Why try Gluten Free?

Earlier I wrote a post about doing a gluten free trial and some of my thoughts as well as a few things I have read about gluten from various sources that all had a very similar message.  Cut the wheat to improve your health.  It will allow your body to do what it was built to do which is to heal itself when things go wrong with it.  I told you I would discuss with you the reasons for our gluten free trial later this week, so here it is.

We actually have many contributing factors that I think reflect much of what is going on in the rest of America as well.  Brain fog, inability to loose weight, joint pain, hypothyroidism, prediabetic, IBS, low energy levels, bladder issues, ADD, headaches, acid reflux, depression, I could go on and on.

I have been trying to lose weight for years, but I haven't successfully been able to do so since 13 years ago before my daughter was born.  Did I suddenly forget how to exercise and eat healthy?  Well, if you listen to the medical community that is the obvious fact.  I have been told to quit eating so many cookies, to be more active, eat healthier foods, and on and on.  I don't know about you, but I hate being lectured about things I already know.  It's even worse when you are trying to do these things but no one believes you and judges you to be a fat, lazy slob.  They have looked at my food journals and basically said I was lying and I must have forgotten to write down a bunch of food.  Seriously.  Then the medical community wonders why WE have so little faith in THEM?

My son has been a 3 sport athlete for 4 years.  At first the weight just fell off.  Being so active and lifting weights brought about a bit transformation in him.  But he totally stalled out when it came to weight loss for wrestling season this year.  None of our prior weight loss ideas has helped him a bit this year either.  What happened?

I could go on and on giving the back stories behind all of the symptoms listed above, but I think you get the point here.  I have been thinking and thinking about this and it just doesn't add up.  Is it the chemicals and preservatives in processed foods?  Overuse of prescription medications?  What gives?

Several years ago I began by cutting out the ready to eat processed foods that we used to buy from the store.  I began canning, dehydrating, and freezing foods that I grew myself or bought on sale and in season from farmers and grocery stores alike.  It does make more work for me, but it has helped some with things like ADD, but it hasn't completely solved all of our issues.  I continued to search for answers to our health dilemmas.

While studying natural remedies to replace some of the prescription and OTC medications we have been taking I kept coming up with the same information.  Our bodies have natural abilities to heal themselves.  Not that we will ever be able to stop everything completely, but it is a nice goal to wish for.  I began to wonder though, what was stopping my body from reaching it's full potential to heal itself?  The search continued.  I began seeing a chiropractor which has helped to increase my energy levels and clear the brain fog, but I still haven't been able to achieve much in the way of weight loss.

Now comes in the gluten free option.  I read the book Wheat Belly which I saw both on Dr. Oz and a few of my friends were trying it and seeing great results.  That book dealt with EVERYTHING on our list, plus others that weren't even on there.  Wow.  I think it's worth a try.  I mean, after examining our regular diet I noticed that we ate ALL of the no-no foods on a regular basis.  ESPECIALLY wheat.  Really.  Wow.  I never imagined that could cause so many issues, but it really does make sense.  When you overload so much on one particular category of foods, I suppose that is what you get.  I just can't help but wonder why wheat is in everything we eat.  I guess I'll be making MORE of our own stuff.

So, what did we like to eat before going gluten free?  Well, some of our favorite meals include burgers, chicken dumpling soup with a loaf of bread, grilled cheese and tomato soup, spaghetti, pizza, brats, breaded chicken baked in the oven, battered fish, ...  Notice what they all have in common?  Yup.  Wheat in every item there.  Guess who's in for a total meal make over?  Yup.  That's my next post.  So far we have tried a few items that I want to share with you.  I did manage to lose a couple of pounds so far so things are moving in the right direction for me.  Once I can get the rest of the family to jump on the bandwagon it won't be so hard to resist the temptations they keep presenting.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Family Fun

When we first started playing the kids' new Wii we hadn't actually figured out that we could make our own characters and save our records. Okay, I'm a little slow. You should know that by now!

Anyway, I did the BEST job of bowling that night. In real life bowling the best score I can remember ever getting was 131. The Wii enabled me to bowl a 245 game. Since I couldn't save it on the system because I was using a guest mii, I took a picture of the score as proof.



See? There it is. 245 to 88. Awesome.

I can't help but think this may set people who have never bowled before for a big dissappointment when they go to a bowling alley and reality sets in with the balls curving into the gutters and how heavy the ball starts to feel after a while. Don't EVEN get me started on the shoes!

The first time they used the system we only had one controller. Son had his uncle play and he broke out into a sweat. I wonder if this game will help my family become more active.

While it may seem counter-intuitive to penny pinchers all over the world I can't help but think that this investment will be beneficial to our pocket book. The initial outlay does cost much more than a trip to the bowling alley would be, but I think the savings will really add up. We can use it to hone our skills for golf, bowling, tennis, (& more) not to mention the money we can save on fitness classes if I'm able to lay my hands on a Wii Fit.

Then there's the tantrums I'm hoping I won't have to listen to anymore because the kids will be more used to playing the games when we actually go out in public, that in itself may be worth the costs of the system.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Our Day of Family Fun

Cheesehead has the weekend off. We've been more than a little stressed out lately, so we decided to take the day off and do something fun with the family. We went to Wausau and mostly window shopped.

We got a lot of great ideas for Christmas although I did warn the kids not to expect too much this year. We also went to two of my favorite stores, Goodwill and Salvation Army. Cheesehead doesn't like shopping at these stores, he says they smell. Whatever. I found some GREAT bargains and I am quite pleased with my ability to stick to such a limited budget!

What did I find? Well, at the Salvation Army I found a package of 3 matching ribbon trims edged with lace. I needed to find some quilt binding for an old quilt I am trying to repair, I am hoping I can make these work, I have seen that quilt binding is quite expensive. After buying it I did see that it was not meant for apparel usage so I'm not sure that it was a wise investment of my $3. Any thoughts? I've never made/fixed a quilt before and I want to do the best job possible. I think I'm going to try to find out the quilt's story too. If I ever am able to make any connections about it, I'll share the story with you. I also found a huge pack of fabric paint for only $1.50. While I didn't really need it I was thinking about all of the stains my children manage to get on their clothes. My thought was that I could disguise the stains with something painted over them perhaps.

At the Goodwill I found two matching lampshades for the lamps that are going into the family room. I also found but didn't purchase two matching end tables. Cheesehead was skeptical if I'd actually find the time to refinish them as I envisioned the treasures. I only bought the lampshades. I guess I'll have to keep searching for those end tables.

I have one that he likes downstairs already, but apparently he seems to think they need to match. We searched Fleet Farm for one (that's where I bought the first table), but the tables they sell there are darker than the one we own so they weren't a match either. I'm not sure what the big deal is, I just want them to be big enough to hold a lamp, book, and a drink. I guess I'll have to continue my search and see if any acceptable solutions present themselves.

Cheesehead was just grumbling at me again the other day how I gave away the end tables that match our coffee table. He told me to get rid of them. How was I supposed to know that we were going to move and he'd regret his decision to give them away a couple of years later? What a goofball!

The kids found many new game systems they enjoyed at the used game store. Too bad that's not in our budget. I was supposed to get a free xbox 360 for participating in a bunch of programs last year, but somehow it never materialized even though I held up our end of the bargain. I am hoping to be able to get them a Nintendo Wii someday when the budget allows for it, probably won't be for a couple of years though. I'd buy only the games they had to move to be able to play so they could get some exercise without me having to be such a clock watcher when it comes to their screen time. I'm sick of arguing with them about my 1 hour each game time rule. I even have to fight Cheesehead on this one. He thinks I'm being too strict. I'm just trying to get them to make healthier lifestyle choices.

