I Digress #5 - I Love You.. **GASP**

Towards the end of last year I was on a Positive-Affirmations kick and I would listen to this awesome CD filled with amazingly uplifting affirmations. In one part of the CD it suggests sending LOVE to other drivers on the road. I really had to wrap my brain around that one for awhile. But, I tried it. As I drove to work I would tell drivers in front of me, to the side of me, and in back of me that I loved them. At first I would say it in my head... then when I wasn't feeling so weird about it, I'd whisper it to them, never making eye-contact. I'm not that brave. :)

I remember having a really bad day at work one day and I wasn't about to send LOVE to anyone... maybe some fiery darts saying "MOVE OUTTA MY WAY".. yeah, that would be more appropriate for that moment.. but I quickly noticed that the drudgery of rush hour was making my bad day even worse!! So I decided to put this exercise to the test!! I started throwing "I love you's" to people in cars and pretty soon I was feeling better and was truly lifted. It was incredible. I learned first hand that you just can't be angry when love is present inside.

So, after a week or two of doing this I began to really enjoy it!! I noticed that as I would send my love to perfect strangers, it made me feel so good inside. I'm pretty sure that my heart swelled. I could meet strangers in the store or in the line at the post office and really send my love-vibes to them without them even knowing and each conversation was warm and friendly instead of that awkward silence that is often hovering. :) I felt good about life when I was filled with so much light and love for people. :) Love is POWERFUL.

One particular day, I was on my way to work in the regular stop-n-go rush hour. I instantly fired up my Love and decided to be bold this time and actually look at the people in the other cars and tell them I loved them out loud! I figured, they wouldn't see me and they'd never know I was beaming LOVE to them. It was going great and I liked this BOLDNESS that was present in me, until that all changed in an instant... (dot dot dot)

(Tee hee, this is where my story REALLY STARTS!!!!!)

I pulled up to this beautiful black Nissan Altima, looked over at this guy and with a smile I said, "I Love You"... To my HORROR, he looked over at me RIGHT WHEN I SAID IT!!! I instantly GASPED and covered my mouth!! I am pretty positive that I went ghostly white and in my attempt to give this stranger an explanation of why I just told him that I loved him.. I started waving my hand and shaking my head as if telling him to erase what I just said.. Like an accelerated gesture of the "Jedi hand wave".. (Uhm, did I REALLY just make a Star Wars reference on my blog???? that is kinda funny.) I can not imagine what I must have looked like to him. His brow furrowed as he looked at me, as if to determine what just happened and what was STILL happening. Not much can be said or explained when you're in a sound proofed box, which is what it felt like... So, I decided it was futile to continue playing Charades to convey my point. :) And so... I focused on DRIVING. I looked straight ahead and pretended it never happened. No, of COURSE it wasn't awkward that we were side by side for the next 30 mins in rush hour going 2 miles an hour. Not at ALL!!! ;)

I can only imagine what the topic around HIS water cooler at work was that day... as for mine? I kept that whole experience to myself... until now. :) Because NOW.. I can laugh about it without wanting to hide. Sooooo, Have I continued to beam my Love to drivers since then? Not really. I blocked the practice all together until I found my Affirmations CD a few days ago. I decided to try it out again this week and I feel GOOD!! Now... will I be BOLD and look directly at strangers and tell them through our car windows that I love them?? Hmmm.. Perhaps on a bold day here and there. But if this ever happens again where I get caught sending LOVE.. You'll be the first to hear all about it. :)

You never know... maybe that man in the nice black nissan thought I said "OLIVE JUICE!" :)

"Just For Now" - Imogen Heap

I love watching people mix music to create masterpieces. I'd love to learn how to do it!! Here's Imogen Heap creating a fun mix for her song "Just For Now". :)
I LOVE IT! :)

I'm working on my next story, so stay tuned. :)

I Digress #4 - Strong Armed!

I had a memory come to me just now that made me laugh. If I don't write it down, I may forget for another 10 years!! :) It was 5th grade on a Tuesday and I got anxious as I watched the clock. *DING* It was FINALLY time to go to the playground!! I raced (walked fast) down the hallways of the elementary school and around the corner passing the cafeteria and taking a shortcut at "The Ark"... and there behind the portables were a few picnic tables where I would be participating in a very important event on this day. Kids had already gathered and were waiting for me to catch my breath so that I could compete in an ARM WRESTLING match. I know.. weird huh? lol. It was a big thing back then and even though I was a realllllly shy and very kind girl, I was STRONG and everyone loved to watch me beat the boys my age in arm wrestling! :)

I sat down at the table and across from me was Robert.. the boy I had a crush on in 3rd grade. We locked hands and someone said "GO!" I don't remember, but it's possible that I humiliated him that day as the match was up in 5 seconds, his arm went down FAST!! There were giggles, and whispers behind me and a few friends cheering me on. I went through several boys beating them all. I had earned a reputation of being the "nice bully". It sounds weird coming from ME, but I only had the bully nickname because I was strong and good at arm wrestling. I can't express how weird it is for me to be writing about this experience! It sounds so funny written out! LOL!!

I arm wrestled a couple more boys and beat them too. My arm was starting to get tired. No one else wanted to wrestle me. I got up and rubbed my arm. Just then.. a girl sat down and said "I'll take you on." I looked over and fear struck me.. it was Christina Bacerra.. The only REAL girl bully that year at Emerson Elementary... She was strong, mean, and I was afraid of her. As was everyone, including the boys!! She was always in trouble and had a constant scowl on her face. I never saw her laugh or smile unless she was making fun of me or picking on some one else. She was always in the principal's office for getting in fist fights. And now.. here she was, wanting to arm wrestle ME!!!!!! Sweet innocent Stacy. The crowd was silent... I made up some excuse like the bell was going to ring and we had to start getting back. She put her elbow on the table and said, "We have enough time, let's do this! SIT DOWN!" I felt defeated already.. plus my arm was tired from all the previous matches I'd done. It was quite an unfair disadvantage.

