The old throw clean clothes into an open suitcase trick...

So, I am beginning to fulfill my dreams of not having to actually go to a store for Christmas shopping this year.  I love having a job where one can actually afford to buy christmas gifts throughout the year.  Makes me want to pat my own self on the back. 

I am clearly not as cool as my sister, who got a pimped out pastel kitchen and repainted it to suit their color wants (see HERE).  I know... I would love to have the time... but at this point, I need to stop adding to my to do craft list and actually start finishing projects.   I ended up buying this one for Nico yesterday:

If there were any doubt that Dave and I are clearly amateurs at this parenting thing, it would be the fact that we chose this kitchen because it didnt feel too girly (remember, I am a shitty sociologist) and because it wasn't too childish.  If we were pros, we would have gotten the bigger kitchen, remembering more kitchen=more entertainment=less tearing the house up.  Oh well... at least its a cool looking kitchen.  Can I share with you how excited I am to stay up on Christmas Eve and put this together?  SO EXCITED!!

One thing I haven't done?  Pack for Thanksgiving.  Yeah... so this is what Thanksgiving entails for us this year:
Dropping dogs at vet
7-8 hour drive down to Miami
Thanksgiving with Dave's parents
Cruise 3 days (including a stop in the Bahamas). 
7-8 hour drive home

And I dont have a single thing packed... for me.  Or for Nico.  You can probably guess where this is going:  Open suitcase on the bed, start dumping contents of closet, clean clothes basket, and dresser.  Suitcase stuffed to capacity, but somehow I manage to forget to pack underwear, socks and only have on pair of shoes.  Yeah, this will be great. 

Also supposed to show Auntie Nic Nic how to make baby hats.  I wont take my oversized red yamakah as an example.  We'll just keep that under our hats (<-- HA!!  PUN INTENDED!!)

Why haven't I had time to pack, you ask?  Well, Nico has been out of school since Monday morning.  For one (still Poopy McPooperson).  At our game last night (at Franklin County).  I changed Nico during warm up and had to change him five minutes later.  On the sideline.  I bet Anson Dorrance never had to do that.  Oh, and guess who has diaper rash?  Poor guy!  Yeah... not fine times.

Speaking of the game last night... we won, 7-0.  But that isn't the awesome part:  7 different goal scorers.  Do you know how awesome that is?  Also, this is the first time that they have met my half time goal scoring goals for them.  Usually, we're up 1-0 or 2-0 on a team and I say something like, "Let's bang in 3-4 more goals and call it a night."  Last night, I suggested 5 (we were up 2-0 at half time).  Five goals later.... it was a done deal.

Dave and I really like this team.  In so many ways its different than past teams.  When the phone rings at 9 pm on a Friday night, I dont for a second think that it might be someone calling me to come get them from jail.  They seem to like each other.  They seem to run around in one big group with a couple of sub-groups, not 3-4 distinctive separate groups (like we have had in the past).  I have heard it said, that it takes 5 years to build a high school soccer program.  A lot of coaches get frustrated around years 3-4 and quit because they aren't seeing the return.  And granted, some of our success this year has been due to the Little Big Gun and RA... but overall, we are very pleased with the way this team is coming together.  Even without the Little Big Gun, we'd  still be happy with how well we are playing, the things we are capable of.  Its a nice situation to be in.  It just feels weird to be doing well without our "Freshman". 

Sicky McSicks

So- the daycare called yesterday and told me to come get Nico.  He was a pooper mcpooperson- and not in a good way.  From 8-1030 they had to change 3 #2 diapers, added to the one Dave changed yesterday morning, the two I changed at the middle school game plus one from when he woke up around midnight, plus one at about 630 this morning... I am thinking he is sick.  What do you think?  It wasnt too bad... being home with a sick Nico is sometimes better than being at work... Since this is the time of the year when people are out- my productivity drops off a bit as well... mostly becaus there are people that I need to get back to me who are on vacation (not just with the State of Florida- in case my Dad was about to inform Gov Elect that he can start cutting government by getting rid of the Department of Health... yeah, don't do that.) 

Little kids are so weird.  Because they are sick all the time.  But also because they just aren't themselves.  I am pretty unforgiving of adults.  Like, there is no reason why you being sick should interfere with your ability to do your job.  Seriously- this aint 1898- its not like we are talking about Cholera, TB or Scarlet Fever.  We're talking about chills and a headache- MAN UP.  But little kids?  You can definitely tell when they dont feel well.  And not just because they go through diapers like no one's business. 

Nico did get a flu shot last week, so maybe that is what is going on...we also have started letting him have juice (in small amounts) and tried those black grapes from the store.... so we're aren't really sure what is going on here.  Except that the daycare did say that there was a stomach bug going around the daycare last week... so maybe that is it.  Oh, and bonus?  Dave is starting to feel sick too.  That can't be good for business. 

Nico is growing like a weed lately.  He is very coordinated and has taken to throwing things.  Yesterday he threw his sippy cup from the backseat to the front (which isn't "good"- but still kind of funny).  He also has pretty good aim.  He threw a car in a box from about 4 feet away last night.  Please God, dont let him be into basketball.  I would hate to have to have "The Conversation" with him when he is about 11 years old about how he will probably never be a starting forward for U of L... because I dont want him calling me "The DreamKiller."  He is also starting to understand commands- like, "Nico, go get your shoes" and "Let's go do some laundry."  He is also starting to talk a lot.  He "says" "dog" (gog), "yup" (up), yeah and no.  He is also really into games where I chase him... he laughs pretty much the whole time.  He is also starting to get into reading books (yeah, I know, it only took him 15 short months).  He will actually bring us books now and SIT WITH US WHILE WE read them. This is a new development.  LOVE IT. 

Also, one of the funniest things he is doing (at least to me) is when I change his diaper, he is trying to touch my stomach and hip.  I think he might be feeling my stretch marks, and how different the skin feels. Either that or he is trying to tickle me... because I do laugh whenever he does it. 

All for now.  LOVE.

Booyah!!

Great weekend around here. 

It started with dinner on Friday night.  Nico and I went down to the county for a light and easy practice on Friday.  On our way back, I passed by several places I wanted to stop for dinner and bring dinner home to Dave, but I just couldn't pull the trigger.  So, we ended up going to Famous Daves, which was delicious.  After we put Nico to bed, I finished up a hat that I had been working on, for "my own self."  It's stupid looking.  I can't decide what is so stupid about it, except that I was convinced I needed to use the largest loom  for it, since it is the only one that would fit on my head without squishing it.  And I have a sort of Elaine Benitz thing going with my head... I am not saying its freakishly big, but birds have flown into it before.  I was using this super bulky red yarn and put a brim on it.  Now it just looks more like an over sized yamakah than anything else.  FAIL. 

Saturday we played at home against Suwannee.  Suwannee is where we were 5 years ago... one or two decent players, but really not good enough to run with the big dogs.  So our best way to play with them was to play a very agressive/physical style of ball.  We were scrappy and teams hated playing us. 

All of the girls that could be considered our "enforcers" no longer play in our program- they've graduated.  So guess what I have now?  A bunch of little girls- who, while we can play the game now, now can't step when we get out muscled.  Want to take us out of our game?  Muscle us around.  So the game got chippy pretty quick, culminating in a the first yellow card of the season, for our little big gun.  To be fair, she is one of the best players on the field, and many teams we've played against haven't had an answer for her.  The other team basically just fouled the crap out of her.  Seriously, the only way most teams can play with her is to put a body on her... and even then, a lot of teams can't hang because she is TOO FAST.  It happened against Leon, it happened on Saturday against Suwannee.  She was on the verge of tears when she came off the field (a requirement for kids that get yellow cards).  I got her to calm down after a minute.  And told her as she went back on the field that there was no better revenge than to put one in the net.  Four minutes later, she beat the keeper and was all smiles: 

There is a great gesture that comes from professional wrestling that, frankly, isn't very nice.  It is a gesture that literally means "Suck it" but one uses it figuratively for when you own someone, usually in a sporting event.  If there was ever a time when such a gesture would be appropriate for a high school girls sports, this would have been it.  Really, she was quite composed about the whole thing- I probably would have walked by the girl that dished the fouls and said, "How do you like me now, #15?  There's a lot more where that came from!!"  Which is probably why I play in goal.... in any case, I think I actually said, "Boooyah, bitches!!"

We ended up winning 3-2 and now our record is 5-2-1, which is very cool.  We go to Franklin county on Tuesday.  Hopefully we will be 6-2-1 after. 

Sunday was pretty chill... I went to school and did some school stuff.  When I got home Dave went to play soccer and I went to the store with Nico.  We got our frozen yogurt after (where in he proceeded to make a huge mess). 

