Bounce

Greetings. So unfortunately we saw a return of the bitterly cold temps again (great). Which meant frigid walks with my dog, Remi. Nothing more motivating to get out of bed, then to think "gee, I wonder how many layers I can get on?" Still not as bad as what Atlanta and the rest of the coast got. My friend is stuck at the ATL airport and has been there for over 24 hours, waiting to fly to Chile.  A few days ago, my friend, her kid and myself with Mia went to the trampoline park and had a blast :) Mia started out not really into it, but explored the ball pit, and had a lot of fun. Soon, my friend showed up. Her little boy mostly liked rolling around, and didn't really get into jumping. Mia even showed him how to. While playing in the foam pit, Mia decided it would be more fun to build an igloo outside of the pit. Hilarious AND practical too. She loved it when I would try to bounce her from a sitting postiion up in the air. So if you've got a kid under 5, take then to tot time thursday and tuesday mornings. Only 6 dollars for an HOUR :)
Yesterday, I grabbed lunch with my friend Micaela and Mia at a coffee shop down the road from my parents. It was good catching up, since I haven't seen her since Christmas eve when she stopped in the store for a minute. Mia (whom I'm quite proud of) even played nicely with Micaela and could chat comfortably with her. Normally around people she doesn't see that often, she's shy. It's understandable. Kids are all shy. Most of them, so I get it, but instantly, she was very good. Same with my friend Nicole, she sees her every so often and is totally cool with her.

After lunch, watched the Chelsea Vs West Ham game. Not a good one, but the point will have to do with the 0-0 draw. Lots of shots, but they packed their attacking third with defenders. Goalie was solid, and had a ton of help. Lampard had a good shot at the end, but it went straight at the goalie. Shoulda went far right.

Stopped at US Cellular on the way home. My phone battery hasn't been lasting as long ( I was told its because it's been cold) but I wanted to take advantage of their "battery swap" program, that allows you to swap out up to 4 batteries in 2 years. Well guess who doesn't do that program anymore?? Bah..Guess I'll have to deal with it for now. I'll have to wait till the fall when I'm up for an upgrade and get either the s4, the NEW s5 when it comes out, or suck it up and get an iPhone (which I have doubts of doing).
Got my copy of Metropole from the Lawrence Arms plus shirt and beer coozy. 4 or so days ago, I got the confirmation for the digital download.  I haven't been able to get a solid listen in. I put it in the car but Mia prefers the music either really low, or off when we drive. It's punk rock, so thats not a surprise. When I have listened to it twice, I'll give you a review. It's been 8 years since their last full length and a good 4 or so years since their EP Buttsweat and Tears came out. I've waited a long time for this.

Last before I go, I posted on Instagram a photo of Mia doing her best impression of defender David Luiz from Chelsea last weekend, and within 24 hours it had picked up a TON of likes including the man himself David LUIZ. I was stoked he saw it and found it funny.

