Happy Halloween! v.09

Happy Halloween to everyone out there! I hope you have a fun and safe night filled with all the best candy (Butterfingers and Snickers, of course).

It's been another busy week. After my meltdown on Monday, Emma took pity of me and okayed a witches costume from Target. So YEAH for no sewing this week! Evan took forever to decide what to dress as. Next year we are definitely going to be prepared early October.

Some of the practices that were scheduled went accordingly, and some were passed over.

I wasn't feeling well all week, but not really sick either, which is totally annoying. I had a low grade fever and exhaustion, and of course a headache too. I'm glad it didn't develop into anything, but am annoyed at losing a few more days to ick.

I booked Evan's friend birthday party for November 14th...now to just cross my fingers and pray that the weather holds out for the activities he wants to do. Invitations went out this morning. Love to check items off the list. Only 92 other things to do!

We are trick-or-treating in my SIL's neighborhood tonight. They set up a fire pit and hang out, so we decided to drive out there. I have no pix of the kids in their costumes yet. Can't wait to dress 'em up :)

Have a great weekend!

moving at the speed of sludge

That would be me, in a nutshell.

I am feeling so out of control and don't know what to do first. To say that I am overwhelmed at the moment would be way understating my state of mind. I feel trapped in the headlights, and the truck is bearing down fast.

AAAAHHHHHH!

I just want to crawl under the covers and not emerge until January. Like the Groundhog, only in reverse. I need 6 weeks of no activity before I can proceed with life.

I just found out today that our last football game was not our last football game at all. Lets add a playoff game in there! Yes,that makes sense because the team did so well in the regular season. And let's play the team that just creamed us 27-0 again. That sounds like fun! And for shits & giggles, let's hold the game in a location over an hour away, so that it takes up as much of a Sunday as possible! And since we are playing another game, you must of course attend practice for another full week.

And you, parent of a U13 girl in our soccer program: I understand your last game was yesterday (congrats on the win!), but we really think you need to practice this week as well. While you are at it, parent of a U10 boy: you can practice too. Let's be fair all around.

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To all manufactures of girls' Halloween costumes:

YOU SUCK!!!!

I thank you for adding one more thing for me to deal with this week. If I wanted my daughter to solicit candy dressed as a prostitute, I would flat out dress her as a hooker. For less money.

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And now my thoughts turn to November and the bevy of things that occur during said month. Not one of which we are in any way, shape, or form prepared for. Evan's 10th birthday? Not a clue what's going on. It's in 15 days. And even if we did have a clue, we have no free weekends to do a party or anything! We have a family party, a friend party, a room redo, Sandy Treiber's 70th birthday, a football banquet, my mom's birthday, my step-mom's birthday, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving in Canada, and probably 174 other things that I didn't mention but are expected to be taken care of.

That's it. I am definitely taking up drinking in the afternoons.

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My last rant, promise.

I started a sweater, for me. Pretty yarn, knitting long distance with a buddy for moral support, couldn't wait to work on it. A 'no stress' project. HA!

I have put in about 3 hours so far, and it's all wrong. I have to frog and start from scratch. But it's not because I can't follow directions, it's because the directions are for crap!

My no stress project is adding stress to my life. And I want to cry.

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the end.

homecoming

Yesterday was the last regular season game for the Stallions- their Homecoming game against rival Northville team the Colts. Of course, it was raining and miserable. They started the day off with a parade thru downtown in decorated cars. After the parade, I worked in the concession stand until game time. It was more fun than I thought it would be, and because the weather was so crummy, not busy at all. They were expecting a huge after parade rush. I think everyone went home to warm up. Not a bad volunteer job.

Unfortunately for the Stallions, things were just not going their way. The field was very muddy and slippery, therefore the ball was hard to hold on to. They never completed a pass the entire game. No runs over 6 yards. And lots of penalties. They seem to hurt themselves more than the opposing team. They were shut out, 27-0. Bummer.

