long time... no blog

ok..... so its been awhile (sorry)

My parents came in last weekend. I think they had a pretty good time.

On Valentines Day Jesse received a letter in the mail from his brother Mike's daughter, Emma. It included a paper doll looking character called "Flat Stanley" and a letter from "him." It was like Flat Stanley went on a vacation and stayed at our house. It was kinda fun. We took Flat Stanley everywhere with us for the weekend. We took pictures with him. It made the weekend more interesting I think!

Here is the letter I typed up to send back to Emma.....

Dear Emma,

Hello! Flat Stanley arrived in Winston-Salem, NC on Thursday February 14^th, Valentine's Day! He stayed in our extra bedroom in our house.

He seemed very comfortable here!

On Friday he stayed at home and rested from his long bumpy trip in that envelope.

Then on Saturday morning we woke up early and made eggs, bacon and hash browns. We wanted to have lots of energy for a full day of adventures!

The first place we went was called Historic Bethabara Park in Winston-Salem. Flat Stanley brought lots of information home with him about the Park.

Bethabara Park was where the first settlers came to Winston-Salem all the way from Germany! We saw an old fort and Flat Stanley even pulled the Bell! He also posed for a picture in front of an old log cabin. They had an oven that Stanley thought was really cool, too. He couldn't imagine having to cook bread in that!

The next place we went was to the Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Stanley also brought back lots of information about it. We weren't allowed to take his picture inside the Museum.

Outside the Museum there was a huge garden and a greenhouse!

The greenhouse had so many neat plants that Stanley wanted to take a picture with all of them. He saw a cactus, tulips, and lots of other tropical plants, but the orchids were his favorite!

After a short potty break we were on our way to a late afternoon lunch.

Lunch was delicious! We went to Carrabba's because none of us had ever eaten there before. Stanley had spaghetti with Italian sausage. Afterwards we were stuffed but Stanley wanted to get another picture. He wanted to bring home a mint to share with you, Emma.

After lunch we went to the mall just to walk around. Stanley didn't like shopping very much (He could only peek out of Aunt Erin's purse!) so we went home. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home.

On Sunday morning Stanley went to church with us. Afterwards we went to Cracker Barrel to eat. Of course, Stanley wanted to take another picture.

On Monday morning Stanley went back into an envelope to come back

home to Emma's house in Hurricane, WV. I really hope he had a great time visiting Winston-Salem, North Carolina!

Love,

Uncle Jesse

Cute, huh?

Ok.... now I'm caught up sorta.

Today I didn't go to work at Cracker Barrel. I had someone pick up my shift because I was scheduled to go to the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Substitute Orientation. I had to fill out a bunch of paper work... the usual first day of work stuff, W-4's and some others. I had to make a bunch of copies of my transcript, my teaching license, ID, SS card, etc. We watched a few videos. One was a dramatization of a school shooting that was quite compelling for a video made in NC.

Afterwards I had to go over to a Lab and pee in a cup....I signed in at 12:24pm and the waiting room was filled to the BRIM! I sat there until around 1:15pm and I didn't get to leave until after 1:30pm! Of course when I left the waiting room only had 3 people in it.

Luckily the lab place was right in a big shopping center....so I went to Kohl's and then to Michael's. I really wanted to do more shopping but I had an EXTREME headache. So I drove back home, took 2 Excedrin and took a 2 hour bath (while reading "True Believer" of course) After 15 minutes I felt much better. I feel really good now! :) and I have silky smooth skin...hahaha.... Thanks to Vaseline Intensive Care Bath Salts. That stuff works great!

Jesse and Lester had to drive to Cleveland, TN today. 5 hours one way. They won't be back until around 10pm...so now I'm gonna go upstairs and watch American Idol w/ Holli.

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