Officially Over

With one day left of July to spare, baseball season is officially OVER.  Let me tell you, I couldn't be happier!  I won't miss keeping the books.  I won't miss the mercied games in the sweltering heat.  I won't miss the last minute practices or the last minute scurrying for articles of baseball uniform and gear.  I won't miss that for an entire month left of summer, I have the opportunity to actually enjoy it. 

Having said all that though, it is bittersweet.  I will miss possibly T's last summer of recreational baseball.  A summer of youth, that quickly approached after endless years of tball, machine pitch, coach pitch and kid pitch.  Years that have been wonderful.  Memories created.  Memories remembered. 

Tonight T asked for my assistance in measuring himself.  5'8".  With another baseball season ending there is much joy in the memories of the past and optimism of welcoming the memories of the future.

Perfect Timing To Be...

In the midst of craziness of Little League regular season finishing, team tournaments, Allstar tournaments and T's weekend travel tournament team, I am almost at the point of no return of baseball.  The last minute craziness of scheduled practices, the lack of communication and the forgetfulness of a fourteen year old with his baseball equipment dispersed between homes, I am at my limit!

In addition to baseball there is the little nuances of the latest round of hidden drama of an ailing father and his wife's adolescent behavior and lack of communication toppled on top of a job of no return or reward.  The job issues shall pass - since they are crisis related for the most part - but the surmounting frustration of recruiting and retaining when the reality of people's lives, family and abuse occur leaves the situation prospects rather dismal.

While the much needed vacation could come sooner, I am definitely welcoming the vacation that MS planned for just the two of us, seven days/six nights (cutting a night short to return to motherhood and a respite foster care placement) in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

We are staying at one of the adult only resorts of karismahotels.  While I went to the Riviera Maya in 2008 and stayed at an Iberostar with JN, we never left the resort.  MS and I are hoping to travel and venture to Cancun and Playa Del Carmen.  He would like to go deep sea fishing and we both would like to parasail.  He would also love to play some golf which I said would be a great solo opportunity for him :)  but agreed that if he wanted company (and entertainment) I would golf with him!  I can't wait for this much needed vacation.  MS and I have been spending more time together when we can, but clearly this seven day vacation traveling out of the country shall test our relationship.

I believe that he and I are ready for this test.  

Basketball: The Winter of Baseball Equivalent

T has decided he loves basketball.  The school season ended and a recreation tournament league was available and he was invited to join.  The tournament is nine Saturdays.  Practices are twice a week - Tuesdays and Fridays.

The tournaments are 35 minutes north in good weather.  The tournament times will be divulged the Tuesday before the Saturday.  The cost: $90 to play.  Tonight we learn that the games this Saturday are at 4:30 and 5:30p.m. 

Sigh. Basketball will last until baseball practices begin.  Games can be as late as 7:30p.m. and they will only play two games, which should be back to back.  Nine weeks of few plans on the weekends due to scheduling uncertainty. 

I'm already feeling the drain.  I'm feeling the frustration of baseball season.  I've already told T that weekends he isn't with me, I likely won't be attending.  I am finally reaching a point where I'm trying not to feel guilty for saying NO.  Then I am far from Super Mom.  I'm not perfect and if I'm going to maintain sanity, I will not be strapped to basketball games rather than enjoying MY weekends. 

Having said that, I pick up T today and he says his dad may be busy with his other son and can I take him to the games Saturday?  Hold firm.  Hold firm.  And of course I say, well let me know.  Because ultimately T comes first.  Fortunately for me, due to the late games his dad can take him! 

Snack Schedule Sarcasm

Tonight my son's undefeated team, lost.  A true nail biter.  Down to the last 1.6 seconds of the game and down by one point, they inbounded the ball.  Time for one pass and a shot from under the basket.  The ball circled around and around the rim, and fell out. 

Truly a good game; however, some of the kids were just not playing their normal game.  When we got home at about 6:45p.m., my son said he wasn't hungry.  He didn't care what I made for dinner but he wanted it, "later". 

After an allergy attack from putting blue lights (don't get me started Meijer was out of white lights) on my Christmas tree and my eyes begging to swell shut, I went into the bathroom to take out my contacts before they were permanently sealed in my eyelids.  My son was taking a shower and we chatted more about the game. 

