Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Clean up

I am in major cleaning mode. Maybe because it's spring, maybe because I'm sick of looking at all the crap everywhere, maybe because major changes will happen here- I don't know. But I'm in the zone. First, I decided to tackle my Ukie school stuff. There are boxes and bins and plastic baggies and folders and baskets filled with markers, clips, tape, post its, construction paper, stickers, albums, pens, pencils, rulers, copies, drawings, cut outs, photos, puzzles, yarn, all in my dining room! GAH! What a turn off. Also, because I've been to two houses of my daughter's teammates and they were spotless, I think I'm feeling like I can part with a lot of stuff. So, I'm trying. I will tackle one area each day, until it gets to a point that I can comfortably live with it. And maybe feel like I can invite people over for a nice dinner. Maybe...

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Frugal Living

So things seem to be on an upswing around here. About friggin' time! Swimming was fantastic and I am going to have a job! WOW! Good timing, as I am almost out of money! Thankfully I am one of the most frugal people you'll ever meet. Let me give you an example- last summer I worked in the camp kitchen where my kids went for a three week Ukrainian Scout camp. I made a decent amount of money for those 3 weeks. I took out the last $100 I made a few weeks ago!! Granted, that money isn't being used to pay bills or the mortgage, but it's used for what I call "Wallet money"- cash for small purchases, like if I run out of cream for my coffee, I need 2 rolls for hamburgers, Dairy Queen for the kids, hot lunch at Ukie school, that kind of stuff. I know that may sound stupid, but I am an envelope/pile/compartment kind of money person. Earnings from Ukie School go in one place for certain purchases, money from gifts for other things, earning from a primary job go for something else. So, can you believe it- my last $100 just taken out, and I still have $23 left. I think I'm going to need some nicer clothing too. I have stuff, but I think I'll need to suplement a bit. Target gift cards!!! See, Ms. Frugality to the rescue!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Results!!!!

For those of you waiting with baited breath to find out the results, here we go!!
How best to describe the afternoon at Harvard?? It was undescribeable!! I do not really have the words to explain how great it was. I'll start with a simple rundown of the meet.

First event, 25 butterfly. My daughter is seeded 6th. There are 8 lanes rather than the usual 6, so more competitors per heat. 6th is a tough spot to be in. Someone in an earlier heat could knock it out of the park, you have a mediocre swim, and you drop to like 10th. But not my girl- she WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She came in FIRST in the 25 fly!!!! It was flawlessly gorgeous!! She is the best in NEW ENGLAND in the fly!!! AND her time set a new record at our YMCA- 16.24 seconds. UN-BE-LIEV-A-BLE!!!!! After the boys swim their 25 fly, they announce and award medals to the top 8 and when the announcer said "And your New England Champion in the 25 fly..." it was friggin' awesome!!!!

Next event- 100 yd. medley relay (4 girls, 4 strokes). We are seeded 4th, we get SECOND (of 40 teams!) with the best time to date, even better than at Championships. Nice...

Next- 25 yd. backstroke. My daughter is seeded 3rd. She ends up 5th, (NOT BAD AT ALL!!) and a teammate is eighth. All is good...

Next- 50 yd. freestyle. Teammate gets 3rd!! Overall standings, Wallingford 95,
Greenwich 83. Yay...

Next- 100 IM- one girl, all 4 strokes. No one in this event, Greenwich goes up against us 97-95. Yikes...

Next- 25 yd. breaststroke. Teammate gets half a point, Greenwich leads 132-95.5.
Gulp.

[Now- we don't actually know the team standings. This is all in the results that I got last night after we came home. Had we known that this was happening, I think I would have needed a defibrillator!!]

Next- 100 yd. freestyle relay (4 girls, each does one lap of freestyle). We are again seeded 4th. After a super close race....WE WIN with my daughter as the anchor!
We get 40 points, but Greenwich is still leading 166-135.5

Last event, 25 yd. free. We have girls in the last heat seeded 4, 5, and 6.
After some tense waiting, our three go 3rd, 4th and fifth, my daughter getting the
5th,and after more tense waiting for the final team standings, here is how it went down--Greenwich 177, Wallingford- 180.5!!!!!!! WE WON THE NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!! I am still in awe of what they did! Proud doesn't begin to describe it. I am so glad my parents, brother and his girlfriend were there to watch it all happen. So, my daughter got a 1st, 5th and 5th in individual events and another first and a second in the relays. If my calculations are correct, she finished SECOND overall as well. This was just beyond words. 6 months of intensely
hard work. And it all paid off. We got to celebrate at the hotel pool with lots of junk food and pizza, and more swimming, if you could believe it, and memories that will certainly last a lifetime!!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Nerves, Nerves