Okay that's all for now, thanks for reading

Say Goodbye Good

Greetings everyone. So before I really get into this post, I need to get something out first since it's been on my mind for a while now. It's soccer-related so most may not care. Anyways, For a while now, one of my favourite players, Juan
Mata hasn't been getting his playing time in for Chelsea. His last game, was a short 20-30 minutes on Jan 1st, which is pathetic. The current manager has been enjoying his midfield section using Hazard, Willian and Oscar, leaving Mata out every game. Juan Mata, voted The Player of The Year 2 years in a row, wins the Champions League with the group in 2012 and has a World Cup win with Spain under his belt. There was talks about him leaving since he started sitting on the bench, but I never paid too much attention to it. Why on Earth would they get rid of this talent? Well, then this week, more rumors were circling that he'd leave the club for our rival Manchester United. Once again, I'm thinking "This is crazy, he's not leaving us for a rival that's doing terrible" well, it's not confirmed officially yet, but it's looking pretty clear that he's going to complete the move for a major pay increase and playing time. Clearly, Chelsea has lost interest in Mata, the manager didn't want to play him so he knew it would be a matter of time before he'd wanna leave. It's tough. It's like "do I stay with this club that I love so much and not play, or go elsewhere and play every game, and get some more money?" PLUS the World Cup is coming this year, so how does a man on the defending champion's team prepare for that? I spent most of my day off yesterday with my mind in another place, honestly. I am quite fortunate to have seen him play against Inter last Summer in person. He's a great player and it'll be hard to see him in another color. When I stood in Stefans Soccer Store and was trying to decide "do I get Oscar, Hazard or Mata on my new white away jersey.." I went with Oscar because I was afraid I'd "jinx" Mata to leave. I DO however have him on my 2014 Spain one, and will wear it with pride, but like I said, it'll be hard to see him in red now. If he would have just went on LOAN for any team, I'd be okay, because he'd be coming back blue, but this is gonna sting for a while. This would be like if Aaron Rodgers left the Packers for the Bears (for all you American Football fans) or of Crosby left for the Capitals. I'm not mad at Mata, just Chelsea for letting a talent go. From Chelsea's perspective, they want the money BIG TIME. They need a new striker, and they know this money will go to one.

Okay, enough ranting about this. Last weekend, we went to my nephew Easton's birthday party. Tons of people there, but Mia mostly was a great girl. Played well with E and his little friend Josie. Looking forward to tomorrow's playgroup. Mia's been really enjoying the time with her friends, and every parent loves to see their kid happy with other kids. Wednesday, I tried something. For a short while, Mia's been doing her best David Luiz (from Chelsea) impression. He tends to stick his tongue out in pictures. He's a totally care-free, talented fun fella and everyone loves him. I told Mia "wouldn't it be funny if we took a picture of YOU in your Chelsea kit and sent him a picture??" She totally agreed. I knew from past experiences that she's not a fan of wearing the jersey. It's a different material then she's used to. Well, she WORE it and I was able to get some pictures of her with a photoshopped Stamford Bridge behind her with the caption reading "Chelsea's latest signing for 10m, Midfielder Mia Justman" Plus I did one of her sticking her tongue out and photoshopped David Luiz's face next to her's.

This weekend, not sure what we're doing yet. Jill's got dinner plans, but her friend Leanne may come up (pending on weather) Sunday I work 7-3.

Last but not least, here is the picture I drew of Mia. Took a LONG time, but I'm mostly content with it. Have a great rest of the week and thanks for reading.

The Early Bird Drinks His Morning Orange Juice

Greetings. It was a busy, but pretty solid weekend last week. Friday, Mia had a GREAT playgroup. ALL of her little friends were there. Gracie, Hannah, Omina, Zack and Weston. She was so stoked to she the girls. They played so well. It was the first time in a while she wasn't partially sitting on my lap to play. After play group ended, some kids hang out and run around the empty room. Mia participated this time. It looked like a toddler mosh pit. When it was time to go, Gracie had gotten her fingers slammed in the door, so she was crying. Hannah, like always was the first to give Mia a hug goodbye, and I SWEAR TO GOD my heart melted when I saw Mia hugging her back with a little smile on her face. As I type this, my heart is already melting. It was so freakin' adorable. Gracie cried in her mother's arms as we walked out. Mia INSISTED on holding on to Omina's hand, so I had little Hannah's. As we were heading to our car, Gracie was just not calming down and eventually sat in a snow bank for absolutely no reason what so ever. So she cried even more. Eventually, she ran up to Mia and gave her a big hug goodbye. One of those hugs that "I'm in pain, and I need my friend now" hugs. Mia was so sweet that day, and invited the girls to her birthday party in March.

 Saturday morning, I was awaken by a text at 6:30am explaining from my older brother "no hockey today, the ice is too slushy" from the freezing rain we had got the night before. Okay. I also knew that Chelsea was playing Hull City at 6:45am, and was hoping to get a little more sleep before match time. Sadly, Mia, who crawled into our bed, started kicking me in the ribs so I gave up on that idea and got up to take the dog. As SOON as I moved my head off the pillow, she rolled her little noodle on it. Oh well. Took the dog out for a nice quiet walk through the icy neighborhood. Came back, made breakfast and watched the game online. I gotta say, it was quite nice having a little morning to myself to enjoy my favorite team beat Hull City 2-0. Both goals were real slick, and I was hoping they'd motivate me to get some goals come futsal time Sunday night.

The girls ended up sleeping most of the morning, which allowed me time to go salt the driveway, work on a little art and clean up the kitchen some. Sunday morning, early shift. Wasn't exciting, but all I could think about was playing futsal. Jill and Mia came to my game (with my sister) and that meant a LOT to me. Originally, they weren't going to come because the last time they did, Mia cried and I had to split early. This time, Mia WANTED to come, and we brought some distractions for her if she got bored. I mean come on, it was a 2 hour game, I wouldn't hold it against her if she had lost interest. So, I started on the colored team (we do colors vs white) and thanks to some Messi-wannabees, I wasn't receiving a whole lot of passes. Our team wasn't doing the best with defense either. When it was my turn in goal, I got scored on, 3 or so times. No one was in back to help defend. Bugger. So when it got to the point of "do you guys wanna do a trade" I was immediately offered. Fine. So I went on the white team. WAY better team to play on. No wonder they were beating us. Better passing overall, and I got a really slick goal, and a couple of assists. My goal was a nice pass of a teammate, a quick move around a defender and shot it far right post on goal. It was my first time playing that my teammates were vocal about the goal. "Those were really nice moves, Mike" Thanks :) When it was my turn in goal, I noticed that they had one fella that stayed back for defense which helped with keeping the goals down. Ended up letting in two. Oh well. It was a lot of fun and I hope to get in to play again in another month or so.

This weekend, my nephew Easton is having a birthday party. Should be fun. That's all for now. Next week, I'm posting my FINISHED Mia portrait :) Thanks for reading!

Hittin' the Ice!

HEY! How's everyone today? Okay, I've got some awesome things to share. No, really. Well, it's awesome to me and Jill at least. Over the weekend, Mia decided she wanted to try ice skating. GREAT! So, we drove to what I was told to be an outdoor rink in Waukesha. She fell asleep on the way, but we still went anyways in search of this rink. Nothing. Didn't see anything at all. Bugger. Well, later that night, Mia still wanted to go skating, so we drove to the Petit Ice Center, which is where local hockey games (of all ages) are played, as well as where speed skating olympians train and have trials, and of course, where the public can open skate. Been there so many times growing up. Anyways, so thankfully because Mia's under 4, she was free :) So Jill put her skates on her boots, as I got laced up. We walked up the stairs and I slowly got her onto the crowded ice. Jill was a bit nervous, but I reassured her that I would NEVER let Mia fall. EVER. Mia got on, slid a bit and got off. Crap. After some lemonade and a slow walk out in her boots, she tried it again with her skates. "This isn't scary" she said on her boots, so we got the skates back on and she was good to go. Not as bad the 2nd time around. So she skated a bit, with me holding on tight to her hands. I think the crowds of people was a bit much at first for her. I couldn't have been more proud. Every hockey player dreams of their kid's first time out on the ice. It's special. My brothers and I learned on a frozen "lake" of water in our backyard we'd be fortunate to get every time our neighborhood would get a big rain before winter. The way the hills were in the back would hopefully fill enough with water to get a nice frozen lake for hockey. It wasn't much, but it worked. Anyways, I was super happy she took an interest in something new, and didn't give up.

We've had crazy cold weather as of lately here. Like, -17 a few times. Walking Remi hasn't been easy, but you just need to layer up. Luckily, it's starting to warm up some. like, 20s today maybe? Haha. Unsure what we're doing this weekend. Chelsea plays Stoke, so hopefully we'll get a win. Been craving some futsal lately. Haven't played in a few months, and sadly haven't gotten any emails from the pick up group for any subs this week. Bahhh. Hopefully soon I can get playing. Finished this wonderful piece of art I've been working on for months. Alright, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!