Is it appropriate to pray over an ailing Van? Driving to town today my car died at EVERY stop. It started right back up, but I’m no dummy and as much fun as it was, I’m thinking there just might be a problem. Since we are still paying on the $1600 repair bill for my son’s truck, I just about broke down and cried. I tried to recall some verse in the Old Testament where one might have prayed over say….a sick donkey….mode of transportation, need to get the wheat threshed and all that. I figure I could just substitute Windstar for jackass (not much of a stretch either) but I can’t for the life of me think of a verse. So now I’ve decided that maybe this was just Gods way of getting me to pick up a Bible instead of the latest from Janet Evanovich.

Favorite sign outside a church-Read the Bible, it’ll scare the Hell out of you!

Haircut continued...

You know how you KNOW a haircut is not a good one? When you go to a baseball game and are chatting with a friend and you just casually bring up that you just got your haircut and you really don’t like it and the friend doesn’t offer one little crumb of reassurance (is it that hard to LIE?) but rather looks at it (like she’s really seeing it for the first time) and replies, “It’ll grow back”........Thanks, I feel so much better now because I was under the impression it was like Barbie hair.....

Maybe I just need better friends.

Haircuts

Haircut Friday, wedding Saturday... Why do hairdressers assume they KNOW better than you do? Why do the nicest people (and I really do like my stylist) take your specific instructions (same length all the way around- layered) and cut according to the credo, “here’s what you really mean” ….lets taper up the front so that if you don’t curl it under it has that ever-so-charming, ‘cut with a hacksaw’ look. How long was ‘Friends’ on the air? In all that time there was one season where I absolutely HATED Jennifer Aniston’s haircut…..and that’s the cut I now have. Imagine walking around with a hairstyle that made Jennifer Aniston look BAD!

And while were on the subject of weddings, if any of you has aspirations of becoming a wedding/event DJ (and I believe it’s now being offered at most major universities), I’d like to offer this little piece of advice on music choices…..KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! Don’t sit thru a ceremony where the minister rhapsodizes on the couples love of the Lord and their commitment to a higher standard in their lives and think that it would be appropriate to play “Ho’s on parade”… OK that’s not an actual song title, but it may as well have been. Am I the only one who is offended hearing a song pondering the age-old question, “what you gonna to do with that ass”?....geez!

I'm just SO mad about my inability to stand my ground on this trophy issue....Instead of walking away, I should have stood there and voiced my concerns. The heck with how the other parents felt (no one likes me anyway:). Participation trophies diminish the value of trophies given for merit. They are of no value whatsoever. When my son started swimming for the local swim club (around 2nd grade) he was given his first, in a long line of, 'Excellent Eel' trophies. He was excited about getting a trophy, but in the following years, after filling his shelves with 'participation trophies', he figured it out (we started calling them the, 'we're glad you didn't drown' trophy). The very last year that he swam for this club (7th grade) he went home after the awards ceremony and threw the trophy in the trash. How sad.

One year in particular, I can remember a very young (and quite tiny) swimmer walking by us carrying a trophy (this was an actual merit trophy - probably most valuable). This monsterous trophy was almost as tall as she was. The gentleman standing with us commented, "What does she have to look forward to now?". When you give a trophy WITHOUT merit, you have to make sure the trophies that actually MEAN something are gigantic (or at least much bigger than the worthless ones). That's how you tell the difference, size. And again, the kids get it! We're not FOOLING them; they know a meaningless gesture when they see it.

A gold medal is...what?...maybe 3inches in diameter. The value of the medal comes in the accomplishment, the effort behind the award....not the physical medal.

Whew!.....I'm done.

In my ever present quest to bore you to death....more pictures!!! Our wonderful oldest son, who played water polo thru 4 years of High School and therefore was forced to swim in the off season (thanks coach) finishes up his second year of swimming for COS (no water polo team-thanks title 9) at the conference swim meet this weekend. The first pic of him swimming was at an invitational meet at Cuesta JC a few weeks ago. We were unable to go to the conference meet because of prior commitments. Anyway....He called last night to say he had taken 10 (yikes) seconds off his 200IM time and ended up 5th (5th!!!) in that event. He swims today and tomorrow (100 and 200 breast - which are his better events). For a guy who, by his own admission, is NOT a swimmer... he's doing pretty darn well...Yea!!!

I had to post a pic of him getting his haircut, he now officially looks like a skinhead...great. But hey, 10 seconds - the hair was obviously holding him back!

Last one, thought it was cool that I got one sliding in to home - such a slow game and I still miss half the good shots.

BTW - we (yea, I was out there) won, a lot to a little.

So after the game (and this is the good part) the coach told us that the school didn't have the money and could we all pitch in for trophies. The gal next to me immediately said, how much and when do you need it. I of course had to open my big mouth and asked "what did they win?".... I may as well have said I ate babies from the reaction I got. One mom said, "they're participation trophies!" another added, "They worked really hard this year". I said, well ....good job! and walked away. Unfortunately, the one person who would've supported my position 100% wasn't there today and so I looked like an ogre. Participation trophys!?!?! How bout we take them out for an ice cream....do kids really need a trophy for showing up and doing their job? I'll give my 5 bucks or whatever, but I'm not happy about it ....and I WILL be whining about it for the next several days.

Ok, I made all kinds of friends this afternoon. Daughter played in a softball game, Jr. High Jr. Varsity, and did quite well - that's her on second. She got a double, a single and a base on balls. Anyhoo, in the middle of the second inning we were switching pitchers and they hugged - nothing terribly wrong with that but I have 3 boys who played baseball and this is my first experience with a softball team (do they HAVE to cheer incessently?). So as they're hugging, I said (probably a teensy bit too loud) "hey, there's no hugging in baseball!" It got a few laughs, unfortunately NOT from the assistant coach (and I'm in the dugout by request of the head coach to take team photos) ...oh well...la dee da.

OK, new day and I promise to only post 3 or 11 times...actually I'm just writing so I can post a photo (my evil plan). I'm having way too much fun with digital photography, between my love of taking pictures and my new obsession with photoshop, I will never get anything else done!

This photo was taken at a golf tournament, it's the World Series ring that our friend Brad Mills (bench coach for the Red Sox) won a few years ago. My son (also Brad, named after Mr. Mills)is holding it next to his swimming conference title ring....slight difference. Of course, Brad (Mills) says he never wears his, too big!

I probably should stop and go to bed now....just one more picture and then I will be off...promise.

Here's the future major leaguer Wil Garver (isn't that a great baseball name?)

Oh my, that's too small....I'll fix it tomorrow....night all.

Just click on the photo and it'll get bigger...it's like magic!

Why is there no 'I'm an idiot' icon?

I want to figure out how to place the pics where I want them and write captions under them (I know Kelly would do it that way!)

This is our little tiger kitty, 4 weeks old, and he is a doll (free to good home). We only have 4 left, so get your requests in early (we ship international).

Did you hear about the postal worker who heard scratching inside a box (true story) and opened it up to find baby chicks inside, and these people are allowed to vote...and drive cars.

This is kind of fun, thanks Nancy for suggesting it. Between this and photoshop I will never get out of this chair, that ought to be good for another 20lbs.

My brother, old enuf to know better, played hockey this weekend (semi-finals) and lost 7-3. He scored 2 0f the 3 goals and assisted on the third (show-off). We took the kids and grandma all up to watch, weird game but we had fun.

That went well, I just clicked on next blog trying to figure out how to post and went to the wonderful and creative Kelly's blog and hers looks to be a whole lot more fun than mine will ever be! I must figure out how to get the dancing japanese looking cartoons on my blog.

The pic is of our handsome and soon-to-be graduating son, Sam.

So new to this and so sure no one will actually read it (guess I can do no wrong then huh?) I will start by posting a few pics and checking this whole process out. see ya around the zoo!

I'm adding a photo of my son (his senior pic) glad he didn't inherit my looks :) and one of myself and my husband.