After an almost 5 hour rain delay, my Tigers dropped game 3 of the ALDS. The Mariners beat them 8-4 yesterday. If they lose this afternoon, they are done. If they win, they still have to take game 5. I am still hopeful for them to advance to the ALCS. I doesn’t look good, though.
The stats are in Seattle’s favor. In all best-of-five postseason series tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has advanced 47 out of 66 times (71.2%). Moreover, in Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams playing Game 4 on the road with a 2-1 lead have advanced 23 out of 34 times (67.7%), closing the series in Game 4 on 19 of those occasions.
On Saturday, my daughter was out on the soccer field again. I had a talk with her beforehand. I told her that if the coach wanted her out on the field, she couldn’t say “I need a break” and not play. That being said, she played a lot this week.
She was so proud of herself. She scored two goals this week. Of course, she was very generous in that one of those goals was for the other team.
I felt so bad for her. They had her in goalie during one period. When they scored on her, she dropped to her knees and cried. She felt so bad that she let the ball get by her. The coach had to kneel down next to her and tell her it was ok. After holding up the game for about 5 minutes, she was up again and playing.
I love that Andrew’s school posts pictures on their app. I will often ask what he did at school and he’ll say, “I don’t remember.” Having the occasional picture helps to see what they are working on.
They are working on the letter A this week. He came home and had to practice on the white board.
The A on the top right is what we drew as a guide. He’s getting it.
Last week was my first week back on midnights. I did better than I thought. I didn’t feel tired until the last couple hours of my last night. This is week 2 and I hope it goes as well as last week.
This past weekend was a busy one. Once again Ella had soccer. Watching these gals play is so fun. I’m not sure why they all want to be the goalie.
At one point over half the team was in front of the goal. Ella had her back to the other team because she was chatting up the goalie on the field behind them.
Later that evening, my niece was cheerleading for one of the youth football teams. The kids were like 5-7 years old and they were playing tackle football. That was really cool to watch.
The game was at the high school in our district, but my niece was cheering for the visiting team (who won). After watching her cousin, Ella wants to cheer, too.
On Sunday, we finally got out and “Falled up” the yard. Sam had me run up to get hay bales. I took her car and hay was everywhere. Needless to say, I went to the car wash to vacuum it out.
Sam put out the mums that she ordered, had me drag out the pumpkin inflatable, and moved her goose to the front porch. At some point we need to get some corn stalks, but it looks nice.
Our older cat, Maizey, has been scratching a lot. She’s also been licking herself. It’s been so bad that she’s missing hair on her back and the upper part of her tail. She’s also got scabs from where she was scratching.
Monday I took her to the vet. They were running behind because of a new computer system. She waited patiently for the doc.
They think it’s an allergy. They gave her steroids, an antibiotic and her rabies shot. Hopefully, it will get better in a day or two.
Andrew’s teachers are very good about posting pictures on their classroom page. Every now and then one will crack me up. Like this one…
I’m really not sure what he’s doing!
Yesterday, I was on my way to work and bumped into my old morning show partner, Steph. We chatted for about 45 minutes catching up and laughing. That was so nice. I hope it isn’t roo long before we see each other next. It’s always good to laugh!
You would think by the third time, I would be able to handle it. Nope. No amount of preparation helped me at all. Last week, we had Ella’s open house to meet her kindergarten teacher. She was so excited. We were excited for her.
I held it together pretty well for this. We walked around the school, found her classroom, explored the library, strolled through the gym and met the teacher and principal. As we walked out of the building, I could feel the tears, but they never came … until Monday.
My goodness, I cannot fathom that she is really in kindergarten. I have no doubt that she is going to totally rock it! She has been waiting for this since preschool ended. My little girl is not so little anymore.
The school drop off is a lot different from when my boys were in school. There is a line of cars waiting to drop off. When you drop your child off, a teacher/staff member opens the car door so they can get out. They walk into the school and you drive away. Apparently, this makes it easier for the child and for you.
Sam was crying before the door even shut. My tears came a bit later. It’s weird because you want them to go to school and to learn. You want them to take on the world. You want them to grow into amazing adults. You want them to excel at everything they take on. But you don’t want to let go just yet.
Good luck, sweetheart. We are so very proud of you. You are going to do so well this year! Be a good friend. Keep smiling and take kindergarten by the horns! We love you!
Looking back at the past seven days, it’s been busy!
Still Kickin’
We had some issues with the soccer league that we signed Andrew up for. The communication prior to the actually first day was a mess. Do we need a uniform or not? Will the coach be there or not? It was not very well organized.
The first week, there was no coach. They texted the night before saying that neither the head coach or the assistant coach would be able to be there. This led to a mess of text messages wondering what the kids were going to do. They had two teen players lead the kids through some drills. For not knowing what they were supposed to do, the teens did OK.
The following week, the coach showed up. She had some drills planned, but she was the only one there. She was obviously overwhelmed. It was hard for her to keep the kids attention. With 30 minutes left, she decided to let the kids have “free play.” That basically meant that most of the left.
Week 3, the coach texted to say that neither coach could make it again. Andrew decided to stay home that week. We were totally ok with it, too. This led to an email from a league bigwig. “We noticed that only 5 of the 12 players showed up this week. Is there any concerns that you have? Is there something wrong?”
He opened up a can of worms. I wrote him a scathing e-mail back. I told him about the communication and the things that were never explained properly. I complained that we had to buy a uniform, when we were told that Andrew’s age group was going to be given a T-shirt to play in. I complained about the coach and the fact that there was no plan whatsoever for what was happening each week. I expressed my disappointment with the league and the poor planning and communication.