I was like a caged animal today. I couldn't find a space for myself. I walked from room to room, went for a LONG walk outside, went to the library, walked outside around my house, washed dishes, vacuumed, swept floors, just to keep busy and keep my mind off of these New England Championships. I know the kids are all trained to the nth degree and what is going to happen will happen. I just hope it's all good!

On a lighter note, I really can't wait to start this new job. I am SO looking forward to being around people, getting dressed nicely, having the challenge of learning new terminology/vocabulary and finally using my BRAIN for things other than housework and preparing for Ukrainian school. You do atrophy somewhat, taking the stay at home mommy route. I don't regret it, but it's time for a serious change.
I am very grateful to this gentleman for seeing something in me that I think I forgot I was. I feel like I can finally "Exhale!"

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Expensive Eyes

I had my annual eye doctor appointment today. I haven't gotten new glasses in two years, so I knew it was time for a new prescription and some new frames. The check up went well, and then I went over to the optician to start picking out something new. It's tricky to pick something that looks good. I am not a shopper by nature, and often I will buy the first thing I try on. As I was looking, the nice lady informed me that I could get prescription sunglasses for 20% off but I'd have to get them today for the discount to apply. So I looked around some more, and decided on one pair of each. And then she sits down at the computer and starts clicking away, for the next HALF HOUR. Grand total-- $1,064!!! I almost fell out of my chair!! I looked at her and she's like, "But with the discount and insurance...your total is $875!" GAH! Uh, not doable, lady! She said she'd go downtstairs to talk to Maribeth or whomever to make sure she did her calculations correctly. GAH! I wait another 15 minutes she comes back and says. "Yup- it's $875." So I said, "No thank you! I won't be getting the sunglasses." Over $430 for sunglasses!!!! Can you imagine?? I can go to Walmart and get sunglasses for less than ten bucks. Not prescription, obviously, but come on!! Forget that!! So at least I didn't break the bank, but I had to pay my copay and for photos of my eyeballs on top of the glasses. Then, I get in my car and the LOW TIRE light is on. What the hell? So I go to the dealer, they fix it for me (almost 90 minutes later, though...)at no charge!! YAY!! So it was a weird day. One more swim practice, kids have a pasta dinner afterwards and then Saturday we're off to Harvard. I'm tired...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Finally!!

I may as well let you in on some good news. I got a job! Part time to start, but it could turn into something awesome!! A friend of mine, whose daughter swims with mine on the team, is a lawyer and he is leaving the practice he's at to go out on his own. He thought of me (ME!!) to become his assistant/paralegal! I will start next month once he gets his new office put together. I saw the place today- it's an old house in the center of town and we will have 3 rooms there. I even get my own office! I'll be starting with about 4 hours a day, and if things go well, I'll work more. Yay me!! What a relief. Maybe other things will start to fall into place for me too. I have a couple of funny stories- I thought I'd be a good employee and take some paralegal classes and that turned into a disaster. I'll tell you those soon. If you don't mind, I'd like to take some time now and bask in my own happiness.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

TV, kind of

I watched Dancing with the Stars last night. It was the season premiere, and I haven't watched in a while. It seemed like they were having lots of Playboy Playmates, ex-cons, idiots from MTV, and serious ringers, so I stopped watching. Last night was a really refreshing batch of stars and there were some surprising performances! Except for that ho-bag from the Playboy mansion, I can let my kids watch all the others. There's even a guy from WWE that my son knows. Blast from the past- Ralph Macchio, The Karate Kid, is 49!! He was great, as was Kirstie Alley.
I'm not a huge fan of hers, but she did alright. It was funny- as the scores were being given out, my kids were asking if they were good or bad. Someone got a 24 out of 30 and I said that's like a B, and when someone elso got a 17 out of 30, I said that's pretty bad, like a D or an F. My son said, "A B is a good grade, right?" and I said "Yes. But if either of you ever gets a D or an F, YOU don't get to play hockey, and YOU will not swim." The blood drained from their faces, but they got the message! The other show I let my kids watch during the week is The Biggest Loser. We enjoy watching the challenges and then we try to guess the weight losses the contestants are going to post. We also enjoy seeing the transformations of the booted players at the very end. Other than that, there isn't much on that I'd let them watch. If they could they'd watch SpongeBob all day long and I know they've seen every single episode! It's too easy to turn on the TV and just have it on for background noise. They have to learn to do things with their time that doesn't involve the television!!

Monday, March 21, 2011

News

We went skiing yesterday with my dad and it was AWESOME!! I figured we could go one more time and the kids were game and then grandpa decided to come, so we met up and skied together all day long. Kids made great progress. Weather was terrific as well. Got in some really good skiing.

It snowed today. Yay. First full day of spring????

I was at another swim team party last weekend and mentioned to a dad that I still had some huge branches on my lawn from the ice storm. He said he'd gladly come over and use his chainsaw to chop them up. When we came home from skiing yesterday, the branches were gone, only some sawdust left on the grass. How cool is that?? Someone said he'd do something, and he did it!! These people are all so nice and honorable it makes me sick. Just kidding...

Tiger Woods apparently said "It's hard work being a single dad!" EXCUSE ME?? Say WHAT?? Boo hoo you Tiger. You couldn't keep it in your pants and now you're saying it's tough being a single dad? You had a choice, asshole, and don't act like you have no help either. Call me, I'll tell you what it's like being a single parent. Go whine into your billions.

Ukrainian School was awful last Saturday. Confirms my desire to leave when this year is over.

And that's that. Not much going on here.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Bad Mother!

So last night, I caved and basically blew off almost all learning here. My daughter had swim practice, then I had a swim team parent meeting. We came home before 7. Quick dinner (pork chops, brown rice, broccoli) and then my son did homework and my daughter was playing and drawing. Before I knew it it was 9:00. I told them to go upstairs and get ready for bed. They both blew me off, so I went upstairs and turned on the TV. "District 9" was on- LOVE that movie- so I decided to watch it until Top Chef All Stars at 10:00. Kids came upstairs and started to play with their
Zsu-Zsu Pets and I let them. No yelling, no begging, no screaming. At around 10 they both realized it was time for bed, but before getting there they got into a huge fight. Nice. Flash forward to this morning- at breakfast I realized that A. my son did not practice on the saxophone and B. my daughter did not do her subtraction practice for her weekly quiz on Friday. I was so mad at myself and them. I told them that today, the axe falls. No friends, no street hockey, no Zsu-Zsu pets, just homework, saxophone, recorder, and bed. Some days I just do not have the strength!! I can't be one of those moms who yells all the time. But it's just me, I have no back up, no support, no help, so it always falls to me. It would've been nice to go upstairs and have a strong dad be the one who doles out the discipline and acts as the adult while giving mom a break. I know that I took the break anyway, but I'm tired of the constant monitoring. Bad mom?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hated it!

Can you hate something you're good at? Let me back up. My son forgot his saxophone at home yesterday so I had to drive it over. As I walked into the office, I saw his band teacher. I introduced myself, pointed at the sax and asked if I was late. He said no, and the next thing out of his mouth was what a GREAT SAXOPHONE PLAYER MY SON IS!! I couldn't believe it! He was so nice and so complementary. (And then he said great things about my daughter who is just starting to play the recorder!) He talked about how my son has great tone, he knows how to blow correctly, and he looks like he's having a great time. So, back to my question- can you hate something that you are good at? I'm trying to think if this applies to me- I'm good at tennis, swimming, running a summer camp, eating, dancing, writing, and maybe some other things, but I enjoy them all! I made sure when the kids came home to pass on the complements, and to encourage without sounding like a shrew. I got a minimal reaction. But I ask you- do you hate doing something you're good at? How exactly does that work?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

T-A-P-A-C!!

Let me tell you what I ended up doing for our Shevchenko day. Now, you have to understand that this is a pretty solemn afternoon. This guy was poor, an indentured servant, he was hounded by the Russians, and through it all he loved his country, Ukraine. Usually this holiday has poems, plays, a choir sings his works set to music, and the like. For the last 6 years I taught my little ones this song entitled "Deep Bow to you, Taras." It's a little two stanza song where the kids say how their hearts beat for him and they promise to be faithful to Ukraine and to him and what he stood for. GREAT work for a kid who A. doesn't speak Ukrainian, B. can't envision who he was or what he means, and C. sings the Christmas song to Santa.
Anyway, I usually ended up singing that song alone and the kids just stood there looking into the stage lights. So I said if I had to do this song again I'd throw myself off the roof of the Ukrainian National Home in Hartford. And it came to me!
A song so simple, so cute, so totally inappropriate for this solemn day, I had to do it. For you Ukie people, here is how it went:

Buv pysmennyk, nash pysmennyk nazyvavsia SHEV-CHEN-KO!
Buv pysmennyk, nash pysmennyk nazyvavsia SHEV-CHEN-KO!
T-A-P-A-C! T-A-P-A-C! T-A-P-A-C, nazyvavsia SHEVCHENKO!

For you English speakers, this is the Ukrainian version of
"There was a farmer had a dog and BINGO was his name-o"-

There was a writer, our writer, and his name was SHEVCHENKO
There was a writer, our writer and his name was SHEVCHENKO
T-A-R-A-S, T-A-R-A-S, T-A-R-A-S, and his name was SHEVCHENKO

Yep- I did B-I-N-G-O in Ukie for the greatest writer who ever was from our country. I made sure the kids knew the one important word- SHEVCHENKO! And they shouted it out just like I wanted!! One little one was even dancing around as we sang.
Well, the place went crazy! Everbody clapped when it was time to clap as each letter got taken away, and we got a huge round of applause at the end. All my parents told me it was awesome, cute, adorable!!! YAY! Even the principal and the guest director liked it. So phew, I get to keep my job. Not that I necessarily still want it, I have to think about it, but at least they didn't run me out of town.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Food Shopping

I go food shopping once a week, usually on Mondays. I used to go to Shaw's, but they were bought by Shop Rite. In the interim of Shop Rite taking over, I started to shop at Walmart. It took a while to get used to shopping there, but I've really got the hang of it now. Mondays are relatively quiet and not crowded. I can take my time and it's better without the kids. What I find funny, and not just at Walmart, but every grocery store I've been to, is watching couples shop together. I find that so bizarre I can't handle it. I think it is so funny that both a husband AND wife (or GF and BF) need to go together and do this chore as a couple. I can see that 99% of the time the guy does NOT want to be there. The woman is usually standing in front of the soups saying something like, "Um, I think we still have the chicken noodle. What should we get? Do you want the tomato soup? I could make grilled cheese? Or would you like the beef and barley? That was good, right? We liked that, right?" WHAT???? What the hell is THAT?? And the guy is just standing there, hands in his pockets like, "Whatever. Yeah. Beef Barley's fine." I never ever once never ever brought my ex to go food shopping. My mom certainly never ever took my dad along either! EVER. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't need any opinion about what to buy. I make the menu, I prepare the kids' lunches, I'll do the shopping thank you very much. Just today there was a couple, and I kept running into them as I wound my way through the aisles: "We have 2 cans of tuna." "What cereal do you want?" "Minute Maid juice bars? Or the Drumsticks?" That is so foreign to me. Even better is the phone call to the spouse: "Hon, it's me. I'm standing in front of the seltzer. We still have the raspberry, right? Should I get the mandarin or the lime? Lime? OK. Love you, bye." or "It's me again. What cereal did you want? Cheerios or Total? Total? OK- the one with the raisins? OK. Love you, bye." YOY. Hmm, maybe that's why I'm single...

Friday, March 11, 2011

Future Plans

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I'm going through something, no big deal, but I needed time to think some things through. I'll let you know about it soon.
Anyhow, so many things coming up! First, our Shevchenko performance!! It's this Sunday, and all 3 of us are doing something. I mentioned my son had to learn 20 lines and HE DID!! He has a fantastic memory and I know he'll do well. My daughter has just a few lines, but her class is also singing some songs so she needs to know those words as well. At least she is humming the melodies at home, so she should be fine. I also have to do something with my class of hooligans. Just kidding. Miscreants. Just kidding. I have 14 kids, half don't speak English, the other half don't speak Ukie, I have to indoctrinate them about a poet/writer/painter/indentured servant who lived 150 years ago and they couldn't care less, but that's how it all gets started. I came up with something that will either bring the house down or send me running for cover down the streets of South Hartford. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll tell you about it later. Next, my son has his last weekend of hockey. He's melancholy, but looking forward to a camp he wants to go to in August.
Then there's the championships at Harvard. Two weeks to go! I'm hoping that our girls are successful and bring home some medals. I am certainly going to buy out the vendors- sweats, towels, hats, all Harvard and championship paraphernalia AND customized photos of my daughter swimming. Who knows the next time I'll be going there!! I just found out my brother will be able to attend so that is awesome!!
And that's that. Maybe I'll finally be able to sleep through the night when this all comes to an end.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ex-hausting

