Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

It was a work day. I was up near 530am after a decent night’s sleep. As much as I enjoyed my time off, I didn’t mind the idea of working. Something fulfilling about getting up early, exercising, and doing a run all before sunrise. I enjoyed the quiet, though I could hear the TV in the spare room where the boys were sleeping. They kept it on all night.

I finished my pre-run routine by 625am. I dressed and headed out the door near 635am. It was raining and surprisingly warm, according to Yahoo, 53 degrees. The forecast called for dropping temperatures throughout the day and snow flurries by night fall. I was comfortable through the run. The rain stopped completely soon after heading out.

Back home shortly after 7am, I prepared a few eggs, including one for the pug. The boys joined me downstairs while I was eating. They asked for some coffee but I refused. I walked the pug then fed her the egg I had set aside. Seeing both me and the pub enjoying eggs, the boys asked for eggs too. I really needed to get to the shower but went ahead and made the boys a plain omelet. Landon asked for peanut butter toast too. No problem.

I headed off to the shower after reminding the boys to stay quiet while watching TV. They agreed. By the time I was out of the shower, they were giggling just outside our bedroom door. Mindy wasn’t amused. She wanted more sleep. I insisted they follow me back downstairs and uphold their end of our bargain, which was to watch TV quietly until Mindy was up.

After making sure that I had everything I’d need to work remote, I left for New Albany around 825am. I also remembered to take the new Civic finance contract they asked us to sign. According to the Germain Honda finance manager, the folks at Honda Financial had a problem with the way the dealership aligned the numbers on the previous version. I planned to drop it off on my way back home later that evening.
Traffic was extremely light crossing town, but about normal once on 270N. I arrived by 850am. There was somebody else in my office. I politely asked if he planned to be there all day. Had that been the case, I simply would have found another temporary work space. He insisted that he would move on. He vacated less than 5 minutes later and I set up for a day of work.

Being Black Friday, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I checked my Blackberry a few times earlier and there were no concerns or issues directed my way. I cleared out several hundred emails that came in through the week and dealt with a non-impacting escalation in the first hour or so. After that it was pretty quiet, which is right on par with last year’s Black Friday.

I called the Germain Honda Finance guy late morning to share my plan for dropping off the new contract. I asked how he planned to handle the soon to expire 30 days tags. He agreed that this was their bad and that if the title wasn’t sent by next Tuesday, he would cover the cost of new temp tags himself. Fair enough. Told him that I’d be in around 5pm.

The jacket I dropped at Swan Cleaners the Friday prior was supposed to be ready too. I called to confirm it was ready and then get their hours. It was there and ready for pick-up, but the kid shared that they planned to close at 5pm. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get there by then, especially since I had to stop at Germain Honda on my way home first.

There was lots of holiday food made available for the employees. I opted to stick with what I packed – all healthy stuff. I had some carrots, nuts, fruit and cheese. Earlier in the day I was craving more coffee but never caved to the desire. Took care of everything that crossed my plate through the day. By far my easiest work day in a while. I talked with Mindy later afternoon advising of my planned stops. Wasn’t sure what time I’d be leaving.

All was quiet and everything on my to-do list was done by 4pm. I left for home at 410pm. I’d heard a few others talking about how brisk and cold it was outside. What a shock! It was near freezing, windy, and spitting snow as I made the long walk to my car in the back lot. Leaving the campus traffic was tight, but once I was on 270 I could tell that it was a holiday. On a non-holiday, traffic at the Sawmill Rd exit can be backed up for as much as a mile. I worried that might be the case then too. After all, Sawmill Rd is a major shopping artery.

Lucky for me, there wasn’t a back-up at the exit. I made it to Germain by 430pm. I quickly found Marcello, the finance manager and handed him the signed contract. He reiterated his intentions to FedEx it that evening and have the title by Tuesday for Lindsey to pick-up. I repeated our plan and asked if he agreed. Yes. Fine. I wasn’t there more than five minutes. Looked like I was going to make it to the Mill Run Swan Cleaners before 5pm after all.

Called Mindy between my stops. She shared how the rest of her afternoon unfolded. Took the boys to Target to pick-up some Xmas things. Jimaken brought our kids home around 3pm. Said that the boys (Jacob, Evan and Rocky) had some issues. But it was nothing she couldn’t handle. She shared that Bella would be spending a couple hours that evening at Chrissy’s so we could go see Mark Pansing at Barley’s. He’s in town from Arizona.

Traffic was full speed all the way around to Hilliard. Arrived at Swan Cleaners by 445pm. Checked the new zipper while the kids completed the sale. Yep, works like new! That was $10 well spent.

Rather than head back to 270S, I opted for the back way home taking Old Dublin Rd to Trabue. Arrived home near 5pm. Saw Bella out walking Eiknarf as I pulled up the drive. She was wearing my jacket and shoes and had an entire roll of poop sacks unrolled from the hard plastic storage boot attached to the leash. Before heading inside, I walked towards Bella and the pug to give her some help. Bella!!!! She took the dog. I took the trail of poop sacks and the spool. I wound all the bags tightly back onto the spool then headed inside. Man, was it chilly!

Lindsey had already been there to pick-up the boys. She got off earlier than originally expected, too. Bella had Mindy heat up a mini frozen pizza for her dinner. She made quick work of the pizza and then headed down to the neighbors. Mindy asked for help lugging the pre-lit Xmas tree up from the basement. I helped her get it set up, too. It doesn’t take but a minute or two. It’s almost like an umbrella.

While Mindy messed with the tree, I did some writing in my blog. And soon after Mindy readied for our night out, she walked down to talk with Chrissy. I was ready to go by the time she returned, which was somewhere close to 630pm. We chose to let Jacob stay home by himself. He likes having that trust, and so far he’s been really smart with it. We didn’t expect to be gone for more than 2 hours.

Got a close parking spot. Wasn’t really that crowded, though I didn’t really expect it to be either. Typically isn’t day after TG. Greeted Mark near the bar’s entrance. Wow, he’s lost a lot of weight. Said he’s staying very active – biking and hiking. I believe he’s been out there for three years now.

I opted for a Barley’s Xmas ale. It was good. Talked with the twins, Kent & Kurt, for a little while. They always have an interesting story. Mindy was at the bar talking with some geeky looking guy for a while. She ordered a hummus plate, which we shared. I headed to the bar for a 2nd beer and was informed that it was on Jim B., who had already left so I couldn’t thank him. I ordered a Centennial.

Mindy promised Jacob we’d bring home some chicken tenders. We ordered them around 840pm. In somewhat of a role reversal, I had to pry Mindy from the bar around 850pm to head home. She picked up the tab.

Home just before 9pm, we agreed to walk down and see the neighbors, something we used to do almost every Friday night. It’s been a while. Jacob stayed back enjoying his dinner, but said he’d likely come down once he was finished. I took a White Rajah. It was loud at the neighbors, Teri O. had her iPod plugged into their home’s sound system. Finished my beer pretty quickly. Mindy agreed to walk home and get me another.

I’m guessing it was near 10pm when Bella asked if she could have a sleepover at Kayla’s. Mindy agreed. We hung out until about 1030pm. The neighbors invited us down for the Michigan game. Said we might stop down but that we were having the kids and grandkids over for TG. Mindy headed right to bed. I was hungry, so I stayed up a while longer eating my leftover Italian hoagie from CBC.