Yahoo! Cindy Lou Who

Kristen scored 2 goals in her very first U4/U5 soccer match today. She was the only female player on the field at the time. You Go Girl!!!

B.T. no more...

"The cougar of the week is awarded to the individual student that meets all of our cougar characteristics in P.E. consistently. Those characteristics are: Courteous, Outstanding behavior, Undivided attention to adult when speaking, Great effort, Awesome attitude and Respect for all. Those first letters spell COUGAR!! The cougar of the week wins a certificate, coupon for a free sub at Subway, and gets to wear a t-shirt on spirit day! Winners are presented with their awards on the Cougar News morning show! Photos are taken and posted on the bulletin board outside the gym."

Lauren was awarded the Cougar of the Week today. Only one student in the school of 608 students receives this award each week. I guess all the patience with B.T. in P.E. paid off.

Astro sees The Light...

Ding-dong! Loud barking, kids screaming half-dressed. (They were trying on winter clothes to decide what still fits)

I walk down to see who's at the door. Jehovah's Witnesses. Suddenly Lauren has tripped on something and begins screaming, "MOM!"

I'm in the process of telling the troops of their faith that this is not a good time, when suddenly Astro decides that this is a good time...for an escape. I'm not exactly sure how he nosed open the front screen door but away he went. The two boys at the door saved my vase that began to topple as Astro bolted out the door and offered to help chase him down. "That's ok. He'll come back eventually." They quickly moved on.

The girls and I went outside and immediately spotted Astro doing laps around all the neighbors' homes. A man walking a bug dog (not sure of the breed but looks like a bug on a leash to me) came up the street. I held my breath and started to calmly run down the street toward them yelling back at the girls to stay put. Of course Astro wanted to investigate this odd creature. First he sniffed it, then hopped around it like he does when he finds a grasshopper. Just when he decided he wanted to "play" with it, he saw me with a fistful of treats. I guess the treats looked tastier then the bug dog.

Somebody was saved today.

Nancy the Firefighter

Sunday 9:20pm
As I was cutting across a near-empty parking lot on my way home from the grocery store I spotted a 4 foot wide area of smoking mulch on one of the parking lot tree islands. I doubled back for a better look and noticed the smoke plume growing. I also noticed the only other cars in the lot were now swiftly exiting the area. I didn't think it warranted a call to 911, it was just a pile of smoking mulch but what if it really starts to blaze? As I leaned over to get my cell phone, I saw an almost full bottle of water in the car. I dashed over to the suspicious mulch and dumped the contents of my water bottle on the mulch. It seemed to make a difference but I wasn't sure it was completely extinguished. Since I didn't have any additional firefighting gear, I raced home and called the non-emergency sheriff's number. He immediately transferred me to 911. I guess that answers that question.

Diamond in the Rough

I'm not a big jewelry person but I usually wear my wedding ring and my diamond studs that Bill got me for our anniversary a few years back. This is my jewelry "uniform" day and night and I rarely remove them. However, on Sunday, I took off the earrings to play soccer. I thought this was a smart move considering my history with playing soccer and wearing earrings. I still haven't forgiven myself for losing an earring that Bill gave me on our wedding day at a soccer game.

Since I'm not in the habit of changing earrings, I forgot to put them back on until yesterday. I reached up on the shelf and quickly found one earring but then couldn't find the other. Where could it be? I took everything down from the shelf and frantically searched through it all and still couldn't find it. Maybe it fell off the shelf? Suddenly I remembered stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night on Monday and stepping on something sharp. I spent a few moments trying to determine what had poked me and then decided I cared more about getting back to sleep. Now I hypothesized that I must have stepped on the missing earring. Aha!

Aha! quickly turned to Oh No!
My heart sank because I remembered that Bill had vacuumed this area just last night. Fortunately, I'm usually so happy that the rug is vacuumed and I didn't have to do it that I don't nag about emptying the "dirt cup" on the vacuum. As luck would have it, after sifting through a very full load of the "rough" in the dirt cup, I recovered the missing earring.

I also discovered that Lauren would make a great archaeologist because she rolled up her sleeves and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the treasure hunt. Don't worry, we were both eager to "scrub up" after the hunt.

Kristen watched from a safe distance and wondered why I didn't just buy a new earring at Claire's.

Coach "Sweat Ball" Nancy

I survived my coaching debut!

I signed up to coach Kristen's U4/U5 soccer team this fall. We had a rainout the first week so there was even more pressure to be great this week. I'm no "F" certified coach like Bill but I think I held my own. If a coach can be measured by sweat alone, I rule.

Only one child was crying (because of the heat...not me)
Only one child was too afraid to join in

"Shoot the Aliens" was the stand-out winner of the drills/games I picked(stole) from other coaches.

My nametag plan was a total flop. Who knew the adhesive wouldn't work on polyester? There were nametags strewn about the entire 7A field. I guess I'll have to learn everyone's name the old fashioned way.

I'm still working on my transitions from game to game. There are only so many "water breaks" before it starts to look ridiculous. ha!

Operation Iron Up

I feel so inadequate! I went to give blood today and for the first time EVER...my iron level was too low. I've given blood at least 15 times and this has never happened to me before. Normally, the technician comments about how iron-rich it is. Sure, I've fainted twice..once during, once after but at least I wasn't rejected.

Yesterday, I had a hard-boiled egg for breakfast, a hamburger for lunch and chicken for dinner. I can only conclude that McDonald's hamburgers must not have any actual meat in them.

I'm eating a big tuna sandwich on iron-fortified whole-wheat bread tonight and trying again tomorrow.

Don't they know I'm an Iron Girl!?!?!

Back To School

Yesterday was Lauren's first day back to school. First grade brings lots of new classes like Art, Music, PE, and Spanish. I told her she would love PE because you get to have a great time playing lots of games and running around and having fun. The first two days of PE have not lived up to expectations. She thinks it should be re-named "BT-Boring Time" because she had to sit and listen to a list of rules both days. We're hoping tomorrow brings more "physical" to physical education.

Other than that, she is adjusting well. I just need to keep my big mouth shut.