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January

Is it just me or has the month of January taken an entire year? Ordinarily, I’d be ok with time going too slow, but January is dragging in the worst way. Or maybe I, along with everyone else is dragging. It’s just this January has felt like a lifetime between the historic weather, inauguration, and fires. This doesn’t even include any of the small day-to-day stuff that piles on the stress.

January has been busy. I haven’t baked bread since the second weekend of the month. In fact, my sourdough starter is feeling neglected, but don’t worry a reunion is planned. I will feed the starter tonight, so I can start a bread over lunch tomorrow. This will give us fresh bread going into the weekend. I will also have the starter ready to bake more loaves on Sunday night, so we have bread for the week. I bought a bread slicer from Amazon so I could slice up the loaves and give the mayor precise carb counts by slice.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 28 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

One of my favorite family traditions is our Christmas brunch. We have a lot of good food, drinks and company and very little stress. I love my Christmas brunch crew. The other tradition I love is baking cookies both regular and Christmas cookies. It’s something that brings me back to being a child and baking with my mom, my brothers and grandmother. Moreover, it harkens me back to the days of baking with my boys when they were little. In fact, I’ve been craving some chocolate chip cookies. I should probably bake some tonight.

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Sunday Best

Yesterday it was all about our Sunday best. We combined two of my favorite things for a fantastic day. Since my older brother and his wife were in town, we sandwiched brunch with the Mayor’s last youth hockey home games. If you’re feeling Deja VU, that’s normal. We thought he gave youth hockey for juniors two years ago, but he realized the shit show that is Junior hockey isn’t worth the time or money. This time he is aging out. Consequently, my twenty-one-year career as a youth hockey mom is coming to a close.

The Mayor played his first games yesterday wearing the Omnipod. I’m thrilled to report that his blood sugar was much better controlled during the game with the pump. For the first time since his diagnosis, I wasn’t stressed about his blood sugar during the games. He also played great and I think the pump helped. We’re blessed that the technology exists to manage type 1 diabetes effectively. It’s an absolute game changer for type 1 patients and their families.

Back to hockey, his team won both games but insisted on making the second game more interesting. The Mayor played defense for the first game and forward for the second. He scored a gorgeous goal in the third period of the second game. After the dominant six-goal third period it almost seemed silly to quibble over the first two periods. We are all, however, hockey parents and therefore always the critic. In the end, the first two periods were not great, but the third period showed off the team’s resilience, perseverance, and skill. Turns out the team brought their Sunday best.

Brunch between games was the perfect way to spend the day. We met my brothers at the Patio Bar & Grill at the Wyndham on the Beach in Deerfield Beach. The view from the restaurant was second to none. I love looking out over Deerfield Beach and the fishing pier. The waves were beautiful, but it was a bit cold with the breeze coming off the ocean. Our food, as well as the company, was tremendous and I’ll go back again. I love it!

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 27 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

What books do you want to read?

Right now I’m finishing Armadale and then I’m going to start on a biography of Henry Bolingbroke and his cousin Richard I. I’m looking forward to reading the analysis of their relationship.

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Pump Day

It’s pump day for the Mayor. The nurse educator set the Mayor up with his insulin pump this morning. The training and setup took just over an hour. Once it was completed, he was ready to rock and roll. Now he’ll only need one type of insulin, fast-acting, instead of two. Also, no more injections for him! Instead, he’ll use insulin from vials to fill his pump. We will, however, still need to keep both types on hand in case there is an issue with the pumps.

Obviously, we have no chill about this pump. It’s an absolute game changer for him. Honestly, it should make managing his diabetes and staying in range much easier. For the hubby and I, it should help us get more sleep. My hope is the pump eliminates the high blood sugar alerts in the middle of the night. Those are the worst. We still need to be watchful about the lows, but even those should be less.

Speaking of chill, it is still cold here in South Florida. We may not have gotten any snowfall like the panhandle did, but boy is it chilly. In fact, it hasn’t gotten out of the fifties today. As someone born and raised in Minnesota, it pains me to say I’m cold when it’s 50 degrees. Nonetheless, I’ve definitely acclimated to South Florida’s amazing climate. While we have been in the 50s all week, Minnesota was nearly 100 degrees colder. In case you were wondering, the weather was a driving factor behind our move.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 24 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.

I’ve always wanted to visit the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. It’s fed by an aquifer daily and looks stunning.

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About Last Weekend

About last weekend, I had a blast in Nashville. Technically, we were there for hockey. Unfortunately, the hockey was not nearly as good as our nights out in Nashville. The first game was beyond abysmal. Apparently, the boy had forgotten how to play hockey. Honestly, it didn’t get much better from there on out.

