The Diva Turns 9 & We Pay it Forward

Evening everyone. So much to talk about, but first, the first full week of home schooling. I'd say on a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a solid 7. There appears to be more work for the parents as far as keeping things organized, finding all the daily material from different sites, etc etc. Jill's been doing a lot of it, and I hope to take a more active role with that so she doesn't feel all the pressure of working from home, and dealing with the all school work load Mia takes on daily. I was handling a lot of Mia's exercise throughout the week (AKA gym and/or recess) as well as some art. We would do soccer, some hockey and yoga. Hopefully, this week gets better.  Mia spent her Thursday after online school making cupcakes for her birthday. It's too bad she didn't have school to share them with her class :(

Towards the end of the week, we started collecting video messages for Mia's birthday from friends, family, former teachers and some actual celebrities! It was a major bummer that we had to postpone her birthday, so we did our best collecting birthday wishes from everyone. We had some Dominos for lunch and as I was checking for more video response, we got a pretty shocking one. Josh Gad, AKA Olaf tweeted a video to me on Twitter! He sent out earlier in the day that if anyone would like a video message for a birthday, he'd try to send some out. He got about 6,000 responses and I think I was probably about #3 on the list. I honestly didn't think he'd get back to me, but sure enough, he did. Brendan Kelly from the Lawrence Arms didn't hesitate to send Mia a video as well which marks the 2nd video he's done for Mia for the diva. Finally, Wave superstar Ian Bennett also sent one to Mia as well. Mia was stoked to get all of their videos as well as a lot of old friends and some teammates. Jill had tears in her eyes as Mia watched all these. It takes just a moment to make a kid smile, so this was a huge deal for the diva and it really made her day. We also got a lot of honks from fellow New Berlin residents after sticking a little "honk for Mia's 9th birthday sign in our yard" We had some dinner later and Mia enjoyed the rest of her birthday, which included playing with Legos (Thanks Uncle Tommy and Grandma Gail) as well as her new Switch game; Lucky's Tail (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Chicago). She's been pretty obsessed with Legos for the last 48 hours.

Saturday, she continued working on Legos, and a little later, we decided it'd be fun to drive to teammate Olivia's house and wave to her brother for his birthday...with a Spiderman mask on. Sort of a last minute idea. He was stoked to see Spidey waving at him and we also hit up another little boy's house as well. On our way back, we stopped at Scarlett's and Cecilia's. Both sets of friends were happy to see us. I think overall, they were happy to see Mia sort of in person, along with Remi in his shades. We hung out the rest of the day, Mia played the Switch and did some more Lego building.

Today, we spent two hours driving around New Berlin, but this time, I wore the full Spiderman suit, Jill made a "Stay Super" sign and Mia wore butterfly wings. I completely lost track of all the houses, streets and courts we stopped at. After posting on the Community Page that Spiderman was driving around, waving at kids, it absolutely blew up. I was getting message after message very rapidly looking for Spidey to stop by. So many kids were shouting and waving at me at every house. The goal was to see as many kids as I could, and eventually, I had to stop and get ready for work. Mia definitely enjoyed "paying it forward" and making so many kids smile. I wish I could have spent more time hitting up more houses, but sadly, I gotta work so hopefully, we'll get to visit more places next weekend. While at work, I got an insane amount of messages STILL about a Spidey visit. After we got home, Jill quickly made a Facebook page entitled Spidey in a Civic so people could contact me easily and post their comments. It's all about positivity in the community and I'm happy to spread it. If it means driving around town and stopping for a short while. As a type this, I'm STILL getting more messages about stopping by.

This week, more online schooling, hopefully better weather, I need to finish a very tricky drawing for Mia and I'll be once again, appearing as Spiderman around New Berlin and surrounding areas. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

We Drift Eternal

Greetings. We made it through the first week off from school. The week began with a few assignments on the Chromebook for Mia, we did some writing, drawing, a ton of reading, and even a science involving some fun molecular gastronomy. We supported our local sushi join; Big Tuna for dinner and I edited the video I made of the ladies science experiment the rest of the evening. All in all, good time. Will the girls make another video? Maybe.

