#38 Go to a professional basketball game

I knew I was in for a night of razzing when the lady at the entrance to the Lexus lounge said with a very serious face that one floor down I could go and exchange my jersey for the right one. I almost thought she was serious except that Tony and Kara started laughing. So in I walked to a sea of black and red. The teasing just continued. I felt eyes boring on me from every direction. Our next stop was a table where we were to show our tickets to get our wristbands. The guy said he couldn't give one to me because I was wearing the wrong color. But I said, with the sweetest smile on my face, "oh but look, it matches my jersey perfectly." He even smiled at that.

Then it was on to get something to eat. Each time I went to get something I would get teased that they couldn't give me any food. There were hundreds of Blazer fans around me and not a Jazz shirt in the bunch. My goal was to make it through the night with the shirt on. As I passed the bathroom I contemplated a quick duck in to take it off so I wouldn't stand out so much. But I didn't. I held my head high.

The game started and I clapped for my Jazz. The theatrics at the Rose Garden are superb. They know how to put on a good show. There isn't a second of down time. You are entertained the entire time. I wasn't expecting that. I guess I thought people stood around while they waited for commercial time.

During halftime we went to get some concessions. With our wristbands we got anything we wanted for Free. I'll take one red licorice rope, a bottle of water and 2 packages of peanut M&M's thank you very much. One package got eaten at the game and the rest I took home.

I owe my night of fun to Kara and Tony. Kara for thinking of me and Tony for getting the tickets. I had the best time. And even though the Jazz did not win I had the pleasure of seeing Jerry Sloane get ejected from the game. What a classic Jazz moment! It was the best!

It's the 31st and that can only mean one thing.....

My heart is racing, my palms are sweaty, my eyes are sparkling, and I'm ready. Yes, ready for the big event of the night. When I come home I can cross one more thing off my list of 50 thing I want to do in my life.

I'm so excited that I really can barely contain it inside myself.


I'm going to a professional basketball game.

And not any ol' game...

A

Jazz

Game


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not so Spring Break days 3, 4 & 5

Wednesday was the day we had planned to just stay home and work on some projects. At about 6p.m. I declared I was tired of working, since I had been all day and decided to go to Costco. Makenzie jumped at the chance to get out of the house but Emma just gave me a "look" and said that I had promised we would stay home all day. What? You don't want to go to Costco? Nope, she wanted to stay in her PJ's all day. I couldn't really blame her for that so I let her and Heidi stay home. Yes, they are old enough to do that, weird huh?

Thursday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with some friends. It was a strange day for me because I had a cold and wasn't feeling really well and was a bit spacey but the girls all had a good time and Makenzie went shopping at the mall with a couple girlfriends afterwards. I like it that she gets to do that sometimes. I'm glad that she has good friends.

Friday we went swimming at the rec center. We take the girls swimming at the rec center about once a year so that was a real treat. Chris had the day off of work so he came too and that made it even better. We all had a good time swimming and talking with friends.

Last night was Emma's last St. Patrick's day performance. It was at an LDS church in Gresham for a ward potluck dinner. It was fun to do. We arrived and one of the moms said that she wasn't sure where to go, that we were supposed to meet in the gym but where would we find it? I told her it wouldn't be hard to find. It would be in the middle of the building probably. It was. Later conversation centered around what do we as mormons believe about drinking coffee and drinking alcohol? And Emma's dance teacher introduced Emma as "one of them." It was cute and Emma was very proud. I was a proud mama too. And the great mormon hospitality did not disappoint. After we were done performing the lady in charge or the head of the Activities committee as we would know them came and invited all the dancers and parents to have some cake. They had cleared off an entire table for us and had water pitchers full for the dancers. Very sweet and it made me extra happy to be affiliated with such great people. Geraldine, (Emma's teacher) said we were going to have to perform sometime for my ward. I think it's a fantastic idea. Are you reading Bridget?

Well, spring break is almost officially over. Makenzie and Chris are at the temple right now, Heidi is at a friend's sleeping over and Emma is in her bed in the other room asleep. I'm writing here on my blog. Later today I will be working outside in my flower bed in front of my house. Rain or shine. It has to be done.

Not so Spring Break day 2

Today we went bowling. We go bowling about once every 18 months, maybe not even that. So we aren't very good. But it was fun and it was different. A great thing to do during spring break.

We are also working on some homework today and began work on a YW personal progress project.

Tonight I got some fantastic news. The best news. I'm not going to say what it is yet, you all will have to wait and see. But I will say that on the 31st of this month I will finally be able to check one more thing off my list of 50 things I want to do in my life. Some of you may be able to figure out what it is, namely Aundrea.

Not so Spring Break

For anyone that lives in the Pacific Northwest you know what I'm talking about. This is Spring? I can deal with an occasional sprinkle here or there and wearing a light jacket but it feels like an arctic tundra out there. It's cold.

The cold didn't stop us though.

We went to OMSI today. I think only my dear husband and now Elizabeth (we have this in common we found out) know how much I don't like going to OMSI. Poor Emma and Heidi were asking on the way there, "have we ever been to OMSI?" I grimaced to myself and then very positively said, "sure, you went last year to watch that movie for your school field trip, remember?" They were appeased. Until they saw what else there was. Now they want to go back. But I did good. I stayed for a whole 3 hours. It was the least I could do since I've deprived them of this experience in childhood. And I didn't rush them a single time. That was my gift to them.

What is wrong with me? I don't like the zoo either.

After OMSI we headed towards Beaverton and grabbed a late lunch and then we sat through Emma's Irish dance class. After that we went to see the City of Ember at the theatre. I had been really excited to see this movie. I read the book three years ago with Makenzie and loved the book. The movie was great. It stayed pretty true to the book from what we could remember.

Stay tuned for day 2 of Not so Spring Break......

I can do hard things....

I can do hard things, I can do hard things. This was my mantra yesterday before my meeting last night. A meeting that I have been nervous about. I didn't want to go. I thought about a dozen ways I could get out of it. I could call and say I was sick. I even thought about using a hoarse voice and claiming laryngitis. But tht would be a lie. The 13th Article of Faith begins by saying, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent...." So I couldn't lie. Darn.

So I went. I went to the community table talks where, as a member of the district's TAG project team, I was to be a facilitator. Each member of the TAG project team had a table and community members (parents of TAG students mostly) were assigned to be at different tables. I had at my table a man who spoke Korean. A woman who could speak Korean and translated for him. My friend Laurel, my friend Sarah and a woman who I swear has ADHD. And one other lady, I don't have a label for her except for "other lady". She was nice. Okay, I'll call her nice lady. Things went okay. I had a difficult time moderating the ADHD woman. I knew that the Korean man wanted to say something and I wanted to hear what he had to say, I was SUPPOSED to hear what he had to say but the ADHD lady would not stop talking. The regional superintendent felt sorry for me and sent the TAG facilitator over to help me. How embarrasing. I was shocked that nice lady and ADHD lady actually talked while others were talking and didnt listen. We were supposed to listen for crying out loud. And then the moment happened. I had to stand and give a brief synopsis of what the key points were for out evening. They thought I should do it. I was looking at ADHD lady thinking, "you've been talking all night, don't you want to just continue the trend?" But no, they had me do it. I had to use a microphone. I don't like microphones. Just before I stood up nice lady says, don't hold it too close to your mouth. Okay, good advice. I spoke and my voice quavered and I said way too many um's. I hate it when I do that. I'm sure I sounded ridiculous. But I did it.

And I'm glad I did. It was out of my comfort zone but I felt so capable when I left. It's good to push ourselves to do things that are hard or out of our comfort zone. That's how we grow.

I can do hard things!

Happy St. Patricks Day

Who knew that when Emma signed on with the Murray Irish Dancers that St. Patrick's day would take on a whole new meaning?

Our day began bright and early leaving the house with Makenzie and Emma in tow. Dropped off Makenzie at school and then we were off to Hiteon Elementary the first of 5 schools they danced at today. In the middle there was a nice pizza lunch at a small locally owned pizzeria in Lake Oswego. Then we left to dance in Lake Oswego and then had 10 minutes to get all the way back to Beaverton. Needless to say we didnt make it in quite enough time. We were a little late and had to cut our program short.

Emma is exhausted and I am too. Oh, wait, I have to bake a fancy dessert tonight for Makenzie's Jazz Band Concert at the Hilton tomorrow night. No rest for me tonight.

My Irish dinner turned out the best it ever has. So simple too. The only thing I did different was to buy a really good piece of corned beef from New Seasons. A week ago I saw that they were going to have taste testing of their nitrate and nitrite free corned beef on Saturday. So we went on Saturday, just to taste it. I declared it perfect and so bought a piece large enough to feed our family.

Today I unwrapped it, threw it in my deep covered baker added a cup of water and cooked it for an hour. Then I added some fat wedges of cabbage and some red potatoes cut into plump chunks. Put the lid back on and kept cooking for another hour. No seasoning, nada.

I tell you, I have never had potatoes and cabbage that tasted better in my life. Well, maybe those rosemary shoestring potatoes from Burgerville but I digress. I mean this dinner was amazing. And so easy. Now that I know what a taste difference that corned beef makes I will never again buy that red stuff from the grocery store.

I'd take a picture but there isn't any left. And we were starving and dug in before said picture could be taken.

But here is a picture of what I wore today......

We went to Sonic on Saturday. We were in the area during happy hour and that is just something I cannot pass up. Half price Sonic Drinks. This is what we ordered:

1 small blue coconut
1 small fresh limeade
1 small fresh berry limeade
1 medium limeade
1 large diet dr. Pepper

One guess as to which was mine. Diet Dr. Pepper has been tasting really good to me lately and to have that with Sonic ice is so good. The girl at the window hands us our drinks and 4 straws. I notice that the straws we have are all small ones. I then tried to get the attention of the girl who had already shut the window. Chris comments that it's fine, we dont need another straw. He had one from his drink at Costco and he can just use that. But you see, it's not about not having enough straws. It's about not having the right size straw. She gave us 4 small straws that fit the small drinks perfect. If I were to use that in my large drink it would only have a tiny bit sticking out the top. I'm trying to explain all this and make him see the importance of my quest for a larger straw. All the while there is a line of cars behind us and the girl behind the drive thru window is doing a good job of ignoring me. I finally get her attention and get my straw. This is how our conversation went as I was pulling away.

Chris: I didn't know you were such a straw snob.

Darilyn: I can be a straw snob at my age. I have lived long enough to know what I like. And I dont like it when I have to have a super long straw or a super short one. There is a certain scientificness about lifting the cup to your mouth and having the straw be a perfect length.

Chris: He just laughs.

Darilyn: A perfect straw makes me happy and Sonic has the perfect straws for their size cups.

So there you have it. Confessions from a straw snob. And you also know that Sonic has good straws.

12 on 12 for 12

I showered and got dressed

I took Makenzie to school



I went dry pack canning



Merilee and I went to lunch at a healthy Tamale place in Milwaukie



I picked up Makenzie and Rory after school



Took the girls to get haircuts with Cindi



Makenzie had piano lessons



While I sat and talked with Oscar



I made Thai Panang curry for dinner

Which was eaten by all

I worked



and fell into bed exhausted.

My Full Plate

I need to blog today. I've had a lot to say but no time to say it here. I miss my blogging time. Lately my blogging time has been going to things like having regular Family Home Evening, Family Scripture study, reading with my kids, meetings and work.

Today I couldn't find the key to the church. I need it so I can let all of us in for Activity Day this evening. Maybe it wouldnt be a big deal on most days but my Aunt Sherilyn who lives in Ohio of all places is here to teach my Activity Day girls how to jump rope. She didn't come here just to do that obviously but the fact that she is here and willing to do this means I should probably have a key to the church. While i was looking for said key I found about ten M&M's in a little baggie. Boy, did that ever make me happy. Nothing like being stressed and finding chocolate to ease the worry!

I found the key. It was hanging in a very logical place right above my computer. I just had never put it there before so I didnt think of looking there. Glad I found it.

I'm doing the Portland to Coast walk the end of August. I'm so excited to be doing this. My workouts at the gym are going really well and I'm feeling stronger every day. This is a good thing.

I have what feels like a million things on my plate right now. Go away feeling.

I need to go grocery shopping really badly. The million things on my plate are obviously not eatable.

I love that my friend Kris in Albany is making a chocolate almond cheesecake today. Even though I am too far away to eat it, it is making me happy to know that it exists. I've had this cheesecake before and I'm wishing it exists a little closer right now.

I'm looking forward to seeing Confessions of a Shopaholic with my friend Amanda later in the week. All day I've been wishing it was tonight.

I'm behind in work. I hate it when that happens. I haven't started my work that is due at 5 p.m. today. And I won't start it until after everyone is in bed for the evening tonight.

Makenzie is mad at me. I took her cell phone away. I checked the history of her texting and she had a text from a boy that said a bad word. I actually didnt take the phone away for that either. It was only one word and that warrants a talk with her but it was her reaction at me checking the history on her phone and her tantrum and attitude that ensued. So I took the phone and told her she could have it back when #1 she had calmed down #2 she had her chores and homework done and #3 her room was clean.

If she only knew we check it all the time! Apparently she didn't know that.

Well, that's my life today.