Wheel.... Of.... FORTUNE!!!!!

So no show producers have actually called me yet, but I have submitted my application to be a contestant on the greatest Gameshow of all time, Wheel of Fortune, or as I like to call it, The Wheel. I try to catch it most days and have found that I am oddly gifted when it comes to solving puzzles. I can walk into the room, glance swiftly at the puzzle and spit out the answer.

Part of the application is to check what "theme" shows you wouldn't mind being a part of. You don't have to submit who will come with you, but don't worry, I already have my co-contestants chosen for the most part:

Sweetheart's Week: duh. Caleb

Friend Week: Lindsey Blackwell. That's her on the left. I first noticed Lindsey's innate skill for The Wheel while living with her in the KD House and competing for the chair and a half via who wins the most puzzles. Even though I'm pretty good, Lindsey always beat me. I could hold a grudge, but why I figure why not embrace my competitor and combine our Wheel strengths for trips and cash prizes? I've already consulted her and she said she would definitely go with me. She also said that after being a contestant she would quite Law School and tour God's Green Earth with her winnings. I'm with you, Lindz.

Family Week: Here's a toughie. I have two really bright parents and there is just no way I could choose. Thus, I will hold auditions. Whoever does the best, will be my choice. I will judge them on Quickness, Content Knowledge, and On-Air Personality (Show Producers will look at that- I'd hate to be passed over just because a parent didn't have the on-air personality). Another issue might be Vanna. We have a family joke that if Dad died, Mom could marry that fat actor that played Uncle Buck and if Mom ever died, Dad could marry Vanna. Well, I would hate to just dangle my Dad in front of Vanna for no reason. That's not my mom again, apparently my mom is not on Google Images. I will continue to use this random lady until I can google my mom.

NFL Week: Bryan Urlacher with 'da Bears because he was part of a Super Bowl win (I think) and because he is so big that he has no neck and I think that says a lot.

NBA Week: Eric Dampier of the Dallas Mavericks because he played for MSU! Whoo Hoo!

MLB Week: Jeff Franceour of the ATL Braves because that's Caleb's favorite player

-I didn't pick anyone for WNBA or Nascar because nobody watches that week of The Wheel.

So everyone cross your fingers that a producer with The Wheel will sort through the thousands of applications and choose mine to be a contestant. The odds are against me: over a million applicants for 600 spots. It could happen, though, and if so, it will be the best 30 minutes of Wheel Watching viewers will ever have.

Yea for the new Mr. and Mrs. David Grisham!

Okay we don't actually know David, but he married one of Caleb's friends Carey Tichenor this weekend. Carey told me she reads the blog, so of course I have to cover the wedding via a post (shout out to Carey!) They had an outdoor wedding in front of a mansion in Ridgeland, MS (which actually kind of looked like the Sigma Chi House) on Sunday. Everything was so pretty and I really liked how they got married on the front porch... very neat.

At this point, I have to talk about my favorite thing at every wedding... the cake. I mean, I really really love mini-quiches too, but there is always going to be a wedding cake. Some receptions only have wedding cake and a little bowl of peanuts and that is fine too, as long as there is a cake. Their cake did not let me down, and perhaps is in my Top 5's of Wedding Cake. My number one choice will always be mine, duh. And then my number two choice will always be Ashley Crawford Jones wedding cake from a couple years ago. I don't know what her Cake Lady did, but it was so good that I secluded myself from other party-goers and refused to talk to anyone until I had scraped the plate clean. But anyway, the cake this weekend was Wedding Cake perfection as well: moist/yummy cake, delicious icing (and I really don't even like icing). Plus, it matched her Bridesmaids Dresses, and that kind of coordination makes me giddy.

Then there was the Groom's Cake. Apparently David likes to Mountain Bike, hence the Mountain Bike Cake. This cake not only looked fun, but it too tasted oh-so-good. So I'm sure many of you are wondering the same thing we were: is the mountain actually cake, or is it just a well-shaped glob of icing? Well, we asked the Bride to ask the server, and the mountain was, in fact, actually cake. I ate a big piece of each cake and can honestly say both were fantastic.

I'm an elephant.

According to the scale at the Sanderson Center today, I weigh

2130

Diet starts after Memorial Day.

Happy Graduation, Amanda Kaye Butts!!!!

Congrats to our Graduate of 2007!!!

So the last of the Butts have graduated High School. My cute little sister-in-law graduated last night in front of a crowd of 8,000. Caleb and I drove to Decatur to watch her walk and attend her Par-tay.... and a party it was. All the bagel bites, pizza rolls, jalepeno cheddar poppers and spinach dip you can eat! Caleb and I stayed until about 10:00 then had to leave for the long drive back.

Here are some items worthy of note concerning our roadtrip and graduation in general:

1. Dress shirts made out of American Flag material still exist today and apparently are still worn to formal family occasions. Granted, the Shirt Wearer I saw was over 60 years of age, but the fact still remains that it was an American Flag shirt.

2. While the drive was fun, staying awake on the drive back was tricky. Since Caleb was driving I snuck in some dozing from time to time. However, Caleb stayed awake the whole time by screaming the words to "olde tyme" country songs. He somehow knows every single word of all these old terrible country songs that I have never even heard of. I didn't complain since it was probably keeping us from flying off the road, but his lyrical knowledge of such terrible songs was truly amazing.

3. At Graduation, families will yell out the craziest things after their child's name is called. And there seems to be a correlation with the name and the amount the family will yell. The crazier the name.... the louder the shouting is as the scholar accepts his/her diploma.

Spooked!

Question: Where were YOU at 3:55 in the A-M?

Fact: The Butts were driving down Old Highway 25 headed back to our apartment.

It seems our kids this week just could not quit barking last night. We tried to suffer through the night, but by 3:34 am, we'd had enough. We've got to get our zzzzzzz's in, you know. Plus, this house is in the woods, so when the dogs are ferociously growling in the wee hours of the night, visions of masked knife-wielders start to float in our imagination. It was time to head back to the APT. Stat.

On another note, shout-out to Caleb "All-Star" Butts on his sweet moves in the Church-League Softball Game last night. He represents FBC-Starkville well. He is number 2, so I have fun screaming out, "Way to go Deuce!!!!" as loudly as possible. So far, he hasn't brought out the eye black yet, which usually is a signal that he's taking intramural softball too seriously, but don't worry, I'll nix it if it surfaces.

Thank God! They're making a sequel to Rambo: First Blood Part II.

For anyone who loves Sly Stallone's tale of a John J. Rambo, your many prayers have been answered as they are making a sequel to Rambo: First Blood Part II. This sequel either completely ignores or skips over Rambo III. I'm not sure why, but these two pieces of trivia could have something to do with it: in Rambo II, Stallone "blinks fewer times during the film (24) than he kills (61)" (Wikipedia). Rambo III, on the other hand, is more violent. According to the Guinness Book of Records (1990) it is the most violent movie with 221 acts of violence and over 108 deaths (Wikipedia).

In "John Rambo," he's got to save Christian human rights missionaries. This is the second consecutive movie where Stallone takes one of his old blockbusters, makes a sequel where he plays the same character at the tender age of 60+, and adds a Christian theme into it becuase, let's be honest, a lot of church goers will go see the movie because they believe it's a Christian movie. First, Rocky Balboa becomes a Christian and is clearly meant to "reflect the nature of Jesus," and in this one Stallone is saving missionaries.



I can hear some mother somewhere saying to her husband, "Come on dear, he saves Christian while punching a guy's head clean off (check the 2:00 mark)."

Sadly, this will probably make money than it should and Stallone will make another of his old movies, title it after the lead character's full name, and make it Christian. I see him doing a sequel to “Stop! Or my Mom Will Shoot” entitled “Sgt. Joe Bomowski,” where Joe is forced to deal with a robberies at churches, but his mom helps him find the bad guys while learning a valueable lesson about being a Christian.

Long video for anyone who is bored...

I also wanted to put this video up for anyone who has time or is even remotely interested (which nearly no one will be). The movie is called Fog of War and is about former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He was the Secretary of Defense for JFK and Johnson, and it is interesting to hear is take on the 1960s, specifically the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam. I think the 11 lessons are really good, and they are based out of McNamara's book "Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century". Anyway, if you find yourself with an hour and 47 minutes, watch this movie. It's worth it.

