New Year's Resolution (early)

Like most people one of my resolutions was to become more fit - I won't say lose weight, seeing that is a work in progress. What I want is to be fit and tone. I want to have arms and thighs that don't jiggle.

There is a new gym that just opened in town called Anytime Fitness. And yes you can go anytime. I have been a member for two weeks and have gone everyday-with the exception of Christmas. I absolutely love it. Each treadmill has its own TV screen, and the weight machines are actually something I can do. While I'm not breaking any records I am feeling better. Who knows by the time summer gets here I may have "guns" like the boys do.

Things you find out when you have boys

Heather sent me a wonderful email about all the things that boys get into. There were 25 on the list. Here are the things that we have experienced in the English household. The bold is from the email, the italic is my two cents.

If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite. If you light an army guy on fire he does melt.

A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant. And you do miss the noise when that three year old is 21 :(

When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.

A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36- year old Man says they can only do it in the movies. And when that 6 year old boy is 20 he's still talking about that fire.

Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy. But a Lego will never easily pass through the digestive system of a vacuum cleaner

VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do. They also do not eject matchbox cars.

You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. The dryer does not dry toy cars after they have been washed.


Enjoy the craziness - in a blink of an eye it's gone and so are the boys.

Washington DC or bust

For those of you who didn't know, Matt is a political science major. One of the things that is highly encouraged is some sort of internship. For the last 6 months Matt has been working on his application for an internship in Washington DC. Last week he had his last hurdle-the dreaded phone interview. He was very confident with how things went. On Friday he received an email saying that he was accepted.

This summer Matt will be spending 6 weeks in the nation's capital. The program includes 30 hours of work per week withing his field and 6 credits at Georgetown University and housing on Georgetown's campus.

While Matt is excited about this experience he is also a little worried-he has no clothes to wear. While going to class in jeans and a t-shirt at Adrian College is OK, he doubts he will be able to dress like that in the DC.

The Man Shower

One of our coworkers is getting married - now it's acceptable to host a shower for the woman but what about the man?

Two of us decided that Josh needed a shower, so we hosted "The Man Shower." People were invited and if the chose to bring a gift make it something for the garage. About 18 people showed up and we had a great time. We don't get together that often as a staff, but when we do we always have fun.

Let the holidays begin

Top five reasons why I love Thanksgiving

1. The boys come home.
2. I can eat as much as I want - diet out the window.
3. Time with the Roden's is always an adventure.
4. No school for 4 days.
5. I can reflect on how lucky I am to be blessed in so many ways.


Top five reasons why I love the Sunday after Thanksgiving

1. The boys go back to school.
2. My house becomes clean again.
3. The leftovers are gone and I can get back to my diet.
4. After Thanksgiving Day sale
5. Only three weeks until Christmas


***If you want a good laugh check out the chicago Roden's Blog. The Happy Birthday Polka priceless. The pictures are compliments of Heather - she didn't feel comfortable posting them on her page.

Christmas Shopping weekend

This past weekend Dan and I took a weekend and went to Kalamazoo. I got a great deal on a hotel through priceline. Friday we relaxed and Saturday we shopped. We got a pretty good dent in the list. Nate is definitely the hard one this year. He thinks that socks and a stocking hat are good enough for a Christmas list.

There was one thing that we bought that was very special. A few years back Dan had to have his wedding ring cut off, since then he has not had one. Our mission was to get a new wedding ring for Dan. I will admit that finding one and having Dan wear it was very moving. I didn't think I was the sentimental type, but I will admit that seeing that ring on his finger warms my heart.

What a night!!!

This week was the first week of the high school football playoffs in Michigan. Hillsdale HS traveled to Jackson to face Lumen Christi. This is a HUGE game. Lumen is great at all sports, and to advance in any kind of state playoff system, a team has to beat Lumen.

Hillsdale was leading for most of the game. Without getting into details Hillsdale lost 20-14. With this loss, football season comes to a close for Dan(That's the prelude of this story)


It is always sad to see football end. When Dan came home at around midnight all he wanted to do was unwind. As he lay on the couch he kept hearing water. He checked all the toilets to make sure that they weren't running. They checked out OK. Then he went downstairs.

What he found at the bottom of the stairs was a flooded basement. 36 hours earlier we switched from propane to natural gas, and with the switch we had a tankless water heater installed. Well, the valves to the water heater sprung a leak and water was spraying everywhere-including all my pictures waiting to be scrapbooked.


It was 3:00 am before we got to bed. Not really the way to end an already disappointing night.

Happy Birthday Dad

What a difference a year makes - I remember last year you were just recovering from having surgery. Now this year you are better than ever. This quote from the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man says it all.

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin (Norm Roden) will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

Happy Birthday from Hillsdale

It's all about timing

(our very ugly pig)
One of the down-sides of living in the country is having a propane tank. It is VERY expensive to fill this every month. This past summer our neighborhood association decided to make the switch to natural gas.

(our new gas supply)
Tomorrow our heating and cooling guy is coming out to switch over our piping from propane to nat. gas. Then (hopefully) on Tuesday morning the gas company will be out to hook us to the meter. We have to switch over the furnace, dryer, fireplace and most expensive of all get a new hot water heater.

If all goes according to plan we will be without hot water and heat on Tuesday morning, but by the time we get home from work we should be comfortably warm, while saving money!!

Sunny Fall Saturday

Another great football weekend - we were again 3-0 with the Hornets winning on Friday, the Chargers and Bulldogs winning on Saturday. Dan and I did the split shift on Saturday - he, along with Busia and Papa, and Allen Sarah and the girls, watched Matt play at Albion College. I was able to listen to the first 15 minutes of the game on the computer. On the opening kick Matt ran down the field and lit up the return guy for Albion. Dan said it was an awesome play, and from what the announcers were saying it sounded like it.

I went to Nate's game with a few of my friends. After last week's asthma attack episode Dan and I were a bit worried about how Nate would do. He did just fine. He said after the game that he was still tight in the chest, but no where near where it was last week.

One of the fun things about going to the Hillsdale College game is cheering on all the Hillsdale High School players on the team. Drew had another awesome game, and Brad was able to get in and score a touchdown. This picture is of Nate and Joe getting ready for kick off.

I do do girly things

You would think that with all the guy type stuff on my blog that I don't do any girly girl things. Well last night I did. Every Sunday night there are coaches meetings; the football coaches get together and go over things for the upcoming week. Well this week we decided that we needed a coaches wives meeting. Eight of us got together and watched Sex and the City. I have never seen the show, so that part wasn't all that interesting to me. But the laughing, drinking, eating, talking, and laughing some more was wonderful. Here are just a few pics from the evening.





(For those of you who have seen the movie the crayon will make sense, for those who have not seen the move-not so much. By the way, I will never look at this painting-done by Nate-hanging in our basement the same way again)

Win some/lose some

We were 2-1 this weekend. Dan's team and Matt's team both came out victorious. Sadly, Nate's team did not. The Chargers lost 24-17 to the Ashland Eagles yesterday. I guess what makes this lose so difficult was that the defense did everything it could do. On the offensive side of the ball there were 6 turn-overs in the red zone. As Nate came to me after the game his comment was, "If we would have kicked field goals each of those six times we would have won." I don't envy the young men on offense this week!!


This lovely woman with Nate is Mary Clare. She is from Scotland and is visiting friends. Mary Clare has never seen American football so my friends brought her to the game. Nate let her check out his helmet; she couldn't get over how heavy the thing was or how big Nate is. She was quite taken with the sport. I was quite taken with Mary's accent. I haven't heard a Scottish accent like hers since my grandmother, and I didn't realize how much I missed hearing it. We were so taken with each other that we are planning on communicating via email.



Dan and Matt had a wonderful time with Busia and Papa. The game went well and the four of them had a lovely time at dinner after the game. Next week is homecoming for both boys. We will be doing two games, since Nate's game is in the afternoon and Matt's at night. We will start the tailgate at HC around 11:00 and finish at AC after Matt's game.

