I thought it would be fun to do the quiz at Find Your Spot, a site that introduces you to your ideal location based on a few fun questions. You should take the quiz, for fun or for ideas on finding your perfect spot.

The first location the site gave me was Salisbury, Maryland. It’s not the South, but closer than we are now. The median house price is $200,000. The climate seems closer to my liking and the town is much bigger than Smallville, CO so there are probably several malls and places to eat! Here’s some info on that area.

My favorite pick that the site gave me was Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The climate is a bit warmer and more humid than even Charleston, SC where I grew up. I can deal with that! The average home costs $115,000 (Wooo-Yah). What I liked most about this location is that it is so close to bigger and fun cities– New Orleans & Mobile. It’s smaller in population than Asheville, NC (where we came from) and yet bigger than here. It’s also a hop, skip, and a jump from Florida which means Disney, Univeral studios, etc. are real close by! Hellllo, Hattiesburg!

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I’m not planning on moving, but I do like to dream. I very much love Colorado and I think our home is wonderful, so selling it would be very hard emotionally. I’m not one of those that could easily disconnect from a home that saw our blood, sweat, and tears (also love, laughter, and happiness).

Here’s an example of the home we could buy in Hattiesburg for the price ours would probably sell for here…

Cute but kind of square:

Cuter but looks kind of small:

Cuter (an rather southern looking, which I like):

But. OMG. This. This is “The One”.

Here’s a link to that bad boy because I loves it so much!

Or click down below because I’m such a dork I can’t figure out to get a Slide slideshow to show up on my blog.

Since my camera is broken and will be until I can get her into the shop, I thought I’d share some older pics. It’s fun to look back…

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A little over a year ago I was round and loving every swollen inch of my pregnant body. Well, maybe not the swollen tootsies, but the rest was fine by me. I felt like a Goddess. Pregnancy is wonderful. One thing I loved most about my pregnant belly was all the kisses and whispers and attention it got…

A little over a year ago, life got a bit busier. I spent more time talking in riddles outloud and pouring sugar into the coffee filters because, well, sleep deprivation makes you funny and weird. Funny and weird is also trying to pose for a picture while everyone looks and smiles at the same time. Ha!

That look on my face is like, “Doh.”

About a year ago, Noah was tiny, cute, and quite the spunky monkey. This dude was born with some healthy pipes, Y’all. He had the most insanely high octave cry when he was tiny. I’m sure the Pacific whales could hear him from here. And they probably ran (swam?) for their lives!

On the night before Noah’s birth, I wasn’t nesting. I was climbing on my roof to see and capture this beautiful sky. Some women fold cloth diapers when they nest, some women sew curtains, I climb ladders and stare at the sky…

Last summer, Bella and Austin became big siblings. Since Bella is a little devil sometimes (just ask her baby brother), the horns seemed fitting…

Lil’ Miss Sassafras

“I might be little but I sure am scrappy,” says the tiny Nooskers!

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If something wonderful happened in your summer of 06, share it! I’d love to hear!

I thought it might be fun to share a secret with you once in awhile. One, just to air. Two, because it doesn’t hurt anything. One thing that stinks about not having a lot of girlfriends is that Jeremy either has to listen to my same stories over and over, or I have to bottle the craziness that has been my life. You think I’ve shared some pretty amazing stories here and there? Oh, but you have no idea. Seriously. This life should have been a Soap.

I used to think that maybe, just maybe, my blog could lead to some freelance work. Hello, Dreamworld. But, my focus on English in College only goes so far and I throw the rest out the window because I don’t want to write like I’m supposed to, or about things that are proper. I want to write how I talk and about the things that are real to me. Run on sentences and misused punctuation. Obviously I’m not getting paid for this or I might shape up. Sometimes I don’t spell check…(Gasp)…

Anyhow, that was just fore-thought. You wanted to know a secret, right?

When I was in 4th grade I met my best friend Hallie. I had lived in Charleston, SC with my mom most of that year. Mom had a rough time that year. I won’t over-dramatize this by sharing the details of that, blah-blah-blah. Mom gave me to my grandma to raise for awhile in Fayetteville, NC. I was put into a private Christian school, my third school that year. And that’s when I met Hallie.

We ended up losing contact for a few years because I went back to Mom. When Mom died a few years later, I went back to live with my grandma and went to the same school where Hallie and I picked right up where we left off. She was beautiful and gracefully sociable and popular. I was her geeky sidekick who was afraid of boys. We weren’t in the same class. She (her parents) was very rich and made excellent grades. She was voted Homecoming Queen. She was all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips. She always took my boyfriends away from me– just because she could. She’d take them, make me cry, and then dump them all in the same day. Some weird masochist/sadist dance we had.

Right after graduation, she introduced me to Jason. The father of my sweet Austin. Jason and Hallie had been buds in high school and he went with us to her Father’s condo in Myrtle Beach for our “Graduation Celebration”. I thought he was really good looking and extremely likeable. He was also going to college with Hallie that Fall. I fell for him, was in a really vulnerable point in my life, and welcomed the potential relationship with him. I nearly instantly got pregnant. Go figure. I was doing what most 18 year old girls do, I just got pregnant doing it. I don’t regret Austin a single bit, he just wasn’t born into the “ideal” situation and I wish I would have brought him in to more stability and maturity.

Anyways, long story short… Hallie and Jason got their groove on when I was 5 months pregnant! I ended up going to a Maternity Home in the mountains (per my grandmother’s request) and feeling soooo utterly alone. Except for the baby in my tummy. He was my hope. But I had such a broken heart. Hallie and Jason were all I had going for me after my family turned their backs on me. There was such betrayal there.

I didn’t begrudge Jason so much as I did Hallie. You know how that goes. She was my best friend. She owed it to me to be my friend, where Jason owed me nothing. He didn’t disappoint me. She did.

She and I still talk. Often. Almost everytime we talk she apologizes to me for that incident, I’m not kidding. She sometimes cries about it, even though it was 13 years ago. Have I forgiven her? Of course. I love her! I’ve loved her for 21 years! I even loved her when she gave me the awful news and mourned losing her more than losing him. I embrace the amazing memories I have with her and, OMG, there are some unbelievable memories! And she’s grown up and into such a lovely human being, what does it matter now?

She was my best friend through an amazing era in my life. Losing mom, murder trials, first periods, first kisses, losing virginity, and so on. Hallie is one of those people I have taken with me and held tightly to. She’s the only one who knows October 17th is the day I lost my Mom and she calls me every. single. year. on that day. Every 17th of October, I get ready for bed thinking that she forgot. But she never does. She calls me almost always as I’m crawling into bed to put the day to rest. She must love me too!

So there’s a secret! When’s the last time Dooce or Amalah shared a secret with you? Huh? Huh? So if you’re are looking for a freelance writer who is honest and tells you secrets while breaking every English rule known to mankind… I’m the Momma for you. If you aren’t looking for a freelance writer and just wanted to be entertained… There’s one little secret and many more where that came from.

Here’s to the friendships that survive youth. Those are the ones that last!

I’m so utterly clumbsy with socializing. I haven’t many girlfriends, but that’s no ones fault but my own. When I was working, I was just so busy with family and my job that I didn’t really feel a longing for girlfriends. But now that I’m home, I do miss having a pal to talk to and connect with. I’ve met two really awesome gals that I’ve spent time with and gotten to know, and I’m so grateful for their company.

I’ve seen a mommy in my neighborhood who is around my age, has a husband who works for the Sheriff’s department with my brother-in-law, and has 2 babies under 3– just like me. She’s super cute and seems to be really sweet. I finally got a chance to talk to her (Randy is her name) more when we had our yard sale a few weeks back. I told her casually, “We should get together sometime,” and she just lit up and told me that she’d love to as she feels somewhat isolated out here in Smallville, CO. So I went to see her the other day, brought her a little outfit for her baby boy who is 2 months old. I just thought she was AWESOME! She got on the floor and played with the kids, she was super friendly and sweet, and was quite welcoming. So I invited her to lunch today at our house. We had such fun talking and getting to know one another while the kids ran around playing and making a mess.

She’s down to Earth and relaxed. She’s also a bit shy like me. She said, “I’m so shy that I don’t easily make friends. I’m so glad you initiated it!” She lives in a cute little house right behind our cute little house and she can just travel through the alley to short cut into our yard. How perfect is it to have a buddy that lives right behind you and has little ones the same ages?

Her little boy, who is 2 1/2, got muddy in our sandbox. She was in the living room nursing her baby, so I took initiative to wash his hands and feet for him. I put him down on the ground, wiped his wet little hands and feet with a towel, and then set him free. He found a wet, muddy spot on the kitchen floor and his feet went flying from under him. He cracked his little noggin’ on the floor and instantly had this massive goose egg on his forehead. He was soooo sad too! I felt so bad, but Randy was so cool about it. I mean, I guess I didn’t expect she would punch me over it or anything, but you know how it is when you are trying to make new friends. You sure don’t want to go beating their kids up on the first playdate!

Anyways, had fun & made a neat new friend to help with the ol’ withdrawls from adult interaction! She wants to get into scrapbooking too, so maybe that would be a fun project to do together while the menfolk make us some dinner on the grill and juggle babies. Ok, maybe the last part is wishful thinking.

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I got some new music from Tori and Deana! Aren’t they the sweetest gals ever!? Bella and I have been dancing the last few days away. Thanks Ladies, I’m super psyched to have something new to listen to!