I freaked out last week.

I'll tell you why. 

You may remember the story I've told about my Carrie-sister and I as little girls, terrifying the neighbor kids with our macabre-filled imaginations, also known as: The Story of Wang and Chang. If you need reminding, go read it here. 

Don't worry. I'll wait.

All caught up? Good.

Now, last week, Brandon and I were watching a documentary on netflix about autopsies, and the story of a famed set of conjoined twins was shown.

Let me introduce you to Eng and Chang Bunker, who rose to fame in the mid 1800s, and actually coined the term "Siamese twins." They were joined together by a band of cartilage on their chests, and lived to the age of 63.

Here's where the story gets freaky, to me anyway. 

One morning, Eng woke to find that his brother, and other half, had passed away during the night. He followed soon after. Upon autopsy, it was found that while Chang had died of a blood clot, Eng had died of shock. He was literally frightened to death. 

When Eng woke, the shock and fear of seeing his brother dead next to him, killed him as well.

http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/a-hyphenated-life/

Guys, I had never heard this story before until last week. And yet, Carrie and I told it to our neighbors 20 years ago.  

Has your brain exploded yet? Cause mine sure did.

After watching the documentary, I immediately called Carrie, and she confirmed my feeling that she too thought we had made it up. I have distinct memories of coloring the walls of our clubhouse while imagining up this strange and morbid tale.

There are only two ways to explain this. 

1. Carrie and I must have heard the story on TV as kids and just don't remember. Although, if this were the case, wouldn't it be safe to assume that the rest of my family, our parents and older sisters, would have also heard of the story? None of them remember hearing any other version than the one we told in the backyard. 

Which leads me to explanation two:

2. Carrie and I are psychics and/or were visited by the ghosts of Eng and Chang Bunker. 

On another note, Halloween is coming up. I think I'll dress as myself at 7 years old. It's sure to scare the pants off of everyone.

Carrie's favorite story

Guys, I think this is seriously the most embarrassing story of my life, and one of my Carrie-sister's all time faves.

Honestly, I've shared pretty much all my embarrassing stories with you. Like the time I flashed my dance class, or the time I drooled in front of my crush, or when my kids made a serious mess in the library, and when I got in the wrong car at Target.

I am a firm believer that being able to laugh at myself is one of my strongest traits. So I usually have no problems sharing some of my most humiliating antics.

But I have never shared this story. Until now.

Precursor: 

If you are under the impression that I have never passed gas, turn back now. That's right, folks, this story is about flatulence.

Travel with me in your mind, back about 5 1/2 years ago. Brandon and I were newlyweds, I was pregnant with our first daughter, and we were both in school. 

Now, as a young couple with no children, Brandon and I spent most of our free time laughing and joking with one another. We had a lot more time on our hands to watch movies, laugh at elaborate inside jokes, and create silly traditions.

Of of these jokes, was probably the silliest thing you'll ever hear. Whenever one of us would pass gas, we would say, in the most ridiculous southern accent, "I tooted!" (With the accent, it sounded a bit like "Ah tee-you-ted!")

Every time. At first it was just a funny thing to say, then it became habit. I don't think either of us realized we said it anymore. Which was fine; it was just the two of us.

Until one day it wasn't.

I was in hair school at the time, and one afternoon, I was sitting in the break room at the school with about 15 other students. I had wedged my pregnant self onto a table with 2 of my friends, because the chairs in the room were all full. As we sat there chatting, I felt a fart coming.

I tried to hold it in, I really did, but sometimes these things can't be helped.

It broke loose, and without thinking about it, I announced to the whole room, "I tooted!" rather loudly, in the accent and everything.

Everyone stopped and stared at me. Crickets chirped.

One of the friends sitting next to me looked at me like I was crazy, and said "Did you really?" 

What was I to do?!? If I own up to it, they all think I'm gross. If I lie, and say that I was just kidding, then I'm the weird girl who interrupted an entire room of conversation to falsely announce that I let one rip. 

Guys, I owned up to it. I quietly answered that yes, I had in fact tooted. They all continue to stare. 

I decided to run. I excused myself to go check my phone or some other transparent excuse, and tried to quickly and quietly sneak from the room. But, being pregnant, and sitting up on a table, this wasn't an easy task. As I scooted inch by inch to the edge of the table where I could perform my dismount, all eyes were still on me. And I'm pretty sure the intensity of my blush actually singed my eyebrows.

Here's the kicker. The fart was actually quiet enough, that had I kept my mouth shut, chances are that no one would have noticed at all. 

I came home from school that day, told Brandon that we had to break that habit immediately, and seriously considered wearing a bag over my head to school the next day.

Weird Kids

Looking back at my childhood, it's a wonder sometimes how my sisters and I turned out so normal (relatively speaking, of course). 

Carrie and I especially were odd. Quite odd.

 When most little girls our age were playing princess or teacher, we made witches' potions in the backyard. We would fill our turtle sandbox with water, mud, leaves, bugs, and whatever else we could find, and pretend we were evil witches, and the strange backyard concoction was our potion.

We were also quite maniacal. Well, to be honest, I was maniacal. Carrie just went along with my evil schemes. 

We used to torment our older sisters, Daisy and Jeannine, by getting into their makeup while they were at school, so our mom put a little lock on the outside of their door. But that led to more shenanigans when we realized that we could lock them in their room. We'd wait until they were in there doing homework,lock the door, then tell mom that they were being mean to us. When she'd call them, they couldn't get out and got in even more trouble! Ha! 

(Sorry guys.)

And now, the piece de resistance. This is the weirdest of the weird. 

This is the reason Carrie and I didn't have any other friends besides each other.

This story takes place when I was about 7, making Carrie about 6. Our dad built us a little clubhouse out of spare wood, complete with working windows, shingles on the roof, and a peep-hole for when we played speak-easy.

He painted the outside and we decorated the inside with crayons. Instead of drawing flowers and butterflies like any other normal little girls, we used all the red crayons to draw a large blood stain on the wall. We then filled a pillowcase with stuffed animals and invited the one family of neighborhood kids to come over. We closed all the windows, sat them on the pillowcase (makeshift couch), and told them the chilling story of Wang and Chang, the siamese twins. One day, Wang woke up and found Chang, his other half, dead. The shock and horror of discovering half of himself dead, killed him as well. The kids were obviously terrified.
We then informed the kids that they were siting not on a couch, as they had assumed, but Wang and Chang's body. And then we showed them the blood on the wall. Needless to say, they ran home crying and weren't allowed to play with us anymore.

We didn't care, they were lame.

5 People I Love

Today's Write Yourself Happy prompt is:

List 5 people you completely admire and role model. Tell us why you love them so and what attributes are so admirable.

Here you go! In no particular order, here are 5 people I love:


1. My sister, Carrie.

She is brave and hard-working, beautiful and kind, and more hilarious than anyone else I know. The wonderful thing about Carrie is that I know that no matter what, she will be there for me. I don't know where I'd be with out her.
I loce you, Larry!


2. Brandon, my amazing husband.

He makes me so happy, and I can't imagine life without him. He tells me I'm beautiful every day, even when I'm still in pjs and my hair's not brushed. He gave me two beautiful daughters, and is the best daddy to them I could imagine. He is funny and good and smart and handsome, and I love him with all my heart.


3. Ron Weasley. (C'mon, like I'm going to make a list of influential people without someone from Harry Potter on it.)

Here's the dealio: I love Ron. A lot of people take him at face value - a funny guy. And he is funny, but he's so much more as well. He is the first friend Harry ever had, and from the very beginning, he is willing to put his own wishes and desires on the back burner. Think about it. In the first book, when Ron looks in the Mirror or Erised, all he sees is himself getting a little recognition. All he wants in life is to not be in someone's shadow. And yet, for 99% of the series, he hops right into Harry's shadow, simply because he knows Harry needs him.


4. My friend, Hannah.

She is one of the strongest women I know. She is graceful and intelligent, and a spectacular friend. One of my favorite memories of Hannah is also one of my earliest. She came over to my house when I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant with Margot, and just sat and talked with me for hours. I always have fun when we get together.


5. My old roommate, Ashlee.

I have been thinking of her a lot recently, as she just got married! I don't think she knows how much of an influence she had on me 9 years ago when we lived together. When I think back to my college years, every happy memory has Ashlee in it. She was always kind to me, even when I was really hard to live with. If I can be half the friend to someone that Ashlee was to me, than I have succeeded.

Happy Birthday, Bear!

Today is a very important day to me. It is November 24, the day that, 25 years ago, my best friend came into my life.

It's my Carrie-sister's birthday!

Carrie is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She is witty, courageous, beautiful, intelligent, and the best friend I've ever known. 

Larry, 

Happy Birthday! I love you. I'm sorry I cant hang out with you today, and I hope your day rocks as much as you do!

Loce, Herman

Six Things About Me

One of my fave bloggers, Lena B, recently posted an "about me" on her blog, and, like her, I love stumbling across these types of posts. So I'm jumping on the bandwagon! Here are...

Six Questions About Myself:

Is this how you thought your life would be?
Actually, yes. I always thought I'd be married to a super hunky dude (check), have beautiful babies (check), and be happy (check check)! There are things I still want, like more kids, a house, and to be done with school, but I honestly thought my life would never be this good. I know I never expected my hair to be this fabulous!
Seriously though, if given the chance to change anything, I'd have nothing to change.

If money were no question, I would purchase:
Oh man, I don't know. I don't want to say a house, cause we don't know where we'll be going to med school yet. And there's not really a lot of stuff that I'd like to buy. I'd like a new phone, and some new clothes, and I'm always game for buying hair products, but that's lame.
I would love to take a vacation to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with Carrie. And do it right. Buy all the souvenirs we want, eat in the park every day, stay in the Hogwarts castle (can you do that? I don't know, but if money is no option, I would.)

Yeah. Harry Potter.


What's your drink of choice when out with girlfriends?
Since my "girlfriends" are toddlers, and I don't drink alcohol, I'm going to have to say good ol Dr. Pepper. Man, I love that stuff.


What do you love about yourself?
I know I've told you all how much I love me. One of my favorite things about me is that I am really fun. I am silly and humorous (I like to think), and I'm fun to hang out with.

If I'm wrong, just let me live in ignorance.


Name a good deed that went unseen.
I feel like motherhood itself is a good deed that sometimes goes unseen. I constantly put others before myself, and I like doing it! There have been times that I have forgotten to pee for two hours, because I was too busy helping Portia and Margot put gowns on all their barbies. But that's part of the job description. I have to stop thinking about myself, and I get to hang out with these two:

What hobbies do you have that you don't mention here?
I don't really have any hobbies. I hang out with babies, I read Harry Potter, I watch tv, and I blog. I guess blogging is my hobby. Am I lame? Probably. But you're still reading this, so obviously I'm not that lame.



So there you go! What are your answers to these questions?

To check out Lena B's post, go here:
http://www.lenabactually.com/2013/09/six-things-you-know-about-me-now.html

Day 18, I Remember a Twister

May 18th- Tell a Story From Your Childhood

It is prime tornado weather here in Oklahoma today. It's warm but cloudy, and really humid but windy. We are under a tornado watch until 11 pm, and I can almost feel the sky turning green. 

So, in loo of this, I will tell you about the time that I was in a tornado as a kid.

No, this is not a photo that I took. I just got it off the internet.

I don't remember how old I was, but I do know that I was young enough to be upset that I had to come inside and stop playing when the sirens went off. So probably around 5 or 6? Anyway. My Carrie-sister and I had been outside playing in the backyard all morning, with a lime green frisbee, like this one:

I think we had either found it or borrowed it from anther kid in the neighborhood, but I know it wasn't ours. 

The sirens went off, and my mom made us come inside, and I was upset. We had left the frisbee in the yard, and I just knew it would blow away.

We hung out in the bathtub, while my mom listened to the radio coverage of the weather. 

It is at this time that I realize that I have no memory of Daisy or Jeannine in this event. Maybe they were at school, or maybe the frisbee's safety took precedence in my mind. Sorry I don't remember guys. Obviously, you lived, so it's no big deal.

I remember at one point, leaving the bathroom and going to the back door, which was made of glass. I remember looking out, and seeing nothing but wind.  I wonder if this really happened, but it's in my brain. I don't remember feeling afraid, just worried about the frisbee. 

The tornado came and went, and when it was safe again, we went outside to check out the damage. The house was ok, maybe a few shingles missing, but the pine tree in the front yard was completely ripped out by it roots. It was laying on its side, with a huge pit where it had been. 

But I know what you're all wondering: what about the frisbee? It was still where we had left it in the backyard. That's the crazy thing about tornadoes, folks. I've seen houses half gone, with the pictures still hanging on the wall and the dishes still on the table.

Day 8, Advice

May 8th- Give a Piece of Advice for Anyone

This one was actually really tough for me, that's why I'm a day late. I don't have a lot of advice for people. I mean, there are tons of fashion blogs, parenting blogs, even hairstyling blogs, and I don't write for any of them.
So I called my Carrie-sister, and mention how stumped I was, and she gave me a great idea.
GIVE ADVICE TO HARRY POTTER!!
Oh, I can really do that.

I've chosen book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and I'm going to go through and give advice to the characters.

This will include spoilers to the entire series, so if you haven't read the series, then you should stop reading this and go pick up a book! Really. It's better than anything I can write, that's for sure.

Here goes!

For Harry:

Dude, angst much? We get it, really. You saw Cedric die and the Dark Lord rise again, and no one believes you. On top of that, you're 15, so you're full of the angries. 

But seriously, tone down the emo a bit, k?

Also, Cho is lame.

For Ron:

Hermione likes you. Lavendar is really pretty, but Hermione likes you.

For Hermione:

Ron likes you. He just doesn't know how to tell you. Take some initiative, girlfriend!

For Dumbledore:

Talk to Harry. Talk to him a lot. He needs the reassurance you can give him. He's going to have Voldie in his mind either way. 

For Snape: 

Dude, seriously? Harry's 15. You're a grown man. Get over it an teach him Occlumency. Maybe try a little patience, yeah?

For Sirius: 

Lock up Kreacher, and go sit by the fireplace all evening. Just trust me.

For Fudge:

Just listen to Dumbledore! When has he ever steered you wrong? Just do what he says. 

Also, go ahead and resign. 

For Umbridge:

Die.

Siblings

Today is National Sibling Day!
I was blessed with three wonderful sisters, who I adore.
Let me tell you about them!

Daisy is the oldest, and is quite a force to be reckoned with. She is eloquent an organized, and absolutely gorgeous. Spitting image of Audrey Hepburn, no joke. Daisy is the fiercest friend ever. I know that no matter what happens, she will always stand by me. Loyalty at it finest. Plus, she has a pretty sweet house.

Jeannine is incredible. She can be quiet and soft spoken at first, but has the sharpest wit in the room. She is classically beautiful, intelligent, and probably the most gifted artist alive. Jeannine and I can sit up and talk for hours and never run out of things to say. She is awesome!

Carrie is pretty much my other half. She and I are only 18 months apart, and I consider myself to be the luckiest girl jn the world to have her as my sister. She is beautiful and clever and thoughtful, and has the most toned buns you will ever see. She's way cooler than me, way smarter than me, and way funnier than me. But we still hang out. The hardest I've ever laughed in my life is when Carrie and I were together. I loce you, Larry.

Sisters

We were slightly goofy as kids

But grew up to be pretty cute!

Buuuuut we still know how to pull out weird faces!

my favorite Christmas present

I know, I know, Christmas was a while ago. But I really love this gift.

My Carrie-sister made it. She's a graphic designer. 

It's the Oklahoma City Temple, where Brandon and I were married. Pretty awesome huh?

 Here's a closeup:

Coolest Sister Ever Award winner, right here. (It's a real thing. Red carpet rollout, fancy parties, huge deal.)

For more info on LDS Temples: http://www.lds.org/church/temples?lang=eng

To visit Carrie's blog: http://carrieannodell.blogspot.com/

swoon

I have a pact with my Carrie-sister. 

If I am alive and near when she dies, I will arrange her in her coffin, so that she looks like she's swooning. 

You know, one hand thrown up by her forehead. 

Like this:

Maybe we're weird and morbid. 

Or maybe we're awesome. 

our holidays

It's been awhile since I've been able to post; the holidays were busy for us! What's that? You wanna hear all about it? Why, I thought you'd never ask!

Rewind about a month, to about the second week of December. Can you see it? The stores were still blasting Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, camera-armed Santa Stations dotted every mall in the country, and the Rawlinsons were gearing up for our holiday travels!

First, we drove to Tulsa, to visit our parents. We stopped at my parents' house first, for the Annual O'Dell Grandkids Christmas Party. For those of you who aren't aware, there are 11 grandkids on my side of the family. As you can imagine, all of us getting together for Christmas is a little difficult. So, my mom and little sister came up with a plan. Every year, everyone joins together for one evening for some awesome kid-centered holiday fun! We decorate cookies, open gifts, look at Christmas lights, we go all out.
This year, we went bowling! The kids loved it! We then drove to Rhema to see the lights.

Carrie and I at the bowling alley. Something exciting must have been happening. Probably a strike.

 Me, Carrie, and Daisy, and the back of Margot's chubby little head.

My cute parents. 

There aren't many pictures of my kids, as they were too excited to stand still. Fun times!

Next, we headed to Brandon's parents house for a week. We celebrated Christmas early, and the girls made out like kings! They got Little People, Barbies, new jammies and outfits, and tons more. They were in heaven! This was the first Christmas that Margot was old enough to really know what was going on, so she was really excited.

Next, we drove 15 hours to LaGrange, IN to visit my extended family. It was a surprise, only my Aunt Peg knew we were coming, and she kept a really good secret! It was so much fun to visit everyone, especially since I haven't seen most of my cousins in years! Plus, my girls got to meet a whole new group of kids their age to play with! Woohoo! 

Portia, decorating cookies.

Tuckered out. Brandon and my dad.

My grandpa. I like him.

My beautiful grandmother.

Next, we drove back to my Daisy-sister's house. She and her husband have been married for 15 years, and to celebrate, flew to Paris and London for 9 days. We watched their kids and house-sat while they were away. They had a blast, and got to do this:

which was very important.

After that, we drove back to Tulsa, where we relaxed for a few days, then drove to my Jeannine-sister's house for a night, where we relaxed some more!

At this point, we had been away from home for a month, so away we went! 

It was so fun and exciting to travel all over, but boy is it good to be home!