Random thoughts & happenings...

Just a quick round up of happenings around here since we got back from vacation...

Of course....our last first day of school photo.  I still can't believe she's a senior.  

I took her in before school started to get her hair did. She needed her roots touched up since we also started round 1 (of 3!) of her senior pictures.  However she wanted it dyed brown underneath.  Ick.  But she likes it, so good on her.  She's lucky I love her since this trip cost some serious $$ that I've NEVER spent on myself! 

Most people would kill to have hair that looks like this - she had just rolled out of bed. 

The local plant nursery had a flashlight sale after hours - they had most of the outside lights off and half of the inside ones off and they had some awesome sales.  Check out these huge awesome mums I got for cheap!!

On the way back, we stopped at the Salvation Army to browse for clothes that Miss Angela could paint up for Homecoming spirit day (she's planning ahead this year! The last 2 years she wanted to me run all over the day before to find stuff)  We ended up finding & buying her prom dress already for a whopping $23!  The bodice needs to be taken in some, so I'll take it to the place that did my wedding dress, since they can clean it while they have it, too. I'm rather proud of her.  We found her homecoming dress back in April for $8 and now this?  Awesome.  I spent $150 on my wedding dress and she knows I would NOT spend anywhere near that on one for a school function.   Applause!

 I feel like I'm forgetting to do something, since I only have one minor project that I need to do for Halloween.  I found a neat twin-sized headboard at a garage sale and I've gotten it sanded down, now I need to paint the cemetery name on it & seal it - and that's all I really have planned new for this year.  

I've been working on cleaning out the corner behind the kitchen table - it's the catchall area of random stuff.  I set out 2 boxes - one for random Halloween stuff that's I've picked up here & there for projects to whatever and the other for Christmas stuff.  The kitchen table is buried since I also have my goodies for the HallweenForum Secret Reaper (imagine secret Santa but with Halloween stuff.)  I send stuff to someone and someone else sends stuff to me - and I may or may not know who from.  I always do put my name somewhere in the box, since it made me crazy one year that I couldn't properly thank someone for a box FULL of goodies since I didn't know who sent it.  It's pretty fun since you get to "stalk" someone and figure out what they'd like.  I'm pretty easy, since I included a detailed list of what I like & don't like, and they can check out my blog, Pinterest boards & FB page!  I need to get my "victim's" stuff out in the mail real soon.  

We've gotten back into the dance thing again.  She started last Wednesday and the studio is offering pointe this year - you know, this type of ballet...

(wikipedia)

It's nothing something one can just jump into - they need to make sure the foot is done growing so the growth plate isn't messed up and they also have to have strong enough toes & ankles to be able to do this.  As far as I see, there are 4 girls doing this - and one is only 11 so she will do minimum en pointe.  And only Sarah has done it before.  I can't wait to see how this goes.  Angel's excited about it and ballet has never been her favorite type of dance - too disciplined.  Their first class was mostly discussion - Angel has been challenged to wear an actual leotard instead of shorts & tank top (hopefully Malloree got this challenge, too!) with her tights and a secure bun for the entire year - and if she survives, there will be a pizza party for them.  The other girls had their pointe shoe fittings today, but Angel is up north with a friend for the weekend, so she's going Monday.  She has to take this paper towel with her for her fitting - it's an outline of her foot and random info about her foot.  I will be taking pics!  

So yes, we've started with the senior pics.  She used to dance with a girl whose mom is a photographer so I set up 2 sittings with her and one at the portrait studio the school wants us to use.  She'll get her yearbook and cap & gown photos there and Angela O. will do the rest.  We did a sitting last weekend and the other will be later in the fall when the leaves fully change color.  Angel wants her hair in curls for that one, so she'll be dressed slightly fancier, too.  We spent an hour or so at the dance studio and she got some nice ones that the owner wants to use for the studio website.  Then we spent another hour or so at a local park, then 20 minutes or so at home because Angel wanted some with Chester.  I grabbed these off of Facebook - they're the "sneak peek" that Angela O. posted for us.  I think they had fun together.  Angela had idea and Angel pulled them off for her.  And as you can see - her work is phenomenal!   I can't wait to see the rest of these.  I'm hoping she has the rest of the album on FB soon.   

Guess all the hours I spent painting at the studio paid off - the owner was perfectly happy to drop what she was doing on a Saturday afternoon to come open the doors for us to take pictures! 

Gosh, I didn't mean for this to be all about the kid.  Randy is doing just fine - he's out in the garage messing around with stuff, one of his buddies gave him a new old radio and he's been messing around with that.  I really need to change the laundry and make the bed and finish clearing off the table so we have a place to actually eat dinner tonight.  And I promised the dog (in my mind, I couldn't say anything to him) that we'd go for a walk. 

We didn't get affected by any of the flooding or power outages in the area recently where several coworkers did and they freak out every time it rains now!  But it's only like 57* out there right now & I really don't want to fire up the furnace just yet...but I've been wearing slippers & hoodies inside the house for 2 days now and was wrapped up in bed like a burrito last night - and it's supposed to drop down to 40* tonight?  Sigh.  The furnace may be turned on.