Life 360 app/Taylor Swift Concert/SDC/Swim Camp

Sorry about disappearing for a few days. My crazy week continued this week. By the time I could actually sit down and write my blog yesterday, it was 5 PM.

So I thought, 'Why bother?'

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Either that or the heart forgets and fools around on another blog. . .

I should have pre-posted a Memorial Day blog, but I didn't really have time to write one over the weekend. Here are some updates:

So how did the Daddy-Daughter trip to Dallas go?

Very well, actually.

I'll tell you one secret--I checked their progress on the road with my Life360 app.

When we got our Android Smart Phones, my hubs installed this app. From day one, we told the kidlet that this app was on all our phones. If she removes it from her phone because she doesn't want to be "tracked", then the phone would be removed from her possession.

Simple enough rule.

And the app has been on the phone since the beginning, so she doesn't even remember it's there . . . especially when she texts me while I'm driving to pick her up. All she needs to do it press my picture and it locates me within 10 feet, though there are a few times when it needs the location to be manually updated.

This happened a few times on their trip. I'd check in on them to find out their progress only to find that the kidlet was left on the side of the road about 20 miles behind the hubs! :-)

This app was especially helpful to me when they were coming home in the wee hours of the morning. I'd look at it at 2 AM and saw they were about an hour away, so I watched the Weather Channel until they were safe at home.

The Weather Channel topic was Tornado Myths. . . only days after the Moore tornado.

I was about to post some pics that the hubs sent and I realized I had deleted all his texts and pictures to clean up my phone. *sigh* Sorry about that. Blame it on the fact that we were in three states over two days . . . well, I was in three states, but hubs and kidlet visited 4 states and about 1200 miles.

The concert was a huge success! They had been given tickets to a skybox seat in the Dallas Cowboy stadium. The concert was sold out with 55,000 seats. Other than the comfy recliner seats, large quantities of food to eat and a Jumbo-tron TV right in front of their seats. The kidlet was very happy she saw the concert. The hubs enjoyed it, too, though he really liked the show Ed Sheeran put on.

Though they got in at 3 AM, we were up and heading toward Silver Dollar City by 9:30 the next morning. That trip was planned long before the Taylor Swift tickets were in hand. I told the hubs we could cancel it, but he said we'd still go.

He was doing the driving, so how could I argue?

We arrived at Silver Dollar City in the early afternoon, along with a gazillion other people. We did ride quite a few rides, but left at about 6 to check into the hotel and eat some dinner at Cantina Laredo. We've eaten at Cantina Laredo numerous time on the Branson Landing. And I have to say that each and every time the food has gotten worse and worse, especially for the price you pay. I don't know if they are cutting corners or what, but the quality is terrible.

And how can I judge them?

Well, I order the exact same thing every time we've eaten there. From the first time I ate their chili rellenos and wanted to lick my plate clean to this last time, I only ate it because it was in front of me. I doubt if we'll be returning.

Monday morning, we played a game of mini golf on a new course and then visited Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, we had a nutritious lunch of Andy's Custard before getting on the road to Lawrence, Kansas to take the kidlet to swim camp.

Four hours and about 10 deer carcasses later, we arrive at Kansas University. Check in was quick and painless. We get the daughter up to the room, meet the roommate and her parents, and basically, just left.

Trust me, she was ready for us to leave.

She had to swim that night in Time Trials. I suppose this was to separate them into comparable groups. She's be in the pool between three and four times a day, along with dry land and classwork about strokes and technique.

--And yes, I'm keeping my eye on the storms that are going through that area!

I think she'll be sleeping well every night!

The drive home was about 3.5 hours--this is the same trip we'll have to make EARLY Saturday morning to pick her up after their small swim meet, which starts at 9:30.

And the reason, I didn't get a blog written yesterday?

The hubs car wouldn't start. So it was off to the car shop to get a battery. I had my walkies, shower, Weight Watchers, lunch with hubs and then take him to pick up his car, then back ACROSS town to a dermatology appointment, back toward home to have a nail removed from my car tire (spotted while in Lawrence, KS while we dropped off the kidlet), the liquor store for some good Limocello, and the pharmacy. By the time I got home, it was time to throw a couple of burgers on the grill while hubs mowed the lawn.

Today isn't quite as bad, though I do have to pick hubs up from the tire store, eat lunch with him, take him for his haircut and then--maybe back to the tire store if his car is done--if not, take him to work and pick him up later to get his car.

I think I might be able to bake some banana bread somewhere in there. I need to do something with these overripe bananas. Maybe I'll make one regular loaf and one lo-WW points one, and see if he can tell the difference.

Besides, I want to try out my Mother's Day gift--the Temp-tation bakeware.

Later, peeps!

OH, one of my chocolate donations is up on Brenda Novak's one day auction.  

Here are the rest of my items. I haven't looked at them in awhile. Wowzers!

Remember the auction ends on May 31! The money goes for a good cause. It's tax deductible! And you get some wonderful chockies out of it! Or my Angels All Around afghan!

Later!