ZIPA Zing

If you asked me at 530am what's the best thing about working for home I'd likely tell you that it's sleeping in till 7am or so. And that's exactly what I did Friday morning. I rolled over and noticed Mindy already up, out of bed, and downstairs. It was 7am. I laid there for a few more minutes until I was satisfied that it was time for me to get up. I brushed my teeth then headed downstairs where I met Mindy & Bella in the kitchen. Bella was slow to motivate, but at least she was up.

I whipped out my calisthenics, poured some coffee, then checked in with work. Mindy left for school somewhere near 730am - big surprise. She wasn't gone five minutes before Bella rushed to call her after detecting what she thought was too much of her medicine swimming in the bottom of her juice glass. I took a gander and determined it was miniscule. Bella still didn't think so. She called her mom crying and then came to me advising that Mindy asked that I give her another half a capsule.

Having seen the residual first hand, I promptly called Mindy back to debate that logic. She agreed with me, of course. I told she would be fine. She pouted for a few minutes but like a lot of things, quickly got over herself. We headed out for the bus at 752am. I headed out still in my bed clothes and also with bed head. The bus was pretty much there on time. Before heading back home, I walked the pug. That didn't take too long. Back home by 810am.

Decided to do a little work before heading off on my run. It ended up being about 9am when I finally left the house. Treating Friday's much like a weekend day, I ran just three miles. Back at home around 930am I quickly got back to work.

Talked with my boss late morning putting some tweaks on the year-to-date presentation we were set to present come 2pm. Thankfully, not too many modifications requested. Being mindful of the 2pm presentation as well as my personal goals, I set out for lunch and to mow the lawn near noon. Took a little more than an hour to complete the entire job. Again, with the lawn being drier than it's been all summer, cutting was a lot faster. By the time I finished it was well into the 80s and sunny. Worked up a heck of a sweat.

The 2pm presentation went fairly well. Ended with me taking on a few more to-dos which I was afraid would happen. Spent the rest of the afternoon working on my regular monthly report and then a few administrative tasks. Jacob was home from school first. He was hanging outside with 4 girls, all of them cute. Didn't seem bothered when I poked my head out and asked which one was his girlfriend. One of them piped up that it was her. Later learned that it was Caroline. Man, she's certainly grown up the last year or so.

Bella was home about an hour later, and then Mindy was home shortly before 5pm. Both kids had designs on going to the big Hilliard rivalry football game - Davidson vs. Darby, though with separate crowds. Mindy left to take Jacob and his friend around 6pm. Bella was going with neighbor Chrissy, Makayla & Lillian. Her son Jake is in the marching band. All that added up to Mindy and I having a date night. When Mindy asked where I wanted to go I hesitated little when offering up Barley's. At some point after the work day, I took 30 minutes to wash the Accord. It was filthy and looking bad.

While Mindy ran Jacob and his buddy to the football game, I stayed home waiting for the tree guy that called and promised to stop by to give us an estimate on having the 6 dead ash trees removed. Said he'd be there by 630pm. I planned to shower as soon as he was gone. It was after 630pm when he finally showed. We headed out back together. Showed him all six of the trees. He commented that they'd all be climbers and the one by the pond the hardest to bring completely down. He also shared that it would almost certainly be a three day job. Bottom line, his estimate was a whopping $5500. Mindy got home just as John was leaving. He left his business card should we decide we wanted to use his tree service.

After a quick shower, we set out for Barley's. By then it was very close to 7pm. For the first hour or more, I still had work on the brain. At one point Mindy asked what was the matter. I must've had a horrible look on my face as I stared off in space thinking about a work issue. Yikes! But it nothing a couple beers wouldn't cure! :) Zing!

I started off with one of their guest taps, a West Coast IPA. At the same time, Mindy selected a guest IPA too, only she went with a Stone IPA. The bar was uncharacteristically barren. Hardly a sole inside. We chatted with Sarah the bartender until Tom Clark moseyed in. Mindy sent him a text earlier. My 2nd and 3rd beers were ZIPAs. Mindy had just one more. She also ordered dinner, something I didn't do. She ordered a Barley burger.

A little but later Thad & Monica stopped in for one beer. Didn't notice until they were leaving, but Monica had dropped a bunch of weight, and I guess all the right way. Said she's doing lots and lots of biking these days. Looks fantastic!

Often times a late night crowd of regulars will materialize but that just wasn't the case this time. Mindy invited Tom to stop over on Sunday for the family dysfunction. I doubted he would show. I'm only guessing that it was near 10pm when Mindy and I headed for home. Mindy drove.

Mindy headed promptly to b ed. I stayed up a while longer having some food. By then I was plenty hungry. Can't remember what I snacked on. I think I ate the kids leftover pizza. Joined Mindy in bed near 11pm.