Open House

I woke through the night with my right shoulder aching enough to disrupt my night’s sleep. Despite the dull pain, I was up on time and ready to begin my Monday. I did my sit-ups but decided last minute to forego push-ups and curls to give my shoulder a much deserved break .I figured a day off could do it some good.

That helped move my morning along much faster. I was out walking Ykraps a handful of minutes earlier than usual. The sky was partly cloudy and the temperature mild. It was in the upper 50’s. We returned from our walk by 6:55am. I had plenty of time for coffee and internet, and I was more than anxious to read more about the Vikings big victory. Wahoo! Before setting out on my run I remembered that Mindy asked me to put the breakfast casserole in the oven for thirty-five minutes. What I couldn’t recall was the temperature she requested, but I simply guessed. But as it turned out, she came down to check before jumping in the shower. I was incorrect. I adjusted it warmer then departed for my run.

Run time came quickly. After a quick stretch I was on the beat still wearing my fleece even though it was warmer than lat week. I was a tad on the warm side but nothing too bad. I took notice of two extravagant Halloween displays side by side along my run. It occurred to me that folks are spending lots of dollars to doll up their homes for the series of holidays that follow. These two homes in particular were decorated as much or more than most do at Xmas.

I was hungry when I returned. Mindy was already putting the finishing touches on her morning prep. The casserole, she reported, wasn’t quite ready. I checked it and bumped up the temp a few degrees. Five minutes later I pulled it out of the oven and served up breakfast. Mindy ate then quickly departed with Bella. Jacob and I remained for our final 30 minutes of prep. I drove the BM’er. The sun was out and this was expected to be the nicest day of the my work week.

I arrived at work around 8:20am after an easy drive in. I rarely run into traffic issues even at rush hour. Seems the traffic is always going the opposite way. The work day unfolded as expected. No real surprises. I was busy, especially given that my peer was off. But I didn’t mind. The day simply flew by. Come lunch time I ran off to Lowes. I picked up one more roll of black shelf liner which will be enough to complete the tool chest project. I also looked at some tools and other stuff but didn’t buy anything else.

I left for home around 5:20pm. Mindy reminded me on my drive home that Bella had an open house at her pre-school. Mindy really wanted me to attend. I agreed. So, soon after arriving home we loaded up in the Trooper and headed to the open house. We were the only family attending at the early hour. The program ran until 8pm. I gathered we were first. But that’s OK. That’s how I prefer it. We viewed some of Bella’s art work and her written projects. In one written exercise about her home life, I noticed that she said I was her father. I was touched.

We left after about twenty minutes of visiting. As we reentered our subdivision, I drove around my run path wanting to show Mindy & the kids the Halloween display I mentioned earlier. However, there was one small problem. I couldn’t recall exactly where it was. We had to pretty much drive my entire run route. I was beginning to question my recall, and then it hit me. It was setting at about the half mile mark out from our home. I think the kids liked it.

Finally home, Mindy went right for the freezer looking for something to cook/make for dinner. I was into fast – no waiting. I warmed leftover Friday night pizza. Mindy was originally going to broil some salmon but opted instead to make salmon patties from the canned version – yuck! Meanwhile, the pizza I ate left me feeling a bit over stuffed. I didn’t care for that at all. I found the sofa where I tuned into ESPN’s MNF pregame.

It wasn’t long before Mindy had the kids in bed. I went up to do the ceremonial tuck-in before returning downstairs to watch the MNF game as well as the Indians playoff game.. Mindy didn’t last too long. She headed to bed around 9pm. I stayed up flipping the channel between both events. I stayed up until the baseball was in the bag. The Indians won. MNF was still going on when I headed to bed.