**ASHLEY**I saw your boat in the news on the internet!  WAY TO GO!!!!  Take care and we love and miss you!!!!  Here is one of the many pictures on the news with your boat...

OK...so I got off work and waited on it to get dark so I could take MYYY picture of the moon....

YEAH, BABEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!  BAH-HAAAAA!

and here is the second one which I over saturated trying to get the halo off from around the moon.

Not as good, but whatever....!!!!

Joan

Dad...

Dad was out aout MIDNIGHT last night, camera in tow, taking pictures of the MOOOOOON!  I'm just glad none of the neighbors saw him.

Here is one picture of several he took...

 I would add more, but I'm on my way to work!!

Have a HOWLING good day!  BAH-HAAAAA-

Joan

Still here!

Well, it's still cold outside...naturally...it was SOOO warm this past weekend, when I was WORKING!  Oh well....

So..yesterday, Britt started her first class for Phlebotomy, which I think she'll enjoy.  She already has a test next week!  They don't play around!

I became bored today after cooking lunch, so I took the camera outside.  I won't bore ya'll with all by fantabulous pictures, but here are two...

I have to put a picture of Buddy on here since he was SOOO patient with me outside while I fiddled with the tripod and remote shutter release button.

Here is a picture I took OF the camera!  HAAAAAAA

AND...what did I take a picture of?  It's my next door neighbors house on the left and one of our garages on the right...

I KNOW, I know...impressive.  It's just a burden I bare.  (ha)

Here it is again, different angle....

That's it!

Ya'll have a WARM day!!!

**ASHLEY***  WE MISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

Mom

Sunday...

Today is day 3 of my string of work days...I'm off Tomorrow and Tuesday!  

SO, I haven't taken any pictures the last couple of days.  Mike, Britt and Courtney went to downtown Greenville and walked and went to the park...and did NOT take a camera..WHA??? 

We haven't heard from Ashley in a few days now. When I talked to her the other day, they were supposed to port again like, Friday.  Evidently they didn't or she would have called if only to rub it in how beautiful it is where they are. She can't spell or pronounce where she was going, but it sounded SOOO exotic..

Thankfully she takes after me and is taking LOADS of pics on her new camera.  I can't WAIT to get ahold of them...I can hear my photo editor in my computer groaning now!

That's about it for now...

***ASHLEY***CALL HOME when you get to wherever you're going.  We miss you...even the dogs miss you! (Well, not Buddy, he's too grumpy! ha).  Take care of yourself and don't give your cell number out to any weird boys....or ANY boys for that matter!  HAAAAAAAA!!  We LOVE YOU!!!  Try to Blackberry IM me when you get a signal...it's free anywhere in the WORLD!

Have a great day everyone!

Joan

Out To Lunch...

Britt and I went to Fatz for lunch 

today...She waid I was "Embarassing" her by taking pictures in there....

But I did manage these!!!!

WOO-HOOOOOOOoooo!

That's all I took!  We also went to A.C. Moore so she could get some scrap booking stuff..Boomer had said he wanted to make his Mommy a card, so I got some stuff for him in there too.  He finished making it already, but I won't put a pic on here of it because his MOMMY will see it! hee

L8r-

Joan

Cowboy Church

Last night, Courtney's Band played at a church service at the Agricultural Center right across the street from the Ashville Mun. Airport.  Court can honestly say she has never played at a place like this...it was ON the dung layden sawdust in the goat-trading pit.  Hmmmmm.....

Now, I have to say, it was actually great and Court said if it was closer to here, SHE would go!  The preacher was nice and you could take your DOGS TO CHURCH WITH YOU! 

NOT Cujo tho...they'd probley have an exercism before it even got started!  haaaaaaaaaaaa

AND....their normal drummer couldn't go, so MIKE was the DRUMMER!  haaaaaaaaaaa! WHICH was right where he wanted to be....

AND Silker was there....

and let me add here that after the church service, there was a "Crock-Pot" luck supper for everyone to join in.  And, Silker, who LOVES to "join in", did exactly that!  

