Goddess of Whine
Fluffy: Dreams are supposed to come true, but none of mine have come true yet. I'm NOT a princess; I DON'T have blond, curly hair; and I DON'T live in a big, humongous house!

Bouncy Balls
Scooter's P.E. teacher gave the class a time out recently. She told them they had to be quiet for so many minutes, but it didn't last for long when she said, "And I don't want to see or hear any balls bouncing around, so all you guys better hold onto your balls!"

Boiled Lobsters
I never knew how delicate my ears are until now. They are so sunburned. And my eyelids! I guess the glasses magnify the intensity of the sun. It's funny, too, how you discover after the fact the places where you missed putting on sunscreen. One spot on my shin. Selected areas on the backs of my legs and arms.

And somehow the sun has brought out the lines that were brewing just below the surface of my forehead. Augh!!!

This was an awesome weekend, but I have never been so sunburned in my life. Well, there was that last weekend of the 84-85 ski weekend at Squaw Valley when my face blistered on Saturday, yet I continued skiing on Sunday. I didn't know about sunscreen back then. I actually went on a job interview a few days later, when the blisters on my face had turned into ugly brown scabs. I got the job. This might be a good week for more interviews...

San Pedro Classic
We spent just about the entire weekend at the Field of Dreams for the San Pedro Classic, the last tournament of our 2005-2006 select season. The team didn’t do so well, but we had a good time anyway. On Saturday, we played against Central Torrance and San Pedro, and lost both games. The guys put up a good fight in the morning, but they were kind of lackluster in the afternoon game. We hung out under the E-Z Up between games, and went to Cold Stone at the end of the day.

On Sunday, I got up real early to make a double batch of spam musubis, since we planned to spend the whole day at FoD again. We played Valencia in the morning. It was 0-0 for most of the game. Scooter scored a goal and things were looking good, but in the fourth quarter, Valencia scored three goals one right after the other. That put us at the bottom of our pool, and in the afternoon we played the bottom team from another pool.

Since our last game of the day would be our last game as a team, the coaches let the kids choose their positions and go for it. To add to the mania, we spraypainted their hair blue, green and pink.

The game ended 1-1, so at least we didn’t lose ALL our games.

I don’t know enough about soccer to know what is a good or bad call, but the consensus among the coaches and parents seems to be that all refs are biased against our region and that isn’t just sour grapes speaking. One ref actually told our coach this weekend that our boys should take up ballet, because they obviously can't play soccer. Is it because we don’t play rough and dirty? Are they jealous that we’re too nice? It can’t be that we’re rich or spoiled, because we’re only from Torrance, not PV or Beverly Hills.

Anyway, the coach asked everyone to hang around after the game, because he had a surprise. I thought he brought popsicles or ice cream. Instead, he had a cooler full of water balloons! The kids had a blast! He did exactly the right thing to end a day that could have been very disappointing.

Armed Forces Tournament, Part 2
Soccer games continued yesterday. We won our first game against Central Torrance 1-0. Our second game ended 0-0 against Westchester. It was probably our most exciting game of the tournament. Both teams played hard. And the tie was enough to get us into the semi-finals against P.V.

We started out strong with a goal, but quickly fizzled. Our guys aren't used to playing five games in one weekend, and by that fifth game, you could tell they were pushing hard but struggling. We lost 2-1, but took fourth place overall in the U12 division. Not bad for a team that wasn't expected to win anything.

The best part of the tournament was that it was obvious how much each player improved, and that they now know how to play with each other. It was also the first time I heard them calling to each other, as well as trying to motivate each other. Each player is in the optimal position for him and the team, and the coach is using each player to the maximum advantage possible.

Our last tournament for this select season is the San Pedro Classic. Hopefully, the boys have more confidence (without the big heads) and can go on to place in that tournament as well.

4-0 No Fear vs. Diamond Bar
0-4 No Fear vs. Culver City
1-0 No Fear vs. Central Torrance
0-0 No Fear vs. Westchester
1-2 No Fear vs. P.V.
No Fear - 4th place overall

Armed Forces Tournament
Wow, this is a rarity. I'm actually writing about something the day it happens.

Today Scooter played in the Armed Forces tournament at the Field of Dreams. They won their first game 4-0 against the Diamond Bar Midgets. Wyatt, Scooter, Michael B, and Stefan scored goals. They were very impressive this morning. Then we came back this afternoon and got killed 0-4 by Culver City's Merengue (is that a dance or a kind of pie?).

Scooter doesn't score very often. He's a pretty good player (even his coach commented that it's too bad he has to play on such a lousy team), but whenever he gets near the goal, he gives the ball to another player to score. Fear of failure? Or of success?

Anyway, we have to be at the F of D at 7:20 tomorrow morning. I need to get up real early to make spam musubis. Maybe that will help Scooter score another goal.

Cost of Raising a Kid: $1,000,000. Benefits of Raising a Kid: Priceless
Fluffy: Who's the richest person in the world?
Wild Flower: I'd have to say me, since you already told me you're priceless.

Happy Birthday, Scooter!
Scooter is twelve today. He doesn't know it yet, but I bought him a really nice soccer ball and a cell fone!

Fluffy: Our boy is growing up!

F.O.R. Tournament 2006
Fluffy played in the FOR tournament this weekend. She had a game at 9:00 Friday night (yawn!), another on Saturday (which I missed), and their final game on Sunday.

I think we can all agree that Fluffy is not good at basketball. She does okay at practice, but in games she tries to be invisible. I can totally relate, because I did the same thing in sports when I was a kid. However, she has one big advantage, which is she gets good coaching, compared to P.E. in the seventies, when the teacher sent everyone onto the field with no instructions at all.

Anyway, Fluffy made a basket. The way everyone in the gym cheered, you'd think she was a "special" player. It was actually a pivotal point in the game. We had been losing by two points; her basket tied the game and from there we took the lead for the rest of the game, and won our only game in that tournament. After her earth-shattering basket, she got a little more aggressive, and was definitely more into the game. She took another shot and missed. But that's about 10,000% more than every other game she's played.

Slut
Out of nowhere, Fluffy asked me, "Did you have sex five or fifteen times?"
"What in the world are you talking about," I exclaimed.
"Well, it says here on your driver's license 'S-E-X: F...'"

I Need a Job!
Did I mention that I will be out of a job soon? Penmaker is moving Marketing out to Ontario, and when they find our replacements, we're gone. I, as well as everyone else in this department, have a lot of thoughts on this issue, but I can't share them in my blog lest I get fired for sharing them.

I can't believe how hard it is to find another copywriting job! My ideal job would be part-time and/or working from home. Actually, my really ideal job would be to stay at home and smother my kids.

Anyway, I'm looking at all my options - full-time, part-time, work at home, freelance. What's really discouraging is that I've been looking for the last few YEARS and I haven't found any freelance work in all this time.

Festival of Books

Flora and Fauna
Last, last week Fluffy was really bugging me to go on a picnic. But it was about 3:00 by the time we got home from Costco, so I said we had to do it in the backyard, which is just one big slab of cement. She made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, got juice bags and snack bags of Teddy Grahams, and spread her favorite blanket on the ground for us to sit on. And we ate our lunch and admired the flora (weeds growing through the cracks in the cement) and the fauna (ants). (we're city folk)

She's on this "bonding" kick right now.

Scooter was in the house, and Guido was in the garage doing something. Fluffy yelled over to Guido, "You know, you really should be bonding with your son!" Then she added, "And you should do it while he's still young!"

Then we had to do the usual pretending we were on a deserted island and there were piranhas all around us. Scooter joined us and we starting pushing each other off the island, and in our make-believe world my butt is now smaller after having been attacked by piranhas.

Bad Mom
Scooter was helping make dinner, and I told him to be careful with the knife he was using. He asked why (duh), and I said I didn't want him to drop it and chop off any of my toes. And he said, "Oh, I thought maybe you were concerned about MY safety."

My New Career - Cafeteria Worker
I'm always doing funky variations of recipes, just to keep the family on their toes. They hate it. One day I made meatloaf with lots of salsa and corn mixed in it. Scooter says, "This is pretty good. Maybe you can get a job as a cook in the school cafeteria."

Soak Your Head
Fluffy's hair was sticking up all over the place one morning, so I told her to wet it a little and comb it down. She says to me, a little incredulously, "You want me to soak my head?"

Prince Ali
If Scooter weren't so shy, I think he'd be good on stage. He loves to dress up, sing, dance, talk in accents, and make a fool of himself. But only in our house. Around everyone else, he's pretty shy and self-conscious.

Are all boys like this? He drapes himself in blankets and capes, wraps towels around his head, covers his face with scarves, and fashions pretend swords out of anything he can get his hands on. He came to me like this and said, "I'm Perrrrsian," (rolling the RRRRs), and proceeded to dance and sing from Disney's Aladdin, "I'm Prince Ali, ali, ali..." What a kook! I love that guy!

Drinking Age
Fluffy comes to me and says, "You know, when I'm nine and Scooter's twelve, we'll be old enough to go into a bar together."

Old Dinosaur Bones
I filled up gas yesterday. It's just a small, 14-year-old Honda Accord. And I didn't even get a full tank. And it was $36.25. I wish I could ride my bike to work.

Color Me a Rainbow
This weekend was fun. On Saturday morning, we went for the usual six-week haircuts in Hermosa Beach. I was vacillating between going and not going to Polliwog Park for Earth Day after that, but Fluffy wanted to go, so we did.

There was a guy singing silly kids' songs, and we learned a song in American sign language. Eco-Station was there, and we saw some cool (but yucky) reptiles. I've been looking for volunteer opportunities for the Rainbows. It's amazing how hard it is to find something for third-grade girls. You always hear about how they need volunteers, but when you try to sign up, they say, no thanks. So I'll keep looking.

We went down to the duck pond, and since we didn't bring any old bread, since we didn't know for sure that we were going there, we crushed up some pretzels and sprinkled those around. The ducks turned the other way, and the pigeons only wanted the big pieces. Even the animals in Man Bch are spoiled.

Fluffy and Scooter got free frisbees, and we threw those around for a while. We really need to learn some frisbee-throwing technique. Even the toddlers could throw better than we could.

I don't know why I was torn about going to Earth Day, because I end up loving it every year.

That night we got out the Model Magic and made lots of dolphins, starfish, fish, a crab, and coral plants for Fluffy's diorama project.

Yesterday, we met a bunch of Rainbows at Islands for lunch, and then headed across the lane to Color Me Mine. My kids have painted ceramics a lot of times, but I've never done it. It was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again. Next time I'm giving myself a lot of time, though, because I was kind of rushed yesterday. Fluffy, Scooter (honorary Rainbow and dreamboat) and I made Mother's Day gifts for Pau-Pau, Grandma and Auntie Kinu (#1 auntie in the world).

Fluffy and I did more painting at home as we worked on her diorama. I don't know why I always balk at painting stuff. It was a lot of fun. We mixed colors to get different shades of blue for different depths of the ocean. It was cool.

It's so nice when there's no sports going on. We get to be kind of normal.