The Bag O' Sanity

I got a phone call about 8:15 this morning from my friend.

First she apologized for calling me this early.

No worries.  I asked her what was up.

She starts out really calm and says that they're going on a trip this afternoon.  She again apologies for calling and then her voice begins to escalate and asks if Owen has a DSi.

I replied that I'm sure he did.  He has every game system known to man but whether he knows where it is is a different story all together.

She goes on to say (in only a tone that a mother trying to pack last minute could use) that they are leaving on a trip and her son can't find his GD DSi charger (with an emphasis on the GD). 

To which I giggle and say "been there...done that!"   I told her that I would attempt to find Owen's charger and would call her back.

She apologized again.  lol

And I start looking through Owen's stuff and Shane's stuff to find the GD charger.  And now I'm pissed off because I realize what a freaking mess their rooms are and I couldn't locate the GD charger.

But I found it.  I called her back and said that I'd found their GD charger (and they were now in trouble too) I'd bring it by on the way out of the neighborhood.  I also told her that she could take Owen's because he doesn't use his anymore and it may save her sanity.

So I got the GD charger, the DSi, the car charger and an extra stylist (because I *know* that is going to be the next GD thing that he can't find) and take it down to her.

I had it to her and tell her it's her Bag O' Sanity and I hope that she survived her trip.  Happy that I could do my part to help save my friend's sanity just a little bit.

I mean really.  What parent hasn't gone through the "my DS/DSi/GameBoy is dead and I don't know where the charger is" just as they're getting ready to leave on an 8 hour drive?

I know I have.  That's for sure!

How Rumors Get Started

Ken and I went to Chicago sans kids for a few days.

When I got back, my friend had emailed me and wanted to clarify something she heard.  Apparently her son came back from the Boy Scouts meeting and said that "Shane's mom has moved out of the state and Shane was now living with his grandparents."

So I'd like to clear up the rumor and categorically deny that I have moved out of state.  I am, in fact, still living in our house with our children and their dad (probably to their dismay!).

I wonder how that conversation went between Shane and his friend and how it could have gotten so twisted.  I guess that's how rumors get started, eh?

Ouch!

Who ever said that tennis was a sissy sport?

If you're putting your kid into tennis thinking that it's a safe sport, think again.

Yeah.  That's my toe nail.  Or what's left of it.

And yeah.  I won the point.

But I did make the comment that I was probably going to pay for it because I felt a sharp pain.  But I kept playing.

I wish that I could say that this was the first time I've done it to this same big toe.

But it's not.

But nice trying to drop shot me.  It didn't work.  I will track every single ball down.  With reckless abandon.  Obviously. 

But...ouch.  Now I'm thinking that it wasn't worth it.

Who am I kidding?  Yes it was.  ;)

It All Worked Out In The End

Dear Mrs. Lee,

I appreciate the trust that you put in me to do such important tasks such as retrieve McDonalds lunches for the kids who did their reading minutes and actually remembered to write the books down and turn them in at the beginning of the year.  Yeah them!

But please don't trust me with such an important task again.  Oh yeah, it all worked out in the end but I really can not be trusted with such an important task.

I stopped by the McDonalds on the way back home the other afternoon to talk to the manager and put the order in so I just had to pick it up the next day.  Being all prepared, I figured that I would make sure that I wasn't late for such an important lunch date.

But when I got in there, it was packed with so many teenagers that had just gotten out of school that I got dizzy.  I decided against trying to talk to the manager and just ordered something to eat and got the heck out of there.  (Ordering something for myself wasn't in the plans but I'm adaptable like that!)

So I got home with about 15 minutes left in my day before Shane got home so I rushed upstairs to get some work done.  I ran back downstairs (still in my workout clothes from the morning, mind you) and started to unload the dishes when I got an awful thought and couldn't remember where I put the kids orders.

I searched high and low for that scrap of paper that you gave me with their orders.  It wasn't upstairs on my desk.  It wasn't on the counter with my keys, in my purse or in the trey in the van where I usually put stuff.

It was about 3:10 and I knew that you would still be at school and could get their orders again.  I had drafted the apology email in my head already...claiming my usual "I'm a blonde" excuse.  I decided to go back out to the van and look one more time.

Then it hit me that I had put it in a really secure spot (in the clip on my visor) and my panic attack was over.  It was right there where I had so lovingly secured it when I left McDonalds.

Surely I can't be the only one who puts something away for safe keeping and forgets where she puts it. 

So it all worked out in the end but next time before you charge me with such an important task, please give me a copy of a copy of whatever it is that you need from me.  I'm not responsible enough for the originals.  Deal?

Best. Comic Strip. Evar.

This comic strip speaks for itself.  (click on the picture to enlarge it.)

LOLOLOLOL

Okay.  I think it's funny.  But I'm warped like that.

Bahahahahahaha

The Boy Loves Him Some Football!

Owen is crazy about football.

Well, he's crazy anyway but especially about football.

He's playing flag football again this fall.  And he's moving and grooving, cutting and jooking (faking people out ... or something like that!)

They've had two games so far.  The first game he had a pick6 and several flag pulls.  (A pick6 for the uneducated is a pick off with a touchdown return.)  Didn't know what that was?  Neither did I until Owen explained it to me.  ;)

He had an interception during yesterday's game as well but he only got to the one yard line before the other team recovered and pulled his flag.  He also had four flag pulls.  He got player of the game.

Go Owen go!  The boy *loves* him some football.  (But just the Redskins and the Colts.  But definitely NOT the Cookieboys *and* the Eagles, Bill!)

Maybe next week I'll actually remember my camera so I can get some pictures.  :(

If You're 90, You've Probably Seen A Lot!

When you're 90, you've seen and lived through a lot.

You've lived through the Great Depression, WWII, The Vietnam and Korean Wars as well as the more recent Desert Storm, invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. 

You've seen the Space Race and the first man land on the moon. 

If you're Hyacinth Eckhardt, Warren Harding was the President of the United States when you were born.  I bet a lot of kids today haven't even heard of him!  You also saw John F. Kennedy and how he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

You also lived through the era where women were expected to wear only dresses and nylons and didn't work.  The 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave her the right to vote in 1920 - just before she was born.

She also lived through the Civil Rights Movement and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  I can't even imagine a society where blacks weren't allowed to attend the same school as whites.  It's so foreign to me.  But not to her.  She witnessed it.

The movie icons of her hay day were Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood and Judy Garland.  She listened to Jazz and Big Band music, The Beetles and witnessed Elvis' entire career from start to sad finish.

Happy 90th birthday, Hyacinth Lulu Eckhardt!  You may not move as well as you did when you were younger but you still got it!

Grammy E and her two of her sons Cliff and Wayne.

And her granddaughters (me, Lisa, Shelly and Susan.)

And their children (Mary Mayken, Owen, Shane, Sheldon, Maddie, Justin, Zach and Cassie.)

And everyone...except for Shane because he somehow managed to escape.

And since it's my blog...lol

Shane and Grammy E

Owen and Grammy E

Mary Mayken, Owen, Shane, Sheldon and Grammy E

Happy 90th Birthday, Grammy!  :)

Happy Birthday, Little Dude

Happy 8th Birthday, Owen!

How you went from this:

to this:

so fast is beyond me!  Slow down little dude.  You're growing up too fast!  :)

The Trouble Shooter

Our gas grill has ADD. 

Sometimes it works. 

Other times it doesn't.

I went to throw some chicken on the grill the other night and I couldn't get it to ignite.  I gave up trying to get it started after a few thousand attempts.

Yesterday, Shane asked me if he could look at the grill and see if he could get it started.  I said sure...go ahead.

He came back in and announced that the problem was the ignitor.  He said that it couldn't be that the gas was empty because he tried the side burner and it started right up.  (The grill and the side burner have different ignitors.)

Geez.  Why didn't *I* think of trying that?

What a little trouble shooter.  :)

Omelets Made Easy!

I'm always looking for time cutting ways to fix meals.  Betty Crocker I'm not.  Heck.  I'm not Paula Dean, Julia Childs or Rachel Ray either.  I could probably cook something of theirs by following the recipe.   *Maybe.*  If it had less than four ingredients.

So when I saw this recipe, first I thought it was weird.  Then I thought it was genius.  And best of all... time saving.  I give you omelets made easy. 

Step 1:  Gather all of your ingredients.  Cheese (ummmm cheese), bacon (ummmm...bacon) and onions and mushrooms and spinach if you are me and place them in a quart sized bag.

Then crack your eggs.  Just two eggs is enough.

Be sure that you put names on the outside of the bag.  A sharpie works best.  Squish all of your ingredients together.  This is a great job for the kids!

Then zip up the bag, removing as much of the extra air as possible, and put it into a pot of hot boiling water.

After 13 minutes, carefully remove the bags from the water.  Open them and put them on your plate.

And voila.  You have an omelet.  Without having to stand there for fifteen minutes making it.

A few things that I learned. 

1.  Be careful to fold the bag tops over so that they don't melt onto the pot.  :-|
2.  Have a larger spoon or something handy to rescue the cooked omelet that you accidentally let out of the bag.  Because you didn't seal the stupid bag properly.  :-|
3.  Shift the bags about half way through the cooking so that they're pretty.  :-|

They taste great and the best part is that you'll save time in the morning and your kids will have a delicious, healthy breakfast!  Give it a try!

You Go Ken!

About a year and a half ago, Ken decided that enough was enough.  He decided to get into better physical shape and as a result, he lost 50 pounds (yes 50!)  I'm so happy to say that he has kept up his working out routine and he completed his first mini-sprint triathlon a few weeks ago.

That's where you swim, bike and run a shorter distance than the regular triathlon.  (Still more than I could do!)  His friend Tom did the sprint with him.

Looking good, honey!  :up:

Owen Goes to Third Grade!

The first day of school is special.

So special that I wanted each child to have his own post celebrating his first day.

Owen entered the third grade this week and is cruising right along.

The tiny football is all he has now.  He has lost 3...yes 3...regular sized footballs.   :-|

A backpack to match his glasses.  I guess he's not trying to blend into the crowd, huh?

Unlike Shane, he allowed me to go to the bus stop with him.  :)

Last year, he was in the middle of his vision therapy.  We saw so much improvement by the end of the year.  His grades went up from a c/d to an a/b and his reading level went up about two grades as well.  The inattention during class was also reduced.  We are lucky that Dr. Tsai was able to identify his vision related learning problem rather than label him with ADD or something similar so that he would sit still and be quiet in the classroom. 

Every year, the school has a word of the month and the students classmates vote for the classmate who exemplifies that word.  Owen was awarded for the last month.  The word was "perserverance" and I think he couldn't have received a more appropriate award.

He was very proud of himself as you can see.  As he should have been!

At the second grade award ceremony, he received the award for the most improved.  And I'd say that is pretty spot on!

These were two separate events but apparently Owen really liked this shirt!  ;)

Each Student of the Month receives written letters from his or her classmates.  Below are a few that I thought were really cute.  Apparently everyone knows that Owen is a football FANatic!

So this is a big year for Owen and the transition is usually huge between second and third grade.  I think that he will come through with flying colors.  Don't you?  :)

Learning New Rules

There are rules in middle school that I wasn't aware of.  According to Shane, parents aren't allowed to come and have lunch with the kids.

When I questioned him about whether this was actually a school rule or not, he hemmed and hawed and finally admitted that it was his rule not the school's rule.

He went on to say that it would hurt his status and popularity if I were to come to school and have lunch with him.

:cry:

Shane Goes To Middle School

I know!  I know!

Where did the time go?  Well, it went and here it is.  We have a middle schooler.  Pre-teen hormones and all as he will tell you when he is being not so nice.  After the fact, of course.  When he's slinking in to apologize for his outburst.  :-|

First Day of School

Don't you love his big boy haircut?  :)

First time I haven't walked him to the bus stop.  :(

Hanging out with the other hormonal preteens waiting for the bus.

Even though he didn't want me to walk him to the bus, it didn't stop me from making sure he got on it.  :p

When he got home, I asked him the obligatory "how was school" question never expecting that he would respond in any other way that "fine."

But to my surprise and joy (lol), he gave me the full run down.  The first thing that he said was that the cafeteria was way better than FFES.  Apparently the Big Daddy Cheese Pizza (lololol) is "more chewy with way better cheese than what they serve at the elementary school.

He said he was the first one to be able to open up his locker.  How many times do you think that he practiced the combo in his head before he got to school?  I'm betting at least 100!

So overall, he had a great day.  He knows a lot of kids in his classes so that should help ease the transition to middle school for him.

Check out other first days of school.  Apparently he really likes the Clemson shirt.  ;)

US Open or Bust, Baby!

I love tennis.

So when my friend invited me to go with her to the US Open, I jumped at the chance.   I saw so much great tennis.  It's crazy how good these players are.  Of course I took pictures (with my point and shoot only because I didn't want to tote around the Rebel.)

Enjoy!

No photo tagging necessary for this guy.  Roger Federer is the best. 

(But, shush!  Don't tell my friends Betty and Jean...they are Federer stalkers!  See Roger in the background?  tee-hee)

Last year's breakout star Melanie Oudin and this year's breakout star Ryan Harrison found love on Court 10 as mixed doubles partners.

 Bob and Murphy Jensen: BFF's.  :p

Bob Bryan

Team ADD...lol  Nicole can sit about as long as I can in the hot sun so it's good that she was happy to wander and take in as many matches and players that we could see. 

Ryan Harrison: The ATP breakout player of the year in my opinion.

Kim Clijsters: The 2010 US Open Champion?

Andy Murray

Giesla Dulko

Alona Bonderanko

Francesca Schiavone

You can not be serious?  Yes.  I am serious.  John McEnroe

Melanie Oudin and her doubles partner Jamie Hampton playing the way that doubles should be played...moving together.  Jamie had the best backhand volley that I saw at the Open.

Fernando Verdasco...my favorite player. 

Leander Paes.  The best mens doubles player on the tour.  He is a monster at the net!

Nick Bollettieri.  The best in the business for training juniors.

Sam Querry. 

Sam Querry signing the kids jumbo tennis balls.  I love this picture.  It may be my favorite of all the pictures that I took.  Definitely a photojournalistic shot!

Caroline Wozniacki practicing.  She may be the 2010 US Open Champ. 

Robin Soderling

Ryan Harrison and his doubles partner Robert Hendrick discuss the next point.  I love this shot too.

Lisa Raymond

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Jergen Melzer

We saw so much awesome tennis from morning to night.  This sign says it all!

Hope you enjoyed my pictures from the US Open 2010.  I enjoyed taking them and I hope to take the boys to see it one year!