Haygoods 12.29.07 Review

The Haygoods were AWESOME, as always! And I know the picture is very distracting, so I won't hold it against you if you miss a bit of my review. lol. First, I'll talk about the regular show:

They were having technical difficulties, but they were well worth the wait! They came out strong with Callin' Baton Rouge, and since all the message boarders and fan club members were there, they fed off of our energy, and we fed off of theirs! An endless, very exciting cycle. At one point during the introductions, Dominic laughed and said, "This is going to be a fun night!" Mainly because the crowd wouldn't stop screaming. I got lots of good pictures, as you can tell. I'll put up some links to all my pictures that I put up on facebook. Dom's "Feeling Good" was fantastic, and he really seemed like he was having fun up there. I know I was! "Jump Jive n' Wail" was just as good. Patrick did a great job, as usual. So did the rest of the guys in that number! Catherine's "Walking on Sunshine" was perfect. She is amazing! So talented, and pretty. She is one lucky, lucky girl! "My Girl" was extra special for me, because Dominic got my grandma up there! When he was looking over at me, I shouted, "SHE LOVES YOU!!!" It didn't matter that I'd been trying to get my mom up there, because he heard me and saw me pointing in the general direction of my grandma. And I didn't mind that he stood right in front of my chair for about 30 seconds, talking into the mic, and getting my grandma up from her seat. I didn't try to move out of his way TOO hard... I had a great view and our legs touched for as long as he stood there. hahaha. I couldn't keep my fan girl urges under control, so I acted like that was as far away as I could move. ^^ My grandma told him that we'd take him home if he'd come with us! All I could say is... we had room for TWO Haygoods on the ride back home. -.^

The Blues Brothers routine was especially energetic! Shawn and Dominic were tumbling a ton and having a great time. Dom's pants "fell down" right before he exited the stage, but I knew it was coming and got a good picture of his green spotted boxers. hahaha. Well, he asked for it. The tap routine was phenomenal! I wouldn't expect anything less. They put all they had into the "Haygood Weight Loss Program," although none of them need it. -.^ Dom and Mike shared the top of the scaffolding... I'm pretty sure thats what its called. And while they were setting up for one of the tap sections, Shawn looked right at my camera and I got a perfect shot! Ashokan Farewell and Eleanor Rigby were absolutely the best. While Tim was going through his "How I Got into Music" speech, he said something about being the oldest and never having girls scream for him any more. Needless to say, the place erupted in screams. He laughed, and said something along the lines of, "Thank you ladies. Those were pity screams, but I'll take them." Then he lost his train of thought and said, "Anyone know what comes next?" but when some of the MB/Fan Club girls in front of him started his speech where he left off, you could tell he hadn't actually thought people would know his speech! "You know it better than I do!" he said. So, during the meet & greet, I told Tim I screamed for him. = ) I always do. I love Mr. Tim! He's amazing.

The Christmas section of the show was great! [I'm running out of adjectives here! haha.] I got plenty of pictures of Shawn and Matt and Dom. They were always right in front of me! haha. Jingle Bells was energetic. Winter Wonderland was fantastic! Althought at one point Shawn dropped the football, poor guy. He was able to laugh it off with the audience, though. And Silver Bells was phenomenal. = ) I got tons of pictures of that. Aaron's "Here Comes Santa Claus" was really good, and Dominic's "Mary Did You Know" was as superb as ever! I get chills just listening to my CDs and DVDs... Its nothing compared to watching it live! At least all of the people in the first three rows gave him a standing ovation. I'm sure there were tons more, but I didn't really look around any more than I had to. I was concentrating on pictures. -.^

Fan Nite was AWESOME!!! You could really tell the guys were having so much fun! They were in their element, and that made it so much more exciting for everyone! It was another cycle of fan/artist feeding off of each other's energy. Catherine was in the orchestra, and looked like she was really enjoying herself. Not long into it, lots of us ran right up next to the stage. I got some really good, close pictures from that! Pat's song that he wrote was a definite tear jerker! I think it got to everyone. It was so sweet... He said he got the inspiration from a St. Jude's Children's Hospital commercial. It was about a dad's feelings for his sick daughter... I wish I could remember more words than, "Hush baby don't you cry, Daddy's written you a lullabye." And the song that Shawn wrote was superb. I loved it. Halfway through the nine songs they sang, Shawn's shirt suddenly became unbuttoned! A lot more camera flashes were going his way after that! It was a good thing I'd kept my camera trained on him practically the whole time. -.^ Michael's song evoked lots of fangirl cheering. It was supposedly a great love song, but had lots of "goodbye's" in it. Hmmm. Well, all the ladies loved it. Myself included. Then when Aaron came out, Dominic said, "About two weeks ago we realized we hadn't written Aaron a song." hahaha. They ended off with "Higher," and it was PERFECT! The energy was amazing, and I am STILL wound up from it! Only downside was that Shawn's shirt had mysteriously become buttoned again. haha.

The place was absolutely packed for fan nite. It took awhile for everyone to find seats. Thank you, Tim for letting us keep our seats! Otherwise, I don't know what we would have done!!! There were at least two handheld cameras going around the crowd while we were all up at the front next to the stage, so I'm pretty sure I have a good chance of being on TV. The cameras were up in all of our faces. So were Dom and Shawn. I think I accidentally stabbed Shawn with a fingernail. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT SHAWN, I'M SORRY! lol. My hand was already up there, and he suddenly brought his a lot closer to mine. And EVERY time Shawn went into the crowd to give hugs, I was ALWAYS at least two people away from him! So, I'm excited for the girls that got hugged. Not so excited for myself. lol. At least I got a picture with him afterwards. At the very end, Dominic leaned down to give Annette a hug and almost fell into the crowd. For a second I thought he would.

The meet and greet was great too! Everyone was out there [though we had to wait and search for Dom] and I got Shawny P. to sign my camera and one of the pictures of him that they sell... Only my mom got it for FREE! Thank you, Daddy Haygood. = )

It took me until 3:00 to get wound down enough to actually get in bed last night.... Or this morning. And I'm STILL wound up! I feel like I've had a venti-sized frappuchino, but I haven't had ANY coffee today... at all. The only caffeine was two or three sips of my mom's tea. Haha. I can't believe we have to wait so long to see them again!!! I can't wait to see my first live summer show. And they said it would be different, to please their core fan base. Can I get a YEEEEEEEEE HHAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Links to all the pictures:

http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005125&l=0acc3&id=1447920356

http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005127&l=0999b&id=1447920356

http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005128&l=f2fe3&id=1447920356

http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005129&l=3ace8&id=1447920356

And I didn't want to create a whole album just for the 5 meet-and-greet pics, so the ones from fan nite are at the end of this album: http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002495&l=3b63b&id=1447920356

My Grandma Onstage with Dom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlZto7Y8rY4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0xye07spLw

Until Next Post, God Bless!!!!

A very wound up Tina

At the Hilton!

Yeah... this is my second post of the day. = ) Here's what I wrote while up in our room:

Wow. This room is awesome. Only thing I don’t like is you have to pay for the internet connection. The ONLY thing. I have a nice view of Waxy O’ Shea’s and Kay Jeweler’s from my window at the Hilton. The beds are so comfortable… I’ve bounced on them a bit already. ^^ There’s a swivel flat screen TV as well, and a nice closet with big doors, and a huge full-length mirror, and a separate bath tub and shower… Good thing I brought my aromatherapy essential oils to take a bath with. Hahaha. Their bathroom is bigger than mine! Heck, I could live here. I’d just have to do something about the color scheme. Its very nice and calming but I’d miss my hot pink and lime green. = ) Hahaha. We’ve found out how bad of a navigator my mother is. She drove the first half and I drove the second, but when we hit Branson we had to switch drivers again… She got us “lost” and started freaking out. NOT good for the driver to deal with when she doesn’t know exactly where she is going. I got us back on the right path just by reading the directions the Hilton sent us. = P I may have no clue where we are, but if I have a map and/or directions… I can get us anywhere. I got my dad around Colorado. From Denver to Keystone, with only one or two mishaps because once or twice we couldn’t get to our exit because of traffic. We also ate at Famous Dave’s about 20 minutes ago. I am now in love with their crispy chicken tenders. I had a Crispy Chicken salad… and ran out of chicken far too quickly. So… we ordered more chicken. = ) And now I’m stuffed! And I’m writing this in our amazing room so my battery won’t die right before I post this since the only area with free internet is the lobby. I’ll also swing by the MB to say hi. Oh, and I almost forgot! When we went by the MCC to pick up our tickets [SECOND ROW, SEATS 5,6,7, RIGHT SIDE] and I thought I saw Shelby at Starbucks. Maybe it was just me… because I do have a habit out of “seeing” people I know, or think I know, everywhere. And this girl looked exactly like Shelby’s profile pic on the MB. But anyway. I have Happy in Jesus stuck in my head. But that’s okay. It’s a good song. No useless facts – the book is still in my Tribute! And my Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly is at the bottom of my suitcase. OHOHOHOHOHOHHH! My mom is going to wear purple, and my grandma is going to wear yellow. We have two more Haygoods represented! = ) So, until next post [which is going to be AWESOME], God Bless! Tina[Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! With a big ol’ YEEEE HAWWWW!]

P.S. [Caption: Fountains at the Branson Landing from earlier tonight. My camera is so cool. ^^]

Fan Nite, here I come....

WHEEEEEEEE! An' a big YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! Hahaha. Yess! Fan Nite, HERE I COME!!!! I'm finishing packing at the moment, then I'm gonna go pick up my grandma and bring her back to our house, then we're gonna get ON THE ROAD!

[Random Moment:]

On the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again,

And I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway

We're the best of friends

Insisting that the world be turnin' our way

And our way

Is on the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again

On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway

We're the best of friends

Insisting that the world be turnin' our way

And our way

Is on the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again

And I can't wait to get on the road again

ANYWAYS.... Can't wait to meet all the MBers.... TOMORROW!!!!!

And my next post will probably be how SO TOTALLY AWESOME FAN NITE was!!! Haha. Gimme a great big YEEEEEE HAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!

God Bless!

Tina

Excitement Building...

Soooo.... FAN NITE!!! It is getting closer... Funny thing, actually. My mom called my Grandma sometime this morning, and she said, "I'm ready!" My mom was like, "...For what?" "For the trip! I'm all dressed and packed." Hahaha. She'd thought we were leaving TODAY... Not TOMORROW. lol. And then I had to run over to her house because our water shut off for about forty-five minutes and I had to take a shower since Jamie was coming over. I pulled up back at my house about five minutes before she did. Hahaha. I love her truck. Its awesome. A maroon two-door Chevy truck with mud tires [+ mud lol] and a lift kit. I swear, the mud tires are wider than I am! And when I'm inside, upstairs, and listening to my music in the room farthest away from my driveway I can still hear her pull up. Oh, and since Spot broke Jamie's gate to her barn... that brought to mind the fiasco we both went through to get the gate in the first place! We went to Atwoods after dropping her mom off at work... She couldn't drive at the time because of some surgery... First, it was hard to find a parking space to fit in. Then we got the water trough first, and we each had an end of it, carrying it through the store. Hahaha. It barely fit through the narrow aisles we had to walk through to get the trashcan [which we just stuck in the water trough], bungie cord to keep the can lid on, a lime green bucket and hot pink vet wrap for me went in as well, and something else that I can't remember. Well... we got a receipt for the gate so we could drive by the pick up spot and have some workers put it in the bed for us. But to drive up to the loading area... we had to get out the door. The water trough almost didn't make it through the first door [there are two], and we got stuck in the second door. We almost didn't get it through that one because we were laughing so hard! The guy behind us was laughing, too. hahahaha. Then when the 10 foot gate was in the bed, the water trough + trash can were on top of it... every time we made a turn, the water trough and trash can would slide to the opposite side of the bed. The first time it happened we both ducked. It was a SPECIAL adventure! And now... apparently the gate is broken. After all that trouble. Tsk tsk, Spot.

ANYWAYS... FAN NIGHT FAN NITE FAN NITE FAN NITE FANNITEFANNITEFANNITEFANNITEFANNITE!!!!!! YEEEEEE HAAAAAAWWWWWWW!! WHEEEEEE! OHMYGOODNESSOHMYGOODNESSOHMYGOODNESS!!! ITS ALMOST HEEEERRREEEE!!!! -dances- W00t! Happy day!!! heehee. Fan Nite is ALMOST HERE! Just TWO DAYS! Almost exactly two days from now, actually... since its 9:00 pm on Thursday! -bounces- I've FINALLY figured out my wardrobe. Thanks to the MBers who watched my youtube video and helped me decide. I'll just have to leave the heels at home, I guess. I can't wait to meet all you MBers poolside at six!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY! I'm excited about EVERYTHING! heehee. 'cept for how dirty my horse is at the moment. But thats besides the point... [oohhh... "Fall In Love" by Kenny Chesney just came on my iPod... I'd forgotten about this song! = ) It DOES make me want to fall in love, Kenny. ^^] And so was that. FAN NITE FAN NITE FAN NITE FAN NITE FAN NITE HERE I COME!!!!!! All my stuff from my LAST Missouri trip is either in the washer, dryer [sp? Pfft. who cares? FAN NITE IS COMING!!!], or on its way back into my duffel bag! hahaha. Maybe I'll take a suitcase this time, though... I dunno. I think I'll take my aromatherapy kit I got and take a few relaxing baths once we get there. I have a feeling I'll need it. One, because I survived being in a vehicle with my grandma for over four hours... Two, because I'll be so PUMPED FOR FAN NITE!!!! Can you see my inner cheerleader coming back out to say hello? Hahaha. I haven't worked on a dance routine for SO long [8th grade, actually.] that I have started memorizing the blacklight Jump Jive 'n Wail dance! I've almost got the whole first half! lol. Yes... it is a really simple dance when you break it all up. 'cept for the leaning. I can't do that on my bedroom floor. So... I've got it up to the leaning, I think. And for those of you who enjoy my freak outs... I hope you enjoyed this one as well. hahahaha.

Useless Facts! [I showed the book to my grandpa, and now I think I'm going to get him one of thses types of books for Christmas next year. hahaha. And this book is still in the car... so these are all from memory.]

*A group of rinos is called a crash. A group of gorillas is called a shrewdness. A group of kangaroos is called a mob.

*Ravens are kept in some tower in London. An ancient myth says that if the ravens ever desert the tower, the British crown/thrown will fall. Parliament clips all of the wings of the ravens in this tower. = P

*George Washington was technically our 8th President. While he was the 1st under the Declaration of Independence and other documents... There were 7 other previous Presidents under the Articles of Confederation.

[That was pretty good for facts from memory, huh?]

Hmmm... I think I'll turn up my Homedics Spa Sounds iPod player and test some of my aromatherapy essential oils in a nice bath. = ) It sounds relaxing.

So... until next post, God bless!

Tina

Redneck Word of the Day

paranoia, n. and v. two living beings engaged in irritating behavior. "You can't let that paranoia."

P.S. Jamie got me a purty stall plate for Dakota! And I gave her a little baby blue wire/string/thing that you can put pictures on with little mini-magnets for her b-day. And the no-bake cookies, of course.

P.P.S. Picture caption: Kendra opening her gift from "me." Really from my parents and I, but oh well. = )

CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas, Christmas time is here. Time for toys and time for cheer. We’ve been good, but we can’t last… Hurry Christmas, hurry fast. Hahahaha… The Chipmunk’s Christmas song!! I love that song. It gets annoying after awhile though. Kinda like my cousins. I love ‘em, but only for an hour or so. I could almost swear that Larissa, the youngest, thought I was made to be a rock climbing wall just for her. She’s like… six now? ‘Course, she’s the spoiled baby now… But that child just can’t restrain herself. I guess I can’t understand because I was a shy, well-behaved child who never climbed all over poor, unsuspecting family members…. Well, I climbed on my dad. But that’s different. He was the only one. I would NOT be a good worker with children under seven. Seven to twelve, I can handle. Most of the time. Heh. But I suppose the horrible campers from summer SHRA [Southern Hills Riding Academy, for my MBers out there] camp wouldn’t be SO horrible if I didn’t have to worry about them getting themselves killed. I’ll have to share the stories of Mary, Duke [AHH! That child! I swear… he needed to be tranquilized, or something!], and one or two others who were annoying as ever but maybe just came for a week so I don’t remember their names. [Hmm… There was something about two brothers, though. One was Chase, the other was…? Ah, forget it.] Some started out horrible but ended up quite nicely in the end. Like cute little Lauren. She was a NIGHTMARE when she first started coming to camp. Now she takes lessons as well and has turned into an angel. Okay. I started with the chipmunks, and ended with bratty camp kids. How does that work? I won’t go back through it. But, I thought I’d write a CHRISTMAS UPDATE!!!! YAAAAY! It will be AFTER Christmas when I post this [I have no internet at my grandparents’ house, and don’t really want to expose my laptop to my cousins who are more like loud, hyper, shrieking tornados than little girls, since they live where the wireless internet is. I’m in a word document at the moment, at 2:22 AM Christmas morning. Because I can’t sleep. Not because I’m excited [oh yes.. more cousin bonding time tomorrow! W00t!-coughcough-]… I just can’t get my mind to shut down and stop thinking. So maybe if I write everything out my thoughts will settle down and let me go to sleep. Anyway. Audra got me my Christmas AND birthday presents. Lots of bottles of body mist, wash, and lotion. And one bottle of bubble bath. Trying to tell me something, Audra? Haha, just kidding. It is all very nice – thank you. My grandma got me lots of socks [no surprise. But she got me some AWESOME ones that easily go past my knees. Exactly like the ones Kate got me, just two pair with a lot crazier pattern. I’m definitely going to take pictures of those.] And my parents and I [and her! Lol] tickets to the Reba/Kelly Clarkson concert at the Mabee Center in Tulsa. YAAY! And [wow. I feel spoiled typing all this out. Well… its what comes of being an only child, I suppose.] two really pretty purses, and a 50 dollar Starbucks Card. My great grandma just got me money [what I’d asked for]. My parents got me an iPod sounds spa – basically an awesome, off-brand iHome – and some books [yay!], the “EQUESTRIAN SPORTS: Have you got what it takes?” hoodie I’ve been wanting since last Christmas, and I’m opening the rest later this morning. Ha. Now… the part to make myself feel better: what I gave!

I got my dad a model Corvette with Cardinals logos and pictures all over it. He has about six or seven all over the house. I think he can’t decide whether to start collecting model cars or planes, ‘cause he has six or seven model planes all over his office, that he got off of ebay. I can tell he liked it, because he immediately took it out of the box it came in and freed it from all the cardboard and zipties and whatever else was holding it in place. YAY ME! I found the Cardinals Clubhouse store at the Branson landing… Thank you, Landing! I got my mom a wooden plaque that says “MOM To the world you might be one person but to one person you might be the world.” That matches our kitchen so she could set it in there, and a necklace/earring set that she wore on the way up to Missouri. I got my grandma an Alan Jackson Christmas CD which she loved and a black leather/fake silver bracelet that she also loved. Which had also been the deal of my life, but she doesn’t have to know that. -.^ And my mom and I got my great grandma fuzzy slippers that vibrate, since her feet always hurt now that she hardly has any circulation in them. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! YESYESYESYESYESYES! –cough- Sorry. Now it is… Wednesday, I do believe. I have my computer hooked up to the adaptor in the Tribute, and am sitting in the backseat, still without internet. I love internet. Anyway, the cause for my freak out: I GOT A CAMERA!!! IT IS SO COOL!!!! Its nice and slim, and GREEN! It’s a lime/light green that is AWESOME!!!! And it will fit in all of my purses, unlike the camera my dad was letting me use. I also got a 3 gig memory card to put in it. I’m happy. = ) My parents got it for me. So, I had to go charge the battery for it, and I used it at my cousin’s house. I’ll have to take a picture of my new camera with my dad’s camera to show it to y’all. Haha. I’m also taking it to FAN NITE!!!! It has an anti-blur setting that would be perfect for getting action shots, I think. I’M EXCITED!!!!!! For my camera, and fan nite. = ) I also got two shirts that I’d picked out like three weeks ago with my mom, a big case of eye shadow/lip gloss that had been on sale and was amazingly cheap for the quality at Ulta when I got my bare minerals make up. I got some long underwear and Steeple Hill books from my grandparents. I love Steeple Hill publishers. That’s how I get my Christian romance fixes. -.^ I think I already owned over 50 of those books. Now I have at least 10-15 more. Hahaha. Hopefully they’ll last until February. Lol. I need a new bookshelf. That’s what I’ll ask for next year, I guess. Haha. I’m a nerd, but I love it. = ) If only I could transfer my nerdy-ness over to math and science as well as history and other books in general. Oh well. ANYWAY: My cousins got me a Trail of Painted Ponies pony! I have one already, and it’s been getting lonely sitting in my room all by itself. I think THAT’S what I’m going to collect as well as Steeple Hill books. And saddle pads. Haha. Hmmm... Well. I think thats enough for.... three days. Actually, I wrote that over three days, so it works, I guess. Until next post, God bless! Tina

Caption for the pic: So cute and innocent looking. So very, very dangerous underneath. This is Larissa, the cousin who uses me as a rock wall. The lungs of a cheerleader three times her size, and the annoying persistance of a playful puppy. Yup. That's her.

What is it with these dreams?

Lately, I've had a big, big dream that I've actually remembered very vividly for the past few nights. The first one, I was at MCC... but at the same time it wasn't MCC. Very wierd. Shawn was the only one on stage, and he just stayed there for two songs. That part was kinda fuzzy. But then I went backstage and talked to him for awhile. Then Dominic popped out of nowhere, wearing glasses and talking in another language... I didn't know what it was. Then a guy I knew from the school I went to my freshman year [who also wears glasses] popped out of nowhere and starts talking to Dom in whatever language he'd been talking in... Then I wanted a picture of me and Shawn [this is where it turns into a nightmare - lol.] but my camera batteries died. And I seriously started to say, "NOOOOOO!" but I woke up. Yeah. I was so mad in my dream I woke up, I guess. Haha. It was WIERD. And all these people from my old schools [just 2 schools, not like 5 haha.] were in the audience, and I can't really describe the seating, it was even wierder. And I knew Tim and Cat were there, but I never saw them. However, this wasn't as wierd as a dream I had like a week before that. It had to do something with Tim, the MBers, Dom, me, my horse, and a parade.... lol. It was... strange, to say the least... hahaha. That one I just vaguely remembered when I woke up. THENNNN... Last night. Wow. This had nothing to do with any of the Haygoods, but Kim [trainer], Kimberly, Jamie, Shauna, and me... It is actually a very long dream to describe, so I'll go with the short version. And this was one of those dreams where you have to think about it when you wake up to make sure it wasn't real. Kind of depressing, actually. It started out with a lunch break for summer camp, and everyone listed above was there [oh, and Kelly was just getting ready to leave - scary, scary woman!] and Kimberly had just bought a horse. I dunno how I knew, but I knew it was a mare. And you know those big trucks you only buy to pull like an eight horse slant? Thats the kind of truck this random guy was driving, and he was pulling a trailer that had STALLS, instead of SLOTS. Don't ask me how that worked, it just did. Then he was trying to back up or something, but the joint between the trailer and the truck wouldn't move, and something went wrong, and this horse BOUNCED [only the bottom half of the trailer was there, just half walls... no roof or anything. It stopped at the mare's shoulder height.] like a bouncy ball, and hit her neck on the opposite side of the trailer, broke it, and bounced into the middle of the field. I'll spare you the gorey details. I don't know how my mind comes up with this stuff. Anyway... Kimby and I both sprinted for the mare, and I hugged her and we were both crying. Kim [trainer] comes up, acts like she didn't even SEE the horse, and asks why so much blood is all over her grass, and that it needed to be cleaned off. I woke up just before I started to tell her off, since Kimberly had been in my arms crying her head of, and that was no way to talk to a grieving girl. Yeah. Strange, I know... I remember the STRANGEST dreams. Two dreams from FOREVER ago, I remember like I just woke up from them. One of them, I was spending the night at my grandma's house and I was like 7. I got too hot in the middle of the night and dreamed I was on a rollercoaster [I tossed and turned in my sleep a lot when I was little, maybe explained the roller coaster feeling? dunno.] that was going through fire. When I woke up, somehow I had all of the covers piled up on top of me and I was sweating. Thats the extremely condensed version. And another dream I had when I was about 10 or 11. We'd just had a garage sale [in my dream] and I dreamed a robber was trying to steal my big jar of dimes that I'd gotten from the garage sale. No bills, no other coins, just dimes. My neighbors tried to help me, but he knocked them all out, and he was chasing me, and I finally got inside to call the police, and it was crazy... And my parents were nowhere to be found... Then I woke up. I also remember one other very vivid nightmare that I had when I was 7, right after I'd had my tonsils and adenoids taken out, and tubes put in my ears [all during the same surgery]. So it must have been a result of the drugs still in my system. I remember that was the only time I'd ever been allergic to a drug, 'cause it made me throw up and I was feeling rotten, so I slept with my parents that night. ANYWAY... I was at my grandma's house in my dream, and she was nowhere, I was alone, and I was talking to my mom on the phone, and she said she had to hang up because she was dying... Needless to say, I woke up crying, which made my throat hurt worse, which made me cry harder. So.... yeah. I have had some pretty crazy dreams... And I just looked up the forecast. It's supposed to snow tomorrow. I don't think it will stick very much [At least not to the road] becuase when Kate left about 45 minutes ago, I went out to her jeep with her barefoot, in my favorite [but not very warm] pajama pants [that are SO COOL! All my best pajamas are hand-me-downs. Lol. My eeyore pjs from my mom, and these are white with pink, green, and black stripes from my grandma. lol. ANYWAYS...] and I felt perfectly fine. My toes got a bit chilly where the cement had been sitting in a shadow for awhile, but other than that the ground was really warm. OH MY GOSH! Kim called me at like 6 last night, while Kate and I were watching School of Rock. She said she'd pay me TWENTY BUCKS to bring in, so I asked Kate if she wanted to go to the barn, she said sure, so I told Kim I would. After I hung up, I was like, "Heck YESSS!" TWENTY bucks to bring in. Normally, I get FIVE. Hahahaha. Although, I ran out back in the pitch black to get the guys out back in the rented. I almost stepped in a hole, almost tripped over a tree branch that hadn't been there before the ice storm, and spooked myself with a large, moving black object headed my way. Then I was like, "I'm an idiot. Its a horse. They'res going to be large, black moving giants because I'm bringing horses in in the dark! But the moon was rather bright, so it wasn't too bad once I got out of the trees. I was tempted to take Panther so I wouldn't have to run on foot 'cause she is the bravest pony EVER, but she already saved my butt in the dark once and didn't want to push my luck. Then Splash scared the crap out of me, because he didn't run way ahead of me with the other guys, he stayed behind. Right as I got through the stadium/dressage gate, he snorted really loud, and I didn't know he was behind me! Almost gave me a heart attack. I was about ready to scream [watching Without a Trace has me really paranoid now. lol.] when I saw that it was Splash, not a crazy worker from the neighborhood next to us. This is going to turn into a really long post, so I'll just cut it off now, with another heck YESS! for the twenty bucks last night. = ) So.... Until next post, God Bless! Tina Redneck Word of the Day foreigner, n. and prep. an interior measurement of more than three but fewer than five persons or objects. "Our town tried for the record for the most people in a telephone booth, but we could only get foreigner."

Apologetics & AP US History [APUSH]

AP US History has turned into a BIG push. haha. Man, I'm going to have to step it up to finish in time for my AP test on May 9. What a way to celebrate my birthday... going to take what is most likely going to be a four hour test! Whee! -coughcoughcough- So, yes... Pray for me, and that I can stay disciplined enough to get that done! It doesn't help that I started school a few weeks late, either. Blaming my dad for that one, though. Not my fault!! haha. Finally, something that isn't. Sooo... Apologetics I. What I'm taking right now. Its very interesting. I wish I could just concentrate on that instead of all this Geometry, Chemistry, and Spanish crap. Actually, you know what? I think I'm going to get those Muzzy second language DVDs for my children when they're young. The window of opportunity for the easiest second language learning years is when kids are 1-12. I wish I'd had Muzzy videos when I was like... one. Then I could be learning French right now as a THIRD language. Or maybe German. German is kind of interesting. Because I mean, they say learning your third language is so much easier than learning your second. Or, at least Spanish makes French easier, and vice-versa. Because I really want to be fluent in Spanish, it just frustrates me more than anything ever has! Even more than math... -GASP!- Haha. Yes, even more than math. Because I UNDERSTAND math... I just can't retain anything. No matter how hard I try. And WOW. The purpose of this paragraph was supposed to be on my Apologetics course. Whoops. ^^ ANYWAYS.... Check out this link: http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9404/threat.html. It's interesting. At least I think it is. And... RANDOM MOMENT: YAAAAY! for Audra, finding my blog. = ) "So, Now You Know..." Facts: *Ancient Egyptians regarded a tattoo as a sign of wealth. [So Jason, if you got that full-body tatto you've been talking about on SayNow and time traveled back to ancient Egypt... I bet you'd be really popular! hahaha. Yes, I've been paying attention to that.] *The first toilet ever shown on television appeared in 1957, in an episode of Leave it to Beaver, titled "Captain Jack." *Rats multiply so quickly that one pair of rats might have more than 15,000 descendants in a year. [WOW.] *Experts estimate that there are more than 56 million rats in New York City, or roughly seven rats for every person. CHRISTMAS UPDATE!!! Yay. Okay... so I didn't get anything today, but I gave. = ) Wow, I feel special. Audra and Shauna got their horsies' pictures in purty frames and some of my mom's no-bake cookies. I didn't actually SEE Kim [trainer] open her picture of Rooster and 4-5 pieces of cake, so I had Jeff take it up to her when he was done mucking out stalls. Or, let her know it was there when she actually came down. Whichever came first. I hope the cat didn't get it before one of those. That would be bad.... And Shauna said she'd have gifts tomorrow. And Audra just let me know that her's were coming soon. I hope I can actually SEE Jamie before Christmas... Have no clue when I'll ever see Nikky again... Girl, where ARE you? No one has seen you in like... FOREVER. Hmmm.... thinking about school is making me feel a bit stressed. I shouldn't have signed up for 7 classes my first year of home schooling. Ah, well. Lessons learned. Drag my butt through this year, and I'll be set, I guess. I'm thinking I want to take health over the summer, to get that out of the way. I'm also through with all elective credits I could ever need or want. I'll need to start my next AP history class EARLY, so I can give myself time. I hope my parents will just give me a second chance at this. Heh. I've messed this first year up big time, but I'm passing all my classes at the moment [what I've done in them, at least] and I think I might have a low, low, borderline B or relatively high C in history. I was just having so much fun enjoying school ['cept for Chemistry, Geometry, and Spanish II] without the pressure, I didn't realize how behind I'd gotten. And... I need to wrap this up to do more Apologetics. Anyways... I just need all the prayers I can get. I know I can pull it off... with God's help. After all, I thought there was no way I was going to survive freshman year, but managed to pull off a 4.2 GPA with one B. Hopefully I can do that again. Weeellll, until next post, God Bless! Tina Redneck Word of the Day heroes, n. and v. a male person manually propelling a watercraft with oars. "He oughta be fit, 'cuz heroes that boat for two hours every morning."

Forwards, Backwards, Left & Right

I'm in a Clinton mood tonight. I just got my No Worries Club Journal [that's it's name... but its really a magazine-type thing.] today.... And I just kind of skimmed through it. The really ironic thing is that I've been working on shoulder -ins and -outs... and thats one of the topics in this month's journal! Yay! And... just FYI... I'll explain the reason for this post's title: And I quote, "To get respect, you move your horse's feet forwards, backwards, left and right." A Clinton Anderson fan knows the importance of this phrase, and has heard it many, many times. Its one of Clinton's favorite sayings. As well as "Two eyes are better than two heels," "He's handing in his union card," and his all-time favorite word is: "Respect!" [I have to say... I suddenly felt like bursting into song just then. hahaha.] This is a really good issue. They all are, of course. I'm going to have to use some of his methods to get your horse to stand for the farrier. Last time, Doug got rather angry with my baby, I'm told. And I'm going to have to go through and read the large article about his apprentices working with wild mustangs. [Mentally said with a western drawl on the wild. lol.]

Well... guess what I did with my day? I hauled trees! Hooray! To get all of our fallen-tree crap and my grandma's, we took three trailer loads to the dump. And my work gloves have gone missing, so I used an old pair of biking gloves I had. Great cushioning for my palms... not so great for my fingers out in the cold air.

Oops. Just remembered, I forgot to coil up the hose after I watered the horses this afternoon. Oh well.

ANYWAYS... my back is now officially killing me, because I took a make up lesson AFTER hauling all that wood [which involves stacking it in the yard as my dad cuts it with the chainsaw, then stacking it onto the trailer, then unloading it, and starting all over again], graining, haying [which involves tossing around some square hay bales], and watering [lugging a hose everywhere that leaks no matter how many times you kink the hose] all 25 horses. Then I offered to beat the crap out of Teddy... not literally, of course. Kim thought he would be phsyco since he'd been off for a bit... So I rode him down in the dressage with Kimberly and Chevy... And he was perfect. Even went on the bit for me... 'Cept for his spooking in the scary corner of the dressage, tossing his head and crow-hopping at the transitions into the canter, and dropping his shoulder and diving into the turns towards home at the canter. Other than that, perfect! lol. Oh, and Dakota was fine too. Except on the gymnastics line going towards home, he got fast, and after the line he tried to lock his neck up so we almost collided with the judges box, then almost ran up the steep hill, and I had a MAJOR flashback to the fence-jumping episode until I had successfully turned him away from the hill [during which we almost wiped out... nerd-butt horse tried to go all barrel-horse on me.] and stopped rather eventfully in the middle of the lesson girls. But, he hadn't been jumped since getting over the splint.

USELESS FACTS TIME!!! [w00t]

*In the Mel Brooks comedy Silent Movie, world-famous mime Marcel Marceau has the only speaking role.

*Belle, from Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast, can be glimpsed in a crowd scene in another Disney animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

* The tombstone of Mel Blanc, the famed voice of cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, and Porky Pig reads: "That's all folks."

*On average, in any given hour there are 61,000 people airborne over the US.

Random moment: I love Snickers candy bars. They are so good. = ) I just ate 3 mini ones.

'Til my next post, God Bless!

Tina

Redneck Word of the Day

seizure, n. and adj. to match another's bet when gaming or gambling. "I believe you're bluffin', so I seizure nickel and raise you ten grand."

I'm all curly!

So... ignore the clutter in the background of the picture and concentrate on the hair. lol. And in case you're wondering... the background on my desktop computer is the Robin Hood season 2 picture of all the gang. = ) But ANYWAY... the point of this picture is my perm. It will relax 20-30% within the week, so it won't be AS tight of curls. If you want to see what my hair looked like before... just look at my pic with Shawn thats on my profile. And since Tomiah seemed to like my use of his nickname... I know that his DANG!HOTT!ness really cuts me out of the picture, but if you concentrate really hard, you can see how straight my hair is. Yes... it did that naturally, too. So... I'm pretty sure I like it. Tell me what y'all think. [I'm also feeling the lack of love with the lack of comments on previous posts.... lol. I'm having to fish/beg for comments now. I guess some people's attention spans don't last through my posts... oh well. Last post was my longest one yet!]

Also.... lemme know what you think about my music player. I know I have a pretty wierd variety of music that I like, but that means there might be a bit of something for everyone... Haha. I found some original versions of Haygood songs... Though I know Dom's version blows the original Feelin' Good out of the water, and I do like their version of Street Corner Symphony better. Speaking of which... I heard that song being played at Ulta when I was there last! I almost burst out in song, but was talking to the cashier, so I didn't want to be rude just to say, "A HAYGOODS SONG!!!" and start singing along. ; ) And I know my live Garth Brooks's version of Callin' Baton Rouge gets cut way short. I'll fix it in a few days... And I REALLY wish Haygood songs were on the internet. I would so keep Dom's Mary Did You Know up all year round.

Wow. This is gonna be a short one. Here's some more useless facts for ya!

*It takes more than 2,000 cows to supply the NFL for enough leather for footballs for ONE YEAR.

*The introduction of the traffic light predated the introduction of the automobile. [Yay for horse-drawn carriages! lol.]

*George Washington rejected a movement among army officers to make him king of the United States, saying, "I didn't defeat George III to become George I."

And I'm STILL trying to think of a way to wear my awesome new heels with a red shirt. That way I'll be closer to Haygood-heighth, especially for pictures and stuff. lol. But they would be inconvienant for the stampede to the front. I seriously think we should notify Tim about this and have them film us running. lol. Great publicity for them... Great way to get on TV for us! hahaha. At least I can sort of run in my heels. Comes from knowing how to run in figure skates, I guess. Argh. I STILL need to get my blades sharpened! I bought my skates... at least several months ago. haha. And they're STILL not sharpened. Kate says I say that every time I see her... Sorry, Kate. lol.

Hmm... Do I have anything else to say? Wow. I believe not!

So, until next post... God Bless!

Tina

Redneck Word of the Day

Pressure: v. and adj. to apply continual force to something belonging to the one being addressed. "Just pull the dart out and pressure hands down on the wound so we can finish the game."

I deeply despise the Tower of Babel...

At least right now. My life would be SO much easier if everyone spoke the same language. Spanish II, without a teacher right in front of you, is dang hard to learn. Especially when they give me a paragraph... in SPANISH... and expect me to learn what it means... without translating it for me. And yes, I do know there are such things as dictionaries, but the forms of the words change so much its ridiculous. So... I'm ranting. I suppose I could get a tutor [anyone know Spanish? haha] but I don't think my dad would go for that. "You're smarter than that." I KNOW he would say that. "You just need to concentrate more." I love my dad... But sometimes... Argh. I wish I had learned Spanish in grade school. Not the stuff that Mrs. Pfiefer [sp? Not a clue how to spell it... its been so long!] kept teaching us... every year... Colors... months... days... After three years... we get it already! I mean... I really want to be fluent in Spanish.. but it isn't helpful when all your teacher says is, "Go over vocab every day and get a tutor," when I tell her there is a GINORMOUS gap between what I learned at Metro and what I'm supposed to be doing this year in Spanish... But to be fair... she has hundreds of students all over the country [or world? I think world would be a better word here.] all needing help, and grading for their papers. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! Rant over. Okay... so I must say... I have a new celebrity crush. Anyone watch BBC's Robin Hood TV show? If you don't... shame on you! In the UK, the last episode of season two is about to come out. It is AMAZING!!! So, I love JONAS ARMSTRONG!!! He's Robin Hood. But... one of his gang has now come to my attention. ^^ His name is HARRY LLOYD, and he plays Will Scarlett, the youngest of Robin's gang. [NOT Merry Men. They're the gang now. Much more hardcore. -.^ And it isn't Maid Marian, just Marian.] He is so cute and kind of shy in all the interviews I've seen. haha. And I think he has made guest appearances in the Dr. Who show... So, if you don't have BBC1, or BBC America... you need to watch all of season 1 and 2 on youtube! Its amazing!!! Sadly, the second season won't air in the US until... March? Or April... Soooo.... I'm keeping up with it via youtube. Just search for BBC Robin Hood. Or, try the user RHabroad. She has all the season 2 episodes and a link to her other account which holds all the season 1 episodes. So, if you get bored, watch it. My dad calls it my medieval soap opera, but its not... I promise! [Oh, and the picture this time is one I found on google... Its Mr. Jonas Armstrong dressed as Robin! And I had to make the pic bigger so we could see his handsome face. ^^ Oh, and look for some Harry Lloyd second season pictures on google or wherever, too!] I feel like another round of celebrity "crushes," I guess you could call it. Mainly, because I'm bored. ^^ DAVID KRUMHOLTZ!!! If you don't recognize the name right off... You guys have seen The Santa Claus with Tim Allen, right? Its BERNARD! Haha. The grumpy head elf. But David is a bit more grown up now, and is the mathematical genius in the NUMB3RS TV show on CBS. He plays Charlie... and I wish I loved math as much as Charlie. Go ahead and check out http://sdkg.net/. Go on. Its fun. I promise! hahaha. And not really a crush... but oh so lovely to listen to AND look at... JOSH TURNER!!! Any fan of country music should know who he is... He sings Long Black Train, Would You Go With Me [if we were the same age, and he wasn't married... then yes! hahaha. At one point I do believe I said that if we WERE the same age and he wasn't already married... I would have kidnapped him, married him myself, and made him sing to me all day long. ^^ Love that voice. But anyway, moving on.], and Firecracker. I also love his White Noise song... I believe its featuring John Anderson. His wife is really pretty too, lucky woman. And who else? Ahhh... yes... RUPERT GRINT! Not so much as the others above... But he's just so cute! And getting handsomer every day. Definitely a good job casting him as Ron. He does a fabulous job. Dan's definitely not hard on the eyes either, but he always looks extremely awkward when he's doing interviews and such. Anyone see his most recent interview with Jay Leno? Hahaha... That was great. And of course... I can't leave the subject without mentioning the one man who should be a world-wide celebrity [along with his brothers and sister, of course]... SHAWN PAUL HAYGOOD! Yaaaay! -cheers- Okay. Y'all know who he is... No need to explain his DANG!HOTT!ness. -.^

Weeeeellll.... I think its time for more extremely useless facts from my "So Now You Know... A Compendium of Completely Useless Information" by Harry Bright and Harlan Briscoe. Who names their poor child Harlan, anyway? *If the DNA in all your cells were laid out in a single strand, it would stretch from the earth to the moon more than 246,000 times! *At latitude 60 degrees south it is possible to sail clear around the world without touching land. *The English invented football - known in America as soccer - when they kicked around the heads of Danish invaders they had slaughtered. [Fun! lol. Sounds like a winner to me!] *Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, and windshield wipers were all invented by WOMEN! [Girlpower!!!] *In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. Pulling on the ropes tightened the mattress and made it firmer; hence the expression "Goodnight, sleep tight." *Cimes Lectularius, AKA the bed bug, is capable of consuming its body weight in blood in five minutes. [Aren't you glad you know that? hahaha.] Okay... it isn't THAT big of a book. I'll save some more for next time. = )

On to... CHRISTMAS PRESENTS UPDATE!!! That's right... I've gotten two already. Kate got me.... -drumroll- SOCKS! Heck yes. ^.- These awesome tall socks easily go up ABOVE my knees. I'm so going to wear them over my breeches and let them stick out of my boots and half-chaps. Won't THOSE command respect from my ORU students? haha. They're green with white and pink polka dots!!! Haha. She also got me a pair of "normal" socks that are black with rainbow colored hearts on them! [The tall socks she got Kimberly are rainbow... so she had to go ask a gay guy to make sure they weren't gay pride socks... lol. But these had TWO purple stripes. So there you go, Kimby!] Thank you, Kate! Kimberly got me... -drumroll- a BOOT BAG! With my name embroidered on it in hot pink! Yee haww! Its a niiiice boot back too. And all fuzzy and soft on the inside! I've already cleaned off my tall boots and stuck them inside. Now they're propped against my dresser in my room. Thank you, Kimby! I got Kimby and Kate each a framed picture of them with their loves... [Kimby with Chevy, Kate with Rocky - who had a rare happy face on!] And a Christmas tree ornament. Kimby a peacock with a looong tail [made out of a real feather!] that clips to the tree branch and bounces around. Kimby had to play with it a bit! haha. And Kate got a Christmas tree with bug eyes and a smile [with its tongue sticking out.] Those of you familiar with SDC at Christmas time... it looked like TINKER THE TALKING CHRISTMAS TREE!!! Hahaha. So now it has a name. Tinker

I think I've rambled on long enough... yes? Welllll then... Until my next post, God Bless!

Tina

Redneck Word of the Day

defender n. a metal guard positioned over the wheel of a motor vehicle. "The grille's okay, but defender is torn up real bad."

No Internet... Hmph.

I haven’t been around lately – on the internet or anywhere else. I live smack-dab in the middle of all these ice-fests and power-outages. Okay, not right in the middle, but pretty darned close. Our power never went out – praise the Lord – but three houses down the no-power fun starts, and goes all the way through the rest of the neighborhood. Everyone behind us has no power either. We just have a ten-home street of power. Fun, huh? And my dad’s office never lost power. Another praise the Lord. What I did lose was cell phone reception and my wireless internet. My phone came back up yesterday. I still don’t have internet. How can that be, you say? Hahaha… I’m at my dad’s office, with my computer hooked up to a connection cable! Yay! I never knew how dependant I was on internet. Wow. I was SO bored. Four movies [two of which were for my Alejandro Murrieta[Zorro] character sketch, the Zorro, – I finally found the Mask of Zorro, BTW! Hooray! – I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Evan Almighty, and a bookshelf of books I’ve already read don’t go a long way towards entertainment. Was that a run-on sentence or not? I think so. lol. BUT… yesterday…. Wait, no. The day BEFORE yesterday I finally got out. My mom and I went to Ulta and Barnes & Noble. At Barnes & Noble I got THE MOST awesome book. [I just love Barnes & Noble. Amazing store, really. I also love how it smells. Coffee and books. ^^ I’m a nerd, I know. My mom, a few select friends of mine, and I could stay in that store all day and be happy. I’d just have one of the coffee shop’s delicious scones. Man, those things are good. Haha. ANYWAYS….] The book was “So, Now You Know… A Compendium of Completely Useless Information.” Its great. Did you know, there are more plastic flamingos than real ones in the US? The royalties for the song “Happy Birthday to You” bring in roughly 2 million a year. The phrase, “Wear your heart on your sleeve,” came from Victorian-era Valentine’s Day parties where the young gentleman would pull a ladies’ name out of a hat and pin the piece of paper to his sleeve. Interesting, huh? Aren’t you glad you know that? Hahaha. THEN, at Ulta [two days ago and yesterday] we got some Christmas gifts [among those a few for me -.^] and essentials… Toothpaste, make-up removal pads, a new hairbrush… Mine keep disappearing. I also tried the Bare Essentials/Minerals [whatever the stuff is called] make-up… And it is amazing! We got the starter kit yesterday. Also got some really got some really nice eye shadow & eye shadow brushes. AMAZING sales at Ulta, ladies… If you have one near you! I had one of the girls working there show me how to actually put eye shadow on, where it looks really nice. lol. I’m just a late-bloomer when it comes to make-up I guess. I’ve never really had a use for it until just a few months ago, lol. Usually I’m at the barn. Or at home. And going to a private Christian school… you just end up slapping on the essential make up and leave it at that. The least amount of effort is used. At least on my part… and the girls I hung out with. Enough with that stuff. lol. I can only take so much of it. I took a make up lesson on Dakota last night, since we’ve missed several. He was perfect! We’ve never really gone over shoulder –ins and –outs, so we did some of those. He was perfect. Also, Kim [my instructor ^^] was telling us the cues for turning on the forehand and turning on the haunches… Kota did both of them… perfectly. I didn’t expect him to do anything, either. I was just trying out the cues. lol. I love my horse. We didn’t do any jumping, though, since he hasn’t really gotten back in shape from popping his splint. And with the weather, I haven’t been riding much at all. = \ I can’t wait until the indoor arena is built. Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait. If you’re waiting for another one of my freak outs… It’ll happen the day the indoor comes up. Hahaha. And the day I leave to head out to Branson the second time Christmas week. Because you know what that means… FAN NITE! YAAAAY! Haha.

Until next post, God Bless Tina Redneck Word of the Day

Retard: n. to stop working. “My brother retard at 75.”

P.S. Those shoes are the heels I was so excited about in an earlier post! hahaha.

Annoying Drummers, Zorro, Learning How to Talk More Gooder Fastly, & Small Feet

Okay... the guy across the street WILL NOT stop drumming. I admire his musical ambition, but hearing the same beat over and over gets a bit annoying. You'd think he'd know a few others after doing this since we moved in to this house. As I'm in my room, I can hear him practicing from inside his house ACROSS THE STREET. When people come over to my house, they're always like, "Whats that noise?" "Oh, just the guy across the street." "...Oh." I'd be fine with it, if I wasn't trying to sleep. THEN it gets really annoying. I'm all for practicing his musical talents... but can you imagine what its like for everyone in HIS house? I can hear it in MINE!

I promise... this is the first time I've complained about him to anyone other than myself. ...Hey! When you hang around SHRA [Southern Hills Riding Academy] enough, you start talking to everything: animals, inanimate objects, and yourself. ....And he's started again. I can hear it over my radio, which isn't that loud at the moment, but still. You'd think he could do something to absorb some of the sound in that room. He's not even directly across the street. He's one house down from the one directly across from me! THAT'S loud!

And whats this about Blockbuster not having Zorro?!?! I went to rent The Legend of Zorro [love that movie!] because I'm using Alejandro Murrieta [young Zorro] for a character essay for english class. When I asked the girl at Blockbuster where the movie would be on the racks, she said, "We don't have that movie." Not, "Its not in stock right now," or, "All our copies are checked out at the moment," but, "WE DON'T HAVE IT!" Can you believe that?!?! They don't have ZORRO. The ORIGINAL ZORRO. AKAJKDLGHAREIOTUKALGNIOJHAKLGHAGRLAIJGHA!!! So frustrating. I love that movie! Even if I hadn't needed it for an essay, I would still be ticked. How can they not have Zorro? Its practically a classic. Who cares if its on TV a lot... Blockbuster still needs it. The sequel didn't come out TOO long ago [first one was way better, BTW], they should still have the original! Just like Blockbuster doesn't have The Cutting Edge!!! Can you believe it? THE CUTTING EDGE. They have The Cutting Edge II: Going for the Gold, but NOT The Cutting Edge! Argh. I have to wait until its on TV to see the original! You know how hard that is! I always catch the last 15 minutes, or have to leave before its over.

That poor boy's parents. He's started drumming AGAIN. Its not like I have to strain to hear it, either. Its loud and clear.

And don't get me started on how large shoes are these days! [Sorry, too late. I've started myself. -.^] I have small feet. REALLY small feet. Like, size 5 to 5 1/2 in dress shoes, size 6 or [if I'm lucky] 7 in running shoes and flats. ALL OF THE BEST DRESS SHOES START AT SIZE 7 AND UP! I had to search forever before I found a great pair of shoes that ran small, and miraculously I fit into a size 6. I do have to admit, they are really cute [burgundy patent leather heels, rounded toe, strap across the top of the foot, pretty tall heels, but not too tall] and they go with a lot of stuff... But there were SO many other shoes that would have been perfect, too... Then I thought we were going to get shot in the mall when my grandma started talking [really loud] about how FAT people today are, and something about THOSE BLACK PEOPLE. My great-grandma is worse! My mom and I practically have to duct tape my grandma & great grandma's mouths shut when African-Americans walk by... or we wouldn't be alive right now! They never got over the prejudice... My youth pastor is originally from Indiana, and he said he never knew people were still prejudice until he came down south. All of the youth group [even the african-americans] laughed. We were like..... duh. But I guess it isn't his fault. He never had a great grandma that had a sailor's mouth and who was extremely prejudiced against blacks. And called black people names that I'd best never repeat. The only black person they like is Oprah. Seriously. Its INSANE. I can tell my grandma at least TRIES to be nice to them, but my great grandma... SHEESH. But... I got off topic. My grandma said when she was in her teens/twenties, she wore a size FOUR TO FIVE AND A HALF. Her feet just got bigger when she started running a lot in her thirties. FOUR TO FIVE AND A HALF! And she said shoes that size were EASY to get. Isn't that insane? At least I got a purse that exactly matches my shoes... Which will go with jeans or a new bubble skirt I got at White House Black Market. And a cute dress I got at Dillards for one of my Christmas gifts. Oops. I think I've already seen all my Christmas gifts this year. hahaha. But, I have to see and try on clothes, or they just don't work. I'll have to take pictures of the dress and shoes and skirt + the rest of that outfit and put them up on myspace. I love it! heehee.

And for my "mandatory" Haygoods paragraph.

Tim almost gave me a heart attack! [And Annette a stroke, by the sounds of the MB! haha.] I opened my email first thing this morning, and my heart stopped beating. Seriously. For like two beats. I believe the title of the email was, "DATE CORRECTION HAYGOODS FAN NIGHT!!!!!" I was like... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! You know how hard it was to get my mom and grandma to be able to go with me on the 29th? I was like... Oh no. Dang it. I CANT GOOOO!!! But... I had the good sense to open the message as quick as I could, and nearly feinted when I saw Tim had corrected the date because he'd said 2008 rather than 2007.

YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO US, TIM!!!

Nearly took 10 years off of my lifespan.

And... I would be a whole lot nicer to the guy across the street if he were Shawn. At least then he'd have to take a break from drumming to practice dancing. Or singing. Or tumbling. Hahaha.

Weeeeeeeell, until next post, God Bless!

Tina

P.S. Not in the greatest mood since riding lessons were cancelled 'cause of rain today.

P.P.S. All of the pics on my blog, I've taken... Unless I'm in them. haha. In the pic on this blog, I was on a trail ride in Keystone, CO and taking pics at the same time. Heck yes, I'm talented! jk, jk. But I do like this pic.

P.P.P.S. Listen to "Ancient Skies" by the Michael Gungor Band on my music player. Its a lovely song. I suppose if I'd told you that at the beginning of this post, the song would be done by the time you were done reading... Oh well. = P

Redneck Word of the Day [From Jeff Foxworthy's "Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly," The Redneck Dictionary, Third Edition.]

Urinal: n. and v. a declaration concerning the current status or location of the person being spoken to. "If you think urnial lot of trouble now, just wait till Daddy gets home!"

Anticipation Overload!

Hahaha... last Sunday, Pastor Norman was talking about how there was so much more anticipation nowadays for Christmas. He said his family would go out and cut down a tree to decorate three or four days before Christmas, and the presents would be put under it two days before or on Christmas Eve... sometimes even after the kids had gone to bed! ....and he said back then he'd almost died with anticipation! hahhaa.

Now.... of course.... we put our tree up as close to Thanksgiving as we can get it [it was already up and decorated when family came over for Thanksgiving dinner!] and presents go under it as soon as more than three-four are wrapped. Aaaand... I put the garland & red ribbons on the stair rail, and a wreath is hanging from the small little "balcony" space [not sure quite what to call it... lol.] at the top of the stairs overlooking the hallway. Oh, and pretty stockings are hung from the garland at regular intervals. I have a small tinsel-tree hung with miniature "Trail of Painted Ponies" ornaments sitting on top of my stereo... And santas, angels, and other Christmas things are EVERYWHERE! Most of this went up for Thanksgiving. Now there's more, of course, to replace the few "Thanksgiving" things we had out.... lol. We are a very big Christmas family, if you can't tell.

We started playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. Yeah. [Actually, the day BEFORE Halloween, we bought a 3-disc Christmas music set. ^^ Then waited a day to start playing it.]

And MORE anticipation because of HAYGOODS FAN NITE!!! YEEEEEE HAAAWWWWWW! [In my mind, I say that with a VERY southern accent... Like something from the Sweet Home Alabama movie. ^^ Dunno why.] We just got tickets to the 8pm show... Second row, seats 5, 6, and 7 from the aisle. Now my mom is starting to get excited! And... the tickets are part of my Christmas, but I don't care. I was fully prepaired to pay for ALL the tickets, if that's what it took. Haha, I love having a bit of money to spend. I almost had to pay for my way into a hotel, before my dad used his travel points to get us into the Hilton. My grandma's excited about that one! lol. My dad and grandma aren't the closest... Kind of a "no one is REALLY good enough for my daughter" attitude on my grandma's part, but oh well. He is now one notch higher on her list. Hahahahaha...

And I LOVED Tomiah's video. HILARIOUS! Especially Dom talking about Shawn. hahaha. Shame on you, Tomiah! You said you wouldn't put it on the message board! But I guess you didn't say you wouldn't put it on youtube... And technically... you put youtube on the MB? lol. It could work! -.^

-GASP!- My post has just gone out of order. Usually my Haygood paragraph is my last one. But I must talk about this dreadful weather. My dad was like, "This is what happens in WINTER. It gets COLD." And I said I know... but its gray outside, with freezing drizzle and fog, and I had to go to the barn this morning at 8 to take my horse's blanket off... And he's probably going to come in dirty as crap from rolling in the wet sand.... Fun! Thats why I LOVE winter, you can't hose your horse down when he's dirty. YAY! -coughcough- Sorry. A bit of bitterness seeping through there. My horse loves to roll. Actually, I'll put a picture of him rolling up in the corner this time. = ) See how cute he is. That makes up for a bit of the dirt, I guess. And I finally got around to measuring how wide his window is [exactly four feet] so my dad can get some metal cut and put it over the wood, so Dakota can stop his infernal cribbing!!!!! That horse is going to make himself colic before that happens, though. Actually, probably not... But his neck is losing some of that suppleness, slowly but surely. More lateral flexion for us! [Yay Clinton! haha]

Well... until next post, God Bless!

Tina

CHRIST Defines YOU!

So... tonight at youth Craig West, a Christian radio station personality, was a special guest speaker. His message was about not letting anyone or anything else but Christ define you. And that we all need to just get back to the simple, pure devotion to God. Nothing else should make sense. Nothing else should be agreeable with you. He was talking about how pure and simple Adam and Eve's relationship with God was. They could HEAR Him walking in the Garden. They could TALK to Him. They were so pure, the thought of being naked never crossed their minds. If you had offered them clothes, it wouldn't have made sense to them. It wouldn't have been agreeable with them. Then the serpent decieved both Adam and Eve in their minds. Because, truthfully... it is a thing of the flesh to think it would be so COOL to be like God. Or even be God. When the serpent told them they could be like God, they were decieved in their minds. Anyone looking on the situation, watching the events unfold, could probably have set them straight. But suddenly, they no longer had the mindset of, "God is here. I'm Gods child. The End." They had to worry about good and evil, and separation from God. Now, of course... we can always go to God through Christ. But the reason Jesus once said we must be like children to enter the Kingdom is because children have a pure, simple mindset, and their relationships with God are more like that of the innocent Adam and Eve. They think, "God is up there, watching over me. I'm God's child. This is SO GREAT. The End." They trust in Him. They have no doubts. They believe without seeing. Children do that so readily. Think about how many believe in Santa Clause, but they only see him on TV. The easter bunny. It isn't a hard leap to go from a fat jolly man giving them presents when they are good - because Santa knows EVERYTHING - to an all-seeing, all-knowing God who watches over them and cares for them. Sometimes, we just need to sit back, study the Word, and work on getting back that pure, simple devotion to Christ. Once we have that, nothing can define us BUT Christ. Once we have that, it is impossible to care what other people think. If someone defines you as popular, and you aren't already defined by Christ, then you suddenly become popular. But if you are defined by Christ, the only thing you can be is Christ's follower. Christ's worshiper. God's child. Its like if you look at a chair, and call it, "chair." Then it IS a chair. But if someone else comes along and calls it, "apple," and attaches a sticky-note that says, "Apple," then they decieve themselves, and possibly others. The label of "Apple" just doesn't agree with the chair. It doesn't make sense to call the chair and apple. Just like if we are defined by Christ... nothing else agrees with us. Nothing else makes sense. We need to be defined by Christ. Nothing else. No one else. When this happenes, it is amazing how much peer pressure is no longer existant. It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't agree with you. It was a really good message. I wish I could have relayed it better... Hopefully it helped those of you reading in some way. Then Craig and his wife proceeded to speak out prophetically, or give some Holy-Spirit-driven insight over some of the kids in the youth group, and over my youth pastor and his wife. It was really great. And... on a totally non-spiritual note... It is DANG!COLD!!! outside. hahaha. I practically ran to Tibby [I finally named "my" Mazda Tribute. Tibby... as in Tribute. Creative, huh? lol.] and I shook for about three or four minutes until my heater started actually warming me up. THEN I had to stop by the barn on my way home to put Dakota's blanket on. Stupid horse was cribbing again. I swear, if my dad can't get some metal cut to put over the wood window ledge, I'm asking for a muzzle for Christmas. Grrr. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard something rustle in the darkness, before I turned the lights on at the barn, too. I'm not afraid of the dark... I'm just afraid of the skunks that have decided to take up residence UNDER the tack room... Luckily, it was just the cat. I'm also afraid of the neighbors. They scare everyone. Kinda creepy. I needed Shawn with me to turn Tibby from DANG!COLD!! to instantly be DANG!HOTT!! Sorry. Couldn't resist. I waited this long... aren't you proud of me? hahaha. I also have the ballad of the Haygoods stuck in my head... I was on myspace too much today... Well... 'till my next post... God Bless, y'all! [My inner Okie has been asking to be released for awhile. hahaha.] Tina P.S. And the pic is because I thought it was time my dog had some of the spotlight. There's Pokey! She's 12 now. That pic was taken when she was like... 9 or 10. P.P.S. My dad just used some travel points to get us a room at the HILTON on the Landing for Fan Nite... hahaha. Nice!

