Gotta Love a Small Town Newspaper!

This article appeared last week in our local newspaper. This was front-page, above the fold news. I called my sister, Claudine, and read it to her and we had a good laugh. Hope you enjoy it...

A wild trip though a Stafford grocery store landed a county man in jail late Friday, police said.

The suspect tried to run over a store employee with a battery-operated handicapped cart after the employee confronted him about his actions, which police said included throwing eggs and Cheetos in multiple aisles and eating food he hadn't purchased.

The suspect left the Bloom store before police arrived, but was apprehended nearby a short time later, Sheriff's spokesman Bill Kennedy said.

According to Kennedy, the suspect entered the store at 905 Garrisonville Road just before 11 p.m.

He got into a motorized cart and picked up various items, including sandwiches, cartons of eggs, beer, wine and Cheetos.

Kennedy said the man was eating one of the sandwiches and drinking a beer as he rode up and down aisles throwing eggs and knocking items off shelves.

When a manager confronted him about his behavior, police said, the man told her he wasn't doing anything wrong.

He then chased the manager in the cart as she ran to safety. He ran out of the store when the manager informed him she was calling police.

Kennedy said about $190 worth of items were either damaged or eaten during the incident.

Deputy Nathan Thompson stopped the man as he was walking west on Garrisonville Road and took him back to the store, where he was identified as the suspect.

Michael James Selz, 21, was charged with assault, destruction of property, petty larceny and public intoxication.

Early Christmas

Although it was only an hour and a half drive up to my sister Claudine's house, this is what the girls looked like on the way there! We left at 9:30 AM. Bunch of slacker, my girls are! As we pulled into the driveway we found that Suzanne & Greg were right behind us, having left Philadelphia a bit earlier - like us. We had a nice day, but Josie never left the Christmas tree, waiting patiently until it was time to open presents.

Once everyone had arrived we had a nice light lunch and let the kids open their gifts. In my family, we open gifts from the youngest to the oldest. That way, everyone gets to see what everyone else got. Jack (our nephew) was totally bummed out to remember that he wasn't the youngest anymore - Josie got to go first.

Here's the progression of happy faces from Saturday afternoon:

Jack - who received all things 'Baltimore Ravens'


Kate - who love clothes and snow globes


Liam - who shows off his Manchester United jersey from Aunt Claudine


Maddie showing off the hat & gloves she received from Aunt Claudine. (Aunt Claudine gives the coolest gifts!)


Zack (being supervised by Liam) opens one of many 'gift cards' (the favorite of teens everywhere!)


James opens his 'Philadelphia Phillies World Champions' T-shirt from BIL Greg. (It's a long story, but it started when Liam was about 3 and Zack was 8 and we sent them home from the beach in LA Dodgers hats and T-shirts!) The rivalry continues...


Josie gives her Grandmom a hand opening a present


Suzanne gives Mom a hand in reading a note from our Dad (His gift to her was a trip to Atlantic City with $$ spending money!)



Pop opens a gift while wearing his new Phillies hat


We all had a lovely time and received extremely generous gifts. We headed home around 8 PM and we were just about 3 blocks down the road before Josie crashed. She had so much excitement being around her cousins - combined with a lack of a nap - that our little angel just toughed it out as long as she could! Maddie fell asleep too. Upon our arrival home, she fed the dogs and went up to bed. She slept until 2 the next afternoon! (She finished mid term exams on Friday, so she's been keeping some late hours!)

More to follow...

Seasons Greetings

I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving- it's been a hectic season. We've been having a lot of fun, so I'll give a rundown of what's been going on...

Back in early December, Maddie got a phone call from one of her middle school classmates. Jeri was responsible for finding 'elves' to help out with a Christmas luncheon being held for underprivileged children and their families. Two elves were unable to meet their commitment, so Maddie was asked to fill in. She departed at 8 AM the following morning in her elf suit. (of course, I grabbed the camera before she left!) Maddie had a wonderful time. She reported that the kids were just adorable and the families were so appreciative. I'm thankful to Jeri and her mom, Donna, for giving Maddie the opportunity to start off the season in proper fashion - it put things in perspective for her... We are so blessed with warm clothes, a comfortable home and loving family around us.

Moving on, last Friday Josie's pre-school enjoyed 'Breakfast with Santa Claus'. The children sang Christmas songs, had a light breakfast and then waited patiently to sit on Santa's lap.

Here's Josie and her classmates singing:





Here's Meghan improvising a dance to go along with the songs:



Santa caused a mob scene when he appeared on the balcony. By the time he made it downstairs to the party, everyone was so excited! Josie was literally jumping for joy!



Here's Josie sitting on Santa's lap. Have to give Santa his props - there were over 100 children present (all 3 and 4 year olds) and he managed to get time to speak with each and every one of them. Josie told Santa she wanted a Barbie. She's still a bit 'iffy' about the big guy, so when she sat on his lap- I was thrilled.



The following two days were filled with shopping and attending friend's Christmas parties. On Saturday, we joined Dave and Lisa and received a wonderful gift (I'll share a photo later) and on Sunday, we attended Ed & Martys annual Christmas gathering.

This week, we had Josie's class performance of the Nativity. Not many photos from that one, as I arrived only 15 minutes early and was only able to get a back row seat. Apparently, you have to stake your claim on seats at least an hour in advance. Also, Josie was not on her best behavior - I'll explain in the next post....

In two days (Saturday the 20th) we will be celebrating an early Christmas with my family at my sister Claudine's house in Maryland. My older sister, Sue, BIL Greg and our two nephews, Zack & Liam, will be driving down from Philly. My brother's family and ours will be driving up from Virginia and Mom & Dad will be coming in from Delaware. Should be a lot of fun. Josie is so excited to see her cousins! She asked if her other cousins, Alex, Brandon, Alicia and Zoe would be there. She was terribly disappointed when we explained that they lived in California and wouldn't be making the trip. So, for our family in CA - please know that we miss you and are thinking of you everyday.

Special shout out to my darling Mother in Law, Shirley, who broke her shoulder this past week. We've been checking in daily to ensure that she and Dad are doing okay. Please keep a good thought for her speedy recovery.

I'll have some time tomorrow to share more news and photos. Maddie has been on half days all this week because of finals. She has only 1 tomorrow - so she'll be around to lend a hand with Josie. This will give me a chance upload more photos and spend a bit of time on line. I hope that all of you are enjoying the holiday season. See you soon!