The "Glee" way

I watched previews for this show, for what felt like an eternity. The commercial with the Don't Stop Believing song got me so excited. I know this is just a show, but I love when I come across a heartwarming, funny, entertaining, not reality show, that just makes me smile. Many of my friends know that I love/loved... to sing. I don't do it much anymore, since I don't have a fabulous group of people to do it with. Of course, the things I miss most about high school are cheerleading and Singers. That shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.

Glee takes me back to the days of getting out of class to go perform at a nursing home, quick changes into our lovely gowns with strapless bra's (or lack of bra's in some cases) and hose and jewelry...the whole nine yards. And who didn't love going in someone's room and waking them up in the middle of the night/super early in the morning and dragging them to Denny's in their pajamas? It does seem strange to me that I don't remember being initiated into Singers. Maybe initiaion came after my first year. I honestly can't remember. It was like 13 years ago!

The music of Glee just makes me happy. I pretty much love every song, whether I loved or hated the original version by the original artist. I usually prefer "the Glee way."

Of course, I am already anxiously awaiting the next episode. There is such a wide variety of personalities. It's easy to get sucked in, even if you aren't into music/singing/glee clubish types of shows. Glee is great entertainment!

Master of the House

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am getting anxious for the school year to be over, and I am not even the one in school! What's with that? Well, I am really looking forward to getting my happy-go-lucky, carefree husband back. He has worked so hard, and spent countless hours on projects, homework, studying for tests and preparing presentations. This chapter in his life will soon closed in a few short weeks. There has definitely not been a lot of complaining on his end, probably more on mine.

I am so proud of his hard work and dedication, and finding a way to balance work, family, coaching soccer and school. I tell him continually how much I appreciate him for everything he does, but I don't think he will ever realize how grateful I am. We have gone through so many obstacles and experienced so much joy together. I know that the best is still yet to come! I'll be ready for this MBA graduate to take back his favorite position...Master of the house. (Or, I will let him think it's his title anyway.) :)

Kindergarten Roundup

Well, the time has finally come. My Sofia will begin kindergarten this fall. I can't believe that both Darius and Sofia will get on the bus together and disappear for the day. What am I going to do?

Kindergarten Roundup was held on Thursday, April 1st, and Sofia really had a great time. They arrived and picked up a Sheriff badge with their name on it. Sheriff Sofia and I headed into the library to begin the process.

They took the kids to do some informal assessments, play and get familiar with the idea of going to school. We took a bus ride around the area and they each received a cowboy hat when they returned. Roundup ended with a visit to the kindergarten classrooms.

I know that Sofia is ready for Kindergarten, but I am not so sure that I am ready for her to go to kindergarten!

How well do you know your husband?

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? ESPN Sportszone or something on the Discovery channel.

2.You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Thousand Isles (Island) if they have it. If not, usually ranch.

3. What is one food he doesn't like? Popcorn. Who doesn't like popcorn?

4. You go out to eat and have a drink, what does he order? Lemonade

5. Where did he go to high school? St. Mary's College Prepatory

6. What size shoe does he wear? 13 or 14 depending on the type of shoe

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Naruto episodes

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Subway: Tuna with lettuce tomatoes, green peppers, onions and a little mayo. At home: Roast beef

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? Curried chicken would be at the top of the list.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Raisin Bran.

11. What would he never wear? A sweater vest.

12. What is his favorite sports team? I honestly don't know. There are so many teams. He's never been a real die hard fan for any one of them.

13. Who did he vote for? He can't vote.

14. Who is his best friend? There are a few.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Drink Diet Coke. I am still working on this, but not for him. For me!

16. What is his heritage? He is from the island of St. Lucia.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind would it be? No cake. It would be either Passion Fruit Cheesecake or warm apple pie!

18. Did he play sports in high school? He played futbal (soccer) when he was younger, but didn't take on basketball until he was older. Played lots of basketball in college. That's how we met. The rest is history.

19. What could he spend hours doing? Currently, he could spend hours building his kingdom on my facebook account. No wait, I think dominoes with Sheldon, Mo and Troy could even top that. Dominos are endless.

20. What is one unique talent that he has? Letting the sunshine in. This was recently brought to my attention and has lots of different meanings. Good, bad, interesting and inspiring.

FaRmViLlE FaNaTiC

So, I see their point. Yes, Farmville does cut down on productivity, but you have to be smart about it. If you've seen Dr. Phil, you know that there are people out there that their lives truly revolve around planting and harvesting crops. I do not in any way plan my life around whether or not my crops will wither. I think it is funny that it all started out last year, when Ewan wanted to start a garden. He wanted to get the kids up every morning in the summer to go out and water it. I was not thrilled about this, because I wanted the kids to sleep in and not be grumpy. We are total night owls, so summertime usually means semi-late nights for the kids.

So, Farm Town came about and I told Ewan he should just play that. I was joking, but he used my account and started playing. It was actually looking sort of interesting and I didn't want to "mess up" his farm, so when Farmville came out, I jumped on it and started my farm. Of course, in the beginning, all my crops died, and I was like, "What am I doing?" But, time went on, and slowly, but surely, my farm grew bigger and bigger and the coins kept rolling in.

For fellow Farmer friends.... here are my thoughts about Zynga's addictive game:

1. Why am I so disappointed when I click on GET FUEL and I get a small can. EVERY time, I wish it was a Large can! Well, almost! It just seems that way!
2. The Hot Rod Seeder/Harvester/Plow is AWESOME, but when is Farmville going to let me get more fuel without paying real money for it, 'cause that's not gonna happen.
3. Getting fuel from friends farms is pretty much a joke. I want the 75 cans I got for Christmas.
4. I always used to adopt every animal that roamed on my farm, and I sometimes ignore them now. Poor little lost animals.
5. I actually listen to some of the podcasts. I do think that's sad, but I can't wait til I get my puppy!
6. I want to make the farm look good, but it's never big enough and I want to maximize my crop space....thanks to my husband.
7. I wish I could say that I gift everyday, but it's hard because I have so many friends that are listed as Farmville friends, that don't actually play farmville, and they get annoyed when they get presents and they don't play.
8. If you don't play farmville, please remove the application so you don't show up as a farmville friend! Please and thank you! ;)
9. The Valentine and Gold collecting is a little out of control. I am sure FV got exactly what they wanted...a little friendly competition, but that's not really my nature. But, I just collect Valentine's and Gold and go on my merry way. How much you wanna bet it'll be Easter Eggs next?
10. I have $4 million farmville dollars and of course, secretly wish that it was real $. But, who am I kidding?
11. I quit hatching people's eggs until I realized that there are sometimes collectibles in there.
12. I swear, every time I hatch a golden egg, it's a golden chicken, and that annoys me. Especially because some people get cottages and other large items.
13. I want storage to store things that I don't even want on my farm. I don't like selling things. I guess you could say I am a farmville hoarder.
14. Did I really just spend 20 minutes blogging about FV? You bet! I LUV FarmVille!

Snow

SNOW

Which one do you prefer?


You may be beautiful when you fall so gently and light,
but if you visit Google again, you may stir up a fight.



You took over Christmas and church pajama day.
You even made it so cold that no one goes out to play.


Snow usually doesn't bother me, but we've spent too much time together.
I have had enough and am ready for some Caribbean weather!



I'll have to settle for the upcoming Caribbean Night.
We'll crank up the music and pretend we see sunlight.


My husband is from an island, so what is he doing here?
I suppose he couldn't resist me and my Ichabod cheers.


Let's get back to the point, of this very important poem.
The fact that you, Snow, needs to pack up and find a new home!!!

The game of LIFE!

So, a memory may be defined as retaining or recalling a past experience. Aren't we glad we have these memories? I can remember being a little girl, playing in the basement at my house, all by myself for hours. I had the biggest, coolest Barbie house and my Barbie was equipped with every outfit and accessory imagineable.

I can remember my first boy/girl party and whose house it was at. I can remember elementary school and being sent on the wrong bus the very first day of school. I can remember the time that my Mom spanked me and I looked at her and said: "That didn't hurt." That probably wasn't the best response, but I can remember it.

As I sit here, looking at my own children, and watching them make their own memories, I am thankful. Thankful that I am allowed this experience. Life. The thing about life is that, experience is not required. We are experiencing life everyday. Whether it is life 25 years ago, when we were playing Barbie's and doing cartwheels, or life 10 years ago when we were in college....this game is not to be taken for granted. It is always nice to stop and remember how amazing it really is.

I have no idea how I ended up where I am today, but I believe I went down this path that God helped guide me on, and helped me get through difficult levels of this game of life. He helped me score and collect points. Well, that doesn't sound right, but you get the idea! Friends and family helped somewhere along the way. It is hard to believe that I am 30 years into the game. But, I am having a great time. Life is a game. Now go play!

Adjusting to the new position...

Well, we have all heard the term soccer mom. And, I thought after I got a minivan and my son started playing soccer, that I had met the definition or requirements of that title. But, I have quickly learned that is not the case.

I do owe my husband an apology for the slight meltdown I had after the first night of baseball practice. Yes, I do want Darius to be involved and do the things that he wants to do. But, when a child wants to do it all, don't you have to draw the line somewhere? I mean, he wanted to do cub scouts, fine. But then I ended up as one of the leaders. He wanted to do soccer, and Ewan ended up as the coach. Super. And then Darius decided that he wanted to try his hand at baseball. Fantastic.

Well, with Ewan being in school, it truly means that most of this falls to me. I admire Ewan very much for sticking with school and finishing up his Master's, which will be completed in May. (I don't want to jinx him or anything, but since he pretty much get's straight A's, I think he may be safe.)

So, baseball batting practice is on Monday nights, Tuesday nights are cub scouts and soon-t0-be soccer practice, Wednesday nights are Sofia's dance night and Thursday nights will be fielding practice starting next week. So, that means, that every weeknight is officially filled up, except for Friday nights, which will hopefully remain Family Night. Saturdays are taken up by soccer games, birthday parties, Caribbean Night (which sometimes means, Caribbean afternoon into night) and Sundays, church., sometimes meetings, sometimes E has work, preparing for the new week, etc...

My wonderful husband keeps reminding me that he would be taking Darius to some of this stuff if he wasn't in class. But, the thing is...he is in class! It wouldn't be so bad if the facility wasn't CLEAR across town. Literally, couldn't get any farther away. But, I think I am just adjusting to this new lifestlye. I know I am not the only one to go through it, and won't be the last. So, I am willing to let my kids do what they enjoy and sacrifice a little bit of my sanity. I know that we will be right there, watching those games, at that dance recital, and making sure that daddy and the batmobile and mad mom in a mini-van are ready for round 2, and round 3....and round 4.... you get the idea.

Watch out for that....

SOCK BOMB!




I think we started a new fun game at our house. I was sitting on the bedroom floor, folding laundry and the kids were bored. They kept coming in the room. E was laying on the bed, and I was folding...what's with that? Anyway, I grabbed some rolled up socks and started throwing "bombs." And, I started a true explosion alright. An explosion of fun! We literally ran through the entire house, arms loaded with socks. We were hiding at every corner and I was on my own team, while Ewan was laughing at all of us. He probably would have joined us if his knee wasn't swollen to the size of a watermelon. Nonetheless, we had a great time.

The kids kept conversing about where they thought I was hiding, and when they were wrong, E and I were trying hard not to bust out laughing. The laundry room light comes on automatically when you walk by, so this kind of hindered my trying to hide, but I didn't complain too much being bombarded by sock bombs. I mean, at least they were clean!

When it got to the point that Darius was heading to his sock drawer to load up on more socks... I drew the line. I mean, the socks from the folded laundry were already out, but digging out more socks? No thanks.

Sidenote here, a really nice mustang just turned around in the cul-de-sac and it was literally the color of an orange.

Anyway, after round one of the sock bomb war, the kids were begging for me. I was sweating and needed a break, so I went into Ewan's socks and gathered up a bunch of "huge bombs" and after a few minutes, I was ready for more. I don't think it's such a good thing that I now have the kids running around saying. "bomb.bomb.bomb. bomb.bomb.ba-bomb," from Meet the Parents, but we sure had a great time!

The art of Stephanie's snow shoveling

***CAUTION: If you like to shovel snow, or do a good job at it, don't read.***

Okay, so, since I only work part-time, it stopped snowing and Ewan pretty much works circles around me, the least I could do would be to shovel the snow. I mean, I feel like it's the little things.... well, apparently this is not such a little thing.

It seems easy when you think about it, but I must have a few issues going on here. Either a) we have two really crappy shovels (one is a $30 shovel. I feel like that's an expensive shovel, but I know nothing about shovels) or b) the person operating the snow shovel is just really terrible at it.

You should see everyone else's driveway. I think I am not the only woman in the neighborhood to shovel today, but I did witness someone shoveling their driveway and they made it look effortless. And, the driveway is perfectly "clean" or really just wet looking.

So, you should see my driveway. I left a huge patch at the bottom that will remain unshoveled because I am just done. There are little snow patches everywhere, and I promise I really tried my person best because I do like things to be, not perfect, but if you are going to do something, at least do a good job, ya know?

I would take a picture if I wasn't so worn out. But, I am now drenched in sweat and my driveway still looks crappy.

There is only one good thing that came out of this: I got a decent workout and worked up a sweat.