Finally!!! After what feels like months, I was finally able to run tonight. Admittedly, it really sucked. I was definitely sucking wind for most of the mile and a half run. Thankfully, my poor pinky toe weathered the run pretty well. It’s been three weeks since I’ve broken it, so it was time to try running again.
The hardest part of having an injury is no being able to workout to get rid of stress. I’m hoping if I run everyday before we head west, the hikes won’t kick my arse. Obviously, that’s asking for a miracle since it’s only a paltry eight days before we head out. Nonetheless, I have high hopes for hiking the Wasatch mountains.
I’m thrilled that it is already Friday eve. On Tuesday, it felt like we’d never get to the end of the week. The puppies have been hanging with me all week. They’re mostly quiet unless someone triggers our modern day door knockers, aka out Ring doorbell, then they go nuts. This week has been a mixed bag of success and shitty leads. It will never cease to amaze me how many people think everything should be free. Obviously, I’ll drink whatever their drinking because they’re clearly on another planet.
*I ran a mile and a half and walked a mile this evening. It felt great to run again even if it was an arduous run.
*Eight days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*The Hubby made spaghetti with meat sauce. Tonight we tried the last marinara brand in our best jarred spaghetti sauce taste test.
*The word of the day is festival. There’s a rock festival coming to Daytona that I’d love to see, but it’s going to be hard to get there with our hockey and work schedule.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Fortunately, we had no run-ins with the toads, lizards or grasshoppers today.
Well Spacex had launch this evening that was spectacular and beautiful. Naturally, I completely forgot about it until I saw all the great pictures on Facebook. Oh fiddlesticks! They didn’t deliver our Hellofresh box until almost 8:00 pm tonight, so i got a late start to dinner, which distracted me from the launch.
For dinner this evening, I made the meatloaf brushed with barbecue sauce and served with shingled potatoes and green beans. Thankfully, this recipe was super easy to make. It was also delicious. I’d definitely make it again.
My Co-workers
We’re now at nine days until I have all my boys in one place and I can’t wait. It will also be the first time I’ve seen my folks since the pandemic started. Moreover, I’m looking forward to the beautiful fall weather. Oh yes, the day time temperatures will be in the mid 70s and the night time temperatures will be in the 50s. Needless to say, it will be a lot easier to hike the mountains this weather versus our last trip. I do plan to fearlessly rappel down to the waterfall I wasn’t able to see last year.
*One week and three days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*I still can’t run because my toe. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on tomorrow.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*I made meatloaf, shingled potatoes and green beans via HelloFresh. It’s definitely a do again.
*The word of the day is digitally. One of the benefits of being in a digitally connected age is the ability to work from home I love working from home.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Fortunately, we had no run-ins with the toads, lizards or grasshoppers today.
It’s been one week since we lost our Sweet Maya. Since her passing, Athena and Anakin have been grieving their sister. Meanwhile, we have left her crate intact with her blanket and her bed. Hopefully, this will help the dogs transition to life without her since they can still smell her.
Today Goalielocks’ girlfriend gave him a pillow she had made for us memorializing Maya. First of all, it’s beautiful. I mean, It’s absolutely perfect. Secondly, the gift was incredibly thoughtful and kind. When I saw it for the first time, it made me misty. It was such a kind and moving act. Unquestionably, its acts of kindness and caring like this that make the world a better place.
Tuesdays continue to be the longest day of the week. I don’t know how its possible for any day to be longer than Monday, but here’s Tuesday jacking up myweek. Perhaps its because I start my Tuesday early and end it late with hockey practice. Albeit, my day is nowhere as long as my Hubby’s day. Meanwhile, the younger two boys are living their best life enjoying spirit week at school.
*One week and three days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*I still can’t run because my toe. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on tomorrow.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*I had siders and cookies for dinner tonight. I’m really winning at my diet today.
*The word of the day is oscillation. Unfortunately, the oscillation feature on my fan is no longer working.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Fortunately, we had no run-ins with the toads today. I was worried that he’s find one under the paver stones
Obnoxious hockey parents come in all shapes and sizes, but believe it or not we’re not all crazy. Unfortunately, those that are crazy just stand out a lot more than the normal folks. Of course, their obnoxious in their own unique and special way. P.S. If you’re both a sensitive and obnoxious hockey parent, you should probably stop here. Consider that your trigger warning.
