Chessnuts -- and chess moms

When Chip was 3, we were watching the movie A Bug's Life. There was a short before the movie, called Geri's Game about a guy that plays chess with himself.

Chip insisted he wanted to learn that, so I taught him to play checkers. He didn't mean checkers. He meant chess. So Spouse taught him to play chess, and he took to it like only a person ruled by the left side of their brain can.

Meanwhile, the wonderful preschool program he was in shut down, so we spent time hanging out with a homeschooling group that had a chess club.

Also, meanwhile Chip was one of the last of his peers to get fully potty trained. This was not unheard of for active, hyperfocused boys. I realized how peculiar this was the day that I showed up at chess club, with a diaper bad. It was just odd.

Anyway time went on and when Chip was in Kindergarten we started the chess tournament circuit. In our chess activities we have had some great travels and met some really wonderful people. I'm glad for almost every minute of it (except some of the uncomfortable benches at some of the tournaments). I've commented I've been really glad that my child chose an activity that does *NOT* involve me sitting on a blanket in the cold and rain. Indoor activity has advantages.

Since Kindergarten we have been suggesting that there might be interest in a chess club at Chip's school. I mentioned this in this posting from November.We've heard some interesting reasons for not having one over the years.

In parallel to this, in our town, USA, chess has been becoming more prevalent, and a few of the other grade school have chess teams. At one school in particular there is a very active chess program, and they have held quite a few tournaments this year.

Chip is not one to let sleeping dogs lay (unlike his Uncle Crem - private joke) so this year he started bugging some of his friends to join him in the tournament circuit. Earlier this year he and some of his friends went to a local tournament and came home with some hardware -- a first place trophy.

Which technically belongs to the school -- since it's a "team trophy"

We went one morning and presented this to the school, and I like to think this might have had a bit of an effect as ...

In the recent school newlestter there was an announcement that the school is

FINALLY

starting a chess club.

It will be starting after spring break, and will be an (ugh) before school activity.

And just a reminder to all you moms out there.

THE QUEEN RULES!!! Makes sense on the chess board, makes sense in my life.

There goes my tbird

A few years ago my sister had a birthday and reached a new "decade." In honour of this auspicious occasion, she got a new car. Not this car exactly -- but this year and model.



Her tbird is the color "Merlot" (so she calls it "Marilyn Merlot" - I did mention that insanity runs in my family).

Anyway, this year I get to hit a new "decade" (not until October) and I spun this well when I told Spouse what I wanted for my birthday. First I reminded him that Marilyn was a birthday present. With that in mind, my present isn't really all that expen$ive now, is it?? Anyway I don't actually get to cash in my present until December when we go to the Shubert LaSalle Bank Theater to see ...



Okay -- so I don't get the tbird -- I only get tickets to a show but ain't nothing I can do about it because, as we all know (cue music) "Big Girls Don't Cry" But this big girl is going to be singing and dancing and having a grand time the whole night.

If at first you don't succeed

If at first you don't succeed, try try again.

Some believe in reincarnation. I'm not sure about "what comes next" after death but have, in my (many many) years on the planet given in some deep, and some not so deep, thought.

One thing I've often said is that when I come back I want to be a house cat. Think about the life of a cat, eat, sleep, nap, repeat. Not a bad gig if I do say so myself. That would have been my choice until yesterday.

Crem set up a web cam so he could watch his dog while at work (or for some reason - who really knows why). Anyway I was watching SASTV (SAS -- short for "short attention span") and here's what I saw this morning.

Dog sleeping on one side of the couch.

Dog moves to other side of couch, sleeps some more.

Dog moves back to other side of couch and cleans paws.

Dog sleeps some more.

And, unlike a cat I wouldn't be expected to eat the occasional mouse that runs by, and unlike a family dog there'd be no kids to pull my tail.

I either need a life like that, or maybe the sloth that the Jena University researchers were studying.

I think I'm needing some time for some rest and relaxation meditative contemplation.

Hair today -- gone tomorrow ....

Back in the old, cold days of January, I wrote in things you might not know that I wanted to grow my hair out to donate for Locks of Love.

Well, I guess my hair must be reading my blog because it finally cooperated.

So now I have a new, short do (however, I do not yet have a picture of myself in the new short do).

I've had interesting reactions.

Chip and Princess both said I look like my sister.

Spouse (and a few other people) said I look younger.

Actually -- if you take those two statements together it's interesting because basically I could be looking "younger," just like my "older" sister.

LOTS of folks said I did and great and wonderful thing. (Let's see, getting too lazy to go get a haircut for a few years -- SUCH a generous spirit I am).

Crem, my best and dearest friend on the planet, said -- well pretty much nothing. He's SUCH a guy. (His talkative, complimentary nature might go a long way toward explaining why he's a such SINGLE guy -- bises Crem -- you know I love you).

