Brittanie update

Brittanie has had a rough time in the roommate department. Reisha almost paid $150 and moved to another apartment but changed her mind. Courtney told Reisha that she will give her the $150 if she will move out. Well between Courtney's parties and Courtney and her friends eating Brittanie and Reisha's food and messing up the apartment, Brittanie and Reisha want Courtney gone. The latest drama was yesterday when Brittanie got back from PT, took a shower, and was going to have a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast only to discover that she no longer had 4 bagels like she thought, she only had one and all of her cream cheese was gone. She chewed Courtney out and found out it was Eryka and Courtney and one of Courtney's other friends who ate all of that. Courtney told Brittanie that they will give her the money for it. Brittanie's answer to that was "I'm not your mamma! I'm not doing your grocery shopping for you! I go to the store and buy my food and I expect it to be there when I get ready to eat. I don't want to have to go back to the store to buy my food again when I get ready to eat!!" She wants to have a roommate meeting but Courtney won't show up because she knows Brittanie and Reisha are mad at her. I told Brittanie to talk to Reisha and both of them ask Courtney to use the $150 she offered Reisha to get another apartment....one that is more on the trashy side instead of occupied by two Christians. She is going to talk to Reisha about it.

Brittanie's other issue is that she is the only one cleaning the apartment. She said no one wants to put any money into buying cleaning supplies and helping clean the apartment. She refuses to live in a pig pen. Well I picked her up today to go make a copy of her room key. She broke hers a few weeks ago and has been using the only copy that the complex has. So if she locks herself out of her room again, she will have to call a locksmith. After I picked her up, that is when she started telling me about her roommate woes with Courtney and the dirty apartment. At one point, she asked me to take her to Food Lion. So I did. But she didn't tell me what she was buying. She went in with $30 and came back asking for 82 cents. So I gave her a dollar and she ran back in and came out with a mop and a broom.....that's it. I was stunned! $32.82 for a mop and a broom? She was upset and started sounding off about her roommates not wanting to contribute to buying cleaning supplies for their apartment so she has to spend the $30 in birthday money that Tom's parents sent her to clean an apartment that her roommates live in too. So I took her to Dollar Tree, gave her my debit card and told her to buy all the cleaning supplies she needs. She bought everything but a mop that she needed for a little over $9!! She came back out asking why nobody told her about that place! I took her to Big Lots and she found a Mr. Clean mop for $3.50. Then we went back to Dollar Tree because she mentioned Courtney and her loser friends used all of Brittanie's plastic forks and spoons that I bought her and she would love to have some of the kitchen stuff from Dollar Tree. So I let her go in and get what she wanted once again. She thanked me profusely. She was alot less stressed when I dropped her off at home. She didn't have remedial PT today so she started cleaning the apartment with the new cleaning stuff and when I talked to her later tonight, she told me she feels so much better now that her apartment is clean and she still has her birthday money from her grandparents.

Today, she was asked to lunch by a group of girls from USC Sumter. One of the girls, who is also a political science major, told Brittanie that she is a freshman and transferring to USC Columbia in January. Brittanie told me about this over the phone while driving home from Sumter. We were always told that she had to have 30 credit hours to transfer. So I called USC Columbia and sure enough, she can transfer for the spring semester, as long as she has a 3.0 GPA. The 30 hour rule doesn't apply to people who are already in the USC system. SWEET!! So she has to go to the registrar in Sumter tomorrow and fill out a change of campus form and she will be in Columbia at the end of this semester. She has a 4.0 right now. So she definitely qualifies for transfer. She is very excited.

Please pray!!

My friend/Tom's cousin/our neighbor, Samantha, sent me an email a minute ago. Her mom was having stomach cramps this weekend. Yesterday they determined she had a blockage so they took her to emergency surgery and when they cleared the blockage, they found cancer. Samantha lost her dad this year. I am going to be praying that she doesn't lose her mom too. Her step dad is not in the best health either. Please pray for this family.

Tom has a new car!!

Tom sold his truck Sunday and the search began for his new car. We did alot of research on the internet Sunday. Monday, we dropped Katie off at school, headed to the bank and cashed the check for the truck, and started test driving. The first one we drove was a Nissan Altima at Dick Smith Nissan in Lexington. It was my first choice from looking at it on the internet. Tom liked the sales staff and the car drove well but it didn't really stand out. Next we went to Herndon Chevrolet to drive a Malibu. The salesman we had didn't know much about the Malibu and when Tom
asked to drive it, he asked Tom why. WHY??? Who would buy a car without driving it? Later Tom asked to drive the Malibu hibrid and once again the salesman asked him why he wanted to drive it. Tom really liked the Malibu but decided that if that is the car he buys, he will get it from a different dealer. We then headed to the auto mile and went to Jim Hudson Hyundai to test drive the Azera. Tom had researched this car but also looked at the Genesis on the internet and thought it was an awesome car so he wanted to drive it first....even though it was way out of his price range. He thought while he was already there, he just had to drive it because it was an awesome car. He drove both the Genesis and the Azera and really liked both but he REALLY loved the Genesis. But the mean little cheap man inside of him kept telling him no. We can easily afford this car. Tom just didn't want to spend the money. I convinced him to buy it and I left him there to go pick up Katie from school. When I got home, he texted me that I may have to go pick him up because he didn't think he could stand paying that much for a car. I used a little reverse psychology on him and told him that Love Chevrolet had a Malibu like he wanted in stock and we can always go there and get it and even told him I would go pick him up. He then said "But I really want this car!" That's what I thought!! So I told him that he shouldn't settle for less than what he wants because he won't be happy with it. I have to say, the Hyundai Genesis is so much like a Lexus. It is incredible!!! It is a gorgeous car. He has great taste! It is a 3.8 liter V6, sapphire blue metallic on the outside, and charcoal gray on the inside. It has an awesome sound system, XM satellite radio (which means I get the one that was in his truck for my van cuz he now has one in his new car), heated leather seats, push button ignition, bluetooth interface, MP3/USB interface to play music through the sound system, and the list goes on. It was mistaken for a Lexus today! Someone actually asked him what model of Lexus it was. Here are the pictures we took last night.One thing that I find really cool is that key fob. Not only does that thing make the push button start feature work but he doesn't even have to hit the button to unlock the door. As long as the key fob is near the door (like in his pants pocket), it will send a signal to the door so that when he pulls on the handle, it will unlock and allow him to open it. Call me a redneck but I was impressed by so many things on this car. Leave it to Tom to find Lexus luxury at half the price.

Celebration time!

Today after Brittanie got off work, Tom took her to the AT&T store and bought her a Blackberry Curve. That is her birthday present from us. She hates her IPhone so we are going to sell it on Ebay. Katie gave her a Carolina Panthers jacket for her birthday.

After Tom got home from the AT&T store, we (me, Tom, Katie, Brittanie, Cameron, and Jessica) went to Yamato's Japanese Steakhouse. We always take Brittanie out to eat for her birthday and this year she picked Yamato's. We had a great time. I'm so glad Jessica came with us because it is impossible to have a bad time with her around. She is so fun. She was definitely the life of the party. The Japanese cook was flirting with her. It was funny. He even went so far as to ask her if she had a boyfriend! Even after he finished cooking and went in the kitchen, he kept coming out and looking at her and smiling....we were sitting right by the kitchen door. He was cooking at another table when we left and he was smiling at her and he even smiled at me and motioned his head back to let me know he was interested in Jessica. We were cracking up because last week, Brittanie, Jessica, and I went to a Mexican restaurant and the guy in there was flirting and asking her if she was married. Obviously she isn't interested in any of them but Brittanie and I were picking at her that we were going to give those guys her number. hahaha

We had a really good time. Brittanie was the only one who caught the shrimp in her mouth. Katie almost caught hers. I caught my shrimp with my hand. Cameron got a shrimp to the eye. It was funny!

