1) Breakfast at Frisch's - Tammy & Hannah2) Olivia lifting weights
3) Olivia playing peek-a-boo
4) Jacob, Olivia, and me
5) Zygi - what's up with the grin?
Couldn’t have planned it better.
Since our plan called for us to meet the family at the Hilliard Frisch’s at 9am, I knew to be up by 6:30am if I wanted to have plenty of time to carry on with my normal routine without the feeling of being rushed. Those that know me well, know that I despise being rushed.
I executed my plan perfectly rising from bed just before 6:30am. Of course I was helped along by rolling the clock back an hour overnight. I wasn’t downstairs long before Mindy joined me. She was up surprisingly early. I completed my exercises and then headed outdoors with Ykraps. It wasn’t as clear & nice as it was on Saturday, but still rather pleasant.
I was back enjoying coffee by 7:00am. Mindy began taking down the Halloween decorations early in the morning. She was putting away Halloween and getting out Thanksgiving. This time of year it’s a constant stream of holiday decorations from the end of September thru the New Year.
Mindy did all of that while I readied for my run. I must’ve headed out the door somewhere very close to 7:30am. My legs were a bit lethargic and stiff – not certain why. But I completed my run with little trouble. I was back by 8:10am. I was surprised that Mindy was still working on the decorating task. I figured she’d be showered and dressed. She reminded me not to worry having an actual plan in place. She headed up to shower minutes later. I asked her to knock on the floor when she was done.
In the meantime, I sipped more coffee and played guitar. It didn’t take her long. By 8:30am the knock came a callin’. I wasted little time heading up. I jumped in the already warm & waiting shower. We were both ready to go with only a few minutes to spare. No use having wasted minutes, though. We left the house at 8:47am. The drive was fast. We were at Frisch’s by 8:56am. We parked next to dad and Bob’s family. But they were no where to be seen, prompting me to assume that perhaps they forgot to set their clocks back and were already inside eating. That wasn’t the case. Nope! They were inside waiting for a table. The place was considerably more crowded than it generally is at this hour. We guessed it due to the time change. There was no other plausible reason. They did a nice job of accommodating us, squeezing a table up against a booth – perfect for nine, which was the number in our party.
Most of us ordered the buffet save for Mindy and dad. They ordered entrées. Truth is, I am boring of the buffet. I’ll most likely suggest an alternative venue for December’s family breakfast. Still, the company and conversation was lively and good. We were there for just about an hour. I asked Mindy to get a pumpkin pie to go. She did. Bob & April set the date for the Wright family Xmas get-together at his place for Saturday, December 22nd. It’ll be at our place again in 2008.
After we parted ways, Mindy and I headed almost next door to the brand new Hilliard Kohl’s. She had a dress to return and wanted to look at some other things too. As we often do in such a place, we went our separate ways. I browsed the Men’s department where I selected a couple long sleeved t-shirts for winter – one black, one gray. In addition, I picked up a set of fleece ear grips as well as a red OSU t-shirt and a dark gray mock turtleneck. Nothing too fancy, and nothing over $10 each – except for the ear grips, which were on sale for $17.50..
I walked around the entire store looking for Mindy but all for not. My search netted nothing but negative results. Determined to find her, I made a second sweep. Still no joy! I finally caved and called her cell. Cool tool! Turns out, she was in a nearby fitting room. We met up briefly where she showed me her selections, which included a long sweater. I went right for the tag wanting to see what it was made of. Pig!! Are you kidding me? Yes! It was almost 100% acrylic, something I stay away from. One must always watch out for stuff like that at stores like Kohl’s. And to make matters worse, it was a dry-clean- only. But Mindy still wanted it, and it is her money. I figured as long as she knew up front. She allowed me to put my stuff in her mini cart while she went back off into the shopping abyss.
I walked around a little more, looking at a variety of things until I could take it no more. I once again called her cell only this time very anxious to get out of the store. She obliged and we met at the register. Thank God! Mindy put everything on her Kohl’s charge to save an additional 15%. I’m sure most folks fail to pay it off and incur more than that in finance charges making it a coup for Kohl’s. Not us!
