Rumble'n the Holidays 2023

Dodger and I spent the weekend in Springfield, jammin' to some tunes. Unfortunately, we were both sick with rhinovirus (common head cold) and didn't get to enjoy it as much as we would have if we had not been sick.

Here are a few videos I took...

Emo Philips & Weird Al at UIS

We got to see Weird Al at UIS tonight. Emo Philips opened for him. Both were great.

Megadeath St. Louis

Fun concert. I didn't go into the opening acts. I napped in the car instead.

Platinum Rock Legends @ The Devon 2021

Went down front soon into the concert. It was super fun.

West End Boogie at Port Royal Gastropub 2021

 First time hearing West End Boogie. I really enjoyed it.

BritBeat: A Tribute to the Beatles @ The Devon 2021

 This was a fun night. I drank a little too much.

Dogs of Society: The Ultimate Elton Rock Tribute at The Devon 2021

 Dogs of Society was so good! Painter went with me. 

Led Zeppelin 2 @ The Devon 2021

 We started on the lawn and ended up with a free upgrade to the third row!

 

90s Daughter @ The Devon 2021

 Sarah and I spent the evening with some good tunes from 90s Daughter.

I love seeing so many people gathered in one place again!

A Rare Sight

I just caught this rarity on video... Buddy responding to Bobby's bid for affection, though it didn't last long. It was sweet while it lasted.

Dancing Your Cares Away #BEDM

Yesterday's performance at The Glenwood.

Today's #BEDM topic is Health & Fitness but I'm going to put that off until tomorrow because we don't have Bank Holiday here in the states and I also don't work outside the home.

So enjoy a few videos of Dancer's dance company performance yesterday afternoon at The Glenwood Assisted Care Home.

Dancers have more fun.

An Evening of Dance

At Tanglewood Village last night.

Just a few videos from last night's dance company performance at Tanglewood Village Retirement Home.

Spicy Weekend

Me, without glasses and slightly flakey skin from the tretinoin cream.
Instagram #dailyselfportrait April 25, 2013.

It is a lovely 74 degrees out right now at 4 pm.  This day has gone by far too quickly because I got up far too late.  I like to be up by 9:30 everyday but today I had a tummy ache and I didn't feel like getting out of bed before 11.  The reason for the tummy ache will be explained below.  I got my workout done earlier, after getting up, and did my workout review.  Now, while laundry is going, I'm making time to blog.

Just a few pictures from outside my back door this afternoon.

Thursday was the last day I updated, so let's catch up on the days since.

Friday evening, Dancer had a dance company performance at Imboden Creek Living Center.  I have those videos uploaded to my YouTube, so I'll embed them below.  Dad came to watch.  He comes almost every time.  Afterwards, she went to my mom & step-dad's and Dodger & I had a late starting date night.





Saturday was a pretty lazy day.  It was rainy and chilly, so I decided to start working on my workout schedule for May.  I made up some printable scheduling forms and uploaded them to my workout site.  Dodger called in the afternoon and asked if I would come help him clean up at the job he was working on so that he could continue painting.  So I went out there for a bit to help him.  Then that evening, I began searching YouTube for videos to fill up my workout form.  I got the first week schedule done that night.

Yesterday afternoon, Dancer had another dance company performance, this time at McKinley Court Care Center.  Dad came again because he couldn't be out in the fields.  It was too wet from the rain on Saturday.  I don't have any pictures or video from this day.  I just wasn't the place for it.

Afterwards, we went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant down the road.  My belly started hurting right before we ordered.  Then I got brave (and stupid) and ordered the Spicy Fajitas.  Oh my.  It was spicier than I was expecting.  My brain and taste buds were having a war while my mouth and lips were on fire... and my nose running... my taste buds were saying, "this tastes good," while my brain was saying, "ouch, ouch, ouch, this is hot!"  I had my dad laughing pretty good.  It was so spicy that I had to order a glass of milk before I even finished my first fajita.  Yes, I'm quite aware of just how funny this is.  :P

Last night, I spent more time looking for workout videos on YouTube.  My biggest challenge is to find low-impact workouts because of my plantar fasciitis feet issues.  I filled in a few more blank spaces in my schedule and got my playlists organized.

