Then came Christmas . . .

Okay, so then came Christmas.

Best part - being off work -

Worst part - Brent's mom broke her foot falling out the door at our house Christmas Eve Night. She was walking out - carrying something to car, and fell. Then spent the next day in the hospital in Raleigh only to refuse to let them put a real cast on her foot. She's better now, but Lord that was crazy.

Christmas Day we went to Mary's house, and it was nice. The boys were there and Keenan and Mary. All of the boys had been dealing with viruses and such, but it was really nice. Slightly low key, which was good too.

More Catch Up

Okay so then there was Thanksgiving. I haven't really written anything, because it's a very very long story and most of you have heard it, but here it goes . . .


So like the weekend before Thanksgiving, Brent and I went out on the boat on the Roanoke River up out of Williamston.

It was GORGEOUS. Chilly, no fish biting, but gorgeous.

On Monday, Brent took the boat out in Washington, and put out at Haven's Gardens and was heading up river and the motor died. He had to row back about two miles - maybe - to get back to the ramp - all of this happening of course while I was in school. He came home and figured out that it was a wiring connection, and the motor worked great after that.

Then on Tuesday he went out and decided he'd go up Tranter's Creek as far as he could. And I worked. And I was tired when I got home so I tried to take a nap. TRIED . . .

Because as soon as I got in the bed, ring ring ring. And of course I didn't have the phone. I decided to just let the machine get it, but as soon as the machine started it was Brent talking into the phone about how I had to get up and come get him cause he was tied up somewhere because the boat stopped working - blah blah blah

Called him back on my cell - which I DID have in the bed with me. Found out where he was. Got dressed. Went and got him. Luckily this time he had engine problems on the backside of a campground, so he could tie up on the bulkhead.

Now. You may be shaking your head sadly at my plight now - or at his - or you may be quickly coming up with the same question I did - How in the HELL are we going to get that boat back to the ramp to get it out of the water.

WELL . . .

Brent has this other boat he's been sorta working on to sell. And it was sorta ready to be tested out, so his plan was to take boat number 2 out to pick up boat number 1.

mmhmmm

mhmmmmX2

Needless to say boat number two never made it. We were actually lucky to be able to get it tied to boat number one. And then I about died trying to figure out how we were going to get any of these things out of the water. Luckily it was winter, and the campers weren't all there, so no one was complaining about two derelict boats tied to their bulkhead. So . . . (these three dots represent me getting all pissed about the whole situation and contemplating filing for divorce on the grounds of broken ass boats - breathe in - breathe out)

SOOOOOOO - SeaTow said we'll come get you for $300. I said UM NO. Then magically I remembered CHRISTIE AND CHARLES ARE BOAT PEOPLE! THEY WILL SAVE MY MARRIAGE! and you know what? I called Christie, she called Charles, he came with a boat, and we got the boats back to the dock and on trailers.

Worst part - When I was climbing from one boat to another and one foot was going out left and one foot was going out right and I told Brent I hated him at that moment.

Best part - walking back from loading boat number one, I was walking down a hill and Charles - and Latham - were sitting on their boat waiting for me - and Charles looked at me and said "Are we having fun yet?" and I said "You know what . . ." and slipped and fell and got muddy as hell, and laughed my ass off, stood up, cussed like I am sure Latham has never heard, and then looked at Charles and said, "If this boat sinks under me, we're going to let that SOB stay there."

So both boats came home and as the weather is warming up, Brent's getting the chapparal (i am so sure that is not correctly spelled) ready to go back out. Little does he know the only boat I will ever get on again with him is a cruise ship - MAYBE - - - -

And that was our intro to Thanksgiving. Needless to say I spent the rest of my holiday RESTING.

Help Me, Ninja Librarian!

This is hilarious. At least to me. Be sure to watch the bagman's facial expressions change!

November . . .

Well, November came in, I should take a few moments now to introduce you all to Keenan.

Mary has a new man in her life. His name is Keenan, and he meets the seal of approval from the family. He's really nice, and they seem to care a lot about each other, and he's good to the boys, so he's alright by Brent and me.

Here's a shot of him and Mary from Daddy's birthday -

October

Well after Hunter's Birthday, October went by fairly quietly. ECU football began to suck terribly, and we had some guys come over and fix the roof where our intrepid roofers from last spring did not fix the chimney which resulted in a leak. Needless to say we have learned a lesson there.

Halloween was pretty cool - the nephews all dressed up - Hunter didn't trick or treat but he had a cool costume - Brent helped Mary put Riley's together - and Colin, well he LOVES Mario . . .

