A penchant for snobbery.

So.  I was in JoAnns a couple of months ago when the desire to learn to knit got the better of me and I bought some soft dove-grey bamboo yarn.  And by bamboo yarn, that is to say, its like 25% bamboo and 75% acryllic (which is synthetic and gives yarn a "stretchyness".  More acryllic=more stretchy). So, to me, there are two types of yarn at these sorts of stores:  the good stuff and the cheap stuff.  The good stuff has natural fibers in it... cotton, wool, cashmere, mohair, etc. The colors tend to be a little understated.   The cheap stuff is that yarn where you can buy a ludicrous amount of it for 50 cents and which comes in a whole rainbow of shades none of which looks very natural.  Given my penchant for snobbery, you know how this goes... I get my mind set on this bamboo yarn... I pay for it twice what the other stuff costs and get a third of the volume, I try working with it, realize that I am an idiot and pack up my project and sent it to my mom, demanding like a petulant child that she make it work. Well, well, well, color you surprised!

Well... all but the last part.  So I get this yarn and its wonderfully soft...like almost as soft as Nico's cheek.  That is how soft it is.  LOVE. LOVE  LOVE.  Anyhoo... so, I had, to date, made 4 hats when I started this odessy... and came to the realization that for some types of yarn, it works better if you double or triple it up.  It looks better, it woks better, etc.  So I decide with this grey bamboo yarn that it would need to be triple in order to make a hat.  And guess what isn't very "stretchy"?  Yeah, this yarn.  Making it the worst yarn in the world to work with. 

So I get about half way in with this project before I realize that it may actually NOT be worth the trouble... but ev... I am in it to win it, as Kelly would say.  So I keep going, despite the fact that the hat is a disaster... its a disater to keep the three balls of yarn straight... really hard when Drake insists on grabbing a ball and running all over the house.  In any case, I finished it tonight. 

Definitely not my best work... by any stretch of the imagination.  But I love the hat... its soooooooo soft.  Of course, since its not stretchy, it may actually be too loose for his head... but I love it.  And its the least functional of the hats I have made. 

Oh... and yes.  I do rule, thanks for asking!!

I swear, making them on the loom is amazing.  So much so that I have decided when I am done with the next two (a larger one for a grown up and a smaller one of a sweet little baby girl I know), I am totally going to keep doing it... there is a group that does charity knitting projects on the web... they pick a different charity every month and put out the call on the internet.  and people send stuff... so I think I am going to do that with some of the scraps. 

Nico Noms, Weekend Plans and Milka-what?

So apparently, Nico actually likes food-food, just not mom-made hippie food-food.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to run into Walgreens for something and noticed they were having a sale on baby food... for those of you who havent raised a kid in the last 30 years, apparently you can get it in these little plastic containers, about 2-2.5 times the size of a single ice-tray compartment.  The food comes with a freshness seal peel thing and a lid.  Just as an experiment, I got squash, green beans, and pears.  Last weekend, for grins, I let Nico try some pears.

Now, to recap:  I figured that he wasn't really all that interested in eating food-food because he didnt seem to really dig the rice cereal or the squash I made him.  He seemed sort of ambivalent about the avocado/guac- but whatev.  So I kind of figured that maybe he wasn't really ready for food-food because he didnt seem that interested in it, but also because he looked a bit like Tom Hanks eating caviar in the party scene in Big.

If I had let him, Nico would have eaten the whole package of pears.  Holy what!!?  Yes... They were delicious.  It was great... one for Nico, one for Mommy.  One for Nico, one for Mommy.  Of course, it's hard not to like baby pear food... its basically like a finer "peary" version of apple sauce.

So, that was a win.  I decided earlier this week to go with green beans, because well, who doesn't like green beans?  Even Dave Royse likes green beans.  Less success.  To be fair, the green beans weren't really that appetizing... I mean, there wasn't even any bacon or ham in there. But he ate them a little.

So last night, we went back to squash- only rather than the hippie-fied variety, we tried the store bought stuff... whcih he really likes.  Milka-what? For real!  He was all about the squash.

Which leads me to this conclusion:  with baby food- its mostly about texture.

Which leads me to the realization:  my plan to hippie-fy this kid might not work so well, because its a lot of work to make baby food.  And since using the Cuisine Art is kind of a PITA, I feel like I have to make a lot at once- much more than Nico could eat in any reasonable amount of time.  Oh well...what are you gonna do!!

Milka-what?  I think it when I am faced with something incredulous these days.  It comes from the etrade baby commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlOVRky9lVghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlOVRky9lVg
Its random.  I know.

Not much going on for the weekend.  Last weekend's plan of Mommy and Nico time on Saturday and Daddy and Nico time on Sunday worked out well- (well, if you discount the fact that Nico and Dave ate breakfast at IHOP without me...), so we are going to do it again.  I'm planning on going to the post office to send a bunch of stuff including some boxes to the Bains in Dallas.  One of the boys who used to be in my class at GBP is the son of one of the teacher's at Nico's daycare place at FSU... he and his little sister are playing soccer these days- and their game this week is down in Woodville.  So we might check them out.  There is also this vintage furniture place on Woodville Highway that I have driven by hundreds of times going to and from from Wakulla.  Gonna check it out- I think Nico will really like it, and by that, I mean, he will likely cry the entire time we are there.  Also- I have been making like the Hite's up in here and making a menu for the week and actually making it- which is a lot easier when someone doesnt accidentally throw the menu away (me or Dave) or take two big bites out of it (Nico or Drake).  Dave and I are going to try a "blue-zone" diet experiment- which is to say we are going to try eating a lot more asian-mediternean-nordic dishes and lot less chilli-potatoes type of food.  That is to say, we will be having a baby seal for dinner this week.  Okay, not really.  We're having tofu, not baby seal.  I am interested to see what all the big damn fuss is about with Tofu.  In any case, we may do some grocery shopping on Saturday. 

Of course, if the news reports snow on the ground in Marianna- we may scrap Saturday plans to head over there... you know... because there is nothing babies love more than snow.

Heart!
All for now.  Have a great weekend!

