I'm Impossible!!!

Not really, but this is what Rachel says ALL the time.  It is kinda like a mantra for her at times!  The kids might suggest I am annoying from time to time. I get too many eye rolls to count anymore.  Personally, I think I am just "spirited" or maybe even stubborn (if we need to be negative).  It is merely the price I pay for always being right!  (I think I even kept a straight face while I typed that!!!!)



Rachel used to say that I have written a book.  Every time I point out something she has never seen or heard about, she asks me which chapter of my book it is in, or even which page.  At first I was confused, but once she explained that it was in my "Great Big Book of Everything" book, because I have an answer for everything and at least pretend to know about everything.  I cannot help it.  I am a man!  I at least pretend to know a little about most things.

However, the problem is not just me.  I live in a house full of people that are always right.  It is what causes most fights -- parent v. parent, kid v. kid, or parent(s) v. kid.  Mom is probably best about making the first concession, but only because she knows that it will end the fight the fastest.  The rest of us dig in our heels.  The kids even manage to sustain their fights throughout the entire day/weekend/week and are amazing the way they can get under one another's skin.  I might have passed along that trait genetically, but you won't hear me openly admit to it!

We have friends, you know who you are, that have what I consider more normal households.  They don't get loud.  They talk through things.  They don't alarm their neighbors because of the shouting over who gets the last scoop of ice cream!  (okay, maybe they do this last one, but that's just because it is ice cream!)  But I would rather have loud, outspoken children than quiet ones who just accept everything they are told.  I like to think that if someone ever has the gall to kidnap either of them, they would gladly return them before the day is over because they wouldn't be able to stand the volume for prolonged periods of time!!   

It would probably do us all good to learn to compromise better.  Learn to listen to the other person and not just entrench ourselves and wait for the battle to begin.  Oh, and the other genetic part we need to keep in mind is that both Ben and I get a little cranky when we are hungry.  That Snickers commercial about the hungry friend becoming a diva when they are hungry resonates really strongly with the males in this house!

What is it about stubborn people?  Why am I always so impossible?  How is it that Anna and Ben have taken up this helm and wear it with pride even when I am not so proud of it?!  I guess it is just difficult to be right all the time.  And each of us knows it!

Keep in mind these are just random thoughts, not judging or trying to say anything about any other family we know.  Just pointing out characteristics about them to demonstrate how different my family is. PLEASE no one get offended!  This post was written with a huge slice of sarcasm.  No one in my family is actually right any more often than any other human being.  We just have the inability to admit when we are wrong.  Fill a house with that, and things get interesting!!!

Football Season!!!

Some men hunt and spend hundreds of dollars each year on equipment and weeks spent out in the woods.  Some are into golf and spend most of the nice days of the year out hitting and chasing those little white balls.  Others like NASCAR and enjoy a racing season that seems to extend itself so often, I am not certain that it ends anymore.  At least a few friends enjoy hockey and spend all their time and money watching fights they call games.  I don't understand those into professional basketball or even baseball, but to each his own!


Admittedly, I too, have a problem.

The great part about each September is the beginning of the NFL season.  To me.  I might not be in the majority in this opinion, but there are several million fans that do agree with me.  Unfortunately, I'm not in the majority in my own home.  They are mostly gracious about it and allow me to sit and watch tv all day, especially at the beginning of the season.  As the weeks progress, they find reasons and ways to try to lure me away from watching my team, or any team, if they are good enough!  I have to admit as the season progresses, I do not need my "football fix" as much as I do when the season starts.

But I am also responsible about my addiction!  I have a group of friends that chooses one game each year to attend.  We start planning as soon as the schedules come out in April, make decisions about who is going and where we are staying.  We save up to buy our tickets and have a little spending money for the weekend. We spend one weekend out of the year together, and we  have a good time.  It is usually a wonderful weekend  of bonding time with friends.

 

 

 

How this applies to my family is their tolerance level.  Rachel was originally less tolerant about my love for football, but ultimately has accepted it and allows me my small vice. (She is going to kill me for this graphic!)   The kids just accept that I will be watching a game all day Sunday and find other things to do.  I have tried to justify it by saying that I don't have an expensive hobby or anything that actually takes me away from my family for prolonged periods of time. 

 

So why do I feel guilty?  Is it just the Catholic upbringing rearing its ugly head again?  Do I neglect them in some way or spend money on things that I shouldn't?  I don't think so.  When it is not football season, I do all that I can to spend time doing the things they want to do.  Actually, during the week, I spend most of my time helping with homework, or being an assistant coach, or volunteering to help out at scouts.  Still, the guilt persists.

I have been trying to merge family and football for the past two years, but have been unable to take my family to a professional game yet.  The cost is just prohibitive at this time.  I read an article  a couple of years ago about a reporter taking his family to a Dallas Cowboys game at the new stadium they have in Dallas and the day cost him about $800.  I doubt it would cost us that much for a St. Louis game or even one in Nashville, but it would likely be about half of that.  Tickets, concessions, parking, a hotel... those things add up.  So it has been an unfulfilled dream.  Some day maybe.  Until then, I guess I just have to live with the guilt!

 

 



That Time of Year!

Each year has four seasons.  They pretty much repeat themselves.  So you would think, that by age 42 I have had a few come and go and I would be prepared for the fast pace that accompanies each Fall.  Once again, school has started and it is like the starting bell at a horse race -- you can almost feel the rumble as things start happening around you, at a pace you struggle to understand, much less keep up with!  However, we make it through every year, and this year will be no exception.

With the start of school, we have daily schedules and special pick-up times.  Homework seems to be a constant with both kids this year, and I am sure the projects will start soon.  For reasons I cannot fathom, we are doing multiple fundraisers at school again this year.  In fact, we just wrapped up one and I am sure there is another right around the corner.  I apologize in advance to those of you who the kids repeatedly call!


 

 

 

 

 

We also have scouts, American Heritage Girls for Anna and Webelos for Ben.  Other than the weekly meetings, we will also have pinewood derby designs, popcorn sales, campouts, badge-earning projects, and candle sales.  Friends and family, beware!  Ben is not totally sold on Webelos this year, so we will see how it goes, but Anna's group plans to go to Disney World next summer, so I think she is solid!

           

Anna is playing soccer and I am the assistant coach on the team.  We started on Saturday and won decisively, after playing the team that we battled during scrimmages.  Anna got kicked twice in the first quarter, right in the ankle and ended up coming out.  After resting, she went back in during the second half and finished strong.  Overall, the team played well together, earning a much needed rest instead of having practice this week!

 

 

 

On a down note, Anna and I have both been injured.  Anna's soccer game got the best of her and she was in her boot for a couple of days.  Not to be outdone, I actually broke my toe at Holiday World on Labor Day and was in and out of my own boot because of swelling and pain in my foot.  Neither injury was bad, so we will both be back at it.  But we were Wonder Twins there for a couple of days!

 

Ben has been a little down on me going to my Mason meetings in the last few weeks.  I had talked to the family about my commitment and becoming an officer in December and what it would mean, and they were all okay with it at the time.  But now, Ben gets a little down that I have to spend some time there every Wednesday night.  Actually, it probably is not as much about my meeting time once a week as it is about me spending several other nights a week at work and him not getting to see me.  We became pretty close buddies over the summer and he just likes me to be at home at night!

 

So the frenetic pace of Fall is upon us, but we are keeping up with it at this point.  Soon, the holiday season will start.  Ben has already been planning the Halloween party for weeks, and is terribly excited about it again this year!  And as usually happens, once Halloween is here, Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be right around the corner.  Yikes!!