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IT Crowd

If you haven’t watched the IT Crowd, you’ve got to check it out. It’s on Netflix and is absolutely hilarious. Jake got us hooked on this show while he was in tech school. My favorite episode by far is “The Outing.” Honestly, it’s probably one of the funniest episodes of any show I’ve ever watched. I’m just chilling watching the show while the Mayor is at practice and Goalielocks is attending his officiating seminar.

Admittedly, I’m a bit tired today. I slept okay, but it would appear I went a little too hard on leg day. When I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, oh the glories of motherhood, it took me forever. I could have used a railing to help me sit down and get up. My quads and my hamstrings are completely shot. They’re so sore that I had to skip my run today.

I kept Goalielocks home from school again. He’s still not feeling 100%, so I didn’t want to send him to school symptomatic. His Covid test was negative, but I’m pretty sure “sharing isn’t caring” also pertains to the common cold. Nonetheless, I’m anxious to get him back into school, so he doesn’t fall too far behind. Fortunately, neither the Mayor nor the Hubby have shown any signs of illness.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m finished  Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy on Monday. Last night I started reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I skipped my run since my legs were ridiculously sore today. I did, however, complete my BBG arms/ab workout. Naturally, I feel that in skipping my run my workout today was insufficient.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with three areas of concern. Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up due to the Saharan dust cloud overhead.  

*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I drove to pick up my coffee this morning.

* Every day I watch the live Safaris on YouTube, I’m inspired. I never thought I’d be one for a safari, but the views and the animals are incredible. It’s now on my bucket list. Today was a banner day. I always love watching the young elephants or lions playing. They’re so cute!

*For dinner, I ordered Chipotle. The Mayor has practice late and Goalielocks is in a Zoom seminar until 10, so it was just more practical to order in.

*The word of the day and it is canvas. At work, I think of every day as a blank canvas. I don’t want one bad day of derail my week or month.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

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Loss

Loss seems to be the overwhelming theme of 2020 and 2021. Life naturally brings us life as we age and the people we love age with us. It sucks but it’s reality. The past eighteen months, however, has presented us with loss on a scale we’re not accustomed to. Just this week, we have lost two hockey dads to COVID. Men that were far too young to leave this earth.

It’s, of course, a lot easier for us as adults to process these losses. Which is to say it’s not easy, but we’re better equipped than our kids to handle and process the grief. For our kids, it’s not just the loss of their friend’s parent they’re trying to process, but the possibility that they could lose their parents to Covid. To a kid of any age, this is terrifying.

The sense of loss, the fear of loss remains omni present even as we’re eighteen months into this thing. Honestly, it’s exhausting. Nonetheless, you have to live your life and move forward. The boys being back in school is an important step in moving forward. Moreover, hockey has been an integral part of keeping them socially engaged and active. During this difficult time, exercise be it hockey, running or lifting weights is an easy way to help cope during this period.

In other news, it’s only Tuesday. Truly, it feels like it should be Saturday already. This week is dragging. Fortunately, I had a much better day at work today. Thank God. They say laughter is the best medicine and I wholeheartedly agree, so I’ll leave you with this.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.

*I ran a mile and a half. It in many ways sucked. Especially since it’s my first run post leg day in over two months. Leg day yesterday killed me!

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again with three areas of concern. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up due to the Saharan dust cloud overhead.

*Since Goalielocks is home sick, I drove to pick up my coffee this morning. Fortunately, Goalielocks’ Covid test came back negative! Thank God!

* Every day I watch the live Safaris on YouTube, I’m inspired. I never thought I’d be one for a safari, but the views and the animals are incredible. It’s now on my bucket list. Today was a banner day. I always love watching the young elephants or lions playing. They’re so cute!

*For dinner, I made home made meatballs and spaghetti. Tonight we tried Michael’s from Brooklyn’s tomato basil sauce. It was super yummy. As a family, we’re trying all the top jarred spaghetti sauce. The Mayor and I love spaghetti, so I thought it would be a fun activity for us.

*The word of the day and it is kakorrhaphiophobia, which means and abnormal fear of failure. I think a lot of have a fear of failure, but for most it’s not a paralyzing fear.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

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Title

The worst part of writing a blog is thinking of an adequate title. My creativity, much like my ability to make a sale today, has left the building. Consequently, you get a lazy title from me tonight. And now here I am rambling about choosing a title.

