#MondayMusings

         It’s Monday, so it’s time to muse!  Today I am rocking out to pure nostalgia.  Anyone who knows me at all knows I am passionate about music, and if you know that much about me, you might also know that I love movies and own a vast collection.  This weekend I indulged myself and updated my collection with a DVD of “Dirty Dancing”.  While I have the video cassette, I no longer have a VCR.  Because of that fact, I have been steadily beefing up my DVD collection with some of the titles I love that I have on VHS so I can actually watch them again!

          With “Dirty Dancing”, I get the best of both worlds…amazing music and a coming of age romance that tugs at the ole heart strings for the bargain price of $5.00.  Now you can see why I couldn’t simply walk past this one.    I LOVE this movie.  It was released in 1987, a year after I graduated from high school.  My daughter and I sang along to all the songs, and I find myself still singing them today.  I have them cranked to full blast on Spotify as I write this.  If you haven’t seen it, you must!  If you have seen it, you must see it again.  It is well worth the effort.

             It was one lazy ass weekend at my house, staying up late watching movies, playing cards, and sleeping in until late into the afternoon.  Saturday was made better with a Notre Dame win, and Sunday was dominated with grocery shopping, dishes, house cleaning, and laundry.  I even managed to get a bit of knitting done!  Thanks to 4-H and my tutelage, my daughter is quite the baker so while I cleaned, my daughter made bread bowls which were filled more than once with homemade steaming hot chili topped with melted cheddar cheese and then promptly devoured.  I love weekends.  There is nothing I look forward to more, and unfortunately, there is nothing that passes quicker than a weekend.

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A War of Change

 

           During the 2012 season, Brian Kelly led his Fighting Irish of Notre Dame football team all the way to the championship game against the Alabama Crimson Tide.  That amazing season was marked by a YouTube “Fire Up” video with pictures of their journey accompanied by a song that I will associate with fall and Notre Dame Football forever after.

       While contemplating the music that most reminds me of fall, “War of Change” performed by Thousand Foot Krutch instantly came to mind.  After all with the trees adorning the majestic colors of fall, preparing for their ultimate descent, and the oncoming winter, the song’s lyrics and driving forceful beat are the epitome of the season change that transforms the world outside from summer greens to the rich red, orange, and gold of fall, to the bared branches of winter, to the ultimate rebirth of spring.   The song captures the sizzle and vibrancy of fall and brings the season to life for me.  After all, life is all about change.  Nothing ever stays the same.

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The Sounds of Autumn

      There is nothing like sliding in at the last minute!  As of yesterday I decided to take the NaBloPoMo challenge and blog every day through the month of October!

 

   My favorite sounds of Autumn include the crackle of a bonfire, the sounds of the Concord Marching Minutemen practicing at the high school, and the roar of an enthusiastic crowd cheering on the home team on the nights the football team plays.   Of course it wouldn’t be autumn without the enthusiastic screaming and cheering on Saturday afternoons that can be heard at my house while we watch the Notre Dame Football game.   It simply wouldn’t be Autumn without the enthusiastic chants of “Here come the Irish” followed by the exuberant strands of the fight song blaring after every Irish score.

        You can feel the excitement in the air.  It is electric.  You can almost hear the sizzle!  Football, fight songs, and cheering crowds…it is what Autumn is all about!

        

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7 Points At a Time

I am taking part in “The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st to 7th September 2013".  

     On a crisp autumn Saturday afternoon, there is only one focus at my house.  As soon as the game starts, all eyes are on the television.  The volume is raised.  We wear our blue and gold with pride and the excitement level is at a fever pitch. 

      The fighting Irish of Notre Dame take the field to thunderous cheers.  We cheer the Irish watching each play down the field celebrating each first down, arguing every bad referee’s call. 

        Touchdown Notre Dame!  We jump up and down in jubilation.  The fight song is played. The kick is up and it is good.  Seven points light up the scoreboard.  The crowd goes wild!  I go wild screaming myself hoarse.  No matter the year or how old I get, it’s tradition and always will be.  Go Irish!  Seven points at a time onward to victory.

Just Another Day

      It was just another typical Saturday.  Up to face the day way too early and still up watching Notre Dame’s football team take on Boston College way too late.  My son spent the last hour throwing up until he fell asleep in exhaustion on the couch.  My daughter sits on the floor concentrating intently on the yarn that passes through her fingers as she begins crocheting an afghan for next summer’s 4H fair.  

        The day has passed too swiftly and before I can even catch up, it is almost bedtime and I am tired.  I find I can not, and will not rest until the last seconds have ticked out and the game is over.  I must see it through till the end.  I must know if Notre Dame carries their lead to the end and is victorious once again.  As it happens, they are!!  As an Irish fan I am extremely happy they have continued their winning streak.

 

        It was just another day filled with grocery shopping, housework, and laundry which has ended watching Notre Dame football and soothing my youngest as he tosses his cookies again and again before falling into a deep sleep of exhaustion on the living room couch.  For the sake of NaBloPoMo, in spite of it all, I write.  There are no writing prompts, just everyday life today.  

       Thinking back on the highlights of the past week, one experience stands out above all.  Thursday evening my daughter’s 4H club volunteered at “Soup for Success” .  It was an evening of helping out an  organization who strives to help people in need to regain their equilibrium.  They train and prepare women for the work force, give them the confidence to stand on their own two feet, and help them recover from the devastating blows of poverty and abuse.  They raise funds to help people by assembling soup, dip, and cookie ingredients into bags and selling them.  That evening my two children and I lined up alongside other 4Her’s and their parents along a table and fulfilled a singular job that resulted in a bag filled with the ingredients needed for oatmeal cookies.  We worked for an hour and a half adding our designated ingredients into each bag.  When we were through the club had assembled almost 500 bags.    My 7 year old son stood on a stool beside me and with careful precision did his part by adding baking powder to each bag while his sister beside him contributed cinnamon and I added nutmeg.  I watched each of them working for the greater good and my heart swelled with pride.  

