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The Weekend

The weekend is here. Hopefully, it means that I’ll get back to knowing what day of the week it is. I
I dedicated the morning to completing household chores.  Honestly, I had every intention of doing this work over the holiday break, but it didn’t happen. Mostly because all three boys were here, but also because I got sick on Christmas night. Unfortunately, getting sick also meant I couldn’t spend as much time with the boys as I wanted to since I didn’t want to infect anyone.

After a quick liquid lunch, a protein shake, I headed to Palm Beach to go thrifting with Terri. Our first stop was the Church Mouse. It’s a fancier “thrift” store on Palm Beach island and the prices were equal to the location. Afterwards, we headed to Goodwill back on the mainland. Fortunately, Terri was able to find some gold at that location. We were going to stop at World Thrift, but we didn’t have life jackets or rowboats to get through the parking lot.

I spent the evening chilling with the puppies while watching The Morning Show. It’s quite entertaining and well down. Once my Amazon package gets here, I’m going to start working on my sourdough baguette loaves. Well, at least I’m going to get the equipment ready. Thankfully, it’s going to be a nice and peaceful evening. It’s nice to be able to watch the show of my choice without someone complaining or making fun of my choice. I’ll be taking advantage of this all weekend.

Meanwhile the Mayor and Hubby are enjoying the snow that’s begun to fall in Pennsylvania. Note to anyone looking for a new car, the Chevy Bolt doesn’t handle any amount of snow and will leave you stuck. In addition to the snow, the Mayor played two games. They lost the first game and tied the second one. They’re currently enjoying the Pittsburgh Penguins versus the Sabres game. I think it’s fun to experience NHL games in different stadiums or cities.

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

If I had a freeway billboard, it would say carpe diem. Mostly because I think people should live for the moment. Also, I like the idea of putting up a billboard with a dead language on it. Gotta be different!

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AEP is Over!

AEP is over and I’m back to blogging. Since returning from Utah, it’s been work non-stop. I’ve literally been working 7 days a week since October 15th. This year’s AEP was productive and awesome, but I’m sure glad it’s over. I still have a lot to share from my Mighty Five adventure. Fortunately, we didn’t have reliable cell service or internet after leaving Zion. It honestly was an absolute gift.

Now I’m on a plane headed to Minny watching the Barbie movie with Goalielocks to catch up on some rest and relaxation. Well also he helping move my grandma into a new apartment at an absolutely beautiful building. She’ll have a nice view of the lake and when she needs it, she’ll have the assistance she needs. I’m so glad my mom and her siblings are getting her set now.

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Quick Update

Just a quick update, since I have spotty Wi-Fi and absolutely no cell signal where we’re staying. In fact, we went the whole day in Capitol Reef National Park and it was liberating. We spent yesterday exploring Bryce Canyon National Park. It was spectacular, but more to come on that later. Today we hit Capitol Reef Park, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Petrified Forest State Park. We had an exhausting day clocking in over 30,000 steps and countless miles. Tomorrow we head northeast to Canyon Lands National Park. When I have better internet and more energy, I’ll write about each of the parks.

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Quick

It was a quick weekend and here we are back to Monday. It’s as if the weekend never even happened at all. We did have a busy weekend planned. The Mayor’s first games of the season were this weekend in Fort Myers. Consequently, we planned to drive over both days for the games. This plan was obviously not great, but that way we didn’t have to find someone to watch the dogs.

We left the house Saturday intending to drive to Fort Myers for hockey. As we were driving on the Sawgrass, the Mayor texted that he was a scratch. Since we hadn’t driven that far and I was nursing the remnants of a nasty headache, we decided to turn back. Instead of driving home, we ended up at Skate Zone watching the Typhoon play the Tampa Bay Jrs. This ended up being a pretty fun afternoon as we were reunited with a lot of our friends. It also made for a much shorter day than our original plans.

We left the house yesterday morning at 6:00 a.m. to be there by 9:00 for the puck drop. He was scratched again, but we wanted to see him and support the team. It was a great game and the Eels came out on top. More importantly, what came out of the trip was seeing the Mayor in his element and hearing about his experience. He loves the program. He accepts that he’s a young player on an older team, which means less ice time. What he has gained, however, is a bunch of mentors who are helping him and the other new kids acclimate to junior hockey.

After the game, we headed to grab lunch. Not surprisingly, the first thing he said to us when we saw him was that he wanted hibachi for lunch. I don’t know about you, but I’m never thinking about hibachi at 8:30 in the morning. We did, however, end up having Hibachi at the outlets and it was really good. The Mayor has matured a lot in his time away from home, but more than that he’s found a program that fits his goals. He knows it may be less ice time in the beginning, but in the interim, he’s working hard to get better, not getting complacent, and being a great teammate. I couldn’t be more proud. He did play this morning and had a great game.

Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.

I wish I understood that experiences are far better than material goods at a younger age. I think growing up I was too fixated on having things instead of enjoying life’s moments. So when I look in the mirror that is definitely something I wish I learned or should I say heeded earlier. I’m proud, however, that my boys firmly understand the importance of experience versus things. Although to be fair, they still want a lot of things. Nevertheless, we don’t talk about graduation presents, we talk about graduation trips. When I’m gone I want them to have a life full of memories made (and of course some mementos) with their mom exploring the world.

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Monday, Monday

“Monday, Monday” damn now I have that Mamas and the Papas song stuck in my head. It’s been a shit day at work, which happens. It’s literally one of the most normal things in a salesperson’s life. Not all days are gonna be easy. Anyway, this is usually a non factor because anyone that works sales knows this axiom to be true except for one person who shall remain nameless. While they shall remain nameless, they shall live in shame and infamy for their ridiculousness. Anyway, time to brush that shit off my shoudlers and move on.

If I seem a bit cranky, it’s because I am. I haven’t slept well since mid August and I need my sleep. The fact that I can’t fall asleep is driving me nuts. I’m hoping since I stopped taking the prednisone yesterday that my sleep pattern will go back to normal. Hopefully, once my sleep goes back to normal everting else falls back into place. This past month has been really tough. I’ve pretty much had to cancel any and every plans I’ve had even when I was in Minny because I wasn’t up for them physically.

Anyway, I didn’t get much accomplished this weekend outside of baking. I did, however, get our bushes fertilized and trimmed. Unfortunately, the skies didn’t open up like I had hoped, but hopefully we get some rain today. Afterwards. the Hubby walked me through his plans for the bedrooms upstairs. Spoiler alert, they’re going to look amazing once he’s through with them. My only feedback was to get the painting and closet organizers done first, so we can maximize the space.

I did two bakes this weekend to keep myself busy since leaving the house was a risky endeavor. The first bake was a homemade toaster strudel. I’ll share the recipe in a later post, but it’s super easy. It’s literally puff pastry, the filling of your choice, and simple frosting. Honestly, this is a recipe I’ll make often when the boys are home. It’s simple, but really tasty. The second bake I made was an attempt at Paul Hollywood’s recipe of Kouign-Amann, which is a magnificent dessert from Brittany. It was a lot more complicated, but very tasty.

Describe your ideal week.

My ideal week is one spent exploring the world with my family. It’s not spent behind a desk or on a couch. I’m looking forward to the week I have planned for Jake and I exploring Utah’s Mighty Five and the surrounding national monuments and state parks. Adventure, hiking and exploring the world is something that I enjoy. I find myself at peace up in the mountains of Utah, so I’m really looking forward to my trip.

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Half Way

We’re half way to Friday. Could there be a better gift than a short work week? I don’t think so. Absolutely everything about a shortened work week is an absolute delight. What has not been delightful this week is my inability to fall asleep thanks to the prednisone. I’ve tried everything from teas, to patches and gummies, but nothing helps. Once I fall asleep, I’ve been sleeping pretty well. Hopefully tonight will be one filled with a goodnight’s sleep.

Work continues to pick up and be busy, which is a welcome change. The past 16 months have been way too slow. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to make some good money during AEP. I’m not, however, looking forward to working the insane hours that AEP brings. Next week our company publishes its annual results, so I’m anxiously waiting that report. The stock hasn’t had the best couple of years, so some good news would be welcomed.

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

In 2018, Jake and went to Scandinavia with my brother and sister in law. On this trip, we visited Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen. Helsinki is the furthest I’ve been from home clocking in at 5,100 miles away. Nevertheless, like the rest of Scandinavia, I felt completely at home in Helsinki. We spent several days there and watched the Florida Panthers practice. I really enjoyed the city, it’s sites and it’s people. I’ll definitely return to Helsinki.

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Back Home

I’m back home after a wonderful week in Minnesota. It was a nice change of pace to be back in the Midwest for a bit. I didn’t laid pretty low since I wasn’t feeling 100%, but I still had a great time. Saturday was a wonderful day as I got to see a lot of my extended family that I had not seen in years. I even managed to bake my parents some fresh bread before the party. While I was finishing up the bread, my mom and aunt went for a walk. I ran up to Starbucks while the bread was raising, so I saw them on the path. To be funny, I stopped and took pictures of them, but they didn’t even notice. As Jake said, their situational awareness was not good.

The anniversary party for my aunt and uncle was at my Grandma’s building in their cafeteria. It’s really a nice room to host a party as there is plenty of room for folks and the kitchen is well appointed. For ease, they ordered in pizza from Broadway Pizza, which was super yummy. They ordered perfectly as there was very little left at the end of the day. For dessert, we had a beautiful decorated cake.

I haven’t seen a lot of my family since before Covid, so it was nice to see people again. My cousin Nick and I were exchanging photos of our ancestors that we had come across. We were also talking about some trinkets that exist from my Grandpa’s time in service, like a handkerchief he made while recovery from injuries. He’s going to build the family a site with all of the information and photos in one place. This will obviously be much better than all of us paying a jillion dollars for ancestry.com. It was so great to be able to see extended family after so many years apart.

My mom and her siblings
My mom’s Siblings and spouses
My brother and my cousins Nick and Ben
The view from the new Delta lounge at MSP

What’s your favorite time of day?

My favorite time of day is nighttime. I love our bed time rituals with the puppies. Once I have them ready for bed, I hop into bed and read my book. Some nights I read for over an hour other nights I fall asleep pretty quickly.

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Cooler

It’s a much cooler day today. Although I didn’t find yesterday to be particularly hot here. If you watched the news here last night, however, you would have thought the place was on fire. Nonetheless, I did enjoy running in much cooler air. There was even a bit of a breeze that felt good at my back, but was killing me when I was running into it. I did manage to add another tenth of a mile to my distance today, which was fabulous. My lungs weren’t really feeling the run at the beginning, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.

4 days in a row!! Let’s go!

I noticed when I got back from lunch that there are a bunch of active areas in the tropical. I swear tits like vermin. One makes landfall or dissipates and another one pops up to replace it. Our hurricane kit is all set, so we’re ready for the season. Hopefully, Florida is spared a major hurricane. Our homeowners insurance market cannot withstand another big storm after Hurricane Ian’s devastation last fall. Ironically, it’s the 32nd anniversary of Hurricane Andrew’s landfall.

Last night we went to visit my paternal Grandmother. It was so nice to see her! The last time I was able to visit her was before Jake went into the Air Force. It’s mind bogglinge to think how fast time has flown by. Also, I can’t believe that I haven’t been able to see her in almost four years. Now that we’re not buried in travel hockey, I’m hoping I’ll be able to go home for more visits. It should be much easier since I won’t have to use all my time off for hockey trips.

Where did your name come from?

My name came from my maternal grandfather’s grandpa. His name was Andreas and he immigrated to the US from Romskog, Norway. When we visited our relatives in 2017, we were able to see the farm where he was born. Additionally, we were able to see the church where he was baptized. Like many Europeans of the time, he ended up in the US due to primogeniture. If you weren’t the oldest son in Norway at the time, you were out of luck.

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Midweek

It’s midweek, which while better than Monday it isn’t Friday. Nevertheless, the majority of the work week is now behind me. I shouldn’t complain too loudly since I can work from wherever I want. This week I’m working out of my parents house in Minny. My schedule is 8-5 est, which leads me plenty of time in the evenings to workout, visit folks or just be lazy.

Last night we went to Panino’s for dinner. Panino’s was one of my favorite restaurants before we moved to Florida. I was happy to see that the restaurant hasn’t lost its sparkle. The food, I had the chicken fajita panino, was very good. In fact, it my leftovers were the perfect stay to feed my face post run. The restaurant was a lot less busy than it used to be, but there are a lot more dining options now available in the area.

After dinner, I headed over to visit my friend Matt who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic. It was really nice to see him and reconnect after all these years. Honestly, it feels like all of us were just in high school yesterday. That feeling is definitely at odds with the fact all three of my boys have left the nest. It was the great day and a great night. The only thing missing was my adorable puppies and their excited wiggles when they see me.

Speaking of my empty nest, all three boys are doing well. The Mayor reached out looking for some protein powder and bio freeze. Apparently, they must be working him pretty hard in Ft Myers’s. Goalielocks started classes and volleyball practice this week, which are both going well. Jake and I are working on the logistics of our Mighty Five Adventure.

What motivates you?

My boys have always been a big source of motivation. I can hardly ask them to work towards becoming the best version of themselves if I’m not setting example. Speaking of motivated, I’m on a three day streak of running outside. Unfortunately, I’ll have to go back to running on the treadmill once back home due to the heat. I am, however, really enjoying running on the track.

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Hot One

It’s a hot one out there. The heater turned on here in the Midwest, so today’s run was a good 30 degrees hotter, at least from the “feels like” temperature, than yesterday’s. In spite of the heat, I actually ran further today. Fortunately, it’s still a much cooler run that an outdoor run back home. I’m loving running on the track up at the middle school. It makes it quite simple to keep track of my distance. Plus, there are bathrooms right there, which makes it the perfect place to run after a morning of drinking coffee.

Making progress slowly (emphasis on slowly,) but surely

The Mayor had a great first day of training camp. It sounds like he was a true rink most of the day. He enjoyed both the on ice and off ice portions of training. Today brings more do the same for the Mayor and his teammates. He had tacos for dinner. I’m sure he’s now eating his billet family out of house and home. I can’t imagine how many pounds of meat they had to cook to feed the hockey boys.

I’m heading to Utah next month and am excitedly planning that trip. Jake and I decided to explore the Mighty Five. For the uninitiated the Mighty Five are the national parks found on Southern Utah including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Canyon Reef and Arches. They’re all pretty remote, so we’ll be happily disappearing from society to explore the wilderness. In addition to the national park, there are several noteworthy national monuments (Grand Staircase Escalante) and state parks (Kodachrome Basin) I’m looking forward to exploring.

The Narrows at Zion
Definitely a distraction technique I use to catch my breath while hiking 😂

I’m hoping that ample preparation now will enhance the trip and remove some stress. To organize the trip more cogently, I’ve started using the Wanderlog travel planning app. This should help Jake and I lay out our trip and hikes in a very coherent manner. This is also make sure I can share with my Hubby/parents exactly where we’re hiking. I’ve also started to make sure we have the right equipment for all of these hikes. A lot of the hikes are pretty straightforward, but some are very long and all are remote.

What are your top ten favorite movies?

Here are my top ten in no particular order.

  • Holy Grail
  • Life of Brian
  • Blazing Saddles
  • Beauty and the Beast (original animated)
  • Space Balls
  • Walk the Line
  • Les Miserables
  • Little Miss Sunshine
  • Slumdog Millionaire
  • Up