Simple Girl

I still remember attending my first Nutcracker performance. I went with my dad. It was date night.  Just me and him. I remember imagining myself as Clara.  Who was that girl with the long, flowing blonde hair, chosen to be the star of the stage?  One might say I had Clara envy, except that my imagination worked so well at putting myself in her place, that the unpleasantries of envy surely vanished.  If only I had long legs. And toe shoes. And dance lessons..... I remember being slightly frightened by the battle scene. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King fought in the midst of red lights and smoke.  Soldiers marched and the mice scampered.  Casualties ensued. Fast forward a few decades.  How could I say no to my little ballerina who wanted to take part in the magic? My angel awaits backstage for her halo.  Stage moms oversee the crowds. The excitement of taking part in a professional performance is felt in the hallways. ...

In case you've been wondering where I've been all week, here it is.  After twelve years of hem-ing and ha-ing (and the fact that the shower was a mere moments away from springing a leak), we made the spur of the moment decision to remodel our bathroom. They started the next day.  That gave me exactly one day to empty out all of the bathroom cabinets, throw away garbage bags full of products and free samples that I will never use and decide how I was going to exist for the next who-knows-how-many days without my sink, without my shower, and without full accessibility to my closet.  I packed up what I needed (and what was previously stored in all the bathroom drawers and cabinets) into boxes and put them in our bedroom. Ripping out the shower and all the bathroom tile and the countertops and replacing them with something resembling the 21st century was a huge undertaking, but they managed to finished all the tile work by the end of week one. Week Two:  Pain...

I'm hobbling around today and I can explain. I'm not athletic. I am competitive. Now, I'm not competitive in all situations, just ones that involve my husband. So when my husband challenged me to a little family game of two on two, it was game on.  Him and the 10-year old daughter.  Me and the 14-year old son. We'd play to 7. One point per basket. Win by two. Accepting spousal challenges in strategic games of Scrabble or Pictionary is one thing. Accepting spousal challenges in games of sport is quite another. My 6'3" 265-pounds-of muscle husband was a Big Ten Lineman. My total basketball career? Seventh grade. It was seventh grade when creepy Mr. Petersen, the reading teacher, asked every girl in the class to join the basketball team. Every single girl,  that is, except me.  That was all the excuse I needed. I signed up. It wasn't a long or illustrious career, but I did finish the season with a little knowledge of how to use the backboard and how ...

If you're a High School Football player, your games are referred to as Friday Night Lights. But if you sit at the top of the middle school pack, Saturday Night is yours. I have to admit, there's something magical about watching a game under the lights. The air is crisper, the crowds are louder...... OK, so maybe 8th grade doesn't pack out the stands, but the fans are just as loyal. I remember two years ago thinking how HUGE the eighth graders seemed next to the sixth graders who were only five feet tall and 80 pounds. By eighth grade, you feel like you're watching a real game. The talent is emerging. The plays come together.  The quarterback can throw a long pass, the kicker can reach the goals. My boy is on the field.  You can't see him, but he's white, number 55.  Number 55 was his dad's lucky number.  My boy hand picked that number.  He loves his dad.  My man is on the field, too.  He's in a white shirt and khaki shorts.  Go figure....

Because I Heart Faces is on vacation this week, and because, as of this weekend, I am officially a football widow until sometime into the year 2012 and because I was sick for five whole days this week and didn't even bake anything, I have decided to post my Saturday in pictures. Trust me. It will make you feel better about yourself. Next week's I Heart Faces theme is "Back to School". Since it's a long weekend, I thought I would take a few moments to work ahead. My kids were so excited with the opportunity to put on their school uniforms on a Saturday morning. Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice? The bribe payout comes later in the day. For the Back To School theme, I wanted to do something with apples. Check back next Sunday to see what I posted! After my self-imposed photo torture of the kids, I ran a few errands and discovered that, in the console of my car, a packet of Chick-fil-A Polynesian Sauce had sprung a leak.  I have no idea how ...

The great thing about getting braces when you are nine going on ten, is that they are totally en vogue! So when I offered to pay the extra for clear braces, Anna politely declined. "No thanks, mom.  I want color!" "If I'm going to have braces, I want my mouth to look happy!" She chose silver braces and colored bands. Here she sports blue and green. The verdict?   Cute as ever!