Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day





Happy Memorial Day





Hooray for 3 day weekends!

That means it's not over yet and I know I won't regret staying up past midnight while blogging!

It has been a crazy, busy, but strangely satisfying weekend.  We seem to have begun a tradition of renting a dumpster on Memorial Day weekend to get rid of a LOT of crap! The first time we did this, we got a huge freakin' 22 foot x 9 foot x 9 foot  beast and we filled it over half full from the garage. Since then, we've rented much smaller ones.  The one we got this time is about 6x6x5. 

Friday afternoon, my sister called to see if she could have Angel for the weekend - SURE!   So we met Laurie & niece Lisa Beth at a Salvation Army (bad choice!!) at 9am on Saturday to hand her off.  Well, we ended up staying there to browse & didn't leave til almost 11!  So when we finally left, Randy had to stop at the bank and then we proceeded to Art Van to FINALLY buy a new bed!  The one we had was awful beyond words.  Randy figured it was close to 20 years old.  We had 2 crappy, broken down box springs & the mattress itself was horrible.  Cloth was torn, springs sticking out, we had personal craters to sleep in - in fact I had an extra pillow under Randy's side to somewhat fill it in.  The salesman loved us.  We walked in & told him what we needed.  We were out within 30 minutes and he had an easy sale.  They have this bed you lie in and it measures your pressure points and suggests what level of support you need.  It was really neat!  So instead of trying out 50 beds, we tried a total of 3.  One had springs - NO.  The other 2 were memory foam (but NOT Tempurpedic!) felt the same, were major brand names, and both have really long warranties, so we went with the cheaper of the 2.

Chester approves. 

Anyway, so after we bought the bed, we went out to lunch.  Once we got home, we started working in the back yard.  The summer after we moved in, we cut down 3 tress in the yard.  Instead of asking the neighbor (who has a woodpile against our fence anyway) if he wanted the wood, Randy stacked it against our fence.  Where it has been for 9 years now, I think?  Of course most of it was rotted.  But we got rid of the big pieces and used the composted stuff to fill in a dip in the yard.  Then we had another pile of pallets that I'd disassembled (for Halloween purposes) and other pieces of lumber.  Those are now gone, too. 

Thank God for little things like gloves & big spray!  We stirred up a LOT of creepy crawlies!  We even uncovered the beginning of a bees nest!  Ooops!  The robins were having a feast out there.

I can't believe that was only yesterday.  Sheesh!

Today we got up and went to breakfast.  The bed was being delivered today, so we wanted to clear out the bookshelf & random crap from in front of the front door that we never use.  And we moved another shelving unit and a dresser so it was easy to get to old bed out & the new one in.  We had the old bed on end & lined up to go out the door when the delivery guys got here.  That gave me a chance to eradicate dust bunnies & tighten up bolts on the bed frame before the new one came in.  OMG, I can't believe how much stuff Randy threw away!  He is a packrat and has a hard time getting rid of stuff.  I am so proud of him!

We laughed so hard today!  This is one of those things that is so gross that you alternate between disgust and laughter!  Randy was going thru a box of random stuff that he hasn't touched since we moved into the house (2002).  He's been known to use all sorts of containers for small gadgets & parts.  So it wasn't any big deal to find a small Country Crock tub. He picked it up & opened it, thinking to find screws or connectors or something.  Nope.  It still had butter in it.  You can see the expiration date on the lid & there is no mold and it had no smell to it.  NASTY!!!!  It's like McDonald's food that never rots! I'm sure the neighbors thought we were nuts since I was laughing & he was all "EwEwEwEwEw".  Ah entertainment!


So the new bed got here this afternoon.  And of course the old sheets didn't fit the tall mattress like the salesman said they would.  {{expletives}}  So we had to go buy some new sheets.  I just finally got everything washed, dried & put together about 30 minutes ago.  I can't wait to go dive in! 

Tomorrow we hope to actually work in the garage some.  The 2 wood piles filled up the dumpster about half way so we're well on the way to really filling it up!  Yay!! 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Happy Hump Day!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted since Mother's Day!  Oh, the shame heaping upon me!

