Extreme Makover

This past week Extreme Makeover was in Holt (lansing) Michigan.  I was one of 1500 volunteers who helped throughout the week.  Lucky for me, my shift was on Friday, the day of the reveal.  It was great.  I was there with several coworkers.  We were there most of the day, helping take furniture into the house, passing out wather to the crowds and most exciting of all, helping with filming run throughs.  There is no doubt in my mind that I will actually make it into the show.  There is a point when Ty runs out of the house yelling “I have the keys!”  and they have a handful of us staged by the front walk working.

Here are some pictures as I could write a book on the whole day’s experience.

mike

 

rib

 

mike, paige and rib

 

ed

 

a little bit of everyone with the family.

 

The house on Wednesday - pre-landscaping.

Home Sweet Home

It’s not the Taj Mahal, but it’s all mine! Bought and paid for! 

     Growing up, our family was a family of campers.  I loved our camping trips and all the memories.  Hanging out with the cousins, campfires, swimming, pie irons.  Even the guy who brought his record player down to the park and taught us square dancing.   We would run and play until we finally collapsed around the camp fire and then had to drag our tired bodies to the tent.  When we got home from the trip, I’d sleep in my clothes, just so  could wake up and smell the camfire on my clothes.

    Anyway, I’m pretty much the only one of the four kids who camps on a regular basis.  And my cot just isn’t going to cut it anymore!  I love sleeping in a tent, don’t get me wrong, but as I get older I’m finding that I need a little more comfort.  And it seems the older you get, the more things you want to bring.  Right now when I go on a week long trip, I fill my GMC Jimmy AND a car top carrier.  Next year, I’ll be able to have passengers! (Ahem, Book & family; twin & family) 

    So, there are a couple small rips in the canvas but we just survived three days straight of rain and it’s still dry.  (Well there was a tiny drip, but only after the first twenty four hours straight.)  But I am so excited for next year!  I have to insure it and get the tags for it. I have to put a hitch on the Jimmy.  Then, the inside will be painted and freshened up.  It’s going to be the start of some good times.

It’s a Pirate’s Life for Me

Okay, Twinny, I just might have found a new ritual.  

 Last weekend I went on a ‘girls only’ camping trip with some friends.  I was only just invited a week ago, so it was last minute, but I will always go camping.  This particular trip involved a 7 hour rafting trip down the Manistee river, south of Traverse City.  Sure, it sounded like fun – going camping with 8 other women, most of whom I didn’t know, but hey, I  make friends easily (I’m a Lacy at heart).  What intrigued me was on Wednesday night VanCore told me that we would be dressing as pirates during the rafting trip. I did not believe that.  It sounded like fun, but I figured I’d get dressed up and end up being the only one.  But, her sister confirmed it without being prompted, so I packed my bags, got out of work early and hit the road.

     Friday night we sat around the campfire drinking and hanging out.  We put on a ton of fake tattoos and started preparing for the next day.  We had to be down by the landing around ten, in order to get through the trip in a timely manner.  Surprisingly we all were up by 8:30 (yes, a.m.)  God only knows why Hazen was up at 6am, but it’s nice to wake up to a campfire.

     We got dressed – bandanas, eye patches,  torn up clothing and grabbed our dollar store swords and daggers (and our beer grog wench) and hit the road.  My favorite part was the cooler.  VanCore painted it to look like a treasure chest.  Complete with gold medalions (chocolate) and beads to throw.  Here is what you would have seen if you’d pulled up to Chippewa Landing on Saturday…

I have never laughed so much in my life! – well,I laughed until the thunderstorm.  Having to pull over because you can’t even see to steer just isn’t that funny.  But it IS an adventure.  (To be honest, it wasn’t the worst storm I’ve been stuck in while on a river, but that’s a ‘One time.. at camp’ story.)  We did have to pull over for about an hour and wait it out, and then I thought we’d get hypothermia, but the sun eventually came out and we finished the last couple (few?) hours in the sun.

   The picture of me is after the rain, showing off my new tattoo. 

 We drank a lot of grog, and told alot of stories.  Nobody puked, and I was not even hung over!  We got back from the rafting and I just decided I needed to eat and chill out for a minute.  What I can’t figure out is why Vancore & co didn’t think to zip the windows on their duct taped-unstaked-five dollar garage sale tent.  They were soaked.  Hm, my tent was nice and dry.  Being the veteran camper that I am, I know better. 

