Shadow of a man

I am getting really good at this. I was up and downstairs doing my exercises before the clock struck 5:40am. It was another cold winter morning, and, if anything, the temperature was expected to drop all through the day. After walking Ykraps I returned to fulfill the rest of my usual Friday morning routine. Before beginning food prep I checked with Mindy to verify what if anything she wanted/needed. I made both of us some turkey and cheese for lunch and then scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast, Mindy and the kids left at their usual 7:20am. I headed to the shower. I warmed the Trooper and left for work just after 8am. I was in my office ready for a Friday by 8:20am. Aside from my normal Friday duties, I was determined to put the finishing touches on all of my team’s performance reviews. Thankfully, I didn’t have that much at all left to add. The work day was very mellow, especially for a Friday. We maintained order all day long. That rarely happens. I left for a run around 12:45pm. It was snowing and blowing. The temperature, as expected, had dropped into the teens. For the third time this week, I took an alternative route. Today I ran north on Britton Rd through the two new roundabouts all the way past the new BMW facility, Kittles, and Wal-Mart. I turned around at Sterling Commerce. There’s only one difficult stretch and that’s from Hayden Run about halfway to our building where there’s no path to run on. Traffic was thankfully minimal making it fairly safe running in the road and burm. The snow came down really hard during my run. It was pretty. I was back in the gym by 1:35pm. I guessed my run was something short of the usual 5 miles. After a shower I headed back to my office determined to have a quiet afternoon heading into the weekend. I stopped by my boss’ office to talk on along the way but he was tied up. Not sure who did it. :) Back in my office I enjoyed my lunch and selected some tunes to accompany my afternoon’s toil. Mid-afternoon, Ashley called to confirm if we still needed her to watch the kids this evening. Yes. She said she’d be over near 6:30pm. I didn’t talk with Mindy until I was on my way home. I left the office at the usual 5:10pm. When we spoke, I reminded her of my intention to stop at Home Depot to get the closet project materials. She was glad that I reminded her. She had been grocery shopping. I was at Home Depot for about 30 minutes, having already verified they had everything on my list a couple days earlier. All I had to do was find an employee to cut the shelving to length. I had my pencil drawn plan in my pocket. The actual cost was $145. Ashley was already at the house when I arrived. It was much colder when I got home. The temperature was continuing its drop. I walked Ykraps before carrying in the closet materials. Mindy was kind enough to carry the materials from the door upstairs. I carried them from the Trooper to the door. It was 6pm and we had a good 1.5 hours to hang out with the kids before we’d be leaving. Bella and I played with Olivia after she ate. We witnessed her first official “belly laughs”! It was so cute! She was laughing hysterically as we played dodge ’em with Bella. Ashley captured a lot of it on her new digital camera. Mindy and I readied ourselves to leave between 7-7:30pm. We left for Barleys at 7:35pm. There was a moderate crowd at Barleys, but little if any room at the bar. We stood initially until a couple of seats opened up. But that didn’t stop us from socializing. As she often does, Mindy visited with almost everyone. Bob & Mary Ann were there and had just finished dinner. This might have been only the second time we have seen them together at Barleys on a Friday this year. Most of the other regulars were there, but Jeremy & Courtney were not. We were eager to learn how their weekend skit trip to NY went. Just as we ordered some food Bob ponied up on our second annual NFL results bet. He covered my food! For this reason alone, I love the Cleveland Browns! Mindy shared our embryonic chicken story with anyone who would listen. I think I heard her tell it at least three times. It drew similar responses from most. Steve was quick to point out that it’s normal cuisine in some countries. Lee eventually found his way to our side of the bar. Being a server/assistant brewer, that doesn’t happen too often. Mindy called Mark’s girlfriend Trudy, who was not in attendance. Mark was there alone. Trudy showed later, however. Late into the evening, my brother Tommy showed up. He was there about one hour. We left just before 11:30pm. That’s about as late as the Barely crowd lasts, which works well for the two of us since we typically crash and burn before midnight. It was cold, cold, cold when we left for home! Must have been single digits. Ashley was on my PC when we arrived home. The kids were in bed and Olivia asleep in her baby chair. I tried convincing Ashley to stay with us, but she was determined to head home. I took notice that despite the extreme cold, she’s still wearing flip-flops. Not too bright! What if her hoopty breaks down? Mindy wanted to hot tub, so after Ashley left I readied the water. We hot tubbed for less than fifteen minutes. The extreme cold leaves one numb when getting out. I couldn’t feel anything as I battened down the cover before going in sop and wet. We headed to bed shortly after 12:30am. Busy day tomorrow.