I Heart Black & Decker

I am in love.  Love, love, love.  I am in love with my new lawn mower.   No mocking, please.  It was love at first sight.

Behold: The Black & Decker CM1936.
It is a 19-Inch, 36-Volt Cordless Electric Mulching Lawn Mower

Isn't she a beauty?  And, she purrs like a kitten. 

Ok, I'm exaggerating about the kitten part a little, but the humm of motor is so quiet that I could hear birds singing while I was mowing the lawn with a ridiculously big grin on my face this morning.  No lie, the birds were chirping along (and I really did have a goofy smile too). 

Zero emissions.  This mower runs off a rechargable electric battery.  So, the garage does not smell like gasoline.  Side benefit:  No pull cord.  You push a button, pull the safety lever, and starting mowing. 

AND (there's more!) the mulching attachment comes pre-installed, and there is a bag for clippings if you want to go that route.  Allow me to step onto my environmental soapbox for a moment, but if you always bag your grass, please consider the mulching option -- even occassionally. Not only does the grass unnecessarily clutter your local landfill, but you are robbing your lawn of the nutrients (especially nitrogen) provided by decomposing grass. Grass clippings are 80% water and 5% nitrogen (plus other nutrients too), and are an excellent organic fertilizer.  For more articulately explained reasons about why you should consider mulching, see PADEP's "Let it Lay" program or Mulching vs. Bagging on All About Lawns.  Your lawn will thank you! (stepping off my soapbox now...)

Our new mower replaces our old style trusty reel mower that served us well for the last decade.  The little push mower cut (and still does cut) grass really well.  Unfortuantely, ours never cut crab grass or dandelion stems or the thicker seed bearing grass stems.  Also, it gets jammed on every stick, which is kind of jarring.  I looked into electric mowers a few years ago, and I couldn't find one that I really wanted to try.  But, then I found the CM1936.   And, it's a match made by Black and Decker.

Just a Typical Morning Here...

Battle for the Living Room

Yes, it's perfectly natural to wear repulsor weapons with my cow costume.

Book Review: "642 Things to Draw"

I happened to run across this book, "642 Things to Draw," on a design blog that I follow, and it looked like so much fun that I went ahead and decided to try it in our house without even finding a hard copy to review first. (I know, I was really living on the edge on that one, wasn't I?)

Although this is bound like a book, it really can't be called a book.  It is more of a sketchbook that has ideas printed in small print at the top of each page.  Some pages are divided into multiple sections, other pages are for a single topic.  The sketching ideas range from very specific (e.g., "cat's whiskers") to quite vague ("the wild blue yonder").  The topics are wide-ranging, and even include some science or political topics that might generate a little research (e.g., "photoluminscent plankton").  There are hundreds and hundreds of ideas that children could draw. The paper is high quality white paper too, which can handle multiple erasings for the perfectionists among us.  

My children are prolific artists, which is something that I think is wonderful and to be encouraged. However, we are so prolific that we have overflowed our entryway art wall. This sketch book is nice because all the drawings are contained, and can even be revisited to add more detail. I bought a copy for Caroline and for Abby. I really should have bought one for myself too. So, instead, I've been sketching along on scraps of paper. Caroline has sketched the most topics so far; Abby's art is more detailed. Overall, this book is totally fun and absolutely worth the $11 or so dollars it cost on Amazon. Also, this book would be fantastic for long car rides, especially when presented with a set of sharpened colored pencils and an eraser.

Here is my favorite sketch so far from Caroline, titled "Globe".  I would have sketched a picture of the Earth, but I love that she interpreted "Globe" as "Snow globe."

Lacrosse Update!

Did your eyes just glaze over when you read that title?  You probably thought you were finished hearing about lacrosse for 9 blissful months.  Well too bad!  There's more!!!

GUESS WHAT????  (I do realize this is more of a monologue than a conversation, but play along).

"What? What???!!!!" you asked eagerly.

I GOT CALLED FOR ROUND 5.  ROUND 5!!!!!!  District 1 AAAA Consolation Finals.  Ok, it's not the final-finals (#1 vs. #2 game).  I got called for the #5 vs. #6 game.  Still, though, I'm ECSTATIC.

However, I am heart-broken since I have a Brownie Troop meeting at the same time.  Sadly, I will not be taking my awesome District 1, Round 5 Playoff game because I'm going to be doing some leaf rubbings and yarn crafts.

Sigh.

Deep Sigh.

I made a commitment and I will stick to it. And, I am determined to even enjoy it, I'm sure.  I already had to shuffle one brownie meeting for lacrosse, and it really wasn't worth the effort or stress to find a replacement at the last minute. 

But, I got the call.   And, I'm completely, totally flattered.  Also, kind of flabbergasted.  And, a little giddy.  Clearly, I have a lot going on right now.  I'm probably over-sharing. But, seriously, it's ROUND 5!!!!!! 

Lacrosse Season Wrap-Up

My lacrosse umpiring season officially ended on Saturday after I officiated a District 1 Round 3 Quarterfinal game.  (Round 3, did you read that part?   I got the call to umpire a quarterfinal game! Quite a big deal for me in my little world of umpiring!!).  Despite the rainy/freezing cold April weather, this was by far my favorite season of lacrosse.  EVER.

This season I refereed my first college games and had a much higher percentage of league games.  There were night games and multiple games tied until just seconds before the end of the game.  There was more controversy and higher stakes, a few "big girl" calls, and I loved practically every minute of it. (There were a couple of losers in there too, like a >2 hour game with 37 goals and an a really unpleasant gnat infestation on the field.)  Overall, though, a fabulously enjoyable season. 

2011 Season Statistics (48 Total Games)

5 NCAA Division III Games

1 NCAA Division II Games

22 Varsity Games

15 JV Games

3 District I Playoff Games

(2 Youth League Games for friend)

How do I feel after 48 games?  Well.....mostly tired.  But not in the way you might think.  I am in shape and my legs are still fresh for sprinting up and down the field.  However, I'm flat-out exhausted from juggling schedules.  Tired from trying to finagle babysitting, switching cars, making lists, and packing/unpacking bags. But, I'm definitely not tired of watching lacrosse, and I find that surprising.  After 48 games, I was still getting teary on the drive home after my last game because I knew it was over.  I'm hoping to do a few summer tournament games, but it will be almost nine months until regular lacrosse games start up.  Nine months is a long time to wait.

Fortunately (and much to Scott's chagrin) I have filled up our DVR with lots of college playoff games to review over the summer.  I love watching the college games and knowing the PWLUA officials on the field.  That will have to tide me over.....    

What will I do with all my "free time" now?  I guess I'll get back to all the household stuff that I've been putting off this spring, like yard work and painting.  It is definitely not as exciting or personally enriching, but it needs to be done.  I'll do the things I feel like I'm supposed to be doing and maybe I'll even do nothing sometimes. That can be fun too, I hear.

Speaking of yardwork....Note to neighbors, we have ordered a new lawn mower since the push mower isn't cutting it anymore (literally!).  Sorry for the overgrown mess...By the way, does anyone has a goat we can borrow for a few days?

 

GG

This afternoon Scott's grandfather died peacefully.  Although we knew this news was coming, it is still hard to hear.  Grandpa (to Scott and me) or GG (to Abby, Ben, and Caroline) was the only grandfather I ever knew.  I've heard so many wonderful stories from Scott about GG helping with various school projects and taking him to Yankees games.  I had the privilege of sharing many family dinners and events with him, and hearing his very detailed stories.  I am so very glad that my children had a chance to meet him.  He will absolutely be missed.   

Ballet Recital: Preview

Tap!

Ballet!

Jazz!



Mr. Personality

Ben has been quite the character lately.  He alternates between a sweet loving little boy who gives unrequested regular hugs and kisses and a screaming lunatic (who I've dubbed Mr. Personality).

I asked Ben if he would pose in front of the flowers for me on Mother's Day.  This was my best shot.  Note the tongue.  Darn it.  He still looks completely cute when he's being completely uncooperative.  That is totally not fair.  This just doesn't capture "obstinate" the way I'd would like.  It does suggest "mischevious" a little, though, right?

Here is Ben's bedtime prayer tonight:  "Dear God, Please help me fall asleep tonight because I am not tired, and my mom doesn't believe me. Amen."  (For the record, Ben fell asleep in approximately 3 minutes.)  I don't know whether to laugh or lock him up.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the special mothers out there (most especially to my mom and Scott's mom)!!

Today, let's celebrate all the wonderful moments that mothers get to share with their children.

The big moments --

and small moments ----

the silly moments----

and even the more serious moments. 

Happy Mother's Day! 

The Ball has been Dropped.

Last week I pulled the bonehead officiating maneuver of all time. 

I was scheduled to referee a double header (varsity/jv) last Tuesday. It was a great league match-up, and I had been looking forward to this game all season.  So, I left on-time to arrive at School A at about 3:15 to 3:20, and got there right on time (about 30 minutes before game time).  One huge problem though --- there were no girls lacrosse teams on the turf warming up.  "Holy EXPLETIVE!" I thought.  Where are the teams???!!!  Then, I noticed they were having a track meet, so I though they might be playing up on the grass field on the other side of the school, even though that would be kind of strange.  So, I went up to the old grass field.  Still no teams!!!   I tried to call my assignor and other scheduled official, but no one picked up.

Then, I realized I went to the wrong field --- the entire other school wrong field.  I've NEVER done that before.  So, while driving as quickly but safely as possible with construction, school buses, and an amazingly high percentage of left-turners back to School B (which, incidentally, I passed on the way to School A), I called my parents who were babysitting my kids to check my email to review the assignment.  Fortunately, when I got to School B both teams were there (whew!) but there was of course no parking since everyone was already there to watch the game.  So, I parked in the middle school lot kind of nearby and ran possibly the fastest half-mile sprint of my life (~3 minutes -- great pace, right?!).  And, I was only 3 minutes late for the game.  Since officials are really supposed to get there 30 minutes ahead, I was really about 30 minutes late.  After gushing apologies to the coaches and athletic director, we got started and had a great afternoon in the sunny weather.  I have been more than a tad distraught about doing something as absent-minded as that, but I have been extra careful to triple check the game times and locations since then.

After successfully passing my self-induced stress test (I'm fairly sure my heart rate and blood pressure reached new record levels on the drive back to School B), I settled into the toughest 3-day stretch I had been scheduled for the entire season:  6 lacrosse games in less than 48 hours.  I knew that number of games would be physically tiring, but I had no idea that the games would be so close score-wise.  Two games Thursday night (the varsity game was still tied with 29 seconds to go), two more games Friday night (the varsity game was also tied with 2 minutes to go), and then 2 more games Saturday morning at the Katie Sampson Tournament.  As much as I do love umpring, I was seriously glad to have a "break" on Sunday and Monday to try to catchup on chores.  By the way, I cannot believe how quickly my house transformed from clean(ish) to utter shambles (<48 hours).