THE Pitcher!!

Well, since you asked... There are 2 modified softball teams for The Liverpool School District. The Orange team and The Blue team. The coaches try to split the girls up evenly so both teams are competitive. KC is the 1st string pitcher for the Orange team. She also plays little league for SRN, which is essentially Liverpool and the outlying areas, and the 1st string pitcher for the Blue team plays on the same little league team. 

KC is so much faster than the 2nd string pitcher on the Orange team, it is not even close! When we are way close or way behind, the Modified coach puts in the 2nd string pitcher to give her a chance and when we are playing a team that we are sure we are going to kill, she also gets to pitch. Other than that, it is KC all the way. On the little league team, where the pitchers should be somewhat even, they are not! The 1st string pitcher for the Modified Blue team usually hits at least 1-3 girls every game. She usually walks at least 5-6 girls every game she pitches, and she is very wild. 

Onto my girl! The first little league game she pitched, only 4 girls hit off of her the whole game!!! One of them she threw out on 1st base and the other 3 scored. (Final score 15-3, us) She struck out all of the other girls. Her first "almost" no hitter! As for the Modified team, she has been averaging 2-4 walks and 10-15 strike-outs, for 7 innings of pitching! We even had the coach of the best traveling tournament team in our area, (who was scouting at some of the little league games), ask if KC would come and play for him. We told him that she was happy on the tournament team she played for but we were secretly really excited that he made the offer. His team went to the Little League World Series last year and came in 2nd in the nation! 

We are just a little proud but I promise you I'm not exaggerating. Both teams have lost about 50% of their games but KC is still doing great! She only pitched 2 innings yesterday, (and they won 18-2) because she has 4 more games this week and the coach said she needed to "save" KC because they are all hard games and we will need her! 

THAT'S MY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Crap

I am a Syracuse University graduate. It is official. Today I realized that I am tired. Really, really tired. I think I need to catch up on 4 years of missed sleep. 

Big news:

My daughter is an awesome pitcher

Vice President Joe Biden was the speaker at my commencement

My daughter is an awesome pitcher

I start medical school in 4 months

My daughter is an awesome pitcher

Thinking and Panicking

Well, if there is anyone I haven't told yet...I was accepted into grad school!!!! I even got a scholarship for my first trimester! Whew! Now that I have been accepted, I am panicking about my last semester at SU because if I don't graduate, I don't go to grad school. I get good grades, my GPA is nothing to sneeze at, but somehow knowing that grad school and the rest of my life depend on this semester make me panic daily about my grades! Just what I needed, more to worry about!

My wonderful sister posted a photo of my ex and me on her blog from a little over 5 years ago. The gesture was nice and I love her for thinking of me. The only problem is that I was about 70 pounds lighter and had no visible wrinkles then. Hmmm. I thought when you gained weight it was supposed to hide those wrinkles. Anyway, now I am thinking about the crappy way I eat and the fact that I don't go to the gym and, and, and. Maybe I just think too much.

Weather School

I live in upstate New York, therefore I'm more familiar than your average bear with meteorology. We have over 100 degree temperature changes, season to season, and there is a familiar saying that goes "If you don't like the weather in Syracuse, just wait a minute and it will change." The last 24 hours have me stumped!

Last night it was 34 degrees and it was snowing. Overnight it was 32 degrees and we had freezing rain. This morning it is 31 degrees and it is just simply raining. Does this seem a little off to anyone else?


Just to show you that I do know about weather... we had a little snow storm a few years ago and this was a major highway about 20 miles from my house! (Yes folks, that is a truck in there!)

 

KC and cousin Morgan

Chances

The world is definitely getting more interesting these days. I am about to start my very last semester as an undergraduate student. Although I thought this day would never actually arrive, my mind can only wrap itself around the words "Thank god!" right now. Perhaps I will feel differently in May when I graduate, and I'm quite certain I will feel differently 10 years from now.

These holidays have been shared with family which is always the highlight for me. I live for time with my family and was only sad that My brother John, sister Marly, and nephew J.J. could not make it here for the holidays. I miss them but hope to find some time to see them soon. KC, of course was a very good girl and got all sorts of great things for Christmas but most of all, she got to see all of her extended family and she was happy about that. For a kid who really needs a road map to climb her family tree, she does OK. Just the fact that technically I am an only child, but I am one of 9, makes it hard enough. Add in the fact that she really has 3 parents, add all of the grandparents and great grandparents that accompany them and their various ex husbands or wives, (most of whom we are still very close to), and you really have a great time when figuring things like cards, invitations, and such, and I personally think the kid should get a medal just for remembering names and titles!! Anyway, as I said, family is very important and with the exception of John, Marly and J.J, we were lucky enough to see most of them.

I have my interview for graduate school this coming Friday so anyone who is still reading please send me some positive energy Friday around noon. I have been shadowing a chiropractor for the last couple of weeks and it has lead me to know in my heart that going to chiropractor school is the absolute right path for me. All of the voices inside of my head were telling me that it was the right decision but now I know that they were telling me the truth. I have never had such a feeling of peace and a sense of belonging as I had when I was in the office with Dr. Dave. It was really amazing and I thank him for the opportunity to follow him around!

I hope everyone had great holidays and I hope the new year holds everything you need for happiness and peace.

Gone but not forgotten

Thanks for stalking me and I promise I'll be back soon. This has been a really hard semester, tomorrow is the last day of classes, and next week is finals week!
Help me!
Help me!
Help me!

New Choices

I made it through 2 of 4 midterms and am still alive. I consider that a success. I also want to announce it here first. (Well maybe not first). I have been verbally accepted to chiropractic school. This is a major step up from physical therapy school but to be totally honest...I didn't think I would have the grades for chiropractic school, but I do and I am going to go for it! I will be a real doctor instead of just one on paper and the difference in incomes is about 100K a year. Not a bad deal if you ask me. I also think I will be much happier with this. I know that I feel like I have had a 20 ton weight lifted off my shoulders and I am happier and I feel like I have hope back. It is a wonderful thing. I am going with a classmate to the college this weekend to check everything out and I will let you know how that turns out. Right now I am just thankful for my space in life and hoping that my baby brother finds his soon.

The Little Things

It has been a really crappy week and today it rained. I was thinking that I needed to do something nice for myself to help my mental state. (NO comments from ANYONE on that one.) I got onto iTunes and decided to purchase some music. Since I am a poor college student, I go right to the $.99 singles. I took about an hour and bought 2 singles for my iPod. Then I bought an album. Then I forced myself to get out of that evil place. Who would have thought that something like music could get you into so much trouble? For those of you who either don't have iPods or don't visit iTunes, I feel a little bad for you and a little jealous. It is the coolest place ever and they have every kind of music, video, TV show and movie you could ever want. They also have these things called podcasts, (no they are not from outerspace), that are everything you could ever think of, from anything you could ever think of, to listen to. Trust me whe I say that there is something for literally everyone. What, you may ask, is the absolute best thing about iTunes...you can spend a ton of money with just a click and have the best music library EVER, and you can waste an entire evening figuring out what you want!

Why???

I struggled through the required calculus and statistics, (2 semesters of each), and managed to pull off pretty decent grades. I had the biggest party you could ever imagine celebrating the fact that I was all done with math classes and NEVER had to deal with them again. I sold my math books and gave my $100 calculator to my mom. This semester I am taking not one but two classes that have more math in them than my math classes did.

Why does a physical therapist need physics? Why do I need trig. and algebra for human motion? I understand all of the concepts and can tell you exactly what is going on with everything I have learned but I just can't do the math. Has anyone out there ever been to a physical therapist? Did he/she do math? (Hard math!) And can I help it that my mind is better at "other" things and not math. (Did I mention that it was hard math?)

I had to ask my mom for my calculator back.

Perfection

Tonight, with dinner, I had some sliced tomatoes. I don't know about you but I think tomatoes are about the best thing to come out of the ground. I will admit that I like almost every vegetable ever grown but I absolutely LOVE tomatoes. Think about all of the things you can make with them! Sauce, soup, sandwiches, salads, the list goes on. I never get tired of tomato sandwiches, I could probably eat them at all three meals and be happy. Not only can you use them in so many different ways but you don't even have to cook them if you don't want to! Another thing about tomatoes, you don't have to peel them. How great is that?! Probably by now you have gotten the idea that I think tomatoes are pretty great. (You would be correct.) I only have one complaint. How could something that is so perfect be so darn hard to cut? What is with the whole squishing when you cut them thing all about. How are you supposed to keep the seeds inside of the slice after you cut it? I am trying to figure out how something so good can be so hard to prepare. What is up with that? It was almost the perfect food.

More Softball Time...again

Guess what? Softball starts again tomorrow! Practice tomorrow and then double headers every Sunday for the next 6 or 7 weeks. Remember when I talked about softball in the really cold and crappy weather? That was technically summertime. Summer is officially done now and not only was it 94 here today but it is supposed to be about the same this weekend. What the heck is up with that? Sorry, hot, cranky and rambling.

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about sleep? It has been a tad bit elusive lately and I have run out of local suggestions. I go to bed at a decent time feeling exhausted, (sorry kjae, no lesbianesque activities), but don't seem to fall asleep for 2 hours or so. Guess what? After hours of school, working, spending time with KC and homework...I am getting a little frustrated not to mention cranky.

I watched Stand Up For Cancer tonight. Finally, something on all three networks that was worth being there. I know that many of you are in the same boat I am and can't even list all of the people you have lost to cancer. Perhaps someone reading this had/has cancer. Call the number and just give $5. Every bit helps and this is a war we have to win. This enemy is killing more people every 2 days than the twin tower bombings did. This isn't a war that needs to split us like the others in the world...it needs all of us to fight together.

Sorry to go off like that but just thinking of the people I have lost makes this near and dear to me.
Thanks for reading.

Tagged??

I don't know what it means to be tagged but I guess I have to answer some questions in order for you to learn more about me. (Is that right?) I'm going with it so here it is...

Four places I go over and over:
Syracuse University
Hank's House
The depths of Nik's mind (Very scary there!)
Barnes and Noble

Four people who e mail me regularly:
Zan
Dad (All forwards!)
Hunter
Mom (Even though we live in the same house...go figure)

Four places I would rather be right now:
Sleeping
Done with college
Anywhere with KC
On a post card type beach

Four TV shows I watch over and over:
Law and Order SVU
NCIS
Jeopardy
I Love Lucy

Four things I have for breakfast:
Dunkin Donut's Iced Late'
Mountain Dew
Cliff Bar
Nothing

Four animals I like best:
Puppies
Kittens
White tigers
Gorillas

Four beaches I have been to:
Ocean City, Md.
Seaside Heights, NJ
Madera Beach, Fl.
Santa Monica Beach, Cal.

I don't know 4 people to tag so I can't keep it going but I finally did one of these. (Did I do it right?)

Softball Wrap-up... sort of

For those of you who are curious about the whole softball thing, the season is finally over. I think I am a good fan. As I have stated before, only the Syracuse mail carriers have anything on me as far as the elements. I don't think anyone yells louder than I do. (Much to KC's chagrin.) I wear the appropriate colors for the appropriate team. I also pride myself on cheering for all of the girls, not just KC. That is my story and I am sticking to it. (For those of you who know her, KC will tell a different story... she is young, don't believe her. My version is the correct one.)

Fall ball will be starting soon. Syracuse really doesn't have a fall. We have summer and winter. (OK we have nice foliage somewhere in the middle) We also have a 50/50 shot of playing in both of those seasons. (I am presently looking for my winter jacket and gloves.)

KC tried out for 2 tournament teams for next year. (If she doesn't make them she will play for the same JD team.) She is excited about them but we haven't heard anything from either team yet. They are supposed to call either way but nothing yet.

Since I am the non-sequiter queen, I will skip to letting you know that all of the sudden my Facebook account has taken off and I now have a run of people trying to "friend" me! I feel pretty good about this. I know it probably says something really not so hot about me that I am happy about "friending" but there is something about that little message saying "XXX wants to be your friend!" It isn't that I don't have real friends, I do, but seeing that little message in my in-box makes me smile. The other thing that makes me smile is that many of the people "friending" me are over 30! I felt like the kid whose siblings tell them they are adopted. I felt like the only person over 40 on all of Facebook. (I know Facebook has millions of people in tons of countries but I swear I was the only middle aged person there for a while!)

KC starts school Thursday. My baby will ride a bus for the first time ever and will be starting school in a different district. I am not worried because KC is probably the most social person I know and can make friends anywhere, and in about 2 minutes flat. She already knows what she is going to wear to the first day of school and where and what time the bus comes. She knows she is going to buy her lunch, NOT bring it and she has all of her school supplies. All and all, KC is way more prepared to start 7th grade than I am for her to start 7th grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Restarting

OK, I know it has been a really long time since I wrote but I thought no one was reading. I have since found out that I do have at least one or two readers, (thanks Kjae and Marley), so I will try to write more! Although I have a lot to say, I wanted to start this out with some incredibly useless information/observations from life on the hill. For those of you who aren't from here, that would be Syracuse University.

* Uggs do NOT look good in the winter time with long coats and jeans...they look even worse with mini shorts and tank tops

* People who weigh as much as I do and are shorter than I am should NOT wear tight mini shorts and tight tank tops even if they are young enough to be mine

* When you cut parts of your clothing away so people can see your new tattoos, it is NOT cool

* If every other word that comes out of your mouth is "like", you probably don't know what you are talking about

* Just because I look like I should be a professor doesn't mean I am and NO, I don't know where everything on campus is so pick someone your own age to ask!

* Campus tours suck! I realized that I am not even close to the age of the touring prospective students but I AM the same age as their parents. (Shit.)

* College really is about more than getting plowed every night and everyone doesn't want to hear about you how many times you threw up

More Softball Time

You are looking,,, (well sort of looking) at the mother of one of the District 8 little league, All Star tournament champions! Said champion also made several outs and hit several singles, a double, and a triple! She was also in the local paper but I wouldn't want to brag. BULLSHIT, I want to brag from the rafters and tell everyone in the world. I am so proud!!!

The tournaments continue to be something like... winning 1 or 2 games, getting rained out of the team that we would certainly have crushed, and losing in the first round of single elimination play. We are holding our own though and we will get there. The next tournament is here in North Syracuse and we are hopeful.

Karen ordered a collage from the professional photographers at the last local tournament, after they had been rained on. I am not sure if it is legal for me to post it but I am going to anyway!

OK, KC is in Florida with her godmother. I/we have been looking forward to this for months. KC gets a fun vacatoin with Aunt Mo and mommy gets a vacation from, well being a mommy! I can go out, see friends I haven't seen in a long time, stay out late, sleep in, buy myself something if I so desire and whatever else I want to do, without feeling guilty because I am not with KC or getting her something! Yee haw!

I have been sleeping late and going to bed early but that has been the extent of my "vacation" from mommyhood. Who would have thought I would miss her so much? Who would have thought that 12 hours between a phone call would send me right into a tailspin? Who thought that this would be a vacation!!! Now the side of me with the common sense is really happy that she is having such a grand time and knows that this is something that she will remember for a lifetime. The other side of me says that she either needs to come home right now or I need to go there. Since I am a poor college student, (and even poorer in the summer), she just needs to come home.

I have no idea why I thought this was going to be a vacation for me nor do I understand why I thought this was going to be a freeing experience for me. The good thing is that she is having a wonderful time and she is doing all sorts of really neat things that she may never get the chance to do again. She is forming an even stronger bond with Aunt Mo and she is exerting some independence.

Oh yeah, and she misses me. :)

Softball Time

Well...we have officially survived our first REAL softball tournament! It was a Saturday and Sunday and it was also the debut of this team. The name of the team is J.D. Big Red. I think we covered all of the "tournament" do's and don'ts:

- We packed way too much food
- We forgot umbrellas...and it rained a lot on Saturday
- We purchased the obligatory T-shirt.
- We cheered our little voices away
- We trekked way too far to the bathroom
- We drove over 100 miles in one weekend (and this was IN town)
- We cheered for the 10 pm game on Saturday and for the 7:30 am game on Sunday (not quite as loudly on Sunday)
and we had a blast and could not have been prouder of our softball star!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They only won 1 of 5 games but that does not reflect how well they really played and they should all be incredibly proud...I know I am. :)

(All-stars are next!)

6th Grade Graduation

OK, I admit it. I was not ready for the 6th grade graduation that I am now recovering from. My "little" girl and all of the friends that she has been in school with since 1st grade are now moving out of elementary school. They are all almost teenagers, (they do already act like they are though) and this was the first event where we had to get the dress, the shoes, the manicure and the pedicure. (I thought I had a while yet!) I will admit that she was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined and she was almost taller than me in her shoes...ALMOST!

I am proud of my girl and I can't believe she is moving onto the big kid's school! There is absolutely NO drooling over my girl.

Softball Time

Tonight was a fun team game and KC pitched, all but 2 innings. I know I am the mom but she really was amazing! She struck out more than several girls and made an amazing catch the was hit right to her! Her team made it to the play-offs and she has been asked to be on the all-stars team! Go baby!!!!!!

Here is the rub. Her tournament team has just started practices and they are conflicting with the fun team's games. Not that KC isn't popular but now there are 2 teams fighting over her! I love little kid's sports.