For Tom

Tom and Brittanie absolutely can't stand Tom Brady. Tom has the NFL Replay of the Superbowl, which is a condensed version of the Superbowl on TiVo so that when he has a bad day, he can just watch Tom Brady getting sacked over and over again. Well I found a couple of YouTube videos too. One has the song "Let the bodies hit the floor" and the other one is "You had a bad day." How appropriate! LOL

So for Tom, here are videos of Tom Brady getting sacked during the Superbowl.

I got the pictures back from the wedding.

You can click on any of the pictures below to make them bigger, then hit the back button to come back to the blog.

I love this picture (above) of Katie. Jessica did a great job with the pictures!!

There are the two flower girls, Laurel and Katie.Isn't that cute? (above)

She kept having one piece of hair that was unruly that day and kept getting in her face and driving me nuts!! grrrr

Katie and the beautiful bride, Melanie.

The whole wedding party, with the exception of Ira's son and daughter, were Tom's cousins. Now that they are married, Ira's son and daughter are officially cousins too! By the way, the woman directly behind Laurel is Tom's cousin, Tracie. Brittanie was the flower girl in her wedding 14 years ago! The train bearers are Katie's favorite cousins, Daniel and Nicholas. They are standing behind the ring bearer, William. (How cute are those three boys???)Katie and William sliding.Melanie and Ira with Tom's parents.

Do we need a fundraiser???

For about the last 3 weeks, Swansea High School has been out of paper. I'm not kidding. Teachers are putting tests on overheads and letting the students copy it on their own paper. Today instead of giving each student progress reports, they were called up to the front to see a computer screen to see their grades on it.....no paper to print the progress reports on. What is wrong with this picture? We have the highest taxes in Lexington County yet our school district is in this kind of shape. That is SAD!

Going to the chapel..well actually art gallery

Katie served as one of two flower girls at Tom's cousin, Melanie's, wedding last night. The flower girl dress was beautiful. I couldn't attend the wedding due to the lovely UNNA boots still on my legs. But Tom and Brittanie went with Katie and said it was a very nice wedding. Brittanie LOVED the flowers. They were roses that had a gold glittery shimmer. I was able to see that in Katie's flower girl bouquet and it was beautiful!! Tom's cousin, Jessica, was the photographer and I will hopefully get some pictures of Katie in the wedding when she sorts through the pictures. When I do, I will post them here. Here are a few I took before the wedding.Tom's mom rolled Katie's hair and then Brittanie recurled it with a curling iron and styled it.She absolutely REFUSED to smile for me.One last check one stuff at work before he leaves for the wedding. He is a work-a-holic! But I had to get this picture because I LOVE seeing him in a suit. It is a rare occurrence because Tom, like me, hates getting dressed up.

My Friday afternoon.

I had quite an eventful afternoon and I just had to share it with you guys.

1. I had a dr appt....venous stasis ulcers on my legs. They wrapped them (this is the 4th time they have been wrapped) and I left.

2. I get almost home and Brittanie called me and told me that her boyfriend, Cameron, who was supposed to meet her at 5 had called at 5 and told her that he had a flat and was about 5 miles from our house and will be there shortly. Well this was at 6pm she called me and he wasn't there yet. So she was freaking out. I told her I didn't notice anything but I wasn't actually looking for someone broken down but I would retrace the route he would be coming and find him. Well I go about 5 miles down the road and there is his truck but he is nowhere to be found. I turned around at a station down the road and he wasn't there. I went the opposite direction and there he was walking on the opposite side of the 4 lane highway towards his truck. So I picked him up and drove him to his truck and called Brittanie and told her that I found him and he is ok. His jack had broken after he got the tire off and he couldn't jack it up anymore to get the spare on so he had walked up the road and borrowed a raggedy old jack that you turn with a wrench from a mechanic shop up the road. Brittanie came to meet us and parked a good ways in front of him and walked back to us. I was parked right behind him with my blinkers on because he was right past a curve and I was scared to death someone would hit him because there was just grass there no shoulder.

3. He couldn't get the raggedy jack to work. Brittanie has a nice jack in her Honda Civic, so she got it out and while he was under there messing with both jacks, the truck fell on him. Luckily the truck's other 3 wheels kept the truck high enough off of the ground that he didn't get hurt but it scared me and Brittanie to death. I told him that was it, get his butt in my van and I'm calling AAA and we will just lie and say that Brittanie was driving his truck. About that time, the guy who loaned him the jack pulled up between him and Brittanie and told him that he obviously doesn't know how to change a tire cuz the jack was in the wrong spot. He put the jack in the right spot, changed the tire, and left.

4. So Cameron gets in his truck and we all prepare to go to my house. By this time, it is almost 7pm. Well instead of waiting for me to pull out first or pulling forward so he could see around me, he just turned his wheel to the left and pulled out and clipped an SUV. It barely did any damage to his truck but the SUV has damage to the fender and broke the headlight. The woman driving was talking on her cell phone to her husband and he came to meet her and started chewing her out for talking on the cell phone while driving and telling Cameron that the door and everything needed to be replaced. That's not true. He didn't hit anywhere near the door or very hard.

5. We called the police but the sheriff's department had an officer passing and he stopped to see if we needed help, then checked on the ETA of the trooper who was coming to write up the accident. Well the trooper got there, took my statement first since I saw the entire thing. Well the trooper asked for license, registration, and proof of insurance. Guess what....couldn't find the proof of insurance. He came to my van almost in tears not knowing what to do. I asked him what company it was. He told me and I called 411 and got the 800 number and gave it to him and told him to call them and ask them what the policy number was. He got the policy number, gave it to the cop, got the incident report and the cop dismissed us.

6. I got to Tom's aunt's house at 8:45 to pick up Katie because she had wedding rehearsal (she is going to be a flower girl in a wedding tomorrow) across the street. I'm exhausted and wound up still.

7. The worst part is that Cameron's dad told he couldn't come here tonight to go to the concert with Brittanie. He told him that if he was going to the wedding with Brittanie tomorrow, he had to go to the concert tonight with his friend, Amber's, youth group. His mom has Cameron this weekend and his dad is at drill (he's in the Army National Guard). So he doesn't have to tell his dad till he gets home Sunday but his dad is going to have a duck that he defied his direct order. I told Brittanie to be prepared to only see Cameron every other weekend when he is at his mom's house and she will always have to go there because his dad is going to take his truck. That is what I would do if my kid defied me. He is a sweet kid and I agree that his dad's rules are stupid and too strict for a kid that doesn't drink, smoke, do drugs, or have sex and is in church everytime the doors are open. But it is still the rules and he has to abide by them till he graduates and moves out.

8. Oh and I forgot to mention that it has been raining here for a couple of days so the ground was muddy so he was filthy and muddy and cold too. When they got to our house, Tom already knew the story, so he ordered a pizza for them to eat when they got back. Brittanie gave him her PT sweats to wear and washed his clothes for him. He is feeling ok right now but still scared about Sunday. Telling his dad isn't going to be pretty!

So yeah, that was my afternoon. I'm pooped.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tom and I don't usually do much to celebrate Valentine's Day because our anniversary is just three days later. But Brittanie celebrates the holiday. Unfortunately, Cameron is staying home tonight taking care of his little sister so his dad and step mom can go out for Valentine's Day. So he is coming here tomorrow. She is giving him some special gifts. First off, she is giving him guitar picks that she had made. He plays the guitar but also collects guitar picks. Here are what the picks look like.Cameron also loves penguins...something he has in common with all of us. So the last gift she is giving him is a penguin cake that she decorated today. Check it out. She really has a talent for cake decorating!I did give Tom a Hershey's chocolate computer. The Hershey's site has a better picture of it than I can get. So here is a picture of the computer from the Hershey's site.


Oh and one more thing! She got her letter from USC Sumter today. She has been accepted! So now all we need is medical clearance from the Army to be confirmed and we are ready to go apartment shopping. We registered her for orientation on June 13th. I'm sad and proud all at the same time. I can't believe my baby is about to be a college freshman!!

My local TV star hehehe

In case you didn't get to see Wach Fox 57 news on Wednesday night, here is the video.



Here is the story that they put on the website:

Junior ROTC cadets rise to the occasion.

By Crystal Walker
Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 3:37 p.m.

SWANSEA -- Junior ROTC cadets from Swansea high school had their formal inspection this morning. Every 3 years, the Army Junior ROTC programs must be inspected to ensure they are following protocol.

The instructors were confident they would pass inspection, but the program is less about procedure and more about molding young people into productive adults. They teach students to be leaders, by giving them a chance to lead others. They also encourage community service projects such as mentoring elementary students and preparing middle school aged children for high school.

Students like Brittanie Sightler, a senior and battalion commander say the program has given her a sense of pride and taught her to appreciate the military. Sightler will be in the ROTC program at USC this coming fall, You know, youre part of something bigger than yourself.

The mission of the Junior ROTC program is not to recruit students for military service, although 11 of the 19 students graduating this year are going into the service or an ROTC program at a college.

Major Wayne Norton runs Junior ROTC at Swansea High School he is excited about his senior class becoming productive members of society, We teach them to be good citizens in our country, we teach them life skills, Norton says.

Swansea's high school graduation rate last year was 58 percent, 13 points below the state average according to the South Carolina Department of Education. Every student completing Junior ROTC through senior year graduates Swansea, a sure sign that the program is turning teenagers into successful young adults.

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I wish they would have left out the part about our school having such a horrible graduation rate. But anyway, I'm very proud of Brittanie!! By the way, just ignore the color guard. They are lead by her loser/psycho ex and as you can see by their part in the video...they stink big time. They received the lowest marks (34 out of 40) on inspection.

Brittanie on the news!

Tonight on Wach Fox 57 at 10pm, Brittanie will be on the news! The Fox crew came out to her school and did a story on Swansea's JROTC program and today was the HUGE inspection from the Fort Bragg officers. (They got 97 out of 100 by the way!! YAY!!!) They also interviewed Brittanie since she is Battalion Commander. Hopefully her interview won't end up on the cutting room floor. But anyway, check it out if you are in the midlands of South Carolina.

For those who aren't in South Carolina, hopefully they will put the video on their website. But if they don't, I will get Tom to take it off of our TiVo and we will upload it and I'll post the link.

Real Cajun Mardi Gras

For those of yall who are interested, I found a little video of an authentic Cajun Mardi Gras....the Mardi Gras in Mamou, LA. They ride their horses to different places and ask for ingredients for a gumbo...you can hear one guy ask for a chicken in the video, then then take the parade to a central location in Mamou and make a HUGE gumbo and sell it by the bowlful. There is Cajun music, dancing and as you can see in the video...LOTS of drinking. LOL These people are feeling no pain. This is the Mardi Gras I grew up with. The one in New Orleans is so commercialized, not to mention dangerous. Because of all the drinking, I have only been to this Mardi Gras once. It was alot of fun, except for the drinking part. That is not my thing at all. But I loved the Cajun tradition and especially the Cajun music. But after you see the video, you will know why I didn't take Tom around stuff like this before we got married. He wouldn't have been able to get back to South Carolina fast enough. LOL Click here for the video.

I found another one!

Imagine that!!

‘Jena Six’ defendant accused of assault at school in Texas
By Abbey Brown
The (Alexandria) Town Talk

A “Jena Six” defendant was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault after a fight with a fellow student at his current high school in Texas, his mother said.

Bryant R. Purvis, 19, now living in the Dallas area, was charged with assault causing bodily injury and is being held in the Carrollton, Texas, city jail without bail pending a bond hearing this morning, a jail official said. The charge is a Class A misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of no more than $4,000 and a jail sentence of no longer than one year, or both.

Tina Jones, Purvis’ mother, said her son got into an altercation with another student at Hebron High School early Wednesday after he was told that the student had vandalized his car the night before.

“I wish he could just get in a place where he could walk away from the situation,” Jones said of her son. “I understand he gets frustrated. But he needed to walk away from this situation, being that he’s already in a situation. It’s very frustrating and upsetting to have to go through so much.”

Jones said what happened really wasn’t a fight. Purvis went up to the other student, “grabbed him by the collar and pushed his head on the table, talking to him,” she said.

“Bryant was very upset because he had a (basketball) game Tuesday night, and when (he went out to his car after) the game, someone made both tires on the passenger side flat,” Jones said.

“And (Wednesday) morning someone told him who done it. That’s the reason the altercation happened. And a few days before that happened, he was driving my brother’s truck, and someone stole the tires and busted the windows out of it,” she said.

Alberta Norman, a parent of another Hebron Hawks basketball player, said she was surprised when her son told her about Purvis’ arrest.

“Bryant was a good kid,” she said. “He was having a great year. Kids, sometimes they make bad decisions. We’re just sad about it. He had come out of his shell and was really enjoying himself.”

Purvis was a starter for the school’s basketball team, and Norman said the team was hoping to end the year in the finals. There are two more games until the end of the season – Friday and next week.

Norman said Purvis’ ties to the Jena Six case have never been an issue.

Purvis was one six black Jena High School students initially charged with attempted murder in connection with a Dec. 4, 2006, assault on white student Justin Barker at the school. Soon after Purvis’ arrest, Jones said she sent him to live with his uncle, Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Jason Hatcher, so he could stay out of trouble and out of the limelight.

Purvis had stayed out of the spotlight for most of the year following the high-profile case, but did appear on Black Entertainment Television’s Hip-Hop Awards. Purvis and fellow defendant Carwin Jones helped present the Video of the Year award during the October awards show.

The Jena Six case has received attention worldwide and led to what many have called the first major civil rights demonstration of the new millennium, on Sept. 20, 2007, when at least 20,000 marched through Jena.

“We are just past that whole thing,” Norman said, referring to Purvis’ connection to the Jena Six. “He has great support from his family and teammates. That was never a cloud or anything. He was trying to move on so he could have a good senior year, graduate and go on with his life.”

Any time there is a physical altercation at the school, police are called and arrests are made, Norman said.

Jones said the principal has told her that Purvis will be suspended for three days and will face 10 days of in-school suspension. After that, he will be back in school normally.

As far as the charge he faces in court, she said she is confident the judicial system in Texas will treat her son fairly.

“It’s just another struggle that we have to go through,” Jones said of this incident. “I’m very upset right now with this situation. We are really, really going through a lot already with the Jena Six. I wish this had never happened. But it is what it is, and now we have to deal with it.”

She still contends that her son had nothing to do with the attack on Barker, although she knows some will assume that because of this recent incident at Hebron High he is guilty in the Jena High incident.

Officials at the Carrollton Police Department wouldn’t release information about the arrest Wednesday evening, saying information would have to come from the public information officer this morning.

Messages left Wednesday night for Darrell Hickman, Purvis’ attorney, went unreturned. But during a December interview, the Alexandria attorney said he was hopeful that LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters would drop the charges against Purvis.

“I still feel that Bryant is totally innocent in this case,” Hickman said. “Only one person out of a number of witnesses indicated they saw Bryant involved. I don’t think they have a strong case against him at all.”

Purvis is scheduled to go to trial before 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. on March 24 in connection with the Jena High attack, though Hickman has said that is “not a realistic date.”

He currently faces charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same. If convicted of both charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 221⁄2 years in prison.

Cellulitis update

A few people have asked me about the cellulitis on my leg so I decided to post an update. I went to my doctor/boss on Monday afternoon and he said I have a venous stasis ulcer/cellulitis on my leg and with the lymphedema that is always present in my legs, it will not heal unless we get the edema off first. So he wrapped me in an UNNA boot. I have typed this many times but never knew what it actually was. This is what it looks like. He put me on a different class of antibiotics, fluid pills, potassium, and told me to come back in a week to change the UNNA boot. I may have to wear an UNNA boot for a month. Anything to avoid the hospital. I was so scared he was going to put me in the hospital and we have done that a couple of times when I had cellulitis in my right leg and I HATE that. Home Health won't do an IV at home unless I'm home bound, which I'm obviously not. So he gave me a Rocephin injection and the oral antibiotics and will give me another Rocephin injection next week when he changes the boot. I am hoping that it heals faster than expected because if it doesn't I won't be able to go to Tom's cousin's wedding on the 23rd and Katie is serving as flower girl. So I REALLY want to be there. Right now I can only wear flip flops with this boot. I'm not about to go to the wedding in flip flops.

So that's the update. It doesn't hurt or anything. It is just frustrating because it is like having a cast....it itches under there. But unlike a cast, I can't stick anything in there to scratch. It is too tight. Fun Fun!

Let the training begin!

Brittanie has started training for ROTC with First Sgt. He told her that he knows she will be more than ready for that PT test she will be taking in ROTC before she starts college. She has to pass that PT test in order to sign her scholarship paperwork and get her college paid for starting with the first semester. If she doesn't pass the test before starting college, we have to put up the money up front and then when she does pass the test, the Army will reimburse us. I told her that if that happens, she isn't living in a dorm. We will put the lottery scholarship money on her tuition and she will live at home. She doesn't want that so she asked First Sgt. to train with her. He is in great shape and trained cadets at West Point so he will make sure she is ready. He ran her to death Monday but she never stopped. Obviously she needs to pick up her speed but he is building her endurance right now. She said she nearly tossed her cookies twice but she didn't and she kept going. They will be working on her run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they will work on weight training, push-ups, and sit-ups. She found out that she has been doing her push-ups wrong. She also found out that the way they do sit-ups in JROTC is not Army regulation and wouldn't count at all in the Army. Army sit-ups are alot harder to do. But she has 6 months before the PT test and he will be working with her in the summer too. First Sgt. has no doubt she will be ready by then and he said he will have her so prepared that the PT test will feel like just a warm up to her. He is so great! He is taking his own personal time to train her. I offered to pay him and he refused. He thinks of Brittanie as a daughter. We need more educators like him in our school system!!

How bout those Giants?

I have to admit that I'm not a Giants fan but I am a fan of the Manning brothers. So I was thrilled that Peyton won last year and Eli won this year. I was a Patriots fan in the 80's....back when they stunk it up and were extremely humble when they did well. Those days are definitely gone and what we have now are cheaters with a pretty boy quarterback. Tom absolutely HATES cheating in any form so since that story broke, he has hated the Patriots.....especially their coach and Tom Brady. Brittanie has adopted that same hatred. So they were LOVING the game tonight....jumping up and cheering everytime Tom Brady was sacked. We recorded the game and Tom said when he has a bad day, he is going to come home and replay Tom Brady's sacks and that will definitely cheer him up. heheheThe only thing that could have made the Superbowl better would have been to have a good half time show. I couldn't believe they had Geritol Junkies up there singing with their wrinkles and haggard looks. Give me a break! I guess they were trying to appeal to the 50 somethings out there watching but for us 30 somethings in our house and our teenager, it was anything but enjoyable. Brittanie went to the store during half time and Tom and I couldn't stand that caterwauling geezer any longer and we muted the rest of the half time show. I know they are scared to get more contemporary people since the "wardrobe malfunction" but come on! These guys were old and done when I was in high school. It was pathetic watching them pretend to rock at their age. I was embarrassed for them.

But anyway, if we can't have a southern team in the Superbowl, having the Patriots lose is the next best thing. It was even sweeter that the Giants robbed them of their perfect season. SWEEEEEEEET!!!

You can't talk about the Superbowl without mentioning the commercials. I HATED the FedEX commercial with the HUGE pigeons. I will have nightmares about that tonight I'm sure. But putting my bird phobia aside, the lamest commercials were those stupid animated ones from Salesgenie. They need to fire their advertising agency because those commercials stunk big time. They should really be embarrassed to air such crap to represent their company. I also didn't like the Doritoes commercial with that girl singing. She sounded horrible and I couldn't wait till that was over. eeek! My favorite was the Tide commercial with the talking stain. My honorable mentions are the "Night at the Roxbury" spoof for Diet Pepsi Max, the "Thriller" Life water commercial, Bud Light Cavemen, and the T-Mobile commercial with Charles Barkley.

*photos courtesy of SI.com

So cute

Tonight Katie crawled up on the arm of Tom's recliner, like she always does, to snuggle up on him, like she always does and she fell asleep in a cute position. I just had to grab the camera. She was sleeping so soundly that she was literally snoring!