I reckun'...

I'm Back!!! I tell ya, North Carolina is one heckuva a place. I declare! (wish I had a soundbyte so ya'll could hear me talking now).

I love, love, love so much about North Carolina. I especially love the accents. My sister and I decided to adopt a few of the well used phrases and expressions so, "I declare" will be used quite a bit here because it really sounds cool to say it.

Since it's not Thursday, I've got a special edition of Things I've Learned...This one is "Things I've Learned in North Carolina...

1) I never saw so much pork in the stores in all my days. My sister and I ooed and ahhed over the stuff we'd never ever heard of like scrapple and souse and decided to buy some just to say we tasted it. Sorry but scrapple was nasty and it reminded me of dog food even though, I'm not even sure my dogs would eat it. Souse was interesting...not like hoghead cheese and after reading that there was spleen and liver and a few other organs, I lost my appetite.

2) The farmers market in Raleigh has got to be the most beautiful market I've ever seen. Their produce looks so artistically beautiful. I promise to share photos in the next couple of days but for now, take my word for it.

3) There should be an "I got dibs" law for deer roadkill. I was sure tempted to pick up poor Bambi and give her a proper burial.

4) Folks in NC (disclaimer...this is not an insult...just an observation) are a tad slow when it comes to my sense of humor. I swear the my sister and I laughed at my jokes while others sat for 20 seconds trying to process it all.

5) If I ate like the folks in North Carolina, I would've died from a heart attack a long time ago. I'm not much of a pork eater after being with Boo who doesn't eat pork at all. I nibbled on a pork skin, ate souse and my feet are both swollen like I'm 9 months pregnant. I declare, that cain't be good for you!!

6) They have honor systems out there. There was a beautiful home with pumpkins and mums for sale. You could literally pay in a mailbox contraption and just leave. Also, folks don't care much about locking their doors around there. I had to remind my parents that they need to lock their doors when they go to sleep at night.

7) There are some scary roads in NC and when driving with your mom who loves to rubber neck and point out things, I was popping rolaids when I got back to the house. I just knew that I was going to have to have my body shipped back to California.

8) I have never ever seen so many well behaved kids in my life. In North Carolina, at a Walmart, not once did I hear a kid scream or see a kid running between clothes racks. Every single kid was respectful, polite and quiet.

9) Cell phones are not all the rage there. In fact, I didn't see a single person walking and talking on a cellphone or texting while there. I was in total amazement!

10) I'm so glad to be back home. I missed my Boo and my puppies and my house and the birds and the flowers and the smell and the weather but North Carolina is beautiful. I could possible move down south...it may even be a consideration when it comes to finding a job. In the meantime, I'm missing my parents. I am trying to keep from crying when I think of my dad. I'm such a daddy's girl.

I'm going to continue this post because so many observations and so little time to post them. I can say that had I not gone with my twin sis, it would've been less than entertaining but we stayed up until almost 3 every night, laughing so hard that both of us almost wet ourselves quite a few times. Woowee, I declare it's good to be home.

PSS--If you were at the farmers market in North Carolina, you were possibly tape recorded by my twin. She brought along her pocket tape recorder so we could listen to the wonderful southern dialects and boy, was that fun!!