Sports Mom Syndrome

I'm a sports mom. A football mom to be exact. Both of my boys play football every spring and fall and yes, I do make it to most of their games. I say most because fairly often their games will be at the same time and Mark and I have to split up. Sometimes I make the whole family miss and we go out of town or off to do something important to ME. I do cheer for them, support them and want them to do well.

I say that all to point out that yes, I do understand the profound importance of sports in kids' lives. I really, really do. I don't personally enjoy any sports, but I've seen my children grow and learn from their sports involvement. (Before going football-only they've tried out several other sports). I've seen their sports have a positive impact on their behavior, their schoolwork, their concentration levels and much, much more.

However, I think as a Mom (or Dad, but I'm just writing as a Mom here) it's profoundly important, especially in the area of sports to separate yourself from your child's accomplishments. Kids' sports aren't about Mom and Dad. Kids' sports are and should be about the kid. Partly about health, wellness and ensuring an active lifestyle. Partly about learning to accept defeat. And about learning to win graciously. Definitely about learning to follow the rules and work as a team.

Kids' sports should NOT be about making Mom happy. Yes, I love to see my kids win. And I am sad when they lose. But I'm happy or sad because THEY are happy or sad. Not because their winning or losing a football game defines who I am.

I say all this because today I overheard the following conversation. At the football playoffs this morning, a woman I'll call Ann (and if you read this post, I love you dear, so I hope you're paying attention), was telling the other parents that today is her and her husband's anniversary and "what better gift could I get than B coming home with that huge trophy for my living room." Seriously? Because, call me a bad mom, but for my anniversary I'm hoping more for something along the lines of a a fancy dinner, some flowers or maybe even some jewelry or some new electronic gadget I'm wanting. If I'm lucky I'll get a weekend away with Mark and no kids. It has never ever occurred to me that my kid winning a football game could be considered a "gift" for me.

"Ann's" hubby is the coach and since they lost, I'm wondering how things went at their house this evening. Mark is thinking not well, given the way she was screaming at him after the game about missing some bad calls and whatnot.

As for me, I said "Sorry you lost, Superman. You played great." Then went on about my day. And I'm OK with that. As I told a friend recently, I know I'm a bad "football mom," but I think I'm a good mom. Sometimes I wonder if they two are compatible.

The one in which she returns to blogger...

Yes, you knew I'd be back. I don't know how, but you knew it.

Most of my friends still have my site bookmarked here, despite my moving over to wordpress nearly a year ago. And, alas, they were right. I'm back. And I'm here. I just never really became a wordpress person. I moved over there for the ability to password protect posts. I think I'm over that now. People who annoy me will find a way whether my blog has password protection or not.

I'd refer you over to wordpress for an update on me, but 1. I live in a fantasy world where all my friends have been following me over there already and 2. I never really could get into the system over there so I quit. There's nothing wrong with wordpress, really. It just doesn't do alot of things I like to do. And the screen that's up when I'm writing entries bugs me so I often just didn't.

Alas, alot has happened over the past 10 months! Superman is in 1st grade now, Sunshine in 4th. However, Superman doesn't like me calling him that anymore, at least not to his face. And sunshine is pretty cranky lately.

I've taken on some new volunteer "jobs" and dropped some old ones. I have a couple of regular freelance clients, but still not enough to keep me from looking for parttime work.

Several of my friends have started new blogs, so I'm going to get linked to them and see if we can do a better job of keeping up with one another. I'm doing a fairly good job of that through facebook, which has allowed me to "find" friends I didn't even remember losing. I've also caught up with some old friends locally as of late. More on that later.

So, she's back. For now. Until something better comes along.

We've moved

Sorry for the inconvenience to anyone who has tried to read my blog the past few days. I've moved to a new, but not necessarily improved space. Stop on over and say Hello!

Holiday Eating Guide

Too good not to post:

1. Avoid Carrot Sticks - Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing about Christmas spirit. Leave their home at once and go next door where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much egg nog as you can - It's only available for four weeks each year, so it's not like you'll get addicted or anything.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it - That's the point of gravy. It is not a stand alone item. Make a mashed potato volcano with gravy lava. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for the mashed potatoes, ask if they're made with skim o r whole milk - If it's skim, pass. What's the point? It's like buying a Porsche with automatic transmission.

5. Do not pre-snack in an effort to control your eating - The main reason for going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it.

6. Do not exercise between now and New Year's - You can do that in January when there's nothing else to do. December is for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table carrying a ten-pound plate and a gallon of egg nog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted cookies in the shape and size of Santa Claus, station yourself nearby and don't move - Eat as many as you can before people start to whisper and point. Opportunities like this are fleeting; if you pass them up, you may not get another chance.

8. Same goes for pie - Apple, pumpkin, mincemeat, have a slice of each. If you don't like mincemeat, double up on apple or pumpkin. Always eat at least three slices. When else can you have multiple desserts?

9. Fruitcakes - Granted, it's loaded with calories, but avoid it at all costs. You've got to have some standards.

10. If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party, yo u haven't been paying attention - Reread this list and try to do better next time. Hurry, January is right around the corner.

Well, that was fun... sorta

Today was the teacher appreciation lunch at the boys' school and lucky me got to sub for both the boys' teachers while they attended the lunch. How is that possible you ask? Well, it's a huge school so they stagger when the teachers go to the luncheon - they all go at the time their kids go to lunch, then get to stay for an extra half hour. Yep, a whole hour for their lunch. You'd think we'd given them the day off they get so excited. Superman has lunch at 10:30 and Sunshine has lunch at noon, so I actually had 1/2 hour between classes. So I had time to yak w/ the other moms for awhile.

The Kindergarten teachers were apparently worried that parents would lose one of the kids and made color coded nametags with "Kindergarten" and the teacher's name on it just in case. Luckily I know most of Superman's class from volunteering up there so I was able to keep up with most of them. Had a tad bit of trouble w/ the special needs child, since his aide went to the luncheon also, but at least I knew he was supposed to be in "my" class. We were supposed to play BINGO, but then the teacher found out the office was showing a movie (they all have TV's in their room and can turn it on to a certain channel to watch stuff). Something about a little bear that made no sense to me. Then, Ms. S came back and said that was one of her favorite movies. I think she needs to get out more!

Third grade was a bit trickier. No one gave me a nametag and I was supposed to somehow make sure they all washed their hands on the way to lunch. Good luck on that one. At least 3 boys came out with soap still on their hands and I had to send them back. Boys are so weird.

After lunch I got to discuss voice in writing with them. Not something I recall learning as a third grader, but my kid is a genius and apparently in some accelarated school and no one bothered to tell me. I swear. They did economics last month. I didn't learn about economics until high school. I was really impressed with the kids' answers and discussion. Then I read a story while they wrote down when they heard the author using voice in the story. I didn't quite get the assignment, but they did.

I was pleasantly surprised when it was time to go. I thought it would be much harder. Not sure I'm ready for a full day of subbing just yet, but a couple of hours was kind of fun.

A White THANKSGIVING??

We're back. Cold and wet, but home. While it may be cold and wet in Central Texas today, the big surprise of Thanksgiving 2007 was that is snowed out in West Texas. Real snow. By the end of the day there was about an inch and a half in the yard. The kids had a blast. I was cold. Freezing cold.

All in all it was fun. However, I wasn't able to take many photos because, as I have mentioned, I was cold. I didn't have my gloves and the camera was, you guessed it, cold. You might say I'm not a cold weather person. Mark went outside and actually played with the kids in it. Of course, he didn't bother to take photos. I took the one above from the safety of Mom's patio and ran right back inside the house.

It was definitely an interesting Thanksgiving. We had made some huge efforts to plan getting toegether with my Dad's side of the family. It's been at least 5 years since we spent a holiday with that whole clan, so we were looking forward to it. Of course, they had to drive down from Lubbock and called from Tahoka (sorry, have to mention that because how many times does one have the chance to mention Tahoka in a blog entry?) that the snow was so heavy they couldn't see a foot in front of them and were turning back.

Lucky for us, Mom made the half of Thanksgiving dinner with the ham, turkey, cornbread dressing and green beans. They had rice stuffing, jello mold and pecan pie for lunch. I'd feel bad for them, but knowing that crowd they rounded up some other food fast!

True to Midland form, the snow melted by Friday afternoon and we headed out to see Santa. Superman was so nervous he'd forget what to tell the big guy he wanted for Christmas. I thought he was about to cry when it was his turn. He kept turning back around asking me "what do I want?" He managed to remember that he wants a remote control helicopter. Whew. At least this year Santa didn't offer his own suggestions.

Sunshine was more interested in the cookies and hot chocolate - he's figured out that as long as Daddy knows what he wants from Santa, there's a good chance he's getting it. Dunno if he believes Santa is real anymore, but I do know he's smart enough to fake it if he doesn't.

And here's the whole gang.

I love taking them all out together because everyone is freaked out by that many siblings so close in age. Ha! Like I'd be out of the mental hospital already if I'd had 4 kids in 5 years! Especially THOSE four!

Now I'm off to take a HOT bath because I still have not warmed up from the cold. And some joker left the AC on in our house and it actually got cold here while we were gone!

Learn a word, give some rice

Here's a neat little game someone posted over at Paperbackswap.com. For every vocabulary word you get right in the game, they donate 10 grains of rice.

According to the FAQ, your playing the game earns money from the advertisers on the site and the money is then used to purchase rice. Fun little game too. I've earned about 1000 grains of rice just now while talking on the telephone to a friend.

One last try

Once again we've undertaken a project trying to fix the patches of dead grass and mud in our front yard. I forgot to take a before photo, but just imagine all the mulched parts in the after photo with patches of dirt and mud instead of mulch. And instead of the plants.

From the street:

And here it is from the driveway:

Much better and now everytime it rains we won't have so much mud in the house. After 3 tries at replanting grass, it's just not going to happen. I'm not sure if the plants I put there will survive or not. Between the tree roots soaking up all the water and the kids playing football in the front yard it's not likely. I just had to try anyway.

When uploading these I noticed the color isn't very good. Which just adds to my case for needing a new camera...