This past weekend was...frustrating. I don't think anything really went the way I wanted it to, from our time at home right down to the NFL playoff games (which, given the lack of the Bills, were a really minor element, but that they didn't go well either just emphasizes the epic fail it was).
I could probably start with Jacob's game on Thursday night. It was in Buffalo and we were excited to have family there. All four grandparents were there, as well as Craig's uncle because Craig's cousin is the JV coach for the opposing team. His uncle would have likely been there to support his son anyway, but nice bonus to see Jacob in the varsity game, too! But there was a chance for a couple other relatives that didn't work out, so that was a bummer, and then Jacob just didn't have a good game despite playing a terrible opponent. They won by 50 or so, but Jacob had a really hard time scoring. He ended up with six, but between a weird ball, a cut on his hand, and recovering from a near-injury at practice on Wednesday (a teammate pushed another one, who fell on Jacob's knee--he was freaking out pretty good Wednesday night), everything just felt messy. Great to see family and get a big win, but it just wasn't very fun to watch.
Craig left Friday for Halifax, which meant I was alone with the boys nearly all weekend. The good news was Jacob had no practice due to illnesses in and around the team. He was off school that day (three days last week due to Regents exam week), so I came home a little early on Friday afternoon and worked from home the rest of the day. I did an easy dinner Friday night and ended up being pretty lazy after a tiring week.
I really wanted to be productive on Saturday, but the day turned into a bit of a dud. We had a lazy morning and I ended up taking a nearly-three-mile walk because the temperature was hovering around 40 and it was the first time in days without rain and thick fog. It was damp and muddy but it felt good to get out. And judging by some tired muscles after and the next day (I walk fast), it was much needed. And that was about where the day peaked.
Jacob was supposed to go the Y to get some shots up, but his shin was bothering him again so he was taking it easy...and getting increasingly annoyed because it was hurting worse than he expected. I was killing time early in the afternoon, in theory just keeping myself available to take him, but then suddenly I realized I actually needed to get moving to be ready for Carter's game in time. I quickly sped through my shower and getting ready, and we were off to the game. It was a tough one, and despite Carter's team holding the lead for most of the game, they ended in yet another tie. I swear, this kid is just not meant to win in this league--one win and four ties over about 16 games. I think this team has a lot of potential, so I hope the first win of the year is soon, but it was sad to see their lead dwindle late in the game. Carter wasn't very happy during or after--he's still having trouble getting the ball, and the one time he had a good chance he didn't realize no one was behind him so he missed a prime chance to turn, dribble, and shoot. He also got taken out in the last minute (normally they play even 4 minute shifts, but I think at this level the coach can substitute at the end), so that was yet another shot to his ego. Poor kid. He does look a little lost out there--more lost than last year for some reason--but I still think they looked better than last week, and Jacob and I are convinced that the talent gap isn't as wide as Carter thinks it is. We have a plan to help him, but more on that later.
After the game I ran out to Wegmans to grab some things we needed, including bacon for the much anticipated breakfast pie we were having for dinner. The boys love it. It's an adaptation of a recipe from my old church's cookbook that I upgraded myself--eggs, cheese, hash browns (or tater tots, which I more often have handy), some baking mix, butter, and whatever meats are handy--and it bakes up into a fluffy crustless quiche. I made some fruit smoothies, and called it a meal. Oh, but adding to the "fun" of the weekend, I split my lip by somehow banging my mouth on the shopping cart while bending down to grab stuff off the bottom of the cart. I have no clue how I did it, but my tooth cut the underside of my lip pretty bad and it annoyed me a lot that night and into the next couple days. I didn't mind the slight swollen lip (all natural, no fillers!) but the flap of skin was annoying. Ugh. Anyway, that night I really should have dragged my butt up from my chair to start putting together our new cube shelf for the basement, but I just couldn't, partly because I was trying to play psychologist to Jacob who was still very upset about his leg. It's exhausting, especially while flying solo.
