Just a thought

I got forward this today in an email and it really made me stop and think. So, I thought I would pass it on, there is a great message and lesson.

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience! One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.. "I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today." Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory -- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety. Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.I am sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in packing my parachute And I hope you will send it on to those who have helped pack yours! Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word.. Maybe this could explain it: When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do -- you forward jokes. And to let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get? A forwarded joke. So my friend, next time when you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile, just helping you pack your parachute........
Have a great day and stay in touch..... Amen

Catching up

So what was on your menu for dinner tonight? I wasn't sure what we were having and then it came to me:

We were having cat soup. This is Lilly and it doesn't matter what it is, a box, bag, or my soup pot if she can get to it, she is in it. I keep this in the basement on a shelf and it was waiting at the top of the step to be carried back downstairs. She loves to hide in the case of water in the kitchen and jump out when you walk by or stick your hand in trying to get a bottle.

We've been pretty busy around here. Blake finally got to have his Valentine's party at school. I took the afternoon off from work and went to help out his party. They all had a great time and got way too much candy. One of the nice things was the teacher had asked for fruit and vegetables also. There were alot of kids eating that also. I'm not saying they weren't flying high on sugar but they were eating something else also. Blake took his teddy bear to give to Alexis and the whole time I was there I kept asking him "Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" He would just look at me and say "No! I will do it myself." When he came home I asked him if he gave it to her and he said yes but that she had given it back and said she didn't like it. Oh, you want to talk about a mad mom. I was hot, I was going out to track down this little spoiled 8 year old who had hurt my baby. She was so going down. I didn't let him know how much it upset me, I just kept telling him not to worry about it. Later on Wayne told me he thought that Blake had gotten scared and never tried to give it to her. I asked Blake about it and he finally confessed that he hadn't taken it to her because "I was too nervous." He was worried I would be mad at him. My baby is still a baby, thank you God. I told him I would never be mad at him because of something like that. So, Ashleigh is now the proud owner of a new very soft pink teddy bear.

We woke up Sunday to a winter wonderland. It was beautiful!! All in all we got 9 inches of snow and the kids had the time of their lives, even Ashleigh got out there and went sledding. Blake will stay outside until his hands turn black and fall off. Wayne helped him build a nice size snowman in the front yard.

Wayne ordered his class ring on Monday. ACCCKKKK. I don't know if I am ready to start getting another one ready to graduate. I haven't made it through Ashleigh yet. I thought she was going to have a meltdown last week. I single handedly was ruining her senior year. I really didn't know I had that kind of power, bwahahah. She wanted to go to Myrtle Beach for a week the week after graduation with a bunch of friends. No adults, don't you know they are adults, they are 18 now, no supervision and it would be boys and girls. Rusty and I talked about it, I talked about it with my Mom ( thanks Mom, she always has good advice) and we told her no. We didn't like the idea of any of that. She was so upset. Mom suggested she take a friend to their house. It's on the beach, there is alot to do and it's free. At first she didn't like the idea, that would be boring, but she called me the next day and asked if I thought they would let her take 3 friends with her. Mom said that would be fine, so now Ashleigh is happy again. My parents will be taking Ashleigh on a cruise in September for graduation to the Virgin Islands. She is definitely not deprived.

Wayne is wanting to go to Steven's for spring break. They are really close and Wayne is dying to get spend some time with him, he has really missed him since he moved. I've really missed him, I was so used to having him and my parents here, but no whining tonight. I got to spend all day with my parents on Saturday helping them pack and go through things. They ended up leaving Saturday night to go home though because of the threat of snow later that night. It was good that they left early but it did cut in on my time with them.

Well, I guess that's about enough from me for tonight, I have to go vote for American Idol. Yes, I am an American Idol junkie. Has anyone watched the show after it "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" ? I can tell you I might need to go back to school, those kids scare me.

Good night.

Who Knew....

I did not know that you could buy frozen vegetables that are specifically for stew. Did you? Well, now tell the truth, did you really? We've tried a couple new recipes around here this week and they have turned out wonderful. Like I've said before, we love to eat around here. Monday we had Parmesan pork chops, they were incredible. Tonight we had chicken stew. It was really good and so easy and simple. It called for a bag (in our family you use 3 bags and triple the recipe) of frozen vegetables for stew. I had never heard of that before, but off to the grocery store Wayne and I went to search these out. Well, guess what? We found them, I didn't even know they existed. How very cool is that? So we had chicken, frozen vegetables for stew, a little dried thryme, some rubbed sage and wala, chicken stew.
We are finally starting to thaw out. It's about time. The snow was beautiful but the ice we could have done without. Last Wednesday I told Blake that he could not go outside Thursday because the ice was dangerous and it was going to be too cold. When I got home he was outside, in his snowsuit, but no hat. As cold as it was and the child is outside with no hat. I wanted to strangle him. I got out of the car and told him to get his butt in the house and that I couldn't believe he was out there after being told he had to stay in and he wan't wearing a hat. He looked at me and started crying. I said "What are you crying about?" He said he had fallen and hit his head before I got home. I am normally a very sympathetic person, but this was obviously a play to make me forget about the fact that he wasn't supposed to be out there at all. I told him to go in the house and we would put some ice on it, then he looked at me like I was crazy. The next thing out of his mouth was "Ice, I fell on the ice, ice isn't going to help. You don't even care that I got hurt." I told him he wouldn't have gotten hurt if he'd stayed in the house like I told him to. Like I said I am a very sympathetic person but I also know that this little 8 year old can be very good at changing the subject to keep himself out of trouble. My brother was like that when we were growing up, God help me.
I am headed to bed, good night and God Bless.

Back to Work

Well, we still have a lot of ice but Rusty and I did make it to work today. He went in early so he could take me and not worry about me. It was really nice, with 3 kids we don't get many times when it's just the 2 of us. To have each other's undivided attention was a real treat. School has once again been canceled for tomorrow. The kids are enjoying the break but Blake is a little upset. My little romeo has a Valentine for his girlfriend, Alexis,
and he is dying to give it to her. Isn't it cute? That purple wall behind the bear, yes that is in our house, actually it's in the bedroom. When I picked that color, Rusty said only a married man could have that color in his house, especially the bedroom. I like it.



I met Rusty my junior year of high school in Spanish class and the first thing he ever bought me was a beautiful white teddy bear with a pink ribbon around it's neck. I still have it. Rusty really is a romantic at heart, he loves to tell people that he can remember exactly what I was wearing the first time he saw me. I had just transferred to from a very small Christian School to a very large public high school. Talk about a culture shock. I was scared to death. I walked into that class and the teacher told me to find an empty seat. Rusty stood up and said "There's a seat right here in front of me". The rest is history. Our senior year he brought me a single red rose everyday and sent me a dozen long stem red roses every month. His friends used to give him a hard time about it but he never cared. Here was this big football player waiting every morning for me with that rose. He was such an sweetie and he still is. So, I'm pretty sure my youngest had inherited this romantic heart from his Dad. I just hope this little girl appreciates him. They are both 8 and if she breaks his little heart I might just have to have a talk with her. ha ha ha Blake asked me yesterday if Daddy had asked me to be his Valentine yet. I told him I was always Daddy's Valentine and Blake informed me that because it was Valentine's Day Daddy had to ask me.
My family is very excitedly awaiting the arrival of a new member of the family. Tomorrow we will be getting Tivo. You would think we were adopting a baby or something. Actually, I think the kids wouldn't be this excited about a baby. They keep talking about what they want to record. I'm excited because I can record Lost and not sit up so late.
My Mom and Dad were supposed to come up this way this weekend and we were going to help them pack and go through things at the house but they are calling for possible snow Saturday and Sunday so I'm not sure if they will be here or not. I hope they will be able to make it but the mountain they have to cross could be dangerous and considering all the ice from this week it may not be safe this weekend. Maybe next weekend.
Have a great night!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. What do you plan to do today for your sweetie? We are iced in here at our house so we really don't have alot planned for the day. It's fun to be stuck in the house, for a while anyway. You know, a day, possibly 2 days but I think by the end of the second day everyone is just trying to keep out of everyone else's way. We got the kids each a card and some candy. We don't buy presents or anything like that for them. They were thrilled with the candy, they each got their favorite. I got Rusty 2 cards, 1 funny and 1 sweet and serious and also candy. He also was very excited about the candy, but that's his reaction any time he gets candy. Rusty was worried about not getting out today so he brought me candy and a dozen roses home yesterday. Isn't he sweet?
Yesterday we got snow and it was so pretty, but then the ice had to follow and ruin it. We had about 3/4 of an inch of ice on top of the snow. I will drive in the snow but I am not driving in the ice. I came home from work early and Rusty got home about 2:30. Rusty knows if it is snowing it's his job to make chili. He makes the best chili. He really is a great cook. He also makes wonderful vegetable soup. So we had chili with cheese and sour cream and cornbread. Today we woke up with ice on everything. It really is beautiful but I am not driving in it, so I got a day off from work. Rusty went last night and picked up Ashleigh's friend Lauren to spend the night, so we have a full house today. There's been laundry today and not alot of anything else. It's been really nice, but back to work tomorrow for all of us. I seriously doubt that the kids will be back to school though, there's alot of back roads that I know will still be bad.
Have a great day and if you have snow or ice enjoy your day off.

