2010 $100 Dinner Dance

Year after the year the committee works so hard to put on a fabulous event to benefit our school and this year of course did not disappoint. The theme was A Step Back in Time and many of us went all out. Joe and I went way back all the way to the roaring twenties. We couldn't stay as long this year because Tommy had his games in Detroit starting at 9:00 the next morning but we still had a good time.

We didn't win any of the money or prizes but it's okay to just be donators some years too. We were the 102nd out of 115 balls drawn for the $3000 so we at least had that excitement. Every ball drawn gets you closer and closer and you get thinking maybe this will be your year! But alas there can only be one winner and it wasn't us. Boo Flipping Hoo.

Enjoy the pictures. You can see there were quite a few decades represented. I wish I could have gotten pictures of every cute couple there. It was especially funny seeing Sharon C. with her hair in a banana clip and her jean jacket that went down to her knees, and you can't forget the french rolled jeans. I think I was one of the last to start unrolling the jeans back in my day...the 90's! I wasn't quite ready to give up the fad. I wonder when it will be back! Yeah!!

The Joe's A Go!!

Joe Louis Arena that is!! We were so down a year ago when we lost by one goal in the semi's. This year the boys wouldn't be denied!

Tommy's 2001 Bay County Blizzard won their quarterfinal and semifinal games today in the most exciting fashion. The first game they won 3-2 in a nail biter. Tommy scored the 2nd goal to tie it up. It was great and was the first goal I got to see. He actually had only scored his first goal a few weeks ago and I had missed it because my class was having a pancake breakfast.

The 2nd game we were winning 3-1 with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game and the other team came back and tied it sending us into overtime! So deflating. Our guys ended up winning in double OT. It was 3 on 3 play and Tommy scored the winning goal after a teammate did most of the hard work bringing the puck down the ice!!!!! To say Joe and I were excited is the understatement of the year. The team went crazy as did us rabid fans.

Now we have to wait until March 14th for the finals. We have another tournament as well in early March. I think we will just savor the last few weeks of this very special season.

Following the big tourney win in December, 2K10 is shaping up to be an excellent hockey year for the big guy. In January the families took a tour bus down to South Bend, Indiana and got to play on Notre Dame's ice. The following weekend they were in another college town, East Lansing and got to play on MSU's ice. They won the governor's cup tournament that weekend, with the final game also being won in sudden death overtime. This team is just clicking and playing so well right now. We'll see how long we can ride out this winning streak.

Capital City Showdown Champs on the Spartan ice!

Touchdown Jesus at ND

The team at Notre Dame

The super fans at Notre Dame!

Hockey - "Invented by men, perfected by women"

Hockey belongs to the Cartoon Network, where a person can be pancaked by an ACME anvil, then expanded – accordion-style – back to full stature, without any lasting side effect.
- Steve Rushin

I hope when I'm in my mid to late 50's I can join a novice women's hockey team and make all the young girls look like jackasses. :) No, just kidding because then it'll be ladies in their 80's still making me look bad.

The latest drama in the hockey saga ~ Many new ladies have come out to play in our league looking for a good thrashing or public humiliation on Monday nights. There are some woman from another venue who have been playing for years (with men) and wanted in our league. And you know, some people balked but I say let them play. They can only make us crappy players better. So here they are; a goalie and 4 or 5 others. I ended up on the new team with a few women who've never played, a few I've played with the last couple years and 3 - 50'something phenoms! We've dubbed ourselves the "gold diggers" in our totally awesome Vegas gold baby poo colored jerseys, though I wonder if "the golden girls" might not be a better moniker. For heaven's sakes they wear granny panties!!! Not that I'm purposefully checking out the undies of my teammates but you just happen to notice these things in a locker room.

I knew what I was doing though when I made sure I ended up on a line with the best female center I've ever seen and a totally rockin defensemen. They skated and passed so beautifully and probably could have played fine just the two of them alone but they were awesome in getting the puck to us lackeys. Joe said he totally noticed a turning point in the game when our center said to herself (you know since Joe can read minds) "I like this nice little red head and I'm going to set her up for a goal!" Because over, and over, and over, and over, and over again continuously she'd be skating beautifully and pass it to me and I'd totally blow it. I had a few shots but never even hit the goalie! Can't shoot!! Just like my son! LOL. They always went wide, or I'd whiff, or just simply mess it up. Joe said after the game by about the fifth botched play he was going to send Tommy down to our bench and tell that lady if she continued to pass to his Mom he would kick her butt. Haha, actually Joe said I didn't play too bad, Tommy though thought I played terrible. I find the whole thing hilarious.

It was a hard fought game and I think both sides were satisfied skating to a 1-1 tie. I think these ladies are going to be great for our league. It was so much easier skating with these ladies who are old enough to be my Mom. They gave me some sort of energy because I wanted to keep up with them and not let them down. They also didn't make me feel bad about my lack of skill, just said good try and we'll get em next shift. They are such nice ladies who just happen to be awesome hockey players. And I do hope that I'm still living high on life like these ladies are when I'm their age, because they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Next week we'll try again and maybe I'll be able to put the puck in the net. But I think it will be a while before I start line changing by jumping over the boards. Yup the seasoned ladies even have that skill perfected. I will have to go to an open skate session just for that kind of practice so I can really look cool. Until then I'll simply use the door. Can't you just see me jumping over the boards?? Landing flat on my kiester; now that would be puck'n funny.

Stress these days

Thankfully I handle stress very well or maybe it's just that I haven't had to endure a horribly stressful situation in a long time. Today begins my mid-winter break ~ off for five days yeah, and I've woke up with a headache and a stiff neck. I had some wild dreams.

So my stressful situation ~ my brother is getting out of prison in a couple weeks if it all works out. He has been in since Dec. 2004 but had been in and out since Jan. 2002. And it's all about money. Classic identify theft he rang up over $30,000 in credit card debt under my Dad's name. He lived the life of Reilly for a couple years before it finally caught up with him. His teen years were great. This is a guy who wants to have it all but doesn't want to work for it. After he got out of prison in July 2004 we had high hopes for him. He was generously given a job working at a restaurant and seemed to be grateful for the opportunity. But only a few months in he got back into the drugs, lost his job, started stealing from Dad & also my brother again. By December he had been on the lam for a couple months and had no money at all and held up a little boutique store. He basically walked in and said give me your money, thankfully didn't draw a weapon though he had a knife on him and a big customer detained him peacefully until police arrived. I think he was ready to give up.

5 years later he's had some counseling and I've seen the reports saying he's all "cured" of his intense emotional problems all stemming from his rough childhood. It's so much easier to blame someone else then to look inside yourself right? A classic narcissist with obsessive compulsive tendencies, he's called a lot lately wanting me to do this or that for him. Call this person, relay this message, get me some clothes together, yada, yada. I hear the panic in his voice when things aren't quite looking like they should, I hear the confidence in his voice saying he's changed and this time things will be different, I hear the awkwardness in his voice when he hangs up saying love you guys. I know my brother and it really confirms my worst fears of "he really hasn't changed at all."

The big standing joke after every holiday or birthday the past year has been well will Jeff be here with us next year or will he be back in prison? I'm putting my money on prison. His only hope is surrounding himself with good people, and his good people are Dad, my brother, and my family. He will very quickly wear himself out with us and soon he'll be wanting to run with his loser friends that still accept him (hopefully they have finally started to grow up themselves). Let's face it, no one in their right mind wants to associate with a felon and they shouldn't want to. But then again I feel like people should be given 2nd chances...I don't know, I'm so torn.

I shouldn't talk all terrible about him. He does have a caring heart. He was very helpful to me when Tommy was born. I got him a job at the lodge and he was maybe starting to make a life for himself when the credit card fraud finally caught up to him. He's very good looking, a charmer, and has a great sense of humor. He could have done very well for himself. And he still could! If he can play his cards right and do what he needs to do.

I'm excited to see him in a few weeks but I'm also scared to death that he'll just put the family and himself through more agony. It's just easier with him locked up. I don't worry about him getting in trouble. And the way he makes it sound the place where he was, was more like camp than prison. It'll be interesting that's for sure and I'm trying not to let it consume me but Jeff has been my primary worry lately. That and hoping that Tommy can win these last few hockey games so he can play at the Joe Louis Arena on March 14th! Priorities right? ;)

Anyways, it's very embarrassing when people come up to you asking "was that your brother I read about in the paper?" Oh yeah, and they really do genuinely care right? If he is going to get into trouble again can he at least please drive to Ohio so it doesn't wind up in my local paper? Or does the news not work that way? Oh help me!

Happy 9th Birthday Tommy!!

A big shout out to my big boy! The years just keep coming quicker and quicker! I love ya kid!

And since I didn't post a birthday greeting to Joe a couple weeks ago I will go ahead and share some pictures of Joe & Tommy who are both already a year older here in the early 2010.

And Happy 18th Birthday to my little brother Andrew and Happy 5th Birthday to Super Sammy out East!