We won!!

My daughter had a softball game last night. She pitched 2 innings and did great - struck out their best batter. We played the number 1 team and beat them 16-5 - it was great. We are in third place right now. My daughter was not going to play this year but the league called and said they needed another pitcher so she said she would. This is our 2nd game since she started and we have won both. We have 9 games left so maybe we can get up to first place. She is a really good pitcher and loves it so much. She is 11 and already 5'3 and is at around 50 miles per hour. Her goal is to be up to 55-60 by spring - I am sure she can do it. She is so competitive and loves the sport so much. I think it is great for kids to have something they love to do. I envy her - to have something you love that much and to be so good at it. She's a very lucky little girl and will go far in this sport if she stays in it. I am thinking scholarships down the road - with college prices these days that would be a blessing.

Mondays

I hate Mondays - I really do. I never get everything done on the weekends and would love to have one more day to just rest. It is so hard to do laundry, clean, get groceries and run all the errands all in 2 days. How do you manage? My hours are crazy during the week but I keep my house clean all week - at least it looks clean - lol. My husband is a huge help to me as he cooks dinner 3 days out of the week. I don't know how I would manage if he didn't do that. He is truly wonderful and I would never make it without him. Monday is the busies day of the week for me at work. It is nonstop all day long. I would like to know how all the working mothers out their manage everything - do you do a little each day - do it all on the weekends? I plan a menu for the week so when I go to the grocery store I get everything we need. That seems to help me a lot. I guess we all just get by the best we can.

Are you getting scared yet?

Gas prices, the job market, foreclosures, all the talk that we are in a financial crisis. I overheard some ladies talking at the grocery store this morning that they were getting scared to put their money in the bank and one even said she was going to withdraw everything and keep it at her house. I don't know about you but I think that may be going a little too far at this point. I don't understand exactly what is going on but I do understand it some. I agree that we are in a financial crisis and it does scare me but this is the United States. I think we will be all right with time. We can persevere and we are a strong people. What do you think? Everyone has different views on this and I really love to hear them all. I don't want to hear about the president, or the future president, unless you want to talk about it then that's fine. I have learned from experience to keep your opinion of that to yourself - you will always make someone mad. It almost seems that the people will make this worse than it has to be if everyone starts withdrawing all of their money out of the banks then that will definitely make things go downhill fast! I would love to hear some opinions on this.

Things seem to have a way of working out

I prayed and prayed for a good work at home job so I can stay home and be here for my kids. Well, I got the job but have to work 11-7 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is so hard because I go to Church on Wednesday nights and now I can't. My daughter is in the GA's and she loves it but now she is having to miss it. I talked to my preacher about it and he said just to trust God that he will work this out for me. Well, I find out there's someone that has a little girl int GA's with my daughter that lives very close to me and she called and offered to take Jessi on Wednesday nights. God does have a way of working things out. I don't get to go but at least she does and I feel so much better about it.

I feel like I'm back in high school again

I graduated from high school in 1984 which makes me 42 right now. My daughter is 11 and in the 6th grade and they are having Spirit Week this week. Today was 80's day. Wow - I had to sit and think how did I dress and wear my hair during that time. Well, hair was big, feathered, crimped, etc. Dress was a lot of Guess jeans, Jordache and Gloria Vanderbilt. Lots of jewelry, big bracelets and lots of make up. She wore leg warmers today over her jeans - a polo - and wore her hair in a side pony tail with the kind of hair ties we used (the ones with the balls on them) - It was strange seeing her this morning - I was transported back in time. We got out all my old yearbooks to see how everyone was dressed. I've been living my high school days all over again these past few days. Oh how I miss it!! I would not want to go through my teens again but still I miss it. I think what I miss the most was the friendships and knowing there were people that would stick up for you, stand by you and love you no matter what. Now that I think of it that is exactly how I feel towards my children - pure unconditional love.

Do You Have Bugs?

Do you know what Spyware is and what it does? It is software that is installed in a computer without the user's knowledge and transmits information about the user's computer activities over the Internet. It takes information about a person without their knowledge or informed consent and reports such data back to a third party. Its main purpose is to collect information about where you have surfed on the Internet and what you buy online. It also displays popup ads in response to clicks of your mouse. This is annoying enough but spyware can cause much more damage than that. Spyware earned its name because it “spies” on you and then sends reports back to someone without informing you of this activity. There are a lot of free software programs to get read of these nasty little bugs. Do a Google search for spyware and a lot of information will come up to help you

Sometimes you just can't help yourself

I grew up in Illinois with 2 brothers and a loving mom and dad. It was a small town, the kind where your parents know what you did before you make it home. My oldest brother and I “turned” out okay. My parents took us to Church, taught us respect, love and kindness. In high school my older brother started doing drugs. It was just a little marijuana on the weekends at parties. Being the little sister I did not want to “rat” on him. Looking back now I wish I would have. Later when he got into cocaine it was obvious to my parents. They tried to get him help, tried everything they could. There is a saying, “you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped” and this is so true. I can’t go into this story because it would be too long but my brother is now 42 years old and is still “hooked” on cocaine. My father offered to get him help, was even going to pay a lot of money for a treatment center, but he wouldn’t go. He lives on the streets most of the time but comes home every few days and passes out for a few days. I have no idea where he gets his money but he somehow finds a way to buy his drugs. My father passed away 5 years ago and Matt is taking advantage of my mom more and more. The other day my mom and I were at a birthday party. It was only 5 miles from her house and she left her camera at home and I offered to go get it. When I pulled into the driveway I saw a car there that I didn’t recognize. When I went into the house I saw a man and a woman sitting on the couch. They were both strung out on drugs, it was obvious, and one even had a cigarette lit. Something in me snapped and by the time I got done with them they were out the door and into their car. I am a petite woman, 5’1 and 120 pounds, and they were scared of me. I told them if they ever stepped one foot into my mom’s yard I would call the police and I meant it. It’s a shame my brother is like this. My parents always blamed themselves but it isn’t their fault. He grew up in a loving home and there isn’t anything more they could have done to stop this from happening. I just pray one day he will overcome this evil inside of him and I get my brother back again.

There Is Still Good in the World

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and saw something I will never forget. We do not see a lot of kindness in this world today and I saw a glimpse of it waiting in line at the checkout. There was a man in front of me who I judged the minute I saw him. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a logo on it that I did not recognize, had his long hair in a pony tail and battered jeans on. He just looked "rough". We stereotype people so easily. A kid with a skateboard in his hand, long scraggly hair, black from head to foot is immediately a bad kid who does drugs. I know this because my son is a "skateboarder" and wears black most of the time. He is a straight A and as far from doing drugs as you can get. He and his friends probably do look a little rough when people see them at the park skateboarding. What they don't know is all of them are great kids and as good as the boy down the street who wears polo's and khakis.

That is why I surprised myself when I judged this man. The lady in front of him was an older woman, probably in her early 70's. The cashier finished scanning her groceries and told her the total. She handed him some money and he politely told her it was not enough. She then started digging through her purse, pulling out change and a few dollar bills she had at the bottom of it. She was almost in tears. The man in front of me asked the cashier how short she was and he told him about $50.00. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a $100.00 bill and told her to keep the rest of it. The lady cried and hugged him and he looked very uncomfortable. He still had his wallet out and was counting his money and looking at his groceries doing the mental math to make sure he had enough left. This is what got to me the most. He freely gave this woman a $100.00 bill and wasn't sure he would have enough left to pay for his own groceries. Everyone was telling him what a good person he was, how wonderful it was for him to give this woman money. He was embarrassed. I could tell he only wanted to get out of there. A lot of people would want to be recognized when they do something like that but he didn't. That makes it all the more special. I looked for him in the parking lot when I was going to my car. I didn't see him anywhere. I don't know if he was just a good person or an angel. The Bible tells us there are angels on this earth sent to help people. Whatever he was he put a smile on my face that day and I smiled all the way home.

Softball Tryouts

My daughter tried out for a Worth softball team last night. She did great on everything - fielding, batting, first base and then it came time for her to pitch. I don't know how she does it. If someone put me in front of an entire team of people I don't know - put a catcher in front of me that I'd never seen before - 3 coaches standing behind the plate watching me - I would freeze. Jessi is the type of person that is great under pressure and absolutely nothing makes her nervous. She pitched to their batters and struck all of them out except for one. This is one of the best travel teams in our area and for her to strike them out - well, that's good. Sitting there watching her pitch, seeing the talent she has, so happy that she has found something that she is so passionate about, I teared up. Every time I watch her pitch I get all misty eyed. I don't know why. I see other mothers do it too. I think it's because I'm so proud of her and seeing her so happy, well, I tend to get emotional when it comes to my kids. We don't know if she made it yet or not. There were 3 other pitchers there trying out. I told her on the way home trying out for a travel team was a lot like going on a job interview.

The bad thing is we didn't get home until after 9:00 last night. Her "I don't have very much homework" turned into a lot of homework. Jessi is a straight A student and it's not like her to blow off homework like that. Needless to say we were up to well past 11:00 last night getting everything done. I'm taking her to school today so she can sleep in a little bit. I really do hate this. I am an avid believer that kids need a lot of sleep - at least 10 hours.

Well, time to get her up and get this day started. Oh how I wish it were Friday!!

Finally Friday....

I thought Friday would never get here. It has been a horrendous week this week! I work at home doing tech support and I am very thankful for that but August and September are the busiest months of the year for them and my phone rings literally non stop all day long. It is starting to get on my nerves (did I say starting to??) It takes a long time to find a work at home position and now that I've found one I will keep it.

It is raining today and we haven't had a good rain in two weeks so this is a blessing! I hope it doesn't last too long though. My daughter is a fast pitch pitcher for softball and she has try outs tomorrow for a very good travel team. She is so excited and I hope she makes it for her sake. She's very, very good so if they don't take her then it's their loss. Well, my phone is ringing - better go!!