Movin' on to Middle School

Tonight was the parent class for kids moving on to middle school. My daughter takes hers next week. I signed up to go to have an idea of what to expect when she starts. Glad I did, it all sounds a little confusing. Much different than when I was her age. Just learning the vocabulary will take a bit.....bases, mods, rotations, pride. Can't you just call it homeroom like we used to?? lol No more Home Economics, now it's Family Consumer Education. Forget about shop class, now it's Technology Education.

She wanted to sign up for the class because she is nervous about changing schools and knowing where to go and how to use a locker. Hell, I think she'll be fine, it's me that's gonna have the hard time with a middle school kid! Especially now with her new medical issues. I guess we will see.....

Not a winner

At the end of June I shared two pictures that I entered into the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel snapshot contest. The winners were in the paper on July 24th and didn't include me. Which I didn't expect in the first place and considering I wasn't contacted I knew I wouldn't see my name. Maybe next time.

I actually didn't see the winners until tonight when I mentioned to my hubby that they were suppose to be in the paper at the end of July and wondered what day because I don't always read the paper. Both he and my mom neglected to tell me they had seen them this past week.

What bothers me though is that I don't think my second entry ever went through. I had been checking the page as they updated it with new entries and found my first one. The second I did a few days later but I never did see it show up.

You can see the article posting the winning photographs online here: 2007 winners

Addicted to Webkinz

Those cute little stuffed animals that every young girl has to have! Do boys play with them too? They all contain a tag with a special code and you adopt them online. My 8 year old wanted one a couple months ago so we got her a little white terrier and she played online periodically, they have cute little games you can play and earn cash and buy stuff for your house.

It wasn't until two weeks ago when we saw my cousin's kids that mine got "addicted". They all decided they were going to add each other as friends and we ended up going out and buying them each another animal. My daughter now also has a tiger....her favorite animal. (Shhh...don't tell anyone but me and both my 30 something cousins got one too! I have yet to "adopt" mine though.) At the time my 11 year old would have nothing to do with it. It was right before she got really sick so I'm thinking she just didn't have an interest in anything at the time. But now that she is better and we are back home she has found a panda she likes. So the past few days the two have them have been bugging me to play webkinz and are visiting and playing games together.

Now they are on a mission to find the trading cards that all have codes to get "stuff" for your webkinz. There are only two stores in our little town that sell the stuff though and they are hard to come by. Ebay to the rescue!! Looks like I may go that route for them as long as shipping is not an arm and a leg!

Here's the cute Koala I got.........

Multnomah Falls

I just quickly scanned all the pics I took on our trip and this one of Multnomah Falls in Oregon stands out as my favorite so far. This is one of those places I wish I lived close to so I could visit at different times of the day and seasons of the year to photograph it.

My head is spinning

It's been quite a couple of weeks! We went away for a nice vacation to visit with family and came back with a child newly diagnosed with diabetes. Yup, she ended up in the hospital while out of state. Needless to say, the past couple weeks have been kind of a blur. We've been bombarded with so much information and have had to purchase so many supplies I just feel like I'm going to explode! I was in shock when we first found out. I've since come to accept (I think) the fact that she is going to have to live with this the rest of her life. I know she will be fine and we are getting her blood sugar levels under control. But just like any other parent you hate to see anything like this happen to your "baby". It's been quite overwhelming but I'm sure before we know it, it will be old habit and we won't have to think twice about testing her blood sugar and giving insulin shots.

Because of all this, I have tons of other stuff just piling up waiting to get done. I'm slowing starting to dig my way out of this pile. I've been back from our trip for a week now and I have yet to download the pics I took on to the computer. That is so unlike me! We didn't get to go to a few of the places we'd planned, like Mount St. Helens or up to Anacortes for whale watching, but maybe next time. That is one thing I've been wanting to do for a while now and is on my "list". We did make it to Northwest Trek and Mount Rainier and from what I can see on my LCD I hopefully got some good shots and will share soon.

I also got to meet a couple online friends for breakfast one day. That was nice!

I better get moving, have stuff planned for tonight......it even took me a couple hours just to type this up, I've been interupted so many times!

Later~

I'm back!

Just a quick note to let you know I'm back. For those who may not have known I was out in the Pacific Northwest visting family for the past week and haven't been online. I'll share some pics and stuff from the trip over the next few days or so when I have time. What a week! Until then have a great weekend :-)

Later~

Concert 3 of 3 ABBA, THE TOUR

Milwaukee 7-8-07

Now, this concert was kind of the opposite of the Police concert as far as knowing the songs. I recognized most all of them. Blame it on my mom who played their music all the time when I was a kid! She saw this concert was coming up at Potawatomi in MKE and I decided to get tickets to for her for mother's day. Who's her favorite child now?

This of course was not the original ABBA but the tribute band Arrival from Sweden. I must admit they did a great job. From what I remember of the songs they sounded quite a bit like the originals. They also had the 70s outfits to go with it. I know my mom really enjoyed the show and it seemed like everyone else did too. There were just a handful of dates in the US but for anyone who likes the music of ABBA and who was never able to see the original band live, this is the next best thing I guess.

So now I can't get their songs out of my head. I keep waking up singing
Try once more
Like you did before
Sing a new song
Chiquitita

You happy now mom?? :-)

Concert 2 of 3 RICK SPRINGFIELD

Arlington Heights, IL 7-7-07

This is the one out of the three this weekend that I was most anticipating. Not that I didn't want to attend the other two, but because Rick Springfield has been my favorite since I was a pre-teen!!

I originally planned to attend with my family but at the last minute my husband got scheduled to work overtime on Saturday and had to get back home. I was able to hook up with a friend that let me stay at her place Saturday after the show and came home Sunday.

