No School...

The teenager had a no school day today. So we went to the city to have his golf clubs checked. Because last year he got lessons from a PGA pro for Christmas and at his last lesson they measured his clubs against each other and the 1" extension we thought we had on them when we bought them appeared to be 1" shorter than standard??? What????

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This was not making me a happy camper, I hope this was some kind of mistake!

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So we finally had time to go downtown and get him measured and see what the problem really was.

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Good news is they are still 1" longer than standard, and he does still fit them, barely! The professional golf guru says he should play with them this length but at the end of the season, we should fit him again... it looks like he can use longer clubs the way he is growing (I see $$ in my near future...yuk). But they don't want to mess up his game, and if he changes in July, there will be plenty of time to get adjusted before the snow flies.

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He said this will be really important, because we don't want his game to be all over the place for his senior year, when he could be looking at scholarships.

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Cool, Those were pretty sweet words to a mom's ear!!! No change means no money, but also scholarships, wahoo... I love that word.

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So after a pretty fun day together, he was itching to go play a round of golf, what else? After he was done, he was so happy; he played one of his best games; two under par. Nothing better than a happy teenager!our first self portrait attempt... oops zoomed in.
open your eyes...quit it!

A good time was had by all!

Who needs a maid, when I have all this help...

I am always murmuring how much I loathe housework... but really; how can a girl complain when she has all this help around the house!

Morgan and Taylor both clean the dirty spoons as they get loaded in the dishwasher... (don't worry sis, no dogs licking the clean dishes as they come out, I promise).

Rudy helps with the laundry!

(nothing better than a warm load of clothes fresh out of the dryer to burrow down into)

And always extra puppy noggins nearby to catch the flour before it hits the floor, this saves time on having to mop the kitchen floor, and in case you miss the head, they are always ready, willing and able to spit shine the floor should any morsels find there way that far (there is no such thing as the 3 second rule in our house).
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Who needs a maid when I have all this help?
I should be cherishing, instead of murmuring!

Up on the roof...

A great friend, told me to listen to this song when I get in "the hole" next time, it might just be a better option. I remembered the song, but had to go find the lyrics; I dropped everything, because I connect so well with her, I knew if she had an option to the hole, or even a faster way out... I was all in!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MopbhuZ2Bh0
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Carole King (attributed to James Taylor...)

UpOn the Roof

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When this old world starts a getting me down

And people are just too much for me to face

I'll climb way up to the top of the stairs

And all my cares just drift right into space

On the roof, it's peaceful as can be

And there the world below don't bother me, no, no

So when I come home feeling tired and beat

I'll go up where the air is fresh and sweet

I'll get far away from the hustling crowd

And all the rat-race noise down in the street

On the roof, that's the only place I know

Look at the city, baby

Where you just have to wish to make it so

Let's go up on the roof

And at night the stars they put on a show for free

And, darling, you can share it all with me

That's what I said

Keep on telling you

That right smack dab in the middle of town

I found a paradise that's troubleproof

And if this old world starts a getting you down

There's room enough for two

Up on the roof...

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I love these lyrics! I had only heard the James Taylor version before today, but Ms. King has such a great attitute while she is singing in this video, it just made me want to climb right up on the roof and watch the stars!

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The roof; who knew?... it sounds much better than "the hole" anyday!
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Thanks Amber! I will meet you on the roof dear friend... I love ya!

What time is it?

Golf time?

You wouldn't think so looking at this ugly storm coming in... but that is exactly what time it was at our house the past two days.

High School golf tryouts!

When the teenager decided to try out for golf last year instead of baseball, I never thought I would see the day he wasn't playing baseball. It was almost harder for us to accept the decision as parents than it was for him to make it. Baseball had become such a huge part of our life and so many of our family plans revolved around baseball.

I remember how nervous he was trying out for golf. He didn't know if he would even make the team. But he did, and loved it... it was a love even deeper than we had seen with baseball, if that was possible.

So Monday when tryouts began, I thought the nerves wouldn't be running so deep this year. He knew what he was capable of and he just had to go out there and do it.

Much to my surprise, he was almost more nervous! He really really wanted to make the varsity team this year. There were allot of freshmen trying out that are great golfers, so much competition, he knew it would not be just going out and playing golf, he would have to really work at it, keep his head in his game and play his best.

The weather was windy and not conducive for his best golf game, and even though he practiced his breathing and calming techniques all the way out to the golf course, his nerves were really working on him.

