Fall Choir Concert

Check it out!  Both kids are in choir AND their concert was ON THE SAME NIGHT.  That never happened before because they were always in different buildings.  Wahoo!  It was a great concert.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the choir department/director at their school!!

J's Pictures

Jeanette and Grandma both came to the concert with us.  J took some great shots.  Thanks for sharing!

Dude, you're amazing.

No Dude, you're amazing.

No, you totally nailed that note.

Dude, I know you just tooted!

Or something like that...

Sneak Preview

That cute little red headed girl.  She's the prince's TWIRP date.  :)

The boy 3rd in on the left, bangs in his eyes.  Nice boy.  Has got to school with the prince these 13 years.  He can't dance.  This is a swing choir.  They have choreography with their music.  I've been watching Luke be one step behind for over two years now.  Who will entertain me next year, after he's graduated????

I asked for it.

Today in Crazy Town:

6th grader:  May I use the restroom.

Me:  Will it be quick?

6th grader:  I don't know.

Me:  Wrong answer.  If it's not quick, you may not go.

6th grader:  Well it's #2.  I just don't know.


Okay, I totally set myself up for that.  And yes, I let him go.  And yes, he was reasonably quick.

Becky's Analogy

My niece, Becky, has an awesome blog.  This is perhaps one of her most clever posts, and I begged her to let me re-post it here.  Becky's in her early 20's and single.  She's looking for love!  I love her analogy!

Over the years, I've had to create slightly humorous analogical situations to express the current standpoint of my dating life.

In 2009-2010 ish, I created a story about my "island". On this island, I was the ruler (of course), but I had several advisers. These advisers consisted of my most trusted guy friends. The only guys I trusted at the time. The rest of the guys in the world were just partying on the island. But once one of them did something to harm me in any way, they got voted off the island. Sometimes they would only be banished to swim in the sea...but most of the times they got fed to sharks or something.

Anyways. Since that time I have not had a new analogy until a few months ago. I'll give Amy the credit of coming up with it to begin with. I just embellish it from time to time. So here is my explanation of my car analogy (per request of Lauren Budge).

So I'm driving a car, right? From time to time, there will be a guy in the passenger seat. The guy I'm currently interested in and who is doing most things right. Sometimes there will be another chilling in the backseat. That guy is a great guy, but I'm not as interested in him as I am with the guy in the passenger seat. And then you have the trunk. Guys get thrown in there if they've done something to get them in the dog house. They have potential to return into the main seating though. Meanwhile, there are hitchhikers. These guys are the ones who just really don't try. But I still hold onto them. They could get in the car anytime they'd like...if they'd make effort. And last, but not least, you have the guys who get hit by a semi. They're special...

So yes. Kind of fun.

TWIRP Instructions

The prince found this message in a bottle on the doorstep today with TWIRP details.  It was properly in the bottle at the time, not looking like this.  And the instructions are hilarious, so I'll type some of them there.  I don't quite get the fish theme, but it's funny!  And punny!

Ahoy There!

If you are reading me, I hope you don't think that island-ed on your doorstep by accident.  It means that you've been hooked by some lucky lady for TWIRP, and it will be a swell time!  But I'm shore you could probably use some more pacific details, so here they are:

Among my favorites:

3:30 Pick-up so have your hair fin-ished and shoes tide!

11:00 PM  Shenanigans:  After the dance, the reel fun starts.  I hope you don't have otter plans.  I anchor-age you to bring a change of clothes so you don't get crabby.

Anywave, can't wait to sea you November third!  If you have any questions or concerns, please just let minnow and I'll try to kelp you out.

"Don't take my picture!"

Bwahahaha!  The one with the camera has all the power!!

One more dance funny:

Aunt Lynelle and cousin Amanda came to watch a bit of the princess at the start of the Modern workshop.  Think of Modern as, "You're a tree.  Become the tree.  Feel the tree.  Shake your leaves."  It wasn't that extreme, but that's kind of the way modern is.  

Amanda was sitting next to me, and I told her, "You could do that."

She said, "No.  I would feel stupid."

I said, "They don't feel stupid."

And in true, teen honesty she said, "Well they should!"

Oh, Amanda!!

Dance Workshops!

We took off Thursday for the annual dance workshop.  This is the best money we spend on dance each year.  For $90 the princess had 18 hours of dance taught by national dance professionals.  It was GREAT! 

 There was ballet.

 Learning to clap in jazz.

 Modern.

There was also hip hop.  

No photos, but I have video I might try to upload at another time.

 There was "fancy" dinner.

 And there was a sword fight with her bff.

Good times!

Until next year...

About "The Night Journal"

I gave "The Night Journal" by Elizabeth Crook 3 stars.  This is the second time I have read this book, and I really liked it this time.  I think I liked it last time, but I liked it more this time.  

This is the story of 4 generations of women.  Hannah, the oldest, has long since died, and left her night journals (diaries) to her daughter, Claudia.  Claudia had them published and has spent her life championing them.  Meg, Hannah's great granddaughter, has never read them.  This is the story of Meg finally reading the journals, of family dynamics, and of closure.  Good book!

Walmart

Annoyed doesn't even begin to cover it.  I don't complain too much about Walmart because, well, they're Walmart.  I don't expect much.  But after the near-mouse experience the other day, I figured they owed me. Apparently they didn't.  I have decided this up-coming long weekend is the perfect time to update my photos.  Unfortunately I haven't printed photos since last year.  So the other night I was at Walmart to order January-May.  I was able to pick those up last night without a mouse experience.

Yesterday I ordered June-August online, planning to also pick those up last night.  I was fearful from the start because immediately after posting the order I got an email from them saying my order was "delayed" and to please contact the store.

I did contact the store...went in in person...last night.  The gal working had no record of my order but suggested maybe they were at the Walmart across town.  I think she thought I was just going to get in my car for that 1 hour round-trip excursion at 7:30 PM.  NOT!  I asked her to call them and see if they were there. No, they were not.

So I picked up the other photos I ordered and decided to check my bank account, having paid for the online order with my debit card.  Sure enough.  I've been billed for them.  Seriously?  Seriously!  I'd like to tell you I'm off to Walmart this morning to deal with this problem but alas, I am not.  I am off to the central part of the state with the bffs for a 4-day dance workshop.  Walmart will have to wait until next Monday.  Maybe they'll have solved my problem by then.

But probably not.

Meanwhile, don't expect anymore blogging from me for a few days.  I'm not taking  my broken computer with me.  And I'm not taking the king's Kindle with me either.  I'm so nice.

eek!

For those of you who didn't get my text last night:

I was in the Walmart parking lot in the dark last night.  I looked down and realized I was about to step on a mouse!  As it started to skitter away I screamed.  Turns out it was just a leaf!

My bad!

Maybe she's not ready...

Yesterday the princess asked me if I have scheduled her appointment with the DMV to get her driver's license.  I have not and told her I'm not sure she has all her hours in.  I'd have to check.  (I don't think she's close and will be driving a few more months before I make the appointment.  By the way, the earliest she can take it is about December 7 anyway, but appointments should be made a month or so in advance.  They are sooooooooooooooooooo busy down there...see post from summer!)

Last night she drove us home from dance.  About 30 minutes later I went to throw something away in the garage and heard a weird noise.  I wondered why the dryer was echoing in the garage.  Upon further inspection it turned out she'd parked the car and turned the lights off but HADN'T TURNED THE CAR OFF!!!  Oops!

The king recommended opening the garage door for a few minutes to get rid of the carbonmonoxide.  I relayed the situation to the princess who promptly posted it on facebook (which give me implied permission to post on the blog!)  And so maybe, just maybe, she's not ready to get that license yet!  Let's hope I have enough gas to get to work today!

Happy Birthday, Marty!

Happy Birthday, Marty!

Is this life a wonderful ride or what????

Enjoy!

The Birthday Bash!

We got to help Kathi celebrate her 50th birthday last night!  It was a great time.  Lots of her closest friends/family, adult beverages (you can tell by her squinty eyes that she might have had a few before we arrived), pizza, cake, and lots of laughs.  The crown and scepter are compliments of us.  She wore them all night, as any good birthday princess should do.  Happy Birthday, Kathi...and many, many more!

 Her bff ordered this cake for her.

How cool is it?

And it was delicious!

These guys were good sports to hang out for a bit with the goofy adults.  

They did make a polite exit after pizza!

They are lucky to have some really great family!

10-13 Cheer

Another win for the JV team...again it must be all that great cheering.  This was a COLD, windy, spitting rain game.  But check out the pink poms!  And this is how they get to dress when it's cold.  Under Armour tops under cheer top, topped with a cheer jacket, and yoga pants under cheer skirt.  There were gloves and head bands too.  They weren't going to do any builds because it was too cold, but the sun came out the last quarter so they got to show us their stuff.  Great job, girls.  You'll have to look hard for the princess in those builds.  She's hiding in the back in both of them!

 That's a "Full" lift!

Princess on the far right, getting ready to catch her if she falls!

10-12 Cheer

Friday was a cross-town rivalry game.  We had the same win-loss record as that school, but they were ranked #8 and we were #9.  Not anymore!  We won easily...must have been all that great cheering!  Grandma and Kathi came to cheer too, which can't have hurt.  The prince thought it was Senior night and that we'd be escorting him while he was introduced.  Turns out that's next week, at the other cross-town match, at the game we will have to work really, really hard to win and will have to have a little extra luck for good measure.  We can do it!!!

 This is called a half--because their arms aren't extended.  

This is EASY for him!

 He's on the far left.  Doing another half.  

Huh?  Why isn't he doing a full with one of those middle groups.

Those girls are AWESOME!

Clearly I need better camera position.

Catching Ally.

She never worries that he'll miss!

Check out her pink bloomers and pink bow.  It was "Pack the Park in Pink", a precursor to "Pack the Place in Pink" which will be in a couple of weeks.   There was a lot of pink in the stands on both sides, which was GREAT!  There are also pink pom poms, and last year the football players wore pink socks, but they didn't this year.  :(  The players do sell pink bracelets though to help raise funds.  Grandma and I got ours!

The Pumpkin Patch

Check it out.  Ana and Sparky went to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday.  Their mom said it was very cold, and they left early!  I hope they got a pumpkin!

Happy Birthday, Kathi!

Happy Birthday, Kathi!

You look great, barely a day over 29!

We're looking forward to 

helping you celebrate this one on Saturday!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Robin!

Happy Birthday, Robin!

Have a wonderful day and year!

We love you!

(And yes, I know you're celebrating your birthday in sunny Mexico.  Hope you're having a great time!  Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.)

Road Trip!

On Saturday Cool J decided to take the girls on an impromptu road trip.  They were going to go camping, but the snow killed that dream so they googled "things to do here this weekend" and found a Harvest Festival going on about 250 miles away.  (Yes, family.  Ye ol' stompin' grounds.)  They had to get up early on a Saturday, but they were willing to do so for their road trip.  The festival promised vendors, a parade, and chicken scratch bingo.  Alas, the festival was a BUST.  Six vendors, no parade--although they waited and waited for it to begin--and no bingo.  They packed up their dreams and headed back up the interstate to a "real" town where they hit the mall and the local Fuddruckers.  They had a little fun at a costume shop too.  And of course, they tamed a vicious dinosaur, so the trip wasn't a total bust!  In truth, they had a great time, got some good nap-time in the car, and would go again in a heartbeat!  Thanks J!

Columbus

Some of us still have to work today...unless we're MB.  Here are a few tidbits about Columbus that I learned on MSN.com today:


Did you know?
1.  Columbus did not set out to prove the world was round.  That had been done 2000 years earlier.  He did greatly underestimate the circumference though.
2.  Columbus did not discover America.  The people who had lived there for hundreds of years not withstanding, he landed in the Bahamas and until his death thought he had landed in Asia.
3. Columbus did not die unknown and in poverty.  He had a modest income although he suffered from severe arthritis.
4. Columbus did do something significant.  While he didn't do what he set out to do when he left Spain, he did do much to understand trade winds in between the Caribbean and Europe.

Merry Christmas

The King bought himself an early Christmas present.  He got a Kindle Fire.  He's been looking at e-readers for awhile.  He likes to read but is too "busy" to go to the library (really, that's what he told his mom--that and something about the gas it takes to get to the library about 3 miles away), and he was really wanting one that is easy to use and has back light.  Low and behold I noticed that Best Buy has dropped the price of the Fire because they have an HD version out now.  Since he wants it primarily for reading, he doesn't care about the HD feature.  Yesterday he motored on over to Best Buy and hooked himself up.  He charged it a bit and by last night he had downloaded a couple of books from the library (with some help from Jeanette) and was happily reading away.  I would like to point out that it was MY library account he used, and MY Amazon account he used, thus when he logs on, the computer now thinks that's MY Kindle!!  :)  And I have to say that it was relatively easy to upload those books.  I had heard you needed a certain Adobe program on your computer and that basically you uploaded the book to your computer and then to the reader (I think that might be true with older readers), but here he logged into the library account, chose a book that was available as an electronic version AND was Amazon-friendly (that seems to matter), clicked a few buttons, and it was loaded!  The Kindle was plugged into the computer at the time, and it did take him to the Amazon site to finish (he was not charged).  So I wish him very happy reading.  I'm pretty sure him getting a facebook account is only months away now!!

