Did it again

I was up just before 5:30 this morning after a fairly decent night’s sleep. I did my usual stuff. I took my One-A-Day, exercised, and walked Ykraps. A few minutes into the walk I glanced skyward and was happy to see oodles of stars glistening in the predawn darkness. That hasn’t been the case so much lately. Because of this, I was smiling inside. We were back from our walk in record time. It was 5:58am when I hung up Ykraps’ leash and reached for a coffee cup. I spent a bit of time on the PC downloading Jacob’s first day of school pictures before settling into my running shorts and shoes. I left for a run at 6:23am. The heat index was predicted to reach well into the triple digits during the afternoon thus prompting my early run. It was still very muggy even at that early hour. The temperature was already in the upper 70’s and the humidity around 80%. I was dripping wet upon my return. Mindy was already up tending to Jacob’s lunch when I returned. After toweling off I poured myself another coffee and began tormenting Bella who was lying on the sofa. There was a little tension in the air between Mindy and I as we both are trying to adjust to the new morning routine. I am not used to sharing my morning space and have been stressing over the plan to have me get Jacob on the school bus beginning Monday. All of this coupled with some unshared work anxiety was taking its toll on my otherwise sunny disposition. Mindy made breakfast while I threw together a lunch. We sat down at the table to eat at 7:45am. In the meantime, Jacob kept sleeping, refusing to wake & ready for school. He said he wasn’t going and that he didn’t like it. He was being strongly defiant. After I finished eating I headed up for my shower. I stopped in Jacob’s room in an attempt to convince him otherwise. He still wasn’t very pleasant and remained firmly entrenched under his bedcovers. I left the job for Mindy and went about my business. By the time I showered and dressed Jacob was up and ready for school. It was 8:10am. Mindy & the kids drove to the bus stop. I was right behind them leaving for work but had to go back in to seek out my building access badge. I remembered taking it of in my office as I dressed in my golf attire Wednesday evening but couldn’t remember where I placed it after. I searched high and low. I looked in my golf bag, yesterday’s slacks, and my gym bag. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I gave up and left for work. I’d have to get a temporary badge from the front desk. I also held out hope that my badge would be in my office. I waved hello/goodbye to Pat, Mindy, and the kids who were all at the bus stop. I arrived at work by 8:25am and parked in the front lot for the first time in years. I got a temp badge at the desk and proceeded to my office. I was bummed not to find my badge in my office. Before panicking, I once again searched my gym bag. Surprise! There it was hiding deep in one of the side pockets that I checked earlier. Hmmm? Problem gone!! The work day went quickly. I wouldn’t be departing for a mid-day run having done so from home. Instead, come 12:45pm I drove to Lowe’s to check out grass seed and their garage storage cabinet solutions. As I passed Saturday’s I gave consideration to running in and grabbing a quick cut. I didn’t, however, since I knew I absolutely had to be back in the office by 2pm for a staff meeting. I spent a good thirty minutes at Lowe’s. I found the grass seed that I plan to use for my fall reseeding project. I also found the perfect cabinets to install in my garage. They’re a little pricey but they are way cool and very functional. I headed back to the office. It was 1:30pm. The afternoon heat was nothing short of stifling. I was happy not to be running in it. I ate my lunch upon my return and then ran off to the staff meeting. The meeting went until 315pm. The rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. Suddenly, I remembered that I’d have the house all to myself until 7pm or so while the kids spent the evening with their daddy and Mindy held an open house at school. I had planned to cut the lawn but honestly, I just wasn’t too excited about it given the sweltering heat and humidity. By the time I got home I was very sleepy and knew for certain that I wouldn’t be doing the lawn. After walking Ykraps I reclined in one of the Queen Anne chairs in our living room and took a brief nap. When I woke around 6:15pm I took dad’s trailer back and unloaded the pile of small switches from the now history weeping willow tree. I was back home by 6:40pm.I spent the next 30 minutes updating my blog. Jimaken brought the children home at 7:20pm. And before I forget, today was his birthday. Not sure how old. Jimaken only stayed long enough to drop the kids and bid them a farewell. He’ll have them all weekend, too beginning Friday evening. Explicit instructions left by Mindy spoke of bathing the kids and having them in bed by 8pm. Shit! The kids were eating their McDonald’s, which they brought home after swimming. They ate quickly and then asked if they could play with the neighbors for a few. To make everyone happy, I told them that they had until 7:40pm to play – then it was tubby time! I really dreaded the thought of giving them a bath. This hasn’t always gone real well. Tonight however was different. They were very cooperative and even helpful. We’ve come a long way. By 7:55pm both kids were bathed and in their jammies watching TV in Jacob’s room. Mindy arrived home at like 8:02pm. She, I could tell, was very relieved to find the house calm and under control. We tucked the kids into bed and headed back downstairs. I tuned into the NFL preseason game pitting the Packers against the Jaguars. We exchanged back rubs (actually, I had her walk on mine) and then headed to bed. It was just before 10pm.