The beginning

Tomorrow starts the beginning of grad school. Orientation at least. Deep breath...ready or not here I come.

We're HOME!

Vacation went well except for one minor incident. 

Coach took Claire to the pool. All was well until he remembered his cell phone was in the pocket of his swimsuit! So, needless to say, the cell phone did not recover.

We have since replaced said cell phone. This is the second cell phone in Coach's possession that has ended up in the water. When they start making waterproof cell phones, I will be the first one in line!!

Other than that, we all came back relaxed with too much fudge in our bellies! 

Vacation

We are on a well needed, over-deserved vacation. We are at Mackinac. It has threatened rain but so far the sun has prevailed. I love vacation and wish I could freeze time. I know that in a few short weeks school is looming. I'm not ready to send Claire back. I like spending time with her and summer seems to fly by too quickly. Also, this year I'm a little nervous about starting school again.

Mostly it's just because when we're busy time seems to just tick by without second thought. I like lazy afternoons where time can be savored. I like vacation for that reason.

Sausage update

My stupidity has only caused a purple mangled finger, one that is not broken. Yeah, for that! I still have a splint on it because somehow when you hurt a finger or a toe you inevitably hit it on everything. I'm not sure the laws of the universe surrounding this phenomenon but I know it is true. 

I'm a little bummed I have to miss my horseback riding lesson this week but there is NO WAY I can ride a horse when my hand is purple past my knuckle. Next week, then. Dinner with friends will help make up for my disappointment!

Sausage

My finger looks like a purple sausage today. It was a grocery shopping accident, I'm ashamed to say. I got it caught between a grocery cart handle and a freezer door handle at Walmart. The result is not pretty by any stretch of the imagination. 

I'm a squeemie person. I don't like injuries, blood, needles, and the like. Today I went for x-rays and pray that it's not broken. My ego, and finger need to heal.

Gone...baby...gone

My Sweet bean is gone for the week. She's camping with her father. It's the longest week of the summer for me. 

It's also project week. So far I've painted the front porch rail and the bench. Still on the agenda: Painting the floor of the screened in patio, the back door, the garage door and part of the front porch. 

Wow...I better get cracking!

Quiet

Well...Claire is off with Nana to see Ice Age 3D. Andy is at work. The house is quiet. It has been so long since I've had silence I hardly know what to do. 

Oh wait, yeah I do...I put away laundry while watching all the shows I taped. Yep, makes the mundane chores better.

Weather here feels like fall, although I have enjoyed having the windows open. Fall, please don't come too soon. I'm not ready yet. I've enjoyed having my not so little girl home for summer. I've enjoyed no schedule. I've enjoyed the sun.

Eye, eye, eye!

Okay we are at the tail end of basketball camp '09. This is not my favorite part of summer by any means. We do not have a staff that designs the camp, runs the camp, etc. Basically, I am the gopher. I get lunch, clean up after lunch, make and print autograph sheets, organize all the registration, and this year I blew up all the basketballs. (More proof that I am a rockstar.) 

Anyway, all is going well, even the weather has been pretty cool. So at least the gym doesn't feel like a broiler, a oven by early afternoon, sure. But it is better than it was last year, when I was convinced that a person could actually sweat to death.

So I have been good a juggling all this business this week, and keeping my own 7 year old fairly happy and entertained.

But I have an eye problem going on. My left eye is pink and it HURTS! Bad! Now, unfortunately this is nothing new. I went to the eye doctor with said problem a few weeks ago. Apparently, not dry eye like he said. I still have the same problem. I think it actually feels worse.

Now how am I supposed to fit a trip to the eye doctor in my schedule today? 

I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Clean

Had the carpets cleaned today. I love clean carpets. I'd love hard wood floors more, but that's not gonna happen in the near future. So I'm happy the carpets are clean. They feel clean, and soft again. The house smells better. Fab-ulous.

I love that I didn't have to clean them.

Life is good.

Pink eye

Yep. I swear I have it. My left eye is well, pink. It hurts. Bad. But I am not caving and going to the eye doctor yet. Last time I went it was a thirty five dollar co-pay for dry eye. My eye, for the record, looked the same. Maybe it's just allergies, dry eye, could be pink eye. I'm not a doctor and apparently I'm too cheap to consult one at this point.

