Returning to Normal - What's Normal?

I slept good until about 3a, but got little meaningful sleep thereafter. Come 430a I decided to go ahead and get up for good as it made little sense to simply lie there in bed with my mind whirling aimlessly. I felt considerably better than I did the past several days, my cold finally on its way out. And because I was up so early, I manually started the coffee maker ahead of exercise. By 450a I had already finished exercising and was ready to relax in front of the PC with a cup of coffee. Checked the final score of the Seahawks/Rams game. Seahawks won making them the first sub .500 team to make the NFL playoffs. I waited until 520a to take Frankie outside. Didn’t want to take her out too early. We were outside for a while. It was quite cold, too, 18 degrees. Burr! I took my time in meditation and stretching but was still far ahead of schedule. I went ahead and left for my run just ahead of 6a. I did 4.1 miles and it went really well. The run really loosened up the snot trapped in my sinuses. I filled a couple tissues upon return. I was back home by 630a. I started my breakfast and packed my lunch. I also checked my Blackberry after being off work for the past 11 days. I cleared all the aged messages and then read some of the more recent stuff just to get a sense of what my day might entail. Mindy got up to contend with the kids return to school just before 7a. Mindy was still on Xmas break until Wednesday. She’d have two days to herself, although she planned to take Glenn to the airport at 1pm. Asked if my run was already done. Yep, got up early. I took my time with breakfast and was off to the shower by 715a. As a consequence, I was ready for work by 730a – plenty early. I played on the PC to pass the time ahead of taking the kids to the bus stop. Mindy got to see first hand how pokey Bella can be at bus time. Had to get on her case a little to get her out the door by 8a. Kenny was out with the girls. Said he was heading to ASBCO to buy himself a snow board, and that he and Chrissy were heading to MRM around noon for more skiing. I shared that while he might be buying the board today, he won’t be able to take it with him. Takes a couple of days to mount the bindings and such. I walked Frankie out front after the bus swept up the kids. Think she peed. I left the Trooper warming while I headed back inside. The windows were frosted over pretty good. Packed up all of my work gear and said goodbye to Mindy. Had to be about 815a when I left for work. I parked out front. Plenty of parking spaces. It actually felt good to be back at work. After all, one can’t enjoy the excess of Xmas for too long without longing for some sort of balance and order. Work apparently provides more of that than perhaps I give credit. One of the first things I did was clean up stale email. I had almost 3000. Yikes! We were really busy too, but this I expected. Throughout the day I met with most of my team members, my peer, and boss. Some things never change. I didn’t bother taking a formal lunch break. Instead, I stayed put in my office working straight through the day. Things stable, I left for home around 520p. A tractor trailer in the merge lane seemed dead set on nudging me aside as I entered I-270S for home. I had no choice but to brake and let him pass. One of the few times I’ve flipped somebody off in the highway in years. I arrived home around 535p. There was still some lingering daylight, but not much. Before heading inside the house I pulled our over-stuffed trash can to the curb for Tuesday morning’s pick-up. Inside, Mindy and the kids seemed to be in good spirits. Mindy was in the middle of dismantling our new artificial tree. The kids asked how I felt about dinner at Red Lobster. Considering this was my first day back to work and still battling cold symptoms, I had zero interest in dinner out, and certainly not at Red Lobster. I know it’s a favorite of Jacob’s, so I encouraged them to go without me. A nap and some reading sounded great. After a few minutes, Mindy and the kids prepared to leave for dinner. I was still busy with my after work chores. Mindy asked if I would try to get the tree boxed and stowed while they were out. Sure, not a big deal. As soon as Mindy and the kids departed I dismantled, boxed, and stowed the Xmas tree in the basement. Next, I added water to the hot tub. I also carried up 3 large empty boxes from the basement putting them with the recycling. After finishing those 3 chores I made and ate a chicken sandwich. Next, I retired to the living room recliner for some reading and napping. Felt absolutely terrific! Mindy & the kids were back sooner than I expected. Couldn’t have been 720p. I kept napping/reading for another 30 minutes after they returned. Bella did 15 minutes of reading with me. Just as she was finishing up, Kenny came knocking at our front door. He was returning my Oakley sunglasses I let him use for snow boarding. Not only that, he shared that he bought a snow board and Chrissy bought a skis before they headed up to MRM. He was stoked. They pick them up on Thursday. After Kenny headed back home we moved to the family room to watch the Orange Bowl, Stanford versus Virginia Tech. Jacob and Mindy were rooting for VT. I was rooting for Stanford. I like Jim Harbaugh. The game wasn’t very exciting early on. Mindy and the kids were in bed by 9p. I stayed up until 10p. I think Stanford was ahead 14-9 when I shut it down and headed for bed.