One of the highlights  of the week was on one of the nicer weather days, Mia and I did a little 1v1 in the yard. Mia cracked me up as she did English commentary as we played some footie. The only major disappointment of the day, was when I had to end it and go to work. Totally made me bummed. She was actually doing really well and I could have played for another hour with her but you know, gotta work. One of the extra things Mia worked on this week was learning Spanish. She's not required to learn  it at school nor has even a language unit, but she definitely has an ear for it with Jill and has picked it up surprisingly quickly. She'll continue that this week. She also wrote a report for no reason other than just for the hell of it on mythical creatures including mermaids, the Lock Ness Monster and Sasquatch. It was pretty thorough and she put a lot of work into it. Once again, she didn't have to do it for school, but just wanted to do some research on a subject she enjoys.

Saturday, we did some cleaning, Mia and I went for a bike ride/dog walk and she got to reunite briefly with friend Noelle and see her new puppy, and we had a delicious lunch at Ono Kine Grindz in Tosa. Like Big Tuna, they're also a small business so we wanted to show our support of our favorite Hawaiian restaurant/market by grabbing some amazing food. They're really good, always give a pretty good size of portions which leaves you with plenty of leftovers that you won't regret finishing later. Later at night, Jill and Mia baked some cookies and we closed the evening with some Luigi's Mansion and a little living room soccer before crashing.

Today, we didn't do much before I went off to work. Mia spent a couple days video chatting with friends Saturday and talked to a few more Sunday in between projects. Jill and I are just trying to figure things out with this whole virus thing. Mia has a birthday coming up this week and we're supposed to get family to come over and celebrate with her. Obviously we can't fo anywhere special but we'll make some dinner here, or something. We postponed her birthday party with friends but unsure who will make it. The uncertainty has really given everyone this anxiousness. People are out of work and scared they may not return. Hopefully things improve, people follow directions to stay as much as possible in their safety of their homes and we can end this. We have to remember to take care of one another.

This week starting Monday, Mia has to sign in at 8:00am to start her actual online learning in a "classroom" setting. Hopefully it goes well because this will become the new normal for a while. Hopefully not the rest of the school year like most are expecting. Alkaline Trio released an EP this week so I'm going to listen to that on repeat for a few days. Thats all for now, thanks for reading!

Breath

Greetings everyone. Well times certainly are interesting on the planet. Specially regarding the Covid-19 virus, but we'll get back to it. Most of the week, I've been working on a Pennywise sketch for Mia's friend Cecilia. I would rather draw almost anything but another clown but since the kiddo missed our final game AND she's one of Mia's closest best friends, I'll do it. It's been a struggle trying to nail the sketch and to be honest, I'm not too thrilled with what I've got currently. Hopefully I can make it work and she'll dig it.

Thursday, I was out photographing in Waterford at a grade school. Nothing too exciting to report. We just wanted to get it done quickly before they had their fire drill. Got home, worked on art, Photoshopping Bella and Cecilia in our team photo and picked up Mia later. She did her homework and rode her bike after school. Not a bad day for a ride and she definitely enjoys being outside when she can. She played "tennis" which basically was her hitting a ball at me and me having to toss it back to her to do the same thing. I don't know why she enjoys it, but she had fun. We had tacos and relaxed with Jill the rest of the night.

Friday was a weird day. I spent the morning doing a little cleaning and went to work later per the usual. When Mia came home, I got the texts that school was officially cancelled for the next 3 long weeks. Mia was supposed to go on a field trip Friday but it got cancelled. Now school is cancelled and every kid is supposed to be quarantined till early April. Crap. This is absolutely bonkers. We were insanely busy at work with the entire planet going in a frenzy with buying everything from toilet paper to eggs in fear that the world would run out of it. It's been frightening to see this much panic. I was supposed to have a soccer meeting Saturday for our club we joined but everything is on hold. The only thing that makes me nervous about this is that my work requires me to change my availably within 21 days so everything has to be figured out. With our first Spring season on hold, I have no clue when we'll be ready to roll again. The Alkaline Trio/Bad Religion concert got postponed as well.

Mia's birthday is two weeks away so she's pretty sad she won't get to celebrate with her classmates at school, bring in her treat and have me visit like always for lunch. She brought home a Chromebook to do classwork on. We're also going to work on music, art and cooking with the diva on our own. Most importantly, we need to remember too breath and relax. Too much panic in the world right now.

Saturday, we hit up Trader Joe's which was a disaster. The entire place was 70% cleaned out. Panic in the TJ's peeps. Jill was shocked. The rest of the day, we hung out, cleaned and did some work around the house, listened to some of my favorite vinyl records and organized our art area.  It was a pretty productive day overall. We made dinner and watched Frozen 2 which has quickly become a favorite for Jill and Mia. They sang along to every song. Super cute. We crashed a little later.

Today, we didn't do much. Just a little more cleaning and organizing before I went off to work. I was supposed to go and photograph at school Monday and Wed but both schools are closed or cancelled. Oh well. like I said before, I feel bad for Jill and her boss. They have major deadlines to follow for yearbooks and it's not going to be easy to book them before the end of the school year.

This week, Mia will experience virtual learning while Jill and I work our normal days. That's all for now. Keep safe and thanks for reading.

Patience, Persistence and Passion

Evening everyone. What a weekend but first the week leading up to it. I've been diligently working on the Rey drawing this week for Mia's friend Cecilia only to find out today, she'd rather have Pennywise. UGH. I'll have to start the PW one this week. Anyways, early in the week, Liverpool played against Chelsea and the Mighty Blues came out victorious in the FA Cup. After my work shift, I was dying to go watch the highlights and they certainly didn't disappoint.


Thursday after school, Mia and I played some bass guitar for the first time in quite a while. She actually had a lot of fun and I wish we could spend more time playing music together. Later we had some dinner with Jill, watched Into the Spider-verse and the girls went to bed. STILL an incredible movie.

Friday, I drove to Carmax in hopes of getting a good appraisal on my Corolla. They covered me a low  amount so I had hoped over the weekend, I'd get a better offer while looking for a car after the match.  Saturday, we got up early for our final indoor soccer match of the season. Everyone was fired up upon arriving and ready to give their last game everything. After a very quick team photo, we were ready to go. The girls took on Pewaukee-Sussex United club rec team and both came out swinging. Early in the match, Alice picked up the first goal off a clean pass from Jess. Awesome! The attackers were actually staying in position for a counter-attack off our strong defense clearing the ball out. The strategy paid off because Alice net 4 more goals. Her dribbling and ball handling was fantastic and it mirrored her skills from our Fall season. My only question to Jorge who helped out was "where were these girls ALL season?!" We were playing our best game all season and every kid was playing incredible. Averi was controlling the ball with every attack. Bella cleared everything out and Vida made a strong return to defense after a week off and did amazing. Mia and Scarlett came out fierce and both killed it. Mia was even setting herself up to score but just couldn't get a clean pass to her from her fellow forwards. Olivia's first goal of the season was amazing and got a 2nd one the 2nd half. So proud of her patience and persistence. She hated having to be subbed out and wanted to play the entire game. Same with Angelina. She was incredible as a  defensive midfielder. She would attack and defend when needed and really wanted to score for her Dad. Adalyn who played very well, also was determined to net a goal. Elia played great in defense and I felt bad I couldn't get her up front to attack when she wanted to.

Our goalies both Jess and Sofia were fantastic. Great stops from both girls. Proud of both of our strong girls between the sticks. Jess's punt is still unreal. Can't wait to work with her more in goal this Spring. The only major bummer was that we didn't have Coach Kevin and Cecilia. Both would have loved to have been a part of this match. The girls went crazy after the win. They deserved this win and worked so hard. No one was dragging their feet on and off the field and everyone gave it everything. I know some were disappointed they didn't score, but soccer is a team effort, and every position is important. It was just refreshing to see the passion. The dynamic of the match really changes when we're doing well, you know? The ref had me sign our score sheet and said "who's that little girl? meaning Averi) She's REALLY good and has a good sense of knowing where to put the ball, you know?" I told her Mom afterwards and she was quite proud of her little soccer star. She's got enormous potential.

Afterwards, I gave one final speech to the kids and we said our thank you's to the parents for their support all Winter and said goodbye. I'm so proud of this team. I wish I could get a few more matches but it is what it is. I think we finished 2nd to last, but man was it a crazy difficult season. I think our results would have been different if we didn't play against 99% exclusively club/academy teams. These girls played together year round so it was always going to be difficult. Would I do this again next Winter? Not sure. Now that we're done, Mia and I are going to get a short time off before we start our first season of Spring soccer with SC Wave Jaguars.  She'll be joining Jess, Olivia, pre-school buddy Irianna and BFF Cecilia who she's been playing with for 4 seasons now.

Afterwards, I searched for my title so I could go look for a new car. Sadly, it's gone. No clue where it went so I ordered a new one and hopefully will find a new car to replace the Corolla. Later we went to Michaels for an art cart and I met up with old work friends for beers. Great time catching up with my buddies DJ and Duff.

Today I got up for the Chelsea vs Everton game. The Blues won 4-0. Great for a clean sheet and some solid goals from the good guys. We tried to go to the zoo later, but the line to park was insane. We went for a walk at the park before I went off to work. The weather was perfect. Can't say the same about my shift.

This week I'll continue looking for jobs, working on art and looking at cars. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Business A.U.

Greetings everyone. We've officially entered March on one of the warmest starts to the month that I can remember but first our week leading to that. Nothing super exciting to report. I worked very quickly on Rapunzel sketch for my little buddy Gracie that visits me during the week. I'm not super thrilled with the final image and had panned to give it to her at her little birthday party Saturday afternoon. Thursday after school, I took Mia pants shopping. The little diva is growing and needs more pants. Specifically jogger-style. Literally the only style pants she will wear. Our first stop was Justice. One of her favorite stores. She had a mission to find a comfortable pair of camouflage pants for some reason. She also was eyeing up some camo skirts and overalls for some reason. She took a pile of clothes to the dressing room and tried everything on. Luckily, the pants fit and despite the $28 price tag, I got them. We stopped at Target next.

Target was preparing for Spring or Summer and had very little pants out so we didn't find anything there. She picked out some much needed socks and we were on our way. Overall, not a bad time with the kid. Even though we were just shopping, we still had fun together. Friday, she woke up with a fever of 101 which meant she sadly stayed home from school. We hung out, I worked on my drawing and she did a lot of reading in between naps. Saturday morning, we drove to my parent's house for my Dad's quilt presentation from the Quilts of Valor group that makes and donates quilts to vets. The quality was beautiful and hopefully he appreciates it. We watched Chelsea vs Bournmouth draw 2-2 unfortunately. They shouldn't be drawing the Cherries. Ugh. Luckily, Liverpool, Spurs and Man U also dropped points. Later, we grabbed some lunch, I gave the sketch to Gracie and we went to the Dragons game. We were playing against another Polonia team but this time, our first and only match on the middle field. The Dragons kept up with Polonia (or what Scarlett calls KFC FC) pretty well for a while till Elia made a few mistakes and the goals started coming in. They struggled keeping in positions and they just pounced on our dragons. 2nd half, Adalyn took over goal and that didn't help much either. I let Jess have her way and play defense which she did really well but I wish she would have played keeper. We had a few good chances but it just wasn't our day. We play our final game at 9am against the Strikers who are just below us and haven't won a game yet. Hopefully everyone shows up and we can get the big win. We had three girls sick and Mia wasn't 100%. We hung out at Jill's parents later and had dinner before calling it a night. Today, Mia looked better and we mainly just did some grocery shopping before I went to work. Mia probably played outside because the weather was perfect. I sincerely wish I was off so we could have went snowboarding. The Spring-like conditions would have been perfect at The Rock.

This week, I'll work on Cecilia's Rey sketch, maybe build a new football kit and possibly could be getting rid of my car. That's all for now, thanks for reading!