Celestial Bodies

I fell asleep with relative ease the night before, and slept rather soundly until about 520am when I woke for a time check. Still early, I snuck in another five minutes before popping up and out of bed for good.

I had failed to prep coffee the night before, so after brushing my teeth I headed to the kitchen to address that task post haste. I was ready for exercise by 530am. I slipped into my exercise tennies then gave a quick glance out the back door. The sky was mostly cloudy, which came as a bit of a surprise.

I headed to the livingroom where I whipped out sit-ups then immediately headed for the kitchen where I did push-ups. I was done with exercise by 540am and busy pouring a cup of coffee. I spent a good 15 minutes on line reading about the hurricane’s impact on NYC and then some sports related headlines. I read an email from Glenn sharing his flight itinerary for a late October trip home. Sounds like they’ve had a dismal summer in the PNW. Met a girl from the northern reaches of Washington State while in NYC. She concurred – cool and rainy.

Delivered Mindy’s first cup of coffee just after 6am and just ahead of meditation and a stretch. Both tasks were in the bag by 620am, and soon I was dressed for a run. I double checked the temperature – 62 degrees. I was iffy on my choice for an upper layer, not sure if I should have gone with a long sleeved wicking shirt. I chose a shirt sleeved shirt. I was fine but a tad chilly right out the door. I told myself right then that if it gets any cooler, as is predicted, I’ll have to make the switch. The only reason we were in the low 60’s then was due to the unexpected cloud cover.

The cool temps actually felt really nice once I got a quarter mile or so under my belt. The sky was trying to clear out, but it was slow going. The trash truck was right behind me at the outset. I took ours out even before exercise having forgotten to put it out the night before. Actually, it’s Jacob’s job. I ran the full 4.1 mile track and was back home ahead of 710am.

Mindy had scrambled eggs on the stove. The first such go around in a long while. I enjoyed my breakfast right along side the children after Jacob returned from walking Eiknarf. To change things up a bit, I asked Mindy to buy pineapple orange juice. Both Bella and I gave the subtle change a thumbs up. Mindy packed me a salad and fruit. All I had to prep was cheese, and then pluck a banana from the bunch. She left for school around 730a, or shortly after helping Bella with her hair. I headed for a shower a couple minutes later.

After a shave and a shower, I was downstairs dressed for the go by 750am. I used the time ahead of bus time to pay my bills online. Still with plenty of time, I went ahead and renewed the vehicle registration for both the BM’er and boat trailer. Sad, I still have this year’s boat trailer sticker for the ready. That was fairly painless. Done in a jiffy.

Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but the county completed their property value reassessment this summer and sent out the new values last week. Our home value went down by about 18%, which is about what I expected. For my money, it was long overdue. I’ve felt that our value was way too high for several years now. That’ll reduce our annual property taxes by a nice chunk. Should recognize those savings come December, about the time the latest school levy will go into affect. J

The kids and I headed out to the bus stop by 810am. The bus arrived about 5 minutes early again, which suits me just fine. Gives me half a chance to get to work somewhere close to 830am. Clouds to the east but blue to the west. The sun was busting through what remained of the overnight cloud cover. Nice to see.

Eiknarf wanted to walk before heading in. I assumed she needed to go, and she did. Off to work by 821am. Had to turn on the rear defogger. Nice drive in. It’s getting’ to be premo BM’er weather. Hopefully, I’ll be driving it a lot during September and early October.

Work was fun. Spent the majority of my day further fine tuning my customer facing monthly report, and then getting a jump on a quarterly report, but that won’t be presented until late October.

I made it a point to take a lunch break at 130pm, or immediately following a weekly conference call. I headed to Target and then Home Depot. At Target I picked up some more eye drops and ball needles. Jacob goes through ball needles like candy.

Next door at Home Depot, I picked up some ant traps. Mindy said the one’s she bought are ineffective. Wanted more Hot Shot traps like the ones I bought last spring. Couldn’t find the exact match, but did get some made by Hot Shot. We’ll see.  Browsed a few other aisles too. Bought nothing else. Back to work.

 I was gone for no more than 40 minutes, but it felt good just the same. Back at my desk, I ate my packed lunch (salad, cheese and fruit). It hit the spot. I don’t realize that I’m hungry until I start eating. Stayed busy all afternoon. Didn’t pack up until 540pm. The last hour always flies by. I didn’t talk with Mindy all day. I called her on my drive home. However, she was busy helping Bella with homework and quickly begged off the call. Sounded aggravated. Not sure why. 

I arrived home right near 6pm. Jacob was just pulling up on his old bike. His new one, by the way, is a piece of S%^&. Mindy was still struggling with Bella’s math homework. After I got settled Mindy threw her assignment my way for another set of eyes. Bella, I think, was relishing the fact that her mommy was stumped. I had the problem solved in about 20 seconds. Mindy was simply trying too hard – a rare case of me getting it and her not.

Dinner was a choice from the plethora of leftovers Mindy had scattered across the island. I joked that I wanted the BW3 wings Jacob had. And while I enjoyed the pasta and shrimp Sunday evening, I didn’t want more. Mindy and Bella both had that. Instead, I reheated steak and mashed potatoes, but not a whole lot.

Mindy was stressing. Asked if I’d be interested in dropping or picking up Bella from gymnastics. It’s a 7-9pm thing twice weekly. I offered to do both if she agreed to water the flowers. She jumped at my offer.  I finished cleaning the kitchen and then a little PC time before it was time to run Bella to gymnastics. It’s not too far at all. We left at 648pm and still were there a couple minutes early. I tinkered with the idea of shopping but in the end headed straight back home.

While Mindy finished the watering, I spent a little more time on the PC writing in my blog. Afterwards, I crept back in the recliner and took a brief nap. Because the knot in my left shoulder blade was spasming all afternoon, I was mindful about the way I laid back in the chair. Most notably, I made it a point to keep my shoulders flat against the recliner’s back. That helped a lot. Snoozed only briefly but effectively. Felt terrific.

Searched for the NFL preseason game between the Jets and Giants only to realize that it wasn’t televised.  It was originally scheduled for Sunday night but moved due to Irene.  I tuned to one of the educational networks instead. I got up to go after Bella around 845pm. Honestly, I was feeling kind of grumpy. Not entirely sure why.

The drive did me some good. Arrived a few minutes early. Headed inside to watch the final minutes of practice. They were calling Bella ‘speedy. She was running really fast in her approach to the tumbling drill. Too fast, really, but she’ll learn.

Bella shared her frustration with spending time at her daddy’s place every other weekend. Says she has no friends, no social life, nothing to do. It’s always daddy playing with Jacob. Wants him to move elsewhere so she can make friends. I was careful with my response, not wanting to sound like I might be bashing her daddy.  I only offered that she consider inviting a friend, such as Makayla along one weekend.

Once at home, Bella enjoyed the slice of keylime pie she’d asked for earlier. She was then dispatched to the shower. It was already 915pm. I tuned back into the educational programming and watched a show about asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Prior, I’d never given much thought to the differences. I enjoyed it much. Mindy and the kids were off to bed well before 10pm. I decided to stay up for a while longer. Bella eventually joined me asking me to come up and tuck her in. After doing so I headed back downstairs where I snacked on some pita chips while watching the conclusion to the asteroid program. Mindy had the bedroom window opened and the AC off. Trying it again.

Good night celestial bodies.