Date Night

Rusty and I had a deal that once a month we would go out, just the 2 of us, to dinner and a movie. We call it date night. We get to talk about adult things (as much "adult" as you can get with my husband who is like a 5 year old in an adult body) and just spend time together. Over the last few months we had gotten away from that with all the chaos in our family and with the holidays it just wasn't happening. Today he called me at work and asked me out on a date. He said we needed to get back our together time. So we raced home from work to get an early start. Wayne had gone to my parents and Ashleigh was going to watch Blake. Now, with us it's always a major decision where to go to eat. That's a very important decision. We finally decided on Glory Days Grill, we've never been there and we like to try out new places on date night. We got there and there wasn't a parking spot to be had. We drove around and around and still nothing. So, we decided to go to old faithful, Chili's. It was wonderful, as usual. Rusty is really boring about his food, he's not into trying anything new. So as usual, he ordered a steak. I had fajitas. We were going to go to the movies, but there isn't anything playing that we could go to without feeling guilty because the kids want to see the same movies. So we went window shopping, bought a couple things because what good is window shopping if you don't buy at least one thing. We did make a stop at the Books A Million to pick up a couple books, Linens and Things (Rusty is into anything that is a kitchen gadget, so it is very dangerous to take him in there, he is always finding one more "As Seen On TV" item that he just has to have), bought some baby things for my nephew's wife's baby shower on Sunday and Rusty found a new Under Armour shirt at T.J. Maxx. He loves that material and wears it all the time. If you can find them at T.J. Maxx you can get them for $20.00 verses the $50.00 they normally cost, so I consider that a good deal. We had a good time just being together. When we got home Ashleigh was watching The Princess Diaries. I love that movie.
We are making our trip to Waldorf, MD. tomorrow to pick up the dining room chairs I bought off e-bay. I can't wait to get them.
I'm glad this week is over, the last 2 weeks have been horrible at work and I am hoping next week will start out better. I guess it has to, it couldn't get much worse.
Have a great night.
Bridget

Men

What is it about men that the thought of going to the dentist turns them into whining little boys? Rusty hates the dentist, I mean absolutely loathes the dentist. I don't understand it, it has never bothered me, but when you mention the "d" word to him his voice gets high and it's "Whyyyyy, I don't need to go to the dentist." Now, Rusty had a total knee replacement in December 2004 and he has to go to the dentist every 6 months (like he's supposed to anyway) because if he gets any kind of infection it could go to his replacement and cause him alot of problems. This is my 6'1" husband who kills my spiders for me (I hate spiders), takes me to scary movies so I can watch through my fingers, even though he hates scary movies but he doesn't have to do that much anymore because my brother and my 2 older kids go with me, he will walk the dog in the rain, drive 2 hours, 1 way, to pick up chairs I bought on ebay (I got a great deal) but he has to be beat to make him go to the dentist. I don't think I will ever understand that.
There's not alot going on around here right now. Ashleigh and Wayne had exams the last 2 days but they both thought they did really good so now they have the next 2 days off. They are both looking forward to that. Blake is just looking forward to sleeping in. Ashleigh is in the middle of begging me to let her take Blake with her and her friend Candace tomorrow to pick up their paychecks, get their hair trimmed and go out to lunch. That child drives me crazy sometimes, but this crazy is much better than the crazy from 4 months ago. 4 months doesn't sound like a long time but to me it seems like forever ago. It truly is "but for the grace of God" that we are at this place in our lives with her now. I thank God everyday for his blessings and love. We have found another church to try. It's not that far from our house and we had talked about trying it but we never had. Ashleigh went there last Sunday with a friend and loved it. She said we absolutely have to go there this Sunday. So, we will try it. We have tried a bunch of churches around here but just couldn't find one that felt like home. Maybe this will be "our" church. I hope so, I really miss being part of a church family. We had found a church that we liked but it just didn't have that home feeling we were looking for. The kids liked it, they had an early service 8:00 (which I loved) and it was a contemporary service with a band. That was different than what I grew up with. We were very involved with church, visitation (teen and bus) and we were there every day the doors were open. But it was so strict, sometimes I think that was good but it was also very bad (your convictions should be yours and you should not force them onto other people). So....maybe this will be that home church we are both longing for. Rusty grew up in a church just like I did and he wants a preacher that is going to scare him into being good. ha ha Pray for us and our renewed search for our church.
Well, I am headed to bed, good night and have a great day.
Bridget

Help

I think I am going to be buried under all of the stuff that we have pulled from Ashleigh's room. How did one person get so much stuff in one room? You can't even get to our dining room. Rusty is sanding the walls and getting white dust on everything. Actually, he looks quite cute covered in dust. He worked on her room most of the day. We bought the paint last night, if you happen to be in Home Depot (Rusty's toy store, he is only allowed in there if I am there to guard the credit card), take a trip over to the paint samples and look at "Sleeping Beauty Pink", "Tigger's tummy", and "Orange Blast". It is going to be quite colorful. The pink is on top, then chair rail with the yellow (Tiggers tummy), and then the orange on the bottom. We went and she picked out her new furniture. She wants white so she picked out a bed with the storage drawers under it and an entertainment center that also holds clothes. When we get it done it will look really good. At least I will continue to tell Rusty how good it looks because he is really against all the colors.
Before we went to get paint we went to Texas for dinner. That is a trip in it's own on a Friday night. There was a wait of about 30 minutes, which wasn't actually too bad, but what amazes me is that people, with children, waiting for their tables will take their children into the bar area to wait. Why would you take a child into a bar? I really do not understand that. We finally get seated, we order our food and we are just sitting there talking and having a good time. All of a sudden, Blake says "I'm not going to do it." We look at him and ask him what is he talking about. He says "Toot, I have to but I'm not going to." (We don't say fart in our house, Rusty absolutely hates that word, that was a bad word in his house when he was growing up, it doesn't stop him from doing it just calling it that.) I thought Rusty and Ashleigh were going to fall off their chairs laughing. I kept looking around trying to figure out if anyone had heard him.
Ashleigh and I escaped all the dust today and hit Kohl's for a little shopping. She needed some new pants for work and I still had some money left on my gift cards I got for Christmas. I picked up a great skirt and sweater, $5.00 for the skirt and $12.00 for the sweater. There were having a great sale.
Tomorrow it will be more painting and sanding and lots and lots of laundry, I have fallen behind on that this week. Oh well, we haven't run out of clean clothes yet so we are still good.
Have a great night.
Bridget

American Idol

Is anyone else as addicted to American Idol as I am? I am ashamed to admit it but I can't move from in front of the tv when it is on. I love Simon, he is so mean but he makes me laugh so much. I'm not quite sure what that says about me, but it is funny.
Ashleigh went out Friday night with the "hot" guy from Wal-Mart. He is a really cute boy and he's very polite. That's a plus to me, he could be butt kissing but that's ok I like a kid that is going to at least try to make me like him. He is home schooled which, while mine aren't, I consider that a plus. He is 18, but according to Rusty he looks older. I told Rusty he looked older when he was 18 also and he needed to remember that. I can't believe she is going on dates with an 18 year old, but she is going to be 17 in February. I can't believe I have a child that old, I can't be that much older than 18 myself. ha ha ha Ok, you can stop laughing, it's not that funny. They went to a basketball game at Ashleigh's school, he took her out to dinner and then she came home. Her curfew was 11 and she was home by 9:30. I think that is incredible considering all that we have gone through the past 5 months. God really does answer your prayers and even when you think you are at the darkest point He is always there leading you out.
My parents and brother came over Saturday to watch the Redskins game. They lost, it was a sad time at our house. We had a horrible wind storm during the game and ........ the electricity went out, right after halftime. Now you have to know my husband, I thought the man was going to cry. It was off for 4 hours, so needless to say we missed the last half of the game. He kept running out, in the 60 mile an hour wind, to the car to listen to his satallite radio. We did have good food though before the electricity went out, homemade chili, cornbread and chicken wings.
Friday night Wayne and I went to see the movie Hostel. If you like scary movies, it's scary. But, it's "real" scary, if you know what I mean. It wasn't alot of blood and guts, it was based on true events so that made it "real". I have never had a movie affect me the way this one did and I have seen them all. I've been watching scary movies for as long as I can remember and I have raised all 3 kids on scary movies. I know I am a bad parent for that but I do have to say they love them. Ashleigh, Steven and I went to see Wolf Creek the week before and that was pretty good too.
Sunday was nice, Ashleigh was at work, Wayne was with Steven and Rusty took Blake and went to visit his Mom for the day. I was home by myself and that doesn't happen very often. I did some laundry, read a book and played a game on the computer. Alot of nothing but it was nice nothing.
Well, I am headed to bed, have a great night.
Bridget

10 items or less

Can anyone tell me what 10 items or less means? Does it mean 10 carts full of stuff or less? NNNOOOOO. Does it mean 1 cart full of stuff? Again, NNOOOOOOO. It means 10 physical items in your cart or less. What is so hard about the meaning of this statement and what makes some people so incredible stupid, ignorant or just plain indifferent to the fact that they have way too many items in their cart for this line? Also, why does Wal-Mart (and I love Wal-Mart) make the 1 10 items or less aisle open tonight the only aisle you can buy tobacco products? I go in, drop Ashleigh off to work and get the things I need. I had a full cart so of course I used common sense and went through the correct line. Stupid me, I forgot something and did not remember until I was loading the car. So I run back in, grab it and get in line. I swear to you they had 4 lines open, they are all forever long with people that look like they have been standing there since yesterday (and I know they weren't there when I checked out, so I am still trying to figure out where they came from), so I head to the "10 items or less with my 1 item and there are 4 people in front of me and 2 of them have carts that I am not sure how they pushed them through the store. I stand there for a few minutes glancing at the sign stating these 2 people are clearing in the wrong line and the woman 2 people in front of me sees me looking at the sign, she looks at the woman in front of her and says "I didn't realize this was a 10 item or less line". The woman looks at her and says "I did but I want cigarettes." The 1 woman says "I don't think the people behind us are very happy with us" to which the 2nd woman answers "I really don't care what they aren't happy with, they are going to have to wait." WHAT???!!!! How rude is that?! I gave her the evil eye, and ask Rusty I am really good at that, and I turned and walked away. I really do not understand people and bad behavior. Be couteous to people around you and treat people the way you want them to treat you.
Well, it's almost time for baseball signups. The boys are getting excited and digging their equipment out. It has been a nice break from all the running but I have missed seeing the other parents at practice and games. This will be Wayne's 7th year playing and some of the boys he has been with since the beginning. It really is a lot of fun.
We are starting to really get geared up for our cruise. The plans have changed a little because of the hurricanes that hit out there. We are going to Mexico. This will be our 2nd cruise, the first with my parents and brother. We went almost 2 years ago with Rusty's 2 brothers and their wives. We went to Nassau, Key West (been there before it wasn't that big a deal but Rusty hadn't been there so he enjoyed it) and Freeport. We swam with dolphins, snorkeled with stingrays and went parasailing. The parasailing was incredible. We had so much fun, I can't wait to go on this one. We will be going in April. We have to get passports, something we've never had to do before, so that will be a new experience. If you have never been on a cruise, go, run, book one as fast as you can. It it an awesome experience. The casino was incredible. The first day we were at sea everyone I was traveling with was laid up in bed sick. Rusty's middle brother wasn't quite as sick but he wasn't feeling well. I was the only one that was not affected by sea sickness, so I spent the better part of the day in the casino. I had a great day and won over $100. I thought that was pretty good, I didn't fair quite as good the rest of the week, but I had a great time playing. I'm a small time gambler, quarter slots. Big spender, huh? Oh, and the drinks, oh the drinks. They are constantly walking around serving you drinks and you don't hand them any money, you just give them your "fun card" and they charge it to that. It's like not spending money at all, right? WRONG!!!! You can check your account on the interactive tv in your room and you would be surprised to find how fast that sweet little drinks add up. But anyway, it is a great vacation and it comes highly recommended.
Well, I think I am headed to bed. Have a great night.
Bridget

Kids rooms

Rusty has started the long tedious ordeal of painting Ashleigh's room. This is quite the undertaking as Ashleigh has had probably thousands of posters, pictures and other things taped, thumb tacked and stuck to the wall by any means possible. We made her take all of that down but we had to get a huge bucket of mud to cover the walls with. Rusty said he came across glow in the dark stickers that spelled out her name and the name of one of her friends. You couldn't see them until you touched the wall in that spot. I just stood there, laughed at him and ducked as he threw things at me. She wants the room painted pink on the top half of the wall, orange on the bottom and chair rail painted yellow in the middle. It is going to be very colorful but I guess it could be worse. I did get a new digital camera for Christmas (I love it, it's wonderful) but our computer has a problem and it won't load the pictures. We are looking into a new computer in the next couple weeks so hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of the progress or at least the end result.
I work in an extremely busy 6 doctor pediatrician office. Please, if you have little children who have just gotten shots and are crying, please, please pick them up, hug them and love them. I walked by an exam room the other day and I could hear the baby crying in there. I glanced in as I walked by (I always look it, I love the little babies) and the baby was lying on the exam table with the mom standing by just looking at the baby. She was just standing there staring at the baby. I wanted to go in, push her aside and pick that baby up. It was a 2 month old who had just gotten shots for the first time. How a parent could stand there and watch a little baby just cry is beyond me. But I don't understand alot of the things some of the parents in our office do to their children. People are really mean to children and the way they yell at them and talk to them is unbelievable. I really just don't get it.
I need prayers for a friend of mine at work. Her granddaughter is in the hospital, she has asthma really bad, and she needs all the prayers she can get. She has a really bad home life also.
Well, I am headed to bed, have a great evening.
Bridget

