Mom Song

Yesterday at my Mom's house my sister told me about this video on YouTube. It's called the "Mom Song" and it is hilarious. I'm sorry I couldn't figure out how to get the video to run here on the blog site, but click this link and watch. This is my "Happy Mother's Day" gift to everyone! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6P2w5GkXmU&feature=related

Reality TV

Time for another look at my reality TV shows: Beauty and the Geek - Thank GOD Joe was finally voted out. He has to be the grossest and most annoying one on the show. Besides all his other problems, he talks with his eyes closed and that's just weird. I'll be happy to hear the last of Cara's little cutesy-girl voice. Next week is the season finale and I'm hoping for Leticia and Matt to win because they seem to sincerely care for each other. Survivor - What in the world is the matter with those guys? How can they keep getting blind-sided? Why would you keep trusting people???? Of those left, I hope Cerie wins....she seems to be the most devious and is running the game from behind the scenes. The finale is Sunday night and I'll be snuggling in for a blissful three hours of pure Survivor. What a great Mother's Day Gift! American Idol - Ohhh.....poor Jason left. I know he was cute and everything but he couldn't sing! I've heard better performances at Open Mic nights. And what was happening to him at the end? He seemed to be totally losing it. He said he was relieved to be off because they have to learn three songs and he didn't think he could do it. Geez, what does he think he's going to have to do when he goes on tour? I'm hoping David Archuletta wins because I think he has the most extraordinary voice. Props to my hubby who picked him and Syesha at the very beginning. I suck cause I picked Michael Johns and Ramielle Malubay. All these reality shows are done this week! What the HELL am I going to do?? I'm hoping my very favorite, The Amazing Race, is back for another season soon. And the summer shows "America's Got Talent" and "American Inventor" should be back. Survivor Update: OH MY GOD! Erik truly gets the title of dumbest Survivor EVER!

Emily

It's so cool to see the little pumpkin do new things! Hard to imagine that nine months ago she couldn't even see...never mind crawl, stand up, clap her hands, wave bye-bye, and dance!

Hot Topic

Here is my answer to the hot topic question in our newspaper this week: Should children be allowed to carry their cell phones in school? Children should absolutely NOT be allowed to have cell phones in school. I am a substitute teacher and they are the bane of our existence. Students have them out constantly to text each other, check the time, check their messages, and do not pay attention in the classroom. They should leave them at home. The worst part is, I've worked at the high school in a secretarial position and have had parents stand in front of me and call their child while they are in the classroom to let them know they're being dismissed. Principals and secretaries are over-run with paperwork when students are referred for discipline. There are too many other things that staff have to focus on rather than spend any extra time dealing with cell phone issues. When a staff member sees a cell phone, whether being used or not, they should be able to confiscate it and make the parent come in and pay a fine before they can get it back.

Manchester Freedom win 70-8!

My daughter plays football on an all-women's team. She's always wanted to play football but I discouraged it while she was in high school because she would have had to play with the boys. Right after college she found this women's league and started playing...this is her fourth season. www.manchesterfreedom.com

It's a tremendous amount of work for her but also a lot of fun. They play full tackle with all the same rules as the men's professional football league. My hubby Tag and I have followed her around to most of her away games and would never miss a home game.

This week's game was in Portland, ME, about and hour and a half from our house. We always use any kind of traveling as an excuse to visit a new area. We had planned on going up early afternoon and browsing around Portland for the afternoon before finding a nice dinner and then going to the game at 6:30. Of course the weather didn't cooperate and it was raining all morning.....all weekend as a matter of fact! So we left a little later than we had planned and got up to Portland about 4:30.

We only had a little time to browse before we found a nice little pubby-kind of place called the Old Port where we had some New England Clam "Chowdah" and some fish and chips.

It was just misting out when we got to the game. We realized immediately that the Maine team was going to be overpowered.....they only had 16 active players. I think Manchester got 3 or 4 touchdowns in the first quarter. During part of the game it started pouring out, but I am an old hand at watching sports ....about 25 years now starting with oldest son Doug's Little League games....and we had dressed appropriately with warm coats, sweatshirts, mittens, hats, scarves, raincoats, and umbrella. Hubby had even brought along some hot chocolate.

As we realized the score was getting out of hand, we just had more and more fun. The girls became laid back and were joking on the sidelines, and the coaches took the opportunity to allow girls to play different positions than they normally would. It was a fun game despite the rain, which tapered off and stopped around the third quarter.

I'm so glad my daughter still plays sports.....I'd miss the lights, the excitement, the cheers and the "bleacher butt."

Cookies!!

Yesterday I made four batches of chocolate chip cookies. That's about 16 dozen. The bag says each batch makes 5 dozen, but that's if you make the cookies bite-sized. I think I did pretty good getting 4 dozen out of each batch. I made the cookies for my friend Tracy who is running the bake sale at a walk-a-thon for Breast Cancer. Last year she walked but it took up so much of her free time in order to train for it, she didn't think she could do that again....so she donated her time in another way by organizing the bake sale. Because it was for the bake sale, I made little bags of six cookies each, tied with a pink ribbon. My friend Gail also donated a couple dozen peanut butter cookies and I wrapped those up as well. I was a very good girl....I only ate the bits and pieces that broke off from some of the cookies....and I didn't break them on purpose! My house still smells like baking..........mmmmmmmmm.

Sad News

After a perfectly lovely day of visiting yesterday with all the ladies in my family, I came home and later got a call from my Mom saying her last remaining sister, My Aunt Ceil, had passed away unexpectedly. Aunt Ceil lived in Ohio so we didn't see her much, but when we did we enjoyed her company tremendously. She was in her 80's but had seemed to be going strong. Her passing was quite a surprise.

I guess I'd like to write this posting more about my Mom than my Aunt Ceil. My mom has had a very tough year.....or year and a half actually. A year ago last fall my Mom lost her sister Terry. My mom and Terry had gotten very close.....Terry had been camping with my Mom and Dad for the past several years and it was a terrible blow. Last June, my mother's twin sister, Dottie, passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Another terrible blow. Because their father had also died of pancreatic cancer, she was advised to be screened by an oncologist. At that visit they found a lump on her breast which turned out to be cancerous. She then went through four months of chemo and six weeks of radiation. During her radiation, by Dad underwent triple by-pass surgery. And now her last sister has passed away.

Despite all the trials and tribulations, my mom has remained optimistic and strong. She continued her exercise regime at Curves all during the time she was undergoing chemo and radiation, her and my dad went on their planned 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise right in the middle of her chemo treatments and she went to her radiation treatments every morning before spending the day at the hospital when my Dad had her surgery. She's never complained and never fallen into crying "woe is me". She says, "You have to play the cards you're dealt," and she continues on.

Next Sunday is Mother's Day. I wish there was some way I could let my Mother know what a wonderful Mother she truly is.....because she is my inspiration. She shows me every day how to be a strong, confident woman. She shows me how to weather every storm with dignity. Her 50 years with my Dad has shown me the right way to enjoy a marriage. I hope she's around for a long, long time because even though I'm an adult woman, I need her. I need her to keep me strong, to keep me confident, and to continue to remind me of how to be a wonderful wife.