Gracie....sweet? Don't let her face fool you!

Gracie. Our beagle baby in the family. She is now 9 months old and completely full of herself. She does her own thing and can only be lured away from it with cheese slices or chewable bones. And sometimes cheese does not even work when she sees the open plains of the front yard and takes off to our neighbors across the street. She is quite the mess.

Oh trust me. She does indeed have her sweet moments. She loves to cuddle while sleeping and acts just like the boys when I go in to wake them up in the morning. She quite honestly looks at me like "Mom....pwweeease....5 more minutes...."

Despite being a poop factory and an eating machine, she is a welcome addition to the family. Sophie has enjoyed a play mate...but she DOES get jealous.


She has a blast playing with Matthew and Sophie in the back yard.


But this starts to be her evil side. She will lick you on the face when you least expect it.


This is a typical "playtime." Love it. Really sweet to see them chase after Matthew.

25 Year Reunion

25 years? Is that REALLY possible? Noooooooo waaaaaay.

(me, Kelley and Amy before the reunion)


Amy taught me how to drive a stick shift in her little red station wagon. She suggested the grave yard so I would not hurt anyone!

Kelley and I went to high school AND college together. Too bad both of them live in Texas! Too far away for a road trip but a flight might be in order.

I really had a good time seeing some old friends. We did not have enough time to catch up though.

More pics to follow.

High School Reunion

My 25 year high school reunion is tonight. I am so looking forward to seeing some old friends...most of which I have not seen since the day of graduation. Facebook has allowed us to get back in touch over the past few months - amazing what a little technology can do - but it will be far better to catch up in person.

I hope to have pics tomorrow to post.

Death

A found out this morning that a co-worker became suddenly ill over the weekend and died yesterday. Matthew Kahn also coached soccer for his son's team while I coached my son's team. We scrimmaged each week after practice for two seasons. Matt was only a year older than me. He has 3 kids. Matt was a nice guy and I enjoyed his enthusiasm for soccer and seeing not only his son improve in the game but all kids. He always cheered on my Matthew.

I found out tonight that a guy that graduated a year ahead of me in high school died last week. I did not know him that well.

It makes me take pause and think if all my proverbial ducks are in a row...on all fronts. Will my children be cared for? Am I right with God? Have I done all the things I really want to do? I truly am thankful for my boys and my family. Life can be gone in a minute. No doubt we ALL need to value and savor each and every morsel...even the bad ones.

Yes!

We got the pool covered today. YAY! I think that is the one thing about owning a pool that does not thrill me....covering it. We have one of those stretchable covers that you pull taut over the pool. It lets the rain flow through but keeps the leaves (tries to) out. It can be a pain to put on but the boys and I knocked it out pretty quickly today. Thankfully we finally had a day of sunshine.

With all the rain we have had in the past two weeks the pool was a sea of green. I really did not want to waste chemicals since we certainly were not swimming.

Thanks Nate Daddy and Maffoo for helping out today. Hugs.

United Way Day at Work

Survivor Day for United Way

This is the IS Team. Barbara, Jerry, Nick and myself. We each had to do a "Survivor" type game to earn points. Jerry had to do the Hula to a hip hop song, Barbara had to eat gummy worms, swedish fish and olives and Nick had to unwrap 10 foiled chocolates and eat them faster than the other teams.


We could either be the GRAPE team or the PINK team. I voted for PINK to honor Breast Cancer Awareness. Jerry was able to find these shirts at Dick's Sporting Goods. Interesting that Nike make pink golf shirts for men and then we realized why. Their shirts had the small pink ribbon on the sleeves.

Mine was lifting 10 marbles out of a bucket of ice cold water. I won handily. I guess those toe stretches in yoga class paid off! lol


We came in 3rd out of 8 teams. It was a nice break from the work day.

First Band Competition

THIRD PLACE FOR THE VIKING MARCHING BAND!

Woo Hoo! 3rd place out of the final 8 bands and 17 bands in all. They really did a superb job. They received a Superior rating during preliminaries and 4th in their class. However, the overall points they received put them into the finals and came in 3rd. They truly did an outstanding job.

Way to go Nate Daddy and the whole band!

Nate and the rest of the bass drum line. You guys rock!

Friday Night Lights - Band Style!

Mema is in town and we went to the Spartan High game tonight against Gaffney.

Here are some shots from the night.

Dinner at Panera with Mema and Matthew. Nate Daddy was already at the game eating with the band.


Nathan raising his cap to the band director after the half time show! They really did well tonight!



Mema and Nathan after the half time show.


Me and Nate Daddy!


Drum Line after the completion of the half time show. I wish I had gotten a better vid but hopefully you get the idea.

Finally! A New Bathroom!

I am finally getting around to posting pics of my new master bath. I am not quite finished but wanted to get these up. I still have to hang the new bamboo blinds like what I hung in the bedroom as well as do something with the sitting stool and floor.

Old light. I really think this light was hung when the house was built over 30 years ago. Ick!


New light. Yes, sorta looks like a booby. lol


Old sink. HAS to be the original sink.


And NEW sink and faucet. Love them!


Here you can see the ugly striped wallpaper (been up there for 13 years!), old light fixture and the old yellow laminate counter top. And, uhm, pardon my mess!


Ta Da!!!!! Check out the new light and marble counter top. I had the old mirror cut down and framed. Saved a bunch of money that way. You can even see the new drawer pulls.
(And yes, I do have all the mess organized now in the drawers!)

Vote for Spartanburg High Marching Band

Spartanburg High's Marching Band is up for News Channel 4's Band of the Week. PLEASE go to their website and vote. The poll is mid way down the page on the right hand side. You can vote OVER AND OVER through 3 p.m. Friday. If SHS wins they will get a 1 min video on Friday's night's newscast.

Thanks!

http://wyff.highschoolplaybook.com/Index.do

Go Vikes!