Category Archives: Volunteering

Priorities


I didn’t join the usual group on a long trail run today. The IT band on my left knee has been barking way too much, and since I don’t have any specific goals to run a long distance anytime soon, I thought it best to just start taking it easy with shorter (4.5 miles) less technically challenging trails like the 56 near my house. What I love about that trail is that you really CAN zone out mentally and since I was by myself that is exactly what I did.

And it was good.

OK, so my knee wasn’t so good – it started tightening up as usual around the 2 mile mark despite the easy footing and relatively level ground and mellow pace. That probably means I should stay off of it entirely, but…I need to at least run a little bit!!

Anyway, it was good because I needed that zone out time.

It’s been a little crazy around here.

Por ejemplo – here’s the calendar on the ‘fridge for the next few weeks (mind you, this is after crossing off a week of items from last week)

photo

 

It occurred to me as I was running and thinking about how I am only writing in here once a week and feeling guilty – hey it’s a miracle it happens once a week! So, guilt has been released :)

Here’s what I know is going to have to be my priorities for the rest of 2013:

  1. Daily house/cat/kid upkeep
  2. Day job
  3. Football liaison tasks
  4. Blogmutt writing
  5. Running
  6. Everything/everyone else!

Numbers 4 and 5 might swap around depending on how much extra cash I need in a given week. So far, I’m earning between $48-$72/week or, as I like to call it “gas money” :) My goal is to AT LEAST sell 5 posts per week which means writing  5-6 per week (given that about 10% get rejected no matter how well you write). I’ve got 6 in the queue for this coming Thursday, then 4 each week after for the next 3 weeks. That means I really don’t NEED to write 5 new ones this week  or the next which is probably just as well looking at that schedule up there!

The point is that I think I needed that time on the trail to just let my brain settle on this ranking.

That list doesn’t even include the new task I inherited for the football team – website mistress…err..webmistress..er…webmaster….err….crazy person who never learns to stop saying “I can do that?” Yeah..so that was four hours today learning how to use the software and switching every page at all levels to have 2013 information.

Also – yes! 16 is now wearing contact lenses! And I will have “driving glasses”. My near-sightedness has returned somewhat. Just enough that I will feel better having some cheap frames to wear while I drive and watching football games at night. I don’t – and won’t need anything for reading despite my age since the lasik surgery back in 2006 will keep that issue at bay for a quite a bit longer.

Oh, but you should have seen the poor boy learning how to put in those daily wear contacts! He is lucky that his prescription is the same in each eye so we wont have to keep track of leftie and rightie. And the folks at the Optometrist were SO good and patient with him showing how to put them in and take them out. I, of course, was the usual supportive mom sitting and giggling at his red red eyes with the tears flowing out of them :)

Hah – I did the math and I’ve run 143 miles this year! Maybe my knee is right to be cranky and demand some rest. Perhaps I’ll listen to it and go enjoy some quality sofa time now. As you can see, that is a rarity!

 

Ever pack 3 days into one?


I’m pretty sure I did that on Thursday and again today.

Today I had 8 things on my To DO list – some fun, some chores, some money making blog work. I did 5 so that’s not too bad when you consider I also spent time with the boyfriend.

Anyway – my whole money saving goal was a) blown out of the water this week and b) a life saver when I needed cash and had to shut down my bank accounts on a Friday night! (possibly to be explained later, but everything is OK now).

So yeah, I’m at $3  in coins right now, but it will all be replenished if not next week, then by 4/15 for sure (and then some, there’s another teaser that I cannot explain just yet either!)

Exercise mid week went MUCH better! You saw the routine that I posted – I did that VERY diligently for the first hour & a half of Biggest Loser and that ended up being more than 30 minutes of course (damn commercials!) I did the same routine again while watching TV Wednesday night though not quite as long. Still, my abs HURT after two nights of all that!

I’ve begun the last step in my volunteering journey. Going out in a blaze a glory as a co-parent liaison for the varsity football program at the high school. We met Thursday with the coach and outgoing liaison and I have another meeting tomorrow morning because we have to launch right into planning for the first spirit wear website setup and sales and the budget for next year. That’s my main role – finances – which is right up my alley of course.

Speaking of football – so remember that 16 had a bum knee last summer? Well, let’s be honest – not just last summer – pretty much since he was 11 or so only it was never bad enough, long enough for him to complain and request a doctor visit. Last winter/spring he finally did and went through an MRI and then physical therapy and a regimen of icing/ibuprofren and continued stretches to try and get the knee cap to get back on track without surgery. A year of that which included the two months of complete rest with the concussion and there is still no change.

Tuesday, he has arthroscopic surgery. Two small incisions and they will look around to see if the MRI missed anything and also check to see if there is anything physically keeping the knee cap from resting in the right groove. If so, they will clean that up. They may also perform a lateral pressure release which…I cannot entirely remember! Anyway, just 45 minutes supposedly though he will be under anesthesia and he will end up with a pretty painful and swollen knee for a few weeks. BUT – once that heals, the ortho is saying he will be good to go and play football one last year. And that’s the whole goal isn’t it? As I said when we were there for a visit in early Feb – “Doc, bottom line, he has one more year to play football. Senior year. He can start if he’s healthy.  This is what he has been dreaming about for his whole life – to play varsity football for the Falcons. What can we do to have him ready to play flag football with the team in May, get back to weight training and be full speed in the summer?”

Check in time is 6:30am – umm..say what? Is there a bed for me to sleep on? :-)

Oh! I’ve picked up a writing gig to hone my skills and earn a wee bit of cash (for the play money fund most likely) $8 per purchased blog post. You search through the client list and find keywords and craft a 300 or so word post. If the client likes it and buys it – $8! I sold one this week and have 6 in the queue. 3 have been reviewed and are scheduled to be bought 3/21 – they get pulled every Thursday. It’s a fun challenge! You can either pick keywords that you know like the back of your hand such as the two I wrote last night on sports blogging and excel 2010, or you can try something totally different and take some time to research it a bit. I’m really loving it so far. I wont make Big Money with this company, but I will learn a TON. It is almost like landing an internship in copy writing/content writing. You have to cater to different companies across a vast spectrum of topics and style types. One company my LOVE your stuff and one might reject it. What I’ve learned from chatting in the forum with other writers is that once you find clients who like you and build up a rapport, you can almost count on them giving your posts 5 stars and moving them up in line to be purchased next.

First though, I need to have more than an hour at the end of every day to focus on it. In fact, I was supposed to block out some time today to do that, but it fell off the list. And now it is late….heck..really it is TOO LATE because we Spring Forward tonight! Yipes! That’s good though – it means I can run after work again instead of just on the weekends. Speaking of which, since I have a coffee meeting for football tomorrow I wont be joining Renee for the 3+ hour marathon. So instead, I joined her today out at Lake Hodges for a mere 90 minutes and 7 miles. Running out there the day after rain? AMAZING!

Lake Hodges

 

 

Book 11 of 52 – Back in the saddle again!


Why Obama Won: The Making of a President 2008 Why Obama Won: The Making of a President 2008 by Greg Mitchell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A pretty cool compilation of editorials written during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Gives a fascinating glimpse into the reactions of the political right and left leaning media to the unfolding events. Naturally the articles on Sarah Palin are the best :-) Watching the evolution of some of the conservative journalists switch from support to “what the hell was John McCain thinking?” is pretty fun.

Mitchell also tracked newspaper endorsements throughout the year and provides some stats from prior elections when Editor & Publisher kept count and then how the results panned out comparatively.

Of course, I enjoyed it because I am a total geek for these things, but it is pretty dry and certainly not for just anyone to read.

View all my reviews >>

No, it didn’t take me 3 weeks to read this book :-) It DID take me three weeks to write a review! However, I do admit to falling of the reading wagon for a bit thanks to the Olympics and then the writing I had to do. Also, this was my last Obama book, I promise! I’m going to be hitting the fiction pretty heavy for awhile since that’s the bulk of the pile on the dresser. Do you have any idea how hard it is to ignore new books that come out though? I mean, just flat out ignore them? Even when I wasn’t reading regularly, I would buy interesting books as they came out – that’s why the pile got so high originally. Now with Jacqueline’s books though – I have to shut down ANY new acquisitions. That’s hard! I’m trying to at least mark them on my To Read list on Goodreads so I don’t forget about anything I know I would enjoy for next year.

