then I guess the fudge wasn't for me after all

I knew when I woke around 8:00am that I wasn’t going to be getting out of bed anytime soon. And it wasn’t that I felt bad, because I was wise enough to choke down three Advil just before bed. Instead, I simply needed/wanted more sleep. I didn’t wake again until 10:15am. Mindy, I noticed, was already up and out of bed. Rare for that to happen. I muddled through brushing my teeth and eventually made my way downstairs. Mindy and the kids, Olivia included, were all up and eating breakfast. Mindy already had a mug of coffee ready for me. Yummy! I logged into work and sipped my coffee. Work unfortunately, was already hopping. I had no choice but to get involved right out of the shoot. After about an hour I pushed away from the kitchen table and readied for a run. At about the same time Bella wildly announced that her front tooth finally fell out. I tried flinging it out the night before but all that did was make it bleed. She wasn’t happy then, but was really happy now. In fact, she was elated to finally have lost that front tooth.That’s almost like cold hard cash! Come noon, Jimaken arrived to pick-up the kids for a special event at the Easton Lego store. They expected to be gone for about two hours. Out the door for my run, I noticed no activity at any of the neighbors’ houses. I wondered if they were already up and away, or still sleeping off last night. :) I ran four miles and stayed in the subdivision. It was very pretty – sunny & warm. I wasn’t back home long before Olivia asked if we could go swing. Mindy left for the grocery store at about the same time. It was just Olivia and I, along with work of course. :( Olivia asked if we could play hide-n-seek just like we did on Saturday afternoon. I agreed. She’s a hoot. She also loves to spin around really fast in the computer chair. We were doing just that when Mindy returned with groceries. After carrying in the groceries Courtney arrived. She wanted me to look at her brakes. I not only looked but also drove it. They were fine. Not sure what she heard or was feeling. I took a shower and then a brief nap after she left. I slept until 4:00pm. The kids were back by then, too. It was time to depart for Sunday dinner. We must’ve left the house sometime around 4:30pm. Relief! We weren’t the last to arrive, which is always good. Don’t want to get on Gloria’s bad side. Everyone was out back under the patio awning. Olivia got busy playing right away. There was nothing shy about her. I like that about her. She likes everyone. She played with Bella and also with our two youngest nieces. Dinner was served sometime between 5:30 – 6:00pm. We had taco salad with lots of choices for toppings. It was really good. I had two helpings. Just as dinner was winding down, Gloria asked the kids if they have played with their new slip n’slide. They told her that they hadn’t, and that I don’t want it up because it will kill the grass. All true. Needless to say, Gloria somewhat harshly expressed indirect disdain for my preference in lawn care. :) I didn’t rebut figuring her entitled to her own opinion, as well as her right to share it. I acted almost as if I hadn’t heard her curt remark. After dinner about half of us retired to the living room while the others retired to the back patio. I used the time to browse some of the Sunday Dispatch adds, something I never would do otherwise. And proof to their value, Mindy & I found a good deal on a mini-fridge for the garage – one to keep a healthy supply of pop and beer in. Dessert was served around 7:00pm. The feature was peanut butter fudge, a family favorite, and a treat often used to reward and recognize family achievements. She announced many. I happen not to like peanut-butter fudge but don’t make a big deal about it. Gloria made a cheesecake for those of us that don’t care for it. Actually, brother-in-law Larry is allergic to peanuts, or so I believe. I had two pieces of cheesecake. Shame – shame! Time was ticking away. We needed to get Olivia home, and we also talked about stopping by to see Rocky & Landon briefly on the way. We loaded our gear around 7:30pm. Just as I usually do, I hugged, kissed, and thanked Gloria for a lovely dinner. And don’t you know, I didn’t get ten feet from her before she professed her undying love back at me, albeit in the most peculiar way.

She brought up the slip n’ slide thing again except this time got pretty loud about it, too. She went as far as saying that I was creating ‘bad memories’ for the kids and that there’s nothing for them to do in our yard. She even poked at how foolish it is that I covet my lush lawn, but not in those exact words. In fact, I don’t recall her exact words as I did my best to tune her out. I let her vent. What else could I do? But I’ll admit, it was hard not to take her rant personal, especially when she turned her anger into negative comments about me directly in front of the kids, not to mention the rest of the family. Even still, I did my level best not to respond or show any emotion. Sometimes the best response is none! Believe me, inside I was extremely disappointed on so many levels. You can just imagine what was going through my mind. None of it good or wholesome. I uttered just a few disapproving words of discomfort to Mindy about it as we made our way down the drive and then on to see Rocky & Landon. For the time being and at Mindy’s prompting I suppressed my anger. Lindsey & the boys were outside playing at one of their neighbors as we pulled up. Both boys came running. That did my heart good. They were very excited to see us. Rocky was a little bit wild running and jumping on all of us. He got a ball to toss with Jacob. When it went in the street he darted out with reckless abandon. Mindy curtly grabbed him and scolded him for not listening. He wanted nothing to do with her rules or discipline. She didn’t care what he wanted and continued until he listened. The very same ball eventually found its way into the storm sewer. Bye-bye ball! We didn’t stay long. We still had to run Olivia home. In fact, Ashley phoned while we were there. We loaded up and left after a 15 minute visit. Landon wanted to go with us, but can you blame him? He likes structure. He’s his grandpa’s boy! We arrived at Ashley about ten minutes later. Ashley and Steven were sitting out front waiting. Both came around back to greet us. Olivia was very excited to see her mommy. They mentioned needing to make a trip to Wal-Mart to get their car tire fixed. They were driving his mother’s SUV. We departed for home. We arrived home and immediately walked Ykraps. Not long after returning, we headed over to the neighbors, Kenny & Chrissy’s just to see how they were feeling. They were lounging quietly on the sofa. We laughed about the night before’s party, and Kenny shared a video clip he took of me dancing with all the girls. Afterwards, we watched the Gene Simmons show (Kiss fame) He’s quite funny. We headed home after 9pm. After tucking in the kids, Mindy & I sat on the sofa talking about the day’s events. We discussed in brief the whole episode from her mother’s and the possible catalyst for such an outburst. There’s obviously more to it than a $5 slip n’ slide. We both had our ideas, which were fairly similar. How to respond/deal with it was the question now. Meanwhile, it was very quiet after the kids were in bed. Bella had her recently lost tooth neatly tucked under her pillow anticipating tooth fairy booty. We headed to bed around 10:30pm. I tossed and turned for about 20-30 minutes before getting back up and heading downstairs. I got involved with a problem at work needing some attention. I popped some popcorn and spent the next hour or so dealing with that. Mindy came down around midnight just to check on me. I was OK. She headed back to bed. I rejoined her in bed around 1am.