My dad just called to discuss our weekend plans. He's flying out here from El Paso for Labor Day weekend. Said he bought a bunch of old movies on DVD and wondered if we wanted him to bring any to watch. Classic war pics like Gunga Din, Zulu, etc.
Then he asks "Does Big like movies about horses?" (Actually he used my name instead of hers, but I knew what he meant?) Goes on to explain how he got this neat movie called In Pursuit of Honor, starring Don Johnson. Oh, it's about a cavalryman who's ordered to kill all of his horses, but he doesn't, instead he runs them up to Canada, all the while being pursued by tanks and armed soldiers.
Oh, it's not that scary really. And there are some really cute parts with the horses where they are trained to respond to bugle calls.
My poor dad. He just does.not.get that Big is only 5! And that she's still scared of Toy Story and Veggie Tales!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
I know it's only church league softball ... BUT ...
would it absolutely KILL some of these people to show a little discipline? We had a scrimmage/practice tonight and I am pissed off at two types of people:
1. HOTSHOTS. These are the "natural athletes" who take every opportunity to show off what they can do. Walk in to practice late, schmooze with the ladies, talk over the coach, then smack the ball out of the park at the first swing. More often than not, this same kid is the one who moves in front of anybody else to make a play, runs down the runner himself rather than toss the ball to the baseman, and for good measure GUNS the ball to first so fast that the normally-tough-girl playing there cringes in fear. It wouldn't be so bad if Mr. Hotshot didn't trip all over himself half the time.
2. GIRLY-GIRLS. Mostly teenagers, but some of their moms qualify. Spend their time in right field gabbing with the other Girly Girls, twirling their hair, admiring their pedicures, etc. (Because, don't you know, flip flops are the perfect footwear for sports.) Cannot throw or worse yet HIT to save their lives. Our two biggest girly-girls swung and missed at 20 pitches in a row last week! I don't know why they're there. Crazy thought: If you are willing to be on the team, and you KNOW you suck, wouldn't you want to take some reasonable steps to get better. Yes, it's church league and we're all here to have fun, but it is also actually fun to DO SOMETHING RIGHT. Or at least to try.
Damn, I'm just too f*ucking competitive. And the worst part of all is, it's church league, so I really can't use that kind of language.
1. HOTSHOTS. These are the "natural athletes" who take every opportunity to show off what they can do. Walk in to practice late, schmooze with the ladies, talk over the coach, then smack the ball out of the park at the first swing. More often than not, this same kid is the one who moves in front of anybody else to make a play, runs down the runner himself rather than toss the ball to the baseman, and for good measure GUNS the ball to first so fast that the normally-tough-girl playing there cringes in fear. It wouldn't be so bad if Mr. Hotshot didn't trip all over himself half the time.
2. GIRLY-GIRLS. Mostly teenagers, but some of their moms qualify. Spend their time in right field gabbing with the other Girly Girls, twirling their hair, admiring their pedicures, etc. (Because, don't you know, flip flops are the perfect footwear for sports.) Cannot throw or worse yet HIT to save their lives. Our two biggest girly-girls swung and missed at 20 pitches in a row last week! I don't know why they're there. Crazy thought: If you are willing to be on the team, and you KNOW you suck, wouldn't you want to take some reasonable steps to get better. Yes, it's church league and we're all here to have fun, but it is also actually fun to DO SOMETHING RIGHT. Or at least to try.
Damn, I'm just too f*ucking competitive. And the worst part of all is, it's church league, so I really can't use that kind of language.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Cheating via meme, already
I thought I was so cool, being prepared to blog again after such a long absence. So much going on in my actual life (Busy's 3rd birthday, more staff stuff at church, getting ready for VBS in less than two weeks) that I am hiding my head in the sand about all that and blogging about something else. HG's birthday meme from 7/12 caught my eye, so I am trying my hand at the following: "Go to wikipedia and type in the day and month of your birth. Then pick three events, two births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday and post them."
CMG's birthday: November 25
Three events
1926 - The worst, deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. November history strikes on Thanksgiving day. 27 twisters of great strength reported in the midwest, including the strongest November tornado, an estimated F4, that devastates Heber Springs, Arkansas. 51 deaths in Arkansas alone, 76 deaths and over 400 injuries in all.
1947 - Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Two births
1960 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (d. 1999)
1981 - Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush, daughters of George W. Bush and Laura Bush\
One holiday
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (since 1981)
CMG's birthday: November 25
Three events
1926 - The worst, deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. November history strikes on Thanksgiving day. 27 twisters of great strength reported in the midwest, including the strongest November tornado, an estimated F4, that devastates Heber Springs, Arkansas. 51 deaths in Arkansas alone, 76 deaths and over 400 injuries in all.
1947 - Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Two births
1960 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (d. 1999)
1981 - Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush, daughters of George W. Bush and Laura Bush\
One holiday
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (since 1981)
Monday, July 16, 2007
Bitty Baby's birthday party
Since I already when to the trouble to type this up in another venue, I thought I'd share this here so I can read it again when I'm old and grey. Which means in about three weeks, at the rate I'm going.
So, the Big Girl whines. A LOT. Apparently that's really common at this age. It's maddening in its own right, but what gets me the most is when she whines about her sister. "I don't have anyone to play with me ... It's no fun with Busy around ... There's nothing for me to doooo ... I can't play X because Mommy is ALWAYS making dinner and Daddy is ALWAYS playing with Busy and there is never anybody to play with ME ... Busy always wants to get in my way and mess things up because she doesn't know how to play ... I can't do Y by myself because I'm no good at it and I need a grownup's help but the grownups are always with Busy and it's not fair ..."
Actually she started to blame things on me for marrying Daddy, but I did put a stop to that. Who says I have no authority? And I've started reading "Siblings without Rivalry" to help address the sister problem.
Consequences for whining have developed into Big being set to her room until she can talk with her nice voice. And while she's there she has to read a random page of "14000 things to be happy about" and find one thing that she likes. Tonight she came downstairs giggling like crazy over "bib overalls". But sometimes, to address the underlying need for more of Mommy's attention (which is most of the cause of the whining), I am generous with my time. On Saturday I agreed to play with Big and her dolls for 30 minutes, maybe 45, under the condition that when it was time to stop there would be no whining about it or I wouldn't play anymore. She wanted to play "Bitty Baby's surprise birthday party" and here's how we did it.
1. take all the bedding out from a secret stash in Big's room and make BB's crib
2. find pajamas for BB and Jess and dress both dolls (Big has great difficulty doing these manipulations on her own so I have to do all the dressing)
3. tuck BB and Jess into their beds
4. while the dolls are sleeping, find our purses and pretend to go to the store to buy them toys and pets.
5. "wrap" the toys and hide the pets near the beds
6. "make" a cake (2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 5 cups baking powder; then add the wet ingredients, which are 2 eggs, 1 stick butter, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup oil)
7. while the cake is baking, go to the "store" again to buy party decorations and cake decorations
8. take the cake out of the oven; while it is cooling (for 5 minutes, Mom!) we hang pretend streamers and banners around the room
9. "decorate" the cake and hide it on top of the "refrigerator"
10. wake up the dolls, get them dressed in their day-time clothes
11. (at this point I tell Big that we've been playing for 30 minutes and we have just 15 minutes left)
12. "buckle" everybody into carseats/seatbelts and "drive" to the doctor's office because it looks like BB is getting sick and we need to know if she'll be healthy enough to have her birthday party
13. while at dr's office, Jess "plays" in the well-kids room during BB's checkup; she's OK so then we "drive" home
14. let the dolls "open" their gifts then dress BB in her party clothes, complete with party hat that won't stay on and a party bib for Bitty Bear, and a matching hat for Big.
15. (now I tell Big that we've got 5 minutes left)
16. in the final 5 minutes, we give the dolls their pets, let them walk halfway across the room to the "party" and eat the "cake". I think we remembered to sing Happy Birthday at some point, but I'm not sure.
17. I tell Big that our time is done so we spend another 10-15 minutes putting everything away. To her credit, there is only a token amount of whining ("but that was too fast! We didn't get to play for a WHOLE hour!")
I hope that bought me enough good karma that I am off the hook for American Girls for at least three months. And also? Yay, me, for getting Back to the Blog!
So, the Big Girl whines. A LOT. Apparently that's really common at this age. It's maddening in its own right, but what gets me the most is when she whines about her sister. "I don't have anyone to play with me ... It's no fun with Busy around ... There's nothing for me to doooo ... I can't play X because Mommy is ALWAYS making dinner and Daddy is ALWAYS playing with Busy and there is never anybody to play with ME ... Busy always wants to get in my way and mess things up because she doesn't know how to play ... I can't do Y by myself because I'm no good at it and I need a grownup's help but the grownups are always with Busy and it's not fair ..."
Actually she started to blame things on me for marrying Daddy, but I did put a stop to that. Who says I have no authority? And I've started reading "Siblings without Rivalry" to help address the sister problem.
Consequences for whining have developed into Big being set to her room until she can talk with her nice voice. And while she's there she has to read a random page of "14000 things to be happy about" and find one thing that she likes. Tonight she came downstairs giggling like crazy over "bib overalls". But sometimes, to address the underlying need for more of Mommy's attention (which is most of the cause of the whining), I am generous with my time. On Saturday I agreed to play with Big and her dolls for 30 minutes, maybe 45, under the condition that when it was time to stop there would be no whining about it or I wouldn't play anymore. She wanted to play "Bitty Baby's surprise birthday party" and here's how we did it.
1. take all the bedding out from a secret stash in Big's room and make BB's crib
2. find pajamas for BB and Jess and dress both dolls (Big has great difficulty doing these manipulations on her own so I have to do all the dressing)
3. tuck BB and Jess into their beds
4. while the dolls are sleeping, find our purses and pretend to go to the store to buy them toys and pets.
5. "wrap" the toys and hide the pets near the beds
6. "make" a cake (2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 5 cups baking powder; then add the wet ingredients, which are 2 eggs, 1 stick butter, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup oil)
7. while the cake is baking, go to the "store" again to buy party decorations and cake decorations
8. take the cake out of the oven; while it is cooling (for 5 minutes, Mom!) we hang pretend streamers and banners around the room
9. "decorate" the cake and hide it on top of the "refrigerator"
10. wake up the dolls, get them dressed in their day-time clothes
11. (at this point I tell Big that we've been playing for 30 minutes and we have just 15 minutes left)
12. "buckle" everybody into carseats/seatbelts and "drive" to the doctor's office because it looks like BB is getting sick and we need to know if she'll be healthy enough to have her birthday party
13. while at dr's office, Jess "plays" in the well-kids room during BB's checkup; she's OK so then we "drive" home
14. let the dolls "open" their gifts then dress BB in her party clothes, complete with party hat that won't stay on and a party bib for Bitty Bear, and a matching hat for Big.
15. (now I tell Big that we've got 5 minutes left)
16. in the final 5 minutes, we give the dolls their pets, let them walk halfway across the room to the "party" and eat the "cake". I think we remembered to sing Happy Birthday at some point, but I'm not sure.
17. I tell Big that our time is done so we spend another 10-15 minutes putting everything away. To her credit, there is only a token amount of whining ("but that was too fast! We didn't get to play for a WHOLE hour!")
I hope that bought me enough good karma that I am off the hook for American Girls for at least three months. And also? Yay, me, for getting Back to the Blog!
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