A two-year hiatus, but still alive and loving life

The time it takes to write blog posts simply hasn't been a priority for me over the past couple of years, however don't think that the business of life has taken a turn for the worse.
Quite on the contrary -- Life is FABULOUSLY busy with my three extremely active girls!  And I'm truly loving (just about) every crazy second of this hecticity!

The household now has a Senior, 7th grader and Freshman, ALL extremely active playing volleyball in the Fall, basketball in the Winter and Track in the Spring, additionally softball for Candace in the Summer.

As for most people, the realization that we have a graduating Senior this year is a bit surreal and downright crazy to fathom.  The ol' cliche "time flies" has never rang so true!!!!!!!

Cass has certainly committed herself and has been self-driven to achieve seasonly and yearly goals over the past year, both for herself and for the betterment of her teammates and the school.
Parents are usually defaulted into being proud of their children; with these three, it's so easy to follow that default :)

On the crafty side of things......
OH BOY!  Opening admitting that my quilting room NOR my crochet needles have seen much action of any sort for the past year.  A T-shirt quilt is slowly in the making for Cass's graduation, but other than that, there simply hasn't been much ambition to fire up the sewing machine.  There IS time in my schedule, however.... "ambition" is truly the key word.  Much of my evening time is devoted to editing athletic photos for the girls' teams and updating the school's athletic Facebook pages.
My sewing machine and needles will always be there and ready for whenever the mood strikes;  until then, I've gotten over the initial guilt of backing away from that part of my life.

RUNNING update --

This hobby, on the other hand, is (hopefully) going to be taking front and center stage again after having some downtime since 2013.  No crazy plans for another marathon, but reaching a healthy running stage is a goal I hope to achieve again.

For now, that's where I'm at......
Happy 2019 to all!

Forever in our hearts:  Shadow (June 2006, August 7, 2018)

2018 Family Trip - Badlands

A lot of Basketball - A little crochet

The day started as a typical Saturday morning during the month of January for the Skattebo clan.  Caitlyn's first tournament game of the day began at 10:10 in a town about 30 miles away (south), so we were actually able to have a relaxing morning, allowing the girls to sleep until 8:00.  

Once we arrived on-site, Candace said..."Hey, we were just here last night!"

LOL

Yup.  Cassie's HS JV game was in the same town; same gym...

The Country Cozy crochet afghan was taken along, and a few rows were completed between plays and games.  

However, halfway through Caitlyn's second game, we had to skitter off to the NEXT BB tournament, 35 minutes away (east), for Candace's FIRST ever game.  Thankfully, a close friend was able to 'mother' Caitlyn for the rest of the tournament;  it takes a village, right?!

The fifth grade team is low on numbers this year, so Candace was asked to suit up as a fourth grader to help out.  Being the youngest of three sisters, she DEFINITELY is living up to be the stereotypical 'little-sister-gym-rat;'  the one who has been on the sidelines, watching for all these years.  And now, she's ready to play!  Her nerves were apparent, but she settled in nicely with the teammates and had a blast.  And as it should be with most parents, I simply LOVE watching m'girls, win or lose.

Our Laker girls!  

(and goofy Daddy-o)

The coldest day/night of winter is upon us... We're due east of Siren...

5pm update with the weather moving east.... ;/

Therefore, now that we're home, we're hunkered down for the rest of the weekend.
Tonight's excitement.....?

Renderin' some pig fat for lard ;)

Tomorrow's excitement....?  HOPEFULLY, some quilting!

Happy Saturday everyone

Player down -- AGAIN!

The family has decided to rename and reserve a 5-gallon bucket solely for Cassie's HS athletic career, seeing that she's aiming to twist or sprain her ankle during each of her sports.

She wasn't too thrilled with me having the camera in her face after she went down...

I'm hoping this one is a quick heal, because I certainly enjoy watching her out there!!!!!!

Piano, Basketball, Quilting and Planting. Precious moments!

Friday night, the girls 'fighting' over practice time

Saturday tournaments for both Cassie and Caitlyn

Sunday morning working on tidying up some blocks

Sunday mid-morning shopping spree at Walmart -- the SEEDS SECTION is in full swing!

Yes, folks!  I DID buy some seedling supplies and planted.  This is the EARLIEST I've ever planted seeds!

Despite being 14, Cass is stil okay with being a 'twin' with Mom on dress-up days at school

My band of wack-a-doodles!

Another year in the stands underway

Cassie and Caitlyn, both, are here-there-n-everywhere already with their basketball gear in tow lately.  

Correction:

**I** am here-there-everywhere with CHILDREN and basketball gear in tow. ;)

I needed to make a decision of exactly where and which child I would have in tow yesterday.  Cassie's tournament was 30 miles due north while Caitlyn's was about 70 miles northeast.  I was in single-parent mode since Paul is in the midst of his night shift.

Clearly, Cassie's closer tournament won the vote.  This time.

And afterwards, the girls ganged up on us parents teamed up for some bonding over soda and pizza.  All 8th graders.  Gettin' big... and sassy :D  Truly great girls all around.

The week ahead is full of basketball too.  I understand now when parents have told me in the past they feel like the taxi service before/after practices and games out-of-town.

Next week, Caitlyn's tournament will be winning in the "Which tournament will you choose to watch while in single-parent mode?" game.  Yuppers.  Paul will be in the midst of his day shift next Saturday, and both girls have tournaments in opposite directions.  *shrug*

It's what we do, right?

At least I have my Hello Kitty pajama pants to relax in once finally at home at the end of the day.

And ....

how 'bout those Packers, right?!?!?!!?!?!?!    Whaaaa-hoooooo!

Happy Sunday everyone.

More Basketball, more snow, more cold...

It really does feel like we've reached the stage of time where everything seems like its stuck on a repeat button.    Yesterday morning, we were able to sleep a few minutes later than a typical day, but were on the road by 8:15 to start the day of basketball...again.

First stop of the day:  4th grade Clayton Basketball Tournament - 49 miles logged.

The team has 9 girls;  two of whom had scheduling conflicts, and another who was hit with one of the many illnesses flying around our school, which brought us down to 6.  These kiddos aren't red-faced for nothing!  LOL.  They plays lots and won their games for a First place finish.  It was just Candace and me in the stands today since Dad was working and Cassie was at her own tournament....

By 1:00, we were on the road, heading to catch the end of Cassie's tournament.

Stop #2 of the day:  7th grade Chippewa Falls tournament -- another 70 miles logged.

This tournament was 10 minutes away from Uncle Travis's house, so he and the family came out to support Cassie when we couldn't be there.  How cool, right?!?!

{{Yes, quite the facial hair there, Trav!!!}}

The competition was STEEP, facing schools and communities much bigger than us.  As a former coach, I understand the reasoning for facing such tough competition.  The girls' schedules are getting super loaded, and..... they're starting to face exhaustion.  Compound that with the illness bugs spreading through the school... there were some tired girls at 6:00 last night! Thankfully, they are mostly still keeping their chins up despite the losses ---- and I think everyone is looking forward to a day OFF today, with some ibuprofin.  

PARENTS INCLUDED!  :)

So, after logging another 70 miles to reach home, the circle of traveling for the day was complete.  And everyone enjoyed changing into PJs and snuggling on the couch for relaxing TV entertainment.

My sister's double-golden birthday was this past week.  Clearly, her Berquist Beauty quilt hasn't seen a finish, but I have been using my basketball-bleacher time to make a bright-n-colorful scarf for her.  

The house is only a minor disaster.  Dishes have piled a bit.  Laundry, amazingly, has been kept under control with a few loads here-n-there throughout the week.  I'd love more than anything to just relax a bit today... and I will, without MUCH internal guilt happening.  Of course, there will be a bit of time to spend downstairs with a project or two.

The snow has started coming.  Again.
The extreme cold is returning.  Again.
I honestly can't even tell you how many inches we're expecting, nor what the predicted windchill forecast will be.  It's kinda turned into the norm this winter.  A new norm, certainly.  I can't remember the last winter we've had so much accumulated snow.  Winter-sport heaven, though!  And I have NEVER lived through such an extremely COLD winter.
**shrug**
We have shelter.  We have warm clothing.  We have heat, despite the LP shortages, thanks to our stockpile of wood and the wood furnace.

We just continue pressing the repeat button... living for those moments when life veers a bit for memorable moments.  Right? :)

7AM - 8PM; Enough basketball yet?

The clan pulled out of the driveway at 7:10AM yesterday morning and didn't return until 7:50PM after a day full of basketball.

The day was long, and filled with a bit of schedule-joggling in order to make it happen.  AND, we did.

Cassie started us out with an 8:00 game at our own home school.

7th grade basketball team with Coach Osborn

There are three girls on the team that have been towering over classmates consistently for the past couple of years:  Cassie and the two teammates on each side of her pictured above.  There's a little nickname starting to be murmured about the squad for these three:  The triple threat.

 

Cassie has only been jumping the ball at the start of the game for the past couple of events.  When we asked her why she thought Coach made this switch, her response was..."Probably because I'm tallest now."   Well.... ya gotta love logic.

Even though this is "only 7th grade," the game is already reaching an increased level of intensity and is pretty physical!  Cassie, unfortunately, was assigned to guard a "hot head" ---- really.  Cassie kept her cool and did her job;  the other girl fouled out by the end of the game, only after receiving a technical to boot!  Yup.  In fact, the green team opponent had TWO girls foul out before the end of the game, and TWO players on the team had earned technicals.  Alright.... that coach obviously has to figure it out!  **shaking head in complete disbelief STILL**

Anyway, SADLY, we actually weren't able to see the 2nd half of this game because we had to hit the road to get Caitlyn to HER tournament in a town an hour away.  All of the foul and technical foul information was relayed to Paul and I via texts mssgs from other parents while we were on the road.  {{I left with strict instructions to txt me if Cassie received an elbow from her opponent! ... LOL.}}  Sure, I laugh now, but..... really.  It was THAT bad;  that girl .... she had some competitive aggression issues and a coach that didn't bench her.

Anyway.... by the time we arrived to Caitlyn's tournament, we received a final text message that Cassie's team won.  By two points, with the winning basket at the 2-second mark.  Whooo-ooo.

On to Caitlyn and her adorable lil' 4th grade squad.  What a change in intensity.  ;)

These girls are learning the fundamentals of team plays this year, being their first year having competition with other schools in the conference.

Caitlyn also is assigned the duty to start the ball in play with the jump-ball;  I suppose having a Dad that is 6'6" might have something to do with their height advantages.  (Yah....Gah-REAT picture, Mom!)

The 4th grade games are fun and relaxing to watch.  There are lots of smiles and laughs from fans, watching the girls figure out the do's and don'ts of the game.  Watching the coaches is sometimes a hoot, too.  They really (for the most part) handle their frustrations well, and teach the girls as the games proceed.

The highlight of Caitlyn's day was the steal (which I actually CAPTURED!) she made, leading to a breakaway layup shot, that she MADE!!!  Her arms went up in the air afterwards in victory... and the fans chuckled.  How could you not? ;)

By 12:00, Caitlyn's tournament consisting of two games was complete.  After a quick Subway stop for lunch, we were back on the road, heading back to Cassie's tournament.
Although the schedule for Cassie's tournament was long and crazy, it truly worked to our advantage.  We missed her 10:30 game, but we were able to watch her 3:00 game AND her 6:30 game.  Plus, the advantage of having a home tournament:  once the 3:00 game ended at 4:00, we were able to head home to take care of animals and prepare dinner supplies before needing to head back for the 6:30 game.

All in all....yup, it was a long day.  Just ask CANDACE!  BUT, it was a decent schedule to fit it all in.

Today:  I'm avoiding the school bag (for the most part);  I'm getting good at accepting what can be done, AND school work is to be done at SCHOOL!  If I can't get it done there, well....... then some flexibility in the daily schedule and/or expectation of completion of tasks simply needs to be made.  The reality is what it is;  and the administration, parents, students and community have to accept that certain standards have been forced to be lowered due to the crazy impossibility of what's expected on our plates.  Truly.
This is the weekend, and..... I'm starting to simply put my foot down.  No.  I won't burn up 4 hours of my Sunday for ONE class.  BUT, I also know ME!  I know I'll need to put in at least an hour of basic prep in order to reduce some stress of walking into AP-Stats with the only plan of "winging" a lesson.  Ummmm....there is NO "winging" an AP-Stats lesson!

Whining?  Nope.   Just.  Burned out.  And trying to keep my sanity and TRULY TRULY trying to stay positive.

SO....today:  A little bit of house cleaning, laundry-doings, and... of course, SOME SEWING!

Afghan-turned-scarf; and Caramel Corn

Well.... so much for the new "afghan."  

LOL.  While sitting in the couple of (CHILLY) gyms today at the basketball tournament, I simply made the decision to turn the afghan project into a new scarf for your's truly.  The photo doesn't really show off the green portions of the yarn that match my lime green jacket perfectly.  I was able to wrap it around my neck by the 2nd game :D

Hey!  Y'all should have known there would be a couple of Basketball pics showing up in the post. 

