The Wolfes

Still Here

2010-10-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hey friends, if you are still out there. Sorry for being MIA for the past few months, but I have been just a wee bit busy. I promise to do better, but I have been thinking that it might be time to go private. Leave your email address here, and I will add you to our list....yeah,I know what you are thinking... get excited to see a post every 4 months! I will try to do better because there is a really cute little fella who wants to share his smiles.

Updates

2010-07-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I am a little behind. Jack turned 2 weeks last Thursday, and we are loving him more and more every day! He went back to the doctor on Friday because we thought we needed to change his formula, and we were right. 1 point parents! He weighed in at 9.6oz! That means he had gained 11oz. since his last appointment. He is my little chubba wub, but he is so long that he doesn't look that chubby except in his sweet cheeks.

This is our 3rd day to be on our own with Jack. My parents were here until last Friday, and them my wonderful in-laws came that afternoon. They left on Saturday, and my amazing husband stayed up with Jack all night Saturday night and last night! I got 2 whole nights of uninterrupted sleep! It was like Christmas! I seriously haven't slept like that since early April. This momma needed that, but I sure was glad to see those cheeks when I woke up!

I need to wish my momma and daddy late birthday wishes! Daddy turned 70 on June 12th, and Momma turned 60, sorry Mom, on July 1st! We are truly blessed to have such wonderful parents...and grandparents for Jack! I love you, Mom and Dad, and we can't wait to see you on Wednesday!

Happy Birthday, Mimi and Poppy!

Jack has been sleeping like a champ this morning, but I have a feeling he is going to need a bottle pretty soon!

Grammy and Pops holding their first grandchild!

Fat, kissable cheeks!

1 week already!

2010-06-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

No time to write about what an amazing week it has been...probably the best week of my life! Travis is an absolutely amazing daddy, and Jack is more than we could have ever dreamed of. I am absolutely in love! I have cried so many tears of joy and feel so blessed to be his mommy...and this mommy has to jump in the shower while i have a chance, but I leave you with this handsomeness...

Our Angel is HERE!

2010-06-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

I cannot tell you how in love I am with my son! He is just amazing....Travis and I cried the whole 27 min. ride to the hospital because we were just so overwhelmed by God's graciousness in choosing us to be Jack's parents. He is everything I dreamed he would be and so much more!!!!!! I was scheduled for a c-section Monday, the 21st, but Jack had other plans. My water broke, and boy did it, at 1:35 am on the 17th. We got to the hospital at 2:30, and Jack was here at 4:15 am....all 9 pounds 19 1/4 inches! He chose to make his appearance on my parents 37th wedding anniversary. This has been the most amazing 30 hours of my life so far, and my husband, parents and in-laws have been wonderful. It is so fun getting to watch Travis be Jack's dad. I see years and years of fun for those two. Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts. They have truly been felt. Here are two pics of our little angel, but I will have to post more this afternoon because he looks different already!

"Nothing compares to the moment you were placed in my arms
and I kissed your sweet baby face for the first time. Complete
love and indescribable joy filled my heart from that day on."

Just Waiting

2010-06-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

I know I'm just now in my 37th week, but I'm pretty sure the last time I felt comfortable was some time in April. I went to the doctor yesterday because I have experienced some swelling, but she was "not impressed" with my swelling. My doctor is super wonderful, and I really love her. She has a great sense of humor....she laughed when she lifted up my shirt to check Jack's heart beat. She said, "I am sorry, that was rude," but I just laughed too because my belly looked like a volcano! Everything was fine, but I was just a little concerned because his heart rate was high last week. They put me on the monitor then, and it had gone down within 20 minutes. They said he was just excited...really? What could be exciting in there? He seemed to have calmed down this week. My sweet friend friend, Courtney, and I went swimming today. Here is a pic from our outing...

yep, that's about what I feel like right now....here's one of me trying to get on the raft

It was great to be "weightless" for a few hours, but when I got out I felt heavier than ever!!! I think this is what it would feel like to have cannon balls in your stomach!!

I go back tomorrow for my weekly apt, so hopefully there will be some progress. I am just so ready to meet our little boy!

5 Years!

2010-06-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

Happy anniversary to my best friend! I love you more now than I ever thought I could, and I can't wait to see the daddy you will become. Thank you for your love.

Many miles to baby steps

2010-06-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

I have been a terrible wife and have not bragged on my husband. I missed his birthday blog and his 2nd and 3rd marathon posts. To explain the name of the title, Travis has run 742 miles in 2 years!!!! Yes, you read that correctly, 742! He could have run to Toronto, Canada! He didn't get to finish the Music City Marathon this year because of lightning, but this preggo did truck it all over town to try to catch a glimpse of him in the race... so the next weekend he ran the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. Just happened to be the same weekend as the flood, but thank goodness my sweet friend and Jack's godmother, Courtney, was here to baby sit me and assure me that my husband would make it home in one piece. Praise the good Lord, he did. Now I can't wait to see the baby steps...Jack will be here in 24 days or less, and Travis is already blowing me away with how he has taken such good care of me, our house, and prepared for this sweet baby that we can't wait to hold. He is going to be the best daddy to Jack, and I just can't wait to see it and take pictures of them in coordinating outfits!! So, thanks for letting me brag on my sweet husband, and hopefully our next post will be filled with pictures of our baby boy on the outside of my belly!!

Jack's Room

2010-05-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

So my parents, Tyler & Katelyn all headed up to Indiana for the Indy 500 today. Laurette is too far along for us to be able to take a road trip like that, so we will be watching on our couch this year. In an effort to create a little of the race day experience, I have gone out and bought my KFC fried chicken and will put it in a cooler to eat tomorrow during "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

Things have been going well so far, but Laurette is at maximum capacity I believe. Comfort is a thing of the past and she has been couch sleeping for the last couple weeks. On a positive note, Jack has dropped quite a bit so that has taken a little pressure off of her back. The bags are packed, the car seat is in place and I have plotted my route. Now we wait...

Since my parents are visiting my grandparents while up there, I wanted to post a few pictures of Jack's room. Laurette painted a lot of nice things for the room and we had some great help from both grandfathers with the bead-board (Thank you Mr. Clark!) and the painting (thanks Dad!). I hope you enjoy.

This last one was pretty funny, for some reason while we were taking photos our dog Maggie decided to stick her head under the crib. I have heard stories about our old Springer, Muffy, sleeping under my crib when I was a baby so maybe Maggie is just getting ready.

Almost forget, here is a photo from our last ultrasound!

Though you walk through the waters.....

2010-05-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

It should not come as news to you that Nashville is flooded. It's no secret that I hated this place when we moved here almost 5 years ago, but it has truly found a spot in my heart. And the people of Nashville have become dear to me as well...so my heart hurts tonight as so many are hurting and I sit here wanting to help but not knowing where to start. My mind has gone to the passage in Isaiah today that is a favorite praise song of mine as well...."Though you walk through the waters I will be with you. And the waves, they will not overcome you. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine! For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." So, the only thing I can think to do right now as people like my dear friend and Jack's godmother, Courtney, wait for morning to break to see what devastation the Cumberland River has brought to their lives... is to Pray! I hope that you will pray with me for the people of this city. Here are some pictures that Travis found and uploaded to a flickr account to give you an idea of what is going on. We also found this Chris Tomlin video that truly reminds us that the He is still the God of this city.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49850674@N07/

on a lighter note:

Blessings,
Travis and Laurette

Bob Dylan - The Man in Me

2010-04-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

This one is for all the ladies out there...because nothing says romantic like Bob Dylan's sultry smooth vocals...ha.

This is a great song about a strong woman, but more importantly it is in the greatest movie of all time.

The man in me will do nearly any task,
And as for compensation, there’s little he would ask.
Take a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.
Storm clouds are raging all around my door,
I think to myself I might not take it anymore.
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me.
But, oh, what a wonderful feeling
Sets my heart a-reeling
The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein’ seen,
But that’s just because he doesn’t want to turn into some machine.
Took a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs

Baby Shower and Preggy Pics

2010-03-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

Oh, what a week so far....I have felt absolutely HORRIBLE! Thank you Mr. Pollen, but you were not invited to my house! We have about 2 billion Bradford Pear Trees in our neighborhood. You have to drive through two rows on them to get into our neighborhood, and I think driving through tear gas would feel the same. This pollen attack has prevented me from thanking my amazing friends for my very first baby shower. It was so weird to think all these baby things were for me, well Jack. Even the enormous belly has not fixed the idea in my head. But Tricia, Amanda, Katelyn E. soon to be Katelyn B., Lindsey, Mims, Heather, and Katelyn W. set me and Jack up in style! He got some precious things! I can't wait to play dress up with him. I always hated Barbies, but I loved to dress my Cabbage Patches. Now I will have my very own Cabbage Patch! My friends were so sweet to plan this day for me, and it was extra special to share it with my mom, my grandmother, my Aunt Judy, my sweet mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law Katelyn who was also a hostess. Jack is very loved already and his momma feels the same way! Thank you friends!!! Somehow I also managed to talk Travis into taking some maternity pics, and I just happen to be BFF with the best photographer EVER!! Thanks Tricia for making my preggo-pale self look pretty good....well as good as I can at this point. We were just missing Maggie. Maybe next time. Thanks Tricia....I can't wait for you to take pics of him on the outside! So here are a few pics from the big day.

Memer, Mimi, me, and JuJu

the best friends/hostesses a girl could ask for minus Heather and Lindz

the grandmothers

Sweet baby Kate! LOVE HER!

and my favorite pic from the master photographer herself! I love that boy, and he is going to be an awesome daddy!

Happy Easter!

James Taylor - Not Fade Away

2010-03-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

So today's song is a little different. The coolest thing for me was that little Jack was moving all around inside Laurette when this song was playing. I think after Paul Simon (post coming later) and now this song it is safe to say for sure this kid is going to have my love for music.

Another great thing about this song is that it is a cover. When a band or an artist chooses to cover a song it can go really really good or really really bad.

"Not Fade Away" was written and recorded by the great Buddy Holly. If any of you are like me for many years I just thought of Holly as that guy with funny glasses and would sometimes get him confused with Roy Orbison..again another guy with funny glasses. There is still much for me to learn about Buddy Holly and his band The Crickets, but the longer we live in Nashville and the more trips to Roberts Western World (the best damn Honky Tonk in the world!) and the Country Music Hall of Fame, the more I understand the magnitude of Holly's influence on Country, Blues and Rock and Roll music.

He was only 22 when he died in an awful plane crash with two other great artists of their day, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. The crash was the subject of Don McLean's American Pie. The song that Madonna just butchered in the link above.

In his 22 years he recorded three albums, was one of the first artist to write, produce and perform his own songs and has been sited as a major influence in the careers of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and any one musician worth a damn in the last 50 years. Remember also that Buddy Holly's international career only lasted maybe 2 years at best and he was still able to make this kind of impact on people.

The reason I love this song is because it has a simple Bo Diddley beat.. another artist that Jack will be hearing soon. You can't help but tap your foot to the guitar riff and the lyrics are simple and to the point. When you tell a woman that your love is bigger then Cadillac, I think she gets it..especially those colossal 1950's model caddy's.

And since this song was a cover another fun part was discovering on YouTube, just how many covers of this song exist including a jammed out Grateful Dead version, a very high pitched Tom Petty version, and a Bruce Springsteen version from way back in the day....see even in 1978 he was a little pretentious. BRUUUUUUUCE

My favorite has to be this really old version below from 1964 by The Rolling Stones. Last year Buddy Holly's band The Crickets were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame here in Nashville. Keith Richards thought the evening was so important that he threw on a suit, found his best pairs of trinkets or whatever the heck it is he puts in his hair and came to our fine city to present the honor and jam with the band onstage. He said during his ~~speech~~ mumbling that there would be no Rolling Stones without Buddy Holly and The Crickets.

It is amazing to think that such a legendary bands like the Stones and the Beatles were once upon a time just kids that loved to play American rock and roll and listen to Buddy Holly & The Crickets records.

Even the great Bob Dylan couldn't help but seem like a little bubbling teenager when it comes to icons and their music. Here is what he had to say during a 1998 Grammy acceptance speech...
And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way.

The importance of Buddy Holly on our music today could be the subject of a much, much longer entry, but let's just say that there is a reason he was one of the first picked to be added into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

(side note - watch Mick's little leg jive at the 0:55 mark and listen to the crowds reaction)

I wanna tell you how it's gonna be
You're gonna give your love to me
I'm gonna love you night and day
Love is love and not fade away

Well love is love and not fade away
And my love is bigger than a Cadillac
I'll try to show it if you drive me back

Your love for me has got to be real
Before you'd have noticed how I feel
Love real not fade away
Well love real not fade away

I wanna tell you how it's gonna be
You're gonna give your love to me
Love that lasts more than one day
Well love is love and not fade away

OCMS - Were All In This Together

2010-03-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

One of greatest memories from the past year was New Years Eve. Laurette and I had the privilege of going to the historic Ryman Auditorium for the Old Crow Medicine Show NYE Show. This is a band that we both love listening to so we were thrilled to go to this show.

The one issue was Laurette was just getting out of her first trimester and we really didn't want to push keeping her out all night and ringing in the new year with a bunch of drunkards so after the first half of the show we headed home. It is very odd being on the road at 11:20pm on New Years Eve. Everyone was either at there parties or downtown. We honestly were the only people on the road.

Luckily the show was broadcast on 650 WSM so we had the chance to listen when we got home, but my big stereo wouldn't pick up AM stations. We actually rang in the new year listening to my clock radio. We both found it funny that in this day and age when we were supposed to be driving around in flying cars we were actually ringing in the New Year on an am clock radio listening to an old time string band.

We danced to Wagon Wheel as the the clock turned over to 2010 and with so much change about to happen in our lives this year, it was a nice way to start things off in a simple, calm way.

This song is one of my favorites from OCMS. We will have a few more on the list as Jack grows, but the lyrics for this song are wonderful. Take a look at this amazing song about life struggles, supporting loved ones, and redemption.

Well my friends, I see your face so clearly
Little bit tired, little worn through the years
You sound nervous, you seem alone
I hardly recognize your voice on the telephone

In between I remember
Just before bound-up, broken-down
We drive out to the edge of the highway
Follow that lonesome dead-end roadside south

(Chorus:)
We're all in this thing together
Walkin' the line between faith and fear
This life don't last forever
When you cry I taste the salt in your tears

Well my friend, let's put this thing together
And walk the path with worn out feet of trial
'Cause if you wanted we can go home forever
Give up your jaded ways, spell your name to God

All the hour there's a picture in a mirror
Fancy shoes to grace our feet
All there is is a slow road to freedom
Heaven above and the devil beneath

Travis - Love Will Come Through

2010-03-27T00:25:00.000-07:00

Besides having the absolute coolest band name ever, without these Scots from Glasgow you wouldn't have bands like Coldplay or Keane..well Coldplay probably would have blown up anyway, but this band certainly helped pave the way for them.

Is this the second most important song on the list? No, but this band does have a pretty special one that we will play a little later on to Jack. The chorus of this song is great, but what i love most is its waltz feel. These guys know how to write a song that goes well with hoisting a drink in the air at a Pub and singing along. To prove that point watch the beginning of this live performance below.

I wish I knew some deep meaning behind this song, but I just don't. Wiki says it is about an everyday real kind of love and not the hollywood movie kind. I dont really see that in the lyrics and have never really attempted to look into the meaning behind this one. I just like to keep to the fact that it just sounds great. It is a good song, period. Enjoy.

If I told you a secret
You won't tell a soul
Will you hold it and keep it alive
Cause it's burning a hole
And I can't get to sleep
And I can't live alone in this lie

So look up
Take it away
Don't look da-da-da- down the mountain

If the world isn't turning
Your heart won't return
Anyone, anything, anyhow

So take me don't leave me
Take me don't leave me
Baby, love will come through it's just waiting for you

Well I stand at the crossroads
Of highroads and lowroads
And I got a feeling it's right

If it's real what I'm feeling
There's no makebelieving
The sound of the wings of the flight of a dove

Take it away
Don't look da-da-da down the mountain
If the world isn't turning
Your heart won't return anyone anything anyhow...

So take me don't leave me
Take me don't leave me
Baby, love will come through it's just waiting for you

So look up
Take it away
Don't look da-da-da- down

If the world isn't turning
Your heart won't return anyone anything anyhow...

So take me don't leave me
Take me don't leave me
Baby, love will come through it's just waiting for you

Love will come through

Fernando Ortega - Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

2010-03-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is the single most important song in my life and I can think of no other song for my future son to hear first. The greatest memory in my life so far was at our wedding singing this song with the whole congregation with tears running down mine and Laurette's faces. I am sure this memory will soon be in second place once Jack arrives, but I still cherish that memory. The lyrics in this hymn are simply amazing and honestly bring me to tears every single time I hear it.

The background on this song and the author draws me even closer to it. If you have the time, be sure to check out the author's, wiki page to learn more...because seriously, everything is true on that site right??

It is an interesting tale, but what I love most is his conversion and the songs reflection on the massive scope of God's Grace.

I also love the story of the Ebenezer from 1st Samuel-7. At work I have my own little "Stone of Help" on my desk and it has always been a comfort for me during stressful times.

So here it is the first song for little Jack to hear... I have a few different versions I love, but since I don't want my son arriving into this world in skinny hipster jeans and galoshes...I decided to skip the Sufjan Stevens version for right now and stick to the plain jane Fernando version.

I promise that not all these posts will be as deep as this one, but you gotta start strong out of the gate, right!

1. Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

The Boy in the Bubble

2010-03-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

So it is Travis and I believe it is about time for me to take over this here blog for a while. If anyone is still out there....hello...is this thing on?

I have decided to do a special project. For the past month I have been playing music to Jack. Each night when it is time to go to sleep, I bust out the headphones and play something for our future son. I am about 25 songs deep now and I think it is time I start cataloging them.

Now I am not promising that I have the best taste in music, but I do hope to give little Jack some insight on the music that has shaped me.

This is not only something that Laurette and I really enjoy every evening, but I also see it as an investment in the future. As my father can tell you, I wasn't the most athletic kid in school, and I am not sure if that kinda thing skips a generation, but I do love me some music...so the future for this kid has to be in music. After all, Jackson Wolfe just sounds like an awesome songwriter name, don't you agree? Anyway, suggestions are welcome and I hope you enjoy.

Apologies on the front end for the terrible grammar.

Best, Travis

It's a.....

2010-01-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

Well, what a weekend. We got about 6" of snow which started coming down in the middle of our appointment Friday morning. I had told my 1st graders on Thursday that if it snowed that I might not be able to get to the doctor Friday morning to find out what the baby would be. This really confused some of them. Jusbin wrote in his journal, "I hope it doesn't snow so Mrs. Wolfe can have her baby." Jusbin, thankfully that was not the case! They are so obsessed with this baby and are constantly asking me questions about it and telling me how big my stomach is getting! We have been studying penguins, and La'Dayshia brought a book up to my desk with a picture of a male penguin incubating the egg on his feet. "Look, Mrs. Wolfe, that pooch looks just like your stomach." Thanks, La'Dayshia! I asked them to write in their journals Thursday morning what they thought I was going to have and what they wanted me to name it. Tripper wrote, "Mrs. Wolfe will have a boy becuas boys are good. I will name him Spik." He ment to write Spike...we are still working on the silent e. La'Dayshia wrote, "I wont Mrs. Wolfe to have a gurl becus gurls are not hrd heded. And I love baby gurls. She will nam her KK Wolfe." That was "hard headed" to translate 1st grade-eese. So the boys will be excited and the girls will be sad because Baby Wolfe will be wearing blue!

Jackson Walters Wolfe will be here in June.

Jackson is my mother-in-law's maiden name, and Walters is my mom's maiden name. I just love family names because I am named after both of my grandmothers. So little Jack Wolfe will be terrorizing Maggie before she knows it! We are so blessed because our ultrasound was "perfect" in the words of our doctor. She said it was an A+! And Travis was relieved that he would not have to watch girl sports....really....I was just excited he has 10 fingers and toes!

In other news, I thought I was going to be a single mother this morning after our good friend Randall and Travis decided to "snow ski" down a hill in our neighborhood using water skis and some sort of poles - correction, broomsticks. I stayed inside most of the time with Paula and Annelise, Randall's wife and daughter. At one point I saw Randall running full speed down the hill to a parked truck with a ski right beside it. I was certain that Travis had skied under the truck....heart attack one of the day! They are so ridiculous. Here are the rednecks playing....

Back to baby news....I called Mary Peyton to tell her the news. I thought she would be disappointed, but I think little boys have started to grow on her.

Me: Well, we found out today what our baby is going to be.
MP: What is it?
Me: Guess
MP: I think it's a girl, no a boy. It's a boy.
Me: yep you are right.
MP: I wanted a boy, but can you make sure it's not as wild as ours? He is chaos and destruction!
Me: well, they can just be wild together. We are going to name him Jackson and call him Jack.
MP: I will call him Jackson Destruction!

Where does she come up with this stuff? That's all for now.

"Who has a baby?"

2009-12-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday was a great birthday...number 27 for me. Travis and my friends at school did and awesome job, and I have to say this was the best Nashville birthday yet! I always miss my family on my birthday, but this year I had PLENTY of birthday wishes. Our Assistant Principal always announces the teachers' birthdays in the morning announcements, "Today is Mrs. Wolfes' birthday, so if you see her in the hall wish her a happy birthday!" Let me tell you that kids take this seriously...they may not hear anything else that is said all day, but they are going to listen for the birthday announcement dead gummit! So to say that I heard "Happy Birthday, Mrs. Wolfe!" 200 times would be NO exaggeration!
It was also a fun week because Tuesday we got to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat! 162...my sister is predicting a girl. Everyone asks me if I have a feeling to which I answer yes, nausea! It hasn't been too bad, but I can definitely tell that big business is going on inside me! We found out Oct. 12th, but wanted to wait a while to share our news. To say we are excited would be an understatement but I must add shocked and nervous as well. My dear friend Paula assures me that God gives you 9 months for a reason. I agree. So far everything looks healthy, but we certainly covet your prayers. Oh, I almost forgot to write about telling my students. I have been stuffing my face in class for weeks now...food is the key to avoiding the puke for me. So since I reached 12 weeks on my birthday, I thought it would be the perfect day to tell my kids. We have been playing "Shark Attack" which is my more politically correct version of "Hang Man." I usually get them to guess the title of a book, so a sentence was a bit of a stretch. Well, Rontaz finally guessed it with one letter missing..."I have a baby in my t_mmy."
Rontaz: I have a baby in my tummy.
Rontaz: (2nd time more fluently) I have a baby in my tummy.
Rontaz: Who has a baby in their tummy.
Me: I do, I am going to have a baby!
Class: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! (16 kids went NUTS!)
It was awesome! They were so excited and wanted me to bring it to school...Uh, hello, it's right here. They were a little disappointed to know that Baby Wolfe would not make his/her appearance until after we get out for the summer. They want to see him/her when they come back next year...are you kidding? My child will not be visiting that germ factory! I am already looking into getting my dad to build me a sanitation chamber at the front door. Speaking of, can you guess what I got for my birthday from my school friends? Six bottles of Bath and Body Works moisturizing antibacterial hand soap. They know me so well.

Rip!

2009-11-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

That is the sound that I love to hear when I pull one of my student's teeth. I LOVE to pull teeth. I think I missed my calling as a pediatric dentist. One of my kids asked me to pull his front tooth today...imagine me grinning with delight while singing "I'll Be Your Dentist" from Little Shop of Horrors. Don't worry, I only pull really wiggly ones...clad in latex gloves of course!

Domination

2009-09-21T19:53:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a while....a long while. I don't know if anyone even reads this any more, but I have big news!!! Mrs. Wolfe's first grade class dominated the first grade tug-of-war challenge. We took home a sweet blue version of this little baby.
Rontaz and I arm wrestled today...we took a break from guided reading. He lead our class to a victory, and that is only one reason why I love that kid. More from room 127 another day. Until then, I must get my sleep to make it through another 12-hour day!

Marathoner!

2009-05-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a ridiculous amount of time since our last post, but hey, we have been busy. So if anyone is still reading this, allow me to take a minute to brag on my studly husband. This post is way late, but I am procastanating finishing report cards. 3.5 days left...whoop, whoop! I have a pep in my step that I haven't had in years. There's just something about a summer vacation, but back to Travis. At the end of April he ran his first marathon, the Country Music Marathon. 26.2 MILES! and he ran the entire way. Tyler and Katelyn saw him at miles 12 and 18, and I caught up with him at mile 20 and the finish line. I was so stinking hot! I was miserable, so you know Travis was sweating it running in that kind of heat. He finished in 4 hours, 53 minutes, and 34 seconds. I am really proud of him considering he didn't start training until January, and we had some cold nights this winter....he ran one night when is was below 10 degrees! There is just no way that I would ever do that!!! ever!!! He stuck with it, and Maggie deserves a little credit too. She was his running buddy for part of the training. I wish I had a picture of them in their matching reflective vests that I bought for them. I ran with him the first night, got mad at him because he wouldn't wait on me, and never ran with him again. He really stuck with this goal, and I am so proud of him for accomplishing something that I could not nor would not ever want to do! He has already put his name in the lotto for the London marathon next spring....Motherland, here we come!

I am not going to show Maggie this pic. I think she would be a little peeved to see Belle, her cousin, at the finish line when she did all the work training her dad! And, I know I am so pale that I am almost transparent, but that is just the way God made me. You got a problem with it take it up with Him! Katelyn and I look like pilgrims and Indians!

Conversation

2009-02-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

I went for a walk around Vanderbilt the other day during lunch. I decided to call my sister to see how they were doing...MP got on the phone. This was our conversation:
Me: hey MPers what are you doing?
MP: making a Food Network challenge cake...
Me: oh wow! what does it look like?
MP: it is big, but I still have to do the green and pink layers.
Me: what else do you have to do?
MP: I still need to make my sugar showpiece for on top...
Me: wow, a sugar showpiece...what will it be
MP: a star...a beautiful star...a beautiful pink star with twirlies...
Me: what flavor is the cake?
MP: chocolate and vanilla
Me: oh wow...will you mail me a piece?
MP: no, Wawa, it's just pretend...(my sister told me they were making it out of Styrofoam(sp?) and decorating it with construction paper and stickers.

this will be MP in a few years...

this kid cracks me up! Then she asked me why the valentine window stickers I sent her stink....
Me: I don't know, I didn't make them.
MP: they smell like dead flies!

Happy Early V-day and Goings-Ons

2009-02-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Just hanging with my sis...

Mom, this is getting old...

I can't handle this....where is my bottle?!

really can it get any more precious!? I'm terrified that our children will not be this cute...I talked to MP this morning. Uncle Webby is there, so she is in heaven! She needed to give me a recipe. That's her thing, when you call she gets on the phone to give you a recipe. This one was actually edible. Salad: lettuce, bacon and Italian dressing, but she reminded me not to put carrots in Dadu's because he doesn't like carrots. I wanted to say that carrots were not in the recipe, but I thought I would cut her some slack. She is 4. She is really funny when she gives you directions!

Life is moving right along. We had a great weekend last weekend visiting Hunter, Emily and sweet baby William. He is just the sweetest thing. Such good manners and so well behaved! :) Josh and Emily Blades joined us and we had fun with them as always! I was just thinking in church last Sunday how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends! Josh and Emily stayed at Mom and Dad's with us and were not too disturbed by Woody's constant vomiting! That's right, my hairy little brother was under the weather...and more so than we could have imagined! We found out Monday after his emergency surgery that he had managed to get his paws on a corn cob which he proceeded to swallow blocking his intestines! Sounds pleasant! He is now back at home after terrorizing the doctor and nurses at the vet. He was not a good patient. He is sporting a cone around his neck, but other than that is on the mend. He gave us quite the scare! That's pretty much all for us. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines...I plan to enjoy a meal with my sweet husband. I leave you with these verses that my youth kids read on Wednesday night:

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13

Updates

2009-02-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well, all is well in the Wolfe house. Travis and I spent this past weekend with our youth group at Warmth in Winter. A good time was had by all, but it is painfully clear that we are getting old. This precious freshman girl had on a t-shirt that said, "Wiggity, Wiggity, Wack!" We asked her if she knew what it meant, no was the answer we received, so we proceeded to educate her on the musical stylings of Kris Kross. Another girl said, "Oh, I know who they are. I saw them on VH1 'I love the 90s'"....ugg, we are old. Here are some new pictures of our nephew, Wade. I can't get over the red hair! Never would have dreamed he would be red headed! And his zealous appetite seems to be catching up with him. He looks good with 2 chins, don't you think?

A New Brother!

2009-01-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

My parents became parents again today at the ripe ole ages of 58 and 68! Here is my new brother, Dagwood!

They got him from Good Dog Rescue in Memphis. He is a Dachshund, Spaniel mix. They may call him Woody because Dagwood is a mouthful. I called Mary Peyton to tell her she had a new uncle. She said, "Dagwood, that's a terrible name. I'll call him Floyd." Welcome to the family, Dagwood. Can't wait to meet you, buddy!

A Wolfe Pack Year in Review

2009-01-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hello All, let's be honest...If anyone even looks at this thing anymore you know that it is rarely updated. We are just not as on top of it as we should be. So I figure I will try and do a quick Year in Review through pictures I have on my computer. As bad as we are about blogging, Laurette and I are even worse about taking photos (seriously, we have 2 photos of us from our Honeymoon!). So here is my best effort at trying to give you an update.

Christmas 2007

Yeap, That is me with an 18 inch knife along with my fellow partner in crime Web. We got these weapons of mass destruction as Christmas gifts from Laurette's cousin AB who is a missionary in Africa. He didn't want us to ask how he got them through customs. Anyway, last Christmas was spent in Aberdeen, MS and pretty low key other then the blade of death and teaching my niece Mary Peyton how to make an apple pie.

January 2008

New Years Eve was spent in Memphis, TN with the Cantrell's, Butts', Laurette's rockin Sis and Jake. It was a fun night of sushi, fireworks, and most importantly champaign fountains. Caleb and I very much enjoyed the fountain that evening.

February 2008

In February I started a new job. It was an answer to many prayers and I have loved it from the moment I started. Challenging, rewarding and I work with great great people.

March 2008

We had a big month in March, to start things off my brother Tyler got engaged to his high school sweetheart. This photo was taken a few weeks before he popped the question as he made his claim to being a 4 star server at Cracker Barrel back in High School.

I also came out of retirement and performed in a play for the first time since my glory days back in high school. I was a Roman Guard for our church performance during Easter. I also made a trip to Little Caesars the night of the show to pick up a pizza. The woman thought I was from a hidden camera show.

April 2008

April had to have been the crown jewel of photo taking for the Wolfe family. We took our only vacation of the year and spent 3 days in Gatlinburg. That's right folks, I know how to treat a lady...I promised Laurette I would work on that in '09 and we would take more trips. We went to Dollywood, I couldn't believe it but it really was one of the best theme parks I have ever been to. Laurette talked to all the crafts people and I loved the roller coasters. We highly recommend it if you ever get up that way. The other photo is a bonus pic of me on the Barrel of Fun.

I also had a birthday at the end of the month. We celebrated by going to my favorite German restaurant in town and dancing to Omm Pah music. As you can see in the last picture we celebrated with my newly engaged brother and a great time was had by all.

May 2008

In May, we went with my parents up to Indiana for the Indy 500. That is right folks, the greatest spectacle in racing, over 250,000 people, Danica Patrick and not 1 photo from Travis and Laurette. This is a Wolfe Family tradition that we continue to enjoy. I get to cry when Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana" and eat cold fried chicken from a cooler while Laurette gets a thrill out of the cars racing by and the smell of burnt rubber.

June 2008 - August 2008
We will do a quick fast forward through the summer...

June we celebrated our 3 year anniversary...Again with the theme of no pictures. This is a photo of the stained glass at the church where we got married. We celebrated with a night on the town then back to work for me and back to school for Laurette.
In July, Tyler and I went to Lebowskifest in Louisville, KY. This is a celebration of one of the greatest movies ever made "The Big Lebowski." We dressed up as roadies from a Metallica tour. It was based off a single line from the movie and believe it or not we were not the most obscure costumes there at all. We have already began our planning for next years event. Laurette deserves credit for our great looking T-shirts!

August brought our favorite event of the year. The Wilson County Fair! I was humbled in 2007 when I entered an Apple Pie and placed last, so I took a year off and just decided to enjoy the fair. This year a friend and I spent about 30 minutes trying to convince our wives that we were accidentally put under a spell by the hypnotist. It didn't work so we bought them some Big Bubba's Horse Churned Ice Cream for their troubles.

September 2008

Laurette actually started her student teaching in August, but was deep into it by September. I have to admit, it was great getting to hear her stories every night about the kids and how they were learning from her. Here she is teaching them about Bird Feeders...Go figure.

October 2008

October was a fun month for us. We started off great with our local Oktoberfest celebration in Nashville and ended at a wonderful wedding in Mobile. Lindsey's wedding was awesome and I LOVE Mobile, AL. I could find myself sliding into the coast lifestyle very easy. Caleb & Tricia, be sure to check out the crab soup at Felix's Fish Camp!

November 2008

In November, my wonderful wife finished her Masters in Education after 2 long years of hard work. We also celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. The great thing my parents do is always invite the Clark's over for the dinner. This year after the turkey we worked off calories in my Dad's man cave playing his Wii.

December 2008

During the holidays this year we made a trip over to Virginia to see our niece and brand spankin' new nephew. It was a great time spent drawing, refilling bottles, and playing with play-doh. We also made it over to Jxn, TN to ring in the New Year with my family.

Hope this catches you all up, and Laurette and I both wish you and yours the very very best in 2009.

Here He Is.....

2008-12-03T13:19:00.001-08:00

He doesn't really look like anybody I know right now, but we will see. I can't wait to hold him!

Baby Wade is HERE!

2008-12-03T10:43:00.001-08:00

This has been a long road, from infertilty, to tried and failed IVF, to new life! I am overjoyed that our new nephew has arrived healthy, and mommy is doing well...finally. She has been laboring for about 5 weeks now! Mary Peyton says he looks like Rob, but my cousin Elizabeth is there, and we think we might have a Clark baby this time! He is 6 lbs. 13 oz. with light brown hair. Elizabeth said he has a great set of lungs, and I think his big sister may be crying soon. I'm concerned to say the least about her adjustment. We will see how that goes! I am so thankful for God's goodness, and I can't wait to meet little Mr. Robert Wade Marble! Aunt Wallie and Uncle Tavis will be there soon!

"Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!" Psalm 150

Take a Deep Breath...

2008-11-23T12:06:00.001-08:00

I AM FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With grad school that is. I cannot tell you the relief that I feel. I woke up this morning and didn't feel like I had a brick on my chest and a porcupine in my stomach! Two long years are now complete! And, I have a job! I am going to be teaching 2nd grade for the rest of the year. But the best news is that I have the whole week off for thanks giving. I haven't had that much time off in over a year! God is so good. This has been an amazing experience and only stressful because I am so high strung. My cooperating teachers and university supervisor were AMAZING! I finished my 3rd grade position Friday, and as you can imagine there were tears. I LOVED that class. They were the sweetest little group of kids ever! I need to post some pics, but I am a little leery of that. I have so much to be thankful for, but this year I am especially thankful for all that God has graciously provided. I don't know how you brave souls did this during undergrad. I would have LOST my mind. I am so thankful to my family and friends for your constant encouragement. I could not have done this without you all, and I am especially thankful to my sweet husband. He put up with alot of tears! Thanks, Travis!

More home front news, Travis and I are doing great. He still loves his job, and I am thankful for that blessing everyday. We have both lived through jobs that we did not like, and it is nice to be on the other side now. He played in the Turkey Bowl yesterday. Music row has a flag football tournament every year, and because I forgot to pack Travis' shorts, he had to wear his tear-away warmups and long johns yesterday. Yep, you guessed it! He lost his pants when someone went for the flag. I do have a pic of that coming to me, so stay tuned. Other than that, not too much to report. I have some sort of sinus infection or cold, but would you believe that I did not get sick one time while I was student teaching! I have germ-fighting powers! I survived MRSV, stomach virus, strep throat, pink eye, and I am sure a multitude of other lovely things. It pays to be a germ freak! You laugh, but it works. I just never eat ANYTHING I touch.

The Wonderful Wizard of OZ!

2008-11-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that last weekend we went to the Nashville Symphony to hear/see the Wizard of OZ! It was so cool! I do have all the commemorative plates and the Madame Alexander dolls! Travis got him a catch, what can I say? We went with our friends Misty and Josh, and because Misty works for the symphony, we got to go to a cocktail party before the show where I was treated to a "Ruby Red Slipper." I must say it was very festive but a bit to be desired. It consisted of champagne and cranberry juice. I'm sure it was good for the kidneys, not sure about the liver, but not what I had expected. I'm working on my own sweeter concoction. It was so neat to watch to movie with so many people. I had never realized that there were so many funny parts in the movie, but it was neat to hear hundreds of people laugh. They digitally removed the music from the movie, projected it on a huge screen, and the symphony played the soundtrack live. Have I mentioned that I have met one of the original munchkins before! Opry Mills mall '06!

A natural born world-shaker...

2008-09-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know we never write here. Sorry for the lack of updates, but it has been busy in the Wolfe Pack. Work has been going great for me. I really love my job and what I am doing. Laurette is finishing up her first round of student teaching on Thursday. Hopefully we will update this a little more in the future.

The reason I am on here is to share a scene from a great movie that happened to star one of my all time favorite actors. Paul Newman was an amazing man whether you agreed with his politics or not. His company "Newman’s Own" donated over 175 million dollars to children’s charities since 1982. He will be missed, but lived a wonderful life.

Quick and Funny!

2008-09-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

I decided I needed to keep a journal of all the funny things that MP says so that I don't forget. Lucky you, you get to enjoy a laugh! Look at that face! She is actually wearing one of her mommy's outfits that she wore when she was little. This was on her pre-school preview day. I called to tell her to have a good day and that I hoped she learned a lot. I also wanted her to tell her teacher that A is for Apple. I wanted her to make a good impression. MP replied, "WaWa, it's not a teaching school." Well, I'm not sure what she is going to do all day if it's not a teaching school. Where did she get that? Next, my sister was showing MP the scar on her stomach where she came out and explaining all that...She told MP that Leroy, not his real name - just what we are calling him for now, anyway...she was saying Leroy was going to have to come out that way too to which MP replied, "so they are going to have to use the baby sword." Hahahaha! I'm sure Rob was impressed by that medical term! Have a great week! I lead teach this week and spent about 6 hours yesterday on my 26 page unit. It has to get easier than this...I'm not going to get paid enough for all this work!

ps...my sister is HUGE and she is going to kill me for posting this pic, but I thought some of you would like to see Leroy's progress. He has a due date...Dec. 8th!

Long Time No Post-Happy Late Birthdays!

2008-08-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! You would think we just tried to name a child. It took about 2 hours to decide on this new blog background! A little girly for Trav, but I think he is about to branch out on his own anyway. Yesterday was my wonderful sister's birthday. I wish I were there to celebrate the big 30 with her, but a phone call was as close as I could get. I do love, love, love her so. She was my first friend and has remained my best! I feel so blessed to have her in my life. Her friendship is one of my greatest joys!

Isn't she a cute little mommy!

And, my sweet grandmother, Memer, had a birthday on Tuesday. She is just the cutest person I know. With all the adversity she faces daily, Mert's health issues and general grumpiness, she NEVER complains and always finds joy in the little things. She is one of my greatest inspirations and aspirations-to be more like her! I always love getting a note from her in the mail on her DAR stationary! It's that cute! I hope she had a good birthday. I'll be there to celebrate with her next weekend, and I can't wait! I'm sure she's sick about tonight's football game. She is a huge bulldog fan. She will not be happy.

I started student teaching the first of August. 1st grade!! I have never been so hungry or tired in my entire life! LT said it right when she coined the term "teacher tired." There is nothing like it! It is going well. I have good days and bad days. They are as cute as they could possibly be, but they make me question my career choice at the same time. I can say that when I put my head on the pillow at night, that I know I have made a difference in a life. 1st grade is funny. One little boy called me his "beautiful princess" on the second day and preceded to kiss my hand. I have since made a rule that we save all our kisses for our mommies. He came in with fever blisters the next day...thought I was going to die. Almost scrubbed my skin off! Let's just say I am handling the whole germ thing remarkably well. I have developed a Purell rash, however. Your skin can only take so much of that stuff. Other than that, I'm confident it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. And it has been a huge exercise in faith in so many ways, finances, germs, ability, strenghth...you name it, but it has been so good. I do love it. I was thinking about it yesterday on my way home. I LOVE Fridays more than ever, but I wake up every morning, at 5:30am, and I'm actually excited about going back. I'm eager to try harder every day and try to be better than I was the day before. I do have to check myself when I get home, though....Poor Travis had to remind me that he was not one of my students one night. I have to leave the "teacher tone" at the door. And poor Maggie. I'm not sure she understands the phrase that she has heard often as of late, "You're making a bad choice, my friend." I'll leave you with one of my favorite new tunes..."where is short a, where is short a? Here I am, here I am. I am in a hat rack, cracker jacks and fat cats, a, a, a....a, a, a." Catchy isn't it? Maybe I will finally learn how to spell. Everyone should consider repeating the first grade; I think I must have missed half of it my first go round.

I'm Published!

2008-07-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

One of my colleagues asked me to do a black and white sketch for one of our Upper Room books. Here it is on page 86.

Thanks, Mrs. Dimino-wherever you are, for teaching me how to use a blending stump!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Mimi!

2008-07-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

How funny is this picture? My mom is going to kill me for posting this one! Not the best picture of you, Mom, but hilarious for sure! You are much more beautiful than that hat allows you to be. My mom is still in Virginia with my sister, Rob, and MP. So, I am assuming they took her to eat Mexican for her birthday since these are the pictures my sister just sent me. I am so sad I can't be there, but she knows how much her favorite child loves her! I could not have asked for a more wonderful or weird mother. Mom, you are my favorite mom and friend. Your love, kindness, faithfulness, sacrifice and example have made me the person I am today. And you are the teacher that I hope to be! I love you more than I could ever tell you; now blow out those candles before you burn Rob's new house down!

Cake/fire-ball made by chef MP with a little help from my wonderful cousin Elizabeth. Love yall, wish I were there!

-this quote is a perfect picture of my mom's love.
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

Poor MP, Your "Brudder" Is on the Way!

2008-06-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Look at this face...

she is not going to be happy Friday when her Da-Du, Rob, tells her that she is having a little brother! My sister went for a check up today. Please pray that her pregnancy will continue to go well. Poor MP, she has a lot of changes coming her way. She may just have to come live with Wa Wa and Tavis!

We're From The Country and.....

2008-06-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

Long time for sure, and I don't even know if anyone even looks at this thing, but I have a new discovery. Evidently, if I turn on Nashville Star my wife turns into the biggest backwoods redneck you have ever met. In the 30 minutes we were watching this show my wife said the phrases...

"All the girls er cryin' cause he's gone"
"He'll be modeln' sometime soon"
"That song reminds me of frog giggin with my cousin goat"

Just messing on that last one. She did have another one, but I just can't remember it now.

Happy Birthday Little Daddy!

2008-06-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Happiest 68th Birthday to my Little Daddy!! My sister gave him that name long ago, and although he may be small in stature, he is one of the most amazing people I have ever known! I love my dad more than I could ever put into words. He is a loving and encouraging daddy, Poppy and friend. I am so thankful that God gave me such a wonderful daddy that modeled what a father, husband and friend should be. He is one of the loves of my life, and I get to spend a whole week with him very soon! He’s a pretty darn good cook too! Happiest Birthday, Little Daddy! Here’s to 68 more!

"He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." ~Clarence Budington Kelland
Thanks, Daddy, for showing me your love!

New Stuff

2008-06-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

I added 3 new paintings to my art blog, Walliekattz. (Check them out).

3 Down, 100 To Go!

2008-06-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning to the smell of eggs and sausage! Travis surprised me with breakfast on our 3rd anniversary. I really can't believe it has been three years already, but I am certain that even 100 more won't be enough! I love you, Travis.

Happy Birthday Travioli!

2008-04-30T09:04:00.001-07:00

Happiest Birthday to my best friend! I won’t get too sappy. I think I wear Travis out with my sappiness especially when it’s publicly proclaimed.

We celebrated with Tyler and Katelyn and went to the Gherst Haus – it’s a tradition now. Unfortunately we found out that Hans, our beloved polka player, had passed away. The lady in the lederhosen said, “He had one hell of a funeral!” Yeah Hans, he polka-ed his way home. He will be missed, but we shall polka again on the other side.

Travis and Hans from birthday '07.

Today Travis turns 26, and I am so thankful for another year spent with the one I love. I think we will go eat pizza tonight to continue the celebration. He asked for pizza the other night, but I replied, “let’s hold off. I’m concerned about your fat intake. I do want to keep you around for another year!” This was after he ate a kielbasas the size of my forearm at the Gherst Haus!

Travis, I love you so much, and I am so thankful that you are in my life. God did such a good job when He made you. You are a wonderful man, and it is my joy to be your wife! Thanks for asking me ☺! He could not have picked a better husband and friend for me. Good job, God! Happy 26th Year to you, Travis.

Just a funny picture of Travis that I love. I think this pretty much sums up his personality!

Would you believe I spelled lederhosen all by my self – correctly!

Big Time!

2008-04-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is going to be a star! That’s right, Maggie is going to be in Pockets magazine!!! She will be the featured pet in “Pet Corner” in the October 2008 issue. I guess it helps to have a mom in high places. Eat your hearts out Bandito and Sophie

In other cute news....take a look at my other love.

She has decided that sticking out her tongue is the only way to go. Reminds me so much of myself! I love this kid!

Happy Birthday Pops!

2008-04-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure where to start with this post, but here goes...Happy Birthday Pops! That’s right, today is my father-in-law’s birthday, and I must say he is one of my favorite people in the world! I was a little intimidated by him on our first meeting 5 Easters ago, but once he told the Yankee Candle story, I knew we would get along nicely. He is such an amazing father-in-law. I really feel like I am his daughter more than his son’s wife, and that is ok by me. (Note to my single female readers, marry into a family with only boys...you’re father-in-law will love you. Katelyn, we are two lucky girls!)

Here we are...the Wolfepack minus Katelyn at a wedding last May. Some of my favorite times have been spent with Mr. Mike (Pops) and Mrs. Kris (still working on a name for her). Pops is hilarious, a little off color, and a truly genuine person. I love that you have a “man cave” where you train on your elliptical, and that you clean my car every time I come to your house...I think you even cleaned it the first time I met you.

What you see is what you get with Pops, and what you get is a man that I am so thankful will one day be my children’s grandfather. I know they will feel truly loved, just like I have, and what a blessing is that! Pops, I won’t get too sappy or sentimental, but I love you more than I could tell you. How many girls can say that about their father-in-laws? I never know what is going to come out of your mouth, but that makes being around you even more fun! I know I can’t always believe everything you say...I really believed for about 2 years that you set the touchdown record at your high school, and I still believe that you accidentally burned it down. Hopefully no one from Attica is reading this. I may be visiting you in jail! I love our family times on the boat, our trips to Indiana, and any time that I get to spend in Jackson. Thanks for being such a great dad to Travis. I know your example will show even more when we have little ones of our own. Thank you for all you do for us and your guidance and wisdom. Where would we be without you? Pops, you are so special to me. I really feel as if God has blessed me with a second daddy. I love you so very much and wish you the happiest birthday ever! Too bad I’m not there to help you celebrate...we’ll have to make up for that later.
Love,
Lett

The Pet Hair Eraser! Woo Hoo!

2008-03-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Some women may not like to receive appliances for presents, but not this lady...especially when it helps with my allergies. (side note: Travis does not believe in allergies. He thinks they are all in my head-literally.) Well, I didn't really get this for a present, maybe a thanks for being the best wife on the planet (haha) kind of present, but no specific occasion. It could have been Christmas because I was pumped up about my new Bissel Pet Hair Eraser! Wooo Woo! Amanda, this might even take care of Bandito's winter coat. I researched this bad boy on bestbuy.com before I ran out and bought it. I wasn't born yesterday, and I didn't want to fall for the hype. But, after 65 reviews, I figured they couldn't and wouldn't have taken the time to pay all these people off. So off to Lowe's we went. I vacuumed with my old, terrible vacuum the night before I got this baby. It sucked (sorry, mom) and not in a good way. But I didn't realize how lousy of a vacuum it was until I got the BPHE! I emptied the thing 3 times! Yes, I was wearing a mask while I vacuumed; I always do. (Note: chew gum while wearing mask. You will get tired of smelling your own breath...even if you just brushed.) The old, terrible excuse of a vacuum now lives in the garage until I can find an eco friendly way of disposing of it. I thought about good will, but that is kind of gross to get some one's old vacuum. That may just be the mask-wearing germ freak in me. I leave you with the evidence. RIP old vacuum!

I assembled it myself!

The culprit: yes, Maggie, that is you in there, but you are worth every headache you give me.

I kept screaming, "How am I alive?!" I have wicked allergies, and I really do try to keep a clean house. I will have to tell Dr. Barney, the allergist, about this bad boy!

A Wolfe Easter

2008-03-25T14:05:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Ours was busy as usual, but we had a great time with the Wolfes! We got to see Katelyn and Tyler and celebrate their recent engagement. I am so excited to have a sister-in-law! No solid date yet, but probably fall '09. I just thought you all needed to see these pictures of my husband who played the role of one of the Roman soldiers in the Living Last Supper at our church. Very moving, but Travis is more of a comedic actor. He barely kept the smile off his face. Not really appropriate when leading Christ away.
Poor Maggie was a little frightened.

Yes, he did go to Little Caesar's after dress rehearsal, and No, they did not think it was funny. I did...and speaking of funny...that's the way he smelled. Like a 1970's recliner! Eat your hearts out ladies; he's all mine!

Airborne: Busted!

2008-03-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

So it ain't so! My mouth dropped when I went to yahoo to do my afternoon email check. This popped up where a Brittany Spears or Barack vs. Hillary usually appears. ( See for yourself.) Depressing, isn't it? I think Oprah owes an apology as well; she originally backed the stuff. You know she has the Midas touch. Anyway, I still think it works; you'll never convince me otherwise. As my medical genius of a husband would say, "It's all in your head. If you think you won't get sick, you won't." Maybe that is the beauty of a placebo? Ask me how long it took me to convince him that allergies are REAL!

On another note, my friend Mary introduced me to a new blog that I am COMPLETELY OBSESSED with! I could read it ALL DAY LONG! It's called (Confessions of a Pioneer Woman), and it's just dang good! Check it out for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

For All the Mommies and Teachers Out There

2008-02-28T06:10:00.000-08:00

In case you don't know, I am working on my Masters in K-6. This information may help explain why I would care to post such an article, but I think this has some really good information for mommies and teachers too. I have already emailed this to some of you, but I really think it is worth sharing. This article was on WPLN this morning....(Read it here)

A Day Late!

2008-02-20T12:35:00.001-08:00

I’m a day late with this one due to almost having a nervous breakdown after deleting most of my school files. Files recovered....thank you Jesus! But, yesterday was my sweet mother-in-law’s birthday. So, Happy Late Birthday, Mrs. Kris! If you don’t know Mrs. Kris, then you are missing out! I have heard so many stories about people having TERRIBLE mother-in-laws. I cannot imagine that torture. I honestly consider Mrs. Kris one of my closest friends and a second mom. I always have a good time when we are together. Here we are pictured at the Brickyard 500 last year. (this is the only pic I have on my computer...I'll have to scan and add another.)

Mrs. Kris truly is one of the kindest, sweetest, most genuine, thoughtful and caring people I know, and I am so thankful that God chose her as my sweet second mom. She really makes you feel good about yourself, and that is a rare quality to possess. I remember the first time I met her. She came to Starkville right after Travis and I started dating. She ate supper with us at Abner’s, and from the moment I met her I felt so comfortable with her. I also thought, “dang, Travis sure has a cute mom!” He has a cute dad too, love you Pops! Mrs. Kris has given me a lot to live up to because she is a heck of a house cleaner...Travis had to come to grips early on with the fact that I couldn’t hold a candle to his mom in the tidy dept. She is also a wonderful grandmother to Maggie, and I know our human children will love her as well. We are still working on the grandmother name. She has so many wonderful qualities that I hope to live up to...but most importantly, she reared an amazing man whom I get to call my husband. Here’s to you, Mrs. Kris....Happy Birthday! Love you!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

2008-02-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

In honor of Lent, here is a video that is sure to transport you to the Holy Land. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have...

Rear-Ended by the 80's

2008-02-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

Well, as some of you may have gathered from the previous post by my cute husband, the WolfePack has had some car issues as of late. Our Alti was broken into in our driveway, and the punks stole the ipod. I know, we shouldn't have left it in the car. Lesson learned! But they broke into about 10 other cars in our neighborhood as well. Travis had a little accident on the youth ski trip, and to top it all off this guy "David" rear-ends me on Monday afternoon! Oh well, such is life. We were both fine, and the trail blazer didn't sustain any more damage. He hit the trailer hitch thankfully for me, but not for him. It did a little damage to the mini van he was driving...that's right. Picture this guy in a mini van. It's a wonder I didn't rear-end someone staring in the rearview mirror looking at him! He was a sight to behold. I cried of course. It scared me, but he was very nice. The bad part was after shaking his hand in parting, I could smell his hair gel the whole way home. He may have ruined all 80's music for me because every time I hear a great 80's song I will think of this minus the poofy bangs!

And get this...the guy is a mugician. No, that is not a typo, people...this guy does music and magic! Music + Magic = Mugician! Travis found this out after talking with him. Only me, only in Nashville! Just kidding...Travis made that story up, but he had me going too. I wouldn't doubt this guy has a few tricks up his sleeve...he has to do some sort of VooDoo to create the hair masterpiece he has going.

So the story continues. Yesterday I get a phone call from Georgia. I think, "who the heck is this?" I answer and it's Dr. Taylor??? who?? Turns out this guy has gotten my name off a database. If you have an accident it goes on a database and it's a public record! He gave me some good advice....whip-lash won't set in in some cases until 6+ weeks after the incident, so don't settle on your medical claim until at least 6 weeks post accident. I'm perfectly fine, but good to know. Creepy nonetheless. When I asked him how he got my name...I put it more gently, "now how did you know to call me?" He said, "Some of your southern boyfriends told me to call." Crickets chirped! What the heck is he talking about. He then said, "That was a joke." Really funny stuff, dude. Moral of the story, be ware of big hair and mystery numbers from Georgia! Have a safe and happy weekend.

Where is R Kelly when you need him...

2008-02-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hello All, I am writing this from the closet of our wonderful home in Mount Juliet. Some rough weather has made its way thru Arkansas and Tennessee and now it is our turn to brave the storm. We think it is heading north of us right now, but my hometown of Jackson, TN got hit pretty bad...AGAIN. I swear Jackson gets hit hard by a tornado like every 4 years or something. I am humoring Laurette right now by hanging out in here, because I have seen far worse.

This reminds me of the tornado that hit Mississippi State when I was a freshman. All of us were hanging out on the balcony of Cresswell when we saw the roof tear off McComas. It was at that point, along with the power line falling down that we figured that we should all head inside. Once we got in everyone was freaking out, and we head down to Matt McCabe and Geoffrey Kneasal's dorm room and these two Coast Trash guys are hanging out playing NBA Live 2004. They found it pretty amusing that we were going crazy over this storm when they live thru a hurricane about every other month on the coast. Anyway, I feel a little like McCabe and Kneasal right now, but our prayers are with everyone affected, and once again, this shows that short of maybe Gulfport... Jackson, TN is one of the toughest cities in the South!!!

She's Growing Up Too Fast!

2007-12-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

I have to agree with Heather and LT, being an aunt is the best gig there is. MP is three today! I just spoke with her to wish her a happy birthday and see how her day was going. This is the first year she really knows that it's her birthday. Here is a little bit of our conversation:

Me: Happy Birthday, MP. Are you having a good birthday?
MP: No...
Me: chuckle, chuckle, why not?
MP: I didn't get any cake...only muffins.

cracks me up! Don't worry, the Princess Party is scheduled for Saturday, and I am sure she will get her fill of cake. She is just like her aunt. It's not a celebration without dessert!

Here are her Christmas pics from this year and the past two. She looks so grown up!

MP Is Turning THREE!

2007-12-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

This is the invitation I got in the mail Friday. I can't believe my little "Boogly-kattz" is turning THREE. That is her nickname. My sister is the creator of weird nicknames. Me - Walliekattz, Mary Peyton - Boogly-kattz...anyway, Happy Birthday, Mary Peyton! Aunt Wa-wa LOVES YOU! Since she can't read full sentences yet, I will tell you (without giving away the surprise) that she is getting a Paula Dean DVD for her birthday. The kid LOVES the Food Network. She can name every host and his/her corresponding show. I wonder if she will cook her own cake?

Glasgow = Awesome

2007-11-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

As most of you know our good friends Josh & Emily Blades are living in Glasgow, Scotland this year. At first I had no idea why in the world you would pick Glasgow, but after first finding out about John Smeaton, the only man that Chuck Norris fears, and now finding this I am beginning to figure out that Glasgow is the greatest place in the world...at least maybe for blog material. Here is a video of the Glasgow Diamonds from the 80's. Evidently this video was so popular it was shown during the 1987 Super Bowl... go figure. Josh I hope you have your season tickets!

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: Unfortunately YouTube will not allow me to Embed the video so i had to go to another source. If you would like to view this great video on Youtube click here.

I Know...

2007-11-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

It isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but I just needed a change. Plus the people in my neighborhood already have up their lights.

Forever a Disciple of the Maroon and White!

2007-11-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, life has been crazy, but this is an occasion for posting. One, Travis and I watched the Bulldogs play "round ball" (as my dad calls it) last night and argued over what font they used to paint the court. I know, we are dorks. They didn't come out with a win, but who cares because I'm just so excited for Coach Croom. I read this article and shed a few tears. I love winning, but I love hearing people brag on a great guy. As I told my 3rd grade math class today during a rousing game of multiplication bingo, "cheaters never win, and winners never cheat." I love winning the right way. So here's the article that made me misty...the "son" quote will get you if your a crier like I am. ENJOY!

The post game prayer was almost over, the deep voice distinctly heard above the still-screaming, cowbell-clanging mob outside the dressing room doors celebrating Mississippi State's 17-12 victory over Alabama on Nov. 10.

"Thank you God for sending me these young men," Mississippi State fourth-year coach Sylvester Croom said with a mix of relief and conviction.

From the bowed heads of the players around came the instinctive response, "Thank you God for our coach."

Sylvester Croom has the Bulldogs bowl eligible for the first time since 2000.
It was an emotional, telling moment for Croom. He is such a personable, honest, straight-shooting figure that even media have been reluctant to skewer him for having just four SEC wins prior to this season.

When the Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide to improve to 6-4 (3-3 in the SEC's Western Division) to gain bowl eligibility for the first time since 2000, a lot of people shared Croom's happiness.

Unless you've walked in Croom's shoes in a couple of different ways, first as a coach who took over a program on NCAA probation and the second as a coach at a place regarded as outside the winning tradition and budget of the SEC's power programs, you can't appreciate what mere bowl eligibility means for the Bulldogs.

Winning six, seven or eight games at Mississippi State -- and at Ole Miss -- is equal to winning 10, 11, 12 games at places like Florida, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

"He's done an awesome job, he gets my vote for SEC Coach of the Year," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said of Croom. "He's a guy who's done it the right way."

Tuberville just didn't feel compelled to say that because Croom's Bulldogs beat Tuberville's Tigers, 19-14, on Sept. 15. In 1995, Tuberville took control of an Ole Miss program short on scholarships because of an NCAA probation and located in a state where there wasn't an abundance of major college caliber prospects who were academically qualified.

"I had a couple of talks with Sylvester when he took the job," Tuberville said. "I coached in that state, getting a program back on track coming off a probation, and he just asked how we did things.

"But he's done it his way. He's done it the right way. He put discipline back in the program that you need. From Day 1, he hasn't cut any corners, and sometimes it takes a little longer to get a program back that way."

It was Croom's stern but fair hand that convinced former MSU head coach Rockey Felker to do something that you rarely see.

Felker went back to work as an assistant coach at the school that fired him.

Felker is still the most beloved football player in Mississippi State history, a quarterback from 1970-74 who was the SEC's player of the year in '74 when he led the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record and a win in the Sun Bowl. He was the nation's youngest head coach when he took over the State program from 1986-90 before being fired.

After serving as an offensive coordinator assistant coach for a nine-year period at Tulsa and Arkansas, Felker came home to Starkville in 2002 as coordinator of football operations for previous coach Jackie Sherrill.

Felker thought he might get back on the field again. But when the running backs coach spot opened after last season, he was approached by Croom.

Felker's love for his school had him leaning toward saying "yes." But his respect for the way Croom ran the program made it a no-brainer.

"He had a plan and he stuck through it, in terms of discipline, being hard nosed and recruiting a certain type of young man," Felker said. "He could have won a few more games earlier if he had not stuck to the plan.

"But he was willing to sacrifice some wins for building the program the right way. What you see in Sylvester Croom is what you get. If he tells you something, you can believe it."

Senior Titus Brown and the Bulldogs are enjoying the 2007 ride.

Believe this -- Croom should have his best recruiting class to date this winter, and that's because of this year's success and the fact his players believe in him. The best recruiters any coach can ask for are his own players, like senior Titus Brown.

"One of the things that sold me on coach is what he said when he came to my house and he recruited me," Brown said. "He sat in my living room, he looked my mom and dad in their eyes and said, 'This is your son. When he signs with Mississippi State, he becomes my son.' That's what really sold me. I wanted a coach who really cared about me on and off the field."

On Saturday, when Brown closed out the Alabama victory with a game-ending sack of Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson, he was stunned when Croom ran to the pile, bear-hugged the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Brown and ran 30 yards down field with him.

"The man is crazy," said Brown with a laugh.

The man is also focused, and he's hoping that his team will be viewed differently from now on.

"We beat Auburn at Auburn, we beat Kentucky at Kentucky and we beat Alabama," Croom said. "What happens in all those games is it [the reaction] is not like we played well, it's like the other team had a bad day.

"It bothered me that we weren't the favored team here at home [prior to the Alabama game] over basically the same team that we beat the year before on the road in Tuscaloosa."

Croom said that during the pregame warm-ups before Saturday's game, he exchanged pleasantries with Alabama coach Nick Saban.

"He said after the [last] two years he had been out of conference [when Saban was head coach of the NFL's Miami Dolphins], he was amazed how much difference there was in our football team. That was a class thing for him to say."

Croom said the only way his team would keep gaining more respect was to keep winning. He hopes the days are over of media members writing or saying that an opposing team that lost to Mississippi State had been "Croomed."

Going into this season, Croom was 4-20 in SEC play and two of those wins resulted in the firing of coaches Ron Zook of Florida in 2004 and Mike Shula of Alabama last season.

Anthony Dixon and the Bulldogs ran past Alabama on Saturday.

"That's not one of my favorite deals," Croom said of the word 'Croomed.' "I thought Ron did a good job at Florida and he left a lot of outstanding players. [Florida coach] Urban [Meyer] has been the beneficiary of that.

"I sort of took it as a little bit of insult to our program just because they [Florida] lost to Mississippi State there was this attitude that if Mississippi State beat you, then there must be something totally wrong with your program.

"They are not going to fire everybody we beat, because sooner or later they are going to run out of coaches."

Ironically, Croom is playing against a coach on Saturday, Arkansas' Houston Nutt, who will likely be fired or quit. Croom is 0-3 against Arkansas, and Mississippi State has never won a game in the state of Arkansas. The Bulldogs are 0-4 in Fayetteville and 0-4-1 in Little Rock.

There's also this motivation for the Bulldogs: While they are bowl eligible, a seventh win would assure them of a bowl bid, because NCAA rules now state bowls must fill spots with seven-win teams before six-win teams.

"I don't want to put it in somebody else's hands," Croom said. "It's up to us. If we want to assure ourselves of getting in a bowl, we need to get another win."

If the Bulldogs win out, beating both Arkansas and then Ole Miss on Nov. 23 to finish 8-4, there's a good chance the Bulldogs could end up in the Cotton Bowl if the SEC gets a second team in a BCS bowl.

A 7-5 Mississippi State team could land in either the AutoZone Liberty Bowl or the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl.

Croom said before the Kentucky game he told his team it was a four-game season.

"Right now, we're 2-0," Croom said.

Players like running back Anthony Dixon bought into Croom's stretch-run tunnel vision.

"It's like coach Croom told us, that we could win any of these games or lose all of them," Dixon said. "We just take one game at a time. A lot of people don't want to believe that."

But his players do. And that's all that really matters.

Ron Higgins covers the Southeastern Conference for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.

-Yeah, I posted a comment on the ESPN site. Don't be embarrassed to call me a friend. I couldn't help myself!

Livin La Vida Loca...update

2007-11-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by the lack of posting it has been pretty busy around the Wolfe house. Laurette is in Math for her education classes and loves it just like any great communication major would...yeah right. She has her practicum this week and she goes into school at 7:00am leaves at 8:15am and heads to work by 9:00am. She is also studying for her second Praxis test, kinda like an ACT for teachers. She takes that later this month. We have also stepped up and taken over the Sunday Night Youth Fellowship at our church. Last night we had the kids sample various baby foods without them knowing what it was. It was a fun time to watch their faces when they would eat stuff like chicken with gravy and bacon baby food. If anyone has any fun game ideas, please share, looks like we will be doing this for the long haul, and we are always up for ideas.

Late in September I blogged about receiving a ton of $5 off coupons from Qdoba Mexican Grill. Sadly this offer expired on Saturday, but that is not to say I didn’t take advantage of a sweet .75 cent burrito. I have the count somewhere around 23 chicken burritos in total I consumed in October. That is a savings of around $115! I also do not want to see a burrito for at least another month.

I went to a great concert on Friday night by The John Butler Trio (Click the link to see the band and fellow aussie Keith Urban performing). I have to say it was the best indoor concert I have ever been to. I think I will blog about that sometime, but I am thinking about doing my own music blog, so we will see what happens. That way I don’t bug anyone on here with all my music stuff. We went to a friends wedding in Jackson, TN on Saturday night and Laurette looked stunning. She won over all my high school buddies… and their mothers. That is a little bit on us. Hope everyone is doing well.

Hey Bo Diddley

2007-10-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

My father-in-law Mr. Clark had a great post regarding Bo Diddley (read it here). After reading his I felt the need to post a few videos just so people can see how amazing he really is. Diddley first came on the scene around 1955 and basically made it ok for white teenagers to listen to the Blues. Diddley paved the way for Chuck Berry, Elvis and really anyone playing rock music today. He also opened the door for many to discover great blues musicians like John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf and RL Burnside. The first video is a classic TV performance from way back. Watch how the girls are all screaming and going crazy, but not one of them ever stands up. They are glued to their seats as if society would disown them if they even thought about dancing. You can tell how badly they want to just go crazy. The second video is of Diddley in his prime with no restraints, by the early 70's it was ok to dance and you can tell just how much he was holding himself back in the first video, both in guitar playing and dancing. Listen and you can hear the keyboard player barely able to keep up, Diddley is playing so fast. I hope you enjoy.

EUROPE PICTURES...finally

2007-10-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Just click on the link to view a few snapshots from the week 'o fun with the Blades and the Joneses (Europe Pics). The above is a picture of us in Hofgarten in Munich, Germany. Too much fun. We were on our 5 mile bike ride through the city. We were about to encounter naked soccer players, but luckily I didn't have my glasses on...I could only see flesh...no details! thank the Good LORD! I don't think I could have handled that!

God Bless America and Marty Stuart

2007-10-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

Laurette was in class all day today and I needed to get away from the slumber party going on at our house (Laurette will fill you all in on that), so I decided to head downtown. I had planned on making the trek downtown earlier this week because I had heard that Ron Paul would be speaking at a rally. Ron Paul is a presidential candidate and although I agree with him on some issues, I can't say I agree on them all, but I will keep my politics out of this blog. Nonetheless, I was very interested in going to a political rally for event production notes and also I just wanted a chance to see a presidential candidate in action. The following is a photo log of my day, I hope you enjoy.

On my way to the rally I passed the State Museum and I remembered that Marty Stuart is currently showing select items from his Country Music memorabilia collection. Marty has over 20,000 historic items that he has collected through the years. Since it was free and I had some time I decided to stop in. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the history of country music. It was unbelievable! The photo above is Earl Scruggs' banjo and Lester Flatt's guitar, in the middle is one of Marty's first performance shirts when he was touring with the group as a kid. Needless to say I bit off more then I could chew and there was no way I could make it through the exhibit in 30 minutes, so I told myself I would come back after the rally.

The crowd was pretty bare inside 30 minutes before the start and I was beginning to worry about ole Ron, so I decided to venture outside for a while and see what was happening. I had no idea what I was in for. Of course like any great thing in Tennessee, it isn't a party till someone pulls out the guitar and banjo.

Ain't no party like a Tennessee party cause a Tennessee party don't stop...Not even if you are a crazy mountain man with signs.

After seeing this guy I was a little ticked off that I had left my revolutionary war outfit at home on account of the warm weather.

A hippy in her natural habitat. I had to get a picture of her shirt, if you can't read the bottom, click on the photo for a closer view it's worth it.

The man of the hour, Ron Paul. He was received with a loud crowd screaming his name. What the photo does not show was he was outfitted in a nice black suit and some lovely velcro laced tennis shoes. I guess the guy walks a lot, I will let him pass on that one, at least the shoes were black as well.

After we all headed into the venue we were treated to the candidates bumper music. I always find this funny in campaigns, all the candidates have special songs that are supposed to stand for their campaign, blah, blah, blah. Ron's were pretty typical until Motley Crue came over the loudspeakers. At first I was shocked that someone would pick Motley Crue, and then it got worse. I realized the song was "Dr. Feelgood" are you kidding me? that was both creepy and weird. You see Ron Paul is an OB GYN and has delivered over 4,000 babies. I don't really think the campaign staff have ever truly listened to the lyrics of that song, nor do I believe they have ever put 2 and 2 together...well I did. YIKES!

After that some artist performed and we all sang "God Bless America". I got major chills, just because it is so cool that we live in a country where we do have the freedom to assemble. We live in a country where a guy can where velcro shoes if he would like, and play completely awkward songs during political rallies. Ron then got on stage and presented a 45 minute speech. It was a little long winded but you got the feel that this guy had so many things he wants to share and just not enough time. He was very very smart and he isn't a cheerleader type of politician. I enjoyed his speech and respect his commitment to upholding the constitution. In closing, it was very neat to be able to see our political process in action and Paul was a well versed speaker that did a very good job at presenting his message. It was a reminder to me of what a great country we live in. Below are some additional photos from my trip back to the Marty Stuart Collection. If anyone needs me I will be writing the next Toby Keith hit. America Rocks!!!!

Johnny Cash Stage Outfit, he also has several original lyric sheets from Cash, I was awestruck.

A stage outfit from Hank Williams, to me the coolest thing in the exhibit, they also had his 3 grade report card. Hank was not a very smart student, but later on in life he apparently loved the double-breasted suit, don't we all... Also according to this replica, Hank Williams had a 3 foot head judging by how high they placed the cowboy hat on top.

A stage outfit from one of my favorites, "the Singing Fisherman" Johnny Horton. This outfit just goes back to the flashy days of country music. Buck Owens, Porter Wagner, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, I could go on and on, I love every bit of it.

On a side note, both Hank Williams and Johnny Horton were married to the same woman at the time of their deaths. Horton was struck by a drunk driver in 1960 and killed in his car just like Hank. In addition Hank and Johnny both died in Cadillacs, both played their last shows at the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas, and years before in 1953 Johnny was returning from a gig, when he heard over the radio about the death of Hank Williams. He was on Highway 79 going through the town of Milano, Texas - the same town where Johnny would lose his life 7 years later. Crazy stuff huh?

One of Johnny Cash's favorite guitars. This was at the end of the exhibit and when I saw this I got a few more chills. Just like Mother Maybelle's Guitar, the heart of country music lives inside that guitar and I am thankful to Marty for his passion to preserve all this wonderful history. Well if you made it this far, thanks for reading, and I guess it goes without saying, but today was a good day.

Livin La Vida Loca

2007-09-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since our last blog and way too much to catch up on, but I wanted to send a quick thank you to the folks at Qdoba Mexican Grill. Due to their extremely inaccurate count of the number of employees in my office I have far too many $5 off coupons. So far this week I have dined on 6 Chicken Burritos for the lovely price of .75 cents each. Thank you Qdoba for being a vessel for my frugal nature!

Home again, home again...jiggidy jig

2007-09-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it home from our European excursion with the Blades and the Joneses in one piece. It was an awesome trip, and I definitely wish I were still there! Pics and stories to come later. Auf Wiedersehen

We Made it

2007-09-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

More news to come!!

Happy Belated Birthday PUNKY-SUE-RELLA!

2007-08-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

How could I forget to blog about such an important day? Where is my head?

Yesterday was the birthday of one of the greatest Americans in history…yes, this day 29 years ago, Mary Amanda Clark – now Marble - was born to John and Melinda Clark in Amory, MS.

I'm sorry I'm a day late posting, Amanda - AKA PunkySueRella - one of the many strange nicknames growing on our family tree. I hope your day was fabulous! I wish I had been there to celebrate with you, but here is to hoping that God will put us in the same city one of these days. I hope you know how much I miss you.

If you don't know my sister, then you are missing out - BIG TIME! She is one of the kindest people I know. I never heard her say a mean thing about anyone growing up. She was such a good example, and the best playmate I could have asked for. That brings a story to mind. When I was little...I used to get "tired" of my friends. They didn't let me have my way like my big sister did, so sometimes I was ready for them to leave on Friday night...not good for spend-the-night company! So, my wonderful sister would play with them all night and all the next day while I did my thing. Yeah, I was a little spoiled. She has always been my biggest fan. It all started when they brought me home from the hospital. Mom and Dad said Amanda wouldn't even eat supper; she just wanted to look at me. She gave me an unrealistic perspective from the get-go. I came to expect adoration and rarely receive it. She did a great job paving the way for me all through school. I had it made in the shade because I was "Amanda's little sister," and it just didn't get better than that. All her teachers just loved her because she was very smart and never said a word. That brings to mind another story. When I was in 1st grade and Amanda was in the 6th grade we had a bully problem. One of us was being bullied on the bus, and you guessed it...it wasn't me! I had to tell this seventh grader to leave my sister alone! Sorry for the embarrasment, Manny, but I guess it worked. Neither of us was beaten up I am happy to report.

I really can't think of many people that I love and respect more than you. You are always there to listen and to encourage me. I absolutely CHEERISH our friendship. I'm glad mom never let us fight. Not that we really would have except when you always made me late for school with your 3 hour getting ready ritual. I've never seen someone with so little body mass take so long to shower, but old Rob cured you of that...now didn't he. You kinda sped up your game when you became a Marble. I think I am most thankful for the example you have set for me as a mother. You are FANTASTIC at what you do. Mary Peyton is the most wonderful thing ever, and so much of that has to do with her amazing mommy! I think I am just going to send my kids to you, and you can return them when they are 10!

Thank you for being my bestest friend. You are such an amazing person, and I owe so much of who I am to you and your example. I love you so, so much, and I am so blessed to have been given you as a big sister....well, little-big sister. I only wish I had a copy of your 9th grade band picture to post...until next year America. I hope your 29th year is the best yet!

Bye the way....that is my beautiful and wonderful grandmother, Mamer, in the picture with Amanda and Mary Peyton and the cake. She celebrated her 81st birthday on the 26th. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know I have a blog, so I don't think she will mind my posting her age. Let's just say she's not exactly computer savy, but she is AMAZING. I believe that is where Amanda gets several of her wonderful qualities. I was named after Mamer, Vera Laurette Walters, but I think Amanda got most of her pleasant traits. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that I inherited Mert's demeanor. Sorry, Travis. Mamer, is one of the most joyful people I have ever known, and I think she knows the first and second pronunciation of every word in the dictionary. She also laughs out loud at the funny papers everyday. I just LOVE her...can you tell?

this is Mamer, Mert and Mary Peyton...just for clarification. Aren't they precious?

Why worry about Vick

2007-08-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

I watched the pre-season Monday Night Football game last night between the Bengals and the Falcons and I am so happy they didn't mention anything about Michael Vick...

As if that would really happen, it was so overwhelming it took away from a great 1st half of pre-season ball that featured a wonderful game from MSU alum Jerious Norwood.

My personal take on Vick is yes he did a bad thing and will be punished, but I wish that this much media attention would be placed on athletes every time one is reported beating his wife or when one is busted for not paying child support on some of his 9 kids, but does have the ability to buy a $100,000 car (Travis Henry I am talking to you). It seems the more elaborate and crazy the story the more the media go after it. I think beating your wife and not taking care of your kids is much worse then killing a dog, but that doesn't sell papers. Again, that is only my opinion.

On a funny note, as halftime started they of course began reporting on Michael Vick. Well Chris Mortensen began this lengthy talk about all the legal blah, blah, blah. Well, behind him in the background of the shot I happened to notice a Pop Warner football team playing a group of mascots. It was funny to see, especially behind someone who was trying so hard to be all professional. Well I was able to capture this gem in the background. It is a short clip but watch the big inflatable Falcon in the center of the picture.

That is who we should be worried about my friends, not Michael Vick, he is attacking our children out there. I hope you enjoy. By the way, if this becomes the big blog story of tomorrow, which I doubt it will, take a look at when I posted, so you know I am not copying anyone.

Wolfe Update

2007-08-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been a while since we posted it's a crazy week around the Wolfe household. Well I don’t want to keep our 2 readers in suspense so I will just go ahead and let you all know that I finished dead last in the apple pie contest. Laurette has some pictures and I hope she will post them soon. I think I handled the defeat gracefully, although if I ever find a few of these ladies I will have to take out there knees for next year’s contest. To make matters worse there were only 4 pies entered so all I had to do was beat 1 in order to place. Well, ole Travis here came in 4th out of 4. To add insult to injury I didn’t even get to take my pie home. You will never guess what they did with it. The pies that actually placed are displayed in a refrigerator for the length of the fair, shown off as the pride of Wilson County fine baking. Mine on the other hand was tossed in the trash! Yes, you heard it right; they just went and threw it away like yesterday's news. I have been humbled by this whole thing and you better believe I am getting my game face on for next year.

A brief little highlight of some things that have been going on in our world.

1. Breaking a gas line - yeah...you know how they say call before you dig...well you should really go ahead and do that. Luckily no one was hurt and nothing was damaged except my wallet and pride.

2. Our lovely Maggie pretending to be David Copperfield and somehow figuring out a way to escape her fence after I spent a month trying to dog proof it. Thankfully the only thing injured here was my pride again.

3. The Wolfe's have a ping pong table now in the garage. I stalked craigslist for the better half of 4 months looking for the perfect one to show up. It finally did last week. I have to say Laurette isn’t half bad. Anyone that is up for a road trip can come on by and get a game in.

That is a little bit of our world. More details to come.

My Sister's Art

2007-08-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

Go to WALLIEKATTZ to see what awesome stuff my sister has done! You'll love it! She is way more talented than I, and on that note, thanks for all your encouraging posts!

And the WINNER is...

2007-08-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we don't know yet. We will find out tonight; however, we know that Travis was not the Grand Champion. They would have called us last night after nine. We waited up until 12, but no call. I'm just kidding. We didn't wait up. Wouldn't that be pitiful? I don't have the pictures up yet of the pie and its delivery to the fair, but alas...they are coming soon. Let me just say that I was sooooo nervous delivering this thing. I almost buckled it in my car. I could just see myself getting into a car accident and missing the 6pm deadline, and there are NO ACCEPTIONS to the deadline. The website stated that in bold print, and after meeting one of the members of the Board of Directors, I know that ain't no lie! She greeted me in the East/West building where the culinary competition was to be held. The name says it all.... the East/West building...yeah, I couldn't find it on my own. I had to go to the fair office, and they seemed a little stressed! I tried to sound as southern as I possibly could. Being from the Deep South myself, I know how territorial these folks can be. Who does that thing think she is entering our contest? I could hear their thoughts and my palms were sweating in response or maybe it was the 105-degree temperature. Pretty sure it was a mix of nerves and heat. So I finally made it to the East/West building and the fore mentioned member of the board greets me. They are high tech at the fair. You have to have bar codes on all your entries, which I did not. After this not so friendly liaison of the fair printed my bar codes, I headed to the next table to class V – the pie section. Only 3 other people had entered the apple pie contest as of 5:20 pm. 40 minutes and counting. NO ACCEPTIONS at 6pm. Surely we will at least get honorable mention, but you know how political these things can be. They have our address, so they may pull up our voting records, who knows! I told them that the entry, which I had a little trouble removing from the Tupperware Fort Knox that I had created, was my husbands…. do you know what she said? “I could tell.” Hold up, wait a minute. I know she didn’t just say that. I helped and crafted a lovely capital W out of dough, which was cooked to a golden brown sitting atop our apple creation. If my palms hadn’t been so sweaty already, I might have balled them into a fist and given her the business. But, I knew it was neither the time nor the place, and I was out numbered with no one in my corner. I might talk slow, but I’m not stupid! So I went along on my merry way. We’ll be back next year, though…win or lose. Watch out the Wolfes will be back! So, off to the fair we go tonight to find out our fait in the culinary competition. I’m not even sure that the Barefoot Contessa would have a chance out there. On a side note, we’ve already discussed that we will not try to win another goldfish this year. Last year Travis won a goldfish for me that lasted all of 4 days. I went over to ask my 11 year old neighbor to feed it while we were gone for the weekend, and when I stepped back into the house, Pickle Wolfe - the goldfish was swimming upside down and he wasn’t doing the back stroke. Jess, my neighbor, didn’t believe me when I traipsed back over to tell her I wouldn’t be needing her services. Would I really lie about a dead goldfish? To explain the name choice, Pickle, in case you were wondering…. we decided to name it after the Carney who was working the booth.

Travis: “what’s your name? We want to name our fish after you.”

Carney: “Pickle’s what they call me.”

Travis: “Well, Pickle, meet Pickle the fish. Have a good night.”

Carney: “Don’t let him die.”

Famous last words…Carney fish are notoriously weak species. We will be on the hunt for Pickle tonight….the Carney, not the fish.

And so the battle begins...

2007-08-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

OK so I know it is a little weird that I would be baking a pie for the Wilson County Fair Baking Contest. I have received plenty of hazing from my father, brother, and anyone under the sun. Either way I am really doing this for 3 reasons.

1. One night Laurette and I had Marty and Kurt Cooper over and I found some apples at Walmart with a pie recipe on them...so I said why not. It turned out to be one of the best pies I have ever eaten. I have yet to be able to replicate that pie.

2. The Wilson County Fair is the greatest fair in the country. It is just like the fair in Charlotte's Web. Everywhere you look you see prize winning pigs, chickens, pies, whatever. Last year when we went around looking at everything I had a little urge to participate in something.

3. The simple humor involved in the whole event. Naturally I do not take myself to seriously most of the time, but I am willing to bet several old ladies have their game faces on tonight and are cooking like there is no tomorrow. I hope to capture a few funny memories from the whole process.

So here we go, let the cooking begin. Laurette and I have to turn the pie in tomorrow between 3-6pm so with work, I have been forced to cook tonight. I do have a few secret ingredients. The main two are; Fuji Apples and Capt. Morgans Rum. The Fuji apples are a sweeter type of apple, and I think they taste a lot better. The rum is just for the fun of it. Because everything taste a little better when you have some rum on it. I will report back tomorrow night on the results.

walliekattz.blogspot.com

2007-08-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been wanting to do this for a while, so here I go. I've been inspired by Mary Katherine, so I hope she is flattered and not offended. I'm just gonna throw this out there and see what happens. Here are some paintings I have done, and I would LOVE to do a custom painting for you. Take a look. I hope you like what you see. Go to WALLIEKATTZ to see what I've been up to. thanks!

Leaving on a jet plane...confirmed

2007-08-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, you will not hear me say this many times, especially when it involves a government office, but I have to give major kudos to the US passport office for their quick turn around of our passports. We opened our mailbox last night amazed to find 2 lovely passports, both of which have hands down the worst pictures Laurette and I have ever taken in them. Today is exactly 2 weeks since we went to the post office and filled out the paperwork. So it is now confirmed, Laurette and I will be taking our Eastern European Adventure the first of September!

Make It Rain...

2007-08-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

As I was watching Barry Bonds attempt to break the home run record last night it occurred to me just how bad professional athletes have gotten. Take Bonds, he has been a jerk to everyone in the media then complains when they write bad things about him. He is also about to rob a man of his crowning achievement. Hank Aaron faced unimaginable racial pressure when he broke this record before. He was an amazing player and now Bonds is about to rob not only him but baseball from any integrity it had left.

Then you have one of my hometown boys, Mr. Adam "Pacman" Jones. I will have to thank Pacman for at least giving Laurette's crush, Frank Wycheck and all of talk radio in Nashville something to talk about. Now Pac has decided he wants to take a chance at professional wrestling, Jim Rome had an email today from someone that summed it up best.

Pac,
You really want to get into wrestling now? That has to be the dumbest choice ever.
Sincerely, The Second Doughnut

To top it all off the man that Pacman's posse gunned down at the strip club in Vegas actually at one point in life worked for the WWF and had dreams of being a major professional wrestler. Tommy Urbanski now lives everyday in a wheelchair and is learning how to put toothpaste on a toothbrush and worries about his kidneys shutting down. So Pacman is using his fame and suspension time to waltz into a media frenzied wrestling career that was once the biggest dream of a man now forced to live in a wheelchair because good ol' Pac decided to "Make it Rain". Pacman you are a real winner!

Here is my thing, when I was younger these athletes were doing all kinds of terrible things, but heck at least they were smart enough to kept them under wraps and if they were exposed they apologized for their actions. Sure Darryl Strawberry and the '86 Mets were all hooked on Coke, but they kept that stuff relatively quite. At least Strawberry admitted he had a problem and tried to get help, and tried again, and tried again...you get my point. Bonds will NEVER admit to steroids. Sure Michael Jordan was and is a womanizer and addicted to gambling but he kept his affairs on the DL. Nowadays Kobe has this smugness about him that seems to say "why do these people not like me", um... maybe because you possibly rapped a girl. Thank goodness his wife may finally be leaving him, and leaving him $100 million dollars richer I might add. And then we have Ron Mexico, or I mean Michael Vick. How stupid do you have to be to house an illegal dog fighting company in one of your backyards. I mean at least Michael Irvin was caught in a hotel with strippers and cocaine...not his own backyard!

With so many terrible athletes out there now, I am glad to know that my school, Mississippi State, molds young athletes into responsible upstanding men. Men like Captain Fred Smoot and Dontae Walker....errr..Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

2007-08-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the post about the Brickyard 400. That's Travis's mom, Mrs. Kris, and yours truly. Boy did we have fun! I do love my Yankee in-laws. They have taken me to 2 races, and I think I want to be a racecar driver now. They don't really have an obsession with racing or keep up with it at all, but there is something about being in Indianapolis on race day. I'm trying to talk my father-in-law into buying me a racecar and being my sponsor. I haven't gotten anywhere with that endeavor. I don't think my mom would be for that one either. I think I would want my sponsor to be Dr. Pepper or maybe Purell...two of my favorite products.

Being from Mississippi, I suppose I should be a NASCAR fan, but honestly I've never seen the point in it. After having experienced a NASCAR and an Indy Car race, I can promise you that you will never find me watching a race on TV...but if you buy me a ticket, I will go and enjoy my most favorite passtime: people watching. And let me tell you, there are some sights to be seen!
The first wonderful part of the day was that Mike Delphino (sp?) James Denton from Desperate House wives was the flag waver for the day. Our seats were in perfect position to capture these shots.

We had really neat seats because I could see everything that was going on. I tried to take one picture of a pit crew and by the time I got my camera ready they were finished! It took them 12 seconds to change all 4 tires on one car! Why don't I get that kind of service?

Tony Stewart, #20 - the Home Depot car, won the race. It got exciting there in the last 10 laps. The 250 laps before that kind of drug on. I did get to see a fire, so that was cool. No one was hurt of course. Back to Tony, the guy has quite a following....like the lady sitting behind me who began praying and weeping when Tony took over the lead on the 252 lap. Seriously, she was crying!!! Many of you may know that I have a staring problem. I think sometimes it takes my brain time to process things, so while I'm in the process of processing...I just stare. Well, believe me, she got the stare and I think I laughed in her face. here is her picture. That's Tony crossing the finish line, lucky shot, and that is his #1 fan with the blond hair.

We did have a great time at the race. Thanks for the fun day, Mr. Mike and Mrs. Kris. Here is one last example of my photography skills.

And we thought we were crazy over sports

2007-08-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

As I was plugging along today in the blog world I came across an interesting article. The headline read Manchester United Signs Nine Year Old to Contract. For those who don’t know Manchester United is a soccer team in Europe. I was blown away that they would actually sign a kid who hasn't even met the height requirements for the tilt-a-whirl. Imagine my surprise when I continued reading and found out that Man U signs about 40 kids around this age a year!!! WHAT! This is unbelievable. To think that a professional team is out there scouting 9 year olds.

I am also thinking about how awful of a job it must be to go scout 9 year old soccer games. I just have to be honest here, but when my kids begin playing sports it will probably be the most boring afternoons ever. I will of course be proud of my kids, but come on. I have seen enough t-ball games to know that this has to be painful to sit through. Special props to my father who had to sit through all my terrible games, especially through that 4th – 6th grade baseball stint, I know I was horrible, but he was a trooper. Maybe it is a right of passage for fathers, but I certainly would not want the job of trying to find the next Pele’ somewhere between the sno-cone stand and the soccer field. Below is some footage on the kid. It’s true; he is very good, but seriously 9 year olds getting scholarships! Unbelievable

I think Sly needs to be give a call to this next youngster.

Dusting off the Cobwebs

2007-08-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, hello blog readers...any of you who are still here and haven't given up on us. The Wolfepack has been going full throttle. Speaking of, we went to the Brickyard 400 this past weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
I know all you NASCAR fans are jealous, but more to come about that later. Travis' mom has all the pictures that I took...so just hold your breath for that awesomeness that is to come!

On to more recent news. Travis and I stood in line last Friday at the passport office in a balmy Nashville postoffice for almost 2 hours. Let's just say that I think some folks were getting passports to go back home if you catch my drift. Was that too politically incorrect? You may be asking yourself why two kids like us need passports. Well, come September 6, 2007, Travis and I will hop on the big bird with the flaming tail, as my dad likes to call it, and head to Budapest, Hungary. You again may be asking yourself why in the world are they going to Budapest? Well, if you know my thrifty husband, you will have deduced by now that it was the most cost efficient ticket. No, we aren't just headed to some random country. We will spend the night in Budapest and then hop on the train, ride through the Austrian countryside (I'm hoping they will have chocolate frogs on the train just like in Harry Potter) and end up in Prague, Czech Republic, where we will meet up with Josh and Emily Blades and Hunter and Emily Jones. I will be the only female on the trip whose name is not Emily. From there I'm not exactly sure where we are going, but about 5 days later we will end up in Munich, Germany. Yes, Travis is already beside himself with excitement that he will be going to his homeland. I just hope I can get him to leave. Will post more about the National Lampoon's European Vacation later,
but if you have any suggestions on where to stay and what to see in Munich let us know. We are in charge of that leg of the journey.

Now on to tonight's events. While I have been updating our dusty blog, my wonderful husband has been baking an apple pie. Not just any apple pie, this is his prototype for his entry for the Wilson County Fair apple pie contest. Yes, that's right, Travis is entering a pie contest. Why is he entering, well...why not? I'm mighty proud of him. It has always been a dream of mine to marry a man that can cook. As some of you may know, my Little Daddy is an amazing cook, and my husband is turning out to be as well. He doesn't cook much because he says I'm a kitchen snob, but when he does it's usually pretty good....that is if he doesn't put too much Tony's or Texas Pete's on it. Luckily, apple pie calls for neither. Thankfully, that is the only contest he is entering, but who knows what this may lead to. We might come home with bee hives for next years honey competition. I'm pretty sure our neighborhood has rules about that sort of thing. And I know they definitely don't allow swine in the neighborhood...so no Wilburs either. Will let you know how the competition goes. I really wish this blog could be scratch and sniff because there is a fantastic smell coming from our oven!

Say My Name...Say My Name

2007-07-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick funny story. So as we were winding down for the evening my lovely wife says to me, "Come on angel, lets go to bed." I am just guessing here, but I don't think many other husbands like to be called ANGEL!!! I gave Laurette a pretty tough time about it and as punishment I made her refer to me as Columbo for the rest of the evening (i.e. Did you deposit that check today Columbo?). Not sure why I picked Columbo, but I figured that sounded kinda manly and it made up a little for being
called Angel!

the Wolfepack Hits the Great Outdoors

2007-07-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, Travis has been a faithful patron to this blog in my posting absence. Thanks for your dedication, Travioli. So, here's a very late post about our 4th of July celebration. We headed to Paris Landing in Dover, TN on Tuesday night. Travis' parents, Maggie's grandparents, keep their ski boat there. They always stay in the state lodge when there, but Travis was convinced that we should take Maggie...so a camping we did go. We didn't think that she could stay in the lodge and although they don't allow dogs, we saw several. But, we camped nonetheless. A cute little old retired army man runs the campgrounds, so I felt a tiny bit safer. I was really convinced that we were going to be murdered in the middle of the night. Let's face it...the world is not what it once was. I haven't done much camping to speak of in my days. When we were little my sister, my cousin Web and I used to camp out in our front yard. My mom would make us wear bandannas on our heads to keep the chiggers away. She tried to convince me before we camped last week that chiggers were afraid of red bandannas so I should wear one. Have I mentioned that my mother enjoys lying. I can only wait to hear the lies she tells our children. Anyway, I camped at Kamp, but that wasn't scary plus I had to be the brave one then because most of my kampers were afraid of bugs. I camped once in NC with my youth group when I was in Jr. High, but I think I was too stupid then to worry about being murdered...that or my mother hadn't completely warped me yet. Darkness fell, and it was time to sleep. I slept ok until about 2am, then my bladder woke me up. Maggie had a little trouble going to sleep as well. She is quite the guard dog. Everything she heard merited a terrifying growl. Well, I wasn't going to walk all the way to the bathroom, so I popped a squat. Mert, my grandfather, always tells me never to use the bathroom down hill...that and never take a wooden nickle. Well, in my groggy, bug repellent induced state, I seemed to have forgotten that pearl of wisdom. Yes, the PJ pants got a little wet. So, I had to take those off immediately making it a very itchy rest of the night. I think I finally went back to sleep around 4am when I found my earplugs in my purse after I growled at Travis for making me go stupid camping. You should always keep earplugs in your purse; you never know when they may come in handy! Maggs had trouble going back to sleep too. Some "bubbas" as Travis called them kept walking around. These bubbas were large too. Excuse my insensitivity, but what are fat people doing walking/exercising at 3am? Anyway, I managed to get some sleep and awoke to a fun-filled 4th of July. We packed up our site and left it cleaner than we found it...Girl Scout moto...shout out to troop 234, you know who you are. I must say, I was quite impressed with my hubby's camping skills. He whipped that tent up and brought it down just as quickly. I might start referring to him as Sir Edmund. Oh, here is his new obsession which I wouldn't mind myself. I could get used to camping if I didn't have to actually camp.
here is the link http://www.tab-rv.com/tour/index.php
Can't you see us cruising the country in the "fireball"? Dad, could you paint WolfeWagon on the side?

We spent the rest of the day on the lake with Mrs. Kris and Mr. Mike, Travis wonderful and super fun parents. Travis and Mrs. Kris skied, they are both very good, and Maggs swam for the first time. She even got on the knee board. I however stayed in the boat most of the time. I'm not a very successful skier, and I wasn't in the mood to break anything. I wore my 50spf sun screen and Travis did not. He got a mean little sunburn, and that my friends is a blog for another time. Ask him about the vinegar. Here are some pics of Maggs the amazing water dog.

Love hath no boundaries

2007-07-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

In honor of the lovely Hopper-Butts marriage I bring you a few other classic hyphenated gatherings.

I have to site my reference , sorry not a Travis original.

He Speaks...

2007-07-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it is pretty fair to say I have developed a small obsession with this story, but it is just way to good to pass over. Ladies and gentlemen! The Man, The Myth, The Legend...John Smeaton has given his first interview. I suggest everyone read this, it truly is a classic....The John Smeaton Interview.

If anyone is curious as to what I am referring to, check out the last post before this.

Never cross a Scot...

2007-07-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

Last year at a Mississippi State Football game I sat next to a Brit in the upper decks. We were discussing the World Cup and then we got on the subject of David Beckham and why he left Manchester United, a soccer club in Great Britain. My new friend had a simple answer that has stuck with me and always will, “Never cross a Scot”. Evidently Beckham was making a lot of noise about the team management, similar to what Kobe Bryant is doing over here now. Well the owner of the team was Scottish and just said to heck with him, his talent, his money, his good looks, and his Spice Girl wife. Beckham had to run off to Spain to finish out his European career with his tail between his legs because he had forgotten the motto….Never cross a Scot.

Well it seems some other folks forgot about this life lesson and a new internet hero has sprung up. No I am not talking about "Dramatic Prairie Dog”. I am talking about John Smeaton. John is now popping up everywhere on the internet as the UK version of Chuck Norris and, you guessed it, he’s Scottish. It seems our enemies in Al-Qaeda never heard the saying “never cross a Scot.” You see, John works as a baggage handler at the Glasgow Airport. When these crazy terrorist drove there gasoline drenched Land Rover into the airport they had no idea that they were moving into John’s territory. Well what was John’s response? A Scottish ass whoopin worthy of praise even from the great William Wallace. Get this; the police had to restrain John and a few others from beating these guys senseless. My only explanation for the Scottish police not allowing John to finish what he started is they probably figured it more useful if they could question the men. Do you remember how reporters talked about a guy jumping out of the car in flames…yeah, John beat his tail as well. Didn’t matter if he was on fire, still got a boot to him. John is rapidly becoming a legend in his country and they have even set up a website for people to buy their hero a pint in thanks for his bravery. They will celebrate soon at the Glasgow Airport Holiday Inn Lobby Bar, John’s favorite watering hole, where they will line up 1,000 pints and let the man have his day of celebration. John doesn’t consider himself a hero however, he simply says, “Glasgow does not accept this. We will set aboot ye.” Which is basically a cool Scottish way of saying we’ll give you a beat down. So cheers to our new hero, may he enjoy his new found fame and his 1,000 pints. And readers always remember…Never cross a Scot!

Happy Birthday MOM!

