Being Flexible

Sometimes it does no good to plan ahead.  Sometimes what we think is going to happen doesn't, so we need to be flexible.  This is what we are told when we sign up to work in Sports Camp at our church.  Our best laid plans are always subject to change because we o not always know what God has in mind.

I was originally told I would be coaching first grade girls basketball so planned some games to play at the beginning during registration geared to that age level, such as Johnny Can't Cross My Ocean, Mother May I, Mr. Fox, Red Light, Green Light and Spud.  I touched base with my assistant coach and felt ready.

First thing I was told when I arrived was surprise--there's been a change.  I would now be coaching 5th grade boys instead of 1st grade girls.  OK.  We are short on men coaches this year but I assisted with 5th grade boys last year and have taught that age in Sunday School so felt comfortable with the new assignment.  Quickly, my mind is thinking of new presession games because what I had planned clearly would not be good now.

Monday went very well, better than I even expected as far as my morning session.  One even prayed for forgiveness and asked Jesus to be his Savior!

I volunteered as a blue shirt worker in the afternoon which is basically just to be available to assist coaches if needed, taking kids to first aid or the restroom.  I was assigned to 1st gr. boys soccer and had the pleasure to assist two of my former 5th grade boys I had in Sunday School and watch them coach soccer.  They even invited me to play to balance out teams for a little time, it was fun! 

We had a record attendance of children this year and for the first time had to close out some sports.  This outreach ministry into our community takes the whole church working together to make it happen. 

I look forward to another great day today and am excited to see what happens!  This is my idea of a fun vacation--I LOVE it!  What is your idea of a great vacation?

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7 Things We Learned This Week 25 of 2011 (blogging, basketball, health, cat, hockey, repairs)

Pictures and Blogging

I discovered that I do not actually have to download pictures from my camera to my computer to get them on my blog. All I have to do is plug into the USB port on the computer and when I hit "browse" go to "My Computer" and click on the "removable disk" choice which brings up the file of pictures on my camera and select the one I want from there. It isn't sized for "best on the web" this way so it takes a little longer, but it does work and saves me some time and avoids clutter on my computer.  Oh wait, the camera has size settings.  For blog pics, I can use the VGA-email 2M setting--oh boy!  I just realized this, duh.

Basketball

By volunteering to help with basketball in our church sports camp this week, I learned how to shoot with a higher success rate using the "BEEF" method. Balance--not always easy to do when actually playing a game though; Eyes--have the ball in front of your face and look over it to the hoop; Elbow--hold the ball over your elbow; Follow Through--toss it up using your fingers, not your palm and flick your wrist ending with your fingers pointing to the basket. I was surprised at how many more of my shots were good using this method instead of my old way. Gerard learned he wasn't as good at basketball as he thought and is very slow compared to the boys! To read more about this, stop by Sports Camp Rules at our other blog, Always Looking Up.

Blood Pressure

Found out at taking my blood pressure right after I eat a big breakfast at Hometown Buffet isn't the best time to do it. I've really been trying to exercise more and eat less salt to get it down into the 120s. When I had it taken Saturday afternoon, it was 110/72 which is great! I feel much better about it now.

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Celtics on To The Finals! (by Gerard)

I go so tired of hearing on ESPN how no team has ever come back from being 0-3, how the Celtics are old and tired, blah, blah, blah!

Well, the Celts put an end to that last night with an awesom game! The crowd was into it from the get-go! Robertson came off the bench and hit some big 3 pointers after Rondo went down. It was a team victory all the way! Now, it's on to the finals! Go Celts!!

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An Entertaining College Basketball Weekend

The March Madness NCAA Basketball tournament is off to a great start. Many close games and lots of upsets made the games fun to watch. Both of us enjoyed keeping track of how many we picked right for our brackets. I only entered one this year at my husband's work so don't know where I stand on that, other than I got 30 correct. Gerard threw his away when Kansas lost since he had them winning on that one. Fortunately for him, he also entered the one at my work and picked Duke on that one so he still has a slim chance. He's currently 38 out of about 80 but it goes by weighted points and there are only three people ahead of him that also picked Duke.

