Memes

Fall is without a doubt my favorite time of the year and these are the reasons why.

1. It’s still hot, but not the kind of hot that makes you feel like you just stuck your head in an oven.

2. The first morning that I walk outside and realize the air is crisp and cool. I can tell the wind has shifted because I can hear the train whistle and the sound of the high school band practicing in the morning.

3. Knowing that every Saturday there is a college football game on from morning until night. Big XII, SEC, Pac 10…it doesn’t really matter because it’s all good.

4. Candy corn and the occasional mellowcreme pumpkin.

5. Taking Caroline to the incredible Pumpkin Patch at the Methodist Church. Those Methodists know how to display some pumpkins.

6. Getting dressed in the morning and being able to put on jeans, a sweater and boots.

7. High school football games. I love to hear the band play, watch the cheerleaders jump up and down in between gossiping, and see all the other drama unfold with the high schoolers in the stands. Oh yeah…the football is good too.

8. The smell outside when people are burning fires in their fireplaces.

9. Making a huge batch of crawfish etouffee and having friends over on the first really cold night of the season.

10. School starts again for Caroline. It’s loads of fun for her and a welcome break for me. It’s a win-win.

11. Loading up the dogs and the kid and going to the ranch to hang out with friends, shoot some dove and just hang out.

12. Did I mention college football?

13. Knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. They aren’t kidding about it being the most wonderful time of the year.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

So Carol over at She Lives tagged me for a meme about my dogs and made the comment that I would be like who is she and why is she tagging me. Are you kidding? Carol is the reason that I have been able to sleep until 7 a.m. for several mornings because after reading this post, she suggested a little trick called bribery. And y’all it works 90% of the time. To show my appreciation I will tell you five things about my dog Scout (we actually have 2 dogs, but Scout is by far the weirdest so there’s a lot more material). Scout is the one with the darker coat and dark face. I would tell you that he’s on the left or right but I don’t really know my left from my right without thinking about it really hard and I’m not that committed.

1. If he is inside he will watch T.V. for hours. In fact, when he was a puppy he broke our VCR because a dog came on T.V. and he jumped up to attack the T.V. and slammed our VCR into the back of the armoire.

2. We had him for 2 weeks when we discovered that he had a hole in his heart and wouldn’t live for more than a year without surgery. The surgery couldn’t be done in town, so we drove him to College Station (home of the fightin’ Texas Aggie vet school) to have the procedure done. I will not embarrass myself by revealing how much the surgery cost, but sufficed to say Scout has met his healthcare deductible.

3. He is the only dog I’ve ever seen that will lick a beef rib like maybe he’s not sure that he wants it.

4. He weighs over 50 lbs but if you call him he will hurl himself off the ground and into your arms. He has knocked me over on more than one occasion.

5. P. is the pooper scooper at our house and he swears that anytime he’s picking up poop, Scout will walk right next to him and poop a fresh one. This could be one of the reasons P. doesn’t really claim him and says he’s my dog.

I’m supposed to tag 5 people but with apologies to Carol, I am drawing a blank. If you have a dog (or a cat since we’re all about equal opportunity here at Big Mama’s), feel free to consider yourself tagged.

I was tagged for this meme by Barb at A Chelsea Morning, so here it goes.

1.What was your favorite thing about being a kid?

I loved the last day of school and knowing that you had a whole long lazy summer in front of you. I remember riding my bike to our neighborhood pool with my gang of girlfriends knowing that all we had to do was remember to be home by dark. We’d go up to the 7-11 and load up on enough candy to last us all day long and spend the rest of the day practicing our flips off the diving board.

2. What was your favorite subject in school?

English, without a doubt. I loved that I got to read great books and write papers about them. I always had great English teachers who instilled a love of reading and writing. I will say that Algebra II was the bane of my existence, and I can hardly type the word Geometry without breaking out into a cold sweat and wanting to cry.

3. Who was your best friend when you were 10?

Caroline Fletcher. She lived two houses down from us and was one year older. I thought she was the coolest thing that ever lived. We had our own girl gang (kind of like the Pink Ladies) but we wore red satin jackets that our moms bought us at Weiners. She had a jukebox at her house and if we played Jive Talking by the Bee Gees once, we played it a million times. I also remember that we both wore our hair feathered and spent alot of time turning our heads upside down so we could flip our hair back. I never looked as cool as she did though. I lost touch with her after she moved and would love to know where she is now.

4. If you could be any animal, what would you be?

I would be one of my dad and stepmom’s dogs. They get to live inside, sleep on an incredibly comfortable bed and basically live a life of luxury with no responsibility, except for barking at the mailman. Not that I want to bark at the mailman, but I’m just saying they feel like it is their responsibility so I would carry on the tradition.

