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Long Weekend

I made the most of my long weekend and I hope you did as well. It was our first Labor Day in well over a decade that hasn’t revolved around a hockey tournament. Admittedly, I felt a bit lost going into the weekend without the hectic run up to the season’s first tournament. I got my fill by following the Mayor’s coaches teams. Nevertheless, it was nice to be home and relaxing instead of running around Orlando.

So true

Saturday we just chilled around the house. I was exhausted from a busy week and not sleeping well due to the prednisone. I did manage to bake a rustic French apple tart to take to the Kennedy’s for dessert. We enjoyed some yummy food courtesy of Sicilian Oven for dinner, followed by a nice swim in the pool. After our swim, we had dessert and played games with Ava. In what must be one of life’s greatest mysteries, the game Hi Ho Cherry-o that features cherry shaped fruit (down to the stem) is an apple picking game. Maybe I was just too sober to play it.

Sunday I made a rum cake and was going to make short ribs, but I was way too tired for it. The rum cake, however, was mighty tasty. It was my first time making a Bundt cake, which was fun. I was worried that cake was going to get to stuck, but it came out beautifully. The rum flavor was apparent, but not overpowering. I used rum I bought in the Turks and Caicos. The rum was beautifully fragrant as I cooked the syrup. I binged season 1 of White Lotus while I baked. We also spoke to all three boys, which was nice. All three are doing great.

Yesterday I binged the Flight Attendant season one while I worked on purging my closet. The preponderance of stuff in said closet, I no longer use. I still, however, am finding it difficult to part with my old work clothes. There could come a time when I need clothes for work that don’t come from Fabletics. I really enjoyed the Flight Attendant. It’s a well written and well acted show. We started season two last night as I baked the short ribs. Prior to starting dinner, I bought some new running shoes! After dinner, I could have used a whatchamacallits or some other chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth.

What does your ideal home look like?

My ideal home is the one in which I currently live. The only difference is it would be super clean, cleaned by anyone other than me preferably, and full of doggos. I love our current house and wouldn’t want to move out anytime soon. Now that the boys have moved out, we can start fixing it up and making it ours.

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Is it Over?

Is it over? It’s just been one of those weeks that needs to end like yesterday. We finally have the volume at work, but our boss is so far up everyone’s asses it’s not cool. Of course I’m thrilled that our volume has increased. I just don’t and have never appreciated micromanagement. To be fair, I’m way more sensitive than normal due to a liquid only diet and asthma that continues to be a pain in the arse.

So after my doctor’s appointment, to which I was a bit unpunctual having parked on the wrong side, I found out a lot of the family I saw on Saturday has come down with Covid. So far I’ve tested negative. Two of the tests I used, however, were expired. I’m a bit nervous to start the steroids after having been exposed to Covid. I’m waiting to hear back from my doctor’s office as to whether or not I should wait to start taking them. There’s a reason I’m waiting and it’s because prednisone can compromise your immune system. Obviously, I don’t need that ball of fun in my life.

What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?

There are a couple of things I do daily that improve my quality of life. Firstly, I start everyday with my Dunkin’ coffee. Secondly, I drink water incessantly and stay well hydrated. Additionally, I have a robust exercise routine baked into my day that keeps me going. Lastly, I end my day by reading my book. I read everyday no matter what I did that night.

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Back Home

I’m back home after a wonderful week in Minnesota. It was a nice change of pace to be back in the Midwest for a bit. I didn’t laid pretty low since I wasn’t feeling 100%, but I still had a great time. Saturday was a wonderful day as I got to see a lot of my extended family that I had not seen in years. I even managed to bake my parents some fresh bread before the party. While I was finishing up the bread, my mom and aunt went for a walk. I ran up to Starbucks while the bread was raising, so I saw them on the path. To be funny, I stopped and took pictures of them, but they didn’t even notice. As Jake said, their situational awareness was not good.

The anniversary party for my aunt and uncle was at my Grandma’s building in their cafeteria. It’s really a nice room to host a party as there is plenty of room for folks and the kitchen is well appointed. For ease, they ordered in pizza from Broadway Pizza, which was super yummy. They ordered perfectly as there was very little left at the end of the day. For dessert, we had a beautiful decorated cake.

I haven’t seen a lot of my family since before Covid, so it was nice to see people again. My cousin Nick and I were exchanging photos of our ancestors that we had come across. We were also talking about some trinkets that exist from my Grandpa’s time in service, like a handkerchief he made while recovery from injuries. He’s going to build the family a site with all of the information and photos in one place. This will obviously be much better than all of us paying a jillion dollars for ancestry.com. It was so great to be able to see extended family after so many years apart.

My mom and her siblings
My mom’s Siblings and spouses
My brother and my cousins Nick and Ben
The view from the new Delta lounge at MSP

What’s your favorite time of day?

My favorite time of day is nighttime. I love our bed time rituals with the puppies. Once I have them ready for bed, I hop into bed and read my book. Some nights I read for over an hour other nights I fall asleep pretty quickly.

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Challenging

Today’s run was challenging. Heck all of the runs this week have been challenging. First of all, I can’t remember the last time I ran outside. I think it may have been in time immemorial. Running outside is harder than running on the treadmill, but I also found it way more rewarding. Secondly, I’ve been in an autoimmune flare for over a week. This means everything is angry including my stomach and lungs. To be fair, my lungs have been angry since we were hanging out in the smoke filled Minnesota air in May.

5 day streak! Hit my goal

I’ve got an appointment on Wednesday with my doctor to make sure I’m in the right meds for the allergies and asthma. I do hate taking prednisone though because it keeps me up all night. It should, however, help fuel my workouts. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why the hell I’m working out through a flare. The answer is simply because it helps alleviate it. I cannot express how much better feel mentally and physically after working out. The key is to not over do it. Running on a track this week was the perfect way to get my workout in without being too far from home or the bathroom. I should also mention my Endo and PCP are both on board with my workout routines.

Tomorrow and Sunday will be full rest days, less some restorative yoga and Pilates. Since I ran hard all week, I’m going to enjoy a full 48 hour break from the cardio. I’ll be staying Kayla Itsines HIIT program Monday. I finished her beginner program last week. I started back at he beginning since I had taken quite a bit of time off and I don’t need to hurt myself. Her workouts are great! They will definitely make my muscles quiver. The morning after leg day is usually the worst.

How would you design the city of the future?

If I could design the city of future it would be walkable and full of coffee shops (including my personal favorite Dunkin Donuts) and dogs.

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Why?

Why must all Mondays be a clusterfuck? Is there an unwritten law in the universe that I’m unaware of? My Monday started when I woke up late for work. Now this is truly an astonishing feat as my desk is five paces from my bed. Yet here I was sleeping away like Sleeping Beauty until 8:06 am. Whoops! Fortunately, I was able to get up and on the computer without much effort. I just wasn’t mentally present for the first forty five minutes. I was so tired, I felt like a martian.

On top of my late start, my allergy/exercise induced asthma has been wreaking havoc in my lungs today. If you listened to my last phone calls, you would think I had just ran ten miles after smoking 59 cigarettes. I’d love to say that my voice sounded raspy and sexy prompting my custom get to buy , but I think they felt sorry for me. Thank god for prednisone and rescue inhalers. Albeit, I had to go out and get both since the stuff I had on hand was used up or expired. Nevertheless, the meds should help clear up my lungs pretty quickly.

In between the wheezing and phone calls, I completed my annual compliance training. It was a wonderful reminder that I longer work at a place where work place bullying is venerated especially for the upper echelons. Honestly, I miss the workplace bullying about as much as I miss smelling the reheated five day old fish. Anywhere else, HR would have put a stop to both, but hey that’s not my problem anymore. And guess what I guarantee you, there will be no reheating of five day old fish in my new office.

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Prompt

As I sit here staring at my phone with writer’s block in between phone calls, I decided to give the daily prompt a shot. I had a glorious weekend, but I’m not sure that there’s much to write about there. Unsurprisingly, we spent most of the weekend watching hockey. The state tournament for the Mayor’s division was this weekend and while he wasn’t playing, we all enjoyed watching the games from the convenience of our couch. So on to today’s prompt featured below.

