Taxing To-Do's

I woke from an extraordinarily deep & dreamy sleep within a minute or two of 530a. Once again, I soon realized that my Droid X alarm was going off downstairs. And while it was getting louder and louder, I did my best to ignore it while I brushed my teeth and gathered my running clothes. I disabled the alarm on my way to the kitchen and ultimately to my exercise shoes. There was a clear sky and numerous visible stars. Quite lovely, but it looked cold, too. I headed to the living room where I completed 55 sit-ups. After sit-ups I checked the weather and read a few headlines. It was 32 degrees. A few minutes later I whipped out 55 push-ups. No shoulder pain. I planned to skip taking any Advil whatsoever to see how my shoulder fared over an entire day. Of course that was subject to change if the aching returned. I enjoyed coffee ahead of meditation. Meanwhile, Frankie was asleep in her pen with the door wide open. She was showing no sign of getting up anytime soon. I proceeded with meditation and stretching. But wouldn’t you know it, she got up a few minutes later. After stretching I leashed her up and took her out back. She spent more time than usual sniffing around the deep backyard. It didn’t dawn on me at first, but she was searching for goose crap. That’s right, the rats with wings have made their annual return with the warming temps, and they're once again using my back yard as their bathroom. But what’s even worse, Frankie considers their pooh a delicacy - kind of like her calamari. I lead her away until she finally relieved herself. We headed back inside at approximately 630a. I quickly gave her a treat and then prepped Mindy’s morning coffee and headed upstairs. Mindy was mid shower. Once she acknowledged my presence I headed back downstairs to ready for my run. I wore winter weight running attire complete with hand and ear covers. Daybreak was already apparent in the eastern sky. Lots or orange and blue. I ran the full 4.1 miles without much thought. It was an easy run. I started the Honda immediately upon my return then headed inside for breakfast. My eggs were ready and waiting. Mindy wanted/needed to head out early to make it in for an early meeting. Not sure if it was with a parent or internal. Mindy reminded me that my dad would be over to manage the kids late start sometime between 8-815a. I was off to the shower at 730a while the kids remained sleeping in their rooms. I was ready earlier than usual. And since I planned on taking my fiberglass extension ladder to work, I headed out to try and load it atop my Trooper by myself. With the garage door opener is broke, that only added more difficulty. I managed, however, and had the ladder secured to the top of the Trooper after about 10 minutes of work. My dad pulled up just as I was finishing up. Inside, I washed up and then prepared my lunch while talking with dad. I then headed up to wake the kids. It was about 810a. Jacob did nothing but grunt. Bella, on the other hand, was already awake and playing her DS from bed. I clearly spelled out the time that they needed to head out for the bus – 955a. Bus would arrive at 1005a. I shared the time with dad, too. I headed out to start the Trooper and let it warm for few. It was completely frosted over. I headed off to work at 815a. Work was busy from jump. I joined a conference call at 9a. We planned to reconvene again at 4p.Oh boy! Sometime near noon I confirmed plans with Bob. We planned to head to his house at 1p to do the trim repair. He’d simply ride with me. We left a few minutes after 1p. It took us about 20 minutes to get to Bob’s place off of Hall & Galloway Rd. Along the way, I reminisced about my early teen years riding my bike down Hall Rd, which at the time was like being out in the country big time – nothing but cornfields. Still a few of them scattered about. We wasted little time getting the ladder off the Trooper and carried to the work area. I handled the ladder and put it securely in place. Bob did the work. I was surprised when from about 8’ up the ladder he shared his fear of heights. He all but froze up. Great! I encouraged him onward and assured him that the ladder was safe. I thought he might chicken out but he didn’t. He climbed to the top and fixed the fallen/broken piece of trim using wood glue and decking screws. I kept my opinion of his Maronda Home’s workmanship to myself. We finished the work and loaded the ladder back on top of the Trooper around 2p and headed back to the office. We were gone 90 minutes total. Not too bad. The afternoon moved by quickly. There was a potluck going on recognizing a couple employees that are moving on. I ate only a salad and a few pretzels. There were lots of goodies but I remained disciplined and didn’t partake. I did my 4p call. Not too painful at all. Mindy texted around 520p asking me to call when I was on my way home so she could put the pasta on. I simply replied that I was leaving in 10 minutes. As planned, I left for home at 530p sharp. Before pulling out of the lot, I made sure the ladder remained secure against the top of the Trooper. Seemed OK to me. The drive home went smoothly. Before heading inside, I untied the ladder. Inside, I greeted everyone but went straight to the garage to stow the ladder. Mindy shared that the garage door opener part arrived along with another Amazon shipment. I assumed it Jacob’s HDMI cable. Dad joked that I could fix the opener right then. Nope, not till the weekend. Dinner was ready in short order, but I did have enough time to rinse my lunch container and prep Thursday’s coffee. As I surmised, we were having spaghetti and meatballs and a fresh garden salad. I asked for half as much as I witnessed her load onto my dad’s plate. The spaghetti was good, but not her best. Pasta was kind of sticky. I enjoyed leftover cornbread with mine. Yummy. Others wanted some too. Every body seemed to enjoy the spaghetti. I started clean-up as soon as I was finished. With a growing list of to-do’s, I was starting to get antsy. I hoped to tackle a couple of them after dinner clean-up. To that end, as soon as clean-up was complete, I headed to my PC where I finalized our 2010 tax returns and filed electronically. Took about 20 minutes. Glad to have that done. Dad left for home about halfway through. After taxes, I spent a little time writing in my blog but then I headed up to get Jacob’s DVD player and HDMI cable hooked up. That was easy and fast. Still not ready to relax, I updated the anti-virus program on both laptops - the kids and Mindy’s. Glad to have that done too. By the time I finished up, American Idol was on. This was lady’s night – 12 of them. Most were good, but I could easily pare it down to the final five. We allowed the kids to watch in its entirety. They really like the show. We tucked them into bed soon after its conclusion. Back downstairs we watched the new comedy, Traffic Light, that’s all the rage. I like it. We headed for bed right afterwards. Good night Taxes!