Monday, April 30, 2007

Monday musings

I hope everyone had a great weekend. It is lunchtime on Monday and I'm just sitting at my desk, talking to you. You should feel honored . . . it is sunny, mid-80s, no work deadlines, and the golf clubs are crying out to me. I'd rather be here with you. Of course I am honored by you stopping in to see what is happening in my life.

It was a busy weekend.

Friday night, Susan's oldest daughter, MAC, had a soccer game. They were playing one of the better teams in the county and finished with a 2-2 tie. MAC played strong and looks better every week. She had a nice steal, attacked a 2 on 4 situation and scored a goal in the first minute of play. The other team was good and had a lot more shots on goal but our goalies played great and kept the damage minimal.

Saturday morning I woke up early and headed out for a quick run. My legs were still sore from Thursday evenings workout and at first I thought I'd have to quit. However, after about a mile of stumbling through the neighborhood, I finally loosened up and got in a very nice 5 miler. It was sunny and the at 8:00 the temperature was a very nice 60 degrees. A beautiful morning for a run and now I wish I had stayed out there longer. However, we had a day full of activities planned and I needed to get on the stick.

After the run, I went over to Susan's to help her in the yard some more. After moving the doghouse (kids are amazed at simple things like pipes for rollers under the doghouse), picking up and planting more impatiens in the front flower bed, we took a break and went to a nearby garden shop to let the girls pick out flowers for their "OWN" flower bed. It is a shady area and I helpd steer them to the shady plants. MAC and E both got coleus, caladiums, impatiens, foxglove. We also got some sun plants for a little area that sees lots of sun. We spent a couple of hours Saturday afternoon raking back mulch in the natural area, prepping the ground for planting, and showing the girls how to layout their "gardens" before planting. I personally enjoy working in flower beds and it was fun to watch and teach the the girls. After that, Susan and I went to work on ripping out ivy and cutting down overgrown shrubbery. I also chopped roots and pulled up stumps from the shrubbery. We stopped working about 4 ish since MAC had another soccer game.

We had a snack and headed to the soccer field. It was a 6:45 game and the weather was wonderful. We sat next to some of Susan's friends who has a daughter on the opposing team. I am not a coach and know little about soccer but on the way to the field I was describing to MAC how well the team from the previous night played defense and how they kept stealing and intercepting. I told MAC to layback on throw ins. Told her how to let her man look open and as soon as the thrower starts to throw, break in front and steal. I showed her how to stay on the field side of the girl and use the sideline as an extra man. Showed her how to stay just out of the other girl's vision. Guess what . . . . she had at least 10 steals, blocks, or knock aways. Everytime she'd do it, she'd give me a thumbs up and a grin. She had a couple of breakaways and one on ones but couldn't score. The game ended 1-1 and all the spectators felt it was a very well played game. Half of her team went to the same restaurant (unplanned) and we all had a great time.

Sunday we headed to church and sunday school and after that we went to an art show in downtown Birmingham. My legs were still surprisingly sore from the elliptical work on Thursday. We bought a few things at the art show and headed to Susan's house for dinner. We stopped by the market and we each picked something out for the grill. We had Talapia, asparagus, fresh pulled corn, all cooked on the grill along with a Caesar salad. All in all, it was a fun and busy weekend.

Be sure to go by Amy's website and read her story about the proposal. Yes, Troy finally asked her. I played phone tag with her but have not gotten to speak directly with her. The story is good and you can tell she's just a little bit giddy about it.

I would say go to Susan's blog but for some reason, SHE HAS NOT UPDATED SINCE APRIL 10!!!

3 comments:

Phil said...

Great soccer games ... the thing I really enjoy about soccer is that it's a thinking game. We no way to stop the games and substitutions only allowed when the other other team kicks the ball out (and goal kicks), you have to depend on the girls to figure out what they need to be doing while they are playing the game. The older they get, the better the game gets.

Good luck ... and tell Susan to start posting again. Something must be going on in her life.

Amy said...

Yes, the elusive phone tag...I wished I had of been near the phone when you called. I let Troy listen to the message. That was very thoughtful of you to call!

Sounds like you had as busy a weekend as I did!

Anonymous said...

Your life sounds filled and happy and that is good. a whole other thing for you--soccer..you never stop learning and that is good so all in all--sounds like you are happy and just where you should be and doing what you are doing.
Ashville