The saga continues as I am still trying to get my rental reservation from Chicago straightened out. Hertz has kindly charged my AmEx daily this week for the same amount. Now if you will recall, Hertz towed my rental back to O’Hare on 1/12/23. Due to my son’s schedule, I opted not to get a replacement vehicle and end the rental that day. When I spoke with roadside assistance, she made it clear that if I wanted a replacement vehicle, I’d need to call back to set it up. Otherwise, Hertz would consider the rental closed. Except apparently, Hertz hasn’t closed out the rental. This is a bit disconcerting given that I have spoken to Hertz customer care several times a day since Saturday.
Customer service has repeatedly assured me that the rental has been closed out. Yet here we are. Consequently, I called AmEx this morning. American Express will block all subsequent charges from Hertz. Hertz would have charged me $359 if I had kept the car. As of this morning, Hertz has charged me $505. To be clear, I rent from Hertz all the time and have never had an issue like this. Usually, the rental experience is seamless. Nevertheless, here I am trying to climb the allegoricalmountain that is resolution. Anyway, the saga continues.
As far as sagas go, this rental car one is quite boring. I’d much prefer a saga in the mountains of Utah or Scandinavia. The Mayor and I were talking yesterday about our trips to Utah. We’ve had so much fun exploring the Wasatch mountains and the canyons of the Great Salt Lake Area. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons will always be two of my favorite places. The hikes we did in both canyons were so refreshing and beautiful. The elevation of the canyons definitely helped cool us down. Unfortunately, the hikes closer to Jake’s base offered little shade and tons of heat. Nevertheless, every hike we’ve taken in Utah has been beautiful. Hopefully, we’ll be able to visit Utah one last time.
Meanwhile, I have been cooking meat since my lunch hour. Our garage fridge/freezer somehow became unplugged and everything in the freezer defrosted. Since we just received a ButcherBox delivery, we have a lot of meat to cook today. Over my break, I sauteed up four pounds of stew meat and got a roast going in the crock pot. As soon as work is over, I’ll be back to cooking all the defrosted meat. Oh, the joy!
Chicago is a hell of a town and we had a great time there despite our travel arrangements going cattywampus. We stayed in Schaumburg, which was perfectly situated close to both O’Hare and the rink we were playing at. Also, Schaumburg has everything a traveler could need in close proximity. There’s a great mall, several Dunkins, Portillo’s, Lou Malnati’s, and Giordano’s. Schaumburg is also right off both I-90 and I-290, which makes it super easy to drive downtown. To clarify, when I say it is easy to drive downtown, I only mean that you pretty much just follow the road into the city. As for Chicago traffic and left merges, those are not easy nor are they fun.
Saturday the boys played two games, so it was a hockey day. While the boys rested in between games, some of us parents went and enjoyed a Lou Malnati’s pie. It was my first time trying Lou Malnati’s pizza and while I liked it, I prefer Giordano’s. The boys split their games Saturday. The first game they could have easily won, so it was frustrating to see them walk away with a loss. The Mayor had an awesome day scoring two or three goals in the two games. They won their evening game, which was fabulous. After the second game, we enjoyed a catered Chipotle dinner at the hotel. Admittedly, I love the catered hotel dinners as it is much easier than doing a team dinner in a restaurant. Plus, it’s really easy to eat healthy with a catered Chipotle dinner.
Sunday morning’s game was a doozy. They were up 3-0 after the first period but nearly gave away the game. In the first period, the team looked like total rockstars, while the second and third periods got progressively worse. Tying the third game knocked them out of the semi-finals, which also gave us the rest of Sunday off. Of course, it wouldn’t be a hockey tournament if we didn’t have to wait with bated breath for other games to finish. There was a chance, if the stars had aligned, that they could have made it to the semifinals.
Consequently, my bestie Jen and I headed to Sky Spa/Sauna in Buffalo Grove. It was an awesome facility. The women’s locker room had a dry sauna, steam room, and hot tub. We stuck to the dry sauna with Himalayan sea salt walls. The spa also had an outdoor pool and co-ed saunas. We found, however, the outdoor pool to be too cool and the co-ed saunas to be too much of a sausage fest. Consequently, we stuck to the dry sauna in the women’s locker room. The experience was absolutely heavenly. We both left the spa feeling completely relaxed and pain-free.
After the sauna, I definitely wanted to go to bed, however, our friends were heading to downtown Chicago. I got changed quickly, so the Mayor and I could join our friends for an adventure downtown. The drive into the city was uneventful, at least for me as a passenger, but traffic wasn’t terrible. It was still pretty busy considering it was a Sunday night. Once we made it downtown, we found parking right off Michigan Avenue near Millenium Park. The parking is super easy to access albeit quite expensive. The vistas of Michigan Avenue never get old. It is such a beautiful stretch of road with parks on the Eastside and beautiful buildings on the west side.
To get into Millenium Park, we had to go through metal detectors and have our bags searched. Unfortunately, Chicago’s violent crime problem has spilled over into downtown including random acts of violence. When we lived in Minnesota, we drove down to Chicago quite often to visit Luke’s grandfather and I loved going downtown. The last time we were there, there weren’t metal detectors or police in tactical gear all over the place, so it was sad to see it this time. The Bean is cool and the park is pretty awesome. They could. have ice skated there, but they wanted to skate the Ribbon at Maggie Daley Park instead.
The walk from Millenium Park to Maggie Daley Park reinforced what I already knew about Chicago. It’s windy as hell and it’s a lot colder downtown. I kept checking to make sure my jacket was zipped because the wind was ripping right through it. When we got to the second park, the skating was sold out until 8:00 pm. Consequently, we headed to Giordano’s for dinner. The timing worked out perfectly. By the time, we finished our amazing pizza, it was time to head back to Maggie Daley Park. Unsurprisingly, the walk back to the park was completely miserable courtesy of the mighty Chicago wind.
Maggie Daley Park and the Ribbon were amazing. I highly recommend checking them out if you have the chance. While the boys skated, the parents walked over to the cafe and enjoyed some very hot chocolate. The hot chocolate served in disposable cups, complete with marshmallows, was far better than any rink hot chocolate I’ve tasted. As for the park, its elevation is lower than the street, so the wind wasn’t much of an issue while in the park. Consequently, it was the perfect place to take in the city. We thought the boys would skate for twenty minutes and then get bored with it. Boy, were we wrong. I’m pretty sure they would have skated all night if we let them. Thankfully, we had to. get back to the hotel for a birthday party, so we parents were able to defrost sooner rather than later.
The trip ended with a win in the consolation game and lunch at Portillo’s. To be honest, I’m completely obsessed with their cheese sauce. It’s amazing! Fortunately, we didn’t have an issue getting to the airport. Our hockey family came through for us big time, so special thanks to Lyssa for helping us out. We got to O’Hare almost three hours early as I had read the TSA lines were ridiculous. Apparently, this wasn’t the case in terminal five. There wasn’t anyone waiting. inline when we got to TSA. Once through security, we chilled in Delta’s amazing lounge where the Mayor took full advantage of the shower suites and buffet. We made it home at around 2:00 am exhausted, but happy to have spent a great weekend with friends in Chicago.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Rest day. Since I’m still run down from the trip last weekend, I’m playing it safe and letting my body rest. I completed day 19 of the Every Day Yoga Shop 21 Day yoga challenge.
We got back home early yesterday morning from our fantastic trip to Chicago. I had planned on writing yesterday, but after only three hours of sleep, I thought it would be an exercise in futility. As I crawled out of bed to work yesterday, having slept through all of my alarms, I was lamenting my choice not to take the day off. Fortunately, I had a really productive day at work despite my lack of sleep. My parents, who are in town, also brought me a much-needed Starbucks halfway through the day. They were complete lifesavers. I skipped my workouts yesterday because I was exhausted. It was one of those days that had I worked out, I probably would have made myself sick or injured myself.
