Tonya Bell is a 4.0 tennis player. (She's the brunette in the black visor). Her son Matt, is also a tennis player. Tonya and her husband live on beautiful property with a lake, tennis courts, and pool. Tonya is so sweet! Her son and her were mixed doubles partners until he got cancer. He is in recovery and doing well! Matt is such a sweetheart! He wanted to have all his buddies over for the first annual Bell Olympics which consists of frisbee, basketball, pool volleyball, corn hole, baseball, beer pong, some kind of cup flip, and paddle ball. Tonya asked me to come and be her partner so she's could join in the fun. Shannon from my neighborhood, also a tennis junkie, joined us and tagged in for me in some of the games! Shannon is so adorable and fun. Anytime music comes on, she starts to make fun of herself twerking! She is always making everyone laugh and has the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy:) Each team wore bandana's. Ours were pink! We didn't win, but we sure had fun!!!
Lanse, Laura's sweet husband jumped in picture behind me. Keith couldn't go that night, so I was a third wheel, but never felt like one...
After dinner, we went to Boarshead to listen to Damian and his band. He's one of our teammates.
So mom and dad came to help Keith out with the kids while I went to state. I felt so bad because my cat brought fleas in the house and I had to leave town and leave my parents, Keith, and the kids with a flea infestation! I put Advantage 2 on her every month, but the fleas are getting immune! Anyway, when I got home, we flea bombed the house and washed all the bedding, pillows, stuffed animals... Major pain, and we are still seeing those stupid things, so we have to do it again this weekend! Such fun!
Also when I got back from state, Keith said, guess what... our second AC unit just went out. We had our upstairs unit go out several months ago when we had the termite infestation. Now the downstairs unit went out, ouch!!! Oh, and the dishwasher door broke. Well, at least we have a dishwasher and an AC to break. There are many people in the world that don't have those luxuries! See how I turned that into a positive???
I had my 1st board meeting with Children's First this week. I got lost, as usual, and then when I finally found the place, I couldn't find parking. I was a deodorant commercial. So I walk in 30 minutes late to my first meeting and everyone was in dresses, pearls, heels, all professional... I'm in shorts. Yep, I like to make a good impression, lol. They were all actually very nice to me (my face, that is), probably thinking, bless her heart or what the heck were we thinking???
I also started back teaching tennis lessons at TFL. Unfortunately, due to the low sign up rate, I'm not getting the hours that I wanted. I'm sure it's due to the August heat! I'm sure as the weather gets cooler, it will pick up!
My 40+ and 18+ mixed teams both made it to state! It was tons of fun!!! One of my teams was 2/2 and the other was 3/1! My personal matches didn't go too well. My poor partner tore his MCL (ligament in his knee), so could barely even walk. He was in so much pain! What a trooper!
I roomed with Shannon, the blonde beside me in the last picture. Btw, that's an elevator picture. Ginger, the one on the far right, always insists on getting an elevator pic. After one of our matches, Shannon said she was starving and needed some protein, so she ran by Firehouse Subs and all they put on her Italian sub was mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato, lol! She saved that stinky sandwich all weekend intending to take it back, but we never had the time. She is hilarious and had me laughing all weekend!!!
Girls found a snake in our driveway when they got off the bus.
On the way to taking the girls to school, we saw 3 baby fawns in a yard, then later while eating lunch a mama and baby darted in front of my kitchen window, then when I went running, this mama and baby were in someone's side yard!
8 of us were playing mixed doubles the other night and it got dark, so we had to turn our car lights on to see the ball. I'm the chairperson for the tennis courts in my neighborhood. So far, I've persuaded the board to resurface the courts and get a maintenance crew to keep the trees trimmed around the courts and keep them clean, but still haven't gotten approval for lights. I think I may have finally gotten the boards attention with this picture.
It's crazy because this subdivision keeps expanding and now has 4 phases and still only has 1 pool, not much bigger than a pool in someones back yard, and only 2 courts. I told the board we have lots of HOA dues coming in now and only 2 small amenities to maintain. The golf course is privately owned so our dues don't go toward that! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I sent this picture and have been texting with Flynn (President of HOA) this week. A few weeks ago, Flynn's wife asked me to give swim lessons to their granddaughter while she was in town, but I had already stopped teaching lessons. I made an exception for them and gave her several lessons. One favor deserves another, isn't that how politics works??? JK, it really never crossed my mind when I did it:)))
Emma started middle school this year and is beginning to outgrow her little girls room. However, her and her friends still play barbies and dolls when they come over, so hopefully, we can keep it this way just a little longer:)))
Girls had "meet and greet" on Monday. They are excited about starting school tomorrow! Emma will be starting middle school and Ellie will be in 10th grade. They had one last hoopla at a waterpark with the Grimm's before school starts!
My friend Kat is coming to visit this week. Haven't seen her in a while. We are excited! Then next week, mom and dad will be coming in town to help Keith with the kids because I have 2 state tournaments in Augusta next weekend. Both my mixed doubles teams made it to state!!!
I have a few more lessons tomorrow and then I'm done teaching swim lessons for the summer and will begin teaching tennis lessons 2 days a week. I also have a decorating client that I'm still working with. We are tackling her house 1 room at a time! After I get back from state, I have my first board meeting with Children First. I'm excited about meeting everyone on the board and finding out more about the projects they've been working on.
Fall tennis season starts after Labor Day. I'm only going to be on 4 teams this season. I'm going to be captaining one of the teams. I've co-captained a several seasons, but never wanted the responsibility (or drama) of being the captain. Thankfully, I have a co-captain who is great at handling all the details, so it shouldn't be a big deal, right???
Keith is loving his new position working only 4 days a week without all the stress in the field. He also continues to enjoy his guitar lessons. I really love it to! The music he plays is so relaxing. I feel like I have a private concert every night while I make dinner! Even Marge loves it. When she hears him play, she jumps up right beside him and chills out!