The good news was, Evan played almost the entire game! Apparently he was fired up at practice on Thursday, and the coaches' took notice. He played offense, defense, safety. He played with the OC and the BO. He was all over the field. He made 2 or 3 excellent tackles.

first man on the line, ready to play

here he is taking a hit from one of their really good players. Ev had a hold of his jersery and the kid spun, taking Ev down and pounding him in the ribs in the process. He is sore today!

I should have made him turn around...the backside is far dirtier! The mud had soaked thru his pants, girdle, & pads to his underwear. I soaked everything in Oxy for several hours and it all came out, surprisingly. You could tell which kids played the most by the dirt level, and Evan was one of the dirtiest.

I also had the pleasure to be a 'booth spotter' during the second half of the game. Basically, you and a partner call out the numbers of kids in on a play for the announcer. Not as easy as you would think, because they are facing sideways usually. And when they all pile on someone, trying to figure out who made the play is practically impossible. But it was dry and warm, and an interesting perspective on the game.

Word is that they might have a playoff game (how it's possible is anyone's guess), so another week of practice for us. Ugh. I was hoping to get that time back.

Happy Sunday!

what have I gotten myself into?

I am such a glutton for punishment.

Had some one on one time alone with Emma today, and we decided to go check out Halloween costumes. Neither kid has any idea of what they want to be. Totally foreign to me...I always knew by August what I was going to be and my costume would have been perfected by now. My kids have no imagination.

So anyway, we went to Halloween USA, or whatever it's called. I knew it was going to be a waste of time-last year yielded nothing but sexy and inappropriate-for-12-year-old-costumes. And Em is drawn to them like a crow to a shiny object. I have been coming up with ideas for the last few days, but she thinks everything is lame. NO Halloween spirit whatsoever. Pbbth!

After walking the aisles, she found a (sexy) detective outfit that she felt was passable. I let her try it on, and informed her she would be wearing tights with the short skirt. While I was packing it back into the bag, I glanced at the price tag... $40. forty. dollars. No frickin' way.

Needless to say, she wasn't happy with me.

We dragged ourselves to JoAnn's to look at patterns. All of which she declared lame. She looked at some fabric, and was finding some she liked, and then found a pattern that could work with the fabric. We found some awesome trim. It's going to be close...the pattern only goes up to size 14, so I may have to punt and add some inches in...

So now I have to sew a flippin' costume.

when will I ever learn?

more of the busy!

It's been another busy week around here. A quick summary:

• I just discovered a new yarn shop in downtown Northville! It's lovely. Almost exactly what I would want if it were my store. And it's open on weekends! I can see myself spending some time in there :)
• went to visit Sharyn and her boys this week. Got to spend a bit of quality time hanging out with one of my favorite people. It always makes me happy to see them.
• had my first eye exam in 20+ years. My vision is still 20/20. Glad to not need glasses :)
• also went to the neurologist and had my head examined (true!). I'm going back on the meds that I was taking before. They seemed to help prevent many of the headaches I was getting. He also gave me a new 'rescue' medication to take when I get one of my whoppers. I hope this means that I will have far fewer headaches.
• I am making some yummy treats for Bart's birthday :) (NO PEEKING SPARKY)
• we are back to our regular game schedule this weekend- 2 soccer games and a football game. Cross your fingers and pray the weather holds out!
• I actually pulled out some Halloween decorations this year! I bought some cornstalks and pumpkins yesterday. Hopefully today after school Em & I can decorate.
• I am loving my pumpkin spice lattes.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

bad.

The less said about yesterday's game, the better. It was afwul, terrible, horrible, and every other adjective you can use to replace 'bad'. Evan played with the OC (one of their players was out), so he played the first 5 plays of each half. That's about it. Makes for a very looooong game. They were getting killed so badly though, that for the last 8 minutes of the 4th quarter, the OC got to play exclusively. This was good. Unlimited playing. Good for those kids that don't get enough. The best thing that happened was that Evan recovered a fumble! He almost sacked the QB twice, but he needs to learn how to hold on! He is fast and catches them, but he can't keep a hold of them!

We did some yard work & helped around my mom's house, so Bart & I are both barely moving today. Getting older sucks. My neck is killing me. Can't turn to the right at all.

Gotta pick up the kids in the next few minutes so we can go drop off our passport applications. We are attempting to go to Canada to visit the Anderson's the weekend after Thanksgiving, and we have put it off long enough! Hope they get here in time!

Happy Monday :)

rainy rainy rainy Friday

It has done nothing but rain for two solid days here. I have no exciting pictures to share, so I thought I'd post one of Ben. It's been awhile since he has graced the blog. Ain't he cute? Being a lover of rain, he has logged about 15 hours of sleep today, so far. It's a tough life.

I do have one piece of exciting news, and you aren't going to believe it! Hold on to your butts!

We only have one game to go to all weekend.

Somehow the planets alligned and the schedule cleared, and we are left with one Sunday morning football game. And AND it's an away game, but located just down the street from us. Anyone who has ever had a son in football knows what game day is like. For the rest of you, here's a rundown: players must be at the field no less than one hour & 45 minutes before scheduled kick-off. You must then figure out your travel time and plan accordingly so that your player isn't late. Then you get to sit around and twiddle your thumbs until the game starts. For home games, we just drop Ev off and go home until it's game time. Not so easy for travel games. This week, it's a delight. Except if it rains. Then it won't be so delightful :p

Have a good weekend y'all! Stay dry and or warm wherever you are!

keep on keeping on

Haven't posted much lately- been feeling 'blah' to begin with, and nothing much has been happening except for the daily grind. Every day feels like the same day.

I have been working all week to finish up the umpteen projects that I have ongoing. Made a pretty good dent in them, but haven't finished. Just keep knitting. Just keep cleaning. Just keep shopping. Just keep cooking. Just keep washing. You get the idea!

Because I am so LAME that I have nothing intersting or funny to talk about, I will direct you to Jen's blog where you can pee youself silly with this post. I seriously have been wasting my talents all these years!

Happy Thursday!

an eventful October

Only 4 days into the month and we have been busy!

• Evan had a great football game today. The Stallion won 31-19 against the Livonia Blue Jays. I only saw the first half of the game, and caught him taking this hand-off! He ran for about 8 yards, but when he was finally brought down (by 5 guys!), they shoved him back 5 yards. In the second half, he returned a punt for 25 yards!
• Emma had games on Friday night and this afternoon. Friday's game was awesome soccer...the best her team has played. Unfortunately, both games were losses. The frustrating thing is they are only losing by a goal! It's not like they are getting blown out or anything. We just need to get the ball into the back of the net!
• I woke up this morning to find that my etsy shop was featured in the shopping section of the Detroit Free Press! (I won't bother to link it, the shopping section isn't online!) The writer of the column contacted me last week, but I hadn't heard back form her. I wasn't sure if she changed her mind or what. It was a nice surprise!
• My baby knits are up on the Baby Gardner.Take a minute to check out her shop-she has lovely baby things!
• Michigan State was victorious over Michigan in OT. Go Spartans!
• Today was the last day of the season at our favorite ice cream place. We were standing out there in the cold eating custard in our hats and gloves.
• Will the sun shine ever come back? It's been a lousy weather weekend.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

hello, October

Really?

Ok, summer flew by...but September had to have set some sort of land speed record. Gah!

Lately I have been feeling like time is just going by so fast. And some days, I want nothing more than time to fly by. But others, not so much. It makes me sad to think that very soon both my kids will be grown and leaving the house. I know it's silly to think so far into the future, but 7 years isn't that long. I start to go down that road and it's not a good place for me to go right now. Maybe it's fall, and the start of a new school year that makes me so melancholly. I need to snap out of it!

Not much has changed around here-busy with school, soccer, football, knitting, and house stuff. The temps have plummeted and I need to think about pulling all the basil and finally ripening tomatoes into the house. Tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day!