Billy, Don't Be a Hero

Don't go to Kentucky. Winters are cold and their beaches are, well, nonexistent. The Gator Nation loves you. I love you. What you have built at Florida is nothing short of miraculous.

I will admit that the fanbase has not fully embraced its basketball success. When the Gators were announced as the opponent for OSU in the BCS Championship Game, my friends were all over going down to Phoenix for the game. When we advanced to the Final Four last Sunday, I tried in vane to coax one of my friends to go to Atlanta with me. There were no takers. I know that eventually they will come around. I know that I did.

Hats Off to Stephanie

How cool is this hat?

My friend Stephanie sent it to me. I really love it as does Holly. I actually wore it this morning as I made breakfast for Holly. It has a cool matching scarf. I will be the envy of my Gator friends. I plan on wearing it for my Final Four party on Saturday. That is if I can wrangle it away from Holly.

Holly also likes wearing it like this:

Randy made the comment that she looked like Dumb Donald from the Fat Albert cartoon.

No, I'm Not Crying

I've got all kinds of crap in my eyes today. I'm not sure what the deal is but it is beyond annoying. Even after flooding them with eyewash, they still feel awful. The only thing different about today is I used a new eyeliner pencil. I think it will be finding its way to the trash this evening. This is just miserable.

Plus, I'm really getting tired of people asking me "What's wrong?". It's almost like they don't believe me when I say I've got something in my eyes. I've found myself immediately holding up my eyewash container to bolster my story.

Sunday Six

Holly isn't on the top of her game this week. However, she felt well enough to participate in Kelly's Sunday Six. This week is focused on the arrival of Spring which can't come soon enough for me.

1. How old is Spring?
35 years (Randy added that he remembers that first Spring so well.)

2. What happens in the Spring?
Flowers bloom. (I asked if that was it. Holly said "no" and then said "yes, that's it.")

3. What comes after Spring?
Summer

4. What do people wear in the Spring?
Shorts and short sleeves.

5. What is "Spring Break?"
It's when you take a day off of Spring.

6. How will you celebrate Spring?
Go out and play.

Geeks and Freaks

The state of geekdom in the household is fine and dandy. Case in point: I spent the latter part of last night watching a replay of the 2007 BCS Championship Game. That doesn't necessarily add to the geek quotient until you realize that it was being streamed from Randy's Apple G5.

Randy's quest is to create a media server which will allow him to stream video to televisions throughout the house. His first video purchase for the project was the game. It was great. The Gators still won big!

Jury Duty, Fresh and Fruity

I received a summons for jury duty. I don't really mind jury duty as it can be fascinating. The thing is I always seem to get called. I've probably had ten summons over the years while Randy has had none.

Another thing I want to know is how they found me. I noticed that it was mailed to my correct address. I've not changed my address for my driver's license, voter registration or income tax. I just haven't found the time to get all that stuff changed. So, I'm perplexed. Not that perplexing me takes all that much.

I was the foreperson on my last jury. It was a high profile municipal case that took all of two hours (where's the sarcasm emoticon?). A guy was fighting a traffic ticket for running a stop sign. His defense is that the sign was obscured by a tree. His evidence was a picture of the aforementioned stop sign taken from 100 yards away. Unfortunately for him, all of the jurors had driven that road and the stop sign is clearly visible once you get about 50 feet from it. Exciting stuff, eh?

It's been a slow week blog-wise.

It's A Major Award

In an effort to continue with decorating the house, I decided to hang Holly's framed artwork in her room. She was quite pleased with the result. Later that evening, Holly created a contest. She asked Randy and me to guess which piece of artwork was her favorite. Randy guessed the unicorn while I chose the vulture. I will admit to having a bit of inside information as I had heard Holly state her preference while the decorating project was underway.

Given how often a six-year-old can change their mind, I could not be assured that this was still the correct answer. Holly ventured back into her room for about a half hour. Upon her return to the family room, she announced the results.

I WON!!!!!!

I was overwhelmed by the enormity of my trophy. It was a monumental creation.


There are just too many people to thank. Mainly, I'd like to thank my wonderful husband and daughter who made it all possible.

Sunday Six

Kelly is continuing with the St. Patrick's Day theme. Holly loves her Sunday questions even though she isn't very verbose in answering them.

1. What colors make the color green?
Yellow and blue.

2. Are you Irish?
No

3. Do you eat green M&Ms?
Yes

4. Name some things that are the color green!
Shamrock, that squirt bottle (the one we use to "train" the kitten), and that light (the "on" light on the computer).

5. Did your parents celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
Yes, wearing green.

6. Did St. Patrick have a wife? If so, what is her name?
I don't know that.

Finger Pointing

At work today, two of my co-workers and myself sat down with a company who handles HR and Benefits Administration. At one point during their presentation we made a joke about another coworker possibly coordinating his basketball brackets on their website. One of the presenters then asked if his vehicle was the one with the Gator license plates. In unison, my two coworkers lifted their right arms and pointed at me. I responded with "Why do you think I'm wearing orange and blue today?".

In the spirit of March Madness, here is a fun little game.

March Madness

I got 47 out of 65. I had never heard of some of these schools so I knew I wouldn't do well in placing them on the map.

Go Gators! Beat Jackson State tonight.

On Top of Old Smokey

Pardon my rambling but I was inspired by my lunch to talk about Lit'l Smokies.

As you may have guessed, leftover Lit'l Smokies comprised my lunch today. Not the most nutritious fare but they were there staring me in the face this morning. They were left over from a small gathering of friends this weekend. I realized that the only way I'd ever seen them served was drenched in barbeque sauce in a crockpot. My next logical thought was "I wonder what else you could do with these little beauties?"

Wonder no more. There are countless recipes on the Internet. Here are two of my favorites right from the Hillshire Farms website.

Lit'l Smokies in a Blanket

Aren't these just the cutest things you've ever seen.

Lit'l Smokies Skewers

These look like way too much work.

I'm starting to understand why I've only ever seen them just dumped in sauce. Be sure to stay tuned for my fascinating diatribe on Vienna Sausages.

March Mildness

It is in the 70's today. It's one of those glorious spring-like days here in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. March is on record as being our snowiest month however this year is bucking the trend. Hopefully this is just payback for dealing with the winter from hell.

I'm also feeling happy that my Gators were the overall number one seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Joakim, Al, Taurean, Corey, Lee and Chris (or Cliff to Verne Lundquist) did a fantastic job winning the SEC Conference Tournament on Sunday. Continuing with the good news, one other Florida university in Tallahassee made the Big Dance. How on earth could that be good news? Well, it was Florida A&M University, not Florida State University. The truth be told, I almost feel sorry for the Seminoles......almost.

Sunday Six

The Sunday Six is sporting a little green this week. Kelly must be getting ready for St. Patrick's Day. It's been forever since we played but Holly is ready for action.

1. What is a Shamrock?
It's a kind of rock that has scales.

2. What is a Leprechaun?
I don't know.

3. Why does St. Patrick like the color green?
That is a very hard question to answer. Because St. Patrick's Day is about luck and is all green.

4. Who is St. Patrick?
I don't know.

5. What happens if you don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day?
If you're not wearing green, you'll get pinched.

6. How will you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
Putting green everywhere all around the house.

It's FAN-tastic

During a recent email exchange with my husband, I found out he is no longer following Illinois athletics. Having endured two miserable years of Gator football under the tutelage of Ron Zook, I can understand his disinterest in Illini Football. However, his "boycott" of Illinois Athletics has to do with the University's caving in to political correctness. The NCAA wouldn't allow Illinois to host any type of tournament as long as their mascot was Chief Illiniwek. Illinois bowed to the pressure and retired the Chief earlier this year.

I don't know where this leaves Notre Dame. I'm not sure that the portrayal of the Irish as Leprechauns is flattering.

For the record, I will still support the University of Florida even if the Gators are forced to abandon Albert. You never know, PETA could claim that it is cruel to put a ballcap and sweater on an alligator.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

"Raindrops on roses and doing the laundry."

Last night, we were playing Whoonu. If you aren't familiar with Whoonu, it is a game where one person is designated the Whoozit. Each of the other players is dealt four cards. The cards contain various things/activities such as "zoos", "blowing bubbles" and "discussing politics". The players then put two of their cards in a envelope for the Whoozit. These cards should be favorite things/activities of the Whoozit. The Whoozit then ranks the cards from least favorite to most favorite. The higher the ranking of the card, the more points the player earns.

During one round where I was the Whoozit, Holly gave me a card that read "doing the laundry". Needless to say, that particular card garnered a least favorite for the round. I think Holly was honestly surprised. I mean, if I didn't like doing the laundry, why on earth would I insist on doing it every Sunday.

Out of Sight Words

Last Tuesday, Holly came home with a bag of ten sight words. There was a photocopied note in the bag saying that these sight words had been specifically selected for my child. Once the child is able to say them without pausing or sounding them out, you are to send them back in. Then, the teachers will test the child. If they get them all, they will get a boot on the wall and more difficult words will be sent home. When the kids in the class have enough boots, they will get a party.

Holly's first set of sight words included "if", "what", "fall" and other words similar in complexity. Not to brag but Holly knew these words three years ago. I took them in to the teacher the next day and told her that Holly had mastered these. She smiled and said that she knew Holly needed much tougher ones.

The next set was more difficult but surprisingly, Holly knew them all. We sent those back for a boot and the teacher sent home an even harder set. This set included "peninsula", "administration", "dwell", "incredible", "longitude" and "saliva". Holly got all of them on the first try with the exception of "peninsula" and "longitude". Once I went through them with Holly and explained what they meant, she got them on the next try.

I'm curious to see what is in store for this evening. Hopefully I'll know how to pronounce them.

Note to CBS

This is Cliff Richard.

This is Chris Richard.

Cliff Richard has never donned a Gator basketball uniform. At least, I'm not aware of him doing so.

Chris Richard has never sang "We Don't Talk Anymore". However, he is one heck of a basketball player.

Please pass this information along to Verne Lundquist before I do some damage to my television. As long as we are passing along information, Billy Donovan is our coach, not Billy Dunivan.

Thank you.