The Story of Me part 28

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December 19, 1996

Mary held Harmony’s hand as they walked through the mall to finish up the Christmas shopping. The girls were looking for some new shirts for gene and Harmony wanted to buy something for her friend, Leo.

Leo Lewis had become Harmony’s best friend on the first day of school back in September and Mary had marveled at the change this friendship had made in the shy little girl. While Leo was a little rough around the edges he was totally devoted to Harmony. It was cute and fun to see such a close friendship between the two children.

“Leo likes blue. Can we buy him something blue? Should we get him toys or clothes?” Harmony asked each question without pausing for an answer.

“Harmony, slow down. Let’s find some new shirts for Gene and then we’ll shop for Leo. Maybe we can get him a new shirt and a toy.”

“Two presents?” The little girl exclaimed as she skipped a few feet in front of Mary. “Two presents for Leo!”

Mary smiled at seeing the little girl so excited. She knew Leo lived in a group home and knew he wouldn’t be receiving much for Christmas other than the gifts from Harmony. She was proud of Harmony for wanting to help make the little boys Christmas special. She didn’t understand that it was Leo who was making Christmas special for Harmony. Leo who had made every day special for Harmony since the day he became her first real friend.

Black Holes by Nibbles Skribbles

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Black Holes is a cute kit that Manda of Nibbles Skribbles came up with while helping her son with a school science project. Luckily, she helped him finish his project and came up with a whole kit for us! Just take a look at the preview...

Black Holes has 32 elements, 26 papers, and an alpha. You can also pick up a set of quickpages, some awesome wordart and an extra alpha. For the best price check out the bundle!

I used this kit with pictures of Sebastian. These are part of the surprise I'm saving for when he gets a new surgery date...

Check out the Nibbles Skribbles blog for more layout inspiration.

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Random

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Do you ever stop and think about all the random things that affect your life? Lately, I've found myself thinking about them quite often.

On some random day back in 2008 I had the random idea of starting a random blog. I had no idea what I would blog about or who would care enough read my ramblings, but I blogged anyway.

I blogged about the random things I saw, felt and did. I blogged about things that were funny and things that were sad and things that were just so random they made no sense at all. I blogged and for some random reason you found your way here.

Many of you have been with me for years and others have found your way here more recently. You have all left random comments and sent random emails that have cheered me up, encouraged me, made me laugh and lifted my spirits.

Time went by and for some random reason I kept blogging and you kept reading.

Then, two weeks ago I had another random idea. I decided to tell you about a student that had randomly been placed in my class this year and you opened your hearts to him.

Today, after school, I stood in my class with two other teachers as we read the random postmarks on over thirty cards and packages that had arrived for Sebastian. Cards from different states and countries. Cards from people that we don't know and will probably never meet. Cards that have served as reminders of how truly awesome people can be!

You can keep up with the cards that are received in this post. And just think....it all started with that random thought on that random day all those years ago.

Sometimes, random is good!

My weekend...

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***Come back tomorrow for the girl version of this wordart***

It rained here last week...a lot! It rained and I didn't like it. Friday morning my street was flooded and I had to head out earlier than usual to take Orange Croc Guy to the airport before I went to school.

Now, before I go further into this story I need to tell you two things. The first is that I don't recommend you stay up two hours later than you usually do when you have to wake up and hour earlier than usual. The second is that OCG is really grumpy that early in the morning!

I guess I should also make another confession about my driving. You know how that whole claustrophobia thing gets to me sometimes? Well, when I'm in the car I'm not immune. Parking garages used to really get to me, but I'm better about them now. Being in the parking garage itself didn't bother me. It was being inside the car in the garage that bothered me. I would make this kind of humming sound from the moment the car entered the garage until I got parked and out of the car.

It wasn't a pretty "Look at me, I should have been a rock star!" kind of hum. It was more like The Shining "red rum" kind of hum and I didn't even know I was doing it until people started pointing it out to me. Actually, they didn't point it out as much as they laughed. So, I've gotten better about the hum.....kind of.

Anyway, very early Friday morning we're heading out to the airport and before we're not even out of the garage the little light comes on that lets me know I need gas. OCG wasn't happy about that!

OCG: Why didn't you just get gas yesterday? You knew we would be leaving early today.

ME: I didn't know I needed gas yesterday.

OCG: What do you mean you didn't know?

ME: The light wasn't on yesterday.

(FYI: I did know I needed gas, but it was raining and I just didn't want to bother!)

We make it out of the garage and onto the flooded streets. NO FUN! We stop at the service station and OCG fills the tank. We head toward the causeway so that I can drive in the complete opposite direction of school and drop him off at the airport.

I drive onto the causeway and I'm stuck in the right hand lane because of a stupid bus. I was ok at first cause I figured I would just move pass the bus and get into the left hand lane where I'm more comfortable. It's that stupid claustrophobia thing again. I start to feel boxed in if I don't have space beside me. I usually cover this up with my awesome/horrible driving skills.

The roads were soaked and it was still raining and traffic wasn't moving fast at all. The stupid bus stayed in the lane beside me and I couldn't get around it because there was another bus in front of me. I thought about slowing down to let the bus pass me so that I could fall in behind it then move over to the left hand lane. I checked the rear view mirror only to see another bus coming up behind me. I was trapped! One bus in front of me, one bus beside me and another one behind me! OCG could look out his window and see water, but I was trapped.

Without realizing that I was saying it out loud I started quickly chanting, "I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe" over and over. OCG was not amused! I told him the buses were gaining up on me, but he sided with the buses.

OCG: Ginger, I don't think the bus drivers want your Volkswagen.

ME: You don't "think" but you don't know do you?

He responded by saying something that I probably shouldn't post here.

Luckily, for all the drivers on the road, I was able to get away from the buses, change lanes and deliver him to the airport. Once we arrived and he was getting his stuff together to exit the car he said he would just take a taxi when he gets back on Monday. lol!

Sure, he'll take a taxi on a random Monday evening, but at 6AM on a rainy Friday morning I have to drive him. MEN!

His final words to me were: Don't get arrested, don't touch my video games, don't google Russell Brand and don't drink too much tequila.

So, here it is late Sunday evening, I'm about to go to sleep and I can proudly announce that so far.....I haven't been arrested!

And the winner is...

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Before I announce the winner of the gift certificate to Bugaboo Digi Stamps I just have to say that I can't thank you guys enough! Your kindness has been overwhelming and I just can't wait to see Sebastian's face once he has all of his cards. His mom and I have already talked about taking a picture so that you guys can see. Between the cards you all are sending and the cards from the kids and teachers at school, he really should have a hospital room filled to the brim with love.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

And now the winner is.....

Chris of Creations in Bloom!

Chris, I just need your email address to get your little goodie to you.

*** I love all of the cards that I have seen posted online and once I learn how to use those copic markers I got for Christmas you girls are in trouble! I am going to totally "card lift" all of your ideas! lol!***

Blog Trespassers!

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I've got lots of things that I wanted to tell you about today, but instead I need to tell that I made a big mistake and shared my blog with the people at work and now I may have to change my name leave the country.

Another teacher talked about the card drive we've got going for Sebastian in our faculty meeting and asked if other teachers would have their kids make cards. Everyone was so open to the idea even though they don't know him that I thought it would be nice for them to "meet" him and shared the blog link.

Yeah, I didn't think that one through very well! Stupid me thought they would read about Sebastian and move on. BUT NO! They keep reading about my life and telling me that they're doing it. They're all laughing at me and asking questions and pointing fingers. It's awful! I feel like my secret identity has been exposed and now I've lost all my super powers.

I think there were a hand full of people that knew I blogged, but they didn't know where I blogged and I liked it that way. You see, if the people I know don't know what I'm blogging about they can't tell my mom and if they can't tell my mom then I can't get grounded or disowned or placed on Santa's bad list.

The guidance counselor at my school was the only one who ever found my blog on her own. That's only because she got smart one day and started googling "orange croc guy and cute fajita delivery guy". Why do guidance counselors have to be such over achievers?

Anyway, they're all on to me now and I have to do something until they lose interest in my lack of a life and move on. I've got a couple of ideas that may work and I want to see what you guys think.

First of all, I'm thinking about adding subliminal messages to all my blog posts. I work with the best people in the whole world. They're be very subtle and you won't even know they're here. If you work at GPES stop reading this and go grade papers or something. If the messages work I won't have to keep them up for very long. GPES people should never visit this site again. I'm confident this idea will work!

One teacher was talking to me and trying to figure out which posts were real and which ones were shares from my NaNoWriMo writing. She figured out on her own that the posts in blue were fiction.

That lead me to my second idea---I can just start posting everything in blue. Blue is my favorite color after all! The problem with this idea is that I'm blonde and I'm afraid I'll get confused about what's real and what's not. Plus, I really need to use orange when I'm quoting Orange Croc Guy and red when I'm quoting the Cute Fajita Delivery Guy cause he's just so hot!

My third and last idea would be the hardest to pull off, but will probably have the fastest and most permanent results.---I could scare them away! I can get the basement ghosts from my photography class, that evil speed checker thingy from the road and my bi-polar GPS that purposely tries to get me lost to gang up on those blog trespassers. The only problem with this idea is that I may scare myself away too. Seriously, my GPS is mean!

If none of these ideas work, I'm probably going to go all federal witness protection on you guys and disappear. So, if I suddenly abandon this blog and it gets taken over by someone named Susie Mae in Wyoming or some other place that's not Miami don't worry. I promise she'll be just as pretty as I am.