Wow, It is almost Christmas.

So I'm thinking that maybe this year I am a bit of a scrooge, not because I want to be but that is the way that it is turning out. The money is so tight, I'm having a hard time getting into everything. This is the first year that Phil and I haven't got to any Christmas parties and no shopping. So, I have put a very small tree up, no presents under it, and no Christmas cards sent out in the mail. Oh why am I such a Scrooge this year? But in my heart I'm not. I am having my children with me, my Mom, and my family. I am just not spending any money. But that is fine. Family and friends are precious to me, and they are all the gifts that I need.

And Now for the update on "Peanut".

The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce

So, this Scrooge is wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. May it and your New Year be full of laughter, love, and many blessings.

Charlie

Happy Thanksgiving and Let the Holidays Begin.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blogging friends. The McGee Clan Thanksgiving was a full one, we ended up having 22 for dinner, and I've would have welcomed more into my home if I knew of anyone that was alone on that day. That has become a tradition in our home, if we know of anyone without family for Thanksgiving they become our family for the day. The more the merrier.

My 51st birthday was this past Friday, the 28th. I was taken out to dinner with family and we spent the evening laughing. What a wonderful way to celebrate my 51 years on this earth.

Baby McGee, better known as "Peanut" is hitting the 10 week mark. Here is what "Peanut" looks like now.

From this week until birth, the developing organism is called a fetus.
The fetus is now the size of a small strawberry.
The feet are 2mm long (one tenth of an inch).
The neck is beginning to take shape.
The body muscles are almost developed. Baby has begun movement.
While still too small for you to feel, your little one is wriggling and shifting.
The jaws are in place. The mouth cavity and the nose are joined.
The ears and nose can now be seen clearly.
Fingerprints are already evident in the skin.
Nipples and hair follicles begin to form

Okay, this is Peanut's grandmother signing off. Have a wonderful week.

hugs to all.

Pictures from classes.

Wednesday night's painting class finished up their four week class with tulips and roses. They all look different but good in their own right. This is my last class with them for a while, I hope to get to paint with them all again in the future.


Steve and Jeff show off their work, didn't they do good?




















This is Jamie and Rhonda and I love what they did. Look at Rhonda's big rose, it is so beautiful.
Jamie did great on her rose buds, she has really improved these four weeks.

Jan and Pat got to finish their pumpkins in time for Halloween, barely. We finished them the night before. Look how cute they turned out.

And next is last Thursday night's class. We painted poinsettias for the project. It was so fun being together and painting, a great bunch of women.

Anne is improving each week, and she is so much fun to have in class.

Brenda has been out for a while, she had medical problems in her family and was committed to them. She is back with us now and she hasn't missed a step.

Cathy, one of my BBF, and Myles show off her pretty tray. Cathy is one of those people that doesn't need a class but she come every week anyway.





Next week we will be painting a Santa on a wine caddy. This should be lots of fun.

Later,

Charlie

Dogs are hurt as someone tries to break in, and Peanut at 8 weeks.

Okay, first I'm going to start with good news. Philip and Kim's baby, which we are calling Peanut until we find out if we are having a boy or girl is now 8 weeks. Just wanted to share a photo of what Peanut should be looking like at this stage. Kim is being so good, watching what she eats and drinks. I am just so excited, can you tell?

Now to the other stuff. Friday I went to help Phil with his inventory at Norandex, things were going good until about 5:15 and we get a call from a neighbor telling us that our dogs had gotten out and had crossed the highway. Well, I about died. I got in the car to come home, Hunter was on his way home, and Phil was stuck at the branch working. I just kept praying that the dogs would be okay.

Hunter and I got to the house about the same time and we came in the house to find all the dogs there except for Drake and Patch. Now by this time it is dark and raining. We take off on foot, but we don't start calling the dogs until we cross over Military Cutoff, we didn't want the dogs to take off running for us and get hit. We walked for a good while and then we decided for one of us to come get a car. I came back to the house and noticed that the gate was open on the left side of the house. I walked over to check it out and someone had broken the panel and had reached over to open the gate. I was too mad to be scared. I got in the car and started driving down the roads. Finally I was driving down Station road and driving about 4 miles an hour I saw this black dog running down the road and I yelled. It was Drake. Another car was coming and had to swerved to miss him. He took off into a church parking lot and I was trying to get out of my car to get to him. He was acting wild. Finally he came to me and I got him in the car, he had blood all over his face. I tried not to panic but it was hard. I still couldn't find Patch. A young boy stopped me to tell me that he saw Patch head in a different direction. I went where he told me but I couldn't find him. So I decided to bring Drake home and then go back to look for Patch. When I pulled up to the house there was Patch sitting on the front part of the porch and I just started crying. Patch is our old man and has a special place in my heart.

When I got in the house I went to look to see if anyone had gotten into the house, but I couldn't see anything missing. Hunter came in, Samantha and then Philip. We started working on Drake and decided that he needed to go to the hospital. I really needed to go back to help Phil so Philip and Hunter took him. Mom met them there, so I knew he was going to be in good hands.

We think that someone tried to break in and Patch and Drake went after them. We have proof of this because on the other side a cooler was pushed up to that gate and someone tried to push it open. The police came but didn't fill a report, but said that they would keep an eye open.

With the morning light Phil was able to go walk around the house and found some more evidence of what happened last night. Philip had just done some yard work for us and used landscaping timbers and had piled some up on the side of the house. Well, we think that when they couldn't get in on the one side they took the timber over to the other side and hit the panel in and reached in and unlocked the gate. Don't know if the person tried to come in the back door or if the dogs went out of the doggie door and went after him. We now believe that Drake was beaten with the timber. His injuries and wounds look like it, more than if he had been hit by a car. He isn't walking very well at all, his eye is messed up, and he has wounds all over his body.. He is sleeping a lot, which is to be expected. We are just giving him his med's and taking good care of him and encouraging him all the time. Patch, the old man, wasn't hurt, but he just sleeps all the time. He goes from the bed to the sofa.

I am so angry, not so much that someone tried to break in but that someone caused harm to my four legged children. The doggie door was open and the gate was open, so all of them could have gotten out, including my little Myles. I would love to find the person that did this so that I could take the landscaping timber to them.

This is Patch.

This is Drake.

Take care my friends,

Charlie

Lights on at night are a good thing.

So, we are driving along and Cindy needs a break so me being medicated offered to drive. And the idiots took me up on it. Now mind you, I'm taking pain meds every two hours. lol. I get in the driver's side of the van, put my seat belt on and proceeded to drive. Things went pretty well for about the first hour, then all of a sudden it was dark outside. Cindy is sitting up front playing with her new GPS, which we named Rosie after the robot on the Jetson's cartoon show, and Sissy was sitting behind her playing poker on my laptop. Finally Cindy looks over and asks if I'm okay. I very calmly tell her and Sissy that I'm find, I just can't see the road. I tell them I am not a good night time driver, I always have a hard seeing the road. Sissy noticed the death grip that I had on the steering wheel and Cindy notice the wild expression in my eyes. They proceed to tell me to take an exit and we will exchange drivers. They go back to doing what they were doing and I continue to drive because I can't see the road and have no idea where the exits are. Finally, the two put their heads together and decide that I need some help. A welcome area is approaching and they tell me to take it. Okay, but where is it? I get in the right lane and finally one of tells me to slow down that the exit is here and I'm still asking "where'. At this point we are laughing, but make it in to the parking lot, only to here Cindy say "Oh Crap, you don't have the lights on." Needlessly I look at her and kill her with my eyes, who in the world drives without the lights on. She proceeded to tell me that when she was driving it was light outside and didn't need the lights. Okay, just give me another pain pill, I'm going to the back seat now.

have fun my friends.
Charlie

Home again, just too early.

Hi, Florida and the sunshine was nice. We didn't really do much, but it was nice just being out of town. We have cut your trip short because we got a call yesterday that Mom is back in the hospital. We feared that something like this would happen while we were gone, thus another reason for only going to Jacksonville. She has a staff infection, and now they are looking to see if it is in her bones. She has just gone down hill, it breaks my heart to see her in this condition, and her quality of life is poor. Anyway, we are headed home and I'll get to see her tonight or tomorrow and then we are going to take it a day at a time. We have gotten her a motorize chair, which I used this weekend in Florida, and she will be able to go places with me now. I'm excited about that, and looking forward to some good days.

My sisters believe that I have a broken rib or one that has been pushed out of place. Cindy made me lay on my stomach last night, which was a feat in itself, and she was checking my ribs. She found the spot that has been hurting and said that it is sticking out. So9, Hopefully tomorrow or Monday I will find someone that can help me with this and get rid of all of this pain.

Okay, have a great weekend and I'll pop in again soon.
hugs to all,
Charlie

We have a "Peanut".

.Last week Kim and Philip had a scare, she was spotting. They went back to the doctor on Friday and then went back again on Monday and they were able to see the baby and also hear the baby's heartbeat. Philip didn't get to go, he was working, so Kim's mom had the blessing to be there. Philip brought me the photos from the ultrasound and I got to see our little Peanut. How exciting. And the doctor gave her the due date of June 30th, not bad cause I had picked June 29th. I am leaving tomorrow for my trip with my sisters and nephew. We were supposed to travel to Disney this week, but I'm still able to do much so we decided to change our vacation. We are going to go to Jacksonville, Fl. and visit the big flea market there, and just hang out a bit. My sisters are being so good to me, they are taking me with them and I'm not paying a thing. I still can't believe it. And I am so looking forward to getting out of town for a few days. So, I'll be gone for a few days but I'll be back next week. Until then have a wonderful week. Hugs, Charlie

A movie and a baby.

Last Saturday, before my accident on Sunday, I was given a special gift. I received a phone call from my son telling me that I am going to be a Grandmother. If you are someone that knows me knows that I have wanted to be a grandmother for years. Baby McGee is due the end of June, and I am so thrilled. Even in the middle of my car crash I was thinking, "great, I find out that I'm going to be a grandmother and now I'm going to die". Thank God that didn't happen.

We think that she is about 6 weeks, and so this is what Baby McGee looks like right now. This is going to be so much fun. God has blessed me with my greatest desire.

Also wanted to share a movie with you. Today Samantha and I went to go see "Fireproof". It is a very touching movie, and a good Christian movie too. Take your hubby and go see it if you can.

Hugs and blessings to all,

Charlie

Car Wreck.

Hi, Sunday found me in the hospital because I managed to run a red light. In my mind it was green, I've even been able to share the thoughts in my mind right before the crash and it was green. But I mush have seen the green turning light, not the straight away light.

It was so scary, I saw the wreck, I saw the black car, the crunching of both cars, metal shooting up, and the air bag coming out. That is when I shut my eyes. I couldn't get out of my car, I couldn't move because of the pain and the door couldn't move. The women that I hit were okay, they were out of their car shouting at me and cussing. I couldn't respond, and they never came to my window to check on me. I know it was my fault, and all they could do was yell and scream at me.

All of the officials were so nice to me. They took great care of me, and so was the hospital.

I am in bed for a few days, but I did get up and take a shower and washed my hair. I am bruised on my right side, but that is all. Well my knees are pretty banged up too. Anyway, just wanted to come in and tell you. It might be a week or so before I pop back in. If I am up to it I will be going to Disney this weekend with my sister and her family. They are paying for the whole trip. Take care my friends,
Charlie

Autumn is in the air.

In class this week we are working on a floor cloth with pumpkins on it. Everyone's is looking so good, and totally different. This is a two week class so I am only posting Thursday night's class, the ladies in the Tuesday class are still working on theirs.



Jan did her's on a stretched canvas. She stretched the canvas all by herself. She is so talented, I can't believe that she is taking classes from me.








Anne was so tickled about her's. Look closely at the leaves, she finally was able to do some all by herself and she really did good.








Wednesday night's class was as much fun as it always is. These people are a hoot. And they are getting better and better each week. Enjoy looking at their photos.
This is Jamie, she is a newlywed.


And this is Mandy.

Susan is the Mother to Jamie and Mandy. The three of them are learning together with the goal of being able to paint on furniture.
















Rhonda is their friend, and she is so quiet, but she has the sweetest smile.

















Jeff is Jamie's hubby. They are just so cute together. And he really has some talent and often helps others when needed.



















And this is Steve, he is Rhonda's hubby. It is funny, the first night he didn't really want to come but now he is really into it. He is also a fellow biker.

Classes. Sorry for the delay.

Tuesday's class was a fun one. Hope and Jeanne were able to do cute little bags for Halloween.


Thursday night's class was a good one because we got to do a painting with HD paints. Everyone loves to paint with the High Definition paints, they always look wonderful.


Myles also got into the act. Isn't he just so cute?

Wednesday night's class is always fun, and they are doing so good. This is their second week, and look how great they are doing.

Angie's Amazing Race 3

Angie's Amazing Race 3 was last weekend, Oct. 5th, and I've got to tell you, it was amazing. Here is a picture of some of the Angels standing in front of our banner that flies year long at Britts Motorsports in Wilmington, N.C. We are a group of women and men that come together each year to help raise awareness about breast cancer. Angie, our sweet friend, lost her battle in Feb. 2006 and this is our way of remembering her and also helping other women. The money that we raise goes to help pay for mammograms for women that are not insured or are under insured.

I call myself "Mama Angel" and these are my Angels. They bless my heart all the time, and I can ask them to do something and they just jump in there and get it done. This year, in the middle of all of the financial problems in the country we were able raise $22500.00.

Here are some photos of what all took place on Oct. 5th. Enjoy. The back of the shirts are great ways for us to get sponsors and raise money.

Here are some of the happy riders, getting ready to get their clue sheet.

Debbie and I are taking a break as the riders get ready to leave.

When riders got back we had some pigs done and lots of good food waiting on them.

I was a great day, lots of fun. We are already looking forward to next year........come join us.