Cycling Prank?

So the night I got to Montana, there was an NCAA men's basketball game on, and my sister had some friends up to watch it. She was busy looking stuff up on the computer (What's a Hoya, What's a Tar Heel, important stuff) when one of her friends tells her to look up T-o-m-B-o-o-n-e-n, Tom Boonen, who happens to be a pro cyclist and also half of the wallpaper on my computer right now. I was just sure Jana was pranking me. You just don't hang around, especially in Montana, with a couple of cops and talk about pro cycling in the middle of the NCAA semi-finals. It took me a while to conclude she has some friends that really ARE into cycling and that it wasn't just some elaborate, subtle prank.

Spring in Montana

The girls and I left dad at home (as usual, since he has baseball games during the break) and came to Montana for spring break. It's a pretty relaxing vacation, since everyone here isn't on spring break. Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie and Uncle are working, and the cousins are in school. So we don't try to do a whole lot. It even snowed for about 20 minutes yesterday, corn snow. We were informed by Samantha that what was falling was hail, since this is what her teacher said it was. Grandma told her that, no, this was what was called corn snow. Samantha insisted that Ms. B. does, indeed, know EVERYTHING and that this was hail. I pointed out that Ms. B. only has to know enough to teach kindergardners and that Grandma used to teach 3rd graders, so Grandma knows more than Ms. B. (sorry, Diahn!) I don't think she even remotely considered that Grandma might be right about the corn snow until I showed her the definition online.

My Cycling Obsession

I can't explain why, probably five years back when Lance Armstrong was going for his record-setting fifth Tour de France win, I became obsessed with pro cycling. It's like Jana's obsession with Mt. Everest. It's not that I even like to ride a bike. I really pretty much don't. I had read Lance's biography, and if my bout with cancer had been even remotely in the same stratosphere as his, I very much doubt I'd have had the fight in me to beat it. I was amazed at what he was doing. So at first it might have been about cheering Lance on, but after that first year, I was hooked. I think I remember the exact moment. I was watching a mountain stage, and they were showing some guy pedaling up the "hill" when I noticed a spectator behind him. When he crossed the spectator's path, the angles of their bodies made it appear as though he was going up a 45 degree angle mountain. I know how my lungs feel even scooting up an "incline". Right then my lungs started to burn for this guy. By the time Lance retired, I knew what I'd be doing every July from then on.

I imagine some people might think that watching cycling on T.V. is about as exciting as watching golf. But I get it. The agony of a peloton pile-up one minute, the thrilling "Where the hell did HE come from?" sprint finish, the next day's admiration for the cyclist who is continuing on despite a broken collarbone or 52 stitches in both knees combined, the awesome sportsmanship (which I'm sorry, I find SORELY lacking in Girls U12 premier soccer), plus, the burning lungs. At first it was only the Tour de France, which also boasted the most amazing photography and scenery. It had everything, or so I thought.

A couple of years back they added the category of who's getting kicked out today for allegedly doping. The first year after Lance, I was so crushed with the exclusion of some of my favorites that I almost didn't watch. Eventually I got back there, but it was hard. After last year, which was still a thrilling finish, in the back of my head there's an asterisk as I'm remembering the disgraced yellow jersey wearer who was kicked out for missing doping control tests and lying about his whereabouts and the amazing performance of the aforementioned stitches wearer who was also removed, along with his poor (and presumably innocent) teammates. It's like a damn soap. I think if they added a "who hooked up with which podium girl last night" column, it would seriously have everything. Except I know, from reading every book I find on the subject, that cyclists would never want to waste their energy hooking up. I've heard they try not to even climb stairs during the duration of the race to save that energy, also.

I'm worried already about this year because of what's happened so far. Team Astana, who was kicked out of the TdF last year for doping, has seemingly rebuilt the team. They've got a new manager, last year's winner and Levi Leipheimer. So they've already been banned for this year, which sucks. Levi happens to be a Montana boy, so that was always an extra bonus. I do have some other favorites, but I think what makes it so special is just what it takes to even finish. If you cross that line, even last, look what you just did, you know?

Anyway, my obsession did spill over into my reading materials, also. You can check out a few of the cycling books I've read here.

Every now and then I think it would be cool to start riding my bike more than the two miles or so my daughter and I rode every other day last summer. But then I actually go out and ride and think, No, I don't want to be doing this, no way, no how. But I can't stop watching.

Amazing Kid

Yesterday Alex had volleyball after school. As soon as it was over, I picked her up, ran her to Wally's for some "dinner" (at 4:30), ran her home to eat and change, then to basketball practice. When basketball was over, I had a half an hour to get her to soccer practice, where I picked her up at 9:00. We raced home, she got in the shower, and I blew her hair dry while she ate another "dinner" of pot stickers. She only has that crazy schedule twice this month, but it still amazes me that she did it. She didn't complain once, although she whined a little after basketball that her feet hurt and the gym was too hot. But if there's one thing about her that is amazing, it's her attitude towards sports and her coaches. She wouldn't DREAM of being late for practice, and unless she has a really good reason, she would never skip a practice. Luckily, she's a 4.0 student, so I don't have to follow through with the threat that, "If your grades start to suffer, you have to quit something." It will be soon enough that she'll have to give something up when each sport starts demanding more time and school soccer and volleyball are in the same season. I have a feeling soccer will win out in the end, but I'm thankful that she will have two years to try out volleyball.

Who Knew Cats Had Knees?

Well, now I do. Our big fella, Tonks, has pulled some of the tendons around his knee. After a trip to the vet and $300 worth of x-rays, at least he doesn't have a torn ACL or a fracture, as the vet originally thought. So we're supposed to severely restrict his activity levels for the next four weeks. I think I even saw something about walking no more than five steps to the litter box. Hello. At first I thought that might not be so bad for a cat that appears to sleep 18 hours a day. We got a kennel to stash him in at night, and during the day will keep him locked up in the laundry to eat and do his duties (doodies - ha) or my office to sleep in a random sunbeam (if he's EXTREMELY lucky). But it appears he's going to want to be walking around more than I first thought. We'll see about that, $300 x-rays.

Snowday Snowman and a New Haircut

Here is a picture of the second day in a row we had of snow. Growing up in Montana and playing high school tennis for four years, every one of our first tennis matches were snowed out. But that was Montana. This is Washington. This is high school baseball season, and I am married to the HEAD BASEBALL COACH. Imagine my chagrin whenever I wake up and it's RAINING SHIH-TZUS or better yet, SNOWING. I better explain the Shih-tzu comment. When Alex was little, 4-ish, and we still had two shih-tzus, she and I were driving in the rain one day. We were stuck in traffic under an overpass. As soon as we got out, I realized how hard it was raining and I said, "Man, it's raining sheets of rain." A few minutes later she said, "Yeah, it's raining Shih-tzu rain." How's that for cute?

Decaying Mouse Bodies in the Real World

In one episode of one of our favorite T.V. shows, Reba (I know, but Barbara Jean and Van SLAY me), a mouse crawls up into the engine of Reba's car and dies there, resulting in the whole car stinking to high heaven, outside and especially inside. Well, when I saw that episode, I distinctly remember thinking "No way could a little mouse make a car smell THAT bad." Then I talked to my sister-in-law in Colorado the other day and she related to me the saga of the mouse that died up behind her oven RIGHT before Christmas. She said they had to keep all the windows in the house open and wear winter jackets for three days. Seriously? Anyway, so now, thanks to Adam from the pest control place that came to my house and put three traps behind my kitchen sink, I now enter my kitchen every day and take a huge deep breath, not unlike a certain 6-year-old who enters public restrooms, stops, takes a huge deep breath, and, upon smelling anything remotely bad, starts gagging. Or sometimes she just comments on how it stinks in here. But mostly she gags. I usually catch her doing it and have to remind her to STOP SNIFFING THE RESTROOM OR SHE WILL GAG HERSELF. Anyway, Praise Gods, I haven't smelled any frakking dead mouse yet. Hopefully he'll wait to die while we are in Montana for Spring Break next week, and then Eric can deal with it.

But back to Samantha's awesome gag reflex -- about 19 months ago, I had to take her to see Dr. Dan to figure out why she made herself vomit every time she had to do something unpleasant. He said there was a slight blockage in her intestine, which must not have been that bad because he didn't suggest emergency surgery STAT. But he did have me give her Milk of Magnesia every night. I think it has mostly been a psychological thing for her, but it's a lot like Tums. Samantha is seriously growing up thinking that Tums cures almost all ills. She was at a slumber party yesterday four houses down from ours. I was totally expecting a call at 9:05 after they tried to get her to actually sleep there. Instead, I got a call around 6:15 saying that I forgot to give her her M of M. I didn't even argue, I just grabbed the bottle and a spoon and marched down the street. I knocked on the door, poured the M of M and when she came to the door, poured it down her throat. The birthday girl's mom just laughed. Her daughter is way more of a basketcase than mine about a lot of things, so she totally understood.

On Horror Movie Acting, Snow Days and MICE

So today the recess across the street sounds more like there are a few kids rehearsing to audition for a horror movie than a carnival ride. My throat hurts just listening to them. I remember when I was younger, maybe about 4th grade or so, my friends and I developed a game where we would burn around the neighborhood on our bikes, maybe a three block radius, and SCREAM whenever we would turn down a street or alley and see one of our friends. We would then turn around and take off the other way. This was one of the funnest games ever until my mom pointed out that with all the screaming, someone might get the impression someone was hurt. Somehow the game just wasn't the same yelling "Hello" instead.

I had to run Alex to the school at 7:00 this morning for volleyball practice, and it was SNOWING, as in near white-out almost blizzard conditions. It was seriously sort of hard to drive in because you could barely see. But the snow was gone by 10:00 or so, so it was nothing serious. Samantha did ask if her teacher had called yet to tell her it was a snow day.

When I got home from dropping Samantha off, I could tell something was up with the cats because they sat in the kitchen for the next two hours and stared at the stove and the area underneath the stove. Last summer I had signed up for this pest control service which got rid of all of our beehives and the wasp nest on our house. I recently checked to see when my contract was up (May), then immediately discovered mouse turds in the garage. So the guy came and put up some traps. I had to call this morning because of the alert cat incident. They are coming Friday. I may not cancel that service after all. I even let the cats into the little crawl space under the sink. That's what we pay them for, after all! But then I thought, Ugh, if they actually caught something, would I ever want to kiss them again? Alex said we'd have to wash them up. They actually kill flies all the time. I don't think we've used our electric tennis racket/fly swatter once since we got the cats. They have too much fun stalking and toying with the flies to take that away.

Oh, I also had some cute pictures I wanted to post, but I hit DELETE instead of MOVE. Then I went and restored them from my recycle bin (I hope those were the pictures), and now I can't find them.

Easter chitchat

Yesterday, at the in-laws for Easter, Grandma and Grandpa gave each of the grandkids some money for their college accounts ($600). They did this last year as well, and it's so nice. Anyway, they also give the kids money in their eggs instead of candy because one of the grandkids has diabetes. So each grandkid got $25. Samantha has got this thing lately of wanting to have "cash" in her purse. She was waving the $25 around (three fives and 10 ones) the rest of the afternoon. Then after she opened the check for college, she handed it to me and said, "Here, put this in my REGULAR account." Not bloody likely, small fry. That thing goes straight into your college account. But I thought it was cute that she tried or that she thought she had an option. Then I told her I would keep the $25 in my purse until we got home, and she said, "Yeah, I bet this is enough money for shoes that I WANT that I can pay for myself." Do you think this might turn into some sort of problem for me? What six year old gets $25 for a gift and wants to buy shoes?

Starting Your Week Out Right !!!

I had the girls off to a reasonably good start this morning, not a lot of bickering, no major incidents at breakfast. Granted, everyone had to change their plans as to what they were going to wear after I checked the online weather that said it wouldn't get to 50 today, even as the sun is BLAZING in the window and practically burning my retinas. The web site says chance of mixed rain and snow, so they both had to CHANGE from the capris I told them to wear. Anyway, I finally sat down with my coffee to check my email. Last week I had written a pretty big check to the chick I work with for commissions, and I told her to deposit it RIGHT AWAY. I kept wondering why she hadn't, and I was getting ready to yell at her. This morning she told me the check had bounced and had cost her $75 in fees. OH YEAH, my account doesn't have checks, so the check I wrote was from the joint account, which would have required me to TRANSFER money so it wouldn't bounce. This just makes me want to go back to bed.

Stress

I realize that none of the incidents I've been through this week are as stress-inducing as, say, finding out your van needs a new ENGINE, but it's still stressful all the same.

We are finally done with soccer tryouts, which was a major stressor for me. On the one hand, I didn't want her to play for the same team as last year, but on the other hand, I was kind of curious as to whether they'd choose her again. Beyond that, she had decided to try out for a select team, as opposed to premier which is what last year's team was, but didn't want to lose all her options. So the plan was to make the other premier team and then put them on hold while trying out for the select team, a decision I felt HORRIBLE about, but I was assured that other people were going to do the same thing. Anyway, long story short, she's playing for the second premier team, and they were thrilled to have her. They even called in some people to call us and try to get her to play for them, which was kind of a cool feeling. I feel really good about the decision. It's funny because the assistant coach called us and was trying to talk me into getting her to commit to this team and the things he was assuring me of just weren't important after last year's experience. He said he knew this team last year didn't win any games. The team she was on last year won games, but she played soccer with some of those girls for 10 months and there's no way some of them would say Hello to her if they bumped right into her in the grocery store. And it's not only her, and I don't fully blame the girls. I just think no one on that team has a clue how much better it probably could be if they cared about each other and had taken the time to BOND. Anyway, that's all I'm going to say. I think the new team will be a much better experience for her, considering I want more for her playing a team sport than just winning.

Moving on, I remember, many times while growing up, getting a bad haircut. It sucks, certainly. But it's not on the same level as, say, terrorism or war or world hunger. I've had bangs that I can honestly say I had one bang trim that I actually liked in ten years. I know in a week or two, it will probably be a non-issue, but this morning was a little much.

I also understand being of an age where you might want to do things for yourself, with no help from mom. But when the thing you are trying to do ends up not working, I'd respect you as a person more if you simply asked me to help or even yelled at me to help instead of sitting upstairs moaning and cursing to yourself in some weird six-year-old language. This is the M.O. and has been for a year now, but get over it. I'd rather she just yelled for me than have to hear weird noises and think someone's choking to death. Although at this point, I always know it's her and never think she's choking.

I'm not going to mention one other HUGE stressor earlier this week, because that's been resolved. Let's just say a little reasonable DISCUSSION would go a long way in the future. I'm trying.

Money will continue to be an issue. I'm probably going to start working more outside the home, which I absolutely would rather not do. The transcription work just isn't enough, although I would love more of it. I've decided probably not to order new sunglasses that I could get for 70% off because I'd rather spend the money getting the bushes taken out of my front yard. I would probably end up losing sunglasses, while the bushes are a major headache and would totally be out of control this year.

On a positive note, I am totally looking forward to Alex's volleyball. She is really good, and I think she will really shine. I know it's going to suck when she's in ninth grade because then she'll have to choose between volleyball and soccer (in school). Obviously, my heart is all for the volleyball, but we'll have to see.

Living Next to a Carnival

There is an elementary school probably 100 yards from my front door, and during recess, three times a day, it feels like I live next door to a carnival. I'm not kidding, a carnival with a BIG rollercoaster. Which, I've been to the school and I know there is no such ride. There isn't even a ride which I think should cause someone to scream "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" like they are traveling 35 miles an hour on a twisty, tilting track, but they do. It sure breaks the day up, hearing the exuberant voices of today's youth enjoying the rainy day.

Alex's Dress

This is the dress we bought Alex for the birthday party she is going to. She'll also wear it for our cousin's wedding and any other event that comes along this summer. It is DARLING on her. And surprisingly, it was the second dress she tried on. We had a really nice time at the mall, had a nice lunch afterwards. I was shocked it went so smoothly. I will eventually post a picture of her IN THE DRESS, but baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

This is One of the Cutest Things Ever

Click here.

Samantha makes me sigh over and over

My sister mentioned to me that she read my last post and that Samantha makes her laugh. Right when I got her text, I had been thinking about the Green Team awards the night before. About half the team wore their t-shirts (we came directly from Federal Way and Bellevue all day and didn't have time to go home and change). I didn't think she'd need hers. It wasn't a game, just the awards. Well, one little boy brought some sharpies and had kids sign his shirt. Soon, even some of the kids without their shirts were having the team sign their shirts. Samantha was wearing a hand-me-down of Alex's that she LOVES. One boy started to sign that shirt, and I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown right there. She tried not to cry. I told her for sure I could get it out (I can't, so far, after soaking all night in Oxyclean). Anyway, she was also upset that she didn't have her shirt. I told her she could wear it to school the next day and have kids sign it there, since more than half her team is in her class. On the way home, we were discussing the logistics. It seems that they "aren't allowed" to have sharpies. I told her she could take one of my small, hanging sharpies that hang from my rear-view mirror and keep it hanging around her neck and only use it for signing the shirt. She seriously started to freak that I would even suggest she take a sharpie to school. They are NOT. ALLOWED. I told her I would write Ms. B. a note and that surely she would let the basketball kids sign her shirt. At this point her voice is about two octaves higher, so I can barely understand what she's saying, but it had to do with this "NOT. ALLOWED. TO. BRING. SHARPIES. TO SCHOOL." and how "NOBODY. WOULD. LET. HER. NOT. EVEN. THE. RECESS. LADY." I finally gave up. Luckily we were home and the broken green glass distracted her.

Random Thursday

~ Man, I blinked and it's Thursday. This week has seriously flown. I'm reminded why we never plan on Eric going to Montana for Spring Break. Today is likely his second rain-out game this week. He usually only plans on games Monday and Tuesday for Spring Break, but then often has to play make-up games the rest of the week.

~ I took a "two-hour" job in Bellevue yesterday which went from 10:00 to 4:00, sans LUNCH, also. Being in Bellevue meant I left my house at 8:15, so it stands to reason I ate around 7:30. My attorney wanted to just "push through and get done", so we all sat there in that dizzy, starving HAZE. At one point, around 3:00, he asked me to read a question back. I read, "Where did you make the appointment for them?" My attorney said, "Hm, I think that's supposed to be 'Why'," at which point the other attorney agreed and they both had a chuckle at my expense. So I pretended to be typing and said, "Here I'm noting that I've had NO FOOD". He laughed some more and said that was fair. But it is appearing to me that since my machine was recently cleaned, that some of the letters aren't showing up like they should, which means I may have to have it checked AGAIN...

~ This morning when we left the house, Samantha noticed the remnants of the broken beer bottle that Eric dropped last night while he was taking the garbage out. Even though she SAW him cleaning it up last night when we got home, that fact has apparently vanished from her sharp little repetitive question-asking brain. So she says, "Oh, look at that green glass. Where did that come from?" I think I instinctively knew what was coming, since this has been somewhat of a new trend lately. So I said, "Oh, that's glass from a bottle dad broke." Then I realized I had left some pertinent information out, so I quickly added, "It was a beer bottle he broke while he was taking out the garbage last night when it was dark out. That's why he couldn't get it all cleaned up, because it was dark. I'm going to have to finish cleaning it up today." I thought that would do it, but leave it to Sam, "Why did he break it?" Oh, Sweetie, you're killing me.

~ I had hoped last night, since I had a spare hour and a half before the Green Team awards ceremony, that I would get a chance to check out the new Trader Joe's in Federal Way and also check out Macy's for a spring dress for Alex. Instead, I thought I'd better check in at Discount Tire to see why my low pressure light keeps going on. An hour and a half later, my tire is fixed. For free, of course, but wahoo. No TJ's this week. Also, the dress thing for Alex? She hasn't worn a dress since kindergarten. For her best friend's birthday, they are taking the girls to Seattle to the Spaghetti Factory, and the girls are dressing up. That in itself is frightening because the last time I bought her a dress, she was 5. She's 13 now. Help.

~ Also, Samantha and I went to McDonald's for breakfast. On the way to school, I said, "Well, it looks like Eric's baseball game is going to be rained out again." It's like that thing where every once in a while, while talking to your children, you accidentally call their dad by his name instead of dad and it really must throw them. Also, she has an Uncle Eric, but he's in Iraq and, to my knowledge, has not played baseball since the Cenex t-ball team went undefeated and we got to eat at Arctic Circle twice a week the whole season for victory celebrations. Anyway, this being Samantha in her weird question mode, she says, "Eric who? Uncle Eric?" I mean, come on. Her dad comes home EVERY NIGHT in his baseball gear. She and Emma M. made signs last weekend that say, "Go Hornets. We love the coaches." I took a deep breath. I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

Spike from that band Kiss

It took Samantha two or three tries before she learned it was "Slash" and not "Spike". Alex was the one at Applebee's on Saturday who said, "Oh, look, there's Kiss!" pointing to the picture of Kiss on the wall. "So?" I said. Then after seeing the look on her face, I knew what she was thinking. "Isn't Slash in that band?" "You are an absolute embarrassment to me." "Well, what band is it? I can't remember." "I just may have to pretend you are a stranger that accidentally sat at my table. Guns N Roses." " I knew that." But see, it's not like she was born and then didn't know, 13 years later, what band Slash was in. She plays medium level (I think) Guitar Hero. Hello. They've also had a couple of arguments over the correct guitar placement. Samantha prefers the rocker stance, while I think Alex must be thinking country crooner.

Also, this morning I mentioned again to Alex that she was an absolute embarrassment to me and that I was also embarrassed FOR HER, but I'm not allowed to post on my blog why. Let's just say it has to do with this and the correct way to wear them!

I Still Love Her, Even Though She's Driving Me NUTS

Lately, it seems like my Mantha has been devoting every other day to (you guessed it) driving her mom nuts. She'll start out giggling and telling what she thinks are jokes, but it soon escalates to such behavior as repeating the same line over and over (usually something like, "I farted on your couch) and laughing hysterically the whole time. I know that's one of her major tired signals, but this has been going on at 5:00 in the afternoon. I think her little body has already adjusted to daylight savings time, because she's been going to bed earlier and earlier, and last night she wanted to go to bed at 7:30. However, this also means she's getting up earlier and earlier. I think I speak for the majority of moms who don't get enough sleep, that it really pisses me off when she could be in bed for a whole hour longer, but she's choosing to get up and come downstairs.

Anyway, she's been invited to RIDE THE BUS home with her friend, Emma T. after school today. BUS 17. You don't even know how exciting this is. To enjoy this phenomenon and finally join the ranks of the uber-cool "EARLY BUSSERS", I had to write her a note with my permission:

"3/7/08 Samantha Fiedler has my permission to ride the bus home today with Emma T. - Thanks, Robyn Fiedler"

Well, who was I to think I was going to get off this easily? This is my child who will redo ANYTHING she writes if there is one little mistake on it. So she grabs the sheet and tries to add in "17" over the word bus. It ends up messy, so I tell her I'll redo it.

"3/7/08 Samantha Fiedler has my permission to ride bus 17 home today with Emma T. - Thanks, Robyn Fiedler"

There you go. NOT! PSYCH! You thought I was done. Well, you've got another thing coming, dude. See, the note doesn't say where she's getting off the bus. If I don't say that she's got my express written permission to EXIT the bus with EMMA T. at EMMA T.'s bus stop, they won't let her off. Even though I said "home with Emma T." and she doesn't live with Emma T., therefore the assumption is made that it's Emma T.'s home she's going to... Why do I bother? Soon the tears are starting to form, so I quickly add a P.S. to the note.

"3/7/08 Samantha Fiedler has my permission to ride bus 17 home today with Emma T. - Thanks, Robyn Fiedler P.S. She will also be getting off the bus with Emma T. at Emma T.'s stop."

So that was okay. LAST NIGHT. This morning she has lost the note. I duplicate the note in as much detail as I can remember, even using the same green sharpie. When we are safely ensconced in the car and on our way to school, she starts panicking about who should receive the note.

"Just give it to your teacher. She'll know what to do with it."

"No, I think I need to take it to the office."

"Ms. B. will probably mark in her book that you are riding the bus today and then send the note to the office."

"But Ms. C. is the one who usually walks the bussers to the bus. I think I better just take the note straight to the office."

At this point, in the future, I hope I will tell myself, "STOP. Just give in now. Tell her to do whatever she wants." But NOOOO. I have to make her see the light.

"But Ms. B. is in charge of you. She's your teacher and she's responsible for you. She needs to know what you are doing after school, as well as the office and Ms. C. I really think you should just give her the note so she knows."

"But what if she's gone and never gave my note to the office?"

"Oh my god. Even a "guest" teacher (this is what they call subs in kindergarten) would know to make a note of your arrangements and send the note to the office."

"Waaahhh, you're mad at me. You're yelling at me."

"Okay. Listen. You are going to be 20 minutes early, since you got up over an hour early today. Why don't you take the note to Ms. B. and then if you also need to take it to the office, you have PLENTY of time to do that, also. You can even ask her if that's what you need to do."

"Well, I know that when Jace walked home with Lauren, she took her note to the office."

"FINE. THEN. TAKE. YOUR. NOTE. TO. THE. OFFICE."

"Why are you mad at me?" Sniff, sniff.

"Listen, SWEETIE. You are going to be PLENTY early to stop by the office on your way to your class and see if they need the note first. Then, if you need to take it to Ms. B., you can do that, also." Hell, you could run it across to the middle school and then the high school if you want, you have THAT. MUCH. TIME. "Are you okay? Don't be nervous. It will all work out. Bye. See you. Have a nice day. I love you." HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY. Try and make her happy so the crossing guards don't see her crying when she gets out of the car and think I'm a monster. Now I need a nap. Help.

Catzilla - Kitty Wants Candy

Here is Samantha's latest published book (they each publish once a week or so). She included a Jim Gaffigan reference, if you're familiar with him!

U6 Co-ed basketball - The Green Machine

Well, Samantha's last game was tonight. They actually did great. They played a game yesterday, also, after a three-week break. Samantha's kindergarten teacher came to watch, and they all really stepped it up for her! It was like standing there talking to a rock star. Kids were leaving the floor to run over and hug her. But even kids who had never shot a single shot before were heaving that sucker at the basket. So tonight they pretty much did the same thing. It was really fun to watch, and Samantha scored her first basket ever. When she dribbles, she sticks her tongue to the side in her mouth, which is EXACTLY the way Eric plays Guitar Hero. If you mention his tongue, he actually has to quit playing because he can't concentrate. One of the really funny things about pee-wee basketball is that if you are watching the game and you yell for a kid, like, "Good job, Jace", nine times out of ten, that kid will stop and look at you. I also didn't realize some people are so comfortable coming to their kid's basketball game smelling like alcohol, but that's another story. Anyway, it was a fun season, and we discovered that Baskin Robbins has $1.00 scoop Tuesdays!

Soccer in February and March

I know I've mentioned this before, but hello. Today I was working in my office and all of a sudden I heard the wind start to howl and what must have been HUGE raindrops hitting my window. I knew right then it was 2:30 and that soccer practice had just started. I'm not sure why Alex wants to keep doing it, especially when most of her school soccer season has been EXACTLY like today. She says she likes the shape it keeps her in, which is great, I agree. I know after this year and making the varsity team, she also likes the fact that she is one of the better players at her school. The U12 premiere team she was on, whose season just ended, like them or not, everyone around here knows who they are, and she was a part of that. But then she actually played in the goal for a bit today, and when I picked her up, she had grass and mud stuck to the side of her face. GRASS and MUD stuck to her FACE.

So Inappropriate...

So last Thursday I was taking the girls home, the girls being Alex, her friend Jillian, and Samantha. As we passed the high school boys soccer team, Jillian said something like, Ew, that guy needs to put his shirt back on. I looked over and said, Well, the sort of tan guy certainly doesn't. While Alex and Jillian were shrieking, I thought I heard Samantha say something. I said, What did you say, Mantha? Alex said, Oh, she said something about pennies. I asked her again what she said. She finally told me she had said, "That's inappropriate." I had a good laugh. One day they'll realize just how inappropriate it is.

Friday - More Random Stuff

~ Busy day today. On the one hand, I managed to finish up a 189 page deposition, of which I started the day with 59 pages done. That was a herculean effort, if I do say so. I also managed to get it done before 5:00, which is a bonus for me, except it was being sent to New Jersey, so 5:00 is really like 8:00 there, so they were gone for the weekend. Oh, well, one down, three to go. I'm hoping to relax at the end of next week before panicking that I have no work and after finishing up the big stuff I have right now.

~ On the other hand, I watched all of Quarterlife on the internet today. What it is is this sort of internet soap, but it's in 8-minute episodes. I seriously think that's what I like the best about it. 8 minutes is a perfect break, and I caught two or three at lunchtime. Last week, NBC put a bunch of episodes together and tried to run it on T.V., but ended up canceling it already. Yeah, suck it, NBC. No one watches T.V. anymore because of that damn strike. I guess you might as well just show things once and then cancel everything. That will bring us back in droves, I predict. Anyway, I really don't love the characters, but it was a wonderful distraction today.

~ Then, there has been this big drama going on with the new high school and the old high school in my home town. My sister talked me into going onto the local newspaper website and posting my thoughts on the subject, which were EXTREMELY sarcastic. I sort of forgot about it until late this afternoon when I clicked over there to check and there were three replies. The second person TOTALLY missed the sarcasm and ended up calling me a rich snob and thinking I was serious when I joked they should burn down the old high school and bus those kids to a neighboring town, thus allowing the new high school not to have to associate with the less fortunate riffraff. He also said he feared for my 2 girls' future. I was kind of horrified, but I posted a clarification post explaining that while I thought my sarcasm was pretty thick, I'm sorry if he misinterpreted my posts. Later another guy posted and said that while he did have to read my posts a couple of times, they were pretty good. I felt better. I only hope the first guy reads my clarification and realizes I'm not all bad or bad at all!

The Good Old Days ...

Here is a post from my old blog. I seriously think I have some sort of predilection for accidents requiring stitches. I've had stitches on three separate fingers since 8th grade. When you think about it, court reporting may not have been the wisest career choice, considering I seem to want so badly to cut off one of my fingers...

Monday, June 05, 2006

Don't Try This at Home

So last Wednesday night I'm sitting in our LazyBoy (aka Hopeless Slackass) recliner holding my Fiskar's sewing scissors in my hand. These don't have really long blades, they're more for snipping tiny pieces of thread, but they're REAL sharp. Anyway, I go to shift in my chair and I remember thinking, "Wait a minute. Is this chair falling over backwards?" I couldn't believe it. We've had that chair for 11 years and not once has it ever fallen over. I bonked my head against the kitchen table pretty hard, so I kind of sat up shaking my head. I glance down, and I have STABBED myself in the thigh, which is now GUSHING blood. I kid you not. Well, seeing as how I was just at the Emergency Room about three weeks ago, I'm familiar with the layout and the procedures. I'm limping around the kitchen holding a fistful of napkins on my leg thinking, "I could probably just go do this by myself, unless I've lost too much blood and maybe would faint in the car on the way." I figure I better get my husband up. He took charge and got our friend Lisa to come over while we went to the hospital. I called Lisa from the waiting room and she said, "Man, what happened? It looks like a CSI crime scene in here." Bless her heart, she cleaned up all the blood and straightened everything out before we got home. Anyway, this is a picture of my six stitches. I wish I had a more interesting story.

Random Stuff

~ I've never watched American Idol before this year, and I've only watched a little bit so far. One of the main reasons I don't like it is that I don't like it when the family is sitting there watching the singer, beyond proud, and then the singer gets cut or told he/she didn't do great, and then the family has to be so pissed. It's uncomfortable. And even thought it's usually Simon, he's usually right, but I think the family has built that person up so much for so long that they don't see it. I'm not sure if it's better to crush their dreams then and there or be nice and let them go on thinking they'll be a star.

~ Today I was getting ready to take Samantha to school and I said, Oh, is there anything in your backpack from yesterday that I need to see? She opens her backpack and looks through her folder and says, No, there's just this work of art. I thought that was so cute.

Scary - NOT!

I had a close call yesterday. Alex had been on my computer, and when she got up to leave, she knocked a glass of water, mostly on the floor, but some on my stenograph (COMPUTERIZED) machine. I quickly turned it off, unplugged it, and tried to wipe everything down. A few hours later, after everyone was in bed and I thought I'd do some work, I turned it on, only to be greeted by "SR3 SYSTEM TEST FAILED: CODE 04". Help.

I called Shari and she told me to call the place in Seattle that deals with court reporter stuff. She even offered to drop it off in Seattle since she was working there the next day. I've had that machine since I started in '92, so needless to say, I was petrified. They are NOT CHEAP. When Shari's machine stopped working a couple of years ago, it was going to cost so much to fix that she just bought a new, refurbished one instead.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon, Shari called me on her way home to let me know she had dropped it off. We chatted for a bit, then hung up. Oh, it also turns out the guy who does the work lives in Cumberland, which while I'm not sure where that is, I do know it's pretty close to where I live. I had no sooner hung up when he called to say he had fixed it. I asked how much - $65. I was seriously thinking I'd be lucky to get out of this for less then five or $600. He asked if I wanted it cleaned, also, and then we agreed to meet in Enumclaw Thursday to pick it up. I won't even have to go to Seattle. Shari was convinced, when I called her initially to tell her what had happened, that there is a reset button you can stick a pin in to reset it. Maybe there is and that's all it took, I don't know. But I haven't had my machine cleaned since '93, and I know it needed it really badly.

