Brittanie finished Course 1

Brittanie has officially completed course 1 of Wilton's Cake Decorating at Michael's. She has made two cakes and also decorated cupcakes. We don't have pictures of the cupcakes but we do have pictures of the cakes. She found that she really loves decorating cakes and she is pretty good at it as well. Here are the pictures of the cakes she has made.

She made this for my mom's birthday (January 18th)This one she made tonight. By the way, MCR is the initials of her favorite band. Their colors are black and red....thus the black and red cake.Pretty cool, huh? I'm very proud of her! There are 4 courses and the last course is wedding cake decoration. She wants to take them all!

On to Plan B

Yesterday I received a call from the LTC Hale at USC Columbia Army ROTC telling me that he just found out from Admissions that Brittanie did not get into USC Columbia. They were impressed by her GPA and her accomplishments/extra curriculars but her SAT score killed her. He told me that Swansea High is particularly bad with this. He even used the example of the valedictorian last year graduated with a 4.0 and had the same SAT score that Brittanie had and he couldn't get into WestPoint because of it.

Needless to say, Brittanie was devastated. She cried all day long and at one point, one thing she said made me laugh. We talked about her having to move to Plan B, which is that she would go to USC Sumter that way she could live on campus in the dorms in Columbia and take her ROTC classes with the Gamecock battalion in Columbia. I was telling her she would have the best of both worlds because she would get to live on the USC Columbia campus and take her ROTC classes there but then go to Sumter and have smaller classes at USC Sumter. She said "I don't want to go to USC Sumter! I don't want to be a Fire Ant!" That's right. USC Sumter is home of the fighting Fire Ants. I was trying to be sympathetic till that point but I couldn't help but laugh at going to a school where the mascot is a Fire Ant. Too funny! Here are a couple of graphics I snagged from their website. The last one is from the booster club. hahaha

I love my hair dresser!

This is the sign outside of Gaston's Hot Hair. Since the mayor has resigned, Kathy told me she is going to change the sign to "Bring Back the Police Dept! Get well Mayor Sharpe." LOL

Did everyone catch the news on WIS tonight? At 7pm and again at 11pm, my hairdresser, who is awesome and we just love her, was giving her views on what is going on with the mayor! I absolutely loved it! On one side we have Kathy (our hairdresser), who is pretty with all her teeth...white and intact I might add, on our side in wanting the mayor GONE! On the other hand we have two people supporting the mayor and I'm going to be nice and just say they were quite the opposite of Kathy. It was funny to watch and I love Kathy and her sign! (In case you didn't see it, click here and then click on the video that says Gaston Mayor Steps Down.)

By the way, if you are looking for a good hairdresser, I strongly recommend Kathy at Gaston's Hot Hair. She is the only one me, Brittanie and Katie go to! She even does special event hairstyles. Check out what she did to Brittanie's hair for the military ball a couple of years ago.

Say NO to Hilary!

I'm a Republican/Libertarian so I won't be voting in the Democratic primary anyway but I feel our country would be in serious jeopardy if Hilary Clinton became president. I was looking for a graphic earlier and came across an anti-Hilary website so I wanted to share it.

Just say NO to Hilary!

What goes around comes around!

I got a call today from someone telling me that the mayor of Gaston will be resigning effective tomorrow morning. I won't give any details of the rest of the conversation but I will say that after blaming innocent people for something they didn't do, it is nice to see justice!

Story on WLTX.

Story on WIS. (I hate them but they are reporting it.)

My first love (hehehe)

I fell in love with Dan Marino when he was a quarterback at Pitt and loved him through the 80's when he played for Miami. Nowadays I love to pick at Tom about me thinking Dan is hot....like he does to me with Jessica Alba. hehehe But I saw this quiz and decided to take it and needless to say, I was thrilled with my results!

What famous Quarterback are you? Dan Marino The best quarterback to never win a super bowl. If Dan had a supporting cast around him, he could have been easily considered the best quarter back to ever play the game. Sports-Athletics Quizzes

Brittanie's cap and gown picture

While in Louisiana, we picked up Brittanie's graduation picture that she took at Don and Jan's in Opelousas. I loved this cap and gown picture. I ordered a huge package of them so everyone could have one. Leave me a comment and let me know what yall think. Don't forget you can click on it to make it bigger.

It is snowing in Gaston!!!

