Running, Racing, and Ref'ing

OH!! And Reservations! I finished paying for my November Camp Wannasew reservation, and I made my flight plans and arranged for the rental car. Got directions from the Airport to the Silver Needle. I'm so excited about this trip I could just scream!

I know some of you have been campers before, so I'd appreciate your advice on a few things. Like luggage. My inclination is only to pack a carry-on with minimal clothing and my OTT light, but what do you recommend? Will I be able to get in a run or two while I'm there? Were there roads and/or nice walking paths?

And here's a biggie: How's the coffee or should I bring my own?

Speaking of running, I never thought I'd say this but I find myself looking longingly at my winter gear. The heat of September and October has sapped my energy. I'm struggling to get in 3 miles three times a week. I'd love a good cold snap. It seems to take so much EFFORT.

I had two traveling soccer games this weekend. Let me tell you, I earned every penny on Sunday, working a game on a large field for 70 minutes in 90 degrees and high humidity. At the end I felt like my legs were stuck in wet cement. But it's all good because it's more Camp Cash!

Colleen and I went to Slippery Rock this past weekend to watch Johnny race. He keeps improving steadily. He's nowhere near the front of the pack like he was in high school, but we all expected that. Even if he never reaches the front of the pack, he's showing us such dedication and maturity...he amazes me.

Oh but we had quite a shock when we saw him. This is the young man that I sent to school in August:

And this is the young man who met me after the race on Saturday:

The beard...the hair....Scary, huh? Something about the team isn't allowed to shave until after Nationals. In November. Cripes he looked mangy. Still, even in all his Cavemanishness, it was wonderful to see him and we got to spend the afternoon together. I sure miss his sense of humor and his sharp wit.

Finally, here's the scoop on my daughter. She's been playing two varsity sports this fall: Soccer and Cross-Country. And by some quirk of scheduling, all of her AP and honors and college level courses are this semester.

So it hasn't been easy for her. She gets fatigued and she's been staying up late to finish homework. There's a lot on her plate.

Her soccer coach expects a lot from her, because she's a smart veteran player with lots of stamina. Her cross country coach expects a lot from her too, because even though this is her first year, she has surprised us by winning almost every meet, and she's always the first girl in for her school. But while she has some talent, she doesn't have a lot of racing skill, because she's inexperienced. Believe it or not, fast doesn't always win the race. Lots of racing happens between your ears, and there is a surprising amount of strategy and thought involved.

So for each close meet, she feels tremendous pressure. Two weeks ago we had a very important tri-meet, and she needed to place second overall to win that meet, and the win would mean that the girls' team would be section champs for the season, also.

Without going into lots of detail, one thing led to another and instead of a first or second or even third place finish, she finished tenth. Our team lost to both teams at the meet, and consequently lost the section title as well.

To say she was disappointed would be the understatement of the century. In her 16 year old mind, she was devastated. We all told her that this stuff just happens., but she was so upset and my heart broke for her.

Well, after about a day she just picked herself up and kept at it. Her last race of the fall season was wonderful. She won it convincingly and she was interviewed by the newspaper and earned herself a big headline. Mind you, it wasn't her best race time, and it wasn't even the best race time that anyone in the section had run that day, but by some twist of fate the reporter really highlighted her. She's such a good kid...it must've been kharma.

AND she received the news that she was picked as Student of the Month for her high school and will be in the newspaper again later this month. (So we needed to have a portrait done and that's the pic in my earlier post)

My daughter makes me so proud

Listen, I know I've been pretty whiny lately.
I'm too busy.
People annoy me.
I don't get any free time.
Waaah, waaah, waaah.

But there is a bright spot in my day. In fact, in every single day. My daughter.

Colleen has been under a boatload of pressure lately. My reasons to whine have been miniscule compared to hers. But does she whine? No.

This girl has had some great days this fall. But last week she had some really tough times at school and in sports. Yet in her typical fashion, she simply picked herself up, dusted herself off, and kept at it. And she did it cheerfully. (Ok, you can all stop wondering if she and I share the same genes. I wonder that often enough for all of us.) Well, today her accomplishments made headlines in the newspaper.

She's my hero.

The Office

Did anybody watch The Office last night?

I think I've turned into Dwight. When he was questioning Michael about why he had hit Meredith with the car? According to my post yesterday, some of those reasons were perfectly valid.

"Was she talking back?"

"Were you sick of that face?"

Yup. Those were all sounding logical to me. I'm becoming Dwight.

My free time remains nonexistant

And my sanity is being challenged. I'll survive. I may have developed a few nervous tics, but if they're amusing, what's the harm? Like the tic that causes my arm to reach out and smack someone upside the head.

You want to criticize me for the work I've been doing as a volunteer? SLAP! Oops. Sorry. Nervous tic.

You don't have time to run across the street to get milk, but you have time to call me to tell me to drive way out of my way get milk? That may cause my tic to go into remission... until I see you next.

Those are just two of the million little things/people that have picked away at my time and energy.

They had all better watch it, or my new nervous tic will involve losing control of my car and running over them. Twice.

Another busy weekend

And I have a terrible cold just to keep things interesting. But I haven't had even a sniffle in over 18 months, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.

Friday I drove back and forth to get John at college and bring him home. A month of serious running had tweaked his back and hips some, and he needed to see the chiropractor. He had an appointment Saturday morning, then we drove him back in the evening. That was a LONG time in the car, but I can't tell you how happy we all were to see him. He seems to have adjusted well college classes, he likes his roommate, and he fits in well with the cross country team.

Colleen came with us Saturday evening, and John gave her a little tour of the campus and the student center and the athletic center. It was just the thing to get her started thinking about colleges and life beyond high school. Those decisions will be here before we know it.

Then on Sunday I crashed on the couch almost all day. I was beat. Oh - I forgot to mention that I worked 7 games on Saturday before driving John back to school. They were short in-house games, but it still amounted to 5 hours on the fields.

Next week Dave and I will drive back to Allegheny to watch John run in the Allegheny Classic. It'll be the first time for us to see John run at the college level, and we're pretty excited. And then there's the fabulous tailgate party that the parents have planned! It should be a fun day.

Maybe I'll get a stitch or two in this week...

$$

I haven't been stitching since last week, although I took out my Tree of Life and gave it a quick press.

There was just no time over the week and on into the weekend. BUT, working soccer games was one of the time-eaters, and you know what that means - - - stash cash!

I officiated several games Saturday morning, taught a clinic Saturday afternoon, then worked two more traveling league games on Sunday. And it's only the first week of the season.

But it's so terribly hard to sit on this money until the November stitching camp. The Silver Needle newsletter was way, way too enticing, particularly the new stitching tools and whatnot.

I'm just a fool for the gadgetry, and there are really beautiful gadgets out there lately. I'm so looking forward to visiting this shop and seeing them in person.

To follow up on my last post, I'm looking at ways to donate the medals and documents I told you about earlier. Thank you to everyone who has pointed me in very helpful directions.

Finally - our girls' team. Are they adorable or what?

Things left behind

Last post I mentioned this house that we just bought for my MIL. And how it was part of a woman's estate and how the family left the house full of stuff. Well, except for the stuff they wanted, like cash, jewelry, a car, and some creepy doll collection.

But it breaks my heart that they left these things behind:

Yes. That's a real telegram informing parents that their son was killed in World War II. The soldier was this woman's brother. She evidently kept the telegram and subsequent letters after her parents died. Left behind.


And those are the medals that this young man was awarded both during the war and after he died. I didn't open the cases up for the photo because there is too much identifying information engraved on the medals. He was a heroic young man, and the letters along with the medals are a testament to his bravery. Two purple hearts, the bronze star, a silver star, and a distinguished service cross. Left behind.

I didn't photograph this woman's photo albums, scrapbooks, or her wedding album that nobody cared enough to take.

Now, we gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe they just didn't know about this stuff. Called their attorney and told them that we would gladly give them these documents and photos. That was over a month ago, and we didn't get even a peep in response.

People. Huh. They'll still surprise you.

Finally a stitching post!

Yay, yay, yay! On Sunday I finished this:
It was for a Cross Country Needlework SAL for a Yahoo group. September's designer for the SAL is The Workbasket. I have high hopes.

Honest to goodness - I'm so glad that I finished something this summer. Yes folks. It was ONE DAY before Labor Day, so it still counts for summer. I just hope I don't end up putting away my stitching with my white shoes.

Because my life has been a whirlwind. Besides work, high school soccer has been occupying the bulk of my time. I keep telling myself that it's over in just two months and then I'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Being booster president this year is a ton of work, mostly because it's a new coach and he leans pretty heavily on the boosters. Next year I'll become a nameless face in the crowd again.

And Colleen is trying to double up on sports this year, so she's been running for the cross country team, too. Honestly, I don't know how she does it. I'm exhausted just watching her. Needless to say, I've been keeping an eagle-eye on her, paying special attention to her nutrition and state of health.

John seems to be having a great time at college. He ran in his first college meet on Saturday, and it was quite an eye opener. Although it's much different than high school, he's feeling like that's a good thing. He was reasonably dedicated in high school, but these runners are serious, and it's rubbing off on him. If he stays healthy, he's going to improve dramatically.

Academically, he says he's managing his time well. Each email ends with "Well, I have to go read." Or "I'm going to study now." Do I believe him? I'd like to. He has one difficult class, but he says the rest are pretty easy.

Rec soccer begins this Saturday, and I have several games to referee for one league in the morning, and another league has asked me to teach a clinic in the afternoon. Then I'll do a couple of Traveling League games on Sunday. So that's starting off with a bang as well. And people keep asking when I'll take the PIAA exam to start working High School games. Right.....

Then there's the house that we just bought for my mother-in-law. She needed a house with a single floor, so we looked through the spring and summer, and came across a little house in a nice neighborhood. But the house was part of an estate, and little did we know that the sellers would leave roomfuls of things behind. It's a disgrace, and I'm heartily sick of cleaning it up. And I'm even more sick of listening to my MIL go on and on about it. More later.

Kindergarten to College

Wow...Thirteen years can sneak up on you. I never believed it when parents of older kids told me that it would go by quickly. Now I believe it.

We had a pretty good college move-in day. Because he's an athlete we were given an early move in day. Those kids arrive early for their various "camps". So no crowds, no fuss. It was kind of a drawback too, because it was difficult to leave John behind in a mostly empty dorm. It just seemed so lonely and he seemed so...young. But the rest of the freshmen move in on Saturday, and then upperclassmen on Tuesday, so the place will be bustling in a very short time.
I'll resist the urge to get sentimental, because I'll get all blubbery. Instead I'll show you a couple of pictures. I'm very proud of these kids.

August 1994

August 2007

I'm better today.

Not so cranky. A little less harried.

This phone situation is getting insane. Ever since my phone has been out (Monday) I've had my cell phone sitting near my bedroom window, which is the only place that gets a decent signal in my house. And I have a temporary desk (meaning ironing board)set up there so I can at least write down messages, phone numbers, etc.

Called Verizon again yesterday and they said that I had missed an appointment on Wednesday. What?? I was home all day Wednesday and no one called my cell or came to my door. I called this morning, and they said that a service tech was on his way and should be at my house any minute. So I roused DS out of his bed to take DD to work - heaven forbid I miss this fellow while I'm on the road.

Then DS phones me on his way home to say that he's just passed a broken down Verizon truck down the road. The hood was up and there were orange cones around it.

I think I'm screwed.

But I'm not cranky, I'm not cranky, I'm not cranky.

In happier news, I made a detour while picking up my car from the shop on Tuesday and went to my needlework shop. Well, I might be a little loose in my definition of "detour". I mean, if it normally takes me 45 minutes to drive there, but it's only 20 minutes from the car dealer, then I think I can justify a little shopping. And I was very good. I gave myself exactly 30 minutes to browse. It would have been too easy to hide in there for a very long time. The woman who owns the shop is so very nice and chatty and there are tables and chairs in the back and lovely new things. I could stay for hours. But as I said, I was very good.

I bought a Country Cottage Needlwork chart for a Yahoo group SAL.
And I bought a LHN Crescent Colours kit, Watermelon
And a couple of Soy Luster Threads. I had never seen them before, and I always like fooling with a new thread!

Now all of these great things are waiting on my sewing table. I'm going to get to them, I swear!

I'm SO Cranky.

Heat, humidity, and PITA son. Too much to do and way too little time. And my phone has been dead since Tuesday, and I'm wrangling with the phone company and I want to kill someone, because the longer my phone is dead, the farther behind I'm falling with my work.

I'm past feeling snippy. I'm downright bitchy.

So I slipped on over to visit a favorite blog, Stitch Bitch. I've always liked her blog, and since she's moved to the Philly area, I like to read her posts even more.

I can't put a finger on why I like all of my Philly area bloggers, but when I visit blogs, I usually visit them first. And I remember them most.

Anyways, she came across this online bit:

Biker Babes
From an ad for online photo sharing

“Perhaps you belong to a cross-stitching club or the other end of the spectrum, a motorcycle or classic car club.”

Now, remember, I told you that I'm cranky. So keep that in mind.

But all I could think of was: Why does the writer think cross stitching is at the other end of the club "spectrum" that includes car clubs? Have you ever been to a car club? Have you ever met a more persnickety group? With their giant dusters and ArmourAll and lint free rags? Puhleeze. Or a motorcycle club? They have more gear and biking-related clothing and paraphenalia than any stitcher could ever hope to accumulate to augment his or her hobby.

So what exactly IS at the other end of the spectrum?

Here's how I think it should read:
“Perhaps you belong to a cross-stitching club or the other end of the spectrum, a club for people who can't sit still for more than five minutes at a time, can't count, and obviously don't have opposable thumbs because they find it impossible to hold a needle.”

Oh wait. Maybe that describes golfers....Especially the can't count part. Exactly how many strokes was that? I saw you take 6. And you wrote down 4? Oh.

And with that, I'm off to spread my crankiness around the house some more.

Self-censoring

I had a big long post about our soccer team, and I didn't publish it. For as much as it felt good to rant about some of this season's issues, I needed to rethink hitting that PUBLISH button.

I'll just say that the year is starting off very bumpy, and this is NOT a good year to be the booster president. Somehow I'll try to deal with it all gracefully.

If not, I've saved my rant, and if I'm still pulling my hair out, that PUBLISH button may see some action around October.

Line of the year

Every now and then someone says something that becomes unforgettable to Dave and me. It's almost never from a movie, book, or famous speech. It almost never comes from someone famous for writing or speaking. It's usually just some weird bit of conversation that we overhear and it makes us look at each other and kind of smile.

So here's the story of the 2007 Line of the Year.

There's this very cool place we drove through on the way to Lake Lure, called Chimney Rock Park.
So one day we decided to drive back there and go for a hike, with our destination being Chimney Rock itself. (See the photo - I love America, but I think that the flag made it tacky. That's just me) It had trails that ranged from easy to moderately difficult, with different and really gorgeous vistas along the way. It promised to be a neat day. So, off we go on our hike. The first portion of the hike took us past some amazing scenery, because we were going along the highest trail. And once you get near the top of the highest trail, you come to the top of an amazing waterfall. It's kind of flat at the top, and because it's been so hot and dry, not a whole lot of water was going over the falls and there were plenty of flat, reasonably safe rocks to sit on.

So, here are all three of us coming into this clearing, and there's a man sitting on the rocks, with a little pile of...oh, I don't know...twigs and stuff sitting near him. He's practically naked, lots of tatoos, and long black hair in braids.

And we stopped and looked. At our local national park, Fort Necessity, there are interpretive staff who dress as authentically as possible, so we sort of thought he was a guide or something. But he just sits there, striking matches to light his pile of unusual twigs.

And then from behind him comes a woman, dressed normally, who looks at him and says:
"Don't you do that ritual here."
And he responds:
"I'm not doing my ritual."

Now I know that you probably had to be there, but it was so very weird. Take out "do that ritual" and substitute something mundane like "take off your socks". That's what it was like. Typical husband/wife squabbling, not over socks, but over almost-naked-ritual-twig-burning-in-public-places. Hm. Maybe I don't have it so bad. I'd rather squabble over socks.

Funny - I read all of the informative trail signs along the way and I don't remember one single thing that I read, but I'll always remember Ritual Guy.

A couple of our photos:

Yeah. Well.

So.

I've been torn between writing really lame stuff, or not posting at all. I hate writing stupid stuff, but the silence is becoming very uncomfortable, so here I am. Vapid writing or not.

My stitching is gathering dust. I took it on vacation, but for one reason or another it never made it out of the bag. That's very disappointing, but when I think about it, I never should have taken it. A six-day vacation that involved two days of driving should have given me a clue. But there's no point in dwelling on what I did or didn't do, because we had a good time, and there are only so many hours in a day. Well, for men, anyway. Women seem to be expected to have more hours in their day than the other half of the species.

ANYWAY...Guess what? After a two-year delay, I've finally registered for a stitching retreat! It was kismet. Do you remember that I was telling you before that I had some referee money that was waiting to be spent? I had never spent it. Well, I had the evelope under my monitor and it was marked "$220.00 - Lee's stitching money". (And now you know where I keep my private cash stash.) I saw it there and really didn't think anything about it. It's like rainy day money.

So, I was cruising the online stores, and there was The Silver Needle advertising that their Camp Wannasew weekends were starting to register that week. And guess how much it was?? $220. It was fate. So I found a weekend that would be the most likely to fit in my schedule, and decided that it was now or never, and I registered. I'm going in November. By then I'll have even more money after the fall soccer season, and that additional money will more than cover my car rental and shopping trip.

You're probably saying, Ha. She doesn't even stitch what she has. And now she's flying to Tulsa to buy even more. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me, either, but I don't care. It's more about a state of mind than actual accomplishment right now. And I can't wait. Not only for the stitching fun, but to have a weekend without any family obligations - husband, kids, parents, siblings. I love them all, but keee-ripes I need a break.

DS leaves for college on August 22. What a mix of emotions. On the one hand, he is SO ready to go, and we are SO ready to send him. On the other hand, I think he's a little scared and we're a little sad. But anyway, we started some college-type shopping this week. But he's mostly on his own for the clothing and dorm furniture budgets. I bought some bare necessities - four pair of pants, socks and boxers. Here's how we see it: Any kid who can afford to go buy Guitar Hero three weeks before he leaves for college can certainly afford to buy any new clothes or furniture he may want. Yes. We're the mean parents you've all heard about. However, all I have to do is look at my checkbook and (gulp) see the check that I've just written for tuition and room and board, and any guilt DS tries to lay on me goes in one ear and out the other.

It's a very effective strategy.

Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, tomorrow is a golf tournament for DH, meaning he'll be gone all day. In a perfect world, all I'd need to do is show up for a banquet in the evening. No such luck. Maybe in between running a 5K in the morning, shuttling DD back and forth to work, and cleaning the house, I'll get in some stitching before I enjoy my lovely banquet meal.

There had better be one big-ass margarita waiting at the bar for me at 6:00.

I'm still here!

Yes, I'm still around. This has been such a summer. Either I'm getting busier or I'm getting lazier. I don't know which, but the end result is that my plate seems more full than ever and yet I feel like I get less and less done.

One day I'll go to bed and as I begin to rest my head on the pillow, I'll be able to say...I'm done. I've completed an entire day and now my work is done. And tomorrow I'll start all over on a new day and my new task will be a joy.

Yeah. Right.

And now that I've expelled that, maybe my writer's block will go away and I'll be able to post something meaningful to this blog.

So I'll be back. Soon. I hope.

You all will think that I'm color challenged. Seems like I stitch projects that only use one or two colors these days! This was my sanity-saver over the past couple of weeks. It's a freebie called Little Tiny Quaker from Papillon Creations.
The fabric is something from Picture This Plus - don't remember the name. And the thread is Mer Blue Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk. Lovely to work with!


Can you believe that this little darlin' just turned 16? Her birthday was Tuesday, and we had a perfectly perfect day together. I picked her up from work at 2:00 and we headed to Morgantown WV to try out a new (to us) restaurant that featured some interesting vegetarian dishes. She had an eggplant sandwich with a side of cous cous salad, and she loved both. Then to Coldstone Creamery for some ice cream. Oooooh. Coffee ice cream with almonds. Heaven!

We did a little shopping. Hit a great Victoria's Secret sale at the Morgantown Mall, and found some neat little stores in downtown Morgantown. And made it back to the car just as it started to storm and pour rain.

What a day. What a great kid. I'm one blessed mother.

I have a few more graduation photos:
John with my mom (left) and Dave's mom (right)

A few "action" photos, if you can call walking in line a few times and shaking hands with your principal action.



We had his party this weekend. Originally we were going to the pavilion by the lake, but since we STILL don't have water, we moved it to our deck. It was gorgeous weather, and we had a really nice open-house type day.

So much work though - it took at least two days to prepare the house and food, and two days to clean up. Still - his friends...our friends...it was lovely.

Now I feel like summer has officially started.

Graduation!

Yay! Now to get ready for a party on Saturday, and then a small bit of rest before all of the college craziness begins.

Colleen and I head for the Edinboro Open Tournament next weekend. A dorm full of girl soccer players, 7:30 AM soccer games, and cafeteria eating for two days, but I'm actually thinking it will be restful. In fact, any place away from here would seem restful at the moment. I can't wait.

It must be Mothers Day somewhere

Maybe it's in an alternate universe, because my great kids just gave me my Mothers' Day gift!

Ok, sometimes they're a little slow. But I can't imagine a more perfect gift. I know I was getting a little tedious about coming home after a run and mapping the whole thing out on Google maps. Or doing it before a run. BUT, when they wanted to know where to go to put in 6 miles, who did they come to? Mom. Yes. Me. So HA. And now I can be the Queen of Knowing Exactly How Far We've Run. It's good to be the queen.

I should be working.

I know, I know. But I'm slacking off for the next several minutes.

I came across a prom photo that I forgot was on the camera. Sometimes your kid will put up with anything so they are allowed drive your special car. The car that has a hallowed place in the garage. The car that never gets driven in the rain. The car he's been asking to drive for a solid year. I probably could have made him give me a kiss for the camera, too, but I'm not that mean.


Here's a little more work on Tree of Life: Will I ever finish this?? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I'm plagued with self-doubt. Eh. Not really. I'm just in a melodramatic mood.

I'm still looking to spend my ref money. Here's my plan - I want to add to my collection of silk threads, and since Dinky Dyes has some new silks, and I haven't finished collecting Crescent Colours silks, I think I'll splurge on those. And use the leftover $$ for some fabrics. Honestly, although there are some great new designs out there, I have some relatively new great designs right here. On my desk. Looking me in the face.

OK, back to work.