Fan Girl Memoires

WHATTA Weekend!!!  I don't remember Friday night much.  I think I got some more buttons sewn onto the coats that I'm fixing for a friend, then crashed early.  Leon spent the night and the entire next day with this dad, so really it was just Robb and I, with his mom for supper.  Quiet!...  If the empty nest is going to be like this once in a while, okey dokey!

And Saturday was Maddy's birthday!!!!  Since she and Matthew celebrated in Wisconsin, all we could do was mail her things and DUO with her that morning before heading out for the day.

Happy Birthday again Sweetheart!

Earlier that morning, I cleaned out the car REALLY well.  In fact, let me tell you how much...

I got all extra junk put into a laundry basket and taken inside to be sorted whenever I feel like it.  Might be NEXT weekend.  

Then I took the car uptown to vacuum and wash it off.  Robb and I were going to carpool with another bagpiper and drummer to the annual Octoberfest at Iowa's Adventureland park on Saturday afternoon.  

And we don't want them to see how we REALLY live...

I pulled the car into the automatic carwash and let it do it's thing while I polished a few years of dust off the dash and everywhere else.

Suddenly I heard a noise that sounded familiar, but I didn't immediately place it.  The hatch was opening up!!!!  AND the car washing sprayer thingy was at that corner of the car!!!!  YIKES!!!  I had accidentally hit the hatch opening button...  It opened half way and then closed when I rehit it.  

Whew!!!  I didn't investigate until I got back to the house, where I found the carpet in the hatch area was completely saturated.  Oh cripes!  The piper friends were going to put their instruments back there!  I improvised and put down a couple towels and then a oversized floor mat down.  It worked and then gave us a nice conversation starter for the drive down.

The band played four times in the park for people walking by.  

In between sets, I would run to various concession stands and get food for Robb and myself.  We each had free entry to the park and free food bands.  WHAT A DEAL!!!  We discovered lots of great foods that we wouldn't have sprung for if we were paying for it ourselves.  The mini donuts were fantastic!  I got over $12 worth over the course of the afternoon...  Park food is outrageously priced!

During a couple of the performances, the band had some competition on the other side of the sidewalk.  How can you compete with scantily clad women, flying back and forth on a wire and motorcycle!!?  Oh and it was freezing!!  You can practically see goose bumps from here.

and it was drizzling...

The last performance was inside on a stage during halftime of the big football game.  I have no idea who was playing, but the people here seemed into it.  

Oh and coincidentally, that is the same stage that held the 80s band Hanson, just a mere few hours before!  

If I had been more of a fan of their's, I'd have found their hangout with them playing video games sooner.  It was just around the corner from where the pipers were warming up!    My kids have never even heard of them and they were too young for me to really get into when I was young. 

But they were famous at one time so EEEEEEE!

That's my fan girl impersonation.

For all I know, they were exploring the park and I may have walked right past them looking for cheese curds.

After this, Robb and company were beat and we headed home.  Crashed on the couch, and weren't even hungry for supper, but did eat a light late one.

And that was just Saturday.  More tomorrow about Sunday's adventure!

It's a Whirlwind Life

 Wow!  I didn't get time to post for 4 days??  Where have I been?

Friday night was the viewing for my friend.

Saturday morning was the funeral.  I helped out with the serving of the luncheon at church and then headed to another town for Meri's thing.

She sang "A Change In Me" again for the State level Individual Speech Musical Theater.  She was battling a cold, since before Christmas but it was really taking it's toll on her since the play got over with.  So she didn't feel like it was her best performance and I was stuck behind the speaker playing her music and couldn't hear very well anyway, so I couldn't say.  She did not get top marks by all three judges so she won't be going to All-State, which is fine.  Her teacher was thinking she'd be more upset than she was, but Meri was just relieved it was done. 

She and I enjoyed some pops and popcorn with nacho dip in the caf until the scores were put up.
She enjoyed it when I knocked my pop into the popcorn and cheese splattering everything and then she also enjoyed it when I walked into the men's bathroom by mistake looking for paper towels.
It's great to enjoy your parents while they age...

Enjoyment for an 18 year old is rolling your eyes a LOT.

Oh mom...

Got a pic with the whole gang from our school.