I’m still utterly exhausted even though we’ve been back home for a day. Consequently, I’m taking another rest day. Fortunately, I did get to bed relatively early last night even though we had company. My parents and sister-in-law came over for dinner last night. While I was on my PanCan conference call, the Hubby grilled up some yummy hamburgers, brats, and potatoes. The grilled potatoes and onions bathed in butter is one of my favorite dishes that we make. He finished the food promptly at 8:00 pm, which was perfect timing. Goalielocks was also in town to pick up stuff he had forgotten and say hi to the grandparents. We made him put everything in the car immediately, so he wouldn’t forget it again. It was nice having him home even if it was for just one night.
Tonight the Mayor has practice, so we’ll just spend our night relaxing with the dogs. Who am I kidding? The dogs will be creating all sorts of mischief as we try to watch television. I’ll write more about our trip tomorrow when my brain is less foggy. Unfortunately, I’m still sorting out the rental situation. They’ve now charged my AmEx multiple times for a car I didn’t get to use. I’m waiting for them to send me my receipt, so I can see the actual charges. At this point, I think I’ll have to file a dispute with American Express to recoup my money. I’m a bit disappointed that it’s taking so long, but I’m sure the bank holiday isn’t helping expedite the process.
Well, my weekend is staying in the theme of a transportation clusterfuck. I went out to get my Dunkin’ coffee this morning, when to my unpleasant surprise the rental didn’t start. In fact, it didn’t even turnover. Fortunately, the hotel engineer had jumper cables and was able to give us a jump. Unfortunately, the car’s battery wasn’t the issue. Given the lack of sound from the engine, we surmised it was a starter or alternator issue. Either way it wasn’t a problem that could be solved in the parking lot.
Thankfully, my friend Lyssa let me use her rental to pick up my already order coffee. While I drove to Dunkin’, I called Hertz’a roadside assistance line. The customer care agent was amazing. She got me setup for a tow, so I wouldn’t have to wait around for the tow truck. After all, I am completely unwilling to miss any of the Mayor’s games while I’m here. Nor was I willing to miss out on the deep dish pizza.
As for a replacement vehicle, I’d have to call back after the game to set that up. Ordinarily, I would have setup another car, but sometimes the universe is sending us messages. Also, we’ve had no issue finding rides to the games. Honestly, the Mayor’s team is filled with incredible families, which has made this situation so much less stressful. Consequently, I’m leaning into the universe’s message and going rental free for the rest of the weekend.
This morning’s troubles were, but a blur after two entertaining games today. I was so grateful that my bestie Jen was able to come and watch both games. It’s such a gift to be able to see her and her kids. Moreover, I love watching the Mayor play. I love watching his scheme and plan with his teammates on the ice. Mostly, I love when he scores a nice goal or sets up his teammates for a nice goal. Tonight he got the game winner after great plays and passes by his teammates.
Today was all about redefining expectations for our transportation this trip, great company and entertaining hockey. Today’s bloganuary post asks what is your preferred mode of transporting. My answer is simple, a rental car that works. As for the rest of this weekend’s transportation, we are fortunate for the generosity of spirt from our hockey family. Hopefully, next trip will stay on theme, but it will be a better less stressful theme.
This trip has been a clusterfuck since yesterday when Hertz inadvertently deleted my rental reservation while trying to fix it. After a couple of calls, they got it taken care of and at a much lower rate. The real clusterfuck showed up when Delta emailed me that our flight was delayed and we needed to rebook. Fortunately, I got the email before falling asleep, so I could get situated while there were still flights available.
After several hours, Delta’s customer service agent was able to get us rebooked into O’Hare via JFK. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have a Twitter tantrum directed at Delta. After being canceled, rebooked, canceled, and rebooked at the back of the plane after paying for Comfort+ on the flight, I was beyond livid. Thankfully, an angel named Eloise, a Delta customer service rep, took care of it.
The cluster has continued today. Our boarding passes for the second flight didn’t want to load, so that was fun. I went up to the desk to get printed copies, but the attendant insisted the photos I had of the printed passes would work. Spoiler alert, they didn’t and we were the last folks to board the plane. I wouldn’t have been so annoyed if I hadn’t already asked for the printed passes. Anyway, we eventually got on the bird and are now wheels up to Chicago.
I did notice, however, once I got service again that our Monday flight to Atlanta as cancelled. It looks like they’ve already rebooked us on another flight. The basement of JFK, where our gate was, had absolutely no cell nor Wi-Fi service. There was literally no service in the room. Obviously, everyone was annoyed with the lack of service as it made it mighty difficult to pull up a boarding pass in the APP with no internet.
If there’s anything the last twenty four hours have taught me, it is that my bullshit tolerance clearly has a limit. At the moment, the limit seems to be nil. Perhaps, my tolerance for travel bullshit is lower than my normal life bullshit tolerance. Or perhaps I’m just exhausted and have no desire to be tolerant. I think I probably just need a good nap and maybe a piece of the gigantic Milka Bar I bought in the airport.
Today’s bloganuary prompt asks what one would do with a billion dollars. Given my experience with the clusterfuck that is travel these days, I’d buy a private CBC jet. This way I don’t need to worry about my flight getting cancelled or my mobile boarding pass not working. It would just be so easy. Plus if I had a private jet, it would be much easier to travel with my puppies. Although to be fair, I’m not sure the puppies would love flying. Anakin and Arrow have nervous breakdowns when driving five minutes to the vets office.
I finally started packing! The Mayor and I are quite excited about our trip to the North. Fortunately, I found my jacket last night out in the garage. In Goalielocks’ haste to clean, he decided (I guess) that my jacket and nice mitten from Stockholm should be donated. I guess I’ll have to go through the donation bags when I get back from Chicago to make sure he’s not getting rid of anything else I need. My clothes have all been washed and the boots have been selected. I decided to not bring winter boots since the weather’s going to be mild. Consequently, I’m bringing the cute boots I took to Scandinavia in 2018.
So in between packing and work, I’ve been trying to update my rental reservation to reflect my gold club membership with Hertz. Their online support told me to try updating it in their app. Spoiler alert, their app does not work. Consequently, I ended up calling customer care. After being on hold for several minutes, the agent canceled my reservation and created a new one (allegedly.). I say allegedly because it is yet to reflect in my account, nor can the online Hertz agent see the new reservation. As Charlie Sheen would say, I’m winning! As this goes to press, I’m waiting to hear back from Hertz as to whether I need to create a new reservation or not. And now I’m back on the phone with Hertz. I’m clearly bumfuzzled.
Today’s bloganuary prompt is what chore do you find most challenging to do? The answer is getting issues like reservations fixed via phone calls. I work on the phone all day. Consequently, I don’t want to spend my spare time on the phone. To me, it’s a bit sinful when a consumer can’t fix their issue online without having to call the company multiple times. It should never take more than one call to fix an issue. Anyway, to punctuate my bad experience today, they can locate the new reservation, but it’s all jacked up. At this point, they’re skating on thin ice. Good news! They’re no longer on thin ice. They fixed my reservation and it’s now going to cost me a third of the original price. And now I’m back to packing.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Week six Sweat Beginner HIIT full body workout. Ran one and a half miles, and walked two. Day twelve of the Everyday Yoga Shop/Practyce 21-day yoga challenge.
Bumfuzzled, what a word! Am I right? Webster’s dictionary defines bumfuzzled as being in a state of bewilderment. This great word and prompt from my fellow blogger fits my current state. For the past months, I’ve been trying to make a correction to my vehicle’s title. Per the lienholder, I made an appointment with the DMV. After visiting the seven layers of hell that is the Florida DMV, the DMV told my hubby that only the lienholder could file for a correction. Well, isn’t that special? Consequently, I returned it to my lienholder, who told me that the dealer must update it. Tell me your incompetent without telling me your incompetent perfectly describes my lienholder’s response. Anyway, stay tuned.
Outside of the bullshit mentioned above, I’ve been trying to get ready for our Chicago trip. In fact, I’ve made such a large effort that the suitcase is now out of the closet. The most difficult task, I fear, will be locating our winter jackets. I believe they’re upstairs in the Mayor’s closet, but that belief is probably on par with the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. Naturally, the next task will be to locate my mittens. Unfortunately, I keep getting distracted by work, so my packing is moving forward at a snail’s pace. In fact, I’ll probably enlist the Mayor’s help to locate our winter jackets. After all, I’m relatively sure they’re in the vicinity of his room.
