Mophia, Masons, and the Vatican

 

Mindy woke Bella middle of the night and sent her back to her own bed. She went with little prompting. Eiknarf stayed with us. I slept OK, but not great. I was up and downstairs by 540am. I was hoping for clear skies but that wasn’t to be, at least not immediately. Instead, the sky was still mostly cloudy and the temperature 39 again. That seems to be our number of late.

I completed sit-ups, windmills and curls in all of about 10 minutes. Soon I was fixed in front of my PC enjoying coffee. I played around online until almost 620am. The forecast was calling for the clouds to begin moving out by mid-afternoon but with the temperature holding steady in the low 40s.

I woke Mindy near in the middle of my PC time, somewhere close to 610am. I logged onto my laptop so I could send out a Sandy report before 8am. I had some laptop issues but nothing rebooting two times didn’t cure.  Before walking away to ready for a run, I finished the report so all I would have to do is send it after my run. I got out of the house a little late – about 750am.

Because of my later start I decided to trim my run to only three miles. On the home stretch Mindy passed by in the Pilot. I found that odd, given that she always takes Wilson to 270. Maybe she had an errand to run before work (?). I got home a couple minutes later to find Bella still there, staying home from school sick. She quickly shared that he momma was heading into school to create sub plans but then heading right back home.

It dawned on me then that there was a semi overturned at the 270&70 interchange. I figured Mindy must’ve headed towards the Hague ave. I-70 entrance ramp to avoid it. There were still a couple helicopters hovering overhead. I got busy with work while also enjoying my eggs. And as soon as I went live on my laptop I was getting pinged by coworkers right away. I didn’t come up for air until almost 10am. At that point I pinged my boss letting him know that I was simply going to work from home. Made little sense to shower, log off, and head in the office to do what I was already doing from home. Had I known that earlier, I could’ve saved Mindy a lot of trouble, but that’s how it goes sometimes. As expected, my boss had no issues with it.

I talked with Mindy once she was in route to home. She echoed what I already knew, she could’ve stayed at school. Not sure the time when she got home. I’m guessing not long after about 1030am. I remained very busy all morning and afternoon. While Bella slept on the sofa, Mindy cleaned the house. I ate a bowl of beef & noodles for lunch, something I wouldn’t dream of packing and eating for lunch otherwise.

When I wasn’t engrossed in hurricane issues, I was working on a quarterly report/presentation. Between the two, I spent the lion’s share of my day. Soon Jacob was home from school. The weather was looking up. The sun was out even before noon and the temperature had to be close to 50 degrees. Really nice, and good to see the sunshine, something we haven’t seen since last Thursday, or an entire week of rain and clouds.

During a late afternoon break, I called Lindsey’s auto insurance agent to discuss rates for a new car and coverage options. He was real helpful and promised to send me quotes from multiple carriers in an effort to find her the best price without sacrificing quality.

I stayed busy with work well past my usual quitting time, yet another problem I have when working from home. I don’t know how to walk away. I suppose I could easily power down and solve the problem but that hardly seems rationale.
Mindy kept after me to call Lindsey all late afternoon and evening but up until that point I hadn’t. Come 6pm or so I gave her a call at home. Suggested she come over so we could talk cars. She shared that her mom was bringing the boys home and would ask her to bring them all to our house. Yikes!

I asked Mindy if she would lead the discussion as I know all too well how it would go if I did the leading (not well!). Said she would, but asked that I try to remain positive and focus on how far she’s come in the last year. She asked Jacob to be prepared to entertain the boys. Bella, meanwhile, was still lounging on the sofa but feeling a whole lot better. We took her temp and it was something like 99.5.
Lindsey and the boys showed up I’m guessing around 630pm. We finished our tortilla soup, and Lindsey helped Rocky with his homework. All that took a good half hour, after which both boys headed out to play with Jacob, Evan, and company. Mindy took the lead as requested, sharing what we were considering doing and then what our expectations were from Lindsey.

Comparing what we were offering to what we were asking of her in return should have seemed inconsequential. I was a little surprised, and even angry at Lindsey’s response. She certainly wasn’t giving a full commitment, which was what I wanted/needed to hear. At times Mindy took the role of peace negotiator. We muddled through our discussion and drafted a solution, one that will certainly improve Lindsey's current situation. I still wasn't pleased with her take on things, but then again, she is her mother's daughter.

Lindsey soon rounded up the boys and Mindy gave the three of them a ride home. While they were gone. I changed into my PJs then tuned the TV to the Thursday night NFL game between the Chargers and Chiefs. I wasn't too thrilled with the match-up but it was football.

Mindy was back home about the time of kick-off and promptly declared that she was heading to bed even though it was only around 830pm. She asked that I make sure Bella was in bed, lights out by 930pm. Mindy made arrangements to take Bella to her mom's on Friday, not wanting to risk sending her back to school too soon after her illness.
I stayed up until roughly 10pm. I became bored with football and instead turned the TV to the history channel watching a program about the story, Angels & Demons, and the corruption in Vatican City. Interesting. I enjoyed a bowl of Cookie Crisp from the sofa shortly before heading up to bed.