Thursday, April 27, 2006

Aww maaannn, Kellie was cut :(

Kellie Pickler: I deserved cut
By MARK WASHBURN
Charlotte Observer

Albemarle's Kellie Pickler was cut from "American Idol" Wednesday, one of the most memorable contestants in the show's five-year history for both her stirring country performances and off-handed provincialisms.

Even in her final appearance, she defied convention. Contestants traditionally get to sing a last song.

But the ever-talkative, ever-polite, never predictable Pickler was still thanking the show's judges, producers, stagehands, fans and others when final credits rolled.

The end came after her second lackluster show in a row. She was criticized by judges Tuesday for an unremarkable vocal of "Unchained Melody."

Placed in the group of lowest vote-getters Wednesday with Paris Bennett, 17, of Fayetteville, Ga., Pickler admitted, "After seeing my performance last night, I feel like I deserve to be here." Moving on: Chris Daughtry, 26, of McLeansville, North Carolina's other contestant.

Looking back on the path she's taken in from the Greensboro auditions of "American Idol" last fall to a Cinderella spin in Hollywood, Pickler said, "I definitely learned a lot since I've been here. it's definitely different than Albemarle, North Carolina."

Pickler's star-struck observations of life in the fast lane helped propel the show to its highest ratings ever. Because of the high number of votes pouring in this season, "American Idol" opened a second phone number this week for contestants and the show drew more votes Tuesday -- 47.5 million -- than all but two of the previous finale shows.

Pickler related her astonishment that people in California eat something called calamari, which, she confided, is just squid. She admitted that her trip to Hollywood was her first plane ride. And when judge Simon Cowell called her a "naughty little minx," the 19-year-old stopped the show and flustered him by asking, "What's a mink?"

In the audience on her last night was maternal grandfather Ken Morton of Fayetteville, who emerged as one of the blessings of Pickler's troubled life, one wrung from the kind of heart-tugging grit of a country song.

She was born June 28, 1986, in Albemarle, six weeks after her parents wed.

Her father, Clyde "Bo" Pickler Jr., struggled with substance abuse and was occasionally jailed.

Her mother, Cynthia, abandoned the family one day after Kellie's second birthday and vanished.

She reappeared in Albemarle when Kellie was in grade school and eventually won custody. It was, Kellie said in a February interview with The Observer, two years in which she suffered physical and mental abuse.

Kellie's grandparents Clyde and Faye Pickler, who raised her in a modest, loving home whenever her father was imprisoned, regained custody of her in 1997 after filing a court petition that alleged her mother used "inappropriate methods of discipline including excessive corporal punishment and requiring the minor child to drink and swallow liquid soap."

Her mother soon vanished again, off to California and Colorado. Pickler lost touch with her grandfather Morton.

Pickler said she remembers singing all her life, even as a small girl. She liked to perform and in 2004 tried out for Miss Stanly County just to have a chance to perform. It was her first pageant and she stunned the judges, in part with her platform that focused on rising above your unfortunate circumstances and taking charge of your own life. She won first place and moved on to the Miss North Carolina pageant.

Her grandfather Morton, who had lost touch with her over the years, called her up when she was 17. They rekindled their relationship and have been close been close ever since. She calls him "Grandpa Ken." He takes her shopping.

After graduating from North Stanly High School, Pickler spent a year at Stanly Community College studying cosmetology, but dropped out to pursue a singing career.

Last fall, Morton suggested she try out for "American Idol."

"She said, 'I don't think I'm that good,' " Morton recalled in an interview with The Observer last week, " 'but I'll try it if you'll go with me.' " He accompanied her to the Greensboro auditions, where Pickler was ready to quit because there were so many people.

"She said, 'Let's go home and forget this,' and I said, 'Naw, let's stick around. If you don't like it, we'll leave later,' " Morton said. She stuck it out and made it.

A national debate has simmered since March on whether Pickler is affecting an Ellie Mae Clampett personality or if her upbeat naivete is real. "Kellie is Kellie. That's her. Albemarle is a small town," said Morton, who admits he's not exactly worldly either.

"When Simon said 'You're a minx,' I was ready to run out to California and whup him. I didn't know what it was, either."


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ON THE WEB:

www.KellieFans.com

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

How behind am I?

