Amazing Week!

We are 3 for 3 this week!!! First, this:

2008 World Series Champions!

Second, my son's high school football team won on Friday night and secured their Texas high school championship playoff spot!!

(85 is my son)

Then, my other son's school defeated #1 Texas in an amazing college football game.

(5 is not my son - this is my son)

Steve Irwin's Revenge

I am a lifelong Phillies fan, and since I'm pretty old, that's a long time. When the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, I had just gotten married and moved to upstate New York. My husband was working second shift, and I sat in my apartment alone watching and crying and wishing I could be there for the victory parade.

Now, I sit in Texas and watch them battle it out again. Too far away from Philly to participate, but not too far to cheer on my favorite team again. My oldest son was home from college this weekend, and we all got to watch them beat the Rays last night in one of the more bizarre finishes I have ever seen. Love the Philly crowds - there are no better fans in any sport (contrary to what opposing teams may say). Now, just two more games to win..... they have to do it!

I was back in Philly last May and went to a game at Citizen's Bank Park. Incredible place. The last time I was in Philly, Vet Stadium and JFK Stadium were still there. Yes, it's been way too long.

Win this one for the Gipper.... err, make that "Win this one for the Croc Hunter!"

Bar.Restaurant.Bait

Time for a change ....... COFFEE

It is a few weeks past my 49th birthday. That means I am beginning my 50th year (as my husband likes to point out grrrrr). And I am thinking that there is stuff I need to do in my life. Doesn't everyone have things that they are always going to get around to doing? My list is pretty long, but today I am going to do something that is easy and doesn't require much effort (or money).

I am going to teach myself to like coffee! Yes, I am 49 years old and I don't drink coffee! To be honest, I've never really tried it. Oh, well I've tried a sip now and then. But probably not in the last 30 years.

I have always loved the smell of coffee. Who doesn't? It's warm and aromatic. It smells like my mother's kitchen when I would wake up in the morning as a little girl. It is the scent of diners in the wee hours of the morning after the bars close when I was a twentysomething who still went to bars.

I have been a tea drinker all my life. I love tea - all kinds of tea. Black tea, green tea, herb tea..... no milk, just a little bit of artificial sweetener (sugar left my universe about 15 years ago).
Once I moved to Texas, I learned that you had to be specific when you tell a waitress you want "tea". If you say "tea", they bring you a glass of iced tea! You must tell them "hot" tea. That is just the opposite of ordering tea in the northeast.

I have a coffeemaker. It is here for when we have guests, or for my mother. So I decided this morning to make coffee..... FOR ME.

Smells so good. I know I added too much milk, but let's start out with baby steps here. No sweetener though. Let's see how this works out.

It smells so good. It tastes...... bitter. But it's not so very terrible. Yummy it is not. But I can drink it without gagging.

Now, the coffee at the bottom of the cup is cold. I probably should have finished it before I started typing this post. But I got through almost a whole cup. Progress. We'll do this again tomorrow. It will get better, right?

Going Home

I'm originally from the Philadelphia area, but I haven't lived there since 1980. Until last July, the last trip I made to Philly was in 1994. Since July of last year, I have been there four times! Two weddings and two funerals. And I can't help but wonder,"why did I stay away so long?"

Well, I don't know why. It felt good to go home. I have always believed that "home" is where you and your family live. And that is definitely true. But "home" is also the place that grew you. And that place for me is Philly (and the northeast, in general). Amazingly enough, I can still find my way around with little problem. It's kind of funny that your mind has this amazing capacity to store information for so many years. Better than any hard-drive they could manufacture, that's for sure.

There is one thing about the place that I never noticed when I lived there. People have accents. Did I talk like that? Do I still have traces of that accent?

When I first moved to Texas, I expected everyone to have a Texas accent. But here in the Austin area, you really don't get to hear much of a Texas drawl. That's because I know very few people who were actually born and raised here. Due to the high tech nature of this area, most people (like us) are from somewhere else. Even the kids that my children grew up with don't have accents. Or do I just not hear them?

I cannot believe that it has been a year since I wrote on this blog. Scary how time moves so fast, isn't it?

(insert Ahnold accent here) "I'll be back"