a week in the life- Wednesday

• I was not motivated to do anything at all this morning! I hung out and watched 'Biggest Loser' from the night before and organized my knit patterns into binders.
• a little online time, worked on my blog post, uploaded pics for printing.
• vaccuumed the house, and straightened up. The floor still looked terrible so I decided it was time to haul out the steam cleaner and wash the floor.
• 3 more loads of laundry. Where does it all come from?
• Drove out to Barson's once again for pump parts. They didn't have any fish for sale yet because it's too cold still. I did buy some really cool plants that I hadn't seen or heard of before.
• White Castle for lunch. I haven't had WC in forever, and I was starving so I broke down and pulled in. They were soooooo good!
• Filled the tank at Costco. $2.73 per gallon.
• Spent an hour weeding the garden. Unfortunately, the weeds keep coming back!
• I fixed the pump!
• Evan went to Joey's after school, Emma to soccer practice.
• Print out more patterns and journaling cards for this scrapbook. Brought the printer up to the kitchen so I can do other things while I print. I'm so smart.
• I am totally dragging by 5:00. I made an iced skinny vanilla latte for a late afternoon boost. It helps some.
• cheese pizza and antipasta salad for dinner. We were hungry!
• watched 'CSI Miami' and Modern Family with the kids. Cougar Town and Deadliest Catch afetr they went to their rooms.
• It was a gorgeous day...mid 50's and sunny for most of the day. A beautiful full moon, a light breeze, and the gurgling of the pond make it perfection.

a week in the life- Tuesday

• good morning sunshine! 41 degrees and brisk...a jacket day for sure!
• Just as I was ready to pour the milk on my cereal, I get a call from Evan asking me to deliver his notebook and homework to school. He's lucky I have a soft spot for him!
• breakfast and morning blogs surfing. We don't get the paper on weekdays.
• going to get some things crossed off that to-do list today!
• errand time. CVS, Target, Starbux, car wash, Archivers. I was very bummed to find that Oberweis is permanently closed. They had the best chocolate milk & cinnamon ice cream.
• lunch: homemeade italian sub & cheetos, lemonade. Catch 'Days'.
• finished the Jasper hoodie for Baby J.
• work downstairs in the closet for an hour. Barely make a dent. It's going to take a lot longer to clean out than I thought.
• Filled & organized my new yarn bins, but I bought the wrong lids! Grrrrr!
• 6:00 game. Evan's team tied 2-2. Ev played goalie first half, and didn't let any shots in. It was very chilly but at least the sun was shining!
• homemade italian wedding soup and chicken salad pita wraps for dinner. Yum.
• GLEE!
• an hour of reading before bed.

a week in the life, a week late

I am always a day late and a dollar short, so naturally I chose to do the 'A week in the life' project after everyone else has done it. I took this class with Ali in Nashville. (I still have to go back and finish that one). I am hoping that this will jump start my urge to scrap, since I resolved to either use it or get rid of it at the beginning of the year. I want to use it!

Monday:

• it was cloudy and damp, 54 degrees, but with potential. I can feel a nicer day on the horizon. Turned into a gorgeous spring day.
• had my favorite breakfast of multi-grain cheerios w/ low fat granola; went through the weekend paper. A new ritual.
• took Ev to school, and then went back to sleep for awhile. The long weekend of little sleeping is taking it's toll, as is last night's non-sleep fest. I am tired.
• shower, straighten up the house. How can it be such a mess when we weren't home all weekend? Every room is trashed. Start the laundry.
• drive to Dearborn to get Buddy from the Treibers'. We missed him! I didn't like not having anyone to share my milk with this morning :)
• make lists. I usually do this on Sunday, but not this week. To do list, grocery list, Target list, week ahead list, dinner planning list. Cut coupons while eating lunch.
• little bit of online time, but not much.
• Monday is my favorite day of the week. No soccer, kids are in school, usually can do whatever I want to do. No so lucky this week- Evan has DOC training and I have catch-up to do from the weekend.
• downloaded the tournament pix and deleted the obviously bad ones.
• sneak in a few minutes of tv & knitting time.
• Kids home from school. Emma has no homework (a rarity) and Evan is crabby to the hilt. Awesome.
• grocery store. Breezed through pretty fast.
• dinner is BBQ chicken and corn on the cob. I am so happy. I wanted corn but wasn't sure that there would be any, and they had a big display of it at the store. You never know if it'll be any good...this stuff was sweet and juicy. Score!
• Wanted to go for our walk, but tiredness has gotten the best of everyone.
• Watched DWTS and caught up with some of our DVR'd shows from last week.
• By bedtime I had a massive sinus headache that wasn't going anywhere. Took a second med to relieve the pressure (some days I have to) and read a bit. I'm reading "The Girl Who Played With Fire"...it's getting good and I want to read longer but succumb to sleepiness.

Nike Challenge Cup, Dublin

This past weekend we were at the NCC in Dublin, Ohio. The forecast was for rain, rain, and more rain. Unfortunately for us, they were right.

Leaving on Friday was a breeze...Evan had a half day of school and we pulled Em out a few hours early. We started out just fine, but something always goes wrong! This time it was the GPS, which took us off the expressway and diverted us through backwoods Ohio. Naturally, the fuel light came on. There were some tense moments, but we made it through mostly unscathed.

The boys won the first game. We only got a little wet; but it was windy and I quickly got chilled tot he bone.

The boys won the second game by a huge margin (12 - 3, I think) and were excited to go back to the hotel and swim. I was excited to see the Kettle corn guy, and visit with my friend Heather. She was passing thru the state with the cutest puppy in the world and dropped by. I love her.

Saturday night we went to a Columbus Crew game. It was really cool, sort of the same atmosphere as a college football game. It started to pour as soon as we got there. We brought in umbrellas and raincoats, but they weren't enough to keep us very dry. I thought we were going to be in the middle of a brawl...a group of people in front of us were standing with their large umbrellas, therefore blocking everyone's view. The people behind us starting throwing stuff at them after they wouldn't sit, and they started swearing and screaming. It was not cool.

We left after 70 minutes. The Crew won, everyone was soaked but had fun.
Our last game on Sunday was a heartbreaker. After 2 rain delays, they shortened the game to 15 minutes. We were playing our closest rivals It was a rough, fast game, and we came out one goal behind them, cementing their place in the finals. They went on to win. I can only guess what would have happened had we played a full game. It was an epic battle!

I'm so glad to be home, sleeping in my own bed. Thankfully the next tournament (this weekend!) is here at home.

Is it May yet?

Today is going to be one of those days where it's best to just keep your head down and plow on.

Here's the short list of things I have to do today:

• parent teacher conference with Evan's teachers.
• instrument fit night for incoming 6th graders.
• leadership training for Emma, to meet summer camp requirement
• soccer practice
• return the extra outfit I bought for the shower- 2 stores
• go to Macy's and see about a watch band

Technically, I could get most of this done, but I would be a crabby, raving lunatic by 7:00 pm. One who still needs to come up with dinner. Grrrr. It's the hours between 4-8 that are killing me.

*********************************

The baby shower for Greg & Tracey was this past Sunday. It was a huge success! I am floored by how generous people are, and dumbfounded by how inconsiderate some other people are. We had one guest who won the centerpiece, the first game, and tied another game. She took all of the prizes, in addition to a West Elm vase provided by the parents to be. Since I was busy with other things, I didn't realize she had won 2 of the main prizes, or I would have shut it down. Seriously, she made money by going to the shower. I'm still mad about it.

T & G got tons of great things for Baby J. Emma was a fantastic helper and a joy to have around. We rent her out for parties!

***********************

Time for me to shift gears and get ready for traveling this weekend to Dublin, Ohio for Evan's tournament. After stressing out for many days about how we were going to make this work for all of us, and coming up with a suitable plan, Emma's Friday night game was cancelled so plans change again. I swear, next time I am going to wait until the day before to actually worry about any of this crap! That's 2 days of my life I can't get back.

Looks like we may pull her out of school early on Friday and leave around 1:00, so as to get there before 9pm and not have to thrash through traffic. And then she & Bart won't have to leave at 5:30am to get down there for the first game.

I hope the weather is nice, and not like this past weekend.

Time to get busy!

FO-Susie's sunshine socks

Another pair of socks finished!

I don't remember when I started these, but it was a long time ago. I finished one sock and half of the second and put them down until this weekend. Time to start finishing up some of the dozen or so projects I have unfinished!

pattern: Sunshine sock by Cookie A.

Rav link

yarn: Knit Picks bare hand dyed by me, colorway Granny Smith

needles: US size 2

no mods

well written pattern, easy enough to do when you actually do it! I love the way the color looks with this sock. Just fuels my fire and makes me want to dye some more yarn!

another outdoor season begins

What a difference 48 hours makes.

Thursday was our first outdoor game. Sunny and 85 degrees, and lots of "It's too hot to play soccer". Saturday was a different story. Overcast with occasional flurries, high of 43 and extremely windy. Welcome to spring soccer in Michigan!

Evan had a game in Brownstown; Emma in Wixom. I went with Evan. Sometimes I'm not so bright. I should have opted for her indoor game, much closer to home. I did not thaw out until Sunday.

The game was a rough one start to finish. Evan played in goal first half and made a dozen awesome saves. He didn't let any past him. In the second half the other team took the lead 3-1 and didn't give up another goal until right before the end. Unfortunately, we were one goal short.

On Sunday while we girls were at the baby shower, Evan had another game. The weather was not any better, and they played down a man and with no subs. (7 v 8 boys). And because I wasn't there, he scored 2 goals, one of them his first header goal!! Nice, huh? The team held tough and the game was a 6-6 tie.

He owes me another header goal!

happy birthday to me!

Shoe shopping is just about the greatest aphrodisiac known to woman :)

Found these little cuties today. They make my heart go pitter pat.

Enjoying my second (!) free iced coffee from Starbux today

Knitting up one last baby gift in the coziest yarn ever

Evan made me breakfast

Got the car washed

It's sunny and 82 degrees. A gorgeous spring day.

First outdoor soccer game of the season in 2 hours

Go Rush boys!

and lots of birthday wishes on Facebook

make it almost painless to grow one year older.

Thanks, friends!

the 42nd anniversary of my birth day is upon us!

Tomorrow is my birthday. Yeah, big whoop.

When you're older, birthdays are a lot less fun (unless it's a big one)

It's not. whew.

It's supposed to be a gorgeous day, near or at 80 degrees.

I can remember birthdays with 2 feet of snow on the ground.

I like warm & sunny much better.

My only plans for the day include a soccer game

and getting a cone at my favorite ice cream joint.

And shoe shopping.

I mean, what else is there in life that is better than that?

Happy Wednesday!

back to reality

I've returned from nowhere land!

Didn't go anywhere or do much of anything

but I didn't have anything good to talk about

and you know the old saying..."If you don't have anything good to say..."

don't say anything at all.

So I didn't.

Spring break was nice, but I'm not one of those people who finds it easy to be in the same space as the rest of my family all at the same time. Unless we are someplace other than home, I tend to feel claustrophobic.

We did manage to sneak out and get to the movies a few times. Evan had 3 sleepovers, including one in a tent in our backyard. April in a tent. Only in Michigan. We stayed up late, slept in, did plenty of reading and vegging out.

Now it's time to get back to business.

Lots and lots to do this week...