Happy #42 to me!

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  Weekend birthdays are great!  Because having to go to work just makes it another day.

I had the thought of getting up early and going to the mall for the Yankee Candle Boney Bunch preview party, but decided against it.  There were only 3 pieces I really  wanted and one of them was an online exclusive, so when the dog wanted out at 6:30am, I took him outside, then went online and ordered them!  I follow a Boney Bunch page on FB and people actually go nuts over these things and they sell out fairly quickly.  I ended up ordering the 3 pieces and one other I'd been waffling about, which is a good thing because when we did finally make it to the mall in early afternoon, they didn't have any of them.  I did get a couple other pieces then...because they looked a lot better in real life than they did online.  Randy gave me free rein to buy them since he's not the most inspired of gift choosers.

The website describes this Black Magic candle as "A provocative mix of black leather, patchouli, smoky incense and sweet vanilla...all cloaked in musk and eerily mysterious." My sniffer must disagree because I distinctly smelled baby powder.  Maybe it'll be different once I actually burn it.

This votive holder is really cool!  I thought there was already a candle in it burning when I grabbed the last one off the shelf, but it is the extremely shiny gold interior that made it look like that.

And they always seem to have a candy dish offered for $10 if you spend $35.  This is is pretty small - ones in the past have been really big!  I like this better, actually.

Then we walked around the mall some more.  Randy wanted to go into a toy store, so we all had a good time looking at the toys.  Angel picked out a 'boy' penguin to go with a 'girl' one she already has (it's a stuffed animal - who can tell gender???) and I got this adorable blue octopus - how ridiculously cute!  And the little sea turtle.  There's a reason behind him.  And I got some new slippers, too!  Once it starts getting cool, I wear those things all the time because our floor is so cold!

Once we got home from the mall, the plan had been to leave Randy home to spare him the torture and Angel & I head to the salon to get our nails did.  But it was cloudy and cool and misting rain and I heard a nap calling me.  A glorious 3 hour nap.  Then I got up and ran to the store to pick out something yummy for Randy to grill for dinner. And I opted for peanut butter chocolate cupcakes instead of regular cake to go with my moose tracks ice cream.

Today Angel & I went and she got her tips filled while I had a pedicure. My finger nails never seem to like to keep polish so I don't usually bother with them.  When my toes can be seen, they're painted. I love how this place also gives you a foot / calf massage while during the pedicure.  Nice!  Angel thought I was nuts for propping my foot up on the dashboard in front of her so I could take a pic....hey, it's better than the parking lot.   Check out the flip-flop tan line, too!

So I've been perusing Pinterest and other places. trying to find inspiration for a new tattoo. I want something Navy-related and will probably be on my leg between the side & front, just above my knee. It's tough trying to find something that's somewhat girly!   I found this one that has potential (with different words on the tags, of course) but the butterfly doesn't really scream "Navy" to me.

Found on Pinterest and it says it's from leaf-tattoo-rib-cage-tattoos-tattoo-t.blogspot.com 

but when I clicked on the link it tells me there's malware possible on the site so I didn't actually go there.

This is probably the most likely option.....with some additions....

Found it here

I'd like a sea turtle somewhere (representing being a Shellback) and instead of the fouled line, I'd like dogtags with maybe USN 1992-2000 on one and Shellback 9/18/95 (the day I crossed the Equator) on the other.  I'll have to go in and have the guy draw something up for me and it would be really neat to go back on September 18 to get it done!

What would really be awesome would be an anchor and on one side of the shank have half of a carrier, head on and the other side have half of a submarine tender, head on - with appropriate hull numbers to match the ships I was on.  That would have to be a big tattoo to put that much detail in, tho.  As it is, the one I want won't be a tiny thing.

And when Miss Angela turns 18 next month, she wants a tattoo for her birthday.  So I'm going to take her, just like I did on her 16th to get her belly button pierced.  She already has one picked out.  She wants a heart, a heartbeat zigzag line thingy and "dance" on her hip.  I approve of her choice, because it's small, meaningful and can be hidden easily.  I've seen girls on stage with tattoos and they really stand out and not in a good way.

So she applied for a couple jobs this week.  We were both surprised that a lot of retail places required you to be 18, but she looked at a couple places at the mall (of all places!) because she knew people younger than 18 who worked there.  So we're waiting to hear back.  We had someone from a local number calling the house tonight and normally we don't answer numbers we don't recognize (which means NEVER!) but even tho it was Sunday evening, I answered this one.  It was someone asking if Angel was still interested in doing some modelling!  I asked her about this before and she enjoyed it the one time she did it, but wasn't really interested in pursuing it.  So I told the lady she'd gone away to school.  #sorrynotsorry !

