Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Dog Days

Dog Days- (from the Latin diēs caniculārēs ) refer to the hottest, most sultry days of summer.  It is sort of appropriate at our house right now.  It is definitely hot and sultry outside, but inside we are still dealing with dog days.  Yep, since Belle and Moose are both gone, I have resigned myself to dealing with the dogs.  Interestingly they are keeping me fairly busy right now.



First of all you have to know our dogs.  Fenway is the sweetest, most loving Fox Red Lab.  Technically she is a yellow lab, but her actual color is much closer to a golden retriever.  She has both yellow and chocolate labs in her family tree.  She follows me everywhere, in fact sometimes I just walk from room to room in circles while she follows me.  Sadly Peter Pan and I get great entertainment out of that- this is what our lives have come to.  She also thinks she is little (probably because she grew up with a dachshund sister) and will try to sit in my lap if I sit down.  She is a good, good dog although we have not really trained her so much so she has a few bad habits (like jumping up on people and she won't stay!).



Bella (or Satan) is a whole different element.  She is a half wire haired, half smooth haired miniature dachshund.  Peter Pan and Moose say she is ugly cute, and she is a little different looking.  Belle and I sort of got conned when we bought her I think.  In any case we love her.  Unlike labs, dachsies are much more dominating.  I call it "Napoleon Syndrome" but Bella can be extremely aggressive with other dogs.  She is also very protective and territorial and like all dachshunds believes that everything she surveys is hers!  She also has an annoyingly high pierced bark, which we hear most of the day.  The worst thing is that her house training is just sort of guideline and if no one responds to her need to go out quickly, she goes wherever she pleases.  Again, I blame us because we haven't really spent enough time or energy training her.



Since Peter Pan and I are both home right now we have been trying to walk them regularly.  This is always and adventure.  You never know what they will do, find, or get into.  I usually take the little one, and Peter Pan takes Fenway.  They each have their own walking issues.  Fenway is just desperate to see, smell, and explore EVERYTHING!  She has to wear a harness to cut down on the pulling and still Peter Pan has had a sore shoulder since we started.  Bella wants to bark at everything and attack any dog, bike or jogger who comes near.  So much for pleasant walks.

Both the dogs have had health issues for the last few months.  They have both had seizures, puncture wounds, and now Fenway has an ear infection.  I hate when something is wrong with them.  They can't tell you what is happening.  They are so helpless.  Most of all, I am a poor judge of when something is really serious or just a nuisance that will pass.  Fortunately my sister is a vet, she doesn't live near us, but I can text or call anytime for advice.  When she visited she took care of some strange wound on Bella and helped me clean Fenway's ears, plus she cut both of their nails.  It was awesome!

So, since I have no kids at home, no sports to obsess over, and no work right now, I am officially a crazy dog lady.  They are so sweet and cute, how could I not be!



Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Are You Ready for Some Football?!

Yes, Yes, Yes!  I am ready for football season!  This summer seems to be dragging on forever waiting for football to actually begin.  I am not talking about practice.  I want to go to a game at VMI.   I am ready to tailgate, see the Corps of Cadets enter the stadium, hear the cannon roar when the team takes the field or scores, watch the rats do pushups after each score, and hear the team sing the VMI Doxology.  There is nothing quite like the pageantry and excitement of a VMI home game!  52 days and counting!









VMI glee club singing the Doxology, Shenandoah, and Fight Song:

And a little music to get pumped up:

Monday, July 11, 2011

Build a Bridge and Get Over It!

I have a tendency to hold on to old hurts and recycle them at random times.  This is not a good thing!  It really does nothing productive, and it hurts everyone around me and mostly me!  It is damaging to relationships because I can't see past my hurt/frustration to deal with what is at hand.  I pull random hurt out add bad times and throw it back into the middle of life (i.e. arguments) and justify current behavior with it.

But it isn't justified.  Bad behavior is bad behavior, and yes I sometimes behave badly (I am an insane sports mom after all!)  So where does this leave me? 

I know what I need to do, build a bridge and get over it!  It is just that so often something will remind me of perceived wrong doing by another and I will get riled up once again.  I am still angry and bewildered by the behavior of a football coach in 2003.  Now really what relevance does this have anymore?  Moose is successful at what he does.  He doesn't care!  Why do I?  Now to be honest I don't think of this very often, but sometimes I will be reminded of what that coach did and I just get furious all over again!  In the end this only hurts me!  I bet money that coach doesn't even remember me, although he does remember Moose, Peter Pan ran into him this Spring and he knew Moose was at VMI! 

Of course that is just 1 example.  I do it with other situations as well.  Upon reflection I tend to hold on the longest when it involves Belle or Moose.  So I guess part of it is just the pain any mother feels when her child hurts!  Still, they are tired of me doing it.  My refusal to let go means that they have to also keep reliving whatever the situation was that hurt them.  Both of them have told me to stop.  I really hate it when my kids are smarter than me!

So my goal is to actually build that bridge, go to the top of it, throw all this crap over the edge, and get over it!!!  Wish me luck, this will be hard.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Anxiety

It has been a relatively peaceful week and I am anticipating another peaceful week to come.  Moose did well on his first test (at least he thinks he did, but since he said the questions on the test were the same as the practice test he took right before I trust him!)  He had a great week at football conditioning and is really enjoying having more of the team back for this summer session.  Belle is doing pretty well and was in a good mood for the week.  She is packing up to go to church camp tomorrow and is very excited about that.  So it will just be Peter Pan and I next week.  Talk about quiet and calm!   Why then do I have this huge sense of anxiety?

I think it is because it will be just Peter Pan and I and we will actually have to find something non kid related to occupy our time!  No one will complain about the food or the TV show.  We won't know what to do with ourselves.

Oh and I will have ZERO control over what my children are actually doing!  I hate that!  So I am praying that I will actually be peaceful and enjoy my week, that God will protect my children (from car crashes, mean people and themselves) and that they come home safely at the end of the week!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I Miss Going to the Rink

So now that Belle has her license she doesn't want me at the rink anymore.  This initially seemed like a golden opportunity, I could actually sleep past 4:00 AM.  We are in our 3rd week of this new life and I don't think I love it so much.  I really miss all my morning ice friends!  I miss watching her practice.  I even miss the free coffee from the ice rink!

It just made me think that often when you think something will be really good it turns out not to be so good after all.  There are so many times in my life when I wish for something to be done, or to change.  Maybe I should appreciate what I have! 

There are a lot of things that I miss if I really think about it.  I miss rec league football and cheerleading.  Sure it took up all of August-November, but we had a blast as an entire family.  I miss gymnastics- both Belle and Moose did it for a while although not together, Moose stopped when he was 4 (I thought it would make him more coordinated, I'm not sure it did.)  It was low key and fun to watch and they really enjoyed it, even if we did catch chicken pox there.  I miss dance and the recitals we attended.  I miss little league baseball. I miss rec league basketball.  I really miss that it was low key and fun!

If you really put it all together I think I miss my kids being little!  They needed Peter Pan and I in such a different way than they do now.  Of course I am proud of their achievments and success and how they are growing into amazing adults.  It just all happened so darn fast.  



Monday, July 4, 2011

I'm Done With Nicknames

Okay, I can't actually keep it all straight in my aging brain.  I keep mixing up real names and nicknames in my blog so I think I should just do away with the nicknames all together. 

What do you think?

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Fourth of July

When I was growing up my Dad wasn't a really big into holidays.  Don't get me wrong, we did something for all the holidays but Dad really only loved a couple.  As a veteran he loved Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, and he loved July 4th.  He was a true patriot in every sense of the word.  July 4th meant a small family cookout, maybe homemade ice cream (if we were really lucky), sparklers and snakes (does anyone else remember those), and watching the Boston Pops and fireworks on TV.  We didn't really go anywhere to watch fireworks.  It didn't matter.  It was a really fun and laid back day. 






My husband grew up in Boston.  He actually went to the Esplanade, or somewhere to watch live fireworks.  So he always wanted to take the kids somewhere and do that on July 4th.  For many years we went down to the Coast Guard base and watched the fireworks show from the pier.  Then we would go back to his office and watch movies in one of the classrooms until the traffic died down.  As the kids got older they ran in the annual 5K every July 4th.  We would watch the parade (which is sort of cool since the Revolutionary War ended here in Yorktown). 

So now I am left with 2 traditions.  Which do I choose this year?  Home!  Hands down.  I loved taking the kids to see the fireworks, but it was always hot, sticky, and a very late evening.  They both have plans to go somewhere away from us tomorrow night.  I am perfectly happy to find fireworks on TV and watch them from the air conditioned comfort of my living room.  This (and the box of Revlon #50 waiting upstairs for me) is how I know I am getting old!  I don't care at all, I will love my little cookout that Peter Pan and I have here at home with all our favorite foods.  No one will say "Ewww, I don't like the rice casserole!" or "Why can't we have hot dogs instead of steak tips".  We can have all the great food to ourselves and even have left overs! 

Will I miss Moose and Belle?  Of course I will, but this is the way it is supposed to be.  I raised them to be independent and self sufficient and confindent.  I understand why my Mom was okay with us going out and doing something else.  There is a peace to having a semi-empty nest.  I am not sure what I will do when they are gone for good, but I will find something to occupy myself.  Life goes on!