Day 31: Oh My Golly Jeepers

We went to the women's basketball game today and they were phenomenal seats. Midcourt - row 2!!! You can't get any better than that...well you can...row 1...but I'm sure the announcers heads would be in the way, right? :)

The funnest part of the game was listening to Deb Patterson. Whereas most coaches are foul-mouthed, she has got to be the cleanest coach I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Some of the sounds coming from the coach:

• Oh My Golly Jeepers!
• Holy Mackeral
• What's that Ref's name? If he looks over here one more time like that I'm going to tell him to stop.
• "That call was atrotious" said to the ref in question.
• I can't believe it. She was in the Promise Land.
• Geez Louise!

It was kids day and Willie's b-day so they had a baby crawling competition. The baby that won chased after his dad's cell phone as the rest of the wee ones were enamored by Willie and pretty much just sat there.

The mascots from different places around town came to the game to celebrate Willie's B-Day!

Happy Birthday Willie!

Day 30: Rudeness and Roller Coaster Ride

It is finally here. The day some of us KSU fans have been waiting for - will we be able to beat the top ranked KU Jayhawks? Well we didn't but it was an incredible game, full of ups and downs just like a roller coaster ride by both teams. The first downer was the long line to get into the Octagon of Doom. But we were entertained with signs like these and jokes about the jayhawks. "Be sure to cover your mouth when you cough up a Hawker!"
We did get there early enough to see the Wildcats warm up and even those icky jayhawks warmup. And thsoe icky Jayhawks...
And can I please get an "Awww...how sweet" from everyone. Frankie's daughter came and sat on his lap just minutes before the game.
Now for the rudeness....see this? They were sitting right behind us and were terribly rude. I mean most rudeness I've witnessed in a long time! Fortunate for us, one of them got kicked out of the game in the first half. And that's what ya get for being so rude - haha!

OK and for all of you Erin Andrews fans...here she is. I caught many of the men around us drooling over her.
And of course the picture wouldn't be complete without her backside..lol. I imagine there will be some of you that will be printing this out and making poster size prints and hanging them above your bed - ugh! All I can say to that is...someone needs to eat something!
And the roller coaster ride continues as we go into overtime. Overtime! There was some hope!
Well I was so glued to the game I didn't get any other pics until after the game. But I will tell you it didn't end like I wanted it to end.

But hey I got to see Darren Sproles!!! He was much smaller than I thought he would be for an NFL player. He still could take that birdlike Erin Andrews!
Well until the next game...Go Cats! I still love ya' and you are still #1 in my book!

Day 29: Mom, Dad, Colton...this is it!

Mom, Dad, Colton..this is it. This is where I want to retire or be put when I get too old to live alone: Meadowlark Hills in Manhattan. I love this place. It has absolutely everything.

A movie theater

A library
A music room

A hair salon (I just hope I still have hair at that point!) Beautiful artwork throughout the halls
And most important to some (looks like especially Cris!)...a bar
And probably needed in a bar in an old folks home - a pull string for
"Help I've fallen and can't get up"

And Adrian found out they even make Cosmo's! YUM!

Day 28: EA Day Happenings

We sit. We sign. We sit. We sign. We roam around. We find treats to eat. We sit. We sign. I'm getting pretty bored and am able to take shots of people at EA Day. The lines were long and I'm glad I'm not a student sitting or standing in them.

How did I make the time go by? I bothered my co-workers. See this computer - it belongs to Mark and he is a huge Nebraska fan. He wasn't working either and was looking at Nebraska on his computer. He stepped out so I changed it to the KSU Athletics page.
And this would be his reaction after he saw it...heehee!
And check this out - it is MY students STUDYING! Yes they came to EA Day and worked on MATH! There's a new Nickelodeon show that's motto is "With math, all is possible!" and I love it!

Day 27: I have one of those kids...ugh

Colton brought home his reading notebook. This is what came clumsily out of his bag. I saw it and I knew. I had one of those kids that is NOT organized and just shoves things in his desk. I remember those kids from teaching high school. Those kids could never find their homework. They could barely find a blank piece let alone a writing utensil. I didn't realize that this was when it started - at an early age. I should have known considering the state of his room sometimes.

Oh my...it makes my stomach churn as I look at the pages coming out and just shoved in there. The corners are all folded over and they look sad. They look disappointed that they are not in their proper place. Some of them even had the holes punched in them ready to be put in place but yet they weren't. Sad..so sad. I know someone else that had a backpack that looked like this...my brother. We are in serious trouble if he is anything like Matt.

Day 26: Close Call but a W

Whew! KSU pulled out a win over #24 Baylor in a very close call. We went to Chili's and used the gift card from my mom and then went to the Wareham to watch the game. I was a little disappointed to see that Willie wasn't passing out shirts. I really want a game day shirt or new shirt for the KU-KSU game this weekend. Hint Hint...if you are reading this and you have access to one! :)

Day 25: Smack Talk leads to.....

I said that I would eventually write about the boys will be boys episode that left two boys crying. Colton and Parker came out of their shirtless cave man play to the living room where we were playing Wii and decided they wanted to take on Ted and Mark on Madden's 5-on-5 football game. So they waited (not very patiently) for us to get done playing Sorry Sliders and were ready to play. They told the big boys how they were gonna whoop their butts and take them down and were pretty much foaming at the mouth to get their hands on the remotes.

The cave man boys picked the Cowboys and Mark and Ted chose to be the Patriots. Mark hadn't played much so we thought the big boys had a handicap. But I think Ted was practicing in the wee hours of the night because he was out for blood. He had a hard time containing himself and could not stop smiling as he whooped up on the boys who were increasingly getting upset. The small boys claimed all sorts of excuses - "the big boys were cheating", "they picked the team that had never lost", "they were not playing fair". The game was not even over and the small boys called it quit. There were tears involved and it wasn't coming from Smiley, i.e. Ted, i.e. Mr. Play Wii All The Time, i.e. Mr. Likes to Pick on Little Boys...lol.
It ended in defeat. Parker just laid his head on the couch and Colton was curled up in the fetal position in the hall with tears in his eyes. And that my friends is what talking smack gets ya!

Day 24: Bowling Take 2

Ted, Angi, Mark and the "boys will be boys" spent Sunday afternoon bowling. This time I got a new pair of shoes. I like last week's shoes better - they were well worn and you can't beat the lime green eyelets. Unfortunately the place was full of college boys and one of those boys had my lucky purple ball so I was not so lucky the first game. We got the boys their own lane so they could move at a faster pace than us old folks. And they finished their 2nd game before we were even done with the first so it was a good choice on our part.
Parker started by bowling with a contraption that would launch the ball forward but after about 3 frames decided he was going to bowl like Colton. Check that engineering contraption out; they definitely didn't have those when I was growing up. We had to rough it!

Check out the grin. Ted was trying not to laugh as Angi gutterballed...um..again. He was having a really hard time at it and gave us some line about bowling in college when he was "hitting it hard". He would probably be bowling pro if he would have taken a bowling class in college like Mark did.

Well Ted, a.k.a Mr. Puffy Cheeks, let me give everyone else something to laugh at besides our gutterballs.
The boys also made their way to the video games and imagine that Colton played a football game. Sorry there is not a picture of me and my great form but someone only snapped one of my butt and that is not a great form! :)

Day 23: Boys will be Boys

I usually do a Saturday Sports but our Saturday Sports was somewhat depressing. Colton lost his soccer game and the Wildcats lost their game against Oklahoma State. We went over to Ted and Angi's after the game for supper and relaxation. After dinner we sat around the table and talked and we noticed that the boys were pretty quiet back in Parker's room with an occasional bang on the floor from them jumping off the bed. But the door was shut so we really had no clue what they were doing in there. I went out to the car and snagged my camera to snap a shot of them when I opened the door to check out the carnage. Usually quiet is not good for little boys, if you know what I mean. Well this was the shot - the boys running around without shirts on. They had channeled their cave man "I am MAN" and were playing basketball or something in that room without their shirts on. Angi especially noticed the smelly funk that was coming out of the room as we opened the door. Smell good spray was definitely needed!

Colton wanted to show off his muscles....umm...those look more like ribs to me but you go son!

And Parker finally showed off his guns!

Look forward to a future post about the little boys challenging the big boys to a Madden 5 on 5 battle on the Wii. All I will tell you is that it ended in defeat just like Colton's soccer team and the Wildcats but this time there were tears involved!

Day 22: Family

There's a saying that families are like butt cheeks, crap may come between them but they always come back together. Well that saying rings immanently true for our family. We have had tons of drama but we do always come back together for family gatherings. This one was taken at Christmas and doesn't contain everyone (me included since I'm the one behind the camera) but it is part of the gang. I'm thankful that we have gotten to this point to pose in a family pic and hope that we are able to get together soon to see that family is way more important than all that well...crap.

Day 21: Yet another dresser shot

Yes it is a slow news day...so you get to see what else sits atop of my dresser. This was given to me by the church when we graduated from high school. I set it on my window to get rid of the glare of the dresser mirror (see the snow that is still on the ground - ugh!). It is rather fitting today to view because I stayed home sick and I have been praying to feel better all day. It is called the Peace Prayer of St. Francis. The author is unknown but it was found in 1915 in Normandy written on the back of a holy card of St. Francis (thus the name).

Lord, make me an instrument of they peace.

Where ther is hatred let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light; and

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master

grant that I may not so much

seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Well all I have left to say is Amen!

Day 20: The closest I'll probably come to Africa

I'm the secretary for Delta Kappa Gamma which is a woman's educator's organization that meets monthly for dinner and a speaker presests some interesting topic. Our speaker this month was Monica Wernette, who spent many years in Africa working for the World Health Organization. She was a fantastic speaker and even brought props. She started off by passing around this item and asked us what it was. My guess was a plate - it had a handle on it and you could just shovel what little food they had to eat in their mouths or for those of us that are messy eaters, we would be less likely to miss our mouths if we brought the plate closer to it. So what do you think it is because plate is not the correct answer. Read further to find out (yes I know my own wicked way to get you to read to the end..haha!)

She told stories of when they first discovered Aids and her mom sending her cream rinse and shampoo and hershey's bars. It took 18 months in the postal system to get to her and her thrill of seeing the hershey's bars were dashed as she realized they were covered in maggots. I love chocolate but not sure chocolate maggots are a delicacy in any country.

A fertility God statue. There were some of us that were scared to touch that thing.

I guess I imagined someone carving these out and making the beautiful designs on the serving bowls.

A ceremonial mask was admired by all.

We can't wait for Monica to come back and tell us more of her stories abroad. Oh yeah and the pic of what I thought was a plate is actually a pillow. A pillow? I would never survive in Swaziland, Africa!