Tonight Brittanie called me on the way home from church and told me that it is snowing in Swansea and asked it was snowing here in Gaston. So my mom poked her head outside and sure enough there was snow falling and it got a little heavier. Mom called her boyfriend and some family members back in Louisiana to tell them it was snowing. Brittanie and Katie were jumping up and down. Katie was trying to catch snow on her tongue. Needless to say, we were all very excited about seeing our first snow in a few years. (Well Tom was indifferent...shocking huh? hehehe)

Here are some pictures of our big Gaston snow storm!

Mom update

Since mom has been here, Katie has monopolized her time. So Brittanie decided to take mom out to dinner tonight....just the two of them. Brittanie loves Yamato's so that is where she took mom. My mom will be 77 on Friday and is a small town woman. She hasn't seen much in her life. So when I told her about Yamato's she said she would rather just go walking around some stores with Brittanie. I told her that she has walked around stores and can walk around stores in Louisiana. I told her that she needs to experience this for once in her life. She was happy that Brittanie wanted to spend some time alone with her but she was reluctant to go to a Japanese restaurant. Well she is soooooo glad she went. She had a blast. Brittanie and mom were the first ones seated at their table so they were right next to the chef. She told me that he gave her alot of attention and would call her mom and when he would cook for each person, he would give them their portion and give her a little bit of their food too. hahaha She thought he was hilarious and just had a great time.

After they left Yamato's, they headed to Wal-Mart in West Columbia to buy a cake pan and cake mix and stuff for Brittanie to make a cake to take to her cake decorating class Thursday night. They didn't have what Brittanie wanted so they are headed to the Red Bank Wal-Mart. It is 10:30pm and they still aren't home and they left at 5:30 this afternoon. They called to let me know they are changing Wal-Marts and they sound like they are having a blast! When they walked into the Red Bank Wal-Mart, the greeter (who is mom's age) asked my mom "Where have you been all my life?" She was grinning from ear to ear telling me about it. It made her night! hehehe

My mom has adored Brittanie since she was born but after we moved here, Brittanie grew up and they grew apart. My mom is loving the attention Brittanie is giving her tonight. I'm so glad they did it! We are taking her home Friday and hopefully she will have some good memories to go home with.

Which is it?

WACH

funny

My friend Terri from Baton Rouge sent me a couple of pictures that I thought was funny so I had to post them.

I almost forgot!

Brittanie has decided to take a cake decorating class....which she starts tonight....and guitar lessons. She has been wanting to play drums and a guitar for years but I was afraid it would be like piano and she would get bored and quit. Well we already had the piano that my mother-in-law left with us when they moved. So we only had to pay for lessons. But I wasn't going to invest a ton of money into a musical instrument she wouldn't play down the road. So when she popped up recently saying she will buy the guitar if I will pay for the lessons, I agreed. We consulted our local Nashville star, Red Fraley, as I am friends with him and especially his wife, and I knew he would know exactly what she needed. He called yesterday with a guitar for her. He bought it new for almost $700 years ago and sold it to his friend for $400 and convinced his friend to sell it to Brittanie for $200. It is a Yamaha professional acoustic electric and is dark emerald green. It is beautiful. Red even sold her one of his very nice hard cases for $75....which my mom wanted to buy for her. Red gave her a tuner and some picks and now all she needs is a strap. She went to Books a Million last night and bought "Guitar for Dummies" so she can learn the basics before she starts taking lessons with Red. Speaking of the lessons, Red told us yesterday he won't charge us for teaching Brittanie to play. So I am definitely getting the good end of this deal! hehehe

Brittanie was so happy yesterday to have her guitar. She couldn't wait to call Cameron (her boyfriend, who also plays guitar) and tell him. She went to church last night and told her friends there and headed to Books a Million after church. Well on the way to Books a Million, she got pulled over by a state trooper on I-26. He said she was doing 76 in a 60. She said she was going 63 and that he must have clocked the red car in front of her. But you can't argue with a cop. So she got a ticket for $76.88. I am going to send her to court so hopefully they will drop the fine a little. When she got the ticket in Swansea, she was hysterical because she knew she messed up. Last night she was livid because she knew she wasn't speeding. But it is her word against his that she was actually the one she clocked. Now she sees why police officers are hated.

It's Orange Day in K4

We went everywhere to find the shirt I wanted for today but to no avail. Mom, Katie, and I had dinner with Tom's cousin/our neighbor Tuesday night and I mentioned the trouble we were having finding a good shirt for today. They suggested I create what I want and they would print it for me on transfer paper that they have. They have done T-shirts like that before. They are so great. They created Katie's outfit for Emergency Day last year and now they came up with a solution for orange day. I just love em!! So Tom, who is a perfectionist, did it for me last night and of course it came out perfect!! Katie wouldn't smile for me this morning because her permanent tooth hasn't come in to fill the hole so she is self conscious about it. So this isn't a good picture of her. But the shirt says "I am a true Gamecock... I never wear orange!"

Tom and I were talking about how funny our girls are in the way they say things. Brittanie has always made up words. We call her Jesse Jackson when she does it. Katie makes up phrases. Like when she got sick awhile back, when she felt a little better she would say "I feel good like a chicken." She also says "I'm happy as a hippo." Last night she told my mom that her breath stunk (smelled like coffee). She asked Katie if her daddy's breath stunk because of all the Mountain Dew he drinks. She said, "No my daddy's breath smells as fresh as the walls." She's something else!!

Never a dull moment in Gaston

For the first time in over 30 years (since the creation of the Gaston Police Department), Gaston no longer has police protection. According to WIS, they have not been able to contact the mayor. Not a surprise. I for one would hate to be known as the mayor who was in office when the police department was disbanded. What goes around comes around.

Teaching them what's right early

Next week is homecoming week at Katie's school. They sent home a list of different things for them to wear on different days. On the way home from school today, I was at a red light and reading the list and Thursday they ask each class to wear a different color. Katie is in K4 and they have asked K4 to wear orange. When I read that, Katie said "Mom please don't send me to school that day." I asked why and she said "Because I don't want to wear orange!" I asked her why not. She said "Because I'm NOT going to dress like a Clemson fan! I HATE Clemson! YUCK!" I love it! I'm going to buy her two Gamecock shirts this weekend....one for Monday (which is your favorite sport team) and the other I hope will be this shirt or one similar to it:On the home front, Katie is still trying to scare my mom but mom isn't telling me about it and with my headphones on while working, I don't know about it unless she tells me. But the latest thing is actually pretty funny. My mom is VERY hard of hearing and Katie gets frustrated with having to repeat everything to my mom. So she has started talking VERY loudly.....practically yelling. Yesterday my mom asked her if she was hungry and Katie yelled "YES I'M HUNGRY!" Mom asked her what she wanted to eat and Katie yelled "I WANT A PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH!!" It was hilarious! Today in the van on the way home, she was talking about colors and she yelled "MAW-MAW, WHAT COLOR IS CLOSE TO BLACK?" Mom was laughing so hard that she couldn't hardly answer her. Katie B is something else!

Katie vs. Maw-Maw

I love having my mom here. When she was in Louisiana and we were here in South Carolina, she would tell me that I was just too impatient with Katie and that she is just a baby (which I totally disagree with), and that I just need to be more patient.....basically saying that Katie isn't annoying and we are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Well now that she is here, she realizes what we go through. No matter how many spankings Katie gets, she will not stop sneaking up on my mom (which isn't hard to do since she is just about deaf), and jumping out and screaming "BOO!" at her. Mom has always been a jumpy person and this doesn't help. Everytime Katie jumps out and yells "BOO," mom screams "OH SH*T!! STOP DOING THAT KATIE!" But it doesn't help. She just complained to me again and this time I told her that she just has to be more patient. (I loved that! hehehe) Mom is going to need nerve pills by the time she leaves but at least she sees we weren't exaggerating! Katie is 40 handfuls!

Welcome to 2008!!

We welcomed 2008 just the way we like it....quietly. It was great. Mom and Katie went to bed early. Brittanie went to Sumter to be with her boyfriend, Cameron. Cameron's church had a lock-in where they played games and ate among other things. So that's how Brittanie spent her New Year's Eve. She got to know Cameron's family and they got to know her. They told Cameron they really like her. I was scared to death for her to drive home but she made it home safe and sound. I was doing alot of praying after she called me and told me she was on her way home.

Today we were supposed to take down the Christmas tree but we don't have any bubble wrap for the ornaments. So Brittanie is going to pick some up tonight and she will take the ornaments off the tree tomorrow and Tom will pack up the tree tomorrow night when he gets home from work. Cameron came over tonight and picked Brittanie up to take her to see a movie. Mom cooked smothered pork chops. (None of us care for cabbage and I especially hate black eyed peas. So no traditional New Year's meal for us.)

So all in all, it was a very nice day. We are all healthy. Brittanie was only sick that one day and so far none of the rest of us have come down with it. But I am looking forward to Thursday. That's when the kids go back to school and we can get back into our normal routine again.