Haircut, Crickets, Birdseed, & Barley's

I slept until 545am, waking at roughly the same time the coffee finished brewing. I was well rested and felt pretty good. I started my exercise routine right away. Both sit-ups and push-ups were completed before 6am. I poured coffee and spent the next ten minutes in front of the PC. According to Yahoo!, it was 37 degrees and cloudy. Not taking a morning walk leaves me relying heavily on the online weather as I prepare for a morning run. After delivering Mindy's coffee I returned downstairs to meditate and stretch. Both went well. Ahead of schedule by about five minutes, I dressed and left for a run early - 635am. It was a good four mile run. There were a few breaks in the clouds overhead revealing just a hint of daylight. However, clouds prevailed. Fried eggs were already setting on the table waiting for my return. I topped off my coffee then poured a glass of OJ for Bella and I. Mindy left at 7:30am. Bella still needed to study her spelling words and read two books, a tall order for the short amount of time we had left. We breezed through her spelling before my shower, and she did her reading while I was in the shower. I had to peak my head out on a couple of occasions to help with a couple tricky words, but she got it done. I dressed in an old raggedy Minnesota Vikings t-shirt over top a long-sleeved black t-shirt. Skol Vikings! We readied and left for the bus stop at 755am. Kenny was out with his kids for the first time in quite a while. We chatted briefly about the coming weekend. I was back at home by 8:05am. I enjoyed a little more coffee and tidied up the kitchen before heading off to work. I arrived at work near 830am. We were extremely busy, like most Friday's. My boss was working from home after a long night the evening before. I took a lunch around 1pm determined to get a much needed haircut. It had been nearly 7 weeks. I went to Great Clips in Mill Run. There was a small crowd, unusual for mid-day. The young lady doing the greetings said it would be only 5-10 minutes. I waited. I recognized Doug Windell getting up from having his haircut. We chatted for about five minutes as he was exiting. He's married to one of Mindy's best friends, Tara. He's the one that goes all out for Xmas placing thousands of lights on and about their house. He guessed that his electric bill was $140 higher because of the holiday lights. We shared a few stories about the fragility of the light sets and how many get pitched the following year. And I thought that it only happened to me. Before he departed, we chatted briefly about snow skiing, too. A cute little 20 something, Rachel Gary cut my hair. Turns out, she graduated from Central Crossing in 2007 - knows Joe and Lindy. While cutting my hair she shared that they never spent anytime using clippers in school, had to learn that after the fact. On the other hand, she shared they spent lots of time doing highlights. She did a decent job on me, probably not the best haircut ever, but certainly not the worst either. I tipped her well. After leaving Great Clips I drove a couple store units down to Jack's where I purchased some crickets for the lizard. I checked out the puppies they had on display too - un-AKC brindle boxer pups. Cute! After Jack's I headed over to Lowe's. I bought a new house plant to replace our spindly ivy. You skip one watering and they never recover. The one I intended to replace might be 5 or 6 years old. Lucky for me, they were on sale. I got a new 6" variety for $7.50. They're normally $11.49. What deal! I also picked up another bag of bird seed - 20lbs. Back to work. I thought about making one more stop at Kroger for a new bottle of Jack Daniels, but didn't. It was just after 2pm, and work was busier than never. I was admittedly on edge and irritable. Work can do that sometimes. I talked with Mindy late-afternoon. She planned on grocery shopping after Jimaken picked up the kids. I couldn't wait for the day to be over. I really needed a weekend. I worked hard up until 515pm when I packed my stuff and left for home. I was home by 540pm. The house was quiet and clean. I'd forgotten that today was a Rachel cleaning day. I had the house all to myself for nearly an hour. I can't recall what I did with all the time, although I remember trying to nap, albeit unsuccessfully. Mindy got home from the grocery near 630pm. I helped carry in her haul. We planned to leave for Barley's sometime between 7-730pm. Mindy was happy to learn that Doug H. emailed that he and Jamie would meet us there. We planned to take Bob & Mary Ann's Xmas gifts in case they showed up. We need to talk with Bob to nail down our late-February ski trip plans. We readied and left for Barley's at 715pm. We greeted Steve Won immediately in the door. I was surprised to learn that they were already out of the HopSlam on the tower. Crap! That went fast, but then again, it always does. I went with Centennial instead. After a brief time chatting with our friends around the bar, Mindy took a stroll around back to see if Jamie and Doug were in. While she was gone, which seemed like 30 minutes, Tom Clark, and then later, Bob Imber showed up. Tom C. shared the story about Victor moving out of his place. Sounds like Tom needed to get his life & house back. Bob was in without Mary Ann, who was working late. Among other things, we discussed their HV ski trip, which begins Sunday, although they're actually leaving on Saturday and heading north to Wadsworth to see family for a day. If correct, that'll cut nearly two hours off the HV drive Sunday AM. Bob was a little bummed about the weather forecast, which was calling for rain on Sunday. But what can you do? Mindy finally rejoined us at the bar. Right away, she gave Bob their Xmas gifts we've been toting around for nearly a month. At some point Christa offered to rub a kink out of back/neck. She's a massage therapist by trade. She found the culprit, a small knot, in seconds and did a fantastic job dispersing the pain. Mindy went next. She also marveled at her ability to find and relieve the pain's epicenter. Finally, Doug & Jamie joined us in the main bar area along with some of their friends they brought along. At some point Mindy & I decided it best if neither of us did any driving. We phoned Kenny & Chrissy, who were just leaving a concert at Nationwide arena. They agreed to pick us up on their way home. Perfect! They showed up less than ten minutes later. Kenny and Mike came in and hung out for a few minutes before we left for home. Mindy picked up our lofty tab. We agreed to meet at Kenny & Chrissy's house for some late revelry, but not before Mindy changed into her PJ's and I fetched a couple more beers - like I really needed 'em. :) Kenny fell asleep almost as soon as we got to their house. The rest of us partied until almost 2am. Mindy and I made our way home and to bed.