Bored at work

So I guess I only blog after a) having a ridiculously awesome picture of myself to post, b) having a cute picture of the girls to post or c) when I'm bored at work.

Guess which one this?

We are SO busy now that the girls are back in school. Soccer is big at our house this year. BIG. Penny scored two, almost three, goals at her first game. She was so good, the coach moved her to defense. Steve said that's a first for a Gardner -- getting moved to defense for being TOO good.

Carol was her typical what-ev self at first. At FIRST... Before Steve bribed her with the iPad. Then she became the best soccer player on her team, scoring one of the two goals scored that game, and assisting on the other. Bummer for me, I missed that one.

School is also busy. Carol is working on a paper about the praying mantis. And Penny is this week's Friend of the Week. That's a BIG deal in first grade. Only, today, the first day of the big week, her day sort of sucked. She's sick. She didn't present anything to the class because she wanted to wait for Carol to come to her class. Carol called her stupid in front of her friends, and they laughed. All really sucky stuff.

So I bought her a smoothie at McDonalds. Because sometimes a smoothie helps.

And then our sewer exploded, but that's not really something I want to think/write/talk about. Because it's smelly. And works has been busy. Well. Not tonight. But in general.

I usually like to end with something quippy, but tonight, I'll j....

Football

Pretty much did nothing but drink beer, eat and watch football. I justified this decision because I am almost never off on Sundays, and why not live it up... On the sofa. With a gallon of ice cream poised on my chest.

Turns out, living it up sorta makes me feel a little fat. And this picture certainly doesn't help. Reminder to self, a thumbs up rarely benefits a portrait. Especially one as awesome as this.

A work in progress

Today is my least favorite day of all the school days. It's open house day at my kids' school. Usually, this sort of thing is exciting. Getting to meet the new teachers. Getting to hear about the fun things they're going to do this year. Sitting in tiny seats. 

But I always feel sort of overwhelmed on these days. We pick volunteer opportunites. Learn about the big dates like field trips and science project due dates. And I envision my semi-empty calendar filling with all sorts of stuff I'm likely to forget. Also, I had to shell out like $50 on a babysitter and pizza, which is not how I like to spend $50 on a Thursday night.

Both girls have very nice teachers. Penny has a teacher new to the school who seems very excited about teaching 1st graders. Carol has a 36-year veteran teacher who designs her room around whatever "theme" the class is working on. The first lesson is nature and, I kid you not, she has a life-sized tree in her classroom. Sorta makes you want to revisit the 3rd grade.  

My birthday weekend is OK. Weirdish weather. Here's Penny on Sunday, and again on Monday. Looks like she can have fun in any weather! It also looks like she has a preference for green.

Birthday awesomeness

I was not looking forward to my birthday this year. But here's just another example of how my kids and husband made this an extra special day.

Homemade card from Carol:

Dear mommy. I love you. You are the center of my eye. I hope nothing goes wrong on your birthday. You're the best mom I know. Yours truly. Carol.

Homemade card from Penny (with spelling fixed. Sheesh Penny. You're 6. Learn to spell already.):

Dear mom. Happy Birthday! What do you want to do? I want you to open the presents. If you say no, then I guess go outside. Just kidding. Guess what my present is. You don't have to. Love. Penny. 

Gangam Style

I'm so over my birthday depression. I went for a nice run today, where I got drenched on the last mile. I'm not certain why, but I always think it's lucky when it rains on my run.

And I came up with a nice plan for the next few days. And I'm ready for a big old nap before work today.

But most of all, Steve introduced me to this new video. It's the most awesome of the awesomest videos. Please enjoy...

Rainy day blues

This five days a week thing is harder than I thought. My main excuse is I'm, like, clinically depressed. My birthday is coming up. I'm feeling overworked and under appreciated. I'm feeling like the only thing I have to look forward to is more hard work, and then death.

So, basically, what I'm feeling is life.

Today we watched, "West Side Story," in a failed effort to cheer myself up. A Romeo and Juliet story. What's not cheery about that?!?! There was one bright spot, before Tony is gunned down in the playground after having killed his love's brother. And I thought my week was bad.

Tony says, "Good night," and Maria responds, "Buenos noches." And Carol says, "Like he knows what THAT means." I guess it sort of cheered me up.

Gotta go now. The dogs are trying to eat the children. Getting really close to running away from home.