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Title

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 sweet Anakin 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.

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Fatigue

Guys the Covid fatigue is real and it couldn’t come at a worst time. Now more that ever, however, it is important to be vigilant and protects ourselves and our families. I know I’m sick of hearing/reading about it everywhere for the last fifteen months. Honestly, I’m most sick of the assholes on Facebook that think their opinions on masks and vaccines are important. Spoiler alert they’re not. Both sides are excruciatingly vapid and sanctimonious. At the end of the day, opinions on social media do nothing but turn people off. Moreover, the only opinion that should matter to anyone is the advice of their doctor. Rant over.

Of course Covid fatigue isn’t the only type of fatigue we’re battling here. With the school year and hockey season back in full swing, we’ve accepted that we’ll be exhausted for the next ten months. This year we have practice on four of five weekdays, which is great. One day off during the week is a bit brutal, but it could be worse. Practice could be five days a week like it was several years ago.

Speaking of hockey, last night we went out to dinner with some of our favorite hockey parents. I was super excited to try the prix fixe menu for Dine Out Delray. The best part of trying the special menu is it forces me to try something I wouldn’t ordinarily order. I already knew what I was going to order before we walked in the door.

Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the expectations. We were sat outside, which is an incredibly beautiful space. Sadly, it was also as hot as Hades. It took almost an hour before anyone took even our drink order and another hour to get our drinks. The whole dinner took over three hours. In contrast, the dinner at the steakhouse with 15 people took less than 90 minutes. Moreover, there was no excuse for the slowness as the restaurant was not full. We won’t be going back.

The dining didn’t live up to expectations, but fortunately the company exceeded expectations. People think travel hockey (travel sports) parents are crazy for the amount of time and money they invest into the sport. Fortunately, the time and money has paid dividends in life experiences and friendships that will last long after our travel hockey days are done. Yeah, we do it for our kids and they benefit greatly, but so do their parents.


On a side note, I spent some time updating the blog including my awesome Savings page. Affiliate relationships help cover the costs of this blog at no cost to my readers. Several companies are running some incredible sales in August. You can see them all on the savings page.

Lastly, a prayer request. Today one of the Mayor’s teammates lost his father to Covid. Please keep his teammate and his family in your prayers. Please also protect yourself and your family as best as possible because this thing is insidious and deadly even though Covid fatigue has set in.

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.

*I actually drove to my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce. It’s always good to see my Dunkin’ crew.

*For dinner, the Hubby made Osso Bucco for dinner. Honestly, it was was amazing. Furthermore, the stew meat from Butcher Box was a big win.

*Today’s word of the day is destination. Life is a journey and we’re all headed to the same destination, so enjoy the journey.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Furthermore, he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Another Day

Another day, another dollar. That’s how the saying goes anyway. Only today wasn’t like just another day or at least the morning was not. This morning was filled with crazy, I mean crazy clients. Honestly, I run into relatively few crazies given how many calls I make on the daily. This morning brought them all out of the woodwork. Perhaps they read their calendar wrong and thought it was Friday the 13th and a full moon with Mercury in retrograde.

It’s amazing the crazy things that set folks off. On one call, the lady lost her mind over the vision network VSP. She was screaming how all the providers in their network were awful. Never mind the fact her provider was in the VSP network, but I digress. The next caller’s wife was angry that she didn’t understand her husband’s Medicare coverage. Spoiler alert she wasn’t willing to listen to any explanations. Oh the joys of sales.

Fortunately, the rest of the day was pretty awesome. Like most other days, I spent my afternoon talking to really cool and gracious people across the county. One thing I have seen day in and day out is that people were ill prepared for their retirement. Consequently, I’ve gone into my 401K to ramp up contributions five times since I’ve started this job. If you’re in your 30-50 years old, you need to ramp up your retirement savings.

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.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*Today I watched the live Safari Cam, which is always amazing. I love seeing all the animals of the African bush in real time.

*For dinner, the Mayor made me chili. The hubby and Goalielocks are in Miami for practice.

*Today’s word of the day is rusty relic. Okay, it’s a phrase not a word. One of my favorite rusty relics is the antique iron my great grandmother used to use.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Parenting

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 sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Finally

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 sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Like a Phoenix

The past week at work has been rough, but today I rose like a Phoenix. It’s not easy to talk on the phone for eight hours a day when you feel like garbage. Especially when you’re in sales and need to sound upbeat and confident all day. I guess you can say I’m driven. To be honest, my sales haven’t been terrible. They just haven’t been where I think they should be until today.

Every call converted this morning, which was absolutely epic. I needed a big day to put me back on track with my personal goals. Today was that day! Now I’m back on track and ready to finish the month on top. Honestly, I’m still not feeling 100 percent. This cold thing is lingering! I do, however, feel significantly better today.

The Mayor’s hockey season officially kicked off today, so we’re back to the rat race. I’m excited for both boys’ seasons. Hopefully, this season will be less disjointed than last year. Nonetheless, both of the boys are on great teams with fabulous coaches, kids and families. It’s going to be a great year!

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!

*The hubby picked up Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*For dinner, I made some chicken and mozzarella. 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 luminosity, which is a big word.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Almost Over

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 sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Friday the 13th

Well, thank god it’s Friday even if it is Friday the 13th. Here in Florida we await Tropical System Fred and his rains. Hopefully, it will break the sweltering heat for a bit. Although I’m sure it will bring lots of tropical humidity out way. We’re supposed to get several inches of rain tomorrow, but we’ll see where this thing ends up.

In a very Friday the 13th type move, there’s another tropical system lined up right behind Fred. If it develops into a storm, it will become Grace. Right now the models have it coming out way, but it’s far too soon to know for sure. All I know is that it’s going to rain heavily over the next week or so.

