Small Town Elements: Pranks and Rites of Passage

For many many kids, especially small town kids, pranking is a rite of passage.  In small towns, where kids can run around town without raising too much parental suspicion, pranks are a (mostly) harmless way of being devilish.  With Halloween approaching, the tendency for pranks to occur is increasing.  Usually, said pranks involve toilet paper, eggs, soaped windows, shaving cream, or if your kids are a little more monstrous, flaming bags of dog poo.  Kids who do not live in town often have to resort to long range attack pranks, like prank calls, or ordering pizzas to be delivered to people's homes.  With the increase in caller ID and cell phones, these types of pranks have really fallen to the way side.

I have noticed that both pranks and other types of rites of passage tend to vary by location.  For example, where I grew up, our thing was more of a rite of passage and not so much a prank, but it was definitely a bad thing to do.  My area was really a series of small mining towns lumped together to form a school district, so while I went to the Bridgeport area school district, the tiny little town I lived in was actually named Blaine.  Blaine had a post office, and that was about it.  It consisted of lots of really steep hills, and houses spread pretty far apart, so as kids, we never really got to play together much, or run around, because it was not real safe to walk or ride bikes on those windy, hilly roads.  The one bit of trouble that Blaine had to offer was the Viaduct.

The Viaduct is an old bridge that connects US Route 40 up a steep hill, and is one of the oldest most historic bridges in Ohio.  It sits next to the Old S Bridge, an historic site that has recently been renovated and preserved.  The Viaduct was also the best place to scrawl graffiti in the area, because everyone in town used the bridge to get to the mall.  So anyone who was anyone tagged the bridge.

Every few 30 years or so, the bridge gets a fresh coat of paint, and new artists flock to it.  I will neither confirm nor deny that my senior year of high school my friends and I borrowed spray paint from my barn and all put our nicknames on the bridge, but let's just say, if I did do that, that would have been the worst thing I did in high school, so my parents would still consider themselves pretty lucky.

I talked to Hubby about this, and he said here in Kittanning, and surrounding areas, the thing to do is to go "corning".  Apparently, you dry corn, and then you take it and throw it on people's property, on their porches, in their mailboxes, on their yard, etc.  Pretty harmless, more of a nuisance than anything.

Again, Hubby will neither confirm nor deny engaging in this behavior, but again, if this is the worst he did, so be it.

So, what kinds of pranks and/or rites of passage were popular where and when you were growing up.  Not that any of my well behaved readers engaged in them, oh no, just tell me what all the other kids were doing ;)

Word Filled Wednesday: Move Mountains

Matthew 17:20
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

As I watch, along with the entire world, the rescue of the trapped Chilean miners, I cannot help but think of this passage from Matthew, because we are literally watching faith move mountains with each man that is brought to the surface.  Here we are, halfway through a rescue that was uncertain at best, seeing families reunited, men expressing joy and thanksgiving.  Here were are, watching a miracle.

No rescue like this had ever been attempted, with miners below for this long at levels this deep.  No one knows what will happen as we get closer to having all of them brought to the surface, nor do we fully know what these men, and their families, will face in the days to come.  But I know one thing for certain, God is with them, every step of the way.  He is steadying the hands of the equipment operators, He is comforting the hearts of the wives and children, He is carrying each man.

So, I ask you, if God can do this, why do we not trust Him with all our burdens?  Why do we feel we must shoulder them alone?  Open your heart today, share your troubles with God.  Have faith in Him, for as we are seeing, that faith really does move mountains.

In the Big City: Crazy Scary

On Tuesday, Hubby and I attended our very first "tweet up" event in Pittsburgh.  The event was called Crazy Scary, and it was being held at The Scarehouse in the burgh.  The event was hosted by Scarehouse Scott, Ginny, aka JanePitt of That's Church, and Michelle of BurghBaby to help raise money for 2 children's charities, Make Room for Kids, and  Christmas Crazy.  All the sales of tickets, both VIP (like us) or regular tickets for the haunt, had the proceeds goign to these charities.

The fun part was, the ticket sales were a friendly competition between Ginny and Michelle.  Who ever sold less tickets had to perform a harrowing fete, for Ginny, walking the haunted house alone, for Michelle, dressing up like a princess.  Since we love both ladies, we bought a ticket from each, so no matter what happened, it was not OUR fault.

When we got there, we were greeted by the awesome Scarehouse staff.  We had a short wait, because, like real dorky fankids, we were first in line.  Totally worth the wait ya'll.  Totally.

We headed upstairs to the VIP room, which had tons of food, and drinks.  There were lots of people I "sort of " knew, from social media, but since we are still new to the scene, we did not really talk to a lot of people.  Thank goodness for Rhonda, who recognized me, and came and talked to us, it really helped break the ice!

There were two local Pittsburgh celebrities in costume, and we had to try to guess who they were for some spiffy prizes.

This was Mikey of 96.1 KISS

and this was Tall Cathy.  I thought for sure it was Jim Lokay.

Another celebrity was spotted, Ian from Survivor!

As the minutes ticked on, we were getting closer to finding our who won.

Would Ginny be running from the Bunny?

Or would Michelle be getting fancy?

Finally, Scott revealed the winner.....and....

Ginny would be doing the haunted house alone.  Sorry lady.  But in true AWESOME PITTSBURGH fashion, the crowd donated cold hard cash to convince Michelle to still get tansformed into a princess, so, it was on like donkey kong for them both.

