight.

4. I love to dance. My husband is a great dancer and we get to go somewhere where there is dancing about once or twice a year. We do a kind of free-style shagging. We never took lessons, just improvise. If I'm alone at home I will dance and sing all over the place.

5. I love things like sewing, cooking and gardening. I guess I'm just a homebody.

6. I love the library. I could spend hours there. I bring home stacks of books to look at while watching tv or eating. I always have to take them back before I am through with them. Its amazing because you can get all the books you want anytime for free!

7. People who don't know me think I'm quiet, but my family knows better!!!!

8 Random Things About Me

Bethany Sue, CFO, tagged me to list 8 Random Things About me, so here you go:



1. I was raised on a tobacco farm in the South. I was driving the tractor that pulled the tobacco harvester when I was 8 and wore no hat, had no umbrella and nobody ever heard of sunscreen. I graduated to working on the harvester when I was about 12, not as boring and shielded from the sun at least!


2. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was growing up. That was before I found out I was afraid of big dogs!


3. I was born on George Washington's birthday and when my Mama asked the doctor if I was a boy or girl, he said, "Well, you sure can't name her George!".


4. My first job after the farm was the refund and exchange clerk/telephone answer person at Woolco Department Store. I was supposed to answer the phone by saying, "Thank you for calling Woolco Department Store, we want to be your favorite store, can I help you." By the time I said all that, the customer forgot what they were calling for!


5. Riding in cars makes me nervous. I don't like to drive in unfamilar places or in the rain. My least favorite thing about being a parent was ridng with teenagers learning how to drive!

6. I'm a carb addict. Not sweets, but salty stuff. I could eat Doritos and potato chips 3 times a day! My very, very favorite food is spaghetti. Love it!


7. My middle name is Louise and I was named after my Mama's sister, Louise, the oldest of 11 children.


8. My favorite thing to do is simply to be at home. I especially like to be home in Fall and Winter and being snowed in is wonderful!


I tag Super Mommie and Penny.

Ten Southern Things

I've been tagged by Little PenPen to make a list of ten Southern things. Here goes:
1. Fried food.(If you stand still in the South they will bread you and fry you!)

2. Everything closes and there is no bread in the grocery store if there is any mention of snow in the forecast. The weatherman is afraid to say snow and just says the "S" Word. We insist that the schools close because it is dangerous for our kids to be on school buses, but then we pull them on a sled behind our 4 wheel drive truck on the interstate. (My neighbors actually pulled their children and my son like this down the road in front of our house, much to my horror!)

3. Sweet Tea (Mickey D's for $1.00 is the best!!!)

4. Our vegetables are well cooked, not crunchy.

5. We call lunch dinner.

6. A popular dance is shagging.

7. A good Southern cook will feed anybody in her path.

8. Our grandparents are called our ma-mas and pa-pas.

9. A lot of people have double names like Billy Bob, Joe Ben, Debbie Lou, etc. If their Mama didn't name them that we will nick name them that anyway.

10. You have to look out for water moccasins in the summer (a snake).

Do I have any Southern Blog Readers? I'm not sure who to tag!!!

Debbie J.