Flat

3-7-16

I am honestly quite proud of myself for being here today.

In all fairness, I needed to be here if simply because I am taking Thursday off. The reason I almost opted against today, though, was due to the car. Yesterday, the boys and had a bit of a lackluster adventure that resulted in sitting around in the car at a Chevron station for about 3 hours in Palos Verdes.

Our 3 hour location

So yeah, this all started when we went to the CT Strikers Game Sunday morning. The game was early and Ken had two ref assignments after the game. The plan was to watch the game and then the boys and I would go to breakfast while Ken reffed the games.

Waking up my babies

The game itself started strong. We were doing great, and even though it was very back and forth, we held our own. Sadly, by 4^th quarter, frustration was in high gear and many of the kids were upset. I know that I am always shocked at how hard many of the parents are on their kids. There is truly no point in telling them they did something wrong. They know. The coach is the only one who should be yelling any directions to them. There was one dad who repeated at least a half a dozen times for his kid to “Stay Awake!” It really seemed mean. I know they don’t intend it to be, but man, dads and sons are a crazy combo. I have had to snip at Ken in the past, too, to not be so hard on our boys out on the field. This is a GAME. Not a professional match. These boys are mostly 9 year olds. There is no reason to make them feel bad about not stopping the ball and then a goal is scored. It happens to the best of them. I think this is part of why so many of them are so hard on themselves.

After the game,  JJ came up to Dax and said that in all his years coaching (which is a lot), he has never missed a player as much as he misses Dax. He said that he is the heart of the team, which JJ’s wife seconded. It was incredibly sweet and kind of them to say these things. They both were pleased with Dax being there, in uniform, cheering on his teammates. Dax and I used little blue and silver pom poms we got which clearly was enjoyed by all the kids, even some on the other team. I figure even though there will be parents who yell, or coaches in the future that will not be as amazing as JJ, I can help guide my kid to be positive and strong for the team in even the worst situations.

We headed out for food, all three of us laughing at random things. It was then, while traveling on Hawthorne Blvd I noticed an odd sound and noted an alert signal on the dash. Bobby said the tire was flat, and so we pulled into a Chevron station. Bobby jumped out and confirmed what he thought. The back right tire was flat.

At this point, I knew Ken was to be reffing until at least 11. It was 10. So I sent him texts to let him know the situation. I debated on calling someone, but it seemed rude to make someone come out to help me, especially with how far I was. I considered signing up for AAA right then. But ultimately, we ended up being able to talk to Ken after his first game. He would hitch a ride down to us after his other game. This left the boys and I to sit in the car until he got there at noon.

It sounds worst then it ended up being. We had at least one iPad (Bobby’s) and a folder of soccer cards (also Bobby’s, since Dax’s ended up being left in the wagon with Ken since we had intended on coming right back), and a battery backup. The boys amused themselves with the iPad/cards while Stephanie kept me company via texting, which was awesome. I was shockingly calm during this whole thing. I was upset, don’t get me wrong, but I knew it was minor in the grand scheme of things. The time went by faster in the beginning, but towards the end, the boys enjoyed tracking Ken’s movement to us via Find my iPhone which was pretty fun.

The car now is fitted with its donut tire, which is why I almost didn’t come in. I started to drive it to work, and it just didn’t sound right. Being that we are in the midst of torrential rainfall, I opted to go back home and take the PT instead. My initial thought was to just stay home, but I was a good girl and changed into my crap-mobile. All in all, it is probably for the best and hopefully Costco isn’t as crowded this afternoon and Ken can get the tire fixed after the appointment for Dax.

I may have still been feeling happy from Friday. Tickets for April Foolishness went on sale at noon and not only was I able to get tickets, Ken did, too, and for the best seats! He got the special section where there is a meet and greet before the show, something we have wanted to do since we started going to this thing. So now I will sell the tickets I have (which will not be an issue) and we will have a great evening on the 2^nd. Yay!

The rest of the weekend was spent doing various projects. Saturday morning, Ken went to move goals from Levy to Hull while the boys and I cleaned out a lot of the catio. Recycling had piled up in there so it all needed to be taken out. We still have to condense the Christmas boxes, too, which are there now. Hopefully we can do that soon and put them where they belong in the garage. It was a productive morning, which also included some laundry. There is always so much to do.

Saturday afternoon had me stir crazy, though, what with us not needing to be anywhere. The boys started arguing more so we took an outing break to head to Dollar Tree to get science fair supplies. It was there that we ended up chatting with this mom of triplets. Her girls were WILD. They were running all over and she told us the story of how one time recently that the three of them locked out grandma and mom from the house. The mom kept saying how they were god’s blessing and blah blah blah, but I was most annoyed at how little it seemed that the dad was involved. So many of her stories talked of how the dad was sleeping while the kids were wreaking havoc. It was strange to say the least, and I was grateful that even at their worst, the boys were the best behaved kids ever!

My dad will not be nearly as quick as Friday and Thursday of last week. Although I am still busy, it is different when you are only covering one desk. I am hopeful that I can do some serious quick housework when I get home and then I will most likely pick up the boys from school and head straight to the orthopedic doc for Dax’s apt. Yes, we will be early, but the boys can then work on their homework while we wait. Yep, gotta take advantage of all time.

Dax and Ken also went to the Galaxy home opener last night. Dax had a blast. The Galaxy won, which was great and it sounds like lots of fun things happened during the match, including one point where LA fans got a little too excited right after the first kickoff, resulting in a pause for cleanup of gobs of streamers that were tossed down on the goal.

Dax waiting to go in the StubHub Center

Great seats!

Bobby and I hung out at home, and I let him play his games for several hours while I just played around on my iPad. I had considered watching a movie in our “theatre” but opted against it, feeling like I should at the very least hang out with Bobby when I can. Sure, most of the conversation was surrounding the game, which wasn’t super interesting, but it is to him so that was important to me. I managed to hang with him until 8, when I decided I really should get some sleep. He probably only played for another hour or so until Ken and Dax got home so it worked out perfect, really.

Now I should probably do some actual work. I don’t want to, but perhaps it will speed things up.