Love That Girl!

My dear friend and kindred spirit Kate came into town a few days ago and she came over to my house to hang out with me today. She stayed for four hours and we had so much fun talking and catching up with each other. Kate lives in Utah and I live in Missouri, so we don't get to see each other very often at all, but we keep up on each other's lives via our blogs and weekly e-mails. 

Kate is one of THE best people in the world and I'm truly blessed to know her. Life is so much sweeter with good friends!

Harry Potter and Captain America

My younger sister Chandra and I went to the movies today and saw a double feature. The first movie we saw was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pt 2. I thought the movie was so well done and that the series ended in just the right way. I'm so glad they decided to make the seventh book into two movies so that they didn't have to rush the movie and so that they could be more true to the book.

When the final movie was released I prepared for the movie by watching the seven previous  movies back-to-back-to-back. Seeing 10 year's worth of movies in a period of two weeks was fun, and I loved watching the physical aging of the actors in conjunction with the character development. Another thing I love about the Harry Potter movies is that the cast stayed the same throughout all of the movies, except for Dumbledore, of course, since the first  actor that played Dumbledore died after the second movie.

I have fond memories of when the first Harry Potter movie came out in November of 2001. I was 17 years old, but I honestly felt like a child! I love most movies, but the first Harry Potter was one of just a handful of movies that I absolutely could NOT wait to see. Watching it was a magical experience, no pun intended! ;)

The other movie Chandra and I saw today was Captain America: The First Avenger. My friend Lacee told me that it was disappointing, so I had that in my mind when I saw the movie. I don't know what Lacee was talking about, though, because I loved it and thought it was great. I'm not too hard to please when it comes to movies, though. I can't wait for the movie The Avengers to come out next year because it has Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Thor in it. Can't wait for that!

Blog Turns 2!

Two years ago today I made my very first blog post. The two years since have completely flown by! When I first started my blog I didn't really know what I would write about, and I didn't think many people would read it aside from my family and a few close friends. I had no idea what it would turn into!

I'm shocked and amazed at how many people actually look at my blog. I usually average around 5000 hits a month which is WAY more than I ever expected! With the help of Blogger's "stats" feature and also Google Analytics, I'm able to see how many people visit my blog and the cities/countries where they are from. 

One of the highlights of blogging is when people leave comments on my blog or when people send me e-mails telling me who they are, how they found my blog, what they find interesting and most especially when they say that I've inspired them in some way. My blog has been read all over the world, and I've received e-mails from people all over the United States, and even places like Pakistan, Australia, Ireland, England, and Iran, to name a few.

When I started my blog I had no idea that people, even perfect strangers, would find it interesting, much less inspiring. I feel like, "I'm just little old me spending my days as a quadriplegic who just happens to blog." Granted, my life is quite different from the average person's, so that might be what makes it interesting. I know from personal experience that the blogs I find most interesting (other than family and friends I know personally) are ones like this and this where I'm reading about ordinary people with interesting lives.

Please keep e-mailing me (Heather_I_Johnson@yahoo.com) and commenting on my blog, but be sure to leave a way to be contacted if you ask a question. So often people ask me questions, but then they don't leave an e-mail address and I have no way of getting back to them directly.


When I wrote my first blog post on August 3 two years ago, I had no idea that it would become a special day for another reason. My niece Amy was born on that day one year later. SO, happy 2^nd birthday to my blog, and happy 1^st birthday to Amy!

Forever 27

Last weekend Amy Winehouse suddenly died at the age of 27. She joins a list of several well-known entertainers who have died at this tender age, including Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. Amy's untimely death was sad, but not all that unexpected since she had been a hard-core drug addict for many years. A cause of death is still being determined, but it can be assumed that it was an accidental drug overdose. Ironically, Amy's biggest hit was a song called "Rehab."

   __There is a painting called "Forever 27" by Scott Lobaido that shows the four musicians that I mentioned above. I actually had a framed print of this painting hanging in my bedroom when I was a teenager. Looking back, I'm not quite sure what the attraction to the painting was since I didn't really know much about any of these musicians. The thing I did like about the painting, though, was that it was very "Dali" and had a similar look to Salvador Dali's painting "The Persistence of Memory" which was my favorite painting at the time.

"Forever 27" by Scott Lobaido

"The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali

I am 27, and I'm definitely not finished with my life, so I won't be joining the ranks of these unlucky people because I'm too young to die!

Laura turns 25

Yesterday was my younger sister Laura's 25^th birthday. She came over after church with her husband and little girl so that we could celebrate. 


One of the presents my mom gave Laura was a whirly pop popcorn maker. I got one of these last Christmas. I love it because it makes the best popcorn and kettle corn. Here's a picture of Laura with her whirly pop and some Orville Redenbacher popcorn seeds and butter flavored popcorn oil.

   __Ironically, Amy's most popular hit was a song called "Rehab."My sister Chandra makes the cutest homemade birthday cards. Here's a close-up picture of the card she made for Laura:

My mom made Chinese chicken salad for dinner (I didn't get a picture of it – too bad!) and we had a frozen toffee crunch pie for dessert which was so good! I love toffee, so I really enjoyed it. We didn't have a 2 candle, so Laura just had to settle for being 5, instead of 25!

The toffee crunch  pie: