Sleep deprivation.

Here's a good question, if you need to get up at 6:40 am, why would you set your alarm for 5:00 am and keep hitting the snooze button? 

My husband does this, and let me tell you there is NOTHING more annoying than that damned alarm at 5:00am.  See here's the thing, I'm a light sleeper and a morning person, not to mention that if I get woken up in the middle of the night my brain thinks it's party time and it sometimes takes HOURS for me to get back to sleep.  SO this morning I had to pee at 4:40am...I just couldn't stand it anymore.  I get up go to the bathroom, and head back to bed.  Now I'm trying to get back to sleep and I was ALMOST there when....the alarm went off.  WTH!!!!  I just want to sleep!  Is that so much to ask?  I think I'm going to set MY alarm on Saturday morning and just keep hitting the snooze button for HOURS!  Another thing, most the time I don't even need a damn alarm, in fact I never set mine unless I have to be up early on a weekend, and I usually end up awake before it goes off anyway.  Grrrrrr! (that's for your Jamie :D ) 

On the edge of murder...I'm thinking if I beat him to death w/ his alarm it could be deemed "temporary insanity"

Why are seatbelts so hard to understand?

I drive a LOT, I drive my kids to school and back, I drive to work and back, and I drive to the barn and back.  I'm on the road more than I'm home it feels like.  So I see a lot of stupid stuff, but the thing that irritates me the most (besides old people w/ a license, but that's another post altogether) is seeing little kids roaming around the back seat w/ no seatbelt on.  REALLY?!  Where were these people in drivers ed class? Did they miss the videos of the child sized dummies flying through the windshield of the car in crash tests?  Do they miss all the advertising that is done about seatbelts, booster seats, car seats, do they?  HOW?   Maybe it's because of all the things I hear from my friend who's a retired fire dept. employee and first responder paramedic.  Maybe it's because I love my children and I want them to be safe no matter what the cost.  Say what you want about seat belts, but my opinion is that they save more lives than they cost so I'm sticking w/ it. I've been in a few accidents myself, and so far my seat belt has never increased the danger I was in.  I've never known anyone who was told they would have been killed if they were wearing a seat belt, I've never known anyone's child who was killed or injured because they were wearing a seat belt.  HOWEVER, I can remember as a child, riding in our van and my Mother was driving, I was of course not seat belted because it wasn't a law back then and no one really thought about it much.  So we were driving along, I was about 5 at the time, and a dog ran out in front of her, and she hit the brakes of course.  I did not fly through the windshield but I did hit the back of her seat, I ended up w/ a black eye and that's all thankfully, but it's something I'll never forget. 
Buckle up your kids! It's the freakin' law!...on the edge of calling the police every time I see it.
btw...these are not all junkie nasty vehicles that I see this in, yesterday it was a Mercedes.

Summer?

I had to laugh today, it's beautiful here in Sunny Michigan...well for today at least.  They've been changing the forecast about this day for ya know...all week.   So I really didn't have any faith that it was ACTUALLY gonna get up to 80 degrees.  I've lived here all my life, I know what to expect or rather...not expect.  I had to laugh because my 7 yr old daughter said, "Mom, I guess it's not spring anymore, must be summer."  I kinda chuckled to myself and told her that no, it's summer for TODAY, and then tomorrow it will go back to the regularly scheduled crappy spring that we must always endure. 

It was AMAZINGLY warm and summer like today though.  I was sure we'd maybe hit 75 degrees and that would be it.  I wore a t-shirt and capris to church and (like a good MI girl) took a hoodie too just in case.  Surprised when I got out of church and I didn't need the hoodie at all.  Got home, took the dog for a walk and the kids rode their bikes, by the time I got back I had to change into shorts and a tank top cause it was so hot.  Opened every window in the house, turned on the ceiling fans and let it rip.  Amazing!  I think I may have even gotten a bit of sun on my shoulders.  I cleaned up the yard, played catch and pitched a few softballs to the kids, picked up all the sticks, dog poo, winter debris, played some ping pong out in the garage.  Very enjoyable...on the edge of wanting to move somewhere warmer.

Sportsmanship...good and evil.

So like I said we(my daughter and I) attended a baton competition over the weekend.  My friend and her daughter, who is good friends w/ my daughter, also went.  The girls are on the same baton and pom teams, and compete against each other in solo events.  They were in the same basic box class together along w/ four other girls.  In the end, Brooke, my daughter took first, her friend then proceeded to cry and throw a fit because she didn't place at all.  Brooke felt so bad that she asked me if she could give her friend her trophy for winning the class.  I told her we needed to go talk about it first.  So off we went to the locker room to talk.   I was extremely proud of her for being so considerate of her friend's feelings, and I told her that.  I also told her that there's a way to be a good sport and lose gracefully and then there's a way to be a bad sport and act like her friend was doing.  I also told her that, if she wanted to give her friend her trophy that I wouldn't stand in her way, but that I think it's not a good idea to reinforce that if she(the friend) whines and cries and throws a fit, that someone will give her something.  Then I left it up to her.  She said, "I don't think I should giver her my trophy".  I told her that I thought that was a good choice.  Poor kid, here she was all excited about winning the tough class, and then she didn't even get to enjoy winning.  She didn't place at all in her next class and she just shrugged it off, no big deal.  Her friend competed in a different class, and took 2nd then proceeded to walk off the floor and throw her medal and whine and cry because she got second.  There were no repercussions for either display of being a bad sport.  Not cool.  I can understand being a little upset, or even a little teary eyed but throwing a fit is something I will not and do not tolerate.  If it were my kid we'd have been having a 'come to Jesus' meeting right then and there.  This was only her friend's second competition doing solo events, she should have been happy to get any place it was a tough class.

  I guess I'm just shocked at the behavior I witnessed, being that we carpooled together, and shared a room at the hotel, this was not the only bad behavior I saw from said child.  Idk what to do, I'm in a quandary here.  I really enjoy my friend (the Mom) but I really have a hard time w/ my daughter being around her daughter, which I really have no choice about since they are in the same class at school, they are on the same baton/pom teams.  I try to help her(my friend) out by picking up her daughter and mine to take them to practice.  The kid is just over the top naughty sometimes, I just can't believe the stuff she gets away w/. We were sitting in a restaurant after the first day of competition and she belches LOUD more than once, I was ashamed to be sitting at the same table.  I'm not saying that I or my kid is perfect, but there are limits and basic manners..wth?  On the edge of telling the Mom what I think of her kid...

Day 2 of competitions - Tri States, ponderings.

Her, "really Mom?" look LOL

My daughter is on a competitive Pom Pom team and she also twirls baton on the same team, the Holt Dazzlers.  We are on a mini vacation in Ohio at one of the competitions, Tri-States.   She is doing well, her baton team took first in their division, her Pom team took second, she took first in her class of 6 for basic box (baton) and got a trophy, she didn't place in her second class...but she was fine w/ that.

Joining the Dazzlers has been a REALLY positive experience for her, she went from being painfully shy(getting lost in the team) to amazingly outgoing(and doing baton solos!), and it's like having a whole team of older sisters that she loves but doesn't have to live w/.   There are quite a few teams that are part of the Dazzlers so the age range is pretty much from 5 to 20, yes, there is drama between the girls at times, but overall it's a great group of girls and parents.  I very much enjoy being part of the group and so does Brooke.

  Staying in a hotel is a new experience for her, I guess I hadn't realized that we've had no cause to stay in a hotel in the 7 and a half years since she was born.  She thinks is "AWESOME!".  We are sharing a room w/ my friend and her daughter who's a friend of Brooke's as well and they are on the same team.  The girls were/are fascinated w/ the room "keys" (ya know the plastic cards) and took turns playing w/ the door for a while. Locking themsevles out, just so they could let themselves back in.  Had fun riding the luggage cart up to the room.  Want to order roomservice, but we told them NO WAY.  Were shocked that we have a mini fridge and a microwave in our room, and thrilled w/ the 'bathtub'(half sized tub w/ shower).  Then they found the mini soaps and shampoo..."MOM! they even gave us soap and shampoo!!" 

Ya forget the little things in life that probably were amazing to you when you were little, it's really nice to be able to see it through their eyes and enjoy it all over again.

So I sit here in the hotel lobby, because I'm of course the first one to be WIDE awake for no good reason, they are all sleeping peacefully.  I wish I had the ability to sleep in...I just don't.  For today, these are my ponderings...on the edge of needing a nap, already.

UPDATE!  She took first in her solo! and got a "good"(this is a really good rating, the only thing higher is Excellent, and hardly anyone gets that)  rating on her other solo.