Stumbling toward normalcy

This is it, folks!  Tonight I suit up to play competitive volleyball with my women's team. Not sure they, or I, know what we've gotten ourselves into!  A few notes about my current status:

a) my feet grew, so I have exactly two pairs of shoes I can wear.  Thankfully, one of those pairs are cross-trainers, but they certainly aren't my former volleyball court shoes.  I'm very happy that I have two ankle braces, just in case I go over on them.

b) I found ONE pair of shorts that will work for tonight.  This is better than I anticipated. I was breaking out in cold sweats (pun not intended originally, but...) at the thought of what the heck I could wear on bottom to play in.

c) There are no jerseys that will cover this stomach right now. I still don't know what I will do, but worse case I will wear a jersey of my husbands and hope they don't charge my team their bond money due to the fact that I don't have a proper team jersey on.

d) I believe I may have an issue with this malformed/odd belly of mine. I think I have diastasis recti, and may even have a herniated belly button. I haven't had time to start to rebuild/rectify this issue.  Have no idea how it will impact my ability to play.

e) While I was able to swim during my pregnancy, I generally took it REALLY easy, not only due to my baby Hailey's condition, but because prior we had had three miscarriages, and I frankly didn't want a single reason to point to that may have impacted a fourth. This meant that:

f) It has litterally been a full year since I played volleyball.  This is gooonnnnna hurt!

That said?  SO EXCITED.

Hot beaches and beckoning water

Ah, but I love beach volleyball. It's admittedly not my best game. My best game is indoor women's 6's, if I were to be my own judge, but there is NOTHING like being outside, sweaty, in the sun, spiking down a ball, loofahing your skin with the granules getting into every nook and cranny, and, in Ottawa, if you are lucky, you will be playing by the water's edge.

This is not a right, you see, but a rare priviledge. Most of the volleyball leagues in town are man-made facilities in farm fields, maybe, or attached to bars. Not, in itself, a bad setup, right? But I like WATER. A real, honest to goodness beach, baby! And so I absolutley LOVE the fact that I play in a league, once a week, at Mooney's Bay beach in Ottawa. I know, I know, the level of play is not super competitive, but yanno, that's O.K. this year - perfect really.

So, it is with a sad, depressed heart, that I look to the water's edge in this heat, imagining the feel of the cool, slick, refreshing agua, and realize that really - it's kinda gross. Like, really dirty water. And I'm not all that picky. I was REALLY going to get into it. People think I am nuts, but I was. But when, after two sweaty of matches of ball ended, I approached the oasis before me, I truly saw the unappealing puddle that it was. So SAD. I couldn't do it. There was so much crap floating in it, and it was all murky, and, uh....I just decided I wasn't desperate enough. Maybe if they had outdoor showers VERY near by? Maybe.

But no, not this time.

So yeah...hot beaches, beckoning water, and facing bacterial infections just for the pleasure of indulging in a little tete-a-tete with nature's bounty.

Thank god we're heading to a friend's cottage soon!!!

I wanna be the Thirsty Traveler

What a job. I was just wondering aloud to my hubby just how often the host of this show gets laid. But seriously. How fabulous to be paid to travel around the world and ask the following question "What kind of alcohol d'ya got around here?" wherever you go...and with all that booze flowing, I'm just thinking that 'things' just happen. A blonde chick in Sweden, and sultry black-haired minx in Morocco, a buxom babe in Northern Ireland.

But I digress.

I've thought more about it, and really, I don't think I want to be him. No, thanks. He's forced, or asked politely, to drink and eat some pretty wacky stuff. And what if he doesn't FEEL like drinking? I'm fine just to crack a good bottle of wine if and when I want a sip or two or ten.

But none tonight, because I have a big day of beach volleyball tomorrow, and need to be ready to go. Can't wait!

The mixed bag day

You know what I am referring to, don't you? The day that has some really great moments and some crapulous ones. The day that makes you feel like life is sometimes just a roller coaster and now that you are on it, you just have to hold on and if necessary, close your eyes (or ignore what you are seeing)...

So what was good? Lovely sunshine. Time on the deck with a glass of wine while I water the lawn and my now lovely garden. Getting some errands done, including freeing up credit on our Home Depot card in preparation for our very exciting kitchen reno. Getting an invitation out to good friends for a full-day social and sport day we have planned on Saturday that starts out on the beach volleyball courts and ends with drinks and food at a friend's home - very much looking forward to it. Great stuff, right?

Then there's the tough moments. Unhappy coworkers and a tough work environment. Taking a multitude of busses to get around town because I didn't have a car today, but I DID have an appointment. Which brings me to the really tough moments. Any time I now go to my doctor's, I face kids. Babies. Pregnant ladies. Lots of them. It's not a fun environment for a woman who has had two back-to-back failed pregnancies. And then the big moment, when my doctor calls my name out, and I look up, and SHE is pregnant. So pregnant that while I was suffering miscarriage, she was happily pregnant. Jeeeeeez. C'mon people! Ya gotta stop! Every day on Facebook - pictures of babies, pictures of growing bellies, status updates about baby heartbeats...and then....visiting babies at work in the hallways...it's a steady stream of reminders. All. The. Time. Over. And. Over.

Okay. I'm done. I am fine. I am sure that we will eventually have a family. I have lots of hope.

And sunshine, a garden and a new kitchen to enjoy and/or look forward to.

Hitting the gym

Only to watch, though! Time to head to my husband's volleyball final matches. You know, this city has pretty exceptional sporting opportunities, and the sport of volleyball is so well organized that its biggest league, the OCVL, has hundreds of teams and is so big that up in the top tier, there are former national team players, and the finals are actually televised! That said, you have to have a full team of pretty exceptional players to be at the top, obviously, and both I and my husband, although very competitive players, are this year not in the top tier. His team finished near the top of the second, or B, division, and play their match just after the initial A division match. It is bloody good ball, and we know a lot of the players in a lot of the teams, so it should be fun to go and take in all the matches this afternoon. And I have to say that I find it incredibly sexy to watch my man play and see him smash the ball down or block an opposing hard hit. Am I wrong ladies? How sexy is it to watch the man you love play a sport with authority?

Or maybe my life has, for the most part, been all about sports, so it is a personal little turn on?

White hot chocolate

Yes, it is one of those nights. Came home in the icy cold. Headed back out in the icy cold, then came home again in the icy cold, and now I am curled up under a cozy fleece blanket, watching the hockey game and sipping on a white hot chocolate, getting ready for the time when I can snuggle into bed.

I gotta admit that life just has a way of balancing itself out, you know? I mean, I had the insanest of days at work today, and really REALLY did not want to go out to play volleyball, and yet the match was easy, we won and moved up to a tier we haven't reached all year, we got home earlier than expected because we won easily, and now I am enjoying a bit of me time before bed. AND tomorrow is friday, so hey...

Balance.

Yay for melted marshmallow and rice krispies right from the pot...

Small, wonderful treats make for a great night, don't they? Ever try making rice krispie squares without any intention at all of forming them into squares? Be sure to put a lot less cereal in, so that when you eat it from the pot, it is warm and gooey. And although I ate this treat alone tonight while the husband was burning calories on the volleyball court, it is even better when more than one spoon is dipping in like a sword competing for the princess in the tower....!!!

And with that, here's to the night before the big day - the first black president ever for the United States. Scary, dangerous, fabulous and exciting. AND a star-studded affair, it seems! When did swearing in a new president become a movie premiere?