Blog 4 That

Not so incredibly sad anymore

2012-02-14T22:09:00.000-06:00

Start here for the full story....

Even though we did receive some alternate options from our season ticket rep for cheaper seats, I'm honestly not feeling inclined to move.    It seems like there more time I "sleep on it", the more annoyed I get.

We went to the Toyota Center on Saturday night for the Cirque de Soleil Michael Jackson show, and we sat in section 115. That is one of the sections we were given for a cheaper alternative. Granted the TC wasn't set up for a hockey game, but from where those seats are, it looks like we'd be watching part of the game through the netting and part of the game through the glass. Who knows, that may not even be an issue, but it seems like it might be annoying.   We'll have to double check at the next game.

The other seats are across the ice, in the defensive zone.   They are almost identical seats to where we are now, just on the opposite end. That seems like a good option. It would still be a price increase, just not 50%.

We have definitely nixed our current seats, at a 50% price hike, off the list. No way, no how. I'm not paying that. Even if I win the lottery.   Like I told Mr. Burke, it's not about the money. We can afford it, but I cannot and will not support a 50% price increase. I think that's terrible customer service, and absolutely unfair.

I think at this point, it's more about standing up for what I believe is fair/unfair. I know my 2 seats won't really make much of a difference to Mr. Burke or the Houston Aeros, but it's about principle.

Aside from that, there are other factors we needed to consider.

Our oldest boy is heading off to Texas Tech in August. We are planning a few weekend trips to Lubbock for football games and visits with the boy.   I know that'll add up to be more money than what we'd pay for Aeros tickets, but when you mix in the time we'll get with our boy, the money isn't an issue. The Aeros don't offer me anything aside from the game on the ice and some goofy giveaways that mostly go in the trash.

Also, hubby has a race truck, which he likes to take to the race track on some Fridays and Sundays. During the hockey season, we obviously go to the Aeros games because we've already paid for that.   If we don't already have our weekend committed to the Aeros, he'll get more time for his racing. It's something he does with his brother and with our boys, so it's good family fun.   He is building memories with the kids. The Aeros don't offer us that either.

Hubby and I also want to attend at least one hockey game in every NHL arena over the next few years. When we're trying to plan that around the Aeros schedule, the kids activities, and racing, we don't have many spare weekends!! In fact, we've only made it to 2 so far!

When I look at all of this, I wonder if maybe Mr. Burke did us a favor.   He has pushed us out of being season ticket holders for the Aeros, but now we'll have time for so much more.

Next year's activities will shape up a little more like this:

A few Texas Tech football games and visits with the boy in Lubbock
Racing, Racing, and Racing
NHL action, cities TBD
Hockey in Cedar Park and San Antonio
A few Aeros games here and there, if there's time.

You can tell I'm annoyed with the Aeros when it went from tops of my list to the very bottom.

I'm sure when next season rolls around, I'll probably really really miss it. It's not like I'll miss out on any "long-time season ticket holder" benefits or price breaks, so I can always go back if I want to. However, I'm also sure we'll keep ourselves fairly busy with all the other things that we'll have time for now that our weekends won't be mostly committed to the Houston Aeros.

ADHD Suggestions

2012-02-13T18:18:00.000-06:00

I've had a couple of people ask me for suggestions on working with teachers/principals on dealing with ADHD behaviour issues.    We've been there.

In my experience, it almost seems like the mentality of schools is that parents should medicate their ADHD kids. I know it probably makes life easier on teachers, but I honestly don't believe that's always the best answer.   There are things to consider, such as: other health problems, grades, severity of behaviour problems, other treatment options, etc.   My suggestion is to make sure you are doing what you feel is right for your child, for your situation. Don't let teachers pressure you one way or the other.

When looking at our ADHD boy, he generally makes good grades.   He "gets it" with his school work for the most part.   His biggest problem with school is conduct - talking too much, not sitting still, etc.   So, in our minds, we would be medicating simply to make him "sit down and shut up".    We've always said that we would reconsider if his grades were suffering, as long as we have explored all options first.

The fun all started for us in first grade.   Hubby didn't get a very good vibe from the first grade teacher when we went for Meet The Teacher night, and he was right. All year, it seemed like a power struggle between our boy and the teacher. At one point, she actually said to me, "he won't break me". WTF is that supposed to mean?! He's not trying to break you. He's only 6 years old!   We had a few parent/teacher conferences, but nothing seemed to make a difference. She wasn't very willing to work with us because she "can't do the same for all 20 kids in the classroom".   We pretty much wrote that year off because nothing we did seemed to matter!   Know that you will run into these teachers. If they aren't willing to move an inch, you won't find much relief, no matter how hard you try.

Second grade was an absolute nightmare!   Phone calls or notes home at least once a week, many times more. This was the year that we got fed up with constant badgering from his teachers, so we took him to a behaviour therapist and ended up with his ADHD diagnosis.   (More on that here, if you're interested)

I sat in the classroom with his teachers for a conference one day listening to this teacher tell me how awful my son is. At one point, I flat out asked her, "do you sit in your chair all day while you teach?", fully knowing that her answer was no.   My point was, as an adult, we still need to get up and move around, stretch our legs, and even sometimes refocus ourselves. Why are we so surprised that kids need to do it too?

One thing that I really like to stress with my boy's teachers is that we need to focus our energy on the positives. Rather than continually changing his conduct color or giving him a sad face on the progress report for the day, give him happy faces when he does well, give him a pat on the back when he's doing a good job or keeping quiet, give him tasks that make him feel like he is helping.    I'm not asking that we totally ignore when he gets out of line. Correct him, redirect him, and move on. Don't make it a huge deal.   You'll find that after months of always being in trouble or feeling like always being in trouble, it becomes a matter of when, not if.   As soon as that first bad mark comes, the day is ruined, there's no reason to try hard to do well anymore. It all goes downhill from there.

Another thing that will help is "chores" in the classroom. We've found that when the work is finished and the kids have to remain quiet is when we find trouble!   ADHD kids need to be busy.   We've suggested things like straightening the bookshelf (if he can do it quietly), watering the plants, doing a puzzle at his desk, etc. Anything that will keep him occupied.   Now, obviously with classrooms of 20+ kids, you can't expect your child to get the extra chores everyday just because he/she is ADHD. We have to take turns with the rest of the class!!

We've even had one of his teachers let him lay down in the back of the classroom to take his tests.   We've had a teacher that puts him in the hallway to take his tests because his can stand up there or even pace if he needs to without disrupting the rest of the class.

Trust me, there are things you will find to ease the pain. It will never be a perfect world, but it doesn't have to be a nightmare either. Work with the teachers and principals to find out what works for you. Take our experiences as suggestions of where to get started.

Be an advocate for your child. You know him/her best and what makes them work! One of the most important things I've learned through all of this is that our boy is not a bad kid. There have been times when we've felt that way. I sometimes get on my soapbox a little too easily, but if I don't stand up for him, or hubby doesn't stand up for him, who will?

Our boy is in 6th grade now. I guess middle school is more his speed because we don't get nearly as many calls and emails now (knocking on wood).

So incredibly sad, a follow-up

2012-02-07T13:06:00.002-06:00

Read this post first... This situation wasn't over when I hit publish on that post!!

After I posted that, David Burke and I continued to exchange emails for most of the day on Monday.    On Monday night, he replied to one of my emails asking if we could set up a time to have a phone conversation.

This morning, David and I talked. I didn't expect him to change his stance, and I'm sure he didn't expect me to change mine. However, I felt like it was an open and honest conversation, giving each of us an opportunity to explain ourselves.

Aside from me being incredibly annoyed at this astronomical increase in my prices, I really do understand and appreciate what he is trying to accomplish. I'm just not sure I like the way he's doing it.   To me, 50% is not a fair increase, no matter what.

However, what I think is really awesome is how responsive he has been and how accessible he is. Most of the time, getting the president of any company on the telephone or to reply to an email seems to take an act of Congress!

David replied to every one of my emails within a few hours, sometimes much quicker.   I honestly didn't even expect a reply last night after sending my reply to his reply.   Although I felt the need to reply to him, I was sure he would be finished with it, and I wouldn't hear anything else from him.   I'm so happy to say, I was wrong.

Customer service is a big deal to me. If I'm going to spend money on something year after year, I want a good product and reliable customer service. I thought it was only fair to post a follow-up to give kudos to David for being so responsive.

I'm not sure where we go from here.   We are getting some additional information from our season ticket rep on different seats at different prices. We can compare that to where we currently sit and decide if it's worth it to make a change. We may even look at cutting back to a partial season. Or, we may go forward with getting some Stars tickets. However, at least I'm not of the mindset that the Aeros won't get any more of my money.   Small victory for David Burke, well done!!

Stay tuned....

UPDATE: What we decided

So incredibly sad

2012-02-06T14:26:00.000-06:00

You probably know, I'm a huge hockey fan and have been a Houston Aeros season ticket holder for I don't remember how many years....

On February 1st, all season ticket holders got an email about tickets for the 2012-2013 season. In that email, it says "...proud to tell you that our season ticket prices are going down..." (italics and underlined just like in the email).    Yay!!   I love when ticket prices go down.

A few days later, we got our statement in the mail... a 50%, yes FIFTY, INCREASE. WTF?   In the games over the weekend, the in game ops people are pushing season ticket packages for next year.

On twitter, David Burke, the Houston Aeros President, posts this:   "I love hearing in-game season ticket renewal drops in February #startearly #bestpractices".

I replied with this the following morning: "I thought 'our season ticket prices are going down'.. Mine went up 50%, yes FIFTY. WTH?".    To which I got a direct message asking me to email him.   So, I sent him an email.

Here's my beef.

#1. You can't slap a 50% increase on people and expect them to be OK with it.   I get that it's a business, and they need to make money.   I expected an increase, especially after the Aeros made it to the Calder Cup finals last season. But 50%?

#2. Don't send me an email telling me that the prices went down when I'm getting an invoice with a 50% increase.    You would think they'd be smart enough to only send that email to those that are positively affected by the so called decrease, not the others.   What a way to cause an uproar with your long time season ticket holders!!

Bad business!!

I did get a reply from him, that basically says "F you. Take it or leave it.". Or, more specifically:

"...Wehave made a commitment that all season ticket holders will be paying the sameamount and that because of their commitment, will be paying the lowest possibleprice. All of our season ticket pricing has been decreased. In fact, one areahas decreased over 12 percent in comparison to this season’s posted pricing.

Thereare situations, such as yours, where people were given a “deal” on theirtickets. I will never question why decisions were made in the past, but insteadmove forward with what we can control now..."

Again, I get it. It's a business. But is it really necessary to hit us with 50% all at one time?    Can't we get there a little more gradually and a lot less painfully?    We are talking about season ticket holders who have been around for years... Why the hell would you just want to piss them all off and take the risk of losing their business.   It's not like the Toyota Center is a sell out every night and people are waiting in line for seats to open up!

For those of you who go to the games, you'll know there's a chant after every goal the Aeros score: "1.2.3. He shoots. He scores. Hey <goalie name>, you suck". Well, on Sunday, that chant was "1.2.3 Hey David Burke, you suck."   I don't lead the chant. I don't have anything to do with the chant. The point is, there are several season ticket holders who are pissed. The question is how many will actually do something about it?

I'm one. We are 2 seats who will not be renewed next season. I know it won't hit David Burke's pockets, but if I don't stand up for what I believe, I can't bitch about it either!   I'm so incredibly sad that I won't be going to Aeros games next season.   It sucks.

So, I got to looking and calling around, and guess who has reasonable prices for hockey... the TEXAS STARS!   Yes, it's a drive. Yes, I'll spend more money in gas.   We have family and friends who live in Austin, so we won't have to worry about hotel expense.   We are probably going to get a partial season for the stars next year, and we'll make a couple trips to Dallas for some NHL action.   I guess this way, it will be a whole lot easier to follow the prospects!

I'm so sad. I feel like a traitor!

UPDATE: A follow up

Management Training Course

2012-02-02T20:58:00.000-06:00

Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel."

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"

"It was Bob the next door neighbor" she replies.

"Great," the husband says, "did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

Moral of the story:   If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders, in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.

The priest nearly had an accident.   After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak."

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out.

The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life..." Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager.

The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story:   Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:   To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree" sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.   The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:   Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..

Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your
friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep
your mouth shut!

Working out... again!

2012-01-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

I needed this today!

It's been a while since I was religiously doing some sort of exercise. I was just starting to feel lazy.   I started a new workout a couple weeks ago, in fact, today is exactly 2 weeks. I'm not trying to lose pounds, I want to tone muscle. This time around, I'm trying out the Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred videos.   I also got her 6-week 6-pack video, but I haven't even opened that one yet.   Let's get through these 30 days first!!

The problem is, there's nothing worse than feeling like you are working your tail off and seeing no results.   I know, I know, it's only been 2 weeks, but I'm not exactly patient!   I'm sure hubby will even tell you I've probably mentioned it a million times over the last couple weeks. He can go for a walk and lose 2 pounds. I can work my ass off and gain 2 pounds.

I'm doing the video 5-6 days a week, and on most days, hubby and I are going for a walk.   I was sore as ever on about day 3... holy crap, my entire body hurt!   In fact, I didn't do the video on day 3 because I could hardly move!!    Day 4 was much, much better!    I did level 1 for a week, then moved on to level 2.   I've done all sorts of workout videos, and even though these are short, they definitely work the muscles!!

I stopped looking at the scale because honestly, it was pissing me off!   My ultimate goal is muscle tone, so I decided the scale doesn't really matter as much as the inches and how the clothes fit!   I measured myself before this all started, but I'm waiting for 30 days to be finished before I measure again.   I'm afraid if I measure too soon, that'll just piss me off too!!

Feb 7th is the 30th day calendar wise. I'm not sure if I'll keep going till I've done the workout for 30 days or if I'll move on to the next one.

Story of my life...

2012-01-23T13:09:00.003-06:00

Watch your words

2012-01-21T15:06:00.000-06:00

Has someone ever said or posted something that really rubbed you the wrong way?    I had that happen to me recently from a Facebook post, and it took everything I had to not post a comment.   I'm not sure why I let things get to me like I do.

This "friend" posted something about other people's parenting styles and their kids.   It wasn't directed at me or my kids, I don't think, but it just kinda set me off.   I get really frustrated when people think they are better parents or their kids are better kids. Every kid and every parent has struggles. No one's perfect.

As I started writing this post, I remembered that I had a similar rant not too long ago about a very similar comment that set me off... I went back to find it and re-read it, and of course it all came back to me. Guess what, this post and that post were triggered by the same damn person!

It looks like I need to re-think who my friends really are!

Think about what you say, or what you type. You never know who may be offended or upset by your words.    If you are a true friend, you won't be the one who continues to knock me down...

I can forgive...

2012-01-20T22:37:00.000-06:00

I've been struggling through some things with my dad & step-mom over the past few months. We've had some heated conversations (fights), and we've all said some things that we'd probably like to take back.

At one point, I was so close to my dad.   We would talk several times a week, many times about nothing in particular. We always got along, and I really did look up to him.   Unfortunately, things have changed because of the influence of other family members, and my feelings toward some situations and behaviors.

My motherly instinct took over, and I was and am very adamant about certain situations and people that I will not allow my children in or around without supervision.   I have a very real fear that there is potential for something bad to happen based on past behavior, not to mention this individual makes me extremely uncomfortable.

The problem is, this particular person, is a family member, which automatically makes others go into defense mode. We went round and round and round because they wouldn't understand my position or my fears, and I wouldn't understand theirs.

Then came Christmas. All of us in one house, the first time I'd seen any of them face to face since all of the fighting started.   It was honestly the most uncomfortable I have ever felt in my father's house in my entire life!   Everyone walking on eggshells, and the family was split between rooms.   It was not fun, at all.

I don't know how to get my relationship with my dad back to where we used to be. There are times in life when you have to make a stand, and to me, this is one of those times.   I don't know that I'll ever trust this person around my kids.   Unfortunately, unless I "get over it" and stop making a fuss, I just don't see how things can return to normal.

They feel I need to forgive and forget. I need to let bygones be bygones. I can forgive, but forgiveness and trust are two very different things.   I do not trust this person, especially when I feel like my kids could be in harm's way.   I don't know that I ever will.

Hopefully time can heal the wounds, but I will continue to protect my children till the day I die, if I feel it's the right thing to do. Sorry Dad.

M.I.A

2012-01-19T06:02:00.000-06:00

Whoa, it's been a while! I guess I've been MIA for a little longer than I thought! I must be enjoying my "down time" right?

I wish that was the case! Work has been brutal with projects going live and year-end activities, and now performance review time. There has maybe been some down time from kid activities since both soccer and football are finished, but not at work!! I've had a frustrating past few weeks, to say the least!

Our youngest one starts soccer again next month, so I'm crossing my fingers that work will begin to level out soon. Otherwise, it's life as usual with 2 kids!! We're half way through the school year! I can't believe how fast it's going. This year has been relatively smooth, comparatively speaking and remembering to mix ADHD struggles in there. My definition of smooth is probably very different than yours, but that's ok!

We've also been spending a lot more time with my hubby's brother & his wife at the race track. No, not the horse track or the dog track! Houston Motorsports Park. My brother-in-law has a green Camaro that he's built from the ground up. Hubby got himself a Chevrolet S-10 that he and our oldest boy have been racing.

There's racing in their blood, and the boys absolutely love that little truck. It's pretty darn fast!! I've had several parents look at me crazy or scold me for letting my teenage son race, and some of you are probably thinking the same thing. I'd much rather have him race in a supervised, legal setting rather than down 45 or the beltway. There are emergency personnel there ready to go if something happens & he has to wear a helmet. His little Altima isn't going to win many races on the street, so hopefully he saves his racing strictly for the track!! He'll be 18 soon. I can't control him forever. I can only hope that we've taught him that there are appropriate times and places for everything, and drag racing doesn't belong on the streets.

Even when he isn't racing, he right in the middle of things! He goes on the track when his uncle is going to race and helps line him and and get him set. It's really fun just to watch him sometimes! Our youngest one isn't old enough to go on the track, so he'll sometimes sit and watch, but he's mostly running around playing with his cousin. It's cheap family entertainment and good quality time for hubby & his brother and the kids!

I'll post some pictures soon. Our boy wants me to take the good camera out and get some shots of him!

The Boy's Soccer... First Place

2011-11-20T09:20:00.000-06:00

Saturday was the last game of the season. I let my boy play, even with his bad knees. I just told him to listen to his body and if it started to hurt, to ask the coach to pull him out. He sat out part of both halves, but he seemed to be ok.

After the game, we all gathered for donuts and trophies. The coach says they landed in first place in their division and scored the highest number of goals of all teams in their division, "by a large margin".

Congrats!!

We'll request to be put on the same team again next season, but the coach warned that he won't be coaching again. He was just a fill in coach for this season because they couldn't find anyone else. Hopefully one of the other 2 dad who helped coach will come back next season and coach them again. We'll see!

"It's only six dollars!"

2011-11-17T06:14:00.000-06:00

My youngest boy gave me a good laugh last night!

You may remember that I had jury duty a couple weeks ago. My $6 check came in the mail last week, and it's been sitting on the counter.

Last night, he told me that he wanted to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Here's our conversation:

Boy: "Mom, can we got to El Rincon for dinner? Kids eat free on Wednesday."
Me: "Sure, are you buying?"
Boy: "No, Dad will have to buy. He has all the money."
Me: "Hey wait a minute, half of that money is mine."
Boy: "No, only a third."
Me: "A third? What do you mean only a third?"
Boy: "Mom, have you seen your last paycheck. It's only six dollars!"

LOL! I love him. He can always make me laugh, even when my week sucks royally!!

The Boy's Soccer...

2011-11-08T23:27:00.000-06:00

So, I haven't posted much about the youngest boy's soccer... I'm afraid his season may be finished.   He's been complaining for the past few weeks about his knees bothering him, so I kept him out of this past weekend's game, not to mention we had a million other things to do!

I've been holding off on going to the doc for his knees to see if they are really hurt or if he's just complaining when he's tired or lazy. You know how kids can be?!   And, I figured if it was something serious, he'd be non stop complaining!

