December. Eek.

So, after a visit to Popcorn Served Daily, my friend Lisa's amazingly funny and fun-to-read blog, I realized that I hadn't visited my own blog in weeks. Okay, let's be honest, months. Lisa regularly posts incredible little life tidbits (love the latest on Waterford Crystal and Tamale making.) Why can't I get in the habit of posting regular little tidbits as well? For those of you loyal readers, do not fret. Probably not going to happen in this lifetime. You will still be treated to my random acts of blogness.

December. When did Christmas come so quickly? Our tree is up. Has been since the week prior to Thanksgiving. However, it is bare. Thankfully it is a pre-lit tree. There is one, sad little Starbucks cup ornament hanging on it. The outside of the house is pretty though!

Tonight is the Mustang Midget team sleepover at the ice rink. I'll never understand the reason for calling it a sleepover, as they don't sleep. They eat (10 large pizzas on order, 2 pans of brownies in the oven, and countless snacks coming from other parents.) They play a little hockey. They suit up in all their hockey gear and play football on ice. Mostly they have fun. And take home a few memories for the future. This year, they will be cold. Better them than me.

Kyle will not be attending for the full sleepover this season. He has some odd virus that has caused his spleen to enlarge. Not mono. Some other weird thing. He is out of physical activities for a few weeks to make sure he doesn't rupture said spleen. For some reason we need those things.

School ends this week, and I'm sure parents everywhere are rejoicing. Yay. Kids home for at least two weeks. Yay. The good news is that we don't have to fight over homework. And they can be very useful for carrying in groceries and taking out the trash (which is his job anyway, yet he needs to be constantly reminded. Hmm.)

My knitting is far far behind for the holiday season. Those of you expecting dishcloths for gifts, as always, might see them closer to Valentine's Day this year. Sorry! My experiment with cables (Bella hat and mittens) is taking longer than expected, and as I've seen on the Weather Network, there will be snow in Newmarket when we are there in January (more to follow on that one!)

Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. About an hour north of Toronto. Small town. 7 ice rinks. Hosting the Silver Stick Midget Minor Finals this January. The finals that the boys managed to get an invite to by winning the Dallas Silver Stick regional tourney in October.

Two regionals in 3 seasons is quite an accomplishment. Two regionals at two different levels (Bantam B and Midget Minor A.) Can't wait to see Newmarket. I think it's going to be a bit chilly there this year. And hopefully SNOW!!

Merry Christmas Kyle. Santa is bringing you round trip tickets to Toronto Canada and a stay at the Markham Hilton for Christmas this year! WooHoo!

Snoopy and Joe put in their request for Greenies. Lots of them. Hope Santa Paws comes through.

Kim put in her request for a new bread machine. The last one died (after 10 years) while making a loaf of French bread. Was a bummer, but a shiny new Zojirushi will be under my tree this year (thanks to Sur La Table for having it in stock and to BB&B for not having the Cuisinart one in stock.)

Ron wants socks. He got a shiny red Nissan 350Z this year, so I think socks are in order. Don't you?

And with that I'm putting this edition of Chaos to bed. After all , the title says it all.

The best way to combat evil is to do good.
The best way to fight fear is to be strong.
The best way to ease loneliness is to love.
The best way to grow is to change.
Fight for your life. Tell your stories.
Send your signals to the world.
~Jon Katz

Jon Katz published this on his blog (blog.bedlamfarm.com) this morning and it really hit home for me. Thought I'd share.

Been a crazy few months. I look back that I last posted in August and wonder where September went. Oh.... school, hockey, life. Passes by too quickly sometimes.

Kyle... back in school, and struggling, but only because he doesn't give his best effort. But thankfully overall he's a good kid. He has a new group of school friends this year. He's going to football games and hanging out with them outside school which is nice. Ron and I went to a football game a few weeks back. It had been since high school that I'd been to a high school football game. Was very fun.

Hockey, going well. A big change from previous seasons where we could do it all and win it all. The kids are going to have to work harder and learn to live with some losses this year, but that's not a bad thing. Went 2-2 in the Labor Day tourney. Went 2-2 in the IceBreaker Tourney. Off to Dallas next weekend for the Silver Stick tourney. Kyle still loves playing, I still love managing.

