Vikings Win - They're In!!!!

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday For the first time all vacation long, Mindy was out of bed first leaving me the opportunity to sleep in. Without giving it much thought, I quickly dosed back off to sleep. I woke two or three times, eventually getting out of bed just before 9am. As expected, she already had the kids fed and organized. Her plan was to attend church taking all three kids. Jacob was with his daddy overnight. I poured some coffee then kept an eye on the kids while Mindy got a shower. To save her some time I installed the two booster seats in the new Pilot to accommodate the kids. We had Landon’s child restraint seat in the middle as recommended. All three fit but left little to no room to reach in to buckle the seat belt. Plus, when it became time to load the kids, I was anxious about their lack of care for the new vehicle. I about had a coronary as Bella & Rocky drug their feet across the leather seats and ripped the etch-a-sketch from the seatback pocket. I walked away shaking my head. Mindy knew I was upset. She was frustrated too after trying unsuccessfully to get the mall buckled in. She was already running behind. As she backed out of the garage, one of the many extra garbage bags blocked the sensor and wouldn’t allow the garage door to fully descend. I encouraged her on and addressed that right away. I would address it more thoroughly after my run. Once she hit the road I dressed and left for my run. It wasn’t in the 60’s any longer but still fairly warm by end of December standards. It was about 37 degrees & sunny. I ran along Trabue & Hague avenue. As expected, even though it was chilly, there were several golfers out on the course. I found a stay golf ball but it was a Top Flite. I threw it back down. They’re too hard. I completed my run efficiently. Once I was home I went straight to work on my planned chores. I carried all the Christmas garage bags form the garage out side by the regular can. They’ll take extra trash this week only. They do it the first pickup after Xmas every year. Aren’t they good? J Next, I unlocked the shed and carried all three of the tiny trikes out there for storage. While in the shed I grabbed the driveway salt and placed it in one of my three 5 gallon pails and toted it back to the garage for easy access. Next, I moved the BM’er over as far as it would go within reason. I had to exit via the passenger door. Finally, there would be enough room to manipulate the Pilot’s doors. After taking care of the garage, I worked my way around to the deck where I carried the chaise lounger frame to the shed. I also turned on the hose and added about six inches of water to the hot tub. While screwing around out there, I discovered that one of the expensive large faux flower pots I bought for our Hibiscus was cracked in three places from ice. I’m certain that it wasn’t a coincidence that it was the one I left plastic plug in the drain hole. Dammit! Satisfied that the outside chores were addressed, I moved inside where I relaxed a little prior to Mindy and the wee ones return. I was a little stressed over the New Pilot, the soon to start Viking game, and the house full of folks we were expecting over around 2:30pm. The house looked like a Xmas bomb just went off. It’s really starting to get to me. Thank God for my return to work tomorrow. I almost decided to bag watching the game given the knots already in my stomach. However, Mindy encouraged me otherwise. I decided to watch. What the hell! The game developed slow and the Vikings drew first blood scoring a field goal. But like last week, Adrian Peterson fumbled. Lucky for us, the Vikings recovered. The very next drive, he rushed up the middle for a 67 yard run and a touch down. Just like that the Vikings were up 10-0. I never once relaxed. The Bears were winning too. We lose, they win, they’re in and we’re out. Yikes! By halftime, The Giants crawled back in it, trailing just 10-9. I decided then to turn off the TV and let the kids play Wii. Besides our guests would be arriving very, very soon. Everyone began arriving as planned around 2:30pm. After bout 30 minutes, I headed outside with Jacob and Rocky to play football in the neighbor’s yard. We played for a good hour. Eventually, neighbor Jake joined us. We played a while longer. Mindy came out onto the deck to tell me that the Vikings had just won their game and were headed to the playoffs. They won 20-19. Wahoo! I felt a hue sense of relief. When Kenny & Crissy came out to check on the kids I invited them to have pizza with us. They accepted. Crissy graciously acknowledged my team’s victory and gave me a full blow by blow description of their last second victory – 50 yard field goal with no time left on the clock. She’s a Cowboy fan and wasn’t happy. They were blown out by the Eagles and also eliminated from the playoff picture. Too bad. Nephew Joe agreed to pick-up our four pizzas on his way back to the house after dropping his dogs at home. For whatever reason, Ykraps began peeing all over our house – marking his territory – when they arrived earlier. Crazy thing! The pizzas arrived by 5pm and everybody seemed to enjoy them. We even had an all veggie pizza. It was really good too. Gotta love Minelli’s. The Wii was a big hit, especially Mario Kart. The kids, young and old had a blast. Others played Euchre in the livingroom on the floor. It was a fun filled afternoon, especially after learning of the Vikings dramatic victory. I felt whole! By 7pm everyone had left. I was really tired. Mindy & I collectively cleaned up the mess then got the kids ready for bed. We actually had them tucked into bed just before 8pm. We eventually allowed both Jacob & Bella to join us on the couch for some alone time. That lasted only 20 minutes before we sent them back up to bed. I watched the last regular season NFL game – Broncos versus the Chargers. The winner was in the loser out! Perfect way to end a season. The Chargers took a commanding lead by halftime. We headed to bed around 10:30pm.