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.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

We had our parent/teacher conferences this week. No major surprises from either kid (except of course, for the answer to the question "WHO ARE these well behaved children, and what do you do to MY kids once they walk through the door."

Yeah, sometimes either of my kids can be a pain at home, but they are both remarkably well behaved at school. I guess I'd rather have it that way round than the other.

We met with the teacher of Princess (5). Princess is in Kindergarten. She is doing spot on average in most things, she's a little behind in her reading skills. Suddenly I remembered (I really do forget this sometimes :} ) that for the first 2.5 years of her life, she NEVER heard a word of English and she very likely had nobody read to her.

I can't find any pointers to the research, but I know this bears out what the research says.

Now, I don't think this will put her 2.5 years behind -- but it does put her behind her peers.

Another issue -- and this comes as NO surprise -- her teacher mentioned that two of her classmates (male) mentioned that she kissed them on the bus.

SIGH!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago she was talking -- she's 5 so she figured that she can have 5 boyfriends. She said that she had one boyfriend when she was one. I said "well, what about when you're 16?" If you guess that she said "16" you are CORRECT!!!!!

That's *MY* daughter.

And I'm SURE I'm in for a LOT of trouble.

bedtime issues

You'd think that a 40+ year old guy could manage to get a 5 year old into bed. But mom gets home at 11 p.m. and the kid is just getting into bed after dad let her stay up and watch tv.

And she's IMPOSSIBLE to get down when she's THAT tired.

No wonder I want to sell the business -- I can't take another season (especially now that she's in school) of getting home after 11 and putting the kid to bed.

And THIS is all I have time for to get something in by midnight.

Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia

King Tutankhamun has been in town this summer. Some say the Irish know how to throw a funeral, but the Egyptians REALLY knew how to honour the departed. Just as a rough guess, I'm willing to bet the take from any Ancient Egyptian tomb could feed a few third world countries for a year or more. I left Princess home and just took #1son to see the exhibit. A mom/son day out.

It was interesting when we got home, and he wanted to tell his dad the details of the organ removals but I would let him describe taking the brain out through the nose during dinner.

Personally, I'm thinking good old fashioned organ donation is more my style.

Then again, perhaps some of the exhibit inspired bling can be my style. I think I'd look good in the Lapis collar. It's only $1,080. (Though I did suggest my son *NOT* buy me, as jewelry, any of the amber that had imbedded insects)

Insanity IS hereditary

Insanity IS hereditary. I now have proof. Many people have told me that I'm nuts. I've even believed a few of them.

Well, I just found out that my sister is nuts. This coming Sunday she will be doing a race for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Great, wonderful, you go girl. It's November and it's Chicago so you'd think it might get cold but that's NOT an issue with this race. Nope -- it's all indoors.

And straight UP to the top of the Sears tower. If you've ever been in Chicago, and looked UP at the Sears tower from street level, you know it's quite tall, 103 stories, 2,109 steps.

At this time (more on that in another post within the next few days) we're in no position to donate to any charitable organizations, however if you are so inclined [inclined -- get it] .....

http://drcrf.convio.net/site/TR?px=1094721&pg=personal&fr_id=1080

Personally, I think she's nuts. But then she's MY sister.

AND -- this same weekend, if you feel like tossing some funds in another direction, my friend Christina from San Diego http://torreypines.blogspot.com/ is doing the 3 day walk to support breast cancer.

(For some reason - to me it doesn't seem near as crazy to walk 3 DAYS outdoors as it does to walk 103 stories)

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=131547&lis=1&kntae131547=434BA7E4DFC64538883A118E6C797199&supId=5637498

Me, I'll sit in my comfortable suburban home and cheer the ladies on. (Actually, I'll probably also hit up prayer requests in Sunday School - so ladies you'll at least have good thoughts and blister free wishes from me if not actual ca$h).

Dog of the jungle

Back in the late 60s, there was a Saturday morning television show called George of the Jungle. I honestly don't know if I ever watched it, but I do recall in the opening George always crashed into a tree (you think he'd learn - but week after week for three years).

Tonight I was out walking Fuzzybutt. There was another dog across the street, and fuzzy was walking forward while looking at and barking at the other dog.

YEP -- you guessed it -- Fuzzybutt wasn't looking where he was going and walked right into a tree.

Everything I've heard and read says that collies are supposed to be incredibly intelligent dogs. One thing I can say for Fuzzybutt. He hides it well.

By gum I think I've got it

MAJOR stress this week, Spouse is now between jobs. He formerly worked at Lucent Technologies, and they've been going through when the rest of the IT industry has been going through. Actually, moral has been dropping for the past few years, nobody knowing when or where the ax is going to fall next. Spouse seems rather happy - at least he doesn't have to worry about when it's going to hit again.

One thing I've often tried to focus on is the blessings in my life. Sometimes that doesn't work so well, but then I try to realize that I really don't have it so bad. One thing I've learned is that no matter how bad I have it, I don't have to look far to find someone who is in a worse place. At least my kids are healthy (and energetic :} ). So while I'm certainly not happy, I'm at least not totally freaking out.

Okay, I have been expressing some concerns to my friend, Cush. But as I told him - if I start freaking out in front of Spouse or #1son or Princess it would just cause more stress around the family.

and it matters to me because???

I'm a born and raised Chicagoan. I spent the first 21 years of my life living in the city limits, and since then have lived in the state of Illinois, most of that time in the Chicago suburbs.

This year, the Chicago Bears seem to be having a pretty good season. They've only lost one football game. My spouse LOVES sports, any and all sports, and is fairly involved with ANY game that's on a television.

So, today I gave this some consideration. The Bears are having a wonderful season, most people around me actually care about this and consider it a good thing. Maybe, I thought, now is the time to care, to actually attempt to follow the game. It would put me in sync with the rest of my universe, and maybe give me a way to connect with my spouse and family and friends during the football season.

But I just can't bring myself to justify caring. There would be 3 hours a week of watching (I can find other things to do with 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon). And then there's all the pregame and post game shows.

It just seems to me to be far too much effort to put into a bunch of guys running around after a ball that isn't even round.

(Though, I must admit that, at times, it is enjoyable to watch the tight ends :} )

A most unfortunate experience

Today #1son and I had an outing. There was a Lemony Snicket event put on by our local indepent bookstore. It was fabulous and funny. I actually enjoy reading this series of children's books. The first thing on the agenda was supposed to be a concert by Lemony Snicket and the Gothic Archies. Unfortunately, Lemony Snicket was unable to attend the event (not surprising though, as I don't think he has ever been seen).

There were two things that were not unfortunate. We had tickets number 120 and 122, which meant that we were out of there fairly early. The other item was that we were just down the street from a wonderful Irish Pub. #1son loves hamburgers, so I asked if he wanted to go there for lunch.

And, fortunately, it was a LOVELY day for a Guinness.

[of course, my theory is that every day is a lovely day for a Guinness].

What's your excuse?

In the good old US of A, Nov. 7 is an election day. Since this is not a presidential election year, voter turnout is expected to be down. Of course, with the decline in voter turnout over the last 40 years, even during an election year there are not many people at the polling places.

What's your excuse?

You don't know enough about the candidates or the issues. Well, you have Internet access and you can read so go do a google search for your local election information, do a search for the candidates campaign pages, and read what they have to say.

You don't like any of the candidates. Guess what - sometimes there are great politicians out there that stir our souls. But most often, it's the lesser of the two evils. If you can't decide, go to each candidates home page, and vote for the one that tosses FEWER insults at the opponent.

You are too busy. Well of course you are. This is 2006 and everyone is "too busy." In some countries, people have to wait in line for hours to vote. At least at my polling place, I usually only have to wait a few minutes. Of course, that's because nobody else is there.

As a woman, when think about not voting, I think Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others, and all the time and effort they put into the Suffrage movement. What a slap in the face to these women for us to say we are "too busy." Heck, they didn't even have electric washing machines and microwaves.

My kid does me proud

Every now and then, you have one of your kids do you proud. Last night I started a new class with one of my kids. He did what he was supposed to do, followed my instructions (mostly) to the letter, and was a great example to the class when the instructor pulled him aside for a demonstration.

Too bad I can't get the same level of cooperation from my *HUMAN* kids.

Actually, he wasn't perfect, none of the dogs were. But as my dear spouse pointed out "if they were, they wouldn't need to be there." And, at least he didn't pee on the floor and make me need to clean it up.

15 hours a week

A friend of mine mentioned this suggestion from a marriage encounter weekend. In order to have a healthy marriage, you should spend 15 hours a week of alone time with your spouse.

Sounds like a brilliant idea to me. I love my husband, I want to make my marriage a priority, let's just figure how that will work.

Let's see, 15 hours -- should be easy to come by, after all there are 168 hours a week, so that's less than 10 percent. Let's say miracles happen and we get the kids to bed at a decent hour every night -- and still have energy after that. Well, let's say at a stretch we could get in one hour each weeknight. (Of course, that's assuming nobody has to work on a night or we don't have any meetings or classes). That leaves only 10 hours for the weekend. That would be 5 hours each weekend day. Shouldn't be a problem at all.

Of course, that means that we probably won't be able to do any of that extra nonsensical stuff around the house, like dishes or laundry or dusting. But who really needs to do that anyway. Oh and the dog doesn't really need to be walked now, does he? And of course, we really don't need to do anything with the kids like spend time with them.

Oh yeah -- but there is the matter of the children -- they are only 10 and 5 so we really can't leave them alone while we go off .... hmmmm well we'll just hire a sitter. Let's see at say $7 an hour times 10 hours a weekend that's only $70 per week times 4 weeks a month. Maybe that's a stretch on the budget. OH yeah - there's always Grandma -- but depending on the situation some grandparents aren't healthy enough to keep up with kids for too long. My folks are both deceased so they're not really all that great in the babysitting department. Now my husband's folks are around and mostly healthy. Just because they've already raised a couple of kids that's no reason to avoid dropping off the grandkids every weekend I mean do they really need a social life.

Okay - I can see the grandparent thing isn't going to work at 10 hours a weekend. Hmmm maybe we'll find another couple that needs to have their own alone time. So we can watch their kids 10 hours every weekend, and they can watch our kids 10 hours every weekend.

It sort of reminds me of all the political campaign ads. "GREAT IDEA!!! Now tell me how you plan to make it work on THIS planet"

nablopomo

I've been meaning to write more in my blog. This will give me incentive for a month and then we'll see what happens.

http://www.fussy.org/nablopomo.html

Wish me luck.

Cynic

Maybe I shouldn't listen to music when I'm in a depressed mood.

I'm sitting here listening to "true oldies." And today there seem to be a lot of men crooning about the love of their lives.

Right now, the Temptations are singing about "my girl" (what, do they all share one girl???) A moment ago Bobby Vee was telling someone to "Take Good Care of my Baby" (HEY if you treated her right, you'd have gotten to keep her).

I don't know whether it's me or the type of people I've met or I'm attracted to - but I have NEVER met a man that came across even remotely as the type that was overflowing with romanticism.

Come to think of it though -- of all the men I've known (ex and current spouse, guys I've dated, guy friends, brother and brother-in-laws) I'd probably be really freaked if any of them started crooning about love.

I think I'll forget the Temptations and Bobby Vee and Barry Manilow and just listen to BTO -- and get back to Takin' Care of Business