Chef Mia

Greetings and good morning everyone. Hard to believe December has been flying by and Christmas is literally right around the corner. Certainly doesn't look like it around here, but what can you do, right? Going to try and complete this rather quickly and get back to the Chelsea vs Brighton match. I completed the illustrations for Mia's book this week. Very stoked about that, considering how much work goes into Mia's traditional book we enjoy creating for her. Every year she gets more and more excited about it, so we try to come up with fun adventures that get her hooked. Jill worked on the writing part and should be able to finish it in the next day or so. We have a LOT of wrapping still to do and have to find time this week to work on it.

This week, Mia had Career Day where she dressed in the career she wants. For the last 3 years from 4K-1st grade, Mia's always wanted to be a dolphin trainer. She recently changed her mind to a more reasonable field of study. Mia wants to be a baker and own a cafe. She was learned a lot this year in baking and even created and baked macrons this week to decorate her 4-layer cake that she also made all by herself. I'm super impressed with her patience and technique with baking and I think she could easily fulfill this dream. Thursday, we had an art meeting for the massive art gala night at Mia's school. We have a ton to do before the week I take off from work and lead classes in January but if all this comes together, it'll be one amazing night. Friday, Mia had College Week this week and proudly wore her Carroll gear to support where her parents went to. Go Pios! Friday was the Step into your Future thing, where different parents come to school and discuss their careers with everyone. Mia went to a hairdresser, a firefighter, and engineer and someone in marketing/advertising.She LOVED it and waited up Friday night to tell me about all the different careers. She really liked the engineer but I  bet with all the math, she'd not be excited about that career.

Saturday, I did the finishing touches in the kitchen, painting-wise. We just have to complete and hang the cabinets and we're good. Later, we went to my in-laws for an early Christmas dinner. Super tasty crab legs and homemade pasta. We ate Mia's cake and it was absolutely amazing. We played some Family Feud and this musical game that was new before heading home. Mia crashed on the way and remained asleep upon arriving home.

This week is her last week of school, so she'll have a holiday party. Lots of art for the gala night to complete. That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Believe

Good evening everyone. Going to try to make this a quick one. Getting a late start on the blog so bare with me. This week was the "week from hell" from me. 6 days straight of late-shifts till 10. I especially wasn't digging it because it meant I'd only see Mia an hour a day which was to get her ready for school. We hardly get a lot of time to talk in that time and by the time I see her the following day, asking her "how was school" usually gets responded with "I dunno, I forgot." I had told myself "If a survive the week, I'll go to lunch with Mia on Friday" so with that, I surprised her on Friday by lunch time. She totally didn't see that one coming and was stoked I surprised her. We ate lunch with all her crazy friends and had a good time.

One of the things I noticed first hand is how hard it is for her to hang out with a particular friend for recess. If she wants to hang with Cecilia, Charlie or Vida or (insert friend here) want to hang out but don't necessarily want to do what another friend wants to do. Because Mia's such a kind kid, she has a hard time telling one friend she doesn't want to hang out with them for the day because she doesn't want to hurt anyones feelings. She ended up doing a jump rope contest with Vida, Leilani and Charlie for a little bit. Charlie didn't really care for the whole jump rope thing and wanted to play fairies with Mia but Mia was preoccupied with whatever Vida wanted her to do. I could tell Mia was torn between several friends wanting her attention. Poor kid. Eventually when it was time to go, Charlie quietly told Mia how she misses when they would just play together. She's been having issues missing her Mom at school and I think could have used a friend to distract her. Recess is always a part of my lunch time visit I loath because I see how hard it can be on her and friends when they want to all play together, but end up struggling to find things to do. She gave me huge hugs before I left and quietly asked "can you PLEASE ask Mrs Mayer if you could give our class art lessons? She wasn't the only kid begging for that. I had at least 3 of her friends asking the same thing so of course I asked so she'll figure out a good time to do it. I have to figure out what exactly I want to teach. :P

