Busy October!

It has been a really busy week for us. I received an email Wednesday morning with a job offer that I could not pass up so I immediately got in touch with the company and I started my new job on Thursday. I had training and paperwork to fill out and also had a forklift certification class to attend. Bill sent me the Halloween bouquet for good luck, it is really beautiful. I leave tomorrow morning to attend training in Clemson, SC which is in the upstate of SC. I will be there until Friday, come home for the weekend and then travel to Augusta, GA for more training. After that, I should not have to do much more traveling except maybe an occasionally trip to North Carolina. I am real excited about this opportunity.

Wednesday night we also found out the the recreation department had scheduled a football tournament for yesterday (Saturday) The Falcons were victorious in their last game against the Bears and then had to play the Bears again on Saturday morning. The Falcons beat the Bears so we had to return for a noon game against the undefeated Giants. After a VERY PAINFUL 50 minutes, the Falcons were defeated and now life can move on....Andrew did a great job playing defense and sacked the quarterback 3 times in the last game against the Bears. Here are some pictures from the game, Andrew is #75 and they got to play at the new $4 million high school stadium.

Falcons vs. Bears

Falcons vs. Giants

After the game was over, I took Bryanna and her friend and we went to a Doll and Teddy Bear Expo held in Myrtle Beach. I met 2 ladies that are in my doll club. One lady is from Texas and has a doll company and the other lady is from North Carolina and had an event company but also sells dolls. There were some really unique dolls and a little newborn baby that I wanted. He looked like a real baby and weighed about 3 pounds. The saleslady MADE me hold him and it was all I could do to put him down. I can't believe how much talent that these artists have from sculpting to making the clothes. Really amazing works of art. Of course, there were tons of Barbies! There is a new set that is Elvis and Priscilla and for an Elvis fan would be great. They are dressed in their wedding clothes. We had a fun time while we were there.

We had a terrible storm here on Friday. Wind and rain. Trees were uprooted, some people lost their roofs. It was a cold rain.

Today we took the kids to the House of Blues Gospel Brunch. It was really alot of fun. The House of Blues has a live band and the guy was singing "This Little Light of Mine"- a very jazzy version and if you weren't clapping, he would make you sing in the microphone. Everyone was very good natured and seemed to be having alot of fun. They brought a "JUST MARRIED" couple on the stage to join in the singing and it was really cute. The buffet was great. They had made to order omelets, prime rib, bacon, fried chicken, grilled chicken, THE best mac and cheese I have ever eaten (sorry Gram!) red beans and rice, collards, potatoes, bread pudding (awesome!) cookies, fruit, and lots of other stuff.

Well, I need to get packed and do laundry. The leaves are changing up in Clemson so I will try to get some pictures and post them.

Have a good week!

Football/Race Weekend

This past weekend, Bill, Andrew and my dad went to the Nascar race in Martinsville, VA. It was Andrew's first Sprint Cup race and he loved it! They left on Saturday, spent the night in a motel, and went to the race on Sunday. Here are a few pictures my dad sent to me. My dad is a Jeff Gordan fan, Bill likes Jr., and Andrew likes Tony Stewart but Jimmy Johnson won the race!

Me, Chris, my mom, and Bryanna went up to Newberry on Saturday to see the football game and to watch Caroline march. It was a night game and a little chilly but we had a good time. Newberry beat the number one ranked, undefeated Wingate College and the game was very exciting. The band did an excellent job as usual and it was great to visit with Caroline.

The Falcon's last 2 games are this week. The Falcon's play the Jets tonight and then the last game is Thursday. They have had a rough season but had fun as well.

We added a new "branch" to our family tree this weekend with the arrival of Brady Cole Goedeker. Brady's mom is my cousin Kim's daughter, Nikki. Kim is a first time Grandma and will be just excellent in the role I know! Our best wishes are being sent to the new parents, Jeff and Nikki!

This is it for now, stay warm and take care!

Falcons Win!

After a disappointing loss to the Jets last Thursday the Falcons came back this week and defeated the Bears 19-0. I finally remembered to take the camera with me so I took a few pictures. Andrew before the game:

Andrew and Gray are co-captains of the Falcons and yes they are the same age!

This picture is before the game waiting for the other team to get on the field!

Anyway, the game was pretty exciting and the boys seem to have had a great time. No game until next week and the Falcons will face the undefeated (so far....) Giants!

Cooking update: I realized the other day why I do not like to cook. It is not the cooking part but the cleaning up part. I think I would enjoy cooking if I did not have to clean up the mess that I make afterwards. This profound thought hit me as I was cleaning the George Foreman grill. I am on my 4th George Foreman grill. This recent grill was a wedding gift from Chris and is a nice big one. I have had all different sizes and wore out the first 3. I love to use the grill, but hate cleaning it. I think that is why Emeril and all those other people like to cook....think about it, they give some assistant cook the recipe and this person gathers all the ingredients and chops and measures everything, the CHEF then puts it all together and then you know someone else cleans up the mess. Who would not enjoy cooking like that? This past Saturday I found a recipe on the internet for Chicken and Dumplings for the crock pot. I knew that Bill was going to be gone most of the day and I was not sure when he would be home (he took his first hunting trip with his boss, just call him "ELMER FUDD") so I wanted to make something in the crock pot. This recipe was so easy and surprisingly enough it was very good! The dumplings are actually buttermilk canned biscuits that you quarter and in the crock pot they float up to the top and brown. If you serve this with a salad or green beans, it makes a nice dinner. I was thinking too that you could add carrots to the crock pot but since I don't like carrots that much, I did not do that. Anyway, it is something I will make again on a nice cold day.

What about that Notre Dame game? They almost blew it but came through. I still am not believing that this Saturday ND is playing in North Carolina and I cannot go...wah! I saw some tickets on eBay but can't justify paying that much if we want to have electricity and water for the next couple of months.....haha Go Irish!

So back to the hunting trip. Elmer a.k.a. Bill, drags us all over to Bass Pro Shop on Friday night to get his hunting license and hunting gear. If you have never been to a Bass Pro Shop you are really missing out. They have everything for hunting and fishing and they do have really nice clothes. I have bought sweaters there for myself. Some of the stuff is very expensive and you have to look around really good. The first hat Bill picked up was $39.99 but after some searching we found one just as good for $4.99. Anyway, we finally got him outfitted and after a few glitches, got his license. He got up at 5:00 am on Saturday morning and away he went. The only "wildlife" he spotted were some lizards crawling up a tree, oh well, maybe next time.

And of course the blog would not be complete without a picture of the baby. Here is our little angel playing with his "baby":

That's it for now. Hope everyone is doing okay and staying well!

Gameday

The Falcons fell to the Steelers 6-0 last night in the Falcon's season opener. Key plays were made by my superstar Andrew who tackled the player trying to go for the 2 point conversion. Andrew also blocked the center who then fell backwards into the running back, who then fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Falcons. Okay, so I am not exactly John Madden! The Falcon's quarterback had a little trouble. He threw 4 passes, 2 of which were intercepted and 2 were dropped. Oh well, my superstar had fun and came home dirty and sweaty which is all that matters! He plays both offense and defense and was in almost the whole game.

Not much else is going on right now, as luck would have it, I forgot my camera last night so I will try to remember to bring it tomorrow night when the Falcons take on the Jets!

Go Falcons!