Archive for the 'This and that' Category

Ok, fine …. maybe a bit obsessive …. so don’t look at it.

More Noah Goals from Sabine Chabot on Vimeo.

Ok, so I like to gloat since the soccer talent CLEARLY does not come from Noah’s eye/hand/foot coordination challenged dad. Along those lines, he already received written email praise from his Onkel Stefan in Germany who analyzed his form and is impressed. So there you go. More goals below. By the way, the little guy with the Number 8 and the killer pass is Kenny, who broke his arm JUST before first practice while … get this … practicing for practice at home. Too cute.

soccer game may 3, 2009 part 2 from Sabine Chabot on Vimeo.

Hello everyone -

after a long and cold winter season without much outdoors sports to write about (ok, so there is skiing but dad is in charge of that ….) soccer season has begun and the Camels Hump Soccer Club U8 had their first game this weekend. That is after their very first practice last Thursday.

I have to say, I am proud to say that some of the German soccer genes have been directly transferred to Noah, without the Chabot lack of hand eye foot coordination having any negative impact on it. Man, my dude rocks! I was so proud of him, not just for scoring 4 of the 5 goals in their 5-1 win, but also for not always just running after the ball with the rest of the crowd but actually playing position and for passing instead of always trying to get the goal himself.

I took some pix and also some video, but I still have not figured out how to post video … it won’t upload…. hmph … gotta check with my tech savy hubby …

Uh!Uh! I think I figured it out! I think this video thing will work now …… let’s see … 

Noah’s First Soccer Game from Sabine Chabot on Vimeo.

So we have all done it. Listening to the radio in the car, feeling secure that no one is listening to us, and here we go, singing along as loud as we can and, as the website www.kissthisguy.com proofs to all of us, often with the totally wrong lyrics.

I almost pee my pants everytime I check the RSS feed from this website since I am guilty of butchering 95% of all the lyrics listed there ….

Case in point REM, Losing My Religion … I did indeed think he was singing ‘I pee in the corner, I pee in the spotlight ….’ Hey it’s Michael what’s his name … you never know WHAT he does.

And I did think Elton John was asking ‘Hold me closer, Tony Danza’ …. And Aerosmith wanted you to ‘Do me like a lady’ …….

Check it out, it is really funny … and then think twice before you start singing along ….

Ok, so I am still in my mid winter no-blogging slump …. spending my time …. WORKING …. OMG …. can you imagine. But I have to admit, once in a while I do a quick detour through the YOuTUbe land  … and didn’t I come across this little gem …. I laughed so hard my already leaking bladder (two 10 lbs babies … don’t ask) was working overtime …. here it is.

 Hmmm … for some reason I can’t embed this thing … so click here to go to YOuTube and check it out.

I think the following pictures need no explanation … at least not if you are a parent. Let me explain to those of you whose only worry at Christmas is whether or not you get enough drinks from the open bar at your company christmas party: The worries of christmas change a bit once you have kids . Oh, I am not going to get all smushy and get into the it’s all about seeing those eyes shine with cheer on christmas morn. That is a topic I can only tackle after I recover a bit more from the frenzy that is christmas day in our house.

No, I am talking about the frenzy on christmas eve. When the ‘little ones’ are in bed, after having dutifully baked and decorated cookies with mom and leaving a carpet of flour all over the kitchen, just to disappear into thin air as soon as the last cookie sheet has been taken out of the oven (call me mommy when they are cooled down so I can try one ….). After they wrote their little letter to Santa (Kid: Dear Santa. Don’t forget the Wii! Parent: Oh Shit, I knew I forgot something …). After they placed the best cookie, some grapes and cheese (Hey, Santa must get sick of all the sweet stuff) on the Santa plate and some carrots and water (reindeer have to eat, too) on the porch. After we assured them for the 13th time that Santa will be able to come to our house EVEN THOUGH WE DON’T HAVE A CHIMNEY ….. and after we checked for the last time Santa’s progress on th NORAD Santa Tracker.

AFTER all that, when daddy flops his butt on the couch with a bottle of beer  … and mommy sits her but on the floor to start wrapping the dozens of presents. THAT is when the REAL worry starts.

Do they both have the same amount of presents? Should I sneek a peak into Grandma’s present to make sure that it is not another copy of the ‘Prodigal Son’ or ‘How to raise the difficult child’ (not kidding, both have happened). Where did I put that gift I bought two months ago on sale? I know I put it somewhere …. safe ….. Shoot, out of tape… again. Where are the tags? Did I get the thing they wanted most? Do they actually deserve all of these gifts ……

Well, and then, after I fall exhausted and with papercuts everywhere in the comfy chair, I realize once again, that I can’t wait for morning to come and see their shiny faces all excited. Hey, what can I say. I love my little tykes. And the big one, too. Who, by the way, managed to surprise me after 13 years of marriage by gifting me some candles for christmas …. you would have to know that he has a surprising and incurable fear of candles in the house …. yet, I got two for christmas. Ah. Gotta love christmas.

Below then are some pix … before, after and during the christmas paper shred fest. Happy Holidays Everyone!

One of the things that never fails to amaze me about working with seniors is that they will be able to provide you with most every recipe, ingredient, song title, TV show anecdote, etc. you will ever need to recreate your childhood. Things that have long since been eliminated from any modern mom’s brain by the automatic ‘make room for more crazy day to day things I need to stuff my brain with to function on a daily basis’ stuff’delete mechanism . Things like the recipe for salt dough ornaments.

Just the other day I was reminiscing with one of my senior residents about those home made Christmas ornaments we used to make when I was little and how I lost the recipe to make them. And what do you know, the next day I found a lovely little card in my office mailbox with the handwritten recipe. These are the moments that remind me why I love what I do for a living.

So, for those of you out there who also have been hunting for the recipe (not that I couldn’t have just googled it … but that somehow doesn’t feel the same …..) here it is:

 Ingredients:

• 4 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of hot water
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters or cardboard templates
• Ribbon or raffia
• Clear acrylic varnish
• Acrylic paints (optional)
• Small brushes
• Toothpick, pencil or straw for creating hole in top of ornament

Directions:

Combine the water and salt in a bowl. Stir to dissolve some of the salt. Add the flour. Knead to form a dough. Roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.

Cut out the shapes using cookie cutters or by tracing around a cardboard template with a knife.

Pierce a hole in the top for threading with ribbon later.

Place the ornaments on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 300-degree F oven until dry. This will take about 50 minutes to an hour. The thicker the ornament, the longer it will take.

Remove the ornaments from the oven and cool.

Once cool they can be painted if desired. Varnish the ornament to help keep out moisture so the piece will last longer.

Thread a piece of ribbon through the hole and hang! Makes about 70 3-inch ornaments.

Ah Thanksgiving. The time for extended families to get together and gather around the turkey ….. unless you are part of the Chabot Family. Since we are currently in the ‘cut out of the will I am not talking to you’  rotation, we won’t see my mother in law for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Which, to be honest, is not a bad rotation to be in since it cuts down significantly on the emotional drama involved when we are on speaking terms.

Not to get into the details, but my personal history with my MIL has been rocky to say the least. I have gone from the “German hussy who married her son for the money and cheap sex” (I am not kidding you) and her not coming to our wedding or allowing me in her house for 3 years, to “she is the best thing that ever happened to my son”, to “she is the reason my son is turning away from his mother and, oh by the way, she has no idea how to raise her kids”. Needless to say the last one put me over the edge and we have, once again, been on non-speaking terms for the last year and a half or so. Oh, sooooo relaxing. Makes me mad thought that my kids miss out on their only ‘local’ grandma .. but that is a whole other post.

On the bright side though, my sister in law Amy and her son Andre were brave enough to weather the Theresa home visit for Thanksgiving (don’t know how she does it .. I would have to be permanently drunk for the entire visit to not start a blood bath) and on their way back they stopped by our house for an overnight visit.

It is so amazing to see how cousins, who don’t see each other for so long, jus kind of reconnect and pick up where they left … Benji and Noah were in Thomas the Tank Engine heaven for 24 hours straight. As if they were twins separated at birth. And Noah actually got Aunt Amy to watch NFL Network with her (you have to know Aunt Amy to understand the oddness of the situation :->), first thing Sunday morning, I come down the stairs and they are both snuggled under blankets in the armchairs watching NFL Network discussing Noah’s fantasy football strategy …. too funny.

It was hard to see them leave again, knowing that it will be a while until we get together again. Those are the moments when I miss my good old German family, where everyone lives 5 minutes away from each other and as much as you hate your relatives sometimes, it is good to know they are just a hop, skip and a jump away if you need them….

Anyways, here are some photos of the cousins in PJ’s ….. silly as usual.

So, let me first say that no children were harmed in the taking of these pictures. Even though sharp knives were used ….the red you see is jelly …

Here is some backgound info: mommy was painting door moulding, daddy was blogging away on his computer … and we both thought the other parental unit was making a jelly sandwich for the short one.Well, what we have here is a failure to communicate.

So, little Benji figured, it can’t be that hard, let’s get the little red stool (dangerous tool, used for much mischief before this event) ….and make myself a sandwich.

The rest is best shown rather than put in words … enjoy:

Ok, so I admit it. Last year I bought into the All-American past time of Fantasy Football. Did pretty well, made it into the ‘Super Bowl’… just to lose because of putting in my favorite players instead of the ones from a team I hated even though they would have scored more points.

I filed the experience under ‘live and learn’ and ‘check your team loyalty at the door when playing fantasy football’ and tried again this year. Have been doing quite well, too. Leading my league … even though in a moment of blind fanemotion, I drafted Tom Brady in the first round as my QB and … well, we all know what happened in the first quarter of the first game of the season … too painful to talk about, still. (Insert painful smile and tear running down the face).

So, I managed to get Matt Ryan and Matt Cassell of the waiver wires. Thinking, how bad could MC be, considering he still has all of the WR’s Brady had. Well, turns out, while the Pats are still winning more games than anyone had expected (take that, Chris Collinsworth ….) .. they are doing it ….running the ball??? And that means lousy Fantasy numbers for Matty C. So, this week, with the Pats playing the Jets and me close to nailing my spot in the Fantasy Playoffs, I decided to sit one Matt (C.) and play the other Matt (R.). Ryan that is, former BC QB. And a hottie. And I don’t mean just throwing the ball. By the way, Jason Taylor is back playing this week. I feel much better drooling over someone closer to my age than some kiddy QB fresh out of college.

Anyways, Pats played Thursday night … and lost. But when I checked the Fantasy score ….Matty C. had, wait for it … 42 points. Over 400 yards and 60 somethinh RUSHING yards. 3TD’s ….That is half a fantasy game, seriously. Could have won my game this week just by starting him. But I didn’t. Went with the rational decision, buried the feeling of betraying Matty C. by not starting him … and see where it got me. Argh.

Matty R. better have a killer game or I will have to claim all of the free Patriot players of the waivers to overcome my feeling of being a fair weather fan ….

To all of you fellow Patriots fans out there, Tom Terrific is back at Foxboro … YEAH! Super Bowl XLIV (that is 44 for all of you non-catholic high school kids out there) here we come! And speaking of Tom Brady … found this video today and it is … well, watch it and judge yourself.