The Reflection

Evening everyone. Plenty to write about from this weird week, so let's get right to it. The week started a bit strange after I applied for a job. I got an immediate response looking for a Hangouts chat interview. Okay. First time for that but that sounded positive. The next day was the interview for this company called O&J productions. I started getting suspicious when I couldn't find any website or anything. Still, I went through with the interview. The person interviewing me asked some pretty generic questions, mentioned it would be a 20-40 hour a week $30.00 an hour freelance position. Okay then. Then it got super suspicious. They wanted me to purchase an entire "mini-office" list of supplies to set up at home which included a MacBook Pro, printers and a whole lot of expensive supplies. They said they would send a check for everything and I'd get immediately trained after signing a contract. Hell, no. Everything that I was suspicious about was confirmed. This "company" didn't really feel like a company and I wanted nothing to do with it. Luckily, I have people in my network that called BS when I explained everything. The next day, I e-mailed that I would terminate the contract and wanted nothing to do with the production company. I'm just glad I've got people in my life looking out for me.

Thursday we had our last soccer practice. Sadly, the conditions weren't the best and the field was a disaster. We couldn't really use the net for any shooting or goalie drills for Elia but the kids definitely had fun. Last match of the season was Friday. Going into it, I had a plan to release Olivia in the 2nd half and stick Elia in goal with a strong defense to keep her safe since she has never played goalie. 1st half, the Lazer Hornets (yes that's how they spelled it) got one up on us in the middle of the 1st half. Ryan picked up an equalizer before the end of the 2nd half. The girls were looking good and things were looking up. Remember, a draw would have secured us 1st place so all we had to do was keep it up. 2nd half, we started dominating the Hornets and Alice picked up a beautiful goal. 2-1. They got back into this and it was 2-2. 30 seconds left, Ryan took an injury to the face or hand and we subbed her out quick. Next thing we know, they got ONE more goal on Elia in the final seconds finishing the dramatic finale 2-3. Such a heartbreaker. These girls worked so hard all season and all of them thought we could pull this one off. It was such a major bummer. Both of us tied but they got 1st place only on GD. Ughh...

The good news was that they earned themselves 2nd place trophies. I couldn't have been more proud of these talented girls and I hope each and every one of them continue with soccer wherever they play next. Alice finished off the season with 14 goals, Ryan had 5. Linnea had 5.Alice was such a good team player and excelled every match. Ally wins my vote for Most Improved Player with all the skills and heart she played with every single game and practice. Olivia was a coach's dream as far as goalies are considered. Earlier in the season, she had a great kick save and in the tournament, she had a beautiful save that was heading over her head. She struggled in the 2nd half of our final match on the field when I pulled her out of goal per her request but couldn't stick to ONE position when I gave it to her, but what can ya do...She had an AWESOME PK save that had all of us holding our breath in the final match. The whole crowd went crazy when she saved it. Linnea was a warrior all season. She could attack and dribble with the best of them and I sincerely appreciated having this girl on my team. I fully believe if Ava didn't end her season 5 weeks ago with an injury, these kids wouldn't have been in this high-stress match but it happens. Elia was fantastic and always played with heart. Ryan was super competitive which didn't surprise me and probably always will be. Mia and Cecilia both made improvements and I hope wherever they play next season, they can work on their attack and drive. Playing with and against 4th graders certainly wasn't easy for both of these two but I think with a lot of off-season work, they can make major improvements. Lastly, it was awesome having Coach Kevin and Coach Jim this season helping out with the girls. Both had a great time and I'm thankful they joined me this season. I didn't get to watch the Chelsea vs Burnley match but saw highlights of them winning 4-2. Pulisic got a beautiful hat trick and will be one to watch this season now that he's getting into the starting XL.

Later, Mia went tick or treating in the downtown Waukesha businesses picking up some candy while dressed in her soccer attire, complete with her new trophy. Most of the day, she never let it go. We attempted to do some Spiderman/Spider Gwen pictures at Jill's studio but Mia HATED the costume. We got a few before I send it back this week to Amazon.  My parents came over later to carve pumpkins with us before we called it a night.  Today, we started our day with a visit to the zoo. I had informed the diva that the weather was perfect for the red pandas to be out and about. What do you know, I was correct. Kiki, Dr. Anne and Dash were roaming around. Mia watched them for probably an hour. They were so cute playing, yawning and eating. When we got back, Mia dyed her hair and it looks pretty rad. After washing it out, we got ready for our family trick or treating. My sister handed out treats as my parents, brother, sister-in law and nephews plus Jill and Mia ventured out looking for fun and treats. The older these kids get, the longer they last trick or treating. On top of that, the weather was close to perfect for the end of October. When we got back, everyone split and we made spaghetti before Mia and Jill went off to sleep. This week, I'll try to get some good edits of the Spidey photos and Mia's trick or treating Thursday in Waukesha. Friday, Jill and I are helping out at Mia's Fall party. Should be a lot of fun. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Torrential Tryouts

