Malingering?

 

 

I woke plenty early enough, but come 530am I simply wasn’t ready to get up and out of bed. Told myself that sleeping to 6am would be fine. Well, 6am rolled around and I told myself that even sleeping until 630am would be OK. After all, it was a scheduled late start morning for the kids and Mindy was staying home from school again sick. Well, 630am came around and still wasn’t ready to get up. In the end, I wasn’t out of bed until 650am. And even then, I could’ve slept longer.

Downstairs a few minutes later, I whipped out calisthenics, including push-ups. I wasn’t at the PC with coffee until 705am. And there I played until almost 740am. I did meditation and stretching next, not finishing both of those until almost 805am about the same time I heard Jacob getting in the shower.

It was a balmy 65 degrees and raining. At times the rain pounded against the house. I’ll admit that it was tough to get excited about running in a torrential downpour, but at least there wasn’t any lightning. I left the house near 815am still perhaps a little over dressed. I didn’t bother backing down to the thinner wicking shirt. I was in my thickest wicking shirt and my thing jacket. If it wasn’t for the rain I would’ve way too warm.

I ran the full 4.1 miles and was completely drenched not more than halfway into it. You reach a certain point where the rain no longer matters. For me, that’s usually as soon as my socks are thoroughly soaked. Jacob was just leaving for the bus when I got back home. It had to be close to 9am. I asked if he would do me a favor and fetch Eiknarf from Bella’s bed. He did so willingly. I didn’t want to drip all over the carpet.

Eiknarf took care of her business in record time. We were back after just five minutes. She was good and wet by then, too. I stripped out of my sopping wet running clothes in the kitchen and tossed them into the dryer. I put my wet running shoes upside down over the register vent in the bay window then put my PJs back on.

Last I knew, I was supposed to keep Makayla for late start too. I went upstairs to wake Bella. This time I remembered to turn on her ceiling light, just like Mindy does. :) At first I couldn’t understand a work she said, but she popped up quickly. Once she repeated I understood. Kenny was staying home with Makayla.

Downstairs, I started my breakfast and then got Bella going. I was already logged onto my laptop which I had set-up prior to my run. Because it was Wednesday, I was still planning on heading to New Albany. I let my main contacts know that I’d be joining our 10am call from home and then in the office about an hour later.

Finished breakfast by 930am and quickly dashed off to the shower. I delivered Mindy a cup of coffee along the way. Still sick. Was back downstairs by 950am. I reminded Bella of my 10am call and suggested that she be ready to head out by herself. She was fine with that. Just before my call started she declared herself fully ready and started to head out. But it was only 957am. I made sure she knew the bus wouldn’t be there until 1015am. She opted to wait a while longer.

My call was very brief, no more than five minutes. Bella was out the door without me. I think she was looking forward to the independence. I heard the bus pull up a minute or two later. Logged off my laptop and made double sure I packed my power cord and mouse. Went upstairs to say goodbye to Mindy. She let me know that she talked with Bella and took away her bedroom TV privileges. Mindy caught her watching TV around 1130pm the night before. Bella, Bella, Bella!

I left the house around 1030am. I took 670 east to 270 north. Traffic didn’t pose even a single problem. Tried calling brother Tommy during my drive. Wanted to talk about our Utah trip. Went to VM. Arrived at the customer’s campus around 1055am. Had to park far removed from the walk into the building for the late arrival. No biggie. By then the rain had stopped completely.

I was very surprised to find my office being used as a storage room while they replaced carpet squares. I went to one of the managers asking where they wished for me to set-up shop. They provided me a new cube way in the back with a low wall and right on a major aisle. I didn’t mind, but as you might expect, I had several folks stop by just to chat. Lots of folks were shuffling offices to accommodate the carpet replacement project.

I had a lot on my plate and subsequently stayed really busy. Because I arrived so late, I opted to skip taking a formal lunch break and worked straight through. In fact, the only thing I brought to eat was almonds and cheese. I ate those around 2pm.

Thought I might leave around 445pm but just 4 minutes before then I got an IM from a project manager I’ve been working with asking me to join an important conference bridge. Ugh! I joined and ended up being on the call until 545pm, and couldn’t get wrapped up until 6pm. There will be days like that. As soon as the call ended I phoned Mindy to let her know I’d be home a little late. The kids were already off with Jimaken. We didn’t plan on going out to dinner, however, since she was sick.

It was dark when I left the office. I decided to take 670 since it was at the tail end of rush hour. Traffic was a little heavy near downtown but never a delay. In kind, I made excellent time heading home. Arrived by 622pm.

Mindy was resting on the sofa still in her PJs. Said she spent most of the day in bed yet was still tired. Asked me if I would make cream of chicken over rice for dinner. Sure. I cooked the rice and then heated the cream of chicken using the microwave – efficient. I made 4 servings of rice. We are it all. Despite being ill, she still ate as much as me. I think the dinner weighed heavily in her tummy. She headed for bed again shortly thereafter.

Shared my plan to put some of the new SW Sawdust paint on the livingroom wall so we could see what it was going to look like. Using a computer monitor and even the paint chips are often misleading. Case and point, the same color looks tan on my monitor, but more like a cool gray on my work laptop. Yikes!

Mindy was already up in bed when I did the test area. I knew soon after opening the paint can that the color was very close to the look I was seeking. I used a brush to cover a small area between the front door and the light switch. Of course it looks really dark against the existing bright white wall color, but still warm and nice. I hollered for Mindy to come take a peak if she cared to. She did, and liked it. Back to bed for her. To the basement to clean the paint brush for me.

I did some reading in the quiet of the livingroom with Soundscapes playing very, very softly in the background. Read about 10 pages before taking a short nap. Woke just before the kids returned home.

Immediately in the door, I asked Bella for a hug. She was very dramatic in sharing that she felt horrible. Said she was sick and ran upstairs to Mindy. Jacob, however, insisted that she was faking. About ten minutes later I got a text from Mindy saying she wanted me. I went to see what about. Snuggled in bed with her was Bella. I kidded Bella about faking a cough. Mindy said she was warm. Bella was in no mood for funning around. I only reminded her that she was in MY bed.

They were watching American Idol, which I promised myself I wouldn’t become slave to this season. Instead, I headed back downstairs to do more reading. More reading lead to more napping. I headed up to bed for good just before 10pm.