Cleaning my Junk Drawer

It's true. I told Mindy that I would get up with the kids while she slept in. Unfortunately, that idea didn't work out so well. It was Mindy who woke first around 730am and leaped out of bed to get the kids up and ready for school.

But because Mindy wasn't going to work, it's not like we were crushed for time. The kids had 40 minutes to ready, which for them is plenty of time. Sit-ups were easy. Push-ups, however, were difficult. My shoulders were stiff no doubt from all the heavy lifting the night before.

Bella has the same cold symptoms as Mindy, although her cough's much worse. We hung out until 810am. The kids puttered around as they always do before bus time. We walked to the bus stop in the rain but eventually made our way back to the garage to take refuge from the rain. Chrissy and her girls came along too. Mindy came out to chat briefly while Jacob remained out in the rain. Mindy walked out to the driveway in her robe to holler for him. I encouraged her to wait until the bus pulled up, which would almost certainly embarrass him to no end.

When the bus pulled up, the kids darted off. I headed back inside. It was a very gloomy start the day. For one, it was pouring rain. Two, I had no real agenda. And lastly, I felt out of sorts sharing my alone time with Mindy who was home ill. Shortly after coming in from the bus stop Mindy headed back to bed. I sat at my PC for another 30 minutes before heading upstairs to get my running clothes.

Eiknarf followed and wouldn't come out from under the bed. I left her there while I dressed for a run in the kitchen. It was raining at a good clip when I set out on my run. I took my time running the entire 4.1 mile track in the rain. I was soaked by the time I made it back home. I failed to mention that the bulk pick-up truck took away all of our tossings just before school bus time. Regular trash pick-up was by too.

I'm thinking that Mindy slept until 11am or so. During that time I had done little more than write in my blog. Mindy headed for a shower around noon. I headed up for one soon after. I had a bad case of the blues being off work with nothing to do. I ended up doing some reading and napping through most of the early afternoon. I played a little guitar too.

Lindsey texted Mindy mid afternoon asking if she or I would be willing to pick her up from work and then take her and the boys home. This, after already agreeing to pick up the boys from after school care.  I did not respond well to the request. In fact, I was angry about it. Suddenly seems like I am her personal chauffer. About the same time my dad phoned. I didn't answer immediately. He didn't leave a VM.

It must've been around 230pm when Bella's teacher, Mrs. Anderson called Mindy to report Bella being  ill. Mindy agreed to go after her. Before leaving the house she said she was gonna take Bella straight to see Dr. Craig before coming home.

While Mindy was gone I put away two baskets of my own clean clothes and then organized my 'junk' drawer in the masterbath, a task that's long overdue. Most of the receipts and papers were junk - old news if you will. I did find an old $50 Lowes gift card. Before assuming it completely tapped out, I decided to check its value online. Good thing I didn't simply trash it. Still has $15.50 on it. Cool!

That reminds me. Mindy found 3 Barley's gift cards worth $70 in total up in the cupboard on Sunday. Says all have since expired. We plan to ask if we can still redeem. Another reason merchants love gift cards. Many never get redeemed.

I called dad checking to see what he needed earlier. Said he made arrangements to join us for breakfast on Friday morning at Der Dutchman after all. Moved his rehab appointment to the afternoon.

Mindy was back with Bella and a few prescriptions sometime after 4pm. By then, Jacob was home from school, too. It was pouring rain. I left to get the boys from Magdalene near 5pm. It was raining so hard that water was puddling in the streets. At Magdalene, I wasn't sure where the after school care took place. I tried the front and side entrances to the main school building but both were locked. I checked the preschool and the middle school directly across the street. No joy! Meanwhile, it was raining even harder. I called Mindy since she picked the kids up the night before. She said they were outside walking when she arrived, so she had no idea which building to find them in.

I rechecked the main school, ringing the doorbell just below the sign. Finally, someone came to the door and let me in. She lead me to the lower level cafeteria where I found the boys playing quietly. We headed to the Pilot doing our best to remain somewhat dry. Rained heavily for the duration of our drive home. Started to let up once we neared the house.

Inside, Mindy already had dinner in the oven. It had been there for most of the afternoon. We were having pork chops, baked potatoes, and green beans. I'm thinking we ate around 6pm. Rocky and Landon ate well. Both love baked potatoes. It makes Mindy and I happy to see them eat so well.

After kitchen clean-up, Mindy had cookies for the kids to decorate and then eat. How fun! :) Lindsey found a ride to our place from work. I agreed to give her a ride home. In the meantime, Mindy gave Landon a bath and then saw to it that Rocky got a shower. Mindy made Lindsey a dinner plate as soon as she arrived.

I left to drop them at the YWCA around 740pm. It didn't take long to get out east. It's all freeway. Just before I left the house, I told Mindy that I was stopping at Barley's on my way home. I needed some fun and a cold beer. After all, this is my vacation. I arrived there near 8pm. Decent crowd for a Wednesday evening. I ordered the new Fortune Teller, Imperial Porter. It was good. Ended up drinking two.

Sat next to a couple guys, one who looked somewhat familiar. Turns out, he used to work for VZ, but hasn't for the last 18+ months. The other guy works for AT&T. Both graduated from Ready. Talked the evening away. Around 930pm, Darwin came in. Always arrives late. Finally figured out why.  Being Mr. mom, it's his job to get the kids ready and into bed every night. We hung out until just after 10pm. Mindy called while I was there asking for an ETA. I was just getting ready to depart.

Arrived home around 1030pm. Bella was jumping for joy as I made my way upstairs to tuck her in. She always makes me feel special. Jacob was already sound asleep. Mindy, Bella and I chatted for a few minutes before I tucked Bella into bed. Afterwards, and at Mindy's prompting, I headed back to our room to tuck Mindy in. I then headed back downstairs where I enjoyed the last of my jug of Galaxy 500 while watching Comedy Channel. Finished my beer and fell asleep. Didn't wake until 3am, when I poured a glass of water and headed up to bed. Still raining.