Just a Little Rain Dance

Rain on the back steps.
This picture is going to be fun to play with on Ribbet.

I'm so grateful to have another bit o' rain this morning.  Our city lake is still hurting from the drought we've had here the past two summers.  It would be so great to have a summer where plant life continues to thrive, instead of wilt and die because of the water restrictions brought on by the heat and lack of rain.

The rain has stopped and the sun is peaking through.  It's just warm enough to open up the windows again this afternoon and get some fresh air in the house.

I had a busy, busy weekend.

Friday was date night with Dodger.  Yay.  I love date night.  Sometimes we go out to eat but we usually just stay in and fire up the grill.  I tried vodka with Diet Squirt, because Dodger said his grandma always kept Squirt around to drink her vodka with.  Ew.  It was disgusting.  I won't ever drink that mixture again.  I'll stick with Screwdrivers, vodka with orange juice.  I've heard of vodka with cranberry juice, too.  Maybe I'll try it sometime, too.  I'm usually a rum drinker but my friend JoAnn mentioned having a Screwdriver a while back and Dodger found me some good and very distilled vodka, so I've been sticking with it for the past few weekends.

Saturday, Dancer had her second dance company performance of the spring season. This time they performed for the residents at the Rehabilitation Health Care Center.  Here are two videos from Saturday.  Please excuse the lighting issues, my camera didn't like that huge window in the background.  Dancer choreographed her lyrical solo herself.  She's really pleased with how it turned out.  Choreography is a skill to be mastered and each time she's allowed to do it, she gets better.

After the performance, the two of us went out to my dad's for dinner, games, and to visit.  My uncle Steve was up for the weekend, so that made it more fun, too.  It's always good to see him looking so good.  :)

Sunday, Dancer and I went to watch Gavin, my best friend Sarah's oldest, in his school play.  They did a very fractured interpretation of a few of the most famous of Grimm's Fairy Tales.  It was a hoot.  After it was over, we waited until they all cleaned up the set and gym and then we went out to eat with the cast and crew at Monical's Pizza.  I had a big salad 'cause I didn't want to pay the price for a gluten-free pizza.  It was over $10 just for a 10 inch cheese pizza.

I ended up making pizza stuffed peppers later for dinner anyway.  Then Dodger made one of his homemade, crust-to-die-for, pizza's and I had some of that, too.  :)

Dancer on the Move

4H Talent Show

Choreographed and Performed by Dancer.

This was her first ever choreography.

Dancer w/ Lacey and Molly E.

sledding with our dearest friends

I haven't posted since Monday. What? Does my brain even remember that far back? Let's see...

Monday Dancer had golf lessons. I played on the iPod while she was in class. I'm thinking I paid some bills that day, too. I know that sometime since Monday I got some higher APR credit cards transfered over to a 0% APR offer. I hope we can get it paid off by Aug, which is when the offer expires, but it's $4000 so that's a stretch.

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Tues. Dancer had dance class. I dropped her off and ran errands. I went down to dad's work and picked up the sleds he brought into town for me. I also went to the post office and credit union. When I got back, I sat out in the truck and waited for her. I searched out some free online texts and courses that I might be interested in pursuing.

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Wed. we went sledding with our dearest IRL friends. I did dress to go sledding but ended up talking to my friends the whole time. Besides, the hill where we were sledding was really steep and I wasn't sure that I could get back up it once I went down it. Also one of my friends didn't dress to sled (I don't know why she didn't dress warmer) and I didn't want to take off and have her feel left out.

That night I had my first night back in ballet class. I was surprised what I remembered after nearly 3 years of being out of class. Most of the class seems to be newbies, so I'm not freaked out anymore. Miss N also told me that I'm welcome to join any part of Dancer's class, which is right after mine (it's the level that I was at when I stopped dance class), that I want. I think once I get comfortable with my recall then I'll join that class for barre work to begin with.

