Nothing to Blog About

I don't have anything to blog about. I have started this post many times and then stopped. It seems useless to keep a blog if I am only going to blog a few times a year. But, still I can't stop blogging. I love reading others blogs and have enjoyed finding new blogs through Instagram. I just don't know where this blog fits in cyberspace and in my life. I remember when I first started blogging and the feeling. If you don't know what I am talking about, then surely you aren't a blogger. There is something magical about creating a blog post. I love how the writing and photos and comments all interact. The interaction. And I guess it is because I don't have the patience to focus on just writing, or just photography. Through blogging, I can mix the two and find that the blend of the two works for me.

Bloggy Friend
So I do have one fun thing to report! This summer while making a quick stop at the tennis club, I met a bloggy friend...purely by chance!! It was so weird and fun and surreal! I wasn't even supposed to be at the tennis club that day but stopped to drop off something to one of my kids. And walking down the hallway I hear "cathymskier" (my instagram name! that was the first time anyone called me by that name!!) and looked up to find my bloggy friend Kerri! Kerri grew up in my town and was visiting family while on her way to a big tennis tournament in Chicago for her son! Her son was getting in some practice at our tennis club. We spent a few minutes talking and getting to know each other in "real" life. It was so cool!

My youngest snapped this candid of us. Me on left and Kerri on right:

And the posed shot, don't judge the way we look, as this was a serendipitous moment (meaning: lucky in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries, courtesy of Siri)

I also met Kerri's hubby (the tennis coach) and her son, who I have been following on her blog for a few years. So much fun!! And such a sweet surprise for both of us!

A Random Rant
Here is one other reason I love blogging...the feeling of accomplishment! As a stay at home mom, it never really seems like you get that feeling. Whatever progress you may make, gets undone within an hour of the kids being home. And we won't talk about the lack of the paycheck...which leads me to a little rant about working vs nonworking moms. I choose not to work for a variety of reasons. I have worked. I was successful and I worked hard for a very long time. When the time came to be able to stay at home,  I was burned out. Fried. Too much travel and responsibility for too long. I was burned out from being a workaholic. Truly. Ask my husband because he lived it. I digress. I have chosen to stay home with my kids and continue to do so. I am not a slacker. I have had my own business while raising 3 kids. So when working moms tell me how busy they are, I get it. But I will not feel guilty for making my choice, because it was the right choice for me. And I rarely point out to the complaining working moms, that my bank account reads zero and my 401K reads zero in the past 16.5 years. So yeah, I get it. And if you choose to stay home and raise your kids, realize that the accomplishment, pay and retirement are zero, but it still may be the right choice for you.

 Re-Cap 2013
As I have been going through photos on my phone , I have decided to share a re-cap of some things that happened in 2013. And yes there was PROGRESS!! Woot woot! In my last post I was eating right and working out. And of course skiing!

This was a fun pic with my youngest on the slopes in March 2013:

And what our ski locker looks like with some of the gear:

Spring Break 2013
We enjoyed a fun family trip to the gulf coast of Florida and spent some time connecting with my parents (snowbirds who winter in Florida). And I love using the collage apps on my phone to tell a story:

These two (my youngest and my Dad) are always playing cards...ever since she was a toddler, so I adore this pic:

We rented a house on Anna Maria Island that had the cutest beachy interior and the most lovely HEATED pool (20 steps from the kitchen).  I found it on VRBO.  The VRBO # is 207751.

Our trip ended at McCormick's. Not the restaurant. The water ski and wakeboard park. Oh my. My first ever water ski lesson from an Australian pro water ski jumper. I was so so nervous!! A new driver, a different boat and a totally different ski! Also,  I remember being very nervous about my start. As I am older (late 40's) and have only been a slalom skier for a few years, I sometimes have troubles with my start. I need a long slow drag to get up...but I got up the first try and tried to take in everything the instructor was teaching me and tried really hard to relax. A pre-lesson pic:

During the lesson, wearing a skirted suit...looks weird in this pic:

And hubby's got mad wakeboarding skills...this is after a long winter of no wakeboarding:

And my sweet boy...notice his thumb protector on that grab?...this is a few months post surgery:

And after all that excitement we relaxed! And I sniped this photo of the kids from the hotel balcony. My mom tells me that I need to take more candids, so this was an attempt:

An interesting side note to the above picture is that there was a couple to the right of the kids, that were tanning poolside all day. The couple, we thought, were married to each other, as they were all over each other. After awhile we figured out that they were not married (to one another) and were hooking up in Florida...not sure where they were from, maybe Great Britain? It was a strange day, as we were having family fun while the "couple" was away on a getaway. Both were wearing rings.

The only family photo from our vacation taken with an iPhone and seriously edited on Instagram. Photo credit to the cheating husband from the paragraph above:

Spring 2013
After we returned from Spring Break, we had planned a surprise event for my bestie friend!!! I called her on her birthday and told her to put a date on her calendar. We ended up meeting bestie and her hubster at a restaurant and treated them to a concert...Tristan Prettyman, one of my all time fave singers! Our car was broken into that night...for the second time in two years in a city that we no longer live in, but frequent. So this is before the broken glass and the cold, loud car ride home. My other post about being broken into is here.

This pic was taken when my daughter went to another school's prom in the Spring. I must really love that tshirt as I am wearing it in the above pic, too! My daughter looked so beautiful that night. I was stunned to see her growing up before my eyes. It was so stressful taking pictures because I literally had 50 people show up and they ended up parking in my friend, who did my daughter's hair. My friend could not get out and had to have someone pick her up at my house. I was there trying to be gracious when I was freaking out because I only knew my daughter and her date and his family and one other friend and her parents. Literally there were so many people and all I wanted was a pic with my girl.

We are learning a lot about being parents to teenagers. Let me just give you a small piece of advice...before letting your children go out on a date or to a formal...make sure you have their date's phone number in case your child's phone goes dead. You can never have enough phone numbers nor re-inforce the curfew time enough. I know this from experience and although that night did not play out the way that I thought it would, everyone was safe and had good clean fun...even though it did go into the early morning hours. Funny how we think sleepless nights are reserved for the parents of infants and toddlers. Add teens to that list.

We had a busy spring filled with soccer my youngest slapping five on the left with her teammate. She earned Most Improved player from her coach who is on the left below:

And more soccer...last game with this rec team after many, many seasons with the same coach and many of the same players and years of being in the goalbox...a successful season for all as we won the championship...such great friends and great families...we hosted the end of the year party after the game with temps in the 90's in May!

And we had spring musical events.
The youngest had a strings concert where she played cello but I couldn't get a good pic of her playing. So we ended with this fun photo of my youngest and her friends that are also soccer buddies. Mine is second from left in the blue headband (she came from a soccer game):

My oldest daughter and one of her close friends were asked to sing the National Anthem at a high school baseball game. It was the first time they sang it together even though they have been friends since second grade. The mic didn't work and I had a horrible time getting a picture but was happy to snap this:

All of a sudden school was out and we were onto summer events. I was taking a picture of something and these two photobombed the picture. A rare moment where brother and sis are getting along:

Christmas 2013
I will finish my re-cap in another post...have to get out and find two more Christmas gifts. I wanted to remind you that all of the holiday stress can be shelved. Just remember to enjoy the lights and laughter. I found this pic on my phone. It is the baby of one of my dear friends. The baby is almost five and has changed so much! I sent this pic to her and she said I can use it on my blog. So enjoy!!!

I hope you check back for another post and I enjoyed catching you up on my life at Checkitoff. Thanks for stopping by!
hugs, Cathy