let’s play a game. it’s called “have you ever?”
it’s simple. i’ll start it out with a “have you ever….?” question and the next commenter answers my question then asks their own “have you ever” quesion for the next commenter and so on. sound good? awesomethanks!
here we go…
have you ever…pretended to not see someone just to avoid talking to them?
EDITED TO ADD: refresh the page before you submit 
brent and i bought our first home in 1996. we purchased in a new neighborhood that was filling up quickly with young families. shortly after we moved in, the house to our left was sold and we met our new neighbors within weeks. they came over and introduced themselves. we had no idea what they were saying. they were speaking english, but we couldn’t understand them. they had moved from russia just 4 years prior and their english was still very broken. so, because we couldn’t understand much of what they said, or even how to pronounce their names…we called them, vodka and smirnoff. it worked for everyone. they were amused.
i remember the day vodka, the husband, came over and was so excited because the men were bringing his S.O.D., his new lawn, SOD. but he called it by each letter, S…O…D. so awesome!
i learned that smirnoff learned english by watching soap operas from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day of the week! yes. it’s true. it explained all the dramatic pauses in our conversations.
today i was thinking of smirnoff (i truly do not know her real name) and thought about how she got something useful out of something that doesn’t really offer much in terms of personal growth, character building or wisdom. but she did the best with it and it benefited her well. she took one aspect of it and used it to her advantage. she learned english from soap operas!
how often do we as christians stay inside our little bubble and clicks because we are convinced that anything outside of that is useless or evil? we don our holier than thou attitudes and miss out on community and culture, the beauty of the world that He has created, the differences in others that we can glean from.
if we choose to, we can see good in everything. we can learn from anyone, in any situation and environment. the key to all wisdom and life perfected is not solely within my bubble of Christ followers…it is in the world He created, the world outside our church doors. in connecting with others who don’t always share our views.
your thoughts?
heidi - find me, find life, real life. do you know heidi? if you don’t, you should. if you don’t, you’re missing out. i’ve known heidi for almost a year now. she’s one of those people you love immediately. many of her readers have walked through a lot with her. and she has been our rock in the process!
heidi is a phenomenal writer. i mean, really-really good! you want meat, a challenge, depth, great insight, out of this world application? start visiting heidi - cuz that’s where you’ll find it.
the woman i look up to has asked me, along with 3 other women that i can’t believe i am in company with, to guest post on her blog. today is my day. monday was miss mandy pants’ day. tuesday was the incredible cindy bealls’ day and i believe thursday will be hope jammes.
go check out mine and the others posts…and say hi to heidi while you’re there! you’ll be glad you did 
i realize this may look quite audacious of me. and can go bad, real fast, in many different ways.
but…i feel i’ve been pretty open about myself here on the world wide web. i have no problem being real and honest with you all. none at all.
and i love learning more about you. in fact some of you surprise me quite often!
so, i was wondering…just for kicks…
is there anything you wanta know about me? (this isnt meant to be a “me-me-me” thing. at. all.) i just want you to have the fullest, most honest representation of me as you can get, without actually “knowing” who i am in real life. fair?
so. fire away if you have a q or two… if you dont have a q for moi, if you don’t care, or if you think i am being presumptuous - then tell us something we dont know about you! but don’t tell me i’m being presumptuous. cuz. well. that would hurt my dogs feelings 
well. my ex-fiance and i had a great 17th anniversary! Thank you all for your well wishes and kind words! it was nice to read those throughout the day!
we just hung out with each other all day long. brent took the day off. we closed our computers. ( and then opened them…just a couple times ) but our goal was to just focus on one another. plain and simple.
we had a nice dinner and went to see our favorite blues band. we stopped for some truffles and espresso where i caught a classic shot of brents “pretty” look.
id rather have a “pinky lifter” husband than a “mullet man”
i married this man.
even with that mullet!
today. i go black. no computer.
just a day celebrating with the one who chose to love me.
have fun kids! play nice
i am not a spread sheet type person. i’d like to be. but it’s just not in me. i make lists. then i forget about them. i try to retain things in my brain - but, that seems to only work 1/2 the time. im a simple person. i don’t stress easily and i take things in stride. i don’t like to get fussy over things and am rarely uptight. this isn’t about being tidy. i’m very tidy and organized - but i am horrible at to-do lists…appts, phone calls, emails, things like that.
so…i was wondering if any of you had some tips for me? what works for you?
my son decided he’d like to dance with me tonight 
then…
he dipped me
yah. it didn’t turn out so well.
it’s baaaaaa’ack! ok. so last weeks fill in friday was a HUGE success and a blast! YOU all made it so much fun! thank you for being a part of this community story - this is your baby!
to help FIF run a bit smoother i wanted to post a few “rules”. yes. i said rules. i know none of you are accustomed to rules here at inProgress - but i do think you will appreciate this effort ;
1-FIF will now have a 300 comment limit. not that there will be that many. but this will help keep the video at an acceptable length of time
2-the last commenter will be asked to start out the next weeks fill in friday story. of course you can decline. but please don’t 
3-each comment should be no less than 3 words and no more than 5 words
4-dont forget to refresh the page before you submit your comment just in case someone has beat you to it
that’s not so bad. easy rules to follow, eh?
i will post the video on the monday following FIF. this will give NorEaster time to edit the story. yes, my dear friend Nor has offered to edit these weekly! how incredibly generous is that?!! tell him thanks!!!
and i cannot fail to mention some of the other brain work behind FIF “a community story”… the Princess pretty much started this idea a while back. yah. she’s pretty incredible too!
let’s build a story…one comment at a time
here we go…
it was hotter than usual…
we have a true artist in our midst. michelle from consider Jesus is a 21st century picasso. a while back miss mandy pants introduced us to my picasso head. go there and check it out. you will quickly become addicted. it is so fun! you’ll do one…then discover a tool you missed before and you’ll do another one…and from there, its all over my friends!
here are a couple of michelles latest master pieces…behold the amazing talent!
last week, michelle used a picture of my hair on our shower wall, that i thought looked eerily like the profile of an old man…
and recreated it with her goodness…
and michelle’s interpretation of my header picture. amazing!!!
so go create a master piece of your own… come back and link to it so we can see your handy work too!
have fun!
 | Jim2 on have you ever? |
 | jon mark on have you ever? |
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 | Emily Rowe on have you ever? |
| Emily Rowe on have you ever? |
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