She goes in for her follow-up appointment at the doctor's office tomorrow.  I know she hasn't been putting away 60 oz of liquid per day, even tho I've been nagging.  So fingers crossed that she's getting better. Her appetite seems to be slowly coming back.  And she starts PT at the office around the corner from our house tomorrow. She doesn't want to go, but this is what she gets for not doing the exercises at home she was supposed to do!  I went with her Friday and it was kind of interesting watching her do what all they had her doing.  All the balance exercises can only help with dance (and with strengthening her ankles, of course!)

I'm going to sign off with a picture of Jack while he was keeping Randy company as he installed a voice radio (finally!) in my car.  I've had my car for a year now and haven't had a (ham) radio in it so I've probably forgotten how to make contacts!  I usually only talk to Randy on it anyway.

#TFTLS

Friday Funnies 082815

....and since tomorrow is my birthday....

#TFTLS

Skywatch Friday 8/28

 

Taken with my iPhone (and is set as my background!) 

 Mackinaw City, MI  overlooking Lake Huron

Linking up over at Skywatch Friday

#TFTLS

Less than a week!

Til my birthday!!  I'll be 42.  Surprisingly, I'm not ashamed to admit that.  Turning 40 was a lot easier than 30 was.  I cried the night before I turned 30.  Of course, it probably helped that we'd been on vacation for #40 and we were at Michigan's Adventure for the day.  Sort of took my mind off it. Plus I didn't get any cake or presents.  Grr. 

Has it really been almost 2 weeks since I posted other than the linkup last?  Sheesh.  

We did Painting with a Twist on the 16th - it was a lot of fun, if rushed.  We had a 2 hour class with a half hour added on before and after for "social hour" and we still ran over.  Ooops.

So imagine this....a nice beach scene, with palm tree, sailboat, lounge chair, sand castle & bucket.  I think a lot of us (15 in the class) took a bit too much artistic license and I got the impression the teacher wasn't entirely too happy with us, altho she put on a happy face.  But hey - we had a good time! 

So here we have Miss Angela's work....the teacher was in mid-sentence explaining how to blend colors and suddenly said "is that lightning??"  Angel was sitting in the first seat, in plain view and yes. it's lightning,  And people falling off the sailboat, and a shark, and a lifeguard ignoring the person in the water, a Coast Guard helicopter and a rough sea.  Quite awesome.

Oh, this one is mine.  I wasn't happy with my clouds, so it ended up being a thunderhead with a rain shaft.  Instead of a sailboat, I have an aircraft carrier (with a 72!!) and that darn blue chair kicked my butt, so I painted over it and put a towel and cooler and mine & Randy's initials.  I was going to add a fighter jet or two, but when I tried to somewhat keep them small, they looked like bugs, so they got painted over.   Oh, I skipped the palm tree shadow, too.  They look like giant starfish. 

 Randy did a good job of following directions, his is pretty close to what was being taught.  I love his clouds!  I kept watching him and I still couldn't do them like he did.  He does have a little guy in the sailboat, tho.

There was a kid next to me who did a pirate ship and had a dotted line and big X on his beach, with a treasure chest next to it.  We had a good laugh about that, too. 

So, Miss Graceful Angela went to the sports medicine guy last Monday about her ankle that has bothered her since she sprained it in January.  He prescribed her 4-6 weeks of physical therapy, which is a good thing since that very same night she went with her usual bunch of dance friends to the gym (which was closed due to the heat) and ended up at one of those trampoline places.  And sprained her good ankle.  So she's getting therapy on both ankles.  But that didn't stop her from going to the fair for 4 days, 10+ hours each day!   This second sprain must not have been anywhere near as bad as the first one.  When they came home, all 4 girls pushed into the back door at once to tell me.  And she was just limping then. When she got the first sprain, she couldn't put any weight on it for quite a while. 

I'm sure her teachers love her for that!  One evening recently, Miss Gabby stopped over to personally deliver a gift to Angel.  They are having the teachers choose the kids they want to teach solos, duets, trios to.  So of course Gabby grabbed her & Katie (the Dynamic Duo) for duet!  Angel had to end up texting the owner of the studio to find out who her solo teacher is.  Miss Naome was a pleasant surprise.  Gabby is more hard-core, in your face action - she excels at hiphop where Naome is more into lyrical and jazz.  Angel's wanting to ask if she can choose a song from the movie Burlesque.  Should be interesting!

