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Prompt

As I sit here staring at my phone with writer’s block in between phone calls, I decided to give the daily prompt a shot. I had a glorious weekend, but I’m not sure that there’s much to write about there. Unsurprisingly, we spent most of the weekend watching hockey. The state tournament for the Mayor’s division was this weekend and while he wasn’t playing, we all enjoyed watching the games from the convenience of our couch. So on to today’s prompt featured below.

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

The three objects I couldn’t live without are my iPhone, my Apple Watch, and my book. I wish I had a better answer than my phone, but the truth is that I manage my life and family’s schedule from my phone. In fact, without my phone, I’d have to brave the supermarket during the season. That’s not something you want to experience when snow birds surround you.

Like my phone, I use the Apple Watch to manage my life. Specifically, I use it to manage my thyroid function and fitness. Crucially, the watch has alerted me to a high heart rate while I’m sleeping, which is a sign my thyroid is running hot. Moreover, it signifies that I need to stop working out until my thyroid levels are back to normal. It also tracks my sleep, which is another way I monitor my thyroid. Lastly, I use the watch to keep tabs on my fitness level. If deviations from my norm show up, I know I need to check my thyroid levels.

The last object is my book. I read daily as a means to escape and engage my mind. It doesn’t matter what I’m reading because a book like Calgon will “take me away.” I started reading daily again about four years ago after meeting with one of my associate directors on development. One of my recommendations to him was to read daily as this is a habit most prominent business leaders share. Naturally, I realized that I should probably follow my own advice because if I wasn’t doing it, why should he? Sadly, we lost Paul just a couple of months after that conversation. Yet every day when I read and think about this habit, I think of him.

So tell me in the comments, what are the three objects you couldn’t live without?

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 35 spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness+
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: rebuke. I expect a bit of a rebuke for heavily featuring tech items in my three objects.
  • Today’s song is Pocket Full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield

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Spa Time

It was spa time for me this afternoon. After a long absence, I finally spent some time at Massage Envy where I have probably 30 plus services built up. Since my favorite masseuse wasn’t available, I opted to get a new type of facial with my favorite practitioner. This time I got a nourishing light facial, which uses a bright led light to treat your face.

I wasn’t sure how I’d like the facial especially when she first out the lights on my face. The last was so bright that it felt like I was looking directly at the sun even with pads and goggles over my eyes. I’m sure I looked like an oddity. Before she put the lights on my face she did a cleanser, masks and a gel. While the lights are on your face, they massage your hands and arms, which feels spectacular. Afterwards, they put a cooling mask on your face and massage your face with cooled globes. It feels absolutely exquisite after the heat of the lights. I’ll definitely get a nourishing light facial again.

Before I went for spa time, I hit the spin bike. Today I did an hour class on the JRNY app. Unfortunately, Apple Fitness + doesn’t have classes over forty five minutes. The shorter classes are perfect for weekdays during lunch, but I wanted a longer class for the day off. Today’s class was a ass kicker. It was sixty minutes of intervals, hills and sprints. By the end of the class, I was toast. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the jump from a forty five minute class to sixty minutes.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 60 minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of JRNY
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: intransitive. Intransitive is a type of verb that reminds me how much I hate grammar.
  • Today’s song is Everybody Talks by Neon Trees

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Wrecking Ball

Do you ever feel like you wanna crash into someone like a wrecking ball and shake some sense into them? I’m currently at that place and would love to crash through my hubby’s boss’ wall like the Kool-aid man and slap him silly. It’s been ten weeks since he last paid my hubby. Ten mother fucking weeks of bullshit excuses. Worse than that, the Hubby has been home from work since the beginning of February.

If you know my hubby, you know he likes to work and he’s really good at what he does. Being off for an extended period of time just isn’t in his nature. Naturally, he’s been trying to fill the gaps with side jobs, but that can only take you so far. Consequently, here I am singing Miley Cyrus wanting to drive down to Dade and shake some sense into his boss.

Whoo, now that I got that out I feel much better. I’m so pumped that it’s Friday afternoon. The weekend is just mere hours away. I’m looking forward to tacos tonight, the Mayor’s private lesson tomorrow morning, and coffee with my dear friend Terri. It’s also my rest day, so I’m gonna try to work in an excellent yin practice sometime tomorrow. Unless I still feel like being a wrecking ball because in that case, I’ll probably go with a power vinyasa class.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: satyr. A satyr is a lascivious demi-good from Greek mythology and is sometimes seen as the companion of Pan. Used in a sentence: the satyr hid in the kudzu vine out back.
  • Today’s song is Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus
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Yummy

Last night I cooked a yummy dinner courtesy of Blue Apron. We alternate between HelloFresh and Blue Apron depending on the available meals. One thing that I love about the delivered meal kits is the variety it has introduced into our diets. We’re eating a broader range of vegetables and flavors. For example, last night I roasted and tasted Romanesco cauliflower for the first time. Honestly, it’s a vegetable I probably never would have tried if it weren’t for the meal kit.

I like Blue Apron because they use ingredients that are easy to find or replicate. Whereas I’ve found it more difficult to find some of the ingredients of HelloFresh. Last night’s meal was baked chicken topped with tomato sauce, Gouda, and fontina cheese. Naturally, being that I’m on a metabolic reset program, I look for meals that are healthy. This one fits the bill perfectly. Moreover, it was so tasty and easily replicated with items from my local grocery store. If you’re looking for some yummy and healthy meetings give Blue Apron a try. They’re currently offering $110 off when you order through this link: click here

Thank goodness making dinner was stress-free because Anakin had to make the night interesting. I don’t know how he does it, but he finds creatures in the lowest light and catches them. Unfortunately, He looked excited and ready to party as soon as he caught that road. Anakin caught a poisonous toad last night. Consequently, the Mayor and I were trying to rinse out his mouth as much as possible. Anakin, meanwhile, wanted nothing to do with the water. Eventually, we were able to somewhat rinse out his mouth and he was acting normal. Fortunately, he’s a big boy as those toads can kill small dogs.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: exoskeleton. As in I heard the spider’s exoskeleton crunch as I stepped on it.
  • Today’s song is TQG by Karol G and Shakira

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Player of the Game

The Mayor was the Florida Panther’s player of the game last night. The Florida Panthers Scholastic Hockey League (FPHSL) chose him for the honor last weekend. They provided a number of questions for him to answer for the feature. His first answer to why you love hockey was “hookers and blow,” but obviously that response didn’t make the Final Cut. (In case you’re curious, there’s actually a book on Amazon called Hookers and Blow Save Christmas.)

We’re quite proud of our player of the game. Meanwhile, he was a bit embarrassed and asked me not to post the picture on Instagram. To everyone that texted, messaged, or hit me up on social media last night, thank you. I loved hearing from so many people that have been on this hockey journey with us. You guys have made our hockey experience incredible. At any rate, it was a nice way to cap off hockey season. Although it did keep me up way past my bedtime.

Prior to the Panthers game, I was calling all my previous PurpleStride team captains that haven’t registered. It was all part of our national registration day. Fortunately, it was a success. Our efforts yesterday have paid dividends and will continue to do so as the week progresses. Honestly, we have the best working group ever. I love being a part of our PanCan affiliate. We have the best volunteer group in the world. If you or your teen is looking for service hours in the South Florida area, please let me know.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: exoskeleton. As in I heard the spider’s exoskeleton crunch as I stepped on it.
  • Today’s song is Sweetness by Jimmy Eat World
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Calm

It was a calm morning in our house today. In contrast with yesterday’s actual shit show. Fortunately, the illness that caused the overnight loss of bowels and bladders is gone. It was a bloodbath yesterday. This morning all three puppies are happy, and healthy and didn’t leave a mess in their crates this morning. I even got to watch Bake Off before starting work. Of course, yesterday morning was also hectic because I had a lab appointment at Quest. It’s never fun going to Quest during the snowbird season.

One of the things that has always bothered me since moving to South Florida is having to go to Quest or Lab Corp for blood work. Thankfully, my primary doctor does it in the office. My Endo also has a lab in the office, but it’s not in my insurance carrier’s network. It’s so mind-numbingly infuriating that health insurance makes it so cumbersome to get care. I hate waking up at the ass crack of dawn to get blood work done. Nor do I enjoy scheduling bloodwork out four weeks because it’s season and every Quest around me is booked for weeks.

I was hoping to have the blood work back today, but no such luck. They’ll likely send the results Monday. This time they ran a test to measure inflammation, so it will be interesting to see what that shows. This particular test, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, is helpful in diagnosing inflammatory diseases like lupus and RA as well as helping determine a patient’s risk of heart disease. My family has a well-documented history of heart disease, so I’m curious to see what it shows. This test can also shed light on whether another autoimmune disease is in play for me. So here I am calm as a cucumber waiting on my test results and working.

Meanwhile, my back is still bothering me on my right side where the shingle patches were. I thought I pulled a muscle in bed, but maybe it’s related to the shingles. The location is certainly suspicious. I’ve been treating it with a mixture of camphor, lidocaine, and balsam. Thankfully, Tiger Balm and Salonpas put all that goodness into wearable patches. Otherwise, it can be a literal pain to use either.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song is fun and a bit risque! Enjoy Lady Marmalade from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack
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Winter Weather

As winter weather bears down on most of the country and our family, our climate continues to be beautiful. The skies are blue and the temperature isn’t ridiculous, nor is the humidity out of hand. It’s the kind of winter day that one moves to Florida to enjoy. The Hubby and Mayor met Grandpa Steve and Grandma Linda at Benny’s on the Beach, while I, unfortunately, had to work. The view from Benny’s is gorgeous. The view from my desk, however, is not so much.

As a kid, when a winter storm was approaching, I would eagerly watch the closings across the bottom of the television screen. Inevitably, I was almost always disappointed to find our school was not on the list. With the exception of the Halloween Blizzard and an exceptionally cold day, that led the governor to close all schools in the state, our school was always open. Honestly, it was the worst. To know all our cousins that attended neighboring districts were home enjoying the day off while we languished at school.

Now, of course. post-pandemic snow days or hurricane days look a lot different. Some schools opt to keep the school in session virtually, while others shut down completely. I like to think the schools that go virtual instead of closing like medieval torturers. Virtual school during the pandemic was complicated and an epic failure, so no need to continue that trend. A few more years and it won’t matter as I’ll no longer have a horse in that race.

Apparently, the dogs felt terrible that we were missing out on the epic winter storm because we woke up to a literal shit storm of epic proportions. It must have been something in the water that caused all three pups to lose control of their bowels and bladders last night. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight. I helped clean up as much as I could before work and after my lab appointment. Despite my best efforts, there was still a lot of cleaning up for my hubby to do.

We had Grandpa Steve and Grandma Linda over for appetizers and drinks last night. It was great to spend time with them both before they headed back north. I wish I could have gone to brunch with them today too. I already missed a day this week, so there was no way I could get the time off. I’m glad they’ve been able to enjoy some of our beautiful winter weather. Oh, I almost forgot, I hurt my shoulder reading last night. I don’t know how I did it, but I did. Isn’t aging fun?

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: Lasciviousness. It’s a pretty fitting word for the day on which Harvey Weinstein is sentenced for his sexual misdeeds.
  • Today’s song Drinkin’ Problem by Midland

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Closed a Chapter

Yesterday we closed a chapter that has been a predominant part of our lives for over the last decade. I couldn’t bring myself to write about it yesterday because I really wasn’t ready to acknowledge that it was over. To be honest, I was a bit spellbound at that moment. Alas, here I am realizing that we have closed the youth hockey chapter of our lives. At least for now. I hope someday in the distant future I’m a hockey grandma.

The youth hockey chapter of our lives has been rich and rewarding. It has cost a fortune. I’ve definitely been a benefactor to several rinks, but it’s paid dividends in experiences and relationships that are invaluable. Peewee Quebec was hands down one of the coolest trips I’ve ever been on or will ever go on. Moreover, I’ve enjoyed watching my boys and their teammates develop and blossom on the ice. The energy, effort, and time they’ve put into their craft are incredible.

