Science experiment vs. Bleach

Remember in middle school when you used to get soooo excited over science projects? You used to love to make things boil, foam, and change colors. 

I channeled this spirit recently. See, my favorite white t-shirt had a mysterious stain. So I went to Wal-mart to get something to remove said mysterious stain. I could have simply purchased bleach. It certainly would have done the job. However, I decided to buy this:

 It looks exactly like a science project, right? You have to pour the powder in just as the water is simmering and stir it for like 30 minutes. 

What could go wrong right???

In my world something ALWAYS goes wrong. ALWAYS.

So my roommate and I slowly began to notice that a very putrid smell was beginning to take over the entire apartment. Within minutes the whole place smelled exactly like four-week-old Easter eggs you never did find after the Easter egg hunt.

Air Wick Clean Linen spray DID NOT mask the odor. It failed me for the first time ever. Therefore we had to resort to this: 

The fan is slowly pulling the rotten-egg smell out of the apartment and replacing it with cleaner, fresher air. The watermelons serve no other purpose other than to keep the door open. People outside our apartment even noticed the smell we were slowly filtering out the door. It was seriously a god-awful smell. 

I'm pretty sure Crystal and I lost a few hundred brain cells due to the smell. So much for a science project. And the worst part: my shirt is still stained. 

Grace

Twin???

I made a discovery tonight.... Dakota Fanning has been casted for the new Twilight  movie, New Moon. She doesn't have a major role, but she will be in the film. It just so happens that I like Dakota Fanning and her work. It ALSO just so happens that Dakota Fanning is my twin... Really, she is. Take a look for yourself:

Me: ( This is a REALLY OLD picture of me from my junior year of high school and is not very good quality but I thought it worked best for this purpose. Please forgive the odd light on my mouth/cheek. Thank you.)

Dakota Fanning:

Do you see the resemblence????????????

Don't try to say that I am crazy either....TONS of people tell me that I look like her ALL the time. This one man I know doesn't even call me by my real name anymore; he just calls my Dakota. 

I even took the time to break down and highlight the similarities. 

Black arrows: We are both blondes!

Red arrows: We both have small upper lips!

White arrows: We both have the same nose!

Blue arrows: We both have tiny dimples that only show when we are smiling really hard!

BUT WAIT! THERE IS MORE!

 While I was googling pictures of Dakota Fanning ( I am only taking the time to do this because I simply can't fall asleep....just if you were wondering.) I also found some rather intriguing facts about the young actress that I am going to share with you.

1. She was born in Georgia.

              a. I was born in Tennessee! We are both from the South!

2. She had several issues and procedures done on her teeth.

              a. I had braces and retainers for like 7 years of my life!

3. She made all A's her sophomore year of high 

school except for Geometry.

      a. I had all A's in high school until my sophomore year when I made a B in Geometry!

4. She and most of her family go by their middle names.

              a. My father, brother, and myself all go by our middle names!

All of this simply adds up to one thing:

Dakota Fanning and I were separated at birth (The age difference is merely a trivial factor). I have come to terms with the fact that Dakota was chosen over me at birth to become the famous one. Seriously, I could care less that she gets to go to red carpet events and act alongside Denzel Washington. Whoever separated us at birth did me a favor. Why would I want to be rich and famous by the age of like 16 anyway? Why would I want to be able to have multiple appearances on the Tonight Show and have a role in New Moon? I totally got the better end of the deal. But hey, being the considerate person that I am, I am going to make my dear twin, Dakota, an offer...

I am willing to sacrifice myself and give up my dogs, couch, laptop, and fudge-pops for a couple of weeks to trade places with Dakota so that she might have a break. I mean it is the LEAST I can do for her, after all.

    

  

I'm just saying...

Grace

p.s. Okay, fine...I'll go to bed now....

Tea Parties, Ribs, and Wet Dogs

“To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last -- but eat you he will.” -- Ronald Reagan

Wake up America.

Open your eyes. 

Take the time to listen to what is actually being said and done.

Does any of it make sense?

No?

Does it make you mad?

Yes?

Oh.

WELL THEN GET UP AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Do not trust a few to do the work. YOU must do something. YOU must say something. YOU must act before you no longer have the right to.

------

Ahhh... the 4th of July.... Independence Day....

I love my country.

The family and I had a very fun and busy 4th.

We attended 2 Tea Parties. 

One was held in Jackson, Tennessee. We 

estimated about a thousand in attendance.

