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Dreaming

I’m just sitting here dreaming of Norway. One of my high school friends is there now. Yesterday she posted pictures from Bergen, which was my favorite city. Today she’s posting pictures from the cabins in Flam where my family stayed in 2017. Fjord Norway is such a magical place and the connection I felt to the country was profound. My mom wants to go for their 50th anniversary or was it the big birthday (I forget- sorry mom) and stay at the Husom Motel. This is right over the mountain via the Vindhellaveven from the Borgund Stave Church.

Jake and I have been looking for races to run in Norway. He’s a bit more ambitious than I am and was looking at one that goes over a mountain range. The race he was looking at is call led the besegloppet. It’s a 14 KM (8.6 miles) that goes over the bessegen mountain pass. Fortunately the, elevation gain isn’t insane and unlike Utah we’d be starting at a reasonable point. Also, we’re not neophytes to this type of run/hike thanks to Jake’s time in Utah. The views, however, are absolutely incredible.

While we both dream of running races in Norway, we’re both focused on getting ready for our hiking trip in the Might Five. The hikes are long, difficult and remote, so it’s important that we’re both physically ready for them. I’ve been on prednisone to clear out the asthma and supplements to improve the anemia, so my doctor doesn’t think the trip will be a problem. Nevertheless, we’re working hard to be physically and mentally ready for these hikes. I’m even working on matching neoprene socks, so we can be quite the fashion plates as we traverse the Narrows.

Are you holding a grudge? About?

Am I holding a grudge? You get I am. What is said grudge about? That’s private. If and when the time is right, I’ll share the circumstance surrounding said grudge. As for now, it’s best kept quiet.

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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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Negative

I’m Covid negative and thrilled. I tested negative again this morning, so I was finally able to start the prednisone. I don’t know if it’s the coffee or prednisone, but I am feeling good. There’s no sign of roid rage yet, but Hubby should probably be on guard for that. Since I was Covid negative, I did go for a run on the treadmill and it was awesome. This was my first time running with Sherica, on apple fitness +, and it was an awesome workout. The playlist was straight fire.

So perhaps the negative test is what’s making me so positive today. It didn’t hurt that I had a brief chat, via text, with the Mayor’s billet mom. She’s just the sweetest. She shared that he’s adjusted really well to living away from home and the junior hockey life. Obviously, she wanted to know if we felt it was going well or if the Mayor had said anything. I shared that he’s only reached out when he needs something, which means he’s doing well. Of course, I let her know that all his feedback about the experience thus far has been positive. I’m really glad it’s going well because he can be ridiculous at times (iykyk.)

How are you feeling right now?

I’m feeling pretty good. I think it’s the steroids, but it’s Friday night and I have a long weekend in front of me. My son in Ft Myers is doing well. Jake got the position he wanted, which I’m super excited about. I’ll hold off saying more until I know more. Hopefully, the steroids will give me the energy to knock out a lot of things on my to do list. Tomorrow I’m going to return the bedding we bought the Mayor as he didn’t need it. I think I’ll use my Kohl’s cash to buy some artwork to decorate the soon to be guest rooms.

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Hurricane Season

Hurricane season is here and in full swing. Currently, Hurricane Idalia is churning off our west coast. It’s supposed to go into the Big Bend area tonight or early tomorrow morning. With a kid in Ft Myers, Orlando and Tally, at least one of them is expected to be impacted, so please pray that they stay safe and dry. Unfortunately, it seems Hurricane Idalia wants to be a bit extra and turn back towards Florida’s Southeastern coast early next week. It’s still a ways out, but here’s hoping that doesn’t happen (understatement of the week right here.)

Hurricane season is far from my favorite time of year. It’s days and days of waiting for a storm that may or may not hit. Either way you have to be prepared for the worst case scenario. Our hurricane kit is well stocked and we have plenty of water. Now most of the water may be sparkling, but I do have plenty of regular water to give to the dogs. We also have plenty of canned food including the shakes I’m enjoying while on a liquid diet.

What TV shows did you watch as a kid?

I watched a lot of shows. My folks didn’t have cable, so we watched a lot of Hogan’s Heroes, Gilligan’s Island and Brady Bunch during the summers. My favorite afternoon shows were part of the Disney Afternoon lineup to include DuckTales, Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Tailspin and Dark Wing Duck. As a teen, Pinky and the Brain soon became my go to show. In fact, my Roomba mop and vacuum are named after the titular characters of that very awesome show.

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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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Cooler

It’s a much cooler day today. Although I didn’t find yesterday to be particularly hot here. If you watched the news here last night, however, you would have thought the place was on fire. Nonetheless, I did enjoy running in much cooler air. There was even a bit of a breeze that felt good at my back, but was killing me when I was running into it. I did manage to add another tenth of a mile to my distance today, which was fabulous. My lungs weren’t really feeling the run at the beginning, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.

4 days in a row!! Let’s go!

I noticed when I got back from lunch that there are a bunch of active areas in the tropical. I swear tits like vermin. One makes landfall or dissipates and another one pops up to replace it. Our hurricane kit is all set, so we’re ready for the season. Hopefully, Florida is spared a major hurricane. Our homeowners insurance market cannot withstand another big storm after Hurricane Ian’s devastation last fall. Ironically, it’s the 32nd anniversary of Hurricane Andrew’s landfall.

Last night we went to visit my paternal Grandmother. It was so nice to see her! The last time I was able to visit her was before Jake went into the Air Force. It’s mind bogglinge to think how fast time has flown by. Also, I can’t believe that I haven’t been able to see her in almost four years. Now that we’re not buried in travel hockey, I’m hoping I’ll be able to go home for more visits. It should be much easier since I won’t have to use all my time off for hockey trips.

Where did your name come from?

My name came from my maternal grandfather’s grandpa. His name was Andreas and he immigrated to the US from Romskog, Norway. When we visited our relatives in 2017, we were able to see the farm where he was born. Additionally, we were able to see the church where he was baptized. Like many Europeans of the time, he ended up in the US due to primogeniture. If you weren’t the oldest son in Norway at the time, you were out of luck.

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Midweek

It’s midweek, which while better than Monday it isn’t Friday. Nevertheless, the majority of the work week is now behind me. I shouldn’t complain too loudly since I can work from wherever I want. This week I’m working out of my parents house in Minny. My schedule is 8-5 est, which leads me plenty of time in the evenings to workout, visit folks or just be lazy.

Last night we went to Panino’s for dinner. Panino’s was one of my favorite restaurants before we moved to Florida. I was happy to see that the restaurant hasn’t lost its sparkle. The food, I had the chicken fajita panino, was very good. In fact, it my leftovers were the perfect stay to feed my face post run. The restaurant was a lot less busy than it used to be, but there are a lot more dining options now available in the area.

After dinner, I headed over to visit my friend Matt who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic. It was really nice to see him and reconnect after all these years. Honestly, it feels like all of us were just in high school yesterday. That feeling is definitely at odds with the fact all three of my boys have left the nest. It was the great day and a great night. The only thing missing was my adorable puppies and their excited wiggles when they see me.

Speaking of my empty nest, all three boys are doing well. The Mayor reached out looking for some protein powder and bio freeze. Apparently, they must be working him pretty hard in Ft Myers’s. Goalielocks started classes and volleyball practice this week, which are both going well. Jake and I are working on the logistics of our Mighty Five Adventure.

What motivates you?

My boys have always been a big source of motivation. I can hardly ask them to work towards becoming the best version of themselves if I’m not setting example. Speaking of motivated, I’m on a three day streak of running outside. Unfortunately, I’ll have to go back to running on the treadmill once back home due to the heat. I am, however, really enjoying running on the track.

