Hold That Thought

Greetings everyone. It's hard to believe that the Christmas and holiday season is complete. New Years Eve nearly here too. Man did the year fly. Me, Jill and Mia spent some time last weekend  visiting Jill's friends and family. It's always difficult trying to see everyone before we had to quickly head back for Christmas Eve with my familia. Mia got a LOT of gifts this year, and enjoying opening them too. Her typical response was "ohhhh MY GOODNESSSSSS!!" Sometime she'd get so excited and say "YAYY MIAAAA!!" I absolutely loved her reactions. I'm not going to go through everything she got, but she deffinately liked everything. At one point, she said "no more presents". We may have to adjust when she gets everything in future Christmases because like some kids, she was Christmas'd out. My nephew too, I heard was pretty spent on opening gifts. I guess there can be TOO much of a good thing sometimes.

Today, Jill, Mia and her familia went back to Illinois till New Years when I go pick them up. It was a pretty rough leave because I had to carefully load a sleeping Mia into her car seat and while slowly walking down to the car, I thought how much I'm going to miss this girl (AND Jill). I'm missing both of them right now. I was able to take down the Christmas tree tonight and position Mia's new castle/tent she got. This sucker is huge and fits pretty decent in the corner of the living room. Mia even gave everyone in the house a tour of the inside of the tent, grabbing each of our hands. Adorable.

Didn't accomplish any art today, despite having some projects to start/complete. Tomorrow morning after my walk with Remi, I plan to spend some quality time with my drum set before work. Looking forward to it. Usually rusty on the first day back, so we'll see how it goes.

Actually ended up spending some of the night looking for a spring 2013 adult soccer outdoor league to play in. Not an easy task, however it's still winter so there really isn't much info. I worked a Saturday morning one time and there were some people that stopped in on their way to a game (I'm not sure where or who they played for) but I really want to figure it out. The second session for Brookfield Indoor is out and every time I look at it, I think "why even bother trying". Sad effort right? I dunno. I really really wanna play, but don't want to drag the family out to be disappointed like myself. I'll keep trying I guess.

That's all for now. Have a safe New Years Eve friends :) Thanks for reading :)

Donde Esta Santa Claus?

Hey friends. Hope all of my readers are surviving the holiday craziness. Including the "snowmegeddon" that could be coming our way. Depends on where you live. It's finally starting to look Christmas-y around good ol' Wisconsin which has put me in a semi better mood. I've still got a few things souring me on a daily basis, but I try not to let it get in the way of the holiday spirit. that my darling wife carries through our humble household.

I don't want to harp on this in an intense and lengthy way, but I do need to address it. The shooting in CT was absolutely heart breaking. Especially that because these were kids. Small children. AND two faculty members that gave their life to save some kids. If ANYONE ever tells me that all teachers are lazy and money-hungry, really need to shut up. I couldn't imagine being one of the parents impatiently waiting the news at the fire house down the road from that school for their child to check in. My heart could barely take this tragedy when I first saw it on the news last Friday. I had to put Barney on for Mia  and get this off the news. The fact is, guns are absolutely horrible. I'm sorry gun supporters but it scares me how many shootings have happened over the last 4 years. I do not think arming teachers and faculty members with weapons is the answer. Perhaps sticking unemployed serviceman in schools may do the trick. Who knows. Another major problem is that this guy had a serious mental issue and it was never addressed. His Mom needed to get him the help he deserved and there was some sort of issue there. I hugged Mia so tight that night after work. I am incredibly lucky to have her in my life and I don't know what I'd do without her and Jill.

On a positive note, I completed Mandi's tattoo for her kids. She dug it, which made me happy. I ended up restarting and resizing it last weekend at some point and was pretty content with the complete project. All I need to do is finish a gift and I'm good for a short while. Still need to start a Lil Wayne picture for Mandi's daughter. Hopefully she's patient.

Chelsea FC won today. Didn't get to watch the game but just now watched the highlights. Great goals. Too bad they lost in the Club World Cup to a Brazilian team. BOO!

Leaving this weekend for the holiday and will be back come Christmas Eve. Hopefully the weather is somewhat decent and we don't have any issues. I'll never forget the time I drove home from a crappy night at work in the crappiest driving conditions. I arrived at our (then) apartment and Jill wanted to head down to Illinois a day earlier then we played.I told Jill "we really should go to Illinois tomorrow. The roads are absolutely horrible". She said "No way, nothings stopping me from driving down tonight!" and then she slipped on our stairs and messed her ankle up pretty good. Needless to say, we didn't make the drive. The next day we went down and the roads were wonderful. I took Mia out in the show the other day when it was lightly coming down. She wasn't super impressed. Maybe we'll try sledding this year. Who knows.

That's all for now. Have a good holiday weekend folks. Drive safe and thanks for reading.

Three Little Birds

Hey friends. Another quick update on things before calling it a night. Haven't been getting the best sleep lately. I think Saturday night I slept like 3 or so hours before my 6am-2pm shift. Because of the severe lack of sleep, I didn't even make the effort to go attempt to play indoor soccer that night. Ended up watching a movie with Jill & Mia. Speaking of indoor soccer, I'm pretty frustrated as of lately with the place. I read on their website that if you submit your info (if you're a sub like me with no team) to the people who run the leagues, they can forward it out to the teams in case someone could use a sub or another player for the future. Sounds cool. Drove out there today with Mia and the guy in the office flat out told me "no we don't do that for the adult teams, you just have to keep showing up". BS. As much as I love dragging myself and my family to watch me get turned down week after week because every team tells me "we're good, don't need any subs", it starts to wear you down. I'm sure Jill's getting frustrated that we drive out for NOTHING. Yes, this is the only way to go about do this, but it's pretty crappy. Every team that plays is formed prior to seasons starting. Totally sucks for ones like me who have zero contact with any of these adult teams. There's no community board, or section of the website for players in search of a team. I'm either A-going to try AGAIN in January to play or B-wait till spring time and try to get on a team and play the season. Either way, it's frustrating.

Mia napped for 3 hours today, which gave me time to work on a coworker's tattoo. 3 hours were pretty wasted in the end because I drew the scorpion too big and the numbers and zodiac signs that circle around it don't fit well SO while watching the 121212 Sandy Relief concert tonight after the familia went to sleep, I drew it AGAIN. Got the scorpion part done. The numbers and symbols shouldn't take too much effort. Phew. I'm getting behind.

Getting more and more amped for the holiday. Mostly because I know Mia's going to have SO much fun. She already mastered the fine craft of opening presents whether they're for  her or someone else. I love her so much and couldn't imagine my life without this kid. She can get irritating at times, but my heart lights up when she gives me those big big hugs. Being a Dad is an amazing experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The other day, her and I had the most fun drumming on my kit. She's honestly getting quite good with the snare. She totally concentrates on what she's doing, which is awesome :)

Okay, gotta call it quits for now. Thanks for reading friends.

6 Months In a Leaky Boat

Hello friends. Getting late over here so I'll make this one quick and to the point. Over the weekend, Jill, my Mom and I went to my old High School for Breakfast with Santa. We arrived late and skipped the breakfast part. It was weird strolling through the school I haven't attended in nearly 10 years. Ran into an old 7th grade band director that still remembered me as well as some other alumni's and such. Mia enjoyed watching Santa from a good safe distance. Or as I call it "stranger danger distance". We didn't want to ruin her morning/afternoon by sticking her on his lap. My buddy Mandi and her kids met us there. They too had a fun time, especially with Mia. Later Jill and I hit up a holiday party. First party we've been to since Mia was born. It was a great time seeing old friends that we sadly don't get to socialize with anymore. Always fun catching up.

Later Sunday after work, I attempted to play some indoor soccer. Mia fell asleep on the way and when I walked in the arena, I once again was turned down by both teams. They didn't need subs that day. Goddammit. I just want to play. I understand the goofiness of the process that if you are a SINGLE player, you have to show up and hope to play. These teams are formed by paying players who all know each other. If there was any way for me to contact a "coach" or whomever runs any of the Men's Open Soccer teams, I would have done that a month ago. But, they keep telling me they can't give out any contact info so I just have to keep trying even when I get the frustrating "no thanks, we're good tonight". I'm debating about waiting till the new season starts to try to find a team. This weekend, there are TWO 9pm games, which means I would have the opportunity to try to persuade one of the 4 teams to let me play. If it ends up snowing a bunch, I'll probably skip it.

Working very hard on Mandi's tattoo design. It's more of a concept for her to take into a good tattoo place and show them the direction she'd like to go with the tattoo. Eyes are bugging out sketching this one out.

Mia and I had a great day off. Got my oil changed and we were able to catch the majority of the Chelsea FC game. It was wonderful to see my team FINALLY win, despite being knocked out of the Champions League. There's always the Europa League right? Lately, Mia's been grabbing both Jill and I by the necks and saying "momma, daddy and Mia" over and over, followed by family kisses. It's incredibly adorable. Especially when she says "I'm gonna kiss you Dadda!!" Love this kid and her Mom more then anything in the entire world. Alright, that's all for now. Sleep time for this tired father. Adios and thanks for reading :)