Happy Friday!

OK, it's Saturday now.  It was Friday when I started writing!

This week has been insane at work.  2 different major customers suddenly deciding they want to change the way things are done and expecting us to use ESP to figure this out! One - I still have no idea what I'm supposed to even do. The other is just hugely time consuming and I foresee many mistakes being made on both our end and theirs.  I can't even begin to describe this clusterfuck without going into huge detail, which would just piss me off more. My coworkers have never heard so many colorful expletives out of me at one time!

Good times.

OMG - you have to check out this link - 28 photos to show you what pure happiness is.  If your face doesn't crack with the smiling, you have no heart.   I'm pretty partial to #26.  First of all, it's the Red Wings - second of all, the little boys face!! Love it!

Mom's back in the hospital.  She picked up some tummy bug at the rehab place after she had her hip replaced and she never really got over it.  Last night my niece took her into the ER and she was admitted into the infectious disease ward!  She's got some sort of infection in her colon.  I didn't get up to visit her after work, but I will go tomorrow.  Hope she gets better! She seemed OK Monday when we all got together, but I know it's been bothering her.

Not much else is going on.  I only have til the end of June on my gym membership, so I'm going to hit every Zumba class that I can, while I still can.  I happened to see the summer schedule of classes at Miss Angela's dance studio and I saw the ballet teacher will be teaching an adult Yogalates class at the same time she has a class - so I may have to sign up!  Miss Desiree is a professional ballerina, so I will be prepared to get my ass kicked!

I'm pretty sure there was actually going to be a point to this post..........but I'm currently drawing a blank.  So I guess that means it's bedtime!  Later!
 

Happy Friday!

Altho this was a short week at work, it was also a bear!  I don't understand WHY, a customer who we've dealt with in the same manner for years - suddenly decides they're going to change the way they do things and what they expect from their carriers (I work for a trucking company) - AND NOT TELL SAID CARRIER!!  Sheesh.  I know my coworkers haven't ever heard that many colorful expletives out of me ever!  GRRRRR.

I didn't make it to my meeting this week, but I'm OK with that.  TOM had been awful. I always have one day that's just crappy and Wednesday was it.  I was going to go to Zumba at the gym but between cramps and sinus issues due to the weather - the best I could do was take the dog for a walk.  We didn't break any speed records, but we did go 1.7 miles! 

I've been concentrating on my Good Health Guidelines last week and this one.  I've gone back to adding my oils into my oatmeal - it mixes right in and I can't even tell it's there. If anything - it makes the bowl easier to rinse out! 

I know I've been sorely lacking when it comes down to getting my fruits & veggies in - so when I made my grocery list out, along with the usual dinner idea list I also wrote down what fruits & veggies I was going to have each day.  It really opened my eyes to how bad I've gotten.  I really don't know why.  It's not like eating fruits & veggies is a hardship!  Especially now with all the fresh goodies in the stores and roadside stands opening up soon! 

My gym membership is up the end of June and while I'm going to miss my Zumba classes, I know I'll be taking lots of walks so it's not like I won't get any exercise.  And mowing the lawn is a 2+ hour ordeal every week.  Depending on next year's schedule with Miss Angela's dance - I'll probably renew my membership next fall.  I'm sure I will.  I saw a glimpse of the summer dance schedule at the studio - the ballet teacher is offering an adult Yogalates class and it happens that same time Angel has one of her required classes - so maybe I'll give that a try!   

Speaking of walking - Miss Rebecca over at Weight Wars is having a June Marathon Challenge.  All I have to do is complete a marathon in June.  I can go a mile a day for 26 days, a 5K 8.5 times or slam out 26 miles all in one day (that ain't happening!)   And I don't run unless something really scary is chasing me.  But I do walk and I think I can easily cover 26 miles in June!   She's giving away a cool medal as incentive and some entries into a Color Run, but since that's in England - I'll just be happy with completing the challenge! 

Have a great weekend!  It's supposed to be sunny & 80* all weekend here.  WOOHOOOOO!

Memorial Day

I don't say "Happy" Memorial Day since this is not a happy day. 

And don't forget - it's not just men and women who have given their lives for this great country. 

This statue honors horses and mules who died during the U.S. Civil War 

Virginia Historical Society, Richmond VA.

U.S. Military Working Dog Teams National Monument

Lackland AFB, San Antonio TX

We visited the Great Lakes National Cemetery yesterday - here's my post about it. 

Memorial Day

I don't say "Happy" Memorial Day since this is not a happy day. 

And don't forget - it's not just men and women who have given their lives for this great country. 

This statue honors horses and mules who died during the U.S. Civil War 

Virginia Historical Society, Richmond VA.

U.S. Military Working Dog Teams National Monument

Lackland AFB, San Antonio TX

We visited the Great Lakes National Cemetery yesterday - here's my post about it. 

Before & After / Lost & Found

Wow, is that a cryptic title or what?  LOL!

Before & After

I'd been thinking of getting one of my tattoos covered up for a while.  My very first one - gotten at a stereotypical dive outside Naval Station, Norfolk VA circa 1993.  I did actually put some thought into it before I went in - something small that didn't have to show if I didn't want.  So I got a red heart with 2 blue flowers and a scrolly thing just above my ankle bone.  The heart & flowers were each about the size of a dime....so small.  

However, said heart & flowers did not age well.  The flowers were almost indistinguishable as to shape and color and the heart was no longer red.  I had been tossing around the idea of getting a cat pawprint in memory of my beloved Skeeter (RIP).  

So Friday, I got a text from Miss Angela while she was at school and I was at work.  She had been wanting to get her cartilage (upper ear) pierced and since we went to a tattoo place to get her belly button done.....she suggested we go and get both her piercing / my tattoo done!  I did promise her I would take her after her competitions, so I agreed.  But I didn't see the need to her her ears done at a tattoo place when the mall was acceptable for that. 

So early Saturday afternoon, we went back to No Name Tattoo and I put myself at the mercy of Chino, the magician.  He sketched a pawprint over the heart & flowers, but it was too big.  I wanted a cat print, not a lion print!  So he looked at my leg a minute & started sketching.  Once I saw what he was thinking, I was all in. 

I'm quite happy with it!  I like how he touched up the color and updated my previous feather (Naval Station Mayport, FL dive place circa 1994 - it aged much better!) and made the new feathers blend in with it and still kept it girly with the pink & purple.  AND - this is all free-hand.  He drew it as he went along.  It's a small nod to my Cherokee heritage (something like great great grandparents were full-blood)

Damn, it hurt.  At first it wasn't too bad.  First was the drawing, then the coloring, then the detail - each time he went over it, it got more painful.  I was so glad he finally finished, 90 minutes later!  

Then we went to the mall & Angel got 2 tiny diamonds in the top of her right ear.  We decided after that we needed ice cream.  Yup!   

This is my sexy bedtime look now.  Since I'm keeping Vaseline on it for the time being, I'll put a piece of plastic wrap over it and wrap the Ace bandage around my calf.  Woohoo!

Lost & Found

Maybe I should have written this one first, since it happened first?  Oh well.  Last Tuesday, Randy was home from work, supposed to be getting all his stuff together to go to Dayton for the big Hamvention.  It was a nice day, so he opened the windows in the house.  Next thing he knows, he can't find Maddie.  

I'm sure you can see where this is going.  Almost every window in the house is rigged so the screen cannot be pushed out - except for the ones in the kitchen.  The reason there is because I don't want the cats up by my plants anyway, so we only open the top half of the windows in there. It helps let the hot air out while I'm cooking, too.  But for some reason, Randy opened the lower half and little Miss Maddie, who likes to roll around on windowsills, must have fallen out. And of course, this happened right before a lovely storm.  So she was out in the rain, then chilly damp all night, hiding somewhere. 

Luckily, she is microchipped so I went on the website Wednesday morning and filed a 'lost pet' report.  That night while I was taking Angel to dance, I got a call from HomeAgain saying they had a message from a lady who saw a cat on a FaceBook page that looked like Maddie!   I looked at the FB page (shout out to For the Love of Louie *Michigan Lost Pet Lookers*) but I didn't think this cat really looked like her, it was too fluffy & no orange.  But I called anyway.  The lady I talked to was really nice but we decided it probably wasn't her. And once I looked at where she was located - 15 miles away - I knew it wasn't Maddie.  So I decided to post her on the FB page since I was there.  

Now it's about 10:30pm Wednesday night, so I decide to go outside and call for her one last time.  I'd gone out earlier with her food dish and a fork, tapping it and calling "Maddie, dinner" since she knows that phrase!  I stepped outside and as soon as I said her name, I heard a loud MEOW right in front of me, coming from under my car!  I almost had a heart attack!  So I sat down on the step and talked to her.  Every time I said something, she'd meow, so I knew it was her. I needed a flashlight, so I went back in to grab one off the table - the door didn't even get to close fully and when I opened it again, she was right there!  I was so happy to see her!  I had to text Randy, since he left at noon for Dayton. 

Then I had to let HomeAgain know she was home.  And also the FB page, where she was posted for all of 10 minutes.  I offered her dinner, but she wasn't interested.  She did go use the litter box and when she walked back by, she was really thumping, like her front legs hurt.  I decided to keep an eye on her and if her legs didn't get better, I would have taken her to the vet.  She did get up on the bed that night, and she was barely favoring them Thursday and now it's like she never even had her little adventure. 

Funny thing is - the exact same thing happened to Chester, right after we'd brought him home from th Humane Society.  He got in the window & accidentally pushed the screen out.  During a rain storm, of course!  But at least Randy saw him and managed to catch him an hour or so later.  Another reason we open the top half!  

But everyone is home safe & sound.  And judging my the itching going on - my leg is tarting to heal.  

Life is good!

Friend Makin' Monday - Animals

Happy Monday!  I was sad I missed last week, but Miss Angela & I were driving thru some nasty storms on the way home from Grand Rapids (2+ hours away) where she'd had her Regional dance competition.  On the plus side, every dance that her studio took to Regionals scored high enough to move onto Nationals this summer!!  Woohoo!  So proud of them!!

And this weekend I got a little work done at the local tattoo parlor....

I originally wanted a cat paw print to cover the lower tat, but it would have been a lion print!  So the guy sketched this out for me and free-handed the whole thing in about 90 minutes. I'm quite pleased with it, even if it is a big bigger than I planned when I went in there. 

 Now onto FMM!

If you’ve taken part in FMM before then you are familiar with 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 here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to read and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Animals

1. What is your favorite domestic animal?  I can't pick just one, since we are a bi-petual family. 

Jack the crazy Beagle. 

Chester & Maddie

2. What is your favorite farm animal?  Horses!

 My older sister (on the paint) has had them since I was 2 and on the same token has had the brown horse (that Angel is riding) since Angel was 2.  

3. What is your favorite wild animal?  That's hard to pick a favorite!!  I enjoy most of the critters that visit our yard (not a fan of the skunk!) My favorite ones lately to watch have to be the pair of ducks that clean up under the bird feeder.  The opossum is pretty neat to watch, too. 

4. Which animal describes you the best?  Mama Bear.  I'm pretty chill until you mess with my family, then LOOK OUT!

5. If you were able to come back as an animal which one would it be? A cat.  Who else can get away with being an aloof snob and people love you for it?  Actually, Chester & Maddie are very friendly and lovable critters.  Chester is a better guard animal than Jack is!

6. What do you think about zoos?  The Detroit and Belle isle zoos are pretty open, so they're neat to go to.  No real cages.  So I like them.  The Toronto Zoo is awesome! 

7. What do you think about animals in circuses?  Do they still do that?  I haven't been to a circus since I was little.  

8. Do you have a favorite animal charity you like to support?  The Michigan Humane Society.  I got both my cats from them.  

9. Do you have a favorite ‘animal’ movie?  The Man from Snowy River

It came out in 1982, but its all about horses.  

Have a great week!

Going to Nationals !!!!

Congrats to Dancers Only Studio for kicking ass and taking names at Regionals - 

every single dance is going on to Nationals! 

May 4 was Dance Force Xpress, where the pic above was taken. May 10 & 11 were the Energy Dance Regionals in Grand Rapids. 

I am so proud of them all, I could burst!  This studio is like a big family.  If any kid needs help with anything - there is a Mom right there who can help.  If someone walks by with a bra strap showing, someone will stop her and fix it. If someone wants to show off a new trick, someone is there to cheer for them!  If someone can braid - there's plenty of heads to braid!  I had a production line going with my eyelash glue.  

Let's see.. I only kept track of Angel's 6 dances, but there were a lot of 1st, 2nd & 3rd places!

small group hiphop got 5th (which is BS, that dance is awesome!!)

small group tap got 1st

small group jazz got 2nd

tap line didn't place

hiphop line got 1st place

tap duet got 3rd place.

Hold on, I'm gonna go lift some action pics off Facebook (also from allstarproductions.us)...from all the comps.

"Heart Cry"

"Hey Ya"

"My Team" line

2nd from right

"Lose Control"

again 2nd from right

she got a bit too energetic and unsnapped her collar - oops!

"Dirty Pop" line

far left

"Womanizer"

2nd from left this time

It was also pretty neat that the people from Energy Dance (the Nationals people) chose certain dances and invited them to perform at the opening number at Nationals!  Normally they do auditions.  But the 6 from Womanizer and several solos (there could be more that I missed) from DOS were invited!!  

Next stop - Sandusky, Ohio!

I'm back!

Ugh, weigh in was ugly tonight. Up a whole 3 lbs!  I'm pretty sure some of it was water weight, since I could tell that my shoes were tight today.  But I did get to the grocery store tonight and finally get some decent food.  The bowl of cereal I had last night just didn't cut it.  And Tuesday it was Chinese food after 9pm!  

 I need to get my head back in the game - sometimes I completely forget that I'm even on WW !!  I don't know how to remind myself.  I did get a bracelet a few years ago that I should start wearing again.  I got it because I don't normally wear any jewelry other than my wedding & Navy rings and earrings.  So my reasoning was it would hopefully remind me to track and such. 

Tonight's meeting was about the Good Health Guidelines.  It seems a good place to start again.  Once I'm done here, I'm going to plan out my meals for the next week or so.  Randy is out of town til Sunday, so it's just me & Miss Angela for meals. 

I think the Oatmeal hit it right on. 

2014 A-Z Reflections post

Special thanks and shouts out to all the hard-working peeps who put this challenge together!

Bravo!!

I can honestly say that any and all issues I had with the challenge this year were of my own making.  I started out awesome - I started months early & had ideas and links on a spreadsheet for most letters in both blogs I signed up with (the other is here with a similar post today!)  I even had drafts pre-scheduled ahead of time with the letters and topic idea. But the actual writing of those posts is a different story.  I know this is the crazy busy time of year with Miss Angela's dance, (comp season = extra classes & rehearsals, etc, etc, etc) so I should have gotten on the ball sooner with research and actually going out & getting pictures of places around the area myself.

Otherwise.  I enjoyed myself.  I didn't get to visit as many blogs as I wanted during the challenge, and while I probably won't do the roadtrip, I will still go thru the sign up and reflections list and keep on visiting.

I do plan on signing up for 2015.  I don't do the Twitter thing or use Facebook for my blogs, but I plan to start using media like Pinterest more.

A-Z Reflections post 2014

Special thanks and shout outs to the hard working peeps that made this challenge happen again this year !!

Bravo!!

I can honestly say that any and all issues I had with the challenge this year were of my own making.  I started out awesome - I started months early & had ideas and links on a spreadsheet for most letters in both blogs (my other is here with a similar post today!!) I signed up with.  I even had drafts pre-scheduled ahead of time with the letters and topic idea. But the actual writing of those posts is a different story.  I know this is the crazy busy time of year with Miss Angela's dance, (comp season = extra classes & rehearsals, etc, etc, etc) so I should have gotten on the ball sooner, especially since I was talking about food and such. I would have liked to make more involved recipes, but I'm rather pleased with the simple ones I did make & post about - since it tended to spotlight the food I was talking about.

Otherwise.  I enjoyed myself.  I didn't get to visit as many blogs as I wanted during the challenge, and while I probably won't do the roadtrip, I will still go thru the sign up and reflections list and keep on visiting.

I do plan on signing up for 2015.  I don't do the Twitter thing or use Facebook for my blogs, but I plan to start using media like Pinterest more.

Friend Makin' Wednesday - Colors

I'm late to the party this week!

Whew, this past weekend was crazy!  Miss Angela had her second dance comp yesterday and it made for a long weekend!  I'm proud that this set of judges liked her duet and they got second place in it!  And first place? Another duet from our studio. So no hard feelings there!

Let me see what I remember - 5th place for small group tap, 3rd place for tap line, and for some reason I don't know small group jazz or hiphop or hiphop line. Doesn't matter - they did awesome! According to one of the moms....our studio took 30 dances...14 Platinum, 16 Gold, 12 Division High Scores, 9-1st Overalls, 5-2nd Overalls, 2-3rd Overalls, a 5th Overall, 14 cash awards & 4 specialty awards. Not too shabby!

And this weekend is the "regional qualifying competition" so this is gonna be a big one with lots of stress.  Qualifying dances will go onto nationals and this is the first time their studio has attempted to go!  Send good thoughts & much good mojo to them! 

Pretty proud that I didn't graze off the food table all day.  I did keep hitting the grapes & apples slices and didn't have too many Timbits.  Did plenty of running back & forth to help with costumes and moral support and I did actually RUN from my car at the end of the parking lot in to the auditorium and back, since I forgot my keys to put her stuff away before awards. Nope.  Still don't like it. 

Now onto FMM! 

If you’ve taken part in FMM before then you are familiar with 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 here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links on Sarah's page too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to read and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Colors

1. When you look out of your nearest window – what is the first color you see?  Umm, it's rather late so it's dark out.  And raining pretty hard.  Lightning.  But normally outside this window would be our half-dead cherry tree and part of a big maple.  So blue (hopefully) sky, brownish gray branches and tiny green leaves.

2. How colorful was your last meal?  Not very.  I had a bowl of Life cereal and milk. A typical "I'm home alone and don't care" meal.

3. What color is your car/bike/main mode of transport?  Green.  I currently have a 2000 Ford Escort, but I'm hoping soon to honorably retire it and get a smallish SUV. I thought I had pics, but I only have the bad parts of it for my R for Rust post on the A-Z Challenge.

4. What color clothes are you wearing?  a light blue St. Thomas shirt & gray yoga pants that I wore to the gym tonight. 

5. If you have pets – what color are they?  Jack is a tri-colored Beagle, Chester is an orange tabby and I think the term for Maddie is tortoiseshell.  I have one huge black fish and several smaller silver ones.

6. What color is your hair? Naturally it's mud.  I proudly dye it auburn.

7. What color ink do you prefer to write in?  Blue

8. What color is your favorite sports team?  Need I say more?

9. What color are your favorite pair of shoes?  I just got a pair of "running" shoes since they're lighter for Zumba.  They're black and pink with orange laces.

10. What is your favorite flower and if it comes in multiple colors what is your favorite color?  Oh man.  I have to choose 2.  Soon, my light purple lilac and bright pink crabapple will be blooming - it's the most heavenly scent on my patio!

Love, love love these!!

I took this last spring. 

Have a great week!  I still have to write my A-Z reflections post!  That'll be coming soon, I promise.

Whew!

Whew!  The challenge was rough this time - life kept happening and I didn't plan my post ahead as well as I should have.  But only one was posted a day late and I didn't miss any at all!  

I'll be back Monday with my Reflections post and link it up on the A-Z Challenge page. 

It's been a rough week for Miss Angela.  She got banned from the school bus for 2 weeks - there was a lot of stuff brewing and the Evil Bus Driver From Hell finally snapped and took 5 kids into the office Monday morning.  It's so nice to get a call from the principal right after you get to work in the morning!  On the plus side - last I heard EBDfH is no longer driving their bus.  Hopefully the b*tch got fired.  As Angel put it - at least the driver last year only ran into stuff!   Episode #2 was yesterday - she stayed with a friend in the bathroom while the friend was sick.  That's great she cares about her friends, but we'd just had a conversation about her 19 tardies (over all 6 classes) and she also missed a test!! One of the assistant principals saw them in the hall and called to them, but they "took off" and the message I got said because of skipping a class, she was assigned Saturday School.  Yay!  

She's been getting excited since Sunday is another dance competition.  She can't wait to get out there and do her duet - she feels really confident about it since they changed the ending.  At the first comp, the judges were confused as to if they were battling or what.  Now there is no doubt what is going on - and who is the victor! 

(I was trying to upload the video onto YouTube, but idk if my new phone is being an asshole or YouTube / Google / whoever is being one)

I thought I was going to have a heart attack today!  She was getting her costumes together so I said I'd wash some of the pieces that I could.  I put her pants from small group tap (you can sort of seen them here - white in the inside & black on the outside) in the wash and darn if something pink and brown - I know don't what - bled all over the white!  I soaked & scrubbed & scrubbed & soaked some more and got most of it out, I hope.  I'm hoping what is left will be mistaken for shadows.   

Then next weekend are regionals!  This is the first comp she's ever been nervous for!  This is the farthest we will travel, too. Their first ever comp was in Lansing, but this one is in Grand Rapids - a good 2 1/2 hours away.  I took that Friday & Monday off work, so I decided to let her stay home from school on that Monday, too.  I thought to stay at the hotel Sunday night and first thing Monday drive to Holland and see the tulips!  I've lived in Michigan all my life and have never been to the Tulip Festival.  Actually, the festival will have just ended, but the tulips should still be pretty.   Then there's a Veteran's Cemetery not far from where she dances that I really want to explore, too. Then we can still get home somewhat early Monday afternoon. Fingers crossed! 

Anyhoo, it's about time for bed.  The ex is supposed to be in town today, but I haven't heard from him since about 1pm.  He's driving in from Nebraska to see Angel dance!  Guess he really feels the guilt for ignoring her for 12+ years.  He's drove up for the past 2 recitals and he wanted to go to both of these comps, too!  She said no to regionals - she said she's nervous enough without adding that awkwardness to the mix. 

In other news - my Mom had her hip replacement on Good Friday & she's doing fantastic!  Easter Monday she was moved into a rehab place and she's been working on her physical therapy & occupational therapy and generally being spoiled.  But it is so amazing to see her standing up straight and walking with no pain!  They took her staples out yesterday and she'll be going home next Thursday!  They're working with her using a cane, but she feels more secure with her Cadillac of walkers - that thing is fancy!  No too shabby for a lady who will be 80 in July!  I like to mess with her and the nurses.  I was visiting her one day and the nurse came to get her and put her on the scale.  I followed them down the hall pretending to run and calling for her to "wait for me!!" and told her Angel was bringing her tap shoes up for her to borrow. 

So that's all for now - later!