2007-07-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

Happiest birthday to my sweet Momma. Yesterday was my mom’s birthday, so I’m a day late. However, I was with her all weekend, so I’m sure she will forgive my tardiness on the post….considering she has never been on time or early for anything in her life, I think she will understand.

What can I say about my mom to accurately describe what an amazing mom and person she is? Yes, she did make me OCD about germs at 4 years old, but, I’ve made it through that for the most part. See previous post from April, "GERMS..." But overall, I could never have asked for a more wonderful mother. We celebrated this weekend by eating sushi, going to see OKLAHOMA at the Desoto Family Theater and eating the awesome cake my dad made. I am so blessed to have a mother that I truly enjoy spending time with, and she is really more than a parent, she is one of my best friends as well. I have always been able to talk to my mom about anything, and I am so thankful for that relationship. Her faith and love have inspired me always.

My mom has just completed her 34th year of teaching, and if she has been half the teacher that she has been mother, then I know that she has greatly impacted many lives. Growing up in Aberdeen, we couldn’t go anywhere without seeing one of my mom’s former students. And even at a young age I could tell by the way they looked at her that she had played a very important part in their lives. I hope to be that kind of teacher one day. My mom also taught me to respect everyone and treat all people with kindness. She always spoke to everyone from the cashier at Wal-Mart to the sushi chef at Kyoto's (thanks to mom, we now know his life story). She makes everyone feel like they are important, and that is truly a gift.

She has always made me feel as if I could accomplish anything. She is one of my biggest fans. I don’t know how she did all that she did. She always came to my games to watch me cheer and my basketball games to watch me sit on the bench, and my tennis matches to watch me choke…she practiced softball with me in the front yard (I was pretty terrible at that too), she even went to dance camp with us and youth retreats too…she was great and always fun to be around and she kept everything VERY clean! I hope she knows that every hour she spent on the road to a game or sitting in the stands ment the world to me. I could never thank her enough for her devotion. One quick story: my mom used to make me call her every morning when I got to school to make sure I got there safely. If I forgot the loud speaker would come on in my classroom and the school secretary would say, "Mrs. ____, is Laurette there?" This drove me insane, but I flipped my car 3 times in 10th grade...so I can understand where she was coming from. One day, I forgot to call....and you know the story. I made some comment to my class to try and regain some shred of "coolness" when this boy in my class said, "I wish my mom loved me that much." I never complained again, and that day I realized that God had truly blessed me when He chose my mother.

The older I get and the more life I experience, I realize more and more what amazing parents I have. My mom has sacrificed so much for me and has given so much of herself to me. I hope I can be the mom that she has been to me…not anytime soon, but one day for sure. I love her so much…Travis can attest to that. My parents picked Travis and me up from the Memphis airport when we returned from our honeymoon. I cried the whole way to Nashville because I already missed my mom so much. I kept say, “it’s not you I promise, but you just can’t erase 22 years of love.” Amanda B. Cantrell can attest too…she got a tearful phone call that afternoon. She assured me that I would in fact see my mother again.

Well, mom, I could go on for days. Thank you for the unconditional love that you have given me. It has given me the confidence to try anything because I knew if I failed you and daddy would always be there to catch me. You are very weird and a bit paranoid (for example: the al qaeda cell that my mom is convinced that she has seen at the Kroger in Southave, MS) but, I still love you more than all the Bulldog Deli potato salad in the world! Happiest birthday, Momma! being "Mimi" her favorite thing to do!

Maggie ♥ Jim Rome

2007-06-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that we have yet to do a post on our little daughter Magnolia Mae Wolfe, affectionately known in the Wolfe household as Maggie. Well I realized something last night that I just had to blog about. It seems to me that Maggie has developed a wonderful habit of being extremely punctual. For the 4th straight night now Maggie has awakened me from my slumber at exactly 4:00am in order for her to eat her breakfast. Not 4:15 or 4:23 or 3:52. No exactly 4am give or take only like 2 minutes (which I say is just from me waking up). I kid you not, 4am everyday on the dot. Oh she will wake Laurette and I up at other times of the night for various potty breaks, but when it is 4am it is time to dine. I really don't mind this as I would rather feed her early and get 2 extra hours of sleep rather then have to wake up 30 minutes prior to my alarm. I wonder what has made her want to eat at 4am. Maybe she tried other times for her meal and they gave her doggy indigestion, or maybe some doggy Oprah told her that was the best time to eat, just like real Oprah says not to eat anything past 10pm. I like to think that her biggest crush, Jim Rome ,told her this. See we don't have a fence yet so everyday we have to leave poor Mags in the garage. I crack the door a little bit, get a big fan started for her, then turn on the stereo so she doesn't feel all alone. I have the radio tuned to 104.5 The Zone a local sports talk station. This is my favorite station in town and Laurette loves it in the mornings because they have her crush on the air, former Tennessee Titan, Frank Wycheck.
Anyway, from 11 - 2 in the afternoons Jim Rome is on the air and I like to think that he is Maggie's favorite. She is a clone in his Jungle for sure. I just have to think that Rome has lead her to this conclusion. Either way I am happy to do it.

Flying a country mile!

2007-06-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am sure all of you readers have been anxiously awaiting my report from this weekend’s Flugtag. Well I have great news to report, other then the fact that Web, Cliff and I roasted like baked chickens, it was a great time. This event was right up my alley it had everything I love…Comedy, Dance Routines, Skydivers, Elaborate Costumes, Elvis impersonators, Record breaking flights, Cavemen, The A-Team, Cigars, and of course Red Bull. I am actually not really a fan of red bull the drink but any company that can think up a marketing campaign as cool and crazy as this Flugtag thing, I salute them.

So to explain a little bit, teams of people from around the country compete to try and see who can make a completely human powered aircraft fly the furthest after tossing them off (along with a pilot) from a 30 foot platform. Each team is judged on distance of flight, creativity of craft, and style points for performance. The rules are simple. The aircraft cannot weigh more then 400lbs (pilot included), it cannot be more then 30ft wide, and must be entirely powered by human muscle.

We were able to walk along the “Hanger” and check out all these great teams. I have included a few photos below of our encounters. The coolest part of the day was seeing a new North American record set by a team from Kentucky. They flew their aircraft 155ft! In Flugtag terms that is a huge distance. The previous North American record was 85ft, and the World record is 192ft, so they got pretty close. It was a great time shared by about 50,000 other Nashvillians, all wondering what the heck is going on here.

A record breaking flight from the Rocky Top Rocket!

A group of cavemen from East Nashville. They were actually pretty dormant creatures and handed out cookies to the audience.

Me with the A-team…that is their van in the background. Missing from the picture is Hannibal; he is behind Murdock taking a call on his cell phone.

This guy was my favorite, he is this old dude, and loves these things. This is the second time he has competed and I have to say his aircraft did awful, but I give him major style points for riding the rocket Evil Knievel style right off the platform.

The Stephen Colbert – Eagle One taking off. Right before this flight all the Mini-Colbert’s on the team fought off Liberal Hippies with the power of “truthiness.” All to the Hulk Hogan theme song “I am a Real American,” and Toby Keith. It was classic Colbert, I give major Kudos to this team.

Click Here to watch the video…Colbert - Eagle One

...Just want to bang on a drum all day!

2007-06-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

For our loyal blog readers I have great news. Laurette finishes up her class on Saturday, so you will not have to hear my rantings s much longer. Today is a boring Friday and these are always the hardest when you are just ready to get the heck out of dodge. I have a fun filled weekend in store that will surely warrant some blogging material at the least, and police blotter at the worst. Laurette's cousin Webb is in town and I have convinced him to join in the fun with me. Webb is just as easily persuaded into a good time as I am, so he didn't put up much of a fight. We always have a good time when we hang out, so this will be a fun weekend guaranteed. To start off the weekend, we are heading to the Black Keys concert tonight, I lucked upon tickets and cannot wait for this one. These guys are truly amazing. Just 2 guys from Akron, OH that can "lay it down" in the blues category.
We may finish off the night with a little Country Karaoke, or hit a few honky tonks. Either way, Webb will get the full Nashville experience.

Then tomorrow, oh yes tomorrow, FLUGTAG!!! Words cannot describe how excited I am for this one. We will get to watch 30 teams of people launch their homemade flying contraptions off a 30 foot platform into the Cumberland River. Each team gets 10 minutes to perform a skit on the platform and is judged on performance and distance of flight. Some of the teams include the Stephen Colbert - Eagle One, A group of East Nashville Cavemen, Batman & Robin, a blimp, a tank, the Beatles yellow submarine, and many more brave participants from around the country. The only way this could be more fun to watch is if every team somehow got whacked in the nuts on the way down. So here's to a great weekend!

Bonjour

2007-06-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton has been making the rounds on everyones blog lately. I just came across this quote from her today, and I had to post it. This is all I will say on the lovely Paris.

Paris Hilton: In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make.

For more funny/insane celebrity quotes check out Celebrity Wit.

HOORAY!!

2007-06-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

I was going to post a long blog about how excited I am for this event coming to Nashville, and how the greatest thing about my busy week last week was finding out about this event, but instead I will just link this video. I think it states the reason for all my excitement very nicely. Laurette is in class during the day on Saturday so I am recruiting folks to go with me. So come on up to Nashville if any of you would like.

I will give a full update with pictures after the event...

Happy Birthday, Little Daddy!!

2007-06-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today is my dad's birthday. He is 67. He was born at home in the wee hours of that June 12th, and I have always been told that my grandmother got up the next morning and cooked breakfast for the doctor. 1) what? I don't think so; she was a much better woman than I will ever be. 2) what a lousy doctor. I would tell my patient to get back in bed! But back to my sweet dad...what can I say to explain how fantastic he really is? He has been one of the most influential people in my life, and I have to credit him for playing a major role in the formation of my faith. Even though his Sunday school class was excrutiatingly boring, he has been such an example of faith, grace, and love for me. I've always wondered why God chose to give me such an amazing family and a earthly father that so closely modeled Him. Now before you go and canonize my father, I must tell you...he ain't no saint. well, he will tell you that. He is famous for his colorful jokes, and he will tell you that he lived the 60's. He was one of those crazy people at Woodstock! can you believe that. You'll have to ask him to tell you more stories. I would hate to incriminate him via the internet or tarnish my reputation via association.

Daddy traveled most of my childhood. He would leave on Monday mornings and come home on Friday afternoons, and I was always sooo excited to see him! Even though he was gone, I knew that he loved me more than anything in the world. And the older I get the more I realize how much he sacrificed for me and our family. I really could never ask for a more wonderful dad. He is always there when I need him. He is usually the first person I call when I am mad or especially when I am upset. He just listens so well. And he truly is one of my favorite people in the world to be around. I just really enjoy his company. He is just so dang funny, cool and cute! I tell you what isn't cute, though...we are about the same size, hence the nickname "Little Daddy" given to him by my sister not me. Growing up, most of my friends' dads were 6' plus, so you can imagine my humiliation when my dad accidentally wore my jeans one day. yeah, what can you do?

One sweet story I have to tell about my dad is that he wrote me a letter every single day that I was at Kanakuk! Both summers I worked there I got a letter every day from my dad. What dedication! He even started his own newspaper for me called the Memphis Flash. He would report all the news that was going on in the world since I was cut off from civilization. He emails my sister and me everyday, and I am so thankful for the relationship that we have.

I could go on forever, but I better get back to work. This post really doesn't do you justice, Daddy, but I hope you know how much I love you. Thank you for being such an amazing dad and giving me a wonderful example of what a father and a husband should be. You are so gifted at so many things, but I will have to say, you are the best at being my dad. Happiest Birthday to YOU! You deserve it, Daddy. I just wish that every little girl could have a dad like you!

Watch Out World

2007-06-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

My dad has become a BLOGGER, and I am still coming to terms with this fact. He has been reading my blog and some of my friends' blogs for a while, but last week he unvailed his own creation: Not Without Some Thought. It promises to be a good read. Check it out, and wish him HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Tomorrow he will be 67!

pictured: daddy aka "little daddy" and mary peyton

2 Years and Counting!

2007-06-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Please forgive my absence. I have been swamped with school work, but I know it will all be worth it. But on to a more exciting topic...I really cannot believe that Travis and I have been married for 2 years today! At 3pm on a very hot June 4th my dad walked me down the aisle to meet my very best friend, Travis Michael Wolfe, and become his wife! That was my dad's 3rd trip down that aisle: once with my mom 34 years ago, then with my sister 6 years ago, then with me! He is batting 1,000; I highly recommend him as a father of the bride. What an AMAZING day. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving me such a beautiful wedding and for making it so special. And thanks, Mr. Mike and Mrs. Kris, for rearing such an amazing son. I love being a Wolfe, and I love being your daughter-in-law!

Our wedding day is still surreal in my mind. All of our family and closest friends were there to watch us take our vows to be together for the rest of our lives. And I can honestly say that after 2 years as your wife, Travis, one lifetime together will just not be enough for me. You have made these two years better than I could have imagined. You have given me so much freedom to be who I am, and you have loved all of me. As my mother reminded me this morning, that is no easy task. Thanks mom. So Travis, thank you for picking me to be your wife and for giving me a love that I never dared to dream of. The Lord truly blessed me when he picked a blonde headed boy from Indiana to by my husband! “I am confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Take heart, be strong, and wait for the Lord.” Ps. 27:13&14 Thank you for showing me His goodness. I have no idea where God will take us, but I am so thankful that I get to go with you! Happy Anniversary. Hopefully I haven’t made any of our readers sick.

more images to come. I'm not very good at posting pictures. My dad and I were just practicing. I don't want you to think that no one came. And that is not our child that Travis is holding...it's our niece, Mary Peyton, when she was little and nice.

The Greenbrier

2007-06-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

For the past 3 days I have been in the backwoods of West Virginia at one of the fanciest hotels I have ever seen. This place was unbelievable, and I have already let Laurette know we will probably never make it here on our own penny (a standard room cost around $580 a night). I was up their working an event. The Greenbrier has been around since the late 1700's and was the summer home for many presidents and dignitaries. For a quick history lesson, during the cold war they built a bunker onsite large enough to house the whole US Senate and House +families in case of a Nuclear fallout. The place is enormous, and covered in more flowered wallpaper then I have ever seen. My room looked just like a room right out of Laurette's grandmother’s house. It has the feel now of a place where rich politicians and COE's take their wives as a make up gift for getting caught sleeping with the secretary. You have to wear a coat and tie to dinner and you must always have a reservation and if you are around the lobby at noon they serve tea and cookies (about the only thing that I found free). Needless to say this West Tennessee redneck was a little out of his element, here are a few of the highlights from the trip...

1. Sitting on the veranda drinking a $17 Mint Julep. I felt like I should have started talking like Foghorn Leghorn...."I do declare!"…This link is for you Caleb.

2. The bed had like a 4 inch pillow top, it was the best bed I have ever slept in, so I decided to strip it down to see who made the bed, I never found out, and probably just managed to really confuse a maid.

3. Beating a 221 average bowler who was a California State Bowling champ. Granted I only bowled a 122 and he was bowling without his thumb in the ball, but I still beat him.

4. Being served a Biscoff on the flight to Atl. from the Greenbrier airport. I guess Delta knows who their clientele on this flight is...

5. Being the lucky member of the flight who received the extra security search in West Virginia. This airport was very small, but I think had the same TSA employment as the Atlanta airport. Finally after 15 minutes I got my carry on bag back. I thought I was stuck in West Virginia for good. Luckily know backwoods, deliverance strip search...Whew!!

6. Meeting a true Richard Cranium at the Greenbrier Airport. First off this guy was wearing white jeans, a blue button-down with cuff links and something like a captain’s jacket. This guy was awful and was very mad that the flight we were taking to Atlanta did not have a first class cabin. Come On!!!

7. Eating a $30 grilled chicken salad for lunch at the pool.

8. Seeing a professional croquet course. I never knew there was a professional league, let alone professional courses.

9. Seeing way to many old rich men with young women.

10. And last but not least. The hotel offered a turndown service, well I did not know this so when I walk back in my room from soundcheck and saw my bed undone and a robe sitting on it, and some stuff moved around...I immediately began checking my things, it wasn’t till I saw mints on the pillow that I realized no one had stolen anything.

So that was my big adventure, I have a Michael McDonald show this week along with working at FanFair, so maybe I will have some more crazy stories. If anyone wants to hear, I do a dead on MM impression. I sometimes act out a show that features Michael McDonald and Aaron Neville, Laurette joins in with Cher. It is a good time and I think we should start recording our performances.

Leftover Surprise

2007-05-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

I know I am not the person you have demanded a blog from, but in an effort to keep readership from falling off...Travis here signing up for duty. I have to stick up for my lovely wife and let you all know she has been extremely busy and will blog very soon.

Now, this plate of food you are looking at is a Travis Wolfe original. I like to pride myself as being a MacGyver in the kitchen. I really think you can give me anything and I will make a meal out of it. This infuriates Laurette. To her and her family instead of the MacGyver I think I am, they just think I am a MacGruber… I have been hazed constantly for one night suggesting that we eat scrambled eggs and green beans. I really don’t see an issue with that you.

The lovely creation above was put together by a mixture of a leftover burger I grilled over the weekend and some sort of pasta side dish Laurette made to go with Chicken Parmesan on Tuesday night. Before you go thinking I am crazy, really it was just like spaghetti with a giant meatball in the middle. I am pretty proud of putting this one together…One a side note, Caleb, Trey, Luke, if you are reading this never try to compliment your wife on her cooking by telling her that the pasta creation she made taste like Chef Boyardee. I happen to really like the taste of the Chef’s unique canned creation, but Laurette didn’t seem to enjoy my compliment.

A Honey-Covered Cat

2007-05-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a little better after the shock of my favorite show of all time, Gilmore Girls, coming to an abrupt and untimely end. And, I thought blogging might help...so Travis took me to the Polyphonic Spree Monday night
and all I can liken it to is a honey-covered cat. It was a strangeness with which I am not acquainted. I cannot even begin to put into words what this experience was like. The concert was at City Hall this really cool venue on 12th, but it had a strange odor. No, I know what you are thinking...it wasn't the green stuff, it smelled more like Skate Odyssey in Aberdeen, MS, the site of many a childhood skating party. Don't get me wrong...this smell conjured some fond memories, but I always thought, even in my adolescence, that Skate Odyssey was probably a pretty sketchy if not seedy place when the sun went down. Maybe the smell of City Hall infringed on my experience, but let me tell you, I was waiting for them to pass out the Kool-Aid any minute! No, more like a huge net was going to come down and I would be enslaved for all eternity, forced to tour the country with crazed robe-wearing hippies, singing my guts out like on a Brady bunch special gone very wrong! They, the 20-something member band, all clad in aqua robes with orange zigzags, which included several guitarists, 2 drummers (one of which thought he was saving the universe by playing his snare), 2 violinists that must have escaped from the symphony, two pianists, a flautist, 2 trumpet players one of which was truly convinced that the lyrics he was singing (between trumpet parts) were the secrets of life, 6 crazy - head flailing back up singers, a trombone player, a harpist, many more I’m sure that I’m forgetting, and the CRAZIEST lead singer you will ever lay eyes on...I’m not talking like Iggy Pop crazy, more like snake handling - salvation on sand mountain crazy. He had the craziest eyes; I truly felt like I was stuck in "Clockwork Orange" or something. It was like an Austin Powers on acid trip kind of vibe, and of course my husband LOVED it! They came out in these black military uniforms with red hearts on the left chest pocket. Their new album is entitled "The Fragile Army," and I think fragile is probably a good descriptive for most of their mental states. I think it's safe to say that they enjoy some pretty stout narcotics. I have to give them a pat on the back though; a die-hard fan was launched onto the stage and allowed to take over the mic. You have to give them credit for making this kid's life-dream come true. He was elated to say the least. I think I especially enjoyed the flautist. She rocked the flute, not a statement that can be said of most of the world's population. Overall, I'm glad I went because now Travis and I realize that there are people much stranger than I that exist.

NO!!!!!! No, Please NO!!!

2007-05-08T19:26:00.001-07:00

I am literally beside myself. I am balling my eyes out as I type! I look forward to Tuesday nights all week long. I have my Tivo set for one specific show, the show that takes me away, the show that is my FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL TIME! And I really am having trouble breathing because the SERIES FINALE OF GILMORE GIRLS is next week. I really cannot express my heartbreak. I want to live in Stars Hollow, I want to eat at Luke's Diner, I want to stay at the Dragonfly and eat Suki's fabulous food, I want to hit Kirk in the face, and I want to see Layne's twins, Quan and Steve, heck, I was even born at Gilmore Memorial Hospital...no relation, but you catch my drift. In the words of Malynn, "I want to hit someone; I want to hit them hard!" But it's all over, the series finale. You can't just drop something like that on someone. I needed time to prepare myself, to throw a party, something. I feel ridiculous acting this way or feeling this way; I mean think of all the horrible things in the world, but I love TV and I LOVE this show. I think a piece of my heart just broke off.

The moment captured!

2007-05-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is Travis and like a good news photographer I was there to capture the collapse of Laurette after discovering Gilmore Girls is no longer. I hope you all enjoy...

Travis' Movie Extravaganza

2007-05-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Since our blog has been dormant for a few days and Laurette is off in babyland with her sister and mary payton, I figure it is up to me to carry the flag of our beloved blog. I was heading to Memphis in May, but after a last minute cancellation on my part (sorry Mitch) I have decided to lay low this weekend and do nothing. Sometimes that is the greatest thing...Nothing. Anyway, I have prepared for a weekend of bad food, movies, and sleep. I will give a quick report on each one as I go.
side note: since Laurette isn’t here I apologize in advance for bad grammar.

Smokin' Aces

Laurette's flight was at 6am this morning and when I returned from dropping her off at the airport I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I started this movie at 5:30am. A cool link for everyone...Free TV & Movies. This site has tons of tv shows and movies, from The Office to Captain Planet.

Smokin' Aces has a sort of Oceans 11 feel to it. Jeremy Piven of HBO's Entourage fame is the main character in this movie, but I say that loosely. In fact that was the main problem with the movie. I love Jeremy Piven as an actor, I have loved him ever since his movies with his former buddy John Cusack and that little known gem PCU, but in this movie you never really get to seem him do his thing. Anyway I have come to find out he is a real Richard Cranium (my dad always uses this term, prize to the first one who figures out what that means) in real life. For example, for Christmas one year he gave his friends DVD's of his own show Entourage. Ok, so back to the movie. Piven plays a Vegas magician who is in bed with the mob and gets in way over his head. When he goes to the Feds to snitch on all these crime bosses a bounty goes out on his head. Every hit man around comes to his hideout in Lake Tahoe in hopes of getting the reward. The movie is decent at best, and that is a sad thing. The movie has great actors all throughout, and even Alicia Keys and Common play great parts. The only issue is the movie moves so quickly you never really get to know the characters. I am hoping my next movie is a little better. This one was definitly an Ocean's Ripoff.

The Departed

This years Best Movie according to our good friend Oscar, the movie that finally got a win for Martin Scorsese....it lived up to all my expectations. This is a guy movie of all guy movies. It has mob ties, crooked cops, and believe it or not, a funny Alec Baldwin. Hard to believe this funny guy could go off on his kid like he did. He added a little lightness to such a heavy movie. It was awesome to see Jack Nicolson and Leo acting together. I have been hearing for a while now that Leo is the new Jack, and up until this movie I didn’t really believe it. I gave him props for his work in Gilbert Grape and The Aviator, but didn’t really think he was the new actor of our era. That change after seeing him hold his own in this movie opposite of Jack Nicholson. Even Mark Walberg did a heck of a job…No he didn’t do any Calvin Klein underwear commercials with the funky bunch in this movie, nor did he say “Donnie D’s on the backup, drug free so put the crack up.” (Marky Mark's Good Vibrations was always in the playlist at a Waxmaster Wolfe party back in the day.)

This movie is another hardcore Scorsese gangster movie, but that is what he is known for. Another thing Scorsese is known for is his impeccable taste in music. His soundtracks in movies are brilliant and he can match the perfect song for any occasion. Take for instance in this movie. Leo is in a Quickie Mart and some mobsters are giving the owner a hard time, well Leo decides to beat them down, and what is playing in the background “Nobody can do the twist like I can, Nobody can do the shake like I can…” you would never think it would fit in a beat down session, but it does.

Blood Diamond

Wow, that is all I can say right now about this one. It is so raw and real. I mean in your face real. I will have to get all my thoughts together on this one, and it will get its very own post after this. I dont want to look like a jerk and post about this movie and then move on to the next, so I will just leave it open and we will have one on the topic of Africa soon.

Also, you can help children in Africa...more on that to come, but enjoy these photos first.

For Your Consideration

I need to put in a comedy after being emotionally beat down by the last movie. Christopher Guest is one of my favorite directors, he is brilliant. He is known for his Mockumentaries like Spinaltap, Best in Show, and Waiting for Guffman. This is his latest....Time to wrap this up. I was spending just as much time blogging about a movie as it took to watch them, so I had to just put this down to finish my movies. Now I can do a quick wrap up. For Your Consideration is ok, but not the best of the Christopher Guest's movies. I am sure it would be funnier the second time I watched it, that is how all his movies are. Funny topic about what happens to actors when there is Oscar buzz on a movie set, and some of the characters are hilarious. Mississippi native Parker Posey does a great job as always. A good movie, but if you don't enjoy dry humor, probably wouldn’t like this one.

The Black Dahlia

This movie was terrible. I had high hopes for it. I am a big fan of murder mystery movies so I really thought this one would be great. I did a little research on the always reliable and trustworthy wikipedia about the actual Black Dahlia case before the movie and I was really thinking this would be great. The actual case, if you look at the who's who of suspects reads like a list at a upscale Hollywood party in the 50's...A publisher of the LA Times, Folk singer Woody Guthrie (who was Bob Dylan's mentor), Mega-Director Orson Welles, and on and on. So I was geared up for a really cool movie. What I got was a slow, boring, yawn fest that is more interested in the lives of the other characters then the actual case itself. The movie is actually based on a semi-fictional book about the case and it sticks line for line from the book so I am told. I was really bummed by this one. You know those cheesy skits that are in black and white and are about some dame walking into a detective’s smoky office talking about a murder she knew about. Well this movie was just like one of those skits only extended for two hours. Stay away from this movie. Trish you are right on this one, but totally wrong on the Richard Cranium guess.

Children of Men

This was my last movie and it made up for the horrible Black Dahlia movie. I am still upset that they took such an interesting murder case and made Pure D. Crap. Anyway, Children of Men is about the future in about 20 years. In the movie, women for some reason stop being fertile and no child has been born since 2008. Long story short all the other nations have collapsed except for Britain and it is in sort of a police state where Refuges are treated like dogs. It is all about the socio-political implications of our current society and what if something this devastating was to happen. As you can tell from that, yes it is a deep movie. I was a little worn out from my marathon of movies when I got to this one, I did enjoy it, but I did kind of mail it in. I am sure if this was the first movie I watched I would have liked it even more. The eeriest thing about the movie was there were no children in it. No background noise of kids playing in a park or anything like that. The filmmakers did a good job at not really drawing attention to that kinda of thing, but as a viewer you knew that stuff was missing.

So there it is thanks for indulging me for a while. It was quite a weekend, I didn’t leave the house on Saturday except to mow the yard, and now officially have a man-crush on Leo.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Travis!!

2007-04-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Happy 25th Birthday to my wonderful, amazing, incredible husband! I LOVE you, and I am a better person because of you!
Yeah!!!! Today is Travis' 25th birthday as written above(in German). We started celebrating on Saturday. His parents took us to the Gherst House. It's a really neat German restaurant.
We had a great time and the food was delicious! They make a mean basket of fried pickles! I'm not sure that is a traditional German appetizer, but they do have an extensive menu because let's face it....not everyone licks his/her lips at a plate like this

It was slightly disgusting to watch Travis consume so many meat products, but it was his birthday dinner....he is on a strict vegetable diet this week. I'm trying to clean out his arteries! We really did have a great time! If you're ever in Nashville on a Saturday night and you're not really feeling the "boot scoot'n boogie," the Gherst House promises a good time! We really enjoyed the funny old people in the band. I think the lady held out a note for like 2 minutes strait....eat your heart out Celine...then she chugged a stein. It was impressive. Just imagine the smell of fried sausages with polka music billowing through the air. We learned that Wolfe is in fact a German name and that Travis looks very German. I believe these people too....I mean, wouldn't you believe that face

Travis racked up on the loot. One present I gave him was a basketball so that he could play at our church. He is very excited that he can now play on Thursday nights. There is a sign posted on the gym door that says, "Thursday Night Basketball. Must be 25 to enter. Have ID ready!" The old men really take it seriously. But, after the hammock fiasco of '06, I have learned my lesson about deviating from the birthday present list. If anyone is interested in a really nice hammock with it's own metal stand (save your trees) then just let me know. I also made sure to get the DQ Ice Cream cake this year. Last year I failed to complete this birthday ritual. I just didn't think the 2 of us needed an entire ice cream cake that serves 8-10. Mistake was not repeated! Travis was happy...bellies were full!

Here's a little added bonus... this was Travis' disguise for the scavenger hunt with the Jr. High youth group. I think he changed his name to Chris Gaines. I dressed up as a Cracker Barrel employee. We hid in the gardens of the Opryland Hotel. People kept asking me for directions. Fun was had by all.

Rock the Stadium of Her Heart

2007-04-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hello All, I am sitting here with the lovely Mrs. being semi-forced to watch a show called October Road. This is a usual occurrence in the Wolfe household. She gets Gilmore Girls and October Road and I get The Daily Show and any show involving Flava Flav. So anyway, if anyone has ever seen this show apparently it has become a reoccurring theme for the fellas of the show to gather together and play air guitar and drums on various tennis rackets and golf clubs. This has popped up in the last 3 episodes. Well since I am usually only halfway interested in the episodes I decided to see if this was such a common thing. According to an article the writers of the show said...

"We did that. We did that for years and years and years, even after high school. We did it a little different than these guys since we're on ABC TV, so you don't see the bottle of Jack Daniels and the bong. But we had tennis rackets and mic stands that we stole, and we'd go to people's basements and rock out and have fun," Scott (Rosenberg...writer for October Road) admitted.

Well I am not sure if I speak for any other guys who might read this blog, but I have never hung out with a bunch of guys and thought, "You know what would be great...if we grabbed a few clubs and rackets and we just rocked out!"

Course I could see something like that being the opening entertainment at a Butts family talent show...

Another question that arises is what's worse? Guys playing rackets and "rocking out"

or

A guy watching this occur and then looking up articles on the subject.

I'm Never Ready!

2007-04-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I received a scathing email from my father yesterday wanting to know, and I quote, “Where is it? I was looking forward to an informative and humorous blog to go with my coffee and sweet roll this morning. But there is nothing there but old news and how many times can you read that stuff? I know it is Monday, and you are probably brain dead but surely you can come up with something exciting that happened to you this weekend. So suck it up and get with the program.” Wow, Little Daddy (that’s what we call him), calm down. That is probably the most strongly worded thing he has ever said to me. He is usually quite calm with the exception of his theological rants, so father…your wish is my command.

Saturday was quite a long day for me. I had stayed up until 1:30 am on Friday night, and then sat through an entire day of grad school class…8am-4pm. That night I was pretty pooped, and that is when Travis pounced!! We walked into the house from a brief trip to the mall, and immediately the assault began. “turn it off…turn it off!!!” he’s yelling and pushing me….but before you call social services to report a domestic dispute, let me explain. We have an alarm system so that I will feel safer when Travis is out of town. Well, our system has 2 codes, the regular code, and a PANIC CODE! The panic code was installed in the event that I was forced into the house by an intruder, I could punch in this alternate code and the security company would know that something was wrong and to come quickly. Well, I knew I would never be able to remember it if I didn’t practice, so I suggested that Travis pretend to be an attacker every once in a while to keep me on my toes and give me some practice pretending to punch in the panic code. I am still convinced that this was a good idea. What good is a panic code if I forget to push it if, heaven forbid, I ever need to. I remember Oprah doing a show on self-defense classes, so that inspired this idea. I think Oprah would be proud. I should write to her and tell her about our training…she might ask me to be on the show! I’m going to get right on that. Well, the first time he pretended to attack, I almost had a heart attack, and I gave him a thorough beating afterwards! So, Saturday, after my long, long day, Travis decides that this is a perfect opportunity to test my crisis skills. I think he kind of enjoys it, and he is very convincing….after all, he was voted best actor two years in a row for his performances in the USJ musicals. I know... I’m a lucky girl to have married the Music Man! I suggested these drills, so it’s my fault that I get scared out of my mind about once a month…but I have decided that Travis is in danger if he doesn’t practice the panic code too. So, Travis…this is my warning to you…you must beware…because when you least expect it, your training will begin! Oh, and congratulations Kurt and Marty Cooper on the purchase of your first house! Marty informed me that they have an alarm, so upon Marty’s request, I’m sending Travis down to Tupelo to train Kurt in the art of Panic Code preparation.

Get Yourself a Bad Boy

2007-04-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

There is no way this is for real....

Backstreet Boys Fan

Oh...

2007-04-19T14:04:00.001-07:00

One more thing. Thanks for the contribution, Travis. Glad to see you are embracing my new hobby.