Pretty behind!! Actually, a post from last week's "I wonder..." post on the 18th from CFL may update better than I can right now:

Wendy made an A on her Dramatic reading presentation for Public Speaking today!! I done the first chapter of "Dinosaurs Before Dark", the first book in the Magic Treehouse series (5th grade'ish level, lol) I ended the chapter and everyone was like "maaannnn! Were there really books? ... (etc..)". She's sort of nervous with her assignment for Friday- a two minete Eulogy- she's wondering if the Lord done this on purpose with her friend dieing last week?

Wendy forgot to turn in both of her Psychology projects before spring break- 20 points of her overall grade. Her professor said she could still turn them in with a 5 pt penalty- so she'll finish the semester with a 95 ;o)

Wendy's ready for a week off between semesters- 13 more days left of school!! Woo-Hoo! She has four classes for summer, two of them are online. (She plans on boosting her MK business in a big way starting in May.) As for work, the other hostess is still not speaking to her unless completely neccessary. It's tense but she's learning to deal with it.

Does her blog take long to load on dialup? Did you know when you join her group you get an email with every blog post (so you don't have to go TO the blog unless you want to comment!) :p

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I done a powerpoint presentation on the World's Finest Chocolate sale for Jackson's school this past fall, today. I believe I done good but I forgot to put transitions in the PP so I know points got taken off for that. We had special occassion speeches this week. We drew from a "hat" what we were doing, and I picked eulogy. Which was bad enough, but one of my friends died on Good Friday, and her memorial service was on Easter night!! I done a eulogy for her, and got an A. I hope it made her smile, it was hard. I could have cried when I sat down. She found out she had cancer and died about 1.5 weeks later. The last time I saw her, she was asking how I was doing with school, was I feeling better, etc ... she knew then she had cancer but was too concerned about me. I can only hope to leave behind the legacy and witness she has!!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

I'm still alive ...

Warning: Graphic Intense


We had Spring break last week. I slept, lol We only have 14 more days to go before Spring semester is over and we start summer semester the second week in May. Err- the third. I have a whole week off between semesters- YAY! I'm taking four classes this summer, two of them are online. I decided to change to the college transfer- Business Administration curriculum, instead of going for a straight BA Associate's degree. Now my degree with be an Associate in Arts & Sciences, Pre Major- BA. That way I will have the option of transferring to a four year college if I choose to.

So, doing that, I am having to redo my computer course this summer. The transfer class has one more project per chapter than we have right now. The professor told me to save all of my work from this semester fo the summer on my pin drive so I don't have to repeat all the work. He's cool. He subbed one day for us, and I enjoyed that class enough I just might have switched curriculums to Computer Science, LOL The geek in me was having a good ol time :p

So online I'm doing "Intro to Computers" (lol); and "Intro to Business". On campus I'm taking Intro to Sociology on M●W●F, and Expository Writing on T●TH. So three days I'll be home by 10 and the other two I'll be home by 11:30. Not bad :)

Today is "Slime Day" at Jackson's school. Last fall when we sold $2400 in World's Finest Chocolate $1 candy bars, after they sold ... hmmmm .... I believe it was $200, for every case they sold, they got 1 cup of slime to pour on the Principal's head. Jackson said they told him yesterday that he will have an introductory BUCKET to pour on his head FIRST, lol I'd say so, we sold 44 cups worth! LOL- that's almost three GALLONS! I'm so proud of him *g*

My CTS has been giving me a FIT the past couple of weeks. Usually it doesn't bother me unless I am sick, and even then, it's not every time. Usually when there's infection. But it's really aggrivating me now. I've been wearing my brace more than less for two whole weeks now. This is a first.

However, I cannot stay away from my mouse. During Spring break I decided I was gonna brush up on my siggie making because I had not been able to spend a lot of time on it for the past month or so. So I put out an offer for everyone. I took advantage of the opportunity and honed in some new skills, too. It paid off, I think. I'm pretty proud of these! :)


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Off to class now :)

Thursday, April 06, 2006

the headache is here ...

