Too long gone

This is just a quick update, as I'm not feeling good, and would really like to lie down. However, lying down will have to wait though, as I have "duties" to attend to first; namely the laundry, dishes, and just a general straightening up. Oh, and I should probably lay something out for dinner tonight.

I haven't posted in quite some time, I'm sure much to the dismay of the few of my "loyal" followers. lol I have two very logical explanations for this: 1.) I've been extremely busy and 2.) when I've had the time, I simply haven't felt like typing, uploading photos, or posting.

In May, I became quite busy with end of the school year stuff with the kids and PTO, and of course baseball & softball games started as well. In May, the PTO holds the school's field day, and hires a company out of Columbus called Super Games, to come up and set up various play stations, that include bounce houses, inflatable slides, batting derby, water games, big tricycles, and lots, lots more!! It was held on the last Friday of the school year, and it was as close to being a perfect day as we could have gotten. The day started out grey and chilly, but soon, the clouds gave way to the sun, and glorious blue skies. The kids and volunteers had a blast!! The following week, the PTO officers and I went shopping for books, gift cards, games, & toys to use as prizes for the end of the year AR Rewards assembly. I always enjoy shopping for this, and then attending the assembly to see the kids pick their prize.

Brian's mom came for a visit Memorial Day weekend. We cleaned out ALL my flower beds, put mulch down, and planted some new perennials & some annuals too. We did all that on Saturday. Sunday morning, we went out and planted my garden; she planted my grape & raspberry plants, and I planted sweet corn, green beans, lettuces, radishes, onions, carrots, cucumbers, pumpkins, 14 tomato plants, and 7 pepper (both hot & bell) plants. Now the garden needs hoed, and it's raining. My new perennials include a white bleeding heart, 2 different clematises, a hydrangea, a poppy, 2 dappled willow shrubs, and 2 white spruce trees. We had a great visit, but she wore my butt out big time. I slept really, really well while she was here!! And like always, it's always sad to take her home.

We have ball games 4 nights a week, and so far only one has been rained out. I really enjoying Andy's games, and watching the boys improve as they go through the season. Andy's on a pee wee team, and they're allowed to steal this year, which makes this mom VERY nervous. I'm made it perfectly clear to both Brian, who's the assistant coach, and to Matt, the head coach, do NOT send Andy, unless you're 100% sure he can get there. You see, Andy isn't exactly what I'd call a fast runner. His biggest problem with running the bases, is he's too worried about where the ball is!! Sarah's games have all been very close, what I call nail biters, but I'm not enjoying this season at all. I find it odd that almost every team has gotten most, if not all, of their returning players, but for some reason, Brian only got 1/2 of the girls he had last year. It's been a stressful season thus far, and I am so ready for Sarah to be done with softball, and for Brian to be done coaching her team. He's not enjoying it this year at all, and I think that's sad. Last year we suffered through having 15 girls on our team, but we made it through just fine. This year, we only have 10; you need 10 to play coach pitch. After 3 practices we had a girl quit; and so the search for a replacement began. We ended up with a tee baller, and she's a joy to have on the team. We've only missed one game, due to rain, and things were looking up....until last week. We had 3 parents come up to tell us they'll be going on vacations. So starting next week, we'll be down at least one girl. The following week, we'll only have 8 girls for one game, and possibly only 7 for another. Can someone please explain to me, how the hell we're supposed to compete?? And oh yeah, we'll be short at least one girl for the tournament. Brian's got a call into to one of the tee ball coaches about borrowing a girl or 2, but from what we've heard they could be down players as well. I'd like to know who the genius is who stretched these teams so thin, that there is absolutely no wiggle room!! ARGH!! It's not fair to the girls who want to play, and show up at every practice and game raring to go. And it's definitely not fair to the men and women who are coaching, volunteering their time and energy, to coach these girls (and boys), and then end up getting the shaft!!

Okay....moving on now. Like I said, I'm not feeling good. I woke up yesterday with a stuffy & runny nose, and a scratchy, itchy throat. And the cold front that's stalled over Ohio at the moment, is not helping with my sinuses at all!! I know it's wrong, but I almost hope that Andy's game gets rained out this evening. It'll be nice to just be able to relax and actually rest. I didn't sleep very well last night. I'd sleep for an hour, and then wake up for a couple hours. It was almost 4:30 when I finally went to sleep and stayed asleep until about 7:30. I saw Brian off to work, and then I laid back down, until the thunder woke me up around 9:30 or so. There is more rain coming any minute now, and there's more to come later this afternoon and evening. I just hope we don't get all the way up to the ball park, and then have to cancel the game. I hate when that happens!!

I do have some pictures to upload, and I'll try to get to them this week. And with school out, I'm going to try and post to my blog a little more often than I have been the last few months. I hope and pray everyone is well, and hope to see you all soon!!