Week in Review

So, let's talk a bit about soccer.  It is an all consuming passion in my household.  Everyone, and by everyone, I mean EVERYONE, kicks that soccer ball at some point during the day.  Yes, I do it when I am dribbling it towards the ball rack, but I have learned some pretty nifty foot moves and can get it up without bending over.  Now that our backyard is not submerged underwater, the kids are out there morning, noon and night.   When they aren't playing soccer, they are watching it on television or playing it on the wii. 

Which brings me to a recap of out last weekend.  We only had three soccer games, of course they were not at the same times, so we spent two days watching soccer.  Some was good, and some was not.  We have been playing soccer since Mac was 3, but this is the first season everyone has been on a team.

Mac's team looks like they are having fun, but they aren't very good.  Hannah, well it is fun to watch a bunch of little kids chase soccer balls around.  The real excitement comes from Sam's team.  This weekend they won.  After more losses than we can count they finally won one.

But, when I talked to Sam about his game, the first thing he told me was not that they had won, but rather that he had gotten a yellow card.  He was so proud of his yellow card.  What made it even better was that it was for slide tackling.  His very favorite thing to do.  I did start to wonder if perhaps we made a bad choice in sports and maybe American Football would have been a better decision.

Here is the problem, it is not a good thing to get a yellow card.  Yet, because he stopped the kid from scoring a goal, some of the parents were telling him that he did a good thing.  I don't want my kid to be a brute on the field.  Sure I want him to be aggressive, but not brutish.  I was really dismayed that he was proud of getting a penalty. 

I know he did not slide tackle with the intention of getting a penalty, that he was trying to get the ball and he missed.  Sure he is little and his ability to slide tackle, while good, is not perfect.  But, I do not want him collecting yellow cards the way kids collect baseball cards.  For now he seems to get that, but he is still proud of the fact that he stopped a goal.

Well, and that they finally won.... and no they did not play the blind kindergarteners. 

Big Day

I haven't commented on the Royal Wedding, the birther situation, or really any sort of current event recently.  It isn't so much that I haven't had an opinion about the things that have been going on around me, it is more that I have not been moved to say anything about them.

The death of Osama bin Laden, while unlikely to have a significant positive impact on terrorism and more likely to have an negative impact on our over-all safety, it is an emotional victory.  I lived in Connecticut at the time of 9/11.  I remember driving to work that day, listening to the person on the radio talk about how 9/11 is a day of safety.  She discussed when and how to dial 9-1-1.  She talked about how you shouldn't call it 9-11, because you might look for the 11 on the dial and not be able to find it.

I was working when Fred, a man I worked with, walked into my office and told me what happened.  I remember people thinking that because our company was run by an ex-military officer and we made parts that were used in defense that we would be targeted.  Which was laughable.  People watched the replays of what happened in offices, on televisions in the break room.

My mother was in Boston when it happened.  When she hauled butt out of the Boston area, there were no tolls being charged on the tollway, they wanted people to keep on moving.  She got to my house around the time I got Mac from daycare.  We hugged each other and Mac.  We put him to bed and were glued to the television. 

Bob and I flew to see his parents on the first flights that were allowed to fly.  Friends and business associates were forced to drive home from business trips and vacations because they couldn't fly home.  Some shared cars with strangers who were headed in the same direction.  Everyone banded together. 

This one day forever changed our everyday lives, remember when you didn't have to strip naked to get on a plane?  But, living in Connecticut, it was impossible not to know someone who was impacted by the towers collapse.  Bob had been in the towers just the week prior, on business.  He could have been there that day, it wasn't out of the question.  Friends didn't go to work that day for various reasons, others did.  Why some lived and others didn't is a mystery in luck and timing.

Today, we hear that the man who masterminded this attack, has been killed.  Just as I will always remember the day that it happened, I will remember today.  The day my baby won his first Panther soccer game (more on that later), Bob's BFF's birthday, the day that Osama bin Laden's death was announced.  It has been a big day.

Living the Dream

This is the next post, in what I hope to be many as part of a blog project I am doing with three other ladies. At the end of my post I will give you the links so that you can check out what they have to say on our topic. Who knows, maybe you will find something else you like.

Today's topic is what is your dream job?  I have not had a "real" job in almost 9 years.  July 1st will be my 9 year anniversary of retirement from the working world.  Sure I have done odd jobs here and there.  I have picked up extra cash babysitting, writing columns for various publications, creating marketing programs for non-profits, to name a few.  Not one of my odd jobs has ever netted me much money.  I look at them as a way to provide a few extra's for the family, but not a way to actually help us pay bills.  That responsibility rests totally on Bob.  I am thankful that he makes enough money for me to be "retired."

