Oh my, my, my

Oh wow! It has been so long since I have blogged. I am going to make an effort to do this more often. 2011 was a hell of a year for me. We started off our year by having to replace our water heater. I celebrated my 30th birthday in February. Chris took me to see brad Paisley for my birthday. It was a lot of fun! He is such a good hubby!

In April, we went to Gatlinburg to see our friend get married and celebrate my parents' and brother's birthday. My brother Matt was also leaving for basic training.

In May, we went to Ft. Walton Beach in Florida for Chris' 30th birthday. It was so beautiful there. Our hotel was beside the aquarium so we watched the dolphins. I also got the worst sunburn I have ever had!

Throughout June and July, I went through an interview process to get a new job. Out of 215 applicants, I was one of 15 chosen for a phone interview and one of 5 for a face to face interview. Unfortunately, I did not get the job, but it was a good experience for me.

On July 4th, my parents and my brother's girlfriend Alyssa came to my house. We headed out on July 5th towards Ft. Sill, OK to see Matt graduate. It was a great trip. Chris had to work, so it was just the four of us. I really got to know Alyssa better and had so much fun! We saw Geranimo's grave, the Holy Land and ate Longhorn beef. We also went to the Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing Memorial. That was a very intense visit. My dad was the guest speaker at Matt's graduation and got to give him a challenge coin when Matt was announced as his class sharpshooter. I am so proud of him! We had to leave him there for his AIT class.

Also in July, my parents hosted an engagement party for my baby brother Gregg and his fiance Regina. The night before the party, Regina, Alyssa, my mom and I went to my old college to watch some of my friends in "Hairspray". We had a blast! We worked very hard to pull off a luau for Gregg and Regina, but it was well worth it.

August brought both joy and pain to my family. On the 29th, our nephew Branson was born. He is such a joy! He is just a cool cat and the most laid back baby. (I am not at all in love with him!) Also in August, Alyssa went to the ER because she had severe stomach pain. It turns out, she was in labor, never knowing she was pregnant. She gave birth to a full term baby named Isabella Miracle Dei. Isabella was put in NICU on a ventillator due to seizures and other issues. Alyssa got out of the hospital in a couple of days and Matt was able to come home from OK the next day. We went to see everyone and got to see Isabella while she was in NICU. On September 3, after only 17 days, Isabella went home to God. We had her funeral and burial on the 4th. It was very heartbreaking, but it really makes you thankful for what you have.

After the difficult beginning to September, things got on a roll. I helped to host my friend Brandy's baby shower on September 10th. It was a hoot! We made the guys chug beer out of baby bottles! September 23rd was our 7th wedding anniversary. We celebrated the next day by having dinner at the Paradise Park Trailer Park and going to a Preds game. We had awesome free tickets in the club section. Steve and Peggie sent us an awesome edible arrangement as a gift! It was delicious! September ended with my maternal grandfather's passing. He was my last grandfather and will be missed.

In October, we got new furniture! Then Chris had his knee surgery and recovery. The new furniture really came in handy, especially the oversized rocker/recliner. October also brought the big Santa Fe School Fall Festival! I am usually asked to do balloon animals and this year was no exception. It was a nice night and I got a free funnel cake! Worth it! My friend Brandy had her son Bryson in Oct. He is so adorable! The end of October brought me back to Morristown to help host a wedding shower for Gregg and Regina. It had a country theme with mason jar glasses and lots of gingham! The bride and guests had a great time making TP wedding dresses and modeling to "I'm Too Sexy". I got to end the month by wearing my bathrobe and slippers to work for Halloween!

November was very busy for us! Chris participated in No Shave November and tried to grow some facial hair. I was sooooo glad for Dec 1st. Chris got to go back on regular duty in November after his knee surgery. Gregg and Regina got married on November 11th. It was a really beautiful wedding that Matthew got to help officiate. We spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta at Bill and Deb's house. It was really nice to get to see everyone. The day after Thanksgiving, we were so lucky to get to go to our cousin Kelly's wedding. It was such a beautiful affair and we had a blast!! The end of November gave us a chance to get our Christmas tree up and decorated! (And the facial hair got shaved!)

December was pretty calm. The year ended on a pretty chill note. We got to go to the big Towhey family Christmas celebration and spend Christmas Eve with my family. Whew! That is 2011 in a nutshell. I am looking forward to a very full and blessed 2012~

Holy cow!

Proud Wife

Since Chris has already told the story, I am just going to post the pics. I can say that I love him very much and am very proud of him and the other guys.

School days, school day...good old...what?

Well...school has started again. And we are off to an exciting year. The district has been rezoned and we have more students now than we ever have had. It is crazy! We had 4 deaths among our faculty before the kids came back. On our first day, before 10am, I had a student brought to the office. He was playing on the monkey bars and jumped off. When he did, he hit his chin on a bar and bit his tongue. There was a gouge in his tongue! But, he was not crying. We called his parents to take him to the ER. After that, I had 2 more come in bleeding. At the end of a very long day, and I was the only one left (besides administrators), I got a call from a frantic parent. Her child had been put on the bus by mistake. She had come into the office and the clerk was able to find out that the child was, indeed, on the bus. However, when she got to the bus stop, her child was not there. So, I had a panicked parent on the phone, an upset teacher in the office, and I can't get through to the bus garage to talk to the driver. So, I called our SRO in and explained the situation to him. He called another deputy and had them go to the bus garage and have them call me. We found out that the child had refused to get off the bus when her mom wasn't there. All was well and I got to come home.

Day 2
Well, another exciting day. Appearantly, there was one of the TBI's most wanted felons on the loose in Maury Co. He was convicted of child molestation in Hamilton Co. (Chattanooga). How he ended up here I will never know. Anyway, he was seen about a half mile from our school. The police were out, the TBI, the troopers, the helicopter, the dogs and heat seeking cameras. We went into a soft lockdown first thing in the morning. Luckily, he was caught within an hour and a half. He was caught about .2 miles from the school. Whew! It was a stressful, long day. It took me almost 3 hours to get through a $9200 deposit. I had some tight deadlines for Central Office, too. I am going to consider myself lucky to get through the rest of the week!

I hope that everyone is having a good (uneventful) week! I am just looking forward to the weekend! TTYL!

Our vacation

Ok, I hope all is well out there. I am going to warn you....this could be a long blog. As most of you know, Chris and I headed off on our vacation on May 20th. We left out Thursday morning for the first leg of our trip..Gatlinburg.

We made good time to Garlinburg. As soon as we got to the exit, we went to Bass Pro Shops. I bought jerky seasoning (which is in the dehydrator) and Chris got a new flashlight. Then we headed on up and Chris went to Smoky Mountain Knife Works and bought a new knife. We drove on to Gatlinburg and checked into the River Terrace hotel. Chris was not feeling well by this time. His allergies were really terrible. So, we walked to a little place on the strip and ate then we went to Walgreens and bought allergy meds and Kleenex with lotion. The rest of the night was quiet in the room. We got up Friday morning to head out to Lancaster, SC to the Shores' house. We took the Foothills Pkwy. I got some great morning pics. Here is one:

We had a fairly uneventful trip to Steve and Peggie's house. We did hit a streak of rain outside of Charlotte when we stopped at Chili's. (BTW, this trip took a little planning as I don't eat fast food anymore.) But, we got there and were greeted by a very happy Maddy, "mommy" and "mom mom". I can't believe how far Maddy has come! She is talking so clearly! I did make the mistake of trying to get her to say "sheep", though. :) We had a nice night. Saturday was Chris' birthday. Steve to Katie to look at a car and I went to get an oil change. We all had a good birthday dinner for Chris. I think he had a great time. Sunday morning, we got up for breakfast with the family before taking off for Hilton Head!!!

We had an good drive to the coast. We stopped once at a rest stop for a break and the weather was great! It was not quite hot with a breeze. We got to Hilton Head aroung 1:00pm and was told the room wasn't ready yet. So, we walked around the cute little shops, bought hats and went out to the beach. We forgot the sunblock for the couple of hours on the beach, but only got a little red. We finally got checked into our room at the Holiday Inn Oceanfront (which was a pretty nice place to stay) and changed for dinner. We walked down the main street and found a little place to eat called Kenny B's. It was an amazing little cajun place. You ordered at the counter and it was little! The food was incredible! The next day we went out on the beach some, but the weather was hit and miss the whole time we were there. One night we tried to walk on the beach and had gotten maybe a 1/4 mile and it began to rain. Then it began to pour. If we had pina coladas, it would have been perfect. Our hotel had a tiki bar out by the pool with a great view. We took off one day after spending some time on the beach and went to the Sea Pines area that included Harbour Town. We went to the top of the lighthouse and were treated to an amazing view! We also walked through a nature preserve there and saw the "Vanishing Swamp" and an Indian Shell Ring. On our final night, we booked a sunset catamaran sail. We packed a light dinner of fish spread, shrimp, fruit, crackers, cake, wine and beer and took off. It was so amazing! We both really enjoy sailing on catamarans anyway. There were about 15 people on the cruise. We took off and saw some amazing houses and boats. There was even a private island with its own state of liberty! We saw dolphins on our way out, too. That was a first for me, outside of an aquarium. When we got out into the open water, we could see Tybee Island. The sunset was incredible! On our way back in, a dolphin swam right by our boat and so did jellyfish! It was fun. I hated to leave the next day. We drove a very long time to get back home on Wednesday. Once we did, it began to storm and I had to go pick up Shiloh. So, that is the main points of our trip. Here are some great photos from Hilton Head.

I have more pics posted on Facebook. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing good. I might actually start posting more often!

I laughed until I cried...

I will update on our home projects soon, but I had to tell this story. Yesterday at work (we are on Spring Break) Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Perryman, Janna and I were eating lunch together. Something came up and Mrs. Cook told us the best story ever. She has a friend who has a friend who lives in Florida. The lady in Florida is a teacher and she has a grown son with Down's Syndrome who lives at home. He is at home alone in the day, but she calls to check on him. Last week, she called home to check on him. The call went something like this:
Mom: How's your day? Everything ok?
Son: I caught an elf and I've been feeding him all day!
Mom: What?!?!
Son: I caught an elf! I've been feeding him all day!
At this point, the mom thinks she needs to go home and see what is gonig on. When she gets home, her son is so happy and wants to show her the "elf". He has been keeping him in the closet and feeding him Cheerios under the door. Mom opens the door to find..... a human dwarf!!!! He was the census worker who came to their door!!! The son had taken him and put him in the closet!! We have yet to hear what happened after Mom came home. We are waiting to hear that. When I told Chris, he said, "You know that guy thought he was going to die!"
This is by far the funniest story I have heard in a long, long time! I literally laughed until I cried! Hope it gave you all a good laugh!
Follow up....Chris just called and told me he thinks this is an urban legend...bummer..

Let it snow..and snow..and ice...

So, first off let me say that I hope 2010 is starting off well for everyone! Ours has been a little crazy, but that is ok. Chris has filled you in on the flooring situation and we are really doing well. We need to do our utility closet, our bedroom and the guest room and all the trim. I am feeling good. We are finally over the halfway hump. Our visit to SC was good; cold, but good. I found a futon at the WOW! store that I want. We just staying in mostly, but it was cold! We had a nice trip up and back. I am glad we got to visit with Steve and Peggie. Work has been going well. Of course we have had our share of illnesses. This always happens when the kids get back together. Our most recent work hiccup was the SNOW!!!!

Beginning Monday, the forecasters were predicting a winter storm to come through TN. In Columbia, we weren't supposed to get more than an inch of snow. It was supposed to be a sleet/ice mix. (Notice I keep saying "supposed" to get.) I had to go grocery shopping Thurs night because we were out of food. That was a mistake! The "french toasters" were there. School was called off for Friday due to the impending weather. Friday morning was nice. No snow. Around 10am, it starting snowing. A lot. By 3pm, we had over FIVE inches of snow! Shortly thereafter, it began to sleet and get icy. Chris and I took Shiloh out in it for a while. We had almost finished the kitchen flooring by that point. :) Shiloh wasn't too keen on it at first, but when we started throwing sticks, she got into it. When we first went out, we started walking toward the fire pit and a rabbit ran out from under it and through the fence! I guess he was trying to take refuge from the snow! I made a nice BBQ meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. Yesterday, we had a nice quiet day. It was nasty out and I knew that Chris might have a long day today. He did go out and dig his truck out, though! I made from scratch chicken pot pie for dinner. It was yummy! Chris left the house this morning around 15 till 5 and made it safely to work. I kept hearing things falling and smashing today. I went out with Shiloh and discovered it was the ice from the trees crashing down. It was beautiful! There was 5"-6" of snow with a frozen layer on top and all these pieces of ice on it. It almost looked like broken glass! I dug my car out and then took Shiloh for a walk up and down the street. She had a blast! I couldn't believe that I was ready to come in before my cold natured dog! We have had a nice quiet day today, as well. School has been cancelled for tomorrow and central office is closed, so I don't have to go into work. Chris and I are going to tackle the utility closet. Hope everyone is staying warm! Enjoy the new pics!