Is it Tuesday yet?

Ok, I never say "what next?" because every time I've said/done that, something horribly tragic has happened. So, now I turn my eyes heavenward and just ask God to make the day better.

I'm having a bad day.

Yesterday, my check engine light came on. Fortunately, the light went back off. But, I am still going to take it in to see what the deal is.

This morning, while working, my Internet died. Just died. Well, technologically impaired me, I call tech support. Ha. Again, I get Alli *coughing *bullshit* coughing* who is clearly Rahiba or something similar at a call center in Pakistan or India. We spend over an hour on the phone without accomplishing anything other than to have me close to tears.

While I'm on the phone pinging and tracing to no avail, the termite guy is treating the house and handing me a bill.

So, now I'm a few hours behind on work. So, I finally burn my story onto a CD and head for the library with my laptop. Well, Dinkyville has no wifi except at the branch on the other side of town and it doesn't open till noon. No worries, I'll use the library computer and Internet access. No, I guess I won't. They won't let me retrieve my data from the CD. *sigh* Off to Panera Bread to use their Internet access. Poor little Hot Rod was a trooper. He found a book on anacondas from the library and read it while waiting for me to finish my story. We go eat.

Come home because I have an idea to make the Internet work. Nope, no good. So, after tinkering and thinking (I felt like Winnie the Pooh with a head full of fluff), I decide to turn on the TV. Uh, no cable. Ok, now I'm really REALLY irritated because I paid these jokers. I call Verizon and get passed along to four people. Finally, I get a real live Yankee on the phone complete with New Jersey accent to help me figure out what to do. I get the bright idea while I'm on hold waiting for Paul that maybe the access box in the garage is fouled up now that both systems are out (and I paid the bill!) Sure enough, the power light is off. I tell him this and we figure out the problem. I reset the outlet and voila. So, he reset some stuff on his end and 20 minutes later, I no longer have the shakes from lack of Internet and FIOS TV.

Now, I simply have cramps. Yes, adding injury to insult (I know that is backwards, but it is accurate), I started a week early.

*sigh* Oh yeah, and my face looks like I'm back in high school instead of getting ready for my 20th class reunion next week.

I also have another story to write today, too. I think I'm treating myself to a cup of coffee this afternoon.

Drats: memed again

The cutey patootey who bats for the wrong team (as far as all the women I know would think) has once again hit me with a meme. God love the poor delusional man who qualified my blog as as a thinking blog. ROTFLMAO. Ok, I've composed myself and now I have to tag five blogs that I qualify as "thinking" blogs.

I would normally pick North Dallas Thirty for this, but since he tagged me, he is off the list. LabKat was tagged by NDT, too.

So, here is my list with some explanation:

Mazurland Blog - I found this set of brothers when we were both finalists for the Weblog Awards a few years ago. These guys are witty, bright and insightful. You can find something from goofiness to downright brilliance there.

It comes in pints - It was the title of this blog that led me to Ken, Emily and the gang. I don't think I could dislike a blog that is named after one of Pippin's quotes from LOTR. Posts range from the eff off Friday thread to musical quizzes to informative insights into just about every topic available.

ArmyWife ToddlerMom - I'm not sure how I found this wonderful blog, but it is at the top of my blog reads. AWTM is clever and the all-American mom. She stays at home with Pink Ninja and Sir Rowland and is the proud wife of a soldier. She makes light of the mundane tasks of mom and has all of us SAHMs nodding in agreement, then she turns on her support for the military and their families and amazes us at the lengths she goes to in support of these wonderful families. Remarkable woman and worth a read.

Caption This - A different kind of thinking. I was introduced to V the K by the lovely Mo K and I've been a faithful reader and sometime contributor of photos to Caption This ever since. It is a different kind of thinking, but one that will sometimes make your stomach hurt from laughing so hard. It is worthwhile.

The Other Side of Kim - Kim. What can I say about Kim? Army of Dad introduced me to Kim - both literally and figuratively - and I've been a fan of this wonderful South African turned American citizen ever since. He is a staunch advocate of the second amendment and has some incredible insights on politics. His gun posts are typically over my head, but he makes AoD salivate over his firearm collection. My first and only gun to own was purchased from Kim. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in gun rights to give him a visit. Even if you are a gun control advocate, go give him a read and start a debate with him and see if he can sway you to come around. He is very persuasive.

