I know that all of you have been anxious to find out how my singles match went on Saturday. (except those of you who already know) My team carpooled to the Pittsburgh Golf Club which is near Squirrel Hill. I joked with the girls how I was hoping for a very old opponent that was really slow. Of course, that was not the case my opponent was young (in her 30's I'm guessing) and pretty quick. Her name is Louise Kay. "Louise," I asked? "No, it is Louise Kay," she responded. Okay, uh, so Louise Kay and I started to warm up. I noticed right away that her ground strokes were a little unpredictable, but as we continued to warm up she seemed to get better. Her serve was pretty shaky and she had a lot of trouble feeding me overhead shot practice. So, I went into the match feeling fairly confidant that she wouldn't blow me off the court and I might even have a good chance of winning. It was interesting to me that she chose to receive serve after winning the spin instead of serving first, which is usually an advantage. It was another indication of how uncomfortable with her serve she was.
To make a long story short(er), I won the match 6-0, 6-0. She seemed to think that hitting the ball as hard as you could was the way to go. That only is the case when you you can keep the ball in play, which Louise Kay really, really struggled doing. We only had one game that went to deuce. Louise Kay exceeded my expectations for an opponent. My only hope now is that my captains don't think that I can do that same thing against other teams. My team won the match 4-1, losing only line 1 singles. Interesting was the age of the line 1 and 2 doubles opponents. They were all at least in their 70's with one of the ladies playing line 1 doubles being 82 years old. I hope that when I am their age I am still playing tennis.
My team for Mt. Lebanon Team Tennis won again yesterday narrowly. My wonderful partner Penny and I won a tough match 9-6. We were able to come back after a three game to zero start. So, I have won all my matches so far this year, which I know won't continue once Pittsburgh Tennis League starts, but for now it is all good.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Work and Tennis
I have had many people ask me about my job and how I like it so far. I really do enjoy the work. I have always loved helping people with outfits and it is very gratifying when they take my suggestions. After just one 4 1/2 hour day I've come to a few conclusions:
1) I need more comfortable shoes.
2) I should never calculate how much I will be payed because it sounds so paltry.
3) This job will be easier when I know where everything in the store is located.
4) I was tired after just 4 hours. How will I feel after an 8 hour day?
All in all I had a good time and am looking forward to work again today.
On a completely different note, the tennis season is upon us. I have played in two matches so far for the Mt. Lebanon team tennis league. I won both of my matches 11-4 but my team's record is 1 and 1. Actually every team in the league has a 1 and 1 record. I had two different partners for the matches and feel really blessed to have such nice players to play with.
My first USTA match is on Saturday and I am scheduled to play singles. UGH!!! I am not a singles player. I am a much stronger doubles player. Of course, it is my own fault for offering once to play singles for a person who was injured. I hope that this is a one time thing. My biggest concern with singles is my stamina. I have been playing one set of singles a week with the Wednesday group I play with, but if I have a match that goes to three sets I could be in trouble. Pray for me on Saturday morning.
1) I need more comfortable shoes.
2) I should never calculate how much I will be payed because it sounds so paltry.
3) This job will be easier when I know where everything in the store is located.
4) I was tired after just 4 hours. How will I feel after an 8 hour day?
All in all I had a good time and am looking forward to work again today.
On a completely different note, the tennis season is upon us. I have played in two matches so far for the Mt. Lebanon team tennis league. I won both of my matches 11-4 but my team's record is 1 and 1. Actually every team in the league has a 1 and 1 record. I had two different partners for the matches and feel really blessed to have such nice players to play with.
My first USTA match is on Saturday and I am scheduled to play singles. UGH!!! I am not a singles player. I am a much stronger doubles player. Of course, it is my own fault for offering once to play singles for a person who was injured. I hope that this is a one time thing. My biggest concern with singles is my stamina. I have been playing one set of singles a week with the Wednesday group I play with, but if I have a match that goes to three sets I could be in trouble. Pray for me on Saturday morning.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Job
I have been thinking of getting a job for quite a while now. Last year when Leah was in first grade I was contemplating it. One of my tennis friends said, "you should give it a year." So, I gave it a year but still felt like I needed something new to do. It really is a transition going from having small children that require a lot of attention to having "big girls" that are independent in many ways. Truth be told that I was kind of bored with my life. Not at all times of course, but generally speaking the sameness of every day was getting monotonous. I enjoy tennis but even that was feeling old.