Dogs... Ron drained the pool and they both seem devastated by the loss of their giant water dish. We're running again in the mornings (thank you Mother Nature for finally turning down the thermostat!) They love their morning runs. There is a Border Collie we see occasionally, Zach, who loves to play with them. We also have two Australian Shepherds we see fairly frequently. They do love the play time.

Snoopy is not feeling 100% right now. He has a vet visit tomorrow to check things out. Needs his 6 month Valley Fever titer test and maybe a round of blood work just to be sure things are in order.

Joe is Joe. Absolutely freaking nuts and thankful that the monsoon was rather mild this year.

Ron... in training this weekend. Last time in the 737. This time next year he should be flying the Airbus. I think he's looking forward to the change.

Me... Life goes on as it always does. Running the dogs, doing the laundry, driving to hockey. The mom life doesn't change much.

Did I mention?

It's hockey season. So far, 3 games played. 1-1-1. Beat Peoria U16A/AA, tied Team AZ Bantam AAA, lost to CAHA U16AA. All 3 good games. The kids are playing well together and seem to have bonded quite well, considering all the new kids this year. We have several 1993s who returned after a year of high school hockey too.

Not much planned for this season yet. Labor Day tourney here. Ice Breaker tourney here in Sept as well. Silver Stick in Dallas in October. Silver Stick will determine the rest of our season's plans.

Kyle seems to be liking it. He has a new linemate - Jared. They seem to like playing together (at least Kyle says they do) and seem to play well together. It's a change since last season he finished out the season playing with Steven, Eric & Josh. But so far so good. Kyle had a beautiful goal in the game against Peoria last Thursday and had some stellar shifts last night against CAHA.

Again, it's the start of the season. More to come!

thankfully.....

school starts tomorrow. Summer has actually been pretty fun, and though we had the hottest July on record, June was nice and last night we sat out on the Swansons front patio all evening. So we can't complain about the weather this year. Not much anyway.

Hockey is back in almost full swing. Two practices a week. Tournament in a month. Lots of emails, lots of paperwork.

Ron has most of August off - vacation!

Kyle is NOT looking forward to schoolwork, but he is looking forward to seeing his friends tomorrow. I think even for kids, it's nice when the routine gets back to normal.

I am looking forward to cooler weather, running outside with my dogs, and wearing jeans. Okay, maybe I'm two months premature on all of those. It still is August here, and the a/c usually doesn't go off for good until October. But a girl can wish.

What kind of blogger am I?

May 9th? Last post was May 9th? Ugh. Gotta get on it.

Summer has arrived here in Gilbert, after a LOVELY June, we're getting the June temps now. Guess that means the monsoon will arrive sometime in August, and likely we'll have the a/c on well into October this year. Gotta pay for that wonderful June weather.

We did a maiden voyage with the boat back in June. Got about halfway back on the lake when we blew a main water hose.

Some really nice people towed us back to the dock. Had to hand load the boat back onto the trailer and head down to the marine repair we use. Ordered a new hose. All is well now.

Took the boat out on 7/5 to Roosevelt Lake with the Swansons. It was such fun. Tied the boats together and floated in the water for hours.

Captain Ron at the helm of the Burkovich boat

The look you get when you try to take too many pictures of your teenager.

These were my adorable 4th of July toes that were ruined once I went waterskiing.

This was the other teenage boy on the trip, the birthday boy, Steven.

We skiied, wakeboarded, tubed, swam, ate, drank and had a really great time. Unfortunately Roosevelt is 90 minutes away, up several steep passes that Ron's truck didn't enjoy. Otherwise I could see myself there EVERY week. My sunburned shoulders might disagree.

In other belated news....

Kyle ended up with a B in math during summer school. It was a long 4 weeks for him, but he did well, and mom is proud. He never whined once.

Snoopy and Joe are thoroughly enjoying that Ron took down all the fencing in the backyard, so now they can swim whenever they please. Mom is not enjoying all the water on the floors all the time. Fair warning - watch your step when you visit.

Ron has been enjoying lots of time off (actually called "reserve" days.)

So far a good summer had by all.