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Steak Night

We made it steak night in South Florida. Since I had to go pick up a prescription at Target today, I perused the meat section. Thankfully, they had a full case of steaks at a great price. Naturally, I made the hubby’s day and bought two cases. We also had corn on the cob left from the farm box. Fortunately, the South Florida weather allows for using the grill 365 days of the year. I don’t think there’s any better scent at dinner time than a charcoal grill. Thus we had a delicious meal with grilled sweet corn, steaks, roasted potatoes and fresh cucumber salad.

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Of course I earned this delicious meal with a hard day’s work virtual schooling my boys, walking the dogs, working out and going to yoga. In fact, I even started an executive certificate program through FAU’s Business School. Needless to say it was a busy and productive day. I gave myself a generous reward tonight after dinner as I finished off the last remaining Cadbury eggs in the house. Thank God Easter is over because two months in quarantine with a healthy supply of Cadbury Eggs would quickly double my BMI.

We’ve been under quarantine for almost a month now. For those of us with a March/April birthday or anniversary it is a hard time to celebrate. I mean I officially entered my fourth decade of life with no grand celebration, party or trip. Clearly once the pandemic is over I will be primed to celebrate in a grand fashion. Of course, I’ll also be up to celebrate all my friends birthdays and anniversaries. After this is over, we will all be ready to party and drink together.

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Meanwhile, I’m trying to stay healthy by eating sort of responsibly (less the Cadbury egg today) and working out regularly. This way when we can go out and party again, I’ll be able to fit into the clothes already in my closet. In fact, I started the 8:2 plan again. This helped me manage my weight once my thyroid died, which was a tall order. The 8:2 is a type of intermittent fasting in which you eat regularly for 5 days and then only 800 calories for two days. It is also referred to the 5:2 where you eat 500 calories on the fasting days. Since I’m active, I’m eating 800 calories on my fasting days.

Today’s BBG resistance workout was arms and abs. I realized that I really hate drop pushups and raised leg sit-ups with a twist. Sadly, I suck at both and they suck the life force out of me. They’re simply inhumane. Most importantly, the workout was really taxing. Consequently, my shoulders were quite sore afterwards. To be clear, they were tight when I woke up. I’m a side sleeper, which is doing neither of my shoulders any favors.

Fortunately, Christine’s yoga class was all about the shoulders. Her yoga classes are unlike any other I have taken before. I like to think of it as a cross between physical therapy and yoga. It’s extremely functional. In her classes, Christine uses these magical balls (get your mind out of the gutter) to really get into and massage your soft tissue. To be honest, it does hurt at times, but it’s an effective and not damaging pain. She combines the therapy ball massage with stretching and strength building exercises. The end result is muscles that are stronger more flexible and more mobile. It has been the perfect class for healing my body. You really should check her out (link is below.)

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

*Reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and loving it!

*Watched Balthazar and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia 

*Completed BBG day 3 week 8 arms and abs

*Walked 1 mile with Athena and Anakin

*Attended Midweek Yoga Break with Christine from Movement Yoga

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.

*Pulled my hair out (again) managing my teenagers virtual schooling.

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Now It’s Actually Tuesday

After thinking Monday was Tuesday, now it’s actually Tuesday. To be clear, it’s really not my fault that each day last two weeks. If they didn’t last so long, it would be significantly less confusing. Tuesday brought more virtual school, a run and some yoga. It was a pretty busy day.

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Of course, it’s exceedingly hot and humid here in South Florida. Hence, I was trying to convince myself that I should skip my run out of an abundance of caution. Since my diagnosis of Graves’ disease, I don’t tolerate heat well. Also, I run with my puppy and didn’t want to put her in danger of possibly overheating. The actual real feel temperature at 10:00 am this morning was absolutely ludicrous.

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Then I realized all of this excuses are exactly why I needs to run today. Since it was so hot, I had to prepare a water bottle for Athena and to take it a bit slower. Indeed I planned to take more walking breaks and puppy water break in the shade to minimize the risk of either of us overheating. At the end of the day, it was a tough, slow and hot run, but I felt amazing afterwards. It wasn’t my best run by any means, but I stayed on task and made no excuses and achieved my goal.

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Fortunately, they were running the sprinklers in the neighborhood, so Athena got to run through the sprinklers to cool down. Consequently, Goalielocks had a towel ready for the Piggie when we got back. Piggie got toweled off and we both got some fresh water. While Athena relaxed on the cool tile floor, I went into my room to complete my post run stretching. Even though I was attending yoga at noon, I still spent 20 minutes rolling out my leg, glutes and hips. Thankfully, I have a lot less pain in my legs and ankles since adding a vigorous post run stretch session to my routine.

Yoga was noon was awesome as usual. I love having my regular 12:00 pm yoga date with Monica and Pam. They’re two of my favorite people. Our class started with some alternate nasal breathing, which is a great tool for relaxation. In fact, I’ve used it to effectively manage pain when I couldn’t hold down medicine. Honestly, my yoga practice and yoga family have really helped me move forward on my healing journey.

The afternoon I spent with the puppies watching the remained of Balthazar season one. Fortunately, season two drops on Prime next Monday. I love Balthazar for so many reasons. Perhaps the best part is that it forces me to put down my phone and pay attention to the subtitles. While I studied French in both high school and college, I definitely need the subtitles as a safety blanket. If you’re looking for a good, procedural show to binge watch, I highly recommend it.


Last night I started Wuthering Heights after finishing my last book To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf. After reading the introductions, there were three, I only ended up reading only one chapter. I’m sure that I’ll finish this book pretty quickly given that there’s still a ban on going anywhere. Fortunately, I love to read and love literature. After this book, I think I’ll go back and reread The Decameron as it’s topically relevant to our current situation.

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

*Reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

*Watched Balthazar and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia 

*Completed BBG day 2 week 8 recovery workout – full body

*Ran 2.5 miles with Athena at a snail’s pace in a sauna

*Attended Gentle Flow Yoga with Monica from Open Heart Yoga Studio 

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.

*Pulled my hair out (again) managing my teenagers virtual schooling.

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Oh It’s Monday….

So I was about to title my post “Terrific Tuesday” until I realized oh it’s Monday.  Clearly, the quarantine calendar is messing with my mind.  One would think I would know the day after Easter Sunday was Monday yet here I am enjoying my “terrific Tuesday.”  Nonetheless, while I may not know what day it is today, today was a good day.  Thankfully, I experience minimal trouble with the virtual schooling.  It was a good day to teach.  However, please knock on wood as there are plenty of hours in the day for this situation to still devolve.  Albeit it as of know, my teaching record for the day is impeccable.

As I noted in my Saturday post, the only milk available at Target expired on 4/13.  Goalielocks and the Mayor were complaining that I bought milk that about to expire.  However, let the record show that as of this morning, both gallons of milk had already been drank.  Fortunately, I was able to actually get a delivery on the schedule for Target today, so I took it.   I am so grateful that I was able to get four more gallons of milk as this should keep me out of the grocery store until the weekend.  Here’s to no week day grocery trips!   There is, however, the chance that I may mistakenly go to the store on Friday thinking it was Saturday.   Either way I’ll count it as a victory.

Easter was such a great holiday as weird as it was under these conditions.  Nonetheless, Easter is a great time to evaluate one’s perspective on life and re-create oneself.  Additionally, the additional time we all now have due to COVID-19 is a great opportunity to create the life that we desire.   During this time at home, I’ve continued my exercise program, started learning Norwegian and signed up for an executive certificate through the FAU School of Business.  Now I know what you’re thinking, I’m being obnoxious like Gwyneth Patrow here, but Duolingo is amazing and super accessible. In my defense, I have also spilled tortilla chips all over myself. 3vf4sx

It’s also an exceedingly scary and isolating time.  Thank god for my weighted blanket and lavender.  In all due seriousness, its a great time to re-connect and connect with people in a way we haven’t done in years.  Losing Michele last week cut like a knife and left me regretting not reaching out more often.  Truly, it’s better to reach out than to regret not doing it.  I have to admit I hate talking on the phone and usually prefer text.  However, in the current social distancing environment, I really enjoy speaking with people on the phone and hearing their voices.   Honestly, I feel like I’m back in the 1990s based on gas prices and the time I spend talking on the phone.

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

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Studied and practiced Norwegian

*Watched Balthazar Season 1

*Week 8 BBG legs and glutes resistance workout

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.

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Good Friday

Happy Good Friday!! The kid’s were off virtual school today meaning less stress for me. Cheers to a happy and stress free Good Friday. Since the boys didn’t have virtual school, I was able to sleep in a bit too, which was amazing.  It was nice to orchestrate my day around my schedule and not the kids.  That’s right folks we’ve had two good days in a row. Can you believe it? 
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Much like yesterday, I was pretty productive today. My morning started off with a great yoga class via Zoom with Monica. And of course, I have the pictures to prove it. Actually, the pictures are a great visualization of how far I’ve come and how much further I can go. Also I think it’s important to show yoga at its most accessible. Yoga has been instrumental in my quest for remission, so I’m eager to share my learnings.

After yoga, the Mayor, Maya and I headed to the vet to get her stitches removed. Admittedly, I was totally a proud dog mom when the vet tech was singing Maya’s praises and happy to see her doing so well. The appointment lasted about ten minutes. Afterwards, they brought her back to the car she was all smiles. No more cone or stitches for our girl.

Post vet appointment, I got my week seven day 5 resistance workout completed. My Friday workout is a full body workout. This week’s circuits were tough, but effective. My least favorite is the raised leg sit-ups and skipping rope. I’m not sure what happened between grade school and now, but I suck at skipping rope. Nevertheless, the skipping rope remains one of the most effective workouts even my disjointed effort.

The afternoon I spent with the puppies and my Mayor. I even baked another gluten free coffee cake, but it’s already gone. The hubby made us a wonderful butterflies chicken with yummy potatoes. It is definitely one of my favorite meals! Before dinner, Anakin had to spend some time in timeout after he jumped on the kitchen table. This dog loves his food!

Yesterday, as you may recall, was great. But would you believe it got even better when our Airman called home!?! Best day ever!!! It is so hard to be separated from him during this difficult times, so hearing his voice was awesome. He got his orders for his duty station and will head their immediately upon his completion of tech school. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to come home on leave due to COVID-19 before heading to his FDS. Finally, and most importantly, he’s doing great. He’s excelling at tech school and in the Air Force during challenging times in an already challenging environment. We could not be more proud!

Lastly, please join me in congratulating my parents on their 44th wedding anniversary!!!

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

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Studied and practiced Norwegian

*Watched Family Guy

*Watched Moana and Blazing Saddles as family

*Week 7 BBG full body resistance workout

*Gentle Flow with Monica from Yoga Mundo

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.


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Great Day

 So I gotta be honest, against the back drop of the Coronavirus pandemic, today was a great day. Yep, I said it. Today was good and productive. Perhaps the 2.5 mile run Athena and I took this morning help set the right tone for the day. Cheers to runner’s high for fueling my day! Of course, I use the word run loosely. Honestly, we were pretty slow today, but that’s okay. It was a good run.

Afterwards, I took twenty minutes to stretch out and massage my legs, hips and glutes. The therapy balls (like lacrosse balls) I got after taking Christine’s mobility class at Open Heart Yoga Studio have been instrumental in keeping my legs healthy, flexible and strong. The Mayor uses my laptop for school, so he takes his lunch at noon so I can attend my yoga class.

I gotta tell you I’m finding the virtual yoga classes via Zoom to be extremely valuable. First of all, it’s nice to see people outside my family. Honestly, it feels like I’m stuck on an island sometimes. Secondly, my yoga practice has been instrumental in healing my body post Graves diagnosis. It’s important that I keep the practice up during this stressful time. Lastly, happiness is getting surprised by your sweet puppy while in corpse pose.

After a nice lunch of leftover gluten pizza, I put in my AirPods and cleaned the house. Truly, it felt nice to be able to get something accomplished for once. Thankfully, I didn’t spend most of my day harassing my kids to complete their schoolwork. Like I said, today was a great day! Moreover, they don’t have school tomorrow, so I’ll get two days in a row with less stress!!! Yay!

This afternoon I headed to Publix to get more milk and a few staples. It’s still nearly impossible to get a delivery time here. Clearly, I also had to get more gluten free cake mix. Who doesn’t like a good coffee cake to go with their coffee and quarantine? I also got two pairs of chocolate milks since BJ’s was out of the Quick mix. Thankfully, Publix wasn’t too crowded, so we were in and out pretty quickly.

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

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Studied and practiced Norwegian

*Watched Schitt’s Creek and Family Guy

*Watched Remember The Titans

*Ran 2.5 miles with Athena

*Gentle Yoga for a Strong Back  with Jenn from Open Heart Yoga Studio

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.

*Thrived while managing my teenagers virtual schooling.

*Ran to Publix for essentials

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Adventure Time

It was adventure time for the Hubby and I this morning as we headed to BJ’s Wholesale Club for essentials. Obviously, this was a trip of last resort. Ordinarily I have my groceries delivered, but due to COVID19 all the delivery slots were full. In fact, it feels like we haven’t been there since the distant past (i.e. before Jake graduated.) It’s not that we avoid this store because we’re afraid of the virus. No, we avoid it because the snowbird clientele and the exercise in patience it takes to survive the trip. Ideally, we would have had the items delivered as that is the safest route.

Since delivery was not an option in the foreseeable future, we planned our trip for early Sunday morning. After a quick stop to pick up my coffee at Dunkin’, we headed to BJ’s to get in line to enter the store when they opened at 9:00. Fortunately, the line was not atrocious when we got there. However, Shortly afterwards the line grew exponentially. Thank God we got there early. By the time we were checking out, the store had already sold out of toilet paper and paper towel!
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As for the shopping experience itself, it was great. The store’s stocks were lower, but we were able to get everything on our list less chocolate milk and Nutella. Additionally, I thought they had good limits on key items, so nobody could hoard stuff. One thing I liked better was how they ran the checkout line. Ordinarily it’s pick a line any line and it can take forever. Today they had one line from which an employee directed the customer to the next open cash register. Consequently, it resulted in a speedier, less frustrating shopping experience. Truly, it was quite the clever setup!

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I feel much better now that we’re well stocked on the essentials. Previously, I was worried that we were going to run out of of something or everything all at once. Peace of mind sometimes comes from unexpected quarters, but hey I’ll take it! In a tremendous stroke of lucky, I was also able to place a Target order via Shipt for today, so we’re all good to go for a productive week. Translation: I was able to get enough milk today, so I won’t have to go back to the store until Wednesday!

 

As soon as we got back, the hubby put a Boston but pork roast in the smoker. Can I tell you how good our patio smelled today? While he manned the smoker and fixed our screen, I made sure the coffee cake dish got cleaned. Obviously, I had to contrive something yummy to dinner since the Hubby was smoking a roast. Consequently, I made up the gluten free brownies. They’re fantastic! To be honest, I think I prefer the coffee cake. Nonetheless both gluten free mixes from Krusteaz were really tasty and good texture.

The rest of the day was well spent cuddling with my puppy, who had a bit a of a stomachache. After vomiting this morning, he seems to be feeling much better. Nonetheless, we’ve tried to keep him calm and relaxing on the couch all day. Clearly, it was a hard sacrifice for me to make, but I was a good companion to Anakin today.

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Lastly, my hubby had to go check on a job yesterday in Miami.  He took a picture of I-95 in downtown Miami at 12:30 pm and there is absolutely nobody on the road.  We’ve been down here for several hurricanes and we’ve never seen I-95 empty like it was yesterday, but I’m sure the express lane was still charging an $11 toll.

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

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Watched Family Guy and some Nature shows 

*Started to re-build our garden

*Home Depot run for more supplies for our garden

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on a walk 

*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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We Survived

We survived another week in isolation and the first week of virtual schooling. Both feats are amazing considered the amount of work it takes to cajole kids to get to their online classes timely. Teenagers are special – truly. Not since the toddler stages have I found parenting more vexing. Fortunately, I no longer have to change their diapers only deal with their tantrums and attitude.

I know this is stressful for them as it is for all of us, but come on man! Doing the dishes for ten minutes isn’t going to cut into your 24/7 free time to play video games or shoot pucks in the garage. Honestly, it’s not asking a lot just for them to help around the house. Additionally, the course work required of each of the boys, thus far, has been reasonable. Both have a virtual session a day, which is great because it gives them a chance to reconnect with their peers and a sense of normalcy. Bottom line they have plenty of time to help mom and dad.


The past couple of weeks have been a constant test of patience and today I felt like I was about to fail the test. Much of my morning was spent motivating, aka arguing with, Goalielocks to start and finish his homework before the 3:00 pm deadline. After asking him for the 900th time to bring his laptop downstairs to complete his work, I was ready to lose my mind.

And then it happened. Anakin, Maya and I came back in from a brief walk around the block. As I was bending down to switch the leach from Maya to Athena, Goalielocks released Anakin form his leash. Unfortunately, Anakin’ s leash was retractable and retracted from ten feet away directly into my shin splints. Oh joy! I totally lost my mind. I took his phone, grabbed my grocery bag to head to Publix.

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Now to be clear, we desperately needed milk and some other essentials. In fact, I’m still looking for toilet paper. If you’ve ever been to my Publix during snowbird season, you would know it’s not for the faint of heart on a normal day. During a pandemic or pre-hurricane, it’s usually super crazy. Nonetheless, it would bring me so much needed peace and serenity. Yep, that’s something I ever expected to write. I picked up some milk, fresh veggies, so gluten free baking mixes and Cadbury eggs.

I came home to Goalielocks diligently working on his coursework while watching Life of Brian on Netflix. If ever there was a perfect movie for today, that was it. Moreover, Always Look On the Bright Side of Life is exactly the song I needed to hear today. Fortunately, Monty Python was the perfect anecdote to my foul mood. Fortunately, the rest of my afternoon went significantly smoother than the morning and I was actually productive!

Now that we have one week of school of under the belts, I feel better about the boys being successful learning at home. Clearly, it’s going to take an enormous amount of patience and grace. Not only from me, but from my boys as well. Together we’ll make it though this stronger and more resilient than ever. Also, will probably be a lot more round after the quarantine fifteen. Thank you Cadbury, coffee cake, brownies and stress eating for that! Imagine by the end of this, the greatest stress in your life will be on your yoga pants.

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

*Reading To the Lighthouse by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched BBC’s production of The Moonstone episode 1 and 2

*Watched Life of Brian

*Completed BBG Full Body Workout week 6

*Ran virtual school for my two teenage boys

*Grocery run to Publix for essentials since all delivery services are booked 

*Baked a gluten free coffee cake

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on a walk 

*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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Unbelievable Joke

Not only was March an unbelievable joke, it also lasted a century. Okay perhaps March didn’t last a century maybe just a decade. The pandemic, the isolation, the toilet paper run, and the insane people all on global scale made March 2020 a month we will all remember. Consequently, we find ourselves in a global crisis that promises to long disrupt life as we know it.

I know it seems daunting, but we have an infrangible spirit. Together with our family, friends and communities we will get through this period. Honestly, it was talking with my grandma that gave me the most hope. My grandma’s generation lived through both the depression and World War 2. They know all too well the sacrifices and fear that happen during a global crisis. Just like her generation, we too will make it through this and we will be changed. Hopefully, we will come through this kinder, more humble, less wasteful and more generous.

One thing that has become crystal clear is that our nation’s teachers are saints. I say this after two days of virtual school with my younger two boys. I spent my day repeatedly harassing my boys to complete their work. Truly, the whole experience is exhausting. Nonetheless, I’m grateful to our school district for enabling online learning during this time. As someone who spent ten years convincing people online education was viable, I’m thrilled to see online learning come to our country’s rescue. It’s truly phenomenal that the kids can continue learning and connecting with their classmates throughout this pandemic. These social connections are everything!

There are some positives to this experience. mean I guess the upshot of social distancing is the perfect excuse for an introverts night in or ghosting someone. Additionally, it’s given me an opportunity to slow down and reconnect with people. I’ve talked to more people on the phone over the last couple of weeks than I have in the last year. Importantly, I’ve made it a priority to check in on the grandparents. We cannot discount the loneliness and isolation many feel while we’re in lockdown. My grandma’s building has been locked down for weeks, so social interaction is at a minimum. Jake and I both try to call her regularly to make sure she’s ok.

 

Positive things we can do throughout the pandemic:

  • Spend quality time with our families
  • Reconnect with friends and family in meaningful and regular fashion
  • Find innovative ways to hang out with friends and family outside the home (i.e. Uno games via Zoom.)
  • Spend time creating a manageable workout routine
  • Learn a new skill or language (mine is teaching – it’s not going well.)
  • Become a Facebook expert on all things epidemiology, international relations and financial markets
  • Support the small business owners in your community by getting take out, buying produce boxes from local farms or taking virtual fitness classes from your favorite gym or teacher.
  • Be kind to yourself – this is a difficult season for everyone including you.
  • Treat others with grace – see the bullet above
  • Foster an animal from your local animal shelter.  I promise you that puppy kisses make everything better.

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

*Reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched The Office season 8

*BBG arms and abs week 6

*Run virtual school for my two teenage boys

*Took Anakin on a walk to see Goalielocks fishing 
*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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Stay At Home Saturday

It was a stay at home Saturday.  I’m proud to say I actually knew it as Saturday today.  Mostly because my hubby didn’t go into work today.  Consequently, it seems that I may be able to successfully identify Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Yay!  It’s the small victories in life.

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I had planned to run today, but my allergies and pain in my shin suggested otherwise.  Clearly, I’m in now hurry to get injured again, so for once I did the prudent thing and skipped it.  Hopefully, I’m able to run tomorrow as a virtual strider for Miami’s Purple Stride event. The event was to be hosted down in Dade today, but due to COVID19 it was changed to a virtual event.  You can donate to the cause above and I know my colleagues in our Dade affiliate would appreciate it.

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In lieu of running, I took a virtual vinyasa class with my dear friend and yoga teacher Monica.  She’s been my yoga teacher since my Zachary was in diapers. You can check her out at https://www.yogamundo.com.  Anyways, it was my first vinyasa class since being diagnosed with Graves.  The class was held via Zoom and there were a handful of students in the class.

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Honestly, it was great to connect with people outside the homestead.  Since I hadn’t taken a vinyasa class in almost two years, I was a bit nervous.  It was tough, but I did it.  It felt awesome!!!  The class was ninety minutes of hard and productive work.  Thankfully, the last several months of practice at Open Heart Yoga studio has helped my breathing, flexibility and strength. Sometimes it’s nice to see how far I’ve come since restarting my yoga practice in late October.

As for the rest of the day, I worked on crow pose and inversions.  But mostly I binge watched the Office and Cheers all day.  It was a gratifying day.  For dinner, we grilled steaks and potatoes while the Mayor boiled crab legs. We served both with roasted carrots and an awesome salad.  Now I’m ready for bed at 9:20.

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This social distancing thing is exhausting.  Who knew that doing absolutely nothing could be so tiring?!?  For the past week, I’ve been lucky if I made it to 9:00 pm.  Is this what Bears feel like when they’re starting to hibernate in their habitat?  Or perhaps it’s because we have all the cares of the world on our shoulder due to the current pandemic.  Whether we are worried for our own health or not: we worry about our family and friends that are vulnerable, we worry about our brave friends and family fighting on the frontlines of healthcare, we worry about kids serving in the military.  All those worries, all those cares can be exhausting, so it’s important that we practice self care and that we connect with our family and friends as often as we can!

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Lastly, here’s a quick Maya update.  She continues to get better everyday.  In fact, we had to stop her from playing with her siblings today.  Thankfully, she’s in great spirits and seems to be doing well.  Thanks again for all the love and support for our sweet puppy!

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

*reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched The Office season 4&5 and Cheers season 1

* BBG rest day

*1.5 mile walk with my boys and puppies

*Vinyasa class – with Monica from Yogamundo

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What Day Is It Anyway?

This isolation thing has me wondering what day is it anyway? All the usual markers of my week are gone! How is one to distinguish Sunday from Monday with no Monday bus stop run! If there’s no yoga and I don’t go to my 4:00 pm class, is it even Wednesday? Honestly, I’m all over the place with my days. Frankly, I just lost my train of though as my mayor farted in my face. Only teenage boys tell their parents goodnight in this fashion.

Time is blending together as the isolation wears on. I’d hardly know it was a new day if I didn’t get my morning coffee. Admittedly, the Sweat App does help as I do my resistance workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for running. Although tomorrow, which I’m told is Saturday, I’m going to run three miles.

This week we passed our time with some Disney movies and the Tiger King. Wow! If ever there was a show that could make you feel better about yourself whole making you terrified for society, this is it! I’ve never seen more of a train wreck before and I’ve lived in Florida for nearly fifteen years. From beginning to end, the Tiger King was a wild ride in insanity. I’m not neither Team Joe Exotic or Team Carol as I think they’re both terrible. I did, however, learn (thank you Carol) that is you want a big cat to eat something it shouldn’t put sardine oil on it…. Why would you even know that?!!! Oh wait…..
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This evening we started watching The Office again. It made me miss Jake and Mel, so I had to text them that. Coincidentally, they were watching The Office season 1 together via FaceTime. Clearly, great minds think alike. Every time I watch this show, I love it more. It’s the perfect television binge for a pandemic.
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While we binged on Netflix, our Maya stayed by our side on the couch. Her incision site is healing well. More importantly, she is returning to her normal self. She has a good energy, a happier disposition and a healthy appetite. In addition, she even tried to play with Athena and Anakin today. We’re very happy with the progress she’s made over the last twenty four hours. We’re praying that her biopsy results show nothing nefarious.

I thought it might be fun to catalog what I’ve learned during our time in isolation.  Here’s what I learned this week:

  • Skipping rope is a lot harder than I remember it being.
  • I suck at skipping rope
  • Sardine oil makes big cats hungry
  • Not all hard seltzers are created equally
  • It is possible to make a yummy gluten free cake at home.  Thank you Krusteaz!
  • My runs are getting faster!
  • Connections via technology are great, but they’re no replacement for the original.  
  • Becky Sharp is one of my least favorite characters in literature. 
  • It’s scary to drop off your pet for surgery. 
  • I should not partake in more than 2-4 margaritas in a night.
  • I now understand how my parents felt when they told teenage me not to go out, but I went out anyway.
  • A college degree isn’t necessary to be an expert in a given field.  A Facebook page, however, will make you an expert in everything.

What have you learned during this pandemic? I hope your list isn’t empty as there will be a quiz when this is all over.

 

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