Bad Luck or Poor Execution?

I slept OK, but was hampered with the bedroom climate, which was a tad warm & sticky. In hindsight, we probably should’ve turned on the A/C. The downstairs, however, was quite pleasant. I quickly breezed through calisthenics then headed to my PC with coffee near 550am. It was gorgeous outside. Mostly clear and 64 degrees. Expecting sunshine and temps approaching 80 later in the day.

Played around online until 605am when I delivered Mindy’s coffee. She asked me to turn off the ceiling fan. I was surprised given that it was still a little warm in our room. I spent a little more time online, but no more than 10 minutes. I headed to the family room for meditation and stretching by 615am. I did back stretches with an old bath towel, once again relieving the tension (knot) that’s almost ever present in my left neck/shoulder blade region. It was a close to 635am when I slipped out the door for my run. I ran 4.1 miles and felt comfortable throughout. My legs felt pretty darn good, too.

Back at the house sometime close to 715am, I was a little surprised to be greeted by Eiknarf at the door. She was more than ready for her walk. Bella shared that she chewed a Barbie overnight. By the time we returned from our walk, Mindy was waiting at the foot of the drive for my return. She wanted a hug. Bella came out in a bit of a panic reminding Mindy that it was picture retake day. Mindy headed back inside to help Bella look a bit nicer than usual. She ended up with way too much product in her hair – looked greasy. She told me that Mindy insisted she wear her glasses too. By then, Mindy had already hurried off to work. I told Bella to use her own judgment. If she didn’t feel comfortable having her school photo with glasses to take them off. She was worried about defying her mother’s wishes. I insisted that it would be OK and left it at that.

Mindy made cheesy scrambled eggs. They were a welcome change and also delicious. Had plenty of fresh fruit for breakfast, too. Off to the shower by 735am. I was a customer site work day. I kept that in mind as I picked my attire but didn’t defer much from what I might wear any other day. They’re very casual there, and certainly more so than all of us. Their execs often wear jeans. I was ready before 755am. I spent the next ten minutes prepping my lunch and cleaning up the kitchen. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes since the evening before. That meant all of the breakfast dishes rested on the counter. I planned to address that before leaving for work but after seeing Bella on the bus. We headed out at 810am. I asked Bella to take the dog so I could squeegee the windows of the Accord.

We hung with Chrissy & Makayla at the bus stop for about 5 minutes. The bus was close to being on time. Like most other days, I allowed Eiknarf time to sniff and pee again before we headed back inside. Inside, I poured another cup of coffee but then got crackin’ on kitchen clean-up. I unloaded the dishwasher then put the new dirty dishes in. I also hand washed the crock-pot crock as well as a wine glass. The kitchen looked dazzling when I finally left for work around 840am.

I took 670 and happily didn’t run into any traffic snarls. Gas, I noticed, was down to $3.12 per gallon at the Circle K. Made excellent time. I arrived near 9am. However, took a little while – another 20 minutes -to get situated and logged in. We had our usual 10am call. That went well, just as I expected it would.

Sometimes my offsite are the best ever. They give me a chance to catch up on several miscellaneous non priority type tasks and issues. That was pretty much the case on Wednesday. At 1pm I headed out for lunch, my plan being to return those unneeded 2”X10” joist hangers to Home Depot. I planned to pick-up some 3” decking screws too. It was gorgeous – about 75 and sunny. NO problem returning the joist hangers. I picked out the decking screws I wanted then looked at some Xmas lights, if for no other reason, to check out the new technology. I also looked at brush on Rustoleum paints since I’m considering painting our rusted steel basement window frames. I like the ideas of being able to open the window and let air flow in. Replacing them with glass block would inhibit our ability to do that very thing, though they are available with a very small vent window. I didn’t buy the paint but am satisfied that they have the right stuff should that be what I choose to do.

I’d been about 40 minutes. I headed back to the office. Per the usual, my convenient parking spot was taken. I had to park much further away from the path to the building. No biggie. It was a lovely afternoon for a walk. I was back in my office by 150pm. I checked my personal cell phone. Had two new texts, one form Bob I. taking me to some link on Facebook. I couldn’t get the link to connect. I got busy at the same time and simply set my Droid aside. I got back to it about an hour later only to discover that my battery was completely drained. Wouldn’t even power up. That’s happened maybe only one other time. I’m guessing trying to open that link had something to do with it, but can’t be sure.

