Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

All of the local High School Football teams have been eliminated this year from the playoffs. This weekend is the Super Six Weekend in Wheeling, meaning the top teams from all three divisions will be going to head with each other to claim the State Championship. These are the finals and all Mon county teams have been eliminated.

There is some college football tomorrow as the Mountaineers will say goodbye to the Seniors in their final game of the regular season against Kansas at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. This will be the last time Geno Smith and Tavon Austin suite up in the gold and blue and play in front of the home crowd. We will most likely play a bowl game, but which one has yet to be determined.

I'm ready to get this weekend started.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my digital pictures that I have on my computer. I like to find one lost moment in time and reflect upon it. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that picture, sometimes it's not. It is however always a lot of fun.

 This weeks pic goes way back, way back to right after my Niece Any was born. Mom and her then Husband Don had made the trip up from Georgia for a visit. They had stopped at Terri's and all decided to come and pay me a visit when I lived at Barrington North.

I had not yet seen Amy at this time, and this was probably the first time I had ever held or even seen her.

The exact time when this happened slips me, but it had to be sometime around mid March of I believe 1986. I still had a full head of hair and was much thinner back on those days.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

There are some days that are better than others, yesterday for Michelle and those around her was not a very good day.

She woke up yesterday morning and I had noticed a lot of people were giving condolences to Michelle's niece Samantha. It seems Samantha's brother had died in a car wreck that night in Waynesburg. Our thoughts and prayers are out to both the Deleon family and the Paugh family for this time of loss. Michelle told me that they life flighted him to Morgantown and many people in his immediate family got the chance to say goodbye.

If that wasn't bad enough, Chad and Laiah wrecked their car in Westover. It was a little Toyota Yarris and it did not stand much of a chance against a Jeep. From what I have seen of it, I would say that the car is totalled, but the adjuster will have to look at it to make that decision. They are both OK, just a little bit shaken up. Laiah's insurance covers rental cars and I think they are going later today to get the rental.

Hopefully today can be a little bit better for everyone. I am playing the $500 Million Powerball, I'm planning on winning it all.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is once again behind us and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It was 1,719 days ago that Michelle and I went out on our first date.

* It was 942 days ago that I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* 479 days ago in front of our closest friends and family we got married.

* There are 28 more shopping days left until Christmas. Game on.

* Today my company is hiring my old Boss from IMC. Chad joins us at Sextant officially today after spending much of the year working for another company that lost their contract at NETL.

* I woke up yesterday morning and I was feeling a little bit under the weather. I was going to go in early and work out, but went in at my normal starting time. I had to report for a little blood work and was doing a fasting, so it was productive in some ways.

* Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Valarie Nicholson

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my very beautiful niece Valarie Nicholson a very happy birthday today.

If my calculations are correct and I'm I think 20 years older than her, that makes her at about the age where everyone starts to lie about their age. So I'm 21, so that would make her a very mature looking and grown up one year old.

Actually if my math is correct, she will be turning 29 today and I'm one year closer to being old.

If you see Val today, make sure that you wish her a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Val.

Back to Work

After a nice weeks vacation it's back to work for me this week. So much for the morning and afternoon naps this week as it's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone and get to it for another week.

We did manage to finally get our tree up yesterday afternoon after we returned from Pittsburgh. The tree had had a couple of days to set up and expand as much as it was going to, so we loaded the lights and decorations to it and called it the 2012 tree. It was a lot of fun to do, I actually went out and bought some new lights rather than try to mess with the lights from last year and the troubles we were having with them.

It's back to the gym again for me today, plus I am going to do some fasting bloodwork at 8:00 this morning. I'm allowed water, but no food. They give free physicals at work, so I decided to take advantage of this as well as seeing my regular doctor. I'll start off with some cardio and lifting before I head over there however.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings from the Burgh

I sit here in the hotel room up for the day as Michelle is still sawing logs from last night. I'm sitting in a quiet hotel room here in Moon Township collecting my thoughts.

