Spewing Coffee Rain Sleet Steak Friends

Happy 32nd Chrissy!! I was up at 515am, but woke with a mildly sore throat and slightly swollen sinuses. There’s no doubt that I had a cold, but so far the symptoms were light. Aside from that, though, I felt pretty good. I completed my sit-ups then checked the weather and headlines. It was 30 degrees and cloudy. I did 53 push-ups then headed out on a walk with Ykraps. The wind was already gusting, and when it did, it definitely felt much cooler. After walking Ykraps I was met in the kitchen by Bella, who had gone to bed the night before with a fever over 102. Mindy already decided to keep her home per school policy. Bella shared that she felt fine. And a touch to her head confirmed it, at least temperature-wise. I suggested she go up and snuggle with her momma while I did my own thing. That must’ve sounded good. She was gone like the wind. I noticed something amiss with the morning coffee. The pot felt lighter and there was some residual pray on the white ceramic tile just below. Somehow coffee had spewed out and onto the floor. For the moment I was stumped as to how. I wiped up the spillage with a paper towel only to turn around and see more right back in the same spot. What? How? I was doing all of this with ‘mood’ lighting only. I eventually discovered that much of the freshly brewed coffee had somehow spilled onto the granite and was dripping down onto the floor, and some of it even found its way into the drawer directly below creating a huge mess. Good grief! I must’ve put the carafe in slightly ajar. I’ll be more careful next time. After my mini crisis I still had plenty of free time given my early rise. But that time went fast. Soon it was time to wake Mindy. She had an 8am dental appointment and had the entire day scheduled off. But now, with Bella being sick, she’d be keeping her all day putting the damper on her initial plan of Xmas shopping. I agreed to stay home with Bella until Mindy returned from her dental appointment. Mindy expected to be home near 9am. I sent my boss an email indicating as much. After a good meditation and stretching session I headed out for my run. It was chilly but my attire was adequate. I ran four miles comfortably. I know I’ve mentioned this before but running minimizes most cold symptoms. I felt fantastic during and immediately after. Mindy asked that I take the task of frying our eggs. Bella wanted one too. I fried a total of four, two for me. Mindy left for her dental appointment just after 730am. I spent the next half hour on my PC. I still had to get Jacob on the bus at 755am, but I planned to do so in my PJ’s. He & I headed out at 755am. It was Chrissy’s 32nd birthday. We made sure to wish her well at the bus stop. Mindy & I planned to go to dinner with she and Kenny later to celebrate. Jacob shared that Bella was faking being sick. Not true, although she did seem fine this morning. The rules, however, say that a kid must stay away from school for a minimum of 24 hours after developing a fever. I had another 30 minutes to burn before getting a shower. I thought about putting lights on our Xmas tree but used it to play on my PC instead. Thirty minutes wasn’t enough time to make any real progress with the tree. I headed up for a shower at 830am, and Mindy was home within a few minutes of 9am. Among other things, she had a chipped tooth fixed. I left for work at 910am. My work day was unbelievably busy. For starters, I held brief one-on-one meetings with all of my directs as well as a handful of others. The day went by quickly. Mindy called late afternoon to remind me of our dinner plans with Chrissy & Kenny at J.Alexanders, a fine steak house in Worthington noted for their exceptional prime rib. The kids were going to dinner with their daddy. She also shared that she and Bella went Xmas shopping and wrapped a number of gifts throughout the afternoon. Turns out, I got out of work a little late – about 540pm. And the weather took a major turn for the worse upon my exit. It was icing/raining pretty hard. The temperature remained above freezing, though – about 36 degrees – otherwise the streets would’ve been a total mess. I drove extra cautiously nonetheless. Mindy was out walking Ykraps when I got home. I was a bit surprised given the inclement weather. The neighbors phoned shortly thereafter to advise that they’d be picking us up in five minutes. Cool. It was raining steadily. Kenny & Chrissy pulled up at 615pm and we were on our way to J. Alexander’s. It was slow going north around I-270, still dealing with rush hour fallout. Of course, the weather wasn’t helping either. We arrived at our destination around 645pm and were quickly seated in a booth. We each ordered drinks, Kenny & Chrissy beers, Mindy wine, and me Jack & Coke. Kenny ordered calamari for us to share. While enjoying our drinks, Mindy gave Chrissy her gift, a precious moments collectible. She already has tons of them but really seemed to like the one Mindy selected. Soon it was time to order our food. Mindy & Kenny went with the prime rib. Chrissy filet, and me a marinated (Maui) ribeye. Happy 21st Chrissy! The salad and croissant were delicious. Our entrees showed up in a timely fashion. I was hungry but also a little lethargic with my pesky cold symptoms. Everybody’s food looked good. My ribeye was tasty but perhaps a little thin. I guess I’m spoiled with our 2” thick Sam’s Club ribeye’s. Kenny already made it clear that he was getting the check. We didn’t fight it. Instead, we were gracious receivers. We promised to get the next check. It was still raining when we left for home, although not as hard. We arrived home around 8:30pm. Kenny dropped us at our driveway. Mindy called Jimaken from the restaurant to let him know that we were on our way home. He and the kids showed up ten minutes later. While Mindy got the kids readied for bed, I did some more work on my PC. We both agreed Wednesday night would be dedicated to the Xmas tree. We headed to bed at 10pm.