Music+Art

Evening everyone. Not the best ending to my night so let's get right to it so I can pass out for the evening. The week was a fun one for Mia. Mia was off from school Monday so we did some much-needed snowboarding. Didn't stay out too long. The hike up Valley View's big hill is daunting but she made some good runs. We fell a couple times but overall did well. I popped an ollie off one of the rollers as well as a simple 180 to see if I could do it. I wish we had more time for snowboarding but my obnoxious work schedule ruins everything.  Later, Mia went by Jill to help do some envelope stuffing. Not a glamorous job but Mia enjoyed spending time with Jill.

Throughout the week, I continued working on my Joker comic-influenced sketch. It's taken a ton of time, but it's almost done. I've had some struggles blending some of my green colors, as well as the pen not writing well on the some of the colors but I'm mostly happy with it.

Thursday, I photographed at Hillcrest Elementary. Easy Waukesha school to work and navigate. Kids were pretty funny too. For some reason, a small group of 5th grader girls were infatuated with me and kept finding things we had in common. When one girl asked my age and I told them I was 36, they were like "oh wow, I thought you were in your 20's you're almost as old as my Mom!" Sorry? Overall, not a bad day.

Later after I picked up Mia, she had an online Kawaii drawing class. 6 other kids joined this one-off little sketch session. The woman running it was really sweet and Mia enjoyed drawing these little weather characters in her favorite Japanese style of drawing. The only downside was that the diva was SUPER shy and quiet. She shared her drawings throughout the session but never said a word. Bummer. She still struggles with being shy with adults no matter what the situation is. Mia also did some super rare drumming on my drum kit. She used to play it a lot when she was really little and loved it. She still enjoys it and even learned some beats. I was originally going to teach her "Under Pressure" on bass but we ran out of time and Jill was home so we made dinner. Later, we watched Frozen 2.  Mia and Jill LOVE Frozen 2. Me? It's okay. The music is good, art gorgeous. Story? It's alright.

Saturday, I got up early for the Chelsea vs Spurs match. I missed the first goal off Giroud but the replay was amazing. The guy was supposed to leave over the January Transfer Window, but CFC didn't release him so he's putting the effort in to play well and win games. I took Remi out at half time and came back to another goal. Alonso blasted one from a good distance. The match ended 2-1 which means we beat them twice this season. Fantastic! Jill and Mia woke up soon after the game was over, we met up with Tommy and drove to IKEA for the very first and probably last time. We weren't super impressed but Mia enjoyed some Swedish candy and ice cream. The cinnamon roll was pretty awesome too.

We went back home, hung out and had pizza for dinner with Tommy. We watched Frozen 2 again. Afterwards, played board games at "Mia's Arcade" and she drew us pictures as prizes. Super cute. Mia did some reading as well as Jill while I continued my Joker sketch. Mia fell asleep on the couch and I brought up the sleeping diva before we all crashed. Today we didn't do much. Ran to Menards in search of some new light fixtures and or a ceiling fan for the dining room. No luck.

This week, more drawing and we're back in action soccer-wise on Saturday. Chelsea takes on Munich on Tuesday so hopefully we can get a big win. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Rise and Grind

Evening everyone. Quite the busy weekend with even more snow, so let's get right to it. During the week, nothing too exciting to report. Thursday was a normal day off for me. I started attempting to work with alcohol-based markers. Definitely not an easy medium to work with. Mainly because I think I may or may not have asked for the correct paper for it but we'll see how the next attempt goes. Hopefully I can figure it out. After I picked up Mia from school, we knocked out her homework and got to spend some quality time playing her favorite Switch game; Luigi's Manson 3. It's definitely a game you want to play with a friend as the challenges go on. Since Jill's not really a fan of video games, Mia settles for me :) We made turkey burgers with Jill before calling it a night.

Friday while at work, we got some serious snow. It picked up quickly as my shift went on. Certainly made my drive a nightmare and question if we'll have a game the next day...at 7:00AM!
5:30am came and we woke up early to get ready for Mia's game. I had parents concerned for the weather since we had received a healthy amount of the white stuff the night before. If we were going to cancel, I would have had to have done it the day before. Majority of the kids made it. The only two that didn't notified me prior which wasn't weather related. The game certainly wasn't one to remember. The girls lost pretty badly. Couldn't even pick up a goal unfortunately. EBU that beat us are a club that keeps the kids together from season to season so they clearly knew how to play. They haven't even lost a game yet this season. They were well organized and had no trouble beating us. We had a few close moments to score, but in the end, couldn't find the net. I need to figure out how to get the kids to stay in positions, not bunch up and PASS. They focus more on dribbling. Liv had a break away but her touch was too heavy and she couldn't get the shot off. Angie and Scarlett are showing improvement as well as Vida as a defender. She just has to work on her passing when the ball comes towards our end. Jill's parents made the early trek in the morning so Mia was happy to see them. Our next match is at 4:30 next weekend. Hopefully they can pull off a win or at least make some goals.

You'd think Mia would want to nap after wards, but she had some post-game energy which we used to help me shovel for a while. She ended up playing in the snow while I snow blown the driveway. She buried her legs in the snow, which was cute. After I pulled her out, we packed up our gear and went snowboarding. This time, I set up a couple PVC pipe rails so we could learn some grinds and slides. Mia figured out the FS 50/50 pretty quickly. Helped that a few months ago I had set up a rail for her to practice tricks on flat ground. She did a little smith grind as FS board slide as well. I realized way later when we got home I should have set up the rails on flat ground. Her board slides would have been better and cleaner but you know, you learn and figure things out. After a few hours of snowboarding, we went home. I ran to TJ's for some groceries, and Mia and I soon met up with her friend Scarlett and her sisters (and teammate) Angelina and older sister Sofia for some free ice skating. For the last 3-4 years, Mia and I have gone skating at Eble during Waukesha's JANBOREE where the public could skate for free for 2 hours. The girls had a blast. Mia was grasping hands with myself and Scarlett till they were comfortable skating without me. Her goal is to get better and it and I hope one day she does. Angie got better as the day went on and Sofia totally knew what she was doing. She wasn't feeling the best and I ended up taking Mia, Scarlett and Angie back to our house after the skating session was over while her sister and Mom went to the doctor. The girls were so excited to play with our animals and hang out. Mia and Scarlett went straight to the Switch while Angelina went through my art books looking at the stuff I've done. Everything impressed her and she picked mine and Jill's brain about literally everything. Art, photography, life etc etc. The girls were having so much fun that they requested I call and ask if it was okay if they stayed for dinner. Of course their Mom was cool with it so they excitingly had some pizza while Jill and I ate sushi. Sadly, our sub pump line had some water frozen which backed up in the corner of our basement with my beloved drum kit getting sprayed heavily with water. UGH. Luckily, we melted the pipe and things were fine. The kids ate dinner, played some more Switch, a little hide-and-seek and a whole lot of fun. Eventually, I had to talk the girls into going home. Mainly, because I think their Mom was probably missing them. It was quite the day that started at 5:30 in the morning. After I dropped the girls off, Mia, Jill and I crashed for the night.

I completely skipped the Chelsea vs Newcastle match to snowboard with Mia, which ended up being a good idea since they blew the game. This week, Mia's off Monday so we'll find something fun to do. Other than that, that's about it. Thanks for reading!

Bring On the Snow!

Evening everyone. Mild week over here for us but with Christmas fast approaching, things will quickly change so let's get right to it. The weather has been real mild so Mia and I have been desperately craving some snow so we can start snowboarding. The Rock is attempting to open this coming weekend with the upcoming temp change dropping to the teens they'll be able to make snow. Our goal is to at least snowboard there at least once. Other than that, we'll continue hitting up local spots and creating jib spots with PVC pipes.

Chelsea played Villa middle of the week so before work I watched a little bit of it before work. They pulled off a win but sadly didn't work out for them Sat, but I get back to that later. Thursday I had my year end meeting for work in the morning. After wards, I worked on the book and waited for Jill to come home so we could pick up Mia from school. Sadly, the diva had a pretty rough day with a friend. Luckily, Friday was better. I wish I could fix these issues but unfortunately, Mia has to learn to handle then on her own. It's frustrating. I helped her with homework and made dinner for Jill, Mia and myself before they crashed for the night.

Saturday, I got up nice and early to watch Chelsea blow the match to one of the worst teams in the EPL. Everton fired their manager towards the end of the week so picking up the interm manager seemed to really turn their team around. They played completely different against the Blues so it was disappointing to see Chelsea struggle. Big game this week against Lille on Tuesday so I hope things get better.

Mia woke up after the game and relaxed with me till we went grocery shopping. After we got home, we celebrated her Grandpa Chicago's birthday. Friday night, Mia made him a special present-shaped cake that turned out amazing. Of course her Grandpa Chicago loved it as well and the gifts. They took their annual Christmas card photo as well with an awesome dinner by Grandma Missy Shell.

Today, Mia made us all pancakes which were pretty tasty! Jill and her hung out with Tommy and Grandpa and Grandpa when I left for work. It was a typical day at work and I was pretty gutted to find out I wasn't granted my week off for the Christmas week while Bryan and the family come in. Totally bummed out, which fuels me even more to leave and find something new.  I'm counting down the days till the indoor season starts so Mia and I can't wait.

This week, I hope to finish the book and Mia's got a birthday party and possible sleepover. that's all for now, thanks for reading!

It's Coming Together

Greetings everyone. Plenty to discuss so let's get right to it. My work week was a quite one because I worked the weekend, so that was somewhat nice. Wednesday, we got some snow so I spent the majority of my day off working on art, looking at jobs and all in all, enjoying watching the weird snow in November. I also made a few concept football kits for EPL teams so that was a lot of fun. I'll design an Everton one this week as well. It was nice because anything I had to do, it could wait till Thursday because I was off then too :) Thursday, I drove to Play it Again Sports to sell my black Lamar Mission snowboard. I had picked it up off the Facebook marketplace and it just was way too heavy for any freestyle or park riding. Surprisingly, they gave me $60 for it so I was happy. When I got home, I met up with Mia for lunch. She was pretty surprised as I hung out with her and her crazy friends. It was difficult to eat because literally every one of them at our table had to ask me a million questions. I'm glad they're all intrigued about whatever is going on in my lame life but in the end, Mia was happy I was there. Of course I had to go to recess with them so we played our traditional street soccer. Some boys joined in and it was girls vs boys. Mia was proud that she nutmegged a couple boys and scored. After saying goodbyes, I went home.

I forgot the mention that about the middle of the week, I sent out information to Mia's team in search of kids that wanted to continue playing soccer. Immediately, I got a response from Alice's Mom that wanted to sign her up. Amazing. I put the info out in the community and had about 9 kids so far confirmed to play including Ice Breakers Mia, Cecilia, Elia and Alice. Bella from the Pink Panthers (and my 1st year team), a couple of girls from SC Wave, Vida the beast in defense and Adalyn from my team last year. We've got a few "maybe's" but still need 3 more kids to get a 12 kid squad. I'm stoked that so many kids want to play and really hope I can make this happen since they all want to play. I need to find a gym for practices still as well.

After pick up on Thursday, Mia immediately put her snowboard gear and wanted to go snowboarding. Since we don't nearly enough snow for that, Mia had to settle for a little PVC pipe rail setup to work on building muscle memory for grinds. I didn't think she'd be able to develop and progress that easily, but she certainly surprised me. She went from a basic 50/50 grind position to frontside lip slides, backside board slides, backside 50/50s and frontside board slides. Unreal. I know it's not the same as in motion, but for her to build the muscle memory from an ollie to twist herself was remarkable. Hopefully she can try them out soon with a regular amount of some good powder.

Friday, I got up nice and early to watch the Chelsea vs Palace match. Goal-less 1st half, but it didn't take long in the 2nd half for Tammy to net his 10th goal of the season. Pulisic picked up one as well to find the match. Earlier in the week, Chelsea played against Ajax and came from behind to draw the match. Azpi had the 5th goal that would have won it but VAR confirmed that there was a handball. Ugh. Good effort coming back though. The rest of the day, we did some cleaning, shopping and made a late dinner.

Today, Mia and I attempted to find some regular water-proof boots for playing in snow at recess, accept oops, the mall stores weren't open. Target had nothing so later while Jill and her former co-workers at tacos at our house, Mia and my in-laws and myself went out to lunch and Mia later found some boots when the mall opened. This week, I hope to complete the team, I need to reassemble my snowboard bindings and illustrate Mia's book. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Burn

Good evening everyone. Man, was it a busy week. Between trying to get through my work-week at KT and helping Jill with snapping pictures at several schools (another one tomorrow) I've been trying not to lose my mind. I was at Lowell Elementary early this week and at two different Waterford schools as well. I experienced my first lock-down at one of them which was pretty different. It's both important and sad that it happens. My week ended with the grade school right next to the middle school. Kids were cute and it was a pretty positive day snapping photos. We attended our first PFC meeting to tie up some loose ends for the upcoming art show. The parents and board members seem legit excited. By the end of the week, my body was absolutely burned out.

The weekend wasn't too eventful. Mia got to hang out with BFF Cecilia while Jill and I did some grocery shopping. After wards, I took the girls snowboarding and sledding at Valley View. I was stoked to have finally fixed my bindings. Now I just need to drastically improve my riding. It doesn't help that we go to a pretty good-size hill that's really kinda steep. Web both would greatly improve with some sessions at The Rock but for now, we're just trying to master Valley View. Mia flew off one of the ramps accidentally on her first run down and landed a bit rough. Luckily, she was fine. Cecilia even made two attempts and did really well! Mia was so impressed and overall, had a great time with her friend. The two are planning a sleepover at some point this month. Later, I finished spraying the artwork for the art show and we watched a movie with pizza and Jill's hand-made sushi before crashing for the night.

Backing it up a bit, it was a positive week for Chelsea as they defeated the dreaded and godawful Spurs and Sunday, they took down Fulham 2-1. Two great matches that seem to have the good guys on a role. Maybe they can move out of 6th place? Who knows, but anything is possible in the EPL To close out my night, my older bro texted me a picture of a sleeve-logo design I made for his hockey team sweater/jersey in the final product form. Looks great!

Tomorrow, I'm photographing in Elm Grove before my 2-10 shift. Not sure what else is up for the week, but slowly we're getting things ready for Mia's birthday party. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Settle For Satin

Evening everyone. It was a slightly busy week, but starting tomorrow, it'll be a LOT busier. We'll get back to that. Monday was President's Day so Mia had the day off. It was also a day with plenty of fresh snow. The temps were actually pretty decent so with all that, Mia and I went snowboarding at Valley View. I was anxious to get my new board in the powder in hopes it'd be better than the other one I had that was too big and heavy. There were a lot of people out tubing and sledding off ramps. Mia did really well and rarely fell. I made one run down and couldn't for the life of me get my bindings to loosen. Ugh. Mia was getting irritated that I couldn't help her with her bindings she was getting stuck with so overall, the day wasn't super great, but we'll have a better time next time. It took me a few days to get to it, but I was able to figure out my bindings and adjust them to better fit my boots. They aren't perfect and probably meant for smaller boots, but I think it'll work. Hopefully we can get some more snowboarding sessions before Spring comes.

Mia and I didn't do too much on my day off except her usual $1.00 smoothie. Friday, kicked off Yearbook Season for Jill's studio so I joined her boss at St Mary's to photograph all the kids. I've got 5 other schools to do over the course of a few weeks. Saturday, Mia and I took her picture for her birthday invites and had them sent out (email-wise) Hopefully the kids will have an awesome time come March. She's been excitingly checking to see who's RSVP'd. She's got a birthday party a few weeks before hers that's a sleepover and she already has a sleeping bag out and ready for it. Oh Mia...

We watched the Penguins vs Flyers game while working on some of the Art Show stuff. Mia surprisingly watched the whole game and gave me updates as I was making delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. Rough ending with the Flyers beating the good guys in the Stadium Series match. Ugh.

