I haven't dropped off the face of the earth...

Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. I have just been so busy with activities at home that I have had little chance to keep up.
Big events--

*DD graduated from HS Saturday. She was first Valedictorian of new school, Governor's Scholar, All "Distinguished" on state testing, National Merit Scholar  semi-finalist- so she was constantly standing up as her name was called. The sad part is that she didn't get the option to actually speak at graduation- to me, being Valedictorian should at the very least give you the choice of speaking or not, but they do a student vote- so it becomes a popularity contest. I guess I could kind of understand if DD was this nerdy, just studies, has no life outside of academia, but she is a well-rounded, successful young woman. At the awards assembly held the week before (which she didn't attend due to state track meet that day) she received many academic awards but also one for Women's Student Athlete. She has state indoor Triple Jump Champion and placed 3rd in the event at Outdoor. She also qualified in 100 Meter hurdles which is kind of crazy since she had never attempted hurdles before this year. The slight she took most offense to was that she did not receive "Most Fashionable" Senior Superlative- this is a girl that lives to dress up. As she says "There are not enough opportunities to dress up other than prom and one's weddding." and she'd like to be on Dancing With The Stars just to be able to wear all the outfits. She was also seriously offended by the gowns for graduation- thus her shoes were vastly important. He he he.

*Friday my mom, her BF and her cousin who was visiting from Germany came. It was a rather crazy day because the track banquet was that night and I had committed myself to helping set up & decorate at 3 pm. They showed up about 1/2 hour before I had to leave. The track banquet was very nice. DD ended up receiving both the top Women's awards- Outstanding Runner and Outstanding Field Event. My middle son ended up getting the Outstanding Field Event award since he placed highest out of all the field events at Regionals. My youngest son was one of the few middle school boys to letter this year due to his participating in many varsity meets and scoring points for the team.  My favorite thing about the track banquet is how different the girls look at the banquet than how I am used to seeing them (ponytails and workout clothes.)

*Thursday, May 26, was state track meet . DD competed in 100M hurdles first and was rather pleased because she was ranked 23 out of 24 going in and moved up to 20 and had a personal best. Triple Jump ended up running very late than scheduled. Her first two attempts were fouls- meaning she stepped over the "board"so her final attempt was crucial- she had to get a mark that would be good enough to get her in the finals for a chance for 3 additional jumps. Fierce competitor that she is, she hit a 33' 10" jump which was enough to get her in the finals (top 10.) In the finals she jumped a 34' 1" tying her personal best from Regionals, which was good enough to get her 3rd place. At Regionals she was quite disappointed that she did not make state in 300M hurdles- she touched a hurdle with her hand which disqualified her- since she is more competitive in that event (possibly top 8 in state.) This ended up being for the best because 300M hurdles coincided with Triple Jump Finals which could have meant not placing as well if she ran them or not running them to perform better in Triple Jump. In the end she was exceedingly happy with her 3rd place- her goal was to place top 8 in state this year. After she got her medal we stopped at a restaurant for a bite to eat & headed home. About 30 miles on our way home I realize my cell phone is missing... I dropped it at the restaurant- probably when I used the bathroom. Fortunately a server called DH back and waited until we showed back up. I felt like an idiot because poor DH was rather exhausted- he had drove home from a business trip the night before in horrible weather. When he got in at about midnight he had said "My knuckles ache from holding the steering wheel so tight in the high winds." So my oops added a good hour to our return home.

*Thursday, May 19, was Regional track meet. I had to drive to this seeing the bus drivers are forbidden to take the pole vault poles. We arrived rather early because I didn't  trust the head coach's leave time because he's gotten the team late to several meets due to his lack of proper planning. So DD wanted car keys to get paper out of trunk to write her cousin a letter. As she comes back into the facility I ask her where my keys are... she had locked them in the trunk. I call DH- who is at work about 3 hours away- since he didn't want to drive all that way he called a locksmith where we were (about 80 miles from home) to help me. Dave arrived and quickly unlocked the car door but the trunk button would not work (14 year old car so sometimes these things happen) so he had to literally take out backseat so my youngest son could crawl into trunk and retrieve the keys. All this was done in time for me to also still perform my commitment to officiate long jump since we got there so early but it did cost $65 for this mistake.

*Besides track and usual end of school activities, I have also been working on several other things. I  tore out the bushes that the builder had planted and replaced with ones I liked. Also planted roses, wisteria and other perennials in the various flowerbeds. I also have been working on a large home dec order for someone. Doing window treatments for living room and dining room, plus window treatments along with duvet, bedskirt, pillows and throws for bedroom.

*I haven't been doing much makeup stuff. I did recently work on a high coverage foundation because as usual, sun exposure makes my melasma issues really apparent. I actually like the formula so may eventually make this an option. So far I've only done it in "Dayna" and "Peeg" for myself and DD's prom makeup color. I plan to do "Tanya" (my now color) in this formula but have a tiny bit of regular formula to use up in my container. I did start using Ambi Fade Cream and it does seem to work. It does have 2% hydroquinone but seems to be the only thing that does even out my issue.

*Still using "The Belly Fat Cure" as my lifestyle way of eating. I still notice how the scale trends lower and lower. It's not so much the low number that occasionally shows up that I get excited about but the high number that doesn't show up anymore. It's so rewarding when you haven't seen a number for weeks, even if it is only a pound away from the number you do see, because it means that slowly but surely my new set point is going lower. I am looking forward to our beach vacation this summer although wish there was some quick fix for the saggy skin-- I know eventually it will tighten up some but it does make me seem less toned than I am just because of this issue.


*Off to work on sewing projects now that school and track are over. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog once this is finished up. Still miss Vox and the community there. *Sigh*