Blog Slacker...

I have been a total blog slacker lately. It's not that I have been doing nothing, but instead too much. Last week I was in Boston- I took ZERO pics of the TONS of snow. This week I was in Knoxville for work. I took ZERO pics of the fam and of my lunch visits with various friends. Terrible!

The big news in our house was that Drew and I refinanced our house and closed yesterday! Whoo hooo.. not really. Not near as exciting as when you first buy. The not so exciting news... we are now paying an additional $100/month to make sure in this crazy economy we don't end up like all the other crazy people with adjustable mortgages. We went from interest only adjustable to a 30 year fixed- 4.875% rate so I cannot complain. We went to dinner after and came home to Tyrone Cawood aka Marley's HUGE destruction! Yes Mam the damn dog ate another dog bed. Drew actually added foam to the dog beds this week to give our sweet babies more padding. Tyrone didn't appreciate Jackson having more padding so he decided to eat his bed. I swear one day I am going to have one DEAD dog! Of course I whipped out the camera for this ( a little late as the porch and yard were covered in foam before the pics.)

For now I am dead in the bed with a bad cold. Tomorrow we are hosting a Superbowl wedding shower. Please let me feel better or I am going to be one large party pooper!

Boring old Gramma and Grandpa

Drew and I have been taking it easy lately. He has been working his tail off traveling to and from Charleston with his new College of Charleston account. I keep asking him if we can move there tomorrow. He just grins. I have been taking up shop in my office the last 2 weeks. I know Drew is soooo ready for me to hit the road so I will quit telling him to do laundry and take his shoes off. :) I am heading to Boston on Wednesday next week. Hmmm I think it is 5 degrees there right now. YUCK! I am then off to TN, VEGAS BABY, Washington DC, PA, and CT. I'll be on the road the next 6 weeks. Urrrgh! So that is it these days from the Cawood house.

For now I am going to dream about being here! Maui, Hawaii

"Tyrone and Me"

Drew and I went to see the movie "Marley and Me" Christmas night with his family. We kept saying the day it came out we HAD to go see it, so we did! Just as we thought, our lovely sweet Tyrone acts just like Marley. As a matter of fact Drew has decided lately to start calling him Marley. We loved the movie but CRIED like babies. We looked like we had just been to each others funerals when we left the theater. It was so sad. All Drew could keep saying was,"that's my dog, that's my dog." Needless to say when we got home we had a better appreciation for our four legged children. I thought I would post some of our "Marley and Me" pictures.

Just like the movie our Marley will jump in any kind of water that he sees- bathtubs, pools, lakes...

Marley at the vet. He HATES the scale and it takes 9 people to get him on the thing.

Marley attacking guests when they swim in "his" pool

Getting stuck in our new deck as it was being built

Marleytaking Drew's St. Patrick's Day hat off his head

Marley in his Halloween costume

Marley eating his Halloween costume

Marley sitting like a human on our outdoor furniture

Marley acting like a fool jumping on our counter tops

Hoping for a burger or a hot dog

This dog can make me madder than anything but when you look at his sweet face you cannot help but love his crazy self. Go see the movie! It is great for dog lovers. Bring your tissues....

More fun blogs about our Tyrone can be found by searching "Tyrone" in the search box at the top of the blog on the right.

Christmas Eve with Drew's Mom and Brothers

We spent Christmas Eve with Drew's Mom Sandy and his brothers. We went to church and then had great dinner together! Here we are in front of the tree...

Christmas Day in Greenville and then off to Atlanta

Drew and I spent Christmas morning in our own house eating cinnamon rolls and opening our gifts from each other and Santa. Santa even brought Jackson and Tyrone presents!

Tyrone loves to eat so you can see he is sitting very nicely waiting to be given a bone. :) Jackson is a completely different story! They didn't get to open anything... I was lazy and through it in a Target bag!

A very fancy high tech camera from Drew! Yeah!
I am slightly obsessed with the show Jon and Kate plus 8. Drew got me the book they just wrote.

Drew got surround sound from Santa! He will never leave that darn man's room now!

After we finished our little Christmas we loaded up the car and headed to Atlanta to spend the day with Drew's dad and family. We also went to see Marley and Me Christmas night with the fam. Drew and I looked like we had just been to each others funerals after we left. It was a little emotional for two lab owners. :)

The "kids"

Kid's table! Nick told them they had to sit there until they graduated college. It is taking the boys a little while longer than he hoped....

Drew and Helen with their lovely hats

Nick, his cousin Patty, and Aunt Teen

Drew, Mike, and Aunt Teen playing Drew's gift- Seinfeld Scene it. Drew won and knew the answer to every question. He loves Seinfeld!

Teen and Patty enjoying Bloody Mary's!

The Cawood Clan!

Helen always gets us the neatest stocking stuffers. This is TN and SC pasta salad! So cute!

Christmas in Tennessee

Drew and I drove from Atlanta to my parents farm in Philadelphia, TN on the 26th. 10 minutes after we got there the power went out! Drew freaked out thinking it was ghosts but actually the whole street was out. So much for our Christmas dinner.. there was no power to cook anything! Instead we headed to Calhouns to have their prime rib instead. Well, that turned out to be a MAJOR disaster b/c my wallet was stolen right from under me while we sat at the bar waiting on a table to come available. Yes, a girl snatched my wallet and ran to the bathroom to take all my cash. Luckily for me the manager and bartender had been watching her. Apparently she was acting a bit crazy to begin with. They saw her take it and immediately sent two waitresses in the restroom after her. I had lots of cash and all of mine and Drew's gift cards!!! I never have a dollar to my name but this night I had tons. The short story is I got everything back, 10 plus cops came, and I prosecuted her. They found all sorts of needles, drug paraphernalia on her so I didn't want to let her off easy. Craziest Christmas dinner I have ever had!

Drew getting love from "baby" Charlie. He is enormous now!


Mom and Drew



Mom bought me these ridiculous socks. Her's have bulldogs on them and mine have labs.

Can we say RIDICULOUS???? When I was young we couldn't even wear our shoes in the house. My parents have totally lost it and are obsessed with their two bulldog children. Man oh man they need some grandchildren!





My brother met us at Calhouns and we had a TAILGATE Christmas in the back of my car. We didn't know if the power was back on at the farm so we thought we better be safe and open gifts in the parking lot. I am sure the folks at Calhouns thought we were nuts! First we are the table that had to keep going into the bathroom to deal with the cops (2.5 hour ordeal) and now we are opening Christmas gifts in the back of a car. Only in TENNESSEE!

My wallet!

On the 27th my dad and Sara came by the farm on their way to Birmingham, AL to visit Sara's fam. Here Mom is giving them the tour:

Smokehouse!

The barn

On Saturday night Drew and I met my high school friends out for dinner at CALHOUNS! Luckily it wasn't the same one. I don't think I can ever step foot back in that one.

Whitney, Drew, and I

Jennie Connor Councill, me, Whitney Miller, Laura Slyman Piers, and Betsy Kohl Couch. Notice how we put the two pregnant girls on the ends. :)

After dinner we went to a "pseudo" high school reunion at Rooster's bar in Knoxville. It was so great to catch up with some guys and gals we hadn't seen in years!

Drew and Betsy's husband James chatting away at Roosters. Give them a few beers and they were fine to hang while us girls caught up!

Crazy song!

I have done it again.... a crazy song has appeared on my blog without my knowledge. I don't remember how to get it off????

Our Christmas pics to come soon. Hopefully before July!