Super Bowl? Not so Much. Super treats? YUP!

I love football. I also love the Super Bowl, the culmination of the NFL season. This year I really wasn't all that excited about the game. Honestly I would have been thrilled if both the Patriots and Giants could have lost. Not having my Steelers in the big game made it somewhat less compelling but that being said, I was still excited for getting together with company and most especially the food.

A couple years ago, my wife had to make a presentation for a class that she had done through work. She decided talk about how to throw a Super Bowl Party. That really started things for us and she went all out. A sheet cake that looked like the football field, sugar cookies that were shaped and frosted like the two
teams' football helmets and a variety of other yummy treats. It became tradition.
Here is last year's cake.

This year was no exception despite our somewhat lessened interest in the game. First the cake.

My wife is pretty amazing. I think she did a great job. She actually used a brownie recipe this year instead of a cake. The cake was super delicious.

Next was the strawberries. They were dipped in chocolate and then she used butterscotch chips (melted) to draw lines on them so that they looked like footballs.

We got the idea off Pinterest. Worked out great.

We tried another idea off Pinterest. Mini Corn Dog Muffins. They turned out really well. Kids really loved them. They were from a blog called iowagirleats.com. Super easy to make and really tasty.

We had a couple other items like a queso dip, mini smokies, a 7 layer bean dip, mini pizza bites (that I will post a recipe for some other time) and another dip that had cream cheese and peppers and some other things. I will be getting the recipe soon. Guaranteed.

One of the other things that we tried for the first time was this Buffalo Chicken Dip. I didn't take a picture but here is the recipe.

4 c. boiled shredded chicken breast (boil in chicken broth)
1/2 - 3/4 c. Franks Hot Sauce (has to be Franks)

Mix these together and spread in the bottom of a baking dish (9x13 or slightly smaller dish)

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. Ranch dressing (could also use blue cheese dressing)

Mix together and spread on top of chicken

Shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese

Sprinkle on top and bake at 350 for about 15 min. Long enough to be slightly bubbly - but not too long - the dressing can get a little weird

All in all it was a good night. Way too much food but so yummy. And we managed to try a few new recipes. Super treats. Oh and there was a game on at the same time.

My family tree

I have always been fascinated by the comparison of a family to a tree. I guess it is a sensible comparison because a family starts out small and then steadily grows and branches out. The desire of a family is to set down roots and continue to grow as it weathers the winds of life. Pretty neat.

A few years ago, while I was still teaching in Canada, I decided to make a special present for Heidi. I have made her homemade gifts in the past and it usually drives her nuts because I spend so much time on them, I run out of time to get her something practical or that she really needed or wanted. That is not to say that she hasn't appreciated my efforts but still. It i s probably a desire to have me listen to what she wants.

But I digress....

I decided that it would be great to have a family picture that could be updated frequently. I struck on the idea of a family tree. I envisioned a magical and elderly oak, beautiful and majestic and strong.

I got a large piece of mat board (36x24) and asked Michelle, a student of mine who was a very talented artist, to draw me one. I had her draw an ancient looking tree that had one set of roots and one main trunk but then had it branch out into two trees. One for my family and one for Heidi's family. To say that it turned out amazingly would be the understatement of the year. IT WAS AWESOME.

To make it pop a bit more, I used embossing powder and embossed it. It was pretty neat.

I then cut holes in the tree for a full family photo of each side of the family and then a smaller spot for each individual family member and their own families. It was my hope to continually update these photos. To help do this, I put photo corners on the backside of the mat, so that photos could easily be interchanged.

The one part that I really loved about this was our family photo in the middle of the trunk and then the kids' photos in the roots.

I have a really nice ornate frame that this is meant to be in (although it is really heavy and needs new wire so I can actually hang it on the wall again). I am hoping to update it again in the near future and also get it back up on the wall. I will be replacing the now broken glass with plexiglass soon as well.

I just want to have the reminder of a strong family tree to look at. I am proud of my family and what we are. I look forward to our tree continuing to branch out.

And as a preview of things to come soon, I have decided to write about my roots that I have been expanding in my family tree. I'll be talking about a different ancestor each week (hopefully). Stay tuned.

Working out

So with the new year comes a desire for renewal and for making changes. Change is always a challenge and I guess that is why people don't. It is always helpful to have someone else to push you along or inspire you.
In my case, I am lucky to have my wife. She is, quite frankly, amazing. At some point in the last 4 months or so, she decided to make changes. She started eating better and most noticeably, she started working out. It started with early morning walks which quickly morphed into walks/runs to the local Rec Center and even more. She was soon doing strength and toning classes as well as Boot Camp. We aren't talking a couple times a week. We are talking 6 days a week for 2 hours a day. M W F she goes on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. She then heads to a strength and toning class for 30 minutes of work with dumbbells, resistance bands, exercise balls mixed with aerobic exercises. She then follows that up with another 30-45 minutes of elliptical work. Then on T TH Sat, she goes for an hour of elliptical and then an hour of Boot Camp.
It is truly amazing. I am super proud of her. She has lost weight and inches and more importantly, she inspires me. She says she has a long way to go. Maybe. I don't know.
All I know if that I am all in. Or at least that is what I am trying to do. I am getting up at 4:40 AM with her and going to the gym. I am not ready enough for Boot Camp or brave enough. I did try the strength and toning class but that was not good. Felt like I was going to throw up and had to stop and compose myself so that I didn't heave in front of a bunch of ladies.
But I will go back soon. Right now I am trying to increase my endurance and strength. I am counting my calories with the goal of getting down to the weight I was at almost 16 years ago when Heidi and I got married.
Is it out of my mind to think it can be done? Not at all. It feels great to set a goal and to continue to work at it. I have felt miserable for quite some time and want to feel better. Physically and in terms of how I feel about myself.
So working out is where it begins. Actually, it began because my wife took a step in the right direction. All I have to do is follow her.

Pie

Some years back, my family started a tradition. Not sure exactly when and it seems like the reasons were varied. But New Years Day became a pie fest. I think we were mostly done eating Christmas related leftovers and so it was a snacky type of day. Pie seemed to make its way onto the menu and so it was college football bowl games and pie.
On top of this "tradition", I like making pie. My mom and dad both were pretty good at making pie as was my maternal grandmother. There was something strangely artistic about a pie. Grandma Binnie's Blushing Peach pie is still by far, my favorite looking, smelling and tasting pie. It was truly a thing of beauty. It is also one that I have continued to make the most frequently when I am in the mood to make a pie. It is pretty simple to make. I used to make it for people in France my mission to give to people. Most people were blown away that I could make pie and it was something that they didn't commonly have.



Like i said it is pretty easy to make. Here is the recipe and some more images of the process along the way.

GRANDMA BINNIE'S BLUSHING PEACH PIE

Sugar Crumble Topping

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup water

2 cups sliced peaches

one pie shell

Cut butter into flour, sugar and nutmeg until it's crumbly. Sprinkle half the mixture on the bottom of the pie shell. Arrange peaches over the top. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of water. Top with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

NOTE : If my butter isn't terribly soft, and the crumbly mixture is being difficult, I will add in the water then and you end up with a paste rather than a crumble mixture. It still works.

I made a few other pies this year. I made a traditional French Canadian meat pie called Tourtiere (pronounced Tort-yair). It is basically a very rich meat pie made with ground pork and ground beef.

I also made a Cherry Crumble Pie (mostly because I didn't have any more pie crust.


I also made a couple of quiche. To make things interesting, I used cheddar and gouda cheeses Yum!


Ahhhh pies. One of my favorite things to make.

Crafts

So I enjoy doing crafty things. Always have. Not sure why. Also not sure when that started. There were lame attempts at crafty things when I was a kid. I can recall multiple projects involving glue and popsicle sticks. I admit that my twin, Rob, was much more gung ho for that type of thing as was shown in his numerous popsicle themed Christmas gifts.
When my wife, Heidi, and I were married, we did a few things. Heidi taught me how to cross stitch and we started working on Christmas stockings that had alot of intricate detail in the cross stitch patterns.

We never actually finished any but it was a nice thing to spend time together doing.
I have tried other things over the years. I've made some nice photo collages and a blanket or two.
One thing that has recently come back. Probably 14 years ago we discovered some little ceramic Christmas village houses. A craft store in Saskatoon was going out of business and we snapped a bunch up. We enjoyed painting a few of them but had so many that we never finished all of them. We packed them up and they have stayed packed up in a box where they have been subjected to probably 12 moves.
This past week before Christmas I got them out again and started painting more of them again. It was fun. Relaxing. Not completely mindless but just something that wasn't work but was still a challenge.

These are just a couple of them. And just one of the things that I enjoy doing. And to avoid being judged or being asked to hand over my man card. I am certainly able to multitask and watch football and basketball at the same time.

Softball

So I started playing softball a couple years ago. I played a season in Provo and then switched to leagues in Orem and have probably played the last 4 seasons (spring and fall) there. Most of the guys on the team live in our neighborhood. Scott, Brad and Bracken live around the corner. Ryan is just down the street. Craig, Brian and newcomer Robert live a street over. Tom is Ryan's cousin and doesn't live too far away. Gary has been with us all the seasons I've been there and is a great guy. We have a couple of other guys that sub for us and they are all great.
Growing up, softball was slopitch and I think that the only time I ever saw it was tournaments on holidays (like over the Canada Day long weekend). There were even occasional sno-pitch tournaments in the winter with a flourescent ball. I never played and really didn't see any point.
Now, it is one of the highlights of my week. I look forward to that evening of the week. I was trying to decide why I enjoy it so much. There are probably several reasons. First would be the team. I play with a great bunch of guys. They are all decent players. They all enjoy winning and doing well. Nice thing is that it really doesn't matter whether we are winning or not. We all just have a good time. We have our up and down moments. First week, we got absolutely owned in our first game. Gave up 19 runs in one inning! We have seen loads of team start to fight with one another, guys that throw temper tantrums like 3 year olds, teams that just give up. Not our guys. We just play. And then the next game, we blow out the other team by 20 runs.
Yeah, Sweaty Mess (that's the name of our team), doesn't get all catty and stupid. We just play and have a good time.
Another thing I love about the team is that there are no set positions. No one goes and says, " You have to play this position". Instead, it changes whenever. We take turns sitting out. No drama, just fun.
I think another reason that I like softball is that I found a new thing/skill to learn. I started pitching last season. It is way harder than it looks to pitch. I love it. I love the challenge. I love throwing a pitch where someone whiffs on it. It can get a bit windy down at the fields. It is a pretty good challenge to figure out the wind and to get the ball across the plate and into the strike zone. There is also the chance that a ball will get pounded right back at you. I have almost been hit a couple times. I have managed to get out of the way and have even managed to snag a fair few. Quite the rush.
I just love being out and doing something. The fact that it happens to be with a great bunch of guys playing softball, is even better.
GO SWEATY MESS!

