ASHLEY HOME UPDATE...

Well...where to begin...well, I'll skip to the interesting parts...

Sunday night, we all went out to eat at BRIXX as I mentioned before...here is Britt and Ash messing around..then we went to Barnes and Noble...here is Mike...I HAD to take a pic because it ain't often he can be found in a book store...

yesterday afternoon, this boy (we call him, "Up er at the fair", but his name is Ryan) called Court and said he and his friend wanted to drive over here FROM HIAWASSEE, GA to visit her and her sisters! WHA?????!!!!!

So they did

They went to downtown Greenville and walked around. Ryan had never been to a Starbucks...they don't have one in Hiawassee.

So, they drove around in Ashley's truck...

Here is Ashley and Jeramy..

I think those two sort of liked each other.

Here they are...

Here is a TERRIBLE pic of Britt, Ryan and Court

They had a great time and they sat in our back yard for an hour or more and talked before they drove back to wenst they came! Mike was sitting right by the back door! hee

Well...that's about it for this moment. Supper is in the oven ready...(roasted Chicken) and we ain't one bit hungry. OH well...I guess we can eat it for lunch tomorrow!

More soon-

Joan

ASHLEY'S HOME!!!!

I have worked since before she walked in the door! I am working 4:30am-4:30pm so I can spend more quality time at home with my complete family! I got home yesterday just as they were all walking out the door. Mike and Britt had to work at Wofford College and Court and Ash headed out to eat supper with 500 of their friends. SOOOO, it was me and the dogs. So while at work today, I called them and told them they were NOT going ANYWHERE till I got home and we were all going out together to eat and that was it. Final.

They dutifully obeyed! ha

We are fixing to head out to the pizza place the girls love called, "BRIXX" and I can't stand it, BUT whatever they want. My only consolation is Barnes and Noble is across the street and I may stray over there!

I will be taking pics tonight so LOOK OUT! Actually, I haven't told the girls that I'm taking the camera...they'll get over it! hee!! Every good blogger has a camera!!

That's about it.

Mom and Dad are in recovery from yesterday with Chanda. I made sure Mom and Dad are eating and drinking.

I started over there Thursday afternoon to see them and Chanda, but I turned around and went back home. It was just tooooooo painful. Chanda was theirs and they needed time with her without me blubbering all over the house. I tried tho.

Gotta go eat some freaking PIZZA!

Joan

Chanda

I won't go into alot of detail here, except to say that Chanda has been very sick these past couple of weeks and after an ultrasound yesterday, it was discovered that she has Pancreatic cancer. The news is a complete shock and even more so devastating.

Mom and Dad's last act of love for her will be today.

Joan

Miss Reflections Pageant...or Miss Mauldin High

Well, it came and went...the pageant. As I had told ya'll a week ago, Court had been sick...well, it all settled in her throat and she was hoarse as a horse!

All the night before, she had her face in this steamer thing Silker has (NO, she wouldn't let me take her pic!) and slept with a humidifier and drank a gallon of REAL Ginger root tea and a half bottle of Rock and Rye and ANYthing else we could think of or google. I even considered getting a snake for a snake ritual mountain people do up in the mountains. I must say, the Ginger root tea probley did the best, but she was still manly sounding and couldn't switch to her chest voice for power at all.

SOOOO, she did her best and did great!

Here she is in her casual wear...

after that, they (there were 7 contestants) got into their talent wear.

Court sang Smokey Mountain Memories by Dolly Parton. You couldn't hear her too well because she wasn't singing out. Joey played BEAUTIFULLY the guitar for her...

After that, it was time for evening wear and she wore a purple gown.

She looked SO pretty and Brittany did her hair and eyes.

BUTTTTT....she didn't place.

Here are some of them...

Number 6 won EVERTHING...all the categories. She could dance!!!

Here is a link to dad's pics...http://picasaweb.google.com/larrychanda/MauldinHighSchoolMissRelections200929September2009#

His turned out....decent! BAHHHH!!! His were really good, actually.

Afterwards, we all went out to eat at IHOP! Mom and Dad didn't go because they wanted to check on Chanda, who isn't doing very well. Somethings up with her liver. I hope the vet can figure it out!

That's it for my posts today.

OH....Ashley sent me a pic...this is her resting while packing...

Since she's coming home Saturday, she has to get everything in her apartment out. She's turning it back over to the Coast Guard, who in turn is turning it back over to the Navy, or something like that. She just has to have it completely empty and she's doing it pretty much by herself. As Megan is still in recovery with her parents in a house beside the hospital and her other roomate is pretty much gone, she's gotta get it done. She can handle it. She ran out of boxes last night and had to stop packing. I think she has more clothes than she thought! Some guys came and got her dresser already, so her clothes are everywhere! hee

When she returns, she'll have another week to finish packing, but she also has to report to this small boat station for that week and she doesn't know how much time they will give her to pack. I need to ask her what she did with the party lights and canes that surrounded their porch, went inside the apartment, up the stairs and down the hall! I hope she'll keep some for nostalgia!

Now I'm really done! Hope everyone has a great day! I'll be headed to Wal-Mart today to get some groceries for this weekend. I gotta work Fri-Sun. 7am-7pm, so that leaves no Wal-Mart therapy. THEN, I'M OFF WORK FOR TWO WEEEEEKS! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

More soon!

Joan

Ashley Update!!

OK...I haven't updated Ashley in a few posts now and that's because I didn't really have anything "blogworthy" to blog!

She went fishing last week! MY BABY FISHED!

OBviously, she did NOT take this pic and I'm not sure who did...I DO know it was a male tho. Hmmmm.....she didn't catch any fish. I did tell her that one must be totally QUIET when one fishes...might 'splain why they ain't no fish! hee

We were sitting in Guadalajara's last night...where else would we be on a Saturday night...and she sent me this pic...

hmmmm...do I detect LIPSTICK on my baby???! I tried to call her...like a whole bunch of times...and she didn't answer. I'm sure that's because I told her to never drive and talk on the phone. Glad she was doing something I asked her to!

She must have driven somewheres far away, because she never did answer her phone! hmmmm

She's COMING HOME THIS COMING WEEKEND! For a whole week! Then she goes back to Virginia, finishes moving out of her apartment and moves into the barracks for a couple days, then reports to A-School on the 18th or 19th of this month.

Now for her BIG WHOPPING NEWS! Her boat had a going away ceremony her last day on the boat Thurs. and she was awarded the Commendation MedalAin't it pretty??? She also received a long letter full of her achievements and she was SOOOOO PROUD...I mean SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Proud! She is still a non-rate and she said for her to have earned this after only a year of service and to be able to wear it to A-School makes her beyond proud of herself! She's so ready for A-School and is motivated and eager to go!

GO GURL!!!

She will now have 5 ribbons. I told her she will need a back brace to support all the bling-ribbons she'll be wearing! She's so happy and that's about all we could ask for with her!!!!

That's it for today. I'm sure there's alot of stuff I'm leaving out. I'll update as I remember! ha

When she comes home this weekend, she's bring home her ribbons and letter and all and I'll take a pic of it (of course) and share with ya'll!

Joan

I Survived...

Slowly but surely, I made it thru this freaking cold. I did work yesterday after calling out sick the day before...I need to save my vacation days for the holidays!

So...in my state of extreme misery, I got to looking at other peoples blogs. I came to realize that mine is B-O-R-I-N-G.

I went on this one lady's blog and her and her husband just finished building this giGANTIC log cabin home with a TON of windows on top a small mountain they own in Montana...but they have to hurry so they can "winter back in the vineyards of California" before the first Montana snow. Big Whoop. We gotta hurry and clean the gutters out from last years foliage before this years foliage FALLS!

This other lady's blog I read, her and her husband own a dairy in British Columbia somewheres...just a small "quaint" dairy of 180 cows, whom all frolick in the green fields inbetween their twice daily milkings and peacefully graze and view the majectic mountainside against the green fields blah blah blah...we got a "quaint" house with 4 dogs that thrice daily eagerly and with much gusto, gallop with complete joy, thru the hall and den to get to the kitchen to see who can knock the trash can down first and NOT GET CAUGHT!

I read this other lady's blog who lives in "Northern London" and who spent her birthday on the "continent" and enjoyed the beaches of the Riviera. She had alot of really BORING pictures of this ...and it was...an UGLY beach with brownish yellow sand and people had hand knitted sweaters on from sheep that galloped the noble scottish hills... and all the people looked miserable! I guess that's France? Whatev. I spent part of MY birthday rambling the LONG snow white isles of Wal-Mart gazing at all the majectic shelving and LOW PRICES and other people doing the SAME THING in their Dale Earnhardt souvenir T-shirts! AND WE WERE HAPPY!! HA!!

Yup...we're boring alright! But the dogs like us! hee

More later...

Joan

I'm sick.

My scratchy throat has turned in to Courtney's head cold she had last week.

This just really ticks me off!

LONG weekend..

