I didn’t totally forget about my blog today, but I definitely got distracted. Distracted? With what you ask? My genealogy. I spend countless hours researching my family’s roots on ancestry.com. With all the craziness going on in the world, I thought an excursion to the past would be a welcome diversion. I hope you all had a wonderful Saturday!
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For some reason, I’m drained this week. I mean running on empty and for no good reason. Every few weeks I get hit with a wave of major fatigue and this week is it Nonetheless, I still crushed my goals today. First, I killed my BBG ab workout this morning. Fortunately, it went really well. Immediately afterward, I went to Jen’s Gentle Flow class via Zoom. Let me tell you, her gentle flow class is just what the doctor ordered. My hips and legs were pretty tight this morning from running the last three days, so the hip and leg work was great for me. Once yoga finished, I grabbed a quick lunch in preparation for yoga teacher training. By a miracle of God, I was ready and on time for teacher training.
Today in yoga teacher training we spent our time focusing on the anatomy of the lower body. Specifically, we spent a lot of time studying the different muscles, how they interplay with each other, and what poses work these muscles. Meaning an issue in one muscle could throw off the entirety of the chain. My left leg, particularly my IT band, hamstrings, and hip muscles have been problematic. When you think about it makes sense that any alteration in gait or tightness in the IT band throws everything off. Moreover, it reinforces the importance of building mobility over flexibility or strength alone. Since I restarted my practice and exercise routine with a focus on building mobility, I no longer have pain when I run. Additionally, I’ve also incorporated a rigorous warm-up and cool-down routine to protect my muscles and promote mobility.
I had to share the great meme above because it’s my life. Honestly, this always happens at my house. Nobody, human or dog, needs anything until I have a minute to myself. Lately, these interruptions have been timed to coincide with Shavasana or the final relaxation pose. This pose is the penultimate moment of a yoga class wherein you are at your most peaceful and relaxed state. Naturally, this is when my kids need to ask if they can order food via DoorDash, ask if I’m done with yoga, ask for a ride to their friend’s house or let the dogs in. Honestly, their timing is the absolute worst. Anakin loves to come in when I’m doing yoga and give me kisses. Unfortunately, he makes it a little difficult to flow through the poses. Nonetheless, I’m acutely aware that someday soon these interruptions will cease.
The one benefit of feeling drained and being busy all day is that my social media use was at a minimum today. I’ve ranted on here before about Facebook, but it continues to get worse and worse. As a blogger, it would be difficult to disconnect from Facebook because its a good tool for promoting and sharing content. Comparatively, Facebook holds much less value for me as an individual. There is so much misinformation, anger and hate on the platform that it’s become untenable. People I thought were reasonable, loving individuals are seemingly filled with hate. I can’t imagine blocking or deleting someone because we hold a different opinion. Honestly, this is just childish.
My personal favorite is the people sharing the post from a middle-aged white guy’s opinion of a black women’s experience. Whether you agree with Candace Owens or not, can we agree that men need to stop speaking to an experience they can’t understand? My second favorite comes to us from the anti-masks folks. Wearing a mask in public will not kill you, nor will it change your Ph. It also doesn’t mean you support Bill Gate’s plan to take over the world or insert conspiracy theories here. It means you respect yourself and those around you. Truly, you wear a mask to protect the folks’ around you. It is not bulletproof but does add protection. Lastly, there seems to be an idea that we must all conform to all of the same opinions done to the minutia. That’s not how life works, nor how it should work.
Here the number of COVID cases continues to rise. I’ve been staying home aside from my daily coffee run and trip to the yoga studio. Honestly, I miss seeing my friends, but I don’t miss driving in the rain or rush hour traffic. Since I have an autoimmune disorder I play it safe and have all my groceries delivered. Additionally, I may have had all of Amazon delivered to my house in the last couple of months. Online shopping may make it way too easy to buy stuff I may or may not need. Although I’m fairly confident I need everything I bought. Now we’re almost to July, our puppy is seven months old. Jake has been in the service for over six months and will be 21 on Sunday. I’m bummed we can’t celebrate this milestone birthday with him this year, but we’ll make it up for it later.
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Yesterday I splurged on a new scale. And I gotta say it’s quite fancy. You see after many years of faithful, no reliable service, our old scale took a dive yesterday. I say reliable because a faithful device would never spit out such horrendous numbers at me. It had been especially mean these last couple of years as ny thyroid went haywire. Nonetheless, a scale is still a necessary evil. Further, it is even more important when you’re working to lose the thyroid weight while getting stronger through a great workout program. After researching my different options online, I settled on the Withings Body + scale. It retails for around $100 depending on where you buy and if you have coupons. It interfaces with an app on your phone, so you can easily follow your progress.
First, let me just say this is the first scale I bought that actually does give you the body composition metrics. Unfortunately, my previous scales had this feature, but it rarely worked. Thankfully, the body composition features work amazingly on a new scale. I love the interface with the phone. Albeit I still don’t like the numbers it’s throwing back at me. Perhaps the best part of this scale is that it gives you the weather forecast when you weigh yourself. Alas, not only does this scale give me my body composition, but it also gives me the weather forecast. Fortunately, I live in Florida, so the weather is always nice. Finally, a scale that gives me some good news! This good news is a welcome addition to my daily weigh-in.
In more good news, my foot is feeling much better. In fact, I was able to run yesterday and today. Moreover, the foot is still feeling pretty, pretty good. In an abundance of caution, I backed off the tempo a bit for today’s HIIT run. Naturally, I’ll have to see how the foot is feeling tomorrow before my tempo run. I’m hoping to run outside this weekend. The weather has been pretty good with the humidity lower and lower temperatures in the morning. Of course, I’ll have to wake up early enough to get the run in before it gets too hot for Athena. Hopefully, my foot will be in running condition.
In addition to the run, I did get in my BBG workout. Today’s arm workout kicked my butt. First of all, I’m happy to report that I didn’t suck at jumping rope today. However, I did completely suck at lay down push-ups and half burpee. Truly, both of those moves are complete torture. In the end, I was struggling with the intensity because I didn’t break my fast before the workout. Moreover, I started the workout a bit later in the morning, which didn’t help at all. Nonetheless, I burned nearly 500 calories while getting strong. There is no doubt that I’ll be feeling it in my shoulders and arms tomorrow. Jen’s Gentle Flow class will feel so good on my body tomorrow. I cannot wait!
As for the rest of my day, I had a job interview scheduled, but they didn’t show up. It’s just as well because after further thought the position isn’t a good fit. After my last corporate experience, I’m not taking any chances on positions or companies. Nonetheless, I got to put on some eye makeup and felt fancy for an hour or so. Afterward, I was hanging out with the puppies on the couch. I love watching them play together. They have so much fun running around together. In fact, Anakin has really been able to draw out the puppy in Maya. However, he is also able to draw out her grumpy old lady side with as much ease. Needless to say, I’m lucky to be able to spend my time with the boys and our puppies.
Usually the hubby grills on Wednesdays, but since he had driven from Dade to north Palm Beach County, I cooked tonight. I’m not a grill master, but that’s okay because the stores have been out of the steaks we like lately. Instead, I cooked a HelloFresh meal. For the first time, I cooked duck breasts, which were easy to cook. Tonight’s dinner was cherry ancho duck breasts with rice and roasted green beans. Since my dogs love duck, two of them are black lab mixes, I saved the rendered fat to add to their food tonight. The cherry ancho sauce was the perfect complement to the duck and the white rice with pistachios. Truly, it was amazing! The hubby, Goalielocks and I really enjoyed it. The Mayor, however, would not try it. One of the best things about the duck is it is rich, which makes it difficult to overindulge.
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It was a fruitful Monday for me. So much so that I even notice my cell provider’s service went down. Fortunately, I was able to capitalize on the pause (aka lack of distractions) and re-organize and file all of our paperwork. It was a long overdue project, but I’m super excited that I knocked it lit today while watching Wuthering Heights. I absolutely loved the book and the miniseries didn’t disappoint. They skipped over a lot, so I’d be curious to see a longer interpretation would treat the story.
My Monday started off like most others although I had a stowaway in bed. Unfortunately, the Mayor learned last night/early this morning that eating a full bag of Takis before bed is a bad idea. Thankfully, he’s a much calmer sleeper than he used to be and didn’t punch or kick me at all. After taking the dogs out, I enjoyed my coffee while reviewing my emails, news and social media. It’s a nice time to connect before I go into yoga and disconnect for a few hours.
Today’s yoga class was a gentle flow with Monica. It’s a nice, chill class that’s great for warming up the body before doing BBG. Obviously, the shavasana is the best part of the class, especially in Monica’s classes. It’s so good! Naturally, it’s a bit tougher at home with the distraction. As always, kids tend to have the best timing. Consequently, if they “need”to order food or anything, they’ll interrupt shavasana to ask me. In fact, it happened today when the Mayor asked if he could order Chipotle via the newly downloaded door dash app on his phone. Of course, since I had to pay zilch, I approved the takeout.
Post yoga, I broke my fast with a banana and some almonds. Since the banana was quite large, I split it with the puppies. It’s their new favorite treat. Afterwards, I headed back into our room for BBG leg day. As always, it was a killer. This week there was a new exercise – I loved it. It was a a forearm plank with leg lifts. Truly, it was challenging, but it makes your engage almost every muscle in your body. Per usual, the lay down burpees kicked my arse. Consequently, I will be sore tomorrow. Fortunately, my foot feels much better today.
Tonight I made dinner, while the hubby ran to Home Depot. On the menu this evening was smoky chicken with creamy cilantro sauce and farro. This dinner came to us via Blue Apron and their weight watcher approved meals. Accordingly, the meal only had 510 calories, which is pretty good for a meal kit. The recipe was easy to follow and quick. Importantly, it was also really tasty. Naturally, the boys didn’t love the farro with the zucchini and arugula, so I’m looking forward to enjoying it for lunch tomorrow. Lastly, our phone service is still down so if you try to call it will ring, but won’t connect.
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It’s a two for one sale here at hockey mom did. That’s right folks two blogs in one day. Since I have no good excuse, outside of poor planning on my part, for missing my post yesterday: it’s only fair that I write two today. After all, it’s not like I did much of anything today. In fact, I slept late, kept off my foot and cuddled with my puppies. It was a great day.
Actually, my foot feels a lot better today, but I felt it prudent to hold off running for a bit longer. I’ll try my luck on Tuesday, which is a normal run day for me. Naturally, it’s good to take your foot off the pedal some time. This is especially true for those of us that suffer from autoimmune diseases. Too much stress on the body be it from exercise or other external forces can lead to a flare up that will set me back further. Consequently, I have to be more flexible in my mindset. In fact, I have to accept that some days the healthiest choice for my body is to rest. Honestly, it feels so odd saying it because I’m used to pushing myself to limits.
We finished off Seinfeld today. I think I like the finale better now than I did when it first aired. As for my Hubby, he still thinks it’s an abomination. Nonetheless, the show hasn’t lost its relevance or its hilarity. I’ll probably rewatch it again and then binge watch Curb. Maybe the second or third time my boys see it, they’ll start to understand it’s genius. We followed up the Seinfeld, with some It’a Always Sunny. These are the perfect shows to have in the background as you’re getting work done. Moreover, they keep me awake when I need to be productive, but would rather be taking a siesta.
This evening I cooked the family a Thai inspired tilapia meal courtesy of Blue Apron. Honestly, I was surprised that both boys tried it with an open mind and little rancor. Ultimately, the Mayor liked it while Goalielocks did not. Although Goalielocks ate way more of this fish than I had expected. Also, he didn’t make a spectacle when he didn’t like the flavor, which has been the hallmark of my Mayor this week. As for me, I really liked the spice of the fish with the sushi rice and green beans. Ultimately, it’s been fun trying a bunch of different recipes through these services.
Oh boy, I missed a day blogging and I can’t even blame it on margaritas. Instead I’ll blame it on good conversations and great company. Nonetheless, I missed a day. I spent my evening with my friend Terri. Additionally, we even FaceTimed Jake with my mom and Mel. It was super fun.
As for the rest of the day, it was pretty uneventful. My foot is still hurting quite a bit, so I rested it most of the day aside from my Vinyasa class. Unfortunately, it didn’t love some of the yoga poses, so I had to modify a couple of things to make it work. Nonetheless, I was happy to get a good workout in since I’m skipping my runs this weekend.
We watched a great video do Jake and Mel last night that had me laughing so hard. So without further ado here is Jake and Mel doing the Boyfriend Makeup challenge.
It’s finally Friday, which means absolutely nothing for except that the hubby will be home for the next two days. Additionally, I may even let myself sleep in, but we’ll see about that. My Friday began like any other with Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and some morning news. Naturally, I am never lonely during this period as the dogs are always excited to spend time with me in the mornings.
Today’s my abs and yoga day. I started a little earlier since my yoga class got moved up a half and hour. This week’s ab workout included skipping rope, which I continue to suck at. Fortunately, it’s a good way to get my heart rate up. As for the rest of the workout, I’m amazed at how much easier some of the workout are becoming. Of course, I’m sure Kayla Itsines will ramp up the workouts as the weeks progress. Needless to say, I’ll enjoy my brief respite from incompetence and inability.
Since I had teacher training this afternoon, I opted to take my yoga class via Zoom today. Fortunately, the boys only interrupted me 5-6 times and only once during shavasana. Needless to say, I was not so peaceful when asking them to leave me alone. Jen’s class was so good today! We did some great work opening up the entire body. With the new schedule, I know get 75 minutes of yoga with Jen on Thursday’s and Friday’s. Truly, it’s a great way to end the week.
Unfortunately, my yoga teacher training got cancelled today due to a family emergency. I was bummed. However, I felt rushed all morning I gotta and kind of enjoyed being able to take a break. Also, my teacher has been working non-stop since the pandemic started, so truly it was good for her to have a bit of a break. With all the stress of our current world, it’s important to take time for oneself and one’s family. Thankfully, we’ll pick up right where we left off next Friday.
Since I didn’t have yoga teacher training, I brought Goalielocks to his friends’ clubhouse to hang out with his friends. Naturally, since he goes to high school in Boca, all his friends’ live in Boca. In fact, most of us them live near his uncle’s place. They have gotten together a couple times since the state has started to reopen. However, they spend their time hanging out outside where there’s less risk of sharing the coronavirus. Also, it’s good to get him out of the house. He hadn’t left the house in weeks until he went to his friend’s clubhouse last week.
Meanwhile, I was feeling pretty bummed last night about how far backward my foot/ankle progress had gone. I’m happy to report that today was much better. Significantly, I’m not the having pain in my heal anymore. This is great news. I treaded lightly in yoga and skipped some downward dogs as it irritates the injury. Needless to say, I’m glad that it’s feeling much better today. Naturally, I’ll try it out on the treadmill tomorrow with a brief walk. If if feels okay during the warmup, I’ll log my run.
Tonight we’re chilling watching Seinfeld. My middle son doesn’t understand what’s so funny about it. In fact, he finds the show quite vexing. Obviously, he doesn’t know what he’s missing. For dinner, we had some great chicken sausage bolognese courtesy of HelloFresh. It was mighty tasty. My Mayor, who used to by my adventurous eater, has become quite picky. He didn’t want to eat the zucchini or sausage. Thankfully, he actually ate the pasta.
Last night, the hubby brought the boys down to Kendall Ice Arena for an evening skate. This was the first time the Mayor has been on the ice since the pandemic started. Naturally, it makes the most sense for us if we can get both boys on the ice at the same time. Especially if we’re driving down to Miami. Needless to say, both boys were happy to spend sometime back on the ice. The Mayor was especially happy since it was his first time back in the rink since March!
As I leave you all for the night, I’d like to renew my request for prayers for my friends. Michelle is struggling with Covid19 and is in horrific pain. Please pray that the pain will abate and that she starts to heal. My friend Sharyn and her son Jorden remain in Arizona while Jorden undergoes treatment for his injuries. He has significant pain and his mom is enduring significant stress during this time. Please pray for peace for Sharyn and healing for Jorden. Please also pray for Cole, who underwent chemo this week in his battle against osteosarcoma. All of your prayers are appreciated!
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As I write this, I’m sitting next to my dreaming Piggie, who must be dreaming based on her leg movement. After all, she had a busy day protecting Anakin from Maya. Before we added Anakin to the household, she was obsessed with chasing lizards. Now she’s obsessed with Anakin and making sure he doesn’t pay more attention to Maya. While she dreams away, the hubby and I are binge watching Seinfeld. Anakin must be having his own dreams since he’s barking in his sleep.
Wednesdays are busy since I double up my workout with the BBG arms and an interval runs. Usually, I do the BBG workout in the morning and then do the run in the early evening. Today was no exception. Undoubtedly, lay down half burpees are all together awful. I’d rather do a full burpee. However, aside from those damn half burpees, the workout went really well. Hopefully, my weight loss efforts will soon mirror my workout and diet efforts. Once they do, I’ll be golden!
Today’s high interval run was a doozy. I do fifteen minutes of intervals followed by seven minute run with a gradually declined speed. As for the intervals, I did five at 7, 7.5 and 8 mph respectively. Basically, the intervals at 7 mph were easy. Comparatively, the intervals at 8 mph were very challenging, but lively. As for the 7.5 mph, I’ve been inured to them. I kid, I kid, they’re not woefully unpleasant. However, I am getting used to the tempo.
I spent the rest of the day working on my website and hanging out with the puppies. Clearly, it’s a hard knock life for my and my dogs. Naturally, I avoided Facebook as much as possible since people have lost all logic and reason. If you want to spend your day buried in hate, Facebook is the place for you. If you want to spend your day sorting through unqualified and illogical garbage, Facebook is the place for you. However, if you want peace and happiness, log off and give yourself a break from the toxicity that Facebook has become.
Instead of spending my time on Facebook or social media in general, I’m trying to spend my time being productive adding new skills and improving my blog. Moreover, I’ve established non-negotiable that must happen daily to maintain and improve my health. These include exercise, meditation, not eating gluten, writing my blog and reading every day. Unfortunately, autoimmune thyroid disease predisposes needs to bone and muscle loss and loss of functionality in my tendons and ligaments. Consequently, it’s important for me to stay physically active. What are your daily non-negotiable?
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Today is one of those days I’m really missing my airmen. Albeit, today was a good day. It’s just one of those day’s that I would have loved being able to see his face and give him a hug. Being a military mom is hard sometimes, especially when you don’t know when you’ll see your airmen next. Fortunately, I am blessed with the knowledge that my airmen is happy and thriving in his new role.
I actually got an early start to the day since I didn’t snooze my alarm. Consequently, there were no lakes in any of the puppies’ crates. Early on in the day it was evident that leg day was super effective. Naturally, my Tuesday runs tend to be more difficult as my muscles are sore from the previous day’s workout. Nonetheless, I powered through and logged another 2.7 miles on the treadmill. Of course, I was enjoying the musical stylings of Metallica while taking in the comedic antics of Larry David.
Afterward, I headed to the studio for my favorite yoga class of the week. In fact, it was even better this week as my friend Pam was back in class. Yay!!!! My legs and hips were quite fatigued from the run and the work yesterday, but the yoga did a body good. Right before class started my girlfriend Pam, who hasn’t seen me since the Covid19 shut down, told me how fit looked. Clearly, there can be no doubt: the BBG plan, running and yoga classes are working!
I spent my afternoon in the company of one of my favorite people – Terri. Initially, we were going to go to Starbucks, but since there is not eating available we decided against it. Consequently, we ended up sharing an appetizer of vegetables with hummus and tzatziki at the Greek restaurant next door. First of all, it was nice to be eating in a restaurant (even if we were the only ones there.). Secondly, the food was very tasty and healthy! Lastly and most importantly, the time was spent in great company. Truly, it was a wonderful afternoon.
We both have the honor and distinction of being military moms. Terri’s son has been in for several years now, so she’s a pro. Consequently, she and her hubby have been great resources for the hubby and I as we embark on this new chapter of our lives. Moreover, she understands what it’s like to not be able to see your child for extended periods of time or worry about where they’ll be stationed. At the end of the day, however, what’s most important is the pride we both have for our children that serve. Nonetheless, I would love to see my airmen soon!
Meanwhile at the homestead, the Mayor continues to get non-stop, round the clock FaceTime calls. Since we share an Apple ID, our phones don’t stop running. It’s driving my nuts. As for Goalielocks, he’s been hanging out with his school friends tonight. Since the virus shut things down, this is only the second time he’s been able to see his friends. Additionally, instead of hanging out at someone’s house, they’ve been meeting at the courts and pool instead. This way they’re outside and not in close quarters.
*Dropped Goalielocks off at his friend’s clubhouse in Boca.
*Cooked a super yummy dinner courtesy of our friends at Blue Apron
*Week 4 BBG 2.0 day 2 cardio – run, Forest run
*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena out for dinner
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Here comes the sun, doo-dun-doo-doo. You sang that first line, didn’t you? I knew it because I totally did. As the title suggests, we finally saw the sun today!!! Yay! Can we get a hurrah for the natural provider of vitamin D? It seems like a year since we last saw the son in 2020. Mostly because each week of 2020 seems to be taking a year. Anyway, the sun has me in a Beatles inspired mood.
Speaking of which, my morning got off to a late start. I was going to wake up early to go for a walk, but my stomach was not feeling it. Clearly, I can’t afford to be non-compliant with a gluten free diet. Unfortunately, it means I really can’t eat it at all. Needless to say, I ended up sleeping later that anticipated, which means the dogs got taken out later than normal. Consequently, poor Anakin had a lake in his crate when I woke up.
I got him out of ASAP and wiped off his feet and body with a towel. Afterwards, I took him out for a walk. Naturally, he needed a bath, which the Mayor gave him after his walk. Together we cleaned up the mess while also taking care of our other two fur babies. All three of the puppies were in great moods this morning. They love to play all together. Honestly, there is not greater gift than a dog. They love unconditionally and are always happy to see you.
Despite the rocky start to the morning, I found my zen on my mat with Monica at 10. My muscles were tired today. Not sure if it was from the hard work I did in Monica’s vinyasa class Sunday or just old age. Nonetheless, it was a good class. My legs and hips definitely needed the gentle flow today as they were quite tight this morning. The gentle flow has been a great addition to my yoga practice.
Afterwards, I took a brief snack break before launching into my BBG leg workout. Significantly, these workouts have gotten a lot easier for me. Obviously, it means I’m making some great progress. Moreover, I see a lot progress in my yoga practice due to BBG. The BBG workouts have really made me strong as I’ve become more flexible. Consequently, I have a lot more mobility now than ever before. For example, in wheel I used to have discomfort in my lower back, now I only feel a great stretch on my belly.
This afternoon, I had my yoga teacher training focusing on anatomy. Fortunately, I have a pretty good understanding on anatomy courtesy of my house full of athletes (myself included.). Afterwards, I started cooking dinner, which was shiitake hoisin burgers courtesy of Blue Apron. It was very yummy. When the fridge shutoff in the middle of the night yesterday, I grieved all the meal kits that had been spoiled. Until I realized I had most of ingredients that were spoiled in the kits in my fridge. The only thing I had to buy was the meat. We also grilled some steaks since I accidentally got the meal kit for two this week. Whoops!
*Cooked a super yummy dinner courtesy of our friends at Blue Apron
*Week 4 BBG 2.0 day 1 leg day
*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena out for dinner
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