Play Ball

I figured that I would blog late so that Christine may have a shot of being the first person to comment. After all, she missed the chance to be first at a different blog today. Actually, I spent most of the day watching baseball that I just didn't have the chance to do it. I have watched baseball since early afternoon. I am on game four for the day. I watched parts of a fifth game. I was bouncing back and forth between the ESPN afternoon game and the Mets game. I watched the Phillies game unfortuantely in whole. I thought they had come back and stood a shot to win it, but apparently Tom Gordon forgot how to pitch, so they lost it in the ninth. I definitely yell at my television more during a baseball game than during football. This is the first time I got the chance to watch all of the Opening Day games. I was either in school or working. The beginning of the season tends not to define things, so I wasn't worried about anything that happened today. I just don't want it to be too much of a regular thing. There are also many teams right now that aren't at full strength so we will see what happens once everyone gets healthy. Doesn't matter in my family as the war has already started. You see, I am a Phillies fan. My brother, in one of his moments of being an idiot, routes for the Mets. The phone calls and text messages has already started on day one. It is never good to have people in the same family route for division rivals. My brother is really odd man out as most of my family are Phillies fans. My cousin, Eric, is a season ticket holder for the Phillies. Well, one year he gave Jason tickets to a Mets game he couldn't attend. Well, the Phillies scored 14 against the Mets and Eric managed to call Jason for every run scored. It drove Jason nuts and added salt to the wound. Jason and I went to a Mets game at Shea Stadium last year. It was the only time I remembered us doing something just the two of us. I can see why they are replacing Shea. It has definitely outlived its purpose. Well, Jason and I managed not to get out of hand. We were civil to each other. It was easy for me as the Phillies won. Jason's friend did all the taunting by calling him constantly. The other thing that I remember is that there were West Point cadets sitting behind us. Most of them were going to be graduating this coming May. I think about those guys often. They knew that once they were graduated that they were heading off to Iraq. Not one of them regretted the decision they made. They just all felt that it was something that they were called to do. They just want to make sure the whole unit got home safe. The sad part of that statement is that they were also referring to any that may be dead. Many of us take what we have for granted, and no matter what your opinion of the war, young men and women like them who were sitting behind me need to be held in a high regard.

A Day Late

I had all the intentions that to blog about Peter's birthday on his actual birthday. Unfortunately, the little bug I had yesterday felt that I needed to sleep from 6PM to 11:30AM. I guess that one out. As Leo pointed out, it is fitting that I right this a day late. After all, this is Peter and punctuality isn't always his best friend. It is right up there with being able to get himself out of his jacket without his wife's help. It is amazing that Teddy won the most self-reliant brother award isn't it? At least he had Leo for competition. I hope that you had a good birthday Peter and have many more. We need the entertainment you provide.

Happy Brithday Patti!

I wanted to take a moment to wish my sister-in-law a vary happy birthday. I am ver glad that I have gotten the chance to know her over the years. She is a very caring, thoughtful person, and has been a great listener over the years. She also has a great sense of humor which is always nice to have around. I have felt that the two of us had many similarities. We also have our differences, but I have always felt that no matter what that I had a good friend in her. She is not only a great friend, but a great mother. It is a joy to watch her raise her kids, and I think there isn't enough that can be said about the job her and Teddy do with them. They are really great joys to be around and I think that much of that credit goes to her. Okay Ted, you can have some credit too. Here's to wishing her a very happy birthday and many more to come.

Busyness and Society

I was reading on a forum last night about a woman who realized while in the hospital how busyness takes away from life. I guess that realization is easy when you have absolutely nothing to do. Where this thought gets more interesting is a reply someone had. This person had just came back from Guatemala. She was visiting her sponsor child. What she noticed was that, even though without a lot of money, these people were happy and enjoyed their life. Her take on the matter was given an economic equality there was not want or need for more because everyone was the same. I will go even further on this and say that this village was proactive instead of reactive. Everything that was done was thought out and done for the common good and not individual gains. Unfortunately, the world we live in isn't this way. We live in the mostly reactive society, and the society benefiting the individual which in turn hurts the whole. We tend to bombard thoughts of having the biggest, most expensive luxuries. We tend to look down upon people who are perceived of lower economic standards than ourselves. People who don't want the best or live below their means are considered weird. Why is that? Why can't people live in their means and be okay. Why don't we say that it is okay that you don't have $200 sneakers, and that you don't own the most expensive video systems and games. Why do we have to equate wealth with happiness. All you end of created in the end is the idea of want, and the idea of doing what it takes to get it. Teach kids there are better things out there, and what would you find.....less crime. Of course, that would mean taking a proactive approach. Most people just don't want to do that. They want to see if the problem will correct itself on its own, and only when it gets truly out of hand do they react. This would take time out of our schedules. You ever notice how busy people seem to be that really don't have nothing to do. It really doesn't take that long to help someone or volunteer to do something good. Unfortunately, most people tend to think that the little moment of time that would be required of them would be better served for themselves. Think if every person that was advantaged in the country would help one person that wasn't. It doesn't have to be monetary. Just give a little time. The preconceptions that could be changed in that little moment and the lives changed would really outweigh the cost. Maybe it is time to walk a little slower, take a little longer, and then one could really enjoy life. Maybe a lot of could be learned from a group of people that have nothing. They are the ones that have the true wealthy society not us.

And then she was 25

After reading another blog today, it dawned on me that today is my sister, Kari's birthday. She is 25. I would have remembered eventually since she sent out reminder text messages to people, so once my cell phone went off it also worked as a reminder. As being the oldest of five, having a sibling be born gets old after awhile. I do remember most of them. Sorry, Kelly, I have no real recollection of you until you were about two. I do, on the other hand, remember Kari being born. We had to stay at Aunt Marilyn's and Uncles Ted's. My dad came to pick us up in the afternoon. That is when we found out that it was another girl. For those who always ask, Justin would have been Kari's name if she has a boy. Hence, the boys in the family would have started with the letter J, and the girls all with K. Obviously, Kari, was not a boy and that is why Jason looks like he was named with the wrong letter. He just turned end up being odd man out. Kari came home on Easter. We had gone to church and when we got home she was sitting in her carseat. I also remember that she was wearing a plain dress outfit that had an elephant on it. I don't why I remember that but I do. So here's to wishing Kari a Happy Birthday.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday we had a wonderful Easter with Leo's parents and his sister's family. I guess I should mention his brother-in-law, Adrian, he misses out on recognition sometimes. Well, when we got home Leo took the recycling to the bins. On the way back he noticed that the older kids in the neighborhood had stolen poor Chandler's chalk and written on the brick on the side of our house. It cleaned up rather easily but still it was a pain in the rear to do. I actually felt sorry for these kids. It is apparent that their families aren't big on the Easter celebration. We spent all day blessed with family presence and these kids had nothing better to do with their time then to steal an eight-year-old's chalk and do graffiti. Today, I have spent most of the day cleaning. I got the downstairs straightened out. Tomorrow, I plan to work on the upstairs. Wednesday, I will clean off the doors and baseboards. Then, everything should be looking nice. I am trying to get as much done and keep up with things, so when the house does finally get to go on the market it is easy to clean. Of course, there a five four-legged creatures that do their best to keep that from happening. One of which is lying on my lap as I type. Apparently, Lace got hit the head or something. It must be a ploy to get something since he is being nice. We know this doesn't happen often. I am off to check on the chili I have going. We will see what tomorrow brings.

