First order of business: purchase fireworks. Anyone in Dillon knows that this is a big deal!! We visited a couple of local fireworks stores in the area and were going to initially rely on my expertise of explosives as far as which items to purchase. Within about 30 seconds of shopping I realized that my knowledge was lacking, so I called Ryan for some help. He used to work at a Jabs and gave us some ideas.
Introducing Mesha to Jabs.
We then headed to Johnson's fireworks, owned by Ryan's aunt and uncle. They "hooked us up" with several awesome items. I told them that I wanted "pretty colors," and Ryan wanted some kind of missile thing. Anyway, I think we came out pretty well overall:
In fatherly fashion, Daddy warns me to be careful.
Ryan getting started!!! Nice socks.
As usual with our family, we lose something. Jay had just located a lighter FIVE minutes before we came outside and somehow managed to lose it, which resulted in a 20 minute search effort. Shock of shocks, DADDY actually found it outside. Bless his heart, Daddy has only been successful in about 1 of 10,000 searches that we conduct for things. He isn't due to find anything else until about 2018...
Our parents watch nervously from the yard...
Yay- we finally have a way to ignite the fireworks!!!
Combining our forces.
Don't get any ideas, Jay.
Sparkler golfing?
I love the name of this one: "Not in my yard!"
Mama wanted to sweep all the mess off of the road when we were finished shooting. Oh, mother...so charming and yet so predictable.
Make a note of this. Being in NYC on New Year's Eve is on my bucket list!!! I would LOVE to experience that sometime in my life. Until then, I will enjoy it on television.
How did I spend the first day of 2012? I started it off at church, of course. Being in church on Sunday will always be a priority for me. Later that afternoon I went to the 5th annual play of Shirley & Robert's grandchildren aka Meagan's siblings, cousins, and sons (plural)! They all did such a great job, and I love them so very much. Here are some pictures of the wonderful event.
What a graceful little angel!
Undoubtedly one of the cutest little stars I've ever seen...
Who eventually got tired of his outfit- hahaha!
A Heavenly song.
That's a wise woman for sure!
Noah made a perfectly wonderful baby Jesus!
With some of the girls after their wonderful play : )
Meet some of the cast!
Plus, I got to spend some time with this little stud : D AND one of my best friends in the whole WIDE WORLD!
Monday was an extra DAY OFF WORK, because New Year's Day fell on a Sunday. Thank you, Lord, hallelujah! I definitely needed it, but of course I didn't actually relax on that day. Me- get some rest? You know better. I slept heavenly until about 10:00 when I woke up with a plan in mind. First things first- what to do for lunch?
Since Caroline was still in town I formed a plan! She, her mom, Jay, and I headed to Del Sol for a delicious lunch, and mark this down: I did not order American food this time. Shocker! We had a great time. Caroline will be in DC for 10 weeks. She will be missed, and I am already looking forward to her return!
Oh, and the excitement that happened afterward... I decided that the wallpaper in my parents' powder room had to go, so with the blessing of my wonderful mother (and dragging Jay by the arm) we embarked on a journey to take down the wallpaper. Me and my hair brained schemes... I did a small strip in one area and it was great!!! Unfortunately, the rest is history. Think disaster history. It was absolutely, without question or a shadow of a doubt, one of my WORST ideas to date. Period. There were pieces of wall flying around, paper sticking to my fingers (think Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas reading the magazine with sap on his hands), I got burned by the steamer, knocked it over several times, dug way too many crevices in the wall with a razor, etc. If I EVER had the option to take down wallpaper again, I would assemble a bomb and explode the place. That would honestly be easier than what Jay and I endured. I'm sorry, Jay. I owe you. And I also owe my parents for the amount they'll have to pay to the miracle worker who can fix this KATastrophe.
While short, last week seemed like it was 10 days long : /. The majority of my evenings were spent taking down Christmas decorations. I swear they were multiplying. I am still finding random elves and santas around the house.
One day last week I had to do a "ride day" with a guest rep- we'll call him Bob. One of our appointments was in downtown Columbia. Due to Columbia's unsatisfactory amount of parking spaces I had to drive around the block and parallel park in order to find a spot. While I was adjusting the car (for about the 5th try) Bob was standing outside waiting. A few seconds later a man dressed all in black with a booksack and GLOVES on comes running full speed toward us and looking behind him frantically. Let's play a game, shall we? Try to find someone who looks like they just robbed a store...and go. Oh wait, I think we've found one! I froze in the car and didn't want to get out, but I could see him in my rearview mirror. He got in Bob's face, then spun around and kept running to the car parked behind me. He crunched down by the meter so that no one could see him from the road, and then he started doing MARTIAL ARTS in the parking lot. At this point I didn't know whether to die laughing or be afraid for Bob. Then the suspicious character bolted to the nearest building. Bob confessed that he was really freaked out, and we both scurried into the meeting that I had scheduled. We got there and the person I was supposed to meet with had something come up and wasn't there... So, we almost got mugged for nothing!
I then needed to come up with something on the fly- cold calling. Some would consider this the most dreadful part of sales, but I really don't mind it. Honestly it's not that bad to walk in somewhere, flash a smile, hand over your business card, and ask some questions. One of the places we went was a vet's office. The family in front of us was taking in their massive golden retriever. Let's call him Spot. Spot was very cute but barking up a storm, and the family was scurrying in. Ok- normal day at the vet, I suppose. We walk in and are waiting at the counter when one of the nurses says, "Oh, no!!! Get a mop!" I look down and there are spots of dog blood all OVER the floor. Apparently Mr. Spot had been bitten and was bleeding profusely. I looked down, and I was standing all in it!!! Ahhhh- rabies, death, who knows what else!!! So many I think the worst sometimes, but you can't be too careful. So anyway, poor Bob. He said that he learned a lot from me, but those two unfortunate instances could only have happened while in my presence.
This past weekend was Jay's last time in Dillon before he leaves for Houston again. I came home on Friday to spend the weekend with him. Friday night turned into a second round of wallpaper stripping. It was worse than the first time, but here is another photo strictly for your entertainment.
Last night I had a wonderful treat!!! I got to see Katelyn and Anna play basketball. Oh, how I remember the days when I played basketball at Dillon Christian School...
Shall we go down memory lane...
Here are some highlights from the game last night:
Intimidating Anna!
How is Katelyn so tall?? So not fair.
The girls in action!!!
After the game we headed to Pizza Hut for a delicious dinner. Talk about a fun Monday night!!!
January can certainly be a depressing month. My guilty pleasures are the several shows that are starting up again: American Idol and Dance Moms, to name a couple.
Dance Moms is SO ADDICTIVE!!! Last summer I became obsessed with it. Those little girls are INCREDIBLY talented dancers. I used to do competition dance in high school, and I remember some of the crazy moms!
I was trying to locate a picture of me in a dance costume. This is the only one I have on my laptop at the moment!
And while I am certainly not as obsessed with this show as I used to be, I still find it entertaining each year.
And I think that about does it!!! Here's hoping for a great January with many more exciting things to come!!! God bless you!
P.S...Since some people have asked, you can read older posts by clicking the "older posts" link below.
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