Let's see.  Not a whole lot has been going on - it's the calm before the storm!   Last Wednesday, Randy left for Dayton to the Radio Geek's Mecca, also known as the Dayton Hamvention.  It's a huge flea market that radio amateurs from all over the world go to.  This is the second year he's helped some guy sell radios in a booth.  But at least this time he got to go browse around other booths.  I have to give a shout out to a couple of Randy's friends, Fred & Jim (and hope he doesn't read this!).  They are the sweetest guys!  Randy is very anal about his stuff.  He keeps a close eye on his belongings.  Somehow, he managed to leave a bag of goodies that he bought there.  He had gotten a t-shirt for next month's Field Day, some updated software and misc other stuff.  The very next morning, I had a FB message from Fred wanting to know what size shirt Randy wears, he is replacing the Field Day shirt.  So I was chatting with him, & he mention that Jim is going to replace the lost software, too.  They both appreciate everything Randy does for them, so they're doing this for him.  Aaaaw!

Anyway, the girl & I just did some stuff around the house, nothing exciting. 

So now comes the storm....I have jury duty tomorrow (my first time!) A dumpster is being dropped off Friday so we can clean out the garage over the long weekend.  3 days next week the girl has school dance team tryouts, along with extra ballet classes at the studio.  Next Friday is her Freshman Farewell Formal dance at some fancy place.  Sunday is the studio dance team party at the owner's house - guess she learned her lesson.  Last year she had the party right after the recital.  I'm sure her pool was trashed with all the hairspray, makeup & glitter that had to have been in it!

Then it calms down a bit until the 14th for dress rehearsal and the 15th for the recital.  She will go to the Boys & Girls Club again this summer and also starts summer school on the 26th.  All I have to say is thank God for calendars!

I got a new camera!  I dropped my Nikon one too many times and while it still took pictures, it wouldn't zoom any more. So I replaced it with a Canon PowerShot.  I'm liking this! I've been determined to get pics of the robins in our yard and do you think those buggers will come near me when I want them to??  Same with the doves.  But at least I have a good camera for recital time!  Be prepared for lots of pics then!

 I love how you can see details in his fur & teeth!
There was a squirrel in the tree behind me.

 If you make this big screen, it's a bit grainy but it looks good otherwise. 
 This guy was about 35 feet away from me.

Same here.  He was probably the same distance or farther away. 
I will get more robin pics!

So after my SkyWarn training earlier this month, I decided to sign up for CoCoRaHS.  This is the Community Collaborative Rain,Hail & Snow Network.  Basically a bunch of volunteers measure daily precipitation (rain, hail & snow) and enter the data on the website. Then people like the National Weather Service, USDA, ranchers & farmers, emergency managers, etc use this info for whatever.  Luckily I'm a morning person, since I have to enter my data at 7am every day. It's a whole lot more interesting when we actually do get rain, tho!

Here is my groovy rain gauge.

ooh, exciting news!  Last weekend I was taking a trip down memory lane by watching Def Leppard videos on YouTube.  Don't hate - they've been my favorite band since 9th grade!  Anyway...I saw a little blurb on YouTube saying that they are going to be in concert at DTE Energy Music Theater (the old Pine Knob) this summer - the day before mine & Randy's anniversary, in fact!!  So I sent him a little FYI email about what a fun evening that may be for our anniversary.  He came home tonight & said something about us having plans on July 7 ......SQUEEE!  I can't wait!  He got us pavilion seats, which I was sure he would. GoodyGoodyGoodyGoody!  All the drunk/stoned crazies sit out on the lawn. 

Alrighty!  I'm about ready for bed - I started using the MapMyWalk app on my phone (& I love it!) so I map everything!  5 laps of the building / dock at work is 1.25 miles and to mow our lawn is about 2.5 miles / just under 2 hours. For some reason yesterday, it really kicked my butt!  On the plus side, for the past 2 weeks I've had at least 20 WW activity points!

Later!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Friend Makin' Monday - Three Things

Happy Monday!  The girl and I had a nice weekend alone because the hubby was in Dayton for the big Ham Radio Convention from Wednesday til he drug himself home Sunday evening. 

Funny story - I gave both hubby & I heart failure last night!  We were sleeping with the window open and I work up around 2:40am and smelled smoke.  At first I was like O_o.  Then I realized it smelled like it did 2 years ago when the neighbor's house was on fire!  So I rolled over and was looking out the window (for a glow or fire truck lights? idk) then for some reason I looked back over my shoulder toward the bathroom and swear, in the dim glow of the nightlight, that the room was filled with smoke.  I freaked!  I leaped out of bed, yelling that the house was filled with smoke and started throwing lights on and looking frantically for flames.  I never saw Randy move so fast, EVER!  He was right behind me and finally told me that I must have been seeing things - there was no smoke.  I calmed down a bit and realized he was right.  Ooops.  Sorry?  

I still wonder where the smell was coming from.

Anyway...its time for FMM!


If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over yonder at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links there too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Three Things


1. Three of your favorite movies:
-The Man from Snowy River
-Up Periscope
-Top Gun

2. Three of your favorite things to drink:
-water with Crystal Lite
-iced tea
-umbrella drinks (pina coladas / margaritas / etc)

3. Three of your favorite songs:
-anything by Def Leppard  (who coincidentally are going to be in concert the day before our anniversary - I've already hinted at the hubby that it would be fun to go!)
-Me Like Hockey by the Arrogant Worms
-Neon Moon by Brooks & Dunn

4. Three people who have recently been a positive influence on your life (outside of your family):
-Kenlie.  Look at what an inspiration she is!
-my friend Ann.  She has 4 kids, all with special needs.  I love how her faith keeps her cheerful and going with all the individual issues they have.
-hmm

5. Three things you to do keep yourself entertained:
-beading.  I am determined to make a spider that I am happy with!
-reading
-planning for Halloween / exploring cemeteries

6. Three things you’re attracted to in the opposite sex:
-sense of humor
-easy to talk to
-honesty & loyalty

7. Three things you love about yourself:

-I'm creative
-I am not a helpless female - I can change a tire and use power tools, etc.
-I am just amazing. (LOL!!) I guess that would be "my high opinion of myself"

8. The last three people who text messaged you:
-the hubby with updates on his trip home last night
- one of the girl's friends.  Angel was over her house & I texted her to see how she was getting home.
-my friend Ann who sends out daily inspiration texts.

9. Three things you’re looking forward to this week:
-using the MapMyWalk app some more
-the long weekend
-playing with my new camera.  I WILL get pics of the robin family in my yard!

10. Three wishes specifically for yourself…What are they? (Be selfish, and be honest.)
-to find what my actual purpose in life is, other than Randy's wife and Angela's mom.
-to have a bigger house with ~gasp~ an actual laundry room and a bay window so I can have a Boston Fern.
-to magically lose these last 50ish pounds and for my skin to fit!

11. Three of your favorite quotes:
-If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love someone else? - RuPaul
-Be the person your dog thinks you are.
-Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

12. Three of your biggest fears:
-apparently fire, after last night's episode!
-deep water where I can't see what might be lurking to grab my feet
-

13. Three of your favorite TV shows:
-RuPaul's Drag Race
-the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross on PBS
-umm

14. Three of your favorite things to purchase when you’re shopping.
-cool antiques.  I got the most beautiful cranberry glass lamp recently that I rewired all by myself & absolutely love!
-plants
-books

15. Three things that you enjoyed last week:
-seeing how many miles it is to cut my lawn (3.18!!)
-a whole night alone with just the cat & dog at home
-buying my annual flowers and planting them.

16. Three things that you always have in your bag or close to you if you’re not a purse kind of person.
-my iPhone
-a notebook for Halloween and other ideas
-chapstick

17. Three types of food that you wouldn’t want to give up.
-meat
-BBQ / grilled meat
-teriyaki meat
obviously I will NEVER be a vegetarian!

18. Three things you do to enjoy burning calories:
-walking
-bike riding
-horseback riding

19. Three things you dislike about blogging:
-not having anything really interesting to write about
-Captcha codes!  Those are a pain in the butt!  I'm so glad I learned how to turn that off.
-not knowing "computer-ese" enough to edit html codes & the like.

20. Three ways blogging has changed your life:
-I think it's fascinating to learn about life in other countries and blogging indulges that.
-same with different lifestyles & beliefs.
-it helps me to be a bit more accountable, since I post all my embarrassing weight info.

Now it’s your turn to answer the questions! Don’t forget to go and link up in the comments, and have a happy Monday!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Tonight's Weigh In

I was down .6 lbs, which I will take quite happily since I had exactly 2 of my extra weekly Points left when I went to bed last night!  But I had 20 activity Points, so I'm pleased. 

This is so funny - I used the Map My Walk app while I mowed the lawn earlier this week -


No wonder we're so tired after mowing - its over 3 miles!!!  It's not entirely accurate - I swear I did not mow over our house, the garage or the shed (or the neighbor's roofs on either side) but it's pretty good. We don't have that much change in elevation in the yard, either.  But the street view (which I can't get on  my phone) was hilarious.

I got 3 decent walks in yesterday.  The girl came home with one of her friends and asked if they could walk up to Speedway at the corner for Slurpees.  But I'd given her all my cash earlier in the week, so I was invited to go with them, you know, to get $$ from the ATM.  So that was 9 long-ish blocks round trip and then I snuck out without the dog and (using the app again) and listening to my Navy cadences playlist, I went around the park.  I had estimated it to be 2 miles, according to the app it was 1.94 miles.  Close enough!  And I did it in 33.35 minutes.  So now I have a good baseline.  Once I got home, I put the leash on the dog and took him around a couple blocks.  He's got a bum hip and can't keep up with me on the park walks anymore.  So his are slower and much shorter, but he still loves to go. I used it as a cool down.

I didn't run, since I totally got over that while in the Navy (plus I didn't lose my bust after Angel was born and it hurts to bounce!!) but the cadences helped me to keep my speed while walking.  I'm sure one of these days I will actually be saying them out loud and look/sound like a huge dork.  I know I was mouthing the responses, I couldn't help it!  

In case you don't know what one is (one of my co-workers didn't!) - this is one of many cadences. 

So besides walking, I found this on Pinterest....

Seems like a good thing to do, since it doesn't require a whole lot of time and if I'm just doing these, I probably don't even need to change into work-out clothes!  

Alrighty - I must go begin the evening edition of the dance shuttle, so have a great night!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!  I was sort of disappointed in the whole idea, since all I want is just to be surprised!  I don't care what you get me, as long as I don't have to pick it out or buy it myself!  But it worked out OK.  I guess I still have a gift coming - hubby ordered it like Friday.  He's such a timely guy!

However, the girl asked me to go shopping after dance on Saturday, so I took her to this little florist in town and told the lady behind the counter she was getting flowers for *her* and pointed at me.  So I was sent back outside.  She chose my flowers & they got wrapped up, and then I had to go back in to pay.  Since I used the debit card from the checking account, I feel that hubby paid. 

So Sunday, she gave me the flowers and I was pleasantly surprised at her choice.  Very nice!  They're in a tea cup with saucer and came with a package of raspberry tea.

Chester approves.

Yesterday afternoon we went over to Mom's for Chinese food.  "Wonderful Honey Chicken" was not my best option, but DAMN it was good.  And I tracked it.  Me & my sisters went in together to get mom a new patio set - she needed one desperately.  Her old picnic table was horrible beyond description. She was surprised & delighted with it.  Although I don't know how she managed to not see BIL Dave, Randy & my niece's boyfriend waving the brightly striped umbrella around outside the kitchen window while installing it. 

I found a new toy today!  First of all, special thanks to my FB friend, Bridget, who has been posting maps of her daily walks.  I got intrigued and sent her a message about it.  Come to find out - she uses a free app on her iPhone called MapMyWalk and it keeps track of where and how far you walk, the time and your speed per mile and also calories burned.  I immediately installed it, grabbed my co-worker and we took a walk.


Today's walk - for a closer look

Pretty cool!  I am actually excited about this!  I'm having a hard time with my eating choices, so maybe I'll concentrate on exercise for a while and maybe the 2 will finally click back together. 

I won't get another walk in tonight since I NEED to get the grass cut.  The poor dog would get lost if it weren't for him being on a run.  Maybe I'll keep my phone with me while I'm mowing - that should be pretty entertaining with all the back & forth I do.  Actually - I like that idea!  We have a double lot and easily takes 90 minutes to 2 hours to cut it. I'm sort of curious to find out how far I walk.  I know I'll rack up some serious WW activity points.   

Hope you all have a great day!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the one who leads us all into goofiness.  
Thank you for giving me life and for being there when I myself became a mother.

 St. Patrick's Day 2012

my bridal shower May 6, 2006
also happened to be the day the Kentucky Derby was being run - hence the hats!

I am so glad I was able to give you and Dad the trip of a lifetime - 
a week long cruise on an aircraft carrier!

I love you, Mom!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A-Z Reflections

First - thank you so much to those who are the master-minds behind the challenge - you are all amazing!

This was my first A-Z challenge. I jumped right in with all 3 of my blogs.   the Life of Lisa was health / weight loss themed and Maple Grove Cemetery was all Halloween-related.   it was really easy to come up with topics for this one - I kept it totally random.  Just things that were interesting to me. 

I knew right away I was going to write my posts ahead of time and schedule them for the appropriate day at 4:30 am. I even went thru and created / scheduled my posts with just the letter and a brief idea I had for it, to edit later. I used an excel document to keep track of what the topic was each day for each blog and to X it off when done.

I also learned a very valuable lesson. Double check the blog, too! I totally missed "L" on 2 of them. I woke up at 5:45 that morning realizing I'd forgotten to do the MGC post and hurried to get something posted. I discovered that evening that I'd missed this one altogether. By then people had actually commented on my single brief sentence, so I was stuck. Ooops!

I loved the navigation buttons on the A-Z page! At first I just scanned the list and clicked on ones that sounded interesting. But then I realized that I was missing some good reads! So the "surprise me" button got used A LOT.

It was tough getting into the swing of replying back somewhat quickly to comments and coming up with something more exciting than "Thanks for stopping in!" but I confess that did get used a lot.

My followers almost doubled and a big thank you to all my new friends! I hope you chose to follow because you like what you read and not just because you felt sorry for me. I like having regular commenters, because I feel I get to know people a little and am happy to see them comment.

I also found a lot of new blogs to follow myself. I have a wide variety of interests and joining this challenge allowed me to find them!

There are a couple things I want to do differently for next year. First - I want to figure out how to add my fancy script signature to the bottom of my posts. Second - I want to add a small paragraph to the beginning of each post with a quick explanation of what the challenge is and to show that I'm not a posting weirdo. Thirdly - I'm not going to ignore regular posting.

So yes, I do plan on doing the A-Z Challenge in 2013. Looking forward to it!

A-Z Reflections

First - thank you so much to those who are the master-minds behind the challenge - you are all amazing! 

This was my first A-Z challenge.  I jumped right in with all 3 of my blogs.   Random Ramblings didn't have a theme.  I posted about totally random things that simply were interesting to me.  Maple Grove Cemetery was all Halloween-related.   I admit to having second thoughts about keeping this one signed up.  It was tough to come up with health-related / weight loss topics for each day that possibly 100 other people didn't already cover.  But I stuck with it, although I wasn't entirely happy with all my posts.

I knew right away I was going to write my posts ahead of time and schedule them for the appropriate day at 4:30 am.  I even went thru and created / scheduled my posts with just the letter and a brief idea I had for it, to edit later.  I used an excel document to keep track of what the topic was each day for each blog and to X it off when done.

I also learned a very valuable lesson.  Double check the blog, too!  I totally missed "L" on 2 of them. I woke up at 5:45 that morning realizing I'd forgotten to do the MGC post and hurried to get something posted.  I discovered that evening that I'd missed the RR post altogether.  By then people had actually commented on my single brief sentence, so I was stuck.  Ooops!

I loved the navigation buttons on the A-Z page!  At first I just scanned the list and clicked on ones that sounded interesting.  But then I realized that I was missing some good reads!  So the "surprise me" button got used A LOT. 

It was tough getting into the swing of replying back somewhat quickly to comments and coming up with something more exciting than "Thanks for stopping in!" but I confess that did get used a lot.

My followers almost doubled and a big thank you to all my new friends!  I hope you chose to follow because you like what you read and not just because you felt sorry for me.  I like having regular commenters, because I feel I get to know people a little and am happy to see them comment.

I also found a lot of new blogs to follow myself.  I have a wide variety of interests and joining this challenge allowed me to find them!
 
There are a couple things I want to do differently for next year.  First - I want to figure out how to add my fancy script signature to the bottom of my posts.  Second - I want to add a small paragraph to the beginning of each post with a quick explanation of what the challenge is and to show that I'm not a posting weirdo. Thirdly - I'm not going to ignore regular posting. 

So yes, I do plan on doing the A-Z Challenge in 2013.  Looking forward to it!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Friend Makin' Monday - Q&A

This weekend was a total epic fail on the "good eating" choices.  The girl had her last dance competition yesterday (an all day event) so most parents brought in food to share. Some offerings were WW friendly, but most weren't.  Plus you got to love the studio owner who comes up to whisper "the 'grown up' juice is in the red cooler" - she brought mimosas!

by the way - it's good that I'm typing instead of trying to talk, since my throat is raw from screaming yesterday!  Besides the awesome routines - the studio brought home like 5 high point routines, 3 "platinum" awards, 10 "gold" awards, several 2nd & 3rd places, a sportsmanship award, an audience appeal award and one "Rock the House" award for the junior tap (girls 8-10) small group.  Yeah, we are the best cheering section EVER!

Whew~!  I'm glad that's over but today is still going to be a long day - full day of work, then heading to downtown Detroit to watch my nephew's college commencement at Ford Field - if it is in a stadium, you KNOW it is not going to be a small gathering. 





If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Q & A


1. What’s the most obnoxious word/phrase you use on a regular basis? Hmm.  probably the expletives I use while driving.

2. What’s the most memorable bumper sticker you’ve ever seen?  something like "10 Fingers are Over-Rated" Never have I wanted so badly to pull up next to a car and stare at the driver!!

3. Share one pet peeve that causes you more grief than it should. Do NOT stand behind me at the computer!!!  Unless I explicitly invite you to see something, I don't want you reading over my shoulder.

4. What are your thoughts on re-gifting presents?  Sometimes you receive something that is perfect for someone else!  Perfectly acceptable in moderation.

5. What was your biggest accomplishment this week?  Health related??? Ummmm. can't say that I can even think of anything.  How about that I succeeded in spreading much glitter around my house? (thank you to the cat who rolled in it, too!)  I had to steam a ballet tutu before pictures this week.

6. What’s the title of the last movie you watched? I watched part of Burlesque with my daughter.  I don't watch much TV, but I may eventually sit down and watch that one.

7. If you could only choose one, would you rather have a full-time cleaning person or a full-time chef?  Cleaning person!  Altho I don't really like the idea of a stranger rooting around my house...

8. Do you enjoy shopping for clothes, or do you dread it? I have to be in the mood.  If I'm not in the mood, I'll find absolutely nothing.  And if I need to go - I take my daughter with me.  She always finds something for me to try on that I never would have looked twice at.

9. What’s your favorite sport to play/watch? I love to go horseback riding.  I love to watch almost any kind of dancing and always.....Me Like Hockey !!!!

10. If you could have coffee with anyone today who would you choose? my hubby.

Now it’s your turn. Don’t forget to go over and link up in the comments. Happy Monday Friends…

Saturday, May 5, 2012

I'm still here!

Hmm, looks like I am able to post text from Blogger on my iPhone, but it says I have insufficient storage quota (?!?!?) to post a pic, too.  Hmmm.  Interesting.

Anyway.... a whole lot of thank yous and **hugs** to all my new followers and all those who stopped in to visit and comment during the A-Z Challenge last month.  It was a lot of fun.  I didn't have any trouble at all coming up with topics to fit my totally random theme.  I just picked things that were interesting to me!  I will have my reflections post up the beginning of next week sometime.

So I haven't had a real post in well over a month!  I've been keeping busy - tomorrow is the last of 3 dance competitions that I've had to shuttle the girl to recently.  I do have to admit that there weren't a whole lot of groups in their division - they were the smallest group doing the fewest total routines.  Some of the other studios are there with over 140 kids and in over 100 routines!!!  We took 23 girls and were in 11 routines. So they held their own, I think! They placed in each dance entered.  Tomorrow is a really small show - I saw on their FB page there are only 118 routines scheduled - 12 of which are ours.

So after this is studio pictures on Wednesday and the recital is June 15.  Yay!  I spent my afternoon steaming the tutu for her ballet costume - my house is now infested with glitter!  Don't you love my footprint??


So competition team is looking highly unlikely next year.  After the debacle with last summer's jaunt with summer school and the aggravation that caused me (going in to work late, having to leave to get her & then staying really late some nights to make up time and leaving early other nights to get her to dance class - PITA!!) I told her many times if she had summer school again, she would not be taking classes at the studio.  Which means she wouldn't be able to try out for the team.  Last Saturday we got home and found a letter from the school.  She'd failed the first 3 semesters in science and has summer school!  She had just recently had an epiphany that she didn't want to be the only kid in high school without a phone, so she was going to work her butt off and get all of her grades to a C or better - which is all we ask!  But too little, too late.  Unless she gets lucky enough for her classes to be scheduled later in the evening - she screwed herself.  I haven't told them at the studio yet.

Work is doing well.  I've gone from feast to famine - I took 2 days off a while back and had one hell of a time getting caught up - so my boss gave some of my work to Geri, who was twiddling her thumbs.  Now I am!  I haven't heard Randy complain about the evil stepsisters at his work - that's the CIO and one of her cronies. There is a new manager there who is nice, and put him in for a nice bonus! 

So anyway - I'm going to sign off now.  Tomorrow is going to get here early & it's going to be a long day!

 Chester had my leg pinned down for like 45 minutes!

Jack chillin' on the pillow.

I'm not MIA!

I attempted a brief post from my new iPhone last night, but it said I didn't have enough memory (?!?!?!)  so here I am at the good ol' desktop this a.m.

A great big **thanks** and hugs to all my new followers and to all those who stopped in to visit during the A-Z Challenge.  That was pretty fun, although I have to admit that it wasn't easy.  My other 2 blogs were fairly easy to come up with topics (the themes were randomness and Halloween), but I tried to choose topics for this one that weren't totally obvious, and I know I didn't 100% succeed, but I gave a good shot.  I'll have my reflections post up the beginning of next week.

So anyway.....back to the nitty gritty.  I've missed a bunch of regular posts, due to the challenge, so a brief overview.  The scale has totally flatlined.  I know that normally means no heartbeat - but if you look at my progress charts on WW eTools, it's totally flat.  I guess that's better than going uphill!  I admit I haven't even been trying, so I was quite pleased when i didn't have any change this week.  One of the girls at work won a "coffee break" from a radio station and on Tuesday they brought in Tim Horton's coffee & donuts.  Plus the hubby wanted to go there that evening - so the total damage of the day = 4 donuts.  Mother Nature hit me with a vengeance!  So I am back on track with journalling & such.

So the past few weeks have been busy - tomorrow is the 3rd and last of Angel's dance competitions.  Granted we're going to be on site from 730 am til well after 7pm, I'm OK with it, because it is only one day!  The one last weekend, we had to go Friday night to cheer on our juniors, the whole studio danced Saturday afternoon and on Sunday, our girls were on stage at 7 am.  LONG days!

So the exciting plan for the day includes shuttling the child to dance and then attempting to steam this mess of glittery tulle also known as a tutu.  Please notice it is hanging outside.  We took it out of the package outside to reduce the glitter infestation in the house.  I bet my neighbors would think I was nuts if I set up the ironing board on the patio......

It's pretty  O_o  right now, but it looks completely awesome with the red leotard underneath and the red and black sequined vest with black velvet collar, long black gloves and tophat (yes - they are ringmasters at the circus!)

Stay healthy, my friends!