Bulk Pick-Up

 

I was up and out of bed near 545am, but it was closer to 555am by the time I was downstairs and in the kitchen. I hadn’t prepped coffee the night before so I made that priority one. I used a mix of Folgers and Starbucks. Finished sit-ups and curls in no time at all. I stepped out onto the deck to check out the weather and to stare at the beautiful stars. It blows my mind to think that most star light we see actually began its journey towards earth millions of years ago. That's so yesterday! And to think that we complained about the Olympics being tape delayed by a mere 4 to 8 hours.

Inside, I poured some coffee for myself and Mindy. She asked for me to start delivering near 6am. I remembered to put a hold on the whipped cream too. After waking Mindy, I checked to make sure Jacob was up. Yep. I headed down to enjoy coffee of my own and play on the internet for a spell. I played around longer than perhaps I should have. Jacob was already downstairs for breakfast when I left my PC. I’m going to have plan my mornings a little better to get the most out of my private time.

It was already 645am as I slipped into my running clothes but wasn’t out the door for another 5 minutes. Mindy came down to ask for a goodbye hug and kiss since she reckoned I wouldn’t be back before she needed to leave. It was a gorgeous morning, only about 64 degrees under completely clear skies. It was daybreak but still without a sunrise. That doesn’t happen now until about the three mile mark. I decided last minute to cut my run short to only three miles. I was OK doing so having ran 4.1 miles on Sunday, which is usually a 3 mile day.

As I neared home, I encountered Mindy and Eiknarf walking near Chrissy & Kenny’s place. I took over the dog walking so Mindy could leave for work. I was happy to learn that Mindy made scrambled cheesy eggs, and just when I was craving a change of pace. Eiknarf and I each enjoyed them. Bella didn’t know it, but Mindy planned on taking her to try out a new gymnastics facility and team later that evening. We both agreed that a change was in order.

I was out of the shower and back downstairs near 755am – right on schedule! I emptied the dehumidifier and then packed my lunch. I got a kick out of watching Bella pack her own snack ( a baggie of Cheezits) and mix up a drink for her water bottle. She headed out for the bus around 807am and to get in some scootering before its arrival. I moved the Accord to the curb to make way for the BM’er then met her at the bus stop with the dog. However, before I even got there the bus pulled up. Wow, she was early – 812am. Caught the girls off guard. They hurried their scooters back to the driveways then dashed to get on the bus. Not their fault. We were told 817am, and then she was at least 5 minutes later than that the first two days of school.

I walked Eiknarf out front instead of heading quickly back inside. She did nothing more than sniff-sniff. I was much looking forward to driving the BM’er in to work, something I’ve done little of this summer, especially given the hot, sunny weather. I’d venture to guess this to be only about my 10th drive this season. Though because it’s relatively rare, it is still very exciting. I like it like that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve put 10K miles on it in a little more than 8 years.

As hoped, it was a fun drive in. I arrived at the office somewhere close to 850am. I had a pretty quiet start to my day. For that I was grateful. However, I was still heavily involved in an ongoing problem for one of my customers. I met with my boss around 930-10am. It was refreshing to feel appreciated and to collaborate on a plan rather than feel at odds. It ended up being one of my best days in the past couple weeks. For the first time in a long while (pre vacation) I didn’t feel under the gun much at all.
Around 1130am a peer sent an IM asking if I wanted to do lunch with he a couple others, my boss included. They were going to the new gyro shop at Sawmill and Bethel Rd. I agreed to join them. The plan was to leave at 1230pm but we ended up heading out at 1215pm. The young woman working the counter at the gyro shop can’t be older than about 21 or 22 years of age. Let’s just say that she’s very, very attractive. Her name is Salena. We had her clean off our table twice just to make sure there weren’t any residual germs present. Hey, a guy can never be too careful!

Three of us had gyro platters while another guy chimed in with a burger. Instead of fries I went with the lemon potatoes. Glad I did. They were really tasty. We talked about football through most of lunch. Hard to believe that the Buckeyes season kicks off next Saturday, the 1st . Headed back to work around 1pm. It was good to get away with others, which is something I do no more than a handful of times each year.

My afternoon went smoothly. I spent a majority of it editing a 15 page support document, but also joined two internal calls, one of those being our weekly staff call. I didn’t leave for home until 535pm. The problem that I’d been dealing with all week finally cleared. That made me happy, but I wasn’t ready to call it a permanent fix. I called Mindy about 30 minutes before I left the office. She was in the middle of organizing all the kids’ school stuff. I asked if she’d shared the gymnastics plan with Bella yet. Yep, she had. Said she was crying and said she’d simply prefer to quit. But the truth is, that’s not too far off from how I expected her to react. It’s a quality of Mindy I respect. Just because the kids throw a fit, she sticks with the plan having thoroughly thought it through ahead of time and knowing it’s what’s best for the long run.

Arrived home near 6pm. I wasn’t expecting there to be a full-on dinner since Mindy said they’d need to leave for the gymnastics facility at 630pm, but she made one. We had rotisserie chicken, salad and mashed potatoes. It was yummmmmm-my! I could easily see that Bella had been crying. Her eyes were swollen and she remained weepy through dinner. Mindy insisted that she wouldn’t have to perform that night but instead just check it out. By dinner's end, she had somewhat warmed to the idea but was by no means committed. Mindy and I didn’t push it, knowing full well that she’d come around in due time.

The two of them left just after 630pm leaving Jacob and I to clean up the dinner mess. Jacob helped rid the table but then promptly asked to head off and play with friends. I reminded him that we had all that bulk pick-up in the basement to carry up, but that I wanted to finish cleaning up the kitchen first. He suggested that he would carry the stuff up right then while I did the kitchen. OK!

I still had to go down and show him what was going and what was staying. I was much looking forward to this particular purging. Not much left to rid after this. Ended up helping him carry the stuff up. There was far more than I initially realized. Some of the boxes were heavy too – old electronics, drills, wiring, etc. We speculated that more than half of it would be gone by morning – always is. Took us about 10-15 minutes.

As soon as we finished, Jacob dashed off with friends and I pulled the Accord back in the driveway even though I’d in all likelihood drive the BM’er again Friday. As it was, it was in the way of trash pickup. I finished the dishes then changed into comfy, lounging clothes then headed out back to water all the flowers. I watered everything front and back. Everything was starting to dry out again having not a drop of rain since Sunday. I took a few pictures of my watering prowess.  I finished up around 715pm and headed inside where I played on the PC for about 30 minutes. There were a couple NFL preseason games on, including the Bengals and Packers. I headed to the family room and tuned into the game. I also quickly checked the Reds score. They were up 1-0 in the 4th.

Mindy & Bella weren’t home until 850pm even though practice at the new facility only runs until 8pm. Mindy and Bella both raved about the people and the facility, which is said to be more like a full-fledged gym. Said she feels really good about it. Bella apparently warmed to the place after a short period of discomfort and even got out there and did her stuff. She was in a far better place once they were home. She shared that she still wanted to go back and say goodbye to her former teammates at DCW, which Mindy promised to facilitate by letting her go to one more practice next Monday.  That’ll be awkward for everybody. I am very proud of Bella for wanting to go and say goodbye. By the way, the new team is called something like the Flip Twisted Sisters.

Mindy and the kids all showered. Mindy said she needed one after a long hot day in her classroom without AC. They all headed to bed after. That had to be somewhere close to 930pm. I stayed up watching the entire football game. The Bengals lost by 14 points. Good night half moon!