Seems weird to be March & I’m not posting at least something now & then about American Idol eh? Is anyone watching it? I tried. I really did. Waited until they were live in Hollywood with the top 24 and it was AWFUL!! I love Ellen, but she’s no Paula. Paula brought the crazy man. You just *never* knew what she would say, how loopy she would be,  what she would wear, or what kind of spat she and Simon would get into. It was unpredictable & fun and saved the show if the contestants were bad. And really – man, how GOOD did we have it last year with the contestants? Not just Adam, but really that whole top 10 is better than anyone on there this year!! Jeebus, you know Michael Sarver is looking at this group thinking “Dammit! I could take any of them with one vocal chord tied behind my back!” Let’s be real – the only reason to tune in any further is simply to make fun of them & to pass the time until Glee returns. With that, I *might* give it one more shot next week. Simply FOR the mocking factor. We’ll see. All depends on how much I am into whatever book I’m reading really.

Meanwhile, can someone please explain to me why Sportsboy & are spending tomorrow at Pop Warner football registration?? As volunteers?? I mean, besides that we’re nuts and gluttons for punishment and such. Ah hell, SB isn’t even being *dragged* there for duty – he WANTS to go! As soon as I mentioned that I had offered to fill in for the new treasurer who cannot be there tomorrow he started trying to figure out how he could at least drop by for a bit with me (he’s supposed to be with his dad this weekend). THEN we both remembered that he is with me tomorrow since his dad had to go out of town & also that the wrestling is now on Sundays so he’s free tomorrow to help me ALL DAY. Turns out he wants to see all the people who will be there. His coaches, old teammates, heck even some of the Board members he got to know from previous days he’s helped out. Turns out – I do to! So yeah, it’s a little bit crazy, but we are both excited about being around the football peeps again.

If I do any more than a day here or there though, please feel free to reach through your monitor and smack me :-)

Holiday Magic for Kids


Forgive the crappy photos, but of course I only had my iPhone with me:

Toys ready to be handed out

Volunteers ready to hand out toys

Waiting to get their toys

Over 5900 kids were pre-registered for the toy giveaway event. I got there mid-morning to help with some wrapping first, then I was placed at a table as a “giver” with a matching “runner” to grab the toys which were sorted according to gender and age. Apparently the families started lining up outside the venue at 9am! Many families did come in carrying folded up lawn chairs & soft sided coolers! We started handing out toys at 1pm & I swear that snaking line you see up there looked like that for the next 3 hours solid. But it was well run in terms of keeping people moving & in order. There was a military unit & a couple of scout troops running crowd control pretty effectively. I only saw one tantruming toddler which is pretty darn good considering how long they were most likely waiting outside before they got into the main hall. There was also entertainment to keep them distracted. And Santa of course!

Yes, naturally, in a crowd of that many needy families, there were some crabby ones. The gentleman sitting next to me said this was his 5th straight year of volunteering, that the prior year they had only 2200 families yet ran out of toys! He also said kids would open the gift on the spot and then negotiate for trades. With so many people this year we really could not even play that game & I was actually asked to trade about 5 times which was not too bad. And two of them were legitimate as the toys must have been mis-labeled – clearly a 1 year old wouldn’t like chapter books!! Anyway, despite my cynical neighbor’s warnings, it really was largely a crowd of grateful families and kids. The night before over 3000 pretty darn nice plush Shrek stuffed toys were dropped off & we were able to toss those to the kids as ‘extras’ (it was one gift per child) and they were thrilled! Their smiles (many with missing front teeth!) & gratitude made the day.

No worries about running of toys either! Since I was just sitting in front of one section of gifts, I didn’t realize just how many we had. All those families later and there were still a LOT left over. The San Diego Padres had sent over not just a ton of their leftover kids giveaways from the prior season, but also employees to wrap in the morning and then the Pad Squad crew to help out as runners in the afternoon. I stayed for about an hour after the giveaway was done to load the excess toys for transportation to local churches & shelters.

While the need was more than double last year which was to be expected these days, it was truly fabulous to see that the generosity of others more than matched that increased need.

This event is going to become a regular part of the holiday season for me. I’ve never said Merry Christmas that much and it felt GOOD :-)

Was there a full moon to go along with Halloween?


harvestmoon_091003

I got to sleep in yesterday because the trainer switched our weekend classes from Saturday to Sunday. And thank heavens for that!! I still wake up at 6am anyway just because I’m so used to that and wouldn’t you know I had a nice sinus headache worked up? Ugh. So I took some meds and went back to bad, at least content knowing I could relax and take it slow since I didn’t need to be at the football field until 1:30. Unfortunately the cats had other ideas. While they do usually romp around a bit in the mornings chasing each other and wrestling, this was much more intense and was not letting up. I finally had to physically separate them by taking one upstairs and shutting him in the bathroom for 10 mins. That got them to break that patters, but even while I was lying on the couch snoozing, they were scampering around getting into things. Normally they would settled into a nap! Darn animals. I was quite happy to head out to the high school for my board member shift and to cheer on the final 2 playoff games of the day there – with Sportboy’s team being the final of those 4pm.

Get to the field and the noon game is almost over. About 6 mins left. One of the other board members fills me on some drama (head coach not there, who knows why, one player already picked up and off to the dr to see if an ankle is broken – yipes). All of a sudden the coach who had stepped in in the head coache’s absence goes down! He was yelling at the refs, the refs threw a flag and then he dropped to the ground hard and out. We had to call 911 and an ambulance drove onto the field to tend to him. Thankfully it seems as if he merely fainted, but there was heaviness and tingling in his legs and his blood pressure was through the roof. So they took him away and the game resumes with yet another guy stepping up to run things for the team. Thankfully they were ahead and did win the game, but now the game is way late ending meaning the next two will be delayed. The 2pm game started around 2:15.

Then I see something that I know will mean trouble – the same head referee from Week 1 ambles onto the field to cover the final two games. Oh NO! Not only was he throwing flags over the craziest things that first week, but on top of that he was SLOW to make his calls every time. Which meant further delays.

Thankfully, other than being late to start, the 2pm games goes without any drama. Our team wins after a slow first half, but now they have moved on to the Conference Finals. For the second year in a row two TPPW D1 teams have advanced that far.

Meanwhile, I’ve had lots of other board members on the field with me up to my son’s games starting, but I knew I would be closing the field on my own which is normally not a problem at all. We were done paying people so I was able to take the checkbook and the weigh in scales to my car and all I would have to do after our game was grab the referee cooler of water and close up the announcers booth.

As long as there is no drama.

Famous last words.

Since our game didn’t start until 4:15, I knew we would be playing into darkness and would need the lights to be turned on. Again, normally not a problem since the custodians know the drill and usually turn on the lights around 5pm. Just about any time I looked around the field during the first half, I could see the custodian somewhere around the field so I didn’t give it another thought. After all, it was my son’s game so I was a fan at that point. And it was a big game!! Even though we scored very quickly to go up 8-0 and then again towards the end of the half (with a blocked extra point) which put us up 14-0, it was all very hard fought. The other team showed some tricky formations on offense, but as always, our coaches were ready and had prepared the team. Still, the had a couple of VERY elusive runners who broke free a few times causing us to be quite nervous about their potential for a comeback.

As the third quarter started, and the sun was going down the coaches on the field look up and holler about the lights. Our announcer says into the mic “can we get a board member to get the lights turned on?” Oh shit – that’s now me and only me as all the others have left! I ask the announcer to ask for a custodian and I looked around. Suddenly the guy is GONE. No little truck anywhere. Crap. So I take off all the way to the other side of the stadium to where I know his shed is and where he stays if he’s taking a break. I walked that whole back area and saw nothing! Not even his truck which meant he wasn’t on a break, he was just somewhere further away even on the high school campus and clearly had forgotten about the lights. Now I’m calling other board members to see if we have a number we can call to reach the guy. No luck. I walk around the back way back to the announcers booth to ask him to keep calling out for the guy. As I do that, the other team scores. Arrrgh! 14-7 and I’m missing it. Up in the booth one of our guys breaks away on a long run! I check the backfield before I get too excited because we’ve had several runs like that called back for illegal blocking. No flag! Yes! So I start cheering along with everyone else in the booth and he gets down to the 2 yard line! And then……..FLAG!!!!!!!! That damn referee threw it waaaay late, but also waaay back at the beginning of the run…WTF?? You are supposed to throw those right away when you see the foul!! Not wait until the guy is tackled!! But like I said – truly craptastic referee. So now I am doubly pissed at this guy, frustrated for our team and wondering where the hell the damn custodian is???!!! I head out for another circle around the campus when a dad offers to help so we are about to fan out when I spot it – the truck!! Yes!!! The dad takes off running after the truck as I stop on the field at the end zone and watch my son take a handoff and wiggle and juke his way down the field for some good yardage. He been scampering around the whole game running back punts & kickoff sin his typical pin ball man style. Then he goes out for a pass as the QB is scrambling and the ball gets thrown over his head and out of bounds. I know this means we have to punt so I leave the backfield area and head back up the stands to sit back with my parents just as the lights go on – yay! As I make my way up another dad says “Is your son hurt?”

