At Least the Cubs Won

The Cubs extended their division lead to 2.5 games with a win over the Beermakers last night. The game was the only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing sports night.

The Bears wrapped up their preseason with a home loss to the Browns. Who cares, it's just the preseason.

Finally, the University of Louisville made a statement last night with their 73-10 victory over the Racers. The statement: "We're way better at football than the I-AA schools in our state." It was pretty much a beat down from the beginning. The Racers were definitely over-matched. I was a little disappointed that the reverse on the opening kickoff didn't work out better. I'm sure the Racers will enjoy the new weight room. On a more positive note, the last time these two titans met (1990), UL was 68 points better than the Racers. This time, not so much. If the Racers close the gap 5 points every 17 years, by the year 2228, the Racers should win by a safety. I don't know who Louisville plays next, but there's a rumor that Wyotech has an intramural team with an open date on their calendar. I'm sure they could use the extra cash.

Random Thought #1

I warned you about these.... so I'm at the McDonald's drive thru this morning. I'm at the window picking up my low carb sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit with hash browns and a coke. I'm sitting in my car, and I notice the backside of someone sticking out from just beyond the pickup window. About the time I'm ready to pull away, he backs out of the bushes right in front of me. I knew he was there and was probably going to back out in front of me, so I wasn't even close to hitting him. As I drove past, I could tell that he was an employee trying to connect the water hose from the pressure washer to the water spigot.

Here's the random thought....when you almost run into another car, you might say I almost bought a (whatever that car was). In this case, would it be appropriate to say I almost bought a Mexican, or is that something we're not ready to talk about yet?

School Daze

The girls have had 2 days of school and are doing quite well. I picked them up from school today, and it was very nice for them to all be in one place. Here's a little pic of them in their uniforms. I don't know what happened to the quality of this one, but it's the only one I took. They like their teachers, are excited about their subjects and to see their classmates again. Maggie has already memorized her verse for this week. I had forgotten how much her memorization skills improved last year. In other news, they're all quite proud of their new shoes.

Nora was really excited to be at the same school as her sisters. She went in her classroom right away, but was kinda clingy when we left. It was really no surprise to hear that she had an accident on her first day. She said she was shy and didn't know where the potty was. Hey, it happens to the best of us. Day 2 was much better. There were no accidents, and she even got invited to a birthday party.

Bear Down!!!

The Bears have a pre-season game at home tonight. It' sonly pre-season; but evidently, the starters are supposed to play into the 3rd quarter. They're supposed to be practicing making half-time adjustments. I wasn't aware that you needed to practice such things; but if I were, I might be making Brian Urlacher money instead of working for the railroad.

I've got a buddy who just took a job with the AAR in DC. Being a longtime Chicago resident and Bears season ticket holder, he didn't want to give up his tickets. I formed a consortium with another person in my office, and we purchased his tickets at face value. They're still in his name, but we get to go to all the games. I'm getting to go to 4 games for face value, which is a pretty good deal in the current market. They're end zone seats, but the stadium is new and all the sight lines are pretty good. It will be a great time if the Bears do as well this year as they did last year.

Baseball is still in full swing, the Cubs are still in the race, but I'm getting excited about the NFL season starting. Seeing this gets me pumped up.

Open House

Friday was open house at the girls' school. They're going back for a second year at Calvary Christian School in Naperville. The big change this year is they'll be bringing their little sister along for the ride. Nora will have one year of pre-school before we try to sneak her into Kindergarten. She was born 15 days too late to get in next year. For the first time since she was born, they will all be at the same place during the day.

Today, they got to go in and meet their new teachers, check out their new classrooms, and see some of their classmates from last year. Grace and Maggie both played their customary shy roles and didn't say too much to their new teachers. Their old teachers had spoken to their new teachers, and both had really good things to say about Maggie and Grace. If there were bad things to say, I'm sure they wouldn't have told us, but my children do no wrong, so I'll just keep on believin' there was nothing bad to say.

We're also signing them up for piano lessons through school. They can each get one lesson per week, after school, during the after-care program, for $50/month. For each one to get a weekly lesson without having to haul them over to someone's house was quite a bargain.

School starts on Monday. Their uniforms are laid out and their backpacks are loaded with new school supplies. They're at home with mama this weekend enjoying their last few days of summer vacation before starting another great year of school.

A Day of Beauty

Tuesday, after the dentist, I took Maggie and Gracy for their back-to-school haircuts. It was my first time at the particular salon, but the girls had been there before. They knew what to expect and love getting their hair washed.

They're both trying to grow their hair out. We were going for nice long layers with no bangs. Sounds like a nice plan, huh? I only had to have mama repeat it 3 times before I felt confident enough to relay it to the stylist. Maggie's hair is naturally curly. She doesn't like to do too much to it in the morning. She'll wash it, brush it, then call it complete. An hour later, it looks like a rat's nest. That day, she asked the stylist to dry and straighten it.

Grace, on the other hand, wanted her straight hair to be a little curly. She got her wish. I don't know if the stylist was going for a Farrah Fawcett look, but it was definitely cute when she finished.

It's a full service salon, and they took good care of the girls. We all got suckers when we left. I tried to talk Maggie into coming back with me for a pedicure, but she was having none of my tomfoolery.

The Tooth Fairy and Compound Interest

Yesterday, we went to the dentist. It was Nora's first visit to the chair. She enjoyed the sunglasses, and they did a great job keeping the light out of her eyes. She's lucky to have 2 great sisters to cheer her on in whatever she does.

Everyone got great reports. The dentist was a little concerned about Grace's small mouth. He encouraged to wiggle her teeth when they get loose so they wold come right out and not affect the permanent teeth coming in behind them. When we got home, Grace went right to work on her one loose tooth. She said she wouldn't eat until it came out. Throughout the day, I got updates on her progress. At one point, she said "Dad, I've got blood". I thought that would be the end of the tooth extraction process, but she kept going. Right before supper, I heard a joyful shriek from the other room, and Grace came in to show me the tooth she'd just removed.

Nighttime rolled around, and Grace was very concerned about whether the Tooth Fairy would be visiting her. We got all setup, and they went to bed. I went to bed early last night, too. In fact, they might have still been awake when I turned in for the night. Luckily, the tooth fairy got his butt out of bed in time to do the switch in the morning. When Grace woke up, she was very excited. After the newness of the dollar wore off, she got a little upset that the Tooth Fairy had taken the necklace that was holding the tooth. At that point, Nora reported that her bracelet was missing and immediately indicated the Tooth Fairy as the primary suspect. Nora has requested that I contact the Tooth Fairy and request he bring our stuff back. When I said that Grace would have to give back her dollar, it was suddenly OK to be without our stuff.

Some people have saved 95 cents of every dollar they've made. I, on the other hand, have spent $1.05 of every dollar I have made. I'm trying to instill a habit of saving in my girls. I didn't think about it in time when Maggie was losing teeth, so I'm starting with Grace and incorporating Maggie. Since momma is the tooth fairy most of the time, I told them that I would double whatever is in their piggy banks each time Grace lost a tooth. Luckily for me, I've never had to give Grace anything more than the tooth fairy did. I don't think Maggie knows what the opening on top of her piggy bank is for.

OK, Here Goes / Here's the plan / Disclaimer

OK, Here Goes: I've got some friends who have their own blogs, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading their work in a non-creepy voyeuristic kinda way. Some have had theirs several years, another since yesterday. I've been told on more than one occasion that I should start my own blog if for no ther reason than I'll stop filling up my friends' email boxes with my ramblings. To those of you who asked, thank you, and here goes.

Here's the Plan: I've been divorced for about 3 years. Since my 3 beautiful daughters live with their mom, I have lots of 'me time' when stuff pops into my head. Until now, there's been nowhere to share those thoughts. If it pops in my head and I'm near a computer, you just might read about it. If it sparks a thought of your own, feel free to share. If it sucks, feel free to share that, too.

Disclaimer: I have no idea who my target audience is or who would even read this....ok, I have some idea. So, I'll write like I'm talking to them. If I get some delusion of grandeur about who might be reading my blog (I said my blog), then I might change my style. Until then, it's all me.