Saturday, November 5, 2016

A list of things I never thought I'd do before the Cubs won the World Series

1. Allow, nay, encourage my children to stay up past 11 on a school night to watch a sporting event.
2. Get in my car and intentionally tune the radio to a sports station.
3. Suggest baby names for my brother's just-about-to-be-born baby girl, all based on Cubs names.
4. Decide that Zobie Maddon Hardy is actually a pretty awesome name and wish for one hot second that I could have a baby girl and name her that.
5. Wear the same lucky shirt for several days in row.
6. Consider wearing said shirt another few days (until November 8).
7. Wake up happy and eager to start the new day after four hours of sleep.
8. Paint my car windows with declarations of love for a sports team.

Thursday morning I woke up with a smile on my face and decided that we should show our Cubs excitement all over town, or at least in the school carpool lane. I quickly googled how to make DIY window paint and got busy. I figured that my kids would be either delighted or embarrassed when they saw our painted windows, and I was a little surprised to find that I actually didn't care which it was. I guess I'm entering that phase of parenting where I kind of enjoy soliciting eye rolls from my kids. They often think I'm sort of a dork anyway, so why not lean in to it?
I used a simple recipe of equal parts pulverized sidewalk chalk and dish soap. If you decide to try this yourself, let me give you two suggestions. I was in a hurry to paint the car before I woke the boys for school, so I didn't grind it up into a fine enough powder. My chalk paint was kind of gritty and didn't go on very smoothly. On top of that, it was a very warm, humid morning. The paint never fully dried on the windows and sort of dripped down like that bloody-looking font people use on Halloween party invitations and horror movie posters. So it's not ideal for an unseasonally warm November day just hours away from a giant thunderstorm. Go figure.
I found another recipe that uses powdered tempera paint. I'll try that one next year.

One more note. There were a lot of jokers at my house on Thursday.

Matt: So, what are you guys gonna do today?
Sarah: Party like it's 1908.
Matt: In 1908, you probably wouldn't know who won the game for like three days.
Sarah: (stink eye)
Matt: Or are you gonna go down to the Western Union office and listen for the Morse code?

Alec: Why do you keep writing "holy cow"?
Sarah: It's what Harry Caray used to say. He was a Cubs announcer back when I was a kid.
Alec: Like in 1908?