Friday, June 15, 2018

Just popping in!

All is well & good here at the Love Shaque.  

Busy - which is why I haven't been around!  

The Spawn & I leave next Thursday for Orlando and I'm starting to feel the crunch of all that I need to do, both at home and at work.  

Tonight is dress rehearsal for the recital & tomorrow is the actual recital.  I stopped into the studio last night and caught the mock election results (Angel is the "Super" Senior - heehee!)  and all the parents there were invited in to watch Girl Power (hiphop) and the way the teacher "motivated" the girls is by telling them that it was the last time they'd be doing this dance in this studio AND they would be doing it in front of the very people who are paying for them to go to Nationals. 

Yet another bittersweet moment.

So I need to get busy if I want to leave a bit early from work today.  I'll leave you with the awesome video that one of the teachers at the studio made of all the dances she choreographed this year.  You'll see Angel's solo in there in her burgundy dress.  
Watch & enjoy.  

On the plus side - once I get home from Florida, I'll have lots of blog posts! 
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Friday, June 1, 2018

What UP, Weekend? June 1 edition

 Hey!  It's been a while (again!)  This is a neat little link up with my favorite ladies at the Peaceful Posse FB page and LindsayBeth and Charlotte (I hope I didn't get the links mixed up!) where we share positive & happy things from the last week. Because who doesn't love positivity in the world??
As I was going thru the pics on my phone, I'm adding some that just plain entertained me, too!
Random text I sent the fam from the grocery store.
I'm sure people were looking at me funny as I was giggling in the freezer section while editing this.
 This I'm pretty sure is a muddy/greasy tire track from a forklift across the back of some papers that a truck driver turned in at work.  Not sure why I found this interesting, but it is!  It's like an artistic concert scene from behind the crowd....

We had a pretty low-key holiday weekend.  Friday, ~gasp~ Randy got home before me!!  His company *says* everyone can leave early, but 99 times out of 100, he gets hit with a project at the last minute that he won't leave until it's done.  But he was home!  So I made him go to the meat market with me.  Got to have meat for grilling on Memorial weekend!
 Giant nutcracker in the wine section.

Saturday (damn, it was hot!) I slept in and then almost felt guilty for starting up the lawn mower at 10am, because the neighborhood was so quiet.  Buts as soon as I started ours up, 2 other people on the block started, too!  Then I went to the greenhouse & got my annuals for the season.  Angel went with me, because she wanted to stop and get a replacement earring for one of her many piercings (seriously - 13 in just her ears at last count!) and then got one that had closed up redone.
I got all my flowers planted.  I'm pretty happy with my somewhat funky selections.  I secretly try to choose flowers that are Halloween-y, but Angel caught me when I was looking at black petunias.  I passed on the petunias, but I got a variety of sweet potato vine called Bewitched!  It's the bright green one, top right corner.  
I got away with it in 2015 when she graduated, since her school colors were black, white & orange.
Are these not the coolest?  Totally love these!
They don't even look like real flowers.

Sunday (damn, it was hot!) we dug out the air conditioners.
Hi!
We had to dig a lot of the holiday totes out of the way so we could get them out.  
And they happen to be underneath the skeletons!
 Jack isn't smart enough to realize that the branches to this tree almost touch the branches of the maple on the other side of the yard - making it easy for squirrels to escape him.  He stared up into this tree for a long time. 
 On Memorial Day (damn, it was hot!), we got to help the VFW (and ball players) carry the giant flag out onto the field for the Anthem before the Eastside Diamond Hoppers vs Utica Unicorns game at Jimmy John's field.
The player directly behind Randy introduced himself as the guy whose in the background of all my pics!
very funny lol GIF
Angel & part of the Dance Crew
'Nuff said.
 Also seen at Kroger....
This is only the second time I've gotten roses on my "Dad" rose. 
Dad loved his roses and I was happy that Mom let me dig this up from her yard the summer (2010) after he passed away. 
Not sure why it doesn't bloom more.  It looks happy!

So this weekend...guess what?  Another baseball game!!  I haven't watched this much baseball ever.  
The Diamond Hoppers have played at both games we've been to already (and will be again Saturday night) and since Randy likes frogs - I guess we're Hopper fans. 
Yeah, there are only 4 teams in this league.  
But this time, Angel's not working with the Dance Crew - her studio is going to be there doing their hiphop routine on the field!  So she'll actually get to sit and watch the game with us. 
At least this one starts at 7:05pm.

Sunday is a family reunion at a nearby park.  So we'll go put in an appearance and hang out with the cousins for a while.  My mom is the last of the older generation left. 

Looking ahead - I've begun my list of things to take when Angel & I go to Florida!   Less than 3 weeks!  I'm getting excited about this.  Not about the fact that it'll be her last dance competition ever, but just getting a chance to go places I didn't think I'd really ever get to see again. 
We're going to fly into Atlanta & rent a car and do some sightseeing (aka a detour over to Kings Bay, where I was stationed on my first boat, back in my early Navy days) on our way to Orlando for Nationals!  This will be a fun trip!!

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