Fortunately, I wasn’t as lazy with the rest of my day as I am being with the blog tittle. While work wasn’t super productive for me today, I did work my arse off. During lunch, I ran a mile and a half and walked a mile. I thought a boost of endorphins may help on the sale sides. It didn’t. After work, I restarted Kayla Itsines High Intensity workout. Unfortunately, it showed me how out of shape I have become.

The sadness of losing one out hockey dads has been omnipresent today. It’s incredible sad and scary. My heart aches for the family that’s he’s left behind. Please continue to keep his family in your prayers. You can support the family through donation or providing a meal. Moreover, the meal train can be found here.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.

*I ran for the first time since getting sick. It felt both glorious and awful all at once. My fellow runners will understand exactly what I mean.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce. Unfortunately, their customer service and their shitty eats pass suck.

*For dinner, the I tossed some pizzas in the oven. I cooked two market pantry and one digiorno pizza. They were very good. Unsurprisingly, we have no leftovers.

*The word of the day and it is enclosed. At the present moment, the dogs are enclosed in their crates. Anakin has finished his dinner, so I’ll let him out soon. I love my puppies!

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

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Fatigue

Guys the Covid fatigue is real and it couldn’t come at a worst time. Now more that ever, however, it is important to be vigilant and protects ourselves and our families. I know I’m sick of hearing/reading about it everywhere for the last fifteen months. Honestly, I’m most sick of the assholes on Facebook that think their opinions on masks and vaccines are important. Spoiler alert they’re not. Both sides are excruciatingly vapid and sanctimonious. At the end of the day, opinions on social media do nothing but turn people off. Moreover, the only opinion that should matter to anyone is the advice of their doctor. Rant over.

Of course Covid fatigue isn’t the only type of fatigue we’re battling here. With the school year and hockey season back in full swing, we’ve accepted that we’ll be exhausted for the next ten months. This year we have practice on four of five weekdays, which is great. One day off during the week is a bit brutal, but it could be worse. Practice could be five days a week like it was several years ago.

Speaking of hockey, last night we went out to dinner with some of our favorite hockey parents. I was super excited to try the prix fixe menu for Dine Out Delray. The best part of trying the special menu is it forces me to try something I wouldn’t ordinarily order. I already knew what I was going to order before we walked in the door.

Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the expectations. We were sat outside, which is an incredibly beautiful space. Sadly, it was also as hot as Hades. It took almost an hour before anyone took even our drink order and another hour to get our drinks. The whole dinner took over three hours. In contrast, the dinner at the steakhouse with 15 people took less than 90 minutes. Moreover, there was no excuse for the slowness as the restaurant was not full. We won’t be going back.

The dining didn’t live up to expectations, but fortunately the company exceeded expectations. People think travel hockey (travel sports) parents are crazy for the amount of time and money they invest into the sport. Fortunately, the time and money has paid dividends in life experiences and friendships that will last long after our travel hockey days are done. Yeah, we do it for our kids and they benefit greatly, but so do their parents.


On a side note, I spent some time updating the blog including my awesome Savings page. Affiliate relationships help cover the costs of this blog at no cost to my readers. Several companies are running some incredible sales in August. You can see them all on the savings page.

Lastly, a prayer request. Today one of the Mayor’s teammates lost his father to Covid. Please keep his teammate and his family in your prayers. Please also protect yourself and your family as best as possible because this thing is insidious and deadly even though Covid fatigue has set in.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy. At first I wasn’t sure about the book, but now I like it. Albeit some of the plot twists have left me aghast.

*I ran for the first time since getting sick. It felt both glorious and awful all at once. My fellow runners will understand exactly what I mean.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*I actually drove to my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce. It’s always good to see my Dunkin’ crew.

*For dinner, the Hubby made Osso Bucco for dinner. Honestly, it was was amazing. Furthermore, the stew meat from Butcher Box was a big win.

*Today’s word of the day is destination. Life is a journey and we’re all headed to the same destination, so enjoy the journey.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Furthermore, he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Celebrate

Celebrate good times my friends. It is the weekend. We have waited all week, since Monday Eve, for this moment. This week has brought a mixed bag of success and weird ass people without bank accounts. I mean it’s 2021, who the freak doesn’t have a bank account or at least a prepaid debit or credit card?

Anyway, it’s the weekend and I couldn’t be happier. Tomorrow we’re having dinner with some great friends in Delray. I’m not sure if I’m more excited about the drink menu, the prix fixe menu for Dine Out Delray, or the company we’ll be keeping. Honestly, I’m most excited about the company. We’ll be having dinner with our BFFs and the Parkers, who we haven’t seen in ages.