I sat back down and cupped my hand in hers. She squeezed it hard and I was scared. The crowd was still silent as they were all afraid of cheering me on for fear they'd get beaten up later! No one even said "GO!"... So, Christina said it fast and started right in! It took me by surprise so she almost took me down in a split second! But I was able to regain my pride when I powered in with all my 5th grade strength. We were definitely a good challenge for each other because that match was LONG!!! (probably only 2 or 3 mins, but it was long back then!) We both struggled, she'd almost pin my arm down, and then I'd almost pin hers down. It went back and forth... At the end, she almost had me and I knew I didn't have it in me to fight back. BUT, I had a plan. She was an inch or two away from winning and I was hanging on for dear life. The bell rang and no one moved.. they HAD to see who would win this intense match!! Christina kept saying, "You KNOW I have you, so let go!! You know I'm going to win!!" I have a little competitive side to me and that made me want to win MORE! My plan was I figured she'd use all her energy trying to get me down the last couple inches and then when she had no more strength left, I'd exert everything left inside of me to make this huge come back!!! It was all planned out in my head, I just had to hold on and wait it out!

Just then... Monica, one of Christina's mean friend's walked by and pushed our hands down just enough for my knuckles to hit the table making Christina jump up from the table screaming and shouting that she won!! The crowd started dispersing FAST! My awesome plan had been FOILED!!! I never used to get mad at that age, but I was upset and said that it wasn't fair because Monica pushed our hands down. I immediately decided that was probably NOT the best thing to say, because Christina came and got in my face and said, "HEY! I won fair and square!! You can't beat me and you weren't going to!" I said we should have a rematch the next day to make it fair. She just scowled at me and left to go to class.

We never did have that match. However, after arm wrestling Christina Bacerra that day, I gained her respect and she was nice to me the rest of that year and all of 6th grade as well. But ever since then, I've always wondered what would've happened if we ended up having that rematch in 5th grade.. especially if my arm hadn't have been sore from all the previous games. It doesn't really matter any more, but that doesn't keep me from thinking that I would've TAKEN HER DOWN TOWN IN TEN FLAT!!!! lol. Oh, there goes my competitive side talking again. :)

Fun memory to have had this afternoon. :) I was a bully.. That still makes me laugh.

I Digress #3 - Honest Tithes

Tonight I was sitting with my friend Sherri reminiscing and an embarrassing memory came to my mind and she said it had to go on the Blog. :) It's not so bad NOW, but back then it was almost unbearable. :) I remember it like it was just earlier today. I was in Sacrament Meeting with my family one Sunday when I was probably around 10 or 11 years old. My mom had informed us kids that after church we had Tithing Settlement with the Bishop and to figure out what our small earnings were so we could hand in our tithing. I remember sitting in sacrament meeting and I had brought a handful of Monopoly money with me.. a LOT of high bills. I pretended that I would pay with my paper money so I filled out the tithing slip for an insane amount, like the recreated slip below. (remember the horizontal slips?? :)) I filled out the slip, counted my doe and sealed the envelope. I carried that bulging envelope around so proudly all through out church, acting as if I were turning in a BUNDLE of cold hard CASH!! I had no intentions of truly turning it in, but somehow as our family waited for our turn with the Bishop, I must have dropped it. Just so happens, that I happened to drop it RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CLERKS OFFICE!! How convenient... or... not. Just as I spotted it laying right there in front of the door.. so did the 1st counselor.. my heart stopped. My mind raced. I wanted to RUN!.. because I knew that as soon as he opened that envelope, he'd know it was Stacy Householder that was turing in bogus tithing because my name was on there for all to see. I started towards him not knowing what I was going to do or say. I can't say that I didn't have visions of grabbing it out of his hands and bolting out the door. I watched him turn the envelope over looking for a name on the outside.. there was none. I gulped hard. He started opening it and by the time I reached him, he had the stack of Monopoly money in one hand and the tithing slip with MY NAME in the other!!!! He looked perplexed and when I got to him, he looked down at me and gave me a look like... hmm,. I must have had a look of horror, shame and guilt all over my face because he took compassion on me and his words were.. "My goodness you had quite a productive month didn't you! I'm very proud of you for giving 10% to the Lord." :) He is now in the Quorum of the 70's. haha. I don't remember anything else that day, including the actual Tithing settlement with the Bishop.. I think I was so humiliated that I blocked the rest of the day. But it did teach me to always pay an HONEST TITHE!! :)

I Digress #2 - The art of juggling

I've always loved watching jugglers. It's an amazing art to me. And ya know, I personally love to juggle.. It’s a talent of mine that has been developing over years and years. It is impossible to know exactly how many apples, oranges, potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, and homemade rolls I destroyed while mastering this art. And Mom, if you happen to be reading this.. just understand, it turned out to be a very worthwhile cause because as you can see in the video below, your daughter is an AMAZING JUGGLER!!!!! Thanks for your fruit donations over all those years of practicing and becoming! ;)

(okay, so I’m not THAT great.. hehe.. I can only juggle for like 5-10 seconds.) :)

This video embarrasses me, but I am going BEYOND my embarrassment and putting it on the blog. :) This was before we had any furniture in our apartment. :)





OooooooKaaayy... Glad THAT'S over with! NOW... Watch the master Chris Bliss juggling... GUARANTEED AMAZEMENT!! :)




Ahem...
I can see that I have a lot more practicing to do!


:)