News

My friend P***** had her sixth baby today, a third little girl. I'm so excited for her, it's been a long pregnancy for her.

It's been a busy weekend for us -- we had scouts Friday night, and Duncan got his first award for the year, his fitness pin. Saturday the scouts did a cleanup project, and our kids got their flu shots. Sunday, we crashed and had a quiet day.

Hope this finds everyone well -- we've got another busy week with scouts on Tuesday, soccer on Wednesday, church directory photos on Thursday, and a scout camping trip this coming weekend. New soccer pictures on the photo page!

P.S. We have two people close to us that had surgery today (besides P****), so please hold them in your thoughts that things go smoothly.

"Getting It"

I have maybe four minutes to write this so bear with me today. We had soccer last night. Connor's coach, "Coach Jim", told me a couple of weeks ago that most of these kids have a moment where it clicks, where they "get it" and they improve rapidly. I think we are close to that moment with Connor and alot of the kids.

Connor improved last week, more hustle, more attentiveness, but still little ball contact. He still hasn't "gotten it", but he sure is close. Last night he had more ball contact than I think he's had the whole season so far. I had to laugh, he get the ball, stop it, and then pause to line up his shot. He'd have had four or five goals if he'd just shoot, but I am so very proud of how he played last night. He was charging after the ball, using his feet to stop it, and really hustling. All of the boys on his team are improving. I yelled myself hoarse last night cheering for them.

When I have a moment I'll post some pictures from last night on the photo blog.

Friday Catchup

Let's see... where did I leave off? My dental appointment went surprisingly well -- I was really scared when they have to numb you to clean, but it was a non-event. One quadrant down, two more to go (I don't have to do the fourth one). Dexter sailed through his neutering with flying colors, and has already seemed to chill out a little from our hyper little furrball. He's got a microchip now, and I think he's done on his shots until April. We'll find out at his follow-up visit on 10/17. Scouts went well Tuesday night -- they worked on their citizen pin. This upcoming Saturday they have a community service event, but I'm sending Charles to that with Duncan. Wednesday brought soccer for Connor -- he had alot more hustle (still not really fast but improving), and was a little more attentive.

I feel like I've bled money on the kids this week -- lunch money, book fair $$, field trip $$, scout dues & camping fee... sheesh. At the end of the month are school pictures so it feels like a never ending thing.

Duncan is about 1/3 of the way to his popcorn goal so far. We still have many houses in the neighborhood to hit so hopefully we'll make alot of progress this weekend. He got to go on a field trip to the local fair this week -- his artwork took a second place ribbon this year. I am very proud of my little artist.

Hopefully this finds all my readers well. Have a great weekend!

PMS Sucks

What a moody *itch I've been today!!! I'm hoping it's PMS. With school stuff and scouts I've got an extra $160 in bills this paycheck, and then Dexter goes in to be neutered tomorrow. On top of that, I'm starting $1200 worth of dental work tomorrow that I am NOT looking forward to. Joy oh joy.

Anyone need any boy scout popcorn? We're selling til 10/25....

TGIF!!!

Thank GOODNESS it's Friday! I don't think I had another work day in me this week! It really has been a crazy week. We had another person retire, so we are in scramble mode. I'm carrying the environment support pager until we get someone new in.

Have I mentioned yet that Connor got sent to the principal's office for blowing kisses to everyone in his class? When I asked him what Mr. Rash had to say, he said "Kisses can cause germs!" How cute is that? He's doing slightly better on behavior, but still lots of straight faces and frown-y faces. Sigh.

Dexter had his first vet visit this week, and got an excellent bill of health. He had several vaccinations, got his ears cleaned out (full of dirt), and will get neutered on Tuesday. I don't think he's going to be happy with us Tuesday.

One kid or the other has a field trip for the next three weeks running. The Cub Scout popcorn sale starts tomorrow (let me know if anyone wants to order!), so we will be canvassing our neighborhood tomorrow. Scouts has a camping trip in October as well. The Dixie Classic Fair is in town, and we are trying to decide if we can take the kids to it. Duncan will have art hanging in the fair so I'd like to at least go and see that.

