Tis’ the season for colds, the flue and sinus infections. Honestly, I have to say that sinus infections suck. And it is supposed to be tis’ the season to be jolly, a Hallmark movie or anything else, but being sick. Ugh…. The brutal pace of the last several months has finally caught up with me and my sinuses. I finally acquiesced and went to the doctor’s today. Hopefully, after ten days of antibiotics, I’ll feel back to normal.
To be honest, this has been going on for weeks, but I do not like being on antibiotics unless its totally unavoidable. After four weeks, I finally waived the white flag of surrender and am now on antibiotics. Sadly, my sinus infection didn’t disappear after only one dose. It really should, shouldn’t it?
If I was a prognosticator or a betting woman, I would say that the infection will clear out just in time for the boys to bring a new germ home from school. Oh the mom life is glamorous, isn’t it? I can’t totally blame them I guess, I could have picked it up at work. The modern workplace, much like our schools, is a veritable cesspool of germs. The good news is I got a chance to rest today before diving back into the hockey/school/work craziness.
I’m hopeful that in a mere 24 hours, after having taken 3 doses of the meds, I’ll have my sparkle back. Otherwise, it is gonna be a very long, arduous and busy weekend for me. Tomorrow, while the hubby is working, Goalielocks has two games, the Mayor has a birthday party. Sunday Goalielocks will be back volunteering at Learn to Skate, while the Mayor goes to the beach for a Beach Training day.
Tonight I loved yoga class because tonight I went to yoga with Jake. As a huge fan of the Beatles, Jake has been intrigued by yoga, veganism and other facets of Eastern culture that the Beatles have espoused. in particular, George Harrison was deeply spiritual, a devoted yogi, who wasn’t shy about sharing his views. You may recall from a previous blog post that the song “Got My Mind Set On You” was one of the few songs George Harrison released that wasn’t about religion.
George, the quiet Beatle, did a lot for bring Eastern ideas and practices to the Western world. The Beatles’ found yoga while travelling in the Bahamas. There they had met Swami Sivananda, who was the founder of Sivananda yoga. Lucky me! Here my son’s love of the Beatles’ (who I also love) and my love of yoga coalesced. There’s nothing more enjoyably than being on my mat except when I can share it with someone I love. Consequently, tonight Jake joined me at class.
For the uninitiated, it can be a bit intimidating. Unquestionably, he was probably second guessing his decision as he quickly realized he was the only guy. Thankfully, one of the other yogi’s in class tonight is also in his Thursday night class at school. Ice broken!
The class was rigorous and fun. Yoga is definitely one-way to spend quality time improving one’s self, while also building physical strength. I’m curious to see how he feels tomorrow night. As for me, I can already tell that this class will leave a mark. Notwithstanding that tonight was his first yoga experience, Jake dove all in. He even went up into a headstand!
Lastly, today is Giving Tuesday, which is the perfect opportunity to donate to Team Deb Force Five. You can help us double pancreatic cancer survival rates by 2020!
Tonight’s song is none other than “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison. This is one of my favorite songs from a former Beatle. George may have been the quiet Beatle, but his musical talents speak volumes.
After last week’s truly manic Monday, this week’s drama free Monday was a welcome change. Today was more productive than I had anticipated given it is a holiday week. Thankfully, the day was was pretty smooth. Since I’m exhausted from the busy weekend, it was exactly the kind of day I needed.
My left knee and hip feel like they have a sludge stuck in them causing some pain and friction, hopefully some Aleve will put an end to that nonsense. As I reflect back on the race, I’m still disappointed in my time. Nevertheless, I had to stop running for awhile due to severe pain in my shins. After taking a break for several weeks, my shins are feeling much better. I’m excited to start training in earnest. Unequivocally, I am definitely chasing a new PR.
Meanwhile amidst all the craziness preparing for Sunday’s event, one of our chameleons had gone missing. I am that lucky mom that has both a worm farm and a missing reptile in her house. Are you jealous? Since I was busy sorting shirts and putting packets together, I couldn’t help look for it. Consequently, hubby and Goalielocks looked for an hour to try and find the missing reptile to no avail.
