Multiverse

That incredibly sleepy feeling that followed me to bed was still there with me when I woke near 530am. While brushing my teeth I decided not to fight it and instead, I jumped right  back in bed hoping to get a little more shut eye. I thought I might sleep as much as another hour. It felt great slipping back under the covers and closing my tired eyes.

I woke three or four times over the next 50 minutes, eventually pulling myself from bed just ahead of 630am. Though still a little tired, I felt much better. I grabbed my running clothes and tip-toed out of the room. I hit the got button on the coffee maker, glanced out back, then slipped into my exercise shoes. I then headed to the livingroom where I completed 50 sit-ups.

It was 645am when I poured some coffee. I didn’t need to wake Mindy since she was staying home with Jacob. However, she did need to be up sometime soon to help Bella along. I spent time on the PC checking headlines and the weather. I saw that Alabama won the BCS championship game shutting out LSU 21-0. The forecast called for more clear skies and above normal temps, though the high a bit lower than Monday's. Was only expected to reach the mid 40s.

Meditation and stretching were next, and both went well. I heard Mindy getting up about the time I started my stretch routine. In fact, she was downstairs pouring coffee and starting breakfast during my stretch event. It had to be about 715am. And by the time I was dressed and out the door for my run it was 720am. I wasn’t immediately sure, but thought that I might peel my run back to just three miles. That’s exactly what I ended up doing.

I found it a bit odd to be starting my run about the time I’m usually heading back inside the house. After three miles and just as I was passing Kenny’s place for home, I happened upon Mindy out walking Eiknarf in her PJs and boots. Nice look, dear! I did the rest of the walk with her.

It was close to 8am. Mindy had my eggs in the microwave. I woofed them down in a hurry then headed off to the shower. It was 807am when I was out of the shower, so I went to the railing to ask Mindy if she planned on seeing Bella on the bus. Said she would. I was just putting the finishing touches on my ready when I saw the bus come rumbling down the road. Thanks to Mindy’s help, I had myself darn near back on schedule.

I wasn’t too concerned with rushing out the door for work. Instead, I took the time to organize my gear and then chat a little while with Mindy, mostly about her friend Laura, who we saw at Grandma Lucy’s funeral on Sunday.  I’m thinking that it was 835am when I headed out the door for the office. Mindy said she planned on rearranging Bella’s room during the day. She didn’t expect Jacob up until 10am or so.

I spent the morning working on some miscellaneous stuff that my boss asked me to handle. It was actually a pretty easy day. I was able to get caught up on several fronts. At friend Darwin’s request, I sent him more information about our coming ski trip, including a breakdown of the total shared expenses and then what a share would likely cost him. Of course, I threw in a note about the individual expenses he needs to consider, too, like the cost of lift tickets and such. I got the impression that he might be on a tight budget when he later asked for the ski park names so he could investigate the cost of lift tickets.

Speaking of money, I was happy to see that the stock market was doing well and actually closed at a 5-month high. Here’s hoping for many happy returns in 2012!

I was a little surprised that Mindy hadn’t called all day. After all, she was at home with Jacob. But I figured she was deep into her projects. I ended up leaving the office just after 530pm, and gave Mindy a call once I was on the road for home. Bella answered, but when I acted as if I thought it was Mindy and just started a normal conversation, she quickly let me know that it was Bella I was talking to and quickly handed the phone to her mom.

As expected, Mindy shared how busy she’d been all day long with rearranging Bella’s bedroom. Said she washed all of our bedding too. She also shared that Jacob was feeling a whole lot better and would be returning to school on Wednesday. At the time of our call, she was busy making chicken and noodles for dinner. That sounded terrific. We ended our conversation about halfway home. I pulled in the drive near 6pm.

I did my usual stuff, like rinsing my lunch containers and then putting away my gear. Makayla came knocking at our door a couple minutes later, or just as we were about to sit for dinner. We invited her to stay, and she accepted. Mindy shared that Lindsey stopped by for gas money and asked if we could help her with choosing insurance benefits from work. We settled on Wednesday evening. Mindy would invite she and the boys for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, the chicken and noodles were as good as ever. One of my favorite winter time dishes. Jacob, Makayla, and Bella ran off to play after dinner while Mindy put the finishing touches on her room. While they did that, I managed the clean-up. We later learned that Kenny was out of town hunting and that Chrissy was home alone. We had Makayla call her momma and invite her down for some chicken and noodles.

She thanked us for the invite but declined citing the need to focus on homework and chores.

I kept talking about taking a nap but never did. Instead, I spent some time at my PC looking back through several months of blog entries from winter 2006, the winter I wrote about earlier when we got next to no snow. I wanted to validate my memory. Sure enough, we got next to zero snow fall, or at least not until darn near spring time. But what we found even more interesting were all the pictures. The kids looked so young and little. Jacob was five and Bella was 3. Jacob was mortified when he saw some of the photos I had posted of him in costume (think pirate, Indian, etc). Mindy looked impressively young, as well.

That winter also marked the first time Mindy skied. We went to MRM one Sunday and then out to Oregon two or three weeks later. She ended up with a black eye after skiing and subsequently falling face first on the Magic Mile. I guess it wasn’t so magic after all!

We all got a kick from the throw back. Just think how those pictures and memories will be perceived in another 6 years when Jacob will be 17 and Bella 15. Ouch!

Mindy insisted Jacob head up for a shower at 8pm. He was giving his mom a hard way to go but in a joking way. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop when she’d finally had enough. Lucky for him, that never happened. We planned to watch at least part of the Buckeye basketball game against Illinois, but it didn’t start until 9pm. Until then, I tuned to the History Channel 2 watching back to back episodes of The Universe.  What we’ve learned about the universe in the last decade truly amazes me. I eat the stuff up. As 9pm neared, Jacob insisted we change the channel. I found it comforting to hear Bella complain that she was getting into The Universe. That’s my girl!

We switched to the game right at 9pm. But as it turned out, tip-off didn’t happen until about 910pm. We looked rusty out of the gate but still managed to hold a slim lead. Mindy made the kids go to bed by 930pm and with less than ten minutes gone from the game. After returning from tucking Bella in, I decided to change the channel away from the game and back to The Universe. After all, watching basketball causes me stress, whereas watching The Universe relaxes me. Smart move!

Mindy headed to bed near 940pm while I stayed up. I switched the TV back to the game just to check the score. The Buckeyes were up at the half 39-34. I watched The Universe until I fell asleep. I woke near 1015pm and headed up to bed.