Regardless if it's allergies or pink eye. It stinks. Plain and simple.

I just don't look as cute in glasses. Really, that's what it's all about, isn't it.

Super mom

I'm convinced that I might have an alter ego. I may, in fact, be a super hero...or mom at least. Or maybe Claire has been checking out WAY too many super hero movies at the library this summer. Anyway, here is where I tell you why I might, in fact, have super powers.

1. I can hear "MOM!" from practically anywhere, upstairs, downstairs, outside. Super hearing...perhaps

2. I can carry two laundry baskets up the stairs while two large labs are trying to run down in the opposite direction and have lived to tell about it more than once.

3. I can usually find missing things...except yesterday when coach found the missing stuffed animal. Hmm, an off day? 

4. I can travel long distances and make several stops in ONE day. While NOT flying, except in my SUV.

5. I can get all of the Christmas shopping done, wrapped, and cutie-fied, DURING basketball season. This defies all logic and I personally amaze myself with this one.

Oh wait...maybe I am just a regular mom. But some days I end up so pooped that I figured I must be super somehow...

$8

Today was $8 movie day. The price includes tickets and popcorn for two of us. I love the deal. The movie this week: Monsters vs. Aliens. Cute. Liked it. But I LOVED spending the afternoon with my daughter. 

I even fit a hair cut into the crazy schedule.

Quite possibly, I rock.

In Gear

As in I will be kicking it "in gear" this week. So much to do it seems like events spill off of one day on the calendar and onto the next.

Today: errands and the pool

Tuesday: Movie with friends (the dollar show cuz I'm cheap); pick up prescription

Wednesday: Claire has a party and I am giving one of the girls on the b-ball team makeup tips

Thursday: Horse riding

Friday: The carpet man comes to clean the funk out of the carpets (THANK YOU!!) 

Sandwiched in between are about 80 million loads of laundry, miscellaneous phone calls, etc.

Here's what I think...I need a vacation. Vegas anyone? We're thinking of going last minute in a couple weeks. Let's book, baby.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th! These are Claire's festive fourth feet before she left for camping. Here's hoping everyone has a happy (safe) 4th of July. Enjoy your family, friends, and freedom. I'll be enjoying mine!

Inclement weather

Today the weather cooled off to around 60 degrees and the skies threatened rain. So, we did what any mother would do after calling four friends for play dates and getting four answering machines, we decided to go to the movies. 

Now the best part about this whole deal was the price. There is an old theater in town that shows an afternoon kids movie twice a week for just a dollar admission. And, you can get a popcorn and drink for three dollars.  So, here's the math, two people with popcorn and drink, $8.00! Love it!! You can't get much for under ten bucks these days.

The movie wasn't the greatest but the price was right and the company was excellent. So, who's complaining? Not me, that's for sure.

What a Zoo-tiful day

After Claire was stuck in either a hot gym or a car traveling to open houses, I thought she deserved something a little fun. That can be read that I actually wanted to do something fun. So we decided on the zoo. What is more fun than feeding giraffes with long purple gooey tongues? 

We had a great day, not too hot, not too cold and as an added bonus, no rain. My mom came with us and it was fun to be kids again.

We loved the prairie dogs, and the turtles in the pond, feeding the goats, and the little zoo train.

But honestly, after being in a gym all weekend, anyplace would look good.

P.S. Had to mention something Claire said today because I thought it was rather hilarious.

I asked her to wiggle one of her teeth in front. The visual is disgusting but I will share only for the sake of getting the full effect. Her loose tooth is to the right of her two bottom front teeth. It is literally just hanging there defying all laws of gravity. The other tooth is already coming in behind it pushing it further into space with every passing moment.

Claire says, "Mom, I already wiggled it today. It felt so disgusting I thought I was going to throw up! No I'm not wiggling it again!"

Seriously? Throw up? Really? Maybe she's a touch on the dramatic side. Maybe she's a touch like her mom.

Back on the open house circuit

Okay, we're back on the open house circuit this weekend. Except for one small snafu. Coach calls me on Wednesday with the following conversation:

Coach: "Hey Hon, um, now don't get freaked out (nothing ever good follows this. ever). Well, you see, um, we kind of have to do concessions for an all weekend AYBT basketball tournament at the college. (Big PAUSE) Are you there?"

Me: "Um, you know that we have two open houses on Saturday and we have to drive to OHIO on Sunday to sign our last recruit and attend her open house right?"

Coach: "I know. We'll make it work" (translation: I know you'll figure something out)

I did. I called for reinforcements. My mother-in-law, the planner, has lists for everything. This time I was grateful she kept stock of everything from the last time we did tourney concessions. Major help. Plus cuts down on the trips to Sam's Club.

How is it that nobody notifies the coach that there is a tourney until 3 days before? Seriously people. Seriously. A little planning here. 

See we have such well, interesting, weekends here.

I'd much rather have relaxing.

Help me BEAUTIFY my blog

I know two posts in one day... I've gone mad.

This is what I want to know. Many of you snazzy ladies have blogs that rock and look cool doing it. I want to beautify my blog and am looking for the know how. 

Please help me. You don't want to go on looking at this ugly blog do you?

Smooches and thank you's to all that reply!

Hot! Hot! HOT!

No I'm not talking about some stud in the grocery line...I'm talking about the weather. We went from winter to nuclear in a matter of days. Spring didn't really happen much. A pleasant reminder that I could TOTALLY handle living somewhere warm. 

I LOVE YOU SUMMER! Please stay a long time. 

I want to get new patio furniture and enjoy all you have to offer. Hmm, maybe add a Mojito or Margarita to that picture. Yep, perfect.

Note to summer

Thank you for finally coming to Michigan. I love my flip-flop Farmer's tan! The Farmer's tan on my left arm from sitting at a recruit's softball game a couple weeks ago...I could do without.

Gotta remember the sunscreen on them arms.

Happy Father's Day

To all the dads out there who have: 

put up with long road trips filled with, "are we there yet?"; explaining to their teenage daughter at least a hundred times why it's important to change the oil and what, in fact, a dipstick is; danced with their daughters in the living room; let their creativity flow when they wanted to build robots out of scrap wood; let them dig up the back yard when they wanted a swimming pool then filled in all the holes when they discovered it was too much work; pulled their children on a sled; taught their kids about baseball or softball; loved their children's mothers and weren't afraid to show it; been a hero to a child; played in the rain or acted silly just because; took time out of their busy day to make their child feel special, actually got the puppy, read to a child, taught their daughter not to be too afraid of bugs...

THANK YOU!

To my own dad...a special thanks for all he's done. And putting up with two daughters sharing ONE bathroom through the teenage years. That, in itself, is quite an accomplishment in my book. LOVE YOU DAD!

The Open House Circuit

In Michigan, when you graduate from high school you usually hold an open house. Something along the lines of tents in the yard, folding tables, food and a shrine of the student's accomplishments age 0-present. 

All that is fine and dandy. Except when you're a coach. Every year we end up doing the "open house circuit" for all of the newly recruited players. It ends up being a lot. I buy the graduation cards in bulk at the dollar store. Every weekend June through July, sometimes into August has at least one open house scheduled. It ends up feeling like you're on tour. I'm all for free food, but there has to be an easier way.

Enough Already!

Okay...I feel like the 40 days and nights of rain. Enough already. 

Memo to Mother Nature...here's the deal, it's June, MID-JUNE, please send the sun north soon. I know it's a little unhealthy, but we could really use a little tan up here. No lie. The white legs around town are ghastly. Sun, PLEASE! We're begging. We are. We will do almost anything for those warm rays. At least consider it. We've been good all winter.

We pinky swear!

Thanks so much in advance. We really need a few months of the sun. You don't want us crabby all winter again do you? Don't answer that.

Thanks, Coach

I got this bright idea to have a garage sale to get rid of all our unwanted crap. So yesterday my mom (thanks) came over to help get the garage ready. Who knew so much dirt could accumulate over winter. Oh wait, winter here is about 9 months, so really, maybe not all that surprising. Anyway, being in all that dust and having our crappy cottonwood trees in full fuzz gave me a MONSTER headache. 

Went to bed with it. Woke up with it. Tired of it. Thanks to Coach for getting our Sweet Bean up, dresses, fed, making her lunch and driving her to school.

Double thanks for letting me sleep in!

Work out...I'll handle you tomorrow.

Horse riding yep, it's a sport

Claire has been begging for EVER, at least since she's been three, for horse riding lessons. I, being the economical one, have been putting them off for as long as possible because they are, let's just say a little pricey. This year, after several years of begging, I caved. Claire got her lessons. She also suckered me into taking them with her.

Now many things in life actually look easier than they are. Horse riding, I assure you is one of these things. It doesn't help that Claire has taken to this like a duck to water. It's like golfing with coach when every shot hits the green and it takes me 8 shots to get there. Seriously people, does someone have to out do me on everthing? Horse riding, I'm gonna get this yet. Claire was trotting the first lesson and the instructor has said she's a natural. ugh. A subtle reminder that I was a cheerleader...FOR A REASON!

Maybe shopping could be my sport? Ya think?

Bloggers block

I really don't have much to say...nothing note worthy happened today. Just wanted to stop in and say hello. 

I promise I'll try to be more exciting tomorrow.

Pinkie super swear.

Something positive

Well, today our family sponsored a child through Compassion International. They were doing sign up at church today. Claire really expressed an interest and was drawn to a little girl her age who lives in Colombia. Hopefully it will be an eye opening and enriching experience. I have always felt that the more you have the more you are supposed to give. We gave today and I can already see the benefits. 

Guilty

So sorry I have been MIA! The honest truth is that sometimes I just suck at blogging. Today I have a migraine and a meeting I have to attend. Not a nice combo! I have been doing the Body-for LIFE workout plan for three weeks now. I get up at 5:30 a.m. to work out. Yes, before you say a thing, it is CRAZY. But the plan seems to be working. I'm slowly getting back into my skinny pants which is the ultimate goal.

More later when I don't have a mega headache!

I did it!

I got my acceptance letter from grad school yesterday! Excitement wore off quickly and a deep gut wrenching panic set in when I looked at the cost per credit. I knew it would be a lot...but when you see the numbers...HELLO! That, and I start school durning basketball season. Coach has assured me that we will make this all work. I admire his confidence, maybe I can borrow some?  

It's gonna be a wild time! Next week...the money search begins! If you know of anyone who wants to donate...

Spring Break...yippee!

Claire's on Spring Break this week. I wish that entailed some elaborate vacation plans (totally deserve it) but, alas, no. Claire's assignment this week is to take "Flat Stanley", a paper cut-out from school, on adventures over break and write about them in a journal. The teacher's way of getting their brains from melting down completely, I suppose. So far our "Stanley" has made it to Nana & Papa's house (Monday) and to the mall today. I'm sure our mini adventures won't compare to the trips to Florida, Arizona, and the like, but we're trying. We're even taking pictures. I'll try to post some tomorrow. Right now I'm typing upstairs and the camera is downstairs...forgive me.  It's getting late and I used much of my energy spending an HOUR in the toy store trying to use a $20 gift card Claire got for her birthday. We had to look at everything, yes-literally everything, in the store before she decided on her purchase, a rubber dragon and a Tinker Bell fairy. Yes, one HOUR for that. She was happy, me not as much, we still have six bucks on the card. ugh.

Party day

Today I have nine 7 year olds coming over for an art birthday party. Oh...the kicker is that I'm recovering from a migraine. Still have a twinge...will I survive? Sure hope so. Tune in later to find out!

How do they...

Saturday I tried to heat up a cup of coffee. There I am, half dazed, waiting for the stupid microwave to hurry up because a minute is too long to wait for coffee any day. Coach and I have the following conversation:

Coach: "How long have you known the microwave isn't working?"

Me: Still staring at the microwave like it could predict the future. "What?"

Coach: "The microwave, how long have you known it's not working?"

Me: "What?" Obviously I didn't have coffee yet. Then it dawned on me. "Maybe yesterday, when I tried to heat a potato up for 21 minutes and it didn't cook. I thought it was just a bad potato."

Coach: Trying hard not to laugh, but not succeeding. "Seriously, you cooked it for that long and thought it was the potato? SERIOUSLY??"