After a freakishly LONG LONG LONG weekend of working, sleeping, working, sleeping etc....my 3 days of all that is over and I'm finally off 2 days. I really do have a great schedule tho...every other week, I'm off 3 days, work 1 day, off 3 days. KILLER! WHICH is all fine and dandy unless someone goes out on vacation....then you get a bunch of 12 hour days with no end in sight. I'M WHINING! HAAAAAAAAAAAA

SO...what did the herd do while I was WORKING? I don't know...I DIDN'T ASK! HAAAAAA I do see some new pictures added to my picasa...so let me share them with ya'll...

Hmmmm...

seems as if they spent some time at Guadalajara's! NO SURPRISE THERE! They spend EVERY weekend there! That's LuLu in the middle...she's our favorite waitress/friend there!

OK...cool...I figured that. My Mom and Dad went to go see Lauren play volleyball...

Here's my niece Lauren doing her thang! Look at her form! Look at her SKILL! She ain't even in HIGH SCHOOL YET! I hear volleyball scholarships ringing her doorbell!!!! She also runs/ran/will run track! Not sure when all that is because as ya'll know, I ain't athletically gifted...something about sweating never abode well with me...so I don't keep track of when stuff is.

I do know track is played in the Olympics tho.

Well...that's about it for today...I gotta head to YOU-KNOW-WHERE! WAL-MART!!! Gotta go spend some quality if not quantity time with my people! I also woke up with a scratchy throat...NOT GOOD.

This past weekend, our ER in our little hospital was overRAN with FLU! I'm talking swabbed and lab endorsed FLU! It's EVERYWHERE! Not Swine Flu tho...these people have type A flu, and they were SICK. Geeeeze.

If it wasn't for the fact that I gotta feed the fam, I wouldn't go to Wal-Mart no matter how my soul yearns for the peaceful, color-filled isles of early a.m. shopping...with other Moms doing the same thing! Sad, I know.

Ya'll have a great day and WASH YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY.

Joan

Courtney's 18th Birthday Party

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Actually, yesterday was her birthday, but due to our never being home and working and Court's busy schedule and Mike and Britt's working schedule, we had to have it night before last....after I got off work at 7pm.

Mike made reservations for 7 at the Outback and us 4 (YES, Ash, we missed YOU!), Silker and them, Donna, Deanna and her two friends and my parents...13 of us in all, went out to eat. Then after that, we all came back to Silkers house to eat cake, ice cream and open presents!

Now...before all ya'll critique these following pics...note that I didn't take nearly all of them, but Dad did. So, if they're uncharacteristically "ain't right", blame him!

I also want to add that his outfit is exact outfit that she wore yesterday to get her Homecoming pics in! I ain't sure if that's a fashion Faux Paux or not, but whatever.

Here she is making a wish before blowing out her candles...

Here is Britt watching...she won't eat cake because she's losing weight to join the Air Force...(that's sugar free ice cream she's eating!!)

Here she is sitting...waiting to open her presents...

Now HOW'D she get in here!

HAAAAAAAA! Here's Mike eating...he's "supposed" to be on a diet too...whatev.

Here Courtney is opening a card from my parents...a gift card to T.J. Maxx...she LOVES that store...

This card was from Grandma Terry. Silker had cut a picture of Courtney and stuck it in one of the windows...it was SO CUTE!

This next pic is of some shoes Silker got Court. Now these are the VERY SAME SHOES people wore in the 80's. NERDY TEENAGER shoes. I, naturally, would NEVER have EVER worn them. EVER.

SEE!

She LOVES LOVES LOVES them and wore them to school this morning.

This bag, also from Silker, contained shampooy stuff. As you can tell from her long hair, she needs all she can get!

Mike and I got her a Mini laptop...she totally wasn't expecting it!

Here it is...

and this is an amplifier made just for acoustic guitars, OF which, she has 3 of!

My camera's batteries went dead here, so this was the last pic taken. We went on and she took it out of the box and plugged it in, got one of her guitars out and used it! It sounds great!

She had a great day.

Yesterday, her actual birthDAY, she came down with a terrible head cold. She went to school, came home at 1:45pm (she gets out early this year since she's a senior) put on the outfit you see above, and had her homecoming pics made with her escort, Justin. She came back home, put her Jammies on, walked across the street where Grandma Terry had made a huge pot of Salmon Stew, one of Court's favorites. She ate that, walked back home and went to bed. I went to Wal-mart and got her some medicine.

This morning, she's feeling a tiny bit better. She went on to school. We'll see how long she stays! She has to take her Pageant dress after school today to be altered. Her Daddy won't let her out of the house with the cleavage on it cut clear down to her stomach, so we gotta get it altered somehow. The lady at the gown shop said a seamstress can cut a piece out of the petticoat underneath and sew it up top and sew sequins on to that so it looks like it was made that way. We couldn't FIND a dress that wasn't made more conservative...we couldn't hardly find a pageant dress at all this time of year.

I would put a pic of it on here, but Court asked me not too. She wants all ya'll to see it when it's finished, her hair is done and make-up on. SO...the Miss Mauldin High School pageant is Sept. 29th at 7pm...Dad and I will be there too with our cameras ready!

Homecoming is Oct. 8th, which Mauldin will be playing Dorman High School. Dorman is the biggest school I've ever seen. It's a CITY! and they start feeding their boys solid foods at birth...they're HUGE, CORN-FED, gigantic boys! It should be a great game!!! I think Court has her Homecoming outfit already...it maybe what she had her pic taken in yesterday...who knows. Just thinking about all that makes me crazy.

I promised Britt we'd go to a movie today and out for lunch. She is SUCH a great girl and I'm gonna MISS HER when she leaves for her career in the Air Force! WOWWWWWW

ASHLEY--WE MISSSS YOUUUUUU

and Megan, Ashley's room-mate, has been taken off life support and was sitting in a chair last night on NO MEDICINES! She remembers very little of last week. She gets winded very easily, so Ash had to tone it down while around her. She is SUCH a lucky girl to have survived this. We just hope she can fully recover quickly!

Ash is coming home Oct. 3rd and staying a WHOLE WEEK! Then she goes back to Portsmouth, packs up her apartment and heads to A-School in Yorktown on Oct. 18th. We're all really hoping she can come home for Christmas!!! All of us miss her dreadfully. I'm just SO thankful we have cell phones with CAMERAS!

Have a great day everyone!

Joan

Papa Arnold's Birthday Party

I wanted everyone to see know that I had not forgotten his birthday OR his party that was like, 10 days late! THAT'S only because we're soooooooo busy and he was tied up with our neighbor going to a nursing home and all that it took us awhile for everyone to get together and PARTY!

So, we had a small party for him, but it was fun!

It came as a complete surprise to him!

It was rather casual...

Anyways...we had a great time!

Joan

Megan update

Just a quick update...Megan has turned around after bottoming out Sunday. She's still on the vent, but the Dr.s are supposed to begin the weaning process this morning. The Dr. said she has Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS and she is one of the lucky ones to survive it. We think it is because she is so young and healthy and ALOT of people are praying for her!

Today is Courtney's birthday party tonight, so we're all going to the Outback at 7pm, then back to open presents, cake and ice cream etc...it will be a late night! Tonight is the only night we can do it because the whole rest of the week, we're busy, not home, working or Court's practicing her talent part for the pageant.

Have a great day everyone!

I have a TON of pics to put on here tomorrow when I'm off work!

Joan

Megan....

I want to add this today so everyone can keep Megan in their prayers and thoughts. Ashley's room-mate and Best Friend became sick last Monday and by Monday night was in the hospital at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. From what I understand, she has Mono and Pneumonia. Ash and a bunch of her boat-mates have been by her bedside every minute they can and in the waiting room all the time.

By Thursday night, she took a turn for the worst and is now in ICU on a ventilator and has a 10% chance to make it. Her Dr.s have said she could go at any minute. The Coast Guard has flown her parents down from Michigan and it's just bad. Her (and Ash's) command has been there at the hospital with her family and have been wonderful.

When we went up to Virginia to visit Ash a couple months ago, we took Megan out to eat with us and spent alot of time with her. She is a wonderful girl, very career minded and has a great positive attitude and loves to laugh! Here is a pic of Ash and Megan...

I spoke with Ash last night and she was at the hospital. She said the Dr.s aren't 100% clear on what exactly the problem is, but they will keep her on the vent until they can figure it out. They're pretty sure what ever it is, it's viral and she tested negative for swine flu.

Here's Megan in their sleeping area on the boat...

Anyways...think positive!

Today, we are going back to Table Rock for the Pickin'! All of us are going as we usually do! Ya'll know I'll post pics on here tomorrow!

More soon-

Joan

New week...

YES, it's Tuesday and I'm just now realizing it's a new week. I worked all weekend, and when I work 12 hours, I come home get ready for the next day and go to bed...3 days in a row. So, when I finally get done with my stretch of days, it's like I've come out of a fog or something.

whatever.

SO...for Labor Day, Mike grilled out ribs and chicken at his parents house across the street and we ate there...just us and them! Everyone else was busy...but that was OK...more for us! hee

Here's Mikes parents eating...

HAAAA! I know they hate when I put their pics on here!

Then, during all this, Courtney has decided on being in the Mauldin High School Pageant Sept. 30th IN ADDITION to HOMECOMING October 9th! Can you say, CHA-CHING..CHA-CHING?!

