My niece and her daddy!

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I got to spend some time with my brother, his girlfriend and my niece yesterday.  We had a nice time just goofing off and doing nothing.  We don’t see them as much as you’d expect with us living as closely as we do, so it’s always nice to take some time and relax with them. 

Lake is growing so fast and walking like it’s no one’s business.  She has the best personality and smiles and giggles constantly.  She talks and talks and talks, but of course, we have no idea what she is saying.  She finally warmed up to B (after her first introduction when she was a baby and cried) and now she just smiles at him and crawls all over him and flirts.  Its so cute watching her look up and smile so mischievously.  She’s going to be such a fun little girl; she already is. 

*Adorable picture lifted from Karissa’s myspace!

New addition to the family

A few weeks ago B got an email about an old redbone coon hound that needed adopting.  He immediately wanted to adopt him.  It wasn’t unlike the feeling I had after I had seen Cash’s picture and a few weeks later heard he was going to PetSmart hopefully to be adopted.  In my mind, if he was going to be adopted, he was going to be adopted by me.  Now in both of our situations, neither of us were looking for a dog, but immediately knew that this dog’s home was with us.  I think that’s probably how it goes, if it’s right, you just know this dog is supposed to be in your family.

Well someone spoke up before we did and the dog ended up in Virginia with a family that had never had an indoor dog before but was willing to give it a try for this old boy.  When B heard the news, he was heartbroken.  He woke up in the middle of the night to tell me, “I hope he poops in their house, then they won’t want an indoor dog for sure.” 

Well evidently the “praying for poop” campaign worked, because we got an email from the rescue lady that the adoption had not, in fact, worked out, and the family wasn’t ready for an indoor dog.  We were to meet her on Sunday so she could see the home and meet us.

When she got there, we put Cash outside so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed with excitement (Cash is very high strung) and met the dog with much excitement of our own.  We took him outside to meet and play with Cash.  They immediately got along, even though he’s an old lazy dog and Cash is a 5 year old ball of energy.  When we took them back inside and we were talking with the lady about what she knew of him (he was found in a ditch in Kentucky nearly starved and flea and tick-ridden, but is now up to date on all shots and parasite-free).  Cash still wanting to play, was really enthralled with him, he, on the other hand, wanted nothing more to do with playing.  He jumped up on the couch (which is completely allowed in my house) and curled up on B and put his head on his chest.  We all agreed, he had found his home. 

He is Leon, the 8 year old redbone.  Welcome home, Leon.

Edit: This picture was not posed.  That is exactly where he crawled.

Change of plans

We were supposed to be visiting my dad this weekend and celebrating B’s mother’s birthday on Sunday with a Polar Express train ride.  Unfortunately, B’s grandfather passed away and the family is going to Pennsylvania for the funeral.  He was sick for along time, but you’re never really ready to lose a grandparent.  I can attest to that. 

After much debate, we’ve decided we’re not going to the funeral.  At this time it would be really hard for us to afford it, although there are other reasons.  We thought we had a solution, that B, his brother, and I would drive up together, but his brother, after a long employment drought, is starting a new job and really couldn’t take off. 

I am really glad that we went up to visit in September and got to spend some time with his grandmother alone, as well as his grandfather and a surprise visit from his aunts and several cousins.  It was a much better visit that we’d have during the time of a funeral.  I think we’re doing what’s best, and he really does too, even so, he’s having a hard time not feeling guilty about it. 

Christmas at the Biltmore

Well, I’m finally going to the Biltmore House.  I think I’m the last person in our area that hasn’t ever visited it.  I’m pretty excited about it.  We’re going next weekend and it will be decorated for Christmas already, so we shouldn’t have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit! 

We’ll be going with B’s parents.  Officially its his birthday celebration, but we’re really going because I’ve never been.  I feel bad that he’s getting ripped off because its supposed to be all about him!  I think I’m going to take him to a concert later that night to make up for it.  I know he doesn’t mind, but its still supposed to be his celebration! 

My uncle Bill

One of my favorite family members passed away early yesterday morning.  My uncle Bill was so pleasant and just an all around wonderful person.   He was always so excited to see my brother and me, you know genuinely happy to know us.   When we were kids he had a rock tumbler and always gave us the most beautiful stones.  It was such a small thing, but as a kid, it was so cool.  He also drew optical illisions and cool little doodles.  When my dad had open heart surgery a couple of years ago, Helen and Bill visited Dad and, of course, brought some sketches with him, hung them in his hospital room.  It was just Bill, you know. 

