It was not an early rise for me this morning. I’ve gotten into a good rhythm of going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday since last spring. It’s actually an important part of the Calibrate program. Sleep hygiene is an integral part of living a healthy and balanced life. I’m hopeful that I can return into my normal program tomorrow. Truthfully, the late nights that started last Friday have got me off my routine.
One part of my routine that I’ve managed to maintain, despite the late nights and burgeoning cold, is my workout routine. I had such a long hiatus from working out due to my thyroid running hot. Now that I’m able to workout again and gotten back into the routine, I don’t want anything to knock me off my game. Originally I had planned to run a mile, but I was feeling good so I ended up running 1.5 miles and walking a mile. While I was working out, the boys and grandma made cookies.
Before I got to my workout, my mom, Jake and the Mayor and I ran to Target to pick up some goodies. We got lots of supplies for making cookies and pickle roll-ups. Clearly, there will be no shortage of goodies in our house over the next few weeks. I wanted to buy Arrow a cute wooly sweater, but they didn’t have his size. Consequently, I ended up getting him a cute pair of thermal pajamas. Tonight we took the grandparents down to Melly’s house to. meet the great grand birds. And now I’m headed to bed, so I can be ready for an early rise.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Sweat HIIT beginner week 2 full body workout and a 1.5 mile run
They’re here!!! That’s right Jake and my folks arrived just in time for the winter solstice tomorrow. More to the point, they’re here for the holidays! I’m so excited to have all three boys gone for a Christmas. Moreover, my parents visiting is the cherry on top! My parents flew in this afternoon, while Jake and Melly drove home from FSU. He had flown to Tally first, so she wouldn’t have to drive down by herself.
The anticipation was getting to me earlier today, so I passed the time taking portraits of the dog with my phone. Truly, portrait mode in the iPhone takes some incredible pictures. Today I was playing around with the stage lighting. It produced some super cute photos. Although to be fair, the subjects themselves were super cute. Incredibly, all three of the puppies were cooperative with the photo shoot. This rarely happens!
We ended the evening with a nice family dinner at Villa Rosana in Boca. Melody and her parents were able to join us, which was fantastic. The Mayor was quick to reserve the spot next to himself for Jake. He definitely misses having his big brother home. During dinner, the boys and Melly enjoyed each other’s company with healthy dose of laughter and riposte amongst the banter. I’m looking forward to another fun day with them tomorrow!
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Ran two miles, walked one. Restore and Refresh Restorative gifs practice via Practyce App.
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
We’re winding down the weekend with a nice quiet Sunday evening. Fortunately, Comedy Central is running a marathon of The Office tonight, which is the perfect way to relax. I mean, who doesn’t love the antics of Michael Scott and his epic movie Threat Level Midnight. While we watched The Office, Arrow went to the groomer for a bath and haircut. The groomer loves Arrow. Tonight he even picked out his own bow tie.
While the Mayor and I picked up Arrow from the groomer, the hubby started dinner. Tonight’s dinner was steakhouse pork chops with roasted potatoes and broccoli courtesy of HelloFresh. Truly, I enjoy trying new recipes and foods through HelloFresh and Blue Apron. It’s a great way to try new foods without much risk. Moreover, the cost of food through HelloFresh has been cheaper than the prices at the grocery store.
Friday night we had a late high school hockey game. Yesterday we went to Luke’s goddaughter’s birthday party. It was a bit of a last-minute deal, but it was a great time. They catered the party with Park BBQ, which was really good. My friend Hanh makes the most incredible cakes. To be honest, I’m not sure why she doesn’t make cakes full-time. Her cakes are better than any cake you’d find in a bakery. She’s so talented!
I had a blast playing with Ava and her mermaid. We ran around the house for a good hour or two, while everyone else watch the Panthers game or played cards. Fortunately, I was able to distract her long enough that mom could grab a shower. Three is such a fun age, but when you’re the parent of a three-year-old it can be exhausting. Being an aunt, however, is so much fun.
We ended up staying out much later than anticipated. I mean two late days in a row knocks me off my ass. To be fair, I define late at this stage of my life as 10:30. Nonetheless, I’m not great when I deviate from my routine. I think the late nights combined with the weather resulted in the massive sinus headache I’ve had since yesterday. I took some prednisone this afternoon, so hopefully, my sinuses will open up. Originally, I had planned to run two miles today, but the headache sidelined those plans. Consequently, I’m taking an extended break from my running.
Despite the sinus headache, I still managed to have a petty productive morning. I got the pantry and countertops cleaned off this afternoon. The kitchen, less the top of the island, is looking pretty good. My Christmas decorations have been put out. I love my Juleniss, or as we call them here Christmas gnomes. They’re super cute. I still have to decorate the tree and hang the God Jul sign, but I have plenty of time to finish those tasks. And now I’m going to finish winding down the weekend with a nice, steamy shower and a soothing restorative yoga practice. Happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish friends!
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!
It’s the last day of the work week and my last day of work until 2023. Can I get an amen? Or maybe even a hallelujah? The week has been long as the business has been slow. Everyone that knows me well knows that I need to be busy. Idleness is not my friend. My hope for 2023 is that business goes back to booming as it did in 2021 and early 2022. We shall see. If it stays slow, I guess that will give me ample time and no excuses to not maintain the blog. Since AEP ended, our hours have been glorious. At present, I’m working a 9:00-4:00 pm shift, which is delightful. Hopefully, they’ll cut us loose early as it’s dead. I am not opposed to starting my vacation early.
As we move into the final weeks of 2022, I can’t help but be circumspect over the year that has been 2022. It began for me by bringing in the vicissitude that began in the fall of 2021. To be frank, the end of 2021 and all of 2022 has been hellacious for me. I have found myself in circumstances that one would think only exist in the movies. I mean, honestly, the shit that I have endured can’t be non-fiction. Yet here I am in the muck that is my life. Fortunately, I am one resilient bitch. And like a griffin rising from the ashes, I fully intend to make 2023 my year and reclaim my life.
To be fair, 2022 was not all negative. I have a lot of wonderful things going on in my life. My eldest made it home safely from deployment and continues to thrive in his role. Meanwhile, Goalielocks graduated high school and the Mayor continued to kill it at the rink. Throughout the year, I found myself in Savannah, Charleston, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Utah. Each of these trips was completely and utterly delightful. All three were a complete indulgence of my love of all things travel. For the first time, I went on a nature-oriented excursion and actually saw nature. Whereas usually, I go on a tour that sees nothing and only hears about what the tour before us saw. I cannot tell you how much peace kayaking through waters shared with baby sea turtles and baby sharks can bring a person. It was an absolutely beautiful experience.
When I look back on 2022, I have no doubt that it will reflect a period of transition in my life. Undoubtedly, transitions are not always easy, but changes like death and taxes are a constant of life. For the first time in years, I feel healthy. It has been a long journey back from my diagnosis of Graves Disease. Significantly, it is something I will always contend with, but it feels good to feel normal again. More than that it feels amazing to have shed all of the weight I gained post-RAI (radioactive iodine treatment.). It only took four years, but sometimes losing weight the right way takes time. Lastly, I could not be more proud of my boys. They have grown into emotionally intelligent, mature, and caring men. I’m one proud mama.
It’s not Friday and that’s a double bummer. I still have one more day to work this week. And two, I have one more work day between me and two weeks of vacation. By vacation, of course, I mean staycation. The weather here in South Florida has been and will continue to be glorious through the holidays. Undoubtedly, my parents will enjoy the reprieve from the winter wonderland that is Minnesota. Jake will also enjoy the weather since his base has faced a number of large winter storms already this winter season.
Speaking of Jake, he made it to Tallahassee last night. He’ll be staying there with Melody until she’s completed her finals. Once the finals and work are done, they’ll drive home together for the Christmas holiday. I’m so glad they’re making the drive together. It’s a long drive for Tallahassee to South Florida, which can get awfully lonely. Moreover, I like that Melly won’t be traveling by herself. It’s not that it’s unsafe to travel here; it’s just better to travel with company.
Took a quick break while I had a call only to come back to my blog and realize it’s not Friday. Can you believe it?! It’s still freaking Friday eve. Since AEP is over, the business has moved at a tortoise’s pace. And by tortoise, I mean a baby tortoise because the amount of business I’m seeing is quite small. Nevertheless, I’ve been quite productive at home. I’ve been going through my closets to get rid of stuff. I even shampooed my carpets the other day.
Since it is slow post-AEP, my company gave us the last week of December off paid. We also can take as many days off in December as we would like. I have to say, I love working here during the holidays. My old job would suck the life out of you and send you on your merry way at like 3:00 pm on Christmas Eve. Honestly, I will never go back to working for a company that places no importance on work life
The word of the day is terete, which means cylindrical or slightly tapering without furrows or ridges.
Today’s song comes courtesy of Beyoncé’s Lemonade album.
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.
Deployment diaries – PTSD: It was just over a year ago that we said our final goodbyes to Jake in the parking lot of his local In-N-Out Burger. I can, however, feel the emotions as if it was yesterday. Understandably, I cried as we drove out of the parking lot. While saying goodbye, I tried not to cry. After all, I didn’t want my soon-to-be-deployed son worrying about his mom. He already had enough to worry about.
I can’t say that it’s ever easy to leave him, but last year it was a million times harder. There was a finality to it that comes with the great unknown of what his deployment would bring. We’ve all watched the news, and read the stories and one can’t help but worry that something similar will befall their loved one. When we left him, we left not knowing when he’d be leaving. All of those details had to remain unknown until the very last minute.
Now that he’s home and safe, the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. Nevertheless, I can’t help but reflect upon the stress of his extended deployment and the weight comes back. Suddenly world events became an insurmountable source of stress. I found myself worrying to the extreme or angry that the press ignored missiles that were launched his way. It’s an odd feeling to be both angry and worried. Moreover, it’s not an existence that one can sustain without losing their kind. I found myself having to unplug.
As we settle into the post-deployment space, I worry about him and his colleagues assimilating back into regular life. After living with a heightened sense of alarm for greater than 10 months, I can’t imagine how going back to normal must feel. In their post-deployment meetings, they did two through the stages of assimilation, which is good. Nevertheless, the specter of PTSD for anyone deployed is always present. Jake and I have talked about working through the stages and burying one’s mental and emotional health during these transitions. Fortunately, my boy has the best commanders and shop in the business. They have taken care of him better than I could have ever hoped for; for which I’m forever grateful. For now, I’ll relish having him stateside. I love it!
I wrote my deployment diaries throughout the entirety of Jake’s deployment, but ultimately only published a few of them. After all, I think the ravings of a worried mother would have eventually gotten redundant for you all. Nonetheless, writing daily whether I published them or not brought me peace. Initially, I had expected that Jake would return in time for graduation. Unfortunately, given world events that was not the case.
Finally, this summer we had hints that he’d be returning stateside. Naturally, I held my breath because I didn’t want to get too excited in case he got extended again. After all, his and now our schedule is at the mercy of the military. And then the text, we’d been waiting for finally came, he was about to take off on his return flight home. Crazily, he had to wait until this point because until the plane is rolling down the runway, the military could change their mind and make them stay.
Like the stalker mom I am, I naturally found his flight and followed it throughout the night and the next day. I may have had a slight heart attack as his plane hit a radar dead zone in the middle of the Atlantic and fell off the screen. Fortunately, his plane was not in the dead zone for long and his plane re-emerged from the dead zone, I breathed a long sigh of relief.
Unfortunately for Jake, the journey home took several days with several stops. When he finally made it home, we were overseas. Oh, the irony. Fortunately, our trip was quick. Nevertheless, I was able to fill his new apartment with groceries from the Bahamas thanks to Shipt. His friends and Sgt helped him move in. Thankfully, his girlfriend was able to get there the Monday after he returned, which was awesome. I definitely didn’t want him alone.
Finally, about a week after he returned the boys and I were able to fly out and see him. Honestly, I thought my heart was going to burst from anticipation. It was a long day of flying, but we finally got to our Airbnb at around 11:30. On the ride from the airport, we had ordered pizza. It turns out it was the worst Papa John’s pizza any of us had ever had. Nevertheless, none of that really mattered to any of us as we were all back together.
When he first pulled up, we went out to greet both him and Melly, I think I hugged Jake for a good solid ten minutes. Or at least until his younger brothers started making fun of me. Some day when they have kids they’ll understand the emotional investment and the need for a ten-minute hug. As hugs go, I’d say it was the best ever. There’s no better hug than one from your child that just returned safely from deployment. During the course of that world record-setting hug, I could feel the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. No longer did I have to carry the stress of him being in constant peril in an uncertain world.
To all our friends and family that supported us throughout his deployment, we love you and thank you dearly. Jake loved all the beautiful cards, care packages, and goodies he received while being down range. He surely felt the love. His deployment was not without its scary moments, but he also had great command and a squadron that took care of him down range. He was also able to have some fun adventures that he’ll always relish. The one thing he won’t miss is the ridiculous temperatures and humidity of the Persian Gulf. Lastly, my heart is with all the military mothers that came before me who, unlike me, didn’t have the technology to communicate with their children regularly. I can’t imagine their pain. And this will close out my deployment diaries for now.