I took tonight off of work so I could go to revival, and I am sitting here with what wants to be a massive headache. It's just sitting here, on the verge of migraine-ville. I've had that eye pressure on my right side (I call it 'droopy eye') all afternoon. Jay again wont make it home in time, and the kids are crying cause they want to go to church. I'm rather upset with J- simply because I feel like he's bailed on church all week :( I'd made plans for my parents to take the kids tomorrow night, but now they still won't have perfect attendance. Not that that's most important, but still, kwim? I'm just frustrated. and this crud isn't going away, either. Just going down to my chest. bleh

My American Idol thoughts

Some have said that Mandisa got voted out this week because she done a Christian song last week. I don't really think it has much to do with last week, as much as what was done this week. At this point in the competition, their existence on the show is based week to week, and what was done last week is pretty much forgotten I believe.

Simon has been beating it in every week song choice is a MUST in this competition, mixed with how MANY times they've said NOT to do powerhouse signature songs of others....

When I heard the first few beats of Mandisa's music I looked at my husband and said "Oh no she is NOT doing this!"- and she did!

I'm sorry, but she ripped up and shred that song to pieces. It was horrible! It's not that she cannot sing, she just picked the worst song in the world to pick and try to make it her own, and she didn't even do that!

When dh and I were picking our bottom threes, she was the first one we both picked based on Tuesday's performances- not because she cannot perform well- but in this week, she was one of the worst IOurO. So we weren't suprised.

What I thought was interesting was a few weeks ago, Debbie and I both said that we didn't think Mandisa or Elliot unfortunately would not make it to the final two because they didn't really "look the part" of American Idol. Last night made that discussion a bit more real for me!

Oh I am so not believing what just ...

happened!

Both kids (Jackson, 7 & Hannah, 4) were outside riding their bikes. It had been a few minutes since I checke don them though I was hearing Hannah's little bell on hers, and I heard a car horn. So I stepped outside and there was a car sitting in front of our building, and a woman yells up to me "Is that your little girl?" and I said "Yes" and she says "She just rode out in front of me" and I said "Thank you for being cautious in the parking lot" and she said "she done it on purpose" (huh?)

and I said "She didn't do it to be spiteful, thank you for watching out for the kids riding bikes" and she cocked her head to the side and said "yes she DID do it to be spiteful" and I then looked at her like she was crazy and said "She is four years old and does not have the forethought to do something like that with the intent of being spiteful. Thank you AGAIN for stopping, we really appreciate it" and she hit the gas enough to move to the other end of our building.

It was our new neighbor being dropped off :o/ Lets just hope that woman isn't their ride often!

Monday, April 03, 2006

Sick, Revival

Revival Update- none of my visitors have come so far. Revival is going GREAT. The Evangelist doing it was raised Roman Catholic, and he gave his (hilarious) testimony last night. I've never laughed so hard in church, LOL!!! He's very animated. The Lord is working, you can just tell it. and what's so awesome is we're all having such a GOOD time, too! PTL, he's so good. I have notes I want to type up.

But here's the quote for the week so far:

"Perhaps the reason we see so less of answered prayer is because the average Christian has the average faith of the average athiest"

WOW!!! I mean really! Sit on that a second, how much faith do we REALLY have when we pray for things? I mean, we know God can, but do we pray like he WILL? Whoa~~

I'm still sick. Achey. I don't believe it's strep, maybe more sinus than anything. With that being said, I'm going to bed ...

Saturday, April 01, 2006

I'm sick and sore

We went with Jackson to the zoo on his school field trip yesterday. We walked for what felt like forever- uneven ground, too. We were there for five hours. I honestly didn't get a lot out of it- I had more fun on our last field trip in the fall, to this lil ranch where you rode on a horse drawn wagon through the place and the animals come up to you! But Jackson had a lot of fun :)

Anyways, my sinus' seem to be acting up, my throat is hurting, and I'm achey. Last night I thought I was gonna die. Today's not much better. I think Hannah's passing her strep / virus on to me. Jackson has a cough. Hannah's doing better, no fever for 12 hours- first time this week! PTL!!

While I have ya reading I'm gonna mention our revival this week. It starts tomorrow and ends next Friday (yes, I'll be busy). I'll be going through Thursday and I have to work Friday night. Anyways, I've asked a couple of girls from work if they'd come. One doesn't have a ca but gave me her number, I'd be picking her up. Another one hasn't been to church in a long time. Then another I'd like to invite, started talking to m Thursday about her starting to "become Catholic". She's really into this "be a good person" thing. I'd REALLY like to talk to her, so please pray for open hearts and open doors in the time to come! :)

Thanks