Oops! She did it again.

And I don't mean that in a good way.

Club volleyball has ended before it even began.  Last week, my dear daughter was hurrying to get to her meeting before school.  She parked, got her book bag and then reached back in to get her tea.  That's when she conked her head on the door jam and guess what?  Yup, she got her 4th concussion in less than a year.  What are we going to do with her?

We are NOT allowing her to play club volleyball, which is just starting up for the season.  This was going to be her last year and I was looking forward to watching her play at a higher age level and with stronger players.  I really love going to the all day tournaments.  Yes, they do get long sometimes, but I love the sport and enjoy watching the team play.  And I have made some great friends along the way. 

We have been telling her since the car wreck that if she gets another concussion, she will have to stop playing.  It isn't worth her health or her future for a short pleasure of volleyball.  She handled it great!  I told her she accepted that so much better than I would have at her age, and I honestly think I had the hardest time accepting this. 

We do believe this door is closing for a reason.  We may never know for sure why, but can trust that God has something planned, or a protection we will not need to worry about, now that she is no longer playing this sport. 

Now we move forward with weekends free and evenings available for homework.  And my dear daughter has grown and is better for it because of this abrupt change and her ability to handle it so well. 

2013 is starting off a bit challenging, but when is life NOT a challenge?  I really don't think I want to live a life where I'm not being challenged in some way.  But sometimes I'd like the challenge to not be so hard.

It's a New Year-Thank Goodness

The calendar may read December 29 but to me that means a new year.  No, not 2013.  It's the beginning of a new year for our family.  On December 28, 2011 my father in law expectantly passed away.  That was the beginning of a pretty cruddy six plus months.  QUICK recap: my father in law and dad died; head on car crash; multiple concussions.  The year finished much better than it started.  QUICK recap: vacation to Montana; daughter driving; son accepted to first (and only) choice for college; family feeling better. 

I don't tend to dwell in the negative but, truthfully, I have been looking forward to today to begin a fresh start.  Bring on the new year. 

Almost Christmas

I guess I have to blame the holidays and work for staying away so long, at least that's what I'm going with.  Sorry about that.  Work keeps me busy, I'm glad I love what I do.  Always something new to learn and put into practice.  That's the way work should be, shouldn't it?  Thankfully, I have that.  I've been there for five years and have no plans to leave.  I always tell my boss he is stuck with me whether he likes it or not.  So far he seems OK with it.  Smile.

Is it just me or is Christmas sneaking up on you too?  During Thanksgiving weekend it seemed like Christmas was so far off and there was so much time to get everything done.  Now, it's almost here.  I did procrastinate a bit with my decorating.  My daughter wasn't happy about that - she loves the house full of decorations.  Usually I get everything out and up during the Thanksgiving weekend.  This year I did get the lights up outside.  Then within the week I got the tree up.  Then a few days later most of the decorations were out (but I didn't put everything up as I normally do).  Then the last of what I was going to put out finally went up about a week ago; that includes our toy tree, which you can read about here. 

This week I can say I am caught up and ready for the holiday, except for the food.  I still need to get our Christmas dinner prime rib and all the fixins'.  But my shopping and mailing is complete and even my gift wrapping is done (I am ALWAYS wrapping Christmas Eve so it will be nice this year not having to worry about it).  Don't hate me because I happen to appear organized one holiday out of my lifetime.

The kids love the tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve then they have to wait for all the others, and Santa's gifts (yes, Santa will always visit our home even when the kids are gone) until Christmas morning.  This tradition started when I was a kid.  My grandparents (Christmas Grandma and Grandpa as we called them - you can guess why) would come visit and the adults would open their gifts on Christmas Eve.  They did this so they would have little to open Christmas morning (Santa always left them a few gifts too) and would be able to watch us kids open our gifts.  We all had stockings (hand made by my mom and each unique and completely different from the others) with goodies as well.  Of course, as kids, watching these adults take a couple of hours to open each gift, one by one, was excruciating.  My parents relented and allowed us to open one gift.  This was just to shut us up, I'm sure.  My hubby and I don't open our gifts Christmas Eve, but we do allow the kids to open just one.  Then Christmas morning is a fun time opening gifts, going through the stockings and listening to Christmas music.  Later we watch football games and then eat prime rib. 

I love the casualness of the day.  We stay in PJ's and enjoy family time.

What family traditions do you celebrate at Christmas?

Likes and Dislikes

Some random likes and dislikes of mine.....
 
Likes:

1.  Flavored salts.  Have you tried these?  They are great!  I keep a bunch on my table in a cute wooden carrier.

2.  My job.  I am completing five years there and really like what I am doing.  I'm so thankful I can go work at a place I enjoy.

3.  Volleyball.  Specifically when my daughter makes her first choice team for the club volleyball season.

4.  Brussels Sprouts.  This is my new favorite vegetable.  I like to cut the ends off and remove any bad outer leaves.  Then cut in half length wise, spray with olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt then bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until brown.  Hmm hmm good.

5.  The political season has ended!  Enough said.

6.  Words with Friends. 

7.  My son receiving his acceptance letter to the college of his choice.  And by the way, the only one he applied to.


Dislikes:

1.  Volleyball tryouts.  The whole process is nerve wracking and stressful.  So many girls vying for so few spots.
 

2.  Anything with Christmas before Thanksgiving.  I'm sick of seeing Christmas trees, ornaments and hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  Let's celebrate one holiday before the other shows up.

3.  House cleaning.  And my house reflects this dislike, unfortunately.

4.  Scooping the backyard (we have dogs).  Sorry about that one.  Just did it since it is not currently raining

5.  The political season. 

Hopefully these were not the typical answers you were expecting.  So what are some things you like, or dislike, that not too many others would know about you?

College Search

A few weeks ago I took my son to preview a college.  Having a senior in high school has a whole new set of issues to worry about, plan, prepare....so many things to keep track of.  A few months ago he wasn't sure what he wanted to do after graduation.  Junior year is a very tough year, academically.  Coming into his senior year he was getting pretty tired of school. 

Who really knows what they want to do with their life at 17?  Not many kids do.  So he went from taking a year off next year to looking at a trade to now the engineering field.  He was looking at one university out of state until I talked with a coworker, who mentioned another university to consider.  As we looked into that school more, my son realized he wanted to pursue that school. 

We decided to take a day off and head over to check it out.  I loved it!  But better yet, my son loved it!  He already applied and we are waiting for the acceptance.   The more we looked at the school and talked about it, the more it was feeling right.  We had many friends tell us they know people who went there and how much they got out of their education and a successful career. 

I'm still a bit shocked that I have a kid who will be old enough to graduate from high school.  It doesn't seem possible.  But I look at him and am so proud of him.  My baby boy really is becoming such a fine man. 

Workouts - This is Pathetic

I've made a discovery.  Maybe it's more of a revelation.  It is not significant and doesn't change the world but does make a difference to me.  I don't know why I didn't figure this out a long time ago. 

What have you discovered, you ask?  I don't like to work out to videos (or DVDs).   Earth shattering, I know.  I have quite a few DVDs and kept avoiding them at all costs.  Silly I know.  There is no reason for it. 

To make this discovery even more pathetic....I also figured out that even though I know how to use the weight machines I seem to not be able to come up with my own workout plan.  I tend to do the same few exercises over and over.  I finally figured out that my successful workouts are ones that are mapped out for me.  I used to follow a blog that almost every day had a workout routine.  Unfortunately, that blog is no longer active. 

I need your help.  Do you follow a blog that provides a new workout routine most days?  I don't have Facebook so I need a blog.  I also don't have a smartphone so an app won't work for me either.  I like cardio (I am not a big runner, and when I do it's almost always on the treadmill) and I like weights.  Any ideas you can shoot my way would be greatly appreciated.   

What's Happenin, Hot Stuff?

"What's happenin hot stuff?"

If you loved watching movies in the 80's (yes, some of us are that old) then you probably remember that line.  It's from Sixteen Candles.  A movie I can quote a few lines from - I don't know if that is a good thing or not.

OK, on to the real post which consists up mundane stuff that has been going on in my life.  Ran into a friend at Costco.  Great to see her and catch up for a few minutes.  Actually, I think I was the one catching her up more than her.  I have a way of doing that - me talking too much.  I love the random runnings into of others.  This one was a planned-from-above running into. 

The back story:  My son is looking at what he wants to do after high school and has gone through a number of career ideas.  Each one seems to be built upon the previous and he's now into engineering and thinks he's narrowed down a specialty.  He started scouting out schools for a previous career path and we were led to look at a specific school.  As he explored this new school's different majors, he kept going back to one in particular.  He may have found the major to pursue.

Now I'm in Costco and run into my friend.  I was telling her about my son's pursuit and she mentioned the same college.  I love those divine interventions.  The more we look into this school and the options available, the more it feels right and that this is the place for my son.  We are going to visit it later this month.  I'm very excited to see it all in person. 

Here's the good news - This school is out of state for us but they have a program with surrounding states that allow out of state students to pay a reduced rate.  When all tolled, to attend the out of state university is cheaper than attending either of our two largest in state universities.  So it's cheaper to leave than to stay.  How sad is that!

My daughter came home sick today.  She's been fighting a cold (actually, we all are) and finally needed an afternoon of rest.  She plays volleyball so she hasn't had any down time.  As soon as she gets home she eats, showers and does homework.  Hours of homework.  She is an honor student and this year has some very hard classes.  She's actually working on some homework while hanging out on the couch right now.  Poor thing.

This is my busy week at work.  All our bills have to go out and we are putting on a training class, which I have helped organize.  I love the organizing part.  Had some great BBQ delivered for lunch!  Tomorrow is oriental - yum!

I've been missing my dad lately.  I think it's because my hubby and I are in a small group and the topics lately have been on heaven and hell and it makes me think of Dad.  I know he's in heaven.  Plus, I found out yesterday an elderly relative who dad loved passed away over the weekend. 

I've lost my motivation to work out.  Anyone have any tricks to jump start a desire to exercise again? 

It's starting to cool down.  Fall is coming.  Now I can break out the sweaters and sweatshirts.  I like to bundle up.  The electric blanket has already been turned on the last few nights.  I'm trying not to crank up the heat, but I think I'm going cave soon because it's getting cold inside.  I just checked...our temperature says 65 degrees.  That's inside the house.  Brr.

So I ask you, "What's been happenin, hot stuff?"