Honorable mentions:
Mental Floss - I've known Gadfly for, gosh, going on 14 years or so. He made it to the hospital to visit two of my three children when they were newborns. (You didn't make it for Stinkerbelle, did you? Or was I too drugged up to notice?) He is so smart that it is almost on the verge of scary. His opinions vary so wildly that you never know what will come out of his mouth or his blog. The porn stuff sort of scares me sometimes. Sort of. :)

Cox and Forkum Editorial Cartoons are guaranteed to make you think.

Jenelle's Journey is done by the beautiful and full of life Kelly of Missing JT Snow. I found Kelly at Random and Odd and loved the name of her blog. I was a fan of the former Angel, JT Snow, too. So, I now lurk around her blog quite often. I feel a kinship with her because of her daughter, Jenelle, who is almost exactly the same age as Stinkerbelle (within a few days!) only her daughter suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. Having a special needs child (Pickle), too, I can empathize with all she has to endure to get the best for her daughter. God blessed me with many fewer challenges than she deals with on a daily basis. But, she gets up each day with a smile on her face, counting her blessings. I like to follow Kelly and Jenelle to see how they're doing. I encourage everyone to read the journeys of both of these beautiful girls.

Thanks, NDT, for making me think today. To those I named, I leave it up to you, if you want to select five thinking blogs, go for it. Otherwise, just keep on thinking and inspiring me.

SPF: Rainbow

I must confess that I wasn't paying attention to the Stuff Portrait Friday assignment until this morning when it dawned on me that it is Friday. My week has been off since I was out of town on Monday and Tuesday. But, here it is ... Kristine of Random and Odd made the SPF assignment of rainbows. I was wondering what I could do on such short notice and started scouring recent pictures that haven't been used and came up with the British soccer coaches from camp a few weeks back. The rainbow wig works beautifully, don't you think? During camp, the coaches had a day when the kids could bring clothes for them to dress up in and then the coaches walked the catwalk for the campers.

So, didja play?

Everything is just peachy

While I was gone all weekend, my honey plucked all the peaches off the little peach tree in our front yard. I feel a bit like Bubba Gump and his shrimp because of all the peach dishes I'm making.

We gave peaches to my sister-in-law for a thank you gift for letting us stay there. We gave peaches to my next door neighbor, some to the folks across the street and some to some neighbors on the next block. My compost pile got some, too, that weren't looking too good.

Tonight, I've been baking. I've got peach cobbler, peach bread, peach bread ... and tomorrow, I'm making peach jam. I need to talk to my mother-in-law about canning the stuff, so I do it right. The pictures are two of the dishes I baked and the bowl of leftover peaches.

Of course, now I'm singing "moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches."

Live long and prosper

We've heard about the new Star Trek movie, but now they are actually casting it. Somehow, I don't see the movie about Spock and Kirk featuring this video or song in the soundtrack.

Kitties of Hades

No hounds of hell here. Nope, just the ferryman here is a kitty ... you don't pay him with coins, you pay him in catnip. Sorry. This story just lends itself to all sorts of really bad death jokes.

It is very peculiar how animals can sense things. Often, you can tell if the weather is going to change or if danger is at hand by how animals react. Well, take Oscar the kitty aka the "harbinger of death" at some nursing home. Apparently, the kitty can sense when someone is going to die within about five hours. The typically aloof kitty will curl up next to the dying person.

I just got a visual of some old guy gumming his jello and pushing the kitty off his bed because he knew what it meant!

Sorry, that was bad. Seriously, the kitty can tell when people are dying. But, apparently, most of the folks are too bad off to realize that the kitty is the grim reaper. Weird, weird stuff.

The death of a good friend

No spoilers here, I promise. I'm not saying who lives or who dies in Book 7 of Harry Potter's magical education.

What I am saying is that finishing the book - which I did around 11 a.m. this morning - has been very, very sad for me. I feel like I've lost a friend - someone I've cared about since the first time I stumbled upon the boy with the lightning shaped scar on his forehead back when he lived in a cupboard under the stairs.

I fell in love with Harry Potter and the wonderful characters. Pickle asks me who my favorite is and I don't know what to say. I love and hate these characters. Jo Rowling is so incredibly gifted in creating these people that I so often feel they are living and breathing people. I think I identify most with Molly Weasley and she may genuinely be my very favorite character in the book series. The Weasley family is at the top of the list.

I made predictions about this final book and I have to say I was spot on with many of my predictions - much to my husband's chagrin. It was incredible and once again, Jo Rowling did herself proud.

Farewell to the characters I am so fond of. Farewell to Hogwart's and Diagon Alley. I will start re-reading the book tonight - more slowly this time - to really capture all the little snippets of information. The first time I just wanted to know what happened.

I am going to miss everyone.

Coming up for air

I arrived home from our trip about 9 p.m. or so last night. Army of Dad finished the Deathly Hallows on Sunday evening and he is ready to talk about the book. Me, I'm on page 215 now.

Damn work and being a mom is getting in the way of me discovering what happens to Harry and the gang. I have theories, so far. We'll see. I'm shocked at how quickly and badly things are going, but I shouldn't be surprised.

I have to say that I see hints of LOTR in this book, to the point where I'm at. But, I guess in any good versus evil epic, there will be similarities if you look for them.

No comments on here ... no spoilers allowed.

Back to work and reading.

Rock Lobster

I finally got some connectivity in a hotel room while on the road. The Drury Inn rocks.

We enjoyed lots and lots of swimming at my sister-in-law's house, a wonderful musical and a day in Galveston. Tuesday entails actual work - EW - as I'm going to a (wait ... rub down the goose pimples) commercial real estate luncheon. Yep, I'm actually doing some work on my vacation.

I wonder if they'll have any aloe vera there? I'm totally red. I believe the sun shone on spots where it hasn't shined in years. I have a nice little red line around the edge of my fanny, for one. My back, which seldom sees the sun, is red and my poor face and shoulders got it bad, too. I even used sunscreen.

Alas, Army of Dad will have to run aloe vera on me tomorrow night and Wednesday and the next night, too. Homecomings are such fun.

SSG Rob Rob the Heart Throb

I got an email this morning from Staff Sgt. Rob Rob the Heart Throb and thought I'd share it with everyone:

I want to officially notify everyone of my new rap name, it is:

"Two dimes and a nickel."

I'll be playing live in Tikrit, Iraq every Friday from now until around Friday October 12th.

If you would like more information on "Two dimes and a nickel" and his posse "spare change" you can write to (deleted).

Can you tell I'm ready to go home? Today is officially my 365th day of being deployed.

Peace out dawg nut! I'm take'n it easy like George N' Wheezie.

--
Best part of this is that he is a tall, bald white dude. :)

Get your motor running

Head out on the highway. Looking for adventure and whatever comes our way.

See ya Tuesday evening. Me and the kids, along with my mom, are hitting the road to see my nephews and go to the Gulf Coast.

Hobbit love

I'm not sure what led me to this place, but I found an amusing little diddy of Legolas singing They're taking the hobbits to Isengard and I just had to share it with people. And, of course, it is a good reason to post a Pippin shot. I loves me some hobbits and Pippin. If you google hobbits and sex, you come up with my blog. That is sort of scary. Cool in a perverse way, but scary.

SPF: What the fork is your problem?

The lovely Kristine at Random and Odd made the Stuff Portrait Friday assignment of our silverware drawer. Well, having no silver, I settled for my flatware drawer. Yikes. It is a jumbled up mess that makes sense to me, yes, it does. My precious. Wait, sorry, that is another post altogether. This is actually cleaned out! Yeah, I know, it was scary. I cleaned out all the sauce packets last week. Ok, not all. There are still one or two ketchups in there and the cheese packets are new. I left the Hooters wetnaps in there for emergencies. We keep the plasticware there for Army of Dad to take in his lunches to work. Come to think of it, this drawer is symbolic of my life: it's an organized mess.

So, did you play?

50 Years of Misery, er, I Mean Memories

Last month I hosted a 50th anniversary party for my parents. It was quite the accomplishment going all that time without a single police response to our home for a domestic disturbance. Actually, I'm pretty shocked. It may be that we lived on a large lot and no one in the neighborhing houses could hear the yelling. Anyway. Here are a few shots taken by Uzz for me. I decorated several tables with family photos over the years and made a photo album. Lots of people enjoyed it. Here are my boys flipping through it.

Sweet Little Bit was an angel at the reception. For the last half of the party, she sat at the table and drew on her note pad and welcomed people to the party.

Toward the end of the party, I let her wear my pearls. She really enjoyed that.

Mom played nicely after a while. At first she mimicked stabbing dad in the privates with the cake slicer. No sharp objects for that woman.

This was the best man at my folks' wedding. Daddy was so happy to see him. That smile alone made all the hassle worth it. The old gal in the yellow behind him is close to 100 and is something else. A very sweet old woman. The man she is talking to attended mom and dad's wedding, too.

And, my family.

My brother, me and my folks.

This is my sis-in-law and two of her three boys. The youngest was at camp.

And, the whole bunch. This is my brother and his family and my family. Of course, we're missing one of the grandchildren, but it is close.

And, Hot Rod's godmother with Little Bit. This gal and LabKat were Godsends at the reception. I couldn't have done any of it without them.

Beware of defending yourself in Argyle, Texas

Now, I'm certain this is an unfair statement to make overall - for the situation at hand and the facts that I've seen, this is true.

The story - so far - indicates that Argyle Police along with the assistance of the Texas Rangers (ok, not the Loserville baseball team, but an equally comedic law enforcement agency) don't care about a person's right to defend himself. I keep wondering when all the evidence is going to come out.

Let's examine what has happened to Charles Oxner (these links may require a free registration, sorry). This guy turned in a co-worker for drinking on the job. Apparently the co-worker, his brother and a buddy didn't like the fact that Oxner reported him for being unsafe. The three guys came to Oxner's home. Force their way in and started beating the shit out of him. At one point his assailants kicked him in the head. He manages to get to his gun, shoots once and misses (apparently the beating continued) so he shot again hitting his mark and killing the assailant.

So, what do the Keystone Cops, er, Argyle Police and Texas Rangers do? They arrest the two surviving assailants on charges of burglary with the intent of assault. Hmmm, that would indicate to me that they knew these three had ill intent when they went to Oxner's home. But, it gets really good here. Despite visible evidence of the assault on Oxner - a black eye, knots and bumps on his head and bruises on his body- Argyle Police arrested Oxner, too, on charges of murder.

Huh? Did I miss something? Bad guys break in. Bad guys beat snot out of resident. Resident defends self with deadly force against three assailants. How do we figure murder into this?

Seems the prosecutors have two licks of sense and have lowered Oxner's bail, but they still haven't gotten all the information from Argyle Police regarding the case, so they can decide whether to present the evidence to the grand jury or decline to prosecute. Apparently, the Keystone Cops are waiting for the medical examiner's report to know the trajectory of the shots among other info. Where is the CSI or Law & Order MEs when you need them? I'm sure Oxner would like to have that info soon, so he can get back on with his life.

From everything I have seen, this seems like justified self-defense. Score one for the good guys. I just wonder what would happen if three bad guys came at an Argyle cop while he was minding his own business and started beating him? Hmm. *scratching my chin* I wonder if he used deadly force if he would be tossed in the pokey till all the facts were crystal clear? Hmm. What do you think? For some reason, I doubt that one of Argyle's finest *hem, hem* would get this treatment.

Pre-School Musical

Forget Disney's High School Musical, we have Little Bit premiering in her pre-school musical. She and her classmates at pre-school performed in our local community-wide musical celebrating the city's sesquicentennial. One of our local stars re-wrote many favorite tunes to fit our community's history. Little Bit and her classmates sang "I've been waiting on the railroad" to the tune of "I've been working on the railroad" to commemorate the arrival of the rail in Denton.
How cute are these girls? Today, Little Bit went to the water park with her best friend. They are such little divas.

This is the group that performed. How cute is that?
Then, we celebrated with ice cream at the old soda fountain on the downtown square. I really like living in our little town, even if it is growing leaps and bounds.