He informed me that the double cheeseburger before the game probably wasn't a good idea.  WHAT?  I knew that as parents, we were responsible for bringing a snack as outlined in the handout at the beginning of the season.  I assumed snacks were similar to every other sport he's played for the past...ten years...a drink and fruit snacks or fruit or chips or something to be given at the end of the game.  WRONG.

T informed me that snacks are eaten prior to the game.  According to T he said that snacks are typically a little healthier: pb&j, ham sandwiches or something.  Today, they were double cheeseburgers from Burger King!  Not only that, they also had fruit snacks, a granola bar AND a drink.  All of that before playing 4 - 6 minute periods of 8th grade basketball. 

Whose genius idea is that?  If I didn't know better, I would have guessed that the snack was provided by the opposing team.  Seeing that I am responsible for snacks the last game of the season - maybe I will get deluxe Jet's pizzas and a pudding filled cake and ice cream to be devoured BEFORE the game. 

What a grand idea. Grand indeed.

Baseball, Parenting & Honesty

I can't believe that it has been over a month since I posted. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Not yet, at least. Surely I hope if I ever do, that I have a great parachute or really strong bungee to catch me on the flipside!

Things have been relatively busy over the past month and things are finally beginning to quiet down. For the most part, the remodel of the bathroom addition is done (with the exception of payment) and the addition of the egress window. I now have to complete more painting that was affected by the work. So hopefully one or two more days of painting and it will be complete. I'll post pictures soon, or at least before I remodel the bathroom (since my timing seems a little off)! Of course it's sale day at Meijer - which means I'll be shopping for bathroom fun stuff and of course shower curtains!

Regular season of baseball ended last month and now we are in full swing of the "fun" weekend tournaments. Not sure what exactly is fun about losing EVERY SINGLE GAME, but what do I know? This past weekend was spent in a hotel almost 1.5 hours away with eleven 13 year old boys. I was a chaperone with three in my room. I seemed to have the late owls in two of them, that were up until 4a.m. night one and 2a.m. on night two! At least they were relatively quiet.

Speaking of quiet, I've never claimed to be able to keep my mouth shut. This past weekend, of course was no exception. One of the dad's and chaperones of the adjoining room told another parent that he was glad I was on their team, because if not and he was on the other team, what a B!@#$! I'm a rule follower...and the other team was taking in-field practice when it was not allowed, so I mentioned it, to the dad. I didn't even say anything to the other team or coach, but the dad did! But I'm the B!@#$! Go figure!

I also may have made some parenting and authority comments to the coaches children. Although he did ask after if I was for hire. I also might have told the coach that he needed to grow a backbone, and soon. Then of course comments were made about my aggressive driving and physical resemblance to Danica Patrick. And if I didn't say too much over the weekend, coach emailed today to ask for input about the last two tournaments. I may have given him my three cents worth. Surprisingly, he was appreciative and responsive and knew that I would give an honest response. So maybe some people still appreciate and want to hear the truth.

Well, maybe those are just people who you aren't dating.

Baseball Update

A quick update on baseball...still in the full swing of baseball. Recently went to the Whitecaps with the Little League - which I have been going to for years and somehow wasn't asked if I wanted to buy tickets. Coincidental?

Coach felt so bad that he forgot to ask me, he gave me a free ticket. I'm feeling very odd about all the extras that I am getting from the coach. He recently gave me a $50 gift certificate to my favorite restaurant for keeping the books. Every game he comments, "You don't get paid enough for doing this!" I feel weird about it all. I wanted to give the certificate back. Granted every game there has been some issue about the score, substitutions or something else, but that's besides the point! One of the games I was even out on the field with the coaches and ump about an illegal pitcher substitution. I had no idea it was illegal, but I could verify how many innings/outs a player was in the field. Apparently, this was discussed by some of the parents at the Whitecaps game - how one "woman scorekeeper was on the field!"

I do take my responsibilities very seriously. Can I say...Scorpio?

Last week the coach asked if I would be willing to chaperone three of the boys for a weekend baseball tournament. Me? I emailed him back and asked if a "dad" wouldn't be a better option. I asked T and he is fine with it and so I said I would, but a hotel room with three teenage boys? Going to be good times...good times! What in the world am I thinking?

Baseball Makes Me Batty...

For those that know me or have followed my blog, I tend to despise Little League Season. Despise may be a strong word, but detest and loathe may be more appropriate. Feel free to surf for my other baseball rants, but truly over the years, they seem to remain rather consistent so I would completely understand the desire to not surf.

