Nobody Does Homecoming Like Us

Nothing like an occasion-appropriate Snapchat filter, right?!

As Homecoming Week approaches in our small town each year, and people start getting excited about the upcoming festivities for the returning 20-year reunion class there's a phrase that you hear every year, "Nobody does Homecoming like our town."  Since I am not from this town originally, and didn't attend high school there I feel like I can objectively assess the festivities without having and biases.

In years past I would have said yes, this town throws a pretty awesome homecoming celebration, but I don't know that I would call it the greatest Homecoming celebration ever.  But that was before....before I was actually engrossed in all of the festivities...3 full days worth of activities.

Full disclosure I did not actually participate in all of the scheduled activities because some of us still have to work while everyone else played.  A typical Homecoming Weekend starts on Thursday night with a candle light ceremony with the returning 20-year reunion class and the current graduating class that is followed up by a bonfire behind the school.  I've never been, but I've heard it's lots of fun with the band playing, cheerleaders cheering, and the crowd getting pumped up for the game that weekend.  It's the kick off for all of the festivities, and I am sure it went late into the night for those who went.

But you can't stay out too late because the next morning is the Homecoming Pep Rally that starts at 8:00 A.M.....no rest for the weary.  It's part regular pep rally put on by the school and part nostalgic pep rally put on by the returning class. Once again I was not in attendance but I did watch parts of it that were live-streamed, which included several games and dance-offs to 90s classics.

After the nearly 2 hour pep rally, the reunion class was treated to a tailgate lunch. All three schools let out shortly afterward, and the entire town decended upon the "downtown" area for the Homecoming Parade.  I have never made one of these parades, but I hear they are quit ethe specacle.  Lots of floats, lots of fun, lots of candy being thrown.  My SIL said my nephew had at least 10 suckers, which is probably the only thing that kept him going all day long with no nap.

This little town of ours showed up and showed out for Homecoming this year!  We have an enormous stadium...the only 2 level high school stadium I've been to...and it was FULL Friday night! 

I finally joined in the Homecoming festivities that evening before the game started: the annoucement of the graduating class and annoucement of Homecoming Court/Queen for 2017, before cheering our Tigers to a 36-21 victory over the 4th ranked team in the state!  How's that for a Homecoming opponent?! This was also a HUGE region win for us that puts us in good shape to host a first round playoff game in a few weeks -- as long as we take care of business this Friday night. 

One of the highlight of the game was a bobbled snap on a PAT, that our holder (who is not a QB) picked up, rolled out to his left, pump faked twice and hit one of our receivers in the back of the endzone.  I think some people thought it was planned....coach said no, but that they practice what to do in a case like that every week.  And that kiddies is why you practice. It was a huge momentum swing for us!

Post-game smiles! That would be my infamous cowbell in my hand with my shaker. That puppy starts ringing as soon as the game starts and doesn't stop until it's over...especially when the defense is on the field.  Nothing makes my heart happier in a game than watching our opponent struggle to hear a play being called in from the sideline.....don't worry we bring earplugs for anyone who sits around us. But if you want peace and quiet, you should probably stay home and listen to the game one the radio.  You'll still hear the cowbells, but they don't have the same punch they do live.

After the game we were tired but still pretty excited so we headed over to hang out with the reunion class for a little while.  We have several friends in that class, and Eric's brother graduated that year so Eric knows everyone...he was the manager for the football team all those years since he was just a punk little brother back then. After a few hours we finally packed it in about 1:30 A.M. and crawled into bed after 2 A.M.

The next morning we got up and I headed to Pioneer Day (used to be Syrup Sopping) in the booming metropolis of Loachapoka, AL (population 180) with my BIL, SIL, and nephew.  This tiny town puts on a huge fall festival each year that draws 20,000 people to its downtown. They have vendors, music, food, and activities for the kids, too! It had been a few years since I'd been (2012, 2014), but we had a blast! We brought home some delicious Amish Cheese and Kettle Corn, and my nephew rode a pony.  It was great time!

Riding all by himself!

I took the afternoon off...aka I sat on the couch and vegged. I tried to pull Purdue through but they did not have the success that THS did with their 2-point conversion to send the game into over time.

So you'd think that after all of the activities that had gone on, Homecoming would be done by Saturday night, right?  Wrong.  The c/o 98 had a dinner planned for that evening that just so happened to take place in the reception hall right behind our house during the Auburn game.  A few concerned Tiger fans mentioned this the night before, so Eric told them we'd have the game on at the house, and invited folks to come watch the game when they finished up across the street. Famous.Last.Words.

The reunionees started trickling in at first, until one point when I ran inside to check on the dogs and came back out to 50+ folks in our yard! I guess the official party had ended and they needed an after party space.  It was a bit overwhelming, but they were all great!  I am glad we were able to help them prolong the weekend's activities a little longer.  There was a lot of laughter, dancing, and talking about the old days that went on all until the wee hours of the morning again. 

