Celebrating the Wife 42 times @ Barley's

I was up a few minutes early. Seems my shoulder wasn't ready to avoid Advil completely. Woke with dull pain a few times through the night. To help curb the pain, I took a few sometime before heading out on my run. Downstairs, I completed exercises then played around on the PC. It was partly cloudy and 41 degrees. Frankie once again had no desire to get up, let alone head outside. I carried on with coffee and meditation before forcing the issue and taking her outback. And then, after lots of fooling around she only peed. Back inside I did a stretch routine. Felt really good. I took Mindy a cup of coffee and the pug around 625a. I headed out for a run at 635a. The sky clouded over completely during my 4.1 mile run. Went fast. Can't remember what was foremost on my mind. Back at home I started the Honda. Mindy was making scrambled eggs. They weren't quite ready. Ahead of breakfast, I did a few miscellaneous tasks in preparation for work. Bella still wasn't too happy about spending the weekend with her daddy. Mindy did her best to cheer her up. The cheesy scrambled eggs were good. I topped them with green Tabasco. Knowing that there were plenty left in the skillet, I finished the entire plateful. Frankie, meanwhile, was whining for some. How sad is that? She begs for eggs now every morning. I served her what was left in the pan just before heading up for a shower. Mindy left for school near 730a. The hot shower felt terrific. I wore my new Oregon t-shirt to work, that and the same pair of jeans I've worn for the past week or so. I was downstairs by 745a. When the kids came down, I had them sign their momma's b-day card. We then placed it on the island along with a gift, a pair of aquamarine (her birthstone) stud earrings. Without being asked, both wrote a brief note in the card. I thought that was cute. I planned to pick-up the b-day gift from me during lunch. Said it would be ready by 1p Friday. The kids and I headed out at our usual time. Chrissy was out with the girls. In turn, the girls shared that they would be joining us for Mindy's b-day celebration at Barley's later that evening. Chrissy told me that on Thursday. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure how well that would go over with Bella. She didn't freak out like I thought she might, but she did toss out a brief negative comment. Frankie and I walked out front before heading back inside. She took a crap out front by our mailbox. Inside, I packed my iTouch along with my lunch then headed out the door for work. It was 815a. I arrived at work just ahead of 830a. Our weekly staff call was canceled. That didn’t hurt my feelings in the least. The morning was extremely busy. I took lunch at 1p and drove to Jarred jewelers at Tuttle mall to pick-up Mindy’s custom made Pandora charms. They didn’t call so I presumed they’d be ready with no issues. That was the deal. It had been raining steadily since about 9a. It was still raining pretty hard during my lunch. As agreed, the Pandora charms were ready for pick-up. The sales clerk and artisan jeweler marveled at the handy work. They gift wrapped the charms, too, saving me the trouble later. Cool. I thought about killing time in the mall but opted to head back to work instead. I stayed busy all afternoon. Lucky for me, I wasn’t heading into the weekend as the on-call as the calendar originally suggested. Recent changes pushed my week out one week. I knew that would make Mindy happy. Had I known sooner, I would almost certainly have pushed to make this a ski weekend at HV. Oh well. I left the office for home around 515p. It was still raining. I stopped at Kroger to pick-up a birthday bouquet for Mindy and a bottle of Jack Daniels for me. Mindy was out front walking Frankie in the rain when I pulled up at home. She noticed the flowers right away. I decided to leave her b-day gift and card in my back pack until Saturday, her real b-day. She shared how excited the kids were to give her their card and present after school – the aquamarine earrings. The kids, by the way, were already gone for the weekend with their daddy. Mindy shared that my anniversary present arrived via FedEx earlier in the day. I was excited to open it – my new camera. With not a lot of time, I simply unpacked it and started charging the battery. Mindy planned her own birthday gathering at Barley’s. We planned to leave the house at 7p. We had an hour to kill, so I used it to write in my blog. The time went fast. Mindy and I both took a few minutes to freshen up. Still raining. I dropped Mindy at the door then went to park the Honda. The bar was crowded and quite a few regulars on hand. None of them Mindy’s school peeps, however. Mindy and I both enjoyed a beer, me a Lagunitas IPA and Mindy a Russian stout. I thought I overheard Deidra telling Mindy that Bob & Mary Ann were in earlier but had to hurry out to pack. Soon a handful of Mindy’s school peeps arrived, as did her sister Jodi, b-in-law, Larry, and nephew Joe. After one beer I switched to water since I’d be the DD. Several others arrived too, including Kenny, Chrissy, & kids, Darwin, and Rick. Through the evening I had a total of three beers but no IIPA’s and lots of water. Mindy had a handful of beers but wisely refused a handful of b-day shots. She was feeling no pain. At some point she learned via text that Bob & M.A were heading to HV. She was bummed. I chuckled because I offered to take her to HV but she decided against it. At some point, Dan the manager fixed Mindy up with a pint of St Joan’s despite it not yet being available for the general public. I think we stayed until 1030p. Just before they left, Chrissy shared that they covered our tab and tip. Sweet! I still tipped Deidra and Tina another $20 just because. Home around 11p, I woofed down a few slices of leftover pizza before heading up to bed. Mindy, meanwhile, was already up in bed. Said she needed a little nap. 