Being a single mother of 4 and working full time does not leave much free time however being a mother is a joy and a gift worth more than free time. One of my favorite things to do in my free time is watching my girls play soccer. I have 3 teenage daughters who play AYSO Soccer and their games are so fun to watch! I can’t believe the skills these girls have. The games can get pretty ruff sometimes but in the end they all have fun and I do too.

Well, when you work a very physically demanding job Monday through Friday the “norm” outside of work is literally do NOTHING! Doing nothing enables you to rest up and recover for next weeks divine workload! But were talkin’ about JEFFREY JAMES REYNOLDS here!!! No matter what I can’t just stay cooped up in my apartment. Outside of work I must let loose, find an outlet, get an escape from everything. For me outside of work I let loose by fellowshipping with my real close friends. We get together during the week at least 2 to 3 times a week and the weekends we hang out and go to the movie theater, call other friends and meet up for coffee at the “UGLY MUG CAFÉ” and get coffee before we depart and get dinner somewhere.

I also find another great escape in music and live entertainment! Anything from punkrock shows, rock n roll, classic country, and yes (Jareck if your reading this I will admit it) I’ve been to A rap concert! My motto has always been “ill see anyband live at least once!” My true love and true hobby has got to be being part of the one of the biggest rockabilly scenes in the world. From Los Angeles to Orange County you can usually find a good local Rockabilly show to see. When I go and the music starts I feel as if I’m at my 2nd home or something. The music, rhythm, beat, and bass get me tapping my feet, which soon turns into me trying to what I call DANCE!

Another outlet for me outside of work has been seeing my family every weekend! I usually come over to my Mother’s house and there I can find my two younger brothers Kris and Tommy. In addition to my brothers being there every weekend is my two older sisters, Jennifer and Amber. I especially love going over to my Mom’s on the weekend because I get to see my sister Amber’s two children, my niece, Kathrine and nephew Noah who 13 months old! He’s the newest addition to our ever growing, huge family! It’s nice to come over and go swimming in my mom’s pool, catching up on how everyone is doing and what’s the latest news with everybody. Oh yea, I almost forgot, one the great perks of visiting your family on the weekends is you get to take ALL your dirty, stinky, week old (ok ok sometimes two week old) laundry with you and leave with all new freshly washed and softened clothes for the up coming week! I love seeing my family and most of the time I will find any excuse to drive down to my Mom’s and see little Noah’s face, and my little brother Tommy’s face, and my Mom.

So in a nutshell, that’s what I do during the week and weekends while I’m away from work, and this gives you a little insight to some of my hobbies are as well!

My bike was stolen last night.

It was an awesome bike, a black and pink beach cruiser that was gifted to me by a good friend. It was not new, but I didn’t care. It had a cool basket with a black and pink zebra print liner that was the perfect size to hold a bag of groceries. I rode it to the beach every week, and some days that was a 20 mile round trip if I went all the way to the Wedge in Newport. I even rode it to work quite often! I’ll never forget to looks on the faces of the warehouse guys when I rolled up that first day. One day I left it in the hallway and Jerry almost tripped over it.

I could ride from my house along the river trail (which is actually a flood control channel – only here in the ‘asphalt jungle’ would we refer to it as a river) and get to our office in about 30 minutes. What a great way to start the day! I was getting exercise and saving on gas money. The time on my bike to and from work was sacred. It really helped me to forget about my stressors for awhile, and just enjoy the fresh air and cool scenery along the way. I rode that bike almost every day, even if it was just around the block.

My favorite ‘bike adventure’ memory was just last Thursday. It might have been the hottest day of the year. I got home from work and my daughter and I jumped on our bikes and rode to the beach for some relief. What started off as a way to cool off ended up being a great bonding experience for the two of us. Soon she will be a teenager and won’t have time to ride bikes with mom!

Maybe whoever stole my bike needed it more than me. I only know they won’t enjoy it as much as I did.