Hump Day

I'm not sure where the week has gone. Sunday we skipped church to meet daddy at the Townsend reunion in Smyrna. Brance went to Perry for the week. He called last night to say he wasn't coming home until July 4th. We will see how long that will last.

Monday Darlene and I went to IKEA to buy supplies for the preschool. We got new cubbies, an amazing science table for pre-k and lots of other odd items, $750 later we came home.

Annie's birthday was yesterday. She wanted to get her nails done, you know I don't pay money for that stuff. I can paint my own nails if the desire hits me. She also wanted to go to the Melting Pot. I surprised her by taking her to a new store at the Avenue's in Cumming called Sweet and Sassy. She got a mini-facial, mini-mani, min-pedi, hair up do and make up. She was so excited. I even remembered to take my camera. Would you believe some how I has lost my memory card? I couldn't take any pictures. Annie didn't care but I was disappointed. When we started to leave and I was calling the Melting Pot to make a reservation she decided she just wanted to drive through Krystal and go straight home. She and Brance are both very cautious when it comes to money. I try desperately to help them understand the value of a dollar. I think she didn't want to go to dinner because of the cost. How sweet is that?

Brandi is at the door so I got to go.

Too Funny not to Share

You never really know when someone is actually watching you! Ricky's brother is building a new house, beside the house is a large motor ross track for the kids. You can drive your vehicle around the track, well most of us can anyway. This lady that lives between Vernon, Ricky's brother that I call Bubba, and us decided to drive over today and check out what Bubba and Tammy have been building. She isn't very nice and complains about the kids riding their motorcycles through the woods from our house to their house or the new house. We think she saw Tammy's car at the new house and turned to see where the road went. Tammy said she watched her drive all the way around the track, then onto the track and over the first jump. She apparently thought she was still on the road when her car got stuck on the second jump. Once Tammy stopped laughing she offered to help the lady. Bubba wasn't at home so she called Ricky. Ricky had to go back to the shop for a chain and called me to come over and see it. Ricky said you just have to see what this lady has done. Of course I took my camera. Ricky pulled her backwards to clear the jump and she was able to drive her car around it. Tammy, the kids and I were standing by the track as she drove away. She waved but didn't stop to speak. She told Ricky that she was really embarrassed, Ricky said yeah, you should be!

That's our excitement for the day. I noticed Tammy had her camera out taking pictures also. What we do for cheap thrills around here.

Where has the week gone?

I am officially 36 years old and one week today! Ricky had a stomach virus last week on our birthdays and I feel like I have been desperately fighting it for a little more than 24 hours. I worked yesterday but went to bed as soon as we got home. We had softball practice Tuesday and last night. I went and enjoyed myself Tuesday but felt pretty yucky last night. Ricky made me bat but I didn't have to do anything else. I have laid around most of the day today. Ricky's childhood friend Brian, has an older brother that died on Sunday so we had the funeral to go today. There are five boys in the family, one wife and two grand kids. There were only about 25 people at the service. It was really pitiful. It was also a Catholic service, this was really interesting to Ricky and I. It only lasted about 20 minutes and was the most unemotionally funeral I have ever attended. There wasn't any singing or music, the man who spoke was titled a Messenger. I thought Catholic preachers were called priest. Really bizarre.

I need to get ready for the game because we have to leave shortly. I have let time get away from me...

Construction Again!

I swear it never ends! Ricky has worked really hard to get bead board put up in the hallway from the back door into the kitchen. He is waiting on me to paint the wall before he puts up the trim piece on top of the bead board. He is also waiting for me to paint the shoe mold to put down in the kitchen on top of the tile. I've decided I really don't like to paint. My kitchen table is still sitting in the middle of the living room. The house garage looks like a tornado has hit it. All the construction things are in there and in the new garage. We can't get the top floor of the garage finished so that we can move the extra materials out of the bottom to move the good stuff inside. This evening we went to the backyard to lay off the size for a swimming pool. That is something we are desperately researching and trying to decide the best deal for us.

Ricky signed up to play church league softball. The league requires five girls on the field at all times. Our church didn't have enough so Ricky is making me play. I'm glad you think it is as funny as I do. The only thing I have ever hit with a bat was our Irish Setter puppy Rusty when I was about 7 years old. Ricky and Brance made be practice in the yard last night. Would you believe Ricky pitched balls to me for 15 minutes and I only missed two! I was shocked. I can actually hit the ball pretty hard. Ricky said several of my hits would get me a base hit if I can run fast. He also said I can't wear Birkenstocks or Crocs I will have to wear tennis shoes. That pretty much took the fun out of it for me. I can run fast in my Crocs!

Brance and Annie both came home today and took a nap. I took time to tan before I went outside with my husband. He was real sweet and told me I stink. I still cooked supper after that. I cooked on Friday too. I ordered a lot of stuff from Schwanns so cooking every night is easy. On Friday I made beef tips and gravy, it comes in a bag you boil. It is really good though and you put it on rice. Ricky said it was really good and asked me what it was called. I told him it was beef medallions in brown sauce on a bed of white rice. Doesn't that sound real fancy? You should have seen the look he gave me. I was so fancy, I left the pot on simmer all night. When I got up Sunday morning the "brown sauce" had cooked to a charred crisp in the bottom of my favorite sauce pan. By God's grace I didn't burn the house down. Do you think its considered arson if you leave a pan on the stove all night long and your house burns down? Well it would be for me because I said something about it. I think that's classified as premeditated. Maybe I shouldn't share so much information.

I'm going downstairs to watch the UGA baseball World Series game with the boys.

Ernie Haase & Singnature Sound

We love EH & SS! Ricky's birthday was Wednesday. He has been at home for two days with a yucky stomach virus. My birthday was Thursday, Annie's in next week. I took Annie to see her favorite group in Chattanooga for her birthday. Mom, Jeff and Darlene went also. The picture with Ernie is on Darlene's camera as my battery went dead! The picture with the two guys are Ryan and Tim, Tim was Annie's favorite. Now Ernie is her favorite. The picture of just Annie and I is Doug, my favorite. I'm not sure why I am talking in both pictures, well actually I was making a comment to Tim in one picture and I think Doug and I were talking about my resemblance to his neighbor in the other. However, when my mouth is open it doesn't make me look like I have a double chin. Maybe I should start talking in all my pictures! The show was great, the guys walked around before, during and after the show talking to everyone.

Our hotel was a block away. At midnight the fire alarm went off and we had to walk down five flights of stairs to stand on the street. There were seven firetrucks and no fire. Apparently a dirty smoke detector went off. We managed to get back in the bed sometime after 2 am this morning. Housekeeping knocked on the door at 8 am to ask what time we would be checking out. We got up and came home at least today I can take a nap.

I talked to Michelle earlier and she was on her way to Eric's house in LA. Yes, it's lower Alabama but I like how it sounds when I tell people I have a brother living in LA. They think he's real important! So Michelle and the kids are on their way from Panama City to Fairhope and my daddy and Margarett are somewhere between Perry and Daytona Beach. Lucky Michael and Brian get a nice break for a few days! Ha-Ha!

Ricky and Brance are at his brother's new house doing who knows what, so that gives Annie and I a few hours to take a nap.

Am I Slacking or What!

What a week we've had. VBS started on Sunday evening. I've worked my normal schedule as well as went back at 5 pm for Heather to get to VBS, she's the VBS director, then left by 6 pm to take my kids and a lot of others to church. It is Ricky's birthday today. He has a horrible stomach virus and stayed at home. I left the kids with him this morning. Annie called me at 7:02 am to ask why I left her at home. I thought they would love staying home with Ricky. I was wrong, finally at 10:30 am and many phone calls, I came home and picked them up.

I did leave work long enough for Brance and I to get a haircut. I didn't have time to come home so we went back to the preschool before VBS.

Tomorrow Annie, my mom and I are going to Chattanooga to see Signature Sound! We are staying in a pretty pricey motel because it is next door to the Trivoli Theater where the concert is. That way we won't have to walk or pay for parking like we did when we saw them at UTC and walked a mile after paying $10 to park. I was even calculating my fuel mileage and distance today so that I could decide if we needed to drive mommas car instead of mine. I think we are going to drive Ricky's truck because he put a program in it and I want to see what the fuel mileage is.

I just have a few minutes to watch the rest of The O'Reilly Factor, so maybe more later...

Where did the week go?

Tuesday, Annie the smoking hot softball player, hit another home run. I know Michelle talks about Grayce being good but all of you know they did not get this trait from their momma's! Actually Lori and Karen our husbands sisters were good ball players.

I drove two field trips last week, Tuesday to the skating rink and Thursday to the bowling alley. I have not felt very good since our return home from Pigeon Forge, I think I'm probably "mountain sick" because I had to come back home. Anyway, I was totally without a voice Tuesday and it is still coming back. I went to the doctor on Thursday. I have a sinus infection and strep! Six months ago it was a sinus infection and a double ear infection. On Friday I had a pre-k meeting at Georgia State University downtown Atlanta at 9 am. Darlene is at the beach so I took Heather with me. The meeting didn't last long. We went to Atlantic Station for pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, then to IKEA and Target. We stopped at North Pointe on the way home. We really had a great time. I'm sure I wore Heather out and I know my driving scared her to death.

