The Steelers 5K on Sunday (Sept. 2) sounded like a good idea when I registered my husband and kids for it in mid-August.

I was a little worried that it was a long drive on a Sunday morning the day after we were going to three -- count 'em three -- parties on Saturday, but I figured the kids could sleep on the way down. And, sleep they did for most of the ride. But, when they woke up, they woke up cranky and spent a good 1/2 hour fighting with each other in the back of the car (mental note: buy a bigger car or smaller car seats so I can fit between fighting sisters on future car rides).

This, combined with the fact that we were running late and still had to stop at Giant Eagle (outside Pittsburgh) to get breakfast bagels is what prompted me to tell my husband to get moving (i.e. speed up).

My husband is notorious for driving the speed limit. Dan...well, he's a man that just can't be rushed. He doesn't often get rattled. He doesn't do anything quickly and he cannot multi-task. He is the ying to my yang -- the calm in my storm.

But, in the face of squabbling children and a crabby wife who can't handle more than 90 minutes in a car, he sped up.

In the middle of turning around to yell at the girls, he blew by a state cop at 85 mph (in a 55 mph zone). Yeah...we were those people that you see go flying by the cop car on the highway and think..."what are they blind?" Yeah, sort of. Never saw him.

He saw us.

And, then what was a $35 5K ($15 for Dan, $10 for each kid) was now a $200 5K. The ticket, $167, was Dan's first speeding ticket ever. He was mortified.

And, of course, then we were really late.

Which turned out to be a good thing because there were no crowds at the registration tables by the time we got there at 9:15 a.m. (race started at 9:30).

All in all, the whole trip was a miserable experience. It was hotter than heck so I was sweltering in my sweatshirt and jean capris. We almost missed the kids race and I endured lots and lots and lots of whining from little girls were hot and tired and not the slightest bit impressed with Heinz Field.

On the drive home (at 65 mph, thank you), girls arguing and pinching each other all the way, Dan said "Just think, this is what it will be like for 7 days in Disney" (we're going to Disney in...gulp...10 days).

Which reminds me, I need to google a map to nearest liquor store to our Disney resort. They say when you are in Disney you should come back every afternoon and have the kids swim and take a nap. Dan & I are already referring to it as "Happy Hour."

At least we won't get any speeding tickets there. Nope, the fine folks at Disney will be handling all our transportation needs while we are their guests.

Here are a few photos from the race:

The girls with Steely McBeam -- the Steelers new mascot

My racers.

The closest we will ever get to the Heinz Field 50-yard-line again.

We were eating dinner the other night and I asked Kelly how her day at Kindergarten was and if she played with her friends. I asked who her friends are, she told me Autumn (like the season) was her friend. I asked who else, she said, "Nobody. They think I'm weird."

My stomach sunk. I stammered, "What, uh, do you mean?...do you mean weird like you're funny?"

"No, like they're always looking at me and staring at me and then they say I'm weird"

"Who says you're weird" (thinking...name names...name names!)

She says "Everyone."

My husband, oblivious to the mini-drama (because guys don't think it's bad to be called weird) is still happily shoveling dinner into his mouth.

I'm now finished eating because I can no longer stomach food and I'm convinced that -- on only the 2nd week of her entire school career -- my kid has been branded a social misfit. I'm thinking...did I dress her funny, is it cause she's lost her front teeth already, is it my fault for waiting a year to send her to K (see how I make it all about me?). I was taking it much harder than Kelly, but trying desperately not to let it show.

Later on, we went for a walk and I asked her more about the "weirdness."

Turns out they said she was weird because she doesn't like jelly on her peanut butter sandwich at lunch. I had, of course, made a mountain out of a molehill (in my head).

She doesn't like jelly and one kid probably pointed it out & they all stared & someone called her weird. So what? It wasn't some giant plot by her little classmates to ostracize my baby (as I had conjured up in my head).

Wheew. Crisis averted.

One thing is clear from this little "scare" though -- the social aspect of school -- particularly girl cliques may end up being as hard for me as my daughters. I have visions of Jr. High dancing in my head and I will never forget how vicious girls can be. Though I was never a major target (I made fast friends with the girls everyone else was afraid of and that afforded me protection), I was witness to it. And, I still feel bad that I was involved (even if I didn't do anything but stand by).

I barely made it out alive the first time. I'm not looking forward to going through it again.