Sunday was much the same - upset Jacob with a few side activities. We went to church, though Jacob didn't go because he was frustrated about his leg when we left and still not ready anyway. I took Jacob to cryotherapy after we got home, stopped at Trader Joe's on the way back, ate a late lunch at home, and then spent most of the afternoon once again killing time waiting for Jacob to want to go to the Y. Despite his leg problem, he really needed to go do some very simple form shooting after a couple full days off. We finally went around 3:30. While he was shooting, I chatted with the receptionists because we had been talking about expanding to a family membership. Craig and Jacob have a parent-child one, and given Carter's struggles with basketball, we decided maybe it was time to pull the trigger on a full family membership. With my work discount it's only about $6 more than what Craig is paying now, and for that small increase, both Carter and I could have access--meaning we could swim, go into the gym with Jacob to shoot or just rebound for him, or I could use the workout facilities. I'm still a little icky about gyms post-COVID and have most of what I need at home right now, but it's a nice option to be able to work out if Jacob needs to go. In the summer it also makes their camps an option for Carter, so that could be interesting. But with Carter needing some extra time to work on his basketball skills, now seems as good a time as any so we feel like we can do something to help him through this current frustration. So, next time Jacob needs to go, Craig and I will both go and do all the things we need to do for us to transfer the memberships.
The problem with all of this sitting around and sporadic errands was that I had that shelf waiting to be assembled and I didn't want to start it only to have to stop. I knew it would take over the basement so it wasn't really something I wanted to stretch over a long period of time. I should mention that the shelf arrived on Wednesday when I was at work, and the FedEx delivery email showed a picture of it sitting on the driveway in front of the garage. That annoyed me to no end since we have a giant, covered front porch and it was raining and snowing that day. I know it's a very heavy box, but it would have taken about four extra steps to put it in a covered spot. I called Jacob and tried to get him to move it, but he could only get it over a few feet to the walkway in front of the porch. A worse round of rain was coming, so I drove home on my lunch, lifted the 100lb. box to standing, scooched it along the walkway, then laid it on the steps to lever it up to the porch. It worked, so Jacob should just stop making fun of his mother using tiny 5lb. weights while on the exercise bike. Clearly they're doing something! The box got really wet, though, so I was pretty annoyed. Craig and I brought it in that night and let it dry out in the basement. Fortunately it was a pretty well-protected setup inside--lots of styrofoam, corner protectors, and double thick cardboard walls--so the dampness didn't get to the wood. But that process to get it out of the elements and eventually into the house (the box was dirty from the ground too) was way harder than it should have been.
After Craig got home from his trip and I made dinner, I finally headed down to the basement. I watched a movie while attempting to get the shelf together, which was probably the only thing that kept me sane. It was the hardest piece of furniture to put together, maybe ever--and I've put together a lot of furniture. There were thicker side and bottom panels, three shelf pieces, and 12 square divider pieces to create all of the cubbies. You had to assemble it all laying down, and it was way too easy for those divider squares to pop off their pegs or for the alignment to get messed up. It took me forever to get close to adding the final bolts to the top and bottom, and even then it suffered a couple bent/broken screw locks (and I gave myself a blood blister) in the process of trying to finish it off. And then I realized that despite thinking I checked thoroughly, one peg on the second level still managed to pop out, which meant I needed to take half of it back apart to fix that. And once that was done I still had trouble getting the last bolt in the top because the alignment was a bit off. The final bolts pulled it together fine, and it's pretty much done aside from those couple locks I need to reorder (there were no extras, of course), but it was horrible getting to that point. It definitely needs a good wipe down and I will be doing some touch-up to the dark wood with a sharpie, but we're close and I think it will be pretty functional in the end. Now I just need to figure out how to shift around all the toys and furniture to get it in place and serve the function it was intended to do. That would have been great to get done over the weekend, but clearly this particular weekend just wasn't destined to be productive. Maybe next weekend...or if I get energetic and inspired one of these evenings.
