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She did it!

She got her brown belt.

She is also one of my favorite people to be around. She is fun, funky and knows what she wants out of life. And, at 15 she is much more mature than most adults I know.

She died part of her hair brown just for the occassion.

Usually it is pink. Or blue. Or green. Or Purple. Or all of the above.

That is part of what I love about her.

She KNOWs who she is and what she stands for.

She has no ambition to be a part of baby jogger city until she is at least 25 and has won an Olympic Gold Medal in boxing.

And I can’t wait to see her do it!

Hard Work Does Pay

Earning a Black Belt takes years of hard work, determination and heart. Yes, heart. You have to love karate enough to work hard and stick with it to get to that point. Many never make it that far and then once you do…you have to make it through the test itself. The test is designed to take you beyond limits that you ever thought possible…and it is typically 8 hours long. Yes, an 8 hour test that pushes you mentally and physically. So when someone earns a black belt it is a MAJOR cause for celebration!

And believe me when I say that we celebrated today!

It was however bittersweet. We should have been celebrating 2 young men being presented with their black belts, however one is sadly no longer with us…he passed away a couple of months ago…making it both a very joyous and sad occasion.

Putting on his crisp new black belt jacket.

And finally, the moment he has worked long and hard for…

…receiving that belt. Next, comes the initiation, which isn’t so fun…

Yep, he has to stand there and take the abuse by all the other black belts in attendance.

But hey, I got a GREAT action shot out of his pain.

Congratulations B! We are all very proud of you. I couldn’t have been happier if I was out buying Ferrari parts!

Hi-Yaaaaa

Ok, so that isn’t what they really say. I am not even sure what it is that they do say…something along the lines of Ki-Aaaa. At least at our studio what is what they say. Yesterday, i heard ALOT of it. We spent the day at the 35th Annual Tri-State Karate Championship Tournament yesterday.

There were forms, there were fights. Lots of winners, lots of disappointments. I was score-keeping and time-keeping for a lot of the little boys fights and forms, they were the ones who would walk away the most upset. It was heart-breaking watching some of them.

But WOW, was it ever fascinating to watch all of the upper belts. Talk about beauty in action. Some of their forms were amazing.

Look at that grin on his face. I think he was pleased with his performance. And he should be. He did a great job. I know, I watched. He is from Tate’s studio and you know, we have to support our guys and gals!

See the gal in the yellow helmet? She participated in the Continuous Fighting. She has not really been training for that event very long but she is a natural. And well, she placed 2nd! She won the Silver. Tate and I were so proud of her! Continuous fighting is intense, there is no way in heck that I would ever participate in that event. The total opposite of where I want to be…relaxing at  Outer Banks vacation rentals. Guess we all know at what speed I move now.

All in all it was a great day! I saw a dear family friend that I haven’t seen in ages and learned that she STARTED taking karate at the age of 60. She competed as a green belt. Amazing woman! I got to watch many of the young men and women from our studio compete and watched many of them walk away with trophies as big as they are. I got to watch young ones deal with the disappointments life throws at all of us. I watched as they bucked up and congratulated team members while holding back tears of their own. Yes, I also saw some poor sportsmanship, but very little of it.

I watched.

Accckkkk! And some Winners

Ok, I am a slacker. I admit it. Life gets in the way, I get behind and things turn to chaos.

I have this new thing that we just can’t help snuggling with. She is just too adorable!

She will cuddle in just as close as she can. She is such a people dog. She likes being in the thick of things and loves all of the attention you are willing to lavish on her and then some. We think she is such a star that she should be receiving tv deals. And oh my goodness, those little puppy licks will get you every time!

And we had company over for dinner and cards last night. And to prepare for that I had to do a gazillion loads of laundry. Seriously…and I still don’t have it all caught up. Why I have so much laundry I have no idea. But I have done about 7 loads a day for the past 3 days. AND JUST LET ME SAY…I am SICK of laundry!

Karate is every night this week, we are preparring for a tournament this weekend. Tate will not be competing because…on Monday he received his Yellow Belt. So, with him moving up a belt and a tournament so soon he decided that we would just go watch, support his fellow teammates and volunteer our services to support our studio in the tournament. It is sponsored by UKS, where Tate takes and they will need people to run for stuff, ScoreKeepers, TimeKeepers, etc. DO I have a picture of Tate getting his Yellow Belt? NOOooo, this well prepared mother forgot her camera at home.

Now, the whole point of this post is to announce some winners. Well, that is at least what it started out having the intention of.

Yoplait - #1 - JamieZ

Tacofuness - #49 - Melanie

Congrats on your wins!!

A Great Loss

Tonight at Karate we learned that one of the boys that is a regular there committed suicide over the weekend. Please keep all of the members in your thoughts this week as each deals with this tragedy. Tyler was a wonderful boy that had the sweetest dispotition. He was always kind to everyone that he came in contact with and my little Tate is just reeling after finding out that his friend is no longer with us. Tyler was preparing to take his Black Belt test in December and was working so hard to obtain his goal. He was also a Senior at the local High School and our community is in mourning over the loss of one of our own. Tyler always took time to teach and work with the members of the studio that were a lower belt than he was and he was so patient with Tate and never had anything but kind words to say. A great sadness looms over our home and over our Karate family tonight. Tyler, you will be greatly missed.

Preparing

Preparing for many things all at once can be sooo overwhelming. I am not even sure where to start first. I promised to help prepare for a baby shower tomorrow. I am in charge of shredded BBQ, hot spinach artichoke dip, the cupcakes and I can’t even remember what else.

We are preparing to put up green beans today. My Mom and Erin started stringing and snapping the yesterday and I finished them up last night while watching Royal Pains. I love that show. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that Burn Notice is on before it. In case you want to check them out they are on the USA Network.

Tonight is the big Orange Belt test for Tate. So we have been preparing for that. I am sure that it isn’t that hard or anything, but it is a big deal to him, that makes it a big deal to the rest of us. So, I have been watchin and critiquing his kicks, punches, blocks, forms, etc. He is so excited.

Yesterday we went and picked up our new glasses. We are having to take care of anything medical that we feel we should. That means all the yearly visits for vision, dental, etc. Why all now you ask….well, there may be some changes in employment going on. I can’t really say much more than that at this point but the minute anything happens I will let you know.

I finally caught Mama Deer with the camera. We have been seeing this little family A LOT. They must be bedded down in the woods very close because they play in the yard almost every afternoon and I see them crosing the diveway often. I will have to see if I can get you an updated picture of the twins, they are growing fast.

Worse than Random

We celebrated the birth of our nation with lots of food, family and friends here. My sister made this cake that I swear is EVIL! You cannot stay away from that sinful delight. I promise it comes from the devil. Every time you walk by it just calls your name and you have to take just a bite. And that one bite sucks you in. It sucks you in and won’t let you go.  ANd it looked like a flag with fresh strawberries and blueberries on top, so you think oh, I am getting fruit in today. OHhhh, it is bad. AND SHE LEFT THE LEFT-OVERS HERE! She is evil as well. I mean it was just pure meanness that made her do that. Had to be!

How did you celebrate? I hope you all had a wonderful time regardless of your activities. Today we are supposed to go spend the day at the lake…but it is raining. And to be honest, that doesn’t break my heart. I am worn slap out. And I have lots to do before I am not allowed to do much of anything. I go in Tuesday for another shot in my back and for a week after that I am not allowed to lift anything over a gallon of milk or do a whole bunch of other stuff like search for Pearl Jewelry on the bottom of the lake.

Karate is going great! He is moving up to the adult class and he even liked it better than the class he was in. I am already seeing so many changes in him…alot has to do with him turning 12 he tells me and I think alot has to do with this Karate business. I love watching, especially some of the higher-up belts. It is amazing. There is this one guy who has to be in his 70’s that is in that class. WOW, that is seriously all I can say about him.

I think the couch will probably be calling my name this afternoon. I hear a nap coming on!I hope you have a great day!!