Another great weekend-weather wise

I wonder how many more of these gorgeous weekends we have left? Instead of looking in the closet deciding which sweatshirt to wear, I'm looking at shorts to wear.

Today Dan and I are doing a split shift. I am staying in Hillsdale to cheer Nate and the Chargers to victory and Dan (along with Busia and Papa) are traveling to Cleveland to cheer Matt and the Bulldogs to vidtory. We will be 4 hours and 215 miles from each other. Thank god for text messaging!!

If anyone is interested you can listen to the Adrian game - start time 12:45

Guess what I did this weekend!!

I'm sure that wasn't hard to figure out. Friday night Gloria and I traveled to Leslie to watch the Hornets beat the Leslie Blackhawks. Saturday Dan and I traveled to Adrian to watch the Bulldogs pound on the Bluffton Beavers. Saturday night Dan and I hurried home to listen to the Hillsdale Chargers battle it out against the Indianapolis Greyhounds. Happily all three games were in the win column.


Matt had an awesome game. He switched over to defense two weeks ago. WOW - he's loving it. He hits like no other. He is on three special teams and is now second string free safety. The Bulldogs were beating the beavers so badly, Matt saw tons of playing time. After two years of struggling on offense, I think Matt has finally found his place as a defender.


Nate is also on three special teams. It was hard telling how much he played from the radio's broadcast. We weren't able to make both games - so we thought. There was a 90 minute rain delay in Indy. If we would have known that at 3:30 when Matt's game got over with, we would have had time to drive to watch Nate. We did hear that he had a tackle and then we heard the announcer say, "Nate English is leaving the field." We didn't even know he was on the field. We felt bad for Nate after the game though.

Hillsdale College travels with a lot of fans, and Nate said he felt a bit lonely standing on the field after the game without a parent there. Luckily for him the Yassay's adopted him that game, and made him a part of their family. Because of this, Dan and I have decided to split up for next week's games. I'm staying in Hillsdale to cheer for Nate and Dan is going to Cleveland to cheer for Matt.

Let's see before next week here's our schedule:
Tonight Dan has football practice; then he is going to Spring Arbor College and guest lecture in an education class.I have to read Oedipus for my class.
Tuesday I have class from 6-9.
Wednesday there is a middle school football game and volleyball game that I want to get to. There is also a hs volleyball game that I would like to stop in and watch.
Thursday the JV football team is at home and we both will be there. I also have a doctor's appointment - maintenance on my back.
Friday the Hornets travel to Albion for their game.
This is Fair Week in Hillsdale - we would like to get to the fair one night this week. The kids love it when they see their teachers out and about - especially at the Hillsdale County Fair.

I hope you all have a wonderful week - enjoy the summer like weather.

Rain, rain, go away come again another day (during the week)

Last weekend we covered the pool. Boy are we glad we did. With all the rain this weekend it would have been impossible to do that. In case you're wondering why no picture - it was so wet at the games I didn't want to ruin my camera.

In football this weekend the boys were 4 and 0: the Hornets won on Friday, the Chargers won on Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs won on Saturday night, and the Irish also won. I guess I was pushing my luck when I thought we could go 5-0 and have a win on Sunday with the Lions.

For every up comes a down

Last week the English family enjoyed a winning football weekend. This week not so much. All the English boys suffered losses this week. Usually the Hillsdale Hornets have a running clock against the other team. Not this week. Muskegeon Catholic Central took it to the Hornets. (I'm sure Sr. Ann is smiling). I don't even know what the score was - let's just say a lot to a little. Dan did say after the game that there were scouts there from ND, Michigan, MSU and other DI college schools watching two players from CC.

On Saturday Matt went south and Nate went North. At game time, the boys were 17 hours away from one another. I felt like they should be in two different time zones. Nathan was in Houghton playing Michigan Tech, Matt was in Columbus playing a school called Capital (Ranked 8th in the country). Matt's action was limited to special teams. I thought he did well - getting close a few times to blocking a punt.


As we made the trip to support Matt, our friends were texting us with updates from the UP. For Dan and I it was frustrating; we really wanted to be in two places at one time. From what we heard from the HC game - the weather was terrible: wind, rain - left over from Gustav - and cold.

At least ND ended up winning. Next week both boys play at home. Nate in the afternoon and Matt at night, so Dan and I will be able to make both games.

Labor Day

20 years ago Labor Day fell on September 5th. On that day I labored while giving birth to Nathan. We won't be able to celebrate Nate's birthday on the actual day this year. He will be making the 13 hour bus ride to Houghton that day, where the Chargers will play Michigan Tech. So we had a little impromptu birthday celebration for Nate yesterday. He came home with five friends from college: they swam, ate, ate some more, and had Chocolate Eclair Cake for dessert.


Dan, Nate and I were in total shock when one of his friends started singing Sto Lat with us!!!

Goodbye August Hello September

Dan and I went back to school this week. For those of you who don't know - I have been battling two bulging disks in my lower back. For the last three weeks I have been ordered to take it easy and when resting not to lay on my back. Let me tell you - lying on one's stomach for an extended period is not as easy as one might think. Luckily my medical treatments have been working and I was able to start school pain free.

This weekend was the opening of football season. Dan's team traveled to Flat Rock, and soundly defeated their opponent 54-0. I did not go. My girlfriend, Gloria, and I listened to it on the radio. We turned the game on at about 7:06 (just 6 minutes after kickoff) and the score was already 14-0. Let's just say the bleeding never stopped. Next week the Hornets take on Muskegon Catholic Central (Sr. Ann was principal here in the 70's). This will be a much tougher game than the one on Friday night.

At around 10:00 on Friday Nate called me. He wanted to know all about the game and fill me in on his upcoming game. I asked if he was ready and his response was, "I'm drinking water with electrolyte tablets, peeing clear, good to go." For those who worry about athletes in the heat - clear pee is a good thing.


Busia and Papa drove out on Saturday to watch Nate's first college football experience. We had an awesome tailgate before the game. Since we are "locals" we know lots of people. Dan went to the lot at around 11:00 to get up. We were definitely the place to be.


Before the game college baseball players were soliciting for the 50/50 drawing. You could get a forearm's worth of tickets for $3.00, an arms-lenght's worth for $5.00 or a vehicle-lenth's worth for $20.00. Well, Busia saw a 40ft RV in the lot and asked if that vehicle counted. The boys said yes and we proceeded to get $40.00 worth of tickets. You would think that we have great odds - well, we did not win and a St. Joe fan ended up winning.




Nate had a great game. He started at the Will Linebacker and ended up with one solo tackle and 3 assists. He didn't get much playing time. The final score of the game was 49-6 (see stats). Next week the Chargers travel to the UP to play Michigan Tech. Dan and I won't be making the trip. We will be traveling to Columbus to watch Matt play in his season opener.

Adrian College Media Guide

Since I posted a link to the Hillsdale College Media Guide - it's only fair that I post the link to the Adrian College Media Guide. Matt's bio is on page 23.

Well summer vacation is over. Dan and I go back to work on Tuesday. On Friday The Hornets play their first game against Flat Rock, on Saturday Hillsdale College is home. Adrian has a bye week and will open the following weekend.Goodbye summer, hello fall.

Football Season is Back

According to the calendar it still may be summer, but in the Engish household it is officially football season. Yesterday Nathan reported to camp, Matt finished his last day of work today and starts taking his stuff tomorrow, and Dan goes to football camp on Sunday night.

Nate called with his first testing result: His hang clean was 345 (I guess that's really good).

I have attached a link to the Hillsdale College Media Guide. Nate is on page 23.

GO HORNETS!!! GO CHARGERS!!! GO BULLDOGS!!!

Joe and Alecia's Wedding

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday, August 2, was our anniversary. Dan and I have been married 22 years. I have now been married longer than I was single. We had a great weekend. Matt was in a wedding on Saturday; his friend Joe got married. On Friday night, Matt called Dan and asked if a couple of the groomsmen could spend the night, since they weren't from the area. Of course Dan said yes. Well, when they got to the house, it was a bit more than a few of the groomsmen. It was the entire wedding party (including the groom) plus college friends. On the fly Nate and I found beds for 9 people to sleep in.

At first Dan and I were a bit nervous because Joe was there. We thought he should be at home with his mother. But in talking with him, his mom's house was full of UP family, and as Joe put it, "My mom can't stop crying" What fun. They stayed up until about 1:00 sitting by the campfire and swimming in the pool.

On Saturday, the all sat on the front porch and talked football with Dan while I got a big breakfast together. I was a little nervous. I couldn't figure how 9 guys plus Dan, Nate and me could get showered. Dan had a great idea - the wedding party went to the high school and showered in the locker room.

I kept thinking how proud my mother would be. As most know she is prepared for anything and could feed an army without notice. I learned from the best. No one had to sleep on the floor, everyone had a pillow, and no one went away hungry.

When they all started getting ready, fear overcame Joe. Dan and I could feel for him. It reminded Dan of our wedding and how nervous he got just before the big moment. The wedding was lovely. It was a bit bitter-sweet though. Joe and Alecia left today to begin their new life in New Mexico. Joe accepted a teaching job working on an Indian Reservation, and Alecia got a position working in the admissions office of the school (it's a boarding school) Joe's first day of word is Tuesday August 5. Not only will he be teaching he will be coaching six man football.

Dan and I feel very honored that Matt's friends are comfortable enough around us to want us a part of one of the most important days of their life. Joe's mom did tell me though that when Matt gets married he has to spent the night at her house:)

What I did at Aunt Donna's

Hey this is Kate and I went to my Aunt
Donna's house with my two sisters this weekend. When we got there we got our suits on and jumped in the pool. My sisters and I played a ton of games. After that we got buckets and went berry picking. We got so many, we put them at the table and chowed down. At my house are internet is soooooo slow so I spent forever on it here. Later that night my cousins Neil and Bennet came with my Aunt Heather and Uncle Brian. It was the first time I saw Neil in person, and he was so cute. We had a good time. The next day we swam almost all day. Some kids came and swam with us; we all had fun. We even tried to start a whirlpool but it did not work. When they left my Uncle Dan took us to rent movies we got Anne for Paige, National Treasure 2 for Megan, and 27 Dresses for me. We stayed up late eating Candy and watching Movies. Today we went swimming and played on the Nintedo 64.I also had to cut Uncle Dan's hair. We miss our parents but we love it here.

Where has summer gone?

Unlike popular belief, teachers do not have their summers off. For most of us molders of minds, when the kids our done taking classes, we begin. For me this summer is the summer of the English class. A few months back I decided to get an additional teaching endorsements, so that I can have the option to teach high school. This process involves six classes, three of which are English classes. I was able to find two classes for this summer: Shakespeare and 20th Century lit. These are 6 week classes and the work load is unreal. I was lucky enough to schedule both classes for the same days Tuesday and Thursday, but each class is 4 hours long. The 4 hours on top of the commute gives me a 10 hour day. On the off days I am doing nothing but reading and writing papers. I'm enjoying the classes, but will be glad when I am done.

MattFest update

Here's a recap of MattFest: Weather was awesome. People came around 2:00 in the afternoon and left at 2:00 in the morning. For them to stay that long, they must have been having fun. Dan and I provided the food; Matt the refreshments. As all his friends were getting ribs, chicken, brats, etc. I mentioned to Matt and Dan that this is the first birthday party Matt has ever had. I guess that's not so bad, at least he'll remember (most) of it. Chocolate eclair cake was a big hit. Many, many times did I hear, "This is the best birthday cake ever." Finally after 21 years I got it right. I made two; one for after dinner, one for later. Both were gone. Football players + pool + fun island = very scary!! The boys have a great group of core friends.