Memorial Day Weekend Wrap Up

Happy Tuesday to you!  At least it isn't Monday!  But it is hot here in the office.  The air is slowly coming on, but it is taking it's time.  We work in the 3rd floor of a 7 floor office building, so it's not like we are the highest floor or anything, but, it still gets warm, especially if the air is off and the last two days were 90 degree plus days.

Yesterday morning, the band took part in the Memorial Day festivities.  It was a nice service, but a warm one.  The city didn't provide the band with chairs, so some of the kids were not prepared to stand for an hour or more.  Several kids started getting shaky.

We also had four graduation parties and a small cookout this weekend.  I am still kinda tired.  This is the kids last full week of school.  They have all week, and next Monday and Tuesday.   The kids are excited to get out, that is for sure. This week entails of not a lot.  Trying to find a balance for the summer.

Memorial Day Weekend

Last night, So You Think You Can Dance was back on the air for season 8.  We were so excited for it, Daughter and I.  We settled down and started watching it.  The second dancer, Maryann Moore, from Marietta, GA, made me cry.  It was beautiful.  As the two hours progressed we saw a lot of interesting people.  Soon, Son and Foxy came home and sat down to watch with us.  Then the fun started.  The dancing became considerably less than par, and more, uh, well, er...interesting.  The most disturbing was this guy from California who did something called "The Insect".  He was on his hands and feet, his torso facing the sky.  He then turned his torso around from the waist, so it was facing down, but his hands and feet were still on the ground.  His head, he also had turned so he was facing almost complete backwards.  OMG!  I had nightmares!  Those people who are double-jointed that way are hard from me to watch.  This is going to be an interesting and fun season.

I made a batch of terrible brownies last night.  I am not sure if it was because I had to use margarine instead of butter, or what the problem was, but it wasn't great. 

This is a hugely busy weekend.  Today, Foxy had a meeting.  Then he is going to get the pork shoulders and start smoking the shoulders, briskets and my chicken (that is supper tonight).  He's going to give some of the pork to our friends with some corn, buns and some ice cream for dessert for supper tonight.  She broke her ankle and will not be able to be on her feet for months!  The rest of the meat is for our friend's graduation party tomorrow.

Son is going with my Dad after school to dig post holes for a fence at church.  That should be interesting.  Daughter is going to help deliver the meal, then go to a friend's graduation party.  I am going to the grocery, because I don't know when else to do it.

Tomorrow, Daughter has to be at graduation with the concert band from 9:30 am until around 1.  Son and Foxy will be cooking the rest of the meat tomorrow, then going to the graduation party.

Sunday we have church, our neighbor's graduation party, another friend's party (I think just the kids are going to that), and my parents are going to come over for a cookout. 

Monday, Daughter has a Memorial Service for band, and then another graduation party.  Sometime I want to do laundry and clean some.  Good grief. 

DWTS Finale! & SYTYCD!

I did get to see the DWTS Finale of Season 12 last night.  I still didn't see Tuesday's show, but that's okay.  It was good to see the stars and the surprises they had for them.  I loved that Josh Grobin came in to sing for Petra and Dimytri.  I loved seeing the Go-Gos and I actually was intrigued by the Black Eyed Peas performance.  They seem to be cutting edge of all things futuristic. 

To me, I wanted Hines to win, but would have been happy with any of them.  This was not the case with my mother.  She text me at the end that she was not happy...several times.  She thinks, and I agree with her, that Chelsea can dance better than Kirstie.  But, Kirstie has a fan base that watches this show religiously.  The younger crowd doesn't watch it.  But all in all, it was a good season. 

My favorite dance this season was Mark and Chelsea's dance to Panic At the Disco's I Write Sins Not Tragedies.  She was a doll and he was a ringmaster, maybe?  It was what I think of when I think of dance my kids learn at their local studio.  Which leads me to my next item...So You Think You Can Dance!  starts tomorrow on FOX.  We love, love, love this, my daughter and I.  We are happy that it is starting up, since all her other shows are on summer hiatus.  So I will start posting about this show once all the silly trials and Vegas week is over, unless something spectacular comes up.  So stay tuned!

No DWTS Post today

I was all ready to give my opinions today on Dancing With The Stars, the finale, but nature got in the way.  Just before 8 pm last night, a storm hit and knocked out our power for five hours.  My mother was kind enough to send me texts as to the scores each couple got, and who she liked, but I did not get to see it at all.

As we went to sleep last night, I asked Foxy if we got all the lights turned off.  He said "Yes," and went to sleep.  At 12:53 am, the electric came back on and our bedroom light came on.  I think it scared him more than me. 

So I didn't get laundry finished, I did finish the supper dishes, but that was it.  SIGH. 

Son is complaining his arms are killing him from weight training for basketball.  He'll get there, though.  We are trying to encourage him.  He just needs to keep it up for a while.

Foxy is helping out a friend by cooking for their daughter's graduation party.  He smoking/cooking all the meat.  He is doing pulled pork, brisket, and teriyaki chicken.  Yummy.  I am also busy couponing (my new hobby), cleaning, the never-ending pile of laundry and whatever else we need to deal with.

The kids have 10 more days of school, and you can tell they are ready to get out of there.  Their summer will be short though, because the new year starts August 22nd.  That means, only 14 weeks until football and marching band! 

Have a great day!

Weekend Update

Good Monday!  I hope everyone is praying for those in Missouri.  What tragic news across America this spring.  I fear it isn't over either.

My weekend was nice and not too horribly busy.

Friday, Daughter and I stayed home, caught up on some things around the house.  Foxy and I watched Friday Night Lights, and Best in Smoke.  That last one has our favorite BBQ Pitmaster, Brad Orrison in the competition.  I also made a cake.

Saturday, Daughter and I got up and went to Old Navy for the $1 flip flop sale.  She got four pairs and I got a yellow pair.  One of the best bargins of the day!  Then we went to the grocery, gas station, and home.  We puttered around the house all afternoon.  She cleaned the inside and out of her car and I cleaned my side of the bedroom (mostly).  Then we went and got pizza and we went to her dance recital.  She did great at that!  All the acts were wonderful, especially the tiny girls in their pink and purple tutus or tap shoes.  How sweet!  Then Daughter and I went home, and waited for a call from Son.  While we waited we watched the beginning of SNL with host Justin Timberlake and musical guest, Lady Gaga.  What a hilarious show.  We love Justin on the show and I love that Lady Gaga can do some of the sketches. We got the call from Son in the middle of of the first sketch, so we paused it and took off.  We picked him up from his trip to DC and was in bed by 1:00 am. 

Yesterday we all got up, went to church, lunch and came home.  Son mowed, I cleaned dishes and laundry was started.  Then I went to a concert at church and Son went to his girlfriend's grandparents house.  By this time it was thundering, lightning, and just pouring rain.  But it seems, just as the concert started, the rain let up and the lightning stopped and the thunder hushed.  God definitely blessed the beautiful concert. 

Then I went home and Daughter and I decorated the cake.  It is now a Strawberry/Vanilla Cake.  Here is a picture.

My son loves strawberries and kept telling me that if I put strawberries on the cake it will be wasting them.  But then he tried the cake and said, that it was pretty good.  I thought it was good.  I took the cake and cut it in half.  I made a cream cheese icing and put part of that in the middle and layered strawberries on top of the icing.  Then I put the next layer of cake on top of that, and put more icing and covered the top in strawberries.  It wasn't too bad! 

Hope you have a great day.

Marching onward

Last night was Monroe High School's last Concert Band concert and awards.  They played well and had a great time.  Then the awards came.  The director gives out all the awards for everyone, i.e. years of playing, pep band, etc.  Then the Marching Band members give awards that have been passed down for a long time.  First is the Bee Spirit award.  This a huge stuffed Bee (we are the Hornets, so this is totally that) and it is passed from an incoming senior to an incoming junior that shows the most spirit, marching, and quality that a marching band members should possess.  Guess who got it?  Yep, my incoming junior, Daughter!  What a surprise and honor.

Then there were other silly and not so silly awards, a jar of mayonnaise, a shoe, and Jorge (a statue).  There is then the other big award of the night, the Drill Team mascot award.  This usually goes to the next person that will head of the drill team.  This is normally an incoming senior.  This year there are no seniors, but four incoming juniors.  The outgoing senior, wrote a nice note on why the person she picked this person.  It again, was Daughter!  What an honor.  We asked the director if this means she will be in charge of the drill team, and we were told that this is not usually picked until after tryouts (in two weeks).  But the honor of being picked to care for Kermietta (a Kermit the frog dressed as a drill team member, uniform included; see picture) is big!  So proud of my girl.  Here's the picture with her and Heather (the one who picked her, Daughter is in white).

Travel and Heartbreak

Well, he's gone.  Son has left the state, going to Washington D.C. for his class trip.  I know that he will have a wonderful time!  He made me get up at 2:50.A.M. to make sure he was there by 4:00 A.M.  We have instilled in our children that being late is not acceptable.  So we got up, he packed the last of his stuff up and at 3:15.A.M. we were out the door.  The school is less than eight minutes away.  But he did treat me to an English Toffee Cappaccino and him two vanilla dip donuts from Tim Horton's.  So we pull in to the school parking lot at 3:35.A.M.  The only other person there was one of the teacher chaperones.  She was walking across the lot.  He was the first kid there.  Awesome.   So now, he's on his own, with the money he earned mowing, and I just pray he behaves himself.  I love that kid.

There has been tragic news in the Foxy household this week.  Daughter's boyfriend of eight months, broke up with her.  It's her first heartbreak, so there have been lots of tears.  But, she's doing okay.  It's hard, as a mom, to see her go through this and know that I can't make it better.  Ah, teenage angst!

DWTS Season 12 - The Semi-Finals

I have so enjoyed this season of Dancing with the Stars.  It's fun to see how far the stars have come and how much talent.  This week was an insane amount of dancing from the stars.  Three new dances is crazy.

Ralph first dance an argentine tango that was sexy.  His second dance was odd.  And Karina looked like a cat with all that hair and the outfit.  I didn't care for the whole set up at all.

Kirstie - Her first dance with Maks made me feel disconnected.  Her second dance was just, awesome!

Chelsea did a waltz that was pretty.  Her second dance made me sit up and take notice.  Her song was from (I think), the second Twilight movie, but now that I think about it, maybe it was the first one.  I love the music from those movies, so it was cool.  The dance was really good, and it got her three 10's.

Hines was so emotional in his first dance.  I think he was grateful and scared of Kym.  First, they showed a clip of how Kym was hurt.  It made my daughter and I cringe.  Hines was trying to flip her and landed on her has she landed on the back of her neck.  His partnering skills was amazing!  He received three 10's for that and it was well deserved.  His second dance was a samba, and he did a great!  He received another perfect score for that too. 

They each then, did a 40 second cha-cha-cha.  Winner takes all and 15 extra points.  I thought Hines should have received it, but they gave it all to Chelsea.  Her's was good too, but it was really Hines' night.

So tonight, we will see some exciting things.  First, Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke will recreate their freestyle dance, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy"!  I am so excited for that!  That was the couple that made me come back week after week for DWTS.  I think Ralph will go home.  I will be surprised if his fan base will beat Hines, or Kirstie.  But is Chelsea's fan base big enough?  We will see.

Not a Weekend Update

My weekend was kinda a quiet, which was good.  We did get the Danger Ranger back.  This is my husband's free 1986 Ford Ranger.  We had to have the engine overhauled.  So now we have three vehicles and no $ for gas!  LOL.

It's going to be a crazy week.  We have dance & band practice, dance recital, band concert, and trip to Washington D.C.  I'm tired just figuring it all out.  Tonight, I'm going to try and clean the bathrooms, cook supper and watch DWTS and Hawaii 5-0.

