Black Friday

I never did get the whole Black Friday thing. You know, standing in line at 3 am just to get the latest bargains. Maybe I might understand it more if I had money, but I don't, so today I decided to venture out at 2pm with two things in mind: hair styling products and toilet paper. Yep, toilet paper. As you can see, I'm an essentials sort of gal!
Katelynn came with me and Brent, but he always stays in the car when I go to Ulta, so this is now the second time that Katelynn has undergone Ulta initiation, a very necessary part of being a girly girl. The Tigi Bedhead Queen for a Day styling product I like was Buy Two, Get One Free, so I did and picked up large can of Sebastian hairspray/styler which was dirt cheap too. In the line we went and had progressed a little way when Katelynn started doing the potty dance. I sacrificed my place in the line, found the restroom, plonked Katelynn on the toilet, but guess what? The pee pee had gone away by the time we got there, so out we went...to the line, but several persons back. Finally at the counter I presented my $3.50 off coupon and was well chuffed at the deal I got...enough styling product to last me probably six months.
A trip to Wal-Mart for toilet paper, and we were all set. World Market and Michaels were next, and I was pooped. It's just as well we don't have any money. I couldn't keep up with the pace!

The Champion

After 10 weeks of competing on Dancing With The Stars, the result was amazing. Here's Donny with the coveted Mirrorball Trophy. Congratulations to the Season 9 Winner!!!

November Chicken of the Month

Announcing...Appenzeller Spitzhauben Silver-Spangled Hen...who gets the award for the fanciest sounding name of the year!!!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Our Superheroes!

It's Supergirl!

And Superboy!

Katelynn admiring the decorations.

Even Superboy gets tired!

Bet you didn't know Supergirl wore pink panties. Ha Ha.

At The Park

Katelynn wanted to go for a walk today so we decided to go to the park while dinner was cooking. First, she stopped by the new pumpkin decoration I bought the other day from the gift shop at work. I had seen it before and wanted it but ummed and aahed about the price. When I saw it a couple of days ago for 50% off, I snapped it up. As you can see, it's quite tall and it's made of wood with a stand at the back, so it is proudly displayed on my porch. Let's hope it doesn't get stolen!

Here's Katelynn with HER biggest pumpkin grin!

We took Uncle Michael to the park too and Katelynn played with another couple of kids who were there before her Mammy and brother stopped by for a quick visit. She had fun.

On the way home we went the long way around so we could look at all the Halloween decorations that people had outside their houses.

Dancing With The Stars

I have been a bad blogger of late. Most of the time I'm pretty boring and don't do anything noteworthy. Let's face it, my spare time is pretty much spent doing schoolwork, but I would definitely be amiss if I didn't mention my recent trip to Hollywood to see Dancing With the Stars.
I got an e-mail on Friday afternoon, the 16th saying that I had the chance of tickets for the results show on Tuesday the 20th. I was shocked; firstly at even getting the opportunity of tickets at all and secondly for the short amount of time that I had to rearrange my life. I was lucky, I clicked on the link and got the tickets which told me that they did not guarantee admission. So the deal was: rearrange my work schedule, get money together, book a hotel, drive over six hours to get there, line up for hours on end in whatever weather and then maybe stand the chance of NOT getting in. Ha! I did rearrange my schedule thanks to great colleagues and after lining up outside CBS studios for 5 hours, I finally got my seat. I should say at this point that Brent was with me too!!!!
We were seated on the floor next to the performer's stage and it was a really good view of the dance floor. I sat next to Buddy Schwimmer, the father of Lacey who is one of the professional dancers and we chatted on and off throughout the show. That night they were dancing a Michael Jackson tribute which was pre-recorded as soon as we got in and it was totally awesome. Lucky for us they did another take so we got to enjoy it all over again.
I had sen the show the night before from my hotel room and after seeing Donny dance the Argentine Tango and score 29/30, I was hoping and praying that they'd ask him to repeat the dance on the night I was going to be there. As soon as the dancers came out on stage I saw him flexing and warming up, so I knew that he was going to dance. It was much better to see it in real life. I've seen Donny dance many different types of things live, but never anything like that tango. No pictures, of course, and the only one I could find online definitely doesn't do it justice.

I had a total blast. Watching them film the show was very interesting, Jackson spotting in the audience was fun (Jermaine, LaToya and their mom Kathleen were there) and we watched Norah Jones sing a couple of songs too. The professional dancers were great but come on...the highlight was obviously Donny!!!

Green Frosting

Katelynn loves frosting, so what better than chocolate cake (which she really doesn't eat) with spooky green frosting on it. The rings she's wearing were on top of the cake as decorations. What better? Frosting and some bling!

Smart Boy

Michael attended a Pre-Employment Seminar for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office this evening. There were 1700 people applied for 75 positions!!! All were invited to attend seminars which are being held all week long, but Michael said that out of his initial group of 120, only 50 remained throughout the seminar. It's a very long process: background checks, polygraph testing, psychological evaluation and medical. Each stage has to be passed to proceed onto the next until the next stage which is the academy. It's very important to remain hopeful, but to also acknowledge that the competition is very stiff.
All the best Michael!

Chicken of the Month

Okay, I'll admit it. I didn't post my September Chicken of the Month. It wasn't as if I forgot, I didn't, I just never got round to scanning and posting. To compensate, I'll include it here with the October Chicken. Here it is: a Polish F rizzled Batam Bearded White. This is the October chicken: a Brabant Gold Spangled.

Have twice as much enjoyment!

Summer Hat

Christopher found Grandad's hat and I hate to say it, but it looks better on him than it does on his Grandad!