Modern Dog: Meeting My Match

Ginger was my first dog. She made a good impression right away. Running up to the window and then cuddling while I talked to the adoption counselor, she knew how to work the Humane Society system.

That is not what happened with Papaya. Pops panted and peed on the floor; she had trouble with naps.

Now, four years later, I could not imagine life without her. (And I don't have to, since she's left many stains on the floor.)

You can read Meeting My Match to find out how Pops won me over.

Team Cahill Park: Mixed combo playoffs

In preparation for Sunday's playoffs in Madison, I carbo loaded at lunch with Patrice on Saturday. That night, I watched a DVD she gave me about the 2012 Ironman. It was so inspirational, seeing how determined the competitors are not only to finish, but to win.

Alas, that is not my story. At least not this time.

Our team's one win came from Adam and Jody, who played beautifully together. It was fun to watch all the setups and great angles. Way to get it done, 6-2, 6-2! (This is even more impressive because NEL took all three courts against the Madison team, losing only three sets the entire day.) Congrats!

Adam and Kelly had played together at #1 doubles earlier, staying tough until the very end: a 10-8 loss in the third-set tiebreaker. What a great effort — and so, so close!

Meanwhile, Terence and Julie were on the court next to us. They also lost a close match, 6-2, 7-5. Terence said they were up 5-4 in the second set. That is always heartbreaking.

Rohit and I lost 6-4, 6-4. Aside from being our first match loss, this one was painful because we were tied until our opponents broke my serve at 4-4. In the second set, we were up 3-1 and then 4-3. Why couldn't we take that second set? Then it was 4-4 and they broke my serve again.

Yes, I know that you win some and you lose some. But having been competitive in the first set and up in the second, it's hard to accept a straight-set loss. Ouch.

Terence, who's always comfortable offering his opinion, said we played it too safe. (Carrie pointed out that that's also what he said about himself.) My opinion: that we made just a few too many mistakes at critical times. But Ro also felt like that's the best we've ever played.

I wish I could've seen more of Sepp and Nan's match. I can't believe that dude in the blue shirt was only a 3.5. For real?!

The last match to finish — Scott and Linda — was a nailbiter. After losing the first set, they played to 6-6 in the second. As our entire team stood by the railing, Terence said, "It's all about the mental toughness!" Which could've jinxed them, if you are totally mental and believe in that kind of stuff.

Their opponents edged them out in the tiebreak, 7-5. Again: So close.

As I learned at combo playoffs last year, losing makes me hungry. So we went to the Great Dane, where I had an Old Glory beer to honor the bygone days of Rohit being undefeated in mixed doubles. Then I had a chicken pot pie. Comfort food.

And I started to feel better. Though it wasn't a triumphant day score wise, it's hard to wallow when you're sharing cheese curds and chocolate torte and the guys are daring Ro to try a Habanero Hellfire chicken wing.

Jody, thanks for putting together such a great team. Patrice, thanks for the ginormous lunch and pre-match pep talk. You were right; I was fine. Plus I had a lot of fun, even if I do owe Mike $10. Cheers, Team Cahill Park!

Fading out 2012

New Year's Eve was fun, relaxing, and — this being a group of tennis players — competitive.

After our spaghetti dinner, we played Taboo. Jody would give concise clues while Scott and Sepp called out lots of answers. Arguably her most brilliant success of the night was "Cop. Snack."

"Doughnuts!"

Meanwhile, Julie stayed focused and gave one-sentence descriptions. "This is the person who..." "Usher!" "This is the person who..." "Conductor!" The guys lamented their tough cards: anatomy, radon, Sputnik. Our team did get a little lucky with pen, rainbow, and Kermit the Frog.

I was excited to watch Love Actually, but my movie choice drove Jody and Randy away. A few minutes in, Sepp said he would not be able to stay awake through the whole thing. Oops.

So I sort of watched it while Julie, Scott, Julia, and Sepp played a slow, unorthodox game of Scrabble. There were words that were not words, words that were not connected to anything, the spilling of tiles. Several times. Julie bowed out, leaving a war of attrition among the remaining players.

Then she noticed it was midnight and so we hugged and had an airing of grievances. Actually, we did talk about the ups and downs of the year. Life can't always be awesome — new tires, anyone? — but I can say that this was the perfect New Year's Eve.

So as I sit here with a cup of tea and a piece of regifted yet delicious gingerbread loaf — my "slicy" — I look forward to the new year.

Thank you, Julia, for bringing us all together. I appreciate the carbs, the games, and the blankets. You are a wonderful host.

Happy 2013, my friends!

PS: I don't have pictures from the evening (Scott in the Packer snuggie would have been a classic). This is a recent one from my Wednesday night court. That's one routine I'm happy to keep!

Trophies for everyone!

At Le Club's Turkey Tourney on Friday night, Rohit and Todd easily won their draw. For their victory, they each received a turkey and a ginormous trophy.

I like how big the court looks here. There is really a lot of it to cover, but RJ and Todd did so decisively. Well played!

In other news, Kelly and I lost our first match 6-0, 6-2, to Anfin and Haley. It does give me some consolation, though, that there's a long list of players who have lost to Anfin and Haley. They are very tough.

Speaking of consolation, Kelly and I still had a shot at winning the back draw. We played Rachel and Tricia on Saturday and didn't have a great start, falling into a 5-2 hole. But with decent play and some cute nicknames, we chipped away at our deficit and won the set 7-6.

An hour and 15 minutes for the first set. Ouch! Fortunately we won the second set 6-1.

After a short break, we played — and won! — our second match. I was thrilled to receive my slightly oversized trophy. Really: Trophies are way better than turkeys or t-shirts. Turkeys get eaten and t-shirts fade, but trophies can collect dust forever.

Here we are with Kim and Lisa, who won all three of their matches — including one against Anfin and Haley. Thus their spectacular trophies. Well deserved. Congrats on your impressive victory!

It was a good but tiring weekend of tennis. Rohit is contemplating the fate of his frozen butterball (his words, not mine), so we're all looking forward to a victory dinner. Cheers, everybody!

Holiday ornament wreath

I've been wanting to make an ornament wreath for years — years! — and have finally done it. I'm not especially crafty, but this was a really fun project. Glue guns are the best!

For a supply list and instructions, check out "Naomi knows: How to make an ornament wreath" in the Bead Style Bead Room.

Then you, too, can cross that off your holiday bucket list.

Overheard at Kim's 50th

Kim walked into her 50th birthday party at Le Club and gave a little "Hey, what's up?" shrug. Easy-breezy, maybe because she's been claiming to be 50 for the past two years. Here she is with her mom, Rosemary, who's lovely and gracious — very much like Kim.

Then we did not see Kim for a little while because we went to play tennis. I had a blast getting schooled by Lisa, Kristen, and Tash. We managed to keep Tash on the court for the full hour and a half. Good times.

I felt like a kid in a candy store — or maybe more like a kid at a birthday party — when I saw the smorgasbord of food: pizza, pizza, pizza (seriously, there were so many pizzas, but my favorite was the buffalo chicken one, thank you Scott and Nora), wings, salads, chips, popcorn, candy, cake, and even adorable shortbread cookies shaped like teapots.

I have to give props to Jane C., who not only helped me frost cupcakes but also made the glossy, uniformly shaped chocolate letters. She also carved the little comma, which we included for symmetry as well as grammatical correctness. If only you could see it....

When I asked if Kim would hate having a bunch of candles, Mary said yes. "So we have to do it," she said.

There were so many people and so many conversations, it's hard to sum up. Instead, here are a few things I heard at the party. They are as close to verbatim as I remember; I'm going for "truthiness" here:

"My grandma's 82 and her boyfriend is 55."

"If I were 90, I could see dating someone who's 75."

"Let's get a picture. Tash? Tash! Put down the food."

"You cannot quote The Wire."

"I didn't know we were doing candles. That's why I ate the P."
Kim: "Why didn't you just eat the rest and ruin my 'birthday'?"

"We didn't get schooled on the court. We got spanked."

"You don't have any compassion now that you're 50?"

It was tennis and dinner and pretzel M&Ms with lots of fun people. It is only through tennis that I get to go to parties on Monday nights — a beautiful thing.

So thank you, Rebekah, Mary, and Glenna for throwing a great bash. Kim, you too. We couldn't have done it without you!

Cupcakes and earrings

It has been a crazy week.

We're designing for 365 Earrings — the math of which works out to 90 or so per editor. I just finished designing mine! This afternoon will be spent writing the story.

And recovering from the carb-laden snacks and lunch I've had today. Cathy organized a cake walk to benefit the United Way, and everyone at Team Bead Style baked cupcakes. Which also meant that everyone at Team Bead Style ATE cupcakes.

Yellow cake with cocoa frosting, carrot and red velvet with cream cheese frosting, and chocolate with white chocolate frosting. All in the past two days.

Plus I had a bagel with cream cheese for my morning snack. And this for lunch: crackers and cheese, chips and dip, Chex mix, Helene's homemade baklava, plus a brownie for some color and antioxidants.

All of this carb production is for a good cause, though. I also learned something new this week: I am not good at making chocolate letters. Why did I choose a serif font?! Plus, Keith's birthday is not even until next week.

So this may not be a time of learning new skills, but of simply getting the job done. TGIF....

To add to the manic atmosphere, Pops has been acting out lately. She dumped the kitchen garbage and ate a burned blueberry chocolate chip pancake and the top of this carton of buttermilk. Too many carbs for her too?