I think Michelle had a great time last night, we sat with her friend Holly who just had her book published earlier this year. Michelle brought her copy of it to the reunion and Holly personalized it for her. She told Michelle not to read it until she got back to the hotel so she didn't cry. Both of them are widows and I think that has brought them closer as friends as it is something very few their age can relate to.

Our agenda for the day is to simply go home and all we have to do is some laundry and actually decorate the Christmas Tree. We set it up a couple of days ago and have everything ready, it's just a matter of putting the decorations on the tree.

It's back to work tomorrow after being off most of last week. We have four more weekends until Christmas, one will be spent for our annual trip to Ohio for Michelle's family Christmas, one will be spent baking cookies, and one will be spent baking cookies. Killing two birds with one stone this weekend really helped.

Have a great day.

Michelle's 25th Class Reunion

Michelle and I will be traveling to and staying in Pittsburgh tonight for her 25th High School Reunion. Just like me who made it to my first one earlier this year, this will also be her first reunion that she will be attending.

We're probably going to be heading up earlier this afternoon or later this morning and check into our hotel before we head over to where the reunion is this evening.

She went out yesterday during the game to get a new outfit for this and get her toes and eyebrows done. I have to say I really like the outfit she purchased, I'll try to get a few pictures today and see if I can share them.

We did manage to get our Christmas tree yesterday. We went to Southern States and picked out a nice one. We brought it back home, trimmed it up and put it in the tree holder so it can sit for a little while to let all the branches settle. We'll probably decorate it tomorrow afternoon after we get back.

Have a great day.

Black Friday

That madness that is known as Black Friday Shopping is in full swing. Michelle went last night to some of the earlier sales and made it home before midnight. I did get a chance to speak to my niece Amy and she was out shopping all by herself. I told her Michelle was at the same location as she was last night.

I'm sure as I write this blog the madness is continuing, but I am safe at home and not a part of that madness in any way, size, shape and or form. I came home from a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday with the in laws and started to watch movies. I think I fell asleep during Roadhouse, but I recorded it. Classic movie.

Michelle did find a few bargain items for around the house. I asked her how bad it was last night a couple of minutes ago when she awoke for a middle of the night bathroom run, she said it was a madhouse as I'm sure it is as well right now.

Today's agenda includes us going and getting our Christmas Tree and probably some Sam's Club grocery shopping. It's earlier than we will have ever put up a tree, but we became pretty good at keeping them alive for a month or better inside the house. I think the last two trees we have taken out could have probably been planted into to the ground again and probably would have lived.

Have a great day and stay safe,

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a special time of year, it's a time for families to get together and feat upon a meal of turkey and suffer the mythical effects of the tryptophan, although I always that it was a good reason to take a nap.

This year for the fifth year on a row Michelle and I will be heading to the Cassville Firehall to celebrate with my in-laws. We both went over last night and set up tables, peeled potatoes, made homemade noodles, made the stuffing and the pumpkin pies in preparation for today. We stopped by Texas Roadhouse to pick up seven dozen rolls with cinnamon butter for the day.

Both Michelle and I are off tomorrow, so she'll be going black Friday shopping and I'll be avoiding that mayhem and letting her have the fun.

If I don't get the chance to see you this year, have a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all my pictures that I have on my computer. It's a time to reflect upon days gone by that were magically captured moments in time that I can always cherish and share with others. It's one of my favorite blogs of the week to write because it lets me take a little time out and look at my pictures. Sometimes finding that one special picture is pretty easy, sometimes it's not so easy, it's always a lot of fun.

This weeks picture goes back to the very first Thanksgiving that Michelle and I spent together. That year and every year since we gather together with her side of the family at the Cassville Firehall and have a very large Thanksgiving Dinner.

As I even recall, I was driving my Rodeo back then and my wind shield wipers broke as we were leaving the Firehall. That coupled with the fact that it started to snow as we were leaving did not help matters.

That was our first, one that will always be memorable.

Off the Rest of the Week

I've been on vacation this week, but had a couple of meetings I had to go to so I really wouldn't call it a a complete vacation. Now that those meetings are over with it's clear sailing through till Monday for me. This will be Michelle's last day this week and she will be off until Monday as well.

It's been a lazy week of movie watching for me for the most part this week. Taking nice long naps on the couch and finding a movie on to watch or just fall asleep watching.

I get to repeat this once again today but with no interruptions of heading to work, as they are getting a three hour early dismissal today and Friday the place is usually like a ghost town.

Now, what to do with my day =)

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now behind us, even though I am on vacation I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,712 days since Michelle and I went out on our first date. It's going on five years this spring and I have been a very lucky man since then. My life was changed for the good forever.

* It's been 935 days since I proposed marriage and asked the love of my life to spend the rest of our lives together.

* 472 Days ago in front of our closest friends and family we exchanged our vows and chowed down at the Marilla Center.

* There are 35 more shopping days left until Christmas. Black Friday starts this Friday and we enter the time that I call the Official Christmas Shopping season, although we have a start.

* I'm off again today with the exception of an hour long meeting this afternoon, this will be the second of my two meetings this week and I should be off the rest of the week.

* The twinkies may have been saved, a judge has requested that Hostess and the Union enter to a mediator to settle their dispute. Hostess may still end up selling it off, but I think the snack cakes and their product line is too valuable to just let die.

* Yesterday was the first day of rifle hunting season in West Virginia. I know my boss was helping someone he knows clean one up, but that's the only person I've heard of getting one yesterday. I'm sure I know a number of others who have, just haven't paid attention.

* I do have to say with the students being out of town this week, traffic was not that bad or hard to navigate through.

* Have a great day.

Off All Week

I'll be on vacation all this week, minus a couple of hours or if I am needed to do anything at work. The task numbers are not in place yet, and we can'y bill to anything until they are in place, so I'll have a nice relaxing week this week barring anything unexpected.

I went yesterday morning and got new tires put on the Taurus, I had a flat tire Friday when I got off of work and couldn't get it repaired so I had a couple of new tires put on the front of the car. I went to Wal-Mart yesterday morning and they had me in and out pretty quickly.

Something tells me this will be a relaxing week for me. We're doing Thanksgiving Dinner at the Cassville Firehall like we do with Michelle's family every year. Jim and Chris go all out with it and make it a very special day for everyone.

Have a great day.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

Well we managed to get the carpets scrubbed yesterday, we both worked on different parts of the house and went to town. The kids helped move stuff around and re-organize things so we have a place to put our Christmas tree this year. We had placed some shelves in the place we always put it, so we had to make a lot of cookware and some furniture and now we're ready for a tree.

Speaking of the tree, I think we are going to go and get ours later this week. I'm off all week and Michelle is off on Thursday and Friday. We'll be traveling Saturday for her High School Reunion, so we can knock it out on Friday and that should free up one of our weekends before Christmas.

Anyone watch the Mountaineer Game last night. Talk about an exciting game, the Mountaineers fought back late in the game to grab a lead, only to lose in the final minute on a 4th down pass play by Oklahoma 50-49. Tavon Austin was moved from WR to Running back and Oklahoma had absolutely no solution to him as he rushed for a new school record 344 yards on on 21 carries for an unheard of 16.1 YPC average. He also had 82 yards receiving and another 146 yards on Kickoff returns. That shattered the single game rushing record and the All Purpose Yards record for one game with a mind boggling 572 All-Purpose Yards.

The game should have been a blowout for Oklahoma, but the Mountaineers matured last night and found some of that early season magic. Tavon Austin, the most consistent player this season, stepped it up another notch even above what he has been playing at and made it a close game. I honestly thought we were going to pull this game out, and I think this team grew up last night. They will not lose another game this season.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, everyone is fighting a losing battle with the sandman other than me who is up early watching Horrible Bosses in the background.