Ringo Nico

Video of Nico playing the drums.  He's pretty much a musical genius.

Chronic Fatigue

We had a pretty good weekend around here. I am trying to build in some structured time to work on my dissertation on the weekends… so on Saturday, I got Nico up and out of the house, leaving Dave to his own devices. Nico and I met my friend Ursula and her baby at the Cake Shop for cupcakes. Then we went to the flea market for some produce (including baby bananas and a fruit/vegetable I have never seen before. It’s about the size of an avocado with green skin, but covered in needles, like a porcupine. I bought it ought of curiosity. The gentleman at the produce stand said you boil it in water (I think)). Then we finished off the day by heading to JoAnns for some yarn to make some more hats… I have a yellowish-orange yarn that has been dying to be made into SOMETHING… doubled with some pale pink, I think it’s going to be an awesome hat for Emme (whoot!!)


The thing is, that when I got home on Saturday, I was pretty much wiped out- so I took a nap, which kind of killed the rest of the day. Then I spent Sunday morning working on the dissertation (booo!!) I have a couple of items that I am trying to find- and couldn’t so it was rather frustrating. While I was doing that, Dave and Nico went to IHOP, Best Buy and to get groceries. So it worked out pretty well… we then went to RJ and Bridget’s to watch the Super Bowl. So while it was a really good weekend, the house is a disaster area. And worse, I didn’t get the chance to stage the week- so no clothes have been washed, lunches haven’t been made and the house is dirty.

This picture is from last night, when Dave and Nico were hanging out on the couch. Dave thinks he has chronic fatigue syndrome. I am not sure that being the parent of a 6 month old baby actually qualifies as CFS.

Hope you’re all well. Have a great week!!

The Mad Hatter

So, I may have mentioned this- but this week, I bought one of those circular knitter's looms things.  Theoretically, you can make anything with it... but I wanted to make some more hats for Nico.  MR's aunt has been awesome and made some for Nico.  Also we got a couple from one of Dave's coworkers' wives.  But I wanted some plain-ish ones that would go with a lot more clothes that he has... plus... he has a tendency to pull them off in the car on the way to daycare... so consequently, there ends up a collection of hats in Dave's car and Nico has none when I get him from daycare.

So it took me maybe 2-3 hours- mostly while I was nursing Nico or watching LOST.  It doesn't feel like real knitting... in fact, I feel like I am cheating by using the loom.  But its cute and easy and fast.  Its a little tight right now, but hopefully it will stay on his head (I kind of have to muscle it on).

But isn't he adorable?

Yes, I will be getting some more yarn tomorrow... I know like 6 other babies that need one- especially since the ground-hog is predicting 6 more weeks of winter.

Not much going on this weekend.  Got some good dissertation work done today.  Am hoping to keep the ball rolling on Sunday- which is when Dave will take Nico out to do whatever.  I am taking Nico tomorrow to meet Ursie and Savannah for cupcakes (be jealous).  Then we are going to hit up the post-office (suck), JoAnns (maybe) and the flea market (maybe) for some veggies and fruits.  Its just that Nico is a lot more fun when he's out in public.  Very chill- I think he gets bored at home.

All for now.

Heart.

Not a disaster aktshully...

Here is a tip: when you get a new lamp for your office and it says to only put 45 watt bulbs in it, DONT put 75 watt bulbs in it... especially if it was a cheap lamp and the little shade things that come on it are made out of cheap plastic.  You might find that when you go to turn the lamp off that the little shade things are melting onto the bulb and your office will smell like burned plastic, and you HAVE to have the overhead florescent lights on. 

Aside from that...

So, it was about 11 months ago when I went into "retirement".  Here is why. 

My "last game" was the game in IMs where I scored a game-winning goal, to keep our play-off hopes alive.  Off a cross from Flav.  After winning in Kissimmee, I thought it was a good way to end my career. 

Until I got an email from LR who asked if I wanted to play against the FSU club team last night.  I didn't (I am really out of shape... and thought that perhaps I at least ought to kick the ball around first before being on the field with 21 other people).  Her response:  "No.  Wrong Answer."  Wha-What?  I didn't realize that there could be wrong answers when someone was asking if I wanted something. 

None the less, LR assembled a team of good players.  Included in this lot are a former FSU player, a former UCF player (who played with Michelle Ackers), a former D-III National Champion, Lincoln standout, and my personal hero LS (who played her last year of college ball in her thirties, AFTER she had had 4 kids- but is a baller in her own right).  My guess is that LR didnt want me to hate soccer forever, because this team was pretty awesome.  I may not have forgiven her if I had gotten shelled.

You can tell I am old, because I spent most of the warmup stretching and doing yoga to loosen up.  I think there was a collective gasp when the first shot came in, low and quickly taken.  One of those shots that relies mostly on reaction time and instinct and much less on skill.  Surprisingly, I was down pretty quickly for it. 

We got out to a 2 goal lead at half time... Kelly the Baller scored a bonafide ninja goal.  Seriously, the only thing that would have made it better is if had had a ninja sword.  The other team had passed the ball around a bit in the back... I was thinking, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?  YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET THAT TAKEN AWAY... then Baller came out of no where (they clearly didnt see her because she was a ninja) took the ball and put it in the back of the net... it was beautiful.  But then they came back.  Goal 1 occurred when the ball came off one of my defenders into the path of a forward, who scored.  Pre-Nico, 29 year old Jessi would have gotten it... but I dont count the goal, because it didnt result from some skill on the forward's part (like I dont count toe-ball goals), just dumb luck.  The second goal happened when I made a save and ran out to the top of the box to distribute the ball (I am a fan of distributing well out of the back in order to maintain possession... ) so I threw the ball to VA, only to find that I have lost a LOT of muscle mass because the ball went half as far as I thought it would.  We lost possession of it and they knocked one in while I was in "No-Man's Land."  The third goal happened off a set piece (DAMN you set pieces!!)  There was a wicked crosswind that caught the ball and swept it out of my path, resulting in a goal.  Luckily we scrapped hard and got a goal with about 5 minutes left. 

Overall, it wasn't too bad... you can tell I haven't played in almost a year.  At one point, I bobbled an easy ball in and actually fell backward onto my a$$ into the goal and as I did so swatted at the ball, keeping it out of the net (idiot).  I did make a handful of other saves, including one near the end where I changed my mind four times on whether or not I would come out for the ball.  Not too bad.  Probably need to get in better shape before I play again.  But I will take it.

French Food.

I am pretty much a cooking genius.

Last night I made a Shepherd's pie for dinner.  I even made a menu for the week... which included 16 bean soup with ham on Saturday, baked chicken on Sunday, a chicken pot pie on Monday and Shepherd's pie yesterday.  The mashed potatoes and gravy that I made on Sunday were pretty much an epic fail, but I recovered nicely with the chicken pot pie on Monday and the Shepherds last night (secret to a fantastic chicken pot pie: phyllo dough for the crust.  FORGET ABOUT IT!)

I rented Julie/Julia on Sunday to watch.  It makes me want to Master French cooking.  Which brings me to another point:  I <3 Meryl Streep.  I know- thinking Meryl Streep is a great actress is about the same as liking Apple Pie.  Boring.  I know.  But I just love her.  I really liked her as Julia Childs... but even more in the Devil Wears Prada as Miranda Priestly.  One of my favorite quotes from a movie is in the Devil:

This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

LOVE. 

In any case, I am tempted to learn french cooking.  But I suspect I do not have the time to commit to such an endeavor.  So maybe I will shelve that till later.  At least till I get a dishwasher :)

Mental Bandwidth 4

Things I am thinking about tonight:

1.  Look at the cute sweater my mom made!!  Yes, this is from the "Oooh, I wish I could knit, how I would love to make sweaters for my baby" scam.  Doesn't my mom rule? You cant see them, but there are turtle buttons on the sweater.

2.  Floored about the jogging stroller I bought on CraigsList today.  I had been lamenting the stroller I bought before Nico came- its kind of cheap and rickety.  This one is pretty pimp.  Am looking forward to trying it out (maybe tomorrow).

3. OMG!!  LOST TOMORROW!!  I DIE.
On the upside...while I am slightly ashamed to admit it (because I think it makes me a bad American), I did join the facebook group to move the state of the Union from tomorrow night (and theoretically pre-empt Lost) to another night.  This is proof that facebook groups DO work.  Its not that I dont care... its just that, well, its the beginning of the end.  And I have a hard enough time following along without missing half of it because my homeboy decided he wanted to talk to America and get his haters off his back. In any case, I am hoping for a strong finish...something that blows my mind.... not like the Sopranos- which I got and ultimately was like, Ok.  But not anything weak like the Wire- or Seinfield.

24 is on tonight.  Meh. 

4.  In case anyone was going to do this: dont make corn bread muffins in muffin papers.  EPIC FAIL. I guess I will be throwing away 10 tomorrow.  

5. I bought one of those round knitting looms today with the hopes of making Nico some hats... he has exactly three right now, and I couldnt find any this morning.  Am wondering if this actually counts as knitting. 

6. Making some progress on my data for my dissertation.  I am running exactly one day behind schedule right now.  Foresee that extending to two days tomorrow.  But my boss okayed me for half days one day a week so that I can work on it... whoot!!  That's Dr. Bishop-Royse to you! I didnt spend 8 years in evil graduate school to be Mrs, Thank you very much!

7. So while most people would agree that this kid looks mostly like his Dad, there are moments when I think he looks like me... mostly of pictures of me when I was little.


8. Playing soccer on Thursday against the FSU club team.  Should be awesome.  And by awesome I mean sucky.  Likely going to get my a$$ handed to me.  So I got that going for me.  BARF.

The T-shirt of Shame!!

True story: I tease my friends.
I never used to. I was never raised to tease the people I love. But somehow in my adult life, I have acquired this rotten habit. I think it may have started at a previous job- a place where a bunch of women sit around and get on each other’s nerves. In any case, I never mean anything by it- usually I tease people over things that they think are funny.

Case in point: my friend JD. She signed up to run the Jingle Bell run a couple of years ago in Tallahassee (for my non-Tally Peeps it’s a 5k that is held annually in Tallahassee around the holidays). During this particular year, she had a series of mishaps that led to her not running (I think infected sinuses, a hurt back, and the opening of the Little Ceasar’s near her house may have been involved). I can’t say I blame her- to be honest, I never really understood what everyone gets all crazy about the Jingle Bell run for- its barely even a work out, it’s almost always cold and sometimes it rains, not to mention, I don’t deal well with crowds under the best of circumstances, let alone with the majority of the crowd is dressed like idiots wearing jingle bells (HA- Get it!! Jingle Bells in the Jingle Bell run. Yes, I am talking to you TK). But I digress.

So because JD generally has her act together, she pre-registered for the race and got a race t-shirt (whose purpose was to be worn during the race). Well, the series of mishaps happened, and long story short, she wore the Jingle Bell shirt to IHOP, although she did not run the race.

As luck would have it, she and her husband JB got the only waitress at IHOP that day that a) was not stoned out of her mind and b) was observant enough to notice that she was wearing a Jingle Bell run tshirt and c) knew that it was kind of a big deal in Tallahassee. So this phenom of a waitress begins an inquisition about the run. Now, rather than admit that her sinuses and Little Ceaser’s got the better of her and that she did not in fact, run the Jingle Bell run or better, tell the waitress to mind her own business, JD figures that there is only one way out of this situation: LIE. Now, anyone who knows JD knows that she can NOT in fact, LIE. She pretty much sucks at it. Which is one of my favorite things about her. I think it means that she doesn’t have a lot of practice at lying which=good person.

In any case, this is how the conversation goes:
Waitress: So, you ran the Jingle Bell run last night?
JD: Ummmm…. Yeah….
Waitress: Wow!! That is great! I was going to run it myself, but I had to work. I am so jealous!!
JD: Yeah, well. It was fun. (This is the point at which her husband looks at her like, “why are you lying about this?”).
Waitress: So was it similar to last year’s run?
JD: Yeah, it was pretty much the same (side bar: it wasn’t- there were like thousands of MORE runners than in the previous year).
Waitress: So what was your time?
JD: I forget- It was about the same as it usually is (as she buries her face in her menu, hoping the Inquisition will end. It is at this point that JB chimes in with some commentary of his own).
JB: What is it that your dad hates, JD? I think it starts with an L… lawyers? Or was it Liars?