Today Annie, mom and I went to grandma and papa's. We had a baby shower for Michael and Brandi. Brandi brought her mom with her. They were both very sweet. Michael drove alone in his Super Snake! There was a Mustang show at Jim Tidwell Ford in Kennesaw. Michael was invited to bring the Snake. Michael said they expected about 20 cars and had 50 turn out. One Cobra had a cobra painted under the hood. When the hood was raised you could see the snake. I thought that was pretty cool. The only car that wasn't a Mustang was a 1966 7 litre Galaxie. It was sharp. When I looked at the car the owner was telling me how wonderful it was. I already know, we have one in the basement!

VBS starts tomorrow at 5 pm through Thursday, my birthday.

Until then...

Last night for ball

Ball season is almost over. Brance had his last game last night. Annies last game is tonight at 6 pm. It looks like it may rain before then. Ricky has planted grass and covered it with hay all around his garage. It doesn't look like a construction zone any more.

Daddy sent me a different truck for my hog running lot. I had a few calls on the last one, but nothing came out of it. I got the money for the vette today. Its nice to put some money back into my savings account since Ricky has used most of it for the garage.

I would like to take the kids to the beach for a few days but I don't want to spend money for gas, it was $4.01 today. I could go to Kelly's in Jacksonville or meet Michelle in Panama City. Either way the distance is about the same from my house. Michelle said she was going to go to Eric's for a few days if she goes to PCB. No offence big brother if your reading this, but I have a job and my idea of fun is not being with my kids, Michelle's kids and your kids all in a small confined space. My kids with Michelle's kids for a limited time is alright, I know when to head home. Actually once I think about it, I don't really think our kids have anything to do with it, its me and Michelle in a confined space for very long. The kids are practically perfect. Rickys archery club has a big weekend long event around June 21st, I need to find something to do during that time. He won't be home so why should I?

I'm still looking for a blue/green color to paint my bedroom if you have any ideas.

Darlene's Surprise Party

This first picture is Annie by the indoor pool. As you can see Darlene had a nice limo ride up the mountain. She had no idea the limo would be a hearse with the grim reaper driving. She was horrified. There were about 30 of us total. We lined up the drive way with kleenex as if we were mourning her. As soon as she got out of the car she called my name because she thought I was responsible for this. I was not! The third picture is Darlene, the limo drive, her daddy (Ga), Susannah (13) and Amy (22). I told Darlene I thought is was funny she choose to wear black for the party. Ga grilled my favorite pork tenderloin on redwood, Gram made baked beans, the best you have ever eaten, Jennifer (married to Darlene's cousin) made potato salad. I'm sure Jennifers potato salad is the best. I love my mom's but Jennifers is great. There were plenty of other items, but these were the important ones. Of course homemade cake and ice cream. YUM!

Annie wanted to swim but I was ready to come home. It's one of those infinity pools were you swim into the current. Darlene invites me to go swim with her. I don't even use her heated pool, I don't want to drive to Suches to swim against the current. That would wear me out. If you don't know about Suches it is North of Dahlonega about 10 miles straight up a curvy mountain. The car ride makes me sick even if I drive. It takes about 45 minutes to get there from my house. I don't want to drive 45 minutes to swim when Darlene's house is 5 minutes and I don't swim there.

Wow, two blogs in one day. Enough from me...

Sunday

We're back from church, Ricky and Brance went to the Motorsports store in Dawsonville to return some clothes Ricky bought Brance yesterday. We are leaving at 1:45 pm to go to Suches. Darlene's parents live there. Against my wishes, they are giving Darlene a surprise 50th birthday. She is not going to be happy! The worst part is that her daddy has arranged a hearse to pick her up at 2:00 pm from her house. She thinks her parents are driving down in a classic Chevy they have to take her to lunch. Little does she know. I begged her parents not to do this. Brance and Annie think they can swim all day since there is an indoor pool at their house. It is stormy outside and the kids don't understand it doesn't matter if your outside or inside if it is lightening. I'll try to remember to take my camera. The entire Woody family will be there. They love us and treat us so well. Ricky doesn't like visiting with everybody and he doesn't always remember their names. Granny Woody will be there. She is 93 and so funny. She likes to talk about sex. She finds ways to corner Darlene and ask her questions. Darlene gets really embarrassed, I just think it is funny. I have seen her 900 times in the last ten years. She always acts like she doesn't know who I am. Last fall Ricky and I went to Chattanooga (that's where the Woodys live) with Jeff, Darlene and her parents. We meet the family with Granny for dinner. When Granny walked in she hugged Darlene and called her Sally Jane. She didn't even acknowledge it was Darlene. She saw Ricky and I sitting in the booth with Jeff. She pushed past "Sally Jane" and walked right over to our booth and said, "Melissa and Ricky it is so good to see both of you up here!" Darlene had her feelings hurt but everybody else laughed. She doesn't always like Darlene because she is the oldest grandchild and Granny didn't want to be a grandmother. She will be a little put out today because the party isn't about her.

I only have an hour to get our stuff together and I don't even have a present for the party. Darlene's birthday isn't until Wednesday so maybe I'll wait.