Ex came by yesterday. My daughter had forgotten her swimming backpack in his car on Sunday and he needed to bring it back to her. So at around 4:00 he came over to play! He and my son played hockey on the street while I took my daughter to swim practice. Honestly, I forgot all about him until he showed up at the practice with about 20 minutes left. We all came back home and I began to get dinner ready. As I'm making 3 kinds of pasta, salad, and pizza dough rolls, he's sitting at the kitchen table chatting with my daughter. So weird!! Like he's here, but he's not here, he left, but he's here all the time. Just bizzare. It was civil, and all that- we don't fight in front of them- AND he loves to tell me the prices he pays for his weekly groceries, "I got oranges for 49 cents each!" or "Those juices the kids like- they were on sale 2 for 4 dollars!" or "Cucumbers were 37 cents a pound!" and I'm always like- "Uh, OK. Great!" Huh? He left before we sat down to eat, thankfully. Oh- and barely a word of Ukrainian to the kids. I fume quietly, but it is so hard to listen to him not even pretend to speak it to them. I feel so stupid that I put such a premium on finding a Ukrainian husband who didn't even turn out to want to pass down the Ukrainian heritage. If I want it, it's got to come from me. Exhausting.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Crap Unearthed

The snow is finally almost all melted. It's astounding to think that back in January our street was the width of one car, and now it's back to normal. I spent about an hour cleaning the pine branches that had fallen during that ice storm and I only removed about half of them. The gigantic one that took down my power line is still laying there- I'll have to chop it or saw it to be able to get it out.

I went for walks almost every day this month. I really missed not being able to do that with all the ice and snow on the ground. I've mentioned that I pick up cans and bottles as we have a 5 cent refund on them so it's free money. (For those of you who don't understand- when you buy carbonated beverages, water, or beer you have to pay 5 cents extra per container. You then redeem them and get your money back. If you pick up cans that you didn't pay for, it's free money!!) There's been some serious cash up for grabs!! I found 41 today alone!! My kids are mortified that I'm like a bag lady picking up crap, but I don't care. I look at it as if someone dropped nickels all over town, and they are there for the taking. Anyway, lots of stuff on the streets: dead squirrels, newspapers in bags, skunks, TONS of branches, sand, rocks, salt, plus we have serious flooding 'round these parts. The beauty of March!!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Dinner out

We haven't gone out to dinner in a long time. So yesterday, after having to practically DRAG my kids out of the house, we went to Friendly's. Yes, Friendly's!!
Surprising that I have to drag my kids, but go figure. Nothing can be easy. Anyway, it was delightful! I love the hamburgers there and certainly the ice cream is awesome. I remember the first time I took the kids out after their dad left us. It was a Saturday after Ukrainian school and I just wanted to go out. So there we were eating and one of my kids, I think my son says, "I have to go to the bathroom."
Dilemma! Do I let him go alone? Do I go and leave the other one alone? Do all 3 of us go together? I ended up letting him go alone but I stood in the aisle so I could have an eye on both kids. It all worked out in the end, but that was the first time I really had to think about what to do. When they were really little, we'd all go together, usually BEFORE we sat down to order and eat. Just one of those little things you don't really think about until wham!- it slams you in the face and you've got to make a decision.

Friday, March 4, 2011

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!