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Hot One

It’s a hot one out there. The heater turned on here in the Midwest, so today’s run was a good 30 degrees hotter, at least from the “feels like” temperature, than yesterday’s. In spite of the heat, I actually ran further today. Fortunately, it’s still a much cooler run that an outdoor run back home. I’m loving running on the track up at the middle school. It makes it quite simple to keep track of my distance. Plus, there are bathrooms right there, which makes it the perfect place to run after a morning of drinking coffee.

Making progress slowly (emphasis on slowly,) but surely

The Mayor had a great first day of training camp. It sounds like he was a true rink most of the day. He enjoyed both the on ice and off ice portions of training. Today brings more do the same for the Mayor and his teammates. He had tacos for dinner. I’m sure he’s now eating his billet family out of house and home. I can’t imagine how many pounds of meat they had to cook to feed the hockey boys.

I’m heading to Utah next month and am excitedly planning that trip. Jake and I decided to explore the Mighty Five. For the uninitiated the Mighty Five are the national parks found on Southern Utah including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Canyon Reef and Arches. They’re all pretty remote, so we’ll be happily disappearing from society to explore the wilderness. In addition to the national park, there are several noteworthy national monuments (Grand Staircase Escalante) and state parks (Kodachrome Basin) I’m looking forward to exploring.

The Narrows at Zion
Definitely a distraction technique I use to catch my breath while hiking 😂

I’m hoping that ample preparation now will enhance the trip and remove some stress. To organize the trip more cogently, I’ve started using the Wanderlog travel planning app. This should help Jake and I lay out our trip and hikes in a very coherent manner. This is also make sure I can share with my Hubby/parents exactly where we’re hiking. I’ve also started to make sure we have the right equipment for all of these hikes. A lot of the hikes are pretty straightforward, but some are very long and all are remote.

What are your top ten favorite movies?

Here are my top ten in no particular order.

  • Holy Grail
  • Life of Brian
  • Blazing Saddles
  • Beauty and the Beast (original animated)
  • Space Balls
  • Walk the Line
  • Les Miserables
  • Little Miss Sunshine
  • Slumdog Millionaire
  • Up
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Greetings from Minny

Greetings from Minny. It’s good to back home with my family for the week. I was actually able to run outside this afternoon during my lunch hour. It wasn’t the best run of of my life, but it went well considering I haven’t run outside for over a year. The middle school by my folks’ house has a nice track, so I went up there for the run. I set timer of 30 minutes and ended up at nearly 2.5 miles. Clearly, they were the prettiest or my fastest miles, but I got them done.

Working from here has its perks. All of my clock are set at the same time zone. I can’t tell you how disorienting it is moving between time zones every day. Unfortunately, the different time zone also makes it entirely too easy to screw up appointment times. This is where my paper planner comes in handy. Far from obsolete, my planner ensure I get to the meeting at the right time in the right time zone. As for work itself, the queue was busy this morning, but it’s been a slow afternoon.

Yesterday, I got my see my Grandma T, my uncle Mark and my brother Justin’s family. Justin and Monisha hosted a bbq at their cabin, which is absolutely beautiful. The breeze off the lake was perfect and the scenery was sublime. It was nice to spend time with all of them while enjoying some amazing burgers and pickle roll ups.

Meanwhile in Ft Myers, the Mayor started his first day of training camp. I’m anxious to hear how it went for him and his roommates. He moved into his billet house yesterday. Thankfully, the billet family seems wonderful. His billet mom Tracey reminds him of his Grandma Dawn, which I’m sure helps smooth the transition. He’ll be living in Estero, which isn’t too far from the rink. It will also give him an opportunity to officiate at Hertz Arena. Lastly, the puppies seem to be behaving for the hubby, but they definitely miss their mama.

What do you enjoy most about writing?

I enjoy telling stories and sharing my thoughts. It’s a soothing exercise in self-expression that helps me manage my stress.