My B-list

So I was over at Shannon's blog the other day and she was playing along with a fun little game. You're given a random letter and make up a list of your favorite items beginning with that letter. She gave me the letter "B".

Hmm. A little harder than I thought to come up with 10 things that start with B. At least ten things I would consider a favorite. The first thing that popped into my mind was bananas. Don't know why because I really do not like them at all. Then I couldn't get it out of my head, luckily it paid off because it reminded me of one of my list items.

Anyway, here they are in no particular order:

Bon Jovi- Loved them since the "Runaway" days. I've seen them in concert like 4 or 5 times. Maybe more. And come on. You can't tell me that Jon Bon Jovi isn't still one of the hottest rockers out there!

Blogging- Duh!

Bargains- Who doesn't love a good bargain? I first had BOGO (buy one get one) sales, then changed it to bargains. I do love the buy one get one free sales our grocery store does periodically. But contrary to what my husband thought......you DO need to get two of each item to get the discount.

Black Olives- Mmm! I like green olives too, but I LOVE black olives. Much to the dismay of hubby who won't let me near him if I've been eating them.

Brownies- Again. Mmmm! I'm pretty sure chocolate brownies is one of the major food groups.

Birthdays- None of us would be here if it wasn't for our birthday, right? LOL I don't like big major parties but just the acknowledgement and celebration of the day.

Bosco Breadsticks- The third food item on the list. Do you see a trend here? These are breadsticks we order from the Market Day fundraiser at my daughter's school. Breadsticks filled with mozzarella cheese. Big Mmm!

Banana Splits (tv show)- No, NOT food this time! Can we go with past faves? Well, this is my list so I say yes. Remember this?

Bella- Yes, of course! I had to get something in there from Twilight!! Who wouldn't want to be Bella and have Edward fall in love with them?

Babies- No I don't want to have another. We are done. But babies are just the cutest and I love holding them. Haven't had one around in a while.

That was kinda fun. Maybe I'll have to do it again with another letter the next time I'm stuck for blog topics!

Let me know in the comments if you'd like to play along and I'll give you a letter too!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

glitter-graphics.com

Short and sweet today.

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Where's the Holiday spirit?

I've been asking myself that the past few days. I don't have any this year. At all.

I don't like when they start playing Christmas music on the radio the first day in November. But usually by now I'm feeling a little more into the season. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving already and I'm not feeling festive at all.

I usually like trying to pick out gifts for family but this year not so much. I don't even feel like shopping. Have barely started. Haven't made a list yet either. I'm never done by Thanksgiving but I usually have a dent or at least a good idea of what I'm getting.

Maybe it's because last winter was so brutal and I can't believe it's back again already. So soon. I hate winter. Why do I live in freakin' Wisconsin anyway?!

Or maybe it's because I've been working more hours lately and I just don't have time to do my normal stuff around here, never mind having to go Christmas shopping or decorate. Tiger asked when we'd be getting a tree. I have no idea and I don't seem to care.

I'm hoping my outlook changes soon! Maybe next week when I don't have to work everyday and I have time to breathe. I really don't know how I ever did it when I used to work full time.

Cruising: Days 3 and 4

Saturday our first event didn't start until 11:30 so we slept in a bit. This was the day for the Q & A session with the stars. Rick, Doug, Jackie and Jay sat on stage and answered questions from the crowd. The questions actually went more smoothly than the day before at the acoustic show. They started lines for people to come up to the mic which worked much better than someone walking around with a mic as they did the day before. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the cruise. Rick and Doug were having fun and are hilarious together.

The beach party in Cozumel was scheduled for the afternoon. Unfortunately I have to say this was one of my least favorite parts of the cruise. I had such big expectations for it and it did not live up them at all. They seemed to be unorganized. They didn't start setting up his stage area until our group was there and trying to eat. Then they tell us we need to move the tables we're at so they can set up for him. We then had to clear the area for the second group to have room to eat. So of course they ended up with the prime spots for the concert. We couldn't see a darn thing the entire performance and I have no pictures from this one. The stage was not elevated at all so unless you were right up front you missed out. Then our group had to leave pretty much right after the show to catch the bus back so we also missed out on seeing Rick and the guys during down time on the beach after the show. We did enjoy our time sitting and walking along the beach before the show started, but the entire thing was not worth the extra cost. :(

Sunday we woke up to choppy seas and that did not agree with me at all. I ended up spending a big portion of the late morning and afternoon in bed. I ended up missing our photo session time with the stars. You have no idea how bummed I was (and still am) about that!! Hubby was awesome during the whole thing. He went to get John Waite's autograph for me and tried everything he could to get me a second with Rick for a picture. It finally paid off after dinner this night when I was able to get a quick photo.

I finally started feeling better toward the end of the afternoon so I was able to go to the farewell fan appreciation show. The Squirts performed for about 30 minutes and then Rick took the stage. Another great show and he did some songs he's never played live before or hasn't since the 80s. Like my favorite "What Kind Of Fool Am I"!

For the most part it was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad I went. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. They plan to make it an annual event but the possibility of us doing it again (or being able to afford it again) is pretty slim!

A couple pictures

The pictures I promised in the last post!

Me and Hubby at dinner

Me and Derek after the Lido Deck concert.

Cruising: Days 1 and 2

Time to blogging about my trip or you'll never hear about it. Most of it took place over a week ago! The first day was a welcome concert with John Waite doing an acoustic set. He played for about a half an hour. I did recognize a few songs from Bad English days, including "When I See You Smile" which Hubby and I used on our wedding video. Hubby was able to get John to sign our 45 album of the song later in the week!



Rick did about an hour concert to welcome us all and start the weekend off. Half way through he announced that drinks were on him and they started handing out free ones. Hubby and I don't drink so it made no difference to us!

Late that night was Movie Night with all the stars. Rick, Doug Davidson, Jackie Zeman, Jay Kenneth Johnson and Mark Goodman. I was surprised at how empty the place was. I think many thought it was a full showing of Hard to Hold but it was actually clips from all the actors and they sat on stage making comments about them. It was quite fun. Got a little long after awhile and I think they did cut it short but not sure. Rick kept making comments about how long it was going! And I must say Doug Davidson is and absolute riot. He had everyone cracking up! What a great guy.

Friday we docked in Key West. Hubby and I booked a glass bottom boat tour. That was nice. I took some pics out the bottom of the boat but you can't see much. We also got to see some Bottle nosed Dolphins on our way out to the viewing area. I liked it but now wish we had just spent more time checking out Key West. We didn't have much time to see much of any of it. :( This is a shot of it from the boat.

Friday afternoon was the acoustic show with both John and Rick. They did a spectacular job. They opened it up for requests and questions. Then John did a full concert with Rick's band. Hubby wasn't to interested in that so we didn't stay for that portion. I was OK with it either way. We just walked around and checked out the ship. Then got ready for formal night dinner. We aren't real big on dressing up so we did the absolute minimum but we still fit it. There was quite a range of dress which made me feel much better. I was fretting about it before we left. The ships photography crew was taking pics that night and we did get a good one from that. I will post it soon.

After dinner was a "bonus" concert on the Lido deck out under the open sky. That was pretty cool. It was open to all the ships passengers not just the Rick cruisers. I did see a few others but I think the majority were us Rick fans. Got my picture taken with Derek from the band after this show. I need to edit that one and the dinner pic and will put them up in another post in a few.

I also have pics of all of these events but don't want to overload my posts. If anyone wants to see these go to my profile and email me. I'm in the process of putting them on snapfish by event and can email you as I get them up!

Spending today playing at the water park etc. I will try to get days 2 and 3 up tonight when we get back to the room and settle in.

She Will Be Loved

I've been tagged by Aim at Random Thoughts. It's taken me a couple days but I'm playing along.

1. Put your music on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag ** friends who might enjoy doing the meme as well as the person you got the meme from.

