Bad Soccer Attitude

Despite sleeping poorly and waking several times through the night I was up and out of bed a few minutes ahead of schedule. I felt fine at the time but wondered if a case of the sleepies might hit me later in the day. I glanced into a mostly clear sky after slipping into my exercise shoes. Next up were calisthenics. I whipped out 50 sit-ups and 50 push-ups.  

I was ahead of the coffee by several minutes. I went to my PC and played around online waiting for the coffee to finish. Five minutes later the coffee was ready. I enjoyed coffee at the PC for several minutes before breaking away just after 6am. I did a meditation and then a stretch all before 620am. I woke Mindy and delivered her coffee just before 625am. I headed out for my run five minutes later.

It was only 45 degrees so I bundled in routine winter running gear along with hand covers. I didn’t wear anything but a ballcap on my head. I was fine, though my ears a tad cold, especially at the outset. I ran the full 4.1 miles for the firs time since last Thursday. Felt good. Daybreak was upon us by the halfway point. Another week or so and I’ll be back in full daylight. 

Waited for the pug at the foot of the stairs. Mindy called out for Bella to bring her to me. After some rubs she and I headed out for our morning walk. It was a lovely walk dappled in early sunshine. Back at the house by 720am I was really looking forward to my eggs. Mindy made Bella a slice of cinnamon toast. I poured a glass of OJ to go along with my eggs, the first such OJ I’ve drank in a couple of months. It was good and so were my eggs. Both kids pestered Mindy about wearing shorts. The day’s high was expected to hit about 66 but it was only in the mid 40s right then. Mindy reluctantly agreed to let Jacob wear shorts under his sweat pants, and let Bella wear ¾ shorts. She left for work near 730am.

I had my lunch fully packed ahead of a shower. Bella asked for a 2^nd slice of cinnamon toast just before I headed up. I was ready to go by 755am. I headed to the basement to check the water meters looking for any additional leaks overnight. No visible leaks. Yea! 

The kids and I headed to the bus stop at 808am. Seemingly out of nowhere, the sky was quickly overcome with cloud cover and it looked like they were moving in from the east along with a chilly wind. Both kids looked cold and even uttered as much. Thankfully the bus showed up quickly. After a brief chat with Chrissy I headed back home and eventually off to work. 

Arrived at the office prepared to dig into monthly reporting data since it was the 1^st of the month. Soon after getting situated that’s exactly what I did – pull and analyze data. I hit a snag with the data which took some of the wind from my sails. Don’t like delays. I joined our regular Monday call at 11am and then another at 3pm. I noticed the weather was far uglier than forecasted. It was raining, blowing and it looked downright chilly. My thoughts turned to the kids wearing shorts. J They’re resilient.  

I sent a note to my peers earlier in the day seeking an on-call swap and vacation coverage end of June. I couldn’t help but let what I viewed as a failed day get to me. I was bummed on several fronts, but most notably not being able to get the report data I absolutely needed for success. I let it drive me batty. On a positive note, I was feeling 100% and that couldn’t be overlooked after feeling so poorly virtually all of last week. 

Called Mindy in route to home. She was in rear form. Told me she was busy vacuuming up piss ants from in and around the pantry. Wanted me to let her go. Arrived home and Mindy had more than half the pantry contents out on the island and kitchen table. She was working like a madwoman to find and eradicate the piss ants. I watched on somewhat amused, my thinking being her approach, while diligent, a bit backwards. Vacuuming up the ants did little to break the lineage. I later learned that she was spraying for them too. I only insisted earlier that she take care not to spray around food or utensils.  

Meanwhile, I was starving. Mindy eventually reheated the leftover Chilean sea bass in the oven while she continued her piss ant battle. We had a busy evening ahead. Needed to eat, drop Bella at gymnastics and then head to Jacob’s first soccer game in Dublin. Wouldn’t get home until 830p or after.  Ugh!

The sea bass was perhaps even tastier the 2^nd time around. Most fish doesn’t work like that. Not sure what makes the chilean sea bass so special/different. With little time to spare, I finished clean while Mindy started putting the pantry back together. She had to bag it to leave for gymnastics and soccer. We dropped Bella right at 7pm then proceed to Derrer soccer fields in Dublin taking Hilliard-Rome/Avery Rd all the way north to Shier Rings. The fields are at the intersection of Shier Rings and Cosgray.  

Jacob’s game was well underway. He knew we’d be late. But what we didn’t realize was that it was already the 2^nd half. They were trailing 2-0 when we arrived but Jacob scored even before we got our chairs unfolded. The entire 2^nd half was played at the opponent’s end of the field, which is always good. The only trouble was, they couldn’t convert that advantage into more goals. There were several near misses. Game ended 2-1. 

I asked Mindy what she thought Jacob’s attitude might be like. He didn’t come to us until almost all the other kids had left the park. His dad’s the coach so he hangs with him. Sure enough, his mood was sour, angry, and spiteful. He had nothing positive to say about himself or his team. Let’s just say we need to work on positive attitude. Mindy suggested we stop and get him Wendy’s on the way home and to get Bella. We planned on getting Bella first. It was just 15 minutes from the end of her gymnastics. 

We stopped at the Wendy’s at Hilliard-Rome and Roberts and picked both kids up some food. We then proceeded to the gymnastics center just down the road. Mindy headed in to get Bella. She was in there for about 5 minutes.  

At home the kids woofed down their Wendy’s while I changed into my PJs. We tuned the TV to NatGeo. We all headed to bed between 930-10pm.