More rain

Pool overflowing again, basement wet again...not much new.  The alternator went out on the van, I guess that's new.  Hopefully it will get fixed tomorrow, for today I'm dropped off at work and stranded here til hubby gets out.  Luckily he gets out of work the same time I do.

5 inches of rain overnight!

HOLY tugboat Batman!  We got 5 inches of rain overnight last night.  After it had already rained all day.  When I got up this morning the pool (above ground, quick set) was OVERFLOWING.  So I ran down to check the basement because ours is notorious for getting wet in these instances.  Sure enough there was water in the laundry room UGH!  Well it is also trash day, which I did not take out the night before because it was POURING!  I had out to do that, and notice that the outdoor trash can has fallen over at some point in the night...NICE...grrr.   Thursday morning is off and running.  I run out to get the trash taken care of..it weighs a TON (95 size gallon city trash cart) and I have to get it tipped back up so I can roll it out to the curb.  It was FULL because I "Mommy cleaned" the kids rooms and the basement this last week.  Got that managed and headed for the pool.  Funny, every time the storm woke me up last night and hearing the storm I would think to myself, "the damn pool is gonna be full of God forsaken pine needles that I'll have to skim before I can start the filter".  Well there wasn't any pine needles because evidently they floated out w/ the water overflow.  I go out and push down on one side so the water can flow out.  Boy did it ever, I can imagine it must have been 200 gallons I let out(it holds over 4000), getting soaked in the process.  Luckily it was a quite hot, muggy morning so I didn't mind.  Mind you, I was till in my pajamas this whole time.  Pool taken care of I head back in the house.  Pick up the few wet towels that were on the laundry room floor and toss them in the laundry, call landlord (Mom) and tell her to bring on the shop vac.   This was all before 8:30!  Who says ya gotta be in the Army to be busy in the morning.  This isn't too much out of my normal day.  Apparently we are under the chance of rain and storms for the next 24 hours as well...oh boy!  On the edge of building an Arc...

They call that music?

At the risk of sounding like an old person...I love music, I listen to just about anything from classical to country, pop to metal, it's all in there.  I don't care for rap, though a few songs I enjoy.  Lately though I have to say the recent trend in music to get more and more explicit is irritating.  I like to listen to a particular local radio station, which is pretty much pop w/ a bit of this or that thrown in occasionally.   Lately more and more of the music is SO not appropriate for my kids to listen to that I have to change the station.  Now I realize we listened to what we THOUGHT was explicit back in the day...but I don't remember it being anything like it is now.  For instance Katy Perry's new song "Last Friday Night" Click for the lyrics in case you'd like to read them. Ummm...YIKES!  I think ok, if an adult wants to listen to that...well so be it, but an impressionable teen?!  Which is this station's target audience, so really?!  Why is it a hit?  Is it the beat? Is it the lyrics?  Why?  I didn't care for the song even before I stopped to listen to what it was saying...it just got worse after that.  This isn't the only song, lest ya think I'm picking on Katy Perry.  Though she does have a number of songs that I wouldn't deem appropriate for anyone under 13 and that's pushing it.  There are quite a few, and lets not even get into the other genres death metal, screamo, etc...So much junk there.  I know we have freedom of speech and need to maintain it, but for the love of God some of this stuff is just NOISE!  On the edge of nixing that station..

Kids bored yet? Here's something cute.

Build your own cupake

Build your own cupcake

Ran across this cute site this morning, and Brooke is bored so I printed it out.  She very much enjoyed it and loved putting them together.  It's a free download and if you print it on the "fast draft" setting on your printer it doesn't take too much ink. PRINT Super cute and something to do, that they can do w/o making a mess in the kitchen.  On the edge of paper cupcake bliss...LOOK no calories!

Back from Nationals

Well we survived.  It was a LONG weekend w/ much to do.
Friday.
  We arrived at 6:00 on Friday in Cleveland only to find out that Brooke had forgotten her suitcase and had no clothes but what she was wearing.  Great.  The teams were supposed to practice at six, however the coach was also late getting there so practiced happened at about 7:30.  The crappy part was the parking lot had just been painted...or whatever it is they do to the parking lot to make it look black again.   SO all the girls shoes that the parents had so painstakingly (well OK this parent) washed for competition, got black marks all over them.  While they were practicing I went w/ the person I rode w/(Stacey) to go get Brooke some clothes to replace the ones she forgot  We got back and they were done practicing and decorating the door for the door decorating contest...by the time they finished that it was about 9:00 pm.    Stacey's Mom had come down to watch the competition, and then her brother had shown up also.   She asked me if I needed anything...and I being a bit confused as to why she was asking said "no" so they all walked out the door and left us (Brooke and I).  I had no transportation, we had not yet eaten dinner.   I had to go down to the front desk to get a menu for someplace that would deliver as the hotel didn't have a restaurant.  FINALLY at 10:00 pm I got our dinner ordered and it was gonna take 45 mins.  About 10:30 Stacey walks in from dinner, and Brooke mentioned that we were waiting for our dinner to get there.  She was all..."OH I'm sorry I left the keys here!,  in case you needed anything"....Yea well she didn't tell me that when she left.  I had no idea the keys were in the hotel room and I would never take someone's car w/o asking them!  I just let it go.  Our dinner finally came at 10:45 and we ate and got ready for bed.  She had to run down to the car to get something, and I was talking to the girls, I asked her daughter, "So are you excited about competition tomorrow?".  She said, "I hate poms and baton, I think I'll quit next year, I don't want to do it at all".  Really?!   I'd somewhat expected that her mom was making her do it, but never really thought I'd hear her say it.  Her mom came back up and we all went to bed.

Saturday.
We had to be there at 10:00am so we got up, showered everyone and got there on time.  Her Mom and brother showed up again and stayed all day.  Nothing wrong w/ that they just wanted to watch the competition, fine.  Long day the teams went first.  Brooke's baton team did OK, didn't think they would place that well, Brooke dropped a few tricks and the team got lost in a few places, at least that's what it looked like to me.   The Pom team went quite a while later, after lunch at least.  The Pom team ROCKED!  They looked great didn't forget a thing, I was hoping they'd get first.   Some of the individual events where after teams got over, so Brooke had to do Basic box, and Military box.  She did fairly well in them, I wasn't expecting a 1st but she was obviously better than quite a few of the girls.  Awards for that day were last, the baton team got 1st in their division I was pretty shocked!  Her Pom team also got first, that one I expected, we finally left about 5:00 and headed out to find a place to eat.  Her kid wanted McDonald's  I was like, no way in hell am I eating at McD's after a long day like that.  So I pretty much demanded Applebee's  or equivalent, figured she owed it to me after the night before.  We found one, then a bunch of our other teammates showed up so we all sat together.  It was fun.   Got back to the hotel, the girls swam for a while w/ all their teammates. At Nationals, all the solo girls exchange small good luck gifts so we all got together in the hotel lobby and exchanged gifts.  With 11 solo twirlers it was like Christmas!  The girls were eating it up.  Finally get up stairs and get to bed about 10:30, have to be at the gym by 8:00 next morning.

All the solo twirlers at Nationals

Sunday.
Got up at 6:00, loaded the car, woke up the girls, got them ready, went down ate breakfast.   Got them to the gym just in time, they were already playing the National Anthem and all lined up, so they had to hurry into place.  Solos went right after that which was a little surprising cause they are usually last.  She got to practice about 10 minutes and then she was in line waiting her turn.  She did pretty good, but had four drops, she didn't forget anything, didn't catch the one turn...I was kind of disappointed as I know she can do it.  But I didn't tell her that.  I watched her whole class of 9 girls, and I figured she might get 2nd or third as they all had quite a few drops.    Her solo was the only thing she had to do that day, so we basically sat around and waited ALL day for the rest of the stuff to get done.  She had entered "overall" so the awards are at the end.  I didn't really sit w/ Stacey much because I didn't want to listen to her kid whine and complain about everything under the sun.   I just sat w/ the rest of the team.  FINALLY it was time for awards at 5:00!  We got there at 8:30!   They started w/ Beginner so that was nice, Brooke got 4th in box, 4th in military and 5th in  solo.  That's where I was kind of shocked...I'm not a judge so I guess...what do I know...but she had the same amount of drops as some of the higher placing girls, and more difficulty. I was thinking she'd be 3rd at least.   Oh well...she was happy she then got 5th overall as well.  She got a big trophy, bigger than all her others, and she had a big smile, when it comes down to it that's all that matters.  We finally got to leave the school at 6:00pm and head home to MI, we made it home about 10:50 pm totally exhausted.  Her daughter bitched and complained for basically the whole ride til we hit I-96 and she fell asleep, I did so much biting my tongue that I think I need it reattached.  I will NEVER ride w/ her again to go that far, not sure I will ride w/ her period.  Yelling, crying, arguing...it was just so much fun.  Yelling, "I DON'T EVEN WANT TO DO BATON AND POMS, I NEVER WANTED TO DO IT!!"  I really hope she does quit that would be a huge blessing!  I've never been so thankful to get out of a vehicle in my life.   On the edge of screaming at a kid...

 Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have to wait for everyone else to post pics before I can add them.

The Monday after.

The Luau.  It was a LONG fun weekend, it started Friday night and was pretty much a continuous party all weekend, good times, good friends, good weather, a pool, jello/pudding shots, great food and a motorcycle ride!   Friday night was making said shots w/ the crew, while the kids swam and enjoyed the pool.  Saturday was a little hectic as my Mom decided it was a good day to plant a garden w/ my daughter.  Admittedly she didn't ask me for any help but after making cupcakes for my sons Jr. Rams picnic, and brownies for the Luau I went out and helped.  My daughter's only 7 so she's not a HUGE help yet but she was doing her level best and it was hotter than Hades outside.   The garden looks beautiful and my daughter loves it, and I'm sure it's a memory she always have of her and her Grandma cleaning out the garden space, going and picking out the new plants, and then getting to decide where they go.  She did a great job picking out plants that are nice, and a couple cherry tomatoes.

  Just as we were finishing up our friend Ted showed up on his motorcycle to take me to the Luau cause my van wouldn't start.  That was fun, haven't ridden one since I was a teen.  The Luau was crazy as usual, lots of splashing and even some flashing...yikes!  Someone (not me) had a few to many Hurricanes and got a little(or maybe a lot) rowdy, but it was all in good fun.

Beer pong

The Jamies

EMPTY Jello/pudding shots.

Jamie, Christine, Me

Destiny, Crystal, Jamie, Maria

  Finally got home about 11:30 and fell into bed.  Sunday was back to help clean up(but it was all done, darn that Jamie) and eat breakfast...then a long day of laundry, cleaning and figuring out what to do about the van.  Friends of John's from church let us borrow their car since they are on vacation all week.  Thank God!  Didn't know how the heck we were gonna manage w/ one vehicle.  Anyway...that was my exciting weekend...on the edge of another one...Cleveland baby!

Casey Anthony not guilty.

DISGUSTING!  I can't believe they found her not guilty.  I'm sickened by this verdict, I think she should have fried...this is ridiculous! and outrageous.   I hope her lawyers can sleep at night, knowing that she will be free to have more babies and kill them too or God only knows what else.  She is a danger to society.

How stinkin' cute are these?

Was on a friends blog today and she had a link to these adorable hair bows from Doodlebug boutique.  Talk about CUTE!!  Go to Totsy.com and sign up (it's free) and then you click on Doodlebug boutique and you can see them all, I think I need to make some!