It’s Thursday night and we’re a whisper from the long Labor Day Weekend, so it’s the perfect time for my list of back to school essentials. While my boys have been in school for nearly a month, the majority of US students will be heading back to school on Tuesday. In honor of those students returning to school here are my favorite back to school essentials.
1. The perfect laptop backpack courtesy of Jansport. I love this bag because it fits a 15-inch laptop. This makes it the perfect bag for students, workers, and hockey moms alike.
2. Hockey Themed Composition books for the hockey players in our life. (About time they have some hockey-themed options on Amazon!)
3. This stylish bento box lunch box. It is perfect for your student or for you (if you ever need to go back into the office.)
4. These fabulous hockey-themed folders. To be fair, they also have several other great sports-themed folders.
5. The perfect pencil case for your son or daughter. This handy item will ensure their locker or backpack remain as organized as possible.
6. Economical and functional three-ring binders. At least here in Florida, my boys’ schools have required these from kindergarten through twelfth grade.
7. A water bottle to keep your student hydrated throughout their day.
8. The perfect calculator for their grade level.
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9. Of course, one cannot write in a notebook or on a test without the perfect writing instruments.
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10. The perfect beverage and cup for mom and dad to celebrate the return of in-person schooling! Huzzah!!!
Wishing all the parents, kids, teachers, and school administrators a safe and happy school year!
Time is flying by, more specifically, this year is moving fast. I can’t believe tomorrow will mark the start of September. In the first nine months of 2021, I feel like I’ve done so much without doing anything at all. Now I’m sure that hardly makes sense, but I think you now what I mean. This year, much like last year, continues to be far different than any other year I’ve experienced.
Since today was month end that brings an extra sense of urgency at any sales organization. My current organization is no exception. Month end during the low season is not awesome. I am counting down the days until AEP starts. Honestly, I love talking and helping people, which is what AEP represents to me.
After work, I took the Mayor to hockey practice. Today was the first day I’ve been back at the rink since spring hockey ended in June. It was great to be back and see my favorite people again. Naturally, it was good to watch the Mayor in his element as well. The squad looked good. I’m excited to see how they do this weekend in Orlando.
*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu. I’ll be unable to run for at least four weeks. Time is flying in every aspect except for my return to running and I think that sucks!
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*Uber Eats delivered my coffee for me today and will do so until we get another vehicle.
* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!
*For dinner, we had leftovers. We cooked enough Sunday and Monday to have leftovers for tonight. Tuesdays are tough as both boys have hockey practice on opposites end of South Florida.
*The word of the day is two-fold supercilious and myocarditis. Many people have taken on a supercilious air when it comes to talking about masks or vaccines. Moreover, a lot of people are concerned about myocarditis as a vaccine side effect. They, however, seem to be less concerned about it as a side effect of the Corona virus, but I digress.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance, which is why I’m now wearing a boot to protect my poor broken toe.
Well I finally got results after waiting forever for an X-ray on my foot today. Fortunately, the break was contained to only the pinky toe. Unfortunately, I wasted a total of three hours waiting to confirm the diagnosis. Originally, I was told that I could see the provider last night and just walk in for the X-ray today. The receptionist was implicit that I wouldn’t have to wait when I came back today. Sadly, I waited longer today than I waited last night. Apparently, the urgent in urgent care is not indicative of the speed at which you’ll be seen.
Mom life in a meme
At any rate, I can’t run on the broken toe for four weeks. Obviously, this isn’t great news since I just started running after recovering from a cold. I should still be able to go the BBG workouts with modifications now that my stomach is finally better. Since the X-ray took forever, I ended up working late to make up the time I missed. Hopefully, I’m able to get the workout in tomorrow.
Speaking of results, we finally got results from the Mayor’s PCR Covid test he took yesterday. Naturally, he was harassing me all day to see if I had finally got his results. Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of someone at the lab, who promptly mailed me his negative results!! In fact, we got the results about ten minutes before he had to leave for practice. He was so excited that he was able to go to practice tonight. Naturally, we’re super relieved that he tested negative for Covid.
*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu. I’ll be unable to run for at least four weeks.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana today at a Cat 4 storm. That is a scary!
*The Hubby picked up coffee for me today since I was not feeling great this morning.
* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!
*For dinner, the hubby had leftovers and I made taco pizza. It was awesome!
*The word of the day and it is fanciful. I had a fancifully wish that I’d be back to running in two weeks.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.Advertisements
Join me in wishing my hubby a very happy birthday! Today we chilled at home, which was nice. I’ve been a bit under the weather, in addition to the broken toe. Also, the Mayor was exposed to Covid last week, so today wasn’t a day to paint the town the red. (“Paint the town red,” what a brilliant bromide.) It really was a nice, low key day at home.
The hubby smoked a nice pork butt and grilled some yummy ribs. We used the ribs from Butcher Box for the first time today. While the ribs were tasty, they were pretty fatty. Moreover, some pieces had a lot of cartilage on them. Nevertheless, they tasted amazing. We also had some of the Hubby’s amazing grilled potatoes. Additionally, I air fried up some home made french fires. The food was awesome!! As was the company, since my brother was able to join us for lunch.
The Mayor tested negative on the rapid home test, but I still took him to Urgent Care tonight for a PCR test. Obviously, it’s never a fun time waiting at the Urgent Care, but the waiting room was mildly entertaining. First of all, the guy that came in immediately after us was looking to be seen because he got Palmolive (yes, the dish soap) in his eye. Given his conversation with the front desk, he’s definitely a frequent flyer. He was quite the character.
Secondly, a mom and her teen daughter came j for a Covid test. The daughter had two positive home tests and was coming in for the PCR. Wh they were in the waiting room, the mom called her daughter’s boss to tell him she wouldn’t been into work tomorrow. Moms, dads, guardians of the universe don’t do your kids dirty work. If they’re old enough to hold a job, they’re old enough to tell their boss they have Covid and can’t come in. #helicoptermom
I was also finally able to get my toe checked out by a doctor. Unfortunately, the urgent care (like many others) is short staffed and did not have an X-ray tech on staff today. Nevertheless, I was able to have a doctor evaluate it and re-wrap it. It’s broken, but I’ll go back tomorrow to have X-rays taken of my toe and foot. For the interim, the boot is back to ensure I don’t flex or bend the toe injuring it further.
*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu.
*This morning I made homemade cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. For the Hubby’s birthday, we had ice cream sandwiches.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana today at a Cat 4 storm. That is a scary!
*The Hubby picked up coffee for me today since I was not feeling great this morning.
* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!
*For dinner, we had bbq ribs, potatoes, baked beans and brags. It was awesome!
*The word of the day and it is excellence. I had an interesting conversation on the topic over the weekend. The thing about excellence is that it should come intrinsically. One shouldn’t be reliant on outside influences to find excellence.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.
So I have a broken toe. Apparently, I broke my toe last night. My poor pinky toes is at least twice it’s normal sized, all red and bruised up. What had happened was I lost a fight with a laundry basket in the middle of the night. It’s hardly the first time I’ve stubbed my toe in the middle of the night, but it is the first time I’ve broken a toe.
Despite the throbbing pain in my toe and anxiety over current events, I had the best sales day since AEP. For the uninitiated, AEP refers to the Medicare annual enrollment period. For us, it’s our busiest and most lucrative time of the year. Most of my calls bought today, but those that didn’t were the nicest and sweetest people. Thankfully, I talk to mostly great people from all over the place. Frankly that’s my favorite part of the job.
I’m a little bummed about the toe since I just got back to running after my cold. According to Dr. Google, I’ll have to rest it at least two to three week. And as we all know, Dr. Google is never wrong. Although I should have consulted all the medical experts on Facebook. They’re definitely never wrong.
*I skipped my run since I broke my toe. I’m crazy, but even I’m not crazy enough to run with a freshly broke toe. There wasn’t even a tangled shoelace involved in my car injury. I always worry my shoelace will get caught in the treadmill belt.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with Ida and two areas of concern.
*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I ordinarily would have driven to pick up my coffee this morning. Since my toe was throbbing and my legs still sore from leg day, I ordered it via Uber Eats.
* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!
*For dinner, the hubby cooked the stir fry I was going to make before I injured myself.
*The word of the day and it is canvas. At work, I think of every day as a blank canvas. I don’t want one bad day of derail my week or month.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.
If you haven’t watched the IT Crowd, you’ve got to check it out. It’s on Netflix and is absolutely hilarious. Jake got us hooked on this show while he was in tech school. My favorite episode by far is “The Outing.” Honestly, it’s probably one of the funniest episodes of any show I’ve ever watched. I’m just chilling watching the show while the Mayor is at practice and Goalielocks is attending his officiating seminar.
Admittedly, I’m a bit tired today. I slept okay, but it would appear I went a little too hard on leg day. When I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, oh the glories of motherhood, it took me forever. I could have used a railing to help me sit down and get up. My quads and my hamstrings are completely shot. They’re so sore that I had to skip my run today.
I kept Goalielocks home from school again. He’s still not feeling 100%, so I didn’t want to send him to school symptomatic. His Covid test was negative, but I’m pretty sure “sharing isn’t caring” also pertains to the common cold. Nonetheless, I’m anxious to get him back into school, so he doesn’t fall too far behind. Fortunately, neither the Mayor nor the Hubby have shown any signs of illness.
*I skipped my run since my legs were ridiculously sore today. I did, however, complete my BBG arms/ab workout. Naturally, I feel that in skipping my run my workout today was insufficient.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with three areas of concern. Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up due to the Saharan dust cloud overhead.
*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I drove to pick up my coffee this morning.
* Every day I watch the live Safaris on YouTube, I’m inspired. I never thought I’d be one for a safari, but the views and the animals are incredible. It’s now on my bucket list. Today was a banner day. I always love watching the young elephants or lions playing. They’re so cute!
*For dinner, I ordered Chipotle. The Mayor has practice late and Goalielocks is in a Zoom seminar until 10, so it was just more practical to order in.
*The word of the day and it is canvas. At work, I think of every day as a blank canvas. I don’t want one bad day of derail my week or month.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.
The worst part of writing a blog is thinking of an adequate title. My creativity, much like my ability to make a sale today, has left the building. Consequently, you get a lazy title from me tonight. And now here I am rambling about choosing a title.
Fortunately, I wasn’t as lazy with the rest of my day as I am being with the blog tittle. While work wasn’t super productive for me today, I did work my arse off. During lunch, I ran a mile and a half and walked a mile. I thought a boost of endorphins may help on the sale sides. It didn’t. After work, I restarted Kayla Itsines High Intensity workout. Unfortunately, it showed me how out of shape I have become.
The sadness of losing one out hockey dads has been omnipresent today. It’s incredible sad and scary. My heart aches for the family that’s he’s left behind. Please continue to keep his family in your prayers. You can support the family through donation or providing a meal. Moreover, the meal train can be found here.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.
*I ran for the first time since getting sick. It felt both glorious and awful all at once. My fellow runners will understand exactly what I mean.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.
*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce. Unfortunately, their customer service and their shitty eats pass suck.
*For dinner, the I tossed some pizzas in the oven. I cooked two market pantry and one digiorno pizza. They were very good. Unsurprisingly, we have no leftovers.
*The word of the day and it is enclosed. At the present moment, the dogs are enclosed in their crates. Anakin has finished his dinner, so I’ll let him out soon. I love my puppies!
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.
Parenting an adult is a completely different beast from parenting a child. It brings a whole host of issues and questions that are sometimes difficult to balance. The emotional tie, the worry doesn’t diminish when your child becomes an adult, but our role in their life does. It’s not that we disappear from their life, but we’re no longer making decisions for them. It’s a balancing act between enabling and empowering.
So why all this parenting talk? Last night as we started getting ready for bed, Jake texted that he was no stranded at DFW. They diverted his flight to Tulsa due to the weather. In the interim, American canceled his connection to Tallahassee. Unfortunately, American Airlines didn’t notify him until he landed in Dallas. This was, of course, hours after the flight had been canceled.
When I spoke with him on the phone he sounded fried. It was awful. Honestly, it sucks to be so far away when your kid is in trouble. The FAA closed the Dallas airports due to weather, so there was no possibility of him getting on a flight last night. I quickly started trying to book him a hotel at or near the airport. It took six tries as each hotel would show sold out by the time I put my information in. This mama was not about to let him sleep at the airport.
American wasn’t helpful and wasn’t forthcoming with information. After waiting for an hour, he finally got rebooked on a flight today. Moreover, they didn’t mention to him or any of his fellow passengers that the airline had already. placed their baggage on their rebooked flight. This would have been helpful to know before folks sat at baggage claim waiting for their bags. Honestly, after his experience yesterday and today, I would never fly American.
Once he got to the hotel, I could finally go to bed. Until this point, I felt helpless. It was horrible to be 1,000 miles away and he battled through an impossible evening at DFW. I know these travel hiccups are almost of the right of passage, but it doesn’t make the situation easier. At least I could sleep in peace.
Unfortunately, Jake’s travel troubles continued into today. As his flight was about to board, they delayed his flight due to maintenance issues. My poor kid was sitting waiting for his flight to board for over two hours. As was the situation last night, the communication from the airline continued to be poor. When he finally took off, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Now he’s in Tallahassee and happy to be through his travel ordeal.
Tonight I’m relaxing on the couch happy in the knowledge he’s finally safely in Tallahassee. Parenting never gets easier even as our children become adults. The rules of engagement do change as they become adults, but the emotional investment never diminishes.
Here are some great resources for parenting an adult child:
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.
*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today. Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.
*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.
*For dinner, I made myself some soup.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is figure. I figured it was going to be faster to take a train to Tallahassee than by flying on American.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness
Well I’m finally feeling better. Although I’m still dealing with head congestion. Obviously , sinuses suck. I can, however, finally eat without feeling like it’s all going to come up right away. I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse since I’m on the two week fast for the Fast 800. I kid, I kid of course it’s a great thing. Finally, after waiting over a week, I can finally eat the spring mix, tomatoes and chicken I bought for salads. Naturally, the spring mix expires tomorrow.
Normally, I’d make dinner on Wednesday’s, but our Pancan affiliate had an awesome webinar with Dr. Donoway tonight. He presented on strategies for attacking advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. It was super interesting and he did a fabulous job making the material understandable for a lay person like me. I love our PANCAN affiliate and community!
Goalielocks having some fun with the dry ice
Thankfully if I had wanted to cook dinner, I would have been able to since all my meat arrived today. You may recall that I got my Butcher Box delivery on Sunday completely destroyed and thawed out. Thank god the garbage man comes on Tuesday because that box was stinking up my garage. Which coincidentally says a lot since my garage is full of hockey equipment. Today’s delivery was in absolutely pristine condition.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.
*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today. Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.
*The hubby picked up Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.
*For dinner, I made myself some salad with chicken, spring mix and tomatoes. I thought about adding an egg, but that would put the calorie count too high. This week I’m strictly limiting my carb intake as part of the 5:2 Plan, so it was mostly chicken for me.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is mistress. In the words of Anton Chekhov, “‘medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress.”
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness
The weekend is almost over and so is our summer. Tomorrow marks the official start of the Mayor’s hockey season, so there will be no more down time. At least no down time until next March. In preparation for the craziness, my Sunday was quite lazy. I’m still dealing with the cold, so I spent the day literally doing nothing. Truly, it was as amazing as it sounds.
Actually to be fully transparent, I did make some carrot ginger soup. Since my cold started, eating meals has been a challenged. However, small bowl of soup have been going down okay. I bought some Rao’s minestrone, which is super yummy. But I was craving some carrot ginger soup, so I decided to make my own. It’s a super easy and vegan (if you want it to be) recipe with just a few ingredients. I’ll share the recipe here later.
I have been ordering from Butcher Box for awhile now. Their prices are good and the convenience is undeniable. This month I opted for the big box with some nice add-ons. The box was supposed to arrive Friday, but it arrived today in terrible condition. The box was destroyed and all of the meat had defrosted and smelled terribly. Talk about a buzz kill. Now we’ll have to wait for the replacement box to get here. So aggravating!
While the weekend is almost over, I still love Sundays the best. Sunday, of course, is the day we talk to Jake every week. Thank god for technology and the ability to FaceTime our loved ones. He looked and sounded great, which always puts this mama’s mind at ease. I’m so proud of my boy! Unfortunately, he’s still in a rental car as the body shop is still waiting for parts. Hopefully, he’ll get his car back this week.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.
*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today. Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Tropical Storm Fred Tropical is back and sliding away from us. Now we’ll focus on TS Grace, which looks to be following south of Fred’s path.
*The hubby picked up Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.
*For dinner, the Hubby and the Mayor chicken, black beans and rice. This week I’m strictly limiting my carb intake as part of the 5:2 Plan, so it was mostly chicken for me.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is damp, which is exactly how our weather has been this weekend.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness
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