Game Day

To all my Ohio State friends out there in blogland... O-H-I-O!

Go Buckeyes!!

Go Buckeyes!

Well Emily and I just got back this morning after flying the red eye all night. To those who doubted my ability to last 5 days without my computer I actually did it. And no I didn't even think once to consider laptop rental. We were so busy my computer never would have been even turned on. So I am off to try to get a few hours of sleep before the festivities start this evening.

What festivities? The big National Championship football game of course. Ohio State is playing LSU for the title of National Champion tonight. You really didn't think the game would happen without a post from me, did you?

GO BUCKEYES!!!

THE Ohio State University

So my Buckeyes lost last week and yes they lost to Illinois (thanks for all the emails my Illinois pals) but they have done way more this year than ever expected. They were picked to finish 4th in the Big 10 and if they even finished ranked by the end of the season it would be surprising. Instead they are going into their last game, with only 1 loss and ranked #7.

So Saturday is the big Ohio State versus Michigan rivalry game. This year it is at Michigan. It will be hard, but in the end I think the Buckeyes will prevail. Rather than harping on how awesome Ohio State is, I am going to take a walk down memory lane. (Prepare yourself for long drivel)

Some of my earliest memories are of Ohio State, after all I was conceived at Ohio State after a football game (And yes my mother informs me of this all the time as we drive pass the "magical" place) We used to drive to Columbus often when I was a kid to just walk around the campus. It really is such a pretty campus. I remember walking past Mirror Lake and knowing that this was where I was going to someday go to college.

Mirror Lake during the fall.

I used to go to football games with my parents (you know back when fans could actually get tickets) and remember not really understanding what was going on down on the field but getting caught up in all the action. Going to Columbus on a home football Saturday is really something you need to experience to fully understand what I am saying. I have pictures of my brother and I standing with these huge football players on picture days. My first crush was on a walk-on Ohio State football player named Matt McCoy (Hey, I was in like 4th grade!) I am still hoping that one day my parents will love Matt and I so much that they will give us their season tickets.

Ohio State Stadium

When it came time to apply to college my parents offered to take me to visit a bunch of colleges. I never stepped foot on another campus as I knew I was always going to be a Buckeye. I remember being so excited when it was actually time to leave for college. It was scary as I had grown up in the same house all my life and lived in a small, sheltered town and there I was heading for a school with over 50,000 students.

Morrill Tower, my dorm for the first two years of college. Ah dorm living... some real luxury homes

The memories of the 5 years I was in college are endless. I met Matt there, our first child was conceived there (now you know how it feels to hear it mom) and born at the university hospital. I had my first real drinking experience and my first ambulance ride there. I was on TV with a very embarrassing job I had sweeping the basketball floors at timeouts and during halftime. I rushed the field and got maced after the huge 1994 win against Michigan. Middle of the night runs to Mejers, playing poker with football players, road trips, playing footsie with Matt under the table at the engineering library, Matt and I taking Emily and Kylee (our dog) for walks across the oval, decorating our dorm, frat parties and all night cram sessions with $4.95 Papa John Pizza's. Matt and I camped out for two days just to get Rose Bowl tickets. I met some of my closest and dearest friends there. I got my education there, I experienced and learned about life there.

Since graduating we have tailgated and gone to football games. We took a roadtrip to the National Championship football game in Arizona back in January 2003 with 4 of our close friends. We have walked our kids across the campus many times, telling them the memories we have. Our kids are die-hard buckeye fans. Who knows, maybe one of them will someday have a reason to buy me an OSU Mom sweatshirt.

These are just a few of the hundreds of memories I have. Rather than posting a video (have I told you how much I love youtube?) promoting the team and the big game this weekend I want to share a song that brings tears to my eyes almost every time I hear it. Ohio State's alma matter, Carmen Ohio.



Go Buckeyes!!! Beat scUM!

Game Time

Tonight was the first baseball and softball game of the season. Of course both kids had games at the same time. So Matt and I did some major flip flopping back and forth.

Chris has really improved since last year. I think his confidence in himself has grown and that has led him to be a better ball player. Tonight he played 3rd base, short stop and right field and hit twice and struck out once. His age group is machine pitch so it isn't super exciting, but it is still fun to watch.





Emily did awesome. In fact she helped win the game. As a starter pitcher (she pitched her two alloted innings) she struck out five people and walked only three. Then in the 4th inning the game was tied –– 5 to 5. Two outs. A high fly ball came between third and short stop. Emily, who was playing third, rushed over and caught it. We had last bats, scored a run, game over. I can't wait to see how she progresses over the season.

I Would Love To Win This One

Jamie bought the grandparents some really cool digital photo frames for Christmas. I had never heard of them before, but after looking at some myself I really would like one. (or two or three) The problem is that I can't justify spending the money on one.

So now here is my chance!! 5 Minutes For Mom is giving away a free digital photo frame –– that's a $250 value!!! Pick me, pick me! Please pick me!!

Once Again

GO BUCKEYES!!!

Kill those Gators. Let's just hope we play better in basketball than we did in football.

B-I-N-G-O

There was a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name-o! B-I-N-G-O!

Well I can honestly say I have now experienced real bingo. Not the type that you play during indoor recess or at company holiday parties. But real bingo.

Last night Jamie and I went to the fairgrounds for Monday bingo night. I and still laughing about it. Being the bingo virgins that we are, we got quite the few looks as we sat there organizing our different cards, trying to figure out the games and color coding different things. My head was spinning with "super cross", "speed ball", "Goldstar", "pulltabs", "hot shots".

If you have never been to a bingo night I highly suggest you go. Just for the pure entertainment value. There were people with good luck items, with special dauber carrying cases. People buying pulltabs and other cards by the stackfulls. Money was flying left and right. Being the good girls Jamie and I were we only bought 1 of the extra pull game cards.

There were quite a few highlights of the evening. First, no one informed me that sweatpants with elastic legholes are back in style. We were only a few of the handful not wearing them. There was a pull tab called "redneck" that when people wanted the "redneck" pull tab games or won off of them they would scream "redneck" and Jamie and I would burst into a fit of giggles like school girls. Then the lady sitting next to me kept pointing out just how "not" close I was to winning every time I would mention just how close I was. Finally her friend told her to mind her own card and leave me alone.

And the highlight of the evening... the last game we weren't paying attention and they were playing some weird pulltab game in with it and I managed to get Jamie to yell that she had Bingo when she really didn't. Well actually I yelled bingo and threw Jamie's arms into the air. Needless to say we got made fun of.

It was such a fun evening. And really I would do it again. Of course I probably should just flush $12.50 down the toilet first and then just sit and people watch. That is basically what I did last night anyways.