Rockstar Tournament

Last month, you may remember, The Girl changed soccer teams to come to a better team that's affiliated with our local HS. The coach invited another player from her old team to try out, and she (Camillia) joined the team as well.

I felt a bit guilty about that, but who am I to decide not to pass on an invitation?

A few weeks ago, the new coach called and said we'd been offered an opportunity to join a relatively new club (still nearby) that was willing to give us scholarships, uniforms, trainers - a much better deal than the local club.

We asked The Girl what she thought, and she thought cheaper is better as long as the team is still together and good. Partly because the basketball program was (IMHO) messing with my daughter, I said "to heck with loyalty to the local club." K joked that we'd been on the same team for 6 years, and now we'd been on 3 teams in a month!

Last weekend the team went to their first tournament with the new players. At this age, there are some girls on the team playing in HS, and therefore can't play with us until their season is over. So we got 3 guest players to join us in the tournament.

I was a bit stressed on Thursday night and Friday, when I realized that the first game was at 7:45am (why do they always do this to the team farthest away?) and it was at least an hour's drive. K had a game himself on Friday night, and would be getting back late. So I decided to drive down on Friday night, which meant making reservations Friday morning and packing, planning, etc. We were also taking Camillia.

We got on the road without much problem, but when I looked for my directions I found that they hadn't printed out. I'd only printed out the map, which was too big! So when we got to the right area, I gave The Girl my phone and asked her to find my navigation program and put in the address of our hotel.

Bless her heart, she figured it out. When the voice came on, it said, "Take the first legal U turn." Guess that meant I was going the wrong way! lol

The next day we got up early, and the girls played two good games, shutting out the other teams 2-0, and 3-0. Yay! Camillia scored 2 goals and the new Goalie kept the other teams from scoring.

On the way home, the Girl found out she could still make it to her basketball game! We had told them she wouldn't be there, assuming that we'd be gone.

The Boy was coming home to visit, so I told him to meet us at the game. The Girl had a great game and didn't even foul out! She scored 11 of her team's 19 points. And her brother got to see her! She won 3 games in one day.

The next day she was tired and kept falling over the ball during the first game. One of the substitutes didn't come to that game, as she had a prior church-related obligation. One of our players hit heads with the other team, and had to come out. So they played nearly half the game one player short. That team was tough, but rather thuggish, so I was glad when we beat them 1-0 (we'd only needed a tie.)

The second game was around 4pm, so we drove home and ate lunch and I put a roast in the crock pot and tried to take a nap. We convinced the Boy and his GFF to come to the game, and we all drove back to the tournament.

When we got there, we discovered that the tournament was behind schedule, and they were saying that we might not get to play the championship game! (toss a coin?) Finally they decided that the game would be more than an hour late, and they would find some lights.

The Boy was most unhappy to hear he'd be sitting around for another hour, but they managed to eat hot dogs and bear with it. There was a tent giving away Rockstar Energy drinks (with parental permission). I drank one and it made my stomach hurt!

The sun went down and finally the girls got to play. One player who was out with the flu came to try to play, and we got our substitute player back from church. The first 5-10 minutes were intense, as the other team was extremely fast and good. But after awhile the team relaxed and although the other team got some shots off, our team seemed to have more control of the ball. But neither side scored.

The other team had 6 substitutes, and we had a girl with the flu on our bench. She had to go in for another player once, but only lasted a few minutes. We had a few opportunities to score near the end of the game, but the shots were off. One girl was so disappointed in her kick that she almost started crying.

So we headed into two sudden-death overtimes, to be followed by a penalty kick shoot out (which is hard on a parent). The first OT came and went quickly. At almost the end of the second OT, the ref called pushing on the other team.

So they had a free kick about 30 ft and to the right of the goal, and the teams lined up in front. At the last minute, the coach told The Girl to take the kick. I thought she was going to kick it into the crowd so that someone could kick it in. When she kicked it, I thought, "Oh no! It's too high!" and it looked like it would go over the goal. At the last second it dropped and hit the back of the net.

There was a second of silence, and then all the girls (and parents) started screaming.The Girl fell to the ground and the team ran and jumped on top of her, and when she got up she said she had dirt in her mouth.

The boy jumped up off the ground and said, "That was The Girl, right?"

It was so great. We didn't have to go into penalty kicks! We won the tournament! Her brother got to see it! The goal made it worth the wait! All the new girls had a great tournament, and proved they were worthy to be on the team. One of the substitutes is now thinking about joining us!

It was dramatic. It was wonderful. I'm sure we'll be talking about it for years.

Colorado Trip

Our trip to Colorado was really nice, I may have mentioned. I had an unexpectedly great time visiting my family. The Boy showed up after I'd already been there 2 days, with his GFF. He called the day before he left to ask us to make him a Dr. appt as his back was really bothering him.

So the next day we went in (luckily they have Kaiser there too) and they gave him stronger drugs and told him to rest it. Then we went to visit my friend in Colorado Springs and show them Garden of the Gods. Luckily my friend went with us, as she knew a lot more about the park than we did!

I was a little annoyed that the GFF slept the whole way there and back, but I guess that's to be expected in teenagers. The next day the kids went to Waterworld, and my Mom had a BBQ afterward. It was good to see everyone.

When we went to my in-laws, I became an unexpected hero when I was able to "fix" their computer so that they could view their email again. Whatever I did was fairly simple and I can't say how long it will last, as mainly it seems that their computer is very old and slow.

But K's sister kept saying that their father just had too many old email in his google account, and that was jamming him up. I said that no, those are actually on google's computers. This opinion was not met with favor.

When we got to their house, the Boy was now suffering because he picked up an ear infection at Waterworld, and had to be taken to ER. The cost of ER was actually the same as it would have been at Kaiser, but the medicine cost almost $200! He said, "Only a few days ago I was thinking, if only my back didn't hurt! Then I'd be happy..." But no, now an earache.

We always go for a hike when we visit them at their home in the mountains, and this time we went up high so that the Girl could see some snow. So the hike wasn't too far, but it was a steep slope and up high, where there's hardly any oxygen left.

But I guess all our "walking" around the neighborhood has finally paid off, and I was for the first time able to keep pace with everyone else. Well, at least I wasn't the slowest this time. K's mom complemented me on being in shape, but I think I picked up a little sadness from her about being a little slower herself.

Getting old is hard on all of us. I was telling my sister how I expected to get wrinkles, but I don't like the ones showing up on my forehead. I told her I was going to have to cut my bangs again, and she laughed and said it's the poor woman's botox!

One of the most fun moments of the trip was when we were in the airport waiting for our flight, and I pulled out a pack of cards I always keep there, but seldom play with. We played a few games of crazy 8's and then a game called BS, and it was really a lot of fun.

We got home late and ran into some unexpected delays (our highway exit was closed, we had to wait on the runway, etc.) so it felt good to finally get home.

Dodger Game

We had been planning to do one thing every week while The Girl is on summer vacation. So this week we went to a Dodger game. Dodgers vs. Florida Marlins.

The game started at 7:10 and we were there a little early. We saw some tv announcers getting ready near us, and one of them waved to us.

There were some funny girls sitting behind us, obviously looking for someone in particular. It turned out to be Mike Stanton, who is a local boy who got picked up by the Florida Marlins. They were excited to see him and ran down and waved, and he waved back at them.

This is the very player that hit a home run with 3 men on base, which gave the Marlins all the runs they got in the entire game. Enough to beat the Dodgers.

When we got home the Boy said this player Mike S was now on his fantasy team. Since he came out the same time as Stephen Strasburg. he didn't get any attention, but he's really good!

I heard one girl say, "Remember how good his butt used to look in his football uniform?" and another girl said, "Oh, yeah, I remember!"

Also funny, the Bachelor Ryan somethingorother got to throw the second first pitch. I didn't realize at first who it was, then a lot of booing was going on. The Girl yelled, "get a girlfriend!" and some guy behind me yelled, "You're a media whore!" V. funny.

His pitch didn't make it to the plate, by the way. This resulted in more booing from the crowd, but he just smiled and waved and walked away.


Well, it was cold for a summer night, but we had a good time. This summer has been really cool - I remember 2 years ago when the Boy graduated it was so hot that everyone's AC blew the transformer in the power pole, and we sat and watched as they fixed it.

The Boy is moving into his first apartment. One of his roommates, his best friend from High School, is living with him again. I think it's ironic that this friend of his seemed so judgemental about my having a list of stuff the Boy needed to do, but he didn't understand that without the list the Boy was not doing anything! No chores, nothing. He even told his Mom, who came to a party at our house to meet me because she'd heard about this list.

So now this friend gets to teach the Boy how to do dishes. Ha!

June Gloom & Jazz Fest

June Gloom

1. I've never seen the clouds stay so low for so long out here in sunny CA. Last year, at the Boy's graduation, I almost melted from the heat! This year it's been cool, cool, cool.

Meanwhile, we're supposed to have a party in 2 days. Supposedly it's going to warm up for that day - I sure hope it does!

I've been really busy with end-of-the-6th-grade activities I'd volunteered for. Thursday we knocked out these Memory pages we'd made the kids. Friday I went with them on their 6th Grade Trip to go ice-skating and bowling. Whew! I had fun talking with the other Moms (OK, except one), but it tired me out!

It's also been gloomy because some of my favorite bloggers seem to have stopped blogging. I've tried to find others I like, but so far not much luck. Also, it seems to be re-run season on the talk shows, and there's been lots of reliving Thanksgiving and such. Yawn...


Best Day Ever.

2. Last Saturday we had another Best Day Ever. It started out with a nice, relaxing, romantic morning. The Girl's game wasn't until noon, so we all got to sleep in.

She was in kindof a bad mood, so I think it was good that the other team scored right away with a ridiculous mixup by our defense. That put us immediately behind and they played really hard the whole game. They had to win this game to have a hope for getting into the playoffs, so the coach was on them to be serious and play their best.

No one else scored in the first half. The second half, their goalie touched the ball outside the box, and since he was the last defender, he got an automatic red card. We scored with a penalty kick that was just under the pole. Then they got on a roll and scored 2 more times! Yay!

Then, near the end of the game, the Girl (who is sweeper) went for the ball but missed and hit the player on the other team, got an automatic red card because she was the last defender. At first she didn't even know, and the Ref had to tell her to get off the field! So her team had to play short, but the joke was on them because she can't make the next few games anyway. Ha!

We were still up 3-1, but the other team scored on the penalty kick resulting from the Girl's red card. Her team was still up by one, but went ahead and scored again for good measure.

For us it was a good win, a good game, and the Girl was laughing about her red card. Now she says she's gotten every color card.

Then we went home and got ready to go the the Playboy Jazz festival. I'd gone to Trader Joes and loaded up on hummus, chips, flatbread and pita bread. I made some ham and arugula wraps and some drinks, and then we hit the road. We were a little more prepared than last year, taking lots of food, jackets, umbrella, etc.

Like last year, we took the shuttle from the LA Zoo and it was great. It dropped us off right there, and we picked up our tickets and hiked our way to our seats. Our good friend Schlow was there, visiting from Philly. We saw the gang from last year, and it was fun.

This year we were sitting in the middle, so we had a great view of the Hollywood sign beyond the Bowl. After awhile we took a walk, and I discovered a path that leads to a picnic area that has a great view of the Observatory! Too bad I didn't take my camera on that walk.

The bands were great. Each band that came out seemed better than the last, although truthfully I enjoyed them all. When the Pete Escovedo Orchestra came on, his daughter Sheila E. was with them, and she played a little bit of her hit song (Glamorous Life).

People were throwing mardi-gras beads - I guess the Bowl sponsored that, because there were sure a lot of them. I never did need to put on my jacket. Near the end of the evening some guy gave me a glow-in-the-dark stick. I played percussion for awhile with it, but finally stuck it in my hair.

The last band was the Neville Brothers, and they really jammed out to songs like "Fire on the Bayou." It was so fun - good music, good food, good friends.

What more could you ask for?

Eight things

My horoscope, at Free Will Astrology.com, said the following for this week:

"identify five other ways to enjoy yourself without having to spend a fortune or hurt the earth. It's an excellent time, astrologically speaking, to experiment with the hypothesis that cutting down on consumerism can help you discover new approaches to feeling really good. "

So I sat down to think of 5 things, and I thought of a few more, too!

1. Drive somewhere high and look at the lights. You can even take something fun to eat or drink - like a box of doughnuts! No alcohol, though, as that could make the drive down too scary!

2. With kids, it's fun to make your own pizza. Make the dough in advance, then at dinner time divide it into pieces or into one big pizza with everything you want on it. Kids like making their own and eating their own creations.

3. Drive somewhere and enjoy nature = to the mountains to see and play in the snow, to the beach, to a waterfall. Take a light picnic!

4. Movie night! Pick out a few new movies (or oldies but goodies) and make some special popcorn (like maybe Tabasco Popcorn) and get comfortable!

5.Go to a restaurant and split something, like an order of nachos or a bowl of Pho. OK, maybe order a margarita or two. Relax, enjoy, talk and have fun.

6. Make an appetizer dinner. Dig your tin of smoked fish out of the pantry, some capers, olives, maybe some cheese in the refrigerator. Make one or two of your favorite snacks, and add some crackers and/or tortilla crisps, and snack the night away!

7. Have a soup party! Make one or two of your favorite soups, and invite your friends to bring a soup as well as a mug and a spoon. Share the soups, maybe provide some crackers and bread to back them up. Inexpensive, and not much cleanup, as people rinse out and take home their mugs and spoons.

8. Keep track of local restaurant specials. Often they have deals to get people in during the week, or have snacks for FAC. For instance, the local restaurant has "Taco Tuesday" and another has "Margarita Monday." We did this a lot in college too, and it made for some affordable dates.

Dodger game

The Girl got to go to camp as planned, and she had a really good time there. While she was gone, K's cousin came to visit. We hadn't seen her in about 4 years, so it was great to see her.

We picked her up at the Burbank airport and took her to a Dodger game. Manny Ramirezz had just been added to the team, so the game was sold out and excited. He had two hits, but no home runs and the Dodgers lost 1-2. Very low scoring game. He had home runs on Sat and Sunday, but not on Friday night.

You can see the crowd standing up in excitement and support when Manny came to bat.

We had a great visit with her, and hopefully we'll be able to go see her during the glass pumpkin festival in Half Moon Bay in October.....

Last nite the Boy dropped orange juice into the keyboard, so now it sticks. The space bar and 000000000000000000 seem to be the worst.....


In TV news, Sherri Shepard wasn't' on the View theother day, and Whoppi announced that she was out for personal business, which I already thought was weird. Those girls are out all the time and it's no big deal. Then Joy and Elizabeth added that they like Sherri and she'sfunny.. I thought that was odd.

Then K told me he was listening to Rick Dees and they said Whoopi hates Sherri andthat she's a worse problem than Star or Rosie ever was. I can see why Whoopi might not like her, but Sherri brings anice balance to the show. She gets along w/Elizabeth and has become somewhat of an ally even tho she doesn't necessarily agree with her politics. She isn't the most intellectual, and not always funny, but she lightens themoodthere....

Oh, forget it.............