The Bragger. Listen buddy, nobody and I mean nobody wants to see 50 pics of your child playing hockey on a statewide youth hockey forum. For that matter, they don’t want a recap of their performance at summer camp either.
The Timer. We’ve all seen that one parent that always brings a stopwatch to the game and times everyone of their kid’s shifts. God forbid little Johnny doesn’t get enough ice time. Because this parent will hunt down the coach and demand to know why Princess only played 5.234 minutes in the game.
The Suck Up. This is the parent who’s nose is so far up the coach’s ass it smell like ish. You know the one, they’re hours early for games and practices. Moreover, if the coach gives private lessons, they’ll sign up for every session to assure their kid’s ice time. (I totally forgot about this one until my hockey players pointed it out.)
The Chronic Complainer. You simply cannot please this person. No matter what happens, it will be wrong. In fact, this person’s kid could win the Stanley Cup and they would complain its not gold.
The Aspiring Golf/Tennis moms. First year bantam moms, I mean u-14 moms, this one is for you. Hitting is a part of the game and even a clean hit can result in injury. It’s a risked we all assumed when our kids hit the ice. If it’s too much for you, its time to sign the kid up for golf or tennis. Because frankly I don’t want to hear you screaming at the ref every time a kid gets checked
The Coach. This one’s self explanatory, but I enjoy listening to hockey dads that have never skated strategize about the game. It’s amusing.
The Perfectionist. This one is sad to me because this parent is always ragging on their kid no matter how good they play. For some reasons, these negative nellies have blinders when it comes to their kids’ achievements on the ice.
The Anti-Ref. Similar to the coach above, the anti-ref is the parent who every game screams and yells at the ref despite not understanding the rules themselves. In some instances, they’ll even follow the refs to the ref room because their complete losers. Unfortunately, this asshole’s antics sometimes result in a bench minor for their kid’s team.
The Uncommitted. When you sign your kid up to be a part of a team, you better make damn sure you’re upholding the commitment. Hockey is a team sport and a lack of commitment from a player can be a team killer.
The foul-mouthed, broadcasting penalty box mom. Oh wait, that’s me.
The Tailgaters. Just kidding tailgaters aren’t obnoxious. Tailgating pregame over the last decade has given me some of my best hockey memories.
I’m sure I’ve missed out on one or more of the obnoxious hockey parents archetypes, so this list could be updated. Obviously, this list is not representative of the majority of hockey parents. Most hockey parents I know are there because they love, like me, watching their children play the game they love.
*11 days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*I still can’t run because my toe. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on tomorrow.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*I made leftovers and cookies for dinner tonight.
*The word of the day is goodbye. Honestly, we are all struggling to say goodbye to Maya.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. In spite of the harness, he still managed to get a toad before I could pull him off. Fortunately, it was a small toad and he’s a big boy.
After all of the action Friday and Saturday, today was a chill day for me. Originally, I was going to get up and take the Mayor to his ref seminar this morning. Fortunately, they moved the seminar to Zoom, so I got to sleep in later than anticipated. I spent the rest of my morning relaxing on the couch while the Mayor attended his seminar.
I was also quite productive today. After leisurely enjoying my coffee, I folded the laundry that bas been sitting for weeks now. Additionally, I went through my closet and dressers to get rid of clothes i no longer wear. Incidentally, I realized that while I love working from home, I do miss getting dressed up for the office.
For dinner tonight, I made slow cooker chicken cacciatore with cheesy mashed potatoes. This was my first attempt. For the chicken I used bone in chicken thighs and drumsticks. Before placing the chicken in the crockpot, I browned it on the stove to enhance the flavor. This is a semi-homemade recipe as it calls for jarred marinara sauce. Consequently, I used Michael’s of Brooklyn’s marinara sauce. Thankfully, the recipe was both easy and flavorful – perfect for a chill day. Consequently, I will definitely make it again.
*12 days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*I still can’t run because my toe. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on tomorrow.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*I made chicken cacciatore for dinner tonight in the crockpot, which was the perfect meal for my chill day. I loved it!
*The word of the day is goodbye. Honestly, we are all struggling to say goodbye to Maya.
