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Homemade Ice Cream Take Two

So tonight it was homemade ice cream take two. I started the first attempt last night, but the bowl wasn’t cold enough. Consequently, the ice cream never formed up. To be fair, the directions said to chill the bowl for 6-24 hours before making homemade ice cream. Clearly, in a hot and humid climate like Florida, I should have chilled the bowl longer.

Initially, I had planned to use the same mix that I made last night. However, I forgot to make sure the fridge door closed after putting it in one of our garage fridges. Naturally, I didn’t figure it out until I left to get my coffee this morning. The door to the fridge had been opened all night, so not only was my ice cream mix spoiled, my waters were all luke warm.

The trip to Dunkin’ took significantly longer than usual due to an accident on BB Blvd. I knew it was bad when the I saw that the police had taped off the area with crime scene tape and were directing traffic. All lanes of westbound BB Blvd were closed, which snarled traffic as the turnpike was also closed down due to a fatality. Consequently, I had to take a very round about way home.

As the hubby started dinner, I mixed up the ice cream mix and put it in the fridge to chill. Fortunately, I had enough heavy cream at my disposal for another batch. I also crushed the Oreos, thus ensuring I’d have enough cookies for my cookies and cream ice cream. After an absolutely abysmal pasta dinner, I turned my focus back the ice cream. Huzzah!! This time my homemade ice cream was a success. Right now it’s firming up in the freezer, so I have to wait a little longer until we can eat it.

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

*I read the Norse Queen by Johanna Wittenberg.  I love it. In fact, I have started researching Queen Asa. 

*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.

*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.

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Reality Check

After yesterday’s disappointment, I was handed a reality check. For the last several years, I have volunteered for PanCan as the Teams Chair for the Broward/Palm Beach affiliate. The journey of a patient and their family is arduous and fraught with fear. Fortunately, most of the patients I’ve know didn’t lose their job or benefits during treatment. This gave them one less thing to worry about. Can you imagine the horror losing your benefits in the middle of treatment? Unfortunately, I know this isn’t always the case. Hence, the reality check and utter disappointment.

Consequently, this is also how I know I’m on the right place career wise. When my colleague, who was a seasonal hire, got seriously ill with COVID, the leadership team worked with HR to protect his job. They didn’t have to do this, but their willingness to do it for a seasonal employees spoke volumes. Coincidentally, I also think it speaks volumes for the employee in question. Perhaps this is also why my employer has repeatedly been named as one of the best employers in the country.

Anyway, my day at work was slower than yesterday, but still extremely productive. I’m happy with the pace of my production. Meanwhile, I’m waiting for the Hubby to return from Orlando. They headed out several hours ago, but I noticed on the Life360 app that they were headed north on the turnpike instead of south. Whoops! Needless to say, he’ll be home a little later than anticipated.

Last night we decided to see how Anakin would do sleeping out oh his crate. I left the door opened a crack. When he realized his crate was open, he ran into our bedroom and jumped on the bed. He spent two minutes on the bed and then went back to the living room. Ironically, he was laying in his crate when I went to check on him.

Goalielocks brought him upstairs to see if he’d sleep up there. Again after a few minutes, Anakin wasn’t having it. He whined until Goalielocks took him back downstairs. Afterwards, he did come into the room for a bit, but then headed back to the living room. I don’t think he likes to be separated from his sisters.

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

*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.

*I thought about running, but decided to rest my knee.

* I bought more cherries, so I could attempt the cherry custard again. Last time I overcooked it.

*The family and I are watching the Stanley Cup Finals in lieu of continuing our Thirty Rock binge. Thankfully, our power is flickering now that the storm has passed. Consequently, it knocked out the wifi too. Apparently, technology is my nemesis tonight.

*I spent my day with the puppies. This evening I worked with Anakin on some training skills. He did a great job. Of course, I rewarded him with kielbasa, which is his favorite.  We’ve now gone through two kielbasa’s this week.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*There were no big thunderstorms today, which was nice. The lightning tends to interfere with my work phone. Thankfully, the tropics remain quiet.  I’m sure we’ll have another reality check soon.

*Today’s word of the day is free. I got my free coffee today at Dunkin’. Free coffee day is always the best!

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I’m bought some fly traps. I’m absolutely sick of those little buggers. Pretty soon they’ll get a reality check of their own!

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Twenty Years

Today marks twenty years that my Hubby and I have been married. I can’t believe how fast the years have flown by and how much has changed. Twenty years ago we were a young family of three. Now we’re a family of five plus three puppies. Interesting fact, when we first got married I was terrified of dogs. Our oldest has flown the coop and is doing great in the service.

Twenty years ago we were still living in Minnesota. Four years after we married, we decided to move to South Florida. Our original intent was to stay for two years, but South Florida quickly became our home. Despite moving out of Minnesota, our kids still fell in love with hockey and ended up playing the sport. We’ve already have a decade of hockey parent life under our belt.

Over the past twenty years, so much has changed and some of the people we have held nearest and dearest to our heart have left us. Luke’s grandfather left us in October, 2020. He was always our champion and helped us get established. Grandpa Ed will always hold a place near and dear in our hearts.

In 2011, we lost Luke’s mother, which was a devastating blow. She was one of our biggest cheerleaders and supporters when we first started dating and when Jake was born. In fact, she spoiled me and we started dating. My hubby got me the best presents for Christmas, Valentine’s, our anniversaries, and my birthday. Of course, I know realize that she was the genius behind the presents. Now as my boys get older and have serious girlfriends, I relish the opportunity to do the same.


Through all the up and downs, one thing has remained consistent. We were nerds than and are nerds now. That and the fact that my Hubby will forever be my person. I’m lucky to have found my person so early in life and look forward to many more years of nerdom and adventure.

Naturally, we’re celebrating our anniversary by watching the Stanley Cup finals. Well, at least we’re trying. Hulu’s inability to maintain NBC consistently has been beyond infuriating this evening. Athena always hates when we watch hockey because we all scream, yell and jump. It’s a bit disconcerting for her.


For dinner, the Hubby grilled brats, tator tots and sweet corn. Since it’s the middle of the week and the Hubby is headed to a trade show tomorrow, we’ll celebrate with a nice dinner out over the weekend. Thankfully, the Hubby will have a good travel day as Elsa has moved off to the north and east. We’ll miss him while he’s gone, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy some peace and quiet. Two things that don’t exist is this energetic household.

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

*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.

*I thought about running, but decided to rest my knee again. Instead I looked for great photos of us.

* I ate the rest of the peach crisp today. This time I mixed in one white peach for a little of variety. Honestly, I didn’t notice a difference.

*The family and I are watching the Stanley Cup Finals in lieu of continuing our Thirty Rock binge. Thankfully, our power is flickering now that the storm has passed. Consequently, it knocked out the wifi too. Apparently, technology is my nemesis tonight.

*I spent my day with the puppies. This evening I worked with Anakin on some training skills. He did a great job. Of course, I rewarded him with kielbasa, which is his favorite.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*I’m back to work and Elsa is gone to Georgia. Thankfully, the tropics are quiet.

*Today’s word of the day is silvery. The water had a silvery look.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? It’s definitely much worse in the morning and am. Fortunately, it’s not too bad at lunch.

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Not too Shabby

I have to admit today was not too shabby. Since it was the first day back after a long weekend, my expectations for the day were quite low. I mean, it always sucks coming back from a long weekend of vacation. Of course, the gloomy and windy weather courtesy of Elsa wasn’t helping my outlook. Nevertheless, today was a success.

After the turtle’s pace that was work Friday and Saturday, my expectations were that today would be a boring and unprofitable day. Thankfully, the opposite proved to be true. I was slammed all day, which made the day fly by. Moreover, everyone was a buyer today. Obviously, these are the best kind of days in sales.

Elsa had stayed far too the west, so our weather was not too shabby today. The morning was nice albeit extremely humid. This afternoon brought some rain squalls courtesy of now Hurricane Elsa. These storms are so unpredictable. They expected it to weaken, but here we are Tuesday night and it’s a hurricane again. It just proves that you always need to be prepared whether it’s a tropical storm or hurricane approaching.

This evening the Hubby grilled some great steaks form Butcher Box. We had the top sirloins and ribeyes, which were mighty tasty. With the steaks, we served grilled potatoes and corn on the cob. Usually the sweet corn here is abysmal at best, but this corn was not only not too shabby; it was good. We bought the corn at the Farmer’s Market after our walk in the Glades Monday morning.

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

*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.

*I walked 2 miles with the puppies and it was great!

* I made another peach crisp. This time mixed in one white peach for a little of variety. I’ll let you know how it tastes. 

