One more post for the year!

Holy crap.  Ya know that saying that the days going fast but they year goes slow?  Yup. 

But first & foremost....

This bump is indeed still there!  

Miss Angela was due on the 26th and little Burrito is showing no attempt at making an appearance. 

We've been out walking every day, at least a mile, if not 2 miles.   She is getting tired easier, tho.  We went about 1.6 miles today and she was out of breath a lot. 

We were upwind from these does and the big one on the far left was rather interested in us.  

So how was Christmas in your neck of the woods?  

This was so true!  It was in the upper 40s on Christmas day.  There was fog in the morning, so I guess that counts as our white Christmas. 

Or the swirly white clouds do. 

We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's house and we had a good time.  I can't believe we had the almost the entire family there and nobody got any group photos!  We played a game where my niece wrapped up a bunch of goodies (like mini booze bottles & lottery tickets) in plastic wrap and we had to wear an oven mitt on our dominant hand and try to unwrap as mush as we could while the person next to us tried to roll doubles on some dice.   Lots of laughs!

Christmas Day we all met up at a local Chinese restaurant for dinner, since Angel's midwife recommended her NOT to go to Frankenmuth for dinner like we'd planned, since it's well over an hour away from our house / her hospital.  Not even masses of sweet & sour chicken helped her go into labor!

Earlier in the month, my niece coordinated "A December to Remember" at the golf course she works at.  They had Santa in the clubhouse, along with vendors selling stuff and food.  They passed out a pamphlet and had a word scramble game and guess what the emojis were saying type game.  Then we had to go around can count how many Santa stickers and wreaths were in the clubhouse.  

 It was pretty fun. 

It was dog friendly, too. 

Ranger (sister's dog) can't see much, but he was interested in Santa!

Last Sunday we went to Rochester for dinner and to see the lights. 

It was a mild night, so there were tons of people out!  

 My knees have been doing pretty good with all this walking.  I've been going to physical therapy for a couple weeks and I'm noticing a big difference.  The therapists are having me concentrate on strengthening my hips, oddly enough.  But they affect the knees, so I guess they know what they're doing.  I always thought I had some strong muscles on the outside of my thighs, but apparently it's just the tendons that are super tight.  So each time I go to PT, they use a rolling pin on my thighs and it really freakin' hurts!   I do occasionally get shooting pains behind my kneecaps so that's still a thing.  And stairs are a trial.   

 Christmas Eve morning....

I love this tree on my way into work.  

Which, I was expecting to be there all day, but I did less than a half, since there was nothing going on!

 Santa Kisses & Santa Remmie! 

 Our tree.

 Angel toddling out of her room in her onsie on Christmas Day.... 

 So between Santa & the white elephant gift exchange during the SAR Cmas Party, I've gotten some more cool things for my pack.  I'm excited about the GPS,tho.  It's exactly like the ones the team has, but it's nice to have my own.  And the geocache setting is pretty cool, too. 

 The sunset coming from from our walk the other night.  The ground fog was so creepy! 

 Some LOLs to keep in mind for next year.  

 So I did indeed pass my amateur radio test and moved up a notch to a general license.  I was pretty confident that I'd pass on my first try, since that 12 week class was so helpful!  And I did.  I was sitting next to the one other guy from my class who was taking it (the class started out with 7 people, a couple dropped out and the rest took the test early and passed so they didn't come back) and of course there were people there who knew Randy.  In fact, how they told me I passed was Jay came over and told me the Randy owed me a box of chocolates!  

Another thing that happens at these exams, is once you pay for and pass one test, is you get to try the next higher test for free.  So Jerry, the guy who coordinated the class I took, came over and put the Extra exam in front of me.  They said I did really good for getting 20 out of 50 correct.  Considering I was looking at words that I'd never seen before! 

There was a mostly hearing-impaired man sitting next to me.  He took his technician exam, passed it and told the examiner to bring on the general exam.  HE PASSED IT!  and was working on his extra exam when I left.  I kind of wanted to stay and see how he did on that, too!  

Next month is our search & rescue team recruitment night - I'm sure it'll get more attention after this nice article in The Lapeer County Press.

Here's how Chuck's turkey costume turned out for Thanksgiving!  I'll be redoing the feathers for next year, but the rest I'm pretty happy with.  Look at his feet!!!!  I was giggling was I sewed them on! 

Gosh, it's not even 7pm and it seems so much later!  I'd best go get dinner on for the family before the natives get restless!

Hoping to have a post soon with some GOOD NEWS in it!

What's Up, Weekend? 11/15/19

I am linking up with the lovely ladies Lindsay, Beth & Charlotte at the Peaceful Posse. There's too much crap & negativity in the world, so these are all positive / happy / grateful posts in this linkup.

Holy crap - I didn't even write a Veteran's Day post this year!!  Sheesh.  I'm slacking.  Guess because I was too busy shoveling the 9+ inches of snow that got dumped on us Monday.

 At least it's pretty!  

 We got another inch plus over night. 

Sunday, Randy & I went out to sister Laurie's to get the grandbaby's dresser that's been in her garage for a month or two.  And we stayed to help her do some stuff around her house to get ready for winter - that ended up taking a lot longer than expected, and we still had to work on our own yard!  We got home and blew leaves out of the gutters and the front yard, got all the flowerpots emptied & stashed in the shed.  The patio furniture & garden hose got put away.  And the last thing we did - after dark, of course, was cut down a branch in the tree out front that was hanging in front of the awning.   

We got done just in time. I drove to work Monday in a light coating, but it was nasty coming home!  And I had a doctor's appointment to get to.   

Ya know - I don't think I ever mentioned it!  I finally went to get my knees checked out!  They took x-rays and thought they saw a possible bone chip in my left and sent me for an MRI on it. I had that last week.  This one was to talk about the results.  No bone chip, but there is a small tear in my meniscus and I have osteoarthritis in both of them.  So I'm opting to do physical therapy, if I ever remember to call and set up an appointment.

 We had a beautiful sunrise Tuesday, tho. 

We've had a busy week, so it's nice to sit here & chill for a while.  Monday we got all that snow.  I've been going to a class to upgrade my amateur radio license on Tuesday nights.  I'm nearing the end of the 12 week course and the test is December 3.  Wednesday was supposed to be my WW meeting to learn about the new program and then a VFW meeting and I skipped out on both.  Randy left yesterday for Arkansas, so Wed night was the only night we had to get furniture moved around in Angel's room.  I needed him there for that, since Angel couldn't help move her heavy desk out into the garage or that equally heavy dresser in from the back of my car.  

So I went to WW last night & that's when she decided to text me about how does someone know if they have hemorrhoids or not.

Yes - I laughed!
Because I can relate.

 So we went on a quest for Preparation H and medicated wipes and also for storage bags that you suck the air our of for the multitude of dance costumes that she has.   

34 weeks & her furry orange hemorrhoid. 

(He's not the one she's trying to remove.) 

Today at work we were supposed to wear our "team colors" because the Michigan State / University of Michigan game is this weekend.  The owner of the company and all his sisters (department heads) went to State, so they mess with anyone who dares wear blue & maize.  

My contribution to the board in the conference room is in red, down in the corner - LOL!  I usually wear something with the Razorbacks since I don't have a preference in Michigan rivalry and I figure in my world, husband outranks work.  

 Apparently the baseboard heater can get quite hot - and the hot water pipes aren't covered in the back of Angel's closet.  This is the garment bag with my wedding dress in it!   Luckily my dress is OK.  

And I tried it on, for shitz & gigglez.  I am approximately the same size I was when I wore it, since I couldn't get it zipped up.  And for my wedding (in 2006) I was sucked into a corset. 

That's depressing. 

 I went to Joann Fabrics on the way home tonight to get the fixin's for a craft project I want to do and found these adorable ugly Christmas sweater earrings!  I love me some funky earrings!  

Oh - the project I want to do? 

I'm going to make Chuck a turkey costume for Thanksgiving! 

So that's all that going on around here.  Randy safely got to his buddy's house in Arkansas.  Angel has to work in the morning, so I will be either going to the gym for a bit since I haven't been there in way too long - or I'll start doing some cleaning / purging in this house.  

Ugh.  Choices. 

They both need to be done, but there's only one of me!

  The vet is coming out to Laurie's house sometime tomorrow to do some dental work on one of the horses and he'll likely need to be sedated.  I offered to go if she needed help. I'm hoping she doesn't call, but if she does that's where I'll go.  

But for now - I have kitties telling me it's time to crawl into bed.  And I believe them!

Stay warm everyone!

This is what I have to look forward to. 

Catching up!

Woooo-weee!  It's been a minute!  How's everything?
Let's grab some coffee & settle in for the long haul!

I swear the last month + has just flown by since I last posted!

Let's see what I got without making this post crazy long. 

Miss Angela's birthday was 9/28.  22!   She had to work in the morning (so I started setting up my cemetery for Halloween), that evening we met Randy for dinner up in Frankenmuth where he was playing radio for the Bike MS150,
But of course, first we had to stop at the outlet mall in Birch Run and look for some maternity tops for her.  She's been fortunate that she'd been getting away with her regular t-shirts so far.

10/3/19 - the official start of her third trimester!

I finally got my official certificate & patches from NASAR proclaiming me to be a certified search & rescue technician.

Daisy, because she's adorable.

10/12/19 was the annual Polly Ann Trail Ride fundraiser.  This is a fun event!  For $15 that goes toward upgrades & maintenance on the rail trail, we got coffee/hot chocolate & bagels/donuts before heading out.  We could ride as far as we wanted on the trail, then had chili & hotdogs when we got back.

It was chilly, but ended up being an awesome day to be out riding. 

We ride into a nearby little town and took a little break at the trailhead there before heading back.   We were out for close to 4 hours, I think.  It felt like longer!  When your knees hurt, any time in the saddle feels like forever!  But on the other hand, when you enjoy being in the saddle -  you suck it up and try to ignore the hurty knees.

