Impatient Much? (oh, and the winner of the give-away...)

When I was TINY - as in like 2 years old tiny... not just skinny tiny...  we lived in California.  You see, I was a "Navy Brat".  I don't remember much of it because my Dad left the Navy before I grew a memory - and then I was just a Brat.

As a Navy family we relied on other Navy families for support, friendship, etc...  and some of these friendships endured - my parents STILL go on vacations with some of my Dad's old Navy Buddies.   We were practically RAISED with a few of these other Navy families because all of our menfolk were off doing whatever it was they were doing.  Hey, it was 1973... they certainly didn't tell us much about what they were doing.  When we ASKED what they did there years later my Dad's buddy "Moose"  told me they hid behind bushes and shot at girl scouts.  I think he was drunk.  He certainly didn't think I believed him.  I was afraid of going to Brownie Scouts when I got to be old enough... I quit without even selling a single box of cookies.

Anywho - as a young child I hung out with these other kids -  Michelle, Tiana, Katie,Chad, and of course my sister. I had a great picture of us all that I was going to share... but I can't find it to save my life.  Oh well, saves me having to make excuses for why I looked like a filthy faced boy dressed by a drunken 3rd grader.

Just for you, I recreated it from memory... and yes, I think I WAS the only one in color (it was 1973 after all...)  Really, do you ever look at anyone besides yourself in a group photo?  (this is why it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a group of women to agree on a photo of them)

Seriously, it IS that bad.  but in a funny way that I can totally pass the blame off on my parents so I was willing to endure the shame of looking like I eat dirt.

Where was I going with this?  Patience... oh yeah... So this story is actually about cute Tiana - without the picture you can't see what a cute little thing she was.  She's now a cute mom and successful whatever she does with her life (hmmm... see how much research goes into my posts - that's just how I roll).  Tiana may not remember this but when she was just a wee young thing she had some patience issues...  serious patience issues.  You know that saying "Patience is a Virtue"?  Whatever, I think if she'd been old and witty enough she would have quickly retorted that Patience is actually just a waste of time.

Tiana's parents were my "uncle and aunt" - I think I was at least ten before I figured out they weren't REALLY... hey, when you come from a huge Mormon family it's hard to tell the difference.  Since we were so close we visited them in California even after we'd moved to Colorado.  On one of these visits Tiana demonstrated her patience...

Remember "paint with water" books?  You tear out one page and use a wet brush to move the color (already on the page in concentrated little lines and dots) into the rest of the picture.  Not big on creativity, but they kept us busy. 

Yeah, those...

Apparently that just took too long.

and THIS is faster.

and now folks - because I've tested YOUR patience a bit too long - the winner of the CSI stores giveaway... 

Congrats to Jen T!  Random.org picked her as our winner.  I had Random.org do it because I just can't stand the guilty feeling of not giving people what they really want.  Perhaps if I could manage to win the lottery (without actually purchasing a ticket) this year I will be able to do an Oprah-esque giveaway where everyone wins.  Until that happy day - congratulate Jen and look forward to her posting about her shopping trip :)  Do I have your e-mail Jen???  I'll check...  I'll send it off to CSN a.s.a.p. so you can enjoy your winnings! 

**barely related (and sad) but sometimes I have to share... While bugging my Dad about trying to find that picture for me I found out that Moose's sweet daughter was killed last weekend in a car crash.  If you can spare a moment - say a prayer for them... for their peace... they are struggling and wanting to forgive the drunk driver who took so much away from them.  Thanks.  **