This week was difficult with myself doubting I'll ever get out of KT and into a job I thrive creatively but to hear the sincere requests just to have me come and teach art made me feel better. I've been updating my resume as well as my online portfolio in hopes of possibly getting something new in 2019. I need a job that allows me to be home in the evenings with Mia. I've gone too long working 2nd shift. I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to hold a job at night so my parents (and later Jill's) could help with Mia. She's at a good age where I should be able to switch a career so I can spend more time with the family. Mia ultimately would be happier if I could be around more too. I truly believe that I can find a new career in 2019 and will have to work really hard to get the job I so very want and deserve.

Friday night she waited up for me which was super nice. Saturday, I watched Chelsea pull off the miracle of the season (so far) beating Man City 2-0. Earlier in the week they lost to the Wolves which really was pretty lousy. I didn't even want to watch the highlights, they were that bad. Somehow Kante and Luiz pulled out two great goals to give City their first loss of the seasons. Unbelievable. We spent the majority of the day working on the kitchen and have a little bit more to do. Getting so close.

Sunday, we drove to Jill's friend Heather's house to bake and decorate cookies with all the kids. I went to work shortly after the kids started to decorate but from what Jill said when I got home tonight, Mia had the BEST time. Arabella really enjoys spending time with Mia and she's pretty chill so Mia always enjoys her.

This week, I will continue my quest for a snowboard for myself. Almost found one on the FB Marketplace but discovered it's an all-mountain board and I need a freestyle board for park riding. Jill and I have an art meeting after school Thursday to hammer out any more details we need for the art gala night at OL. Awesome! That's all for now thanks for reading!

Laughter for Life

Good evening everyone! What. A. Week. What easily could have been a quick and painless week ended up being a pretty stressful one leading up to my incredible 3 days off. Work has just been uber stressful and it has me wanting to leave in 2019 and hopefully find a more suitable job in my field. I've never been more mentally exhausted in all my life. Just completely burned out, and in desperate need of change.

Thursday was the start of my much deserved 3 days off so it was nice to pick up the kiddo. She hung out and attempted to snowboard on her saucer in the little bit of snow we had. She fell so many times but laughed so hard. She's totally ready to start snowboarding (come Christmas time). I just need to find a board for myself + boots.

 Friday after school, I picked her up and we had the furnace guy here AGAIN fixing something. Hopefully it's good. Anyways, we packed up Mia's overnight bag and picked up Jill from work and drove to Grandma Gail's for Mia to have a sleep over. We picked up a bit of food and Jill and I were off to Milwaukee to the Conan and Friends comedy show. The Riverside is such a nice theater and provided the perfect venue for this event. The crowd was packed and Conan was absolutely hilarious. The comedians were also incredible and each of them had their own unique style of comedy. James Veitch was a definite highlight. My face hurt from laughing so hard. Ron Funches closed the night and was equally great. Conan came back out along with Flula to answer some questions. Some of the questions asked were really stupid so I was bummed that I didn't get to ask anything before they ran out of time. Bugger. Would have loved to hang around to see if he was going to come out to meet up with fans, but we ended up leaving. When we got home, we watched a bit of Trevor Noah before heading off to bed. It was a night of comedy and I sure needed it after this week.

 Saturday, Mia came back home after a successful sleepover and we went to Donuts with Santa. Mia wanted noting to do with him (she didn't think he was the real Santa) and ended up hanging a bit with her new friend this year Vida. They share a lot of similarities and is overall a really nice kid.  We didn't get our photos taken with the big man, and ended up leaving. Mia did make a nice ornament though. We drove out later to my in-laws for a great belated Thanksgiving and birthday for my father in law. It was nice to relax and have a great meal with everyone. Mia always loves it when Tommy visits :) 

Sunday, I way overslept and missed my early alarm for the Chelsea vs Fulham match. Caught 10 minutes of the 2nd half and caught RLC's goal. Great win for the Blues. Need to keep it going. Later after painting, I went to work for the night. 