Yesterday he found out he made the varsity team, I thought he would be over the top excited... but when he told me, he was happy, but trying to keep his feet on the ground about it. He knew he would have to keep playing top notch games to keep his position on the team. And it was going to be a very challenging golf season. Where did all of this maturity come from all of a sudden?

He has also been struggling with his grades, and they just have to be top priority right now, or there will be NO golfing! And while the school has a fairly light policy for staying on the team, as parents we raised that bar, and the kid is dangerously close to losing his time on the golf course if he doesn't pull it up and quickly! It will be such a hard day if we have to do that, but it is the reality right now.

So making varsity golf is great, and we are really happy for him... I just hope we don't have to go learning those hard life lessons the hard way this semester. Pleeeeese don't make me be the mean Mom!

SPT ~ Eight is great...

I don't get to do this very often...

A cart full of milk...

a milk party...

No!

I got to pick up a "couple" of things for my bff while I was out last week, she had sick kids. This is just a week of milk for her family... there are EIGHT kids and they are real big milk drinkers. So there you go; eight is great!

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It was just a funny experience having people look at me as I loaded up, and also as I checked out. You would thing they see this kind of thing all the time working there. But apparently it still causes gawking and comments. I felt like I was in a fish bowl, and everyone was watching me. I have never felt so self conscious buying MILK! Sheesssh!

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Eight is great! I am just really thankful I don't have to buy all this milk every week!

Update on "Happy Birthday Debbie"...

Debbie got a really cool birthday present this year... her son and his wife had a baby born on her birthday. Georgia Belle (not sure on the spelling yet) Born February 27th 2009.

Congratulations Devin and Jeannie and little Abby!

She has two more grand babies on the way to look forward to this year, March and October... so exciting! She loves being a Grandma!

Happy Birthday ~ Dr. Seuss! Green eggs and Peach Pie?

I saw this on Google this morning and I just LOVE Dr. Seuss!

Maybe this is why I don't like to read?

Anything NOT in rhyme.... so boring, how would anything NOT in primary colors capture my attention! The Grinch! My absolute fav... and ONe Fish TwO fiSH, oh and Green EgGs and HaM, and Horton hatches eggs and hears a who, and Do YOu Know WhO YoUR MoTHEr is?

Oh, I loved them growing up and could read them over and over and over again.

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I must have been having subliminal thoughts about the birthday today, yesterday I attempted my first try EVER to make a peach pie. I got a simple recipe and thought I had everything to make it... but it called for orange jello... no problem, I had gelatin and then I thought well what is better than lime jello, so I mixed just a tiny bit jello just to make sure it had enough flavor in the glaze, only to realize how horrifyingly green it turned! Oooopps!

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YES! I remember lime jello is GREEN! I stood there stirring in a big debate... I could try and pass it off as green peach pie in honor of St. Patricks Day (hey they make big bucks on those green shakes at Mickey D's). Or I could get out the food coloring and make the rest of dinner green too, like green eggs and ham (or peach pie), then I thought I could get the yellow and red food coloring out and make the glaze back orange again and maybe they wouldn't notice it was lime tasting peaches. Hmmmm... non of this would make it by my strong silent mysterious man, I am afraid. So I broke the sabbath and ran over to the store and bought the right color jello.

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Probably a huge mistake, but I was on a mission to make a peach pie at this point!

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I know better than to hold my breath for compliments on my cooking from my strong silent mysterious man, he is pretty particular about his food. And new stuff doesn't always have a chance! But I still keep trying! I am a hopeless romantic!

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The orange jello looked much better than I think the green would have... happy I made that decision before I added the glaze to the peaches.

I found out I don't own a pie plate, so I had to make it in an 8x8 glass pan... I convinced myself, this wouldn't change the taste.

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My strong silent mysterious mans comments...

At the first sight of the square dish

1) "I thought you were making peach pie?"

After tasting it...

2) "I like my peach pie warm." (easy enough to nuke it, I am thinking)

3)"It, um, well, um it certainly has allot of peaches in it"!

(what does that mean? IT IS A PEACH PIE!!)

GEEZ!!! Next time I making it green! He is definitely from Mars!

Morgan goes hiking...

Saturday my Strong Silent Mysterious Man went on a day hike with the 11 year old scouts.

They had such a great time, looking for cirtter tracks and poop.

They found some cool caves. He gets an A+ for getting great photos!

They made dutch oven pizzas and peach cobbler... looks so yummy!
I could gage the fun of their trip by how fast Morgan curled up and went to sleep when she got home. She was exhausted!

She loves anything outdoors! I got a good report, she stayed right with the boys and didn't wander off, she was really well behaved and didn't steel any one's food!