Turning 31

Good Morning. Lots to discuss so I'm gonna dive right into everything that's going on in my life. Okay? Okay. Over the weekend, I celebrated my 31st birthday. Not that exciting of an age, but I enjoyed the day thoroughly. We were at the farmers market in Waukesha for some fresh veggies. Some fella booed me because I was wearing a Chelsea t-shirt, but then recants that and said "oh wait, you guys just resigned Didier Drogba.." yeah we did fool, shut it. Had dinner at Red Robin with Jill's family and my parents. It was delicious, but my Dad was bummed I didn't want them to sing to me. I didn't get the "free ice cream" like everyone does on their birthday there because I was really full, and we had cake at home, but the real reason why I didn't want them to sing, is because a few tables behind us, a 14 year old girl was celebrating a birthday. They came out singing loudly and it scared Mia. I didn't want them scaring her at OUR table.

Sunday, we went to the park. Jill took some photos of Mia and I fully dressed in Chelsea gear playing soccer. Got a few shots before Mia wanted to go to the swings. I worked 2-10 that night. Monday night I came home from work and I found Mia, riding around the house, no underwear on on a bike. A BIKE. It's like you just mastered potty training, now you're on a bike (training wheels too). Can't believe how much she's growing up. Wednesday was a busy day. Real busy. Decided to take Mia to the morning $2 movies at the theatre down the road from our house. The Croods was playing. They do these kind of deals I guess three days a week. This was Mia's first time at a movie theatre. She was super stoked about the experience. Definitely will do it again sometime. Later, we went to the park with my friend, and later my little brother. Great time. She's getting really good at the rock wall. OH! That's right the other day  I got some awesome gifts in the mail from my parents, Jill's parents and Jill. A beautiful brand new Chelsea jersey for the new season with Azpilicueta on the back (One of the Blue's best defenders), a pair of shorts from the 2013-2014 season and a Petr Cech Air freshener.  The pre-season games are off to a great start so hopefully we'll do well this season with all of the new boys.

Later, we picked up Jill from work and went to my friend Jay's house for dinner with him, his wife and little boy Caleb. It was a great time. Mia wasn't her usual shy self either, which was refreshing. Typically, she gets shy and doesn't want to interact, but she was great with everyone, and enjoyed watching the turkeys roam his yard.

This weekend, Jill's hosting a Wild Tree freezer meal work shop at our house, then state fair later.  That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Wait a minute, wait a minute now!

Greetings. It's a gorgeous day out, but first let's get to the weekend okay? Saturday was my nephew Alex's 7th birthday party. I made him a custom Pokemon card that make him very happy. I know absolutely NOTHING about the game, the culture and the cartoon, but he certainly enjoys it. We hit up the beach after an early meal. The beach was fun. The kids really enjoyed themselves playing with the water and seaweed. They didn't want the day to end. This week, we finally hit 90 degrees. Took long enough. Would have loved some 90 degree weather today so we could take Mia and her friend Benny to the beach (like planned) but instead we did the zoo. My friend Nicole and I took the kids to the zoo. For some reason the other day, Mia got the idea in her head "I should get my face painted" so the entire day, through every animal exhibit "Daddy, when are we gonna get my face painted? After the tigers?" etc etc. She had a lot of fun throughout the whole day, but face painting was on her mind. So before riding the carousal, she got her face painted. She held her little charm bracelet for comfort and sat like a champion. She loved the big fish exhibit and of course riding the carousal. When she said her goodbyes and got into the car she says "you know what my favourite part of the zoo today was Daddy? Getting my face painted" Before we even left the parking lot, she was passed out. She got up at 6:45am this morning, started the morning crabby and really needed the nap. Luckily, she improved throughout the day and we had a great time off.

Later today, we're heading over to my parents for a "farewell" dinner with my brother, his kid and wife before they leave for California. It's gonna be a rough one. We're gonna miss them so much. They're moving onto more exciting things in Sacramento. It'll be hard, but we'll see them again.

This weekend, I'm turning 31. Not too exciting. We're having her parents come up for Mia's "Potty Party" to celebrate her being potty trained. I think we're doing dinner later. Finished a tattoo for a friend of mine.  A simple bird with lettering and quote. Easy, could have done other things, but it'll work.

Gonna restart some Chelsea FC players portraits. Sort of want these to get attention on Instagram and other pages to get people from all over, wanting me to make custom ones of players of their choice. Could work, could not. We'll see

That's it for now. Thanks for reading :)

Weekends All Year Long

Good evening. The end of last week into the weekend, we had our Rummage for a Cause sale selling old items and donated items from the community in which we took whatever we made, and donated it to the American Diabetes Association. Why the sale? Because Jill's friend's father passed away from Diabetes and every year, she tries to do something to raise some money for the cause. This was Jill's first year doing some sort of event for it.  Mia also sold cookies and lemonade for a few days for a select amount of hours. She made about 15 dollars. In total, we brought in close to $200 which is pretty good for the short amount of time we had the sale going. We even had people stopping over just to donate money, not taking anything. Just wanting to help in some way. We'd get a lot of people telling us how nice it is that we're doing something like this. We're slowly donating the left over items to Goodwill. There are still things sitting on our front lawn, although a woman stopped over tonight asking about purchasing the wheel chair we had. So, Wisconsin has been having not-so-Summer days as of lately. Low 50's at night. Only mid 60's during the day. Not very July at all, which sucks. I want the mid-high 80s again! I haven't been able to take Mia to the beach or pool at all, but we're hoping to go next Wednesday with some friends.

She's been getting really good with potty training, with only a few accidents here and there. She understands now that wearing underwear  means that if she pees, it'll be a bigger mess to deal with and she doesn't want the embarrassment. I love her for trying. It seems to work. Just to keep her in undies and shorts/capris/skirt all day and try to hit up the bathroom as needed. The candy and toy thing for every time she went didn't work. She remembered that if she went potty, she'd get candy, but after a while she lost interest. Same with the potty chart. Just lost interest.

So The World Cup is officially over with Germany getting the big win over Argentina, sending Messi home with nothing. He may be considered one of the best players, but he just can't get a World Cup Championship. Germany deserved the win. The only goal scored that game was fantastic. I watched the cross to chest trap to shot quite a few times.

So now I wait till the start of the Chelsea FC season starts. They had a pre-season game today against the Wanderers winning 5-0. Lots of younger players getting the start, with Swartzer in goal. Unsure if Cech is still recovering from the injury during the Champions League semi-final. Mia and I wore our matching Chelsea Fc kits from the 2012-2013 season. Glad she FINALLY enjoys wearing it.

I've got some projects to finish and start. A Pokemon card for my nephew for his birthday customized with him on it, and a tattoo of a bird with my friend's newest baby's initials inside. Could be tricky. Challenges are always good. Thanks for reading.

The Black Hole

Good afternoon everyone. My, it's been a busy week over here. Over the weekend, my wife got off for the 4th of July. We walked down to the parade route, but because the start time was so close to the time I had to work, I ended up having to walk with the dog all the way home. It wasn't a short walk, but it was nice out so I didn't mind. I guess later she told me the parade was pretty lame with only one float and a few other things. They watched some of the fireworks later at night. Saturday we had a family get together. It was a lot of fun. The kids playing soccer in the yard was quite enjoyable. Jill made these tasty mini cheese cakes and black bean sliders that were a hit with some of the family. Sunday, I worked. Not too exciting. This week, we've hung out with her friends at the park, and today we went to the trampoline park for about an hour. It was fun, because there wasn't a lot of kids around, which gave us room for Mia to chase me around.

The World Cup has been very...interesting to say the least. Saturday in between drink breaks while I was cutting the grass, I was catching a little bit of the Argentina vs Belgium game. Sadly the red devils lost to Argentina. The game that blew me away was the Brazil vs Germany game. Neymar was knocked out the last game they played, so I have this feeling the morale of the team was lacking in this game because the samba boys got destroyed by Germany 7-1. SEVEN TO ONE!! How did this happen? Is it because of Neymar getting injured? Hardly. It wasn't his fault. I missed the game, but saw the highlights which mostly had every goal scored. The problem clearly was defense and some mid field. They let the Germans run them over like a speeding train. David Luiz, who has been solid during the previous games they've won just was not in this one. I don't know how else to explain it, other then the defense had far too many careless mistakes, some cheap shot attempts to get the ball, and a total lack of passion to win. Oscar was the saving grace to keep it from becoming a shut out, but that doesn't matter. The team blew it on their home turf and that one will sting. They were sucked into a black hole and there was nothing else they could do. The fans looked beyond devastated. They were my very last team I had in this tournament that I wanted to win. Whoever Germany plays, I hope Germany wins. I can't stand Messi (with Argentina) so if they beat Netherlands, I hope the Germans de-rail Argentina's so-so performance thus far during the Cup.

The other day, Mia decided she wanted to try skateboarding. She's got some balance issues, but hey, she's three, she's entitled to that. She's getting stronger at the playground, hanging and climbing with every bit of strength. The potty training has gotten better too. Hopefully it continues. She had a hat-trick of making it to the bathroom today. So very proud. For some reason, she lost interest in going on bike rides with me. My bike that I commandeered from my bro in law is sorta falling apart anyways. Couldn't get the kick stand to kick back up normal, so I may have to hit up a garage sale or something for another one (that if she wants to ride with me anymore) This weekend, we've got a wedding reception to attend. Not sure what else we're gonna do. I think Mia and her pals are gonna do a picnic tomorrow. Other cool things on the horizon but I can't speak of them till there is a 100% that they WILL happen. great new things. Stay tuned. Anyways, that's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

HOW ARE YOU DOIN MILWAUKEE!!???

HEY! Hi, and how everyone's doing? Hopefully great, or at least pretty good. Lots to discuss. First off, the weekend was quite busy. Friday I took off for Summerfest, but before then, I did some finishing touches cleaning the house before Jill's surprise birthday party. Friday night, my sister and I met up and took the ol' bus down to the grounds for Tegan and Sara. Since it was Friday, it was incredibly busy, but we made our way to the Briggs and Stratton stage. A local cover band was playing when we claimed our spot 8 rows from the very front. They were quite boring. 4 guitar players, two dudes playing keyes and of course one bass and drums with a female doing back up vocals. They were covering Bon Jovi, country crap, Matchbox 20 and other typical cover band tunes. The opening band for T&S was a group from Canada called Soho Ghetto. Right away I could easily tell the singer was another Springsteen fan. His look and the way he sang was a dead giveaway. Their first couple songs were tolerable, but that was about it. An unfortunate woman passed out at some point during their set from too much beer or alcohol. Security kept rushing in and eventually stretchered the girl out. Finally it was Tegan and Sara's turn to light up the stage. Literally.

They knocked out a good chunk of songs, mostly favoring their newest album Hearthrob, but they dabbled into their back catalog a bit playing some hits off The Con and did a couple songs from Sainthood. It was a total dance party the entire time. Tegan goofed up some lyrics during a song (that I can't remember at the moment) but Sara was going to punish her by making her sing the National Anthem. Didn't happen, but they restarted the song and she nailed the lyric. Some songs that were played were:
The Con
Back in Your Head
Walking With A Ghost
Closer
Goodbye Goodbye
I'm Not Your Hero
Dark Come Soon
plus many many others. It was deffinately worth the 3 1/2-4 hour wait. The only song missing from their set list was "Hell", one of my all-time fans because it sounds like an Alkaline Trio song. After they finished up, we made our way through the hoards of people lingering around. There were fights breaking out at the Five Finger Death Punch show, and some how we got on the bus. This is one of the reasons why I don't go down to Summerfest that often. The crazy amount of people everywhere. Luckily the bus ride wasn't too bad. A lot of older people looking at their photos they took of the bands they saw. I took a few good photos, but had to shoot in b/w to make a desperate attempt of getting some detail in the shot. If I had our DSLR camera, that would have been slightly easier to get some good color photos. I remembered the Hanson show I shot for the Rave/Eagles Club and how it was a pain in the ass fighting the low and ever-changing lighting.

Saturday was Jill's party. Gonna keep it short. It went quite well, despite the fact that it was meant to be an outdoors one, and we got rain (which lead to muggy air) so we all stayed inside. I had the Brazil/Chile game on (which was intense to the end) Jill loved her sushi-looking cupcakes and sashimi crispies. The gift was what I was most excited about. Her very own KitchenAid mixer. She's been wanting one for almost a year now. In fact, Sunday when I came home from work, the neighborhood smelled like fresh baked goods. MMM!!

Tuesday, the USMNT played Belgium. Two teams I was hoping would do well this World Cup, so this was a difficult game. In the end, Belgium won (which is what I predicted) and at the hands of two Chelsea boys, but US gave them hell. Tim Howard, who's now a household name, had 16-17 saves that night which is a new record. I've watched the highlights and it was definately a nail-biter. We may not have gotten out of this round, but we proved that they are a team with a lot of fight. And any Donovan fan can say "well see? We should have played him, we would have won" all they want, you really don't know that for sure. Most likely, he'll be too old for the next WC. Looking forward to the next games (if I can watch them).

Lastly, my friend Nicole and I took our kids to the zoo Wednesday. Despite the rain, they had a great time. Mia decided that today would be the day she'd conquer her fear of the zoo train. "I promise I won't cry Daddy" and she didn't. In fact, she LOVED it. I was so proud of her.

Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading :)