Holy Guacamole! - 102 degree Fever

Mindy and I had talked the night before. Even if Bella’s fever broke, Mindy wanted her to stay home to rest. She claimed the 24 hour rule (kids must stay home for 24 hours after a fever). I agreed but said we’d let Bella decide. If she woke for school and was eager to go, we’d let her. Mindy reluctantly agreed. In kind, I got up at 5;30am just as I would on any other work day. I completed my exercises and walked Ykraps. While sipping the morning’s coffee I fired off an email to my boss indicating that in all likelihood I would be working from home, although I promised to call after 8am to let him know for sure. I proceeded with my routine as normal. When I delivered Mindy’s coffee she said regardless of how Bella felt, she really wanted to keep her home. I agreed. I left for my run at 6:40am. Unlike Monday morning, I dressed warmly wearing long running pants and a thick, long sleeved wicking shirt for the first time this season. I completed my run by 7:20am. Bella was no where to be seen. Mindy said she was still in bed and once again sporting a 102 temperature. She dosed her with more Tylenol before leaving for school. Meanwhile, I had already logged into work before setting out on my run. I checked in while eating my breakfast. And after seeing Jacob onto the school bus I called my boss. He was more than gracious about me working from home. I stayed busy all morning long. In fact, I never even bothered to shower. Honestly, shower and attire aside, it wasn’t any different than if I were in the office save for the lack of any face time with my team and/or peers. I worked all morning and early afternoon without much of a break. Bella was up around 10-11am and feeling considerably better. I could hear her making all sorts of raucous from her room. I later learned that she was dancing! She asked for a bowl of Honey Nut Cherrios. I obliged her request. I ate some, too. I also ate the leftover Sporano’s sub in the fridge. So far, I’d eaten way more than I would’ve had I been at the office. Around 2:20pm I took my lunch break. I headed outside to start on cutting the lawn. This was day 5. The grass needed cut badly, especially after last week’s fertilizer and rain. I didn’t plan to do it all, however. I intended on whacking, edging and doing some or most of the push mowing. I knew that would eat almost 90 minutes. I worked on the lawn until 3:45pm. That time went really fast. I headed back inside to get back to work. Jacob got off the bus around 4:00pm. He ran off to play a few minutes later. I forgot to ask about home work. Out of practice, I guess. This was soccer night, and thinking ahead, Mindy made arrangements for Jimaken to take Jacob so that we could stay home with Bella. I worked until 5:15pm. Afterwards I headed back outside to finish the lawn. I did all the tractor mowing, watered the back flower pots and baskets, and topped off the fountain. Once again, we were having leftovers for dinner. This time I elected to have the rest of my Rib Eye steak leftover from Sunday evening. While Mindy ate, I was busy making chocolate pudding, and secondly, a 3 avocado batch of guacamole. Bella helped with the guacamole. She chopped all the peppers and onion using the Pampered Chef hand chopper. We were quick to caution her about touching any of the peppers then her skin/face. She did a good job. After the pudding set, all three of us enjoyed some. Surprisingly, Bella didn’t like it. What? What 6 year old kid doesn’t like chocolate pudding? Good grief. Jacob arrived home after soccer practice around 7:50pm. I asked Jimaken how his recent trip to Key West went. Said it was awesome, but also very hot – 109 degree heat index. Jacob was very excited to try the guacamole. He ate quite a bit. He loves the stuff, and the hotter the better. This new batch contains one habanera & two jalapenos. Mindy dosed Bella with more Tylenol before bed. But all indications were that she’d be returning to school. Not sure what she had, but obviously it wasn’t the flu. It looked like I’d be returning to work on Wednesday. After the kids were in bed and tucked in, I went to the sofa where I tuned into the National Geographic channel watching a program about tracing the DNA of several hundred folks attending a street fair in Queens, New York. They were able to track everyone back to one of two families in Africa, and then created a path of migration dating back as long as 100,000 years ago. I watched intently, finding myself totally immersed in the ideas. Mindy wasn’t as impressed as me, and eventually begged off to bed. I watched while at the same time considering the implications of the facts presented. As interesting as the program was, I fell asleep at some point. I woke and then joined Mindy in bed around 10:30pm.