I just did Ukrainian School homework with my daughter. It wasn't as bad as usual, but a pain nonetheless. I end up dictating everything word for word, letter for letter to both her and my son when it's homework time. I literally do all the work!! Everything short of holding the pencil and moving their hand for them. I remember doing my homework on my own from a very young age. PLUS- my son has to learn a 20 line poem for the Taras Shevchenko play on the 13th. He was like our Shakespeare and every year we have a production in his honor. Last year it was the day after the Championships at Harvard, so I ended up leaving from Boston Sunday morning and driving straight to Hartford for the play. That was fun. Anyway, I'm going over this poem with my son and you'd think I was torturing him. Everyone in his class has to learn something and be prepared to perform, but he acts like he's the only one. All of this is such a drag. I thought after Ukraine gained its freedom we'd be able to speak English (HA!) and forget about this hassle, but it wasn't to be. I want my kids to know their heritage and stand out by knowing another language. But it's a real pain in the ass.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Lax Sax

My son had the biggest meltdown yesterday when I asked him to practice his saxophone for 10 minutes. 10 minutes! I won't get into the details, but I had to ask myself-should I still be pushing him to play? He proclaims total and abject hatred for this instrument. He does not want to play anymore. Do I give in? I don't want to.
I think he should play to engage another part of his brain and to become a well rounded person. Am I being a total nag? All I ask is for 10 minutes a day. He never plays on the weekends, and will usually get out of playing 2 or 3 other times, so he's basically playing ONCE a week. I look at this "Tiger Mother" (The Chinese mom with strict parenting philosophies who wrote a book) and she made her girls practice 2-3 hours a day. I'm not that crazy, but her shtick was that the more they practice, the better they'll get and the more they'll want to play. I think that is a logical way of thinking. But it's not working here. I tell him, "Fine, you can ditch the sax, but you'll have to play something else, and it will be hard to start from scratch now," but he doesn't care. I don't need this grief, but I'll take grief if it makes him a more interesting kid. I played guitar when I was young, wasn't too crazy about it, and of course wish I were better at it now. The easy thing would be to give in and let him quit. I know it's not the right thing. WWYD?

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

ATTENTION!! LOSER!!

I remembered something funny from our ski trip. After we got our tickets and rented the equipment, I took my kids and their friend over to where the lessons would take place. I made sure they were supervised, plus that friend's mom was there, just not on skis, and I decided to go to the easy slope and see if I remembered how to ski or if I'd make an ass out of myself. So, I'm shussing over to the chair lift, people are crowding around, there are kids, dads*, skiers, snowboarders, I'm in the bottle neck heading towards the chair and then a cold sweat breaks out over me. I am alone, and if you are skiing alone, they really don't want you going on a chair alone and wasting the seats. The etiquette calls for the person to shout out "SINGLE!" to let the others know and perhaps you could then mooch onto someone's group of three and get a ride. My situation considered, I really wasn't in the mood to start shouting "SINGLE!" Har. So I chickened out, turned around and went back over to where my kids were. (I got to watch their lesson, take some great photos, and I even skied down the bunny slope and was actually fine.) So lame. I know it's just a word, but I was so NOT in the mood to shout out my status. It makes for a cute story, I guess.

* It's astounding how many dads I see with their kids all over the place. By that I mean, it's the dad who does the activity while mom sits in the lodge, or on the lounge chair, or beside the pool, while I'm the mom who is skiing, swimming, playing tennis, riding a bike with them, etc. When I took my kids to Wildwood this past summer, we had the most fun at the water park. I was one of 2 moms, I swear to God, that was riding the slides and actually getting my hair wet among all the kids with their dads. Also, we went to an indoor water park for New Year's Eve 2008 and 2009 and there were VERY few moms running around. Seems like they all just sit and save seats for their families. yay me...

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Highs/Lows

Just to make it official, our girls won the 8 and under championships!! They scored something like 244 points!! They already received their plaque and it will go into the awards cabinet at the Y. At practice today, all of us moms were just beaming, thinking about how far the girls came from a year ago.

OK- to be fair, I have to mention that my son had a hockey game on Sunday. His team won 5-0! YAY! It's so different watching a sport with individual races versus one with the entire team playing at once. I guess it's like watching gymnastics or skating versus basketball or football. Less stressful, for sure!! Plus he can still play with the same group for the next like 4 or 5 years while my daughter "ages up" into the 9 and 10 year old group with longer, more grueling events. And so it goes...

I went to the library today to hang out and read. I came across the Sunday Times Magazine (used to get it delivered but can't afford it anymore) and there was an article about a mom blogger who makes like $40,000 A MONTH!!!! I read it with great curiosity. She started out when this blogging thing was new and got in fast and strong. I don't know how she got the following she did- something like 1000 hits a day from the get go. Makes me feel like a doofus for wanting to get something out of this. Like, who do I think I am? I'll keep doing this because I enjoy the discipline of writing and coming up with ideas every day, but who the hell am I kidding? "For entertainment purposes only..."