The thought of going back to the working world makes me sort of sick to my stomach.  Recently I have been volunteering with Sam's soccer club.  I have been lending my marketing expertise to helping them market their tryouts.  The politics and people management that this has required has caused me to be a bit stressed out.  I know, stress out over a volunteer position.  I finally got so fed up with it all I quit.  The powers that be weren't real happy about that, and everyone stopped bugging me.  They asked me to stay, and since they aren't bugging me, it is all good.

That was an eye opener, I do not know if I really could return to an actual job where I have to work with actual people.  When I think about my dream job, it usually involves traveling to remote tropical islands and sending in stories about the local culture.  Of course, with no deadlines, critism, or responsibility.  A job like that sounds great.  You pay me to travel all over with my kids, but don't expect anything in return, and we will be good.  Hey, the topic was dream job right?

The issue is that my dream job is so outside of the space where real people live that it is laughable.  I mean really, no one gets paid to do fun stuff and not have any responsibility.

I have talked about what I will do once the kids are all in school full time, but the reality is that what I really want to do is go to lunch, volunteer with the soccer club and generally keep doing what I am doing.  It isn't ambitious or require the level of education I have.  While what I do doesn't pay very well, it is the longest I have ever stayed at one job.  I think that says something. 

Maybe I am already living the dream?  I just wish it paid better.

If you want to see what the other ladies have to say about this, then check them out, Momarock, Froggie and Merrylandgirl.

Goin' through hell... not anymore

Today on the way to the grocery store, I heard our theme song from a couple of years ago.  It was a country song called "If you're goin' through hell."  I love that song.  So, of course I blasted it super loud in the mommy van.  Then sat in the car, song blarring, singing along, in the parking lot until it was over.

Listening to that song reminded me of how far we have come.  Lately, I have been feeling really overwhelmed.  I haven't been blogging about what is going on, because as a family we need to work some of this stuff out.  Once we do, then maybe I will talk about it, maybe I won't.  It is story that I am not willing to share now, and may never be willing to share.

Back to the topic at hand, me, overwhelmed, recently.  Thinking about where we were when we first moved here, well, that makes where we are now, seem managable.  I think about where I was, and how every day I would wake up and ask G-d to help me survive just another 4 hours.  Well, things are better now.

I had forgotten how good we having things right now.  I think it is important to remember where we were, because I never want to go back there.  Ever.  So, if I don't get everything done, or my house isn't perfect, or my kids are acting poorly, I still know, it could always be worse.  Sometimes I just forget that.

I guess, we were going through hell, but we kept on going and we got out before the devil even knew we were there.  Or something like that.

30 days to a new you

This is the next post, in what I hope to be many as part of a blog project I am doing with three other ladies. At the end of my post I will give you the links so that you can check out what they have to say on our topic. Who knows, maybe you will find something else you like.

This week's question is about giving something up for 30 days.  I am not a big into self deprication.  I just do not have the willpower, or maybe the desire.  I never gave things up for lent, and now that my family is Jewish, well, that isn't happening.  But, I don't even fast for Yom Kippur.  Denial just isn't my thing.

But, as I think about it, the only really bad habits I have are eating too much sugar and drinking 2 diet sodas a day.  Sometimes more soda if we are out.  I know that cutting back on the sugar would be a good thing, and the soda's aren't helping me much.  But, in the whole scheme of things, I don't think that is such a bad thing.  Everyone needs a vice.

I have taken the attitude of trying new things for 30 days.  That is more positive anyway, so more appealing to my basic nature.  When I was pregnant with Sam, many moons ago, I decided that I would take a pre-natal excercise class.  I paid for 30 days, even though I would have saved more money if I paid for 6 months up-front.  My feeling about that was I would try it for 30 days.   That way if I didn't like it, I would be done with it and not out a bunch of money.

This was a pretty big commitment for a letharic, over-weight, pregnant lady.  It was not like I entered this class having been working out for years.  I had worked out a bit in college, but had not been to the gym since then.  So, it had been awhile since I was active in any sort of meaningful way.

That class was the beginning of me going to the gym and excercising on a fairly regular basis.  Do I go as much as I would like?  No, but I do go 3 to 4 times a week.  I think that while cutting back on sugar would be a good thing too, doing this one thing every week has and will continue to help me stay on track.  Sure, there have been bumps on the road.  When we moved it took me awhile to find a new gym.  Sure there have been months when I have fallen off the wagon, but the facts are, I always get back on the horse.  By doing this one thing for 30 days I have created a habit, that will most likely stay with me for the rest of my life.

I would like to brag about the fact that I went to this class every single time it was held until the week before I delivered Sam.  There were days when I didn't feel like hauling my fat, pregnant self to this class, but I always did.  When I was pregnant with Hannah, I just stuck with my regular routine, no special class for her.

While I was in the class I made a few friends.  One of the friends that I made is still one of my best friends today.  Her family is part of my choosen family.  She is not the coupon friend from last week's post.

Doing something for 30 days, it did change my life.  I wish I could figure out how to frame not eating sugar in a way that would work as well as going to the gym did.  But, until then...

If you want to see what the other ladies have to say about this, then check them out, Momarock, Froggie and Merrylandgirl.

My so-called blog post

This is the next post, in what I hope to be many as part of a blog project I am doing with three other ladies. At the end of my post I will give you the links so that you can check out what they have to say on our topic. Who knows, maybe you will find something else you like.

Today's topic is what would you do if someone gave you $250,000.  While this is a fairly sizable amount of money, it isn't really enough to change your life.  It would make me more comfortable, but no jobs would be quit. 

As I was thinking about this, the ideas that came to my mind immediately are, I would fix the bathroom and hire a cleaning lady.  I am not sure if this is because I was in the shower of doom at the time or not.  The other thing I would want to do is fix the kitchen.  Really, let's be honest, I would want to fix my house.  Make it so that it isn't slowly crumbling in around my ears.  Make it so that it would be pretty.  That amount would be more than enough to do that.

But the whole topic of the cleaning lady had more of an actual impact on my daily life.  As I was pondering this mythical $250,000, I calculated how much a cleaning lady would cost on an annualized basis.  Really, it is just a pin prick at that $250,000.  It is less than the amount my mother gave me for the holidays last year.

This is where it got interesting.  Someone did give me enough money so I could get a cleaning lady.  Figures were scribbled in steam on the shower door.  There was enough to do this.   Figures were rechecked, then double checked on paper with a calculator.  There really is enough to do this.  Really.

I floated the idea past my mom and my husband.  Everyone was on board.  They all thought it was a splendid idea.  Really, having someone help me with the housework is going to make our lives soo much better.  I will be sooo much happier, the kids will be happier because I am happier. 

I am getting someone to help me clean my house!  I am so excited.

That is where my story ends.  I never did figure out what to do with the money.  I got so distracted by my own real financial situation.  There is a story in there some place about the validity of fixing my house versus doing something to help the world with a gift like this.  But who has time for all that?  I am too busy interviewing cleaning ladies.  If you know anyone, drop me a line!

If you want to see what the other ladies have to say about this, then check them out, Momarock, Froggie and Merrylandgirl.

Bullet points

I am feeling a bit ADHD today.  So, just some random thoughts.  Nothing deep enough, or perhaps fully developed enough to be a full post.

• I was listening to the radio the other day and there was a song on the radio that I used to really love.  It was about 10 years ago, I think I must have been more bitter.  The song is You Ought to Know, by Alanis Morisette.  Essentially she sings about how mad she is that her husband/boyfriend dumps her for another woman.  I totally understand the emotion she talks about in the song, that sense of utter betrayal.  But, while I used to really like the song, now I just think she is bitter and she needs to move on.  She is so angry.  Really, was he worth it?

• While we were at retreat, we heard a very interesting lecture on Kant.  If you boil Kant down, he says that we make our own decisions.  That we are all rational beings and we can choose to believe in G-d or not.  Not more than 5 minutes after we walked out, did I have a conversation with Mac about making different choices.  He was upset about the outcome of a situation and I told him that it was the natural consequence of the choices he made.  I have never really thought that Philosophy had much, if anything to do with real life.  I always thought of it as a pure intellectual pursuit.  Guess not.  Looks like I am using Kant as my parenting guide.

• Just a bit more on that, if you don't like how things are going, it is important to look at the choices you are making.  There are so many people that blame someone else for a situation that they have contributed towards creating.  Kant would say that we need to take responsibility for our own actions.

• Sadly, the people that really need to understand that will never see themselves in that description.

• My pet does not match my craft.  Who knew?