That Boy!

Dinner Conversation Tonight:

Me:  Do you have any homework?
Prince: Only to learn a song for choir.
Princess:  That's what he was doing when I called him to dinner.
Me:  No.  I heard very loud bass booming.
Prince: No, that was choir music.
Princess: Yes.  He was singing when I knocked on his door.
Me:  NO!  There was loud bass.
Prince:  Only while I was pooping!
Me:  That's going on the blog.
Prince:  Cool!
Princess:  Do you have a pooping CD?  Music to poop by?
Prince:  No, but I should make one!

I Should Bite My Tongue

I put a link to the new blog on the side.  I have added an email for those who requested.  Let me know if you can get into it.  Thanks!

Book Recommendation

I reviewed "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See last month.  But I'm adding another recommendation for this book.  Our book club met to talk about this book last Sunday.  Rarely do we all like a book, but this was one of the times when all of us liked this book.  We didn't all like it for the same reasons, and we didn't all feel the same way about the main character, Lily, but we all agreed that this was a very good book.  So if you're looking for a good read (Liz, Becky, Karen...) check this one out!

My New Blog

I'm starting a new blog.  For grown-ups only.  Nothing risque.  But, well, sometimes I have something to say that might not be appropriate here.  You know how I am.  This one will be locked.  So let me know if you want me to add you (I think I'll need your email).  Feel free to comment here or send me an email or shoot me a message on facebook, and I'll try to figure out how to add you.  

Badgers Homecoming

Is this a great picture or what?  It's the Cascade football field.  Check out the snow in the hills, brown fields, and contrasting green football field.  Our nephew will play one of his last few high school football games on that field tonight during their homecoming game.  Good luck, Mark, and GO BADGERS!

A TWIRP Invite

The Prince got invited to TWIRP today.  One of his friends who is a fellow cheerleader brought a pizza to cheer at 6AM today.  He told me said, "Cool.  Pizza.  I hope she shares."  The she said, "Pizza Delivery for Mitch!"  He was very excited that the pizza was for him.  He still wasn't clued in.  So he opened the pizza.  I have no photo of it, but there was a cheese pizza with TWIRP in M&Ms across it.  They ate the pizza for lunch.  He said yes.  

As you can see, the box said, "With Joanne"?  Joanne was not the girl to deliver the pizza, but her sister was.  The prince has a couple of classes with Joanne, and she's a junior.  They are just friends, which means they'll have a great time.  There is a group of about 30 of them going together including a couple of the prince's bffs and Joanne's sister, the pizza delivery girl.  I don't know how they'll figure out dinner for 30 people, but I'm sure they'll have a good time.

I don't remember it, but in "Princess Diaries" Anne Hathaway delivers a pizza to her boyfriend with "Sorry" written on it in candy.  Thus the reference.

I guess a trip to the tux rental shop is in our future since he's out-grown his suit.  But first he has to find out what color her dress is.  

Big Change

This will SHOCK the people who come to visit us.  They will not believe it, and I'm still wondering how I'll host book club, but we did it!  We moved the tv into the living room.  We haven't had a tv in the living room for YEARS...since way before we moved into this house.  And frankly, the layout of this room isn't really conducive to it since there's only one wall.  But we moved stuff around, pulled a chair out, added the recliner, and we'll see how it goes.  It comes with all kinds of "issues" like can the king and I ever agree on something to watch??? And I did slam my leg into the couch today.  But I'm willing to give it a little time.

About "Dark Tort"

I gave "Dark Tort" by Diane Mott Davidson two stars.  This is a murder mystery series and not the first book in the series.  It's the first time I've read this series, and it's definitely one of those books you can pick up in the middle of series and have little trouble following.

In this series a caterer stumbles onto murders that she solves with the help of friends and her cop husband.  Behind the scenes there is lots of cooking and the back of the book features several recipes from the story.  This is probably the 4th of these types of books (with recipes) that I've read.  It must be popular with the middle-aged ladies out there, but not this one.  It was a predictable story line that was sometimes rather jumbled.  She took the last chapter to reexplain (wrap-up) everything, in case we didn't sort it all out on our own.