My cold is finally starting to loosen its grip. I was able to eat lunch today without feeling like it was going to come back up. I’m coughing a lot less and my lungs feel better (except after climbing the stairs at the casino.) Fortunately, I’ve been sleepy really well, which is definitely helping recovery.

Tonight we net our friends at NYY steakhouse at the Coconut Creek Casino. The food was awesome. I enjoyed a nice bone in New York Strip with some hash browns, lobster mac and cheese and hash browns. First of all, the steak was ginormous. I’ll have leftovers for days (unless my boys get to it.). The lobster mac was really, really food. Overall, the meal including my apple flavored cocktail was extraordinary. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m started reading the 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. Tropical Storm Fred Tropical Storm Fred or Depression 6 (whatever it is when it finally gets here is) should be here Saturday. There’s also a system behind TS Fred that could also come out way.

*I ordered Dunkin’ via Uber Eats while firmly awake this morning.

*For dinner, the Hubby made breaded chicken. This week I’m strictly limiting my carb intake as part of the 5:2 plan.

*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 parsimonious . First of all, parsimonious is one of my favorite words. Secondly, I am by nature parsimonious.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Packing for the Perfect Beach Vacation

Packing for the perfect beach vacation is key to a successful tropical vacation. If you forgot certain items, you can end up in tremendous pain. Hello my sunburnt legs! Fortunately, I’ve put together a list of must have items for any successful beach vacation.

  • Copious amounts of waterproof sunscreen that’s at least 50 SPF.
    • I love Sun Bum’s products as they protect well while not causing breakouts. Plus it’s reef safe, which is super important here in Florida.
    • I also love using Coppertone’s Sunscreen Spray. The ease of use is undeniable and it does a great job protecting the skin.
  • Nice beach towels as you can’t rely on the hotel or AirBnB to provide enough. We learned this lesson the hard way at Hawk’s Cay.
  • A nice sun hat to protect your scalp. Nothing sucks more than a severely sun burnt scalp!
  • A high quality cooler, like a Yeti, for a day on the boat or at the beach. Otherwise, your food and drinks will soon be warm.
  • I also like to bring a cooler bag as they take up less room and are the perfect option for carrying snacks.
  • SPF clothing is crucial to protecting your skin especially if you’re out on the water. My SPF shirt protected my upper body. Unfortunately, I didn’t have SPF pants on and my legs paid the price. Lily Pulitzer also offers a full line of SPF protection clothing.
  • What would a day on the boat or at the beach be without some great music. A Bluetooth speaker, like this one from Bose, is the perfect way to bring the party everywhere you go.
  • Snorkel gear!! There’s no better way to explore at the beach than by snorkeling.
  • Naturally, you’ll need something to carry all this awesomeness in and a great beach bag is exactly what you need. I bought an expensive one years ago at Atlantis, but it quickly broke. This year I bought one by Shylero for under $50 off of Amazon. Honestly, it’s amazing for the price. It even comes with a waterproof bag for your phone and wallet. You can check it out here.
  • Another must have is after sun lotion or aloe Vera to help heal and moisturize your skin after a day in the sun.

These are some of the key items to have as you embark on your perfect beach vacation. Some of these items are a matter of convenience, but others are crucial to protecting your health. Now that my fabulous beach vacation is over, l’m making notes of my must haves for next year’s trip. All of which are in the list above. What are your must have beach items?

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m now reading Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier.

*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile. It went quite well.

*Did I mention it was vacation time?

*Tonight we’re enjoying ice cream and watching the NHL draft.

*Jake was able to have a nice lunch with Jon and Brandi before they headed for Yellowstone. I’m so jealous.

*For dinner, the hubby made vodka sauce pasta. 

*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 curvaceous. After eating too much on vacation, I’m more curvaceous than I’d like.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.

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Low Carb Tuesday

It’s low carb Tuesday here today. Actually, too be completely accurate, it’s really low carb intermittent fasting Tuesday. However, that’s a mouthful and not a great title for a blog. This week has I’m starting the 5:2 plan by Dr. Moseley, which is a variation of intermittent fasting. To be clear, I’m following the updated version, aka the Fast 800 diet, which calls for eating 800 calories two days per week vs. eating 500 calories two days per week.

When I got diagnosed with Graves, I followed this regimen with much success. Importantly, my endocrinologist approved of this diet. In fact, I can’t imagine how much weight I would have gained if I didn’t follow it. After all, I went from super active to no exercise at all and no thyroid. Coincidentally, it’s not the optimal recipe for weight loss success. Oh the joys of looking at food and gaining ten pounds.

Now my thyroid levels are normal, I should be able to lose weight. It will never happen quickly for me since I’m a thyroid patient, which is a total bummer. Nonetheless, I plod tirelessly towards my goal of recapturing my health and my former dress size. Here’s the lesson, whether the weight loss is happening at your desired rate or not, keep doing the right things and eventually it will come. For me that’s following Noom, enjoying my low carb Tuesday, getting enough sleep and exercising every day.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I read the Norse Queen by Johanna Wittenberg.  I love it. Queen Asa’s love interest is now an expatriate courtesy of his evil half brother.

*Goalielocks made it home safely from Orlando around 1:30 this morning. 

*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile. It went really well, which was fantastic. I’m not going to let anything break my streak.

*The family and I are watching The Simpsons now that we’ve finished our movie and dinner.

*The Hubby cooked a Blue Apron meal kit for dinner. Tonight we had some type of pasta.

*After dinner, I successfully made ice cream!

*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 whirlwind. It’s been a whirlwind of success and joy since I started my new job.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.