Flashback Friday

Thanksgiving 2007, New York City. We got on the double decker bus tour and had a fantastic view of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Not to mention, they stopped the parade so we could pass through. We felt like we were participants as we waved to the crowd. It is one of those trips that ranks in probably the top three for me. Magical would be a perfect way to describe it.

almost there...

One tree completed. Nutcrackers out. Evites sent. Oreo truffles half way done. Laundry completed and waiting to be put in suitcases. Most importantly, the new portable DVD player has been purchased (it is a 10 hour drive after all!).

With Thanksgiving being just days away I am reminded how I have so much to be thankful for. A wonderful Hubby. Two lovely ladies to call my own. Food on the table. Roof overhead. Happiness. Friends. And all of you ladies in bloggy land that I've had the opportunity to connect with. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Go ahead, have that second piece of pecan pie. You all deserve it!!

progress

I got one tree up and mostly decorated. The lovely ladies still need to put their ornaments they each received this year on there and then it will be complete. My house is an absolute train wreck. I have Christmas stuff everywhere and I have yet to pack anything. And here I sit. Blogging. Hubby just left with Lovebug and Baby Girl to take them to dinner and bring me back something to give me a chance to get stuff done. How mad do you think he would be if he came home to me still sitting here on my arse?

What to do?

What do you do when you should be packing to head out of town on Tuesday or getting your house ready to have out of town guests arrive the same day you arrive back in town? Surf the blog-o-sphere and log onto crackbook of course! I am SO in procrastination mode right now and I really need to snap out of it. I've got one of the artifical trees up waiting to be fluffed and decorated, but I'm just not feeling it. Friday night I had a lovely evening out with the ladies enjoying sushi, watching Twilight and then out in G'Vegas. The problem? I ended up not getting home until 3 a.m.! Yep, that's right. I stuck to my "I'm not getting all crazy" motto and drank more water in one night than I think I have in the past month. However, one of my besties let the booze get the best of her and I ended up driving all the way to her house which is on the OTHER side of Greenville from me. And on the other side of where we were last while out. Top it off with the fact that Baby Girl got up at 6:15 yesterday, because she wanted to see her Mommy and I was one tired Wife yesterday. The whole day ended up being a waste and I've been in a funk every since. I did make it out of the house today to take advantage of the pre-Thanksgiving sale at Swoozie's. I managed to get both Lovebug's and Baby Girl's teachers gifts taken care of. Lovebug's teacher will be receiving a personalized stamp to stamp all her books while Baby Girl's teachers will be receiving monogrammed shopping bags. Now I just need to get some little sercy presents for the arts teachers and librarians. I welcome suggestions from you teachers out there!

Twilight

To tired to post much except, I AM IN LOVE WITH A VAMPIRE!! Run, don't walk, to get in line to pick up your tickets now!

Flashback Friday

As requested here is a picture from Clemson Homecoming. We thought we were so funny throwing our "gangsta" signs. Looking on it now I think I look like I belong more at the race track with that hat sitting so high up on my head!

This weekend will be much more tame for this Wife. Tonight I'm meeting some friends for sushi and we are heading to the movies to see Twilight! I haven't read any of the books, but after all I have heard about them I definitely will! Hope you all have a great weekend!

a little...

Happiness. Notice on my blogroll there is a new addition. That would be the one and only Baby Sister. She just joined the bloggy world. Go on over and send her some love. Tell her the Wife sent you!!

Ramblings

First, how in the world did I miss the season finale of The Real Housewives of Atlanta last night? I must've broke free from my addiction, but I really don't want to at this point. Now I've got to get caught up again before the reunion show, which I just saw a clip of and may I say once again, "meow"!

Second, I attended the Clemson Homecoming game last weekend. Let me rephrase that. I tailgated at the Clemson Homecoming game last weekend. We had a sitter stay here with Baby Girl and Hubby took Lovebug in. We gave one of our friends our other two tickets so he could go in with his daughter who had never been to a Clemson game. I proceeded to stay in the parking lot and indulge in the liquid diet. Then I caught a ride on over to the Esso Club with one of the staff driving around on a golf cart. My friends and I proceeded to sing Mr Gary a cute little tune that goes something like this, "Oh hot da@*....". (Mr Gary said he would pick us up in an hour and he never showed. Hmmm, do you think he was afraid his ears would start to bleed?) I ran into some folks from high school (always a blast) and experienced my very first tequila shot. Yes, you read correctly. I have never had a tequila shot and you know what? I don't think I've been missing anything. That stuff can just stay in my margaritas thank you very much!! After it was all said and done I had the best time! My roomies and I posed for several pictures. Some of my high school peeps and I that I don't visit with enough posed for pictures. And I, my friends, added something else to my do NOT do list. Do NOT under any circumstances facebook while intoxicated and think the pictures are hilarious. They won't be as funny in the morning! I promise.