My sincerest apologies. . .

After being fussed at last weekend by both Rob and Todd, I am going to make an effort over the next twenty-four hours to update this blog.

I shall be posting some pics and stories about Thanksgiving and Christmas and I suppose NYE, and if I don't hurry, Valentine's Day as well. :\

So here we go . . .

OMG when did I get this old?

Well, Hunter turned 14 on Monday. Yes. FOURTEEN. Mmmhmm. He's been on this Earth fourteen years. I have been an Aunt for fourteen years. GEEZUS.

He's as tall as I am now. His fingers are longer, which means he's still got lots of growing to do. AND his voice is dropping - *clutches heart* - I'm just not ready. LOL

(Side note to my mother - glad you could make it this long - I know you never thought you'd see him go to kindergarten . . .*rolls eyes*)

So here we are - albeit sideways - singing to him at his party Mary had on Sunday at her house.

When I said I wanted to see the water for the weekend . . .

Well, for our anniversary, I had this whole trip planned for last weekend to go to Ocracoke and stay a night and then to Hatteras for Saturday and drive up to Manteo and then back in or spend the night in Nags Head.



Well . . .



Not so much. The rain fell . . . and fell . . . and fell . . .



And the water rose . . . and rose . . .



You get the drift.



Well here is a short video of what we figured out was water in the AC vents under our house. Sounds like lapping waves, so I guess we sorta got to hear the ocean.





The insurance man (thank GOD I have flood insurance) isn't sure if it is covered or not - the whole - replacing of the AC vents, etc. So we're in limbo waiting for an answer - meanwhile on my to do list - call and lower our deductibles on home insurance.

OMG and THIS is funny too . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WD_QMWba-A

FYI - I am becoming a YouTube Junkie!

(getting ready to go sleep in the woods tonight - say a prayer folks!)

Why I find these things funny, I do not know.

LOVE IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Well tomorrow I have my annual Dr. Kronke visit. Good old Dr. K gets to check my girlie parts out to be sure that what is there is SUPPOSED to be there. Always an interesting visit, but we're gonna hope nothing comes of it.

Can't leave his office without worrying til I get the card - but anywho - Brent and I will be off to Rocky Mount in the afternoon and then heading to the movies after to hopefully see "The Expendables" in GVegas.

Will let you know how it all comes out . . .

And the old man adds another candle to the cake . . .

A lovely party was held last Wednesday at the Big House for Daddy (remember - pronounced Dead-eeeee). Gary turned 69, which is the same number as the year I was born, just a neat side note for me.

Griswold family photo time . . .
The guests included my sister and nephews and her new "friend" who seems to be alright - I mean, anyone that can keep up with all of us and not run screaming from the house has to be alright - right? Brent says that he can't wait to actually get to talk to him - apparently there wasn't much of a chance for them to chat with Daddy around.

So here are a few pics of the event. And if I can get blogger to work - some fabulous video footage - lol - -

and now for some HORRIBLE singing - (don't say I didn't warn you)

[What I would like for you to REALLY notice is that my FOURTEEN YEAR OLD nephew is as tall as his grandpaw in this video. GEEZUS]

Football Season Begins

Today, yes Sunday, is the first ECU game. Getting ready to go. Gonna sit in the new purple seats that aren't wide enough for my behind - but we'll see how it goes.

They play Tulsa at 2 pm, and it's being televised on ESPN2.

Go PIRATES!

Southern customs and funerals . . .

Well, I guess something big has happened. My Aunt Jo Ann, my mother's sister, who turned 71 in July, died on Saturday the 14th. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years, not since the last funeral, and it was not an expected death, so the family is taking it hard as can be expected.

They had only a graveside service, and it was short and nice, which is good as it was at 11 on a 90 degree day. They did not have a visitation, and that leads me to what I really wanted to talk about.

When did people stop doing "what's right"? I suppose they didn't have a visitation because of the cost, or they didn't think anyone would show up, I don't know. But it's like a southern tradition that when someone dies, you give em an hour or two the night before the funeral to celebrate them. Give everyone that wants to a chance to come in, hug the family, tell em how sorry you are for their loss, and then talk with friends and family about the person who has died and his or her life. My aunt lived a long life, retired from one job and then worked another. She had friends, heck she had a rather large extended family. And people can come to a 6 o'clock visitation that can't come to an 11 am funeral.

