Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to Hongo and I. 12 years. Thank you, Thank you.

Sometimes I wonder how we got this far without me killing him. Or him killing me. That just shows we work well together.

I feel sad for people who always grumble about their spouses. And I don't mean the little stuff - I mean people who are genuinely unhappy with their significant other and always have to find somthing negative. We know a few people who are like that. Sure, I complain because my husband snores like someone is stealing his air....or that he is so anti social that we don't ever get invited anywhere....but what it all boils down to is that I really like him for who he is. He makes me happy, and I would like to think I make him happy too. And because we are happy, he'll put up with my crap and I'll put up with his :D

But celebrating your anniversary on Easter Sunday is difficult. The last time our anniversary fell on Easter, we bought a car and went to my dad's house. I was pregnant with Drama Queen, and I was able to meet my cousin's new husband. He wasn;t a lawyer at the time, just a kid making his way through college.
SO back to today....we decided to go out to eat to celebrate. I knew where Hongo wanted to go (to all my friends, just know that *I* did not want to go there, but I love this man) so we went to Olive Garden.
Our Olive Garden sucks, and today was no different. Today we got our food so fast that we were unable to enjoy our soup and bread. And the server started clearing our places WELL before we were finished. We took her hint, though and left quickly.

I also jumped right back into my knitting. After seeing the size of my last failed project, I removed 12 stitches from this new one. So now I will be lucky if this thing fits Hairy Boy. Dangit! But I'll get it - I know I will. Still having trouble with the backwards stitches, but I got myself an interesting and step by step tutorial and I hope to get some help on Thursday. Until then, I'll just continue making the thing longer and longer to pass the time. Watch - Hairy Boy is going to have full leg socks *snort*

Oh, and here is my latest "What were my kids thinking" episode:
We had been watching a baseball game in the loft, passing time until it was time to go eat at the restaurant. H Boy came into the loft with a large red mark on his face - directly under his eye, in his cheek area. Hongo said "What happened to your face? Did you fall?" and H Boy said "No, *DramaQueen* was sucking on my face."

OMG, WHAT??? So my son had this gigantic hickey on his face, given to him by his sister. And apparently he didn't mind that she was sucking on his face. Drama Queen said she was "eating him" and Hongo sent her to her room.

So after the initial shock, and we are able to calm down, I went to her room to ask her why she did it.

Her blue eyes welled up with HUGE tears, and she said, "Because I am SO hungry."
Oh goodness, I tried to keep from busting a gut right then and there. I told her that is she was so hungry, we have snacks. Really. And we are going out to eat really soon, did she think she could manage not trying to eat...ME, for example?

I guess I am raising a cannibal. Now no one will want to come to our house for fear of being eaten. Thankfully she didn't do this to one of her friends when they were here last Friday!

I put it down....

*sigh*

My knitting in the round experiment.....the elbow warmer that had the high hopes of becoming a legwarmer, or if all the planets were aligned correctly - a sock....has been bound off and forever laid to rest.
I'm sorry - but it was hideous. I tried in vain to save it- I tried to rename all of its flaws into "designs", but it just wasn't meant to be. I finally came to the relization that it wasn't going to work when I noticed that it was crooked because I started the knit row before I was done with the ribbing.
I could have stuck with it and pressed on...but then I thought "What kind of mother would I have to be to force my child to wear something so full of blindingly obvious mistakes?"
A bad one. Poor child - going outside with crooked leg warmers (because I just know I can't purposely screw up the other one, its a spontaneous gift I have) being ridiculed by her peers whose mothers knit beautiful leg warmers (I'm joking about that last part - her peers are really nice and I doubt they are checking out her knitted stuff).

So I feel better now...I've let it go, and I'll keep the "whatever the heck it is" to show to my friends and we'll all have a good giggle about it.

Just call me moron....

I KNEW that i should have asked my knitting questions when I had not ONE, but TWO knitting ladies in my house. But no, I forgot, and so yesterday when I went to knit DramaQueen's leg warmer, I made a lovely......"design" we shall call it. Thankfully I only did it for four rows, so when I do the other one I know that I have to make that "design" on purpose.
For now, I am destined to knit backwards, with my stockinette stich facing inward. *sigh*

Keeping the peace....

LOTS of frustration this week.

With Granny breaking her hip (actually it was her femur, but its so high up on it that it is considered the hip) there has beena lot of confusion and frustration about this weekend's plans. It is our 12th anniversary, and with everything that happened with my dad's death, Hongo saw it as a perfect opportunity for us to get away and just feel normal again.
Well, with this latest development with Granny, we aren't going. My MIL has to be down the hill to care for Granny until her sister arrives back from Idaho to switch off.

I understand that this was not planned - I really do. But Hongo is right - something ALWAYS happens. We always plan something and either we don't go, or we have to come home early because of them.
We were also going to celebrate Easter with the ILS before we left. But Hongo desn't want them here now, and MIL wants to come, and so I find myself in the middle trying to find a compromise. Hongo doesn't mind telling them they aren't welcome, but I know that this is not their fault! So I think Hongo is being a pouty brat, and I think the ILS have screwed themselves becuase of their past shortcomings.

I've also been really busy this week with coaching and meetings, and my regular stuff on top of that, but we took some time out to visit the park and hang out. I'm glad we did. We weren't going to, since we don't usually celebrate Easter, but I figured it would be fun. And it really was.
The weather was really nice, except for the occasional breeze that kind of stirredup the pollens. Drama Queen was stuffed up by the time we left.

Today I have some friends coming over, and that will be nice too. A small group of 6, possibly 8 kids. Then I don't know what we are doing this weekend. SanDiego sure sounds nice, but I am not sure if Hongo is up for that. We'll see.

Update to "Is it dumb?

Last night i lost my connection, so this didn't post

Well, I got the call today. Hairy Boy is on my team. I just have to go in tomorrow and sign a waiver allowing him to move up.

Last week I made a promise that I would spend more time coaching LegoQueen one on one. I usually only practice with her erratically and that might be why she doesn't seem to improve. Well, I finally got off my lazy azz and we went inthe back yard.

It was great! We threw, I tossed some grounders and showed her the best way to field them. We tried some pop flies (we need some work, lol) and then I had her pitch. She was doing okay, but her form wasn't fluid. I told her to step it up and throw faster and harder. That did it. She threw 5 strikes in a row, and her pitching is more consistant. I didn't want her to over-do it, so we switched to batting. I taught her how to bunt. She is pretty good at it.

After dinner, she went back out and started throwing again. After my workout, I saw that she was pitching to Hairy Boy and he was hitting the ball really well! She asked if I would come back out, so I did and she threw to me some more. We had to stop, though - Hairy kept getting in the way, and I feared he would get hit. I tossed some balls to him, and he was hitting pretty well. I even hit him a good number of times, but he is such a trooper, and i didn't throw that hard. Drama Queen got in on the fun, and all three kids took turns batting.

Gosh, it was so fun to get out there and play with my kids physically. Its different than board or card games. I felt so good that I ended up making chicken stock from the leftover dinner chicken, and i baked some peanut butter cookies. I bet Hongo just wants to strangle me for keeping the house hot, lol. But I cleaned everything that I used, so there isn't a huge mess in the kitchen.

Is it dumb?

I've been sitting at my desk during lunch, trying to sort through my email box, deleting old emails and stuff I never took the time to read. A lot of it was easy - old FlyLady reminders, corrospondence from services that I inquired about , etc.

But I came upon a batch of emails that I just couldn't push the delete button on. One was from a mom that LegoQueen had her first sleepover at. I had expressed concern over my child not sleeping well, or not being comfortable (despite her being in the house directly behind me, lol) The email stated that LegoQueen was doing fine, and was SUCH a joy to have over.
Another email came from when I was arranging LegoQueen's first visit to LegoClub. There were two parts - the first was from the hosting mother, giving me the lowdown on what LC was all about, and the next was from her, canceling the event because no one else could make it. Its funny - in the email it says that things have tapered off so there was plenty of room. Now I think about LC and how HUGE it is right now. Its funny how cycles go.
I've got another one from my cousin....sending me pictures of my dad for his funeral....and a whole bunch more from friends expressing their condolences.

There are others that I haven't mentioned, but the circumstances are the same. All of them have to do with small (or sometimes major) changes in our lives that make such an impact, and I find it really hard to just let them go.

One time, I opened a box that belonged to Hongo. We had been carrying this box around with us forever, and I finally decided to open it and find out what the heck was in there. I found old bank statements, a tax return, some pictures, and.... a collection of every single love letter I had ever given him. And boy.... were there a LOT! I must have wriiten him pretty much every school day, lol!
And while I was in awe that he had actually kept them, I was sad - because I didn't keep any of his. I was always afraid my mom would read them. Not that there was anything in there that would get me in trouble, she was just a very snoopy kind of person and I didn't want her to have the satisfaction of reading a coversation between Hongo and I.

So I guess, I really feel like deleting these emails are like throwing away those letters. Of course, I DO occasionally delete emails from Hongo. The ones where he is being freakish and will email me and write "hi" in it. Or if he's sitting next to me at his computer, I will get one of his "stalker" emails that say "What are you wearing" I have no trouble deleting those, lol.

*~*~*~**~*~*~*~**~

So enough of that. Yesterday we lost our game. But the girls had a really great time and the manager of the other team told me his girls had fun too. Looking forward to our next game, next Tuesday.
I also am trying to get Hairy Boy on my team for T-Ball. When I signed him up, I asked for them to be on the same team, but due to age difference, they put DramaQueen on the 6/7 division and Hairy in the 4/5. I manage DramaQueen's team now, and I read the paperwork where it says a 4/5 can move UP with parental consent, but 6/7 cannot move down.
Looking at the scedule, I can see that I only have one day where I am supposed to be in 2 places at the same time. Hongo and I wil have to split up that day.

You April Fool!

Ah, its Sunday. It was great to stay home and relax after a long Saturday.
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Hah - if you thought my Sunday was actually peaceful - then April Fool on you!

What would Opening Day be without a little chaos?

LegoQueen and I got up early and drove over to the park. The plan was that we would be there first, and Hongo and the little ones would arrive with the ILs (who told us Friday they were coming)
8:45 came round, and no Hongo. The team was already out on the field, I had a parent watching them while i waited on a blanket for the family. Finally I called Hongo and asked WTH they were, and of course, my ILs are gonna be late. Someone broke into a building, so FIL had to go down there. Its always work first with him. They would not be arriving until later. He and the kids were going to walk.
9:10 rolls around - no Hongo. How long does it take to walk from our house to the park? 11 minutes. I know - I've timed it.
By the time they got there, I had 5 minutes to spare. I raced out on the field and Opening Day ceremonies began.
ILs did not arrive until 11 - just as we finished taking our pictures. I got a new girl that is going to be on my team, so I had her get in the team picture. If I can get 2 more, I will simply take a new picture and make copies for the parents to replace them.
There were lots of hugging going on at the park. Ex Players, their parents, one of the girls who got lifted from my team came and gave me a HUGE hug. I told her congrats and that she definitly deserved to move up and I was very proud of her. She said I gave her confidence and that is the main reason she felt able to move up. How sweet! I also hugged the pres and his wife. Such awesome people in this league, I tell ya!

So we also had our game. We got slaughtered. Afterwards, I told the girls that they really needed to put this experience behind them and look forward to the next game. I did a lot of yelling at the game. Enough to make my throat sore. One of the things I forgot to remind my girls about is that I yell so they can hear me, not because I am yelling AT them, if that makes any sense. I was trying to give direction, and unfortunatly my "direction" voice and my "disclipline" voice are exactly the same, lol.

We came home and went back out to HD to pick up blocks for the planter in the backyard. After unloading all of it, the ILs went home and Hongo and I began working on the tile project. It has stretched to the countertops, and coming along nicely.

Today was more tile work, and I am almost done putting in tile up to the stove. I think I have 9 more to go, and then Hongo will cut the remaining tiles. I hope to be a groutin' by Wednesday. We stopped working at 4, and I made dinner and started cleaning up the HUGE mess in the kitchen. I am cleaning as I go for the most part, but ripping off the old countertop made such a gigantic mess. I have to clean in spurts so I don't get overwhelmed. We can't do the last section until after Wednesday, because our trash cans are pretty full right now. They need to be emptied.

Tomorrow I don't see me journaling unless something totally great happens. We have library day, those 9 tile squares to do, and cleanup to do during the day. When Hongo get home, I have to leave for a meeting for DramaQueens team, then I have to race back and be at the field for our night game.

Oh and Granny broke her hip last night, and had surgery today. We are on-call help for the rest of the week, and I see our anniversary get-away being canceled. :(