Restrained & Injected

Mindy was jostled awake by Jacob who entered our room in the middle of the night to declare that he had just barfed all over his bed. As any mother would do, she leaped to her feet to address the unsightly mess. I went back to sleep. A little while later she returned to bed after throwing his soiled bedding in the washer and remaking it. I really don’t know how she does it. I can’t seem to muster the inner strength to get out of bed. Only a mother! As I said yesterday/last night, Mindy already knew that he didn’t feel good and knew he had a 101.5 degree fever. She had even called her brother for medical advice. But neither one of us expected him to throw up.

Jacob came back in our room a couple of times complaining of feeling worse. Mindy, each time, coaxed back to his bed. We didn’t want to risk having our bed covered in puke. That would not have been good. Personally, I would’ve simply sought out the guest room.

All in all, I slept quite well. I was up and out of bed by 5:30am. I could see that it had snowed over night, but not too much. We had something close to an inch on the ground. In addition, it was cold. It was only 18 degrees. After my inside workout Ykraps and I walked in the chill & snow. I wore my snow boots for the first time since pre Xmas. After unleashing Ykraps but before going in, I shoveled the drive and walks since I knew Mindy would be heading out to the doctor’s later. I didn’t get inside for coffee until 6:15am. The morning routine would be a bit different since I didn’t have to deal with getting Jacob on the bus. Essentially, that meant I wouldn’t be behind. Mindy, for the most part, already had my lunch put together the night before. I had to add salad dressing and pack some nuts.

I got busy with my eggs. Mindy got up and came down just as I was cooking my breakfast. And soon we were joined by Bella. Mindy spoke of being exhausted after being up so many times during the night. A few minutes later Jacob came down feeling considerably better after taking Children’s Tylenol. He still looked flushed and had rosey-red cheeks. I could tell that he didn’t feel so good. I headed off to the shower.
Mindy worked out some school coverage issues with one of her teacher pals, not sure which one.

I was all but ready to go by 8:00am. I went to the Trooper to get it warmed. I must’ve left just after 8:10am arriving just before 8:30am. The day was much busier than Monday. The morning went by in a snap! I planned a trip to Sherwin-Williams to get the rest of our kitchen/family room paint as well as Lowe’s hoping to find the right sized chair clips. I left at 1pm. Sherwin-Williams is close to the office and within eye shot of Kroger. It didn’t take long to get my paint. I bought three gallons of “Sands of Time” and a quart of Tricorn Black exterior Satin Latex for our front door. From there I drove to Lowe’s. I bought a new trim brush of high quality since I would need a sharp edge to cut in lots of trim. A good brush goes a long way towards good results! I also bought a new roller pan combo kit,and found the clips I thought I needed for the chair. I headed back to work knowing that this dragon had been slayed!

The afternoon was busy just like the morning. I enjoyed my packed lunch while beginning my afternoon. Mindy called to let me know that Jacob had a confirmed case of strep. He got a shot to help facilitate a speedy recovery. She said he had to be restrained (wrestled) to get the shot. That’s never pretty! Mindy wasn’t her usual chipper self. It seems Mindy Bueller’s Day off wasn’t so much fun.

Come 5:30pm I left for home. Mindy sounded like she was in a better frame of mind by then. She had dinner on and seven loads of laundry done. She said that Bella was gonna spend the night with her mom, which would help with tomorrow. Mindy planned to drop her off after dance class tonight.

I walked Ykraps as soon as I got home. Jacob was feeling noticeably better, but still had that feverish look about him. He ate dinner with us. We had baked chicken and leftover mashed potatoes. Good! Soon after clean-up Mindy departed with Bella. She figured on being gone for about 1.5 hours. I decided to work on a few tasks.

My first task was to update my blog. Next, I boiled the deck chair strap and prepped the frame for the reinstallation. And while in the basement, I grabbed the model number off of Mindy’s flat panel TV so I could do some research relative to its features. I had to boil the chair strap twice because the new clip were too small and fell out as I tried to stretch the hot & malleable strap across the frame. It cooled and subsequently shrunk quickly. This time I got the bigger clips and redrilled the holes and made sure the clips would fit. Then, before removing the strap from the hot boiling water, I placed the clips in each end and took the entire pot of water down the basement with me. From past experience, you get about 45 seconds of maximum malleability.

That did it! I stretched, wrapped, and secured the strap to the frame. It was stressful but I did it. Check-off another nuisance repair job. Happy to have that behind me, I returned upstairs to do more family room masking. This time I remembered to clean the wood work first. The tape adheres better after any dust is removed – go figure! I got the entire family room masked off. Although, it wasn’t a lot.

Mindy got home just before 8pm after dropping Bella at her mother’s. She and Jacob cuddled in front of the TV to watch the season premier of American Idol. She called to me, but I was busy downloading old music onto my hard drive. Around 9pm I finished what I was doing and watched the second half of the two- hour show. Jacob, by then, was already in bed. I popped some corn and opened a Diet Coke w/Splenda. I reluctantly shared my popcorn with Mindy. :)

Like last year, the qualification rounds are just too funny. There are some real goof balls out there. I enjoyed the show but the concept is getting too familiar. After Idol Mindy and I headed to bed.