It's nice being tall, huh?  Cassie is one of the three "tall" girls on the team, and sadly, one of the other girls rolled her ankle during the first game of the day;  1st quarter :\  By the end of the day, the team rallied up 2 rolled ankles (girls benched, icing on-n-off), 1 jammed pinky (girl benched until the final game), 1 bruised hip (that'd be Cassie during the final game of the day;  she got hipchecked and it knocked her down something fierce),  1 injured knee (the other tall girl, BUT she held it together as best she could;  she's aggressive! and tough!), and LOTS of huffing-n-puffing!  That was a lot of ball for these girls who have only had a few short practices before tournament season.

So, after arriving home and getting all snuggled up in warm, comfy PJs, and turing on the Hallmark Channel, Caitlyn and I whipped up a batch of homemade carmel corn (microwave recipe).   I wouldn't say this a Christmas tradition, but I DO remember making this as a kid!  {{YES, microwaves existed back then!!}}   AND, my recipe card is still TYPED up on a 3x5 index card from my mother, white-outted typewriter mistakes-n-all.

16 cups popped popcorn

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Place 16 cups of popped corn in a large brown paper bag. 

Combine in an 8 cup microwavable bowl: brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt. Microwave on full power until the mixture begins to bubble (1-2 minutes)

Boil for 3 minutes, STIRRING AFTER EACH MINUTE

Add soda and vanilla; stir well as this will foam up! 

Pour mixture over popcorn in the paper bag. Fold bag and shake well. 

Microwave for 1 minute; shake well.

Microwave for 1 more minute; shake well.

Microwave for a final 30 seconds; shake well.

Pour onto 2 cookie sheets. Cooling takes only a few minutes. Store in an air tight container (if it even lasts longer than one evening!)

I hope to get some Celtic Solstice sewing done tomorrow before I need to tackle some AP-Statistics lessons.
Happy Saturday :)

My two therapies today: Easy Street & Running

The day began early, like many others lately.  4:30 AM yesterday morning, and 5:30 AM this morning.  And truly, on the weekends, I really don't mind.  There's always so much I want to do;  and there's so little stress to worry about since I don't have to prepare mentally for being in front of a classroom.  I'm sure all you other teachers understand?  Waking early is easy on the weekends.  I mainly get to relax with my own priorities I set out for the day.  No agenda, other than what I set for myself, .... or I suppose, what I need to do as a mom, wife and overall member of a family and society.

Yesterday was filled with Basketball and Football.  Cassie is signed up for Basketball again this year and she had her first tournament of the season.  Thankfully, it was a 'home' tournament, so travel only consisted of 5 miles.  That was manageable.   There was more basketball in the afternoon since Cass's team was asked to join in on the Varsity introduction "hand-slap" line.  It's all good;  I hadn't seen a varsity game yet this year.

And then, there was football in the evening.  But, for any Green Bay Packer fans out there (or 49er fans), I don't really want to talk too much about the results of that game.  Besides, I fell asleep at half time, and wasn't awakened too often afterwards by shouts from DH, which usually happens when he whoops and hollars at good plays.  ie:  there weren't too many in the 2nd half :\

But today... I sewed.

And I truly didn't have any goals in mind.  I just wanted to sew.  And little bit by little bit... Easy Street blocks were finished up.  The layout....  I think I'm okay with it.  It's very different than any color combination I've used in the past, despite using greens/oranges/purples, my favorite combination.  The black as a background is a big change for me.  Some of you have said that the colors remind you of Halloween;  I can see that.  The blocks haven't been sewn into rows yet;  it was 3:00 by this time, and I was ready to move into my second form of therapy for the day.....

Running....

When I run inside, I clearly don't get any change in elevation tracked, nor distance;  only time can get recorded while I'm on my treadmill.  65 minutes today, and with my share of walking (all the lower heartrate percentages shown), I was able to log 5 miles.  I had set a goal of 6 today, but I'll take 5.  I marked off one of my highest heartrate percentages;  an insight into how out of shape my heart and cardio system is :\  However, I'm working on it.  Besides, considering I've been back on the running wagon all year so far, I'm happy with my progress!  PLUS, today's 5 miles already has me surpassing my TOTAL mileage logged from 2010!!!!  Can you believe it?!?!?!  I simply shake my head....24 miles in 2010.  How sadly sad that is.

But, I'm back.  I have a few motivators helping me along the way;  certainly helps to keep me honest!

