Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Skipped a day, but look, I make up for it.

1-12-16

Well shoot, I have already slacked off!

It was a crazy weekend full of plenty of highs with one incredibly stressful almost low. Dax played his first game like a superstar. The opponent was tough with the score being within one just about all of the match. Dax scored a hat trick, including one that was a header that was his favorite of the three. I personally enjoyed the second one as it showed off his skill set in his timing and power. The game resulted in a win for the Pythons which was fantastic.

Our second game wasn’t really a game. As much as I am happy they still end up with the win, a forfeit isn’t what you want. I felt so bad for the 4 kids that did show up for the other team. They forfeit their second game on Sunday, too, so it is very sad to me that their team didn’t commit. The good news was that we opted to do a scrimmage with the kids that did come. We rotated out some of our kids to their team so that it was even and we let those boys play some soccer. You could see the absolute joy on most of their faces. Dax in particular was in hog heaven. He managed a pretty sweet bicycle kick that would have been fun had it gone in the goal. He also made a kick from the half line as a keeper that just about scored as well, which you could tell tickled him greatly. We only played 3 quarters as it had started to actually rain, which was not what was expected. It didn’t matter since really they just had so much fun.

This is where things got crazy. Bobby and I, pleased that we didn’t have to rush due to the shorter game time set out to get him to the birthday party for his friend, Izzy. Dax could have gone but opted to stay and kick his ball and watch Ken referee.

The address indicated Western so the assumption was it was very close to Steve what with it making sense that a classmate would live near the school. Turns out I couldn’t be more wrong. However, the map programs on my phone certainly were competing with each other on who could be the most far off from the actual location. Some of this was the result of the wrong city listed when I was looking it up, but once again, this was assumptions based on school district. We drove what seemed like the length of Western, going old school by looking at actual street signs to determine which block we were on. This took us back close enough to where the fields were that Dax and Ken were at that I opted to head back and let Ken figure this shit out.

We got to the field, and I was a flustered and crazed mess. It was raining pretty hard at this point and my nerves were fried what with him having gone from 30 minutes early to us now being 20 minutes late and still lost. I looked up the address one last time on a different map program and it indicated our destination was a mere 6 minutes away. Bobby, who was a stoic and impressively calm passenger in our navigation from hell encouraged me to try this address. It was literally down the street and we found what was clearly the right building.

Our adventure wasn’t quite over what with the directions into the secure building were not exactly clear. We asked for assistance from a snooty couple with one of those tall poodle looking dogs who answered with complete distain and pointed us towards a door with no other information. Luckily, said door had a note with instructions on how to get to Izzy’s party. Woo hoo! It turned out that other party goers were also late, but the cheer from the attendees that Bobby had arrived made me feel so good about my son’s friends that I was calmed significantly.

I then set out to get back to the field, concerned that my other boys were drenched to the bone. I arrived back at the field where Ken was only just finishing up with his ref assignment. My timing was shockingly on par. I gathered them and we set out for home where I used my special meds for a more significant dose in order to get back into the groove of my evening.

Sunday was less chaotic, but productive. I managed to clean up a good portion of the house, including removing the last remnants of Christmas from the living room and kitchen. They currently reside in boxes in the catio and the small village of Christmas bears have taken over the downstairs couch, but at least they are getting closer to their home in the garage. My house getting more organized is my goals for this year and this was a huge step in accomplishing this.

Ken had a game to ref on Sunday morning, which resulted in 2 games and lack of communication for this extra time spent at the field. I was still slightly rattled from the prior evenings adventures and was angry at this being that Ken didn’t arrive home until close to the time we needed to set out for the team party. It was discussed, and there is no more animosity about it, but I do know going forward we will need to work out better communication concerning these tournaments and what both they need and what I need.

The team party went well. 4 kids weren’t able to make it, which was a shame, but the bowling itself went over well. It always does. Those kids have a lot of fun with it and it makes for a good time had by all. I spent much of my time with one of the moms I am friends with. It was nice getting to know her better what with us being able to just sit and chit chat. She lives near Eydie and her daughter is in Dax’s class. Bobby is also quite fond of her son, who is on the team. I am hopeful that we will see her around even though the kids are not on the same team anymore. With her daughter being on a travel team, we will most likely bump into each other at various tournaments, which will be fun.

I ended my Sunday with the Golden Globes and getting annoyed with the lack of discipline the boys have with their timing. Screen time has been reduced to the point where no one is allowed to use the computer/iPads after 7 pm unless otherwise stated. It sounds harsh in some ways. In addition to that, I worry this will mean less free time for me. I have come to rely a little too heavily on my digital babysitter. Last night was the first go at it, but it would be hard to truly know how it went what with homework taking almost 3 hours last night and we ended up watching Labyrinth what with the sudden passing of David Bowie. Tonight there is practice and I will be out with Sarah and Alyssa which will most likely result in a difference of scheduling. Going forward, though, my hopes are to have the boys read after 7. Maybe it will allow them to wind down differently. Plus, it means once they finish homework, play or practice won’t be delayed due to the time they are reading. It is all a work in progress so I am trying to be optimistic.

I am anxious to get information hopefully today about which California mission Dax will be assigned for his project. I doubt that we will end up with the same one as Bobby, but I am also hoping it is one that isn’t too far away what with the plan being to go and visit. Perhaps Mrs. Van Wie will remember that we went to the one last year and will maybe consider assigning him one sort of close and different. The plan now is to go the last weekend of January, what with that looking to be the last free weekend for the foreseeable future. Tournaments start up in February along with the PV league. In addition to that, we have our annual planning meeting this month and a couple of registration dates in there.

It is going to be an interesting year for registration what with the tournaments coming up. We don’t have exact dates yet, aside from a couple, and during the planning meeting we tend to make our schedule. This is going to allow me to really start looking for a replacement Treasurer, or even an assistant as I cannot keep doing it based on my upcoming commitments. I will still handle social media since let’s face it, I rock that. It just seems as though it would be better for everyone if I step down and have someone new handle the books. Sure, I have it down mostly, but the paperwork that I need to sit down and organize is a daunting task that I just don’t know where I will find the time to reconcile. Plus, I already know I will be fully assimilated into what AYSO truly stands for, which is All Your Saturdays Occupied, but I would like the occasional option to sleep in a little on a Saturday knowing I don’t need to fill water bottles and find missing cleats. It’s a dream, but I am holding on to it.


My day is dragging, so I need to find a project this morning to speed up time. I will make every effort to continue my quest to blog again tomorrow. 

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