Sunny & upper 70s

Much like the day before, I slept soundly until about 4am, but from then on I must've woken a dozen times before 530am. Sometime in that hour and one half, I got up and tuned off the ceiling fan. It was making me feel too cold. Right out of bed I could see that the sky was crystal clear. The coffee had just kicked on while I was slipping into my exercise shoes. I glanced out back then headed to the living room to do sit-ups. After sit-ups I whipped out 50 push-ups.

Enjoyed coffee at the PC for the next 15 minutes. It was chillier than I hoped - only 43 degrees, but expected to hit the upper 70s under sunny skies by mid afternoon. I planned to drive the BM'er again, too. I did meditation and stretching again before waking Mindy. I headed upstairs to wake her around 620am. I could hear the trash truck out front while I chatted briefly with Mindy.

I dressed a bit warmer for my run than I did the day before wearing winter weight gear minus hand and ear covers and wicking gym shorts under my running pants. I was comfortable throughout the entire 4.1 mile run.

There wasn't frost on her windows, but lots of moisture, so I started the Pilot.  I knew Mindy would appreciate a warm car.  I walked Eiknarf next. Uneventful but mission accomplished. Mindy had my breakfast ready and waiting inside. She reviewed the evening's plans which included my dad getting the kids off the bus so she could go see her orthopedic surgeon. Mindy then planned to rush home and take Bella to see Dr Craig where we expected him to write her a prescription for an ADD drug. 

I was off to the shower near 735am and downstairs & ready by 755am. I threw together my lunch then made sure I had everything I needed to work remotely, including my mouse and laptop power cord. The kids and I headed out at 809am. Just prior to that Bella whined to me that she had no shorts that fit her yet she was wearing a pair. She somehow wanted to blame her mother. I turned the tables and used it as a positive sign that she was growing.

The bus arrived near 810am. Talked briefly with Chrissy, her telling me about the wrestling event from the NW suite. Sounds like they had a great time. By the way, Mindy sent Makayla home even before I was back from my run earlier so she could ready for school. I took care of a few chores before heading off to work, including running the dishwasher. It was a Rachel day, the last before her wedding, which is this coming Saturday, St Patty's Day.

I moved the Accord to the curb but decided to leave it there this time. I folded the sideview mirror in to help protect it from crazy drivers.

I took 670 east obviously hoping for a traffic-jam free ride in. That wasn't to be. Traffic began to back up once I split away from 70east. Stop and go all the way through downtown and then just a mile or two west of 270 north. Definitely not what i had in mind for my drive  in the BM'er. It was a chilly drive too, the temperature at the time still struggling to get above 50. My hands were practically numb.

Arrived near 9am. It was a absolutely gorgeous stroll into the building. Amazing everything that's in bloom already: flowering crab apples, deciduous shrubs, and of course, the daffodils. The morning was busy from go. We had our usual 10am call then the monthly service presentation. That went really well.

I had a couple meetings I need to join for other customers too. That kept me hopping until lunch when I left for a trip to Lowes around 1pm. At Lowes I wanted to look at plumbing supplies, and more specifically, to replaced the shut-off valve to the secondary water meter that currently drips (poor workmanship). I also looked at new mower blades for the tractor. I'll probably just take mine in to be sharpened though. I was there for a while but bought nothing. Back to the office by 2pm. It was really nice then, about 75 degrees under mostly sunny skies.

The afternoon went along smoothly. I spent the lion's share of it putting together yet another monthly report. I left for the day around 5pm and couldn't wait to get out in the lovely weather again. I decided to take a chance and took 670 towards home. Traffic was fine until I got about halfway between 270 & downtown. Stop and go, lots of clutching and braking. Last second I decided to take the 71 south exit off 670 and wind around the eastern half of downtown towards 70 west. That was slow too but never at a standstill as 670 was. I was home by 540pm.

I had the freshly cleaned home all to myself. Mindy took Bella to see Dr Craig, and Jacob was at soccer practice with his dad. There was a note resting on the island sharing that Eiknarf had been walked and took care of both #1 & 2. As much as I hate going through all my mail, then was the time. I took about 45 minutes to go through the growing stack of non-urgent but important mail that had been building since December. I also sorted the divider where we keep important coupons and personal notes before filing. As an outcome of sorting through the two big piles, I placed our new insurance cards in my two vehicles and left Mindy's out for later. I also stowed the 2011 bill box and made a new one for 2012. Felt great to have that exercise behind. It's right up there with doing taxes - hate it!

Amongst all the miscellaneous mail were a couple opportunities to lock in low electric supplier rates. I took two to the computer and chose the least expensive, of course. Still delivered by AEP. I also scanned a couple notes/letters for safe keeping and then a couple photo post cards, one from the Mission of Mercy kid we sponsor, Shikab. Mindy, Bella and Jacob got home at the exact same time. You'd have thought they were all together but they weren't.

Mindy said she still needed to run out later to fill Bella's prescription. We all different foods for dinner. I had leftover steak, Jacob had grilled cheese. Mindy had ... not sure. I opted for some Jalapeno cilantro hummus with pita chips too. Of course, once Jacob saw what I was eating he wanted some too. Happens with everything I eat. This time , so did Mindy. Because Mindy needed to run after that prescription, she figured to run Bella to gymnastics and pick her up, too.  Cool!

I played on the computer all the while she was gone. Jacob and I tuned to American Idol a minute or two after 8pm. Mindy and Bella got home after 4 or 5 singers had already performed. All were pretty good doing songs from the year they were born.

Idol was over at 10pm. Mindy headed to bed directly, but i stayed up for another 10 minutes or so watching details of the stabbings in downtown Columbus that made national headlines. I thought about a snack, popcorn, but decided the prudent thing to do was skip it. Off to bed.