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Superstitious

Yesterday’s prompt asked if I’m superstitious, but I didn’t notice the prompt until after I had already finished my blog about our torturous allergy season here. The answer is that I am absolutely superstitious. It comes along with the hockey mom and hockey culture. Show me a hockey mom that’s not superstitious and I’ll show you snow in Miami (real meteorological snow, not the stuff referenced in Miami Vice.)

Are you superstitious?

So let me recount some of the superstitious ridiculousness that comes with being a hockey mom and/or player

  • Thou shall not utter the word shutout until the final buzzer has sounded. If you utter it before, it will be your fault when the goalie gives up a goal. This is one of the cardinal rules of being a goalie parent.
  • I wore this jacket and they won; ergo, I must wear this jacket to all future games, so the trend can continue. God forbid we wear another jacket and they lose, oh the regret that would spark.
  • Pregame rituals: for me, it was always grabbing a coffee before game time. Each player and parent has their own pregame routine.
  • Always tell my player or goalie good luck and have fun before they hit the ice
  • The goalie hits the goalposts in a certain order before every face-off.
  • The playoff beard. No shaving for the guys until they’ve won or been knocked out of the playoffs
  • Favorite shirt or piece of equipment. This item will be repaired until it can’t be repaired anymore because the player has to wear it.
  • Not washing equipment during the season. This one is a killer. You’d only have to walk near my garage during the season to know why.
  • The taping of the stick. Every player has a ritual for when and how they tape their stick before a game.
  • Pregame meal or drink (i.e Celsius.). We’ve definitely hit some gas stations before games to make sure they had their Celsius in hand.

What are some of your superstitions? Hockey folks, did I miss any?


Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness+
  • Book: I finished Marcel Proust’s Finding Lost Time last time. Five years and seven volumes later, I’ve completed his masterpiece. Tonight I’m starting Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir.
  • Word of the day is chiton. A chiton is a mollusk often found in tide pools.
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song is Outta Our Heads by Dropkick Murphy’s
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Lots of Hockey

We had lots of hockey yesterday and didn’t get home until dinner time, so I took the night off from blogging. Initially, we thought all three games were at Skatezone, which would still make for a tight transition between games two and three. Unfortunately, the league changed our second travel game from Skatezone to ice works when an updated schedule was sent out. Consequently, this made the transition from game two to game three quite interesting.

The first game of the day was a Hawks vs. Hawks affair. Luckily, the Mayor’s team came out on top, however, I thought the other team outplayed them. Nonetheless, the Mayor played well and it was an entertaining game to watch. I mean, it’s super easy to cheer when both teams are from the same organization. The fear with an inter-organization game is that they can sometimes get nasty. Both teams played a clean game of hockey and were good sports, which was great to see.

The second game was at Ice Works against the best team in the league. Lyssa and her sister made the hockey moms great shirts, which I forgot to wear yesterday. Nevertheless, we took a photo of the moms present in their shirts. Since I had forgotten mine, I hid in the back with my sunglasses trying to avoid the blinding glare of the sun. As for the game, we expected a complete thrashing. You can imagine our surprise when the boys came out of the first period with a 3-2 lead. It ended with 8-3 bad guys with two of our players injured on dirty plays.

Once the game ended, the boys on our high school hockey team piled into Christy’s van to ride to the high school game at Skate Zone. The high school game started at 5:00 pm, so shortly before the travel game ended. They ended up making it to the high school game at the end of the second period. Neither team had a full bench at that point, but our team was already winning 7-0 when the kids got there. By the end of the day, we had lots of hockey and I was completely exhausted.

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Staying on Theme

Well, my weekend is staying in the theme of a transportation clusterfuck. I went out to get my Dunkin’ coffee this morning, when to my unpleasant surprise the rental didn’t start. In fact, it didn’t even turnover. Fortunately, the hotel engineer had jumper cables and was able to give us a jump. Unfortunately, the car’s battery wasn’t the issue. Given the lack of sound from the engine, we surmised it was a starter or alternator issue. Either way it wasn’t a problem that could be solved in the parking lot.

Thankfully, my friend Lyssa let me use her rental to pick up my already order coffee. While I drove to Dunkin’, I called Hertz’a roadside assistance line. The customer care agent was amazing. She got me setup for a tow, so I wouldn’t have to wait around for the tow truck. After all, I am completely unwilling to miss any of the Mayor’s games while I’m here. Nor was I willing to miss out on the deep dish pizza.

As for a replacement vehicle, I’d have to call back after the game to set that up. Ordinarily, I would have setup another car, but sometimes the universe is sending us messages. Also, we’ve had no issue finding rides to the games. Honestly, the Mayor’s team is filled with incredible families, which has made this situation so much less stressful. Consequently, I’m leaning into the universe’s message and going rental free for the rest of the weekend.

This morning’s troubles were, but a blur after two entertaining games today. I was so grateful that my bestie Jen was able to come and watch both games. It’s such a gift to be able to see her and her kids. Moreover, I love watching the Mayor play. I love watching his scheme and plan with his teammates on the ice. Mostly, I love when he scores a nice goal or sets up his teammates for a nice goal. Tonight he got the game winner after great plays and passes by his teammates.

Today was all about redefining expectations for our transportation this trip, great company and entertaining hockey. Today’s bloganuary post asks what is your preferred mode of transporting. My answer is simple, a rental car that works. As for the rest of this weekend’s transportation, we are fortunate for the generosity of spirt from our hockey family. Hopefully, next trip will stay on theme, but it will be a better less stressful theme.

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Clusterfuck

This trip has been a clusterfuck since yesterday when Hertz inadvertently deleted my rental reservation while trying to fix it. After a couple of calls, they got it taken care of and at a much lower rate. The real clusterfuck showed up when Delta emailed me that our flight was delayed and we needed to rebook. Fortunately, I got the email before falling asleep, so I could get situated while there were still flights available.

After several hours, Delta’s customer service agent was able to get us rebooked into O’Hare via JFK. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have a Twitter tantrum directed at Delta. After being canceled, rebooked, canceled, and rebooked at the back of the plane after paying for Comfort+ on the flight, I was beyond livid. Thankfully, an angel named Eloise, a Delta customer service rep, took care of it.

The cluster has continued today. Our boarding passes for the second flight didn’t want to load, so that was fun. I went up to the desk to get printed copies, but the attendant insisted the photos I had of the printed passes would work. Spoiler alert, they didn’t and we were the last folks to board the plane. I wouldn’t have been so annoyed if I hadn’t already asked for the printed passes. Anyway, we eventually got on the bird and are now wheels up to Chicago.

I did notice, however, once I got service again that our Monday flight to Atlanta as cancelled. It looks like they’ve already rebooked us on another flight. The basement of JFK, where our gate was, had absolutely no cell nor Wi-Fi service. There was literally no service in the room. Obviously, everyone was annoyed with the lack of service as it made it mighty difficult to pull up a boarding pass in the APP with no internet.

If there’s anything the last twenty four hours have taught me, it is that my bullshit tolerance clearly has a limit. At the moment, the limit seems to be nil. Perhaps, my tolerance for travel bullshit is lower than my normal life bullshit tolerance. Or perhaps I’m just exhausted and have no desire to be tolerant. I think I probably just need a good nap and maybe a piece of the gigantic Milka Bar I bought in the airport.

Today’s bloganuary prompt asks what one would do with a billion dollars. Given my experience with the clusterfuck that is travel these days, I’d buy a private CBC jet. This way I don’t need to worry about my flight getting cancelled or my mobile boarding pass not working. It would just be so easy. Plus if I had a private jet, it would be much easier to travel with my puppies. Although to be fair, I’m not sure the puppies would love flying. Anakin and Arrow have nervous breakdowns when driving five minutes to the vets office.

And we made it!

Today’s accountability tracker:

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Twilight Zone

Last weekend’s hockey tournament was like stepping into the twilight zone. To be fair, it’s our fault for going. The memorial day tournament, as long as we’ve been involved in Florida hockey, has been an unmitigated disaster/twilight zone. This year’s tournament was no exception. Our weekend also had a 70s/80s flair courtesy of the Saddlebrook Resort. The furniture in our room was probably older than all of us.

Sunday was by far the worst day. Our first game of the day was an absolute disaster. In fact, it’s probably the worst hockey experience I’ve had to date. That my friends is saying a lot. One of the refs was not sober and did the job at a level commensurate to his lack of sobriety. There were only two refs as well because folks don’t want to pay for four. We should demand that there are four at the higher levels.

Consequently, the other team ended up with two goals that should never have happened. One the opposing goalie caught the puck and held it. There should have been a whistle or a play the puck here, but there wasn’t. As our boys came off to change, the goalie release the puck to his teammate, who naturally got a breakaway and scored. The second goal happened after the puck hit the netting in the neutral zone and wasn’t whistled dead. Apparently, the puck never crossed the line either, but that wasn’t something I could see from my vantage point.

By the third period, we had tied it up and the game started to devolve. There were several skirmishes that resulted in players being tossed from the game. Strangely, the refs never reported any player numbers or corresponding infractions. It was an absolutely odd situation. However, it would only get weirder after the game when the opposing coach added a goal for his son to the scoresheet. Thankfully, there was someone in the tournament office that watched the game and knew it had ended in a tie. Who does that shit?

The assistant coach added a goal for his son after the game.

The oddness of the day was punctuated in our second game by an opposing parent that walked back and forth behind the bench flicking off the kids. Seriously? I should also say the opposing coach was an asshole trying to get us to forfeit stating we had suspended players that were playing. Obviously, that was complete bullshit. I firmly told the coach to take note of the suspensions already noted as served on the scoresheet. He took a picture and huffed back to his bench. What a loser. At any rate, I will happily skip next year’s twilight zone tournament.

Monday we headed home, which is always a fun drive. There’s no worse road to drive than State Road 60. It’s awful anytime of the day and in any kind of weather. Once we got home, we quickly left again to go see my brother and sister in law that can to town Thursday. We all had a blast at the BBQ and the kids got to hang with their cousins, which was great.

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Game 1 is in the Books

Game 1 is in the books here in Charlotte. The Mayor scored two goals and had two assists. His line continues to gel incredible well together. The final score was 6-2 Hawks with all three offensive lines making the scoresheet. Overall, it was a solid team effort this morning.

Game 1 is in the books!

It was a fun game to watch. In fact, you can find it the videos on my Facebook. My commentary is colorful, so if you’re easily offended, you may want to skip the feed. If on the other hand, you like a good gong show, then my feed is perfect for you. I’ll be live from Pineville ice arena at 3:15 and live from Extreme Ice at 8:40.

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It’s Test Day

It’s test day here in sunny, but chilly for us South Florida. When I woke up this morning, exhausted from the weekend on the road, I was trying to think of every valid reason why I shouldn’t run or workout today. Truly, I was exhausted and couldn’t imagine the thought of pounding the pavement for two miles.

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Fortunately, coffee solved my motivation problem and I quickly changed my mind. After all, the weather was undeniably perfect for a run. While the weather conditions were perfect, my run was not. My time was improved over last week and the first mile felt pretty good. I ended up chopping a minute off of last week’s time. It may have something to do with the great Metallica riffs I was enjoying.

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Unfortunately, I still have 2.5 minutes to chop off my time.The one drawback of the run was me. Sadly, I have some soreness in my knees after yesterday’s dash through DTW (Detroit airport.) Apparently, when you return a rental car, you are also supposed to return the keys. Of course, I didn’t discover the keys in my purse until I got to my gate A12.

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I called Hertz, who instructed me to give the keys to the shuttle driver. That was all I needed. I left my stuff with my Mayor and booked it back to the ground transportation area. I only had about 20 minutes before they started boarding. Honestly, it felt great to run after a couple of rest days.

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In the end, I made it to the shuttle, back through security and back to my gate in less than 20 minutes. The only snafu was having to get patted down by security since my back was now so sweaty. Clearly, I apologized to the TSA officer for having to deal with me and my sweatiness. She replied that it was okay and that she’s seen much worse. So much for picking up a pre-flight Starbucks. It kind of felt like I was in a movie.

In the end, I knew I was taking a calculated risk in running today. After all, we ended out trip in Michigan with some White Castle sliders on Eight Mile Road. I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. It’s absolute insanity to eat White Castle before hopping on a flight.

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Thankfully, the Mayor and I are accustomed to the burgers, so I felt the risk was minimal. However, running a significant distance the morning after could be categorized as either brave or stupid. Spoiler alert, I survived the run with no intestinal issues.

Needless to say there’s no place like home. My skin is thrilled to be back in a place with humidity. Meanwhile, I’m ready to continue with the solid workout routine I’ve created. I’ll devote probably a couple posts to our weekend in Detroit because it was that awesome. I had aspirations of posting everyday, but the schedule and my energy level suggested differently.

So final test results for week 3: 16:51 for 1.5 mile run, 15 pushups and 28 sit-ups! Clearly, I have room for improvement. Next week, I should hit the sit-up number. The run, however, is going to take a few more weeks. Lastly, please keep our airman in your prayers!! It’s test day for him as well and this week is critical!

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Today Was A Dream

Today was a dream of a day. Since I’ve left the corporate life behind me, I’ve been enjoying my time with the kiddos and family. It’s been amazing to be able to spend time with my family without worrying about professional repercussions.

Today was a dream day that started like most others: my yummy Dunkin in my hand and some quality time with Jake and the puppies. Ordinarily, I’d go for a run or rollerblading in the morning, but there was not time for that today. Plus my legs were sore from running two miles yesterday for the first time in months.

The weather was absolutely dreamy. Chilly in the morning and absolutely perfect, with almost no clouds in the sky, the rest of the day. It was the perfect day for lunch along the intracoastal waterway in Fort Lauderdale. One of my favorite hockey moms lives in Miami, so this was the perfect meeting place.

I hadn’t been to Blue Moon Seafood Co in ages, but it was just a good as I remembered. We started with some wine, baked brie and calamari. The baked brie was served like a cream puff on a pool of coconut cream and apple chutney. It was simply amazing! The calamari was just as good.

Our main courses, were just as scrumptious as the appetizers, but I forgot to take a picture before I started eating. Since I’m trying to minimize my gluten intake, I opted for the spinach and blackened shrimp salad. I’m not quite sure what happens in their kitchen, but it might be wizardry as that was the best salad I’ve ever had. Meanwhile, Jodi was enjoying their mahi mahi entree. Honestly, it almost felt like a crime for food this good to be but one get one free. Thankfully, it is two for one special, so I can afford to go back more often.

After lunch, we stopped at Dunkin to grab some coffee and talk shop. My girl has been using Melaleuca products for awhile and invited me to join. As many of you know, the past year has been a struggle as I’ve dealt with autoimmune thyroid disease. I’ve found that my body has grown increasingly sensitive to certain food and chemicals. I’ve been looking for a good option to replace some the products in my house and this was the perfect opportunity.

I actually placed my first order this evening and can’t wait for it to arrive. I’m hopeful that these beauty and household products won’t send my body into autoimmune hell. Standby for the product reviews.

Unfortunately, we had to cut coffee short as my parents plane was landing early – like way early. The jet stream was clearly in their favor today. Picking them up was quick albeit it took me awhile to find them. Usually they wait inside for us, but they decided to wait outside. My mom definitely made up for the airport snafu with the tumblers she picked up for as a Caribou. As you can imagine, anyway my parents come to town is a dream day.

Thankfully since their plane was early, I was able to make it home in time to make my 4:00 yoga class. I just joined Open Heart Yoga Studio in Boynton and it’s absolutely amazing. Wednesday’s class is all about loosening muscles and improving strength and mobility. If ever there was a class designed for me, it is this one. I simply love it. Fortunately, I was able to share the experience with my mom today. I knew it would be the perfect anecdote to the stiffness that comes with flying.

Our night ended with Sal’s pizza and family time. That’s right not only do I have my parents in town, I also had all three of my boys home tonight. It’s like a lunar eclipse of a blood moon it happens every 3,543 years. I’m just happy to have the family home especially since Jake leaves on 20 days for the Air Force. We even hit a landmark as the Mayor is finally taller than his Grandma. All in all, in the immortal words of Sponge Bob, “It was the best day ever!”

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Hurricane, hockey and airports

Hurricane, hockey and airports oh my! Goalielocks and I are Boston bound for his first tournament of the year. Providence clearly had a hand in the planning as we’re escaping Palm Beach right as Hurricane Dorian is knocking on our door. It’s slated to hit somewhere on the East coast of Florida as a cat 4 storm. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of uncertainty in both the path and forecasted strength. At this points, it’s a plan for the worst and hope for the best scenario.

As crazy as it sounds, it’s a bit tough to leave the state right now. While my goalie and I are heading north, we’re leaving behind the hubby, the mayor, Jake and our puppies. I think I’ll be equally nervous for them as I am watching my goalie play. I’ll try to update on both the hockey and hurricane preparations as much as I can. If you’re in Florida, stay safe. If you’re not in Florida, please pray for my family and neighbors’s safety.

Signing off from 36,000 feet!

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It’s Time For States!

It’s time for states!!! The vaunted state hockey tournament. The culmination of countless hours of practices, driving, off ice sessions and games is finally here. Fortunately, both of our boys are playing locally this year for states! Yay!! Unfortunately, we’ll be at the rink all weekend with nary a break.

Our tournament started with our U12 Panthers Gold taking on the undefeated Blackhawks Red. It was an exciting game. I had expected a lopsided affair, but it was 0-0 through much of the game. The Hawks put one in while on a 5-3 power play. Our squad didn’t stop their effort and kept it a tight game, but we couldn’t bury the puck. All in all it was a good game.

Well after my bedtime, Goalielocks’ U16 game was scheduled. Okay, maybe 9:50 isn’t my bed time, but by Friday night I’m exhausted. Fortunately, I packed my beta blockers so I could take the edge of my nerves and my heart rate. The game opened with a breakaway against Goalielocks and he came up with a huge save.

The rest of the game was back and forth. Goalielocks saw a lot of shots, but was on point. TK buried the puck early in the first to put us up by one. We netted another goal in the second putting us up 2-0.

The second period had me worried, but our squad stood strong. They ended up banging one in, but I couldn’t see what happened from my angle. When the period ended it was 2-1. Thank God for beta blockers.

As the third period got underway I was hoping for a quick goal to allay my nerves. I got it! #relieved. The team had some great offensive moments in the third period. Consequently, we went up 4-1. It was then that the wheels started to fall off for the other team. They took a 2-10 penalty followed by another minor penalty late in the third. Happily, the game ended a 4-1 decisive win for our Panthers Gold and my Goalie.

Now it’s midnight, we’ve been at work and school all day. Tomorrow starts early with a call time at the rink of 9:30. We have game all day and another late night at the rink. I’m off to bed to get some much needed sleep. Let’s Go Panthers!