Monster Jam Detroit 1/30/16

Every year we got to see Monster Jam.  We've only missed one year since 2000 and it was because there was a nasty ice storm and we chose not to risk getting stuck in Detroit.  To make up for it, we sat at home and watched a DVD of the history of Monster Jam at the Pontiac Silverdome.  Watching monster trucks on TV is NOT the same.  This quick clip I shot there gives you a good idea, tho.

There were 17 trucks. Got to love the names of them!

On this side from far to near is Gravedigger, Dragon, Scooby Doo, Alien Invasion, Son Uva Digger, Monster Mutt Rottweiler, Solider Fortune Black Ops, Gunslinger, Hurricane Force, Storm Damage, Scarlet Bandit, Bounty Hunter and Mohawk Warrior. 

 On this side is Jester, Ice Cream Man, Razin Kane and the Xtermigator.

Randy was working way up north at the Sno-Drift doing radio stuff so he couldn't go.  That was kind of a bummer, since he always takes a radio and tunes into the frequency production uses so we get the behind-the-scenes insight - when they're coming out to do the anthem,  problems with trucks, which truck broke and isn't coming back, etc.  So Angel asked one of her friends to go.

I was ticked that I forgot to take my actual camera with me.  How could I have forgotten that??  So these are some rather crappy cell-phone pics.  So I won't be posting pics of every truck, because I missed the first 2 doing freestyle, due to the slowest concession people in the world and the rest I simply didn't get good, clear shots of.

Grave Digger & Son Uva Digger, racing finalists. 

The original Grave Digger was started by Dennis Anderson.  He now has a bunch of trucks and 8 other drivers, one of whom is his son Adam.  Son Uva Digger is driven by his son Ryan Anderson.  Angel was torn, because Gravedigger has always been her favorite truck, but some other guy was driving.  So does she root for her favorite truck, or a real Anderson??

 Solider Fortune Black Ops.

 Alien Invasion.

Ice Cream Man.  

I personally thought they needed to play ice cream truck music.  There's always a silent moment at the end of the run before the crowd starts cheering and that would have been perfect there.

Scooby Doo.  

There are multiple drivers for Scooby Doo and each of the 4 are females.  Girl Power!  Scarlet Bandit is also driven by a woman.  There's actually a surprising number of female drivers and they're just as crazy as the guys!

the Xtermigator. 

Gravedigger.

Son Uva Digger. 

It was a really nice day. but we chose to park in our usual lot which is right across the street from Ford Field and right at the on-ramp for the highway (and we pay for this convenience - $50!!!)  I didn't want to be roaming around Downtown Detroit with 2 cute blonde girls.  The benefit of parking so close is there are a lot of police right there, directing traffic and whatnot.  So I felt safe.  We didn't even attempt to eat at one of the restaurants down there.  Every time we've tried to get into the Hockeytown Cafe, there's at least a 90 minute wait, if not more. We've never tried Cheli's Chili because there's always been a line out the door.  So we stopped and grabbed food on the way down and then they wanted pizza at intermission.

It was a lot of fun as usual and while we ~could~ go to the next show at the end of February, we'll just wait until next January to go again.

Friday Funnies 012916

I haven't done this for a while!

I almost didn't go....

To the WW meeting this week, that is.

The girl & I both had eye appointments last night, so I missed my usual meeting. Then she told her boss that she was bringing both Randy & I to the Thai restaurant that she works at so he could serve us.  Well, Randy had to work late, so I went with her and we got him carry-out.  I'm sure I made a great impression on her boss with my dilated eyes.  I could barely read the menu!

My blogging buddy. 

She doesn't offer much input.

But I had a phenomenal Thai apple salad.  Romaine lettuce, cashews, apples cut into tiny straws, chicken (their 'crispy' chicken tastes like Grandma's fried chicken) and a peanut sauce for dressing.  It was quite tasty and I really don't know how I would count the SmartPoints on something like that.  And the seafood rangoons.  And some of her fried ice cream.  Ooops.

But I'm glad I went tonight, even if I'm not crazy about that particular leader.  I was down .6 lb.  I'll take it!

It was a good night all around.  I was down at WI.  I found the damn skirt that I've been missing for entirely WAY too long and I found my WW bag with my Plan Guide, Shopping Guide and the old Power Foods book.  I really need to find some new menu items - I have no imagination when it comes to dinner!  Then adding 2 picky-asses into the mix and I'm lost.

So I'm over halfway to earning my massage!  I really sucked at getting my 5 fruits & veggies in last week.  In my defense, several days I was at 4.  I also went over the 35K steps for the week!  Considering 2 of the days had less than 4K, I'm pretty happy.

This is a recipe for tortellini soup that was the WW meeting tonight.  I will tweak it a little, since I don't like cooked/canned tomatoes.  I can eat them raw straight off the vine, but smooshy?  Blargh. 

 Not sure why the Fitbit was reading sleep time.  I haven't worn it at night!  

So I'm going to sign off now - so I can get in bed before 11!  Randy left for the weekend this morning for a radio thing he does every year way up north, so hopefully the cats don't hog the bed.  I plan to sprawl!

#SnS

Monday Mish Mash #1

So I signed up to do a 10-day Blog Makeover Challenge.  I read about it in another blog (thanks, Charlene!) and sort of jumped in the middle of it.  So far I'm pretty intimidated - it seems like most of the other bloggers have inspirational, educational, or business / store type blogs.  Mine are pretty much for shitz & gigglez.  But I'll stick it out, I've been learning a lot, even if a lot of it doesn't really seem to apply to me & my little trio of the blogosphere. 

On the plus side, I've found a bunch more blogs to read, and people to follow on Instagram and hopefully people enjoy following me back!  But I feel as tho I need to step up my blogging game so I don't look like a complete moron.  Game on!

Speaking of new blogs I'm following, Amy over at Country Mouse City Spouse started her first linkup and I joined in!

I'll introduce myself to anyone new visiting.....I'm Lisa, happily married to Randy and our 10 year anniversary is in July.  We have 1 spawn, Miss Angela, who is 18.  We have a slightly overweight Beagle named Jack and 3 cats - Chester is a big ol' orange tabby whose around 16 years old, Maddie is the queen of the castle and Daisy was born in my sister's barn last May and came to my house in September.  Her & Chester are buddies!

We live in SE Michigan, about 20 miles from Detroit in a quiet little 'burb in a tiny house with a nice big yard.  Our last name is Love, so the Love Shaque.

Randy is a computer programmer originally from Arkansas, Miss Angela graduated high school last year, hostesses at a Thai restaurant and is still on her competition dance team at her second home, aka Dancers Only Studio.  We're just starting comp season, so they show up a lot on my Instagram.  She's been dancing since she was 4. competing since 12 and I've never missed a single performance.

I am a US Navy veteran.  I was in from 1992-2000 and was a postal clerk.  My 2015 April A-Z Challenge posts are all about my time in the Navy.  Sea stories, places I visited, experiences and the like. I now work for a trucking company in the billing department.  I've been there almost 16 years.

Randy and I are both amateur radio operators (he plays much more than me) and that's why you'll see N8LTG associated with me a lot, that's my call sign. He does a lot of volunteering for the Multiple Sclerosis Society doing radio stuff at events and we both belong to Oakland County Emergency Management and are Skywarn weather spotters.

I love Halloween and it's pretty much on my mind year-round.  You can't wait until the last minute to put together a large display like I have!  Quite honestly, my Maple Grove Cemetery is very basic compared to some of the displays & "haunts" I see on some of the Facebook pages I belong to.  I don't do blood & gore, either.  A combination of humor & elegance is my thing, if that makes sense.  My H'ween display has its own Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter.  And I'm a taphophile.  That means one who is interested in cemeteries, especially the art & history.  I belong to Find A Grave, which is a database of headstones used for genealogy & such.

I kind of like being on a Mish Mash, since my thoughts tend to do just that!  Kinda flutter from one thought & idea to the next.  Sometimes I wonder if I talk too fast for some people, especially when they clearly aren't following me.  I try to slow down and think first, but that doesn't always happen.  Makes me wonder how my dear sweet Southern boy husband does it!

So, welcome!

Real quick, to follow up on Friday's post....DOS got 5th place at the Winter Wishes Pom & Dance Competition.  They were up against at least 2 other studios that spend a LOT more time practicing than they do, and it shows.  I have the video posted on my YouTube page if you want to watch. They always seem to create a traffic jam going into their first kickline and I'm sure the judges can't help but notice!  And spacing. Um, yeah.  But other than those couple things, I think they did great & I'm proud of every single kid.  This picture was grabbed off the Dance Force Xpress FB page - Angela is the huge goofball the 3rd from the left in the front row, the one leaning oddly!  They're all yelling YEAH right here, so that's why their mouths are all open.

The official results haven't been posted yet, altho they said they would be.  Apparently all of the All Stars routines were close in points, I'd like to see how close!

So I'm going to get this linked up over at Amy's page, so hope to "see" you again!

#TFTLS

I forgot to post!

My meeting / weigh in was only last Tuesday!  But life happens.  And I had a 2.1 lb loss!  WOOHOOOO!

I did pretty good with my "diming".  I learned that browsing in an antique store means you're not walking hard enough for steps to register, so last Sunday I only had 1537 steps recorded!

It was nice having a menu planned out.  I have a white board on the fridge where I post this so I can see at a glance in the morning if there's anything I need to set out for that evening.  Or maybe if I want to switch days around, or whatever. I'll still know that I have the stuff to make whatever I choose.  I'm nothing if not flexible, we're not having Chinese this week, we're going out for bd's Mongolian BBQ.  Which is to my benefit, since I'll be using a LOT fewer SPs!

My Fitbit weekly report.  I love having it call me O Great One!

We're going out to dinner tonight because Miss Angela requested it.  She had her last All Star dance competition this morning and we think she deserves it.  I posted the video on my YouTube channel, but it'll be the same routine as the one posted in December.  They got 5th place this time! But they were up against 2 studios that we all know practice every day, and DOS does once a week.  Maybe the teachers need to think about that?
                 
So I'm going to keep this short for now and I'll post again after this week's weigh in.  I'll be going on Wednesday this week because I have an eye appointment Tuesday during my usual meeting time.  What the heck was I thinking when I took that time slot??  Sheesh.

Later!
#SnS

Hooray!

It's that time of year again!

Sign ups for the April A-Z Challenge open on Monday!  I think I'm only going to sign this one up this year instead of 2 or 3 blogs. I started a spreadsheet back in October when I was hit by inspiration with an A-Z blog post, so I have most of my topics figured out already.   Let's do this!

So, gosh.  I haven't posted in a while.

Monday the 11th, the Salvation Army came by and picked up Angel's old bedroom set and a whole lot of other crap out of her room.  She's really liking the beautiful oak set that my sister gave her.  And at least one of the cats loves to lay in front of the mirror!

It was nice to get all that out of the garage, since Randy had stacked it in front of the totes for the Christmas stuff!  So I couldn't do much by way of un-decorating until that all got moved.  Then...GAME ON!  The Christmas stuff went away and the "winter" decor came out. Snowmen & gingerbread men.  I have several of this guy's family.  I love his face!

So this is what we've been up to.  Crazy Ron, one of the truck drivers at my work, brought this lovely costume in for poor Jack.  His wife dresses up their dogs for any number of occasions and now he feels the need to share in the dog-shaming.  Oh, and he brings at least 5 pictures of his dogs in for us in the office.  I have a file in my desk labelled "Ron's Dogs" and have pictures dating back to 2005.  Sad!  At least this one velcro'd and fit around Jack's chest, unlike the Santa one that I squeezed him into.  As you can tell, he's still not happy but it was quite hilarious!  I actually love the little bracelets!

So, the shower off our bedroom has been un-usable for too many years to think about.  So I broke down and bought a shelving unit to fit in there and I finally have a place for towels & sheets!  (please ignore the nasty shower door - I wiped it down, but that white shit is caked on there!)  This little thing makes me feel so accomplished!  #smallhouseproblems  We used to keep towels in a dresser in Angel's closet but we could never get to them with her hamper & stuff in front of the closet door.  So next will be the get rid of that dresser so she can use her closet for clothes (and more costumes!)

Last Sunday, Randy and I wandered around a local antique / craft mall and I saw this completely impractical, yet awesome purple dragon pin.  I thought about that damn thing all day Monday and finally decided to go buy it.  I love it, but I have no idea what to do with it!  It's huge and too heavy to actually wear, unless I put it on a scarf or something.

I also bought this ~fabulous~ spider bling.  Truly, the iPhone pictures don't do either of these pieces justice - because that spider sparkles like crazy!  And the blue stone is spectacular.

Sunday is dance competition #2 of the season.  This one is gonna be great.  It's barely 10 miles away and if everything goes smoothly, like these seem to do....we should be done by 1pm at the very latest!!  I need to take advantage of this, since it's the last of the All Star competitions and the next 3 are regular team competitions.  Which means 7 routines instead of just one and most likely the entire weekend.  Miss Angela wants to stay and watch the HS varsity & JV dance teams go.  Her alma mater, Utica HS, is going to be there and she wants to watch them. 

I need to spell this out, because it's confusing.  She's on 2 different teams from the studio. The All Stars compete with high school dance teams doing pom routines and sometimes hiphop.  The competitions are held in the school gym.  Their outfits can stay their studio/school name.  The regular team competes on stage in auditoriums, against other studios.  All styles of dance are represented and the studio names are not advertised. This year, Angel is doing large group lyrical, senior small group tap, senior small group jazz, hiphop line, jazz line and then her duet & solo.  I confess I'm disappointed they're not doing senior small group hiphop this year, since last year they were FIERCE!!  Guess that's what happens with a bunch of kids practically grow up together doing what they love - they all compliment each other.

So the plans for tomorrow......Hmm.  I don't know!  Angel has to get her costumiform & accessories together but she's a big girl and can do that herself.  OH!  I forgot to update the costume issues.  So they didn't arrive until 3 pm the day before the last competition....and NONE of the skirts fit!  The company tried to say Terina (studio owner) didn't measure the girls right, but she knew she did.  So all their skirts were way too tight for them to use.  They tried and when they did the kickline, the skirts rode up around their hips.  So Terina went and bought them all black shorts to wear instead.  The skirts have since been replaced and while the black shorts looked nice enough, the skirts should be better.  I'll get a better picture this weekend of the entire costume worn correctly and with poms.  Here Angel & Maddie were clearly messing around.

Oh, yay!  Today was doctor / x-ray visit #1 of 2016!  She apparently got mad at the boyfriend a couple weeks ago and punched a wall.  Not smart.  Of course her hand & knuckles were swollen and bruised.  Then they healed and yesterday I got a text saying she smacked the same hand on the corner of the kitchen cabinet and her hand instantly swelled & turned purple. Luckily, there's no fracture or dislocations.  She just managed to hit it in just the right spot between the knuckles to be dramatic. So she's been icing it and that's about all she can do. 

Winter finally arrived, with a vengeance!  We don't have crap for snow, but damn its cold!  I feel sorry for those people along the East Coast right now getting feet of snow dumped on them and they have no way to clear that mess.  I was listening to a radio station out of Nashville on my way into work this morning and they took a call from a guy from Michigan who was on his way there in his snowplow to help.  The radio guys cheered, saying "Yay, professionals"!  Heck, the guy hasn't had much business up here, that's for sure!

Alrighty - I was just messing around until Miss Angela's curfew and now that she's home with time to spare and we've heard all about her day....it's time to sign off!

Week 2 of "Diming"

I didn't make it to my meeting tonight.  I'll go tomorrow.  Randy's been putting in some crazy insane hours at work (21 hours on Friday and all weekend, for example!!) and he told them he'd work from home today.  Once I got home from work & grocery shopping, I'd rather spend time with him instead of Rosa.  I can't even begin to express how much this work makes me want to throat-punch / kick-a-baby someone! 

So here's my rundown of the week in "Diming".  I earn a dime for each item on my list for a prospective $7.00 a week.  I'm working towards a massage.  

*I drank at least 80oz of water every day. 

*Forgot my vitamin Saturday, which is unusual. I take those every day religiously. 

*I journaled in my book every day.

*I only got 5 fruits & veg in 3 days.  Still a work in progress.

*I got 2 dairy every day, thanks to cheese sticks & yogurt!

*I knew each morning what we were having for dinner & planned accordingly. 

*I only hit 5K steps on 3 days.  It should be more, but I wore slippers most all day Saturday & Sunday and I tend to shuffle, so my steps didn't register.  Pppth.  Lesson learned!

*I tracked every day. 

*I did 15 minutes of FLYing 6 out of 7.

*And I was at least IN bed by 11pm 4 out of the 7 days.  Weekends are going to be a fail, since Saturday Night Live is on.  So 1/2 credit there, since we usually watch that while in bed. 

On the plus side...look!  I have next week's dinners already planned!  And backup ideas, since Randy wanted me to get the fixin's for cheeseburgers at the grocery store.

We went to a Thai restaurant for the first time Saturday night!  Mainly because Miss Angela works there.  She's a hostess, but our server gave her our table so she could serve us! Her manager was happy about that, since she's been wanting her to try out serving.  Anyhoo, we got a sampler appetizer with chicken satay (OMG, I did not know there was a void in my life that was filled by Thai peanut sauce!!), seafood rangoons and spring rolls.  Randy got the crispy chicken, since he's not adventurous at all and Angel has brought that home before for us to try.  I got the drunken noodles with shrimp.  It was all really good and I tracked it as well as I could. 

Look at Mooch Jack and Mooch Jr. Daisy.  They know Randy is the marshmallow who feeds them at the table.  This is after Jack almost licked the finish off that plate!

So that's all for tonight, I'll pop in tomorrow after weighing in to report.  I'm going to get ready for bed.  Randy didn't get home til 11:30 last night and of course I sat up waiting for him.  Then he had a support call that really pissed him off at 3:30am (I mean yelling & slamming stuff around mad!) so yeah, I was up again.  Then I slept thru the alarm (it goes off at 5:30 and Randy nudged me at 6:30!) and had to deal with bitter cold & snow on the way into work.  I was only 6 minutes late, tho!

Later!

#SnS

Skywatch Friday 1/8

A dreary day makes for a nice backdrop to "America's Largest Bebb Oak Tree"

Rochester Hills, MI

I guess sitting in traffic is good for something!

(a Bebb Oak is a hybrid of a White & Burr Oak) 

Linking up at Skywatch Fridays

#TFTLS

Keepin' on rollin'.

I skipped last week's weigh in because, yanno, Christmas. And New Year's.  So the 3.8 lb gain this week really wasn't a surprise, except for the leader's comment that I was up a LITTLE.  Really people.  I know they really can't say stuff like "OMG - what the hell, woman???"  But I know they're thinking it. 

So I'm doing pretty good on my dime challenge thingy.  I consider this first week a baseline, to see what I need to work on. Which is a lot!  But that's the whole purpose of this, so carrying on. 

 

I was actually journalling more than that, but I'd missed transferring it to the list on the next page, so missed a couple days. Ooops! 

Tuesday was pretty awesome that I actually earned my whole dollar!  I was happy to note as I reached over to turn out the lights that night that it was 10:47!  It really helps to set an alarm on my phone to go off at 10:15 to tell me to get ready for bed.  Or else I'll just keep dinking around on the 'puter or whatever. 

Last night I was physically in bed at 11, but the kid had chosen to come in and chat for a while.  She was telling us about work that morning and dance class. I couldn't really kick her out.

I wish I could have my FitBit week start on Tuesday, also.  It only gives me the option of Sunday or Monday. But I do get a progress report each week from them!  I like that.  And I thought it was just me, but I heard the owner of the company I work for comment that he had to exaggerate steps on the stairs for them to register on his FitBit.  So I've been jogging up the stairs at work.  And I'm up & down them 100 times a day (exaggerating slightly).

The dog guilted me into going for a walk last night. I donated blood right after work, then came home for all of 30 minutes, before having to leave to meet Randy for dinner and then going to a meeting.  During that 30 minutes, I changed into jeans and tennis shoes, while Jack watched me closely.  He associates me putting tennis shoes on with going for a walk, so he was hopeful!  Sorry buddy.  It was almost 9 by the time I got from from the meeting and I let him out & fed him.  After all that, he was still watching me with those darn hopeful puppy-dog eyes.  So at 9:30 last night, in my pajama pants & winter boots, I took him for a walk.  We just went around a couple blocks but it made him happy.

The walk took me well over my target steps for the day quite nicely.  Which is better / less annoying than me marching around the house, clumping in my slippers like I did the other night!  I marched while cooking dinner and cleaning up afterward.  Then marched into Angel's room to bother her, then back in to look over Randy's shoulder at his phone, etc.  Heehee!  But I got my steps in!

I got a bunch of steps in tonight by finally taking down all the Christmas blowmolds (20!! But it sure doesn't look like it.) from the front yard and putting them away.  It sure took a lot less time and effort than it does after Halloween!  I took each one just behind the fence, one by one.  Then I gathered up all the extension cords, and took each mold behind the garage to where their off-season abode is.

I'm glad I decided to do this tonight instead of waiting til this weekend. It's supposed to be warmer, but rain & snow all weekend.  Blargh.

Oooh, my alarm will be going off soon, so I'm going to get a jump on things!  Later!

#SnS

2015 in review

I've never done a post like this, so let's see how this goes! 

January 

babysitting the puppy-nephew

 Injury #3 of the dance season - a sprained ankle that took until September to finally heal!

 Monster Jam

 February

practicing for driver's training

National Champs for Senior Small Group Lyrical

The Movement Project

 March

St. Pat's Girls Night Out

U of M Dance Invitational

The Movement Project

"A Walk in the Park"

Edge National Dance Competition

Dancers Only Studio

 April

A night of Comedy!

Colin Mocherie & Brad Sherwood from Whose Line is It Anyway

The Whiting, Flint MI

 May

Senior year skidding to a close......

 Mother's Day

1st place for Senior Jazz Duet

Showbiz National Talent Competition

"Cold Hearted Snake"

Heading off to drive alone for the first time! 

 June

 ~sob~

 Senior Prom

 1st day of Kindergarten vs last day of high school

 July

I'll spare you what's under the band-aid.

Randy's & mine 9th anniversary

 Vacation!

  August

Painting with a Twist

 Graduation Party

 DOS car wash

My 29th (again) birthday!

 September

Once a Chieftain, Always a Chieftain - Homecoming

Miss Daisy became part of our family. 

 to celebrate my 20th anniversary of becoming a Shellback (crossing the Equator initiation)

 Miss Angela turned 18 and got her first tattoo. 

 October

New furnace!  One that doesn't sound like it's a flamethrower when it kicks on. 

I never posted about this, but it happened!

 Riding a camel with my niece at the Ohio Ren Faire

Halloween!

 November

Our first (and so far only) real snowfall

 The result of said snowfall. 

Thanksgiving - watching the equine niece & nephew chase their new pasturemate.

 DaisyMae is settling in!

 What happens when someone steals my phone. 

 December

1st competition of the season!

Michigan State Spirit Showdown

Dancers Only Studio

 4th place! 

 December

me & the sisters, Christmas Eve

 Christmas dinner at Zehnders.

 2am shenanigans in Frankenmuth

Happy 2016, ya'll!

#TFTLS