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

The three objects I couldn’t live without are my iPhone, my Apple Watch, and my book. I wish I had a better answer than my phone, but the truth is that I manage my life and family’s schedule from my phone. In fact, without my phone, I’d have to brave the supermarket during the season. That’s not something you want to experience when snow birds surround you.

Like my phone, I use the Apple Watch to manage my life. Specifically, I use it to manage my thyroid function and fitness. Crucially, the watch has alerted me to a high heart rate while I’m sleeping, which is a sign my thyroid is running hot. Moreover, it signifies that I need to stop working out until my thyroid levels are back to normal. It also tracks my sleep, which is another way I monitor my thyroid. Lastly, I use the watch to keep tabs on my fitness level. If deviations from my norm show up, I know I need to check my thyroid levels.

The last object is my book. I read daily as a means to escape and engage my mind. It doesn’t matter what I’m reading because a book like Calgon will “take me away.” I started reading daily again about four years ago after meeting with one of my associate directors on development. One of my recommendations to him was to read daily as this is a habit most prominent business leaders share. Naturally, I realized that I should probably follow my own advice because if I wasn’t doing it, why should he? Sadly, we lost Paul just a couple of months after that conversation. Yet every day when I read and think about this habit, I think of him.

So tell me in the comments, what are the three objects you couldn’t live without?

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 35 spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness+
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: rebuke. I expect a bit of a rebuke for heavily featuring tech items in my three objects.
  • Today’s song is Pocket Full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield

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Top of the Mountain

I’m approaching the top of the mountain, the proverbial mountain that is a week, as my Friday workday is now half over. I long for the beautiful vistas of a Saturday and Sunday off that I’ll see at the peak of the mountain. For now, I’ll ignore the despicably low valley that is a forthcoming Monday morning. I’m ready to ride our my Friday afternoon.\

I’m optimistic about the weekend, but I’m a pessimist when it comes to my hubby’s work situation. Seven weeks have now gone by without a paycheck. What in the actual fuck is that lunacy? His boss shouldn’t treat my hubby this way. If you know him, you know there are few people better at their craft than him. He’s a total professional. Honestly, I don’t know how some people sleep at night.

Last night Anakin gave the hubby and me quite the scare. We had Arrow and Athena on the leashes to take them out for their 6:00 pm walk when the three dogs huddled at the door. Like a star NFL running back, Anakin found a hole in our coverage and got loose. His first instinct was to hunt at the hibiscus by the garage. He quickly moved on to the hibiscus up front. We tried to grab him numerous times, but he ran out of reach.

As he ran to the stop sign, my heart stopped. I was so afraid a car was going to hit this dog. We rushed to put Athena and Arrow back inside, so we could concentrate on catching Ani. Meanwhile, he sprinted at full speed into our backyard. We were a bit worried as Anakin is afraid of strangers and reacts accordingly. As a result, I had hoped he would have stopped at the passion fruit vine to hunt, but he wasn’t there and my heart dropped. We couldn’t see Anakin anywhere.

My hubby and I split up, I stayed in the backyard and headed toward the lake while the hubby headed up front to look for him. When I heard a splash as I lamented the notion of losing my sweet Anakin. Heartbroken at the thought of losing my dog, I turned towards the splash and that’s when I saw him. He had jumped into the lake and was swimming after the ducks trying to catch them. For a split second, I was worried I’d have to go in after him, but he came right to me when he was called.

Anakin loves his AFLAC duck

At this point, Anakin has the biggest smile on his face. He had enjoyed his little adventure swimming in the lake chasing ducks. Fortunately, neither the hubby nor I had to jump in to get him out. Moreover, no ducks or dogs were hurt during Anakin’s wild adventure. We think his older sister Maya would have been proud of his duck-hunting adventure. As for now, he’s locked up while the other dogs are taken out less he tries to break free again. His adventure concluded with a nice shower to wash the lake smell off of him.

Clearly, Thursday night was the top of the mountain for Anakin, but for the rest of us Friday night beckons. We have no plans tonight, which is fabulous. The Mayor’s regular season for his travel team will come to an end tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a difficult year, but I feel like he’s grown as a player and learned a lot. Too often folks get hung up on the Ws instead of focusing on how the players developed on and off the ice over the season. The hubby and I are really proud of how hard he has worked.

