Hamlet

Doubt thou that the stars are fire;

Doubt thou that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt that I love.

~ William Shakespeare

Hamlet

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Riles tracking Santa on the Norad Tracker on Christmas Eve.


Riles sprinkling reindeer food in the front yard.


Ryan & Austin's new puppy, Holly


Jake & Holly

Aunt Lynn, Riles & Holly

Riles & Butterscotch

Riles & Jake seeing Butterscotch for the very first time!

What a SWEET helmet!

Can you tell she's excited??

Wayne, Nanny Betty & Brad

Nanny & Papa

Lauren, Brad & Wayne

Riles checking out the new trails.

Riles & Santa @ Willow Lawn


Riles & Santa @ Leah's mom's home in Mechanicsville.


Riles & I before a day of Christmas shopping!


Riles @ Leah's mom's home.


Leah's mom's home.

How cool is this home?? We visit it each year. Leah's mom and step dad have their grandchildren's names written in lights on the rooftop. It's difficult to see it in this photo. It's so cool though. They truly are Mr. & Mrs. Clause!

The "Unofficial" Office Christmas Party

~ Dennis ~

Everyone's first Christmas without you....

We all miss you...

Drama Queen and Mini Drama Queen

Riles and I were goofing around tonight after dinner. She learned how to record short videos on my digital camera this past weekend. Therefore, she's been filming EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING!! I found a video of the toilet flushing. My child is rather creative, don't you think? I'm hoping the video that we filmed tonight will upload correctly. It is taking forever to upload. I wonder if I am doing this right......I have NO CLUE and I can't ask Wayne because he probably does not even know how to access my blog! He's not much into the computer except to check his email from his friends. Oh and of course to check out hunting websites. Yippee!!

This thing is STILL uploading. (tapping fingers) I wonder if I will be sitting here until 5:00 a.m. and it will still be uploading.... Perfect for the insomniac in me! However, I do have my limits. I must be doing something wrong..... Maybe I cannot upload it directly from my pc. I think I have to save the video to a site first, but my blog would be a site. Crap, I can't remember!

Well since I'm here literally twiddling my thumbs... I am currently reading The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It's....interesting. I doubt I will read anything else written by Bernhard. No offense buddy, but this book truly is not my cup of tea. The thing that grabbed me was on the back of the jacket cover. "A novel of emotional awakening that you'll never forget." Now that sounded pretty darn intriguing to me! I'm so ready to put this book down. I'm half way through, but I'm stuck. Do you ever get stuck with a book? I think I've discussed this before. I am truly stuck. sigh... BUT.... there are some gifts wrapped under the tree and I know I have several books under there!!! I bet if I unwrapped one and read it in front of Wayne, he wouldn't even know it was a gift he got for me! I could always take THIS book here, The Reader and wrap THAT one up!!! He'd never know the difference. Although I told him which author to buy. I want EVERYTHING by Jodi Picoult. Which reminds me I need to check out her website. I finished reading The Pact and am passing it on to Jahnay. I hope she loves it as much as I did!!!! It was suspenseful, romantic, tragic, family oriented.... I don't even know how to explain it. I think I felt every emotion possible throughout the entire novel. It was amazing! I'm so glad I bought it. The jacket cover grabbed me first. Isn't that sad??? If a book does not have a great title or great cover, I pass right by it. Unless it's an author that I like, but pooh, if you do not have an eye catching cover or a title that just jumps off of the cover begging me to buy it, I keep walking....and searching....and searching. Then I come across The Reader and now I realize it's not all about appearance, but what's on the inside. The appearance of this book looked and sounded good, but grrr...I'm so frustrated by it. OMG! Am I going on and on and on about this freakin' book???

This video is STILL uploading. I did something wrong. What the heck?? Finally, I looked up the help information!!! It basically said I'm going to sit here until the cows come home. Probably till 5:00 a.m.

How long does it take to upload and process a video?Uploading a video may take a while, since videos tend to be very large files. However, the exact amount of time required will depend on the size of your specific video and the speed of your internet connection. The processing stage usually takes about five minutes. Blogger will display a status message below the post editor to let you know how this is going, and there will be a placeholder icon in your post to show where the video will appear.

