Monday memes might just be the best way to start the week. Fortunately, the NFL playoffs this weekend gave the internet plenty of fodder. As you may know, I’m a life long Vikings fan. Thus I am used to disappointment this time of year. They’ve conditioned me well over the last 39 years. Nevertheless, their pathetic performance Saturday did boggle my mind.
Thankfully, there’s still hockey and plenty of time for the Wild to break my heart as well. As daylight broke today, I thought a fun topic for today’s blog would be NFL playoff memes. Sadly, the Vikings provided a lot of material for today’s post. So without further ado here are my favorite playoff memes. Enjoy!
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Gotta be honest, I’ve been slacking on the blog these past few days. It’s just I’ve been exhausted these past couple of days with little to share. Friday was productive for me, but left me exhausted. I completed a BBG AB workout, went to yoga and enjoyed a restorative sauna session. Needless to say, it left me exhausted. And I was in bed with my Virginia Woolf novel by 9:30.
Goalielocks has practice scheduled for most of Saturday, but it was a bit touch and go if we’d take him since he hurt his foot/ankle playing football. In the end, we decided to take him, so his trainer could evaluate the injury. The injury location is weird. He’s actually more comfortable in skates playing hockey than walking.
After his practice, the trainer was able to take a look at it. Fortunately, his Trainer felt it was likely a sprain, but wanted us to rule out a fracture to the navicular bone in his foot. Since the Vikings were playing at 4:35 pm, my scheme was to take him post game right before the urgent care closes.
Unfortunately, the Vikings effort was anemic and Goalielocks was soon despondent. Consequently, we headed to urgent care during the beginning of the third quarter. By some miracle of god, there was no wait at the clinic. We were in and out with the x-rays and hands. Happily, the x-rays were negative for fracture. His diagnosis was sprain. Goalielocks was not happy when he was told to be non-weight bearing for 3 days.
That’s right folks the scooter is back- at least, temporarily. He isn’t quite the seasoned scooter driver that I was, but he’s learning. Additionally, he insists that he will not use the scooter or crutches at school. Tomorrow morning should be fun!
After a busy day yesterday, we’ve been slacking at home enjoying the pictures of my family’s vacation on the south seas. We did get most the laundry done and I did go to yoga, so the day wasn’t a complete wash. Tonight we had chilli and I was really regretting my decision to go gluten free. I’m not sure it’s possible, but I may have been lusting for a baguette. Thankfully, neither of us had the energy to drive and buy one. In the end, the bison chili was perfectly satisfying without the baguette. Someone who hasn’t been slacking is Jake. Today he starts WOT5 for Jake. Three more weeks til graduation!
Previous training weeks:
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Handling thyroid disease is the title I settled on after ruminating on coping and dealing. Both coping and dealing felt too passive to me, so I opted for handling. What does handling thyroid disease even mean? It means learning to thrive in spite of the misfiring or non-existence of that bitch is a gland.
When I was first diagnosed with Graves, I did what most people do and consulted Dr. Google. The medical part didn’t bother me too much. No, what bothered me is how those coping with the disease were failing to thrive or continue a productive existence. I was resolute that I would not follow that path.
Of course, in the beginning it was easy to think that way. It became hard as my heart rate soared and the RAI (radioactive iodine) was slow to work. Nevertheless, the fun and my weight were doubled when my thyroid failed. It literally happened over night. For the next several months and even still, I would migrate between hyper and hypo from day to day. It was beyond frustrating.
Thankfully, I have a wonderful Endo and have high confidence in her. Slowly, she has returned me to my normal life. I’ve run three 5ks since diagnosis, restarted my yoga practice and started the BBG workout. Nevertheless, it has taken a lot of work to get back to this place. I’ve read a lot about auto immune disease, worked with my endo and her in house R.D. and changed my workouts. I even feel back to my old gregarious self.
Now that my thyroid levels have stabilized, it will take 1-3 years for the symptoms of Graves to abate. My antibodies still show positive for both Graves disease and Hashimotos. My next task is get rid of those. In the meantime, I continue to research ways to reduce inflammation and improve my health. Each Thursday, I’ll be sharing my autoimmune experience with you. Next week, I’ll be sharing a list of the top 10 items that have helped me through my personal journey.