I had always liked working before I had children and was a very good sales person. The question was what type of work would be best for me. I didn't want to go for a full-time career type job, at least not yet anyways. I also was hesitant to work retail because of the hours, which might be difficult when Mark is out-of-town. I decided that it was probably best for me to just get my feet wet with any job and then see how it goes. I applied to work at Borders about a month or so ago but was told that they were not looking for anyone at the time.
Last Friday I went to lunch with a friend from Bible study and then we went shopping afterwards. We ended up at Ann Taylor Loft, which is one of my favorite stores. I love picking out clothes for people and helping them shop. My joy must have been evident because several people said that I should consider a job there. My heart kind-of leaped at the idea, so I got an application.
Part of the application process is answering a questionnaire on-line. They had you put basic info about yourself and then asked personality questions that you had to say if you strongly agreed, agreed, were neutral, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. They also said that you only had 20 seconds to answer and you couldn't go back once you hit enter. The very first question I hit strongly disagree instead of strongly agree and felt sick to my stomach. Would my blown answer ruin my chances? Argh!!! I don't remember what the question was but Mark and I joked that it was probably something like, "I consider myself to be an honest person" or "I am a friendly person."
After stewing for four whole days I received the call to come in for an interview. I felt fairly confidant because I am usually pretty good at speaking extemporarily, but I haven't interviewed for a very long time. After talking and answering questions for about ten minutes I was offered the job. I was doing the happy dance inside my head.
I will probably work for about 2-3 days a week. My biggest question is whether I will make any money at all because the employee discounts are really good and I do need work clothes, right? We will see how good my self-control is. I start training tomorrow at 2:00pm. Pray for me.
I had always liked working before I had children and was a very good sales person. The question was what type of work would be best for me. I didn't want to go for a full-time career type job, at least not yet anyways. I also was hesitant to work retail because of the hours, which might be difficult when Mark is out-of-town. I decided that it was probably best for me to just get my feet wet with any job and then see how it goes. I applied to work at Borders about a month or so ago but was told that they were not looking for anyone at the time.
Last Friday I went to lunch with a friend from Bible study and then we went shopping afterwards. We ended up at Ann Taylor Loft, which is one of my favorite stores. I love picking out clothes for people and helping them shop. My joy must have been evident because several people said that I should consider a job there. My heart kind-of leaped at the idea, so I got an application.
Part of the application process is answering a questionnaire on-line. They had you put basic info about yourself and then asked personality questions that you had to say if you strongly agreed, agreed, were neutral, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. They also said that you only had 20 seconds to answer and you couldn't go back once you hit enter. The very first question I hit strongly disagree instead of strongly agree and felt sick to my stomach. Would my blown answer ruin my chances? Argh!!! I don't remember what the question was but Mark and I joked that it was probably something like, "I consider myself to be an honest person" or "I am a friendly person."
After stewing for four whole days I received the call to come in for an interview. I felt fairly confidant because I am usually pretty good at speaking extemporarily, but I haven't interviewed for a very long time. After talking and answering questions for about ten minutes I was offered the job. I was doing the happy dance inside my head.
I will probably work for about 2-3 days a week. My biggest question is whether I will make any money at all because the employee discounts are really good and I do need work clothes, right? We will see how good my self-control is. I start training tomorrow at 2:00pm. Pray for me.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Glasses
Yesterday the little girls and I picked up our new glasses. This is the first pair for both Steph and Leah. They were told that they really only needed them for school. They both look pretty cute in them. My glasses don't look all that different although they are silver and a little more substantial than my last pair. Leah was with me when I picked them out and approved of them saying that I still looked like myself. My last pair was broken and pretty scratched up, but I kept putting off going to the eye doctor until Leah and Steph both needed check-ups.
