Somehow I only have 2 kids, yet I feel frazzled, busy and stretched to my limits a lot. How does that happen, you might wonder? Maybe it has something to do with the 5 soccer practice a week, 2 play rehearsals, 2 volleyball practices and a mysterious number of school and volunteer meetings tossed in haphazardly. Where is my relaxation time??
Due to all of this coming and going, family dinners are rare. Sometimes Maria might be home only from 5:45-7:15pm while other days she gets home for dinner at 7:30pm. Isabelle can occasionally be spotted at the kitchen table eating dinner at 4:00 because she has soccer at 5:30. She lives in her room a lot working on Chemistry equations and French phrases, that I couldn't possibly understand.
No really, I could not possibly understand the stuff she is learning. It's true.
This is why we like to eat breakfast together. Birthdays and Valentine's Day are celebrated over pancakes and scrambled eggs. I have a deep love of breakfast foods.
Last night I dropped off Isabelle at practice at 5:30, and then had to find Kinko's to get some player cards laminated. Morrie was simultaneously driving Maria to her practice, at a different field at 5:30. I then decided to go look for my friend who said she was going to Starbucks, but I must have missed her. Maybe it was the Starbucks down the street. Maybe it was the one on the other side of the parking lot. Why are there so many Starbucks??? It confuses me!!
Morrie tipped me off that Maria's practice was looking good, so I headed over there with my Starbucks drink.
What? I HAD to get something while I was at Starbucks, it's just rude to walk in and not buy anything. My mother taught me that. Thank you Mom!
So I hung out for the next hour at Maria's practice and found myself actually relaxed and breathing normally. It's like my spiritual meditation- watching soccer. Plus Maria was killing it, so it was fun to watch.
It's the only time of day when I am not thinking of a million things that I haven't done but should be doing. It's the only time of day where I don't have to change the laundry, run the dishwasher, or respond to a work email. I don't worry about what's on the agenda for the next day. I think about soccer. I think about my kids who love soccer and my friends who love soccer. I think about having long conversations about soccer with anyone who will listen. I catch up on Twitter, where I only follow soccer players, soccer teams and soccer news. It's where I find happiness.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
37 Things
Many bloggers have been posting about the great things they are going to do in this wondrous new year of 2013. "35 Things I am going to do the year I turn 35" and they go on to list so many things that I get overwhelmed just reading it. It stresses me out and I don't even know them. "Hike this gorge, reorganize my bedroom, my kids bedrooms and my kitchen, read the most boring biography known to man, take a trip to NYC, record a CD, take 30 yoga classes in 30 days, rip my hamstring..."
Because these people live the most perfect, satisfying, accomplished lives this side of the Mississippi? PULEASE. These posts seem like really really long lists of New Years Resolutions, and if I can't even do one of those, why would I do 37??
You know what is coming. I know you do. I do. My list of 37 GREAT Momentous FABULOUS things I am going to do in the year 2013 which I turn 37.
1. Take a Nap (as it should be everyone's first priority)
2. Take my girls to the wrong field for practice (you know it will happen eventually, so why not make it seem like an accomplishment?)
3. Read Jim Gaffigan's newest book (I believe the title is "Dad is Fat").
4. Maybe just get it on CD so I don't have to actually do any reading
5. Watch Baby Mama (for the 4th time) and laugh even harder than the first time
6. Watch the Proposal (for the 4th time) because Ryan Reynolds is HOT
7. Try to remember the name of that movie with the other hot guy with "photo shopped abs"
8. Vacuum. At least once
9. Try mopping
10. When weekly grocery shopping, buy all junk food that only I like
11. Spend at least one night a week eating a family dinner while discussing the MLS season, the players, the refs and the media's responses to last weeks games
12. Maybe just think about mopping, and put off actually doing it
13. Take more pictures of the kids. Perhaps actually print some.
14. Blog more. The world needs more sarcasm anyway. Especially in November when people go on and ON about how thankful they are for everything.
15. Go on vacation. Or just leave for the day. By myself.
16. Put up curtains in the kitchen so I don't have to look at our fence that is falling over.
17. Publish something. Anything. Or think about it. Or just make a FB post telling everyone that I am thinking about it.
18. Draw more. And color.
19. Figure out how to really REALLY use my new phone
20. Freak out about my 20 year high school reunion.
21. Get stronger. Even if it just means flossing more so my gums are stronger.
22. Cry about how much I miss having my babies be actually babies
23. Stay in bed for a whole day, and eat the junk food I bought while grocery shopping
24. Spam my brother's phone with random texts
25. Breathe into a bag every night the week before Izzy gets her license and pretend she is nowhere near old enough to do this
26. Enjoy some soccer in the sun (this is the best item yet!)
27. Blog about my best day of high school (since I covered The Worst Day already).
28. Make a list of potential "Best Days" since nothing comes to mind
29. Listen to Maria's essay on my great grandmother, Elsie, and pretend I am 1/8th as capable as she was
30. Go on a date with Morrie (or just walk around the block, or eat together while both kids are at soccer, or just take a second to look at him as we pass each other in the night in this crazy thing we call our life)
31. Go upstairs and completely forget why I am up there (oh wait, did this already!)
32. Wear dark shades and pretend I am not crying as Maria and her class make the leap from 7th grade to their final year in her K-8 school.
33. Decide what I am going to wear to said High school Reunion, then change my mind no less than 83 times. Take an asprin to ward off heart attack brought on by thinking of seeing everyone
34. Remind the kids to put on sunscreen, in front of their team, while I am rubbing more on their face for them.
35. Exchange witty emails dripping with dry humor with my friend, Mrs. Mouthy
36. Watch ridiculous tv that has no educational, historical, or learning value. Such as Guliana and Bill, Million Dollar Properties, Married to Jonas, True Life, or anything on Bravo.
37. Post something on FB that gets more than 25 likes. It may be necessary to blog about my second worst day of high school to accomplish this. People love to read about my embarrassment.
38. KICK MORRIE for reminding me that I am not turning 37, but 38. DAMN HIM.
Because these people live the most perfect, satisfying, accomplished lives this side of the Mississippi? PULEASE. These posts seem like really really long lists of New Years Resolutions, and if I can't even do one of those, why would I do 37??
You know what is coming. I know you do. I do. My list of 37 GREAT Momentous FABULOUS things I am going to do in the year 2013 which I turn 37.
1. Take a Nap (as it should be everyone's first priority)
2. Take my girls to the wrong field for practice (you know it will happen eventually, so why not make it seem like an accomplishment?)
3. Read Jim Gaffigan's newest book (I believe the title is "Dad is Fat").
4. Maybe just get it on CD so I don't have to actually do any reading
5. Watch Baby Mama (for the 4th time) and laugh even harder than the first time
6. Watch the Proposal (for the 4th time) because Ryan Reynolds is HOT
7. Try to remember the name of that movie with the other hot guy with "photo shopped abs"
8. Vacuum. At least once
9. Try mopping
10. When weekly grocery shopping, buy all junk food that only I like
11. Spend at least one night a week eating a family dinner while discussing the MLS season, the players, the refs and the media's responses to last weeks games
12. Maybe just think about mopping, and put off actually doing it
13. Take more pictures of the kids. Perhaps actually print some.
14. Blog more. The world needs more sarcasm anyway. Especially in November when people go on and ON about how thankful they are for everything.
15. Go on vacation. Or just leave for the day. By myself.
16. Put up curtains in the kitchen so I don't have to look at our fence that is falling over.
17. Publish something. Anything. Or think about it. Or just make a FB post telling everyone that I am thinking about it.
18. Draw more. And color.
19. Figure out how to really REALLY use my new phone
20. Freak out about my 20 year high school reunion.
21. Get stronger. Even if it just means flossing more so my gums are stronger.
22. Cry about how much I miss having my babies be actually babies
23. Stay in bed for a whole day, and eat the junk food I bought while grocery shopping
24. Spam my brother's phone with random texts
25. Breathe into a bag every night the week before Izzy gets her license and pretend she is nowhere near old enough to do this
26. Enjoy some soccer in the sun (this is the best item yet!)
27. Blog about my best day of high school (since I covered The Worst Day already).
28. Make a list of potential "Best Days" since nothing comes to mind
29. Listen to Maria's essay on my great grandmother, Elsie, and pretend I am 1/8th as capable as she was
30. Go on a date with Morrie (or just walk around the block, or eat together while both kids are at soccer, or just take a second to look at him as we pass each other in the night in this crazy thing we call our life)
31. Go upstairs and completely forget why I am up there (oh wait, did this already!)
32. Wear dark shades and pretend I am not crying as Maria and her class make the leap from 7th grade to their final year in her K-8 school.
33. Decide what I am going to wear to said High school Reunion, then change my mind no less than 83 times. Take an asprin to ward off heart attack brought on by thinking of seeing everyone
34. Remind the kids to put on sunscreen, in front of their team, while I am rubbing more on their face for them.
35. Exchange witty emails dripping with dry humor with my friend, Mrs. Mouthy
36. Watch ridiculous tv that has no educational, historical, or learning value. Such as Guliana and Bill, Million Dollar Properties, Married to Jonas, True Life, or anything on Bravo.
37. Post something on FB that gets more than 25 likes. It may be necessary to blog about my second worst day of high school to accomplish this. People love to read about my embarrassment.
38. KICK MORRIE for reminding me that I am not turning 37, but 38. DAMN HIM.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
My People!!
The girls and I were reminiscing about the tv shows they watched when they were little. I was loving the conversation as it brought me back to when they were small. As everyone knows, I love thinking about my girls when they were running around in onesies and holding sippy cups and saying silly things
All of the sudden Isabelle says "Bear in the Big Blue House!". I gasped and said "Oh yeah!". Maria had a blank look on her face. So I pulled up the show on You Tube and we watched.
All of the sudden, Maria shouts "THOSE ARE MY PEOPLE!".
Now before you go and start thinking that my kids had no friends besides the ones that visited us every afternoon through the television, this is what she is referring to:
We had a good time remembering: Oswald, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, PB & J Otter, Dragon Tails, Arthur, Sesame Street, Max & Ruby, Little Bill, Out of the Box, Zaboomafoo, Sagwa, The Magic School Bus, Stanley, Blues Clues, Clifford, Cyberchase, Zoom, Franklin......
I wish I could remember what I used to watch and who My People were!
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