Good morning everyone. October is nearly over, but we've been incredibly busy (seems like almost every day/weekend) Last Wednesday, Mia had yet again, another field trip with her class. THIS time, to the First Milwaukee Theater to see a play about a square-shaped pumpkin. Jill finally got to go on a field trip with her. She loves plays and this was the perfect one to chaperone. When we dropped off Mia for school, we had an hour before Jill had to go meet for the bus to pick up the kids and drive to MKE. So, we took Remi to the park and went for a nice walk. The weather was gorgeous and absolutely perfect. Just like the good ol' days when we'd take him for walks, just the two of us. Nothing wrong with taking him with Mia or anything, but it brought back some fond memories.

After the walk, Jill soon went to Mia's school for the field trip. I had a little piece and quiet. Worked on some art and did some much-needed drumming. Mia and Jill had a great time. The play was fun, and the kids behaved nicely for Jill. Lucky. After the field trip, Mia and I had planned to go to the park with BFF Olivia. As we were leaving, Remi checked her down the stairs. She cried and cried and didn't want to go anymore to the park. When Olivia brought up that they were going to go to Chuckie Cheese, Mia jumped at the opportunity to go. So we went, and the ladies had a blast. They were the only kids there, and played all kinds of games. Mia wasn't too excited when Chuckie came out but when he went back into hiding, she was fine. It was great to see them having so much fun. We still have a boatload of tokens left for our next visit. Friday, I took the day off to photograph the Milwaukee Torrent's tryouts. Before that, Mia and I spent the day together. She was dressed up in her full tracksuit ready for gymnastics. Turns out, they don't have open gym and we had to decide whether to do a last-minute run to the trampoline park, or Monkey Joe's. We went with Monkey Joe's.

Once again, we had a blast. She went down EVERY slide including the largest slide: the halfpipe. It was a great time. She even played with a boy she met. I believe his name was Parker. Anyway, he followed us around for a while. Cute kid. Later, I packed up my bag and went over to Uihlein Field in the pouring rain. It would stop and start on my drive to the stadium, and I kept thinking "please please stop raining". It really didn't. I walked down to the field. Already getting soaked and met with head coach and owner Andi Davi. Amazingly nice guy with such a passion for this team and everything involved. He was absolutely frustrated with the heavy rain. He brought his flags and banners to be photographed, and clearly it wasn't going to happen. I was doing my best to photograph under the small inclosure and got about 20 photographs before the entire stadium's power went out.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? And was way more angry than anyone. He only was allowed about an hour and a half of time on the fields for tryouts. 34 players (which I believed included 4 keepers) showed up for this and after waiting and waiting and waiting, the tryouts were rescheduled for Tuesday. Quite a few people drove a good distance for the tryout including Minnesota and Hawaii (obviously didn't drive). They were all good sports about it, and the majority are coming back for the rescheduled date. I helped tear down everything and load up his car. It was great meeting him, his assistant coach and some of the players. I have to say, it was really surreal being introduced to his staff as "this is our graphic artist, he's the guy who designed and came up with the jerseys".  After we all said the goodbyes, I drove back home in the rain.

Saturday, I watched Chelsea crumble to West Ham. Another disappointing game. JM even got ejected from the game. I can't figure out what's going wrong. Defense wasn't there. Again. The near-goal was just SO close. They have a Capital One Cup game on Tuesday. Hoping for a win. I'm going to miss the Liverpool game Saturday due to having to work the 7am-3pm shift.

Later after the game, we got in our costumes and went to a Halloween party at a friends house. Mia had a great time playing with all of the kids, AND she even tried Alligator meat. She said it was pretty good. Jill loved it. Afterwards, we jetted over to the Delafield business Trick or Treating. We got to every business and had a lot of fun. When we got back home, we carved a couple of pumpkins. This was the first year we let Mia carve a pumpkin. With Jill's help, she did a great job carving a kitty. No stencils. Just a drawn on cat. I on the other hand, did my very best to carve a 3D pumpkin. Let me tell you, it was SUPER difficult. I really didn't take a lot of ceramic classes in HS and college. It didn't turn out that great, but I did my best. I may try painting a pumpkin next year. Do something a little different.

This week, Mia has a Halloween party and conferences. Saturday, Trick or Treating with family. Should be a lot of fun. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!!