yeah

9-10-12


Is the weekend really over already?

I think I may have an idea for a costume. I need to consult with Ken on how hard it would be. I mean, he is my seamstress. I sent him some pictures of how other people have done it, and hopefully he can make me something similar. YAY!

It was a hectic weekend. Ken had to leave to go to the field at 7, which meant I was up early. There was snack bag prepping to do, dressing of kids, and the whole packing of a shit ton of soccer gear into the PT. Starting on Tuesday, we will just leave our bags and gear at the field in the storage bin, but we didn’t think of that until this weekend. We do have one of the only keys, so it makes sense for us to not have to cart everything back and forth. This will be especially handy since we will hopefully start riding our bikes to practice.

As feared, there were no refs for the games. The good news is that the coaches on all the games were more than content to just work as a team as the refs. It actually worked out pretty well, despite going against what AYSO wants.

Our team got slaughtered. Mind you, it wasn’t because we suck. The other team was really fucking good. I suppose they ought to be since apparently for the past 2 or so weeks, they have been practicing 3 nights a week, for 90 minutes each night. Yes, that would be what not only would I call excessive, but what AYSO would blow a gasket about. Ken is putting a stop to this.

I also found myself in my first pissy parent role on the sideline. One of their players (ok, I think there were two) was very grabby of our players, pulling jerseys and arms. I snipped at the player when he was grabbing one of ours. He didn’t listen. Seconds later, the ball was kicked and it smacked him in the face. I muttered under my breath, “Karma’s a bitch, kid.” I don’t know if he heard me, but I know I did and I felt like such an asshole.

Dax had a kick ass break away and almost scored a goal. He seemed jazzed even to do as well as he did, so I was pleased. All the kids did amazing and we are picking up on their strengths and weaknesses. It is exhausting being the coach. I ran up and down the sideline with the kids.

One of our kids got hurt once, and then later was in exhausted tears from us losing. He is the same age as Dax, so I understood his tears. They were the same as Dax gets. I ran out to the field twice, yelling at Ken to call the game for a second. I comforted him, and I think he was appreciative. His dad told me at one point, in the same nonchalant way I explain to people why Dax is crying about something. I felt his pain/frustration/indifference to the tears. LOL!

Even though we lost, the boys seemed happy. I enjoyed being the coach, too. I ended up chit chatting with the sibling of one of the players. He is this 9 year old who is a total doll. He was very sweet and seemed very interested in chatting me up about how they were doing. I like being a parent that kids like to come to.

After the game, the boys and I left Ken at the field and went home to eat lunch. I also had the boys do chores in order to implement our new allowance program. We have now turned the stones into money, in a cool transition from just arbitrary value into something real. Each stone is worth $.25. They can still earn stones for various things. Also, each week they will be paid 8 stones as long as they have their bedroom and playroom clean, and that the backyard is free of dog poo. I told them it is in their best interest to work on these during the week since I will not pay until it is done. I even helped them this weekend just to show them how clean it has to be. I am not expecting sparkle worthy. I just want them clutter free.

I then explained that they could exchange stones for goods in the stone store, which will now reflect the exact amount Ken and I paid for them, or they could trade them in for real money. They both opted to exchange a handful of stones for a couple of bucks each, and Bobby then asked if we could go to Target so he could buy an action figure. He had some money the Brandy had given him, and some old birthday money, so I told them to both get their wallets and we went to Target.

They each had about $20. It was a cool lesson to show them how much toys actually cost that they want. Bobby did say at one point he understands a bit why I don’t get every toy for them. They didn’t always have enough for items, so they had to decided how they wanted to spend their limited funds.

Dax opted for this little race track and a tiny car, which was really cool. Plus, it was only $10, which meant he would not spend all his money. Bobby decided to buy a John Cena action figure since on Friday he had “purchased” from his class another wrestling action figure. I had no idea who that guy was, but thanks to the power of Facebook, I had his name in a few minutes. Bobby thought he should have a second guy so they could wrestle. His guy cost $20.

I had them each do their own transaction with the cashier. I am always pleased when not only is the cashier patient, but so was the customer behind us. In fact, I think they were amused at the whole thing and thought it was very cute.

After Target, we went over to the field and helped Ken a bit on tear down. We then headed home. It was a good evening. The boys played with their new friends. I made dinner and we watched Hot Shots Part Deux. We thought the boys would enjoy it. They liked parts of it, but Dax especially was bored.

Sunday was a lot more filled. We were meeting my parents and Grammie out at Don Jose’s at 10 for brunch. Sadly, we got out there only to find out it is closed for September. We are not even sure if it will re-open. It was depressing. Especially since I had not eaten since I knew I would get chips and salsa. Instead, we went over to Denny’s, which was very crowded.

We had to make sure we left by 11:30 since we had to be back at the field by 12. We also were out in Artesia, so there was a potential for some traffic. Luckily, we made it back in time. Ok, when I say in time, I mean, we got to the field 15 minutes early and realized we didn’t have the banner, so we were able to run back home to get that and make it back by noon. LOL!

The photo session was pretty quick and painless aside from the hot sun. The photographers and many parents and coaches complimented Ken and my shark hats for the team. I wish we had little shark hats for each of the kids. I may need to look into that on Oriental Trading Co.

After pictures, we went to my parents’ house for cake. Ken also worked on fixing some electronic issues for my dad since he told me that was all he wanted for his birthday. LOL!

I was waiting for it to happen, and it did but only in a smaller capacity than it had been. Let me give some background.

Two weeks ago, while the boys and I were at my parents’ house, Bobby was teasing Matt. In all fairness, it was a mutual thing, and everyone was having fun. Matt then snapped for a second, and you could actually watch him switch from Dr. Bruce Banner into “the other guy”. Matt yelled, with tension in his whole body, and told Bobby he would smack him. It wasn’t a playful joke. It was a full on threat that was scary. I snipped quickly at Matt with dead seriousness that if he laid a hand on him that I would toss his ass out the window. Bobby thankfully didn’t catch on to the seriousness of the situation, and only laughed and told me how I was right that I always said I would kick someone’s ass if they messed with my boys.

Matt backed down, and it seemed to pass. I had seen these violent outbursts from him, but they seemed to be becoming more frequent. In all fairness, he always seems remorseful after, and I know he would never want to cause any harm to either of the boys.

Sadly on Friday, he did.

As we were getting ready to leave, and I was in the garage with my parents, Matt and the boys, Dax started crying and came up to me all kinds of upset. I asked him what was wrong as I had not seen anything since I was talking to my mom at the time. He then tells me that Matt hit him. I honestly assumed it was nothing since Dax is prone to some exaggeration from time to time. I looked at Matt and said, “Did you hit him?” Matt was still on the anger train, and he said, “Well, he deserved it.”

I was livid. I was shaking. I was ready to kill. However, I had a crying child on my side. I had a confused kid on the other side. As much as I wanted to pummel him, what good would this have done? I calmly growled at Matt, “Don’t bother coming tomorrow.”

I gathered the boys and my mom took over bitching Matt out. My dad took my lead and simply moved forward with getting the boys to ignore Matt and to cheer up. It seemed to work ok. I didn’t bother with Matt at this point.

As we were driving, I kind of knew my mom would call me. Sure enough, she did.

Apparently, my punishment of telling Matt he was not welcome at the boys’ game did the trick. Matt was devastated. And actually, my mom seemed ok with the punishment. That being said, we did discuss how Matt was only hitting the same way my dad and the boys were doing earlier in the afternoon. In fact, all four of the males there were wild and rambunctious, and Matt simply was doing what they were doing, sadly much more rough than he should have. Plus, Matt doesn’t realize he is really fucking strong. My mom did tell me she is working on Matt’s temper. I told my mom about the other threat and how over all, I can’t have him being like this to the boys. Even yesterday while at the house, Dax announced loudly that he wished Matt wasn’t his uncle. Look, I understand this. We can’t expect these kids to understand Matt’s issue. And if Matt breaks their trust, it will be hard to regain.

Sadly, Matt yelled at Dax again yesterday. Sigh. Dax was angry at Matt not listening to him. Matt then did this stupid scream in his face. Dax was more shocked than upset, but my dad yelled at Matt at this point and told Matt to go down to his room. Matt flipped out, started swearing and pushed at my dad. It was bad. It simmered quickly, but still, it was yet another outburst in which I was on the ready to kick the shit out of my brother if he hurt my kid.

I can tell you now, the boys will not be allowed to be alone with Matt. I know that may seem extreme, but for now, until I can see that he is better with his temper, I can’t take that chance.

I did like that I could use the Hulk analogy for the boys to try to understand Matt. I told them how Dr. Banner didn’t like turning into the Hulk since he had no control. The Hulk even hit Captain America and Black Widow, even though Bruce liked both of them. It was all a matter of trying to get it all in check. I think Bobby got this. Dax may need some more convincing.

Since we didn’t get chips and salsa for breakfast, we decided to go to Cozymel’s for dinner. I was super excited to see both boys, especially Dax, chow down on the salsa. Yay! When the kids like different foods, I feel like I won.

The boys went to bed at a reasonable time, which allowed me to read to them from our new book, Doctor Doolittle. I only read a chapter, but tonight I will try to read two or three since they are short.

I am actually rested, thankfully. I slept well and although not pleased to be here at work, it will be ok. I am planning on laying low all week. The picnic is this weekend, but I have no intentions of going anymore. Due to my boss deciding to censor me on my internal blog, I don’t have a lot of faith in management right now.

Ok, speaking of work, I have a bit to get to.