Haircuts

I was up at 7:30am ready to begin the day. I was hopeful for the sunny day the weather forecasters had predicted, but a look out back revealed more cloud cover. I quickly finished my exercises and took Ykraps on his regular morning walk. Despite the over head clouds, it was quite apparent that the day would end up sunny as the southern sky was almost completely blue, although there were still many gray clouds overhead. I took that in stride. Mindy and the kids were up and about when I returned from the morning walk. After some coffee and blogging Mindy readied to leave for her hair appointment. She took Bella with her. I, in turn, would be taking Jacob with me. I was planning a hair cut too. I have not had one since the week before our Portland trip. I would have Jacob's hair cut too. I spent an hour uprighting all of my Xmas pictures from the last week. There were some three hundred to go through. Jacob and I left for Saturday's around 12:40pm. I figured that should put both Mindy and I at her mom's around the same time. Jacob and I got our haircut simultaneously. Jacob was uncharacteristically quiet through the experience. He was still under the weather from a cold. We tipped our hairdressers well and left feeling good about our hair. We arrived at Gloria's ahead of Mindy. We went in and chatted with Gloria for about twenty minutes prior to Mindy arriving. Once Mindy finally showed, we started on the chores Gloria needed done. First, we loaded the old 19 inch color TV that's been sitting idle for 6 years into the back of the Trooper. I'd be putting it out with all of our trash tonight. Next, we replaced the security light fixture on the front porch. I was fearful of using Gloria's old rickety ladder but did any how. Mindy helped steady the ladder while I climbed and worked. Back inside we visited some more. Before leaving we installed the new toilet seat that we bought her for Xmas, too. We left for home around 3pm. When we got home Mindy warmed the leftover Chinese food from the night before. It was still very good! After finishing off the Chinese, I began work on the new laundry room coat rack. I've had the materials for a few weeks now. I had to cut the board to size (66 inches), and then miter the ends to tuck neatly behind the wood work. next, I used my palm sander to remove all of the moderately sharp edges from the pine 1X4. During my labor, Lindsey called to ask once gain if we could watch Lil' Rocky tomorrow while she works. At first we declined but later called back to accept. After all, he's very good when he's over, and I feel like I want and need to spend more time with him. I took the finished board down to the basement to apply a coat of paint before mounting the coat hooks. That went quickly using some leftover paint from Jacob's room. After painting I took Ykraps on his evening walk. The day was moving swiftly. It was already evening after what seemed like an awfully short day. These stay at home vacations have a way of doing that.. I need the idle rest, however, and was more than ready to trade the hustle and bustle for idle time. I spent even more time catching up on the blog and editing pictures. Believe it or not, the day was about done. It was already evening time and time for the kids to ready for bed. I took Ykraps for his evening walk right as the sun was setting. And because the weather was so nice, all the neighbors were out walking, riding bikes, and puttering their yards. I found it funny when one of my neighbors approached me to warn me of a coyote. After a few minutes of talk, it turns out that he's never seen it but only heard it of it from neighbors, Pat & Lisa, whom I warned of its presence. I talked with a handful of other neighbors about it just so they don't leave their little dogs out unattended only to become coyote food. Back at home I completed a few other miscellaneous chores before Mindy decided it was once again time to get the kids ready for bed. After a read and tuck, Mindy and I found ourselves with some much needed alone time. We talked about our 2007 wedding, the kids, our budget and possible travel plans. It now sounds like I may travel solo to Oregon for the annual ski trip. Mindy would have a hard time getting the extra time off and would struggle justifying leaving the kids for five straight days. We'll see. I may go with brother Tommy or friend Bob. Again, we'll have to see. Sometime near 8pm I tried to call brother Glenn to discuss his flight tomorrow morning but his phone was turned off. I drank a few beers over the course of the evening and popped a bag of popcorn too. I haven't popped any since last Thursday, although I did have some at the movies yesterday. I cracked a Little King after a honey Raspberry Ale. I couldn't finish it. It was terrible! I guess those will be around until Glenn's next visit. After dumping the Little King I opened the Arrogant Bastard that Kevin gifted me the night of our 'friends' Xmas party. After one bag of popcorn I was still hungry. Instead of popping yet another bag of corn, we baked a cookie sheet full of Mindy's mom's "fixins". They're pretty much like Chex mix. After eating some fixins I returned to basement where I applied a second coat of paint to the coat rack board. Come about 10:15pm we headed to bed.