Okay, so maybe Riles singing a song from The Nutcracker and her and I goofing around with a Taylor Swift song was entirely too long! The size of this file must be ginormous!!! Okay, I'm going to watch Dr. Phil or Oprah or something. I obviously need to get in touch with my inner self because if I was an alcoholic, I'd have drank an entire bottle of Merlot by now or if I were a drug addict, I'd be done with my crack pipe! This is taking WAY longer than the anticipated 5 minutes. So I'm off to do....something....I can't close this page or it will delete the video uploading "in progress". Gosh, this video better be worth it! I know that's what you're saying! And no, it's not worth it to you, but it is to Riles and I. She's going to love seeing it!!

I went outside to continue reading The Reader and I come back in and the video is now uploaded!!! Woo Hoo!!! I'm going to finish this book! No unwrapping gifts and rewrapping The Reader in disguise!

Phantom of the Opera

I am supposed to be working on Wayne's Christmas gift online while he and Riles are out and about today. But I cannot resist watching Phantom of the Opera!! Thank goodness I am superb at multi-tasking!
http://www.phantomoftheopera.com/

Christmas Light Show

Dear Dad...

Hi Dad~

I've been thinking about you a lot lately. It's not because of the holidays as I think of you all of the time. I wonder what you're doing. How you are feeling. Which book your reading at the moment. What kind of wines have you and Judy been tasting lately? I like a nice Merlot. Do you like reds? I don't even know... I do know you like Coors Light!!! :) But of course you are partial to Coors since you live in Colorado. I wish I lived closer to you. I'm sorry I would not move to Colorado. I've always said I would move to Mesa, Arizona. Mindy still lives there. She has 3 children. Did you know that?? She has two boys and she just gave birth to a baby girl. They're all adorable. I'm so happy for her. She married a really nice man who is about to go on another tour to Iraq. Please keep him in your prayers.

Remember Jodie??? How could you forget Jodie? You've known her since we were in the 4th grade when she moved to Richmond. She is married and has 2 girls. You would not believe how beautiful they are! Harley looks just like her dad and Emily is the spitting image of Jodie. Every time I see Emily, it's like looking back in time at Jodie when we were younger.

Things in Richmond are pretty much the same.... I guess. I wish you were here to knock George around. He has put Lynn through so much Hell I can't even fathom the pain and anguish she has and is going through. Not only does she have to deal with the death of Dennis, but she has to deal with going to court every day it seems to deal with George's shenanigans!!! I'm so sick and tired of him hurting my sister!!! But what comes around goes around. I firmly believe in that. He is definitely not the "brother" that I felt I had for 20 years. It breaks my heart that he is not a part of all of our lives. It hurts that he does not know my daughter.... I wish she could have seen the fun playful guy that he used to be.

Time just goes by so quickly. Sometimes I wish I could make it stop. Just for a minute so I can catch my breath. I sit here remembering all of the fun times we all used to have. Remember the first day you bought us a 3 wheeler and the first day you bought us a dirk bike? That baby was mine from the moment I laid eyes on it. I would wake up and jump on that thing and ride it until dark. I would fly around with the wind blowing through my hair and listening and thinking about nothing but the power I had and the sound of bees buzzing around me from the 2 stroke engine. I got such a rush riding that bike.

Remember when Heather or Jodie and I would take the dirt bike and three wheelers to the cow pasture and we'd ride them all day long flinging cow pooh all over each other when spinning our tires? I don't know which was more fun. Kicking pooh all over Jodie or hosing down the bikes and getting soaked! Did you know that we carved our initials in a tree in a secret spot in that pasture? I don't even remember which initials besides our own that we carved into that tree. I wonder if it's still there...

I remember riding on the boat every weekend in the dirty James River. Note to self: NEVER wear a white bathing suit to the James River!!! :) We all had so much fun on the inter tube and who was the master of the hydro slide??? Oh yeah!!! That was me! Heather may beg to differ, but that's the way I remember it. Remember when Heather almost going run over by the Annabelle Lee while skiing?? That was frightening although we laugh about it now.

I wish you lived closer so that you could see your amazing grandchildren growing up. I know you see their photos on my blog, but Dad, REALLY you have to hear how sassy my little girl is!! I have NO idea where she got that from!! She has the most beautiful blue eyes you have ever seen. They get prettier and prettier with each passing day. Dad, she is growing up so fast and she amazes me each day with how well she's doing in school. With the silly things she says, like "SNAP!" I laugh every time I hear her say that! She loves to dance, Dad!! Loves it!!! She sings and cannot wait to go on American Idol. She keeps asking me why she can't do it now!! She definitely got her dad's gift of singing and his rhythm for dancing as I dance like a white girl from Varina!! And the only time I sound good singing is when I'm drunk off of my butt and singing karaoke to a bunch of other drunk strangers, but that was back in the day. Now I'm a plain old boring wife/mother. Don't get me wrong, I still have fun and I absolutely love my life! But you know some things that I will not write on here.

But I miss you dad. Terribly.... I can't even express into words how much I miss you and how sorry I am that I don't call. Every time I talk to you I hang up and cry. It just kills me that I cannot see you. I'm not one for talking on the phone much, just ask Lynn, Heather and Mom. So even though I do not call often, please do know that I think of you all of the time and I miss you more than I've ever missed anything or anyone.

I love you, Dad.

Love,
W~

Rapid Thoughts

 This sign made me chuckle first thing this morning on the way to the office.
“Exspect Delays on 12/3” -- I’m thinking someone needs spell check!

 Must get to Mrs. G’s on time tonight!

 Need to silence cell phone

 What kind of homework will Riles have tonight?

 I’ve always wondered where Tina Fey’s scar on her face came from….Apparently when she was 5 years old, she was in her front yard playing and a man walked up and slashed her face with a knife! My God, that is horrendous! What an animal!!

 Is Heather feeling better?

 What is Jake doing right now?

 Why is my husband silly enough to string Christmas lights outside tonight????

 Man, I do NOT feel like cooking tonight!

 Brrr…it’s cold!

 Wow, did you see that??? Jupiter and Venus!!! How cool!!!

 One of my favorite movies “You’ve Got Mail”
Favorite Quote:
“What will he say today, I wonder. I turn on my computer;
I wait impatiently as it as it boots up. I go on line,
and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three
little words: You’ve Got Mail. I hear nothing,
not even a sound on the streets of New York,
just the beat of my own heart. I have mail.
From you.”

 I’m so thankful that Chris and John were available this morning!!!

 Riles better NOT have told her teacher she had a Nutty Bar for breakfast!!! Bad mom!!

 Why am I not a morning person?

 I can’t wait to pick up “The Pact” by Jodie Picoult again tonight! I feel a bubble bath coming on!

 My day always gets brighter and brighter with each email I receive from Jahnay and Chris!!

 Boy did I have chest pains today when a co-worker pissed me off!!!

 Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens is so beautiful during Christmas.

 Happy Birthday, Britney!!

 Current release “Womanizer”
Love the lines…. “You say I’m crazy? I’ll show you crazy!”
LMAO!!!

 Do not slam on brakes in front of me while I am writing down my random thoughts!!!

 It sure is dark!

 Kings Dominion……finally….

 Chinese take out?

 Remember to order Wayne’s Christmas gift on Saturday.

 Need to write up a Christmas list.
That will be a short list!
Sparklies!!

Garrett's 1st Letter to Catherine - "Message In a Bottle"

Yes, I watched this movie AGAIN the other night....

Letter #1

Dear Catherine,

I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you in so long.
I feel I’ve been lost…no bearings, no compass.
I kept crashing into things, a little crazy, I guess.
I’ve never been lost before.
You were my true North.
I could always steer for home when you were my home.
Forgive me for being so angry when you left.
I still think some mistake’s been made…
And I’m waiting for God to take it back.
But I’m doing better now.
The work helps.
Most of all, you help me.
You came into my dream last night with that smile…
That always held me like a lover… rocked me like a child.
All I remember from the dream…is a feeling of peace.
I woke up with that feeling….and tried to keep it alive as long as I could.

I’m writing to tell you that I’m on a journey toward that peace.
And to tell you I’m sorry about so many things.
I’m sorry I didn’t take better care of you…
So you never spent a minute being cold or scared or sick.
I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to find the words…to tell you what I was feeling.
I’m sorry I never fixed the screen door.
I fixed it now.
I’m sorry I ever fought with you.
I’m sorry I didn’t apologize more.
I was too proud.
I’m sorry I didn’t bring you more compliments…on everything you wore and every way you fixed your hair.
I’m sorry I didn’t hold on to you with so much strength that even God couldn’t pull you away.

All my love,
G

Cool Tune