And, the other good news;  I'm finally making progress on my virtual trip to Amy's house :D  Almost halfway there now :)

I think I'll relax with some reading tonight.  

I certainly hope your Sunday and weekend was all that it could be :)

Happy Sunday.

A very lazy Sunday

YUP! The title sums it up!

We have my parents and niece & nephew up for a weekend of ice fishing. Cassie's final basketball tournament was yesterday, so once we returned from the school, the boys went out fishing and the rest of us found other "things" to do. My tasks were mainly school related....and relaxing. Today hasn't look much different, 'cept there wasn't any basketball, and the girls joined in with the fishing expedition. I spent one hour pressing HSTs for the Jamestown Landing leader-ender project in my sewing room, but.....that's 'bout it! Then, spent 2 hours napping.....and then a couple of hours writing tests and planning for the upcoming week.

Very lazy day.

Some Basketball and quilting (NYE mystery)

No sleeping in for us yesterday - nope, nope, nope. It was a Saturday morning full of basketball; the first non-sleep-in-Saturday of five coming up over the next handful of weeks.

Caitlyn had Little Lakers basketball practice and inter-school scrimmage from 8:00 - 10:00. This is her first year playing the game; she says she's enjoying it, but I would put a million dollars on it if our school were to offer gymnastics, she'd dropped basketball in a heart-beat and join gymnastics. However, we're a small school and gymnastics is not an option. (I foresee cheerleading in her future though).

Cassie's first game started at 9:00 in a different school, so we missed it but heard she played well despite a 10-12 loss. I was told she made the last three baskets and almost made a game-tieing shot with a few seconds left on the clock. She's really finding her love for the game.

Her second game was at 11:00, so we all were able to watch. The coaches do an excellent job making sure all fourteen girls (YIKES!!!!) get an opportunity to play. The periods are 6 minutes in duration, and they (coaches) switch out a full 5-person squad every three minutes. Cassie again made some good plays and landed a couple of buckets. She's improving on her dribbling skills and I THINK she's growing into her height nicely, finding her coordination. WHEW!

I didn't do ANY quilting yesterday, unless you call ripping out my 8 rows of Orca Bay while sitting at the games quilting. I suppose it could be considered UN-quilting :0) Then, the rest of the day, I totalllllly relaxed in the glider with my feet up, reading on my Kindle App and reading the back of my eyes from time-to-time too.

However, today, once the morning got started; coffee brewed; laundry well underway....

I spent an hour piecing four more blocks for the NYE mystery quilt's setting triangles. I simply cut them in half diagonally. I KNOW I will lose the points once a border is attached, but it was the price I accepted in order to have the half-blocks as setting triangles. I literally only had 2" of my background fabric left (aside from some crumbs) once finished, so I couldn't do the setting triangles like they needed to be done. {{I still think it'll be great, even though there won't be any pretty points along the center's edge}}

Naturally, all those bonus triangles needed to be pressed and pieced to be put into use. Once completed, I'll have 77 bonus pinwheels that will find their way into the outer border. Somewhere I must have another HST "lost" because I SHOULD have enough for 78 pinwheels. I looked for a bit and then gave up; no biggy. I'll make 'em work :0)

So, now... I have my feet up once again, waiting for the Packer game to start. GO PACK!!!!!

I also have to spend SOME time on my school work; I have yet to do that this weekend. BUT, the upcoming week marks the end of the term, so Pre-Calc will be wrapping up. Two days of review and a final and then....DONE with PC for the year.

Quiltathon - Saturday new project; Cassie in basketball

Wow---I guess I DID only work on one project today. Candace (Wraggedy Patches) has been posting about this Fransson Paintbox quilt-along that has some FUN blocks. Well, I printed out the instructions a few days ago and set them on top of this set of "girly" fabrics that looked FUN as well. It's not a true paintbox, not this version anyway; it was just a cute way to burn up some fabrics for a small girl quilt. I'm not sure what layout to use though---the random or the mono-chromatic. Any thoughts from you????
The rose is from Cassie, BTW.

---

This morning, Cassie had basketball. It's very laid-back for these ages (1st - 3rd grades). Once kids are organized into teams, a running clock is started for 15 minutes and they just play. Then a short break, and then back for another 15 minutes. It's just a fun way for the kids to start learning the fundamentals and to have some fun and exercise. G'ma enjoyed taking some pics and cheering her on.

Watching some Olympics right now, but may head back downstairs for some more quilting before the night is over.