Well, I AM Enthusiastic

I'll try to keep this short and sweet (for me), as Monday's are full and rushed and I'm sure I should be doing something other than this right now, but it's been a week and my fingers need to type and do this thing called, writing. Lately I've been "waiting for it". Inspiration. Something outside the norm. But we're pretty normal around here, so it can take a couple days.

I know I'm ready to blog, when I'm blogging in my shower. Shampoo, repeat, blog. It's pretty much my only quiet time, when I can actually hear my thoughts. Put words and ideas together. Think. There's quiet time when the girlie-o's are sleeping, but I'm usually this close to hitting the pillow myself. So the shower it is. And this is the brilliance that comes out of quiet time...

I've been occupied with nothing more than being the mom and wife. Running the business of the house and the things that fill it up. Trying to help the hubbs de-stress. Pretty much what a good chunk of all of you are doing. Same thing. The days are full. I really could use a couple more hours of daylight, thank you very much. It still wouldn't be enough.

Our latest has to do with a 2nd grade speech, a soccer game, prepping for the holidays, and a date night. Does this sound like your life, or what?

O has a speech coming up this week. One that she is full of anxiety about. See, she has two personalities--the one at home and the one at school. Total opposites. At home, she is loud (so very loud) and quite the little confident leader to her little sis (and by that I mean bossy). At school she is a rule follower, a quiet mouse, a lover, not a fighter. A joy for both personalities, but so very different. She is her mother's daughter. I was the very same. I think I probably still am, as I am feeling the 2nd grade anxiety along with her. See, we both love the stage--the lights, the drama, the laughter, the applause. We have to be on the stage, just not the center of it. We are both dreading speech day and willing it to hurry up and get here to get it over with. I'll let you know how it goes.

Friday we went to the University of Portland Pilot's soccer game against Northern Arizona University. NAU is kind of my old stomping grounds as I spent a good chunk of my life growing up in the northern mountains of Arizona. Not Flagstaff, but "in the vicinity," so to speak. So it was a little extra exciting. There was a girl on the NAU team that had on these sparkly, very golden shoes. Totally not even their school colors or anything. Totally standing out. She was a bully too. A bully with golden shoes. Fouling all over the place (and of course not getting called on it). She wasn't even good. Someone from the stands yelled out to her that you have to be pretty darn good to wear gold shoes and that basically she wasn't very good (I'm rephrasing what they said nicely). She gave them the bird. Classy. And that's where I come from. Not really. I would never wear golden shoes.

U of P won. It was exciting. It really was. I like going to games. I forgot. I used to love watching sports back in the day. I had to razz hubbs, cuz we dated 3 out of the 4 years he went to University of Portland and he never took me to a soccer game (they are kind of known for soccer--kind of a big dealie). I'm so disappointed. I'll make up for it when my girls are in Middle School and High School. I will be one of Those Moms. You should see me (hear me) at their dance recitals

On a side note--after the game, we were walking to our car and all of sudden we heard this horrendous crash, followed by a blood-curling scream. It was close to us, but we didn't see what happened. It seems that a car hit a young girl. From just looking at the scene, we think she was getting into the back of her family's car and the car that hit her was backing out of a parking spot--way too fast. The car hit the girl so hard it pushed the girl's car into the next lane as well as a car next to hers. The impact pushed two cars into the next lanes. It was horrible. Of course she was hurt very badly. We had to pray right then and there. I've been trying to find out if the girl is okay, but haven't been able to find any articles about it. Totally scary. Such a sad and scary ending to an otherwise exciting night.

Saturday I spent the day knocking out some major Christmas shopping. We have a huge family, but thankfully draw names. I totally recommend drawing names, if you have a large family to shop for. It helps. But I'm almost finished. And it feels great. I am never, never this organized. We'll be eating beans and rice for the next two months, but I'm organized! Oh, and did I tell you I'm having 16 people over for Thanksgiving? I think I have a little crazy in me. You should start praying for my hubby right now, cuz the werewolf is sure to come out next Wednesday--crunch time--as I do the freakout, cuz I'm having 16 people over! It will be nothing but chaos until the door bell rings. They will have no idea, cuz it will be PERFECT. The only thing that might stand out is the gray hairs I have just added to my hubby's head. Pray for him. I really do love this stuff though. I do. I do.

Next year though, I think I'll start a new tradition and we'll just have everyone meet at a restaurant. Say, somewhere like here--

http://www.kennedyschool.com/galleryb.php?loc=57&id=5008

Hubbs and I had a date night this weekend and went there. It's an old elementary school that McMenamins turned into a hotel (McMenamins is good about this sort of thing) and they have all kinds of things going on there all the time...bands, etc...It is such a fabulous atmosphere. I just want to live there. They have a theater there that you can watch like $3 movies and eat while you watch it (http://www.kennedyschool.com/galleryb.php?loc=3&id=5062). It's such a great idea. So relaxing. Hubbs and I cozied up on a love seat and enjoyed some delicious handcrafted beverages and some calzones, while we watched Tropic Thunder (a very romantic movie--not so much, but still). I'm telling you--it was good for my soul. Best date in a looong time. We took a couple pics of the evening. They have all these cool paintings and art that line the halls. Some of them are down right creepy looking (I'm sure this place has ghosts), but most of them were whimsical and sweet. I loved them. Ahhhh, I want to go back right now.

Well, so much for short, but I really tried to be sweet. That felt really good to finally sit down and write. Does this mean I'm a writer? I read something the other day that questioned if I (not really ME personally, but whomever was reading it at the time) was a writer or just an enthusiastic hobbyist. What? Whatever. I don't want this to just be a hobby. I want to be an enthusiastic writer. I'm pretty sure I'm still a wanna-be. But this *is not* a hobby. Dang it.

And thanks for playing.