A moment to catch my breath!

Holy crap - this is gonna be a long one!  I'm ashamed I haven't posted in almost a month.

What is it about this time of year where it just seems so busy??

The second weekend in November was the long-awaited Tremaine dance convention that Miss Angela's competition dance team attends every year.

The Dancers Only Comp Team and teachers

The girls were practically giddy that Tony Bellissimo (from So You Think You Can Dance) was teaching their hiphop class again.  I'm proud that Angel did not molest him in any way, other than stick her foot out at him so he could autograph the top of her shoe.

~swoon~

Let's see....
Then she was signed up to dance at the Detroit Lions halftime show on Thanksgiving again.  She was quite tweaked that it was Kid Rock performing.  Most of the girls from her studio were along the 40 yard line and I saw Angel 4 different times on TV, since she was practically at Kid's feet.

I'm glad she wore that bandana on her head, since it made her stand out some.  Check out the silver booty shorts!  I made those out of a tank top for her.  She loved them!  They had to wear the shirts and could accessorize (within reason) however they wanted and stayed with the Lion's colors.

Halftime Show

I recorded the TV, so the footage isn't the best.  But it works.  There's a glimpse of her from the side at 1:00.  At 1:40 you can see her from the back.  At 1:53 the camera swoops down along the 40 and like 5 of the DOS girls.  And at 2:38 you can see her from the back again.  At first I thought the song was really annoying, but after 800 or so times they played it all week at the practices, it grew on me.

She was so excited when I picker her up from the bus.  She got to high-five Kid Rock!  He went all along the line where the kids were waiting in the tunnel at Ford Field.  She also got to high-five 3 of the Lion's players.  Suh,  Johnson (aka Megatron) and "one of the white guys" LOL!

So next was Thanksgiving.  I had the car and dog packed up and as soon as she got off the bus at the mall, we went to my sister Laurie's.  We got there just in time for dinner.

Nothing really exciting happened there.  I woke up Friday with a nasty migraine, so no fun happened.  We had cracked open the bottle of Witches Brew wine I took over and I think that may have contributed.  I didn't like the spices in it so I didn't even finish one glass.  I slept most of the afternoon in her spare room then after dinner we put up Laurie's tree and watched cheesy Hallmark movies.  We went home Saturday morning.  Randy had been in Arkansas at his BFF's house and he got home Saturday afternoon.   Sunday it snowed. - our first & only so far!

Hmm.  Then earlier this week I had my annual physical / female checkup.  However, the doc somehow managed to forget to do my physical part and I didn't think about it until later that night when Randy asked me about it.  He didn't check my eyes, ears or anything.  He came in and asked how I was feeling and if I had any concerns.  And I did and I think that distracted him.  I called the office about it and talked to the office manager, but haven't heard anything back since. I don't know what they would do about it anyway.  Just don't charge my insurance company!  He did my pap test, and listened to my heart & lungs and ordered a thyroid test to be done on the blood samples and my vitals all looked good, so I guess I don't really need the rest anyway.  The thyroid test is to see if maybe that is the reason my female cycles are wonky (I'm trying to  reduce the amount of TMI here!). I've been back on the pill for over a year and they're still not 100% regular.  In fact in November, I had a 3 week period!  Sometimes I really hate being a female.

Last Saturday was my company Christmas dinner.  It was an opportunity to dress up a little bit and hang out with the same fruit-loops I spend all day with and their significant others at a nice restaurant.  The owner of the company got up to say a few words and toasted all of the spouses for them putting up with us - LOL!  Back in 2008, when fuel prices were crazy high and such, we all had to take 20% pay cuts and/or had hours cut.   It took until the end of 2011 to get that 20% back!  He had to do it a little at a time.  So this must have been a good year, since he said we were getting bonuses on our next check!  I have no idea how much this might be, since I've been with the company for 12 1/2 years and have never gotten such a thing.  We've gotten gift cards most years and turkeys / hams other years.  So I'm pretty excited about this!  We also got a nice bottle of wine.

So anyway, I think I'm ready for Christmas.  The house is decorated.  However...

I think my nutcrackers have multiplied substantially over the past year or two.  I may need intervention.  I am trying to be more selective in the ones I get now.  They have to be either funky or unique.

I was concerned about how Miss Maddie would be with the Christmas tree and such.  I'm happy to say she has not messed with it at all.  She sat on the coffee table and watched us put it up and that's about it.  She is such a character!  She recently has become the bedtime police.  Last week Randy had the work pager and was on a call until late.  He had the phone on speaker sitting on the kitchen table while he worked on the laptop.  She kept walking by, meowing loudly and the guys on the other end of the call had a good laugh.  Night before last, he got a support call after midnight, that he never got out of bed for and she sat on me and meowed at him.  She's a loud little thing!  Even right now, she keeps coming up to sit next to me and meows loudly, letting me know that it's late.  I keep telling her that it's the weekend and I don't need to go to bed yet, but she argues.

Maddie with my kitty nativity.

But anyway, I guess I will make her happy and turn in now.  I'll be sure to post again soon.  We're going to be going to Arkansas again in a couple weeks and I'm really looking forward to it.  I've been blessed with a lovely Mother-in-law who happily gives up her bedroom to us (I'm still weirded out about that a little), and I really can't wait to visit the Buckstaff Bathhouse!

Later!