Mantra of the day:

Do not send the children to school on Wednesday.  Rinse, repeat. 

My kids would be the only ones, sitting on a lonely cold stoop in front of a dark, locked building, until we remembered to go back and get them :)

So productive!

Saturday morning we raked leaves at the church with the cub scouts.  Finished up around noon, grabbed lunch, went to Lowe's to buy new toilet for our bathroom.  Tempted by all the shiny new cabinets to completely start over in that bathroom; thwarted by practical husband. 

Saturday afternoon, we all bundled up in hundreds of layers to go down to scout camp for a Thanksgiving feast in the woods, hosted by Bren's boy scout troop.  When we got there, we discovered that it was an indoor dinner.  In a cabin, in the woods.  It was lovely and comfortable but all of our survival preparations turned out to be totally unnecessary :)  We had a fantastic time.   It took a little longer than planned for the turkeys to cook, so Mr. Wulff decreed that we have dessert first.  There were a bunch of very happy little boys!  Unfortunately, with so many people around, some of the kids were going largely unsupervised by their parents.  I stopped one child after his fifth piece of pie, each of them piled three inches high with whipped cream.  I asked him to please try not to throw up on anyone in his tent that night.  We ate, we visited, and we went home, leaving Brendan there.  Nathan was mightily disappointed that we weren't staying the night.  Next time we'll have to pack sleeping bags :)

Sunday morning I went and did the Thanksgiving dinner grocery shopping.  Oy was that place a zoo.  Then, as soon as Bren got home, we packed on the layers again and headed up to Akron to see the NCAA soccer tournament game.  It was a nail-biter!  Akron dominated possession of the ball throughout most of the game, but Michigan's defense was really keeping them from being effective at scoring.  Finally, Eric (Brendan's coach from the summer soccer camp) scored a goal just before the end of the first half!  It was followed by a second just after the beginning of the second half.  Unfortunately, Michigan came back and scored a goal of their own, and for a little while, even though they were playing with a man down, it looked like they might be able to do it again.  Luckily, the Zips held them off and pulled out a win!  Glad we got to see it.

He's so handy! (and handsome)

Thanks to the super fabulous Michael, we now have a brand new, fully functioning toilet in our bathroom!  He's the best!

This weekend (11/16)

Nothing for grandparents.  Brendan is camping with the scouts.  Saturday morning leaf raking at the church where the scouts meet as a service project for Natey's cub scout pack.  Anyone interested in helping out?

Saturday night we're going to the place where B is camping, and the troop is cooking everyone a Thanksgiving feast in the woods.  He's super excited because he's been named patrol leader for the weekend.  Very official-like.  I expect him to make an excellent middle manager someday.   He'll be home sometime Sunday, and I think Sunday afternoon we're going to go see the Akron men's soccer team play in the NCAA tournament, weather depending. 

Also: laundry, chores, grocery shopping, etc. 

Feel enlightened?  Jealous?

Winning at motherhood!

Today I managed to leave work early, attend Natey's Thanksgiving play, pick up a prescription for Brendan at the pharmacy, and make it to two doctor appointments and soccer practice not only on time, but early!

Kicking butt, taking names, and going to bed at 8:30.  All this responsibility wears me the heck out.

Expensive toys

are a waste of money.  Not just for my children, but also for my dogs. 

This weekend Nathan was delightedly walking around inside a paper leaf bag, giggling his head off. 

Duke and Abby were enthusiastically dismantling our entire woodpile as fast as we stacked up the freshly-cut logs from the oak trees we trimmed in the front yard.  Duke was actually stealing them and hoarding them under a pile of brush to chew on later.

Ridiculous.

Friendly Reminder!

Wednesday, November 14 at 2pm is Natey's class Thanksgiving play!!! 

New stuff

So, remember when I said that we weren't going to have any soccer games until after Christmas?  Ignore that.  This past Saturday, I received a call from one of Brendan's friends' parents, saying that her son's other team was in need of some extra players to act as subs for a game.   We were free, so we went.  He had a great time!  He scored three goals, the play was fun, the other children were nice, and the coach was great and relaxed and encouraging. 

He liked it so much he decided to sign up for the team.  Annnnnnnnnnd, there go our Saturdays until after the first of the year :)  Oh well.  I haven't seen him have that much fun on a soccer field in months, so it's worth every single minute of our time and effort.  So, if you're interested in driving out to Alliance to see him play, here's the schedule:

Saturday, November 24, 2012 - 4:00 PM
Sunday, December 2, 2012 - 3:00 PM
Saturday, December 8, 2012 - 3:00 PM
Sunday, December 16, 2012 - 3:00 PM
Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 6:00 PM

All games at the indoor Sportzone facility in Alliance, behind Carnation Mall. 

Pinky and the Brain

Our animals generally fall into two categories:  either so astonishingly dumb you're surprised they continue to breathe, or so smart you start to become grateful they don't have opposable thumbs with which to strangle you in your sleep.

Abby would be the former.  She walks into walls, has, at one year old still not mastered "sit," and is generally the dumbest dog I've ever laid eyes on.  Duke, on the other hand . . .  We have met our match with that one!  Last night he was playing with his blue squeaky football.  He loves squeaky toys better than any other type, and he's had this particular football since he was a puppy.  We have to be careful with him, though, because he's a destructive toy chewer.  Those toys in the dog aisle at the pet store that say "indestructible?"  Those make me giggle.  Anyway, we let him play with the football, but keep a close eye on him to make sure he's not going to rip through the plastic with his jaws of doom.

Last night, after a rousing game of fetch (have I mentioned that my dogs only play fetch indoors?  Throw a ball for them outside and they just stand there staring at you; throw one indoors and they will climb over one another to race after it.  Weirdest thing.), Duke sat down with the football and started to gum it to death.  We were worried that the ripping would start soon thereafter, and so Mike took it away from him and put it up on the end table.  He was having none of that, so he jumped up on the end table, nearly knocking the lamp over.  Instead, Mike took it and hid it between his back and the couch cushions. 

Duke sniffed it out, then wandered over toward the back door and started barking at us.  Mike stood up to open the door for him, and Duke jumped on the couch, grabbed the football, and ran off.  Yep.  My husband, with years and years of higher education, was tricked by the dog.

(courtesy of http://weblog.cenriqueortiz.com)

This weekend

No scheduled sporting events.  Taking Brendan to see H.S. production of Phanton of the Opera saturday night.  Natey's sick, so lots of snuggling and rest.

Seems to me

that it's a lot easier to say that we should all come together and heal when you're on the side celebrating a win than on the side smarting from a recent loss.

Be kind to one another.

My sense of competition knows no bounds

All my adult life, I've been a dedicated voter.  You don't vote, you don't get to complain.  I spent much of my adolescence totally aghast at my parents' lackadaisical voting habits.  Especially my Dad (Hi, Dad!), who, depsite having many and vocal opinions, hasn't even registered since sometime in the Nixon administration, I think.  I have voted in every single election since I turned 18.  In fact, I voted even before I turned 18!!  How did I swing that, you ask?  An accident of birth date.  I turned 18 in 1996, which as you may recall, was a presidential election year.  If you will turn 18 before the general election in November, then you're allowed to register early and vote in the spring primary.  I jumped at the chance, and have been a dedicated voter ever since.  Every time voting day rolls around, I pack up my children and take them with me to the polls.  They charm the little old ladies working there and proudly leave covered in "I voted today!" stickers.  One year, when Bren was about two, he was bitterly disappointed when he realized we were going to vote, instead of to boat.  He got over it.  Eventually.

So, last week I read a story about a new project by MoveOn.org.  They sent out mailers to your home, list the number of times you've voted in the past four elections, and assign your level of participation a grade, based on a comparison to your neighors' voting habits.  This weekend, I was tossing out the 347 political mailers that I had to get out of my mailbox to make room for the latest Oriental Trading catalog, and my eyes lit up with glee when I saw their logo!  Finally!  All my years of relentless voting would earn me a completely arbitrary distinction.  I would find some way to laminate it and stick it on my bumper, like those obnoxious Honor Student bumper stickers! 

But then, I realized it wasn't even addressed to me.  It was addressed to the lady who lived here before us, who hasn't lived here in nearly five years,* and who apparently hasn't voted in at least that long!  She gets a report card, and I don't?  Where is the justice in this world? 

So, tomorrow I will go exercise my right to make absolutely no discernible difference whatsoever in the election.  I'll steal a quick kiss from my sweet husband, who takes civic responsibility up a notch and actually works at the polls every election, and loudly accuse him of trying to disinfranchise me when he insists on seeing my driver's license.  And then, about 24 hours from now, the political ads will stop, and we can start enjoying commercials that get to the real issues - Black Friday sales.


*Also, we got an invitation for her son's high school reunion.  Didn't these people fill out a change of address form?

Or not.

No soccer games for Winter I.  Basically, they screwed around too long and got shut out of registration, although the official story is somewhat different.  Oh well.  We'll have 8 saturdays in a row with no soccer games!  What ever will we do with ourselves?

This weekend (11/2)

Nothing.  Sweet, sweet, nothing.  No soccer, no scouts, no family obligations.  Just lazing about in an undisclosed location dodging calls from political pollsters.

National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo)

Some person out there with too much time on her hands has issued a challenge for people to blog daily for a month.  So, because I'm a competitive sort, expect more than usual nonsense and drivel from me over the next month or so.

Or, you know, the usual amount of drivel, because I'm also really bad at follow-through.

http://www.nablopomo.com