Our waitress turned off the lights and lit a candle that was in Brittanie's sherbet. Jessica blew it out for her the first time, which was funny because the candle in the cupcake we gave her Thursday blew out before she could blow it out. But the waitress lit it again and we sang happy birthday to her. Katie didn't like the sherbet she was given because it had too much orange. Because of her hatred for Clemson, she doesn't like anything orange. So she swapped her sherbet with mine because mine was more pink than orange. In the end, she ended up eating my sherbet and hers! (I don't like sherbet.)

On the way out of Irmo, Tom followed Brittanie to two red lights and was dying to bump her. Thankfully he didn't do it. But he enjoyed scaring me and Brittanie! When we first got married, we were 18 and 19 and we played chicken with his friend, Shane, all the time.....even in the parking garage of the Richland Fashion Mall. Shane had an old Datsun pickup and we had a 1972 Mazda pickup. So bumps from playing chicken didn't hurt. But we have better vehicles now so he didn't do it but he made us think he was about to at any moment. He loves to freak me out. :-)

We had a great time tonight! It is hard to believe that she is 18!! The thing she is looking forward to the most about being 18 is voting for the first time. I'm so proud that she cares about her country as much as she does!! We are very proud of how great she is doing in college. Right now she has made all A's in every class, except for one English paper in which she got a B+. She has her eye on the Dean's list!

Happy 18th Birthday, Brittanie!!!

Brittanie turned 18 today!!! She had a pretty good day. Her classes ended at noon and she had a meeting for "The Ant Hill," which is the student newspaper for USC Sumter. Brittanie is the political reporter. She found out today that she has been given an entire page to fill. She was thrilled. She has numerous ideas.

She had told me that she didn't have time to see me today because she had so much stuff to do. I told her that I have seen her face on her birthday every year for the past 17 years and until she goes into the Army and is out of reach, I'm going to continue to see her face on her birthday. She told me when she gets home she has to eat lunch, put on her ACU's, and go to ROTC lab, then back home to change for PT, then back to campus for PT help class and will be back home at 8 and will take a shower and go to bed because she has to be up at 5:30am for PT tomorrow morning. So I figured since she had to eat anyway, I would bring her favorite fast food meal to her....the #16 from Steve's Deli, Jalapeno kettle cooked chips, and a Barq's root beer. Jessica made cupcakes today and we brought her one with a candle in it. I kissed her cheek, took a picture of her, and left.

She found out at lab that they will no longer be having PT on Fridays, but they had to promise to run 40 minutes between today and Saturday at noon. So that meant she didn't have to go to bed too early because she doesn't have to be at work until 10am. So she went home, changed into PT clothes for PT help class at 6pm. When she got up there, they told her that since it was her birthday, she had the night off from PT help. She told them that she REALLY needs to pass her PT test and would prefer to work out. They told her family comes first and to go celebrate with her family. She told them that she saw me and Katie today and Tom is in San Francisco so we are celebrating as a family Saturday night. But they told her "Cadet Sightler, go and have fun. Dismissed!" So she went home and Courtney made her a brownie with "Happy Birthday, Brittanie" written in caramel.

So she is home at 6:15pm on her birthday and doesn't have to work until 10am the next day. Do you think she goes out? No. She is Tom's uber responsible and mature child. She went to Wal-Mart, bought cleaning supplies, and is at home cleaning the apartment. Have mercy! But she was very touched by how many people contacted her to tell her Happy Birthday. She definitely knows she is loved!

I can't believe the weekend is almost over already!

This week felt like it drug by but the weekend is flying by. Tom was going to go shopping for a new car yesterday but decided to sell his truck first and then go shopping. So around noon, I called Joanie, who cleans our house, as they know alot of people and her husband is a mechanic. Her husband, Tim, answered the phone and I told him that Tom wanted to sell his truck and how much he wanted for it. Later that afternoon, Joanie called and told me Tim's sister, Edie, wants Tom to tell Tim what is wrong with the truck. So Tom did that. Well this morning, Joanie called and wanted to know when they can come and get the truck today. There is a problem. Tom is on a flight to San Francisco. His flight was at 10am this morning and he won't be home till Friday night. The truck is in his name so I couldn't give them the title but the biggest problem is that the truck is at the airport! He parked it in long term parking for the week. So they are going to come get it next Saturday. Forget the Trader, just call Tim and Joanie if you want to sell a vehicle quick! WOW! But I have to find the title to his truck this week and he will get it detailed Saturday morning before they come over. Then he will be able to go new car shopping. He has been researching what he wants for some time now. He wanted a Toyota Camry but he doesn't like the grill being the same color as the car. He would love a Nissan Maxima but that's too expensive and Tom is cheap. He said the Nissan Sentra looks like a girl car. He did look at the Chevy Malibu but he is like me....we hate Chevy. If one is given to me free of charge, I would drive it. But I can't imagine paying money for a GM vehicle. So chances are, he will end up with a Honda Accord.

Speaking of Tom going to San Francisco, Katie of course cried when he left and I held her as he walked out of the door. Well she grabbed the phone and called my mom and told her, "Maw-Maw, something very sad happened. My daddy left us." Of course my mom freaked out. Tom and I have been together 20 years and married 19 years. We get along great. So this was totally out of the blue and she made Katie give me the phone. I couldn't help but laugh because she was totally freaked out. I told her not to worry Tom and I will be together forever. We are perfect for each other. Nobody else would put up with our mean selves anyway! hahaha

Jessica is staying with me this week. I love having her around. I am teaching her how to cook jambalaya today and she is going to teach me how to cook Beaufort Stew later this week. We will make sure the smell of the Beaufort Stew is gone before Tom gets home. He hates the smell of seafood.

What a night!!!

Brittanie went to bed at 8pm because she has a PT test in the morning. At 10:30, she and her roommate, Reisha, were awakened by pounding on their bedroom doors and noise around the apartment. Brittanie opened up her bedroom door in time to see the apartment door closing. Courtney has been at the hospital all day with her grandmother so it wasn't her. It wasn't Reisha or Brittanie. Whoever it was had to have a key because Reisha locked the door. Courtney loves to throw drinking parties in the apartment every weekend, even though she is underage. Last Saturday night, she threw a kegger and someone stole $340 from Courtney's top drawer. Courtney never locks the doors. So it is totally conceivable to me that someone may have stolen Courtney's apartment key and used it tonight. After the pounding on the doors, Brittanie called me to come get her because she was scared and didn't even want to get out of her bedroom. I called Jessica and asked her to come and stay with Katie while Tom and I went to Brittanie's apartment. Before Jess could get here, Brittanie called me back and told me there is a man laying under her window outside. I told her to call 911 and tell them about the break in and the man outside of the window. Then I called the apartment complex to let security know what is going on so they could stay with her until we got there.

When we got there, a Richland County deputy was kneeling beside the man and asked me if I knew the guy. I didn't. I did ask if he was dead because he wasn't moving at all. She assured me he was alive, just intoxicated. I went to the door and Brittanie and her neighbor, Carson, were coming out of the apartment with all of her stuff in her hands. On the way home, Brittanie told me that the guy passed out attended Courtney's kegger in the apartment Saturday night. That's the class of loser that Courtney has coming to my daughter's apartment.

We got back home at 11:30. I'm not a happy camper AT ALL! I'm not happy with Courtney and I'm not happy that Brittanie hasn't stood up to Courtney and told her NO KEGGERS! Reisha is a Christian like Brittanie so they would outnumber Courtney. But she is friends with Courtney and since Brittanie doesn't drink, she says Courtney pays rent there too. Tough! So do we. And Courtney, Reisha, and Brittanie are all under age. I firmly believe that had no parties ever been thrown this wouldn't have happened.

Katie, a future aviator?

Katie has loved airplanes since she was very little and took her first plane ride with Tom from New Orleans to Columbia. Since then she gets very excited when she sees planes and helicopters. She prefers jets though. She has been telling me that she wants to fly jets when she is older. Yesterday on the way home from school, Jessica and I were talking about getting her another power ride on because her Barbie Jeep is getting too small for her. Katie said she wanted a plane that really would fly instead. For obvious reasons, you can't buy those. This morning she started asking me how much jet pilots make because she wants to do that. I told her they make good money and if it is her passion, she should go for it. So I started looking at how old you have to be to take flying lessons. I saw a case where a 7-year-old girl was flying and tried to break a record, and her father coerced the flight instructor to take off in bad weather to allow her to break that record and ended up crashing and all died. I don't want her piloting a plane at 7. She is a daredevil in her Barbie Jeep. I can't imagine what she would do in the air. In my opinion, kids that young don't have the problem solving skills necessary to pilot a plane and can make stupid mistakes that a mature person wouldn't make. But I do want to nourish her interest in aviation. Tom has several family members who were in the Air Force/Air National Guard and Tom's brother, Jesse, actually has a pilot's license! So if Katie wants to follow in Uncle Jesse's footsteps and fly, I'm all for it.

So I started looking on the internet and found the Civil Air Patrol has several chapters in our area. That's great for us. She will get an ROTC type experience like Brittanie had without having to leave her Christian school. Unfortunately, you have to be 12 to join that. Well she will be 6 in October. So I started looking for something for her to do before 12 that will keep her interest and will allow her to make a smooth transfer to Civil Air Patrol later. I found The Young Eagles Program. From looking at the picture on the website, I'm pretty sure that's the program that Tom's coworker, Rod, is highly involved in and has told us about. They start them at 8. That's only 2 years away. So we will just take her to air shows and do other things to encourage her interest in it in the meantime. There is an airshow in Augusta next month and I would LOVE for Tom to take her to the Sertoma Cajun Air Festival in Lafayette, LA. I told him he should grab Rod and Katie and head down there and let Rod experience the Cajun culture and especially Cajun food! Tom is more interested in the big one up in Wisconsin.

She is only 6 so she could change her mind and that would be fine. But I don't want her to miss an opportunity to find something she is passionate about that could mean something real in the future.

catching up

Sunday, I cooked a BIG pot of jambalaya and I texted Jessica (Tom's cousin that I officially claim as my own) to come try some. We talked for hours. I just love her so much. She turned 26 that day. She was an awesome child and she has grown into an outstanding young lady....don't believe what you read in the local media because they don't know squat. I let Brittanie borrow my vacuum cleaner, carpet shampooer, broom, mop, bucket, etc. to clean her apartment and Joanie is coming tomorrow to clean our house to I needed everything but the shampooer back. So I asked Jessica to ride out there with me to pick up my stuff and she did....and even drove for me cuz I hate to drive. I had another great night with her. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jenny and I make beautiful children. hehehe

In case you haven't been keeping up with Brittanie's blog, she was doing great in ROTC....till Monday. Monday, she had PT and was doing great, staying in the middle of the formation during the warm up run and never dropping behind and even felt like she could have ran more. When they broke off into ability groups, she ended up dropping behind. LTC Hale (her recruiter) and LTC Jameson (her instructor) both felt the need to remind her that if she doesn't pass PT test by Christmas she will lose her scholarship. She is fully aware of that, which is why she does PT on the required Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, signed up and has been attending remedial PT on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and even signed up for flag football, which starts Friday. But they don't think she is really trying, which really discouraged her because it is obvious that she has made progress because she was able to stay in the middle of the formation during the entire warm up run, which is something she couldn't have done just two weeks ago. But since they don't think that she is progressing fast enough, she is going to sign up for an additional PT class that is on Monday and Wednesday at the same time as the regular PT class that will help her get ready faster. The problem is that registration is closed. So she has to get the instructor for that class to sign a form allowing her to join that class and he is off this week. So she won't be able to start the new class till next week. She was upset when she called me after her talk with Jameson but I told her that she just has to prove her wrong. Major Norton didn't think she would be a good battalion commander in JROTC. He was outvoted by 1SG and MSG and Major Norton ended up eating his words and admitting that she was the best BC they have ever had. She is determined to prove Jameson and Hale wrong too.

Brittanie is doing well in her classes. She loves her English class and is seriously considering changing her minor to journalism. Her professor is awesome. She is doing great in Music Appreciation. She said Miss Ewart at Grace was an outstanding music teacher and taught them more than she learned in high school and in this college music class. Tom and I went to PCC with Miss Ewart when she was a grad student. PCC has an outstanding music department. Grace is lucky to have her! Brittanie still hates her University Studies class and can't wait to be done with it. Once a month you are required to go to a seminar during your lunch hour on campus and the theme is different every month. They do feed you. This month was pizza. Brittanie said "Great! I have to listen to that crap and watch everyone eat pizza all around me while I eat my Lean Cuisine!" This month's theme was gangs. She wasn't quite sure which side they were taking on the subject because they started off giving the reasons people join a gang....to get money, a car, brotherhood, dates, etc. They taught them about gang signs. She found that part hilarious. But she has never been interested in gangs so it was a waste of her time. The seminar was over at 1 but her next class in Sumter wasn't till 5 and with gas at $3.55 a gallon, she didn't want to drive back to Columbia and then back to Sumter. So she did homework and decided to take a nap in her car. She must have been sleeping pretty hard because she was awakened by a guy with a "freaked out" look on his face. She rolled her window down (yes even though we southerners have electric windows, we still ROLL them down!), and the guy was relieved. He thought she was dead! She sleeps VERY hard. But she got a kick out of scaring that poor guy!

Katie is loving K5. Mrs Kizzire used to teach Brittanie when she was in Jr High at Grace. She is wonderful with the little ones too. Katie is very excited that Mrs. Webster (one of the K4 teachers) is teaching piano to K5 students. It is a program called Music for Little Mozarts. They sent home a form for you to fill out if you are interested. She has been dying to learn piano and I had been telling her Grace didn't offer lessons until 3rd grade. Well they have lowered it to 2nd grade now and have this special class for K5....and hopefully 1st grade next year! So I signed the form and sent it back. She can't wait to start. She also asked me when Awana (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) Club starts. She LOVES Awana. I will have to find that out but she is very excited that it will be soon.

That's about it for now.

Finally!

After a week of having no power, my mom and the rest of my family in St. Landry Parish have their electricity back! Thankfully Hurrican Ike looks like it is going to south Texas/Mexico. Things are calm for now. Over the weekend, my niece went to stay with my mom and while there, she saw a man in my mom's backyard trying to steal one of her generators. She called the police and the man ran away without the generator and unfortunately without being caught. Krotz Springs is not a high crime area. The only calls they ever get are domestic situations. But going dayswithout electricity in August in Louisiana can turn even law abiding citizens into criminals.

My childhood friend, Jana, took these pictures of Krotz Springs post Gustav:(above) This is Ray's Welding Shop....only a block from my mom's house.

(above) This mobile home is one street over from my mom's house.

I don't recognize this area but it is Krotz Springs. That is one huge tree!

Did you notice???

Did you notice that nobody is talking about Hurricane Gustav anymore? New Orleans didn't have any damage so the media doesn't care anymore. The rest of Louisiana is important too....for me it has always been MUCH more important than New Orleans. New Orleans has always been a sesspool of criminals in my eyes. Thankfully this time around, they have an outstanding (Republican) governor who made sure troops and supplies were ready to go immediately when it was safe to roll out. I read an article on the Daily World website about 3 thugs who tried to steal atruck full of supplies (I'd be willing to bet these losers were Katrina evacuees from New Orleans). They shot at the National Guard troops that were guarding the truck and they troops returned fire. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they hit the thugs.

