Accomplishing Plenty

Landon squawked a few times during the night but each time it was short lived and he eventually fell back asleep. We got up for keeps a little before 8am. Mindy toyed with the idea of going to church but never did. She did, however, insist on going grocery shopping after my run. I have a feeling it was as much about getting away for some alone time as it was about seeing to it that our cabinets were restocked. That’s OK. I understood. Once again, I left for my run around 9:30am. This time I kept my run contained within the subdivision. It was a good four mile run. I was hot & sweaty at its conclusion. I spent the next several hours working remotely just as I did on Saturday. Mindy eventually left for the grocery after putting Landon down for a nap. I was most diligent about keeping the kids quiet during their comings and goings to extend Landon’s nap. During Mindy’s absence she asked that I address a few chores. I mopped the kitchen tile and then made a batch of salsa. The salsa turned out really good – hot-hot! It wasn’t long before Mindy made her return with a van load of groceries. Me and the kids helped her carry in the goodies. Before releasing me to my outdoor chores, Mindy insisted that I help get everything out of the bags. I obliged her. Outdoors I badly wanted to finish the wall project along with getting the lawn chores completed. I started on the wall first. That went surprisingly well – easy! It just goes to show you how important a good plan is. I don’t think that it took more than about 1.5 hours to finish the cutting of the 2X8s and get them mounted. Mindy and the kids left for the pool just as I was finishing up. Given her druthers, I would’ve been going along. But the need to complete my weekly lawn chores prevailed. She understood – at least I think! I moved quickly into lawn cutting mode. I wacked, edged, cut, and blew in all of about 1.5 hours. But I wasn’t done there – no sir! I also trimmed some over grown ivy, started the sprinkler pump, and sprayed another coat of Round-Up on the targeted lawn restoration area. Mindy was home from the pool around 4-430pm. She invited my dad for dinner. He arrived somewhere near 5pm. He was gracious enough to walk Ykraps leaving me to finish up my chores before heading in for a much needed shower. Mindy had originally asked that I do the grilling, but because I was running behind schedule, she took over the first half of the task. I simply finished the grilling. I coated my chicken breast with some of my brand new homemade salsa. No one else wanted anything to do with it, although, dad gave it a try on some Lime Tostitos. Too hot! This year’s habaneras are very warm. Dinner was excellent. Along with the grilled chicken, we had cucumber salad, and baked beans. For dessert, Mindy made everyone a bowl of ice cream. There were several flavors to choose from. I had Edy’s butter pecan. In addition, she baked chocolate chip cookies. They were equally delicious. Dad entertained the children with his ice cream and cookies. He had them all in stitches. After dinner, the boys, Jacob and Rocky, asked me to play football with them. I did, but only after asking Mindy if it was OK to leave the dinner mess for her. We played outside for quite some time. Eventually, though, my dad came out with Landon. He took over playing ball with the older boys while I took Landon to the baby tree swing. He loves that thing. We swung for a good long time. Dad departed around 8pm after a fun filled evening. Like clock work, Mindy got the kids bathed and eventually tucked into bed. Landon first. By 9pm they were down for the count. Mindy and I chatted in the kitchen for about 30 minutes before hearing our neighbors yucking it up out on their deck. Not able to resist the temptation, we decided to join in their fun. We grabbed the baby monitor and headed over. We enjoyed their company for a little more than an hour. And we really enjoyed Kenny’s story about recovering his stolen four-wheeler, which was taken right out of the back of his pick-up in our subdivision several months ago. It was chained and locked down too. As the story goes, he was golfing in Johnstown when he spotted a four-wheeler for sale at a neighborhood yard sale. Stopping in for a closer look he was convince that it was his. He soon called the cops and started a big ol’ problem. Turns out, Columbus’ finest sold it at auction to this guy after it went unclaimed in the stolen property facility. Kenny says no one ever called to let him know they had recovered it. As you might imagine, that started a big ol’ mess! Mindy and I headed home near 11pm. We were both tired and I had to be up early Monday morning.