Eeeeeeevillll!

Argh. Rocky is so evil! Renee did something to him when she rode him for sure. Poor Abby was thrown [quite literally] and I had to get on him. Actually, I had to help Abby tack up for the first time since she got tall enough to tack up by herself! He was pinning his ears, swishin' that tail as hard as he could, and snapping like a turtle. He just knew he didn't dare kick ME. hahaha. Since I took him through the first stages of Clinton Anderson's groundwork program, he mellowed out quite nicely once I got a halter on him and took him out to the courtyard. He practically fell asleep while I tightened his girth after that! And before, he wouldn't let us get the girth up bast the first billet hole! But then Abby just had to try a snaffle bit. While they were jumping. To the right, his least favorite lead. And over a straight. So, since she almost got thrown into the fence, Kim yelled at me to go get a helmet. Heh. This after Kim had been standing infront of jumps until the last second, holding a big jumping pole in front of her. I told Kim I was better off without her, and we finally got calmed down, after I almost got thrown. Almost. I didn't QUITE lose my balance. Abby could have done it, but I have just a few years of experience on her, a bit more brute strength, and I know how to be meaner than she does. hahaha. And yes... the evil looking dark bay horse the first on the left] is Rocky...

I found Shawn's myspace! heehee. Saw him on Liza's friend list. OH! And my mom finalized our room arrangements at the Colonnade for Fan Nite Weekend. It now has a name! Hahaha. FNW, I think I'll call it. And I must say... the most amusing thing all night last night on the chat was playing Haygood Poker. Still don't think I'd ever be able to win... Just can't hold my DANG!HOTT! cards. -.^ Not gonna lie, I felt pretty cool for thinking that one up! lol. And I have managed to convert Audra over to the Haygood fandom! She said she might join the MB. Not sure if I'll make it to Shoney's beforehand. On Fan Nite, I mean. And I STILL have Soul 2 Soul stuck in my head! Not that thats a bad thing. And my phone alarm now goes off with Shawn's Silver Bells... Thinking about making it my ringtone for December, as well. Or maybe Mary Did You Know, even though they sound kinda fuzzy. 'Cause I bought my current ringtone, so its nice and clear. Its Clinton Anderson's theme song! Land Down Under, by Men at Work. Its a great song. -.^

Well... until next post... God Bless. ^^

Tina

Learning to Say "No!"

Okay, so maybe I'm not quite there yet. And I don't need to be able to shout it, but maybe be able to say, "I'm sorry, I can't." This morning at 8:00 sharp, in TWENTY SEVEN DEGREE WEATHER, I was out feeding. The whole barn. Of 25 horses. Yeah. If that isn't bad enough, then I had to take their blankets off and turn them out. And drag a half-broken down wheelbarrow with one flat tire full of hay up a steep gravel hill because all of the horses' grass has died. That hay gets heavy. And I had to break through all the ice in the water troughs. FUN! Although, I did take some of the sheets of ice out and had fun throwing them around and watching them shatter. I can be easily amused sometimes. But yes... The reason for the title of this post. Kim [my riding instructor - geeze, I know too many Kims!!] called me late last night and said her grandma had a stroke and heart attack and she was in the hospital waiting for her grandma to pass away, and the regular morning feeder was doing something and couldn't feed.... And could I please do it? I felt bad, and I can't say no in the first place, so I said, "Sure, Kim!" And boy, did I regret that. = / But at least Kim didn't have to come home from the hospital. -sigh- As I was trudging up the gravel hill my only consolation was that I was being nice. Not a very good consolation when your limbs are ALL freezing off. But at least it was something.... I guess....

This semester's riding classes are OVER! Three students showed up tonight[= ( Just $15] It was dang COLD out there. I had two pairs of breeches under my jeans, four pairs of socks [one pair was thick and fuzzy], a cami, long-sleeved shirt, short-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, lightweight fuzzy jacket, and a medium weight SKI jacket. I also had my winter riding gloves, a fuzzy headband over my baseball cap, and a rainbow striped fuzzy scarf! I had to ride my baby bareback while I was teaching to stay warm. And ALL my students [heh. all three.] were late. I was about to drive off when the first one showed up. Only Jimmy, my favorite student, made it better. He always calls me ma'am. ^^ Very respectful. As opposed to one of my other students, Jason, who always called me kiddo. I was about ready to throw a piece of gravel at his horse when he wasn't looking to make it bolt. hahaha. I wouldn't actually do it, but I thought about it a lot. Serves him right for trying to teach MY class. The reason I was the teacher and he was the student was because I know more than he does. I could ride circles round the guy if I wanted to. I know more about riding and horses than he ever will. He needs to get over the fact that just because he's older, doesn't mean he can disrespect me. [Sorry, ranting. ^^]

And.....

I THINK I CAN GO TO FAN NITE!!!! YAAAAAAAAAY! -bounces- This is SO exciting! I'm going to have to find something RED to wear! Thats the color for Shawn's fans to wear, I do believe. heehee. My grandma said she could get away from my great grandma for a few days, and we just have to call the Colonnade to see if we can cash in our two free nights. THIS IS SO EXCITING! ICANGOICANGOICANGO!!! If the Colonnade doesn't have room for us, I'm going to be one very angry Haygood fan. >.< -dances- Wow... I won't be able to concentrate on my school work tomorrow until my mom calls!!!! Eeeeeeeeeee! -fangirl moment- YAYAYAYAYAY!!!

Disclaimer on Rambling

I am not to be responsible for any of those with short attention spans not being able to read this blog. I do freely admit to being VERY long-winded, especially over the world wide web. = ) Of course, in person it takes me a day or two of close contact to become familiar and long winded when you are standing next to me. ^^ But that isn't and issue now: you are not sitting in a desk chair next to me [or in the comfy chair in my room], but on the other side of the internet. So therefore, prepare for the long-winded-ness! Hahaha! Incessant rambling is to be EXPECTED about my horse, Dakota, the Haygoods, my personal hero Clinton Anderson [related to horses], my friends at the barn, and some of my favorite TV shows. Oh, and the college horseback riding classes that I teach. [Speaking of which, grades are due tomorrow, and I must get those ready as well!]

Well... since today was SO exciting, I must write about that. I went on a shopping spree with my mom [I don't shop much unless its a tack shop, which is why shopping usually turns into a momentus occaison with me] and found a CUTE summer dress that is the perfect balance of casual, dressy, and modest for church, and it won't go out of style anytime soon. And I got two bubble-bottomed tops. And one other cute navy/white shirt. They're all [except for one bubble shirt] going back to be Christmas gifts. And the second note-worthy thing today [and the MOST EXCITING THING this week] is TIM HAYGOOD ANNOUNCED WHEN FAN NITE IS GOING TO BE!

[wait for it... wait for it...]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I MIGHT [big emphasis on MIGHT] BE ABLE TO GO! OHMYGOODNESSIONLYJUSTSAWTHEMLASTWEEKENDTHISISSOEXCITING!

[okay... teen-fangirl moment over!]

At the moment I'm plotting and schemeing all I can to try to get my parents to take me. Right now I'm operating on the mother-grandmother-daughter-Haygood-bonding-time plan. ^^

Well, until my next post, God Bless.