Andrew's Good News!

Andrew has been slightly stressed the past couple of weeks, worrying about his work at school. He kept having the feeling that he had missed assignments, and it was nagging on his brain. Even double checking with his teachers didn't ease that feeling that he was missing something.

Well, report cards came out on Friday, and it turned out he had NOTHING to worry about!
Here is the breakdown:

English B
Math B
Social Studies A
Social SKILLS A
Health/PE A
Science B



He called Bill and I on Friday from school, to tell us the good news, and I have to tell you friends, we have been on cloud nine all weekend! He worked so hard, and made the A/B Honor Roll on his first 9 weeks in Middle School. What an accomplishment for my boy!

So, obviously rewards were due, since he worked like a dog to get these outstanding grades. We took him out to Ci'Ci's pizza on Friday night, and he had a sleep over with his buddies on Saturday night (they have a Wii.....so it was a real treat for him!) Mommie and Pop brought him home yesterday at supper time.

He did thank his English teacher for the B......and Mr. T's response was "Andrew, I didn't GIVE you that grade, you EARNED it!" Better words never spoken! He is interested in joining the Beta Club (which was always out of my reach due to not applying myself..) so that is the cherry on the cake.

Now, onto the challenge of the next 9 weeks, with confidence that he is capable and smart, he feels renewed to continue to do his best!

WTG ANDREW! YOU ROCK SON!

Rain, Glorious RAIN!!!

Here in the Southeast, we are experiencing the worst drought in years. There have been so many weeks without rain, I have pure forgotten what rain smells like, sounds like and even what it looks like!

This summer was really tough, keeping the pool filled for the kids meant letting the garden go. I had decided early in the season, that I would not be covering the deck with annuals, so I actually saved money with that decision. Turned out to be a good one, since even my toughest, most established perinneals have suffered. While the kids were happy with having the pool to swim in, I couldn't even walk out my kitchen door with out feeling disgust at the condition of the garden. Time after time I told myself, this is temporary, soon it will rain on a regular basis. Yea, wishful thinking. I even thought of pulling out the rubber chicken for the full moon ritual (amended in my head for rain....GJ'ers know what I am talking about here..LOL!) But really felt like it would be slightly silly, since the results of the ritual would not be guarenteed.

So, here I am enjoying this thorough soaking we have got today. Raleigh only has water for everyone to last a few weeks, then what will we do? One thing besides mandatory conservation measures, is to slow our growth down. It really steams me up, when new subdivisions pop up everywhere and the sprinklers are watering new sod for yards, and the sprinklers are wetting the sidewalks more than the grass! COME ON PEOPLE! Our local leaders need to implement a temporary ban on new development. Of course, that wouldn't bring money in, but right now all the money in the world isn't gonna replenish our water supply. I am trying to do my part, quick showers, full (and I mean FULL) loads of laundry and dishes. The pool will be shut down soon (we are behind, but we did turn it off for a few weeks) and our deep dug well replenishes itself everynight.

So, for those reading this far, please value our water supply. And go dance in the rain when it comes. :)

I need to get a quick rant in here about Time Warner too.....fix your technical difficulties please! This off and on messes up my internets connection! :(

Remembering Italy

I got thrown back in time for a few minutes when I visited Linda's cooking blog! She had a mean minestrone recipe, and I started to remember all the great dishes I sampled when I was a kid!

We were stationed at Malpensa Airport, and lived in a small village close to the Alps and Swiss border called "Vergiate". I traveled everyday to the "American School of Milan" which was about 40 miles away in the city of Milano. My bus driver was "Aldo" and lord have mercy, those daily school rides toughned me up quick like!

On the way in everyday, we picked up the kids from the "Colluzi" family, who lived in Sesto Calinde. Their mom sent them to school alot with fried rice balls for breakfast, and the most wonderful smelling lunches!

No one in our village really spoke English, so I learned Italian in order to have playmates. Most of the kids in the school were expats, and kept to the American cliques, so I was able to advance to the highest level of Italian classes at the school. I remember being the only second grader in a class of high schoolers.

Thanks to the USAF, I was able to not only experience the Italian culture (Milan, Venice, Venezia, Aviano, Florence, Turino and Bologna were most memorable) but we were able to travel through Western Europe in a little Fiat. Through the Alps, into Switzerland, Austria, Germany and France. I helped my parents translate through the whole trip. If we couldnt' find someone who spoke English, we had to find someone who Italian. I remember how the Audoban scared us, how charmed we were by the German countryside, and the wonderful food through out the journey.

We drove through to France, in order to visit Daddy's Uncle Darius' grave in France. He passed away in WW2, and his body was buried in a large Allies cemetary. We needed a map to find it, white crosses as far as the eye could see. Very sobering, even for a 7 year old. We were the only members of the family to visit his gravesite, and the rest of the family (of course not including Pop) have passed away to join Uncle Darius.

Welcome to Katies Tea Party!

First thing on our agenda today! We pulled out the china tea set that Bill had gotten her when she was oh, about 2. Put on a fancy dress, and made invitations for Mario, Teddy and Waterbear.

We also had entertainment, some singing and dancing from the diva herself!

On to other news, Andrew is chugging along with his school work! It is working out as far as me picking him up at the Gardens after his walk from school. I've been trying to get there a little earlier, so I can help Bill clean his office (I should have taken before and after pics...LOL). Both children enjoy the attention from the residents, and I get the greatest compliments on their manners. Makes a Mama proud!

Later today, I will be picking up over 100 prints (kodak had a good sale) and I'm sure to put those vacation pics to quick use.

Tomorrow afternoon is our fair day, so I'll have fair pics to share, and hopefully good news from the greeting card category!

Have a great day friends! :)

New Home for Ragland Record!

Hi everyone! Welcome to the new home of the Ragland Record! I moved to Blogger, because not everyone has AOL, and the old blog wouldn't allow comments from non AOL users! I may try to upkeep both, since a lot of the family have AOL accounts.
We'll play that by ear.

So, on to real news, in case you didn't see the original post on the other blog, my buddy Karen called me from the fair last evening, and gave me the good news for my scrapbooking placing.

Thanks to Kate and Grandaddy for placing 2cd in the coveted Heritage division! You two had such a sweet pic, and a great story!

And, another shout out to Drama Queen Kate! Her dress up page placed 5th in the Kids division! Unbelievable that I got 5th again this year (last year, I used a page with my niece Piper)

We will go to the fair on Thursday, to find out how the greeting cards were judged, and to eat (can yall believe they have deep fried Uncrustables???? )

A quick thanks to Jill for the cute 1x1 acrylic stamps she sent me (I will be using them and posting pics of projects) and also to Linda for suggesting this venue for an easier blog system.

Pic loading seems to be down with this site for the moment, so I hope to have a few pics up when it is fixed!