Super Supper/Super Bowl

I didn’t crack an eye until almost 7:30am. And even then the house was eerily quiet. Considering myself fortunate, I rolled back over for a little more sleep. Usually, by then, all the kids are up. With the unusual quiet, Mindy & I played tag in our room for a few minutes. The kids knocked on the door but neither of us answered. They eventually went away. But we didn’t leave them waiting/worrying for too long. We were up and tending to their individual needs by 8:15am. Meanwhile, it was a sunshiny start to the day and the temperature was already above freezing. The ice on both the house and trees was melting at a good clip. In fact, it almost looked like rain dripping down out back. We brewed some bold Starbucks coffee. Mindy commented that we probably didn’t need as much in the basket. It was bold alright! We were slow to move towards accomplishing any goals. Instead, we sipped coffee and fed the kids. Mindy planned to make a full blown Sunday breakfast, but not until my run was underway. And speaking of that, I finally dressed and left for my run at 9:40am. I dressed down considerably given the warm temps and brilliant sunshine. Even then I overheated a bit. I returned home to the sweet smell of French toast and sausage. Yummy! Mindy made scrambled eggs just for Jacob. By the way, Jacob was still limping from one of his falls at Mad River Mt. After a hearty breakfast and a few household chores, I took Mindy’s Honda to the car wash. We’ve had it for just over a month now and it’s already been through at least ten different snow storms. It was filthy. Mindy was grateful for my act of kindness, but the truth is, it bothered me probably more than it bothered her. I rounded up three dollars worth of quarters then left with the Honda. It was 40 degrees and sunny. I guessed that the car wash would be packed, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it only moderately busy. Every stall was taken but I had several to choose from to be next in line. I’ve seen it much, much worse. I didn’t really plan on it, but ended up vacuuming the inside while waiting. It needed it. In just one short month it was already dirtier than my Trooper’s been in nine years. Most of it was crud drug in off of snowy boots. Too, Mindy must’ve had 30 wadded up tissues stuffed in the door pocket – a product of her ongoing sinus infection. When it was finally my turn to wash, I was surprised to find that they lowered the price back to $1.00 per cycle. It was a $1.50 the last time that I was in. From experience, I knew that I could use the foamy tire brush without putting any money in the thing. It’s often plenty soapy from the previous user. The rims and tires were extra filthy. They needed the prescrubbing. I was able to get all four tires and wheels scrubbed pretty well before inserting any coinage. The first paid-cycle I dedicated solely to ‘hot soapy spray’. The second cycle I used exclusively for ‘hot rinse’. Short of going over it with a sponge, I got her pretty darn clean. I was happy. I drove home with it wet. Meanwhile, there was lots of snow meltage in the streets. It got a little cruddy on the short drive home. But even still, it looked so much better. I could finally see out the rear window. I used a shami to dry the Honda once I was home and back in the garage. And since I was in car care mode, I checked the Trooper’s oil. It’s been 1600 miles since the last oil change, and Jiffy Lube tried to convince me that my Trooper is an oil burner. It was down a little. I put about half a quart in. That left it reading more than full. Still feeling mechanical, I decided it a good time to start and run the BMW for about 5-10 minutes. It started right up but ran a little rough at first. I was happy to have those three remedial tasks behind me. Jimaken brought Jacob & Bella home after taking them to his parents for an hour or so. Afterwards, I decided to scrape and shovel ice off the driveway using my both a square landscaping shovel and snow shovel. The sun heated up the ice enough to make scraping it away a breeze. But, wherever sunshine was nonexistent, the ice remained tough and unmoveable. I didn’t even try to remove anything that difficult. I dug out the storm sewer drain too. It was covered in snow turned ice. Consequently, water (melted snow) was puddling 4-6 inches deep just the outside its reach. After all that work I headed in for a much deserved steamy hot shower. I was eager to get clean, in my flannels, and relax. After my shower I poured myself a Hoppin’ Frog Mean Manalishi DIPA. Mindy was busy making dinner; baked pork chops, rice, and peas and carrots. I walked Ykraps at 5:30pm. He really liked the warmer weather. The warm air helps his sniffer find places to pee and pooh. We had dinner right after Ykraps and I got back home. It was delicious. Super Bowl 43 was kicking off just as we finished dinner. Mindy helped with clean-up then took the three older children down to Kenny & Crissy’s to catch some of the Super Bowl with them. They were having a small party. I stayed home in my PJs with Landon. The game was exciting, especially the final play of the first half. I was pulling for the Cardinals after becoming a huge Kurt Warner fan. He’s a future Hall of Famer, just watch. Bruce Springsteen provided the halftime entertainment. I’m not a big fan, but the show was OK. Actually, I was more impressed with Clarence Clemmons. Mindy & the kids got home just into the third quarter. And the truth is, I grew uninterested as it began looking like a Steelers blowout. Instead, I spent time downloading and editing the numerous pictures I’d taken throughout the day. From a distance, I could hear what sounded like a partial come back, at least enough to draw me back into the familyroom. Yep, the Cardinals were storming back. I watched intently for the duration. Like many others across America, I was excited for the Cardinals when they scored the go ahead touchdown. The only thing about it was that they might’ve scored to quickly. Turns out, that’s exactly what happened. The Steelers marched right back down the field and scored a touchdown of their own. The Steelers won, thanks in no small part to an arrogant, over-the-top, former Buckeye, Santonio Holmes. Congrats Steelers’ fans. Mindy went to bed after the Super Bowl. I was bent on staying awake to watch the special, hour-long episode of the Office. The after-Super Bowl activities drug on for entirely too long. If memory serves, the Office special came on around 10:30pm. It was OK, but not funny enough to keep me awake. I woke about 30 minutes later and headed for bed.