The highlight for us was Ohio State progressing to the sweet 16. I picked them to go all the way to the championship game against Duke so that was really big for them to win! Poor Pittsburgh lost but had two chances right at the end to tie it with a 3-pointer but couldn't do it. Their shots just weren't falling in for them and both Gerard and I had them winning in the second round.

My biggest let down was Cornell beating Temple and going on to win in the second round too because I was going to pick them but changed my mind after hearing the ESPN guys rattle on and on about how great Temple looked and that their team was named the Owls. So since I like owls, I listened to them and picked Temple instead of Cornell. Cornell was a 12 seed too so those who picked them got a lot of points for it.

The March Madness tournament is huge, but I must admit I didn't know anything about it until I married Gerard. That's when I became interested and found out about doing a bracket (predicting who will win throughout the tournament). I heard about the office pool so decided to join in on the fun. I did fairly well too the first few years I played, but last year I did awful. That's because I listened to all the sports talk shows about the bracketology and studied what the paper said about each team when I made my picks. I'm better off just picking the teams I like and forgoing the research.

What about you? Which team would you like to see win? Did you watch any of the games over the weekend? Do you fill out a bracket and if so, how are you doing? I am looking forward to watching more games next weekend since I sill have teams in each region left on my bracket. It makes it more interesting when you actually care who wins.

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Review and Preview of Our Favorite Sports Teams

Here is a rundown of our views on our favorite Cleveland, Boston, Detroit teams and Ohio State and Duke:

Baseball:

Cleveland Indians:

What's wrong with my Wahoos? Had a terrible year. Got off to their usual slow start. Then, traded Cliff Lee, a Cy Young Award winner and got nothing back in return. POOF! At least Wedge was fired but then they hired Acta, manager of the worst team in National League. POOF AGAIN! Outlook for 2010: VERY BAD. Sorry, tribe fans! (by Leo the Lion)

Boston Red Sox:

I got to see almost all of the Red Sox games this year and I loved it thanks to DirectTV! Had some very exciting games and were the American League wild card. Outlook for 2010: Have good pitching, now need some offense! (by Gerard)

Football:

Ohio State Buckeyes:

They are in the Rose Bowl! That's good but could have easily went undefeated too. Twice they lost games they had no business losing. Outlook for 2010: VERY GOOD! (by Gerard)

Detroit Lions:

They still stink. Also, did not win football pool once this season! POOF! Only highlight for me was seeing the Lions win on the last play of the game against the Browns even after the time ran out! Ha, ha! At lesat Penn State had a good year. (by Leo the Lion)

Cleveland Browns:

Although their record is poor and they struggled along most of the season, the good news is they beat the Steelers! That is HUGE! It's been a long time since they've done that. They are finishing out the season strong with 3 wins in a row and possibly four if they win tomorrow. Even when they lost, most games were close and they never quit! They certainly have improved along the way. Outlook for 2010: OPTIMISTIC and HOPEFUL! Check out what I think about Josh Cribbs: Ignorance Is Bliss--Better Not to Know How Much Others Make(by Karen)

New England Patriots:

They made it back into the playoffs. Good to see Brady back. Outlook for 2010: BRIGHT! (by Gerard)

Basketball:

Duke:

We all enjoy Duke! The Cameron Crazies are the best fans going. Look for them to go far in March Madness. (by Gerard)

Boston Celtics:

When all the players are healthy, they are a top team. (by Gerard)

Cleveland Cavaliers:

They are looking good and on a roll! Since I got this nice shirt for Christmas, I am more interested in how they are doing and have started following them more. Outlook for 2010: VERY GOOD! (by Karen)

Hockey:

Boston Bruins:

What a way to start the year! The winter classic at Fenway Park, WOW! I love watching the Bruins! Outlook for 2010: ROAR!

Tennis:

Karen and I enjoyed playing a lot of tennis last year and we even got to play one day in November! She was glad to be able to play again after having a lumpectomy in September. It really is good exercise and fun! (by Gerard)

None of our teams won any championships but the drama and suspense make sports so much fun to watch! Always remember to be a good sport!

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Amazing 5-yr. Old Girl Demonstrates How To Dribble

I just saw this today and WOW! Pretty amazing!! This little girl can out dribble pros. I can't even dribble one ball without looking, and she just keeps them going and going.

(I usually don't post more than one thing on here per day, but today I did so make sure you look at the quiz below too.)