Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did!

Last night (Christmas eve), Tom's parents, his grandmother, and his brother and his wife came over and we exchanged gifts with them and ate some of the 6 foot of sub we bought from Blimpies. It was good! Tom's parents took Katie with them to the big Sightler family Christmas celebration. While she was out of the house, Tom put together Katie's presents that needed putting together. Unfortunately Brittanie had to work and they had quite a night! She said most people didn't realize Wal-Mart was closed and decided to come to them instead. She said all of the stalls at Sonic were full and the drive thru was wrapped around the building to the point where people were waiting in the median of the highway waiting to turn in! According to the totals, they did over twice as much business as a normal "busy" night. She was exhausted when she got home.

Today, Tom's parents and grandmother came over to watch the girls open their gifts. Here is the run down of what we got:

Tom: Carolina Panthers football for his office, Madden 2007 PC game from me, Polo shirts, Dockers pants, and Dockers socks from me. The girls' gifts for Tom didn't make it in time but they gave Tom a golf shirt with a Linux penguin on it and it says "Failure is not an option. It comes standard with Windows" and a T-shirt that says "No I will not fix your computer. GET LINUX!"Me: Victoria's Secret Dream Angels "Heavenly" perfume, clothes, and a new phone with a color display and musical ring tones. (I LOVE IT!!)

Brittanie: Stereo, Nintendo DS with a case and two extra stylus pens, Mario Kart for her Nintendo DS, an Ipod adapter for her car so she can control and play her Ipod through her car radio, and outdoor quad roller skates so she can become a car hop. (The first thing she said when she opened the skates was "You got me something for work? Gee thanks mom!" LOL) But she loved them because they are pretty. She practiced skating with them as she has never skated on anything but inline skates before and she busted her butt a couple of times because with inline skates the brake is on the heel. With quad skates, the stop is under the toes. It is going to take practice but she will get it. She is great at inline skating so she will get this too.Katie: (Katie got alot more stuff but we spent more money on Brittanie. The older they get, the more expensive they are!) Disney Princess bike, Disney/Pixar "Cars" table and chairs set, "Cars" toy organizer, "Cars" racetrack, "Cars" Lightning McQueen talking car that you can program to drive itself, "Cars" Hot Wheels cars of all of the major characters, "Cars" alarm clock, "Cars" Doodle Pro, "Cars" spiral racetrack, Toss Across game, and Charlie Coal grill. (When Brittanie had her dress altered for the military ball back in February, the seamstress had this grill in the shop and Katie had a blast playing with it both times we went in there and asked me to get her one for her birthday. I forgot about it then but remembered for Christmas.) She has been playing with her new toys all day and making us play grilled hamburgers and hot dogs to eat. I think her two favorites are the grill and the talking Lightning McQueen. I got her a "Cars" camping set but it didn't make it here in time for Christmas.All in all, we had a very good Christmas. Poor Brittanie is working herself to death but looking forward to that BIG paycheck. Tom's parents were here when Katie got up from her nap yesterday. They were here again when she woke up this morning. So a minute ago, Katie asked me if Grandpa was going to be here when she got up tomorrow morning. I told her no. She said "Awwww man!" She hung her head and went back to her play room. She loves that Grandpa!

Katie

I have a couple of cute stories about Katie to share. There is never a dull moment with her!

Last night, Tom picked up our birthday cake for Jesus from the grocery store. When he got it home, she asked Tom who the cake was for. He told her since it is Jesus' birthday, we had to have a birthday cake for Jesus. She replied "He's not going to eat it! He's up in the air!" So he was telling me this story this morning and Katie said "He's not going to eat it! You will see!"

Tom and Katie had been wrestling and he would grab her and hold her tight with her back against his chest and his arms around her so she couldn't get away. He would then laugh because she couldn't get away. A little while later, after she had gotten away from him, he was laying on his stomach and she jumped on his back and yell "HA HA! Who's laughing now!!"

She's 42 pounds personality!

Sonic

I mentioned in a previous post that Brittanie's manager told her she would be getting a raise. Well she is now making 65 cents more an hour but it won't take effect until her next check. To show their appreciation for everyone who works on Christmas day, they all make a dollar more an hour that day, plus $20 cash. With her raise and the extra hours she has been getting lately, she is looking forward to a huge paycheck next time!

Katie and Brittanie were, once again, fighting and Katie screamed and Tom fussed at her. Katie said "But she started it!" A minute later, Brittanie started with her again and once again Katie screamed and got fussed at by Tom. This time, Katie said "She started it and I don't care who started it, I'm going to finish it!" You just never know what she is going to say next! lol

Only 3 more shopping days!

I mentioned in a previous post that Tom went to the Village at Sandhill in Northeast Columbia Saturday. Well I went yesterday and with only 2 shopping days before Christmas, I was expecting gridlock. There was no gridlock! There were plenty of parking spaces. The traffic moved great. The biggest surprise was how HUGE that place has grown! I haven't been there in a couple of years. Brittanie and I went to see a movie in the new theatre out there on opening weekend. That was the last time I had been out there.

