Circumstantial Pomp 2011

So I've been MIA from the Blogging Universe for the last couple of days.....ok, the last THREE Days!

I plead Insanity your Honor.

In the last 8 days I've half-assedly cleaned the house from top to bottom, had 3 relatives & a kid and his GF come to stay-over for various lengths of time, thrown a party and done all the cooking(Sis-IL did help with some of the prep work), helped pack a kid up to work across state for 2 months, fed various relatives various meals besides the party along with all the usual crap I do here.  And I fit in a couple of blog posts last week, as well as 1 trip to the grocery store, 1 trip to Kmart and 3 trips to Rite-Aid.....like you even considered I'd NOT go to Rite-Aid??? HA!

I so wish I had more of a stack of photos to share from my week.
But there are 2 reasons I don't.
1--I don't have a camera growing out of my hand like some people do cough *mark* cough and....
2--My camera sucks.  It's old and not very powerful and doesn't have good features beyond your basics.
And add in a #3 that I don't take very good photos either.  I just don't have 'the eye'.

With that said, here is how the last week went down......

The Sis-IL arrived last Sunday with her teddy bear companions(don't ask!).  I was so busy the first few days with cleaning and staying cool(it was almost 90 here for most of the week!)and not going insane that I didn't think to snap a photo of anything besides my Rite-Aid booty until Thursday when #1 son arrived with his Girl Friend.
Here is is trying to turn her to face the camera for a photo and her smacking him in the face.
Ain't love grand?

Here's a better shot of them with a couple of old fogies(Hubs and Sis-IL) in the way....

We decided to play Boggle that evening for fun.
Let me explain that I am the Master of the Boggle Universe....at least in our family.
None of them has ever beaten me at Boggle...ever.
Not just NOT beaten me in points for the whole game, but NOT beaten me in points for a single Round either.
Wow.....the secret is out now.  I blew my chance at ever being a World Boggle Shark, haven't I?!

Anyhow, we started a friendly game of Boggle.
#1 son had the great idea to level the playing field by spiking my lemonade with SoCo(aka Southern Comfort).
He was really probably trying to sneak himself a drink of it and when I caught him he came up with the leveling the field idea.

Either way, he didn't get any and I still won at Boggle, again! ;-)
Granted I couldn't stand up afterwords....

On Friday around noon my Brother and my other Sis-IL arrived, Hubs went to get BIL and the Nephew and Daughter brought her Boyfriend over.  After #2 son got home from school, his 2 buddies from down the street wandered over about the time the food was ready.  It's amazing how teenage boys have food radar like that, huh?lol

We had a family preGraduation cook-out from 2ish until 4.
I would have loved to share gorgeous shots of us all cramming our mouths with food but I was too busy manning the grill on the back deck and the smoker on the driveway out front.
Of course no one else took any pictures.

After we ate people found comfortable places to lounge and some of us snoozed.....

This is my Brother's wife.  They had an 8 hr. ride to get here and her everyday life is even more Crazy Busy then my life was this past week.  She deserves to nap any damn time/place she feels like it.
Don't judge.....

Everyone was feeling full and relaxed.
Here's the future Graduate and her BF goofing off for the camera.....

Then it was time to get to the Arena for the Commencement exercises.
I won't bore you with how I went over and dressed down some rude, young adults in the audience by us who were there to talk loudly amongst themselves through all the speeches and the kids' performances so no one around them could hear anything and then only SHUT UP doing that long enough to scream and yell at the top of their lungs when their buddies' names were called.  Hubs held me back from swinging at them with my big heavy black cane too.
I guess with all the money we will be spending next month on college tuition there isn't much left to pay my bail.

Here is one shot Hubs took of Daughter leaving the Arena....

She was the 5th one in the processional in and one of the last in the recessional out.
My, my.....another awkward sentence.lol

And here are a slew of the obligatory Graduation photos of the newly diploma'ed with her family....

First the boyfriend.
Daughter is tall which makes the BF a giant......

Then with soon to be broke Mom & Dad.
And no, I am NOT bald.  I don't know where my hair was....

Then with Uncle and Aunt from VA.....

Then with Hubs family--another Uncle, the Cousin and another Aunt from IL.....

Then again with Mom & Dad.
My hair is still MIA and I look like a happy lunatic.
I was probably asking for an adult beverage by that point.....

And finally with her 2 Brothers.
Yes her older brother really went all out dressing up for the occasion.
And I actually got the hair out of #2 son's face long enough to get a photo.  He is giving me the stink eye.  I didn't push it and try for a second take because he just finished playing Pomp & Circumstance with the School Band a bazillion times inside the Arena.

Then we asked Daughter to pose alone.....the elegant Graduation shot for posterity, and this is what we got.

And Sis-IL's arm too boot.

Then it was back to the house for cake.....or as Sis-IL from VA kept pronouncing it, "keck".  She's been on a "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" movie kick lately.
Here's the Graduation Cake, er Keck......

 Daughter ordered the cake herself.  The school colors are red and black.  Not very festive a combination unless it's a wake or Halloween.  The least she could have done is had them put flowers on it.  Big old Black icing roses would have perked that baby up, ya think?

She also ordered a half yellow, half chocolate cake.
I kept referring to it as the diversity cake.
All the grown-ups got a big laugh out of that.
All the young'uns groaned and rolled their eyes at me.
Yes, I am so witty when I am exhausted and sleep deprived.

I made Daughter cut and serve everyone a slice.  She was very methodical and deliberate about it and took forever.
I think she should concentrate on cutting instead of loony bin once she gets to medical school since she dissected that cake with the skill of a surgeon.

After cake and gifts Daughter left for the Senior Lock-In and we old folks all collapsed into our respective beds.

On Saturday Sis-IL from IL hit the road for the trip home.
The young'uns all went off to see friends and do various fun stuff.

The grown-ups?
We laid around and napped and ate and napped some more.

Then we took everyone who was left out for Chinese.
We sat out on the deck and talked.
Then we all went to bed early again.

On Sunday morning #1 Son, GF and Daughter left for camp....

Brother and Sis-IL followed suit a half-hour later and left for their trip back to VA.
And I went back to bed and slept a good part of Sunday away.

Which leads us to this fine Monday morning.
The unseasonably hot weather has abated, the house is finally quite(at least until noon when #2 Son returns home from school)and I can begin contemplating my summer plans.

And I can begin boring you with posts again.
Aren't you one lucky devil?

Sluggy

The Rest of Last Week....Reserve my Padded Room Please!

When last we saw our intrepid blogger, she had been forced to drop a big wad of cash at the mall for assorted teens Back-to-School clothing needs on Wednesday.
Wednesday night Hubs and I took #1 son and his English buddy out for #1 son's Birthday meal(the bday is in July but he hasn't been home until now since before July).
They wanted steak so it was Lone Star Steakhouse.
This was after having massive hunks of hamburgers for lunch at Red Robin.
Egads!

So Thursday started out with a bang.
See this stupid beagle?

She decided to make a run for it to freedom while I was trying to clip her to the tie-out cable.
She had back problems last winter and Hubs put that blue harness on her, changing it out for her collar.
Of course, he neglected to move her tags(rabies, license, name & phone number)from the collar to the harness so there was no way to recover her if she didn't come home on her own.
Just great!
And she indeed did NOT come home.
Daughter is her owner but she didn't seem to care one way or another if the dog came home.
And she did next to nothing to find her.....

The rest of Thursday was more shopping(new boots for #1 son-he goes to school near Lake Erie so there is deep snow for 5 months of the year there) & restocking #1 son with toiletries(a la the stockpile).  He found everything he needed/wanted, so it cost me NOTHING!!  That was awesome....

I went grocery shopping and spent an eyeball popping $81.28!!!  I can't remember the last time I spent that much money in one fell swoop on groceries.  I got a little weak in the knees when the cashier told me the total.lol   And again, I didn't use a single coupon....but I did save $65.61, mostly on some markdown meats.

Kallaum volunteered to make us dinner on Thursday.....a proper Baked Chicken dinner.  Chicken, mashed potatoes and assorted 'veg'(that he boiled the shit out of!lol).  Of course the crowning glory of all these dishes was gravy(which I made)ladled over everything.  Kallaum doesn't seem a fan of  'veg' but if you smother it in gravy he'll eat it. ;-)
I had hoped he would make some Yorkshire Pudding....he's from Yorkshire so that would be cool, right?lol  Maybe next time he comes to visit next summer since he does plan on returning to work at the camp in 2011.

Friday was a lazy day....still no sign of the missing beagle....getting #1 and Kallaum's laundry done and packed up, then loading up Hubs car once he got home from work.
I roasted corn on the cob and cooked assorted meats on the grill.  #1 son & Kallaum each ate...
2 ears of corn
2 steaks
3 hot dogs
1 or 2 hamburgers(1 ate 1, 1 ate 2 but I don't recall whom ate which amount)

Honestly, I don't know WHERE they put it all!!!lol

Then we had #1 son's belated Birthday Cake....

Of course, the teens started eating the cake BEFORE we got a chance to put a candle on it and sing.lol

Blowing out a candle on a 2/3 eaten cake just isn't right, is it?

Saturday morning at the crack of 7.....

Packing the last few things.

And posing for a final photo for the Long Suffering Mom....

And then, they were gone....

And I went back to bed.  Geez, last week just wore me out. lolol
Saturday and still no missing beagle sightings, plus the fridge that I 'fixed' is broken again, so I got to haul all the frozen foods I had hauled into the upright freezer, back into the freezer of the fridge the previous week, back from the fridge/freezer into the upright freezer again!
My fix was only a temporary measure and I need to call a proper repairman to replace something in the appliance.
Bleh!!!

Sunday morning Hubs called up to the SPCA and guess who was there?
Yep.....the runaway beagle.

So he went and bailed her out($$$!) and promptly put the tags onto the harness.  Someone had dropped her off at the shelter late Friday, so after running wild for 1.5 days, she got to enjoy the barking madhouse of the SPCA for another 1.5 days.
She got home and collapsed in the dog crate and fell dead asleep.

Here is what a goofball dog looks like zonked out and snoring for 6 hours.
I thought I was one dog closer(1 down, 2 to go)to actually fixing up my living/dining room.....it was a let down but I'm glad she's safe.

To sum up last week....
it was crazy with activity(for me at least!)
it was expensive(massive amounts of meat and BTS shopping to the tune of $250 doesn't come cheap!...not to mention impending fridge repair)
it was hectic with all the cooking and cleaning
it reeked havoc on my sleep schedule(nocturnal teens will do that to ya!)


But I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat......well, except for that runaway beagle part.


Sluggy