The afternoon went by fast. It was 5pm in a hurry. The plan was to meet Mindy & Bella at Jacob’s last regular season soccer game at Spindler field. They wanted to start the game at 545pm to beat the setting sun. I plugged my phone into the car charger once in the Accord. I had to drive for 10 minutes before it was charged enough to use. Called Mindy as I passed Sawmill Rd and talked for just a couple minutes. She and my dad were already at Jacob’s game. Bella, turns out, opted to stay at Chrissy’s house with Makayla. I tried calling my mom’s cell phone to check in on her status. Haven’t talked with her since the Wednesday prior. Got Ronald instead. He shared that he just dropped mom off at the knee rehab center. Shared that she was taken to the emergency room by ambulance earlier in the day when her incision ripped open and bled profusely. They couldn’t stop it at the rehab center. He went on to share that they had to put a couple staples in it. Apparently the glue they used didn’t hold.

As bad as that sounded, he said she’s otherwise doing really well, and far better than the last time. Said she isn’t in nearly as much pain, and rehab exercises going well. Should be able to come home Thursday or Friday. He was willing to rattle off the phone number to her room but I was driving and promised to call back later to get the number.
I arrived at the soccer field just a minute or two before the game began. Mindy already had a chair set up for me. I set the one I carried on the ground in front of me. She also brought me a Gatorade and trail bar. Thanks dear. Dad asked if I’d heard or seen mom. I shared what I had only recently learned from talking with Ronald. Mindy asked dad to share his recent casino story with me.

Dad went to the new casino I believe on Monday with his pals, Pete & Vicki. He won $380. He headed out somewhere Wednesday morning to buy a new tractor battery. That set him back $100. Said he figured why not stop in the casino for a few and see if he could win some of that $100 back. Sure enough, he won another $500! He might be the luckiest person I know playing those daggone slots.

Jacob’s game was back and forth for most of the first half. I think it was 1-0 at the half. And even as nice as the weather was, once the sun started to set it got a little cool. Both Mindy & I went to our cars for jackets. Grove City scored a 2nd goal and lead 2-0 for most of the 2nd half. Our kids just can’t seem to pass the ball from one player to another. Always kick it into an opposing player. Finally, with about 5 minutes to go, Hilliard scored on a free kick. Suddenly, they were battling the clock, needing to score another goal before the final whistle. No such luck. They lost 2-0. Just before the game ended, Mindy spotted a familiar face down the sideline. I had no idea who it was. She talked to the women at length. It was the former West High school cheer leading coach. Said she married the West High band instructor at the time and is living happily ever after.

Said farewell to dad. Agreed to meet Mindy at home. Mindy was in front of me by one car. However, she & Jacob turned into the Hilliard Wal-Mart. She called via cell to explain. Jacob needed index cards. I was home for a good 15-20 minutes alone. I that time I prepped Thursday’s coffee, rinsed and stowed my lunch containers in the dishwasher, and changed into my PJs. Ate some snacks too (nuts and cheese sticks). Mindy & Jacob were home around 740pm. Those two opted to have a bowl of cereal for dinner. Mindy called Chrissy to have her send Bella home. Chrissy shared that they had just ordered spaghetti dinners from Sparano’s. Ordered one for Bella, too. I ended up having some cereal, too, but dry. I wasn’t that hungry.

Around 830pm Mindy dispatched Jacob to the shower. I was just hunkering down to do some reading. Mindy had other ideas. She wanted to spend some time with me. We talked for a few minutes with her sitting on my lap. She left me to read after about five minutes. Mindy was soon off to bed. And unless I’m mistaken, I am thinking it was near 840pm. She asked that I make sure that Bella gets ready and in bed around 9pm.
Bella was home shortly thereafter. I can’t recall if she went for a shower. She wasn’t too surprised to learn that her momma was already in bed. I turned the TV to the Science Channel watching Through the Worm Hole. Interesting episode about our knowledge of the universe and if their might be a definitive limit to what we can understand. Interesting notion. I watched for maybe 15 minutes before falling asleep on the sofa. I got up and headed to be somewhere close to 10pm. Secured the home and glanced skyward – about 2/3s of a waxing moon.