One Shining Moment

If you know anything about song titles, you should be able to guess the blog topic for today. Okay, I am guessing Patti if she reads this would be able to guess the topic. Yes, it is tournament time of the year. I have spent the last few days watching the NCAA basketball tournaments. I like the cinderella stories that tend to come out of here, and do we have some potential dandies. This years tournament has two 12 and two 13 vying for the sweet 16. You didn't want to be the high seed and playing in Tampa yesterday. I love when the little school beats the big school. That shows the true heart of the tournament. These kids come in with everyone saying they really don't have a chance and then going out and playing the game of their lives to win. Villanova came back from being down 18. Western Kentucky's buzzer beater sent Drake packing. Siena looked like a one seed against Vanderbilt yesterday. San Diego gave UConn their first first round lost in the Jim Calhoun era. You have one moment to prove everyone wrong, and these teams did it. Kansas State as an 11 seed had done it the day before. I watched all the low seed games yesterday. You couldn't help feed off of their energy. I particularly routed for San Diego, sorry Patti, due to Rob Jones being on the team. Here is a boy just trying to give his last name something good. For those who don't follow sports and don't know the story, his grandfather is Jim Jones Sr. He is best know as the leader of the Jonestown massacres. The only reason Jim Jones Jr. did not die was due to the fact that he was with the basketball team at a tournament during the time. I saw something on ESPN and you couldn't help but be touched by the story. Rob Jones brought good to his name yesterday, and proved that what happens in the past doesn't define one, it is what you do for yourself establishes who you are. I would be worried if I were higher seeds this year. The little guys have come to play. I am a true believer that heart has more to do with winning that talent. You can be the most talented on paper, but if you don't have the heart you are going to be going home. This tournament is definitely proving that, and I am glad to get the chance to watch it.

Good Friday

First off, let me just say I got the certified letter. It was junk mail. Yep, junk mail has sunk to an all time low. Now, let's move to Good Friday. I happened to be born on Good Friday in 1974. That's not what I am going to write about. that was just a sidenote of trivia. Every year, since I can remember we dyed our Easter eggs on Good Friday. My Uncle Ted, my grandmother's brother, would come over and we wold dye eggs. Now, of course, with my family, it turned out to be a big competition. The two biggest competitors were my mother and her uncle. It never felt like East until that Friday with the smell of vinegar and watching those little tablets dissolve to color the eggs. Over the years, the patterns, colors, and dye used might have been different, but we were always together. We did this well into our 20's. The same group of people getting together. as we got older the beverages drank during the affair changed and we always ended playing games which became more complicated. Well, somewhere before I got married, we stopped doing this. No, no one died. It just stopped. Maybe in some way we thought we had gotten to old for this. It isn't like we were going out and hunting the Easter eggs like we did when we were younger. We also now had jobs, and it wasn't like we had Good Friday off to spend the whole day playing games and dyeing eggs. Well, when I was home last week, I found out the tradition is starting up again. Mostly the same players, with the addition of Lexi. I unfortunately did not make the trip. I thought about it, but going up there for basically one day and having to travel back down here on the holiday weekend wasn't going to be offset by the fun I had. The good thing with this is that we keep this going and next year, living closer, it will be an easy drive to get there and back. I don't know who is more excited about this...the kid or the adults. I don't know if Lexi realizes what she is getting involved with. After all, there have been eggs thrown and various other sabotage tries. When our time comes, I hope that it will be memories like those I have have of Good Friday that Lex will have, and I hope that it is still going on when she has kids and they too will remember us dyeing eggs every Good Friday.

Sponsorship

I am not looking for sponsorship for myself. I am sure that there are those who think I may need help of some sort, but I am not pushing for myself. I am looking for those willing to make a difference in a child's life. Leo and I have been sponsoring a child from Costa Rica for a year now. His name is Jason, not to be confused with my brother, and he is eight years old. Jason writes to us frequently. I will admit that I have been bad keeping up with his correspondance. I hadn't even written to him. I have sent the holiday cards that are sent by World Vision our sponsor program, but haven't written to him personally. Part of that has to do with some of the things in my previous post. I don't like to go to the Post Office and since I have to send things by airmail I would have to go there. Well, today I decided that I would like to send something to him. I wanted to get the address to send the letter. I learned that I can now e-mail him. Well, I don't e-mail him personally. I e-mail the World Vision Costa Rican headquarters and they translate and deliver it to him. It is also much faster this way. I am still going to get a letter together with pictures and some stickers together, but at least this way he could get a letter faster. I suggest sponsoring to anyone who can. It really does make a difference in these kids lives. The letters I get from Jason and the excitement difference from the beginning ones to the ones now are great. Another sponsorship I suggest where one can really make a difference is through the Antares foundation. They sponsor orphans from Kazhastan. I know I am adopting from Russia, but this foundation is very reputable and have made the difference in these kids lives. If they age out their life can be very bleak. The change one can make is amazing. For many, it is just know someone cares about them. I hope someone who reads this will take a chance to know one that is less fortunate. If you think about all the stupid things we waste money on just because we can, you would realize that missing out if much more rewarding. After all, think about all these kids miss out on throught their lives. One little thing can add up to a real difference, and this difference could very well be a life-saving event to them. Anatares Foundation web address is http://www.antares-orphans.com. World Vision can be found at http://www.worldvision.org. There are a lot of ways you can help. I hope people who read this can find it in their heart to do so.

Going Postal.

While I was gone, we received a notice for a certified letter. Now, I don't know who the letter maybe from considering the notice wasn't filled out properly, but considering the rest of the story, it doesn't surprise me. Well, Leo didn't go and get the letter due to kayaking commitments and work on Monday. I went Tuesday only to discover that, opposite of notice instructions, they were trying to re-deliver the letter. They said to come back the following day and the letter would be there for me to pick up. I don't know how the post office is for others here, but going to our post office is quite the feat. It is not uncommon to take 30 minutes or more just to get a parking spot. Once inside, it takes about that amount of time to get waited on by someone. This is not affected by the amount of people in the post office at the time. I was once in there by myself and didn't get out of there until 25 minutes later. Our post office has been known to lose many articles, including my marriage certificates. I had them sent through another services and we got them a couple days later. Apparently, the people there can actually read. For the postal service, I have come to the conclusion that is not a requirement. Anyways, I trek back to the post office and no one can find the letter. After being there forever, it is no where to be found. It was decided that it must have been in sorting room to go back to the land of the certified letters. Also, no one could understand the shorthand written on notice. I love when it is pointed out that someone who works there didn't fill out the notice correctly. Well, I go back today in my effort to retrieve letter. Still can't be found. It was suggested that I contact who sent it to us. Well, that would be a great idea if that section of the letter was filled out now wouldn't it? The mail just came and I have pieced together some of that happened. I have properly filled out notice in mail today. That means that while I was there this morning, the said letter was in someone's hand while the filled out the notice. That also means someone else didn't check the letter that person was using to fill out the notice. At least, the form is filled out correctly and I can get it tomorrow. If it mysteriously disappears. I have a name that it is from. Unfortunately, I can't get back the time I have lost on this for the week, but what are we going to do. It is a good example of our hard tax dollars at work.

Speaking of Appearances

While at home, I decided to get my hair cut. Actually, I wanted Tara to fix a bad haircut that I had gotten. My hair wasn't even in the front, and I thought that it should be. Well, Tara asked what I wanted and basically I told her what I do every time. Just fix it. See Tara has done my hair since before she was even a hairdresser or owned her own salon. I just give her free reign and it turns out okay. I did add fix the problem in the front, and make it even. She asked how much I wanted to take off the back. I told her two inches and figured that would be good. Well, that's when Houston announce that there was more of a problem. See, not only was my front uneven, so was the back. It was going to require an effort to fix. I didn't realize that the back wasn't right. Guess my surprise at all this. I was ticked when the front wasn't right. Needless to say I was above ticked that the back was a mess. After all, it isn't like getting a haircut in Jersey is cheap. It took Tara a long time to fix it. It was impressive though that she got a vision of what to do with it and make it look good. She thinks the person who did my hair started out with one idea to do and then changed their minds. Basically, I had two different hairstyles going. Tara did a very good making it one. I did go from having hair that was below the shoulder blades to shoulder length, but it will grow back. At least I have one style now and even hair.

Keeping Up Appearances

I was reminded of the BBC sitcom with the same name this weekend. My brother's fiance and her family aren't really like us. Almost on extreme sides of the spectrum. Now, in saying that, the families do like each other. What I found interesting was watching people I grew up knowing acting completely differently than what they were. Now, it took me a long time to be comfortable with who I am. I would like to think that, for the most part, that I am likable. I also think that the people that I am related to are very entertaining. I don't think that you should offend people, but at the same time extremes should not be gone to so that you look like people you aren't. My future SIL's family are ultra-conservative religious type of a people. Well, originally they were not staying passed the shower. Then, they decided to stay and we were left with what to do with them. This led to hours of watching my family, who at times, could be likened to the Barones from Everybody Loves Raymond try to act like people they weren't. First, we sent them to Kelly's new place. My parents and I took the leftover food back to their place. We also drank while up there due to the fact that it was going to be our only time to do it. Ashlea's family doesn't believe in drinking alcohol. That is okay with me. I don't think everyone has to drink. My own brother doesn't. What I find funny is the idea that just because someone you are with doesn't drink you can't either. Exception to that rule would obviously be if you were out with an alcoholic. I could see under those circumstances that you might want to drink a Coke. The other thing was completely watching what and how you said something. Granted, one should not swear constantly. I can see that, but catching yourself all the time like you are with a bunch of two year olds when that is not who you are is also ridiculous. After Kelly's, we went to dinner and I had about had it with the bad british comedy that was playing out. I really like the original, and we were ruining it. I was sitting across from her parents during dinner, and decided to just be myself. If they didn't like it, it was going to be too bad for them. Well, the icebreaker came when they asked about Mem and Pap. For those readers who don't know, those would be my grandparents. It would take numerous blogs to explain the two of them. The stories actually could be turned into a sitcom. The thing about my grandparents is that, unless you have spent time with them, it is hard to believe that they really exist as presented. I think Ashlea's parents heard Jason stories, but just couldn't truly believe them. Well, when you are with a whole group of people that can not only corroborate the story, but even have some to top the previous it can loosen up a party. Well, I let some words slip out. Next thing I know so is Ashlea's parents. By the end of the night, my family had a completely different view of them. I am not saying that some ideas stayed, but they weren't quite as previously thought. Basically, they were our more kind of normal. Lesson learned is that more of a good time can be had if people just be themselves.

I'm back

Well, I am not back in NJ. I am still in PA. I am coming home tomorrow, but I had a moment so here I am. The bridal shower was very nice yesterday. There was 25 people in attendance. Earlier in the week, the bride had started to catch on that something was up. Jason called my mom in a panic. She came up with a game plan. She called Ashlea and told her that the surprise party was also for Jason. You see last Ashlea tried throwing a surprise birthday party for Jason. Only thing was, he found out about after seeing it written on the calendar of one of his friends while at their house. My mom told her that he would never see it coming in March. Well, she fell for this hook, line, and sinker. Now, if you know my brother, you know that he of course had to have fun with this. He spent days telling her he was coming up with ways not to have to come up here. Here the poor girl is thinking that she has to get him here. they also were late because they left Maryland in the morning and got stuck in traffic. Once they got there, my mom met them and told them to hurry up that we had Kari out running errands, as the premis is that it was also her surprise birthday party. Well, Ashlea came in and moves out of the way so that Jason can be surprised. Well, it took two minutes for it to dawn on her what was really happening. I guess the sign that the kids were holding that said Congratulations Jason and Ashlea didn't give it away. Everyone had fun at the party. It was nice seeing some people that I had seen since my own wedding. On Friday night, my niece, Lexi, stayed at my parents. Kids are pretty funny in the pure kind of way. They don't try being funny whichmakes thing even more hilarious. Some words of wisdom of a six year old. "Hey guys be careful walking out in the kitchen there is a little Moxie(a soda type beverage) on the floor." This said after a certain someone took her drink into the kitchen and spilled some. "Didn't see that coming." Said after same child runs full steam into bedroom door. In her defense, the doorknob to the door wasn't there and she didn't realize it was missing. "And this would be the master toilet." Said during tour she was giving of my sister Kelly's new house. There was quite a bit of laughing at this child's expense all weekend. In some way, I guess that makes the adults kind of cruel. Yes, I was the leader of the group.

Disclaimer

I don't want to be accused of slacking, so I am making the disclaimer that I will be out of town from tomorrow until Monday. Even though there will be potential to be on a computer, I don't feel like dealing with fighting with my father for the time. This means that I will not be posting or commenting until Monday night or afternoon depending on when I leave NE PA. Boy, I am glad that we got that all cleared up.

Waiting for the move

Since this blog was created mainly for the purpose of following the adoption, I figured I would give and update on things on that front. Right now, we are in waiting mode. At first, I was going to start with the homestudy here. The potential new regions do things differently than the Stavropol region. We need to have homestudy done and submitted to our agency before anything else can be done. Now, the word is that things are straightened out with the government and moving orders are going to be given out in April. Since that is only a couple of weeks away, we are going to wait to see when we are moving. I don't want to start here and then have to start once there. I have had a hard time finding a reasonable agency to cover both here and the Poconos, so we are going to wait to see how long we are going to still be living in NJ. After that, we can move full steam ahead. It shouldn't put too much more time on things considering we are starting over anyways. That is the update as it stands now.

The pre-going away gig.

That wouldn't be Stephen's type of gig. It is all the stuff you have to do before you go away. It just adds to making you tired for your trip. I am in the process of getting everything done before I leave for the weekend. I cleaned the downstairs today. Well, I vacuumed, dusted, did dishes, and cleaned kitchen counters. I also am in the process of running dish washer and doing laundry. I figured my family may want me dressed for the bridal shower. I haven't met all the future in-law side, so I figured I should be dressed for the occasion. Word on the street is that there are going to 25-30 people at this thing. Most of which I know well as I am related to them. It is also a surprise. Obviously Ashlea doesn't know I blog or I wouldn't be writing about it. She thinks we are throwing a surprise birthday party for my sister Kari. Kari's birthday is on the 24th, so the timing works. Actually, the whole idea works considering how Kari thinks that her birthday should be declared a national holiday in her honor. I don't know many details of this to be honest. I know it is from 1-4 at the firehall on Saturday. I know there is some decorating to take place. Other than that, I don't know if there are any other plans for the weekend. I have been invited to stay all over the place, so I guess I will be jumping around from place to place to accommodate everyone that wants to be graced with my presence. I am leaving on Thursday and coming back on Monday. I just have to get packed and get to Target at some point to buy the bridal shower gift. I guess we all know what I will be doing tomorrow.

Common Ground

In any relationship, there needs to be some sort of common ground. Leo and I have some things that we both enjoy to do together. We like to take walks in the park. We occasionally go biking together. Obviously, I don't go on training rides with him. We both love NASCAR. For years though, there was one thing that wasn't a common ground. It was baseball. Leo thought baseball was the most boring sport in the world. I, on the hand, love baseball with a passion. My team doesn't always do well, but the Phillies are definitely on an upswing now. Over the years, I have managed to talk him into going to some games. Every year, the players wives association has different charity events. We attended a game last year the benefited the Breast Cancer Association. The wives were selling autograph baseballs. It was a grab bag type of a thing. They call it mystery ball. Well, I bought two of the baseballs one for each of us. Little did I know where those purchases would lead. I got a Ryan Madson ball. Leo lucked out and got Jimmy Rollins. Well, Leo decided to follow his player. I noticed that he seemed to be more into the game than usual. The Phillies happened to lose a close game. Well, I get home from work one day the following week, and what do I hear on my television.....the Phillies game. Leo was watching them play on his own, and proceeded to give me the play by play. He has become one of their biggest fans. We went to a couple more games last year. He has followed the off season, and has been looking to the start of Spring Training. He also purchased tickets to go some games. We happen to have tickets to three games so far. It has been very nice to be able to actually enjoy my passion with him. If I knew a ball would create it, I would have purchased one a long time ago. I will just take what I got and enjoy this with him now.

Wonderful Husband

Ok, this is following up yesterday post. Basically, someone felt slighted in the post yesterday, so today we will glorify said slighted person. First off, let me say that I feel very blessed to be married to Leo. He truly is my best friend and does encompass fully what a husband should be. Okay, with the exception of occasionally trying to get me killed. He paid for most of our wedding. I guess that means he can't complain too much about me due to the fact he paid to marry me. Also, he supported me 100% in my quitting my job. I won't go into the whole story, but without his support I would have never been able to have the courage to stand up for myself at that time. He knew that there was a chance that he would have to support me financially for a bit and he didn't even bat an eye when the time came. For as tired both mentally and physically as I was at the time I will be ever grateful to him for that. Most of all, I can't think of a better person to have to go through infertility. It is hard enough wanted and family and not being able to have one. If you have the wrong person with you in that journey, it makes it that much tougher. I am fortunate that I have someone wonderful to stand with me on wherever this journey takes us. He has never once gotten upset over things. His being laid back compliments my anxiety ridden mentality very well. He has jumped on board with everything that we have contemplated. He is willing to do whatever it takes to make us become a family, and I look forward to the day he gets to hold his child in his arms. I know not only is he a wonderful husband, but that he is going to make a wonderful father. I love him very much, and can't wait for the day that I can see that happen.

How things become dislikes

To go with yesterdays post, for my two readers, I am following up with dislikes. This will also eventually tie in with a comment on the last post. I tease my husband that he has an insurance policy of a large sum on me. You see, he tends to do things that potentially get me killed. First, he convinces me that these are good ideas. Then, I absolutely hate what we do to the point I never want to do it again. You see I have certain physical limitations to what I can do. I have ruined both knees playing softball. Plus, I have asthma that sometimes gets in the way to what I do. Once, we went to Acadia National Park. Leo thought that it would be a great idea to take rock climbing lessons. I was on board with the whole idea. That was until I actually did it. First off, it is much harder than it looks. You have to give credit to the things that rock climbers do, and the strength they actually have to do it. The first climb wasn't that bad. The second climb was the one that got me. It was probably a little bit more than I could handle. I would like to point out here part of this is my fault as I hate to say in front of people that I can't do something. I have a winning complex. In this case, it led to me to do the climb. Well, I started and somewhere in the beginning, I hit my knee off a rock. Well, it was the worse of the two, and led to quite the swelling half-way up the climb. There was a section that I absolutely couldn't do. I felt sorry for the poor instructor who thought I was yelling at her when I was yelling at Leo. I did manage to get up to the top, but my knee wasn't in good shape when I got there. Leo, said he knew he was in trouble when he saw all the blood. Needless, to say I hate rock climbing and will never do it again. Now, there was also the infamous hike around Mt. Washington where my asthma acted up and I almost didn't make it to the top of the mountain. I think that even worried Leo, but now enough to take off on the trail on the way down. I almost died on the descent when I slipped off a not so nice section and the only thing that saved me was a root I managed to grab onto before I went completely over the edge. Notice, I said completely. Yes, part of me was off the edge. Now, this hasn't stopped my liking of hiking. It does make me question when Leo picks hikes. This led to our snowshoeing adventure last weekend. We went with his cousin and his girlfriend. Leo and Mike mapped the route. I was doing nice until we hit the climb where we were the ones to cut the trail. It ended up being no so pretty. I yelled at Leo more than once. My lungs were on fire and I was really out of breath. Of course, the eight pounds I have put on and lack of exercise since I quit work didn't help. I will give him credit because he did stay with me and made sure I made it back. I didn't think I would and I will say that it will be a long time before I go snowshoeing again. I do feel bad because I didn't think Leo put me into consideration once again while planning this hike. Turns out that Mike wanted to do something even harder and Leo came up with a compromise. Now, for the reason that this leads to the comment in the previous post. Dislikes, also can be in other areas than sports. You see I will never become part of poetry Friday because I hate poetry. I am sure some of you are completely appalled by that. See, I had a teacher that completely made fun of my interpretation of a poem. I tend to over analyze, and made a poem more than it was meant to be. I thought I did a good job with it. Now, since the poet had been dead forever how the hell anyone knows what he meant when he wrote it is beyond me. It isn't like he left a book giving the meanings to all his poems. Well, this particular teacher proceeded to make fun of my interpretation while I was standing in front of the class. I have hated poetry ever since. I really think poets are people who wrote songs that they couldn't sing and gave a cute type name. I will never partake in anything that has to do with poetry. As a side note, I can't even tell you the name of the poem that caused the hatred. That right there should tell people who know me that I can't stand. We all know how my memory is and the fact that I blocked it out. So here's some more insight to my being. Tune in tomorrow for the next edition.

Oh dreary Day

For my main reader the title is as close as you get for me to do anything poetic on a Friday. For as lousy as it seems outside, I did get a lot accomplished today. I am still trying to find the dual homestudy agency. I may just resign myself to doing one in one state and one in another, and see what happens with the move. We could get everything done by the time we move. I am tired of waiting at this point. For those following the passport saga, I got the documents back that you send with it. they send them back separately, so the passport is officially on its way here. Not that I have anywhere to go right now, but still at least I will have it. I was reading on someone else's blog today about trying to get her kids interested in history. I guess that is something that my whole family picked up naturally. Well maybe not naturally per se. I was thinking about my own interest in history. It is no secret to those that know me that I love history. I may not be able to rattle off a bunch of historical facts but I love going to places that have history to them. I think I got it by spending many summers with my cousins in Philadelphia. We spent a good deal of time going to the historical sites while there. I loved learning about early american history. My Uncle Joe and cousins made it really interesting for us. I think that it was them taking us to all these places and then my father's love of Williamsburg and all the trips that we took there that made me fascinated with history and that has carried over today. Williamsburg has also led to my fascination with ghosts. How can you not read the books about the places that have spirits in them. I also got thinking that sometimes it is the good times that you have that lead you to like a certain thing or things. All these trips were very good. My Philadelphia and Williamsburg trips were some of the best family vacations that I have ever had. I think that the positive experience sometimes leads one to believe that it is all that encompassed the trip, and leads you to like what all was involved. That then got me thinking to my love of sports. That all started game 6 of the 1980 world series. My relatives from Philly were up visiting. They had the game on. I started routing for the Phillies that day and as everyone knows that I still do. I watched that game with my Uncle Joe, and forever became a fan of the game. The first Phillies game that I ever went to I sat with my grandfather. My grandfather may be gone, but I will always have the memory of getting to sit next to him and watching that game. Sometimes I think likes are ways to hold unto the family you hold dear.

A walk in the woods

Well, with the weather being so nice today, I decided to go on a little walk. It turned out to be a little more than a little walk, but hey, I don't work anymore and need to get exercise somewhere. It amazes me how much more you can do while listening to music. My husband got me an Ipod for Christmas this year, and I found that it really helped me walk farther. We have a path from the development that I live in to a local park. I didn't realize the path was finally completed until Leo told me yesterday. Today I decided to walk to the park. Once there, I decided to go a little further and walk the paths in the park itself. The park surrounds a little lake, or where I come from pond. There were two beavers swimming around the lake. Plus, in honor of Katie's pure love for geese, I will mention that there was a ton of them around also. Well, I kept going along and next thing you know. I have been at it for two hours wandering around. For those wiseguys out there, I wasn't wandering aimlessly. I just followed the different paths and enjoyed what the day had to offer. Earlier today, I watched Brett Favre's retirement speech. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. I am sure Peter will be mourning for some time with this. I would like to say that it was an honor to watch him play. I may not have been a Packers fan, but I don't know how anyone could watch him play and not appreciate what he had to offer to his sport. In a day and age where athletes make so much money, watching someone run around the field with childlike enthusiasm for what he was doing was refreshing. He made his mistakes, but was so honest about his life you could not only forgive, but have your kids look up to him for it. I know I will definitely miss watching him run around with his arms up in the air jumping up in the air come fall Sundays.

Well, I am starting to work on my blog because Christine is making me. She is apparently bored and wants to be able to make comments. Everyone knows I am the queen of comments, but hey I have a need to please complex, so I will humor her. I was going to wait to do this when we were a little further along in the adoption process. For those who don't know, we lost our referral when our agency closed and we are back to the beginning of things. We did find another agency and our proceeding forward. Where we are in the process right now is trying to find an agency for the homestudy. I am trying to find one that can handle both here in NJ and once we move to PA in case that happens before our adoption in completed. I suppose, while I do that, I can my thoughts on certain events. I would give the play by play of my day, but that would most likely bore the heck out of everyone. I will keep politics out of things because I really don't want to read a certain persons comments on it. In the meantime, I will come up with something more interesting to right about. I can work on that tomorrow.