The latest injury

I started my yearly purge this week. In purging stuff from my bedroom, I managed to severely stub my toe. Today, 24 hour later, it looks like this.

This picture so does not do justice to the bruising and swelling that this injury involves. I'm fairly certain it is broken, although it doesn't hurt much anymore so I could be wrong. Either way, bruised and swollen and cut open and ugly looking. See what I get for cleaning the house! :)

Whole lot of things

So, basically I suck at blogging. Even Quigs is doing better than me at keeping up with hers and that is saying a lot! :) Since we got back from vacation, nothing much blog-worthy has happened. There have been lots of little things but nothing worthy of a post on it's own so now you get a bullet point list of all the things that have happened in the last month.

-TB started baseball this fall. He has never played before and missed the only two practices of the season because we were on vacation. He jumped right in to playing in a real game and we have been doing 2 games a weeks since then.

-Baseball bores me to tears. I cheer for our team, but I would rather be almost anywhere else. TB feels the same way. He likes to hit but hates being in the field. He is the kid in the outfield, kicking the dirt, chewing on his glove, chasing butterflies, dancing like Michael Jackson, etc. At least twice during every inning the coaches are yelling at him to pay attention

- We are at 3 losses, 2 wins, and 1 tie. I'm surprised that we have done that well because most of these kids are young and not exceptionally good at baseball. Instead of telling them where to make the play, the coach is simply teaching them to get it to the pitcher to stop the play because most of them aren't able to process the situation fast enough to do any good.

-We started school last week. We got the teacher we requested which is fantastic. She is active in the PTA, she taught drama club last year and we both knew her and like her a lot. I think she is the kind of teacher that TB needs and I'm hopeful that she will have a very positive impact on him this school year. Let's cross our fingers for reading by the end of the year!

-I'm babysitting a little boy after school. His mom works with my mom and she was concerned about the after school program. We worked out a deal and I pick him up 4 days a week after school, while I'm there picking TB up. It works out well because he has the teacher TB had for K so she knows me and knows the routine. It is a good deal for all involved. He gets to come and play with the kids and do the other fun things we do after school each day. I get a little a little extra money and she gets someone that she knows watching her kid every day. Good all around.

-We've been spending time with some kids from TB's class. He is thrilled to see more big kids.

-Soccer started last week, but due to conflict with baseball, this is the first practice we've been able to make.

-I can not tell you how much I LOVE soccer. The coach is good, if a little tough. There is at least one other kid who has never played and one girl who isn't interested in played (she spent a lot of time standing around at practice tonight). The coach believes that a sport isn't played by kids alone and requests parents assistant at practices. He asked me tonight if I could help out at future practices since I have soccer experience.

-TB was FAR more engaged in every step of practice than he has been at any point during baseball.

-Poor TB was a red little sweatball when practice was done. Apparently despite the running and playing he does, he is pretty out of shape. We are going to have to work on that.

-Speaking of getting in shape, I think, while it is decent weather, TB and I are going to think about the C25K program. Probably not 3 days a week between soccer games and practices and baseball games but as often as we can. With playing soccer, he is going to need to get in running shape and he wants to play basketball in the winter, which is going to require running. As an added bonus, he is hoping to get faster than the other boys at school because he kind of gets left behind sometimes.

-We are, hopefully, going to take karate this winter as well. Assuming it doesn't conflict with basketball, he and I will sign up for TKD through UPD. He took it through CPD a few years ago and I hated the instructor and I pulled him after 2 classes. I tried to get into the CPD karate class, but could never get the person to call me back about he and I taking it together (it was divided by age, which defeated the purpose of taking it together).

-My weight loss is slowing way down. I've been in the 180s for over a month and I'm SICK of it!! I gained over 5 pounds while on vacation and lost it all but I'm still stuck here. Hence all of the activity increases in our house.

-MT is starting school next week. She is really excited about it and I'm hoping she is keeps that up. She is going to be sad when she finds out that H won't be in her class this year but I'm hoping she will make new friends as well.

-I have a wedding to go to in October. I'm by turns excited about it and irritated by it. I like wedding receptions and dancing. I just hope I have someone to actually dance with. I'm not thrilled with the idea of going to the wedding but it is expected.

