Incessant Begging

Despite springing ahead, I didn’t have any trouble waking come 5:30am. That was a welcome relief. I suspect that it had as much to do with getting a good night’s sleep on Saturday as it did going to bed at 10pm the night before. I was well rested. I forgot to prep coffee the night before so had to spend a few minutes getting that going. I was fully engaged in exercises by 5:40am. I checked the temperature just before heading out with Ykraps. It was 44 degrees and cloudy. The winds overnight were gusting close to 30 mph. in fact, there were several trash cans lying on their sides as testament to its fury. Ours remained upright. Coffee was delicious. I read headlines, the Daily OM, and email before waking Mindy and delivering her coffee. She reported not sleeping well. I did my inside stretching and a brief mediation before heading out for a run. I stretched from outside too. I wore my autumn running attire. Just right. I knew it was coming, but was still a bit taken back after finding myself cast back into total darkness. Only the slightest hint of daylight was present at my run’s conclusion. It’ll take until April 14th to get back to where we were last Saturday. My run went well. Inside, Mindy had a big plate of scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese ready for the taking. At the time, Rocky was the only wee one up. Landon and Bella remained sleeping until the final minute. Mindy had to fetch both from the clutches of sleep. I helped Landon with his coat. He’s still not feeling well at all. Though I must admit, he’s a lot easier to deal with when he’s under the weather. Mindy & the wee ones departed at 7:25am. At the time, it sounded like I would have to leave work to pick-up Jacob at school later this afternoon. Mindy had her usual staff meeting planned and both of our after school hosts (my dad and Noah’s mom were tied up). The only thing I asked was that Jacob dress appropriately. Mindy understood, and said she’d work on finding alternative arrangements during the day and would let me know. I hate leaving such things up in the air. I showered and was readied by 7:50am. Jacob was down and ready to head for the bus stop before I knew it. I grabbed the football without prompting. I was surprised that both boys bellyached about the chill. After all, it was 45 degrees. The boys were on the bus by 8:03am. I returned to the house where I unloaded the dishwasher to make life easier on Mindy later tonight. I left for work at 8:14am. I remembered that I left my laptop at home as I was entering the building. Crap! I decided that I’d try to work without it until perhaps lunch time. After all, I have a blackberry and a back-up machine. I was able to function almost normally, but still awkwardly. I stayed busy all morning long. There were a few things I couldn’t do with out my laptop, but nothing too pressing. Still, come lunch time, I decided to drive home and fetch it. The afternoon was shaping up nicely. It was in the low 60s – warmer than predicted. While at home, I took a very brief nap yet highly effective. I’ll bet I wasn’t down for more than ten minutes. I grabbed my laptop and headed back to the office. I let my boss know via email that I had to fetch Jacob at school around 330pm. Not two minutes after letting him know I found an email from Mindy indicating that she begged out of her staff meeting and would be able to get him after all. It felt good to have my laptop hooked up. Everything felt normal again. Normal is good! Courtney called mid-afternoon. I asked that she call me back later in the day. I couldn’t think about home/personal stuff at the time. As is often the case, work got very busy after 3pm. I was tied up until I left at 5:35pm. Again, the weather was ideal. It was about 64 degrees and partly sunny. Mindy confirmed her earlier plans to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I was hungry too, having eaten only my raw veggies and fruit medley for lunch. I arrived home right about 6pm. I called Courtney on my way. She’d be stopping by later after a job interview. Landon & Bella were the only two inside when I got home. Jacob & Rocky were outside playing. Bella was out playing earlier, but came home after sustaining a leg injury. Landon was still ill. I walked Ykraps before dinner, just like always. As expected, lots of neighbors were out enjoying the nicer weather. Once again, the grass was showing more signs of greening up. We’re expecting rain overnight and tomorrow with the high expected to climb to near 70. However, after that, the bottoms supposed to drop out. Back to the mid 40s/low 50s as far as one can see. But isn’t that typical early spring weather? We sat to eat at 6:30pm. That’s much later than usual. On top of that, the boys didn’t come at Mindy’s initial call. They had to be called three times. Mindy wasn’t pleased. She let them know it too. As usual, we all enjoyed our sketti & meat balls. It was delicious. Because he didn’t come close to finishing his meal, Rocky had to forego dessert. But that didn’t stop him from trying. Stepping back, his incessant begging is really quite comical. The kids played outside after dinner for a while. After all, there was plenty of unused daylight remaining. I cleaned up the kitchen. Not much changed for me. At 7:30pm it was time to get ready for bed. Jacob got a shower. The others were permitted to skip. After the kids were tucked neatly into bed, Mindy and I tuned into Fox-WTTE-28 to watch House and then 24. We headed for bed immediately after. I was already fighting sleep.