As you can tell, I’ve spent my Wednesday bumfuzzled, distracted, and boggled. Nonetheless, I’ve already got my run done for the day. Each run has gotten progressively easier as I’ve gotten over my cold. Later, I’m going to take a walk on my break to get my mileage up to four. I decided I’m going to walk the same mileage that I run. My goal is to cover at least 3.1 miles per day by some combination of walking/jogging and running. After work, I’m going to finish Day 11 of the yoga challenge. I’ve really enjoyed the yoga challenge thus far. The challenge brings a nice variety to my personal practice. I love getting back into yoga. Today’s bloganuary prompt is what makes you feel successful. Sticking to the goals I’ve set for life, including my fitness goals, is what makes me feel successful.
After a weekend full of hockey, there was more hockey last night. This time it was high school hockey at Ice Den. We had played this team two times previously. The boys tied them the first time and lost the second time. Fortunately, the third time was a charm and they won big defeating the Storm 6-0. It was an entertaining game. Albeit I hate the late weekday start to some of these games and the rink was uncommonly cold. Last night’s tilt went off at 8:30 pm, which is when I’m usually contemplating getting ready for bed.
The best part of high school hockey is seeing all my favorite hockey folks from around the league. I watched some of the MSD game with my dear friend Dawn. It was such a nice surprise to see her there. For some reason, our boys’ high school games haven’t lined up really well. Nonetheless, I spent the first part of my night chilling with her and her niece. Once the clock struck 8:30 pm, I left the stadium rink and headed over to the Mezzanine rink to watch our boys’ game. Our high school team is a composite team of players from Palm Beach County. In reality, it’s a fabulous opportunity for the kids to have fun playing hockey without the seriousness that comes (and should come with) travel hockey. Truly, it strikes a good balance, and who doesn’t love more hockey?
The late-night hockey makes getting to bed early quite difficult. I found myself, again, sleeping through my alarm. Fortunately, I still woke up before 7:00 am, so my morning wasn’t too much of a crunch. Nevertheless, it is nice to have some time in the morning to relax while watching mindless tv before starting work. Typically, I’ll watch the Great British Bake Off after taking the puppies out. I love to sip my coffee as the bakers bake and my puppies play in the background. Truly, it is a very serene way to start the day. The only issue seems to be that I then feel inspired to bake treats I don’t need to be eating.
I had planned to start packing today but got distracted. I’m so excited to pack my new running socks from Brooks. I absolutely love these socks even though they’re not trendy. They’re soft, thick, and supportive. Clearly, they’ll be the perfect sock to keep my feet warm in Chicago. Perhaps instead of fixating on my socks, I should try to find my jacket, hat, and mittens. While it is not going to be super cold while we are there, the rinks will be cold. I don’t, however, think I’ll need my winter boots. Obviously, if I bring the boots, I won’t need them. If I leave the boots at home, it will most definitely snow and I’ll be bootless.
Today’s bloganuary prompt is has a book you read changed your life? Two books came immediately to mind when I saw this prompt. First Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. This brilliant book is all about learning to “live your legend” by following your dreams. Sometimes the treasure that we search for isn’t external at all. The second book isResurrection by Leo Tolstoy. Resurrection is a beautiful story of redemption against the backdrop of the complicated Russian legal, social, and political systems. While I find Tolstoys’ exploration of Russian culture interesting, the story of redemption is what makes this novel special.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Week six Sweat Beginner HIIT leg workout. Ran one mile, and walked two. Day ten of the Everyday Yoga Shop/Practyce 21-day yoga challenge.
The Mayor and I are counting down the days to Chicago. We leave early Friday for a hockey tournament that starts Saturday. Similar to years past, we’re staying in Schaumburg, which is perfectly located. They scheduled the majority of our games, less a late-night semi-final, in nearby Mount Prospect. Unfortunately, the boys will play their 9:50 pm game in Fox Glen, which is some distance away. Thankfully, it looks like we will have some decent weather, which will make that late-night drive tenable. I did, however, rent an SUV in the event we did see some snow during our visit to the Midwest.
Meanwhile, the Mayor and my hubby got home around 7:30 last night after a long day in Orlando. Four games in two days is a lot for a non-tournament weekend. As an athlete myself, kind of I guess, his conditioning impresses me. Incredibly, his endurance doesn’t fail him even in the last game. He’ll play another game tonight, this time high school, and he won’t miss a beat. More importantly, as a woman in her 40s, he impresses me and inspires envy with his ability o eat endlessly. I watch him eat and gain weight. Moreover, he makes very smart choices with his diet, which isn’t to say he doesn’t indulge from time to time, but he eats pretty healthily for a teenage boy.
One thing I’m planning on, as I’m counting down the days, is not eating healthy in Chicago. I am looking forward to some Giordano’s, Portillos, maybe an Irish coddle, and yes even White Castle. Naturally, I am planning to balance out the indulgence at the table with workouts in the hotel gym and some sauna time. Outside of enjoying Chicago’s great food, I am hoping we have time to explore the hospital. Basically, I’ve been mining sites for some good options for both Friday and Monday. Friday we’ll have most of the day open. Monday could be open depending on how the boys play this weekend.
What is the best gift you have received? I love today’s bloganuary prompt! The answer for me is quite simple. It’s been the opportunity to travel and explore the world with my boys. Over the course of their lives, we have traveled to many places together. In 2002, Jake traveled with us to France for three weeks. He wasn’t even three yet but had the time of his life. Unfortunately, I’d have to find the photo album for that trip as it predates digital photos. Through the hockey years, we’ve taken many trips for tournaments. The best trip I took as a hockey mom was to Peewee Quebec. It is hands down the best hockey tournament around. Moreover, it is an incredible international experience with few rivals. If your child ever has the chance to go to Peewee Quebec, you must go.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Ran a mile, walked two, and completed day 9 of the Every Day Yoga Shop 21 Day yoga challenge. I had to adjust my schedule a bit since the Sweat APP wasn’t playing nice.
It’s been nice having two quiet nights to myself last night and this evening. I had planned to binge-watch a couple of movies last night, but I opted to be productive last night instead. My tardy Uber eats delivery was still mighty tasty. Tonight I enjoyed leftovers from my wonderful lunch at Farmer’s Table. It’s been way too long since I’ve been to that fabulous restaurant.
An afternoon off gave me the opportunity to catch up with a dear friend and former colleague. It felt like I had just seen Des yesterday, but then I started doing the math. Would you believe it’s been over three and half years since I had seen this beauty in person? Covid really fucked up our social lives amongst countless other things in our life. Nevertheless, it felt fabulous to see my dear friend.
While I doing housework and hanging with friends, the hubby was in Orlando with our younger two. The Mayor’s first game resulted in a loss, but he played well. His second game was a 6-0 blowout for the good guys. Fortunately, I was able to follow along with the games via text updates and Facebook Live. I only caught snippets of the second game as I was driving back from lunch when it started.
Anyway, I don’t know if it was the martini I had at lunch or the espresso I had right after, but my body was not feeling the run. Consequently, I cut it short today. Nevertheless, I’m still going to complete day 8 of the yoga challenge I’m participating in. It’s a vinyasa class, which should feel pretty good. Last night I tried playing some music on Alexa, while I played the class on my phone. The music helps keep my monkey mind from wandering too far during my practice.
Today’s bloganuary prompt asks how far back can one grace their family tree. I got into genealogy before we went to Norway. Fortunately, my friend’s mom, also my second-grade teacher built out most of my family tree. As it happens, my friend is also my distant cousin. Both of our families came from Laerdal in Sogn Og Frjordane. The family tree in Norway goes back to the 17th century. It is tough to build out Norwegian genealogy tough given the naming conventions that were used.
Nevertheless, my second-grade teacher built an incredible job putting together our family tree. There were some loose ends on my maternal grandmother’s side. My great-grandfather’s family was well documented, but I could find nothing on her mom. Until this last month when I got an email from Family Search with records hit for her family. Finally, I’ve built out that side of the family tree. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a ton of time to dig into it yet. And now I’m back to enjoying my quiet nights.
