soccer!

Posted on October 27, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

here are some pics of Rader from this soccer season. We haven’t had a great year but the team is really coming together now. Spring season is gonna rock like Amadeus.

i guess i should blog today

Posted on October 5, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

I don’t really have anything in particular I feel like talking about, but there’s lots going on around here.

We started off the day with my ~~dipshit~~ darling eldest son taking an extra claritin. Yeah, okay, so the directions clearly state do NOT take more than 1 in a 24 hr period. So at 6:15 this morning, I was on the phone with a very nice Indian man giving him all sorts of information, only to have him tell me after 20 minutes that I should take ~~dispshit~~ Ian to the ER or the doctor. Sigh. I’m glad this wasn’t a “time sensitive” issue.

Well, I decided to call the doctor instead. I had a feeling that 1 extra pill wasn’t that big of a deal. And it’s not. Doc said he’ll probably be a little jittery and hyped up (oh, like that’s different from everyday?) and that he’d probably be a little thirsty. I sent him to school with an extra bottle of water and a pat on the back. I decided to let the teachers deal with him. (my apologies to all my teacher friends.)

That’s right folks, I’m totally kicking this Parent of the Year thing in the ass! I rock like Alice Cooper.

Fishdog will be here this afternoon. I’m glad. I’ve missed him this week. Sometimes I am fine with the week as a single parent and sometimes, not so much. This was a not so much week. And it’s not just I could’ve used his help with the Mom Taxi Service (which I totally could’ve used) it’s that I missed him. I hope we sell the house soon so we can stop this back and forth crap. We need our routine. So, everyone send vibes that we’ll sell soon. Like this week.

Rader has a soccer game tonight. I really enjoy watching him play, he’s got the potential to be a great player, if he’d just learn to run! We’ve been watching him closely and he runs on his heels. It’s almost like he’s trying to baby a foot injury. When he was little (around 6 months) his feet were turned all the way in. He had to wear those funky foot brace things with the bar for about 6 months. Anyway, I’ve decided to take him to the doc next week to see if there’s a potential problem, or if he just needs to be retrained to run on his toes. (or just trained to run period. boy is slower than a sleeping snail.)

Okay, there. I’ve blogged. Before I go, I should give one last shout out to Jenna, the sex kitten. Please, go donate to help save a ta-ta.

Last year’s RWA Conference. Jenna, Mel, Louisa.

horseshoes and hand grenades

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

Writing

I almost made my goal yesterday. I actually completed a scene which completed a chapter, but I did not write an entire chapter.

As my daddy always said, “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

So, today’s goal: complete 1 chapter.

Other

It’s storming today in Arkansas, and boy am I glad. We’ve desperately needed the rain as well as the cooling temperatures. It came a quick flood yesterday afternoon. A short burst of angry rain that nearly washed us off the road as we drove toward Rader’s soccer practice. Of course, by the time we arrived at the fields, the rain was over, which was great, because Rader really needed to practice.

He did well during practice but when the coach made him run a lap of the 3 fields, he nearly died. We told him during the last part of summer during his slouching, eating, and video game phase that soccer was gonna kill him if he didn’t get outside and run a little. Well, he figured it out real quick last night.

Ian started Cross Country yesterday, too. His coach said he hit that 1st mile with no problem, but about a quarter into the 2nd mile: problem. It seemed the summer couch potato lifestyle came back and bit him on the arse as well. LMAO. He runs 3 days a week at school. They’ll both be running with me the other days. I’m thinking being out run by your big momma might be incentive to get into shape. We’ll see.

Last night, after the kids went to bed, I settled in with my Kresley Cole book (I’m so gonna stalk her. She’s like awesome and totally in need of a new BFF. ) I was reading about this hot Scottish Vampire while the rain drummed soothingly on the tin roof of the porch when all of a sudden this loud freaking CRASH and BOOM shook the house. I thought a deer had crashed through the back porch. I turned on the light with the full expectation of finding a terrified 30 point buck thrashing around the patio.

Nothing.

Hmmmm.

So, we traipse into the backyard with our flashlight and began to investigate. We saw a very large tree limb on the roof of the patio. As we’re standing there, we hear a very loud CRRRRRRRAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKK and another limb falls, scaring the piss out of us all. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, well except for the patio roof.. It was so loud it woke the kids, but they quickly got over it and went back to sleep.

And I settled back in with my sexxxxy vampire and the steady drumming of rain. With a glass of wine for my nerves.

man, sometimes life is hard…

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

I don’t know how these guys kept their hands off me. Somehow they managed. I’m sure it had everything to do with the fact that Fishdog was standing right there…Right? (work with me people…)

Yes, this is Del and Rob…the two British coaches who stayed with us last week. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. I will volunteer to host as long as Challenger continues to sends quality coaches to the states…

Here’s the whole crew…plus Fishdog… Rob, Chris, Del, Fishdog, Danny, Eddie, Blaine.

The last night they were with us, we went dancing…Well, Fishdog and I danced, the lads spent time with a couple of tennis players. I guess my continuous rejection was just too much for them so they had to lower the standards. Poor lads.
Okay, so we’re having a good time… Chris, Clay (local boy) Blaine, and Mel

After camp Friday, the lads said goodbye to Rader with a loving hug.

They packed up their roomy car…

And drove away.

They were great guys. We hope to cross paths with them again. Soon. Very soon. 🙂

miss me?

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

Yeah yeah, I know. Bad Mel.

Sorry.

I’ve been really busy. REALLY busy.

Mark had his 20 year reunion, so we were in Little Rock for that. We were busy all weekend long and frankly, I could’ve used another couple of days to recover.

The next weekend we drove the boys to camp, also in Arkansas. So we drove to Little Rock, spent the night, then drove to Subiaco to drop the boys off. Rader for 1 week, Ian for 2.

During the week without kids, we started working on the house…because we’ve decided to move and we want to put the house on the market by the middle of July. Where are we moving? you ask. Well, back to Arkansas, of course. It’s not like we’re not really living there already this summer.

Since Rader was only going to be at Camp for one week, we had to go back to pick him up the next weekend. Mark went so I could stay and paint trim and clean.

We had to clean because that next week, we were hosting the British Soccer Camp coaches again. Remember last year?

So, all last week we hosted Rob and Del. They were super great guys. I’ll be posting some pics soon. I faltered in my British Lad blogging this year. I feel like I failed our newest family members. Sorry, guys. There were 6 coaches this year, and one night, they all came over for pizza. (we were supposed to grill out but Mother Nature had other plans, so Papa Johns came through with some online ordering and pizza delivery…) The other guys were Blaine, Danny, Chris, and Eddie. A good lot, but not as rowdy as last year’s group. Probably a good thing since I never quite recovered from last year. LOL

I left early Friday to head back to Little Rock (seeing a pattern here?) I did a little shopping because I am one size smaller and don’t have a lot of clothes. (Yay me. Like how I worked that in?) On Saturday, I picked Ian up from camp and we had lunch with my BFF from high school and her son, then we went to the liquor store to pick up some economy size booze for my other friend here in Oxford (not good prices here in town) then drove the 6 hours home–where we proceeded to have a Die Hard movie marathon to prepare ourselves for hitting the late matinée today for Die Hard 4.

Next weekend I drive back to Little Rock for a baby shower for my college roommate and then fly to DFW for RWA’s National Conference. I will be blogging much more regularly, I promise.

So–if I have any readers left, tell me, what’s new?

my rep and my weekend in tupelo

Posted on April 24, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

Apparently, I’ve gotten myself a reputation. Not only am I so very domestic, but I can also out drink you while wearing my French Maid costume. I’m not even gonna tell ya what I can do with that feather duster…

So this past weekend was spent in Tupelo, MS for soccer District tournament. Now, I know some people aren’t big fans of Tupelo…(see question and answer #5) but I’m here to tell you there are worse places on earth. (Pine Bluff, AR comes to mind…)

There may be a few bad things you can say about Tupelo (as a whole, the city really is void of much character) but they have one thing in their favor–they love their soccer. And it was so nice to attend a well organized event with good parking, a nice concession area, nice restrooms, and plenty of soccer fields and places for fans.

We had an 8:00 a.m. game both mornings. (God, help me, but I had to be up at 5:00 both days…) On Saturday we arrived and the team started to warm up while we parents stood around drinking (slugging) our coffee and taking in our surroundings. We noticed three big Xs dividing the fan areas so we asked what they were for. Apparently, the fans for each team were to pick a side and stay there–to avoid any fights. They’ve had a history of out of control parents at District before and so they had field marshals posted at each field to make sure the rules were adheared to.

Um, fights? Over 9 year old soccer?

We laughed and rolled our eyes. Sheesh. Could you imagine being like that over 9 year old soccer? Some people just need help.

And then, on Sunday at our 8:00 a.m. game, I finally realized exactly why those Xs were there…and I had to stop myself from becoming one of those parents. (and probably becoming one of those jailbird parents…)

There was a Big Man with an accent (I think it was British, but I really couldn’t tell because of all the blood rushing in my ears) who did a lot of yelling at the other team from the sidelines. Enough yelling that I actually wondered if maybe he wasn’t the 2nd coach and just positioned on the fan side to help out. He was obnoxious, but mostly I could ignore him.

I pretty much drowned out his voice and just stuck to my own way of supporting–with generally positive cheers and the occasional, RUN! But nothing out of the ordinary. But when our coach questioned a call and wondered whether it was our ball or not, Mr. Big Man yelled “We’d like for you to keep playing for us, but really, it’s our ball this time.” I said something like “Nice. Very nice. I bet that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”

And I let it go, because I wasn’t gonna be THAT parent.

I wish I hadn’t. I found out later that he’d been yelling things like, “Don’t let that fat kid beat you.” “What a weak kick, how did your team make it to District?” Blah blah.

If I had heard that, I’d have gone for his throat. Probably it was a blessing that I’m so good at ignoring assholes and completely tuned him out. What is wrong with people? I’ll never understand the idiots of this world.

my rep and my weekend in tupelo

Posted on April 24, 2007 by Just Call Me Mel

Um, fights? Over 9 year old soccer?

We laughed and rolled our eyes. Sheesh. Could you imagine being like that over 9 year old soccer? Some people just need help.

And I let it go, because I wasn’t gonna be THAT parent.

I wish I hadn’t. I found out later that he’d been yelling things like, “Don’t let that fat kid beat you.” “What a weak kick, how did your team make it to District?” Blah blah.

i’m (locally) famous!

Posted on December 12, 2006 by Just Call Me Mel

Okay, so I told you guys about the local bru-ha-ha surrounding the sports complex and the county supervisors not ponying up the cash (which is only $150K a year for 20 years). Well, today, I was quoted in the local paper.

Snort.

Parental concerns

Melissa Francis lives in the city limits so her children will continue to participate in OPC activities, but her two boys will have to face losing some of their teammates. Francis, who is a volunteer with the OPC, has also been vocal about the situation, commenting on Ward 6 Alderman Jon Fisher’s blog.

“The whole thing should’ve been a no brainer on the part of the county supervisors. Sadly, now all the kids will suffer. This is a community issue people. Not a city vs. county issue,” Francis wrote.

“It’s truly sad that the aldermen were put into such a tough position, but I support their decision. It just breaks my heart to know that so many kids won’t get to participate in January. This could’ve been avoided and I honestly hope the supervisors will remember who they really work for and make this right before there is a fracture in this community that is too big to repair.”

Like other parents, one of Francis’ biggest concerns is what this is going to do to the programming of activities in OPC and the remaining kids.

And my friend Andrea (with her last name spelled incorrectly) was quoted just below me…

Andrea Jekobsons said the decision is holding the kids “hostage.”

“It is not fair because my kids go to the city schools and my 6-year-old son will be in classes with the kids who are able to play,” Jekobsons said. “How do you tell a 6-year-old they can’t play soccer with his friends any more?”

Okay, so there’ s a citizens’ meeting tomorrow about this whole thing, and you couldn’t keep me away. Andrea suggested that I print my quote into a big bubble on a stick and carry it with me as I go. I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I have no problems expressing my opinions verbally.

I just have to sensor my language so people will actually LISTEN to what I say. Anyone who is attending, when I’m taking a deep breath, just insert the words “You Assholes” or “you bass-akwards rejects” and you’ll be in my head.

this is why i love soccer…

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Just Call Me Mel

Italian footballers: Manuele Blasi, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro.

I’m not sure what Dolce and Gabana is selling here (underwear, I hope) but let me tell ya, I’m thinking about buying whatever it is. Holy moly. No other sport builds ’em like this. Why soccer isn’t the most popular sport in America, I’ll never know.

I mean DAYUM! Talk about having fun on the field. I could watch these guys all day. Especially if they played as is…
Admit it, you’re a soccer fan now. Aren’t you?