*The family and I have been binge-watching Thirty Rock. It is such a good show. We’re two days in to our binge and man is this show good.

*I spent my day with the puppies.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus.

*I’m back to work and still tracking Elsa.

*Today’s word of the day is upheaval. Our neighbor Kirk was setting off fireworks at a frenetic pace.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos?

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Don’t Call It a Streak

Don’t call it a streak, but seriously I’ve managed to blog four days in a row. Woohoo! It’s not easy to get back into the habit of blogging (or working out for that matter,) but once you get rolling it becomes habitual and part of your daily routine. While I’ve got back on the blogging bus, I’ve fallen off the workout bus. My knee has locked up on my last couple of runs, so I rested it yesterday and today. Hopefully, I will be able to run on it tomorrow.

I had thought about running tonight, but there was dinner to make and Stanley Cup Finals to watch. A girl has to have priorities and obviously watching the Stanley Cup Finals is a major priority. Admittedly, I’m not super thrilled to see either team in the cup. Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation for us as both Habs fans and Lightning fans can be insufferable. Yeah, I said it. Nonetheless, it should be a great series. Carey Price has been red hot and Vasilevsky is the best tendy in the league. In fact, I am pretty excited to watch the goaltender match up this series.

In other news, Jake moved into his first apartment today. He just gave us a brief tour via Facetime. The place looks great and gives him a lot more room than his dorm room. Also, he may sleep better now that the fighter jets won’t be taking off over his building anymore. Fortunately, it’s also located in a great part of town, so he can walk to a lot of neat restaurants and stores in his neighborhood. Fortunately, his apartment complex also has a great gym, so he can easily keep up his PT.

Not anymore!!! Thank God!

Work went well considering it was a Monday. You never know what you’re going to get in the insurance business, but today everyone was a buyer. Consequently, I hit the monthly sales goal I set for myself early. Now every additional sale will be gravy. Hopefully, the remainder of the week, including the start of July, continues to be profitable like today. Have I mentioned that I love my job yet? If not, I love my job. I worry only about myself, talk to great people all day, am appreciated by leadership, and make more money than in my old job. It’s nice when “life’s lemons” sometimes turn into tasty lemonade with a splash of Tito’s.

Grocery Shopping with Jake

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

*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far. I don’t always enjoy Dostoevsky’s writing, so this book has been a nice surprise.

*I thought about running, but my knee said no. Instead, I ran to get my morning coffee and fill up the car with gas. Don’t call it a streak, but it’s now three days in a row that I’ve driven to pick up my coffee instead of ordering via Uber Eats.

* I made a delicious pork tenderloin courtesy of HelloFresh this evening. The meal was easy to prepare and super tasty!

*I played with the puppies before work after finishing my errands.

* The dogs started a new dental treat this week. In order to avoid controversy and Anakin losing his mind, I give them the dental treat at bedtime. Anakin is super possessive and afraid that everyone is going to steal his stuff.

*I went grocery shopping with Jake via FaceTime for his new apartment including picking out all the ingredients for his favorite home cook meals.

*I watched the Stanley Cup Finalsm, which is the best event in the history of sports!

*Today’s word of the day is nuance. Anakin has a nuance to his bark when he’s afraid something of his is going to be taken.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies and mosquitos?

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Oh Man

Oh man, I did it again. I totally missed posting yesterday, but I have a great excuse that does involve a margarita. Last night I headed down to see my friend before she goes on a trip for a couple of weeks. On my way down to her house, Jake called. He had a major test yesterday and he killed it! Moreover, he was able to speak with his new boss and sponsor. Fortunately, he is super excited about his future. As a mom, I couldn’t be happier to hear the happiness and excitement in his voice. Honestly, the best part of any day or week is when Jake calls. Especially if that call doesn’t come on the usual time or day. In fact, I may have paced outside my friend’s house for ten minutes in the blistering South Florida heat just to talk to him.

Naturally, Jake was super happy to hear that I was heading to Mel’s house to hang out with her parents. Jake and Mel are just the best and so are Mel’s parents. We all get along famously. A special surprise was that I got to talk to Jake when Mel got home from work. Of course, I love talking to him as much as I can. However, what I love more is how happy he looks when he’s talking to Mel. Honestly, they’re just the cutest couple ever. I could, however, be biased, but I don’t really think so. We had a great time hanging out last night. Consequently, I got ended up getting home pretty late and was really tired.

