Signs of Summer

Ahhh… life is good! It finally feels like summer is beginning to arrive. The sun was out all day. It was warm enough to shed the jacket and run around in a t-shirt. Brad is home (and hasn’t begun his full time work schedule yet.) And at least one of his buddies is always hanging out here. (I missed those guys!) There is so much activity around the house these days, though I’m sure by the time they go back to school in August, I’ll be ready for peace and quiet again! (And then I’ll be boo-hooing all winter because I miss him. I know, I know!)

I would have loved to spend my day soaking up the sun, but I had too much running to do… volunteer at school, grocery store, Target, etc., etc. But, I FINALLY got to go watch Kacey play softball. It was the first game I got to see and the last game of the season for the freshman team. They were playing for first place in their conference. Kacey did a great job catching, had a couple of good hits and took a pitch in the back (OUCH!) They ended up losing the game and the season is over. The summer softball season gets underway….. on SATURDAY when the girls play their first tournament of the season. Guess what I’ll be doing ALL DAY on Saturday? And most of Sunday too, I guess.

Friday night, the high school is holding their annual Relay for Life fundraiser. It’s an amazing event and the school is usually one of the top fundraisers in the country. Jake and Kacey have both joined teams and will spend all night on the high school football field, taking turns walking the track with their teammates, raising money to support cancer research. They have to be there at 4:30 Friday night and don’t leave the field to come home until 7:00 am Saturday. Brad was asked to work security for the event too, which means all three kids will be out of the house for a whole night!

Oh… and remember the softball tournament that starts on Saturday? The girls have to be there at 8:30 am. Most of the players will have been up all night at Relay for Life. It could be a LONG day.

And if you’re looking for a buyer for that oceanfront property in Arizona….

There was a bit of excitement around our house on Monday.

First, the background. I miss out on seeing most of Kacey’s school softball games due to the fact that the freshman team’s games take place around 3:00 pm. At that time of day, I’m looking at two more hours inside the walls of my cubicle. I am usually provided with game highlights after I get home.

Now the point of the story. On Monday, Mark was at Kacey’s game. Kacey has been playing catcher, although she’s never really played that position before. She usually plays 2nd base. The team needed a catcher and she was willing to do it and apparently could hold her own, so she was awarded the position of catcher. As Mark was watching Monday’s game, a woman standing next to him looked at him and asked, “Do you know the catcher’s name?” Mark said, “Yes. It’s Kacey. She’s my daughter.” At which point the woman informed him she was a college scout!

I sat in awe for a few moments. I knew my girl was a smart player, but I had no idea she was playing so agressively that a college scout would be coming to see her play!

Mark let me revel in my excitement for a few moments before he admitted that the woman was actually looking for the varsity team’s catcher and hadn’t realized what she was seeing was the freshman game, NOT the varsity game.

When will I learn that nine times out of ten, my husband tells me things like this just to mess with my head? Maybe when he tires of the resulting smack on the shoulder? 

Happy Birthday, Kacey!

Fifteen years ago today, my baby girl came into this world. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl, and it didn’t matter. We had begun to think that one more boy might be easier, since we had two already, but when our little darling arrived, we were thrilled beyond belief. I broke down in tears of happiness as the doctor placed her in my arms for the first time.

Contrary to the way her brothers had arrived, (very, VERY slowly,) Kacey came racing into our lives. I had been waiting at home, timing the contractions and trying to guage whether or not it was time to go to the hospital yet. I must have had myself convinced that the pain would get infinitely worse and I had hours and hours of labor to go yet. I waited so long to announce that I was ready to go to the hospital, that within a half hour of our arrival, our baby girl was born. She gave us a scare that first day. She had arrived so quickly that she had trouble maintaining a normal body temperature and there was some concern about her heart rate. Soon enough though, everything leveled off and she was perfectly healthy and beautiful!

Kacey was always so curious about the world around her. The pictures of her first days at home show her looking all around her and her tongue is always sticking out! She began talking very early. At about two years old, she held a comb in one hand and a brush in the other. Holding the comb forward for me to see, she asked, “Mommy, when this grows up, will it be a brush?” As soon as she could run, she would go stand at the end of our hallway, count to thirteen and shout, “GO” as she raced down the hall.

Growing up with two brothers, it’s only natural that she wanted to do what they did. When she was five years old, I asked her if she wanted to sign up for gymnastics classes. She answered me with a voice filled with disdain. “I don’t want to do GYMNASTICS! I want to play SOCCER!” And so began her love of sports. Over the years she has not only played soccer, but t-ball, softball, volleyball and basketball. Any hopes of seeing my little girl in a dance class wearing those adorable sequined outfits soon went out the window.

Kacey was always part girly-girl and part tomboy. When she was about four years old, she wanted a fishing pole, just like her brothers. But she soon discovered she didn’t like the actual fishing part as much as she liked to collect the colorful rubber fishing lures. Soon she had her own tackle box and would spend her time sorting through all the colors and organizing them in the compartments. At the same time, she couldn’t have enough baby dolls and spent hours playing house and pretending she was the mommy.  There seemed to be a neverending supply of baby dolls, barbie dolls and later on, American Girl dolls.

Kacey has always been very social. She’s always on the go. At school, she is always involved in activities like student council, Relay for Life, drama productions and school dances. In her spare time, she is always inviting friends over to the house, having sleepovers and going to parties, the mall or the movies.

My girl has a heart of gold and is always concerned about fairness. She wants to be friends with everybody, and when there’s a division among her friends, she always tries to bring the two sides together. She’s got a creative imagination, is an excellent student and is a talented writer. She’s not happy if she doesn’t have a good book to read at all times and she loves to cook, bake, draw, paint and do any kind of craft. She’s always a willing shopping partner, always happy to be silly with me, and no matter how grown up she gets, she’ll always be my baby girl.

Happy Birthday, Kay-Dice! I love you!

 

Sick Day

I called in sick today. When the alarm went off, I got out of bed and tried to convince myself that I could go to work. The slight dizziness combined with the pressure behind my eyeballs, however, convinced me otherwise. And if there was any doubt left at this point, it was all cast aside when I heard what remained of my voice as I left a message at the office.

I was definitely justified in calling in sick. So why did I still feel guilty? I shouldn’t have to remind myself that there is no one at work who would prefer to have me coughing and sneezing my disgusting sick germs all over them as opposed to staying away and playing it safe. I had to argue with myself a few times before I conceded to going back to bed for a while.

Later on, I got out of bed and I realized that staying home because you are truly sick, SUCKS! I don’t do well with doing nothing. I spent a while sitting in the recliner reading blogs. When I had read everything in my reader, I did some laundry until I was too worn out to keep going. Then I sat and watched Mad TV with Brad and his buddy who assured me he wasn’t concerned about being exposed to my illness. (Mad TV is stupid, by the way. The two boys actually slept through most of it. Rockin’ times here at our house!) Then I decided I was hungry, so I made a pizza, ate two bites, and realized, pizza doesn’t taste so good when you’re sick. I cleaned up the kitchen, got worn out again and went back to relax in the recliner until I couldn’t sit still any longer.

I suddenly had what I thought was a brilliant idea. On Saturday, I bought a new lighter for lighting candles because the one I had before had mysteriously disappeared and is not to be found. I decided to ensure that the new lighter would get put back in its proper place should anyone decide to take off with it again.

I was either overtaken by boredom, or being sick was making me slightly delusional. (Is there any doubt? I even took pictures, for crying out loud!)

I am SO going back to work tomorrow!

It’s Mothers’ Day and my head is threatening to explode

Seriously!

When I awoke this morning, it was painfully obvious that I am sick again. My sinus cavities made it very clear that I would not be feeling well today. What is the deal? This is the second time in a three week span that I have become ill, on a weekend no less! I guess that’s what I get for boasting all winter long about how I never get sick.

So a change in plans was in order. We can’t go visit our moms today. It wouldn’t be fair to expose anyone else to my sick germs. 

It’s not all bad though, being stuck in the house. I’ve been relegated to my bedroom with my laptop for the time being. (Ok, ok. Twist my arm!) And it’s given me the chance to reflect on all that I have to be thankful for.

• I am privileged to be the mom of these three spectacular kids.

• My oldest is home for the summer. We drove to Fargo on Friday to pick up Brad from school and on the drive home, we talked about his freshman year at college. I am so thankful that he loved college, in spite of some of the difficulties he experienced. He described how sad he was those first few days to be away from his family and best friends. He had a roommate who was not always so easy to live with. (Rumor has it that the roommate never once washed his bedding or gym clothes and there was a permanent foul odor in the dorm room for the last several months.) But Brad managed to do well in his classes and he made some very good friends. He has already rented a house for next fall, along with four other guys. No more dorm rooms for him! He also secured a very good full time summer job and is anxious to get started. And although he’s happy to be home for the summer, he’s looking forward to going back to school in August. I love that he is so motivated.
• Even though I can’t go visit my mom today, she only lives one block away, and I can easily go see her whenever I want as soon as I’m feeling better.
• I can’t go visit my wonderful mother-in-law today either, but she is only a few miles away. When we are able to go visit her, she won’t be surrounded by the rest of her very large family and we will be able to enjoy some one-on-one time with her.
• Since we are all stuck at home today, my family gave me the best Mothers’ Day gift I could ask for. They rented a carpet cleaner and have spent the day scrubbing all of the carpets in the house!

And now, since my eyeballs are threatening to pop out of their sockets, I need to go take another hit of my drugs. I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Priceless!

This is one of my most favorite pictures ever. Eight years ago, during our annual visit to the Minnesota State Fair, our family was wandering through the Midway, taking in the sights and dropping our jaws in awe at many of the rides. None of us are thrill seekers. My kids don’t “do” thrill rides; at least not the really daring ones. They tend to stick to the milder, fun-but-not-so-scary rides.

As we came to the back end of the midway, we happened upon a rollercoaster ride called the Crazy Mouse. Mark wanted to give it a try and asked all three kids if anyone wanted to join him. Brad declined, but Jake and Kacey decided this ride didn’t look so intimidating and excitedly agreed to give it a shot. At this time they were only nine and seven years old, respectively.

Brad and I stood in front of the Crazy Mouse and watched the other riders spin and dip and whip around the corners of the tracks. We wondered if Jake and Kacey knew what they had gotten themselves into. When we finally saw them at the beginning of their ride, we watched in hopes of seeing their reactions but it was impossible to tell from our position below the ride.

Luckily, we soon realized there was a booth at the exit of the ride where pictures of all of the riders were put on display. Apparently there was a camera positioned on the ride at the point where each car hit the steepest drop on the tracks and a picture was taken just as each car began its descent.

When Brad and I saw this picture, we at first felt a little bad. It was obvious this ride was not what the kids had anticipated. But soon we were laughing until tears were running down our faces! The look on each of the kids’ faces is one of sheer and absolute terror, while Mark is completely oblivious to the fear they were experiencing. The cost of the picture was steep, but having this memory of the kids’ ride on the Crazy Mouse is priceless!

The Anti-Meme: The You-You!

Admit it. You hate memes. Sure, they’re kind of fun to play along with. When you have nothing of substance to write about, fear not! Just complete one of the gajillion memes with which you’ve been tagged. (You KNOW there are at least two of them still hovering around in your drafts waiting their turn for publication.) They’ll get you through another day or so until some kind of thought provoking or humorous post weaves its way into your brain.

But then there’s the flip side. You’ve been tagged. You don’t want to let your tagger down and so you complete the meme and try to comply with all the rules. The real dilemma comes when you get to the end of your meme and you have to tag and link four, six, eight or twenty other bloggers, thereby forcing the obligation of participating onto them. Who should you tag? Will the tagg-ees be irritated? Will they be happy to participate? Have you tagged that person one too many times? Will those who weren’t tagged be offended that they weren’t chosen? (Ha! Not likely!)

I can’t believe someone hasn’t thought of this before and it comes as no surprise to me that Rock Chef dreamed this up. After all, he has a vivid imagination and even dreamed of yours truly as a Super Girl type superhero!

Yes, that’s right. It’s the anti-meme! It’s the YOU-YOU! Here’s how it works:

• Design an award; something like the one above.
• Post it our your blog and challenge other readers to do the You-You.
• Readers who have accepted the challenge watch for events in their lives that remind them of the blogger who posted the You-You.
• Readers then blog about the event and claim the award.
• The best part? There’s no tagging! Anyone or no one may choose to participate at will!

I’m claiming Rock Chef’s award and here’s why:

There’s a special meaning behind Rock Chef’s chosen blogging name. He’s a talented musician (and I’ll have to take his word for it since he has YET to post any video or audio proof of his talents. AHEM! Rock Chef? Still waiting patiently here!) He loves to cook these fantastic dishes for his family while blasting his favorite tunes as he works in the kitchen. The last few days have found me working towards doing some actual cooking for my own family. (I mean, besides heating up a frozen pizza in the oven.) Sunday night I was preparing a meal, (which we all planned to eat. Together. At the table even!) My laptop was sitting on the table and the browser was still open to Rhapsody where I had been diligently downloading every favorite tune I could think of for my new mp3 player. The kids sat and talked with me while I prepared the food and played some of the songs I had added to my playlist. It suddenly occurred to me that our rocking-cooking session was much like many of the episodes Rock Chef has describe on his blog.

So… if anyone wants to take a stand against the dreaded meme, I’m offering up my You-You award. Is there something going on in your world that reminds you of ME? Are your kids shooting soft air pellet guns in the house while you’re out? Are your pets doing their best to destroy your carpeting with their uncontrollable bodily functions? If so, you’re a candidate for my You-You award. Grab it if you want or don’t if you don’t. Either way, you’ll be joining the rebellion!

Because I DON’T WANT cottage cheese thighs! That’s why!

Dear Coworkers,

I’m calling a moratorium on the treat-bringing-inage. I must ask you to cease and desist with any and all “goody days.”

No more coconut cakes or blueberry cream cheese bars.

No more donuts with sprinkles or chocolatey frosted brownies.

No more tortilla chips with salsa con queso.

Please refrain from bringing in those tiny Toblerone chocolate bars from your trip to Mexico. (Besides, Toblerones are from Switzerland, not Mexico. But don’t be confused. I don’t want your Mexican chocolate either.)

And to the woman who is buying those giant Sam’s Club, clear plastic containers of cheese balls because you want the empty containers for use in your garden?  (I won’t even pretend to understand this concept!) Please stop putting the cheese balls out for public consumption. I get that there are actual gardening containers that are similar to the cheese ball containers and I understand that they are more expensive than the container of cheese balls. But please allow me to offer a bit of advice…

Buy the giant container of cheese balls. AND THEN THROW THE DAMN CHEESE BALLS IN THE TRASH CAN!

I’m sorry to all of you who are celebrating birthdays in the coming weeks. I hope you won’t mind if the celebratory snacks consist of carrots, celery sticks and rice cakes. I just have to insist that we quit with the high calorie treats. 

And yes, obviously… it IS too much to ask me to excercise some self control and this is why I’m INSISTING that you quit with the culinary temptations already.

Why? I’ll tell you why.

‘Nuff said?

Crazy Eights (and Sixes)

I was tagged by Jamie from Bumps in the Road: A Country Girl Trapped in Yuppie Hell.  The meme is called Crazy Eights and requires the writer to list… you guessed it…. eight random things.  Jeni from Down River Drivel tagged me with a similar meme but only six items of randomness are required. I figure I can kill two birds with one stone on this one! 

Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 (or 6) random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 (or 6) random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 (or 6) people and include their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.

Here are my random facts:

1. I just got my first very own mp3 player. (Yes, I’m a little behind the times here.) It came with a one month free trial subscription to Rhapsody. The kids have ipods and buy their music from itunes. Since I have to pay per song with itunes, I make them ask permission before downloading any songs unless they have gift cards. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that with Rhapsody, you pay a flat monthly fee and download all the music you want every month. Since I have a free month and unlimited access, I am downloading every song I can think of that I have ever wanted. (I’m starting to lose steam. Suggestions welcome!)
2. I’m ticked off at my flower garden. A year ago last fall, I planted hundreds of bulbs, very strategically, and had visions of a full and colorful garden that would provide new blossoms at various intervals throughout the summer. I’m not sure if the bulbs rotted, or were dug up by little critters or what, but all I got were a few hyacinths and a few things I can no longer remember the names of.  And WEEDS! Got plenty of those! Screw the bulbs anyway. Last weekend I went to the local garden center and consulted with a gardening expert. What I left the store with is a bunch of seeds; perennials, to be more specific. So that means they should grow back year after year, right? I hope so.  I got a butterfly mix, so hopefully we’ll attract some butterflies this summer. I also bought Foxglove seeds. We had seen some Foxglove at our local conservatory and really liked them. Supposedly they will grow in our zone. We’ll see. And I can’t forget to sprinkle mothballs in gardens containing anything the rabbits might feel inclined to munch on. Bunnies don’t like smelly mothballs and we have plenty of bunnies. So hopefully I’ll have a pretty garden this year, even if it is stinky.
3. I’ve decided I need to make a much better effort at planning meals. I have to find things I can easily make in a crock pot, prepare ahead of time or make quickly when I get home from work. We eat like college students at our house. It’s disgusting. Today, at work (shhhh… don’t tell) I was browsing the internet for easy to prepare meals. I learned that my knowlege of food is extremely limited. I had no idea before today what arugula or olive salad were. Good thing there’s Google!
4. There’s a girl at work who is making me crazy by commenting on the way I dress. Our office has a casual atmosphere and we have little contact with outside customers. Jeans are my norm, especially when it’s cold in the office, which is always. In the winter it’s cold inside because the heat is never high enough. In the summer, it’s cold because the air conditioning is set too low. This girl is really trying to compliment me by telling me how good I would look in some of the latest fashions and she’s always saying I have the “right” body type for some of these things. But it’s getting to the point where she stops by every day to let me know I should be wearing different or brighter colors and how she “almost” bought me something over the weekend. I don’t think I should have to explain to her about my clothing preferences or the fact that financial priorities have something to do with it. Her comments are beginning to have a non-complimentary feel to them.
5. I can barely operate my own cell phone. I have a pink Razr and I chose it because it was free when we renewed our plan. This phone has a mind of its own. Recently when I tried to set the ringtone to vibrate, rather than vibrating when a call came in, I would hear Kacey’s recorded voice saying, “Motherrrrrrr….. pick up your phone! GEEZ MOM! Pick up your phone!” And then it would vibrate once. Jake’s friend was over on Saturday and after seeing that he too had a Razr, I handed him mine and said, “Can you fix this?” He did. He played around with it until he got it to work correctly, but couldn’t explain how he made it happen. I can’t operate my stupid cell phone, but I can wipe a hard drive and reinstall all of the appropriate programs on my computer. Isn’t there something wrong with that?
6. I can’t for the life of me remember why I ever wanted pets. I love my pets, but of the three, there’s a geriatric dog with a bladder control problem, a skittish cat who meows incessantly at me while I’m trying to get ready for work because he wants his treats, but I’m not allowed to touch him and he stays hidden for the remainder of the day. This cat has a tendency to overeat and then hock up the contents of his stomach in the foyer where everyone else in the house pretends not to notice it. He also feels the need to kick kitty litter well beyond the perimeter of the litter box. There’s also a fairly good cat who is wonderful in all ways except she loves to torment and chase the skittish cat, making him howl and screech. I am constantly saying that there will be NO MORE PETS when these are gone. Ironically, when I went to Petco last weekend to pick up some food for these pains in the ass wonderful, furry creatures, I saw a woman walking out with a beautiful dog and the first thought that crossed my mind was, “Awwww… I WANT one of those! Wait a minute! NO I don’t! What am I thinking?”
7. I’ve recently realized that once a child leaves the nest for college, things will never be the same. Brad is coming home this week for the summer, but is planning to work a full time job, a part time job, play 19U baseball and spend quality time with his friends. It has dawned on me that I’ll probably notice the food disappearing faster and an increase in the laundry, but chances are that I won’t be seeing a whole lot more of him than I have for the past nine months while he was away at school.
8. Did you know there’s a movement asking everyone who supports our troops to wear an item of red clothing every Friday as a show of support? I’m trying to remember to do this every week. It’s a simple and easy way to support our troops.

Ok… so that was like 8 mini posts all in one! If you’ve lasted this long, my gift to you is that I am not tagging you! As always, feel free to borrow or steal this meme if you’re so inclined.

Dear Son,

I love you. You know I do. But can we talk about a couple of things?

(He looks so sweet and innocent, doesn’t he?)

Now, I understand that accidents happen. I suppose I should have come outside to investigate when your buddy came over and a loud thumping could be heard from inside the house. I suspected there was a ball being tossed against the garage, but I was preoccupied and didn’t rush to see what was going on. After all you are seventeen and can should be trusted to make wise choices. But it’s possible that your 15 year old buddy who is over six feet tall and likely over 200 pounds might need a friendly reminder that sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength. After all, who’d have thought a tennis ball could do this?

Let’s take a closer look at that, shall we?

Now, I want you to know that I am very proud of you for coming clean about this little mishap in spite of the fact that you were of the belief that Dad was going to kill you. Honey, Dad wouldn’t kill you for this. It’s the garage. We don’t even really look at it all that much. Besides, Dad saves the killing for serious offenses, like crashing the car.

So, what I don’t understand is that since you were so concerned about being killed by Dad over the breaking of the slats on the garage, why wouldn’t you think twice about what other kinds of offenses might get you in trouble?

You see, when I leave the house for the evening for a nice relaxing girls night out, I expect you to act like a somewhat mature 17 year old. What you fail to understand is that we mothers have a sixth sense. We know when you’re being stupid. You didn’t think I’d know you were shooting the soft air pellet gun in the house while I was gone, did you? But I knew. It’s that sixth sense.

Oh yeah… there’s also the damning evidence:

If you’re going to shoot the soft air pellet gun in the house, at least pick up the neon green pellets after you’re done so I can go on believing that you are a sweet and obedient child. Help me out here. Just a little. Ok?