MAY BLOGS GONE BE BLOGS GONE!

Opportunities for blogging have come and gone as the routines of the fall have filled my extra minutes previously devoted to blogging time on the computer. Getting Aaron settled into East Shaw and shopping for somebody's October 9th birthday along with getting back into my 29th year of teaching has filled all those extraneous summer vacation minutes with meaningful tasks and obligations. (Gosh, notice how housekeeping & organizing never once entered my blog under the heading of essentials!)

Michigan State under the quarterbacking skills of Drew Stanton is having a FANTASTIC season with our only loss being the heartbreaking overtime embarassment to the WEASELS of Ann Arbor! To our delight, that was the highlight of UofM's season, which has been horrible (in a year where they come so highly overrated). Luckily the AWESOME tailgate party at the NE corner of Munn Field and the fantastic dinner at Cladaugh Pub with family and friends made up for the disappointing Spartan performance. The party Abbey won at Rumrunners in Lansing the evening before the MSU/UofM game was quite an experience, too. The dueling pianos with the sing-a-longs and Long Island Ice Tea specials added to the atmosphere of complete silliness and fun, especially the rousing "Sweet Caroline" complete with the MSU version lyrics!
Everyone loved the green and white artificial flower leis that I'd bought for Abbey and myself at the campus bookstore. It was great to see everyone...Aaron, Adam, Abbey, Abbey's family & friends, and the WHOLE HOLDEN LIFERS crew especially posing in front of and behind the new OFFICIAL HOLDEN LIFERS TAIL GATE banner that Mark Manore made for that and future tailgating events. Along with the company, the weather couldn't have been better. Except for the outcome of the game, it was a perfect setting for football game! And talk about coincidences, when we finally got to our seats in the stadium, who did we find seated in the row ahead of us...the Browns of Columbiaville, MI! (Cindy went to South Lake High School and MSU with me years ago and years prior to Abbey's experiences there.) And on the plane ride from Newark, NJ to DET, Adam sat next to the son of Mr. Case, our old econ. teacher from SLHS who was returning to visit his mom that weekend! SMALL WORLD!

This weekend, on our trip to visit Adam and Abbey in NJ, we experienced more rain that we ever could have imagined! I am sure I have never seen that much rain in one day before in my 53 years! The weatherman said it was over 8"and I do think that was accurate! It was raining when we went to the microbrewery for lunch and it was downpouring when we went to Bellisimo to celebrate Abbey's 22nd birthday. In between we had just enough time to check out Abbey's (and soon to be Adam's apartment) and the final minutes of the Minnesota vs. U of M game where Minnesota beat the (did I say overrated, before?) Wolverines!!! And then moments later all the power went off in Abbey's apartment complex...due to the rainfall some how, I presume. It was terrific to visit New Jersey and Adam and Abbey again no matter how soggy we all were!

Hopefully, this posting will catch me up with (all of) my BLOGGING fan(s)...that means you, Abbey! And hopefully, I don't tip the scales too badly when I weigh in this week at WW after all that good NJ food this weekend! I'll keep you posted...-16# and still going strong...except for little treats like tailgating and restaurants!