Today I hit a milestone with the blog, which is pretty awesome. I hit 100,000 views, which is amazing given my inconsistency in maintaining the blog over the last couple of years. (I promise to do better!). Initially, the views and visitors came in as a trickle, but overtime my audience has grown incrementally. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my blog!
Aside from hitting that milestone, my Wednesday was pretty sweet. Work has continued to be extremely productive, which is awesome. Before work, I chilled with the puppies and enjoyed my coffee. Truly, I love this new morning ritual.
Since I’ve changed up my morning routine, I’ve started running after work. I hit a major milestone with running back in June before falling off the wagon. Specifically, I had run at least 1.5 miles daily for over a month straight. Unfortunately, my hurt knee derailed my opportunity to hit another milestone.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.
*I absolutely slayed my day at work! That’s three days in a row!
*I ran 1.5 miles and walked a mile. Instead of working out in the morning, I decided to run after work.
*The family and I are back to watching Thirty Rock. We’ve now moved on to season six.
*The Mayor made chili con carne for dinner tonight. It was a lot of yummy!
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*There were big thunderstorms today all afternoon. I really need to look into a surge protector for my work equipment.
*Today’s word of the day is storage. Like most moms, I could use more storage in every room in the house.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? Thankfully, the fly traps arrived today. Emphatically, I’m absolutely sick of those little buggers.
Living exhausted has become a part of life as we all now it. It’s also exactly what I’m feeling today. Fortunately, I’m exhausted due to an action packed weekend. Since the pandemic started, we haven’t done much socially outside of hockey. As the pandemic has abated and people get vaccinated, life as we knew it is slowly going back to normal.
Yesterday, I finally got back to running. I got in two mile run plus a mile walk, which felt good. We spent most the day getting stuff around the house. Afterwards, we headed to Boca to have dinner with Goalielocks, his girlfriend and her parents. It was our first time meeting them. Fortunately, it went really well. They’re great people, which came as no surprise given their daughter is absolutely fabulous.
After dinner, we dropped the kids off at out house and headed to a concert. Our friends live in the neighborhood next to us and their community put on a concert featuring the Turnstiles, a Billy Joel tribute band. They were phenomenal, however, watching a concert outside in July at dusk is just torture. Not only was it wicked hot, the mosquitos, flies and gnats were out in full effect.
The heat and bugs was too much for all of us, so we headed back to John and Hanh’s during the band’s first break. We had an absolute blast drinking and snacking with them and their neighbors. It was an awesome evening. The Mayor even texted and called us several times to ask when we were going to be home.
We finally got home just before midnight. Yesterday was night two of our Anakin sleeping out experiment. So far he’s passed the test. He slept between the hubby’s and my feet. Thankfully, he had no accidents and was a quiet and still sleeper. In fact, the only time he stirred is when I came back to bed after going to the bathroom. It was super cute!
This morning we took the puppies to the wildlife refuge for a walk. Fortunately, there was plenty of cloud cover and a nice breeze. We ended up going just under two miles. Unfortunately, Anakin found himself walking through a large fire ant pile. We urgently poured water in his paws and swatted off the ants. Luckily, we were able to get the ants of pretty quickly. Sadly, he still has a number of any bites on his paws. Thankfully, they don’t seem to be bothering him too badly. We’ve been coating them with calamine lotion and gave him some Benadryl.
I was exhausted today, so I made use of our newest driver. Since he got his permit, the Mayor wants to drive all the time. Consequently, he drove me up to Publix to pick up some stuff for dinner. Later when I needed to get stuff for Anakin’s paws, he drove me to Walgreen’s. Honesty, he still has a lot to learn, but he’s doing great for a new driver.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.
*I ran two miles and walked a mile yesterday. It went actually went really well. Today, instead of running I took the dogs for a walk in the Everglades.
* I bought more cherries and cream, so I could attempt the cherry custard again. Last time I overcooked it.
*The family and I are back to watching Thirty Rock.
*I adapted my mom’s maple glazed pot roast recipe for the Instant Pot. It turned out fantastically. I’ll be adding the recipe to the blog under a separate post.
