Random Exchange

In a rather inane mood today (not to be confused with insane, although I'm that too).

Kira, getting ready for school, standing in front of my desk chatting with me while she puts her hair up in a ponytail: "This pony holder is making me mad."

mk: "These pretzels are making me thirsty."

Kira: "That's because you're eating salt."

mk: "Kira. You are looking right at me. I have no pretzels. That was a quote."

Kira: "This never happened."

~mk

Hermit

Today was rather a bad day for me in terms of anxiety. I had a low-grade panic buzzing in me all day, despite many efforts to bring it under control. I was chatting with Michael (I know, I haven't mentioned Michael...he lives out of state, I met him online, we are very very close) and mentioned that among other things, I had not been out of my house since the previous morning. This, despite the abnormally warm weather we are having (85 degrees, in Maine, in March). He told me to stop, go out on either the porch or the deck, take a few deep breaths, and come back.

So I'm out on the porch swing for like, two minutes, and go back inside.

Later, at Kira's basketball practice, my friend Michelle said that she saw me when she drove by. Seriously, I'm outside for literally two minutes and was spotted. This does not work well in dispelling my paranoia about people looking at me. :P

What got to me a little was that her immediate reaction was "Oh my god, she's OUTSIDE."

You know that phrase, "I need to get out more"? Yeah. That. mk

Drive, Drive, Drive

Last week between two trips for Kira's tournament, various practices (for both kids) and appointments, and Kira's District 3 Honors Music Festival, I put over 500 miles on my car in 7 days.

Stay at home mom? Ya, RIGHT. mk

Travel Team

Basketball, basketball, basketball. It's our family's primary sport. They started practice in November. Mark's JV & Varsity seasons ended in February. He does have a single tournament this weekend, for boys from his school but not an official school team event. Kira's busline season ended in mid-January, her Y season ended the end of January, but then her travel team started up and goes until April 1st. So, we've been revolving the family schedule around basketball for about 5 months.

This is the most extensive travel team that Kira has been on yet. They'll have participated in six tournaments and two scrimmages by the end of season. (Well, two of the 'tournaments' were more round-robin type things, but it was a chance for them to play against several other travel teams.) The "real" tournament that they have participated in was a smashing success, with her team sweeping the entire thing and winning the Championship with a tourney record of 7-0. (Kira's coach awarded her the "Tourney ball" for her "contribution in many different areas.") She's kicking some ass, and so are several of her teammates. It's really great to watch, especially knowing that many of these girls are going to play high school ball together.

It's been super fun for me to see how these girls have developed since first starting out in Y ball in 2nd grade. I also love that Kira is making friends with so many different girls from other towns, which will really help her adjustment to high school. And, I just flat-out love watching my kids play basketball.

I so wish that I had known about travel teams when Mark was coming up through grade and middle school. It's such a great opportunity, and he especially would have loved it, with basketball being such a passion for him. *sigh*

Still, it's an opportunity I have been able to give to Kira, and she's having a great time. Which, of course, is the most important part of it all. mk

Happy Pi Day!

I love that my friends make a point of wishing me a Happy Pi Day. I love that I am geeky enough to think Pi Day is awesome.

And I LOVE that Mark's school chose today to be Pirate Day for Spirit Week. (╥rate day!) Seriously, math and pirates on the same day? How fabulous can you get? mk

Off to pillage the school for treasure!

It is Facebook's Fault That I Forget I Have a Blog

I am totally going to blame Facebook for my failure to blog. Yes. It is just too easy to put up a quick little snippet or 47 every day, whenever I choose, and the fairly instant feedback is very satisfying.

However, I do miss the ability to drone on and on endlessly about whatever. With Facebook I do feel the need, most of the time, to be fairly positive and occasionally witty. I have to worry a bit more about who's in my audience (my kids, for example, and several of their friends).

I could go on about the pros and cons of Facebook vs blog, but many many other people have already done that, and probably in a far more interesting way than I have, so let's drop it and move on, shall we?

Once again I vow to post more to my blog. It's like a New Year's Resolution. Only, in March. mk