There she is....

Congratulations to Miss Oklahoma Lauren Nelson, who tonight was crowned Miss America 2007! The Miss America Party at my house was smaller than usual this year, partly because the pageant was on Monday night (how crazy is that?!?). The usual attendees include myself, Bubba's Mom, Katie Lady, Wendy Bird, and my best friend Dana Lou. Wendy Bird couldn't make it down from Fort Worth this year, and of course Katie Lady couldn't come all the way from NYC with a baby about to be born any day now!! But we did have a good time, eating brownies and critiquing the contestants; and one of our favorites did win this year! So we put the crowns away until July, when we will get them out again for the Miss Texas pageant. Hopefully the whole gang will be back together again for that one! Until then we will all keep wishing for World Peace....

Normal? It's all relative....

Recently took a "How Normal Are You?" quiz that I found on cjh's blog - here are my results:

You Are 40% Normal

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Bubba and Katie Lady also took the quiz, and they too are 40% normal! And Cousin Wendy Bird - 40% normal. So it must be a family thing.

I am surprised that my normalcy is only at 40% - I always thought *I* was the normal one, and everyone else was weird! It certainly seems that way. But I can see a few things I do that people may construe as weird...

For instance, I like even numbers. The volume on the TV should always be an even number. Or a multiple of 5 - that is OK, too. Also, if I'm walking up stairs I must take the first step with my right foot. And the right sock must go one first, then the left sock, then the right shoe, then the left shoe. If you go sock-shoe, sock-shoe, it's just not right (Bubba will back me up on that one!). I'm a very organized person, to the point where some think I could have a bit of OCD - but that's not weird. That's just organized. I like to do certain things in a certain order. I like things to be in their place.

Doesn't everyone have their little idiosyncrasies? Does that make us not "normal"? I didn't understand how some of the questions in the quiz determined if I'm normal or not - like is it ok for someone else to be in the room when you use the bathroom. Any married couple has done this. It's a necessity. Not weird. And have I smoked pot? I have not. Is that normal? I have no idea. Bubba, have you smoked pot???

Well, all quizzing aside, I still see myself as a pretty normal gal. And if you don't agree - well, you're weird.

Clean Slate

My favorite part of New Years is starting a new calendar. It's like a clean slate - open to all the possibilites of things I will do throughout the next year. At the end of the year I can look back on it and remember the story of my life for the past 365 days. All written out neatly in blue ink. All the birthdays and anniversaries checked off, the list of books I read and movies I watched, the appointments kept and parties attended. The weddings and the funerals. The good and the bad. It's all there.

One would think I would have my resolutions in there - my list of things to do better - or at least differently - for the New Year. This year I'm not making resolutions. Because who are we kidding? I'm not going to keep them anyway. Things I should resolve to do? Cook better meals for my family and not eat out so much, save more money, read more books. Might happen. Might not. Either way, I'll be OK. Why put pressure on myself by making it an official resolution?

I do have some goals for 2007. I want to move out of this house. Hopefully soon. It will be an improvement to all areas of our lives. I want to go on the vacation we had to give up when Hubby broke his leg. We have that tentatively re-scheduled, but we will see. I want to become stronger in my faith and truly trust God enough to not worry about things. I guess those kinda sound like resolutions, but they're not exactly. Just things I want for myself and my family. Things to improve our lives and make us happy. We need happy. Because we've dealt with a lot of crap lately. I can prove it - it's all written in last year's calendar.