While we closed a chapter this weekend, a new chapter has already begun. Next week the Mayor will play in the high school all-star game. Additionally, there’s a spring high school league, but I have no clue when that starts. In April, he’ll be heading to St. Louis for a showcase. Saturday morning he’s going to start skating with our friend Joni, who is a phenomenal skating coach. He’ll also continue working with Coach David and Wolfpack Fitness. They’ll make sure he’s ready for the next level.

As with all of life’s transitions, I’m sure it will take some adjusting. I’m not sure the hubby and I will know what to do with ourselves on the weekends anymore. If you walk into Skatezone and hear angry German music, you’ll know I got lost and am again deejaying a hockey game. The Hubby might make the switch from hockey coach to team zebra. Stay tuned for that transition. To all the wonderful folks who have made our youth hockey experience wonderful, we love you and are grateful to have you in our lives.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s Finding Lost Time.
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song: Country Roads by John Denver
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At a Loss

I’m at a loss for words as I process the loss of one of our former hockey moms Kristine. Her son played rec with both Goalielocks and the Mayor. After rec league, my hubby coached her son and the Mayor with the Davis brothers on the Blackhawks travel mites team. Her son played hockey, so inevitably we haven’t seen or talked to them often. Even so, she and I had kept in touch through Facebook.

I guess a loss like this has the tendency to put everything else in perspective. The Mayor’s team has struggled this tournament and this season. It’s easy to get hung up with the pain of a losing season. Yet, in the macro picture of life, the losses aren’t going to be important. Hopefully, the players will take the lessons of resiliency and perseverance with them into their adult lives. Not to mention the great relationships they’ve built over the years.

The Mayor’s last game will be tomorrow. I’m trying to figure out how I can be there for this significant moment in his hockey career. To be honest, I’m not sure I’m ready to close the book on youth hockey. It’s been the dominating theme of the last decade of our lives. Where does one go from here? Are there places that exist outside the rink? These are important questions I don’t have the answer to yet. Part of me hopes, he decides to play U18 a year before going to Juniors. While U18 is technically not youth hockey anymore, it’s still minor hockey.

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Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cool down courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s Finding Lost Time. I had to visit a forum to remind myself of all the main characters as it’s been a while since I’ve read Proust.
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song: Stop and Stare by One Republic
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Last Tournament Weekend

It’s our last tournament weekend for the Mayor’s u16aa team. Unfortunately, they were knocked out of states last night when the Everblades beat the flames. Heartbreakingly, they lost on tiebreakers. At any rate, I guess now those teams can spend a nice chunk of change to get their asses kicked by the Panthers and Crunch. Nonetheless, this is the first year the Mayor’s been on a team that didn’t qualify for states, so it is a bit sad.

We’ve been on this travel hockey quest for well over a decade now. It’s odd that it’s starting to wind down. We don’t know what the Mayor is going to do next year. His options are juniors or u18. I’m not quite sure what we’ll do with ourselves when the hockey is truly over. Maybe we’ll start going to the beach again or plan trips that don’t revolve around hockey rinks. Who knows what the future brings? Actually, that’s not entirely true.

Once the hockey is done for us, I’m going to write a book about our experience. Over the past decade, we’ve seen some interesting stuff. Honestly, I can’t wait to put pen to paper and spill the tea on Florida hockey. The best part of the travel hockey experience for me has been our hockey family. We’ve met so many incredible folks over the heads that have become not just friends, but family. Anyway, I’m resting up for our last tournament weekend, so I’ll be in bed early tonight. Toodle-oo!

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Spin Class through the Apple Fitness App app
  • Book: I finished The Seven Husbands Of Eleanor Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid last night. It was so good. Tonight I’m starting volume seven of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time entitled Finding Lost Time. I have been waiting two years for Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition’s translation of Proust’s final volume.
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song: Whatever It Takes by the Imagine Dragons