We also browsed around Best Buy to get some Christmas ideas. Once again they gravitated to the games. Son ran into one of his friends while we were there. They decided to play a game together, I think it was Guitar Hero (?) something like that anyway. Son had never played it before and apparently forgot you not only had to hold down the strings, but you also had to strun the guitar too. OOOPS! He got 0 points and his friend almost hit 20,000. His friend lives fairly close by son says. I asked him why he never asks him over. Son wasn't sure, I assume it's because he's like his dad and likes to have some time to himself when he's at home. He likes to ride the bus when his friend is riding, but is more than happy to skip riding if friend doesn't ride too. They were in Pop Werner together. Son is hoping to get to play on his team if they keep the Packer team for a couple more years. His friend is a year older than him, well a grade ahead anyway.

We did some major grocery shopping at Sam's Club too. Apparently his friend is a member there too since we ran into them there again. Small world, isn't it? Milk was 30 cents less a gallon there than last time I went to Aldi's. I guess it's a good thing I didn't go into Rhinelander this morning before we headed down to Wausau. I had some errands I should have ran, but I decided to wait until Monday instead. Son starts basketball and I decided I'd just run my errands while I wait for him to finish. I think that choice helped us to stick to our budget better anyway. Well, I guess we blew it at Sam's but we did well the rest of the day.

When we got home we were a bit tired from all of that walking around, so we decided to veg out instead of playing the board games I had originally enviosioned. Son just finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at school. Since we own the movie and he doesn't remember ever watching it, we put that on, made some air popped popcorn and settled in under our blankets for a family movie night.

Now we've got a lot of lost work time to make up for, but it was well worth it. It was a nice day. The kids were both even well behaved!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Undefeated Season

Son's football team did very well this year, they didn't loose any games. Not that winning is everything, I'd rather see my son's team have fun and loose every game than win every game and loose their love of the game. I sign him up for sports to get exercise, have fun, and learn good sportsmanship.

The players and coaches were very happy with the season. I think the parents were too. The stands were as full as I've ever seen them, if not more so. Today's game was another good one, for a while the score was 6 to 6 with just a few minutes to go in the first half.

The first half of the games usually have seemed a bit more exciting, I don't know if the teams aren't as tired or if we get their offense and defense figured out or what. The final score was 40 to 14. I won't say too much about it as I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, just thought I'd share how their season ended and tell them good job.

Their banquet is on Tuesday. Congratulations, Gators on a well played season!

After the game we worked on our basement again. We're hoping to have it finished and get stuff moved in tomorrow, wish us smooth sailing and possibly a little bit of luck!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

A Forray Near the Michigan Border

Son had his second to last game today. I guess the town was only about a mile and a half from the Michigan border. I briefly toyed with the idea of driving across the Michigan border with them just so we could say we've been to Michigan, but we decided to wait until we could take Cheesehead with too.

Hurley was supposed to be about a two hour drive from home, so we had to leave bright and early. I had to make all 3 meals before 10 am this morning. I didn't want to pay through the nose eating out later, eating at home is healthier anyway.

We left the house a little later than I wanted to, but what else is new? I'm used to flying out the door at the last minute. It was only 20 minutes off of the target time so it really wasn't a big deal.

On the way to the game, we drove through Minoqua which we frequent quite often. (It's the site of my favorite fish fry restaurant Tula's.) As the sights and smells assailed my senses I found myself wishing we had left the house early enough to be able to stop to enjoy the festivities. What was going on? Apparently it's some kind of festival called Beef-O-Rama. I'm quite surprised that Cheesehead wasn't aware of this festival.



The town was bustling with activity everywhere your eyes went. During the summer it is a tourist mecca of the northwoods, but this time of year I'm just not used to seeing SO many people! Even during the summer I can't recall seeing throngs of people on every street. There were floats, extra statues that usually aren't in those places, and tents and cars just about everywhere you looked. I saw banners displaying events that were happening throughout today. I was dying to go to a good art fair, I haven't been to one in AGES! There was one right off of Highway 51 so I could only dream and drool as we continued on our way to the game. I kept driving wistfully glancing at the people meandering through Torpy Park.

The smells were exquiste too. Everywhere you drove throughout the town you could smell things being grilled or cooked. Oh man, I sure was getting hungry. Good thing I packed sandwiches so I didn't have to get out of the van with the kids or we may have never left. I reminded son to eat his lunch before we got to the game, Peanut saved hers for eating during the game. It was quite a nice money saver too.

As painful as it was to ignore the fun-filled activity in Minoqua, we drove on. I wish we had put the pads in his pants last night so I wouldn't have had to listen to the complaints about twisted belts. I got a bit annoyed. He has been putting his own pads in his pants for a couple of years now, you'd think he'd be used to it by now.



I tried to distract myself from the whining and complaining by looking at the beautiful fall colors that filled all of the trees around us. Even through the foggy haze and gloomy skies, the colors were bright and vibrant. Brilliant hues covered the branches everywhere I looked. Scarlet reds, blaze oranges, golden yellows, and emerald greens shined through the gloom to lift my spirits and keep me driving on. I wish my camera was good enough to do these trees justice.

We reached Hurley right before noon, the target time for being there. I guess I forgot to take into account that we could cut a few miles off of the map quest directions I looked up. It's a good thing we were there a bit early too since we had a few uniform issues that we needed to resolve.

The day was supposed to reach between 60 and 70, but I was glad that we had brought our jackets with us to the game. The air was wet and humid making even warmer than usual temperatures feel fairly cool. I had also brought plenty of activities to keep Peanut busy during warm-up and the game as well as umbrellas and a blanket. I felt like such a good little girl scout today!

It was another excellent game. I couldn't help but notice as the first half rolled on, how the fog was enveloping the field. You could see waves of fog rolling through the sky like low flying clouds slowly encapsulating everyone. It was difficult to see all of the players through the fog when it reached it's worst. It got so bad it started to remind several of us of those horror movies about fog.



It felt so chilly at half time, several of us headed out to a nearby gas station. We wanted be a little bit more comfortable, if only for a few minutes. I had to buy hot chocolate while I was there the air was so chilly.



By the end of the game the drizzle in the air must have taken some of the fog out of the air and it became easier to see once again. I found myself feeling extremely thankful that we had thought to bring umbrellas.



As we headed out of town we just had to make a quick stop by the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park by their courthouse. The kids were fascinated by the tank and the helicopter that were displayed there. They wondered out loud how the people managed to get into the tank. I said that was a very good question and I had no idea... a ladder maybe?

Even though it was a lot of driving for one day we arrived home in fairly good spirits but too tired to get much of anything done. I think we're going to have a movie night tonight and I'll get some work done tomorrow.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Happy Birthday, to my Favorite Son!

Okay, so he's my only son too. That's okay though because I can call him that without making anybody mad, right?



It was another busy but fun filled day. MIL and BIL came to help celebrate this morning, they also came to watch him play in his forth game of the year. Even though it's starting to look more like fall, it sure didn't feel like fall today. It was almost 80 degrees today. I guess I should have brought some more water! The score was 30-8 this time, still undeafeated. GO GATORS! The team they played today was tough and played an excellent game. I guess a few of them were pretty upset about loosing since they refused the handshaking after the game. When Son told me about that I felt a mixture of feeling sorry for them and feeling like slapping them. Can you be ashamed and upset if your team played their best? Whatever.

Then it was off to do more birthday celebrating. We stopped by the cemetary to visit his grandpa on the way to the fun. I'm sure he would be proud of our excellent little football player.



We got a great deal for mini-golfing on the Shopping Show on Coyote 93.7 a little over a week ago, so we headed out to Eagle Falls Adventure Golf in Eagle River. It was a very nice course. I was super happy that we were able to land such a great deal on these tickets, I didn't have the money to pay for a full priced mini golfing spree. Today's outing only cost $12 instead of the normal $28. Was it worth driving a bit out of the way? Well, I wouldn't do it every day but it made a nice adventure anyway.



Everyone was starving despite the snacks I brought to eat after the game, so son decided he wanted to eat at Pizza Hut for his birthday dinner. It sure was good. We don't eat out much anymore, so it's a very special treat now.

Grandma bought son a cake for his birthday. We didn't have the right candles on hand, but had a 5 and a 6. We decided that since 5+6=11 we could legitamatley use them for candles. Who could have a birthday cake without candles? Cute, isn't it? I sure hope his wish was for me to win the lottery. LOL!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

It was a Real Nail Biter of a Game

Son had his third game of the football season yesterday. I thought this game was much more exciting than the last two have been. The other team had some great blocks and there were many nervous moments during the game. They had a lot to cheer about. I'm not sure if our team is really that good or if they've been playing "bad" teams, but they remain undefeated. They played one of the rival teams (in highschool football) this time.

It was 30 to 0 with about a minute to go in the game. The time was ticking rapidly off the clock. Our defense had been on the field for the last 4 minutes or so. (I told you the Pop Werner rules about not being able to score above 24 points more than their opponents when we played our first game, didn't I? We had 22 before our final touchdown of the game. Kicking a field goal in Pop Werner gets the team 2 points, so if you're wondering how we got those last points, that's how.) The Gators were trying to have another shut out game, but it wasn't to be. It was a hard fought game, but after all of that scoring our team did we had to follow official rules. The ball is to be placed 20 yards from the endzone. They are then given the rest of the time during the games to try to get touchdowns to get a more even score. Our defense let them get a touchdown in the last minutes of the game. They tried to run their extra point in and weren't able to penetrate the line. They actually would have ended up with 12 points if their team hadn't had a false start on their line, but the penalty that was called erased those 6 points from the board.



I was also very happy to see them using our scoreboard this time. I suppose they didn't want to look bad in front of the rival team, I doubt my complaints had much of anything to do with it (even though I like to think I had something to do with it).

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Chicken Soup for the Football Player

Another crazy busy day is drawing to a close. We had quite a hectic morning around here. I made son put his own pads into hisfootball game pants again today, I had to listen to plenty of complaints about the twisted belt while I worked in the kitchen, but he's a smart boy and got it all figured out eventually.

I had to scour the fridge for some food for Cheesehead to bring to eat at work today. Many people buy lunches when they go to work, but we really can't afford that luxury at this point so I NEEDED to find something he would eat. I hope I am able to scrounge up some more, I have $5 in our grocery budget until next paycheck. It sure would be nice if Mom would send more than just enough to cover the utilities and insurance for the MN house when she sends us her rent this month. The last couple of months that's what she's done so our food supply is rapidly dwindling. I hate to say anything to her about it though since my recently divorced sister is expecting her 5th child any day. Sister is unable to work right now and for probably a couple of months after and she has not been at her job long enough to get paid disability time. She is also battling her first ex-husband for custody of her two oldest children. I hate to worry anyone with my itty bitty problems. I know God will help us muddle through somehow. I just wish we could get that house sold so I don't have to have the foreclosures finalized. My first mortgage is in the process of forclosing and my second has turned me over to a collection agency because I haven't been able to afford to pay them either. I really wish the bank hadn't forced me to take that second out on that house, I wouldn't have to worry quite a much. We are very nervous that they are going to try to get a judgement against us even though we've done everything we possibly can to get our home sold. I'd appreciate if if people out there could say some prayers for us to get our family through this bumpy time.

Once Cheesehead's lunch pail was securely packed with enough food for two meals, I started to try to figure out what the kids and I would be eating today. I found three pieces of chicken in the fridge. I could have just had us eat them for one meal with ech of us getting one piece, but since money is tight and we are trying to eat healthier anyway, I managed to stretch it into two meals. Both of which the kids complained about. Go figure!

Lunch was chicken salad sandwiches sans veggies I put in last time. Son didn't complain too hard and managed to choke the sandwich down this time, but Peanut refused to even touch her sandwich no matter what I did. SIGH.

I knew we had some errands to run in town and we'd be getting home around dinner time, so I made dinner in the slowcooker before we left for the game too. I made some chicken soup so we could just serve it up and eat right when we got home. While neither of the kids seemed to care much for it, I helped myself to two generous portions of it. There are plenty of leftovers too, looks like I've got my lunch for every day next week already made! I'll have chicken soup coming out my ears by week's end.



My chicken soup recipe was quite simple actually. I used the meat from the two chicken breasts which I diced, 3 chopped stalks of celery (including the tops that just a few months ago I used to discard), 1/2 an onion chopped, uncooked rice in an unknown quantity, a can of sliced carrots, leftover green beans, garlic salt, chicken broth, and seasoned salt. I added plenty of water, set the pot on low and it cooked while we were gone. The house smelled wonderful when we returned.



Today was also picture day. We were the second people from the Gators team to get there today. I made a point of being extra early today so I couldn't be belittled and made to feel small anymore. I am thankful that son was able to get his individual picture taken before the game since I figured he'd be filthy after the game. Luckily he has such short hair that the sweat under his helmet didn't affect his hari style in the least.

I saw the coach that looked me up at practice shaking son's hand. When I asked son about it later son reported that the coach told him that he was glad we got there on time. I asked son if he mentioned the lateness from last time had nothing really to do with us, but he's too nice to say anything either.

You'll notice that OUR scoreboard is off in the above picture. Hmm, I guess the electricity to run it costs too much or something. Oh well!



Peanut made several friends in the three hours we hung around the football stadium. Somehow she managed to get dirtier than my son who was out on the field did.



It was another good game. While the ending score ended up being close to the last game's score, this team put up a better defense. We were able to switch the lines without having to scramble to make special arrangements this time. The ending score was 22-0 this time earned throughout the whole game this time. I think having a team big enough to form two completely seperate lines helps our players stay rested, fresh, and on top of their game.

I thought this picture was funny. If you look on the far right side of the screen you'll see a player with both hands raised above his shoulders in a kind of "I don't know" gesture and a small boy wrapped around his legs. That's son. When I asked him about the picture he said he didn't want to get a penalty called on him for touching the kids so he made sure everyone could see he wasn't. He's a big time rule follwer and knows all of the professional football player rules. He gets a bit upset at times when penalties don't get called on some of the kids who break the rules.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

The First Football Game of the Year

My son is in the Pop Werner Football program. I may have mentioned that they had a game last weekend. It's been a week already? Geez, where did that time go???Anyway, I promised to tell you about it after I got some rest. I suppose a week's worth of rest is plenty long enough!

They played a game an hour's drive from our home field last weekend. He was so excited about his first game he just couldn't stop talking about it. It's good to see him so into a sport. He had gotten his uniform after practice a couple of days earlier. Since they had been fitted for their practice uniforms by the coaches, I assumed that they knew his size and his uniform would be the same size. Well, do you know what happens when you assume? Ass-U-me. Yup.

It was two hours to game time. I had him put his uniform on before we hit the road. No busses for his team, we all drove our own kids. I went out to check the van while he got ready. We were planning on going to MIL's house right after the game so I made sure we had all of the neccessary tools packed up before we left home. We had a lot of projects to get done for her. We had packed the van up the night before so there was no need to worry really. I also had to check the cat's food and water, make sure all of the plants were watered, and clean the cat boxes one last time before we left.

The kids were supposed to be at the field a half hour before game time, so I planned on leaving the house an hour and a half early. In case we got lost or something, you know... I'd never been to the field before and Cheesehead had to work until the game started. I'm not always so great with directions when I have to follow road signs instead of landmarks. I had packed some sandwiches, drinks, and fruit in my lunch pail earlier that morning so I could just have them eat in the van. That way we wouldn't have a frantic lunch rush before we left for the game. If I had only known what was about to happen.

It was 15 minutes until I wanted to get going when I came in from making my final checks before vacation. I found my son with his game pants barely pulled up to his thighs. Frantically I start asking him why he's not ready yet. It's been 15 minutes for Pete's sake.He says his uniform doesn't fit. WHAT? It can't be! They knew his size!

I desperately try to pull his pants up for him. Maybe he just needs to put a little bit more muscle into it, he tends to pretend he can't do some things in order for me to feel sorry for him and just do it for him. They won't budge. Maybe we'll have better luck with the jersey? No such luck. He can get one arm in and it gets stuck on the shoulder pads. I'm practically choking the poor fellow. What do we do now?

Quickly I throw the practice pants and jersey into the dryer and have the kids start eating their lunch. Good thing I had washed the clothes before, they had been filthy. Too bad I'm such a dimwit that I didn't remember to dry the load earlier too. I decide to have the kids eat while we wait for the practice clothes to dry. I hope they dry faster if I put them in the dryer alone rather than with the rest of the clothes I had washed.

While the clothes are tumbling in the dryer I grab a phone book out of the junk drawer. I only know two of the coach's names. Does son know any more? Nope. Neither of them are listed. EEK. Maybe they're just not published? Nope. I remember that one of their phone numbers had been sent in an email so I turn on the computer and impatiently wait for it to boot up. It takes a year and a half in my mind, but the screen finally pops up. I pull up the emails. It's not there! I deleted it? I open the deleted files folder. Erased from there too? Oh no! I wanted to be able to tell them about the uniform mixup before the game! Oh, I know one of his friends' on the team parents names. Maybe they weren't bone headed enough to delete that email, I could ask them the phone number in it. I look them up in the phone book and with lightning quick fingers, I dial the number. An hour and a half til game time now. The phone rang about 20 times before I dejectledly hung up.

He's upset. He doesn't think he'll get to play in the game. I check his clothes. They're dry, so I throw them in a bag just in case. Luckily the bag is big enough for everything including his pads, helmet, and both uniforms. I assure him that he'll play even if he needs to wear his practice uniform and we fly out the door. Fifteen minutes later than I wanted to leave. Oh well, it can't be helped!

My heart is racing from all of the fast paced activity. Whew, we're on the road. We should still be able to roll in just on time since we live 15 minutes closer to the town they're playing in than town is.

As I drive and try to clear my mind from unease, I can't help but have this gnawing feeling in the back of my mind. What is it? I absently munch my sandwich and stare blankly down the road. I'm sure glad we go through this town every time we go to MIL's, I didn't even need to look up how to get there on a map. About 1/2 way there I decide to start looking for the directions to the filed. I dig through my purse twice. Where are they? I dump it out on the seat next to me. I open every zipper. I can't look long, I am driving. I feel with my hands to make sure it all came out. The purse is empty. What did I do with them? I have my son look through my activity bag that I packed for Peanut. He digs through that twice. I have him page through every page of the book and notebook. They're nowhere to be found.

At least I have a cell phone, I can call Cheesehead at work and get the directions from him. I copied them down for each of us since we both had to drive seperatly. He answers and my phone drops the call immediately. I swear under my breath. No bars? Can this day GET any worse? I drive a couple more minutes. I know we're almost there. I NEED those directions! I call again and ask him the directions when I hear his voice. I tell him we need the directions. He snidely remarks that it sure is a good thing I forgot to put any money in his wallet, the directions are MUCH easier to find.

I'm driving, so I can't write them down. I tell son to remember them and repeat them to him as soon as I hear them. He writes the quickly into the notebook he found in the activity bag so we can't forget. We had to park about 4 blocks' distance from the field. It's 12:30.

We dash to the field and look up his coaches. They wonder why he isn't suited up, so I quickly explain and they wisk him off to get fitted for another uniform. Ten minutes to game time and son rushes over asking for his knee pads? HUH? They're in the game pants I sent with you! I rush after him. The coach is fumbling the pads nervously. He had found them, but it's been years since he's had to sting pads on a belt. Normally I make son do this now that he's older, but there's no time. I tell him that I can do it and confidently take over so he can get back to the rest of the players. Four minutes to game time, son's geared up and ready to go. No time for warm ups. They have the nerve to tell me that we should get to the games early enough and prepared so he can warmup with the team. I grit my teeth and secretly feel like strangling them. I smile politely and nod saying nothing. I mean, is this REALLY my fault?

Game time! My son is a guard (or was that a tackle?) on the offensive line. The whistle blows and the game starts flying by. 6 points, 7, 13, 14,20, 26. It's not even 1/2 time. The other team can't score. Ours is off the charts.



At 1/2 time the coaches are going over the rules. Our team isn't allowed to score any more points until the other team scores. What? These kids ARE in 5th grade. Do we really need to keep babying them? Are they so dim that they don't realize the other team is being reined in to make it a "fair" game? I don't know about you, but I think if I had been on that other team, I'd feel insulted. Whatever. They need to keep the defensive line in the whole second half of them game. Those kids will be SO tired! Our team is big enough for no one to have to play both offense and defense. They decide to alternate the lines every four plays, both playing defense.

Our teams were able to keep them from scoring the whole rest of the game. WOO HOO! Way to go!

My son is so excited. His team was undefeated last year. He wonders if they can do it again. Maybe if they work hard. I wonder if he had fun. He is beaming. I don't need any more answer than that! All's well that ends well I suppose!

Oops, sorry to keep you so long. That was quite the LONG story!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Updates

Geez, things have been SO crazy around here. I'll try to get a few more details up about these events later, but it seems that many of you are worried about me. HOW SWEET! I'm super tired from the whirlwind of activities once again. Since it's 11:15pm I think I'm becoming a pumpkin as we speak! Just a few scant details now.

First of all, the bee sting is almost completely gone. I looked up some info online and treated it as if it were an allegry. I took benadryl and rubbed allergy creme and hydrocortizone on it. Now it's almost completely gone, it just itches a bit. Must have been a localized allergic reaction.

Tomorrow we're planning on trying to get the shed painted. All 4 of us so we can hopefully make a trip to the UP Thursday. Wish us luck! Friday and Saturday we'll be building a deck for the shed, Sunday there's a picnic we're invited to. No specific plans for Monday yet, but I'm sure we'll find something to keep us busy. God forbid we sit down and rest for a day or something!

Just got back from helping out MIL and helping her with her household projects. It's been hard for her without FIL this last year. The projects weren't really time consuming, there were just a lot of them!

My son won his first football game, it was a blowout. Score was 26-0 at 1/2 time so they weren't allowed to score any more points in the second 1/2. What a fiasco getting ready for the game too. Got a sunburn.

Went to the MN State Fair yesterday too. Got another sunburn.

Lots of berries to pick. It's been awfully dry so quite a few of them started to dry up. (BOO HOO)

Hmm, is this the vacation we really WANTED to have?

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Land of Plenty

Well, I looked while I attempted to paint the shed for my gardening olympics entry. Our friend the Idaho Gardener is hosting an event for us gardeners to go along with the other olympics. I found that I've got plenty of nothing. If you're an eternal optomist like me though, I've got plenty of...



work left of the shed. Apparently it is too hot and humid today to finish painting it, so I guess the rest will have to wait. I've got plenty of good tips to share about painting too, but I'll save that for another post.



Plenty of wild blackberries. Yum. We picked the ripe ones and boy are they good. At least with these I know when they're ready to be picked, unlike the cherries we just missed out on. Hopefully I'll end up with plenty of blackberry jam too!



Also plenty of wildflowers,



wild life (who like to breed around here it seems),



and football practices, games, and scrimmages. My son is excited to be in football. Soon they will be getting their uniforms. Next weekend is their first game which also means plenty of driving too.

I also have plenty of things I don't have a picture to share with you. This plenty includes scrap lumber, ancestry research, craft ideas, days til school starts, and miles to drive to the cemetary to see FIL's grave (and do yet more ancestry research) today since it's too hot to follow through on our shed painting plans.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Argh! I can't stand it.

My favorite event to watch in the olympics is gymnastics followed closely by swimming and diving. I imagine my reasons must be because I'm too clumsy to ever do such an elegant sport, so I just dream of the beauties by body could have performed if only....

Anyway, here I am trying to watch my favorite events only to have them come on so late that I can't keep my eyes open to watch them. I'm not a night person at all, more of an early bird. SIGH. Why is it they have to try to show my favorite events live anyway? Can't they just air them later? It might work better for me if I lived in California or something. I suppose it's better to have them on late than having them on during football practice since I also like to watch my son, but.... I could attempt to record them, but based on past experience I'd never get around to watching them later anyway. With me it seems like if I don't do it now, I do it never. Are you like that?

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy