Posted on

Time is Flying

Time is flying by, more specifically, this year is moving fast. I can’t believe tomorrow will mark the start of September. In the first nine months of 2021, I feel like I’ve done so much without doing anything at all. Now I’m sure that hardly makes sense, but I think you now what I mean. This year, much like last year, continues to be far different than any other year I’ve experienced.

Since today was month end that brings an extra sense of urgency at any sales organization. My current organization is no exception. Month end during the low season is not awesome. I am counting down the days until AEP starts. Honestly, I love talking and helping people, which is what AEP represents to me.



After work, I took the Mayor to hockey practice. Today was the first day I’ve been back at the rink since spring hockey ended in June. It was great to be back and see my favorite people again. Naturally, it was good to watch the Mayor in his element as well. The squad looked good. I’m excited to see how they do this weekend in Orlando.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu. I’ll be unable to run for at least four weeks. Time is flying in every aspect except for my return to running and I think that sucks!

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.

*Uber Eats delivered my coffee for me today and will do so until we get another vehicle.

* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!

*For dinner, we had leftovers. We cooked enough Sunday and Monday to have leftovers for tonight. Tuesdays are tough as both boys have hockey practice on opposites end of South Florida.

*The word of the day is two-fold supercilious and myocarditis. Many people have taken on a supercilious air when it comes to talking about masks or vaccines. Moreover, a lot of people are concerned about myocarditis as a vaccine side effect. They, however, seem to be less concerned about it as a side effect of the Corona virus, but I digress.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance, which is why I’m now wearing a boot to protect my poor broken toe.

Posted on

Finally Got Results

Well I finally got results after waiting forever for an X-ray on my foot today. Fortunately, the break was contained to only the pinky toe. Unfortunately, I wasted a total of three hours waiting to confirm the diagnosis. Originally, I was told that I could see the provider last night and just walk in for the X-ray today. The receptionist was implicit that I wouldn’t have to wait when I came back today. Sadly, I waited longer today than I waited last night. Apparently, the urgent in urgent care is not indicative of the speed at which you’ll be seen.

Mom life in a meme

At any rate, I can’t run on the broken toe for four weeks. Obviously, this isn’t great news since I just started running after recovering from a cold. I should still be able to go the BBG workouts with modifications now that my stomach is finally better. Since the X-ray took forever, I ended up working late to make up the time I missed. Hopefully, I’m able to get the workout in tomorrow.

Speaking of results, we finally got results from the Mayor’s PCR Covid test he took yesterday. Naturally, he was harassing me all day to see if I had finally got his results. Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of someone at the lab, who promptly mailed me his negative results!! In fact, we got the results about ten minutes before he had to leave for practice. He was so excited that he was able to go to practice tonight. Naturally, we’re super relieved that he tested negative for Covid.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu. I’ll be unable to run for at least four weeks.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana today at a Cat 4 storm. That is a scary!

*The Hubby picked up coffee for me today since I was not feeling great this morning.

* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!

*For dinner, the hubby had leftovers and I made taco pizza. It was awesome!

*The word of the day and it is fanciful. I had a fancifully wish that I’d be back to running in two weeks.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.Advertisements

Posted on

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Join me in wishing my hubby a very happy birthday! Today we chilled at home, which was nice. I’ve been a bit under the weather, in addition to the broken toe. Also, the Mayor was exposed to Covid last week, so today wasn’t a day to paint the town the red. (“Paint the town red,” what a brilliant bromide.) It really was a nice, low key day at home.

The hubby smoked a nice pork butt and grilled some yummy ribs. We used the ribs from Butcher Box for the first time today. While the ribs were tasty, they were pretty fatty. Moreover, some pieces had a lot of cartilage on them. Nevertheless, they tasted amazing. We also had some of the Hubby’s amazing grilled potatoes. Additionally, I air fried up some home made french fires. The food was awesome!! As was the company, since my brother was able to join us for lunch.

The Mayor tested negative on the rapid home test, but I still took him to Urgent Care tonight for a PCR test. Obviously, it’s never a fun time waiting at the Urgent Care, but the waiting room was mildly entertaining. First of all, the guy that came in immediately after us was looking to be seen because he got Palmolive (yes, the dish soap) in his eye. Given his conversation with the front desk, he’s definitely a frequent flyer. He was quite the character.

