You Can Dance... You Can Jive...

I was reunited with my friends from ABBA tonight! My friend Cindy and I went to see the movie Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

Yup. Basically another sing-a-long to ABBA music – only I didn't recognize all the songs. Gasp! I'm gonna have to go back to the museum and get that straightened out!

It was funny seeing a Stockholm scene (Like a dork I pointed to screen and said, "I was there!") and some Swedish flags. Just miss that place!

Was a good movie, too. More serious or emotional this time versus more humor in the first. But good. Yes, I cried. But it's been established I'm a dork. A sappy, Hallmark movie-lovin' dork.

And a tired one. Long week. Hittin' the sack before a busy day tomorrow. I won't have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head tonight. More like ABBA.

And Cher. Yes, you gotta see it!

Dancing Queens

What an eventful weekend! Had such a good time on so many levels. First of all, I made the long drive up and back safely. That's most important.

My first stop Friday was at the courthouse in Balsam Lake and that proved to be more productive than I hoped. Through some records I was able go back one more generation on my mother's dad's side of the family. So that was a nice surprise.

My other Friday fun included visiting with my parents, enjoying the church Pancake Supper with them and hooking up with two of my sisters and their husbands in Grantsburg.With my twin and I there, it was like a half Sister Weekend! Fun.

Saturday was our big day. We had quite an adventure actually getting to the theatre -- between pouring rain, road construction and our general lack of knowledge of downtown Minneapolis. I got to see Target Field -- we drove by there accidentally. Twins game was rained out so we would have been competing for parking otherwise. Instead, we ended up in a lot not half a block from the Orpheum, and ate at a pub next door to it. Other than running in the rain, sharing a jacket and no umbrella, it all worked out.

We're here!! We've been waiting since Christmas for this!!

The sign in the lobby was right: "You already know you're gonna love it!" And we did!

 

This was Raylene's first Broadway production so I was super excited for her!

The Orpheum is a small, older theater, but it is so gorgeous inside!

It's a great venue because there really isn't a bad seat in the house.

But I must say we certainly enjoyed our view from Row 5. Awesome!! It was a fabulous production. So entertaining! The crowd was involved and we were all on our feet dancing during the last two numbers. So fun!!

Afterward, the rain had stopped so we got a picture of us together! Merry Christmas to us!!

Of course, the weekend fun wasn't over. Went out to eat with Raylene's family -- including my very dressed up niece Ashley and her gentleman friend visiting from Georgia. It was prom night but they were just planning on dining out and not going to the dance. They invited us all with so it was Raylene and her hubby and my nephew Tony, too. I will post some pictures tomorrow since I have a few things I better get done around the house.

I didn't get back 'til almost 5 tonight. But it was a great reason for the delay.

It happened that my BFF from high school was at her parents in Luck for the weekend helping them after her dad's back surgery. So after leaving Raylene's, I met Julie at a coffee shop in Luck and we visited for a good hour or so. Funny. We live 90 minutes apart but we each drove 4+ hours to get together! Glad it worked out.

Capped off a great weekend that will keep me dancing all week!

Road Trip

I am hitting the road shortly for a Twins weekend! No, not the Minnesota Twins. A weekend with my twin sister Raylene. Not sure if I'll have Internet access up in the Northwoods so I am blogging now.

I am a little nervous as this is my first long-distance solo trip in 2012. I am hoping -- and praying -- my excitement over what lies ahead will keep all anxiety at bay in the 4-hour drive.

And what lies ahead?

Well, at the last minute I decided I would gather some family tree stuff together so I can stop at the courthouse in my home county and check a few things. Then I'll head over to my parents to visit awhile and take them out to eat at the church Pancake Supper (I'm getting off really cheap!). After that, it's up to my twin's house.

Tomorrow is the big day for us Dancing Queens. We are going to see Mamma Mia! in the Minneapolis! We've been looking forward to this since Christmas and, from what I've heard, we will not be disappointed!!

Now it's time to hit the road and plug in the soundtrack!

You can dance... you can drive...

I Got the Music in Me...

There's only one kind of scale a fluffy girl like me appreciates.

A musical scale.

I love music. I can sing -- when no one's listening. And I can dance -- like nobody's watching. I am 100% typical girl when it comes to liking TV shows like Glee and just about any Broadway musical.

Although we are not a cultural Mecca, we are fortunate in central Wisconsin that Broadway tours its shows through Appleton (70 minutes away), Madison (90 minutes away) and Minneapolis (a 3-hour hike that is always worth it).

This "season" has been a good one at the Appleton Performing Arts Center. My friend Christine and I saw Les Miserables in November, will see Mary Poppins a month from today and, with fresh tickets in hand, we will now see West Side Story on April 24! What an exciting lineup of fun!

But wait, there's more...

I am also counting down 82 days 'til my twin sister and I see Mamma Mia! in Minneapolis! That will be exciting for 3 reasons: 1) We both love that musical (and know every word of it!). 2) I think this will be Raylene's first Broadway show. And 3) I will get to spend a whole day with my true other half! Can't wait.

With all the blues (sans rhythm) I've been experiencing in 2012, I'm glad I have these uplifting performances to look forward to! It does put a spring in my step.

Plus I know that in between all these big shows there's at least one middle school band concert on the horizon, and there's always Glee on Tuesdays (starting in 9 minutes).

I better go warm up!

Come On, Ring Those Bells

Everybody likes to take a holiday
Everybody likes to take a rest
Spending time together with the family
Sharing lots of love and happiness

Come on, ring those bells,
Light the Christmas tree,
Jesus is the king
Born for you and me.
Come on, ring those bells,
Every-body say,
Jesus, we remember
This your birthday.
We were ringing bells and everything else this weekend to celebrate Christmas together as a family. We got to my sister Raylene's early in the afternoon. Her husband Steve had an appointment to play Santa at another gathering so Carter went with to be his helpful Elf. Love his picture!

The program was full of our usual mix of jovial tunes -- like an elf song by Renell's family -- to serious notes from Mom and Dad.

Dad was up and about like he wasn't on his death bed just 10 days before. He was his usual jovial self and even cleaned his plate at supper. Good boy!

Mom was very thankful for all the support from her wonderful kids, too.

My sister Rachel sang a beautiful solo and my brother Ron (above) learned to play the guitar since Thanksgiving just so he could play a Silent Night duet with his son David. Oh the talent in our family!

My twin sister had fun with Jingle Bell Rock and telling her horse to "Giddy up, jingle horse, pick up your feet..."

We sang Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Rick, who turned 60 on Friday, and Romey shared some inspiring thoughts about second chances. Just like our father got a second chance on life last week, we all have second chances every day to do something good. Something different. Something better.

My nephew led us all in some sharing of "LeRoy-isms." Poor Grandpa. Of course, he knows we all love him. Now he knows some more reasons why! Ha.

Oh, for our family's part of the program... we were inspired by Simon Cowell's musical talent in The X Factor and hosted a game show called The X-Mas Factor... where we pitted two random contestants from the audience against each other. Carter picked a keyword and they had to sing a song with that word -- at least 10 words of it to qualify. The winner's of big money (a large chocolate coin) were Mom (snow), RoAnn (child) and Raylene (reindeer). We had fun with that.

After a delicious meal, it was game time and present exchange time...

The old game of PIT always gets heated.

And loud! That was played in the basement!

Carter got some gifts from his godparents and cousin. Casey shows off a musical Badger football.

After opening 3 boxes within boxes, Raylene was happy to see the final present -- a ticket to Broadway's Mamma Mia! We're going together in April when it comes to the Twin Cities. I am very excited!!

The Austins stayed overnight at Raylene's and hit the road by midmorning. We dropped off Casey in Eau Claire, then had an adventurous trip home. Jim drove Casey's car to Rapids and I followed with Carter in our CRV. Casey's car has been leaking oil so he is getting it fixed in Rapids. We pretty much had to stop every 15 miles to put in more oil. I'm not kidding. Nine, yes nine, quarts later and we were home.

Now to unpack the goodies!

Mother's Eve

If there is Christmas Eve before Christmas Day, there might as well be Mother's Eve before Mother's Day. That gives us ladies an extra day of pampering and doing what we love to do but rarely get time.

Today I was lucky to do all kinds of things I liked -- running, sunning, rummage sale-ing and more.

This morning was the Jigsaw Run around Lake Wazeecha. The reason it's called the "Jigsaw" is because this is a benefit for Autism and Autism is such a puzzle. I think it can also be called the "Jigsaw" because the race trail winds and wends its way around the lake, back and forth and up and down. It's the up and down that killed me.

This is the third year of the event, which drew roughly 600 runners and walkers. This was my first time doing it since Carter usually had soccer in previous years. This was also my first 6K, which boils down to 3.7 miles. Not a big deal. But again, I cannot stress how unprepared I was for all the little but annoyingly painful hills.

The Desperate Housewives of Blue Jay Drive made another appearance. Cindy and Niki both ran it last year. I was hoping to finish in 40 minutes or less, but closer to 37 minutes -- since that would be my typical pace of 10-minute miles.


Here I am almost at the finish. It was a nice day for the run -- temp-wise. It was about 52 but very windy around the lake. I struggled at times, but right towards the end I sucked it up and finished strong, passing about 6 people in the last quarter mile! (That's why I'm smiling.)

I finished at 37:32 -- a little slower than 10-minute miles, but I was OK with that for my first effort. I see some hill training in my future if I am going to do races like this again. (Tomorrow I might feel differently.)

After the race, there was even more fun to be had.

Carter had some baseball scrimmages at the Kellner fields so I stopped there for a little while before venturing out to the Kellner-area garage sales. I think ended going to 9. Whoa. Did not realize that until I just counted that in my head. Only came away with a dozen books for me, two shirts for Carter and 3 PS2 games for him -- they were only $2 each so I splurged on him.

Got home in time to enjoy some sun time. It was higher than 60 and sunny so I caught a few rays in my lounge chair. The guys got home around 4 and ran up to Stevens Point -- something about a Mother's Day present...

Now they are likely going to go in the Man Cave next door and watch the Celtics. So am free to have the couch AND remote to myself. Think I'll pop in a total chick flick. Hmmm, Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, 27 Dresses, Mamma Mia... Good thing this is my most stressful decision on Mother's Day eve!

Next decision: Popcorn or ice cream?

I think I'll go with popcorn for supper and ice cream for dessert. (Mom's can break all the rules!)

Girls' Day In

I managed to work two 5-day weeks in a row this year before taking a day off. This one, though, was a company holiday so I felt no guilt about having to get any work done. And, as luck would have it, two of my girlfriends were also off today for MLK Day, so we all decided to be slackers together!

We actually couldn't have planned a "Girls' Day In" on a better day. It snowed all morning and most of the day so really, who would want to get out and do anything anyway?

My wonderful hubby got up early so he could take Carter to school (allowing the pre-teen to get a valued extra 45 minutes of sleep). Then, when I rolled out of bed, he took me into town to my friend Christine's so I didn't have to brave the slick roads and see snow pile up on the car all day. What a honey!

My day didn't get too strenuous after that either. Christine, Jenny and I had a movie -- and munchie -- marathon. Chick flicks only! Naturally. We watched 27 Dresses, followed by The Proposal, then Mamma Mia!

During this whole time, we snacked. And snacked. And snacked. Christine just got a fondue pot so we had beer bread dipped in cheese for the mid-morning snack. Then shrimp and chicken cooked in oil for the lunch-time snack. Then mini-cheesecake bites dipped in chocolate for the afternoon snack. Did I need supper tonight? No!

That was a nice getaway for some laughing and singing and crying (getting choked up a bit anyway), plus plain old girl time.

At home, hubby had to crank up the snowblower and did some chores around the house but I think he relaxed a little and enjoyed his day of quiet solitude. It's not like either one of us felt we had to take advantage of a free day and make it a super-productive one.

Thank goodness! I'll take a Girls' Day In any time!

Sweet Music

Stop me if you've heard this before... We got the car back from the garage today...

Knock on wood, this better be it! The problem was easily fixed and yes, just a little bit their fault. But it's all good now. They replaced the faulty part and we are back in business with even temperatures under the hood! Yay.

To celebrate, hubby and I went out to eat tonight. Well, it worked out that way. We had to drop Carter off at the junior high and had 90 minutes to kill. So we went to Culver's since it was a fund-raiser night there for my church. It all worked out. They even had Mint Explosion for the flavor of the day. God loves me.

The concert was awesome. It was a Combined Band Concert for the entire Rapids school district, with band members in 6th-12th grades. (I did not bring my camera. I decided to just listen.)

First, all the 6th-grader from the 9 elementary schools played 3 songs together. Carter was among 20 trumpeters. Very cool. Then the 7th, 8th and 9th grade bands played a song each. We were then entertained by the high school drum line -- that rocked -- and the high school band, who played selections from Mamma Mia! I'm telling you, this was my day.

The finale was a song played by all the bands combined. For that, Carter must have been among 100 trumpeters at least. That was loud but awesome!

As a music geek, I am looking forward to many years of concerts like this. It was sweet music to cap off a pretty sweet day!

No Guts, No Glory

It's the state teacher convention -- or something like that -- so central Wisconsin school districts have today and tomorrow off. Me, too!

Carter and I had a list of errands to run today but didn't get going until after noon. Part of that was my fault. I had magazines I wanted to go in with the recycling. But I had to read them first (or at least skim through them). So I did that from 8 a.m. to almost 10 while watching Mamma Mia! (See, I can multi-task with the best of them.)

