Nelson Year in Review 2010

The Nelson household has been fairly calm through 2010 amazingly enough.  I had a bad bout of sinus and ear infections in April, leading me to finally accept that I must use an allergy nasal spray everyday of my life, but since then (knock on wood) I've been allergy-symptom free.  YAY!! I turned 47  May, 29 (1963, do the math!!)  Since we are sharing birthdays, here are a few to put on your calendars.  As we get older it's hard to remember how old anyone is.  Clyde is 22 (January 11, 1988), Shane is 20 (October 8, 1990), and Butch is 54 (December 21, 1954.)  Butch and I have been married 24 years as of May 17, 2010.


June

Shane at USC practice working as a manager.

In June we traded the Jeep Wrangler for another Jeep Cherokee for Shane. Seem's Shane has outgrown the little Scion TC, and so we traded a paid up vehicle for another car payment. Sigh.  Butch is driving the Scion now.  Yes, he's too big for it too.  Shane stayed home all summer, returning to USC the last week of July when all the managers had to return to prep for and then help with football practice.  He moved into an apartment with three other guys (two of them are friends from Rock Hill, and I know their parents.) I was skeptical of one of them, and alas, he and one of his roommates are looking for a new apartment at same or less cost so they can lose the roommate I was skeptical of for the next school year.

July
July we went to St. Louis for two Cardinals games.  This was one of Shane's Christmas presents -- Clyde got tickets to see the San Diego Chargers play the Tennessee Titans Christmas Day 2009.  We spent three days in St. Louis, had a ball, and yes, we drove the entire trip!  Glad we drive a Prius.

September

Fuzzy photo of Beth, Clyde, and cousin Haley.

Early September Clyde surprised us with a visit, bringing in tow a girlfriend (Beth.) She is a tiny little thing, looking all of twelve, but pretty, smart, and best, holding a college degree. Maybe it's an incentive for Clyde to finish? I only had pictures from my phone, darn it, and they are not good enough to share here.  He is planning to come home for Christmas, and maybe bringing Beth back too.  He will finish his very last class at DePaul in March, and then work at the University through September.  Long range plans have him returning to SC by then if he hasn't gotten a full time job in his field. 

Our livelihood--Education and Family

Education has suffered tremendous cuts in budgeting in our state, causing Butch and I to have furlough days.  We combined were cut sixteen days, which seriously hurt in the purse.  Christmas this year will be frugal on purpose.  But Clyde rarely needs money from us, which helps. And actually Clyde sort of fronts Shane money if he needs it--he is an awesome big brother.  For as much arguing and picking they did to one another growing up, they are the best of friends now.

Gamecock Football

Butch and I have made several Carolina Gamecock football games this year.  It helps that Shane can get us complimentary guest tickets though it is like an act of congress getting on the guest list and then in the guest line having to show IDs and such.  I had professional activities going on that kept me from two games, but we have been to most of them.  Away games we drove to included Auburn, Florida, Clemson, and the latest game, the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. Glad I'm still young enough (and fit enough) to be able to go and enjoy them. We have tried to drive straight through to each, only stopping to sleep a little while at rest areas so we don't spend money on hotel rooms and such.  It has been okay since we have Sunday's to recover each time. And Mr. Nelson has babysat Sandy, the dog. 

Looking forward to Christmas break and to see what the new year brings.  I've had quite a year professionally too, and if your curious, that is all over at my other blog, "Cathy Nelson's Professional Thoughts."

Some photos--note, my husband and boys do not like to pose for ANY!! If you'd like to see all my photos, they are here.














All photos are the property of Cathy Jo Nelson and are licensed under a Creative Commons Share Share Alike Attribution Only license. 2010.