Ashleigh

I only have a few minutes but I wanted to post a paper Ashleigh wrote for her creative writing class, it is for her senior memory book. She has 6, I think, that she had to do but I love this one.

I AM FROM
I am from the Spice Girls, Hanson, and Backstreet Boys,
The Puzzle Place and Barney.
I am from long days at Carolina Beach
and short winter days in Marshall.
I am from the huge towering hills surrounding me;
From Barbie and Ken, Fisher Price Toys, and my Easy-Bake Oven.
I am from night lights and Lambchop,
From two stoplights and four gas stations,
Girl Scouts and seashell searching.
I am from Beanie Babies, Happy Meal Cheeseburgers and Granny's scrambled
eggs;
From hide-and-go-seek in the dark and hopscotch;
From playing dress-up and putting on Mommy's make-up.
I am from wooden sandboxes and inflatable pools;
From metal swing sets, and cut-up knees.
I am from Princess Diana and Alliyah's death;
From Polly Pockets and Furby's, milk carton-gingerbread houses, and clay pots.
I am from My Little Pony, The Fresh Prince, Are you afraid of the Dark?, Sister Sister, All That and The Little Mermaid.
I am from gymnastics and Parks and Rec. basketball;
From a close-knit family, being spoiled on holidays and the best birthdays ever.
I am from weekends at Granny's and days at my grandparents'.
From long, fun games of UNO with Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw,
and Connect four with my Daddy;
From "Spin the Bottle" and "Truth or Dare" and huge slumber parties.
I am from radios on bikes(when they were cool) and tape players;
From fanny packs, peel-off nail polish and light up tennis shoes.
And Aaron Carter, whom i was madly in "love" with.
I am from the time when boys had cooties
And when it was "cool" to have bangs right above your eye brows;
From long letters to Santa explaining that I was a good kid
and deserved a puppy or hamster every Christmas.
I am from going to Cool Springs Methodist Church every Sunday,
Guess? jeans, and stick on earrings.
From warm sunny days in the summer running through the sprinklers;
From cool fall evenings raking Granny's leaves into piles to jump into;
From rainy spring days looking out the window
wanting to go outside and jump into the puddles and from the short snowy
winter days
having massive snowball fights with my dad.
I am from Disney Movies, jelly shoes, and bead bracelets;
From when sandwiches tasted better
just because my Granny cut it into triangles for me.
I am from laughter and tears,
anger and sadness,
and from happiness.

I will try to maybe post some of the other ones, I just loved this one. I makes me cry everytime I read it.

So, where are you from?

WOW

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 51 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

ARGGGHHHH

I have tried for the last 3 nights to blog and for some reason can not get logged on at home. So what's a person to do? Blog at work. This will be short but I wanted to wish my brother Happy Birthday, his birthday was on the 23rd and my little brother is 36. Hey, Steven you're 36, your 36, kind of getting old, don't you think? ha ha ha He is going to closing on the 6th (I think) of February, what an awesome birthday present. He has found a really nice house on 2 1/2 acres. We are so happy for him. He has settled into his new job, made new friends and genuinely seems really happy. If we could just find him a girl, that would be the icing on the cake. I want him to find a nice girl, have a family and for God's sake give me a niece or nephew. I have nephews and a niece on Rusty's side but I don't have any on my side and I would really like to, so come on Steven get a move on it. My Pawpaw is doing good and he is going on a "date" today. She's a lady from his church. They are going to lunch. He talked to my Mom about it and wanted to know how she felt about it. She told him she was fine with it. He needs some companionship, you know family is great but sometimes it's nice to have friends to do something with also. It is really strange to think about him having lunch with someone other than my Mawmaw but I am happy for him and hope he has a great time. I love him and if it makes him happy than I'm happy.
Wayne is recovering wonderfully, he went back to school on Wednesday.
Ashleigh is looking forward to this second semester and getting to student teach again at the elementary school. She will be with the same class as last semester. She really loves it and she is going to make an excellent teacher. She is taking a psychology class this semester and she said last night it was really going to be hard. They don't turn in papers, everything is emailed to the teacher. This will be a challenge but I know she will do great.
Blake is all signed up for another season of baseball. He was disappointed that he will not be moving up to live pitch and will have to do another season of pitching machine but his birthday isn't until July 26 and he would have to be 9 before the season starts to move up. I think he could use this extra year, but alot of his friends are moving up so he was upset. He will always be younger than most because of his birthday being so late.
Well, I better get back to work. I will try to log on tonight, I have to tell you about one of Wayne's teachers.
Have a great day!

IT'S SNOWING!!!!

I can't believe it, we are really getting snow. It is so pretty with the mountains all around us. I took some pictures and I'm not too sure how they are going to look but it will give you a general idea anyway.

This is when it was just starting to snow. Can you see it falling, I can't but it's there, take my word for it.


It was really going good at this point and the tops of the house were covered. The roads were covered and I wasn't real sure Wayne and I were going to make it up the hill to our house. We had to run out to Food Lion and before you think we are one of those crazies that see a snowflake and run for bread, milk and toilet paper, we had already planned our trip to the store before the snow started falling. We just didn't get our start as soon as we should have.


In this picture you can't ever see the mountains because of the snow. Rusty was supposed to take Blake and they were going to visit Rusty's Mom for the day. Wayne and I had plans to pop pop-corn and watch scary movies. Well, Rusty and Blake didn't go because Rusty didn't want to take a chance with the roads, he saw an accident on the highway before he got 5 minutes from here so he turned around and came back. Rusty's been in the bedroom watching football, Blake has been in and out in the snow and Wayne and I did get in 1 scary movie. It's been a really nice day.

Wayne went for his follow up Friday and everything is healing great and he is doing wonderful.

I will be back later for another snow update.

Infirmary update...

Well, I knew that we have had some sickness here that we just couldn't kick. Poor Wayne had been sick off and on for the last 2 months, diarrhea (he would love that I am telling people that), throwing up, fever and just generally not feeling well. He would feel bad and then the next day he would be better. This past Friday he called me at work and said he was really feeling bad and his stomach was really hurting. Ashleigh was already bringing Blake to the office for a follow up on his pneumonia so I told Wayne to come also. I thought he had a urinary tract infection but when the doctor ran a culture she said his urine was a mess and she was sending him for a CT scan. Come to find out he had appendicitis. I couldn't believe it! The CT was done at 1:45 and by 3:45 they had him in surgery. He stayed one night and is home recuperating. He seems to be doing good and I have taken the next 2 days off to stay home with him. He will miss this whole week of school and I can tell you he is just all broke up about that.
I've spent the biggest part of today doing laundry and listing things for sale on ebay. I don't sell things all the time, but every once in a while we go through the closet and clean it out. I've got so much stuff I could sell and I've made really good money in the past I really should list more, but it really is time consuming.
I am headed to bed and to check the dryer for the last time tonight. Good night and have a great day!

SNOW!!!!

Okay, okay I admit it was not alot but it was snowing and it's cold. It's like winter cold, break out the sweaters. It snowed yesterday and it was snowing on my way to work today. It didn't do it for a long time but you can see it snowing on the mountains. I love that, we have this incredible view of the mountains from our back deck. Actually, we are in the Shenandoah Valley so we have mountains on all sides of us but the back deck is wonderful. Blake got a new snowsuit this year and I was begining to wonder if it was going to end up on ebay next winter without ever being worn. He is growing so fast I doubt he will get 2 years out of it.
Little league baseball signups are this Saturday. Where has the time gone? It seems like football just ended and we are already signing up for baseball.
We went back to the gym today, yea for me 2 days down and I am still walking and not too incredibly sore. Yes, Thom I will be thinking about you while I am there. It's nice to know I have someone to suffer with.
Steven found a house, Congratulations to him. It sounds really nice. I can't wait to see it. It is 5 minutes from his work, how lucky can you get, and about 30 minutes from Mom and Dad. It's on 2 1/2 acres and back up to a pond that feeds into a river. He's looking forward to doing some fishing for catfish in there. I'm looking forward to him doing that and cooking it for me. I love catfish.
Well, I am going to check on the laundry and then head to bed. Have a great day!

The Weekend

Friday Rusty called me all excited wanting to know if I would go to the gun show in Chantilly with him at the Capital Expo Center. I was so excited, I couldn't wait, I was all tingly all over, NOT! I did go because he does things he doesn't want to for me, I can't think of any at the moment but I'm sure he has. I think I was one of 4 women in the whole place. It was like Toys R Us for men. I did enjoy giving him a hard time about all of it and I wanted to punch some idiot who talked to Rusty like he was stupid. My husband's not a gun expert or anything like that but he does know what he is talking about. After we left there we did go to Kohl's and I spent part of the gift cards I had received for Christmas and then we went to Chili's for dinner. We got a gift card for Chili's from my nephew and his wife so it was basically a free night. On Saturday we met the other members of the Little League football board and had dinner. It was a thank you to the board members for all the time they put in all year long. It was at Coleman's at Bryce Resort. Rusty and I had never been there so it was nice to try someplace new. It was a very nice restuarant and we had a good time with everyone. Sunday Rusty and Blake went to visit Rusty's mom, Ashleigh had to work and Wayne and I stayed home. We went to the dump, grocery shopped and then came home and watched a movie. It was really nice to just be able to relax and not have to do anything. I get so crazy during the holidays that I don't feel like I get to slow down for the whole month of December. But then came Monday. Oh, Monday. Rusty and I started back to the gym and went back on our diet. I didn't try to push it too much, it has been since June of last year that I have been in the gym. When my Mawmaw was doing really bad and I was trying to get down there as much as possible the gym just wasn't important. Then she passed away and I didn't care about the gym. Then the holidays came and well you know how that is. So, I am now back on track, hopefully. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers that I will stick with this.
I am headed to bed, good night and have a great day!

The Infirmary

It seems like everyone has been sick off and on for the last couple months. I know it has to be the weather, hot, cold, hot, cold... What we need is a good cold snow to kill all the germs that keep lingering around. Ashleigh started complaining about her ear hurting so I made an appointment for her and told her to bring Wayne and Blake with her because Wayne had been just not feeling good and Blake started with a cough the other night. Well, Wayne and Ashleigh both have ear infections and to my surprise Blake has pneumonia. I couldn't believe it, no fever, really not alot of coughing until a couple days ago and only at bedtime. I will be so glad when this winter is over. My kids are never sick and this winter has been unending with sickness.
There's not alot going on here just getting back into the swing of things with work and school.
Have a great night.

So, what do you do for New Years Eve?

Ove the years our New Years Eve's have changed. We used to go out to a dance or a party and not get home until the wee hours of the morning. We also used to go to Rusty's oldest brother's house for a party. But then Bobby got more involved with bands and he stopped having his party. When I was growing up we always had a party at our house. Not some wild party, but a party with family and friends that involved lots of food, lots of food and alot of fun games. It's alot of fun to watch people play charades and make fools of themselves. Rusty and I started having his other brother and his wife over. We would play games and eat. Then they would spend the night. When my parents and Steven moved back they started to come also. As time went we added a couple friends and the party seemed to kind of grow on it's own. Then Gary got involved with Bobby's band and they were all busy on New Years Eve. This year my parents and Steven were in North Carolina so it was just Rusty, me and the kids. We still had lots of food, that we have been eating on all day today, and we played games. I grew up playing games but Rusty didn't. We had a really nice time but we really did miss my parents and my brother. It didn't seem like New Years Eve without them. I spend all day today cleaning and packing decorations.



Lilly enjoying the Christmas tree that we had to pull her out of too many times to count.





Blake and Grandpa enjoying the Christmas pillows.






Aspen

Abby

This is Abby (our dog) and Aspen (Mom and Dad's dog) ready to be one of Santa's reindeer if they are needed. Well, Aspen was not exactly as excited about being a reindeer as Abby.

Blake got a visitor on Christmas Eve. Our neighbor Virginia and her brother in law do this every year. I love it, there's nothing like getting a visit from Santa when you are still awake and can see him. I still remember being little and going to my Grandparents at Christmas time. We got the biggest surprise. Santa Claus came to their house and we got to visit with him. I guess that will always stick with me. I can also remember being really little and hearing Santa's sleigh bells on the roof of our house. Actually what happened was I woke up and had to use the bathroom right in the middle of "Santa" putting the things under our tree. My Mom took me to the bathroom and on the way back down the hall she kicked my Fisher Price school house and the bell rang. She told me their were Santa's bells and I had better get back in bed and go to sleep because Santa wouldn't stop if I was awake.

Our first year in our house Ashleigh woke us up all excited because Santa was sitting in the living room and our dog was barking at him. I don't think I've ever seen Rusty move so fast in my life. When we came into the living room there wasn't anyone there but the dog had been barking and Ashleigh said he went downstairs. Rusty went downstairs, with a gun, to check for Santa. He didn't find anything or anyone, thank God.

I love Christmas and I love the decorations, but when it is all over, the decorations are put away and the tree is gone, it's almost like the house seems bigger and we have more room. Maybe that's a sign that I have too many decorations. Nah, I don't think so.

Now, the holidays are over and everything is back to normal. Well, as normal as this family gets anyway.

Good night and here's to a good New year.