a little update on my girls on the run girls.

of course i love them. some more than others. i seriously don't know how teachers can't have favorites. whatever. i know they do.

i have a favorite, and she's not who i expected. she is very small, kind of orphany looking, and she says absolutely whatever is on her mind even if it's usually kind of kooky. she's quirky but always so positive. i think that's what i love about her best. yesterday, we had a relay race where the two teams had to race across the gym to write down something they were thankful for. by the end, every letter of the alphabet had to have a word next to it. her first turn she picked letter G. you can guess...she wrote GOD in huge, bold letters. her second turn she picked R and wrote "Rattel snakes!!!!" just like that. (BTW, i was surprised at how many girls listed their brothers).

it just so happens we had to tackle our first two mile run yesterday, outside in yucky, cold weather. the lesson was on "reflecting" and we were all supposed to run silently, reflecting on good things while we ran.

ha. i'm not sure who talked first, her or me. we chatted the entire time. she told me some things about her life that made me kind of sad. she told me how much fun she was having. she told me she doesn't really have any friends. i told her she was cool. she made the first mile without stopping, and we ran near other girls or passed them along the way. she had to do a little walking the second mile and she told me "my heart wants to keep going but my legs want to stop!" it made me smile. i ran her to the door and then went back to run with other groups of girls, some of them really struggling and some of them REALLY not liking the running. we tried to make a game out of it...but honestly. two miles is a long way. i hope they are not too discouraged.

all of us, coaches included, broke that whole "silent, reflecting" rule along the way. i do enjoy running alone and actually prefer it. but not when i have all these little girls running with me. what fun is it to NOT talk to them? they have such great things to say.

all in all, i want to scoop most of them up and bring them home. :) how do teachers not want to do that, as well?

i made karen's Greek salad for a banquet yesterday. i asked the husband to pick up some feta cheese and some dried oregano. i made the rest of the salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow and green peppers, kalamata olives) and waited patiently to add the two final most important ingredients.

he walked in the door at the exact time the banquet started, carrying a bag of shredded mozzarella and paprika.

not exactly the same thing.

but i had to do something so i used the mozzarella cheese, added powdered oregano and a drizzle of olive oil.

as you can imagine, it tasted nothing like the Greek salad of my dreams. it wasn't very good. sigh. but here's the funny thing. my big ol' bowl came home empty.

the moral of the story?

there is a difference between feta and mozzarella cheese and the husband doesn't care because he wouldn't touch a Greek salad with a ten foot pole anyway OR people will eat anything at a pot luck once all the tater tot casseroles are gone.

don't tell deann. i JUST started training for the half marathon in june. sigh. it's not pretty. i have decided to make up my own training schedule of sorts since running every day pretty much kills my old body. i am mixing it up with class, biking, etc. and only running about 3 days each week, with one day being a longer run. we'll see if it gets me to the finish line.

my usual goal is to just beat the loser bus.

this year my goal is also to finish before deann has had a coke, taken a shower, gotten dressed, stopped for pizza and is back at the finish line to watch me crawl across it.

so the hound started obedience classes last night.

i gave her a D+.

big j gave her a solid C.

she was the class clown, the loud and crazy kid that's fun to watch but no one really wants to sit by. she was SO excited to be around all those dogs. all she wanted to do was play with the boxer and the pit bull and the other naughty labrador. seems she likes to hang out with the bad boy crowd. although she did try to make friends with a weaner dog and a sweet little corgi. they wanted nothing to do with her.

i do think she's going to settle down after a few sessions. big j is going to work with a doberman that's kind of the mentor dog of the class until she does. right now, crosby walks all over him because he's just way too soft with her.

yeah. she looks all cute and innocent up there in that photo. he he. stay tuned for the updates. i just hope she doesn't hack up a sock in the middle of class.

well, he got me.

friday night we were at the bowling alley for big j's year-end hockey party. about 10 pm, i hear all this noise and people singing...i look up and all these people are coming in the door wearing party hats and blowing horns and singing happy birthday.
i had no clue. none. i never thought i would like a surprise party, but it turned out to be a really fun night. they made me wear a silly shirt that said "party girl" on the front and "old fart 40" on the back and was bedazzled with jewels. my friends told me the husband set the whole thing up...but i have a feeling a few of them stepped in with some ideas. pretty sure he doesn't know how to bedazzle a shirt. :)

someone has pictures, i just don't remember who. probably for the best anyway...

dang. i forgot it was st. patrick's day. the boys went off to school without wearing green, and what a shame. we have montrose fighting irish clothing coming out of our ears. happy st. paddy's day to all you irish lads and lasses.

now quit pinching my kids.

so my phone service switched to at&t and i had to order a new blackberry. granted it was free, but i didn't need or want one. my "old" one and me were getting along just fine. all along, the at&t marketing stuff we keep getting and getting and getting has been telling us the switch is coming and that it will be easy.

whatever. i know many of you are in the boat with me but this is ME we are talking about. i hate technology, i am typing this post on a 2004 computer using word 2003. the thought of even reading the transition instructions kept the box with the new phone in it unopened for two weeks. who does that?

i do.

so. i warily got up the guts to open the new phone yesterday and there is a big ol' list of instructions and directions and warnings. one of them says "there is a chance you will lose all the contact information and addresses in your old phone before you transfer to your new phone. be sure to write all of them down so you have access to them once your old phone is turned off."

then there is a thing about being given notice about the official transition 7 days before it happens, and after the 7th day you are toast if you haven't done it because your old phone will die and you can't ever use it again.

crap. what if i already missed the notice? i pretty much delete anything that looks like a sales gimmick, so i probably deleted the notification. the husband said he got some kind of notice a few days ago but he deleted it without reading it.

on top of the doomsday message we probably missed, i have about 200 phone numbers and email addresses inside my old phone. i think i might take it to the store and ask them to write them all down for me and transfer things, since i really wanted no part in this in the first place.

ok, now i'm just being snotty, but seriously. i don't want to switch all my stuff. odds are this is not going to be smooth or easy and i'll be missing calls and emails for weeks.

i guess this is my way of saying you might not be able to call me or text me and i'm going to be kinda crabby about it. you can reach me by postal service or via email to my 2004 computer. yeah. the day i am forced to switch this old laptop out is going to be mass chaos. until then though...happy day :)

ok, the pictures are still in my camera and i'm not exactly sure where that is right now. you've all seen enough goggle and ski hat photos anyway. i'll just give you a little recap and then move on. seems like it's been forever since i've talked to you all :)

1. skiing was great. highlights this year were great weather, little j officially passing all of us up and skiing double blacks faster than his dad and the blessed hot tub at the end of the day. i am not sure if it has anything to do with turning a big number, but it did feel like 5 full days of skiing non-stop from 9 until 4 were a little much. i was TIRED. still am.

2. sidney dog had to stay with grandma while we were gone and apparently had a nervous breakdown. she ate off the hair on her tail.

3. tonite is my first night coaching girls on the run. i am a little nervous that 17 girls aged 8-12 are going to chew me up and spit me out. i am going to practice being authoritative. ha.

4. ah, the hockey saga. enough time has passed now for me to tell this without dragging out the drama. long story short, big j was told he made the AAA South Dakota team (we even sent in the check) and then told they had made a mistake and he needed to try out again. both boys tried out for the final round. end result: little j made the team, big j did not. i cannot even get into how this whole situation ripped my heart out, but to his credit, big j handled the rejection much better than i did. i know things worked out the way they were supposed to in the end, even if it did kill me along the way. little j is very excited and big j has vowed to practice hard and knock their socks off next year.

5. big j and i begin taking crosby to dog training classes next tuesday night. perhaps they can teach her why swallowing whole socks and underwear are not a good idea.

6. i am up to my eyeballs in work again. better make this short, i owe that slave driver bobbi a campaign--the client wants something profound and different. doh.

7. i will try to post more often. sorry for being so lame lately. you know that march is my crazy month, right?

ok. i have excuses. pretty good ones, too. first off, i've been crazzzzy busy with work...mostly because i needed to take two weeks off. the first week is already gone in a blur, but i did take a few photos for once...




my mom and i worked for three days tiling my kitchen. it was kinda fun...and it actually turned out even better than i expected.




the photos loaded backwards. this one was supposed to go first :)



we had big j's 10th birthday party. he invited all the boys in his class to the indoor waterslide. it was loud. and wet. and did i say loud?



my mom was here for a week. we tired her out again i think (the tiling, the hockey, the kids, the pets, the driving, the tiling). but it was fun to have her here, and we always miss her when she leaves. especially the pets--she spoils them rotten while she's here.



little j was a pirate at the multi-age restaurant last week--a fundraiser for his school. it was called Pirate Patchy's Paradise and he was so excited. he took reservations by phone, sat his guests, served the table, made the centerpieces, and even went with his class to take out a bank loan for the restaurant. it was pretty cool.

so that's what i have been up to, in addition to hockey, life and looking forward to our week in montana. which is coming up soon, so i'll just apologize in advance for not blogging.

have a great week. i know i will!