Yesterday was pretty much like every other Thursday. I went for my morning run and then headed to yoga. On Thursdays, I usually go into the studio for class. It was such a great flow! Altogether the pairing of running with a gentle flow class immediately afterward is a great pairing. I woke up today with absolutely no pain or tightness in my hips or legs. Since the studio re-opened, the Thursday class changed to a 75-minute gentle flow class. Previously, it was a 60-minute yoga for a healthy back. I love the class before, but the gentle flow class is perfect for me. It’s a little more challenging and the added time allows for more poses. However, the best part of this tandem is how I feel at the end of the yoga class. I feel confident, accomplished, relaxed, and ready to eat.

Today was another busy day full of BBG, yoga class, and yoga teacher training. Since I was going to be busy all day long, I told the boys I would get them DoorDash if they did their chores and work right away. Thankfully, this strategy worked like a charm. All the chores and work were done timely without a complaint. As a result, they got some Chic Fil-A delivered for lunch. Fortunately, they were willing to share a fry and a chicken nugget with their mom. While they enjoyed their freshly delivered lunch, I was hard at work in teacher training learning anatomy. Truly, I love the anatomy piece of teacher training. Everything is connected in a chain, so understanding the chain is super important. In fact, I am now well acquainted with all my problem children muscles.

Tonight we’re just chilling at home with the puppies watching The Office. While I finished the training, my hubby cooked dinner. We had a wonderful meal courtesy of HelloFresh. Tonight it was sweet chili pork bowls. The pork and vegetables were cooked in a Thai style sauce, which was amazing. I will definitely be ordering it again. Sadly, the hubby left the Mayor with the impression that it was a taco bowl. Consequently, the Mayor put enough Frank’s Red hot sauce to bake a dozen wings. Finally, a dish the Mayor would have loved from HelloFresh, despite his history of hating it, was destroyed with some mismatched hot sauce. Alas, I hope he is able to enjoy it the next time we make it.

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

*I read the The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskells. It is an absolutely amazing book.

*Gentle Flow with Jennifer from Open Heart Yoga Studio

*Oh man, I may have melted in the Florida heat today.

*Yoga teacher training with Monica from Yoga Mundo

*Binge watched The Office (again) with the Mayor and our puppies. I love Michael Scott!

*I was all business today from morning to evening

*Morning and afternoon meditation

*Took obligatory picture of Anakin!

*Obedience training Anakin

*Week 6 BBG 2.0 day 5 abs and yoga

*I took Anakin, Maya and Athena out for a walk

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Friday Update

Here’s my Friday update:  I’m still emotionally exhausted.  Just kidding today I’m both physically and emotionally exhausted.  Probably because I made my workout commitments every day this week!  Go me!!!  Excitedly, I started my day by vacuuming and moping my floors for the third time this week.  The upshot, of course, was that the house smelled great for a couple of hours.  Such is life with three dogs and a house full of boys.

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The lesson I’ve learned this week is that home schooling my kids even with a remote  teacher is soul crushingly difficult.  Honestly, I don’t know is you amazing teachers do it day in and day out.  Kudos to you for being super human.  Only my high schooler has work to do this week since he’s taking a few classes online.  I can only imagine the fun I’ll have when both are back in school virtually.

Goalielocks did get some practice driving today when he drove up route Clubhouse to take my Mayor to the pool.  Before you judge, I’ll have none of it.  There was nobody else there and they weren’t there for long.  Afterwards they had some social distancing with some buddies, who they went fishing with behind the house.

Thankfully, we live in South Florida and the weather has been perfect.  Naturally, the boys could have stayed out fishing all night.  Especially since the bass were biting today.  Fortunately, all the boys fishing caught some nice sized bass, which makes for some happy boys.   I loved seeing the boys outside fishing and not on their phones.  Consequently, we may take them to the Everglades tomorrow to fish and walk the trails.  It will be good get out of the house and into nature.

Meanwhile, hubby is starting to get concerned that we may run out of toilet paper before the stores replenish their stock.  I tried to order some on BJ’s.com, but received a message that supplies were running low.  Consequently, they wanted me to approve the replacement they suggest.  The replacement they suggested was a box of printer paper. Yeah….  Wish us luck on that front.  Finally, we will actually be taking our Christmas tree down tomorrow.  Although I’m pretty sure Anakin would prefer that we leave it up.  However, I have to admit I am sick of cleaning up the falling needles.

As for our day, here were our activities:

*reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched Ratatouille with my Mayor

*yelled at Goalielocks to take his algebra test, he finally did and got an A.

*Completed BBG Week 5 Full Body workout

*Took Goalielocks to practice driving

*Bought myself some new running shoes, will get them up at drive up/pick up at Dick’s SportingGoods

*Boys went fishing with their hockey buddies while maintaining proper distances.

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Reading My Way Back to Health

In order to keep myself sane and intellectually engaged,  I’ve been reading my way back to health.  Over the past eight months, I’ve been out of my normal routine due to injury and health concerns.  Sadly, I often found myself too exhausted to write.  Fortunately, I was able to draw my reading list off The Greatest Books.  First, of all I like the site because it has a thoughtfully curated list of the best fiction and non-fiction works of all time.  Secondly, I love that you can track what you’ve read and what you want to read.

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I’ve read some amazing works from a myriad of different genres and authors across time.  Since I’ve read some wonderful works of fiction, I’d thought I’d share some of them with you.   Here’s the list of my favorites:

If you’ve never read Wilkie Collins, your missing out.  He’s a one of kind author, who narrates his stories from multiple viewpoints.  His plot development and character development are amazing.   Collins was a contemporary and good friend of Charlies Dickens.  He was also a huge influence to Edgar Allen Poe.  Once you read both these books, I think you’ll find that the great Agatha Christie was influenced by him as well.

When I first picked up Ana Karenina, I was a bit intimidated.  It is a thick book. As I got into it, I loved it.  Tolstoy doesn’t waste a word.   I was happy to find that Tolstoy didn’t incorporate essays with in the books or long tangents like those found in his contemporaries works.  Both Ana Karenina and Resurrection are beautiful stories.  In Anna Karenina, he tells the story of the titular characters life and the consequences of her choices.  It’s a tragic story told beautifully.  In Resurrection, he tells the story of man confronted by the impact his choices had on someone he loved.   In the end, he finds his redemption in a most obvious spot.  Truly, after finishing both novels, I feel compelled to travel to Saint Petersburg and the rest of Tolstoy’s Russia.

After finishing Nabokov’s Lolita,  I needed a literary pick me up and a shower.  That book will leave you feeling dirty…. I turned to Hesse’s Siddharta.. Hesse, of German-Swiss descent, bring a unique east meets west perspective.   This novel follows the spiritual journey of Siddharta.  His quest for enlightenment puts him in places and situations he never could have imagined.  It’s a beautiful book.

I loved Narcissus and Goldmund, which tells the tale of two best friends who are diametrically different, but still love each other.  While Goldmund leaves the monastery in search of the meaning of life.  His mentor and friend Narcissus stays in monastic life.  Throughout their lives they take different paths, but eventually their paths reunite.  It’s a beautiful tale of friendship and life.

It took me awhile to get into Steppenwolf, but eventually I was pulled into the world of Harry Haller.  Like the other two Hesse books, this one explores the duality of human nature.  This time in main character Harry Haller and not two separate characters like in Narcissus and Goldmund.   At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with any of these books by Hesse.

Since I was heading to Scandinavia this fall, I wanted to read something that was Scandinavian.  After much research and a couple of recommendations, I decided to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. While in Finland, I finally started reading the book and I couldn’t put it down.  I loved that I could imagine where they were in Gamle Stan in Stockholm since I was just there.

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It’s an awful tragedy that we lost Stieg Larsson before these books were publishes.  He turned in the manuscripts for the first three installments in the Millennium Series, but died shortly after.  His books are incredible.  There are few characters in literature as vivid, damaged and bad ass as Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander.

I’ve already read the first four books in the series and cannot wait to read the fifth.  Since Larsson’s premature death prevented him from finishing the Millennium series, David Lagercrantz took up the mantle.  I was worried that Lagercrantz’s take on Larsson’s characters would be unfaithful to the original.  Lagercratnz had huge shoes to fill, but he did it beautifully.  The continuity between the characters and stories between Larsson’s and Lagercrantz’s books is seamless. If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend it.  If you love Daniel Craig, like I do, you’ll love him in the movie version.

These are just a few of the books I’ve read since last summer that really resonated with me.  I’ve included links to Amazon for each of my recommended books.  I’m always looking for good book recommendations.  What’s your favorite book?  What books do you recommend?