Ummm...Really, it was nothing

My daughter Maeve decided to try out for Cheerleading for the first time her Senior year.  She was very excited when she made the team, and she quickly informed us that she would need about $175 for supplies and a jacket (we wonder how much a part that snazzy JACKET played in her desire to cheer).  Anyway, this was the basketball cheer team, they practiced on Wednesdays and cheered home games. 

I am ashamed to admit that prior to this past Tuesday night, I had only attended one of her games.  Well, I knew there was a home game Tuesday, and I was PROBABLY going to go…then I get an email from my husband; Maeve called – it’s SENIOR NIGHT tonight!!! She didn’t really elaborate on what that was, but it involved parents.  So, okay, I’m not a total a-hole stepmom, so I of course planned on attending.  We get there, ALL the other (mostly basketball) parents know everyone on the court, in the stands, etc.  Clearly they have been following their sons basketball careers for many years together.  So yes, I feel as if we stuck out like sore thumbs.  Well, we come to find out that on SENIOR NIGHT, before the game, each Senior cheerleader and player go to center court and the announcer calls out the parent’s name, at which point the parents ALSO go to center court where they receive a hug and a bouquet of flowers from their child and applause from the entire audience in gratitude for all their dedication and support all these years.  They do this one by one mind you.  All the other parents had tears in their eyes, the end of LONG road together, etc.  To say I felt like a fraud would be an understatement.

To make it even worse, I immediately realized that this would be a good story, so at the end of the game I made it a point to get a picture of us all together just so that I could post it on the blog. 

It Doesn’t Take Much

I never minded being single on Valentine’s Day, but I DID hate dating guys that claimed that Valentine’s is a made-up holiday and that they weren’t going to be manipulated or made to feel guilty by the likes of Hallmark.  You know the type.  They claim to be independent-minded romantics, they would prefer to do something special on the day & time of THEIR choosing, not the choosing of some marketing machine.  Let me ask you – when you have had the misfortune of dating such a man – did he EVER do anything special on any other day?  No, of course not.  And you know what?   It doesn’t take much.  

Example:  I came home from work to a home-cooked meal, one of my favorites (that Tom could cook), Shake-and-Bake pork chops with Betty Crocker Au Gratin potatoes.  See how happy I am?!

Tom in return, got a shovel:

Now before you come down on me for getting Tom a shovel, first – see how PLEASED he is with his gift?!  Second, we already have a shovel, but we only have ONE, so I have (ahem) unfortunately been unable to help with shoveling this year.  This RED shovel (how throw-up cute is that?) is a sign that I will now be out there with him shoveling.  In Theory.

And at the end of the day...EVERYBODY wins.

Funny Valentines, sort of

In going through my scrapbook (YES, I have a scrapbook, but it's cool, not gay-crafty), I came across some stuff from years ago that is pretty funny.  Most of this will be my stuff, but some of it was created by my husband when we were dating back in the late 80's while working at The Middlesex News.  His stuff was generally funny, but truly sweet.   This particular piece (3 pages) was delivered following a particularly unhappy time during our relationship.  I can only assume that Tom's difficult nature was the cause of the rift.

Hands OFF Ladies!

In case ANYONE had any doubt as to why I fell for my husband Tom..I think this 1977 photo of him in 9th grade is pretty self-explanatory.  YES, those are side-burns, he was able to grow a FULL beard/mustache at this age....VERY manly.........

Mystery Solved

We still have a land-line in our home...mostly because we still have a high school student in our home - it's the phone that the school uses, other parents use, etc.  Outside of my in-laws, the only other calls we get on that line seem to be from telemarketers.  So, if the incoming number reads "out of area" we let the machine pick-up.  It was weird because lately we have been getting lots of these calls.  But after reading the artile below,  we now know who was trying to reach us.

Charles Manson caught with another cell phone

Cult killer Charles Manson has been caught with a smuggled cell phone for the second time.

Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Wednesday that guards found the phone Jan. 6 at Corcoran State Prison.

Manson previously was caught with a phone in March 2009. He had been calling and texting people in California, Florida, New Jersey and British Columbia. He had missed calls from Arkansas, Indiana and Massachusetts.

Thornton couldn't immediately say who he'd been calling this time, nor how he got the phone.

Manson is serving a life sentence for killings including the infamous murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles in 1969.

He faces a disciplinary hearing and could lose early release credits. The Legislature plans to consider a bill making inmates' possession of phones illegal.

Why you ask?

WHY HAVE I STARTED A BLOG?
Good question.  I suppose my desire to blog is driven mostly by ineptitude; blogging seems like the one "new" trend I can embrace (see?!  You're laughing aren't you, because blogs aren't new).  I haven't mastered my cell phone of 3 years.  I use the throw-away cameras you buy at CVS.   If the computer doesn't work as expected when I login, then I need to call the IT Helpdesk, and they will ask me questions that confound me:  what is your IP Address (I don't know and I can't find it).  What version of Outlook are you using (the version that lets me send emails).  You get the picture.  I didn't even set this blog page up, my husband did.

One interesting aspect to my blog - I don't actually want anybody reading it.  I'll write AS IF people are reading it, but don't really want people to read it because then if they think it's really lame and completely unfunny, they won't tell me, they will just silently think that I am just a little pathetic.  And while that may be true, it's not the kind of thing you want to be universally known.  As a matter of fact, my daughter Maeve just entered the room with a bunch of her friends and they were all like - you're starting a blog? That's so cool, I like the name, I'd read it.  ACK!  Now I need to change the name.

So what do I plan to DO with the blog?  The purpose?  I suppose like most other blogs, there is no real purpose other than to listen to myself talk (and the secret desire that some day it becomes such a cult hit that I am interviewed by David Letterman on LIVE T.V., but you never say that, you act like it's something you just did for yourself and the LAST thing you ever wanted was notoriety).  But actually, I do have some loosely defined goals at this early stage.  If anyone were to read the blog, I decidedly do NOT want to improve their life in any way.  I hope to offer no inspiration.  If I am lucky, maybe I have exaggerated the good things happening in my life such that your life pales in comparison. Or perhaps I have written something clever that makes you, the reader, realize that YOU aren't that clever, ergo you are probably boring to other people.  So I suppose you could say my success can be measured by how much worse people feel after they have read a blog entry.  But really, at the end of the day, can success ever TRULY be measured?

(note to self - nice move, ending with a compelling question, creating the illusion that this blog will compel people to think)