Cincinnati soccer weekend

Ivy and I are back from Cincinnati, Ohio, with a stay at my sister's in Dayton. We drove there Friday afternoon and stayed in a hotel the first night, since we had activities until late and an early start the next day. Ivy had lots of fun running around with all of her teammates in the hotel. They swam, they went to the exercise room, they played games.

Ivy is a wiggler! I finally had to put pillows down the middle of the bed so she wouldn't flop onto me.

They lost both games on Saturday against very strong teams: 1-4 and 0-6. Ouch! Ivy scored the only goal that day.

We drove to my sister's house mid-afternoon and enjoyed some down time, making homemade pizza, and going to a Hispanic festival on the downtown riverfront park. Today's game we won 6-0. Ivy didn't score, but she had some nice shots on goal.

Meanwhile on Saturday Inga and Dio both had school games. Inga's team won 2-0, with her scoring both goals. Dio's team lost 0-2.

Inga and her friend made a homemade apple pie, all by themselves (I mixed up the pie crust beforehand, but they did all the rest using a cook book.)

We got back just in time for Ivy to join a group of friends at the university swimming pool. Eric and I did some yard work before he left for Ultimate Frisbee.

I put up solar lights on our fence panels.

Zari took some pictures of downtown Toronto from this weekend.

Our Freeze Family group chat has been hilarious recently. The kids are mocking Eric. "Aller petit nain du jardin. Va faire du jardinage," they told him (an ongoing inside joke).

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Cincinnati!

I'm at a weekend-long soccer tournament with Ivy. I was going to stay both nights with my sister in Dayton, but it would have been a lot of driving late tonight and very early tomorrow morning. We'll stay with her tomorrow after the 2nd game is done in the early afternoon. We have 2 games tomorrow and 1 or 2 on Sunday, depending on how well they play.

The team had a pizza dinner, games, swimming in the pool, and other activities this evening. We're watching one of the Jason Bourne movies--albeit not paying very close attention to it. Off to bed soon for a long day of soccer!

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After my morning exercise, my brick mason and I installed the last few fence panels. All that's left is staining it!

He finished the last task today: relaying the old brick sidewalk behind the carriage house. We've been sweeping sand into the joints, and I'll need more to fill all of the cracks.

Tomorrow I need to reseed the rest of the dirt areas...transplant some hostas...shop for a hammock...

I went to Ivy's middle school soccer game; they tied 1-1. I got there a few minutes late and missed their only goal!

What else? I had to buy snacks and drinks for the 38 players on Inga's high school soccer team. Our car is loaded up with Gatorade, bananas, and grapes.

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Fence!

I helped our brick mason put up the fence panels, with some help from Eric once he got done teaching. We have about 2/3 up now. So exciting! We need to trim the metal fence posts once the panels are all installed. He wasn't able to sink them all the way in a few spots due to hitting obstacles such as old tree stumps or deeply buried bricks.

I had a stressful day of work--unexpected bad news that I can't say much about at the moment. Anyway let's just say there are part of my job I love and parts that I could do without. Let's also just say that American litigation culture sucks.

Inga had a home game, winning 4-1. She scored 3 of the 4 goals!

Zari is having a lot of fun with her roommates. She stayed up until 2 am talking with them last night. This is great for us to hear. I'm not concerned that she'll do this every night, and it's good for her to develop these friendships.

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Backyard progress

I stained the back side of 11 fence panels this morning, using an old paint sprayer that was last used in about 2003. They're not installed yet, just propped up against the fence posts.

I reseeded yesterday, and the brick patio and sidewalk are completely done. Now our mason is working on relaying the old brick sidewalk at the back of the carriage house. Of course it was more complicated because he had to redo the stairs...and the corner of the carriage house had fallen loose so he had to re-mortar several layers of bricks and tuckpoint. But it's all put back together now.

The rest of the day was a bit of the same: breech work, including some meetings. Soccer for Ivy and Dio. Ivy's team won 9-0, Dio's won 2-1. Inga just had practice.

Zari sent lots of pictures of videos of the islands she visited in Lake Ontario, plus a picture of today's dinner.

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More soccer, Dio's first drive

Ivy and Eric left early this morning for a soccer tournament. They had 2 games, making it to the final but losing that game.

I took Dio driving for the first time this afternoon. He mostly stayed in a huge parking lot, then I encouraged him to do a "real" drive back to our house. It was fun to take him out.

I put grass seed on all of the dirt left from the brick patio project, plus reseeded several areas that needed attention. Then I went into the carriage house and started marking the locations of the bathroom walls and fixtures.

A few pictures from yesterday's dance...Dio didn't take any. We've been teasing Inga about being way taller than her date, leading to Eric and Inga laughing so hard we couldn't understand what they were saying. Inga was particularly impressed with the origami flowers he made for her in lieu of fresh flowers.

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Learner's permit, soccer, thunderstorms, Homecoming dance

Dio and I went to the BMV first thing this morning to take his learner's permit exam. He passed! He can officially drive a car with an adult in the front passer seat supervising. I then dropped him off at a soccer scrimmage at the high school.

Eric took Inga and I took Ivy to soccer games today. Inga's was a home game (lost 2-1). Ivy's was in Indianapolis (won 3-2). Inga's team played first, followed by JV. The JV team got hit by a thunderstorm, and the game was cut short due to lightning. About an hour later, we were hit by the same storm. We got poured on for about 15 minutes, and then the lightening horn sounded. It was good because we were up 3-2 and about 5 minutes away from the end of the game.

I caught the last goal on camera. Ivy did several beautiful assists and cross kicks during this game.

I stopped by a Habitat for Humanity ReStore on the way home. We are renovating one of our rental apartments; the tenant left it in such bad shape that we have to completely redo the entire apartment: complete paint job on walls, windows, and trim; new flooring; new appliances; new toilet; new lights. It will cost well over a year's rent just to get everything done, and that's if we do it all ourselves. Gah. As if I didn't have enough to do already.

Inga left mid afternoon to get ready for the homecoming dance. Apparently it takes 5 hours to "get ready." Dio left right at 8--no fuss required. Apparently he asked a girl after turning down 4 other girls. We had no idea until after the dance, when we were asking him how it was! Inga is still out with friends getting something to eat.

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Zari and I both ended up making a Thai curry tonight! I coached her through it--not really very hard, just lots of vegetables to chop, then add coconut milk and curry paste and some meat if you want.

Inga and Dio are gone to the homecoming football game. Ivy had a game as part of a weekend-long tournament, tied 1-1. I'll be taking her to her game tomorrow in Indianapolis while Eric goes to Inga's game. And...Dio is going to take his learner's permit test tomorrow morning! We may have a driver by tomorrow.

I was awoken in the middle of the night with a few waves of vertigo. So weird! I wasn't even moving or anything. Even with my eyes closed in the dark, the room was doing that weird jerking/spinning thing. Fortunately it was gone by morning, although I certainly had a hard time sleeping through both the vertigo and the mild nausea!

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Soccer Success!

All 3 kids had games today. Dio's won 2-0 with Dio scoring 1 goal. Inga's won 6-0 with Inga scoring 5. Ivy's won 8-0 and she's sleeping and I can't ask how many she scored!

I watched Dio's game, while Eric was coaching Ivy's.

I had several meetings today and got lots of things checked off on my to-do list. I've started using Trello and love it. With the nonprofit discount via Atlassian Foundation/Goodstack, the premium version is super affordable.

I slept well last night, which was such a relief after several weeks of disturbed sleep.

Fence panels are arriving tomorrow. Posts are all set and concrete is curing. By the end of next week, it might be all done--brick patio, sidewalk, fence installed and stained!

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ER

Well, an Emergency Room visit certainly wasn't on my "to do" list today! But I found myself there at 8 am. I'll omit the details but I went in today after visiting a walk-in clinic the day previously regarding a few weeks of persistent symptoms that had the potential to be Something Bad even though it was very unlikely. Fortunately there is nothing at all wrong with me, except the persisting symptoms for which the doctor had no explanation.

In fact, I got a lovely complement from the ER doctor: "You have the blood pressure of an Olympian athlete." Awww, thanks, I'm blushing. In fact, I can't donate blood because my blood pressure is too low.

I was dismissed by 9:30 am and back to normal life. Now I fearfully await the hospital bills which will probably be more than our car. Maybe more than a small house. Yay US healthcare.

No one had soccer games--amazing! We were able to eat dinner together, including Zari via WhatsApp. Eric make poke bowls with salmon, avocado, mango, and edamame.

Ivy's school is doing a class trip to Europe in June 2027. She wanted to join them, since she'll already be over there, but it's super expensive. We are thinking of doing an "alternate" school trip in Nice and Italy for students who can't afford the official one.

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I was tired last night and forgot to write. Caught yet another possum today, this one at least an adolescent if not an adult. All 3 kids had away games today. Dio's still not back. Inga's team won by a landslide, while Ivy's team lost 6-1. Ouch!

Our brick patio and sidewalk are almost all done, and our fence posts are going up. Finally after 14 years in this house we will have a nice back yard area!

I've been feeling unwell, mostly due to ongoing sleep disturbances. I've been waking up between 3-5 am most mornings and can't get back to sleep. Today was particularly hard and I skipped my walking group.

Behold my raccoon-proof garage! I put pieces of plywood between each joist, secured with 2 screws. It's not pretty but it does the job. These will stay until we get the carriage house apartment finished and the bead board ceiling put back up.

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Freezes v Raccoons

The Freezes v. The Raccoons competition is not going very well. We caught possum #3 (another baby) last night. No raccoons!

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon stapling pet-proof screening over every possible access point with staples every 2".

This morning? I came to the carriage house and the raccoon had pulled off the screening. Granted, my staple gun wasn't embedding the staples as deep as I would like. But still! It felt secure when I tugged on it.

Now I am going to pull out the Big Guns, aka pieces of plywood custom cut and fit into each opening (there are about 12). I WILL keep the raccoons out of the carriage house!

The kids were very sad when we drove out into the country to release the baby possum. "Can't we keep it and take care of it until it's bigger?" they pleaded. Nope, sorry, I'm not taking on a pet possum!

I put the trap upstairs in the carriage house, meaning that only the most adventurous raccoons will have access to the delicious bowl of vanilla ice cream inside the live trap. I hope it will keep the possums away because they aren't the ones who have been climbing up my carriage house wall and into the floor joists.

We had our normal Sunday morning pancake breakfast (except me, because I fast every day until mid-afternoon...). Eric and Ivy were at a soccer game mid-day; they won 1-0 to a team that was supposedly much stronger. So that was good.

I read outside in the sun this afternoon...cooked white bean, garlic, bacon, & rosemary soup...did a bit of video editing...watched an episode of Quantum Leap (not the best show but a fun way to do something together as a family).

Zari has been out most of the day so we probably won't hear from her until tomorrow. She was going to some of the islands on Lake Ontario and then going to Eric's cousin's house for dinner.

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Baby possum

Still no raccoons this morning, but we did catch a baby possum. It's relocated to a park. Tonight I am trying ice cream, upon recommendation of a raccoon hunter acquaintance.

I also raccoon-proofed the carriage house, stapling pet-resistant screening across every possible entry point up in the rafters. Then Eric did a disgusting task of cleaning up the piles of raccoon poop on the upper floor of the carriage house. Eww.

What else? Eric and I went to Ivy's game this morning. Her team lost 0-1 and missed two penalty kicks. Ivy did a lovely header. On the way down from the jump, her head collided with another player's. She had some moments where she couldn't breathe and had to come off the field.

There was a "Celebration of Unity" festival downtown this evening. Ivy and Inga were there for several hours, playing with friends. Eric and I made a brief appearance.

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Last night a sneaky animal--probably a raccoon--triggered the trap, shoved it over a few feet, and managed to upset the food tray so that it could fit its sneaky paws inside and grab the food.

So this time our trap is weighted down and access is blocked from the back and sides. We are going to be counter-sneaky until we catch this animal. Probably animals.

I've been waking up most mornings around 4 or 5 am and can't get back to sleep, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes not at all. It's annoying! It happened again last night so I didn't go exercise in the morning. I also had to drive Inga to her 6 am soccer practice, and it's good that I was already awake lying in bed for hours because 5:45 rolled around and she still hadn't come in to get me. It turns out she forgot to set her alarm because she was up so late doing homework last night!

Most of my day was video editing, with a late lunch break to meet a dear friend who I haven't seen in 17 years since we moved from Illinois! We had babies together (her 2nd, my first). I attended her birth with 5-week-old Zari in a sling. The hospital wasn't entirely sure what to make of it when I showed up with my sidekick :)

We've got a busy soccer weekend. I'm going to do some extra sneaky things and block off all possible entry points into the carriage house with hardware cloth and/or pieces of plywood.

Zari called for more cooking advice. Tonight is tilapia fillets and sauteed green beans, and she's prepping 12 bean soup for tomorrow. Next weekend will be a Thai curry.

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Wrong animal!

We have a pesky raccoon that's been making a mess in the attic of our carriage house, climbing up on the carriage house doors, grappling on the walls, and wedging itself inside the floor joists to get up there.

We set a live trap out and got an opossum this morning! Not quite what we wanted but the kids enjoyed looking at it. It was opening its mouth and baring its teeth to me but it still looked cute and a bit pathetic.

It's now off in a nearby forest and we hope to get that sneaky raccoon.

My day: walking group, several zoom meetings, tons of video editing, and a tiny bit of gardening in the early evening.

Everyone else was gone until 8 pm or later (soccer...of course).

Early wakeup for Inga's 6 am soccer practice. I'm taking pity on her and driving her instead of making her ride her bike several miles in the dark.

Zari did all sorts of adult things today: got her Ontario health insurance card, library card, and public transit card. She and I planned a big meal to make this weekend, with the plan to freeze at least 8 dinner's worth (12 bean soup). Each weekend I'll help her think of another big meal to make and freeze. After a while, she should have a nice rotation of freezer meals. She also went to a board game club and played Exploding Kittens.

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12 hours alone

Besides Eric coming home from teaching to change into his soccer clothes, I was alone in the house for 12 hours! These long quiet days are so strange. Even our busy days in France have people home at several points--lunch, between classes, after school.

I went to my morning walking group and then worked most of the day. So at least this quiet time was productive!

Zari got her resume done and cover letter written. She has one more document to prepare tomorrow and then will apply for the urban gardening job. Then she needs to apply for lots more jobs in the hopes that she'll get one of them!

Dio had an away game tonight, losing 2-3. He was disappointed because he felt his team was much stronger overall, but the defense made some errors and let a few goals by that they should have stopped.

I'm feeling very uninspired for what to cook. Part of the challenge is the lack of ingredients that I can easily and inexpensively in France. We do eat a lot more Mexican food here since we have 2 Mexican grocery stores. Today was a staple recipe: creamy herbed pork chops, served with all of the random leftover vegetables in our fridge and sourdough flat bread. (I discovered sourdough starter in our deep freeze and am reviving it!)

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We've had a laid-back weekend, although Eric still had to work today. It's not a holiday at his private university.

We had the sleepover girls here until lunch. We made apple crumble mid-morning and baked pizza for lunch. Inga was gone most of the afternoon dress shopping with her friends for an upcoming school dance. Ivy is recovered, finally.

Dio got a haircut this evening, courtesy of our in-house barber (me!).

Zari is finishing her resume and will be applying for work-study programs. She has her eye set on an urban gardening position. It sounds super interesting and I hope she gets the job! She would be doing direct gardening work (planting, harvesting) as well as planning, testing, and quality control.

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