Picture of the Week - 11/29/2018

Greetings and happy last Thursday of November!

Today is an MBA exam day for me.  That is much like a normal work day - with the added "fun" of having to drive to the Georgia State campus to take an exam I don't feel ready for on a pretty nebulous topic.  Good times for sure!  Bright side - it's not raining and I don't have to drive in rush hour!  Also after today I will have one more module/class DONE!  Onto the Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership assignment and prep for the Analytical Decision Making module coming up in January.

In other - more interesting and fun - news!

• We bought new furniture for our living room!  Yay!  This is probably only fun for me (and Bob is good about pretending), but I'm excited!  
• Spencer and Quinn are knee deep in wrestling season.  They had a dual last night (Quinn lost, Spencer got a forfeit win).  They have an individual tournament this weekend - double elimination which starts on Friday and goes into Saturday if they can get a win the first night.  The wrestling schedule for the next month is BANANAS!  Next weekend they go to Orlando, then they have a very rare weekend off (to recover?) before going to Pigeon Forge the weekend before Christmas and then Louisiana the weekend after Christmas.  Wrestlers get no holiday break...  they just eat vegetables and workout.
• Zane and Beckett are also gearing up for some wrestling fun!  They are doing their first tournament this Saturday.  (Note that if the big guys do well in their tournament that necessarily means that either Bob or I will have to miss the first tournament for the little guys.  Ahhh...  divide and conquer...)  They are excited.  I'm excited for them!  I hope they love it as much as their brothers.
• Next week I am headed to Philadelphia and am SOOOOOO happy that the weather looks like it's going to be in the high 40s/low 50s and not snowy.  An overnight to Philly for work is bad enough without having to worry about weather-related travel issues!  Then I have to put away the overnight bag and pull out the big suitcase for my last trip to Scotland for the year.  This one will have me gone for a week and will, essentially, be the last of the heavy-lifting for my (paid) job this year.  I have lots of PTO time and I'm taking most of the rest of the year off!  I.  Can.  Make.  It!

Have a great week everyone - stay warm!

Picture of the Week - 11/22/2018

Happy Thanksgiving 2018!!!

Enjoy the day and all the blessings in your life!

Picture of the Week - 11/15/2018

Quickie update this week because I just got home from a work-trip to Nashville that was pretty much the opposite of "fun" in just about any way I care to measure it.  

Putting that behind me and gearing up for a fun weekend!

Spencer's football team is still in the playoffs and will be traveling to play on Friday night.  

Saturday Quinn (and Spencer IF they lose on Friday, but if they win on Friday, he's still out for wrestling for another week) will get to participate in the first varsity dual of the year.  I much prefer Duals to individual tournaments.  And if you had told me 2 years ago that I would even HAVE a preference, I'd tell you that you were a little crazy.  

I'm ridiculously excited for the holiday week next week!  I'm going to enjoy the heck out of a one-day work week!  And we are hosting a wrestling tournament on Tuesday which should be a fun time!  Then it's holiday season!!!  Woot!!!

Here's a fun picture of Zane & Beck that I'm sure all our Buckeye fans will love.  LOL

Picture of the Week - 11/8/2018

This guy...  you guys...  my heart explodes with pride...

Quinn is wrestling this year.  I think I've talked about this before, but not really in any depth.  Bob and I really wanted Quinn to wrestle this season.  We like the life lessons that wrestling teaches.  It forces you to be independent, confident, mentally tough.  We knew that wrestling would help Quinn in many ways - focus, strength, character, etc.  We also really wanted him to spend time with the coaching staff that had SUCH a positive impact on Spencer last year.  These are GOOD men.  And when you are raising teenage boys, it's really vitally important to surround them with good men.  That old phrase that it "takes a village" is SO true when it comes to teenagers.  What a coach says to them (and what behavior is modeled) has FAR more impact than any lecture mom or dad is going to give!

So we really encouraged Quinn to wrestle.  We played up the positive benefits he would see on the lacrosse field from wrestling and (probably) downplayed how hard it would be on him.  We got Spencer involved in the "sales pitch" too.  And ultimately, when Quinn decided to wrestle this year, we were thrilled!

We were also about to be really shocked.

Given the amount of coercion involved in getting him to sign-up, we were ALL unprepared for the intensity with which Quinn would embrace the sport.  From nearly the moment he decided he was in, he was ALL IN.  He started working out in the summer.  He attended most of the voluntary events.  He made friends with other wrestlers.  He changed his schedule so he would have weight training with the wrestling coach - and about half the team.  He worked hard on learning the sport.  He came home sweaty and tired.  He was sore.  He got muscle definition!  He earns a new "personal best" bench press or squat or whatever just about every week.  He has become somewhat obsessed with his diet.  He's turned into a WRESTLER - and isn't just someone who is on the wrestling team.

The transformation has been amazing - and awe-inspiring.  

And then you look at him and remember his past.  Sometimes I just stop and think about all the things he's overcome and am reminded that he is amazing.  I am convinced there is nothing in this world that child, check that...  that young man, can't overcome if he wants to do it.  He's the definition of a growth mindset - and kind of my current role model.  

Oh...  and he's earned a starting varsity spot at 126 lbs at this weekend's first VARSITY wrestling match of the season.

So.  Proud!

In non-wrestling Quinn news, if you don't mind sharing a wee prayer for him on Monday, he's going for a cardiologist appointment.  It's a check-up and should be boring...  but prayers for boring would be much appreciated!

In non-Quinn news...  both Spencer and Beckett are still playing football and their teams are in the playoffs.  Zane is done with football and has also moved onto wrestling for the winter.  As a matter of fact, I'm typing this from the car while Zane is in at practice.  The overlap between sports seasons is rough!  I'll be pretty glad when we can hang up the football cleats and break out the headgear x4!

Picture of the Week - 11/1/2018

So here's a "truth bomb" I saw on a GIGANTIC sign on the Royal Conservatory of Scotland on my walk from the hotel to class this morning.  

Life is not a dress rehearsal

Such a good reminder.  Such an important fact.  

Go live...  to the fullest.  For me, that means making the most of the time I have here working on this MBA with these fabulous fellow students and then eagerly awaiting my return home to "my people".  I may be off doing great and wonderful things (far too often), but my heart is where my boys are - and I miss them terribly when I'm away.  While it's often hard, it's part of my story - and I'm going to make the best of it.  After all, this isn't a dress rehearsal and I don't get a do-over!

Have a great week everyone!  I'm back home on Sunday after filling my brain with information about Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership!  Can't wait to see those smiling faces waiting for me at home!!