Weekend In New England

I'm off to Providence, Rhode Island today to spend the weekend coaching John and Dee Soares, who are great dance friends of mine. They've just opened a new dance studio, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Sarah's Key

I just finished reading Sarah's Key, by Tatiana De Rosnay. It was one of those delicious stories that wrenches your soul apart and leaves it in pieces on the ground.


I had a visceral reaction to the key moment in the story, the moment that defines Sarah's life. My stomach actually convulsed at the horror that I knew was about to happen. As the parents and the girl were taken away, I could physically feel what the parents were feeling, knowing what was most likely going to happen to their son. That feeling, knowing you have absolutely no control over the situation, and there is nothing you can do to fix it...horror. Complete horror.

When the girl goes back, I knew what she was going to find, and yet my brain kept whispering, "Oh please let it be different, please let it be different..."

I couldn't identify with Julia's driving need to find Sarah's son and tell him the story, but it was interesting to find out about Sarah's adult life. Realizing how that moment had dictated the rest of her life... Understandably so, especially if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God.

I always say that without a belief in the sovereignty of God, suicide IS the only answer that makes sense. Nothing makes sense without that belief. If you don't get your peace from the knowledge that everything has been planned and ordered by God for a specific purpose, why live?

Anyway, if you're in the mood for a soul wrenching, horror filled novel (what? that's not what everyone is looking for in a book??), pick this one up.

More Of The Commish

Since only those in our fantasy football league get to appreciate Andrew's writing skills, and since he's too dumb to have saved any of his prior recap articles, I will from now on post them to my blog for all to enjoy.

SUZANNE MOSLEY: GM OF THE WEEK (10)
... Suzanne Mosley Won Her THIRD GM OF THE WEEK - DoggPound A Close Second With Their Stunning Upset Over The 7-3 Smytherines - First Ever TIE In Philadelphia Challenge History, SpecialEd Is Thanking His QB For The Win This Morning
(TUE 11-17)

GM OF THE WEEK: Suzanne Mosley's Sauteed Mules picked up their third GM of the Week honors this morning after their HUGE win over the league leading 8-2 Mosley Dolphins, 115-101. Their trophy count, QB of the Week and TE of the Week, gave them the edge over the Kennel DoggPound - who scored the UpsetOfTheDecade in their GARGANTUANAMOUS win (only their second of the season) over the second best team in the league, the 7-3 Manassas, VA Smytherines, 130-104, picking up the Team HighScore trophy as icing on the cake!

VEGAS ODDSMAKERS QUALIFY FOR FEDERAL BAILOUT!!! - Nate's DoggPounders have done it again - they now legally own the sportsbookmakers in Vegas - they followed up their first win of the season last week with an unbelievable victory over the Smytherines. With the post-season only a week away, could the Pounders be talking championship???? Since our illustrious Commissioner decided that "everyone is special" thus everyone gets a ticket to the dance, all twelve teams will participate in the post-season. So a team like the lb-ers could hit a hot streak (kinda like the one they're on now) and defy the odds. Alas, could they have captured lightning in a bottle too soon? These two wins would have been better served a little later. Still - this guy is the new Bugsy Siegel ...

TRAILER BOWL ENDS WITH KISSING SISTERS -> Our first ever Trailer Bowl - of course it ended with kissing sisters ... A 114-114 TIE! Whodathunkit? You wouldn't have believed this if it we're the Lifetime Movie Of the Week - but that's reality - always more skankier than Hollywood. Credit SpecialEd's Tom Brady's 29pts to break this unholy affair ... mercy, it ain't right I tell ya ... 'scuse me while I go bathe to get this off of me... yeechkkk ...


............... FINAL GAME OF The REGULAR SEASON ...............
Three Of The Top Four Seeds Are Still In Doubt

Win You Bye, PT I -> 4-6 Golden Knights at 7-3 Smytherines: The Smytherines have just been on a whirlwind rollercoaster ride the last three weeks, knocking off the then league leading Haulers in week 8, running up the score on the HellBandits in week 9, then plummeting to the abyss last week versus the Pounders. They need a rocket lift back to the top against the GoldenKnights if they want a guaranteed ticket to a bye.

Win You Bye, PT II -> 5-5 RoopDogs at 7-3 Sauteed Mules: With the champagne of last week's win still stuck in their hair, the Mules need to get one more win to qualify for the highly coveted bye week in our post-season tournament. The RoopDogs are coming off a humiliating tie - and the Mules better watch out, because these Dogs have followed up every loss since week 5 with a win.

Win You Bye, PT III -> 7-3 Haulers at 8-2 Dolphins: Just four weeks ago this matchup was being heralded as a ChallengeCup Preview ... alas the Haulers suffered two losses since then and are now in a world-sized struggle just to get a ticket to bye. AND THEY HAVE TO BEAT THE LEAGUE'S BEST TEAM TO GET ONE!!!! AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH (in my best Grover voice) ... well, at least the Mules have proven that it can be done - oh, and so too the LittleRupples of this world. It can be done - all you have to do is believe in yourself. Don't worry about the scoreboard. If you do what you love, the points will come, they say. You can bet the Haulers will be trying all sorts of Kabbalah crap to conjure up a win this week ...

Win You Just Might Bye, PT IV -> [i]4-6 Destroyers at 6-4 SpecialEd: Yup, SpecialEd theoretically has a shot at a bye ticket, as long as any of the above three top teams tank it - going by the upsets we've seen in recent weeks, I'd say its a virtual lock. All SpecialEd needs to do is stop the up and coming Destroyers - who were just a fingernail's width away from a fifth straight win last week (someone decided to bench 50pts worth of RBs - that could have netted them 148pts and a possible GM of the Week, too!)

Save The Children

Melissa and I have decided that there would be much less child abuse in the world if it was legal to duct tape your children's mouths closed between the hours of 4:30 and 7:30pm.


If you are raising, or have ever raised, more than one young child at a time, you know what I'm talking about. Children lose their minds for those 3 hours every day. The devil's hours, they are....

Monday Mornings With Zachary

Another bedtime story from Zach, this time he writes his own.

Ava's Fashions

This dress was quintessential Ava, for 3 reasons:

1. The color. Bright light turquoise blue has been Ava's best color since birth.
   
2. The style. Fashion forward bohemian.
   
3. The bling. You can't see it in this pic, but there are light turquoise sequins on the bodice of the dress.

Bohemian braids with matching ribbons, and flat white sandals. Quintessential Ava.

Plus, every self-respecting bohemian girl has a monkey on a string...

I'm Gonna Buy You A Cadillac, Mama...

It is my great white hope that these two boys, with their outrageous intellects and unparalleled powers of manipulation, will someday run a company that will support their mother in the style that she'd like to become accustomed to.