Catching Breath and Catching Up

I finally feel like I'm back to a normal schedule. I don't know if that means I'll be able to post here more often, or keep tabs on Twitter or Facebook, but I'll try. Here's some of the stuff I've been wanting to talk about but didn't have time:

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Soccer
Number One started off on a pretty weak team, five years ago. They built to a winning team that took their division twice, but with high school changes, she's essentially on a new team that's... Well, let's just say they play hard but it's not enough. It's okay. Winning isn't the point, it's just icing. The point is playing well and having fun, and she's got both of those in spades. Okay, I might be having more fun than she is. :) She's gotten SO much better over the past year, watching her is pure pleasure. And she's been scrimmaging the boys at practice. What mom wouldn't puff up with pride that the boys are afraid of her daughter?

Number Two was in a tournament last weekend. It was gorgeous weather, though the prevailing winds didn't make the sewage treatment plant next door all that lovely on Sunday. Her team did pretty well, up against some tough competition, and everyone had a great time.

Except for the cardiac arrest factor. The tournament was double elimination. So you could lose once, but then that meant you had to play more games to get to the championship. They won their first game, but lost the second. So the third was BIG-time important.

Number Two was in goal when the game ended in a tie. This particular tournament doesn't do overtime—they do a shootout. So as the last five or ten minutes wound down, I started getting a little crazed. Number Two had never faced anyone in a shootout before. I was worried about her anxiety level(needlessly, as she was cool as the proverbial cucumber). My anxiety level was, of course, through the roof. Her father was at Number One's game, where Number One had just been carted off the field with a (minor) injury. My in-laws were in Ohio, watching the Cleveland Browns get slaughtered. So there was a flurry of text messaging going on, until J couldn't stand it anymore and called me as the last shot was about to take place.

But let me back up. Number Two took every one of those shots like a pro. She came out at the perfect time and either blocked the shot completely or took away their angle so the shot went wide. Two of her teammates scored, so they won! They were so proud of themselves, they spent the next hour strategizing how to get to a shootout in the next game. Which they lost in the final minute with a flukey shot from a team they dominated. :( It was disappointing, but they bonded a lot over the weekend and had a great time, and that's what it's all about.

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TV
I'm catching up! I'm very sad Haven is over, and so glad it got a second season pickup. The revelations at the end were pretty intense. Nathan's reveal to Audrey that he can feel her touch was a little too low-key for me, and I'm worried it will be deemed less significant because she has effects on all Troubled people. (In other words, Audrey/Nathan romance, please!) I just hope they don't start calling her Lucy. I like Audrey better. But OH, the questions that come up!

I really like Hawaii 5-0. I love the relationship between Steve and Danny, but I like all of the characters, and that they have lives and problems beyond the bad-guy-of-the-week. I think this is my favorite new show of the season.

The Event is interesting, but I don't like the daughter who's the center of all the action, and I don't like that the aliens killed all the plane people. I'm a couple of episodes behind.

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My chapter has begun a 50/50 challenge, which is basically 50 words a day for 50 days. It pushed me to read through my WIP (at midnight Tuesday LOL) and I've written 1569 words so far over two days. It feels so freaking good! It's been way too long.

But every time I think I see the workload lightening, something else comes up and smothers me again. So it's going to be a struggle to keep going.

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Which means I'm going to stop this blog post (that I started yesterday morning) now and get back to it...