Back to the grind

Christmas and New year's are over and it's back to a regular work week. You know, does anyone find that depressing? I feel like the holidays, sometimes, are a let down when it is all over. There is such a build up, and now before Halloween there are Christmas decorations, and everyone is so excited and then it's over. We have such a wonderful holiday season with family and friends and then it's over. People have forgotten what Christmas is all about and the true meaning. Some of the stores this year changed signs so they didn't read "Merry Christmas" because they don't want to offend anyone. Why isn't anyone concerned with the fact that they might be offending Christians by doing that? It really makes me angry.
We have an incredibly busy Christmas day. We get up at the crack of dawn (even if we didn't have anywhere to be we would be up early, Rusty is the worst of the kids), have Christmas at home, load up the car and go to my parents to have Christmas with them. My Grandparents were here this year so that was really nice, my Grandfather is 80 and my Grandmother is 75 so they don't do alot of traveling. We really enjoyed visiting with them. Then we all piled into the cars and went to Steven's. Normally, Steven is at my parents but he had to work Christmas Eve and then go back to work Christmas night so we went to his house. After leaving Steven's we came home, unloaded the car, reloaded it with presents for Rusty's side of the family and headed to his Mom's. When you get all of us there the house is bursting at the seams but we wouldn't have it any other way. She makes a huge breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausage, gravy and papa bread (this is fried bread that Rusty's Grandfather ate everyday of his life), fresh fruit, country ham and fried oysters. YUCK The fried oysters are tradition for them, I just can't stomach them. We got Blake to try one this year and he liked it. He's the only one of my 3 kids that we have been able to con into trying one and he actually liked it. Everyone then gathers in the living room and dining room and we open presents. It's alot of fun. We then load the car again, go back to our house and unload and head back to my Mom and Dad's to have dinner. It is a very long day but what would a holiday be without family.
New year's eve is fun, my parents and brother come over, once again there is lots of food and we play games. This year we got my Dad to play Twister. That was quite a sight. There was alot of laughing and falling down.
We have had 1 sick kid after another in this house. Last Thursday it was Blake, Friday it was Wayne and then today was Ashleigh. Thank God there was no vomiting. Ashleigh was the only one that really had it bother her stomach, the other 2 had the fever, headache and sore throat. I think everyone is healthy and on the mend.
Ashleigh started her new job last weekend and she loves it. She is working at Wal-Mart and that is the perfect job for her. She is such a people person and loves to talk. I wonder where she got that from? (grin) She has already picked out the "hot" guys and she is having a great time. It is so nice to see her acting like a teenager and not some pod person that I thought had taken her place a couple months ago.
Melissa, sorry I've been gone for a little while, I promise not to let that happen again. ha ha
Have a great evening.
Bridget

Birthdays, Christmas shopping, etc

Let's see, since I last blogged I turned 37. I can't believe I am 37. I guess it's not so bad, does it seem like time is just going so fast? When I was a kid I remember it seemed like forever before Christmas got here but now it's like "What?! It's Christmas again?" I love this time of the year. I love to decorate and shop. I usually do alot of baking but so far I haven't really gotten any of that done. I'm running out of time. Anyway, back to the birthday. It was really wonderful. We went to Rusty's brother's house and celebrated 4 at 1 time. Rusty is the 3rd, I'm the 11th, his Mom is the 17th and his oldest brother is the 19th. So because of this month being so busy we celebrate all together. The food was great and we had a really good time. Then the next day we went to my parents and celebrated with them and my brother. Again we had wonderful food and a great time. Everything seems to revolve around food with us.
My Mom and I met this morning and shopped all day. We had a great time. I'm really pretty much done with presents but of course there's the last minute things to get, stocking stuffers things like that. I brought home bagels and cream cheese from Panera Bread. If you've never had bread from there you absolutely have to go. They have these bagels that are to die for. They are called Cinnamon Crunch and they have this crust of cinnamon on the top of them. There's nothing like them.
Of course this past Sunday we were at the only place you will find my husband during a home Redskins game, at the game. How about them skins?!!! 35-7 over the Cowboys, it couldn't of been a better day. We were both hoarse from screaming and cheering. They set a record for attendance and there were so many people there that when everyone was screaming and jumping up and down you could feel the stadium moving. It was kind of unsettling but there is nothing like it. The last home game is this Saturday and Blake is going with Rusty. I'm not sure who is more excited, Rusty or Blake. Blake is counting down to Christmas and the game.
We now have a kitten and oh my gosh if the Christmas tree makes it through Christmas it will be a miracle. At first all she wanted to do was lay under it but now she has discovered that she can climb it. We have had to pull her out of it more times than I care to count. Ashleigh puts her in time out. Everyone thinks that is so funny. She puts her in the bathroom and leaves her in there for a few minutes. We laugh about it but she does seem to stay away from the tree for a little while after, so maybe it is starting to work. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Well, I am headed to bed, have a great evening.
Bridget

Wednesday

Well, Ashleigh and Rusty had a great time at the basketball game. The Vols won and Ashleigh got to see her idol, Pat Summit, the Lady Vols coach. After they got to Smith Arena they were standing in the hall and Pat Summit walked right past them with 2 of the players. Ashleigh thought she had died and gone to heaven. After the game was over they went to where the players go off the court and Ashleigh got a bunch of autographs of the players along with a lot of pictures. She was so excited. They are on their way home now, Rusty let Ashleigh drive so lets everyone pray for a safe trip home. Ashleigh is a really good driver, she's had a great teacher, my Dad, but driving in the city is a completely different experience after driving around our small town. My Dad let her drive to Dulles airport, in the dark, in the rain, so I think they will be fine. They took the metro from Vienna to the arena.
Steven came over tonight and I made chicken Alfredo. After dinner we sat down and played video games with the kids. As I have said before I am an addict. Before Steven came over Wayne made brownies and oh were they good. All 3 of my kids like to cook.
Well, I guess I am going to head to bed, have a great evening.
Bridget

Now let's see....

Let's see what has happened since the last time I blogged.
Friday we went to Woodstock for the Christmas parade. My mom is the manager for Bank of America, they were handing out free hot chocolate during the parade so she asked me if I would come down and help her. Ashleigh walked with their float handing out candy, Blake rode in it, my Dad drove and Rusty and I helped with the hot chocolate. It was a real family affair. It was COLD!!!! I wanted to dip my hands down into the hot water. I've talked before about small town parades, you know fire trucks, 2 Santas, Miss Shenandoah, the whole works. They have it at night, which I still haven't figured out except for the fact that they light the town Christmas tree after the parade. It was fun though and the kids enjoyed it.
Saturday was Rusty's birthday, the big 37. We went to dinner at Outback and then did some Christmas shopping. We had a really good time. They sang Happy Birthday to Rusty at Outback which completely embarrassed him. It was great.
Sunday we went to visit Rusty's mom, she has pneumonia. We also watched the Redskins kick some long over due butt. It was a good game, great weekend, Redskins won and the Cowboys lost, you couldn't ask for more.
Last night we got about 4 1/2 inches of beautiful snow. I love to watch it fall, hate to drive in it. The kids were very excited, school was closed today.
Tomorrow, Rusty and Ashleigh are going to see the Lady Vols (University of Tennessee lady basketball) play George Washington University. They are both really excited about the game. Basketball is Ashleigh's sport, but like her father she will watch just about anything. They are both obsessed with UT.
I don't know what Christmas is like at your house but at ours you have to be really good at hiding presents. Rusty is the biggest kid I have. He loves Christmas and can't wait to open his presents. He gets really excited about the presents he buys for other people also. This year the present he is the most excited about is the one he insisted Blake has to have . We bought (more like he bought) a Cricket rifle. It is Blake's first gun, now Blake is only 7 and I really didn't think he needed one yet but I think Rusty is more excited than Blake will be on Christmas morning. I have the admit the box it comes in is really cute. There's a picture of a cricket in camo holding a gun on the box and it says "My first rifle." Oh, well, that's what I get for marrying a man who has 2 gun safes and more guns than they will hold.
Well, I better get moving and start getting ready for tomorrow. Have a great evening.
Bridget

Cooking

I have to say my husband is incredible. He is one of the best cooks. He cooks almost every night for our lunch the next day. A lot of times he will grill chicken and make us salads, but last night he took boneless, skinless chicken breasts and simmered them on the stove in his secret sauce with mushrooms. It was to die for. I'm always telling him he should open a restaurant. The only problem is his secret sauce is never the same from one day to the next. I've gotten to where I don't ask him what's in it, you really don't want to know. I know the one thing he was looking for last night was the Louisiana Hot Sauce. It was hot, I can tell you that.
I was so happy when I came home today, they were finally here putting the new siding on our house. We had wind damage (it tore the siding off one side of the house) and it has been this incredible nightmare. Our homeowners is paying to replace the whole house (which has been a blessing) but to get anyone out here has been horrible. It is what people call a "small job" and no one wants to do that. We finally found this incredible guy and he came right out the same day I called him, he gave us an estimate and promised they would start the following Monday. He told us he would take money off the estimate because Rusty told him we would take the siding off ourselves. So last weekend Rusty, my Dad and Rusty's brother took all the siding off. Well, the following Monday was last Monday and it rained all day. Then Tuesday it rained all day, then it was the day before Thanksgiving and of course no one works on that day, they hunt. So my house has sat naked since last weekend. This Monday it poured, yesterday it was like a hurricane and today finally it was nice and they got so much of it done. I wanted to hug and kiss all of them. I did refrain though, I'm not sure they could speak alot of english. My house has now gone from tan with green shutters to yellow with green shutters. It's like getting a new house but without all the packing.
Well, I am going to go watch Lost, I am totally and helplessly addicted to that show.
Have a great night.
Bridget

The North Pole

Well, as Ashleigh said today "It looks like the North Pole threw up in here." As you may be able to figure out I started to decorate for Christmas today. I love Christmas. I love the shopping, the decorations, the good spirits people seem to have at this time of the year more than any other. I start to decorate as soon as my family will let me. There are Snowmen and Gingerbread men from one end of the house to the other. Up until last year we have always had a real tree, but when Rusty had his knee replacement on December 6 last year that kind of put a damper on the tree hunt, so we used a fake tree. I grew up with a fake tree except for maybe the last 2 years I was living at home, so a fake tree doesn't bother me at all. I love the smell of the real tree but I hate the needles, the ones that lay on the carpet just waiting to stab you in the foot and the ones on the tree that poke you as you try to decorate it. With a fake tree you don't have the pain and I just burn a candle so you still get the smell. Rusty grew up always having real trees so last year was a new experience for him. So this year I was a little worried that he might put up a fight over the tree, but I think he liked it better than he might admit. He brought up the subject and had no problem with using our last year tree. Ashleigh and I pulled it up from the basement today and I spent 3 hours putting that together, but now I get to enjoy it longer. Another advantage of the fake tree. Rusty and Wayne were at the Redskins game so we waited for them to get home to decorate it, I did put the lights on though. It's one of our family traditions about the tree, the kids and I put the ornaments on the tree and Rusty unwraps them, makes sure they have hangers and then hands them out. There are a couple that he hangs up, his football ones, his hunting ones, his Buzz lightyear (yes his Buzz, he loves that movie) and the one we got our first Christmas together. He always has insisted on hanging that one. We have Christmas music playing and it's just alot of fun.
Well, I am headed to bed, I will be back tomorrow.
Bridget

