Thursday, October 31, 2013

Dead Mau5 Baby!

It's finally showtime.  Weeks of labor is finally unveiled.  Caz will be wearing his costume tonight.  He has spent hours crafting this thing.  He ordered parts from Amazon.  He spent hours shopping...yes, shopping...with Demi, to find the right material.  He has to go to the hardware store for supplies and materials.  He got a tux at Building 19.
     Caz went next door to have Yaya help him make cuts in some thin plastic.  He watched.  He learned.  After watching my dad cut, he was able to work on his own.  He cut the mouth all on his own.  The ears he crafted out of hard packed styrofoam.  Then he bolted those ears on, all on is own.  He stretched the material all over the round head pieces and ears.  He painstakingly glued the material, so that it didn't bunch up in folds.  He rigged working speakers into the eye pieces, so that the speakers were the iris.  He put neon lights all around the ears and eyes.  He mounted an old bike helmet inside the bowl, so that the rig would fit on his head.
     Halloween.  Showtime.  Dead Mau5 was in the house.  Caz looked great.  He really did.  Then the rain and wind came.  He was scared the elements would ruin it.  So he stayed in.  He mounted the head piece in the bay window.  The Trick or Treaters loved  it.  Caz took it all in stride.  I am so proud of him.

It's Only Weird If It Doesn't Work

OK, the posting moratorium is over.  The Sox have won the World Series.  I can resume normal order.  Yes, I stayed off my blog during the Sox run.  Honestly, I got pretty busy between football, school, Demi's physical therapy, and work.  But when the Sox started winning, my OCD took over.  It was all about the routine.  Whatever I was doing when they won, remained in the daily routine.  Come on.  I can't be angering the Sports Gods at a time like this. So I sit in the same place.  I have Coco sit in the same place.  Demi is banned from the room.
     It's funny what the boys pick up on.  They get.  Years form now, when the boys are shutting the same door a set number of times...every night...or wear the same shirt during each game......they will know where it call came from.  I will be to blame.  That is my legacy to them.
     And some say we don't have any impact on our kids.........

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Back to the Hive

Ah, the moody teenage years.  We hit a bit of a rough patch with Caz.  That is to be expected.  But it still stinks.  I could do without them.
     A selfish teenager?  Surely you jest?  Ah...no...'Tis true.
Again.  It's not often.  But it tries my patience.  The kid has no concept of how much is done on his behalf.  So the clear lack of appreciation is just intolerable.  I can't take it sometimes.  Yes.  I yell.  I try not to.  But I get past the breaking point.
     I had to send him out of my presences after one blow up.  Actually, just away from everyone.  We all need to calm down.  He can really change the dynamic of the whole family.  It's not fair.  To any of us.  I really do just want to wall him up in his honey comb with some food until his mood changes.  Sending him to his room with no electronics will have to do.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Da Vinci Code

Coco started reading the Da Vince Code last night.  He's seen Angels & Demons.  I knew he would find it interesting.  I also knew some of the material was adult, in content, language, and nature.  But I also believe he can handle it.  He's a very smart kid.  He's also mature for his age.  He understands adult concepts.  I felt it was a good opportunity for him to stretch himself a bit.  He reported that he is 87% (Kindle Stats) done.  That's pretty incredible.  I really wonder how much he understands of what he is reading.  I will quiz him tomorrow night.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Boys Weekend 2013

Me and the boys this weekend.  Demi is off on the Island.  I am glad that she took the ferry.  It should break up the trip and be easier on her hip.  She needs to go easy while recovering.
     That aside, I get to spend some time with the boys.  That magic time started roughly with Caz.  He pulled his moody teenager bit.  So I walled him up in his part of the bee hive and spent some one on one time with Coco.  We hit the DHS game in Scituate.  He got to spend some time with his teammates, which was nice. Then we had a late dinner at JW's Burger Barn. Buffalo Burger for Coco of course.  We got the last batch before they closed the kitchen.  Caz was just fine.  He made himself dinner, watched movies, and communicated with his girlfriend.  Coco had his JV football game in the afternoon.  It was nice to have a Saturday morning to get some stuff done.  We only got to catch a few minutes of the FSU game.  I let Coco have a few buddies over after the game for grilled pizzas.  Caz was down with that too.  He got into the act on manhunt with them.  It was nice to see.  I got to grill, have a beer, and watch the Sox with the boys.  Then Coco and I spent hours watching football.  We were disappointed that the Sun Devils lost to ND.  He tried to talk me into letting him stay up for the Stanford game but I was wiped out.
     We all slept in late.  After slowly getting up, I took the boys to breakfast at Persy's Place.  Both the kids got hot chocolates and gigantic breakfasts.  They both got the southern biscuits and gravy, which comes with eggs, bacon, toast, etc.  More food than any two people need....for each plate.  Ridiculous.  I thought I would just get the pumpkin pancakes, no sides, figuring on leftovers.  But that stack of griddle cakes was almost too much for me alone.
     We had a lot of fun together.  But we were all happy to have Demi home.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Crazy Times

Crazy things are still happening around this neighborhood.  All I know is Demi left for NY early this AM.  I get a text that there was an attempted kidnapping on Deerpath.  Now there is a North and South.  I figure it was our street.  The youngest kids\ will be home from school at 3.  I scramble to make contact with him and have him stay at my parents until I get home.  Of course, since Demi is not home.  So Gizmo needs to be walked.  And Coco was hired to walk the dog, Brady, down the street all week.  I arranged to have my parents keep an eye on him while he does that.
     My sister in-law was good enough to get Caz from XC practice.  She stayed next door, at my parents, until he showed, ate, and came over.  She made sure the garage door was closed.  It is so handy and nice to have family close by.  Good family.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Making Amends

So the coach that went on a tirade stepped up and admitted fault.  He reached out to all the coaches, especially me, by email with a promise to address us and all the kids in person at the next practice.  I was impressed with the fact that he manned up and admitted he was wrong.  There have more egregious incidents where nothing was ever said.  I communicated back immediately that we were good and it was all in the past.  At the next practice, he was a good as his word, if not better.  He spoke well to the boys and apologized profusely.  I tell the boys all the time that when you make a mistake, the first thing you have to do is own it.  Then you make amends and learn from it.  That is how you move forward and past it.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Biting Your Tounge

To me, there are times when it shows more strength to bite your tongue and not say something, than to start a fight - verbal or otherwise.  It could be based on that being my general style.  It was a decision that I was faced with today.
     During Coco's football game, another coach of ours was losing his mind.  The team played awful.  The game frustrated everyone.  Plays were made that had me shaking my head.  I had coached them better than that, hadn't I?  What happened today?  Why today?  Sure, they usually get psyched out by this team.  But all of them tuning out this whole weekend?  What's up with that?
     I am not sure why this coach was anymore frustrated than the rest of us.  We were all unhappy about what was unfolding in front of us.  But it is not acceptable to be dropping F-bombs around or at the kids.  Then he turned on me.  With 90 seconds left in the game.  I had a choice to make then and there.  Do I let it go?  Or do I fire back?  I felt like firing back would escalate the situation, and set a poor example for the boys.  I glared back and stayed silent.  Did I do the right thing?  Did I appear weak?  I don't know for sure.  It felt like the right decision.