And there he sits on the end of the bench, helmet off, ice pack being applied to the back of his right leg. I know it must really hurt because the defense is about to go out on the field to try and hold this team back yet again and he’s the starting corner and his freaking helmet is off! So I head back towards the field and the team mom tells me it’s his hamstring. Shoot. Well, nothing I can do until after this is over, and its pretty tense so I head back up to the stands. Only I cannot stand it! Poor boy is sitting there, trying to see over his teammates heads and every play is a huge one. The backup corner has to come up big – and then even worse, the OTHER starting corner starts to have foot cramps and has to pull himself out about every other play to have get stretched out. So now they are plugging in people to fill the holes. Somehow though, our team keeps holding them back until, with 27 seconds left, that maniac referee inserts himself yet again and calls a really lame roughing the passer penalty which gives the other team a 1st down at the 20 yard line! Gawd! I’m back down on the field now, on the sideline with SB, biting my nails off with every play. Thankfully, the referees efforts did NOT pay off and the two passes they had time to attempt fell harmlessly incomplete. As the team celebrated on the field and ran over to hug SB and give him a high five since he couldn’t get up to join them. He was going to do the handshake line, but Coach made him sit.

I start to think about how we get him to the car. Clearly we have to carry his things. He’s with his dad, but my car is closer and we can get him there and then I can drive him to his dad’s car. Then I remember the referee cooler. And then the team mom is remind me we have to take the team gatorade containers because we have to provide that for the next game (which is on my weekend with SB so I was going to handle that). Then the announcer is asking me what he has to do to shut down the booth for the night. Aaack!! Oh, and THEN, someone from the other sideline runs over and asks if we have an epipen in our medical bag because one of their players was having some sort of severe alergic reaction and they didn’t have one. As I contemplate having to call an ambulance yet AGAIN, we thankfully find what they need and that crises is averted. I talk the announcer thru closing the booth. I assigned SB’s dad to grab the Gatorade jug & water bottles. I grab SB’s gear bag and the cooler. And who grabs SB because there was no way he was letting him walk?

Coach_Alex

The best head coach ever of course!

I will be SO GLAD when my board duties are over!!!!!!!!!!

My life is in a computer chip


This is my brain

This is my brain

How in the hell did we ever live without laptops and smart phones?

It’s one of those which came first questions. Did these items come about in reaction to our lives being so packed and thus the need for electronic organization, or did the electronic organization allow us to take on the many tasks that have packed it to the brim?

This weekend I downloaded more apps on my phone to help me get through each day. A To Do checklist (Toodledo) which allows me to enter an item and assign it a due date and thus also set up a reminder pop up. I have another app (Awesome Note) where I’ve kept track of things I need to know like the list of SportBoy’s classes and teachers for this year. Of course it comes with a calendar which syncs to my laptop so that they both have our whole schedule for work/school/football/baseball/board duties/workouts in one spot with handy reminders popping up in both places. It’s got a calculator and an alarm clock (love that the clock function allows me display times in multiple zones so that I know, for instance, what time it is in China where SweetPrince is yet again). It has a Grocery List app so that I can record what I need as I think of it and then just bring up the last when I get to the store. this iphone is so darn all encompassing in what it can do that I have actually not even turned on the laptop a couple of nights this week because it was just not needed.

Basically I am using it as my brain. Because my own brain is a flipping sieve! Stuff flies out faster than it goes in and even with the phone and laptop I forget to do things. Or tell someone something. Or ask so and so about this or that and…ummm…what was I thinking about again?

It’s awesome and scary all at once. I love it and I hate it. Do you think for a minute that as a single mom working full time outside the home I would have even considered volunteering on first the baseball and then the football league boards without a laptop at my disposal? or a smart phone that can get all my emails on the fly? No WAY!  I’ve honestly thought about what my life was like 10 years ago and there no possible way I could have juggled all that + keep up with getting SB to all of his sporting practices and events.

Not to mention – how would I ever have kept up with my obsession with all things Adam? Or been able to access such gorgeous photos:

This is my brain on Adam

This is my brain on Adam

:-)

I’m sure I am thinking of all this because my time as a volunteer is waning (thank every god in heaven!). I’ve been pondering what I will be doing 6 months from now for instance. One entire email account will be gone. A software program will be out of my life. Another checkbook and invoices and deposit files will be handed off.  I know I will initially catch up on the To Do list (that is on my phone of course!) of things I need to do around the house and yard which have been so neglected since December. I’ve already been squeezing in my workout classes (twice a week). Maybe add a third class? Maybe read a book? Maybe write more on both my blogs? Maybe do something to help my brain get back into shape so that it does not have to be on a phone? Some crosswords or other activities?

Maybe just be.

The weekends are just packed


Yeah, I adapted the title from this classic Calvin & Hobbes collection:

days-are-just-packed-a-calvin-and-hobbes-collection

If  only the *image* was as appropriate as the words!!

After my 8am workout I went home and showered and then made a batch of Bisquik blueberry pancakes for SportsBoy and I to have for brunch. Since he is really *not* that close to the maximum weight for football and he had a noon game and I just remembered how much fun it is to have those as a weekend treat AND I knew we couldn’t pull it off on Sunday – there you go! Oh so yummy especially since blueberries have been so good at the store recently. I don’t want to hear anything about how horrible Bisquik might be for you – we don’t care. It’s a cooking/baking tool made in heaven in our opinion and no, I wont stop using it now that I have re-discovered it again!

So then we drove out to his game which was another good one for the team. They won 24-0. SB had an ‘ice cream saving’ tackle which means he ran down an opponent who had broken away into the open field and looked like he was going to score when he was run down by this lightening fast corner who had visions of Baskin Robbins dancing in his head (the reward they get with a shut out as you recall).  Sadly, I was denied yet *again* from my double scoop of Gold Medal Ribbon because coach decided it was too much of a hassle to find one where we were and too far for us to meet back at our home location so he called ‘rain check’ on the ice cream and promised to bring some to one of the practices this week. GRUMBLE! That’s 2 weeks in a row that I lost out (because, hey, it’s all about ME, right?) :->

Tthe boys reported back to me that the team we played against was the classiest they had played ever. I had noticed during the game that this team (which was pretty hard hitting and tackled quite well, they just couldn’t match our speed) would tackle and then help up the player they had knocked down and pat them on the shoulders or helmet nearly every time. Sportsboy said they all noticed it and started trying to remember to do the same back to them as the game progressed. So while I don’t normally ID teams in my blog posts I do want to give a shout out to the Vista Mighty Panthers for being a Class Act. Way to go coaches, parents and kids!

After the game we slipped by In N Out for double doubles as a salve to heal the no ice cream wounds. Then we cleaned up and I took SB over to his friends house for some R&R while I headed up to the local field for some board duties from 4-8.  We were back home and in bed by 9:30 because Sunday we were up at 6am!

If you even *consider* volunteering for one of your kid’s sports leagues – BE PREPARED. Most leagues do some combination Picture and Spirit Day as it is easiest to get the teams together for the photos and then have a nice fundraiser for the league. But let me tell you it is HARD WORK to plan and pull those off! At 6:30am SB and I were pulling up to another board members house to load our car with cases of water and silent auction items for the event. At 7:15am we arrived on the upper field at the high school where the party rental place was unloading tents and tables and chairs and dozens of volunteers were milling about awaiting instructions on where to go/what to do for set up. Looked like it was starting off fine – love to see so many folks out there to help. But then we noticed something rather ominous – the sprinklers were on in one corner of the field. Not impacting things at the moment – but – why were they on at all if we had the field reserved from 6am-6pm? Sure enough, the stopped in that section only to start up in a section even closer. Frantic calls to the custodian did nothing to stop the waterworks. Folks kept setting up. Those of us in charge felt a creeping sense of panic because we could visually calculate that the next section would be smack dab in the middle of everything – and….it WAS! WOOSH – waterworks all over the middle section raining down on everything that had been set up until that point. At this point you could really only laugh. We managed to contain the mud creating water in the center section and *thankfully* that was the last set to go off in our area. We diverted one obstacle course to a different section of the field and everything ended up just fine. SportsBoy was a huge help all day though I did give him breaks to play with his teammates. We were home and I was counting cash around 5pm – finishing at 6pm – FINALLY.  After dinner we were fighting sleep on the sofa as we watched the Sunday night football game and we were both upstairs in bed at 9pm.

Gosh it was nice to go to WORK today instead of a football field!!