First day of fall Baseball season.



Daniel LOVES baseball. Ben would be happier if there was more action--too much waiting around for something to happen. I agree with him! But Ben, at least, it determined to be good at it and has been practicing his throwing and hitting. Daniel's a better natural athlete and hasn't had to work too hard at it yet. We'll see if he keeps with it when he needs to practice!

But he's not competitive or anything...

After only 10 days--look ma, almost straight!

What can you get for $1700? Hopefully a straight smile...

BAAA...

I've been tagged to do this 25 Things thing at least 3 times and TAUNTED about not doing it once (I'm talking about you Rochelle!) so here you go:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. [Yeah, I'm not going to tag people. Do it if you want to].

1. I'm annoyingly noise sensitive. I cannot STAND to have a lot of noise and chaos around me. I feel like a terrible mom when I yell at the kids to keep it down even when they're just making happy noises.

2. I'm terrible at facial and name recognition. I'm always talking to people who know me and I have NO IDEA what their name is, even if I've talked to them every day for months.

3. I love teen fantasy fiction. My life is drama enough--I want ESCAPIST, easy-to-read literature. Keep your depressing literary giants and give me Harry Potter, Charlie Bone, anything by Tamora Pierce...

4. I feel like my two kids drive me insane sometimes, but I really wish we could have had more.

5. I mourn the daughter I won't have.

6. As much as I believe that we all have a responsibility to help each other and especially those less fortunate than ourselves, sometimes I just want to smack some people upside the head and scream at them to do better (this one copied directly from Shannon's list. I agree!).

7. I am really afraid that my kids will grow up and not call me and I'll die lonely and alone. Most of the men in my life don't have good relationships with their mothers...

8. I really would like to lose weight but I never seem to be able to start. Every time I tell myself I'm on a diet I binge eat. I should probably get therapy.

9. I bought a WII fit for myself and have done it 3 times since Christmas. I blame my hurt ankle, but really I'm just not motivated.

10. Self-awareness sucks.

11. I miss my job, but not going to a job. I was good at my job and I'm a terrible house-keeper. It's difficult to be motivated to do a job you hate that will just have to be done again tomorrow anyway.

12. I wish the boys would sit down to pee.

13. I'm a crier. I cry at sappy commercials, I cry in arguments, I cry if I'm happy, I cry if I'm sad. I cry in therapy. I cry at the mall. I need stock in a tissue company...

14. I'm a total Joss Whedon devotee, but I don't think that Dollhouse is going to be any good. I hope I don't jinx it!

15. I'm not religious, but I do believe that if my sports team is doing a bad job it's 'cause I'm watching and I'll turn off the game so they'll win without me watching. I have amazing jinxing power!

16. I have never understood why people like shoes. I have 5 pairs of shoes--3 pairs of Birkenstocks and 2 pairs of sneakers. Last week I only had 4 pairs of shoes but the orthopedist made me buy a pair of expensive motion-restricting sneakers. They hurt my feet.

17. I hate living in a place where everyone is just looking out for themselves and no one seems to care about anyone else. People don't hold the door, steal your parking space, cut you off in traffic. Why can't we just get along?

18. I don't believe in god but I worry about raising moral children without the help of an established framework. I send my kids to bible camp but feel like a total hypocrite when they want to share what they've learned with me and the best I can manage is a "some people believe that". I wish I had faith, but I just don't.

19. I love rollercoasters but HATE spinny rides.

20. I love to play games but don't usually care if I win. I will cheat to lose if it means we can play longer. I usually let my kids win at games. But it ANNOYS me to lose at trivia. A 12-year-old beat me by guessing at trivia at Chuck-E-Cheese and I HELD A GRUDGE!

21. I'm a really picky eater, and don't want to try new things: especially if the ingredients are mixed up or it looks like it might smell bad (not that it DOES smell bad, just that it MIGHT smell bad). I can't eat soup at all, even if I make it--everything is touching!

22. I really think my oldest would benefit from homeschooling, but I don't think I could do a good job of it.

23. I really wish my family and friends were closer but I'm a terrible phoner/letter-writer/emailler and don't do things to keep in touch to make it happen.

24. I HATE HATE HATE to write, but I will do research all day if you let me. I love the satisfaction of succesfully ferreting out some missing piece of information...

25. I really wish I had stayed a librarian and not gone to law school. I wanted to know I was smart, wanted to save the world, wanted I don't know what. I basically crippled myself financially and wound up not practicing law anyway. I would have been happier if I had just stayed a researcher. I hope I figure out something to do that makes me happy in this next work incarnation...

