Mulling Utah

I slept rock solid until about 4am. After that it was choppy. Good thing I fell asleep so early the night before. I felt more than rested when I finally pulled myself from bed around 545am. Downstairs I quickly whizzed through calisthenics completing sit-ups, windmills, and curls.

The coffee was already finished brewing. In fact, I could smell it from bed earlier. Yum! Because it was already after 6am, I went ahead and took Mindy her coffee before making some for myself. Jacob was already in the shower when I headed back downstairs.

At my computer with coffee, I decided that I was going to work from home. It was 22 degrees, by the way. Far colder than I expected. I checked the forecast. Still calling for a high in the mid 40’s by midafternoon. Didn’t plan to run until after seeing Bella onto the bus, which is perhaps the greatest benefit of working from home. I can take a much more casual approach to my morning, which the older I get the more beneficial doing that feels.

I did my meditation and stretch just before Mindy came down. While I got logged onto my work laptop, she put everything in the crock-pot necessary to make chicken tortillas soup. Me working from home saves her the hassle of prepping my lunch. She always appreciates that small surprise. Mindy left for school around 730am after warming the Pilot for a solid 10 minutes. It needed it. The frost was thick.

Shortly after she left, I headed upstairs where I noticed a puddle of pug pee on the hallway carpet. Dang it! It was hard for me to blame Eiknarf, though, given that Bella walked her too early on Wednesday evening – 405pm. It could tell that it was fresh. I used 4 old diapers to soak it all up before cleaning the spot with Resolve. Thankfully, doggie accidents like that are few and far between. Can’t recall the last time she had an accident indoors – easily months ago.

I took her out for a morning walk soon after. She pooped in a hurry. She must’ve been in pain! I met Bella at the bus stop after our walk. Chrissy shared that she talked with neighbor Trena the evening before. Said she’s very irritated with the contractors finishing her basement. Just now getting around to hanging drywall after 3.5 months. I’ll bet she slapped down at least $30K for the job. Yikes!

I was already in my running clothes, and once Bella was on the bus, I took the pug back home then headed off for my run. Ran only three miles. It was still below freezing, and according to Yahoo – 29 degrees. Easy run. I was home again by 855am and quickly back at my laptop with a 2nd cup of coffee. Took care of several issues then made myself breakfast consisting of two fried eggs and some leftover rotisserie chicken. Yum!

Kept busy finalizing a monthly report that I would be presented on Friday. Earlier, I sent an email to Glenn detailing the latest status of our Utah ski trip. Wasn’t looking favorable. I shared a few different options and promised to have more specifics later. We’ve talked about the possibility of moving our Utah trip to week of spring break, and possibly even doing a shorter Mt Hood ski trip over our anniversary week. I was still holding out hope that Mindy might make one last request again with personnel.

Worked in my running clothes for most of the day. Didn’t take a break and head for a shower until almost 2pm. The day sure seems to fly by when working from home. Per usual, Jacob was the first one home near 3pm. He did his homework right away then headed off to play outside. Bella got home around 4pm. I made sure she did her homework before heading out to play with friends, too.

I kept working until about 510pm. Mindy called around 430pm to let me know that she was on her way home after her hair appointment. Asked if I stirred the tortilla soup any time during the day. I did. In fact, I even broke up the three large chicken breasts she threw in.

Once Mindy was home, we discussed our ski trip options while both kids were still of playing with friends. We agreed that moving the Utah trip to spring break week, while convenient, would be almost sinful since the kids are off that week too. She suggested still going the last week in February but with her coming home three days early. She was also warm to the idea of taking the kids to Oregon spring break week. My only thought was that I didn’t want to think about an Oregon ski trip without going to Utah. With the exception of winter 2009, we’ve done Oregon skiing every year since 2006. She understood.

Mindy put the finishing touches on dinner. We ate shortly after 520pm. Mindy needed to run Bella to gymnastics at 540pm. The tortilla soup was delicious. Mindy made taco nachos too. Not sure why. The soup was filling enough. Plus, she used all the tortilla chips, which I like in my tortilla soup. Said she’s on a quest to use up our bulging supply of leftovers. We used paper bowls so clean-up was a snap. She and Bella soon left for gymnastics.

While she was gone, I took some time to piece together our Utah ski trip based on Mindy coming home early. It was painful because I booked our original trip using Southwest’s dreams vacations which had all the flights together, minus Glenn’s, of course. Now I had to book two flights with the package and then price out hers separately. It’s tough being the event planner, and thankless sometimes too.

Once I had it all priced out, I created a price breakdown sheet for each of us. The CMH airfare to SLC is ridiculous – almost $625 r/t. On the other hand, Glenn can fly direct to SLC from PDX for almost a 1/3 of that. For the heck of it, I priced out an Oregon spring break trip too, including both kids. It would certainly be nice to do two out west ski trips this winter. Not sure that it’s financially wise. Talk about getting your ya-yas out!

Once Mindy was home, I shared the numbers. I also sent a text to Tommy since we haven’t received final word from him as to whether or not he’s a go. He called back a few minutes later. Said he figures to be a go, but wanted one more day to cement coverage for his shops. Fair enough. He briefly mentioned the idea of him flying back with Mindy on Wednesday. I didn’t like that idea since the trip was always meant to be a full week.

I sent a summary email of the plan to all parties. I had a little time to relax and talk with Mindy before it was time to go after Bella. Left the house at 720pm taking the Pilot. I was happy to see that most of the construction is done on the southbound lanes of 270 towards Grover City. Certainly makes that drive a lot easier. Got there to pick-up Bella just before 730pm. They were just finishing up class.

Once dismissed, Bella asked Kelly if she could demo for me the most recent program she learned for the double mini. Kelly agreed. She does a back flip then bounces once more then dismounts. Cool! She was very proud. Not too surprising, Bella asked if we could stop for fast food on the drive home. No. We just had dinner. She didn’t fuss about it.

At home, I reheated some of the taco, cheese nachos Mindy made earlier. Bella insisted I peel off the meat and then add more cheese. I did my best to oblige her request. I did some reading in the family room while the kids readied for bed and Mindy played on her laptop. After about 30 minutes of reading, I tuned the TV to Office. Very funny episode. Mindy headed for bed even before 9pm. I set out to watch the program immediately following – 1600 something or other, but promptly fell asleep. I woke on the sofa around 1010pm and headed for bed.