Just a suggestion...

I've been in a funk. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, I've been uncomfortable in my own skin, and I just can't get out of my own way. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the very un-summer like weather, maybe it's not being on a real schedule or because I've been feeling physically yucky but whatever it is it effects everything I do. My ambition, my energy level, my patience...my blog!

I am slowly coming out of it, the sun is out, I feel better, I made myself go out to dinner with my girlie friends and I found a good book to read. But my blog...what to do with my blog?

So I took it to my facebook status and asked my friends for suggestions. I got some I think I can work with! Thanks to all my contributors!

1. Cooking and Recipes.

Let me just say, I used to like to cook, but then I had kids and all my creativity in the kitchen went right out the window. Not only did I have kids, but I gave birth to picky kids. It's the Irish in them. Meat and potatoes. I'm hoping my kitchen skills come back but they have been so dormant for so long now they may just be lost forever.

2. Rain.

See previous post.

3. Free things to do in Salem

At first I thought, free? No way. Living in a tourist town, there isn't much "free" going on, but then I started to do a little research and this is what I found.

Ten Free Things to do in Salem

Everything from walking garden tours to free films, to old graveyards, to the Witch Trial Memorial, Salem is full of history and just walking along the waterfront, or down Chestnut Street tells a lot about the past, present and future of a beautiful city. The Peabody Essex Museum is free for Salem residents and is a lot more kid friendly than I once thought. Time to open up my tourist eyes and get out there!

4. Irritating Stuff, Top Ten Things I hate.

Good suggestions but in the spirit of getting out of my funk, I'm going to avoid the negative for now...

5. Top Ten Things I Love...in no particular order.

• my family
• my friends
• my job
• the beach
• the summer
• the Red Sox
• Starbucks green iced tea
• my computer
• writing
• cookies

6. The Red Sox are 8-0 against the yankees but yet are still tied with them for first place.

Now I was going to completely ignore this suggestion because I really try to avoid talking about the yankees at all, but really, would it be a baseball season at all if these two teams were not neck and neck in the standings? (Note the use of the lowercase "y". Although the name "yankees" is a noun, they are far from proper.)

However, I will be in attendance at the game on Saturday night. I will be wearing my lucky hat and will say a prayer in the cathedral that is Fenway Park so expect things to shift in the proper direction.

7. The peacefulness and solitude of running.

The fact is, I hate running. I have to talk myself into every step. There is nothing peaceful about it for me. It's just the opposite, it causes inner turmoil. But, it's the quickest and most inexpensive way to drop a few pounds. I actually prefer to walk. I can let my thoughts wander, I can think, I can daydream, I can sing along to the tunes on my ipod. Sometimes I walk alone, sometimes Michael and I take ourselves to the beach and walk together, we have our best conversations that way. Walking puts me in a happy place, so I can safely say, unless I walk the 26.2, there are no Boston Marathons in my future.

So thanks to my friends, my blog post is done and I feel better. I knew they'd come through for me!

Thank you, Sandy, Regina, Angel, Michele, Robert and Don, and all of the rest of you, who make me laugh every single day.

Hope Springs Eternal

It's a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in early April, the warmth of the sun is taken over by a chilly sea breeze that keeps the temperature in the low 50's. The robins have returned to New England and the yellow, white and purple crocuses are sparsely sprinkled in still chilly and un-groomed  garden beds. The forsythia buds are swollen while they patiently wait for a bright warm day to burst open in all their sunshine-yellowy glory. 

The grass outside my window has yet to turn green but just 16.7 miles south of where I sit, the grass is green and the Sox are Red. 

Spring fever has gripped Red Sox Nation. The Boys of Summer have returned from their winter home. 

I think it's hard for anyone who is not from this 

neck of the woods to truly understand how we bleed Red around here. 

We celebrate silly things like the equipment truck leaving Fenway Park in February. People  line the streets around the park to wave to the driver as he heads for Florida and spring training flanked on each side by Massachusetts State Troopers and Boston Police motorcycles. 

For the past week the New England Sports Network has been replaying memorable games from seasons past, and even though we've seen them, in many cases more than once, we still watch. We are an insane, but passionate bunch.

The passion spans the generations, from the very young to the very old and everyone in between. We're all united in our love for our team and hatred for all things pin-striped.

 Occasionally we have to put up with those sporadic yankee fans who live among us. We do our best to ignore them, but it's not always easy. Case in point, the dad of one of my students who insists on wearing a yankees cap when he comes to pick up his child.

 I try my best to pretend I don't notice, after all, I do have a professional reputation to maintain.

However, I had to smile one day when one of my students, previously known in this blog as "flower child", upon seeing that dad in his yankees cap, broke into song. Loud and Proud!  Her song went a little something like this...

"I spy with my little eye a dad wearing a yankees cap, yankees stink, yankees stink, yankees stink!"

"Now Flower Child", I said, "I have to agree with you about those yankees, but we have to be polite about such things."

"I know Mrs. C, but it's a yankees hat."

There is some logic that you just can't argue with. Such a smart girl, I taught her well.

 

B is for Baseball

And not just any baseball. Red Sox Baseball, and for another week or so, still the World Champion Boston Red Sox. 

I am a fan. The word fan of course is derived from the word fanatic. The dictionary definition: A person filled with excessive interest in and enthusiasm for something, especially an activity: a baseball fanatic.

That sums me up pretty nicely I'd say. 

I love them. I have 25 pretend boyfriends. I still miss Nomar, I think Manny is a jerk, I know how to spell Yazstremski. I've eaten at Remdawgs. I've shaken hands with Jason Varitek, my son has worn Luis Tiant's World Series Ring.  My name is written on the Pesky Pole, I sing Sweet Caroline just because, and I love that Dirty Water, I think the Drop Kick Murphys Rock. I know who Tessie is and did I mention I still miss Nomah? But, the number one thing that identifies me as a Sox fan? I HATE the yankees. (Notice the non-capitalization of the word yankee. It may be a proper noun, but they are far from proper).

I'm disappointed about the loss my team endured at the hands of the upstart Rays, but I do have to admit they are a pretty good story. Dead last last season, and now competing for the title. 

Although I am disappointed, I'm not sad. If it had been a loss to the yankees, I would have been out of commission for a good week. There is just something about losing to that team from the Bronx that kills my spirit. There are just too many painful instances, 2003 being the most recent. It took me a long time to get over Aaron F. Boone and his stupid home run. It still makes me ill to think about it.

But that's water under the Tobin Bridge. 

There is no doubt anymore that they really do suck. 

I worry sometimes where my hatred of all things yankee takes me. It's unhealthy. 

If I'm in a store and I see yankees jerseys or t-shirts, I will find a Red Sox jersey to put over them. I have taken yankees hats off shelves and placed them on the floor. When I see someone wearing a yankees cap, I have to hold myself back from flicking it off their head. 

Today I was listening in on a conversation two of my kinder kids were having. One said to the other, "the yankees always win and the Red Sox always lose." I was on that like mustard on a hot dog. 

"Kevin love, you have that all wrong. The yankees are actually the big giant losers. They have this guy on their team called Alex Rodriguez, you may have heard of him Kevin. His nickname is A-Fraud. This guy A-Fraud, never comes through when his team needs him most. It's actually very sad little misguided Kevin. You should support a real team little Kevy. One with a good work ethic, one with players they refer to as dirt dogs. That's right cute little Kevin, Red Sox. Repeat after me, R-E-D S-O-X. They're ya go!"

Okay, that's not exactly how I handled that, but rest assured it was handled! 

I can't control much in this life, but my classroom is and will remain yankee fan free. 

Rest Well Boys, we'll see you in the Spring.