Oooooooooooooh-Aaaaaaaahh

It was yet another late start for the kids, the third so far this school year. We never heard back from Chrissy the night before, so I simply planned to work from home until 1030am or so. Of course that afforded me a lot of flexibility with my personal schedule. I opted to sleep in an extra 25 minutes, not rolling out of bed until 555am. And even then I was 100% ready. For some reason I was still game for more sleep.

The sleepies quickly faded after Wednesday calisthenics, which included sit-ups, push-ups and windmills. I did some deep back stretches, too, in an effort to relieve a mild kink. Took Mindy coffee next. By the way, she ran vinegar through the coffee maker Sunday night in an effort to resolve our Starbucks issue. It still leaked but far, far less. My guess is that the permanent filter needs replaced.

Mindy asked if I planned to run before she left for school. I wasn’t 100% sure but thought I might. Back downstairs, I logged onto my work laptop then sent an email to my customer to let them know about my late start, so they wouldn’t be wondering where I was come 9am. By then it was pushing 7am. I figured to wait before heading out on a run. Neither kid was up. Jacob didn’t need to be at the bus stop until 9am, and Bella didn’t need to be there until 1010am.

I hung out and played around online until almost 810am. After a stretch and meditation I dressed for a run. I scrawled out a note letting the kids know I was out on a run so they wouldn’t wake and wonder where I was. Just as I was walking towards the front door to exit, I could hear Jacob up and stirring. I let him know I was heading off on my run.

It was only 36 degrees, much chillier than it had been in a few days. It was sunny though, so that helped warm things considerably. For no good reason, I ran only three miles. Once again, my legs felt great. Jacob was already gone by the time I was back at home. It was close to 9am. He couldn’t have been gone for long.

I poured another cup of coffee then got busy with work. I woke Bella around 915am. She was slow to motivate. Seemed out of it. Slowly but surely she was up and about. I took a shower around 945am, just about two hours later than usual. In other words, we were right on track for the 2 hour late start.

I planned to head to the bus stop at 1010am, but Bella came to the bathroom soon after I was showered asking if she could head down to Makayla’s and hang there until bus time. I agreed. Makayla called earlier, and well before Bella was even awake to ask if she could come down. I ended taking care of work issues from home until 1025am when I logged off and headed for New Albany. Because of the hour, I definitely didn’t’ expect there to be a problem with traffic and there wasn’t. I made excellent time, arriving close to 1045am. It was still a little chilly, but a gorgeous late autumn morning just the same.

It was 11am before I was settled. I dug into monthly report data again, and that’s how I spent most of my day save for the hour or so taking care of a single escalated issue. I took lunch at 130pm and headed to Dick’s Sporting Goods at Easton. I didn’t have anything I wanted to look at specifically, but thought that the visit might give me some ideas for Mindy’s Xmas gifts. No such luck, but it did give me the opportunity to check out their snow ski seasonal offerings. Aside from Jacob needing a new helmet, I think everybody’s set.

Was there for a while. Headed back to the office at 220pm. Had to park far removed from my usual parking spot. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the piece of my monthly report that I despise the most. Through my diligence, I was able to get completely through it, so not to prolong my agony into Thursday. 

It was a date night Wednesday a Jimaken night for the kids). Finally, Jimaken is no longer teaching on Wednesday evenings, so we’re back to having our Wednesday evening’s free. Mindy & I are both happy about that. We didn’t have firm plans, however. I left work at 450pm in an effort to make it home somewhere close to 530pm, and I phoned Mindy once safely merged onto 270. As expected, she asked where we might go. I suggested, Bru, the new brew pub in the short north that some folks we met at BJ’s told us all about. Mindy had a difficult time hearing me. Took her a while to decipher what I said. Once it was clear, she asked if I knew if they were opened. I only assumed so. Mindy also shared that somebody broke into our Russian neighbors’ home that day. That put me in a bad frame of mind, worrying about our own home’s vulnerability.

Got home very near 530pm, actually a few minutes before. Jimaken had just pulled up too. He was walking up the drive chatting on his cell phone. Soon, Jimaken and the kids were off. I thought I heard Jim say that he’d have them home by 8pm. Mindy was still fooling around on her laptop and advised that Bru wasn’t yet open after checking out their Facebook page. I suggested Barley’s. She was OK with that. I headed up to brush my teeth and hair. Was ready five minutes later. Mindy took a few minutes to freshen up too.

Mindy filled me in on more of the break-in details. In fact, the cops were still at their home. Apparently the break-in happened sometime between 1-4pm, and neighbor Mike saw the guy in t heir yard but apparently didn’t put two and two together until it was too late. I find the whole thing very upsetting.

We arrived at Barley’s near 610pm. First time in on a Wednesday for a while. Fairly strong crowd, only one stool available at the bar. Mindy took that while I opted to stand. I ordered a Pale ale while Mindy sampled a few different beers before settling on a Fortune Teller, an East India Imperial Porter.
Not too much time went by before the stool next to Mindy freed. I took full advantage. After 45 minutes or so we ordered some food. We opted to share a half roasted chicken dinner. I wasn’t ridiculously hungry.

We were soon joined at the bar by the twins, Kent & Kurt. Last we spoke, Kurt’s 14 year old niece had just moved in with he and his wife. I was eager to hear how it’s been going. We talked about it for a while. Sounds like it’s going pretty well. She’s apparently not used to having parents all up in her business. Trust me, a 14 year old girl needs someone up in her business every minute.

Mindy disappeared for a solid 10 minutes to do a walkabout. The food arrived shortly after she vacated her stool. And while it was for both of us, I didn’t want to dig in until she was back since it was her idea. She was off chatting with Zach, the manager. I let her know that her dinner was ready. It must’ve been about 720pm when we dug into our dinner. I let Mindy eat as much of the chicken as she wanted before taking my first bite, though I did snack on the fries and a few of the green beans.

I ordered a 2nd beer, too, a Centennial. Mindy stopped at one. Said she really liked the Fortune Teller. Christa joined us at the bar after the twins left. They typically don’t stay too long. They're often in for one beer and then gone. Christa is a masseuse by profession. Mindy asked for her help with a kink in her neck, and Christa went right to work. You would think Mindy was having an orgasm judging by the oohs and ahhs. Apparently she found the tension release spot dead on. Mindy appreciated it so much so that she bought Christa's first two beers.

It was 755pm. I suggested we needed to be heading home. Mindy informed me that they wouldn’t’ be home until 815pm but still asked for the check. She clarified that what Jimaken said was that he was leaving his house at 8pm. We arrived home around 805pm. Sure enough, no kids. We had just enough time to change into our PJs and get comfy in the family room before they arrived home. I tuned the TV to How the Universe Works watching an episode about volcanism elsewhere in our solar system.

I fell asleep watching TV well before 9pm. I woke again around 1015pm to find everyone else already in bed. I turned off the house then jumped into bed. Ahh!