I can’t believe I am 40 years old. I was 18 a blink ago.
I was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, so I’m an Okie from Muskogee, like the old Merle Haggard song.
My first pet (a kitten) was named Cookie, and the first street I lived on was Daniel Boulevard, making my “stage” name Cookie Daniel.
I graduated 8th in my class of 110 at Cassville High School in 1994..
Between the ages of about 8 and 13, I was afraid of the water and didn’t like to swim, but now only deep, dark water really scares me.
I lost my first tooth in first grade, and my teacher, Mrs. Dunlap, wrapped it in a Kleenex, tied some yarn around it and drew a ghost face on it for me to take home.
My kindergarten boyfriend, Dwayne Adair, asked me to marry him and I said yes.
I am the oldest of three sisters, and we are all three years apart.
Three is my favorite number.
My son, Macauley Lane Fraser, was born on 3 December 2002.
When I was younger, no one else had the name Hayley, but now I hear it all the time.
I broke the school record for the 100M dash my senior year at CHS; my record has since been broken.
I fear car crashes, june bugs and death, but most of all I fear something happening to my son.
I am quiet in large groups, especially large groups of females.
I am most content when my house is clean, it’s rainy outside, a candle is burning and I am stretched out with a magazine or two.
One of my favorite movies of all time is Moulin Rouge, and I went to the real one when I visited Paris.
My biggest celebrity crush is Matt Damon—he just seems smart—and I love Good Will Hunting. Oh, and Leonardo Dicaprio, especially as Romeo in Romeo + Juliet.
I used to do speech and drama and sing solos and perform choreography in choir in high school, but I could never get up and sing in front of anyone now. Maybe I could act, but probably not.
In elementary, I wanted to be a professional gymnast like Mary Lou Retton.
I was the first in my kindergarten class to read a book to my class (Easter Bunny’s Lost Egg) but the last to learn how to tie my shoe.
My favorite pet I’ve ever had was my cat Emma Jean, and the day my son and I found her run over in the street on our way to breakfast was one of the worst of my life.
I was Student Body President my eighth grade and senior years, and Class President each year in between, but when I got to college I didn’t want to be a leader anymore.
If my feet are cold (or hot) I cannot get comfortable, especially in bed.
My friend Tonya and I tried to sunbathe on the roof of our barn when we were 13 using my mom’s very outdated Coppertone self-tanner and were various unattractive shades of orange for weeks.
My first car was a 1980 Honda Civic that I flipped on the way to school exactly a week after getting my license; I was trying to eat Mini-Middles and drink chocolate milk while driving.
One of my biggest regrets—and I have many—is not taking the chance to study abroad in college.
My wedding dress was the first one I tried on and only cost $200.
My dream vacation would be flea market shopping in Paris with no budget and no worries about how to get all my stuff home.
I delight in picking at and grooming my son and husband—cleaning their ears or picking at stray hairs—like a mama monkey. It drives them both crazy.
I think I might know all the words to almost every Christmas song out there. But I don’t like Christmas music on the radio.
Many of my recurring nightmares involve my teeth crumbling and falling out or driving without being able to see or stop.
My toenails must be painted (I'm doing shades of purple/gray these days) or I am not myself.
I am a P. I am P-I. I am a P-I-B-E-T-A-P-H-I!
I grew up in a rather religious, but laid back, family, and now I don’t know what to make of it all.
Many of the fashions I see in the halls at KHS these days remind me a lot of what we were wearing in the 90s—highwaisted shorts, flannels, laceup boots, large glasses.
My husband and I once rode an elevator with the members of Run-DMC, but I couldn’t think of anything to say to them.
Some might label me a bleeding heart liberal, I suppose.
I didn’t have my first real kiss until the first week of my 9th grade year—and with an 8th grader no less.
My favorite book is The Color Purple, but I’ve read lots and lots of books I really liked.
I cried and cried at the end of the book Gone With the Wind the first time I read it; I’ve since read it two or three more times.
I enjoy doing and folding laundry but I hate to put it away.
I do not like to cook, but I like to bake because I like to eat the batter or dough in the process.
My paternal grandmother died when I was 3 and I have always wanted to meet her. I was her only grandchild, and I am told she was an excellent cook and never said anything bad about anybody.
Apparently I grind my teeth in my sleep.
My first speeding ticket was for going 33 mph in a 20 mph school zone that ended three minutes after my ticket was issued. My second was for going much faster. The third…
I am good with names and faces.
I am getting quite near-sighted but find my glasses too uncomfortable to wear (I always see the rims and it bugs me). I have to be close to a street sign to read it.
I have never broken a bone.
I had never had stitches either until I had to have Macauley by c-section, which was the most painful thing I have ever endured.
I like to spend an hour or so in bed reading the whole Sunday paper, ads and all.
I don’t like milk on my cereal, except occasionally on Frosted Shredded Mini-Wheats, but I love milk.
My family had a pitcher of sweet tea with every meal when I was growing up, which probably led to my need for a daily dose as an adult.
I am a bit of an insomniac and may be slightly addicted to Tylenol PM.
I love the smell of vanilla—candles, lotion, Imitation Extract.
My cousin Jeremy was my favorite childhood playmate, and I insisted on running around my grandparents’ farm without my shirt on to be like him.
I first heard Bob Marley and the Violent Femmes riding around with Jeremy in his older brother’s Jeep with the top down when they came to visit me when we were all teenagers and we drove to Eureka Springs for the day.
I always wanted an older brother.
A snack I’ve eaten my whole life is crunchy peanut butter mixed with syrup and washed down with a cold glass of milk.
I am laid-back, but being organized is very important to me.
My high school boyfriend gave me a Dalmatian for Christmas, and the minute he put it down in our house it peed and pooped everywhere and my parents were less than thrilled. A neighboring chicken farmer later stole the dog while I was at college and my parents didn’t press the issue.
My son and I love when old school songs from my childhood come on the radio when we’re driving. He will have an eclectic taste in music when he grows up.
I’ve been to Alaska and Europe (twice), Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, and recently, NYC.
I wish I could play the piano, but I am not at all musically inclined.
I lost the 2nd grade spelling bee because I repeated letters in the word circle (C-I-R…C-I-R-C-L-E). My neighbor Leland Turnipseed did the same with the word woman but still won. Not that I’m bitter.
I have a good sense of direction most of the time.
I do not like ketchup. Or seafood. Except shrimp at Nakato.
I am so happy leggings are back.
I enjoy being a teacher, but I dream of a career where I can be more artistic.
I cry very easily.
Being a mother is much harder than I thought it would be. But, wow, I love that kid.
My HS volleyball jersey had my nickname on the back, a combo of my first and last names then: HayCow. Fans in Carl Junction mooed when I got up to serve. But we won.
I miss my mother’s parents so much—Papaw’s been gone since 2004 and Nanny since 2012) and think of them multiple times each day. My childhood is all wrapped up in them.
My veil caught on fire (really just a minor singe) while my husband and I were cutting our cake.
I only feel comfortable having long hair; it ends up in a ponytail by the middle of every day.
I miss playing competitive sports, but I am too lazy now to exercise like I need to.
I love dishes and own way too many of them.
I sleep on my stomach with one arm under my pillow.
My friend Tonya and I planted rows of pine saplings (using only our fingers and no shovel because we didn’t really want to do it) along the fenceline of her dad’s salvage yard after track practice one afternoon our eighth grade year. The pines are now at least 15 feet tall.
Over the years, my family lived in 10 houses before I moved out on my own, and my husband and I have lived in two apartments and five houses in the 13 years we’ve been together.
I love change.
Gum grosses me out.
My CHI changed my life, and I’m on my fifth one. Macauley stirred the toilet water with my first one and the second one just quit working. But for straight instead of frizzy hair, that’s $500 well-spent.
I like how my skin gets freckled when I tan.
During high school, I worked as a chambermaid (changing linens, cleaning) at some cabins near Roaring River State Park.
I also worked in the office of a funeral home (typing death certificates, answering phones, cleaning, locking up, babysitting the owners' kids).
I was a Lambda Chi Alpha Crescent Girl.
When I was about 3, I bounced off my parents’ bed, hit my chin on a heating vent and bit through the skin right under my lip. I still have the scar and now my son has one in the same place after falling while standing on the toilet brushing his teeth when he was about 3.
My favorite person to travel with is my husband. We can drive for hours and not get sick of each other.
I would like to work for a design magazine and live in a big city, but I would miss my parents and sisters too much if I moved away.
I got a 36 on the reading section of the ACT. Math and science, not so much.
My husband proposed to me the night I presented my thesis to graduate with Honors from Drury. We were sitting on the couch in our apartment and that’s the only time I’ve ever known him to act nervous.
In my 13 years of teaching high school, I figure I’ve known close to 2,600 students (100 students per semester X 26 semesters). I often remember people by something they wrote or where they sat.
The best teachers I ever had were Mrs. Sue Crain, Dr. Resa Willis, Dr. Nancy Walker and Mr. Mike O’Brien. I learned lessons from each of them that dramatically affected my way of thinking--and the way I teach.
I dream of designing and building my own house. I’ve got it all planned out.
I think my left foot is bigger than my right.
I wish I hadn’t tried to grow up so fast.
I think my wrists are my favorite part of my body.
I am not a good disciplinarian and don’t consider myself an authority figure.
There is so much more I want from my life.
I have always tried to speak to my son like I would an adult, and I am constantly wondering what he’ll turn out like and what he’ll think of me, remember about me.
