Hockey, Arizona, a cold and Duetschland

Hello everyone...wow it has been busy lately. Our family has been full of hockey lately, not that we aren't always, but we spent the last two weekends traveling with Ben. It is actually quite fund traveling with a bunch of 9 year old boys (most are 9, even though Ben is 8), even to the thriving metropolis of Owensboro, Kentucky. OK, I know many of you are thinking "where the heck is that" and you should be. It is almost 4 hours from Cincinnati, essentially West down the Ohio River. You first drive to Louisville, KY. Then cross into Indiana and drive along the river until crossing back to KY and finally Owensboro.

It is what you would expect, a small city with not a lot going on. The rink they have is BEAUTIFUL, brand new and by far the nicest I have ever seen. The only issue I have wtih it is it is 4 hours away. I feel so bad for their team because we aren't even the farthest team in our league for them. They must love hockey. The kids didn't mind getting killed both games because the Ramada had a pool and we essentially took it over.

One our drive down the Arizona tragedy happened. It was odd to follow it via my I-phone to be told Rep Giffords was dead, then wasn't and just trying to get the real word of what happened. I was very shaken by it, as I am by many ghastly things that happen in this country. CNN headlines just get me, big time. All weekend I tried to stay on top of it, and even more just hugged my kids and was so thankful. The loss of that beautiful little girl was just too much for me. Taught me to again not take anything for granted and to enjoy those hockey weekends in Owensboro, at least I had my entire family with me.

This past weekend we all headed to Detroit for the Motown Cup. We had a great time. Ben's team is not very good, while we are a travel team, we have more the talent of a select team. We are young and it shows. That is meant to say we get our butts kicked a lot. But this weekend we were in a bracket with 'like-talent' teams. Before we knew it we were 3-0 and the only undefeated team in our 6 team bracket. We ended up losing in the final to a team we had beat earlier that same day...but it turned a new leaf for our boys. Even at the age of 8/9 self-confidence means everything.

You have heard me say before how much of a pessimist Ben is...truly not sure where he got it from. And for as bright and gifted he is at many things, he does not have a lot of confidence or ego. I wish he had more. This can be said of a lot of our kids, their heads have been hanging low for most of the season, but the 3-0 performance got them excited and playing like another team. It was so exciting to see and be a part of.

Lucky for me the tournament was in Detroit as I flew direct from there to Frankfurt for work. There is no longer a direct flight from Cincy so it made my life easier. My week in Deutschland was great, very successful meetings (even with a ton of work coming out of it...email is next on the to do list :0). I managed one German meal in a great Brauhaus, but on the downside had a horrific cold. I mean bad.

I guess it could have been cold hockey rinks. Or the fact it was less than 10 degrees in Detroit. Or plane germs? or just being run down. Who knows. Either way it was BAD. Many would have flew home early. I went through the hotel box of tissue each day. The bad news is they weren't Puffs, so my nose (and lips) felt it. Finally yesterday I started to come out of it (maybe it was the 12 hours sleep the night before) and today I am 80% back to normal. The good news it was away from home, so no sniffles with the kiddies. Thank goodness as nothing is worse then a family just passing colds for the entire winter. Been there, done that and don't really want it again.

Happy Monday and Go Jets (though they are down 10-0 now)....not because I really like them (as a Giants fan) but only because I hate the Steelers more.

Time to register, Soccer, Cheerleading, Football you name it

What an odd day it's been. Yesterday I traveled to Manhattan for an agency trip. After being delayed at LaGuardia for about an hour we finally took off and arrived home in Cincy around 8:15. Because we had been away all weekend, Arnie dropped me directly at the airport after we returned from Ben's hockey games in Owensboro, Kentucky. This meant I had to get a cab. It was kind of nice to take a cab home, I could just relax and sit back. Not that driving is too stressful, but I actually go to de-compress a bit and was excited to get home to my three big hugs.

The girls were watching TV waiting for me to get in and Ben flew down the stairs as soon as he heard me. I immediately started thinking about today because there was a severe weather forecast for Cincinnati that started at 1am. Before I left NY I sent emails out letting folks know I would likely work from home. It was forecast to snow for the entire day, but not alot, so truly up in the air. Amber, our sitter doesn't really like to drive in the snow, so I try to be prepared in case it is bad and she can't get here. So I went to bed knowing I would at least take my 7am from home, and then figure it out.

How shocked I was to wake up at 6:15 and the phone hadn't rung at all (the district calls 3 of our phones, so we know when there is a delay or closing). I looked outside and there was barely a dusting, so this made sense. Then I turned on Fox19 to see the forecast...it was coming...we just hadn't gotten yet on the East side of town (all of our storms come from the West, like most of you). Next time to check email, my breakfast ceremony for a training I had sponsored three P&G women to attend was cancelled. This was good, as it would require even more driving.

I still was convinced the kids would get sent home during the day. Most school districts cut down the number of snow days from 5 to 3 this year to save money. We already have used 2 of ours, so I sensed the district would be conservative, but thought for sure once they took attendance they would send them home. What a shock when they didn't. It did snow all day long, but was melting pretty good, so the roads weren't that bad. Arnie went in no problem this morning, but he said a lot of people stayed home. It was so hard to predict what it would be like, and I am just so nervous to not be here for the kids or to allow Amber to get home.

So I got to be in my PJ's all day, finally changed into sweats at 5:30 to go pick the girls up from Acrocheer. That is when registration Tuesday started. First we stopped to register the girls for Cheerleading and Ben for Football. It is all run by the same organization which makes for one stop shopping which was nice. We saw a few friends there and the girls were excited to see lots of familiar faces who will cheer with them. Thankfully the program lets girls cheer up one year, so Claire and Sarah can be on the same team.

After cooking dinner when we got back and waiting for Ben and Arnie to get home from Hockey, we all got to eat together. As the kids ate their dessert (everyone qualified tonight) i got online to register the girls for Soccer this spring. We have never played Soccer but they both expressed an interest so we will see how it goes. Baseball should be next week, Arnie is lining up his assistant coaches now so hopefully we will be all set.

It always seems so early for me that we have to register for Fall sports in January, but for me it was so much easier this week to do all of our Spring activities with Fall at the same time. My brain was in that zone and now I feel we are done. I also picked up new "outfits" for Acrocheer today (3 of them used...yeah, cheaper) so an odd day that was very productive.

The snow has finally stopped so looks like tomorrow should be back to normal, for whatever that means in the Zucker household :)

Home Alone

I know it is hard to believe, given I am the one who always travels, but Arnie had a business trip this week. He has started taking on some additional work for Corporate Marketing in our Branded Entertainment area. Many people don't know that P&G owns a production company. We actually started "soap operas" - that is why they are called that, because we made Ivory Soap. We did this to create a venue to advertise our products. So if you ever watched Another World, As the World Turns or the Young and the Restless and ever wondered "wow there are a lot of P&G ads" now you know why.

We have since stopped the soap operas but still produce other shows like the Peoples Choice awards and WalMarts family movie night. Arnie is out in Hollywood meeting some producers to try to work out deals to create new shows. He gets to meet Mark Burnett (Survivor, etc), Ryan Seacrest (yes he produces) and others. And yes he gets to go the PCA's. Everyone keeps asking "shouldn't that be you", I think for two reasons; 1) I am a pop culture junky, and 2) I am the one in marketing. And those are both good reasons, but given we are going on big Anniversary trip at the end of the month, where we will be away from the kids, and the fact that I am going to Germany in 12 days, it didn't make sense.

So the tables are turned and I am home alone. I think I have the schedule figured out and car pools arranged for conflict nights. It does take some planning on these weeks. Ben should be walking in soon from Hockey practice, thanks to the Seenberg's for taking him tonight. Be sure to watch for Arnie on Wed night, they are on live from LA. We will definitely be viewing him.

The kids are excited to sleep with mom. We normally have that treat when Arnie goes skiing in December. That trip didn't happen this year so now they get to have the treat. They have been counting down.

Well off to play Jenga with the girls, we are having game night tonight. Enjoy your evening.