5. What would you change about your school, occupation, life right now?

Honestly, nothing. I’m pretty content and feel very blessed with what I have. If I could get Caroline to remember to use the potty EVERY time she needs to go that would be fabulous, but we’ll get there.

6. What’s your favorite color?

Depends on what it’s on. I like sage greens, sky blues, and pink if it’s that perfect shade between light and hot.

7. What’s your favorite type of crust and topping on a pizza?

I don’t want to sound all snobby and sophisticated but the pizza I love the most is a frozen Tombstone with pepperoni. One night a week, P. is gone and I love to bake myself a Tombstone and eat it while drinking an ice cold Corona with lime while watching some girly show on T.V. like the Gilmore Girls. I know most of y’all will think that’s disgusting, but it’s what I like. My relationship with pizza is complex and I go through times where I will even think that I hate pizza. It’s just a weird quirk. But when and if I do decide to eat pizzeria pizza, it absolutely must have thin, crispy crust. Anything else is just a travesty.

So there you have it and it’s probably more information than you wanted to know! Anyone else up for doing this meme? Consider yourself tagged.

Jennifer over at Mississippi Girl
did this little meme and tagged whoever wanted to do it. So here goes…3 things about my child.

1. She is a hoot and a half. My dad’s side of the family is Sicilian and I promise you she got the temper and the dramatic hand gestures. She makes big sweeping motions with her hands and arms to describe anything. The other night at the pool, Big (Gulley’s stepdad) asked if she wanted some ice cream and she held up her hand very dramatically and said in a tone reminiscent of Scarlett O’Hara,”Please, just let me eat my dinner or I can’t have anything else, no breakfast bars, no bananas, nothing.” As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!

2. When she’s in a timeout she sits in a little chair in her room and will spit on the floor until I come get her. I play like I don’t notice because honestly, it will make it worse. It’s her little personal way of getting out her frustration and it’s harmless, but it does make me laugh on the inside.

3. Her very best friend in the world is Jacks, Gulley’s little boy. She adores him and thinks he is the greatest thing that ever lived. If I want to get her to do anything all I need to say is that Jacks does it and she’s sold. When he got stung by a bee the other day at the pool, she wouldn’t even eat her ice cream until she knew he was okay. That, my friends, is true love.

Okay this is my first meme and I was tagged by Shalee, so here it goes. The thing you need to remember is that I love books, I adore books and for me to narrow anything down to just a few choices is next to impossible.

1. What book changed your life? I know everyone says the Bible and that’s true for me as well, but as far as something that really changed how I thought about my Christian faith, I would have to say there are two books. The first is No Wonder they Call Him the Saviour by Max Lucado. I read it in college when I had really hit rock bottom and it truly brought me back to my faith in Christ. The second would be Abandoned to God by David McCasland. It’s the biography of Oswald Chambers and is an incredible book. There’s one epiphany he had that still sticks with me when I start feeling all high and mighty, that anything another human being has done, good or evil, I am capable of doing except for the grace of God.

2. What book have you read more than once? Honestly, the list would be way too long because any book I love, I have read at least a dozen times. As a girl, it was anything in the Little House on the Prairie series or anything by Judy Blume. Now, it would have to be Gone with the Wind, Lonesome Dove, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Redeeming Love, and Julie.

3. What book would you want on a desert island? Again, I know everyone says the Bible, so I’ll say Little Women. There is just something so comforting about that book to me. When Caroline first came home from the hospital I watched that movie over and over again because I just needed to feel enveloped in a peaceful, gentler time and the book gives me the same feeling.

4. What book has made you laugh? The Nanny Diaries cracked me up the first time I read it but having re-read it since becoming a mom it makes me a little sad now too. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood always makes me laugh. The Girlfriends Guide to Toddlers’ is hysterical because I can relate to pretty much every page. When I was younger I loved the Soup books. Anybody remember those?

5. What book has made you cry? I cry fairly easily at fictional characters, but here’s the short list. To Kill a Mockingbird, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (laugh & cry, that’s a good book), and Lonesome Dove.

6. What book do you wish had been written? A mother’s complete guide to getting a child to give up their pacifier. I’ll write more about that later.

7. What book do you wish had never been written? Books mean different things to different people, so I can’t say there is any book I wish hadn’t been written. Everyone has a right to their opinion.

8. What book are you currently reading? The Strong Willed Child (I need it) by James Dobson and Letters to My Daughters by Mary Matalin. I’ve read it before but it has some great things to say about raising a daughter and it makes me laugh out loud at times.

9. What books have you been meaning to read? I usually wait to get recommendations from friends but I have been wanting to read The Secret Life of Bees.

So there you have it, my book recommendations. If you’ve read this far and are interested, consider yourself tagged!