It is 21 miles from our house in Gaston to Columbiana Mall. It is 24.6 miles to the Village at Sandhill. It is worth the extra 3.6 miles! I hate malls because if you need a store in the middle of the mall, you have to park in Egyptland and hike up there and through all the mallers to get where you need to go and then hike back to Egyptland. Well that's the beauty of VAS, it is a HUGE strip mall. You can park right in front of the store you need. There are plenty of food places there too so you can shop, then stop to each lunch by the beautiful fountain in the middle of it all. VAS has EVERYTHING and they are still adding more! Check it out for yourself on the VAS website. I'm never going to fight Harbison traffic again! I'm going to VAS from now on!

Yesterday while we were at VAS, we stopped in front of the Hallmark store for Brittanie to run in and get ornaments for her and Katie (We buy them a new ornament each year so when they grow up and get married, they can take all their ornaments to put on their own Christmas tree.) and I put my flashers on. Katie is just like her daddy!!! She heard that ticking and asked me what was doing that. I told her and she told me to turn it off because that ticking was getting on her nerves. She actually used those words! We were trying to see if Brittanie was checking out yet and Katie, in true Tom fashion, said "Look at all those people. If I had to go in there with all those people, I'd go nuts!" Then when we got home, we started taking DVD's out of the cases to put in a new zip binder I doubt for them and I was letting her take them out of the case and stack them while I put them in the binder. Well she occasionally would have some that she couldn't get the button in the middle pushed down enough to release it so she would hand it to me. The first time I did it, I put the DVD on the stack of DVD's she had but I didn't make sure it lined up perfectly with the others she had stacked, which were lined up perfectly. She said "Mom! You put it crooked! You have to put the hole over the other holes!" Well I forgot the next time I did got one out and put another one on the stack crooked and she said "Mom! you're annoying me! Put the hole over the other hole!" (Katie can't pronounce annoying though. She says "annuving." It's pretty funny!) She is so Monkish! But then again, so are Tom and Brittanie so she gets it honestly!

Brittanie is working herself to death. She is really enjoying her job. They have her scheduled for 34 1/2 hours this week! We don't do much for Christmas eve....last year Tom and Brittanie went to a Panthers game even! So she is working Christmas eve. She called me from work last night and told me they needed her to work Christmas night from 5 to midnight and she accepted but she wanted to make sure I was ok with that. Our Christmas stuff is done in the morning. So I had no problem with that. But she was thrilled to be getting so many hours and can't wait for that next paycheck. lol I'm so proud of her. I have a friend who has a daughter 7 months older than Brittanie and she flat out refuses to get a job and told her mom that it is their job to take care of her and she doesn't have to work. She doesn't even do chores in the house! They struggle to make ends meet. The least she could do is help out. But she won't. Brittanie likes having her own money and her own car so she is motivated to work.....not that it would matter because her motivation is if she wants to continue living in this house, she HAS to work. I think all teenagers should work. It teaches them work ethic, responsibility, discipline, and the value of money. It also teaches them the importance of college because though Brittanie loves working at Sonic, she doesn't want to do that forever. So she is going to go to college and get her degree so she doesn't have to do that as an adult.

Early Christmas gift

We bought most of our gifts from CircuitCity.com and they all came in today. One of them was Brittanie's stereo and it was heavy and in a huge box. She already knew she was getting it so we let her open it. She was thrilled!! Here are some pictures.

Is this cute or what??

Katie made a baby Jesus in the manger at school. It was so creative that I just had to take a picture of it!! The manger itself is made of a toilet paper tube. The hay is crumbled shredded wheat. Baby Jesus is a peanut wrapped in a tiny piece of paper towel.

Katie had her Christmas party at school today and they ate pizza and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then ate birthday cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday. She came home with lots of goodies from her teacher and classmates. There were wayyyyyyyy too many stickers. She has been putting stickers on everything and everybody in the house!

Katie is so excited about Christmas. The more presents that appear under the tree, the more excited she gets. She is literally counting the days!

That apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Tom and Katie went up to visit his parents today. They went to Fatz Cafe and Katie told Tom's dad that there were 7 people at the table. He was about to correct her because there were actually only 6 people at the table. But before he could correct her, she said "I'm counting my puppy." She is VERY attached to a pink stuffed puppy she named Bingo. He told her he was about to correct her because he thought she was wrong and she said "I'm never wrong." Anyone that has ever worked with Tom knows where she got that ego! hehehe

Accents

Tonight a girl I went to school with and her husband were on an HGTV show called "Hauling Houses." They were moving a house to their property in Krotz Springs....my wonderful hometown. We were getting a kick out of all the accents. That's when I remembered that I forgot to blog the story about Tom's accent when he got home from Ireland.

The night after he got home, he was telling Katie she needed a bath because she was "filthy dirty" and he said it with such a thick Irish accent that we all started laughing. He denied saying it with an accent but Brittanie and Katie heard it too. Ever since then I have been giving him a hard time with it. He cleaned out my van today and was griping because it was a mess. I said "Dun'tcha' mean it was filthy dirty lad?" in a very thick fake Irish accent. He told me to shut up. But of course I can't. It is just too fun giving him a hard time.

By the way, if anyone wants to see this episode, it will be coming on again January 28th and 29th. Here is the website to this particular episode. HGTV

Dallas has no class

(photo improvements courtesy of Brittanie)

Jerry Jones has ruined the reputation of the Dallas Cowboys. When Tom Landry was coaching Dallas, the organization had class. You could almost overlook that their cheerleaders looked like hookers. By today's standards, they are pretty conservative compared to other cheerleading squads. But Jerry Jones doesn't care about the image of a team or bringing class to his organization. He just wants to win and doesn't care what kind of hoodlum he has to bring on the field to do it. I couldn't believe it when I heard Jerry Jones wanted Terrell Owens to play for the Cowboys. He is a problem child...a stupid little boy with a bloated ego, nasty temper, and, in my opinion, his talent isn't worth putting up with all the junk he brings. His latest thug move of spitting in the face of his oponent should get him suspended. But it probably won't. Ya know in the real world if you spit in someone's face, you are arrested for assault. In the real world, if you stomp on someone's head with your cleats, you are arrested for assault. In the NFL world, at best you get a fine and suspended for a few games. The guy that stepped on his opponent's head should be fired and banned from football, in my opinion. Tom Landry would have kicked him off the team. But Jerry Jones has no class whatsoever and that is something his money will never buy him.

From head stomping to their big hoodlum baby spitting in the face of an Atlanta Falcons' player, it is plain to see why Dallas is no longer America's team. In the Tom Landry days, no matter who your favorite team was, you always wanted Dallas to win. They were the sweethearts of the NFL. Since Jerry Jones bought them, they are full of thugs and have no honor whatsoever. It is a sad thing to see.

Here's hoping Jerry Jones or anyone like him ever buys the Panthers. John Fox is alot like Tom Landry. He has dignity and class and wouldn't want Terrell Owens or a low life like him on his team. Winning is only part of being a good football team. There are kids looking up to these athletes as role models. What a scary thought that little boys across our country may be idolizing Terrell Owens!

***By the way, before anyone e-mails me, I'm perfectly aware that Jerry Jones is the owner and Tom Landry was a coach...not the owner. When Jerry Jones bought the cowboys he started acting like he was the coach. Everyone knows Bill Parcells would NEVER have chosen to have T.O. on his team. Bill Parcells also has class and can't stand having an egomaniacal problem child that has no concept of teamwork and is all about himself on his team. Unfortunately, Jerry Jones doesn't care what the man coaching the team thinks....even though he isn't the one that has to work with that jerk....Bill Parcells is.

Bah humbug!

I think this is one of the worst Christmas seasons I can remember. Katie was sick last week, got better for 3 days and now has been sick for a solid week. This year we were a week later in shopping for our Christmas gifts and you won't believe what a difference a week makes! Brittanie asked for a Nintendo DS Lite in black. She didn't like the other colors...white, blue, and pink. It HAD to be black or she would prefer to wait till after Christmas till some black ones came in stock. Well we hunted the internet over and nobody had any. Target on Garners Ferry showed online that they had some.....they sold out two hours before Tom got there. The stuff we wanted for Katie was listed not available to be purchased online. I really hate that. With free shipping at most online retailers, there is no reason to ever leave home and battle crowds and traffic. CircuitCity, which is where we bought 85% of our gifts this year, let me order everything to be shipped except Gameboy Advance for one of my niece's daughters. It was so stupid because I actually ordered two Gameboy Advance consoles....one pink and one blue. They will ship the pink one....not the blue. The meant a trip to Circuit City. I guess that was ok since we needed to pick up a couple of gift cards from there anyway but the only Circuit City that had one in stock was Harbison. What a disaster!!! Tom went to Toys R Us to find gifts for Katie then ended up having to go the opposite direction to Lake Murray Blvd then sneak back to Harbison to go to Circuit City. He had previously been on the other side of town....all the way up to Clemson Road to the Village at Sandhills, which is HUGE, and was able to maneuver much easier over there. It was still very crowded but nothing like the disaster Harbison is. After being gone around 6 hours, he was able to get everything except the Nintendo DS for Brittanie and 3 gifts for Katie, which I was able to get at different places on the internet. In the case of the Disney Cars 5 piece camping kit (has a tent, sleeping bag, backpack, water bottle, and compass), I ended up having to get it CBSSportsStore.com. That was a first for me! For those who are interested, here is the camping kit...click here. It is really neat looking and Katie is addicted to the movie "Cars" so I thought we could set this stuff up in her play room. We also got her a Cars toy organizer to help with the disaster that is her play room. Katie loves playing with Hot Wheels cars. So Brittanie went on Disneyshopping.com and bought her the whole cast of Cars in the size of Hot Wheels cars. They came two per pack. Wal-Mart and Toys R Us had them for $8 a pack. Disney had it on sale for $5 a pack with no shipping. Can't beat that!

As long as you don't wait till the last minute, online shopping in the way to go at Christmas. Unfortunately this year we had to wait till the last minute and that was a mess. I couldn't even go help Tom because I had to stay home with Katie. She has now officially gone 24 hours without a fever. But she is still coughing and sneezing like crazy. She is EXTREMELY whiny....especially at bedtime. We had plans to have Frank and Lynn over yesterday but I canceled because I didn't want them to catch Katie's bug and we wouldn't have had much fun running for tissues every 5 minutes during our Pictionary game. So we just rescheduled for January. I hated to do that because we really look forward to spending time with them. But the last thing I want to do is get someone sick before Christmas!

So anyway, it has been a stressful Christmas season for us and I can't wait till it is over!! 8 days and counting!

Katie

I was supposed to take Katie to the doctor Wednesday but her doctor is out until the 19th and the only doctor available to see her has the bedside manner of a rock. So I made an appointment yesterday at Brittanie's practice with Dr. Hicks....we just love him! He gave her a shot of Rocephin like Katie always has to get because oral antibiotics tear up her stomach. She is still coughing and has ALOT of sinus yuckiness. She is also still running fever. She is real clingy until the Tylenol or Motrin kick in and then she is wide open for two hours....then back to clingy. She is just miserable with the sinus stuff and it is red under her little nose. I feel so bad for her! Hopefully that shot will kick in and she will be back to normal by Monday so she won't miss her Christmas party at school. She told my mom on the phone yesterday that she got a shot at the doctor's office and she knows that God is taking care of her. Smart girl!!

Last night, I was trying to cook and she was under my feet in the kitchen playing with noisy toys and banging things and after telling her 100 times to please go to her playroom with that stuff, I got mad and threatened to whip her butt if she didn't get out of the kitchen with that stuff. She said "Ohhhh! You are ruining my Christmas!" Where does she come up with this stuff???

Please keep Katie in your prayers and us too that we don't catch this stuff from her this close to Christmas!

How much would you pay for dinner with Govenor Blanco?

A personal dinner with Gov. Kathleen Blanco could be within anyone’s grasp after a meal at the Governor’s Mansion sold for $1 in Monroe, LA.

In what amounts to a “bad joke gone awry,” the Monroe Chamber of Commerce’s annual holiday fundraiser featured a live auction with the last item up for bid being a dinner with the governor.

The meal sold to the first bidder, Monroe banker Malcolm Maddox, said Sue Edmunds, chamber president.

Edmunds said it is a big embarrassment after Blanco generously offered the donation. “We are deeply apologetic,” Edmunds said. “This is not a reflection of our chamber or our membership.”

Maddox has since written an apology and changed the donation to $1,000.

Source.

I wouldn't pay a penny to sit in front of that woman but I hope the man who changed his $1.00 donation to $1000 at least gets his money's worth and tells her that the disaster in New Orleans was NOT President Bush's fault...it was HERS! But the fact that it went for $1.00 shows how much people in upstate Louisiana think of their governor. I feel for upstate Louisiana residents. They are outnumbered by staunchly Democrat Cajuns, most of whom don't even know why they are Democrat and will give you the ignorant comeback about Republicans not caring about the poor and taxing them to death. If they would actually get informed they would see that Democrats raise taxes, Republicans lower taxes. But you will never get them to believe that. Their ancestors were always Democrat and that's the way they will always vote. They don't realize the Democratic party has changed drastically since the Kennedy administration. Until they do realize that this is not their great great great grandfather's same Democratic party, the citizens of Louisiana are doomed to remain poor and taxed to death.

The latest

Tom is home from Ireland!!! He got here at 10:15 last night. We were thrilled to see him. Unfortunately, Brittanie was working tonight so she wasn't here when he came home but he stayed up till she got home. He was exhausted, as you can imagine! It is so good to have him home where he belongs!

