Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

Ken gave us his tickets to the Sounds game today and we had a great time out at the ball park on a beautiful, perfect Spring afternoon. We ordered hot dogs and cherry Icees and settled into seats right above the visitors dugout on the first base line. It was really cool to see all the action up close.

A few innings into the game, the guys sitting behind us caught a foul ball and they gave it to Rachel as a souvenir. It was a really generous thing to do and she loved it, as you can see.

A good time for all--thanks, Ken!

Stanley Cup Playoffs - Game 5

The Nashville Predators ended their Playoff run last night at home in a heartbreaking Game 5 loss to the Sharks. I went to the game with my brother, Lou. I sold my three seats to a friend from the Harley Chapter and we sat in Ken & Angus' seats. We were all so pumped up and fully expecting the Preds to come out on fire with something to prove. While I knew it was along shot for them to come back and win the next three games, I really thought they would win last night. I think in the other two seasons when we made the playoffs we had that "we're just happy to be here" attitude and the crowd was proud and happy despite the first round defeats. This time the mood was definitely different and everyone left disappointed and a little angry. I think everyone felt they should have done better considering their regular season record. The expectation that we would advance was definitely there and so the defeat was all the more bitter.


I do hope that there is a coolong off period and that there aren't a bunch of rash decisions like firing the whole coaching staff, which some of the radio shows are saying could happen. Barry Trotz is a good coach and I think it is wrong to lay all the problems at his feet. There were injuries, etc. that were beyond his control and throwing the baby out with the bathwater doesn't seem like the solution, to me at least.


Of course, I am a Chicagoan at heart and we know "there's always next year!"

Preds Lose at the Shark Tank

I am going to go back and try to catch up on the last couple of weeks of posts--somehow the blog is the thing that went to the back burner with Easter, taxes, etc.

Until then, I thought I would jump on and lick my wounds a little after the pounding the Nashville Predators took against the Sharks in San Jose last night. This matchup is one of the most heated and exciting in this year's Playoffs and it's getting a lot of media attention. Even when we lose it's great hockey--tune in and support the Preds!

I was so excited to sit down at 9:00 (Rachel tucked away in bed) and watch the whole game uninterrupted. It wasn't to be however as I found, upon returning from the kitchen during a commercial, that Versus (Dish Network Ch. 151) had pulled the feed. I messed around with the TV and the DVR figuring it had to be a problem on our end, and then called my sister who is also a Dish customer. Same thing there. Instead of blacking out the programming before the game, they yanked the feed In. The. Middle. of. the. Bloody. First. Period. and I. Missed. Nashville's. Only. Goal. Doug found the game on another channel (which is why the must have stopped the coverage) but not before I got pretty ticked off.

After that the Preds were pretty much outplayed in every department, except of course when it comes to drawing penalties. We shine in the Box. The Sharks are just too strong and if we have any chance at all of surviving this series the Preds are going to have to stop wearing themselves out killing off Power Plays and save their energy for scoring goals. It is really frustrating watching the Sharks bait (no pun intended) our players and then watching them fall for it. I don't think our problems lie at the feet of Tomas Vokoun, or even Barry Trotz. I think it's an experience and self-discipline issue and the Predators are going to have to learn to keep their heads about them to survive. I hope we can pick up the next game in San Jose on Wednesday and then we are back home on Friday.

Series stands 2-1 in favor of the Sharks.

Predators Take Game #2

Christine, Eddie and I went to the second Playoff game last night against San Jose. Obviously, we liked the 5-2 outcome a lot better this time and it was great to watch the game with my sister. Doug isn't as huge a fan as Christine is, and this was the first game she made it to this season, so it was very nice of Doug to stay home and babysit. We are all hoping they can take the momentum from this game into the two road games in San Jose. It's gonna be tough but we have faith that the Preds can pick up at least one of the two.


We'll be back in Nashville on the 20th for Game 5 -- Go Preds!

Stanley Cup Playoffs - Game 1

Doug, Rachel and I went to Game 1 of Nashville's Quarterfinal Series against the San Jose Sharks last night. This is the third year in a row that the Nashville Predators have made the Playoffs in the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup, and the second straight year they have faced the Sharks in Round One.


The Sharks are big and physical and this has become a heated rivalry. Although we lost the first of two home games, the Preds looked good and didn't let the Sharks push them around too much. There were some big hits and the Preds seemed to send the message that they had come to play and it wasn't going to be as easy as last year. Go Preds!!

Hoppy Easter!

We had a lovely day today. Rachel got up and checked out her Easter Basket--including the huge solid chocolate bunny from the Easter Bunny. Doug took Rachel to church while I finished cleaning up and prepping for dinner.

Ken brought Angus over early to play with Rachel and Susan joined us a little later for a nice dinner --ham and leg of lamb, and two kinds of cake.

The kids had fun and it was nice to get together as a family.

The Neverending Foot

Wow, it's been a rough day. Some days Rachel just exhausts me, and this was a doozie.

I am posting this morning's photo of my Inside Out sock. I put it on to spare you the image of this sock at this point. :) I was able to do a little more today, but working this foot on size 0 needles is really slow...Still having fun watching this yarn do its thing, though.



Rachel has school tomorrow so I'm off to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be more relaxing!

April Fool's

I didn't play any jokes today.

In the past I have pulled some good ones on my husband, including having him completely convinced I had hit his car in the garage when I parked my SUV (I even walked into the house crying). However, it seems the universe has way of getting back at me for my very convincing acting, since shortly after one of these "jokes" 2 or 3 bad things happen to me. I am probably reading too much into the whole karma thing, but I have decided to not tempt fate and have given up "fooling".

I did enjoy the beautiful day here, though. We put up the hammock in the backyard, did a little cleaning up and odd jobs (Doug has the caulk removed out of the master bath shower--who knows how long it will take to have the caulk back in). In the afternoon I was able to join my friends for SnB at the Knaughty Knitter in Murfreesboro, where I continued to work on my Inside Out sock. I am almost to the heel and I will post a picture tomorrow when I can take one in the daylight. The SnB was wonderful, as always. The group was a little smaller than usual, but we had a lot of laughs and good conversation--and cookies & chocolate!