The Baby Announcement

This was sent with Christmas Cards. Yuppers The Old man is gonna be a grandpa --- The baby will be here in July some time.....

Shell - being blond called and told us cause she got her card first, said it's either a baby or an alien. So that's how we found out we were gonna be grandparents.

We would of had our card earlier this week with the photo but seems that the post office closes 2 hours every day for lunch - of course it's the same time that I take my lunch so i couldn't get my package till today and I was off.

Shell is at Nicole's right now, Neal had surgery today (yeah on Christmas Eve) and so she went to help out. He had mouth surgery, which should make him look "special" in the Christmas Photos.

We're heading there tomorrow - well actually in a few hours. we're not staying long cause we figure Neal isn't really gonna want to have company there while he's drugged and out of it. But him being drugged doesn't keep him offline. He still logs in and sends encrypted messages that takes some time to figure out -

Last weekend I had my 1st weekend without Internet. Seems they did an upgrade that didn't go as planned and we were offline all weekend. It was the longest weekend I've had in a long time. Tom didn't care till the cable went out then during the 1st quarter of the football game. For the way that the Steelers played in the 2nd half, it should of stayed out for the whole game. But now everything is back to normal and I don't have to go to the free docks in the city for the free Internet.

Boodles got toys and chewy bones for Christmas. So far she has buried 2 of them outside. You would think that this dog never eats or gets fed. She is always burying something. She only had half a day at doggy day care, they said she was whining the whole time she didn't want to stay today. I went and picked her up since I was off. Friday I'm stuck with her all day. Joy....

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

More photos from Shell and the Outer Banks

Shell and Deanna at Lost Colony - They were on Stage Hamming it up.


Storm looking Innocent.



Shell had to have her pictures taken here.




Shell and Deanna at the Lost Colony.





Light House on in Manteo

Shell

No need for alarms here, the dogs got up early and started playing. On top of sleeping people.

They just jump right over everyone. They don't care who was trying to sleep.

The Grave Digger at their garage.

Shell infront of something.

Shell infront of Dirty Dicks Crab House Restuarant

Shell at Dirty Dicks.

Shell in the big chair at Ace's Hardware.

The newest style in sunglasses.

We did have a blast this weekend.

Shell Came to Visit This weekend

Shell and her friend Deanna came to spend the weekend with us. She just now left to go back home. She brought the dog, which pissed off Boodles. In case you may not be aware Boodles is very spoiled and doesn't like another dog trying to take the spotlight.

So you can say Boodles was pissed that she had to share her space with another dog.


First thing Boodles did was take Shell's dog on a Store Tour. They broke out of the boat and went shopping at the store. Yup, that's the first place that they went shopping at the store. Shell ran after then and caught them in the store. They didn't break anything but went visiting at the store. These two are something together. We are lucky to still have storm with us, seems she almost got killed at Nicole's house by jumping over the railing from the loft to the foyer. Lucky for the dog she was caught before she went the whole way over. That is a long drop.

We went to the outer Banks again. Visited Kitty Hawk, Kills Devil Hills and Some Light Houses. We also stopped at the Lost Colony And Fort Raleigh. The thing me and Shell like about that place is how strange the trees grow there, They are bent in many different shapes, only at the Lost Colony Area, no where else on Manteo. It's really cool. We did take many pictures. Over the weekend, we took over 700 photos.

We passed this on the Outer Banks.

This is the close up of the sign in the front yard.

Now this sign points to this house:

This is a close up of the house. Seems that real Estate on the Outer Banks is kind of high.

Michelle saw this horse and wanted her picture taken with it. I had my photo taken with it a few weeks ago on one of my trips out there.

We stopped at Bodie Light House and took many pictures there. We spent some time there.

This is Shell at Manteo. It was near another light house there.

This was downtown Manteo. It was pretty, till we noticed that the tree is leaning at the top.

Bodie Light House.

On our way to Bodie light house we saw this little deer. It wasn't scared of the car he was eating along side of the road. There was a smaller deer with this one, but he was scared of the car and took off running when we tried to get a picture of him.

This was one of the many squirrells at Lost Colony. They were all over the place there.

Michelle infront of the Stage at Lost Colony. This is where they perform the nightly shows during the summer.

They have this Huge chair in front of ACE hardware out there. Shell climbed on it for pictures.

She tries on hats to see which style looked the best on her.

Saturday they took my metal detector to the beach. They found less than I did when I took it. She actually looks more like a blind person with a walking cane than a treasure hunter.

After a long day she finally crashed in a comfy chair.

While she was here she picked up my laptop from Neal's so now I got my laptop and I'm happy. Shame she wouldn't let me stay home today to play with it. They dragged me all over the Island out there.

No we're not decorating the boat for Christmas!

Last week they had the Christmas parade we didn't go cause it was cold and raining. Actually they had the Christmas parade at night, and then the boat Christmas parade on the river. This must of been one of the sailboats in the parade, It came in today. It did look cute. I wonder who climbed the ropes to hang the lights..... But it's down at the end, Tom didn't see it, (even though it's about 30 feet in the air) for ALL to see, he missed it - go figure. We're not decorating. I'm not even gonna try to put up a tree, I figure it won't fit through the door anyhow.

The front of the Sail Boat

We probably will be in Raleigh. We all played the guilt card with Neal and Nicole since they went out for Thanksgiving, and we all planned on going there. Hey you know gotta play the cards when you can.

So they have invited us all up there for Christmas. I'm off for 5 days, but Tom has to work on Friday. Of course doggy-day care is closed Christmas eve and the day after Christmas while Tom works, I'll be stuck with Whiny-ass. I'm thrilled. So much for my 'vacation'.

If your not on Nicole's Christmas list this year, be thankful. This year she is giving out Student loans which includes payments. I already got ours. Somehow, I think this is a gift to herself not actually for the recipients. But...... she has a ton of loans from school, and this works well for her. If you want to be on her list, shoot her off an email, she has enough loans to go around.

For those who miss these wonderful shots, Tom called me on Monday to see what I was making for lunch... He never comes home for lunch.. I got excited thinking 'newlywed times'....... ya know... meeting me home for afternoon delight.. that thought lasted till I saw his pants. Seems that they ripped while he was at work, and he needed to come home and change - figured he would wait till Lunch so I could make him lunch while I was home and he could change his pants. I hate men.



Doggy Updates:

Last week he sent me to the store to find a doggy-bed for the little spoiled brat. If you haven't priced doggy beds, they're outrageous. The one he liked was about 80 bucks. screw that... I went to the kids section got her a cheap blanket and tossed it on the floor. she doesn't like it. It even says Little Princess on the blanket, Maybe I should of bought the matching pillow.

He's upset that the dog is losing her 'girlish' figure. Actually his exact words were "your getting fat- your looking like mommy'...... Now this comment is from a guy that has the same body-shape as Santa. He will brag that he wears the same same jeans as he did when we got married.... Yes he was wearing 40-36's when we got married.. Only now he wears 40-32's. Notice that the length is getting shorter cause he now wears his jeans UNDER his belly..... but yeah, the waist size is still the same... And no he's NOT getting shorter.

Even the Vet says the dog is gaining weight. Maybe from the Ice Cream sandwich he buys her nightly, or the sausage biscuit with a side order of beef jerky she has in the mornings....... But he thinks I need to walk her more at night. We are walking about 2 miles a day after work, several of us from work walk - I can assure you that when I come home walking the dog is out of the question for me.

Kid updates:

Michelle is still working and driving fast. I believe this week she will get a mailbox full of letters from attorneys to help fight her latest speeding ticket. Seems that she got nailed for speeding last week on her way to her friends house.

Nicole and Neal have been keeping busy. We don't get to talk to them as much as we would like. She went to a baby shower last week, it was held at a bar. (how redneck is that?).

Weather:

It's been cold here except at work. Which I consider Hell with florescent lights. The temperature is right for Hell. In fact the office is nothing but middle age women who are all going through different stages of the Change of Life. You can't even choose one to be the head Devil there... It depends on which day on who is worse. We all are wearing short sleeve shirts and running fans all day. Today it was about 96 degrees in there, It makes for a long hot day. In fact tomorrow I am wearing a summer shirt with Capri's. I will be cold heading into work, but should be comfy during the day.

The back heater keeps throwing the breakers, we don't know if there is a problem ( I know there is, but 'we' don't)... with the heater or not, so we don't use that one anymore till he looks at it. I figure about July he will get to look at it. You know you can't rush him.

Today I got my 1st ride in the police car in the front seat! No hand cuffs - they didn't read me my rights before entering the car.... Just a ride to the bank. It felt weird. I had to take the deposit to the bank after work. I was thrilled to do it. Let me tell you. Monday I have to appear in court for taking a bad check at work. again the thrill is there. Just what I wanted to do. They called me on the phone today and told me that I have to appear. I think I already pissed them off. (shocker).. All i did was ask? "wow you have more than one court room?" After all the courthouse for the Federal is upstairs of the post office. There are no metal detectors going into the courthouse, the magistrate is opened 8-5 Monday - Friday. But they do have more than one courtroom.... Thrilled.

Ice? I hate winter

Ice on the water...



Water had ice on it...


ok while family members in PA won't sympathize with us, I hate cold weather. Hell we were in the 30's this morning.. Had to leave my nice warm comfy place to go outside to go to work.. Which wasn't a good day for me today... I should of stayed in my nice warm cozy place away from arrogant councilwomen.... who fricking think that the world revolves around her stupid ass....

Anyhow we went outside, I nearly fell into the water cause seems Tom didn't bring it to my attention that the doc was slick.... After all, if I would of fell in the water, it would of been a good show... Actually - for as bad as my day went it probably would of been a good idea and I would of had a better day getting in the freezing water.

So I had to go out and start the vehicles to get the ice and frost off the vehicles. Cause we're in the south now, we don't own Ice Scrapers anymore. There is no need. Places close in bad weather cause I figure it's easier to close places when it snows then to try and teach stupid people to drive in the winter. But then, since we thrive on accidents, and how we have made our living all these years, I wish every stupid people would drive in bad weather.

Tom and the car came home from Florida on Monday. He started out on Sunday, but didn't make it home, he stopped in SC for the night. Seems that there were so many people on the road that didn't know how to drive that there was a ton of accidents plus it was raining. He Towed the car (nicknamed CarZilla) and felt safer towing during the day. Which was fine. I got to spend another night alone with Spoiled Brat and had to take her to Doggy Daycare before I went to work. Now wearing black dress pants and taking a hairy beast in your vehicle doesn't work well together.

So what's next for Carzilla? We're gonna finish it, then take it Carlise PA in the spring. We have never had this much problems selling a vehicle. We think that it's too expensive for people who know how to fix them, and too much left for people that don't know how to do it. So we need to finish it which actually isn't a whole lot of work left to do, just finding a place to do it is the problem now....... its always something.

For those who wait.. I will not disappoint you....

We had to change out a battery tonight..
We run our lights off of the battery..
It's dark when we get home..

So he unplugged the battery, and ZAPPO no lights to see...

Once we got the flashlight we got the job done quickly.... But sometimes planning - or lack of planning can get in the way of a quick job... Gotta love him..

We Got Snow.....

Woke up this morning to snow. Now since we had a hose bust in the hot water tank, I have to go to the bath-house to take a shower in the morning... Usually since it's so early I will run across in my Winnie-The-Pooh Lime Greeen Jammies... (which I may say I look adorable in).... Today, I ran across the dock quickly to get out of the snow. At least with the snow it was warmer.... Notice in the 1st picture that one vehicle is started and getting warm while the other was still unstarted and waiting for me to quit taking photos. Yup he did that to me.. he started HIS but not Mine...

