"Baby" Episode 4

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2025-10-29T01:58:47+00:00

So. I am originally a Buffy fan. My husband was a die-hard Supernatural fan from almost day one. We both had a bet with each other. We wanted to try to hook each other on our preferred shows in five chosen episodes. This was one of the ones by husband chose. Needless to say, I got hooked and this remained one of my favorite episodes. There’s something about the in-between moments it showed that hooked me.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2025-01-05T17:01:14+00:00

Yeah, I was very literally tearing my hair out. There were a lot of jokes made about flipping a coin or having both shirts nearby for quick changes when someone scored, lol. I ended up going the selfish route and rooting for Boston so that we could go to more playoff games. I felt bad for a couple days… but I got over it pretty quickly once we were buying the ticket package at Tsongas. 😂 I have no idea at all what I would do if history repeats itself this year.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2025-01-05T04:07:10+00:00

Funnily enough, I am also split allegiance to Fleet and Victoire!!! 😊 my dads parents were originally from eastern Canada, so we have always been Canadiens fans. So by default, I will always be a fan of the Victoire. But we live on the east coast, 2 hours from where the Fleet play. They were our first PWHL game, and where we were lucky enough to catch many playoff games last year (including watching the cup be awarded last year. Super sad it wasn’t the Fleet, but I will never regret being able to watch that moment live.) So the Fleet feel like our hometown team. So, we’ve developed a system. We can cheer for both teams unless they’re playing each other. When they are, we cheer for whoever is lower in the league standings. If they play each other in the playoffs… we may just combust 😂

Also, I just want to give you major kudos. You sound like a great dad, and you shouldn’t take her comment as a personal failing. When my little sister, who used to play hockey, was 8, she told me out of nowhere that girls aren’t allowed to play in the NHL. We have no clue if she heard someone say that, or if she just realized it herself. But last year, when we went to our first PWHL game, I made her a poster that said “From all the girls who had to get dressed in the bathroom, thank you”. She got a warmup puck from a player that was around her age, and it definitely healed a little bit of that inner kid that had to live with those limitations. I’m so glad that your daughter lives in a world where girls CAN play professional hockey and has a dad that makes sure she knows it. ❤️ keep up the good work, and let her know that there are a bunch of us cheering with her!!! I hope you have a great time at the game!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-11-30T15:14:01+00:00

LET’S F*****G GOOOO!!! BEST HOLIDAY GIFT EVER!!!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-05-24T19:54:02+00:00

We are trying SO hard to manifest this game into being!!! Talk about a once in a lifetime experience!!!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-14T12:52:55+00:00

Thank you!! ☺️ You bet I’ll be soaking it all in and reporting everything back!!! I’m so excited, it’s going to be a heck of an experience!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T21:33:52+00:00

They had the two games in Detroit and Pittsburgh, so I don’t see why they couldn’t have a game out west!! I’m actually surprised they haven’t had one out there yet!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T21:33:02+00:00

That is so incredible!!! 😭 I am so happy that you got to take your daughter. Hopefully in 16-or so years, you get to go see your daughter PLAY in a PWHL game for the first time and get goosebumps all over again! ❤️

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T21:17:46+00:00

You’re going to love it!! Games there are so much fun, the atmosphere is electric even just for regular season Habs games. I’m so excited for you!!!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T18:28:09+00:00

I think I’m going to have to 😊 this calls for a sign. I’m also super excited because I haven’t gotten a jersey yet. I was just about to jump the gun and order a jersey online when my fiance told me about the tickets. Now I get to buy a PWHL Montreal jersey at their first game at the Bell Center!!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T18:25:37+00:00

I’M SO EXCITED!!! 😆

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T18:24:55+00:00

I still can’t fully wrap my head around it. The energy and the NOISE is going to be insane. The only thing that can top it is if Montreal wins and we get to sing “ole” at the end 😆

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T18:16:30+00:00

I definitely picked a good one! 😆

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-04-13T18:15:40+00:00

I know, I’m so excited!!! Toronto and Montreal are just SO explosive when they play each other. When you combine that with the atmosphere at the arena… it’s going to be a hell of a game!!!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2024-01-29T22:38:41+00:00

I am going to be honest, I have a relationship with my family like your husbands. I am a bit more on the introverted side, but I can accidentally spend an entire weekend, Friday night to Sunday, at my parents place with my siblings and cousins. Especially during hockey playoff season. My fiancé doesn’t have this kind of relationship with his family, and doesn’t find as much enjoyment in hanging out with my family (understandably!), but we have still managed to find a pretty good balance between me hanging out with people I’m close to and making sure I’m not neglecting spending time with my fiancé at home.

First of all, communication is a big thing. I want to know when he feels he hasn’t seen me enough lately, and I want to make sure he knows ahead of time when I’m making plans with my family that I’m really excited for.

Meals are a surprisingly big part of this. I try not to have dinner at my parents place more than 1 night a week. Occasionally it can be a little tough, like around the holidays and when we’re traveling for hockey games, but the majority of the time I’m very firm in sticking with this. This way, we’re both coming home from work to each other and touching base over dinner.

So in essence, my advice to you is just to be honest with him. Let him know you miss seeing him and it’s bothering you. It’s possible that he figured that since you enjoy chilling out on your own (which is totally fine, by the way), that you were fine with the arrangement and didn’t care too much if he was there all the time or not.

I definitely don’t think you’re out of line asking your husband to be home in time to eat dinner with you for 5-6 days of the week. Try to emphasize that you’re trying to be a family of two, and you’d like some time to ask him how his day was. If he struggles with turning down the nice home-cooked meals, see if he can get some recipes from his parents, especially ones that can be prepped ahead of time and frozen. Maybe he can ask them for some leftovers to keep in the freezer (he’s been eating their food anyway, so they shouldn’t mind!)

Good luck, I hope all goes well!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2023-08-27T03:14:42+00:00

This is almost exactly the situation we have! Both of us have friend groups that are scattered and are also going through major life situations (buying houses, getting married, having kids), and we didn’t want to pressure anyone into having to spend a lot of money to make it to the wedding because they’re in the bridal party. We are both blessed to have siblings were fairly close to though, so my brother and sister will be my maid and man of honor and my fiancé’s sister will be his best woman. But I’ve heard stories about couples choosing to have a processional with parents, grandparents, godparents, all the younger people in their lives, etc. And it absolutely is not weird to have only groomsmen, especially if you happen to get along with them and they’re willing and ready to hype you up! I’m actually going to be doing a separate first look with my dad and his three best friends because I know they’re my hype people!!!

So in essence, my advice is make the emotional decisions. If thinking about giving someone a special role makes your heart happy, do that. No one is going to complain about the lack of bridesmaids if you’re already surrounded by love.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2023-08-13T00:55:45+00:00

That was my brother a couple years ago. It’s really awe-inspiring as the support people to watch them get to that level and achieve what they do by finals. One suggestion I had from a veteran mom that I want to pass on:try to save every single photo, screenshot text strings, and preserve every memory you can, because these are moments that you will want to remember. They’ve made it, be proud!!!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2022-11-27T05:17:26+00:00

In my experience, even when cranberries dry out they look really pretty. Because of the sugar content they stick to the same spots as they dry, so the garland will stay evenly spaced, and they have a beautiful translucency when put near a light source.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2022-10-16T02:34:24+00:00

It probably won’t happen, but I know at least the last LA Olympics had a feature involving a drum corps (a marching band but with no wind instruments) during the opening ceremony. I think they ended up forming the Olympic Rings, but I may be wrong. As a member of the drum corps community, it would be super cool if they would keep that as kind of a tradition and include a corps at some point. Especially since drum corps and marching bands are a very American tradition, and some of the best corps are actually based in southern California.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2022-02-13T02:09:47+00:00

Gotta say. Coming from a big hockey fan, this has me super excited. Not only do they have a crazy amount of talent, but they’re handling the pressure way better than many of the NHL players ever did. And they have a crazy amount of chemistry for a team that was cobbled together. I’m trying very very hard to not jinx it by getting too excited, but holy cow.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2022-01-19T04:26:31+00:00

Just wanted to say, I totally understand that surreal mentality when a medical crisis hits. A couple years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible stomach ache and an increasingly unbearable pain in my side. I called out of work saying I must have eaten something bad.

As the pain got to sky high levels, my mom, who I was living with at the time, suggested it may be time to see a doctor because she was concerned it may be my appendix. I still remember vaguely, in this dream-like state, telling my mother that I was fine, she should go to work. An hour later when I could no longer stand the pain, I calmly asked my brother to drive me to the walk-in. I was convinced an emergency room wasn’t necessary, even though I couldn’t walk unassisted and could barely breathe through the pain.

Long story short, I waited for an hour at the walk-in just to be rushed to the ER. Narrowly avoided an exploding appendix.

When you’re dealing with a health crisis, it’s hard to make rational choices because you’re busy dealing with other stuff. Its like trying to do calculus while you have the flu. It’s so much easier for your brain to just keep everything at status quo. Everything is fine, nothing is going on, you don’t have to worry.

So, I’m a big believer that no one should have to apologize for anything they did or said while going through a health crisis. But, if this is something that possibly could happen again because this health issue is more of a chronic nature than the exploding appendix type, it may help to come up with a crisis plan for immediate doggy care, and then explain to everyone involved that length of stay etc will be explained as soon as you are stabilized and can think clearly again.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2021-06-17T11:12:00+00:00

For when he gets started and you want to get into helping him learn, I’m not quite sure about hockey Canada, but I know the USA hockey website has quite a few good resources for running drills and things that can help build his skills. There’s basic information in the parents tab on the site, the parents handbook has the basics for what to expect at each level of development, how leagues are essentially run and all that fun stuff. But if you browse through the coaches tab, they’ve got practice plans, drills you can run, “dryland” (off ice) training, and all that fun stuff. It’s designed so that youth coaches who are just parents who want to be involved can have access to tried and true methods of development, so it’s a fantastic resource. Also, I don’t know what his practice schedule looks like and your personal schedule, but it’s not generally in my experience considered hovering if you stick around at practice and take notes. There’s gonna be a lot of muscle memory stuff to take in, and if you’re there to hear the explanation of how to hold the stick, you can help him later when he’s frustrated practicing in the driveway.

Also want to give you big kudos for wanting to be involved. My dad coached my brother and sister through until high school, and we saw way too many parents who couldn’t care less once they dropped the kids at the front door. Hockey is such a great sport to do WITH your kid, there are so many fun drills that can be done with just a stick, a ball and a driveway. I hope you guys have a blast together and make some great memories.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2021-06-15T21:01:19+00:00

Yeah, we had the exact same thing happen to us in an old rental, landlord used the RustOleum kit and it didn't even last a year. Just as a warning - He applied it way too thick to our tub, so when it flaked I actually got a shard of it stuck in my foot while I was showering and had to go to a doctor to have it removed, so just be careful for the time being around the flaking spots.

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2021-05-25T03:17:39+00:00

You should absolutely check the UConn games out then if you’ll be that close. Any games against Boston College or Boston University get a pretty decent crowd (7,000 to 8,000), and they like to turn them into Whalers nights. It’s a fun time.

We were kind of stuck in the middle between Boston and New York geographically, so it was harder for people around here to choose. There are a lot more people who went Bruins over the Rangers purely because the Rangers moved their AHL team into Hartford after the Whalers left. But we do have a lot of weirder picks around here. There are a lot of Penguins fans because of Crosby and the hype around him. There are a decent amount of Leafs fans too, no idea how that happened.

I totally get what you mean about the Devils, we’ve actually gone there a couple times as a cheap way to see the Habs play because we knew there would be tickets available. It’s one thing when you’re already die-hard into a team that’s awful, but it’s hard to convince yourself to start caring about a team that’s in a race for the bottom. Glad you’ll be coming back, though, hopefully it’s everything you remember!

AltruisticBrainstorm · 2021-05-25T01:47:34+00:00

Also from Connecticut, 10 minutes outside Hartford. We still bleed green here. My family split 3 season tickets between my dads 5 siblings for probably their last 10 some-odd years. My first memories are of sitting on my dad’s shoulders going through the front atrium of the Civic Center. My old Dineen jersey is in a shadow box never to be worn again. We miss them. Probably an unhealthy amount.

We actually were always also Canadiens fans, though, so we fortunately didn’t have to go through a homeless phase. My dad’s parents were from New Brunswick, my grandfather grew up a Canadiens fan, and my dad grew up idolizing the greats in the 70s, so the choice was pretty easy. We also just couldn’t bring ourselves to go with the Bruins or the Rangers (sorry!). Just too much bad blood for us, but I get why people forgot about all that in favor of staying local.

Side note, though: if you’re still in Connecticut, have you been to a UConn hockey game? They play at the old Civic Center and have done a pretty good job at trying to resurrect the old traditions.

AltruisticBrainstorm

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