Sometimes, when everything goes so smoothly and easily like that, it feels like things really happen for a reason. There are always times when I run to the store for something that I really don't need, and when I get there, there's a parking spot right in the front right by the door I need. I always feel like, well, I guess it's meant to be.

Adorable and Amazing

Thowed Up

Yesterday, Sam was sick all day. I got home around 2:00 and spent the rest of the day hanging out with her. She threw up maybe four more times. At one point, Eric had brought home Tylenol, which I wasn't going to give her, since she didn't have a fever. I gave it to her anyway, and for about 45 minutes, she felt great. She got out her diary, which I didn't know she had. She was writing about her experience being sick, and I told her it was the 20th. When we found out it was the 21st, she ripped this page out and gave it to me. She won't keep it around if there's a mistake on it. I absolutely wouldn't tell her that it was correct to say "threw up" instead of "thowed up", it's too cute. Plus, she doesn't make a lot of mistakes like that, so I have to hold on to it!

The Saga of the Boxed Lunches

Tuesday, the first day of my three days of deps, during the morning break, this office lady comes in with a bag and hands it to the attorney sitting there and says, Here are your lunches. After she left, I said, "Maybe she should check the other conference rooms around here. Are you sure that's for us? " He laughed and said, "No, I don't want to point it out if it's not for us. I want lunch." When it was finally lunch time, we all agreed to meet back in an hour, then the two attorneys started discussing the witnesses and the rest of the afternoon. I sort of shuffled papers, not wanting to bring up the free lunches, but I wanted my lunch. In all the years I've been a court reporter, I've had attorneys buy me lunch, but I've never had anyone order lunch in like that. Anyway, I finally left, and I didn't get a lunch. When I got back I asked the witness how the lunch was and he said really good.

The next day, I knew they were ordering fewer lunches because half the attorneys went to the barbeque place across the street the day before. So not only did I not get a lunch, they probably threw a few away. Anyway, after lunch, I came back and one of my attorneys said, Oh, did you get a lunch today? I had the turkey sandwich and it was really good.

So today I vowed I was going to get a lunch, dammit. You don't even understand. I happen to secretly like airplane food. This was like really FANCY, expensive airplane food. Gourmet airplane food, if you will. Our job got out at 1:00 but I knew they had delivered more lunches than the day before because I saw them. I figured, Dignity be damned, I am never going to see these people again after today. I am getting a lunch. Well, I did get a lunch. I agonized (inside, not out where all the attorneys would see me) over which one to take. I even forgot to pick up the exhibits after the job, which court reporters are usually anal about. Luckily one of the attorneys noticed and I hadn't left yet because I was busy choosing which lunch to take. I finally picked the Mediterranean Wrap because it sounded good and it wasn't something I'd pick at a restaurant. Man. The wrap kind of sucked. Maybe it really sucked but I ate half because I was so excited and wanted it to be great. I don't know. The cookie was great, and the chips were Tim's Cascade (duh) and even the salad was pretty good. But after all the build-up, I have to say, I should have gone with the Chicken Ranch.

Busy working

This week has been kicking my ASS. I've taken (so far) two all-day jobs for a firm I work for occasionally from Federal Way. These jobs have a TON of acronymns, so it should be interesting transcription. Yesterday we started the day out and I realized people were saying PBX when I had PRX written down from the day before. At break I asked one of the attorneys if there was such a thing as PRX. No... Anyway, those things are easy to work with because I basically type P* every time they say it so I can global it in. It disturbs me, though, that I didn't realize until late yesterday morning what this company actually sold and what the lawsuit was all about. But it's HIGHLY confidential, so I can't tell you here. Even though it's totally uninteresting and your eyes would glaze over after I even told you what this company actually sells, let alone getting into what I think I understand the suing company thinks the other company did. YAWN. But the attorneys are very nice, funny even. So it's not a bad gig, just a long drive and a long day.

More Banners!

This arrived on my desk shortly after this.

See? People love banners.

My New Favorite Songs

Totally catchy stuff --

Alex's 13th birthday and the birth of Banner Lady

Alex turned 13 today - a teenager... I'd been teasing her for the past two weeks that I was going to make a birthday banner and have them hang it at the dance (which was yesterday). She'd get mad and tell me I better not, and I'd tease her some more and tell her I might even put one of those naked pictures of her on it from when she was a year old. Then she'd get madder, and I'd finally have to tell her a banner would cost $50 bucks to have made and that there's no way I'd spend that, just because at this point I was afraid she wouldn't even go to the dance. Once while I was teasing her, I told her I thought it would be really cool to be known as the Lady who makes all the Banners and that I should really start making banners for everything. Banners are cool. She just thinks I'm weird. So anyway, this is what I did for her today. I got up this morning at 6:30 and ran over to the school and hung it, then I told the people that give her a ride to make sure she saw it. Ryan's dad said he pulled over to "check his tires" and made sure her window was facing the banner. He said it was funny watching her face as she read it. Then she said, I think my mom put that up there. And he said, You're right. I was still a little nervous, but when I asked him if she was mad, he said not at all. Yippee! I feel like a pretty good mom now, because I wasn't sure I'd go through with it, what with the having to get up 15 minutes early and go out in the cold and all...

"We Won Again" Part 2

Another funny thing about Samantha's view of how the basketball game went on Monday is the "again" part. She's in the U6 coed league, where each team has maybe three girls, at least one boy who can make every shot he shoots, and at least one bigger boy who's idea of basketball is to rip that ball out of other kids' hands and run like hell. Dribbling? What's that? Samantha's basketball exposure has been plentiful. The problem is she's only ever learned to be dribbling the whole time she has the ball. It wouldn't occur to her to grab that sucker and run. Plus, the kid that usually does that is almost ALWAYS the big kid on the team. Her team, however, doesn't really have the boy who makes every shot or the big kid. She has a group of good kids who try to follow what their coach is saying and try to dribble and pass. The fact that she believes they've won before just shows what a positive attitude she must have!

Also, I made these Molten Lava Cakes tonight, and they were super easy and excellent.

Melt 4 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet baking chocolate and one stick of butter on HIGH 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir with whisk until chocolate is melted. Stir in 1 cup powdered sugar until well blended. Blend in 2 eggs and 2 yolks with wire whisk. Add 6 T flour. Divide batter among four buttered custard cups. Bake 13 - 14 minutes at 425 until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Run knife around cakes to loosen. Serve immediately with ice cream or whipped cream.

"We Won Again"

Last night Samantha's basketball team, the U6 Green Hornets, played another game. Since her dad wasn't feeling well, he skipped the game. When we got home, he came running down to find out how it went.

DAD: Hey Mantha, how did the game go?

MANTHA: Good. We won again.

ME: Wha?!? -- well, morally, they did, I guess.

You guys won?

MANTHA: Yeah.

ME: I didn't realize that. That's great.

After she left, I laughed about it, but I guess it's great that basketball makes her FEEL like a winner. Or maybe she just wasn't interested in having a conversation with her dad right then and just said what she thought he wanted to hear. But I think she really thought they had won, which is kind of cool.

Kids in Sports

Alex is playing AAU basketball with a team of girls from most of the area middle schools. They've been playing together for about three weeks now, and last weekend was their first tournament. The plan was to play twice a week together and hopefully do a tournament a month until May or so.

The first thing I learned after last weekend, which is something I've suspected for awhile now, is that I don't like watching soccer. I don't mind watching Alex once in awhile, but it just doesn't hold my interest. The teams we played at this basketball tourney were thrilling to watch. The level most of these teams played was probably three times better than Alex's school team, the pace of play at least twice as fast. I hardly noticed that we got killed four times in four games. The basketball that our girls stepped up and started playing was amazing.

That being said, I'm fairly certain that most of the girls, at least on the first three teams we played, do not play other sports. The first team we played was an Auburn team, and one of the girls was from Thunder Mountain Middle School, which is in our league. I'm pretty sure I didn't see this girl playing school ball. One of the coaches told us that this team had played 60 games so far (starting in September) and we heard one of the girls mention four-night-a-week practices.

I would love for Alex to be that good at basketball. I mean, some of the girls, in no way, shape or form, even looked like athletes, but could play circles around our girls. But Alex loves playing soccer and volleyball, and to be that good, I don't think she'd be able to do her other sports.