My son moved up to the next league of Little League. I believe he is in the Majors. I have been the scorekeeper for my son's ball teams for the past...six years if not longer. I take any job I do, seriously, even if just volunteering. My son's past coach used to do stat spreadsheets and I was responsible for tallying not only hits and runs but strikes, balls, errors, walks, outs, pitch count, score...you name it, I did it.

This year, my son has a different coach. For one inning I had the reprieve from score keeping. Score keeping in many ways keeps me sane. It keeps me from cursing and yelling and getting overly involved in the game. Every year with almost every sport, a parent or a friend suggests that I coach. I know better.

I know my limitations. I know my competitiveness. I know my perfectionism. I know myself.

And that is why I do not coach. Other than that one time where I confronted my son's football coach for not allowing the children a water break after two hours in 85 degree weather and the kids were 8, I do not confront coaches. Better them than me I say.

Last week I hit an all time low with the frustration of baseball. As I've blogged recently, my son's team has six assistant coaches, aka father's, that help out the team. In a decade of baseball there has only been one female coach and/or assistant and not even on my son's team. Baseball clearly is a sexist sport. So while I sit quietly keeping the score, I know 98% of the rules - the other 2% are the obscure ones...like if there is an intentional walk and the pitcher chooses not to pitch (is that even legal?) and walks the batter, do you count four pitches?

So last week while our coach was on vacation or out of town or boycotting baseball by locking himself in his bathroom drinking away his baseball blues...the Assistant Coaches attempted to coach. All hell broke loose when I realized the wrong batter was batting. I attempted to talk to one, then two of the Assistants. They thrust some chicken scratched lineup at me. While trying to figure out what they were doing, I missed pitch after pitch. Bottomline, when they substituted players, they allowed the original youth in the order to continue to bat. A scorekeepers hell and completely WRONG in this league AND the league below us.

Sure, I get that these kids are 13 and 14 and it shouldn't be a big deal, right? But to me, I take my responsibilities seriously. I also had spent an hour trying to figure out the excel spreadsheet to enter in hitting and pitching stats earlier in the day. So when I had two batters in one batting position up to bat, go ahead try to keep track of that in the score book! After what seemed like ten minutes, I figured out the batting order for the coaches - at the one coaches request and he wrote the new order for the next inning. Needless to say, the next inning came up and the kids were in the previous order. Sigh...The coach from the other team came over and said, "I got a little confused last inning. What happened?" Ummm...yeah. I'm only glad that we didn't win as the boys would have been devastated to learn the win would have been a loss based on coaching and illegal substitutions and batting!

So the coach is back. We have shared a few emails. He thanked me for score keeping and understanding the rules - since I had even corrected him when someone had gone up to bat out of order. It happens, I get that. But if a pitch is thrown, it's also an out.

I found myself typing this response to him this morning when he said he would make things easy on me and thanking me for understanding the rules of baseball..."It would just seem that after most of our children playing ball for almost a decade and likely fathers that have either played ball or watched ball, that they would be knowledgeable about the game. Everything is fine. I do understand the majority of the rules although some of them do vary with the different age leagues. As far as substitutions, as long as I'm informed of substitutions, it's fine with me. Just would make it a lot easier if "Assistants" understand the rules of substitution as well. Because afterall, baseball can be rather sexist - and when trying to clarify what was happening, it was the realization that, I'm just the scorekeeper."

And then I hit cancel and decided to blog. 'Cause sometimes venting to cyberspace rather than to a person that really doesn't know you that you see on a regular basis is just better.

I feel better. That is until Tuesday night's game...

Beamed Balls...Practice

After opening day of baseball season, a male parent began to talk to my son and I about the best way to practice hitting. He advised that if you master his method, regardless of the speed of a pitched ball...you will hit it! Easy enough, right?

The Method (As described by said man): Purchase wiffle golf balls. Get a broomstick. Have mom/dad or said adult sit on a bucket about yeah distance away - from here to there (I'm depth and perception challenged...so say 10 feet away). Adult shall then throw the wiffle golf balls while said batter attempts to hit them. Batter will miss the first 20 or so pitches.

Easy enough, right? Off we went to the store and purchased three dozen wiffle golf balls. We debated the holes vs. no holes and went with the holes. 12 wiffle golf balls were 1.99 (-15%) whereas in the baseball aisle yellow colored wiffle golf ball sized 12 pack were 4.00. Then taking the smallest broom handle we own - which actually came from a child sized rake in the garage - I removed the rake and we had the "bat".

