"Was that my mom?"

OK, so sometimes I turn into that crazy soccer mom. But only on occassion. Well, I had just an occassion last week.

Cassidy was playing his second indoor soccer game of the day last Saturday after having lost their first. They were playing WAY better, but the other team was very hands on, if you know what I mean. A fair amount of pushing that we, of course, thought should be called. (I often wonder if our team does the same and we just don't see it.) The ref finally made a pushing call against the other team. The mom of our player that was pushed jumped up in anticipation (she was going to yell!) and when the call was made, she said "It's about time." The smart-ass kid on the other team (the pusher) looks up at us, shrugs, and says "Hey, that's soccer." And I said "Clearly, it's not since he called you on it."

I know, I shouldn't do that, and if you know me very well, sometimes (ok, maybe a lot) I speak without thinking. But he was such a jerk about it, I had to say something!

So, our team gets the ball and they all get ready for the shot. The other team lines up between our player and the goal to try and stop the shot. Elijah (I think) shoots and scores. It was beautiful!!!!

And what do I do? I yell

"Now, that's soccer!"

On the way home we were talking about it and Cassidy said "That was you? I heard that and thought 'Was that my mom?' I couldn't figure out why you would say that."

Well, now you know.

l'artiste

Years ago, I was watching that painting show with Bob Ross. You know, the guy with the afro and happy litle trees and clouds. He made what I thought was a beautiful painting. However, before starting, he put the outline of two squares on the canvas with masking tape.  He then painted his mountain scene. I had almost forgotten about the masking tape until he ripped it from the canvas. Now we have painting with two white squares. I thought he had ruined it. Bob, obviously, did not.

Cassidy is in the advanced art class at school. He was so looking forward to the new year and this class in particular. I haven't seen much of what he's done and am really looking forward to the art show this spring. The painting and story below is part of the reason why.

However, his grade is going to suffer because of this painting.

Cassidy went to his teacher yesterday and told her he was done with his project. She looked at it and explained that the assignment was to make a paint splatter, then paint a picture on top of it. He went back to his piece to complete it as assigned. He said he sat and looked at it for a really long time and decided it was done. He said there was no way he could do anything more to it. It was perfect that way it was. He knew that if he put anything else on it, he would ruin it and be mad at himself. So he went back to his teacher and told her he couldn't add anything more to it. She told him that because he didn't complete the assignment, his grade would suffer. He said that was OK.

And I'm OK with that, too. As a matter of fact, I'm damn proud of him for standing up for his artistry. I think it is an awesome paiting and can't wait to put it on the wall!

Green Rant

I work with an individual that goes out to their vehicle every day for lunch. Rain, shine, hot, cold, doesn't matter. And while I can relate to wanting to get away from your desk for an hour each day, I do have a problem with running your vehicle for an extra hour. How many extra pounds of carbon dioxide are going up into our atmosphere at this very moment? Compounded over a year . . . 2 years . . .more?

Now I know I'm not perfect, but I do what I can for the environment. Even if you think changing your lightbulbs won't make a difference in a country of over 300 billion, wouldn't you rather be part of the solution and not part of the problem?

I would.

That's why if I go out to my car in the summer and it's hot, I either sweat, or come back inside. I don't go out there when it's cold. If I can pick something up on the way home, I'll do that instead of going out during lunch. Whenever possible, I double side my documents at work. I run the washer and dishwasher only when they're completely full. (This drives Dana nuts!) I use my cruise control. I turn off my computer every night when I leave work. (I should hit the power strip "kill" switch, too.) I use re-usable bags at the grocery store and feel really guitly each time I happen to come home with a plastic one. I unplug my phone charger when I'm not using it. (Did I remember to do that this morning?)

Just a few simple little things. And if we all did these, imagine the difference it would make. Try to do one simple thing this year to help our world. Maybe two or three. I know I will.

Dare to be Different

Everyone seems to be saying twenty ten. Well, I like to go against the grain, (always have, always will) so I had decided to stick to my guns no matter what everyone else was saying. I heard local radio commercial this morning and it was the first time since the new year I heard someone say two thousand ten. I wondered if the people that wrote the commercial inteded for them to say 2000 or 20???

Then, I get to work and see this.

It's official, I'm sticking with two thousand ten!!!!! The calendar people can't be wrong.

Crazy Web Sites

I forgot my book today, DAMN!! And it's just too cold to go out. I was going to return my other book to the library and get a new one, but when it's 11 degrees and flurrying, I thought I would entertain the masses instead.

When I don't have anything else to do at lunch, like pay bills or read, I have a few sites I often visit. My newest favorite is http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/. It's amazing, scarry, gross and downright disturbing what you see there. I often wonder if people dress like this just to be on the website, or if they're genuine. Unfortunately, I think most of them are genuinely crazy. Check it out!

She needs a manicurinst and a dentist. And not necessarily in that order!

Another favorite is http://www.failblog.org/. They have crazy videos and photos of fails, and the occassional win.

There's also http://www.wedinator.com/ with bizarre wedding pictures. But I warn you, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. This was about the only appropriate thing I could find that wouldn't offend certain readers of mine.

Aww, what a sweet little Darth Vader flower girl!

So beware if you intend to visit. You just might be offended!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! IT"S 2010!!

Well, Ladies and Gentleman, it's a new year. Let's hope good things come from this year. The first bit of good news I received a few weeks ago was that our wage reduction that was implemented last year will gradually be brought back this year. 25% each quarter. It's not a lot and I probably won't even notice it on my first check, but it is progress. Provided things go well, our full salary from 2008 will be re-instated. Yay. . . it's 2010.

Which actaully brings me to my purpose for this post. How are you pronouncing the new year? Two thousand ten, or Twenty ten. I've been saying two thousand ten, but they were debating it on the radio today, and it got me thinking. Sure, in 1999 we didn't say nineteen hundred nintey-nine (except maybe on wedding invitations), or one thousand nine hundred ninety nine, but we also didn't say twenty oh nine last year. (Except for Charles Osgood on CBS Sunday Morning.) It just makes more sense to me to say two thousand ten.

How are you pronouncing our new year?

Saying "Good-bye"

It doesn't seem like a difficult thing to do, but does anyone say "good-bye" on the phone anymore? I do, but seem to be in the minorirty.

Case in point: I was on the phone today with a colleague. As we were about to end the call, I was going to wish her a Merry Christmas, but she beat me to it with a pleasant "Happy Holidays." (It's HR, so we really need to be politically correct.) Anyway, I said "You do the same." or something lame like that. Then I said "Good-bye." I barely got the words out of my mouth and heard her phone click as she hung up.

I felt like she must have said "Happy Holidays" and proceeded to hang up without even waiting for a reponse from me. I'm sure that wasn't the case.

Do you still say "good-bye" when ending a phone conversation, or am I being old-fashined?