So hence forth, the Jingle Bell run t-shirt became the t-shirt of shame. It is also the reason that I tease JD any time I hear that she is going to run in a race. I usually contribute by asking if she was actually going to run it this time or if she was going to just wear the t-shirt and pretend that she did. I also do the same with my friend LR, who actually began the run, but quit half way through to grab burgers and beers that were along the race route.

So why am I telling you this? Fast forward to yesterday. I am clicking around the Pretty Princess race website and I stumble across an interesting bit of information:
“All athletes entering the Half Marathon must maintain a 16-minute per mile pace or faster throughout the entire race.  Anyone not able to maintain the respective paces will be picked up and transported to the finish. You may be picked up at any point along the course for not maintaining pace. If you are transported to the finish line for any reason you will not receive a finisher's medal.”

WHAT? Are they now discriminating against Slowskies? WTF!!??

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Jeeze, Bishop can’t you manage a 16 minute pace? I’ve seen paint dry faster than that!

To which, I would concur. I am not a fast runner under the best of circumstances but definitely not when I have recently had a baby. But given that I have had very little time for training of late, and that is not likely to change in the next month (besides, I think my advisor would like me to finish my dissertation sometime in this century), I decided to pull out of the Princess race. I think Nico and I will still go down to see the girls run. There would likely be an “incident” if someone tried to pick me up in the lame-o wagon. Then I would be in jail and on the news, and that is not a good look for anyone!

In any case, the experience of running the race would be forever tainted for me, were I to be picked up by the Lame-O wagon.  In fact, if that were to happen to me, then I would be open to teasing from LR and JD about me wearing a tshirt for a race that I didnt actually finish. 

On a similar note, Dave has convinced me to join the dark side and get a membership at Premier. This admission makes my soul hurt a little.  Next thing you know, we'll be living in Killearn and I will be driving a mini-van. 

Arms McGee

For your viewing pleasure.

Playing it well...

So- we lost last night. 4-0.
But it was wonderful. It sounds kind of messed up to say that- but it’s true.

FACT 1: We have developed a game plan over the course of the season to play a very conservative, defensive style of play when we play teams that could eat us for breakfast. It was a tip that we got from a coach at Leon when we went to play against Chiles. Our strategy has been in these games: defend and keep it close. We don’t want to get stretched out and allow one two passing in our mid-field, which gets us back on our heels, scrambling. We want to create a big, air-tight space full of lots of bodies… if the team we are playing gets frustrated with this tactic and pulls back and just launches shots from 20-30 yards out, we will deal with that just fine, Thank you very much.

FACT 2: The thing is, that we are just the sort of team that can mess you up if you’re a Gulf Breeze or a Chiles or a Lincoln. We play smart soccer. We have fundamental skills. We coach well in the sense that we look for mismatches all over the field and make sure that players in key positions aren’t outmatched by their mark. We’re tenacious. We’re scrappy.

FACT 3: And when its called for, we can be a little gangster.
It has worked with varying degrees of success. Against Lincoln it was an EPIC FAIL. Chiles, somewhat success. But we’ve never really executed it that well. The reason, is that it requires soooooooo muuuuuuuuuuch patience. Really, it does. It goes against everything that these girls have been taught- and forces them to play a style of play that feels ineffectual. In any case, we’d focused on it this last week of practice and were committed to it last night. Our hope was to keep the game close and evaluate the game plan at 65-70 minutes to determine if we should start pushing.

It was breath-taking to watch. This style of play, BTW is counter to how these girls have been coached since they step foot in this program. It’s ugly in that we don’t have possession of the ball for very long, and so we don’t build passes out of the back. It was breath-taking none the less. It was awesome to watch because we actually executed a game plan. For once. Top to bottom, everyone on the team knew what we were doing and tried to do it.

No lie: Gulf Breeze was awesome. They were a great team. My heart was in my throat for most of the first half, where we held them 0-0 till 5 minutes left. And we played not only on our half of the field, but in our defensive third for most of the game. They also had the best high school player that we’ve ever seen. Her name is Maggie Rodgers and she is a baller. She is the combination of several of our players: she has skill like Lizzie, speed like Mandy, a touch like B-Rod and strength like Megan. The score line was: Maggie Rodgers 4, Wakulla 0.

Here is how she is a phenom: Our plan for dealing with her was simple: man mark with our strongest, toughest, fastest, most aggressive, most physical defender (Megan). Here is the thing about Megan- she’s deceptive, because you look at her and she looks like your typical California surfer girl/girl next door: she’s tan, blond, blue eyed, soft spoken, sweet disposition. And you don’t think she could play. But she is solid muscle- and not in a big lumbering kind of way. But all muscle in the, “I will kill you and get away with it because I look like an angel” kind of way. So our plan was to stick Megan on this Maggie person and hope for the best. This girl is a phenom because she managed to get away from Megan on a couple of occasions (despite the best efforts of Megan who was fouling, bodying up, playing overall physical ball)- but the second that she got away from Megan (which wasn’t often), she had to deal with Kellie who is ridiculously scrappy and tough. And if she got away from Kellie, she had to deal with Bre. And if she managed to get away from Bre, she had to deal with Kristine, who’s no slouch in the back. This girl got hacked and pushed and shoved all night. She got her jersey pulled and her share of elbows in the chest. Seriously, the only thing we didn’t do to her was an open field football tackle. And she still scored four goals. Only the really good players who have always been good can play like that- she is clearly used to being the best player on a team, the one who always gets the “treatment”. Clearly. Case in point: during the run of play, she hit a ball from 20 yards out. I thought, “Wow, Shay might get to that.” Then the ball dropped and curved AWAY from the goal and went side netting- far side. That was her 3rd goal of the night. Turns out, this girl is going to UF to play ball. UF. In the words of BT- “That is so B-A!”

The score of 4-0 doesn’t do the game justice- it was 2-0 till about 8 minutes left to go. We fought this team for 72 minutes. It was awesome.
Here is the thing that breaks my heart: everyone stepped up last night. Everyone. Dave and I were uncharacteristically intense with them during pregame…rather chilling them out- we got them pumped up. And that is the thing- if we had our Disney Movie ending we would have won last night. We would have gone onto the Regional Semifinals and won there and Regional Finals and won there. Then we’d go down to Ft. Lauderdale and win state. But that never happens. For us, the awesome end to our season was getting all of these kids on the same page- and everyone giving everything they had. Do you know how rare that is? How beautiful it is when you execute a game plan? It was awesome.

Hey look at me, I'm on the floor!

Something VERY interesting happened yesterday.

So Nico and I got back from Wakulla around 730pm. I had a TON of stuff to do- get soccer stuff and warm stuff ready for the game tonight. Thaw milk and make bottles, etc. I wanted to make some soup that I started the other night (16 bean) and do some dishes. So I put some of Nico’s alphabet tiles on the floor in the kitchen (actually between the dining room table and the kitchen, right by our back door (for those of you who’ve been to our house)). I threw a blanket on it; put Nico in his Bumpo seat and a bunch of toys on the blanket. So I am also doing laundry at the time, cooking, doing dishes. And I hear a quiet thump. I turn around and Nico has managed to get himself out of the Bumpo and is lying on the floor. Wha-WHAT? Yeah!! Little Homey had been leaning and arching in the seat to get toys. I think this time, he just added his legs to the equation and KABLAMO! Onto the floor.

I resisted the urge to swoop down and pick him up (I think he might have hit his head). I looked at him, waiting to see if he was going to start crying. He just looked back with a look that said, “So what? I just figured out how to get out, sucka!!” It was awesome!!

Of course, I rearranged him, so that he would be on the tile and blanket combo. And he scooted off of it five minutes later. Turns out that he would rather be laying on the dirtiest part of the floor of the house (just inside the back door where the dogs go outside) than on the clean blanket I laid on the floor for him. So, there is that!

Looking forward to the trip tonight to Pensacola. We have a lot of awesome parents who are going to be going. I am interested to see of the girls will step up. Will report more later.

All Shook Up

I have dried toothpaste on my sleeve. I have no idea how it got there. I also have no plans to try to get it off other than trying to scrape it with my finger.

Not much going on:

Work is slow right now. I never was able to Double Dutch jump rope, but from what I understand, you don’t just run into it and start to jump. You have to time it well- making sure that you ran in at just the right time, just as the ropes were getting where you can keep yourself in play. That is kind of how it is at work… I am just trying to figure out where I can jump in and keep myself in play.

On a completely unrelated matter: Nico took another 3 hour nap at daycare yesterday (awesome). What is not awesome is that they almost had to take him out back and hose him off because he had diarrhea EVERYWHERE. What’s worse, is that I think I am giving it to him. DOH!! The last week or so, I have been mixing a little bit of guacamole in his rice cereal to give it some taste. I thought guac was just mashed up avocado- turns out it sometimes has other stuff in it (like citrus juice, some spices). Some of the “smoother” commercial varieties of it have sour cream in it (which is dairy). Any of these could result in stomach troubles for the Beast. So I guess I need to be a little more careful about what I give Nico to eat-maybe even read the ingredients. Organic Hippie: FAIL!!

Bonus: some of the soccer parents have gotten us a charter bus to go to Pensacola. Yay!! This is going to be awesome. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being a grown person riding a school bus… going 4 HOURS to the god-awful end of Florida? Damn, we might as well be playing in Alabama. In any case, I am glad that they did it… for the girls. And for me… there is nothing worse than being shaken to death on a school bus for four hours. Most of the West Florida teams show up to Wakulla in charter busses- I think it might be a little intimidating for the girls (we never go anywhere in a charter bus). I think that they might assume it’s a REALLY REALLY good team, if you’re riding in a charter bus. I am just nervous now that it might jack up our flow (meaning they are going to be all weird and not play). Of course, that doesn’t really mean anything because any day ending in Y might jack up our flow. Me being in a good mood might do it, me being in a bad mood might do it. Us wearing our reds might do it. Us wearing our whites might do it. Us playing on our field might do it. Us playing on someone else’s field might do it. What can I say? Welcome to being a team full of teenage girls.

The Battle of the Beast-Redux

We’re gearing up around here for the throw-down this weekend. If we lose our game on Thursday, we are done-done for the season. Which would mean, no more driving down to Wakulla for a while, no more getting home at 10 or 11 after games, which means that we can start to put Nico on a somewhat coherent sleeping schedule. Do-what? Yeah. For real.

We’ve been reluctant to do the whole schedule thing with him because it seemed wrong because we were putting him to bed anywhere from 830 pm to 1130 pm. Get home from game at 11pm, nurse, feed solids, bath time, books, songs, sleep would easily have us up till 1 am. So despite the intellectual awareness that we would be creating a monster, we put him to bed by rocking him. And eventually just brought him to bed with us, because it was easier than fighting to get him to sleep in the bassinet.

Last night, we went to Monk’s for dinner. We got home around 930- I had to pump and asked Dave to get Nico ready for bed (including the bath routine). Nico was out of the bath for about 5 minutes before he was seriously PISSED. Like, WTF? I AM A BABY!! WHY AM I STILL AWAKE AT 1000PM? I SHOULD BE SLEEPING! WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU, JERKFACES? ALL I WANT TO DO IS SLEEP? CAN’T YOU CLOWNS GET IT TOGETHER?

So, I am wondering if he has sort of set his own inner clock- to be ready to sleep at 930-1030, and every minute he is up past that time=meltdown, meltdown, meltdown. In any case, what it has meant is that I have gotten to sleep a lot earlier than I normally would this week. Of course, that goes out the window when we go to Gulf Breeze on Thursday…

In any case, Dave and I really want him out of our bed. Not because he is rotten or a noisy sleeper or anything. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He is usually pretty quiet and is just so precious. It’s just that we’re nervous about the dogs sometimes ending up in the bed (a couple of weeks ago, Drake actually stepped on Nico). Plus neither of us get good sleep when he’s in bed with us… if it’s possible to separate your shoulder while sleeping (because the way I let him lay in the crook of my arm) I have done it.

So we’re gonna test Nicole’s theory: that anything with kids can be undone in a week. Hopefully it won’t take a week.

Almost crawling, yall.

The weekend was pretty good. 

We lost our District Championship game on Friday night... on set pieces- one was perfectly taken, the other was badly defended.  DAMN IT!!  I hate set pieces.  But it reaffirmed a pattern that Dave and I see in watching professional soccer: most goals are scored on set pieces.  We gave up the first goal in about 10 minutes and got our heads down.  It broke my heart a little. 

The field was a sloppy mess.  Slippery.  But at least it wasn't raining. Click HERE for a link to the article that the Democrat did.  One of our dads (Bill Rollins) took the picture... its pretty amazing.  Am wondering who is going to take pictures for us after his baby graduates? 

The major bummer about it is that now for the first game of Regionals, we have to travel to Pensecola.  BARF.  3.5 hours on a bus?  I'm not a fan.  Some of the parents are working on getting us a charter bus.  But we're still alive... we have a chance- right?

So Saturday Dave and I had a couple of good long talks about strategy and came up with a game plan... so we had the girls over today to talk about it (they had been wanting a classroom session).  We watched some soccer and did some diagramming.  I hope it helps.  I wish that someone had done that with me when I was in highschool... to be able to see the pressure, see the positioning.  We'll see. 

It was fun to have them up here... the house seems kind of quiet now.  Nico is so close to crawling... just now, Dave set him on the bed in our room and he has taken to trying to push up into a crawling position.  Doesn't quite have the strength yet... He can either get his little butt in the air or his little head.  Not both.  But he's close.  Its pretty cool.

Hope yall had a great weekend. 

"This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill. Fifteen percent concentrated power of will. Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain. And a hundred percent reason to remember the name."

Guess who took a 3 hour nap at FSU yesterday? I know, a year ago and you might have guessed Jessi Bishop. But not this time- Nico. For real. Little homey slept for 3 hours straight in the afternoon yesterday. You have no idea how much of a win this is. He has been one of those “Half-Hour Nappers”. Oh… the half hour napper. How I don’t miss thee. I remember when I used to teach preschool (the 4-5 year olds) it was always an EPIC battle. Tripp: “Miss Jessi, I am just not tired.”

Me: “Then too bad for you Tripp, because I don’t care if you are not tired. You are not getting up to play with toys. End of story.”

Tripp: “But I am just not tired.”

Me: “Boy! Zip it!”

So I was glad to hear that he slept well. Turns out when he does sleep well, he isn’t Mr. Cranky Pants going to soccer. Which is nice. I rocked out to teen music on the drive down yesterday while Nico looked out the window and wished for the days when he could drive himself and not listen to “Party in the USA” on REPEAT! Sucka!!

We won the district play-in game against Godby last night, 3-0. Yes, that looks like a closer outcome than any other game- but we played well. Nice and relaxed, lots of nice passing, LOTS of shots. Srsly, if it weren’t for their GK, the game would have ended 6-0. She brought her A-Game. I think, top to bottom, this is overall the best team we’ve coached. We have a lot of depth, even with our 5th, 6th and 7th players off the bench. And despite the fact that we are graduating 7 senior starters, I think we’ve got some good soccer ahead of us still. In the past, with Lizzie (our big gun) we were good- we won a lot of games with her, but for the most part, she carried us a lot. Now, I think that our team has a lot more skill- every night it’s someone new that steps up. Sometimes it’s our GK, sometimes it’s our defensive center mid, sometimes our leftback who was converted to a midfielder and then converted back to a left back. Sometimes it’s one of our attacking players. And that is in addition to players who ALWAYS play well (like our center back, center mid and striking attacker).

Still, we are, for the first time since Dave and I have been coaching, playing in the District Championship game (Whoot!!) Of course, I think this is more a function of the fact that our district got a LOT easier when they redrew the districts. But I am NOT complaining. So we host Rutherford on Friday night. Should be interesting. Some of our girls want it pretty bad- which you gotta love.

Looking forward to a leisurely weekend. Hopefully I can get a couple of runs in and work on my dissertation. The problem is, that when you’re struggling just to get to the weekend, it’s hard to be productive- because all you really want to do is sit around and recover from the week. Nico has been eating avocado mixed with his rice cereal all week (well- mostly just avocado- a couple of times guacamole pinch hit for us). Am thinking this weekend of maybe getting some sweet potatoes in the mix. Whoot!

Things taking up my mental bandwidth 4

*Some thoughts.  Isn't this kid cute?  Yes... he is in a hamper.  But he likes it there.

*Thinking that the cookies and cream cake that Dave left in the fridge for me was delicious.

*Really Cokely?  Really?  I am not usually one to lay blame on anyone.  But really?  Curt Schilling?  Says Jon Stewart: it's not like republicans are playing chess and democrats are playing checkers. It's like the republicans are playing chess and the democrats are at the nurses office because they glued their balls to their leg. Awesome.  My parents are happy.


*Nervous about Friday night (District Championship game). 

*Excited for the sweater that my mom is making for Nico.  See, this is how it goes.  I see something I want.  I lament my lack of skill to my mother.  She steps in with the save.... I know, I'm an awful kid.  My mom should be busy surfing the web and finding lots of interesting things, but right now she is too busy making stuff for my kid.  No, I don't think think she is a sweat shop... its just that all the other babies moms are going do to do awesome things like teach their kids Chinese and science and math... at the very least my kid needs to at least look cute with his little baby sweater.  Suckas!! 

*Resigned to the fact that I will likely not be *running* the half marathon at Disney- more like walking.  Perhaps at a leisurely rate... but whatev. 

*Wishing that I could take my bulletin board from home to work with me...

As it is now, I have a picture frame of my big soccer girls, Nico and one of Dave and me when we got married. Can I just get a job designing inspiration boards for people?  Yes, that is a partial 20 dollar bill in the upper right hand corner.  What happened to that 20 you ask?  Well, Drake ate it.  And its in the back yard somewhere, if you know what I mean. 

*Has anyone tried the new "healthy" menu from Taco Bell?  The Fresco soft steak tacos are amazing.  So are the five layer beefy burritoes.  But I try to avoid those as I think they=morbid obesity=heart attack=early mortality. 

*Did you know that if you deposited 2,000 dollars for a child born tomorrow into an investment account that earns 10% interest for 65 years that by the time your kid turned 65, the account would be worth over a million dollars?  That is amazing!

*Thinking that my parents are geniuses.  I asked for a bird feeder to hang outside Nico's window... so he can scope some birds.  They are starting to figure it out.  This weekend we had a juvie female blue jay and some other unidentified juvies.  It is pretty much amazing.

This old mare just aint what she used to be... aint what she used to be... aint what she used to be...

Let me tell you- working makes you appreciate the weekend so much more. Even more so when the weekend is a 3 day weekend. LOVE.

Not much going on around here these days. Trying to settle into a routine… sort of. I had 30 minutes of bonafide bliss this morning. When I woke up, Nico and Dave were still sleeping. So I got some stuff done: dishes, packed my bag for the day (including lunch), made mine and Nico’s breakfast, ironed a shirt, got Nico’s clothes ready, got his diaper bag ready, got practice clothes ready. It was nice, I didn’t feel like my head was going to pop off and spin around on the floor.

We had practice yesterday. I did PKs with the girls while Dave did ball work. In case you didn’t know, we have been in three PK shootout situations since we have started coaching- and lost all three. One of those may have been my fault (forgot that you put your best shooter at #3, not last- DOH!). Every so often, I make the girls take PKs, just to see where we are at- who is the most consistently good, who is the most consistently bad. The reason is, that I am afraid that Districts might be decided by PKs this year. Given that we don’t score much, and can defend with the best of them for 80 minutes, I am nervous that we’ll be looking at a 0-0 tie at the end of over time and regulation.

Its funny, because the most unexpected kid is actually probably among the best. She’s a senior, she used to be a our backup goalkeeper. She is actually a hell of a defender. I kind of phased her out of GK training because she stresses out about it- about going into a situation and HAVING to make saves. Really, I was mostly afraid that she would have a heart attack and die on the field (she is already competitive enough- she doesn’t need that stress in her life). Turns out, she is one of the most consistent PK shooters. Routinely she is one of our no-miss or one-miss shooters. Statistically, she is one of our better shooters. But I am struggling with the decision… do we let her shoot or no?

And there is another one, one of our softball players- one of the coolest customers you’ll ever see. Steady and calm… we’ve said to her: “you’re marking so and so. Shut her down.” I can pretty much consider it done. Wednesday at practice, she put five of five over the bar. Monday, she put 5 of 6 inside netting- perfectly placed- hard. No goalkeeper is going to make those saves. HOT AND COLD. Of course, if my GK comes up big, with 3 or 4 saves, this may be a moot point. Teenagers. Wow. They are funny.

Even funnier was that yesterday, one of my girls took me out. For real. I finished the practice in goal (our backup GK had to go home)- wearing running shoes. Someone sends the ball through and while I was out of the goal, I called it and leaned over to scoop up the ball. And one of our scrappy little forwards ran into me and knocked me over. Can you believe that? Yeah, I couldn’t… this is how it went:

Jessi (still on ground): WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? I CALLED THE BALL.
Chelsea: laughing
Jessi: WHO TAKES OUT THEIR COACH IN A PRACTICE? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Chelsea: (still laughing). You’re always telling me to go hard….
Jessi: YOU’RE NOW GOING TO START LISTENING TO ME? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I AM OLD! LOOK AT ME! I AM OLD. WHO TAKES OUT THEIR OLD COACH AT PRACTICE?

Obviously, I got the last laugh here… the next ball in, I came out hard and made sure I got her feet. She flew in the air- it was great. Of course, the kids all thought it was hilarious. “Coach B, do you want a glass of “Suck it up?” Cherry flavored.” AWESOME. How the roosters come home to nest… (right? That is how that saying goes, right?)

All for now. Word. Yall have a good day!!

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

The end of the first week. WOW. That is all I have to say. WOW.

Crazy. I am enjoying so far the stuff I have been doing in the J-O-B. I am basically just learning the lay of the land, figuring out the language, etc. Pretty exciting stuff.

I am looking forward to the weekend- a three day weekend at that (Whoot!!). I am going to try Nic’s suggestion of getting Nico’s stuff ready for the week on Monday (MLK Day- Double Whoot!) Should cut down on some of the nonsense that I deal with in the morning… of course, it would be easier if the weather would warm up a bit. This cold snap has made me realize that we really have nothing in the way of warms for this kid… a ton of short sleeved onesies doesn’t go far to keeping this kid warm. They do work well for layering…

So I picked Nico yesterday from FSU. It was the first time I had gotten him so late (420) and I encountered many of the other parents who were also picking up their kids… let me tell you, it was pretty much amazing. I heard 3 different conversations in foreign languages (2 chinese and one Japanese-I think). Man!! I wish Nico were talking already so he could learn some language from them.

We had senior night last night. Its so weird- because I remember the conversation that Dave and I had about our Freshmen our first year. We had been getting KILLED by the likes of Lincoln and Bay (to the point of being mercy ruled). One of the few consolation points we took away was that in four years when our huge freshman class would be seniors that they’d be really good. And we said our goodbyes to them last night. Have we really been there for 4 years? It’s hard to believe. It’s even harder to imagine a team without these kids… Shay Given in goal is just the way it’s been for so long, Rambo being the muscle, Mandy’s ridiculous speed and flexibility and those slides that keep a ball in play, Lil Carter’s intensity- so hard core, its kind of scary, and B-Rod’s soft touch- I am pretty sure she could juggle raw eggs. It will be weird without this kids.

So we did our little ceremony. I made voice recordings on my iphone of me talking about each senior… how awesome they are, how much we would miss them, etc. I also made a recording of underclassmen doing the same for each senior. My booster president burned them to cd and we played it over the PA as they walked onto the field with their parents. The underclassmen gave them flowers. In turn, each of them gave me a rose and a little note. It was pretty amazing. The only thing that kind of bummed me out is that a couple of the underclassmen said I sounded creepy. I think I just sounded monotone and quiet.

We’re really a good team… It’s really kind of tragic that our record doesn’t show it… we’re 4-10-4 (but 6 of losses were by 1 goal). We have sound fundamentals- we pass well, in general, we move without the ball. We just can’t score… and unfortunately, that is half the game. The game plan to not give up any goals will, at best get you bunch of ties. Which was the case last night. JP2 has this player who we didn’t have an answer for last time- she literally was the undoing of us last time. So I put one of our strong, physical seniors on her to man-mark and shut down. And that was the last anyone heard of her. So we were strong and smart in the back (even given the fact that two of our main guns back there have been hurt and haven’t played much as of late). Our scrappy little forward who is probably the smallest person on the field (but doesn’t realize it) hurt their GK. TWICE. Both legitimate tackles. The first resulted in a cleat to the face for the GK… and the second (2 minutes later) our little forward probably should have backed off… but it was legit. It was a pretty hard fought battle resulting in a 0-0 tie.

You can definitely tell it’s the end of the season though. Everyone has those nagging little injuries that refuse to go away… knocked and turned ankles, sore knees, bruises, raspberries, scrapes, strange ailments (“Coach B- how do you stretch THIS?” (accompanied by player pointing to random part of the body- the side of the lower leg). I guess it’s good that my girls play so hard. But it does make me uneasy knowing that some of them could really stand to have a break and we just can’t sit them. What’s worse is that some of the ones who are a bit banged up are going to go straight into softball, track and tennis. It’s even more of a drag when you get to the end of the season battle weary like we are… but I guess that is the trick in sports- that it’s not just enough to make it through the season, but to make it through the season with the least amount of injuries and banged up players, and to do the best you can in the post-season.

I'll make a mental note of that...

I wish that I could say not much is going on around here these days, but that would not be true.  I am in the first week of working and its kicking my butt.  Apparently, laying around till 1000 am in bed with the baby and getting up and putzing around the house till I’d have to leave for soccer practice at 2 is not the same as working a real job.  This is what my day looked like yesterday:

645am: wake up 45 minutes LATE because I opted for an alarm clock that doesn’t work over my phone’s alarm clock.  DOH!

650: prepare breakfast for Nico (rice cereal) and Me (oatmeal).  EAT. Try to feed Nico rice cereal that he really isn’t interested in.

705: Make lunch and snacks for day- to get me through 8 hours of work, trip down to Wakulla, through warm up and a game, gather warm clothes for me, gather warm clothes for Nico, layout clothes for him to go to school in.  Make a mental note to put away basket of clean clothes. Pack my bag, pack the diaper bag, the pump. 

715: Get dressed.  Make a mental note to either have a tummy tuck so I can wear my pre-pregnancy dress pants to work, or to get my ass to a treadmill so that I can wear my pre-pregnancy pants or buy new pants.  Brush teeth, notice face breaking out.  Make a mental note to put some makeup on if I have time.  Twist hair back into standard bun.  Make a mental note to brush my hair tonight (so I don’t get dreads) and to dye my hair, because this is not a good look.

725: Check Nico diaper- needed a change.  Dress for the day.  Play the game of trying to put a long sleeve top on a baby.  Wonder if it’s acceptable to send him in to day school with a onesie and a snowsuit.  Make a mental note that I should stop being a bad mom and wash some laundry- its where all of his warms are.  Put all the stuff he needs in his carseat, so Dave can remember to take it.  Hat, blankets, bottles, change of clothes, warm stuff for game, my wrap, extra blankets.  Socks. 

735: haul stuff to car, including work bag, soccer stuff, shoes, socks, warms.  Go over day procedure with Dave.  Make sure that they have everything they need for the day.

740: Give Nico and Dave a squeeze- kiss out the door.

741: Make a mental note to take my car to the dealership to see why the heat doesn’t work.

742: Note that I can see my breath in the car all the way to work.

750: Arrive at work. 

751: Frantically answer as many emails and texts as possible before going into work-where I go into a communication blackout.  Not sure if its acceptable to have a phone or be texting and emailing from it, especially given that its my first week.  

800: Work.

400: Leave work.  Change into soccer clothes in the car.  Curse the slow drivers.

410: Arrive at Dave’s work (he went to get Nico). 

415: sling attitude at Dave (he was supposed to have Nico there at 415). 

425: Dave arrives with Nico. We make the switch. I am driving down to Wakulla (LATE) for a 445 team picture.

426: Feel bad about slinging attitude at Dave.

440: Informed photographer left.  Relaxing drive down to Wakulla.

505: Receive text from JV coach that there are no referees yet for the 500 kickoff of the JV game.

506: Begin frantic emailing and calling, sure that that this is my screwup.

515:  relieved to know that I didn’t screw up, the refs are just late.

730: start game.

930: game over (we won 1-0 woot).

1000: Leave Wakulla.

1010: Nico starts crying.

1020: Stop at Woodville Highway and 98 to change Nico and feed him.  He is pissed.

1045: Continue drive back to Tallahassee.

1115: Arrive home.

1130: Pump.

1220: Finish pumping.  Begin working on senior night stuff.

1245: BED. 

 

Aren’t you stressed out?  Yeah! Me too!!  On the upside, not much left of this kind of schedule.  We have one regular season game left (tomorrow night), plus two games next week.  One the week after.  Whether or not we win that first game after districts will dictate how life goes for a while.  It would be great to win districts and get the loser of another district.  That doesn’t necessarily mean we will win the first game of regionals- as we’d likely be playing a panama city or pensecola team… there are a lot of good ones.  But maybe once the season is over, things will chill out for a while. 

All for now.  Write more later.