What to do with 6 Cradles?

I was up a few minutes early eager to get the day underway. There’s little question that getting more than 8 hours of sleep the night before left me feeling one heck of a lot better come morning. I started my exercise routine in the dark. As soon as my sit-ups were done I logged onto my PC to check the weather and a few quick headlines. I was really surprised to see that it was only 10 degrees when the forecast called for nothing lower than 20. I could see the sky was crystal clear. That must’ve been the difference. I also saw that the Buckeyes ended up winning that basketball game last night against Purdue after trailing by as many as 13 points late. Wow! Ykraps and I bundled warmly then headed out for our walk. He pee’d a lot more than usual. Good! It was cold alright. However, beginning tomorrow, we’re supposed to top the freezing mark, I think, for the first time all year. Because of our looming skit trip, staying tuned to the weather has been an everyday thing. If correct, it’s expected to top freezing everyday for the next ten here in CMH. Lucky for us, that’s not the case for HV. My preference is for it to stay in the freezer through at least February, and possibly early March. I had plenty of PC time after our walk, but like most days, the extra time went quickly. Soon it was time to wake Mindy. I did so with a hot cup of coffee. She predictably requested I turn up the heat. I did. I poked around on iTunes a little before bagging the PC thing and moving on to meditation and stretching. As expected, both went well. I was ready to run by 6:35am. I wore my usual cold weather garb – two wicking shirts and a pullover fleece. That’s it for the upper. I was maybe a smidge chilly for the first mile or so, but quickly got the internal furnace going. I thought that I might add air to Mindy’s tires after my run but decided not. Perhaps this evening. I did, however, start and warm it for her. Meanwhile, she had my breakfast ready and waiting. I was extra hungry. The fried eggs hit the spot. Mindy left for work at 730am, and I was off to the shower a couple minutes later. I was ready to go with a couple minutes to spare, although the kids were already out to the bus stop waiting. Chrissy and Makayla arrived the same time as me. Bella was eager to share that she and I saw two doe in the backyard this AM as soon as Mindy headed out door. We figured she scared them. I had the Trooper warming while at the bus stop. I went back inside for a couple minutes but was soon ready to leave for work. Darn it! I left the heater ventr blowing directly out instead of through the defroster. The windows were still caked in frost, plus, I was out of window juice. I arrived to work on time. We had our typical Wednesday staff meeting that lasted until almost 1pm. In addition, I had a team meeting at 3pm to accommodate some new additions to my team. That made the day go by quickly. Sandwiched in between, I ran out to the Sawmill Rd Giant Eagle to get windshield washer fluid, ski beer, and some crystal light drink mix, again for our HV trip. I was back in time for my afternoon meeting. The day went fast. It was after 5pm in the blink of an eye. I contacted the Thule customer service department about my broken cradle even though I had already ordered replacement parts the day before. I was surprised at how accommodating they were. Without any proof of purchase, the gentleman agreed to send me a set of four cradles free of charge. Very cool. Now, I’ll have to see about canceling my order. I must be doing something right! I left work just after 530pm. For the first time all winter, I could easily notice the sun moving back our way. No longer am I leaving in darkness. In fact, it still wasn’t dark when I arrived home close to 6pm. The clear sky made all the difference. I already knew that Bella and I were having cheeseburgers while Mindy & Jacob ate leftovers. While Mindy put the finishing touches on dinner, I took Ykraps on his evening walk. Mindy shared that she was able to get him to take his pill by balling it up in American cheese. My cheeseburger was really good. As a side, Mindy made cheese sticks w/marinara sauce. Those are really good for ya. Yeah! I had a few of those too. We talked about our coming ski trip through dinner. And to that end, Bella shared that she has to take her Friday spelling test tomorrow. She and I practiced the words through dinner. She does really well at visualizing the word. I am impressed. Her toughest words this week seem to be ‘could’ and ‘shadow’. But she’ll get ‘em right. After dinner I did clean-up, and after clean-up I moved to rough packing. At the same time, the kids went down to Chrissy’s to play with her kids for an hour, or until 8pm. Mindy apparently decided to do some additional packing too. I had to remind her that I can’t focus with someone right on my heels. I wasn’t trying to be rude, just frank. I prefer to pack alone, and don’t want to count on anyone else to pack my stuff. That way I only have myself to blame if something is forgotten. I got most of my stuff out and in piles. I felt pretty good about what I accomplished in about 30 minutes. Rene called to discuss travel logistics, and to share a few ‘special’ things that she’s bringing (Jack Daniels, etc). She’ll be dropping off her skies Thursday evening. Cool. I spent the rest of my evening updating my blog and editing some photos. I still haven’t figured out a real simple way to shrink photos for posting to my blog using my new Adobe Elements 8 software. I’m betting there is an easy way, though. Once the kids were tucked in, Mindy and I watched a program on TLC about the ‘Hot Earth’, and how a seemingly small fluctuation in the mean temp (+1 or 2 degrees Celsius) can cause catastrophic results – drought, fires, geographic change, and ultimately death. Interesting program. I tend to think the Earth does as the Earth does, with or without influence from mankind. In other words, the Earth’s climate changes over time regardless of what we do. A look back into the Earth’s history confirms my point. However, I also know that green house gases – carbon emissions are not helping the cause. We need to do our part too. Mindy was tired and begged off to bed around 915pm. I had just poured myself a Goose Island Xmas Ale. I wanted to finish it. I ended up falling asleep after sipping away only half. I headed up to bed at 1015pm.