P.S. the title photo is from my first post diagnosis/treatment 5k.
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WOT 4 is here and I couldn’t be more encouraged. We are officially half way thru- a major turning point. As I noted in an earlier post, I was able to speak with my AB on Saturday. He’s a bit homesick, but loving it. His FLT members have become his family. Unsurprisingly, he continues to love the chow. I guess I would too if someone made me pancakes or waffles every morning. Also, it appears there continues to be chicanery with the protein bars.
This week he’ll be learning about the Airman’s code and how important it is to their culture. He’ll also be learning the different Air Force symbols. Additionally, they’ll be briefed on base liberty this week. In fact, they can also earn base liberty now, which means they may be able to call from the pay phones. If you’re so inclined, you can include a calling card in your letter. As with the previous week, they continue to do PT, dorm inspections, weapons work and their jobs.
Now that he’s in WOT 4 and progressing well, we’re starting to plan our travel. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t wait this long, but the Air Force recommends waiting until this week to purchase tickets. Tomorrow I’ll start looking for hotel and rental car, which will be oh so much fun.
Meanwhile in Florida, we’re enjoying the cooler temperatures. Piggie and I went for another training run. It was absolutely brutal. Clearly, it’s gonna take some time to get back into fighting shape. Oh well, I’ll keep working away it. Tonight everyone’s home, so we’re just chilling watching Hulu. Have a great night!
Previous Training Weeks:
Week 0
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
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Since Jake’s in BMT and I’m missing him, I thought it would be fun to do a BMT Family PT Challenge. The only issue thus far is that I’m the only one in the family doing it, but don’t fear the others will soon join the fun. My yoga teacher Monica is joining me as well, so if you’re interested let me k ow. It will be a fun way to get fit for the new year.
Here are the standards (male is first, but not labeled.)
As you can see, the bar is set (by my standards) quite high, but I was hopeful that I retained a decent level of fitness. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. Fortunately, I have four weeks before his graduation to master this stuff. I’ll be posting an update to my PT test challenge every Tuesday.
So here’s how my test broke down today
1.5 mile run: 16:56 – bad enough to get me booted from BMT.
Pushups: 28 – my one bright spot! Yay!
Sit-ups: 21 – disappointing result.
To be fair, I had nobody to hold my feet while attempting the sit-up feet. I should, perhaps, add an asterisk to the push-up total as there was nobody to judge the quality of said pushups. Can we talk about the run though? At least my sit-up performance was good enough to keep me in boot, but man did I suck wind literally and figuratively on the run.
Naturally, I had devise a plan of attack or improve these results. Action one, find somebody to hold my feet during sit-ups. Action two, train using Couch to 5k to regain stamina and speed. Of course I’ll be missing my running partner. For motivation, I’ll ruminate on the 5K we ran through the zoo, which is one of my favorite races. Action 3, suck less on both sit-ups and the run. Action 4, continue to work on my pushups and ensure they meet the Air Force PT standards. Lastly, document the hell out of the journey, so I can share it with my Airman after graduation.
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I’m still recovering from my road warrior weekend. In the course of two days, I put almost 400 miles on my car and visited three different rinks. I even got to enjoy a weekday morning commute from Palm Beach to Kendall. Thankfully, it was a holiday week, so traffic was significantly lighter than normal. Needless to say, I left the house at 6:30 am to get there by 8:45, but since there was no traffic we got there at 8:00 am. Of course, with Miami traffic, if I had left ten minutes later I would have been twenty minutes late. Saturday brought four games at two different rinks in central and southern Broward.
Saturday morning kicked off a crazy day of four hockey games at two separate rinks. Fortunately, due to the schedule, I was able to see a at least a period of all four games. It is always hard to divide and conquer with these games. Honestly, I’d rather get to watch all of both of their games than having a weekend off. My Mayor plays with such heart and grit. It is an absolute joy to watch him play with his team. They’re fantastic together… Saturday morning just wasn’t their time.
The best part of the game was when Jake called from BMT. We had to fight to get the Hubby’s attention since he was actively coaching a hockey game when he called. Fortunately, he was able to run over, speak briefly to him before heading back to lead the bench. Unfortunately, he’s still dealing with a cold. I asked him if he’d gone to the infirmary, but he hasn’t gone since he didn’t want to miss a moment. He did get a little choked up telling me that he was homesick and missed the family, but he freaking loves the Air Force. I shared some mom wisdom. We discussed how normal homesickness was and how important it is to learning how to manage his Air Force experience. While he has experienced some homesickness, I want to be clear that he is absolutely loving it!
As I was speaking, I was doing the most hockey mom thing ever. Grabbing my other hockey player, Goalielocks and running to the car so we could get to his game in time. Thankfully, Jake understands the madness of his life. He continues to kick ass on his PT assessments in spite of his cold. I’m so proud of how hard he worked before going to BMT. This preparation set him up to be a successful trainee.
I asked him how he likes his MTIs (drill instructors), his response may surprise you. In a nutshell, he loves them and says that they are awesome. Of course, it helps that his flight is the top PT flight in WOT4. He said that they are helpful, hold them accountable and are invested in their success. On Christmas, the Air Force took great care of them with a Prime Rib dinner with dessert for everyone.
He spent a lot of time speaking about the guys in his FLT and how important they are to him. I’m so glad that his wingman J will most likely be his roomie at tech school. One of his dorm mates also played hockey growing up. Jake was a forward and this AB is a goalie, so they’re trying to orchestrate some type of hockey game in the dorm. At the end of the call, I was so emotional. We miss him so much, but he continues to thrive and is clearly in the right place.
While he is loving his BMT experience, he will continue to face bouts of homesickness. This is where you can help. Every letter counts. On my call, he mentioned receiving a card from a Senior Airman and was a bit star struck that someone of that rank would write him. He asked me if there was a program out there for SrA to support the BMTs. I answered no that card came from a friend of your mom’s. He responded, “wow, that’s awesome. Please tell him thank you.” BG thank you, your card meant everything to him.
By the time I made it to the rink, this road warrior was emotionally drained. I miss him so much and worry about him but had to flip back into hockey mom mode. Plus, Goalielocks and I may or may not have forgotten his stick, which absolutely added to my emotional stress. I’m pretty sure I walked into the rink looking like a zombie. Thank god for my hubby because he came to the rescue with a new stick. And thank god there was a Dunkin’ close by and coffee does cure a lot. When Goalielocks is in net, I am such a wreck. The first game we were going to play was going to be a tough one. I had myself convinced that it would be a blowout, so when it wasn’t I was relieved and happy. Truly, my goalie played great and the game was entertaining and close.
For some reason, the scheduling gods of Florida hockey think it’s a great idea for U16 teams to play games almost back to back. There’s no consideration of the physical stress and the physiology of an adult body playing a tough physical game back to back. Think about it, when is the last time you saw a NHL team play a double header let alone a game back to back. I bet you can’t remember because I can’t either. Needless, we had little chance in the matter. In the fifteen minutes I had between Goalielocks getting undressed and his second game’s call time, I took him and his bestie Leo to Publix. The only thing they could really eat was fruit or protein bar because they didn’t have enough time to eat anything substantive. Ridiculous.
By the time game three of the day started, my emotions have recovered from the fraying of the early afternoon. I was now annoyed with the nonsense that is Florida hockey. Our third game of the day, a midget game, was an absolute shit show through the first two periods. Goalielocks’ team was missing a player due to a skate issue and penalties kept us short handed. Honestly, it was horrible. The great thing about hockey, however, is that there are three periods of play. After a wacky call on my goalie, a tripping call, from moving across his crease to follow the puck and the opponent falling, our team sprang into action. Number 18 was back on the ice with working blades and went to work quickly. In the span of a period, we went from losing a game 2-0 to winning the game 3-2. Never give up!
Of course, I didn’t leave that rink to almost the next day because my Goalie decided to be the turtle in the race to undress post game as opposed to the hare. While I waited for what felt like a century, my husband sent good news from the Ice Den: the Mayor’s game had been delayed. Alas, I may still be able to catch some of his game. Goalielocks did his best to foil these efforts by lallygagging in the locker room. Thankfully, this road warrior may or may not have channeled Michael Schumacher as I drove up I-75 to Ice Den. Victory was mine and I made it to the Mayor’s game by the end of the second period.
The Mayor’s second game of the day, and our family’s fourth of the day, was a much better effort than his team’s effort that morning. What I love about his team and especially his line is how they work together to make things happen. It is clear when watching these boys that they’re playing for each other and not themselves. What could be bad about that? In the end, the Mayor’s team came away with a 7-2 victory and a healthy appetite. Fortunately, there’s a great pizza place down the road where we ended up with some folks from his team. Great food, great people and the greatest sport in the world, what could be bad? In the end, we got home close to 11:00 pm another twelve hour plus day as a road warrior.
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I saw the link for this blog on one of the Air Force Mom groups and thought it was worth the share.
If you’re scrolling through social media today, you have probably seen posts about the American troops that have rapidly deployed in big numbers this week. I don’t know the statistics, but it seems like it has been a while since we’ve seen this kind of quick reaction and deployment on such a scale as 3,000+ […]
via That is AMERICA. — Strong Anyway
∞Today was a long day! Goalielocks and I left the house at 6:30 am, so we’d get to Kendall for practice before 8:45. As it happened, traffic was great and we got there forty five minutes early. Of course if we had left any later, we would have been incredibly late.
This morning’s practice was two hours on ice. Goalielocks got worked hard! He played well and was engaged all practice long. If you’re a goalie parent, I know how much you’d appreciate your goalie being engaged the entire practice. We’ve had past seasons where the goalies were left to their own devices at the opposite end of the rink.
Practice was great. Afterwards Goalielocks headed to lunch to celebrate’s a friends birthday. Fortunately, he was able to shower and borrow some clothes from a friend. He and his boys then headed to Texas De Brazil for a nice lunch. The moms, meanwhile, headed to Cheesecake factory for our lunch.
One of the best parts of hockey is the relationships that are formed and grown season after season. People often think we’re crazy for the amount of time we put in to travel hockey. While we may he crazy for other reasons, this isn’t one of them. I’ve been able to share so many experiences with my kids and my hockey family that are priceless. I have an incredible built in support system, which with recent life changes means everything.
The day will soon come when will hang up the travel hockey parent moniker. Incredibly that day is now nearer than farther. We’ve been in the game for nearly a decade and are grateful for the people and the lessons the sport has taught us. Hopefully, in the far term future we’ll return to travel hockey with the travel hockey grandparent moniker.
Speaking of hockey family, my youngest is back home after a nice sojourn with the K’s. The Outback Bowl was Goalielocks’ Christmas present, but we did give the Mayor and option to stay with his friend. After some deliberation, he decided to stay local. They kindly picked him up Monday night, so we didn’t have to drive South before heading North.
I’m glad to have him home. Truly, I’m incredibly grateful for our hockey family for their generous hospitality and loving our kid. We’re lucky people! Now after a long day on the road, I’m home and able to breathe and relax.
Please keep the airmen, sailors, soldiers and their families as they face deployment.
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WOT 3 is underway at JBSA Lackland! This week Jake will take his second official PT test of basic training. While he’s already at the prescribed standard, he and his flight are working towards Warhawk status. This means they have to exceed the PT standards substantially. In his letter we received today, he mentioned that he’s closing in on the number of pushups needed for Warhawk status.
WOT 6, or week of training six, will bring the official PT test. This is the one that will determine whether or not they graduate and if they graduate with Thunderbolt or Warhawk status. For recruits starting after January 1, 20202, their final PT will be in week three. The Air Force made the change because too many recruits were coming into BMT ill prepared. To go from no physical activity to the level of fitness required at BMT is a massive leap. Jacob spent months working out in the gym and running in preparation for his departure.
WOT 3 also brings some changes to the uniform. Excitingly, this week brings the issuance of the dress blues. During WOT 5, they’ll be taking their graduation photos in their new dress uniforms. Additionally, this week they’ll get their names on their ABUs/OCPs. I can’t wait to see my airman in his uniform!
