Good Riddance 2008

So we hit the end of another year. Usually my even numbered years are my good years....well not this year. I went into a deep depression that I think I'm still crawling out of. But in 2009 I see HOPE and CHANGE on the horizon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

YES WE CAN! SI SE PUEDE! YES WE DID!!!!

Thank you America. Now I don't have to move to New Zealand!

WASSUP 2008

Wow! Been too long since I last blogged. Been keeping most if not all my thought over on my Facebook page...but I do have a short video which sums up a lot of what I've been thinking lately...Enjoy!

Global Warming

OK, so I've decided the dbate really rages that people are no longer denying there IS Global Warming...they're just denying that it's MAN who is creating it. So I guess we just need to tell them, regardless of WHO'S doing it we all can do something to fix it. So let's just DO it!

What if the Beatles were Irish?

Sent My Leader to Washington, DC

I sent Kristen off to DC yesterday morning! She was all set to go. She actually called me when the plane landed and said "We made it!" Then she called me last night to tell me all the cool things she's doing. She's staying at the University of Maryland dormitory. At the airport we found 3 other girls from this area at the airport gate waiting area. All Kristen's age. So on my drive home from the airport I had that sad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm so proud of Kristen and excited for the opportunities she's getting...but I have a bit of anxiety that something bad might happen to her. After Kristen left, Alex decided he would move out too. So he just up and packed his things and moved out to the club house in the backyard! He took his shower last night with our garden hose! And he's watering the jalapeno's I'm growing back there so he'll have food to eat. I woke up this morning to find him "washing" his clothes with my garden hose. GOOD LORD! Funny, how he comes by to "Visit" when it's meal time or there's a good show on tv!

Cool You Tube Video

I forgot I wanted to add this video the last time I posted. Thought it was cool! Enjoy!

Dog Days of summer!

I guess I'm going to blog once a month instead of once a week or every day. Oh well!

Since my last post the family now has a new family dog: Spirit. Like the Holy Spirit. Cool name. She's a little mixed breed Richardson Animal shelter dog. She's about 5 months old now. Still very much a puppy. Still being housetrained. Still learning some basic commands. But everyone in the family pitches in to take care of her. I still catch myself calling her Sandy.

Frank has come back from Mt. Mordor. He forgot to throw the ring in so we're going to have to send him back. He learned that it's probably not just a great idea to slide down the mountain to get down. The only things to stop your fall are large sharp hard bolders! :0 But he did eventually make it back to civilization pretty much in one piece! Wonder when he's going back!

Kristen is at the Pines Catholic Camp in East Texas, Joseph has started indoor soccer and has won his frst game. Alex keeps chugging along with his cello and tin whistle now. The kids went to Irish traditional music camp at the beginning of the month and had a blast!

Kristen will be home for a week then will head out to Leadership camp in Washington, DC. I'll try and blog again soon!

Trying to Catch Up

Wow! Been too long since I last blogged! Sorry bout dat!

Since then:
kids have gotten out of school
closed a loan
Kristen started DECATs
boys did a soccer camp
I started indoor soccer (is a blast!)
Played fidle at Lochrann's in Frisco
Saw Indiana Jones
Hillary has bowed out of the race and endorsed Obama
Al Gore has endorsed Obama

So basically stayed busy but without the complication of school.

I IMd with Kelly today and he sent me this link for this crazy walkway called El Camino del Rey (which translates to the King's road). And lemme just say here is no way I would go on this walkway. Do NOT watch this if you dizzy really easily or suffer from any form of vertigo. (If embedding the video doesn't work I'll try to include the url)http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562%20+

Til next time!

Cheers!

1st Communion, Final Concerts

Joseph received the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist on Saturday May 17, 2008. He did a great job! Alex and I played in a little string ensemble for the mass and Kristen was an Altar Server (book holder). It was a beautiful mass and had tons of friends and family around to wish Joseph well. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We spent a lot of time grillin and visiting out in the backyard!

On Sunday the All Saints String Ensemble had their final concert for the year. Kristen did great! Alex forgot his music and I was so stressed out worrying about Alex that I even started playing the WRONG SONG on one of the pieces. AY! Other than those few little things the concert was great. I was able to play the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 with the Advanced Group and it sounded great! Maybe next year when Alex is a little older I'll get to stop worrying about him. Kristen was such a huge help!

On Monday evening Joseph and Alex had their final Cub Scout meeting for the year. Alex received his fishing belt loop. He should have also gotten his Bobcat Badge and Joseph should have gotten his soccer belt loop. But there was some confusion and they'll have to get it next go around. The were able to launch their very first rockets that they built with their dad. Both rockets launched successfully. Coming down was another problem. Apparently we launched them in a very tree-filled area and they got caught up in the branches. Frank and I laughed that the next big wind storm comes through and the ground is going to be littered with rockets!

Last night Kristen had her end of year orchestra concert for school and she did phenomenal. The whole orchestra did a great job! It was a successful year for the string program at All Saints. Looking forward to next year.

Whew! I think that gets me caught up to today. Business is picking up. I wrote a contract last night and have 3 new loans. So having business is always a good thing. Memorial Day weekend is coming up. Indiana Jones is coming out...looking forward to a great next few days!

Sandy Lake Orchestra Competition

The All Saints School Orchestra went to Sandy Lake competition yesterday and I accompanied them. The school played two pieces: Rhythm and Blues and the William Tell Overture. They did a great job. Their overall score was a "1" which is the highest ranking you can achieve. I am so proud of them and, of course, especially proud for Kristen. She did a great job!

I am posting a picture of the orchestra with their trophy, and an extra picture of Kristen in Downtown Dallas...standing next to the grassy gnoll and in front of the area where Kennedy's motorcade came down all those years ago.

Today I am going on the KINDERGARTEN field trip to some kind of play. Alex isn't real excited about it because he said this play is Cinderella...not masculine enough for him!

Mother's Day Eve

So this is the first Mother's Day weekend in a few years where I didn't have to share Mother's Day with Frank's mom. She didn't come here and we didn't have to go there. I was so looking forward to this! Instead I got to spend the day cleaning the hnouse so we could get ready for Frank's family to come visit us NEXT weekend. Oh well. Maybe some day....

I coached my last volleyball tournament this morning. We won the 2nd place trophy! Woo hoo. A lotta good volleyball this morning! Kristen did great. Break now for summer.

Dallas Holocaust Museum

I went on the 6th grade field trip, today to the Dallas Holocaust Museum. If you ever question why you ared on this earth...just watch a bunch of 12 year olds learn about the deaths of MILLIONS of jews. And then tell them that their OWN country had asian concentration camps, and genocide STILL OCCURS in places like Bosnia and Rwanda. We had lots of tears shed...do you want to know how K-Ban reacted? She was pissed! She asked how could we let millions of women, children, and men be killed for no reason? How could we listen to one man named Hitler? She said, "Mommy, I'm not sad. I'm mad! Not on MY watch!" That's my girl. I told Frank what she said and he asked "Yeah, what's she gonna do about it?" Gimme a little time and I'll show you!

We got some summer enrichment books for Alex. He is 3rd grd math, reading, science, and social studies. 2nd grade spelling, 1st grade writing. We're still debating the whole "skipping 1st grade". Guess we better decide soon. When Alex saw the books I brought home he devoured them! They won't last a whole summer. Hmmm... And he keeps moving ahead with his cello. He's brilliant!

Joseph is at his 2nd sleepover tonight. I wonder how he is...

I think tonight Frank and I are gonna watch I am Legend. He's gotta put in a new battery in my car. My car left me stranded last night. He left to go pick up the battery and Kristen from her last schooldance of the year.

Oh Look! It's yet another primary Tuesday!

I watched an episode of Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he was making fun of the Democrats that split GUAM! "They SPLIT GUAM! EVEN GUAM COULDN'T DECIDE!" So Barack will "take" North Carolina and Hillary will "take" Indiana. Feels like we're playing Red Rover. No offense to my family in Florida....but the dems there MESSED UP by not having a "normal" primary that would count! Oh well.

Frank and I registered Kristen for her BIG leadership trip to Washington, DC this summer:
http://www.cylc.org/jrnylc/

She's going to be staying at the University of Maryland. I hope it turns out as great as I think it will. Should be really interesting since it's an election year. Of course, they might just send her back saying "That child doesn't need ANY leadership training!" We shall see. I'm going to pick up our future leader from school a little early. She has an ortho appointment. I think she gets her bottom braces today. Stay tuned for a new picture.

My favorit You Tube video for now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY

Soccer Bumps and Bruises

I'm so glad Geoff came to my last game...because people always ask me when I tell them we've sent 3 women to the hospital "What on earth are you guys doing out there to get so hurt?" You know...we PLAY. And we play HARD. And there's a lot of bangin into each other and tripping and head crashes. We play to win! And we have fun. But we pay for it the next day, that's for sure!

We play in the North Texas Women's Socer Association (www.ntwsa.org) Our team name is SOS. We play in the Over 30, Division 5 (Wimpiest of the Wimps). We won a couple of games in a row and thought to ourselves....hey we might even move up! But then we lost 2 very brutal physical games in a row...and now we're thinking we're pretty well placed in our correct division. GO SOS!

Goalkeeper fiddling mom

So I played goal keeper today and was concertmaster during a Mass performance today. Talk about covering all the bases. The kids were good and Frank seemed happy with the weekend.

Seems like I've found my calling as a soccer goalkeeper. I loved it. Yeah we lost 2-1. But I finally had fun playing soccer today! And I didn't get any new bruises! I hope the team keeps me!