Sunday, February 28, 2010

A win, a loss

First the loss....Olympic Hockey Gold medal game....Canada 3, USA 2 in overtime. Close game, hosting nation won...perfect ending for them I'd say. I decided to make a hockey symbol after all, to round out my collection. What a fun couple of weeks. Now I want to travel to Vancouver. Someday.

Now for the hockey win. Eden Prairie High School boys vs. Wayzata....section finals....trying to win their way to the State tournament.

Eden Prairie won it all last year. They've been ranked in the top 5 in the state for most of the season. Unfortunately they are in one of the toughest sections of the season. They were seeded 3rd in the section playoffs....under Wayzata (2) and Minnetonka (1). Saturday they played Wayzata. They played in the Braemer ice arena...it was a crazy atmosphere....blaring music in between the action....it reminded me of a minor league baseball game. Fun! E.P. took a 1-0 lead in the first period.

When the Zamboni came out between periods Eric noticed that Fred Flintstone was along for a ride. He looked a little nervous being taken out of the stone age and placed in the ice age. Maybe he was just cold.

The teams were pretty evenly matched. Wayzata tied the score at 1 to 1 in the 2nd period. Sorry for the dark pictures, it was a challenge in there.

Eden Prairie's goalie was hot, hot, hot....

There were a lot of shots on goal that he warded off.

He even blocked one with his face mask, which fell off because the strap broke. A team mate and the referee helped him out and he was good to go.

The play was fast, the shots were hard, the glass boards weren't very high.... a player went to clear the puck with a hard shot towards the boards....

...and I looked up to see this puck screaming towards me! ACK!!!

I ducked, it hit the guy behind me in the arm. Sorry for ducking Mr....but that would have been my face. Whew. OK, back to the game. It was 3-1 with time running out. The other team called a time out. The E.P. Eagles caught their breath and formed their plan.

Wayzata pulled their goalie to put another skater on the ice. Their plan didn't work. An empty net goal scored by E.P. and the game was over.

And the celebration began. Next up, Minnetonka....rated # 1 in the state. Winner goes to the State Tournament, loser goes home.

Getting there will be tough. But it will be fun to watch. There might not be gold medals involved, but it's just as important to these kids as those gold medals were to the Olympic athletes. Go Eagles!



Friday, February 26, 2010

Thinking Spring and Skating

By the end of February I can only think about Spring. Is it here yet? Before kids we'd head out to someplace warm. Now, with their school break not coming until April....which is almost summer compared to this...we don't usually travel too far from home. So I have to do what I can to put a little spring in my house. The "Watch 'em Grow" pot is one of the spring things that I am enjoying. And tulips on my kitchen table. Pink and white and springy. Sigh.

Olympic women's figure skating....it's my favorite event to watch in the Winter Olympics. It was on late this time! But it was so worth the wait. Kim Yu-na was fantastic. Perfect. So deserving of the gold medal. Mao Asada from Japan, the silver medal winner was a wonderful skater, but there was something about her program that scared me, she looked angry, the music seemed angry, the red and black costume sort of harsh....and her scowl on the podium seemed to indicate that silver wasn't the color she was after. Then the amazingly brave performance by Canadian Joannie Rochette, winning a bronze days after losing her mom. I don't know how she had the strength to go on. Maybe having something so important to focus on helped her get through some of it. My heart went out to her, I was crying right along with the announcers....an emotional performance to say the least.

I have to admit, when the American Mirai Nagasu skated at the end, I wanted her to really well, but not well enough to bump the Canadian from 3rd place. A medal can't replace her mom, but having something that she can hold on to, in honor of her mom, will help while she is healing.
The Olympics....so much more about the athletes themselves than about the sports that they play. It's hard to see it coming to an end!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Cookies!

There was a special delivery at our house today. My softball team mate Regina stopped by with our Girl Scout cookies. Yum! There aren't very many in a box, they're usually over priced, they have lots of fat...but I don't care, I like them anyway. Regina's daughter Jackie sold the most in her troop. The troops goal was to sell 150 boxes, and if they did they could go horseback riding. Jackie sold over 200 boxes alone! I would have bought more if I knew that it was so they could ride horse! Lots more. Good thing I didn't know.

The Olympics are winding down. I'm not sure that I've liked the coverage. It seems so choppy. I wish I had seen the women's hockey gold medal game. Silver isn't half bad! Here are a few of the remaining symbols....the Skeleton. Head first...scary!

Speed skating. Go Apollo! What a crazy bump and tumble sport.

And the freestyle skiers....um...I like having my feet between me and the ground.

The scary fast downhill skiers. I'd probably close my eyes and then crash.

Curling...now that is something I could maybe handle! Except for the sweeping part....because that would be too much like housework. Everyone knows that housework is hazardous!

I have the women's figure skater left...and if I'm feeling ambitious I'll make one for hockey...because I should have one. But those will be for tomorrow. Tomorrow....hopefully the snow in Cleveland won't delay Eric's flight home.
I'm off to watch skating....go USA!


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Ailing Computer

I had some things that I had thought of to blog about yesterday...and then my poor computer got sick. I was ready to try dumping some soup in the keyboard, but maintained my cool and finally, with some help from Eric, fixed the darned thing. I was attacked by the XP Guardian 2010 virus. Apparently it was widespread over the last couple of days....one source of it was the Startribune. Some detective work, some Malwarebytes virus scans, some over the phone and over the web help from my amazing husband...who happens to be out of town...and I'm up and running again. I am very grateful for having my very own 24/7 computer guy.

I was going to do a post about my boys...not Brian and Billy....these boys. Skylar and Czar. Maybe tomorrow. "What cha' lookin' at guys?"



My Watch 'em grow pot is starting to bloom! Crazy how fast it has been growing and changing. This purple crocus was the first to blossom. It's so fun to watch.


The second one, a day later, was this pretty yellow daffodil. I have my own little pot of spring in my house. I'm a little sad though...I think my camera is getting worse again. Things aren't as crisp as they should be. Sick computer, tired camera, what's a girl to do? Photoshop is my friend to give my tired photos a little boost.

This skittish rabbit was under my feeder yesterday. I took the picture through the window in my back door. I liked how the late afternoon sun was shining on him. Or her. How can you tell with a rabbit? I guess I don't need to know.

This picture is from today. Another crocus. There are three hyacinths too....a white, a pink, and a purple. I haven't been able to get a good picture of them. My camera sees them and says "huh?" But they sure smell good! My house smells like hyacinths and pancakes from supper yesterday. Nothing like stale pancake smell. Hopefully by tomorrow the hyacinths will be fully opened and will take over the smell.

My favorite blog...The Pioneer Woman...is having a photography contest this week. She was looking for dog pictures. I couldn't resist sending in this old one of the boys and the puppies that were at the farm. She didn't pick it, but someone left a nice comment on it about it being cute. I love it...and that's enough for me.

Unless she's giving away a new camera...then I wish I had won!


Monday, February 22, 2010

Just Two Symbols

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging. Sometimes I sort of forget about blogging. Sometimes I don't have much to say. Sometimes all of those things happen. But I'm still here. And since I don't have much to say I'll just share a couple of Olympic Symbols. Cross Country Skiing. Looks like a lot of work to me. Especially when it is warmer than they would like. Most winters the folks in Vancouver would be basking in the unseasonable warmth that they've been seeing this year....instead they are squirming under the heat of the spot lights that are shining on them with the warm weather. Bummer.

All the planning and training and hoping can't change the weather. I don't remember other Olympics where the weather was such a factor....maybe I just wasn't paying attention. This Olympics seems to have more human drama than others as well. The luge accident, the ice skaters mom passing away days before the competition. How do the athletes with their emotions shattered go on? How do they not? Such an example of how lives are changed in an instant.
On a lighter note....the bobsledders. I wish there were some fun underdogs like the Jamaican Bobsledding team in this Olympics.

I think we could all use the distration!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Groceries

A couple of evenings ago, with much heavy sighing and drama and what not, I was informed by my teenaged boys that we were completely and totally...sigh...out of food! Oh the horror. Um...what about that wonderful lasagna that I just fixed you? Didn't we just eat? And the home made...with kneading and yeast involved...bread sticks that we just had. But that was supper and we need snacks! And milk, and bread, and FOOD! Sigh. I had to face it, I had to go to the dreaded grocery store.

Eric and I usually get groceries together, that way I can complain to him about what the other customers are doing. This time, I was on my own. I had to talk to myself. And talk to myself I did. Things like, "ma'am, why would you think that it is ok for you to let you young daughters each shred up a big bundle of parsley in a he loves me, loves me not fashion? Are you going to pay for those bundles? And who gets to clean up that mess? ma'am?" And then there was the woman with the coughing son...and I almost said it out loud to her..."um...if your son is so sick that he throws up a little bit every time that he has that deep barking cough that you can hear from aisles away, so sick that he has to carry paper towels and a baggy for when he throws up, don't you think that maybe, just maybe, you should have KEPT HIM AT HOME??" Man, where is that Purell when you need it? Can a person drink it? I was trying to find the Purell when "Mr. Too Much Cologne Wearer" wandered by. "Thank you sir, that overwhelming cologne smell is bound to kill all the germs the sick boy just spread." See what Eric has to deal with when he shops with me? At least I'm just thinking the stuff, not saying it out loud! Oye. But I made it home with my loot. And the boys were happy.

See...chips, popcorn, milk, torn cheap Cub Foods bag....I love grocery shopping....I love it not. But it's not all bad. See this mysterious turned over bag? What can it be?

It's roses! On sale, left over Valentines' roses! They might not last very long, but they sure are pretty. And they helped me as I wandered around the store trying not to breath or touch or actually say anything.

But the roses weren't the only highlight. I had bagged my stuff, loaded it in the Jeep and was just about to bring my cart through the slushy parking lot to the cart corral when an older man said with the happiest smile, here, I'll take that cart for you. So kind, so nice, how is it that a simple smile and kind gesture can turn a day around? Thank you sir!

It was a great reminder that there really are kind and considerate people around. And it made me smile at the next person that I saw, to try and pass it forward.

The grocery store...it's not just a place, it's an adventure. Here...stop and smell my roses....I protected them from the germs.
Olympic symbol of the day...men's Figure Skating. USA by a hair. So close, so many jumps and spins, fun to watch....

....even if it is a little swooshy.



Wednesday, February 17, 2010

February 17th

Less than a week ago I brought home a "Watch 'Em" grow basket. It looked like this.

Six days later and look what it's done! It's growing faster than my boys...and that is fast!! I think that it likes the warm sunshine that comes in my South facing window. I have fun checking on it every day.

I've been enjoying the Olympics. The men's figure skating was a little swooshy for me, but it's still fun to watch. Last night they had the women's snowboardcross, tonight it's the men in that half pipe thing. I think it's cool that they've added such a daring sport...I wonder what it feels like to be able to fly? The story of Lindsey Jacobellis really touched me for some reason. She was the girl with the big blue eyes and blond curls that had the gold medal all wrapped up in 2006 and then grabbed her snow board, hot dogging it up over the last jump...and crashed only to come in 2nd. Really....how can you fault a teenager for showing her jubilation and showing off a bit in winning a huge race in front of the world? Hind sight can be tough. Then the 4 year wait to redeem herself...only to veer off the course yesterday and get disqualified in the semi-final qualifying race. Oh...the agony of defeat.

She said that it was a bummer that the only two races that the world has seen her in were bad. I missed it, but heard that she hot dogged the last jump of the race where she had been disqualified, doing a "truck-driver grab" and sticking it....just because she wanted to have some fun in a bad situation. With the passion for her sport and a spirit like that, I'd say she'll bounce back just fine. You go Lindsey! Four more years will pass before you know it.


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Throw Back Dew

Have you tried the sorta new "throwback" Mountain Dew yet? It's been in the stores for a little while, from what I've read it's only going to be available until February 22nd. I hope that they keep it around a little longer!


If you haven't heard about it, it's the old formula of Mountain Dew, using real sugar instead of corn syrup. Some things from the good old days of my youth we so much better than the things we have today. Remember this commercial?




Yahoo! Well, ok, maybe not everything was better...but I sure like the pop made with sugar instead of corn syrup....it brings me back to my youth. Back when I could drink sugar pop without worrying about gaining an ounce. Back when a bag of Fritos and a Mountain Dew counted as lunch. Back when...

...oh never mind. I think I'll just stick to my motto that "the older I get, the better I used to be." And that's all I have to say about that.

How about those Olympics? Today they've been showing the biathlon. Cross Country skiing and shooting. I think they should try shooting something while they are ski jumping. Now that would be exciting! I don't think I could shoot after skiing, I would have my head between my knees trying to catch my breath....and that would just be from trying to put my ski boots on.

I'll stick to just creating symbols. I didn't have a biathlon symbol, so I had to draw a new one. Fun to see if I could still do them....close enough. Happy Tuesday!