I'm positive I had more to say than this, but I've run out of words at the moment. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Day 2 of "Where's the mute button???"

Ugh... I'm going to invent a cone of silence for the mornings! This morning Connor thoughtfully "had to show me something" and shoved his brothers dirty underwear in my face. EWWW!

I had alot of trouble sleeping last night -- my shoulder was all knotted up. The icy-hot patch helped (along with the wine cooler) and I finally was able to sleep. Today has soccer on the agenda. It is also my meeting all-day day so I start with an 8am meeting and end with a 3pm meeting and more in between....

See you tomorrow (I hope!)

Peace in the a.m.

Some days I could just mute all three of my "boys"... they make SOOO much noise in the a.m.!!! I like about 30 minutes of quiet to gather myself before my day starts, and they are shouting and making noises... it makes me NUTZ!!

Today is the first den meeting for scouts for Duncan this year. He's in Beth's den again, which I am sooo excited about! He got four belt loops from summer camp at the pack meeting Friday night.

Tomorrow (hopefully) will be Connor's second soccer game -- we got rained out last week and he was disappointed. Duncan will attend choir tomorrow night, and then Connor's group sings in church on Sunday. Thursday will be an "at home" night for us which I am looking forward to. Survivor has started on tv again so I have my priorities straight on that subject LOL!

Latest Blog Nonsense

If you know me at all, you look at this and go "DOH!"

You Have A Type A Personality

You are hyper, energetic, and always on the mood You tend to succeed at everything you attempt And if you don't succeed at first, you quickly climb your way to the top! You could be called a workaholic, but you also make time for fun As long as it's high energy and competitive, you're interested You have the perfect personality for business and atheltic success

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Remembering Peter Teague Milano

Born August 10, 1958. Died September 11, 2001. Grew up on Foster Avenue in Carnasie Brooklyn NY. He had two brothers (Frank and Derf) and a sister. Attended Brockport State University.

Peter was a family man from Middleton, NJ, with a wife, Patti, and a son, Peter, and a daughter Jessica. He was a corporate bond broker for Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center. Throughout everything I read as I prepared this tribute, I saw over and over again how much people remembered his smile, his friendliness, his helpfulness.

Kind and AttentiveThoughtful.

He was always thoughtful. The son of a good friend was starting high school. On the morning of the first day of classes, Peter T. Milano called the young man to wish him luck. At the end of the day, he called again to see how things went.Arriving to take the commuter ferry to New York, Mr. Milano spied a pregnant young woman waiting at the end of a very long line, carrying a package. He whisked the package from her arm and escorted her to the front of the line and onto the ferry.He never missed his son's basketball games, never missed his daughter's dance recitals. "He was an incredibly thoughtful guy," said William McGarr, a close friend.Mr. Milano, 43, was a corporate bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald and lived in Middletown, N.J., with his wife, Patti, and their two children, Jessica, 13, and Peter, 16.About 20 years ago, he played in a pretty serious touch football league in Brooklyn. The field was asphalt; when the game ended, you felt it. After a championship game, he was introduced to Patti, who had come to watch. He spoke to her only briefly. When he got home, he told his aunt, "I met the girl I'm going to marry." During every workday, even the busiest and most stressful ones, he found the time to call his wife several times, just to hear her voice and see how she was. "It always boosted his
spirits," Mr. McGarr said. Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 6, 2001.

