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Stormy Afternoon

It’s a stormy afternoon here in South Florida. I’m so glad I work from home and don’t have to drive in the storms. To be honest, it’s nice to have an afternoon storm, so long as the power stays on and I’m not driving. There’s something very relaxing about a nice afternoon rain. It also fills up the birdbath nicely, so I don’t have to refill it.

We had a busy tree this morning with lots of beautiful birds. The usual suspects, the crackles and mourning doves, were there and were hoping by a yellow-rumped warbler, a cardinal, a blue jay, a mockingbird, a European starling, and Mr. Squirrel. Interestingly enough things are pretty harmonious at the feeders even when there is a crowd.

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

The one question I hate to be asked is if I’m going to try for the girl. Listen I already have three awesome kids that happen to be all male and expensive. I can’t afford another kid, nor do I want to throw up for another 9 months. Pregnancy was fun enough in my 20s, I can’t imagine the joy it would be in my 40s when everything already hurts. To me, any questions about family planning are off-limits. Especially when I’m in the hospital having just delivered a baby.

I vividly remember an aunt asking me when the next baby was coming hours after pushing out my firstborn. First of all, I felt like a bus just drove through me. Secondly, I hadn’t even come to terms with the fact there’s a new human here that I’m in charge of for like 18 years. Thirdly, I don’t think she was volunteering to pay for the expense of my second kid. Consequently, I’m not sure where those funds are going to come from as kids are expensive. Lastly, at that point, I couldn’t even think beyond the next feeding let alone the next baby. So do me and the women in your life a favor, if we have all boys, don’t ask if we’re going to try for the girl. Similarly, don’t ask when the next one’s coming when their new baby is hours old.

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Stormy Weather

There’s stormy weather everywhere today. My weather app is beeping constantly with new watches and warnings for the areas I track. Unfortunately, my oldest two are currently under tornado watches. Here in South Florida, it is exceedingly rainy. I don’t think they expect storms here until later this evening. Hopefully, it won’t be anything severe.

I’m thankful the storms don’t bother our dogs. Otherwise, we’d be in for a long evening. Since the weather isn’t great, I opted to spin over lunch instead of running with Arrow. It’s also a nice break for my joints. Although I have to be honest, since I started wearing On Running shoes, I have very little pain after a I run. This is truly a miracle given I have torn tendons and ligaments in both ankles and feet.

What is your mission?

My mission is to make this world a better place. I became resolute in this mission after working with a woman so toxic and terrible that my only response was to be the exact opposite. When I tell you she was a terrible person, I am not overstating it one bit. She is the kind of person that can find something wrong with every person, moment and situation. Further, she would make it her mission to make people feel as terrible as she clearly felt about herself. After working with her, I should have been awarded a diploma in abnormal psychology.

It was the realization that her self hate drove her behavior that drove me to take another approach. Obviously, we can’t make someone not hate themselves. We can, however, be the antithesis and go out of our way to make people’s days brighter. We can be a harbinger of joy and kindness that seeks to make the world a happier and better place one interaction at a time.

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Mind Over Matter

Mind over matter, my friend Lisa and I chanted this over and over as we tried to master paddle board yoga in Turks and Caicos. While we couldn’t paddle board to save our lives, we were able to do a sun salutation on the board. Apparently, it is hard to be a successful paddle boarder while using a kayak paddle. Nonetheless, we made the most of our time with the paddle board.

Today I was in Monica’s vinyasa class (at my house via Zoom) and this memory came flooding back to me. Fortunately, this mantra has served me well in life and in my yoga practice. For years, I struggled with crow, headstand and handstand, but the mind over matter mantra has helped drive my practice forward. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped me opened my side body enough to be able to do side crow again. However, I was able to declare victory with my crow pose today!

Aside from yoga, Sunday’s are my off day from exercise. My legs and hips were tight from yesterday’s run, so today’s class was definitely needed. Afterwards, I worked around the house and watched more nature specials with Anakin. Additionally, we firmed up our vacation plans for the Keys. Normally, we would have gone to the Bahamas, but that’s not going to happen in the age of COVID. Although I will miss the beaches and luscious tropical foliage of Atlantis.

