Fireworks

I'm listening to fireworks--it's the Aces first home game in their new (and gorgeous) ballpark. This opening game sold out!

I remember my very first Major League game ever. We lucked into some free tickets to an Angels game and were hooked. The field was surprisingly green and clay-red! I discovered that TV just doesn't begin to capture the feel. We've watched some great games but especially loved the ones that went to extra innings. They meant late bedtimes, but we never left before the contest was settled. We even took Pierre as a baby (he was born in sight of the park).

Life with kids and jobs got busy and we didn't get back to baseball until we moved north and emptied our nest. As lifelong Giants fans, we climbed on BART and experienced PacBell Park sans car and parking. Very cool. There's not a bad seat anywhere in it either.

We continued our "new" ballpark tour in San Diego and had the dubious pleasure of trying to explain the rules to co-workers from Spain, China, Turkey and Serbia. And yes, we were really out in left field at Petco, but the crowd's energy was awesome.

I'm excited that we have a Triple A team now. Guess what we'll be splurging on this summer?

Good luck, Aces!

Vanishing Turtles

Behold, this week's turtlenecks, all ironed and ready to put away. I'm tired of wearing them. They're b-o-r-i-n-g.

It's Spring and I want to swap my uninspiring turtles for something perkier. Shirts--no, blouses--that are light, short-sleeved, collarless, and different. I long for floral prints. I yearn for buttons. I deserve some body-hugging, slimming darts, darn it! I want to unearth my collection of t-shirts from New Mexico, my soccer tees, my unparalleled collection of Roxy tees (thank you, Costco).

If I pack up the turtlenecks and stock my drawer with cute, feminine shirts during Spring Break, am I tempting Mother Nature to turn nasty and extend winter? I'm desperate for change!

Trying Not To Count

Spring in northern Nevada is like the poems my kids wrote in sixth grade:

S - Snow
P - Perfect Weather
R - Rain
I - Ice on the pond again
N - Nice day
G - Gale-force winds.

At least all that weather didn't occur on one day, just one week. Progress, of a sort.

G might also stand for Grumpy. I'm grumpy with the kids, they're grumpy with each other, we all want to be somewhere else...somewhere warm. Could Spring Break please hurry up and arrive?

I love my job (a lot). But right now I don't want to be there. If the weather was warm and sunny, y'know, good gardening weather, I'd be dying. As it is, I managed to lay ten rolls of sod today and was more than happy to come inside when I was finished. See, I knew there was a silver lining to our cold, windy, grey weather.

We have two more days of school and I have to force myself to get up in the morning, to go out the front door and head off to school, to keep myself heading west instead of turning tail and coming back to my warm cozy bed. I've even been inventing possible excuses to take a sick day--allergies, sinuses, lethargy, exhaustion--I actually have all of the above, but I still feel good, almost healthy, darn it.

I need a wheezy breath that sounds like second cousin to an accordion. Or one of those deep hacking coughing spells. Something to impress someone enough that they'd believe me when I say I just can't make it to work.

I guess I'll just have to survive another two days somehow.

Kharma 1 - Family 0

What's for dinner when the cupboard's bare? It's cold and blustery out as the storm front moves closer--how about some nice chicken noodle soup? Yummy!

Take three cans of soup, open them up, dump them in the big pot and add water. Listen to the wind howl outside.

Get another big pot, fill it with water, turn the burner on high until it boils. Add some nice whole wheat noodles (because we like lots of noodles in our soup) and cook them until done.

While the two pots are cooking, defrost the very last chicken breast (because you can never have too much chicken in chicken noodle soup). Decide that you'll strain out the cooked noodles when they're done and reuse that nice hot water to boil the poultry. Think about adding chicken to the Costco list. Cut the chicken into five smaller pieces so it will cook faster.

Check the timer--the noodles still have five minutes before they're al dente--that's plenty of time to go upstairs and check email before the bell starts dinging.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Go downstairs and transfer the cooked noodles into the simmering canned soup. Turn around to get the chicken. Look blankly at the cutting board. Why is there just a wet juicy circle on the board? Wonder outloud where the chicken went.

Notice that Kharma suddenly has a very guilty look while Zelda just looks hopeful. Put the K-dog in timeout.

Add some curry powder to the soup instead and call the guys for dinner. Try to wipe that half-exasperated, half-proud dogmom smile off your face before they ask why you're grinning.

Naughty dog! (Grin.)

J.K.

It must be April Fool's Day. I had kids telling me there were spiders in my hair, they were going to Disneyland tomorrow, my shoe was untied, they were getting a new kitten, etc., all day long.

I didn't fall for Disneyland or the spiders, but they got me on all the rest. I am apparently so gullible even a kindergartner can fool me.

I didn't fool anyone. I didn't even try. I usually tease the kids continually so I figured they could use the day off. Hmmmm, come to think of it, maybe my straight-faced daily absurdities might be rubbing off on them. Maybe I'm not as easily fooled as I thought. Maybe, just maybe, I've been teaching them all to become expert leg-pullers!

Then again, maybe not. Because they were also joking with each other about having shampoo in their armpits. And that got the best laughs of all.

Maybe it's something only a six-year-old can appreciate.