Happy Birthday America!!

Glad we did some celebrating last night since it has rained all stinking day today! The Fourth is a holiday around here that is totally laid back and I love that. Easy food, no gifts to wrap and buy. Just plenty of gifts to be thankful for. God Bless America!

Where in the country is Teresa

It's summer and that is travel season in education sales. Last week, I spent the entire week in Kansas City for SkillsUSA. It's an amazing student organization preparing kids for jobs in a skilled workforce and teaching them leadership skills to boot. I love my week there. I help run the customer service national contest. [We have a fan page on Facebook if you are interested.]


I ate my way through that town too. KC is known for their BBQ and the best place is some hole in the wall joint connected to a gas station on the Kansas side called Oklahoma Joe's. My friend Amanda and I ventured over there since one of our chef friends from the Culinary Institute of America [where Amanda is a chef] wanted the rub and BBQ sauce. Did I also mention that I know some of the best chefs in the country and get to call them my friends?? Love that we do CIA cookbooks!


And, Michael's team won their baseball tournament last week!

So now I can finally say wanted we parents have been wanting to say all season.....GO COCKS!!

Father's Day

This day is not a particularly important day at our house like it is for some--and that makes me sad. As some of you know, I am not close to my dad. He is an alcoholic and that is very hard. I really don't deal with my family a whole lot. Both of my grandfather's are dead and Matt isn't around that much for Michael. In fact, even though this is my weekend, I offered to let Matthew have Michael for Father's Day and he said no.

But, I am lucky to have a lot of amazing guy friends [many of whom are married to my amazing girl friends] who have done a lot for my son. I am so thankful for each and every one of them and wish them a great Father's Day from their sometimes, adopted kid Michael and his grateful mom!

News from Me

• Michael's baseball team finished the season in second place with an 11-4 record and will play in the second round of the tournament Monday night! Go Michael, Jace, Eric, Mitchell, Jamie, Tyler, Owen, Anthony, Michael D., Jason and Donnie!!! Big sticks and "D" it up!
• Jon and Kate are divorcing. Is this a shock to anyone, really? If you sell your soul, it will come back and bite you in the butt. I wrote a post about them a few weeks ago. I sincerely hope their 15 minutes are now officially up.
• I am leaving for Kansas City on Monday for the SkillsUSA Championships. It is one of the two weeks during the summer I spend with the best kids in America. Seriously. Makes me have some faith in the next generation.

Gamecocks finish season tomorrow

Michael's baseball team--the Gamecocks--[post about the name here] are 10 and 4 and finish their regular season tomorrow against a team they should beat. They will finish second in the league and go into the tournament with a good chance to get to the finals.

I am going to miss the tournament, which makes me sad. I have to travel to Kansas City for work. I am more sad that Michael's dad doesn't really care about coming. It makes me angry that he choses to not spend time with Michael, but with his "new" family. I hope it comes back to bite him in the ass someday AND I hope I am around to see it!

Ooh, and on a side note, I bought new shorts yesterday in a size smaller. Bonus!!

Can we just move onto football?

I am so not interested in Disneyland vs. Disney World in the NBA finals. [I mean when they win, where are they going to go, Six Flags?] I am also not that interested in Steel City vs. Motor City in the NHL finals, although it would be nice for Detriot to win something this year. But, I am interested that mini camp just finished for the Colts. That means football is coming!

For those of you who do not know me well, let me tell you now that I worship at the Church of Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. I follow the blue and white and pledge my devotion to Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney. I scream at them in person and on TV knowing they can hear me. I whoop and holler like a teenager. I routinely see at least three football games a weekend--usually live--and my friends think I am nuts.

I am counting down the days until August. I love the sound of pads smacking and crowds cheering. Go Warriors! Go Hoosiers! Go Colts!

What peer pressure looks like in your 30s

This weekend celebrating Christy's birthday, my friends and I lost all sense and went sliding through mud puddles at 1 in the morning. It was VERY fun; but not something I would have thought up on my own. And, we are all wearing Christy's 8 year old son's Under Armour--so we are stacked and packed into those shirts. This was an added bonus for all of the guys at the party who thought this whole thing was hilarious. They were more than happy to hose us off when we were done.

This is me...nice form, huh? I can totally slide into home when necessary. And, let me also say, we hadn't had that much to drink. We did this sober. I would hate to see what we come up with after a little help from alcohol.

Love those girls!