I finished off Sunday night obsessing about Carter's birthday gifts. I was in a rush because there was a lightning deal on Amazon for something I needed and I wanted to combine the order. I was torn between a few different options, but luckily I realized the deal had free shipping regardless, so I stopped obsessing, ordered the other thing, and decided I'd take on the three gift options another day...which of course I still haven't gotten back around to. His birthday is coming so fast now--I'm seeing memory posts from the home stretch from when I was pregnant with him, and I'm like, "Oh, crap...it's really close now and I really need to get on these gifts...and the cake...and a possible party..." This time of year is so weird how it drags but then suddenly seems to jump. I drove home in full daylight the other day, in part because the thick clouds had finally cleared for a bit, and it was like, "Oh, maybe spring isn't that far away after all." It had literally been so cloudy for so long that prior to that day, sunset seemed so much earlier than it actually was, and same for the sunrise the next day seeming way earlier than other days, simply because the sun was visible for a change. I saw a news story that confirmed we were pretty much fully cloudy for the last two weeks or so, and the month was 93% cloudy as a whole, with only 6 partly cloudy days and zero sunny days. Fun. And we wonder why January feels endless.
In other news, over the weekend Heather came back from Philly and started on her road to recovery back at home after her surgery and complications. That was good news to see shared on social media and eased a little slice of stress that had been weighing on me for a couple weeks. I know there's still a long road ahead for her, but I was thrilled to get a message directly from her on Thursday with an update. That she's back online feels like a good step forward for now!
Jacob had his leg checked Monday morning, and while there's no damage, he needs to take it easy. So it looks like no games for at least this week plus dramatically reduced practice, and then we'll see. It was so hard to watch his team lose a winnable game without him, especially when one of the other starters severely injured his finger. We initially thought it got jammed but then saw it from our view above the bench and it definitely didn't look like it was in the right place. Yuck. We're guessing he'll be done for the season (and as a senior, his career) so it was pretty sad. As for Jacob, I think the goal for the rest of the season is to try to convince him to play in the tougher games once he's cleared, keep the practice time down, and get in as much strength training and rehab as he can. He's definitely going to need a break before travel season. I honestly wouldn't mind if we skipped the first part entirely since I really don't want to miss Easter again.
I don't think I mentioned much about his spring schedule other than that we had it. We're not flying anywhere this year unless they make the championship, but there are a bunch of lengthy road trips to Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Indiana. We're not sad about the Indiana one because we wanted to go back anyway after our Hickory gym visit last year. This time I'm determined to get Carter and me to the children's museum in Indianapolis, which looks amazing and has a super cool Chihuly too. There are trips that get close-ish to both Cedar Point and Kings Island (which I have long wanted to get to), but whether we can make those side trips happen remains to be seen. You know I like to get my "value" out of these trips if I can, but one vehicle makes that hard. It just makes it easier for me to accept long, exhausting weekends if I have some good memories to show for it. I enjoyed the "idea" of our travels last year, and I'm grateful to have had that one-on-one time with Jacob, but I'm still a little bummed we didn't really do anything on that first trip to Missouri to make it more memorable. The annoyance of that 15.5 hour drive would have been eased by a couple little adventures, even though I know our time was so limited. The Uranus Fudge Factory alone could have been a game-changer!
Ultimately everyone knows that Jacob wants to prioritize his long-term health, which is fine, but we also need to balance it a bit with understanding the importance of each season. He only gets a handful of these sectional runs, and so many of his teammates are on their last, so I don't want them feeling like he's abandoning them and robbing them of a chance to do well just because he's a little sore or unwilling to play through an injury. He's been battling all year (as have most of his teammates who have suffered all sorts of sprained ankles and stuff), so I get it, but sacrificing these games when you could totally get your rest in a few weeks seems short-sighted. He just wants to be better and is willing to do what it takes to make it happen as soon as possible, but we don't want him to waste an important opportunity either. As we told him last year, sectional championships don't happen all the time so you have to make the most of it. We'll see if we can find a balance.
It took me most of the week to write this, so here we are on the cusp of another weekend. We'll see if this one can be any better.
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