  Anyway, I made some new friends – like I said, I’m a Lacy.  I’m friendly and people like me.  Plus, I can start a fire, put up tents from 1970, figure out how to put up the tri-pod over the fire, row very well, make pie-irons, handle all first aid issues, and stack two car-top carriers on one car.  (Is that legal?)  Someone said we were like the Griswald’s(sic?) on all the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies.  I told her, ‘you may be the Grizwald’s, but I’m MacGuyver.’

   Well, I’m definitely in for next year.  They’re talking about dressing up as pilgrims instead, but I think we need to take the pirate them and build on it.  Although, I did think it would be fun to dress up like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer…  We’ll see. I’m just along for the ride.. 

Twinny, you in?

League Champs

     Just a small recap… The last three years I’ve played on a softball team.  The first two seasons I was on a women’s league with coworkers.  We were terrible!  After two years of not winning a game (although in the second season at least we scored in every game), we decided to go co-ed and open it up to parents at the center as well as staff.  Last year I sort of got roped into coaching, but we ended up finishing in third place, so I didn’t do too bad a job.  I decided to give it another shot.

     This year we lost about half the team which was to be expected.  The good thing was that this year already had half a team of players who knew each other and played well together.   I felt more confident as the person in charge.  I found I wasn’t as nervous as I was last year.  I’m not kidding – I’d use the bathroom before I left the house, but ALWAYS had to pee again right before the game.   Now, being the veteran coach thet I am, I placed players more strategically in the field as well as batting line up.  Either way, it paid off.  We ended up with a 9-0-1 record and getting the league championship title.  It’s not a perfect record (with that tie in there) but we are technically undefeated.

    

The league champs from last season were the team for us to beat this year.  It was a personal thing for all of the returning players.  Last year’s champs were really good, but they were jerks.  They cried alot about some plays and they had a pretty cocky attitude.  This year they were even cockier.  And they really wanted to beat us.  (At the time of the game we’d won six games already and if we won we were almost guaranted to stay in 1st place and they’d drop to 3rd.  If they won, they’d take 1st place.)

That win meant alot!

     On the day of our last game of the season, the team was presented with a plaque and t-shirts.  I was so proud of our team.  It was kind of a big night for me.  Twinny and JD and Junior all drove 45 minutes to come see our game and M was there with her niece.  It’s nice to have my family come out to see me play.  But the best surprise was when I got up to bat, Someone yelled ‘Go Firsttwin!” and I KNEW it was my mom!.  I almost missed the pitch when I turned around and saw Rickbo and Snowbird sitting ini the bleachers.

    It was a great season.

St. Patrick’s Day

Well I wasn’t going to write about this year’s festivities.  I blogged about Tailgating, which is the ‘other’ day of the year Twinny and I tear up the town, so  I might as well…

Twinny and I have done the ‘bar crawl’ for about 14 years in E.L. and Lansing.  Generally we start about 10 am in E.L. and by mid afternoon we are downtown by the capitol.  Each year is a different group of friends.  Some come and go throughout the years, Twinny’s hubby and his best friend used to, and the last couple years, Junior has come along.   Some people meet us after noon, some even later.  Either way – a good time is had.

  It usually starts off with us leaving cars at my work and we take the bus to our first destination.   For years it was Peanut Barrell.  A place where you’d see more locals and college professors than students.  The greatest thing about this places is that you can order baskets of peanuts and they don’t care if you throw the shells on the floor.  I’m just now realizing we didn’t go there this year.  We started at BW3 for green beer.  2nd bar was Landshark, which is popular for their Sharkbowls.  A sharkbowl is a bowl of alcohol (it’s pink, don’t ask me what’s in it)  that should have gummy sharks in the bottom.  (It didn’t) You have to have at least four people to order one and they serve it with a bunch of straws.   I think that my mistake last Monday was partaking in that…  I should have stuck to just the beer.  We didn’t stay long.  The place stank!  (Stunk!?)  We were pretty much the only ones there, and they said they’d been dead all morning.   Explain to me please then, why was there no toilet paper or paper towels in the bathroom?

By now (1:30 ish)  there were eight of us getting our groove on.  Usually the only plan we have is to get out of E.L. by 2:00 when the students start coming back out.  Getting down to the downtown are is a little better suited for us, since we’re all over 30.  This year we had a ‘point of interest’ .  Tommy Foster was playing at Green Door at 3:00.  Green Door ended up being our last stop for the day.  TF is a guy who’s been around town forever (Twinny, ‘Pause and Reflect’).  Call him a cover band if you want, but the man is a mastermind at taking songs apart, tweaking them and putting them back together.  I wish I could remember some of the songs he played so that I could give you an example.  Help me out Twin.   I remember dancing like crazy and eating a lot of popcorn.  I didn’t drink alot while I was at that place – at that point I knew I was done.   Twin, did you take my beads while you were rubbing my back in the bathroom stall?  I came home with no beads!

Anyway, a good time was had by all, even more friends showed up while we were there.  I left aroud 5.  I think Twin and Junior left just a little later.  Some stayed till about 7 and God only knows why JG stayed till 11.  His wife was a little pissed about that.

Anyway, we need to get those disposable cameras developed – I need to fill in a couple gaps.

Open Letter

This is a letter to the girl on the corner of Mt. Hope and Cedar St.

Dear Girl on the phone,

  You followed me for five miles riding my bumper.  Numerous times I thought you were going to rear end me.  When we got stuck behind the CATA bus and you tried going around me, I intentionally did not pull foward.  If you had not been riding my ass, you would have had room.  

     I did not flip you off for going around me.  You’re right – that would have been rude.  I flipped you off because you were being a jackass.  Furthermore, your road rage blocked traffic in both lanes while you felt the need to chew me out.   (Let me tell you though, I almost crapped my pants when you gestured furiously for me to roll down my window.)  God only knows why I rolled down my window – probably because I didn’t want you ramming me off the road later. Then you called me rude and called me a hippie ‘MF’ with my hippie bumper stickers.  I almost laughed then – you should see my other car.   For the record, the ‘Don’t move firewood, it bugs me’ sticker is merely a distraction.  I regularly haul firewood over county lines. 

   Then you started crying and telling me you’ve got a shitty life and the last thing you needed was this.  Honey, we all have something going on.  But your tears made me feel guilty.  I apologized and told you I was also sorry you were having a bad day.   Then you apologized for being mean.  My guilt really kicked in and I wanted to get out and hug you and see if you needed to talk.  So you finally pulled away, and to this day you will never EVER know that I gave you the finger because you were too close.  Learn how to drive!  Pay attention to your fellow drivers and stay off the phone!

      I forgave you, but you ruined my day because I know you will always think I’m a jerk. 

                                                              Sincerely,

                                                                          the girl in the green Jimmy (with bumper stickers)

***for the record, I rarely ever flip people off – then I do it  when I know they can’t see it.  (I’m a chicken flipper)  I just finally got caught.

R.I.P. LUGNUT

Well, today I had to do a very difficult thing.  I had to euthanize my fourteen year old cat.  Lugnut has been with me since he was only six weeks old.  He was known to be a grumpy cat  (there was a reg flag on his account at the vet) but he could also be a lover when you caught him at the right moment.  I wanted to post a picture, but he’s all black.  I’m sure you can imagine what a black cat would look like.

 Throughout the years, Luggie has had some interesting experiences.  In 1994 he was voted most improved swimmer at summer camp.  The following year, he spent a week in the dorms at MSU.  His best friend was a black lab named Aspen.  Two years ago he escaped the night before my flight to Florida, and I spent two hours under the neighbors deck in the mud and snow waiting for him to come out.  One year I thought it was really cute that the neighbor let their cat run around on the roof, until I got to my house and saw the bedroom screen hanging out the window.  No wonder the cat cried at me when I walked by…

 He was always really healthy until recently.  He started losing weight, and just recently was not much more than fur and bones.  This weekend I could hardly get him to drink milk.  I think the most drastic change was just in the last couple weeks.  He had trouble even jumping up on the bed.  He layed around alot more than normal, and I noticed he wasn’t grooming himself anymore.  There were just too many signs that it was time.  I really wanted to bring him home and let him be here when he went, but that’s only going to make me feel better.  I don’t think he was in pain, but I can’t be selfish.  My pets are my responsibility, and I need to do what’s right for them. 

Well, Luggie, we had a good run.    You  were loved.

old man winter

(This blog is a long time coming.)

Well, it’s here.  As much as I hope and wish that we’ll have some warm days ahead, winter is here.  We had a little bit of an ice storn last night here in Michigan.  Good thing for me, I had a couple movie rentals I could hunker down with, and I have a small suplus of wood for my fireplace.  Those two things can make a chilly night quite comfortable.  As much as I love Michigan in the spring, summer and fall, I hate winter.  I do like to sled and ice skate, and as long as I’m bundled up, I can even deal with the cold.  What I don’t like is the driving, dirty snow and weather below zero degrees.

  Two things I was supposed to do today were delayed as a result of last nights semi-ice storm.  I was supposed to help a friend move some stuff.  Bummer.  Moving is never high on my list, but if you ask me, I won’t say no to helping.

   The other thing that I can’t do today is go pick out my Christmas tree.  I’m actually a little bummed about this – it’s always an experience.  There’s an old russian couple who live out in the country.  Zokvic’s Christmas trees.  I’ve been going out there the last six or so years. They let you wander around their 10 acres around their house and when you’re ready, they cut the tree down for you.  Now the fun part is, the old guy is always drunk.  ”Ya, you want a little one – I got one for you’.  As I’m looking at a ten foot tree.  “okay, we try another”.  So he wanders around with his chainsaw til we find one just right.  A few years ago, the guy tore up his leg with the chainsaw.  I wasn’t there, but a friend of mine was there the day it happened, so I head about it the same day.  But you can bet, as soon as his 30+ stitches healed, he was back out there with his chainsaw.  Last year was a new experience.  This couple doesn’t really know me my name, but they recognize me each year.  Last year the guy started playing a little ‘slap tickle’with me.  He was showing me around, and he started punching my shoulder, like you might punch a friend jokingly.  I have no idea why he started, but he seemed to think he was funny.  (I actually did think it was kind of funny.) Finally, I laughed and punched him back.  Take that you Schnapp’s-smelling old man!  He had the last laugh, though.  I gave him a twenty for a fifteen dollar tree and he disappeared with my change.  He probably went into the house for a refill and passed out…

   So, I’ll probably head out there later this week, or maybe Saturday.  This year I need to remember, no matter how pretty they look, if they look big out there, the tree will look even bigger in the house.  (You with me Snowbird).  I had to cut a good foot and a half off last year’s tree. By the time I got done, it just didn’t look the same. 

Well, I’ve got a couple cords of firewood to split.  We’ll see if I actually get any of that done either.

Tailgate Pt. 2

You know, the day is just not long enough…. Met Twinny and Hubby at Art’s our local watering hole.  The we left our vehicles at my work and took the bus into E. Lansing.  First stop – the bathroom.   Why is it that in the lobby of an all girl’s dorm, we couldn’t find the ladies room in the lobby.  So we used the men’s room.  It is not the first or last time that will happen.

Then we found my friends right under the SPA of the Spartan Stadium.  They had free food and beer and brought a television and the new Wii game.  We hung out for awhile, had a few other friends meet us there and just watched people pass by.  After a couple hours, we decided to walk around and check stuff out, so we went to the student area, where it gets pretty crazy.  We found a huge blow up boxing ring that you could get into.  The boxing gloves were huge – probably 2 ft by 2ft.  My friend and I got in there, but we were laughing so hard, I hit her once and she couldn’t get back up.  That was probably around four o;clock, things were a little hazy after that, so I’m not really sure.  Anyway. 

Everything ended up fine.  Spartans kicked a little butt that night – which I think was unexpected.  Sorry all you Hoosiers.  I didn’t even think MSU would win, IU is really good this year.  To my knowledge,  no one was hung over.  Btwinny and Hubby had to move so they were taking it easy.

”What happens in East Lansing stays in East Lansing.”   The Smith Twins Motto.  Yes it’s taken from the Vegas commercial, but my two party days a year is the closest I’ll ever come to misbehaving in Vegas.

Tomorrow’s a big day for me & Twinny! Tailgate Day!!!  Every year twinny & I have two days that we get together and do our thing all day.   St. Patrick’s Day and one MSU home game a year – usually homecoming.  Both of these days entail us meeting up in East Lansing, walking alot and drinking for hours.  There’s just something fun, and irresponsible about being drunk before noon.  Sorry Momma. It’s just how it is.  This has been a tradition since, maybe, 1993.  The groups of people change here and there, sometimes Junior goes (on St. Pats.), and Twinny’s hubby always goes tailgating, but sometimes othere friends pop in and out through the years.

   So tomorrow, we’ll meet at my work where I can leave my car, where it will be safe if I need to find an alternate ride home.  Aren’t we responsible?  Then we’ll go onto campus, find our friend’s tailgate tent, and from there things take their own direction.  Sometimes we’ll stay put for awhile, and then walk around to people watch, or check out other tailgats.  We always run into other people we know.  But since MSU allows open alcohol on game days (six hours before the game til three hours after), it’s fun to just walk around with beer and drink.  There’s no plan.  We just walk and decide what to do and where to go as the mood strikes us. 

 SOme of my friends don’t get the fun of tailgaiting. I guess you either do or you don’t, but having gone to MSU, I get it. Twinny’s hubby graduated from there.  He definitely gets it.  And while Twinny went to a different college, for some reason, she thinks she’s a MSU alum, so she gets it.  I guess it’s a throwback to the old days of college. 

Well, stay tuned for a report.  And check Btwinny’s blog – I’m sure she’ll mention it, too.

 Any other tailgate fans out there?