"I don't care where I go when I'm with you ..."

Back home, and back to routine ...

My weekend in Wilmington was so nice. The drive ended up being not as dreary and long as I remembered from six months ago. In fact, since I didn't make any stops, I was there in about 4-and-a-half hours. Not bad.

I had some long-distance drama on my first night there, after hearing from Sister Kay that our Mom was having a medical emergency, vomiting and feeling faint. I was on and off the phone with both sisters until after 2 AM, when they were all headed home from the ER. Mother had a UTI and was low on potassium. And now all is well, except in Mother's words, she feels "weak as a dishrag."

On Saturday, we got out the door to a grand opening of a Verizon store there in Wilmington, where we snacked on chicken nuggets, registered for a free Wii, and picked out new cell phones. I seriously can't believe I put up with that damn Chocolate phone for two years. What a pain in the ass. Anyway, I love my new phone, so far. I copied Adam and Brandy and got the LG enV. More than I really need, I suppose, since I didn't opt for the Internet, and I don't text message enough to even pay for the text package ... but it feels good in my hand, and I like having a real live keyboard for those seven texts a month that I DO send out.

We went to lunch at a place called Fat Tony's. (I think.) It smelled like really old cigarette smoke (in a way that was NOT unpleasant to me) and the food was REALLY tasty.

Here's a good picture of my host and hostess before we ate ...

The remainder of Saturday was: hanging out, looking at the houses up and down Wrightsville Beach (it was raining and cold, so no beach combing), and a little shopping. Jud had to go into work for a bit, and Emilie napped ... and then the torture began. For Christmas, Emilie gave Jud Rock Band (edited to add: Emilie tells me it's not Rock Band, it's Guitar Hero World Tour) for his XBox, and on Saturday night they FORCED me to play it with them. With Jud on the drums, Em on guitar, and me on vocals ... try to imagine the caterwauling the neighbors heard. Oy. I can only imagine how bad I sounded, but I guess the wine I was drinking dulled my hearing a bit. Because I KEPT singing. It was lots of fun, and lots of embarrassing.

On Sunday the rain was gone, so they decided to take me to Bald Head Island for a few hours. We bundled up and before I knew it, we were on a ferry boat. I never knew this place existed until Em told me about it last year. From the website:

"Amid Bald Head Island's 12,000 acres, you'll find 10,000 untouched acres of beach, marsh and maritime forest preserves. The intimate neighborhoods dotting the landscape rise gently and seamlessly, as if Nature herself had a hand in their development. Bald Head Island is a two-mile journey across the Cape Fear River from Southport, North Carolina. Appropriately, you can reach the island only by boat – a transition that prepares you for a place strikingly different from the one you left behind.

When you board the passenger ferry for the 20-minute ride to Bald Head Island, you leave your car behind — along with the stress of everyday life. Transportation on the island is limited to golf carts, bikes, skates and well-worn walking shoes...an accurate reflection of the slower, more relaxed island attitude."

SO. Now I know where I'll build my house after I win the lottery. I LOVED THIS PLACE!

Here's "Old Baldy", the lighthouse on the island ...

I don't think I've EVER been on a beach alone ... not one other person in sight. I know, I know, it's January. (And it was so crazy cold out there!) But the cold and wind could not distract from the incredible beauty of this sight ...

This is before we got as cold as we were gonna get. I know this because the sun is still shining in the picture. After awhile, the clouds got thicker and we we shivering ...

I drove home last night ... again with the no-stops, 4-and-a-half hour trip ... and send my "Thanks for the memories" to Em and Jud. I won't wait another six months before I visit again.

"I couldn't live without your love ..."

I've had a slight cold. Not enough to make things horrible, just enough to make me feel as if I'm underwater with weights attached. You know the feeling. Eh.

We had Miss Squish overnight last Friday, which was a real treat for Jimmy especially, considering he was home from Puerto Rico and all. Not to minimize the treat it was for ME.

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This week has been a quiet one. (See above: underwater.) I'm trying to get myself organized to get outta town in the morning ... headed to Wilmington NC to visit Em and Jud for the weekend. Should be nice to get out of here for a minute.

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Did you watch the Inauguration? I cried. I think I may even have a crush on Barack Obama. Heh.

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Here's a few pitiful pictures and some dark and feedbacky videos from "Thursday Afternoon With Nana", just to keep Jimmy from exploding. She was sooo sleepy, and had a really runny nose ... but we had fun anyway. (Yes, that's ANOTHER bruise on the same spot on her forehead.)

