I don’t know about y’all but I have been listening to the soundtrack of and High School Musical II (I know I’m a middle-aged coaches wife but I love those movies) and that, coupled with all the brightly colored school shirts I just saw in town at the grocery store and I am pumped for tonight’s kick-off. Isn’t the first of the season grand?
Following on the heels of yesterday’s on free stuff - here’s another one - the DVD box set of Season One of
. My mother and others constantly asked if I watched this show but I never got around to it. I planned on buying the collection when it came out yesterday, but I may wait a few days to see if I can score a free DVD. The season
is Friday, October 5. I will have to record it because I will be busy watching our school’s version of Friday Night Lights.
I always fold the slip of paper at an angle before dropping it in the box when entering raffles or contests. The reasoning I was told many years ago by a professional prize winner was that the “pretty girl” who pulled the prize out of the hopper would grab onto the pointed-end sticking out of the pile so she wouldn’t break her nail. It never worked for me, but I have had a teensy bit of luck entering contests online. A word to the wise: set up a free email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) that way your inbox isn’t inundated with SPAM. I am a habitual player of and have come close several times (you have to be quick and current with USWeekly photos), but my only win online so far has been the
and
. I recently entered
contest for heel protectors. I love high heels but I am deathly afraid of wearing them to games for fear of scarfing them up in a gravel parking lot. As I come across other contests, I will post them here.
A in the
paper a few weeks ago caught my eye - the
football team had started two-a-days but some key players were still competing in the Little League Senior World Series. They were
to choose between pre-season work-outs or wrapping up a championship season. They chose the latter and made it all the way to the
in Bangor, Maine, before losing to Georgia - the same state that handed
a loss in the Little League World Series finals in Pa. Tough decisions needed to be made all the way around. I have always believed that athletics gives you the groundwork to make big decisions and take responsibility at a young age. Even coaches continue to learn from their players.
Is anyone else enjoying Lubbock’s run in the ? It’s been fun to watch one of my “former hometowns” march toward a World Series Crown. I’ve never been interested in the stories focusing on batting averages or the pitch count (too many years with my desk adjoining the sports department) - I’ve always had a soft spot for the other types of stories surrounding sporting events. I particularly enjoyed this story in the
from a Mom’s perspective. Not only am I the wife of a coach, but I’m the mother of athletes and I can relate. So, when I saw the mother of 12-year-old player Bo Ricks trying to give him a good-bye peck in a dark parking lot before the team left for Williamsport, Pa., I could relate to the mother leaning forward and the boy pulling away - too old to kiss his mother in public. But I loved that photo and have gone back to it many times since it first ran on August 16. Tonight, I looked again and I saw something I had missed before. In the shadows, nearly hidden I can see his hand reaching for her’s and holding on. I know that hand. And, I have felt it many times. My thoughts tomorrow will be with the Mom’s, hoping they can hold on….and for the boys who will need that hand after it’s all said and done.
I have the best friends. I really do. Last week, one of my friends gave me a bottle of her new miracle product - Village Naturals Therapy for the Body Muscle Relief lotion from . She knows I spend up to 12-14 hours in front of my computer and thought I could dab a little on my neck when I started getting headaches. I tried it several times this week and it worked. Be warned, it smells like
(which brings me back to my high school days during the first week of softball practice), but with a fresher fragrance (juniper, sage. wintergreen). She found it at our local
. So, it’s affordable as well. I couldn’t resist surprising her the next week with my new miracle product
One of my buddies wrote this hilarious today in the Amarillo Globe-News on pet peeves. On the same day, one of my favorite bloggers, celebrity make-up artist
wrote an entry on
. My eyes quickly ran down the entries, hoping my morning routine wasn’t glaringly pointed out. I previously have shared my
finding the make-up counter, and I constantly read books and blogs to improve my techniques. Elke’s entry is a good read and gives some good tips. Enjoy.
Two-a-day football practices have been harsh this week in Texas as temperatures soared into triple digits. Several school district administrators, including those in have chimed in and set parameters for coaches when the Texas sun reaches its peak. One high school player from storied Southlake Carroll was treated for dehyrdation according to the
as have several others from the Houston area, but the one story that caught my eye was the University of Texas’ take on the situation. In this
story, AP writer Jim Vertuno describes how Longhorn players swallow a thimble-sized mechanical device that monitors their body temperature. A hand-held device communicates with the pill telling trainers when players need to be pulled to the sidelines and cooled down. Most at risk for overheating: linemen - the players near and dear to my heart. At a cost of $30 a pill, only 25-30 professional and college teams are able to use the pills - others relying on coaches and trainers to keep a handle on heat exhaustion.
Life in , a small six-man school district in the northeast Texas Panhandle will slow down on Friday nights. The
reported that not enough players came out for two-a-days to field a team. I look at last year’s photo in the
and I see many of the same faces I have watched for years on Friday nights across Texas. I don’t know anything about that team or players from the 2006-07 season, but in a way, I know each and every one of them. Let’s hope the extra time in the gym produces a successful basketball season.
In Class 3A Stafford - right outside of Houston - administrators are working to put coaches in the driver’s seat — the bus driver’s seat, that is. is reporting this morning that coaches would do a better job than the substitute bus drivers they have used in the past.
In the Panhandle, Amarillo ISD is facing a lawsuit from two mothers whose sons were injured in an automobile accident while being transported by private vehicle to off-campus batting practice. Details are in the
Long ago on the coaching trail, two fellow coaches wives famously lugged a thermos of steaming hot coffee to football games. They savored that first sip — all I wanted to do was warm my hands other the mouth of the jug. Years later, I too became hooked on coffee and now understand their crazed approach. We now make coffee in a 12-cup pot in our house and it’s usually a race to see who is lucky enough to drain the last drop. The Coach, who is known for his thrifty ways often tells me that “Life is too short to cut corners on good coffee.” (I say the same thing about shoes….) My father has always advocated coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts (and converted The Coach) - it was a staple in our neighborhood growing up - but it is difficult to find in our area. The only way I could get my hands on it was through mail-order, and it was pricey after you added shipping and handling. You can imagine my joy when I when I read this morning’s
Dunkin’ Donuts coffee will be sold in retail grocery outlets, including large warehouse stores. Five ground coffee flavors will be for sale, as well as whole bean in the medium roast flavor. 12 oz. bags will be $7.99 with 40 oz. bags priced at $16. Can this day get any better? (Only if Entenmann’s Crumb Cake could be packaged with it)
I am the mother of four and the wife of a high school coach in a small town in Texas. It is a job in which I was unprepared but which I have embraced with passion, tears and enthusiasm.
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