I'm back

Well, I am back. We have had some major things going on with our family and every time I sit down to blog I just don't know what to say. Ashleigh has been living with my parents since September 8 and Rusty was staying with his mom until about a month ago. It has been a very trying time for us but needless to say we are working on things and bringing out family back together.
We had a really nice Thanksgiving but it is so hectic. First we went to my Mom and Dad's and then after eating ourselves silly we get in the car and drive to Rusty's Mom's and eat again. I don't know how I make it out to the car to go home. I always say that I'm not going to eat as much at each place but everything is so good that I just can't help myself. Are there any other crazies like me who get up at 3:30 in the morning on black friday to get to the stores before they open to get the "early bird specials"? Ashleigh and I were at Wal-Mart Friday morning before 5:00. They had lines inside the store for all the different specials and everything was covered in plastic. At least they didn't make everyone wait outside in the cold like they have done in the past. And was it ever cold. When 5:00 hit they made an announcement over the intercom "Attention Wal-Mart associates, you may now remove the plastic... and get out of the way." People act like they have never seen a sale before, it's truly amazing. We hadn't gone there for anything in particular so it was fun just to walk up and down the aisles, watching people act completely stupid and just having a good time. We then went to Kohl's and spent just enough time in there to decide that there wasn't 1 thing in there worth standing in that line for. We then decided to hit Cracker Barrel and get some breakfast. We had a great day, did get some good deals and were exhausted when we finally got home.
Today we didn't do a whole lot, we did have big plans of decorating for Christmas but we couldn't work up the energy to go down into the basement and drag it all up. Rusty and Wayne spent yesterday and today hunting. Rusty got a 6 point buck yesterday but today all they got were cold hands and feet.
Everyone have a great evening and I will be back tomorrow.
Bridget

School

Well, we are back up and running for school has started again. Actually, I think the kids were looking forward to going back. Wayne is now in high school and he came home excited yesterday that they didn't have to go directly to a class when they get there, they can hang out in the hall and talk to their friends. I remember that feeling having gone from the strict, rigid Christian school to a public school in my junior year where they really didn't care what you were doing as long as you made it to class by the last bell. I couldn't believe that people actually hung out in the parking lot and didn't have to go into the building. gasp You didn't have someone telling you what to do every second of your day. Ashleigh was excited about school because she was looking forward to seeing the friends that she missed over the summer. Now, we live in a very small town that has 1 high school, how she has not seen some of her friends over the summer is beyond me because I know she wasn't home alot. Blake was just excited about going back as only a second grader can be. Every year I have taken pictures of them on the first day. Last year Ashleigh acted like I had asked her to go to school naked when I wanted to take that picture, this year I told them I was going to come to work early but that I would call to make sure they were up. Once again, she acted like I had asked her to go to school naked except this year it was "What?! You're not going to take pictures, but you always take pictures!!" As only a teenager can say it. So needless to say work waited and I took the annual first day of school pictures.

We spend the holiday weekend destroying the bedroom so we could make it better. Rusty painted (purple, he says a guy can only have a purple room if he's married), and we finally, after 12 years took down and got rid of the waterbed. I thought he was going to sit on the floor and cry. I guess I am getting old but it makes my back hurt so bad, I just couldn't sleep on it anymore. Also, it was a king size bed in a room that was not build for a king size waterbed. So, while he's curled up on the bed as the water drains out, enjoying the last few minutes of water, I am dancing through the house just waiting to get the monstrosity out of there. Now, everything that I didn't know what to do with is in the closet or on the floor in front of our bathroom. I need a magic wand to make it all go away. How did we accumulate that much stuff? I don't even know where we got some of it or why it has been kept for so long. I found a gun magazine from 1998 and as I was throwing it in the trash I was informed "Don't throw that away, I want to look at it first." FROM 1998??? He's says I'm just as bad with books, wellllll maybe. But books are so much more important than some stupid gun magazine. I can only say that because my computer at home is still not working and I know he won't be able to read this.

We did take a break on Saturday evening to get together with Rusty's family for my nephew's 17th birthday. I was there when he was born and now he's a senior this year, I can't believe it. We had a really good time with them, it just takes so long to get to their house. They live in the southern end of Fauquier, next to the Stafford line, so that is about an hour and a half travel time one way for us. It wouldn't be so bad except we don't normally leave to come home until around midnight, so I am exhausted by the time we get home. Oh well, we are lucky to have family to visit.

Melissa, I was reading Emily's blog and tell her that we trick Blake when we run out of ham (he will only eat ham and cheese sandwiches). I will give him turkey and tell him it's ham. And the peas and ketchup thing (makes me gag thinking about it) but it's the only way Rusty will eat peas. We make him eat in another room when we have peas.

