Triumph, tragedy, and a few other tidbits

1.  Triumph: N's volleyball team won the championship in a tournament yesterday.  N. played pretty much the best he has all season, which was wonderful to see. This championship was particularly sweet because two years ago we got our first (and one of only two) victory of the season.  That season was the first our boys volleyball team was in existence, and a 2-15 record was brutal for players and parents alike.  Winning is much more fun than losing.  You heard it here first.

N's girlfriend and J spectating

2.  J, who normally couldn't be much less interested, actually watched the last match.  When I told him later that it was really nice to see him watching his brother play, he replied, "Well, duh...it was the championship!"

Yes, I do have a husband.  And I'm sure he was having more fun than it looks in this picture.

3.  We went hiking yesterday on some of the trails I normally run on.  The difference between fall/winter and spring is very evident.  The trails are much easier to see, but much more overgrown.  J, who was only guilted into going by repeated mentions of Mother's Day, had a blast.

"I do not want to fall down there!"

4.  Tragedy: when we got back, I was bringing in a bunch of stuff from the car and dropped my phone on the driveway.  Face down.

This is your phone on crack.

I looked at some videos on replacing your iPhone screen, and that was enough to convince me that I need either a friend who's smarter and handier than me (not so hard to find) or to pony up the money for someone else to fix it.  Anybody local want to volunteer to help me out?? (hopeful smile)

5.  For breakfast today, I had chips, guacamole, and wine.  Breakfast of champions.  Or alcoholics.  One of the two.

6.  Am I the only mom in the world who would prefer to spend Mother's Day on my own?  This "holiday" is too much build-up, for sure.  My ideal Mother's Day would be to sleep in, get breakfast out, go for a long bike ride or run, have a pedicure and massage, lunch out, get a new book and spend the rest of the day in the hammock with it.  You can add margaritas in there at most any step.

7.  I bought my own Mother's Day gifts.  Some Bath & Body Works lotion and body wash, and entry fee to the race of my choice.  Jeff added in Run Like a Mother, which I've been wanting to read.  I also ordered The New Rules of Lifting for Women, Cardio Strength Training, and Run Less, Run Faster.  Looking forward to reading those, learning something from them, and hopefully filling the gaping hole that is my strength training.  Thanks for the suggestions, Luke!

8. D is going to take me to see Jersey Boys as my MD present.  I'm torn between being touched and urging him not to spend so much money on me (he just got his first paycheck from his first non-babysitting job).  As he said, though, "I've never really spent any money on you before," so I'm going to just appreciate his gift and the time together.

9. J made a MD card at school where he had to fill in some blanks.  Here's one of my favorite pages:

First of all, I rarely help him with his homework.  Because Jeff gets home earlier, he usually has J picked up and homework finished before I pull in the driveway.  Second, get a closer look at the illustration.

See his incorrect fact family?

How does he immortalize his mother's loving homework help? Me looking at his wrong answer and saying, "Nope!"  Or, as he recalled when I mentioned this, "Nope...wrong!"  The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure those fact triangles are one of the last things he did when I helped with his homework, which suggests that his recollection of my supportive guidance is most likely right, too.

10.  On Laima's suggestion, I entered my marathon blisters in the 2Toms Worst Blister contest on Facebook.  (after some technical difficulties, likely user error).  Although I spared you the sight of them unless you wanted to click on the link, now I'm asking for your help.  If you're on Facebook, I'd appreciate it if you would "like" 2Toms and then find my nasty picture and "like" it, too.  If my picture gets the most likes, I could win a 6-month supply of 2Toms products and have no gross blister pictures to inflict on you all any more.  So really, by helping me, you're helping yourselves.  :)