Zero Sum Game

 

Goddag - Danish

I woke around 7am to the sound of children running up and down the hallway. Even when they try to be quiet they make a lot of noise. Thankfully, it never got too loud and I was able to return to sleep, at least for a little while longer. I was up for good just a little after 8am. Mindy asked if I would bring her coffee in a little while. Yes dear.

I wasn’t downstairs for long at all before being joined by the kids. The sound of me making coffee must’ve roused them from their otherwise quiet play. Immediately they started in about wanting coffee. I’ve created a monster with that. I enjoyed a little internet while they played. As soon as the coffee was ready I headed upstairs with a cup for Mindy. Back downstairs I enjoyed some of my own, telling the children that I needed to have a few minutes to myself. 

Once the coffee kicked in, I poured each of them a cup using only about ¼ coffee, the rest milk, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and caramel topping. By then Mindy was up and downstairs. I very much appreciated that she didn’t make me hoe it alone. Pretty quickly, she got crackin’ on breakfast, which was already decided to be bacon and two kinds of pancakes (M&M and chocolate chip). I took the pug on a walk then hurried back home to ready for a run.

I’m thinking that it was near 930am when I left for my run. No rain but the threat was present. In fact, thunderstorms were forecasted. And while it wasn’t raining when I headed out the door, it was very windy and gusting from the SW. Much warmer than I expected though - almost 60 degrees. I got so warm that I had to take off my jacket at the two mile mark and tie it around my waist. By then I was dripping in sweat. To make matters worse, my legs were stiff for some reason too. It was one of those runs where I simply had to gut it out. I was very happy one home was in my sights.

Mindy was in the shower when I got back from my run. She needed to pick-up Jacob and also wanted to make a run to Macy’s to get Larry some of his favorite mints for his birthday. She talked about stopping by her sister’s to drop ‘em off, too. The kids, meanwhile, were playing Wii and surprisingly without too much of a fuss.

Mindy didn't leave to get Jacob until 1140am after receiving a text from Josh’s mom just before 11am advising that the boys were still sleeping. Originally, Mindy planned to leave just after 11am and take Rocky with her. However, just before she was ready to go, Rocky had a change of heart. He wanted to stay home and play Wii with the others.

While Mindy was away, I hung out with the kids. I got a text from Ashley shortly after Mindy left sharing that she was coming to get the kids around noon. She showed up 20 minutes later. The kids, however, were all still in their PJs playing Wii. And even though Olivia was happy to see her momma, she didn't want to leave. Since the afternoon before, she'd been telling us that she was taking her daddy to the movies to see Free Bird Sunday afternoon. She sounded very excited about it. However, according to Ashley, Stephen had a little too much fun the night before and wasn't in any shape to be going to the movies that afternoon. In fact, they talked on the phone while still at my house. I could hear him pleading with Livy to reschedule for another day. :)

Ashley and the kids left around 1230pm. And soon after they left, I headed up for a shower. Mindy and Jacob got home around 115pm. Mindy was a little surprised that all the grandkids were gone. She was planning to make them all lunch. With a quiet house, I snuggled up in the family room chair watching football - Browns/Bengals. It wasn't long before I fell asleep from the chair. I slept on and off over the next hour. Felt terrific.

Around 215pm, Lindsey phoned sharing that the boys wanted to come back over to our house to play and have dinner. Mindy and I briefly talked it over and agreed. Lindsey dropped them off 15-20 minutes later. No sooner were the kids back at our place, when they were both off to play football with Jacob and company. We didn't see them again until just before dinner. I'm glad they were able to play in a safe environment.

Ahead of dinner, I napped and watched football. While I took it easy, Mindy did laundry and prepped a salad and potatoes for dinner. We planned to grill the steaks from the deck but the forecast was calling for severe weather about that same time. In fact, areas just to our west were already being pummeled with severe thunderstorms and tornados. It had been windy all afternoon, but come 530pm it started to rain too. Plan "B" was to broil the steaks inside. There wasn't any let up in the storm so we opted for plan "B".

I hadn't broiled steaks inside for years, so I wasn't real sure how long to broil each side. I had to baby sit them through the entire process, which wasn't too big a deal. They turned out OK. I ended up slicing into them to check the center. Two of the four were still deep red in the center. I let them broil for 3 extra minutes. Worked out pretty well.

We split 3 filets between 6 of us. That was plenty. I had to laugh when Bella asked for more steak, but this time from the two a little less cooked. A girl after her mother and I's hearts. The roasted redskins were exceptional. Mindy let them marinate in a ziplock all afternoon. Cooked, they were moist and flavorful. After dinner the kids had a hodge-podge of choices for dessert. Rocky had a popsicle. Jacob had a mini pumpkin pie. Not sure what Landon and Bella had.

Wrapped up dinner just after 6pm. Lindsey sent a text shortly thereafter wondering what time to come after the boys. I suggested 630pm. Mindy made Jacob & Bella aware that we would be having another family meeting after the boys left. The meeting was to review the weekly chore list as well as their performance from the prior week. While the kids played, I kicked back in the recliner and did a little reading from my Kindle. Starting to get the hang of using it versus a hardback book. So many advantages with the Kindle. For one, if I want to find the meaning of a word all I have to do is hold a finger over the word until a definition pops up. Very useful! There are countless other features too, like bookmarking and highlighting, which I now use in tandem to not only mark my page but to also highlight where I last left off. I am sure there's more but I am new to the technology.

Lindsey showed up just before 630pm after sending a text to let us know that she was outside. The boys rushed out without hugs and kisses. They're very weird about that. No sooner had they left when Mindy called both kids to the kitchen table for our family meeting. I joined then there a few seconds later. Just prior I checked on the Vikings/Seahawks game. It wasn't looking good for the Vikings - they were behind by double digits- though I wasn't expecting much either.

Mindy asked each of the kids how they thought they did in each of the categories on the chore list. Not sure what world Jacob's living in. :) He gave himself high marks with every chore. Bella, on the other hand, was extra hard on herself, even with the chores we deemed a complete success. Mindy handled it well, giving praise but also sharing where improvements are needed. Jacob couldn't stop himself from making multiple wise cracks. Well, that rarely ends well, and this time was no exception, either. He smarted off one too many times culminating in Mindy taking his phone. Of course he pleaded for her to give it back but the answer was a firm no.

After the meeting, we sat in the livingroom with me reading and Mindy playing on her phone. Bella headed upstairs for a shower. At some point we learned that Bella hasn't been using shampoo to wash her hair. Instead, only cream rinse. Made me laugh. No wonder her hair smells! I read until 930pm then Mindy and I headed for bed but where we watched some of the SNF game between Denver/K.C. We watched until halftime. Denver lead when we turned the TV so we could sleep.