Chess Mom -- the queen rules

Every now and then, you get a chance to prove your point. Hopefully for the boys' sakes I won't blow it.

Chip enjoys playing chess. He's in 4th grade now, but has been playing since Kindergarten. It's something that he has had a varying interest in. Sometimes he's a chess nut, sometimes he can go months without playing. But, tournament season is upon us.

We (and others) have, with no success, approached the principal of his school to try to encourage the start of a chess club. The last time I mentioned it I was told that there wouldn't be interest, and that there were too many after school activities and there wasn't any room (blah blah blah). (BUT -- they can manage to have 10, yes 10 different girl scout troops meet in the school).

Anyway, today Chip, and three other boys from his school went to a local chess tournament.

It was the *FIRST* tournament for three of the boys.

They came home with the *FIRST* place trophy.

So tonight I sent a letter to MissChief and told her what happened, and that since the trophy belongs to the school that the boys would love to present it to her.

As I told the Tournament Director, I just can't wait to shove shoW it to her face.

Dear George

Well, I haven't said much political :} -- and I'm strapped for ideas, I have a big, early day tomorrow, so I might as well go with something quick and on my mind.

Dear George,

Earlier this week you called for "patience" in Iraq.

That's easy for me to say. My oldest child is 10, I'm pretty sure we won't be there that long. None of my close family or friends is in the military. I'm in the middle of the country in my comfortable suburb driving my minivan. Like I said -- patience is easy for me to say.

Please don't ask *ME* for patience.

Ask for patience from the moms (and dads) of the men and women that are over there. The people that go to sleep every night hoping and praying and wondering if their children will be alive tomorrow.

Don't ask for patience from the people who have already lost children - they've already given enough. That's (at last count) 2,863 members of the military. Sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers.

I don't know - I'm lucky never to have lost a child -- but I really don't think it matters whether the child died from "friendly" or "unfriendly" fire -- dead is FOREVER!!!

And don't ask for patience from the people in Iraq. I'm not talking about the extremists, I'm talking about the everyday folks whose homeland is torn apart. It's easy for me. I'm in the middle of the U.S. I've never been in the middle of a war zone. My kids might get picked on while riding the bus home from school. They've never gotten caught in cross fire. Oh yeah -- that's what you guys call "collateral damage."

George, you seem to be very concerned about "life." Embryonic stem cells are highly valuable. But does the respect for life stop at birth?

"Collateral damage"

"Acceptable losses"

*PEOPLE*!!!!!

The Limbo Rock - How LOW can you GO

Sometimes I wondered why I signed up to post every day for a month -- but I'm bound and determined. Though today I'm having trouble figured out what to write about so I'm moan about my life ........

My kids are both good. Relatively happy, relatively healthy, relatively happy with school. My dog is the same (even happy with his school). We have a guinea pig (okay -- so my sister and Crem remind me that guinea pigs are considered a great source of protein in some countries), and I have a cat that's 19 years old and every day I say "hey cat? you still alive?". So my charges are doing good.

Spouse and I -- not so well. We own a business that was a bad plan at the time -- but hindsight is always 20/20. We're trying to sell and I'm a bit stressed about when/if/whether that's going to happen.

Also - Spouse recently lost his job. And while I'm sure that something will come along, I'm a bit stressed about when that will happen and what it will look like.

*I HATE LIMBO*

It's like not my best place to be. So here I sit with so many parts of my life doing "The Limbo Rock"

Our church has 4 services a week, one "casual" (I've never been, it's on Saturday late afternoon and is a very small relaxed service), two "traditional" and one "contemporary." Roughly once month I run the computer for the contemporary so I have to sort of set it up to go with the theme of the service and have to plan things out.

This week's theme

Darkness before the dawn!!!!!!!!!!

Good to know that God has a sense of humor.

Chip off the old block

#1son (henceforth to be known as "Chip") is a regular chip off the old block (making dad a "blockhead" :}). This boy has inherited many traits from both his parents. He's bright, funny, attractive, and charming - just like his mom. He's a procrastinator, frugal, and has a wicked temper (just like his dad).

Okay - he didn't get ALL his good traits from me, and he didn't get all his bad traits from his dad (actually, his temper comes from BOTH sides of the family :} ).

We had Chip's parent teacher conference last week. It was no surprise to find out that he had a practically excellent report card. The only two places that could use work are him getting motivated to work (oh yeah -- he gets his procrastination skills from BOTH of his parents also) and his reading comprehension.

We did have an issue with his teacher though -- we got Chip's report card 3 days LATE!!! Seems his teacher didn't have time to get the report cards ready on time. Something about being at the hospital with his wife who was having a baby that was 10 weeks early. Like that's some kind of an excuse or something. Well, I set him straight -- I told him that I would not let him off the hook for that ... unless he showed us pictures of the precious baby.

She's a beauty. If you're the type - keep her in your prayers. Let's hope she's home for Christmas. What a wonderful present for mom & dad.

Movie tag - I'm it

MLL tagged me with movie questions.

1. Popcorn or candy? Popcorn -- butter. My favorite theater gives free refills.

2. Name a movie you've been meaning to see forever. Seriously, it usually takes me a couple of weeks to watch a Netflix video. I'd have to say there are NONE. What with Neflix, my local library, and Blockbuster and Hollywood video, if I'd REALLY wanted to see something, I'd have had the opportunity.

3. You are given the power to recall one Oscar: Who loses theirs and to whom? There has never been a time that I've seen all the movies in a single category - so I'm not one to judge.

4. Steal one costume from a movie for your wardrobe. Which will it be? Okay this is going to sound weird -- I'd really LOVE to be Molly Weasley for Halloween one year, so I'd love to steal some of Julie Walters clothes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

5. Your favorite film franchise is... To quote MLL Harry Potter, without a doubt

6. Invite five movie people over for dinner. Who are they? Why'd you invite them? What do you feed them? J. K. Rowling, so I can ask her about RAB and Crookshanks and Snape and what is happening in Book 7 (hmmm though I wouldn't want to keep her away from her writing for too long). Michael J. Fox so I could commend him on the wonderful work he is doing for Parkinson's. Steven Speilberg who has done not only great fiction, but also great documentaries. Peter Jackson, because he blew my mind with the Lord of the Rings triology and Robin Williams (because who doesn't need a laugh).

7. What is the appropriate punishment for people who answer cell phones in the movie theater?

When my 5 or 10 year old uses one of their items in an inappropriate manner, they lose use of it. The time they lose use for is in proportion to the level of their misuse (or my frustration). SOOOOOO if a person answers a cell phone in a movie theater, they can lose the use of their cell phone (and ANY cell phone so they can't borrow one from family or friends) for the length of the movie *TIMES* the number of people in the theater. (Let's see, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- run time 157 minutes, Tivoli Theater seats 1,012 so let's say 150 x 1,000 = 150,000 minutes let's also assume 6 hours of sleep a night so that time doesn't count toward the punishment so about 4 months and 3 weeks without a cell phone. )

And then they have to pay for tickets for ALL the people in the theatre to see another movie.

8. Choose a female bodyguard: Ripley from Aliens. Mystique from X-Men. Sarah Connor from Terminator 2. The Bride from Kill Bill. Mace from Strange Days.

I've only seen Aliens from that list, so I guess I'd choose her. But I reserve to change my vote to Tonks after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out.

9. What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie? Seriously, some of the facts and charts and information in An Inconvenient Truth http://www.climatecrisis.net/. I mean Hollywood can throw us dazzling special effects, and documentaries (like Schlinder's List) but *THIS* is my kid's FUTURE we're talking about here. And it is truly scary.

10. Your favorite genre (excluding comedy and drama) is? I'm excluding comedy under duress (I need to laugh). Probably fantasy.

11. You are given the power to greenlight movies at a major studio for one year. How do you wield this power? Anything that doesN'T follow the typical Hollywood formula.

12. Bonnie or Clyde? Bonnie - she never shot anyone.

13: Who are you tagging to answer this survey: Life:found (now how do I tell him?)

boring day

What a boring day ...

Got up early, took a train into the city. Spent the train ride reading Crem's paper over his (quite comfy) shoulder. Got off the train and took a ride on a rickety old CTA bus. Wandered around a very large complex of buildings on the UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) campus and spent almost too much time sitting in a very uncomfortable chair. After spending time sitting in a uncomfortable chair, I went, got 1/2 undressed, and sat in a small room.

Then, I rode an L train, had lunch in a Greek deli (with Crem) wandered about the city a bit more, and then rode another train out.

All in all it was quite expensive - $8.50 for the round trip train ticket, $4.00 for bus/L, about $10 for lunch, and $3 for coffee and $25 for the copay.

But -- as the MasterCard commercial would say -- peace of mind PRICELESS!!! I've been carrying around this stress since Sept. when I talked to my Midwife - it's nice for it to be lifted. My shoulders feel about 1/2 as tense.

(And it's nice to know that one part of my body is normal :} )

(Though I think the next time I get a hankering to have a lunch date with Crem -- I'm going to plan for it to involve a LOT less travel, no copays, and no uncomfortable chairs.)

sleep

Some nights my spouse snores - and sometimes that doesn't bother me too much. Some nights #1son decides to crawl in with mom or mom and dad and some nights that doesn't bother me too much (it's nice to snuggle). Some nights princess decides she needs to be near mom and she crawls in and kicks me 1/2 the night. Hopefully she'll grow out of it someday.

And some nights - I just kick them ALL OUT -- lock and barricade the door.