Scary!!

Charles Barkley was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk. When I first saw his mug shot, I had to quickly avert my eyes. My first thought was "Damn!!". No TV makeup and being drunk can make a person look like they just crawled out from under a rock!!

He'brew

Just had to share...

Mike got a gift certificate from a client to Wine Maestro, a local store in Statesville. Instead of buying wine, he bought 5 different kinds of obscure beer. The funniest one was a beer called He'brew, The Chosen Beer.

As the label says:

Why is this beer different than other beers? As commanded, we at He'brew have been fruitful and multiplied our offerings. Tradition teaches that the Messiah's name is Shalom-Peace. With your first sip of this rich, dark, and delicious libation, we hope to offer a momentary taste of microbrewed bliss. If you feel the sudden urge to beat your swords into ploughshares (Isaiah 2:4) or to picnic with the lion and the lamb (Is. 11:6)...Rejoice!!! Now our award winning brewers can't claim supernatural powers - simply a fanatical commitment to brewing world class beers: A truly scrumptious mitzvah (good deed)! Through the new millennium and beyond, may your cups runneth over with the blessing of great beer and great shtick. To the Future! To a Bold Life! L'Chaim!

I thought this was just hilarious!!

Christmas Day

Well, we thought, one family Christmas gathering just wasn't enough, why not do two!! On Christmas Day we had the Ford Family to the house for our usual Christmas lunch. Since I was the host this year, that meant that I had the 'opportunity' to provide the meat. I was nervous, but really, how bad could I mess up a pre-cooked spiral cut ham?!?! The ham turned out fine and everyone else brought a side dish and dessert. The food was great. I especially loved the candied yams that Susan made. After dinner, we opened presents. I really loved my gifts!! Mike has a reputation of taping every inch of Annette's present, so it's impossible to get into. Kathy got him back this year. She wrapped his present with duct tape. Ha Ha!!! Thanks everyone!! Then Robert and Annette and I took the dogs for a walk. We needed to walk off lunch so we could eat more dessert!!! Isn't that really what exercise is all about!!!

Little did I know, but Susan and Joe had to leave. Poor Joe was not feeling well at all. I hate that we didn't have more time to visit. I talk to or email Susan regularly, but we don't get a lot of face to face time :(. Also, Kathy and Reiggin split during my walk too (maybe the ham wasn't as good as I thought). They needed to go to Reiggin's parents house to visit. I was sad to not get more time with my adorable niece Virginia. I'm sure Kathy was relieved though. I have no kids of my own, so my kid handling skills leave a little to be desired...but I haven't dropped her yet!!

Long story short, I didn't get any pictures of Susan and Kathy. You'll just have to take my word for it that they were there. However, I really enjoyed the opportunity to visit with my Aunt and Uncle, Robert and Annette as well as Mom and Dad and Grandma and Pa. These are the pics...anyone notice any themes with the pictures...all are with the fireplace as a backdrop! I promise to have more 'natural' pictures next year.

Robert and Annette...what a cute couple!!

My adorable and sweet, sweet Grandma and Pa!

And finally, Mom and Dad. I didn't want to break the camera so I took a far away shot. I kid because I love!!!

We loved having everyone over and we look forward to having everyone over again soon!!

Christmas Eve

Since this was our first Christmas in our new house, we wanted to host the annual Wike Family gathering on Christmas Eve. Mike's mom is the usual host of the Christmas Eve party, but she was gracious enough to defer to us for this year. She was also gracious enough to supply the vast majority of the food. I think she was really just scared of what we'd end up with if it was left entirely up to me!! :) The usual suspects were here (Mike's sister and her family, his aunt, his uncle and his family, and one of his cousins and his wife). Conspicuously absent was my niece's fake boyfriend...'he had to work!" Sure, whatever!!! Brandon, my nephew, brought over his Wii and it was the hit of the party. We really had fun playing. I bet here were some folks with sore bowling shoulders on Christmas Day. As usual, everyone was more than generous in their gift giving. We really feel blessed to have such a loving family...we love you all!!! Here are the highlights:

Ashleigh was very excited to get this jacket from her Nana!!

Mike's Mom and Dad and his aunt Linda.

Our nephew Brandon and his sweet girlfriend, Joni.

Brandon wanted, and got, an electric drill. We really don't know why he wanted the drill?

Straight From Texas

Well, meet the newest member of the family. We are now the proud owners of THREE cars.Why we need three cars you may ask...I really don't know, ask Mike!

It all started last Sunday when Mike started reading on some online forum about a Chrysler dealership in Dallas, Texas that was practically 'giving away' Crossfires. Well, the deal was just something that 'we' couldn't pass up. He was giddy!!! He made some calls on Monday and he got the last manual transmission they had. He flew to Texas on Saturday morning. Yes, that's right, he flew to Texas to get a car. He drove half way back Saturday and got home Sunday at 7pm.

It is definitely a sports car. It is very low to the ground and I can't see out of the back window. There are only two seat, no back seat at all. But it is fun to drive and we've always liked the Crossfires. We're excited to have it and now, all I have to do is learn how to drive it!!!

Update

Thanks for everyone's concern about Foggy. This is him this past Saturday as we were on the way to the vet. They pulled out his drainage tubes and cleaned him up. He still has his 10 stitches, they will come out on Saturday. He's been having to wear the cone because he keeps trying to lick at the stitches. He's been a good patient, but I think he's getting anxious to get back out in the yard.

As for the two legged member's of the family, we're doing good. I've got the house decorated for Christmas. I love putting the decorations out. I wish I had some nicer decorations and ornaments, but in the end, I'm just too cheap to splurge! We went to Rob and Carla's on Saturday and we played their new Wii. I had a sore right arm on Sunday and my back was a bit tight. Sad, I know. But the Wii was a lot of fun and we were pretty funny playing it. The tennis is my favorite. I have a habit of moving and lunging for the ball, like I'm actually physically playing.

Well, I don't have much to blog about, I guess that's a good thing considering the contents of my most recent posts.

Poor Foggy!

There was some drama on Monday. Mike got home from work and Foggy was not in the yard. He had gotten out of the fence somehow. I got off work (we had a meeting) and headed home at 8pm. I called Mike and he said he had 'terrible news'. He said that Foggy was gone and he'd been looking everywhere for him for 2 hours with no luck. I held it together for a bit but then I crumpled. Just ask Susan...I called her hysterical. Anyway, I got home and still no Foggy. We were making signs to put out in the neigborhood. We'd already discussed the fact that Foggy was probably gone for good. Mike had left all the outside lights on and the garage open in case he came home. Mike went out to the garage to get something to hang the signs with and there Foggy was, in the garage!!! I hadn't been home more than 15 minutes and he showed up.

He'd been in a fight. He had a pretty nice gash in his side and he was feeling pathetic. Mike carried him downstairs and we warmed him by the fire. We cleaned his wound and wrapped him up snuggly. He didn't move a muscle all night. Mike took him to the vet this morning. They put him under and drained the wound. He's going to make it. We feel very fortunate that he came back and he's alive. We have no idea how or why he got out.

Here's poor pathetic Foggy after we found him: