Saturday, January 05, 2008

Shelving Phase II


I didn’t get up until well past 8am. I could’ve slept even longer but didn’t want to sleep my weekend away. I retrieved another tub of coffee from the basement as the current tub didn’t have enough for the day’s Joe. Once the coffee maker was set, I quickly pushed through my exercises before heading out of doors with Ykraps.
I had an hour or so to myself while Mindy slept in and the kids played in their rooms. I used the time to update Windows with Service Pack 2 – further tweaking my PC’s performance. Mindy came down around 9:30am and began making the kids breakfast. The Service Pack 2 upgrade took well over an hour to complete. I was hopeful that there wouldn’t be lingering issues. I didn’t want to leave for my run until that was firmly under control.

About the same time that Mindy headed for the shower, I headed out for a run. It was drizzling steadily albeit very light. The run went well. When I returned, I ate a plate of fruit that Mindy prepared and left in the fridge. I helped her load the van with all sorts of stuff she planned to drop at the “Free Store”. I reminded her to get an itemized receipt for tax purposes. Bella left with her. Jacob stayed home with me.

I planned to begin phase II of the basement shelf project today. I got out of my sweaty running attire and into some comfy flannels, and then slowly gathered the necessary tools from the garage and moved to the basement. The area in question, all the way to the back quarter, was already packed high and tight with storage tubs. I had already cleared an area a few nights ago that would allow just enough room to work.

I had the most strategic pieces – the mounting of the header boards – completed in no time. I already knew what had to be done after completing phase one last March and the similar garage shelves last September. Mindy was back in less than an hour. She came down to check on me and let me know that the kids were having guests over for a play date. I only asked that she keep them out of my way so that I could remain on task. She did! I could hear the kids up playing Wii for a couple of hours all the while I worked on the shelving. Sounded like they were having fun. When neighbor Mike stopped over to drop off his kids he came to the basement to see what I was doing. He complimented my crafty work.

In less than three hours I was done framing the shelving. I planned to fetch the plywood for the actual shelves tomorrow. I spent the next hour cleaning up my mess. At 4pm I headed to the shower to ready for our visit to Teri, Scott, and Massimo’s house in northern Westerville. Mindy made plans for us to be there near 530pm. She said that we’d be ordering pizza. Good thing because I was incredibly hungry having eaten only fruit and a few pieces of cheese throughout the day. We packed a small cooler with a few beers, a bottle of wine, and drink boxes for the kids. We headed out just after 5:00pm. It rained most of the way up.

We arrived at 5:30pm. Teri was the only one home at the time. Scott was at a kiddie birthday party with Masimo. Lucky for me, Teri hand some snack foods out of which I partook. I enjoyed a beer too. This was the first relaxation I got all day long. Soon, Scott and Masimo were home. Teri ordered pizzas. The kids went to the basement where they played Wii and a wide assortment of other games. We stayed upstairs talking and eating once the pizza arrived.

Teri, being pregnant, is battling through the sickness phase. She had to avoid close proximity to certain foods that otherwise would make her ill with just a wiff.
After pizza we all headed to the finished basement to see Massimo’s new toys. Scott got him a fullsize skee ball game. We watched the kids play for about thirty minutes. Afterwards the adults headed upstairs to play the board game, What Came First? Mindy loved it. I thought it was just OK. It was fun/interesting to learn the history of the many topics where you had to guess which came first. Topics ranged from NHL or NFL , the electric washer or electric dryer, Miracle Whip or Cool Whip?

Teri eventually caved and headed straight for the sofa. She was battling her “morning sickness”. We stayed only about thirty minutes longer. The kids now joined the fun making it very noisy. We helped clean-up the house around 10pm and then left for home. We arrived by 10:22pm. It was a much faster drive home than it was up. Mindy got the kids in bed stat. She headed to bed herself immediately after. I stayed up for the finish of the Steelers game and then through a DVR’d episode of American Dad. I sipped a Jack & Coke too. I was in bed by midnight.

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