Something More Than Nothing

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Fire Breathing Dragon Days Of Summer

I put together some little souvenir bags for the G-Kids. Not much of anything really just some m&m’s from m&m world in Las Vegas and, a light up toy. I found the little tags online to print out. The cups were recycled from the Coke store where we sampled international sodas. I knew when I saw the little cups that I could use them for souvenirs for the kids. I had browsed the gift shops and all they had, seemed inappropriate for little kids.

Between laundry, unpacking, cleaning and cooking, I have been busy. I have one more week of my 28 day fitness challenge with Fit Body left. Taking that week off, was un helpful! I feel like I undid whatever progress I was making! I actually feel as if I miss my own routine of power walking and jogging. I have however, learned a lot of new exercises to incorporate into my own regime for continued progress? The walk/jog routine that I was doing gave me an outlet in which to meditate. I miss that!

An adoption caseworker is coming tomorrow to get us started on that path. I was told that the process can take 2-4 months. She will give me a list of attorneys to call. I will know more tomorrow how this procedure works and what is required to accomplish this.

Back to school shopping is right around the corner and this year we have two to shop for. School starts August 1st here. Alissa is starting kindergarten! I have already enrolled her in school. It has been a long hot summer here in Phoenix. All this week it will be 110+. The monsoons are delayed. We have had really no break from the scorching sun at all! Forget the dog days of summer…in Phoenix it’s fire breathing dragon days! Already 18 days of temps above 110 this year.

I decided that I should make some playlists of my SoundCloud tracks. Maybe it will make it easier for people to find my music? If you are interested, please click on the links below to listen to them!

Roger Hodgson Covers:

Rick Davies Covers:

These are the two separate Supertramp songwriters of which I cover. I will start with these.

Have a great day!

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Back To Business As Usual And Casual Conversations

This gal has been following me around the house since we got back from vacation last night! She really missed us. She isn’t usually very cuddly but I woke up to her cuddle and loud purr this morning. I missed her as well just as much!
Our vacation was nice, filled with sight seeing. I do however think that I am done with Vegas. Too uncomfortably pricey and money grubby for me. Not my kinda thing! I’m not a big drinker, gambler or anything else that Vegas is…

Hoover Dam on the way home! The kids had never been to see it so, we took them.

We took the kids to Circus Circus for an afternoon…

In our hotel they had small cafes… This was one of the views while we were enjoying breakfast.

Outside the Mirage Hotel. I thought this was sweet! Bronze statue of Siegfried & Roy.

This is my favorite pic of the kids during the trip. They were enjoying the sights from the Venetian.

I enjoyed our sight seeing excursions ! I enjoyed the different ambience within the Hotels. So much walking! I wonder how many miles we walked. I was glad that I took my tennis shoes!

Vacations are a great distraction and a break from the daily grind. They give you a breather from the day in, day out drudgery of doing the same thing over and over. It’s good to get out and see different people and things!

I will find myself back to having “Casual Conversations” with people, places and things! Back to reality!

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Las Vegas For The Opportunistic And Opulent Ambience

Here is my view from our room at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. We are vacationing and I’m running around with this iPad taking pictures! I have this to say about Vegas… It’s surely something to see but expensive! Opulent and ridiculously expensive. To go off the strip is to find yourself in dirt poor industrial surroundings. It’s a crazy difference. The street players and homeless people are everywhere. Everyone and every nuisance is opportunistic. A person in a superman costume photo bombed our family picture then asked/ demanded $5.00 from us because he was in our pic… I am disappointed this trip. I have been to Vegas before but this time it just feels like a money grubbing hole in the earth…

We want to the Venitician to look around. I had so wanted to go to Carlos Bakery of (Cake Boss) fame. I talked and talked about seeing this. If you follow my blog you would understand this desire of mine.

What a huge disappointment this was! Small beyond belief and expensive. We didn’t even buy any pastry. We just left… Sad! The bakery in our Hotel, Madelines, has beautiful looking pastries! I think I will go see if I can grab one of those and some pics.

Here are a few more pics of the Venitican

The pic below was a statue outside the Mirage Hotel but I thought is was sweet…

Here I am with girls playing tourist…

Anyway more to come!

Author: tynajoymetzner

I've been a stay at home Mom for many years...Have earned a PhD in life experience. My oldest is 30 and my youngest is 13. On a quest to see all that I can be now. I am a musician, singer/ songwriter. In the process of trying to become marketable. Would love to make money doing what I love! I love to do many domestic things also. Nothing I do seems to be profitable. Guess I am at a point in life that I would like to be compensated . My whole life I have given freely. Now, show me my money making niche. Still in the process of figuring that out. View all posts by tynajoymetzner

Monday, July 4, 2016

The Great Gig In The Sky Fireworks For America

Happy 4th of July! I hope that you are surrounded by people that you love and furry friends to cuddle. Enjoy a day of celebration with plenty of pazazz, sparkle and something decadent to eat while paying homage to Uncle Sam! Make your own fireworks, (not literally), lol! Be a firework and a sparkler, set the world on fire! Again, not literally! Ok, just have fun!

Notice it is still always 5:00 here in my living room…

Here is a video of my family that I put together. I thought it fitting to use my cover of, “The Great Gig In The Sky”!

Click on the video…

Saturday, July 2, 2016

The Magic Of Fireworks Family And Friends

We had the most wonderful impromptu party last night! Our local fireworks show was last night rather than on the 4th of July. We weren’t even sure if we would be able to see them as we had monsoon storms popping up all over and around Phoenix. Even a tornado warning was issued for the west side of Phoenix! We only had a few sprinkles here. Not much activity at all here in Ahwatukee. The original plan was to meet up for the fireworks and then take the kids out for ice cream. Instead, my oldest daughter Britt brought her 4 kids over earlier and we ended up putting together a hotdog and mac & cheese dinner. My other grandkids and son in laws joined us for dinner.

Here is a pic of all 7 of my G-Kids together! Britt (pictured here), and her daughter Liz made these wonderful patriotic headbands for all of the girls to wear. Beautiful keepsakes for many years to come! I just loved these headbands and the big and little girls did as well!

Zoe & Paige!

Alissa, Garrett and Ashlyn
Oh the joy of fireworks! Alissa is taking all of this in and it’s fun to watch her world light up!

A really fun evening! I’m so glad that we got together and did this!

Today will be low key and hopefully less humid! Heat and humidity make summer uncomfortable here in AZ! Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Friday, July 1, 2016

My Christmas In July Infatuation

My newest Temp-tations…

Hmmm….what shall I do with these beauties? I have yet to bake in them! Here it is July 1st and you know what that means, or maybe you don’t? QVC Christmas in July! I blogged about this last year. I get it! I get the concept of doing a big promotion of Christmas goods in July! I am a Gram to 7 G-Kids. I am now raising one of those kids and my teenager. Getting started on shopping for Christmas early, only makes sense! Budgeting between decor and gifts just makes sense! By Christmas this year, our adoption of Alissa will probably be done. I think she will get a kick out of all the decorating that we do. She has never been a part of Christmas with us. We have always taken gifts to her but she has not been here with us. I’m thinking that she is really going to enjoy our first Christmas together! I will try to ensure that Alissa enjoys this holiday season.

My tradition has been to bake a gingerbread candy cake rather than a gingerbread house. I bake this for our big Christmas family get together. The G-kids seem to look forward to it.

Alissa asked me the other day if she could do a Christmas song with me for my YouTube channel. I thought that was precious and I look forward to doing that. Another benefit of thinking about and planning for Christmas in July, plenty of time to learn a song together!

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