Finally, I honestly think I've put too much on my plate for the next month. I really have to question my sanity at times. Here's the run down beginning next Tuesday--pick Lovebug up from school to immediately start the drive towards West Palm to spend our very first Thanksgiving EVER with Hubby's mother (don't ask!). Stop somewhere on the way to sleep. Get up on Wednesday and finish the drive. I've asked only to get the opportunity to at least drive down Worth Avenue--cross your fingers that this happens. Wednesday/Thursday--family, family and more family time. Friday--drive the ENTIRE 10 hours home with a stop at the grocery store once we get close to buy the perishable items needed to tailgate the next day. Saturday-out of town guests arrive, Clemson/Carolina game--this is our BIGGEST game of the season and it is BIG time party. You need to be prepared to bring your game...or stay home! Sunday-recover and begin the real holiday decorating. Monday-Bridal consult/vendor meeting Tuesday thru Friday get house ready for the first holiday party of the season at my house where Mr and Mrs Santa will make an appearance to read to all the children. Must have a small gift for each child here and wrapped as well as a craft for them to do plus all the cooking involved. Ok, I've got to stop now and just focus on one day at a time!! But if you don't hear from me at least you know a little of what's going on!

puh--leaze

Ladies of The View,

Will you please figure out a way to hush up (Kill)Joy on your show. Maybe a cute muzzle for Christmas? Just a thought.

The Wife

Flashback Friday

Yeah for Clemson Homecoming! Boo for the rain! This weekend I'll be enjoying the company of several of my old roommates for Clemson Homecoming. I was never a student there, but I shared two different apartments with some fantastic ladies and tomorrow (if the weather doesn't keep them all away!) I will get to see some of them. We used to have the best time just being together. Nothing like a warm spring/fall day (especially a Thursday) to have an impromptu gathering! The picture above is 2 of my roomies and I at the Clemson/Carolina game 1997. In my "completely sober" state I spotted a hot air balloon in the distance and went to find it. After my first little ride I went back to gather the troops and take them all on a little excursion. Well, after we had gone up briefly we came back down to get out and the wind caught the balloon...with me still in it and one of these ladies risked life and limb and leapt back onto the basket trying to hold it down as we started going in the air!! Now I can laugh about it. Ok, I laughed about it moments after it happened and we were all safely back on the ground! That's friendship...and not the toxic kind!!

dr news

Woohoo, I'm still alive...and I didn't pass out!! After all that anxiety, I didn't have to have one single mole, spot, whatever removed!! While I was in the examining room waiting I started checking out the information about excessive perspiration and was thinking maybe I should discuss that with the doc while I'm already there disrobed (now, that will do a number on your self esteem!). Funny thing though, as soon as the good doc let me know that there would be no slicing and dicing that day the sweating stopped!! Anxiety. What can I say? It does a number on me! Thanks for all the words of encouragement. Lord knows I needed it with me being such a big scaredy cat and all!!



Now ladies, I must catch up on the smut that is The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I missed a few shows and I want to be up-to-date for the reunion show. There is supposed to be a big blow up between Lisa and Kim!! meow!

dr visit

Tomorrow is my full body look-see at the dermatologist. Everyone say a prayer for me. I was warned back in May when I went in to have another procedure done by the nurse that there were several moles I needed to have looked at. For right now, that's not what is worrying me. It's how they will go about getting some of these moles off of my body. Pray, and pray hard, that I don't pass out from terror when they come near me with one of those dang straight razors (my little sister has been SO kind as to share with me details from her own dermatologist visit, implementing the type of torture only a little sister is capable of!!). Does anyone know if they use the happy gas at the dermatologist office like they do at the dentist? God, that would help me out!!

Superior Scribbler Award

You like me! You really, really like me!! So now that's out of my system, I want to thank Just Ask Beth for my bloggy award. Even if her blood runs more garnet than orange, I still love her!!:) Now I pass this along to the following deserving ladies:

I Kicked Cancer's Ass

A Belle and her Beau

Make Mine a Mojito

Chapters

Rules:
1.Post on your blog
2. Link it back to me
3.Link original post here
4.Pass the award to 4 deserving bloggers
5. Post the rules!!

