Already figuring to work from home, I allowed myself to sleep in an entire hour. Even then I figured to be working much earlier than I would normally. I was downstairs engaged in exercise by 640am. The coffee had long since finished its brewing cycle. I logged onto my laptop while playing on my home PC. Took care of a few work related tasks between 7-730am and then did a brief meditation and stretch ahead of leaving for my run. It was really close to 730am when I headed out the door. It was 67 and mostly cloudy again with just a smidge of sun breaking through the cloud cover every now and again. I didn’t mind. I ran the full 4.1 miles, and I’m happy to report that my hamstring felt a whole lot better.
Got back home near 810am and immediately dug back into work. I can’t remember if I delivered Mindy’s coffee or if she was up on her own. In any case, I didn’t plan to shower or make breakfast right away. Instead, I worked for a while. Once Mindy was up and downstairs she offered to make me some eggs. I declined. Not only did I need to join a conference call, but I was having technical issues with a reporting template I needed to use. That issue came about after upgrading to Office 2010 a few weeks back. OH boy! I called a peer in Chicago that used to run this same report to ask if he encountered similar issues. I ended up contacting its author in the UK, but promptly got his out of office message. Uh-oh!
Mindy left for her dental appointment around 1030am, I think. Said she most likely be running to school immediately after. Didn’t expect her home until 2pm or later. No sooner had she left when I decided to go ahead and make some eggs. After all, some food and break was exactly what I needed. I tend to work even harder at home. Not sure why I put so much pressure on myself. The eggs were delicious. As expected, the smell drew Eiknarf from Bella’s bed and at my side. I went ahead and took her out for a walk, though I think Mindy took her out earlier.
Near noon I got an email from the author of that report template asking me to forward the template so he could debug it. I was impressed that he took the time to do it assuming he was off on vacation. He returned it within the hour with instructions on how to proceed. Cool! It worked. I felt a lot better getting that report knocked out. The kids were up around 11am. Jacob headed outside to play with friends. Bella hung at home. Both were very well behaved and low maintenance.
Somehow I managed to complete both monthly reports. Believe me, I felt one heck of a lot better after that. The rest of my workday went so much smoother. Mindy was home from her busy day around 3pm. She reminded me that we needed to attend Jacob’s open house that night at 745pm, and also reminded me that it was a Jimaken night. Wanted to do dinner out. I was game, if for no other reason than to get away from the house. As it was, I felt like I was still at work. It’s something I struggle with when working from home. I don’t fully let go, and keep going back and doing more.
Jim showed up right at 5pm to get the kids. Once 520pm I headed upstairs to freshen up. I managed to squeeze in a full-blown shower around 2pm. We left the house around 540pm still not fully decided where we might go. I thought of offering up Matt the Miller’s but we ended up going to the old, tried and true, Barley’s. The lot was sparsely populated much like you might expect to find on a Wednesday evening. April was working the bar and eager to serve us. We took a barside table in lieu of taking the last two available bar stools. We both ordered Centennials. Seems odd hearing Mindy order IPAs, but she’s finally come around, just as Janet predicted she would two or so years ago. It’s an evolution of sorts that many progress through. We planned to order food but not until my first beer was all but gone.
When it came time to order I went with gates of hell wings, something I haven’t ordered for myself in at least two years. They used to be a weekly staple. Mindy went with a brisket and rib combo along with salad and veggies. I ordered a 2nd Centennial as well. I picked up the check and also drove. We headed north on Riverside Dr to Fishinger and west through Mill Run to Cemetery to Leap in route to Jacob’s new school. We arrived about 5-10 minutes early. A couple minutes later Jimaken arrived with Jacob and Bella. We all sat together for the overview/presentation.
The overview lasted about 45 minutes with the principal introducing all the teachers as well as covering some of their goals and curriculum. Once the overview concluded we were set free to go off and meet Jacob’s four core teachers. I didn’t mention it before, but this is a 6th grade only school, a transition into middle/high school lifestyle. Here he will get his first taste of letter grades (A,B, C, etc) as well as having a course schedule and his own locker. He needs to be at his bus stop early, before 7am and then gets out at 215pm.
It was 845pm by the time that was wrapped up and all of us were headed for home. As soon as we were home everybody got into their PJs. Bella asked if she could go down to Makayla’s. Mindy declined. It was already 9pm. She didn’t offer up much if any push back.
Mindy headed for bed at 915pm asking if I would be joining her soon. Soon, dear. I stayed up watching the Underwater Universe until 10pm. I was starting to dose from the sofa when I decided it was time for bed. Mindy was still reading as I leaped in bed. I fell asleep quickly. I heard her toss and turn for quite a while. She’s been struggling to find sleep for the past couple weeks. Probably stress.
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