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Watching the Skies

Today’s bloganuary prompt is all about watching the skies and how the stars make you feel. The timing could not be better. This evening right after work, SpaceEx launched their Falcon 9 rocket. Fortunately, the Hubby gave me a heads up, so the boys and I were able to watch it. By the time we made it outside, the booster had separated from the rocket and was starting its descent. Meanwhile, the rocket was continuing to gain altitude as it tracked southward over our house.

We finally lost the booster right as it was about to land. We could see the engines fire and then it disappeared. I have to admit that it never gets old watching the launches. It’s incredible to me that we’re able to see so much from hundreds of miles away. I tried to get some photos of both the rocket and booster, but it’s hard to capture how cool it looks on film.

Back to the prompt of watching the skies, when I look up at the stars or even at the rocket, it’s a bit like staring at the ocean. You can’t help, but feel small while being mesmerized by the beauty of the night sky or sea. There’s something comforting in the largess and beauty off both. One of the coolest experiences we had here in Florida was the night sky after Wilma knocked out power to the South Florida area. You could literally see every star in the sky and the the Milky Way was incredibly vibrant. It was incredible!

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Palm Tree

So today’s prompt is to describe oneself as a tree, so I chose palm tree. First of all, the palm tree is happiness in a plant. Who can’t be happy while sitting near or beneath a beautiful palm? It usually means you’re somewhere tropical with a beautiful beach nearby. There also incredibly strong and built to survive hurricanes. Their shape is perfect as the wind whips around their trunk, while leaving the tree up right. Sure they’ll lose some fronds, but most palms survive the storm.

Like the palm tree, I’m able to survive’s life’s worst storms. Thankfully, my parents raised me to be confident, strong and full of faith. My life is filled with incredible people that have supported me and my family through thick and thin. I’m forever grateful for the strong support system in my life. These past couple of months they have been absolutely incredible.

Fortunately, this weekend I was able to get out and see some of my non-hockey friends. It’s nearly impossible to do anything social during hockey season, so this weekend was a treat. Yesterday I met my friend Stacy for drinks at Batch. I haven’t seen her since before I got laid off. God, I’ve missed that woman. We had the best time.

Today I made a Swiss cake roll in the morning. While that baked, I took care of the laundry, the dishes and the floors. Afterwards, I headed to Boca to spend the afternoon with my dear friend Terri, who just happens to be Jake’s girlfriend’s mom. I always have a fabulous time with her and today was no exception. We had tried a couple of weekends ago, but Covid and Flu exposure put a damper on those plans. Thankfully, we were able to get together today.

It was quite cold this morning, but we didn’t see any frost. Even if we did, the palm trees would be fine. After all, like me, they’re quite resilient. I was a little worried, however, that the passion fruit tree wouldn’t weather the cold. Fortunately or unfortunately, it still looks quite robust. It had literally taken over the entirety of our back garden. We’ll have to trim it back and train it on a trellis or it will cover everything.

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Whoops

Whoops, so apparently playlist is today’s prompt for bloganuary. I was a day early for the prompt. Oh well, music was in my mind yesterday, so the prompt worked well. Tomorrow, I’ll rejoin the challenge with the right prompt in the right day. Speaking of playlists, I added some Oasis to my 90s playlist today. Wonderwall was the perfect song to cool down to and finish my workout.

It’s Friday, but this week it doesn’t mean the end of the work week for me. I’ll be working tomorrow albeit not a full day. Two more days to finish the month strong, so hopefully tomorrow is a good day. Saturdays can be hit and miss. I do like that Saturday don’t start until 10:00, so I have a lot of fine do get stuff down before work starts.

Meanwhile, we are expecting some seriously cold temperatures, by South Florida standards, this weekend. In fact, we could see low temperatures in the 30s, which is crazy. Nevertheless, we probably still won’t turn the heat on. We’ve used it so infrequently that it smells terrible when you first turn it on. Honestly, we’ve probably used it twice in the sixteen years that we’ve lived here. Thankfully, we have plenty of blankets and hoodies to keep us warm.

This week I got back on track with my BBG workouts and running. I just finished the third strength training workout and have two more runs on the week. Next week I’ll start BBG 2.0. This is the second time I’ve finished BBG 1.0. Albeit it was structured differently this time, which was nice. Today’s run absolutely kicked my butt. Hopefully, it will be easier next week. Anyway, tomorrow I’ll rectify my whoops by posting the right prompt for the day.

Lastly, one of the members of our hockey family needs our help. Coach F, who. Goalielocks has played for, is a wonderful hockey dad and coach. Unfortunately, they just lost their home to a fire. Please consider donating to this wonderful family and help them rebuild their home. You can donate here.

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Playlist

In my mind, the perfect playlist is essential for every occasion. Particularly, I love my workout playlists. It’s another tool in the chest that helps me stick to my routine and keep my pace if I’m running. My go to music for my running playlist has been Metallica, The Offspring, Green Day, God Smack and Bush. The opening rif to For Whom The Bell Tolls is perfect pushing through a difficult run. I love it!

When I strength train there’s still plenty of Metallica and company, but it’s a broader playlist. Lately, I’ve been listening to a 90’s playlist that Apple Music built based on our music library. It’s a great collection of music albeit not all of the songs work well for working out. I don’t know about you, but REM’s Everybody Hurts isn’t my favorite hype song. Obviously I love the song, but it doesn’t work in the gym.

The largest collection music on my phone is my hockey playlist. After ten years of playing music at the boys’ hockey games, I’ve got over 300 songs on there. Clearly, there’s a lot of overlap between my lists, but the hockey one is quite diverse. I got everything from the Beatles to Britney Spears and Rammstein to Daddy Yankee. Anyway, music makes my world go round. It brings joy and color to life and keeps me focused on my runs, which is not an easy feat. What’s your go to pump up song? Let me know in the comments.

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Strength

So today’s bloganuary prompt is all about strength today. The old adage that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is honestly played out. I mean after the last two years, so we even need to test that axiom anymore? Also, if axiom is true, then I’m a fucking Ironman after the last six months I’ve endured. At this point, I’d like to put down the spinach cans and relax a little bit. I don’t need to be flexing my strength like Popeye every day.

From a physical standpoint, I could use some more strength. After a week off, I went back to the BBG workout this week. Honestly, it felt so good to be back at it. If you’re looking for an exercise regimen that balances strength, cardio and stretching, you should definitely check it out. Today was my first day running after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, this run didn’t no go super well. I was definitely sucking wind after only a few minutes on the treadmill. If only our emotional/mental trials, could make us faster and fitter.

Today at work was good. It sometimes all my strength and self-discipline to not be rude to some of these clients. I had a couple today that were quite special. Thankfully, it’s nothing like the awful clientele I would come across at my precious jobs. Nonetheless, they’re still quite annoying. Inspire of those special folks, I still had an awesome day on the phones. Sales is all about perseverance and resiliency. You can’t let one back call or one bad client derail you day.

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Dreams Are Made

Dreams are made of these is today’s prompt for bloganury. While I was in Savannah, I had the most vivid dream that Anakin, my sweet puppy disappeared. I never established if he was taken, ran away or dead; I only knew he was gone. Consequently, I searched high and low across the globe looking for my sweet boy, but he was nowhere to be found. It was awful!

Fortunately, it was just a dream and he’s currently laying down next to me on the couch. Outside of my vivid dream about Anakin, I find myself dreaming of traveling a lot. Obviously, I’m missing the amount of traveling we did prior to the pandemic. My dreams predominately take me to Europe and Scandinavia to be specific. It probably doesn’t help that I’m reading a novel set in Norway.

Work was the stuff that dreams are made of today. I had one customer that was frustrating, but only because she made absolutely no sense at all. As for the rest of my clients, they were buyers today. Moreover, I even had a few clients from last week that called back to buy today. You can’t ask for a better Monday than that. Of course, Athena had to keep it interesting by pooping right in the path of the Roomba, so that was fun.

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Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend at the rink. Goalielocks had two games yesterday in Coral Springs, while the Mayor had games in Palm Beach today. Unfortunately, the way our schedule worked out there wasn’t enough time to go home between games either day. Moreover, we didn’t even have time to leave the rink for lunch either day. Honestly, it makes for a really long day.


Goalielocks and the Toros dropped their two games yesterday. It’s so hard to play U18AA with a really short bench. Nonetheless, Goalielocks and his goalie partner both played phenomenally. The first game was pretty nasty. The Clearwater team was super dirty. In fact, one of their kids got tossed from the game for a terrible knee to knee hit on one of our players.

Today’s games were a little stressful. The Mayor’s team really needed to win both to have a chance at states. The first game versus the Makos was pretty tight. The Mayor got the game winning goal in the second period. His goalie came up with some huge saves to keep the Makos to one goal. Late in the third, the boys added an empty netter, which was a nice insurance goal. The final score on that contest was 3-1.

The second game they won 4-0 with goals from four different players. Including a beautiful short handed goal from the PK1 line. Honestly, that goal really took the wind out of the other team’s sails. Both games were a lot of fun to watch even if the first game was pretty stressful. The Mayor’s team has four more games left and they really need to wrack up the wins.

While we were at the rink, the temperature dropped considerably. It was in the 50s when we drove home. In fact, we’re under a frost warning. Or as I like to call it, a falling iguana warning. We don’t get many days that are this cool, so I’ll enjoy the lack of heat and humidity for the next day or so. And then we’ll get back to the normal heat and humidity. As for the rest of the night, we’re winding down our busy weekend with some NHL hockey.

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Short, But Sweet

This week was short, but sweet. I gotta tell you I like the idea of the four day work week. It’s really nice having a long weekend. Moreover, sometimes a day off is all you need to spark some great production. Thankfully, the long weekend gave me a nice spark. Today started off as quite the dumpster fire, but with perseverance the day turned around.

Meanwhile, the weather has been gorgeous. The mornings have been nice and cool, while the remainder of the day has been comfortable. This weekend the temperatures are supposed to fall dramatically. And here in South Florida that means one thing: falling iguana warnings. That’s right as the temperatures fall into the 40s iguanas will start falling from the trees. Don’t worry they’re not dead, once it warms up they’ll reanimate. Yep, it’s super gross.

As for us, we’ll be back freeing at the rink this weekend. Goalielocks has games tomorrow, while the Mayor has games on Sunday. Fortunately, the time between game is sufficient to ensure we can’t do anything productive on either day. My game plan is to put a pot roast in a crock pot and figure out how to make a Swiss cake roll in between the craziness.

We got to talk to Jake yesterday. He’s had quite the intense week at work. To be honest, it makes me quite anxious. He did send me a picture of the new Dunkin on base, which makes me smile. Obviously, he knows his mother very well. Unfortunately, his roommate has Covid, so he’ll be testing in a few days. If he has the Rona, he’ll have to go into quarantine. Fingers crossed that he’ll be fine. As for me, now that my short, but sweet week is over I’m heading to bed early.

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Beautiful Savannah

We really enjoyed our time in beautiful Savannah last weekend. In fact, I found myself wishing we had another day to spend exploring the town. Originally, we were going to drive straight to Charleston. However, when the tournament booked our hotel Saturday through Monday, we decided to spend Friday in Savannah.

Instead of getting a hotel room, we booked an AirBnB to share with our friends. We got a two bedroom apartment in downtown Savannah. It was an absolutely gorgeous apartment in a great location. I loved that the AirBnB put us in the middle of old Savannah. We are a mere two blocks off the river. Our street was also lined with several great options for coffee, food and drinks. The location was perfect.

If you go to Savannah, you have to check out the Riverside. It’s lined with shops, restaurants and bar. Moreover, the views of the sun setting over the river with the backdrop of the suspension bridge are absolutely stunning. Their are some street vendors making palm flowers and singing, but they’re not overly intrusive. At the east end of the strip, you’ll find the City Market. It’s super cute and has a lot of local vendors, which are always fun to support.

Of course, I really enjoyed my stops in the candy stores. In particular, I bought some tasty truffles and a rather large peanut butter cup from the Savannah Candy Company. This store offers a smorgasbord of tasty morsels from candy to popcorn and ice cream. Truly, it has something for everyone. However, they’re famous for their pralines and saltwater taffy. All of the candy is reasonably priced.

My favorite part of Savannah, outside of the candy stores of course, is walking the city. The architecture is stunning. It has the colonial feeling of Boston with a Georgia climate, which isn’t a bad combination in January. I love the green spaces in the squares that dote Savannah’s downtown. They’re absolutely beautiful.

If you go to beautiful Savannah, stay in downtown close to the river. There are several hotels in the area as well as AirBnBs. We had to pay for street parking at our AirBnB, but the cost was minimal. Our friends who woke up after 8:00 am Saturday and hadn’t fed the market, received what we thought was a citation. However, upon closer inspection, we discovered it was only a warning. Talk about southern hospitality! In short, Savannah is definitely a must see city.

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People of Walmart

I had a people of Walmart experience this weekend in Charleston, As for Charleston itself, we didn’t see much of it.  The weather was pretty terrible Sunday.  It was way too windy, cold and rainy to do anything outside.   We did, however, have a most interesting adventure at Wal-Mart. Elizabeth and I decided to stop there on the way back from our coffee run, so we could grab some essentials.  As we parked I was telling her why I always avoid Wal-Mart.


This trip did not disappoint.  As we were checking other, we heard a commotion behind us.  Two women were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. I got the feeling that it was over a guy, but they were so hard to understand.  Finally, the lady in line called out her foe for getting a fight while working.  Yes, one of the combatants was a Wal-Mart employee.

Once the facts of her employment are brought up, the employee ran behind Elizabeth and to the front of the store.  The employee tore of her vest and threw it before coming back for the customer.  Meanwhile, she’s screaming that “she’s not employed no more.”  Concurrently, the floor manager was running full board, while screaming call 911, to grab the employee before she made it back to the customer.  Honestly, it was scary.  The two women were completely off their rocker.

Needless to say, I’ll not be going back to Walmart anytime soon.  Although to be fair, there were people begging at the entrance to Target.  I’ve never seen that before.  I also had a man come up to me at the hotel multiple times asking me where the mall was located.  Spoiler alert, the mall was visible from the hotel parking lot.  It was so weird.  You would think he would have found the mall in his own after the first day.  After my most recent people of Walmart experience this weekend, I won’t be stepping in that store anytime soon.