"So She Huffed and Puffed..."

...and fell down on the grass after the soccer game. :)

Holy cow, am I out of shape! At Lu's soccer game yesterday, the refs didn't show up (again). So as the veteran Soccer Mom on the team, I volunteered to be one of the line judges.

Big mistake for a heading-towards-middle-age-mom.

Running back and forth and back and forth and quick sprinting from one end of the field to the other on fast breakaways multiple times in 10 minutes isn't exactly easy when the most regular exercise you get is going up and down the stairs at work.

And here I used to think I was in pretty good shape for my age. Well, maybe I am. But then again, if I'm that winded after a single soccer game, maybe it's time to improve my definition of what I think "pretty good shape" is...

I've been considering taking the line judging ref classes for awhile now, thinking that it wouldn't be too difficult to be a line judge for my kids' games when they need a ref in a pinch. Now I'm realizing that I'd better start doing some more cardio if I'm going to be doing this on any type of regular basis!

There's obviously more to being in "pretty good shape" than fitting in your size 10 jeans, I guess. Who knows... maybe after running a full season of line judging, I'll fit back into my pre-pregnancy size 8. After all, miracles have been known to happen!

I'm Nuts... That's All There Is To It

I did something totally and completely crazy last Thursday. It's so crazy that I can't even spill it on a blog. Well, maybe I can-- in a year or so. By then hopefully enough time will have passed so it won't be as major of a thing, and I'll feel comfortable enough sharing it online with the whole world.

Heehee!

Hrumph!

Okay, so I put my first two scrapbook pages up on eBay. They did miserably.

Darnit.

Ron came to the rescue during the last few minutes of the auctions, saying that he couldn't see me spending that many hours on the pages and not getting at least a decent price for them, so he put in the high bids for each set of pages. What a nice guy! So I just relisted them last night with a higher minimum bid to at least try to get my money/time's worth out of them.

I was really hoping that I could get a good side business going from home to help supplement my income. Oh, well. Maybe I just need to get a name for myself on eBay like some of the other scrappers have. The question is whether or not it's worth it.

Please Hit Me-- I Need the Aggravation!

I swear I have a target painted on the back of every vehicle I drive. Sheesh.

I got rear-ended *again*. I haven't even had this one long enough to get plates on it! I am SO tired of getting in car accidents... you know it's pretty sad when I've been in so many car accidents that I can't tell you what # accident this is...

In other news, it looks like Ron and I are back together again. I'm still not exactly sure how it happened, but it did. And I'm okay with it. Ever since seeing E.C. this last time, I've been able to put that relationship completely to rest. He no longer tugs on my heartstrings. So now that I'm back together with Ron, things seem different. I don't know how to explain it, but it just *is*.

Love is confusing.

Oy, I'm Tired!

And it's only Wednesday....

My two co-workers are gone, and I'm the lone person holding down this joint. One is on vacation, and the other is out with a kidney infection. No telling when he'll be back...

Nothing like doing the work of three people to make you appreciate all the more that Friday is more than halfway here!

I get to coach my daughter's recreation league indoor soccer team again tonight. I kind of fell into it by default on another night because I happen to be the only parent who knows all the other player's names (besides the coach). So the coach has to be out of town on business for the entire tournament (Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday), and it looks like I'll be taking over.

Soccer Mom to the rescue!

Here Goes Nothing

I'm putting my first two sets of scrapbook pages up on eBay today. Wish me luck in selling them for big buck$. :) If you're interested in seeing my scrapbooking style, this is what I do:

And here is the "cutsie" one I did with chicks and bunnies:

I'll keep y'all posted on how the eBay-ing goes!

Weekend of the Ex-Boyfriends

On Friday night, I saw my old boyfriend, E.C. You'd think that 5 months of not seeing him (and having another boyfriend in the meantime!) would make being around him again easier. Fat chance. I guess he'll probably be one of those guys I'll always be in love with. *sigh* My single friend Jamie says about guys like E.C., "They're the ones who you love with all your heart, but you could never live with on a day to day basis." She's right. Living with E.C. would drive me absolutely batty after a few months. It's amazing how much I still yearn to be with him though. But I resisted successfully this weekend, even though he invited me to watch a movie with him at his house Friday night.

Saturday night, it was Ron's turn. I told him that I was ready to end the romantic part of our relationship. He took it pretty hard, as I figured he would. Even though he knew it was eventually coming, he really didn't want our relationship, as it stood, to end. Now we're diving into the murky waters of "Let's be friends". We'll see how that goes. I know that from my end, I'll be able to do it (I wasn't totally, completely head-over-heels in love with him), but since he was completely smitten with me, I don't think it's going to be easy for him. I really feel for him, I do! I know exactly what he's going through, 'cause I was on the receiving end of this exact same thing at the end of last summer. It sucks rocks.

I know it was the right thing to do for me (I'm feeling like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders today), yet I'm in the 'second guessing myself' mode right now. I mean, Ron is a *really* decent guy. You don't find those too often in my dating age group, y'know? So I have to have faith that there's someone better for me out there...

I know when I talk to my best friend Carol across the street about the breakup, I'll probably end up asking the question I've asked her multiple times over the past year and a half: "Tell me why it was I wanted to start dating again?!?" :)

Awesome Website

This has got to be one of the coolest websites ever. I found it Monday morning, and have spent (wasted? LOL!) a lot of time playing around with it this week.

http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

Type in a name. Any name. And then see the popularity trends over the past 100+ years of its usage. There's an interesting blog associated with the site, too, if you're like me and appreciate trivial pieces of information that are fascinating. :)

Life

Okay, so I've been really lax about writing lately. I've been up to my eyeballs in scrapbooking stuff (I have finished one complete 2-page layout, it's really cute, and ready to post to eBay this weekend), shuttling kids to soccer games and practices, work has been ultra-busy, watching American Idol (Taylor made the top 12!), painting Kayla's bedroom, etc. All convenient excuses not to write, I know... :)

Last night, I had to put a new doorknob on my bedroom door-- one with a keyed lock. My mascara went mysteriously 'missing' again, and the only one who uses my makeup without asking is Shandy. This time, though, it didn't reappear. I'm tired of her taking my stuff (makeup, clothes, little things that are mine that she decides she wants...). So my door was locked as I left this morning. Now I have to figure out how I'm going to keep someone from coming into my room from the bay window door, which is accessible with the housekey (as it's the outside door lock). I'm sure that if she really wants in my room, she'll go in through that way. It's pretty sad that I'm having to lock my room up. It's even sadder that Kayla's new room that's almost finished in the basement will also need a keyed lock for the same reason.

I still don't know what to do with that child. She's a completely different teen than I was... I mean, I was interested in earning my parents' trust so I could have the car keys, y'know? I wanted a job so I could earn money, and in turn go do and buy the things I wanted. And to do that, my parents had to trust me. I can't do that with Shandy right now.

So here's an upcoming dilemma-- my brother is planning on giving Shandy his old car on her 16th birthday. How do you go about enforcing driving 'privileges' when the kid owns the car? Insist on a copy of the key and get "The Club"? Mileage checks?

Maybe the aliens will bring back her totally sweet nature in the next few months.

Earning Extra Ca$h

I've decided I'm gonna earn some extra cash (which we sorely need) by doing some...

...scrapbooking.

Yes, me. Don't laugh. I know I'm not your typical scrapbooker. I do have an art/design background, though, and honestly-- that's all it takes. Some of you reading this know that I've done pretty good for myself so far in this arena. Here's my scrapbooking life so far:

My best friend Carol across the street works for Simple Scrapbooks Magazine. Since Kayla likes to scrapbook, Carol would bring by extra copies of the magazine for Kayla to have. I'd flip through them while talking to her, and critique the layouts in the mag, rolling my eyes at the lousy designs I'd see, horrible color combinations people would pick out, etc. etc. etc. Every once in awhile, I'd see a layout I'd like. Finally, in exasperation with my 'pickiness', Carol exclaimed, "Fine! If you think it's so easy, let's see *you* do a layout and sell it to the magazine!"

I took her up on the challenge. I sold my first 3 layouts to Simple. Then, they were having this album contest... I'd never done an album before, so I decided I'd enter one. I took second place in the category I entered it in. Ha! And then Simple contracted with me to write an article for them. So me, Ms. Non-Crafty, wrote an article for a cutsey-crafty magazine. Go figure!

Anyway, back to the $$$ part... I was looking on eBay at premade scrapbook pages. Women are selling these things for big bucks! I mean, who in their right mind pays $230 for a two-page Easter layout, for crying out loud?!? Baby, let me in on the cash!

I spent all day Saturday perusing craft and scrapbooking stores for cutsey crap. I plan on making about 6 double-page layouts to sell before Easter. Wish me luck. I'll keep y'all updated on how they sell!