Finally, outside in the fresh air, we loaded our haul and then drove off for the Hilliard Sherwin-Williams. We arrived there about ten minutes later. It’s off of Cemetery Rd by the car wash. There we selected a number of paint chips, all of which seemed to fall into a similar genre – warm, autumn colors. We must’ve left with 30 chips. We took a Sherwin-Williams brochure in with us that had some room pictures of color combinations we liked. On the back it warned of possible color mismatches due to printing. We were shocked at the actual difference when we found the actual chip. We loved the color in the picture on the brochure but hated the actual chip color. The color was totally different. Homeward.
At home we quickly switched gears. I changed into yard work attire to ready myself for a couple hours of outdoor labor. I badly wanted to cut the lawn, but not so much for its length as much as it was for mulching the thick leaf cover. Word has it that rain’s coming. We’ve had about nine straight days of dry, sunny weather making dealing with leaves so much easier than when they’re wet. Despite plenty still clinging to the trees, this was my window of opportunity.
I decided to skip edging & weed whacking. The edges and beds looked groomed from last week. Instead, I went right for the tractor working in reverse of my usual pattern. The tractor did a fine job of chopping/mulching the leaves. But almost as quickly as I mulched them up more were falling. It was almost laughable! Still, a leaf pulverized today was one less wet mucky-gooey leaf to rake later.
I finished up and still had some time before we had to leave for Mindy’s Mother’s. I decided to use the time to winterize the deck furniture. That entailed bagging the seat cushions and umbrella and then placing them in storage. Mindy found some 55 gallon trash bags that work wonderfully for just such an endeavor. And lastly, we covered the table and chair frames with the nice vinyl cover provided with the set. I still have lots of winterization stuff to do but consider that a good start. I’ve got to dismantle and store our pond/fountain, hanging baskets, cut/pull-up dead flowers, etc.
I cleaned-up for Gloria’s in short order. We left the house at 3:45pm. I took notice of the Vikings score just before leaving. It was tied 7-7. I didn’t allow my hopes to get too high, however. I’m not delusional!
We arrived shortly before 4pm. The house was closed up and no one else was there. We thought that highly unusual. Perhaps they moved it elsewhere without notifying us. A fact that I missed was that the blinds were all drawn, but apparently a significant sign to Mindy. Mindy went in through the garage and asked that me and the kids wait outside. I kept the kids occupied. If nothing was wrong, Mindy intended on unlocking the front door and allowing us in. She never came. I got a little worried. The kids sensed that something was wrong and insisted on heading inside though the garage. I did my level best to keep them at bay. Finally, Mindy came out after about five minutes (seemed like forever). It turns out, her mother was ill and in bed, but nothing too serious. Apparently one of her siblings were supposed to call us but forgot. We loaded everything back up and headed for home. The kids were highly disappointed. Mindy and I were simply glad that Gloria was OK, short of a bad cold.
I phoned Ashley on our way home and invited her and Olivia over for dinner. She accepted. We knew that she’d bring Lil’ Rocky too. Once at home, I took a glance at the NFL scores from earlier in the day. To my surprise, the Vikings pounded the Chargers 35-17 even after surrendering the longest play in NFL history – a 109 yard missed field goal returned for a touchdown. Happily, the Vikings atoned for that faux pas by setting a record of their own. Adrian “All Day” Peterson, our rookie running back, rushed for a record 296 yards. Holy Smoke!!!! As you might guess, I walked Ykraps with an extra bounce in my step. Ashley drove by as we walked. When I returned home I greeted the grand babies and then lit the grill. We were grilling bacon wrapped filet mignon. Rocky played football with Jacob and I. He’s a bit rough & tumble and a lot of fun. I’m surprised at his athletic ability at such a young age. He took a couple cheap shots from Jacoby, for which Jacob was admonished. Rocky shook them off pretty well and continued playing.
Eventually, I left the football action and focused instead on grilling the meat. In the meantime, Mindy whipped up some Au gratin potatoes and dished up some of the garden salad originally intended for her mother’s. Olivia was a hoot. She’s beginning to speak, and, of course, she’s already walking all over the place. It’s her primary means of transportation. The kids had chicken fries, Mindy, Ashley and I had filet. Ashley felt it not cooked well enough and instead opted for chicken fries. Geesh! It was quite yummy!
We weren’t done. Nope! After we finished our filets and sides we got out the Frisch’s pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Delicious! Olivia seemed to really enjoy the pie along with a bag of tiny Oreo’s. Ashley gave her a bath and put her in PJ’s before leaving for home. I’m glad things worked out as they did. It was a nice visit with two of the grand kids.
Mindy processed the kids for bed and then retired early herself. I stayed up enjoying Sunday Night Football, at least as much as I could stand. I joined her in bed just before 10pm.
Since our plan called for us to meet the family at the Hilliard Frisch’s at 9am, I knew to be up by 6:30am if I wanted to have plenty of time to carry on with my normal routine without the feeling of being rushed. Those that know me well, know that I despise being rushed.
I executed my plan perfectly rising from bed just before 6:30am. Of course I was helped along by rolling the clock back an hour overnight. I wasn’t downstairs long before Mindy joined me. She was up surprisingly early. I completed my exercises and then headed outdoors with Ykraps. It wasn’t as clear & nice as it was on Saturday, but still rather pleasant.
I was back enjoying coffee by 7:00am. Mindy began taking down the Halloween decorations early in the morning. She was putting away Halloween and getting out Thanksgiving. This time of year it’s a constant stream of holiday decorations from the end of September thru the New Year.
Mindy did all of that while I readied for my run. I must’ve headed out the door somewhere very close to 7:30am. My legs were a bit lethargic and stiff – not certain why. But I completed my run with little trouble. I was back by 8:10am. I was surprised that Mindy was still working on the decorating task. I figured she’d be showered and dressed. She reminded me not to worry having an actual plan in place. She headed up to shower minutes later. I asked her to knock on the floor when she was done.
In the meantime, I sipped more coffee and played guitar. It didn’t take her long. By 8:30am the knock came a callin’. I wasted little time heading up. I jumped in the already warm & waiting shower. We were both ready to go with only a few minutes to spare. No use having wasted minutes, though. We left the house at 8:47am. The drive was fast. We were at Frisch’s by 8:56am. We parked next to dad and Bob’s family. But they were no where to be seen, prompting me to assume that perhaps they forgot to set their clocks back and were already inside eating. That wasn’t the case. Nope! They were inside waiting for a table. The place was considerably more crowded than it generally is at this hour. We guessed it due to the time change. There was no other plausible reason. They did a nice job of accommodating us, squeezing a table up against a booth – perfect for nine, which was the number in our party.
Most of us ordered the buffet save for Mindy and dad. They ordered entrées. Truth is, I am boring of the buffet. I’ll most likely suggest an alternative venue for December’s family breakfast. Still, the company and conversation was lively and good. We were there for just about an hour. I asked Mindy to get a pumpkin pie to go. She did. Bob & April set the date for the Wright family Xmas get-together at his place for Saturday, December 22nd. It’ll be at our place again in 2008.
After we parted ways, Mindy and I headed almost next door to the brand new Hilliard Kohl’s. She had a dress to return and wanted to look at some other things too. As we often do in such a place, we went our separate ways. I browsed the Men’s department where I selected a couple long sleeved t-shirts for winter – one black, one gray. In addition, I picked up a set of fleece ear grips as well as a red OSU t-shirt and a dark gray mock turtleneck. Nothing too fancy, and nothing over $10 each – except for the ear grips, which were on sale for $17.50..
I walked around the entire store looking for Mindy but all for not. My search netted nothing but negative results. Determined to find her, I made a second sweep. Still no joy! I finally caved and called her cell. Cool tool! Turns out, she was in a nearby fitting room. We met up briefly where she showed me her selections, which included a long sweater. I went right for the tag wanting to see what it was made of. Pig!! Are you kidding me? Yes! It was almost 100% acrylic, something I stay away from. One must always watch out for stuff like that at stores like Kohl’s. And to make matters worse, it was a dry-clean- only. But Mindy still wanted it, and it is her money. I figured as long as she knew up front. She allowed me to put my stuff in her mini cart while she went back off into the shopping abyss.
I walked around a little more, looking at a variety of things until I could take it no more. I once again called her cell only this time very anxious to get out of the store. She obliged and we met at the register. Thank God! Mindy put everything on her Kohl’s charge to save an additional 15%. I’m sure most folks fail to pay it off and incur more than that in finance charges making it a coup for Kohl’s. Not us!
Finally, outside in the fresh air, we loaded our haul and then drove off for the Hilliard Sherwin-Williams. We arrived there about ten minutes later. It’s off of Cemetery Rd by the car wash. There we selected a number of paint chips, all of which seemed to fall into a similar genre – warm, autumn colors. We must’ve left with 30 chips. We took a Sherwin-Williams brochure in with us that had some room pictures of color combinations we liked. On the back it warned of possible color mismatches due to printing. We were shocked at the actual difference when we found the actual chip. We loved the color in the picture on the brochure but hated the actual chip color. The color was totally different. Homeward.
At home we quickly switched gears. I changed into yard work attire to ready myself for a couple hours of outdoor labor. I badly wanted to cut the lawn, but not so much for its length as much as it was for mulching the thick leaf cover. Word has it that rain’s coming. We’ve had about nine straight days of dry, sunny weather making dealing with leaves so much easier than when they’re wet. Despite plenty still clinging to the trees, this was my window of opportunity.
I decided to skip edging & weed whacking. The edges and beds looked groomed from last week. Instead, I went right for the tractor working in reverse of my usual pattern. The tractor did a fine job of chopping/mulching the leaves. But almost as quickly as I mulched them up more were falling. It was almost laughable! Still, a leaf pulverized today was one less wet mucky-gooey leaf to rake later.
I finished up and still had some time before we had to leave for Mindy’s Mother’s. I decided to use the time to winterize the deck furniture. That entailed bagging the seat cushions and umbrella and then placing them in storage. Mindy found some 55 gallon trash bags that work wonderfully for just such an endeavor. And lastly, we covered the table and chair frames with the nice vinyl cover provided with the set. I still have lots of winterization stuff to do but consider that a good start. I’ve got to dismantle and store our pond/fountain, hanging baskets, cut/pull-up dead flowers, etc.
I cleaned-up for Gloria’s in short order. We left the house at 3:45pm. I took notice of the Vikings score just before leaving. It was tied 7-7. I didn’t allow my hopes to get too high, however. I’m not delusional!
We arrived shortly before 4pm. The house was closed up and no one else was there. We thought that highly unusual. Perhaps they moved it elsewhere without notifying us. A fact that I missed was that the blinds were all drawn, but apparently a significant sign to Mindy. Mindy went in through the garage and asked that me and the kids wait outside. I kept the kids occupied. If nothing was wrong, Mindy intended on unlocking the front door and allowing us in. She never came. I got a little worried. The kids sensed that something was wrong and insisted on heading inside though the garage. I did my level best to keep them at bay. Finally, Mindy came out after about five minutes (seemed like forever). It turns out, her mother was ill and in bed, but nothing too serious. Apparently one of her siblings were supposed to call us but forgot. We loaded everything back up and headed for home. The kids were highly disappointed. Mindy and I were simply glad that Gloria was OK, short of a bad cold.
I phoned Ashley on our way home and invited her and Olivia over for dinner. She accepted. We knew that she’d bring Lil’ Rocky too. Once at home, I took a glance at the NFL scores from earlier in the day. To my surprise, the Vikings pounded the Chargers 35-17 even after surrendering the longest play in NFL history – a 109 yard missed field goal returned for a touchdown. Happily, the Vikings atoned for that faux pas by setting a record of their own. Adrian “All Day” Peterson, our rookie running back, rushed for a record 296 yards. Holy Smoke!!!! As you might guess, I walked Ykraps with an extra bounce in my step. Ashley drove by as we walked. When I returned home I greeted the grand babies and then lit the grill. We were grilling bacon wrapped filet mignon. Rocky played football with Jacob and I. He’s a bit rough & tumble and a lot of fun. I’m surprised at his athletic ability at such a young age. He took a couple cheap shots from Jacoby, for which Jacob was admonished. Rocky shook them off pretty well and continued playing.
Eventually, I left the football action and focused instead on grilling the meat. In the meantime, Mindy whipped up some Au gratin potatoes and dished up some of the garden salad originally intended for her mother’s. Olivia was a hoot. She’s beginning to speak, and, of course, she’s already walking all over the place. It’s her primary means of transportation. The kids had chicken fries, Mindy, Ashley and I had filet. Ashley felt it not cooked well enough and instead opted for chicken fries. Geesh! It was quite yummy!
We weren’t done. Nope! After we finished our filets and sides we got out the Frisch’s pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Delicious! Olivia seemed to really enjoy the pie along with a bag of tiny Oreo’s. Ashley gave her a bath and put her in PJ’s before leaving for home. I’m glad things worked out as they did. It was a nice visit with two of the grand kids.
Mindy processed the kids for bed and then retired early herself. I stayed up enjoying Sunday Night Football, at least as much as I could stand. I joined her in bed just before 10pm.
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