We left the Jackson Tea Party a little early so we could drive to the Tipton County Tea Party. We skipped lunch and everything to get there. Let it be known that I NEVER skip lunch unless it is a dire situation. 

I won the sign contest.  If I don't blog for a few days then it is probably because I have been kidnapped by the secret service. Please send help. Don't let them take me!

Like I said above, we skipped lunch. So by the time we left the Tipton County Tea Party, we were HUNGRY. Actually, hungry isn't a strong enough word. I could have eaten my own hand by that point. But that would have been cannibalism, which is frowned upon.

We decided to drive to Memphis and eat at the best place in town: The Rendezvous. Ahhh....it makes my stomach growl just thinking about it.

History Lesson: The Rendezvous has been the best place to get ribs and barbeque since 1948. It can be found in an alley in downtown Memphis. If you are looking for white table clothes and five-course meals, The Rendezvous is not the place for you. If you are looking for the best meal of your life, then you found it.

You can smell the ribs from this place for miles. If they bottled the smell wafting out of the doors, I would buy it and where it as perfume...seriously.

We were lucky because we only had about a 45 minute wait. Some days you would have to wait two hours for a table. Any wait would be worth some of their ribs, though.

One sign that a place is going to have fabulous food is that they slap down several packets of individual wet ones. The messier the food, the better. It's a proven fact.

See that man right there? Yea he is one of the waiters at The Rendezvous and he has been for the past 48 years. Most of the waiters have similar stories. They all have worked there FOREVER, and they all rake in hundreds of dollars in tips most nights. 

This photo has nothing to do with tea parties, The Rendezvous, or the 4th of July. I just took it while we were downtown and thought it was pretty...

We were on the way home when it started raining. 

The bad thing was that we had left Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the pen outside. I mean, they had a dog house to seek shelter in, but still. 

Needless to say, they were both utterly, and helplessly filthy and soaked when we finally got home. Therefore, they immediately went to the tub for a quick bath. What a way to end the 4th of July, huh?

This picture depicts them both perfectly. Reagan is always sniffing SOMETHING, in this case, the dog shampoo bottle, and Thatcher is always trying to escape, in this case her prison is the tub. That is my mom's arm if you are wondering. If you weren't, oh well, now you know.

God Bless America.

Grace

Bad veins, Dominoes, and Diets

I coaxed my dear little friend, And (that is her name...not a conjuntion), into going to give blood with me this morning. I had given twice before, but she was a first time donor. 

And perhaps a last time donor judging by the look on her face. 

Actually everything went fine. Well, except for the fact that the Life Blood lady informed me that I had horrible veins and that she was praying about how she was going to stick the needle in my arm. Let me tell you, those are not the most comforting words to hear!

And apparently has very good veins because she drinks a lot of water.

Whatever... I still saved a baby.... PLUS I have the universal blood type!

Beat that little Miss Perfect Veins!

Later on in the evening, we all went out to eat and then back to my house to play a friendly and highly competitive game of Dominoes. It got vicious quickly. 

There are so many things going on in this photo that I decided to break it all down for you guys. I even used colored arrows to make it easier!

All four black arrows: Our cellphones. None of them are more than 6 inches away from our bodies at ALL times. You never know when you might get an important text or call!

Sky Blue Arrow: Lotion. We were all sunburned from spending a day outside in near triple-digit degree weather. Not our brightest idea. 

Purple Arrow: My empty Little Debbie Fudge Round wrapper. Goldie Locks and I have started working out. She has also started counting calories and watching what she eats. I watch what I eat as well...I watch it enter my  mouth, at least. Let's just say she is fighting a loosing battle if she is attempting to get me to count anything beside how many fudge pops I can eat in one sitting!

White Arrow: This is a butter churn (in case you were wondering). We have had this churn, and many churns like it, in my household since I was born. Don't ask me why. We don't churn butter or anything. 

Lime Green Arrow: Goldie Locks is counting and tallying up the points from the round of dominoes we just finished playing. Goldie Locks counts EVERYTHING from points, to days, to how many red M&M's are left. I promise that if you asked her, at this very moment, how many days there are till Christmas, she would know. Or at the very least she would have a wonderful amount of fun figuring it up. 

Red Arrow: I AM WINNING AT DOMINOES! See how I only have one little ole' domino left??? I did, in fact, win not only that round, but the entire game!

Here are the final scores (lowest amount of points wins):

Me: 207

And : 212

Goldie Locks: 230

Hope: 422

I love my life (and my veins!). Amen.

Grace