We Almost Won

We had our first Flag Football game on Saturday and it was awesome. Ok, look, I admit that I really had some doubts about our team before the game. Watching them at practice, I didn't have much confidence that they would even be able to perform, at all, come the first game, but boy did they surprise me. Watching them play during a game, too, helps to show each player’s strengths and weakness and where and what we need to work on for the next game, etc. Let me just say right now, I think my son is absolutely awesome. He has a hard time focusing during practice, so again, I thought that game day would be a disaster, um, no. In fact, pretty much every time Joe touched the football he made a touchdown. Not only did he make FIVE touchdowns (it would have been six if he hadn’t gotten turned around and run to the opposing team’s end zone), but he had 5 touchdowns for 6 carries. Jon estimates that he ran about 275 yards during the game, and he even got someone else’s flags while playing defense. He almost had 3 more flags, running down and catching up to the other team’s runners, but he couldn’t seem to run that fast AND pull their flags. I am just astounded by how fast he can run, and it seems so are other people with all the comments we got after the game. Joe was definitely the MVP of the game. His teammates did a great job, too, and for many of them it was their first game, ever, so they really pulled it together. We would have won, too, if the other team hadn’t scored on the last play of the game. They beat us by one point. It was a lot of fun seeing the parents really pull together and route for each other’s kids. For those of you that know us, you know that we started Joe out in soccer---BORING! When Jon found a flag football league that offered 3-4 year olds, I was doubtful, but it is SO much more fun than soccer. I just wish more girls were interested in it as I love watching the kids come out of their shells and develop this astounding confidence in what they are doing, I think that would be such an asset for our girls today. There are several now, and I fully plan on getting Joci in on the action, too, but I think a lot of parents still feel that need to separate girls from football. Oh well, maybe that will be my goal, to get more girls to join.

Getting a good stretch and warm-up going, led by Josh's older brother, Zach.

A photo-op created by Coach Hooge for all the photo-hungry parents.

The first play of the game and Joe's first touchdown. Can you believe how badly he smoked them?


Here's Joe just after he pulled the other team's flags.

This is one of the few times someone almost caught him. Poor kid ended up face first on the field, he was tough, though, he didn't cry.

Another Hilarious Palin Spoof!

I also saw a split screen with the actual interview on one side and this spoof on the other, and sadly, it's not very different. Most things that are said by Fey, were ACTUALLY said by Palin in the original interview...SCARY!

A Quick Photo Shoot

Picking Berries

Christmas Advent Calendar

A great (!) idea for an advent calendar. I saw it first on tip junkie then followed her link to splitcoaststampers. I am SOOOOOO going to do this!http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/736163

Little Girl Hairstyles...

If you have a little girl and are jealous, like me, of those Mom's that do their daughter's hair immaculately, then check out this blog...This woman is AMAZING!
http://hair4myprincess.blogspot.com/

Randy Pausch Memorial @ Carnegie Mellon

Hundreds of stuffed Tiggers occupy the seats in Rangos Hall on the Carnegie Mellon University campus in preparation for a memorial Monday, Sept. 22, 2008 in Pittsburgh for professor Randy Pausch. Pausch whose 'last lecture' became an Internet sensation has been remembered for urging people to do more than they thought they could and to have fun doing it. He died of cancer in July, 10 months after giving the lecture that touched millions of people worldwide. During his last lecture, Pausch said, 'You just have to decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore. I think I'm clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate. Never lose the childlike wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us.' (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Why Men Shouldn't Babysit...

I was sent this photo recently in an email again. It is one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it...

Eyes, Attitude, and Crispy Bacon

Have you ever had anything happen to your eye? If so, I am very, very sorry. If you haven’t, be happy that you have missed out on that particularly unpleasant experience. Lately, I’ve been having some issues with my eyes, mostly due to my blood pressure, which I’ve been working closely with my doctor to manage better than I was. So, I’ve had to see a retinal specialist. Now, supposedly the retinal specialist that I see is considered to be one of the best in the state, which is great, but is also not so great in another area…waiting for your appointment. My appointment for a re-check this morning was at 10:30am. I finally left his office at a little past 12:30pm. I think I probably saw the doctor for a total of 2 minutes, and the pre-screener maybe 5 minutes. So, for the other hour and 53 minutes I sat on my rear end and waited, with a lot of older people. This wouldn’t be so bad; in fact at first it was nice to be able to read a new People Magazine – the one with John McCain’s ‘family’ in it – but for the second half of my wait, after they dilated my eyes. You can’t do anything with dilated eyes, but sit there and listen to the elderly flirt with each other. Anyway, after all that, there is some good news. My bleed is almost completely gone and I don’t have to go back to his office for another year – yippee! Anyhow, all this is made even more uncomfortable by my memory of having a corneal tear, thanks to Clay, our boxer (dog, for those of you that don’t know). Yes, that corneal tear was more painful than ANYTHING else I have ever experienced, including childbirth (via c-section), and kidney infections (which are just hell to get through). If you’ve ever had a corneal tear, I am so sorry for your pain and suffering as it is excruciating.

Alright, so now I’m rambling. Let’s go on to more funny subjects.

Joci, my sweet baby girl, is convinced that when she does not want to hear whatever it is that I have to say that she can just tell me, “You no talk to me!”. It is the funniest thing to hear her tell me this so sternly, and of course, it is accompanied with a nasty look thrown my way. A great one that I heard last night at my parent’s house was when she was telling Dad something and followed it up with “So Mommy not get mad at me”. Then Jon confirmed that he’s heard that a lot. I hope she’s not saying it because I’m so hard on her, which I definitely am not. Jon is much more strict with her than I am, but I never hear such things about him, oh no. If there’s a boo-boo, or Jon is out of the house, she wants her Daddy. Little stinker! I guess what they say about Daddy’s Girls are so true!

I was so proud of myself this weekend. I made Jon buy some more ink for the printer, and thus was able to finally finish up at 3 more scrapbook pages. I only have a couple more pictures to add to the pages that I did about Joe in flag football last season, and then that will be another one done. The next layout is going to be about Easter, and it should be a behemoth. I have a ton of pictures that I have no idea how I will be able to pare it down, so it will probably several pages, and…that’s ok! I’m really happy that I’m getting back into crafting. I had really missed it while I was ‘away’. I will try to remember to take some pictures of the pages to post here sometime soon.
On Sunday we went over to my parent's house. Mom had been down at her friend's house near Tucson over the weekend and I think that Dad had started to feel lonely, well, that and he hadn't seen the kids in two whole weeks! He made the best prime-rib for dinner that I just devoured, it was so awesome. The kids got to play in the spa, they helped Grandpa water the plants, and they 'hunted' for bunnies with their flashlights. We ended up staying the night, which I always love doing there. I feel like that is my time for someone to kind of take care of me and I don't feel as much pressure to be 'on' all the time and entertain the kids. Plus, it's always nice to wake up to a hot breakfast with crispy bacon...yum!

A Great Cartoon about the FDA's BPA plastic ruling

Flag Football Practice and Bleu Cheese Burgers

Well, Jon really pulled through and had an awesome practice yesterday, I am very proud of him. We were missing one player however, and not surprisingly, the one missing is the one we have had some behavioral (he likes to push and shove) issues with. I hope that they don’t remove him altogether as I believe one of the best things for a child is to belong to a team. It teaches them how to share and interact, and that not everything is all about them. Plus, they make friends in the process and you always have plenty of kids to come to a birthday party. Ü
Joci and I had fun too. At first we went over to the playground, where she effectively stood up for herself against a little bully that was trying to keep her from going on the equipment, all while his Mother watched him and said nothing…grrrrr. Then she just wanted to go and sit on the little basketball court and she let me take some great pictures of her. When we were walking back over to the practice, though, she saw her little friend Lexi (Lexi’s brother was on Joe’s team last year, he moved up to the next age bracket and his coach practices on the same field as we do), and so she was gone with Lexi for the rest of the practice. Back and forth, back and forth between Lexi’s Mom and I. I just love that she has her own separate little friend away from daycare and away from Joe, all to herself.
After that we went over to our friend’s (the coach of the other team) who is right across the street from practice and Jon grilled the bleu cheese burgers that we brought (if you get a chance, go to Sprouts, they are awesome!). They were absolutely huge and so delicious! By the time we left I was exhausted. I was ready for bed no long after the kids had been put down.

Focus and a 10lb Diaper

Ugh! I am feeling a bit like the 3 year olds on our flag football team today – unfocused. I am having a very hard time concentrating on work and forcing myself to really fly through the stuff I have to do. I would so much rather be at home working on my new scrapbook pages. I got a couple of dimensional elements last night at the store after my pedicure. Speaking of which…

I went to a little nail place by the scrapbook store last night and was shocked as I watched one of the ladies that work there bathe her little toddler girl in one of the foot spas. No, I’m not kidding. That was while I got a 10 minute pedicure and a half hour leg rub…??? It was a very odd experience to say the least. It was one of those reminders that there are often very large divides between different cultures.

Anyway, back to football. Jon has really been going over some new strategies and working hard on ways to get the kids focused. He got a coaches board and some new red cones, and has completely reworked what and how he is going to do practice today. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out for the better.