Flashback Friday

Now that you've all stopped laughing from the sight of this lovely 80's flashback I will give you a little information regarding this picture! It's from my 8th grade Gifted and Talented class who also got the privilege of being the yearbook staff at my middle school...and yes, I know that from the looks of this bunch the title of Gifted and Talented is quite questionable! How crazy is it that I still remember this particular day? And to give you a hint as to which one I am, I'm the one with the big hair and tight rolled jeans. Oh yeah, that's all of us! Let's just say I already knew how to strike a pose for the camera...or at least I thought so!!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Roots - Free genealogy websites

Respect

Finally the election is over. I wish I could say that I was thrilled, or surprised for that matter, with the results. I fell asleep early and missed most of the coverage including McCain's speech. I heard it was completely gracious. I DID however see Obama's. Was I in awe? Yes. Who couldn't be? We were watching history unfold. And I wished in my heart of hearts that I could be more optimistic about an Obama presidency, but I can't. I am what you would consider a social moderate, but a fiscal conservative. However, there are MANY social issues of his that I 110% am opposed to, but I won't even get into that. I will however cover two of my biggest issues with Obama...and then this will be the last you hear of the politics from me. One is the war. I think it should go without saying given some of my former posts, we are military people. Hubby is no longer enlisted, but my brother in law is. My baby sister was in tears last night. Worried. Worried about the funding. Worried about the support. Worried that her Husband was going to be sent into another Somalia type situation. If you don't see my point of view on this, please refrain from leaving a comment, because quite frankly to me there is no compromise on it and we will just have to agree to disagree.

My second issue is the financial redistribution. To understand me completely would take far too much time, but I will give a short back ground. I am the daughter of a man who is a high school drop out in addition to a recovering alcoholic. The cards were stacked against him early on. His parents divorced when he was only 4 and in that time it was unheard of. I hate to even type this, but my grandfather abandoned them. They were poor to say the least. He HAD to get a job. He HAD to contribute. My mother had a completely different background. She came from what was considered an upperclass family. Her mother (my grandmother) was given a life of leisure. My mother was also extremely intelligent and could have done whatever she wanted after high school. But being the rebel that she was (and still is) she eloped with her high school sweetheart from the other side of the tracks. As crazy as they are, their love is undying. Her parents weren't about to give a hand out. They made their bed, now they could lie in it. My grandfather after all, vividly remembers the Depression. My father's parents didn't have any money to give. They relocated to a small town and rented a single wide trailer, where they got the surprise of their life...they were pregnant with me. My mother being all of 18 and my father 19 when they found out. Nine months later they had moved back to their hometown and began the daily grind that would become their lives. One trailer, another trailer, and then they had enough saved to actually buy a double wide. They felt rich. All the while they were doing it FOR THEMSELVES. When I was in 7th grade my mother, myself and my grandfather (her father) were at a beloved Clemson football game. And I still remember this like it was yesterday, my grandfather looked at her in a moment of cheering and said, "if you will go to school here I will pay for it". I will never forget that moment. My mother was speechless and I was shocked. But even at the age of 12 I knew what this meant for us. And for my grandfather, it was the opportunity to watch his extremely (like, crazy!) smart daughter get a college education. The next fall my mother was enrolled in dear old Clemson and my sister and I were left to pick up a LOT of the slack around our home. Remember, my father was an alcoholic and they aren't big on change. Those four years were probably the worst of my entire life. We were poorer than we had ever been seeing how my mother had to quit her job to become a full time student. My father was always agitated and my mother took it out on us, but someway, somehow we persevered. While this was going on, somehow my father, while working in a plant, was socking money away for his retirement, for a rainy day, and for my and my sister's college educations. He didn't have one single credit card. He never took a government hand out. Part of his agitation in those days came from feeling as if he couldn't provide for his family and he was my grandfather's charity case (which the ONLY money my grandfather gave was for tuition and books). Years later I still am in awe of what my father and mother have accomplished...ON THEIR OWN. I could continue on with the story of Hubby and myself and how our story goes, but I think I've laid out enough for you to see where I am coming from.

I respect the position of the President of the United States and for that he will have my respect. However, I am still worried about what lies ahead.