Rocking in the big chair, trying to stay awake:

Concentrating and learning:

And finally, a video from last Saturday morning. It's far too long, and I had intended to learn to edit, and cut it halfway through. But I didn't. So anyway, here's a good example of what it's like to have a conversation with The Squish.

She was finishing up breakfast ... she loves to put her feet up on the tray of the highchair as she gets full. (The girl knows how to relax.) Jimmy and I were amused (you can tell because we laugh) at the end when she started mugging for Papa ...

"And I laugh at myself while the tears roll down ..."

From Thursday afternoon, for Papa ...

My first attempt at taking a video with my camera, and posting one online, as well ... it took forever to load using Blogger, so I may play around with YouTube later when I have time. The video isn't that great, and while she was fascinated with the book when she found it, you can see from her reaction that it just wasn't that good a read.

Today includes bill-payng, a trip to Publix for baby-eats, since she will be spending the night here tomorrow night (yay!), and hopefully a trip to the consignment store to make a drop-off. I am SO looking forward to tonight ... a Girls Night Out (or In?) at Kathy's ... it's been long while since I've seen everybody. I may have to volunteer to be the designated driver, should we decide to take the show on the road though ... wine hasn't been my friend lately. Bah!

"It's all love and good times ..."

It's been so long I don't even know where to begin. Besides that, there's only a couple people out there that even still check in here. So, heyyy you two!

As you well know, my Decembers are usually chock-full of activity, what with the decorating, cooking, and visitors. This past one was no different. Only it might have been a little bit busier. So this blog ... which was already being treated like the redheaded stepchild around here by me ... well, it just fell by the wayside. Lowest priority and all that.

December is quite over.

Happy 2009! I would like to say I'll make a concerted effort to get some regularity back to my posting here. I say that because I know my daughter, all the way off in Wilmington, would like to see an occasional update from home. And now Jimmy is off in Puerto Rico, and he has made it perfectly clear that the ONLY thing he'll miss here in Greenville is our Miss Squish. But still, I bet he'll check here every once in a while for a new photo. So I have a little motivation.

Motivation, I've got. Stuff to write about, not so much. But let's give a December recap a whirl.
The holidays were a whirlwind, as always. But they seemed to include a little bit less stress than in years past. Don't know why. But I did enjoy the majority of December. Yay! (I'm sure my sister-in-law would say "Ahem!" at this point, since my one contact with her was an emergency phone call in tears, needing emotional support to make it through the next hour. Thanks, Patti. xo)

I drove to GA mid-month to get my Mom, for her annual visit ... and spent the night with Laura, Melody, and Baby Etta. Oh Lord, that girl is sweetness!





Back to Greenville, we shuttled Jimmy to the airport for a week in Puerto Rico. We finished shopping, wrapping, and ... uh, I can't remember what else we did that week. On the 18th, Jimmy came home, and that night we got a special visitor. Squish arrived for a special visit while her Mom and Dad took off for Las Vegas. (Their trip is detailed over at Fat Cats Rock, along with better Christmas pictures ... my camera sucks all of a sudden!)

I have to say that Squish's visit WAS my Christmas present. The kids could totally have saved the money they spent on my KitchenAid hand mixer. Because that time in December, when she was here for 4 days, was WONDERFUL! We played, we napped, we made a trip to the mall for new shoes ... and we kissed a lot.

She loved to put Papa's reading glasses on and look cute:


Then she discovered the joy that is wearing Papa's hat:




We played some Peek-A-Boo:


A few hours after her Mom and Dad returned and whisked her back home again, my 2nd round of Christmas visitors arrived ... Sister Kay and Beth on Monday night, Emilie and Allie on Tuesday night, and Josh on Christmas Eve:





It wasn't Christmas for me until THIS came walking in on Christmas night:



Aunt Emilie loves this girl so much ... enough to put up with the Nose-Lovin'. And that stuff HURTS:


Squish came back on the Saturday after Christmas to help say goodbye to all our visitors from Georgia ... and to lay some love on Maggie The Cat. Maggie barely tolerates it, but sometimes I wonder if THIS is the reason Squish likes to come to our house:



Another Spend-The-Night party at Nana and Papa's on New Year's Eve, and thank God. SOMEBODY had to provide the entertainment on New Year's Day during Clemson's terrible performance at the Gator Bowl:

Finally, a smile from Saturday night (1/3/09):

(Now I can say that my MAIN motivation for updating here more often will be so that I never have to include a month's worth of pictures again. Could Blogger make it MORE frustrating to add pictures? I think not.)