New Chairs, PF Changs, Family Dinner

I slept in until 820am. All totaled, I must’ve gotten about 8.5 hours of sleep. I felt good. I slipped into some comfy PJs, brushed my teeth, then headed downstairs where I quickly started some coffee. It felt good to be home with all of our creature comforts. Those things I always miss when gone for any amount of time. Soon I was at my PC with a cup of coffee complete with whipped cream, caramel and cinnamon, which is something I went an entire week without.

I enjoyed a leisurely morning downloading our vacation photos, drinking coffee, and playing on the internet. Mindy and the pug weren’t up until sometime near 10am. I took the pug on a walk ahead of my run. It had to be near 1040am before I dressed for a run. Ahead of that, I unpacked all of gear and put darn near everything away.

I felt surprisingly good after skiing big mountains 5 out of the last 6 days. No stiffness whatsoever. Even my neck, shoulders and hammies felt good. That really lifted my spirits. I ran three miles comfortably, easily. Back at the house sometime after 11am, Mindy was busy putting together her grocery list. I suggested that we go chair shopping and then to lunch. She agreed. Over the next hour the both of us got showers. We left the house sometime after 12 noon.

We planned to shop at Front Room Furnishings. I reminded Mindy how the furniture industry works, which is to hold sales virtually every other week. I just didn’t want her to succumb to the pressure to buy to avoid a sale ending. She understood. While in route, Mindy called my dad and invited him to dinner. She also exchanged texts with Tommy, extending the same offer. Both planned to be there near 6pm.

Bella called on our drive up to Tuttle. When she learned our purpose, she insisted we NOT buy ‘old people’ chairs. Too funny! When pressed, she said like Maw-maws.

Our goal at Front Room Furnishings was to find the ideal recliner and then have two of them custom covered to complement our near livingroom paint color. I carried in the 1’X2’ piece of drywall I painted to help us along. We scoured both the 1st and 2nd floors looking at numerous recliners. At first we both gravitated towards the bigger, bulkier recliners but quickly backed off, opting instead for something smaller, but perhaps a little larger than the traditional Queen Anne style recliner like we have in their now.

In the past, our tastes in furniture has seemed to clash, let alone color and material. Truthfully, going in, I was worried that we might leave in frustration. That wasn’t the case. We eventually came to the same recliner as the ideal match for the given space. That was really something given that we must’ve looked at 20 different models. Our common goal was to find a style that was functional yet formal looking.

Once we choose the recliner, a Lane, we corralled a sales rep to help point us to the customer coverings available. If we didn’t have trouble picking a style, we’d surely have a problem agreeing on a covering. There were probably a 100 different fabrics to choose from. Initially we choose those we like separately. And as it was, I liked one or two that Mindy chose, and she the same of my selection.

It was Mindy who suggested we then go out on a limb and pick something out of both our wheel houses. I was very surprised to see her return with a paisley pattern, a look I have always liked. Not only that, but it matched our paint specimen better than any of the others we had laid out. We eliminated all but three, then down to just two, including the newest paisley pattern. After some discussion we agreed on the peacock paisley. And as it turned out, the recliner was on sale. Initially, the sales associate told us that the material we picked was no additional charge, but later returned to advise that it would be a $100 upgrade per chair. Not wanting to disappoint my wife, I still agreed to stay with our top choice. Could it really go that smoothly?

We ended up getting another 5% off for buying that day, ½ price delivery ($45), and then an extra 2% for paying cash on the spot. She said to expect delivery no later than April 11th. Based on her words, we were left with the impression that they under promise on the customer delivery date so never to disappoint. Said it could easily come earlier.

We left Front Room Furnishings then headed to lunch just down the road at PF Chang’s, Mindy’s choice. Moderate crowd, but a table immediately available. We ordered the lettuce wrap appetizers. Yum! They’re always delicious. We both ordered a bowl of Won-ton, too. Our server quickly inserted that a bowl was plenty big enough for the both of us. She was right. It was more like a crock. It was super good, too. We opted to share an entrée, spicy chicken. Glad we did, because I was full after the soup and lettuce wraps. We took about a 1/3 of our entrée home.

Mindy asked me to install her new vanity plates. They’ve been sitting in with the incoming mail for more than a month now. It was chilly, but also sunny. Why not? I had to use my socket set to remove the plate bolts. They were seized up with rust. But a little WD-40 and presto! Jimaken dropped off the kids while I was busy with the plates. Once Mindy’s new plates were installed, I unpacked my skis then carried the ski bag to the basement for storage. Mindy and Bella left for the grocery store soon after. Jacob had already headed off to play basketball with his peeps.

While Mindy was away at the grocery, I played around online. Among other things, I took the time to email my blog word docs from Mindy’s laptop to my home PC. I snuggled up in the peach Queen Anne chair to read about 20 minutes before they got home from the grocery. I kept reading even after they returned home. By then it was 5pm. Not long after that my dad showed up.

Not too long into his visit he shared the reason he phoned me the day prior. Turns out, he received sexually explicit prerecorded phone messages that showed up with my phone number. Confused, he called me to see what was up without disclosing the details. I asked to see his phone. Sure enough. He received 4 calls over a 3 hour span, each lasting almost 2 minutes and all four masked with my phone number. I went for my phone to show him that I placed no outgoing calls. In fact, I was in transit to the SLC airport at the time. I became very concerned on a lot of fronts. I carefully noted all the details, including the times and duration with plans to dig in the following day while at work.

Tommy & Wally showed up around 530-545pm. Wally’s going to be 6 in a few days. We still need to celebrate both Ashley and Landon’s birthdays. We’re behind. Speaking of dinner, Mindy made chicken pesto and pasta. After a sizeable lunch just a couple hours earlier, I wasn’t real hungry but enjoyed the pasta dish just the same.

During dinner my cell rang. I couldn’t get to the call in time. Ironically, it was from dad’s home phone. Impossible, given that he lives alone and was there sitting at our dinner table. Since I didn’t get to answer I don’t know if I was set up for the same prerecorded message, but figured it a scheme of the same nature.
I Googled phone number hijacking and learned about apps for such things. I guessed, however, that my cell provider would be able to trace the ‘real’ caller.
Mindy picked up a keylime pie for dessert. She waited until I was all but done with kitchen clean-up. That really hit the spot. The kids were that fond of it, however. Tommy & Wally peeled off for home shortly after dad left. Just before he left, Tommy wrote me a check to cover his remaining share of the Utah trip. I put it with the others, planning to make a bank run at lunch time Monday.

It was soon near 8pm. Where had the day gone? It literally flew by. I did a little more reading but then snuck up to our bedroom around 830pm where I tuned into the Science Channel watching a program titled The Bible. Interesting episode detailing Moses’ life and times, including his plotting and planning of the Exodus. And because I am currently studying pre-Socratic philosophy, I felt compelled to compare the Moses timeline to my studies. I planned to do a little research the following day.

Mindy joined me in bed around 9pm or just before. She watched the rest of the program with me. Bella came in for short while after her shower. She was interested too. She watched the parting of the Red Sea. She had lots of questions. What curious child wouldn’t? The program was over at 10pm. Next up was a new series entitled, Vikings. I was curious about it too, but Mindy wanted to turn the TV off and get some sleep. I acquiesced. Good night moon!