DAYTON — William Isaac “Bill” Bolton, 83, died Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007, at Memorial Hospital.He was a longtime resident of Rhea County, Tenn. He was a member of Graysville United Methodist Church, member of American Legion Brady William Post 100 and was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in World War II.

He was preceded in death by parents, William and Hester Bolton; son, Don Bolton; two sisters; and four brothers.

Survivors include wife, Helen Bolton, of Dayton; three daughters, Linda Bolton, of Nashville, Brenda (Dave) French, of Knoxville, Rhonda Masterson, of Atlanta; five grandchildren, Keith Smith, Denise (Andy) Cobb, Haley (Jason) Moore, Jeffrey French and Patrick (Claire) French; great-grandson, Noah Cobb; several nieces and nephews.

Funeral: 7 p.m. today, Oct. 22, 2007, at the chapel of Coulter-Garrison Funeral Home with the Rev. Paul Miracle officiating.

Interment: Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Visitation: 5-7 p.m. today.

Arrangements are by Coulter-Garrison Funeral Home Inc.

Want your Lake updates?

Go read Karissa’s blog for adorable updates like this one:

Go Vols!

Gulp!

His family (and I mean mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew) will be in Chattanooga this weekend and will meet my dad for the first time.  Is it wrong to be nervous?  Its just so rare that this many people that are SO important to me will be meeting. 

Picture post

My niece turned one on Saturday.

I can’t believe its been a year. She just keeps getting more and more fun!

Miss Manners

I was raised with what I believed to be really good manners. My mom insisted on it. I was the only 6 year old showing up to a slumber party with a 2-liter bottle of Coke because “you just can’t show up empty handed”. I was taught that a guy opens a door for you, out of respect, but I should hold the door for my elders as well as people entering a building after me. Just because you should. If I were to be lucky enough to find a guy that helps me on or off with my coat (and I am), then I should also grant him the same respect in the opportune moment. I’m pretty confident with my forks, salad and dinner, and I always “Yes ma’am, no ma’am,” “Yes sir, no sir,” and “Thank you” and “You’re welcome”.

All that being said, my boyfriend’s parents (and him, obviously) have very, what I would call, formal manners.  They’ve got manners I’ve never even heard of, like the one suggesting you leave a fork in the floor of a restaurant if you’ve dropped it.  That’s just crazy.  My thirty-one year old boyfriend asked his mother if he could be excused from the table.  Wow.

I’ve found myself very self-conscious and self-doubting in these situations.  Heck, when we last had a meal with his father, I momentarily blanked on which fork was my salad fork!  (Why you would need a huge fork for your salad, I don’t know, but still, I wasn’t sure.)  Of course, one factor is that I so want them to like me, and they do.  But I want them to keep liking me.  Also of course, they are wonderful people and wouldn’t stop liking me if I ate my salad with the bread knife.  Even so, its something that is interesting about his family.

I remember when we first started dating, being shocked as we sat down to dinner having him help me off with my coat and pull out my chair.  Guys just don’t do that anymore, not many, at least.  And even fewer still continue to do it well into a relationship, which he still does.  On one of those first dates, being impressed by his perfect manners, I said, “Where in the world did you come from?”

Well, now I know.

Long Time, No Post

Well I haven’t posted in a while. I was away from a computer for several days (which is good). We went over to Sapphire, NC for the weekend. Well actually, Sapphire was just our home-base. B’s parents are building a house in Seneca, SC so we went to see their lot and take a boat ride. His brother is also building, but in Anderson, SC, so we went there too to see their future home site. Both are really nice lots and I’m sure will soon have awesome homes on them. I was a bit envious after looking over everyone’s building plans. It would be nice to design a house from the ground up as his parents have. His brother is building a custom home, but they are using pre-designed plans and are tweaking them to their specifications. His parents literally designed the entire house. How fun!

After we left Anderson, we went over to Greenville. I hadn’t been before, but loved it. There’s a river and a park that is smack-dab in the center of the city! It was beautiful and so many people were out enjoying it. Kids were splashing around, dogs were playing, ducks were swimming and playing. It was just beautiful. I just stood there on this suspension bridge for about 20 minutes just staring at it all. So peaceful. We were just there to walk around for a little while and then to have dinner, but I really would LOVE to go back. With B’s entire family moving to the area, I’m guessing we’ll have plenty of time to see more of Greenville!

Chattanooga trip

Having missed Father’s Day because we went to Bonnaroo, we went to Chattanooga this weekend to see my dad, and to take B to the Aquarium since he’d never been. It was such a good time. I never really wanted to live in Chattanooga again (I was born there). I’ve spent my whole life visiting there (every other weekend as a child and almost monthly as an adult). It really is a nice place to visit, but this time, I was a little envious of what they have going on downtown. My dad makes a lot of jokes about the tourists and all, but they have such an active, open, versatile downtown.

We went to the aquarium on Saturday, I hadn’t seen the salt water addition, the penguins, and the butterfly garden yet. As I said, B hadn’t seen any of it; he was like a kid taking pictures with his camera phone. He says it was to show his niece and nephew, but I know better. We ate at Bluewater, which was WONDERFUL. When we got home, I immediately feel asleep.

On Sunday, we had a great lunch at the Boathouse. I love that place. They have great margaritas, the food is unique but very accessible, and their ice falls out of the ceiling. Yep. They have a big open bar and the ice bin is in the middle, and the ice falls out of pipes in the ceiling. I think its neato! After lunch we played a competitive game of shuffleboard (1-1 thanks for asking) and went to ride the Incline. It really was a fun trip. And my dad had a great Father’s Day.

Some pics:

 
 

 
           

As I’ve said before, I’m pretty dang lucky.

I make no secret about it. I think that I’m a very lucky girl. I’ve got the most thoughtful guy in the world, who is still hilarious and handsome and all those other things you want in a guy. (Katie seems to have married a good one, but damn if I’ll let her take my title.)

 

My workplace was recently bought by one of the major media guys in town (or the country for that matter). When you’ve never really worked in a corporate environment, and by choice, that’s kind of a scary thing. So last night, when I got home from my normal, 12+ hour Tuesday workday with the added “uncertainty about the future” stress, I came home to a clean kitchen with a delicious chicken stir-fry (with cauliflower and only because I LOVE cauliflower!) cooking in the kitchen. When I tried to help, which I will always do (mostly because I feel like a slob sitting around while someone is working so hard), I was bluntly told, my job was to sit down, relax with a glass of wine, and play with my dog. I had a nice glass of wine already poured (I’ll get into the benefits of dating a bartender at a later date) and couldn’t really argue with the assignment. I did as I was told. Soon thereafter, I had a yummy meal, Cash had a rawhide, we curled up to a movie and I was asleep, exhausted from the stress, by 10:30.

I’d like to say I dreamt of cuddly clouds of love and rainbows and ponies and waterfalls of comfort and lakes of content and green, green fields of workplace security, but, alas, I had some pretty scary dreams. I did awaken this morning, rested and ready to face the uncertainty with the realization that really great things could come of this.

My Cousin, Bachar, is in a band!

Yup. And I knew it, but I didn’t really know about them. I mean, when you find out that your favorite cousin is a lead singer, it automatically makes you a fan of the band. Even before you hear ‘em. But they really are good. They’re called the Poisonville Rats. They are kinda punkabilly. I haven’t heard them live yet (they don’t have enough music for a show yet) but the CD is good. They’re big buddies with the Tennessee Rounders and I love seeing them live. Fun show! So I’m excited to think that sometime soon, I can go check out the Rounders and my beautiful cuz opening! Yay!

Check ‘em out here.

A huge sigh of relief.

My brother and his girlfriend got some terrifying news when they took their daughter to the doctor this week. My neice, Lake’s pediatrician told them she had a rare congenital condition called Situs inversus, where all the major organs are in a reverse position than our normal organs placement. Now, not only is it terrifying alone to find out that something isn’t “right” with your child, there are also many serious problems that could arise from such a condition. Needless to say we all spent the next three days sick with fear waiting for the appointment with the cardiologist.

The appointment with the cardiologist was yesterday morning, first thing. Andrew called me by 8:30. It was a misdiagnosis. She is fine, normal, and healthy. I can barely express the relief I felt and can’t imagine how my brother and Karissa felt. We are all a bit angry for the painful days that came before the cardiologist’s appointment, but the huge sense of relief outweighs any thing else for me.

Here is that beautiful, healthy little girl: