Why I hate Hobby Lobby (Not really)

Isaac’s birthday is coming up in a few days. Since we’re on spring break here (yay!) when his birthday falls, we decided to send in his treats and things Friday.

I figured a pan of brownies, a bunch of cupcakes…

Nope.

My child requested CAKE BALLS. Dipped in “superhero colors and with superhero sprinkles!”

Do they even MAKE superhero sprinkles? Seriously?!

So, I ended up having poor Doug bake the cake while I went to the IEP meeting (another post. trust me.) and had a small punch biopsy (just a precaution. No biggie. 2 stitches. Nothing to it).

While it was cooling to the perfection of room temperature, Isaac arrived home. I asked him if he would like to join me on my errands, and he of course, was thrilled to do just that.

So, instead of making the Michael’s run, I decided to head over to the newest craft store in town now that all of the hubub of it opening has died off a bit-Hobby Lobby. I’d heard of the chain, but never had an opportunity to go into one.

I was first floored by the fact that they were closed on Sunday for “worship and family time.” It was interesting to see the whole Worship thing being tossed out there. It seems that in this society, saying something akin to organized religion is a surefire way to get you lambasted and your store boycotted. It’s insanely refreshing to see that they just don’t care. Seriously.

Then, Isaac and I encountered the hugeness of this store and the sheer epic magnitude of everything. I had to get directions to find the candy making supplies to get the chocolate!

Since we decided to browse, Isaac and I ended up doing a full circle. It was then we ran into it.

No, not yarn.

Fabric.

My other craft nemesis.

So, my darling child makes a beeline and says:

“Mommy! Look! Fabric!”

Yes. I saw that.

So, begrudgingly, I aquiesced to making the small boy yet another blankie. He doesn’t need it. Seriously. Linus doesn’t need yet another blankie, but the fabric! The low cost! The nice stuff!

Yeah, I had a shiny attack.

So, I allowed him to pick out what will be the loudest, most obnoxious blanket in all of the stuff in this house. It’s really, really loud.

One side-Spider Man.
One side-planets and stars and galaxies.
Binding-blue swirly fabric.

This is one loud, loud blankie. I’m not shocked coming out of the shrimp.

I was pleased to discover that they didn’t just have a few things here and there and try to be everything to everyone. There were some really high quality items there, at awesome prices.

This was a horrible thing to find. Hardcore.

So, I will be back to Hobby Lobby. I just won’t take Shrimper with me until the “turn off your blankie” blanket is done. I can’t take another fabric run just so soon.

Hockey games, disgustingness and the trade proposal of 2011.

Saturday night was my annual birthday soiree at the hockey game. I leave the guys at home and I go and hang with the girls who some days, I wonder if they’re a bit groupie. But I do it once a year, and its really just as fun as it is every year.

So, I went downtown and met up with Puddle at the local eatery. We had dinner, and chatted about the evening’s matchup. This is last year’s beloved team versus our current team. Who do you root for in this case? Do I root for the team who put me on the path to hockey mom status or do I root for our current team?

Oh, heck. I’m just going to not care who wins.

Especially when our team puts in the goalie who has been a serious sieve, even when they called up the rock solid one from Trenton. ARE YOU LISTENING? STOP PLAYING THE GOALIE WHO ALLOWED A CRAPLOAD OF GOALS! PLAY THE BRICK WALL!!!! I DON’T CARE IF WE’RE OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS! STOP SLACKING!!!

ok, rant to the management over.

So, I got my ticket and sat over with Puddle. We went to our usual spot for warm ups, and when we came back, our seats were taken over by a family, or at worst friends who had taken our jackets, bobbleheads (you know-the one of the traded player-LOL!) and dumped them on the arena floor. Not an auspicious start. Seriously.

Now, did we have the tickets to prove those were our seats? Dang straight we did! BUT, since there was a whole row empty, we figured we’d play nice and just bump up a row. Meh. We had a better view anyhoo.

AND we could hear the penalties and things. Turns out that was quite the evening for penalties, as at one point I even tweeted that I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.

But I digress.

So, as the game went on, the crew in front of us made me glad I didn’t have Isaac with me. It was a display of how NOT to behave at a game. The kids of the group were shredding styrofoam from the bobbleheads and throwing it around-I was covered in small beads until I said something. I was polite, but I did state that I didn’t care for being covered in styrofoam. Then, there was the nacho fight-huge thing of nachos. Throwing at each other. Parents saying nothing.

They even allowed the kids to run around up to the glass and shout rude things at the players from the Albany team.

No, this is not RPI or Union. Yelling “You suck” at every turn isn’t really the thing to do.

Then, during the third period, the be all and end all of disgusting happened.

The older of the two boys had a large soda. He decided it would be a good idea to whip the straw out with his teeth, throw it on the arena floor and then spit an entire mouthful of soda on the floor as well.

Yes. Straw and mouthful of Sprite on the floor. Add that to the shredded foam and the torn up 50/50 tickets and the remnants of the nacho fight and oh, EWWWWWWW.

I was never, ever so happy to see a group leave. Ever.

So, after the game, I went with Puddle and crew out to the back to wait for the players to come out and chat with our old team.

The player that started Isaac playing hockey didn’t make the trip up from Charlotte because of a concussion (see? Goalies get head injuries too! Head injuries equal ick!), so we didn’t have an opportunity to see him.

However, there were some of our favorites who came out and spent a lot of time with the group of us. As we got to talking, one of the guys said how much he missed it here.

I don’t quite understand that, as I spent most of my years trying to run from this area, but I can respect it.

So, at that point, A, who is most times, Puddle’s sidekick, came up with a trade proposal. 3 of ours for him.

It would be a good trade. Bring some life back to this team that sorely needs a good shot in the arm instead of call ups to the big guns in Jersey.

Well, the offseason is coming. A lot quicker than we thought this year, and there is a lot of time for trades. Can we at least get some D here in Albany?

but again, I digress.

Declaring his intentions already

The other day, Isaac and I went to Bombers Burrito Bar because he’d been asking for tacos. He wanted Toxic Bell, but I wanted real food-not 75-80% meat and the rest fillers. Plus, Bombers makes a killer pulled pork burrito/taco/what have you. AND it is a LOCAL joint.

But, back to the point.

So, this particular Bombers is covered in Union College material. It’s right by campus, so you would figure that it would be. The main piece of Union stuff is a jersey and a stick hanging on the left wall by the cash wrap.

Isaac started jumping up and down and pointing it out to me. Normally, I wouldn’t have minded this, but I was attempting to order tacos! COME ON! Pick-Chicken, pork, beef, tofu…COME ON!
So, after strongarming him into ordering we got to talking about the jersey.

It was then that Isaac did something that still tests my loyalties to this minute.

Sidekick and crew-avert your eyes.

He said:

“I’m going to play hockey for Union!!”

I said:
“Not RPI?”

He said:
“Nope. Union.”

Well, there you have it.

Coach Leaman, are you listening?

Well, I didn’t want him to play for Coach Appert anyhoo.

Dear Entity that Controls the Weather

This has been a civil conversation thus far. Now, the gloves are off.

I don’t think you understand our working agreement. As of 3/31, each year, there is to be no new snowfall. The forecast tomorrow better be your idea of a prank and the snow better not show.

If it does show, and you kill my awesome crocuses (crocii?), you and I will be having more than words. Seriously.

The threat of a foot of wet, heavy snow does not sit well with this snow hater.

Your Thoroughly Annoyed Fairweather Friend,
Laura

Chara, Pacioretty and my worst nightmare

As we come into my favorite time of the hockey year, playoffs, things ramp up. Chances get taken and things happen. There are times that grudges get settled or something stupid happens and the league…well…is just the league.

Currently, take the latest case that has taken over the headlines and voices of the entire NHL.

Zedno Chara hit Max Pacioretty. Watch the video at your own gasp inducing risk.

End result for Pacioretty? A fractured C4 and a concussion.

Not good. So not good.

Punishment for Chara?

a 5 minute penalty. That’s right. a 5 MINUTE PENALTY

The league felt that there was no reason for any further action.

As the debate rages on if Chara should have gotten suspended-I think he should have-accidental or not-I wonder if the league will finally make the changes to hit to the head rules before Isaac gets far enough to check.

I think this is any parent’s worst nightmare. Their child getting hurt, seriously in a sporting contest. I know it’s mine. I cringe when Isaac hits his head on the ice, even though it’s in a helmet, because I know what head injuries do.

Some days, I wonder why I allow him to play hockey-when players’ heads get hit into turnbuckles, when vertebrae get broken. The last thing I want is a severely injured kid.

Then, I think about it. I realize that there are catastrophic injuries in every sport. You look at the kids in football who take one hit and fracture their necks. You look at basketball where an ACL injury is almost a badge of honor.

It’s one of those things that as long as my darling Shrimp plays sports, I’ll have to shove to the back of my head and know that the coaches are doing everything in their power to teach him how to be safe.

Now, can we just stop showing that awful hit?!

Oh, heck, just label it!*Giveaway*

It’s that time of year again…time for kids to lose everything and the time of year that we parents are gearing up for summer camp!

The first thing you are told when you send your kids to camp is to LABEL EVERYTHING. As a former camp staffer, I can’t stress this enough. I sat through so many incarnations of the “lost and found show” that I could do it in my sleep. The amount of stuff that was lost and was without a label of any kind was insane!

When I sent Isaac to day camp last year for the first time, I made sure every.single.thing of his was labeled so that it would make it back to us. It was a real pain in the neck to sit and write his name on every little thing that went to camp, but to me, to get his water bottle back or whatever he lost or forgot to bring home.

Since I got sick of labeling everything by hand, I was looking for a new way to label the kid’s stuff.

Enter Loveable Labels Camp Packs!

These packs are just the ultimate in labeling STUFF. Each pack comes with:
•15 Regular Sticker Labels
•40 Slimline Sticker Labels
•72 Press n’Stick Clothing DOTS
•12 Shoe Labels
•2 Mini-Metal Tags (two 4” silver ball chains incld)
•12 Square Labels

We chose the “movin’ and groovin'” pack. Spaceships, race cars, trains? Yeah. That suits us here quite fine, thank you very much!

The mini metal tags immediately went on Isaac’s backpack and hockey bag. Hey-we’re doing hockey camp this year! He needs his tag on his hockey stuff! The shoe labels are awesome-we stuck two of them on Isaac’s skates. Hey-everyone has black skates. It’s hockey. So, these super sticky labels went on the inside of the skates and now, he can just peek inside the skate and see if they are his or not.

The one issue I thought I’d have was the stick factor. I figured that these would pull off of anything after a few days of rough usage. NOT SO! I tossed one on a water bottle that gets banged around day after day after day and it still holds! Also, I’ve sent it through the dishwasher, and it’s still there, as vibrant as ever. Also, I tossed one of the clothing dots on Isaac’s jacket and it hasn’t even moved from where I stuck it. These things hold like I’ve never seen a label hold.

These will totally avoid the humiliation of your stuff being held up during the lost and found show!

So, you want these?

Lovable Labels has generously supplied me with a “Camp Pack” for one lucky winner! Thanks, Lovable Labels!

