Tell me a joke...

I need a pick-me-up. I have been kinda down lately...fighting it because I am usually a pretty happy person and I hate being down. But the past month has beaten me up a little. Come on...cheer me up. Tell me your best funny joke or funny story. I know you people are pretty quirky, I know you have some good ones...

Crazy Driving or Crazy Kids?

Today, I got the girls from school, and we were driving down a pretty curvy road...that had a few hills. Should I take note when they throw their hands up in the air and go, "Wheeeeee!" like they are on a roller coaster? Maybe slow down? I really think they were just being silly given that I was WITHIN the speed limit. It just makes me think about kids and how cool they can be sometimes. They can make the most of any situation. If I could see life through the eyes of a child again, how different would I see? I would believe that people drop gifts in my home when I am asleep, and that I was the smartest girl in the world because I learned a new word or read a whole book by myself. I would give myself credit and not beat myself up every second of the day. I would believe in ME, I would be invincible...Super Stephanie that could do anything, if I just tried. I would believe that most people want to be my friend and would help me if I needed it. That most people are good and honest and would do the right thing. Man, where do we lose that? Oh yeah....reality. But there's a flip side...if we want to believe in people, then we need to be the kind person that others can believe in too. Who said you can't be friends with someone you met 5 mintues ago? Why are we, as adults, so scared? Why don't we believe in "us" anymore? We act like someone might be angry at us, if we smiled and said hello. Ever try it? Most people smile back.  Some look like they might bite, but most won't. And I doubt you will get an invitation to be someone's "best friend" immediately, but hey, we're just not as cool as kids. Now I am not saying there aren't crazies in the world and we should throw all caution to the wind, but I am saying that not everyone is out to get us. When a kid sees a new person, they see a "new friend". They have no reservations. There is no "self-doubt" about "what if that person doesn't like me?" or "am I good enough to be that person's friend?" When we see a new person, we see "competition", someone that might be better than us or different than us or may not like us. Well, big deal. I say we all throw our hands up in the air and yell, "Wheeeee!". I want to believe like kids believe. I want to accept and be accepted like kids do. I think they are much happier for their way of doing things than I am. Now I am going to go to sleep, and maybe, just maybe, someone will bring me a present before morning!

Therapy Baking & Peanut Butter Zoom

Those of you who know me well enough, know that I therapy bake. Some people drink, some people paint... when I get stressed, I bake. It's great for the co-workers though! I bring all my treats to work the next day. So as my house smells like chocolate, and my cake is in the oven, I'll tell you about my past 24 hours. Kennedy, recently turning 6, requested a guinea pig for her birthday. Now, I didn't know very much about them, but we pigsat for a friend's guinea pig (thanks Claire!) to make sure we could handle it. We did fine, so we got one. Her name is Reese Cup. She looks like peanut butter and she had a mohawk down her back when we first got her. Now that she is fattening out, the mohawk is flattening out. She is cute and cuddly, and has only bitten me once. So, as we were cleaning her cage last night, she hurled herself over the edge and down about 2 feet to the ground and then ran under the entertainment center. No matter how far we coaxed her out last night, as soon as anyone flinched....ZOOM! Guinea Pig 500-little streak of peanut butter dashing back under the entertainment center. So I left her there. I was half wondering if I would end up with a pig in my hair midway through the night. She DOES love to tangle all up in my hair. Yeah, she is MY pet and I still say, "EWWW!" Her little fingernails do NOT feel OK in my hair. But she stayed there all night...all day...and was there until about an hour ago when I put on my war paint, got my trap set and went in for the capture. I went like this, she went like that. I said to Hollywood, "Where'd she go?" Hollywood says, "Where'd whooooo go?" (Top Gun Quote, if you didn't get that). Then I made my move...(insert official war/karate sounds here), and BAM! She was trapped in a pillow tunnel. She looked left, she looked right...she had nowhere to go but straight toward me. So I got her. Woo-hoo! But it stressed me out so much I had to bake. LOL. Hope you all are doing well!!! I will try to get back to blogging every now and again! And if you are wondering, I did NOT win the pickle contest-although I believe with every bit of me that even my dumb names were better than the winners. Not bragging...just saying...if I was judging the contest..well, of COURSE I would have won :) But thanks for your prayers!