Me: "Yes, Seriously. Why would I lie about that?" I really did think it was the potato. It was an OLD potato. Then I realized damn I guess that means no coffee.

Okay, I will admit, it wasn't one of my proudest moments. But the story is true. 

I want to know how appliances know you're getting a tax refund and break down just in time? Do they smell it or what???

Missing Tooth

I sent Claire to her Father's house this weekend and it finally happened. She lost the snaggly, gnarled, tooth that has been in her mouth way too long. He bugged her, and me, about it incessantly! I re-assured him, as did Claire, AND the dentist that it would come out eventually. Imagine that, we were all actually RIGHT!

Quite a b-day weekend for the bean. She comes back this morning and we're going to a gem and mineral show. Let's just say that she's a rock lover. We actually own a rock polisher. Plus, you can buy fossils cheap. Not every kid's idea of a good time, but Claire LOVES it. And her Papa loves taking her. We're off to find a treasure!

Birthday Birthday

Not mine this time. Claire is seven tomorrow! Wow! Where did all that time go? It happens so fast. One day you're cuddling them snug in a blankie you blink and they're running out the door with a backpack. Today was Claire's school party. I made cupcakes, I went econo this year. They turned out pretty good. I would love to post a picture of my stellar creation, but only the laptop (without easy camera connection) is working. The other got fried in a freak power surge. That's another story.

Happy Birthday to my girl, who will always be little to me. 

Next weekend...the party. Yowza! 

Love-ly...not really

Let's just say that today didn't start out too well. First, when I went to take Claire to school this morning, there was no car seat in my car. Coach used it to take one of Claire's friends from school home on Saturday and forgot to put it back. Okay, no biggie. Then I go to turn on the car. Figures, on E. I mean literally on E. Fine. I'll just stop at the gas station on the way to school. Get there pull in swipe my debit card...DENIED. What? Okay, maybe the card. So I fish in my wallet for another card. Swipe the credit card...DENIED. Okay, now I'm getting a little pissed. And now we are running late. I go in to talk to the attendant. Blah, blah, we're having problems with the pump...fine. Swipe it inside...DENIED. I have entered the twilight zone. At this point the only explanation that makes any sense. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! So, luckily for some crazy odd reason I have the check book. I know that if I don't get gas, I'm not going to make it home or to school. So I beg the lady to take a check. She agrees but needs to copy my driver's license. Fine, but could we make it snappy, still have to get my kid to school. Finally...she gets back from the copy room and lets me write the check. Claire was late. I did my best, but still late. 

So that was my morning, how was yours?

By the way, one card had a security breach and is being re-issued, the other we had to charge a team meal on when we were on our road trip. They put a hold on the account to verify the card wasn't stolen. Helpful info. before I pump gas.

It all comes down to this

Well...all good things  must come to an end. That's what happened last night. Our season ended. It doesn't matter so much that we lost but that it's over. It is hard to say goodbye to this season because it means saying goodbye to our first class of recruits. That's the hard part for me. Many of these young ladies seem like an extension of our family. We just spend so much time with them it's hard not to get attached.

Claire was upset, too. Her and the other coach's daughter were actually crying at the game. I never expected her to take it so hard. I think it was a combination of the game and being over-tired. None the less, it broke my heart a little. When we got back to the hotel, she told Coach that he was the best coach ever and that she wanted him to coach next year. You can plan on that, Claire.

On the bright side, I get my husband back! At least for awhile. A few months, at least. 

Now we just have the long drive home...

Winning=Pool!

We are at a Regional Tournament. It was a 3.5 hour trip in cramped vans for our family and team. Thank you God for portable DVD players and the Nintendo DS! We weren't totally unscathed by a rash of "are we there yet??" but they did pretty good. Especially Claire. 

We went from a crowded van to a noisy gym. Not what you want to hear when your six and dreaming of swimming in a pool. The kicker...we had to win to be able to stay.

Claire and her friends (the assistant coach's children) were so cute. They would play and then say a prayer. "Look it's working!" they would declare at 10 minute intervals throughout the entire game.  Heaven only knows what the prayer was for, my guess swimming. Whatever they did, it did in fact, work. We WON! We're staying and Claire and her friends get to swim. 

It was so nice to see the team playing with smiles instead of frustration. Our next game is tonight at 8 p.m. Wish us luck...a few prayers couldn't hurt either. You can bet the kids will be praying about the pool. Whatever works, let's stick with that.

Packing

Let's just say I'm not a fan of packing. That's what I have to do today. We're going with the team to Regionals on Wednesday. Claire just wants to know when I'm gonna "spring her out of school." She makes it seem like I'm plotting a jailhouse escape. Not really the case. I already talked with her teacher who assured me she could find some work to send with Claire on her trip. So today it's laundry and packing. Tomorrow errands. I have to make sure the pups have enough food while we're gone or they might take to the lazy susan and help themselves. I don't want that! 

I'm off to make coffee...caffeine makes everything better. Don't you agree?

Could it be...50?!

Yahoo! I feel like spring is almost here. I'm pretending today that I didn't hear mumbles of snow on Saturday, but today 49 degrees! I can actually see the grass. I've never been so happy to see it in my whole life! We had record snow in Michigan this year. SO. OVER. IT.

Also, congrats to Coach. He got a promotion at his REAL job yesterday. Cheers to you honey, you deserve it.

In the coaching world we've hit a little road bump at the end of the season and let's just say that one of the coaches wasn't exactly truthful and won't be back next year. With women there is usually a reason they aren't playing well. Our family struggled with it all year. Now we know. The coach won't be back next year and won't travel the rest of this year. HONESTY PEOPLE...look into it! Next week starts Regionals. We're going this year. Wish us luck!!!

Splurge

Usually, I only eat junk one day a week. But...today I splurged. Shamrock shakes are my nemesis. They're in at Mickey D's and let me tell you...mine was yummy.

Yeah for Friday!

It's FINALLY Friday! Wohoo! I love Fridays! Who doesn't? The prospect of a whole weekend. For once, mine is not completely packed to the gills with activities. That's a welcome change.

You see, it's this time of the year that's comparable to the Changing of the Guards in England. I get to step down, well almost, and coach gets to be the go-to-guy. 

 Tonight is the LAST game of the regular season. Apparently we have a few more games to play in a few weeks at Nationals, but basically, the end is near.

Now when I say end, I mean more like a month off. The down time is short lived. April is signing day, then open gyms in summer, and camps. Then practice, season, you get the picture.

Still waiting to hear about my grad school application. I'm starting to get nervous! Please accept ME! Thank you.

Rainy Wednesday

Well, I put up a few Easter decorations today and took down a winter village I put up every year. Pretty productive, especially because both above mentioned things require crawling around in the crawl space to get the right boxes. Granted, we have a nice crawl space, cement with stairs leading down but still...

 It is raining like crazy today. Supposed to turn to snow... I hope not. I like seeing the grass, even if it means spring dog doo clean-up is fast approaching. I just want some sun and fresh air! 

Team Update:

We have our LAST conference game on Friday. We lost the last two games. Coach VOWS next year will be different. Me, I'm more the cautiously optimistic, lets wait & see, the proof is in the pudding type girl.

Pop bottle nightmare

Actually errand day. Honestly, I don't know how I get so far behind. I'm almost, (key word being ALMOST) caught up on laundry. But, we have a pop bottle mountain forming in our garage. It's a chore I detest. In Michigan you go to the bottle return section of the grocery store. There you proceed to shove the sticky, goopy pop bottles through a hole in the machine that is even more gross than your sticky pop bottles. Then it prints you out a ticket telling how much you brought back. The getting money part I like, the taking bottles back...not so much.

That's my job for today. Saving my shower for this afternoon, once I'm a big sticky pop bottle goo mess. Hummm...sounds productive. I guess I could also add my sticky gooey coat to the laundry pile? yes?

Funny story...

So, last Friday we went on another recruiting trip, no surprise there. I was pretty happy because we didn't have to travel far to see this player. The trip went well, said player hit a game winning 3 point shot with six seconds left, and the other Coach brought his daughter for Claire to play with at the game. All is well, except for a few Barbie clothes that fell under the bleachers and had to be retrieved after the game...I'm used to this.

The game was so great that went out to dinner with the coaches and Claire's friend.

Upon arriving home I see two eyes glowing when the headlights near our driveway. 

Coach: "Look honey, a deer..."

Me: "I don't think that's a deer." At this point it starts to move. Very short and very dark.

Coach: "Oh, wait, I think it's a panther!!"

Me: (In my head) WHHAAATTTT? Are you crazy there's no panthers around here!!!

Coach: "No, no...that's Summit! (our dog) I must've forgot to let him in before we left!"

Lessons learned: During b-ball season the less responsibilities you give Coach, the better. If we are going somewhere remotely basketball related, you better be the one to take care of the living things, Coach is sidetracked, just count on it. Double check this, ALWAYS! 

So...what's new?

Not much here. It's still winter. The basketball team is still losing. I'm still crabby, and tired and well, pretty much ready to move.

I swear sometimes I wonder why the hell I moved back. I escaped to San Diego once. In a bout of temporary insanity I moved back. It's at this point I've had my fill of snow. And, when you do want to go out among the living, everyone is a bit more snippy in the winter. Then you wonder why you wanted to go out in the first place! 

Today is also the Super Bowl. Honestly, don't care much about it. We're not doing much. Just staying home with family. We talked about having friends over that have kids, but I didn't want to deal with the nightmare of getting Claire to sleep with friends over. She's a girl who needs ALL her sleep or will probably be MAJOR crabby in the morning. Also, she was at her father's this weekend and usually comes back in a rotten mood. Can't say I blame her on that one. 

Team Update: Love my ladies but they are sucking lately. I mean seriously, we come within 5 points of beating ranked teams and can't pull it off. Totally depressing. Also, the refs stink this year. There isn't enough of them since they switched the girls volleyball and basketball seasons. Now everyone is paying the price. So thank you very much to the whiney moms who brought a lawsuit because their daughters didn't get volleyball scholarships and blamed it on having their season opposite to other states in the nation. Well ladies, hate to break it to you, but your daughters didn't get scholarships because they weren't good enough, not because of the seasons being opposite. But thanks for making the rest of us suffer, thanks a million!

Lazy Sunday

Yes, I slept in this morning and yes, we also missed church. I don't feel guilty about it one bit. Okay, maybe a bit, but only because the last two basketball laden days were very long.

Friday I pulled Claire out of school. Maybe I'm a bad parent but heck, she gets almost 100% on every assignment so I thought this little transgression wouldn't exactly hurt. Coach had a game on the other side of the state. Read LONG road trip. Claire likes to think of them as mini adventures. Anyway, let's just say the game wasn't pretty and leave it at that. Then, on the way home we got into a snowstorm. Su-per. Finally rolled in around oh...12:30. Good thing I'm a planner (and ex-Girl Scout...always be prepared) I packed her pj's. So...Coach just had to get her sleepy limp dead weight body up the stairs. 

Oh, and if that's not enough b-ball for one weekend...it's also recruiting season. So, yes, another gym. Claire always just asks, "Are we going to our gym or someone else's?" Usually, someone else's. Good news though we landed our best recruit. Went out to celebrate, with Claire and the other coach's daughter in tow. Another 12:30 night.

When Claire says she still needs sleep, I've learned it's best to believe her...the first time. She's not much of a morning person. That's putting it lightly. 

We did read Bible stories to her...so that will have to suffice for today. God please forgive us. But you know like no other that it is recruiting season and our team ain't so pretty right now. God you know I CANNOT endure another stinky season. I found yet another gray hair last week. The losing is killing me...and messing with my hair. So even though we didn't attend today, please bless us anyway. Amen.

Wishful thinking

I'm dreaming of summer! I can handle the winter right up until Christmas, after that I'm pretty much over it. This picture is of Claire on the shores of Lake Michigan. She's holding her treasure of a shell. Wow...in this picture she still has her front teeth. Those are long gone now. 

I just love this close up of her! Since going to the beach is out of the question these days, I thought I'd THINK of being there. Anyone want to join me?

Here's waiting on warmer weather...waiting to know if they won or lost...and waiting for coach to get home. Game night again. Only eight more left after tonight...more if we make the tourney. Fingers crossed on that one. This team has had a lot of adversity this year. Which translates to the tourney would be a HUGE bonus! 

It's warm somewhere

So, my sister calls from Miami the other day.

Sis: "It's FREEZING here today!"

Me: "Really, it's cold here too. How cold it is there?"

Sis: "Wow, like 66 degrees. I have a sweater on!"

Me: (imagine the scowl on my face) "Really...are you...SERIOUS? Yesterday is was -14 here."

Sis: "Yeah, I hate cold weather, that's why I moved."

Now why didn't I think of that? Coach, I'm moving to Miami. Write soon.

Winter. I'm over it. Enough said.

TEAM Update:

We lost again last night. I'm getting sick of losing. Even though Coach insists it's different than last year, it still feels the same. We're still losing. We've been on scouting trips lately. Two this week plus a recruit at our gym on Saturday. One good thing about scouting is that I've become quite a popcorn connoisseur. Seriously, I think Coach will always like it more than I do. He likes seeing the different gyms, me, I'm in it for the popcorn. 

It's Freezing HERE!

Back when I was a kid, we had winter here in Michigan. SERIOUS winter. I'm talking snow, wind, no sun, kind of winter. The kind of cold that when it hits your face your eyes start to tear up and your breath freezes in your throat. Cold that makes you NOT want to sit down because in the 3.5 seconds you were out in it, your pants got frozen and you don't want them touching your leg. 

Then we had some winters that were considered mild. Some said global warming. I said, AMEN.

Apparently, I spoke too soon. Today the high was 2 degrees. That's it. Single digits, me no likey. I HATE the cold. Seriously. I'm planning my retirement on a beach sipping cocktails. Coach doesn't know this yet, but I'm pretty sure he will agree. After all, by then I'll have several years of sitting on bleachers as my bargaining chip. I think that leaves me in a pretty good position. What do you think?

TEAM UPDATE: They lost to a rival tonight. Bummer. Coach is on his way home driving on crappy roads. So I'll stay up as long as I can waiting for him, a.k.a. 2 more hours max. The dogs will do their crazy intruder bark when he gets back. Oh how I love being startled out of sleep by howling, barking, yelping, over excited pups. If you're up around 1 a.m., think of me. I'll be up...again.

Snowy weather...YUCK

Finally, the snow has stopped! Yowza. Probably a good foot on the ground. 

Yesterday I was reminded of the song Ironic by Alanis Morisette. Coach and I were literally throwing the last few shovels of snow off the driveway when our plow guy shows up. 

"You knew I would be there!" he says. Yeah well, apparently patients is something I need to work on. But, I counted the shoveling as a workout. Wouldn't you?

The game for our team was cancelled yesterday. Make-up is tomorrow. Claire has signed up for an art class, so now I have a schedule conflict. Typical. I think my mom is going to cover taking Claire to art so that I can see the game. Claire's solution was to go to art class for "a little bit" then zoom over to the gym for the game. I am good...but not that good. They are at the same time. My super-mom cape is at the cleaners, and I haven't figured out how to stop time, just yet...or stop chocolate from going directly to my thighs. Working on it, but not yet. I'll let all you other super-moms out there know when I get it perfected. 

Team updated: 3 games this week. Just saying it makes me tired. Wins on all three would make me feel better. Is that asking too much??

Snow Day

Today Claire had a snow day! Hurrah! Alas, I'm still in sweats. 

This morning when I came downstairs she was singing, "Hurray for a 2-hour delay!" Then the phone rang. Automated dialing...gotta love it. When I made the announcement that the whole day was cancelled, well, I guess it would be comparable to winning the lotto. Hold on to that feeling little one, it's the closest you'll probably get to winning it big.

She's in the tub now. She was supposed to have one last night, but we had a Dr.'s appt with the urologist. He was running an HOUR behind! In a positive light, we are actually, and officially on top of homework for once! That is a miracle. I'll take it.

To all of my readers, I will try to be better at posting. Pinky swear...no crossies.

Team Update: After beating the number 5 team in the nation, we've quite honestly been laying eggs ever since. We lost our last game on Saturday by 14. Depressing. There is a game tonight so hopefully, HOPEFULLY, we can pull out a win. But, alas, more team drama...and we're down another girl. 

Around this time of the season...it really becomes a grind.