So, today...Britt and I went out looking for pageant dresses for Courtney, who was in school, I'm sure learning scholarly stuff.

We found one store that actually HAS dresses! So, we texted her and told her to get there right after she got out of school....here is a dress she tried on, but is NOT GETTING...I REPEAT...NOT GETTING...

Did I say she AIN'T getting it...

Well, I gotta go and do some stuff before I go to bed. Ya'll wish me strength!

Joan

Weekends over

As all good things must end, so does our weekend. AND it was a good one...exhausting, but great!

Saturday night, we had tickets to go to a play in Greenville. It was called, "Country Queens" and it was pretty good. But, before that, we all met up at Wild Wings to EAT and give Ash more birthday presents since she missed her birthday here. I did send her a box, but she opened it as soon as she received it on her boat...IN JULY (her birthday is Aug. 14th!!)! NOT totally unexpected tho.

Here she just opened a wallet my parents gave her...

YES, that's a HUGE hole in her jeans...YES, she makes enough money to get new ones...YES, I told her to get some...YES, she just rolled her eyes...whatev.

Silker had mailed Ash a card for her birthday that had a gift card in it, so she already got hers from Silker!

Here's ours...we, in addition to everything in her box she already received, got her a new watch...she had JUST told me she had lost her other one - BUT forgot to tell me she had bought herself ANOTHER ONE...whatev. She can always take ours back. We also got her a cool watch band, and a gift card to APPLEBEES! I wanted to keep that one, but Mike wouldn't let me.

Here we all are in Wild Wings...

Mike's Grandma is planning on throwing some wings down apparently 'cause she's got quite a collection of napkins going on! ha

Here's a great pic..

I'm sure Court will be most dissappointed that her face isn't in this one as she usually trys to hog the camera...hee!

Here is Mom and Dad...

I took my camera, but since we were so cramped where we were sitting, Dad decided to use his camera, so I didn't use mine. He wanted me to get a pic of them two together. As I look at this picture, I try to figure out WHICH parent I look like! NEITHER ONE! geeeze.

Last night, we went to a church in Fountain Inn for Courtney to sing some. Here is a pic of Grandma Terry and Courtney...I only add this picture because of Grandma Terry's FACIAL EXPRESSION! BAH-HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I just couldn't resist! hee

Here is a pic I took of Ash and Boomer on the couch...

Here is a pic of the coffee Ash brought me back from Cartagena, Columbia!

Now, I have to say it's some pretty great coffee! Ash said in Cartagena, like how we have "Starbucks" here, they have "Juan Valdez" there! MUCH better than Starbucks, I must say!

Well...that's about it for the day...this morning, we're going out to eat for breakfast before Ash leaves back out to Portsmouth and then I'm going in to work at 11am and get off at 7pm.

It's been a wonderful weekend!

More soon-

Joan

ASHLEY'S HOME!

She called Thursday and said she was coming home and SHE DID! She got home VERY late last night and I've never seen her more tired than she was last night. I felt sorry for her, but as exhausted as she was, she was SOOO happy to be home!

Yesterday was Family Day on her boat and family members could ride from Little Creek to Portsmouth ON HER BOAT and eat and watch demonstrations, watch them moor up and all! It was VERY nice and had Ashley's tour to the Forward been longer, we would have went up for it, but being this was her last patrol and she's leaving for A-School soon, we decided to wait and go on the next one wherever she may be.

Anyways, she was up yesterday at 4:30am and the cruise was all day and she didn't leave for home till yesterday afternoon. She walked off her boat, straight to her truck and drove home...didn't even change clothes! HA

She brought all of us something back and I'll take pics of it later today...I got COFFEE that "Juan Valdez HAND-PICKED"! She also brought me a reversible pocketbook from Gitmo exchange!

I took a few pictures last night to put on here. Boomer was so glad to see her. SHe couldn't get over how much weight he's GAINED....I didn't want to tell her he's actually LOST weight! ha

Here's Britt and Ash in Britt's newly re-done room...Told you she was still in her uniform!

Here she is with Cujo in her and Court's bedroom...

Here's the girls and Silker playing around on Court/Ash's bed...

Here's Ash and Boomey...he don't look THAT fat...he just retains alot of water...

That's about if for the pics from last night. We howdy'd awhile and went to bed. It's 10am now and all the girls are still asleep and Mike's at Clemson University for a meeting about his work.

Tonight, we're all going to a play about Country Music women or something. I'm planning on all of us going tout to eat before hand, so I gotta find a place...and Dad and I will be taking pics too!

More soon from our HAPPY HOUSE!