Megan recently competed in the Texas State UIL Solo contest and achieved a ranking of 1 for her efforts!   What a great accomplishment this is for her and we are so proud!

The school year is rapidly coming to a close with Megan and Hannah both attending Prom this year which has only made me feel older!  The summer is upon us and we are trying to build plans and coordinate schedules.   Megan has completed the Red Cross Swimming Instructors course and will be (hopefully) working as a swimming instructor this summer.  June is already filling up with one week of school, one week of Church Camp and one week of Vacation Bible School work.

For the rest of us.. it's just work as usual!  (sigh).

So here's what been happening lately.   First we have completely replaced all the flooring in the living room, kitchen, bathroom and utility room.  This flooring project, supervised by Shannon, became a huge undertaking and it's quite completed as of yet.   Shannon spent countless hours scraping, cleaning, spreading mortar, laying tile grouting and sealing, she is an amazing woman!   The rooms look awesome and hopefully we'll get some photos posted soon.  Along with the floor upgrade, we have modified a bookcase to hold our new 52" flat screen and cabled the room for surround sound.  The half bath got a new toilet and sink along with a fresh faux finish.  Shannon also fauxed the old wooden paneled book case and wall.  It is a sight to behold and has certainly brightened up our family living room.

Shiree has plans to jump out of a plane as soon as the weather allows for it.  Yes, the girl is crazy!  School is about to let out for summer and Megan, Hannah and Micah are all extremely ready for summer vacation to be here.

Well, that's all I got time for today.  More updates soon!

Rusty

Megan got a car, a white 96 Sebring Convertible.

Our 'powder room' commode seal busted and flooded out under the linoleum  and now we have bare concrete in the powder room, utility room, dinette, and kitchen.  We are working on re-tiling these rooms with ceramic tile.  Once done with that we will be pulling up the carpet in the den and tiling that room too.  The den carpet is old, nasty and had problems with water during Ike and now with the commode.

I got a pachinko machine from Cousin Brett and have refurbished it completely.  Now I've just got to get it to someone in the family that would like to play with it for a while!  Just ask... hopefully we can pass it around the family and let everyone enjoy it.   I have 6 other restored pachinko machines here already!

Shiree has completed her filming and they are looking at a 4qtr release.  Woo Hoo!

Shannon and myself we on a 5year anniversary honeymoon trip to Brenham.  We stayed at a bed and breakfast there and had a wonderful time!  More on this later!

I've been contacted by Bradbury mint and they are wanting to use on of my photographs for a project they are working on.  It is of the Matagorda lighthouse with the wild flowers in frame.

Well, that's all for now.  Hopefully I'll start updating more often and we can get more family involved!

On a good note, I expected him to have lots to say about the history he is making by being the first African American president but he only had one small paragraph in the speech dedicated to that.   I glad to see he did not make this a racial inaugruation but a presidential one.

Mr Bush is leaving office quitely and with dignity.   An NPR report this morning was commending him on doing so and noted that when the Clinton administration left office, there was over $15,000 worth of damage to the offices and computers.   I think he should have at least replaced the Secretary of State's chair with a toilet bowl!  But, alas, he took the high road.

I'm hoping the email notification process will be working soon.  I think I've figured it out.  We'll know soon.

I hope I see the interest in this blog build as I add more bells and whistles.

When we returned back to Spring, we decided to go to a particular furniture store and I missed the exit (I think it was Shannon's navigating) and had to drive the 'back roads' through another subdivision to get there.   As we are driving down the street, Shannon's say.. STOP, there's our house!   I doubled back and sure enough there was a duplicate of our home.  So we just had to stop and look.  As luck would have it the owner was outside unloading her groceries so I got out (to Shannon's dismay) to talk to her.   Well, it turned out she was very gracious and after coaxing Shannon out of truck I asked if we could see the inside if we helped her carry in her groceries!   Well, they are renovating their home and it was great to see how the lower floors, walls and ceiling were all constructed and where the load bearing points are.  We visited with them for about 30 minutes talking about our homes and our plans for them.  It's cool how some missed exit in life can bring new opportunities and friendships.

Enough for today.   Happy Birthday Pete!

I made an unsuccessful bid for the President of our subdivision HOA.  Shannon marked another record year with her business.  Hurricane Ike kept us with out water for 12 days and electricity for 14 and cut short our beach vacation.  Our animated / musical Christmas lights won 3rd place in our subdivision.  Shiree scored a couple of TV commercials including one for Wendys that was shown during the first few Texan games.   Shiree was involved in a car accident that totaled her car but she walked away with only minor bruises.  Hannah completed Jr high with honors and started high school.  Megan received her Letterman jacket.  Micah and myself had an awesome experience in a Kayak on Spring Creek.  Shannon turned 40 (sssh, don't tell anyone).  I've become addicted to Pachinko and now own 4 machines.  Shannon and I marked our 4th anniversary.

As you can see our lives have been filled with joys and trials.  We are looking ahead to 2009 to be a great year for our household and hope for the same for you and yours!

If you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to email them to me!

I will be sending a mass email out today notifying everyone that I have a valid email address for.   If you know of someone who may not know about this Family Blog, please give them the address.  The blog can be reached by clicking on the Family Blog link on my RustyKey.com home page or it can be reached directly at:

http://www.rustykey.com/blog

For those of you trapped behind a 'firewall' that may not allow access to RustyKey.com, try this address:

http://getin.rustykey.com/blog

Thanks for stopping by!

Rusty the blog looks great.  Easy to use.

 this would be a cool background if you can configure it onto the page.

Love you!

Shannon

This afternoon I will be going to see her and hopefully make her 17th birthday a memorable one (in a good way)!

This entry was made by Rusty.

Hopefully this will work good.