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Hazards of Being a Boy Mom 306

From the gross files, let me bring you hazards of being a boy mom 306.  As you may have guessed, my younger boys love animals.  They love their dogs, fish, lizards, guinea pigs, amphibians, birds and pretty much everything except for cats.  We’re now the proud owners of a bearded dragon (Iris), two veiled chameleons (Kenny and Ringo) and a basilisk name Yeezus.  Sadly, our basilisk named Cheez-its escaped.  Nonetheless, this healthy menagerie of reptiles goes through a lot of crickets and super worms.  Don’t let the name fool you, there’s nothing super about them.

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Goalielocks is an industrious child and always has been.  Since he’ll soon have to bear the burden of paying for the super worms and crickets, he started a super worm farm.  Originally, he started this worm farm in his bait boxes on the patio.  This was a good arrangement since I didn’t have to see it.

Well, all good things come to an end.  I should not have been surprised when the worm farm made it into a tupperware bin on my kitchen island.  Given his droll humor, at first I thought he was playing a joke on me.  However, it appears he’s hoping to keep it in the house.  Yeah, about that…  That arrangement will be ending soon.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Things Found in a Kitchen

As I asked my hubby what I was looking at and he confirmed my fears.  It was indeed a worm farm on my kitchen island.  I had to laugh.  Only a boy mom would have to contend with a worm farm in their kitchen.  I also had flashbacks to the movie Dumb and Dumber and Lloyd and their worm farm aspirations.

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The worm farm is slightly less gross than Goalielocks’ attempt to recreate the amber from Jurrasic park with a gatorade lid, a dead gecko and some Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup.  Moreover, I’m super happy that the hubby was the one that discovered their experiment and not me.  As soon as I found, I couldn’t stop laughing.  I reminded Goalielocks and the Mayor that Mrs. Butterworth isn’t actual tree sap as it is artificially flavored.  Goaelielocks’ eyes lit up as he realized he could use my maple syrup from Canada. I immediately told them they were not to touch my real maple syrup.  They sighed and walked away. Oh life with boys is never dull!

Tonight’s song in honor of the Mayor ,who will happily tell you that the Beastie Boys are always on vacation, is “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys.

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Honk If You’re Thankful

Honk if you’re thankful!  Judging from the sounds of my morning and evening commutes, S. Florida drivers are super thankful.  Who knew that it was gratitude driving this behavior not anger issues or self importance as I had thought.  I wanted to share with you one of my favorite Debbie stories tonight.

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Let me take you back to last winter.   Our boys had home games early.  The hubby picked up John and TK and bring them to the rink  for warm-ups.  Debbie and I didn’t need to be there an hour early. Consequently,  she picked me up an hour later.  She was even kind enough to stop at Dunkin’, so I could get my coffee fix.  On our drive to the rink, we talked about things she wanted to do in the near future.  She was headed North to New York to visit family and ski, but she wanted to go to Iceland to see the Northern lights.

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It was then that she dropped it on me.  Debbie had decided that she wanted me to take her to a rave in Miami.  Keep in mind, this was probably a week or two after the devastating fire at a rave in San Francisco that had killed 36 people.  Not to mention, raves in Miami aren’t known to be held in the safest locations or be the safest events.

I looked her and asked if she was serious and/or crazy, she was in fact quite serious.  As I’m digesting this request, it dawns on me that Debbie determined that I might just be the hockey mom crazy enough to take her to a rave.  Sadly, and I hate to disappoint people here, even I am not that crazy.   We started talking it through and I told her that likely we’d both end up dead if we went to a rave in Miami.  Can you imagine two hockey moms at a rave with glow in the dark pacifiers?  I mean, can you?

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Rather than head to a rave, I suggested we try going to Ultra or WMC in Miami.  The atmosphere would be similar, but more controlled than a warehouse rave.  Debbie started looking to possible DJ shows we could hit too, but that pesky hockey schedule kept getting in the way.  As it turns out, WMC and Ultra were scheduled on spring break when Debbie and the family were going to be out of town.