At this point, Hubby and I decided to do the haunted house, which, let me tell you, pee your pants scary does not even explain how scary this was.  And I loved it.  The first part was the worst, because I was still adjusting to the fear level.  Every creepy thing you can imagine was packed into this thing, pig men, scary dolls, cannibals, aliens, the Hugga Bunch.  They weren't messing around.

Unfortunately, because we went through the haunt, we missed some of the entertainment.  They wired Ginny for sound, and the entire VIP room listened to her scream her way through the haunt, as well as watched progress on surveillance cameras.  We got back in the room in time to hear the last 1/3 of her trip, since she pretty much ran through the thing.  Well done Ginny, you are awesome.

When Ginny returned to the VIP room, Michelle had her big reveal as Princess Prissypants.

These two good sports raised over 6 thousand dollars for charity that night, as showed us all one heck of a great time.  I had a blast, and am glad we went.  I am looking forward to participating in more tweet ups and getting more involved with events, and maybe, just maybe, some day, I will get up the nerve to start talking to people.

Oh, how I love these ladies.

Word Filled Wednesday: Healing

Psalm 103:3-4
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.

Today, I wish you all healing.  Several people I know have been dealing with some illnesses, some big, some small.  For them, I wish physical healing.  Some people have been struggling with stressful situations.  For them, I wish emotional healing.  Some people have been dealing with some crises of faith.  For them, I wish spiritual healing.

We all are in need of some type of healing.  How lucky for us, then, that God can heal.  Healing may not come in the form we desire, or in a way we will easily recognize at first, but it does come, if we seek God.  So, to you, whomever you are reading this, whatever your struggle, seek Him, know that you are loved beyond your wildest imagination, and prepare for healing in ways you never thought possibly.  It may take days, weeks, even years, but...it will happen.

One Year Down, A Lifetime to Go

Well, we made it to the one year mark.  Saturday was the one year anniversary of Hubby and me getting married (yes, we got married on a Friday).  We had debated about going away, but in the end, I really wanted to stay around here, and do something we would both enjoy.  It ended up being the absolutely perfect decision.

The anniversary started by Hubby sleepily keeping me awake until midnight, very nonchalantly, so that at precisely midnight he could romantically whisper in my ear, Happy Anniversary.  I could not help but smile and know the day would be perfection.

We had no real set schedule, so we decided to sleep in a little, and the next morning after we woke up, we exchanged presents.  I was so excited to give him mine.  As you may know, the traditional first anniversary present is paper.  For Hubby's gift, I commissioned a wonderful art student from Baltimore named Avi Jacob to draw pictures of Hubby and me.  I had prints made, and framed them.  I had large pictures framed for our home, and smaller ones framed for Hubby's desk at work.  Here are the copies of the drawings.

Hubby was simply stunned, he absolutely loved them!  I can't wait to hang the pictures in the living room!  Next was my turn, and I was so stunned, because Hubby got me...tickets to see Lady Gaga.  I am so stinking excited!  I did not even know she was coming back to Pittsburgh in February, so I was really surprised, he did such a great job!

We got ready, and decided to do a little local site seeing, before heading off for dinner.  We went to dinner at a great restaurant called Shakespeare's Castle, which was amazing.  The food was delicious, the decor was really cool, and the service was fantastic.  The waitress even surprised us with a little cake!

Then we went out to our friends' place and celebrated by cutting into the top layer of our wedding cake, and sharing it with our friends.  All in all, it was an amazing day.  We got tons of well wishes from our friends and my family, and I am reminded once again of all with which I am blessed.

Explorations: Evans City Cemetery

As I have mentioned in the past, I have an affinity for visiting movie filming locations, particularly if they were horror films.  For some time, I have been dying, no pun intended, to visit the Evans City Cemetery, where the opening scenes of the original Night of the Living Dead were filmed.  On Saturday, I finally got my chance.  It was as amazing as I expected.

We drove up the winding road, and the anticipation built.

We got up to the cemetery, and the creepy building was there in all its gothic glory.  It literally looked as if zombies would burst through the boarded up windows.

I could not resist the opportunity for a photo.

It was a perfect day for skulking through a cemetery.  The ambiance was very creepy!

Here is the grave that Barbara cowers by in the movie.  It took us a few minutes to find it, but we finally did.  And again, I posed.

What do you think, do I give Barbara a run for her money?

 

Here is my attempts at recreating her running.

Here are a couple more pictures we took on our way out.  It was an incredible experience.  I know there are other parts of Evans City that were used for the filming, but the sun was almost setting, and I could swear I heard someone say "They're coming to get you Tiffany".  So, we called it a day.

Uh oh, looks like I stayed a little too long...

It Made My Day: Sunshine

This IMMD needs a little bit of a back story.  Stick with me here, it will be worth it.

So, when Hubby and I were not even dating yet, but in the dreaded friends zone, he would casually refer to me as "Sunshine".  I learned that he did this to various female friends, so when we started dating, I mentioned to him that I really loved it when he called me Sunshine, and it was like his little pet name for me.  He immediately stopped using that term of endearment for any other female friends, and it became mine.  I was "his Sunshine".

Fast forward to last October.  As you may remember from our wedding story, we had an outdoor wedding planned, since the last several years it has been gorgeous in early October.  And last year, October 1st was indeed gorgeous.  But October 2nd, the day of the wedding, it poured rain.  Luckily we were able to make a last minute venue change, and the wedding was perfect.

So, this morning, I posted on my facebook page bright and early "This time last year I was praying for sunshine."

Hubby sent me a text message later that said "this time last year, you may have been praying for sunshine, but I was preparing to marry it."

Sweetest. Man. Ever.

It made my day.