Patty thinks I'm sweet.

(Don't tell her the truth, okay?)

She gave me this:

She blogs over at Another cookie, please! - we found each other through For The Love Of Blogs, and she's the best bloggy friend.  She leaves the best comments and she said that she'd cut my hair if I go to her and she shoots too!  Chicks with guns - automatic awesome.  

Now I'm supposed to tell you five random things about me.  I'm hoping I can come up with some things I've not told you before.  Give me a minute...

1.  I sucked my thumb until I was 9 years old.  I had a blankie (an old crib sheet) that went everywhere with me, and I held it wrapped over my first finger so I could smell it while I sucked.  I moved the blankie around often - like the other side of the pillow, a cool spot to breathe on the sheet was the best.  I tried to quit a few times, but finally my dentist told me I'd need braces if I didn't give up my habit, so I wore socks on my hands for about 6 months and was cured!  Kinda - I've woken up with my thumb in my mouth at least twice since then, but not since I was a teenager.  

2.  I started trying to read Stephen King when I was 10.  His stuff was a little advanced for me then - but I finally got through Pet Semetary for the first time when I was 12.  (It was the first book that ever made me cry, true story.)  After that, it was on - I read every King book I could get my hands on.  I read The Stand, all 1300 pages, in 3 days, taking breaks only to eat and pee and sleep.  At 13, I read 'Salem's Lot...and promptly rearranged the furniture in my bedroom so I could face the door even while asleep.  I also slept with a light on for 6 months after that - that book scared the fuck out of me.  I think Mr. King's quality declined with time, but I recently read Lisey's Story, which is a relatively new (within the last 10 years) release, and it was really good.  I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for this master of horror.

3.  I have a memory of when I was little (whether I was 9 or 13, i don't know), I went to the Property with Granny and Papaw - Papaw was working on the barn in some such way or another, and Granny and I were hanging out in our lawn chairs over in the shade.  She'd brought her boom box, and there was a blank tape from somewhere.  She sang Cowboy Jack and I recorded it - later when I played it back, Papaw's hammer was a sharp staccato in the background, totally not in time.  There were birds chirping, and Granny's voice warbled a time or two and I'm pretty sure she got choked on a high note and coughed.  I'd pay $5000 to have that tape in my hands right now. 

4.  Another being-little memory:  I was 5 or 6, and I'd found a pair of nail scissors, and they were fascinating.  I wanted to cut something, so I went into Papaw's bedroom, shut the door, walked around to the far side of the bed, and cut a square of fabric out of the flat sheet on the bed.  I thought no one would ever notice.  Granny did, nearly immediately.  (Turns out, the sheets were new.  Like, it was the first time they'd been on a bed, new.)  Stacy and I were the only ones there; one of us was guilty.  She asked us, I lied, Stacy denied.  Granny asked again, our little selves lined up in the hallway.  I kept thinking, "Eventually, she'll give up.  Or Stacy will confess."  She didn't, and neither did Stacy.  She pulled out the Bible - the same one that's downstairs in my Momma's house right now, on the end table, with Granny's obituary inside.  Granny held the book out to us, told us to put our hand on it and say if we'd cut the sheet or not.  We both said we hadn't.  Granny knew it was me, but she didn't call me a liar; she said one of us was hurting God and Jesus very badly and that we would have to live with that.  What I wish more than anything is that I'd told Granny the truth before she'd died.  

5.  Brevity?  It's not my thing.  No, really - I can't tell a story to save my life.  I get caught up in the background and the details that don't matter and forget to focus on the point. 

And now I'm going to introduce you five blogs I love (and the timing is great, because I ran out of steam working on that shout-out post the other night and didn't get to several I wanted to name):

1. Clean Sheets on Sundays

2.  Not About Cake

3.  Grown Up Rachel

4.  My Eye On Things

5.  La Dulce Vida ~ The Sweet Life

And now I'm going to get back to work.

Happy Monday, Friends!