The Goat Resurfaces

I didn’t sleep too well. Again, lots of tossing and turning. No doubt this car thing has become my goat and causing me almost constant angst. My best sleep was probably the last hour. I was up and out of bed just ahead of 530am.

Outside, it was still raining. But I expected it to be, so it didn’t influence my mood in any way. Coffee already brewing, I whipped out 50 sit-ups. Coffee was ready when I was ready. Perfect!

Spent about 15 minutes online, including following up on the MNF results. New Orleans whipped the Giants. Weather was next. It was 53 degrees with rain expected to carry on through Wednesday, but with dropping temperatures and possibly even some snow over night. Checking the live radar, I noticed that we were under one of those spiraling storms that keeps coming around to hit us again and again. With December practically upon us, everybody in our house is praying for cold & snow. We’re ready to ski.

I played around online until 555am when I headed in to meditate for ten minutes. That went just OK. However, I recognize without it, I would’ve been overtly stressed.

I woke Mindy with coffee in hand around 605am. I returned to the family room to stretch. That went well. Ever since doing the scheduled Ibuprofen for a couple days last week, my shoulders have been much better. I dressed for a run next, and once again added hand coverage due to the chilly rain. I headed out near 622am. I ran the usual 4.1 miles and remained comfortable throughout. I could tell I was out earlier than the norm based on where I intersected a couple school buses and then another regular morning runner.

At the house, Mindy still wasn’t downstairs to prep breakfast. I asked for help with getting the dog leashed up. I was too wet to walk on the carpet. However, I did go for the leash across the tile flooring. Eiknarf and I walked our usual route to the west. One of the dredgers pulled up in his truck along side their heavy equipment as we passed. Looks like they’ll be back at it after taking Thurs – Monday off.

I didn’t specify how I preferred my eggs, but was hoping Mindy might make them omelet style again. She didn’t. They were fried. I was OK with that. I also noticed that she fried one for the dog too. Bella and Jacob both had warmed Krispy Kreme donuts. Mindy headed off to school around 730am. Before heading off the shower I received a text from Lindsey saying that the car was worse than the night before and now she was having trouble getting it to start. Can I scream? She followed that text with another asking that I please listen to her. I headed to the shower with her latest car dilemma in my crawl. As she also suggested, I took my phone with me just in case she called broken down. Can I scream?

I was showered and ready by 751am. I told the kids that we’d be doing the garage thing again. Outside, there was heavy sideways drizzle. It didn’t look at all pleasant. We waited in the garage for an extended period. 815am came and went. She didn’t show up until 821am. The kids ran to the bus while Eiknarf and I watched from the cover of the garage. I left for work minutes later.  I didn’t bother taking my umbrella. The rain seemed to get more intense through my short commute. Thankfully, though, it let up again when I pulled up in the lot and headed in to the building.

After getting situated, I spent a couple hours on another of the 12 online courses. Mindy called around 1130am to chat. She asked if I’d heard from Lindsey. Oh yeah! Shared the latest. We chatted for about 5 minutes. I wasn’t even five minutes later when she called back to tell me that Bella’s school called stating that she was ill, throwing up, and needed to go home. Mindy asked if I could leave work and get her. Yes. I sent my boss a note telling him that I would be finishing my work day from home then packed up and left.

Arrived at Bella’s school about 15-20 minutes after receiving Mindy’s call. It’s not far from work at all. They recognized me in the office without introduction and went for Bella while I signed her out. Bella didn’t look ill to me. On the way to the car she explained that she told her teacher that she threw up. Said she didn’t feel that well. OK. Let’s go home.

It was still raining as we made our way home. The same dredging guy was still sitting in his pick-up truck at the work site. No one else was there. To my eyes, he’d been there sitting since 7am. Not sure why. None of the dirt, rocks, or equipment had been touched.

Who knows?

Bella took to the sofa and TV while I logged onto my laptop from home. Again, she wasn’t acting like she was ill. I quizzed her about it again. Said she didn’t feel that great. I suggested that she lie down on the sofa instead of rolling around the floor playing with the pug. I headed in and got busy with work despite my boss sending me a note to refer any issues to his attention. As luck would have it, I worked hard for the rest of the afternoon. Got involved in all sorts of issues.

Checked on Bella several times. She fixed herself lunch at one point – a nacho cheese Lunchable.  I snacked on cut cheese and a slice or two of lunch meat. Not much else. I resisted all the junk food in our pantry. Took another break around 3pm and spent it looking for Bella’s DS again. Still no joy. 