Much of south Louisiana is without power. My friend in Baton Rouge said they were told it could be 3 weeks before they get power. My mom in Krotz Springs was told 2 weeks before she gets power. My niece in Opelousas was told she would get power at the end of September. St. Landry Parish has been declared a national disaster area. The kids in Baton Rouge were told they may go back on the 15th. St. Landry Parish Schools are closed "until further notice." Opelousas High School has severe damage and many are wondering if they will reopen at all. But just as everyone in St. Landry Parish is cleaning up the mess and devastation that Gustav left behind, another problem has arisen. With all the rain from Gustav, there is alot of water coming down from the north. South Louisiana is very flat and many places are under sea level so it floods very easily. So they are now bracing for flooding while keeping an eye on Hurricane Ike that looks like it is heading to the Gulf.

My friend, Vanessa, who lives in Krotz Springs, sent me pictures of her house and her mom's house and the Exxon station in Krotz Springs that she took with her cell phone. It is so sad. I grew up in Krotz Springs and love St. Landry Parish (Opelousas was much better in the 80's) and I hate to see what this storm has done to it.

Exciting news!!

Brittanie has been disappointed with her PT progress and getting discouraged. Well today, she had a GREAT day in ROTC. She was made platoon leader and found out she will be doing color guard for the Georgia game next Saturday. She's gonna be on TV!! Monday after PT she will practice with the other members of the color guard. Thursday after ROTC lab, she and the other members of the color guard will be practicing with the band. Also she will be on the field/side lines for the entire first quarter and then she gets to pick where she sits in the stadium after that. She also gets free food and drink as a member of the color guard. (Hey Ken, wanna join the Gamecock ROTC? She can get ya on the color guard! hehehe)

It is just the day she needed. She has a renewed enthusiasm. I don't know what they did today but they were outside and it was HOT. She called me as soon as it was over and was dripping sweat. She talked to me for awhile after she got in her apartment and cooled down and said "I finally stopped sweating so I'm going to take a shower now." She is coming home to watch the game with us tonight! Also during ROTC today, she exhibited some leadership and was made platoon leader! She was stunned. She told her Sgt Major that she is just an MS1 and he said he knows that and she knows her drill and ceremony down pat and did a great job of teaching the cadets in her group how to do it.

And by the way, the English paper I wrote about in my previous post had one sentence structure that was a little off and he gave her an A- on the paper. He's a tough grader. Some of the girls in her class asked her for her email address and asked if she would look over their papers for them. Most of the class got a C.

On a side note, for those who are curious about Gustav, here are some links to pictures from TV stations in Baton Rouge. (Thanks Terri!) First is The Advocate/Channel 2 and the second is Channel 9. I don't have a direct link to the ones in Lafayette, which is the area my family lives in, but here is the link to the CBS affiliate in Lafayette, KLFY, and they have video of a tree falling on a house, among other videos.

Reading

Brittanie was given an assignment in English to write a paper to describe their reading habits as a child and as an adult. Did they live in a house filled with books? Did they enjoy reading? What were their favorite books? Who were the readers and non readers in their family? And it was to be put in a personal essay. Here is an excerpt from her essay:

My fifth grade teacher had a way of “conquering our fears” of reading aloud in class. She would randomly pick students from the room to not just read aloud at their desk, but to get their book, walk to the front of the class, set the book on the podium and read to the class with everyone looking at them. If you were a slow reader, the class would all stare at you with this “is he/she stupid” look on their faces. This method did not “conquer” my fear of reading aloud. Instead it conquered my desire to read. Every day I found myself less and less excited about reading. I was one of the slow readers. I was one of the few that got the inquisitive looks and it made me feel about a foot tall. No one should feel like that in a classroom. The only way a child can truly learn is by feeling comfortable. I was not comfortable. The thing that bothered me even more was that I wanted to love reading. But I was never given a real chance to enjoy it.

Her professor loved her paper and today in class asked her to read it out loud to the class. She was proud that he really liked it but couldn't believe that after reading about how horrible it was for her to read out loud in class that he would ask her to read it out loud in class! I told her that he probably thought she has moved past it or maybe wasn't thinking when he did it. But she needs to forget about how slow she read it and enjoy the fact that he thinks she has real talent.

Gustav

Several people have asked me how my family in Louisiana fared with Hurricane Gustav so I thought I would blog and let everyone know that my family is safe. No one was hurt. My mom's outdoor kitchen has some damage but I don't know how bad. The parish she lives in, St. Landry, took a direct hit. My niece lives in the parish seat, Opelousas, and they were devastated as well. The schools are closed until further notice. They are all without power and it could take 2 to 4 weeks to restore power. My friend, Vanessa, that lives in the same town as my mom (Krotz Springs) told me that the windows in her kitchen blew in. Luckily they weren't in the kitchen at the time. She also told me that the Exxon in Krotz Springs lost the roof off the building. She took pictures of it with her cell phone and will send them to me later. When I get them, I will post them. My friend, Terri, in Baton Rouge has damage to her fence but her home fared well. My sisters and my brother live in DeRidder and Gustav went north of them so they had no damage and didn't even lose power.

Things could have been so much worse, as we saw with Katrina and Rita. But my mom is about to find out why being cheap is not a good thing. Years ago the insurance company that covered her house went out of business and she had to get another company. She didn't do anything about it. So I called Allstate, since she has her car insured with them, and asked them to come out and give her an estimate. Their inspector said there was rust on the roof. My niece's ex got on the roof and swept the "rust" and it turned out that wasn't rust....it was pine straw. I called Allstate for them to go back out several times and they didn't go. My mom told me she would handle it. But she never did. When I would ask about it, she told me she couldn't afford the insurance. My brother and I own each a 1/4 of the house so I told her we would pay half of the insurance. She still didn't want. She can afford it. She is just cheap. She always has been. Well the damage to the outdoor kitchen is going to cost her probably more than all the past years of insurance would have. That's just nuts in my opinion but whatever.

I'm still praying for everyone in Louisiana, especially St. Landry Parish. I can't imagine living that long without AC in August in Louisiana. That's pure misery! For more information about what St. Landry Parish is going through and has gone through, check out the website for the local newspaper, dailyworld.com.

Happy Labor Day!

Katie has been having a blast on her computer. She played games and read stories on the internet for hours the other night. Noggin.com has alot of educational games and that is her favorite site. She is reading well. I'm impressed. But Tom was reading things at 2 so I shouldn't be surprised!

Yesterday, Jonathan gave Katie her birthday present. Her birthday is October 30th but since he won't be here then, he wanted to give it to her now so he could see her open it. She has been wanting a Nintendo DS and Nintendogs like her sister has for a LONG time. But Katie wanted hers to be pink. She was quite excited when she opened up her gift bag and found a pink DS, Nintendogs, and a Cars (Mater Nation) racing game. She played it till the battery ran dead and she was going crazy waiting for it to recharge so she could play it again!

We said goodbye to Jonathan as he is heading back to Germany today. It was very emotional for me. He is like a son to me and since I got married, I really haven't been able to spend as much time with him as I would have liked. Having him here the last couple of months has been GREAT! I'm so proud of the man he has become. I know he misses his girls like crazy so even though I'm going to miss him ALOT, I am happy that he will get to be with them.

Brittanie is ready to take a hammer to her IPhone. She wants it gone. It locks up, drops calls, and yesterday while I was on the phone with her, it made a LONG tone like someone was holding down a button on a phone....but neither of us was....then dropped the call. She wants a Blackberry Pearl. There is a problem. We have a 2-year contract with Apple for that IPhone that we signed in May. When I called AT&T today to see if I could put the IPhone on my number and put a Blackberry on hers, it sent me straight to Apple when I put in her phone number...and they are closed today. So we have to wait till tomorrow to see what can be done. I told her the phone itself may be malfunctioning. She said everyone is experiencing this with the IPhone so she doesn't think it is just her phone. I thought it was just the new 3G that was doing that. But she has asked for either a Blackberry Pearl or an IPod Touch for her birthday (September 25th). Kids are expensive!