I have an update on Subway. They finally paid Brittanie for the two days they owe her. Also, one of the workers there told Brittanie that they have been losing workers left and right because of Kyle and the owner's response to one worker was "Kyle is a good guy. I don't know what is wrong with you people!" Well yesterday she came home with a story that you would think would make her no longer believe that.....but it didn't. Seems Kyle was working with Warren one night (Warren has been there awhile and he closes when Kyle isn't on duty...a trusted employee. Brittanie said Warren was a great supervisor.) and "allegedy" (don't want this jerk to sue me) Kyle was being his normal obnoxious self. Warren talked back to him and let him know he wasn't going to sit there an take Kyle's verbal abuse that he gave to everyone and Kyle "allegedly" hit him and gave him a black eye. Brittanie saw Warren's eye at school. Now remember me posting about the security cameras? Obviously you can't miss an employee standing there and having Kyle punch him, right? He didn't get fired!!!!! That woman is lucky that isn't my son he punched because I would have had him arrested and then bring a civil suit against him and the owner. The owner of that restaurant is gambling that none of these parents will ever make her be accountable for the way her supervisor treats her employees. This could have easily been the case to hit her where she would feel it most....in her wallet. This boy......I don't care if he is 19, he is acting like a stupid boy...not a man.....needs to go to the Babcock Center because he is obviously mentally handicapped if he thinks that treating people like this is acceptable behavior. I'm so glad Brittanie got out of there when she did. Knowing Brittanie's temper, this could have easily been her. I don't believe for a minute that he wouldn't hit her. If a man finds it acceptable to verbally abuse a woman, he is capable of physical abuse as well. But anyway, I feel so bad for the kids, like Brittanie, who just want to work and make money and are subject to his abuse, which is being condoned and, insanely enough, defended by the owner. In a day where most teens repel at the thought of getting a job, having your first job be a situation like this could give them the excuse they need to not want to work for as long as possible. That's truly sad!!

But on a more positive note, tonight I went by Sonic and Brittanie was working the drive-thru. She said "We're having a great night at Sonic. This is Brittanie. May I take your order?" I said "NO!" The lady in the car in front of me looked at me in her rear view mirror, which made me laugh. I did give her my order and she knew from me ordering chicken strip wacky pack with a grape Sprite that it was me! She said "Mom? What are you doing here?" I said "ordering a pizza. What do you think?" hehehe It was neat seeing her at work like that. She had it all under control. I'm so proud of her. She takes pride in her job and told me again this weekend that Sonic keeps you hopping and she is exhausted when she gets home but it is a good tired because it is mixed with a feeling of accomplishment, which feels really good.

Now on to Katie news. Katie is sick again. She wasn't feeling good last week, I kept her home for three days and she was totally better when she went back Thursday. She was there two days and is now worse than she was before. Her pediatrician is out until the 19th and there were only two doctors in the office yesterday and they were booked solid. So I have an appointment today at 2pm. She was thrilled to see Tom. He brought home some candy from Ireland. One bag was a bag of assorted mini chocolate bars made by Cadbury. Now we have Cadbury here but these were totally different than the ones we have here. Well Katie ate a Starburst, which he brought home from Ireland, and it was the same as ours. But when she took a bite of that Cadbury chocolate bar, she closed her eyes and had a look of euphoria on her face. It was hilarious! She is definitely her daddy's child.....LOVES chocolate. Unfortunately for Tom, it is a migraine trigger for him so he has to avoid it unless he wants a migraine. But I thought it was so funny how she could have such a strong reaction to chocolate at such a young age.

Well I heard Katie coughing at 4:30am so I got up to give her some cough syrup and figured while I was up, I might as well update my blog and start typing. So now that I have updated my blog, I'm going to start my day. Yall have a good day!!

Ya gotta love Congressman Joe Wilson!!

I e-mailed Congressman Joe Wilson, at Brittanie's request, to ask him to attend Swansea High School's military ball on March 9th. I sent the e-mail yesterday and this morning when I got up, there was a personal response from him in my inbox. He is going to check his schedule and if he is free, he will attend. This is just one of the many reasons to love Joe Wilson. He really cares about the people he represents. Swansea High School is just a speck on the map but we are still important to Congressman Wilson. Our family has always supported Joe Wilson. Brittanie even walked a VERY long parade route this summer at the Watermelon Festival in the low country passing out Joe Wilson stickers. We were thrilled when he was, once again, chosen to represent us in Washington.

Congressman Wilson's closing paragraph is just typical of the man he is:

It is an honor to represent the people of the Second
Congressional District of South Carolina, and I value your input. 
If I may be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

I hate it when we elect someone to office and they get the big head and forget how they got where they are. Joe Wilson is not one of those men. I posted a letter I received from Governor Sanford's office awhile back and commented how personal touches mean so much. This latest personal touch from Congressman Wilson makes me proud of my party and proud of the men who represent me!

Keep up the great work gentleman!!

another example

I have another example of Katie being 4 going on 24. I told her that she is going to take a bath, eat dinner, and then go to bed. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, held her right hand up and said "Oh no no no! That's NOT happening!" She is a trip!!

Only 2 days left!!

Tom didn't call yesterday as he was out and about all day. He said he got stuck in the Ireland version of Harbison at Christmas time. That's misery for us. We hate traffic and shopping so Harbison, while it is a beautiful area and everything is so convenient, is not for us.

