A Double Header Day

It's no secret that Eliot and I have been crazy busy the past few weeks.  With the knowledge that we're about ready to get even busier in the coming weeks, it feels like we're in overdrive right now.  So far, we seem to be rising to the challenge... but everyone needs a break now and again. 

Yesterday, Eliot and I had the most full day that we've had in a long time at home.  It started with getting our packages ready to go to the post office.  Then, he left to mail them and pick a few things up at the grocery store.  When he got back, we set to work trying to fix my master bedroom closet.  (That's another whole story... basically the short version is that my shelf and closet rod were coming out of the wall and starting to collapse.)  After removing the original one and spackling the wall, we needed to get wood and new shelf brackets before we could finish the repairs.

The second half of our day was a lot more enjoyable.  Eliot and I have been working so hard with the businesses that we're still ahead on most of our orders.  We needed to go to Home Depot for supplies anyways, so we decided to take the rest of the day off.

We had a double motive for our trip to Portland.  It was to get supplies, but it was mostly to go to the Maine Mariners hockey team's special Wild Blueberries themed night.  We've had it on our radar for the past month, but we didn't commit to buying tickets for the game until we knew where we were at with our businesses.

It felt really good taking the afternoon and evening off.  I think we earned it... especially knowing how the next few weeks are going to go.  We drove to Portland and had a late lunch and early dinner at Friendly's at 4:00 pm.  Then, we stopped at Home Depot to grab the supplies we needed.  We even divided and conquered to save time!

I drove us up to downtown Portland.  We parked in the same parking area we had during one of our other Maine Mariners games.  We haven't been to a Mariners game since March of 2020- right before everything closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was so much fun to be back at a local game, without face masks, cheering the guys on and enjoying life as it used to be.  A few people were still wearing face masks, but Eliot and I opted not to.  This past month, we've been on airplanes, at Disneyland in huge lines, and in huge crowds... so this felt pretty safe in the scheme of things.

It was also a special game to go to.  Every year, the Mariners do a special Maine Wild Blueberries night where the team wears special jerseys of their alternate logo.  Back when the team was finalizing their name, the Wild Blueberries was the second in the voting for their name and logo... so they still pay tribute to that each season.

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Eliot and I had a great time.  It was probably the busiest game we've been to so far and the arena was pretty filled.  It's never completely full, but it was enough of a crowd to cheer loudly.  And there was plenty to cheer about... the Maine Mariners scored nine goals!  We were glad the game went well because we're currently ranked 4th and this team (the Newfoundland Growlers) was ranked 2nd.  We had also lost to them Friday night.  But the "Maine Wild Blueberries" won 9-4 at our game!!!

After the game, Eliot and I went back over to the mall area.  We went into Homegoods quickly to see if they had any Disney Easter stuff.  I was sorely disappointed in how little they had, but at least they had the Mickey bowls I wanted to get!  Then, we made a quick stop at Walmart before heading home.

But our night wasn't quite over... we were buckling in for a hockey double-header.  Eliot and I got home just before 10 pm, and the San Jose Sharks were playing at 10:30.  I barely got a few business things done before that game started.

Thankfully, the Sharks game went better than it started.  Our goalie saved our butts during the first 10 minutes of the 1st period.  Then, the rest of the guys showed up and started taking it to the Anaheim Ducks.  It ended up being another really good game to watch.  Timo Meier scored three goals and got his second hat trick this season!  (Yes, this Timo Meier.)  I half missed his first goal, but I saw the second one go in... it was almost like slow motion.  I was on Timo hat trick watch for the rest of the game.  I screamed like a psycho when I saw his third goal go in.  It was a beautiful one too.  He passed the puck to himself between his legs before shooting a backhand into the net.  I went nuts and definitely scared the crap out of Eliot- who was half asleep on the couch.

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The Sharks won the game 4-1 and I was stoked.  I was afraid that it would be hard to fall asleep after all of the cheering, but I was exhausted.  Between working on our businesses, working on the house, going to a hockey game, going shopping and watching another game on television, I was completely wiped out.  But I'm so thankful for our double header day.  We got to enjoy an actual double header between the Maine Mariners and the San Jose Sharks hockey games, and our day kind of felt like a double header of working the first half and playing the second half.

In a time when my word of the year is "balance" it was nice to find some yesterday.  °o°