Get a Grip

Up at my usual rise time, I was eager to get my day underway. I was impressed after a quick glance out the back door by the crisp star filled predawn sky. After completing my daily exercise regiment I leashed up Ykraps for his morning walk. We soon hit the pavement taking in the cool, fresh September morning air. It was only 50 degrees and for the first time in a long while, I wore a jacket. While strolling in the chilly morning air my thoughts turned towards the coming season and the reality that winter weather is right around the corner. Save for T.G., Xmas, and snow skiing, I could do without it. But too, there should be plenty of beautiful autumn like weather ahead of all that. I delivered Mindy’s morning coffee while also following through on my other daily rituals. I left for a run a smidge earlier than usual. It must’ve been 6:25am. It’s somewhat humorous to see the exact same people each morning on my run. But because I left five minutes early I happened upon other familiar runners/walkers along different stretches of the trail. I wore just a long sleeved running shirt and was chilly for the first half mile or so. Daybreak was upon us at my return home. I heated a couple pieces of the breakfast strada for Mindy and I. I didn’t need a packed lunch since I still had Tuesday’s lunch resting in the fridge at work. I didn’t need to water either. As Mindy prepared to depart, Jacoby played his sick card throwing a wrench into her day. He complained of a severely sore throat. She promptly called the school – hers and his to share the news that the two of them were staying home. She also made a doctor’s appointment with brother Craig. I the meantime, I carried on with my morning like normal. I noticed Jacob up and playing happily just as I was about to leave. Still, Mindy was comfortable that he wasn’t well enough to attend school for the fear of him having strep. I left for work at 7:45am. Work was great. It was a gorgeous day, too. We had a staff meeting that went until 12:30pm where upon my return I quickly grabbed my car keys and dashed off to Golf Galaxy to pick-up my clubs. As expected, my clubs were ready with one small snag. They had failed to shorten my putter as I had asked and paid for. Glad I checked! The fellow behind the desk was eager to help, though, and did it in less than 5 minutes. That also meant he had to install yet another grip. Of course this one was free. I grabbed a box of golf balls and a new glove while I was there, too. Before heading back to the office I decided to walk through Best Buy, which is essentially next door. I looked at the new 8 mega pixel version of my camera that also has a much larger LCD screen. Nice! I also looked at laptops and TV’s. We’re looking to buy Bella a TV/DVD combo for her coming b-day. I was gone less than an hour. Back at the office I had to dash off to yet another meeting/training session. It was slated to last only an hour but went two hours. It was after 4pm by the time I returned to my office. I had a number of things that I intended on completing before leaving. I ended up at the office until just short of 5:30pm. I headed directly home after work. Jacob was tested for Strep. The results were negative. He did, however, have an unnamed virus that closely mimicked the symptoms of strep. Craig advised him to skip school until such a time that he sleeps through the night and has no fever. Apparently his demeanor was such that he was testing Mindy’s patience all afternoon. And once I was home, he tired it with me too. Sometimes he can be a real pill! This was sort of like a Friday night in that I had the next day off of work. However, instead of going to Bartley’s I was slated to stay home with the kids while Mindy went to choir practice. We ate Johnsonville Brats, and soon Mindy left for choir practice. The instructions were that Jacob wasn’t permitted to venture any further than the deck due to his illness. Bella, on the other hand, was free to go out and play with her friends. She did. Jacob whined for the next 15 minutes about being bored. I joined him on the deck where I cleaned my soiled golf clubs. At one point he got up, went inside, and locked me outside. I was not too pleased. I threatened bodily harm. I think that he got the message. After I went back inside, I heard him going all out to coax Bella and her friends into joining him topside. At first, they would have no part of his ploy. Eventually however, they did join him on the deck. Soon I had three screaming little girls running around the house playing with balloons. It was more noise and action than I was hoping for. But lucky for me, bath time was approaching. I gave Bella a fifteen minute warning. Jacob entertained the girls from the deck popping each of their balloons. Come 7:45pm I ended the fun and called the kids in for a bath. Mindy’s instructions were for a simple wash down only, so that’s what I did. They also were told they could wait up for her return. So, after a bath an PJ’s they waited downstairs for Mindy to return. Mindy returned home shortly after 8pm. I was relived to hear her come in. After getting the kids both tucked into bed I cracked open a Honey Raspberry Ale and did some blogging. Around 945pm Mindy and I decided to get in the hot tub. It was a great night for it. We stayed in for almost thirty minutes. It felt terrific! We headed to bed shortly after hot tubbing. I was very relaxed!