When it comes to personal care, I believe in taking care of the basics (you know, brush teeth, shower, put on moisturizer) but I don't go much more than that. And when it comes to my hair I'm pretty much the same way. My hairdresser knows this and has always styled my hair accordingly (wash, brush, GOOOOOOOOOO).

Of course, at this time of year, and in this weather, I pretty much have to use a blow dryer in the morning (I tend to do that if the thermometer is below 0 -- Fahrenheit that it). But this is great -- out of the shower at 7 -- hair dry at 7:05.

Yeah -- I'm such a generous spirit. (Lazy bum more like it).

Clean it okay .....

Client came in today and told me about something that happened to one of his coworkers (who has two kids).

Drive careful .....

If you drive something that has a tall, flat top -- CLEAN IT OFF!!!

I'm just sayin'


Chunk of ice is blamed for death of motorist


February 22, 2007 BARTLETT -- A 51-year-old Bartlett man was killed Tuesday afternoon when he was struck by a chunk of frozen mud and debris that fell off a truck and crashed through the roof of his car, police said.The accident occurred about 12:30 p.m. at Illinois Highway 59 and Pebble Beach Lane in the northwest suburb, Bartlett Police Cmdr. Patrick Ullrich said.The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was northbound on Illinois 59 in his 1999 Pontiac Grand Am when the piece of debris fell off a truck ahead of him and came through the roof of the car, Ullrich said."It was a large frozen chunk of mud and dirt," Ullrich said. "We think it came off of some type of large dump truck."The victim was alone in his car, Ullrich said. After the debris struck him, the Pontiac continued north for about two blocks and crashed into a landscaped area on the side of the road near Baytree Drive.The man was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:05 p.m., according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.Ullrich said the truck did not stop at the scene, but police do not believe the truck driver was trying to flee.Police were asking anyone who saw the truck or have information on the accident to call Bartlett detectives at 630-837-0846.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

HEY HEY HEY - IT'S FAT (Tuesday)

A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away) I used to LOVE Fat Tuesday. This was before I got into the tax business. I LOVE holidays that involve nothing more than celebration and over consumption. I mean really, where's the downside? Lately I haven't had a chance to do the cooking I love to do for the holiday. But I'm wondering if I've missed out on a few things.

For instance, the day before Fat Tuesday (Chubby Monday?) I was at a local grocery store where there was a sign reminding us to get our "Fat Tuesday Brownies." Now, personally I don't recall brownies ever being a traditional "Fat Tuesday" food. Personally I'd like some red beans & rice and some BBQ shrimp (I think I need to make that soon - I promise if I posted the recipe your arteries would clog while reading the recipe - my kinda food) maybe a bit of bread pudding ... a hurricane (or two or three) .

And last week at church there was a sign up for a Fat Tuesday dinner party featuring .....

Lasagna??????????

A Fat Tuesday food??????

I thought about it for a minute or two. I mean on the one hand lasagna is not what I consider a Fat Tuesday food.

On the OTHER hand -- someone else is cooking!!!!! WHOOPIE

So I signed up my family and we went. I was pretty surprised at the number of cars in the parking area and on the streets until I remembered we ARE Methodists and there WAS food in a church basement so we were out en masse. (That's "en masse" not "in Mass," we're not Catholic after all).

Anyway - at each place there was a card where you could write something that you would "give up" for Lent or some good deed you could do.

Princess had the brilliant idea that we could give money to the poor. Not a bad idea but since she doesn't even earn an allowance I wanted some effort on her part, so she needs to start turning off the TV and lights so we can save money (to give to the poor). And if over the next 40 days the habit of actually turning off lights and TV and such happens to form that will save us quite a pretty penny.

I suggested that Chip could "give up" fighting with his sister. He figured that 40 days would be far too long for that. But he did say that he is going to start taking care of the dog. I reminded him that means he does it the first time we ask. (I did overhear another family suggesting that siblings give up fighting -- amazingly it's not a popular option.

I won't say what Spouse wrote down. But if he succeeds I will believe that divine intervention was involved, as I can't believe he can do it on his own.

I won't say what I wrote down either but I will say that I came up with a great secondary idea. I'm going to spend more time hugging good looking men. AH how I suffer. And amazingly I didn't find a single guy at church to argue with me.

Was it yesterday -- or was it a lifetime???

Five years ago today, the world shifted drastically off the axis, and completely changed the landscape of the earth. Or at least that's the way things seemed on Planet Minivan.

I would say that there is about a 99.987% chance that, at some point in time, your mother told you "I HOPE YOU HAVE CHILDREN JUST LIKE YOU." Pretty much all mothers make that statement, or some version of that statement. When I was a child I was somewhat less than perfect (I know it comes as a surprise), and my mother often made statements with that general sentiment.

And then, in 1980, my sister's second daughter was born and somehow there was some weird kind of ricochet effect and my sister gave birth to an imp. (In other words, personality wise, my sister's dd2 was a heck of a lot less like her than she was like me -- I have apologized for this).

A couple of Colleen stories for the day.

When she was about 3, my sister decided to take a shower. How long does that take??? 10 minutes? Well, in that time Colleen (who had NEVER done anything like this before) managed to get a chair, push it over to the cabinet, climb on the chair, climb on the counter top, open the cabinet, reach up to the top shelf, and consume part of a bottle of medicine. This was in the early 80s and before the days of medicine being locked up (and now we can see what that started happening).

A few years later, I was staying with the girls while my sister and BIL were away on a trip. Colleen comes up to me and asks if she can make a phone call. Now Colleen could talk on the phone for quite some time. 99% of the time I'd be like "yeah sure whatever" but I remembered the name. "Isn't that your friend that just moved halfway across the country?? (This was back in the day when people did not have nationwide free calling). Course, I figured out that scam because -- well did I mention that she was a lot like me?

Remember when cell phones were becoming popular and services were offering like 1000 night and weekend minutes for free. I remember doing the math once and figured that you'd have to spend the ENTIRE time of your nights and weekends on the phone to use all the free minutes (which is, of course, why companies are now offering free nights and weekends -- I wasn't the only one doing the math). Someone once asked how it would be possible for anyone to spend that much time on the phone. Must have been someone that never met Colleen. (Did I mention that she was a lot like me?)

Then five years ago she was crossing the street, late at night, and it was dark, and a car did not see her, and a bright light was taken from the world. And it's really not fair when young, healthy people are taken from us.

And we miss her.

A month before she died, Spouse and I filed an application to adopt a child from China. And now Princess is with us. A few days ago I found some empty chocolate wrappers on the ground. I was slightly concerned we have a dog so I called the emergency vet and found that the amount of chocolate would *not* be toxic to an 85 pound dog. Princess insisted that she did *NOT* eat the chocolate.

Next morning Spouse found out what had happened to the chocolate. We had a 15 quart plastic shoebox type container that was about 1/2 filled with styrofoam peanuts. Princess decided that she was going to "make" a concoction of water, packing peanuts, and chocolate. Luckily this was discovered before Princess woke up -- because I have a difficult time talking to children about consequences when I'm laughing my arse off.

Spouse asked "what child would come up with this."

Ah yes, mother knows best and, sooner or later that curse had to come back to bite me on my butt.

(And I just *KNOW* that Colleen wants to make sure that we never forget the likes of her -- so I think somehow she gives Princess these ideas -- just to drive me crazy). (Did I mention she was a lot like me??)

Therapy

I *HATE* February. I've never really been a big fan of February. I remember a very old Garfield strip where Garfield mentions that February sucks because you PAY for a full month of whatever (rent, car lease) but you actually only get 28 days for your value.

I've lived in Illinois all my life, and February is usually that month that's in the middle of winter. Just cold and blah. You're kind of done with the entire "snow is fun" and there's more of a regional attitude of "cold is DONE."

I married my first husband in February (and we can see where that went).

Last year in February my friend's beautiful vibrant healthy daughter died at 29.

5 years ago (tomorrow) in February my beautiful, vibrant, healthy niece died at 21.

Me / February. It's just not a good match.

So I decided I needed some therapy.

Freud's couch

Freud isn't around. If he were he'd be a bit old and out of touch. And he'd probably be really expen$ive.

I decided on a form of therapy that was less expensive and while possibly not as effective it certainly gave me a break from the day to day. Allowed me to talk things out, and warmed up my insides. I needed some soul food.

Not like THIS

But like THIS

So I went to the chocolate lounge, sat on the comfy couch and had a therapy session. (Nice thing about friends, you don't have to pay them to listen to you).

I might not have healed my inner child, found my id (or ego or superego or whatever), or even really improved my outlook on life.

But it helped.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! (Happy New Year)

Today marks the start of the Lunar New Year.



For those that don't know, Spouse's parents are both from China, as is Princess. Yesterday myself, Chip, and Princess went to a Chinese New Year event. The Lion Dance is (of course) the highlight of the event, but playing games (and winning prizes) and doing crafts are also big hits.

According to Chinese Astrology, 2007 is the Year of the Pig, so yesterday's event featured a lot of pig themed stuff. Pig crafts, pig cards, and pig sweatshirts and t-shirts for sale.



But the thing that was really entertaining what that I was able to walk around telling all sorts of people that my mother-in-law is a PIG!!! And it was completely acceptable and not taken as an insult.

(HINT -- don't try this at home -- especially if your mother-in-law is not Chinese).