Me: "We should make love tonight."
Her: "We have to buy groceries tonight!"
Category: Cathy
My Wife’s Got Style!
Yesterday Cathy appeared on WBIR’s Style. She was interviewed a month ago or so. They edited their story very well! I really enjoyed watching Cathy, Dr. Helen, and Katie Allison Granju talk about blogging. Read WBIR’s style story on Local women share their lives one post at a time and watch the video interview. The interview includes Katie Allison Granju, Dr. Helen, and Cathy. I really thought Cathy looked great! She saw it a little differently.
Veterans Day parade was much fun!
Evan, Cathy, Molly and I picked up Granddaddy and the 5 of us when downtown to watch Sarah march with Bearden High School’s band’s flag team in the Veterans Day parade. We parked in the State Street garage for only a dollar and walked 2 blocks to be near the front of the parade route. The aircraft fascinated me. 
I loved the helicopters playing overhead. The vintage planes doing the missing man formation was excellent. As a matter of fact, all the military vehicles were awe inspiring. Evan waved at the tank driving down the street and the turret spun around to wave back at him! Those things move quickly!
Evan was in a foul mood to begin with and getting him to wave took some effort. The nice lady who got near him and showered him with candy helped a lot. After the attack of the "cannie!" he was much chipper and social. About half way through the parade he started to get into the waving.
Molly was on great behavior but quivered whenever a noisy vehicle or drum section of a band walked by. She was on alert whenever Evan would wander too far. She has to be able to see him and much prefers to be beside him. 
She was a hit with all the police officers and many of the military. You could see them in the parade pointing to her, smiling and chatting amongst themselves. She eventually relaxed enough that I didn’t even have to hold her leash.
I was disappointed in the attendance at the parade. More people should take time to let this parade be their lunch break or to bring their families out. The weather was perfect. The patriotism high! Mardi Gras spoiled me for parades and I never thought I would enjoy this kind of parade again. I was wrong. This parade left me feeling very good!
Btw, Barney Fife was there! He’s great! Don Knots would be proud.
My wife makes good Twitters
Now my wife knows how to Twitter! Thanks my love!
Oh Deer!
Cathy and I don’t get much adult social time. Between work and the children, we live fairly sequestered. Last night we took a break to have a social gathering with our friends that helped School Matters come be. The home of our host was not too far from our own and was lovely! Unlike the modern bulldoze and prefab on a flat property, this house was built with the contours of the land. Aside from visiting and conversing with adults, the best part was as we unloaded Amy and Evan from the van, two doe passed not 20 meters away from us!
From the mouths of babes
Amy: "Yea! We have a box to play in!"
Mom: "We’ve got to get these kids out of the house more."
I was in the building with the Shrine Circus!
Narration: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/shrinecircus.mp3]
Cathy with Amy and Evan, her parents, her sister-in-law with her 3 children, and I went to the Shrine Circus in the newly renovated Thompson Bowling Arena. The renovation looks great! And included everything except signs for the section numbers! You have to guess where your seating is assigned. I am bothered by the gating of the stairs to the upper balcony. Honestly! What is the rationale? Is there anything wrong with wandering up the nosebleed section for a different perspective or camera angle? The renovation included cup holders! Genius! But the seats seem closer to the ones in front of them; I think maybe the actual cushion is larger.
We started the evening off with the children playing in the seats and kicking, hitting, putting feet on, and other wise abusing the nice gentleman in the row in front of us. 
To give him a break, we took the children down to ride the elephants which also happened to be the first time I rode an elephant. After the ride we returned to our seats to further give the nice family in front of us a thorough pounding. Obnoxiously loud toy guns that speak "Don’t move. Drop your gun. Fire fire fire." were purchased. So at the Shrine Circus, whose mission is to help the children, we have a pretend weapon that encourages blowing away an unarmed person. 
Granddaddy felt the children could use some sugar for the show so cotton candy was purchased. Of course, the nice white shirt of the guy in front of us was begging to be finger painted by a very blue, stick Evan. Got him cleaned in without any damage to the white shirt. The show begins. 
And I hold the wild child finally giving in and returning pacifier to mouth. Just to show who is in control, at one point Evan takes his "bop" (pacifier) out and tosses it into the audience hitting the child in front of me smack dab on the head and then it settles on the floor beneath the seats of the people in front of the people in front of me. We replace it with one of Amy’s few remaining ones and he spits it to the floor where it rolls down under the seats in front of us.
Evan wins! To the family in front of us, we had become the family behind us. He is too wacky to remain and I cannot stand to allow the poor family in front of us take anymore abuse. I sacrifice the first half of the show to let Evan walk around the stadium. 
Of course, he finds a friend who’s dad happens to sell toys at the circus so they have much to do. Prior to that Evan was running me all over Thompson Bowling Arena including quickly moving up and down stairs. With no section numbers listed, it did not take long to get totally turned around. We were lost but the people in front of us weren’t getting kicked.
Eventually Evan got through his zaniness and we were able to return to enjoy the 2nd half of the show. I highly recommend it…at least the 2nd half; seems I didn’t see the first half.
My Famous Wife
Cathy is quoted in the Knoxnews article How goes security in schools?.
“I like the SROs. They’re good people, and they give the students the sense of ‘somebody’s there and is keeping an eye out,’ †said Cathy McCaughan, mother of students at Bearden middle and high schools.
But, she said, “I don’t know if they’re keeping an eye out for the kids so much (as) the vice principals’ disciplinary issues.â€
Cathy Won a Vacation!
Cathy won! She won "3 nights in Sedona, AZ – Retreat and Heal" prize from Darren Rowse’s Problogger Birthday Bash. Oh oh! I wonder who she’ll take. Pick me! Pick me! It’s the Grand Canyon! After 6 years of marriage we can finally do something that resembles a honeymoon! Anyone want to babysit for a week?
Break into a Dodge Caravan? No problem.
Today we took the children to church. Typically the younger four go with the grandparents while the heathens, Cathy, Tommy and I, stay home where I work on client projects or the house while taking the Lord’s name in vain; everyone sins right? When Tommy was younger, multiple churches requested that he stay away so he never formed a church habit. My religious upbringing is a different story culminating with me tending to keep my religious views to myself. Tommy has discovered that he is comfortable at Two Rivers Church’s youth group and goes there on Wednesday nights although conflicts have kept him away recently.
The grandparents enjoyed the UT Vols game in the stadium last night so we had the responsibility of getting the children to church this morning. Tommy chose to stay home of course. Cathy and I dropped the children then looked at Sunday school options for ourselves finding 4 possibilities for our age group. The one we picked at random turned out to be the group devoting themselves to getting the word out through activities like car washes and entertainment at festivals; anything to get an audience then try to get them to convert or accept the Lord. That directly conflicts with my "keep religious views to myself and let others make their own decisions" mindset.
After class, I went to the van to get some Alavert and Cathy joined me to get some Tylenol. I opened the tail gate for the medical supplies. Cathy took the keys and let herself into the car for a drink to wash her medicine down. I close the tailgate. Then I see someone waiting to get into their car and tell Cathy she is in the way. She jumps out of the way and closes the door. I ask for the keys and her face goes blank. Then she giggles. I think I’ll start carrying two sets of keys for the car! Cathy’s father came out to help me which is good otherwise God and I might have had a lively discussion.
SuperDad
Tonight was the elementary school’s open house. It may have been only the kindergarten open house but the cub scout troop was meeting so there were enough cars at the school that a couple of people parked on the lower branches of some of the trees and a couple of SUVs managed to find some space on the roof. Cathy went early and helped sell year books. I caravaned the children around town as we picked up Sarah, Sarah’s friend, and Tommy from high school activities. We ended up at McDonald’s having dinner with some cub scout friends of ours. In due time, we dropped Molly and Tommy off at the house with hopes Tommy would do some chores and the rest of us deploy to the school. Look out! Chaos coming!
We had a wonderful time, saw some friends, had pleasant chats with teachers, Sarah fell chasing Evan and bled all over the new kindergarten rug, and Amy was able to show off her school. As we came to a close, I noticed the volunteer form horribly empty so I inquired and put our names down. In that time, already-over-volunteered-Cathy stared on in dread as I swiped another bit of time out of her life with a few strokes of a #2 pencil. While she was entranced with my unsanctioned scheduling, Sarah and Evan departed, followed shortly by Amy. As the ever confident Amy found herself alone in the hallway, she took it upon herself to walk out the front of the school, through the dark parking lot, and off to the playground. The parents got a frowny face tonight. Sarah and Evan took one hall of the school. Cathy raced to the gym. A couple of scout dads joined in the search with one commenting "my child is missing too…but he’s old enough to walk home!" The teacher joined the posse. Amy was found on the playground and as she was walked into the school, her name blared across the school intercom so that all visitors became away that the McCaughans lose their children.
Didn’t Noah go with us? Anyone seen Noah?
Last Night’s Dream
I remember two dreams. Both involved Tommy. One was about camping. But this post is about the other one.
We are in a car. I am in the back seat against the door on the passenger side. Cathy is sharing the seat with me just to my left. Some girl is in the middle but it is kind of like an opening to another row of seats so perhaps she is in the back-back and leaning forward to the middle row of seats; she is holding an unlit joint between her thumb and index finger but mostly concealing it in her hand. Then a shadow of a person is in the other middle seat on the driver’s side. Tommy is driving. A police officer pulls him over. We all sit there stunned. We make no attempt to get the girl to conceal her illegal substance as the officer approaches the car and makes eye contact with her. He comes to my side of the car and takes the joint from her, makes a comment and hands it to me. As he walks away Cathy points out that the police officer is going to arrest me so I eat it.
Now I ask you, what the hell was Tommy doing driving?!
More On The Differences Between Men and Women
Men and women see the world differently. Noah has school pictures today.
Cathy: "How did Noah look this morning?"
Me: "I’m pretty sure he went to school."
Cathy: "How did Noah look this morning?"
Me: "I emphasized to him that he really needed to turn in his check for pictures."
Cathy: "How did Noah look this morning?"
Me: "Umm. I know he was wearing clothes."
Cathy: "How did Noah look this morning?"
Me: "I don’t know. Give me a hint!"
Update: Apparently Amy had school pictures yesterday too. Mom is less than thrilled.
Happy Anniversary Cathy!
Cathy and I dated for a year and a half and then were married on August 25, 2001. Our story is published along with more details of our meeting. Cathy makes me very happy! I cannot believe that it has only been 6 years that we have been married. I feel like we have been together our whole lives! My Busy Body Book warned me of our anniversary yet I failed to shower her in gifts. So tonight, I am painting the bedroom! (no, that’s not a euphemism!)
Cathy I love you!
- 2006 anniversary
- 2005 anniversary
- 2004 anniversary
- 2003 (started blogging in ‘04)
- 2002 (started blogging in ‘04)
From the mouths of babes
Dad: "What do you want for dinner?"
Noah: "Steak"
Tommy: "Meat"
Mom: "Whatever you want dear"
Sarah: "Mac and cheese"
Amy: "Not steak"
Evan: "Da da!"
We had pizza.
