I’m not a huge sports fan, but if I had to pick a favorite sport, it would definitely be football.

Despite all of the tackling and time-outs, there is something very satisfying about a football game.

The players systematically make their way down the field in 4 downs.

If they don’t make it, the other team makes their way back again.

The football is thrown and caught, passed off and run.

It’s a very methodical game, and it appeals to my methodical mind.

Real Man is a Giants fan, and so if we’re watching football, I root for the Giants.

Except if they are playing the Browns, because I grew up in a Browns household and brown blood runs deep.

That’s gross.

My parents still make the drive out to Cleveland, from NJ, all fall, because they are Browns season ticket holders.

I’ll probably never see a Browns SuperBowl (sorry, Dad…you know it’s true), yet we occasionally get a Giants SuperBowl, however it doesn’t really matter.

I love SuperBowl Sunday.

Why?

Because, every year, my father-in-law comes over and we get subs and tons of SuperBowl snacks.

The monkeys get excited, and we all hang out in the living room, eating, talking, watching.

It’s a little bit like New Year’s Eve.

We talk through the game, then get quiet for the commercials, because if the Giants aren’t playing (or the Jets, as my father-in-law is a Jets fan) the outcome of the game isn’t really that important.

It’s not about the football.

It’s about the excitement of the monkeys, it’s about having my father-in-law here for the game, it’s about the anticipation of the commercials, it’s about the food, and it’s about tradition.

This year, I’m rooting for the 49ers, because, as those who follow the NFL may remember, the Ravens are the old Browns after Art Modell moved the team to Balitmore, leaving Cleveland Browns-less for a few years, and no self-respecting Browns fan can root for the Ravens, (and, after seeing a Behind the Scenes thing about Kaepernick, I’m a huge fan of his) but in the end, I’m just looking for a good game.

By the time you read this, the game will have been played, the snacks will have been eaten, and we’ll be up and out and off to start our new week, but you can be sure we enjoyed our SuperBowl Sunday.

To the untrained eye, this looks like just a notebook.

A pretty notebook, but nothing special.

Unless you are me.

Because, if you are me, you know that this notebook holds the outline of two and a half novels.

About two years ago, I had some stories in my head, just rattling around, keeping me up, begging to be written down.

It ain’t Shakespeare, but it’s mine.

I’ve been looking for this notebook for a few months.

I packed it up when we moved, a year and a half ago, and have thought about it a few times since then, but haven’t really had the time, nor the inclination, to pick it up and start working again.

While I still don’t have the time, I do have the inclination, as these stories have been calling to me again.

I wake up in the night, forgetting whatever it was I was dreaming about, with one thought.

Find the notebook.

So, today, after work, while the boys were all knocking down each others block towers, I started to search.

I suddenly had an image of the bag I had placed the notebook in, and realized I knew exactly where it was.

It feels good to hold the notebook in my hands, again.

I haven’t unclipped the pages and re-read my outline quite yet.

I need to wait until I have some time to sit, in the quiet, and re-visit the stories.

Because I know that once I unclip those papers, I’m going to need to start writing.

Filling in the outline.

Writing the stories.

And once I start, I won’t be able to stop.

This is still happening in my house.

That is all.

I had to buy Monkey Girl a pair of black pants for her band concert, on Thursday, and so after school, she and I headed to the Walmarts.

(No idea why, but I just love to call it “The Walmarts.”)

We picked up a few pair of black pants and she headed into the changing room, and I said, “I’ll be right across the aisle, looking at the…”

And before I finished my sentence, she muttered over her shoulder, “…wallets…I know.”

I am constantly on the search for a wallet.

Every store I go in, I spend a good fifteen minutes in the wallet section.

I don’t really know what I want in a wallet.

I go between wanting a folding wallet that will take up less space in my purse and a long wallet that might have a little more space for things like gift cards and courtesy cards, etc.

I don’t have a very large purse, so space is important, but I’m just not always sure that a folding wallet is what I want.

Right now, I have one of those long, hard case wallets, like this:

Except, mine has butterflies on it.

Because, you know, I’m 41.

For awhile, I was carrying a Vera Bradley strap wallet that was a wallet attached to a strap that went over your shoulder, so it was like a purse, except you couldn’t actually carry anything in it except for your money and credit cards, etc.

It worked really well for a long time, but I really need somewhere to carry my inhaler and my chapstick.

So, the purse I am using now is a hand-me-down Coach purse like this:

Although, I am saving up for this purse, because I haven’t had a purse that wasn’t a hand-me-down in a very, very long time:

(JBZS…if you are reading this, Monkey Girl confiscated the purse you gave me for Christmas…she says it makes her feel “sassy.”)

So, anyway, I am always on the search for a wallet.

Whenever Real Man walks into a department store or a mall, he is on the search for shoes, because he wears through his work shoes faster than Baby Monkey wears through Batman costumes.

What about you?

Is there anything you are constantly searching for, but never quite find, while shopping?

I’d love to hear about it!  Let Real Man and I know that we aren’t alone!

So, I went ahead and made my own font.

My own, personal, handwriting font, so that I could write the blog in my own handwriting. I bit the bullet and bought the iFont Maker for the iPad and spent some time writing my own font.

However, now that I look at it, I’m not sure I’m digging it in blog form. I mean, it’s cool to see typing in my handwriting. However, it’s kinda clunky when I see it on the screen.

Plus, it’s a bit of work to actually get the blog in this font. I can’t just select it.

There’s HTML code involved and it has to be written in front of every single line I type.

As you all know, some days, I can get a little wordy.

Not my idea of fun.

So, we’ll see.

I’ll use it for today, but we’ll just have to see what I decide to do in the future.

Thoughts? Because I’d really like to know if this makes it harder for you to read the blog. If so, maybe I’ll just use the font to write on photos and things. You are the readers and so your opinion matters the most on this.

For 2013, I believe I will try to be joining Jodi in her 52 project. A year of portraits, of my children, posted every Wednesday. A series of photographs capturing moments from a year in their lives. A way to watch the passage of time and to pause and capture those little moments that are the essence of them.

Jodi has a link-up on her blog for those participating. It is so much fun to check out what other people are photographing.  Enjoy!

Nothing special happening in these pictures.

Just after dinner on a Tuesday night.