Laurel didn't need new glasses although her old pair were very bent out of shape. She decided that she wanted contacts. She was surprised that they gave them to her right at her appointment last week. At first she struggled with getting them in and out but now she is able to do it usually on the first try.
The one really nice thing about the place we went (The Eye Gallery in McMurray) is that they repair glasses for you whenever you drop in, for free. I saw many people have their glasses adjusted while I was waiting for the girls during their appointments. They fixed Laurel's glasses which was great because she didn't need another pair since her prescription hadn't changed. They even offered to fix my old glasses which is great. I don't know if I will ever wear them again, but I guess it is good to have a spare pair in case something happens to the new ones.
Leah was really cute saying, "now everyone in our family has glasses." I teased Steph that her dad and I are doing everything we can to keep the boys away from her by having her get both braces and glasses. So far our strategy is working!
Laurel didn't need new glasses although her old pair were very bent out of shape. She decided that she wanted contacts. She was surprised that they gave them to her right at her appointment last week. At first she struggled with getting them in and out but now she is able to do it usually on the first try.
The one really nice thing about the place we went (The Eye Gallery in McMurray) is that they repair glasses for you whenever you drop in, for free. I saw many people have their glasses adjusted while I was waiting for the girls during their appointments. They fixed Laurel's glasses which was great because she didn't need another pair since her prescription hadn't changed. They even offered to fix my old glasses which is great. I don't know if I will ever wear them again, but I guess it is good to have a spare pair in case something happens to the new ones.
Leah was really cute saying, "now everyone in our family has glasses." I teased Steph that her dad and I are doing everything we can to keep the boys away from her by having her get both braces and glasses. So far our strategy is working!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Rabbit Hole
Mark and I went to see the Pittsburgh Public Theaters production of the play 'Rabbit Hole' on Saturday night. 'Rabbit Hole' was written by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. I had not heard of him before but he has received 5 Tony Award nominations and is currently working on the book and lyrics for the Broadway-bound musical 'Shrek'. He is also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming movie 'Inkheart' and is also bringing 'Rabbit hole' and one of his other plays 'Kimberly Akimbo' to the screen as well. I believe that Mr. Lindsay-Abaire is about to become very well-known indeed!
When Lindsay-Abaire was at school at Julliard he was told that if you want to write a really good play, write about the thing that scares you the most. At the time he didn't understand that, but now that he is a father he realized that one of his greatest fears is that something horrible would happen to his child. Rabbit Hole is about a family that is dealing with the tragedy of losing their son in an accident. The four year old Danny ran out in the street chasing after his dog and was hit by a car. The first act takes place about 6 months after his death.
The play opens with Danny's mom Becca (Erika Rolfsrud) listening to her younger, wilder sister relay a story about how she punched-out a girl who was yelling at her in a bar. It turns out that Izzy (Joey Parsons) was sleeping with the girls' boyfriend and is now expecting his baby. She was hesitant to tell her sister about the pregnancy because she wasn't sure how Becca would react. Becca tried very hard to be happy for her sister but you could tell that she thought this was another piece of evidence that Izzy was a screw-up. How can she raise a baby when she can't even keep a job at 'Apple bee's'?
Becca's husband is Howie (Dylan Chalfy) who returns from playing handball with his friend and part of a couple that was very close to them before the accident. Debbie was Becca's friend but hadn't called her for months and Becca was not going to call her out of principle. Howie and Becca were both handling the tragedy in different ways. Becca was going crazy with all the memories in the house. Seeing one of Danny's toys or a finger print sent her reeling. She gave the dog to her mother and was starting to clean and sort his clothes to give to Goodwill. She wants to sell the house to try to get away from the sadness. Becca quit going to the support group because she couldn't stand the religious people who said things like, "he is in a better place or God needed another angel", which she found not at all comforting.
Howie on the other hand continued to go to the support group and wanted to keep everything the same in the house and was angry that Becca removed Danny's artwork from the refrigerator. He enjoyed watching the video tape of Danny. Howie accuses Becca of trying to erase Danny from their lives when she accidentally erases the video and in the fact that she wants to sell the house.
Becca's mom, Nat (Jo Twiss) tries to help with varying degrees of success. She understands what it is like to lose a child because her only son also died. Becca resents the comparison because her brother hung himself while strung-out on heroin, while her son was an innocent child.
The only other character in the play is Jason (Alec Silberblatt), the teenage boy that was driving the car that killed Danny. He is also struggling with the death and writes the family a letter and asks if he can dedicate a story he wrote to Danny.
The second act takes place about three months later. The house is up for sale and they have the dog back from Nat who Howie said was making him fat. Izzy is helping Howie with an open house and tells him that no one is going to make an offer when they see Danny's room. They in evidently ask about the child and then are mortified when they hear that he died. "It creeps them out," says Izzy. Izzy also mentions that one of her friends waited on Howie and a woman at a restaurant and that they were holding hands. Howie says that the woman is from the support group and he was just comforting her and emphatically denies that anything else is going on. Becca and her mom return from a shopping trip where Becca had an altercation with a mom who wouldn't buy her son fruit snacks and then ignored him. She ended up slapping the other mom. Nat explained to the other mom why Becca so over reacts. Jason walks in because it is an open house and he wants to talk to them. Howie goes ballistic on him, but he leaves his number in case they want to talk to him later.
Becca decides that she would like to talk to him and arranges it. He explains that he may have been driving a little fast, maybe one or two miles per hour, but he can't be sure because he hadn't checked his speed in their block. He saw the dog and swerved not to hit it and then ended up hitting Danny instead. Becca assures him that they don't blame him, that they know that it was an accident. The title of the play is taken from Jason's story. He writes about rabbit holes that connect our world with alternate worlds. Becca takes some comfort in that maybe there is a world where she was happy and that the tragedy never took place.
In the end Howie agrees that Danny's room should be made into a generic guest bedroom and stops going to the support group. Becca and her mom share a good moment while cleaning out Danny's room. Becca finally calls Debbie, they reconcile and Debbie invites them over for a cookout. Becca admits to Howie that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if they don't sell the house. Even though it isn't clear what will happen to this family in the future it seems that there is hope for them.
I loved this play. Even though it was about a very sad subject there were funny moments as well. I found the play very believable. The acting was great and the actors seemed visibly moved by the standing ovation that they received.
On a side note, there was a lot of eating during the play. They ate creme caramel, birthday cake (Izzy's birthday), zucchini bread, lemon squares and apple tort. I wonder what they do with the leftovers. Maybe the crew gets to eat it. I would volunteer to help them out, everything looked really good. The kitchen in the play was really nice, way better than my kitchen. Mark suggested that we ask the set designer to help us remodel our kitchen. We also noticed that all of the actors except Alec (who is a high school boy from Pittsburgh) have appeared in "Law and Order." I guess with as long as that has been on every actor can get a turn.
The play will be showing until May 18th. So I urge you to go see it. You will not be disappointed.
When Lindsay-Abaire was at school at Julliard he was told that if you want to write a really good play, write about the thing that scares you the most. At the time he didn't understand that, but now that he is a father he realized that one of his greatest fears is that something horrible would happen to his child. Rabbit Hole is about a family that is dealing with the tragedy of losing their son in an accident. The four year old Danny ran out in the street chasing after his dog and was hit by a car. The first act takes place about 6 months after his death.
The play opens with Danny's mom Becca (Erika Rolfsrud) listening to her younger, wilder sister relay a story about how she punched-out a girl who was yelling at her in a bar. It turns out that Izzy (Joey Parsons) was sleeping with the girls' boyfriend and is now expecting his baby. She was hesitant to tell her sister about the pregnancy because she wasn't sure how Becca would react. Becca tried very hard to be happy for her sister but you could tell that she thought this was another piece of evidence that Izzy was a screw-up. How can she raise a baby when she can't even keep a job at 'Apple bee's'?