Goalielocks was distraught as the missing chameleon, who escaped when he mistakenly left the cage open, was his little brother’s. Fortunately, the Mayor was at a sleepover that night, so he had no idea his creature had escaped. Moreover, by the time he got home from the race, his legs were so tired that he never went up to Goalielocks’ room to check on the creatures.
Today , Goalielocks’ called me while I was at work his voice was filled with both excitement and relief. He excitedly told me that he had found the missing chameleon climbing in the Mayor’s room. In the background, the Mayor was saying, “wait, what? My chameleon was missing? It was lost? What happened?” Consequently, the Mayor was a little upset that we forgot to tell him his Chameleon had gone missing.
It’s never a dull day in our house. Fortunately, for now, I can remove the chameleon’s from our milk cartons. Not too mention, I don’t have to worry about accidentally stepping on it or it accidentally stepping on me. How was your Monday?
Tonight’s song, in honor of my hubby’s favorite band and it’s co-founder Malcolm Young, is “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!”
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.”
Who’s mightier than mighty mouse? This hockey mom with many mighty musings tonight. Oh where or where should I begin? I guess I’ll just tear off the band-aid and get right to my confession. I have to admit it’s a bit embarrassing and well don’t judge me.
My twitter bot is addicted to porn. Sorry Mom! Oh the horror! There’s definitely a flaw in the bot. My coding skills are not in any way shape or form mighty. How did this happen? I setup my bot to look for tweets and re-tweet them based on several key words. Apparently, twitter porn spammers are wise to the twitter bot game. Moreover, hockey mom is quite popular in the random words these spammers include in their tweets. Fortunately or should I say unfortunately, I discovered this when a follower of mine re-tweeted some spam porn. Consequently, I have to check my feed a couple times a day to make sure there’s no porn re-tweets sitting out there. I have to admit that I never through I’d have to sort through my twitter feed to block any porn I accidentally retweeted.
On to bigger and better things, no pun intended, the grocery situation in our household is reaching a Defcon 5 situation. We’ve been to the Publix and Target several times since Irmageddon left. Unfortunately, the shelves of perishables, the refrigerator cases, and the freezer cases have remained barren. At this point, I’m getting a bit desperate. Hopefully, BJ’s is fully stocked tomorrow. I need to get some groceries for the house before Goalielocks and I head to Tampa. Otherwise, the hubby, the mayor and Jake will be up a creek and hungry.
Tonight before I left for my run, we added a new pet to the family. Goalielocks caught a baby brown basilisk (a.k.a. the Jesus lizard.) When I first started running in late 2015, I never saw a basilisk. I would see our regular South Florida convocation of anoles, rock lizards and Geicos, I mean geckos. As it stands, now when I run I see several basilisks each run of varying sizes. Irresponsible pet owners who let their pets go in the wild are responsible for yet another invasive species let loose in the S. Florida. How fortunate am I that I am the benefactor of this irresponsibility with yet another pet in the house? I am so super fortunate. Once the boys name said lizard, I’ll share the name with the blogosphere.
In other news, tolls have resumed on the Florida Turnpike. I can’t believe I’m typing this, but thank God they’re back. Traffic on the turnpike has been unbearable since the suspension of tolls. All the people who cannot drive, don’t take care of their cars, and are blissfully unaware of the minimum speed limit had found their way from I-95 and onto the turnpike. My commute had been protracted by 15-20 minutes each way as a consequence of the increased traffic. Alas, the state has turned the tolls back on. In some small way, it seems like my world has returned to normalcy. Traffic still sucks, but at least it sucks less.
I’m in my first full week of detoxing from my Irmageddon see food eat food diet. It is patently unpleasant going from eating everything to eating nothing with carbs. I’m exaggerating of course, but not eating processed food is tough. The problem with hurricane food is that none of it is healthy. Nevertheless, I could have rationed my food better. Clearly, I should have anticipated the supply chain issues with the grocers and stockpiled some of the food I ate. Instead I ate like a bear preparing for the longest hibernation of its life. Thank God I live in Florida, there’s no hibernation and it’s always swimsuit season here. Sweet baby Jesus!
Oh I did some serious damage during Irma. On a positive note, I’m back to running on the regular. My girls and I ran another 3.7 miles tonight. Its still pretty hot here at night. I wanted to puke like 3 times courtesy of the heat and the fact I’m out of shape. Last week, I wanted to puke during the entirety of every run, so I’d say this is an improvement. Unlike the mad pooper of Colorado, neither my dogs nor I left any surprise packages in any yards, paths or swales. Your welcome.
Thankfully with laser focus on a healthy diet and back to normal exercise habits, results are following. Importantly, I need to make sure I stay on task with my diet and my exercise habits lest I have another Irmageddon type diet emergency on my hands.
We’re fortunate to have come through Irma unscathed, but others have not been as lucky. Both Irma and Maria battered the Caribbean islands severely. There are several organizations that are providing hurricane relief. I am including two links where you can provide assistance directly to Puerto Rico and another that will provide relief to all of the islands. To assist in Puerto Rico’s recovery: United for Puerto Rico The Miami Foundation is accepting donations to assist in the recovery in the islands including Antigua, Barbuda, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Miami Foundation There are a number of other charities involved in providing hurricane relief. Before you donate to any charity, please check them out on Charity Navigator.
Today was a nice, simple Saturday. I was beyond exhausted after the craziness of Irma and work. I ran a little over three miles last night, which marked the 5th straight day of running for the Piggie and I. We haven’t ran outside since before our Norway trip, so it’s been a bit taxing for me as we recreate our running habit. Like many in S. Florida, I’ve been fighting off a cold/sinus bug since the storm. Consequently, I slept like a baby until almost 11:00 am and it felt amazeballs. My sinuses, however, do not feel amazeballs.
I had the distinct honor and privilege of grocery shopping once I finally got out of bed. I’m not even being sarcastic here. I got to have a normal, sort of, Target run today. This trip wasn’t an emergency hurricane sustenance run, but a get our normal Target stuff run. Except it wasn’t our normal Target run because they still haven’t been able to restock their perishables fully. I got as much as I could at Target, and more (thanks Target), but have to make a trip to Publix and BJ’s to get our perishables.
I was loving my newly found freedom to be out and about.. After being caged up for the weekend, which felt like years, it was awesome to be out and about. I made a Kohl’s run. I had to pick up some new sheets for our bed. There is nothing more tedious or boring than shopping for sheets. In addition, to the boring sheets I had to buy I had to pick up some casual shoes with better support for my foot. Who knows what I did to it, but it hurt like a mother pucker this morning. I obviously had to buy a pair in both black and brown. A girl has to have options. Nevertheless, it should be an interesting run tomorrow….
Dinner tonight came courtesy of Goalielocks, who found a recipe for cheeseburgers made from chuck roast online. Goalielocks cut up the chuck roast, grounded it up and formed the patties. I have to say I was impressed with his ingenuity and his drive to make these tasty and flavorful burgers. Moreover, I’m happy to see another one of my boy’s cooking independently – their wives will thank me later. As for the burger, it was delicious. Goalielocks really impressed me with his culinary skills, however, it looks like a burger bomb went off in my kitchen. Baby steps…..
When I started running over two years ago, I didn’t know that I would love it so much. Nor did I know that my running partners would be so important in maintaining my training or that they’d bring me so much happiness.
Most days my running partners are Jake and our dogs Maya and Athena. The beautiful thing about running with these three is they keep a brisk pace. Jake is particularly fast ,so running with him means I have to push myself. The puppies like to be first, so which ever dog is in back is racing to catch up to their sister.
This can be a bit problematic when Jake and his puppy pull away from us. Usually it’s Maya and I holding up the rear. Jake’s got his mile below 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I almost threw myself a party for breaking the 8 minute mile barrier.
Maya trying to keep pace with Jake means we’re pushing race pace almost every run. Since Jake is so fast, Athena is usually super tired after two miles. We’ll switch the puppies and walk them for awhile, so they can catch their breath and cool down a little bit.
By the time we start running again, the puppies’ energy is back and they’re ready to roll. Some runs, Goalielocks or the Mayor will come with us. For those runs, we usually cap our distance at three miles. The best part of running with the puppies is how happy they are when we run.
While in Norway, Jake and I mixed it up a bit by hiking on the mountain trails. It wasn’t a rigorous as our runs, but some parts of the trail were quite steep and took a lot of concentration to master. The views were incredible and so was the weather. No horrible heat indexes to contend with.
The unfortunate part of summer in Florida, is heat indexes in the triple digits. As much as I love to run with my kids and my dogs, the summer heat makes it dangerous for the dogs. Until the heat abates, I’ll be hitting the treadmill and missing my running partners. When I run on the treadmill, there’s no sweet puppy looking back at me smiling as she enjoy the run. Nor is there Jake, who motivates me to run faster and further every time we run.
What does it mean to take pride in what you do? Perhaps renowned basketball coach Red Auerbach said it best, “Take pride in what you do. The kind of pride I’m talking about is not the arrogant puffed-up kind; it’s just the whole idea of caring – fiercely caring.”
My kids, as you know, are home for the first summer since 2008. Each week day, I give the kids of list of chores to complete. Each day the boys are in a mad rush right before or right as the Hubby and I are getting home from work. Of course, the result is substandard work on most chores, which drives me crazy.
In order, to get the chores done correctly and on time, I turn off the wi-fi device by device. Its akin to being put in the corner without a toy. An electronic device without steady data or wi-fi is useless to most kids. The goal in all of this is to teach them responsibility, how to do certain chores (i.e. laundry) so they’re well prepared for life and lighten our load.
The real lesson here is whatever you do; do it well. Don’t settle for mediocrity and take pride in your work. Whether it is a household chore, school, a sporting event or your career; do your best.
There is no greater gift we can give our children than wanderlust. Wanderlust is the strong desire to travel and explore the world. Through travels and adventures our world is broadened and brightened. The opportunity to see how others live and how similar we all are is a powerful experience.
I saw this in my own kids as we traveled throughout Norway this month. At first, my younger two were obsessed with their one McDonald’s trip. They were concerned that Norwegian food would not be to their liking and they’d starve. Fortunately, they did not starve.
As luck would have it, we landed in Stavanger on the last day of Gladmat Fargegata, the largest food festival in Norway. For dinner that night, we explored the different vendors at the festival. We tried pizza, spicy tacos, waffles and Pakistani food that was absolutely delicious.
They finally cashed in their McDonald’s trip at our first dinner in Bergen. They had sweet potato fries and jalapeno poppers that were out of this world. While the chicken sandwich I had actually tasted like chicken. They quite enjoyed their trip to Norwegian McDonald’s and were hoping for at least one more. We did not give in to their continued McDonald’s craving. Mostly because we wanted them to eat local Norwegian cuisine, but also because the idea of spending $60 to eat at McDonald’s made me cringe.
My younger two are quite picky eaters, while my oldest Jake is up to try all of the local fare. We tried a number of sampler platters that showcased local foods like reindeer, whale, mussels, king crab, caviar, fish soup, pork, sausages, duck, and steak. We didn’t like everything, but at least we tried it. The Mayor had king crab and caviar in Bergen, which he liked quite a lot. Goalielocks even tried mussels, whale and reindeer, of which he liked the mussels the most.
By the time we left Norway, their palate and their worlds had opened up a bit. They enjoyed the Norwegian cuisine, their way of life and especially the Norwegians’ love of dogs. Now we’re back home wishing we could be back in Norway, but also looking forward to our next adventure.
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The daily prompt was lust, but I felt writing about wanderlust would be better than writing about my lust or desire for Norwegian pastries.
