World Cup thrills

Today Dean and I watched the US team win the game against Algeria.  It was just a thrilling end to an exciting, nervewracking game.  Landon's goal at a minute in of stoppage time (90 + 1 min) was just incredible.  The entire game was exciting - the disallowed goal because of a questionable offside call... then several shots on goal came oooooh, so close!!  Algeria played a very defensive game but provided some nerves as some of their shots on goal came too close for comfort.  At the final whistle, I cried some happy tears.

Not saying that I had anything to do with the victory, but this morning I picked out my clothes with Team USA in mind and decked myself out in red, white and blue.  I added my fun little soccer ball print socks and completed with some RWB beaded earrings.  Back when I reffed soccer, an AYSO friend of mine made me those earrings.  It brought back memories of those days and I wished I were in contact with the old 6/A AYSO gang again to watch the game or at least chat about it afterward. 

Today I made a really yummy "Poor Man's Gumbo" that used canned tuna - it was delicious and I was pretty pleased with it.  Dean had "pizza night" as he always does on Wednesdays, and Matt is still at his cousins' in Appleton.  I'm hoping that Dean will like it for lunch tomorrow.  He's not the biggest fan of tuna.

I know this is totally random, but I love the "Bing" commercials now called Los Links.  They are done in the telenovela style with high drama, in Spanish with English subtitles.  As an aside, and to complete the theme of the Copa Mundial (that's the World Cup, don'tcha know), normally when I watch soccer I end up watching it in Spanish.  I had found over the years that I didn't enjoy the American commentators' style of complaining about the refereeing.  I don't understand Spanish very well, so I tend to enjoy just watching the game without the commentators' "color" and opinions to muddy the game.  Since I'd done my (tiny and by comparison completely unworthy) time on the pitch, it made me sensitive to the ref's side of the story.  And it's not fun to be questioned on a little tiny scale.  I can't imagine how it is on the scale of the World Cup games.  That being said, the Mali referee that disallowed our 3rd goal against Slovenia really made some baffling decisions.  He should be the most thankful person in the soccer world, because now his blunder will not be considered to be responsible for keeping the US from going to the knockout round, as it most certainly would have if we had ended in a draw today.

Thankful for today - duh!  I know this is a such a worldly thing to be thankful for, but today I am thankful that the US won their game today.  It was a great and enjoyable game, and it was a blessing to be able to enjoy it live with my dear husband at my side.  Thank you, Lord, for the "beautiful game".  Whether we win or lose, soccer is a blessing from God. 

Cheers!

Hell's Kitchen, football, and other thoughts

I'm a little late to the party but I have begun watching Hell's Kitchen with this season.  I worked with someone who loved the show and she had encouraged me to watch it.  I'd tuned in a couple of times but never watched consistently.  I was looking for something new to watch on Tuesday nights now that Glee is over until fall and decided I'd give it a try again.  Of course, I wonder why they have to speak the way they do.  Tonight's episode is for service to children, yet all of the comments in the kitchen require the bleep and blur treatment, repeatedly and with alarming frequency.  I only hope the children in the dining room are shielded somehow from the expletives.  Uh-oh, just as I wrote this there was an incident where Ramsay had to remind someone not to swear in front of the children.  Question answered.  Ouch.

Evidently Ramsay was also a football player - we call it soccer here LOL.  One of the teams won a reward where they went to a British pub and saw a picture of him in his uniform.  I love soccer, love watching it, loved refereeing it back in the day...  Tomorrow I'll be watching and cheering for Team USA to advance out of group play in the World Cup tournament.  Hopefully they will play well against the Algerians and win the game decidedly.

Things I'm thankful for today: clean sheets and a washer and dryer to do them with.  We're having some friends visit this weekend and to prepare I decided to wash all of the sheets, comforters, etc. in the guest room and Matt's room.  Matt has a double bed so he will be occupying the guest room and Wendy and Chris will be in Matt's room.  Since Matt is off visiting his cousins I was able to get the sheets done well in advance.  Whew.  So that's completed, and plenty of time to plan the menu for the weekend.  Our friends are picky (well, more picky than I'm used to) so I will need to plan carefully to ensure that I don't pick items that they dislike.  I'm really looking forward to their visit.

In closing, go USA!!!!!!  Let's win this and advance out of group play!!

Intermission interrupted

I established a blog nearly 3 years ago, posted twice, and abandoned the blog.  In the interim, I've considered restarting it several times, and then life got in the way.  Truthfully, I didn't make time.  I've never been much of a journaler.  I was the kid that always wanted a diary, put it into a safe hiding place, and wrote in it faithfully for 3-4 days max. 

Lately, I've been thinking that I'd enjoy blogging again, so I'm going to try to post something every day.  I can't guarantee that it will be very clever.  I have no commercial purpose for this.  Despite the title, it probably won't have very much of a stamping focus.  Oh, I'm not saying that I won't ever talk about stamping.  I still enjoy stamping very much, and I do spend time reading stamping blogs for the eye candy.  I'm eagerly awaiting my first look at the new SU! catalog.

However, my life is about more than stamping.  I'm going to be real and say that stamping has been a tremendous blessing (providing me online and in person friends that I didn't have before).  It's also been a burden due to some undisciplined spending on my part.  I have to forgive myself for that, and move on.  So in my blog I'll be focusing on things I enjoy, things I'm thankful for, and things that challenge me.  It won't all be sweet and lovely.  I will strive to be real, authentic, and transparent. 

I can't think how to transition into this, but here goes:  I should never watch Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate.  I love watching it, love it.  But seriously, it's like food p*rn.  I end up craving whatever is their theme of the day.  For example, today is "Sweet Tooth".  I don't eat a lot of sweets.  I've acquired my overweight due to just eating too much and not exercising enough.  I tend to overeat meat, potatoes and the savory.  Sweets don't tempt me as much.  Put me in front of a tray of gorgeous chocolate cupcakes, I'll eat one.  Put me in front of savory snacks, even if they're not so tasty or special, and I still will eat... and eat.  Today's episode has me just wishing I could lick my TV screen.  Is that wrong?  LOL

Well, I guess I should wrap up this post.  I like to end my day by thinking of things that I am thankful for.  Sometimes they're big things, sometimes small - of course they are all blessings from the Lord, who lavishes so much on us every single day that it's impossible to enumerate them all.  This weekend we attended my niece Amanda's graduation party.  It was such fun gathering with family and friends to celebrate.  It made for a busy weekend, but lots of fun.  Thank you, God, for family, friends and good times.

Until next time, cheers!