The Season Opener

Sadly, this is not from last nights inaugural game of Girl's final basketball season at her school. My camera batteries decided it would be great fun to have enough juice left to take a picture, but not enough juice to produce significant light for a flash. Every picture I took came out dark, although, I suppose that's a good thing since Girl moves so fast. In this pic, she's the one in the white and blue in the foreground...yeah, the blue and white blur. I think this was from last season, anyway. Regardless, the craziness of basketball season has begun, and will continue, as such, until February - ish ( I think). I'm hoping that I'll have plenty of posts for you to carry you throughout her season and play-by-plays of as much as I can remember after leaving the gym...and hopefully no more stories of concussions.


Now that she's in 8th grade, she has the last game time - 8:00, which means that if any of the previous games go long, we ultimately are the ones delayed. We also get the responsibility of cleaning up the gym after the games (the 5th graders have pregame clean/set up duty). Assuming, then, that all goes according to schedule and our girls start at 8:00 and win in regulation, then we're usually out of the gym by about 9:30. So much fun on a school night. Somewhere in all of that, she has to find time to study. Hopefully she won't have too many Thursday night games, though...don't want to miss my Supernatural, at least not til the holidays when the reruns start.

As usual, Girl is doing 2 sports simultaneously. Basketball is her current "in-season" sport and softball is in Fall Training right now. It's incredibly busy, but it's great training and conditioning for her. Oooh, how did I do that? Somehow I got off track. Shoot.

Back to last night: Opening night. We played one of the Catholic schools from the Richer-Than-Thou suburb just west of us. There's been a long standing rivalry between the two schools, although, there are long standing rivalries between us and almost every school we play. I'm not sure how the 5th & 6th graders did, but the 7th graders lost, and it was up to the 8th graders to make the big showing for the school. You could feel the tension in the gym so thick that the air was clouded with it. Our girls were pumped, the other team was pumped. We, the spectators, could just sense that we were in for a really intense game.

Girl, of course, started - although she was surprised she started (?). Back and forth, up and down the court, shoot and a miss, shoot and a miss and a rebound which found its way into Girl's hands. Girl took it down for the layup and scored the first points of the game...WOO HOO! Back and forth this went and the first quarter was over before we knew it with a 2point spread between the teams. At the buzzer, we just happened to be in the advantage. By halftime it was another story.

With the start of the second quarter, the other team came out strong, the fouls began, and soon we were down by 7. Watching our girls on that floor, it was easy to see that they were not about to let this pattern continue. They went into the locker room at halftime with bounces and hoots and yells. They were full of fight. When they came back out, it was like they had taken all of the individual energy and fight they had when they entered the locker room, and had channelled it all into one big energy mass the encompassed the team as a whole. They fought hard. They fouled, they got fouled. They made shots, hit the threes, they grabbed the rebounds, they dove for the saves. I gotta tell ya, they were HOT! With 1:54, or something short like that, left in the game, we tied, back and forth some more. On an unfortunate turnover, one of the girls on the other team took the ball on a breakaway. Girl was not covering her, but another girl. No one saw this player bolting to the hoop (who was covering her????). She went up, simple, uncontested layup. She MISSED! The score was still tied. We got it back. Down the court they blazed. Blocked shots, no fouls. We lost it out of bounds. Girl was covering the player who had to inbound the ball and slapped it right back at her. The player, instead of letting it go and retaining posession, caught the ball - she was still standing where she had inbounded, so she was OUT of bounds. OUR BALL with 2seconds left...and so rang the regulation buzzer.

Into OT we went. Did I mention that our game started late? Girl was in, Snood was in, coverage was intense. More back and forth, more fouls (and , of course, by OT both teams were in the bonus). One & ones with the made first shot, the miss and the hopeful put back for a three-point play. Our girls were on those players like chicken on a junebug. Boom! Bam! Up by two, we turned over the ball. The other team went to the hoop, we fouled them. They missed their shots, we boarded and held on to that ball. Final Buzzer - WE WON!!!!!!!! What a great way to start the season!

Post game conference and clean up. I think we got home around 9:45/10:00. Girl was so pumped she could hardly sit still long enough to woof down some much delayed dinner. She LOVES to compete. It's in her blood, coursing through her veins. It will serve her well. Here's to the start of the first league (of 3) of the final basketball season before high school!

Twins...Reprise

Saturday, I believe, I began a post on what it's like being married to a twin. We were getting ready for the giganto party and I didn't have much time to post, not to mention that I felt like CRAP. Still do today, didn't sleep much last night thanks to the middle of the night leaf collecting and scraping by the village (wtf?) and the dog's incredible discomfort (another post, soon to follow). I think I finally fell asleep around 4:45; my alarm goes off at 6:00. Yeah. I'm back at work today, desperately fighting to stay awake, so I figured now was as good a time as any to post.

So, what's it like being married to a twin? It is a very unique experience, I must say. First off, I have a built in brother - which is really cool. Second, I've learned to understand the freaky twin things they do, and have noticed myself starting to display those same traits. I've also learned that when going out in public with the two of them, I'm screwed.

I always wanted a brother. I tried like crazy to convince my mom that she needed to "get me" an older brother. I loved being the oldest, but I wanted an older brother. Well, ET's a few years younger than me, but he's still a fantastic brother. He and PC do the same goofy things that siblings do, only much more extreme. From what I've heard, and this was all "before my time," they also fought like siblings do...only much more extreme. They've had times when they've beaten the snot out of each other. The worst I ever did was lock my sister in a closet so she wouldn't rat on me for having a boy over...well, I suppose THAT secret's out now, isn't it? They are both headstrong, and when they talk, argue, carry on an intense conversation, whatever, they're BOTH right and they're BOTH wrong. It's really quite crazy.

Ok, when people get married, they usually inherit a sibling, right? So sure, I got the brother. Oh no, it's not that simple. Let me explain further about the freaky twin thing. If you've ever known twins, you've probably experienced the finishing of each other's sentences, the difficulty with phone voices, the pranks. Oh yes, I've done that with these two. They finish each other's sentences, yes, but usually when they're in conversation with someone else - me, for example. One will start to tell me about a place they visited and the other will jump in with the rest of the sentence...then the first one has to finish the thought before starting a completely different tangent. They'll both be talking about the same thing at the same time, yet the conversation ends up going in different directions. My head starts to spin, because I don't know to whom I should be paying attention. One of the other freaky twin things that the do is when one of them tells you something and then, not five minutes later, the other will either come into the room and tell you the same thing, or will call and tell you the same thing. Even my kids have commented on this one! They have been known, to, without discussing it, buy similar clothing - and then, go as far as wear the same clothing (without planning it) when we go out. SCARY....

Wait, it gets weirder still....This has really only been since PC's cut his hair, but every once in a while it would happen when it was longer. Even though PC and ET are identical, it's quite easy to tell the difference between the two. PC's got great cheeks and big eyes, and is much taller than ET. ET has slanty eyes, is shorter, and no cheeks - ok, less cheeks I suppose I should say. I've never ever had difficulty telling them apart physically. One morning, though, I woke up and rolled over and almost screamed. As I gazed at the head on the pillow, my eyes looked, tried to process that this person laying there looking exactly like ET was, in fact, my husband, PC. Really, it was. It was just that the way PC had slept that night, his hair was all mussed up and pushed around and he looked JUST like ET. It was a temporary freak out and I recovered quickly, but DAMN was it weird.

Then there are the jokes. I wonder, really, how much I should post...but of course, you won't really know these guys if I don't tell all, now will you? They have been known to pull sibling pranks on each other - dousing the one guy with a glass of ice water thrown over the shower curtain, locking the other one outside buck naked in the middle of winter, telling girls that his brother much prefers boys...you know, simple things. Harmless things. Well, this past Friday the 13th, the kids were with Ex, SmallBoy must have been in bed, and ET was staying over for whatever reason. The three of us were hanging out, drinking beer, and having a Supernatural-a-thon (if you've never seen that show, it on the WB -oops, the CW Thursday nights at 8CST -we never miss it!). I had to break the seal and got up to go to the Little Girls' Room. OF COURSE, I lock the door behind me. I made that mistake ONCE, once. Not really paying much attention to Frick & Frack in the other room, I noticed that it had gotten pretty quiet, but I just figured they had paused the DVD until I came back and were busy drinking their beer or had gone out for a smoke. Innocently, I did what I needed to do and came out of the bathroom to find a horrific, yet absolutely freaking hysterical sight (I'm having a vague memory of posting this already, tell me if this is a repeat): When you exit my bathroom, you are steps away from the living room and can see the sofa. I saw my husband's bare leg draped very sexy like over the arm of the sofa. As I rounded the corner, I realized he was totally naked. Without turning my attention the the other end of the sofa, I knew...I just felt it. Curiosity, though, won over common sense, and I looked. Just as I suspected. Naked as the day he was born - at the other end of my sofa, was ET. I didn't know WHAT to do. I turned around, left the room, and laughed SO hard that I fell over onto the floor, cried for about 15minutes because I was laughing SO hysterically. It took forever to recover from this. Damn was it funny, though.

Some people would have found that totally offensive and repulsive. That's the difference when you're married to twins....you really are "married" to both of them. It's just weird that way. No, we're not talking polygamy or anything like that. My husband is my husband and I love him more than life itself. It's just when you have these two who are SO similar, yet so totally different that it just gets weird. Going out in public...oh that's horrifying. I go along so that I'm not ditched and so that I can spend time with my husband without taking away quality twin time (yet another fine line). It's quite an experience. If we go to a bar and sit anywhere other than a round table, I'm out of the conversation OR I'm slammed in between the two of them and am on the receiving end of the jokes, crap, and two conversations going on at the same time - one in each ear. If I let them sit together and sit next to PC, well, then, I was never in the conversation to begin with.

Some of this just sounds awful and you may be thinking to yourself, "Why, MG? Why? Doesn't this make you crazy?" I would honestly have to say, no. It doesn't. These two are two of the best guys I know. I don't know that I would say it's easy, but it's definitely a rewarding experience and one that, no matter how many words I write here, you MUST experience yourself to truly understand what I'm saying. Ok, well, back to work. If I get a chance, I'll post again later, but Girl's basketball season starts tonight! Home Opener! Maybe I'll have some pics for you tomorrow (if she ever slows down long enough for me to snap a picture!).

Stay-at -Home-Mom For a Day

It's been a LONG time since I've been a stay-at-home mom. I much preferred it to the working world. Some people prefer it the other way around. Me, no. I was born to be a stay-at-home mom. Since I divorced Ex, though, the only way I have the opportunity to stay home during the week is if my office is closed on a holiday (though not 7/4) or if one of the kids is sick - not if I'm sick, you know the mom rule of sick hours, we use them all for our kids but when we're sick, we go to work and get everyone else sick cuz we've used up all of our hours for our kids.

Long story short, I left work in the early afternoon because SmallBoy was sick. PC didn't work til later in the afternoon, so he picked him up at school when the call came in,

"Mrs. MommyGuilt, we have your SmallBoy here in the office and he's wheezing, coughing, and has some major congestion."

I wanted to drop everything and come home from work right then and there, but I knew that PC could handle it until he had to leave for work - he's such a good daddy. So at 1:00 I came home and we traded. We hung out on the couch and watched Star Wars, then decided we both really wanted to sleep since we had been up a lot the night before with the cough. It was decided that my bed was the best place to partake of our snooze. We popped in a disc of West Wing, I slimed him up with menthol rub, snuggled in, and he was soon asleep for a a short nap.

SmallBoy felt a little better after his snooze, but it was a deceitful kind of better, as we all know the witching hour for fevers and yuckiness to return is between 4:30 and 6pm. He slowed down, but ate his dinner. I thought that perhaps we were going to work our way out of this - the wheezing had stopped, the coughing had slowed significantly, especially since we finally found the inhaler, and there was no temperature in sight. I let him hang out and play on the computer for a while, since he'd been very good with staying away from it during the day. He made his lunch and was in bed 10minutes before bedtime. Cool! Success! We're all going to work/school again!

...at least that's what I thought until about 20minutes after I crawled into bed. I had gotten the call from PC that he was off of work and on his way home. I was so tired from the night before that I just couldn't wait up for him. I did my bedtime routine, put in another disc of West Wing and hunkered in for the night, sharing the bed only with the Obnoxiously Cute Furballs (OCFs). Within minutes my eyes were closed, and somewhere in the state of consciousness between deep sleep and awake, I could hear the voices of Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) & Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford - HUGE Cure Autism Now supporter, btw). My contentedness was harshly interrupted by a sound that I knew did not belong in my little sleepyland - the hacking and wheezing of one Not-So-SmallBoy. Inhaler, menthol, back rub, nose blowing, back to sleep and me back to bed. Twenty minutes later, as I approached the entrance way to my West Wing sleepyland, the sound echoed in my ears once again. This routine continued for 2hours at 20minute intervals...take care of cough, snuggle back to bed, start to doze, cough cough cough.

Thankfully there was another 2hr time period that he slept, but then about 2 or 2:30, it started again. We stayed home today. He needed the rest. PC is off today. I could have (read "should have") gone to work, but I'm really damn tired myself and about 2 days behind SmallBoy in the chain of the sickness - and my band plays on Saturday night...talk about timing, plus, my stomach's all messed up from all of the extra iron the doc is giving me. So, I stayed home.

I had the privilege of taking the kids to school today. I take LargeBoy everyday, but that's 45minutes before he has to be there so that I can get to work on time. Girl and SmallBoy ride with PC. I let PC sleep this morning...he's been working so hard, and I was up anyway, so what the hell, right? It was kind of fun. The hustle and bustle of everyone trying to be where the needed to be, the fight for the perfect parking place (it felt a little like the scene in Mr. Mom - "North to drop off, South to pick up.").

I pulled back up to the house, turned to lock the car and saw Girl's viola still in the back seat. She had called shotgun when I took her and her brother to school, and she put the viola in the back. Obviously, she had forgotten. I toyed, only momentarily, about teaching her a lesson in responsibility, and then the I-miss-being-a-stay-at-home-mom instinct kicked in. School officially started in 5 minutes. I could make it! Back into the car and then off I raced (no more than 25mph in a school zone, though) and got to the school just in time. As I walked into the office, they said to me,

"Oh, Girl was JUST in here calling you."

With that, she walked past and all was well. I was met with a bright and truly thankful,

"Thank you, Mommy!" (I love when my almost 14 y/o calls me 'mommy', makes me forget that she's almost 14).

She has auditions for her music festival coming up and every lesson now is a must.

Now I'm stuck with the dilemma: I'm already up, but I'm really freaking tired from no sleep last night. Everyone else is sleeping still. Should I do the mom thing and start cleaning and doing laundry or should I give in to my body to avoid getting sick and GO TO SLEEP? Sleep sounds good, but I'm not sure I can do that after 2 cups of coffee. Oh well, we'll see! Nope, decision made. My Not-So-SmallBoy is up. I'm up. We'll hang out together. I'll make bacon and eggs - oh, no eggs....oh well. Maybe we'll bake again today! GOD I wish I could stay at home again. Too bad stay at home mothers don't get paid, they would command THE single highest salaries! To SAHMs EVERYWHERE!! CHEERS!