I never got an email back. However, the team got a new coach. He was texting us early in the week and keeping us abreast of what was in store. It was night and day when we got there last week. This coach was GOOD. He kept the kids engaged for the whole time. They had a blast. He even encouraged siblings to come and play, too, which Ella loved!
After those first couple weeks, Andrew kept saying that he didn’t want to go to soccer. He really was hating it. The new coach was supportive, and encouraging to every kid on the team. Andrew loved being able to help him and all of a sudden, he is loving soccer. Go figure.
Sign Here
School has been the absolute best thing for Ella. She comes home with stories every day. She talks about her friends and what they did at school. She tells us who the day’s “helper” was and what everyone wore to school that day.
They have her working on writing her name. She’s getting pretty good at it. First name now and last name next week. I love seeing how hard she is working …
As I got in the car to head to work today, Sam stopped me. She handed me a rolled up piece of paper. Ella had painted a picture at school. She wanted Sam to give it to me to put up at work. I don’t have my own office. I share the tech room with the rest of the staff. A beautiful work of art like this should be shared, so I put it on the bulletin board!
90% Done
I posted recently about finally being able to stain my deck. This week I stained the posts white. It looks great. I really thought I was done, but noticed in this photo that blue under the wood. I think I am going to stain that white, too. Very happy with the way it looks.
Winning!
It’s been nice to have some winning teams in Michigan lately. Monday night, my Detroit Lions wowed folks on Monday Night Football. I love the new black uniforms.
The last time the Lions beat the Seahawks was back in 2012! They had lost the last six games they played against them and that worried some folks. There was no need to worry, as Jared Goff had a stellar (and perfect) day! It was a record day for him, completing all 18 of his passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns.
Before Monday, only six players in NFL history have finished a game with a 100% completion rate with at least eight attempts. Goff is the first QB to finish perfect with more than 10 attempts and first to do it with over 200 yards.
What was even cooler was that Goff caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Amon-Ra St. Brown on an end-around pass. Goff said that the pay has been in the play book for awhile, but they never seemed to have the right time to use it.
The Detroit Tigers surprised every one over the past few weeks. Back on August 11, they Tigers were 55-63 and 10 games out of a play off spot. Their chance of making the playoffs was 0.2%!!! When they clinched a Wild Card spot, Tiger’s announcer, Jason Benetti, had the perfect thing to say:
“A city that doesn’t care about the odds has a baseball team to match.”
In the Wildcard Playoffs, they faced the 2nd hottest team in the American League – The Houston Astros. Since August 11, the Detroit Tigers are 33-13! Yesterday, they swept the Astros and will face Cleveland in the American League Divisional Series! Game 1 is Saturday!
Yesterday, I blogged about my daughter’s first day of Preschool. She is having so much fun there. She is making friends and sharing stories about her day, which has been awesome to listen to.
One thing I didn’t do was get a picture of her and I together. She was probably “pictured out” by the time we got there. We got a lot before we left the house, including the traditional “holding the first day of school” sign. Little brother, Andrew, had to have his own sign too.
I held it together pretty well when we dropped her off yesterday, however, that wasn’t always the case. My oldest boy was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when we was very young. with therapy and lots of work, he started to come out of his shell and was then diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. At one point we didn’t think he’d be able to talk. So when he was finally at the age to enter Kindergarten, he went to a regular education class with an IEP.
I cried like a baby when I dropped him off at school that day. He had always been fascinated with trains, so I had to smile when I found his first day of school picture.
I am sure that he did some preschool, but I’m not sure I ever thought to take a picture. Wow, to look back to this day and know all that he has accomplished since then, is overwhelming. What a journey!
My second son went to preschool. I got a little emotional when he walked in that day, too. He didn’t have the same issues as my older son, so he really looked forward to school.
What I remember about this picture is that his backpack was a monkey. He loved that thing! This year, he is a senior and is on his way to graduation!
I also remember being that skinny! Sigh. I need to get back down to that weight.
It took me a while to find the photos of my sons. After the divorce, my ex kept almost everything. I have some photos, but not many. I’m glad that I did have these on a flash drive.
It’s going to be hard going back to work today. I took a couple extra days off because Ella started Preschool.
Friday, the teachers did a home visit at our house. She was excited to meet them. It was a half hour visit to answer questions about her likes and dislikes and to get to know her.
Tuesday, they had an open house where we could go and tour her classroom with her. She was so excited because other kids in her class were there too. She’d say, “Hi! I’m Ella, what’s your name?” It was hard to get her to leave.
Yesterday was her first real day. She woke up ready to go! Mommy did her hair, we had breakfast and were off. We got there early so we could get some pictures before she started. All she wanted to do was go in her classroom!
I was worried about her being upset when we left, but she walked in and never looked back. She couldn’t wait to get the day started.
There is an indoor track at the school, so Sam and I took the stroller and walked a mile with Andrew. This will be awesome for me because I can walk this everyday before work.
While Ella did great, it was Andrew who didn’t know what to do. He kept saying he wanted to go to Ella’s school to play. He truly missed her being away. I’m sure he will adjust and hopefully come to enjoy his alone time with mom.
When we picked her up from school, a teacher pulled Sam aside to say, “You guys are doing something right.”. Sam asked what she meant by that. I guess there were some kids who were very upset that their parents had left. They cried a bit, and Ella made it a point to go to them and tell them it would be ok and asked if they could play together when they felt better.
As a parent, that is the kind of thing you just love to hear. She is such a good kid and I hope that her loving and caring nature continues as she gets older.
I surprised myself and didn’t cry. The night before, however, I was having a very hard time.
Have a wonderful year, my sweet girl. Daddy and mommy are so proud of you and love you to infinity and beyond!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 