This week, I have to continue working on the book, I have a store meeting Tuesday and I am literally working every day and won't be off till Saturday. Major bummer. That's all for now, thanks for reading!! 

Wreck it Turkey

Good evening everyone. Busy and enjoyable little break for Mia and the family (with the exception of myself working). Early in the week, I finally found a snowboard for Mia. On a whim, I decided to drive to the Play it Again Sports in Greenfield and luckily discovered a board perfect for Mia. I picked up a pair of matching boots too, so I imagine both were sold together. Cost a little more than I wanted to spend on it, but I wasn't going to keep looking. The guy behind the counter said kid sized boards don't last long at their store. They're just such a hot item for Christmas so I think Mia's going to sincerely love her present. Thursday morning I had a group art lesson. Added two new students to my group so we worked on drawing feathers. My other older student Micah worked on a pencil sketch of Lord Voldermort. She really nailed her sketch so I was totally proud of her. My other kids weren't totally stoked on their feathers but it was a good thing to start out with.  Thanksgiving morning was fantastic. We got to see Ralph Breaks the Internet which was pretty amazing. We had tickets to a 10:15am show so we picked up some breakfast food at KT and made our way to the Ridge. The movie was just such an amazing sequel that has me wondering if it's better than the original. That's not always the easiest to say but all three of us really liked it.

Later after the movie, we went home and Jill made her infamous mashed potatoes before we drove to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time and everything was tasty. Friday, we did some painting on the cabinets before I went to work.

Saturday, I watched a very frustrating Chelsea vs Spurs match. They struggled everywhere and unfortunately ended their unbeaten streak. They have a Europa match this week so hopefully they can pull off a win. Later, we took my parents out for their birthdays to Big Tuna. Had the best sushi. They always are good so it was a nice dinner.

Today, we set up the Christmas tree. Mia enjoyed going through all the different ornaments and when I got home, I noticed she set up her Christmas village. Always cute. Over the weekend, she had to complete a science project over the weekend, and hers consisted of chemical reactions when you mix liquids together. Hopefully she wrote her report correctly. This week, super stoked for Conan O'Brien on Friday. I've been looking forward to this for quite a while.  I think we're grabbing a bite to each before and Mia's having a sleepover. I'll work on her book throughout the week as well and hopefully can find myself a board at some point. 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!

Quality Creative Time

Good evening everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the week including a little snow tease. Mia enjoyed her first week in full bright purple hair. She got plenty of compliments which is always nice. I watched the Bate vs Chelsea match Thursday. The good guys got the win thankfully so we'll be moving on in the Europa. Later after school, Mia and I met up with Jill and attended her conference with her teacher. It was the very first time we've gone to a conference together since Mia's been in school. Her teacher had only the best things to tell us so that was nice to hear.  Mia sat and drew while her teacher told us she's doing amazing with reading and comprehension. Later, we went to Stonefire Pizza for dinner and games. Mia earned over 3,000 points over a few visits there so she picked out a big surfing penguin. Awesome!

Friday, Jill chaperoned Mia's class to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. Originally, Mia had wrote in that I was going to do it, but I have to watch how many days I take off, so I had to cross that off but apparently Mia put Jill on the list. Jill got a group of 6 kids and they all had a blast. Saturday we had a low-key kind of a day. We weren't able to do any yard work due to the new bit of snow that came. Jill went to acupuncture while I watched Mia play in the snow. Later, we grabbed lunch at a new exciting place called FreshFin Poke. Super tasty. I had a coconut shrimp curry and Jill had spicy tuna. Mia had a little cup of fish eggs as well. In Hawaii, Jill fell in love with their poke so we were very curious on this new place. It turns out, it was better than what Jill had and of course Mia enjoyed her fav little fishy eggs.

Later, we spent some quality time together making art. Mia and Jill creating some ceramic masterpieces while I just doodled. Doesn't seem like much, but when you rarely get to spend time with your family, it's truly special. Most likely, the highlight of our weekend. We put on Zootopia later and had some pasta for dinner before crashing for the evening. Today, I woke up and watched Chelsea struggle to beat Everton. The match ended 0-0. Bugger. Plenty of chances but Everton was outplaying us. Lots of yellow cards and some dirty garbage the refs were missing on the Toffees. Still unbeaten, so there's that. I was hoping City would lose today, but they stomped on Man U. Damn. Need to step it up and grab some much needed wins. This week, maybe some art lessons, Mia's got a birthday party coming up and I've got to continue working on the Christmas book. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is already next week. That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

Comeback Kid

Good evening everyone! Busy week with some much-needed and deserved time off. Wednesday, we took Mia out trick or treating one last time for the year in Waukesha where my parents live. Not the warmest weather but Mia braved a cute little outfit without sleeves. She's either acclimated to the cold temps, or just doesn't care when it comes to candy hunting. She had a great time going house to house and it was an overall fun night out. Thursday was my usual time off so I started to work on some of our book for Mia's Christmas book. Later I had some art lessons. Micah and Gigi. Gigi went first and we worked on a baby Moana sketch. She did awesome. Micah had some struggling moments with her Dobbie sketch but she'll get it worked out. I met 3 new students that are eager to start new art lessons. It's going to be a lot of fun working with more kids that are passionate about art.

This week, my father in law burned us a copy on both the computer and a physical disc of the last match, so we have a permanent copy of Mia's goal. Because it had went to fast on that day, I didn't quite catch how she got the ball and got it in so it was fun to see the how Ainslee cleared the ball out, Sophie snagged it from the opponent, passed it directly to Mia and she outran one of their players to blast it on the left side of the net. She did a slight jump and was ready to restart and try to get another goal. I've literally watched the video clip 30 times. Every time, better than the last.  So incredibly proud of her. She was so timid last season and this year finished strong with pure confidence. What a comeback for her. She's looking forward to next season alongside her BFF. It'll be a new challenge that both of us as well as my loyal assistant Coach Kevin. 

Friday, I helped out with her Fall party. I ran a little candy corn race in the hallway. The kids were crazy but a lot of fun. Later after the park, Mia and I walked home and she packed up her bag for a sleepover with Cecilia. They had pizza and pasta from Mama Mia's (yum!) and we hung out and chatted with her parents till later in the evening. Mia and Cecilia watched The Emoji Movie and passed out and fell asleep in the living room. We ran some errands in the morning including dropping off the soccer gear before picking up the diva. She had a blast playing with Cecilia in the morning after chocolate chip pancakes. The kids hugged goodbye and we were off on our way. We did some yard work later after Mia and Jill went to an arts and crafts fair. 

 Earlier in the week, we made an attempt to dye her hair with some stuff from Target. It didn't work at all and the purple was pretty light so later Saturday, we found some Manic Panic vegan purple hair dye. Manic Panic was standard in punk rock hair dye, and pretty much every punk rock fan or musician that dyed their hair used it. It's apparently actually good for hair. Neat. Anyways, after she washed it last night, we let it dry overnight and Jill dyed it this morning. Turned out super bright and vibrant. She LOVES it. I watched the Chelsea vs Palace match. 3-1 win to the good guys. Morata has been on fire lately and I hope he can continue his strong form. In between halves, I helped Jill start our big project of painting our cabinets and trim. It's going to look so nice when it's all done.

This week, I've gotta vote, I've got plenty of art to accomplish and we have Mia's conference. We're stoked that both Jill and I can go for the first time ever. She's got a super sweet 2nd grade teacher so it'll be nice that we both get to go and hear how awesome our kid is :P Friday, she has a field trip to the Betty Brinn and she's pretty excited for that one too. That's all for now, thanks for reading!