I had a couple of unexpected events yesterday at work. Our contract is not in place, so my boss wants us to take this week as a weeks vacation. No tasks are in place so there is nothing to bill to, so I'll be burning vacation next week with the exception of two meetings that I have. I was going to take Friday off anyways and even contemplated Wed, but now it appears that with the exception of a couple meetings nest week that I will bill to overhead, I'll be off next week.

As I was leaving work yesterday, I came out and discovered a flat time. Drivers side front tire was completely flat and there must be a hole in it. Michelle brought me a couple of cans of fix-a-flat and it went flat again before I got halfway home. So with Michelle'e assistance, she's a trooper, we changed the tire pretty quickly in the middle of the street to be able to get the car home last night. It wasn't a very good day to say the least. I have 4 1/2 weeks of vacation built up, so no worries there.

Today we are going to start getting ready for Christmas. We have two weekends we will be traveling, one weekend dedicated to the Christmas Tree and one weekend baking Christmas cookies. Today and this weekend, it's time for the bi-annual carpet shampooing. I'll go out here in a little while and get a carpet scrubber and Michelle will run one and I'll run the other one that we have.

Traffic was ridiculous around town last night. We play Oklahoma this afternoon, that and the students had to be out of the dorms yesterday evening created a lot of havoc around town to travel around.

I did learn yesterday what is being built in the Suncrest Plaza. The big stand alone building is going to be Pro Performance Suncrest, I think they are still keeping the facility at Mylan Park open.

Have a great day

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Morgantown High at 9-2 travels to play Huntington tonight in their second round action. Clay Battelle travels to #1 ranked Tucker County to play their second round playoff game. If either of these schools win, they will advance to the State Semi-Finals next weekend.

I think Michelle may have broken her hand yesterday at work. It's black and blue after she bumped into a door frame walking down the hallway. Hopefully it's better today, she's hoping she just stoved it rather than have fractured it.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my pictures and find just one special picture to tell a little story about. A lost moment in time I can partially relive on my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that picture, sometimes it's not so easy, but it is always a lot of fun.

This weeks picture does and does not go back a lot of years. The picture itself is from 2005, but the image in the picture is the actual story.

This is the house my Grandparents used to live in in Van Voorhis. It was the house I lived in until I was about 5 years old and thye sold it and we moved beside Drummond Chapel Church.

The window that you see up top here is mine and my grandfathers bedroom window if memory serves me correct, but I won't swear to it. All I remember was it was the last bedroom you came too once you went to the top of the stairs. My Dad's was the first, then my Grandmothers and then ours. 

Hump Day Sports

Well that's two down, now if you look up over that noon time hump, just on the other side of a Photo Flashback you'll see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

Well I have to say this is not the school year to get your hopes up as a Mountaineer fan. The football team has been horrible over the past four games with Oklahoma on the bill next. On top of that we have had three players who have started this season quit the team this week. That's not a good sign, especially after being nine games into a season.

There is always basketball, but the Mountaineers started their season yesterday morning with the worst loss in a number of years to the team that took us out of the NCAA Tournament in Gonzaga. It was a dismal 34 point loss where everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

Is it baseball season yet?

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now behind everyone, it was easier for some of than others, with that being said I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* It has been 1,705 days since Michelle and my first date together.

* 928 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* We have been happily married for 465 days and counting now.

* There are 42 more shopping days left until Christmas. Wow is Christmas really only six weeks away? I know people who have already put up their Christmas trees.

* Ran to Comcast yesterday. Had to exchange a DVR receiver and exchanged my modem to grab a faster one. Everything seemed to be a little outdated, so I exchanged them and even got a better package and more features for a cheaper price believe it or not.

* This is only going to be a four day workweek due to yesterdays holiday, next week we are both taking off Friday after Thanksgiving to make it a four day weekend for us.

* Michelle's High School Reunion is that weekend.

* Over the next coming weeks there are some things we are going to be doing including our bi-annual carpet steaming, putting up a Christmas Tree, baking cookies, heading back home for Michelle's reunion, heading back for her family Christmas, Christmas shopping and probably a few other unexpected things.

* Hi ho hi ho