The land of the living dead...

Yes my girls like to be dead for halloween.... Nothing i can do about it.. So go with it!


The "real" Angela - hahaha

Middle school fall concert

Not a straight face in the house!








And a good time was had by all
Not really the bleachers are horrible for adults. They are shaped for tiny kid butts. They are not shaped for long legged adults! If you try to scoot back to not have your knees in the persons back in front of you your butt bone is on the hump making you miserable. Good thing I love this kid. I went and listened dutifully. Oh and I don't typically like musical events because I don't "get" music. This one was enjoyable and recognizable music :)
I have to remind Angela i am the perfect audience for practice. I have NO clue if she gets it wrong unless she squawks - ha!

Raises... oh, my.

Well, they don’t happen as often as they used to, however, I got my ‘step’ increase (they are scheduled out in years – the higher the step in grade (pay scale) the less frequent you receive them (higher the pay the longer between steps). 

This is not to be confused with cost of living (yearly increase)– which we no longer receive and have not for about two plus years now.

 

Anyway.  I was surprised to see a step increase this year.  I hadn’t anticipated one, however was checking my leave statement to see what, if any, leave I have on the books (this was to go pay for/register the new car). 

There it was, low and behold, a pay raise.  What does this REALLY mean?  It was a whopping $46.89 more a check. 

 

Better than a poke in the nose, and I know it’s really much bigger than that when you multiply it across the 52 paychecks.  It does make a grand total of $2,000 more a year.  I know, I know it’s nothing to sneeze at.

 

Newest member of the family

The newest addition to the family. A 1999 Honda CRV.
Its a very clean car and only needs maintenance (timing belt so not cheap maintenance).
Its also a standard so guess what Liz gets to learn - as does Angela!
Personally i think learning to drive a stick should be mandatory however finding *I* am so out of practice with it!!!

Band Night

 

Tuesday night was Band night here in Central Georgia... we got to see all the local HS bands perform their half time shows in ONE evening. Very nice experience for those of us who don't really care for football :)  BUT wait, with that you get the added bonus of listening to ALL the middle school bands perform a few songs too! 

 



As you can see, there are a LOT of middle school bands!

Doesn't she look thrilled?  I think that is a look of concentration, really!

 Mid performance!

Then it's on to HS band performance by our band and color guard. 

Liz's starting position is interesting  It's a "day in the life"

 which one is Liz?  I'm thinking 2nd one back judging by the legs :)

 VERY nice high toss and a good catch at the end as well!

 After the performance seeing us in the stands...

 can you see that expression on her face? 

No?  Let me zoom in for you!

 Yep, rotten kid is sticking her tongue out.  Sigh.  What will I do with her?

Angela in the mean time is running around the place with her friends having a blast watching the bands and hanging with friends!

 

Oh, and I finally remembered to TAKE and use my camera, thus the delay in putting this on the blog.  I guess there are ups and downs to publishing from a phone, it's instant... camera, I have to then load all the pictures to the computer and remember to POST something on it :)  But I'm doing better to remember the camera!!

Where have you been??

Ok, during a conversation of “where have you been in the world” I decided to write them all down.  I’m wondering if there is some place I have missed… but here it goes in some sort of chronological order…

Starting in 1989:

New Zealand (Auckland for a wonderfully adventurous day and a night)

Australia (from Sydney to the Whitsunday islands via Contiki tour)

1991:

Europe (Paris to Pompeii via train, then back north through Switzerland/Germany)

1992

Mexico (a few times after going to Australia, however not prior to then)

Korea (Soul  and Kunsan)

1994:

Mexico (Honeymoon in Cancun)

Italy (still never made it farther south than Pompeii – sad, eh?)

While living in Italy:

Austria

barely in Yugoslavia before it became Slovenia

Amsterdam (for tulips with Wendy!)

Germany (Oktoberfest twice)

England

Egypt (*Valley of the Kings/queens and Hurgada)

Turkey (just on base – thanks to freedom birds!)

Moved back to the states in 1997

2008?:

St. Thomas/St. John Virgin Islands

2012:

United Arab Emirates

 

Can you tell I really, really, really need to dust off my traveling shoes?  I’m not sure what curtailed travel more – kids or just kids and moving to the states again.  I think it was more the moving to the states – had we stayed overseas I would have still had my travel shoes on J

 

Now, let’s look at the States:

(easier to list where I haven’t been)

Oregon (I can’t remember if we made it over the boarder when going north after Linda Mellema’s wedding.  I know we made it to Arcata California)

Washington (state – been to DC.  We did stop in Seattle on the trip to Alaska, but I don’t really count that!)