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Sandler Sunday

In continuing my r&r reason, it’s Sandler Sunday in our house. We started the morning with The Waterboy and are now continuing with Happy Gilmore. In between, I’ve walked Arrow like 100 times trying to get him to go to the bathroom outside. He gets a bit distracted by all the stuff he sees on the walk. In fact, he really loves birds. I think he’d like nothing more than to catch one. He’s also a fan of squirrels and lizards like his older brother Anakin.

In between movies and walks through the rain, I made some chocolate chocolate chip cookies. The best part of these cookies is undoubtedly the dough. While the cookies are yummy, they’re not as amazing as the dough. My family has a discriminating palate, so I like to use high-quality butter and cocoa powder. It makes for a much richer cookie. Afterward, I started some bread to go with tonight’s dinner. Hopefully, I’ll manage the time so the bread comes out of the oven right as dinner is ready.

I’ve also managed to get the floors vacuumed and some laundry is done. Yesterday afternoon, I was able to finish our taxes. All in all, I have had a very productive restful weekend. The remainder of my Sandler Sunday will be spent finishing laundry, cuddling with the puppies, watching movies, and baking bread.

Today’s song featuring a saxophone is Old Time Rock & Roll by Bob Seger.

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Is it 6:00 yet?

Is it 6:00 yet?!?! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to start my weekend. To be clear, I have no plans whatsoever, but that is what makes this weekend grand. After a week of shingles, I will make this weekend all about rest and recovery. My big weekend plans are exclusively Netflix and chill. I definitely don’t want to experience shingles again anytime soon. The rashes are mostly gone, but I still feel them. This whole “ghost” rash shit is for the birds.

I’m usually an optimist, so I was hopeful that my hubby’s volunteer status would move back to a paid employee. It appears, however, that my optimism was misplaced. Now I find myself feeling needing unusually pessimistic about the situation. My hubby’s cavalier approach to the situation is not helping either. Rest assured if I didn’t get paid, there would be hell to pay until the situation was rectified. I tend to be just a little bit more aggressive than the hubby.

The added stress of the volunteer status is the likely trigger of the shingles, which is excellent. The longer this situation goes on, the longer my autoimmune flare will continue. So I’m winning on all fronts here. My hubby volunteers and my son washes shit off his shoes in the kitchen. Life is good. Here’s hoping his volunteer status ends post haste and we can return to our regularly scheduled programming. Anyways, is it 6:00 yet? Because I’m ready for this day to be over.

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Working Saturday

It’s a working Saturday in our house today. Well, at least I’m working. I don’t think you’d count the Mayor watching the junior game or the hubby scrolling endlessly through Twitter working. A skin is keeping me company, while Athena and Arrow hold down the fort in the family room. Fortunately, it’s been a productive working Saturday so far. It’s not bursting with leads, but it’s not slow either. The puppies, with Athena now joining Anakin, are doing a great job of keeping me company while I work.

I decided to work to add to my production, but there are plenty of things I could be doing around the house. Our loft upstairs looks like a bomb went off in it. To be fair, a bomb named Goalielocks did go off in it. We just added a spin bike, so it would be nice to have it organized and look good. Additionally, the upstairs hallway looks like a donation room for Goodwill. I definitely need to go through everything upstairs. There’s a lot of stuff that we can donate, throw away or put away. I’d also like to get all my shopping and errands done this weekend, but the hubby’s prodigious volunteer status is really cramping my style. Hopefully, his boss will pay him before the month is out.

And now for your shingles update because I’m apparently eighty-five. Fortunately, the rash hasn’t spread any further. It is, however, mighty uncomfortable. In fact, it is both itchy and painful despite looking like it’s healing. The shoulder patch feels like it’s still there in its full glory, but looks like it’s almost gone. Truly, it is an odd and uncomfortable feeling. Moreover, my stomach is not loving all the medicines I’m having to take to eradicate the rash. I can’t wait until I can stop taking the anti-virals and antibiotics. The steroid cream, however, is doing its job nicely without killing my tummy.