I was down on the side talking to some people with Courtney and turned around to point out my mother-in-law and there she was with this GI-NORMOUS blue plate HEAPING with spaghetti...GRINNING!  HAAAAAAAAAA !!  I did take a picture, but it was blurry...I couldn't figure out why till I zoomed in and saw it was her fork moving really fast creating this weird looking image. OH well....

YES, this next picture is blurry too, but only because Britt bumped my arm as I was taking the pic...

  I like it anyways...

The band also added a Fiddle player who plays fanTASTIC and also harmonizes beautifully...

One of the songs the band did was, "Where No One Walks Alone" and it made the hair stand up on my arms, it was so pretty, especially when Court, Jamie and Fiddle-Gurl (I don't know her name) all harmonized with each other.  

The church has a web-site and they will be posting the band playing.  I'll add that link on here when they get it online...maybe today or tomorrow.

Here is a link to all the photos I took last night MINUS the "Blurry" ones of Silker!  HAAAAA

http://picasaweb.google.com/joanandmikesc/CowboyChurch#

I also wanted to add here...Britt took this picture with erh point-n-shoot camera and I cleaned it up...there were some houses there that I got rid of etc....

Didn't she do a great job!  

I'll be adding more on here later.  Britt and I are going out to eat for lunch and to Hobby Lobby and maybe I'll take the camera!  

**ASHLEY**:  I KNOW you're on here reading all this !! I hope all ya'll are doing good on the boat, but I wouldn't know because I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM YOU in a few days.  We're all doing great, just missing you! Call/text/email/comment/smoke-signal us and let us know how you're doing!!! We love and miss uuuuu!

More soon-

Flea market...

I wondered today why the "Flea" markets are called "FLEA" Markets.  I never see fleas and the wind was blowing SOOOO hard today at the "FLEA" market, there wasn't any dogs around to have "FLEAS" there!

Mike, Britt, Court, Grandma Terry and myself went and nearly froze to death and had wind damage to our hair!

Here's Gma Terry freezing in MY COAT!

and Mike doing his thang...

and Court doing her thang...

after freezing to death, we headed back to Mike's Ma's house and the girls took the camera outside and took pics of the boys,,,

and anotherand another

Speaking of her...she sent some MORE PICS!

and here are more...

That's about it for the moment...I gotta get to work!  Have a great day everyone and ASHLEY...EMAIL MEEEEE!  or TEXT MEEEE!  or CALLL MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Joan

Mauldin High Chrous

Last night was the anuual Chorus Dinner Theater!  We had a good time too.

We ALWAYS have fun going where you can eat!  hee

Mom and dad love it too!  Mike's parents went, but didn't go to the "dinner" part because the Arnold Family had another reunion dinner and they were to go there.  They went to the show part.

Courtney had a solo part again this year and Dad's pic was better than mine ONLY because his lens is shorter than mine...i should be getting mine soon...it's on order. 

Now I took this next one...notice the FAR superior quality of this photo.  It's definitely "Blog-Worthy"!  haaaa

Dad...don't EVEN think you took that! BAH-HAAAA!!!!

Also, I had a preminotion before we left to go to that, that Ashley would be emailing me while there...it usually happens that way.  BUT, because I have a Blackberry Curve 8330 in PINK, I was immediately notified of the email and was able to read it there!  She also included 3 photos that was taken with her friend "Jill" camera...

I've been SO worried that she's extremely...

homesick and just GRIEVING over not seeing her Mama 

and STARVING for some good home-cooking (her Great Grandma's, NOT mine!  haa) 

and wet, 

sick and 

all alone....

WHA????

Notice the ANGUISH in her face of stifled home-sickness...

It's OK, baby...hang in there...

I'll update with more photos as I or dad, get them edited...mine require MINIMAL editing...just thought I'd add that.

More soon-

Joan

The Great Rain...

Our Lake Hartwell should be nearly full by now after all this rain we've had!  At least we don't have it like out west!

NOTHING new has happened around here the past few days.  I haven't heard 1 single word from Ashley either OR had one single alphabet letter emailed to me either.  The General-Admiral of the Coast Guard needs to let her call/email home.  I sure hope she's doing good and eating enuff and ain't fell off the boat and all...

Tonight is Courtney's school chorus "Dinner Theater" evening.  It includes a dinner and then a show!  And before all ya'll are wondering if there will be photos taken...HAAAA...of COURSE!  AND, since I'm off work tomorrow, I will have time to put them on here! Dad will be taking his camera too, which, out of daughterly duty, I will include some on here, but the GOOD pictures that I take, will be featured...naturally!

I haven't taken any pics the past couple of days due to the weather.  I have taken TONS of the dogs laying around, but I'll spare ya'll those.  Poor Boomer...he's gotten so used to me taking his picture that when he's laying down and I say, "Smile for the camera, Boomer", he don't even open his eyes anymore.  I don't reckon my blinding him with the camera flash every few minutes has helped either. 

SO, I dug thru some pictures that I have taken and don't remember posting these...

Ashley, that one was for you!  

This next picture I took the other day when the plumber was over at the house and I was trying to occupy myself outside...

That picture was taken at a distance and I haven't edited the picture.

This last picture was taken when Courtney went horseback riding.  It was taken with a cell phone as I wasn't invited to join her and capture the moment...

I could SOOO have taken some great pictures....sniff sniff....!!

Well, that's it for the moment.  I actually went grocery shopping yesterday, so I no longer have the excuse of not cooking becase we don't have any groceries.  (I tried to sneak the groceries in the house so they wouldn't see them, but the ever vigilent Courtney sniffed them out.) So, now I gotta go cook breakfast.

More soon!

Joan

My pic of the day

It's off to work I go...

The down side to having sooooo many days off a week now is actually going BACK to work.  The alarm on my phone scared me because I had forgotten what it was.  BUT...things went up from there when I migrated to the kitchen to feed Buddy and smelled the freshly brewed coffee in my NEW Black and Decker programable coffee pot that Mike got me for our anniversary!  WOO-HOO!

All is well in the world!

Have a great day!

Joan

I For-rayed

Or however you spell it...anyways, I went out to the backyard and this is what I found...

First...this...

I know...impressive.  BUT...I couldn't resist another HR pic...

I know...then I saw wild life...

I won't bore ya'll with the rest...but that's what I did!

More later!

Last Picture...I promise...

Here, I took 1 pic...lightened it and saved it, darkened it and saved it, and kept 1 normal...then HD'd it...this was taken in New Jersey when we went to pic ash up from basic last year...

Better than those below, but not good enuff....it looks like a paining and I want it to look like a photograph.  HMMmmmmm...I'm SURE I'll figure it out.

MORE SOON,

Joan

ASHLEY CALLED!

Just a short note to tell eveyone that Ash called yesterday and today and is doing GREAT!  

She was lying out in the sun in the caribbean!  AND....JUST to let ya'll know about our FANtabulous genes...she just bouught a new FLIPPIN CAMERA!  A Canon something or other with "10 Megs of Pickles"!  HAAAAAAA...She has taken loads of pics but has no way to upload them on the internet where she is, but will when she can.  OH the PRIDE I am feeling!  ha! 

HEY BABEEEEE!  We sure are missing you!  Don't forget to leave a comment so that can be your email to me!

Keep reading down and check out daddy's Birthday party...O.....M....Geeeeeee......!  HAAAAA  It was SO much fun and I still can't believe how Papa was dressed!!! 

We LOVE you!

That's it for the moment.  I'm off WORK TODAY and I plan on enjoying every second of it!

More soon...

Joan

another pic I worked on...

OK...I'm gonna keep working on this till I get it right...this is not any better, but an attempt.

Because it's the freeware version of software, it has the wording on it..it may be TOO complicated for me...I'm just experimenting!

These are the 3 pics I used to make this...

and 

These are blended together to make this...

OH well....more soon!

Joan

Quick Pic

I was messing around with the camera and exposures etc... and figured out how to take HD pics....here is the only one I've done so far...

That is taking 5 pictures and blending them together....COOOOOOOOL!

Joan