Monday

Well, Monday is Monday. Back to the old grind and all that. We are supposed to be getting snow and ice starting after midnight tonight. The snow I can handle, the ice, well that's another story. The kids are geared up to stay home tomorrow, I hope they aren't disappointed. I have been playing around over at myheritage.com. Have you been there? They have a place where you can upload your picture, it scans it and then it tells you what celebrity you look like. That has been so much fun. I think we have done everyone we have a picture of. It said I look like Nicky Hilton, do you see it? Come on now, admit it, no me neither. I'd like to have her money, but I really don't think I would like the life she leads.
Rusty is watching 24, you would think it is real life, he is so addicted to that show. We have to have complete silence in the house while it's on. He keeps looking over here at me, I think I must be typing too loud. Actually, he's watching it in between running to the sliding glass doors to see if it's snowing yet. He really is worse than the kids about snow.
My Uncle Larry, my Dad's oldest brother passed away this past week. He had gone in for surgery, he needed 4 bypasses I think they said, and he chose to have the surgery. It was one of those rock and a hard place kind of decisions. He did not do well afterwards, he had a heart attack and passed away. My Dad flew to Tennessee for the service. Why is it that we only make time to visit family when there has been a tragedy? We did go down to see them right after they had moved back from California, but that was 4 years ago. It really is sad, but it seems that's the way it is for most families unless they live close. I guess we all get busy and we assume that we will have time but reality has a way of slapping us in the face and making us realize that people aren't going to be around forever. I really learned that will my Mawmaw this past summer. She had been such a huge part of my life, all my life, that I just assumed she would always be there and now she's not. I miss her every day and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and wish I had just picked up the phone a little more and called her. She used to email me everyday, whether it was a forward or an actual letter. I have over 700 emails from her on my computer at work alone. I am going to save them on a disc, they are something I don't want to lose and I could never get back. If you have someone in your life, I think everyone does, that you love dearly and you don't take that extra time to just pick up the phone, don't put it off. It doesn't take long and it will mean alot to you in the long run and to them also. Take it from me, I wish I could have one more day to spend with her, even if it was just talking to her on the phone. Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be so sad, I guess it just kind of happened.
Good night.

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Happy 18th Birthday Ashleigh

Yes, today the very young me had a child turn 18. For those of you who don't know me, I am 38 (very young, verrrrrryyyyy young) so it's not like I was giving birth at 15 or anything like that. The time has just gone so fast. The only thing she asked from us for her birthday was for us to pay her deposit on a new cell phone. She has had a phone on our plan for a long time but she lost that privilege about a year ago, so every once in a while we would let her take one of ours with her when she is out. Well, then we had that slight issue with text mesages, does anyone know how many messages you have to send and recieve to get a bill for $268.00 for messages alone? Just a little clue, they are $.10 a piece, anyway now that she is 18 she can get her own plan but because she doesn't have any credit she had to put down a deposit. So, we did that for her and she was thrilled. It doesn't seen like much of a present to me but that's what she wanted. She asked my parents for a cd player for her Jeep, so they bought it at Circuit City in Wilmington, along with installation and she will take the order number to our Circuit City and it will all be done here. How cool is that. She asked Steven for new speakers for her Jeep and he did the same thing, it will all be installed tomorrow. Horray for Circuit City, they made it so easy. Rusty has sent her flowers for her birthday a couple times before, they are from him only, that is his special thing to do for her. Today he took them to school, and he had gotten her 9 pink (her favorite color) and 9 white. She loved that. She has had a really nice birthday and it will continue until tomorrow, she will be shopping with her Granny for her birthday and next Saturday we will be having her party. We are very proud of her and we love her so much. Happy Birthday Ashleigh, you are an incredible young woman.

I'M BACK!!!

Whoo Hoo, I am finally back. I have tried to log onto blogger for so long and every time I would get an error telling me that the server was having a problem and a technician would be notified. I have just one question, "WHERE IN THE HELL HAS THE TECHNICIAN BEEN ALL THIS TIME?!" Deep breath, deep breath, ok, I'm better now.
What has been going on with us? I think my parents have finally decided that they are definitely going to sell their house here, while it is incredibly depressing for me because as long as they still owned it they were still here just kind of away visiting for a while, I really do understand why they are doing it. Steven is going to settlement on his new home tomorrow, we are all so excited for him. It has been a long road for him but he has made it and he really deserves it, now if we could only work on finding a girl. Opps, better get back on track, sorry Steven. The kids are doing great, baseball is getting ready to start up and Blake is really excited. Ashleigh will turn 18 this Friday, oh the horrors of that. Just kidding, I can't believe I have a child that is almost 18, Mom I finally know how you feel. Wayne is doing great in school and has completely healed from his surgery. We've gotten snow a couple times and that has been really nice. But, oh my gosh, it is so cold. It was 14 degrees here today. Rusty grows a beard in the winter, and today water froze on it in little ice crystals. Today, well today I was off from work which was great but there was to be no sleeping in for me. Rusty and I had taken off to go to Harrisburg, PA to the Great Outdoor Show. We have been a couple times and we really do have a good time, in a kind of redneck country kind of way. I go to look in campers, at boats and to see what kind of wild animals they bring this year. Rusty goes to look at anything and everything he can drag me to. At the last minute he decided he wanted to skip it this year and drive another 45 minutes to Cabela's. Now, if you've never been to Cabela's you really should go, it's not just about hunting, fishing and all that, it really is a pretty neat place to go. They have alot and I mean alot, of animals. Of course they aren't alive, except the fish, but they really are very interesting. Rusty is so funny and he has a way of making things funny that sometimes really shouldn't be funny but that is part of his charm. He also makes you laugh when he really didn't mean to make you laugh. As we came around the corner to Cabela's, we've never been before today, he looked at this huge store and just said "WOW". And it wasn't a loud kind of excited wow it was a very soft kind of reverant kind of wow. I started to laugh, he looked at me and said "I really didn't say that out loud, did I?" I just laughed. When we got inside he acted like a kid who needed ritalin but had run out. He didn't know where to go first or what to look at first. I just followed behind him and shook my head. We really did had a great time, we got to spend the day together, just the 2 of us and we don't get many days like that. I love my kids and we take them everywhere with us, but sometimes you just need that time with each other. We were gone all day and got home around 6:30 tonight.
Rusty is also a huge sports freak, it doesn't matter what kind of sports it is, he loves it. Well, with the exception of soccer, he's never been able to get into that. So of course with the Super Bowl yesterday, the tv has been set on ESPN since Friday. All sports, all day, all the time. He was all decked out in his Peyton Manning University of Tennessee jersey yesterday waiting for the game. He love UT, so he loves Peyton Manning, so of course we were cheering on the Colts. We had our Super Bowl food, hot wings, bacon wrapped smokies, taco dip, chipolte dip and chips and we were ready to go. I love the commercials during the Super Bowl. The Colts won so all in all it was a good night.
Now back to the old grind tomorrow and having to cook regular food. I will leave you with 2 pictures that I took the other night of Wayne and Blake. I love to read so this thrilled me when I walked into their room.






Good night.

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.

Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did. There was alot of running around, as usual, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If you live in our house, you learn to find really good hiding places (which means not hiding anything in our house) and this isn't from the kids. Well, the younger kids anyway. I am on a mission every Christmas to hide presents from ..........Rusty. My biggest kid of all. This is the man who unwrapped his Mom's birthday present from us one year because he thought it was something I had bought for him. When he was a little boy he stayed home sick from school one day, snooped, found something for him, unwrapped it and was wearing it when his Mom got home. He hasn't changed much, he's just gotten sneakier about it. He also loves to get up extremely early and drag the kids out of bed to open presents. He is also the man that gets so excited about what he has bought for me that he wants to give it to me before Christmas even gets here and he's that way about birthdays also. It's not all about what he's getting, he loves to give also. He has a really big heart. And I am saying that after he pulled me out of bed at 2 am on Christmas morning. He's 38 remember and he gets just as excited now as did as a kid. So anyway, we were up at 2 am and at my parents by 5:15. We opened presents there, had a little breakfast, loaded the car and headed back to the house by 9. We unloaded at our house, reloaded the car and headed to Rusty's mom's house to have Christmas again. Rusty's mom makes Christmas breakfast for all of us. There was 20 of us at her house. It's crowded but alot of fun. We ate and ate and ate and then it was time for presents. The kids open their presents first, youngest to oldest, and then they take their stuff to another room to go through again and the adults all take turns opening our presents. It's takes about 2 hours for all of the gifts to be opened. We stayed and visited there for a while and the we loaded back up again and headed home. Rusty had been sick all day, didn't eat anything, so I dropped him off at home so he could go to bed and then Blake, Ashleigh and I went back to my parents to eat dinner. Wayne had gone to his Dad's earlier in the day to spend a couple days with him. It was an extremely busy day and like I said I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have anywhere to go on Christmas.
The kids got way too much stuff and so did the adults. Blake asked for some different kinds of things this year. He's only 8 but he really didn't ask for toys. He wanted a globe, some maps ( he has loved to look at maps as far back as I can remember. We have pictures of him when we went to Florida looking at maps with my Dad and he was only 4), arts and crafts and things like that. Steven got him a telescope and he loved that. We have taken it out on the deck but it has been too cloudy to use it yet. Santa brought him a Nintendo Wii. I wonder if you can throw out your back and shoulder bowling on that thing. I love it. It has been so much fun. In our house Christmas is the gun holiday so Rusty and Wayne both got new guns. Ashleigh asked for clothes, clothes and more clothes. Rusty said that is a boring gift but I completely and totally understand, you can never have too many clothes, shoes or purses. I love purses.
We had a wonderful Christmas, I think everyone is finally healthy, and we have all been very blessed to be able to be together. I look for the coming year to be much better than this past year, it was really a hard year.
God bless and good night.
Bridget

Welcome to our home

My talking snowman greets you as you come up the stairs and welcomes you into our kitchen.


Please step into our kitchen and enjoy some Christmas cookies.


Mom bought me the cutting board last year and I leave it out year round.

This is hanging on the wall in the dining room. I love the string of lights, they are made of wood. Mom and I found these in a Christmas shop a couple years ago. The stocking hanging to the right was bought for me when I was a baby by my great grandmother and I can tell you they are the only pair of hot pants I have ever own. I still have every stocking I have ever had.

The kids want to know where they are supposed to sit, I told them the floor looked pretty comfortable, and don't sit on the pillows.

I collect snowmen, gingerbreadmen and Christmas pillows.

This is our Christmas tree, it's not fancy but I wouldn't trade it for anything. All of the ornaments on it had alot of sentimental meaning. I have things the kids have made me in school, pictures of them in ornaments, old ornaments from when Rusty and I were first married and ornaments that have been gifts over the years. One of our family traditions is to give each one of the kids a new ornament every year. We have Bob the builder, basketballs, baseballs, footballs, Ashleigh has an ornament that was given to her by Rusty's dad, who passed away in 1994, whatever the kids have been interested at the time, we have an ornament for it. One day when they grow up and have a tree of their own I will pass their ornaments to them and they will have them to start their trees. And yes, my angel is leaning a little to the left, Wayne said she was looking down the hall and watching over us, so he didn't want me to straighten her up.

This hangs by our front door, Rusty's Aunt painted this for us about 2 years ago. It is painted on slate and I love it.

As you leave our home, you can see that we are waiting for Santa to visit. Now we can flip the green sign to let everyone know that yes we have been very good this year and Santa has been here..