Popping Corn

Like most other days over the past week or so I slept well past 5:30am and didn’t get my downstairs routine underway until 5:50am. I had a really strange dream overnight. Basically, I was back at my old house on Valleyview Dr and still married to ex-Kelly. That’s bad enough, but that wasn’t the worst part. It took a while, but I eventually discovered that our electric supply panel, furnace, appliances, and windows had all been stolen. I was distraught. I went to let my wife know and realized that it was Kelly. Confused, my heart sunk. I woke seconds later to discover a better reality. For the first time in a long while, I was mildly achy all over. Must have been the stress of the dream. Without giving it much thought I snapped down to Advil then started my exercise routine. Some time just after 6am Ykraps and I headed out the door for our walk. It was yet another gorgeous morning – a little cooler than I expected, only 64 degrees. We didn’t get back home until 6:15am. I made some coffee and allowed myself just ten minutes on the PC before moving on to meditation and stretching. It was after 6:40am when I finally dressed and headed out for my run. I wore a sleeveless wicking shirt to counter the cooler temp. After another quick stretch from the front stoop I was on my way. I got lost in my thoughts, and so much so that I was all but finished before I came back to reality. I love that! It was 7:30am by the time I was back at home, toweled off, and ready to prep some food. I cut veggies, fried two eggs, and poured some OJ. I was mindful of Mindy’s plan to have Kara watch our kids all day. I remembered her saying to expect her around 8am. To that end, I made sure to find a shirt to pull on while I prepped and ate my breakfast. I was gonna head up and wake Mindy but I could hear that she was already up and getting ready. Kara arrived early, just as she usually does. She was there by 7:50am. I finished my breakfast but waited for Mindy to come down before heading upstairs to shower. I offered Kara some coffee but she declined. Mindy was down by 7:55am. I was showered and dressed by 8:10am. Mindy & I pretty much left the house at the same time. The kids remained asleep. I told Kara that if she’s lucky, the kids might sleep until 10am. I drove the BM’er again, this being the nicest stretch of summer weather yet. It was a lovely drive into the office. I arrived on time. Work was extremely quiet for the first couple of hours. My peer and I used the time to brainstorm some positive changes. We planned to share them with our boss later. Like every other day this week, I ended up skipping a formal lunch break and worked straight through. Come 1:30pm, I was growing hungry, but not for my veggies. I decided to skip the veggies and eat the can of tuna I had in my office instead. That did the trick. It hit the spot nicely. My hunger was gone. The afternoon got really busy, about like one would expect. In kind, it moved by quickly, and soon it was time to go home. I didn’t bother calling ahead. I just enjoyed a relaxing drive home on a lovely summer evening. I had already discussed my intentions to cut the lawn after work with Mindy. As soon as I was in the door she asked me if I wanted food before or after. I said after, otherwise, I would get sleepy and lose what little motivation I had. I mean , hey, who really wants to rush home from work and cut the lawn in steamy temps? It had been a full week since I last cut the lawn. I haven’t been able to go 7 days all summer long. But I did scalp it last Thursday. Mindy stopped at Kohl’s and bought the new Dyson vacuum she really wanted. She was eager to show me her new toy before I headed outside. Seems nice enough. They’re typically very pricey, but she had a 30% off coupon along with some Kohl’s bucks. She struggled trying to show me how easily the attachments work. Too funny! I headed out to get started on the lawn. While whacking the edges I was troubled to see the effects of turning off zones #2 & 5 of the irrigation system. For the first time in two months, there were some significant dry spots. After having an irrigation system for a while now, I’ve learned the lawns problem areas. Also, I sprayed for weeds two weeks ago. It’s apparent now that I mixed the solution a bit too strong and consequently damaged some of turf while killing the weeds. Oh well! While mowing, Mindy headed out to walk Ykraps. Oops! I forgot about him. I did the full Monty: whacking, edging, cutting and blowing. Before calling it a night, I hand watered some dry patches out front then moved around back where I watered the hanging flower baskets and deck pots. In addition, I took the extra time to drain, clean, and refill the fountain. Not only was the inside of the fountain covered in moss, but the pump was clogged with it, too. It looked and worked 10 times better afterwards. The lawn looked really sweet when I finally headed in. It was 8:05pm. Not bad – two hours to complete all of those chores. Mindy advised that Bob Imber phoned while I was busy cutting. We have a Sunday AM tee time at New Albany Links. I need to confirm Kenny or Tom’s availability. We played there last September. It’s a really nice course. I headed in for shower. After my shower, Mindy wanted to hang out with the neighbors, but I was in the mood to stay in, tinker on my PC and watch the NFL preseason game on ESPN. I told Mindy to go have fun. She headed over to Chrissy & Kenny’s. I updated my blog and watched football. Mindy & the kids were back at home shortly after 9pm. Mindy sent the kids up for showers while promising to pop popcorn afterwards. We all snacked on the popcorn while watching the football game on the sofa. We tucked the kids into bed sometime after 9:30pm. We headed up to bed ourselves after 10pm. We both were really tired.