I've actually been analyzing non-stop since yesterday the ways in which sports have changed for our kids. Will some of these girls even play school basketball? Or is that not even the goal? I know Alex's soccer coach, even though he played two sports in high school, doesn't want his players playing other sports. I know his daughter, who is one of the best on our team, is not playing school soccer. I heard she did, but quit. I could be wrong. I always look back on high school and think I had so much fun, and sports was a huge part of that. I mean, sure you can play select this or premier that, but are you going to have a crowded gym of your peers behind you and the pride of winning FOR YOUR SCHOOL on the line? I guess girls sports don't always get the crowded gym, so maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe you'll grow up thinking, oh, I played soccer, but I was actually too good for the school team, so I played premier and that was fun enough.

How can you know when you are 7 that you only want to be the best basketball player ever and not that you actually have the talent to be a state champion high jumper? Unless track has changed, also, when I was growing up, you didn't figure out you had a talent at high jumping until you tried it because you didn't want to run, but still wanted to be on the track team in the eighth grade.

Then I look at these girls and think they can't all be doing it because their parents want them to. Some of them have to LOVE it themselves. You can make a kid do something, but if that innate desire isn't there, it's not going to keep them interested. I've always been so excited for Alex that she is actually pretty good and that she does love sports and that we don't have to cut down on anything because she's also a great student. I've always told her that if her grades suffer, we have to cut out some sports. Would I have the nerve to do that? Do these parents that invest all this money and time for their kids to play this level of basketball or soccer care about grades? Or does the sport take precedence? What is the ultimate goal, a college education? Because you can get a scholarship, but you kind of have to have at least a portion of a brain to go to college.

I guess I saw firsthand back in Oregon when I used to type papers for spending money. I typed this paper for this running back, Elliot. I was so impressed with his paper. When I told him that I thought it was a great paper, he said, Oh really? Good. The unmistakable impression being, of course, that he hadn't even read it.

I don't know that I'd do anything different with Alex. Maybe not encourage soccer so much... but she loves the game and she's told me more than once that she likes that it keeps her in shape. I guess if she wanted to drop everything and head to Auburn four times a week for basketball, I'd really have to put some thought into it.

Passing on a Love for Lippy...

My family is full of Bonnie Bell Lipsmackers people (aka "Lippy"). I converted my daughters when they were, like, 2. Granted, Alex (13) has moved on to other, glossier, more colorful brands, but she will always love the original Lippies. For Christmas we always have Lippy in our stockings, even in my husband's. I have a gladware container in my drawer next to my bed full of lippies so that in the middle of the night, if my lips are dry, I don't even have to open my eyes, I just reach over and grab one. I have to say, my very favorite flavor is Fanta Pineapple. You can't even buy it alone. You have to buy it in the soda flavors package. But when I manage to grab Pineapple, even if I am still more than 3/4 of the way asleep as I put it on, I always register that I got lucky and got the Pineapple.

I grew up skiing every Saturday, first lessons for about eight years, and then off on my own. That was back when Lipsmackers came in the jumbo size with a cord attached so you could wear it as a necklace. I had the chocolate mint. I know that sounds kind of gross, but it was awesome. I mostly got the chocolate mint because it was sort of mint green on the outside and kind of matched my ski outfit. I'm not even sure what my favorite flavor was back then. I know I had more than just the chocolate mint, though. Whenever I smell that smell, it takes me right back to the Bierstub on Big Mountain during lunch. I don't think I'm the only person who would flip out if Bonnie Bell ever started making some of those old flavors and selling them in jumbo again.

They do make jumbo lippies, maybe once a year, but they're not in necklace form and there's only maybe four flavors. Every time I find them, though, I buy a bunch. When I first found them in a WalMart in Gig Harbor, I went back a week later and bought 12 of them. The girls included one in every birthday gift for the next six months. They also had to keep one of every flavor for themselves, though, so I did have to go back a couple of times. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm glad they both carry on this obsession, even if they do temporarily fall for the glitz and gloss of other brands for a while. Hey, I was a Carmex girl in college. We all stray.

Still Can't Figure It Out

For some reason, one time when I was logging into this site to add a post to my blog, I entered my email address incorrectly. I added a space before and after the "@" sign. Before I figured it out, I had clicked the "Remember Me" button. Then I realized my mistake and went to correct it, deleting only ONE of the spaces, before clicking on the "Remember Me" button again. So now whenever I go to log on, no matter how many times I type in my correct address, sans SPACES, and then try the "Remember Me" again, it doesn't work. I have to choose one of the incorrect addresses (I usually pick the one with one space -- call me lazy) and delete a space. Then for good measure, I usually click "Remember Me" again, which doesn't work AGAIN. My sister told me where my passwords are hidden on my computer, which I never knew and admit would have been VERY handy in the past. As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I STILL CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT. But I'm very worried about myself, mentally, and the effect this will eventually have on my state of well-being. I really want to win.

Plectron

When we moved out to the country when I was in seventh grade, we were unable to get any T.V., local, cable, antenna or otherwise. There was no digital back in the old days... My parents finally got cable, unfortunately long after I had moved out. With that T.V. came a whole host of other problems, i.e., setting the clock, plugging in the VCR, setting the clock on the VCR, you get the picture. My sister used to "borrow" the VCR and then return it without plugging it in, thus ensuring my parents would never use it again and she could have it. My brother swears that scene in City Slickers where Billy Crystal is trying to explain setting the clock on the VCR is from a VERBATIM transcript I must have prepared shortly after starting court reporting school. But I digress. One day while we were home visiting, my dad says, "Where's the plectron? Who has the plectron?" Well, since we had never HEARD that word before, we proceeded to calmly question him as to what this plectron might be. If you know my dad at all, you're totally not surprised he called the remote control a plectron. The funny thing is, though, that he didn't actually make up the word. There is such a thing as a plectron.

A Plectron is a specialized VHF/UHF single-channel, emergency alerting radio receiver, used to activate emergency response personnel, and disaster warning systems. Manufactured from the late 1950s, through the late 1990s, by the Plectron Corporation in Overton, Nebraska, hundreds of thousands of these radios were placed in homes of first responders across all of North America.

also ~

Noun

1.

plectron - a small thin device (of metal or plastic or ivory) used to pluck a stringed instrument

Chi-pot-el

So I'm standing at the deli counter at Safeway the other day ordering Eric some lunch. The man next to me has ordered some jo-jo's with dipping sauce. The girl behind the counter says to the other lady working there, "Are we out of the chipotle (pronouncing it chi-pot-el) ranch sauce?" The lady didn't hear her, so she says it again. Chi-pot-el. Unless you live under a rock with no T.V., you KNOW how to pronounce chipotle. Plus, unless you assume this was her first day, FIRST HOUR, of her new job at the deli at Safeway, she should know by now that the chipotle ranch dipping sauce is NOT pronounced CHI-POT-EL. Stuff like this tends to drive me near to insane. Thank god she didn't have to spell it.

The End of the Weekend

Last night was the Father/Daughter dance. I had to sign them up for the last session, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., because the earlier ones were full, so I did worry that Samantha wouldn't make it till the end. They came tearing into the house at 10:15, clutching their carnations. Their picture turned out really cute. Dad said the girls danced almost every dance, which would be a major difference from last year. Although, I couldn't confirm that fact, because when I mentioned it to Alex, she wrinkled her nose.

Alex's soccer team won both games this weekend. The game today was up in some Capital Hill neighborhood in Seattle that I've been to before for baseball games. While the team warmed up, I decided to pop down the hill to downtown Seattle and hit a bookstore for a spell and buy some new reading material. I ended up driving around downtown for about 20 minutes before I headed back up to the soccer field. No way am I going to spend $8 to park for an hour so I can spend $8 more on a book. I know growing up in Montana and now living in Buckley has left me somewhat jaded about what the allure of the city might be. I don't get why it would be better to buy something at the "downtown" Nordstrom or Macy's when you could run to the mall and park for free and get the same thing. Plus, I'm sorry, but downtown Seattle is full of weirdos.

Weekend, so far...

Well, this weekend Alex has two state cup soccer games. Normally, I suppose this would be exciting, but in this instance, I'm hoping for a quick exit from the tournament. Soccer has been going non-stop (she even had a practice January 1st, the only team there) since oh, I think April? Let's just say I'm pretty over it. They are guaranteed four games. I think the first three are for seeding purposes, and then after that it's loser out. Eric went to her game today, mostly because the game tomorrow is in Seattle somewhere at 1:00. In case this hasn't occurred to anyone, the Super Bowl is at 3:00. I mean, I pay little to no attention, AT ALL, to NFL football, and I'm not even sure who is in the Super Bowl, but even I like a good Super Bowl party. So I've found somewhere for Samantha to spend the afternoon (seeing as how there's like a 95 percent chance it will rain at some point during the game), and I'm sucking it up and taking one for the team, me being the person who will take Alex to the game, sit and watch and support her, and shuttle her home afterwards.

Right before Eric left for the game, he said, "I suppose the girls may want to go to dinner tonight, huh?" I seriously had no idea what he was talking about. Then I remembered, tonight is the annual Father/Daughter dance in Enumclaw. Yee-haw! I totally forgot. So I think while they are all at the dance, I just may don my very best sweats and mosey on down to the local theater and check out a movie. Or I may just stay home and lay in bed and switch the channels on my new flat-screen 32-inch bedroom TV around and around and around, since there is nothing on and I'm too lazy to get up and put in a dvd. Either option, Yay Me!

Wham! Rap

My sister posted the Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go video, which, admittedly, is SLIGHTLY embarrassing for George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, compared to this. Hello. If you've ever watched some vintage Take That videos, I'm not sure this even compares. I read on a comment board once where this woman said she didn't know whether to be horrified or amused. This is one of those "hormusing" examples if I ever saw one. When Wham! was big, I LOVED Andrew Ridgeley, not realizing that George Michael, the singer/songwriter, was the gay one anyway. I know I've had a few of those "I wish I could reach back in time and slap myself for doing this" incidents, although I can't speak for the guys. Maybe they think their brief foray into rap wasn't so bad... You be the judge.

Whose Idea Was This?

Soccer in January. Enough said.

Legitimate Black Eye

Alex got kneed in the eye at soccer the other night. I wish we'd have taken a picture the next day, but I was pretty sure she'd never let me, so I never asked. Last night I was kind of teasing her and I said, How often are you ever going to have a legitimate black eye, which if you think about it, is probably not very often. So she let me take the picture. It sort of just looks like eye makeup on one eye, but it was actually pretty purple the day before. She even had kids ask her why she put makeup on only one eye. I don't know what I'll do if I start seeing kids running around with makeup on only one eye. Oh, she also got her finger jammed the same night and there is a black line on there also, but the picture didn't turn out. Also, that's Tugger, who doesn't have a black eye, but just loves her some Alex...

Vomitorium

So the other night when I ran upstairs to check on Samantha to discover that she had puked all over the down comforter on my bed, her pajamas, my floor, Eric's shirt, then some on the bathroom floor as we ran to the toilet, then some more on the back of the toilet seat, I remember thinking, "This place is like a vomitorium."

A vomitorium (plural: vomitoria) is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre, through which crowds can "spew out" at the end of a performance. A commonly held, but false, belief is that Ancient Romans designated spaces called vomitoria for the purpose of actual vomiting, as part of a binge and purge cycle.

So you see, my bedroom/bathroom was actually NOTHING like a real vomitorium. My room was more like a room covered in vomit.

I.Could.Pee.

This is hysterical. I could watch seven minutes of Jerry doing the T.C. laugh, except that I WOULD pee myself.

I found this while searching stories on the death of Heath Ledger. Sad.

Even though I think this screws up the margins, I have to post it. It's too funny.

Heredity

So every now and then, your child may do something that causes you to think, Hm, she must have gotten that particular talent/skill/habit/malady from me/her dad/grandpa, etc. Well, I discovered last night that Samantha has gotten my out of control coughing (at night) that I grew up with. To lay a little background, I used to cough so much at night, my mom (sorry for this, Mom) used to give me cough syrup followed by a shot of Everclear followed by a cracker chaser. I always joke that it wasn't till I was in college that I learned a cracker is not a proper chaser for a shot of alcohol. You should use, instead, either a swig of beer or juice or pop, something that goes down quickly, not a saltine that you have to chew up and try and swallow, all the while gagging on the 100 proof Everclear your mother has just given you whilst you bathed. Since I know there's no chance CPS can come and take me away, since I no longer live with my mother, I feel like it's okay to tell this story. It was a different time back then. We always laugh about how my mother smoked and drank while she was pregnant. Live and learn. So a shot of Everclear was not probably all that shocking.

Anyway, Samantha has had an AWFUL cold. It's possible it might even have been the flu, although I grew up believing there had to be vomit for it to be the "flu". But I kept her home from school on Friday because she was a little warm, and Monday was MLK Jr. Day (which, for you people in Montana who don't acknowledge it, is the day the rest of the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday). So I'm thinking it's all good for school on Tuesday. She went to bed at 8:30 and by 9:30, I knew there might be a coughing issue. Finally, my husband went to sleep in the guest bedroom and I went up to sleep with Samantha. She had actually already had a shot of Nyquil, but I thought, Hey, my mom used to give me cough syrup AND Everclear, so I'm thinking another shot of Nyquil might not hurt. Samantha loves medicine, also, so she popped right up for the Nyquil. I had to run downstairs to finish up some laundry and when I got back, she had coughed herself into puking. If you know her history, I'm actually shocked that she hadn't thrown up WAY earlier. She's got a horrid gag reflex (also from me), and it was not uncommon for her to be nervous about something at daycare and to throw up about it. The lady who watched her, Kimberley, wouldn't even bother calling me to tell me she threw up. She'd just tell me when I picked her up at the end of the day.

Anyway, she finally quit coughing around 2:00 a.m., thus allowing me to sleep as well. This morning I thought to myself, there has to be some new methods for dealing with coughing somewhere. I know from personal experience that cough syrup is a scam. The best thing is to knock yourself OUT. But I thought I'd check out some alternatives. There was one website that suggested rubbing her chest and back with warmed coconut oil or try a necklace of garlic. No lie, a necklace of garlic. And it doesn't even give any solid reasoning, just that garlic is good for so many things, you might try this. I think I'll stick with the Nyquil, but if I end up trying the Everclear, I won't be writing about it till she's 18.

UPDATE: My mother read this entry and called me demanding that I change it to read that it was a SPOONFUL of Everclear, not a SHOT. So much better. I still love you, though, Mom... For those of you outside of Montana who have never heard of Everclear, it's 100 proof alcohol that tastes somewhat like I'd imagine fingernail polish remover might taste. Chase it with a cracker!

Wahoo

80 words

Touch Typing online

Typing Test

So now every time I log on to work on my blog, I take the typing test. I am obsessed. I THOUGHT I typed a lot faster than that. 79 is the most I've ever gotten. It's always above 70, but I think 76 was the closest I've come since then. Man, what a downer. And now I have to spend the whole day typing...

Typing Test

79 words

Touch Typing online

Friday

Well, we decided to keep Samantha home from school today. Her cheeks are rosy and she's warm, plus she has almost lost her voice. So she's laying in my bed upstairs watching my new TV. Every now and then she calls me to "come up here", which due to my back situation, is not easy. So I usually yell back, "Are you sure you need me up there?" Yes. So I get up and stretch and try to stand upright for a minute or two, then trudge up the stairs. When I got to the top the first time, I had to stay for a few hands of Crazy Eights. The second time the urgency was to ask me if, when I go to the store around noon for root beer float supplies, I would also get whipped cream for the top of the root beer floats. Serious stuff. I asked her how she thought the party that they are probably having at school because she is gone is going. She didn't buy it. She knows me too well.

I am working on a six and a half hour hearing. The hard part is getting it stroked in on my machine. I will be working diligently, and the next thing I know, I'll be on some website somewhere with no idea how I got there or why I'm not working anymore. I must have multiple personality disorder, which seems to be going around, i.e., Britney "Batshit Crazy" Spears. I hate the people who say it's all the paparazzi's fault, that they hound her too much. Maybe she could stay home sometime instead of going out every single day, making the rounds to all the gas stations and fast food joints. I'm just saying.

My sister got me turned on to this blog, which rules. She also does a cooking site, and everything she cooks looks WONDERFUL. I'm going to try two of her recipes next week. I'm also going to make some cookies that she posted directions to tonight.

Rethinking the Accent

Now that Britney "Batshit Crazy" Spears is running all over town causing her usual havoc, but doing it with a British accent, I'm kind of rethinking my resolution.

Back Pain

So almost exactly a year ago, I started working out at Curves. Up until then, I had had chronic back pain for about two years. It was, I'm sure, a result of my job and carrying all my gear all the time the same way. I always carried my stuff hanging off my right shoulder, so to compensate and so my stuff wouldn't slide off, I always leaned toward the left. The marshalls in my building used to taunt me that I'd have back pain when I was older. Fine. Done. It started one year on the way to Montana when I rode the whole way in the back of the van. It went off and on for a couple of years until, like I mentioned, it became pretty much every day for a year or so. Then I joined Curves and the pain was gone in a month. So I've been back-pain free for a year. Until Sunday. I think I sort of started aggravating it a month ago when I had a cold and started sleeping on two pillows, I'm sure at least 8 inches off the mattress. After my cold was gone, I kept doing it. I noticed last week that a couple of times I'd wake up and feel a little something in my back. But I ignored it. Until Sunday. I was eating breakfast with Samantha and reached for something and that was all she wrote. It's loads better already, but still painful. It's like this is how my thinking in my brain would look if you were to write it all down:

MY BACK IS KILLING ME.

let's see, what do I need to get done again? oh yeah, that one, um transcript that was due, when was it December? oh, that's funny, I said December and I meant January. what was I, um, ah, thinking about again? oh, yeah, that Steinberg transcript that -- hi kitty, kitty, what are you doing in -- hey where did I put my phone, oh, right here, um, in front of me. what was I thinking again? oh, doesn't Mr. Maring owe my money? where did my phone go? oh, um, right here. what was I going to do today? oh, yeah, some work, wasn't it?

So you see, it's really hard to CONCENTRATE on anything but my pain. So why shouldn't I spend the whole morning in bed, is my question to you? I'd do a fancy poll like my sister does, but I don't know, um, how to.

Persuasion

Masterpiece Theater ran a new version of the movie Persuasion last night, the first movie in their Jane Austen series. While I loved the first movie version of Persuasion, I LOVED this version. This is definitely a movie I will watch over and over and BAWL. See, I rarely cry the first time I see a movie, but after watching it over and over (i.e., The Sound of Music), I will know what's coming and cry and cry. I would NEVER go to watch S of M in a theater nowadays, what with Captain von Trapp singing Edelweiss at the music festival and all. I had a few minor complaints about this version of Persuasion, one being the ending. If I remember correctly, in the previous version, Ann and Wentworth decide to be together, but no one finds out about it until a family dinner that evening when her creepy cousin tries to tell everyone she is marrying him, only to have Ann announce she is going to marry Wentworth. That was a huge payoff, to see the looks on people's faces who thought she was just a spinster and only good for babysitting or watching sickly relatives while the younger girls get to go socialize to find a husband. It is just shocking how badly Ann is treated by all these clueless people who persuaded her not to marry Wentworth eight years ago because he had no money and no title, but now that he's back with money, he's a huge catch and she's a spinster. The only thing wrong with this clip is it doesn't convey how heartbreaking the first 45 minutes of the movie are. It seems like there is NO HOPE for Ann, and everyone loves Wentworth. And Rupert Penry-Jones as Wentworth, hubba-hubba. I first saw him a few years ago on MI-5. He took over for Matthew Macfayden (who, by the way, played Darcy in the Keira Knightly version of P&P). I know some people (Jana) preferred MM on MI-5, but I love Rupert. Every Sunday night on Masterpiece they'll be showing a new Jane Austen, except for P&P which will be the definitive version with another of my top five British actors, Colin Firth. With Jane Austen around, who needs writers?

Kindergarten Pictures

Since I mentioned Sam's kindergarten picture in an earlier post, I thought I might want to show you what I was talking about. Now see if you can pick out which one is Sam... The weird thing is that Alex used to wear her hair like that all the time, but Sam never does. I just put her hair up like that because I thought it might stay nice for the picture. I didn't even realize they are almost the same picture until I was putting Sam's in our big white picture book and happened to glance back at Alex's. Cue creepy music.

New Year's Resolution

The other day I was at Curves, and we have this monthly goals board now, where you write your resolutions and once they're achieved (monthly), you get to move the post-it to the Achieved board. I know most people were submitting their fitness and health goals, but keeping up with my blog is also one of my goals, so I included that as well. I was talking to my sister later, and I said that I wondered how weird people would think I was if I put one of my resolutions is to perfect my fake British accent. See, it's not your typical resolution, and I think it would be totally cool to be able to pull that out and use it whenever you want. Why can't it be my resolution? Anyway, this is one of my new favorite songs, and when you're singing along in your car, you can totally do the accent.

My Girls

Lately, both of my girls have really started being particular about how they look in pictures. Samantha has decided (after her school picture experience, which is cute, but she did smile kind of funky) not to show her teeth any more when she smiles. Alex panicked three or four times over Christmas vacation because we were wanting pictures and "her hair hadn't been straightened". So even though I could possibly be in real trouble for doing this, this is how much fun the girls had the day they finally got to sled in Montana. I just love these pictures!

I have to give my sister credit for these pictures -- she's become the queen!

The Summit

So I finished Everest: Beyond the Limit the other day. I was actually glued to the TV for the second to the last episode, and I couldn't imagine how the last episode would top it. Everyone in the group managed to summit, but the DRAMA. One guy, who had been kind of a problem, always doing things his way, which was usually LATE and at his own speed, actually BROKE HIS HAND on the way up, IN TWO PLACES. So he decides he absolutely has to continue on to reach the summit. The main issue is (as the voice-over guy has told us time and time again) that once you reach the summit, you are only halfway there. Just because you reached it alive, doesn't mean you automatically get to live. Anyway, this guy made it back down with the help of the guides and the next episode had the asthmatic and this 71-year-old Japanese guy summiting also. I figured they probably might not be showing this stuff if one of these guys actually died, but maybe they would. They showed other climbers who had died. Everyone had to actually pass a couple of bodies on the way, and the camera showed one over and over. This was a totally exciting series, which also wasn't too long. I may actually look into renting the first season, and I'll definitely be watching the third.

Windy? Ah, YES ...

So my sister's blog has the local weather on it as a page element on the side, which I think is totally cool. She's been trying to tell me how to add the weather to my blog, but here's the problem I have with that (other than the fact that I've been unable to figure it out). The Buckley weather on WeatherBug comes from a station at Bonney Lake High School, which is at least ten miles away. So this morning, the wind has blown over my FULL garbage cans and the lids are nowhere to be seen. The Buckley weather on WeatherBug says that the wind is 2 miles per hour. The local weather on the WeatherChannel.com site says it's gusting to 19 miles an hour. I'm no sort of wind expert, but if you ask me, I'd say 35 or so, gusting even higher. I had to run out of the house and gather the garbage cans after they picked up the garbage for fear I'd lose them, also. So until they put a windometer right outside my house, I don't think I'll bother posting the weather on my blog.

Back to School

So it was back to school today for three of the Fiedlers, and back to working at home all by myself, with an occasional appearance by one or both of our cats, Tonks and Tugger, just to remind me that they don't care that I'm here and actually don't need me at all, except that they can't reach the bag of cat food and don't like to use the litter box unless it's relatively clean. Alex called to let me know she forgot her gym uniform, so I had to race Samantha out of here early to drop it by her school. Then I had to again teach my kindergartener that no, she can't stay home with me anymore and that she will be attending school an average of five days a week, except for summer, for at least the next 12 or so years.

I honestly don't understand this little power struggle thing Samantha has started pulling on me the last few months. It goes something like this. Eric will ask if it's okay if the Grahams and the Meaghers come over on Saturday to watch the Seahawks. Both of these families have kids that Sam has grown up with, albeit mostly boys. I told him that yes, that would be fine, but I HAVE to go to Alex's soccer scrimmage, so he'll be on his own, with Samantha, until that's over. So approximately an hour after overhearing this exchange between me and her dad, she starts in. She'll come up behind me and almost whisper to me, "I really want to go watch Alex's scrimmage," which is complete bull. It will most likely be raining, if not pouring, and windy as hell, this being winter in Washington and Buckley. Since we've done this so many times lately, I immediately snap. "Don't be ridiculous. I don't even want to go to the scrimmage. It's going to suck and be really cold. You're staying home with dad. All the kids will want to see you, and you need to stay here." About an hour later, same thing. After three or four hours, I really have to hold myself back. I asked her if she was planning on worrying about this until Saturday, in which case she will for sure have given herself a huge stomach ache. I KNOW that she will end up having a blast with all the kids here. She's been pulling this same thing for months. Basketball, she doesn't want to play; Emma's house, she doesn't want to go; New Year's with her cousin, she'd rather stay home. But I make her go and then have to drag her home later when she doesn't want to leave. I think she thinks some people make her uncomfortable, but they really don't once she's there and relaxed.