Pictures

Tonight was the first night that the band wore their real uniforms. So here is a picture of MK in hers. You may notice a big difference in her hair. So I will post the "before" picture. I, too, have a new haircut, so there's one of that too. The Panthers won tonight and it was a lot of fun, again! Good night!

If you came here for a deep post, you're going to be disappointed.

I love shoes. That's not unusual for a woman. However, my husband also loves shoes...on me. So he is more than willing to shop for shoes or send me shopping for them. Here are my 4 newest pairs of shoes.








After wearing the others, tennis shoes are definitely in order! Have a good night!

Sugar R.I.P.

Well, Sugar is gone now. It is hard to believe right now, but I'm sure it will sink in very soon.

As you may know, she had squamous cell carcinoma (skin cancer.) It started out as a little scab on her nose and by today, it had eaten away much of her face and spread as high as her eye. The veterinarian assured me that we were doing the right thing, but that didn't make it much easier. The Big Man's parents are in town so the kids stayed there and I went by myself. Until I actually got to the vet, I was doing great. It was easy to talk about and I was being very practical. Then when it happened, which took about 2 minutes, I lost it. I was not expecting that at all. It was such a peaceful and gentle way to go. She was a great cat and will be missed. However, as MK said today as she picked a cat hair off of her shirt, she will always be with us, and I agree, because we will be picking white hairs off of our clothes for quite some time. MK is doing well. She had a couple of breakdowns but is able to understand.

Here is a picture of Sugar taken in April right around the time of her diagnosis. You can see the scab on her nose and that is when it was just beginning. It deteriorated a great deal.

Ugh!

So the time has come to make a decision about the cat. I made an appointment today and just told MK. She is soooo sad but also understands that the cat is suffering (in addition to sneezing blood.) That didn't make it any easier though. Please keep MK in your thoughts and prayers. The Big Man's parents are coming over this weekend so I hope that distracts her a bit.

Zoo Snooze pt.2

Some people did get some sleep at the Zoo Snooze. Here is a picture of MK and some friends. Note "Arnie", MK's sloth, which is meaningful if you remember our Brandywine Zoo trip. Unfortunately, he was a casualty of her illness...we are hoping he will recover. Do you think she likes pink? We were letting the girls sleep in while the troop leader behind us was singing songs to make her girls wake up. Another plus for our troop.

















MK missed school today but will be there tomorrow. She probably could have gone today but the rest didn't hurt her.

That's it for me. Have a great day!

Troop Beverly Hills

Do you remember that 80's movie with Shelley Long? That is kind of what I was expecting this weekend to be. I couldn't have been more wrong. The Zoo Snooze was great fun but not appropriately named, because I snoozed very little. MK's troop leaders were very capable campers and it was a great time. It was a cluster event which meant that several troops participated.

I am not familiar with building tents so I was assigned the task of inflating air mattresses. By the time I was finished the tents were up and we were on to our next adventure. We took a train ride around the zoo and we started to take a walk around the zoo to see the exhibits after dark. My favorite was the bat house...so much activity in the dark. However, MK wasn't feeling well, so we went back to our tents so that she could rest a little bit. She recovered enough for the night train ride and then we went to sleep...well, went to our tents where the leaders and I talked and laughed until 2 a.m. and could still hear our girls. One of the girls was up at 4 to use the restroom so I escorted her there, then I slept until about 5:30, and the roosters were up and so was I.

I enjoyed some quiet time and the wonderfully cool morning right near the water and packed some things to take to the Durango. It wouldn't be me if I didn't set off the car alarm, which I did. Thankfully, the tents were far enough away that I don't think I disturbed them. MK was feeling worse, so we helped take down the tents and left early. On the way home MK napped then woke suddenly, gave me "the look" and, um, hurled all over the car. So we rode home with the windows down and I spent the rest of the morning taking care of her and cleaning carpet. She is running a little fever and has just been sleeping on and off for the rest of the day.

So, except for her illness, it was a great time, and she was able to enjoy most of it. The boys enjoyed their bonding time and lots of football and now we're ready for another week! Here are a few pictures of our trip. I didn't take many, but wanted to include some. Have a great week!

Bonding

This is a female bonding weekend for MK and me and a male bonding weekend for The Big Man and T. Willy. The girls are going to a "Zoo Snooze" with MK's scout troop and the guys are staying home to watch football and eat "man food." We are packed up and ready to go and just waiting to meet the rest of the troop. I'm told we get to take a behind the scenes tour of the zoo and a train ride around it. I've never been to this zoo before so I'm just looking forward to something different.

We have been so busy this week. MK had an away game with the band on Thursday. I was able to go and took some of her friends. We stopped at McDonald's after the game and it was just a fun time with the girls. Last night was "Middle School Band Night" at the high school so she got to play for the high school fans. Band fits her so well because she likes to participate but isn't interested in standing out. Our high school band is amazing and it gave her a taste of what she has to look forward to.

So, that's it. I hope to have some pictures of the campout when we get back.

Have a great weekend!

Maybe this is the last time you'll have to read about this

When I began this blog, I was getting ready to start graduate school. Today, I am officially finished with it. What?!?!? (frequent readers are asking yourselves.) What about the graduation pictures in May and the summer practicum? Wasn't your last class in July???? Yes, those things are true. But, for summer graduates, the degrees are not sent out until September. And today was the day that I received it! Hooray! I had not heard about my last project. It was pass or fail and I apparently passed! Hooray again!!! So here is a picture.

















Have a great day! And now I will (may) stop talking about it.

P.S. If you tried to watch the videos from my last post and they didn't work, sorry. I'll try to fix them later.

Finally

Tonight was supposed to be another football game for MK's school. During the day it started raining. MK was disappointed because she was really looking forward to this game since the last one was cancelled due to lightning. It rained for awhile but we decided to go to meet with the band and hope it would clear up. MK's school is a 10+ minute drive from our house and by the time we got there it was already clearing up. So we spent a fun night at the football field. I was recruited as a chaperone which meant I was assigned a section and had to sit with my group. Not a big deal, because they were well behaved and not needy at all, plus it was MK's group! The Big Man brought T. Willy and they stayed till halftime. The reason was that T. Willy had to be in bed, which is true, but The Big Man wasn't sorry to leave so that he could watch the opening night of NFL. So I am hoping these videos work. One is of the band playing and the other is of T. Willy dancing to the band. We had lots of fun visiting with friends and our team won!!! Go Panthers!!!

I couldn't get the videos to work so I just deleted them. Maybe another time.

Silly Girls

I was given permission, so here is a picture of our fun night. The two band girls are wearing their band shirts. They wear these until it gets cooler and then they have actual uniforms.