Tough AND Girlie

Tori's softball team is pretty amazing for a group of 10 year olds. It is composed of 10 fourth and fifth graders and they have now won 13 games straight. It is the real deal for the most part - fast pitch, stealing bases, throwing out at home - all that. In their district they are #1 by a long shot. That being said...they are darn cute. When you see them practice you would swear it was a cheer squad based on ridiculous outfits and crazy long skinny legs all over the place. But those girls are tough.

But...you let a couple of them play together one afternoon in a house with backdrops and a closet full of church dresses, throw in some make up and the wireless remote to mom's good camera and all the tough is wiped away. In its place, sheer girlieness.

Scared: Update

I am officially less scared despite that the red, itchy swollen random patches came back with a vengeance at work today (hmm...maybe I am allergic to work). They are probably hives. Without actual allergy tests (aka big expense + pain in the butt) this cannot be confirmed but the doctor I begged to look at it said it's probably hives, manifested in an odd way. There are about a gillion causes of hives - mostly allergies. Stress and a few other things can cause them as well but while I have been CRAZY busy I don't feel like my stress levels are CRAZY high. So back to the Benadryl and we'll see what happens from there. Oy vey.

Scared

It is amazing to me how the simplest health scares can freak a person out. I went to the beach Wednesday and came home with swollen ribs that itched, really bad. Thought it was sunburn except that nothing else around them was red. 24 hours later it was gone and I thought nothing of it.

Then I was sitting at Tori's game (if you have not seen her awesome flip as catcher check it out here: Tori's Flip) and my right arm started swelling. Bad. Like I had just got bit by a spider. So I did all the normal things - Benadryl, ice, Corticaid cream. And went to bed.

Next morning it felt sore, like it was bruised, and remained a little a swollen but not much...BUT my pointer finger on the other hand (left) was swollen and I could not bend it.

Then my collar bone.

Then the palm of my right hand.

I am thinking allergic reaction and outside of residual soreness in each of the places previously swollen seem to be back to normal. Is that odd or what? Honestly freaked me out. Watching for any other changes since I can't place the allergy...no new foods, soaps, detergents, etc. But for the moment all is well. Whew!

A Happy Heart.

My job is good. I help people. I work with nice people. I get a decent paycheck. They are flexible. But going to work is good for my piggy bank, good for my brain, and good for others. But days off...well they are good for my heart. They make my heart happy. As do...

A) My kids.
B) Holidays.
C) The fun that combining A & B create. But I am saving that for an after Easter post so stay tuned.

D) Living in paradise. I was taking pictures on the beach the other day and I literally can feel my step getting lighter and my stress melting away just by being there. Every breath of salty breezes, every step on sandy ground, and even the palm trees dancing in the wind made me happier. You should love where you live. If you don't you should move.

That building right there is where I plan to retire, right after I save up a million bucks. Can you imagine waking up to that view and walking down to the beach every day? Heaven on earth, I tell you.

E) My yard being repaired. I am not a HUGE fan of this owning thing, its a lot of work and money. But I do take pride in taking care of my things. And am proud of Todd for working so hard on it too...I was worried about how he would handle a yard and he is doing a darn good job. We took down a tree, cropped another one up so it now looks like a tree instead of a giant magnolia bush, replaced some out doors lights, added the ones below, got new sod in a dead area (weed problem!) and laid some mulch...we need to finish but it's getting there!

F) The absolutely fantastic response I got to my "Photos for Danil" week. I have more to come this Friday/Saturday but these are the faces contributing thus far! Thanks again!

The opposite of simplicity.

No pictures. Crappy blog post. Why? Because this weekend we had:

-baseball practice
-HOA meeting
-baseball game
-softball game
-FIVE photo sessions
-church
-dinner with friends
-BBQ with family

Oh and while sitting at the HOA meeting (which was in someones driveway - odd) followed by two Little League games and outdoor photo session I managed to fry my shoulders. I mean F.R.Y. Despite the 3, yes 3, applications of sunscreen. It is so bad it is swollen. And two more sessions at Clearwater Beach in the middle of the day - I think its time to bust out the long sleeve tees!

Simplicity

Saturdays around the Maddex home can usually be described in one word: chaos. There is usually two ball games, somehow overlapping both each other and a meal. They are usually on separate fields and someone usually has to be somewhere by the crack of dawn. This is usually followed by plans with friends or a scheduled event of some sort and by the time we crash for night we are all exhausted and have gone a million different ways. This Saturday we definitely crashed Saturday night but it was such a peaceful day. First off it started with this:

Go ahead and laugh but it was a Christmas gift from my parents and I love him. His presence means that I have time...because he does not fit in my van's cup holder AND he has to be hand washed. So his appearance means a lazy morning. Granted my lazy morning means I leave at 8 not 6:30 but still nice!

And then we had only ONE game that morning! Amazing! We also got new sod and did massive amounts of yard work. Dinner with my parents Saturday night and a chilled out day at home Sunday rounded out the weekend. Of course the next 3 weekends are ridiculously busy but the simplicity of this one was much needed and much enjoyed!

Germany Photo Dump

A lot of these are on facebook, some are not. Some have comments, some do not. LOVED having new scenery to take pictures of. Now if I only had more subjects - my parents nor our "hosts" really wanted their pics taken and the problem with a DSLR, even in auto mode, is that when asked to use it - people freak out. And I end up being the size of ant in a picture the size of a poster. Or its crooked. Or unfocused. Anyway...ignore the rambling. Here's what I got: