I try to not go more than a week or so without posting something here, mostly because it's so easy for little but important things to get lost to time if I go much longer than that. It doesn't always work out, but I try. I apologize if things get a little boring as a result of life being less-than-exciting right now, but I still like to give myself little nudges to remember what was happening at any given time when I'm looking back years later. This blog often serves as my memory bank, so when things go missing it will probably bug me years down the road that there's no record of some random thing I wanted to reference!
We had a relatively uneventful but still interesting enough week, I guess. The kids and I had off on Monday, which was helpful because I had spent the weekend taking down the Christmas stuff and I was tired! Tuesday Craig had an endoscopy as a follow-up to his colonoscopy the previous week. Early indications are that he had some inflammation but most of the bloodwork wasn't pointing to Celiac. Still waiting on the rest of the pathology from both procedures and what next steps might be. But because Craig was put under again, it meant another day of going to the appointment with him, being the sole driver afterward, and managing all the kids' needs. It was such an annoyingly disjointed day--rough morning with Jacob for drop-off, a dentist appointment for me, then we figured since Craig couldn't drive we'd drop off his van for an inspection and oil change, then off to his appointment where I worked from the waiting room. We grabbed some lunch for him on the way home and he napped it off, but Jacob needed food mid-afternoon for his long stretch at school before practice, then we had to pick up the van, I had to figure out dinner (that was a fail due to timing issues), Carter had basketball practice that night, followed by a Wegmans run before picking up Jacob--and all of that meant it was sort of a weird day where I felt like I didn't get nearly enough done. The rest of the week I just felt generally distracted. My boss has had issue after issue keeping her out of work, which has been challenging as well. It also probably didn't help that I was still waiting for more news on Heather and overall it seems like there's just so much sickness around and not-great health news on a lot of fronts that things are sort of depressing. Heather's heart stuff that the operation was for is apparently coming along well, but I found out Saturday she's had a couple other complications, so that has been weighing heavily on my mind as well. Keep her in your prayers. Oh, and then over the weekend we found out one of Craig's extended family members (not a close one, but still) took his own life, much like his son had a number of years ago. Sad stuff. For a lot of reasons things just felt mentally overwhelming for parts of the last week--I just kept thinking of this line from a song from one of my old favorite bands, "Strange the things you notice when the walls are closing in, And the walls are closing in on me today." I know that sounds ominous, but I promise you I was fine--mostly just mentally tired thinking through a lot of things, specifically how much some people are struggling right now and feeling powerless to do anything about it.
Jacob only had one game last week, on Friday, and as I mentioned, Carter started his Upward season with a practice on Tuesday (after his first one was canceled due to weather) followed by a game Saturday. Jacob had a nice 11-point showing in a super weird game. He had his first nine points in the first quarter (nine of the first 14 points, in fact), but the team we were playing wasn't very good so he was used sparingly for a bit, and then he sort of lost his scoring touch when he made it back in later. That was sort of how all of last year went, so it didn't shock me, but it was a bummer. The whole flow of the game was weird because all of the bench players were in and out, and then there was a near-fight in the third quarter that took forever to sort out. We won, but it was just a tough game to watch considering it ended up an easy win.
Carter's first game was intriguing because he's up a level this year, and is now playing at the same level Jacob started out at. Upward was his first basketball experience in 2019 and he was already hitting threes pretty regularly courtesy of a summer of frequent gym access at camp. Carter is not at that level, but we were interested to see what the level of play was because we felt like Jacob's season was a bit more like "real basketball" than Upward was for Carter last year. They also have outgrown the color-coded, assigned defender setup (they could only guard the person wearing their same color band) which was always a little limiting, so we hoped it would open things up a bit. Well...maybe it opened things up too much. It was pretty much controlled chaos--a lot of kids can barely dribble, others tend to just grab the ball from the less agile kids (one kid just kept standing there in shock for a couple seconds every time it happened to him), and anyone coming down the floor haphazardly heaves the ball at the net 75% of the time. I'm convinced that the pandemic coming at a formative time for Carter's basketball cohort ruined their development, because game one felt like the same mess as last year and definitely not as good as Jacob's year. They ended up tying the game 16-16, which was better than most of Carter's games in his previous two seasons - he only had one win and two ties in a little more than a dozen games prior, so I guess it could have been worse. He didn't score, only had one shot and barely touched the ball otherwise. People wouldn't pass to him, although he needs to get better with his positioning, and as usual there's one kid who's probably their best player but also an inconsistent ball hog, which results in a lot of fast break shots that might have been better off being passed. With Jacob's team there were definitely a couple really good kids and a couple who could barely dribble, but the rest were decent enough players. This was NOT like that. And we know scores were higher back then, although some of that could have been that Jacob's team (and one other as I recall) were just that much better. But Carter's coach seems nice and they were one practice behind the other team so hopefully they'll figure it out, and obviously Carter has a live-in advisor. Having a brother who is a basketball whiz is a blessing and a curse. Jacob forgets that not every kid is blessed with natural ability and that hard work only goes so far for those kids, but he does know the game and should be able to help Carter if he stops being sort of condescending about it. Sigh.
Otherwise, I think the only notable thing was that it snowed a bunch over the course of the week. Never more than a few inches at a time, so it stayed manageable. It snowed pretty hard a couple times, but at least the snow itself was light and fluffy. It just made for some challenging travel at times. I think in the end we got about 10 inches, but it certainly didn't feel that way. But that meant on Sunday that Carter and I needed to go sledding! I owed him one after being gone for the last big snowfall (and taking someone else's kid sledding on top of it, haha), so we decided to revisit the big hill we went on as a family a few years ago. Because we went right after church, it was way less busy than it was last time--not to mention last time was in the midst of the COVID-induced burst of interest in safe, outdoor activities. We were able to snag a spot on the main part of the hill, rather than being relegated way down on the edge of being off park property, where your sled ran into thick brush if you weren't careful! We still had to work to avoid other people sometimes, especially when they went wildly off track, which happened. But it was a gorgeous day for it (but cold!) and we had a blast. I was so tired from climbing the hill by the time we were done and sore the next day, but it was worth it.
How it looked from the top of the hill:
How it looking going down (on the saucer, which spun me mercilessly):
Two of Carter's runs...note the fun at the end of the second one:
It once again got me dreaming of going tubing where you get towed up the hill and have faster and smoother (and presumably safer) runs. I've wanted to do it as a family since that last sledding day, and now I'm thinking I'm probably better off just planning it for Carter and me at some point, either at our somewhat-local one or just planning a weekend or break day in the southern tier. The one I went to in Quebec was peak amazingness, but that one is so far, so cold, and so French that it's rather intimidating to consider going back.
The snow was so fluffy when we got home that Carter couldn't resist flopping into it!
We finished off Sunday with a disappointing Bills playoff loss. Again. It's an annual thing now and it sucks. I guess being in the playoffs is better than where we were 10 years ago, but it is heartbreaking to see a team with a lot of potential get close but ultimately fall short. It gets worrying that time is passing and talent is getting wasted. Being a Buffalo fan in any sport is rarely easy, but I swear those four Super Bowls completely cemented a certain brand of cynicism and angst that springs up like new every time we get a loss like this. It just hits harder than it should but is also just part of existing as a Buffalo fan, if that makes any sense.
So, now on to another week. Jacob has what I think is his third cold in about a month, but I guess the timing is decent since he only had school yesterday and midterm exams today and is now off for the rest of the week. He still has basketball, including a couple games, but it's not COVID so I'm sure he will play through. Carter is excited for another practice and is counting down to playing his buddy Ben the week after this one. His morning schedule has eased up a bit so we'll definitely take an extra day or two with more sleep. Every evening this week is booked for me--picking up a Kohl's order Monday, Carter's practice Tuesday, a work thing Wednesday, and basketball Thursday and Friday (one of which is in Buffalo). Craig is off to Halifax this weekend. I should be getting our new shelf in a few days so that should be my project while he's gone, assembling it, moving furniture, and getting things organized. It's one of the few things that makes me feel like I can make a dent around here, so fingers crossed it works out okay. My brain has felt scattered for the last week or so with all that's been going on, and I'd really like to get that managed soon. Maybe a puzzle to keep me off screens?
Ugh...January, you've been moving along nicely, but you've still managed to mess with me...is it Friday yet?
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