Before I start, be warned there will probably be quite a few Rick Springfield songs on there since most of you know he is my favorite and accounts for a majority of what is on my ipod. Working on creating a more diverse library. Have lots of stuff to add but just haven't gotten to it yet!

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? "Your Love" The Outfield
WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? "Head Like a Hole" Nine Inch Nails
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? "Click Click Click" New Kids on the Block
HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? "Summertime" New Kids on the Block (I do wish it was summer!)
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?? "Higher" Creed
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? "Animals" Nickelback (OMG!)
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? "Human Touch" Rick Springfield
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? "Things Can Only Get Better" Howard Jones
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? "Pink Houses" John Mellencamp
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? "One Week" Barenaked Ladies
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? "Harder to Breathe" Maroon 5
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? "Broken Wings" Rick Springfield
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? "I Don't Want Anything From You" Rick Springfield
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? "Push" Matchbox Twenty
WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? "Girls on Film" Duran Duran (Some of these are just too funny!)
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? "Prayer" Rick Springfield
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? "Lonely No More" Rob Thomas
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? "Like to Get to Know You Well" Howard Jones
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? "Let It Rock" Bon Jovi
WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? "Love Somebody" Rick Springfield (So not true!)
HOW WILL YOU DIE? "Is There Something I Should Know" Duran Duran (Really? Is there?)
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? "Wasted" Rick Springfield
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? "I Love Rock 'N Roll" Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? "New Kid In Town" The Eagles
WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? "Follow You Home" Nickelback
WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? "Alyson" Rick Springfield (No Ally, if you are reading this, you do not scare me!)
DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? "Black Hole Sun" Soundgarden
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? "Come on Eileen" Dexy's Midnight Runners
WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? "Everything Zen" Bush
WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? "She Will Be Loved" Maroon 5

That was kind of fun. I'm not tagging anyone but if you'd like to take if for your blog, knock yourself out!!

Miami Pier and the boat

Bear with me on sharing my cruise trip photos and stories. I'm trying not to spend hours on end on the computer because I have a bunch of other stuff to catch up since coming home. Plus we are going to be gone again this weekend to the WI Dells (I will have my laptop though) so I'm going to go through them and do a few at a time in a bunch of posts as I can instead of one big long post.

Here's hubby and I on the boat before we set sail.




This is the big slide on the Lido deck of the ship. This is the area where Rick Springfield did one of his concerts. It was pretty cool out there seeing a concert at night under the moon.



Hubby goofing around for the emergency drill. Which was a joke. Nobody knew what to do or where to go. They really need to inform you of all this upon check in!

Not sure if this is a vacation resort or condos/apartments along the edge of the Miami pier.

I will also be posting some more of my photos on my photoblog if you want to take a look.

I'm back!

And I've got something to blog about! Our trip was awesome and I'm going through all the pics. We flew into Florida a day early so we had plenty of time before the cruise just in case we had flight problems. We rented a convertible for the day. We booked for a mustang or similar. Of course no mustangs were available so we got a Chrysler Sebring. Still pretty nice.





While it was fun and all I've decided I'm just not the spontaneous, drive with the top down kind of gal. Here's why:

1. It's windy and messes up your hair! I made sure I had it tied back before we put the top down.
2. You might get pooped on by a bird!
3. You can't have anything laying loose in the car or it might blow away. Like the map you need to refer to when the dang GPS you rented doesn't work!
4. Nothing is really secure. Anyone could just walk up and grab something right out of the car when you're stopped at a light. Or who knows what else! I'm not used to people wandering around at the stop lights trying to sell you papers and what not.

More to come on our trip!

I've got nothin"!!

Nothing to blog about. Or so I think. Only 3 posts in the past two weeks. I've been pretty scarce.

I knew this day would come where I was at a complete loss for topics. I just feel nothing is worthy of a post lately. I don't want to bore what few readers I do have! Or there are times when I may think of something to post about but change my mind. Worried I might offend or what others will think of me and my opinions. Should I care? Maybe not, but I do.

