Re-Steak, Races, and FAFSA

5:30am came around fast. I felt good, though and quickly got out of bed, brushed my teeth and headed downstairs to begin my exercise routine. I purposefully left the irrigation system disabled overnight to give the lawn a chance to dry out some. However, before starting my push-ups, I ran zone #1 (the front lawn) manually for 20 minutes. It’s the only part of the yard that soaks it up, but little wonder, it slopes away from the house rather dramatically. Ykraps and I enjoyed our morning walk. It was a gorgeous summery morning. I poured a cup of coffee then took to the PC. I read the Daily OM and some headlines. I downloaded Sunday’s photos, too. That was fun. Before I knew it, it was 6:20am. I had to peel myself away from the PC to do my meditation and stretches. I didn’t leave for my run until 6:40am, but headed out feeling fantastic. It must’ve been about 67 degrees & sunny – perfect. The run went really well. It was over seemingly just as it started. I went to the deck almost immediately after arriving home to towel off with one of the beach towels hanging out to dry. That felt terrific! I preheated the egg skillet while organizing my lunch, a can of tuna, some carrots, and nuts. Landon & Rocky called for me from the balcony. I told them they could come down. They both came quickly. They both wanted donuts and juice. Not a problem. They watched cartoons while I ate my breakfast. I took Landon upstairs with me when I went for a shower. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him unsupervised downstairs. Mindy understood and got up to deal with the boys. She seemed in good spirits. By the time I was out of shower and dressed, Mindy coaxed the boys downstairs so not to wake Bella and Jacob. Like he often did when he lived with us, Landon insisted I play the guitar before leaving for work. Very cute! Mindy and I enjoy seeing some of the same d positive behaviors we taught them while they were living with us being repeated. It’s funny because it takes a while but they eventually get comfortable and start doing those things without being told. I left for work at 8:10am. I had to move Mindy’s Honda to get the BM’er out of the garage. I hadn’t driven it to work in many weeks mostly due to the ongoing threat of rain, plus the fact that it was dirty. The drive in was a fun one. Always is in the BM’er. I noticed that gas prices didn’t budge from last week. Still $2.57 per gallon. However, I didn’t need gas in the BM’er. I had ¾ tank. Work was much more manageable than it was last week, although there were a few weekend carryovers to contend with. We had those handled by late morning, thankfully. It got much easier after that. I left for a Home Depot stop at 1pm. I planned to pick-up some nuts & bolts to secure the back slats of the patio bench to the frame. The wood screws were no longer holding. While at Home Depot, I also picked up a two-pack of WD-40, two citronella candles for the deck table, and two hose guides for the rear flower beds. All totaled, I spent about $20. Back to work. The afternoon went along smoothly. I didn’t leave the office until 5:30pm. Courtney phoned just as I was starting up the BM’er. I sat in the lot and talked with her for a few minutes. She was distraught over her school financing. She apparently failed to complete her 2009-2010 FAFSA form in time to get Summer quarter covered. She didn’t realize that it runs summer to spring of the following year. Of course now she needed some financial help until that ship comes in. I didn’t respond too favorably, especially at first. In the end, I understand that the process can be confusing, and agreed to help. And if nothing else, call Columbus State and get a better understanding of where things stand. That made her feel better. I asked that she bring me all the paperwork later that evening. I arrived home around 6pm. Dad was over, making good on the leftover dinner offer. He’d already walked Ykraps, too. I let Mindy know that Courtney would be coming over shortly. Mindy shared how much fun all the kids had at the pool. She dropped Rocky & Landon back at home around 4pm. We all enjoyed the re-steak dinner. Jacob was the only one who didn’t have steak. He wanted a Mexican microwave dinner instead. Whatever? The kids ate quickly and dashed outside to play with friends. I took care of kitchen clean-up duty. Courtney showed up at the same time. After carefully considering Courtney’s dilemma since she and I last spoke, I asked that she give us a brief overview, while avoiding her tendency to blame everyone else in her blow by blow. I wasn’t sure how she’d respond to my request, but she responded favorably. She did a good job of telling the story in brevity and blaming only herself for the oversights. Without airing too much dirty laundry, the one thing that all three of my daughters do all too frequently is blame everyone else for their many varied predicaments. Listening to them spin their tales would lead the casual observer to believe they’ve been wronged by everyone. It causes me pain just to hear that type of talk as it gives too much power to everyone else while disempowering the self. Mindy & Dad both stepped out onto the deck while Courtney and I finished our chat. Courtney left after about a 30 minute stay. She stepped out to say goodbye to Mindy & Dad before departing. After finishing up in the kitchen, I gathered the tools & hardware necessary to complete the patio bench. I pulled out most of the loose wood screws and drilled the holes slightly larger and all the way through so to accept a bolt, washer, and nut. It didn’t take too long. On my way back to the garage with my tools, I put everything down and spent an hour playing with the kids, who were in the neighbor’s yard playing first bounce or fly. That eventually turned into running races. It was funny to watch. I purposely set up the races so that no one would have an obvious unfair advantage. I accomplished that by giving the girls a 5-10 yard head start and then gave Evan, the smallest, about a 15-20 yard head start. That turned out to be just enough of an advantage to make the race interesting. When Jacob was nosed out at the finish line by a girl he lost any composure he might’ve had otherwise. I think that Mindy summed his attitude up quite well. He’s a sore loser, but also a poor winner. He’s one of those that rubs it in & taunts when he wins, but pouts and runs off when he loses. The kids raced several times. Unbeknownst to us, Bella headed inside pouting about getting edged out during a race, too. She, of course, blamed me for her less than stellar performance. We laughed it off. Dad hung out through all the races. He left probably around 8:45pm. Everybody was in bed by 9:30pm. Mindy & I went out on the deck at 10pm exactly where we marveled at the daylight still hanging on the western horizon. To bed. Good night moon.