In the classroom, they’re continuing to learn about the Air Force and it’s culture. They’re also continuing to practice disassembling and reassembling their M-4s. Additionally, they discuss cyber awareness, basic leadership and character, and warrior role. And of course, the trainees are continuing to drill. Lastly, the best part of WOT 3 is that he should be able to call us this week! We cannot wait!
Meanwhile at the homestead, I knocked out my BBG workout this morning before heading to yoga. Can I tell you how much I needed yoga after sitting in a stadium and a car for hours yesterday? Maria’s class was the perfect anecdote. Sadly, I’ll be missing yoga tomorrow due to the hockey schedule.
Post yoga, I headed to Boca to meet Mel’s mom T for lunch. We met at First Watch, which is an awesome breakfast and lunch place here in South Florida. I had a deconstructed breakfast burritos and home fried potatoes with coffee. It was yummy and super filling. We had the best time chatting and sharing in our mutual love of J and M. Jake is lucky that his girlfriend’s family is amazing and loves him dearly. Finally, Jake is loving the letters and asks that we spam him with them. Please consider dropping him a note! His address is below.
Previous Training Weeks:
Week 0
Week 1
Week 2
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We got our new year off to a rousing start as the Gopher football team took to rowing the boat at the Outback Bowl. Rowing the boat is the mantra Coach Fleck brought to the university. In a nutshell, it means never giving up and working hard through adversity. The actual story behind the saying is both inspiring and heart wrenching. You can read about it here.
For Christmas this year, we bought the boys a few small presents. Instead, we focused on getting them each a marquis experience. Consequently, for Goalielocks, it meant a trip to Tampa to see the Gophers end their historic season at the Outback Bowl. The Mayor will be heading to Lake Placid for a special hockey tournament in March.
Going into the game, I knew the stadium would be filled with Gophers. We were everywhere! The Auburn fans, especially in the upper section, sparsely filled seats compared to the Gopher side. Additionally while the fan support is nice, I didn’t think it would be enough to overcome a strong Auburn team that had defeated Alabama.
Getting into the stadium and our seats was super easy. They had no fan shops open on our level, so we headed back to the 100 level. Not surprisingly, the Gopher gear was flying off the shelves. In fact, the first store we stopped at was out of most Gopher items. While the Hubby and Goalielocks waited in line, I went to check our the field. Fortunately, I was able to get video of the Gopher Marching band’s entire pre-game show. They were incredible!
Before the game started, we grabbed some pizza that smelt incredible. Unfortunately, it was probably the worst pizza I had ever tasted. In fact, it was a gross version of the Italian dunkers they used to serve at my high school. Only instead of $1.50, this bastardization of pizza cost $9.00. Honestly, we all hated it.
We took to our seats, which afforded us a great view. I got nervous when the Gophers QB Morgan through a interception on their first possession of the game. As any Minnesota fan knows, this is usually a harbinger of impending disaster. Fortunately, the squad shook it off and went back to rowing the back. As the half ended, good guys led the game 24-17.
The second half moved quite a bit faster than the first. Auburn tied it up, which sucked. I started to worry that the wheels or oars would fall of the boat. Thankfully, they didn’t. The Gophers sealed the deal with a 73 yard pass from Morgan to Tyler Johnson. It was amazeballs. Speaking of amazeballs, Johnson has a career day with 12 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns. He was unequivocally the MVP of the game.
Throughout the game, the weather was perfect. You know the Minnesotans we’re enjoying their escape from the frigid north. We were surrounded by Gopher fans, so we had a great game experience. Yeah, the pizza sucked, but we didn’t park next to Chic Fil-A for nothing. In the end, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers rowed their boat to a Outback Bowl victory putting the cherry on top of their historic season.
As we move into 2020, we’ll be rowing our boat into a better future for our family. Last year was a time of great change in many aspects of our lives. 2020 is all about renewal and building our collective future. May your new year be merry, filled with learning and most of all love.
All of my Outback Bowl videos can be found here: Outback Bowl Playlist
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