Exchanging Shovels

 I slept until almost 815am. I noticed immediately that it was cloudy start. I brushed me teeth then headed to the kitchen where I started a pot of coffee then spent a little time online. Still no word on either of the insurance quotes I requested.

I enjoyed coffee and internet until 930am when I decided it was time to do my Sunday run. Mindy and the kids were still sleeping when I headed out the door. It was fairly warm - 57 degrees. I wore two light weight wicking shirts in lieu of a jacket. I ran the usual 3 miles. During my run I tossed around the idea of putting up Xmas lights when I got back home. I ended up nixing the idea. Still not 100% sure I even want to bother this year.

Mindy slept in until after 10am. Once up, she spent a while sipping coffee and playing on the internet. Made a grocery list too. At some point she handed me her credit card to cover our MRM season passes. I took care of ordering those online. Didn't take that long at all.

I didn't have a lot planned for the day, though we did agree to let Lindsey come over to do laundry but not until around 2pm or so. Can't really explain what I did over the next couple hours. Mindy left for the grocery around noon, I'm guessing. While she was out I put the bikes up for the winter, all except for Jacob's that is. I also took two rakes and a track spade to the shed where I grabbed the two snow shovels and put them in the garage. I carried my golf clubs and the canna bulbs to the basement for the winter.

Trena was in her front yard raking the pear tree leaves. I offered the use of my tarp. She declined. She was apparently content stuffing them into plastic trash bags. After a shower, I left to fetch Lindsey and the boys. It was about 140pm. By then it was raining pretty hard. Before coming back to the house, I took Lindsey to Walgreens to pick-up the prescription she dropped off the night before.

We headed home from there. The boys, especially Rocky, asked repeatedly if they could go outside and play. But I wasn't about to let them head out in the rain. No way.  Mindy called as we neared the house. Said she was close to home and would pick-up the recycling and then run to the grocery store. Lindsey asked if she could go along without the kids. Mindy agreed. The kids would stay back at home with me.

Lindsey started a load of laundry then departed with Mindy. I played on the computer and watched NFL football. The Vikings weren't on TV, but at least I could follow the score via their frequent updates. The lead didn't last long. boohoo!  I put Lindsey's next load in the washer and tossed the initial one on the dryer. I didn't plan on doing much more.

They got back from the grocery around 330pm, I'm guessing. Mindy started dinner soon after getting the groceries put away. She planned to make inferno chicken, but would make some non-inferno too. The Vikings and Bengals both lost. The Browns miraculously won. Still not sure how that happened.

Dinner was ready around 530pm - inferno chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad. All pretty darn good. Clean up was next. I took care of all that while the kids played a bit wildly. Took them home around 7pm. Glad it's so close. I helped carry in all of her stuff - laundry and groceries. Apparently a neighbor who was moving left a few bags of groceries at Lindsey's door. Lindsey insisted that she'd be throwing them out.

Lindsey gave back the air mattress we let her borrow. It might as well have been given to me in a ball. It's really not hard to roll it up for storage. Geesh!

 I headed home where I quickly changed into my PJs and started reading about all the day's  NFL action. My phone rang around 730pm. It was Lindsey calling in a panic stating that her range hood collapsed onto the stove. I agreed to drive over and take a look. Gathered a few tools and screws then headed that way. It wasn't as bad as she made it out to be. That I should've banked on. One side was pulled away from the bottom of the cabinet by maybe two or three inches. The other side still attached. Certainly not an emergency. I calmly assessed the problem then pulled out a couple of the screws I brought and reattached the hood to the cabinet's bottom. It's obviously fallen before, and who ever made the half asses repairs used a variety of screw sizes/types. I added a couple new screws too for added strength.

The boys were crowded around me, curious with what I was doing. I was admittedly a little crusty at them not having any elbow room. Sorry boys. After the repair I headed back home. I couldn't have been go20 minutes. I changed into my PJs thinking I might watch SNF but tuned to Fox's cartoon programming instead. I hadn't watched Family Guy in prime time for a couple years. It was exactly what I needed. I watched the next two shows as well. Mindy bailed off for bed around 915pm while I enjoyed the stupid yet funny TV. I'm thinking that I headed for bed around 1030pm.