I'm not saying draw something out or anything, but a little respect for a long life, please. *shrugs* I don't know. Something. I don't know. Just reminds me that I belong to a different time. Should've been born in the 40's I think.

And a month later . . .

Sorry - nothing really big to report - went to the beach - spent money right and left on things - lots of stuff to report - more to come soon -

Good Wednesday Morning from [DOOK]

Sorry - actually was too busy yesterday to post. ALICE is very interesting, and the assignment we had yesterday took most of my free time.


This campus is really covered with beautiful stone work - buildings, retaining walls, steps, etc. It's like twenty million different levels. I'm taking lots of pictures for no reason at all with my phone, just to get ideas of architectural elements. May be doing some building in Second Life similar to these structures.


Now for the people in my class. They all seem very dedicated to education. There are about eighteen of us in here, and miraculously there appears to only be like five younger than I am. That has to be like the biggest surprise of all. I really expected to walk in here and find a room full of young teachers excited about learning this new program to share with their students. (Which makes me wonder what all those young'uns are doing.)

AND two people drove in from NEW YORK. NEW YORK (just felt like it was worthy of being repeated, let alone in all capitals). AND two people flew in from St. Louis. ST. LOUIS. And finally - one professor from NCCU. So it's really fascinating to listen to them talk about stuff. Different aspects, different ways schools are managed.

Of course I am the only librarian in the bunch, excuse me, media coordinator. Everyone else teaches computers. Or science.

And there are several student helpers here too. Some college, some high school. The thing about this is that it's very well planned out. The instructors (some of the helpers are teaching as well) all are very good at what they do, and should someone have a question, the person with the question raises their hand or calls out and one of the other helpers comes over to help instead of the instructor stopping. Wouldn't it be nice if this was how we could run stuff in real schools. Have a helper in each class to step in when the teacher was instructing to have continuous instruction and have students get help at the same time.

My biggest fear for this class was that I would be the slowest one - but not a problem. I'm middle of the pack I think.

Okay, so that's enough for now. More tomorrow.

Duke Bathrooms

Dear God - what a move for the University to make - FABULOUS -

Coated to protect against germs!

And so enters JULY

July began with a very nice Sunday spent on Baker Hill in Franklinton. Brent and I had "procured" fireworks, and he and Charlie put on an excellent show for us that night. We ate shrimp, steaks, salads, ice cream, brownies, ooo my belly hurts thinking about all the food we ate. LOL

Then I went to the beach for a day - finally - got a little burnt in spots the sunscreen didn't apparently REACH - but all in all a good day. I had forgotten how much I love swimming in the ocean. Which reminds me - if you ever go to Ft. Macon at Atlantic Beach - DO take advantage of the shower house - it's free - and you can go in, change, take a cold shower, and use the bathrooms. It makes the ride home so much more pleasant - REALLY.

That brings us up to my birthday. \o/ YAY - Who isn't excited to have survived 41 years on this planet? Very quiet birthday - lots of friends wished me a happy one, went to the big house so that my nephews, sister, parents, and old Brent could eat ice cream with me. (will post pictures of this tomorrow) Then Brent and I went out to eat and came home and that was about that - lol.

And so now I am here - at Duke University - taking a week long course in a program called Alice - and THAT is going to hopefully give me lots of fuel for posts - I already have a lovely picture (well two) to share next - and of course more info on what this whole ALICE thing is - :)

Looking sooooooooo forward to sharing.

Where did June go?

Well, sadly, I have no idea where June went. There was the end of school which took until the freaking 16th - YES - the 16th -

And then there was Mary and Neil for a little bit to distract me - call me for details . . .

Then Brent and I went to Myrtle Beach at the end of June for two days so that Brent could help Sally find a car. Toyota Camry - excellent deal - and we got to stay for free thanks to Jim and Caroline, so WOOT! (Although, and Brent will whole heartedly support me on this, we have not lost a THING in MB. Too much traffic, too much noise, too many people. We are old grumps, aren't we?)

We did stop on the way back from MB to see Todd. Brent got to see the house, and I got to see the improvements Todd has done so far - and my bathroom so far looks FABULOUS. Todd is an excellent interior decorator and contractor. LOL

So that brought us to the end of June. Sounds really easy and simple, and guess what, it was - woot.

Updates are COMING!

Well, I will have time this week to do some updates for those of you that keep checking and are tired of the calla lilies.

Tired of calla lilies? OMG! No way!?!? Who could ever get tired of GORGEOUS callas?

Okay Okay -

So expect some updates this week . . .