Last Weekend the State Dance/Drill Team Championships for all of Iowa were held in Des Moines. College teams (including Ashley's team) and all large high school teams competed on Friday. All other high school teams (including our high school team) competed on Saturday.
Ashley is on the White squad (JV) at her college, which is mostly the Freshmen and Sophomores. They performed 2 routines: Pom and Jazz. They earned Division I ratings for both dances, which is a superior rating. Not only did they beat out other varsity squads, but they were the only JV squad to earn that high of a rating. Their coach and we parents were all so proud of them!!
Here are some pictures from the competition: Jazz Routine
Isn't her hair cute? One of the girls on the Varsity squad does everyone's hair like that before all competitions and performances.
This is Ashley with one of her roommates, who is on the varsity squad.
Hamming it up for the camera between dances.
Pom Routine
It was a great day with them getting the Division I ratings, and it got even better because the Varsity team from her college won both the Pom and Jazz competitions, so they are State Champs! Congratulations to all the girls. We are so proud of you!!
I know a lot of people have facebook now, so I'm under the assumption that a lot of you have probably seen this ad they have:
Donny Osmond Wall Calendar: This 2010 Official Donny Osmond calendar features a year's worth of amazing color photographs of this former teen idol. Currently seen on Dancing with the Stars Season 9, Donny also recently starred onstage in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This calendar also includes a 12" x 24" pull-out poster!
Now I remember being a 12 or 13 yr old girl when Donny released his first album and he was about the same age. He was young enough that his voice hadn't even changed yet. However, when he crooned "Puppy Love" I just knew he was singing directly to me! I was going to grow up and one day be Mrs. Donny Osmand....or Mrs. Shaun Cassidy. I wasn't totally sure yet.
The thing is, I still like Donny. If you followed him at all on Dancing With The Stars recently, I'm sure you noticed that this guy is the epitome of showmanship. The guy can still sing and dance with the best of them and he gives it 110% every time he performs.
That having been said, would I want to have a calender of pictures of just him by my desk or on my fridge? Or hang the poster up in my office? Sorry Danny, but the answer to both would be no.
I have to wonder how many of them will actually be sold. hhhmmm.....
Last day of Thanksgiving break. Ashley & Chelsea decided to get in a little Wii competition before they headed back to their colleges. Here they are doing a running race.
Monday - 11/30
CYBER MONDAY! My new favorite day of the year! I did a LOT of my Christmas shopping online today, and found some pretty good deals. Even if things weren't less expensive, all the stores had free shipping. That meant, no lines, no parking hassles, they delivered it right to my door, and best of all, I could shop in my pjs! :)
Tuesday - 12/1
Some good friends of ours have season tickets to the ISU mens basketball games. They were unable to go to the game tonight, so they asked if we'd like to use their tickets. Unfortunately ISU lost, but it was still fun to be there with all the noise and excitement.
Wednesday - 12/2
Oh my goodness, what a BEAUTIFUL day! Unseasonably mild...it was near 60 degrees, which is almost unheard of for December in Iowa. Tucker had discovered the many weak spots in the fence we have for the dogs, so Jay, his dad, and a good friend took advantage of the nice weather and put up a new fence. Poor Tucker wasn't very happy. He sat by the fence and "pouted" most of the day. lol
Thursday - 12/3
I had a doctor appointment today and on my way home I saw this:
That snow plow should have been an omen to me, because less than 10 miles north, I ran into this:
snow, and blowing snow. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!
Friday - 12/4
As most of you know, Ashley is on the competitive dance team at her college. This weekend they competed in the State of Iowa Dance Team Championships. They did so awesome!! I currently only have this one picture available which shows Ashley in her jazz routine outfit. Well, truthfully, I have more, but Ashley wanted to be the first to post pictures on her facebook page. So, on Monday I will post more pictures of the competition here, so be sure to come back! :)
Saturday - 12/5
One of the items I ordered on Cyber Monday arrived today. It's a known fact that ever since we had kids, I've always complained that it takes so long to sign all 5 of our names on cards and gifts...I know, can you say L-A-Z-Y! For years now I sign almost everything with just our initials "JDACA" as if it's a word or name in itself. One of our nieces even asked about us one time and said "I sure hope jdaca can make it." LOL Therefore, I ordered these letter ornaments that are made to look like they are decorated Christmas cookies. They really are so cute. I'm thinking of just making a bunch of copies of this picture to tape to the gifts this year. :-P
I hope your enjoying the start of the Holiday season! Head on over to Sara's through the link in the side bar to enjoy more Project 365 photos.
