What do you call a headless, furless deer?

Dinner!

I woke near 5am after a solid 6+ hours of sleep. I decided to sleep a while longer but hopefully not past 530am. Turned out, I woke again around 525am, and rather than chance it, I went ahead and rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I was downstairs just in front of 530am and manually started the coffee maker before looking out back and then starting sit-ups. It was cloudy again, but at least it wasn’t raining. The coffee finished brewing around 540am. I poured a cup then headed to my PC where I checked the weather forecast first. It was 55 degrees, windy,  with a chance of rain throughout the day. The high wasn’t expected to be anywhere close to Monday’s high of 70. Instead, we’d be lucky to hold steady to 55 degrees. Checked the Vikings/Packers final. Ouch! The Vikings lost 45-7. Darn glad I didn’t stay up to see that.

Read the Daily OM and checked emails. Forgot to share that we booked flights to Oregon for this coming ski season the evening before. Planning to stay a full week this time. Mindy put in for some unpaid days off to make it possible. Got a ticket for brother Tommy, too. Sent Glenn our confirmation info. He responded sometime through the night asking about our peeps – Bob & Mary Ann – Kenny & Chrissy. We plan to alert both couple to our plans. We had to book to take advantage of the sale price.

Left the PC behind at 555am to meditate. I’m trying to get away from the PC earlier to allow more time for the most important stuff, meditation and stretching. My mind was racing with a million things. I was thinking about work, Lindsey, and now dealing with the logistics of getting the Hyundai road ready. It was hard to let go of my cluttered thoughts. Consequently, it wasn’t one of my better meditations. Not even close!

It was 607am and time to wake Mindy. I headed upstairs with coffee in hand at 610am. I wasn’t long. I was back downstairs to stretch and ready for my run. The stretching went well. Felt great. Because I was in freshly laundered running attire the day before when got soaked, I simpy tossed them in the dryer and they were like laundered fresh all over again. My shoes were just a smidge damp still after leaving them on the register vent since yesterday’s return. And while the heat never kicked on, we leave the fan run regularly. I’m sure that helped.

I headed out the door at 625am. It was a good 4.1 miles run. Sorted through a number of issues, including how I might get Lindsey’s car road ready by Thursday. I still needed to get it titled, tagged and insured, though in Lindsey’s name of course. The interior needs a really good bath, too,  and I definitely want to get that taken care of before handing it over. To solve that. I thought that I might try and escape at lunch time later that day. I’d have to clean it at home, however, since it doesn’t have tags.

Neighbor Teri has a title business. She offered to take care of getting the new title and tags for costs. That would save me oddles of time and frustration. However, she would need Power of Attorney to make that happen. In theory, if all that worked out, I could hand the car to Lindsey Wednesday night. But still whirling in my brain was having her sign a contract of sorts, not only promising to repay the ‘loan’ but also agreeing to NOT allow others to drive it. In other words, I want some assurance that the car will be taken care of. And as hard as I am trying to help and be a positive influence, I’ve been trained to expect the worst by past performance.

My run was over like that. That happens when my mind is elsewhere. I was back early enough to walk Eiknarf without infringing on my breakfast time. Mindy went after the pug and leash while I waited by the door. She brought her to me fresh out of bed. I let her stretch a little before we headed out.

Out about five minutes. Mindy was on her way out when Eiknarf and I headed back in. I fired up the stove and started whipping up some eggs. I took the time to fill Eiknarf’s food bowl and then poured myself a big glass of OJ before proceeding with cooking the eggs.  Neither kid wanted any, but Eiknarf sure did. I made a cheese omelet, but sectioned off a piece cheese-free for the pug.

Meanwhile, Bella and Jacob both asked for warmed donuts. I put two in the microwave for 13 seconds. Perfect! The cheese omelet was delicious. Hit the spot. I enjoyed a little fruit, too. I reminded Bella to put on her socks and address her teeth right after breakfast. She needs to be reminded every couple of days.

Headed off to the shower around 733am. I was ready quickly. Downstairs by 750am. Lindsey with already there. After a brief greeting, I asked if she remembered the prescription. She said she wasn’t sure. Rather than react, I just waited. She produced it, finally. Mindy plans to see that it gets filled. She went on to tell me that her mother had some less than kind words for her to pass along. Honestly, I wish Kelly would try to get on the same page with us, but we know that’s probably never gonna happen. Lindsey went on to say that she’ll give him the medicine but pull him off the first sign of issues.

All this is old news. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I had the Hyundai title out for Lindsey to sign so that I can give it to Teri. I explained my plan, which was to get everything taken care of this week and then hand it off over the weekend.  Any sooner would be a bonus. She understood.

We headed out to the bus stop at 810am. We met Chrissy there. I confirmed Thursday’s Beacon singers arrangements, which have me dropping the girls at rehearsal that way I can be downtown before 845am. Chrissy agreed to see Jacob and Lillian onto the bus. The bus was pretty close to being on time, although she’s late more often than not these days.

Lindsey and I were ready to go a few minutes after the kids were gone. It was 825am when we backed out the drive. Lindsey asked that I make the insurance arrangements. She also requested I check the rates for full (comprehensive) coverage. I asked about a valid driver’s license. She assured me it’s valid and with no points. I dropped her at work at 845am.

Off to work. I pulled in the parking lot just before 9am. The morning wasn’t as busy as I expected. Ken, my former peer, stopped by to chat. We talked for about 30 minutes. Once again, I spent a considerable amount of time working on monthly reports. Come 1245pm I set work aside and headed home for lunch to clean the inside of the Hyundai.  I wished the weather were nicer. As it was, it was about 50 degrees, cloudy, and windy. I thought I might pull the car into the garage and did just that. However, I quickly discovered that the lighting was such that I couldn’t see the grunge as well. I pulled back out on the driveway. While doing so, I noticed the brakes seemed even weaker than during my test drive. Hmm?

I went ahead and filled my car washing bucket with hot soapy water, and then lugged my shop-vac to the car’s side. I vacuumed first. There wasn’t a lot of debris but enough that it needed addressed. More than anything, there were some spills on the cloth seats I wanted to scrub away and then clean the thick coating of dust and sticky stuff all over the dash, doors, and console.

As I expected they might, the stains came up easily. A lot of it, most likely from spilled fast food. The water was almost black when I finished. It looked a whole lot better. I sprayed it with Fabreeze when I finished. I had been home for about an hour. I took the car for a brief spin checking out its performance. I noticed the emergency brake barely works – a sign that perhaps the back brakes are shot. Tom said the front brakes were done recently. Have the paper work for it.

I glanced through a myriad of receipts for the old maintenance records. Holy smoke. The owner before Tom had a ton of stuff done including timing belt, transmission, engine light, alternator, etc. Had it serviced at least five or six times at Dennis Hyundai. I’ll need to review those records more thoroughly later. I needed to get back to work.

During my drive back to the office I felt like I had a new dilemma to deal with, whether to take it in for a brake inspection now or later. I think the right thing is to have it taken care of before Lindsey gets to reliant on it. That way it’s taken care of up front. But scheduling it and coordinating the drop is another struggle.

Spent the afternoon working through a detailed report provided me by one of our vendors. I had to take the data and sort it into manageable pieces. That pretty much ate my entire afternoon. I was shocked when I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 4:55pm. Holy smoke! Where had my day gone?

I got to talking with my peer and didn’t get out of the office until almost 530pm. Mindy figured to be at work that late too. One of us needed to fetch the kids from Dena’s I celled Mindy to let her know that I would. She didn’t answer. I left a VM. She returned my call just as I was pulling up in near Dena’s. I wasn’t sure which place was theirs. Mindy said it was next to the one with the front porch swing. Only trouble was, no one had a front porch swing. She then gave me an address she believed was theirs. It looked completely dark, but I went up and knocked. Yep, that was it. Tony answered the door. Dena was just around the corner.

We chatted for a few minutes. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Dena for several months, and maybe an entire year. Wow! She looks good. The kids headed out for the car. I soon followed. We arrived home just after 6pm.

We weren’t home long before I asked Jacob to head out with the pug. He reluctantly addressed the request. Mindy pulled in a few minutes later. She quickly started going through the kids book bags – basically doing her evening ritual. I stepped aside. It’s a bit chaotic, something I don’t excel at handling. I headed to my PC to decompress. Mindy whipped up some leftovers for Bella and whipped up bacon & egg sandwiches for she and Jacob. I didn’t want anything.  I chose to stay hidden while the kitchen was in disarray.

At some point through the evening Mindy came in to tell me that her principal approved her unpaid leave request coupled with her personal days for our winter ski trip. She was excited. At some point, I’m thinking near 7pm, Jacob called and invited Evan down to play. Teri asked if we were ready for her to come down and get the car title. Yes.

Teri and her kids showed up around 730pm. The kids played while Teri reviewed the title and what we needed to do to get tags. Basically, she needed power of attorney and Lindsey’s personal info. I had the information stashed somewhere but thought it far easier to call Lindsey to get it. For a minute I thought I was talking with Kelly. Sounded just like her. She was going on and on about me requesting the information for covert reasons. Said she’s never heard of such a thing. Really? I didn’t no whether to laugh or cry. I simply responded that I was more than happy to sell the car. Either you want it or not. She gave the information while also decrying my controlling ways. Oh boy!

Nearby, both Mindy & Teri got a laugh out of the exchange. Teri agreed to take care of the whole process and bill me at cost (title, tax, tags). Cool beans. Once business was settled, we chatted over beer and wine while the kids played upstairs. I asked if she was there when Mike cut up the deer he brought home from his hunting trip Sunday. Said not. Doesn’t like to see it, though he had it hanging in the garage. Said she opened the door briefly to see it with out fur or its head. Think it was 830pm when Teri gathered up her two kids and headed for home.

We watched the rest of the Buckeye basketball game against Florida while enjoying some popcorn. Mindy ended up sending Jacob and Bella to bed after she’d had enough of their almost constant bickering. I was in on my PC when it occurred. Bella was in tears. Jacob just angry. I tucked both kids into bed. Mindy and I watched the rest of the game by ourselves. The Buckeyes won by 7 points. Mindy headed to bed around 10pm. I was just a few minutes later.