Drink like an Ogre

I was up at 715a feeling about as good as one could possibly expect. No hangover and no shoulder pain. I quietly headed downstairs to start coffee and exercise. After sit-ups I checked the weather online. It was a whopping 28 degrees – about normal. After push-ups I poured some coffee. It felt really good to have no real agenda for the early part of the day. All I had planned before the grandkids arrived at 4 or 5p was to do my run and then take apart the garage door opener to see if the needed repair was something I could easily do. I enjoyed my coffee then played on the computer. I spent most of my time writing for my blog. Bella was up around 9a. When I took Mindy a cup of coffee both kids were snuggled up in our bed. I encouraged Bella to take Frankie out for her morning walk and she willingly agreed. Great! I didn’t motivate for my Saturday run until 1030a. By then, Mindy had already headed up for a shower in preparation for some shopping. As I understood it, she & Bella were heading to Target initially, but then Mindy would be heading to the grocery alone. She wasn’t sure if she’d be there when I got back from my run. Turned out, she was, but not for long. I wasted no time heading out to the garage still in my running clothes. Jacob was out back playing in the tree house with Evan. They eventually came to the garage looking to get out the skate board ramps. I methodically brought the garage door opener motor down from its bracket. I temporarily suspended the chain track from the bracket using lashing wire. I found the part quite easily online. Now my objective was to see how easily I could remove the damaged part from the motor housing. It took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to remove the part in question. Came out rather easily once I identified this mysterious little clip holding it in place. I headed inside to order the part. Mindy left me her credit card so I could order the camera she wanted to get me for our anniversary. I ordered that first. I got a memory card, a book, and the HDMI cable for Jacob’s new TV too (she approved all). I searched for the garage door opener part and found it right away - $30. I checked the online vendors shipping charges. Wow, a whopping $11. I thought I’d check around for a better deal Turned out, glad I did. Amazon had the part for $6 cheaper and only wanted $3 for shipping. I order it through them instead, the same place I got my camera. It wasn’t long before Mindy and Bella returned home from Target. They brought home lunch, too. Brought me a Double Stacker from Wendy’s. I ate it up in a hurry even though I had recently eaten some of my leftover Barley’s quesadilla. The burger was good. Mindy didn’t stick around at home too long. She departed for the grocery store and Bella headed over to the neighbors. I spent the next half hour refilling the leaky hot tub. It was down about 10” again. Mindy was home around 330p. With the garage door out of commission, we had to carry groceries in through the front door. Pain in the rear, especially considering all the stuff we store in the garage. With the temperature above freezing, the yard was a muddy mess. The kids know the drill well, but still managed to track in oodles of mud through the afternoon. Ashley brought the grandkids over around 430p. She didn’t stay too long. Planned to come back Sunday to celebrate the birthdays. There was some confusion as to when we’d celebrate – Saturday evening versus Sunday. I could tell that Mindy was irritated with me because of it. Mindy reminded me that one of us needed to take Kenny & Chrissy to their concert at Nationwide Arena near 5p. Can’t recall the artist. We both agreed that it would be me. I think Mindy was sick of driving around. That’s cool. I didn’t mind at all, and actually wanted to make a run to Whole Food anyway, where I planned to get some CBC Creeper. I grabbed an empty Barely jug and left to fetch the neighbors at 450p. They were ready to go by 5p. Had me drop them off near the entrance to NW Arena. They were meeting friends at the bar next door. Offered a ride home later with a call. I headed towards Whole Foods. I hadn’t yet had a growler filled at Whole Foods, but have read and heard about it via word of mouth. Said to have CBC Creeper on tap. Sadly, though, they were out of the Creeper. Instead, I saw they had some Southern Tier Porter. I had ‘em fill our jug with that. I knew Mindy would appreciate it. I also picked up a dozen roses for her. They looked extra healthy. And for me, I picked up a six pack of Southern Tier XXIPA. I headed home. Mindy, I could tell, was surprised with the roses and the Porter. We both enjoyed a pint. We ordered two Minelli’s pizzas a short time later. Mindy agreed to fetch them. We were eating pizza by 620p. Mindy bought a large pepperoni and an extra-large pep, pepper rings, sausage, and extra cheese. It was really, really good. After dinner all the kids had ice cream. All of them ate really well. After dinner we agreed to watch a movie. Everybody but Jacob was in agreement with the latest Shrek movie. We ordered it via PPV. The kids were restless throughout the entire movie. A lot of talking and moving around. They wanted popcorn almost immediately even though we had just eaten pizza and ice cream. We made them wait until we were almost an hour into the movie, and then I wisely popped two bags. More than once, I had to remind Landon that the community popcorn bowl wasn’t his personal trough.  That boy can eat! After the movie we made sleeping arrangements somewhat on the fly. The kids were undecided how they wanted to proceed. We eventually decided for them. All three Gkids would sleep together in the guest room. That made Landon and Rocky happy. Somehow having Olivia with them took their unfounded fears away. They are both terrified to sleep with the lights out and TV off. Very telling of their home life. That went OK at first, but all three Gkids kept getting back up and coming to the balcony to ask silly questions until Mindy asserted herself and read them the riot act. That was pretty much the end of that.  Mindy headed to bed a short time later. I stayed up to watch Saturday Night Live for the first time in over a year. Bella eventually joined me, but watched for only the first 10 minutes before heading back to bed. Anne Hathaway was the guest host. Cute! I eventually fell asleep, and woke again just after midnight and headed up to bed. I left Frankie sleeping comfortably on the sofa.