I just never thought it would all start this early.

I know my responsibility is not to worry about it happening, but to arm my daughter with the tools she needs to deal with it. I know that love is the biggest tool I can give her, but I'm sure there are other things I can do to shore up her foundation so she can weather the social storms.

Heck, maybe I'll even convince myself in the process.

...or rather, I hadn't. Until today. Not counting the occasional crunch-time, gotta-get-this-done-to-meet-deadline Monday, today is the first Monday I've worked in...oh...about 6 years.

I'm not impressed.

It sort of puts a damper on one's weekend, doesn't it? ugh. How do you do this week in and week out? I suppose I'll get used to it.

Where have I been for the past 6 years? Well, when I had my first daughter, I worked at home twice a week -- on Mondays & Tuesdays. It worked out very well and, frankly, I often got more work at done at home than I did in the office, but...alas, when I moved into the newsroom, it was a different culture -- one that frowned upon working at home and that ended. I was, however, able to work a "flex" schedule that allowed me to compress the work week into four days, having Mondays off.

That ended last week (well, sort of because we had Labor Day off) when I returned back to a five-day schedule. I chose to return to a five-day work week so I could get my daughter on the bus every morning. Working a four-day, 10-hour schedule meant starting at 7:30 a.m. -- a time that didn't work for getting my daughter on the school bus each morning.

So, now I'm back to a normal work week -- five 8-hour (technically we work 7 3/4 hour days) a week and a real, honest-to-God lunch hour or half-hour, if I want it (when working 10 hours, I skipped the lunch lest I have to be stay even later at night).

The shorter work day is going to make for a more normal life. I can go to lunch with my friends. I can run errands on my lunch. Today, I can skip lunch and scoot out at 4:15 and actually make it to a friend's party at 5 -- something I never could've done before. And, we can have family dinners and evening walks now that I'm home at a reasonable time.

But, man, I will miss my Mondays off. It was always my cushion day... my day to catch up on all the things I let slide while I was out having fun all weekend. Now, there's no cushion, which is why I was rushing the husband and kids out of a friend's football party yesterday, "C'mon, tomorrow's a work & school day, I have things to do, clothes to lay out, lunches to pack....let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Plus, Mondays were my day to do fun things with the kids. Go to the library, go to the zoo, etc. And, sometimes not-so-fun things like going to the dentist or the doctor. But, both girls are in school now -- the younger in Preschool half days and the older at Kindergarten all day -- so I felt it was best arrange the schedule so I could be there each morning to see them off and in the evening to hear about their day.

In the summer, when school lets out, I plan to go back to the four-day-a-week compressed schedule and have Mondays off to spend with them again.

To me, that flexibility, is one of the biggest perks this company -- and my position -- offers.

I only wish more mothers (and fathers) could do the same -- I know that most can't. It really is such a short time that our children are young -- it's a shame that our culture doesn't value our future generation enough to realize that a little flexibility could go a long way to solving the breakdown of the American family.

...than the day he told me he was quitting his well-paying job and going back to college, just a few years after graduating with a degree in Psychology, to be a teacher.

Erie Times-News reporter, Sharla Bardin, interviewed him for a story that ran in today's paper about how 9/11 has changed lives. You can read it here.

Our parents were, well, less than pleased when Pat said he was going back to school. They'd paid for the first degree (or at least, their fair share of it) and thought he should stay at the well-paying job with the big benefits. They weren't angry, but...you know how parents are...sort of like...what do you mean you're quitting your secure job and going back to school already?

I was immensely proud of him for having the courage to listen to his heart and put his life on hold. And, literally, it was on hold since he and his wife, Stephanie (Heaven sent, I swear) knew that Pat's going back to school meant no babies and no house -- until he graduated and got a teaching job.

9/11 had taught Pat a lesson I'd learned a year earlier when we lost our sister-in-law, Mary Grace, to cancer -- life is short, life is precious and there are no second chances.

Millions learned that lesson on 9/11.

I had learned that lesson a year earlier -- when Grace died -- and I was actually on maternity leave -- holding the result of that lesson learned -- my firstborn daughter. We'd put off having kids, waiting for just the right time. Grace's death taught me there's no time to wait to do the things you've always wanted to do. We threw caution to the wind, got pregnant & thought...God will provide (sitters, flexible work schedules, the time and money to raise children). And, he did.

Holding my newborn daughter in my arms on 9/11, watching the news reports, I remember thinking, "What have I done? I've brought a child into this world." I thanked God at that moment that she was a girl because I knew there would be war in her lifetime and she would not enjoy the childhood of peace that I had. And, indeed, there's been war every year of my daughter's life. That makes me tremendously sad (even if she is oblivious to it).

But, back to my little brother, and the lesson we can all learn from 9/11...

Listen to you heart.

Listen. To. Your. Heart.

Your heart knows what you should be doing. Are you doing that? Why not? It could all end tomorrow. Have you been leading the life you want? Or have you been leading the life that others want for you?

All the money in the world will never make you happy. It will never quiet the voice in your head (and heart) telling you to finally get on with what it is you know you should be doing.

Here's my teacher-man brother in action (photo by Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News):

Last night, the husband and I were rushing around the house trying to get dinner dishes cleaned up and two girls dressed and into the car for 6 p.m. swim classes.

The girls have a tendency (like most kids) to leave their things lying around wherever they drop them. My husband, exasperated from picking up sneakers, coats, backpacks and other toys dropped by the door, said "Wouldn't it be nice if you could just leave your stuff lying all over the place and know someone else will take care of it?"

I said, "No comment."
(from the woman who picks up after the husband who leaves his hats on the table, his watch outside, his water bottles all over the house, his socks on the side of the bed, his ....

Welcome to my world, Dan.

And, yes, it would be nice.

If there's one place I could spend my entire weekend (and paycheck), it's a book store.

I love books -- all kinds of books -- fiction, non-fiction, biographies, self-help, advice, etc. Unfortunately, right now, my busy life allows almost no time for reading for pleasure (unless you count "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" and "Moo, Baa, La, La, La"... which I sort of do count). But, that doesn't stop me from buying.

I ran to Barnes & Noble last Friday after work for two reasons.

1. To pick up a couple of favorite children's books for a friend's baby shower gift.
2. To select a classic book to mark my daughter's first year of Kindergarten (I'm going to buy her a classic each year when she starts school to build her library).

I was there for hours and spent $80. Safe to say I picked up a few more things.

It took me nearly 45 minutes just to settle on a classic book for Kelly -- I wavered long and hard between "Little Women" or "Anne of Greene Gables" (ooh...or "Wuthering Heights," or..."The Scarlet Letter," or...). I settled on "Anne of Greene Gables" mostly because, well, I've never read it and I hope to find the time to read it before Kelly grows up and moves out.

Then, I got lost in the parenting section, then the children's books section, then the travel section, then the "bargain book" section ... Truly, books are like crack to editors. I just cannot help myself, every turn brings another book I want to read or another subject I want to know about.

In one of my turns, I happened upon a table (just outside the children's section) filled with hardcover, large-size, classic, "I Can Read" kid's books for $5.98. These were books I remember and loved from my childhood -- "Danny & the Dinosaur," "Amelia Bedelia," " "Little Bear," "Frog and Toad are Friends," "Morris Goes to School," "Sammy the Seal."

These books would make excellent Christmas or birthday gifts for any kids in your life. And at $6 a piece, you can spring for a couple of them.

In my humble opinion, there is no better gift than a book (or two or three) which will encourage kids to read and helping foster a love of words that will last a lifetime.

On vacation -- far, far away from my PC.

See you next week.

Well, our first family trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando is now history and I have 328 photos to prove it (literally...it will cost me a fortune to have these prints made). I learned a few things along the way:

* September in Orlando is a lot like the end of July in Erie -- hazy, humid and hotter than hell. I definitely didn't need the jeans and sweatshirts I lugged all the way down there.

* It rains periodically and almost every day without warning. A dark sky doesn't mean it will rain and a sunny sky doesn't mean it won't...weirdest thing I've ever seen. And, even the coolest toughest guys will wear a plastic poncho with a Princess castle on it when the sky does open up because when it rains, it pours.

* Purchasing the Disney Dining Plan is the only way to go even if it is the most confusing system I have ever used in my life. Math is not my strong suit and neither, apparently, is figuring out the different between a table service, a quick service and a snack. Every day we bought the same breakfast and every day they calculated it differently. Didn't matter, in the end...we had so many "credits" left that we ended up stuffing our carry-on luggage full of Disney rice krispie snacks.

* We will never stay at any of the All-Star resorts again. The accommodations were OK, but you were obviously the lowest star on the Disney "guest" rung. Nowhere was that more apparent than after a long night at the Magic Kingdom when the "value resort" bus lines were a mile long and all the other resorts had two and three buses waiting to ferry them back to their hotel. Both nights we were at the Magic Kingdom we were left standing in a long line, holding sweaty, sleeping preschoolers for over an hour. It could have been worse, they could've been screaming, wailing and pitching a tired-kid fit like most of the other kids in line -- those of us with sleeping children were the lucky ones.

* With two children under 6, we should have traded our day at Epcot for the water park. We were left with only a few hours to spend at Blizzard Beach on Saturday and it wasn't nearly enough time -- it would've been great to spend the whole day there.

* September is the time to go if you want to spend the least amount of time waiting -- thanks to lower attendance (and fast passes) we didn't wait more than 10 minutes for any ride (except Dumbo). As we zipped through the lines all I could think was..."do you think these rooms ever fill with people waiting?"

* The Buzz Lightyear ride at the Magic Kingdom was a surprise hit. As were the 3-D movies at MGM and the Magic Kingdom and the "interactive" shows with Crush (the turtle from Nemo) at Epcot and the Laugh Floor with Mike and Roz from Monsters, Inc. at the Magic Kingdom.

I've got volumes more, but I've also got a volume of Her Times magazine to get off my desk today, so...I leave you with this...a picture of me and girls with Baloo and King Louie from my all-time favorite Disney movie ever -- The Jungle Book. (ugh..this is an awful picture of me, but don't Baloo and King Louie look great)?

...what it must be like for our reporters (most of whom are parents) to sit in a courtroom and listen to the details of cases like this. (Not to mention the lawyers, judges, clerks and whoever else are privvy to the horror that some children live with).

I once asked court reporter Lisa Thompson (after the Shawna Howe trial) if she ever felt jaded or disgusted with humanity after hearing all the horrible details of the terrible things that people do to each other. She said that it can be really depressing, but she has to tell their story because it's her job (and she just may help someone else by bringing the subject to light).

I'm not in favor of the death penalty for many, many reasons, but...when it comes to people who rape infants and children you must ask yourself if they can ever be anything more than a danger and burden to society and if it wouldn't be better for everyone if they just weren't around anymore.

My husband and I rarely fight about things that most couples fight about. We're OK with each other's families, we have enough money to live a decent life, we have similar parenting styles and philosophies about how our kids should be raised, and we both love football season.

99% of our fights revolve around one thing -- time. Namely the time we have to do the things we want to do for ourselves.

With me it's typically a fight about exercise time and with him it ranges from bowling to hunting to side jobs to drinking beer with his friends (otherwise known as "guy time").

Both of us claim the other is getting more time to do what they want, and that we are then stuck doing "all the work" (housework, kids, yardwork, etc.). We tend to keep score..."What do you mean, I have been gone all week? I went to a meeting on Monday .... and you were gone three nights... etc, etc., etc."

When we're not fighting about who's going where, we're fighting about who's doing what around the house, which is, essentially, a fight about time (because less housework means more time to do other things you want to do).

I think I do more. He thinks he does more (which cannot possibly be true since he doesn't even know what size socks the kids wear, nor is he even aware the kids need socks, nor does they know where you'd even buy something like that).

I could go on and on and on (just ask my husband), but the bottom line is that I feel taken advantage of. And, I know he feels the same way. And, that's a terrible feeling.

I seriously doubt there's a solution, but if you've got one -- in the name of holy matrimony -- please share it.

I woke up this morning thinking I needed to delete yesterday's post. I forget I have lots of friend and family reading this blog and they may think my marriage is on the rocks. It's not. It has it's ups and downs just like everyone else's.

When I'm mad, I write. Actually, whatever intense emotion I'm feeling -- scared, happy, etc. -- I write about it. It's just that, now, I do it in a forum where I can share it with whoever the hell happens to find my life remotely interesting.

My temptation is to hit the delete key on yesterday's entry -- to just erase it all and pretend it never happened.

If only it were that easy to get rid of all our problems in life.

But, I know that it's never really gone. It resides in cyberspace forever. And, our history is our history. Sometimes I look at my previous posts and think "I can't believe I actually wrote that."

Hey, at least you know I'm honest. This is me -- warts and all.