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Counting Down the Days

The Mayor and I are counting down the days to Chicago. We leave early Friday for a hockey tournament that starts Saturday. Similar to years past, we’re staying in Schaumburg, which is perfectly located. They scheduled the majority of our games, less a late-night semi-final, in nearby Mount Prospect. Unfortunately, the boys will play their 9:50 pm game in Fox Glen, which is some distance away. Thankfully, it looks like we will have some decent weather, which will make that late-night drive tenable. I did, however, rent an SUV in the event we did see some snow during our visit to the Midwest.

Meanwhile, the Mayor and my hubby got home around 7:30 last night after a long day in Orlando. Four games in two days is a lot for a non-tournament weekend. As an athlete myself, kind of I guess, his conditioning impresses me. Incredibly, his endurance doesn’t fail him even in the last game. He’ll play another game tonight, this time high school, and he won’t miss a beat. More importantly, as a woman in her 40s, he impresses me and inspires envy with his ability o eat endlessly. I watch him eat and gain weight. Moreover, he makes very smart choices with his diet, which isn’t to say he doesn’t indulge from time to time, but he eats pretty healthily for a teenage boy.

One thing I’m planning on, as I’m counting down the days, is not eating healthy in Chicago. I am looking forward to some Giordano’s, Portillos, maybe an Irish coddle, and yes even White Castle. Naturally, I am planning to balance out the indulgence at the table with workouts in the hotel gym and some sauna time. Outside of enjoying Chicago’s great food, I am hoping we have time to explore the hospital. Basically, I’ve been mining sites for some good options for both Friday and Monday. Friday we’ll have most of the day open. Monday could be open depending on how the boys play this weekend.

What is the best gift you have received? I love today’s bloganuary prompt! The answer for me is quite simple. It’s been the opportunity to travel and explore the world with my boys. Over the course of their lives, we have traveled to many places together. In 2002, Jake traveled with us to France for three weeks. He wasn’t even three yet but had the time of his life. Unfortunately, I’d have to find the photo album for that trip as it predates digital photos. Through the hockey years, we’ve taken many trips for tournaments. The best trip I took as a hockey mom was to Peewee Quebec. It is hands down the best hockey tournament around. Moreover, it is an incredible international experience with few rivals. If your child ever has the chance to go to Peewee Quebec, you must go.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Ran a mile, walked two, and completed day 9 of the Every Day Yoga Shop 21 Day yoga challenge. I had to adjust my schedule a bit since the Sweat APP wasn’t playing nice.
  • Book: Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
  • Word of the day: tittynope. There was a tittynope of pizza left after the Mayor got to it first.
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song: Roam by the B-52s
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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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Big Day

It was a big day in our house as Goalielocks moved out this afternoon. He’s headed to Orlando to start college and live with his buddies. He’s super excited and so are we. We’ll sort of….. It’s a little bittersweet to see our secondborn fly the coop. Nonetheless, we have been making bets about how much our electric and grocery bills will decrease now. Stay tuned. To be honest, I will be counting down the days to his coming home.

Luke and the Mayor traveled up to Orlando this evening as well. The Mayor has two games tomorrow in Orlando including an early morning game. Since our dog sitter moved to Orlando today, I am skipping tomorrow’s games in Orlando. Also, I’ll be traveling to Chicago next weekend for the Mayor’s tournament, while Luke stays home to work. Consequently, I came home after the Mayor’s two home games this afternoon to chill with my puppies and do nothing.

Since it’s just me and the dogs tonight, I ordered some good healthy food via UberEats. Now I’m not a food delivery guru, but it shouldn’t take over an hour from pick up to delivery of the food. For some reason, the drive from the restaurant which should have taken ten minutes took over an hour. Fortunately, the food still tasted pretty damn good reheated. Nonetheless, the delay was pretty aggravating. Good thing I was home alone and angry.

As for the Mayor’s games, his team tied the first one and won the second game. Both games were nail-biters and fun to watch. The Mayor spent more time than usual in the box, but he still had a great day. He’s so much fun to watch. In the first game, he had a beautiful assist on the tying goal. It was an absolute beauty of a play starting with his defensemen and ending in a goal. He just sees the ice so well. Well, this big day is going to end nice and quiet here.

Today’s accountability tracker:

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Night One

So how did night one of reclaiming my sleep go? It went okay. I definitely had less trouble falling asleep than on previous nights. Last night, however, was not the perfect gauge as my lower back and sciatic nerve weren’t playing nice. I don’t think my lower back enjoyed all the work it was given during my yoga practice. It was a relatively rigorous practice for a Hatha class that featured a difficult series of transitions from standing, to warrior one, to warrior three, to revolved half-moon pose and back again. I think the movement may have irritated my sciatic nerve and the muscles around it. Fortunately, some meds and salonpas patches put paid to the pain at least temporarily. Hopefully, I will sleep well tonight because if there’s one thing that brings me joy it is a good night’s sleep.

Nonetheless, I’m going to continue blogging during the day for the foreseeable future. One it’s a much better use of my time. One can only read the internet so many times during a slow work day. Secondly, it frees up my time in the evening. Since it’s OEP (open enrollment period for Medicare folks), we’re back to working 10-11 hour days. Consequently, it is a bit more difficult to fit in all the commitments I have made for 2023. This, of course, includes daily running, yoga, blogging, reading, and regular strength workouts done through the Sweat App. Moreover, I’m doing the 21-day yoga challenge through Everyday yoga, which features a pre-selected class of varying lengths. Normally, I would choose a practice length that best suits my day.

Today’s yoga class is another Hatha practice, but it looks to be more gentle than yesterday’s practice. Gentle is exactly what my body needs today. Thankfully, today’s practice also focuses on opening the hamstrings, which will be super beneficial. My hamstrings are ridiculously tight whether I stretch, work out, or do nothing. In fact, I need to work on my hamstrings daily to keep them healthy. Otherwise, they’re a complete mess. One of my favorite ways to stretch them out is the legs up-the-wall pose, which also happens to be super relaxing.

I guess it’s going to get a bit cooler tomorrow evening, which will be nice. It won’t be cold enough for sleet or snow, but it will be fantastic sleeping weather. And we all know how I love good sleeping weather. Speaking of weather, I’m now stalking Chicago’s weather as the Mayor and I head there next week for hockey. I really hope it’s not too cold. While I do enjoy a depauperate winter wonderland as much as the next person, I don’t like driving in snow. Moreover, I hate driving in Chicago during snowfall. At least back some in Minny, a respectable effort is made to quickly clear the interstate. In Chicago, there is no such effort. It really sucks driving on 90 during a snowstorm.

Today’s accountability tracker:

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Another Late Night

It was another late night as the Mayor had his last regular season high school hockey game tonight. I kind of thought his team was done last Friday, but clearly, that was wishful thinking. Obviously, I love the morass that is high school hockey in south Florida. If you’ve read any of my recent blogs, you know I hold it near and dear to my heart. Fortunately for me, it’s not over. Apparently, the Mayor’s team qualified for the playoffs. At least, the kids are having fun and enjoying the league.

Before we went to hockey, the Mayor and I took Arrow to his last puppy kindergarten session. He’s officially a puppy kindergarten graduate. Nonetheless, he still has a lot of work to do and so do I. I’ll be signing him up for the beginner classes that start in February. I crinkled up the schedule sheet, so hopefully, it doesn’t get thrown away. He does really well with the trainer in class, but not so well with us. Interestingly, Arrow does awesome when we work at home. We’ll keep working with him as he’s eager to learn.

Today was my first day of vacation. I had planned to take the Mayor Christmas shopping this morning, however, there was a wrench in our plan. Apparently, the hubby scheduled Goalielocks to work. Unfortunately, nobody told me, so it was quite a surprise. It was probably for the better, however, as my sinuses were still bugging me this morning. By this afternoon, my sinus headache had abated nicely. Thank god for prednisone. Hopefully, the sinus headache will be completely gone tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it’s a big day! Jake comes home for the holidays and my parents get here!!! Can’t wait!! And now another late night is over.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Sweat HIIT beginner week 2 leg day and mile run
  • Book: The Marriage Game by Alison Weir
  • Blog: almost done
  • Today’s song: Story of My Life by One Direction
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High School Hockey

So I have to say, last night’s high school hockey game validated all my misgivings about it. As I shared in an earlier post, the disparity in skill level is stark leading to dangerous situations. After all, these folks are wearing seriously sharp blades and have some good size. The contrast in skillset between teams and players is incredible. Let’s be honest, nobody likes to get blown out. Last night our team had only ten skaters and yet we won 8-0. The score was 8-0 because our boys pulled back in the third. It could have been an absolute bloodbath.

Unfortunately, the opposing team’s players got frustrated as our team pulled away. When hockey players get frustrated, I included, we tend to react violently. All of the sudden, the other team took their hits up a notch, they started swinging their sticks, and no fucks were given when leveling a player from behind. Incredibly, the dangerous play culminated when the other’s team’s defender flipped the Mayor. It was a play straight out of WWE. To be clear, the flip was utterly unnecessary. This defender played the puck and Mayor well.

It was a glaring reminder of why I watch games from the penalty box. There’s nothing productive that comes from me sitting in the stands when something like that happens. Honestly, the only people that need to hear my opinions in this instance are the folks watching my Facebook live. That being said, I sit in the stands instead of working the box for the high school hockey games. Fortunately, the acrobatic hit did not hurt the Mayor. In the end, the referees suspended the opposing player anyways for taking too many penalties in the game.