Hope you all have a great week.

WTF?

So this week has been like whoa...

Tuesday we hosted Florida High.  Now, I have had some issues with us the last couple of games- we just play like crap.  Doing things that some of them haven't done in years (like playing the ball back into the center), horrible first touch.  LR and I got to talking about it, and started wondering if it had anything to do with the massive amounts of caffeine these kids consume before games.  This isn't new to me- our GK used to chug a can of red bull before playing.  But these kids are drinking that Monster crap.  Plus, my mom noticed at the Taylor game that they are always running and doing... either running to the bathroom- to the concession, up the stairs, to play ball, to the bus, etc.  Like they are powered by motors...

So I tried something new with them on Tuesday.  During the last part of the JV game, we went under the stadium and did some visualization and breathing exercises.  Just tried to get them to clear their minds and focus on the task at hand. 

And it worked.  We pretty much dominated Florida High... played very well... passed very well.  And the best part?  They didnt make a lot of stupid, dumb mistakes, and anytime one of them tried something that didnt work out, a teammate was right behind them to pick up the slack.  It was brilliant.  We got 2 goals in the first half and had a ton of good chances in the second half (their keeper kept them in it).  But Florida High really wasn't THAT strong- so I was sort of looking for us to play well against a good team. 

We got that last night.  We came up to Tallahassee to play Leon.  Leon is a pretty good team.  Most of those girls play TUFC and ASG.  And I dont know if Tony has practices where he puts them on a wrack and stretches them, but holy hell, he has some tall girls.  Which is in stark comparison to me, who often feels like Gulliver in the land of lilliputians.  For real. 

So we put a body on their best player and it got chippy from there.  At one point she even had her hands around our player's throat.  And she was running her mouth.  And they didn't have an answer for our little big gun... she blew by their back line on several occassions.  She is one of those fast little agile kids, who can dribble the ball and hop over defenders trying to kick the ball away AND maintain posession of the ball.  It was really awesome.  The game ended 0-0.  But that isn't the awesome part.  The awesome part was that those girls from Leon did exactly what every other girls soccer team from rich-kid schools do: started running their mouths.  Seriously- it was such a stereotype.  I felt like I was watching a bad teen movie. 

Towards the end of the game they were saying things like, "Seriously, they're Wakulla" and "Are we really not going to beat Wakulla?"  After the game (when the teams line up to shake hands) they said things like, "I bet you're really happy with a tie."  One even said to Dave in the most sarcastic tone possible: "I'm glad you're happy." 

First of all, WTF?  Really, I understand talking shit to players.  It happens.  Whatever.  But to a coach?  WTF?  Really, WTF?  How is this possible?  What kind of program is it where this is acceptable?  In our program, our girls have nothing to say to noone. Referees, coaches, parents, noone. 

I felt kind of bad for our girls- that the Leon players would take it so badly that they felt the need to show their tails as much as they did.  We have a solid group of GOOD girls in our program.  Nice girls- seriously.  They feel bad when we play bad teams and score lots of goals.  The snotty bitchiness that comes with some highschool girls teams?  Not a trace of it with these girls.  These are good kids.  They care about playing the game well.  They care about having a good time- that is all they want.  I think a lot of them are realistic about where they come from and their place in this world with soccer in that, sometimes there are teams that you play were everyone could be playing absolutely out of their mind and we may still lose, because we dont have THAT much skill, or the other team is just THAT good.  I think that some of them are starting to get the fact that there is a dynamic in this sport that goes way beyond just skill and hard work.  There is also a political and socioeconomic influence that puts elite level ball beyond the reach of most Wakulla girls.

What is even more ironic is that a lot of those girls play for TUFC (their coach is a pretty big deal with TUFC).  They dont have enough players to play in each age group- the oldest full team they have is U16s.  Uhhhh, hello?  I have 9 juniors... who happen to be 15-17 years old.  So last night could have been an awesome opportunity to possibly join forces.  In fact, when TUFC and Andy Warner split, I saw it as a golden opportunity to maybe bring the thing that we do in the summer together with TUFC for a legitimate travel squad.  Get these girls infront of some coaches who know what they are doing.  I am thinking not so much... if the Leon squad that played last night is at all indicative of the girls that play at TUFC, I want no part of it.  I dont want my Wakulla girls exposed to that.  And I dont want them picking up bad habits like mouthing off to coaches.  Call me petty. 

