Bitter Cold

When it came down to it: I really wanted a trophy.

I know the whole thing was supposed to be about charity (and Successfully Single did raise a LOT of money for Habitat for Humanity. The event was sold out and the voting alone raised about $1100!) and having fun and I did meet a lot of really nice people and did something I never in my life thought I would ever do (dance in front of 800 people? I don't THINK so) but in the end, after I had worked so hard and made more than a few people believe I was really a dancer I just wanted to go home with a trophy so I'd have something to show for all my hard work and I KNOW that is the wrong attitude and I would NEVER EVER let my kids feel bad and bitter about not getting a trophy after learning a new skill and pushing themselves beyond what they thought they were capable of and having such a great time and finding out (again!) what great friends and family they have and I am embarrassed and ashamed that I feel that way at all and also have a horrible, horrible cold which I'm sure was totally caused by my bad attitude and I deserve to be all stuffed up and headachy and phlegmy and hoarse and yes I would do it all again even if I knew the result would be the same but....

I really wanted the trophy.

I'm so shallow.

Deer deer

I almost ran over a deer on the road tonight for the THIRD time this year! Was on my way to pick up Daughter from skating carpool and a deer was just meandering through the street – la-de-da. I think it was saying la-de-da, but I did have the radio turned up pretty loud. There’s a pack of deer (is pack the correct term? Is it herd, pride, sorority?) that lives in my subdivision and I have run into them several times while out walking. They are not afraid of humans and, in fact, will stop and stare at me like I’M the anomaly. “Look, Deer, a human! What is she doing out of her natural habitat? I wonder how she survives out here?”

I am still angry about the deer eating my tulips. I have tulips in my front yard (that I stole from my old house when we moved here) and every year I take a picture of my kids sitting on the big rock with the tulips in the foreground. As we drove home one night in May Daughter commented that we needed to take the tulip pictures. When I went out to get the paper the next morning, all the heads of my tulips were missing! The stems and leaves were still there….and there were hoof prints in the yard. I did some googling and found out that tulips are like ice cream for deer. Like my front yard is a Ben & Jerry’s!

I have been anti-deer ever since, and their road antics aren’t helping their cause any. So listen, Bambi, don’t make me pull out my bow and arrows (and the trophy I won for archery in 4-H in the third grade!). This doesn’t have to get nasty. Go in peace. And stay away.