Sorry for being away for a while. I was on KU duty for the weekend, and this week, I’m away again. I’ll try to post when I can.
As for “Mama SayZ,” it’s yet another entertaining installment. And, as always, keep the questions for Ms. Smith coming.
As if my life wasn’t busy enough…
I no longer have a three-year old “teenager” to deal with. Why, you ask? Because on Friday, Nov. 30, Little Miss Tiff turned 4. To celebrate, we drove to Topeka to go to one of Lil’ Mike’s favorite places, Chuck E. Cheese’s. Yes, I said it, he loves dining with the Big Mouse just as much, if not more, than Tiffany and Malik. It was a blast, as usual. Good food, fun games and let’s not forget turning in what seems like a thousand tickets to get a toy spider, Dracula teeth (do they really scare people anymore?) and some jewel stickers which Tiffany thought were a nice addition to the windows on her side of the car.
Thanks Chuck, just what I wanted.
Anyway, I had planned to rest all weekend and not go out at all BUT someone forgot to send a memo to the rest of my roommates. So instead of a lazy day of sitting on the couch sitting, watching movies and eating junk food, I was up and running at 8 a.m. and didn’t slow down until Monday, when it was time to punch back in to start another week of work.
First stop on Saturday morning was to GTM to pick up some K-State apparel to send back east to Tiffany’s 18-year-old “twin,” Sidney, who is her god-sister – they share the same birthday. And of course, once I’m in the store I have to pick up other items for my roommates, which are just irresistable. The store staff is always so friendly and doesn’t care that I come in looking like what I deem to be a complete and utter mess. They still treat me the same and are always so helpful. I also met some fellow early morining shoppers there who knew me and appreciated “Mama SayZ.”
Imagine that, this thing could be gettin’ catchy. Hmmm…
I missed the post office so the next stop was pet shopping. The birthday girl was promised a kitty by one of her parents, whose name I will not mention but it wasn’t me,and I told HIM that it was not a good idea. But nooooo, HIS little gumdrop gets whatever HIS little gumdrop wants. Well, after doing some Internet research I decided to go to the local animal shelter, but there was nothing outside of full grown cats. So off to the pet store and, ta-da, there was a kitty. Since the store didn’t have any rainbow-colored kitties, we decided to go with a nine-week-old male kitten that Tiffany insisted on changing his sex in order for her to name him “Princess.” Whatever, that’s for the parent who promised her the kitten in the first place to sort out. While on the way to the counter to make our purchase, I was on eye level with a cage of the cutest little puppies that I have ever seen. How dare the store owner arrange the store like that! I asked to hold one and once I did, it was a done deal! To say the least, I went in looking for a rainbow-colored kitty and left with a seven-week-old black mixed kitten named “Smokey,” and a two-month old silky poo (a cross of a silky terrier and a toy poodle) named “Ss,” for “Short Stuff.”
Lil’ Mike, Dymond, Ron and Mychaela were home waiting for us to return and quickly adapted to and fell in love with “Ss”. Even though Lil’ Mike said he would have rather have had a Rotweiller or a pit bull, he cuddled up and played with one of the newest members of our family. But Smokey, on the other hand, we’re still getting used to her and those sharp claws.
Sunday was a typical day of labor. Monday couldn’t get here fast enough. So to bring you up to date, I am now juggling five kids, a full-time job, basketball games, travel, phone conferences with Mona (due to salon business back east), home life, personal life, “Mama SayZ” and a kitten and a puppy (which Malik promised he would help with… yeah, right).
Please keep me in your thoughts…
Now to go back to the questions from the comments section. Yosh, you’re the man (or woman). Here goes:
What’s it like watching Mike interact with the generally public? I’m sure he was somewhat well known in D.C., but Manhattan is so small, and Mike is on such a big stage now. It’s impossible for him to ever be anonymous.
To watch Lil’ Mike interact with the general public is entertaining. He is very jovial and quite the character… he cracks me up! It doesn’t matter if he’s in a big city like D.C. or small town Manhattan, Kan., he’s always the same. He’s great with kids, especailly kids with special needs. He has a tender spot in his heart for them and he truly wants to make the moment they share together mean as much as possible.
Any interesting/funny stories about the team and how they act behind the scenes would be interesting reading as well.
Now, of course this is all meant in fun, but not all of the fans leave directly after the last play of the game. And some stay long enough to see me interact with some of the players once they return to the court from the locker room. I ususally look at the box scores to see what our stats look like before they get there. I try to give them a punch for each turnover they commit. Obviously, some get more punches than others but no one is excluded — not even Lil’ Mike. Win or lose, they get it. It’s funny to see them come up to me with every excuse in the book, especially Andre (Gilbert). He starts out like, “But Ma…,” trying to look almost sad enough for me to not administer his punishment, but “rules are rules.” Gotta love ‘em.
3 Comments
Along with punching the players for making a turnover, can you reward them every time they make a three pointer? Or punish them every time they miss one? Ha!
‘ku duty this weekend’? That’s weird.. trash pick-up days are usually during the week.
Very nice read. Thanks!