Well, today's the final day of my 'year in the life' and it closes my 48th year. I really was not good about posting every single day, but did work better at taking at least a picture a day and just posting several at once. Not sure what the blog is going to be starting tomorrow.
Maybe I'll start a second year? Maybe I'll go back to a more traditional blog? Maybe I'll post only in the form of haiku? Guess we will see because I truly don't have a plan yet.
So, our fancy San Antonio trip is coming up very soon and I had planned for weeks on wearing shoes and a dress I already had in the closet. But funny how a 12 year old girl can rob you of your self- confidence with three little words-- you're wearing that?!
Gary got his new suit, so I figured maybe I should step it up and find a nice dress. I can not even tell you how many hours went into finding shoes, jewelry, and the dern dress but let's say I worked hard at it. And how nice is it to be able to snap a pic these days to help you keep track of what fit and what you liked. These were a couple of the contenders, but I didn't go with either. I'm sure you will eventually see the winner in pics from our trip-- it's purple.
[I remember going shopping with sis Karen in a little shop in Flora, looking for a dress to wear to a wedding, and it was apparent we had really different shopping styles. I feel like I have to amass every single option available and try on and compare and re-try on, and I think she's more of a speed shopper, i.e. take-the-first-available. Sometimes I think my way is a curse.]
We were trying to get a nice picture of Ross last Sunday in case he decided to put one on his resume. The glasses' reflection made it pretty tricky, with both inside and outside shots. We even had Sam out there holding up a black umbrella, ha!
We went out last Saturday night in Clinton County to hear my friend's band, Fleur de Lisa, and had a blast dancing to our 80s and 90s music. It was apparent the majority of the crowd (definite youngsters) lacked appreciation for the great songs they were playing--we were pretty much the only dancers! This is the only pic I got that night and of course it's a sitting down moment. I think we got home after 2 am, so yeah, it was way fun.
I was thinking the day I did all this laundry that I am so grateful to whoever invented the automatic washing machine 'cause can you imagine this with the rocks-down-in-the-creek method?!
These boys were laying on the dark but the camera flash made it look well-lit. The Rock Band drum kit has about had it, so now they play guitar one at a time.
I went to the Veterans Day parade by myself which was fine. It had rained hard all day and I figured it would be cancelled but it wasn't. I think most people thought it would be. It stopped raining right before 7 pm and there was a warm 60 degree-ish wind, so it was actually really nice to be out that night. I felt like I kinda had the street to myself and when I waved to those in the parade, they definitely saw me and knew I was there out of appreciation.
This is no one I know, but I really laughed when I saw this kid dressed up for Halloween as a smoke detector.
Sam was sick and missed school a couple days lately. It was good to see him back with an appetite and drinking from the jug like the big boys. Not really, but glad he felt better enough to chug chocolate milk.
This totally cracked me up = laughing out loud and could not stop for a couple of minutes. I just found it so hilariously funny. Fall is here : )
Sis gave me a couple of different braids last night. The french braid looked really pretty good I thought, better than this other one which I think was a dutch. Maybe it's just because the pic didn't get a flash and my hair doesn't look as shiny? ha Lucky me, she does my hair way more than I do hers.
Gary and I went out suit and shoe shopping on Sunday since we are going to San Antonio in a couple of weeks and he needs a suit not from 2000 and I need fall "comfort" (read: ugly shoes) these days. I try and try to find ones that feel great for me and aren't ugly and they are few and far between. Here's a couple I'm considering but neither of us came home with anything.
Here's Sam after the Halloween parade with wet shoes, wet pants, and wet candy bags, but warm and smiley with my scarf and hat.
Halloween night the big boys marched in the parade and it was so cool. I've seen a couple of videos others posted on Facebook, but they're not YouTubes and I don't have any way of linking to them. They did some really fancy stuff and I would just love to share! : ( Oh well, just very glad they didn't get rained out and I got to watch them in action.
THE SpongeBob costume stands the test of time and made another appearance this Halloween. Now all three boys have been SpongeBob and it's still in perfect shape. Gotta say, very good job, Grandma Barbara!
How did I forget to post this? Taken on senior night, it Jack's last home football game. We were really proud to be standing up with him.
We've been getting ready for Halloween around here for awhile. Caroline and her friend dressed up as creepy dolls for an event at school. Here's the Goodwill dresses after shredding and hanging to dry the fake blood, and then how they turned out. If the goal was being creepy, they totally scored.
Helpful tip: if you ever need a source of inexpensive, non-sticky fake blood, we found the flavored liquid you squirt into water worked great.
The neighbors called upon Gary to help them get rid of a coon they accidentally trapped. When they baited the trap last summer to catch what was making messes on their deck, they never caught a thing. When they pitched the trap out in the backyard and forgot about it, they caught something! The wife did not want the coon killed so we loaded it in the mini van and took it for a ride. I will say it was the best behaved wild animal in a trap that I have ever seen.
Today was the day of the future back in 1985's Back to the Future movie and look what I was driving behind today! A DeLorean. I couldn't ·not· take a picture.
Ross took the little ones out the other night when Gary and I went to the football game with the big boys. Man, I'm jealous: Steak n Shake, Orange Leaf, and Target!
Gary made replacement drumsticks out of old pear tree branches we trimmed last weekend. Grant and Sam have recently dusted off and revived the Wii Rock Band game, but since the original drumsticks are no more, Grant had been using wooden spoons. And was about to beat the drum kit to death so these should work better.
My dad was in the hospital all last week after a high blood pressure episode, but home now and doing better, I guess. I hope. Him being in the hospital coincided with Homecoming Week for the big boys, but we managed to still get to do everything which included the parade, football game with recognition for seniors, and the dance, well, a modified version of going to the dance.
Jack and Megan and another couple got dressed up, did pictures, and had a night out to The Cheesecake Factory but skipped buying flowers and tickets to the dance. Later, they hung out at our house to watch a movie. I thought it was a smart idea for a special date without all the traditional dance hoopla.
Jack is ready for the end of marching band. He's got so much going on this school year that to be done with band will be a great relief for him. He looks great doing it though.
Marching band season is winding down. They won their competition at Collinsville, taking first in their class and overall champions. Grant sure enjoys his contra.
Has anyone else been overrun with stinkbugs this fall?! I think they aren't even traditional stinkbugs because they are tan and large. I go to grab a Kleenex and there's one. I go to adjust my van mirror and there's one. Our grill had a bunch inside and darn, so sorry when I had to light the burners...not. They sound like horseflies when they are flying around in the house. Guess that's this year's nuisance insect.
Ross texted, asking if I'd be interested in having Swedish meatballs on Sunday and I was all 'oh yeah!'' because I took that as 'are you interested in going to the newly opened Ikea on Sunday?' But then when he said 'ok, I'll bring then over' I realized my assumption was wrong. And how disappointing! But I shouldn't have felt that because it turned out to be awesome.
He had bought all the groceries before hand and came over to cook and it felt like Thanksgiving. We had quite a spread with two kinds of noodles, glazed carrots, streaked broccoli, mashed potatoes, chocolate cupcakes, and actual Ikea gravy/sauce and lingonberries to go with our two kinds of meatballs. The number of servings of the gravy/sauce was 18 so suffice it to say there were leftovers. Only Sam and Caroline were home so we had way much food. Eventually Gary and Grant came in and Ross had five take-home meals for the week so none went wasted.
Photo by Sam. He tried : )
This is Caroline's latest room inspiration and thus the transformation begins. Wasn't it just last month that I fell off the ladder painting for her? I guess it was more like two years ago we painted over the purple but it feels very recent. She's gonna have her room painted twice before we ever get our bedroom painted once. I tell ya, one natural gift that girl has is coming up with ideas, oy.