*I spent my day with the puppies. This evening I worked with Anakin on some training skills. He did a great job. Of course, I rewarded him with kielbasa, which is his favorite. We’ve now gone through two kielbasa’s this week.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*There were no big thunderstorms today, which was nice. Thankfully, the tropics remain quiet. I’m sure we’ll have another reality check soon.
*Today’s word of the day is calumny. I’m not quite sure what it means.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I’m bought some fly traps. I’m absolutely sick of those little buggers. Pretty soon they’ll get a reality check of their own!
Today I left work full disappointment for no real good reason. Truly, I had a magnificent and super successful day at work. However, I came up just short of my stretch goal for the day. Normally, I would have stayed late to take more calls, but I had to bring The Mayor to hockey practice.
The Hubby is at a hardwood trade show in Orlando, so it’s just me and the boys the next two days. Hopefully, he’ll get sometime to relax without the constant harassment from the boys or dogs. As soon as he gets home at night, the dogs are all over him. In fact, he can rarely sit without being interrupted or harassed by someone or something. He definitely deserves some time away and some peace and quiet.
Last night the Lightning won the Stanley Cup finals. Im happy to keep the cup in Florida, but not happy that hockey season is officially over. However, unlike Habs fans, I’m not nursing the disappointment of defeat. Also, Kucherov’s presser was the stuff off legends. Although, the Habs fans are nursing hurt feelings because of it. As for hockey’s fortunately, we shouldn’t have to wait too long for the regular season. Hopefully, it’s back to normal with minimal restrictions. I’m definitely looking forward to attending more games next year.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.
*I thought about running, but decided to rest my knee again. Instead I looked for great photos of us.
* I ate the rest of the peach crisp today. This time I mixed in one white peach for a little of variety. Honestly, I didn’t notice a difference.
*The family and I are watching the Stanley Cup Finals in lieu of continuing our Thirty Rock binge. Thankfully, our power is flickering now that the storm has passed. Consequently, it knocked out the wifi too. Apparently, technology is my nemesistonight.
*I spent my day with the puppies. This evening I worked with Anakin on some training skills. He did a great job. Of course, I rewarded him with kielbasa, which is his favorite.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*I’m back to work and Elsa is long gone, but we had some strong storm this afternoon. Thankfully, the tropics are quiet.
*Today’s word of the day is destiny. It was definitely the Lightning’s destiny to win the Cup.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? It’s definitely much worse in the morning and am. Fortunately, it’s not too bad at lunch.
Today marks twenty years that my Hubby and I have been married. I can’t believe how fast the years have flown by and how much has changed. Twenty years ago we were a young family of three. Now we’re a family of five plus three puppies. Interesting fact, when we first got married I was terrified of dogs. Our oldest has flown the coop and is doing great in the service.
Twenty years ago we were still living in Minnesota. Four years after we married, we decided to move to South Florida. Our original intent was to stay for two years, but South Florida quickly became our home. Despite moving out of Minnesota, our kids still fell in love with hockey and ended up playing the sport. We’ve already have a decade of hockey parent life under our belt.
Over the past twenty years, so much has changed and some of the people we have held nearest and dearest to our heart have left us. Luke’s grandfather left us in October, 2020. He was always our champion and helped us get established. Grandpa Ed will always hold a place near and dear in our hearts.
In 2011, we lost Luke’s mother, which was a devastating blow. She was one of our biggest cheerleaders and supporters when we first started dating and when Jake was born. In fact, she spoiled me and we started dating. My hubby got me the best presents for Christmas, Valentine’s, our anniversaries, and my birthday. Of course, I know realize that she was the genius behind the presents. Now as my boys get older and have serious girlfriends, I relish the opportunity to do the same.
Through all the up and downs, one thing has remained consistent. We were nerds than and are nerds now. That and the fact that my Hubby will forever be my person. I’m lucky to have found my person so early in life and look forward to many more years of nerdom and adventure.
Naturally, we’re celebrating our anniversary by watching the Stanley Cup finals. Well, at least we’re trying. Hulu’s inability to maintain NBC consistently has been beyond infuriating this evening. Athena always hates when we watch hockey because we all scream, yell and jump. It’s a bit disconcerting for her.
For dinner, the Hubby grilled brats, tator tots and sweet corn. Since it’s the middle of the week and the Hubby is headed to a trade show tomorrow, we’ll celebrate with a nice dinner out over the weekend. Thankfully, the Hubby will have a good travel day as Elsa has moved off to the north and east. We’ll miss him while he’s gone, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy some peace and quiet. Two things that don’t exist is this energetic household.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.
*I thought about running, but decided to rest my knee again. Instead I looked for great photos of us.
* I ate the rest of the peach crisp today. This time I mixed in one white peach for a little of variety. Honestly, I didn’t notice a difference.
*The family and I are watching the Stanley Cup Finals in lieu of continuing our Thirty Rock binge. Thankfully, our power is flickering now that the storm has passed. Consequently, it knocked out the wifi too. Apparently, technology is my nemesis tonight.
*I spent my day with the puppies. This evening I worked with Anakin on some training skills. He did a great job. Of course, I rewarded him with kielbasa, which is his favorite.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*I’m back to work and Elsa is gone to Georgia. Thankfully, the tropics are quiet.
*Today’s word of the day is silvery. The water had a silvery look.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? It’s definitely much worse in the morning and am. Fortunately, it’s not too bad at lunch.
Well, we’re off to the long weekend now. Or are we?!? I was scheduled to be off to the long weekend this evening, but I (being glutton for punishment and boredom) opted to work tomorrow. To be fair, there was plenty of incentives thrown my way. I mean, who doesn’t like a free lunch and free cash? I know I like those things. At any rate, our business hours are short tomorrow, so it won’t be a long day in the office for me.
While I’m working, I’ll also be tracking Hurricane Elsa. Naturally, Elsa continues to be a trouble maker as it comes to weather. In fact, she really is messing up my plans for early next week and mid-week. All kidding aside, she’s supposed to be in the vicinity sometime Monday/Tuesday. Until that time, we’ll play the game of watching the spaghetti models shift as we wait to see which beach Jim Cantore shows up at. Fortunately, I intend to refresh our hurricane supplies this weekend, which will assure us that Elsa will dissipate or take a hard left turn somewhere else. My fellow Floridians you can thank me later.
Mel is out visiting Jake and I’m super jealous. I wish I could be in Utah helping them set up Jake’s new apartment. Last I spoke with them, they were headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a new couch before hitting their favorite Hibachi place. Hibachi is their favorite. To be fair, I think it’s the Yum Yum sauce that’s their favorite, but who can blame them? Jake has done a great job of furnishing his apartment quickly and economically. I know they’ll have a great time enjoying the holiday weekend together. I’m looking forward to our next trip to Utah. I really enjoyed hiking the area around Salt Lake and Ogden. There are so many different hikes to choose from and they’re all different.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.
*I ran 1.5 miles and walked a mile and it felt great!
* Hubby made home made chicken tacos with a taco seasoning recipe we found online. They were amazing. Needless to say, we will not be buying store bought taco seasoning anymore.
*I watched the live safaris from on Wild Earth. They’re absolutely incredible.
*I played with the puppies before, during, and after work.
*I’m counting down the hours until I’m off to the long weekend.
*Today’s word of the day is boisterous. The dogs give me a boisterous greeting every time I leave my office during the workday. I love it.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies and mosquitos?
It’s Monday Eve and boy did it come fast. I’m already dreading my long commute to work tomorrow morning. The whole five steps I have to take from my bed to my desk is entirely too long. Admittedly, I have gained a lot of time back in my day with working from home. Gone are the days of spending two hellish hours on the turnpike in Florida’s awful traffic. Nonetheless, the commute kay be shorter, but Mondays are still Mondays.
I spent the day chilling at home with the family. I did test out my new spot cleaner on the couch. Apparently, when Athena has to vomit, there’s only one place where she likes to do it and it’s our couch. I upgraded from the little green machine Bissell to the Bissell Spot Bot. Spoiler alert, the upgrade was worth the money. With the Spot Bot, I can set it on the stain and let the deep clean setting work its magic. Oh, it’s lovely. Between that and my Roomba, I’m loving being passively involved with the cleaning. Like my new commute, it’s a huge time-saving.
Sadly, I didn’t run today as my knee didn’t love the run yesterday. I thought it would be best to give it a rest. We shall see how it feels tomorrow morning. I intend to restart BBG tomorrow, but we’ll see how the knee feels. If the knee is no good, I’ll have to pass on the BBG workout.
I spend my Monday Eve watching binge watching Thirty Rock. The hubby grilled some great burgers, brats and potatoes. Dinner was awesome. We had a great time reminiscing over our trip to Norway. It was an awesome trip and we can’t wait to get back. Lastly, hats of to Jake and his adult league team, who were crowned champions this afternoon! Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the game since the arena doesn’t have LiveBarn. And now, I’m off to bed!
Thanksgiving 2020 style is wildly different for most of us thanks to COVID. It also makes our first Thanksgiving with Jake away from home. Last Thanksgiving was wonderful with my whole family in town, so he could have a great send off to BMT. Speaking of which, we are coming up on his one year anniversary. I can’t believe how fast time has gone.
This year has been tough, but there is still so much to be thankful for. First, 2020 was a year of awesome accomplishments for Jake. From graduating BMT and tech school, to earning his SEC+ certification and shipping off to his first duty station. To say he had a banner year would be an understatement. We couldn’t be more proud of the man and airmen he has become.
While our boys continue virtual school, they’re doing while and have managed to stay healthy. Hockey, thankfully, is in full swing. Too often we underestimate the importance that our kids sports and other extracurricular activities are for their development. Now with Covid, these activities are there only lifeline to the outside world. Kids need socialize.
As for Luke and I, we keep trucking on. After a rough fall that saw us replace two failing vehicles, we’re ready for the winter. I should also say we know have an additional driver, Goalielocks, which has helped a lot. I started a new role back in insurance, which I’m loving. Albeit, it keeps me extremely busy. Especially during the long hours of AEP.
To all our friends and family and to all our military families near and wide, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. To military families like ours, who have an empty chair this Thanksgiving, we send our love and gratitude. May God keep our family members that serve safe and sound. To our military folks servicing near and far, thank you for your service!! Today we hold you up in prayer and gratitude.
Happy Monday is a blog title that I have never used in the three-plus years I’ve had this blog. Admittedly, Monday’s are usually associated with unhappiness. Rather they’re associated with the desire to bang your head against a brick wall as you deal with the inane life that is corporate America. You know the kind of day where you’re in meetings all day that could have been emails and the most intelligent response of the day was “yada, yada, yada.” Now that I’m out of that life, I’ve found Mondays to be much nicer.
Now my children have tried to mess up my Happy Monday vibes with their virtual school antics. However, they were even onboard for the easy and happy Monday. That’s right folks we had no virtual school issues today. My boys were on top of it, which made me happy as a clam.
Naturally, I had a lot do work to do myself, but working from home and outside of a boilerplate environment is significantly less stressful from the corporate world. I was quite productive professionally and personally. I set several key meetings and made new connections in the professional realm.
In between my work obligations, I was able to fit in my BBG 3.0 leg workout and a run. This BBG 3.0 is no joke. Honestly, it’s quite a step up from round 2.0. I’m ready for it, but I know it’s going to hurt tomorrow. As for my run, it felt good. I find that intermixing my workouts between my work meetings and obligations has improved my effectiveness. Moreover, I feel energized and ready to tackle everything including the virtual school blues.
Alas, this happy Monday on which all the stars aligned for a great day will soon be over. Hopefully, I will write a joyful Monday post soon and not in another three years. I should also admit that I bought Anakin a new collar and bow tie. No lies, he’s simply the cutest puppy. On top of my cute puppy, I got some great pics of Jake and Mel from Utah. Their smiles always put a smile on my face.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read A Room With A View by E.M Forster
*It turns out their are unique challenges to managing a U18 team. Thus it seems we may have a caravan to the Carolinas in our future.
*I ran a mile and walked a mile today.
*I cooked a wonderful meal courtesy of HelloFresh. It was easy to make and super tasty.
*After today, I am back in workout clothes, but my running streak stands at 6 days.
*I’m a little jealous that Mel is visiting Jake, but I love getting their pictures.
*BBG 3.0 week 2 day 1: legs, cardio and yoga
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk.
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Does anyone know what day it is? Like seriously, for a millisecond or maybe more, I was convinced that it was Tuesday. In fact, it almost made its way into the blog as the title. Clearly, there are advantages to working at home and never having to leave. However, it has a Ground Hogs’ Day sort of feeling that leaves you wondering what day it is. Honestly, if it wasn’t for my different yoga classes, I don’t think I’d be able to determine the day of the week truly.
Regardless of my difficulty determining the day of the week, I crushed the day professionally. I had two very productive sales meetings with clients. Moreover, I sent out three presentations for clients to review. Today was awesome! When I initially took the position, one of the main draws with the flexibility of the position. However, I have found, over the course of the last few weeks, that meeting and connecting with interesting and successful people is the best part of the job. In fact, I can see how much I am going to learn in this position through my professional interactions. It’s truly exciting.
As for my fitness goals, I wrote a bit about my shoulder being off last night. Unfortunately, it continues to be a bit unstable and a bit painful. Originally, I planned to do the BBG arm workout today. However, when I saw the exercises, I realized I needed to skip it today. Sadly, I think copious amounts of burpees and other plyometrics are not what my shoulder needs right now. Fortunately, I was able to go to my yoga class and that was fantastic. I modified poses where I needed to for my foot and shoulder, but overall I felt pretty good in class. In truth, I am so grateful that my new job allows me the flexibility to take a yoga break whenever I want.
My yoga studio, Open Heart Yoga Studio, has been a sanctuary for me since I started in late October of 2019. When I first restarted my practice, my entire body was tight. In fact, my shoulders were nearly frozen and were a significant source of pain. I started slowly with the gentle classes at least five times a week. Eventually, I was taking classes six days a week and increasing my intensity. This studio, its owner Jennifer and all her teachers, has been crucial to rebuilding my fitness and healing my body. For those of us with autoimmune disease, yoga is a fantastic way to decrease stress and inflammation.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has not been kind to small businesses and my wonderful yoga studio is no exception. For those of you in the South Florida area, I urge you to give your local studio a try. If you’re in Palm Beach County, come check out Open Heart. These small business owners need our love and support more than ever! Here’s the GoFundMe that was started to assist my favorite yoga studio: www.gofundme.com. Where ever you live, check in on your local business owners and see what you can to help them. If you happen to follow my blog and are a small business, please let me know so I can feature you here.
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather
*Slow Flow with Ava from Open Heart Yoga Studio. I enjoyed the sound of the storms as I melted on my mat.
*Morning and afternoon meditation
*Perhaps is the nefelibata in me that things people show grace to their fellow man when disagreeing on Facebook.
*I was determined to hit all my professional today and I did! I love Wednesdays!
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I can hardly believe it, but WOT 8 is finally here!!! It feels like we dropped Jake off at the recruiter’s office a lifetime ago. At the same time, it feels like it was yesterday. Now our count down is in days!! I will see my boy in three days!!! Yahoo!!!!!! Yay WOT 8!
For our airman trainees, this week is all about wrapping up loose ends and out processing. After all, he’ll be on a bus to tech school early next Monday morning. From a training perspective, they’ll learn about educational benefits, be briefed on town pass and continue to practice for graduation.
As Jake wraps up his BMT journey, we’re busy making preparations for grad weekend. Sadly, it appears that gluten is the devil for my stomach. I say sadly because there’s a cafe in San Antonio that serves a 3 lb cinnamon roll. Can you imagine how aromatic that roll must be? Yummy!!! There’s also a restaurant that serves a 42 inch pizza. Finally a pizza that will serve my entire family!
Lastly, we’re so appreciative of all the support we’ve received since Jake’s departure for BMT. Your support has meant everything. In this vein, I’d ask you to hold Goalielocks’ teammate in your prayers as he begins his battle against Osteosarcoma. Cole is a wonderful kid and his family is fantastic. As he and his family fight this battle it is imperative that they know they are not alone.
