Sprouting

Joelle has been growing. She is number five. Not sure if you can tell in this, but her tummy is gone. She is about an inch shorter than me and wears size 9 in vans now. I am not sure what she weighs, but she is getting taller everyday.

Her team had a game today- it was one of those must win games. Her team lost, but Joelle played the best game I have ever seen her play. She started- which is always a bit of a boost for her. The ball went loose and she did a two step smack and it went up in a beautiful arch straight to the goal- the goalie jumped up and batted it away. One of our forwards was right there, but couldn't capitalize on it. It was the first shot on goal of the game. She also had two more beautiful strikes in the second half from again about the 30- they went farpost- but about a foot too wide. They were playing in a stadium so we were on bleachers behind the team and when the coach subbed her out everyone was cheering for her- some of the parents even stood and clapped. Two minutes later the opposing team scored. The girl that went in for Joelle didn't mark her player and got beat. Joelle went back in the game. Then the other team got a breakaway and put in another goal- 2-0 at the half. Th second half she was incredible- tearing it up getting her head on it, her body in the game and all over the place- quick as all get out. Again the ball is played- we get a corner. the ball is bouncing around and pops out- Joelle slams it back and it goes farpost- again everyone starts cheering from our angle it looked like a sure goal- only to roll slightly wide. Joelle keeps playing well and then they sub again. This time the parents around us are actually mad- they all cheer for Jo- but one of the dad's actually says what the hell are they thinking Joelle is the only one on fire this game. So Jo gets a drink and proceeds to pace around the bench- not sitting with the other girls under a blanket, She plops down next to the coach. About five minutes later she goes back in and everyone cheers for her- again she plays great and again a near miss- she was so close. She makes a great pass to our forward who pops it in and now it is 2-1. The time runs out about five minutes later and the game ends- we lost. The parents all seemed happy as the team played hard- Everyone tells Joelle how great she played and what a game she had- the coaches tell her it was the best game she ever played and tell Mitch how hard it was to even sub her out at all. Her team mates are telling her how she played great. Hard to be disappointed about a loss when you play so well. She did everything she was supposed to do and couldn't have done better- if only one of those three shots would have gone in. They weren't shots she could have passed- it was under pressure and a quick one touch smack. It looks like her team is out of the tournament-unless by some miracle they take second in their bracket. So that as our Saturday road trip to Tacoma. She plays indoor tomorrow.
Nothing much eles going on. Our auction is next weekend and I have an open house Tues night- So pissed I miss the State of the union. I am thrilled with our new president- ok that is a huge understatement- the inauguration was incredible to watch and so far it looks like he is coming through with things- I just feel so optimistic. Oh and it is snowing here! The photo was taken at last weekend's game and now it is snowing- weird strange weather.

sitting

So today was pretty much relaxed. Joelle had a friend sleep over- not the best idea. Joelle had an indoor game at 7. It was quite possibly the worst game I have seen in a long time. For starters they lost quite badly. Joelle didn't play bad, but it wasn't her best game. She had some decent shots, but didn't put one in. Her indoor team is just a rag tag group and she showed up in her team warmup- cause it was cold at 7 am. It was like the other team saw her warming up and decided to mark her pretty hard. She got pushed around a lot- slammed into the wall and shoved a good bit. She got a little mad- which showed in the way she played- the level of physical contact she made increased as she got mad. I can't blame her I do the same thing. Jo and Megan got to witness it once.

Later we saw the movie Yes Man. Classic Jim Carrey- if you like him you love it.

I spent about an hour fixing my blog- yeah you can tell I put the effort in the writing right? LOL--- I just know that jackie sometimes listens while she cleans and I do too so I had to change the Christmas music. Enjoy- I did it for me, but with you guys in mind.

Well since my one fan commented that I needed to blog I guess it is time to blog.

Things have been going alright here. Just busy. I have had quite a few headaches, but attribute it to my new found desire to cut my caffeine intake. I have been focused on getting my house in order. We are doing alright, but as you all know I am more of a spender than a saver and I am trying to cut back on spending and get some money socked away. I found out yesterday that I am not going to get my usual pay raise. We make about 15% less than public school teachers do. There is a state scale that determines how much teachers are paid. It is based on years of teaching experience and education. It is kinda weird as I am moving up the scale with another year of experience, but my pay stays the same. So then when I do get my raise it will be a two year bump. This is kinda short sighted as the school will end up with a pretty big budget increase. It was not a school decision, but came from the archdiocese. I am lucky though it is not a pay cut and that Mitch's job is pretty secure. I talked to Jackie today on the phone and me whining about not getting a raise seems pretty darn lame when I hear about what is happening in Michigan and with Steve's job.

Joelle's team is playing in the state tournament. They are doing pretty well and should make it out of prelims. She has been playing well but not getting the playing time I would like to see. I just don't think they see her. We'll see what happens with tryouts. She is going to play indoor again and will play rec outdoor in the spring- just for fun.

I went to the gym quite a bit this week- three times. While I was there I cut my hand. It is not deep, but seriously I think the worst place to cut yourself would have to be in a locker room. I reached up and put my hand on the top of the shower door and it slipped and I have about an inch long cut in the palm of my hand- it is healing well but a bit awkward. Ok so now I am off to bed. I hope everyone is well