And THAT'S how I roll.....

Date Day!

I have grown to love my Saturdays, they are busy and have turned into our family days to be productive or just have fun.  Sundays have become Jammie days....ahh, we don't leave the house unless we absolutely have to.

Representing Cougar Colors for the game

 Today we went and watched the game at Reed, our biggest rivals and Jay's alma mater.  Stevi was very proud to see the championship AAA baseball banner hanging in the gym and the biggest trophy in the case that had her Daddy's name on it.  She showed it off to a couple of friends and told them.."Remember when I told you my dad was a stud baseball player?!  Look! His name is on the trophy....the Cubs were looking at him!"

Stunting at Reed

 That made Jay feel happy, he has had his days of glory, it's now Stevi's turn to shine.  We ran across the street, well actually walked, slowly, and got her and Alyssa a Port-of-Subs to share then let for our date to go enjoy our Sushi gift card we got from Jayson and Guoda for Christmas, then go see the movie 'Contraband' (wait till it comes out on video).

SSHS Banner at Reed

1984-85 AAA Baseball Champions for Reed 

Before we went to Sushi we stopped at Sheel's and I bought myself a lace up ankle brace.  Easy to get on, not so easy to get off.  And a bit uncomfortable without a sock, but I was wearing my Ugg's today so I couldn't wear any socks.  And by the way, going up and down high school bleachers is MUCH more difficult than it looks!  I looked like a two year old maneuvering stairs
for the first time.

Bought my lace up brace today... better support, not used to it yet.
Then we went to Sushi Pier 2....You know that guy that walks into a room and you instantly don't like him?  He is obnoxious , over-bearing and rude?  He was there.  We walked in and it was packed.  The waiting room was standing room only and as we walked in we walked up to the Please Be Seated Sign and noticed the look on a couple of young girls so I asked them if they had put their name in yet because I didn't want to step in front of them.  They told me no and said they had been standing there for awhile and didn't know where the hostess was.  So Jay and I stood somewhat behind them to form some sort of line.  Then "The Guy" came in....you know the type...he's always the 'funniest' guy in the room, the LOUDEST laugher, NEVER would he think of holding a door for anyone (I thought he was by himself until his family opened the door a second later and arrived timidly behind him), he also knows everything about everything and is THE MOST important person in the room, I know this because he worked the whole room the hour we were there.
The Hostess showed up and he basically stepped right in front of them to put his name on the list first, even though it was obvious to just about everyone in the room that she was just now taking names. Everyone was just staring at him with a look of disbelief on their face and the hostess started taking names as people went up to her in order of appearance.  When it was my turn I told the Hostess that the first man was the last to appear and I felt it was extremely rude that he did that and she should put those other people ahead of him and Jay and I would just sit  at the Saki bar if we could order food there because we were on our way to see a movie.  After a few smiles at me and the waitress said Thank You and I will make sure they are seated first, the two young (18-20 yrs) girls said "Thank you so much! I didn't know what to say!"  I said, "It's OK Honey, it's the Mom in me."  She put her arm around me and said "You can be my Mom any day!  That was so nice what  you just did."  So Jay and I sat up at the Saki bar and were waiting a few minutes patiently when the bartender came over to take our order and get our menu's, (BTW..Honey Jack and Sprite!  Delish!)  As he was taking our order....the most important man in the room walked up to the bar and slammed his hand down to get the bartenders attention and said " I NEED SAKI!"  The bartender looked all of 21 and said he was sorry, we said "Go ahead and handle him, we are in no hurry".  As the bartender walked towards the most important man in the room, the idiot, I mean, very important man bows to him because he said he always bows to Japs to be polite and proceeded to tell the bartender that the deeper the bow the more respect and went on to explain that that is very important that he know that.  It is a sign of respect. (Apparently holding the door for your family when it's windy and snowing isn't, silly me.)  The bartender was such a cute kid and just smiled as he listened and got his Saki, then he proceeded to tell the bartender loudly enough so everyone in the room could hear how stupid it was that we got to sit at the bar and eat but he and his family couldn't, it wasn't like he was going to do shots of Jack Daniels with his children, (they looked around 5 and 7 years old.) Luckily the family was seated behind us so we got to listen to him degrade and belittle his family throughout dinner all the while the mother was telling the children not to make him mad every time he got up to leave the table which was a lot, I'm assuming the Saki had a lot to do with that.   After dinner as Jay was finishing his beer I went to the restroom and the VIP got up and followed me. I was in there for quite awhile because I needed to redo my ankle wrap because my foot was starting to swell.  I came out of the bathroom and almost bumped into him, he mumbled something to me that was hard to understand so rather than engage in any sort of conversation I went around him and as I was walking away he said...
Ohhh, Don't go away mad!"  I just turned and looked to see if he was talking to me... yes, of course he was. So I went back to sit with Jay and said.."That was weird, that asshole just said something to me, I don't really know what he said but it was weird, let's go."  So we put the tip down and I got up to put my jacket on and he stopped Jay and I as we were walking out and started to tell me how cute I was and he wouldn't have been hitting on me if he had known I was married.  I hadn't realized we had actually had a moment near the bathrooms.  Then Sweet Bubba came out and with my best smile I said "That's ok sweetie, even if I were single you would never have a chance."  Jay just looked at him and he looked like he had a cold glass of water thrown in his face.  Like a little kid he pouted and said..."That was mean......I'm married anyways and stomped off to go back and sit with his 'Happy Family' .  My sister and many of my friends have seen me in action before, but Jay never really has, so as we walked out the door he was looking at me with a weird smile on his face and I just said......." and THAT is how I roll......"

The Over Achiever.......

 Teenagers these days have a lot on their plates.  A lot more than I did 25-30 years ago.  I give my daughter as much liberties as possible because most of the week her schedule is full.

 This year she is in all honors classes.  She is a straight A student.  This year has been tough on her because of her class load and of her school athletic activities.  She chose cheer over Volleyball for her freshman year because she needed a break from all the serious sports.  Little did we know the commitment involved.  She is still a 15 year old girl, with friendships, blossoming young relationships, a daughter, a sister and a grand-daughter and a cousin.

 She really needed something a little more fun so she could enjoy her freshman year so she let go of volleyball, soccer, dance, modeling, softball.  Dance ended up with 11 classes a week and competing.  Soccer ended in All-Stars and an indoor league in addition to the regular season.  Volleyball, she was on the A team, front line hitter.  Modeling, so many go-sees, she recorded a demo commercial and the requirements were strict, not to mention they couldn't cast her as her age, she looked too mature, so they wanted her for 18 and up......no.  Softball was league, then all-stars then a travel team with year round sports conditioning.  For awhile she had three different sports going at once and she would change in the back of the Element while I was getting her from one to the other.

 So when she said, "Mommy, I need a break, I think I'm going to just try-out for the high school cheer squad.  I was relieved.  Now her schedule is School, Honors classes, Monday nights 7-8:30 Tumbling (which we took a break from January because they have tumbling for Competition.  Tues, Wed, Thurs, mandatory cheer practice from 3-7:30 (for her because she is a JV Cheerleader and also made the Varsity Competition Team, and the Choreography Captain of that team) Games during the week and Friday which get her home by 10pm and sometimes on Saturdays which are around 6 hours because she is JV cheer and has to stay to support her Varsity Squad as well.  (And out of 600 cheerleaders in Northern Nevada, Northern California, 80 were nominated and only 6 were chosen to be All-American.  Stevi is one of the 6.)

 I received a phone call from her Spanish teacher who was concerned with her grade dropping from a "High" A to a C in a month.  This is the class she always is excused from 2 days a week to get ready to cheer for the games.  I was shocked because it is not like Stevi to fall behind.  She is the kid, I kid you not, I had her 4th grade teacher call me when it was parent teacher conference time to tell me, "I could come down if I wanted to, but she is the perfect student and she really doesn't need to discuss anything with me other than to tell her to quit turning in extra credit, she could miss a month of school and still get an A."  (That never happened with Jayson, just saying...)

 As her Spanish teacher and I spoke we both realized it started with an altercation between her and a girl in the class.  I knew about this incident because the school called me and Stevi told me the same day it happened.  The girl is the best friend of the girl who jumped Stevi from behind the last week of 8th grade and got expelled for it.  The teacher was unaware they had a history and Stevi begged me to stay out of it telling me I would only make it worse.  Hard place to be for a parent, and a former teenage girl who went to Hug and would beat the crap out of anyone that tried to bully me.  Stevi is a lover, not a fighter.  She also knows if she defends herself with zero tolerance, she will be ineligible for sports for the end of the year and could face suspension.

 Not something a student, who has ambitions of becoming an Orthopedic Surgeon and is determined to get scholarships to do so.

 Ms. Blakely called Stevi personally to talk to her yesterday about what was going on after giving me the assignments she was missing.  They came to the decision together that Stevi was very distracted and uncomfortable in that class and that was the main reason this had started.  Bullying can really affect kids and it can put the weight of the world on their shoulders, but Stevi, like most kids, think they can handle it themselves.  So when I got home we sat down and discussed the situation and what she was going to do about it.  I told her with her class and activity load a B was acceptable but missing assignments were not, even though I now understand how uncomfortable the girls (there are 3) in that class were making her.  I gave her a list of 4 consequences if she didn't bring the grade up to a B and told her to pick her poison.

1.  Lose all cell phone and FB privileges for a month.
2.  Drop Cheer
3.  No friend activities outside of school for a month.
4.  Miss the Homecoming Dance.

She chose #2.  She thought about it and with tears in her eyes, she said, "It makes the most sense to drop cheer because that is why I'm getting so far behind. (As we speak it is midnight an she is in her room doing homework.)  The teacher gave her two days to make it up,  this Thursday because this week is also finals.

This morning (Wed) I got a call from Miss Blakely.  She went to Stevi's counselor and changed her schedule around so she will no longer be in any classes with those girls and they won't even know because Monday is the new schedule change.  I wouldn't have been able to change it and Stevi wouldn't have been able to , but because of a teacher who actually cared for a student enough to call the parent because she was concerned, Stevi will have a new schedule, along with the rest of the school with the assurance that those girls will not be in any of her classes.  I thanked her and told her how amazed I was that a teacher would go through all of that for one student. "She's one of my brightest students and it was my pleasure."  I was dumbfounded.   Miss Blakely..... wow.  I really don't know what to say.  And just to let you know, last night Stevi worked all night and at 11 pm tonight (Wed) we drove to Walmart and got computer ink. She finished EVERY SINGLE ONE  of those 5 missing assignments.  All I could say is "Put you phone down, (she was texting of course) look me in the eye."   She did and as I held her hand,  I said..."I am so proud of you."

Obviously my new iphone has kept me occupied.

I'm sorry I have become one of "those" bloggers, I guess it's like missing a day of exercise, all of a sudden you are off the wagon!

I

can't believe I haven't blogged since October 25th, but I guess so, a lot has happened. If you look at my weekly updates, you can see how many hikes my mom and I have accomplished. We are both getting into incredible shape, the gym has become a second home for both of us and we both started to work out because out clothes were getting uncomfortable. So now since both of us need a belt or our pants will literally fall off of us, I am handing down my pants to her, and pulling all my "skinny" pants out of hiding, some of those are even too big, it's great, I can't afford to buy a new wardrobe so looks like my sewing machine may have to come out. I bought hiking pants and well, they are way too big, but I make them work.

Stevi turned 13 on the 23rd of November and a few of her friends met us at the skating rink, we had a blast, she always chooses such nice kids to hang out with. They say if you don't like your children's friends, then you probably would not like your children when they are out hanging. So that always makes me feel good.

We had the most handsome boy in the world stay with us for a few days over the Thanksgiving Holiday and he was perfect. We took him to go see a movie, which was interesting, we tried to get into Planet 51 which was sold out and ended up seeing A Christmas Carol, not really a children's movie, but when the ghosts were flying thru the air, Jack would say "Weeeeeeeee!" And that kid can eat popcorn like no other, I wonder, when I was pregnant with Jayson I could go through a large at the movies before the previews were done. I guess it is a genetic craving!

I survived Black Friday with my sister and Stevi, only I started at Midnight so I was awake for 33 hrs. Jack, Stevi and Papa let me take a nap for around 4 hours when I got home and then thanks to Jacks hugs and kisses, I was rejuvenated.

And today, Sage and Willow, Liz and my Mom came over and we had a gingerbread house building party as well as gingerbread boys and girls. It was so much fun! The girls did a great job and ate a lot of the decorations but hey , at least I didn't! So all-in-all, I am trying to get back to reality.

Oh Yeah, AND, Stevi was scouted for a travel soccer team, tried out and she made it. Practice starts on Wednesday but the season isn't until February. She is also on an indoor soccer team which just got moved up to competitive level because they were beating the other teams so badly, so we played on Saturday and when we showed up, there were some big boys on the field. We ended up getting beaten for the first time and the score was 29-0, when the boys took off their indoor jerseys, the shirts they had on underneath said "McQueen Highschool Soccer Team" The kicker, most of them drove themselves! It was unreal! They got pretty rough with the boys , excuse me, young men though, I think they were getting pretty frustrated, but they survived, Stevi has some indoor field turf burns on her arms and legs because she went down hard a couple of times, but when she realized who they got beaten by she felt better about it, I mean those boys had facial hair!!!! Geez!

Next stop.......All-Stars

Saturday's game was the Championship game for 1st place. The Net Rippers were undefeated with one tie on their record, Saturdays game was tough, no points were scored and after going into overtime quarters twice they had a shoot out. Stevi was one of the chosen shooters and got her goal, but the winning goal was from Lindsay, and it was her first goal ever. She was carried off the field by the Coaches. Stevi and the team then headed over to the awards ceremony where not only did they receive their first place trophies, but they also received the "Sportsmanship" award which is the highest honor. It is voted on by all the coaches and the referees. Tonight is our first All-Stars meeting, so soccer isn't done yet, but if it's anything like her softball team was, we should make it to State, Regionals and Nationals. Good job Net Rippers!