A Break & Break-up

(I apologize for the email(s) you may have received yesterday that lead to a dead link, the button I wanted was right next to the “publish” button, and I totally hit the wrong button.  Twice!)

One of my favorite people told me the other day “I’m so sorry, I haven’t had time to read your blog” and I was all “That’s okay, I stopped writing it!”

And I did, and I needed the break.  I was serious when I told y’all that I wanted to live my life and not keep mental notes in my head of “Oh, I need to blog about this!”

The break did me good! But now, oh my gosh, I have stuff that has to be shared!! I mean, I would be doing every single one of you a disservice if I didn’t share it!

Last  we spoke, Mr. T had started his freshman year in college, a friend of his was borrowing our guest room and I was dating Adam.  You can catch up here if you are so inclined, but you aren’t missing anything if you don’t!

Humm… I can’t remember if I used his real name or not in my last post – but he isn’t active in social medial, so I can’t imagine it matters to him! He has social media, but he doesn’t even follow my Instagram account! Dude, we’ve been dating almost a year!

But let’s move on!

Mr. T is in his 2nd semester of first year and it is just awesome! He seems to be doing so well, and he really enjoys it – and he is still cheering!  In fact, if you follow me on aforementioned IG account, you’d be over-run with pictures from the last two competitions we attended!

It’s pretty awesome.  Both events were out of state, and I got to stay with one of my best friends in the world – it was worth the extra drive to get back and forth!

Mr. T’s friend who was borrowing the guest room moved out.

And moved back in 2 weeks later.  He is paying rent now.  We are working on getting him moving forward in his life.  He talks about all these grand plans, and I’m a task master helping to keep him on track!

Adam and I have been together almost a year – and guys, it was awesome.  It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a great relationship.  We were open with each other, we laughed, we adjusted and adapted.  I learned some good lessons about myself during this time.

Have you noticed that I am using the past tense?

He is moving away.  Just a few weeks shy of our 1 year anniversary, he is moving.

I’m not even upset – it’s for family, and it is the right move for him to make.  We’ve spent the last couple of weeks letting those in our life know, and now I’m sharing it with you! I will miss him terribly, and he  feels the same.  In fact, we both  decided that his mourning period should last about 6 month. We feel that is how long it should  take to get over me.

Okay, I feel that is how long it should take.  He just humors me by agreeing!

But, you know what this means?

That’s right.

Online dating is coming!! And you’re coming along for the ride!

You’re welcome. 🙂

For those runners out there – I’ve complete two races, one virtual and one in real life – both 5k’s.  And now I’m training for a 10k.  I’ve been working on increasing my mileage and I’ve hit week 11 of my training program, after having to take a week off, and then a recovery week – apparently I was pushing myself a bit too hard and my body rebelled!  I’m feeling better, I’m dealing with a medial ankle pain, trying to determine if it’s fallen arch or a nerve – it’s kinda in between the two symptom wise – but RICE is my friend, I’m doing ice compression at least once a day, and twice if I’ve done a run that is 5 or 6 miles long.

Love and missed you guys!

Kate

Funny Faces

Hello November! Nice to see you!

It has been a whirlwind October, but I’m so happy to report I survived #Unprocessed October!! I feel like I need a shirt or something announcing that!! I had 3 “exception” meals built in before I started, and that helped remove some of the stress, but I still faltered.  But, here’s the deal, because of the heightened awareness, when I did falter, I was able to identify the trigger at the time, so I am totally taking it as a win! I was able to see what situations lead to what food decisions – and that was very insightful.  And yes, I lost a few pounds.  🙂  so… #winning! And yes, I’ll probably do it again next October!

This was a unique October full of grand adventure.  We said goodbye to my beloved Grandfather, and then I think I spent the rest of the month making funny faces to a camera.

Don’t believe me?

We had several pep rally’s, and here is a great shot of Mr. T after one of his performances… he was awesome, he slowed his walk down so I could snap the picture!  Love that kid!

And then we made funny faces!  And were photobombed by the cheer coach.  It was pretty much greatness… even if Mr. T and I were totally out of sync on the face making!

BA and I went to the Meatloaf concert!

And when I say concert, I use that term loosely, it really is more like a show than a concert – it’s pretty awesome.  Above is the start of Paradise by the Dashboard light… and the end… needless to say, if you know the song, you’ll totally understand why her top is off! Like I said, he puts on a production!

And then we made silly faces!

We had Senior Night at school, before the football game all of the Seniors in activities are honored and get to walk across the field with their family, and it was my honor to be able to walk my son across the field.  I don’t have the actual picture yet, but we snapped one while waiting.  All of the Senior Cheerleaders had sashes made with their names, except Mr. T, he got a crown!

But first, we made silly faces!

BA and I also went to the Cowboys vs Seahawks game.  Man, I just can’t even.

But the cheerleaders were great! That is a positive, and Rick, the other guy in the picture, is pretty much the best host in the world.  We’ve worked together for so many years and he is so generous and shares these tickets with us each year, I’m so very grateful for the adventure he grants me each year!

And happy to have an adventure buddy that will take silly pictures 🙂

So, like I said, I think I spent the last half of the month making funny faces and sticking my tongue out at the camera.  At one point I asked BA if he was going to out-grown going to the games with me… we looked at each other and laughed, I have plenty of evidence to indicate that neither of us plan to really grow up!

How about y’all? Ready for November?

What is Happening in the Land of Did That Just Happen

There is no reason for that meme, I just found it the other day and LOVE it!

Okay guys, here is a quick recap of what is happening in the land of Did That Just Happen.

We took Senior Pictures.  I am blessed that one of my dear friends is a photographer and she has known Mr. T since he was little, so I knew I could trust her to capture his essence, and she did a great job.  Plus, she let me get in a few of them, and be still my heart.  I’m about to go pick this picture up, I had it blown up and put on a canvas!

After work the other day I ran into town and Flocked a teacher.  🙂  It’s a fundraiser we are doing for Senior Celebration, and seriously, when I waved at one of their neighbors as I was surreptitiously putting up almost a dozen flamingos, I was sure I was busted! But the flock of flamingos is up, and the teacher has been a good sport, and even tweeted it!  Our goal is to raise awareness and now raise some funds!

It’s #SeniorYear so that means MUM SEASON!! I can’t show you a picture of the mum Mr. T designed for his girlfriend, as he doesn’t give it to her until tomorrow, but the above sneak peak should tide you over!  And, for those not familiar with Friday Night Lights, I wrote a post last year to help you understand how big of a deal Homecoming is for us! (Oh, just FYI, apparently the kids at T’s school were discussing mums and googled it and my post came up, and well, wouldn’t you know, one of the girls IN THE POST was the one googling and saw herself featured.  Hey, I asked for the picture before I took it!! But it still cracked me up!)

Speaking of Friday Night Lights:

I’ll deny this if you ever repeat it, but I am going to miss being a Cheer Mom.  I did great at it! I stepped outside my comfort zone.  I volunteered for stuff.  I talked to people.  Like, seriously, I voluntarily spoke with strangers.  And, some of those strangers have become my friends.  While I have not cheered in the crowd with poms for more than 2 seconds, I have worn bling.

Bling people.

I’m just saying.

And then some sad news.

My beloved Grandpa, who was so fond of having adventures with me, passed away Tuesday the 6th.  He went peacefully and I know in my heart he was ready and he is in a much better place, and Heaven was happy (and lucky!!) to receive him.  He served God, his Country and his Family with grace and humor and love and I am a better person for having had him in my life.

And that is my recap of the last couple of weeks!  #Unprocessed October is still happening, and I’m amazed at how well I am doing… I did discover that Diet Coke and Cheetos are still my go-to stress snacks, and yeah, there were a few days that that happened! But all in all, it’s been a good way to kick off the Last 100 Days of the Year!

Now to finish preparing for Homecoming – but what have y’all been up to?

How Many Times Can You Hit Refresh?

You know what is my favorite key on the computer?

This guy is amazing.  He is my refresh key.  And as of Friday night, he is my friend!

Let me back up.

Last year, the most awesome kid in the world became the very first Mascot of the new High School.

And, he rocked it!

Not that I’m biased or anything!

Mr. T also ended up joining the competition cheer team – even though he’s never cheered or stunted a day in his life.

He did great! He made major improvements and, he found a passion.

This kid has loved being a cheerleader.

It has been so neat to watch him grow and change along this journey.  To see him realize that seemingly small decisions can have long reaching consequences and making changes in his life so that he can follow his passion has been amazing for me as his mother.

He decided over the summer that he wasn’t going to tryout to be the Mascot for his senior year.

He was going to try out for the Varsity Cheer Squad.

And this kid worked for it.

Friday after school they had tryouts.

Now, the girls all try out, and then the judges review the scores.  The judges leave and after they’ve left the property the girls are then released to go home and the Coach goes to her office to post the results on line.

All of the girls went home and sat by their phone/computer/ipad and they kept hitting refresh.

Except Mr. T.

Mr. T walked across campus because he had a theater UIL performance to give!

Which meant, I was home all alone, not knowing when cheer got out, not knowing when I should start checking for the results… and hitting F5 every 2 minutes!!

I started seeing pictures on Facebook of other cheer moms posting their daughters staring intently at their phones… so I started hitting F5 every 1 minute!

Oh look – there is a new page set up!  Click on that.

F5

F5

F5

Oh, the page now had headers!

F5

F5

F5

And then the moment I had been waiting for, and wearing out the F5 button on my computer for, had finally arrived…

My heart was overflowing with love and pride – and I grabbed my phone and texted Mr. T so he’d see it as soon as he was out of theatre, and then my friends and family that had been waiting – probably not on as many pins and needles as me, but waiting nonetheless!

When he got home that night, he was so pleased and in his own understated way mentioned how happy he was, and how glad he was that his hard work had paid off!  He mentioned that he really felt he worked hard and practiced hard, and it was nice to make the team as a reward for all of that effort.

Me? I was doing my own cartwheels!

In my head at least!

So, yeah, that happened.  I’m still a #CheerMom and will be sharing plenty #CheerIsLife posts during his Senior year! 🙂

Aren’t y’all lucky!