Prior to going to virtual yoga, I watched Jake’s chapel service. I love watching him play. In fact, it was nice to watch today as it was the first time they’ve had people in the chapel since March. Of course, he played well and he looked great. Unfortunately, he’s been without data, WiFi or internet all day due to the tropical storm. He sent a picture and you can really see the winds, but I can’t post the live view on the blog so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Of course, the era of social distancing, covid and hate has been fun enough with out the other “H word,” but here we are less than a week into hurricane season and on our C storm. We escaped the worse of the weather this weekend, but the rest of the peninsula wasn’t as lucky. Indeed, I saw several crazy tornado videos from the Orlando area. Jake’s currently experiencing the worst of it, which is a lot of rain and some wind. Thankfully, he’s safe where he’s at. Obviously, it’s tough for all the internet and data to be down, but it could me a lot worse.

As for the hate, I choose love. I was fortunate to have parents that raised me to see every human life as valuable. Race, religion, ethnicity, etc. wasn’t important in the sense that it never equates with someone’s value as a person. Apparently, the memo has missed too many people. It’s a simple issue that we have made far too complex. Everyone is equal, yet not everyone has an equal experience in life. This isn’t to say that everyone’s life should be perfect only that it shouldn’t be handicapped by race, ethnicity, religion or gender.

After I shared some goodwill on Facebook, the hubby and I partnered up to make an awesome meal courtesy of HelloFresh. Incidentally, we had to make some ingredient substitutions as one of our garage fridges went off last night. Nonetheless, this meal of Bulgogi meatballs with rice and roasted carrots was easy to make and absolutely delicious. Everyone enjoyed this one!

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

*Reading Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

*Morning and afternoon meditation

*Vinyasa with Monica from Yoga Mundo

*Obedience training Anakin

*Cooked a super yummy dinner courtesy of our friends at HelloFresh

*Week 3 BBG 2.0 day 7 active rest day

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena out for dinner 

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The Tropics

The tropics have fired up early this year! Tropical Storm Cristobal is churning away in the Gulf of Mexico bringing much of the Florida peninsula rain today. Markedly, today is the first day in a minute that we haven’t received significant rain. Nonetheless, it’s still overcast and cloudy and we didn’t see the sunrise and won’t see the sunset either.

Unfortunately, the path a head for the storm brings it to our airmen’s doorsteps. Fortunately, it appears to be mainly a rainmaker at this point. Also, they’re forecasting it to remain a tropical storm at landfall. This is obviously a good thing, but it along with the path could change at any point. Fortunately, his base has been through these things before and is well prepared for whatever Cristobal will bring.

Since the weather’s still questionable and we’re still staying home as much as possible, I made today productive. Or at least as productive as I could. Fortunately, I got a lot done around the house. I started cleaning our bathroom, but fill finish it tomorrow. However, I was was as able to get the laundry completed. Naturally, I spend a lot of time straightening up the family and room and living rooms because that’s where the dogs spend most of their time.

Unbeknownst to me, Anakin stuck outside behind me when I went outside to shake out the broom. You can. Imagine my surprise when coming out of the bathroom two minutes later, I couldn’t find him anywhere. And then I heard him barking. The poor guy snuck outside and was at the front door waiting for me to open it. Thankfully, he’s a well trained puppy and didn’t run off. Obviously, we were both relieved when he made his way back inside. Nonetheless, I’m sure there are plenty of untold stories from his outdoor adventure today.

Before all of that nonsense, I got in my fourth run of the week. I decided to do a hybrid steady state and HIIT. After warming up, I ran five minutes at a steady state before walking. Once I started walking, I started the interval work. For this I alternated every 30 seconds between 7.0-8.0 mph sprints and walks at 3 mph. Clearly, this type of run brings its own challenges, but I find it goes quicker. This is likely due to changing the tempo so frequent. Afterwards, I completed my post run stretch routine, which felt great and continues to keep my legs healthy.

For dinner, I made the hubby and I cumin spiced pork roast served with vegetable fried rice courtesy of Blue Apron. Since I accidentally selected the 2 serving option, I ordered Pizza Hut for the boys. The Mayor was pleased that after having asked everyday for the last week, I finally acquiesced to his request. Fortunately, both their pizza and our pork with fried rice were great. Since we were doing carry out at Pizza Hut, we ate dinner a little bit earlier than normal as the hubby picked it up on his way home.

Today’s featured picture comes courtesy of my mother’s garden in Minnesota. The pink and white flowers are peonies. My great grandmother passed these beautiful plants down to my mother. I always loved going to my great grandmother’s house and seeing the peonies that lined her driveway in bloom. Indeed getting out of the car was a treat as the sweet aroma of the peonies hit your senses. My great grandmother also passed down the purple flower, an iris, to my mom. Unfortunately, I cannot grow either of these flowers in South Florida.

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

*Reading Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

*Morning and afternoon meditation

*Worked on website

*Obedience training Anakin

*Cooked a super yummy dinner courtesy of our friends at Blue Apron.

*Week 3 BBG 2.0 day 6 cardio

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena out for dinner

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Holy Humidity Batman!

Holy humidity Batman!! Here we are the fifth of June with a dew point in the 80s. Oh the joys of having a tropical system in the Gulf. For the uninitiated, dew points in the 80s make the state feel like a sauna. Unfortunately, in our case there’s no cold, refreshing water to dive into to help cool us down. Naturally, we experience these dew points every year, but it is a bit unusual to have it so humid this early in the game.

This was from 9:00 am this morning!

As you can see by the “real feel” temperature, it felt like 95 degrees this morning. Naturally, this is a big reason I’ve taken my run indoors. These temperatures with this humidity, even with the cloud cover, can be dangerous if you’re not properly hydrated. Additionally, since I run outside with my puppy, I must take into consideration what is best for her health. She loves to run, but in this heat it’s too much. Plus, the path heats up and can even burn her paws.

My Sweet Athena!

So after yesterday’s scheduling debacle, I made sure to design my day so I wouldn’t miss yoga again. I was so bummed when my memory, fallen by thyroid brain I’m sure, conveniently reminded me at 11:30 that 11:30 was actually the new class time. Nonetheless, today I was victorious. I got my BBG workout in and made it to yoga in time! Today’s BBG workout was abs plus skipping rope. As always, I sucked at jumping rope. Jenn’s class was amazing. She taught a great, creative flow that was just what my body needed.

This evening we went to our friends’ house for dinner. It’s the first time I’ve seen sweet Ava in months. She’s grown so big! Truly, it was great to spend some time with people socially outside of our house! Plus, my friend Hanh is an amazing cook. Fortunately, we were also working on our vacation plans. Ordinarily, we’d all go to the Bahamas over spring break, but COVID shut that down this year. Since Atlantis is still closed, we’ll be heading to the Keys for some rest and relaxation. It should be a wonderful time.

Ava taking a selfie!

Lastly, I don’t know about you, but Facebook has become a complete dumpster fire. There is so much hate and division that it mutes the protests. Hate begets hate. Division begets division yet here we are… This blog isn’t political never has been and never will, but as a country we have to do better. Everyone should have the same opportunities and rule set. Nonetheless, people have different opinions, which on Facebook apparently warrants a delete and block. If you’re operating in absolutes or false dilemma logical fallacies and deleting people, your part of the problem.

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

*Reading Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

*Gentle Flow with Jenn at Open Heart Yoga Studio – in studio!

*Morning and afternoon meditation

*Worked on website

*Obedience training Anakin

*Enjoyed a well cooked dinner courtesy of our friends

*Week 3 BBG 2.0 day 5 abs

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena out side. Unfortunately, due to the holy humidity Batman, it was too hot to go for walks

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Rainy Day

Rainy day?!?! Say what? So I knew we had a tropical wave coming for us on Monday and Tuesday, but I expected today to be nice. Imagine my surprise when upon waking I found out that today too would be a rainy day. Ugh! We need the rain, but not the three days worth of tropical soaking we’re expecting. Clearly, living in South Florida, I can hardly complain about the weather, but this rain is for the birds!

Last night I had a bit of a tension headache starting in my neck and shoulders. Unfortunately, it was still there this morning. I wasn’t sure if yoga was going to be in the cards, but I decided it would do more good than harm. Beforehand, I also used the tune up therapy balls to massage my neck and shoulder muscles. Yoga went well, albeit my body was super fatigued. Given the discomfort I was feeling in my neck and shoulders, I took it a bit easier than last week. Nonetheless, I continue to see gains in all aspects of my practice. I’m really excited to be on this yogi path.

After yoga, I ate a quick lunch before heading down to my friend’s house for a visit. Don’t worry we adhered to social distancing rules! Truly, it was nice to get out of the house for the afternoon. Moreover, it was great to spend time chatting with a women! Sometimes it’s tough to be the only woman in the house. It was wonderful visit and I had a great time.

Since I was out for the afternoon, the hubby made dinner. This inspire of the fact he worked most of the day tearing out a bowling alley floor. Tonight’s dinner was balsamic burgers with mozzarella salad. Everyone, but my Mayor, really loved the burgers. Perhaps it comes as no surprise to you dear reader that I was the only one that enjoyed the salad. My boys, including the biggest one, described the salad as tasting like grass. Nonetheless, I was a happy customer.

Much like the rest of the week, I was again super tired. I’ve been on the 16:8 intermittent fasting plan for the last week, so it could be my body adjusting to it. Clearly, I’ll need to re-evaluate it next week if I’m still dealing with the defcon 10 physics fatigue. Needless to say, I was an absolute coffee machine on this rainy day. I’m sure the weather doesn’t help either as it’s the perfect weather for staying in bed all day. Consequently, I got none of the tedious housework on my list completed. Moreover, I’d love to start dancing and working choreography again

As an update to last night’s blog, Goalielocks’ friend is improving, but is still in ICU. He and his family need our prayers and support now more than ever. While there is never a good time for these things to happen, there couldn’t be a worse time than now during the pandemic. Please continue to pray for his recovery and for his family! They need all the love and support this world can muster!

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

*Reading Vilette by Charlotte Bronte

*Morning and afternoon meditation

*Vinyasa with Monica. Since I’m in teacher training, she taught the primary series of Ashtanga yoga.

*Week 1 BBG 2.0 day 7 active rest

*Visited Terri and talked about everything from our kids to journalists inability to do their job.

*Watched Rocketman and Family Guy

*Obedience training Anakin courtesy day Goalielocks

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

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Winter is Here

Brace yourself folks, winter is here!  Even in sunny Florida, winter is here.  That’s right the Sunshine state saw even saw snow today!  Fortunately, the snow was nowhere near South Florida, but even here the mercury has fallen to a chilly 52 degrees.  As the night progresses, the temperatures will continue to fall bottoming out somewhere around 37 degrees.  There’s a slight chance, ever so slight chance, that we may turn on the heat this week.

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Back at work, we’re all getting back into the routine, which feels good.  January is a magical time of new beginnings.  My goal is to hold on to the hopeful feelings January brings well into 2018.  I mean my year is off to a great start with me gaining 1/2 of an inch in height!  Things are definitely looking up.

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Of course, I swore I was going to start behaving this week and being more mindful with my eating habits.  Nonetheless, one of my dear colleagues (PS) brought in some magically delightful and calorie free tasty treat.   Who doesn’t love homemade fudge?  It truly was magical and oh so tasty.  My boys should thank their lucky stars that they actually got some of the fudge.  Fortunately, they got some fudge and they devoured it.  I’m hopeful by the time I get back from work tomorrow the fudge is all gone.  Otherwise, I’ll eat the rest of it.

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Anyway, new year, new me, new you and a clean slate tomorrow. I’ll be back to my healthy eating (no more treats!) habits.  2018 is all about being disciplined in all aspects of life.  In the interim, I’m going to try and not freeze as South Florida plunges into the 30s.  Be prepared for pictures and news stories of South Florida’s deep freeze including the inevitable picture of a catatonic iguana.

Tonight’s song performed by Florida Georgia Line is “Cruise.”

 

Treat

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Foggy Friday

It was a foggy Friday as I drove to work this morning.  It was nothing short of miraculous that I saw no accidents during my drive.  Fortunately, by the time I made it to Boca the sun had burnt off most of the fog.  The remainder of my drive was fog free and relatively painless.

Fog forms when there is less than 4 degrees Fahrenheit between the dew point and air temperature.  Given that the temperature was 68 when I left my house this morning, I’d say it was a fairly humid morning.    According this is due to an injection of humidity comes courtesy of winds coming off the Gulf.

Admittedly, I’m not a super fan of humidity, but it does keep your skin moist.  I used to hate how dry and cracked my hands and feet would get during the Minnesota winter.  Here in Florida that’s just not a problem we have!

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Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Weather

Its my first time participating in Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge and the topic is weather.  I chose this beautiful picture from Quebec City in 2016.  We were there for Peewee Quebec.  Consequently, on one of our last days in the city, our boys were playing the Islanders in an outdoor scrimmage.  As they played hockey outside, they were blanketed by the freshly fallen snow.  The snowfall was the nice, wet and heavy snow that is perfect for making snowballs and snowmen.

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Finding the Rainbow In the Storm

Irma was without a doubt a miserable experience for most of us, but even with Irma it is possible to find the rainbow in the storm.  Major events like this have a tendency to bring the good out in people  Yeah, there were looters in Lauderdale and Miami, but those were isolated incidents and widely condemned.  In fact, part of our hurricane preparation included the possibility that looters could show up at our door.  They haven’t, but had they shown up we were more than ready to neutralize the threat.  This post isn’t about the looters though; its about the finding the rainbow in the storm.

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Here are some of the rainbows I found this weekend:

    1. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my family.  Some of this time included no internet, cell or cable service, so we had to talk to each other.
    2. We have awesome neighbors on our cul-de-sac.  Whenever one of these ugly storms rear their ugly head, our neighborhood man crew mobilizes to shutter all the houses and get the circle storm ready.   For that moment in time, they’re our super heroes.   Additionally, the post prep beers and drinks are definitely a plus.
    3. With Hurricane Matthew missing us, this was really our first storm in our house.  I have to say that I felt safe and secure in these walls even as the winds howled fiercely outside.
    4. We never lost power during the storm.  We did, however, lose power twice this afternoon.  This sudden loss of power on a sunny afternoon prompted me to take my run outside, which was another plus.  I have complete and total sympathy for those that lost power as it is tortuously hot in South Florida today.
    5. I was able to binge watch (uninterrupted) the entire first season of the BBC’s Victoria with Jenna Coleman.
    6. When out preparing for the storm, people were kind and people were helpful.  For a moment, I thought I had been caught up in Irma’s tornado and deposited back in Minnesota.  Alas, I was in South Florida and people were truly being kind and considerate.
    7. Not only were people being kind and considerate, but people were being smart about the storm and preparing accordingly.  We’ve been through several storms down here.  We witnessed with Hurricane Wilma the utter devastation that accompanies a strong storm and ill prepared people.  The aftermath was awful.  This wasn’t going to be the story with Irma.   People were preparing for the worst case scenario while hoping for the best.
    8. When we were finally able to escape the cave today, we had  some fun exploring the neighborhood.  Our poor dogs have been miserable the past couple days as they’ve been cooped up inside.   Athena was living the high life as we walked the neighborhood as she shot footage from the Mayor’s GoPro.

  1. Now that the storm is over and the recovery begin, the same team that helped get you ready for the storm helps you recover from the storm.  Our dad crew was out early this morning removing as much brush and landscaping debris from the driveways and yards they could.  The Hubby left for my bro’s house just south of us to help him remove the large oak from his roof.  He’ll be back tomorrow.
  2. It’s okay to have caramel rolls and mimosa brunch more than once a year and a hurricane party is the perfect excuse.  Of course, there is a downside to all of the hurricane treats. It should be corporate policy to allow leggings and/or yoga pants for at least a week post hurricane.IMG_9931.jpg