Which Way Is The Right Way?

I am usually pretty light and fluffy on here writing goofy things that I and the family are up to, but for the past week or so, I have been wrestling with a decision. I will just throw this out - not looking for feedback but just to share what is going on in my head. If it seems that the ONLY decision to be made is a wrong one, does that make it the right one? I am not going into details but it is work related. When the only option seems to be the wrong one, how can I choose not to take it? What ever happened to the gold ol' days of the burning bushes?

So moving on... Elliott had another game last night. They really could have beat this team but again, everyone on his team had an off shooting night and they lost 25-39. They were only down by 7 at the half but were outscored 6 to 15 in the third quarter. They played better in the fourth but it was too late by then. They were taking good shots and the right shots, but they just wouldn't drop. That is so frustrating. Worse than getting beat by a better team. But Elliott really hustled and made up for the poor shooting by rebounding and assisting. Larry Bird would have been proud!

It was a year ago today that we and about 30 of our church friends were on a boat headed to the Eastern Caribbean!

And to end on a funny note: Yesterday Jasmine the golden retriever flipped her ball into the pool. It has a cover on it but due to the little ice and snow we have, it has depressed the middle so the cover is sagging in like a saucer. I walked out on it (the ad shows an elephant standing on it so I figured I had a 50-50 chance of it supporting me!) but it was icy and I slipped and slid my way down and fell in the middle! I popped up with the ball in hand but then had a heck of a time getting back up to the edge! So now there is a big disturbed area in the middle of the pool cover to mark my escapade!

On The Rebound

Elliott had a good game this morning. They still lost by 7 points, but he played pretty well shooting 3 for 7 with a season high 7 rebounds. They were in the hole again early by 15 but managed to cut it to 6 in the 4th. Elliott got a few fouls and bumps and knocks too. I told him he should end every game with no energy left and banged up a little - that would mean he played his hardest and got into the mix! Two more games this coming week, then the tournament next weekend.

It was a quiet day here yesterday. Lucie and a friend scrapped for the day and Elliott went to youth group at night. I did some stuff around here and watched TV last night. We ordered sandwiches for supper from this place that makes a sub like Thanksgiving - turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce! Lucie placed the order and I went and picked it up but didn't realize I paid for 5 subs and only got the 4 we ordered. I called them last night and picked up a refund from them today after Elliott's game.

The display on Ashleigh's phone died so we had to activate her older phone. The new one is out of warranty and not eligible for a free replacement until March so she has to make do.

I got the last piece of information I needed to do our taxes this year. So I finished them off and got the state and federal forms filed electronically. That didn't take long. We are still getting a much needed refund so thank God for that.

Today is big cleaning day here. That is why I am blogging! ha ha My theory is it is better to clean a little every day than waste an entire day cleaning. Lucie doesn't agree. So she can spend her whole day cleaning and I will do my usual... I also backed up the computers today. It is cold outside (mid 20º's with a steady wind) but I will go walk the dogs later. They love that and it tuckers them out.

Basketball Spanking

Elliott had a game tonight and his team got spanked. Not Elliott's fault though - his coach dug them a hole they could not get out of. The league rules require all of the players on the team to play at least one quarter. So the coach has decided to put the weaker players in for the first quarter and bench the better players (Elliott plus two others). Then he subs them in for the rest of the game and expects them to pull the team out! Tonight they got behind 0-15 at the end of the first quarter!! The other team was running a half court trap which created all sorts of problems for Elliott's team. Elliott finally had to just start firing up 3 pointers to try and salvage some dignity but they lost 24-55. And the coach then got on their case after the game! Elliott really busted it and played hard and took good shots. Their team just has no tall players and too many weak ones.

From there I went and played my Thursday night games. And I had my own set of problems. I played terribly! Could not hit a layup or outside shot all night. Everyone actually started just laughing at how ridiculous I was. Not so funny for me! I did manage to keep my guy from scoring and worked on just setting picks for the other guys. And I did do one running drive that must have looked great because it sure felt it! But that was just one good move for the night. We only had 9 out so I played all night. My back is still feeling great and the glucosamine has completely cured my knees. I can tell you I saw the worst ankle sprain since I tore my ankle ligaments 20 years ago. This one guy came down from a rebound and turned his ankle. Immediately a ping pong ball sized swelling appeared, and that grew to a tennis ball and then that grew to a grossly misshapen tomato! Horrible. He was in pain but called someone to tell them he was on his way home and off he went. OUCH

On Wednesday we took Elliott sledding at a friend's house. That was pretty fun. I wound up falling asleep on their couch. Elliott got soaked - it started to rain but he kept sledding. Lucie worked on church stuff all day.

Tomorrow is another scrapping day for Lucie. I will do some breakfast I suppose and find something to busy myself with. The sun has been out and the little bit of snow we got is melting. And the birds are really enjoying the feeder!

"Green" Pocket Warmer

First, it took me a few tries to find a presentable image (to the left) for this entry... I was walking the dogs the other day and it was very cold. Sure enough, about halfway around the walk, Britni the beagle has to stop and poop. Being the good neighbor that I am, I have little canister with a roll of poop bags attached to the leash. So I bagged up the pooped, tied it off, and put it in my pocket. Eureka - an all natural hand warmer! ha ha

Last night I started in on our taxes. For better or worse, it didn't take long this year. I use Turbo Tax so it is easy to import the information from the previous year. Then it is just a matter of updating the information. Unfortunately, that didn't take long... I am still waiting for a few more documents but I should be done with that pretty quick.

I battered up some chicken and dropped it in the fryer last night. Came out really good. And the bonus is the carnival smell in the house.

We got a litle snow last night followed by freezing rain. Just enough to cancel school. They had a new system that worked well - like a reverse 911. So at 5:45 this morning, both of the kids schools called the house and informed us that there was no school. It is supposed to warm up and rain all day so it shouldn't be any big deal.

Feeding The Birds

If you look closely, you can see a cardinal sitting on a limb behind the house. This fella and a bunch of friends have arrived since I put the bird feeder up. And they are hungry! They emptied it right out! So today I am going to get some more food for them. We got a little snow overnight and up to four more inches are due tonight so I want to get some food ready for them.

Lucie says it is a sign that the Arizona Cardinals are going to win the Super Bowl on Sunday!

Elliott Won His First Game Of The Season Today!

Well today was the day! Elliott won his first game of the season! They only lost by 3 the other night so I knew they had momentum. And they only lost to this team by 7 earlier in the season so I was optimistic! Today they won 31-29. Elliott only had 4 points but he had some good assists and he shut down their big scorer in the last quarter. The coach almost ran a box and one with Elliott dedicated to the other team's high scorer. The kid sank one 3-pointer once Elliott was on him but that was all! After the game he went with a teammate to a UD basketball game.

Today I put up a bird feeder with a squirrel shield. We had gotten the bird feeder for Christmas and I used a Home Depot gift card to get the shield. It looks like it might work well. Vacuumed our cars today too - Britni the beagle ran out of the house yesterday and the best way to get her back is to pull up alongside of her in the car and let her jump in. Once she was in, I went and picked up Ashleigh from school and took Britni with me. Which left a million white beagle hairs in the car. While I was vacuuming out Lucie's car, I found 3 spoons and a bowl. Why not any money...?

Gooney Bird

OK, so the picture at the right is not an actual Gooney Bird, but that is what I think of when I hear that term. And in basketball, a "gooney bird" is when you fake out your defender so badly, he goes flying by. Well, Elliott "goonied" the guy on him at his game tonight a bunch of times! Just a little head fake and that dude went flying by! Elliott played well although he missed a lot of open shots - shots he normally hits and was hitting in practice. His team came back from being down by 15 to being down by 1, but they lost by 3... They really could have beaten the other team! He outscored the guy on him and had a bunch of rebounds. His next game is Saturday morning.

I played pretty well myself at my basketball game night. A couple of old friends showed up so we had some good laughs and a good time. I hit a few deep jumpers and was happy. Someone poked me in the eye and knocked one of my new tri-focal lenses out but someone actually found it (!) and I popped it back in. It was a good night.

Its been quiet the past few days around here. I was on a mission to find a new pooper scooper. The old one snapped when I was trying too hard to scoop some frozen dog poop but I finally found a new one at Petco. During my searching, I found a reasonably priced remote thermometer for the pool at Wal-Mart. The probe (that drops into the pool water) on the last one stopped working and it cost as much to replace that wire as a whole new sending and receiving unit. It seems to be working well so far.

The other night I noticed one of the front lawn light bulbs was out. So I tried to replace it but the new bulb didn't light up. I pulled out a working bulb to test the new bulb and promptly burned my fingers! Actually, it wasn't promptly - it was so dang cold out I didn't feel how hot that bulb was until it scorched off my fingerprints! ha ha And it turned out it wasn't the bulb at all - the wiring was loose. All good now.

I had to make a return trip to the dreaded cable office to return the modem I leased for a month. Whatever the problem was, they fixed it and we have been solid online since January 6. My old modem is working fine so I returned the cable company rented one. Only had to wait a few minutes this time. Not too bad.

I am happy to see "24" and "Lost" back on TV. We have been getting some good laughs at "American Idol," "The Office," and "Worst Week."

That is about it. I sent my resume to a couple more places this week. One place will not work out (now that I found out more about it) but I am hopeful on the other one.