Secondly, a mom and her teen daughter came j for a Covid test. The daughter had two positive home tests and was coming in for the PCR. Wh they were in the waiting room, the mom called her daughter’s boss to tell him she wouldn’t been into work tomorrow. Moms, dads, guardians of the universe don’t do your kids dirty work. If they’re old enough to hold a job, they’re old enough to tell their boss they have Covid and can’t come in. #helicoptermom

I was also finally able to get my toe checked out by a doctor. Unfortunately, the urgent care (like many others) is short staffed and did not have an X-ray tech on staff today. Nevertheless, I was able to have a doctor evaluate it and re-wrap it. It’s broken, but I’ll go back tomorrow to have X-rays taken of my toe and foot. For the interim, the boot is back to ensure I don’t flex or bend the toe injuring it further.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu.

*This morning I made homemade cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. For the Hubby’s birthday, we had ice cream sandwiches.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana today at a Cat 4 storm. That is a scary!

*The Hubby picked up coffee for me today since I was not feeling great this morning.

* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!

*For dinner, we had bbq ribs, potatoes, baked beans and brags. It was awesome!

*The word of the day and it is excellence. I had an interesting conversation on the topic over the weekend. The thing about excellence is that it should come intrinsically. One shouldn’t be reliant on outside influences to find excellence.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

Posted on

Busted

Well they busted our tournament courtesy of Covid. Unfortunately, we learned that there was Covid case on the team, so they shut down the Mayor’s team for now. The Mayor was incredibly disappointed and frustrated by this news. Honestly, I’m both disappointed and relieved. I wasn’t looking forward to spending my weekend on my feet. However, I was very much looking forward to watching him play.

Speaking of busted, my toe looks pretty gnarly today. I’ve now got some bruising on the top of my foot and the side is swollen. The hubby taped it last night with a cotton ball and first aid tape. Afterwards, I ordered some buddy tape from Amazon, which was supposed to deliver it today. Unfortunately, Amazon is now delivering it on Sunday. Consequently, I ordered some for curbside pickup at Walgreens.

I decided I should probably get an X-ray to make sure my toe heals properly and rule out any issues with my foot. After all, the most important thing is for me to return to running as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the urgent cares around me had no capacity until tomorrow night at 7:00 pm or were closed at 6:00. I’ll probably try to get an X-ray tomorrow since this also happens to be my foot with the torn tendon. At any rate, my left is a hot mess right now.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu. Just when I get started again, something derails my running.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Hurricane Ida is headed to the gulf coast potentially as a major hurricane. Meanwhile, there are still two areas of concern in the Atlantic.

*Goalielocks went back to school today, which was great. He loves school and hated being home, but he also understood it’s not okay to go to school sick. Naturally, I ordered my coffee via Uber Eats.

* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!

*For dinner, the hubby cooked vodka sauce pasta. It was yummy.

*The word of the day and it is stupefy. Sometimes at work I think there’s no way I can stupefy my explanation of coverage any further. In those cases, where the client clearly isn’t understanding, I ask to speak with their children before doing business with them.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

Posted on

Broken Toe

So I have a broken toe. Apparently, I broke my toe last night. My poor pinky toes is at least twice it’s normal sized, all red and bruised up. What had happened was I lost a fight with a laundry basket in the middle of the night. It’s hardly the first time I’ve stubbed my toe in the middle of the night, but it is the first time I’ve broken a toe.

Despite the throbbing pain in my toe and anxiety over current events, I had the best sales day since AEP. For the uninitiated, AEP refers to the Medicare annual enrollment period. For us, it’s our busiest and most lucrative time of the year. Most of my calls bought today, but those that didn’t were the nicest and sweetest people. Thankfully, I talk to mostly great people from all over the place. Frankly that’s my favorite part of the job.

I’m a little bummed about the toe since I just got back to running after my cold. According to Dr. Google, I’ll have to rest it at least two to three week. And as we all know, Dr. Google is never wrong. Although I should have consulted all the medical experts on Facebook. They’re definitely never wrong.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I skipped my run since I broke my toe. I’m crazy, but even I’m not crazy enough to run with a freshly broke toe. There wasn’t even a tangled shoelace involved in my car injury. I always worry my shoelace will get caught in the treadmill belt.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with Ida and two areas of concern.  

*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I ordinarily would have driven to pick up my coffee this morning. Since my toe was throbbing and my legs still sore from leg day, I ordered it via Uber Eats.

* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!

*For dinner, the hubby cooked the stir fry I was going to make before I injured myself. 

*The word of the day and it is canvas. At work, I think of every day as a blank canvas. I don’t want one bad day of derail my week or month.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

Posted on

IT Crowd

If you haven’t watched the IT Crowd, you’ve got to check it out. It’s on Netflix and is absolutely hilarious. Jake got us hooked on this show while he was in tech school. My favorite episode by far is “The Outing.” Honestly, it’s probably one of the funniest episodes of any show I’ve ever watched. I’m just chilling watching the show while the Mayor is at practice and Goalielocks is attending his officiating seminar.

Admittedly, I’m a bit tired today. I slept okay, but it would appear I went a little too hard on leg day. When I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, oh the glories of motherhood, it took me forever. I could have used a railing to help me sit down and get up. My quads and my hamstrings are completely shot. They’re so sore that I had to skip my run today.

I kept Goalielocks home from school again. He’s still not feeling 100%, so I didn’t want to send him to school symptomatic. His Covid test was negative, but I’m pretty sure “sharing isn’t caring” also pertains to the common cold. Nonetheless, I’m anxious to get him back into school, so he doesn’t fall too far behind. Fortunately, neither the Mayor nor the Hubby have shown any signs of illness.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m finished  Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy on Monday. Last night I started reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I skipped my run since my legs were ridiculously sore today. I did, however, complete my BBG arms/ab workout. Naturally, I feel that in skipping my run my workout today was insufficient.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with three areas of concern. Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up due to the Saharan dust cloud overhead.  

*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I drove to pick up my coffee this morning.

* Every day I watch the live Safaris on YouTube, I’m inspired. I never thought I’d be one for a safari, but the views and the animals are incredible. It’s now on my bucket list. Today was a banner day. I always love watching the young elephants or lions playing. They’re so cute!

*For dinner, I ordered Chipotle. The Mayor has practice late and Goalielocks is in a Zoom seminar until 10, so it was just more practical to order in.

*The word of the day and it is canvas. At work, I think of every day as a blank canvas. I don’t want one bad day of derail my week or month.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

Posted on

Loss

Loss seems to be the overwhelming theme of 2020 and 2021. Life naturally brings us life as we age and the people we love age with us. It sucks but it’s reality. The past eighteen months, however, has presented us with loss on a scale we’re not accustomed to. Just this week, we have lost two hockey dads to COVID. Men that were far too young to leave this earth.

It’s, of course, a lot easier for us as adults to process these losses. Which is to say it’s not easy, but we’re better equipped than our kids to handle and process the grief. For our kids, it’s not just the loss of their friend’s parent they’re trying to process, but the possibility that they could lose their parents to Covid. To a kid of any age, this is terrifying.

The sense of loss, the fear of loss remains omni present even as we’re eighteen months into this thing. Honestly, it’s exhausting. Nonetheless, you have to live your life and move forward. The boys being back in school is an important step in moving forward. Moreover, hockey has been an integral part of keeping them socially engaged and active. During this difficult time, exercise be it hockey, running or lifting weights is an easy way to help cope during this period.

In other news, it’s only Tuesday. Truly, it feels like it should be Saturday already. This week is dragging. Fortunately, I had a much better day at work today. Thank God. They say laughter is the best medicine and I wholeheartedly agree, so I’ll leave you with this.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.

*I ran a mile and a half. It in many ways sucked. Especially since it’s my first run post leg day in over two months. Leg day yesterday killed me!

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with three areas of concern. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up due to the Saharan dust cloud overhead.

*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I drove to pick up my coffee this morning. Fortunately, Goalielocks’ Covid test came back negative! Thank God!

* Every day I watch the live Safaris on YouTube, I’m inspired. I never thought I’d be one for a safari, but the views and the animals are incredible. It’s now on my bucket list. Today was a banner day. I always love watching the young elephants or lions playing. They’re so cute!

*For dinner, I made home made meatballs and spaghetti. Tonight we tried Michael’s from Brooklyn’s tomato basil sauce. It was super yummy. As a family, we’re trying all the top jarred spaghetti sauce. The Mayor and I love spaghetti, so I thought it would be a fun activity for us.

*The word of the day and it is kakorrhaphiophobia, which means and abnormal fear of failure. I think a lot of have a fear of failure, but for most it’s not a paralyzing fear.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

Posted on

Title

The worst part of writing a blog is thinking of an adequate title. My creativity, much like my ability to make a sale today, has left the building. Consequently, you get a lazy title from me tonight. And now here I am rambling about choosing a title.

Fortunately, I wasn’t as lazy with the rest of my day as I am being with the blog tittle. While work wasn’t super productive for me today, I did work my arse off. During lunch, I ran a mile and a half and walked a mile. I thought a boost of endorphins may help on the sale sides. It didn’t. After work, I restarted Kayla Itsines High Intensity workout. Unfortunately, it showed me how out of shape I have become.

The sadness of losing one out hockey dads has been omnipresent today. It’s incredible sad and scary. My heart aches for the family that’s he’s left behind. Please continue to keep his family in your prayers. You can support the family through donation or providing a meal. Moreover, the meal train can be found here.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.

*I ran for the first time since getting sick. It felt both glorious and awful all at once. My fellow runners will understand exactly what I mean.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce. Unfortunately, their customer service and their shitty eats pass suck.

