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!!

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.

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?

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?

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.

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...

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.