-This is the wedding that I had expected to be asked to participate in and then was not only not asked, I feel like I have been actively excluded, despite multiple offers of help. I didn't want to be in the wedding. Being in a wedding party is a PITA and costs more money than I'm willing to spend. Plus, it is usually a lot of work and terribly enjoyable. So yeah, I wanted to say no but I wanted the OPPORTUNITY to say no, instead of not even being asked. This friend and I, although tight throughout school, are in vastly different points in our life. She is just now getting married, working full time, etc where I'm staying at home, have kids in school, etc. Not a whole lot in common anymore but really, being friends since we were 8 should hold some meaning. Done ranting, I'll go to the wedding, I'll have fun and I'll move on. Eventually.

-We were supposed to move upstairs this fall but that isn't happening. My mom decided that RF and I weren't putting forth enough effort to facilitate the move. She said that it didn't benefit them so if we weren't going to do things how she wanted them, then we weren't doing it. Fine. We'll stay in the basement.

-We are supposed to be getting new windows this week. That means tearing apart the bedrooms for a couple of days. That gives me an opportunity to rearrange the rooms which have been pretty set in stone the last 6 years. I'm excited for a new look! :)

The long and short of it

*Have you heard about Michelle Obama's shorts? She had the NERVE to wear SHORTS in AUGUST at the PHOENIX! How could she ever think that even a little bit acceptable? Thank all things holy that she finally had the sense to put a t-shirt on over her tank top! She is the first lady, for crying out loud! We all know that means that she is never allowed to "dress down" or be comfortable while traveling. She should always be dressed as if a state dinner could break out at a moment's notice.

Everyone can tell that this is a far better outfit for a First Lady to wear while hiking with her family, in the desert.

The thing I don't understand is why people aren't jumping on her tennis shoes. I mean, OMG, they are so not stylish and aren't portraying the proper image for a world wide fashion icon. How DARE she!

*In case you can't tell the whole above rant is pure sarcasm.

New reviews

Finally, new content!

Look at your neighbor's billboard before putting yours up

Billboards that don't belong together

To do or not to do

Do I eat the ice cream and go over by 1 point or do I suck it up and go to bed without, putting me under by 7 points for the day? Weighing into this decision is the fact that I'm once again stuck at the same weight for several weeks in a row and I'm starting to think that it doesn't matter what I do, this is where my body wants to be. Suggestions?

Biker Babe

After getting my scooter, then wrecking my scooter, I finally got around to getting licensed to actually RIDE the scooter today. Shortly after I got it, I went to DMV and got my permit. It allowed me, much like a driver's permit, to ride with another licensed rider. I figured that was ok and not that big of a deal until I started wanting to go places and didn't have an escort. I couldn't take it to Weight Watcher meetings, I couldn't ride it to trivia or to the library or anywhere. Kind of a PITA since I'm not comfortable riding with a passenger yet and we always had to wait until someone else was home to watch the kids so we could take the bikes out. Since I wrecked, I've been back on it several times and I haven't had a problem. I had not been near DMV and I was ok with that too. RF has been encouraging me to get back over there and get it done. I kept putting it off for this reason or that and today, I finally just had to suck it up and do it. I posted to FB last night that I was doing it and I knew that would hold me accountable because I knew people would be asking me if I had done it. So I did.

I got up at 6:30 this morning so that I could get everyone up and fed and out the door in time to be at DMV when they opened at 8. RF rode the scooter over for me, since I couldn't, and I followed in the van with the kids. I was in line and ready to go when the doors opened at 8. I was the second person in and the only one taking a motorcycle exam. I handed over my info, visited the cashier (I didn't have to pay because I paid when I got the permit) and waited about 5 minutes before the lady called me out to test.

We went through the standard light checks then she had me set up for the course. The first test is a sharp left hand turn. You have to stay inside the lines, not knock over any cones and not put your foot down. As soon as I entered the shoot, I knew I was going too slow and wouldn't be able to make the turn in the space. I ended up putting my foot down but completed the rest of the test fine. After that was weaving and U-turn (we had been doing the U-turn in the wrong area and it was a lot harder the way we were doing it), which I was confident about. Following that was stopping. I had no issues with that because if I can do anything on that scooter, it is make it stop! There is a foot break pedal on it and when you hit it, it stops NOW! After that was the swerve. I freaked out to no end about the swerve because that was were I wrecked before. I told RF that I sort of wished that I had passed on breakfast because I felt pretty sick at the thought of having to swerve again. On the one hand, I was pretty panicked at the thought of wrecking again. On the other, I knew I wasn't going to do it so it didn't matter. She showed me how to complete the test and I found out I was doing it ALL wrong. Not as wrong as I thought I was doing but wrong enough. Basically, you start at the same point as the stopping test, ride through the shoot and swerve around the red "stop" line. We were starting right, just trying to swerve around the outside boundary line instead. I pulled around, fairly certain that the foot down had failed me. I've heard other people talk about getting their license and most of them that failed the first time failed because they put their foot down somewhere they weren't supposed to. Imagine my surpise when she told me that was only worth 1 point and the only point I missed. If I had kept my stupid foot up (something we worked and worked and worked on while we were practicing), I would have had a perfect score!! Back inside to wait a few minutes and now I'm the proud owner of a shiny new license, listing me as class DM. Ask to see it sometime, it is pretty neat looking, with holograms and two pictures and stuff :)

Most people have been pretty happy that I was able to pass fairly easily. The notable exception to that is my mom. Since I first started riding the little scooter a year ago, she has wanted me to take the U of I motorcycle class. I felt (and was obviously right), that I didn't need the class to get my license. The class is not without virtue and merit, it just isn't for me. It requires 4 hours, 4 different days, pre-committed with no exception. It is rain or shine, hot or cold, doesn't matter. First of all, I would like to know where I was going to fine 16 hours to devote to the class? My weekdays are open enough (although still busy) but I have the kids and my weekends are packed! We had to cancel a trip a couple of weeks ago because it was simply too much. Had we gone, we would have had 6 solids weeks where we weren't home either day of the weekend, then a week off and then vacation. Too much. I'm also nothing if not a fair weather rider. I don't want to do it when it is raining or cold or too hot or anything else. Committing to taking a class in July sometime in April just didn't work for me. Had I needed to learn to ride a motorcycle (motorcycles have manual transmissions and require clutching and shifting and what not. Scooters are automatic and a much smaller learning curve), the class probably would have helped but it still just wasn't me. So basically, I practiced the course for maybe 2 hours and rode it for maybe an hour and passed just fine. That is 13 hours I saved by doing it my way

Anyway, my mom took the class a couple of years ago and really struggled with it. She ended up sick all 4 days from the heat, she struggled and struggled to pass the test and just generally didn't do well with it. Then she bought a bike she didn't really want, dropped it a few weeks later trying to park on gravel (she was stopped, the kickstand just slid on the gravel) and sold it last summer. I think she really wanted someone else to have as hard a time passing and riding as she did. Of course that isn't the case because RF and my brother basically breezed through the class and I never took it. And I don't think she was in anyway happy when I wrecked but I sort of got the feeling she was hoping it would put me off riding. Since I had just bought the bike, I had to get back on it or it was a HUGE waste of money. And I didn't wreck it riding it, I wrecked it at DMV. Basically the same difference but a huge divide in my mind. Her attitude today was "oh, isn't that nice, well anyway" and I think she was irritated that I did as well as I did without the class because that meant I was right. Getting a license isn't rocket science and I didn't need a class to teach me how to do it.

My first motorcycle ride is this weekend too, which is part of the reason I decided to get my license today. Although I was perfectly legal to ride in it, I felt better knowing I had a real license and not just a permit. My mom is following the ride with my van and a trailer in case anyone has problems. She will also have MT with her and since TB is riding with my dad, she will be available if he wants to get off before the end of the ride. Last year, this ride was plagued by busted bikes. 2 guys never made it out of town. One guy blew a tire, one guy had something else happen to his bike, it was crazy. My dad worded his statement about the trailer very carefully. He said "your mom is going to drive the van and pull a trailer in case something happens to one of the bikes or if you decide you don't want to ride anymore". My mom was not as careful. She told me "I'm driving your van with a trailer so when you decide you can't do it, you have a way to get home" Well, by God, I'm finishing it now, if just to show her. I don't care if my ass is on fire, my arms are completely numb and my head is pounding, I WILL finish that ride!

If you see me around town, feel free to wave. I'm getting better about waving back because I'm more comfortable than I was last summer and my new scooter is heavier and less squirrely so I don't have to have quite such a death grip on the handle bars :)