Celebrating Trenda!!!

We celebrated a sweet friend’s birthday last weekend!! Our Class Administrator at BSF is a lovely gal named Trenda. Her friend Marci gathered some of her family and friends from various areas of her life to get together and make some super cutey cute signs!

Here is the birthday girl with her sister, and they must have gotten the memo to wear coral shirts with jean jackets! Trenda is the tall one 🙂  I had not met her sister before and did not know they were related until her sister spoke and then I KNEW! They sound exactly the same!

And with their Mama!

I have never been to anything like this before! I did not make anything because you had to sign up in a timely fashion and tell them what you wanted to make so they could have your stencils and wood ready with your words or design. Because our e-mail is hatefully filled with spam and I did not read closely, I ignored the email. When I heard from Jip the Farm Dog what it was all about, registration was already closed. I wished Trenda a Happy Birthday that morning on Facebook, she asked if she was going to see me that day. I gave her my sad tale and she said to come anyway and chat, and I said I would do just that!

I’m not going to lie, it was overwhelming!! The guests had already made their selections as to what they were making, so there was that, but then you had to choose stains and washes and colors and paints and even glitter was available! It was a lot!

Then there was optional distressing with both ends of the hammer and sanding and things got very loud.

And peeling stencils and getting things exact and using dental picks! Then staining, shading, drying, picking paint colors and peeling stencils off!

And an air nail gun!! They were BUILDERS!

Such creativity! Such patience! Such endurance!

I was going back and forth between the tables, watching and seeing first hand their angst in making decisions and then discovering they were uber creative little sign makers!

Those skinny wood pieces were for their frames, all sanded and stained, ready for their masterpieces!

With Jip and our new Substitute Teaching Leader, Sparkles! I did not chose that name for her, she came with it 🙂

Jodi was working hard on a Father’s Day present for her husband.

I was very impressed with everyone’s skillz!!! They ALL turned out SO good!

Trenda and her friend Marci, who planned the party.

Jip and Sparkles did the same Bible verse, but with chose different colors. And of course Sparkles added some glitter to the center of her flowers!

Well DONE Ladies!!! And Happy Happy Birthday Dear Trenda!

And IF I ever get invited to something like this again, I will know just what to do!

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A Beginning of Summer List

I believe that I mentioned that this was happening, Medium Goomba getting his baseball on!!! His folks sent these.

Striking a pose 🙂

Lucky number 13!

Keeping his eye on the ball! GO SOX!!!

And then THIS happened this weekend! I went to my first dance recital, EVER! Goomba has taken Hip Hop classes for some years now, and I’m here to tell ya,  he is a DANCER!

Oh yeah, our Friend was bustin’ his moves! No pictures or videos of the actual stuff, that is evidently illegal. I hope he keeps it up because boys are a scarce commodity in the classes. I was telling his folks that my observation is there were a lot of kids doing what they were supposed to be doing, but you can’t teach them how to feel the music and really move, but Goomba is a natural!!! ❤ ❤

Was very proud of him and his group! They had one very large group that did a pirate-y number, they must have been the highest level dancers and they were really something!!! Maybe he will get in on that someday! How is my Friend getting so big? Quit already.

He was supposed to have a baseball game after, but it was cancelled due to rain. I don’t think they were that upset to have a Saturday afternoon to themselves. Pretty sure his piano recital was squeezed in there somewhere. Making me tired remembering those crazy days!

The week before I headed down to Virginia I went to lunch with a couple of my favorite people from high school! Suzanne Suzanna Danna declined to have her picture taken because she says she is “private”, but Deon was a good sport!!! It had been a couple of years since our last meet up.

I don’t have too many memories of the last two tears of high school without this guy in them 🙂 My friend Laurie and I were newbies at the school in 11th grade, and were THRILLED to make his acquaintance! We had SO.MUCH.FUN together!

And here we are with our old friend Dawn, on what could have been our last day of 12th grade!!! Leaning on my super cool AMC brown Hornet, that sounded like it had a ticking clock under the hood. I think Deon drove a powder blue Maverick and Dawn had a groovy green Scamp. Oh, we were HOT! I’m sorry to say Dawn didn’t get in on this gathering because we thought she was in Scotland, but she hadn’t left yet!! The next one FOR SURE!

This is how I remember Deon, camera around his neck because you never knew when there might be a yearbook photo opportunity. Oh the laughs we had! And lunch at Mexican Fiesta, our old stomping grounds, was no different! Never a lull in the conversation. Old friends are a kiss on the cheek from God ❤

This is shaping up to be a super busy summer with more travel than expected. All good things though! Next up? Our annual trip over to South Haven with the gals from Caregroup, always a fun time 🙂

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Hi Guys! Glad to be linking up with the Hodgepodge after way too long! I had a busy spring and blogging was definitely on the back burner. Here we go!

1.Describe your 30’s in one sentence. If you’re not yet 30 tell us one thing you hope to accomplish once you hit that particular decade.

I was immersed in motherhood, got a couple crash courses in nursing, and learned that Jesus meets us where we are, smack in the middle of our need and gives us new mercies, morning by morning. ❤

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto us.
2. Is it harder for you to exercise or eat healthy?

I am a fairly faithful walker, so I don’t even think about that too much, so I guess eating healthy. Although I can do it for an extended time. I have been doing Keto with pretty good success but have suspended it 3 times now for a vacation, a hectic couple weeks and another trip. I will be reconvening it shortly! It’s not hard when we are home and I am prepared, it’s the eating out, the special occasions and trips. I have to say that I feel much better physically when I am faithful. Carbs = inflammation for me. I do have a higher carb day or two every few weeks with no harm.

3. June 7th is National VCR Day. Huh? Anyway this reminded me of something I saw on Facebook listing household items we no longer have and the VCR was on it. I couldn’t put my hands on that list, but found another list here of 21 items we all had ten years ago, but which are now obsolete-
bookshelves (WHAT!!???), drip coffee makers, alarm clocks, file cabinets, desktop computers, printers, printed phone books, answering machines, fax machines, paper shredders, a Rolodex, CD racks, CD burners, china cabinets, home phones, entertainment consoles, DVD players, calculators, takeout menus, incandescent light bulbs, and cable TV

Your thoughts? How many on the list do you still have? Still use?

These things are obsolete??? We still use everything on the list but a fax machine, Rolodex, and the CD racks and burners!!! Well, maybe the phone book not so much, but we do get one every year. I just Google that stuff. We use the rest of the things regularly, and a lot daily! We old!
4. What’s something you see disappearing in the next ten years?

Landlines. We still have one but, because of caller id, we barely ever answer it. Today one call actually said Illegal Scam!!!!! Who would answer that??!! They may not even make it 10 years.
5. How did you celebrate your birthday this past year? Is that typical?

I seriously have no idea. We are not great birthday celebrators around here. It happens, but often a month or so later, often combined with another occasion.
6. Insert your own random thought here.

I finally got to see our nephew nugget play a game of baseball!!!! Medium Goomba has had a switch of passions from ALL things Super Hero (although he is STILL a fan) to all things BASEBALL!!!! He is enjoying playing on a team and learning some new skillz! Honey and The Ab-Cat were able to take in a game when I was in Virginia, but this was my first excursion. Honey, Mousey, Ab-Cat and I took ourselves out to the ballpark.

Workin’ on that stance! I have to say that the majority of players on bases (on both teams) were due to walks.

But once he got there, he started stealing those bases!!!!! Stole first and then second with a SLIDE!

Good job Friend!! 🙂

We met up ay McDonald’s for an after game ice cream with Goomba and Beeve, a very fun evening! GO SOX!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Memorial Day Hootenanny 2018!

Hi Guys, long time, no type! I had a delightful time down in Virginia with The Schmenkmans!! I left Detroit Metro Airport with my carryon packed inside my big suitcase, and landed at Dulles International a mere 53 minutes later. It actually took Schmenky longer to get to the airport from her house!

We began with lunch and a little shopping in Manassas, as we do. We discussed goals, a new black purse for her, shoes for me, as usual. And so it began!!!

One of the first places we ate was Spelunkers, in Front Royal!!! I have missed it so!  Delicious cheeseburgers and fries, get in ma belly!!!! I have got to get Honey there!

So very juicy!

The end result!

We were greeted by Miss Miracle upon arriving on Sassy Cat Hill.

Schmenky was so committed to finding a new pocketbook to replace her tattered, broken zippered Precious, that she threw it away! There was no choice but to find a new one. A moment of silence for Schmenky’s heavily worn handbag. The hunt was on.

She brought out a red Tiganello beauty she had purchased thrifting one year, which did an admiral job, but it is red, and it does not go with everything. I am sensing familiar territory here 😉  On the bright side, she also found several super cute tops that she could wear with the red pocketbook! It was all good.

We Sweet Frog-ged around but this one in Warrenton was my favorite, it had my 2 favorite flavors, pomegranate AND Key Lime!!!!!!! With crushed waffle cone available, it was a happy day!

Here are a few of the sassy cats. This is Kismet (aka the Lion King), who was much friendlier with me than he usually is, and Casey Lee Bumgartner who LOOOOOOVES the back of my head!!! I think he has a powerful attraction to Paul Mitchell hairspray, and he loves me up good!

Poppet, our Precious, wobbly girl 🙂  She never changes, maybe sleeps a little bit more. She is my ever present lap buddy.

Bitsey Bee, having a sun room nap.

Schmenky and I enjoyed Spelunkers so much that we talked Mr C into joining us on Sunday afternoon. It was just as yummy the second go round. We really wanted their frozen custard, but alas, no room.

Next stop, the new Han Solo movie! We all liked it a lot, I have no idea why the critics are dogging it! Honey and the Ab-Cat saw it in The Mitten and had the same favorable opinion. Not sure about the amount of money they expected to make, but pretty sure it did alright for any other movie that was not Star Wars. Give us a break!

And then we went back to Spelunkers to have that ice cream!!!! No pictures but I am here to tell you it was heartily enjoyed!!!

This is the view out The Schmenkman’s front door. There is always so much green there, beautimous!

Schmenk had this in her flower boxes, can’t remember what she called it but I am a fan. Like faincy clover.

The natural arch down to the backside of their property and the chicken coop.

All the interesting colored foliage.

Backyard pond. The koi thought I had something for them besides an iPhone taking pictures!

We cut hair early in the visit because we were both highly in need. It gave us more time for tweaking 🙂

BOO for having to wait so long to get a haircut!!!

Sassy haircuts: check!

AND A SASSY NEW BLACK PURSE-CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!! She found a new Precious at Gabe’s, it’s a Sak and she was very happy!

 

The morning routine, with helpers. Checking the stuff, Facebook, playing Words With Friends, Crushing the Candies, you know, the usual.

The Schmenkman’s have a new sassy since I was last there, meet George Bailey! He found Schmenky on her walking trail. He is a lucky kitty-witty! He reminds me of our Seymour, a feisty, spicy, trouble causing, young boy catten! He lives to jump the others and just generally disrupt their apple carts. Sounds familiar.

Personality plus, it is their saving grace.

I forgot my selfie stick, so we had to kick it old school and hold it. Before we knew it it was time to pack up all my purties, bargains, and random purchases and head back to Dulles. We had a great time, but once again faced the harsh reality that we are not the spry, all day shoppers we once were! And we are mostly just fine with the realization ❤

 

We are SO glad to have each other! I thank the Lord that she answered an ad to work at Images Salon ALL those 30+ years ago so I could have her to love!!! I have known her longer than my kids!!!

This was George Bailey’s favorite way to greet me, and it served as our goodbye. Loved meeting him!

The Schmenkman’s are considering moving from Sassy Cat Hill to Sassy Cat Farm, location to be announced when found! So I felt like there was a very real possibility that I may never be on the Hill again 😦  So Schmenky graciously posed on the front porch of their home of many years. Bittersweet to be sure.

One of my favorite purchases this year was a sassy cement kitty. It was fairly heavy and I was unsure I would have the room or weight allowance in my suitcase. Schmenk said she would bring it to me sometime when she came. I purchased plenty, but I did have some extra room in my carryon, so I packed it on in! I had also bought a salt rock nightlight for the Florida house, that I needed to take out of its box  for space purposes. I didn’t want it to get crushed, so I wrapped it in a bag and stuck it in the hallow inside of the cement cat, then covered the cat with some clothes for protection, and off we went. I wondered if that dang cat was going to get me searched. I went through security myself, all was well. My carryon went through and the gal spent a good bit of time looking at the X-ray, then pulled my bag off the conveyer. Another gal came and told me they were going to run it through again. I said OK, and thought my next move would be over with them to unzip my bag to be searched! I could tell when my bag was again stopped in the machine. Both gals were there looking and talking and one of them stood up and yelled “do you have a light up cat in there?” I laughed and said pretty close!!! They seemed proud of themselves for solving the mystery and passed me through 🙂

I was super glad they wanted us to check our bags at the gate, I wasn’t looking forward to lifting that cement laden carryon into the overhead compartment!!!!

There she is! My Virginia Sassy cement kitty!!!!! And my BEE-you-tiful peonies from the bush my Mama gave me ❤

Thanks for having me for the last 23 years Schmenky Catherine, love youuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!