Aww, how CUTE?! 

Harley looks like he's in love... 

My wife, so elegantly digging for gold. 

I LOVE MY MAWMAW!! 

A Full Moon On Thanksgiving

way-el...
thanksgiving was interesting.
the fleas,
no chloe,
boo in all her glory,
bubba,
the *WONDERFUL & polite* neighbors,
my grandma trying to moon my camera
and then trying to lure Cheryl into joining her...
over all
it was superb.
i'm so lucky!!
our wonderful future baby daddy came for a visit.
long horns & this is it was plenty of fun.
crimmus time is upon us.
God help us, everyone.

RIP, Chloe Caulkins, '99-'06

cheryl woke me today with the news of Chloe's death.
one of my boys left a message on my machine that would make even the most cold hearted one cry.
mom took her to the vet thurs.
vet had to give her a supository for nausia.
two back to back insulin shots for her diabetes.
(we didnt know she had it.)
and recommended mom put her down.
mom, doing THE most kind hearted thing i've EVER seen her do,
said that it was not her decision.
the dog she hated was the family dog,
so it was the family's decision.
(mom didnt hate her. she only said that when Chloe peed everywhere & even then it wasnt Chloe's fault, it was the cushings.)
they brought her home.
the boys were in bed by 9:15,
mom, steve, & Chloe in bed by 9:30.
they began talking to Chloe when she began breathing really hard.
after a few intermitten gasps for air,
Chloe left us by 10.
she was 7.
though they say 8.
she had this little bouncy ball she loved.
she'd be OCDish about keeping it IN her food bowl.
LoL.
i can't believe i'm crying this much.
she was SOOOO small when we got her.
I picked her out after BEGGING my Mom for a WHOLE summer for a dog.
we got her the day before my senior year started.
i took her to liz's new house to show her to her & her family.
Chloe politely peed on their brand new carpet.
i'm gonna miss her.
i've been upset all day.
the kids, made a tombstone
and had a memorial service today for her.
i wish i coulda been there.
but i know, she's chasing all the mailmen she wants to now.
and even barking,...
a real bark.

goodbye Chloe... i love you.

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

when the clock changed to 6:45,
being the worried wife that i am,
i called Bella to see if she'd arrived at her work yet.
she hadn't arrived;
she was fighting the traffic.
she was aggrevated.
Charleston is just becoming so over crowded.
It is a sad day when a native Carolinian
is no longer fond of Charleston.
It has lost its grace, its appeal.
Her personality died a slow death
with the birth of over priced, presumptuous corporations.
Charleston used to be sultry.
it was the South's perfume,
enticing charming Southerners and awed, well mannered tourists, alike.
Charleston was like Dixie Carter,
an elegant, beautiful, intellegent, sexy, sincere woman.
Don't be fooled,
the woman i speak of is a disguised lioness
who knows how to gain any of her desires by hurling forth her Southern charm at her prey,
the unsuspecting zebra of the safari.
she was a Southern Belle.
Southern Belles have long since disappeared like the Dinosauers.
Now, your plastic, blonde haired Barbies have a way of making you feel beneath them,
as they drive away in their SUVs their Daddies paid for.
Our Belles have been degraded and down graded to countless inebriated college girls
who flash their breasts to Girls Gone Wild for free beer and a t-shirt.
Trust fund babies have walked away, hand-in-hand,
with the Charleston that South Carolinians were once proud of.
It is a sad day indeed when one realizes the magic of the south is in fact,
Gone With the Wind.

Be Glad We Live in America...

Chinese Hide Dogs to Escape Crackdown
By AUDRA ANG, AP
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/chinese-hide-dogs-to-escape-crackdown/20061115133909990016?ncid=NWS00010000000001

BEIJING (Nov. 16) - Elaine Loke is shutting down her dog boutique and will spirit her golden retrievers Hippy and Bally out of Beijing to escape the city's sweeping anti-rabies campaign.
Dog owners like Loke have been scrambling to hide their pets in the face of a new crackdown which allows only one dog per household and bans breeds taller than 14 inches. Fears have been fueled by graphic Internet pictures and witnesses who say police are beating to death strays and dogs that run afoul of regulations.
"I can't believe this is happening," said Loke, 33, who keeps the curtains in her first-floor apartment drawn to ward off prying neighbors and walks her dogs in an underground parking lot. "It's so stressful. In the morning, I hear dogs barking and people talking outside my home and I think the police are coming."
The pressure is so bad that Loke is returning to her native Hong Kong and closing a business she has had for two years.
In China, dogs have long been seen as a source of meat as much as companionship. But the current crackdown has touched a nerve in the rapidly modernizing capital, especially among its burgeoning middle class.
"What kind of rules are these? I don't expect everybody to love animals. But I do want to have my rights to keep pets," said Clare Xiao, an account manager at an advertising company. She sent her larger Brittany to a kennel run by a friend and kept her Pekinese, a stray she found on the street.
"What the government is doing is just disappointing, cold and emotionless," said Xiao.
Many of the prohibitions have been on the books since 2003, but only sporadically enforced. The city of 13 million people has 1 million dogs, half of them unregistered, according to state media.
A sharp increase in rabies cases nationwide has prompted the renewed vigilance. Only 3 percent of China's dogs are vaccinated against rabies and the disease is nearly always fatal in humans once symptoms develop, though it can be warded off by a series of expensive and painful injections.
Officials have extended the 2003 rules to cover not only Beijing's center but some outlying areas. The clampdown, announced Nov. 6, gave owners until Thursday to comply or the dogs would be seized and the owners fined.
One owner Zhu Qiao has moved three times since 2001 to find areas where her black-and-white dog, Gou Gou, could be raised safely and within the law.
"He's part of my life, he's my friend and family," said Zhu, 30, a television producer. "If you want to impose a law, you have to get the opinion of dog owners and experts. You can't just take them away."
"I can't move again. There's no option but to hide him and if he gets taken, I'll go with him."
Another owner had his Labrador retriever taken away Wednesday because she was too big.
"She is a very amicable dog. She never barked," said the owner, a businessman who would give only his surname Yang. "If they don't allow me to raise her here, I will find another place. I will get her back."
Witness accounts and photos on the Internet have shown dogs being captured in nets and pummeled with wooden and metal sticks. But authorities have vowed to carry out a "strict but civilized" campaign that police hoped would not anger dog owners, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
"I have never heard of dogs being culled after they were caught by police. Dogs are a man's best friend and we treat them as friends, even when we have to lock them up for the sake of public security," Xinhua quoted a Ministry of Public Security official, Bao Suixian, as saying.
Many owners have sent their dogs to kennels outside the city. Some are handing them over to friends and family.
Joyce Wang gave one of her dogs to her sister and is keeping Ding Ding, her fox terrier, close by her side. She said she had heard that the government was offering $25 to people who reported on rule-breaking dog owners.
"I'm scared and worried. Now I don't take him outside during the day," Wang said. "Even in the evening, we will take a detour if we see people in the compound we live in."

NM To Say...

the leaves are everywhere.
when in the yard, its
*crinkle, crinkle, crunch*
thanksgiving with my family.
should be fun.
if all behave.
worried about harley though.
the hannah/aunt gaye/jeff thing.
but it should be okay.
shurl made an appointment at Olan Mills to have our pic taken with Harley.
that is super cool.
i've always wanted to do that, but never have had the chance.
nm to say.
so, peace, love, 'n happy farting.

its real.

i got a 94 on my third History exam,
bringing my average to a 90,
which is an 'A'.
This means now,
i have straight A's.
HOT DAMN!!
HOW ABOUT THAT?!
Mawmaw said when i get my good grades,
she gets happy,
because she feels like she's getting them too.
WoW!!
that's a real sense of accomplishment!!
Bella's only got a week left at MUSC.
*WooT*
i get her for a week,
then she starts in Cola.
YAY!!
i'm getting eager to go home for Thanksgiving.
hopefully, everybody will behave.
i'm also getting antsy for Crimmus to get here...
ARG.
jeeze, louise,
i am tired!!
i used to dream of this.
of a time of harmony.
no hurt.
no pain.
no numbness.
love.
an abundance of love.
a place where i belonged.
a place that accepted me.
a me that accepted me.
the run of the mill,
everyday kind of love,
to borrow Rascal Flatts' lyrics.
no longer am i the girl at others' beckon call,
nor am i the one who hurt just to feel,
i am happy.
i appreciate life,
my life.
i am so bob damn unbelievably appreciative of every damn thing in my life.
i wanted to be happy.
i wished on all my dreams,
falling stars,
and fairytales...
i wished to be happy.
but this -- my life...
is better than any fairytale i've ever read.
its real.
its real.
when i open my eyes from my slumber,
she is there.
Harley is there.
and i am still in our home.
in our life.

Dorothy: Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home. Home! And this is my room, and you're all here. And I'm not gonna leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all, and - oh, Auntie Em - there's no place like home!

Wizard of Oz: A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.

What? I didn't quite hear ya... 

LoL, aww!! Thas the Momma's Boy!! 

Yall know Bobo, off of the PetSmart commercial? The one where the cashier has to run the Doxie over the scanner, because he won't let go of the toy? Well THIS is what Harley did to Bobo, LoL. Notice, he even got the squeaker!! 

Here's the culprit... 

What, Ma?! 

Aw!! (Scary eyes though!!) 

Disapointment.

britney's divorcing k-fed.
rumsfield resigned.
SC voters banned gay marriage.
i dunno why i held out the slightest chance of hope.
anyways,
i am scared of my exam tomorrow.
nm to say.
an air of disappointment looms over SC.

Tears-O-Joy

i dunno what my deal is today.
i'm all emotional.
and not like PMS emotional.
just emotional.
i watched a rather profound lifetime movie tonight.
was it profound or was i emotional and resorted to a lifetime movie?
the movie was WHY I WORE LIPSTICK TO MY MASTECTOMY.
i was in awe.
i also couldn't help but to think of Mrs B & Mrs M.
then on EXTREME HOME MAKEOVERS,
this lil girl named Siera was born with a hole in her heart.
She has had 4 Open Heart surgeries.
i dunno what's wrong with me,
i've been tearing up on and off all night.
and i'mma tell yall what,
my damn biological clock is ticking.
and LOUDLY.
damn.
enough already.
i get the point!!
when i think of all the work that'll hafta go into preparing and making this happen...
TEDIOUS!!
first step,
peds cardiologist input,
arguing with the family,
doing the deed (not literally, mind you, but ya get my drift),
garsh, i've gotta stop there or i'mma get over whelmed and start tearing up again.
anyways,
i've gtg take a frikkin math test tomorrow
*oh joy*
walmart afterwards
and then sonic.
thanksgiving is coming up.
its my favorite time of the year.
family and friends.
i gotta stop or i'll find some other song or lifetime moment to think of and cry at.
yall take care.
peace.

My Wish

This song touched me deeply.
This goes out to those who reside within my heart.

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,
But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.
But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
This is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big
____________________________________

Update...

wow. it has been a while since i've written.
well let's see,
what has happened?
i threw my back out, for starters.
oyi,
that was HORRIBLE!!
my independence was taken away from me.
My wonderful Wife waited on me hand and foot.
she was amazing.
she IS amazing.
we went home to florence
and had a good visit.
we didn't get to stay the night with Mawmaw.
she wasn't feeling well
and my back would not have allowed me to sleep on the pull out.
the twins had fun with my camcorder.
i helped them with their science projects.
it was wierd, yet perfect:
all 4 of us kids doing school work together.
it was right.
i have noticed an oddity,
when did my step dad become an asshole?
not the man i recall.
liz came for a visit.
mom watched ANOTHER horrid movie.
yesterday cheryl & i took harley to cola to petsmarts.
on the way,
we saw all the fires on 26.
has to be an arsonist.
i say two of em.
all fires cept one were by frontage roads.
harley did very well in petsmarts.
very well mannered.
his new Clemson collar has him looking mighty handsome.
we got him a sports jersey to match his collar,
although they didn't have any Clemson shirts available.
i went to the school today to speak with my advisor.
3 classes next semester:
english 102, sociology 101, & some math class.
i hafta go take a placement test on monday to find out which math class i need to be placed in.
on halloween,
shurl & her momma got dressed up and went to the kids' house.
they were sick with a virus and couldnt go trick or treatin,
so shurl & her momma wanted to bring halloween to them.
it went well.
i absolutely,
100%,
LOVE my life.

Rett with Milky way. How cute is that, I ask you?! 

Bella with Bud, the sweet fire dog of Jamison's FD. 

How can my Bella be SO fugly?! 

Shurl's Momma, Lil Miss Pretty, and Shurl 

This, is my Bella. ACHK. Thats some SCARY shit, isnt it?! 

Shurl's Momma LOVES Halloween