Montana

North Dakota

South Dakota

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Michigan

New Hampshire

Vermont

New Brunswick

Maine

Nova Scotia

Connecticut

Do you see a trend here?  I don’t like NORTH and cold!  Hahahaha  Some on the north are “drive through” type visits…but if I drove through it, I still count it, as if you are driving you are truly seeing it!  Nebraska is one of those… drove it, but didn’t sleep in that state!

 

Bucket list:

South America (echo tour on Rio Negro)

India (just about anywhere!)

Philippines/Asia areas – any!

Antarctica and I’ll have all continents hit… What a worthy goal, eh?

 

Imaginations

What does this look like? Flattened dead lizard?


Reality?



Fluff from the wall or buffer when they cleaned our floors last night! Talk about imaginations!!

What is my malfunction?

I can NOT seem to remember to take a camera with me to events!!
This weekend was Lizs LAST band completion. I drove down to Valdosta and NO camera. Der
Good thing for iPhones!








We (Angela and a friend) didn't stay the whole competition. We drove down and got there at about 2pm. Our school was scheduled to go on at 3:30. Just in time. I saw the Meadows - hadn't seen Warner in a while however see Sandra t the consignment shop on base when I drop in there. It was nice to chat with them a bit.
We stayed through the preliminary awards - our girls got top Color Guard for their division (5a). They were thrilled. I congratulated Lizzie, delivered her a T-shirt I bought her from the competition and let her know we wouldn't be staying through the finals.
It was actually a good thing as the awards for Guard was done ;).
The little girls and I enjoyed a dinner at Denny's on the way home and were home by 9:00. Lizzie on the other hand came home at 1am. Ugh. NEED to get that kid a car!

Funny thing happened on the way to the framers....

I’m being a total copy cat and doing a scrabble board for our family like Gail did for her folks… it turned out very cute (If I do say so myself!).

I used my maiden name, married name, all our first names, all the places we have lived since being married as well as a choice few words  that will mean something to us (GeeGeeGee Baby Baby Baby!) .  Anyway, I finally got it all glued down and ready to go to the framers and low and behold, what shows up on the doorstep, but a coupon for Michaels for 50% off framing with a bonus 25% off as well – score!!  Last night I get it in the car – remember the coupon – make it to Michaels – get into the store – am waiting for the final price… gazing at it lovingly… then note that I spelled my own freaking maiden name WRONG.  I’m missing the “Y”.  REALLY??? 

Ok there are a lot of things that make sense to me, but doing this?  Sigh.  Der!!!  So, I tell the lady what a dork I am – but she lets me finish the order and explains it will take a day or two to get the ordered supplies in, so I can take it home, “fix” it and bring it back.  Sigh.

I get home and there is NO “Y” to be found – anywhere.  There are two in the game, one on the board and one MISSING.  ACK!!

Oh, well, my maiden name is now finished with a “blank” instead of a “Y”

Almost funny!!

 

Beauty and the Beast

Well, I have decided that men (at least my man) is oblivious to any and all attempts to put lipstick on a pig…

I have plucked and waxed, dyed and curled, buffed and extended… and he noticed zippo of it…

Sigh.

Going back to the ‘low maintenance’ mode, I do believe.

Strange happenings around the pool

Gail pointed out that she had been watching some of the millipedes make their way into the pool yesterday, so this morning I joined her in checking out the strange happenings in the area... and here is what I saw:

The Ant millipedes go marching one by one...

 some bonus centipedes in the pool - ewh!

 the millipedes in the pool - double, triple yuck!

 and HOW they are getting there...

what is their fascination with the water? Who knows!!

Hot Dogs ... oops, I mean, HOT people!

OK, Angela looks positively possessed.  Scary!  She and Caroline were in the 72degree pool - BURRRRR.  We cooked out some hamburgers and hand that and some mack and cheese by the pool, then all of us got in the hot tub.  it took some convincing to get Johnathon to agree to the "little" pool - we talked him into it as it was heating because he didn't want the "hot" one... surprise, it wasn't hot!  then it slowly warmed while he was in there...and after dinner his teeth were fairly chattering, so the now HOT tub felt lovely - I left it at 98 so it wasn't super heated. :)

All in all a great way to finish off a hot day in the sun at Lanes Corn Maze!

Oh how corny!

It's a-mazing. We all went to Lanes to play at the corn maze and hay ride. Such fun!!


Duck race!!


Hay ride!


The other half of the hay crew!!


Poor lost Liz


Where us Angela?? Off with her friend!

Cousins and Holidays

Gail, Seth, Caroline and Johnathan came over today to visit.  The girls went swimming for a bit... well, that's not right because they came to visit earlier, sans bathing suits and we were being slugs around the house... I had done laundry and organized some disks (trashed some, organized others for thrift)... but for the most part... SO boring.  Caroline asked if she could stay with us, i warned her we were boring.. she didn't buy it!  Ha we proved correct about 2 hours into her stay over here.. she was bored and wanted to go - ha!

Gail and Seth came back with a swimsuit for Caroline and she and Angela jumped into the pool - BURRRR.. it's about 72 degrees.  So, really, in the big scheme of things not truly frigid, just a little chilly.  I started the hot tub heating in the mean time.  They never did make it to the hot tub.

 

They did however, get to witness Johnathan kick Lizzie's butt in Wii

 

 

 Lizzie was a good sport about being beat by a 3 year old! 

 

AND Caroline and Angela helped to creep up the front porch for me!  Ya!!

Height Check - AND Gail ins on her toes - well, as much as Caroline would let her get up on them.. she was in the background trying to grab a shoulder and drag her back down to size.  Yep, Angela's gonna be a TALL one :)



Fair Adventures, the story

I love Fairs, I don’t know why, but I LOVE Fairs…. I love the idea of the nomad life, I like the idea of running away with the circus… I just like the whole thing… the songs, the sounds, the smells, the crowds (which for me is a first…I typically HATE crows)… but I love the Fair.

 

Ok, now that we have that established, I told the girls I would take them to the fair on “arm band night”.  What is that, you ask?  Well, it’s simple - $13 for ALL YOU CAN RIDE.  What?  Yep – slap on an arm band and have fun!!!  Bonus?  The kids are officially out of school for the fall break as of, you guessed it folks, LAST NIGHT.  Now me, I have to work today (Friday), but the girls get to sleep in and enjoy relaxing today.

 

Anyway, it all went sort of wrong for poor Liz and the girls – plural – became Angela and a friend.  The bonus?  The friends parents HATE the Fair and their work gives them free tickets.  Bonus!  So the three of us got in free, however let the money FLOW from that point forward!  Ha!  I get our arm bands and head over to get them put on and the guy sees me with two tickets and two kids and assumes the bands are for them.  Hee hee hee, no sir, that one is for ME!  Yep, I’m the OTHER kid in this here group!

 

We head off to the rides.  We hit the BIG Farris wheel, then the boat (love the boat – love sitting in the BACK of the boat and going completely weightless at the highest height!  Whoop!  I think I look like a fool walking around the fair with a perma-grin on.  The girls start to pull away from the mom.. which was the plan, but I’m enjoying the rides with them… sigh.  Oh, well, they go off and ride a spinny ride and I head to the swings… LOVE the swings!  I ride the swings and catch up with the girls as they are getting off their ride, THEY want to ride the swings… so I go back, go with them, get a picture…   embarrass them a bit. 

 

They stayed on for a second ride as there are NO lines for this one,  and I had off on my own.  I wandered from the south end of the midway to the north, making my way through all the car dealerships, shopping for cars, then through the outdoor things.  For once I skipped all the camper trailers… let’s be realistic folks, the travel trailer is NOT going to happen for me.  I’m happy with hotels and eating out, thank you very much!

 

I looked at the sheep being sheered for their showings, I wandered through farm equipment, drooled over the gazebo with a glider on one side and a picnic table on the other, I glide for a while, just chilling out, drinking some water from a church group (sweet of them!).  I end up talking to the builders, I find I can put TWO gliders in instead of a picnic table… and it screened… it’s looking nicer and nicer!  I have to admit, it was nice just sitting in there, gliding and enjoying my time….

 

Ok, back on the road, looking and wandering.  I didn’t find the chicks and the bunnies… bums me out, I enjoy that demonstration and seeing those critters.  I went through the beef display and the milk cow display… they have a REAL cow for this now, not a fake one.  Saweet!    By this time, I’m in FOOD heaven… the smells.. I’m shopping for dinner at this point.  I sit down on the shady side of the street and am thinking food when who would call but the girls – wanting – FOOD.  What timing.  After much discussion by text – they figure out where I am so that we can get a Turkey leg to gnaw on…. And between me, Angela and now TWO friends, we polish off a turkey leg, a hamburger (one friend) and a big plate of curly fries.  YUM!  The kids, fully sated, are ready to head back to the rides… I choose to head on over to see more critters and through all the sales stuff.  

 

I did find the Christmas tree setup for the telescoping flag pole we have… SO want one of those!!  It fits in a tiny box as well, so it’s a true bonus as it takes  up NO room, but it’s 16’ tall  Love it!!  I may talk Butch into going back to get it, or just convince him we can do this on our flag pole for the Christmas season…. I’m sure we can figure out how to make our own (yeah, right, in all our spare time, right?). 

 

Anyway, shopin’ and wanderin’ and I came across a vendor with the chemical heating pads – reusable.  LOVE those things.  So I’m chatting with the gal, she wanted to know where I got my Chevy bag. WAY on the other side of the midway at the other end.  For the price of a survey.  She commented she would never be able to make it over there and I told her if she talked REALLY nice to me, she could have mine (like I REALLY NEED another bag – for those of you unfamiliar, I have a bag fetish as well as a blanket fetish, oh and according to my kids a table cloth fetish as well!).  She offered me the vendors deal and it was a really good deal as I’ve said I’m in LOVE with these things.  I love that they are completely reusable as well as portable – just use, boil and reuse.  It’s at this point when we’re talking the prices of them that I remember I only have my ID, not my Credit card.  POOP!  Ah, well, I tell her I’ll have to come back when I come back the fair with the other child… BUT I’ll still trade her a plastic bag for my Chevy bag.  To which she is twitterpated and throws in two of the small hand warmer sized units J  Score!!

 

About now, it’s closer to 8:30, so I head back to the rides and manage to find the girls, walk with them a bit – they are outpacing me by a mile and my tootsies are screaming by now… AND I’m in my good walkin’ shoes.. but the plantar fasciitis is kickin’ today!  So, I let them run… and I head over to the “High Flyer” I have found a new “love” when it comes to rides.  That thing is UP THERE and doesn’t really rock back and forth like the yoyo … but it sure zips around!  Loved it!!  I also snuck in a ride on the boat again J  Another favorite of the fair!  Love the weightlessness of it all!  I get back in touch with the girls – BTW, now down to 4% battery… what’s UP with that????  My battery is sucking on this thing lately (down to 78% this morning too after being at 100% at 6:30)… sigh.

 

I find the girls, we head over to get funnel cake – yum! Then we head on out the gates at 9:30pm… whew!  LONG night.. but it’s not over, we head over to the other side of the freeway and sit in a parking lot and wait for the fireworks to start at 10pm – I wanted to be out of the fair lot before the fireworks started and the fair shut down J  Success – we watch the fireworks across the freeway, then head on to the house… tired, worn out, but everyone’s happy!  Well, except poor Liz who’s friends all bailed on going to the fair… and she was left behind because practice wasn’t over until 5:30pm.  Poor Liz – she’ll go another night with friends !

Photos from the fair

THIS is the look you get on the first ride and you keep asking said child to please look @ you and smile! Ha!


Our favorite - the yoyo swings



My NEW favorite... The High Flyer - sweet! It doesn't "rock" stays flat but WHAT a view!!


And me without a good camera. Der!!

Hello, my name is Donna and I'm a TV-aholic

We were comparing new shows here at work today and I realize I really, really, really enjoy TV. 

I have been watching all the “new” shows – trying to determine which ones will be worthy of my DVR space, and I realized at home that it’s bad when you have FOUR shows you want to record in any given time slot.  Yes, it’s THAT bad.

Now some of those, I know will record in the front room as they are favorites of everyone in the house.  Bones, Warehouse 13, The Mentalist, White Collar”  to name a few.  HOWEVER there is starting to be quite the dilemma on what I choose to record and what I choose to go and look for “on demand”. 

 

I discovered one yesterday called The Neighbors about a human family buying a house in a subdivision of all aliens.  It’s so slapstick funny.

There are a few more that I have watched and enjoyed – Last Resort – could go the way of “Jericho” as it’s a war/military based one.  Submarine crew is given orders through a secondary/less secure means of communication to fire on Pakistan.  They question the orders and request proper more secure channels of communications.  They are then fired on by US ships, duck into an island nearby (just happens to have a NATO base on it) and take it over with threats of retaliation if someone threatens them… they are pushed, fight back and are at a stalemate at the end of the first episode.

Revolution is another one that I’m watching… I’m “on the fence” about this one still…. Has the chance to do something good and be like “walking dead” or something similar without zombies.

Elementary has me intrigued as a good crime drama as well… we’ll see how it pans out with its actors

Mob Doctor was surprisingly good to me as well

 

There are still a few more on the DVR and ‘on demand’ that I will check out as time permits.  Last night was dedicated to catching up on OLD shows – Grays Anatomy – which I’m VERY disappointed in them tossing us in on our heads into the middle of the story without finishing off last years story, they’ll do that next week.  Come on folks, really?  Confused me.  I went back to ‘on demand’ a few times to see if I had missed a show prior.  Really NOT right.

 

Private Practice did a good job of putting us right where we left off and moving on with the stories of the day.  Worked for me.  I enjoyed it.  It was comfortable, and anticipated.

 

Liz love the show Once Upon a Time.  I’m OK with it, but it’s a stretch for me most nights.

I have yet to watch The Mindy Project, The New Normal, Nashville

I'm not sure I should admit to this one...

I saw this and could not resist... and I'm not even sure why!

A closer picture 

Why?  Not sure... It just screamed buy me!  I could not ignore it... I know, I know - silly me!