This week's diary...

Thursday 4/12/07
Joe had a practice and I had to be at the park to distribute uniforms. While I waited for parents to pick up uniforms, I gave batting practice using the pitching machine to Joe and Matt. They also played kickball with some of their friends.

Friday 4/13/07
On the way home from work I called all of the parents on Matt’s team, letting them know that our Saturday games with Good Hope had been cancelled due to the expected storms. One of the dad’s called me back later volunteering to hold practice on Tuesday (since I would be out of town) and asked me to call everyone. So I called everyone back and told them about that. The boys and I hung out at the house and played games. They also worked on their clubhouse.

Saturday 4/14/07
The boys slept in and I spent a lot of time paying attention to the weather. At 4 p.m. I took David and Joe to their friend’s birthday party. Matt and I had some really good one-on-one time together. We went to the grocery store and after that we went to pick up David and Joe. We hung out there for an hour before coming home. We were invited to do some paintball in the future. I will need to learn more about that. It sounded fun, though.

Sunday 4/15/07
We left home at 7 a.m. and drove to Atlanta to see the Braves play the Phillies. The Braves won 8-4. On the way home we stopped at Talladega and took a look around the area so that we will be prepared for the upcoming race. We also stopped at Gardendale and picked up a Little Caesar’s pizza. Since I am still on my April diet, I only had one piece. We got home between seven and eight. Joe and Matt played on the Xbox. David helped me do some chores and we looked at our fantasy baseball teams.

Monday 4/16/07
We slept in, did chores around the house such as cleaning the carpet and doing the laundry, and then we looked at our fantasy baseball teams. I got the mower working and Joe did a lot of mowing. The boys also played in their clubhouse. We then drove to visit my parents during the evening. My Mom had a Terry’s Pizza ready for us to heat up. It was an awesome exception to my diet. Speaking of the diet, I weighed for the first time since I began my diet. In ½ of a month I have dropped from 219 to 209. Matt made the comment that since I had reached my “goal” of 209 I could “stop now.” I explained that I made a personal commitment, not so much to lose a certain amount of pounds, but to be on a diet for one month. I like the way he thinks, though. Unfortunately, I still have two weeks to go. I was very pleased and a bit surprised at the results, though. I can also see and feel the difference in my waist.

Tuesday 4/17/07
We hung out at my parents’ house. I spent a big part of the day steam cleaning their carpet. David slept late and we all watched the Padres-Cubs game on WGN with my Dad. Greg Maddux was pitching against his old team. The game ended up going 14 innings before the Cubs finally lost. We also played football down at the park. Matt and I defeated David and Joe 42-28. Those guys are so competitive. I am afraid they may soon have the upper hand on me, but you didn’t read that here. That evening Joe and I grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs. After supper, the boys played NASCAR monopoly wile I finished steam cleaning upstairs. We stayed up pretty late and before going to sleep we watched some baseball highlights on ESPN and an old storm chaser video I had on tape.

Wednesday 4/18/07
We got up fairly early and David and Joe mowed my parents’ lawn. After that we ate lunch and headed off to Monte Sano. I let the boys ride bikes up there for a few hours. We then came back to the house, loaded the car, said goodbye to my Dad, and headed back. I did stop at Best Buy where I learned that my video recorder was dead. I was hoping that it was just the battery, but no such luck. I will have to buy a new one. We had a great laughter-filled fun trip back home to Vinemont. Then I took the boys back to their Mom. Thus ended a really cool, laid back spring break week with the boys.