The last decade of our life has been dominated by travel hockey and thank god. Thankfully, we’ve met so many wonderful people and formed so many awesome relationships. Over the years, the friends have become family. As much time and money as we’ve spent, it’s been well worth the investment for that reason alone. Of course, the kids have also benefited from the experience.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

*I’m still recovering from the cold. Consequently, I think took another rest day.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*Today I watched the live Safari Cam, which is always amazing. I love seeing all the animals of the African bush in real time.

*For dinner, the Hubby made steak fajitas for dinner. Honestly, they were amazing. Furthermore, the flank steak from Butcher Box was a big win.

*Today’s word of the day is resignation. Unfortunately, this afternoon I was resigned to the fact that all my leads sucked until I spoke with a very gracious gentleman from gracious. I definitely wanted to celebrate that sale!

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Furthermore, he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness


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Another Day

Another day, another dollar. That’s how the saying goes anyway. Only today wasn’t like just another day or at least the morning was not. This morning was filled with crazy, I mean crazy clients. Honestly, I run into relatively few crazies given how many calls I make on the daily. This morning brought them all out of the woodwork. Perhaps they read their calendar wrong and thought it was Friday the 13th and a full moon with Mercury in retrograde.

It’s amazing the crazy things that set folks off. On one call, the lady lost her mind over the vision network VSP. She was screaming how all the providers in their network were awful. Never mind the fact her provider was in the VSP network, but I digress. The next caller’s wife was angry that she didn’t understand her husband’s Medicare coverage. Spoiler alert she wasn’t willing to listen to any explanations. Oh the joys of sales.

Fortunately, the rest of the day was pretty awesome. Like most other days, I spent my afternoon talking to really cool and gracious people across the county. One thing I have seen day in and day out is that people were ill prepared for their retirement. Consequently, I’ve gone into my 401K to ramp up contributions five times since I’ve started this job. If you’re in your 30-50 years old, you need to ramp up your retirement savings.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.

*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today.  Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*Today I watched the live Safari Cam, which is always amazing. I love seeing all the animals of the African bush in real time.

*For dinner, the Mayor made me chili. The hubby and Goalielocks are in Miami for practice.

*Today’s word of the day is rusty relic. Okay, it’s a phrase not a word. One of my favorite rusty relics is the antique iron my great grandmother used to use.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Parenting

Parenting an adult is a completely different beast from parenting a child. It brings a whole host of issues and questions that are sometimes difficult to balance. The emotional tie, the worry doesn’t diminish when your child becomes an adult, but our role in their life does. It’s not that we disappear from their life, but we’re no longer making decisions for them. It’s a balancing act between enabling and empowering.

So why all this parenting talk? Last night as we started getting ready for bed, Jake texted that he was no stranded at DFW. They diverted his flight to Tulsa due to the weather. In the interim, American canceled his connection to Tallahassee. Unfortunately, American Airlines didn’t notify him until he landed in Dallas. This was, of course, hours after the flight had been canceled.

When I spoke with him on the phone he sounded fried. It was awful. Honestly, it sucks to be so far away when your kid is in trouble. The FAA closed the Dallas airports due to weather, so there was no possibility of him getting on a flight last night. I quickly started trying to book him a hotel at or near the airport. It took six tries as each hotel would show sold out by the time I put my information in. This mama was not about to let him sleep at the airport.

American wasn’t helpful and wasn’t forthcoming with information. After waiting for an hour, he finally got rebooked on a flight today. Moreover, they didn’t mention to him or any of his fellow passengers that the airline had already. placed their baggage on their rebooked flight. This would have been helpful to know before folks sat at baggage claim waiting for their bags. Honestly, after his experience yesterday and today, I would never fly American.

Once he got to the hotel, I could finally go to bed. Until this point, I felt helpless. It was horrible to be 1,000 miles away and he battled through an impossible evening at DFW. I know these travel hiccups are almost of the right of passage, but it doesn’t make the situation easier. At least I could sleep in peace.

Unfortunately, Jake’s travel troubles continued into today. As his flight was about to board, they delayed his flight due to maintenance issues. My poor kid was sitting waiting for his flight to board for over two hours. As was the situation last night, the communication from the airline continued to be poor. When he finally took off, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Now he’s in Tallahassee and happy to be through his travel ordeal.

Tonight I’m relaxing on the couch happy in the knowledge he’s finally safely in Tallahassee. Parenting never gets easier even as our children become adults. The rules of engagement do change as they become adults, but the emotional investment never diminishes.

Here are some great resources for parenting an adult child:

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.

*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today.  Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*For dinner, I made myself some soup.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is figure. I figured it was going to be faster to take a train to Tallahassee than by flying on American.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Finally

Well I’m finally feeling better. Although I’m still dealing with head congestion. Obviously , sinuses suck. I can, however, finally eat without feeling like it’s all going to come up right away. I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse since I’m on the two week fast for the Fast 800. I kid, I kid of course it’s a great thing. Finally, after waiting over a week, I can finally eat the spring mix, tomatoes and chicken I bought for salads. Naturally, the spring mix expires tomorrow.

Normally, I’d make dinner on Wednesday’s, but our Pancan affiliate had an awesome webinar with Dr. Donoway tonight. He presented on strategies for attacking advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. It was super interesting and he did a fabulous job making the material understandable for a lay person like me. I love our PANCAN affiliate and community!

Goalielocks having some fun with the dry ice


Thankfully if I had wanted to cook dinner, I would have been able to since all my meat arrived today. You may recall that I got my Butcher Box delivery on Sunday completely destroyed and thawed out. Thank god the garbage man comes on Tuesday because that box was stinking up my garage. Which coincidentally says a lot since my garage is full of hockey equipment. Today’s delivery was in absolutely pristine condition.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.

*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today.  Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.

*The hubby picked up Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*For dinner, I made myself some salad with chicken, spring mix and tomatoes. I thought about adding an egg, but that would put the calorie count too high. This week I’m strictly limiting my carb intake as part of the 5:2 Plan, so it was mostly chicken for me.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is mistress. In the words of Anton Chekhov, “‘medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress.”

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Like a Phoenix

The past week at work has been rough, but today I rose like a Phoenix. It’s not easy to talk on the phone for eight hours a day when you feel like garbage. Especially when you’re in sales and need to sound upbeat and confident all day. I guess you can say I’m driven. To be honest, my sales haven’t been terrible. They just haven’t been where I think they should be until today.

Every call converted this morning, which was absolutely epic. I needed a big day to put me back on track with my personal goals. Today was that day! Now I’m back on track and ready to finish the month on top. Honestly, I’m still not feeling 100 percent. This cold thing is lingering! I do, however, feel significantly better today.

The Mayor’s hockey season officially kicked off today, so we’re back to the rat race. I’m excited for both boys’ seasons. Hopefully, this season will be less disjointed than last year. Nonetheless, both of the boys are on great teams with fabulous coaches, kids and families. It’s going to be a great year!

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.

*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today.  Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us!

*The hubby picked up Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*For dinner, I made some chicken and mozzarella. This week I’m strictly limiting my carb intake as part of the 5:2 Plan, so it was mostly chicken for me.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is luminosity, which is a big word.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Almost Over

The weekend is almost over and so is our summer. Tomorrow marks the official start of the Mayor’s hockey season, so there will be no more down time. At least no down time until next March. In preparation for the craziness, my Sunday was quite lazy. I’m still dealing with the cold, so I spent the day literally doing nothing. Truly, it was as amazing as it sounds.

Actually to be fully transparent, I did make some carrot ginger soup. Since my cold started, eating meals has been a challenged. However, small bowl of soup have been going down okay. I bought some Rao’s minestrone, which is super yummy. But I was craving some carrot ginger soup, so I decided to make my own. It’s a super easy and vegan (if you want it to be) recipe with just a few ingredients. I’ll share the recipe here later.

I have been ordering from Butcher Box for awhile now. Their prices are good and the convenience is undeniable. This month I opted for the big box with some nice add-ons. The box was supposed to arrive Friday, but it arrived today in terrible condition. The box was destroyed and all of the meat had defrosted and smelled terribly. Talk about a buzz kill. Now we’ll have to wait for the replacement box to get here. So aggravating!

While the weekend is almost over, I still love Sundays the best. Sunday, of course, is the day we talk to Jake every week. Thank god for technology and the ability to FaceTime our loved ones. He looked and sounded great, which always puts this mama’s mind at ease. I’m so proud of my boy! Unfortunately, he’s still in a rental car as the body shop is still waiting for parts. Hopefully, he’ll get his car back this week.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowdby Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.

*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today.  Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Tropical Storm Fred Tropical is back and sliding away from us. Now we’ll focus on TS Grace, which looks to be following south of Fred’s path.

*The hubby picked up Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.

*For dinner, the Hubby and the Mayor chicken, black beans and rice. This week I’m strictly limiting my carb intake as part of the 5:2 Plan, so it was mostly chicken for me.

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is damp, which is exactly how our weather has been this weekend.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness