Long time, no post....

Ok, so maybe not TOO long. But, it's been a few days. Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes & thoughts. I really appreciate it.

Well, let's see.... I caught a nasty little head cold on Wed. that's been making my life miserable. I got home Wed. night & found out that Puck had chewed up the handles of my GOOD sewing scissors. Dumb dog! Also got home & found that DD had gotten her first DR (detention). Turns out that on Monday, she "accidentally" hit a kindergardener. One story (the teacher's, from what another student told her) is that this little boy was waving his hands in the air & getting in DD's face. That she got annoyed & she swatted his arm out of her way. DD's story is that yeah, the kid had his arms in the air, but she was uncrossing her arms & that her hand connected. That story is as believable as the other, as far as I'm concerned. It wouldn't have been an issue, had she not connected physically with one of her best friends a couple of days later. She & her friend were sitting around in a circle playing or something, and somehow DD managed to inadvertently hit the friend. Enough that the friend was crying, but everybody (friend, the other best friend, other kids) vows that it WAS an accident. But the fact was that 2 times in 3 days she'd been overly physical & connected with other children. It got her a DR (disciplinary report) which resulted in her being sent to the Principal's office. The principal said that if DD had just come down & calmly accepted the semi-scolding (because they all say they adore DD, they're just not sure WHAT has gotten into her), she could have gone on her way with just that. But, she got belligerent & started yelling & screaming & wound up with detention for it.

Then, Thursday, right off the bat DD got belligerent with her teacher over DD's inability to read some notes that DD'd written just a couple of weeks before. Then she shoved this 100$ piece of typing equipment (they're learning to type & the activity was teaching them to read notes & type them up) across the desk from her, almost dropping it on the floor. So, the teacher gave her a DR & told her to head to the Principal's office. Well, ironically the principal was in the same corridor, and heard DD screaming & crying as DD was sent from the class-room. DD was so disruptive & loud that a couple of other teachers popped their heads from their class & asked if the principal needed assistance with DD. *sigh* The Principal said she was absolutely stunned to see this kind of attitude from DD two days in a row, and that she was trying to calm DD down & get her to the office before DD wound up embarrassing herself in front of all her friends.

So, I went in early on Friday to talk to the Principal (again, finding this out because of the pink DR slip sent home with about 2 sentences about the occurrences) about what's going on. Turned out that in the second case, there was never an option of DD getting of lightly on that one (though, here at home DD insisted she didn't do ANYTHING wrong, of course), seeing as how she got belligerent & disruptive from the get-go. In the first case, not having met the reporting teacher (and having had a past experience with an adult lying about DD's actions to cover their own inconsistencies, and DD getting a bum rap for it), I wanted to find out all sides as to what had gone on. And again, if DD had calmly accepted the scolding for being physically careless, she wouldn't have gotten a DR in that case. But freaking out & throwing temper tantrums (esp. at 9) is NOT tolerated. *sigh* Anyway...... Well, THAT was fun.

Still don't know WHAT prompted the freak-outs, seeing as how DD generally doesn't do that in public (though it's certainly somewhat common here at home). We're going to try to get her to talk to the school counselor. Possibly she'll talk to him. And he's a nice guy with a couple of little girls of his own, about the same age as DD. The Principal brought up the *shudder* possibility of DD having early-pubescent hormone swings. She's started getting acne (only a little bit) and having BO, though none of the other signs of puberty as of yet. So, it's a possibility. Not that hormone swings EXCUSE this behavior, but it may help explain it. And she's not too terribly much younger than I was. About a grade younger, but only about 6 months younger than I, when I started hitting puberty.

Which leads me to the OTHER big thing for me...... (Guys may want to stop reading now.)

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I went & bought 3 new bras today. I HATE these things!!!!! I've spent most of my "adult" life (anything after puberty, for these purposes) NOT wearing them. (I've had them, and I've refused to wear them ANY longer than necessary, even escaping to the bathroom on my way out of interviews just to remove the dreaded things & stuff them in my purse for the next unfortunate occasion.) I've yet to find a bra that's so comfortable I can wear it without having to rearrange SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE on a fairly regular basis. And, at MY size now (bigger than I WANT to be, though a lot of people say I don't look as big as I am), most manufacturers don't make these things without underwires. Which, I REFUSE to wear. I mean, I'm not an animal to be caged, I'm certainly not going to strap wires around my body just to maintain an illusion of unnatural body shape. On the other hand, the "girls" were starting to sag enough that it wasn't comfortable, and they're getting in my way a little too often (and a couple of times I've caught "them" in places that leave me hating that I have them at all). So, I figured it was time to bow to pressure a little bit, and get a couple of NON-wired bras that fit. HOWEVER, I had stringent requirements before I purchased them. I found that Fruit of the Loom makes bras (not just sports-bras, either) for plus-sized women that don't have wires (or tags, the tag info is printed on the inside just like those new fruit of the loom shirts). I picked 2 to take with me into the dressing room. The last size I recall purchasing, and the next size up. Turns out it was the next size up that fit. Well, once I figured out which one could be strapped on without cutting off air-flow, I sat down. I knelt. I crawled. I leaned forward. I leaned backwards. I reached one arm over my head, the other, both. Up, down, side to side. Slouched. Sat "like a lady". It fit. It didn't dig in, in the areas most frequently dug into. It's still not totally comfortable. The band under my "girls" still flips up a bit, but not as badly as some. The arm straps still have that uncomfortable adjustment ring, but these bras (I bought 3, one pink, one white with pink rose-buds, and one beige, they didn't have any "plain white" in my size) aren't quite as bad as ALL the others I've worn. I think I can handle this. I'm wearing one right now just to get accustomed to it. I'm not happy with it, but I think I'll manage. And my "girls" aren't getting in my way as I'm sitting here, typing this, so in that respect they're doing what they're supposed to. Maybe now my more fitted shirts will hang properly. I'm sure I'll still have days where I REFUSE to put one of these things on, but.... Hopefully I'll stick to wearing them most of the time, as I DO know they make things drape better. Make my nice clothes look like they're supposed to. And besides, wearing pink rosebuds DOES make a girl feel just a bit girly. Even if the undergarment itself looks more like something you don't want to see from Mom's closet, than something you'd see in Victoria's *ecret. Can't win 'em all, I suppose. Besides, only ONE man will be seeing this garment, and he's seen me in (and out of) worse. *wink*

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Ummm, let's see..... DD had another game today. This time against our favorite of our local two co-ed squirt teams (the team "the brat" is NOT on). We tied 2-2. It was a good game. Our girls were incredible (heck, the other team was great too, but I'm braggin' on "my" girls) and played their positions extremely well, esp for having 2 team-mates out sick, and one girl very late to the game. DD made some incredible saves. A couple of them that SHE didn't even realize had actually saved the puck, until the ref pulled the puck out from her leg-pads. LOL A couple of times we thought for SURE that puck had gone in, only to see DD stand up & drop the puck in front of herself. Just..... WOW!!!! And what's really amazing is that a lot of the kids from the opposing team come up to her and compliment her. They root for her when they're not playing her. They're parents are very complimentary. The other coaches are very complimentary. And not just the usual "good game" but more specific, and often awed, compliments that show a person actually thinks a lot of one's performance. So, 2-2. Not bad. Not bad at all.

And another of the little girls on our team (the smallest, as a matter of fact, though not the youngest) was the team-mate who scored OUR two goals. Not the teammate who has a fantastic break-away, but another little one (who's only real drawback is that she's got a hard time stopping). And a third of our little girls (the youngest on the team, at 7 years old) has finally found her courage to get in there & get after that puck. She's yet to score in a counted game, but she's finally found that core of strength that allows her to go after the puck & not just let the "boys" skate past her with it. If she can improve her puck-handling skills a bit more, she'll have a killer break-away as well. I'm just so amazed to see these little girls who were bashful at the beginning of the season really finding their strength & seeing their (greatly, in some cases) improved skills. It's incredible. Maybe Saturday morning practices (or games) aren't as funny as they were when the kids couldn't stand upright on two feet more than 3 or 4 steps (better than watching Saturday morning cartoons, then!), but it's fun in a whole new way. Because you get to see a lot of kids get out there on the ice & test their skills against others who are (hopefully) similarly skilled. You get to see them push their limits and learn. You get to see them fall on occasion, and get back up and go for it again. And you get to see them ROCK that ice!!!!! Our kids or "their" kids, it's incredible watching ALL of these kids grow. Maybe it's best when you recall that little boy at 2 years old, in diapers climbing on the slide in the nursery, and be able to compare it to his growth now. But even those you haven't had the joy of watching grow..... It's just fantastic.

Those are the kinds of moments parents really should have more of. Less of the temper tantrums. More of the times where you can see exactly how much your child, or children that you've known & loved, has grown. And more times where you see that despite the tantrums that happen on occasion, these are mostly great kids. Kids who can root for each other, when they're not playing against each other. And even when they HAVE been playing against one another, they can still give an honest "great save" and "awesome shot" to their opponent. It's really special.

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Ok, I suppose that's it for this post. Though I do want to turn around & post my recipe list, as requested by a couple of people a few posts back. So, I'll be back. *wink*