It was a free show that was held at a local festival. People came early, set up their blankets and/or chairs to claim their spot. We got there early afternoon, found a spot and hung around the grounds until the show. It was freakin HOT that day! Went through a ton of water and luckily found some shady areas to hang out in.

As show time got closer people started to trickle in. It was getting crowded. Once the opening music started everyone started inching closer and toward the center. But it wasn't bad, no pushing or shoving just lots of people crammed together. I did get beer spilled on my foot though!

He started with 'Who Killed Rock n Roll', the new one that should be on his next album (showing my age!). I love that song! It really rocks. Then he did most of the usual stuff from the 80s, got some fans and one of the grounds volunteers to sing 'Don't Talk to Strangers' and had some fun with a couple songs in the crowd. Couldn't even see him for most of that because it was just too crowded and there was really no place for him to get up and stand on anything. He played some slide guitar with someone's cell phone and then made a call to one of her contacts saying we'd all be over for beer and pizza later! He was back on stage for a couple songs, left to change and came back for a one song encore.......shirtless I must add! Very nice :-)

The show seemed to go very quickly (don't they all?). It was over around 9:30. All that waiting around in the hot sun and it's over before you know it. Well worth it though!! I had a blast!

Who wants to go with me next time?

Here's Rodger and George (with Matt and Derek in the background).

Concert 1 of 3 THE POLICE

Wrigley Field, 7-6-07

First off, I need to brush up on some Police music. I guess I should have done that before the show! I didn't realize how many songs I didn't know. They started with 'Message in a Bottle' then 'Synchronicity' (I think) and then quite a few I didn't recognize. I felt quite strange because it seemed like everyone else did and were singing along! I'm such a dork. Luckily the second half was much better and I felt a little more in touch.

When we first arrived our seats didn't seem half bad. Then they came out. If it wasn't for the 2 big screens on either side of the stage and the 3 right above their heads in the middle alternating shots of each of them, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that was Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland up there!! The stage was set up out over the center field bleachers. There were seats set up on the field but ours were in the stands about 8-10 rows back on the 1st base side. The place was PACKED!! Even some bleachers on building surrounding the stadium were full.

Of course I was lost without my camera! So here's me trying to get some kind of picture on my camera phone to remember the night. Took a few of the view before the show and one of hubby and I. Here's one I took during 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic'. They had a red lighting pattern going on......

Here it just looks like Wrigley Field is on Fire!! lol I can take good photos, really I can. Seriously, it was a great concert. They still Rock! Though for some reason they were a little slow on the tempo of 'Don't Stand So Close to Me', but other than that it was awesome. Sting still looks great, has a couple nice guns and still has quite a set of lungs. I'm so glad we got the chance to go!

3 concerts in 3 days

I hope so anyway!!

I'm headed out in about 4 hours or so to see the Police in Chicago with hubby.
I'm hoping to see Rick Springfield tomorrow night. I'm scrambling here at the last minute to find a ride home! Ahh!
Then on Sunday I'm going with my mom to see an ABBA tribute band.

I'll post all about them when the weekend is over. That is if I survive!

Later :)

Fireworks Fun

Like many Americans, last night I went to see a local fireworks show. I have to say I think this was one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen.

They had some cool ones I've never seen before. Some white spiraling ones that were great (not those screamers, which I like by the way), these were different. We could see the spot where they were setting them off from and they had some awesome sprays down on the ground. Well, worth the $5 donation to the firework fund for parking.

Only one problem. I SUCK at getting fireworks photos! Here's one half way decent one I took. I need to read up on some techniques. Doesn't help that you only have a few minutes once or twice a year to practice!!

Happy Birthday America!

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First it's Candy.....

...........Then it's Gum.

I first heard of Razzles when watching the movie "13 Going on 30" a couple years ago. I didn't really pay much attention because at the time I was too busy looking for the Rick Springfield references that were in the movie.

Then I caught it on TV a few months back and I couldn't get over the fact that I had never heard of these things considering the characters talked about eating them as kids in the 80s. I was a kid in the 80s! What's funny is, since watching the second time I have seen them in about 4 or 5 stores now!

So last week I saw them again and finally decided I needed to try me some Razzles and bought a package. I didn't actually pop them in my mouth until tonight. My first reaction? <in my best valley girl accent> Like, Gag me with a spoon!

They are kind of a dry, sugary candy and at first are kind of nasty. Then as you chew on them they turn into gum and the flavor gets better. Well, for a couple minutes anyway. The longer you chew the worse it gets. It looses flavor fast! Also, I'm not normally one to "pop" my gum when I chew it, but I noticed this easily does that without even trying. No wonder I never had them before, or maybe I did with the same reaction and blocked the memory from my head.

I think I'll be giving the rest of them to the kids.

Later~

Would you believe???

That.......

1. Yesterday, the 30th of June, only about 2 and 1/2 weeks after the kids got out of school for the summer, I get a Toys-R-Us ad in the mail. They are having a Back to School sale already!! Hey, I have about a month and a half before I need or want to think about school again!

and...

2. The past few days I actually find myself wanting to do laundry. Our old washer died (that's the bad part) and we got a new front loader from Whirlpool, energystar rated. We of course had to get the matching dryer. They are much cooler than what we had, very quiet too. I love 'em. Not loving that we'll have to pay for them though! But at least we should see a money savings in the long run, both with the water and electric bills. The kids actually are asking to help with laundry too. I know this won't last long, the novelty will wear off soon. For all of us. But it's fun to play with the new gadgets when you first get 'em.

Heading out to dinner with the family......
Later~