Typically, the hockey is front and center on these trips, but it wasn’t this time. And thank god for that. The hockey was ancillary to all the fun I had with my Mayor and my fellow hockey parents. The hockey will end and the biggest takeaway will be the incredible memories we’ve created. I have more to say on hockey and am on the verge of saying it, but that can wait until my boy is fully done playing. Hockey folks can be sensitive, so for his survival and mine my lips are sealed.

The cherry on top of the shit hockey was the Mayor getting injured in the early Monday game. For some unknown reason, the tournament felt the U-18 teams and their parents should revisit the early morning game hell that usually ends in squirts. To make matters worse, the 5:40 am wake-up call was greeted by temperatures that were barely above zero. You can imagine my feelings when the Mayor was injured early in the game.

List five things you do for fun.

Here’s my list of fun activities:

  • Read
  • Run
  • Watch hockey
  • Yoga
  • Bake
  • And of course play with my dogs
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Winter

Winter has made an appearance here in Florida and the rest of the country. While we haven’t had any snow here, it has been in the 50s and rainy all day. I haven’t even seen the sun today. That rarely happens here in the homeland, aka South Florida. Meanwhile, Jake and Melly got some of the white stuff up in Tallahassee. It looks like they got an inch or two. At Jake’s base, it looks like they got several inches. The pictures from the Panhandle are incredible!

I haven’t spoken with the kids since this morning, but I’m sure the snow has already melted off. Thankfully, The weather has warmed up. They got a lot of sleet and freezing rain to go along with the snow. Undoubtedly, there’s nothing that scares me more than having to drive in freezing rain or sleet. Tonight the melted snow will probably refreeze, so hopefully the kids won’t have to travel anywhere tonight.

Obviously, I’m thrilled we got home Monday night before the weather wreaked havoc on travel. Atlanta had a ground stop, specific to Delta for most of the day. We would have had an extremely long travel day to get home from Nashville. Fortunately, our trip home on Monday was very smooth. The only blips are we lost our upgrades when I moved up our flights and the Mayor’s rumbustius pleadings for fast food.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 22 days in, I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?

I could make my dogs understand one thing: how much they are loved and valued as members of our family.

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Nashville

Nashville was amazing. The Mayor had a tournament there this weekend, so we flew up early Friday morning. Thankfully, we got home late last night. Obviously, we are so glad to be back in the warm air. My only complaint about Nashville, aside from lackluster hockey, was the weather. Clearly, it was entirely too cold and too dry for us Floridians.

Friday night we started by hanging out on the Vanderbilt campus, which is stunning. Obviously, we had to take pictures at the wings and visit Kittenish (Jesse James Decker’s store). Both the wings and the store provided the perfect backdrop for photos. After the photo shoot, I had the best chicken sandwich at the Pub down the block. It was so perfect pre-game food.

Afterwards, the kids headed back to the hotel and the parents headed for the party bus. The Honky Tonk Party Express drove us around Broadway blasting music and serving drinks. We had an absolute blast! Midway through the journey, we stopped at a brewery for a bathroom and shot break. For our shot, we chose the sour watermelon moonshine. Honestly, it was pretty darn good. Since I had a very early start to the date, it felt late when we got back to the hotel at 10:30.

Saturday night after the kids’ game, we headed downtown to Jason Aldean’s bar. Since most of the kids they served food at his bar, the kids could enjoy some live music and a meal with their parents. After dinner, we sent the kids back to the hotel with a couple of the parents who were ready to call it a night. The rest of us, however, headed to Jelly Roll’s new bar, which was fabulous. We even saw him twice. My only complaint about the bar scene in Nashville is that there is a profane amount of stairs in each of the bars.

Saturday night, or Sunday morning, we rolled into the hotel at 2:00 am with 20 chicken tacos. Our Uber driver was simply the best. I slept better Saturday night than I’ve slept in months. For the first time, I woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed. Who knew it would take two nights out and many stairs to fix my sleeping conundrum. The months since the Mayor’s diagnosis have been tough. Friday night and Saturday night out in Nashville with good friends was exactly what the doctor ordered. I’ll update y’all on the hockey tomorrow.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 21 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.

My name comes from my Grandpa T’s paternal grandfather, Andreas. He was born at the farm we visited in Romskog before immigrating to the USA.

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Busy

It’s been a busy week. My schedule has been altered a bit due to appointments. Consequently, I took a few days off from the blog and my workouts. Fortunately, the appointments went well, but they were lengthy. One of the safety measures our endocrinologist office has instituted is rigorous education for new diabetes patients. Given that the Mayor is only 18, the Hubby and I have an active role in it.

Tuesday we met with the dietician and lead diabetes educator at the Mayor’s Endocrinologist office. It was a long appointment, but we learned a lot. We covered many topics revolving around nutrition, but also navigating life with the insulin pump and Dexcom. There was a lot of information, but it was super helpful. We have a good idea of what to expect next week when he gets the pump and a list of what to bring to said appointment. The new patient education culminates with a day-long symposium.

Due to the appointments, yesterday I had a Telehealth over lunch, I took my rest days this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today I would normally spin over lunch, but instead, I did a full body workout in the Sweat App. This also means I’ll have some workouts to log while I’m in Nashville this weekend. The Mayor and I will be packing tonight. He must bring synthetic insulins (long-acting and short-term) on this trip. By the time we go on our next trip, he’ll just be using one.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 16 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Where can you reduce clutter in your life?

The better question would be where can’t I reduce clutter in my life. That is to say, I think I can reduce clutter in every space of my life.

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Back To It

I’m back to it after a quick Sunday off. Man, oh man, are those one-day weekends short? This morning was pretty productive, but the afternoon, so far, has been forgettable. In fact, the afternoon has been the opposite of productive. Apparently, there is no payment method on Monday. I keep reminding myself that it’s a numbers game. So regardless of how great the afternoon has been this far, I will persist.

I worked Saturday afternoon. It was slow, but not too bad. The weather was a bit dreary Saturday, so working all day wasn’t terrible. Fortunately, Sunday’s weather was pristine. It was a little cool in the morning, but there was nary a cloud in the sky. Sunday’s weather was perfect. In contrast, up in Tally, Jake and Melly found their grass and roofs covered with a light dusting of snow.

We spent Sunday watching football and baking bread. Well, I started the sourdough bread. They’re currently finishing their second rise. Hopefully, they’ll be ready to pop in the oven as soon as I’m off work. They bake for forty minutes and will make a nice addition to our dinner tonight. I’ll be sharing the recipe on the blog tomorrow. It’s so simple and tasty. And now I’m back to it!

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 13 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

I’ve been on some memorable road trips. Two that stand out are: our road trip through Norway and the road trip through the Mighty Five. Both road trips came with some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. The company was pretty awesome on both trips as well. It was special to share the Norway trip with my parents, brothers’ families, my grandma, and my aunt’s family. The trip through Utah’s spectacular parks was something Jake and I will always share. I hope my kids look back on these adventures with Mom fondly.

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Winter

Well, winter made its appearance here these past two days. It was in the mid-forties when I walked the dogs yesterday. Inspired by the cool weather, I decided to channel a little Minnesota for dinner. Consequently, I baked a hot tator-tot dish. It’s as Minnesotan as pickle rollups and just as good. The Mayor was not buying it and made himself pizza instead. His loss!

Today started cold, but it’s warmed into the 70s. Thank God! I had to wear to sweatshirts when I took the dogs out this morning. When I took them out at lunch, no sweatshirt was needed. It’s perfect outside. This is the weather people move to Florida to enjoy. It’s amazing. Today’s weather is the perfect prescription for the winter blues.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations):10 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: it’s been ten days, but so far so good
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

When I was born, my great-grandmother made me a quilt. It was my most prized possession when I was a child. It’s an item that if it were destroyed, there would be compensation adequate for its value. It’s priceless. As of right now, the quilt is upstairs in the closet. It will be handed down to the first granddaughter we have, so it will probably be in that closet for a while yet.

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So Cold!

It’s so cold!!! It was only 44 degrees this morning when I took out the dogs. The thermostat currently shows that it’s 69 degrees in the house. Our thermostat is never below 70. Nonetheless, I can bring myself to turn on the heat. We’ve only used it once in the 18 years we’ve lived in this house. This had to be at least 15 years ago and the temperature had dipped into the 30s. If the temperature drops into the 30s, we’ll probably turn the heat on again.

When I worked in the office, they’d turn the heat on when temperatures dipped into the 50s. Obviously in South Florida, the heating systems don’t get much use. Consequently, when they’re finally turned on after sitting idle for sometimes more than a year, the smell is horrendous. The system must be chockablocked with dust and debris. When the system is fired up for the first time you can smell the dust burning off. Okay, I’m unsure what causes that smell, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.

The nice thing about working from home is having control over the adjustable thermostat. I was shocked to learn, early in my career, that the thermostats were all managed by corporate and nobody could adjust them locally. It made for some chilly days in the office. Unsurprisingly, our regional manager had a space heater hidden in her office. Without the heater, she probably would have gotten frostbite in her office.

What is your mission?

My mission is to make the world a better place. I think the best way to do this is by being kind to everyone you come across. This isn’t always easy given that I live in a place full of crotchety old people, but still, I try.