Lions, Tigers and Bears, OH MY

I'm fairly certain there's been more packed into the past eight days than I can even cover, and frankly, hope to never have to cover again.


Starting with Tripoli. Getting ready for work last Monday, Bill made mention to me that the Rebels had taken over. ...... Full disclosure. My brain has only so much room in it these days, and admittedly my response was: um, will you please explain to me what that means to us? i wasn't at all being snarky; I just honestly drew a blank on a) was Tripoli a city or country? b) where was it again? and c) how can i sound somewhat intelligent?   its no wonder people think American's are dumb.  well.  I may not have at the tip of my tongue the details on Middle Eastern/Northern African politics and rebellions, but I can recall a two page grocery list almost verbatim and remember when 19 of Eileen's classmates turn 5.

I did take solace in the fact that the couple of people to whom I admitted this story, also smart successful women, shared my experience of utter blank-dom.


So then came Tuesday. I have this friend Aaron, a friend from college.  He is now a lawyer in San Diego, yet he manages to scoop any and ALL stories related to UT Atheltics. And he's never wrong.  And he's the reason Facebook is now where I get 98% of my news (hmm... wonder if there's some correlation between my knowledge of Tripoli & Facebook?)....  so the story Aaron scooped was a gut-wrenching one: Living Legend Coach Pat Summit diagnosed with early on-set Dementia, tied to Alzheimer's.  She's 59.  Most of you probably know who she is, and if you dont - the long and short of it: The woman has coached women's basketball at the University of Tennessee for 38 years.  Countless national championships.  Over one thousand wins.  You read it right. ONE THOUSAND plus wins. Her athletes don't do drugs, they get damn good grades, they graduate, and they win. The woman inspires people to a fault. It is simply in her nature.  

  So while the situation on it's own is tough to swallow, it seems even more unfair when one considers all the crap going on in genereal in NCAA Division I sports.  Our own football and (men's) basketball programs. The University of Miami.  The University of Ohio. Rumors about Auburn and Alabama. USC. LSU. It seems such a rarity these days to have a coach with integrity, loyalty, that actually cares about her kids.. and to know that person is faced with such unfairness is just infuriating. Yet, she'll no doubt fight like hell, and end up using even this as a teaching lesson. (which by the way is what my very own stepdad did when he beat colon cancer in 2004).

So my friend Aaron broke that story at roughly 1pm ET last Tuesday. Around 2pm that same day, I arrived at a meeting to discuss an upcoming event. Our VP Of Safety/Security was in attendance (remember people -yep, I work in TV. but our campus is up there with the Pentagon as far as security).  So just as we all sit down, said VP literally leaps out of his chair.  And this particular VP is roughly 6'5" and well over 250 lbs.  When this man leaps, everyone notices. And all he said was "I gotta go, Earthquake in NYC." 

Ok, wait. HUH? how is that possible? So those of us in the meeting with trusty laptops immediately jump online. CNN had little to share, FB however.. friends strecthing from NYC to DC, and some in VA and NC, all posting about the quaking earth they'd just experienced.

We all know how that turned out - indeed there was a fairly significant earthquake.

So back to UTsports news.. the other living legend from these parts, Peyton, seems to not quite have recovered from some neck surgery last spring.  Now while many of you may not find this blogworthy, the last time the man did NOT start a game was 9/26/1994.  Yes, 1994.  I was a sophmore in college, he was a freshman. Two QBs started ahead of him. Both got hurt. Peyton went in. And has started every single game in which he's played since then - at the college level and in the NFL.  All with teams - the Vols and the Colts.  For him not to start feels like the Earth isn't really round (drama? who? ME?).

The smidge of GOOD news the Big Orange received was that no further sanctions would be brought against the University with regards to recent Basketball & Football violations. Shew.  One (IDJIT) former coach was apparently 'disappointed' in the length of his personal punishment.  Seriously DUDE? you bold face lied to the NCAA. There were pictures to prove you were lying, and you still lied?!  and this man is 'disappointed'?  I continue to be baffled.

In the latter part of the week, I had follow up appointment with my orthopedic doctor. Who told me no running for two weeks. Then stuck me in the hip with a big nasty dose of cortisone. not so pleasant. so as of now, I have 8 more days til I can run again.  can you tell I'm anxious? 

I'm probably boring you. Most of you come here for tales of Eileen, and here I am prattling on.  If I could manage to blog more than once every 8 days, my posts would be shorter.  I strive to be like Sara.

The last non-Eileen story I'll touch on, is of course, Miss Irene. Oh my.  Not a pretty storm.  My mom and John fared well, except for their yard torn to shreds.  Loss of power was minimal, no flooding at their house. My friends & family in NYC & NE had some damage and loss of power.. but none were hurt and their homes are still standing.  The storm seemed to have run our lives for 4-5 days.  I remember when I was little, living in Memphis, and in (what felt like) constant fear of tornadoes.. I used to think Hurricanes were a better option.  At least you knew they were coming and could plan for it.  In reality- neither is better than the other. But in the mind of a (still terrified) 11year old, it made perfect sense.

As you can see by the pictures, we spent our weekend with Miss Syd. Eileen misses her terribly since Syd went to Kindergarten.  So we had our first sleepover, and it was a success!  We fully expected to have Syd wake up at 2am and be scared and want to go home. Nope, she slept all night.  (eileen, not so much.  she woke up three times. sigh).

• taking a tubby to get ready to go to a baby shower, they're playing with 'paint soap' ... eileen flips out bc sydney dumped the red all in the tub. it will be so godo for Miss Thang to have her baby sister here soon, and learn to s h a r e. luckily Syd ignored The Greedy One and continued playing. Eileen got over it.
• I took them to Sonic (seeing how it was almost 2pm and we were on the way to the shower and I realized I had yet to feed them any lunch...).  They each got a burger (Eileen's an oddball and doesn't want cheese on hers.  is that even American?!), tater tots, and a chocolate shake.  Eileen also did not want her tater tots! If she didn't look exactly like me, I'd wonder if she'd been switched at birth.  (no worries people, I ate the tots..).   As we drive off, Eileen sips her shake.  In full on 1980s Valley Girl accent - "Oh my GOSH Syd. you have GOT to take a sip. It is SOO good. I mean.  It is so so good."   This of course is about the time I use all my will power to not drive off the road from laughing so hard.
• Putting her to bed last night -
• Eileen: Mommy, why aren't you having another baby?
• Me: Well sweetie, some mommies only have one baby.
• Eileen: but we need to have four kids in our family!
• Me: umm. why?
• Eileen: because. When you & Bill & Daddy & Sarah get old, we'll need to have four kids so we can push ou around in your wheelchairs

And there ya go. I'd say that sums it up.

MONDAY!

 I know I just posted last night. And actually at the moment I'm at work, so this will be brief. But. seeing as how I have Monday Morning tales, I just had to share. As we all know, these things only happen to me.

So I had PT at 8 this morning (i'm pretty sure you all know i'm a runner, and every now and then i get nagging injuries - not generally a major concern, but generally enough that it sidelines me several weeks and requires some professional medical attention). I purposely schedule the appointments early, with the intent of getting to work as close to the start of the day as I can.

However.  I seem to have some sort of mental block of ever being on time for anything. It doesn't matter HOW early I get up for something, I always run late.  Which was, of course, the case this morning.  We didn't have Eileen, so one would think I really wouldn't have a reason for being late. I left the house at 7:58 for my 8am appt.  Luckily, 98% of my entire life exists in a 4mile radius of my home; I was at the therapist by 8:06.  Not awful.

I get in, get on the table and the heat blanket on my bad spot. I check phone. and find a text from Bill.  Seems his truck keys were in my car... meaning, yep. He was stuck at home. Oh joyous Monday. So he has an hour to kill while I get poked and prodded.

So I think, ok well I guess it works out. I can change into work clothes at home (instead of at work) and also get more coffee. The mere two cups I'd had so far were nothing compared to the usual 4 or 5 I'd usually have had by 8:30.  (shush yo mouth. YOU get up on a regular basis at 4:50 to get to the gym and work out for 1+ hours before work, and then you let me know how much coffee YOU had ...).  I let my boss know I'd be later than I thought in order to get back home and get keys to Bill.  Luckily she's a) nice and b) we all have blackberries, so really, we never are NOT at work.


So I get home, toss keys to Bill and grab clothes from the back seat.  And lo and behold. There were two different flip flops in there! HAD I come to work to get dressed, yep, I'd have been sporting different colored shoes.

So yes folks, it is Monday. 
I have been at work for a little over an hour, and so far I have had no more mishaps. Lets hope that trend continues!

Happy Adventures all.

editor's note: i started this post last monday 8/15... and its taken me this long to get it finished and pictures loaded. sheesh. i don't know how you daily bloggers manage!

Well folks, a week from today is Christmas.
OK, not really, but it is that time of year ... school has started (or depending on where you live, will start very soon..), and in a couple of weeks, it will be Labor Day.

I swear, that early September three-day weekend has some mystical power. From the Tuesday after Labor Day to January 2 of the next year... time moves at Mach Speed. There is football (wooHOO), and corn mazes and pumpkin patches and Halloween. And then there's baking and planning and turkeys and lots of Tums.  And BAM. Sparkles and parties and fizzy drinks and Elfs on the Shelf (oh, I know you guys can't wait for the tales of Chuckie...). And then it's Christmas.  All of that happens in what feels like roughly three weeks.

And this year, added to the insanity.. we'll have a fifth birthday party for Eileen, complete with pierced ears and a Big Girl room with new paint and bunk beds.. we'll have the five year check-up complete with vaccinations for the 2012 school year. And then we'll have Little Baby Edith coming to join us just before Christmas.

All of this has been on my mind, this past week especially, as I watch so many of my friends sending their kiddos to their first day of Kindergarten. No doubt holding Eileen back is a good choice, and in all honesty, I am relishing this last year of her being still in PreK.  I can't quite fathom her being in Kindergarten yet. All the same, today I realized my tummy was all kinds of nerves. I have one more year of her being little, just one year. And on the one hand, it is a whole extra year.. but OMG.  So all that being said.. I will very much be trying to make the most of this last year of Little Eileen (even tho most days I am pretty sure she's already 12).

In this coming year, I expect no shortage of constant entertainment. Take for example, the last couple of weeks...

last night
me: hey ya know what? Grandpa & Beanie are going to come for your birthday!
e:    well, i know that mom.
me: how? I didn't even tell you til just now, I just found out!
e:    well MOM! i mean, they come EVERY year. so of COURSE they're coming.

me + bill = shocked faces.. to laugh or to call out the sass? (we went with laughing)

beach trip
well, actually,... there are far too many stories for me to even remember all of them.

• one morning, she woke early. we weren't ready to get up, so she happily agreed to entertain herself on the top bunk. she played quietly for about an hour (quietly should have been our first warning sign...) and then popped back to my side of the bed to see if we coudl get up now.  it took all of my will power to not shriek in terror. her idea of playing = applying what should be illegal amounts of BLACK eyeshadow (note: she did apply it to correct areas of her face) and a shade of red lipstick so bright she would have glowed at night.

• one morning, josh/sarah/bill/me were upstairs eating breakfast and such.  josh was looking for eileen, and we assumed she was playing downstairs. he went off in search of her and to pack some clothes, while bill/sarah/me stayed upstairs chatting.  a good ten minutes passed.  i went to head downstairs, walked past the couch, froze, and walked backwards. there was eileen. hiding between the couch and wall .. just listening.. for all of that time.. waiting to be found!?  oh that girl laughed until i am not sure she could breathe. she had highly amused herself to have tricked all four of her parents.

Alas, in my over-stuffed brain I can't recall more of the Eileen-isms.  If and when they come to me, I'll be sure and fill ya in.

In other news, I am officially an 'artiste' and Eileen's social calendar is overflowing.

Earlier this week, my department had an afternoon off site retreat. We went to one of those places where everyone paints, per the instructor's direction. We painted lemons, and it was riduculously fun. (in most cases, the idea is to have a glass of wine or two while painting, but when Uncle Scripps is picking up the tab.. well, not so much)...

That same afternoon, Eileen and I went to have a play date with Ethan/Lucas/Preston.  Possibly the most fun boys on the planet, and Eileen has blast with them.  She and L&P will be in the same class in one more week, and Heaven Help their teacher!  Then on Thursday Eileen and I went to meet Syd & Lani, bc OMG.. it was Syd's fifth birthday. AND her first day of Kindergarten. I'm not entirely sure how that happened, how we got to that point.. but here we are, and well, we're gonna have fun dang it! Speaking of fun, Eileen and Syd completely butted in on some guys' game of beanbag toss (aka cornhole, oh how I get the shivers when I say/type that word!).

They're such stinkers and so cute that they get away with murder!

Here's to a good week all...