When I was done, I went for a quick run -- only because it was nice out (50ish) and I knew we'd probably end up at Dairy Queen later and I had to erase the guilt ahead of time.

Got home, showered, started laundry and we headed out. First we had to stop down the street where the neighbor girl, a 4th-grader, just got home from surgery -- gall bladder and appendix. She's doing awesome!

Then it was off to Wal-Mart for a few things, recycling center, DQ for that limited-time only Pumpkin Pie Blizzard, movie store, YMCA to sign up Carter for basketball, service garage to pay for CRV repairs, bank, pumpkin patch to finally get our pumpkins.

I had to quick bake a Wacky Cake when I got home so I can decorate it in the morning for Clay's birthday party tomorrow night. But after the cake was done and we had supper, Carter and I commenced to gutting those pumpkins!

No he's not McDreamy, but he did perform some cool surgical cuts on his 2 pumpkins.

Boo! Scared ya, didn't I? Pretty cool, eh? This is the first time Carter tried letters. Not bad at all. We put the other pumpkin out on the porch right away and then it was rainy so I'll have to get a picture later.

We had one pumpkin that was so hard that we couldn't cut through it to gut it even. So I tried something new and sort of chipped off pumpkin pieces (like an ice sculpting, ha). Some of you will appreciate my efforts...

Others won't. But hey, I know if we lose against the Pack on Sunday, I can take my frustration out and start smashing pumpkins. Should make some good pie, right? Pumpkin Pie, not Humble Pie.

No place like home....

Whoever wrote the lyrics, "There's no place like home for the holidays," knew a little something about ice, snow and slick roads around Christmas time.

Before heading Up North for my family celebration Friday, we had to snowblow yet another 3-4 inches of "white Christmas" from our driveway. Some of the road conditions were challenging but, all in all, it was an event-free trip up.

Part of my comfort level (yes, I tend to be a nervous passenger when roads are slick) was due to that fact I was in the back seat. I let Casey ride shotgun. Plus, I was watching my Mamma Mia movie on the new portable DVD player Santa brought. That works slick! Time sure goes by a lot faster -- and my mind was totally off the road.

The only bad part about the trip was that there were only 4 of us instead of 5. Clay couldn't make it at the last minute. That was very disappointing. Later, when we had our annual family program, we coerced, er, recruited my twin to do his part. She did an admirable job for not having participated in the dress rehearsal. (Just kidding. It was not a big production!)

All in all, it was great family gathering as always and, as always, we missed those who couldn't make it because of distance. We gathered in the fellowship hall at a retreat center just up the road from my parents'. The last time we held it there, my nephew Tony, who was home this year on leave from the Army, had just been born on Christmas Day. My other nephews, now grown and bringing wives or girlfriends of their own, were all around 4-7 years old and nearly impossible to contain! My how times change.

One thing that hasn't changed is the love we feel when we are together as family -- all 30-something of us. My parents said it best when they remarked, "What a blessing it is to look around this room at all these people and we can say 'They're ours!'"

After the party, we headed into Luck -- through thick fog and icy roads -- to the hotel. This morning, we met my parents for breakfast (my sister stopped by, too) then hit the road early. We knew it was going to be cooling off at some point today and it was predicted the roads would ice up quickly. Somehow we missed that, thankfully, so we were home in just under 4 hours. Pretty good timing.

As I unpacked and stared at the extra cookies and treats we took home and don't need, hubby was up on the roof chipping away at ice in the gutters. Ahh, there's no place like home...

Lordy, Lordy, the Temperature is 40!

While we were sleeping last night, Jack Frost sneaked into the neighborhood, and the temps dipped down to 40! It was bad enough we practically had to wait until May Day for the snow to melt. Now Autumn is creeping in and (gasp!) we're still wearing white!

Contrary to the belief that cool temperatures make "good sleeping weather," I just couldn't sleep last night. The culprit: ABBA.

I went to see the movie Mamma Mia yesterday afternoon and "Dancing Queen" has been dancing through my head ever since!

I actually ended up going to the movie by myself, something I'd never done before. But when I found out it was still playing, I had about 15 minutes to get ready -- and that is clearly not enough time to convince, coerce, bribe hubby to go with me. In the end, I was fine with that. I would definitely classify this one as a "chick flick." So girls, go see it! You'll love it, I promise!

So back to this "sleeping weather." I am wondering if I was singing "Take a Chance on Me" or something in my sleep because hubby was up, showered and out the door before my alarm went off! I guess I better pop in a different CD on the way home tonight. I hear it's going to be chilly again and I intend to take advantage of it!