*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
It was a quick turn around trip for us to Wesley Chapel for the Mayor’s first two league games. We left yesterday evening as soon as I finished work at 6:00 pm. I had high hopes for a smooth drive, however the weather had other intentions. In fact, we hit some really heavy storms just north of Fort Pierce. Obviously, it is a ton of fun to drive in rain that is so heavy you cant see the road.
By the time we reached our hotel four hours later, my nerves were completely shot. While the kids chilled in the hotel, the parents headed over to the bar at the rink. Honestly, a vodka soda night cap was just what the doctor ordered. Of course, the company was also fabulous. When I made it back to the room, the Mayor had put the AC down to 60. Yet it was still fairly hot in our room.
The Mayor’s first game was at 10:00 am this morning. Fortunately, it was a quick walk across the street to the rink. I thought the boys played better than last week, but we’re still making some stupid mistakes. Bad turnovers and penalties will kill any team’s chance to win. I think we’ll beat this team next time we see then.
We got some bad calls this morning. Undoubtedly, it is frustrating. However, its more frustrating when a simple minor penalty turns into a two and ten because the player couldn’t keep their ish together. I mean, I get it impulse control is hard – especially when you’re the center of the universe. We had less of an issue with this in the second game simply because the ref had a hearing problem.
Forty minutes after their first game, they were back on the ice for game two. Fortunately, they also had to switch locker rooms, so their opponent could use it. Yeah that was a great move for both teams… Despite the brief respite, the boys came out looking much crisper in the second game. The Crunch got the scoring started with the first goal, but the Hawks (including the Mayor’s first goal of the season) scored three unanswered goals to secure the win.
So the Ref struggled in our second game. In fact, I’d argue that it is a good case study for why a four men crew is needed for these games. Eveey goal he scored, he asked me for who scored it and the assist. Also, he was calling the game by the old rules and not the new rules, which made it confusing for both teams players and coaches.
Lastly, he called a coincidental at the end of the game. He put their player in the box and told the scorekeeper our penalty. The only problem being that he forget to tell everyone, including his fellow officials who our offending player was. Eventually, he called it on 8. When he was reminded by the linesman to go get 8 and put him in the box, the ref responded he couldn’t because he didn’t know who 8 was. Meanwhile, I’m dying laughing because this was like a scene straight out of Dumb and Dumber. P.S. the ref was definitely channeling Harry Dunne. I was waiting to see if Lloyd Christmas was going to show up.
Thankfully, the drive home was a lot less eventful than last night’s drive. Albeit, it was a quick turn around for a drive that long. Oh the things we do for our children. Speaking of a quick turn around, Goalielocks’ team had two games scheduled on the 25th in Ellenton at 3:15 pm and 4:00 pm. Hopefully, this error will be corrected soon.
*13 days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*I still can’t run because my toe. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on tomorrow.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*Uber Eats delivered dinner because the long drives in quick succession sapped the life out of me.
*The word of the day is ping pong. Maya’s passing has my emotions ping ponging all over the place.
*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
In only fifteen days, we’ll be headed West to visit our airman. I’m absolutely so excited to see my boy. It will also be nice to have time off and spend it with all four of my boys. Moreover, my parents and Melly will be joining us, which is great. Since Covid started, we’ve been unable to see my parents in person.
I booked an amazing AirBnB, a cabin, at the base of a mountain. It’s a gorgeous property with a great hot tub and a trail access in the backyard. I can’t wait to hike the mountains again. Naturally, it’s going to be tough since I haven’t been able to run since July. However, the weather should be a lot nicer than the last time we were there.
We’re all adjusting to Maya’s absence and it hasn’t been easy. So far we’ve left her crate set up as it was before we lost her. Since Maya passed, we decided to try keeping Athena at night. Previously, we crated both Athena and Maya because they tended to have accidents at night. Although Goalielocks tried it one night to see how they would fair. It went well until Maya peed right next to his head just after dawn.
Night one with Athena sleeping out ended with me stepping on a piece of poop. Now that was fun. Last night I discovered Athena peed on the carpet in our bedroom hallway while walking to the bathroom. Fortunately, we got a new carpet cleaner, which made it easy to clean up Athena’s mess.
The bigger mystery, however, is what happened to my pink hoody. I left it next to the bed last night before I fell asleep. This morning when I awoke it was missing. In fact, I have yet to find said hoody. To make matters worse, my new hoody now has a hole in it. Interestingly enough the size of the hole corresponds perfectly with the size of our puppies’ mouths. Apparently, they were quite naughty last night.
I really miss my sweet Maya girl. It still doesn’t feel real. One of the best parts of working from home is getting to spend everyday with my puppies. They truly are the best co-workers. Anakin and Maya would always lay near me in my office, while Athena would sit on the couch. Now both Anakin and Athena lay near me while I work. At any rate, the countdown is on! Fifteen Days until I see my boy!
*I still can’t run because my toe. I’ll be unable to run for at least four weeks. It’s now been two weeks since I broke it. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on Sunday.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. 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.
*For dinner, I made chicken, black beans and rice for the Mayor and I. Goalielocks and Coach Hubby are in Miami for hockey practice tonight.
*The word of the day is ping pong. Maya’s passing has my emotions ping ponging all over the place.
*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.
Early Tuesday morning we said goodnight and goodbye to our sweet Maya. Over the last two years, she had been on a roller coaster of health issues. Since June, however, she had rallied and was doing great until she wasn’t. On the drive up to Orlando, I told my hubby I didn’t think she had much time left. Recently, she had developed a new cough and incontinence.
On September 6, 2009 we brought home the most expensive fish I ever bought. We adopted her from the Humane Society after meeting her at the Petco in Boca. Their were several cute puppies, but she was by far the calmest of the bunch. Her calmness, patience and sweetness were remarkable traits that defined the her. In fact, she was incredibly patient with the boys, who could be quite annoying. Naturally, Anakin (her little bro) could arouse anger and some grimaces out of her,
Maya will always be the fog that changed me completely. Before we adopted Maya, I was absolutely terrified of dogs especially big dogs. I’ll never forget my older brother, upon learning we adopted her, asking me if i forgot that i was afraid of dogs. Nevertheless, my sweet Maya quickly won me over completely. Incredibly, I went from being afraid of dogs to being obsessed with them.
We dropped off her remains late Tuesday morning at a pet mortuary for cremation. Initially, the Hubby was going to dig a hole out near the mango tree. However, we ultimately decided against it. Honestly, I want to be able to take her with us when we sell the house. The mortuary will take a paw print for us as well as out some of her hair in vial. They’ll put her ashes in a beautiful wooden box that we can display. Meanwhile, we’ll continue grieving as we say goodbye and goodnight to our Sweet Maya.
Tonight was the first game of the season! It’s always good to be back at home at the rink even if it took over three hours to get there. In spite of the drive, the voyage is worth its weight in gold. We’ve been coming to the Orlando Labor Tournament for over a decade and it’s always been a good time.
Unfortunately, tonight’s game didn’t end how we wanted to, but it’s not the first game of the season that matters. In fact, it’s the last game of the season that matters most. As expected, the squad was a bit rusty. Moreover, with a couple of new players it will take a couple games for the boys to find their rhythm and chemistry.
Here are my big takeaways from tonight’s first game of the season:
USA Hockey rule changes for 21-25 are glaringly awful.
I hate the change in the offsides rule. To take away delayed offsides from kids playing midget is absolutely nonsensical. I get the intent at the younger age groups, however for the bantam kids and older it does nothing but disrupt the game. Honestly, I’m dreading watching the u18 game tomorrow night. Those players have now played four years with delayed offsides. This is a huge and awful change for them.
Taking away icing on the penalty kill for the older kids is just as bad as the offsides. Again this makes sense for the younger kids (sort of) but not for the older players. Truly, it sucks the life out of the game.
Penalties will kill you everything. We had a lot of player’s in the box tonight making it difficult to win. The game was called tighter than it needed to be, but I don’t know if it’s because the rule changes or because the ref’s style.
Watching my kid play hockey, stupid new rules or not, is still one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I will always look back fondly on these hockey mom days.
Tomorrow the action doesn’t start until the late afternoon. Consequently, I intend to sleep in and enjoy a relaxing morning in the sauna or pool. As always, I will be live for both boys’ games tomorrow on Facebook at 3:45 and 10:45 pm.
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!
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