Macy's, Mud, & M's

I wasn’t fully awake and mobile until 9am. I had no pressing deadlines and no solid plans, save for a morning run and dinner reservations at 7pm. I reached for my upper chest, where I injured myself during the night. There was no pain but the band-aid Mindy put installed was blood soaked. I chose not to remove the band-aid fearing what it may reveal.

I felt pretty good all things considered. I took two Advil to supplement my other daily meds just before heading downstairs. Mindy asked that I bring her coffee later. She was no more specific than that. To me, that signified that she planned on sleeping in, which suited me fine. In the kitchen, I prepped the morning‘s coffee and then turned my attention to my daily exercise regiment.

I considered resting my shoulder by skipping push-ups and curls, but didn’t. There wasn’t a need. It felt fine. Although I wasn’t sure of the temperature, I bundled warmly for my walk with Ykraps. Good thing, too. It was cold enough that the gloves and ear covers were comfortable. Any hope of sunshine was dashed. It was and would be a cloudy day.

After my walk, I spent time writing my blog, web surfing, and uploading pictures. Mindy got up around 10:30am. I hadn’t yet run. She commented that I hadn’t run so late in a long while. She was right. I left for my run around 11am, but not before making loose plans to visit Kittles this afternoon to look at entertainment centers to accommodate our plasma TV as well as our surround sound components.

My run went well although my legs were a bit tight, probably from all the beer drinking the night before. I didn’t focus too much on the mild discomfort and easily finished the run like every other day. Once I was back home we tried reaching ex-wife Kelly to see if she wanted us to bring the art work and furniture from the basement that she said she wanted. We were unsuccessful at getting a hold of anyone. We eventually contacted Ashley who said that she’d try to reach her later and would pass along our request. Mindy & I moved forward with our plans.

After showers we headed towards Tuttle Mall and Kittles Furniture. We perused The World Market & Macy’s Furniture before hitting Kittles. We found some chairs we really liked at Macy’s but no entertainment centers. At Kittles, I showed Mindy the few pieces that could work for out arrangement. Like me, she wasn’t too impressed, especially given the cost compared to the set we had found online, but were out-of-stock. We left slightly discouraged and headed back home.

It was already after 2:30pm & both of us were very hungry having eaten nothing substantial all day. I was craving a nap, too. So, after a couple hot dogs I made sure to get one. I snuggled up in the recliner with my latest book and eventually fell asleep. It must’ve been around 4pm when I woke. Lindsey finally returned our call to let us know that we could bring the stuff over anytime this afternoon but to simply leave it under the carport. I didn’t think that Kelly would have us carry it into her home.

We loaded all the stuff into the Trooper. We managed to fit it all in but it was tight. At Kelly’s, Lindsey called the massive dogs into the house so that we could put the stuff under the car port as requested. Lil’ Rocky came out excited to see us. I was saddened at how unkempt he looked. But honestly, that was nothing compared to what I could see of the inside of her house. For starters, the storm door to the kitchen was completely covered in mud from top to bottom, as was the door frame itself. Barely discernable was Landon peering inquisitively out at Mindy & I. I could see that he was filthy too. It truly left a rock in pit of my stomach as Mindy can attest. I double checked with Lindsey about the desired location of the art work and furniture. Lindsey opened the storm door partially to confer. What I saw was something one would expect to see in only the most impoverished parts of town. The house was a complete disaster. Mud was the dominate feature covering the floors and walls. There was even mud on some of the furniture. Mindy saw it too. We were both quite taken back. I reached for my pocket camera and tried snapping off a couple of photos. Lindsey said something like, mom would freak out if she knew you were taking pictures. Lindsey blamed the extreme conditions on the three large dogs.

As I turned towards Mindy for some sort of solace (but what could she do?), the muddy slop of a yard came in to focus. If nothing else, her yard had always been pretty nice, especially right off of her nicely appointed patio. But now it’s been reduced to what can only be described as a “pig pen” – no grass, all mud. Furthermore, the patio & furniture was caked in large muddy foot prints. My instincts told me to grab Lil’ Rocky & Landon and run. To think that my grandchildren were living like this made me ill.