*For dinner, the I tossed some pizzas in the oven. I cooked two market pantry and one digiorno pizza. They were very good. Unsurprisingly, we have no leftovers.

*The word of the day and it is enclosed. At the present moment, the dogs are enclosed in their crates. Anakin has finished his dinner, so I’ll let him out soon. I love my puppies!

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

Posted on

Fatigue

Guys the Covid fatigue is real and it couldn’t come at a worst time. Now more that ever, however, it is important to be vigilant and protects ourselves and our families. I know I’m sick of hearing/reading about it everywhere for the last fifteen months. Honestly, I’m most sick of the assholes on Facebook that think their opinions on masks and vaccines are important. Spoiler alert they’re not. Both sides are excruciatingly vapid and sanctimonious. At the end of the day, opinions on social media do nothing but turn people off. Moreover, the only opinion that should matter to anyone is the advice of their doctor. Rant over.

Of course Covid fatigue isn’t the only type of fatigue we’re battling here. With the school year and hockey season back in full swing, we’ve accepted that we’ll be exhausted for the next ten months. This year we have practice on four of five weekdays, which is great. One day off during the week is a bit brutal, but it could be worse. Practice could be five days a week like it was several years ago.

Speaking of hockey, last night we went out to dinner with some of our favorite hockey parents. I was super excited to try the prix fixe menu for Dine Out Delray. The best part of trying the special menu is it forces me to try something I wouldn’t ordinarily order. I already knew what I was going to order before we walked in the door.

Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the expectations. We were sat outside, which is an incredibly beautiful space. Sadly, it was also as hot as Hades. It took almost an hour before anyone took even our drink order and another hour to get our drinks. The whole dinner took over three hours. In contrast, the dinner at the steakhouse with 15 people took less than 90 minutes. Moreover, there was no excuse for the slowness as the restaurant was not full. We won’t be going back.

The dining didn’t live up to expectations, but fortunately the company exceeded expectations. People think travel hockey (travel sports) parents are crazy for the amount of time and money they invest into the sport. Fortunately, the time and money has paid dividends in life experiences and friendships that will last long after our travel hockey days are done. Yeah, we do it for our kids and they benefit greatly, but so do their parents.


On a side note, I spent some time updating the blog including my awesome Savings page. Affiliate relationships help cover the costs of this blog at no cost to my readers. Several companies are running some incredible sales in August. You can see them all on the savings page.

Lastly, a prayer request. Today one of the Mayor’s teammates lost his father to Covid. Please keep his teammate and his family in your prayers. Please also protect yourself and your family as best as possible because this thing is insidious and deadly even though Covid fatigue has set in.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.

*I ran for the first time since getting sick. It felt both glorious and awful all at once. My fellow runners will understand exactly what I mean.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*I actually drove to my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce. It’s always good to see my Dunkin’ crew.

*For dinner, the Hubby made Osso Bucco for dinner. Honestly, it was was amazing. Furthermore, the stew meat from Butcher Box was a big win.

*Today’s word of the day is destination. Life is a journey and we’re all headed to the same destination, so enjoy the journey.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Furthermore, he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

Posted on

Celebrate

Celebrate good times my friends. It is the weekend. We have waited all week, since Monday Eve, for this moment. This week has brought a mixed bag of success and weird ass people without bank accounts. I mean it’s 2021, who the freak doesn’t have a bank account or at least a prepaid debit or credit card?

Anyway, it’s the weekend and I couldn’t be happier. Tomorrow we’re having dinner with some great friends in Delray. I’m not sure if I’m more excited about the drink menu, the prix fixe menu for Dine Out Delray, or the company we’ll be keeping. Honestly, I’m most excited about the company. We’ll be having dinner with our BFFs and the Parkers, who we haven’t seen in ages.

The last decade of our life has been dominated by travel hockey and thank god. Thankfully, we’ve met so many wonderful people and formed so many awesome relationships. Over the years, the friends have become family. As much time and money as we’ve spent, it’s been well worth the investment for that reason alone. Of course, the kids have also benefited from the experience.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

*I’m still recovering from the cold. Consequently, I think took another rest day.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*Today I watched the live Safari Cam, which is always amazing. I love seeing all the animals of the African bush in real time.

*For dinner, the Hubby made steak fajitas for dinner. Honestly, they were amazing. Furthermore, the flank steak from Butcher Box was a big win.

*Today’s word of the day is resignation. Unfortunately, this afternoon I was resigned to the fact that all my leads sucked until I spoke with a very gracious gentleman from gracious. I definitely wanted to celebrate that sale!

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Furthermore, he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness