February highlights - part 1 {basketball, bathroom renovation, Life of Pi}

 1) basketball. the last month of the regular season for basketball started with a bang, with JV games on March 1st, 4th, 6th, and 8th, and developmental games on March 1st, 5th, and 9th. there was lots of drive-thru dinner and many, many snacks for the babies. this month, Cece really found her groove after a joint practice with the developmental and JV team. she told us afterwards that she had been frustrated all day after not getting a turn to play in a classroom game (the bell rang just before it would have been her turn), and she channeled that emotion into playing more aggressively during practice. as a second grader, she defended the ball and stole it a few times during the scrimmage against fifth and sixth graders! of course the coaches praised her for her determination, and that just fueled her fire to continue to make them proud of her. every game thereafter, all of us parents were in stitches watching her on the court and we nicknamed her The Enforcer. it's going to be fun to watch her continue to develop her skills! 

blue number 33

we come with a built-in cheerleading section

this picture truly says it all. she has no fear!

the JV season was a bit more frustrating as the team just could not get into a consistent rhythm of scoring. they did okay on defense, but you could easily see how the mental game becomes more pivotal at this 5th and 6th grade level. they won a few of their games, and Greta scored her first regular basket (outside of foul shots) during the March 1st game. when all of the girls on the team are focusing and playing hard, they do really well, and it's even more fun to watch as most of them having been playing together since third grade and now many of them are almost as tall as I am. but a few of our best players were out for weeks with various sicknesses and a few of the other girls just didn't play as hard as they have in previous years. by the end of the season, the team ended up tying for fourth place in the diocese (out of seven teams), and then a coin toss ended up giving the other team fourth place and we got fifth. valuable lessons to be learned about perseverance, giving your best, trusting your coach and supporting each other on and off the court! 

making a foul shot (and yes, this one went in!)

2) bathroom renovation. ultimately, we want (well, I want) to replace the ugly brown linoleum in the kitchen/family room/hallway with a lighter colored luxury vinyl tile, but that involves a fair amount of square footage and Nick wanted to cut his teeth on a more modest project first. so we decided to tackle the downstairs bathroom -- and by we, I mean Nick. I weighed in on the flooring, paint colors, and lighting fixtures, but he has done all the planning and executing. he's done a fantastic job!

but I was a little alarmed when he decided to start the demolition the week before my parents were coming to visit us. the bathroom in question is on the main floor, directly adjacent to the guest room; we do have a bathroom upstairs as well as a "Pittsburgh potty" in the basement (so named after the coal miners who would come home and clean up in the basement before re-emerging to join their families). but I didn't want my parents to be traipsing up and down the steps every time they needed to use the facilities. on the other hand, my dad likes to help out with projects... 

last look at the old floor and rotting wall by the tub

then the floor came off and it was down to the subfloor, where there was definite water damage from the tub splashing (we had already had plumbers out to replace the faucets in the shower and they confirmed there was no water in the walls or leaking from the pipes). at this point the clock was definitely ticking as I told Nick I really wanted the toilet at least to be functional in that bathroom before my parents arrived, even if things were still torn apart. 

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7 days out from my parents' arrival

every day I would peek inside and see how things were progressing. of course, it looked worse before it started looking better. 

6 days out

then, Murphy's Law in the form of norovirus struck that weekend -- just when we really could have used all of our toilets, and when Nick was expecting to have extra time to devote to the project. the one saving grace is that it hit all of us in rapid succession: Elizabeth first on Saturday afternoon, then six hours later Cece, then Greta, then Nick, and then after I had been up most of the night shuttling back and forth between sick beds, it got me at about five o'clock on Sunday morning. we've had stomach bugs before that strike one person every 72 hours, so just when you think you're in the clear, someone else is down. this one was intense but short-lived, thank goodness! I then bought genuine bleach spray (go figure, none of my Clorox cleaning sprays had actual bleach in them) and proceeded to spray every light-switch, doorknob, TV remote and toilet flush lever in the house multiple times a day. I called off work on Monday and obviously the girls stayed home from school. 

my sick bed/couch setup -- beach towels and puppy pads covering soft surfaces, hair pulled back, and bowls lined with plastic bags with folded paper towels in the bottom 

on Monday afternoon, Nick was able to get back into the project a bit, but when I came in to investigate, I almost hurled again. mind you, this was T minus 3 days until my parents were supposed to arrive! I had no idea it was going to need this much demolition before he could start re-building the sub floor. but of course, I'm grateful that he was determined to build it completely solid and not take any chances.

do you see his head sticking up out of the farthest hole?

 

then Tuesday, he really picked up steam (while I posted regular updates to our siblings' group text message thread -- they sent cheers and encouragement from afar!). 

Tuesday, 10 AM

Tuesday, 7 PM

Tuesday, 11 PM. at this point I wished him goodnight and headed up to bed.

I woke up to this Wednesday morning! he went to bed around 3 AM... and then the toilet was successfully re-installed on Thursday afternoon, before my parents arrived. he laid down beach towels to protect the subfloor before the new flooring was installed, and it all turned out just fine. 

then there was a lull in activity for a few weeks, between my parents' visit and basketball tournaments, so stay tuned for the final product! 

3) Life of Pi. this may be one of the most incredible productions I have ever seen on stage. it was part of my Broadway season subscription, and I'm always a bit miffed when a show turns out not to be a musical, but this was absolutely captivating. I had read the book many years ago, so I didn't remember much of the plot, but in addition to the story being so heartrending, the way they adapted the story to the theatrical format was amazing. the animals were all portrayed by lifelike puppets -- which I couldn't quite visualize before going (I kept thinking of Muppets!), but oh my goodness -- the puppets themselves were true works of art, and the puppeteers were incredibly skilled in making them move just like actual animals. there were three puppeteers controlling the tiger's movements at all times, and the cast includs six to eight people who rotate through those positions so they can take breaks and stay fresh. and the stage and lighting design truly transformed the space into a zoo, the ocean, a hospital room, and a desert island by turns. if you ever have the chance to see it, it is well worth the trip. at the final curtain, we all shot out of our chairs in that rare but thrilling moment of the universal standing ovation (not the kind where a few people stand up, and then a few more, and then finally the most reluctant get to their feet). it was pure magic. 

photo credit from the show's website

photo credit from the show's website -- see the puppeteers operating the tiger's front and rear legs?

Your turn: What's your favourite sport to play? To watch? Are you a DIY person or do you call in professionals? (Nick is definitely the handy one in our family ... if it was up to me, I would call someone in immediately.) Has a stage production ever brought you to tears?