However, I stopped feeling bad.  It's the greatest compliment when a team loses their composure while playing you.  That these Wakulla girls got in their heads is great- it means that we're actually becoming a better team.  And they did it by playing good, smart soccer.  Not by playing dirty or running their mouths.  And the fact that they didnt let it come to blows and didnt run their mouths back makes my heart burst with pride.  It was so... elegant.  So classy.  It is actually funny, because Leon played several county songs during their warm up, I suspect to make us feel at home (insert sarcasm here).  And I know that they think that we're just poor white trash hillbillies from down in the county.  So here is my question:  who is trashy now?

The FAIR!!

WOW.  What a great weekend!!

So Dave had to go to Phoenix for work Friday-Saturday coming back on Sunday.  Mama Bishop and Uncle Billy came up to help pick up the slack with Nico.  They met us in Taylor County for our game on Thursday (JV tied 2-2 and we lost 2-1).  It was definitely interesting- for the first time EVER, we didnt get our heads down when we got down.  We poured the pressure on and actually got a goal back in the second half.  So that was cool.  Friday I ended up taking so Sick Leave because Nico wasnt feeling well. I guess I could left him home with Mom and JJ- but I didn't want to do that to them  :)  He was feeling better Friday afternoon, so JJ and I took him the Fair.  Whoo- hoo.  It was very cool, Nico loved him so goats.  We had some street food and called it a day.  I am trying to learn how to crochet- so Friday night mom taught me something I have been trying to learn- so that was cool. 

He loves animals... dogs, goats, cats.  If we didnt have dogs, this might be weird... but he is always loving on them.  Saturday morning, I got dogfood and it was sitting in the kitchen.  He was hugging the dog food bag because there was a picture of a black lab that looked like Gordon on the bag.  Definitely heart breakingly cute!!



Saturday we were due to play in Panama City at Rutherford.  We decided to leave Nico at home with Mom, who proceeded to wear him out.  They read a ton of books, played, went out side, sang songs and did a little dancing.  FOR. REAL. He was sound asleep when we got home.  It was pretty awesome. 

We, on the other hand were not awesome against Rutherford.  We got a goal early on and hung on to win 1-0.  I say hung on, because I was pretty sure we were going to give up a goal.  Did not play well... which is a shame, because it should have been a celebratory occassion (first time ever beating Rutherford- we played them four times last season).  We're 2-0 in the district.  But didnt play well.  Had a hard time putting passes together.  Should have had a ton of more goals- but we have a small issue "staying on-sides".  But it is pretty cool that we can play badly against a tough district opponent and still win...unlike last year where we played badly against a tough district opponent and got our a$$es handed to us.  So there is that. 

Sunday JJ and Mom left to go home after breakfast.  Nico and I hung out. We went to the park and got some groceries, did some cleans.  Speaking of cleans, does anyone know where I can get one of those awesome step stools for kids where its like they are standing on a chair, but, the top part is enclosed, so we dont have a situation like yesterday where Nico was reaching for the door and stepped off?  Yeah, I am a bad mom... I know. 

Back on the grind this week!

GRITS and Biscuits and Gravy.

Not much going on around here.  We had kind of a laid back weekend.  We won pretty big on Friday night against JP II (6-0), which was nice.  We got some goals from our little big gun and some goals from old hats.  It was definitely a change of pace for us.  So needless to say, the girls were in a pretty good mood at dinner.  I didnt get home till late (almost midnight). 

On Saturday, I got Nico out of the house to do some errands and whatnot.  We went up to Thomasville to see Mandy Lou-Hoo play ball (she graduated last year and is currently playing softball at Waycross).  I got a wonderful nap in when we got home (wooo-hooo!!). 

We have installed a forward facing seat in my car.  It was given to us by one of Nico's teachers- and we probably could have done it a while ago, I am just nervous.  In any case, Nico totally loves it, like I thought he would.  He can get himself in and out of it pretty easily, which is a bonus.  Now working on getting another one so that we can have two- one for my car and one for Dave's. 

Sunday we hung out at the house and cleaned and put some stuff away after we went out for breakfast.  This is where I pause the blog to tell you how much I love grits.  Yeah, how you like me now?  I like me some grits.  HOLY.... WHAT?  I seem to have conquered my issues with texture, because I got some grits at Angelettes on Sunday.  And I bought some instant grits to eat for breakfast.  Guess what else I like?  Biscuits and Gravy... Mmmmmm... I know... dont tell my mama, she'd probably object saying she didnt raise her kids to eat like southerners.  I know. 

All for now... must work.  Sadface.

EPIC

The first game... was... not good.  We lost 7-0, to the best team we will play all season (probably, er... hopefully?)  It wasn't a total disaster, but pretty close.  The thing is, that sometimes I forget that they are highschool girls.  See, when I played, I didnt really get nervous.  I mean, not in the sense that I pulled a Rob Green or anything (see the game that the US played against England in the World Cup.)  I mean, I would get nervous, but only until I got a chance take someone out.  You see, the reason for doing that is to let the other team know that I am bringing my A game, and if they mess with the bull, they were gonna get the horns. 

I was reminded (AGAIN) last night that high school girls sometimes have jitters.  Bad jitters.  Doing things in a game they havent done in years jitters... butterflies in their stomach, dont feel well, gonna die jitters.  What?  Who are these kids?  Then I remember that I graduated my GK and my entire midfield last night.  So juniors who have been sitting on the bench for the last two years, were a tiny bit nervous. 

Dave and I also out-coached our own selves.  The game plan that we executed last year, which was ugly and overly defensive, we did for the first 20 minutes... in which we did not give up goals.  We switched at the first waterbreak and gave up 4 goals in about 10 minutes.  But we played "better".  I say "better" because while we did actually start playing soccer, it wasn't better in the sense that it accomplished what we needed to do. 

Our little big gun MH is going to be awesome this year.  I think she is going to tear it up against Non-Chiles teams (their defense had a hard time with her last night).  Our goalkeeper was inspriring.  Seriously, watching her play last night was like watching me play 15 years ago... really, I am old enough to say that?  The funny thing is, that with Shay last year, I always felt a little lucky when she made saves she shouldn't.  Like she had no business making some of the saves that she did- because let's be real here, it took her about two and half years to start taking it seriously.  And so when she did make those saves, it felt like the universe was somehow making things right... rewarding her for deciding to work hard.  With Froddo last night, it was breathtaking- because I haven't had the time to train her- so many of her saves were straight reactions.  Like, she knew that all she had to do was keep the ball out of the net.  Forget technique, forget training, just keep the ball out of the net.  She made 22-23 saves last night (including 3 one on one's), and still gave up 7 goals.  She never looked like she didnt know what was going on back there.  She got beat, yes.  But at no point did I even for a second think about pulling her.  In fact, she is the reason we didnt get mercy ruled... which sounds so strange to say- because this is the kid that often forgets to bring gloves to practice.  So its weird.

In any case, we are playing at JPII tonight, so that will be an adventure.  I am hoping that we can shake that game off and get back to kicking ass and taking names.

Last night, Nico was so cute when I got home.  He was having a hard time settling and staying asleep... so I went to try to put him to bed and was holding him, patting his back.  Be started patting my back too, which was adorable.  He also was rubbing his cheek against mine and being very snuggly.  When Dave got home (before me) he got a fire started in our fireplace (YES!!) and we watched a show I dvr'd. So aside from the beating we took at Chiles... last night was pretty nice.

On a mission...

I know, I know... I owe you some halloween pictures.  I suck at life.  My bad. 

Not much going on around here.  Nico and I went up to Chiles last night to scope Chiles v Leon.  We open against Chiles tomorrow night.  Dont really know what to think...I am reluctant to get all crazy excited, because we tend to not live up to mine and Dave's expectations at the beginning of the season.  So we will see. 

I am finally finishing up all the graduation stuff this week. It's pretty shitty (pardon my language).  I have done the hard part (writing the dissertation) and the harder part (defending it).  But all this paperwork?  It has got to go!!  On the upside, it looks like I am going to be able to actually walk at graduation... turns out I was smoking crack when I put the schedule together and accidentally scheduled us to play at Taylor on graduation night.  I did a little fixeroo so we should be good to go. 

I finally got all my passport stuff done.  Yeah, there was about to be a throw-down yesterday.  I show up at the Leon county courthouse to do passports and there was a line out the door and down the block practically- for VOTING!  Uuuggh.  Then I realized that I needed to go to the annex to do the passport.  I walked in with all my forms completed... with the pictures.  BOOM!!  I was out in literally 5 minutes.  The post office can suck it, for all I care (see previous post about THAT production).