Enough about the dredge that is high school hockey here. I’ve been quite productive today despite waking up with a sinus headache. While I finished watching Wednesday on Netflix, it’s amazing you should watch it, I made more cinnamon swirl bread. After I finished the bread, I cleaned out the pantry and reorganized it. The Mayor and I made a Sprouts run for a few items and sushi for lunch. Post lunch, I did a wonderful restorative yoga practice via the Practyce app. It was absolutely yummy. Post-yoga, the Mayor ran and got us both some Starbucks. The perfect treat for a rainy afternoon.

I heard today’s song last night while watching Wednesday. It’s a beautiful, haunting version of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters performed by Apocalyptica. Enjoy!

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I’m Back

I’m back after a well-deserved and much-needed hiatus from the blogosphere. Life has been quite busy especially with AEP over the past seven weeks. Since I last blogged, hockey season has been in full swing. Unfortunately, I missed a showcase and Thanksgiving tournament due to AEP. I did miss a couple of league games too. This year the Mayor is playing travel hockey and high school hockey as well. If you know me, you know I think high school hockey here is a complete abomination. The high school league is notorious for its huge disparity in both skill level and application of the rules. Teams have players that should be in learn to play on the bench with AAA and junior hockey players. Due to AEP, I missed most of the games. While I’m not in love with it, my player is having a great time playing with his friends.

It’s not just hockey that has kept me busy these past few months. In August, we started fostering the sweetest little puppy named Arrow. They believed him to be a husky mix. We, however, think he’s a border collie, Australian shepherd, and husky mix. I bought a DNA test, so we’ll see what breed that comes back with. Arrow is an absolute sweetheart, but also full of mischief. He’s quite the character. At eight months, he’s an avid chewer and loves to play with his siblings. Athena and Anakin have adjusted well, but they do tire of getting harassed by a puppy. Surprisingly, Arrow shares many characteristics with our sweet Maya girl, who passed in September of 2021. This, on top of his looks, is also why we think he may have some Australian shepherd in him.

In October, right before AEP, the Mayor and I traveled back to Charlotte for a showcase. He had a great weekend at the rink. This time the weather was absolutely beautiful. When we traveled to Charlotte two years ago, the weather was awful. It was freezing cold and it rained every day. There’s nothing worse than a cold winter rain especially if you’re from South Florida. This trip was great too because our team manager made arrangements for the players to eat at the hotel daily. While the players ate and watched videos, the parents could go enjoy a quiet lunch on their own. It was a really nice trip. Our next hockey trip takes us to Chicago in January.

One of the main reasons for the blogging hiatus was my health. Since joining Calibrate, I’ve lost all the post-RAI thyroid weight. Yay!! It’s been a huge year for reclaiming my health, but it hasn’t come without some hurdles. Since I don’t have a functioning thyroid anymore, I take both Synthroid (T4) and Cytomel (T3) as thyroid hormone replacements. My dose had been quite stable, however, when you lose 40lbs your dose has to change. In May, I found myself hyperthyroid again. Fortunately, my Apple watch allows me to easily track my heart rate. By the end of the month, I was getting high heart rate notifications when I was waking up. Since my heart rate wasn’t behaving, I had to stop working out. My Endo lowered my dose again and within two weeks I was feeling much better. I’m finally back to running and working out, which feels amazing.

As I type this, my oldest is on his way back to Florida for the holidays. I can’t wait to have all three of my boys home for Christmas. Last year Christmas was tough with Jake being down range. To add to the excitement, my parents will be joining us for the holiday as well. My folks haven’t been down for Christmas since 2018, so I’m super excited to have them here. My mom and I will be trying our hand at lefse again along with the smorgasbord of Christmas cookies we love to bake. In all actuality, there will be way more baked goods than necessary in my house over the next three weeks. We will be hosting our annual Christmas brunch, which is always a big hit. We’ve got it down to a science, no need to reinvent the wheel. And just like that, I’m back.

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Grad Party

We celebrated Goalielocks’ and his friend TK’s graduation with their grad party over the weekend. While TK is his friend, he and his family are considered family to us. It’s been amazing to watch the two grow up and go through the trials of elementary, middle school, high school and hockey together. So much has changed since they first became friends almost a decade ago.

Our friend Garlic Bob catered the event with an epic taco bar that was capped off with a nacho cheese fountain. Boy, can he cook! His food is always delicious and on point. We sampled his taco bar at a friend’s grad party last year and I instantly knew we wanted him for Goalielocks’ party. It was absolutely a no brainer.

I was a bit worried the tropical weather that dumped nearly a foot of rain in our area would keep a lot of people away, but we only had a few cancellations. Goalielocks played hockey in Dade County, which was underwater for most of the weekend. Unfortunately, that made it unsafe for his Miami based teammates to make the drive, which was a bummer.

I tried Pink Whitney for the first time at his grad party. Pink Whitney, of course, is the ubiquitous hockey mom drink of choice. I’m surprised it took so long for me to try it. I love it. It was so good! A couple of observations about the drink, it’s good, but it’s a bit sweet. Also, a group can drink a small bottle in minutes. To cut the sweetness, I recommend pairing it with sparkling water on ice. This would make it much less sweet and more refreshing.

The grad party was a rousing success. We finally headed home with two cars full of kids just after 12:30 am. Everyone had a great time celebrating the two boys graduation. I think, the highlight for me was the two boys cutting the cake and feeding each other. It was super funny. The cake, of course, was super yummy and beautiful. Hanh makes the best cakes! They’re always beautiful and super tasty without being too heavy in your tummy. It was a great night!

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Twilight Zone

Last weekend’s hockey tournament was like stepping into the twilight zone. To be fair, it’s our fault for going. The memorial day tournament, as long as we’ve been involved in Florida hockey, has been an unmitigated disaster/twilight zone. This year’s tournament was no exception. Our weekend also had a 70s/80s flair courtesy of the Saddlebrook Resort. The furniture in our room was probably older than all of us.

Sunday was by far the worst day. Our first game of the day was an absolute disaster. In fact, it’s probably the worst hockey experience I’ve had to date. That my friends is saying a lot. One of the refs was not sober and did the job at a level commensurate to his lack of sobriety. There were only two refs as well because folks don’t want to pay for four. We should demand that there are four at the higher levels.

Consequently, the other team ended up with two goals that should never have happened. One the opposing goalie caught the puck and held it. There should have been a whistle or a play the puck here, but there wasn’t. As our boys came off to change, the goalie release the puck to his teammate, who naturally got a breakaway and scored. The second goal happened after the puck hit the netting in the neutral zone and wasn’t whistled dead. Apparently, the puck never crossed the line either, but that wasn’t something I could see from my vantage point.

By the third period, we had tied it up and the game started to devolve. There were several skirmishes that resulted in players being tossed from the game. Strangely, the refs never reported any player numbers or corresponding infractions. It was an absolutely odd situation. However, it would only get weirder after the game when the opposing coach added a goal for his son to the scoresheet. Thankfully, there was someone in the tournament office that watched the game and knew it had ended in a tie. Who does that shit?

The assistant coach added a goal for his son after the game.

The oddness of the day was punctuated in our second game by an opposing parent that walked back and forth behind the bench flicking off the kids. Seriously? I should also say the opposing coach was an asshole trying to get us to forfeit stating we had suspended players that were playing. Obviously, that was complete bullshit. I firmly told the coach to take note of the suspensions already noted as served on the scoresheet. He took a picture and huffed back to his bench. What a loser. At any rate, I will happily skip next year’s twilight zone tournament.

Monday we headed home, which is always a fun drive. There’s no worse road to drive than State Road 60. It’s awful anytime of the day and in any kind of weather. Once we got home, we quickly left again to go see my brother and sister in law that can to town Thursday. We all had a blast at the BBQ and the kids got to hang with their cousins, which was great.

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Volleyball Banquet

Last night we had Goalielocks’ volleyball banquet at the high school. It was a nice dinner with both the boys and girls volleyball teams. He’s played volleyball the last two years, but there was no banquet last year due to Covid. Dinner was courtesy of Olive Garden, which was good. Fortunately, it settled in my stomach. I was a bit worried as my stomach had been quite sensitive lately.

While we ate, the coach, the senior captains and the underclass men gave their speeches. They were nice, brief and to the point. After the speeches came the awards. Goalielocks was awarded a letter in in varsity Volleyball. After the awards, the kids switched into active wear and the girls took on the boys. The girls beat the boys, which wasn’t super surprising given the talent on the girls team. A lot of Goalielocks’ team was relatively new to the sport. It was a fun way to end the volleyball banquet.

We’re currently driving to the west coast for hockey. There’s nothing I hate more than driving on state road 60. It’s honestly the worst road in the history of roads. In fact, the entire of state road 60 should be at least four lanes instead of one lane each way. There’s nothing more disconcerting than your car shaking as a semi speeds by heading the other direction.

My outfit for the volleyball banquet

We’re still a good two hours out from our resort. While we’re heading west for hockey, we thought we’d make it worth the parents’ while by booking an nice resort. Consequently, we’ll be staying at the Saddlebrook Resort and Spa. The resort has a couple of incredible pools, which is where I plan on spending my day tomorrow. Since we only have to be playing this year, our game schedule is nice and light.