Obviously the people of Ireland speak English. Well they don't speak southern English. Today when Tom called, Brittanie was on my phone with her boyfriend (grrrr! She has her own phone for that!) and didn't answer the call waiting fast enough. Well I made her go get her phone, which is a Vonage phone, because we can call Ireland free because we have the unlimited plan. I got the number of Tom's hotel in Letterkenny and called it. The hotel clerk couldn't understand what I was saying! I ended up having to spell our last name to him and he got it. I was telling this to Tom and he told me that he and Rod had the same problem at an ice cream shop they went to. Rod wanted pecans and pralines. Now in South Carolina they pronounced it "pee cans" and "pray leans" But the people in Ireland pronounce it the same way my family in Louisiana pronounces it.... "puhcahns" and "prahleans." So they didn't understand what he wanted. They ended up having to get him a menu and have him point. Sometimes it is hard to translate English to English. hehehe

Tom is, as I'm typing this, watching the Panthers game on the Slingbox. He probably won't yell as much at this game because Jake Delhomme isn't in there to annoy him. I love Jake....he's a Cajun boy....what's not to love? But he has been playing really bad and when he plays bad, Tom yells. He is a passionate Panthers fan!

But anyway, we are down to two days and I can't wait!! He won't be home until late Tuesday night but at least he will be home!!

Movie review

I don't normally do this but I feel like writing movie reviews today.

Last night when Brittanie came home from work, she was dying to watch "Pirates of the Carribean 2, Dead Man's Chest" and wanted me to watch it with her. She loves the Pirates of the Carribean movies and Johnny Depp. I have never ever understood the appeal of Pirates of the Carribean. Last night while I was watching POC2, I figured out why I don't like these movies. You HAVE to focus and listen intently throughout the movie or you are completely lost. I have ADD so watching a movie like this is torture. Brittanie went to see POC2 with our friends' daughter, who also has ADD, and she was lost through this movie too. So it isn't just me! But even if I took my Ritalin and sat down to watch it, I wouldn't like it. The British accent has always been annoying to me. The lack of hygiene grosses me out and in POC2, Davy Jones was a huge Octopus looking guy and his tentacles on his face moved. Definite ick factor there. When he took down a ship, his tentacles were HUGE and the suction cups moved open and closed. It was totally gross. I just don't understand the appeal of these movies at all.

Brittanie and I also watched "John Tucker Must Die." The story was a combination of a bunch of teen movies but funnier. It was PG13 and proof that a movie can be funny without profanity. Brittanie and I both loved it.

The last movie review is on Disney's "Cars." Brittanie took Katie to see this in theatres and when it came out on DVD, we bought it. She LOVES it and even Brittanie and I like it. The animation is great as is the story. Unfortunately it does have one drawback. Katie is now a fan of racing. EEEK! Tom and I both hate racing. But now that Katie is such a "Cars" fanatic, she gets excited when she sees racing on TV and is asking for a racetrack for Christmas. She watches that movie at least twice a day...at least! I highly recommend it for parents looking for a good movie for their little ones for Christmas. For Christian parents who want a closer look at this movie before buying, read the review on Christiananswers.net. That's the website we go to before buying movies for Katie.

Go Brittanie!

Brittanie has been at Sonic for a month now and loves it. I haven't said much about it because I bragged too soon about Subway and the night manager ended up being a Class A jerk. Sonic is run ALOT more professionally. She was given a manual to read before she started work and then given a test on the manual. The manual covered profession codes of conduct, how to report abuse, etc. When she got her first paycheck, they made her go online and fill out a survey about your experience as an employee of Sonic. They will get you to fill that survey out periodically on paydays while you are employed there. They want you to have a good work experience with them. There are tiers of mastery. For instance she was hired as a fountain worker. After she has been a fountain worker for three months, she can (not required to) take a test on the responsibilities of a fountain worker and if you pass, you get the title Fountain Master and a raise. Then you work on the next tier of your chosing. For Brittanie that will be Carhop master....she wants tips. There are 9 tiers of mastery and once you have mastered all 9 tiers, you are deemed a Sonic Wizard. You get a raise with each master title and a bigger one as a Wizard.

Brittanie has only been there a month so it is too soon for her to take the master test but she was told earlier in the week that they will be giving her a raise and will talk to her about it later. Well tonight when she worked, Max, one of the managers, told her that she has been doing a great job and they wanted her to know how much they appreciate the hard work she does and that her next check will definitely reflect how much she is appreciated.

God is so good! We really prayed about this job. She was so upset when she had to quit Subway because other than Kyle, she liked that job. But Sonic is run more professionally and has almost a JROTC feel to it with their reward system....you work hard, it is acknowledged. Subway saw her (as well as the other workers) as expendable teenagers. Sonic sees them as valued employees. That respect makes all the difference in the world. You always work harder for an employer you feel respects and appreciates you. She asked them for at least 20 hours a week because she has to pay for her car insurance. They started her off at 15 and this week she is scheduled for 23 1/2 hours! That will give her enough money for her car insurance and a little Christmas money. She is one happy camper!

I feel for her tomorrow. She worked till 11pm tonight and has to be at school at 8am to go to drill competition and she will have to leave the drill competition at 11:30 because she is working 12 to 9 today. Not only is she going to be VERY cold tomorrow but she is going to be dog tired by the time she gets off work tomorrow night. But hard work never killed anyone. She is very proud of herself when she gets off work. That makes it all worth it!

4 more days!!

Tom will be home in 4 days and I can't wait. I'm just not cut out to be a single parent. Yesterday I was so tired that Katie and I went to bed at 6:30pm. We got up for a half hour after Brittanie got home from work and went right back to bed and got up at 7am. Brittanie told me that she needed gas last night but once again forgot her debit card at home. I hate it when she does that and she does it alot! grrrrrr So she had to come home on fumes and she said the car was bucking when she got in the driveway. I thought she was being dramatic as so many teenagers are. Well this morning I actually got an early start because of all the sleep I had the night before. I got up at 7am, started my van (It was 25 degrees this morning!), got Katie dressed and was out of here at 7:20am. Well at 7:30, Brittanie called me and told me the battery on her car was dead. I told her I think the jumper cables are in Tom's truck at the airport. I told her to ask Randy to pick her up and take her to school and I would call AAA to come out and jump her off so she could take it to work tonight. After I hung up with her, I remembered her telling me the car was bucking last night. So I called her back and asked her if the car would try to turn over or would it just go "click." She said it would turn on but then immediately turn off. Obviously that isn't the battery! That means she has no gas. Anyone know where I can buy a manual "Car Basics for Dummies?" I immediately thanked God for getting her home safe and sound last night because He gave her enough gas to get home last night. I am so glad I didn't have to go out at 10pm last night and try to find one of our many gas cans in that utility room in the garage, and rescue her. And last night would have been a horrible night to break down since it was in the 20's! God is truly good even we do stupid things!

I fussed at her and I truly hope this is the last time it happens. Tom and I ran out of gas all the time when we lived in Gramercy. It wasn't that we didn't have the money to put gas in. It was that we were always running late and didn't want to take the time to get gas. Luckily we always ran out of gas in Gramercy on the way to the pump. What's funny is that our preacher always seemed to be around when we ran out of gas. He would see us walking, pick us up, laugh that we once again were out of gas, and take us back to our car. It only happened to me once. Tom did it often. He still pushes it to the last minute in his truck. But that is one thing I don't want Brittanie to get from us! I told her that she BETTER keep that debit card in her wallet. At this time of the year, if it fell out of her pocket, thieves would love to use her card to buy Christmas presents.

But anyway, I can't wait for Tom to get home!! It is rough without him. I missed his call Wednesday and was so happy to hear his voice yesterday. Katie asks me every morning where daddy is. I tell her he is still in Ireland and she says "Ohhhh 9 days is a LONG time!" But we are down to 4 and counting. YAY!!

She's 4 going on 24

Tom is the one who always takes Katie to school in the morning. Since Tom has been in Ireland, I am taking Katie to school. Tom never goes through car line. He always parks and walks her in. Katie has been sick this week so today was her first day since Tom left. Well Mr. J opened up the van door, helped her out and a 6th grader is supposed to walk all kindergarteners to class. Well when I got there to pick her up, Mrs. Stephens, the Kindergarten Director, told me that when I drop Katie off in the morning, I need to remind her to wait for one of the 6th graders to walk her to class. Today, she didn't wait for a 6th grader to take her, she knew the way so she just walked herself to class. That's a good distance from where I drop her off and she has to pass through a piece of the kindergarten parking lot to get to the building. So obviously it isn't safe for them to go by themselves. After Mrs. Stephens told me that she had gone by herself, I looked at Katie and asked her why she did that. She said "I'm a big girl! I wasn't scared." She then rolled her eyes like I was nuts for even asking.

After I picked her up, I went to Wachovia to make a deposit and after I got my receipt, she said "NO SUCKER?" She was outraged. I told her this bank doesn't give suckers. She said "I told you to lean back so they could see me!" I told her again that this isn't the branch that gives suckers. She said "Why did we go here then? I told you we need to go to the bank with suckers when you have to go to the bank!" So bossy!! But I'm not about to drive all the way to Highway 378 through the hospital traffic just so Katie can have a 3 cent sucker!

On the way home, we always listen to the Veggie Tales CD I bought her for her birthday. We love it. Well "I'll fly away" was playing and it came to the part where they sing "When I die hallelujah by and by" and Katie said "Oh I hate that word!" I asked what word she was talking about and she said "I hate that word "hallewoowah." I asked her why and she said "Mr. Nezzer on her Veggie Tales movie says that word too and I hate it!" She couldn't ever tell me why she hated that word, she just did. So I told her that hallelujah was just another way to say "praise the Lord." She said "So say "praise the Lord" cuz I hate hallelujah!" She's something else!

She is definitely 4 going on 24. Unfortunately she is opinionated and bossy and she gets it honestly. lol

Tom in Ireland update day 2

Tom called me today and said he had a pretty good day but was pretty tired. He said he almost watched the Panther game (from our Slingbox at home) at 3am but didn't want to wake up the entire hotel yelling. It is a good thing he didn't because last night's Panther game was awful. Judging how emotional Tom gets when the Panthers don't play well, all of Letterkenny would have been awakened!

He said they ate dinner at "The Yellow Pepper." They had eaten there before and he said the beef medallions were pretty good so they tried it again today. Obviously Americans drink more Coke than the Irish and thus Coke is served in restaurants in an 8oz glass...no ice. One of the guys from South Carolina who has been there for awhile gave him a tip on ordering a Coke. He said you can order a pint of Coke, just like others order a pint of beer. Good to know. Tom and I both drink alot of Coke when we eat. After dinner, they went to the grocery store to buy Coke to put in the hotel for them to drink and Tom bought Skittles. He said they aren't as hard over there and the grape Skittle tasted weird...definitely not grape flavored. But they were able to find Coca-Cola Classic, which is imported from Canada. They figured that might taste more like our Coca-Cola than the Irish Coke....which tastes like New Coke from the 80's. When I talked to him, they hadn't tried it yet to know what it tasted like.

I'm enjoying his stories on how things are the same yet different. The seeming aversion to coldness is particularly interesting to me. He laughed and said the fridge in his room will only keep his Coke probably 2 degrees colder than the room. I suggested he keep it on the window sill. He said he may keep it in the car. It is 40 degrees and rainy there. That is cold enough to make good cold Coke....especially as compared to room temperature.

Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted on how he is doing!

Discovery Kids

Katie has missed the last two days of school with a low grade fever and upper respiratory junk. Today she wanted to watch "The Magic School Bus" so I put it on. Discovery Kids needs to get with the program. They have commercials throughout their programming. Katie is very OCD and when things work a certain way, any change will make her wig out. She is used to watching Nickelodeon, which doesn't put commericals in their programming....only after a program is over. Katie also watches movies....no commercials. When I watch the things I record on TiVo, she sees me fast forward past the commercials. Well she has been wigging out at having to watch commercials during "The Magic School Bus." She just doesn't understand why I can't FF past the commercials. This feeling of annoyance at the commercials is greatly intensified by the fact that she doesn't feel good and, as she told me 100 times yesterday, she misses her daddy.

From now on, we are sticking with Nickelodeon and DVD's!

He made it!

Tom called me this morning to let me know that he made it to Ireland safe and sound. Of course they went by the plant before settling into the hotel. Tom is a compulsive work-a-holic! But he called me at 5:40pm there. He said the restaurant in the hotel opens at 6 and they were going to grab a bite to eat and then go to bed and get some sleep. He's been up for over 30 hours since he didn't sleep on the plane. But the traveling part, which is what he really hates, went smoothly. That's an answered prayer! He took Brittanie's camera with him and hopefully I will get some pictures soon. I'd love to see a picture of the plant with the company sign up but Tom is big on protecting the privacy of his company so I won't hold my breath on that one.

But anyway, I will keep all my readers updated on Tom's trip to Ireland as we have something to report.

A tearful goodbye

Tom left for Ireland at 3:30pm this afternoon. We all remember how horrible it was without him last time he went and we have been dreading it since we found out he had to go again. Well when the time came for him to kiss us all goodbye, Katie lost it. She hugged him, kissed him, and went running off crying to her room to cry in her bed. It was heartbreaking! I started crying when I kissed him goodbye. He couldn't stand leaving with Katie crying like that. So he went in her room and told her that he will be home in 9 days and will watch the video of her Christmas program with her when he gets home. That calmed her down and he left. A minute after he walked out the door, he came back in. He forgot his jacket. She got another hug and kiss from Daddy and when he left, she started crying again. It was horrible! Brittanie made peanut butter cookies with her and that took her mind off of how much she was hurting. Tom is the center of our family. We are lost without him. We will definitely be counting down the days till he gets home!

Yall please pray that he has a good trip there and back and doesn't get sick. He was sick earlier in the week. He was fine when he left today but it is cold and rainy in Ireland. It is miserable to be sick when you are away from home.

Now on to a funny story. Saturday, Brittanie had to work at Sonic....a 9 hour shift. Well they told her earlier in the week that everyone wears a Santa hat for the month of December. She went out and bought a Santa hat. She put it on before leaving for work and was not happy at having to wear it. She said she looks like a dork. I told her that Santa hats are cute and that she would only look like a dork if she were the only one wearing one but since everyone would be wearing their Santa hats, it will be cute. She still wasn't happy about it (as you can tell in the picture below).Well when she went on break she called me half mad and half laughing. When Brittanie walked into work, everyone turned and saw her in the Santa hat and started laughing. Seems that is a joke they play on the new employees. So she was the only one wearing the Santa hat. They told her in the summer they tell the new employees that they have to wear sunglasses during the whole month of June and laugh when they come to work wearing them. So she got pranked. She thought it was funny but wasn't happy because that hat messed up her hair. hahaha

Tough love vs. Spanking

My friend, Denise, sent this to me and I thought it was too funny not to share it. Thanks Denise!!

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Tough Love vs. Spanking (a psychological conundrum)

Most of America's populace think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of "those moments."

One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.

They usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.

Sincerely,