Happy Signs

I'm working on some of my Random Acts of Kindness for tomorrow

 and made 8 Happy Signs to use.

I'm going to stick them on mirrors in bathrooms,
 insides books in a store, 

inside the diaper changing stations at restaurants,

 and a few other random places. 

Just thought I'd share in case someone else wanted
 to print and use some!

There are 8 total designs so be sure to look at all 8!


{if you saw these late last night when I posted them there was a mistake. 
 I've fixed it and below are the new ones!}

happy signs

What I REALLY Want for my Birthday Today is.......

I had so much fun on my birthday last year
{it seriously was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!}
 that my birthday wish this year is to complete one Random Act of Kindness for every year of my life so far {41}, as well as asking family, friends, Facebook friends, and fellow Twitter-ers to each perform one Random Act of Kindness and to let me know about it throughout the day via email or text message on my birthday- 

TODAY Tuesday, March 29th.

 (And if you could take a picture of it? Like icing on the cake!)

I honestly can not think of anything I'd like better 

as a gift than for other people to be blessed

and it truly would make my day so special if you'd join me. 

Getting texts and emails all day of the great things people

 are doing for others will be like getting little presents all day long. 

So....will you join me? 

Please?

Pretty please?

Pretty please with a Sonic drink on top?

Please leave a comment here with your good deed, email me, text me,

 send me a FB message or a tweet to let me know about your good deed for the day!

I'll share my 41 random acts later this week but thought I'd go ahead and show you the little tags I made to place on my random acts- in case you'd like to use them too! 

random acts cards

Monday Morning Question of the Day

I love the show Secret Millionaire. 

It's a show where each week a millionaire goes to an

 impoverished community

 pretending to be a regular person, 

volunteers for a week, 

and at the end gives away thousands of dollars to people 

who are working to make the world a better place. 

 

If I had tons of money, I can truly think of doing nothing better.  

I LOVE this show!

So today's question is........

If you had $50,000 that you HAD to give away

{not to a friend or family member}

who or what group would you give it to?

Flashback Friday

There are so many things about this picture that crack me up!

The look on my sister's face 

{she's the taller one},

the look on my face 

{it's like I'm trying to channel a sad, old woman},

the scarf I am wearing 

{what the heck?},

the snazzy couch you can see in the bottom left corner 

{so 1970's},

and the super cool paneling in the background

 {that was our living room. cool huh?}. 

I so wish I knew the story behind this picture!

Maybe my Sissy remembers?

Trial News

So I still plan to write a bunch about the trial

 I served as a juror on soon 

(still recovering from the week long trip to LA) 

but had a question about it that I wanted y'all to answer.

In the capital murder trial we found the defendant guilty.  

He now has a new lawyer who is trying to determine grounds for an appeal 

since his client was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

This new lawyer has been aggressively contacting 

the jurors from our trial- 

calling them at home, calling their parents to try 

and get their phone numbers,

 even showing up at their houses to talk to them at night.  

He asks them questions about the trial such as.....

did you know any of the witnesses prior to the trial, 

did you talk about the trial over the weekend you were sequestered, etc. 

He hasn't yet showed up at my house but I've been thinking

 a lot about how I will react.  

On the one hand, he is working hard for his client and I respect that.  

On the other, it seems a bit aggressive.  

What do you think? Would you talk to him if it were you? 

Do you think he's doing his job or is out of line? 

Hiding God's Word in Your Heart- Week 11

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

~Psalm 51:10-11~

Monday Morning Question of the Day

Today is the first day back after spring break

 and it definitely looks and feels like spring outside!

What's your favorite thing about spring?

What's your favorite thing to do in the spring?

Hiding God's Word in Your Heart- Week 10

Memories of a Sequestered Juror

The trial I was a juror on was a capital murder trial.  We went into deliberations on a Friday at 11:30 and at 6:00pm the judge sequestered us and placed us in the custody of the sheriff until Monday at 9am. After I get back from California {we leave Thursday am and I am so not ready!} I have lots I want to share about the process and all that I learned.  But for now here are a few of the lighter memories of my time as a sequestered juror. 


{FYI Sequestered means we stayed in a hotel here in town with no tv, no phone, no radio, no newspaper, and never in the company of someone else (another juror or a family member) without also being in the company of a sheriff's deputy. We each had our own rooms with the tv and phone disabled and the clock/radio removed. Our bags were searched, our phone calls monitored, our rooms searched before we arrived and after we left. We were there from Friday at about 9pm until Monday at 8am and never once went anywhere other than the 3rd floor and the lobby}


1. Calling my husband on a Friday night to tell him I was being sequestered and asking him to pack every SINGLE thing I would need for the next three days and nights was a HOOT! Bless his heart, it was a LONG list. {every piece of makeup I use, every hair care product, etc} I wish I could have seen his face!


2. Riding down Texas Avenue {a very busy main street} on a Friday night with 11 other people in a Brazos Transit bus with 2 deputies inside, 2 sheriff deputy cars in front of us, and 2 behind us was surreal. I'm sure we looked like criminals.


3. Arriving at the hotel to find a slew of deputies there to see us to our rooms was so funny.  Our rooms all had door tags on them with our first initial and last name.  I can only imagine what the other hotel guests thought.


4. Being in a hotel room with a disabled tv, no clock or radio, and no phone is QUIET.  Seriously quiet.


5. Having to ask a deputy to use your phone, have each call logged and listened to, definitely cuts down on your phone calling and texting.


6.Not having a clock {or a phone} in a dark hotel room ensures that you will wake up a million times wondering what time it is. 


7. You can learn all sorts of things from sheriff's deputies. Like....did you know that you are not allowed to have makeup in jail? Well you aren't.  So you know what they do? They buy Skittles and get them wet and rub them on their faces.  Isn't that a hoot? Can you imagine? {and it does work because I triple dog dared one of the other jurors and HE did it! so wish I had a picture of it!}


8. Most of the witnesses in our trial had real names, nicknames, aliases, and some even had 2nd nicknames.  As a result we spent lots of time trying to figure out who was who.  During our sequestering we gave each other street names.  Our 12 Jurors Street Names: Game, Skip, Cards, Bookie, Shark, TM {Trouble Maker}, DJ, Baby Mama {she's pregnant}, Pitiful, Sha-Sha {that's me}, Smooooth, and Sharp.  {NOTE TO SELF: NEVER tell people your most hated nickname or they will call you that ALL THE STINKIN TIME!}


9. Several of the witnesses talked about their brother's baby mama or their baby mama.  One of the sweet older ladies on our jury obviously hadn't heard that term before and I laughed so hard I cried when during deliberations she looked at her notes and said.......

"Now he said something about his baby mama.  Was he calling his mama a baby?"

I seriously could NOT stop laughing.  What a hoot! 


10. The other jurors are now my fun new friends and we are throwing a baby shower for Baby Mama as soon as she finds out what she is having.  Isn't that fun? A jury baby shower!  Maybe we should invite the judge? And our sheriff deputy friends? {probably not the witnesses though}

Monday Morning Question of the Day

So during the trial I was a juror on, there was a statement 

by one of the witnesses that absolutely stunned me. 

I kept thinking about it and while we were deliberating, 

I mentioned it to the other jurors. 

 I assumed that they would all feel the same way I did about

 the comment, but many did not (which shocked me)

 and we spent a few minutes discussing it.

 I'm anxious to see what you all think. 

So to give you some background....

this comment was said as the witness was describing what he did while being robbed at gunpoint by three masked gunmen who were demanding that everyone give them their money {they had lots because it was a high stakes craps game} or they would be killed. 

After being forced to handover his money and take off his shoes 

to make sure he didn't have money in them- 

he was forced to lay facedown on the ground. 

At this point he placed $4,000 that he had hidden underneath the couch. 

He said:

"There was no way I was going to let them kill me

 AND steal all my money". 

What do you think about that statement? 

Would you give someone who was robbing you anything 

or would you try to hide your valuables? 

Flashback Friday

Oh my goodness. 

How many Olan Mills photos did we take growing up? 

Countless it seems. 

I'm pretty sure that between the three of us 

{my sister, my mom, me}

in this picture we used several sets of hot rollers, many brushes, 

a curling iron or two, and LOTS of hair spray.  

We all have some serious big hair going on. 

Judging from our clothing and my hair

 {nice perm Shannon. and those bangs? what the heck?}, 

I believe this picture was taken in my sophomore year of college 

which would have been 1989 or 1990. 

Growing up people always said my sister and I looked alike

and now I constantly hear how much I look like my mother. 

What do you think? 

No Words

For someone who enjoys talking and does so 

quite often,

 quite freely,

 quite quickly,

 it's rare that I am at a loss for words. 

But after serving for the past week as a juror in a capital murder trial, 

I truly am at a loss for words. 

It was fascinating to serve as a juror and I learned so much. 

But as a result, my heart hurts.

A lot.

I have so many thoughts running through my mind, 

so many stories, and so many lessons I've learned

 and I promise to share them with you.

Hopefully soon.  

But for now........I have no words.