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The Storm

The storm has pulled out of Florida. We continue to experience gusty winds and a few fast moving showers. Last I spoke with Melly, she still had power, but her AC had seized up. The AC will definitely do that during a storm. Typically, you’ll turn your AC down as low as possible, so your house stays cool as long as possible once you lose power. Right now it appears everyone came through the storm unscathed. Okay, just confirmed with Melly’s mom she’s come through the storm with no damage.

Meanwhile, I went to the doctor to address the asthma that’s been a pain in my chest. (See what I did there? I worked in a nice little boffola.) My lungs were pretty tight and the wheezing was obvious. Consequently, I’m starting back on Singulair today. She also added a daily inhaler, prednisone, and refilled my rescue inhaler. Hopefully, this will clear out my lungs, so I can hike Utah’s parks without issue. Nevertheless, I will be following up with my doctor before I head west to be sure it’s safe for me to hike. Given the remoteness of the Mighty Five, I want to be sure I’m medically cleared to hike them.

I finished out the day at work by Facebook stalking the Mayor. He’s in week two of Eels training camp and is really enjoying it. They works these kids hard, which is awesome. It’s exactly what we’re paying them for. The best part is the hard work and discipline that comes from hockey will follow the Mayor for the rest of his life. It was great to hear from Jake that he felt playing hockey prepared him well for basic training.

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

The last thing I searched online for was if my dogs could safely eat peaches. I decided to cut up a peach for my smoothie tonight and wanted to share it with the puppies. Turns out it is safe for them to eat peaches just not in massive quantities. Arrow loved the peach. Anakin was a bit tentative, but ended up enjoying it.

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Survived

I survived my doozy of a Monday. It took forever to end as falling asleep was damn near impossible. In fact, I didn’t fall asleep until well after midnight. The good news is that once I finally fell asleep, I slept really well. In fact, I even got up in time for work today. What a feat! Actually, I got up early enough to go grab my own coffee before starting my work day.

Monday may have been an absolute drag, but the weekend was pretty fantastic. Friday night we ordered Sushi Yama for Goalielocks last dinner before heading back to school. As always, it was amazing. We really enjoy their crispy rice appetizer. The rice is so good and the tuna it’s topped with is delish. Naturally, the boys also enjoyed their usual helping of fried rice and chicken katsu. We ended out night by watching Messi and InterMiami.

Naturally, Goalielocks was packing most of Friday night and Saturday before leaving Saturday afternoon. Of course, he left the loft looking like a bomb of water bottles and text books had gone off, so that was nice. Hubby ended up cleaning up his mess Sunday while the Mayor and I ran errands. After Goalielocks left, we headed to our friends for a hockey family BBQ. It was hot as hell, but thankfully they had a gorgeous pool with some nice shade.

The BBQ was a last hurrah for our boys before they all head their separate ways for hockey. The Mayor is moving to Ft Myers to play junior. His Goalie is staying local, but also making the leap of juniors. R is heading north to Canada for a hockey academy. While B is heading to New Hampshire for some AAA U16 action. It’s crazy to see their youth hockey careers coming to an end. The Mayor was a mite for what at least a decade and now he’s playing juniors. It’s all just a bit overwhelming.

Sunday the Mayor and I went suit shopping. The Eels where suits to and from their games, so he needed to pick up some more dress clothes. Jos A. Bank had an amazing sale going, so I got him two new suits for $300. Prior to suit shopping, we also ventured into WalMart, while I charged the rental. I enjoyed driving the Polestar in Boston once it was reconfigured, so I wanted to see how the Hubby liked it. This time Hertz included a guide outlining the difference in using an EV versus traditional car, which makes renting an EV much less of a pain.

What brings you peace?

My dogs bring me peace. There’s something so innocent and pure in the way our dogs love us and our families. Their loving kindness brings me peace even during life’s toughest hours. Working out is an activity that brings me peace. It’s also acrucial part to staying both physically and mentally healthy.

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Weekend in Minnesota

The Mayor and I had a great weekend in Minnesota courtesy of his Janesville Jets camp. Even though we ended up with bronchitis, we had such a great time seeing our family and friends. We flew up Thursday evening, so I could work Friday and the Mayor could rest up for his camp. It was a pretty smooth trip less a little delay on the ramp due to severe weather. Fortunately, we were able to take off in between storms. Nevertheless, we made it to Minnesota a little late.