Other than that, not much is going on.  Oh yeah, We had a chat and she has decided to wait til January to start college.  She understands that she needs to find a job and help pay her way thru dance. 

Last weekend was torture for me.  I had the fun of a mammogram on Saturday morning and donated blood on Sunday morning.  Squish & poke!  It actually took longer to donate blood than it did for the mammogram.  I was out of the house for only about 45 minutes.  And that included travel time to the hospital.  Quick and to the point, that's how I like it! 

Saturday afternoon was a car wash for the dance studio.  I hadn't planned on going, but ended up staying for the whole thing.  If I'd known that - I wouldn't have worn jean capris or a black t-shirt!  It was chilly in the morning, but it warmed up a lot.  But they had a great turn-out for the carwash.  It was pretty steady stream of cars for the first 2 hours, even with a line a couple times!  The auto parts place around the corner donated their back parking lot that happened to have a water connection and also the car wash solution, buckets and sponges.  Pretty awesome of them! 

So today was her "well-child" check up and she got yelled at for going on a trampoline when she'd been so sick.  The doc said she was tough, since most people were sicker than she was with less of an illness. But not so tough that she shouldn't be taking it easy!  Apparently a double virus is what caused the hepatitis and her bilirubin levels in her liver (normal is 30) were up over 500!! She could have ruptured her spleen if she'd bumped her side just right.  So she's supposed to be drinking 60 oz of fluids a day (which will be struggle for her) until her followup next Monday.  Yay!  

Randy emailed me today and his boss/coworker/higher up guy (whatever he is now) of many years gave his notice today.  This guy's been driving in from Canada every day - an hour trip, not counting the border crossing.  Which is insane, IMHO.  A lot of the people who have been keeping him sane have moved on, so I seriously think it's Randy's turn!  That place pisses me off.  He gets paid salary, so all those nights he stays til 10 or later - it's not overtime.  I wave the BS flag. Grrr.  They make my blood boil.   I keep praying that a new opportunity shows itself to him. 

So that's all that's going on.  I'm starting to get into the Halloween mood, with stuff showing up in stores. And that fact that it's downright chilly at night!  And I've seen some trees trying to change colors.  I've decided all I need is 2 more skeleton cats.  And I'm going to try my first non-static prop for my cemetery this year, using a Shiatusu massager.  Fingers crossed this turns out! 

Look how cute this is!  A woman came walking up to Timmy's and her little boy was driving this police car.  He parked it so carefully before they went inside!  Completely hysterical!  I was sitting at the light at the corner, but had to pull back into the lot to take this picture.  

 Mmmmmmm pumpkin spice donut!

Hmm, I feel eyes and there's a chin pressing on my thigh.  That's Jack telling me he wants to go outside.  So I'll sign off now so he won't suffer!

Ciao!

#TFTLS

Skywatch Friday 8/21

I took this picture a few weeks ago, but I love it too much to not share!

Driving into a storm, 

Oakland County, SE Michigan

Linking up over at Skywatch Friday.

#TFTLS

Got my smiley face!

And it is already happily on my keychain with all the rest of the goodies I've gotten. 

Sorry - this is the WW "Get Happy" charm for attending 10 out of 12 meetings over the summer. 

I skipped my meeting last week and I don't even remember why.  I think after the craziness of Miss Angela's grad party and the fact I seemed to be the only one eating leftovers....and until they were gone, there was no room in the fridge for anything else, so I couldn't go grocery shopping!  There's still a few things in there but they'll be tossed tomorrow, since Friday is trash day.   But the damage today was up 2.8 lbs.  UGH!  

So I need something new & different for breakfast.  I'd been having oatmeal (1/2 steel cut & 1/2 old-fashioned) almost every weekday for as long as I can remember.  I'd mix PB2 or fruit or just flavored extract and call it good.  Until I noticed that I was starting to get heartburn around mid-afternoon.  Then when we got back from vacation, it escalated into afternoon painful gas / bloat.  I mean, belly distended with straight up PAIN.  I emailed my Fearless Leader Dez about it and she suggested cutting out the oatmeal, since that seems to be what was causing it.  Sho'nuff.  I stopped eating it and no more bloat. 

The problem is....now what to have for breakfast??  Last week I took eggs into work with me.  I'd have them already cracked in a container with salt & pepper & a splash of milk and maybe some shredded cheese, then nuke them for a total of about 90 seconds - stopping to stir every 20 or so seconds.  I like eggs, but that got old pretty quick.  This morning I tried quinoa.  Hmm.  I wasn't too impressed.  It probably didn't help that I didn't have a sieve to put them in to get a good rinse.  I used a t-shirt.  But I stopped and bought one after the meeting tonight, so there may be a re-visit.

Did you know that there are options??  The stats are exactly the same so I guess its just a visual thing.  I should have gotten the tri-color for the hell of it.  I know I already had a box of pre-rinsed quinoa, but I couldn't find it.  I know I only fixed it once or twice, so it couldn't have been gone. 

I dug out my WW "What to Eat" and "Simple Start" books tonight to get some ideas.   I need something with good staying power or I'll be looking to snack before lunch.  I usually eat as soon as I get to work.  Since I get there at 0730, I'm ready for lunch at 1130.  And then a snack around 1430 or else I'm starving when I get home around 4.  I've also learned if I go straight home after work, I'm immediately raiding cabinets and the fridge, then I want a nap.  But if I have errands to run after work, I'm perfectly fine until dinner - same goes with the desire to nap.  If I don't come straight home, I'm OK til bedtime.  

. 

 A busybody co-worker just asked me this week why I don't eat breakfast at home.  I honestly didn't have any answer, so I just said "why not?"   I thought about it later, and decided it was habit more than anything.  When I had to take Miss Angela to the bus / school I didn't have time to eat at home.  She's out of school now so that's not a problem.  But it's not hurting anything, so I'll continue to do so.  Neener neener boo boo.  I find joy in being obstinate with this woman anyway. Usually she's pretty nice, but she always wants to know way too many details about mundane things and I just wonder why would you ask that?  No, I don't know who another coworker's daughter has watching her baby while she's at work.  My kid started physical therapy on her ankles - and why do you need to know where she's going?  Why do you need to know where her dance competitions are?   Why do you need to know where the wedding was I went to last weekend?  Did you really just ask me during a department luncheon at a fancy restaurant how many Points my salad was??  I could tell you 3 or 300 and you wouldn't know the difference anyway.  I occasionally want to punch her in the face.  So I'll happily lie or give really vague answers.  Sad part is - she remembers this stuff!  She recently brought up something (that I'd forgotten about) that happened at my bridal shower.  Randy & I have been married 9 years!!  Holy crap, woman!  I'd never want to play a trivia game against her. 

Wow, that was a tangent - sorry about that.  

So I'm ready to go back to the gym.  But I feel I want to get my eating back on track first.  That may be a vicious circle, tho.  

I just need to be independently wealthy and have a personal trainer & chef and then I'd be good! 

edit....I did some research and I saw on several message boards that steel cut oats in general cause pain & bloating in some people.  I had a package of the oatmeal from a box (flavored envelope thingys) and did fine, so I'll have to try just rolled oats and see how that goes. 

#SnS

Just random thoughts & updates & stuff

Happy Hump Day!

Just an FYI - I edited the last 2 vacation posts so they actually have WORDS!  I totally dropped the ball with those.  I uploaded the pictures and pre-scheduled them, just got busy with Miss Angela's grad party and ppppft. Realized on Sunday evening that I never finished the posts.  ooops.

Speaking of the grad party - it went off very smoothly!  I plan to write a post about it...once my sisters send me pictures off their cameras!  I was running around like a mad-woman and while I did get pics of the table as you walked up the driveway (picture boards, yearbooks, a photo matte to sign, her cap, box for cards, etc) and also of her cake and surrounding decorations - I never got any of the food setup or the tables.  Right now, the best picture I have of a table is this....

Thanks to sister Laurie for getting into the garage while I was elsewhere and digging out the skeletons.  Pretty sure Angel's friends dressed them up. 

So there's another illness in the house - Angel again!  Somehow managed to pick up a lovely case of Hepatitis!  This is apparently a generic virus since there's no extra letter at the end - just plain ol' inflammation of the liver.  And she's up to date with all her vaccinations!  We thought because we'd all gotten dehydrated while on vacation that was the cause of her dark pee, and she'd had a week of dance, then a week off then back at it, that was the cause of her tiredness & sore muscles. Once she told us early last week she had a sharp pain in her side and her pee was dark orange, I called the doc.  They took urine & blood samples, then last Friday took more blood and an ultrasound.  I just heard back today - liver & spleen look great and liver enzymes are coming down.  Yay!  So she's not contagious, not on any medications.  Just supposed to have NO high-impact (HA!!), full contact activities for 6 weeks, with plenty of rest and fluids.  