In honor of our new pets for the week....

In case you haven't read below, Tricia and I are house sitting this week for a family with two dogs, both affectionately named after obscure Lord of the Rings characters. Andrea Smith, my undergraduate student worker, friend, and Lord of the Ring extrodinaire informed me that their names are Deagal and Balin, with Deagal being S'meagal cousin (DUH!) and Balin being Gimli's cousin (OF COURSE!).

In order to gain insight into our rental pets, I checked out these characters on the Interweb. Obviously, the place to search to learn about them is to go to Google and type in "Lord of the Rings characters". Luckily, I also found this: a way to find out what character you would be if Tolkien had written about you...or something.

So I begin taking the quiz to find out who I am: Merry.

What LoTR Character Are You?

"You are most like Merry. Hooray for you! You have no problems fitting in with a crowd, and you are often the life of the party. Good thing you're really smart too. Although many people like you, you are very serious about life. Go ahead and make the best of it. Just remember that those who are closest to you will be lost forever if you forget them."

After contemplating the whole situation, I decided that I might have cheated and answered questions because of how I feel at work or how I want to be perceived or some other biasing event. For example, would I really go to battle with long-handled sword? Wouldn't I much more prefer a battle axe (they are more fun, but in all honesty, I might pick a bow and arrow because then I would avoid hand-to-hand combat entirely, but not punk out like those that pick "I'd use magic"--Andrea, I'm looking at you). And besides that great question, there's the equally insightful question about where I would visit first at the mall? Just because I'm 22 now, would I really go straight to the clothing store? Isn't that just the choice that is born out of my current financial situation (I mean, why else would I go to the mall, besides to see the arcade (just kidding)). After more careful contemplation, I found out that I'm actually a touch more like Gimli, the aforementioned cousin of Balin.

What LoTR Character Are You?

You are most like Gimli. Most people think you're pretty rough, but you're actually rather sophisticated. Unlike others, you don't need everything to be perfect. You're flexible. When problems come your way, you face them head-on and get whatever help you need. You also stick to your morals very closely, and you are unlikely to compromise. You are very loyal to your friends, but don't be so controlling!

So there you have it. I want all of you to know that I'm not the tough exterior that I portray. I am actually very smart and flexible.

Ok, I can't go on. I just referred to a short hairy dwarf-man as flexible.

House Sitting Extroidinaires

This past weekend (and until next weekend), Caleb and I have been caring for two beautiful, golden haired children, Bailen and Diegal, while their parents are on a week-long conference. For those of you out there who are not Lord of the Rings enthusiasts, Bailen and Diegal are names of characters or animals or robots or something from the LOTR trilogy. Way cool, I know.

Anyway, Bailen and Diegal have been pretty shy so far, but they are really starting to come out of their shell. Caleb and I were worried there for a while, because they wouldn't touch their food, even though we put their favorite cheese on it, just like their doting parents recommended. These two dogs had us worried there, but they're starting to come around.

Meanwhile, the people we're house sitting for told us we could eat absolutely anything we want and we can drink all we want of their beer, which is some fancy foreign brand (Don't worry, mom and dad.... we have not partook). Their pantry is like a treasure chest, though. They order cool foreign spices from a spice company on the internet, so we've been cooking very tasty chicken. Also, it seems they buy "fun-looking" items at the grocery store, then just put it on a pantry shelf haphazardly, then forget about it.... SO- we're having Bake-Fest tonight and bringing all our goodies to our offices tomorrow. Get excited, work buddies!

Towel Wrap Complete!

I finished the towel wrap this morning and it looks just like one you would buy in a store! I'm so proud of it!
I tried to take a picture, but my camera is acting oh-so-bizarrely, so no visuals of my sewing masterpiece for today. I wore it around the office for a few minutes this afternoon so everyone could sing their praises and I already have two orders! The Sewing Career has officially begun!

Off to a Good Start!

So I have a sewing machine, but all I've made so far is a square coaster and a pin cushion. And both look pretty rough.

Until today.

Today marks the day I start my sewing career.