On a different note…

Why can’t ‘they’ make diapers that will actually hold the amount of pee that my toddler can? Two nights in the last week Joci has completely filled and broken the levee of her nighttime diaper by morning time, and yes, I made sure to change her before bed. These things must weigh a good 10 pounds each; I’m just flabbergasted that she could have so much liquid in her. This morning while checking on her before getting in the shower I see she has a huge wet spot on her bed…thank goodness for pee pads. I have to wake her up to take a shower with me so I can get her cleaned up. Now, waking this girl up is a big no-no. You only want to break that glass in emergencies because world war III will begin directly after. I finally get her calmed down and now Joe wants to get in, too. I can just see the minutes on the clock spinning away, faster and faster. Why does it have to take so long to get the kids ready in the mornings? All my best laid plans seem to fail. The only one that I haven’t tried yet is, gulp, getting up earlier myself…ugh. I am so not a morning person. Maybe I’ll try it tomorrow morning, wait, haven’t I said that before?

Mmmmm.....I'm going to have to try these sometime soon...

HAM AND CHEESE BUTTERMILK BREAKFAST MUFFINS
Start to finish: 45 minutes (20 minutes active)Servings: 12

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2teaspoon baking soda
1/2teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 large eggs1
1/3 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup thinly sliced scallions (about 1 bunch)
1 cup diced ham (6 ounces)
1 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1/2cup finely diced red bell pepper (1 small)

Heat the oven to 400 F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or line it with muffin cups.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pepper, salt and cayenne pepper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and butter. Stir in the scallions, ham, cheese and bell pepper.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and use a rubber spatula to mix until just moistened. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan (the cups will be very full).
Bake the muffins until the tops are browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife and transfer the muffins to a cooling rack. Serve warm.
To store, individually wrap the muffins in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to a month. To reheat, remove the plastic wrap, cover the muffin in a paper towel and microwave on high for 30 to 60 seconds.

Gobble Gobble Craft

Here's another little craft that I took some inspiration from. However, I think I am going to turn it into a kid craft. I am going to save my toilet paper rolls, because I'm always trying to come up with a good thing to use those for, and mount some chipboard letters on them. The kids can paint the rolls, the letters, and the turkey. Then I think I'll probably make the feathers out of their handprints and paint those too. What do you think?

I love, love, love finding inspirations or interpretations like this. Kind of like that Diane Von Furstenburg commercial of her taking a picture of twigs reflected in a pond, and her turning that into a beautiful fabric (recently used on project runway, by the way).

Getting Back into the Routine of Football

Today is the closing to a very busy week for us.

This last week we started our second flag football session for Joe, age 3-4. We are the Steelers again, which is good since we still have all the gear from last season. We had our first two practices, and let's just say, they went ok. We have a lot of very young players on our team, with Joe being our oldest (and fastest). We have had a couple of defiant attitudes, a couple of physical outbursts, and a complete lack of focus. To say we had a frustrating first week, would be to put it mildly. I am trying to keep Jon on track and not get too down-hearted about it, reminding him that it was just the first week. Hopefully, we can encourage more of the parents to get involved, and also inspire the boys to focus a bit more. If you have ANY suggestions, I would love to hear them.

We also had our first sleepover at our house. Sooooo cute! Our little friend Bennett, a teammate from Joe's last session of flag football, came to stay the night. They did pretty well, except for poking holes in the little card table at breakfast and breaking the ceiling fan in Joe's room. The cutest thing, though, was they all slept in the big Spiderman tent in the Playroom, including Joci. Last night the kids got to make and grill their own pizzas, then this morning Jon made them french toast and bacon...yummy! I admit that I was happy when Bennett went home, it's a good reminder of why we are stopping at 2 kids.

SNL: Fey and Poehler as Palin and Hilary

Absolutely Hilarious! If you haven't seen this yet, enjoy! Fey does a point-on Palin, and Poehler is great as a 'slightly' bitter Hilary. I actually laughed out loud.

29-13

I am a Chicago Bear’s fan. Yup, I love ‘Da Bears, when I should really be routing for the Cardinals (gag) or even the Colts (I’m from Indiana). But, I love the Bears. My husband is from Chicago, yes, I knew this when I married him, and he introduced me to being an actual fan of an actual sport team. In my family while growing up we hardly ever watched sports. My Dad liked racing, but that was about it aside from the occasional Superbowl. So having a sports nut for a husband has been a stretch for me, except when it comes to the Bears. I even remember when the Superbowl Shuffle came out and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Now it is a memory, and sadly so is Walter Payton, my all-time favorite player…the way he moved (thank you youtube) was pure poetry in motion. I am very, very happy that ‘Da Bears won Sunday night against the Colts (my brother’s favorite team). So I got to rub it in a little, which of course, makes it even better that they won! Jon taught me how to find Brian Urlacher (my current favorite) on the field whenever he was playing. I really like Urlacher’s playing style, and like Jon says, Hester is always fun to watch when he gets the ball too.

So, Bear down Chicago Bears, da da da, da da da, da da da da…

Crafts To Do:

A couple of Amazing ideas from Martha Stewart that I definitely want to do.

The first is envelope sachets! What a great idea for the left over lavender I have from the eye pillows that I made not long ago.

The other is a little bathroom caddy made out of a large handtowell. I thought I would make one for each kid and hang it behind the door in the upstairs bathroom for their stuff.

The F-Bomb!

Joe officially dropped the F-bomb on Friday (9/5/08). I figured it was a long time coming, after all, we all know that Jon is fairly generous with that word! Just the week before Joe used ‘my’ word – crap – and Jon kind of got on me about how Joe definitely got that from me, etc. So, anyway, we were cleaning under the couch, and those of you that have young kids can probably understand how mind boggling it is that so much, ahem, crap, can hide under the couch. Joe looked at something we found and clear as day says, “How did that ‘effing get down here!?”. Of course, we laughed, for a long, long time. But, then we were good responsible parents and had to explain how only adults could use that word, etc.

Happy Belated Anniversary to Me!
I can’t believe that it’s been 6 years since this…
Jon and I played this anniversary nice and low key, no gifts, not even cards. My parents were awesome enough to take the kids overnight on Saturday so that we could go and do whatever we pleased. While I was in the shower Joe got dressed himself, and then picked out what he thought Joci should wear…

After dropping of the kids, we decided to stop at Buca de Peppo for appetizers and drinks. Their calamari was awesome and I really liked the frozen peach belini, although I have to admit that I do prefer Macaroni Grill’s Bellini. Then, um, I tried a Lemoncello…ugh! Where or where was the lemon? It definitely was not in the turpentine that I drank. Ok, so I know that I’m not much of a drinker, but, really, who could drink that? Yikes, it was nasty! Anyway, after that cough, sputter, it was on to our favorite sushi place, Temari. We only had a couple of rolls, since we had eaten a bite at Buca, but my oh my they were so good! The spicy scallop sushi is now my favorite! After that we headed home to park the car and head to a little local bar to have a few more drinks. The walk there was lovely, and surprisingly, NOT hot! Jon and I had a great time chatting until a Beer Bus came in, and then it was time to go. I just couldn’t take all the yelling and partying after such a fulfilling night. We decided to walk over to Walgreens and rent a few movies from the Red Box and then walk on home holding hands.

The best part, I have to admit, was being able to sleep in the next morning without being woken up by little toddlers wanting to climb in bed with us or demanding a breakfast bar.

A New Blog!

Yes, this is a new blog. I did not create a new one because I didn’t like the old one. On the contrary, I was really disappointed when I stumbled upon a glitch with some changes that were made at Blogger, and had to create a new blog. I have been ‘saving’ some posts in the meantime, and so I hope you will bear with me while I catch up to the current.

Oh, are you wondering why Biscuits and Gravy? Because that is my absolute favorite meal, and it helps that I make the best that I’ve had. Plus, you can work it into a little metaphor for life, right? Like life gives you biscuits, but it’s up to you to provide the gravy…I don’t know. I’m sure there’s about a million different catch phrases that you could put to that, right? So if you have a better one, let me know!

Competition Always Gets The Best of Me

As posted on my 'other' inaccessable blog...

A couple of years ago I received the best advice I have ever gotten, and it has really stuck with me. My friend, Micheal, was listening to my troubles and heartache and all that I was going through and then gave me this gem that I often have to remind myself of…Nobody is perfect, and I shouldn’t be so hard on myself for not being perfect either. I have a huge issue with comparing myself to others and being envious of how well Everyone Else seems to have their lives together. Maybe somewhere there is someone that looks at me and my life and thinks the same, doubtful, but maybe. Anyway, as I have been looking more and more at all the blogs that are out there and all the fantastically creative people with so much amazing stuff to say, those feelings have been stirred up. I want to have a fantastic blog too. I want to have a blog that someone else thinks is amazing, full of pictures and creative writing and graphics and colors that wow my visitors. Why? Why do I feel the need to compete in this, too? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s fodder for a future counseling appointment, who knows. Either way, I am now making this solemn vow, I promise to make this blog about me and my experiences, whatever those may be. I will no longer compete for the best blog, but simply utilize it as a means of sharing with my friends and family, and maybe some strangers, too. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have created it.