It seems to have gotten worse over the past week or so.   He was in tears last Wednesday night because they hurt so bad, and he's been sleeping on his bottom bunk because it hurts to go up and down the steps.   So, I took him to the orthopedic doctor this morning.

They did about 8 x-rays, then we saw the doc.   He's got bone chips just below his knee cap, that are causing some of his pain, along with some inflammation.   He saw it in both knees, but the left was much worse.   The best we can do now is rest and ice.

There are only 2 soccer games left, so it looks like his season is finished. We'll go to the game on Saturday, and he can cheer from the sidelines, but he won't play.   I'll wait to see how he feels next weekend. If he's ok, I may let him play the last game, as long as he's not in any pain.   Once that game is finished, our schedules slow a bit, and he'll have plenty of time to rest.   I guess we'll just play it by ear!

A place to live!

2011-11-08T01:15:00.001-06:00

Our oldest boy signed up for his housing for next year at Texas Tech. Ironically, he will be living in the same dorm that I lived in my freshman year at Tech!!

He and his friend came straight to the house after school. One on one computer, the other on another computer, and they walked through the process together. Since the sign-up is all online, they literally pick the dorm they want and the room they want. If you want to be roommates, select the same room.

I think it's all really starting to sink in now, and they are getting excited!! They are heading to Lubbock this weekend to tour around campus and catch a football game. The friend that our boy is rooming with has an older sister at Tech, so she is going to host them for the weekend and show them the ropes!!

I'm so excited for him, but I'm terrified of the dollar signs!

Jury Duty

2011-11-07T23:38:00.000-06:00

I had jury duty this morning, which I was not at all thrilled about. At least it's a change of pace, and I certainly could use that these days!

Last time I had jury duty, I rode the bus. It's a free trip downtown when you show your jury summons, but be prepared to pay for your trip home. That's not free!   This time I decided to drive. Rather than spend the $3 or so on a bus ride, I'd spent $4 on a parking spot! But, when it was over, I could jump in my car and go. No waiting for a bus.

I got there about 7:45 and had to go through security. This was new since the last time I had to go. It's almost like being at the airport, just a smaller building and a shorter line!   Shoes off and all.   After going through security, you are sent to one of four rooms, depending on your juror number. This was new also. Last time, there was one big room for everyone.

Be prepared to sit and wait.   The first few hours seems like the biggest waste of time. Just sitting and waiting.

We were finally broken out into several groups to head to a court.   I was sent to the 164th civil court along with 35 other potential jurors.   Then we had to wait some more. Apparently the judge was going over last minute details with the litigants and lawyers before we could go in.    Eventually, we were broken into lines to be seated inside the courtroom.

I'm sure it's no secret how much people hate jury duty and prepare to tell the lawyers that everyone is guilty no matter what. That'll get you off right?!?    Well, the judge decided to have a little fun.   She went through her speech about how important jury service is and then proceeded to tell us that this particular trial would take 2 months to complete.   Just about everyone slumped down in their seats, sighed, and mumbled some sort of profanity under their breath!

After scaring us half to death that we'd be there for 2 months, she told us that the litigants had settled the matter, so there wouldn't be a case. We were all free to go.   I got my work release form, although I don't think I really need it, and headed on my way.   I think I parked in the most convenient place possible because it was one turn out of the parking lot, and I was on my way out of downtown.

Lots of time and gas wasted, but I served my duty and now I'm free for another year or two.   One of these days I won't be so lucky, so for now, I'm thankful that people can resolve their stupid disputes before having to take time from all of us.

The Boy's Football... Game 10

2011-11-06T11:47:00.000-06:00

Well, it's over. This was it. The last high school football game for our boy. It was bitter sweet honestly. The last 2 seasons haven't exactly been a joy to be a part of. We've had some pretty bad seasons and some questionable coaches, IMO.

We won the game the previous week, so I was hopeful that they could at least go out on a high note with a couple wins. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards for them, and it was another ugly loss. After it was over, we went down to the field. I was going to take some pictures of our boy with some of his teammates, whatever pictures he wanted me to take. I didn't take a single one. There were a lot of tears, a lot of sad boys, a lot of disappointment in a tough season. It was a sad to see. It will wear off eventually, but these kids loved playing football!

Here's some pictures that I took during the game:

Ups and Downs

2011-10-31T00:32:00.000-05:00

I knew it was too good to be true!! Our youngest boy was awesome for the first six weeks of middle school.   I was so proud. All A's & B's, and all E's & S's on his report card. I'm not sure that's ever happened!!

In fact, his report card was so good, I even mentioned to him that it was better than his brother's report card. That never happens!    It was funny watching our oldest boy try to average the grades any way he could to see if he could get his average to be higher. He couldn't do it, and it was driving him crazy. All while our youngest boy was pumping his chest up more and more with the thought that he finally beat his brother!

A little healthy competition is always a good thing.

Well, that has all changed.   Our boy has struggled this six weeks. He's getting in trouble again, and his grades are showing it.   I knew it wouldn't last forever, and every time I get my hopes up that we are finally figuring this ADHD out, it kicks me in the gut again.

It's kicking me over and over again the last few weeks, and it's kicking him too.    Hubby has mentioned medication. Is it time to start thinking about it? I still adamantly say no. No way.   I'll be honest though, the constant battle with school and our boy's behaviour wears me down. It makes me feel like I don't quite have this mother thing figured out.

I can't tell you how it makes me feel when the principal or a teacher calls to tell me of his latest escapade. I'll be honest, it sometimes makes me feel like I'm not cut out for this mother thing.   Who in their right mind thinks acting the way he sometimes does is acceptable? And what kind of parent isn't teaching their kids that it isn't acceptable?   He gets in trouble. Then people ask what happened, and honestly I sometimes feel embarrassed by the stupid things my kid does.

I mentioned in a previous posts that one of the hardest things is the constant whispering or pointing of fingers and figuring out how to ignore it all and not let it get to me.   It's definitely easier said than done!   It irritates the hell out of me because I know my boy is not a bad kid, even though he sometimes acts bad.

ADHD is like a bully. It makes him act in ways that aren't acceptable.  It's something that he can't control, and it won't go away.   Right now, I'm really struggling with it and how to effectively deal with him. I wish he could just punch ADHD right between the eyes!  Hell, I wish I could punch it right between the eyes!

The Boy's Football... Game 9

2011-10-30T11:35:00.000-05:00

We had a rare Saturday afternoon game this week. The weather was fantastic, and guess what.... WE WON!

I took my camera again for some daytime photos. The settings seemed to be better, but there's still some tweaking that needs to be done. My boy had a special request for some photos this week, so it was a good excuse for more pictures, not that I really need one!

He wanted a picture of the grand entrance. He has plans for this picture, but I'll keep that to myself for now. I don't want to spoil it for him, and I'm not sure who may be reading... stay tuned!!

My sister-in-law and her family came over before the game, and then went to the game with us. She has 2 young ones, and they are so cute! My nephew is 3, and he wanted to help take pictures. I'd hold the camera for him while he pushed the button. We didn't zoom or really even aim, we just took pictures. There are some really random ones, but it was fun!

Here are some of his better ones. The view of the game from a 3-year old's perspective!

Oh, and by the way. Our youngest boy won his soccer game on Saturday morning, 10-2. It turned out to be a good sports day for my kiddos!

Time

2011-10-28T23:29:00.000-05:00

The Boy's Soccer... Game 6

2011-10-22T16:05:00.000-05:00

We Win! We Win!

It seems like it's been while since I got to say that!!   We had almost our entire team. There were 3 subs available, and they came to play!!   I think our boys actually got about 10 goals behind the other team's goalie, but a few were called back because of offsides.   Our boys are offsides a lot!

The final score was somewhere around 7-3, so the boys were finally happy after a game.

The other team's first goal came off a free kick because of a hand ball against my boy.   He was playing the ball, and it kinda took a weird bounce and came up and hit him in the hand.   He had his hands down by his sides, so it's not like he reached out and grabbed it.   Honestly, I think if you took 10 referees, you'd probably get a 50/50 split in who would have called it and who wouldn't. I've see far worse be ignored.   Unfortunately, it was against my boy, and unfortunately the other team scored. Double whammy!!

I changed some settings on my camera and took it out for some pictures.

Notice all the dead trees? Man, we really need some rain!!

The Boy's Football... Game 8

2011-10-21T19:09:00.000-05:00

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Not much to say about this one, other than it hurts!!   The other team scored 12 seconds or so into the game, and it just kept going downhill from there.

We were expecting a hard one. The team they played has a really good running back who has committed to Texas A&M.   He scored something like 3 or 4 touchdowns in this game. He makes their team, plain and simple!

As for our team, it was more of the same.

My biggest rant about this one is about one of the other parents. We don't talk to this guy much. Hubby and I got there early, so the visitor side of the stadium was virtually empty.   He and his wife came in a few minutes after we did, so he came over to chat since no one else was there.   His biggest complaint was about the offense.   "Our offense has to put points up".   "If you look back over the last few weeks, a few of our touchdowns have come from defense or special teams".    He just went on and on about how terrible the offense is.

Guess where his son plays.... Yep, defense.   Guess where our son plays... Yep, offense.

Now, I don't call out players. It's not fair. They aren't professional athletes. But sir, unless you have one of the star players on the team, you really can't complain about the others, and you shouldn't anyway. His son is anything but star player.

It got to be a little annoying, so I tuned him out and took some pictures of warm ups.   Once someone else he knew got there, he ditched us, thank God.   Hubby and I moved further up, so we didn't have to sit by him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't done.   We were down by a lot at halftime. It was an ugly game.   I guess he wanted to make his point to the others who were sitting around us, so here he came to talk some more about how awful the offense is. He even said "they should just punt it on first down". WTH?   Um, if they just punt on first down, they don't even have an opportunity to score. Isn't that what you are bitching about to begin with?   I'll be honest, it took everything I had to not tell him to shut the hell up.

After all, in the last game, we had a 12 point lead at halftime that the defense couldn't protect.   In this game, the opening kickoff was returned 80 yards or something ridiculous like that. Although they didn't actually score till the next play, it wasn't the offense giving up all those yards! The other team put up 42 points in this game, against who... the defense!

It's been a frustrating season to say the least. The boys put in countless hours of work, and they have 3 wins and 5 losses to show for it. They can hear the parents in the stands screaming at the kids for making mistakes. Other kids at their school are talking about how bad they are, and it's getting to them.   It sucks.

We all need to take a step back, stop pointing fingers, and understand that these boys are working their butts off. They hate losing just as much as anyone else. But, they win and lose as a team.

Here's some pictures from the game. I need to play with my camera settings. Most of the pictures didn't turn out that great!

The Boy's Soccer... Game 5

2011-10-16T10:09:00.000-05:00

We didn't make it to game 4, so I'm skipping ahead to game 5.

According to the coach, we were playing the first place team on a slightly larger field. Lots of running!!   I was ready to get slaughtered. We don't have a very skilled team. Not to mention, the game was early and in Conroe, so there were quite a few players who didn't show.   We only had one substitute player. The other team had five!

It was actually a very even game. I was pleasantly surprised. Our boy was taken out toward the end of the first half because of a cramp. And, he started the second half on the sideline. I guess he's not used to running so much!!

For some reason, our coach told the defense to stay on the line (the outside of the goal box) and wait for the other team to come to them before attacking.   This gave them about 20 free yards to go with the ball before they were met by any defense. And, they were on top of the goal by then. I guess he was afraid of the other team getting behind the defense, but it just seemed like a stupid strategy to give them that much free space.

Unfortunately, our boys came up just short, losing 3-4, but it was probably the best game I've seen them play.

My biggest concern with this game was actually off the field!! My dad and I got into it a few days before, and he and my step-mom were planning to come to the game.   Everything seemed to be fine until toward the end of the game when they brought up the very topic that we had gotten into it about.   I have full intention of having a conversation with my dad, but at the soccer game wasn't the right time or place. So, I walked away and left hubby to listen to them.   Sorry hubby, but it was better than the alternative!!

The Boy's Football... Game 7

2011-10-16T09:46:00.000-05:00

Homecoming weekend!

My boy says that he told his team they could shave his head if they win the game this week.    I honestly wasn't particularly concerned seeing how this team has been playing and some of the plays the coaches were calling, but I'll be honest, a little part of me was worried.

You see, hubby's sister got married on Saturday. I was envisioning our boy with a shaved head in all of her wedding photos. You know how ugly a shaved head looks when it's never ever been shaved before??   Not pretty!

The boys started off strong with a 19-7 lead at halftime. It wasn't looking good for the boy's hair!!

I have no idea what was or wasn't said at halftime, but they were a totally different team in the second half. More like the team we are used to watching the last few weeks. Turnovers, dumb plays, whatever.   They let the other team run away with a 29-19 win, after leading at halftime.    They just seemed to stop trying.

As for our boy, he played a whopping two plays. TWO.   Both were on special teams, so his "report card" will actually have DNP (did not play) rather than a percentage of good/bad plays.   Special teams apparently don't count.

It was especially hard for our boy because he was told to be ready this week because he was going to play. There are a couple new injuries, so by all indications, he would get more playing time. Instead he got less. I'm not going to complain about his playing time, or lack of, but don't tell a kid he's going to play if he clearly isn't!   I don't know if our boy did something to piss one of the coaches off, or if they just changed their mind about letting him play.   Most of what they do makes no sense to me at all!

They are now 3-4 on the season. It hasn't been fun, but it will be over in 3 weeks!

Now, as for homecoming... when did those mums get to be so darn big??   Some girls had mums on that were bigger than they were.   A lot of girls had them tied around their neck, but they were carrying them in their hand because they were probably incredibly heavy! They were ridiculous!   I can't imagine how much those stupid things cost!!   And, we saw every color ranging from lime green to hot pink to gold... I thought they were supposed to be school colors.

I'm just thankful we got to sit out homecoming this year since we had a wedding to go to. That saved me a ton of money!!   Thank you SIL for picking that day for your wedding!!! :-)

Friday Laughs

2011-10-14T18:29:00.005-05:00

The Boy's Football... Game 6

2011-10-11T23:30:00.001-05:00

They should've won. They lost!

4th and inches on the 2 yard line. Run the big boys in front of the quarterback... Nope, we run shotgun and the quarterback gets sacked.   It was one of those games!

I didn't really watch much of the game because our boy didn't play much. A grand total of 4 plays. Yes, FOUR.   My dad came to watch, and at one point he looked at me and said "does he ever play. I haven't seen him go in since I've been here".   Unfortunately for my dad, my boy played less in this game than he's ever played, unless he was hurt.

I'll be honest. I'm over it.   I spent more time sitting with my younger boy drawing and writing our names than I did actually watching the game!   I can't figure out what the hell the coaches are thinking.   So, rather than sit there and get irritated with what was going on in front of me, I spent some quality time with my other boy.

Bright side? Well, my boy was 100%. 4 plays, 4 positives!

The coaches decided to go all out in practice this week, and one of the defensive players that goes in my boy's spot for their "heavy package" on offense tore his ACL in practice. I don't know what that means for my boy, but I would think it means more playing time this week... We'll see.

I think the final score was 14-21, but our booster club is slacking on updating the website... it still says we're 3-1 on the season. Ha, you're not fooling anyone!!

The team started off strong with a 3-0 run before this 0-3 run over the past 3 weeks, so now were sitting at 3-3 on the season. Playoffs are just about gone. Mathematically, they could still make it with lots of help from other teams and winning out their season. Reality, however, says 4 more games and we're done.

The countdown is on.......

Aeros vs Wolves

2011-10-10T01:48:00.002-05:00

HOCKEY IS BACK!!

I know it was a short offseason, but I was ready for hockey!!   We go from no rain in months to a deluge on Sunday, but the good people of Houston didn't let that keep them away!!

I expected a completely different Wolves team since they changed affiliations in the offseason. They're now affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks, which was painfully obvious in Matt Climie's attire!!   He was in a lovely mix of Wolves maroon and Canucks blue... it was a sight!!

The first period looked like what you might expect in the first period of the first game of the season.   Everyone looked just a little out of sorts. I know there's a process in figuring each other out and feeling out the other team.   The Aeros finished the period strong and ended up with 10 shots on goal, but nothing to show for it.

However, the Aeros dominated the Wolves in the second period, putting up 20 shots on goal and 3 scores on the scoreboard. Casey Wellman had the first 2 goals.  Ortmeyer had the 3rd goal from Foucault & Peters, and it was a thing of beauty!! I think Foucault is going to fit right in where Gillies left off on that line.

Matt Hackett picked up right where he left off with a really good game. He allowed only 1 goal in the 3rd period, but the Aeros answered. They never gave the Wolves a chance!

But, the penalties. Holy crap, the penalties.   That's definitely a concern if it doesn't clean up a bit. 2 bench minors for too many men is never a good sign.    The bright side is the penalty killers were fantastic, and they got lots of practice!!

And, when did Joel Broda become a fighter??    I certainly would have never guessed he'd be the one dropping the gloves, but he fared well.   I thought the Aeros signed Aaron Boogaard to a PTO for those duties. What happened with him. He's not on the roster, but I don't see any news about him being sent anywhere....

Saturday night is the banner raising for the Western Conference Champions... don't miss it!

He Did It, No Plan B Needed!

2011-10-04T00:24:00.000-05:00

He got in!   I was shocked at the quick turn around, but we got the official acceptance email 9 days after submitting his application!

Some friends of ours told hubby to expect anywhere from 6-12 weeks, and I figured with our boy's application having to go through review, it would be a little while.   I was wrong.

When we filled out the application, I used my email address rather than our boy's email address, so the official welcome email came to me. We didn't tell our boy at first, even though it was hard as ever to keep it quiet.

Hubby stopped to get red & black balloons filled, while I went home and printed the acceptance letter.   We tied the balloons and the letter to a small Texas Tech pillow, and hubby took it to our favorite little Mexican restaurant by our house.   He asked them to hide it and bring it out to him after our dinner.

The youngest boy and I went off to his reading tutoring, and hubby stayed home to wait for the oldest boy to get home from football practice.   Once we were all home, we all loaded into the car like normal for a family dinner out. We have family dinner out once a week, so it was nothing unusual. We sat down and ate, then hubby ordered some dessert. That was their cue to bring out the balloons...

It was perfect. The boy was totally surprised. He had no idea anything was going on, and he was sitting with his back toward the front of the restaurant. He didn't even see the balloons until they were handing them to him!  I think he was sweating this acceptance a little since he didn't have assured admissions.   He was sooooo excited.   We all are!

We're so very proud of him, and I know he will love it at Tech.   Now I really need to save my pennies!!

The Boy's Football... Game 5

2011-10-02T22:22:00.000-05:00

After the younger boy's soccer game, we had a few hours to kill, then it was off to the older boy's football game. Our luck didn't change. We went from a bad soccer game to what turned out to be a bad football game!   Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong!   I can't find a write up in the Chronicle, and we have someone who is supposed to tweet live updates during the games... no tweets!! It was that bad!   I'll find a write up eventually and link here when I do...

In addition to the normal mistakes we see - penalties, fumbles, interceptions, etc, our punting game really suffered this week.  Maybe we should just go for it on 4th down from now on!   We had 2 punts that hit one of our players and the other team recovered. Two other punt attempts where the ball was snapped way over the punter's head.

After the second bad snap that sailed over the punter's head, the punter came off the field screaming at his teammate. I understand he's frustrated, but does he think the deep snapper was happy with his mistake and needed to be yelled at?    I've got news for this kid. He's far from perfect and has absolutely no right to be screaming at his teammates.   Someone needs to explain to him that this is a TEAM sport. They all make mistakes, and they are in it together, win or lose.

It was definitely not a fun game! We were down 3-21 at halftime! I don't know if we were that bad or if the other team was that good, but it was ugly from our side of the field.

Midway through the 3rd quarter, our head coach pulled his headset off and threw it on the table. From our vantage point, it appeared as if the coach was basically throwing in the towel on the game. We found out later that the offensive coordinator went from the press box down to the field, so the headset wasn't needed anymore.  Regardless, at the time, it sent the wrong message.

