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2021

2021 is almost over and I can’t wait. It’s not been an awesome year in many respects. On the other hand, it’s been a fantastic year. Professionally, I excelled an am a top producer on my team. More importantly I love my job. I look forward to what 2022 will bring me from a professional standpoint.

2021 saw us move our son out of his first apartment. This was quite the milestone for all of us. Fortunately, we had a great deal of support from our family both emotionally and literally. My folks travelled to Utah to help us get Jake packed. We wanted to take as much work of his shoulders as we could. Thankfully, we did a great job getting him situated while maximizing his free time.

This fall has brought a number of challenges, not all of which will be shared here, that seemed insurmountable. First, I broke my little toe. How something so little can hurt so much is a mystery to me. Also, I learned to avoid MD Now at all costs. Then the Hubby nearly sawed the tips of his fingers off. Again this experience reiterated why we should continue to avoid MD Now. Next a goon kicked the Mayor in the thigh with his skate resulting in a large gash. Fortunately, MedExpress was able to treat him .

Of course one of the biggest challenge of the early fall was saying goodbye to Maya. She has been such an important part of our life for the last twelve years. I miss being greeted by her deep bark when I come home. We miss here dearly and so do Anakin and Athena. They’re adjusting well, but Athena was depressed for a couple of months after Amaya passed.

This year I did a great job of running and doing BBG regularly. I’ll definitely look to continue this trend in 2022. Although to be honest, I’ve taken off the last week and a half due to a cold. I finally started running again Tuesday and my lungs felt like they were going to explode. My run today and yesterday went much better and my lungs feel good. Tomorrow we’ll ring in the New Year with a 4 on 4 tournament at Skatezone. Should be fun.

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Christmas

We had a great Christmas even if it was a little more low key than previous years. My Christmas started when I rolled over in bed and the Mayor was there to wake me up. As soon as I rolled over, he asked if it was time to open up gifts. Spoiler alert, he also did the same thing the next morning only that time he was asking to go to Dunkin’. Eventually, the Mayor was able to coax me out of bed, so he could open gifts.

The bigger hurdle in the early morning wasn’t me, but Goalielocks. Unsurprisingly, he took awhile to wake up. Once up both boys were excited to open their gifts. Honestly, it was a weird holiday since they opened some accessories, but their main present was still in transit. This year we bought to big family gifts, a squat rack and a new tv for the loft. Naturally, the boys were excited for both.

Our annual Christmas brunch was an absolute success. Fortunately, we had very little leftovers, which is great. I certainly don’t need to eat caramel rolls for a week. We put Anakin in his crate since he gets aggressive when people come into the house. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do well with very little kids, so he stayed in his crate until Ava left. Meanwhile, Athena was showered with lots of sweet love and attention by Ava. Athena was so patient and loving with her.

Some how we started watching the Best of the Crocodile Hunter, so that was the background music to our brunch. I forgot how much I loved Steve Irwin and his show. He had the best energy and was just a riot to watch. Shortly, after I told my brother Jake probably wouldn’t be able to c due to work, Jake called. Honestly, Jake’s call home was the best gift ever. After company left, we napped and relaxed before heading to the Kennedy’s for dinner.

Dinner at the Kennedy’s was wonderful. As always, Hanh cooked an absolute feast for everyone. She’s an amazing cook! After dinner, we had some drinks before deciding to play some games. Note to self, the games may have gone better sober. We had an absolute blast playing Heads Up and Scattergories. I’ll tell you one lesson the Hubby and I took away from the evening, the Mayor isn’t allowed to play Scattegories with the grandparents. All in all, Christmas was a wonderful reminder of how blessed we are.

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Prosecco Parfaits

As the name Prosecco parfaits suggest, this truly is the perfect dessert. It’s simple to prepare, but big on elegance and flavor. Truly, you can make it your own by playing around with the wine selection and the accompaniments. For the parfaits I made on Christmas eve, I used Martini & Rossi Asti. I dressed the parfaits with fresh mint and raspberries, which was a great combination. Here’s the recipe:

Prosecco Parfaits
Servings: 6-8
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes
Inactive: 4 hours
Total time: 4 hours 23 minutes

Ingredients:


1 750 ML of Prosecco or other sparkling wine
3/4 cup of granulated sugar (divided 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup of water
2 1/4 oz packets of unflavored gelatin
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz mascarpone cheese

Instructions:

  1. Combine the wine, 1/2 cup of sugar and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for five minutes to cook some of the alcohol off. You can adjust the simmer time here depending on how strong you want your jello to be. Five minutes, however, produces a well balanced jello shot with plenty of alcohol. Next remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the the gelatin until its completely dissolved. Once the gelatin has been stirred in and dissolved completely, pour it into a 9×11 or 9×13 baking dish and cool to room temperature before placing the jello in the refridgerator to setup for at least four hours.
  2. In a large bowl, whip the cream to medium stiff peaks. This took me about 4 minutes, but can vary based on the equipment used. Medium stiff peaks are just stiff enough to stand up, but the top will curl over (see pic below.). Place the bowl with the whipped cream in the fridge to keep cool. If you live up North, you can skip this step. I live in Florida, so I need to put it in the fridge to keep it from getting too warm. Next, in a separate large bowl, mix the marscapone cheese and remaining sugar (1/4 cup) untli smooth. Fold in 1/3 of the cool whipped to the marscapone cheese mixture. Lastly, once combined add the marscapone cheese mixture to the rest of the whipped cream.
  3. After the jello is set, you can start assembling the parfaits. I used parfait glasses I purchased from Amazon. Cut the jello into 1×1 squares using a cookie or bisquit cutter and place in the bottom of the parfait cups. Next cover the jello squares with 1/2 of the cream mixuture. Repeat with two or three more layers (depending on the width of your parfait cups) leaving enough cream for a dollop on top.

Notes:

  • For a non-alcoholic version, you can use the sparkiling grape or pear juice found at most grocery store and can skip the five minute simmer.
  • If it’s warm where you’re at, keep the bowl and the beaters in the fridge to keep them cool.
  • If your whipped cream starts to look grainy, you’ve beaten it too long. You can try to fix it by adding a couple more tablespoons and whisking it in by hand. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to start over.

Tools used:

  • 2 3 quart mixing bowls
  • 1 Hand mixer
  • Parfait cups (disposable)
  • 13×9 baking pan
  • Reynolds wrap
  • Large Saucepan
  • Whisk

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Christmas Eve Eve

It’s Christmas Eve Eve and I’m not any closer to being ready for Christmas than I was this time last week. I’ve still got a ton of baking and shopping to do. Not to mention the horrific job of wrapping the presents. I literally hate wrapping copious amounts of gifts.

Tomorrow I’ll be baking the Finnish cookies, more mint cookies, parfaits, caramels and I’ll start the caramel rolls. It will be a busy day in the kitchen. I’m excited for the Finnish cookies. This year I’ll be making them with cloud berry jelly, lingonberry jelly, huckle berry jelly and gooseberry jelly. These jellies will also go great with the krumkakes I’m making Christmas morning.

I’m excited to make the caramels. I haven’t made them in over twenty years. They’re a bit time consuming, but they are mighty tasty. I’m also going to experiment with trollkrem, which is a Norwegian dessert. I’ll be using the lingonberry jelly to make it since I couldn’t find lingonberries anywhere stateside. We’ll see how the day goes because if I run out of the time, the trollkrem will have to wait for NYE.

It was a bit funny at work because the first email said we’d be getting of three hours early on Christmas. Christmas Eve is the 24th of course, but since Christmas is Saturday my company is observing Christmas on Christmas Eve. Consequently, that makes today Christmas Eve in the eyes of my company. Thank goodness this wasn’t confusing at all.

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Puppy Poetry

“A LITTLE DOG THAT WAGS HIS TAIL” BY EMILY DICKINSON

A little Dog that wags his tail
And knows no other joy
Of such a little Dog am I
Reminded by a Boy

Who gambols all the living Day
Without an earthly cause
Because he is a little Boy
I honestly suppose –

The Cat that in the Corner dwells
Her martial Day forgot
The Mouse but a Tradition now
Of her desireless Lot

Another class remind me
Who neither please nor play
But not to make a ‘bit of noise’
Beseech each little Boy –

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Great Appointment

I had a great appointment with my endo today. She’s lowering my Synthroid dose (sort of,) which should normalize my thyroid levels. I say sort of because I’ll be cutting one Synthroid pill in half on Sundays. This way I don’t have to throw out the prescription I just refilled. Lastly, I don’t have to go back until June, which is also great news.

The rest of the day was not as great as my great appointment. While work was hopping yesterday, today it was deader than a door nail. I love my job, but I hate being bored. Obviously, I can’t wait until it picks up again in January. I work tomorrow, Thursday and Monday. After that I’ll be off for the rest of the year. Yay!

I was concerned about running with my thyroid levels being off, but my doctor cleared me for activity. Yay! Unfortunately, either my allergies or the common cold starting kicking my arse today. Consequently, I decided to rest today instead of running. I’m still planning on doing my BBG workout tomorrow morning. Unless, I wake up and feel like a truck hit me, which would be super lame.

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Almost Christmas

It’s almost Christmas and I’m nowhere near ready. I think, like most other parents, I find December to be completely overwhelming. The only kid I’ve finished shopping for is Jake. However, I had to finish shopping for him early due to potential shipping delays. As for everyone else, I still have a lot shopping to do. I also have quite a bit of baking to finish.

Tomorrow I see my endo, which I’m excited for. I’m back to being hyperthyroid, which is no good. I’d like to be sure that I still have the all clear to workout. Unfortunately, hyperthyroidism can come with some nasty and dangerous cardiac issues, which is super lame. Nevertheless, I’m hoping I don’t have to wait for my thyroid levels get back to normal before I can workout again.

This is an expected bump in the road. Our bodies are always changing, so the Synthroid has to be adjusted accordingly. Nonetheless, I have so much to do that I don’t need anything else to worry about. I recently saw a meme that speaks to how most moms feel this time of the year… There’s so much for us to do that it can be overwhelming. Especially as we as it’s almost Christmas.

Yesterday Goalielocks had games because the league never returned out coach’s call. We had two kids out sick with COVID exposure, but since we’re not the Makos we played with a short bench. I keep reminding myself that we only have a short time left in this infuriating league. Honestly, I’ve never seen a league that applies the rules so disproportionately.

Moreover, this is the first league we’ve been apart of where the rules that are adopted are punitive or the kids and not the adults. For example, the league penalizes thr kids instead of punishing coaches or organizations. (and Like the Makos U18AA head coach coming into my kid’s locker room to recruit players before our game.) A player has to play single A because the percentage of returning players is too low on the AA team. How about instead of penalizing the kids, you penalize the known offenders?

Anyway, Goalielocks and his goalie mate had great games. We ended up winning the first game 4-2. Goalielocks had the best game I’ve seen him play in awhile. Although to be fair, I’ve missed a lot of his games this season. His goalie partner was equally impressive in the second game. They’re such a great tandem. They really enjoy each other’s company and support each other. It was a great Sunday for our Tendies!

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Milestone

Another milestone moment as we picked out Goalielocks’ senior pictures this evening. I can’t believe we have two kids that are now technically adults. I say, technically because of you know, you know. The whole process took an hour or two. It was long and stressful. Thankfully, his pictures turned out well, which made it difficult to pick.

In the end, we ended up with the platinum elite package or whatever the hell they call it. Senior year and high school graduation is definitely a milestone, but boy oh boy do they bilk the money out of you. All year everyone is coming at you asking for cash. Honestly, is it okay that senior pictures are now the same price as a cheap used car? Is the cap and gown really worth the price they charge? Anyway, I can’t wait to get the pictures that I’m going to pay for by selling my kidney. I’m only sort of kidding here.

Tonight we’re just chilling at the house. The Mayor was supposed to have games tomorrow, but the Makos weren’t fit to play. Naturally, the same league that wouldn’t allow Goalielocks’ team reschedule due to a lack of bodies, gladly allowed the Makos to reschedule. Our league has different rules depending on which organization you play for or are affiliated with. It’s an absolute joke. In just a few years, we’ll be done with this god forsaken league. I look forward to blowing up some of these folks in a book about our Florida hockey experience.

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Rest

I’ve been all about rest since the craziness ended. Fortunately, as busy as AEP was for us, the days following have been the polar opposite. In fact, I don’t remember it being this slow last year. I mean, I’m talking a handful of leads per day, which is insanity. Thankfully, our leaders have been generous with cutting us loose when it’s completely dead. Consequently, I was done with work by 3:30.

Nonetheless, I’m still recuperating from AEP. My body still feels likes it is in overdrive. Well, probably because it is. I got my lab results back and I’m super hyper again. In fact, my TSH is barely detectable. My T3 is way out of range and my T4 is also high. Clearly, my doc will be making some adjustments to my thyroid meds come Tuesday morning.

Well, I’ve been feeling restless. I haven’t been feeling unwell. At least, I don’t feel as bad as when I was first diagnosed. It could explain the issues I’ve been having with my shoulders and legs. When you’re thyroid is off, your tendons can’t function like they’re supposed to, which can lead to frozen shoulder and other tendon issues. It’s also the reason it took so long for my posterior tibial tendon to heal.

I’m absolutely loving my wireless headset. I’ve been so productive at home while work has been slow. It’s nice to feel like I’m finally accomplishing something around the house. Moreover, it’s nice not being tethered to a chair for the whole day. I love being able to be mobile all day long. Obviously, it’s also much better for my back. My back was starting to get angry after those long AEP days.

Jake called this afternoon. He looked and sounded great. We loved that behind him there was a picture of Prison Mike. If you watch the Office, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Anyway, I’m enjoying this well deserved period of rest, so I’m gonna get back to it.