Remember Those Who Fought

If you can read this, thank a veteran!

Funniest Bird Pics Ever

Look What I Found!

I found an online clipboard that I think is really cute.  I'm going to use it to post some wedding ideas, as well as other random things I find interesting.  You join by linking it to either your Twitter or Facebook account.  Visit Pinterest and follow me if you like

What Caused the Civil War?

Everyone would really like to know... why did the Civil War happen, anyway?  Are the rumors about states rights true?  Perhaps the history books are right about slavery?  The real answer may shock you.

Only 40% of America's population resided in the South, yet Southern tariffs accounted for 80% of the Federal government's revenue.  Hmm... something doesn't seem right here.  Click on this link to Dixie Outfitters to find a long list of facts and causes of the War.

But what about all the claims of Lincoln ending slavery?  Read this and this to put that question to rest forever.  Also read this to read mountains of facts that support the Southern view on the Civil War.  Dixie Outfitters is one of my favorite resources and I've always found their information extremely helpful.  While you're reading up on your history, take a look around and see if a reenactment is scheduled in your area!

Cute Kitten Pics

Don't anybody move... Hand over the cat nip, or you'll never see your sparkly blue star again.

Ninja Kitty!  Hwwwaahhh! Hi-yah!

Are they gone??

Mommy, Mommy, can we keep them?? PLEASE???

Do You Love Jesus?

I love getting forwarded emails.  I really do!  Some are funny, some make you cry, and others make you wonder how they made it so far.  But one of my biggest pet peeves is the little blurb at the end that says "If you send this to 100 people, you love Jesus.  If you don't, you'll trip over a banana peel and break all your teeth."  Does anybody else agree that this is the most annoying thing ever?

First of all, I don't even have 100 people in my Contacts List, so don't try to take me on a guilt trip.  Second of all, I'm pretty sure Peter isn't standing at the Pearly Gates telling somebody, "Well, I'd like to let you in... BUT... you didn't forward that email!"

Please, don't cause any of the brethren to doubt their salvation; if you get one of "those" emails, do everyone a favor and delete the guilt trip paragraph before you forward it to anybody else!

Dorm Duty: Update!!

I'M NOT DOING TRASH ANYMORE!!!  Hallelujah!  Sounds of praise!  Timbrels and harps resound!  Applause!  The Wave!

For everyone who has kept up with my Dorm Duty Drama (just look around for it on this blog, it's not hard to find), I am now cleaning two toilets as my daily chore!  You don't know how exciting that is after taking out trash for five semesters in a row!  If any of you have been praying, it worked! =)

You Need to Read...

So... anyone who has the reading capability of first grade or higher SERIOUSLY needs to read this book!  Amazon has them for as low as $7.75.  Come on, that's what you pay for a You Pick Two at Panera.

I learned something new on every single page, and some of it was actually quite disturbing.  Almost everything you and I have learned about the Civil War is a lie.  James Ronald and Walter Donald Kennedy set the record straight in this down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness, so-in-your-face-it's-scary book on the truth about the South.

For example, I bet you didn't know that:

• Contrary to popular belief, if the South had been an independent nation in 1860 her economy would have ranked as the third largest on the European and American continents.  Instead, the world at large would have us believe that the South was a poor and backward area prior to the war.
• The poorest states in the Union, the Deep South, got that way because of Reconstruction.  The North made no attempt to help the impoverished South back on her feet after losing a war, and instead made it worse by burning her cities and pillaging every resource they could find.  Even today, 150 years later, states like South Carolina and Mississippi still have not recovered economically.
• White Southerners get a bad rap for being racist because their ancestors owned slaves, but only 10% of Southerners (at the most) actually owned slaves.  That means the other 90% were fighting for something else, by the way.  Moreover, masters bought their slaves from slave traders in New England -- the region that was supposedly freeing these people!  Also, many Southern blacks were free men and women who were slave holders themselves.  For the final blow on the slavery/racist issue, slavery started in the Middle East thousands of years ago, not in the South 150 years ago; every culture on the face of the earth has felt the bond of slavery.  So next time someone bitterly asks you if your ancestors were slaves, boldly say YES.

It's a fascinating book that you won't be able to put down, except for periods of shock and reflection.  I couldn't read a chapter without stopping and saying, "Woah," and "Are you serious?!"  AWESOME READ!!  Even if you're not a history buff, it always helps be aware of just how wrong your thinking has been for all this time.  At least, that's how I felt after I read it.

Zero and the Letter O

Have you ever wondered why zero and the letter O are both circles?  If you're like me, this post on Dictionary.com will be anything but a boring history lesson!  Click here to read the science and mysticism behind these two common circles.

Memorial Day

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.

One died for your salvation;

The other will die for your freedom.

Have you thanked a soldier this weekend?

Suzette's Corner

Sometimes I just don't have time to read the really long posts on blogs I follow.  Ever have that problem?  Surprisingly, I'm busier this summer than I was during the school year, and I'm wondering if anybody else knows what I'm talking about?  I decided to make a mini-blog, designed to blurb out short, sweet messages for my busy, bloggy friends.  So if you're ever in need for a quick pick-me-up, without the long explanations, just visit Suzette's Corner!  You can also ask me random questions.  Who doesn't love that?

Stop by Suzette's Corner sometime!

The Big Rock

Here it is!  That's right, I'm engaged!  It happened just yesterday, and I just wanted to let everybody know.  =)

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!

I just love Easter!  I think I like it more than Christmas, actually!  It means so much to the Christian.  Here's a short, sweet post I found about the importance of Easter.  Hope you like it!  Everybody have a wonderful Resurrection Sunday!

Giveaway

These are some CUTE bows!!  Click here to see!

Update on My Dorm Duty!!

I am overjoyed to share the exciting news: my dorm now has its very own dumpster right outside the side door!!  That means I won't have to walk half way across the world to take the trash out every day!  My dorm duty completion time has how dropped from 7-10 minutes to 3-5 minutes.  WOO HOO!!!!  Hey.  If you had trash as your dorm duty for five semesters in a row, you'd be pretty excited, too.

How Well Do You Know Your Friend?

Here's a fun game to play in a large group called "How well do you know your friend?"  You can adjust the name to apply to any degree of "friend," whether it be roommate, fiancé, or best bud.  Each team consists of two people who think they know each other very well.  The questions will determine just how well you know each other!  There are also variations of how you can keep score, but the game is mostly just for fun anyway.


1. What is your friend's favorite candy?
2. What is the name of your friend's first crush?
3. What is your friend's favorite soda?
4. Give the name of your friend's pastor.
5. When is your friend's birthday?
6. What is your friend's dream car?
7. How old was your friend when he/she got saved?
8. What is the name of your friend's church?
9. What is your friend's favorite color?
10. What is your friend's favorite food?
11. Where did your friend live previous to where he/she lives now?
12. Has he/she ever been to another country?
13. Name one thing he/she would never eat.
14. How many kids does he/she want to have?
15. What is his/her natural hair color?
16. How many siblings does your friend have?
17. Would your friend rather live in a penthouse, log cabin, mansion or farmhouse?
18. What color toenails does your friend have at this moment? (no peeking!)
19. What is his/her biggest pet peeve?
20. Does he/she sleep with socks on?
21. Does he/she prefer a washcloth or loofah?
22. Which does he/she prefer, Coke or Pepsi?


My roommate and I played this with some others in my dorm, and we won 3rd place!  Go us!!  This game is so much fun and can be pretty humbling if you're sure you know someone inside and out.  Include this game in your next party; it's sure to be a hit!

Pics of Me and Tim

I don't usually post pictures of me and Tim on the internet, but I thought you all would enjoy seeing our crazy side!  Hope you enjoy!

making sugar cookies at my house! YUM!!

HBBC Hillbilly Hayride... yee haw!

at the Science Museum... LOL

Hand-Made Cards

I follow this blog and thought this was a really cute post.  Who doesn't love black, white and red?  If you like to make cards, maybe these will be an inspiration for you to get your creative juices flowing!  Enjoy Delightful Card-Making.

My Job Has Taken Over My Life!

You know your job is taking over your life when you find yourself thinking about it hours after you get off the clock!  Tim and I were sitting in church this week and I found my eyes wandering up to the balcony.  A trashcan caught my eye.  How long had that been up there?  I had never noticed it before.  It was so pretty and shiny.  Is it stainless steel or an imitation metal?  Was it empty or full?  Do the janitors polish is daily to keep it sparkling?  We have trashcans just like that in the gym... Do the church and school purchase them from the same company?  

I snapped out of my daze -- what was I doing?!  You know how long normal people stop and contemplate a trashcan?  They don't!  The average human doesn't even notice a trashcan until it's time to put something in it!  The thought process goes something like this: "I need to throw out this gum wrapper... Oh look, a trashcan! (throws away the wrapper)  Alright, time to get on with life!"  

You see, my job revolves around trash.  Housekeeping does things to you after a while, and I'm not talking about the cleaning chemicals I breathe in all day!  I faced reality this week when I got excited over lots of shredded paper in one of the trashcans in the Music Department.  I exclaimed, "Ooooh, classified information!"  One of the staff members pointed out bluntly, "You seriously need to get a life if you're reading trash."  I replied, "But you don't understand -- this is my life!"  Then I thought about it and it hit me: It really is my life!  How sad is that?!  It's one thing to joke about your job, but if your jokes are actually true, then it starts to get kind of disturbing!

I even made up a song about it!  It's to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  Enjoy!

"Suzette Had a Bag of Trash"

Suzette had a bag of trash

Bag of trash 

Bag of trash

Suzette had a bag of trash

And took it to the dump.

And everywhere that Suzette went

Suzette went

Suzette went

And everywhere that Suzette went

Trash duty haunted her soul!

It follows her to school each day

School each day

School each day

It follows her to school each day

And even chapel, too.

And so Suzette has lost her mind

Lost her mind

Lost her mind

And so Suzette has lost her mind

It's taken over her life!

My Favorites: You Might be a Redneck If...

You think the last words to the Star-Spangled Banner are "Gentlemen, start your engines."

You think subdivision is part of a math problem.

Fifth grade was the best six years of your life.

On your first date you had to ask your Dad to borrow the keys to the tractor.

You've been on TV more than five times describing the sound of a tornado.

Your parents met at a family reunion.

You wonder how service stations keep their restrooms so clean.

Your child's first words were, "Attention K-Mart shoppers!"

Directions to your house include, "Turn off the paved road."

You mow the front yard and find a car.

You've ever made change in the offering plate.

Weird Weather 2

I'm going to finish the rest of my weather story from yesterday.  So the morning was actually pretty warm, but over the course of the afternoon it got colder and colder, until it finally dropped to 40 degrees.  I thought, "Oh great... warm weather plus sudden cold weather equals tornadoes."  Sure enough, the tornado siren went off, but only for about five seconds.  Apparently they were "testing" it, LOL.  Oh, and it rained again sometime yesterday, too.  Spastic, huh??

Weird Weather

"If you don't like the weather here, just wait a few minutes... it'll change!" is the saying here in Oklahoma.  It was raining when I took the trash out at seven, and fifteen minutes later one of the other residents informed me that the sky had completely cleared up!  Right before I left for class I decided to make sure it was still sunny, so I poked my head out of the door and -- it was pouring down rain!  So much for the sky clearing up!

Extreme changes in weather are the norm here.  One day this month the high was barely 40 degrees, and two days later it was almost 8o!  I enjoyed the few warm days, but soon the temperature dropped to the usual February chill.  I have a rule of thumb to never put away my winter clothes until mid-April, just because a sudden heat wave can be deceiving.

Oklahoma isn't the only state with random weather, though!  Virginia can get pretty crazy, too!  One of my favorite things to say about my home state is, "Virginia is the only place in the world that can have 99% humidity and not rain!"  You probably think I'm exaggerating the percentage... I'm not!  I have literally seen it on the online forecast: 99% humidity and sunny! Really, where else does that happen?  Even in the tropics, the sky eventually just gives in and rains... but not Virginia!

Not to say I don't like the hot, humid summers of Virginia.  In fact, I've actually grown to like them!  Summer is my favorite season.  Flip flops, flowy dresses, ice cream, playing with the sprinkler, fishing, swimming, vacations, and sweet iced tea... all these and more just scream SUMMER!  All this talk of warm weather makes me want to move to Florida!  LOL... =)

Anybody else out there have really weird weather in your state?

My Dorm Duty

It was my second semester of my freshman year.  At the beginning of each semester each college student receives a dorm duty (a daily chore, if you will) to perform every day for the duration of the semester.  Sweeping the bathroom floor was my duty for my very first semester... a relatively pleasant duty, indeed.  However, it became time to get a new chore, and one by one we drew numbers out of a bag (no peeking allowed!).

I got kitchen trash.  Ok, no big deal, it's just trash.  Halfway through the semester getting up earlier than everyone else just to get my chore done on time became monotonous, but hey what can you do.  There was aways next semester.

The time came to "cast lots" once more and we drew numbers out of the bag.  To my dismay, I got trash again!  This time, however, I would be taking out bathroom trash, so it was a nice break from the smelly kitchen leftovers.  Little did I know the nastiness that could be found in an innocent looking bathroom trashcan!  That semester was a time to "toughen myself up" by dealing with the many evils that lurked in bathroom trash, of which I will spare you the details.  Oh well... next semester would surely be better.

Now, I had a plan this time.  When the bag passed me, I would take up a number, drop it, and then pick up a different one!  The past two semesters I made the mistake of keeping the first number I drew, but I was smarter this time.  I followed through on my plan.  I picked my number and went to see what my duty would be... no way.  Trash again?!  Another derivative from the same root, "hallway trash" had its own woes, like people throwing 44-oz. cups of ice in a flimsy trash bag and not even think about the fact that ice melts and makes the bag leak!  

The next semester came, and I earnestly prayed for a different dorm duty.  I decided to try my drop-and-pick-again trick once more; coupled with prayer, I was destined for success!  Well... maybe not.  Again, I had hallway trash. (groaning) Ok, this was beginning to really get annoying.  Not only did I have to get up earlier and deal with leaky bags, but it seemed like the dumpster moved an inch further back every day!  I began to imagine inventions that would take the trash out for me.  A wheelbarrow on a track... pinning the trash bag to a giant clothesline... Buying a remote-controlled truck with 200-ft signal to carry the trash away... 

It's Spring 2011... I've been taking the trash out since Spring 2009 and I'm ready for a break.  This time I don't even request a particular dorm duty, I just beg God to spare me from trash.  I couldn't bear it one more semester.  The bag is passed, and I grab the first number I feel.  You'll never guess what I got.

Bathroom trash!!!!!

Really?  Really??  I was so depressed I cried.  I begged, I pleaded, but alas, to no avail.  And so, here I am, taking bathroom trash out every day, in wind, rain, and snow storms.  This is my 5th semester taking out trash -- that's 2 1/2 years, people!  About that "unwritten rule" that only men are to take out the trash... LIES!  

I'll probably die taking out the trash.  I'll get struck by lightning or eaten alive by raccoons!  My casket will probably be a me-sized dumpster.  I like pink and brown... make sure it's pink and brown.  And don't forget the snot-filled tissue roses to throw all over my plot.  You might as well use an upside-down trashcan as my headstone.  But make sure that has pink and brown in it, too.

I've decided that I'm a kidney in the Body of Christ.  Kidneys clean out trash!  There you go -- it's ME!  Whoopie!  I've found my place in this world!  My destiny: to cleanse impurities!

I thought you might get a kick out of my dorm duty saga.  It is pretty funny!  I'll be SO happy when I don't have to do trash anymore, though.  I've given up on ever having a normal chore again for the rest of my college career, but it's ok because Tim's already promised me he'll take out the trash when we're married. =)  YAAAYYY!!!  I think he feels sorry for me, LOL. =D

What Makes You Giggle?

Ever laughed so hard at a joke your stomach hurt, but when you told the same joke to a friend, they looked at you like you were from another planet?  I find it interesting how everyone has a unique sense of humor.  Here's just a partial list of "senses of humor:"


Abstract, amusing, antic, bawdy, buffoon, bumpkin, bizarre, child-like, clever, cornball, 
cheerful, cynical, daring, darling, deadpan, devilish, derisive, droll, dry, elfish, 
expansive, facetious, farcical, far-out, flaky, gleeful, gross, grotesque, hostile, hysterical, 
impish, insulting, jocular, jolly, jovial, kibbitzing, licentious, lively, ludicrous, merry, 
mischievous, nitwit, nonsensical,  observational, off-beat, outrageous, parody, perverse, 
playful, poor-soul, punny, quirky, random, raucous, ribald, sarcastic, sardonic, satirical, 
self-deprecating, sick, silly, simple, smart-alec, superior, teasing, topical, uninhibited, 
unique, vexatious, visual, wacky, waggish, weird, whimsical, witty, wry, yummy, 
zany. 


Just another way God made us special!  Did you find any adjectives that describe your sense of humor?  I can relate to a few, such as cheerful, mischievous, random, sarcastic, visual, and weird!  What about you... what makes you giggle?  Do you like it when people slip on banana peels, or when blondes are put in their place?  Do you like telling jokes that take ten minutes and have a punchline that has nothing to do with the story?  Or do you like short one-liners?  Can you find a way to be sarcastic about anything?  Do you randomly think of corny jokes?  Leave a comment and tell me about your sense of humor!

Blizzard!

School closed down today (yay!) and tomorrow (double yay!) so I've been doing homework and reading a good book.  No, I haven't thrown snowballs at Tim yet... I actually don't even like snow!  It belongs on postcards and paintings, but not in real life!!  The storm started last night and it didn't stop snowing until this afternoon, and it's supposed to snow a little bit more tomorrow.  Just think, three days ago it was 80 degrees!  I am definitely looking forward to summer!  Flip flops, pedicures and sunshine!!

Awesome Info on Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee is one of the most inspiring men you'll ever read about.  Being a Virginian, I naturally take pride in my state, its rich history, and the perfect ladies and chivalrous gentlemen that made it great.  I came across a well-written post on his life from the blog Ambassador of Christ, so I wanted to share it with everyone.

Even if you're not a history buff like yours truly, I strongly encourage you to read this.  You'll learn some fascinating things about General Lee and the South that you've never heard before!

Forgotten Hero - Part 1
Forgotten Hero - Part 2

Giving song leading a try...

At Heartland Baptist Bible College, you can always tell who the third year pastoral majors are because at chapel during congregational singing they're waving their hands around, trying to keep time with the hymns.  This year I learned why they do this: they take a song leading class!  I catch Tim doing it every once in a while and I tease him by waving my hands around in a similar manner.  He's always like, "No, not like that... like this..." and proceeds to show me how to properly move my hands.  Seemed easy enough.  1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4... I know music and how to count, so how hard could it be?

Last week, I became the official song leader for three of my teaching classes.  I volunteered for one class, and my teacher drafted me for the rest of them!  I decided to try out my new song leading abilities, so I started waving my hands around to keep time.  I did TERRIBLE!!  I couldn't even keep time with MYSELF, it was so bad!  I looked like a fish flopping his fins around in a boat!  Ok, so song leading isn't as easy as it looks.  Maybe I should just leave the arm-waving to the third year pastoral majors... yeah, I should definitely do that.

My Re-Vamped Blog

I started this blog last year, but it was open to invitees only.  I wanted to be able to share my random thoughts with everyone, not just a select few, so I decided to revamp the World According to Suzette and make it available to the rest of cyber-world!  A Spring of Joy will still be my primary blog, but every once in a while I'll post on this one.  The whole purpose of opening this blog to the public is that I always wanted to share humorous stories and musings, but never felt that A Spring of Joy was the appropriate place for them.  Well, here is the blog that is dedicated to just that!  Enjoy the World According to Suzette... prepare for something completely random!