But of course, she's been going to the gym once a week with a few other girls to work on tumbling with a real trainer and has 2 hour dance classes at the studio once a week.  Regular fall classes start up again after school starts in September.  And the competitions have already been posted, so we can plan ahead for them.  

OMG - they're planning for Nationals in Charleston SC in June!  Charleston is 2 hours away from Savannah GA and 4 hours from St. Marys GA - places that both have cemeteries that I want to visit!  (Trivia for today - a taphophile is someone who is interested in cemeteries and "graveyard art" - that's me!)  I've seen pictures from Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah and it's fantastic.  According to Savannahga.gov "a world famous tourist destination for more than 150 years due to the old tree-lined roadways, the many notable persons interred, the unique cemetery sculpture and architecture, and the folklore associated with the site and the people."  Squeee!  And the other is Oak Grove Cemetery.  I visited there (sans camera - sob!) when I saw stationed in Kings Bay back in 93/94 and it was so hauntingly beautiful that I never forgot it.  I honestly never thought I'd have a chance to go back there!!   

There's already been mention of renting a bus for the team to travel together since it's about a 900 mile trip.  I don't know if I'd want to be on a bus with 30 girls (and probably 1 boy) for that long.  Someone might get themselves smothered or locked in the luggage compartment.

(random picture of Jack enjoying the fire pit)

So we talked to the studio owner and told her Angel needed to cut down on some classes this year, so she dropped all the recreation classes, except for the required ballet.  And damned if Terina didn't bring back the lines!  That's all the age groups doing the dance.  So she's competing in small group elite tap, jazz line (25+), hiphop line(25+), large group lyrical, and so far a solo.  Last year's duet partner was on vacation during try-outs, so once she does they'll probably have a duet again, since they're kick-ass together.  And then she's on the All-Star team with at least 2 dances - pom and I think jazz.  I don't know why I can't remember!  

I'm not particularly happy with Missy right now.  She still hasn't' registered for college and classes start the 24th!  At the rate she's going, her happy butt will have to wait until the winter term and ~gasp~ get a JOB until then !!  It's her own damn fault.  She applied and was accepted last spring and has dinked around all summer about registering for actual classes.   I've been bugging her about it and she finds 1000 reasons why it didn't happen.  I'm done.  Plus, the problem with her registering now, it tuition needs to be paid in full before classes start.  HA! 

So the cat just told me it was bedtime, so I'm signing off!  Later!

#TFTLS

Vacation Days 7 & 8

Now for the final 2 days of our vacation!  Since we were in Washington DC, I told Randy we should at least make an attempt to SEE the White House and other notable buildings.  Like a I said before - lots of construction was happening.

The dome of the Capitol is covered in scaffolding. 

This is a drinking fountain in the wall around the Capitol.  So pretty!

President Garfield

The Treasury.  We were sitting at a red light and I looked over - Oh hey!  

Since we were basically done with walking - this is as close as we got to the White House.  I know the better view would have been on the other side of The Ellipse, but oh well. At Christmas time, from this angle we would have been able to see the National Christmas Tree.

This was pretty awesome - I don't know how we didn't know this existed!  The USAF Memorial.  From one side it looked at Arlington, another side looked over the Pentagon. 

The Pentagon

Finally, we;re leaving Washington DC and heading in the general direction of home....

The ambulance was making faces at us! 

We stayed Thursday night in Pennsylvania and really enjoyed floating around the pool.  Randy should have joined Angel and I, since it really helped with the aches & pains of all that walking the last few days. 

Friday our only stop was in Stonycreek Twp, PA.

This boulder marked the impact site of the Flight 93 on 9-11.

The wall of names of all the people on the flight. 

It is situated directly along the flight path and the field is mowed so you can see the boulder. 

You may need to click on this to see the unpainted words better. 

Along the walkway to the Wall of Names was a wall with the occasional niche in it.  This one had a tiny Capitol building - where it was assumed Flight 93 was heading to before the passengers brought it down.  

And of course there was construction going on there, too.  It would have been so peaceful and serene there, but the heavy equipment sort of spoiled that mood!  They're building a new learning center.

Ah!  Home sweet home!  The only traffic we ran into was on I75 south of Detroit - thanks to road signs, we were able to change our route to a smaller state highway and get around the problem.  We got home around Friday the 24th around 7:30.  We stopped for Taco Bell and Tim Hortons before going home, since we knew once we got there...we wouldn't want to go out again!   

Day 6

Day 5

Days 3 & 4

Days 1 & 2

#TFTLS - edited to complete the post!