Becca's husband is Howie (Dylan Chalfy) who returns from playing handball with his friend and part of a couple that was very close to them before the accident. Debbie was Becca's friend but hadn't called her for months and Becca was not going to call her out of principle. Howie and Becca were both handling the tragedy in different ways. Becca was going crazy with all the memories in the house. Seeing one of Danny's toys or a finger print sent her reeling. She gave the dog to her mother and was starting to clean and sort his clothes to give to Goodwill. She wants to sell the house to try to get away from the sadness. Becca quit going to the support group because she couldn't stand the religious people who said things like, "he is in a better place or God needed another angel", which she found not at all comforting.
Howie on the other hand continued to go to the support group and wanted to keep everything the same in the house and was angry that Becca removed Danny's artwork from the refrigerator. He enjoyed watching the video tape of Danny. Howie accuses Becca of trying to erase Danny from their lives when she accidentally erases the video and in the fact that she wants to sell the house.
Becca's mom, Nat (Jo Twiss) tries to help with varying degrees of success. She understands what it is like to lose a child because her only son also died. Becca resents the comparison because her brother hung himself while strung-out on heroin, while her son was an innocent child.
The only other character in the play is Jason (Alec Silberblatt), the teenage boy that was driving the car that killed Danny. He is also struggling with the death and writes the family a letter and asks if he can dedicate a story he wrote to Danny.
The second act takes place about three months later. The house is up for sale and they have the dog back from Nat who Howie said was making him fat. Izzy is helping Howie with an open house and tells him that no one is going to make an offer when they see Danny's room. They in evidently ask about the child and then are mortified when they hear that he died. "It creeps them out," says Izzy. Izzy also mentions that one of her friends waited on Howie and a woman at a restaurant and that they were holding hands. Howie says that the woman is from the support group and he was just comforting her and emphatically denies that anything else is going on. Becca and her mom return from a shopping trip where Becca had an altercation with a mom who wouldn't buy her son fruit snacks and then ignored him. She ended up slapping the other mom. Nat explained to the other mom why Becca so over reacts. Jason walks in because it is an open house and he wants to talk to them. Howie goes ballistic on him, but he leaves his number in case they want to talk to him later.
Becca decides that she would like to talk to him and arranges it. He explains that he may have been driving a little fast, maybe one or two miles per hour, but he can't be sure because he hadn't checked his speed in their block. He saw the dog and swerved not to hit it and then ended up hitting Danny instead. Becca assures him that they don't blame him, that they know that it was an accident. The title of the play is taken from Jason's story. He writes about rabbit holes that connect our world with alternate worlds. Becca takes some comfort in that maybe there is a world where she was happy and that the tragedy never took place.
In the end Howie agrees that Danny's room should be made into a generic guest bedroom and stops going to the support group. Becca and her mom share a good moment while cleaning out Danny's room. Becca finally calls Debbie, they reconcile and Debbie invites them over for a cookout. Becca admits to Howie that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if they don't sell the house. Even though it isn't clear what will happen to this family in the future it seems that there is hope for them.
I loved this play. Even though it was about a very sad subject there were funny moments as well. I found the play very believable. The acting was great and the actors seemed visibly moved by the standing ovation that they received.
On a side note, there was a lot of eating during the play. They ate creme caramel, birthday cake (Izzy's birthday), zucchini bread, lemon squares and apple tort. I wonder what they do with the leftovers. Maybe the crew gets to eat it. I would volunteer to help them out, everything looked really good. The kitchen in the play was really nice, way better than my kitchen. Mark suggested that we ask the set designer to help us remodel our kitchen. We also noticed that all of the actors except Alec (who is a high school boy from Pittsburgh) have appeared in "Law and Order." I guess with as long as that has been on every actor can get a turn.
The play will be showing until May 18th. So I urge you to go see it. You will not be disappointed.
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