Stuffed Chops

I started to wonder if I’d ever fall asleep. I eventually did but lightly at best. I woke at 525am perhaps after maybe the best 45 minutes of sleep all night. I decided to get moving with my morning rather than risk another five minutes and have it turn into an hour. Surprisingly, despite the lack of quality sleep, I didn’t feel that bad or too tired. I knew that I hadn’t prepped any coffee the night before. So, after brushing my teeth, that was first on my agenda - even before eye drops. While prepping coffee, Frankie noticed my presence and started whining and yapping incessantly. For the time being I had to ignore her. I needed to do my calisthenics without worry of her. I realized then that my peaceful morning routine is likely to be turned upside down for a while. That won’t sit well with me. That’s my favorite time of the day. After eye drops, Prevacid, and sit-ups, I let Frankie out of her pen. She was crazy excited to see me, or any human form for that matter. I gave in and briefly stopped what I was doing and sat on the floor with her while she crawled all over me licking and biting. I took her out back to pee too. She went. I had to contend with her all the while whipping out 55 push-ups. That was a challenge! At 610am I prepped Mindy’s morning coffee. I carried her coffee and Frankie upstairs. Mindy was happily woken by Frankie. Jokingly, I shared that she had just stolen my morning peace. I returned downstairs to meditate, stretch, and ready for a run. I was ready to run before 630am. I headed out a little early. It was almost 60 degrees, but unfortunately, it was raining, too. I didn’t allow the rain to phase me at all. Actually, it felt pretty good and kept me cool. By mid run the rain was reduced to a light sprinkle. I ran four miles without my knee barking even once. That’s encouraging. The kids were both playing with the puppy and eager and willing to take her out on command. And that’s exactly what I wanted to see. So far, the puppy’s been pretty good about signaling her need to go out and the kids good about getting her out. We’ll definitely need to fine tune the morning thing, however. The puppy seems to have an affinity for Mindy’s black slippers. I suggested that she thinks it’s her all-black sister, Camilla. Mindy left for school and I prepped to head up for a shower. Left Bella on puppy patrol. Not sure what she did with her while I showered. Took her to her room I presume. We were ready for the bus stop a few minutes early. Jacob carried Frankie. She was scheduled to spend the day with Kenny & her brother, Woody. It was raining steadily. Bella and I both had umbrellas. We did our best to keep the puppy shielded from the rain. It was a rainy weekend and promised to be a rainy Monday, too. In fact, the day’s high temperature wasn’t expected to top 52 degrees. It had already dropped a few degrees since my run. We really needed the rain, though. After the kids were on the bus I handed Frankie off to Kenny. Judging by the weather, he didn’t expect to be doing much of anything. I headed home for some last minute prep then headed off for work. With my gas gauge near E, I had to make a fuel stop at Thornton’s. Took 18.5 gallons at $2.66 per. I was once again on my way to work by 815am. It was raining lightly through the brief commute and even as I walked into the building. I didn’t rush, however. I simply took the light spring rain in stride. The work day moved slow. As time moved forward I became increasingly tired, brought on, no doubt, from staring at my PC. I heard we had a very busy weekend at the office. Ugh! I’m on-call next weekend and not looking forward to it. In lieu of taking a formal lunch, I decided to close my door and take a short nap. The rest felt terrific no matter how short it was – probably 15 minutes. I woke refreshed. Otherwise, my day was intensely busy. The afternoon, especially. Not bringing mixed nuts to work for a mid-morning snack any longer, a practice I have followed for upwards of 8 or 9 years, leaves me extremely hungry come lunch. I stopped bringing nuts, by the way, thinking the salt bad for my sensitive tummy. For lunch, I ate all of my veggies then mixed a can of tuna with a can of chicken noodle soup. The combo was incredibly tasty. I didn’t hear from Mindy until I left work for home just after 540pm. She shared that she was baking stuffed pork chops and that my dad would be joining us. We didn’t talk all that long. I drove home in peace. My dad was already at the house when I arrived home, which was sometime just after 6pm. I was surprised that Frankie was asleep in her doggie bed. I guessed that she and Woody went at it all day long. She was tuckered. Dad shared that he leaves for Florida next Tuesday. That certainly came up fast. It wasn’t long before dinner was ready. At my prompting, Mindy broiled the stuffed chops for the last five minutes. That helped toughen the outer skin while leaving them tender and juicy inside. Bella doesn’t like pork chops. She asked for two hot dogs instead. The chops were delicious. We topped them off with pork gravy. Yummy! We weren’t finished with dinner for more than five minutes when Bella asked if she could go down and play with Makayla. Mindy made her finish her reading first. I didn’t have dessert, but others did – leftover Chiller birthday cake. It took a while to do clean-up in large part because the dishwasher was already full. I had to hand wash almost everything. I really meant to run it before leaving for work. Dad left for home around 730pm. I played with Frankie for a little while then went for my PJ’s. I then took to the family room floor lying flat on my back. That always feel really good, especially at day’s end. Mindy thought I’d fall asleep for sure, but it never happened. I helped tuck in the kids around 830pm then returned to the same spot. This time I did fall asleep with Frankie curled up next to me. Mindy called for me from the balcony. She was heading to bed. I asked that she come put the puppy to bed. I wanted to go for an early bedtime too. As expected, Frankie whined like crazy from her pen, but it lasted, at least to my ears, not too long at all. I’ll bet I was asleep by 930pm.