I did my best to hide my frustration and sadness as we hugged and kissed Lil’ Rocky goodbye. I was hyperventilating as we backed out of the drive to head for home. I had Mindy place a call to daughter Ashley as we drove off asking if we could stop by to see Olivia. I needed that. But as it turned out, she was just leaving her apartment for her mothers place. She was going to drop Olivia there with Lindsey while she & her mother went to play Bingo. OMG! How someone could knowingly leave there kid in that setting was beyond comprehension. We headed home.

I was a bit out of sorts for the next hour as I mauled over any options I might have at my disposal to help deal with what I just encountered. However, I realized quickly that most of this was out of my direct control. But it didn’t make it any more palatable. I thought about advising Lindsey that it was her responsibility to clean the mess, after all, she is a guest in her mother’s home. But in the end, you have to get to the root issues. And there are at least three root issues. The cause of the visible mess and pungent odor are the three large, out of control dogs. But the cause of the lingering mess would be the home’s inhabitants. Of course, Lil’ Rocky & Landon can’t be held accountable. That leaves two people. If I thought that by me going over and offering to help clean it up would solve the problem, I’d do it in a heart beat. But the inhabitants need to care enough to change it themselves. Unfortunately, that I question. On the surface, the dogs look to be the ones in charge! Enough about that.

It was after 5:30pm by the time we arrived back home. I spent a little time on the PC before taking Ykraps on his evening walk. Mindy went along. Eventually, Mindy went up to ready herself for our dinner date. Around 6:20pm I headed up to change into clothes more suitable to our dinner plans.

We left for M’s at 6:45pm. Our reservation was for 7:15pm. We arrived with little trouble. I verified directions online and already knew they had $5 valet parking. We took advantage of that, and found our way inside by 7:05pm. We were seated immediately at a table by the window. I probably would’ve chosen this table myself. Good! The atmosphere was nice, although the view disappointing given its location. It rests at the bottom floor of Miranova looking west. But because it sets so low you can’t really see much.

Mindy ordered a Shiraz, and I ordered a Columbus Pale Ale. Later we ordered appetizers. Mindy ordered some scallop based sushi. I ordered crab bisque with a finger sandwich. Both were excellent. We joked after ordering steaks that we probably could’ve skipped the beef. And as we later learned, that might not have been a bad idea.

Our steaks arrived with perfect timing. Mindy ordered a petite filet, and I ordered a Kansas City Strip. We opted out of sides. My steak was 18ozs, and it dwarfed Mindy’s. We both ordered our steaks medium. Starting at one end, I cut into my steak. It was almost purple in the center – not pink or even red. But it was hot so I tried to enjoy it. I nonchalantly waved Richard, our server, over. He seemed eager to help and quickly whisked my steak away. He wasn’t gone too long, but Mindy was completely done dining when he and my steak returned. At quick glance it appeared cooked no more than before. He requested I sample it while he waited. I cut into the belly of the meat to be sure. It was difficult to see any real change, but I felt uncomfortable with him standing over me so I gave him the OK.

I ate only a few more bites before politely asking for a box and our bill. When he returned he informed me that my steak would be comp’d. You don’t have to do that, I insisted. But Richard said that he knew it was their fault and that he could tell I didn’t truly enjoy my steak. I appreciated their kindness as well as their awareness of good customer service.

It was only 8:30pm as we called for our car. We waited inside for the valet driver to return in the Trooper. Mindy & I both agreed to a stop at Barley’s on our way home. That made me happy.

As with most Saturday’s, it was sparsely populated and Jersey was working the bar. Mindy wanted only water. I ordered a Droughtfire IPA. Steve Won was there. We chatted with him for about an hour. Before it was all said and done I had two Droughtfires. Mindy was crashing fast. I could see it in her eyes. We left for home before 10pm.

Once at home we finally ordered the solid-wood ebony entertainment center we had been looking at for a couple of months online. Our vendor of choice was still out-of-stock but we finally found another that would sell it for pretty much the same price but with free shipping and no sales tax. Deal!

We headed to bed soon after.