Bye-bye Brad

I was up extra early, 515a to be exact. I felt fully rested so didn’t bother trying to sneak in a few extra minutes of sleep. Still well ahead of the auto-on program on the coffee maker, I hit the go button as I passed by in route to doing my sit-ups. After sit-ups and before push-ups, I sat down at my PC for about five minutes. I checked the final score of the Eagles/Giants game. Eagles won but did fall behind briefly in the 3rd quarter. After push-ups, I poured some coffee and went back to my PC for another 20 minutes (much longer than I really wanted). I headed outside with Frankie around 550a. She took her time but took care of business. We were back in the house ahead of 6a. Meditation and stretching went well. I took Mindy coffee and the pug at 620a. I was out the door for my run by 625a. The weather was unseasonably warm, cloudy and 57 degrees. I didn’t need a jacket or hand and ear covers. Nice! I ran the full 4.1 miles. Because of the cloud cover, I remained shrouded in darkness far longer than otherwise. The sky began to clear as my run concluded. It was pretty windy too. There was no need to start/warm Mindy’s car. Plenty warm. Both kids were in the kitchen, but Jacob already on his way up. Bella had just come down. She had toast for breakfast. Mindy and I both had fried eggs. Mindy reminded the kids to bus home with Noah, a routine they’re very familiar with. Mindy reminded me of our tentative dinner plans with the Jump’s at Dewey’s Pizza – 630p. I left the dishwasher door open so I wouldn’t forget to run it before leaving for work. I headed up for a shower. I was back downstairs packing a light lunch by 745a. I packed only some cheese, a banana, and fruit medley. The kids came down around 755a. We headed out minutes later. I reminded Bella that it was warm enough that she wouldn’t need her heavy coat. Too cute! Jacob asked his mom like ten times if he could wear shorts. Sorry, NO. If he were smarter, he wouldn’t have asked.  We met Chrissy and the girls at the bus stop. The pugs wrestled ferociously. I walked Frankie out front before heading back inside. She took full advantage. I made a to-go cup of coffee in one of my insulated Vikings stadium cups. Lord, just get me through the next two work days! Work was exciting and busy. I expected as much. I had a lot I wanted to accomplish in just two short days before being out of the office until Dec 2nd (5 day holiday weekend and then 3 days of class). I made it a point to take a lunch break and head to Home Depot where I picked up 4 holiday colored florescent bulbs for our coach, porch, and post light fixtures. I picked up some cable ties and a couple other household items too. I took a peak at dryers too. I am starting to hate our Maytag squeaker! I was gone for about an hour. It felt good to get away for a while. Sometime during the day, Lindsey phoned. I can’t recall if it was before or after my lunch trip. She wanted to know if we’d keep the boys from now through TG weekend. I said no. We’ll leave it at that. News flash on ESPN’s website. Vikings fired coach Childress. Gave defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier the interim coach moniker. On once hand, I feel bad for Brad Childress, but they sorely needed a change. Reading back four or five years in my blog you’ll see that I thought more highly of our defensive coordinator than I did about our head coach. That was back in the days of Mike Tomlin, the current Steelers coach who has already won a super bowl, by the way. Brad will be a rich man. The Vikings have to pay him $6.6 million. Wow! Now that’s a severance package The afternoon went by quickly. I ate the leftover chicken breast that I put in the fridge last Thursday. It was still tasty. At some point, Mindy sent a text sharing that we were a definite go for 630p at Dewey’s. My afternoon got a little overwhelming. Amongst everything else, I had to finalize plans for my training class for next week. I didn’t get that resolved until just after 5pm. I was feeling a little under the gun, and I absolutely hate that feeling. What I needed most was some free time to decompress. Suddenly, the thought of hurrying home only to bolt out again for dinner seemed more like a chore than a pleasure. I was feeling quite tense. I arrived home at 548p. I gathered the mail before heading in. Mindy greeted me with her usual smile. I asked if I could skip the pizza thing. She wasn’t pleased but ultimately agreed that I could stay home. I was certain she was going to insist that I go. I was very relieved to stay home and relax. After taking a few minutes to prep Tuesday’s coffee, I played on the internet then heated a bowl of leftover chicken & noodles. They were delicious. Mindy and the kids were back around 740p. Bella said they had fun and that the pizza was good. Jacob concurred. In fact, said the pizza was better than it was the first time we visited Dewey’s last spring. I enjoyed my solitude however brief. I needed to decompress. I spent the evening writing in my blog and then tuning into the MNF game with the kids and Mindy. The kids were guided towards bed around 9p. Jacob was still bouncing off the walls. And according to Bella, a byproduct of three glasses of soda pop at Dewey’s. Bella was much looking forward to having GD Kaileigh spend the night Tuesday. Mindy texted Shelly earlier. By bedtime, though, we hadn’t heard back. Mindy stayed up until 920-930p. She asked me to head to bed then, too. I wasn’t ready and stayed up watching more of the game. I love the way my mind feels as I drift off quietly from the sofa, my mind almost like mush. I watched the game through halftime but then fell asleep until 1107p. I headed up to bed after tucking Frankie in. But once in bed, I couldn’t fall asleep. I laid there mostly thinking about a couple work matters. I wasn’t falling asleep anytime soon.