Monday, October 15, 2012

What a week…weekend!!


How can one week seem so much longer than another?  Or a day feel like it’ll never end? 

Can you relate to this? The time is the same but living or surviving the time sure is different. 

Last week was a long, long week.  Lots of running so I was extremely tired.  Monday the kids did not have school but Olivia had cheer practice.  Usually when there is no school, cheer is cancelled.  Last week it was the other way around. Football practice was moved to Tuesday night and cheer was held on Monday.  So Monday was cheer practice, Tuesday was football practice, Wednesday was football and cheer practice.  Thursday, new night, cheer practice and Friday we had football practice.  John was busy preparing for a hunting trip and looking into buying land.  I had decided to turn my bus pass in and get a parking permit as I am driving to work more and it made sense, financially, to turn the bus pass in (at least for a while).  So I ran all week long.  Elliott prefers his father to go to his practice so they can talk football and strategy after practice.  I could talk how well he did or did not practice, but alas, I am a girl and football is a guys’ sport.  Dad is the authoritative figure when it comes to discussing football.  Mom is just the crazy lady that yells too loud at all his games.  Little does he know, next year, I’m going to keep a play card and tell him what he did or did not do for each game!  That would be fun but I won’t because he is too young to understand that it would be for fun.  He’d think I was telling him he is not a good player. We want football to be fun for him. We want him to enjoy playing because once the fun and enjoyment are gone, it’s time to quit.  Find another sport.  It’s still fun and it should be.  He is having another great season.  I’ll say it again, his team, the youth 7-8 year old team, is very talented!  They won their game Saturday.  This was their first playoff game. Next Saturday they play at home again (yeah) against a tough team.  Practice this week will be tiring to say the least.  The coaches have the bug, You know the one, get out there and win this for us!  That bug and they are pushing these little guys hard.  Luckily, the practice time is getting shorter as the days get shorter.  They can win. I don’t doubt that because I have seen them play as a team.  When they are all playing their best – they cannot be stopped.  Even when some have bad playing games, they step up and get the job done.  They play as a team and it is wonderful watching them do their job on the field.  I’m excited and nervous about this Saturdays’ game. I want them to win. It would be sad to lose this game on our home field.  I hope they have a great week of practice and play their best next weekend.  That is all I’ll say except I’ll be there cheering all of you on.  Count on that!

So one child gets drilled on the field and the other gets drilled in the gym.  This week will be different and perhaps have a negative effect on the squad.  The cheerleaders are preparing for competition that will be held on November 3.  They have a large squad of 20 girls and some are not dedicated.  Some are immature and need to be off the competition squad.  I say this because they fool around and don’t know their routines after all this time (2 ½ months of practice) while half of the girls practice and give their all so they are in synch and look good.  It is discouraging to me to watch when I want to pull them out and send them home.  I remind myself, this is how they learn.  This week their drill sergeant, I mean coach (she is good and I like her), is on vacation.  I am not sure who will be leading the practice so it’ll be an interesting week. Here’s hoping they practice their routines correctly. 

Saturday was cold and windy.  We watched the game under cloudy skies.  I dressed for the weather but the hot cocoa was tasty and so hot. I could have drank cup after cup but the port-a-potty at the end of the field reminded me not to.  It’s a terrible feeling to be out in the cold and have to use a bathroom and your only option is to use that green outhouse sitting over in the corner of the field.  I’d rather suffer by not drinking hot cocoa than to have to use the bathroom and opt to hold out until we arrive home. We went home after the Panthers won their game.  We arrived home to a warm house and a hot roast beef dinner. With full bellies, we ended the night snuggled together in the family room to relax before bedtime.

Sunday was a quiet day. A planned PJ day.  We were going to be lazy, have a fire and do homework, read, bake – and not change out of our pajamas.  Up and down the stairs I went all day taking care of laundry. I made oatmeal-banana-chocolate chip cookies (a new recipe) and Olivia made pumpkin bread, then I made pumpkin scones to use up the remaining pumpkin.  We started a fire after we watched Big Miracle – wonderful movie.  Then when we were all in the living room enjoying the warmth of the fire, I opened the front door and was greeted by a warm breeze.  I stepped outside.  Unbelievable!  A warm breeze on October 14.  I went in and said we had to go outside soon. Don’t add any more wood to the fire. It has to burn out.  I opened windows in all the rooms. I hung clothes out to dry. I put football gear out to freshen it up.  I changed out of my pj’s and put shorts and a t-shirt on. I was going out.

I had flower beds to clean up.  Elliott and I went to the garden to get the tractor and wagon. I drove it down and filled it up with frost-bitten, sick-looking flowers, weeds and some dried leaves.  I took down the “stay out of my flower garden Ruddie” fencing and put that away to use next year.  I really wanted to mow but I wasn’t going to tackle that in the last few hours of daylight.  The kids played catch until Olivia started practicing her cheer routines.  It was great being outside and in the fresh, warmness of the fall. 

Back inside to start preparing dinner.  We planned on skillet-fried pork chops, crescent rolls and roasted vegetables.  When dinner was almost ready to eat, Olivia decided she wanted to be our waitress for the evening.  She set the table and Elliott and I took our places.  We ordered our meal and were promptly served.  What a great way to end a crazy week.  We had a relaxing day, a good meal and went to bed on time. 

The PJ day worked – at least for one morning.  We all were ready to face the day as we left home this morning, surrounded by darkness.

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