March Madness

March Madness is usually in reference to the NCAA basketball championship play-offs. However, in our family it is something entirely different. In between Punky's birthday and Baseball season, we were flying around like chicken with our heads cut off. It was an insanely crazy time. So crazy, I didn't even manage to take pictures. Here is a recap of some of the events we had going on.




*Both kids played basketball this year. Nimrod coached Buckaroo's team and I coached Punky Girl's. We had practice twice a week and games on Saturdays from February through the first of April. We all had a really good time.

--The highlight of the season for Punky Girl was getting to play on Buckaroo's team. The first game of the season, his team didn't have enough players. She knew the plays because Nimrod and I run the same basic plays so she fit right in. She played the entire game and held her own. Many parents were wowed by her. Then, she went on to immediately play her in own game. She handled it with modestly while at the gym but when we got home she was jumping out of skin. It was a blast for her.

--The highlight for Buckaroo was playing against the "other" best player in the league (also a good friend of his). Both teams were undefeated when they met up and there was a little bit of hype leading up to this game. Buckaroo and the other player of course had to guard each other. This only helped sharpen their skills and pick up their game play. The crazy thing was that the game ended in a tie! There is no overtime in our city league so that is what happened. Buckaroo had the best game and had fun competitively playing against his friend. It was nice to have it end in a tie. Later in the season they met again and our team ended up winning. Nobody seemed to notice and Buckaroo was just as happy as when it ended in a tie.

In the middle of Basketball season, Nimrod came down with the chickenpox. It was so bizarre. He never had them a child and thought he was immune, WRONG! He was quarantined for a week and we all avoided him like the plague. The nice thing was that while I went off to work, he was at home with a huge honey-do list. It was nice having a "wife" for a week. We heard horror stories about adults with chickenpox but he was very fortunate and had no itching and very little scarring.

Spring Break came and went in a blur. We managed to take in a Spring Training game with Pickles and her mom. We all tried to catch up on sleep and not do anything taxing. The kids and I went to the river 3 different days and played in the water. That was a ton of fun!

Basketball ended at 12pm on a Saturday and Baseball started at 2pm on that same day. We hit the ground running. With Nimrod coaching both of the kids teams and me being president of the league, we were out at the park 6 nights a week....and we wouldn't have it any other way. Buckaroo's team went 11-1. He pitched a game where he struck out 13 players. I got it on video so can watch it when I am old and he is in the pros :) Punky Girl rocked in t-ball! She hit the ball into the outfield and threw players out at first base. I know there are no outs in tball but she still did it and did it well.

Whew! We flew through February, March and April. Actually May too if you knew of all the end of the school year activities. Buckaroo won his grade level spelling bee. Punky placed in her age bracket soccer shootout. She doesn't even play soccer but the schools in the area had a competition and she placed 3rd.

Now you know why my blog is only updated once every few months! I would promise to get better but I know that would be an empty promise. Instead, I will spend a week each summer recapping the last six months.

The Year of the Appliances

When Nimrod was getting ready for his big hunt, he asked if we had a coffee pot. (He doesn't drink coffee but his dad wanted it for the hunt).I don't use our little coffee pot on a regular basis so I had to dig through the cupboards. Guess what I found? A roasting oven. I didn't even know I had one. It was brand new. I think Nimrod's grandma gave it to us when we got married 13 years ago. So, since I had so much luck with the toaster oven (LOL) I thought I should try using it.

We love 7 bone roast and don't really enjoy having the oven on for 3-4 hours so this was going to be my perfect solution. I put the roast in and 10 hours, yes 10, later and the roast was done. I would like to say that the roaster oven was defective because it had never been used but that would be a lie. As with the toaster oven, I learned something. It helps if you put the oven on the correct temperature. Cooking at 225 degrees takes twice as long as cooking at 325 degrees.

We had cereal that night for dinner.

Dear Jesus and God,...

A few years ago I was at my friend's house and she was using her toaster oven. I said, "Oh, I have one of those, but I don't know how to use it. It just sits there and collects dust." She almost FREAKED out. She told me she used it for EVERYTHING. I had no idea all the things you could cook in a toaster oven. So, a few days later I decided to use my own and see what wonderful things I could cook in my toaster oven. I was talking on the phone to my friend Ber while my food was cooking and I was bragging on how I was using my spiffy toaster oven instead of the big oven. Suddenly there were flames coming out of the toaster oven. I yelled, "I gotta go, my toaster oven has flames coming out of it!!" I slammed the phone down and grabbed a towel to beat down the flames. I then unplugged it and checked out the damage. Yep, the food was burnt. But there was no damage to the toaster oven or the cabinets next to it. Apparently I should have cleaned out the dust before I started cooking in it. Who knew? After all this commotion, I turned around and there was Buckaroo. He had watched the whole entire fiasco. Hmm, what do I say to a five year old at this point? I opted for nothing and hoped he didn't ask any questions about why it was on fire. He didn't. When we sat down for dinner that night (a new, non-burnt dinner) Buckaroo bowed his head and prayed in his little boy voice, "Dear Jesus and God, thank for not letting my mommy burn down the house today. Thank you for this food, amen." As soon as I looked up, Nimrod was looking at me with huge eyes. I guess I forgot to mention to him what happened earlier. I tried to explain but couldn't through the laughter over Buckaroo's prayer. Eventually I told the story and all was well. However, for the next few days Buckaroo was cautious when entering the kitchen and prayed this same prayer for awhile. I think I may have traumatized him a little. When it was all said and done, we got a great laugh out of it.

So, the other day Nimrod and I were in the kitchen talking while I was making dinner and he says, "Dear Jesus and God." My head whips around to the toaster oven and there is smoke coming out of it! While he is laughing, I am fighting the toaster oven, again! Luckily, no flames this time. Apparently, you need to clean the toaster oven out occasionally. It has only been three years of me using it without this happening. How come there are no rules written down about how to use the toaster oven? Everyone says it is the easiest appliance to use but I have experienced otherwise. "Dear Jesus and God, give me the wisdom to use a toaster oven."

An Offensive Machine

Since the kids decided to get the Wii, I decided to capitalize on it and get the Wii Fit. I had been going to the gym but that stopped in April when baseball started. I need to get in shape and heard the Wii Fit was a great way do this. Now, I am not so sure.

I started the set up this morning. I found my cute little Mii person and they put her in a cute little yoga outfit. The little Wii board talks to me in this little chipper voice and is on the screen guiding me through the set up. The first thing it asks me to do is step on the board and I when I did I swear it it said "Oh my." The screen message comes up that there was an error. The little voice asks me "Are you fidgeting? I can't get a good reading. Please step off and on again." Okay, I think this is normal and step off and then on but am cautious because I really think it said "Oh my" when I stepped on the first time. This time it reads me and says it is time to start the basic test. I have to do these balance exercises, which it gives no instruction for, and then it says to me in a voice now beginning to sound like the little lady from Poltergeist or The Exorcist, whatever psycho move it was, "Do you trip often?" EXCUSE ME? The wii psycho lady is asking me if I trip often. Well, of course I do. Doesn't everyone? But, I continue on, mostly because my kids are watching and I didn't want to throw a temper tantrum at the wii in front of them.

Next test, some standing positions, checking my posture. I think, "No problem. What can she yell at me for here?" I won't ask that question again. Apparently there are issues with my posture as well. Now I have to put in my age and my height. In her sing-songy voice she tells me just a minute, she will figure my "Wii Age" and then "we" can decide what training I should do. She comes back with an age seven years older than me. SEVEN years!!! Holy cow!!!! And, she tells me that my BMI is high and makes my cute little mii person chubby, come on lady!

I feel like I just signed up for the military. My poltergeist trainer just beat me down. What did I sign up for? This little computer generated machine kicked my butt and I didn't even see it coming. And I didn't actually exercise.

Maybe tomorrow when I do actually exercise, I will trade her in on a better model. Some Austrian guy that chants "You cun du it" sounds much better to me than a little psycho lady saying, "Oh my" every time I step on the board.