But that's ok.. He has leather seats in his, which are cold as snot in the mornings... I know this for a fact cause usually I am the one starting the vehicles to get them warmed up while he walks the dog..

In case you were wondering, we got about an inch - school didn't close (they close them if they have fog, but not snow???)

Wednesday night we are off to Daytona for The Turkey Run car show. Its gonna be in the 40's here or 70's there, so yeah, me and boodles are going too.... I am off Thrusday and Friday so we thought that we would go with him. Shell is going to a friends, Nicole and Neal are heading to Charlotte, so there is no one to cook for us..... And since they still refer to my Turkey Dinner as Birdzilla, I won't cook on Turkey Day...

Hopefully the car sells the 1st day, and we can go to Disney World... Poochie will have to go to doggy day care there for the day... Since he won't leave her at the doggy day care here for a few days.

I am still taking Chantix to quit smoking.... it's making me so sick... I feel like throwing up all the time. But the good news is... It is working for me. Its not too bad, but still uncomfortable feeling.

A boo-boo

Hey, It's not me with the Boo-Boo... It's Him this time.

I had the day off yesterday, Tom decided (well he was forced) to take the day off today. He was unable to go out in the sun and had to stay in a dark place all day.

Yesterday he was welding and got welder's burn in his eyes. he woke me up at 11ish to go to the store to get him a potato for his eyes. They did really look bad. Of course the store was closed but they were still up there, so they told me I could have it free if I could spell potato correctly, and not the Dan Quail way.... The potato costed me 59 cents.

So 11:15pm he's back to sleeping and snoring, I on the other hand was up till 2am cause I couldn't go back to sleep...

So him and the dog stayed home all day I came home for lunch and put the dog out and she stayed outside till Tyler came home from school and brought her in for Tom.

His eyes are still red and swollen, so I don't know if he will be back to work tomorrow or not...

Ok I can't stand it- You know... His theory on why he got welder's flash in his eyes? It isn't the obvious answer - which is he didn't have the helmet on while welding.... (which a pretty accurate guess would be that would be the ONLY reason you get welders flash)..

His reason? He got new glasses on Monday, and they magnified the light from welding.... WTF?

Now can you even wear glasses under a welding helmet? I honestly can't remember, but damn he was home all day, he had time to think of a better reason than that one.

Anyhow he's back sleeping. I'm learning if I feed him good he will fall asleep early and stay out of my hair for the night. Since it's getting dark earlier it's boring at nights anymore. It's dark by the time I get home at 6pm and that really sucks. But the last thing that i need is him bothering me all night. Actually by 9pm we are both usually asleep.

He still hasn't decided if he is going to go to Florida over Turkey Day for the Car show there. I'm off 5 days, and could go with him. I don't think the car will sell till probably Spring. There is a car show in Raleigh this weekend, but it's $100 to get the car in the car corral and they only have about 5000 over the weekend.... That's pretty expensive for an Iffy time to sell a car.... So we don't know what we are going to do. I know he doesn't drive it much unlike the other cars that he owned. Me? Hell you know you he won't let me near it at all.

Quitting Smoking Day 1

Well it didn't happen yet. Still smoking but I did start my prescription of Chantix. So hopefully I will be smokefree in a few weeks. They say the side effects can cause you to have weird dreams.... But hell I had them when I quit smoking before so we will see. Besides I live with Tom and the dog, weird dreams and weird real life is the norm here.

I was peacefully sleeping when Tom woke me up because he needed a raw potato for his eyes. Seems he was welding again without that helmet on. Or for some reason he got welder's burn. Of course I didn't have any and had to walk to the store to get one. Now an hour later he's sleeping like a snoring baby, and I'm wide awake...

I went to the Dr's today. Gotta love small town doctors. I got my prescription to quit smoking, told him I thought I was a dietabetic, thought I would be getting a prescription for that too, but instead he said I was doing well without it - and to check back in a few weeks and update him on my progress....

HUH? that's it... your not going to give me information on it? set me up with a nutrition doctor? give me a blood test to see if I was telling you the truth? WTF...... I do need to go for blood work. Seems they don't do it in the office. You have to go to the Lab at the hospital. Which I will do Saturday Morning. The lab there is open 24/7. The Doctor office was a downstairs of an old house, they had exam rooms on the 1st and 2nd floor. They even gave someone a flu shot in the waiting room while I was waiting to see the doctor.... I didn't see the horse and buggy outside but I bet there was one for when he had to go on a house call.

The scale to weigh me on was a bathroom scale, they didn't take my tempature, they did take my blood pressure... I guess I am used to modern doctors that get all your vitals when you go in to visit. They do the blood work right there in the office... Hell my last doctor even had an x-ray machine there to take x-rays.

But I did get the prescription that I asked for. Thankfully I did my research before I went in, cause he didn't ask me any questions about my background, or health. The good news is I lost 27 pounds since Sept. I have been walking daily with a girl that I work with.

Tom got new glasses yesterday. He can finally see again. He broke his glasses about a week ago, and had to wear his old glasses that didn't have bi-focals. Of course somehow it ended up being my fault he broke them (?).. go figure,

He wasn't happy that he had to go to work today and I had the day off cause of Veterns day. But him and boodles left at their usual time. At least he didn't try to stick me with the dog today.

COOL PICTURE:

Some things you just couldn't make up on your own....

When we walk, we go past this store. Yes this is inside the building attached to the wall. It wasn't from a wreck, but done on purpose. Guess its for a tailgate party????? Not a clue why it is there, but it's pretty cool looking I guess.

The Weekend update

amazily on Halloween we didn't get one trick or treater...I told Tom to watch for the kids when they came out with their customes on but I dont think he did. I think he ate the candy instead.

Actually I guess that's ok, cause we were asleep early. Tom's been sick all week with the sniffles and he's been in bed about 7pm every night this week. He went to work every day but he has felt like crap all week... And CRABBY!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how crabby he has been.

Yesterday we went to vote. We've been registed for several years but never voted this year we decided to go vote. the process was really quite simple.

we had to go to a booth to vote, where they had a notice saying that you couldnt be on a cell phone while voting, but we both shared the booth, they said that was ok and that's where they sent us- your allowed to have more than one in the booth and chitchat and help each other but not talk on the phone...... go figure.... And we talked cause he broke his glasses and the old pair he has been wearing doesnt have bifocals, and he couldnt see...

The "I TOLD YOU SO" Moment

Tom worked on the boat all day... He changed out the battery wires, and everything the engibes wouldn't start.... And with gas being so low right now we wanted to go out and play.... He is sick, and crabby - so when i asked if the battery was dead, he got pissed....... Well to me when it clicks when your try to start it, it means dead batteries..... Two guys came over because witout the battery working we had no lights, can't flush the toilet.... They came to the conclusion that the battery was dead...... He changed battery and everything is fine..... Seems that men need other men to tell them what the wife already knew..

What would a post be without some kind of Kid Drama:

Right now it's like 4:45am on Sunday Morning. No usually I don't get up this early on weekends, even for the dog. But the cell phones ringing at 4.15am woke me up. Nurses don't care what time they call people from the ER room.... Shell is fine - seems her and her boyfriend attended a party last night where drinking was involved and he over drank. The nurse wouldn't tell me much more than that. Other than my daughter is ok and she found a cell phone and they're trying to get ahold of his family. Shell adds so much drama in one's life. This isn't the 1st time that the ER has called us in the middle of the night with her. At least shell and them were smart enough to have one person not drinking who had enough sense to take this person to the hospital. But she will still need to get the lecture when she sobers up.... no sense trying to talk to her now, she's not real sober herself right now.

Update: Shell's friend is fine he had alcohol poisioning. After they pumped his stomach and got the alcohol out of him, they released him several hours later. Still--- what a night.

Trying to find a doctor in HellTown.

I gota phone number from a girl at work for a doctor, I need refills on my medicine (back to weekend headaches)..... So I called them and they interviewed me then said they will call me back if they decide to take me as a patient????? its like WTF.... They want my records from my old doctor BEFORE i go there, needed my address, my employer name address, supervisors name, insurance information..... I'm like you know what - this may be a short interview for you, but I don't want you as a doctor...... So I'm off to search for another doctor. One that appriciates having patients.. I hate small towns... Espeically when everyone seems to be related to each other. They don't trust people from the outside. Till I find a doctor, It's advil to the rescue. Knowing my luck that would be the only doctor in town that takes my insurance, I will have to go to Virginia for a doctor.

What's on the adgenda for today? Tom is back to his batteries, I get to clean and finish my website that I started on Friday. Then its dinner with Boodles' adopted family. Seems she feels neglected at times and has a backup family just incase. They fish and she loves them to death. So we are going to dinner with them. Oh and shell did buy me a new camera, gotta load the software for it and download the pictures to the computer. it's been 2 weeks and I still haven't done that.... talk about a slacker....

Judy Gets A New Toy!

Ahhh It's my turn to get a toy...

I went and bought a metal detector and headed off to the beach on Friday while I was off. I couldn't of picked a better day to do this. It was cold, windy and raining lightly.



The salesman at Radio shack assured me that I would find valuable things since this area is rich with old history... (lol like there is new history) -- but anyhow I bought it ( I didn't buy his story though) just knowing that I would find the next great treasure.... Well ok I knew I wouldn't find anything big, but hey I would be able to get out walking more...and that would help me lose more weight.....

So the beach was cold and me and Susie about froze to death while the waves sprayed water on us so that we could be encased in ice...... We walked and the little gem of a machine went off we found something after only 10 minutes. Of course we dug it up, and found a rusty old sandy nail... Big whoop....


But we were still hopeful... we got another beep down the beach away- we dug it up with the dollar store slotted spoon - and before we got to our treasure the waves came in (which we weren't paying attention to) and got my little itty bitty tooties wet....... then it covered up the hole we scooped out..... So we gave up....


Loot of the day: One Rusty nail...

What do we do after we gave up at the beach? LOL this is good--- you know I got the metal detector so I would walk more and lose weight.... I did walk with it.. I walked to the truck and we drove our happy asses to the pizza palace for lunch....

Even though the box says light weight metal detector, after about 23 feet of walking with it - it started getting heavier.... I don't think Tom would have problems with it, cause he exercises his arms, lifting weights daily.... Sometimes as much as 12 ounces at a time! I don't lift weight, except for what my fork can hold.




I think I would have better luck if I would just follow drunks around here and get the change that they drop.
Actually... we will go back out after the next storm and its warmer outside.... There are alot of Civil war fields around here so we may try that also. If nothing else it will find the screws and bolts that Tom drops and have us searching for.....


Tom was gone since Thursday to another carshow. He took the car along so that it would move from it's parking spot and get to see some of the country. I think that car is attached to us. No one wants to buy it - We never had this much problems getting rid of a car before, I will be glad when the economy turns around and someone buys this car.

I was stuck at home with ms. Whiney-Ass dog again. She adopted a "daddy-subsitute" while he was gone. Mitch sits and fishes beside us when he's not working, he made a little spot for her so she could lay beside him. So that is what she did all weekend. Lay there and watched him fish. She was nice and content doing that all weekend. I even got a chance to get a nap in. She laid there for hours just watching and waiting for him to catch a fish. His luck was about as good as ours with the metal detector, so she mostly just saw the bait fish and not much else. But that worked out well for me, she was content, and I was rid of her for a few hours each day.




So tonight is the end of my 4 day weekend. Tomorrow it's back to work and whiney ass people all day. These days went by fast. I kept busy while Tom was gone, I re-organized the boat. That took all of 15 minutes since there isn't much you can do in here. But it was still better than being at work. Hell some days going to the dentist is better than being at work.