13

Today I woke up, jumped out of bed and quickly wrapped 3 birthday presents for Signe - she turned 13 today! She was born on a Friday the 13th and she has lived up to that ever since. I love how passionate she is - she's all over the board with her emotions, temperment, and energy. She's either having the best day of her life or the worst and you will hear every single detail with volume accents.

She got a cell phone and it's "ALL" she ever wanted. I've heard about this phone for 10 months now and I guarantee it's been on her mind every single day for the last 3 years. You see, she is a true Diva and all divas need the bling, bling accessories. She bought her 1st coach bag on Rodeo Drive, LA. The girl will work as hard as she needs to in order to get what she "needs". She would have found a way to purchase the phone herself if I would have allowed it. It was fun to watch her open it and to see her jump around.

I went on a run with Charlie this morning and I am so sloppy - out of breath, gasping for air, begging to walk at each corner - pathetic. But, I did it. I let myself go run when I should have been cleaning house for the birthday party tonight. That is an accomplishment in itself - I am trying to stay balanced and do something for me every once in awhile so that I don't get so frustrated taking care of the family. I've also made friends with the laundry, so it's all good in the Parsiola house this morning!

Cross Country

Whoa, I did NOT know what I signed up for this time. I have been a Sunday school teacher, a girl scout leader, soccer coach, tennis tournament circuit chauffeur, PTO president, real school teacher for a full semester, and so on, but the CC thang, whoa.

Try to get Jr high and high school kids to run for 4 miles after school when they are hungry and tired of being told what to do and how to do it - yikes a moly. They look at me like I've asked them to clean my house, detail my ride, and cook dinner! You want me to do what - the warm up is how many laps? Lady, are you the torture monster or what?

I pray a lot during CC practices. It keeps me calm, motivated, and consistent. The kids are tricked into thinking I'm laid back and calm when I'm sometimes frustrated, hot, and ready to spew crazy negative comments.

I once told my 5 year old nephew to run faster when he wanted to walk that all little boys can run forever and ever, amen. He asked me all about that and I kept reassuring him that boys don't need to rest. He replied,"I'm not lazy, I'm just tired!". I don't ever want to be critical of these sweet kids that are trying to run for the first time in their lives, so I'm a little psycho cheerleader pump up the jam chica running all over the field yelling, "way to go Alexis and Bree, turn up the heat, crank that, catch those boys in front of you!". My four daughters just look at me in disgust - what an embarrassment - my 40 year old mother trying her hardest to be hip. I once told their friends as we drove off,"Peace out, dogs!" They cracked up - what a super nerd. Sorry, girls!

Mosquitos

Today at my daughters cross country practice I had mosquitos biting me all over my feet as I recorded time splits with another mom (I'm the head coach for the Jr and Sr high teams). I thought it was so strange that the mosquitos loved me, but didn't seem to affect her nearly as badly. When I thought I was going to scream or pull out my hair I looked down to see what it was about my ankles that they so adored only to discover my feet completely covered in ants! Stupid ants. But it was all ok, because I knew that right after practice we were headed to my mom's house for chicken that my grandmother (88 yrs young and a professional chef) had cooked. I am so blessed.

The Name

When trying to figure out what to call this animal - I love to "play" at everything I do - even triathlon. You see, I'm a "completer" and not a "competitor" and there's a big difference in the two. I have 4 amazing daughters that are at the center of my life so naturally I'm thinking tri and 4 and play = tri4play (and then I smiled to myself).

Play and fun are the core of what this life is about - it completely freaks me out that I am 40 years old and I feel like 13. I constantly have bizarre and outrageous thoughts like a teenager and wonder when the %$# I'll grow up! It's downright scary at times when I'm biting my lip to not embarrass myself by saying something totally inappropriate. I do have fun at work and at play and I feel better about myself when I am working very hard (and getting lots done).

I'm headed off to watch more of Hurricane Ike! Wish us luck!

Hurricane chicken fight

Hey...Gustav!! Wanna chicken fight? Go get Fay, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine and BRING IT!! We'll whoop your ass!!

This is a perfect picture of poor parenting - what you do with your kids who are wearing you out during a hurricane. "Go play in the hurricane, kids!!'

Out here

Strange. Here I am a girl that has journaled every single day for over 23 years and yet I feel so awkward typing this. I stopped journaling a couple of years ago for some personal reasons and out of the blue started this today.