First project: Towel Wrap

I picked out the towel and found super cute wide ribbon and thread to match! This morning I started with the decorative trim, and you can't see my stitches, but they are definitely not even. I'm still a novice.
You can kind of see the stitches on this pic. Anyway, I'll update the towel wrap project as it comes along. Hopefully, it will all work out, especially since I have about $20 worth of materials in it.
It is so much fun to sew (just call me Granny Tricia)! It calms me down and makes me feel like I can actually make something. If anyone wants to go ahead and place an order.... you know how to contact me! Hahaha. I wouldn't place an order quite yet:)

My name is Tricia, and I have a Problem.

It is 12:38 pm on Monday, May 14, 2007 and I have already consumed 3 Shipley's Donuts. Clearly, I have a problem. The worst part is that today was the day I was going to start eating healty. Unfortunately, Patrick Black, Admissions Counselor Extroidinairre (shout-out!, PB!!!) brought in tons of donuts, of all shapes, sizes and flavas. It doesn't matter what flavor a donut is, though. I do not discriminate. When it comes to my donuts, diversity is excellent.

So other than telling about being a fatty fat fat pig-o, I thought I'd share some highlights of our weekend. Caleb and I decided to drive to Decatur and shower his mother (and my sweet MIL) with lots of love and even a potted begonia. We weren't able to spend the whole weekend in Decatur, because we had to wait until I was finished with my Maymester class, which meets every night (except Sunday) from 5:00-7:30 pm. Oh yes, my friends. Every night until the end of May. So we didn't get to Decatur until late Saturday night.

One thing worthy of note: Heather once mentioned on her blog the phenomenon that is her memorization of the song, "I'm Your Lady" by Celine Dion. Even though that song is no longer played much, she still knows every word. WELL. Apparently, I know all the words to a very obscure and very angry song. I don't even know the title or who sings it, and it's a song that sounds better if I shout it with an aggressive tone of voice. It mildly shocked Caleb, who thought I was asleep at the time. Anyway, does anyone else remember that song with the lyrics:

Wanna put my tender

Heart in a blender

watch it spin round to a beautiful oblivion...

Rondevue! Now I'm through with you!

I know! Weird, huh! I know all the lyrics and the chorus. That was just a sample.

Well I am finished with work at the office for now, so I'm about to leave, but there will be a post talking about the wonderment of my Maymester class coming very soon.

Nothing Much Been Goin' On

Not a lot going on in Starkville. It's really hot and I sweat a lot walking to my office every day.

Here are a few events in the Butts life, to keep our readers informed:

1. Caleb just got back from his stint as a demographer in the ATL, or Hotlanta as I like to call it (I know, I'm so hip). His earnings are bringing the Simply Yours Manor edition home for good! (invitation to Sit and Sip to follow, but save the date!) His job was to drive around Atlanta and survey growth and development. He has pledged to blog about his adventures sometime soon, but he has a lot of work at the office to catch up on for now. Welcome Home, Caleb!

2. While Caleb was in the ATL, his little wifey was home all alone. So she moved back in with Mom and Dad for three days! It was like being in high school all over again. One night, we decided to have a Fry-0-thon. The Hoppers do this from time to time and we always forget how sick it makes us when all is said and done. Well the 2007 Fry-o-thon was made up of fried shrimp, fried squash, fried sweet potato fries, and fried onion rings. That is all. Yes we were all sick. (I can hear Laurette's nauseous groan over the idea of so much fried food all the way from here).

3. On a campus tour I gave yesterday, there were four girls and one boy. The one boy was engaged to one of the girls. They are all 18 years old. All the high-schoolers talked on the cell phone the entire tour, except for the engaged girl who was describing her veil to her fiance in detail. I congratulated the happy couple and told them how fun married life is. The under-aged bride-to-be (or as MTV calls people like this, "Under-aged and Engaged") then started asking me tons of questions about the honeymoon. How much it cost, what all we did, etc. I thought about lying and telling her the St. Maarten trip cost us well over $200,000 in hopes that it would cause this cute little girl from North Pontotoc to rethink her life, but I decided to ignore her questions and just point out the different buildings on the MSU campus instead. She's too young to get married (note the Baby Bride pic, ha!)