One of the things that struck me most in our conversation was the fact that Debbie and her family had been planning things in three month windows.  Debbie and John, throughout Deb’s illness, were both so inspiring in their attitudes and approach to life.  In that  moment, it struck me like a ton of bricks.  While we all plan our lives in days, months and years, they had been planning their life around an illness for almost two years.  Just when you think you’re inspired by people, they blow you away with their amazingness in a whole new way.

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On the heels of the boys’ state tournament, we received the devastating news.  Debbie’s doctors were admitting her to hospice.  Incomprehensibly, Debbie’s doctors determined that she had exhausted all treatment options.  It bothers me that Debbie and I never got to SoBe to enjoy a dance party, but I know she’s dancing in heaven.  The lesson here is don’t wait to pursue your passions or your bucket list trips – go for it now.  And of course, honk if you’re thankful.

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Lastly, tonight is the deadline for online registration for the Purple Stride event.  If you’re thinking about participating, it’s go time.  There is no deadline for online donations to the team.  However, donations received after Friday will not be applied to the team total.  You can join the team or donate here Support Team Deb Force Five!  You can also cheer us on Sunday at FAU.  The race starts at 8:30 am.

Tonight’s song is one of my favorites from Swedish House Mafia “Don’t You Worry Child.” At their peek, the group spent most of their time providing the soundtrack in SoBe.  I hope you enjoy the song!

 

Daily Prompt: honk

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Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Weather

Its my first time participating in Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge and the topic is weather.  I chose this beautiful picture from Quebec City in 2016.  We were there for Peewee Quebec.  Consequently, on one of our last days in the city, our boys were playing the Islanders in an outdoor scrimmage.  As they played hockey outside, they were blanketed by the freshly fallen snow.  The snowfall was the nice, wet and heavy snow that is perfect for making snowballs and snowmen.

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My Manic Monday

While last night’s blog was dedicated to my favorite riffs, I could have very easily written about my manic Monday.  Queue the Bangles song here please.  From the very beginning of the day, and I do mean the very beginning, I had a dubious feeling about they day.

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My Monday started as the clock struck midnight and Goalielocks woke me up.  Sadly, he was unable to fall asleep and was quite listless. His shoulder was bothering him and he had reached that point of sleep frustration where nothing was going to help.  Consequently, the poor kid only got a few hours of sleep when the alarms went off for school six hours later.

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Since Goalielocks had gotten no sleep, I made the wise decision to let him stay home and sleep.  The last thing we need is for him to be overtired all week and get sick.  Unfortunately, when he gets sick, he gets really sick.  Thankfully, he doesn’t get sick often and I wasn’t about to chance it this week.  He walked in a zombie like state to my bathroom and I sent him back to work.  For once, he quickly complied with my directive.

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Meanwhile, I still had to get ready for work and get the Mayor to the bus stop in time.  I failed.  Oh it was going to be one of those Mondays.  Sadly, the Mayor missed his bus and I had to drive him to southwest Boca for school  While his school is much closer to my work, the commute from his school to my  work is longer than my normal commute. Ugh!

All day Monday, it was one thing after another.  Nothing went right and seemingly everything was going wrong.  As I worked, I got an urgent call from Goalielocks at 3:30 pm.  Goalielocks was concerned that I had forgotten him this morning. Meanwhile, did you notice how he waited to ask in the late afternoon when it would have been too late for me to take him to school?  I did.  I chuckled and reminded him that I told him to go back to bed since he literally got no sleep the night before.  Keep in mind, I had spoken with him via text several times that day, but he never brought it up until he called me.

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When my work day finally ended, I had hoped the commute home would provide a respite.  Oh boy was I wrong.  I pulled up my Waze and kept looking for routes, but the commute got longer and longer with each refresh.  Noticing the extremely long commute, I called my hubby to let him know.  Unfortunately, he hadn’t left the job yet, so there was no way the Mayor was gonna make it to hockey practice last night.

 

Meanwhile, my drive took an hour and forty minutes.  It usually takes between 30-35 minutes for me to get home.  Oh what a little rain and snowbirds can do to one’s commute.   Honestly, driving in S. Florida is one of the most aggravating experiences one can have.  As I was literally parked on the turnpike, I noticed several drivers that felt the shoulder had become their new lane.  The fact that S. Florida drivers are that selfish, self-important and reckless is beyond aggravating.  If someone had been changing their tire or working on their car, they would have been killed.  I cant even with these people.  You see that?  They totally bring out my inner 13 year old girl.

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Fortunately, my night ended on a high note literally. I spent it writing my blog about my favorite riffs, cuddling with my boys and researching salt water tanks with Goalielocks.  Then I went to bed and shortly thereafter my hubby and Jake got home from their beer league hockey game. Before going to bed, I had sent Jake my blog link to get his opinion on my favorite riffs.  He’s a complete music aficionado, so I was both excited and nervous to get his credit.  When he came into my room to tell me good night, he told me I did a great job and that made my night.  I love my boys.  I have so much gratitude for my boys and their love.  I’m quite lucky.

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Before I leave you with my music video of the night, I wanted to be sure everyone in the blogosphere, Facebook, and Twitterverse are aware that tomorrow is the last day to register online for the Purple Stride event.  If you’re not local to S. Florida or can’t participate, that’s okay as you can support the team with your donation.  Presently, we’re over $3,000 away from our fundraising goal.  Here’s the link: Team Deb Force Five

Tonight’s song comes to us courtesy of the Bangles.  Enjoy “Manic Monday!”

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My Favorite Riffs

When I saw the daily prompt  I was super excited to write about my favorite riffs.  I love music!  Undoubtedly, music plays an important role in my life.  It truly makes my world go round.  Unquestionably, my dad was a huge influence on my musical taste, which you’ll see in the list below.  For this list, I’ve put them in no specific order.  Moreover, while I’m not writing specifically about guitar riffs, I think you’ll find guitar riffs are heavily favored in my list.

Here’s a list of my favorite riffs (in no particular order) to include the music video where available:

15.  Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne

14. Revolution by The Beatles

13. Enter Sandman by Metallica

12. Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N’ Rose

11.  Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

10.  Machinehead by Bush

9.  You Shook Me All Night Long

8.  Day Tripper by the Beatles

7. Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes

6.  Sunshine of Your Love by Cream

5.  Walk This Way by Aerosmith

4.  Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin

3.  Zombie by the Cranberries

2.   Back in Black by AC/DC

1.  Layla by Eric Clapton

 

There you have it, my short list of my favorite riffs.  Not surprisingly, I have many of these songs on both my hockey and my 5k playlist.  Are any of these songs on your playlist?  If so, which ones?  If not, what’s on your list of favorite riffs?

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Hockey Culture

One of my favorite aspects of hockey culture is the commitment of older players to encouraging and mentor the younger players.  It manifest in a number of ways.  When Marty St. Louis played for the Lightning, his son played travel hockey here in Florida.  There were a number of tournaments we attended that when he was there, he’d offer his encouragement to our boys.  As loud as these hockey players are the minute an NHLer walks in the room, you could hear crickets.

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You may recall from my blog a couple weeks ago that Goalielocks had skate courtesy of a professional rehabbing here in Florida.  Well, today was our boys turn.  Goalielocks’ team was offered the opportunity to volunteer at the Panthers’ Learn to Skate program that is being hosted at our rink.  Goalielocks equipment was still in the truck, so he helped them set up.  Meanwhile, the Mayor was more than happy to go out on the ice and help.

Dressed in their black tracksuits, the Mayor, his friend Justin and a handful of Goalielocks’ teammates took to the ice for learn to play.  We watched from the glass fondly recalling how they were all that little once.  By comparison to the learn to play kids, even my Mayor looked gargantuan.  Our bantams looked like giants next to these little players.

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Unquestionably, these boys are tough on the ice. Most of them visit me in the box at least once a game (my Mayor included.) Nonetheless today on the ice, they were gentle giants.  It was awesome watching them help the up and coming hockey players throughout the hour.  As tough as they can be, they were patient, caring coaches.  For my boys, it was a rewarding experience.  As we left the rink, they were excited to return next week to help coach.