We had a giggle when we passed another group of riders on the trail - they were all in jeans & sweatshirts & ball caps.  Then here's me & Laurie wearing our SAR jackets (because they're light but warm!!) and wearing helmets.  Helmets are a SAR team requirement when you're on a horse.  It's just gotten to be habit for us so we don't think twice about wearing them. 

Chuck went along for his very first ride!  The bag that my helmet goes in fit him perfectly.  And Kisses wasn't bothered at all by it hanging off the saddle.

We'd just gotten back to Laurie's after the ride, when I got a call from one of the officers from the VFW.  There is a retired USAF Brigadier General who decided to run for US Congress and he wanted some Veterans to be in his video announcing his running - specifically a female Vet!  So Mike called me!

Just a disclaimer - I don't get political EVER on my blog - but I most definitely do NOT vote for either of the main money-hungry, corrupt political parties.  So let's ignore that I am in a commercial for a Republican. 

Purty!

We met at Metro Beach, which is right next to Selfridge Air National Guard Base on Lake St. Clair. 

There were 3 of us from my post and 4 from another VFW post. 

It was really interesting to see how they shoot a "professional" TV commercial. 

Since you can't hear what we're saying - we were chatting about whatever.  As we sat around the table, he was asking us when & how long we were in and what we did.  

Note to self.
If there's ever a chance you're on TV - don't make stupid faces!

Here's the whole video if you really want to see it. 

I can be seen at .52

The following weekend was a "Truck or Treat" put on my the Lapeer Public Library and I volunteered to go with the SAR team.  I thought it was going to be lame, since I mis-read it and thought it was a regular ol' trunk or treat.  Nope!  

This was basically "community helpers" and their trucks in a parking lot!  So there was a cement truck, a couple tow trucks, an ice cream truck, a garbage truck that was oddly popular with the kids, a couple school buses, a police car, first truck, ambulance and then us.  I know Lt wanted a "pony" there but he had to make due with just one K9 who is in training.
And Chuck - LOL!
It might mot have been a big turn out in the number of trucks, but there were no shortage of kids that came by!!

That night was the Clinton Township Neighbor Haunt - I hope they do this every year, since it was a hoot!

I'll just attach links to my other blog's posts about it. 

Part 1

Part 2

We finally got our pumpkins / cider / donuts!

With her "baby" pumpkin.

We made the mistake of telling Angel when she was little she could pick out any pumpkin she wanted, as long as she could carry it to the car.  We didn't require her to carry the huge pumpkin she found, but she had to be at least able to pick it up!

 

Finally, 10/27 was her baby shower.  

We were on the way to Laurie's house (she offered to have it there) and asked if she needed anything from the store.  She said TP or we'd be having to use leaves.  

Of course, Mom suggested we stop and get some leaves as a joke!

It was loosely based on a Nightmare Before Christmas (since she's due 12/26) but was more Halloween-y.  And everyone was invited to dress up!

Some of her male co-workers said they wanted to come, so guys were invited.  Then nobody from work even showed up!  So it was all family.  But we had a good time anyway.   

She was an angel (LOL!) with devil horns poking out of her belly. 

I never thought to get that much use out of that muumuu!  

I had already changed out of it when we decided to take a family pic.  I'm sure it looked "better" with my white crew socks and no gray shirt hanging out of the neckline & sleeves. 

Then Halloween with it's crappy weather happened.  Friday ended up being a nice, but chilly, day and we got the cemetery taken completely down and the flower beds cleaned out.  Saturday was also crappy, so we started rearranging Angel's room to make room for the crib.  That's still a work in progress.  Sunday we got all the Halloween put away and the yard mostly cleaned up & mowed.  We just need to put away the patio furniture and empty the flower pots of the sad annual plants that didn't like the hard frost we got the other night. 

Randy will be leaving this week for his annual November trip to Arkansas.  I really need to get this house purged of all the clutter before the baby comes, so I'm hoping to make a good dent while he's gone.  I just need to get motivated!  I heard a couple comments at the shower about how she didn't register for a whole lot.  Wellllll, where can we put it?????   Baby's not going to be lacking in necessities.   I mean, look what I found today!

 A blankie for the car seat & matching binkie strap. 

Because anchors! 

 Pee-pee Tee-pees!  To hopefully prevent little boy fountains during diaper changes. 

We saw these in the store while browsing for the registry, but I told Angel there was a lady at the craft show we always go to who sells them and I'd rather get them from her.   This lady was very appreciative. 

Adorable bibs. 

Today was the first of the craft shows that I go to with Mom & the sisters.  We always have a good time, even tho the local high school / middle school were packed with people!   I got the stuff above for the grandbaby and I found a pretty ornament and wreath made out of bird food for the mother-in-law.   And some cute earrings for Easter with bunnies and a pair with candy corns, since I can never have enough Halloween earrings!   And a sparkly travel mug that says "Motherhood is a walk in the park" and there's a Jurassic Park emblem behind it and the patterns in the glitter are claw marks & dinosaur footprints.  I thought that was hilarious!

So as far as I can think, that's thoroughly blown the dust off the blog and I'll hopefully get back into the swing of posting again!