Sentimental Musings...

One of my coworkers just stopped by my desk and admired a picture of Skyler and me, actually it's the one ^ up there in the header. We were talking about our kids like most parents do. Then he shared that yesterday he had the WORST day. The worst day of the year so far. As he was driving home from work, his phone rang and it was his son. He said "What's up son?" and his son replied "Nothing Dad. I just called to say I love you." His whole day changed. His heart felt lighter and his perspective on the day changed. He said he couldn't put into words, to his son, what that simple phone call meant. His son is twenty-five now and I'm sure the I love yous are fewer than they once were, but somehow they are more powerful.

This story brought tears to my eyes thinking about my Dad. I've saved the last few emails we exchanged. Techy stuff about coffee makers and GPS units but written by him all the same. I can't read them, but they're there.

If you haven't talked to your family yet this week. Give them a call and just say "I love you". I can't imagine anyone being disappointed at hearing it but I do know you can have regrets at not saying it more often.

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Losing My Connection...

[stomp whine mumble complain stomp pout]

As I was getting out of the car at football practice last night (where else?), I picked up my cell phone to stick it in my pocket. It jumped out of my hand, hit the pavement, slid into the storm drain, and landed with a distant splash. I just stood there staring. I actually got down on my knees and stuck my head down under the curb, ass in the air, to see what I could see. It was so deep that I could see nothing. There was just nothing to be done. The splash at the end confirmed it.

GAHHHHHHHH! We were planning on changing providers next month anyway, but I hadn't planned on doing it THIS WEEK. I hadn't bothered to transfer all my stored numbers and pictures to somewhere where I could retrieve them. This phone number is our "home phone".

I will now spend the next day or so researching plans and models and bitching about not having a phone. If you need to get in touch, call Matt (HA we all know he never answers his phone). At some point, I will have to contact every person I know and re-obtain their phone numbers. I don't even know my mother's cell phone number off the top of my head. I only know her home number because it hasn't changed since 1982.

What a pain in the ass!

iHeartFaces - Bubbles

I just found the website iHeartFaces and thought that the below photo I took of Skyler was perfect for the photo contest this week titled "Bubbles".




Wish me luck!

If It Comes In Book Form I Will Read It...

Are you a book nut? I am SUCH a book nut.

**I interrupt this post to research the feeling that I've discussed this subject before... I guess that was just one of the blog posts I compose in my head. Carry on.**

I'm currently reading two or three books a week. I am blowing through my library stack and eagerly going back for more. The librarians know me and get a kick out of me trying to balance the enormous pile of books I'm usually trying to check out.

I have a whole method that I use to get the latest books too. Once every couple of weeks or so I go to amazon and pull up their 100 best selling books and then plug those into my library's web page and reserve them.

Are you using your library's online system? Most libraries have them now. It saves a ton of time and is super fantastically convenient. They even email you when a book comes in. I get several emails per week and pick up whenever it's convenient. The kids even ask me to reserve them new cds that come out.

Here's a few that I've read in the past two months:

The Woman in White
Finger Lickin Fifteen
Me & Emma
Tailspin
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Doctor's Wife
Losing My Religion
Handle With Care
Keeping Faith
The Offer
Mommywood
First Family
The Age of Reason

The other thing I've gotten hooked on is Goodreads.com. It's a website that lets you track the books you've read and link up with friends, see what they've read, and make suggestions to each other.

My Physical Therapists have even been teasing me because I bring a book everyday. I have influenced all the other afternoon patients too. They call us the "Afternoon Physical Therapy Book Club". Apparently none of the morning patients bring books. What's wrong with THEM I wonder?

This Isn't Paradise...

I walked into the gym to pick the kids up yesterday and was met with a sullen glare and "I don't WANT to go to football practice". Well hello to you too. So THAT'S how this afternoon is going to go?

I spent the next hour ignoring angry professions of hatred for football and fighting my own desire to just let him quit. It wasn't pretty. He's also now far surpassed the weight at which I can physically force him to do anything so the entire time I was contemplating what I would DO if he did refuse to get in the car. Finally, I gathered up all necessary football uniform related items and ordered both whining children into the car. The entire time wondering who I was doing this for? Did our family truly need this? At what cost do you INSIST that they have fun? Should children be forced to physically endure something they currently hate if you know in your heart they'll love it eventually? Is it worth it? Have we as a society taught children that they shouldn't continue something that is too hard or physically challenging? If I let him quit would that make him a quitter forever? GAH!

I finally got Daddy on the phone who tried talking to him through the tears and told him he was GOING to practice and to stop torturing his mother. We eventually got him on the field and he had a good practice. He was fine afterward and even spoke of getting his football pads next week.

In retrospect, I think the poor kid has a lot of anxiety about anything challenging and thinking about going to practice all afternoon put him into a foul foul mood. I still don't know what all the answers are but I do think that I am too hesitant to push my kids. I think he needs this and that I have to overcome my own hatred of seeing him miserable.

I learn more about parenting everyday.

Words...

I love words. I love to read. I read A LOT. As I go about my day reading the interwebz, blogs, the news, emails, etc., I make a list on my blotter of words that I enjoy the look of, want to know the definition of, or made a point that struck me.

The current list of words I have written down is:

halcyon - hal⋅cy⋅on-adjective - calm, peaceful, tranquil, rich, wealthy, prosperous

obstreperous - ob⋅strep⋅er⋅ous - adjective - resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly.

sycophant - syc⋅o⋅phant - noun - a self-seeking, servile flatterer, fawning parasite.

hyperbolic - hy⋅per⋅bol⋅ic - adjective - having the nature of hyperbole; exaggerated.

effigy - ef⋅fi⋅gy - noun - a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule.

ubiquitous - u⋅biq⋅ui⋅tous - adjective - existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time, omnipresent.

Do you look words up as you read or do you just carry on, skipping over ones you don't know? Do you collect words for future use? I want to know.

*blogger is mocking me with weird spacing*

Tired...

Do you ever have one of those nights of "sleep" where you get up wondering if you even slept at all, given all the tossing and turning and the luggage you're toting around under your eyelids, but you vaguely remember some wacky dreams so there must have been SOME sleep in there otherwise you really did travel to Arizona and went hiking last night?

And why is it that on those nights, the BEST sleep you get is the nine minutes between snoozes on the alarm clock? Why?

Conditioning...

It's going to take some practice,some conditioning, getting this family whipped into the shape of a fall schedule. The first day is done and I feel beaten and completely unprepared for the rest of the week. School and soccer haven't even started yet. How will I do this?

I have physical therapy three days per week at 4pm. Zack has football five days per week at 6pm. This now gives me an hour to pick the kids up, race them home, get everyone changed and fed a dinnerish snack, and back out to the football field. Sounds doable. I'm no longer sure.

Yesterday my physical therapist kicked my ass. It all felt fine while I was there but in retrospect was just too much. I raced out and picked the kids up, hurrying them along, begging them not to argue. We ran in the door, dumping the belongings that get us through the day onto the kitchen table. Zack changed into his football uniform and cleats and I prepared a sandwich and a large jug of water. We raced out the door, Skyler protesting having to go along every step of the way.

The sun was blazing hot and there were no clouds in sight. When Matt got to the field I took Skyler home knowing she needed some downtime and dinner. No sooner did I get home when Matt texted urging me to return to the field to support Zack as conditioning was very tough and he needed the support of his Mom. He always needs to know I'm there. Just having his eyeballs on me makes him feel better. So I dragged the disgruntled six year old back to the football field and endured another hour of practice. My Mommy energy got him through and he admitted that it sucked and it was HARD but he was doing it. We are so so proud as I will readily admit that I could not have done the solid hour of conditioning exercises.

Shower. Dinner. 8:30 dinner. Clean-up and bedtime. I am exhausted. I don't sleep well and my shoulder is KILLING me.

This morning I'm wondering how will this all fit in with school and homework for the three of them. How can I feed my family dinner at 8:30 every night? Will I be able to handle this?

The kicker? Last night, in the car, Zack asked my why I don't do anything like a sport or an activity. If he only knew...

Are You Ready For Some Football...

No. No I am not.

We had the first practice and meeting of Zack's football team this past Saturday. He will be playing for the Chargers which is on the list of Molnar Family Acceptable Football Team Names, so that is good. The parent meeting lasted about ten minutes and then the ass kicking/conditioning began. They did jumping jacks, they did leg lifts, they did push ups, they did sprints and laps and up-downs. If this had been soccer Zack would have been off the field whining at me LONG before practice was over. But this is big boy football so they keep the parents FAR away and there's no whining option. Later Zack told me that his teammates told him that if you upset the coach, practice goes longer. THAT apparently scared the pants off of him, despite the fact that he said that at one point during up-downs he thought he was going to puke. I'm thinking about bringing coach home with me to whip the rest of the family into shape.




He made it through practice and was FILTHY when we got home. He took a shower and collapsed. Then he informed me that he had given it a try and that he wasn't going to play football. HA. I informed him "Oh YES you are!" and dropped it.

Later that day he talked football with a family friend and there was no mention of quitting. Matt told him that the first week was awful and really really hard but then it got fun and that he had to work through it and that we were really proud of him. That psyched him up. I think we might have to have that little pep talk every day for the next week though.

Wednesday they get helmets. I'm told that's especially awful on the neck and shoulders. I.can't.wait.