Lauren Huber posted this tribute on one site:

Peter Milano was a kind, caring and loving person who loved his family with all of his heart and soul. He would walk on water for his family letting nothing get in his way. Thats the person he was. As well as very giving towards others. I'd known Mr. Milano, as I called him, for a long time. I have been very very close friends with his daughter since we were little and we met at Tradewinds Beach Club. Mr. Milano loved to come down during the summer when ever he could and spend time with his family. Whether it be boogie boarding with his kids, talking with friends, cooking burgers or just simply sitting on the beach with hs wife he loved being there. I remember how he would always look after all of us making sure we stayed out of troule, had enough sun block on, checked in with our parents, and always told him where we were going. One thing I will always remember is how he would make me drink cranberry juice because it's good for you and if I didn't drink all of it I had to come back later to finish it. The funny thing is now I drink cranberry juice all the time. Mr. Milano meant so much to me he was like another dad to me and I will never forget him. Although it is hard not having him here, we are all luck to have had him in our lives. Love always Lauren

Susan Haberman had this to say:

I met Pete while commuting on the ferry. We began by just saying hello to one another and eventually my friends knew his friends and so on. Over time, I learned about his love (and sometimes frustration) for crossword puzzles (and his being a terrible speller), his dedication to his family, and his general love of life. No matter what was going on, Pete always had a smile and nothing but kind words to say, to everyone. He would consistently offer his seat if one of the "boat girls" didn't have a seat, a true gentleman.

My research on Peter came from the following sites:

http://www.legacy.com/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=146278&PageNo=1
http://www.911wvfa.org/events20.htm
http://www.legacy.com/Sept11.asp?page=tributestory&personid=146278 http://www.ahherald.com/2002/ahh020912.htm
http://www.unitedinmemory.net/

I imagine many of us participating in the 2996 project have never met the people we honor. It seems so tragic that so many good people are gone. God bless them all.

To see a complete list of tributes, click here.

Soccer!

We had our first soccer practice and game. The concept of "no hands" is going to take a little while (and not just for him) but he did great! He was a good sport when it was his turn to sit on the bench (or in this case lay in the grass), he was respectful to the coach and his team, and I think he's gonna love it.

He's #2. The team name is The Bears, and I like both coaches. There are 11 kids on his team, and 10 teams in his age group -- WOW. Seven more weeks, and hopefully my photography skills will improve. I got a short movie of him playing, but it's 45 meg so I don't think it will upload gracefully!

Muesday or Tonday?

I hate working the day after a holiday -- it's like getting to do two day's work in ONE. Ugh! The appliance repair guy came today and said, "Yep, it's broke". So he's ordering a new face panel for the oven and he'll be back. After Connor got a frown-y face on his behavior chart Friday for "talking instead of reading" and "yelling out in class" he redeemed himself today by getting a smiley face... at least until dinner when he displayed the table manners of a street urchin.

Charles and Dot had a laundry marathon today, followed by a kid-a-thon making them clean their rooms. Neither one was happy, but you can see carpet again so the adults "won". Sassy and Dexter have been getting along... Sassy chases Dexter, Dexter swats at Sassy, and they have some amazing staring contests.

That's the news -- hopefully tomorrow the dragon doesn't win!

Labor Day Musings

I took Connor yesterday to go get his stuff for soccer. You'd have thought he was being outfitted for his reign as king of the universe! We had a Dick's Sporting Goods open up here and they had a "youth soccer package" which was a pretty good discount. We got cleats, shin/ankle guards, socks, and a ball for $40! HE had to carry them to the car, and into the house.

I'm so glad he's excited but at the same time it just breaks my heart that he hasn't had more of these moments by now. I offered to be "snack mom" at our first practice game so I bought that stuff this weekend as well. Now we just have to get to the first practice! It's on Wednesday!

Emotional IQ

I found this on Monica's blog...

Your EQ is 167

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick!51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese.71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely.91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that.111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt.131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin.150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's" Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Preview of September 11

Check it out -- and come back here on 9/11 as I'll be honoring Peter Milano.

Monday

New pictures of Connor's first day of kindergarten are up on the photo blog! My mother-in-law is here visiting, so I haven't had much time to blog. I have six straight hours of meetings today, right through lunch, so I should be exhausted tonite.

Everyone has been so complimentary about how handsome Dexter is. I got asked "how" we know he's a boy, as apparently it's unusual for males to be tri-colored. Here's our "proof" -- we determined it from his anatomy!

First Day of School

Wow, are we there already?! I put Duncan on the bus at 7:16 am -- I drive Connor to school today as there is a kindergarten assembly at 8:30 am. I was rushing this morning so the pictures are lousy so far, but there ya go:

Quickie

The computer is doing something funky, I can't get my pictures to upload of the kitten. He's still nameless, but definitely not void of personality. He seems to be settling in quite nicely.

Charles has been sick the last four or five days, I've had a miserable headache all day, so I'm not very chatty. But I didn't want anyone to feel neglected.

Thursday Thirteen for 8/17

Thirteen Things Carolyn needs to be better about 1. Teaching my kids how to l-i-v-e. It's a silly example, but I was touched at how much they don't know when my kids brought toys to the new kitten to play with, but didn't understand that he'd best like to play WITH them. 2. Budgeting my money -- I'm getting better at it, but temptation is a powerful force -- I'd really love to have a savings account so when new tires surprise me it doesn't wreck my budget! 3. Going to church services on Sunday. We've come a long way in the last year in getting involved in our church, but we need to be more consistent about attending services. 4. Investing time in my friends. Stephen Covey talks about your emotional bank account, and how your interactions are either deposits or withdrawals. I need to deposit more with my friends. 5. Keeping up my blog -- I've been so busy this summer, and I do miss taking the time to journal about what's going on, and what I'm thinking. 6. Exercise -- tonite was the first time in TWO WEEKS we had been to the "Y" to do our strength workout. That needs to become a scheduled priority again. 7. Scrapbooking -- I have barely touched my stuff this year so far, definitely barely since May. Memories are slipping away and I need to make time for that. This is also some of my "me" time, so it's important for that reason too. 8. Better health -- since we started to go to the gym I've lost five pounds, and I'm proud of that. Since I've slacked off the last month or so, I've started to feel some of the blah symptoms again. I need to make my health a PRIORITY. 9. Visiting other bloggers -- I love when I get comments, and yet I've been terrible lately about leaving them for others. I know how good it feels, why can't I "deposit" more??!! 10. Kid time -- Connor always behaves better when Duncan isn't here. I am hoping getting him into soccer this fall, and spending some quality time with him will help him realize how special he is to us, and improve his overall behavior. 11. Christmas planning -- ACK -- it's like four months away. I am MAKING some gifts -- I need to get on this! 12. Visit my parents -- it's a really long story for another blog entry, no "drama", it just doesn't seem to ever be easy to plan time to get up there. We need to go more often. 13. Take more pictures -- as I looked through what I've taken so far this year, I see that I really need to get back to taking photos every day. Some months I took hardly any -- and my kids have grown SOOO much this year! Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Family of Five

Well, after seven years of no pets, we took the plunge tonite and took in a stray a coworker found. We think he's about 4-5 months old. He doesn't have a name yet, but he sure seems to be fitting right in. Whaddya think?

Sunday Blahs

I'm such a lazy blogger lately. Let's see... when last we "chatted", my Gatlinburg trip was sacrificed to fund new tires for my car. I cried Monday night, and then the pity party was over, and I moved on. Wednesday we took Connor to meet the Morton family at Tanglewood pool -- it wasn't as sunny as Fourth of July, but we had a good time. Judi and I both thanked each other for getting us out and moving. Thursday I just hung around the house, and didn't do much except watch TV. Friday Duncan came home from Dot's house, and then Friday night I went to a crop at Scrapbook Traditions. They are having a quickutz contest so I spent a good portion of my evening working on my double page summer layout. Prize is a quickutz alpha and a year long free crop pass, so we'll see how it goes.

Unfortunately, I did something to my neck on Friday, and spent Saturday with a kink in it -- very uncomfortable. This morning I am up and working on Christmas gifts and trying to get motivated to do something. Connor is about to bust a gut for me to play toontown with him, so I guess I should go do that. More later!