The Simple Pleasures.....

What a beautiful night last night. Who would have thought that it would be in the 70's in March. The sprouts had gymnastics last night so they were unable to enjoy the evening that much, but they are on spring break this week. They have been playing outside all day. What a great time for this weather for them.

Since they are not in the same tumbling class, I dropped the oldest one off and the youngest and I went shopping for a bit. We decided to park the car at home after shopping and walk to the gymnastics center to pick up the other sprout. With water bottles in hand we were off.

It is really about three blocks in one direction and three blocks in another direction, not that far. Of course the youngest get just across the street from our house and announces that her feet hurt. I quickly get her going down a different path of thinking. We made it to the gymnastics center and had a few minutes wait. Which I was glad for. The sprout on the other hand was still wound up for some reason. We gathered our stuff and made the trek back home.

The sprouts and I have been walking together even when they were babies. I took them for walks almost every chance I got. I even took them to see their dad when he was at work. Not sure if he enjoyed that or not, but he always came out to see us.

Last night we were a block away from his work, and he was on duty last night. We did not stop by. The sprouts didn't even say anything about stopping either. I would have if they said anything, even though it was getting late. They did not have school in the morning so I would have been fine with it. I enjoyed just sitting at his work watching the traffic go by and the sprouts ran around asking their dad all kinds of questions, that they knew the answers to already because they had asked them before. They didn't care they just ran around with smiles on their faces. This summer they may want to stop and that will be fine. He will enjoy seeing them.

That was one of my simple pleasures, taking the sprouts to see their dad at work on a nice warm evening.

The Bowling Weekend......

This past weekend was the big state bowling tournament weekend for my team. This tournament started this weekend and ends in May sometime. In preparation for the big weekend, I went and bought a new bowling ball and had it drilled on Friday, so that I could take it to the tournament on Saturday. For most people that is a big NO NO, that is like buying a new stove the night before you are in a cooking contest. You have no idea if it burns hotter than the settings or not. Same with bowling, you have no idea how the ball is going to react or how to adjust. With the way my other 2 balls were working I did not care. It could not be any worse than what I have been bowling in league.

After about three hours at the bowling alley on Friday night and throwing the ball for awhile after it was all tweaked in to my liking. I headed for home. As I was getting things around for the weekend, I ripped the nail on my finger. Yes, it was on my bowling hand to top it off. Instead of clipping it off I just ripped it the rest of the way off, not thinking of course that might affect my bowling. Saturday arrived and I was up early, because the girls were being dropped off by their dad around 6:30am so he could go to work. We had breakfast, got their hair cut and off with grandma to swim lessons and on to her house for the day. I met my team and we headed to South Bend for the tournament. Upon arrival, the lanes were the older style wooden ones. This will be a challenge with a newer style ball, and six games to throw today. My finger did well, no problems at all. I did not get my average at all, but was happy with the new ball. I will admit I did throw an 85. THAT IS NOT A GOOD SCORE FOR ME. It was my fourth game and I just stopped concentrating. The team went out for dinner afterwards and I headed back to pick up the girls.

My finger started throbbing on the trip home, and I knew then that this was not good. I picked up the girls and headed to our house. Their dad picked them up at 7am on Sunday morning and I made my way back to South Bend for the team event. Saturday was the Double and Singles event. While trying to get ready in the morning my finger tip is about twice the size it should be and very sore, red and warm. All of which are not a good thing. I met my team and we headed to a different bowling alley for the team event. This alley has the newer style lanes, I am kind of excited. My hesitation in excitement had something to do with the fact that I had three bowling balls and not one of them could I get my finger in. All of which are drilled for a finger tip grip. Yes, I only use the tips of my two middle fingers and my thumb to hold the ball. This made for an interesting day.

During the 6 minute warm ups I threw as many warm up balls I could just to get use to the pain of my finger. Pushing the finger into the ball was not as bad as bending my hand down, full span to get my thumb in the hole, that smarted a bit. The first time I threw in warm up I literally dropped my ball in the gutter, and thought there is no way I can do this. But after a few more throws and being use to the pain I was able to throw the three games for the team event. I also had purchased a numbing spray and hand a glass of ice to soak my finger in between my turns that helped a lot as well.

Unfortunately I did not get a lot of strikes, which met throwing the ball more. I did get some decent scores, despite the "injury". One of the other girls on our team got a case of kidney stones on Thursday night, so she was bowling on Darvoset on Saturday. She was better on Sunday. No, I could not bowl on the pain meds. They make me sick to my stomach. Part of our team name is Warriors, we should have changed it to the Wounded for this weekend.

My finger is better today, as I think I got most of the pressure in it relieved last night. It is still sore, and hopefully will not be as painful tomorrow night for bowling.

The Great Communicator........

I am starting an interesting day today.....

The youngest gets her school shots today, of which she does not know yet. Then I have a meeting with my Ex later on this morning. That should make the day interesting enough. I emailed him last Monday and requested the meeting. I was even very nice about it. We really have not spoken for about a year, unless it was absolutely necessary. I finally, made the move to request that we talk about the kids. They have a lot going on in their lives and their heads.

On Wed. morning I get an instant message from his wife, wanted to know if I have a minute to talk. Of which I had just a very few minutes to talk, I had to go pick up from preschool shortly, which she should have known that. She said that my ex showed her the email that I sent him requesting the meeting (I knew he would do that). She just wanted to let me know that she was not going to be there. (I requested that she not be at the meeting as well in the email) She said that she has been encouraging my ex to communicate more with me (Of which I have noticed that at times) She also wanted to know if I knew when I wanted this meeting and where so that she could make sure he had that time available. (Nope, was still waiting to hear from him to see if he was going to attend or not).

That afternoon he called me to tell me he put some papers in the sprouts suitcase from the night before and that he would meet with me, but did not know when yet, he would have to look at a calendar first, and left it at that. (We had talked on the phone at least two times that morning because the school called me, and he said nothing then about the meeting) On Thursday, I email him with a day that will work well for me so that I will not be rushed to have to get back to my work. He works every third day, so I sent the email on his working day because that is the best chance I have of getting a response from him, even though he can check his email at home as well. On Friday I still have no response from him as to the time and place of the meeting. So I sent his wife an offline message to let her know that today would work out best for me. Finally, Sunday night I got an email from him that the day I picked would be fine, and he picked the time and place, I am sure she picked the place. But it is acceptable for me.

So, I have know idea how he is going to make any decisions without her there. She even told me that he says things to make people happy with him. He does not like to disappoint anyone. (I already knew that, lived with him for 13 years) Most of the stuff we will be discussing is about the girls in general. I think we are going to go over their summer schedule, which I am positive that will not get finalized today.

The Big Race.....

The sprouts had their annual pine wood car race Sunday afternoon at the church. This was for the kids church group they are in on Wednesday nights. My dad and I got the cars ready to go for them and they painted their car exactly like they wanted them to, and I put the finishing touches on them.

On the way to the race, we had the "Just having fun" speech AGAIN! That always ends with the oldest saying, but I want to win. They did have fun. The cars did not do as well as in past years. We have usually placed in the top three in past years, but everyone gets a participating trophy. My oldest won a bigger trophy for best design(most pennies in a penny vote). So that did not please the youngest, who brought home a bigger trophy than her sister last year. All in all they did have fun.