Splurging

Since buying the house, things have been pretty tight for us financially. It's been a huge cause of stress for me but I hear it starts to get better after a year. So it is with much guilt that I spent some of a very unexpected and generous bonus on hockey equipment. How awful is that. Shouldn't I have put it right to some of the debt we're trying to pay down? Or bought a couch for the ManCave? But I didn't spend it all (less than half!), and what I did spend it on was important.

My mask is in bad shape. It's about 3 years old, which wouldn't matter if it was of better quality, but the foam is pretty hardened, the cage is completely rusted on the inside, and it's way too big for me and always has been (which is actually pretty dangerous). I originally bought a junior mask and played with that for a while but that was too small. So I went to a senior and fiddled with the straps to make it fit... sort of. But it's the shell itself that's too big and you can't adjust that. I didn't realize at the time that the higher quality masks come in different sizes. (And then there's custom masks but uhhh hello bonus or no bonus I'm not spending that much money) I worked a little with a guy at a hockey shop and discovered that really there isn't a mask out there that will fit me, other than a custom made one. However I did find one that comes pretty close, and I'm thinking some of those gel inserts from Maltese Hockey might make up the difference (it's the cheek area- my face is apparently REALLY narrow). So, I ordered the Bauer NME 7 in a "fit 1". Much higher quality materials, there really is no comparison between that one and my old one. I'm also going to get a chamois cloth to wipe the cage down after every session. Yes you can order replacement cages but a chamois is cheaper. So as I sit here feeling guilty I just remind myself: lesson learned from GoalieHusband? Protect your noggin. You only have one of those. New mask is more important than couch for ManCave. (Right?)

Second purchase on the list was a pair of pants. I've been using mine since I started playing 4 years ago; I think I got my cheap $60 worth out of them by now. They're falling apart, are too big (notice a theme?) and don't have the greatest protection. Hey what do you want for $60 right? So I upgraded there as well. Of all the cool "features" these new pants have, from anti-microbial fabric on the inside, special stretchy mesh in places that need to stretch, etc, the one that made me go "oooo!" was the mp3 player pocket. Sweet! Now I can listen to my ipod much easier while getting geared up!

I have one more thing on the list of Stuff To Purchase Now That I Can Afford It: a gel clavicle protector. I absolutely adore the gel collar I got from Maltese Hockey, but have discovered the hard way that my collarbone is exposed to pucks flying at high speeds. Given some of the dudes I'm playing against lately in open hockey, I think it's smart to cover up that area. I'm waiting on ordering that though because I'll order the gel inserts for the mask at the same time, and I want to have the mask first. Fortunately 2 day shipping was FREE! and I'll have it on Wednesday!!!

And after all this stuff, there's still money left over that I'm going to throw into the savings account, so I don't feel TOO guilty. But really, it's not like I'm frivolously going hog wild on stuff I don't need. All of these things are smart purchases and the mask especially is long overdue. So my guilty conscience can go away now. (Ya hear that, Guilty Conscience? Shoo!)

And now off to yoga... fortunately it's a different teacher and she never kicks our ass as hard as Shannon does.