After that, Meri dropped me off at the house and went to her new temp job of house/pet sitting for a friend while they're on vacation.  It's spring break here.  She's enjoying some alone time in a gorgeous house and binge watching Psych.  

On Sunday, after church, Robb and I headed to Wisconsin to see Maddy and Matthew.  We got there at dinner time and got fed REALLY well, then helped her get her weekend schoolwork done for her classroom before getting some frozen custard.  YUMM!!  and that place was decorated SO cool...

Then we headed back to their apartment for a board game.  The game they'd borrowed was "Magic Mazes".  Too fun!  You're supposed to work as a team and if you'd not doing your part, a dent can be made in the table in front of you from the others tapping a little wooden thing in front of you..  ;)  I got a dent.  and I talked too much from what I've been told.  

You're supposed to stare intensely.

The next morning, Maddy headed off to her classroom early and Matthew, Robb and I got a leisurely breakfast at a local coffee shop before heading over. 



Robb gave a presentation with his bagpipe to the kindergartners and 2nd grade.  So funny!  The kids loved it. 

After a bagpipe dance party in the gym, Maddy allowed them to touch the bagpipes with two of their fingers.  They filed past Robb to get close to them and touch them if they dare.

Then we went back to the classroom where Robb read Wee Gillis to Maddy's class with his strong pretend Scottish accent, throwing little kids into tizzies of laughter.  They practiced speaking in Scottish and Irish accents after that.  It was all grand.

Said our goodbyes, dropped Matthew off at the apartment and then drove a couple hours to where my sister lives.  I hadn't seen her for a while and it was great to get together with her, a couple of her grandkids that she babysits, her husband and a few of her kids for lunch at Red Robin. "yum"    

Got a late start heading home but instead of Robb dropping me off at the house before picking up Leon, we cut through Illinois and got him first.  We were only 30 minutes late then.  No prob!!!

Got home finally and crashed.  It's one of those evenings when you know you're supposed to do "something" but what?!  I'm overwhelmed with just taking care of the dogs for the night...  And with the recent time change, I was ready for bed at 7:30pm (old time).

LIVE IN THE NOW!

On Tuesday, we picked up Meri from her home for the week and drove to my hometown to see my parents.  Leon mostly colored on the way and he colored two pics to leave for Mom and Dad.  During our visit, we watched Meri's performance in Beauty and the Beast with them, since they hadn't been able to make it.  Unfortunately the sound on the laptop wasn't loud enough for them to hear everything but Meri sang along with her parts and they enjoyed that immensely.  

Not enough time with them but we had to leave and get Meri back to her charges, who would have accidents in the house if we didn't get her back by 5.

Then just crashed again.  We had read Leon at least 2 more Magic Treehouse books over the day.  He's really getting into them.  We're up to book #8.

And now I'm back in my office.  It's going to be long day I think...

What have you been up to?

And life goes on...

I have hemmed a dress that Maddy will be wearing for a wedding this July.  AND found a few things that she and Matthew forgot and are small enough to mail.  Will try and get that packaged up today to mail.

We'll keep USPS hopping.

As I may have mentioned, Meri is starting to get geared up for singing in several talent searches this summer.  She sang in one a few weeks ago.  The announcer was floored by her, but the judges thought she needed to work on her stage presence so she didn't get placed.  darn.  She was pretty disappointed but got encouraged by the announcer and the woman in charge of gathering the talent.  They want her to compete in more talent searches coming up so now we have another project to work on.  

I can NEVER have enough of those!!

Meri needs to work on stage presence and what better way than to have a performance dress.  She ultimately thought that I'd use the same pattern we used for her sweetheart and prom dress and whip something up.  But who knows where that got tucked?   AND if she wants it all flowy like this, let's just get a pattern... This one was only $2.  I'll use her prom dress for any adjustments to the pattern.

I don't know if it will be as sparkly as this...  We'll see.  But she likes the flowy-ness of it.

I'm also selling off some of the gobs of wedding stuff that we accumulated and recoup'ing some of the costs.  The dining room WILL be used for dining again, some time in the near future. like 2018...

AND I want to get around to visiting you guys!  My people....  

Attempting to get back to normal. 

Whatever that is.