Once of the ladies in my class was trying to talk me into doing the spring dance concert. I'm going to have to pass. I already have costumes to pay for for DD and after getting my power bill today, well it's just not going to happen.

Wed. was also my birthday. :)

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Thurs. was our first day back at co-op. All in all it was a pleasant day. I'm not required to help in any of the classes because I'm on the board but I don't want to sit in the cafe for 3 hours, although that may change once I get more into my studies, so I'm sitting in on a class all 3 hours, 2 of which are ones Dancer is taking.

Dancer also had dance class this evening. While she was in class, I started the pre-algebra course on free-ed.net. I'm hoping that Dancer joins me in taking it. It's not set up at all like a regular text or course. It will give me a good review before diving into an free online algebra course.

I'm thinking I have a few years before Dancer might take college courses. I also want to go back to college. I don't want to have to take remedial coursework that won't give me any credits. There's no reason why I can't or shouldn't study at home now so I can go straight into credit or even do the CLEP tests and get credit for the class without having to take it.

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Tonight Dancer had tennis lessons. It's her last in this session. Next week I'll have to pay for her next one which cost a little over $400. Ouch. I've been saving my Christmas money for it. The sessions are 18-19 weeks long so the cost per lesson is good but I have to pay for them all up front because we aren't members of the athletic club where they are held.

Something yesterday triggered my thought process that I would like to study anthropology. I've always been interested in that as well as sociology. So I found some great coursework online today for anthro and ended up finding a slightly older edition of the text on PaperBackSwap. I also found some other forensic anthro books on PBS, too, and put a few on my wish list that aren't available yet.

I really think I'm going to go back to school to get a degree in forensic anthropology and/or forensic sociology. Why not? Why not dream big? The cost would all be covered by grants because of our income level. Nothing is financially holding me back.

I also got my free copy, care of the most generous author who commented on my blog recently, of "One Year to an Organized Life" by Regina Leeds. Thanks again, Regina. I'm thinking that a workbook would be a great supplement to the book. I tend to be a step-by-step learner. I like lists. I need to have something to check off. I do love the book so far. It's style suits me.

I am going to be done with this post now. I want to work on the math course and need to get to bed at a decent time. I need to pick my uncle up from detox again in the morning. He went back in on Tues. He actually didn't go a day out without drinking. He needs meds for his depression and they discharged him without giving him anything. He actually called in a suicide threat so that he could go back in. Without meds, he has no coping skills for his depression other than drinking. I doubt he makes it till Mon, which is when he's supposed to see the doctor and get meds, without drinking again.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Continuing to play catch-up...

Tues. Dancer had asked the night before if I would take the two of them ice skating. Her cousin has never been ice skating and Dancer had yet to go this season. So I checked online to see what the skate times were before going to bed Mon. night.

I set my alarm for 9:30 to get up and shower before needing to wake the girls up. The website said that the skate time was from 12-1 for $2 plus skate rental. I made them breakfast while they got cleaned up and we got to the rink just before noon.

We had to mess around with the skates a few times to get them to feel comfortable and fit right. That took up skate time. Then I heard some mom's talking about what time the session ended. I was expecting 1 pm but since they charged me $4 each plus skates I figured it must be longer. So I went back up to the counter and asked. The dude said that they no longer have the 12-1 skate for $2 and that the session is now from 11-1. I was like, well you need to tell the people upstairs to change your website because I just paid full price for them to skate for an hour. He was like, well we take care of that. He could tell I was mad and should have done the right thing and refunded the extra that I paid since it was their fault but he didn't. I think I'm going to call and talk to someone upstairs about it.

At some point my uncle did call me to apologize for Mon. night. My dad called to see if I would take my uncle grocery shopping since they had hardly any food in the house. I guess my uncle had lost his only key to his car in his drunken stupor the night before so he couldn't go pick up his car. I told him that I was tired of running around and didn't really want to. If my uncle's DD had decided she wanted to go back out to my dad's then I would have gone grocery shopping for them before I took her back out but she wanted to stay with us another night.

At some point in the evening I decided to go grocery shopping for them anyway. I have some extra money wrapped up on my food stamp card, so I went shopping and then around 10 pm I ran the stuff over to my dad at work so he could take it home.

My uncle Pat also called. I was able to talk to him about the junk going on with my uncle Steve and his drinking. I needed to talk to someone who was closer to it but not as close as my dad. I tried to talk about healing and freedom but he only *got it* a bit. My dad doesn't get it at all. It was nice just to be able to talk about it. I needed to get all that had happened over the past two days off of my chest. I'm just sad that my uncle is still enslaved to the addiction after all these years. He was sober for 17 years but went back to the addiction after his marriage fell apart. It's going on 5 years now and he's had moments of slowing down but has never stopped drinking.

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Today we didn't go anywhere. My dad took my uncle out to his car to see if they could take out something on the steering column and go have a key made. They ended up calling a locksmith who wasted a bunch of time. I guess he didn't end up having the right sized blank and never called to tell them. Then they had to call a tow to come get the car and tow it to a place to have a key made. I was assuming that after the car was running that my uncle would come pick up his DD but I end up getting a call from him after he got back home to my dad's.

I did try an upper body weight lifting routine that is free on exercisetv.tv. They have a lot of great free full-length exercise routines on there. I can tell my arms are going to be really sore tomorrow. I should have walked but didn't make time to do it earlier.

I had decided, after talking to my dad, that it would be ok for Dancer to stay over tonight. He talked to my uncle to lay down some ground rules. He knows I'm hesitant to leave her with him after Mon. night's incident. Dad is taking her shopping tomorrow, so it's easier to have her spend the night there instead of coming in here to get her in the morning. So since my uncle went home instead of seeing if he should come pick up the girls, I had to drive them out there. We didn't rush it. I still had to finish Dancer's laundry so she would have her dressy clothes for Christmas Eve dinner with my step-dad's family. My dad and step-dad's mom live in the same little town, so I'm picking Dancer up on the way there tomorrow evening. So, we got everything packed up and headed out there around 6. We were almost there when I started hearing this really loud noise. I was like, no way, I DON'T HAVE A FLAT TIRE! Ugh. I had to drive on the rim a little way to get to the gas station at the edge of town. I tried to call my uncle but he didn't answer. Then I tried to call my dad because I wasn't sure if we still had his hydraulic jack from working on my breaks. So I ended up calling Dodger to tell him I needed help.

He had to get the jack loaded up and drive the 25 min. there. By that time my uncle had called me because he was wondering when I was bringing the girls out. Turns out he was on the phone when I called. I asked him to come down and get the girls because they were bored. So he did that. After a bit he came back down to check on me. By that time Dodger had gotten there, so he helped handle the jack while Dodger changed the tire. All of this in the nasty cold rain.

On the way back home I noticed some shiny crap strewn across the road near where I first noticed the issue with my tire. It's possible whatever that was caused my flat. Actually it's more than a flat, it tore up my tire. I still had to go to the grocery store to pick up some items I'm supposed to bring on Christmas Day... garbanzo beans and sliced olive. We're making something. I don't know what it is. I was also going to pick up a movie from the Redbox since I had a free code from an online survey place. The didn't have the movie we wanted to I picked up "Year One" instead. When I got home I saw that Dodger had picked up a pizza and bread sticks on his way home. So we ate and watched the movie. The movie was mediocre. I don't recommend it.

I totaled up my calories. Ugh. Pizza night is never good. I'll spare you the details. I just have a lot of exercise to do from now till next Monday's weigh in. I'm going for a no gain on Monday. We'll see. If it's a gain, it will be understandable.

We then watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It's one of Dodger's favorite movies. I picked it up from the library yesterday.

It's after midnight now. I'm thinking it's not a good idea to do a walking video now but maybe I'll just throw the 1 or 2 mile walk in. I've got to burn off some of that pizza I ate earlier.