         Memories like that are priceless. As each day passes and fades, I will probably forget the details of this day but I will never forget that night assembling cookie ingredients with my kids.  That memory will always be precious until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
        
                  

Football Saturday

     At my house Saturday’s revolve around the fighting Irish of Notre Dame’s football games.  We plan all our activities around kick off.  It has always been so.  I was brought up that way.  I was thankful I could sleep in today because when I woke up, I was sick.  Not just a little sick, but a lot sick.  My cold was much worse than the day before.   My head felt like it was the size of the living room.  I could not breathe for all the snot.  What wasn’t clogged happily ran down my face with abandon.  I went through what seemed liked hundreds of tissues.  I took cold medications with no avail.

    The afternoon was spent on the couch covered with blankets with tissues at my side cheering Notre Dame on to victory.  I was hot, and then I was cold.  I was miserable.  As the game progressed, I forgot how sick I was for a moment.  I yelled, I screamed, I cheered, and I jumped up and down.  I am pretty vocal for Notre Dame Games and always have been.  I was brought up in a house where life all but stopped doing the football games and the tradition repeats itself at my house.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Notre Dame would pull another win out of the bag in triple overtime!!  I sure am glad they did!!  What a nail biter!  Hells bells, you could never claim that game wasn’t filled with drama.  I just love riding on the runaway crazy train of the fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

 

     Outside it was cold.  That didn’t stop the fans from keeping the stadium packed until the last strains of "Notre Dame, Our Mother" faded into the thunderous roars of the crowd.  What a season!!  What a game!!  I do believe Brian Kelly’s team of fighting Irish could go all the way until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Autumn Joy

Welcome to Day 11 of BlogFest 2012!  Thank you to Jenny Taylor at So Very Me! for today's writing prompt!

     Living in the heart of the Midwest I get to experience an autumn rich with color.  Living so close to the high school offers the advantage of hearing the roar of the crowds cheering at the football game and the musical refrains of the high school band performing without ever leaving my backyard.  I have always welcomed the chill of the air after the heat of summer.

     There is the thrill every Saturday of cheering on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame’s football team as they take on each opponent.  The fact that the team is currently undefeated adds to that joy this year.  Hopefully they will continue to kick a$$ and take names!!  I have cheered on the Irish my whole life and any day the football team is playing is cause for celebration, especially if they win. We dress in our Notre Dame gear and cheer the team on in style.  Before my mom died, I had the pleasure of attending several games with her.  I had the time of my life exploring campus, indulging in all the delicious food sold on the quad, watching the band march to the field and perform, and cheering on the team from the stands.

      I look forward to exploring the Pumpkin Fantasyland each year, and wagon rides into the pumpkin patch.  Eating hot soup and sipping apple cider.  Dressing up for Halloween and trick or treating with the kids.  Bundling up against the cold winds and arming myself with my leaf blower to attack the leaves that carpet the entire yard in a myriad of reds, oranges, and gold.  I love the bonfires to celebrate Halloween and the hayrides into the woods filled with goblins and ghouls just waiting to scare the beJe$us out of me.  While I love all the seasons, autumn brings its own brand of magic until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Holiday Weekends : The State of Confusion

      The Labor Day holiday weekend is drawing to a close.   Holidays tend to screw up the works.  If you thought perhaps you knew what day it was before the holiday, you would be pretty sure to not know by the end.  This weekend, Monday feels like Sunday or Saturday  and Tuesday is supposed to be like Monday, but really isn’t!    I am in a state of confusion.  If I didn’t have kids to get on the bus in the morning I can assure you  I wouldn’t know whether to wind my a$$ or my watch!  Even television is screwed up!  Normally I know it is Sunday because the E! channel show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” is on.  This week  the season finale is on Monday night.  Thank you E! Channel  for adding to my confusion!

       For me it was just another weekend.  My husband was on the road, and the kids and I were left to make due.   As is typical for weather this time of year, one day was hotter than the blazes of hell, then a killer storm blew through, and the next thing I know it is a chilly 50 degrees.  Saturday found the kids and I eyeballing the television watching the Notre Dame football game.    It was the first time in the history of Notre Dame football that a game was postponed by the weather not once but twice. They evacuated the stadium twice giving the Irish plenty of time to get their act together.    Evidently touchdown  Je$u$  was not amused by the performance of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame since lightning bolts were striking bad enough to postpone the game.  Seems like a big wake up call from the big guy to me!   Even with the interruption, the Irish failed to pull off a win.  Reminiscent of his father’s successes, Skip Holtz led his team, the South Florida Bulls, to a 23-20 victory over the 16th ranked Irish much to the home team fans disappointment.  Considering the Irish’s erratic playing,  I am amazed they were able to close the gap to 3.   

       Following the storm that extinguished Notre Dame’s hopes for a win in their season opener the temperatures dropped substantially causing one to realize fall had officially arrived.  Labor day weekend was quiet.  We spent the holiday playing games in the camper, feasting on chips and dips,  finishing up the laundry in preparation for the start of the week, and brewing up a big pot of chili to complement the cool breezes outside.  I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday weekend making memories with their families that will last a lifetime.  Even though it seems like Sunday, my computer says it is Monday!  There I go in a state of confusion.  Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a truckers wife.