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.
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!
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.
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!
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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!
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!!
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.
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!
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!
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
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
