"Yes Maam. You should leave the house right now."

So, I have had the gas logs for 9 days now. We have been smelling a slight gas odor since the first usage...every day...and it lingers as long as the logs are lit. I mentioned this to a co-worker and she said the logs need to "burn in" for a few days.

Well, yesterday I was working from home and I let the logs burn to achieve that "burn in." After 3 hours on conference calls I went downstairs to be met with the gas odor and it had lingered up the stairwell too.

Sooooo, I call the gas company to see if this is normal. They connect me to the Emergency Gas Leak department. This VERY calm woman said that they never take a potential gas leak for granted so my case will be classified as an emergency. I am still calm at this point....then she proceeds to tell me that she needs to read their standard safety precautions to me....

1. Do not light a match.
2. Do not turn on a light switch.
3. Leave the domicile.

Uhm....can you back up a moment. Did you say leave the domicile. "Yes Maam" was her reply. "You need to leave the house right now. Immediately." All said in this very calm, "pass the salt" voice.

I sat outside in my car in the driveway waiting for the gas company to arrive. They take potential leaks seriously. He arrived in 12 minutes. He entered the house armed with a spray bottle filled with soap. If you remember from high school chem gas is a kinetic gas and moves (Nathan told me that as I totally did NOT remember!) therefore the soap would bubble if there was a leak. Thankfully NO leak. BUT it may take a couple of months for the logs to "burn in."

Oh well. They are beautiful when lit and keeping us warm. We can deal with the gas odor for a bit. Thankfully it is not Sophie or Gracie blessing us with their odors! ; )

Gas Logs -- WOO HOO

FINALLY gas logs are installed.

Took over a month to get them in from the point of the first call but they are IN. It was quite a ridiculous experience in buying the logs. Tried to save money buying them over the internet but was faced with TERRIBLE customer service from a company in California that I canceled my order. Ended up spending MORE money at a local company but at least I know they are good quality and have good customer service to back it up.

Ahhhh the warmth. And just in time as we had 6 inches of snow last night. Our neighborhood tends to lose power pretty easily in the ice and heavy snow so now I am prepared to at least stay warm if that happens this winter.

Basketball Wrap Up

Matthew finished his basketball season this week. They lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

It was sad in that two of the starters got in trouble in school the day before the semi-finals and were not allowed to play. You could see on the boys faces when they came on the court at the beginning of the game that they were not quite themselves. Matthew played an incredible game but got quite frustrated....no doubt about the team not starting off on the right foot but also a little at the refs. That is how things play out sometimes.

Nonetheless, they had a truly fantastic season...and quite good for Carver in many years.

I am SO proud of Matthew. He finally gets a chance to rest over the next few weeks thankfully.

BBall Playoffs

Go Wildcats!

Finished the regular season 10 -2. Playoffs begin this Saturday and looking for the championship.

I love you Matthew. So VERY proud of you.

Good luck Saturday!

Basketball and more basketball

The Wildcats beat Gaffney Middle School tonight. Woo hoo! Matthew has been playing incredible defense. So proud of him.

They are now 9-1.

Tomorrow, weather permitting in N.C., we will be heading to Thomas Jefferson...the team we lost to last week. The boys are stoked to get some bball revenge. This will be our final game before the playoffs next week.

GO MAFFFFFOOOOO!

Bball Update

As of tonight, Matthew's team is now 9-1. They lost their first game. : (

They played Thomas Jefferson - the only other undefeated team. It was a fantastic game. Matthew said it felt like a championship game.

Final score was 59-72.

They had one guy on their team that is 6 ft 5. He could not handle the ball well but he could shoot 3's and made nearly every one of his free throws.

What was completely DISGUSTING is that the refs truly called the game one sided. Our team had 20 fouls....their team had 4! Something is just WRONG with that CRAP!

I must say that despite the loss, our boys held their teams high and showed some incredible and honorable sportsmanship. I love you, Mafffffooooo!

Matthew just posted on his Facebook page a very descriptive comment. He said they he feels down but also accomplished. Hugs my dear son.

Basketball Update

Matthew's team has not lost a game yet thus far.... WOO HOO!

vs. Ewing - 73-55 (7 pts)
vs. Whitlock - 47-22 (2 pts)
vs. Granard - 65-45 (4 pts)
vs. McCracken - 42-37 (7 pts)
vs. Middle Gaffney - 36-33 (6 pts)
vs. Thomas Jefferson - cancelled. Hope to reschedule
vs. Ewing - 52-34 (4 pts)
vs. Whitlock - 49-24 (10 pts)
vs. Chester - cancelled. Hope to reschedule.

Matthew is having a great time with his team as well as the new coach.

I don't want to use the word beginning with "u" for fear it will ruin the winning streak. : )

More Christmas...

Family pic! Not quite crystal clear but at least I managed to set the timer and run to be in the picture....after three tries...


My niece, Costa, and Matthew opening presents. Too cute.


Cynthia getting some loving from Sophie...or perhaps Sophie found a comfy place to snooze after all the gift opening excitement.


We found some cool lights thanks to my friend, Donna. The entire yard was covered in these lighted creatures. We kept pondering how long it takes to put them all up then take them down. Bet he starts in October and ends in February!

Doing the jerk? No, Jerking...

I have been meaning to post this for awhile. Matthew was goofing around in the backyard dancing just before Christmas and I was able to capture some of his "jerking." No, not the Jerk...but the new thing is "jerking."

He definitely has some rhythm.

The days leading up to Christmas

It has been a busy few days since my mom and sister showed up on Tuesday. We have spent many hours already baking yummy cookies and preparing all of our goodies for Christmas Day dinner. My brother, Jeff, and his family as well as my step sister, Becky, and her husband will be joining us. It will be a full household. I LOVE IT! I sure hope I have a seat for everyone! Humm, I think the boys can sit on the floor to eat. haha! Just teasing guys!

Here are pics from this week and some from today. The boys coerced me to open one of their presents TWO days early!

The boys and the doggers...


The boys and the doggers...take two.


Nathan being a goofball again! He is wearing his new hoodie from Mema.


Matthew cannot be outdone by his big brother! He too is wearing a new shirt from Mema.


Somehow we ended up with the blue and gold theme so Mom wanted to take a few pics. I was a slob after blowing leaves earlier in the day with Matthew but Mom would not take no for an answer.


Yep...they DO love each other!


We went for a drive to hunt for outrageous Christmas lights but came up pretty short. Thanks to my bro we did see this yard. It was filled with over 50 maybe 60 blow up decorations. It was pretty great. We kept wondering what their electric bill is!!


Nathan got an up close and personal pic with Santa in a bi-plane.


See? I told you! They love each other...


Okay....so maybe they love each other less right now. Actually they said "let's play fight!" I kept imagining me running to the ER with one of them today.


Gracie is very tired after the days cooking activities. She and Sophie stayed at my feet nearly all day today...because I was COOKING! I succumbed and gave them some ham.


May all of you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. I wish you wonderful dreams tonight of sugar plum fairies and all that is good in this world.

BBall Update

I am a bit behind in posting about Matthew's basketball team so here goes...

Matthew has a new coach this year...an actual basketball coach versus a teacher trying to coach or a football coach coaching basketball. Not to fault past coaches but the coach this year indeed knows how to coach the boys on learning plays and how to improve what they are doing wrong in a game. Matthew is having a BLAST.

Carver sponsors a pre-season tourney just before Thanksgiving and that started out a little rough with a loss but then one the second game against Gable.

(Nate hugging Matthew after their loss.)


Regular season is coming along REALLY well.

Matthew is playing awesome and you can tell he is at home on the court. He has started each game and gets a fair amount of play time. He is doing well on assists and has a few steals under his belt as well!

Beat Ewing 73-55 (7 pts)
Beat Whitlock 47-22 (2 pts)
Beat Granard 54-45 (4 pts)
Beat McCracken 42-37 (7 pts) This was a HUGE win for us as they are our cross town rival!

Carver is now 4 - 0! Woo Hoo. Go Wildcats.

Walking on Water

Gracie is at it again. She has now taken to running across the pool cover...almost like walking on water! She has NO fear! And now she nearly has Sophie (Miss Scaredy Cat!) to start stepping on it too!

Gracie and Sophie love to run and chase each other all around the back yard...through the bushes, leaves and now the pool. See for yourself.

Happy Gobble Gobble

Traveling to my mom's the day before the holiday has become our annual tradition. (Over the hills and through the woods.... Oh, that is for Christmas I think...) We then head to my cousin's on Thanksgiving. It is a nice group of about 15-20 each year. They gather from Kentucky, Tenn and SC. I always look forward to my mom's homemade cranberry sauce and Donna's sweet potato casserole... and for some reason I like to snack on those little sweet pickles before we sit down to eat. Donna always has them out...thank you, Donna. (I take joy in seeing my Uncle Jack - not really my uncle, but my cousin, sneaking them as well.)

The boys and I always like to get out in the morning and take some pics at my mom's. Here are a few. They can really be such lovable goofballs!












(Nearly the whole clan. Some snuck out of the picture!)

Pre-Season BBall Tourney

Won one and lost one....

A few pics from Matthew's first two games. Regular season starts December 1st. It will be a much busier season than last year as they have two games a week through end of February. Matthew is VERY excited about the new coaches and looking forward to beating McCracken! ; )

(Matthew was one of the two team captains for the game against Gable. Won 53-40)


(Nathan hugging Matthew after the loss to DR Hill. He REALLY does love his lil brother.)

More Basketball!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MATTHEW!!

He made the basketball team today! 40 boys on day one down to 14 on the team!

SOOO proud of you honey!

Count down to first game has begun. November 21st here we come.

State Marching Band Competition

Nathan and the band headed to Orangeburg for the State Marching Band Competition yesterday.

They performed EXTREMELY well and received a rating of "Excellent." They ended up 11th our of 14 bands. They missed the finals by only 4 points! In comparison, last year they finished 13th and missed the finals by 10 points. They did great considering the large number of rookies! Nathan and kids were so disappointed but eventually the smiles won out.

I am incredibly proud of not only Nathan, but of the entire band. The kids have worked very hard and it showed yesterday. No doubt they are laying a good foundation for next year.

Hugs Nate Daddy!

One thing Nathan told me I will share. He says marching is the "smart kids sport." I laughed and asked why. He said "How many football players do you know that can play and instrument while walking backwards on their tip toes?" Not many I don't think. LOL







Mom, this is for you. I know you wanted to be there. The picture part is not very good but the sound is somewhat decent. I think you can get an idea of how they played.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween

The boys wanted to Trick or Treat this year...first time to dress up in a few years.

Nathan went as Mr. Death. Matthew joined up with his friend Colby and they went as Kanye West and Taylor Swift - too funny.

We stopped by our friend Donna's and the boys got spooked by Paul. He jumped out when he opened the door slooooooowly. BOO! Thanks Donna for all the yummy Reese Pumpkins! We picked up Courtney along the way and dropped off Matthew to hang out with Colby and Zack.

Too bad the rain dampened the number of houses they visited. Quite a number of people in my neighborhood had their lights out. I think each year fewer people participate. I only had two visit my house. LOTS of candy leftover.

Here are a few pics from the night.

(My two boys hamming it up!)


(Matthew, Courtney as the gypsy prey of Mr. Death and Nathan)


(Colby and Matthew as Taylor and Kanye. Too cute!)

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.