Hot Softball

Senior Softball this weekend was in Rock island and it was HOT!!! Saturday anyway. Mike's team was on a roll and easily won their first two games. The games were taking a long time to play. The third game was for 3:00, but was called at 4:30 because the storms were a comin'


Not too many of the guys were complaining - they were beat down from the heat!

I did get to go out to dinner with 9 guys. We went to a great restaurant and bar that specialized in home made bread sandwiches. Bryan would of loved it the Reuben was as big as the plate. I restrained myself from taking a picture seeing it wasn't mine. I had the club on raisin bread. Yummy.

Rock Island is close enough so 2 of the guys drove over on Sunday morning. I'm not going to say that they lost the games for them, but they did win on Saturday and one of these late comers lost the ball in the sun for the other team to score 2 runs in the seventh inning.
OK - I am going to say it. Next time stay home...

I'm very excited for the next tourney in late July - Nashville.

Fun at the Old Ball Park

I hadn't been into a Sox game yet this year so when I saw that the Dodgers would be playing on the south side I had Mike call Bill and see if him and Vicki wanted to catch an afternoon game. Bill had the same idea and already had tickets to take his grandboys. The day was too hot for Vicki and Jeremy opted out so Mike and I went in with Bill and Jack.
The sun was hot sitting in the outfield. But the stand were not full and the slight breeze and the clouds kept it comfortable. We did get rained on twice (Ok, just dripped on) I told Jack it was Uncle Lester spitting down on us from heaven.
Jack forgot a hat so Bill bought him one at the souvenir stand - I say way to go Jack on scoring a new Sox hat.



I tried to watch the game but some bimbo in a blue and orange hat kept getting in my way. Not really, I'm just kidding, she was very nice and a smoker so they were not in their seats that much. She went to Flordia and now lives in Sycamore.

The announcer told the crowd that section 106 row 12 won free ice cream compliment from Edy Ice Cream. Woo Hoo!!!! That's us.
Jack and his grandpa were out taking a "shower" and Jack came back all excited. He knew where our seats were and wanted to know what we won.

They gave the coupons to the next section over. WTF....

I taught Jack the art of "clinking and drinking". If you clink you have to drink! There is no clinking without the drinking. He caught on as quick as his mother.

By the 11 inning Jack was dead dog tired from his game the night before and asked if we could go home. We told him 1 more inning. We heard the roar of the 13th inning from the parking lot. Poor jack was alseep before we hit the expressway.

Flashback

Watching Mike in the pool yesterday with the grandkids reminded me of a time long ago when we had a pool in the backyard and all our afternoons spent being lazy by the pool.
Mike would spend hours throwing the boys in the air. While Stacy did her own thing hanging around the edge.

Here are 2 pictures from the summer of 86 of Mike and the boys

Now Mike is once again surrounded by 2 boys and 1 girls, only this time it's the grandkids and Kaylyn liked to be tossed around.

Grand Kids don't Care

If you aren't employed - Then you can come out to their house in the afternoon and play in the pool with them.

If you sit in the shade - They only care if you can say Ready, Set, Go when they want to jump


If you need to color your hair - They just care if you can count backwards from 5 to 1 when they want to show you their somersault


If your arm waggles when you wave - Just so you see them and wave back


If you can't cross the monkey bars anymore - They will do it for you and all you have to do is watch


If you have gain some weight - all you have to do is sit and watch them play baseball

So that is how we spent our Tuesday afternoon. Just what the grand kids wanted!!

I Like Weekends like this

Friday - We went to the Moose to get a fish fry and it was like a suitcase on vacation - over packed.
Turns out they were down to 3 numbers for "Lighting". We decide to stay and try our luck for $5000. You get a lighting bingo card (it's about the size of a credit card and has 6 numbers on it). If you win then you get a chance on guessing a number between 1 and 100 for the $5000. They only play 5 games each Friday night. The big money went on the first game. It was split amongst 8 people.
I ran into some old friends who I worked with in the kitchen at Ellis. They are both still with the school district in the kitchens. One is a manager so I asked her if they had any openings. Nope!

Saturday - Got a call Sat. morn. and it turns out they do have openings in the kitchens - 7 for next school year. I'm gonna give it a try. The hours aren't great and the pay sucks, but I loved that job.

In the afternoon we decide to play some golf. Kory wanted to golf with his father and father-in-law and I wanted to see if my shoulder would hold up.


It was a very long day we played the first 4 holes in 2 hours. I kid you not!
The beverage lady went and got the ranger. For some reason I didn't mind the slow play. He stops to tell us to play ready golf so I went up to the ladies tees and CRANKED one out and he clapped and told us he was pretty sure it wasn't us holding anybody up.
Turns out there was a bachelor party and the guys were having fun and getting drunk, just what you're supposed to do.

Sunday - All the kids and grandkids came over for father's Day. Bryan tweaked my resume and helped me to fix each one to suit each jobs.
I cooked Mike a ham on the grill and we had our first sweet corn of the season. We watch some golf. Mike did end up playing Cootie with the grandkids and Kaylyn was the winner.

Knock Off Purses

When we were in NY last summer I was fascinated with the vendors selling knock off purses on the sidewalks. I wanted to get one but we were either going somewhere in a hurry or it was too late and by the time we got there and they were all closed up.
I had put together a scrapbook from our trip for Steve and gave it to him when he was visiting us. I ran across this picture and mentioned that I was sad that I didn't have one of those purses.



He said that he would get me one. I told him I didn't care what color just surprise me.
It was surely a surprise when these came in the mail.


This one is my "Kristie Alley I'm fat and hiding behind this large purse" look.




And this one is my "I want to be like Meryl Streep and wear Prada" look.

I love them both! Love you Steve!

Softball & Golf

Two of my favorite sports to watch.

Mike had another tourney this weekend and the results were not so good as last weekend. The good news was the tourney was in Schaumburg and we could drive there each day - The bad news was the weather was bad on Saturday and the tournament was shorten to a single elimination. Mike's prime team lost in the seventh inning of the championship game. Mike had a great tourney and was named to the all star team.
One of the fellows liked the collage so much he printed a copy for each of the teammates. I was very touched by all the comments and thank yous.

Today I got the chance to watch Jon again. He was playing Royal Fox, a course that I have seen from the road many times but it's a private course so I know I wouldn't ever get the chance to play there. I was not impressed with the course but I did renew my confidence in Jon. He shot a 75.


Jon had a crowd following him today. Erica and Carrie came too.

Dinners

Mike's sister was in town this week visiting from AZ and she wanted to see Stacy and Kory's new house. We met for dinner at the Village Squire before heading out to Genoa.
Mike's mom grabs the waiter (yes she actually grabbed his shirt) and told him that she wanted the bill. This started an argument about who was going to pay.
We had a good laugh because here we sat - one on social security, one collecting a pension, two unemployed and one who hasn't worked in 10 years fighting over who had the money to pay the bill. Kathy won but only if we could make dinner later in the week!

Here is Mike with his sister Kathy - brother Keith (the twins) and his Mom Darlene.



Kathy has been battling her weight ever since she had her 3 kids. It held her back from doing some things and took a major toll on her knees. She was in desperate need of knee replacement. Long story short she had stomach surgery, lost a large amount of weight and got her knees replaced.
She is now concentrating on her "bucket list". Some things more adventurous than others. She wanted to drive Mike's tractor!
She can now cross that off her list. After a few instructions from Mike she tooled around the backyard like she was born to ride.

Manicures

My friend Steve gets concerned with me taking care of my hands (mainly because he has seen up close the disaster that they are). Me - I gave up a long time ago. Though there was a time that I did the fake nail thing. They got in the way of my bowling and usually popped off.
When we were visiting him in NY he took me for a manicure. I have to admit I liked it.

I must say I can't see going out and getting manicures - mostly because I know they won't last for the money they cost.

When Steve and Lahcen were here shopping on Michigan Avenue they got cornered by a lady at Water Tower Place that was selling manicure kits. Seacret Nail Care with minerals from the Dead Sea. I'm pretty sure that they were not cheap. When they got home Steve gave me a manicure and showed me how it worked.

Well Steve you can rest easy - I'm using my kit and it's working.

Sr. Softball in South Bend

Mike had is first tourney of the year and I decided to tag along. I like the guys he played with last year. Only trouble was 6 of the guys turned 55 and moved over to the 55 team and were replaced with new players.
Turns out these guys weren't so bad either and were some damn good ball players. One other wife was there so I didn't have to watch the games sitting alone (and I liked her).
The first game they only scored 5 runs the whole game against Kalamazoo. OUCH! The Kalamazoo team was the team in their bracket they needed to beat to win.

When the games counted the team buckled down and scored 57 runs in two games. The first game the Kal team won the toss and took visitors, a little in your face, so the Prime (Mike's team) scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th to win 27-26. HA!!!!
The games on Sunday the Kal team had to beat us 2 outa 3. They won the toss again but elected to be home. They learned their lesson. Didn't matter the Prime brought their bats and scored 30 runs and played some really tough defense and whopped some butt. 30-12

Best part - the Hot dogs at the ballpark were 2 die 4.
I took a bunch of picture and of course the one of the winning team. Good thing - I had the only camera!

Here is my collage of the tourney!

Karen to the Rescue

Since I have been home during the week I have noticed that Ray our neighbor is a "non-stopper". he's 72 yrs young.
He is on his tractor by 7:30am always doing something in the yard. Either that or he is off with the tractor on the trailer going to mow something.
Yesterday he thought it was a good day to cut down a tree, so he cut down a smaller "weed tree" as he called it. That sucker was not small. NON stop!!!

I happen to look out our family room window and see him laying on the ground. OMG I jumped up and search for the phone. I see the cell phone, but know after calling 911 once on that thing, you never get through, so I keep looking for the landline phone. I take another look out the window to see if he is moving and start to really panic.
Mind you this all happens in about 15 seconds. I find the phone run out of the house, going over in my head the steps in CPR, screaming his name and the old coot turns and looks up and smiles.
He was cleaning the bottom of his push mower and didn't want to tip it up cause he had just filled it with gas. I told him I was going to call 911 because I was going to kill him. He thought I needed them more.

He said I was white as a ghost and laughed and said it was nice that he had a neighbor that cared. His wife, Lu, also stopped and thanked me for caring. She also told me not to try and keep up with him - she gave up 30 years ago. I think I'm going to take Lu's advise and just leave him alone unless CPR is needed.

New Chapter

I have been without employment now six weeks. I have kept myself pretty busy doing thing I think I should be doing around the house.
Mike has started his retirement and we now find ourselves together again. When people ask Mike what he is going to do he just smiles and says I really don't know. He's taking the summer off to enjoy life and figure out what is next.

One thing we both have figured out for sure is that whatever we will be doing, most of it will be together. I jokingly told his co-workers Friday night that we are going to start dating again.
We'll visit the zoos and museums walk along the lake front and just enjoy each others company exploring new places. I'm sure a few days this summer will be spent on the golf course and riding our bikes. He will play his softball and I'm going fishing, but we realize that we like doing things together still.

Our main goal is to look out for each other so this can last.
I promised that I would help him eat right if he would see that I keep moving (notice I didn't say exercises - Baby steps).
He will carry in my groceries (hate that job) and I will help him mow the lawn. I get the rider. :)
And most important, for our mental health, we will NOT try to watch baseball together -he can watch his Cubs in the basement and I will have my beloved White Sox on in the family room.