Road House, y'all!

9-24-15

The 80’s have been on heavy rotation this week in my house.

My movie afternoon with my mom was Heathers, which was enjoyed. I have always liked the flick, and truly, it does seem to hold up. I find myself cringing a bit at the liberal use of the term “fag” and some of the obvious homophobia, but truly that was the times so I can’t get to angry.

Last night, though, was my adventure that was long overdue. Our Tivo has a banner of suggested flicks and shows for us to be aware of. On the list was Road House. Now I have never seen this movie. I know, shocking on every freaking level. It seems like it a rite of passage to experience this cinematic masterpiece. Lucky for us, we had nothing on tap and said flick was available on Netflix streaming. Clearly the movie gods wanted this to happen. I made sure to verify I wasn’t in store for another Red Dawn fiasco in which I expected campy comedy but in the first 5 minutes watched a teacher get gunned down. I knew what to expect in terms of action taking itself too seriously. Time to pop the corn!

Not a comedy!

Damn, there was a lot of naked. I didn’t have issue, but I was a little shocked for sure. I also didn’t know that the masterpiece that is Sam Elliot was in this. Holy crap that man is magnificent. In fact, I was quite disappointed that the blonde broad, played by Kelly Lynch, didn’t die and they let Sam die. What the fuck, y’all? Sure, that ended up being the super trigger to cause Mr. Swayze to explode with rage, but let’s face it; he would have done the same if the chick died so why not do that?

I laughed out loud several times and truly thought it was incredibly fun. I am pretty positive I don’t need to see it again, but that being said, it was a fun time for sure. I also enjoyed the numerous comments made when I posted on Facebook that I was watching it for the first time. Many were confused by this confession that I had never seen it. One pointed out if Ken told the judge he would get the kids, the house and everything. Ha! Truly the entire experience complete with my peanut gallery chiming in led to one of the best nights in a while.

The next movie watching has been determined. Somebody asked if I had seen Point Break what with my lack of Road House cred. I may have received equal scorn so Ken and I will be obtaining a copy soon. I may need to get a list from people so I can make up for lost time.

The afternoon was an interesting bittersweet event. The boys get home early on Wednesdays and with no practice, the house tends to be much more relaxed when it comes to homework and other activities. The boys walked in and Bobby announces he has something to tell us. He proceeds to explain how some of his friends are going to go hang out at Sur La Brea for a little while right now. He didn’t even need to ask me for permission. I told him to go before he even finished talking. Look, I know homework is important but so far this year his has been painless. Plus, I was all kinds of excited at the prospect of him finding his people. Sure, he has a lot of friends, but as time progresses, it is important to have that group of people you can just hang out with. I know this all too well. He said Dax was more than welcome but he declined saying he wanted to get a jump on his homework and he didn’t think that the people Bobby would be playing with would want to play soccer.  In some ways this was good, too, since it gives Bobby some independence and Dax did have a fair amount of homework. Bobby was also great about calling me as soon as he found his friends, and he called me when he was on his way back. I didn’t even tell him to do the call before coming home. I was very pleased with the whole thing. It is a little sad to know he is growing up, but I am pleased that he is friends with so many different people.

My week thus far has also been better what with multiple books found as PDF’s. I read The Martian this week, which I highly recommend. I am now reading a book called All the Bright Places. Total YA throwaway style book, but still good enough to entertain. Buzzfeed continues to release lists of books that everyone should read and I couple that with Goodreads and voila! I have a list of books to hunt for. I would be curious to make a list at the start of the new year of every book I read for 2016. I could also do the same for movies. Might be a fun project.

Work is trying to be busy this morning. Bleah. I suppose I should get to it.  

muscles

9-21-15

Ouch.

Sometimes you don’t realize just how many muscles are in your body until you start using ones that don’t normally get used. I found myself in that boat at the end of Saturday.

Saturday was a standard soccer day with some modifications that made for an ever longer day. Bobby didn’t have a game, which meant we were at Hull much of the day. We got there around 7 to start the set up procedures. I lined field one due to how faded it was. I still like the painting process, which must be due to how nice it is to kind of just zone out. I would have done more, but I ran out of time what with the first game of the morning needing me!

I did my first AR duty of the season. It was a girl’s game, specifically Rachel’s game which made it I think even more fun because I got to say hello to many of the girls I have seen at Adams or in the spring league. But if I was hopeful that it would be an easier game to referee simply because they were girls, I was sorely mistaken. Man those girls are fast! The second half was a ton of sprinting on my part, but I did ok, even catching one off sides that I was kinda proud of. The only real issue with ref duty was just how freaking miserably hot it was! It actually made me a little ill. I could have probably helped out with another game, but I opted to sit and hydrate. Besides, I would have missed the start of Dax’s game.

Dax’s game was much better if only because it wasn’t one sided. Final score was 4 to 2 in our favor, which is good since I am happy Dax is on a winning team. Dax was frustrated due to him needing to bein defense much of the game. He is truly better in midfield since it allows him more flexibility in terms of being able to score and prevent scoring. The coach felt he really needed Dax’s defensive ability, though, so he was the go to for that. Dax didn’t even play goalie, so they really did feel he was a good plan for stopping their offense. Dax also was the go to guy for goal kicks and all the throw-ins. His throw was never whistled for leg lifting and let’s face it, that kid has some power in those throws. So all in all, Dax was a huge part of the win, even though he seemed off. He was I think a combo of frustrated and hot. Hopefully this week he has another opportunity to score a goal.

Bobby had a day of independence. Since he didn’t have a game, he was incredibly bored. At one point it occurred to me that I had forgotten Salizar, Dax’s stuffed snake and unofficial mascot for his team. So I suggested to Bobby that he walk home and get it. He loved this! He got home and called me when he got there. The smoke detectors were beeping, so I ended up having to go get him. 

Luckily it was just a low battery alert. Bobby ended up walking home with Dax after Dax’s game. He also walked around the track once during half time with Matt. He was very active considering how hot it was.

We got home from Hull around 2:30 or so. We headed up to Adams about 3:30. We needed to measure and mark the field for the U12 Extra game that was taking place the following morning. Look, I am not thrilled with how few people step up. In all reality, the people from that team should have been there. Not a one was there. We did get one volunteer show up for about an hour, and another who showed up late but stayed the rest of the time. Ken and I managed to get the field done between the two of us. It seems like marking a field shouldn’t be a big deal. Holy hells bells, it is exhausting! You have to wind up string and measuring tape and walk the length of the field a dozen times or so. You use muscles you didn’t know existed. On top of this, we had to build the new goals. Granted, I didn’t actually put together goals, but the place we got them from felt the need to wrap every inch in tape and cardboard to the point that I spent a lot of time picking it all up for the trash. It was crazy. By the time we got home, it was about 7 pm. Yes, we had spent 12 hours doing soccer related activities. The four of us were sore, tired and starving. Sure, we had breakfast when we headed over there in the morning, and I am pretty sure the boys snacked when they got home, but Ken and I had not eaten anything else. The evening was spent on the couch, thankful for delivery of Chinese food.

Sunday was busy for different reasons. I worked on the house much of the morning, concentrating on the kitchen and the laundry. Ken went to go ref Ally’s game. The boys and I did manage to hit up Savers, picking up a couple new pair of shorts for Bobby and we looked at Halloween stuff for ideas. Both boys are not 100% sure of costume choice. We ended up hitting up 3 Halloween shops in the afternoon, hopeful that they would see something good. We did find this awesome monkey costume at Savers that fit Dax perfectly. However, he pointed out how hot it was so it was not purchased. I didn’t blame him one bit. Dax was tempted to do one of those all over body suits in just one color. He ended up trying on one, but one that made it look like he was a jaguar. He was not comfortable. I tried to convince him to be Dash from The Incredibles, but he didn’t like it. Bobby is leaning towards being an orange cat like Lucy. Let’s hope we have a breakthrough on both costumes soon.

The boys and I also played in the pool a bit in the afternoon. It was certainly hot enough to warrant it. Sadly, I am not happy with the amount of bees that seem to think this is their personal watering hole. I already don’t like bees and am not interested in an accidental stinging. This is especially true after last week I was stung repeatedly by this black wasp/bee thing. It got stuck between my arm and my boob and it got me several times. I did not enjoy this. It didn’t hurt as bad as honey bee stings have hurt me, but the pain was enough that I certainly didn’t want to deal with the possible pain.

I am pretty sure today should be easy when I get home. There is still some laundry and housework to tend to and I really need to get to the bank to make a soccer deposit. Thankfully with homework being pretty light, I should be able to continue my new approach which is letting them do their homework without hovering. I can work on my things while they work on their things. Yay! I figure in the coming weeks it may get more intensive, at which point I will be busting out my coloring or something else to do while they work. I am hopeful this doesn’t happen for a while.

Now I am going to try and make my work day go by quicker. Happy week, y’all.  

Oh my god, it's raining!

9-15-15

I love this rain!

That being said; I hate my car. I swear I was gonna die on the way in. I ended up taking surface streets much of the way for fear that my car was going to hydroplane right off the freeway. I am hoping it is less slippery on the way home, but I have a feeling I will be continuing to only drive maybe 40 mph.

As if the fear of careening off the road wasn’t bad enough, I find myself with the most epic cramps known to (wo)man. I am sure my body decided that if I got to have 6 weeks between my cycle this time, it said I was going to get cramps for one and a half periods. Sigh. I feel horrid. I will need to dig out some Tylenol in a bit.

On a positive note, Trusty took the day off. This is good because I was pretty sure I was going to need to take a bat to his head. His stupidity is leaking out in epic proportions these days and it’s one thing to slip around on a rain soaked freeway, but to slip in his idiocy is not tolerable.

I am distracted this morning as well since I made the mistake of starting a new book last night. I had downloaded an e-book from the library and realized I only had another 5 days with the copy. It is Armada by Ernest Cline, the same dude who wrote Ready Player One which was tremendous. This one has started strong, chock full of 80’s nostalgia and video game references that make one yearn for a simpler time. Sadly it isn’t like I can sneak in much reading with it being on my iPad. Sure, no one comes to my little corner of the office, but I don’t need to take any silly chances what with my desperate need for transportation not bucking to kill me.

I am sporting my AYSO Board shirt this morning. It’s AYSO’s birthday which means big things on social media happening with the hashtag of WearYourAYSO. It is a testament to my loyalty to AYSO that I wear this shirt. It isn’t comfortable and it has sleeves. However, I decided this was more official than the t-shirt emblazoned with our region of the year logo. I will most likely wear this or said t-shirt to practice simply because I am a good representative. I am hoping to take some pics of the kids out there in uniform as well.

Homework day one was not bad at all! Both had small amounts and finished with little to no supervision. I know that every homework day has reading to do, but for the most part I don’t enforce it. I figure on Mondays, what with there being no soccer, it is more than possible for them to do the amount needed. I set the timer and had them pick a book and they sat down and read. Dax chose book two of the Captain Awesome series, which caused him to laugh hardily many times. Bobby chose Little House in the Big Woods. So far he is enjoying it, so I am anxious for him to continue and that he chooses to read the sequel as well.

Is it bad that I am sitting here, considering ways to place my iPad in front of me to allow me to read while looking like I am working?

Apparently Miss Arevelo, Bobby’s teacher, doesn’t want things in the kids’ desks or even on them. It means Bobby has to lug all the supplies she wanted him to have around with him in his backpack. Such a pain in the ass. I am sure there is some kind of reasoning, but it doesn’t make me happy either way.

I suppose I should try to find something to do lest the day go by even slower.

soccer!!!!

9-14-15

I made someone happy today.

This actually made me super happy. I know how much Nicole loves Nightmare Before Christmas and when I had the opportunity to call into KROQ to win, I was excited! Not as much as when I got through! WOO!

My weekend was busy, as expected. Soccer was so much fun. Bobby’s game didn’t go great what with them losing like 7 to 1, but they played hard and the other team was just fantastic. Dax’s game was on the other end of the spectrum with us slaughtering them 11 to 0. I felt so very bad. I was happy that Dax got himself a hat trick in the game, but I look forward to him playing other teams to see how he does. Don’t get me wrong, he was amazing in the game what with his communication with other players, perfect placement and amazing passing. But you don’t want to see that kind of blow out, and I would like him challenged a little more.

The actual day of soccer was less good if only because I was overwhelmed with not only getting the boys to the other field on my own, but also transporting all of the items needed. Ken had the wagon, which meant I had to lug the 5 gallon Gatorade dispenser, a cooler, chairs and soccer bags. Oh yeah, and snacks. It wasn’t easy. Then during Dax’s game, Bobby didn’t watch, Matt talked my ear off and Ken was reffing so I didn’t have him to talk to. In some ways it was kind of a lonely game to watch. Thank goodness I loved watching both the boys play.

I did enjoy chatting with Bobby’s teammates. I was pointing out to a couple of them which players were good on the other team and giving them strategy. They didn’t look at me like I was nuts! They understood and I felt like I was respected, which made me super happy. Those kids are really awesome and I liked being a part of their soccer world if only for a few minutes.

It’s amazing how quickly a soccer day goes by. Of course, it helped that I swear I was doing something almost every minute of the day. From 7 am to 3, it was soccer! This Saturday, Bobby has a by so I won’t have to go to multiple fields which will be nice. I may even ref if the shorts I ordered get in this week.

Yesterday we went to get more school supplies. It’s really a shame we don’t get a list of supplies needed when places like Target are doing back to school sales. I noted several Torrance moms at Target this weekend with their list in hand and trying to find the items needed in the heavily picked over school section. I almost couldn’t find colored pencils! Bobby needed a bunch of specific things like a three ring binder with 5 pocketed dividers. Not a big deal, but it was hard to find when they clearly had not restocked. I am pretty confident we got him everything he needs, so hopefully he will get the credit for it today.

Dax’s practice has been changed this week from Thursday to Wednesday. I would be stressed but luckily it is only the one practice and hell, it gives me an excuse to walk 3 days. Ha!

Today is the first real day of homework. I am crossing my fingers it goes well. I will get home and will hopefully continue the adventure that is a ton of laundry. The boys and I made the house all nice on Sunday so truly that was all that was left. It is truly amazing how much laundry needs to be done.

It’s now lunch time so I suppose I should eat. I really am now counting down the last 2 hours, hoping it flies by. I have too much to do elsewhere. Ha!

Stupid Heat Wave

9-9-15

Happy birthday to my Pop!

It has been a goofy morning what with it being kind of busy, but not super busy. I haven’t had a chance to do the things I would like to do, but I have accomplished a lot. See, I told you it was goofy.

Yesterday’s painting adventure went well. I got most of the fields re-marked. I had to weave in and out of practices, but most of the teams were quite understanding. The whole thing took so much longer than I had hoped, especially since I couldn’t finish. That was partly because I was putting the paint on rather thick and I spent a lot of time talking to random folks who had questions. I felt all important with my standard issue straw hat, walking the field like I owned the place. Sometimes it is quite nice that I am recognized for my soccer stuff.

It is crazy stupid hot this week. I woke this morning drenched in sweat. The plan is to head to Lowe’s when I get home to see about getting a portable air conditioner. Of course, they are probably all sold out what with this heat wave. I may need to do as the animals do, which is to sleep directly on the floor. I had to wade through multiple cat piles this morning. The floor is much cooler.

Sadly, the heat has also made sleep impossible. I can feel the fatigue.

I am hoping to get a decent request from the children today. I am letting them choose dinner what with it being their last meal of summer break. I am offering them breakfast options as well. I know they will appreciate it.

Is it bad that due to how freaking hot it is, I am tempted to drive the boys to school in the morning simply so I don’t have to walk home in the heat?

School and Soccer start this week!

9-8-15

Such a shame that the last night of my 3 day weekend is the one I can’t get any dang sleep.

This is my crazy week in terms of just how much is going on. Today the boys are at the beach with my folks, which means they will be wiped out tonight after soccer practice for each of them. I will most likely be working on pulling soccer financials for the upcoming audit, which doesn’t sound pleasant but it is a necessary evil. If anything, it will be good to have the time to work on it with no kids in the house.

During practice my intentions are to line the fields. We spent much of Sunday morning measuring the three fields at Hull and getting the initial paint down. I figured since I am there anyway, I might as well do the second coat to ensure they are visible for marking on Saturday morning. I have a busy morning that day, too, what with a 10:30 game for Bobby and a 12:45 game for Dax. I don’t have the rest of the schedule yet, but hopefully soon.

On top of lining fields, I have a meeting at 7 at the house to go over some more reimbursements for our travel team. It hopefully will not take too long, but it is still a process. Hopefully now that we have already done a batch, this will be easier.

Yesterday I kicked some serious ass on the house. I did a lot of clean up throughout the weekend, but yesterday I rearranged some of the catio along with cleaning the side of the house by the garage. It had a lot of weeds and fallen leaves that needed sweeping up. Also we had some more of the items pulled from the garage needing to be disposed of. I was finally able to get the rest of it in our cans. YAY! I still have a box of spray paint that will need to go to the hazardous waste place, but that is minor.

I even managed to do some barbequing yesterday! I hadn’t planned it, but we smelled someone else’s food and we thought why not! I made some nummy teriyaki chicken. I now have that for lunch. Super yay! Really, yesterday had a little bit of everything going for it.

The boys and I have been having way too much fun with the Playmobile in the pool. Of course, much of this is my weirdness kicking into high gear. I named several figures and gave them elaborate back stories. Yesterday I found Captain Von Trapp, Maria and all the children. We also have baby Lieutenant Dan who is a kid figure with no legs. Oh, and there is Salty, the sea captain. Found one that looked like Marty McFly, too. Seriously, we were all laughing a lot with the silly.

Oh my goodness, why must my coworker in the next cube over feel the need to bathe in perfume?

I took Thursday off so I can keep from stressing  about getting back in time to walk the boys to school. I would normally just work in the morning but I also want to make them breakfast and have time to go up early to see what classroom they are in. I will then have the rest of the morning, early afternoon to do as I please, which will be nice. Not sure what my plan is yet but I would bet it has to do with soccer or cleaning. Ha!

I am really starting to worry about the hells of homework for the next 12 weeks specifically. If they boys are getting home at 3:30, homework will only have maybe an hour and 15 minutes to be completed. Mind you, this is a lot of time if schools and teachers adhered to the 10 minute rule in which its ten minutes per grade level. However, as we all know, there isn’t a teacher alive these days who uses that as a guide. It means Tuesdays and Thursdays could be crazy. Hopefully Dax has Mrs. Van Wie since I know her homework wasn’t too bad. I have heard there is one 5^th grade teacher that assigns very little, so maybe I will luck out. Perhaps Karma will pay me a visit and allow me some stress free homework for one year due to my diligence on calling out the system.  

In a shocking bit of complimentary data, I was told that the Area director for our area in AYSO would have liked me as the area treasurer. Apparently he thinks I do a good job in the region and thought I would do well in Area. Now, I had heard this before, but chalked it up to someone just saying something nice, not necessarily true. I figured if he really liked my work he would have asked me. I found out this weekend that he didn’t ask because he knew I didn’t want to move up to Area and that I still am needed in the region. I guess I am one of the best treasures in the area, so that is pretty cool! And I still don’t know that I do a great job. That’s me second guessing myself.

Sigh. It occurs to me I really want to color my hair before this weekend. I wonder if I can go get color on Wednesday and have it done then.

Of course, the one game Ken has on Wednesdays in which Dax can play, too, happens on this Wedneday night at 9. Sadly, he will not be attending. Really, the only games I have let him go to is if they are at 8, but during the summer he always went. He normally just watches, but this one team Ken is playing is one that doesn’t have enough players so it ends up being just a fun game of all ages. I know I shouldn’t feel too bad since ultimately these boys need to go to bed a little early on Wednesday what with a full day of school ahead of them and soccer practice that night. Sometimes the stars don’t align.

Damn. It’s gonna be crazy hot this week, including Thursday. Bleah. The reason sleep was impossible last night was due to the heat. It may be time to break down and get one of those air conditioning units.

make the work day done!!!

9-4-15

The three day weekend calls to me!

I only have 4 and a half hours left of the prison I call my desk. I am hopeful that the pace picks up a tad, but knowing the light is at the end of the tunnel is happy making.

Tomorrow we go to Hull to work on fields. We need to measure the three fields out and then mark them. It is tedious, but it needs to be done. If we can get some help, which I know at the very least Jerry will help, we can get it done in no time. I like the painting. I feel all helpful and I like that Ken trusts me enough to paint his fields straight. He takes a lot of pride in his duty as division coordinator so I am a proud first lady on stuff like this. Plus, I too have been appalled at how many failed field sobriety tests these people have. I have looked at lines that aren’t straight even if you are drunk! We want to get started in the morning so that it isn’t too hot. We have lunch plans at 11, so we may head over around 8. We shall see. Ken still has schedule madness so a lot depends on these things.

In a strange moment of good at the board meeting last night I was told that my new financial report is good! This comes from the one who criticized it before, so I am going to take that as a win.

I am really just looking forward to this afternoon. I have nothing scheduled which means I can mostly just melt into my couch.  I may go in the pool if only because that tends to help the relaxation process. Plus, I love the joy on Luna’s face when I let her swim with me.