Moving on to a new day...

VOTE!

I'm still sitting here at home waiting on Hubby to get back so we can do the child swap and I can have my turn voting! He's been gone for almost two hours!!! How is it in everyone else's neck of the woods?

eta: It took me two hours and twenty minutes to vote!! When I left at 4:00 the line was longer than when I first got there!!! Glad I took a book!

a new weight loss plan...

Ok, it's TMI, but I swear we've all lost weight this week with our stupid stomach bug! Lovebug is still experiencing some of it's effects and it feels like I may have caught it back from her!!! By the time this ends I may be back to my wedding weight!!

a little from the party!

Thought I'd share a few of the pictures from Lovebug's birthday party! I've only seen a few of them and I can't wait to see the rest! The first one is from the "graveyard" where our little party goers retrieved their third clue. The second picture (which should have been first, but whatever!), is the first clue they received that got the scavenger hunt started. And the last picture is the dry apple bob. Once they completed the bob they received the clue that led to the graveyard. We had a little girl lose a tooth in the process here!! Our last challenge was a food challenge where we blindfolded one member of each team and let them enjoy treats of witches eyes (peeled grapes), goblin fingers (vienna sausages with a pretzel stick inside of it to give that bone crunching effect!) and spider eggs (pop rocks) that they were warned may start hatching in their mouths!! No one got too grossed out during the challenge, but we did have one child get a little queasy when it was time to reach their hand into the scarecrow brains to retrieve a clue!! Man, it was such a good time, but we ran like crazy!! Those kids worked off any of their sugar intake!!

These pictures are from my same fantastic photographer and if you are located in the Upstate I highly recommend her!! You can check her out at http://www.momentscaptured4u.com/

stop the madness

Let me begin with, we had the BEST time in Charleston for Halloween. The girls enjoyed trick or treating around the Battery and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to get a little peek inside the homes!:) After our hour of going door to door, we met up with my long lost friend and her cutie patootie boyfriend at Rue de Jean--LOVE it! We have been there several times and I've yet to have a bad meal. Fried goat cheese salad, sushi, oysters on the half shell, lobster tail, chocolate pate, chocolate martini, Shug wine---yum, yum, yum!!! Lovebug wasn't acting herself at dinner, but I honestly thought she was enjoying the attention from it. I was wrong...more on that in a bit! We all left dinner and hopped on rickshaws (one of my favorite modes of transportation!) and headed towards the Market to start our ghost walk tour. Lovebug made sure she was front and center with our guide so she could hear everything he said. That child is like a little sponge soaking up information!! We all walked to our hotel after the tour was over---at 11!! (Hubby had already made an exit with Baby Girl to go put her to bed, thank goodness!)

On our way back to our hotel we passed the fire department where they were giving out candy. They were SO sweet to Lovebug and even let her get up in the fire truck after letting her help herself to as much candy as she wanted and a fireman's hat!! After we thanked them for their service and got out of their hair we continued our walk which included a stop at a convenience store, where my sweet Lovebug paid it forward! She offered up her goods to the folks working the Halloween holiday to help spread some cheer! She also offered a treat to the police officer sitting outside the store and you could just tell how shocked he was by the offer! I was so proud of her! We were lucky enough to be placed in a two bedroom suite at the hotel so were able to continue the evening with our friends until 2 in the morning!!

Woke up today and guess whose stomach virus decided to rear it's ugly head again? Lovebug's!! Mind you, I didn't let her enjoy one single piece of her candy because I wanted to make sure she was out of the woods for one solid day before consuming all that sugar! After several potty breaks we were finally able to get out of the hotel and enjoy some brunch at Hominy Grill. Lovebug couldn't even make herself eat a bite of banana bread, but she still wanted to walk around a little and enjoy the beautiful weather and take in Charleston. We returned to some of the sites from our ghost tour and did a little window shopping and then headed to the car. We had every intention of driving out to Kiawah. We were almost there and it happened....Lovebug threw up all over the back seat!!!! After pulling over, putting on the hazards, doing a clothes change, wipe down all surfaces with anti-bacterial wipes we turned that car around and headed home!! She still feels awful now! We have NEVER had an illness take up residence like this in our home and I'm ready for our visitor to leave, like yesterday!

eta: Baby Girl is obviously Tigger, while Lovebug is a dentist. And yes I did a very quick wardrobe change between the trick or treating and dinner. I decided the heels weren't cutting it!!