Ten on Tuesday

1. What’s the perfect meal?
Well I just had one of the most perfect meals this past weekend.  My brother and his family came to town to visit and my mom made dinner Friday night.  It was my Nana's ribs, twice baked potatoes and fresh corn on the cob.  It was so good!! I had forgotten how much I love ribs.  Then we had a birthday cake to celebrate my brother's birthday.  All in all a perfect meal and a prefect night!

2. What are the perfect pair of shoes?
A really nice pair of flip flops.  A pair that are comfortable and have good support and are also cute.

3. What is the perfect afternoon?
A nice spring afternoon when it's not above 78 or too humid and I can sit outside while the kids play and I can read a book.

4. What’s the perfect house?
Mine is close.  I love the layout and the neighborhood (two things you either can't change or it's really hard to change).  It needs quite a bit of work to get it updated though.  Really the only thing I would change is the master bathroom.  I had a dream bathroom in my old condo and I wish I had it here.  I really just want a big tub with jets.  So one day when we can afford it we will update our kitchen, put hardwood floors throughout, and put a big jetted tub in the master.

5. What is the perfect outfit?
Jeans and nice shirt/t-shirt.  That is my favorite combination.

6. What’s the perfect wedding song?
In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel because it's the song James and I choose to have our first dance to at our wedding.  Oh and a belated happy anniversary to you James!!!  Our 12th anniversary was last week and yes I said happy anniversary then too but I just thought I would say it again!

7. What is the perfect job?
The ability to be able to stay home with my kids full time.  But since that is not possible it would be to have a more thriving Etsy business.  I would love for my shop to have enough sales to make it become my full time job.  Hopefully one day it will.  But for now my new teaching job is pretty good too.

8. What’s the perfect hairstyle?
Some thing that is stylish, easy to maintain, and doesn't take a lot to do in the morning.  I have no idea what that would be for me since I haven't had a hair cut in over a year.

9. What’s the perfect music festival?
Sad to say I have never been to one.  I think I would love to have gone to Llollapalooza back in the day (mid 90's when it was in it's heyday).  I know it's still running and I would still like to go depending on the lineup.  I have also been looking at Bonnaroo.  It looks like a music festival right up my alley too.  One day maybe....

10. What’s the perfect day to yourself?
First I would sleep in a little (just until 9 would be a treat).  Then have a little breakfast and read a bit.  Then I would go to my craft room and work on a scrapbook or a frame or some origami.  Whatever I was in the mood to work on.  I would then get a mani & pedi and maybe hit a matinee movie.  I would try to take a walk on the beach and then come home and either find some good TV to watch or read some more.

Baseball Overload

My son Noa is 7 and has been playing baseball now for 2 years. He started in t-ball as most red blooded American kids do (James & both did).  He then moved up to "machine pitch" last fall.  He likes to play and so we sign him up every spring and fall session that our local Optimist Club offers. 

I'm glad he likes it because frankly he needs a sport to get him outside and off the Wii.  And I used to play softball (and according to my mom and most of my memories I was pretty good at it too) all through elementary and middle school.  I wanted to play in high school but my awful middle school coach moved up to high school too and I just couldn't take playing with him and his daughter anymore (long story short).  OK back to Noa ... so I am glad he likes it because baseball is one of the few sports I like to watch and know how to play.   But I have a feeling Noa may not be cut out for baseball.  But I will encourage him to play as long as he wants even after this last spring season.

So by happenstance we ended up with a really wonderful coach for Noa's first t-ball team.  We loved him so much we asked to be on his team for the next two sessions.  They were great sessions and Noa learned a lot.  But as we finished the fall session in machine pitch with his old coach he informed us that he would not be coaching in the spring because of school commitments.  We were sad but understood.  So spring sign up came around and we signed Noa up and let his placement fall to chance.  Well it was quite a different team and coach as got assigned to.  We stumbled into a winning team that took this machine pitch league very seriously.  They had won the fall ball machine pitch division and wanted to do it again in the spring.  Now everyone was nice enough but these guys were serious.  And unfortunately for Noa he was one of the worse players.  I love the boy but I am well aware that he's goofy and a bit uncoordinated but we are talking little league ... we are all here to learn right?  Ummm no, not according to our new team.  Noa was quickly placed in the outfield (which I have no problem with at all) but at ages 6,7, & 8 I still expect them to learn some other positions.  I didn't expect him to play other positions during a game but in practices yes. So we started out having 1 1/2 hour practices once a week with a game during the week and one on the weekend.  Not too bad.  We could handle that.  We won our first few games and then we lost one.  It was not a pretty sight.  Practices then became 2 hours and when he could fit it in or get the chance the coach added an additional 30-40 min. batting practice on another night.  It got to be a lot.  Especially since James works 2 nights a week which means that I have to take both kids to a practice and/or game by myself.  My mom and step dad would come to games and that was always a huge help but entertaining a 3 year old for 2 hours at a middle school ball field (meaning no playgroup) was torture.

I guess all that practicing worked because the team did well.  Noa was sporadic in his hitting and only played in the outfield for 2-3 innings a game.  The infield for this team were all the 8 year olds who are going to move up to the kid pitch league in the fall.  I have to state now that I was and am TOTALLY fine with him only playing outfield in games.  Truth be told he's a bit spastic and it's hard for me to watch him mess up a play.  But my issue is that the coach was ALL about winning.  There were also some inappropriate things said to Noa and some sarcastic remarks said in passing about him that James and I overheard.  But we let go.  As the season wore on practices started extending to 2 1/2 hours.  Keep in mind we are talking about 6, 7 & 8 year olds!  Things kind of came to head when we started the championship games.  As we kept winning the pressure and practices got even more insane.  At once point James got into a confrontation with the coach because in practice Noa wasn't even getting to really practice (he was just running bases).  The coach was wrong period.  James later made up with him so that the remaining games wouldn't be unbearable.  The team ended up making it all the way to the final championship game.  But they lost and it was heartbreaking because so many of those boys cried when they lost.  There was so much pressure to win ... too much.  And to be fair it wasn't just the coach.  I saw lots of parents taking these little league games was too seriously.  THEY ARE KIDS!! Let them be kids and learn to play baseball without all the pressure to win, win, win all the time.  There is a time and place for that but later when they are older and have more skills to deal with all the pressure!!


Good news is Noa still likes to play and wants to return in the fall.  I am happy to sign him up again but this time I am going to do some research and find a coach who has more of our ideals.

Ten on Tuesday

1. What type of phone do you have? Do you like it?
It's a Samsung Intensity.  I hate it. I'm over it.  I am always hitting the voice calling button on accident because it's located in a bad place. Plus the voice recognition on it sucks!  I want to upgrade ASAP but I can't until November.

2. How old were you when you got your first cell phone?
I was around 19 or 20.  Cell phones were not that common at all in high school when I went waaaaayyyyy back in the early '90's.  And I went to a high school with some rich spoiled kids and I only remember a handful who had cell phones and they were ONLY for emergencies not for talking.

3. How many cell phones have you owned since your first?
I would guess about a dozen.

4. How much is your average monthly phone bill?
It's around $60-$75 a month.  But we have two lines and James' phone is a Droid so we have a data plan and texting on both phones.

5. When you were a kid/teenager, were you allowed to have a phone in your room?
Yep, I had a phone in my room.  I never had my own line but I got my own phone in my room.

6. Do you like talking on the phone or do you despise it? Or somewhere in-between?
I have never really LOVED it.  I like it fine if I am really good friends with someone.  If your just a casual acquaintance I prefer email.

7. Do you text a lot? Is texting/talking while driving illegal where you live? Are you guilty of it anyway?
I don't think I text a lot.  Some days none at all and some days could be upwards of 50 incoming.  It just depends.
Texting is illegal here in North Carolina.  I do not do it while I am moving/driving.  I am guilty of doing it at a stoplight.

8. What sort of texting keyboard does your phone have? Touch screen, slide out, or something different? Do you care?
I posted a picture of my phone in the first question but I have a slide out keyboard.  I specifically got this phone because it had a full keyboard so I could text more easily.

9. Look at the last call in your call log – who is it? What were they calling about? Who calls you the most?
James.  He was just calling to check in and see how my day was going.  James calls me the most by far!!

10. What is the longest phone call you can recall having?
I am sure it was back in high school.  I would spend hours and I mean hours on the phone with my best girlfriends or my boyfriend.