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Post learn to play, I got my second coffee of the day from Dunkin’ before heading to the pet store.  Our first stop was a Tanks A Lot, which sells aquarium and a wide array of marine life.  For my boys, it was like a candy shop.  This store had everything from sea horses (I want one) to two different shark species.  Unquestionably, my boys wanted to take home both of the sharks.  Unfortunately, we don’t have an aquarium large enough to house the sharks.

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After our trips to the pet store, we headed home for Goalielocks to setup his new aquarium.  He got several small fish to cycle the thank.  Meanwhile, I was hoping to run, but the weather and my hamstrings were not cooperating.   Instead I chose to cuddle on the couch with the Mayor and watch the Office.  It was a solid choice.  Nonetheless, it also means I’ll have to run more miles tomorrow.

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Lastly, we’re seven days out from the Broward Palm Beach Purple Stride and still $3,500 away from our fundraising goal.  While it looks doubtful that I’ll be logging a PR at this race, due to poor preparations, I do not want to fall short of my fundraising goal.  If you’re in S. Florida, join us at the event.  If you’re not local to S. Florida, please consider donating to Team Deb Force Five.  You can join the team or donate to the team via this link:  Team Deb Force Five.

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Tonight’s song is a flashback to the 80’s.  It’s also one of my kids’ favorite song after it was featured on Family Guy.  Enjoy Toto’s “Africa.”

 

 

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Saturday with the Mayor

While hubby and Goalielocks headed to Orlando for hockey, I️ spent my Saturday with the Mayor. After a long week of activities at work, I️ needed a low key day. What better way to spend it than with my Mayor.

I️ started my day at Burn with the Circuit Burn class with Amanda and a traditional yoga class with Kelly. I️ was bummed aerial was cancelled today, but it’s always good to hit my mat. Not surprisingly, the combination of circuit training and yoga is a great pairing that works your entire body in a variety of ways.

I had to run to Dick’s today to exchange my shoes.  I had purchased a new pair of running shoes a couple of weeks ago.  Since I had been experiencing some shin pain followed by a cold, I didn’t open the box until this week.  Apparently, a size 7 in the UK is not equitable to a size 7 in the US.  Whoops! You can imagine my surprise as I went to lace up my new kicks and they were way too big.  Lesson learned! 

Thankfully, Dick’s had the Kayano 24’s in stock in my actual size.  I should also say they make exchanging or returning items very easy.  I really enjoy shopping there.  Admittedly, I’m completely addicted to Carrie Underwood’s line of active wear, but I digress.   Finally, after finishing my errands with the Mayor, I️ logged a 2.5 mile run. Undoubtedly the Purple Stride event is going to kick my butt next week. I️ am so not ready for it! Nonetheless, I️’ll be logging miles all week in preparation for next Sunday.

Presently, I’m relaxing at Sports Clips while the Mayor enjoys a shampoo, cut and massage. It’s good to be the Mayor! Thankfully, mom isn’t a neophyte when it comes to boys’ haircuts, so he didn’t get too closely shaven. A nice number 3 in back and a cut on top has him looking quite dapper!

Tonight’s song comes courtesy of REM.  Lil’ D and Chuckles inspired tonight’s song “Shiny Happy People.”

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Friday Afternoon Bowling

Today I spent my Friday afternoon bowling at a team building event for one of our business partners.  On the heels of yesterday’s BBQ for our team, bowling and building relationships with our business partners was awesome.  Truly,  I spent a good part of my week building relationships and on employee engagement.  Is there anything better?

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Unequivocally, one of the things I love about my job is the people I work with.  Some are on my team, but many work across the organization in the departments we work with daily.  Silos are the greatest danger to any organization.  Make it your mission to remove silos from our place of employment.  Make it your mission to make positive relationships with the people that support your department, but may work outside of it.

 

That’s all I have for career/work advice tonight.  Let’s talk about the bowling.  I’m awful.   Truly I don’t have enough fingers on my hand to count the gutter balls I threw today.  Consequently, during our second game I switched to bowling from my left hand.  The first ball I threw left handed resulted in (gulp) a gutter ball.  I promptly followed it up with a right handed spare.   Thereafter, I alternated between the hands in resulted in a score that was double my second game.

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In fact, in game two I even led for a moment.  Albeit a brief moment.  For that brief moment between the 2nd and 3rd frame of game 2, I was in the lead.  Since this never happens, I simply had to take a picture of my amazing accomplishment.  Unfortunately, I followed it up with some more gutter balls before netting another spare and two strikes.  You can only imagine the awesomeness of my post-strike strut.

My AD and I had joined the white team.  There were five teams and we rocked it.  As sure as I was that I would torpedo the team, we killed it.  We had a blast!  It was such a great opportunity to meet new  people, connect with those we know and build positive relationships.  While I will never become a professional bowler (cue the small violin here,) I look forward to my next bowling trip my colleagues.  Special thanks to our friends TE and NM for the invite.

Tonight’s song “Smooth” by Santana ft. Rob Thomas.

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Serving Others

Today was all about serving others – literally.  As a thank you to our staff and business partners, we threw a BBQ for our entire South Florida team.   While this wasn’t our first rodeo, it was our third, our last two BBQs have been for a team of 40-50.  Comparatively, today’s BBQ was for a paltry 450 people! For the majority of the team, leadership included, this was their first offsite BBQ.

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Our day started early with a trip to Sam’s to pick up the food we had pre-ordered.  While MK and I got the food, the rest of our crew headed to the park to start the grills.  In order to serve by noon, we started grilling at 10.  Our chefs, as always, were fantastic. When I finally got a chance to eat a burger, it was incredible.  By the time our teams showed up to eat, we were more than ready to go.

For the next three hours, my team and I served our employees burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers.  It was an amazing opportunity for us to interact with our teams and build new relationships on our expanded team.  We spent the entirety of our day preparing for the BBQ, executing and cleaning up the park.  Unquestionably, it is hard for us to be away from the laptops for extended periods of time, but it is worth it to serve our teams.

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Some leaders fall into the trap of getting caught up in titles and even self -importance.  True leadership, however, is about serving those that report to you.  I privileged to be part of a team that espouses the servant leadership philosophy.  After I left the insurance industry years ago, I never wanted to be in a leadership position again.  Surprisingly, here I am in a leadership position again.  What drew me back into the leadership role was the commitment to servant leadership.

Today was an exhausting, but rewarding day.  The opportunity to meet and celebrate the people that make an organization successful was amazing.  I look forward to our next event celebrating the team’s success and our employees.  In the interim, I remain grateful for the opportunity to serve my team as a servant leader.

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Lastly, I’ve been handling my iPhone X gingerly, so as to not drop it.  I’m acclimated slowly to the major changes on the phone.  Truly, the facial recognition piece is amazing. Once I’ve gotten accustom to it, I will post my review here.  

Tonight’s song: “Mr. Jones”  I’m totally on a 90s music kick this week.  Can you tell?  What’s your favorite 90s tune?

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Dancin’ in the Rain

Is there anything more cathartic than dancin’ in the rain? I tend to think not.  In all actuality, now that I live in a place where the rain is warm, I don’t even mind dancing in the real rain.  There’s no mystery to why I teach Zumba several week nights.  First, it helps cover the boys expensive hockey habit.  Secondly, and most importantly, it is my sanity keeper.  Even when I’ve had the worst day at work, I leave my Zumba class refreshed, happy and ready to take on the world.

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Dance has magical properties that lifts burdens from our shoulders.  I see it in my Zumba students and myself.  At the start of class, we all look a little more serious and stressed than we do at the end.  To be clear it isn’t only dance that achieves this, however, dancing in my mind is a lot more fun running.  Whatever gets you moving and gets your endorphins pumping will put you in a good space.

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So if you’re having a rough day and thinking about skipping your workout, don’t do it.  Get up and give yourself the gift of dance, running, weights, barre, hockey or whatever your workout of choice may be.  I know its super tempting to sit and binge watch Stranger Things 2, but put it off for at least a 1/2 and get moving.

“Dancin’ in the rain
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
I’m happy again!
I’m singin’ and dancin’ in the rain”