There 25 things. It didn't kill me after all!

Week 4--Hockey, SNOW, Pinewood Derby, and a little crafting.
So, guess what we did in week four? Yep, played some hockey! Outdoor pond hockey to be exact, in 20 degree weather. C-O-L-D. I had to give my mittens to Ben to wear under his hockey gloves. I still like the pond hockey games, and will miss them when the boys move up to squirt. Older kids lift the puck too much and have to play on bigger ice with a net. This is Ben's last year on the pond--Daniel has two more before he ages out. We also had Pinewood Derby this week. Both boys' cars were way under the weight limit, so they didn't win. Partially my fault--I decided that if they didn't want to work on the car WITH me, I wasn't going to do it without them. I knew they were light and could have put weights on but they weren't helping, so... Bad mom ALSO didn't even bother to GO to the Pinewood Derby--went scrapbooking instead. They'll probably be scarred for life. But at least I'll feel guilty! I also did manage a little crafting this week: finished these little fat book pages for a quilted page swap. Pattern is friendship heart. They're fiddly and need precision cutting. Paper is not as forgiving a quilting medium as fabric. But they turned out pretty. I look forward to getting the finished squares to make my sampler. And Finally, SNOW. Not much for us--about 2 inches, but it was enough for a snow day from school and a little sledding. Mom fell down on the ice and tweaked her knee, but I'll live. I wish I were brave enough to sled down the hill too--but I fear death and broken bones. No such fears for the boys!

Project 365 update--

Yeah, so, I fail at this take a picture every day thing. It's PRESSURE to perform! I can't take it! But a friend last week told me I don't HAVE to TAKE a picture every day, I can CHOOSE a picture and just wind up with 365 at the end. Creative interpretation of the rules--I can do that! SO here are the images from week 3. This week was DOMINATED by hockey. Ben played in a tournament, Daniel played in a "Jamboree" (an 80 minute game!) and basically we just were all hockey all the time. Ben's team, coming back from disappointing start to the season where all their games had the mercy rule applied, WON ALL of their tournament games to take the trophy! Whoohoo! The tournament outcome literally came down to the last minute of the last period of the last game. I think I shall need a valium prescription to go to any more tournaments in the future! And look--in spite of all the hockey mom actually managed to finish something crafty. In this case a surprise ball for a swap. It's a ball of craft goodies all wrapped up in different ribbons and string. We will all open them together around Valentines and enjoy "sharing" the wealth. It was a fun, but expensive project. All those little things really add up! I hope my recipient likes hers...

Bowing to peer pressure, I have been tagged

ANSWER USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to tag the person you received it from!


1. Where is your cell phone? LANDFILL

2. Your significant other? STRONG

3. Your hair? GRAYING

4. Your mother? AMAZING

5. Your father? TALENTED

6. Your favorite thing? CAMERA

7. Your dream last night? SCARY

8. Your favorite drink? TEA

9. Your dream/goal? LIQUIDITY

10. What room you are in? DINING

11. Your hobby? ART

12. Your fear? HOMELESSNESS

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? HOUSEOWNER

14. Where were you last night? HOME

16. Muffins? PUMPKIN

17. Wish list item? HOUSE

18. Where you grew up? VIRGINIA

19. Last thing you did? DITHERED

20. What are you wearing? CLOTHES

21. Your TV? DUSTY

22. Your pets? CATS

23. Friends? RARE

24. Your life? CHAOTIC

25. Your mood? TIRED

26. Missing someone? DOROTHY

27. Car? DYING

28. Something you're not wearing? HAT

29. Your favorite store? SCRAPBOOK

30. Your favorite color? BLUE

33. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY

34. Last time you cried? TODAY

35. Who will resend this? YOU

36. One place that I go to over and over? FACEBOOK

37. One person who IMs me regularly? DON

38. My favorite place to eat? REDLOBSTER

39. Why you participated in this survey? PEERS

40. What are you doing tonight? HOME

41. Favorite animal? CAT

42. Beach or Mountains? BEACH

43. Cake or Pie? CAKE

44. You? TIRED

I'm not sure what they have against food critics, but it was apparently a fun game. It's a "snow" day here, but the slushy ice is no fun to play in so I've got 6-10 kids in the house at any given time. Sorry about the bad lighting--they'd been playing for 10 minutes or so before I remembered I had Ben's vidster nearby, but it's a kid video camera with no lights. At least they're not fighting with each other...