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Can you guess what I have spent my time doing the past few days?
Ode to Clutter ...
In dark corners of my mind
Lurks the most relentless foe of its kind
Never to be totally defeated
Making me feel utterly not completedMy opponent you ask?
Wondering if it's a creature hidden by a mask?
Not a creature, but still it creeps
Growing instantly by leaps
Embedding itself here and near
And round the corner there,
The beast is clutter...hear him roar.
Ode to Clutter (part II)...
Clutter, clutter, where for art thou clutter? Over here on the kitchen counter, over here by the doorway and still, over here stacked up high in the playroom. For if thou doth try to leave me, I shall thee follow swiftly. I am here, I am there, I am everywhere.
I know that Sports Illustrated may not make the weekly reading list for many of you, but the latest Point After article by Chris Ballard is the funniest thing I have read in a while. Read it here. To summarize, it's about a group of seven-, eight, and nine-year olds who hold a draft for their own Fantasy Football league and the hilarities that ensue. To me, the article is particularly entertaining because it could have been written about my own family and children.
To say we are a sports family is an understatement. My husband is a typical avid male sports fan. No more elaboration needed, right? And I myself am also a huge sports fan. I grew up in Corvallis, OR and my dad and I were regulars at Oregon State basketball and football games. My husband likes to tell the story of how I gave him a sports quiz before I would agree to go out with him. Absolutely true story. Thankfully he passed!
Now, the torch has been passed to my son. The first thing he does every morning is log onto espn.com to watch the previous nights' highlights. He then checks the latest stats on his favorite players and teams, league standings, and if there is time, totally useless facts such as the time he informed me that it was Dustin Pedroia's birthday that day. He can recite not only wins and losses, but also specific scores of games long after I have forgotten which team won the game. He is also our resident keeper of batting averages, longest touchdowns, and colleges attended by his favorite players.
So, in an effort to channel his passion for stats, we started our own family Fantasy Football league this year. Yes, we had a draft and yes, my daughter who quickly lost interest after drafting Adrian Peterson and Tom Brady, is blowing the rest of us away so far. While the rest of us consulted magazine and website player rankings, my daughter simply breezed by the table when it was her time to draft and pointed to a name on the list or a player pictured. Once she even announced, "I want to draft a Miami Dolphin!" This fail-proof technique netted her not only the two players named above, but also Andre Johnson and DeAngelo Williams. If you are not familiar with these names, they are fabulous picks.
Sadly, the only down side to all this sports euphoria in our house is that neither of my children have chosen to root for any of the teams that my husband and I love. Whereas we cheer for hometown teams such as the Seattle Seahawks or Mariners or maybe the Detroit Tigers and Pistons, our son loves the Boston Red Sox and the Celtics while our daughter taunts us with the New York Yankees and Minnesota Vikings. Oh well, I guess you can't win 'em all.
Image courtesy of Flickr and SD Dirk
Yes, I am slightly obsessed with the nailhead trim that I ordered online from Joanns. I originally ordered the trim to add some personality to some basic IKEA picture frames. But now that I see it in person, I want to use it everywhere. Hmmm, maybe on the new barcart?
The day that every mom looks forward to with both melancholy and enthusiasm finally arrived! Please forgive me as I wax on for a brief moment about our first day of school.
As usual, my kids made me feel foolish for worrying about getting back in the morning routine by waking up the earliest they had since school was over (with smiling faces even.) Since dad was taking the kids on their first day too, there was an added buzz in the air. Yeah daddy!
This year my son started first grade or "the grades" as he calls it. Time to get serious as is evidenced by the fact that there are individual desks this year instead of tables and no more rest time. My son has always loved school and was all smiles seeing his buds again after the long summer hiatus.
My daughter started pre-K which is basically the last year of preschool before kindergarten. She was assigned the same pre-K teacher as big brother so she showed up the first day ready to rule her roost. She greeted the teacher with a big hug and cheerily sang, "I love you mommy!" as I left the classroom.
Walking out of the classroom I wasn't sure whether to whoop it up or weep. Luckily I quickly located my fellow moms and we headed for the long awaited M-WOK (Meal Without Kids!)
Image courtesy of Flickr and LizMarie
As summer is drawing to an end, I thought I would try and capture all the highlights. I know, it's a little Type-Aish but isn't this card catalog template adorable? You can add your own personal little touches as I did and use it for all sorts of quick notes. You can make your own here.
