Hi Ho - Hi Ho It's Off to Work I Go

Are you kidding me? Was it time to get up already? The clock said 7:55am which translated to 5:38am EDT (my bedroom clock is set 2.25 hours fast). I wasn’t dreaming. It was, in fact, time to get up & get going. Hey! And who's that? Oh yeah, it's Mindy that lies there beside me, and her kids are just down the hall, each in a room of their own. We didn’t get to bed until after 11pm the night before and I was paying for it with a case of the sleepy’s. I was a little extra quiet in my initial prep being mindful not to disturb their slumber since I was the only one in need of rising so early. I shook off the desire to sleep longer and popped out of bed knowing that the only way to shed the sleepies was to get a move on. Each of my exercises routines seemed a bit tougher than usual and my weights felt twice as heavy. That’s wasn’t too surprising, however, since I didn’t lift the entire week in Florida. My head continued in the funk all the while walking with Ykraps under a gray, cool sky. The sunshine from the weekend had given way to some thick clouds. Back at home I went about my usual routine of coffee, meditation, and food prep. Just as I was walking out onto the deck with my breakfast I was confronted by Bella who was already up and about. It was only 6:55am. She asked for her mommy. When I told her that she was still asleep she bolted upstairs to jump in bed with her. After finishing my breakfast I sent Mindy an email that I figured she’d get once home later in the day. She did a fabulous job taking care of me on our trip and I wanted to thank her in writing. At 7:05am I found my way to the shower where I tried unsuccessfully not to disturb Mindy & Bella. But that’s almost impossible given that my master bath has a pass through walkway and a ¾ wall. The sounds of me peeing, brushing my teeth, and showering can be heard quite clearly. I continued on as normal and when I was done, Mindy and Bella came down stairs with me. I had already prepared a cup of coffee for Mindy. I was waiting on the island counter. Mindy brought part of my bedding down to wash, and planned on doing the rest throughout the day. It was new in February but hasn’t been washed since. You’d think it was grimey but it wasn’t. After all, I’m always clean when I get in bed. At 7:40am I kissed Mindy goodbye and then left for work. Traffic was fairly heavy but moving steadily. It felt kind of odd driving to work and in some respects felt like it had been a month, but in reality it had only been nine days. My biggest fear was that I had forgotten something important like my keys, laptop, or badge, but none of that was true. I had everything I needed. The morning progressed quickly and before long I was back in the saddle I had rode of on two Friday’s ago. I had almost 1000 emails from the nine days to filter through. I spent a greater part of the morning just getting through them. Then, after a little rumor control, I left for my run. My run as you might expect was a little tough too since I was still a little tired. After the five miles I felt pretty good, though. It was 83 degrees, overcast, but only mildly humid. It certainly paled in comparison to the Florida humidity. If nothing else, I told myself, the Florida running served as good summer conditioning. I was headed back to my office at 2pm. Along the way I ran into Carmen who’s now as big as a house! She’s pregnant. We stopped and chatted briefly. She said that she had dreamt of me the night before, and that I had gotten married in a “drive thru”. What? About then my boss came around the corner (the first I had seen him all day). We chatted briefly then I headed to my office and he to an apparent meeting. The afternoon moved by swiftly. Before I knew it, it was 5pm and time to head home. I had given thought to grocery shopping before heading home since I am out of just about everything. But when I called Mindy she was already on her way to my home, and I knew that if I stopped at Wal-Mart that I wouldn’t be home until 6:45pm at the earliest. I decided instead to grocery shop after she left for the evening. At home I quickly unloaded my gear, put my running clothes in the dryer, prepped tomorrow’s coffee, then leashed up Ykraps. Mindy pulled up just as he and I were laving for our walk. She joined us. She looked very nice in her jeans and black Barley’s tee-shirt sporting her new sun tan. We had already decided on having taco salad for dinner and Mindy brought most of the fixins’ from home. As I sorted through a seemingly endless pile of mail, Mindy began prepping our meal. It was ready a short time later. Both of us were getting back to our low carb diets after a week of some deliberate back sliding. After our dinner we sat on the deck talking. I dozed off and Mindy went inside to look at vacation pictures. I had taken about 250. When she came back out we talked about the week and the weekends plans. We have a number of ideas: camping, boating, a date, nothingness, or working on the house/yard. Mindy is like an event coordinator. She’s always got something brewing. Me, I am one of those who seeks to leave my calendar as clear as possible. It’s just my nature. But I am adjusting, and so is she. Come 8pm Mindy decided to leave early in part so I could get on with my grocery shopping. Just as she was leaving I received a call from Lou, my insurance agent asking if I had opened, signed and returned Lindsey’s insurance policy paperwork. I hadn’t but told him that I would do it tomorrow. As soon as Mindy left I left for the grocery. I was at Wal-Mart for 1.25 hours. I was able to knock off my Home Depot list there too. I needed poison ivy killer and a new weed digger since my old one had lost its wooden handle. $130 later I was on my way home. One of the down sides to shopping at Wal-Mart is that there is never a guarantee that they’ll have the same food item they had the last time you wee there. And the fact that I am a creature of habit that really bothers me. I am a brand loyal shopper too. Plus, if you want microbrew beer or any new items, you might as well plan to shop elsewhere. There gig is not having the latest greatest. Instead, they survive on low pricing the staples by buying large quantities. By the time I was home it was 9:45pm, and by the time I had placed all the groceries in their proper place, It was after 10pm. I talked to Mindy for a short moment then quickly updated my blog for the past few days since I had them all written. I also took the time to download the wedding pics from Saturday. I didn’t however, upload any photos to the blog, but I will very soon. By the time I went to bed it was after 11pm again. I felt as if I had drank some coffee or eaten some chocolate but hadn’t. I resorted to turning on the tele to help usher in sleep. It worked.