Sunday, I watched the league cup final between Chelsea vs City. Last time they met, City destroyed us. Today, they played like champions. Chelsea refused to let them score and it went to PK's. Sadly, a couple misses from us and some unfortunate mistakes from keeper Kept, lead to City getting the hardware. Rough ending for the Blues as now they just have the Europa title to play for. This also could be the manager's last week with them. Who knows. It was nice to see the Blues playing like they cared.

Tomorrow, I'll be in Waukesha and Tuesday in Watertown photographing for the year books. We've got a PFC meeting Tuesday after Mia's dance class. So much to do, so little time. Will we get snow this week? Who knows. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Bouncin' and Chillin'

Evening everyone! What. A. Week. Mia had a handful of snow and COLD days this week. Wisconsin got a nice dumping of snow this week which is AWESOME. Mia spent one of her snow days sledding behind OL. Didn't bring out the snowboard, just a trusty old sled to make some trails. Not a bad time, but the temps started to shift and she got a bit chilly. Nothing a hot chocolate can't cure.
She had a few really chilly days that caused the district and most of Southeastern Wisconsin to close down, so she had some time to relax, work on art and do some much needed quiet reading. Her last cold day, I was also off so we did two really fun things: We had a drawing challenge where we chose for each artist the colors to use, and took turns picking subject matter such as shave ice, breakfast items and tsum tsums. Really fun and worked our creativity.

Later, we met up with friends and did some bouncing at Helium Trampoline park. Haven't been there in at least 4 years. The place looks totally different and we totally had a great time. Plus, she got to hang with Noelle, her sis Cora and Ellahrose. All in all, great time. Her favorite part was jousting Noelle. I enjoyed dunking on the hoops. We also did some filming for our Mia and Daddy's Adventures video, which turned out nice. Friday, was her 2nd day of school for the week. I believe she was in Wednesday as well before that 2nd cold snap came on Thursday. From what she said, the day was pretty good.

Throughout the week, Chelsea had two matches. One was an utter embarrassment against Boro and Saturday was against Huddersfield. I didn't bother watching the 1st one's highlights because of the shear embarrassment but Mia and I did watch the 2nd one. Chelsea tore Huddersfield apart with a 5-0 win. Awesome to see new striker Higuain pick up a pair of goals as well as Hazard. They've got some pretty big matches coming up so this was needed. After the match, we got our gear and met up with Mia's friend Charlie at Valley View Park for some snowboarding and sledding. The temps were perfect so we had a great time. Mia's improving so quickly. Can't say the same for me. My body is still super sore from some heavy spills. I'm actually debating about trading in my board for a shorter one more specific for freestyle. If I was free riding in Colorado through powder, it'd be fine, but Mia and I are trying to get more into freestyle. We'll see if I pick up a different board this week while Mother Nature hopefully gives us some more snow. I honestly think Mia could hold her own at The Rock Snowpark. Still needs to be able to stop and move her back tail to carve more. We did some more filming and despite having some battery issues, we made a 2nd video. Mia had a blast editing it this morning.

Later, Mia made a red velvet "Spring Cake" because the groundhog didn't see his shadow. I had a slice today and it's pretty tasty. She's such a talent baker and rarely needs much supervision when it comes to baking. This week, I've got hella logos to complete. Hopefully they turn out okay. I also want to continue working on my resume and portfolio if time allows. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Speechless in New Berlin

Evening everyone. I don't know why, but the title of this blog entry made me laugh enough to have it be the actual title. Anyways, plenty of things going on over here but first, a recap of last week. Jill and Mia returned and after I got home from work, we rang in the new year together complete with bubbly grape juice and confetti we've been recycling for the last 3 years. New Years Day, we had just enough snow for Mia to give snowboarding a go. She's been so patient and eager to start. A few days before she got home, I picked one up off the Facebook Marketplace. It's bigger than I want, but we'll see how it does in the snow.

Anyways, Mia got all her gear on and we went to Orchard Lane's little hill behind the school. I didn't have my boots/helmet/goggles yet so I did my best to help Mia get started. She made a few runs and unfortunately slipped and landed on her face. I honestly thought after that, she was done. The fall was rough and she got snow in her goggles. To my surprise, she collected her thoughts and went back at it. I think after a few tries she made it down without slipping. The bottom was pretty covered with ice due to rain earlier in the week so ideally, it wasn't the best conditions to learn a new sport, but I'm not going to disappoint her. She even made a few attempts at performing an ollie. Not bad for a first day in the snow! We were totally proud of her. I can't wait to join her hopefully soon. I told her she's already ahead of me because I haven't got all my parts to start. She had a short week of school and throughout the week, Jill and I have preparing for the upcoming school art project. Saturday, I watched Chelsea take on Nottingham Forrest. Solid game and a sad 'goodbye' to Fabregas. I've always enjoyed his work with the Blues and hope he does well in his next adventure. Morata nailed two goals but celebrated like his dog died. The dude clearly isn't right so I hope something gets figured out for him mentally and physically.

Mia went to her friend Cecilia's for literally the entire day. 10:30am-6:00pm. Perfect day to hang with her since Jill and I were heavily involved with getting everything ready for the project. Mia had no problem hanging out with Cecilia and easily wouldn't have had a problem staying the night. We may have her over next weekend. Today, Mia hung out with a different friend. Charlie and Mia were making plans on Friday at school to hang over the weekend, so today, they played at her house, then later went to the mall. Another awesome day chilling with her friend that she really hasn't had any one-on-one time with. I can't remember a time where just the two friends chilled together. I had a Flood meeting last night and we had a pretty great turn out! Lots of ideas so hopefully we'll have great support in the 2019 season. Throughout the week, I had laryngitis and it absolutely sucked. Literally drank a ton of tea and water all week. Loved starting out 2019 with absolutely no voice and working a ton. Luckily, Friday it started to return and as of today, it's way better.

Our first class tomorrow is 8:45am and it just so happens to be Mia's. Totally excited for the week! That's all for now thanks for reading!

Space Oddity

Good evening everyone. I'll get through this quickly so I can crash for the night. So most of the week, I've been thoroughly scouring the webs and store websites looking for a nice snowboard for Mia for Christmas. She's been really really wanting one so I've spent a great deal of time trying to get the most bang for my buck. I'd prefer we find a board her size, but have looked at some a bit bigger. Wednesday I was off so after school, Mia and I hit up a Play it Again Sports in Tosa. The store was much older and smaller than the one I've been to in Greenfield, but we checked to see if we could get her boot size figured out. Turns out I was right and she is a size 2. The guy helped us figure out how to tighten them on these apparently better boots. She liked them, so when I eventually get her board, I'll pick up some boots too. Boots are a heck of a lot easier to get than the perfect board. The hunt continues...

I had debated about getting one for myself for cheap as well so we could learn together. We'll see how this goes. I know the sport is tricky and difficult but I don't want Mia to get discouraged so if we both fall and laugh about it, it'll make the the all-important process of learning all the more enjoyable. Saturday, Mia made a birthday card for her friend Charlie while Jill and I did some painting in the kitchen. We tried a couple of new paint colors for the wall. Not sold on either so we'll try again. Mia mentioned how much she misses soccer and wished we still played matches on Saturday. I miss coaching it too kiddo. The fact that she ended this season on the high note of scoring her first goal was amazing and she's setting her goal for the 2019 season of a hat trick, is feasible. I like her determination so I think it's very possible.

Sunday, Mia went off to her friend's birthday party. Always cute how they greet her "MIA'S HERE!!!!!" We cleaned out Jill's car and picked up Mia an hour or so later. She had a blast making slime and chilling with her friends. We started to think what to do with Mia's birthday next year, so we'll see what happens. Mia wants it "Red Panda" themed. Not sure what that means for her, but we'll figure it out. Plenty of time, although the month of March will be hectic because we'll be hosting the school-wide art gallery show. So much going on, so little time.

This week, we've obviously got Thanksgiving, so that'll be fun. Mia's got Pajama Day on Tuesday along with a big writing day. Not sure what they have the kids doing but it's supposed to be a ton of fun. Wednesday I have a pair of art lessons so this week leading up to it, I'll have to come up with a good lesson plan. I've been sorta casually looking at jobs here and there. Something to get me out of the current FT place. Nothing serious as of now. Chelsea are back in action on Saturday after a 2 week international break so it'll be good to catch them again.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!