A Little Common Sense

This is not easy for the person who has trouble saying no, but sometimes, you just have to learn to say no, it’s a question of survival and employing a little common sense. We had a change in our hockey schedule and it threw our original plans into disarray, all at a time when our presence would have been appreciated.

Originally we were planning on spending a nice day together going up north to watch A’s game, but then N’s practice schedule changed and the two of us couldn’t go. That left A and R to head up north, which wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except we for the massive snow storm that hit. It was precarious driving, to say the least, and I would have wanted to have been there when they headed up. Instead, we felt obliged to go to practice.

In retrospect, it would not have been unreasonable to just say we had plans and couldn’t make it, but being a coach makes me feel an obligation to be there when possible. The complication to it all was that the practice was changed at the last minute, so we had to shift on the fly. Anyway, we made a decision and went with it. I worried about A&R, but knew they’d be safe. For the record, we saw plenty of cars that had slid off the road throughout the day, the conditions were squirrelly. Mostly people who were not used to driving in these conditions, but it’s still ominous to see.

The best part was, when we got to practice, 75% of the team couldn’t make it, even the coach. I was kicking myself because we had changed our plans for this, and nobody else showed up. There were five kids that showed up, and in all fairness, it was good that I came, because TG came and he would have been all by himself. This way, we had two coaches and all the ice, so we could split up and then play a scrimmage. It was actually a lot of fun, and I think the kids enjoyed it because it was relaxing and laid back. Plus, they got precious ice time when there is not a lot of ice time to be had, at least until the ponds freeze over.

Even still, I do think it’s not unreasonable to say you can’t make it because you already have plans. Heck, everyone else does it.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Tony Dowler for the pic.

More Hockey Opportunities

We found a way to get even more hockey into our lives, if you can believe that. It appears that we may start to have time conflicts with other activities, but more on that later. The kids have practice twice a week, and then usually two games on the weekends. Now you might think that’s more than enough hockey, but not for us. We have a couple of days that are pretty open, and on one of them they have homeschool hockey.

We did HH last year and it was fun. It was not only low key, but it really helped the kids get a feel for full ice hockey, sort of the pond hockey experience that they didn’t get to have. It’s all about ice time in a fun and relaxed way, and even I get to have more practice. I only get to play once a week, and we don’t practice as a team, so any chance I can get to put on my skates I’ll take, especially when it involves playing the game.

Two weeks ago we showed up for HH, and everyone had fun. It’s a good group of people, the kids are nice, and they aren’t too intense or competitive, so some of the kids get a little feisty. I had a blast, and even my friend TM, who is a great hockey player (he’s from Canada), commented on how fast I was skating. I tried to play it down but inside I was beaming.

As I mentioned, there are some time conflicts, but all in all, I think we can work them out. It may become problematic if we want to go skiing, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Until then, thanks for reading.

DYI

Like all things in our lives, we had a situation in our lives that became more complicated because of my brilliant idea that then evolved into a story in and of itself. Kind of cool one, though the resolution was not what I had intended. We have been asked (required?) to protect the kid’s hockey game jerseys when we’re in transit, and this means covering them with some sort of protective layer, i.e., a garment bag. Now anything will do, even a plastic garbage bag, but peer scrutiny comes into play (kid and parental, of course).

It turned out that there were many options, which of course is the bane of my existence. I really didn’t want to spend a lot of money, and if anything, I didn’t want to spend any money, if possible. There are expensive options, but truth be told, I don’t think it’s as cool walking into a locker room when you’re the only kid with a fancy garment bag. Some people might like this idea, but not me.

We obtained these free plastic garment bags from JCPenney, and they worked fine for the first few games, protecting the jerseys from mud and dirt, but like all things cheap and easy, both of the kids’ bags broke. N’s tore, and A’s zipper came unhinged. Total bummer, but not unexpected. Now we had to come up with another solution. I searched the Web for options, but it really boiled down to two: either buy a nice bag and drop $50-60 (ouch!), or buy a cheap one and face the same old problems.

I decided on option #3, which was to make one. This meant we could get a good quality bag in a material of our choice, and best of all, it would inevitably come with a story. Now for the record, I had every intention of making this bag (someone out there is saying, “No, you weren’t.”), even if I have never used a sewing machine in my life. If need be, I was would have hand sewn the thing, which I do have extensive experience doing.

Either way, it was  project, and I knew the kids could help, because they know how to use the sewing machine and could teach me. Once I got the hang of it, I could practice and then get it done. It might not be right away, but it would have gotten done. Unfortunately, we had some time constraints, because the kids have games every weekend, and I’m sure they wanted the bags ASAP.

Enter mom to the rescue. She said she would be happy to help, but probably could sense my ineptitude and was also aware of the kids eagerness for getting it done, so she stepped in and said she would make the bags. We all headed over to Joann’s to get the supplies. They were very helpful and encouraging, and the one person there who actually taught beginning sewing said garment bags were an easy first project.