At some point she asked if she could play around on the internet. Yep. A little later when I went to check on her she told me she was searching Google for my blog. Another time I saw her looking at IPads, something she seems to want pretty badly.

The rain continued all afternoon. Just before Jacob got home, Eiknarf scratched at the door. I insisted she take her out. After all, she was showing no ill effects bopping around the house. She complied with my request, but I had to ask her twice to walk the opposite direction of Emily and Evan who were out walking their Jack Russells.

Mindy called during her drive home sharing news of niece Lindy’s thyroid surgery. As I understood it, they were all but certain that the abnormal growth detected wasn’t going to be cancerous, but after removing part of it for a biopsy, they determined that it was in fact cancerous, so they went back in and remove the entire thyroid. Thankfully, the prognosis for a full recovery is good and with no reoccurrences. We’ll pray for the best of all possible outcomes. Mindy planned on running up to see her later. She asked that I stay home with Bella. She called back a few minutes later asking if I remembered to have the school office notify Jacob that he didn’t need to go to Noah’s. Nope. I Forgot. Mindy headed there to get him.

They got home around 430pm. Mindy wasn’t home but about 15 minutes before leaving again for the hospital. I kept busy working until 530pm and beyond. In fact, I tend to work more from home since I leave my laptop up and running the entire time. I reengaged several times throughout the evening. Mindy called on her way home from the hospital, which I’m guessing was around 645pm. She asked if I wanted her to pick-up anything.  I assumed she meant for dinner. Nope. I shared that I’d simply eat leftovers of some sort. Besides, while she was away, I snacked on pita chips. I wasn’t really hungry. Before Mindy arrived home, I read about papillary thyroid cancer. The survival rate is in the 90+% range, which is about as good as it gets. That’s reassuring.

When Mindy got home I joked that I wanted to be able to say that I had to eat leftovers for three straight days. Not sure what she made for herself and Jacob. I didn’t eat anything. I got sleepy around 730-8pm and took to the sofa watching back to back episodes of The Universe. Good stuff. The Buckeyes were playing Duke but not until 930pm. The game was being dubbed as the biggest game ever played in the Schott. As it was, I didn’t know if I’d be watching any of it.

I fell asleep watching the Science Channel. I didn’t wake up until right around 930pm about the same time that Mindy headed off to bed. Prior to heading to bed, Mindy prepared sub plans for her classroom after deciding it best to stay home Wednesday with Bella. The kids already in their bedrooms, Jacob was set to watch the Buckeye game on his own TV. Mindy said he had to turn the game off at 945pm, however.

I popped some popcorn and cracked open a can of Diet Coke with Splenda. Ahhh! Bella joined me briefly after getting a whiff. Said she got the OK from her mom. She didn’t stay downstairs for long, however, and insisted I head up and formally tuck her in. I obliged. I kept the TV tuned to the science channel programming even while the game whirled upstairs. Jacob gave me an early update from the railing. The Buckeyes were up early 11-0. I assured him that Duke would come storming back.

Now wide awake, I opted to go ahead and tune into the game from downstairs. When I joined, we still had the lead but by the slimmest of margins – just one point. It didn’t stay close for long, though. The Buckeyes pulled away again going on a tear where they couldn’t miss anything they put up. In that same span of time, Duke missed everything, including even the rim. Very uncharacteristic of them. They trailed by 19 at the half.

During halftime, I headed to my PC where I explored different price points of newer used cars. I even looked at the low end new models from Honda, Nissan, Ford, and Toyota. I am very frustrated with this Hyundai thing, but still unsure how we’ll ultimately proceed. I need to weigh all the options, including disconnecting myself from it entirely. Hey, I can only add that it is an option, though perhaps not a good one.

I heard the game resume but didn’t rejoin until there was about 9 minutes remaining. And even then, after seeing the Buckeyes were still up by 20 points, I didn’t stay affixed to the TV. Instead, I continued investigating the prices of late model used cars as opposed to new ones. Scary thought, I know. Still …

I rejoined the Buckeye game for the final few minutes. By then the outcome was no longer in doubt. The Buckeyes beat Duke easily and by 22 points. Don’t think anybody saw that coming – maybe the other way. Nice job Bucks!

It was 1130pm. I secured the home then headed for bed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t tired and couldn’t fall asleep. I tried, though, for about half and hour or more. Finally, some time after midnight, I got up and headed back downstairs to my computer where I did some writing in my blog. If that didn’t make me sleepy nothing would. I remember glancing at the clock and seeing that it was 137am. Oh dear. I still wasn’t that tired but decided I needed to give it another try anyway or else I’d pay dearly come 530am. I’m thinking I fell asleep around 2am.