Baby I'm a Mayes'd

I was up on time, and thankfully it was already Friday. A short work week to be sure. I could hear it raining/icing as I made my way into the kitchen and eventually to the family room to start my exercise regimen. It continued through my time outback with Frankie. The yard was a giant puddle. A splish-splash everywhere I stepped. Yuck! Lucky for me, Frankie was quick to take care of business. We weren’t inside long before the icy rain morphed into fairly heavy snow. And by the time I finished coffee, meditation, and stretching, we had more than an inch already on the ground. Mindy’s phone rang just as I was preparing her coffee. I answered. It was a VM from the kids school sharing that they were operating under a two hour delay due to the weather. Before heading upstairs, I checked local school closings on the Fox website to see if Mindy’s district had any delays. They did not. I headed up with Frankie, coffee, and the news. Mindy wondered what we might do. I only shared that I was committed to an 830a conference call with a customer. I then headed out for my run. I did the full 4.1 miles without any issues. Kind of fun running in the wintry weather. Mindy had the Honda already warming when I got back home. The kids were still in bed. Mindy said that we could send the kids down to Kenny’s if I couldn’t stay home, but I planned to make it work. I planned to join my 830a call via Blackberry. Mindy thanked me and headed off to work. I ate my breakfast then played on the PC. Bella woke around 8a and asked about school. She thought it might be canceled completely. Nope - just a two hour delay. I reviewed our plan and asked that she be ready to head out the door at 955a. Said Jacob was still sound asleep. 830a came quick. I joined the call as planned. I had to shew Frankie out of the living room when she started barking at a person walking by with their dog. The call lasted until 915a. As soon as the call was over I headed upstairs to get the kids squared away. Jacob was awake, but still in his PJs reading from bed. Bella was watching TV. No surprise there. I reminded both that they needed to eat, dress, and be ready by 955a. We headed out at 955a. We met Kenny & the girls at the bus stop. By then the snow had all but stopped. – about two inches. After the kids were off to school I walked Frankie and then shoveled the drive and walks. Out of most foods I frequently take to work for lunch, I cut up some cheese and grabbed a can of chicken noodle soup from the pantry. I paid some bills online then left for work. It was 1015a. What remained of the morning went really fast. My boss stopped by asking if I wanted to join he and my peer for lunch at Grinders. What the heck. Why not? Said they’d be heading out near noon. The sun was shining when we left the building. That warmed things considerably. Boss drove to the Grinders on Sawmill Rd. Hadn’t eaten at Grinders in at least five years, maybe longer. I ordered their 10” Italian offering with a soda. While my boss and peer squabbled over who was getting the check, I went ahead and paid for all three of us. Yum-yum. The toasted Italian sub was pretty darn good, and right up there with Sporano’s. We retuned from lunch around 1p. It was suddenly much cooler now with clouds overhead. Burr! The afternoon seemed to move slowly; perhaps a result of going to lunch early. I left the office for home around 520p. I stopped at Target to get Landon’s birthday present. I was in there for a while. I got him a fishing pole, baseball glove and ball, skate board and pads, candy and a giant box containing 36 bags of various potato chips. I talked with Ashley on my drive home to confirm arrangements to have Olivia Saturday night. We made similar arrangements with Lindsey to have the boys that way we could celebrate Landon and Ashley’s birthdays. I suggested celebrating the birthdays on Sunday but still having the kids over night Saturday. She knew nothing about Rosemary doing something Sunday as Lindsey mentioned. At home, Mindy had the house in good order. All the weekly clutter put away. She even put away my Xmas gifts that had become all but permanent fixtures in our family room. She shared that her work peep and friend, Keri & family would be joining us at Barley’s for dinner. I didn’t realize that we had plans to go, although I do acknowledge briefly chatting about it while dining there the evening before. Mindy even called ahead and made a reservation, while also asking for Tina or Sarah to be our server. I took a brief rest in the recliner but didn’t sleep. I’m guessing it was 645p when we all readied for Barley’s, kids included. Surprisingly, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as it often is on a Friday. We got a spot in the main lot. Inside, Keri, Kevin & Garrett already had a booth. Cool, no wait for dinner seating. I walked around to greet a few peeps but quickly joined our friends. I ordered a White Rajah to start, and Mindy had a Russian. Kevin was drinking the Scottish Export. It was about 30 minutes before we ordered food. I went with a brisket quesadilla. Mindy ordered her old favorite, the southwestern salad. Jacob ordered the chicken tenders covered in gates, and Bella ordered a corn dog and fries. My second beer was a Pale Ale. Haven’t had one of those in a long time. It was really good. My third and last was an Avery Dugana. Mindy picked up our dinner tab since I got Thursday’s. I’m thinking that it was 930p when we headed for home. Mindy phoned the neighbors on our drive home. Talked with Chrissy. Mindy asked Chrissy about Kenny’s cut nose, the injury he incurred in a “bar fight”. Jacob and I were in stitches as we sold the fabricated story well. In truth, he cut it out back while leashing up Woody. Personally, I like the bar fight story much better.  We agreed to head over to the neighbors once we were home. They were on their way home at the same time. We were home for no more than 10 minutes when we walked down with beers and Frankie. Two of Kenny’s employees were there, too, Scott and Ivan. We hung out at the neighbors long enough for me to have two more beers. Jacob was tired. We left for home at 11pm. We weren’t up for very long after returning home. Everyone right to bed.