I sort of had a vision of how I’d do it, but having no experience with a sewing machine, wasn’t sure if it was the logical choice. In fact, R had other ideas, and after choosing fabric, zippers (we got heavy duty quality ones) and all that other good stuff, she went to work. The kids helped make spools and dobbins and cut the patterns, and mom did most of the sewing. She worked tirelessly because even though there wasn’t a deadline, the kids would have been happier to have them by their next game, which was only days away.

R did a beautiful job, better than I could have done, and the bags came out nicely. We paid a little more than we would have for some cheap plastic thing made in China, but a lot less than a more ostentatious piece of luggage. More importantly, it was handmade and personalized, and we can be sure of the quality. Plus, it was a fun project that we all took part in as a family.

As we all know, you can’t put price on that. Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Conflicted

I have to confess, I’m a bit conflicted about the whole Christmas gift thing. Not to sound like a Scrooge, but I’ve found that lots of presents just don’t add up to a happy household, even it looks impressive. I’ve seen this in the past, at assorted birthday parties and Christmas at our house. Kids who get piles of stuff don’t value each gift for what it is, and instead just want more. I realize it’s human nature, but it can be disturbing to watch. When kids get into that frenzied state of blindly ripping open package after package and not even acknowledging what it is, it’s a little scary. The problem is, we the parent promote it.

Maybe we feel some sort of validation as parents by giving kids more, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life and would want to impart on our kids (actually there are a lot of things), it’s that life is not about stuff. Our culture as a whole values stuff, that’s why places like Walmart are so huge, but when you really get down to it, it only makes you want more stuff. It’s as if getting something isn’t enough, you have to keep feeding the fire, which is pretty telling when you think about it. We are all aware of this on some level, and yet we continue to consume. We get our kids started early, and then they become consumers for life.

Anyway, I don’t want our kids to value getting more and more stuff, but on the other hand, I don’t want to deny them everything, either. Kids should have some fun, eat some junk food, and get the toys and presents they want, to some degree. I felt like this year was manageable, though we wrestled with making sure we had enough gifts under the tree. It helps having grandparents and uncles and aunts who are so thoughtful and giving.

Another thing that helped to make the day work out nicely was to pace the opening of the presents. We made sure the kids didn’t tear through each present and then move on to the next one. We had them give each gift some quality time, pacing themselves. In the end, they appreciated this approach, as well, and enjoyed the day that much more. Plus given the state of the world and all the crazy stuff that’s going on, it’s important to appreciate what you have, and not obsess over what you want.

Okay, enough of my pontificating (until the next time). Looking forward to the new year. Thanks for reading, and thanks to chris f2009 for the pic.

What a Week

In the aftermath of a really nice Christmas, it’s interesting to look back and reflect on the week leading up to it. It’s amazing what we go through for the holidays, and it’s easy to see why we become so cynical. There’s just way too much going on. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot I enjoy, and R and I love spending time with the kids, but taking care of the business of the holidays takes up so much time and energy that it’s hard to stop and just have some down time.

Then again, gifts and giving are such a big part of it. In certain ways it’s easy to romanticize just having quiet time at home by the fire, but let’s face it. It’s gratifying, at least for me, giving a nice gift that really touches a special chord in a person, especially your kids. That makes it all worth while.

Besides, it’s hard to argue with the fact that a lot of the craziness in our lives stems from hockey, and hockey is a beast that I brought into this household. I’ve got nobody else to blame but myself. On that note, last week was a bit insane. In addition to the usual craziness, we had to scramble to finish mom’s gift list, get all of our Christmas cards out, send out assorted gifts to the west coast, and prepare for the big day.

As I’ve mentioned, it went down to the wire. I spent the week scrambling to fill the kid’s wish lists, which isn’t easy when they’re there with you. There were assorted gifts that were easier for me to obtain, and since I’m with the kids, it made sense to bring them along with me. This required that I distract them while I made the purchases then clandestinely went to the car and hid them in the trunk. Somewhat challenging, but fortunately, the kids are curious and like to head off on their own in various stores, especially ones with cool toys.

By Friday we could focus on getting mom’s stuff together. We had made significant steps throughout the week, and by Saturday we could put on the finishing touches. It was funny because I wanted the kids to be integrally involved, and they jumped at the chance. We have a new Christmas tradition of making collage pictures of all the big events in our lives, many of which involve travel. This involved gathering all the photos together that were worth printing, then whittling down each event to 20 pics or less. Needless to say, this was a challenge because in some of the groups, like our trips to various cities in Croatia and Italy (all individual groups), there are literally hundreds of pics. All in all we were dealing with about 1000 pics. Crazy.

I did the initial work and made the groups, then trimmed the fat so that there were about 20 pics in each group. We ended up with about 20 groups, which I then downloaded onto the site where we get the prints made. From there the kids took over. The site is cool because it automatically turns the pics into a collage, but you can ask it to rearrange them randomly, or place the pictures yourself. The kids chose the latter, and they did a great job. They chose the color of the border, the font, and then placed it into the shopping cart. From there, we ordered them, and we were all set.

I went and got the collages two days before Christmas. Even on Christmas Eve, we had a few loose ends to tie up, and I got a couple of last minute presents that we felt would make the gifts complete. It wasn’t even that stressful, and going into consumer hell wasn’t that painful, even on Christmas Eve. The crowds were very manageable.

Best of all, the kids loved their presents, we didn’t overboard with all sorts of junk, and now we can get on with our lives and get back to hockey. I love when that happens.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas, and thanks for reading, and thanks to Peter Hilton for the pic.

White Christmas

It’s funny how Mother Nature works. We’ve been without snow for months (I’m not whining, I promise), which makes winter a little more bleak because everything is brown vs. white, and seemingly out of the blue, we got snow on Christmas. Not a lot, but just enough to make for a white Christmas, which is really a nice thing. It definitely made things more cheerful, and we had a wonderful day just hanging out, opening presents, and eating tons of treats. So many treats, in fact, that I found it affected me. I’m just not used to eating all that junk food, or more specifically, sugar.

Either way, it was a really nice day, made all the nicer by waking up to snow on the ground. It’s a good thing I finished the wood pile, because once the snow starts covering the ground, things start to freeze into one solid mass. Mom started things off by making pancakes for breakfast, and then we basically lounged around, opened presents, and ate. We pace the opening of presents in order to make a day of it, but it also forces the kids to think about each gift and hopefully appreciate it more, rather than just tearing through the boxes in order to get to the next one. That I find disturbing.

We had a few glitches, of course, on our path to Christmas enlightenment. We were out of certain food items, but once again, BGs came to the rescue. They were open for a few hours on Christmas Day. Then I got stupidly ambitious and tried to make whole grain cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast, but they took way too long, and we ran out of cinnamon after BGs had closed. R needed it for her pumpkin pie, as well, so she took cinnamon sticks and ground them up with her seed grinder into powder. How cool is that?

At some point in the afternoon we needed to get out, so we went for a nice afternoon walk, which around this time of year means walking in the dark because the days are so short. We wanted to see the UU Church tree, but when we got there, the thing wasn’t lit. Why, I have no idea, but it was a little disappointing. Then for our big Christmas supper, we ran into another bump. A request was made for mashed turnips and carrots, but it seemed to take forever to cook the stupid tubers. I boiled them for what must have been 40 minutes, but they were still hard. We ended up eating them undercooked because it was getting late and we were hungry. Kind of a bummer. I also screwed up the meat by marinating it in the wrong stuff, but more on this later.

On a bright note, however, other things went very well. We cooked a London Broil, which I’d never done before. I’ve eaten it in the past and was never impressed, it struck me as tough and tasteless. After doing some research, I learned that this is because it’s a cheap piece of meat, even though it sure sounds gourmet. I found the trick is to cut it as thin as possible, then serve it with gravy. It’s the Arby’s approach. As I mentioned, I marinated the thing in a teriyaki like marinade, which was so stupid when you think about it. Teriyaki and gravy don’t go together, but I was foolishly led to believe that the marinade would tenderize the meat, which it did not. The reality is, if you’re cooking London Broil, it’s just going to be tough. There are no miracle cures for that. Fortunately the marinade was not overwhelming, so it was fine and the most importantly, the kids loved it. Next time I’ll just rub it with salt. One bright note about LB is that it sure is cheap. I’m curious to see if it works better with a nicer cut of meat.

Another good moment during our supper was the Yorkshire Pudding. I’m always getting requests from the kids to make YP, and what’s not to love? Flour, salt, butter and eggs. In the past, I would make it in a 9X9 baking dish. This is usually fine, but after doing the usual exhaustive research, I began to notice that pics often show these small, individual YPs on each plate. Kind of cool. I finally found a recipe that says to use a cupcake pan, and that’s what we did. The YPs came out beautiful, and they tasted great. Live and learn, right?

The kids loved the meal, and it was nice to be home by the wood stove, eating a family meal together. That’s what the holidays are all about, right?

Now we just have to get to the new year, and we can get on with our lives. Until then, hope everyone had a nice Christmas, and thanks for reading, and thanks to Bahman Farzad and 3liz4 for the pics.

Finished the Wood

Talk about going down to the wire, I finally finished the woodpile for next year, which for the record is nothing short of a minor miracle, because I have plugging away at it for months. Plus, I got it done and that night, we got snow, though just a little bit. We're supposed to get socked with it in the next day or so.

I have been pining for snow, and lots of it, but in a crazy way, the fact that it hasn’t snowed bode well for me and the woodpile. If we’d gotten tons of snow, it would have been trickier, though not impossible, moving all that wood and splitting and stacking it. I know, I’m just being a sissy Flatlander, but what do you expect?

Either way, it took quite awhile, and I kept wondering why it seemed to hard this year. I realized that part of the problem boiled down to time, or lack of it. In the past I could dedicate a good 4-5 hours to splitting, and it usually moved along. This year, I am so busy that the best I can do is 1 hour, and that makes it hard to make a big dent in the pile. It got done, but next year I’m hoping to have my act together, sooner. Yeah, right.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.