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!

Outlaw Run

Earlier in the week, we decided to drive to Silver Dollar City for a one day jaunt. At first, we talked about going on Saturday, but with further investigation we decided against it. The biggest reason was to stay away was the Saturday crowds, but these reasons also factored into it.

1)  The temperatures were going to be a little colder--ten degrees is a big difference when you're on a roller coaster!
2)  It was a day where they honored police officers and their families--I just have a problem with the crowd issue, not the fact they honor police officers..
3)  There was a special celebration for the official opening of Outlaw Run--again, serious crowds.
4)  If the kidlet was bringing a friend--which she did--we wanted her to enjoy as many rides as possible!

The kidlet had a friend spend the night on Saturday and, with her parent's permission, the four of us headed to SDC early Sunday morning. (it's a 3.5 hour drive, out-of-state, so we would understand if they would be hesitant). . . after a short jaunt to Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

We arrive just 10 minutes after the park opened.

And we hit it HARD! We played on the big stuff, but there were a ton more rides we never bothered with. Here's the list.
These first four are rollercoasters!

Thunderation 1X-- fairly mild coaster
Wildfire 3X-- loop-de-loop with five inversions--loop, corkscrew, cobra roll and spiral
Powderkeg 1X-- shoots you up and over the first hill before you realize what happens--terrifying!
Outlaw Run 2X-- The newest coaster--AWESOME!!! This was the most fun I've had on a coaster in a long, long time!
Outlaw Run features the world’s first and only double barrel roll on a wood coaster, with a 720-degree (double) barrel roll. In addition:

• Outlaw Run is the only wood coaster to twist upside down three times.
• Outlaw Run is the world’s steepest wood coaster with a first drop of 162 feet (more than 16 stories) at 81 degrees.
• Outlaw Run is the second fastest wood coaster in the world, reaching a top speed of 68 miles per hour.

Giant Barn Swing 1X
Mighty Galleon 1X
Flying Swings 1X
Electrospin 1X
Teacups 1X

Yep, the Outlaw Run is my new favorite coaster. I especially liked the 720 degree barrel roll!
Of course, like any new ride, it was down off and on throughout the day. But we gave it one last shot before we left the park around 4 PM. In less than 20 minutes we were walking out of the ride with very happy grins on our faces.

A trip to the local TRACK, we rode go-carts (Heavy Metal High Rise--scared the bejesus out of me going down the HUGE hill!) and then indulged in a 'dinner' of Andy's Custard before driving home.

This was the first time, the kidlet's friend had ever been to SDC or ridden this many coasters, but I think she had fun . . . they both fell asleep on the drive home. We made it home just 15 minutes past my projected time of 9 PM.

I know we all fell into a deep sleep after such a sugar- and fun-filled long day!

If you're in this part of the country, then the new must-stop is Outlaw Run!

Later, Peeps!  I gotta go walk to work off all those sugary calories I ate!

Fall Break -- What did you do?

Last week, it was Fall Break.

It seemed like it was a week too early this year and the concept totally messed with my head.
--Plus it doesn't help that the night time temps are staying in the 70's! It's just too hot for Fall Break!

First it was Parent/Teacher conferences on Wednesday, but they never stated that the kids would be out of school, since it really wasn't the start of "fall break".

Yeah, what they didn't want were for parents to take their kids out of school for a long vacation and miss the two days of school!

In fact, the high school was still in classes on Wednesday.

How do I know this?

Because I attended parent/teacher conferences, doncha know!

My kidlet is doing quite well in school, but she always seems to enjoy school. She's making A's--though she had to work up from a B in one class. The teachers all said that she's happy, asks good questions and is a good worker.

So basically, parent/teacher conferences simply stroked my back that the hubs and I were doing a pretty good job with her!

On Thursday, we took a day trip to Silver Dollar City and met up with some friends and their two kids. The best perk was when we found out the local schools didn't have fall break and there were virtually no lines on all the rides! Fun was had by all! We drove home before dark and managed to get to bed at a normal time.

On Friday, my kidlet went with other 6th grade Girl Scouts to Robber's Cave State Park. Many of these girls went with their troops, but my daughter is troopless. I discovered there is a name for Girl Scouts without a troop--Juliette--in honor of the founder. She had a blast and wants the family to visit the park in the summer.

After dropping the kidlet off at the Girl Scout bus, Hubs and I went to Oktoberfest. Beer, food, the Chicken dance, and fun was had by all!

Oktoberfest is a tradition in this house . . . we met there 22 years ago. ;-)

Again, we called it an early evening and left the party about 8:30. Two pitchers of Warsteiner Premium beire and we were tapped out! I don't think I could last until 11:30 when they get the firehoses out to wash down the tents!

On Saturday, Hubs waxed his baby--a shiny red Corvette--and washed the dog--a seriously stinky Old English Sheepdog, while I did loads of laundry.

On Sunday, we hung out, had a big breakfast before cleaning the house. The stinky kidlet was picked up and hosed off . . . er, she took a shower, and I did another couple loads of laundry.

Hopefully, I'll be on track this week with my blogs, but I'm feeling an Autumnal Ennui hitting. Usually my allergies make me sluggish and tired, hopefully it won't last long this year.

Later, Peeps!

Crisis of Faith

Last week I had one good writing day and then pffffttt! Nothing.

I was in the "why bother" mode? No one buys my books. No one reviews my books. I can't get industry professionals to read beyond my query letter. What's the point?

Why bother to write the next story? 

Therefore, I started making candy. I love making candy. It soothes my soul.

Back to my story-- Hubs has been seriously stressing over the move his office is doing. It's a big move with lots of little plates to juggle on two sticks and he's the juggler. And the kidlet has been working hard to keep A's in all her classes.

So I decided we needed a break from 'stuff', and we took a day trip to Silver Dollar City. I've written about this SDC a few times. We mostly go there to ride the rides. This time it was an off weekend and we pretty much walked onto most of the rides--especially the roller coasters.

The drive is quite long for a day trip (3.5 hours one way), and we planned to leave the house at 6 AM. Of course, we didn't pull out of the driveway to gas up the car until 6:40.

The kidlet had stuff to keep her occupied: games, books, her phone and the Kindle Fire she won in a drawing contest.

--Yes, she has a nicer Kindle than I do!

Hubs and I were talking while she was playing Temple Run and it wasn't until she blurted out, "Heebie-jeebie dance? Mom, really?" did I realize she was actually reading GNOME, book one of The Goblin's Apprentice.

Rewind here--when I celebrated my birthday, I gave away ALL of my books for free on Amazon. At the same time I loaded my Kindle (to check for boo-boos, etc) I also loaded her Kindle.

I had given up on her ever reading my stories months ago.

By the time we reached SDC, she had finished 65% of the story. And she told me she was sorry she hadn't read it before now. It was way better than she expected (high praise indeed from one's child!) She also mentioned that it didn't sound like me, though some of the phrases were definitely mine.

Sunday morning she woke up and finished reading the story . . . she also started reading FAERIE.

Huh?

This is why I write.

Not to sell stories--though it would be nice to make money at this--but to get kids reading. My daughter reads when she has to read, but she'd rather play video games or go on the computer. This was the first time she willingly read a book . . . and it happened to be mine!

It makes all the frustrations of writing worthwhile. Forget the professionals. Forget having the validation from the publishing industry. Forget not making any money at it.

I just received something far more important from one of the toughest critics in my target audience--my daughter's praise.

Maybe I should sit down to write book 4.

Later, Peeps.

Run down of last week

Okay, I have a confession . . . I prewrote the blogs for the last two weeks. And I actually kind of liked not having to think about what to write. I had some ideas and just went with it.

There was a reason that I prewrote last week's blog--it was because we were in Las Vegas while the kidlet was at camp. Poor thing, it was hotter in Oklahoma than it was in Vegas . . . and Vegas is a freaking desert! Yes, it is a dry heat and my allergies were totally calm for the entire week, but 98-99 degrees is still hot. Not as hot as Oklahoma where the daily average temp was 105 degrees where the kidlet was staying. We felt guilty, so we bought her stuff. It helps having only one kidlet to buy for, too.

I'll have more pics in another blog, but here's the rundown for Vegas and the rest of the week:
1)  we took the kidlet to Girl Scout camp on Sunday
2) we left for Vegas on Monday

• we stayed at the ARIA, personally a little more modern than my taste--I really liked the Bellagio
• we splurged and took a helicopter ride (my first!) to the Grand Canyon and ate a picnic lunch in the canyon on Indian land
• visited the M&M store
• we went to Ethel M's chocolate factory and cactus garden
• we went to Pawn Star's pawn shop--they were filming off-site. :-( so no Chumlee autograph for the kidlet
• We saw Terry Fator--a ventriloquest/impersonator who won AMERICA'S GOT TALENT a few years ago.

3) we came home on Thursday to a dog that was barfing all over the place . . . *sigh*
4) Friday, I did laundry and caught up on various other stuff that needed to get taken care of before we picked the kidlet up later in the afternoon.
5) Saturday, we invited my family over--15 of them--we were down 3 since my niece, hubby and baby couldn't make it. And no, I hadn't gone to the store yet . . .
6 Sunday, we drove 3.5 hours to Silver Dollar City--rode rides, rode go-carts (1st time kidlet was tall enough to drive on her own!), ate at Cantina Laredo, and Andy's key lime custard.

That was my weekly round-up. I'll have more Vegas details and pics later. And no, we didn't win any money.  Trust me there's a reason the hotels are monstrously HUGE!

Later Peeps!

Winding Down the Old Year . . .

Yesterday we had our last 'hurrah'!  Which is why this post is late because I'm actually writing it at 6:15-7:15 on New Year's Eve morning!  Thursday was supposed to be one of the nicest days this week-overcast with temps in the 60's.  The hubster was planning on taking down the outside Christmas lights, except he had already done that on Monday. 

So we decided to take a short day trip to Silver Dollar City.   Short is a relative term.  It's about a 3-3-5 hour drive.

I packed up a ditty-bag with the scarf I'm crocheting for the kidlet and my Kindle.  The kidlet packed her Nintendo DS, a couple of books (and regaled us with information about Chupacabras and Leucrotta's--yes, I had to look THAT one up on wikipedia!) a pillow and blanket.  The hubster ALWAYS drives . . . for a couple of reasons:

1) I HATE DRIVING

2) I used to offer to drive, but when he wanted to change drivers we would be in a place (Denver, snow, mountain driving) that I had pre-negotiated my refusal to drive.

We stopped to eat lunch at Zio's in Springfield and continued on our way.  We knew it would be crowded because this was the last day SDC would be open until mid-March--but WOWZERS!  We opted for the paid parking that is available for season pass holders.  We'd have to walk to and from our parking space but it sure beats waiting for a tram along with a gazillion other people to take you to the North 40 parking area!

As I mentioned, we go to SDC for the rides.  Oh, sure, they have shows and craft demos, etc, etc, but why waste time watching a show if you can ride a rollercoaster????  The lines were hideous because some genius in SDC's management decided to have the mechanics start breaking down the cars on ALL the rides, leaving only one car per ride.  NOT SMART, PEOPLE!  (yes, I'm going to send them a letter.  And yes, I realize the didn't expect the last day to generate that many people.  And yes, I realize they hadn't calculated the temperatures would be in the 60's--but this isn't the first time someone messed up).  If you are scheduled to be open, then you need to anticipate a crowd. We waited an hour for Wildfire.  PowderKeg was better since they had two sets of cars running. 

While we waited in line for Wildfire, it got dark and SDC became a magical fairyland with lights.  The lights made up for my earlier crankiness. 

We left around 7:30 for the drive home.  It was too dark to crochet, so I pulled out my Kindle (with its handy dandy little light) and started to read Treasure Island.  I have NEVER read TI, so I thought it would be a good idea to get used to the Kindle by reading a 'freebie'.  I'm about 1/4 of the way finished.
And if they didn't provide the little line at the bottom of the page, I would never have figured it out! There are a couple of love/hate things I've discovered while using an ereader. 

--I enjoy reading on the Kindle.  Even though I needed a little light to read it at night, it was not distracting to the driver.  If you angled it right, it didn't glare on the screen.

--I HATE that I can't 'cheat' and read the ending.  Oh, I know things will work out, but I still like to check it out.

--I don't like the way the formatted the ebook.  I don't know if they screwed up because it is a freebie, but sometimes the paragraphs were indented and sometimes they weren't.

--I didn't like that I had no idea where the chapter breaks were.  True, skipping ahead I might figure it out, but they run the chapters together with the text--THERE IS NO EASILY SPOTTED BREAKING POINT.

--My eyes got tired quicker than I expected.  I don't know if it was because we had a long day, or if it was because of the ereader, or if it was the light.  I'll have to test a couple of theories.

--And I won't go into it here, but I STILL THINK IT'S A TOTAL RIP-OFF BY PUBLISHING HOUSES TO CHARGE THE SAME PRICE AS THEY WOULD A PRINT BOOK.  Talk about a 90+% profit margin!

Well, that's it for today.  I need to round up last year's goals and set some new ones for this year.  I tried to read 50 books this year and I'm on book #48--I should finish it today--so I think that is a good goal to keep for next year.

If the weather cooperates, we'll be hanging by the outdoor fireplace tonight before we transfer to the hot tub.  Hubster and I will have some bubbly and the kidlet will have sparkling grape juice. . . at least with a drink in her hand, she'll refrain from 'swimming' in the hot tub.--NOT RELAXING! O' child who sprung from my loins!

See you all in the New Year!