The weather wasn't really cooperating. I also didn't want to be chasing missed pitches and hits all around the yard. So what did I propose? (Really, I did graduate from college in three years - I realize one may not realize this, but honestly, I did!)...

Lock said dumb parent (aka myself) in the one car garaged with said 13 year old son to keep the balls in the garage. At first, to allow for air circulation we kept the garage open, which only allowed the balls to escape underneath. We eventually closed the garage door entirely - seeing that 36 wiffle golf balls can be thrown in a matter of minutes at most there was no way we were going to suffocate or trap ourselves with asphyxiation of my various gas cans and mowers!

Soon after beginning the process, my son started to get the hang of it. I'm sure you are much brighter and intelligent than I, so what happened?

I started getting beamed and pegged by wiffle golf balls. First it was the knee. Then it was the finger. Then it was the knuckle. The shin. The head. Ok, I may not be the brightest bulb!

When the line drive to the chest came, I couldn't help but scream, "Oh my God! I don't want to grow a third boobie!" as I wailed in subsequent pain. Needless to say, my son crossed his legs and doubled over in hysterics laughing, snorting and trying to get out, "You so did not just say that! That is SO WRONG!" Of course he continued to laugh. Me, I continued to grab my chest as if dying from a fatal shot (Afterall it was a rocket of a wiffle ball launched at me!)

Torture...is this what I signed up for? Of course it is...and since he beamed me in the neck I feared the hickie look to...maybe the bag over my head will be a better look for me!

'Tis the Season...of Baseball and...

Last night was my son's first baseball practice. I always seem to forget, or bury it in the deep recesses of my mind, how much fun baseball season. The feelings repressed of disdain and annoyance and the other half of the parental figure for my son and just general chauvinism at it's worst.


Last week I received a message for my son's dad from the coach of my son's baseball team. A day after the coach called and spoke only to my son. As if my quickly approaching thirteen year old son has an excellent memory to remember the details of practice, good thing I was sitting next to him and could hear the entire conversation. So the next day, there was a message from the coach inquiring if my son's dad could assist with coaching. I called him back and informed him of how to reach his father (and it wasn't to call HELL!). Not once did the coach ask if I had any baseball experience or if I would like to help assist.

My son's dad had to confirm with my son when practice was last night and told him that he would be there. Think he could offer to drive the 1.5 miles out of the way to pick up our son and take him to practice so that I don't have to? Of course not.

There wasn't a meeting at the start of practice, other than for the boys. An introduction of the coaches - all six of them for twelve teenage boys! Seriously? How many men does it take to coach a team?

They are looking for someone to keep the stats. I think I'm going to go in cognito and unless specifically asked, I'm going to take a season off. The first season in almost seven years of score keeping!

After practice my son's dad called our son. Called him to ask if I could take our son to practice next Monday night. Didn't call me. Didn't ask me. At what point, will he grow up?

Missed Opportunity

It's the middle of basketball season. My son is on the "B" team, although it was never truly identified how the teams were created. Both the "A" and the "B" team have similar records, significantly more losses than wins, albeit bitter than the Detroit Lions record no doubt!

This week my son had three games, two which were away. I missed his first game of the season last night, having other commitments and not wanting to make the one hour trek each way for a four period game of six minutes each. My son scored the winning point, in a real nail-biting game where he found himself on the free throw line with the score tied. He made one shot and that secured the win since neither team scored in the final remaining minutes of the game! He scored several points in the game, with one foul, several steals and a few rebounds. T is an all around good sport and regardless of their frequent losses, he can marvel when he has a good game and be disappointed when he didn't play so well. To make matters worse in my absence, tonight one of the parents addressed me after the game to confirm how "awesome" T was the day before. Figures, I always seem to miss out!

Tonight they lost to a team they had beat just weeks before. Call it revenge. There were a couple poor officiating moments, but clearly to be expected of seventh grade ball. T managed to score five points and several rebounds. But in addition to his points, he suffered three jammed fingers and a banged up knee to an already bruised knee from two days prior. Welcome to sports! At least he has until next week to go at it again!

Baseball Update

Little League is clearly underway. Opening day was last Saturday and due to poor coaching (my son's other parent) the game ended in a tie. I'm beginning to think that I need to take control and coach third base and give him the score books!

Last night was the second game which began in a light continuous rain. I took shelter to keep the score book dry and was joined by JA as her son was on the opposing team. We muddled, err mastered the score board as well, until she left and then I had to do the book, pitch count, score board and hold a conversation or two. Obviously I wasn't at peak performance at that point! Our team lost, but if we had to lose, at least it was to JA's son's team. Although I'm pretty sure that we have quite a few more L's in the future!

Sunday we met TS at an indoor batting cage, after a late night of bowling where she managed to bowl a 65 and her average is about a 150! We were at the cages for well over 1.5 hours and T was able to use his new bat he purchased Friday night. We even snuck into the training tunnels and I pitched TS slow pitch softballs and T tennis balls. We finished just in time as staff came to clean up the tunnels and lock the room. We later learned that to rent a tunnel was $35 for a half hour. TS and I didn't feel bad at all since T and I looked for staff on four occasions to assist with the batting cages, to no avail. Unfortunately after T batted upwards to 350 swings with his new bat, he wasn't able to get a hit in his two attempts, although to his credit his first at bat was four straight balls. There's always next time...

Snow, Skiing and BASEBALL?

Lake effect snow is forecasting 4-8" in the next 24 hours. On the one hand this would be fabulous if in fact I: a) was planning on going skiing, b) wasn't traveling across state for the theatre and hanging out with friends, and c) actually managed to get gas for one or both of my snow blowers.

On the positive side, JN and I will be driving across state together and she has graciously offered to drive. Of course I'll bring my trusty sidekick Susie along for the ride! I did pick up my brand new skis yesterday so I'm more than eager to get out on the slopes, but figure the first opportunity I will have is the following weekend. (Good things happen to those who wait, right? I'm praying now that means no more ski injuries!) I'm hoping to at least ski every Sunday if not more.

Last night my son's dad called him to inquire about the upcoming baseball season. Seriously, basketball isn't even over yet! He then told our son that practices begin a week from Sunday. Isn't it still February? I know that baseball is all encompassing and I should bring myself back to the right frame of mind by reading my baseball blogs, but I'm not ready for it. And, since I'm the proud new owner of new skis, every other Sunday as long as there is snow, T will be skiing! (I sure hope he doesn't get hurt - I would NEVER hear the end of it!)

And then it was OVER

Today was NOT a good day for football. The survivor football pool had six people remaining. Five bet on Washington and one on New Orleans. So much for going with the odds favorites as an upset left Washington with a two-point loss.

T is ultimately bummed, although he's by far not the only one. A 49-yard field goal with two seconds left!

Maybe next year.

It was also the Regional/Sectional Punt, Pass, Kick competition. Not that my son really bothered to practice or anything since qualifying a month ago, but the weather was fabulous in the high 70's. Seeing that they didn't tally the scores at the competition, knowing how he really fared is just a best guess. However, we do know that he didn't win.

T gave a valiant effort and I would have to say that for not practicing and not playing football for the past two years, he still does quite well. Although I wouldn't say that the competition is a fair representation of youth athletes in the area as very few actually complete, in our town at least. I would guess that T finished in the top three, although the first place qualifier is the only one that has a chance to compete at Ford Field for the state competition. The winner by a longshot had T beat by about 60' or so. He blew everyone out of the water.

Maybe next year.

Fall Sports

I had taken a personal hiatus from blogging for a few days for two reasons: 1) to observe my overly zealous follower's viewing and 2) I didn't have time. My viewer hasn't looked at my blog in a few days, so I'm no longer feeling threatened as to what s/he's intentions may have been. I think they were just interested in following the August vacation blogs due to a personal interest. I think.

It is the full swing of fall sports. My son is playing soccer again this year, after quitting football two years ago. I'm definitely not a soccer fan, especially when the coach does anything but coach! I did coach soccer, once. That was 6 years ago though when parents didn't need to know what soccer was! It was about having fun, despite we had an awesome team that was undefeated! I know better than to try to coach these days, fearing parents far more than kids!

Despite my son giving up football, he still participates in a yearly local football event for kids 8-15. This year, he won! So we are pretty excited about that and in another month or so he will compete at the regional level to see how he does. So we need to get kicking!

Tournament Finale

Today ended the final day and games of a very long baseball season. Last night was the first night of a two day tournament. There were only five teams in the tournament and our team drew the first bye of two games yesterday. We were crushed during the game they played and the chance of doing well were pretty bleak.

Today there were three scheduled games and the top four teams would play a fourth game for positions. The day started out with drizzle which quickly turned into a downpour and the games were finally called for a rain delay. We were losing by two runs when the delay occurred. We were told to come back in 3.5 hours hoping that the weather would pass. We did arrive and restarted the game again to rain; however, not as heavy as it was in the morning. We came back and won that game and the next two, finishing in second place. We played the team from Friday night in the finals and lost, finishing runner up. My son was pretty excited to get a trophy!

Despite the weather and the long day - twelve hours from beginning to end today with the rain delay - it was a fun day. I am honestly very glad though that the season is officially over. The coach did mention he was taking a week off from baseball and would be calling players next week to see if they wanted to participate in pick up or scrimmage ball before soccer and football seasons began. Seriously?????

Baseball & the Clear Diet

I can honestly say that I'm not really looking forward to this weekend, all that much. My son has his eye appointment tomorrow afternoon, which he tells me tonight that his left eye is getting worse. SUPER. I JUST bought a years worth of contacts last month after his exam.

Then we will race off to the ball fields where he will play the first two of five games for the local baseball tournament. Saturday morning he will be back at the ball fields at 8:30a.m. for three more games. I really do like baseball, I'm just not sure I can handle five games in the squelching heat we've been having the past few days.

Sunday I have my clear diet. I'm so excited, I just can't stand it. Oh yeah, I won't have to since I'll be sitting on the porcelain god all day! Saturday I'll begin my lack of corn, beans, peanuts, popcorn, grapes with seeds, whole wheat, etc. Etc? What does that mean? I'm so sure I'll screw these directions up, no doubt about it. However, I find it hard to believe that my entire system won't be cleansed and empty that it won't really matter anyway.

The good thing about the colonoscopy is that I will have the results and not have to worry and I will actually have my true weight! Of what I could feasibly get to if I was consistently cleansed. Yeah, so not worth it for a few extra pounds in my book.

I'm still leaning toward walking to and from the procedure. I'm not sure how staff will feel about it. My mom, JN, ex-BF and Mr. Date have all offered to be here to drive me and help me. I'm just not big into the need and want thing, regardless. Ex-BF actually knows me the best, so would be easiest for him to help, but I also know that it wouldn't be as just friends. I would love to see Mr. Date, but just not thinking those will be under the best circumstances. But hey, I guess get it out of the way and see how we both handle it, right? Right.

Disc Golf

Today we had the experience of Disc Golf. I had heard mention of it about a month ago, but never bothered to ask what it was. I thought it was some sort of skeet shooting disk on a course, like golf. To be honest, I didn't really care what it was. At the time, all I knew was that it was this person's idea of fun and another excuse to not be an active parent to his daughter.

I happened to be looking up things to do in my community for the weekend. I happened to come across local kayak and canoe rentals as well as a nearby park that offers a free disc golf course. Surprisingly, my son claimed that he knew what and where it was, but after we got there, I'm pretty sure he didn't.

We used regular Frisbee's, which I'm no expert on using; however, as it's a wooded course it proved to not matter much anyway. At hole one there were score sheets and a map of the 18 hole course, which proved to be more troublesome than it was worth. We managed to get mixed up well more than a few times, but it was still fun. We managed to laugh a lot, stumble on every possible tree stump, hit about 1/3 of the trees with the Frisbee's and I even drew some blood. Despite the fruity mosquito repellent, being in the woods it was still difficult to ward them off completely.

I'm pretty sure though, we're hooked. We went to the local sports store and purchased a long distance driver disk as well as a mid-range disk. We just went to the local park and aimed across the park for trees trying out the new disks. My son definitely has the distance throwing mastered. Back to the course we go again tomorrow.

Seriously looks like this could be our "sport" between baseball and soccer! I definitely like it more than golfing, although my game is still the same - tree to tree shots - but it can be advantageous in disc golf!

http://www.disclife.com/whatis.shtml

Family Time

Last night the game was finally called due to our team not having enough players because of the severe weather, which was rescheduled for tonight. My mom and step-dad were en route to come to the game, when I advised that after an hour drive that they turn around and go home. Little did I know, that we actually would have played!

Surprisingly, my mom called me after the first half of an inning to say that they were about 5 miles away. I hadn't talked to her today, so I didn't know that they were planning on coming, again.

My son was excited to have them there to route for him along with myself, the ex-bf and his father. He definitely had a large fan base. It was great for me to have my mom and step-dad there too. After the game, my mom and step-dad, son and I went out to dinner. My mom and I, despite our occasional butting of heads, really do laugh a lot together. I love her dearly and hate to think that one day, we won't be able to laugh and share wonderful memories. I had her listen to her "rooster" voicemail message she had left me which had her literally in tears listening. Of course only she and I found it absolutely hysterical! Maybe it's just that mother-daughter connection.

Dinner was a great time and I was truly glad that I don't have to work tomorrow as it was after 10p.m. when we got back home. My step-dad took some wonderful pictures of my son, my mom and I, but my mom would kill me if I were to post them, so for her sake, I won't. Nothing like the classic dear in the headlight look though!

Family...truly a blessing.

My "Little" All Star

Tonight was the final game of the All Stars for my son. They were crushed. In the first inning, they were down 0-7 with only one out when the first pitcher was pulled. Other than the 2 run out of the park homerun, a few of the runs could have been eliminated by missed balls by the first baseman. My son played third that first out of the inning. Then the second pitcher came in and my son moved to shortstop.


Let me mention that my son, like me, is motivated by money. Not that either one of us aren't motivated in general, but the idea of a monetary incentive, makes the effort all the more worthwhile. I hadn't really offered any incentive to my son for the All Star games, I didn't want to add any unnecessary stress on him. Tonight, I decided why not. We have gone to the batting cages a few times, Tuesday being the last time, so I know that he can hit and is due for a hit. I offered him all the money in my center console of my car if he hit a good solid base hit. Neither of us had any idea how much money was in there, but I knew it was at least a few dollars. Afterall, that's where I throw change if I go through a drive thru or grab something while filling up the car.


My son played an excellent game. If it weren't for the first inning, they actually would have been ahead by two runs going into the final inning. The other team had hit two homeruns out of the park, a short field of 200 feet, but more than our team could hit! In the final inning, the bases were loaded and a player on the other team hit a grand slam. We ended up losing by 8 runs.



My son hit two solid base hits up the middle. He also fielded exceptionally well, catching a line drive and snagging a few great balls to get the players out at first and one going to third.



He was pretty excited about finding out how much he won. There was $12.16 in my center console! Not a bad night for him, not a bad night at all!



They didn't advance from the pool play, which I'm not entirely sad about. They do have one final weekend tournament coming up and fortunately practice is only twice a week until then!

Ex-Bf Invite

I called the ex-bf and invited him to the ball game tonight. It was closer to his house as it was an away game. I hadn't invited him to a game all season, but he has shown up to two. I know with him on medical leave, that he would love to come and watch, so I thought I would do the friend thing and invite him.

He was overjoyed. Maybe too much so. Since I was the official score keeper, I felt like he grilled me third degree on what I had been doing and what my past weekend entailed and with who. He didn't like that I hung out with a friend Sunday night and asked if it was male or female. I answered male and he asked how long I had been seeing him. I'm not, still have yet to date since I broke up with you in January, pal. Then he wondered if it was the same friend I hung out with on Friday, nope different friend. I know this drove him crazy and he asked if I had seen or talked to a guy that he knew I dated before, nope, so that must have puzzled him all the more that he wasn't one of them either night.

Regardless that Friday and Saturday were hanging out with girlfriends, I don't know that it's any of his business. If in fact he was a friend, it wouldn't be a problem. But instead, he is so curious as he's not dating and he's not over me, so it feels like an interrogation more than anything else.

To make matters worse, I invited him to join my son and I for ice cream next to the ball fields. This went fine and I think my son was ok chatting with him. He didn't seem to care really, one way or the other. It is nice to know that I haven't scarred him for life in my decision to stop dating the ex-bf. He did ask if the ex-bf would be going to tomorrow's game, but the ex said he didn't know...of course since his days are busy consumed with a 4.5 mile walk and video games. I can see how it would be tough to schedule something in.

It is funny though how the ex tries to guilt me into not giving him good hugs or being affectionate. I don't feel guilty. I really don't. I truly know that any affection will be taken the wrong way. I truly believe this time around, I'm healthy and happier than I have ever been. And...I'm strong enough to know that I will survive - not that I ever had a doubt, but I don't need him despite all the terrible prospects I have come across along the way, it will not bring me back to him.