Adventures at Belk Bowl

So, I won a trip on twitter.  From Belk, to enjoy the Belk Bowl.  Yeah, I'm having FUN!

Yesterday.

It started out horrible as there was some very loud people across the hall at our hotel that woke me up at 0230.  I couldn't get back to sleep.

Around 1000 Mike and I decided to head to the stadium for our adventures.  And, boy did we have fun.  

Without further adieu I will show you a lot of pics that I took and update more later.

BUT, first...I would like to say "HI" to all my new followers!! HIYAS! And, second...there will be a more detailed post coming this week.  

 This is how our day started.

 Such wonderful people at this hotel!

 Mike and I (along with Belkie) in the lobby of the hotel!

 Mike and Belkie in front of the fountain outside the hotel.

 One of Charlotte's police officers was kind enough to pose with Belkie.

 It's Belkie, with Belkie!!

 Yes, we met the president of Haggar

.  

 Blake Shelton!!!!!

 Inside the tunnel getting ready to go ON THE FIELD!

 We were this close to the football players during pregame!

 What an AWESOME experience.

 Yes, I had to get this pic!  Just too coolies!

Oh, I soooo told Mike that I was putting this one on my blog.  He actually had a GREAT time and posed for a lot of pictures. I'm so proud of my husband!

 Belkie was having so much fun!

 We don't get too many good pictures of us, and I LOVE this one!

 I ran into both of the Mister's Belk on the field!  They're awesome people!

 This wonderful lady sang the National Anthem beautifully!

After a VERY long day, we're back at the hotel relaxing.

There will be another post of the adventures of Belkie, because he had a great time also.  

I want to say a special Thank You to all the wonderful people at Belk for this trip.  Especially Ruthie, Tigi and April.  Also, the wonderful staff at The Westin Charlotte for exceptional service.  

So, Amanda Tynes thinks she has it bad....

Ya'll are going to have to forgive me, but I've had a long day, and I'm feeling incredibly snarky right now.

So, this is my apology for any snarkiness or sarcasm in this post.  

I get home from work today and read the news like I always do, and since we're a sports family, I read THIS post also.  I understand that MRSA is a very serious infection.  BUT, seriously, does the pampered NFL wife have to say they're having a hard time with her husband's treatment.  (Here goes my rant.)

This is mostly to Amanda Tynes.

First of all, your husband is an NFL player, I would wager that he's still getting some sort of income through this.  Try going with NO INCOME!!!

Second, you're incredibly lucky to get the IV antibiotics in the form that you do.  When my husband ALMOST DIED from his infection from the shunt (in case you didn't know, that is IN HIS BRAIN), I had to mix his medicine.  There was no fancy bottle that you could just plug in.  I had to mix the IV solution, then hang the IV (without an IV pole...a hanger works wonders) and then had to attach it and flush the line afterwards...this was TWICE A DAY!!!

Third, so he got an infection.  Here, my husband has BRAIN DAMAGE AND PTSD!!! This is NOT FROM ANY CONTACT SPORTS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT...

IT WAS FROM WAR.

Do you think my husband was paid for the time he couldn't work?  Do you think that everything here was honkey dory?  Do you think that we didn't lose OUR HOUSE AND OUR VEHICLE from that?

HOW DARE YOU???

Lemme try that again...

HOW DARE YOU!!

How dare you even consider that you're having a hard time in your house with A/C and drive that fancy car and post pics on twitter.  When my husband had his infection, he had to get treated at the Houston VA Hospital, TWO HOURS AWAY.  Do you know how hard it is to come and go that far with an infant?  And by infant, let me show you a couple pictures of JUST ONE of our drives home.

 Sorry this is blurry, but I WAS DRIVING!  My husband couldn't even sit up on the way home, he was laying down in the back seat.  Which brings me to this second picture.

My son wasn't even a year old.  SEE HOW LITTLE he was?  I had a truck (at the time) that would disable the air bags and he had to be in the front seat so I could drive and take care of both him and his dad.

By the way?  As far as any money??? Yeah, he couldn't work.  That truck we were driving in, it got repossessed because we couldn't afford the payments after his brain surgery.  The house he had, it was foreclosed on because we couldn't afford the payments.  I robbed Peter to pay Paul and begged the utility companies to give me time to pay the bills.  Oh yeah, and that's while paying for the gas to go back and forth to Houston.  

We're STILL FIGHTING THE VA FOR HIS DISABILITY FOR THE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. 

I'm doing everything in my power to raise funds for a Service Dog for my husband so that we can at least go to an NFL game again.  He panics in crowds and so my son doesn't even remember our last game.  

I'm incredibly proud of my husband because EVEN WITH THE BRAIN DAMAGE HE'S GOING TO COLLEGE!  He's trying to provide for his family.  (Also, we were earning good money when he was able to work!!) I'm having to work part-time while my son goes to school, because we can't afford the child care for me to work more.  Every time my husband gets sick I worry about shunt malfunction and whether or not we're going to have to have yet another brain surgery.  He wakes up EVERY DAY WITH A HEADACHE!!!

EVERY. DAY.

Do you think you can even imagine that?

Do you think you can imagine having to worry about bills and whether or not your even going to be able to feed your family the next month?  The Military is supposed to be taking care of it's VETERANS, but your husband is getting WAY BETTER TREATMENT than my husband EVER DID.  So, please don't tell me that you're upset with the statement that was released.  Please, don't tell me that you don't think your husband isn't responding well to treatment.  Because, as I see it...you've got it pretty easy!  I wonder if you have someone come in and hook up his medicine?  

I'm going to step off of my soap box now because I'm so angry and upset that I'm shaking, and I DON'T GET LIKE THIS OFTEN!  I'm also going to tweet this blog post to you, and I hope you really read this, maybe try reading some of the past posts, like THIS ONE. Or, maybe THIS ONE. And, if you're really feeling generous, can you please check out our fundraiser going on at GOFUNDME, you can find the link on the right side with the picture of us!!! Maybe, this will give you a little glimpse into our life.