I had a doctor appointment yesterday for the fibro and it went pretty well. She asked how things were going and how I'd been feeling. I probably should have warned her that it was PMS week, because all I got out was "It's been a challenge" and I broke into tears. She was so sweet though and we talked in more detail about what I meant by "challenge".
I explained that it is more about the frustration I feel than anything. 18 mo ago, I was working out in a gym at least 3 times a week, and working with a trainer. I was also running on the elliptical for an hour a day. Now there are days when I am doing good to be able to walk from one end of my house to the other....and that's so frustrating!
I told her that Christmas shopping hasn't even been that much fun this year because I go to the mall walk through part of one store and then have to go out in the middle and sit down for a while. Also, I used to walk so fast that Jay would complain about it, now I get passed by elderly people with the walkers on wheels.
The last thing I said while having tears running down my face was "mostly I just feel like I am too young to feel this old".
This sweet doctor of mine (who I am now convinced was hand picked for me) asked if I was a Christian woman. When I said yes, she said "As women, wives, and mothers, we tend to run on ultra-speed all the time. We have a million things we feel we must do, and rarely do we ever ask for help. Did you ever think that perhaps God is telling you it's time to slow down and enjoy what's around you instead of always looking ahead to what you need to do next. When your in pain and you have to sit down, look around. Maybe there is something He wants you to see...something you would have otherwise missed. When you're walking slowly through a store, listen to the songs playing over the speakers. Maybe He knows one of your favorites is playing. I guess what I'm saying Dena is, maybe God's trying to help teach you patience."
Through my tears I started to laugh and said "Well He should know me well enough to know that I don't have the patience for patience.", which gave her a good laugh too.
So, I'm going to take her advice and take time to smell the roses, and while I do that I'm going to say a prayer of thanks for my dear sweet Dr. B.
This picture shows what I've been doing lately. A lot. Almost non-stop.
Seriously - n o n - s t o p!
I have barely slept the past couple of nights because my nose is like a leaky faucet. It won't stop running, which is so annoying!
We have some basic staples in our house to help with situations like this, so I went searching through the bathroom closet. Did you know that if you have a thyroid disease you can't take many cold medicines, or even nasal spray? Sadly, I do now.
So I sit, and I drip, and I blow, and I cough, and I drip some more.
Meanwhile, my poor nose is trying to fall off my face. The poor thing is so red and so sore. Have you seen these tissues? I've used the lotion variety before. I have also made the mistake of grabbing one of them to use on my glasses with the cleaner. Trust me, that's a mistake you only make once.
They say they have Vicks in them. Supposedly it will help open your sinuses so you will breathe easier. It's not working for me. I'm still so stuffed up (how I can still be so stuffed up when I'm a dripping faucet is a great mystery) that only once have I even smelled the Vicks smell when using one. For all I know, that one tissue could be the only one in the entire box that even had Vicks on it. But I must admit...the lotion does help.
So, have you got any tips on how to turn off this leaky honker of mine? Oh, and please do not recommend the neti-pot. Yes, I know, some of you out there LOVE your neti-pots, but just the thought of using one is just too gross for me.
1. Which Wizard of Oz character are you most like? Well, this week is PMS time, so I'm sure Jay would say I'm most like the wicked witch...lol. Sorry, I know that was in the TMI category. Normally though I'd probably say The Cowardly Lion. I worry too much about things I don't even need to be worrying about, and I'm a big ol' chicken.
2. When you're deciding what you're going to wear each morning, which item do you select first? Why? A shirt. I wear jeans or athletic style pants most of the time, and even my dress pants are all neutrals, so it's depending on what shirt I'm wearing as to what pants I wear.
3. What kind of animal do you think the world could live without? Anything creepy and crawly. Yes I realize that means insects and not animals, but I don't care...they need to go! All of them.If I must select an animal, then I'll say opossums. They eat our kittens and terrorize our dogs. They can go wherever you send the creepy crawly things.
4. How many Christmas trees are in your home? As far as the kind you actually decorate - we have 2. A 9' tree is in our living room, and a 2' tree is on the ledge by our dining table. I also have several small decorative trees around the house, including the tiny ones with all the village pieces.
5. Would you prefer to be emotionless if it mean you didn't have to feel a heartbreak? No. Without heartbreak, we'd never know joy.
6. Do you ever experience holiday let-down or depression? No. By the time the decorations come down, I'm usually pretty ready to get the house and our schedules back to normal.Plus, it means we're that much closer to Spring!
7. Do you like Michael Jackson's music? Most of it is ok. I liked his dancing better though.
8. Why is it that we never judge people who have their teeth fixed for cosmetic reasons, but every other cosmetic procedure has a stigma? I try to not judge someone for a cosmetic procedure of any kind. I always tend to think that there could be more to whatever they are doing than what I know about.
9. Enjoy horseback riding? I did when younger. Now I have such a fear of falling that I can't stand to get up "that high". Which is a shame because we had 3 of the sweetest, most calm horses you could ever hope for. One was old and died over a year ago, but we still have the other two, and a little girl shows them in 4-H.
10. Shoes--practical or stylish? Up until a year go I would have totally said stylish. Now since getting Fibro, that has changed. My toes are the worst spot on me for pain, and all shoes are painful. Therefore I find ones I can wear that are extra roomy in the toes to make them as tolerable as possible.
11. What was the name of your first pet? Feel free to post a pic. The first year we were married Jay surprised me with a puppy as my birthday present. She was a purebred miniature apricot poodle that I named "Peaches & Cream"
12. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done? Approximately 95% - thanks to Cyber Monday. :)
What a fun Thanksgiving and weekend. We alternate holidays with my family since we are all so spread out, and this year we were together on Thanksgiving. My mom is an amazing cook and as usual, she had an awesome spread! So good! We spent the day with my brother, his wife, and their 3 kids, my sister and her husband, and my other sister, her husband, their 2 kids, their 2 foster kids, and their dog.
It was a noisy, crazy house, but so much fun!
Honestly, Thanksgiving has never been one of my "favorite" holidays. It always seemed odd to me that we had to declare a holiday to remember to be grateful. My thinking was "shouldn't we be thankful every day?" Of course, that never stopped me from enjoying all the good food. ha!
This year, I secretly challenged myself to find things to be grateful for outside of the normal ideas of family and friends, although I am very thankful for those. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and here is what I came up with....
1. I am thankful for our soldiers, who sacrificed their Thanksgiving holiday to protect me so that I could enjoy mine. To go along with that, I am also thankful for our police officers, fire-fighters, and EMTs who also sacrifice their holidays to protect and help us.
2. I am thankful to be living where I am. In spite of all our problems, I wouldn't want to live anywhere other than in America. I can worship and pray to my God. I can celebrate a holiday that revolves around my God and no one can deny me that right. "They" don't have to agree with it or like it...but they can't stop me. I just pray that never ends.
3. I am thankful to have what some consider "luxuries" - food, clothing and shelter. I've never had to live in my car or under a bridge. I've never had to dig through a dumpster for a shirt without holes, or for my next meal. I can lay my head down without being afraid of what tomorrow will bring.
4. I am thankful for a little foster boy named "M". When at my parents house, we all went around the room telling what we were thankful for and M put it plain and simple: "I'm thankful that this is my best Thanksgiving ever." Which made me thankful for the lump in my throat.
5. Which leads me to the last thing on my list, and the thing M reminded me of....I am thankful for love. I have never had to know the sadness of feeling unloved by everyone around me. I've never had to know what it was like to have people who were supposed to love and care for me, fail at that. I have never had to know the fear in being taken away from all I knew...no matter how bad it was. I have never had to know what it was like to be handed over to complete strangers. And, I have never had to experience true love from strangers who accepted me for me... and willingly embraced me. I have never known the hunger for that kind of love. A small child reminded me of that, and for that I am truly thankful.
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