To Enter: Go to the Lovable Labels website and leave us a comment (one per day only, please) telling us which one of their amazing product is your fav! Once you’ve entered by leaving a comment, you can gain additional entries:

Follow @mylovablelabels and @kileigh7on Twitter and tweet “WIN Camp Pack” from @mylovablelabels @kileigh7 http://www.kileigh7.wordpress.com. leave us the link for extra daily entries.
‘Like’ Lovable Labels on Facebook for one extra entry. (Write Laura sent you on their facebook wall so I can verify)
Mention this giveaway on your blog and leave us the link for one extra entry.
This giveaway ends just in time for Camp Season at 11:30pm on April 1. The winner will be selected by random draw and will have 7 days to respond to our notification email before another winner is selected. This giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.

Disclosure: I was given a camp pack by Lovable Labels for my use and review. One pack was provided for giveaway. No other compensation was given. The opinions here are my own.

Movin’ on up?

We’ve come to the end of another hockey season. I can’t believe we’re here! It only seems like yesterday we went gear shopping for our own gear. Hey-can you blame me for the loaner gear last year? I didn’t know that we’d be in this deep with hockey. I had secretly hoped we would-that Isaac wouldn’t wash out and he’d be as happy as a clam playing a team sport, but I wasn’t sure.

So, when last year, we made the decision to move him up to Mini Mites from Intro to Hockey, with the assurance of the coach he’d be FINE, we kept a spot in Intro just to make sure that he was covered on all bases.

Hey-you can never be too careful!

We ended up keeping him in Mini Mites. Two days a week seemed to fit well. As the season wore on, we were faced with the inevitable choice of keeping him in Mini Mites one more year or move him to Cross-Ice Mites for next season. It seems early, but you really have to think of these things. For us, it’s also a time thing. This year was two days a week and if we move Isaac, it would be 3 days a week-one day of drills and things (which is currently our 2nd day now) one day of skate (with the awesome Coach Randall-which is our first day now) and one game day (which we don’t have now.)

About a month ago, Isaac began to make these huge improvements, rather than these small tiny unnoticable ones that would make us keep him back in Mini Mites.

Now, we seriously have to think.

Do we move up, or do we stay put.

Hrm.

But, no matter what, it’s worth it to see this

Saving the Bobbies

 

So, when I was in college, I had the bestest Educational Psychology prof. I had heard good things, but come on. You never know. So, the class fit into my schedule and whammo, bammo, I was in.

I met Bob Malloch on the first day of class, where he asked us to call him Bob. His exact speech went something like this- “I’m Bob Malloch. You can call me Mr. Malloch, because I am a guy, and that would be appropriate. You can call me Dr. Malloch, because I have my PhD from Texas. But, what I really like to be called-is my handle- Bob. ”

 

um. Ok.

 

Bob was a kindred spirit from the word go. Monty Python loving, joke throwing and all around smart and awesome guy. One day in class, he went on this huge tirade (in the way only Bob could…which wasn’t really a tirade…but it was close enough) about how all the bad kids in examples are named Bobby. Why couldn’t they be named Jack, or something else?! So, we all promised him we’d “save the Bobbies of the world.”

 

He said a lot of things about family, trips with your kids and other things. It was quite the class. A lot of those things stick in my head. Like giving homework…but that’s another blog entry for another day.

He also told us that he had HAD cancer, and he was the only survivor of that particular kind of cancer. Great! He’s standing, he’s teaching! AWESOME!

Then, I never thought anything more of it.

 

Let’s fast forward to me moving into the area. I started knitting at Trumpet Hill yarn shop, and one of their instructors, Carolyn Malloch taught a class or two that I took. Last name sounded familiar, but I never got around to asking if she was related to Bob. Just kinda never thought to.

 

So, this week, the weekly email update from Trumpet Hill came through, and there was the date and time for a Celebration of Life for Carolyn’s husband, Bob. wait. Is this the same… no, can’t be. So, I dove to the paper and found the obituary. Yep. This is the same.

It’s yet another person in my life who helped shape my insane career. I’ve pretty much made a career out of “saving Bobbies.”

Think about it.

My first placement at “Ghetto Middle”

My love for the toughest kid in the room.

The Juvies who took care of me while I was pregnant with Isaac

They’re the Bobbies of the world.

And thanks to Bob, I remember that I need to try and save them every day.

Maternity Leave + First Grade = ?

This year, we were blessed to have a much better experience than Kindergarten. The rub in all of this? Isaac’s teacher left for maternity leave. Her last day was Thursday. The kids get the long term sub starting tomorrow.

Now, let’s get one thing straight here. I have NOTHING against this long term sub. I met her at the Valentine’s Shindig and she seems perfectly fine. Mrs. J, the regular teacher assures me that the kids are in good hands. She was even in on the interview process that hired Mrs. M.  Plus, with this economy, there’s a lot of really good teachers out there without jobs.

My largest issue here is one I’ve been through before. This is the 2nd year we’ve drawn the short straw and gotten a long term sub. Last year, Miss H. was out for 2 months because of a tonsillectomy. Now, we’re losing Mrs. J until the bitter end.  For a kid who knows how to work things and thrives on consistency, this is not cool. Not at all.

So, now, it’s all about how to handle the transition. How to handle Isaac when he decides to go off the rails because Mrs. M. is not the same as Mrs. J, and he tries to pull his garbage with her.

I love the fact that Mrs. M has extensive first grade experience and I love the fact that when I was in the room she was genuinely interested in really getting to know each child and their personalities. I think she’s got a decent handle on Isaac’s silly, stubborn and sensitive personality.

So, again, the jury is out. We’ll see what happens with the class, Mrs. M. and how Isaac fits into all of this.

Please…let’s have as good an end to this year as we have had the first 100 days!

It’s not a disability, and you are a moron.

Today, I was doing my usual troll of my favorite blogs-and I stopped as I always do at Consumerist. There were a few things that caught my eye-a guy railing at B of A, a guy who was foreclosing on a Wells Fargo office (awesome…), but one thing really stood out. It was so blatant that I had to delve deeper.

So, here’s the story. You can read it here, but I’ll give you the Cliff Notes.

Guy goes to one of those AWESOME all you can eat Sushi joints that are prevalent in SoCal.  Guy is diabetic. Guy starts peeling the fish off of the sushi and eating the fish and leaving the rice. Owner goes to guy and says that he needs to eat the rice as well, as that is part of the sushi. Guy says he can’t eat rice. Owner offers him solution by offering to charge him 3.00 less for 2 orders of sashimi. Guy declines.

THEN, here’s the best part…

Guy leaves sushi joint and then PROCEEDS TO SUE THE SUSHI JOINT FOR DISCRIMINATION AND HUMILIATION because…

ready?

HE HAS A DISABILITY!!

Umm. Yeah. Right.

Let’s just break down how moronic this guy is in a few easy steps.

1) He was eating sashimi anyway. Just pay the guy. You’re getting a deal.

2a) Diabetes is NOT a disability. It is a medical condtion. You do have to take pains to control it, but come the heck on!

2b) There’s nothing in the “diabetic code” that says you can’t eat rice. Limit, yes. Not eat? Nope.  Even when you are (as this guy is) on oral meds, you can still eat rice.

3) He violated the rules. There was no  discrimination.

4) Just because you didn’t eat the rice doesn’t mean you are entitled to 4,000.00  for “humiliation and undue duress.” Seriously.

It’s no secret I’m a sushi fiend. I just cover my meal for the additional carbs in the rice. I don’t do a lot of rolls…I’d rather do the nigri sushi. Mmm. Yummy.

There is no way I’d even think of 1) leaving the rice. It helps make the meal. There’s so much flavor in ONE BITE of rice… and 2) demanding that the rules of an establishment don’t apply to me.

Diabetes isn’t a disability.

This guy? he’s a moron. Plain and simple.  I hope the judge laughs him out of court and the sushi joint gets triple the business that they have currently.

(disclosure: I know this place, I’ve eaten there. Yum. I’ve got no ties other than I saw the name of the place and said “yo! I know that place!!)