Snack Schedule Sarcasm

Tonight my son's undefeated team, lost.  A true nail biter.  Down to the last 1.6 seconds of the game and down by one point, they inbounded the ball.  Time for one pass and a shot from under the basket.  The ball circled around and around the rim, and fell out. 

Truly a good game; however, some of the kids were just not playing their normal game.  When we got home at about 6:45p.m., my son said he wasn't hungry.  He didn't care what I made for dinner but he wanted it, "later". 

After an allergy attack from putting blue lights (don't get me started Meijer was out of white lights) on my Christmas tree and my eyes begging to swell shut, I went into the bathroom to take out my contacts before they were permanently sealed in my eyelids.  My son was taking a shower and we chatted more about the game. 

He informed me that the double cheeseburger before the game probably wasn't a good idea.  WHAT?  I knew that as parents, we were responsible for bringing a snack as outlined in the handout at the beginning of the season.  I assumed snacks were similar to every other sport he's played for the past...ten years...a drink and fruit snacks or fruit or chips or something to be given at the end of the game.  WRONG.

T informed me that snacks are eaten prior to the game.  According to T he said that snacks are typically a little healthier: pb&j, ham sandwiches or something.  Today, they were double cheeseburgers from Burger King!  Not only that, they also had fruit snacks, a granola bar AND a drink.  All of that before playing 4 - 6 minute periods of 8th grade basketball. 

Whose genius idea is that?  If I didn't know better, I would have guessed that the snack was provided by the opposing team.  Seeing that I am responsible for snacks the last game of the season - maybe I will get deluxe Jet's pizzas and a pudding filled cake and ice cream to be devoured BEFORE the game. 

What a grand idea. Grand indeed.

Teen Room Transformation

T turned 13 in March.  He officially became a teenager.  His bedroom (although I didn't take a before picture - and can't find one on my camera or computer) has been painted twice in the past 11 years.  He continues to have the same bedroom furniture that he has had since he was 3.  My mom had purchased the bedroom set: bunk bed, two dressers and a book shelf.  They are excellent quality but I thought maybe it was time to upgrade.  When T was 3, the bed was on the floor and then years later it moved up to the bunk, where he continued to sleep in his twin size bed.

I offered to repaint.  I offered to add sports border.  I offered to redo his trunk chest.  I offered a new bed.  I offered a new bedroom set.  No, No, No, Well, No.    I had purchased the full size bed for the guest room last year with the intention that it would be T's.  A week ago Friday, I had T sleep in the bed to see if he wanted it or we could go bed shopping.  T decided he liked the bed and it would be fine.  He also decided he wanted the area rug from the living room for his bedroom floor.  He wanted to keep the same colors and not have me repaint.  Less work for me = Love it!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I spent reorganizing the rooms.  Always an adventure.  I managed to take down the bunk bed and had T clear off the floor, bench and the tops of his dressers.  The room was clear with the exception of the two dressers that I just moved to lay down the rug and moved into position.  I put up the bunk in the spare bedroom.  While not completely functional for guests, it can be appropriate for a foster child that may require respite. 

Guest Bedroom

The afghan was made by my grandmothers and I figured for now, it can cover the crazy fabric of the couch.  I am still planning on organizing the closet and then the plan will be to put the dresser into the closet.  That's the idea anyway.  Then if other company come, I will put the aero bed underneath the bunk.  Seeing that I seldom have overnight guests, I'm not too worried at this point, although I have also considered getting a twin size bed for under the bunk.  Decisions...

Other than dropping the mattresses on my leg while wedging in the bed frame and pinching my index finger in the metal bed frame, I managed to move the bedrooms with little issue, well little blood.  T and I went through both drawers and I made him try on everything.  The following day, I went through and reorganized his closet.  It is amazing how much room he really has!

Clean & Organized, For a Minute...

We attempted to find a comforter set, but didn't find one that was quite right.  He liked a queen size comforter at Meijer that was very grown up (which I purchased for him (or me) for Christmas) on the Saturday after Black Friday for a great steal!  I noticed that he was sitting on the floor with his computer on his dresser.  I asked T if he would like a desk, which he said yes.  On Black Friday I purchased a desk that he had found online at Staples for a steal!  Then I went to the hotel restore and grabbed a desk chair that the clerk discounted $10 as the height lever wasn't working!  I picked up a great queen sized down alternative comforter set at Target for $24.99!

I assembled his desk and added his new bedding last weekend for an early Christmas present.  For less than $80, his room is officially transferred into a great room for him to enjoy through his teens!  And the best thing, when he came home tonight and opened his closed door, he was surprised AND, HE LOVES IT!

Vermont Travels & Karma

I previously posted about my upcoming Vermont non-Vacation here. Clearly my road trip was nothing like my cross country adventure of 2009 as posted on day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4 or day 5. 

Sunday night (during our disc adventure and errands) I stopped by my office and looked for my Lions Thanksgiving Day football squares and checked in for my Monday morning flight and printed off my boarding passes.  My flight was at 11:30a.m. out of Southbend, Indiana.  I had confirmed with my friend that Southbend was on the same time zone as Chicago, an hour behind Michigan.

Monday morning after taking T to school, I had plenty of time to freeze the chili I had made throughout the night in the crock pot.  I finished packing my overnight backpack and picked up the house.  I left the house with plenty of time.  I stopped just shy of the Indiana border and fueled up the car so that my sister-in-law had a full tank.  I also went inside and bought a couple of lottery tickets and two Sobe Life Waters.  I realized I was overcharged and I waited in line for the .69 overcharge. 

I walked back out to my car, with my $11 plus change crammed in my pockets.  I noticed a silver PT Cruiser was still at a nearby pump.  I was then approached by a man in his mid-thirties in a hoodie that resembled a guy I grew up with.  He apologized for having to ask, but they had "puttered into the station on fumes and were trying to get to Michigan City" and he asked if I had any spare change.  I reached in my pocket and left the change and handed him $11.00.  He looked at it, dumbfounded and asked if I was serious.  "Have a safe trip and holiday."  And I thought to myself, Karma.  If he was lying, Karma. 

I continued on the way to Southbend and chatted on the phone with my mom.  I decided I would grab a sub from Subway before arriving at the airport.  I was surprised that my phone hadn't auto corrected the time.  When I walked in Subway I inquired as to the time.  11:18a.m.  OH. MY. WORD.

Apparently, Southbend is in the same time zone. There was no way I could get back the two miles, park the car and make my 11:30a.m. flight.  NO. WAY.  So I did what I do best, I ordered my foot long sub.  I then drove to the airport, parked up front in short-term parking for my sister-in-laws convenience and I walked into the airport.  I looked at the monitor and saw the dreaded "On Time" status for my flight, despite the rain.  I walked up to the Delta counter and gave my boarding pass and asked to be booked on the next flight to Detroit as I had missed my plane.  The agent asked which flight and then made a call.  Fortunately for me, the plane was delayed and hadn't even boarded!

I made that flight and was delayed one hour and fifteen minutes.  I was to have 1.5 hours of a layover in Detroit, originally.  I walked the brisk walk of 31 gates and arrived at my gate with three minutes to spare before boarding.  Karma. 

On my flight to Burlington Vermont, I scratched off my lottery tickets.  I won...$10.  Karma.  When I was approached by the flight attendant, she said, "You look like the daughter of a friend of mine."  Ok.  How does one respond to such a statement?  She proceeded to say the name of the subdivision I grew up in (although when she said it, I didn't recognize it as my subdivision and clarified the town where I grew up) and she then announced the street I grew up on!  She moved into the same subdivision I was raised, in 1978, and continues to reside in the same residence.  She was unaware that my parents had divorced in 1992 and inquired of my family.  Small world!

I called and reached my brother at the airport and when we found each other, his one arm was limp.  He had spent three hours in the ER in the early morning as a sack in his elbow had erupted (and Wednesday the hospital confirmed he had an infection).  He was on pain killers and was in severe pain and an isolating cast.  My sister-in-law was still 45 minutes away stressing that my oldest nephew may have contracted HIV after finding a spoon and a hypodermic needle in the rental attic of a friend of hers.  Oh the drama. 

My niece had a rough night and I was kept awake by my brother trying to soothe her in the adjacent room singing This Old Man while my two nephews slept on the hide-a-bed in my room.  My brother took my sister-in-law and niece to the airport at 4:30a.m. Tuesday morning and came back and slept.  I was ready to go at 5:00a.m. but decided he needed to sleep.  Finally at 6:30a.m., my brother and the boys woke and we packed up the vehicles and had breakfast.  We were on the road at 7:30a.m.  Other than trying to get through customs driving my brother's vehicle stock full of their personal belongings, the drive was uneventful.  Getting into Michigan from Canada was a little more challenging as I was suppose to have an "itemized list".  Fortunately, I was let through without having to have the vehicle searched.  We arrived at my mom's, west of Detroit just before 9:00p.m.  Two vehicles.  Two children.  Two adults.  Safe and Sound. 

So much better and less adventurous than my cross country adventure.  There is definitely something to be said with traveling with your own family than someone else's family.  And having karma on your side never hurts either!

Disc Disarray

A week ago Sunday, after a lazy day around the house, I decided T and I needed to run some errands.  We needed to go to Blockbuster, Kohl's and my work.  All said and done, errands that should have taken less than an hour.  Should. Have.

Our first stop was Blockbuster.  T opted to hangout in the parking lot and throw around his new flying disc, with distances up to a quarter of a mile.  I had called my brother after leaving the house to talk about my pending trip out to Vermont and get the latest on my dad.  I went into Blockbuster and swapped out movies.  When I came out, still on the phone, T was forlorn.  T had managed to lodge his disc in the one of two trees in the middle of the parking lot, over 20 feet in tree!  Understanding the predicament, I got off the phone and decided that using a baseball in the car might knock the disc down.

After about 15 minutes, we managed to get the baseball stuck in the tree.  For those of you that don't know me all that well, I have a slight fear of heights.  So why in the world I thought it would be a great idea to climb the tree was unbeknownst to me!  In minutes, I was in the tree, climbing and retrieved the ball.  I spent many years of my childhood in trees, but several falls from ladders have made me height-skiddish.  I embraced the tree and proceeded to shake it, to no avail.  The disc didn't budge.  I even tried to throw the ball at the disc while in the tree.  Of course, not my smarter ideas.  After sometime, I decided I should climb down from the tree, without the disc.  This is where fear set in.  Fear.

As I stood in the tree, about 6.5" in the air, I froze.  Fear.  I couldn't do it.  I tried to psyche myself.  I tried to calm myself.  I tried to trick myself.  I was even tempted to have T drive the car under the tree so I could jump on my new hood.  Then, I realized I was a grown woman.  36 years old.  I could do this.  I maneuvered on to my stomach and stretched downward and jumped the remaining feet to the ground.  Then, I began to shake.  I realize I am no longer 6 or even 12.  I shouldn't be climbing trees.  Especially given that I am more than accident prone.  Why was my 13 year old son not in the tree?

After another while, we again managed to get the ball stuck.  All the while, we hit the disc and managed to lodge it a little more than initially.  T climbed the tree, while I tried to give him instructions.  He advised that I should have taught him Tree Climbing 101 in 2nd grade, not 8th grade!  We were right back to where we started.  Disc in the tree.  We started tossing broken pieces of the parking lot and finally after discouraging onlookers from joining in our adventure, we gave up.  An HOUR later.

An hour of our time, was definitely worth more than the $10 disc.  Fortunately, after both of us climbing the tree, neither of us fell.  T suggested we get an extension pole from Menards and retrieve the disc.  After finishing our errands, we went to Menards.

The first sales associate directed us to the gardening section.  Other than tree edgers, there was not an extension pole.  I located a second sales associate and inquired about an "extension pole" to retrieve something in the tree about 20' high.  He had no idea what we needed and called over a third sales associate.  When I inquired about the "extension pole" he said they had them in the painting section at which time the second associate said, "Oh you meant an extension pole!".  Ummm...Yeah.  Needless to say, T mocked the associate the entire jaunt across the store to the poles. 

Almost $40 later and a 24' extension pole extending the length of my Neon, we headed back to Blockbuster.  Fortunately the disc was still lodged in the tree.  We extended the pole as much as possible and found it to be rather unstable; however, we were able to retrieve the disc!  Then a quick return back to Menard's to return our pole, less than 30 minutes later! 

So our one hour of errands...turned into an adventure of 3.5 hours!  Is anything simple?

Carpet Picture Post

I've been rummaging around trying to find "before" pictures and if I continue to look any longer, I'll never post!  I can't seem to find any with the dining room rug.
  

Here are pictures of the new rugs that I purchased for my birthday: 





 

Living Room Rug: Before