For supper tonight I have found a nice little recipe for Mexican Chicken and Rice from Taste of Home.  Looks easy, I'll let you know how it is tomorrow.

I am also trying to use more coupons.  There is a group of ladies in my town that I am getting to know and want to learn from.  If any of you have ideas and such, please let me know.

Also, yesterday my father gave us about 10 or so tomato plants.  So I want to find time to plant them because it is that time of year.  But it is rainy all week, so we'll just see.  It will be exciting to have my garden day back up and running.  I'm going to do it on Friday's this season, because last year I didn't get out there until it was time to leave for work on Thursdays.  Not very acceptable.  Foxy wants to do box gardens, but I want to plant the tomatoes in front of our back porch. They grew great there last year and Josie Belle seemed to like it too.

I have pole beans, sugar snap peas, watermelon, and I want cucumbers, zucchini and some peppers.  That's the goal.  Are you having a garden this year?

DWTS Update

I tried to do a DWTS update last week, but was soooo busy, it just didn't happen.

This one will be a bit quick, but there are only five contestants.

Chelsea Kane and Mark - they did a cute little dance and then later an Instant Samba dance.  I say "Shake it!" , and I agreed with Carrie Ann.  It was not their best.

Hines and Kym - I am so happy that Kym finally has a star who is going to the finals (my prediction).  Hines' first dance was just nice.  But the second was a jive and he just let it all go.  He didn't go technical, he just had fun and you could see did.

Romeo and Chelsie were next.  Their tango was so intense, I felt it.  And their samba was also a big shaker, but he is a bit reserved.

Ralph and Karina had the odds stacked up against them.  First, he has a cyst that exploded behind his knee and was killing him.  But their dance was really good, and Ralph was reminding me of Derek Hough, big time, with his form.  But then they lost it.  Their second dance was good, but not great.

Kirstie and Mak made a comeback.  Their first dance was AMAZING!  But their second dance, I just felt was dumb.  And, America needs to know, why does Maks keep pinching Tom's butt?

So hopefully, Ralph doesn't go home because of his knee.  Tom even made a reference to the Karate Kid movie and how life is imitating art.  Ralph tried to hush him about it, but it's true.  In fact, in the beginning of the second dance, Karina sorta did a Mr. Miyagi trick and rubbed her hands together and placed them on Ralph's knee.  Cute, but not the same.at.all.  I love The Karate Kid too much for that.

Weekend Update

My favorite story of the day is that Jack Bauer of 24 got the job done and killed Osama Bin Laden.  That cracks me up.  If Jack were on duty, that would so totally have happened years ago!

My weekend was crazy busy.  First, Foxy bought everything he needed for the Mother Daughter Banquet.  We made Teriyaki chicken, Rice Pilaf, Green Beans, a Roll and cake.  It was hard work, but we did it.  I even screwed up two cakes.  I forgot to put eggs in them.  They were not good.  But I started over and we did just fine.  During all this, Foxy has messed up his hip.  It went out or something.  So he is going to the chiropractor on Wednesday. 

Friday night, we had the drill team over making posters to encourage other kids to get involved.  So while they were eating pizza and making posters, I was making cake.  I opened my dishwasher to lay two cakes on to cool.  One was cool and I put a lid on it.  The other one didn't.  When the girls left, there was posterboard all over my house.  We wanted to bring Josie Belle in, but didn't want her stepping on the posters and smearing the paint.  So we put them up on the tables and such.  Then we brought her in.  Foxy and I were watching Friday Night Lights later and it was too quiet.  I get up and go to the kitchen, and there's Josie, eating the middle out of the vanilla cake!  LOL.  My dumb mistake was her dessert!  I'm just glad it wasn't the chocolate one.

The cooking on Saturday was good.  Son and Foxy spent the day getting everything ready and everything tasted great!  It was a great night.

Sunday, Foxy relaxed after church and Daughter and I went to a friend's wedding shower.  Son asked if it was a baby shower, but we quickly told him "No!"  Miss Em got a kick out of that.  Daughter made the ribbon bouquet and we can't wait for their wedding in June. 

How was your weekend!