Coaches

As many might know, I have coached a fair bit in my past. I started right out of high school with my old football team at Clavet Composite School where I had graduated 3 months before. After my mission to France, I picked up coaching football back in Clavet and continued there for several seasons. I spent one season with a Jr. Football team at a high school in Saskatoon and then took a couple years off from football(mostly due to the schools where I was at not having football teams). In 2001 I finally got back into coaching football in Kelliher, Saskatchewan with the Kelliher/Ituna co-op while I was teaching in Ituna.
Coaching football has long been my thing. But being a teacher seems to provide more opportunities to coach other things, especially once one has shown an interest. I also coached girls volleyball for several years both as an intern and as the head coach in Ituna for 3 seasons. I also coached track and field and several other sports like curling, badminton, and even a little basketball.
My teams have had a wide range of experiences. I have had teams that never won a game all season. I have also had several teams that achieved and maintained a very high level of success. In total I have been to 1 volleyball provincial championship tournament and been in 5 provincial final football games. My last year of coaching football in Kelliher, we won the provincial 1A championship. That team (after losing just 4 seniors) went on to repeat as provincial champions the following season.
I have also coached in several allstar games, both at a provincial level as well as in the international Can Am Bowl which pits allstar seniors from various states across the US against seniors from the province of Saskatchewan. This is a 6 man football event which is entering it's 14th installment this coming July. I coached in Can Am Bowl 9 as well as organized and head coached Can Am Bowl X. I'll also be returning to Canada as a guest coach for Can Am Bowl XIV.
Now that this is all out there, I think that I have established myself as, if nothing else, someone who has been around the coaching world for awhile. I love teams and being involved with them. It is one of the things that I miss most about my life prior to moving to the States and is something that I hope to regain in my life.
I feel like I had great teams. I always stressed that the goals of the team were important but that the goals could not be achieved without the efforts of the entire team. Most of my teams were at a competetive level. I always tried to communicate with my teams about everything. It was, in my opinion, clear who would play in most situations. I made my expectations very clear and also made it sure as to who were the starters and who were their backups. Those backups knew their role and knew that they could receive an opportunity to be called upon at any time. They knew that they needed to be involved, invested and focused in all aspects of the game as much as the starters.
I was not someone who screamed and belittled his players to try and goad them into performing better. I would challenge them but not by intimidation. I tried to encourage and get fired up on their behalf, like yelling and whooping and hollering about things that they had done like a great tackle, catch or kill.
I loved my teams and my players and they knew that I was as interested and driven (or maybe even more so) than they were. They knew that I put in the time, lost sleep, and shed tears over our teams' success and failures as much as them.
I also preached that they had to be better. Not that they were bad, but that because they were special, others would be looking to them as examples. They needed to be great athletes but also great students and members of the communities. Some of my greatest disappointments as a coach came when members of our teams let us all down by not living up to those standards. I tried to be an example as well through my actions as well.
I recognized that sport was more than just about sport. That they would learn many lessons about life that would serve them in their futures. As the NCAA TV ad talks about all of the athletes going pro in something other than athletics at some point, my athletes would move on after high school and the lessons they learned would need to serve them well.
All of this has been rolling around in my mind the past few weeks. Why? For several reasons really. One is that I really miss coaching. I miss the interaction and being with the team. Sure I have my Tuesday night softball team which serves to fill some of the void and need for a team, but it isn't enough and so I am working on getting back to coaching eventually.
The main reason for all of this is the lack of a good example in a coach that Alex has been experiencing. His main soccer coach is loud and yells alot and is not very positive. His assistant coach is the one that mostly concerns me, especially because he has been the head coach for over half the games this season. He is hypocritical, sarcastic, and demeaning to the kids. That is not true, I guess. He only demeans the kids he doesn't like. There are about 4 or 5 kids that play all the time and basically run the team. I have over heard this gentleman say such things as "I hate when people bug me about where they get to play" or "If a person talks to me or whines to me about anything, they won't play". This is followed up by multiple examples of the favored kids doing this but never once leaving the field or losing any playing time. Yet he will glare or look down on the kids that are on the sidelines waiting or hoping to get in.
I have witnessed on multiple occasions him put a player into the game and then pull them out a moment later. They may make a mistake on the field and then they get pulled. They don't get taught or have things explained, they just get pulled. But you will see the favored kids make mistake after mistake after mistake and they never get pulled. The side line looks like this. You have the 4 or 5 kids that are out off doing all number of things, from sitting in lawn chairs, to playing tag, to laying on the ground. They don't have any investment in the game or the team because they are not cared about or shown that they are important to the team even when they aren't in. They don't stand and cheer on their teammates on the field and encourage them. When they come out, they more often then not, are ignored by the coaches. They aren't pulled aside and given council or suggestions on how to improve.
It breaks my heart. I have tried to be positive to Alex about things. He hates going to soccer and we made him keep going because he had signed on for two seasons. We encouraged him to work hard, use any opportunity that he gets to play, to learn and to develop. We discouraged him being negative about his team or his coaches. We encouraged him to not look at the score (as they continued to get pummelled by double digit numbers) but at what he could learn about the game and how he was improving. I instructed him to glue himself to the hip of the coach. Don't say a word (as it was his pet peeve when people pestered him about playing) but be right there so that he knew you were ready to go in.
I admit that I was not so calm and cool. I wanted to go and pummel the guy and pass on some of my coaching councils and philosophies to him. I never did as I didn't feel it would help. But it really irks me that someone who announced to several parents yesterday at their game (before they got pummelled 20+ to zero) that he was planning on being the head coach next season, couldn't even realize that half of the team don't even want to play soccer any more. Not just for him, but at all.
I see how my kids and others hang on the coach's every word and look to them for encouragement and validation. A coach is someone that is given a great opportunity to do something for these kids.
Alex's coach failed these kids as a coach. Playing time to me is a secondary issue. The main issue for me is that these kids didn't learn anything about being part of a team. They were not being taught to strive to improve themselves and their skills. They were taught that they had zero control over their situation and that they had no value. Not just to the team but at all.
Wow, that was long, but I feel a bit better now.