I think they were all feeling the effects from the previous 3 days, so they started trickling out earlier than they had from the other party we went to the evening before....they are almost *forty* I guess....says the girl who is still 5 years away from her 20 year reunion. I realized at one point that I was among the younger ones in the crowd all weekend.  It doesn't happen much anymore so I surely enjoy it when it does!  And I document it too! Although I have made a mental note to mentally and physically prepare myself for Eric's reunion in a few years!

Recovery from the previous two nights was imperative on Sunday. My major accomplishments included: 4 loads of laundry, 4+ episodes of Gilmore Girls watched, and a 3 hour nap.  I wasn't the only one exhausted, either.....

All day long....

The little boogers slept until 8:30 A.M. which is unheard of at our house....they were loving all of the people at our house on Saturday to pet them and play with them. They slept most of the day, only waking up when I took them on a walk and feed them dinner. 

So yeah, after being more involved than ever with the reunion part of Homecoming, I can honestly say I get why people say, "No one does Homecoming like our town."  Take it from a transplant....it's true! 

Guest Bathroom Re-Do

Last year I wrote a post about our disastrous bathroom-redo attempt. Long story short, we had the bathrooms painted and I gave Eric a picture of what color I wanted for the walls in the guest bathroom that looked like this:

(this was the actual picture I gave him)

What I got was this:

Ok Ok maybe that's just what I saw in my head every time I walked in there, which was not often because it nauseated me to be in there. This is what it actually looked like:

It's not as bad as Frozen, but not what I wanted at all.  While trying to figure out how he and the paint guy came to this color I came across this infographic and it all made perfect sense.

via

So much truth in one picture, right?

For the last year the bathroom looked exactly like it did before we painted but with purple walls. I threw everything back in it because I refused to do any decorating until it was repainted.....that is until Eric went out of town to a fishing tournament last month. *muahahahah*

As I was walking the dogs one morning I decided that was it I'd had enough of the hideous bathroom.  I went to Walmart, picked up some paint and paint supplies and headed home to paint.  Of course I had a near panic attack when I looked at the dot of paint on the top of the can and convinced myself that I had picked out the same hideous princess purple that was already on the walls.  But thankfully I did not.  See???

After a few hours and a couple of coats of Soft Dusty Violet paint I finally had my peaceful soft purple oasis that I wanted.

Who wouldn't want to hang out in this pretty bathroom all day long?!

For comparison:

It may not look like much but trust me it's a HUGE difference in a small room!

I was so excited about it in fact that I spent the next afternoon at Hobby Lobby and World Market picking out decor for it!

vase/sconces/lotus candle holder

My original plan was to do succulents in the planters, but Hobby Lobby was out of them so I went with the moss and a pack of fake air plants and voila! The lone fake succulent in the small jar in the top left pic came from the dollar bins at Target.  #winning

I would still like to replace the towel racks, light fixture over the mirror, and maybe the faucet someday but I am so happy with the color and decor I was able to change it should hold me over for at least a few months. 

.....and by the way it only took him 3 days to notice it after he got home.

Swinging from the Trees

A couple of weekends ago my office had an away-from-the-office team building event. I'm all for doing anything that does not involve sitting at my desk so I signed up. 20 other like-minded co-workers attended as well (out of 140) not knowing exactly what we were in for.

After we signed up we were given a list of activities to choose from at the camp/recreation area where it was being held. The three that sounded the most fun and won out were the low ropes course, the high ropes course, and paintball.  Clearly the most fun of all of the activities!

We started the day with the low ropes course which involved a series of ropes puzzles, like 12 people untangling 6 ropes with out letting go of their end, picking a tire attached to 4 ropes that were attached to trees with pulleys and setting it on the ground around a 4'x4' and then removing it with only 2 people looking at the tire, and balancing all 12 group members on a log suspended a foot off the ground while we sang a song (a very swift version of Row Row Row Your Boat was our choice).

Blindfolded selfies are great until you smack heads because, well, you're blindfolded.  

That afternoon we did a personality color test.  I learned that I am overwhelmingly RED, which means I am primarily driven by Humanistic Feeling, approach things from a relational standpoint, and I am people-driven.  Basically I like working with people, communicating, coaching, I'm optimistic, and apparently like to talk (shocker, I know).

It was funny listening to the personality descriptions and looking around the room to see who was what color, the majority were scarily accurate.  I had no idea how accurate mine was until I was headed back on Saturday morning and started worrying because I only had 6 waters in my cooler that I had with me. I spent a good bit of my drive trying to decide which store would be the quickest stop at 7:30AM so that I could buy another case of waters so I would have enough for everyone. Lucky for me I remembered that I had a case in my trunk already, leftover from another work event, and then I just laughed at myself.  Did anyone ask me to bring waters?  No.  Was anyone expecting me to bring waters?  No. But my wanting-to-make-sure-everyone-had-everything-they-would-possibly-need-plus-a-few-things-they-didn't-even-think-about RED personality did.  Go figure!

Water cooler in hand we set out early in the AM for a few rounds of paintball.  I had never played paintball so I asked Eric what to wear, he said long sleeves and pants, so I raided his camo closet and came up with the perfect outfit.

Can you still see me?!?

However, I was the only one who went all out and showed up in camo....I'm glad I didn't go buy face paint.  But my camo served me well and I was told that I was extremely difficult to spot, save for my game-issued black face mask. The only drawback to my get-up was it was one of the hottest humid days we'd had in a while and 5 minutes in I was sweating bullets (along with everyone else).

Paintball champs!

We played several games and following Eric's advice myself and another girl made it our goal to "take the hill" each game, leaving our teammates free to advance across the field.  It was hilarious!  Oh and everyone says paintballs hurt, and I am here to echo that sentiment.  I took home a couple of battle wounds, one that was triple the size of the paintball that hit me.  I considered a badge of honor.

After we were done shooting each other, we headed over to the high ropes course, i.e., rock wall, giant tree swing, and zip lines! In my 32 years I have never zip lined (unless you count the miniature one in my grandparents yard that I had to pick my feet up to be off the ground), so I was pretty pumped about it.

Walking across the bridge...hanging on to the rope for dear life!

They had it set up so the zip line was the reward for climbing a vertical pole and walking across a horizontal pole - all in a harness, don't worry - to get to the platform for the zip line. Normally I am freaked out about falling off of things that are high in the air (falling off of a bridge or the side of a building scares the mess out of me), but having a harness on made me oddly calm about the whole thing....thank goodness!

About to go!

Zip lining was an absolute blast! The line was really long and took a while to get to the other end, so it was a really fun ride!  The giant swing was interesting too.  Your harness was hooked to a rope and then you held another rope that people of the ground pulled, hoisting you to the side and higher in the air.  When you were high enough you let go of the rope and you swung back and forth between the trees.  It was crazy!

Getting ready to dismount! 

Our afternoon bonding included watching the Auburn football game because in the state of Alabama you can't get people to do much of anything if watching either Alabama or Auburn play on tv isn't and option.  I headed home after the Auburn game, but I know the Alabama game was watched that evening.

The consensus the following week at work was that the team building event was a smashing success.  Several folks who did not sign up this time around commented that they'd go to the next one and I am almost positive everyone who attended the first will attend the second.

Football Season 2017 Update

So I was just bee-bopping along so nicely with posts and then life happened and I looked up and it was October...October folks, as is 12 weeks until Christmas.  I honestly couldn't tell you what happened to September.  Well I guess I can, it's called football season, and fishing trips, and work, and....well you get the point. 

I have lots of fun posts to share....soon, very soon, but I figured a brief football season update was in order for today. So here goes.....

Football season is now in full swing and we're in the second half of our season already.  We're now 5-1 (2-1 in the region).  Last Friday went back to Brewton (where we were Labor Day weekend) to play the team on the other side of Murder Creek, T.R. Miller.  This was a huge game, despite the fact that it was not a region game.  Why?

THS has played T.R. Miller 6 times, and up until last Friday had lost every contest, one of which cost the 1984 THS team a trip to the State Championship....and you better believe those who were not that team have not forgotten; in fact some of them have sons on the team now. 

T.R. Miller was no slouch in the 80s, nor are they now. They're a perennial powerhouse and hold the distinction of the "Winning-est High School Program in Alabama History" which is a big deal in Alabama....one of those teams that can help you assess how good your team is when you play them.....and guess what happened on Friday night?!?

.....WE WON! 

I thought the Handley game a few weeks ago was the best game I'd been to in recent memory, but the game Friday night was hands down the most fun high school football game I've been to.The game itself was absolutely insane....we were down 29-7 halfway through the third quarter and it seemed like every time they got the ball they ran a couple of plays and then scored a long TD. I remember thinking at halftime I hope they run the clock the second half....it was THAT bad. 

But something sparked in our kids out of no where and we scored, and then we kicked 3....yes I said 3 onside kicks in a row and recovered all three, scoring 3 touchdowns in the process to go up 33-27.  After a little back and forth and a little help from some zebras, we found ourselves on defending our endzone from 10 yards away with 9 seconds on the clock.  T.R. Miller tried to throw a pass in the endzone to score but one of our kids came around and batted down the pass as time expired.....

.....and then it was pandemonium!  We had a huge crowd that made the 2.5 hour drive (we had more people there than they did and that's saying something considering we live in a town of 6,000) including a sizable student section that rode a spirit bus to the game, so when time expired our stands erupted and the entire student section and several adults (a couple from the '84 team) stormed the field.

Post-game Alma Mater bliss!  

I've said it before but there's something different about this season.  The excitement that's brewing around this team is unlike what I've seen in the nearly 10 years I've been to games here, and it's so much fun!  Left on our schedule are 4 big region games, 2 of whom are against local rival teams that we have a lot of history with, so I hope that excitement just continues to build throughout the rest of the season! 

Tonight's game is one of those local rivals, and they are a very dangerous team.  They have some athletes who basically play backyard football - which is the opposite of what we play - so we have to be ready!  Hopefully we'll take care of business!  Go Tigers!!!