District Golf Tournament...

Today is the district golf tournament. I have heard about this for days now, but I didn't quite know what it meant to my teenager until this morning.

I knew last week when he was going on and on about qualifying for districts, it was something different than just qualifying to play in their weekly tournament. I didn't know how, but there just seemed to be more competition in his voice than a normal tournament.

Obviously I knew district would encompass the entire area. But I am new to golf this year and just didn't know what it really meant to him. So after 3 days of qualifying, because he and 2 other teammates tied scores 3 times in a row. I was beginning to get a sense of the importance of getting to play at District.

After all the dust settled, he had made it... he was going to District!! Then yesterday at school he heard from another golfer that he wasn't on the list of names to be approved by the teachers to be released from class today to attend District.

He was panicking all day until he could talk to his coach at practice last night. Could this be true, was his teammate just goofing with him, was he still being punished for the "incident" last week, was it just a horrible mistake?

He was telling me about the rumor in the car on the way to practice, when his phone rang.... I could hear coach on the other end of the line.

"YOUR GOING TO DISTRICT, don't worry, your playing" it had all been some kind of misunderstanding, and she was getting approval from his teachers as they talked. It would be cleared up before tomorrow morning.

So I dropped him off at the school at 7am to get on the bus with his team and head to District. Tee time for him would be 10am.

He should be in his game right now.

He was so cute, rubbing his hands together waiting for the bus to arrive. I could tell he was nervous, anxious, and excited!

We went over his theme song he puts in his head to calm himself down before a match.

Clubs, check.

Shoes, check.

Gloves, check.

Hat, check.

Golf balls, check.

Theme song, check.

Lucky tee, check.

I really hope he has a great day! It has been a good experience to play on the High School Golf team for him overall.

Me, I am still adjusting to it all, and not getting to be there with him during a special event like this, doesn't make me happy. But it is probably important to increase my letting go skills, so he can grow up and be the man I have been teaching him to be.

My tour of the golf course...

Last night we decided to go together and drive the teenager to work. It seems we have been running so busy, there hasn't been much time to catch up with each other. So we went together and would wait in the car for him to clean and put away carts, empty trash and lock everything up for the night.

As we watched from the car, my man jumped out of the car "I'll be right back"... and he walked over to the teenager. He came back to the car and said he was going to lock up the bathrooms for him on the other side of the course, did I want to go.

I had always been curious about where these bathrooms were, I had watched as the teenager would drive off in a cart and it seemed to take forever for him to come back. They must have been on the other side of town or something?

So this was more quality time with my Strong Silent Mysterious Man, and I would finally get to see where these bathrooms were located. As I jumped into the cart, I realized I had never been in a golf cart, I had never been on a golf course. This would be an adventure!

So as he took off across the green I held on to a little black bar on the seat and suddenly a little panic came over me as my grip got tighter. He clearly knew his way around a golf cart. We were flying!

I tried to seem like it was everyday for me, and just carry on normal conversation. But there was nothing normal about how I was feeling.

He would point out how far the teenager could on certain holes, but it looked like a sea of grass to me. How could they know where they were hitting to? How could they know which way to go next? How could they know where they were hitting from?

All of my excitement to take lessons and learn to golf so I can spend this time with my boys, was kind of crushed. It would feel like when I started archery and they said they would help me learn distances, but when it came down to it, they were in their zone and I was on my own guessing how far to shoot my arrow, just praying and hoping I didn't overshoot and have to go hunting for it holding everyone up behind us. Yep, I can see me over shooting the golf hole and I am on my own, holding everyone up behind me. Oh dear, I don't know if I want to get myself into this or not now.

So we kept driving, across a road, down under and into a culvert tunnel that looked like the top of the cart would hit on both sides and smash up into pieces if he turned the wheel a smidgen either way, then around a bend and across a rickety old foot bridge, barely wide enough to accommodate the width of the cart, and over a fast moving waterway, then along side a 40 foot steep embankment straight down to the rushing water. I could envision all kinds of tragic accidents along this path.

I kept thinking to myself "this is where my baby has been driving every night by himself at mach 5 speed to go lock the bathrooms"? I even think I said out loud, "our teenager navigates this in a golf cart everyday"? "Yep", My man seemed to be safe and secure about it, as he navigated it at MACH 5 as well, so I tried not to be the mom that was in shock and awe, and just hang on and enjoy the ride!

As I tried to relax, I found the quiet green serenity that they must feel out here golfing as the sun began to set behind the greenest green you can imagine. Being with my man out there I could even begin to feel something romantic about it. He pointed out a large house on the green with a view of the course in secluded surroundings and mentioned it was for sale. So we dreamed for a brief moment together what that would be like to live there together.

On the way back he stopped by the steep embankment by the water and got off and went down to the water to look for golf balls hit out of bounds and just left to nature. He said this was one of their favorite activities together. I watched as he scaled down the side gathering golf balls left and right... it was like an Easter Egg hunt, he found 7-8 balls in about 3 mins. Some were old and weathered, but some were just covered in muddy water and would clean up and be like new again.

Then we made our way back across the rickety bridge, down through the narrow tunnel, across the road, back to the clubhouse.

My 1st trip on a golf course, what an adventure!

SPT ~ Merry Month of May Part 1. Something Old...

This Week's Challenge:May means "wedding month" to me. And no, this challenge is not going to be about weddings (unless you want it to be...).

This months challenge is simply:

May 6th: Something Old

May 13th: Something New

May 20th: Something Borrowed

May 27th: Something Blue

I am still in search of "my style"... I have always loved contemporary, modern, clean lined, metals and leather, sleek things. But somewhere in my heart I have a soft spot for old rugged, woodsy, rusted, vintage things. It really shows in my decorating attempts in my house. I hope some day I figure out how to merge the two and find my own kind of style.

This is one of my most favorite old things... I think it is an old tool box of some sorts. Our Aunt in Kansas gave it to me and I couldn't wait to get it home... I had the perfect use for it.

I love clean counters, but I love clean drawers too.... so I use it to hold all my utensils, and they are so handy right by my stove... I LOVE IT!

I have other old things mixed through out my house, mostly just things I love to look at.

Of course my old windows. The last shot of my old windows as they are... these will get an overhaul when my Mom comes to visit next week. I am so excited to have her help in my living room re-decorating. It is in need of a desperate make over.

And this old stool, we stripped off the 32 layers of paint off of it, and it never made it to the refinishing stage, but it's old and I love it!

Boxer Puppies/Freezer Group...

Our Neighbor dog "Simba" had puppies...

It is her 1st litter but she is a good Mama.
And her pups are adorable... 4 girls!They just move so fast, it was hard to get pictures of them.

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Today is my 1st meal exchange with my new freezer group.

We got together and picked out some recipes from a huge book, that everyone in the group might like. Then we picked a day in the month we would choose to exchange the meals, and each person would make the recipe they chose but multiply it by 6, so we would have one for each family.

So today is the day we meet to exchange, so I should come home with 5 other freezer meals to feed my family with during the month.

The hardest part for me was labeling... I was running out of patience after the 1st one... but it would be an important step to miss the cooking instructions, so I endured.

I actually made my meals yesterday, and tried mine out on my family last night before I send them out to the rest of the group. And my boys loved the Ranch Chicken! It was a huge hit! So I am hopeful this will be a fun and helpful thing to have in my life.

One big day of shopping and putting it together for a month of weekly meals!

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Bee's...

We have these beautiful tree's in our front yard that bloom gorgeous white blooms (I wish they were purple crape myrtle... but I am just happy I didn't have to dig the holes) They were here when we moved in.

They have some good qualities... in the fall the leaves drop nearly all at one time, and they are big round leaves that gather pretty easily.

In the spring the flowers smell good, so there is a nice fragrance when you walk up to my house.

But for about 2 weeks in the spring (I am not sure why it only lasts a short time?) the bee's hoover around them, I guess pollination is good. It just scares me to death!

Very reluctantly I took this video (from afar... good thing for zoom lens) but if you listen you can hear the whole tree humming and buzzing from the millions of bee's that are hoovering. They don't seem to land, they just hoover... hence the scary buzzing noise. It is so frightening walking by this tree to get to our house!

It's ALIVE!

Sesame-Ginger Pasta Salad...

I made this yummy salad I found on the weight watchers web site.

I picked it because I had some of the asian sauces in my fridge from a recipe my sister made when she was here, and I wanted to find other recipes to use them.

I love all the fresh veggies in it...
I used Whole Wheat thin spaghetti. W/w pasta is not my favorite, but I am getting used to it... the sauces on it in this salad really mask some of the fibery taste. So it had a really good flavor, and I didn't notice I was eating w/w so much.
It looked pretty and made a big bowl full... not sure if my boys will go for this, so I will have plenty to eat on for a few days.
Sesame-Ginger Pasta Salad

Weight Watchers POINTS® Value: 3

Servings: 8

Preparation Time: 25 min

Cooking Time: 10 min

Level of Difficulty: Easy Of course... for me!

This pasta salad is packed with fresh crisp vegetables, salty nuts and Asian seasonings. It's a flavorful side dish that's easy to prepare.
Ingredients
8 oz uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti, or buckwheat soba noodles
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp dark sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp ginger root, freshly grated
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 cup cucumber(s), English-variety, cut into 2-inch long thin sticks, divided
3/4 cup radishes, thinly sliced and then each slice cut in half, divided
3/4 cup carrot(s), thinly sliced diagonally and then each slice cut in half, divided
1/4 cup scallion(s), sliced, divided
3 Tbsp peanuts, chopped, divided
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain spaghetti; rinse under cold running water and drain again.
In a large serving bowl, whisk together water, soy sauce, canola oil, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, sugar and garlic until blended.
Add pasta, 3/4 cup of cucumber, 1/2 cup each of radishes and carrots, 3 tablespoons of scallions and 2 tablespoons of peanuts; toss to mix and coat.
Sprinkle salad with remaining cucumber, radishes, carrots, scallions and peanuts; sprinkle with red pepper flakes and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.
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I only changed the peanuts to cashew pieces because I had them in the pantry.

I just used one kind of cucumber. And I used green onions, not sure what scallions look like.

And I sprinkled a very small amount of sesame seeds on top before serving, just for looks, it looked cool on the teenagers favorite square plate!

It's Friday...

I love Fridays! Usually I have my Fridays all planned out, but today I have so many unfinished things to do, and I wasn't even supposed to be home... so I don't know what my plan is just yet.

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I did stop by a yard sale on my way home from walking... not to buy, but to scope out their layout since there were over 30 cars stopped to shop. I found a few tempting things, but didn't have any money with me. Plus it kind of defeats the point of having my own, if I am out buying more junk to bring home.

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Yesterday after the days events I picked up the teenager from golf practice and we barely made it home before he was puking outside of the car. He had gotten a headache and it turned migraine on him so fast.

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So he was down for the count the rest of the night.

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I didn't realize until this morning when I delivered the fertilizer I picked up for my bff that it might have been the cause of the migraine. I was even getting a headache from the horrible smell in the car.

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I thought I would post a quick update on all the trauma of not getting to go to my nieces wedding over trouble with the teenager. I hope someday I can look back and laugh, but so far I am not finding much humor in the situation.

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Maybe it wasn't all as bad as I made it out to be... after all I am the "drama queen at my house" but it did SEEM pretty bad with the 1st few phone calls and all the accusations and threats being thrown around by parents, but I will admit it has settled down allot since then.
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The teenager had an incident after golf practice the other day with some boys on his golf team. It started with someone thinking their golf ball got picked up off the green, then name calling, then escalated to throwing of a club, and pulling off a head cover, then shoving, and holding down to get the head cover back, and a cell phone fell out on the ground, then moved to a car chase on the way home, well not a chase, but a "quick following" trying to lose the back car.
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Later that night a Dad was calling parents to get his kids $300 cell phone paid for.
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As it evolved the principal of the high school, the athletic director, and the head golf coach suspended all the players from the next days tournament. And they got a good talking to about their behavior, had to shake hands and say sorry etc.
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The cell phone wasn't actually broken, the club wasn't scratched or damaged, nobody got hurt, and no cars were wrecked, or speeding tickets issued.
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Then the next day there was another meeting with the coaches before practice and the boys have to be off the golf course by a certain time after practice... no more staying after, they just couldn't be trusted.
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All the boys had a guilty part in the situation. Luckily my teenager was not part of the pushing (because parents were threatening assault charges etc), and he was not part of throwing any equipment... he just said some bad words back at another boy, and really not being a good example. So he was not in huge trouble, other than I was really really mad because the entire situation took allot of damage control which meant I couldn't leave town in order to handle it since his Dad is working so much these days. But as I said they were ALL Guilty of some part of the entire situation.
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Then yesterday the parents talked with the boys about how to better handle this kind of situation in the future. They seemed to be better, but there was still some tension (I think mostly they just wanted it all to go away). Some parents didn't agree with the punishment handed down by the athletic director, saying it was punishing kids on the team unfairly. Some just didn't respect the principle at all, from previous incidents with older children. So having so many different views being taught is probably why the boys had conflict in the first place. The parents are way more volatile than the kids ever thought about being in my opinion.

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Then the boys coach talked to them all together again before practice, and handed down an assignment to them to read the golf handbook from cover to cover, and write an essay on the section of golf etiquette, and explain why they think it is important and necessary for that section to be printed in the handbook and turn it into her by Monday.

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So by Monday most everything should be settled down, and the boys have had much instruction on being a team as they go into district tournaments this next week. It should be interesting.

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My teenager has learned allot about prayer, humility, and integrity over the past few days. Which is always good. And he is just trying to move forward and put all of this behind him. So we are too.

Parents... it's plural!

One of my greatest blessings is to have another parent for my child! I hope I never ever ever EVER take that for granted. I have been a single parent before, and I survived it... but the load I had to carry was very heavy, and many others helped me carry it during that time.

I am so thankful for my husband and the loving father he is to our teenager.

It's hard to know sometimes how hard to be on them, or how much rope to give them before they hang themselves. But I grew up working... and the theory seemed to be as long as I was working, I didn't have time to get into any trouble.

So this is what I know, this is how I learned it... and to keep the teenager out of trouble until his Dad got home, I put him to work.

We have these hedges and they get out of control, and honestly the teenager is the very best at trimming them back.

It is not easy to get them trimmed even, it is an art!

He does a great job, and I try to never complain when I see little flaws here or there.... being the perfectionist that I am.

Because I have tried to do this, and mine looks so bad, I always have to have the teenager come fix what I have done.

So it was work, but it kept him busy and out of trouble, and my hedges look soooo much better and aren't out of control anymore!

So when Dad finally gets home from a really long day at work... he can tell there was some effort at home, and the teenager wasn't sitting around. There is something to be said for pleasing Dad and not making waves. It works just as good as the saying when Momma is happy, everyone is happy. We could put Dad in that saying and it would apply at our house.

There is something to be said for our welcoming committee... I couldn't have trained them to do this better. It always puts a smile on Dad's face to be greeted this way.

I would never have the energy to keep it up day after day... so they do their job well.

And they don't wear out easily... the more love the merrier...

This is what really cracks me up... when he tries to sit down for a peaceful bite to eat they hoover around waiting for him to drop a morsel...

Okay there may be such thing as too much love, they are relentless!