Things I Miss...

Although I embrace new changes in my life, here are some things I miss...

1. Sarah McLachlin. She has the voice of an angel and lyrics that make you think.

Celine Dion in all her French-Canadian glory, still pops up every once in a while with her creepy husband, Whitney Houston stays in the news with her even creepier "friend" Bobby Brown, and my other favorite singer Kelly Clarkson just released a new album, so I'm happy there. Obviously I'm leaving out Sheryl Crow because I'm still bumfuzzled by her "Dining Sleeve" invention, but where oh where is Sarah Mac? I need a comeback!

2. The Kappa Dizzle House. It was my home away from home for two years and I enjoyed every moment of it, even those dark nights in the cave (hahahaha!). There was always something going on, whether it was a congo line throughout the halls, one of the girls in the 4-man screaming/laughing late at night, watching TV and sipping orangie together every Sunday night, or being scared of Mom Kennedy's hypothetical "Scary Man with a broken beer bottle standing over you while you sleep. And all because one of your sisters didn't properly activate the alarm."

3. My Mom tucking me in at night. I know she can't really do this anymore since I'm married, but it is still something that I miss. That picture isn't my mom, by the way. I googled "Donna Hopper" and this is the lady that came up. Hahaha. Sassy D is way cuter!

4. Nice Rosie. Every since Rosie O'Donnell came out of the closet, she has done nothing but scare me. Personally, I don't think she has done much good for the "lesbian stereotype." I miss friendly, huggable Rosie who had a huge crush on Tom Cruise (who I have a sneaky suspicion is also a little on the gaysies side) and who gave tons of prizes away to her guest audience just because she felt like it. Now Rosie is a scary, raging beast who can't be stopped. I just hope Ellen doesn't follow in her footsteps.

Rest in Peace, Nice Rosie!

5. Seeing my friends every second of the day. This pic doesn't have all my friends in it, but look how fun we are! I had fun calling out Animal and Dairy definitions to Boo and listening to Lindsey argue with Papa John's when we got a pizza with a slice missing, and watching Laurette give herself a concussion while lipsincing to a Meatloaf song and so much more. I wish Avery Carlisle was still around every day to get me in trouble, and Tooley to talk to!

I suppose the cat is out of the bag

OK. Something has gone terribly wrong. And I don't know how to fix it.
Here's how this all came to pas.....

For my birthday, Heather really out did herselft with the Tricia Birthday Extravaganza Post. So naturally, I have to go over the edge and think up something even greater. I decided to make a "Heather Birthday BLOG" and the idea was to give everyone the username and password so ALL could post on it.... such fun.

So I just clicked on "create new blog" from my blog, and went about my merry way, until I realized that I would have to give everyone MY username and password and that is far too risky, especially since it's the same password for EVERYTHING i do online.

I turned corners and went about establishing a brand new gmail account (you can now send e-mail to: heathersbirthdayblog@gmail.com if you like) so that I could have the new username and password. It worked like a charm.

One problem.

I can't delete the OLD blog.

I thought to myself "It's okay. Heather won't see it in the next two days. I'm safe and can have the massive Birthday Blog Launch this Friday." Only, I failed to notice how the "About Me" section on the Heather blog for some reason is showing up on the Two Crazy Butts blog (i have no idea why) and it also says everything was posted by "Heather Joy Tomlinson Skaggs." The Heather's Birthday Blog has taken over the Two Crazy Butts Blog!!!!

So. Sorry the surprise is blown so early, HJTS.

In the meantime, if ya'll want to see the fo' Real blog, go to www.heatherskaggsbirthdayblog.blogspot.com

Feel free to post on it yourself by using "heathersbirthdayblog" as the username and "heather" as the password.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!!!! ENJOY YOUR BIRTHDAY BLOG!

The new Ag and Bio Building is on fire!

Consider this to be breaking news, fellow bloggers. From my office window in Montgomery Hall, I can see the leaping flames of the brand-new Agricultural and Biological Engineering Building. Lots of smoke, lots of flames, lots of fire trucks. I don't have my camera with me, so I can't give you updated pictures, but it's quite the stir on campus right now. I'll update with details later.