3 days, 4 hours, some-odd minutes

Yep, the Harry Potter Book 7 countdown has begun. The journalist in me turns up her nose at USA Today, but when it is sitting there in Papa John's and I'm waiting for my pizza, I'll pick it up and read it. (It is a great quick newspaper, but an insult to journalism - yet, that is a post for another time. It may outlast the traditional newspaper, much to my chagrin.) However, right now, it has a great Everything is Coming up Potter site that has fun stuff from a countdown clock to a write your own ending and mucho amounts of links to other Potter fun stuff. Scholastic has a great site, too, with games and downloads. My mum-in-law sent me this one with speculation about what will happen from a faith-based site. There is also a quiz to which Harry Potter character are you? Me? I'm "dreamy and absent-minded, though you often show startling intelligence. Sometimes you're Luna Lovegood, Harry's spacy acquaintance; at your best, you're Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, far more serious-minded than your behavior might imply." hee hee. Luna Lovegood is probably more like me than Dumbledore.

Enjoy. I'll see you Friday night in line with all the other dorks.

That time of year again

Tuesday 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Time for my annual boobie squish and photo shoot.

*sigh*

I head in for my mammogram to be followed by an ultrasound. Yep, I get to see my milk ducts kicking around. It is actually sort of interesting to see what it looks like in there. My lump looks enormous on that screen when, in reality, it is really tiny.

I never realized how fond I am of my rack until there was a fear of losing it.

5 on 2

Yep, Fifth Disease is on second child.

*sigh* This is one of those random illnesses that you don't know you have until sort of after the fact. Pickle, apparently, is on the recovery end of Fifth Disease. We just thought his allergies were causing him fits a few weeks back. Then, I noticed a nasty rash on him last week. I thought it might clear up, but nooooo. I finally call the doctor today and the nurse and I go back and forth until she tells me it is Fifth Disease.

It starts off with flushed cheeks. Guess who is whiney, snotty-nosed with flushed cheeks tonight? Yep, you guessed it. Hot Rod. Let's just cross our fingers that Little Bit doesn't get it. I'm not holding my breath. The chances of catching it from a sibling is 50 percent. On the bright side, once you get it, you likely don't get it again.

*everyone knock on wood, please*

SPF: Protection

The lovely and neurotic Kristine at Random and Odd gave us an assignment of "Protection" for Stuff Portrait Friday this week. I thought of SPF (more than Stuff Portrait Friday) this week, because of soccer camp and all the sunscreen and mosquito repellant I've been putting on the children and myself.

But, I had to choose something that says a little about me and Army of Dad and that is our firearms. I feel strong knowing that I can protect myself, my family and my things with my handgun.

And, then a two'fer. I feel very protected by Army of Dad and knowing that he is armed, that, too, is a safe feeling.

So, did you play?

Helping wounded soldiers via a hot chick

Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone involved.

My buddy, Nick, and his comrades at Ranger Up have launched OPERATION GRIM - a plan to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project by getting Ranger Up's most popular model into Maxim. The whole thing is here with all the details and pictures of a UFC fighter and a rather attractive woman is at Operation Grim. Nick is asking people to send a note to Maxim to ask them to do a spread *snickering at the play on words* on the Ranger Up girl while also raising money for the WWP. You can send a note of your own or follow Nick's sample letter and fill in your name:

Dear Sir or Madame,
I am writing to inform you that we in the military community are strongly urging you to support OPERATION GRIM and PUT GRACE IN MAXIM in order to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project which supports badly wounded soldiers from the international war on terror. We are not asking for charity – we are asking you to put a gorgeous girl and an undefeated MMA fighter and Iraqi vet in your magazine in order to support a tremendous cause. As you are receiving this, millions of active duty, reserve, national guard, veterans of the Armed Forces and patriotic Americans are awaiting your decision. You can read the whole story at: www.rangerup.com/operationgrim.html. Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully, Army of Mom reader (for the love of all that is holy, actually put your name here!)

Send your note to showus@maximmag.com.

So, what are you waiting for? Oh ok, just open a new tab/window, so you can keep looking at Grace while you type the note, (one handed, if neccesary). Get to it, soldier.

The heat is on

Sweet little curly top is loving soccer camp. Even though I cut her head off in this picture, I think it is precious. That is a good color scheme for her, don't you think? It was finally hot today, too. 95 for a high. Although this time last year, I would have thought a high of 95 was a cold spell.

This was a great game that I plan to use with my little kids at the next practice. The kids dribble until some mud monster kicks their ball away. The concept is to get them to dribble and protect the ball and learn to steal the ball. When your ball is kicked out, the player picks it up and puts in on their head while yelling "help, help I'm stuck in the mud."

Then, another player has to dribble his/her ball between the legs of the "stuck" player. Again, learning to control the ball and aim it where they want it to go. Genius and fun all at the same time. This poor gal with the pink ball had a rough day. Her mom ran over their cat on the way to camp.

And, for a soccer mom, there is very little hotter than a hunky young man being tender to little kids. This little guy is on Stinkerbelle's soccer team and he was singing some song to the coaches. They were just very sweet and attentive to him. Very endearing.

And, Hot Rod chugging some water. If you're not drinking: you're stinking. He was taking that to heart.

And, the second handsome young man staying with me this week: Yum Yum. Ok, I think it is actually Yam Yam (not sure why) but it sounds like Yum Yum with his cute accent and I like that one better anyway. And, aren't you proud of me? You were expecting me to say something totally dirty minded inquiring about how he got that nickname and I'm not going there. Filthy minded blog readers. You should be ashamed. But, the name does make me think of a tasty treat.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I had to follow tradition and see the Harry Potter movie on opening night. Pickle and I managed to sneak away during Hot Rod's soccer practice and catch the flick.

I enter the theater each time with some trepidation because the movie maker is walking on hallowed ground because I loves me some Harry Potter reading. And, honestly, OOP was one of the hardest of the books for me to read. It was painful to see Harry being persecuted as he was and for him to be a little asshole about it all, too. I forget that he is only, what, 16, in OOP? But, regardless, I think so much of Harry, that it is sometimes easy for me to forget that he is just a kid, after all, like most teenagers just with a lot bigger worries about the world's most powerful wizard wanting him dead and having been responsible for the death of pretty much everyone he has ever loved like a parent. But, I digress.

I was worried about how hard it would be to watch this film and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to watch. There are little things that go without explanation for those who haven't read the book. You see Kingsley Shackleford protecting Harry with the Order, yet you see him try to arrest Dumbledore. If you hadn't read the books, there was no sense to that. Little things that I know are probably really hard to get all in the movies. However, Umbridge was as awful in the movie as she is in the book. Hem, hem. I loved all the time spent in the Defense Against the Dark Arts with Harry as the instructor. I was disappointed that I didn't get to see more of Hermione and Ronald in this film. It was clearly about Harry.

It was not near as dark or scary as I thought it might be either. The colors used in the film were very bright and cheery. It has a PG-13 rating, which I think is fair. The mom sitting next to us brought a boy around 5 and he was clearly frightened and crying by several very scary images, which were central throughout the film. Don't get me wrong, there were scary repetitions including Harry's nightmares about Lord Voldemort among other scenes. I think it is too intense for the little ones - thusly the obvious fear it struck in the kid next to us.

Anyway, going into it with concerns, I came out happy. Even with the death of a beloved character, I feel it was handled pretty well. I'm telling you, though, Helena Bonham Carter was really scary as the crazy Bellatrix LeStrange. I swear, that woman has a knack for playing nutters. The next time we see Bellatrix on the big screen is going to be a doozie, I think. I hope she has more to do.

Now, just eight, ok nine, days to go for HP and the Deathly Hallows.

Lady in Red

Oddly enough, I've heard two different soccer moms refer to me as the lady in the red visor. It is a pretty good description because you can seldom find me at the soccer fields without my red FC Dallas visor. I don't like to wear hats, but love visors. I don't have any sunglasses, so the visor keeps the sun out of my eyes, for the most part, and my hair from flying in my face too much. Today, I may throw everyone off and wear my cowboy hat.

A Danish sounds good

There are definitely perks to being the camp coordinator. Seven perks, as a matter of fact. *wink* But, dirty old woman aside ... how is that for a GQ looking shot? There are downsides to being the coordinator, too, like dealing with host families and the campers, etc. But, the perks are good.

Here is Hot Rod - whose World Cup team is Denmark (making him Danish, get it now?) - making an awesome stop. That little gal in the yellow is incredible. We used to coach her older brother.
Hot Rod had several shots on goal that went wide, but that isn't bad for him. He prefers to play defense, I think, so getting up to forward is a good move for him. I think he'll be a good midfielder one day.

And, Cutie Patootie and her friends were having some fun, too.

Look at her work him. It is amazing to see how clever she is. I'm not sure what her story was here, but I can just hear that Texas twang faking a leg cramp.

Then, she managed to get him to pick her up. Hmm *scratching chin* I wonder if that might work for me with the coaches? Nah, I didn't think so either. Army of Dad is much too scary looking for a guy to even contemplate it. Day 3. We're halfway done.

Doing a double-take

Coolio or Vladimir Guerrero? Hmmm.

When I say One

On the run! When I say two, on my shoe. When I say three, on the knee. When I say four, on the floor. When I say five, ah ah ah ah Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive. Seriously. These coaches crack me up. They come up with very clever ways to get the soccer players to do the most tedious of drills and get those repetitions that sharpen their skills. There is Hot Rod dribbling the ball and being happy about it. That isn't normal for him. He isn't big on drills, but he is big on playing.

And, then, the Big Mouth shouting "DENMARK" for his World Cup team. You can see the little guy behind him holding his ears. That little fella is on Stinkerbelle's soccer team.

And, my boy: out standing in a field. No, not neccesarily outstanding in a field; you can see where the city didn't mow the fields ahead of time. The grass was wayyyy tooooo high. I called the city parks department office and they sent a crew to mow the fields this afternoon, thankfully. That was nice. There were crosses that just died before they got anywhere near the target because the grass was so high.
This one I like to call the buffet. I'll let you decipher that one.

And, check out Stinkerbelle playing with her hair. I looked up two or three times and she was right with the coaches, holding their hands. My daughter, the flirt.

One of my favorite moments of the camp today was Shaggy (yes, he actually goes by the name - insert Scooby giggle here) being so sweet to this little girl. Little Bit was pretty sweet, too. The little girl was apprehensive, and Little Bit and Coach Shaggy were being very sweet.

Same for Coach Tom with this little guy. He was really not sure what he thought about things and took off several feet from everyone else, so the coach went over to try and persuade him to come back. It is just really nice to see these college aged guys being so sweet and tender to these little kids.

And, playing a game with the kids. You can see Little Bit in the back in her pink skorts. Another day ahead of us in the morning. More fun to be had by all.

That takes balls to do

Yep, it is soccer season again and for the third year in a row, dear Army of Dad has stayed up late to help me inflate somewhere around 100 soccer balls for the campers. We only have about half the campers we had last year. My car was overflowing with balls then. So, it looks sort of empty to me this year. I'm not sure what to attribute the short numbers to, but I have a few ideas. The soccer association didn't get the flyers out until late and I know that I didn't get mine in the mail, so it makes me wonder who else didn't get theirs either. We have also had tons of rainy weather and I'm wondering if that has made people not want to do it. I've had many calls concerning the possibility of a rain out. Whatever it is, we have six studly British coaches and one "Shaggy" from Carrollton. I love my job. Little wonder I volunteer to do this, although this is my last year to do it. I'm a little sad, a little relieved and definitely wondering what I'm going to do without this post.

Here comes the sun

My children are so excited. We have had two days of sunshine. Little darlin, it seems like years since its been here. I was driving home from a trip to the store tonight and it was remarkable to see a pretty sunset after almost two months of overcast skies and rain. It was so beautiful driving westbound and seeing this lovely sunset. I had to pull over and take some pictures. Aren't the sunbeams gorgeous?

Then, a little farther down the road, I had to stop again and catch the sun as it dipped below the clouds. I really liked the way the trees framed it, too. I had one of those moments when I wished I had a really nice camera set-up like Uzz.

These clouds were eastbound outside my front yard. They were so pretty with the sunlight reflecting off of them. I tried to get some pictures of our peaches, but it was too late in the evening, so I'll try again tomorrow. Our coaches arrive for the British soccer camp, so that will be fun. This is my third and final year of coordinating the local camp. It is a little bittersweet. I'm going to be glad to be free of the responsibility, but I will miss doing it. These coaches are a riot to be around.