Have a great day!!!
Bridget

Confessions

Ok, I confess I have an addiction. I am completely and totally addicted to video games. I've always loved them and I also confess my children have all but maybe 2 of the video systems out as of this date. Waste of money I know, but I just can't help myself. I sat up until 11:30 Tuesday night playing Mario Golf with Blake. I had played it before with my brother but we just got it over the weekend and I am on a mission to beat the tournaments and open new courses. This addiction started a long time ago and sorry Melissa but I do have to name you as one of the people in my past who contributed to my problem. Ms. Pac Man is still my favorite game and I don't know how much money I spent playing that game at Austin Farms Restuarant. Wonderful memories of childhood. (laugh) I guess some of us never grow up in certain areas.
Well, now that I've gotten that off my chest, Steven and I went to the Shenandoah County Fair last night. My mom is the branch manager for Bank of America and they have a booth set up there so Steven called and wanted to know if I wanted to go with him and see her. I don't get many nights by myself like that, Blake and Rusty were at football practice, Wayne is with his Grandma in Sterling and Ashleigh has spent alot of time there already and decided to stay home. It was very nice, we petted all the animals, ate fair food and watched people. You know you are in a red neck county fair when the rules on the bumper cars read "1. No bumping (they are bumper cars what else are you supposed to do on them?) 2. No smoking. No smoking?! On a ride? Who would be smoking on the bumper cars? But you know they wouldn't have it posted if it hadn't been a problem. Sometimes you just have to wonder.
Today we go to meet Blake's teacher, he's really excited about that. Why do they do these things in the middle of the day? Not everyone is able to take off from work. I'm lucky that I work for wonderful people who really don't care as long as your job is done, but there are alot of factories around here where it almost takes an act of God to take time from work.
We need to all pray for the poor people in LA, FL, Al, and MS. My heart breaks everytime I see the pictures and hear the stories on the news. It's hard to comprehend what they are going through. My mom and dad were taking Ashleigh to New Orleans for a week in October and they had rented an apartment in the French Quarter, well that trip has been canceled. They are now looking at other options, Ashleigh told my Dad she wanted to go to New York City and he vetoed that idea real fast. He told her he wasn't stepping foot there, she's been dying to get there for some reason. Mom said last night that he was talking about going to the grand canyon possibly. I want to go on that trip.
My nephew's wife is pregnant and due in March and we are all really looking forward to that. We haven't had a baby in the family since Blake and he's 7. It's going to be fun to buy baby things again.
Not much else going on here, we are starting to work on the bedroom now and what a job that is going to be. Please pray we don't kill each other.
Have a great day!!
Bridget

Football is back

Well, another season of The Redskins, lets all hope they do better this year than last year. We were at the game last week (lets not talk about that one) and here on another Friday, in the middle of rush hour traffic we will begin our trek once again up the beltway. God give me strength. You would think, when they make these schedules, they would take into consideration the fact that they are scheduling games on Fridays and people have to leave their homes at 1:00 in the afternoon for an 8:00 game because you have to get their early for all the tailgating in the parking lot. Last week it was just the 2 of us, this week there will be 8 of us. One of Rusty's friends from work is following us up there and they had an extra ticket so I am taking one of my friends that I work with. We are having ribs, hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and I'm not sure what else they are bringing. I told Rusty it looked like we were having a party for 25 people in our kitchen last night, but he never does anything little. I am leaving work at noon today so that is a plus.
There was a horrible fire out our way last night. There is a recycling place right down the road from us that makes mulch and I don't know if it was the pallets they use or the actual building but the flames were a couple hundred feet in the air. It was really kind of spooky. You know you live in a small town when your 16 year old wants to go with her friends down to watch the fire. So yes, the little red neck daughter I have hopped into a car and ran down there to watch. She said there was alot of people down there just watching. Life in a small town, I guess. I did take some pictures of it from our deck, it was around 10:30 last night so I should have some interesting pictures in the dark. I just said a prayer that none of the firefighters got hurt and thanked God that it wasn't someone home.
The kids are getting geared back up for school. They go back to school on the 6th and I was so thankful they were home until then, both Blake and Wayne have had strep throat all week. I am very blessed all of my kids are very healthy and don't get sick very often. Blake kept saying he had a sore in his throat. Thank God for pennicillian everyone is on the mend and back to their old selves.
I can't believe that September is almost here but that just brings me a little closer to April and the cruise. The countdown is on and I can't wait.
Have a great day!!
Bridget

Can you hear the weeping?

Well, we are home again. We had a great time and really hated to come home, but as all good things do, vacation had to end. We had alot of fun at Myrtle Beach, I had never been there so that was a new experience for me. If you've never been to the Aquarium there, you have to go. It's incredible!! It is the Ripley's Aquarium and it is at Broadway at the Beach, which by the way Margaritaville is also at Broadway at the Beach and they have great food and wonderful margaritas. Anyway, back on the subject, the Aquarium is a must see. Steven, Wayne, Ashleigh and I also went to the Haunted Adventure (Blake and Rusty went to the beach, Rusty wanted to go with us but I knew we would be sleeping with Blake for months if he went through the haunted adventure). That was alot of fun, Steven was the only one that didn't get scared, the rest of us were scared out of our mind. Ashleigh and Blake did the build a bear and that was alot of fun also. We went back to my Grandparents on Tuesday and then went out to a seafood buffet that night. They had all you can eat crab legs and my husband absolutely loves crab legs, so the kids were calling him Edward Sissorhands all night. I don't think he stops to breathe. Wednesday we spent the day at the beach, it was really nice, it's a part of the beach that you can drive out on with a 4x4 and you are allowed to cook out, so we did that. Then Thursday morning we pulled out and headed home around 5 am. Steven had to be back to work Friday morning at 5:30 so we wanted to get home. Luckily, Rusty and I didn't have to come back until today. Friday night was the first home Redskins game (preseason) and they lost. We have season tickets so we schedule vacation and everything else around games. We had a good time though, we grill out and tailgate and it's just alot of fun.
Well, I better get to work, after being gone for over a week there's alot to do.
Have a great day!!
Bridget

Vacation part 2...

Well, we will be heading out early tomorrow morning to Myrtle Beach for the next couple days. We have great plans of seeing the Ripley's Aquarium (so Blake can see the sharks), the Ripley's Haunted Adventure (so Steven, Ashleigh, Wayne and I can be scared to death, I went on their web site and I'm a little worried) and then to the Ripley's 4-D theatre which I thought sounded like fun. We also have to hit Broadway on the Beach for Build a Bear, Ashleigh is 16 but she can't wait to build her own bear, Hard Rock Cafe so Rusty can add to his collection and anything else there that we can get into. Steven and Wayne are dying to do the Nascar go-carts. Steven looked at me today and said "Are you sure we have enough time for everything you have planned?" I told him of course we do, stick with me and you won't have 1 minute of spare time. I'm a planner and I drive everyone crazy by trying to have everything planned down to the minute. Sorry, just one of my annoying habits.

Today, Rusty went to the beach by himself now that's what I call die hard beach loving. Ashleigh laid around and didn't do much of anything and Blake hung out with her. Steven, Wayne and I went out driving around to Wrightsville Beach and then just a lot of nothing. It was a very relaxing day.

Do any of you watch Extreme Home Makeover? I've never really sat down and watched it but tonight I did with my Grandmother and cried through the whole show. I don't think I want to watch this every week, I don't know if I can take the emotions. One of my sister in laws watches it every week and I don't know how she does it. It just about killed me.

Well, I am off to bed, got to get my beauty sleep, we are getting up early to head out. I will talk to you when we get back.

Have a great day!!
Bridget

Vacation

Well, we made it to the beach about 1:30 Friday morning. We are having a great time!! I've read 2 books and gotten a sun burn. It's wonderful. We spent the last 2 days laying on the beach and trying not to drown in the ocean. We have gotten to spend some much needed time with my Grandparents also, my PawPaw is 80 and my MawMaw is 75 so I like to spend as much time with them as possible. They are both is good health and we are really lucky to still have them. My children have 3 great grandparents, not many 16 year olds can say that. My mom and dad are babysitting our dog and my dad said she is driving him crazy, she follows him around constantly. She is really a people dog and she doesn't like to be by herself a whole lot except during the day when she gets on the couch (which she is not allowed to) and takes her afternoon nap.

I will write more as I get time, I think I am taking a break from the beach today to give my skin a little break from the sun. Oh, what shall I do, I think I will read some more.

Have a great day!!
Bridget

Wednesday

Well, we leave in 2 days for vacation and I desperately need one. I've been coming into work extra early every day so I can get everything ahead so when I come back it won't be behind. I need sleep!!!! ..............Oh, sorry, I nodded off there for a minute. I get into such a panic when we are getting ready for vacation, I want everything to be perfect, everyone to be happy and have a good time, I worry myself into an ulcer every time we go away. I think I need to be medicated to go on vacation, it would make me and everyone around me alot happier.

My computer is still not fixed, I haven't had time to get it to Steven and he hasn't had time to work on it right now anyway. I guess it will wait until we get back. I have 4 books and 2 magazines packed, I plan on doing alot of lying on the beach and doing nothing.

Please keep praying for Ashleigh. She is really struggling right now, and that in turn is driving me crazy. We have a really great relationship and we can talk about anything (and believe me she has made my hair stand on end with some of the things she has asked me or told me, I think she does it for shock value) but right now it's like she just won't talk to me and that is driving me crazy. She did tell me that the friends she used to hang out with are all drinking all the time and that's why she's not hanging out with them. These were the "nice" girls that I really liked. I just don't know what to do for her except pray.

Blake is still loving football and he found out on Monday that he is on the starting team. I think Rusty was more excited than Blake. Pray for no broken bones.

Wayne has been down at my Dad's for the last 2 days trying to help him paint the front porch but mother nature had other ideas and they have spent the last 2 days watching movies.

Have a great day!!
Bridget