Let's see.

I could tell you that I totally spaced on my kid today and forgot I had to pick her and a friend up from school at 3pm to drive them to Jazz band. I was aware of it yesterday. And of the fact that I had to work until 3pm. I'm at least 20 minutes from school. Never even dawned on me that it wouldn't work. She called me at 3:03. "Mom, where are you? You were supposed to pick us up for Jazz band."
Hmm. Why do they have Jazz band on a Thursday. Yup, I thought it was Thursday too. Luckily hubby is off work this week for our vacation and he was able to get them there in time. I guess I really need this trip!

I could also tell you that I have no idea why my hubby even carries a cell phone. He hardly ever seems to answer when I call him. Which is not that often, BTW! It's not because he's ignoring me because I call too much. (I think or at least I hope!). When I did finally reach him later in the afternoon and asked about him not answering he says he doesn't keep the phone with him. OK, but don't you check to see if you got calls? He does. So I asked why he didn't call me back. Because I didn't leave a message so it couldn't have been too important. What? Every time I do leave a message you say you didn't listen so I stopped leaving them. I guess he doesn't need to hear it. Just knowing there is one means he needs to return the call? I don't think I'll ever understand how his brain works!

I just realized I almost posted this on my photoblog! Ugh! I really do need to get away. Only 33 more hours until our flight leaves!! See you after I return on the 17th! My *gulp* 39th birthday! I was thinking of doing something special, maybe a giveaway to celebrate. Any ideas?? I need help!

Voting and other random updates

I voted today! I hope you all did too! Hubby and I went right after Tiger got on the bus. I was expecting a long wait but it was only about 20 minutes. I think that is the shortest we've waited in any presidential election since we moved here. They've been making such a big deal about so many voters turning out that I think a lot of people voted early and that helped with the lines today. My mom actually voted at our city hall yesterday and had a longer wait than we did today.

Oh, and I got my picture taken by a local newspaper photographer while feeding my ballot into the machine. I may just get my 15 minutes of fame yet! lol

Oral surgery: Skowt had her consultation appointment today to find out what is all involved for her upcoming surgery. Looks like we will have to have it done at the hospital because of her diabetes. Still not sure of the total cost, the surgeon is sending all their charges in for pre-authorization but we were told the hospital is unable to do that because there may be unexpected charges that come up depending on how things go. Yippee. They did give us a ball park on what the hospital charges usually are though and that they didn't think there would be a problem with them being covered but you just never know!

Cruisin': We leave for our cruise one week from tomorrow! We fly in a day early and will be renting a car. Hubby had to go for the Mustang. He said I got my cruise, he gets a Mustang for a day. I guess I can give him that! I can't wait! I still have a bunch of stuff to do before then so I'm getting a little panicked, but I'm sure I'll get it taken care of. I usually work better under pressure. I probably won't be blogging while I'm gone, but keep an eye on my twitter updates on my sidebar or click on the follow me link. I'll hopefully be able to send some updates by text.

Work: The main reason I have so much to get done is because of work. I've been working a lot more hours than usual. I'm so not used to this. I've worked 5 out of the last 6 days. I don't know how I used to work full time with two little kids! I've got so much on my to do list and I can't get to it! Drives me crazy. Then when I do have some time I don't feel like it.

Twilight update: So I'm still reading, though not as quickly as I'd hoped and predicted (see above). But I am liking it so far. Looking forward to getting it done and seeing the movie. Though since I've already seen pics and trailers from the movie that of course influences my perception of the characters. I mean I am picturing them in my head as the actors that play them rather than forming my own idea. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Sometimes you have a picture in your head and then you see who they pick to portray them and it totally ruins it for you. Speaking of the movie, if you are the first to get in and purchase at 10pm Central on November 7th, you could have this Once in a lifetime package for a mere $9500!

Diabetes Awareness: And last but not least, November is National Diabetes Awareness month. Click on the link if you'd like to find out more, get involved or help "Kiss Diabetes Goodbye!" Insulin is NOT a cure!