Missed My Calling

For a very short time period, I was a cheerleader in middle school. I LOVED it! Sometimes cheerleaders get a bad rap (plenty in my family have made fun of me), but I truly loved cheering for my school. I was a cheerleader before I knew being a cheerleader was cool. Once the school posted tryouts, every girl under the sun signed up. If the judges had seen me at a game, I think I would have gotten picked for the squad. Unfortunately, a shy girl cheering in front of 3 strange judges (without a real ballgame going on), did not do so well. I didn't make the squad. After all these years, this is still one of my greatest disappointments.

Fast forward to now, I am still a cheerleader at heart. I'm not embarassed to clap, hoot, jump up and down when I'm excited. Last night, at Abbie's penultimate soccer game, the score was 2-1 (our team had 1 goal). It was 2nd half of the game, maybe 10 minutes left on the clock. The Panthers ran the ball down the field, Damon passed the ball to Matthew. Matthew kicked a goal. I was on my feet yelling, arms raised in the air, hooting, and jumping in a circle. As I was completing the circle I realized I was the only parent on my feet creating this display, but the other parents were clapping and yelling. Since Paul wasn't there and Abbie was on the field at the time, I re-enacted my cheer for them when I got home. I think I need a special uniform :)

Today, Saturday, we went to the office to do a lot of packing, sorting, and garbage disposal. Norma got weepy as she cleaned out her desk. For some reason, packing up her paper clips made her sad. We've become really good friends. She and I plan to do lunch once a week.

Family Videos

We just got the DVD's from Pierre today. We are watching part 1 tonight. 1973 seems to be the year of Marc and the backhoe. Paul says Marc loved that backhoe, and that they all got their fingers pinched while they were playing with it. I enjoy hearing Paul's comments while he watches the home movies. It would be fun to watch the movies while Paul, Marc and Pierre were all watching them together - so we could hear their collective comments. Paul and I are impressed that Pierre and Paul seemed to know how to ride a bike without training wheels at a young age. Abbie may be a teenager before she accomplishes that feat.

On Saturday, I bought Abbie a Webkinz. A friend at hers at school has several so I've been meaning to buy her one (even though I wasn't really sure what it was all about). Now, it's all about the Webkinz. She has a husky named Snowflake. When she is at school, I play for her online so that I can earn her some Webkinz cash.

I found out today that Ellie (our calico cat) does have cancer on her face (or in her mouth). We are going to continue to give her antibiotics to get rid of any infection she may have. Other than that, we will just wait and see if it gets worse. She is feeling fine right now, eating 2 cans of food a day, wanting to be petted, etc. She's had a long full life - we've had a good time together. :)

No Cavities

Okay, there actually has been good news in my life.

On Wednesday, Abbie and I got pictures made together. It was supposed to be a family portrait session, but I couldn't clear Paul's schedule. I wore a white shirt and jeans. Abbie wore a white sundress. Neither of us wore shoes - the photographer suggested our wardrobe. He and his assistant made it really fun. Abbie laughed so much. I can't wait to see our pictures. The photographer is one of the best in the area so whatever we order will be pricey. I guess I'll ask for this for Christmas.

At the dentist on Thursday, I got a good check up and had no cavities. Yay!

On Thursday evening, I was given a free couch and chair for my dad. Turns out the fabric is butt ugly so I may have the cushions recovered before delivering it to my dad.

Today, Saturday, I went scrapbooking with my friends.

My week is looking up.

Practical Jokes

Today, Paul and I brainstormed some practical jokes to play on a friend. Actually, we had to check ourselves because we were coming up with so many. We only really need to play one prank on this friend to get him back for the one prank he played on us. But it was so hard to just stop at one good idea. We came up with some pretty good stuff. I can't reveal it all here....shhhh! But we plan to revive an old prank that was played on us once upon a time. It involves sardines (Marc knows all about this). Another idea involved mushroom soup (Pierre knows about this one), but we want to put a new spin on it.

In other news, as part of Abbie's reward for riding her bike, today we went to visit the kitten that we recently took care of - she is so sweet. I'd really like a new tiny kitten, but I need more chores like a hole in the head. I have plenty of pet chores as it is. Someday.....someday, my wish is to be a foster parent for kittens taken to the Humane Society.

Confusing Information

Due to my work schedule and forgetfulness, I sometimes start a load of laundry then forget about it until the next day. Of course, that results in a sour smell. I have two "cleaning tip" books. One book has all sorts of helpful advice such as how to get candle wax out of linens as well as recipes for making your own cleaning supplies. The other book is helpful too, but it advises NOT to do at least 5 of the things that the other book says to do. Either one book is more up to date or Windex is paying them to refute easy solutions with everyday household products.

I plan to try using white vinegar in the rinse cycle to see if that gets the sour smell out otherwise I'll be redoing this load of laundry.

Decorate and Redecorate

I've enjoyed playing around with the look of this blog. I'm sure I will redecorate frequently.

I'm still not sure what topics I will blog. Probably a lot of stuff about Abbie. Probably my random musings.

We are planning another trip to the Creeper Trail. For a successful trip, Abbie needs to get more comfortable on a bike. She still needs training wheels and feels anxious when she goes down even the smallest hill. Today, we encouraged (it took A LOT of encouragement and a reward) her to ride her bike to a neighbor's house and back (1/4 mile). The Creeper Trail takes 3 or more hours depending on how often you stop. Last year, she rode inside a bike cart that Paul pulled behind his bike. This year, we'd like her to ride on a tag-a-long bike that would be connected to Paul's bike. A little voice is telling me that I should probably pull a bike cart behind my bike just in case.....

First Blog Post

My first blog post! I'm going to play around until I get it just right....