Team Spirit

Here we are, the 2007-2008 Countryside Gymnastics Team. Photo taken 8 February 2008. The coaches in front are from left to right, me, Jill, Becca, Peggy and her husband Dennis. Missing is my closest friend Brenda. Her twin boys were sick that night.

Not much stitching going on today. I am plotting and planning a surprise 40th birthday party for one of Joe's childhood friends. He live in Kentucky now, but comes to see us about every other month. It was quite a piece of work to convince him to come up specifically on Saturday 8 March. His actually birthday is the 15th, but that is the day "designated doormat coach" is subbing for Jill at the big regional competition, because it is her daughters Sweet Sixteen party. I could have pulled it off on the 15th if I was only coaching my own group, the Level 4s. Now I have the Level 5s also and that section of the competition runs until 9pm! The weird work situation seems to have no end in site. I try to modify my attitude about it to feel less stressed. Of course no one has noticed my attitude either good or bad, so it all seems rather pointless. At least the gymnasts are doing OK, and that is what is really important in the big scheme of things.

The menu for the party is four large pans of home-made lasagna, green beans with garlic and almonds and loaves of Italian bread. Also the guest of honor has requested one of my pudding cakes. They are basically a regular boxed cake mix cake with pudding as the middle layer filling instead of standard icing. That will be quite a balancing act with a large sheet cake, enough to feed 40+ people. Joe and his friends are a real "party crowd" so I will probably last through the food service part of the party and then vanish quietly home to do some stitching. Yes, we have managed to convince Joe's boss to let us use his huge barn for the party. It is fully insulated and heated with a large full-service kitchen set up, about 10 tables with chairs, bandstand area and dance floor. Joe's boss and his wife love to host huge parties and built this building especially for that purpose.

Today is a balmy 37 degrees F, so I am thinking of Springtime craft projects. I dug up this old Martha Stewart magazine that has this amazing "Easter Tree". The ornaments are Styrofoam egg shapes wrapped with DMC pearl cotton threads. I think I could do something like that. The tree itself is a wooden dowel frame wrapped with a yellow feather boa. The rest of the ornaments(bunnies, baskets, carrots, baby chicks) are made from pipe cleaners dyed to soft Spring colors. The carrots are carved from foam and then wrapped the same way as the eggs. I keep dreaming of this project, but it would involve actually buying the supplies to make it all. Oh well, maybe next year.