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..