Thursday night we went straight to my folks and got situated. I got set up in the guest room while the Mayor took over their basement. My folks ordered Pizza Man including the boys’ favorite, pizza buddy. Every time I have the pizza, it’s like stepping back in time to the Friday nights of my childhood. It’s probably a similar feeling for our boys since they spent their summers in Minny. At least, they did until Covid put the kibosh on it.

Friday, the Mayor and I really started to feel the effects of the pollen and smoke. We were feeling quite miserable. Unfortunately, for the Mayor, he had a lot of hockey to play that weekend. He loves playing, but it’s a bit frustrating when you can’t play your best. A bright spot in Friday’s on-ice session was that Grandpa Steve and Grandma Linda were able to join us at the rink. They had plans to be out of town but rearranged them so they could see us. It was awesome!

Saturday brought more hockey and a road- trip up to Forest Lake to see Cassie’s family and Uncle Eric. It was nice to see everyone. Neither the Mayor, nor I had seen them since 2019, which was way too long ago. We had a really nice time and some great food. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay as long as we would have liked due to an early ice time Sunday morning and not feeling great. Hopefully, I’m able to see them all again later this summer.

Sunday brought us back to the rink for the last on-ice session. Afterward, we picked up my Grandma and Uncle Mark and headed to my brother’s cabin. Their cabin is perfectly located not too far from their house or the cities. It’s on a beautiful lake that’s perfect for boating. Fortunately, the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the lake views. Honestly, I was happy we got to see our family back home after a four-year absence. I’m hoping for another great weekend in Minnesota later this summer.

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Quiet Nights

It’s been nice having two quiet nights to myself last night and this evening. I had planned to binge-watch a couple of movies last night, but I opted to be productive last night instead. My tardy Uber eats delivery was still mighty tasty. Tonight I enjoyed leftovers from my wonderful lunch at Farmer’s Table. It’s been way too long since I’ve been to that fabulous restaurant.

An afternoon off gave me the opportunity to catch up with a dear friend and former colleague. It felt like I had just seen Des yesterday, but then I started doing the math. Would you believe it’s been over three and half years since I had seen this beauty in person? Covid really fucked up our social lives amongst countless other things in our life. Nevertheless, it felt fabulous to see my dear friend.

While I doing housework and hanging with friends, the hubby was in Orlando with our younger two. The Mayor’s first game resulted in a loss, but he played well. His second game was a 6-0 blowout for the good guys. Fortunately, I was able to follow along with the games via text updates and Facebook Live. I only caught snippets of the second game as I was driving back from lunch when it started.

Anyway, I don’t know if it was the martini I had at lunch or the espresso I had right after, but my body was not feeling the run. Consequently, I cut it short today. Nevertheless, I’m still going to complete day 8 of the yoga challenge I’m participating in. It’s a vinyasa class, which should feel pretty good. Last night I tried playing some music on Alexa, while I played the class on my phone. The music helps keep my monkey mind from wandering too far during my practice.

Today’s bloganuary prompt asks how far back can one grace their family tree. I got into genealogy before we went to Norway. Fortunately, my friend’s mom, also my second-grade teacher built out most of my family tree. As it happens, my friend is also my distant cousin. Both of our families came from Laerdal in Sogn Og Frjordane. The family tree in Norway goes back to the 17th century. It is tough to build out Norwegian genealogy tough given the naming conventions that were used.

Nevertheless, my second-grade teacher built an incredible job putting together our family tree. There were some loose ends on my maternal grandmother’s side. My great-grandfather’s family was well documented, but I could find nothing on her mom. Until this last month when I got an email from Family Search with records hit for her family. Finally, I’ve built out that side of the family tree. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a ton of time to dig into it yet. And now I’m back to enjoying my quiet nights.

Today’s accountability tracker:

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Deployment Diaries – Invasions

So invasions take on a whole new meaning when your child is actively serving and somewhere on the other side of the world. The anxiety level for this mama has reached an all time high. I’m not sure what this means for his and his buddies, but I know it’s not a positive development. We don’t really know how this will impact his time overseas, which really sucks. It’s super hard not knowing anything because we can’t really plan our lives.

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Deployment Diaries

Over the last few months, we’ve settled into the big D routine. For the holidays, we sent a bunch of care packages to him. In normal fashion, we -meaning our friends and hockey family- may have completely overdone it. In fact, he might have enough beef jerky to last a life time. In the end, the most important thing was that he knows there’s a whole army (pun intended) that support him and are praying for him back home.

Perhaps the hardest part is not knowing anything. With Goalielocks forthcoming graduation, I’d love to be able to plan a bunch of family activities and pictures. Unfortunately, we have no idea when he’ll be back home. Ugh….. It’s honestly the worst.

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Morning at Urgent Care

So I spent my morning at urgent care after I got hurt taking the dogs out. Anakin ran hard for the banana grove and tore the leash out of my hand. Both leashes went flying, so I ran quickly to collect them before the dogs realized they were free. Meanwhile, the pain from my finger made me absolutely nauseous. As I brought the dogs in, I caught a glimpse of my poor, injured finger.

I quickly took the leashes off once the dogs weee safely inside before heading to the bathroom to lose my cookies. Obviously, it was a completely miserable span of ten minutes. My hubby was kind enough to call the urgent care to check on the wait times. My boss gave me the green light to do whatever i neeeded. Consequently, I was able to see the doctor before starting my day.

By the time we got to the urgent care, the wait had grown from fifteen minutes to forty five minutes. Due to the extended wait gome, we went back home to wait it out. Fortunately, I was able to get some work done. As luck would have it, I was able to take one call that resulted in a great sale. Once I finished the call, we headed back to the urgent care. Our timing was perfect, they were ready for me as soon as we got back.


Thankfully, I don’t think I broke it. There was an area of concern that the doctor wasn’t sure about, so he was waiting to hear back from radiology. Consequently, we’re treating it as a severe sprain unless the radiologist says differently. Nevertheless, I had to skip my workout today, which is a total bummer. Despite my morning at urgent care, my day ended up being really productive.

The mayor is up in Buffalo and had two games today. They won their first game 8-1 and he had two goals. The second game ended in a 1-1 time, which isn’t a bad result. After all, this is the first time a lot of these kids are playing together. Tonight they’re out to dinner and I’m sure enjoying all that Buffalo has to offer. He has two more games tomorrow, which we’ll be watching from afar. I love watching him play!!

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Beautiful Evening

The hubby and I spent a beautiful evening near the water for my birthday. For dinner, we went to Two George’s, which has a great location. The food it okay, but I wouldn’t wait more than 15 minutes for a table. It was a pleasant, breezy and not too arid of a night. We sat at one of their covered rocking picnic tables outside. Our food came out promptly and was good. My favorite part was the conch fritters.

After dinner, we headed south to hit the beach. Since the beaches near us close at sundown, the hubby drove down to Delray Beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous evening, but the wind near the water was ridiculous. At times, it felt like my legs were being sandblasted. Nevertheless, it absolutely gorgeous looking out over the waves. Their were storms to the north with some beautiful lightning accentuating the sky. Next time I’d love to sneak the puppies onto the beach. The beach was the perfect way to end our beautiful evening.


William Wordsworth, ‘It is a beauteous evening, calm and free’. 

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquility;
The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea …

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Volleyball

Well, I finally got to see Goalielocks play volleyball. Good news, they won. Bad news, I know nothing about the sport. I’m going to have to learn a whole new vernacular. In fact, I though the game was over when they scored 15, but it’s actually 25. Goalielocks and his crew played the Olympic Heights Lions. Tonight was the first time I’ve been at the school since Jake graduated five years ago.

Goalielocks is a setter and played two games tonight. He had some great serves and some great play. Well, at least I think he did. To be fair, the serves were good because they got his team points. It was fun to watch him with his team. He definitely is enjoying the varsity volleyball experience. Their team definitely has a lot of spirit and plays with a lot of gusto. You can hear them from a mile away.

Tonight is the last night of my forty first year or as I like to say twenty seven plus fourteen. It’s always a blessing to be given another trip around the sun. I won’t lie and say that forty one has been fun or even a decent year because it hasn’t. Quite frankly year forty one was a complete abortion of a year. If it were an Uber driver, I’d give it one star. Fortunately, every day is a new opportunity to live one’s best life. Here’s to a brilliant forty second trip around the sun and a big fuck you to the forty first trip!