Mawmaw's Fudge

Measured against my typical weekend wake time, I slept really late. But I wasn’t at all surprised. After a day of skiing and then drinking several beers, I needed a solid nine. It was 9am when I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and headed downstairs. Because it was a Sunday, I didn’t plan to do any sit-ups or push-ups. Instead, after starting the coffee I did some surfing. I felt great. While enjoying coffee, I got back to the business of editing music files. I also downloaded Saturday’s MRM pictures along with those taken on Bella’s adoption Day. Bella joined me at the computer. We laughed at some of the pictures. Bella disappeared for a few but soon returned coaxing me to make and deliver her momma’s coffee. It was now after 10am. Jacob was in bed snuggling with his momma. The night before, Mindy said that she was going to church, but given the hour, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. She confirmed what I already assumed. Mindy and the kids soon joined me downstairs. It was too long afterwards that I dressed for my run. It was only 16 degrees but the day’s high was expected to approach 30. It was very sunny out, too. I ran three miles and took the Trabue/Hague Ave. route. I found two golf balls along the golf course, which I found somewhat surprising. That meant some folks have been out there playing over the past couple of days, despite the cold temps. Traffic was very light the entire way. The run down Hague was quite lovely – always is. I was back at home before I knew it. I told Mindy that I planned to unload the ski gear from the Honda but figured I’d wait until it warmed up a little. Meanwhile, she had our breakfast burritos all ready to go. They were different this time, made with chorizo. Much wetter and more flavorful than usual. We all liked them better than her original recipe. In fact, so much so, Jacob ate three! After breakfast, Bella wanted to do some bird watching. To aid in her endeavor, I filled the bird feeder hanging from the deck, but cautioned that it might take a couple of hours for the birds to return. She got comfy at the dining room window with her little green chair, her bird book, and a pair of old binoculars. She was into it. While she sought out the birds, I got back to work on my music collection. She kept me abreast of the various birds she spotted. According to Bella, she spotted a bunting and a Chickadee. I didn’t argue otherwise, but assumed they were really sparrows, which look admittedly similar. Jacob left the house around noon to go to the OSU basketball game with Kenny and Jake. I worked on my music all afternoon, or until 3pm when Mindy and I headed out to unload our ski gear from the Honda. That didn’t take too long at all. The afternoon moved by at a good clip. At Mindy’s prompting, I headed for a shower around 330pm. Out of the 2300 titles in my online music collection, there were only about 200 more to edit. I was making progress at a much faster pace than I assumed I might. Mindy suggested we load the three giant bags of recyclables into the back of the Honda and drop them off at Westgate Park on our way to her mother’s. I was happy to oblige given the room they were taking up in the garage. We left for Gloria’s at 430pm. Dropping the recyclables went well. I helped an older gentleman get his stuff into one of the three large dumpsters while there. All three were nearly full. With the exception of one, we were the last to arrive at Gloria's. That’s rare. As we rolled through Holy Hill we recalled the last time we visited – Xmas day. That was true, but it seemed more recent. Was it possible that Xmas was almost 6 weeks (5.5) in our rear view mirror already? Yep, time flies! There were 18 of us at dinner. Hard to believe, but true. We had sloppy joe’s and fried potatoes – a Gloria classic. The food was good and the interaction fun. We retired to the livingroom after dinner for social hour, or until dessert time. The highlight might’ve been Bella sneaking off to hide. At one point about five of us went looking for her. I know Bella, she excels at being stealthy. She wasn’t found until about fifteen minutes had passed. Gloria called us for dessert around 7pm. It was fudge – two kinds – bad and good. The good being a traditional chocolate, and the bad being chocolate-peanut butter, a Thompson family favorite. Larry & I were the only ones eating the traditional chocolate fudge. Shameleesly, I ate four pieces. It was goooood. We couldn’t stay long after dessert. It was already after 730pm, and we still needed to stop by and see Lindsey and the boys. Kelly invited us over for coffee and crumpets – Not! We said our goodbyes and prepared to depart. Gloria offered up take home fudge. We threw our name in for some of both. We stopped by Lindsey’s on our way home. Lindsey and the kids came out to greet us. We were there to pick up some forms Lindsey asked Mindy to fill out relative to Rocky’s behavior patterns. We didn’t stay long. Both kids gave us hugs. Rare for Rocky to be so loving. We both took notice. At home, we quickly got ourselves ready for the following work day. We tuned the TV to the pro bowl, but I watched very little. I just couldn't see the point. However, Jacob & Bella watched intently. In fact, while I was on the PC editing music, Bella came running in to let me know she saw a Viking (Adrian Peterson). She was excited. Very cute! The kids headed to bed before 9pm. And after tucking them in, Mindy joined me in the livingroom and began filling out the Rocky form. I loosely participated all the while keeping at the music edits via iTunes. I finished my first pass through my entire music collection before 10pm. And to think, I thought it would take weeks to complete. I plan to do more fine tuning and then add missing album art another time, but for the time being, the project was completed. I wrapped up downstairs and followed Mindy to bed.