Sunday, May 19, 2013

Get the Girl with the Yellow Shoes!

There are times in every woman's life that you hear yourself turn into your mother. Luckily for me my mom ROCKS. Today I turned into my dad. My dad loves sports, and played quite a few of them when he was in high school.  He can see a high school baseball game, basketball game or track meet happening and go watch. He doesn't have to know anyone playing.  I never understood that.  Today I met my parents (who hosted my kids for the night) at the soccer fields for Julia's game.  I got there too early and watched  the tail end of the game before hers and loved watching it. WHAT?  I am at the fields 4 days a week and I am watching soccer I don't have to?? DO I have a fever?? NOPE. I am turning into a soccer mom. I love how much Julia loves to play.  If she loved checkers as much, I would happily be the best checkers mom around.  Julia  has chosen soccer  and is pretty good at it. Today I heard the opposing coach yell "Stay on that girl with the yellow shoes, every time she gets the ball she scores!"  That is my Julia!!  We have had a few coaches come talk to her after the game and make sure that she is going to try out for the travel team (she is). Each time it kind of reminds me of Mr. Slugworth chatting it up with each of the Wonka kids.  Either way, Julia has her sport and is very good at it, and I am so proud of her!

Sports. blurg. I spent a lot of time as a kid, stressing out about sports. I was not good at anything team oriented.  I was the one in gym class that felt like I was going to barf when the ball came towards me.  I had gymnastics. I was pretty good at it, but more importantly I loved it! I always wished that team sports were in my future, the good friends, the teamwork, the trips to dairy queen for team treats, all day tournaments.  All the while I was drawing and doing back walkovers in my yard to my Huey lewis and the News  tape.  I was kind of jealous.
My school did not have a gymnastics team, if they had I would have been the first in line.  We did have cheerleading.  One of the skills a cheerleader has to have is tumbling. Finally all of the time with Huey Lewis and the boom box will pay off! I made my Jr. high cheerleading squad! I really was so excited! Would we go to Dairy Queen and get team treats? Nope! Would people resent me for doing this? Yep.  I never saw people in a fight over being on the volleyball team.  I get it, cheerleading comes with clout. Who am I to sit here and say poor me, I was a cheerleader.  I loved the gymnastics I got to do as a cheerleader, I loved the teamwork, just like I thought I would. I was super uncomfortable in the uniforms.  I was uncomfortable with how people judged me before they got to know me.  I loved all the posters I made.  I know that sounds crazy but I learned a lot about lettering.:)  I love the people I met while cheering.

 Libby. She is artsy and uncoordinated.  She of course can grow in and out of either of those things. She is NOT competitive. She has asked me why both teams playing soccer can't win.  Its like God is allowing me to raise myself. Obviously Libby is her own person and will find her own way. It will be interesting to watch her make her choices as her personality strikes a chord with how I was. It will break my heart to see her crying about softball in gym class!   Its funny how important sports feel at the time, and as an adult I have never, not once, thrown flips down the aisle at Target.. I also have not been in there when Heart of Rock and Roll was playing over the speaker, so who knows? 

In other words, I will be at the soccer fields and I can't wait to see her grow and change. I am excited to see what Libby does and how she chooses her own paths.  Life is pretty amazing.  Being able to be a mother to two kids that could not be more different is such a blessing.  Go team!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Duck, duck, buck ,,bo buck banana fanna fo.....WHAT THE WHAT???

Mark today on your calendar. Today is the day that I passed my fear/phobia onto my youngest daughter.  Today will be brought up in future therapy sessions for Libby. I will most likely be asked to pay for it.

I started the day off with coffee. It was thunder storming last night and the smaller of my two dogs climbs me like a monkey during storms.  Needless to say I did not sleep well. I got Miss Julia on the bus and was getting Libby ready for a day with my mother in law.  I ran outside to throw a box in the recycle bin.   I saw a few weeds and pulled them. I was on the phone with my mom.  I was in the middle  of telling her that a friend suggested I blog daily, and how I didn't feel like I had much to talk about every day.  I then told her there was a pair of ducks that must have a nest in the yard behind us. They waddle all over and how I thought they were so cute. 

This is unusual for me as I HATE BIRDS.  I would not consider me a phobic or anxious person about much. Birds do me in. I  like them in their place.  I like small birds.  Large birds anywhere near me  and I can feel my throat closing. UGH. I hate them.  My best friend still loves to tell the story about me trying to pay for a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch for Libby, as a wild turkey got closer and closer to me.  I am sure it is funny to watch from the outside. From my point of few I would like nothing more than to kick that turkey hard. 

I went inside and poured my second cup of coffee and see both dogs at the patio door asking to go out. That is when I saw it...A HUGE DUCK was in my screened in porch. I was still on the phone with my mom and went into full on melt down mode. I  can only imagine what my mom thought, I was freaking out!!! How in the world did it get in there??  Below is a dramatized video of how I reacted. Minus stripping down to my underwear.
 
I do remember in the midst of yelling I said "I don't invite crazy into my life, it just finds me, in the form of a duck."   I told my mom I was going to get a shovel.  CALM DOWN. I was using it to prop open the door to the patio.  I  quietly crept up and propped the door open. The duck FRIgged out. I am now screaming again.  I run in the house as I have a horrible thought of Libby opening the door to the patio and it getting in my house. I informed her that she is not to open the door. (still screaming)  I did a quick assessment and realized that the duck FLEW THROUGH THE SCREEN. It was shredded. cool. 
 I brainstormed a way out of this. I grabbed a loaf of bread and took it outside. and through the propped open door, I threw balls of bread in a crazy trail  to try to lure  this kamikaze duck out.  I now noticed that the friends the duck was flying with were outside the porch screaming at it. HOLY COW, what if they followed the trail IN TO my porch?? It was a chance I would have to take.  I was CRAZY sweating.  I went inside to see if my plan would work....it kind of made me laugh. I set a trap like they do on Tom and Jerry!    I finally said that I needed to shower and prayed (literally) that the duck would be gone when I got down.  It was!!!! YEA!!!! Thank you God!  I am wondering if I tempted fate by saying I had nothing exciting to blog about, or if I jinxed it by complimenting this duck family.
 
Here is photo evidence after the fact. This is the trap I sat up (minus the acme box), who knew that ducks will not eat white bread. This was clearly a fancy duck and has better things to do than eat my bread.
 
Here is the hole that was ripped in the screen in my patio window....blurg.

 
This is the duck crap all over my chair!

 
I bet this WAS the mom duck that lives behind us. I bet she had a fight with the dad duck.  "I sat on those eggs all night in a thunderstorm and you can't even pick up the nest? I am going into that porch and not coming out until you pick up something"
 
Maybe she was texting and flying? Clearly she did not sign any contact with Oprah.
 
I wonder what she is blogging about today? The horrible food people eat, the soft and cushy toilets they have.  
 
Either way I did learn that you never know what is going to happen in your morning. I learned my kid is pretty good in a panic filled situation. She hugged me and told me that I should probably calm down.  She watched the duck while I showered and let me know when it left.  That kid is pretty great.
 
So....if there is  lesson to be learned it is never compliment a duck.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Happy Mothers Day to all of you amazing moms out there! I hope your day was amazing!! Mothers day rocked here in the Clark house.  Saturday was my day and Sunday was split between my mom and my mother in law.  On Saturday I woke up to my kids bringing me breakfast in bed that they made.  Gross chunky cold oatmeal with fruit in it. I think I need another day of celebration dedicated to me,  just for having to eat it. They watched me take bite after bite and asked me each time how much I loved it. I could see my husband smirking in the background. (For those that know him he has a grand champion smirk) So I started my day off with a few white lies about  oatmeal!  Then I got my real present. I had asked that everyone help me clean the house-WITHOUT WHINING OR FIGHTING WITH EACH OTHER.  Those crazy kids did it!! It made me almost forget about the cold oatmeal. almost.  The yard was mowed and edged.  The house was picked up and looking somewhat normal. We then headed over to the soccer fields.  Julia's team has yet to win one game.  It is oddly enough still fun to watch.  Julia played against her best friends team.  It was fun and unnerving to watch them play against each other.  Julia rocked. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that she is good.  It is fun to watch your kid be really good at something. I love seeing that smirk that she inherited, as she dribbles past the whole field of kids.  Anyway...after soccer I went to the movie theater BY MYSELF with a bag of jelly beans and watched Gatsby. It was great. being alone, Gatsby and the jelly beans (my favorite).  I then came home and watched my kids play hide and seek in the backyard.  It was one of those nights that the light was perfect and it looked like I was watching a movie.  They were laughing and rolling around, and I tried to memorize it all. I knew that this would be a moment I would try to recreate later in my head when either the kids hated each other or life got really hard.  I love moments like that and wish we had a pause button.

Random thought. Yesterday my mother in law said something that surprised me. She asked for a lint brush before we went to church. She said that she didn't want dog hair in her car.  Totally reasonable. We have two dogs, one is black and one is white.  In other words you will have visible dog hair on you no matter what you have on.  What surprised me is that would never be a thought that I would have.  I hope that everyone I am supposed to have with me is in the car. I hope that everyone has shoes on and hair brushed. ( 50/50 shot on both) I have to run through my checklist out loud....do we have water bottle, soccer ball, swim bag, soccer bag, grocery list, snacks, guitar?  I am constantly telling my kids to pick up the car. Often there are times that there is an unidentifiable smell in my van. We have to play a yucky game of trying to sniff it out. Gross. We are just in this stage of life.  My mother in law was once in this place. She is the mother of 5 amazing kids, my husband being the youngest. All of her kids were involved in sports. I am sure there were days that she didn't know whether she had the right kids with her. She has earned the right to not want dog hair in her car.  My thought on the whole mess was, what if I never notice? What if I am the retiree grandma with dog hair all over me and gross smells in my car?  I am praying this is a natural process that just "happens". Otherwise I am counting on my amazing girlfriends to tell me to freakin' pull it together.

On another note, I finished the mini marathon!!! I could not have asked to do it with a more amazing person! It was amazing.  Just when you felt like this is the dumbest idea ever, someone would run past you with a physical handicap or visibly struggling.  Yep, just keep moving.  It was a great experience and so glad I did it!

I am getting ready for a big artshow on June first. Big to the point that anything I am doing that is not getting ready for that , kind of makes me nervous.  It feels like finals week! :)  A feeling I secretly like as long as it is only every once in a while.  So I am off to snuggle my kid and paint stuff!
Have a super Monday!