The final score was 16-48. OUCH!

We were prepared for some unhappy kids after the game, but surprisingly they took it well. Apparently, the coach didn't blow a gasket on them after this loss. He said this is new territory for him too. He's never lost this bad in his head coaching career.   I'm sure he will dissect the tape and get after the boys in practice next week.

Deep down, I'm happy the coach is getting to feel just a little of what we went through last year, but I do hate it for the boys who work so hard all week long.

The bright side - yes, there's always a bright side - the coaches have forgotten all about our boy's mistake in the previous game!! :)

The Boy's Soccer... Game 3

2011-10-02T09:44:00.001-05:00

It was a dismal weekend of sports for my kiddos!!

First up was our youngest boy with his soccer game on Saturday morning.   Our coach was MIA, so another dad filled in for this game.   The team we played was a very well coached team. They played positions, passed the ball well, and made it look really easy!

I think we were down 1-3 at halftime, but it could have been much, much worse.   They hit 2 posts, and shot the ball wide a few times.   It seemed like they always had a player wide open to receive a pass, and it burned us over and over again.    In the second half, we managed another goal, but the other team managed several more goals!   I stopped counting after about 5 or 6.   It wasn't fun anymore!!

After the game, the fill-in coach called the kids over for a quick huddle. As the boys were walking over, my boy says, "We actually won that game because we had fun".   Love the positivity, but in no way, shape, or form did you win that game!!!

Friday Laughs

2011-09-30T12:54:00.001-05:00

I'm cracking up laughing today... Between auto correct fail and jokes floating through email, I'm highly amused. I figured I'd share some. Happy Friday!!
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AUTO CORRECT FAIL
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FOUR MOMS IN THERAPY

A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers and their small children. "You all have obsessions," he observed.

To the first mother, Mary , he said, "You are obsessed with eating. You've even named your daughter, Candy."

He turned to the second Mom, Ann, "Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child's name, Penny."

He turned to the third Mom, Joyce, "Your obsession is alcohol. This, too, shows itself in your child's name, Brandy."

At this point, the fourth mother, Kathy, quietly got up, took her little boy by the hand, and whispered, "Come on, Dick, this guy has no idea what he's talking about. Let's pick up Peter and Willy from school and go get dinner."

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BUTT MEASUREMENTS

A man and his wife were working in their garden one day and the man looks over at his wife and says: 'Your Butt is getting really big, I mean really big. I bet your butt is bigger than the barbecue grill.' With that he proceeded to get a measuring tape and measure the grill and then went over to where his wife was working and measured his wife's bottom.

'Yes, I was right; your butt is two inches wider than the barbecue grill!!!'

The woman chose to ignore her husband. Later that night in bed, the husband is feeling a little frisky. He makes some advances towards his wife who completely brushes him off.

'What's wrong?' he asks.

She answers: 'Do you really think I'm going to fire up this big-ass grill for one little weenie?

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The Boy's Soccer... Game 2

2011-09-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

Only 2 games in, but at least they've been good ones!!

In my son's words, they were playing "the state champions".   There's no such thing as state champions in rec soccer, but I guess that's his way of saying they were a really good team!!   And, it started off looking that way!

We spent most of the first quarter defending. There wasn't much offense to speak of, and our boys found themselves in a 0-2 hole!   For the second goal against, it was our son's man who scored.   Our boy has a bad habit of drifting all over the place rather than covering his side. His guy was left wide open and he took advantage of it.

We managed to get 2 goals behind their goalie, but unfortunately, they got a 3rd goal behind our goalie.

Our boy didn't get any time in goal, but I'm ok with that. He played a couple quarters on defense, one quarter as forward and he sat out for a quarter. Unfortunately, he's never played forward, so he didn't really know what to do.   He found himself dropping back to help on defense, then forgetting to get up field to help out when his team got the ball!!

I'm torn on how much I like the coach putting kids in all positions. I appreciate what he's trying to do, and I like the idea.   I thought I really liked the idea, but now after a couple games, I'm not so sure. Most of these kids have been playing since they were 5, and most of them have found their position by now.   Sure, there are some who haven't, but I can't decide if he's doing the team a favor or not.   I don't think he was doing anyone any favors by putting our boy at forward. He's not very good at it, and he's not at all interested in it. He wants to play defense.    I guess we'll see how the season shakes out. Maybe he'll like forward if he plays a little more and gets good at it...

College Application Is In

2011-09-24T21:55:00.002-05:00

Our fingers and toes are officially crossed!!

We submitted the oldest boy's application to Texas Tech this week. There are certain levels of assured admissions depending on class rank and SAT / ACT scores. Unfortunately, our boy was just shy of the SAT score he needed.

We gave him a choice to either take a class & retake the SAT or apply and hope like heck they want our money! He decided to leave his future up to hope! So, we did the extras with the application - essay and letters of recommendation and sent it all in with the $60 app fee.

Our goal was to get the application in early just in case they give him the thumbs down. Then, we'll still have enough time for plan B. Who knows what that is. Hopefully we won't have to figure that out!!

Get Over It

2011-09-23T22:28:00.003-05:00

Don't you hate when someone a few levels higher up the chain of command gets his or her panties in a twist and proceeds to make life difficult for everyone around?   That, unfortunately, is the story of my job right now!

I have to work with people from many different departments in order to get projects done. This isn't anything new, just about everyone has to do it.   Up to now, I've never had a major problem. Yes, there are people who I'd like to punch between the eyes sometimes, but that comes with any job.

However, this one project I'm working on takes the cake! It seems like it's more political BS and people acting like children than actual real work.   Apparently, someone from another group ran his mouth before this project officially started, not in a nice way!! Yes, he was in the wrong. Yes, he should have to deal with someone.    We are now at least 2 months into this project, and that particular individual is literally banned from the weekly meetings. Yep, panties are in a twist.

My problem is that I HAVE to work with this individual, or the project will never happen. He is a key player to the success of the project, and he is key to helping me get my part of it right.   So, I'm in the middle of this tug-of-war crap.   I can't tell the one to get his panties out of a twist because he's up my chain of command. I'm not ready to be unemployed just yet!!   So, I have to put on my happy face and "understand" why he doesn't want the other included.   Then, I have to turn around and work with this guy when he knows full well that my bosses are being children.

I know what was said, second hand, so I don't know how true or exaggerated it may be. I honestly don't care. What I do know is that I have children at home. I don't need them at work too! I wish they would just get over themselves.

The Boy's Football... Game 4

2011-09-23T01:01:00.002-05:00

This one was a heart breaker! We lost it 21-28.

2 undefeated teams going head-to-head, live on TV.   The DVR was set, the boys were hyped!!   Here's the write-up from the Chronicle for actual game coverage.

It was an exciting game with lots of back and forth action. We took the lead, they took the lead, we battled back, they battled back. It was fun.   However, about the middle of the third quarter, you could just tell our defense was out of gas. Hands on their hips, walking slowly on and off the field, getting just run over by the other team.

There are several "packages" (plays) that our coaches run on offense that include many of our defensive players.   On short yardage gains, they put the biggest, strongest boys out, rather than the normal offensive line.   I get it, but the problem is, when you have 4 or 5 kids playing both ways, they get worn out. Up till now, it hasn't really been an issue, but tonight it definitely was.

The frustrating thing about that is that there are so many kids standing on the sidelines that don't see a single minute of playing time. What kind of message does that send to them? We are going to absolutely wear out these handful of players because you aren't good enough to play a few plays here and there?!    Would it really hurt that much to sub players in here and there and let your defense rest just a little??   Would it really hurt to let your normal offensive line finish what they started to get the first down?   Hey thanks for getting us 8 or 9 yards, but I don't have confidence in you getting the last 1 or 2, so you're out. It's not like we are talking all-American, bad ass defensive players. Yes, they are good players, but they aren't that much better than all of the others who are just standing around.

My boy goofed at one point in the game. He'll be running his guts out tomorrow in practice, I'm sure!   He's on special teams for extra point kick and field goal. After our team had scored to regain the lead, he didn't get on the field for the extra point attempt. By the time he heard the coaches screaming, he charged toward the field, only to be yanked back by the coach because they were about to snap the ball.   The kick was good, so no major harm done, but the coach gave him a good chewing on the sidelines.   Oops!!   Unfortunately, it happens, but I hate when it's my kid!   I was sick for him. I just knew how bad he felt, and I know what kind of torturous practice he has in his future!!

Our boy told us when he got home that he tried to apologize to the special teams coach, telling him that he didn't have any excuse, but that he was sorry. The coach wanted nothing to do with him and told our boy that he might now lose his job because of that. Drama King a little?   Honestly, if you are going to lose your job because one player missed his assignment, you probably don't need that job.   That's like saying the head coach will lose his job after one loss. Not likely! Get over yourself!

We just told our boy to take his lumps and move on. He thinks they'll kick him off special teams. If they do, they do. There's not much we can do about it, and six months from now, it really won't matter.    We'll see what happens.

After he ate and we all chatted for a bit, he sat down and watched the entire game from the DVR. He's obsessed with football, and it breaks my heart how much these coaches are just killing his passion for the game. Maybe the silver lining is that he's learning what not to do when he becomes a football coach, since that's what he's planning to do eventually!! Always a plus side!

HA! Like Mother, Like Son..

2011-09-21T19:59:00.001-05:00

I've been emailing a little with my youngest son's English teacher.   No, he didn't do anything wrong or get in any trouble. I'm just trying to stay in front of the curve ball!!

I specifically emailed her about his reading and the tutoring that he's been doing once a week, and politely asked that she let me know if she sees any specific areas where he may need a little reinforcement from his tutor. She responded today and basically validated some of the things that I told her about him, like his struggle with focusing.

In her email, she said this about my boy: "I have also started to experience [him] shutting down and not wanting to work when something gets too challenging for him or he just doesn’t feel like doing it."    HA! Me too!!

And, she also says: "... but when it is something he truly enjoys doing, there’s no stopping him!"   Oh boy, tell me about it!

It's fun sometimes to read these emails from his teachers. He has such a great personality if you can just get through the annoying ADHD stuff that sets some teachers off in the wrong direction!

The Boy's Soccer... Game 1

2011-09-18T11:28:00.001-05:00

We never know what to expect for the first game. We seem to always end up on a different team than the previous one, so it's a new coach & new players.

We had one practice last week before Saturday morning's game.

Before the game, I was watching some of the players from the other team warm up, and there was one particular kid with a heck of a kick!! We figured he was probably the player to watch, and we were right. That kid scored the other team's first goal less than a minute into the game. Oh boy! Not only can he kick, but was fast and pretty darn good with handling the ball through traffic. It became obvious that he was the go-to guy for their team. However, our boys caught on pretty quick and stayed on him!

There are a couple kids on our team that are equally good. In fact, one of them just made it look down right easy. He is going to be fun to watch! We had 3 goals on the scoresheet before the other team was allowed any more scores!!

Our boy played some time on defense, some time at midfield, and one quarter in goal. I like that this coach is giving the kids some time at different positions. Maybe my boy will finally find a position that he loves and he's really good at! He played well. No goals allowed while he was in goal, but he wasn't particularly busy! He seems to be getting a little more aggressive, but he does this goofy thing when he tries to kick the ball and misses, he spins around like a ballerina or something! By the time he finishes his spin, and gets back on track, the other player is long gone. Stop that!!

The other team made it a game and tied the score with a couple minutes left. I figured we would leave with a tie, which beats a loss right?! Aparently, the kids weren't intent on settling with a tie, and our player who makes it look easy got the game winner!!

Our boys walked away with the win, 4-3. Hopefully this was a sign of good things this season!!

ADHD - a great read for non-ADHDers

2011-09-13T14:19:00.002-05:00

This is a great read. It's a blog from a mother of an ADHD child. Some of the things she writes sound so much like my boy, and I was/am much the same in shunning the term "disability" or "disorder".

Seeing ADHD as a disability.

I think this is a great read for non-ADHDers to read to see just a sample of what life with ADHD is like and the moment when you realize something's not quite right. Remember, these kids aren't loud, hyper, disruptive, etc because they want to be. It's the way their brains are wired.

Proud Mom

2011-09-13T01:50:00.000-05:00

I can't begin to explain to you how proud I am.   My boys rock, just so you know!!

Our oldest is pretty much on auto pilot. I don't normally worry with him. He gets to school, he gets to work, he gets to football practice... He knows what he has to do and most of the time he just does it. I don't have to remind him.   He makes life a little easier!!

Our youngest is getting there, I think. He's the ADHD one, so he's a little more work than his brother. We have to stay on top of him and remind him to do things, sometimes more than once. That's ok. I understand how he works, and we know what we have to do to get things done.

As you may know, he has struggled over the past year with his reading grade. He's a good reader, but TAKS style comprehension strategies and such are confusing to him.   He's been going to reading tutoring for almost a year now, and it really seems to be helping.

We're about half way through the first 6-weeks of school now, and these are his grades so far.. notice 2 are Pre-AP (Advanced Placement) classes.

Last year, his reading grade was consistently a C (75-79). Look at him now. It's his only B!!

This is such an accomplishment for him. And to think I was worried about him with the 2 Pre-AP classes. He is proving me wrong again and again, and I love that!

I am so very proud of both of them.

Adjusting to Middle School

2011-09-09T21:45:00.003-05:00

I've had several people ask about my youngest boy in the past few days. Many people are interested in how he is adjusting to middle school, and if we are having a better experience than elementary school.   Our struggles have been no secret, and hopefully someone can learn something from what we've been through.   Most of it is on the blog, just look through the ADHD posts, and you'll probably find more information about my boy than you ever cared to find!!

I've been careful not to jinx him. It's still early, so I'm afraid if I start raving about him now, everything will go downhill!   The majority of our boy's trouble at school were/are from his motor mouth and his inability to sit still.

In elementary school, he had 2 main teachers, one for math and science, the other for language arts and social studies. This meant a lot of time spent in the same classroom with the same teacher.   PE and music were on alternating days and of course, there was recess, which my boy regularly missed because he was writing a behavior essay!

In middle school, he has 7 classes with 6 different teachers.   They are in each class for somewhere around 50 minutes, then the bell rings and they switch.   So far, this has been good for my boy. About the time that he gets restless and bored, it's time to switch. He gets to move around regularly, walking from class to class, and he can talk in the hallway without getting in trouble.

I haven't heard from any of his teachers, and only one teacher at open house made mention of him talking. I knew it wouldn't be a perfect year!!

I am keeping close watch of his grades, which are posted online, and he is currently showing straight A's.   With the exception of reading, he's normally and A-B student, with an occasional C thrown in.   However, this year, he is in 2 pre-AP classes, so I'm keeping my eyes open to the progress in those 2 classes. I won't hesitate to take him out and put him in the regular class if he starts to struggle.

He is still going to reading tutoring every week, and he really seems to like it. He's actually starting to take more of an interest in reading, so I think that's helping.   I plan to schedule a conference with his language arts teacher to talk with her about his tutoring and his work in her class.

For now, he has made the adjustment to 6th grade, and it seems to be more his speed!   I hope he keeps the grades up because it's always more fun when you are successful!

The Boy's Football, Game 3

2011-09-09T00:03:00.018-05:00

This week was a rare Thursday night game for the boy, and it was the Channel 2 game of the week!!

Ironically, it was game 3 last season when we last met up with Kingwood, and it was embarrassing!    Many of the parents in the stands were remembering that night last season and expecting our boys to look like fools on TV!   The boys had other plans.

Kingwood received the ball to start the game and fumbled.   Our boys recovered and scored to go up 7-0 less than a minute into the game.  Kingwood was only allowed 1 touchdown and 2 field goals, one of those field goals coming from a fumble that Kingwood recovered.    It was 21-13 at halftime, and our boys held Kingwood the rest of the game, coming home with the win 34-13.

The boys were much more disciplined this week than they have been. The referees were really good and kept the flags in their pockets for the majority of the game.   It's amamzing how much of a difference a little discipline makes!!

Our boy started again this week and played well. He came off the field limping a couple times before retiring his helmet with about 4 minutes left in the game. Initially, we were concerned that there might have been something wrong with his knee.   He has tendonitis in both knees, so when he's limping, that's usually the reason!    However, the trainer put some ice on his calf & wrapped it because he was cramping.   We'll just have to make sure he stretches really well before the next game and drinks lots of fluids.

They don't play again until Thursday, the 22nd, so who knows what the lineup will look like. The injured center has 2 weeks to recover and get back on the field, which will probably bump our boy off the starting line. He may have seen the majority of his playing time in the last 2 games, but I hope he hasn't.   He hates standing on the sideline, and I hate watching him stand on the sideline!   Time will tell...

Here's the write-up from the Chronicle, if you're interested....

SCARED. TO. DEATH.

2011-09-06T23:09:00.000-05:00

My youngest boy scared me half to death today!

I left work early to meet my sister for our birthday dinner, and I warned the kiddos that I'd be home a little late.  Our oldest boy had football practice, so the youngest boy was home by himself for a little while.

He called me when he got off the school bus, and he called me again around 5:00. We were finishing up our dinner, so I told him I would call him when I was on my way home.   I left the restaurant around 5:20 and tried calling. No answer. I called the house phone. No answer.   I waited about 10 minutes thinking maybe he was having a bathroom break!   I called his cell again. No answer. I called the house again. No answer.

Now, if you know my boys, their phones are never far away from them!!

I started to get a little worried, and I started calling more frequently.   Call. Hang up. Call. Hang up. Call. Hang up.  Call. Hang up... The more I called, the more I worried.    There was one time that I called and he answered the phone, didn't say anything, and hung up.   And, of course that made me worry even more.  Something was wrong.

All of the possible worst case scenarios were playing for me in my brain. Someone broke into the house & he's tied up or gone. He went outside with the dog, fell in the pool, and now he's floating in the pool... you name it, I thought about it. I got myself so worked up, I was in tears. Traffic wasn't moving fast enough, hubby was out of town, the oldest boy was at football practice, and my boy needed me. I even imagined the 911 phone call!

S-C-A-R-E-D. T-O. D-E-A-T-H.

I finally got home after what seemed like the longest drive in my life.   Dead silence in the house.  I called out his name, no answer. I looked in his bedroom... nope, his brother's bedroom.... nope, the office... nope, bathroom... nope, my room... nope, until finally I found him fast asleep on the couch in the family room.   Naturally, the family room is the farthest back corner of the house, so it was the last place I looked!!

I can't tell you how far down into the pit of my stomach my heart had sank!   I crawled on the couch with him and just hugged him.   Even as I type this, it brings tears to my eyes. I was so scared.

He woke up, and I told him how scared I was, which just made him feel bad! He said the time that he answered, then hung up, he dropped his phone, which made it hang up.   Then he didn't call back because he thought I would be mad at him for hanging up on me. He has no idea how overjoyed I would have been at that point to just hear his voice and know he was ok!

I apologize to any drivers that I cut off or ran up on your tail... I needed to get home!   Thank God there was nothing wrong, and I was majorly overreacting!   I bet you he answers his phone when I call him tomorrow!! :-)

The Boy's Football, Game 2

2011-09-05T23:48:00.005-05:00

I'll be honest, this game was an ugly one. Lots of penalties, no flow to the game, it really wasn't a fun one to watch!!

It seemed like the boys were going to start off on the right foot as the opening kick-off was returned for a touchdown. Or, so we thought. It was brought back because of a holding penalty, and things just went down hill from there!

The starting center was out with an injury, so there was some shuffling to the offensive line. The only score in the first half was a safety for Katy Taylor when the center snapped the ball over the quarterback's head and he fell on it in the end-zone.   We were down 0-2 at the half, and we were all predicting a serious ass-chewing in the locker room!

The second half was more of the same. There were 2 players ejected, one from each team, and a handful or more personal fouls called.   With so many penalties, the game was hard to watch. There's not much flow to a football game as it is, and the penalties just made it worse!

Our boys walked away with the win 14-8.

Our boy started this game, and he got his post game "report card". He had something like 7 or 8 mistakes out of 30+ plays... I don't remember the exact numbers.   Comparing to the numbers of the other players, he had a good game. He's starting again this week, so hopefully he'll just improve those numbers!

And, by the way, we were right about that ass-chewing... It's been confirmed that there was yelling and screaming and cussing and even punching the walls in the locker room...

He's starting

2011-08-31T23:55:00.000-05:00

Our boy came home from school very happy!!   He'll be starting in the game Friday night.

The starting center went down with a concussion sometime this week, so he's out for at least a week. The kid that plays in front of our boy on the offensive line is shifting over to center, which creates an opportunity for my boy.   I'm excited for him, but at the same time I hope the concussion is not too serious.

I knew it would take an injury for my boy to see significant playing time, so now is his chance.   This week's game is already shaping up to be much more exciting to watch than last week's game was!!

OMG, not again

2011-08-31T00:35:00.002-05:00

I'm a hot weather girl. I absolutely HATE to be cold. Once I start shivering, I can't stop. It's a horrible feeling!! I love summer. We have a pool in our back yard, so we swim, get tan, and hang out. It's awesome! You would think that I'd be darker than ever this year with the lack of rain and abundance of sun, but the water temperature the last time I checked was over 90 degrees. It's been that hot!

I just can't take the heat when my AC craps out, and my house feels like a sauna!!   Yep, I got home from work to a broken AC. My first thought was "You've got to be kidding me. We just got the damn thing fixed about 6 weeks ago".   We are literally patching it until it is officially dead!!

Last time it was the fan motor. This time it was the capacitor, whatever that is!!

Hubby got home before me, sometime around 4:00, and it was 90 degrees in the house.   It felt like 190 degrees!!   The dog was even panting it was so hot in the house! I was thinking hotel. There was no way I was going to try to sleep in that!

Thankfully, our AC guy was finishing his last job and would head over to our place. He was in and out in less than an hour.   He says there are only 2 parts left in the unit outside that haven't been replaced, but I'm sure we'll be replacing those in a matter of weeks.. that's our luck!

We left shortly after he did to grab some dinner and let the house cool off.   I'll be honest, it was still hot as ever in the house until about 11:00. It took that long for it to catch up!

We have the AC repairman on speed dial, it seems! He's my hero right now!!!

The crazy lady

2011-08-30T01:54:00.000-05:00

It was an interesting first week of school for our youngest boy... On Monday, I waited with him at his bus stop before I went to work.   Tuesday, my plan was to see him to the bus stop, then head in to work while he waited for the bus.

When we walked out of our house, there was a woman walking along the side walk. No big deal, people do that all the time. Our boy cut through our front yard to get to the side walk, and I jumped in my car. I pulled over and stopped at the corner where he waits for the bus just as this woman is walking up to where we are.

She stopped and said something that we couldn't understand. Neither of us said anything back to her, then she went off. She screamed at me like I was stealing her purse. Her head was bobbing, her arms were flailing, she wasn't happy. The problem is, I couldn't understand a damn thing she was saying!!   I just told her to keep walking and she eventually walked off.

The next day, I had to be at work early, so hubby was tasked with getting the boy off to his bus stop.   It was the third day of school. He knew what to do, so he told hubby that he didn't have to stay with him at the bus stop... until he looked outside and saw the same woman from the day before standing outside our house. She was there for TWENTY minutes, and the boy was getting a little freaked out...

Crazy Lady

So, hubby waited and went with him to the bus stop. When they walked out to go to the bus stop, she followed them, but she didn't say anything. She just walked right by.

I haven't seen her since then. She could be completely harmless, but she better be ready for me to go batshit crazy if she keeps following my boy to the bus stop and screaming at us in a language we don't understand!!

The Boy's Football, Game 1

2011-08-29T21:15:00.001-05:00

Man, I'm tardy with this! Things have been so crazy at work and with the first day of school stuff, I almost forgot, the boy had a football game last Friday night.

Now, you may remember that last year, quite frankly, sucked!   There were no real coaches for the JV team, they didn't get much real practice, etc.... {Oh boy, I just read back through those posts from last season (start at the bottom). That was fun wasn't it!!!}

Well, a lot of those JV boys from last year are now Varsity boys this year. This outta be interesting!!   A part of me would love to see the coaches be embarrassed this year. I'd love to see all of the crap that those boys went through last year finally fall on the coaches shoulders this year. But, unfortunately, for that to happen, the boys have to go through another crap year like they did last year. That I don't want!

They definitely are getting real practice time, too much of it sometimes! Our boy has been struggling with football the past few weeks. He says it's not fun anymore, all the coaches do is yell at them, and he's |this close| to quitting... He used to eat, sleep, breathe football, so it must really be bad! Hubby and I thought that after the first game under the bright Friday night lights, with a packed stadium, he might change his mind. All the crap he's gone through over the last year or so with football will finally be worth it.

Well, for the first time in his football career, he's not a starter. He spent more time standing on the sidelines in this game than he ever has. I'm sure that's frustrating as hell for him. It definitely makes the games a lot less interesting for us to watch!

Don't get me wrong, he did play. He actually saw more playing time than we expected in the second half, and he did well with the limited time he saw.   Unless there's an injury, I don't think he'll be a starter. The guy who plays in front of him is a returning Varsity player from last year, so the odds are against him at this point.

I'm not sure if the excitement of the game has changed his attitude much, and I'm positive that having to be at school at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning doesn't help!!

To the actual game itself.... They had a scrimmage the week before, and the coaches for the opposing team were in the stands scouting. They sat right behind us, and it was really interesting listening to what they were picking up on. And, they were right on the money!   The favorite receiver, the direction the ball will go based on how certain players are set, etc.

I also saw some undisciplined play by some of our boys. Now, with the reputation some of these coaches have, combined with the stupid "how to act" booklet they sent home before the season started, I expected them to go batshit crazy on these boys.   Players throwing the ball at opposing players after the play was over, one player punched one of the opposing players... I know there are emotions in the games, but considering how much my boy gets his butt chewed because of things he says, I definitely expected more reaction from the coaches.   I guess they could have waited until they got to the locker room, but they never did that with my boy!

It's gonna be an interesting season, I think!   Oh, and they did win the game, 28-13.

Give the boy some credit!!

2011-08-23T01:08:00.001-05:00

I'll be honest, I don't give my boy enough credit sometimes.   I specifically talking about the young one, the ADHD one.    I find myself concentrating on where I think he's going to mess up. Past experience tells me that he's scatterbrained and forgetful, so I just assume that he's going to screw something up.

I was so worried about him being in a panic looking for the right school bus after school yesterday, and he was fine. I knew in my heart that he would be fine. I know there are teachers there to help, and he has quite a few friends that ride the same school bus. Safety in numbers!!

He called me when he got home from school, and guess what... he was fine. No panic, no fear, no anxiety. Just a little boy getting on the school bus after school and coming home.   He found the bus, and he made it home with no problems whatsoever!

I need to learn to give him a little more credit. I need to learn to stop worrying so much that he's going to screw up.  I need to remember to tell him often how proud he makes me!

First Day of School

2011-08-22T12:31:00.000-05:00

The day is here. Most of the area kiddos started school this morning. We have one boy starting 12th grade and the other boy starting 6th grade.

I don't worry much about the 12 grader.. he's pretty darn responsible, and most of the time, I can count on him to do the right thing.

The youngest boy is a different story. He's our ADHD boy.   He's going to a new school this year, so it's going to be a totally different experience for him.   I went into work late, so I could accompany him to his bus stop to make sure that he got to the bus stop in time and that he actually got on the bus.   I've been trying to drill into his head his bus number, so he'll be sure to get on the right bus in the afternoon.

Well, this morning, as our luck would have it, a different bus number picked him up. He did exactly as I told him to do and asked the driver if she was going to his school before getting on the bus.   I asked the bus driver about the bus number. The regular bus is in the shop, so this one is temporary. Great... now he has to try to remember this temporary number until they get his bus back. Unfortunately, they don't put a piece of paper in the window with the correct number like they did when I was in school. She assured me that should wouldn't leave him this afternoon.

Now, if you know him, you can probably totally imagine with me. I can see vividly in my mind my boy wandering around in a panic this afternoon because he can't find his bus!!   I'm totally prepared for him to call me later to either tell me that he doesn't know where he is or that he is back at the school because he got on the wrong bus!   I don't even have enough worry in me to think about how this ADHD kid is going to handle a brand new school, 7 classes, a locker, etc without getting in tons of trouble for talking or running or whatever he may do!

I know in my heart that he will be fine. He's a big boy, he's growing up, and I'm sure he will figure it all out with a little help. But, that doesn't keep me from worrying, and it sure as heck doesn't keep me from being prepared for what I could be facing in a few hours!!

Once he is home safe and sound, I can then focus on my displeasure of all the "homework" that I will have tonight!   The joys of staring a new school year!

Why?

2011-08-21T00:10:00.001-05:00

Do you ever find yourself asking "Why"?    I have found myself seeking the answer quite often lately, but unfortunately, it's not always there to be found!

My latest "why" moment actually started a couple weeks ago.   A friend of my hubby's was awoken in the middle of the night by her daughter who was in unbearable pain.   After some tests and time in the ER, doctor's said that her stomach muscles had stopped working. Her body couldn't digest what she was eating.

She had surgery early last week to remove the blockage of what couldn't be digested. She's still in the hospital, still in pain, and still having tests & Xrays. It's unknown whether her muscles will start working again or not. If not, she could be facing a colostomy bag and a feeding tube.   Yes, that's the worst case, but it's still scary as ever!   She's only 17.

She's a senior in high school, a member of the drill-team, she's active, and in good physical shape.   When she does get released from the hospital, she'll have to be home and in bed for a few weeks. She's looking at missing the first 2-4 weeks of school, if not longer. She probably won't get to dance with the drill team either.   Why her?

I know there is a big picture.   I do believe that things happen for a reason, but I'm having a really hard time seeing that big picture and understanding why.   I say a prayer for her, her family, and the doctors every morning.   As a parent myself, I can't even imagine what they are going through.

If you are a believer... even if you aren't, please say a prayer for her!

OUCH

2011-08-03T18:40:00.000-05:00

Holy crap, I'm sore!!

Hubby and I feel off the wagon a little with our nightly walks. Work has been crazy, and it's been hot as hell outside!!   After we got back from vacation, we decided it was time to get back to it.

I gained back about 6 of the 20-ish pounds that I lost last year. Not a huge deal, especially considering I have not been doing much exercise to speak of, and I wasn't at all watching what I was eating.   I'm not sure how much hubby has gained (not much), but he just was feeling blah.

Hubby has a set up in the garage with various exercise stuff (weights, mats, exercise balls, etc), so that's our "gym".   Monday night was our first night back at it. We did our shorter walk which is about 3 miles, then home to the garage for a quick workout. We focused on abs and arms.   Tuesday night was more of the same.   When I got up on Wednesday morning, I had gained almost half a pound, and my abs were screaming!!

Tonight, we will walk, then workout our legs in the garage. My abs need a break, so I'm not doing a single crunch today. I might die!!

I don't really have a goal in mind to be honest. I guess to begin with, I just need to trim off those 6 pounds. Then we'll see after that...

Vegas Baby!!

2011-08-02T20:23:00.003-05:00

This normally would have been the year for the fam to come over from England and for me to plan some big adventure for 15-20 of us. But, for various reasons, they didn't make it over this year, so we were left to figure out a trip for just the 4 of us.   We looked at everything from cruises to a beach somewhere to Vegas.

I'm not sure what actually made us settle on Vegas, but we did, at the last minute.   Yes, there are things for kids to do in Vegas. However, be warned that there is a lot of exposure in Vegas, so if your kids are sheltered, don't go there!

My kids are not sheltered at all.   Boobs are not a big deal.  We've been to Spain with the kids twice... there are boobs all over the beaches there, so it's nothing new to them.   When you're walking along the strip, guys are handing out cards of barely covered women, there are magazines of women, and there are random women wandering about who don't have much covered... it's everywhere.

Yes, my kids were looking.. who wouldn't?!   But, we don't make a big deal.. it's just a body. They've both had the in depth birds and bees talk. We are open and honest with them...   I know there are parents that disagree, but that's us.   Not to mention, our oldest is 17.. you can't hide it from them forever!

Anyway, on to our trip. We got there on Monday night, around 10:00.   We dropped our stuff at the hotel and ventured out along the strip.   We stopped for the water show at the Bellagio, which the kids thought was really cool.   Combine that with the lights and people watching, and it was a fun night for all of us.

Tuesday, we wandered down to Circus Circus to catch some of the circus acts and let the kids play.   For those who don't know, there is an arcade above the casino for the kiddos.   We caught a couple acts of the circus there, and honestly, we weren't impressed.    There's something every half hour, which lasts about 10 minutes or maybe a little less.    You get one act, then you have to wait 20 minutes for the next one.   And, there's not much seating, so you have to sit about 20 minutes early to get a seat.   That's a lot of sitting and waiting if you want to see 2 or 3 acts.

We did a little shopping after leaving Circus Circus then back to our hotel. While hubby and I hit the pool with our youngest, the oldest hit the gym (he had to pay $25 to workout - BS if you ask me).

Tuesday night, we saw the Blue Man Group. It was a good show and for portions of it the kids were cracking up. Our youngest was laughing so hard at one point that the people in front of him turned around and gave him a look.   The show was about an hour and a half, then we ventured out along the strip some more...

Wednesday, we went down to the MGM to see the lions. They were sleeping, so it wasn't all that exciting. Then we stopped at M&M World.   Four floors of nothing but M&M stuff!   Wednesday night, we saw Criss Angel. Our youngest has the Criss Angel magic set, so he's a big fan.   There's some adult language in the show, so just be aware if you are taking kids!   The Maestro in the show is hilarious. He really had the kids laughing!!

We took a cab back to the hotel after the show. I think we had walked the kids to death, so they were ready to just chill for a little while.   We dumped them off in the room, and hubby and I went to gamble for a little while.   We didn't win!

Thursday was our last day there. I really wanted to go to a Cirque de Soleil show, but I have heard that O isn't for kids, not to mention it's really expensive. I heard the Beatles Love show isn't very good.   Mystere was dark on Thursday... we didn't make any of them!    So, we went back to Circus Circus for a couple hours. Each kid got $40 for the arcade, and hubby and I hit the casino.  We didn't win!!

Thursday night, we caught the pirate show at Treasure Island.   It wasn't very good IMO, but it was free! Then, we went downtown to catch the light show and see some of the street performers.   There's a zip line downtown that goes about half the length of the street.   Apparently, it's about 800 feet long, and you get moving up to 30 miles per hour... Hubby and our oldest boy went off to do that, while I waited with the younger boy. He was done. He was tired, it was getting late, and I don't think his little feet wanted anymore walking!!

We headed back to the hotel to pack and for a little more gambling. Nope, we didn't win!   We checked out of the hotel early Friday and headed to the airport.   Because of tropical storm Don, all flights to Houston were delayed, so it ended up being a long day.  We made it home safely with lots of memories and less money!!

It was a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed it.   I'm sure our oldest will be making a return trip shortly after he turns 21!

This is at Treasure Island.
Our youngest boy thought it was the coolest thing ever, so we HAD to have a picture of it!

UPDATE: Decided to remove pics of the kids... Will explain why at some point a little later.

MIA

2011-08-01T07:12:00.002-05:00

Wow, It's been a while!

The month of July was very busy. We had a major project release at work early in July, which meant countless hours of work. It's been absolutely nuts.

Couple that with the fact that there's just not really much to blog about these days... work is boring (and I don't want to get myself in trouble), no sports going on that I really care much about.... it just seemed to be getting a little old for me.    I go back and just look at my post counts and can see it falling off!

Add to that the fact that I'm on a computer all day at work, and I just don't really care to go home and get on the computer again to blog.

However, I do have some stuff to share... we just got back from a week of fun in Vegas, so I'll have a post on that soon. And, the kids start school in a few weeks, so we can get back to my rambling on about teachers and football coaches!!

Oh, and our youngest boy just celebrated a birthday on July 22nd, so HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY to my sweet and crazy boy!!

Playing redneck & lots of fun in the sun!

2011-06-28T21:41:00.000-05:00

After working most of the day on Saturday, we made up for it with a fun-filled weekend in the sun with some good friends.

Sunday, we headed out to our land in Huntsville for a day of redneck fun - 4 wheeler, go kart, shooting, and sun burns!   We spent most of the day out there, and it was hot! Luckily, the barn is situated perfectly, so if you open all the doors, the breeze blows straight through.   There's no electricity, so whatever mother nature offers is the only air conditioning there is!

After leaving there late afternoon, we got home with just enough time for hubby and our oldest boy to eat, shower and head out to Houston Motorsports Park to watch the races. I was up to my limit of redneck fun for the day, so the young one and I stayed home.

They came wandering in around midnight before hitting the sack to prepare for yet another fun day in the sun.

On Monday, hubby and I played hookey from work and went to Splashtown with the kiddos and our friends.   Hubby and the kids have been before this season, but I think it had been 2 years or so since I'd been there.   Note to self - invest in some water shoes before the next trip. Flip flops don't do well on some of those rides, and in the afternoon the ground gets really, really hot!

We wrapped up the day sometime in the late afternoon. Our youngest boy had MMA class at 6 and our oldest boy had to be at work at 7. We wanted to get home in time for them to rest up a little before the next activity!

It wasn't until we were home when we realized that our oldest missed his football camp that morning... Oops!   With him being out so late the night before and the excitement of Splashtown, we just totally forgot about it. Sorry coach!

I highly recommend calling in for a day and having some fun time with friends and family!    Even though it was short lived, hubby and I both needed the break!

What a season! Congrats Binghamton...

2011-06-08T22:02:00.011-05:00

Congrats to the Binghamton Senators. They were the better team last night and they deserved the win. Special congrats to Corey Locke and Barry Brust as they lifted the cup.

While it was a heartbreaking loss, what a fantastic season it's been. Of all the Aeros teams we've watched, this one was amazing. They were truly a team. They gave their all, they played for each other, and they had fun. As usual, check out TheThirdIntermission for quotes, reactions, pictures, etc...

It's been quite a ride! In October, when we got our first glimpse of this team, who would have thought that we'd watch the last game of the season on June 7th... almost 2 months after the last regular season game!?! Who would have thought we would have over 10 thousand people at the game, on a Tuesday night!?!

The boys earned it! They earned the right to play into June. They earned the right to have big crowds screaming and cheering for them. They earned the right to hold their heads up and be proud of what they accomplished this season. As a fan, this season was a blast. The guys definitely didn't disappoint, and they have no reason to be sorry!

Here's a couple pictures of the crowd from last night. Well done Houston!

And, if you're ready to start thinking about next season, check out Mike Russo's blog for a quick look ahead with respect to the Aeros and where players may land. There will be lots of news coming out in the next couple months as far as players being signed, traded, and of course the draft. Luckily, our offseason is much shorter this year, so we can watch the roster take shape over the next few months, then get right back at it!

Have a fantastic summer, hockey fans!!

He Passed!! Yay!

2011-06-03T10:32:00.001-05:00

The school let the suspense hang as long as they possibly could. On the very last day of school, we finally got the news that our boy passed his reading TAKS.

No summer school necessary and off to 6th grade we go!

I plan to keep the reading tutoring going through the summer, so he'll still be fresh when school starts again, but aside from that, it's summer! No more projects, no more homework, no more emails, no more phone calls, no more conduct folders... nothing but big smiles and lots of fun!!

Yep, it's summer - OUCH

2011-06-02T05:45:00.002-05:00

Here's a brutal reminder that it's summer time in Houston....

That's my youngest boy's left shoulder... a nasty, nasty sunburn.

Now, before you unleash your fury on me for not using sunscreen, it's not my fault!!

He spent the Memorial Day weekend with my dad & step-mom on lake Conroe.   I packed sunscreen, a full bottle of it.   Unfortunately, it obviously stayed in his suitcase, and no one thought to make sure he was greased up before sending him off to the neighborhood pool.

Yes, it's partly his fault. He knows he's supposed to wear sunscreen EVERY time he goes swimming, but he's also a very scatter-brained ADHD 10 year old. He's not always thinking straight, or thinking at all.   There were 5, yes FIVE, adults at their house this weekend. I wish one of them would have thought to at least remind him.

Both shoulders were burnt to a crisp when he got home and across the top of his back. It's all peeling now, but the left shoulder is definitely the worst.   He took this picture yesterday after school... he got the sunburn on Saturday. Poor baby!

Not much I can do now other than cringe for him because it looks painful as hell.. cool baths, lots of aloe, and no shirt on when we're at home.   I feel for him, but I'm willing to bet he will remember sunscreen next time!!

Summer Time!

2011-06-01T00:56:00.001-05:00

It's the end of another school year, and the end of those damn Wednesday conduct folders!! Today is the last one we'll see!   :-)

I have some regrets this year, but it's over and we're moving on. Lessons learned. After tomorrow, we are officially finished with Elementary school, and I'm sure some of the teachers and principals are as happy to see me leave as I am to be leaving. It's most likely a mutual thing, and there definitely won't be any love loss!!

Middle school will bring it's own set of challenges, I'm sure.

Our oldest boy is officially a senior now. He was exempt from finals, so his last day of school was Friday. He's already laying around the house!    A week off, then he starts his football conditioning camp.   It's "optional", but only in name.  Last year, our boy missed 2 weeks of the camp because we were out of the country. He lost his starting spot and was dropped to 3rd string, then told he had to work his way back up.   I don't really have a problem with that, other than the fact that he talked to the head coach before we ever went to make sure it wouldn't be a problem. "Sure, no problem. Just be ready to go when you get back"... BS, but whatever. Another lesson learned.

It's going to be a long, hot summer for him. He gets a total of TWO weeks off this summer from football.   Next week and one week in July.   That makes it difficult to plan trips, but he's not missing this year!   We'll have a vacation in July and everything else will just have to be weekend trips and lots of time in the pool out back!

I hope the next football season isn't as brutal as the last one was. I'm not a fan of the coaches we have, but I've promised the boy that I'll keep my mouth shut.   At least this year he'll get some real practices and some attention from the coaches since he'll be on varsity. We'll see how it goes.

Speechless...

2011-05-24T00:43:00.006-05:00

I don't even know what to say. What a fan-freakin-tastic game and props to the crowd in the Toyota Center tonight. It was a great crowd, and it was LOUD!! Well done Houston!!

The Aeros avoided being on the wrong side of history and are now looking forward to a date with the Senators to battle for the Calder Cup!

Well done Aeros.

WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!!

Update: Here's the Robert Clarke Trophy for anyone who didn't get to see it at the game on Saturday...

Robert Clarke Trophy
-Western Conference Champions

Crossing my fingers

2011-05-18T08:12:00.000-05:00

And toes!

It's TAKS retake today for our boy, and he was nervous.

He got a good night sleep last night, but he was scatterbrained this morning. He was all over the place, more than normal. At one point I put my hands on the sides of his face to make him stop and look at me, just so I could tell him to relax.

He jumped on his bike to ride to school, only to get around the corner and turn around to come home and check the lunch calendar for today! I hope he was able to ride off some of his extra "energy" this morning before school, and I hope he managed to gather himself enough to get through today.

It's not going to be a fun day for him, and there's no rest when this is finished. He has a book report due on Friday.

I can't wait for summer!!

ADHD, Tutoring, TAKS.... a rant

2011-05-16T12:31:00.002-05:00

I was reading this blog post today, and it was one of those things where you read something and you feel like it is about you or directed to you.    This statement, in particular, seemed to define my very struggle lately and how frustrating it really is:

"Those outside our ADHD community are ignorant about ADHD and I can't seem to change that..... And the schools... well, the school system is over-politicized and under-humanized. They can't just see a child struggle and do what's necessary to help them. The schools require a fight (to my death) to help a struggling child and, even then, it's never enough... it's never what they really need."

Those of you who know us well and have been around over the past few years know of the struggles we've had with our boy's school.   Our latest example was a battle over reading tutoring.   I'm in constant contact with our boy's teachers. His math / science teacher doesn't have any problems with our boy. He's making good grades, and they've figured out how to make things work, even with his disruptions.

Reading is another story. He can read. There are even some things that he enjoys reading.   But, when you throw in all of the reading "strategies" they are required to do, he gets overwhelmed.   I started asking his teacher about tutoring in probably November, and the response I always got is that he doesn't qualify for tutoring.

I honestly don't know what qualifies kids for tutoring, but my best guess is the fact that he wasn't failing reading was a big factor.    Why would you want to wait until a kid is failing before helping?   That seems like it's a little too late. Not only are the grades suffering, but now the kid's confidence is suffering too.

It took several attempts to get a list of tutors from the school that I could contact about private tutoring.   I wanted to find someone who would be able to tutor him on the very things he was learning in his reading class.  I wanted to find someone who was known and trusted. I didn't want to just grab a random person off the Internet and let them spend alone time with my child.

Thankfully, our neighbor has a good friend who teaches reading in a nearby school district.  I contacted her, and we started tutoring once a week. Unfortunately the delay in getting tutoring set up didn't allow much time for tutoring before the TAKS test.

Well, guess what... our boy failed the reading test. Just barely, by only a question or two, but he failed.    5th grade is a pass or fail year, so he has to retake the test this week, and if he fails that one, we're looking at summer school and a retake again in the summer.

I can't begin to tell you how frustrating this is for me. I can't help but wonder if the teacher was a little more open to some tutoring back in November if he would have gotten another couple of questions correct and passed the test the first time.

Now, our boy spends his reading time with a reading specialist at school. On Thursday, he misses recess and PE to work on his reading... Where was this help when I asked for it months ago? I guess we qualify now.

I wish the teachers would look at the kids for who they are.   They don't all learn the same ways, they don't all excel in the same areas, and they need help for things BEFORE they are failing.   I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I would have started him in tutoring much sooner despite the lack of help from the school.   Lesson learned.

Now, all I can wish for is that he isn't too humiliated and embarrassed about failing the test, that he will pass the test this week, and that the teachers will get their heads out of their assess.   If you see a kid in need of help, he/she shouldn't have to qualify for help.   Just help them!

And, just in case you care, he crushed the math TAKS. He got 42 of 44 correct, well above the commended performance score.   He's a rock star in my eyes!!

Aeros vs Hamilton; RIP Boogeyman

2011-05-16T00:13:00.000-05:00

It was a weekend of mixed emotions for hockey fans.

The Aeros skated to a two games to none series lead over the Hamilton Bulldogs this weekend with a game one victory, 2-1, on Friday night and a game two victory, 3-2, on Sunday.

However, news came out on Friday during the game that Derek Boogaard had been found dead in his Minnesota appartment. Suddenly, the game in front of us seemed so much less important. Derek played 2 seasons for the Houston Aeros before moving on to the Minnesota Wild and starting his NHL career. It was unbelievable news, honestly. 28 years old, just much too young. It seemed surreal, just so hard to believe.

Kudos to the fans in Minnesota and the Wild organization for the memorial that was put on yesterday for Derek's friends, family and fans.

RIP, Boogeyman!

As for the Aeros, it's off to Hamilton now for games 3-5.

In both games this weekend, I was again impressed with the Ortmeyer / Peters / Gillies line. Good things happen when they are on the ice! Ortmeyer had the game winner on a nice break-away goal on Friday, and Gillies had the game winner on Sunday off an Ortmeyer rebound.

And, how about Matt Hackett! There's been some chatter about his knack for giving up soft goals or losing his cool, or whatever, but he was great this weekend. 38 saves on Friday night, and some of them were awesome. You can see him getting more and more confident, or cocky as some may say. He's going to have to continue to be great.

Unless the Aeros win both games 3 and 4, which is doubtful, the series is coming back to Houston next weekend before the winner will be determined. Hamilton has been solid on home ice, so it definitely won't be easy! The winner of this series will play for the Calder Cup against the winner of the Senators/Checkers series.

There are some pictures over at ArtsAndHockey. Game 1 & Game 2... And of course the normal fantastic coverage over at TheThirdIntermission.

Go Aeros!!

Aeros vs Admirals

2011-05-11T06:28:00.001-05:00

Whoa, that was a crazy and fun series!!

I'll be honest, there were times that I just wasn't feeling it. The Aeros down 0-2, I thought game over. The Aeros down 0-3, I thought game over.    Game 7, after the Admirals killed the Aeros consecutive playoff overtime victories in game 6, with added bodies from Nashville... it just felt like the odds were against the Aeros.   On top of that, I had an incredibly shitty day on Tuesday, so honestly, an Aeros loss would have been a fitting ending to my day.   I owe a big Thank You to the hockey gods for turning my fortune around yesterday and delivering me some more hockey!!

Hubby called it.. kind of.   Late in game 6, he was feeling a Casey Wellman winner.   Well, it wasn't Casey in game 6, but it sure as hell was in game 7!

Jeremy Smith was the Admirals MVP... by far.   It's interesting to see reaction coming out of Milwaukee. So many people upset with Smith because of his goof that allowed Carson McMillan's goal.   Shit happens. I bet that has (or will) happen to every goalie at some point. You live, you learn. That one mistake did not cost them the series. Look at the stats and you can see the dominance in the offensive zone by the Aeros.   Smith kept them in it.

I know Hackett has been burned by very similar plays...

Speaking of Hackett... I have no idea what he actually did to piss off the Milwaukee fans, but wow!   I'm sure they taunted him all game long, in fact, we could hear it on the radio broadcast.   Apparently, they were flipping him off, screaming at him.. whatever, the things that fans do to opposing goalies. But, I guess he gave a little back, and now he's public enemy number 1... They will no doubt be cheering for Hamilton in round 3, which starts on Friday.   Check it out, read the comments...

Also for game recaps, pictures, etc, check out the usual - TheThirdIntermission.

For me, the Aeros MVP so far is the trio of Colton Gillies, Jed Ortmeyer, and Warren Peters. Gillies has been awesome in these playoffs, but his success isn't the same without the hard work of his line mates.

Hamilton beat Manitoba in their own game 7, in triple overtime, so at least we don't have to worry about facing a well rested team!!

Kudos to the Aeros for sticking with their game. They knew they could do it, and they hung in there even when it didn't look promising.   I love how much confidence this group has and how much they work for each other. This is a special team and they are playing some special hockey!   Go Aeros!

Birds & Bees... at 10 years old!

2011-05-04T22:35:00.005-05:00

One little comment the other night led us down the road to a full-fledged birds and the bees talk with our 10 year old, "I had a dream last night that I became a big brother".

Our oldest boy responded to him "keep dreaming", to which I had to explain why...

Hubby was "fixed" about 6 years ago, so our baby making days are over and have been for quite some time.   So, what started out so innocently went down a road that he probably hadn't planned!!

I started off the conversation kinda slow with not too much detail, trying to ask him as many questions as I could. I wanted to see how much he would offer. This is how part of it went...

Our boy: "Mom, I'll make this really simple. There's a stick, and it goes in the hole".
Mom: "A stick? What do you mean a stick".
Our boy: "Mom, do I really have to explain it to you? There's 2 round things under it".

At this time, I'm trying with everything I have not to die laughing... One, I was driving, and two I wanted to keep this conversation going.   Hubby was in the front seat cracking up laughing and the oldest boy probably wanted to jump out of a moving vehicle at that point!!

We continued on and I explained how a woman has eggs and one of those eggs has to be fertilized in order to make a baby... We eventually ended up talking about how babies are born and if it hurts.

I'll be honest, he knew more than I would have ever given him credit for.   It was a little scary, but I knew he was ready for the "talk".. the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

Then, we took a turn from babies to STD's. Kids never talk about that. He didn't know anything about diseases and what they can do and how to prevent them, etc.   He was on the edge of his seat, literally hanging on my every word. He was interested. He was learning.

Our oldest boy puts it this way, "you better wrap it up".   I put it this way, "keep your stick out of the hole... until you are grown and married and ready for a family".

I remember this talk with our older boy. It wasn't quite so detailed at 10, and I don't remember it being nearly as humorous. He got an abbreviated version after hubby's surgery, but I don't think the full-fledged version came until about 12.

Through this entire talk, I couldn't stop thinking, 10 years old is way too young for this!   But, it was a comfortable talk, it was a good open talk, he was ready, and I didn't hold back. I'm glad it's done!!

Aeros vs Admirals

2011-05-04T00:59:00.005-05:00

I don't even really know what to say about this one. I guess it was bound to happen. Every team has a bad game every now and then, right?!

The Aeros steam-rolled through Peoria, suffered some rust from the long break in game one, apparently found their game in game two, and I don't even know what happened in game three last night. We got to the game when it was about 5 minutes old, and actually watched the Spurgeon goal while waiting for a stop in play to get to our seats. From up there, it looked like the Aeros were ready for game 3. Then, they fell apart.

In the third period, it seemed like every time the Aeros would score to try to make a game out of it, the Admirals would shoot the preverbial middle finger and score almost immediately after. It was almost like they were just toying with the Aeros! Even though I want to, and it's the easy thing to do, I can't pin it all on Hackett. No, he didn't make any spectacular saves when the Aeros really needed him to, but the boys in front have to limit turnovers and play defense if they expect to win these games.

The Admirals are a different team than the Rivermen. I don't think anyone expected an easy series against them, but I hope the Aeros haven't gotten too confident in their recent winnings... That will spell disaster!

If you want the game details / pictures, go to TheThirdIntermission or ArtAndHockey.

And a couple funnies from the game for me:

I had a girl sitting next to me in a Nashville Predators jersery, so I naturally assumed that she was there cheering for the Admirals... Nope, she was for the Aeros. I wonder if she even knew that the Ads are affiliated with the Preds? A little identity crisis going on, but hey, I'm all for people cheering for the Aeros!!
Hubby couldn't make it to the game because of work, so I was texting him updates. In the first intermission, he sent me a text asking who scored the goal for us. I texted back to him "Spurgeon".. but, when I hit send, spell check decided to help me out and what hubby got was "Spitball". LOL, a nice new nickname for Spurg... I might have to send texts for each player and see what spell check comes up with for some of them!!

There are a few guys who sit a couple rows in front of us that like to give the loser sign to the opposing goalie. At one point in the third period, Smith was skating back toward his goal, and one of these gentlemen decided to "loser" him, but he had his thumb, index finger, AND pinkie finger all up, instead of just the thumb and index finger... In sign language, that means I LOVE YOU!!

My friend and I got a good chuckle on that one. He obviously didn't realize what he was actually saying to Jeremy Smith!!

Get a clue

2011-05-02T22:19:00.000-05:00

Consider the following list:

Alexander Graham Bell
Hans Christian Anderson
Beethoven
Harry Belafonte
Terry Bradshaw
George Burns
Admiral Richard Byrd
Andrew Carnegie
Lewis Carroll
Prince Charles
Cher
Winston Churchill
Bill Cosby
Leonardo Da Vinci
Thomas Edison
Albert Einstein
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Benjamin Franklin
Michael Jordan
Abraham Lincoln
Stephen Speilberg

Anyone want to venture a guess at what these people (any many others) have in common?   That's right - ADHD.

I downloaded Coping With ADHD, and I came across this very list when reading it.   But, what really struck me was this: "This could be you or your child. Don't give up. Don't blame yourself. Take control and take charge. ADHD can be controlled and sufferers can live normal, productive lives."

Well, that's easier said than done.  One of the hardest things that I have had to learn through all of this is to ignore the people around me who are more interested in slinging insults, pointing and whispering, or turning up their nose.  There are too many people in this world who have an opinion about things they don't have the first clue about.

I find myself being overly sensitive to things people say, especially people who don't live with and deal with ADHD everyday. It amazes me that people will so openly throw insults toward someone with ADHD because of their lack of focus (or whatever other trait they want to pick on).   I find myself needing to bite my tongue and take a deep breath more often than I'd probably like to admit.

Do you think that these same people would find it appropriate to insult someone in a wheel chair because he/she can't walk?   My guess would be no (at least I hope not). The disability is obvious, and the inability for that person to control their muscles to walk is obvious.

People with ADHD aren't disorganized or hyper or inattentive or disruptive because they WANT to be. The struggles with ADHD aren't as obvious, but they are real.    All I can do is focus on what I can control and ignore those who don't have a clue. I am constantly reminding myself that they aren't worth my time or my energy.

So, my challenge to those people is this.. Either shut up or educate yourself.   Remember what your mom always taught you... If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Your insults aren't helping!

Damn kids and their thievery

2011-04-26T22:28:00.001-05:00

Let me start off by saying I hate a thief.   Yeah, I know most of us do, so that's nothing special, but it really pisses me off when people think it's OK to just take things.

This weekend, we got the boys new cell phones. Our youngest has been using a cell phone that's probably almost as old as he is. He's been pretty good with it. In fact, better than I expected. He forgets where he puts it sometimes, but I do that myself...   He's taken care of it and never lost it.

We got him a new one, nothing fancy, but a new phone. He was really excited about it till some dumb ass kid decided he wanted it.  Our boy is in 5th grade, so they have to put their phones in their backpacks during the day.   The problem is, all of those backpacks are put in one closet all together, so kids can go "shopping" in other backpacks without anyone really knowing.

This was never a problem when our boy was walking around with a dinosaur of a phone with a few cracks in it!   Monday was the first day at school with his new phone. I'm sure he was showing it off to some of his "friends" in the morning before turning it off and securing it in his backpack. At the end of the day... gone.

After grilling him over and over to make sure he didn't just lose it, we had his account restricted so all they could do was domestic calls and text. I started calling it like a crazy person. To the tune of about 100 times between the hours of 6:00 and 7:00 PM on Monday.   If I couldn't convince them to return it, I'd at least drive them crazy and keep the phone ringing so much that they'd have a hard time using it!

When we got home from the boy's MMA class on Monday night, I pulled up our account online and discovered that they had made 4 phone calls to 2 different numbers.   Hubby tried calling one of them. A young girl answered and said that she saw that she had 2 missed calls from the number, but she didn't know who it was. She tried to call them back, but they didn't answer.   He called the other number and got voicemail.

We kept calling the phone over and over and over...   I guess we annoyed them enough because the phone was turned off around 8:00 and not turned back on until Tuesday afternoon.   I tried periodically during the day but it always went straight to voice mail. But, low and behold at 3:30, right as the elementary was getting out for the day, the phone was turned back on.

Not only was I calling it like a crazy person, but so was hubby!!   And, as I was calling it from my desk phone at work, I was texting it from my cell phone.  I started off polite, offering them $20, no questions asked if they would just return the phone. As more and more time went by, I started getting more and more pissed, and the texts started to reflect that.

The last text I sent was something to the tune of I know you have the phone and that you are using it. I listed out the phone numbers they were calling with the exact times of the calls, then politely said (or texted) that they have a choice. Turn the phone in & get $20.   Or, I'll call the police, report it stolen and hand over these phone numbers to the police for them to track.

In the meantime, hubby again called the number that they called from the phone and a woman answered. He explained the situation, without accusing anyone of anything, and she said that her son called her from that number and said it was his friend's phone.   She wasn't happy and assured hubby that she would get to the bottom of it and call him back.

A couple hours later, she called back.   She said she searched her son's room & backpack, but her son told her that he had given the phone back to his friend.   Luckily that friend lived down the street from them, so she called the friend's mom. The friend was at baseball practice, but his mom assured she would get to the bottom of it.

While hubby was on the phone with her, my cell phone rings and my son's name is showing on the caller ID. Yes, the son without his phone!   I answered it and a boy on the other end said he found the phone in his yard.   So, I jumped in the car to meet him at the school.  I gave him the $20 reward that I offered and thanked him for calling me.   He was older, probably about 13 or so. I honestly don't think it was him that took the phone.   He was middle school age and that phone was turned back on before the middle school was even released for the day.

I think sometime between my not so nice text and the other moms finding out, one of the kids dumped it. We know 2 names of kids that were involved.   When we get home with the phone, I was looking through it and found one of the dumb ass kids took a picture of himself with the phone, but this wasn't either of the 2 kids that we already knew about.   The idiots even added their own contacts in the phone, which tells me that they had no intention of returning it.   Did they think we'd keep it activated forever for them to just have it and use it all they want?

My boy and I had a long talk about how pissed off you feel when someone takes something that belongs to you, and how these kids should have handled things, if they were honest kids.    I hope he learned something from this, and if he's in a situation where something looks enticing to him that he won't be one of *those* kids! I also made sure to tell him how much trouble he would have been in if the situation was reversed.   I pulled up his cell account online and showed him how I can see all of the activity on his phone. He knows we're watching!!

I'm guessing (hoping) these boys were in their fair share of trouble for their part in the theft.

The boy's phone is safe and secure at home now. There's only a month of school left, so we may just keep it home while he's at school.. until next year when he can either keep it in his pocket of lock it up in his very own locker.

The Boy's Soccer... it's Finished!

2011-04-17T09:22:00.003-05:00

The last game was yesterday, and it was another loss. A tough season as far as wins and losses go, but the boys still seemed to have a good time and never complained about having to play or even about losing.

This season seemed like the tale of 2 teams every week. A really strong first half followed by a bad second half where the other team always seemed to take over the game. I'm sure it didn't help that we almost always played short handed or with only 1 sub player, so our boys were probably worn out by the second half most weeks.

I took the super duper camera, so here's some shots from the game...

I can't remember if he scored on this play or not.
He had 2 goals for our team in the first half!

All eyes on the ball!!

Corner kick

That's my boy. Is he focused or bored?

5 on 1... that's our strategy!

Only a tiny bit offsides!

The end. This is the best you get for a team photo!

After the game, we took a short break to go have lunch, then off to Iron Sports for the end of the season party. If you live in the area, and you've never been, it's great fun of the kids... swinging, climbing, dodgeball... Check it out: http://www.ironsportsfit.com/

This might look easy from this picture, but the bottom of the ladder is about 5 feet off the ground. The beginning of it is purely upper body strength until you pull yourself up high enough to get your feet on it. It's also swinging from the ceiling, so it's not as simple as just climbing up a ladder!

Photo Excursion!

2011-04-14T22:52:00.011-05:00

Hubby and I took the boy fishing at the front of our neighborhood a few days ago. That kid LOVES to fish.

For the fun of it, I took my super, duper camera to take some pictures. It's one of those cameras that you don't want to lug around everywhere you go, so it doesn't get used as much as the others. I'm still figuring it out, so I figured I would take it and play with some of the settings for taking outdoor pictures.

There's about 100 pictures of him holding up a fish with a goofy smile on his face. He's the world's worst about the silly pose and fake smile when there's a camera around, so I tried to catch some more natural pictures of him.

I just love this picture...

He's sitting down taking a fish off the hook, so he's oblivious to the camera. That's when I think I get the best pictures!

And, even though I hate those damn ducks, it seemed like these two were posing for me, so I had to snap a picture. These ducks leave the biggest mess at the front of our neighborhood, and they constantly pester you to feed them. They are annoying as ever!

After an hour or so, I felt like I had enough fishing pictures, so I just started snapping away at random things around me!! Here's a few of the better ones.

I love the camera. I need to find more excuses for photo excursions, so I can really figure it out! First on the list is the boy's soccer game this weekend... action shots!

Get your sh!t together, please (work rant)

2011-04-13T18:15:00.008-05:00

Have you ever been listening to the radio, and you just relate to the song that's currently playing?   I had that feeling today.

There's a funny country song, Pray for You by Jaron and The Long Road to Love.   In the chorus, it says:

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
And knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are, honey, I pray for you

Warning, this is where I begin my rant...

It's been one of those weeks for me at work.   A project dropped on me a week prior, specifications for part of the project delivered to me on Thursday at 3:30 in the afternoon, and this project absolutely, positively has to be in QA ready for testing on Monday morning.   Bad news, we have to work the weekend, and when I say we, it really means me.

Friday afternoon, after several status calls and multiple changes to file formats, one of the functional team members tracks me down to get my status and estimates for getting the project finished. I specifically tell him that I'll get it done on Saturday, email the team a test output file for verification, so Sunday I could make any adjustments needed before Monday morning.

I made the commitment to put in the hours over the weekend to have them what they need for Monday. I worked ALL.DAMN.DAY on Saturday, and emailed a test file to the project team on Saturday evening.

I'll give you one guess when I got a response.... Monday morning at 9AM.   The output file needs some adjustments and one column is missing data.   This was exactly the reason I committed to getting them a test file on Saturday.   I didn't want to spend my Monday in a scramble to get it in QA while everyone was waiting on me.

And, regarding the column of missing data... I sent an email on Saturday afternoon at precisely 2:12 PM with sample data, asking what field I needed to map because I didn't see anything that would be an obvious choice. When they finally decided to look at this for me, it was discovered that this particular data was not available in the web service that I was using. I needed to add an additional web service to get that data.   Just awesome, that's not a 5 minute change!

After a partial redesign, more stress, and no lunch, I got the damn thing changed and in QA on Monday afternoon... a little late, but it was still Monday!

That same team member sends me an email letting me know that he'll send me the testing schedule once he gets it, and that they'll need my help with some manual pushes until the FTP portion is completed. My level of aggravation went through the damn roof.

What do you mean you don't even have a test schedule yet?   Why such a rush to get the finished by Monday for our Monday deadline if we don't even have a testing schedule?

Just an FYI for future projects... I don't mind putting in the work on the weekends when I have to. I don't mind working extra hours to get stuff done by a defined project timeline.   But, dammit, if you are going to ask me to commit my weekend to your project, I expect you to make a commitment to have your stuff ready to go by that deadline too. That means you need to be available to provide me with the information I need when I need it, not 2 days later.  That means having your testing plans and schedule ready to go when testing is supposed to start.

So, anyone want to guess when or if I heard anything about testing?? This afternoon around 2:30. I could have had my weekend for me, and done this work during the first half of this week.

All I can say is thanks alot, and "I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to".

image from http://www.chumpysclipart.com

Turning the negative to a positive...

2011-04-12T19:08:00.003-05:00

As you may know, if you've been following along, I read and study a lot about ADHD.   It's something that is obviously very near and dear to my heart and something that I live with day in and day out. Sometimes I'm so frustrated with our boy, the Wednesday status folders littered with conduct marks, feeling like a bad parent, or the helpless feeling of not knowing what to do... the list goes on and on. It's definitely a roller coaster ride.

ADHD implies negative. It screams that my boy is misbehaved and bad mannered. At least that's the stereotype.   I can't tell you how many times I've heard people make comments about other children, and the famous words of "I'd never let my kid do that".   I wish those parents could live in my shoes for a day or 2. Do you think we want our kids to misbehave? Do you think that we condone it? Have you ever wondered if there is some reasoning behind their behavior, like ADHD?

I've heard enough of the negative. I've felt enough of the negative. I've been trying to focus more on appreciating my boy for who he is and ignoring those around us. He's so full of energy. He's a happy, imaginative, and beautiful boy.   He has so many people who love him, and he has so much love to give back.

I found this article I want to share. If you're a Micheal Phelps or Ty Pennington fan, you'll definitely want to give it a read.   It's a few years old, but the message is still very valid and very powerful.
http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1998.html

Toward the end of the section about Ty Pennington, you'll find this quote: "...if her experiences have taught her anything, it’s that parents should learn to appreciate the unique gifts ADHD can offer....'Many parents in this situation focus on what their kids are doing wrong. I encourage them to focus on what they’re doing right'".

I think that very message goes for parents, teachers, friends... everyone!

I thank God every day that he gave me a happy, healthy boy. Yes, he is an ADHD kid, and I'll live with that and be happy with that.  It could be so much worse. He has taught me so much.   Life isn't easy, and he reminds me of that almost every day.

The Boy's Soccer... Game 6

2011-04-05T20:43:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, the boy finally had a meeting with his old team.   You may remember our experience of him sitting out half the game practically every weekend, and the coach blowing a gasket when hubby confronted him about coaching in Spanish... Well, they are the easy runaway leaders of the division. They are killing teams week after week, and I knew it was going to be a beat down!

The coach had another kid play goal for all of the first half and about half of the second half. Then he subbed our boy in.   Our boy played the first part of the game on defense.

This game was a tale of two halves! The first half was great. We were only down 0-1, and our boys had some chances.   I knew if we could get in there and score a couple goals, the other team would turn on each other. That's how they roll!

The second half, on the other hand, was a beat down!    4 quick goals and all of a sudden our team was down for the count!   We did manage to get one goal, and as I expected, the kids on the other team started blaming each other. Nevermind, they were still up by 4 or 5 goals!!

Our boy subbed into goal and he let in 2 or 3 more, but by that time, the team had given up and was just ready for the game to be over. So was I!

But, if you're one for moral victories, here's a little something for you. That team had allowed 1 goal all season, yes ONE. Well, we doubled their goals against for the season, so take that!!

Although winning is always more fun than losing, I'm still happy that we opted for a different team. I honestly don't miss that team...

Only 2 more games left...

Single Parents - how do they do it?!

2011-04-02T00:20:00.001-05:00

I'll be honest, I've gained a huge amount of respect for single parents this week. The ones who stick by and take care of their kids with no help. Not the losers who take off, send a child support check, and claim to be doing their part. It takes more than money to raise kids...

This week hubby was out of town, and it was mega-stress for me!   Work is absolutely crazy right now. You know when everything hits at the same time and everyone expects you to be finished yesterday?

Our youngest boy is a busy, busy kid. He has junior MMA workouts on Monday, soccer on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and tutoring on Thursday.   Tuesday is our only free day, if that's what you want to call it.   Luckily, the oldest boy can drive himself around town, so I don't have to struggle to make 2 different schedules work at the same time.

I feel like I've hit the door running every day this week.   The kind of busy at work when you look up at the clock and it's "oh shit, I gotta go"... I've had just enough time to get home, change clothes, and run off to whatever activity happens that day.   Then it's home for dinner, homework, shower, get the boy to bed, then me working some more.   I've been almost falling into bed at night and feeling like I've only slept an hour or so when the alarm goes off in the morning!

One of the things I absolutely love about my job is my work from home Thursdays. If it wasn't for working from home on Thursday, and having one day to be away from the office, away from the noise, and just being able to work, I'd lose my mind!   And, since I'm home, I get to do laundry and small stuff around the house here and there, so I'm not spending my entire weekend catching up!

I'm incredibly thankful that I'm not a single parent. The things they do and the things they give up for their kids is remarkable... well for most of them! I'm also incredibly thankful that hubby is home now!

Is he serious?

2011-03-29T21:35:00.001-05:00

I got an email last week.   Yeah, I know, big deal, we all get emails.  But this was one of those emails that you stare at for a while trying to figure out what the appropriate response should be; one of those emails that you ask yourself if the sender is really that big of an idiot.

I had a meeting that my boss forwarded to me and asked me to attend in his place.   I had never met the guy who arranged the meeting, so I wasn't sure what to expect or what he really wanted.   There were 3 of us in this meeting and another on the phone.

It started out really weird, what almost felt like a job interview.   He asked how I like my job, how I got there, if I have any customers that are really difficult to work with... So, I'm wondering what the hell this meeting is about!   I was pretty sure I didn't apply for another position!!

After the meeting, I hoped that it would be the last I'd have to deal with this guy. He was a little odd.   The next day, one of the others from the meeting sent out a summary email and copied everyone from the meeting.   Well, this gave weird guy my first and last name.

The next day, I get this:

It was good meeting you Wednesday. I would like to find out if you would like to have lunch/a drink after work some time next week.

OK, so this may not seem too strange to some of you. It took me by surprise. Was he serious? Does he not know I'm married (I'm pretty sure the ring gives it away)? Is he asking me out, after knowing me for maybe an hour? I couldn't decide if it was inappropriate or not.

I didn't even know how to respond. This was work, in my work email, and I didn't want to be too rude to the guy. I started out a response with the I'm married and therefore not interested angle, but ultimately I decided I wasn't even going to give this guy the time or effort it would take to respond. I just ignored it. I figure if he doesn't get the hint and sends another one, then I'll tell him off!!

I haven't gotten anything yet, but I'm prepared if he decides he's either that brave or that stupid!

Aeros vs Barons

2011-03-27T23:48:00.000-05:00

I don't know what to say, other than it was a completely exhausting weekend of hockey!! The Aeros played the Barons on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday, and the Aeros swept the weekend series, which is what the needed to do... 4-1 win on Friday, 6-5 shootout win on Saturday, and a 5-4 win on Sunday. 6 of a possible 6 points on the weekend.

The Aeros are still tied with Milwaukee for first place, points-wise, but the Aeros have played 3 more games than the Admirals. The Stars are still right there in the thick of the race, but the other teams seemed to have started falling back a little. With only 4 games left in the seasons, things are looking good for the Aeros!!

I'm not going to bother with recapping the games.. In fact, I've had enough of the Barons for a little while to be honest. But some of the things I noticed:

OUCH on the refereeing. I don't like to bitch about the referees. Both teams have to deal with them and more often than not, they aren't directly a part of the outcome of the game, but this weekend had to have been the worst I've seen in a really long time.
Other than the few times when they passed the puck in circles for what seemed like the entire 2 minutes, it seems like the Aeros power play is starting to find it's groove again, going 7-for-20 over the weekend. The PK needs some work!
The Barons game plan was to beat up Patrick O'Sullivan and Robbie Earl. Those two really took a beating. There were a couple times that I was surprised O'Sullivan got up and made it to the bench after getting creamed... If he gets hurt, our playoff hopes take a major hit. I think games like this show the value of Matt Kassian.
Give Pascal Morency credit. He's scrappy and he doesn't back down from guys who have a considerable size advantage on him. The Barons are definitely aware when he's on the ice. But, he's no Matt Kassian, and that was obvious this weekend.
These Aeros just don't quit. The games on Saturday and Sunday were up and down, but they battled back when they had to and did enough to secure the points.
There were several guys that stood out to me that seemed to just be working their asses off, in particular Jed Ortmeyer, Carson McMillian, and Jon DiSalvatore. I love McMillian on the PK.. He's relentless!
Welcome back to Peters and Prosser. They both made a difference this weekend!

The Aeros have a few days off before seeing Chicago on Thursday. We'll miss that game because of my youngest boy's reading tutoring, so the next home game for us is... guess who... the OKC Barons! At least I get a couple of weeks to forget about them for a little while before having to see them yet again. I'm sure they are feeling the same way about the Aeros!

Texas Tech is the winner... for now

2011-03-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

We went college touring with our oldest boy for the second half of Spring Break. The plan was to visit Texas Tech on Thursday, then drive to Stillwater to visit Oklahoma State on Friday.

We left home Wednesday morning for our journey to Tech. We arrived in Lubbock between 5 and 6 PM, headed to the hotel to drop our stuff off, then ventured out.

We stopped by the SAMS for hubby to drop some stuff off, then went for a quick wander through the South Plains Mall. The boy wanted to get a few Tech shirts while we were in town.

Then off to dinner at Gardski's. The boys loves their fries in disguise, so we had to make a stop to eat there! We drove to Colorado (through Lubbock) many years ago and stopped to eat there. He's been talking about it ever since!

There was a couple there having dinner at the table behind us, and we got to talking with them after everyone had eaten. They are both current students at Tech, so they were giving our boy some good information and tips. It's always good to get to talk to current students about the college.

Friday morning, we started our visit off with a quick campus tour. Texas Tech is the second largest campus in the nation, so we obviously didn't get to see it all! The tour was just under an hour. We walked through a couple of the buildings, around some others, and learned some of the history of the school. After that, we had an academic advisement appointment for the school of mathematics, which was kinda boring, but we did get some good information!! We had some time to kill before his next appointment, so we left there and headed to the recreation center for a tour there, then we stopped to see if we could get to the football field.

Everything was locked up because it was Spring Break there too, but as we were trying to peek through the fence, I'm assuming someone who was an assistant coach in some capacity came walking up and asked if we wanted to see the field.

He unlocked the door and pointed us toward a lobby type area where there is a wall of windows overlooking the field.

After we took a few pictures and thanked the man for letting us in, we headed off campus for lunch and some quick shopping!

After lunch, we headed over to the Education building for another advisement appointment with them. The boy wants to be a high school math teacher and football coach, so that's why we had to 2 different advisement appointments. He was told that he should major in Math, minor in Education, and for all of his elective courses, he can sprinkle in some coaching classes.

We finished the day off with a housing tour. We were taken to 2 different dorms to see different types of rooms available. One room with fixed furniture and another with movable furniture. The room with the fixed furniture was a million times nicer than the other. In fact, I was surprised they were showing off the room with the movable furniture. It was a shit-hole!

Our day finished up around 4:00 in the afternoon, and our original plan was to drive to Stillwater for our Friday visit there. As we were touring, we got to talking with another boy and his parents. They were in Stillwater on Tuesday for a tour of Oklahoma State, so they were telling us a lot about it. See, we were told by some friends of ours that OSU offers in-state tuition for Texas residents. Well, this family said they don't. In fact, she had asked them about it on 2 different occasions. I was skeptical that we would be offered in-state tuition, but it was worth a try right?! Our boy really liked Tech... couple that with out-of-state tuition at OSU, and he decided it would be a waste of time to go tour there. He really didn't want to go there, and if it's that expensive, it's not even worth looking.

We cancelled our hotel in Stillwater and decided to just come home. It was a long night. We got home around 1 AM on Friday morning!!

Our boy is a junior this year, so there's still time for him to see other schools if he wants to. There aren't any other schools in Texas that seem to interest him, so it looks like Tech is the winner! Of course I'm proud, being a Tech grad myself, but I definitely didn't sway his decision to go there. At least I tried my best not to sway him...

Aeros vs Moose

2011-03-14T00:52:00.001-05:00

The Moose were in town for a couple games vs the Aeros this weekend, and games against the North division haven't been easy for the Aeros!    I was looking forward to seeing Marco Rosa play - he's one of my favorites, but he must be injured. No Rosa, in either game this weekend.

With Khudobin out of the picture, we are going to be seeing a lot more of Matt Hackett. Man, was he good.   Friday, he only allowed 1 goal, keeping the Aeros alive long enough for Prosser to tie the game in the third.  They held on for a point, pushing the game to a shootout, where they conceded the 2nd point to the Moose.  O'Sullivan scored a beauty in the shootout, but he was the only one to find the back of the net! Fortunately, the teams around us in the standings lost on Friday night, so we didn't lose any ground.

The Moose travelled to San Antonio for a game on Saturday night, while the Aeros hung out resting up for Sunday's rematch.   The Moose trampled all over the Rampage, so I was hoping for some tired boys on Sunday.   Nope!   The Moose looked to be more rested than the Aeros.   Much like Friday night, the Moose got on the board in the first period for the 1-0 lead.   And, also much like Friday night, Hackett held down the fort until the 3rd period for the boys to find their game.   We could have skipped the first 2 periods. There just isn't much to say, but in the 3rd, they found their goal-scoring sticks!   6 goals!

Patrick O'Sullivan started the scoring 20 seconds into the third, and the flood gates opened.   It also helped that Weiman gift-wrapped a goal for Jon DiSalvatore when he handed the puck right to him rather than covering it for a whistle. Thank you!!   Daoust and Earl scored a couple minutes apart and the Aeros were up 4-3 when Weiman was pulled for an extra attacker.   6-on-5 didn't work out well for the Moose as Cody Almond and Jon DiSalvatore both got empty net goals less then 20 seconds apart.

The Aeros didn't gain any ground as the teams around them were also winning. Milwaukee beat Peoria to maintain their hold on first place. Chicago beat Rockford, Texas beat Toronto, and San Antonio gained a point in a shootout loss to Grand Rapids.   The Aeros sit in 2nd place, one point behind Milwaukee, but the Aeros have also played more games than any of the other teams fighting with them.    Tuesday's matchup against Milwaukee should be an interesting game.   The fight for 1st place in the West!

The Boy's Soccer... Game 5

2011-03-12T22:40:00.000-06:00

Game 4 was rained out...

Game 5 was another game on the schedule with no substitute players, so they all had to play the entire game.   What is it with this team not being about to show up for game time?    The other team had 3 extras, so we once again were looking like the underdogs!

A score of 7-0 later, the boys definitely didn't feel like underdogs!   One of our goals was an own-goal.   Their defender opted to just clear the ball out the goal line for a corner kick rather than try to turn and send it up or out the side.   He had a perfectly placed shot, right into the corner of the goal.   Unfortunately, it was his own goal.   I think that one went on the board as our 4th goal.

My boy didn't have to make any spectacular saves. He made one really great save, a few really easy ones, and he got some help from the goal post once.   Our coach swapped our boy out for another kid to let someone else have a try in goal for a little while.  His goalie partner made one great save and a few easy ones.   Together with my boy, they had a shutout, which made 2 straight for my boy!

My boy had a friend there and my dad there watching him, so he was pretty excited to get the win in front of them.   It's Spring Break now, and I think we have 2 weeks without a game.   Our next game should be interesting. Hopefully they don't forget how to play!!

Aeros vs Heat

2011-03-07T00:38:00.000-06:00

That game was exciting only in the fact that there were lots of goals scored.    Otherwise, it kinda sucked!   We really needed those points seeing how the Aeros have played the most games in our division, but the team on the ice is so different than the team that we've been watching lately. With so many injuries, and call-ups to Minnesota, we have half a team of ECHL call-ups!

The infirmary was located at the top of section 113 for the game!   There were at least 5 or 6 players sitting up there watching.   Boy, do we need them back on the ice!!

Abbotsford scored quick in the first period to take the 1-0 lead, and the game was just a see-saw battle from there, with the teams seemingly content to trade goals.   I'll admit, I was frustrated as hell with Tordjman. He was leaving rebounds left and right for the Heat to just punch into an open net.   He's got to get control of those, especially on nights when the team in front of him is mentally and physically tired.   There were some nasty turn-overs in front of him to lead to some of those goals, but if he could have made just 1 or 2 of those saves, the game could have been different.   No, I'm not putting the loss on him. I just wish he could have done a little more to steal that game for the boys.   They battled back from being down twice, but they just couldn't hold on.

With DiSalvatore in the box late in the third period, I could just see the Heat go-ahead goal coming. I wish that feeling would have been wrong, but with 40-some seconds left in the game, there it was.   A power play goal for the Heat victory.

It was a disappointing loss, and not just for the fans. You could read it in the body language on the ice.

The next game isn't until Friday against Manitoba, so hopefully those few days off will give some of the guys time to heal.

Aeros vs Crunch

2011-03-05T09:22:00.001-06:00

The Aeros needed to get a win vs the worst team in the AHL, and they got one. It wasn't always pretty, and the roster looks like it's being kept together with duck tape these days! The Wild have Warren Peters and Casey Wellman right now, Ortmeyer was just returned to the Aeros, there appears to be several Aeros injured, with a few ECHL callups filling in. But, that just doesn't seem to matter to this bunch!!

We missed the 8-1 ass kicking that the Aeros handed the Icehogs on Wednesday night, and you never know how a team might let up after a huge win like that.

Honestly, my attention was not completely on the game last night though.

The Aeros had their first Green Man appearance at the game, but security was having none of it. Green Man was with us, so I was trying to keep an eye on them to make sure if they got kicked out, I would not be far behind! He's a friend of our oldest boy, and they were pumped to get over by the penalty boxes. They couldn't get that far, so settled for getting on the glass for a face-off. It didn't take long before security was on them, telling him that he had to uncover his face and put some clothes on!

They made their way back over to our seats and waited for an opportune time. That came when there was a stoppage to repair a pane of glass and YMCA came on the loud speakers. Green Man did a little dance for the YMCA, the crowd was laughing and pointing, and he made an appearance on the big screen! However, while this was going on, I was watching the security people scramble. All of them staring our direction, talking on their walkie-talkies... We knew it was just a matter of time.

The song ended, Green Man sat down and took the mask off, just as she got to us. "Sir, you've been warned once. This is your second warning. The next time you'll be escorted out of the game." All while the crowd around us boo-ed her. He contemplated a Green Man appearance at the end of the game but decided not to push it.

I got a few text messages or people seated around us asking me what the hell that was all about... If you don't know, go to youtube and search for Green Men Vancouver Canucks...

The boys were just trying to have a good time. They didn't mean any harm and they weren't offensive. But, I guess this is another example of one bad apple spoiling the fun for everyone. If they let us have Green Man, others may try it, and you'll find that one drunk dude who can't behave. It sucks for the rest of us, but the boys enjoyed the couple of small appearances from Green Man at the game. Who knows when/if he may push his luck and try again at another game in the future!?!

The Boy's Soccer.. Games 2 & 3

2011-02-28T00:17:00.000-06:00

For some reason, the boy had 2 soccer games this weekend.   Saturdays game was forgettable. Our team was short again, by 2 players, and the other team had 4 subs.

My boy struggled in net, which I was expecting since this is new to him.   He had some decent saves, and he let in a couple stinkers. Unfortunately, he was busy.   As the game went on and our boys got more and more tired, the other team easily took over. We walked away with another loss, this time 1-6.

I'm afraid that getting beat so badly might shatter the boy's confidence, but so far so good.   We spent some time on Saturday afternoon working with him in the yard, teaching him to get his body in front of the ball, to go down to the ground to block it, etc.   He worked his tail off, so maybe he really likes this goalie thing.

They played again on Sunday afternoon.    This time, we finally had a full team, even with a sub.   Our boys weren't dog tired at the end of the game!!   The work that my boy put in on Saturday afternoon seemed to help. He was less afraid to go after the ball.   He wasn't nearly as busy as the last game, in fact, he was bored at times.   Our boys dominated the game and walked away with their first victory, and my boy's first shutout, 2-0.

I'm proud of him for sticking with it after having such a bad game on Saturday.   Hopefully, things will go up from here!

The Boy's Soccer... Game 1

2011-02-20T08:52:00.000-06:00

The spring season for soccer started this weekend with the boy's first game on Saturday.   He's on a different team than last time, so no more coaching in Spanish and sitting certain kids for extended times!

It didn't look good going into the game. The team was short-handed, so no subs, and my boy for some reason decided he wants to be the goalie.   He's never played goalie before, so we were in for a treat...or maybe the other team was!!

Our team hung in there with the other team stride for stride in the first half.   My boy let in a couple fluke goals, but he'll learn. One of them was on a goal kick that he kicked straight up the middle.  Since he was the one kicking the ball, the goal was wide open when the other team got the ball smack-dab in the middle and kicked it right in!   Another one was him trying to kick the ball out rather than fall on it or pick it up.

In the second half, the other team was awarded a penalty shot. Again, my boy tried to kick it out and the ball bounced over his foot into the goal.   He'll get the hang of falling in front of or on the ball and some of those stops will come a little easier.   He made a couple of really nice saves too. I was proud of him. He said he wanted to do it, and he stuck with it.   His coach told him that if he really wants to be goalie, that it will be his position. He will own it and the coaches will start working with him. We'll see what happens next weekend!!

Our team walked away with a 4-5 loss, but they were competitive even though they were dog tired in the second half and they had a rookie goalie in net.   Hopefully, it just goes up from here!

Aeros vs Wolves

2011-02-17T20:46:00.013-06:00

What happened to that Aeros team that has been so fun to watch over the past month?   Yes, we all knew it wouldn't last forever, but they seem to have reverted right back to that team that has been so painful to watch.

Yesterdays game was painful. There was no energy.   I'm sure these day games really jack with their normal schedules, and it's probably hard to get themselves going so early, but really...that bad?

Honestly, it's really not fair to call out any single player since they collectively were shit, but did anyone else notice that Falk and Prosser were on the ice for all 3 goals against?  O'Sullivan looked like he didn't give a shit. It seemed like every time Ortmeyer got the puck, he passed it to a Wolves player. At one point, while the Aeros were on the power play, I looked over at hubby and said "Thank God for Robbie Earl. He's the only one playing today".   I think Gillies had an OK game. Otherwise, not so much!

You know it's bad when the fans start arguing with each other. After the Wolves 3rd goal, one fan screams to get Khudobin out of the game. Another angrily asks him how he can blame Khudobin when the defence leaves Wolves players wide open in prime scoring spots.   It went back and forth for a little while till one relented and said "you're right" to the other.

I questioned why Yeo didn't pull Anton. Not so much because of Anton, but more of a message to the team. But, in reality I don't think pulling him would have made a bit of a difference in that game.   They just weren't ready and never figured out how to get into the game.

Mannino played well for the Wolves, stopping 34 shots, but I didn't think many of those were high quality shots. He was busy, but he didn't have to do anything spectacular.   His shutout was killed late in the 3rd when the Aeros managed a power play goal, but it was too little too late for the Aeros.

On the road now to complete this 3-in-3, with a game in Milwaukee tomorrow night and a game in Rockford Saturday night. Luckily, the Aeros are finished with early day games for this season.   Lets hope they can find their magic again, and find it fast!

Thank you!

2011-02-15T20:53:00.004-06:00

We got the sweetest card in the mail today from our vet. It was totally unexpected, but it made me smile.

This is the front of the card

And, inside the card.

It's hard to read, but it's full of really sweet messages from all of the staff at the vet. At the very bottom is a message from the doctor who actually put Bullseye to sleep. It says: "I am sorry for your loss of Bullseye. I know your decision was painful but it was also humane, compassionate, & loving. Please call if you need anything."

Another message that really made me smile was from his wife. It says: "I am so sorry that more could not be done for Bullseye. I have fond memories of that silly dog. I hope Bailey's smiles will bring you comfort."

He was a silly dog, even though he tried to be mean. At the top of his chart was a note to muzzle him.   He was the sweetest dog, until you started jacking with his ears or pulling on his legs. Then he would bite.   Our little 10 pound dog was such a threat!!   And our other dog, Bailey, she does smile, more than any dog I've ever seen.   I'm going to try to snap a picture of her smiling, but she's camera shy.

I really love our vet.  And gestures like this simple card make me like them even more!

And, to all of our friends and family, and even some of you who we've never met... Y'all are all awesome too.   Everyone has been so supportive to us through all of this.. Thanks!

We pulled through the most difficult part of it, and I know in my heart that we did the right thing.   We see him everyday. He is the background for our computer and on my phone. Now, when I look at the pictures of him, I smile rather than cry. I still miss him like crazy, but I always will. That part will never go away.

My Shadow

2011-02-10T19:37:00.006-06:00

How cute is she?!?

No, we didn't get a new puppy. We've had her for 4 years or so, and now that we've lost out other dog, we decided to make her an inside dog. She's always been inside at night, but we normally would leave the dogs out back during the day. We are testing leaving her in all day, especially since it's been so damn cold in the mornings!

I work from home most Thursdays, so she was inside with me all day. I couldn't walk 2 feet from my chair without her jumping up and following me. She's literally been attached to my hip most of the day!! In fact, as I am typing this, she is laying on the floor right beside my chair.

I'm sure she is missing her little friend. I guess she's afraid that if I get out of her sight, I'll disappear too!!

R.I.P Bullseye

2011-02-08T01:20:00.005-06:00

It was one of the hardest and crappiest decisions we've ever had to make. We put our sweet dog down yesterday.

The last time that I can remember him eating was Wednesday of last week.   He started vomiting sometime in the middle of the week and stopped eating.    We took him to the vet last Friday, and after some blood work, he came back with a bacterial infection and pancreatitis, which apparently leads to diabetes.

They gave him a 2-week antibiotic shot to combat the bacterial infection, along with an anti-nausea shot to stop the vomiting, and 200 cc's of fluid because he was dehydrated.   The vet told us that he was basically on the fence between life and death, and we were trying to push him toward life.

We watched him all weekend, and he continued to deteriorate.   No food, hardly any water, and what water he did drink, he promptly threw it up.  We tried feeding him a plethora of stuff... dog food - both canned and dry, dog treats, rice, baby food, bread, crackers, ham, ice cream... he turned his nose at everything.   He didn't want anything to do with anyone. He wouldn't come when he was called, and he got to the point where we had to carry him outside so he could pee. He wasn't himself, and it wasn't fun.

My biggest fear was having one of the kids come home from school and find him dead because he had gone so long with no food.   So, back to the vet we went yesterday.   We could have hospitalized him, put him on fluids, and ran more and more tests. But, the doc said his liver numbers were high, and it looked like he was in liver failure. It was very likely that we would be in the same spot 3 or 4 days from now, so we decided to put him to rest.   No more suffering. No more tests.

It was hard, but it was fast.   The doc injected him and within seconds, his little body went limp and he was gone.   He will be cremated and scattered somewhere in the country.

Then comes the fun of telling the kids.   I could hardly get myself together!   Kids are funny. They reacted the total opposite than I expected.   Our youngest, he was sad but no tears.   I had been trying my best through the weekend to prepare him for the worst, just in case. He did shed some tears over the weekend, but I figured he would be devastated. We've had that dog almost his entire life!    Then the oldest one, he appeared to brush it off as if he wasn't the least bit surprised, kinda like he knew it was coming, which is exactly what I expected from him.   However, that was just a front.   He went to take a shower, and I could hear him boo-hooing in the shower.   He lost it, but he wanted to be alone with his grief, which is perfectly fine.

We got through it, and we're ok. I know in my heart that our sweet boy is in a better place with no more suffering. We miss him like crazy, especially our other dog.   She knows something isn't right and she's been trying to find her little buddy.

Rest in peace my sweet Bullseye!

Overload

2011-02-01T06:04:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had so much shit to do that you just don't do any of it? That's me right now.

Last week my youngest boy and I both came down with the flu. I felt like I had been hit by a train and was completely zapped of energy. The boy missed 3 days of school. I missed 2 days of work. I probably should have missed more, but I felt too guilty about missing work when there is so much work to do!

I thought I was doing good with 3 integrations moving to production. Finally something to cross off the list!! The list doesn't seem any shorter though. The work just keeps coming. I can't get one thing done before the next thing falls on me. I have this one particular headache of a project that will never go away. It stresses me out all by itself! So, missing 2 days of work definitely didn't help!!

My problem is that I have so many things on my "to do" list that I don't know where to start. Usually, I will start with the easy, quick ones and work my way from there. I don't have any of those on my list, so every task right now will require significant work to get done.

I feel like I need a mental vacation, if you know what I mean. My batteries never got a chance to recharge over the holidays because I was constantly getting calls and emails requiring me to work. I didn't get a chance to just shut the brain off, and I think that is catching up to me now.

That, coupled with the fact that I still have some lingering effects from being sick... I still have absolutely no energy, and I have an annoying cough that I can't seem to shake.

So, instead of work... I changed the look of the blog. I'm not entirely crazy about the template options & pictures that blogger supplies for me. Maybe someday I'll come up with my own, but I doubt it!!

Summer vacation

2011-01-21T00:18:00.001-06:00

I've been tasked with figuring out summer vacation plans for a group of 12-15 people.

You may remember last summer, we went to England & Spain for our summer vacation. We went to England to catch up with the family, then a group of 17 of us went to Spain for a week. We do it this way so that the "host" family still gets a summer vacation, not just a house full of people for a couple weeks.

We alternate years with who goes where, so it's their turn to come here this summer. The last time they were here, we all went on a cruise - 14 of us. I don't really want to do another cruise and with limited dates for our choosing, we'd end up on exactly the same cruise we did last time.

We talked about finding a resort in Mexico and just spending a week there, but it's been so damn crazy over there, I don't think we want to do that.

Whatever we do needs to involve swimming & sunshine. The England family wants sunshine. They don't get enough warm, sunny days at home, so they like to take full advantage of the blistering summer sun while they are here!

With our oldest boy a little over a year away from starting college, we don't want to do something too expensive. We need to save our pennies!!

So, I'm on a mission...
Someplace in central Texas?
A beach in Florida or California?

Anyone have any suggestions for a kid-friendly, hot, sunny, not so damn expensive place to go?

No more remodeling!

2011-01-19T18:02:00.000-06:00

Ok, scratch what I said about the fireplace...

The price seems to be climbing, yet the work seems to be dwindling. Last, we were told we weren't getting a mantle and that one could be added later. What the hell is a fireplace with no mantle? So, if I want a mantle, it'll be $500 more. Not to mention the price tag just for materials, without a mantle. It just seems too high, and I'm a little irritated at how things keep changing.

We decided to just nix it all together. We have painters starting tomorrow painting just about the entire house - walls, ceiling, doors, & trim. We'll see how we like it with new paint, and if all else fails, hubby and I can re-tile it ourselves.

I'm also a little irritated with the contractor we've been using and who we have referred to others. His prices seem to be going through the roof. His guys do quality work, but take the painting in our house as an example. He quoted us $4900. We're getting it done for $2400. HALF the cost! When we refer him to someone and he quotes outrageous prices, I kinda feel like it makes us look crazy!

There's honestly not many big projects left in our house. Hubby wants to replace our laminate floors with engineered wood floors eventually, and he quoted us $10K for that. I really think I can get it done cheaper than that, but I won't worry about it till we are ready to do it. That won't happen till the kiddos are out of the house!

We've done the kitchen and both bathrooms, we've replaced the carpet throughout the house, and by this time next week, we'll have a fresh coat of paint throughout. I think we are probably done with our contractor "friend" now. It's too bad he's getting so expensive because he has guys who do quality work...

Interview with Patrick O'Sullivan

2011-01-18T00:12:00.000-06:00

Joe O'Donnell had a great interview with Patrick O'Sullivan following his demotion to the Aeros, which you can find posted on the Aeros site.

I was particularly interested in listening to his reaction and getting a feel for where his head is at. He's been bounced around the NHL the past few years after having a fantastic rookie season with the Aeros. When he was sent down, my first question was what kind of attitude he would bring with him. Would he just be pissed off or would he come down here and make the best of it?

He's honest in this interview, saying that the AHL isn't the league that he wants to play in and that this season has been a tough season for him. But, he also talks about his comfort with Houston and how he needs to work on his game. I didn't get the vibe that he's just going to float through the remainder of this season and then bolt across the pond. He sounds like he really wants to improve and get back to the NHL. It's a fantastic interview, definitely worth a listen!

The selfish part of me is thrilled to have him back in Houston. He's got great skill, and it really shows at this level. If he's in the right mindset and is determined to improve, he'll be a HUGE help for the Aeros the second half of this season.

In other news:

Anton Khudobin posted a shut-out against the NHL's top team (Vancouver Canucks). Is this not the cutest picture of him or what?!?
Marco Scandella suffered a mild concussion after being hit in the ear with a puck.
Cody Almond has been called up for the Wild's current road trip out West.
The Aeros managed to climb from 7th place in the West to 3rd, but they have played more games than just about every other team in the division.
The Aeros are off this week in preparation for yet another 3 games in 3 nights this weekend.

College Tours

2011-01-11T23:12:00.002-06:00

It's almost time for our college tours with the oldest boy. Holy shit!

He's gone back and forth a little over the last few months, but that's ok. For now, I think we have 3 schools on our visit list: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Sam Houston.

He's always been a UT fan, but he isn't interested in going there. He's not a brainiac, and I think he realizes that it's going to be hard to get accepted there. I think he can, if he really wants to, but I'm not sure that he really wants to anymore...

At one point, he had some interest in looking at Oklahoma, but he said last week that he doesn't want to even go look there.

He's scheduled to take his SAT in early March, so we'll see how he does on that, and if his scores change his college list at all. He wants to be a high school math teacher and football coach, so he can probably go just about anywhere for that.

Sam Houston will be an easy one to visit since it's close. We'll hit Tech and OSU in the same trip, so I'll have to map out the best course to get to those and home without driving for a bazillion hours! I just hate to drive all the way to OSU, and then in another month have him decide he wants to go look at OU again... We'll probably do some of this during his spring break, so I can leave the younger boy with one of the grandparents. I'm not sure that I want to drag him along!

More remodeling

2011-01-10T12:34:00.002-06:00

I think we are losing our minds!!!

Now, we are planning to have our fireplace refaced with the same stone that we used in the master bathroom. I really hate the tile that was put throughout the house when it was built, so we were actually talking about re-tiling the entry by the front door, which somehow led to the fireplace (it has the same tile as the entry).

We're going to tear out all of the tile and put stone around the fireplace and up the chimney. I'm excited... I think it will look awesome when it's done!! After that, I'll finish painting around the house, then we're done for a while. A long while, I hope!!

Weekend of hockey

2011-01-10T00:07:00.000-06:00

It was a fun weekend of hockey. The Aeros played another 3-in-3 this weekend with a game against the Lake Erie Monsters on Friday night & 2 games against the San Antonio Rampage.

With Anton Khudobin called up, Matt Hackett pulled the load in goal for the weekend. On Friday night, he was fantastic earning his first pro shutout. In fact, I mentioned to hubby some time in the second period about how well Hackett was playing. But, it wasn't just Hackett. The boys played a fantastic game, and it seems like things are really starting to come together.

I really like the Ortmeyer /Peters /Gillies line and the Earl /Daoust /Rau line is gaining their magic again. Those 3 played together some last season, but with the long injury to Chad Rau, it took a little time for them to get going. How good has Robbie Earl been? There's been so many games where I think he's been the best player in the ice!

I didn't watch or listen to Saturday night's game in San Antonio. I'll be honest, this game ended exactly as I expected! I figured SA would be out for blood after the New Year's Day game in Houston where the Aeros got the win with 2 goals in the last minute of play! It looks like I didn't miss much. It was a fight filled game, with 4 fights on the game sheet, and Hackett was pulled about half way through the game after allowing 4 goals.

Sunday's game was another close & exciting game with the Aeros taking a hard fought 3-1 win against the Rampage.. Hackett was back in goal on Sunday and again played a fantastic game. It's great to see him getting some playing time and gaining some confidence!! Apparently, according the TheThirdIntermission, Josh Tordjman was supposed to get the start on Sunday, but Hackett wanted it. He definitely redeemed himself for Saturday's game!!

The Aeros hit the road for a quick 2-game trip, Rockford on Wednesday and Chicago on Sunday. They've struggled a little on the road, so let's hope they can find some of their road magic before Wednesday night!!

And, what about the Wild with fantastic games on Thursday in Boston & Saturday in Pittsburgh!! Backstrom is headed to Denver to see a doctor about his hip issues, so I guess we'll get an indication of how long Khudobin will be up after that visit...

Our ADHD kid rocks... Is it the vitamins?

2011-01-07T00:29:00.003-06:00

I have really been hesitant in posting this. I don't want any jinx's. It's just not worth it!!

But, it you've been following with some of our school struggles with our ADHD kid, you may remember that we started him on a multi-vitamin and Omega-3 fish oil vitamins a few months ago.

I regularly peruse the Internet for ADHD information, particularly from those who have chosen not to medicate. At one point, I was really frustrated that we just didn't seem to be making any progress with him, and it looked like it was going to be another one of those years. I found a lot of information about the benefits of fish oil vitamins, particularly for ADHD kids, but honestly for everyone. At one point, I was willing to try just about anything.

I'm not a believer in those "miracle" pills or vitamins, so I'm leery of most things that I find on the Internet. Fish oil vitamins seemed to keep coming up, so then I started searching specifically for the benefits of fish oil vitamins.

If you know my kid, fish sticks are the closest thing he'll eat!! He's as picky as ever, so he needs supplements of some sort to ensure his body gets what it needs.

So, then I started searching which was the best fish oil vitamin. I'm not just going to feed my kid anything because the Internet says it's a good idea!! Everything I found said one of the most important things to look for is that it's purified. The bottle must specifically say so.

Anyway, long story short, we started him (and me) on fish oil vitamins 2-3 months ago.

I definitely see a difference in him, at home, and obviously at school too.

We get a weekly progress folder on Wednesday of every week. There are several categories, and if there's a number in the box, that means he got in trouble that many times over that week period for whatever the category is.

For example, here are some of the categories:

Controls Talking
Uses Time Effectively
Completes Homework
Restroom/Hallway/Cafeteria Behavior

There are at least 10 of these lines and there's a spot for the teacher's to mark any bad grades for each subject.

3 weeks ago, he had a total of 12 marks on his folder. To put this in perspective, at the end of the 9-weeks grading period, there is a party to reward the kids. In order to attend the party, a kid must have 9 or less marks in their combined weekly folders for that grading period. That allows 1 mark a week, at the most. He blew his 9-weeks party out of the water in ONE week!!

The next week, the week before their Christmas holidays, he had 2 marks. We were thrilled! I don't expect him to come home with a completely clean folder. He doesn't know that, but the reality is, he's going to get a mark for something. This isn't our first rodeo! He's just not that well-behaved, quiet, calm... whatever you want to call it!

This past Wednesday, he only had 1 mark, yes ONE! That's his best week yet! And, I was expecting another bad one with the kids all getting back to school after Christmas and talking about their new toys, vacations, etc... He says the Christmas holidays "changed me", whatever that means.

Now I've challenged him to get that one mark off of there and bring me a completely clean folder. I'm a little sceptical. Today, they have a field trip to the intermediate school to start getting them ready for next year. He'll get excited and talk too loud or not walk in a straight line or something... I hope not! If he brings me a perfect folder next week, he's getting some sort of reward. I just don't know what yet and I won't worry about that till I see whether not he even gets it.

I'm crossing my fingers....

We're planning to keep him on these vitamins. Something seems to be making a difference for him, so if the vitamins have even a small part in that, it's worth it to me!

Now, I just hope that me babbling about how great he's been doing doesn't jinx him!!

New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-04T20:49:00.000-06:00

Everyone is talking about them. What are your New Year's Resolutions this year?

I've never been a big resolutions fan. I usually don't make them, and if I do, they are extremely vague. That makes it easier to stick to them for those of us who are admittedly lazy about some things!!

Every year around this time, I start thinking about them because of all the talk.

Lose weight? Already did it... I lost and have maintained 25 pounds over the last year. That resolution won't work for me unless I want to look like a bag of bones. No thanks!

Work out? Already doing that... kinda! Hubby and I walk fairly often, although not as much lately. I'll never be the type to go to the gym. I'm not a workout machine, lift weights kinda girl. So, as long as I'm maintaining my weight loss and my clothes fit comfortably, I don't feel the real need to work myself to death.

Eat better? Maybe. I'm not gonna lie, I like my fair share of cookies & candy every now and then, but overall, I think I do ok in my eating. And, I don't believe in depriving myself of the foods I really love, otherwise, I'd really fall off the wagon eventually!!

Be a better mom & wife? I always strive for that, but I don't think I'm so bad at it that I need to make it my resolution, if you know what I mean!

Enjoy life more? Yes, please! That's always a good thing to do, but should it really be a resolution? Maybe, I guess that could be a good starting place!!

Stress less at work? Easier said than done!

I think New Year's Resolutions are just more added stress at the beginning of the year! One more thing to worry about how I am going to manage to get it done and feeling like I failed if I don't get it done!

I'll tell you what I'm going to do this year. The same damn things I did last year! I'm going to get out of bed and go to work to earn a salary to pay my bills! I'm going to continue to be a wife and a mom and support my family. I'm going to continue to take care of myself and my family the best I can. I'm going to continue to do the things I love, as much as I can... like hockey games, travelling, and hanging out with the family. I'm going to continue to stress over shit at work. I'm going to continue to have my good days and my bad days, and I'm going to be ok with that. I am not going to make any New Year's Resolutions. I'm just going to be me and live my life!

If you've made resolutions for yourself, best of luck to you in meeting your goals and being happy with the outcome. Here's to 2011 being a fan-freakin-tastic year!!

Master Bathroom... 99% done!

2011-01-03T06:11:00.003-06:00

We finally get to use our master bathroom again, and I think the kids are just as happy that we are moving out of their bathroom!

The only thing left now is to have to glass installed when it comes in, which is coming on Thursday this week.

Here are some pictures:

BEFORE:

Here's the old vanity & mirrors. At one point the vanity was completely white. A few years ago, I painted the vanity black and painted the walls green to try to update the bathroom a little. I've always hated the vanity!

Our bathtub, which we never used. I think the last time someone used it was when our youngest was about 4.. He's 10 now!

More vanity & bathtub.

The little bitty shower. Also, notice the double sliding doors for hubby's closet...

The little bitty shower again. I won't miss that!

A shot from the bathtub toward the other side of the bathroom. Those double doors lead to the bedroom. This is the best shot of the old tile on the floor.

AFTER:

No more little bitty shower or unused bathtub! Unfortunately, there's a bad glare from the window, but you still get the idea! Soon, there will be glass panels on top of the short stone walls, and a glass door in the middle...

Another shower shot. You can see the tile better in this one.

Inside the short wall of the shower. They look exactly the same on both sides with a corner bench and a niche for shampoo, etc. Also, notice where the towels are hanging... that used to be hubby's closet door. He now has a single hinged door like the rest of us.

The new vanity & mirror

Another shot of the new vanity. I caught major hell from our contractor about ordering a vanity off the Internet. But, he was pretty damn impressed when it arrived, and he even said he can't touch the price that we paid for it!

This is the best picture of the floor tile and the stone on the short wall... It was dark out, so there's no glare from the window.

I'll post a final picture later this week once the glass is in.

Aeros vs Rampage

2011-01-02T00:41:00.000-06:00

That was not the game I expected, but I guess it never really is against San Antonio. We just about always play them close no matter how good or bad they are!

The first surprise was #22 skating in warm ups. I couldn't get a read on the name on the back of the jersey since we sit behind the other goal, and he wasn't listed on the roster. Come to find out, that #22 is Jed Ortmeyer. He was released from the Rampage and picked up by the Aeros a few hours before game time. Welcome to Houston! That must have been a really weird game for him!

San Antonio started off the scoring in the first with a Stafford power play goal. The first thing hubby said was "It just had to be him didn't it". Stafford and Cody Almond seemed to have a bit of a battle going on in front of the San Antonio goal moments before Stafford scored his goal.

But, Cody Almond answered Stafford's goal with a shorthanded goal just a couple minutes later. They continued their individual battle throughout the game and finally dropped the gloves early in the third period!

The first period ended with the score tied 1-1, and it was time for the bikinis... Every year, the Aeros have the Miss Aero competition when they parade a handful of women on the ice in heals and bikinis. And, every year, it's the busty blond girl that wins! I'm not sure how the votes were collected, but it was the busty blond girl again. Hubby wanted the brunette who serves in the Air Force to win, for the simple fact that she's in the Air Force! What was the most surprising was that the MC for the bikini contest predicted that the Aeros would tie up the score and take the lead in the second half... There were so many issues with this... First, the score was already tied. Hockey isn't played in halves and there's no half-time. It would be nice if those given microphones for these games at least had a clue about the basics of the game! It's periods and intermissions, but I digress.

In the second period, it was San Antonio who would score first and early! And, it was Stafford again. I wasn't watching Hackett, so I'm not sure if he was screened or what. But, it was a bomb from the point that got through untouched. Tyler Cuma would answer a few minutes later with his first pro goal. It's unfortunate that he missed so much time due to injury. His game seems to be really coming together, and I like what I see!! Late in the second, San Antonio would get another one by Hackett to take the lead into the second intermission, 3-2.

Honestly, my gut feeling was that our boys were tired from their road trip and that San Antonio would clamp down for the win. And, it looked like I would be right until Hackett was pulled for an extra attacker. Chad Rau scored with 55 seconds left to tie the game at 3. We were headed for bonus hockey on New Years Day, or so we thought. Enter Jed Ortmeyer with the proverbial middle finger to San Antonio. He forced a turnover at the blue line, found Warren Peters, and just like that, the Aeros were up by a goal with about 35 seconds left in the game!

It was one damn exciting game. I was really watching Ortmeyer, and honestly, he may be the "leader" that the Aeros need. No disrespect to DiSalvatore, but he just doesn't seem to have the team. Although his play has really improved, and most of the time he seems to be working his tail off, he doesn't strike me as the type to put the team on his shoulders when needed. It seems like leadership is what this team has really been lacking, so maybe Ortmeyer, being a vet of 300+ NHL games, can fill that role, at least for as long as he's around! According to Russo, there's potential that he'll sign with the Wild...

For pictures from the game, including the bikinis, go to TheThirdIntermission or ArtAndHockey...

Christmas weekend...

2010-12-28T06:22:00.000-06:00

It was a busy Christmas this year!

I had the week off work, even though I did spend some time on the work computer! With the construction going on in the master bathroom, we had "guests" everyday last week. So, we spent most of the week just hanging out around the house, trying to stay out of the way.

Our tradition is to have our Christmas on Christmas Eve. As you know, our oldest is my step-son, so we have to share him around the holidays! Typically, each year, he wakes up with us on Christmas morning, we eat breakfast, open Santa gifts, then he's off to his mom's for the remainder of his holiday. Since he's gone for most of the day on Christmas day, our family day is Christmas Eve.

I wasn't exactly thrilled with having our Christmas celebration with the workers in and out of the house, so we delayed opening gifts until that evening. We had our dinner, then moved the gifts into the family room to get out of the way, and opened them. I couldn't put the kids off any longer, so we just had to ignore the workers.

Hubby's family has a tradition of opening presents one-by-one, starting with the youngest. This year, we did it a little different. Our youngest boy wanted to go last since the oldest members of the family "have less time left to play with all of their gifts". I think he's saying we're old and we're going to die first!!

I think everyone was happy with their loot. The youngest boy got some magic sets, a scooter, a couple video games, legos, cash, a remote control helicopter... The oldest boy got itunes gift cards, PJs, a t-shirt, cologne, cash... And, Santa brought them a ping pong table.

On Christmas day, we went to my dad's house to have Christmas dinner with my family, and to help them move. They are living in a rent house that is literally next door to a new house they are building. My dad is injured and can't lift anything, so we took on the task. Originally, the plan was for our oldest boy to gather some of his football buddies to do the moving and dad would pay them instead of movers. That plan went out the window when the move was delayed to the week of Christmas!

All day Saturday and most of Sunday, we spent walking back and forth with arms of stuff to be moved. We moved everything except for beds and what hadn't already been packing into boxes on Saturday. As soon as we got up Sunday morning, we started disassembling beds to move. There was still quite a bit of work left to do when we left on Sunday. Our moving was cut short on Sunday because we were tired, and we had a date with the Aeros at the Toyota Center to get to!

I think they have everything moved now and the rental house cleaned. Now, they have the fun task of unpacking and organizing the house. Better them than me!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Santa was good to you. I can't believe it's almost 2011...

Master Bathroom... still going

2010-12-27T22:18:00.002-06:00

Well, Friday came and went and the bathroom is not finished. No surprise there! The tile work is done finally. It was mostly done on Friday, but we were short 1 piece of tile. That little bit was finished up and grouted today.

We found out Friday that they won't even measure for the glass for the shower until everything else is finished since it will be a custom size. And, it will take 7-10 days for the glass to come in after it's been ordered. Ugh! We'll have to see if we can point the shower heads straight down and shower in there without water going EVERYWHERE! Otherwise, we'll be sharing the other shower for at least another week.

They started working on the plumbing for the vanity, and hopefully that will be finished up tomorrow or first thing Wednesday morning. Hubby will put the mirror up once the vanity is in place.

I have some painting to finish up / touch up, but I should be able to get that done in a day. Then, (other than the glass) I think that does it except for decorations & finishing touches.

It looks great.

Here's a sneak peak at the shower (without the fixtures). This is the "hers" side, with the window. In the corner, that you can't see, there's a small bench for shaving legs or whatever...

Aeros vs Stars

2010-12-27T00:32:00.000-06:00

Leave it to the Aeros.. the one night when I HAVE to be outta the Toyota Center by about 6:30 or so, they go to a shootout. Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to just win it in regulation? It would have only taken you 18 more damn seconds!!

We stayed through overtime, but had to listen to Joe for the shootout as we made our way outta downtown.

Warren Peters put the Aeros on the board early, 30 seconds into the game. But, then the ref had a moment with his whistle and called penalty after penalty after penalty. It seemed like it was going to be one of those games! It was one of those situations where you just knew it was only a matter of time before the Stars got one behind Hackett with three consecutive power plays.

Well, they did get a power play goal to tie it, then got another goal to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. What's the deal with these Aeros? They seem to almost consistently get the first goal, then give up 2 or 3 goals.

There weren't nearly as many penalties in the second period, but the Aeros only needed one of them to get their own power play goal, and go into the second intermission with a 2-2 tie. It was Jon DiSalvatore with his 6th goal of the year. It sure seems like he's been quiet this year. I'll be honest, I was surprised that he has 6 goals!! He didn't stay at 6 goals for long, as he got another PP goal in the third to get the lead back, at 3-2.

The Stars pulled Bachman with just over a minute left on the clock, and with 18 point something seconds left, the Stars tied it. Damn it!

We stayed through overtime, and it seemed like the Stars controlled most of the play, even though they didn't register many shots. And, that's when we vacated.

The shoot out went seven rounds before a winner was decided. Robbie Earl, who I thought had a great game, Chad Rau, and Cody Almond scored in the shootout to seal the victory for the Aeros.

Unfortunately, we gave the Stars a point, so they sit just ahead of the Aeros in 4th place in the West. The Aeros jumped from 7th to 5th. The Aeros have played more games than anyone on the West, so that very well could change in a hurry.

It's a busy week now for the Aeros. San Antonio Rampage on Monday, Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday, and Rockford Icehogs on Thursday. All three games on the road. They'll come home to face San Antonio on New Year's Day, then they'll get some much needed time off.

Honestly, this team scares me when they have 4 or 5 days off, but I think they probably need it about now! I know they just had some time off for Christmas, but we all know that holidays are anything but relaxing!!

Also, in other Aeros news, Bryce Lampman was released just before Christmas...

Merry Christmas - our boy's first car accident

2010-12-25T21:25:00.000-06:00

We knew it was coming... that phone call that you dread as a parent of a teenage driver, but you know you will get it eventually! Christmas Eve, our oldest boy was in his first car accident. Merry Christmas to him.

He called the house, and when I answered, all I got was "you've gotta come up here. Some friggen guy just hit me". So, I jump in my car to get there to make sure everything & everyone was ok. He was running an errand to Randalls for me, so he was maybe a mile from the house when it happened.

When I got there, I was first greeted by a woman who witnessed the accident and made sure my boy was ok. She also gave me her information, just in case the other guy was an ass and wanted to deny anything. Thank you!!

When I walked up to where my boy and the other driver were standing, the poor kid looked like he had seen a ghost. His face was completely white and he was freaked out, to say the least, but physically he was fine. Thankfully, there were no injuries!

He was in the left turn lane waiting to turn into the parking lot of Randall's. The guy that hit him was coming out of the Randall's parking lot, turning left onto the road. He thought he had enough space to get behind my boy's car and make his turn, but nope! He clipped my boy on the back corner of his car, pushing him into traffic and killing his rear bumper.

Our boy's car was drivable, so he pulled into the parking lot to get out of the road. The other guy wasn't as lucky. The rod on his front wheels broke, so he couldn't steer. His driver side front tire wouldn't turn with the steering wheel, so he had to have his towed.

We exchanged information, called the police, and got everything squared away. The other guy flat out told the police officer that it was his fault, and they had already called the insurance and given me a claim number. It was pretty easy and quick to get everything out of the way, once the police officer got there.

I drove the boy's car home to listen for any out of the ordinary sounds and to make sure it drove ok. He followed me home in my car. It drove and sounded ok, but the side fender is hanging off, so if we drive it over about 30 miles per hour, it will start flapping in the wind. Just my luck would be that damn thing flying off and causing another accident! Just under the corner bumper, where the impact was, there's a small dent in the frame. Hopefully, it isn't enough to compromise the frame of the car. Otherwise, I don't think they'll bother fixing it. It's got 120,000 miles on it, it's old, and it's not worth much!

So, for now, the car is parked. The other guy's insurance is making arrangements for someone to come get it and take it to one of their preferred shops. I don't care where they take it, as long as it's fixed right.

Now, my boy realizes just how fast wrecks happen. He was beating himself up because he didn't see it coming and couldn't avoid it, but that's the way it happens sometimes. Although it sucks for him to have no car for the last half of his Christmas break, he has now had a nice reality check for something that kids think will never happen to them since they are "good drivers".

I'm thankful that no one was hurt. I'm thankful that he has learned something very valuable out of this. And, I'm hopeful that it's a minor fix, replace the bumper, and send us on our way.

Here's some pics...