Stuffin' Xmas Cards

For the first time since Friday, December 6th, I slept in later than 535am. Remained in bed stealing every minute of sleep that I could until 610am when I finally rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to get my day underway. Calisthenics were a snap (no push-ups). Sipping coffee by 620am. I took Mindy some before enjoying my own. She was already awake.

The plan to head across town for a holiday luncheon with a customer at noon. I planned to leave the house no later than 1115am. Until then, I planned to work from home. I took my time with coffee and internet but had some work needing my attention too. In addition to my own work load, I was covering for a vacationing peer. That's often a challenge, and certainly was this go around.

Jacob was still in a funk. Didn't say a word as he prepped to leave for school. Mindy and Bella were downstairs a little later. The two of them were in a fine mood. My plan was to wait and run after seeing Bella on the bus. Out to the bus stop at 755am. Took Eiknarf along, too, this her first opportunity all morning. It was still pretty cold - only 27 degrees. Standing still makes it worse, of course. Thankfully, the bus was along within five minutes. After she pulled away with the kids Eiknarf and I headed across the street to her favorite pooping spots. It's never easy for dogs in the snow. Requires a great deal of patience. IN addition to losing a scent, Eiknarf is so low to the ground that she's reluctant to venture into the belly deep snow. Finally, success! We headed home.

Over the next couple hours I worked hard mostly on a problem for my vacationing peer. At a break, I managed to find a little time to take care of a couple small Xmas tasks for Mindy. Headed for a shower near 1015am and prepared to leave by 1105am. I was supposed to join an 1130am call for another customer too. Suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed. Arrived at our 12 noon lunch destination at 1131am. I went to join the 1130am call from my car. Unfortunately, the dial-in number was truncated on my phone. Nothing I could do. Felt bad. Felt bad that is until I checked my email and say an email from the customer stating that they couldn't make the call anyway. :) Sometimes things just have a way of working out.

Headed in On the Border 10 minutes early after I saw the Account Exec walk in ahead of me. She and I were the first to arrive. She's the one that set the whole thing up. Took a while for the others, including 20 or so from our the customer's campus. They set us up in a separate area and dedicated two servers to the large group. I drank hi-test Coca-Cola and stuffed myself with chips and salsa like most of the others. Got to be a joke with how many baskets of chips we went through. Kept brining refills for the drinks too. Had to tell 'em, no mas! I ordered beef enchiladas. They were good, but I couldn't finish them. Too full. Got to know a few of the customer's contacts much better through lunch. Broke up the party near 145pm.

I headed directly across the parking lot to the Target where I intended to pick-up a few greeting cards - birthday and Xmas. Picked up a few stocking stuffer-type things too. Dropped that in the car then headed next door to Lowes where I picked more stocking/basket stuffers there as well. Found some cool stuff, or at least I think so.

From there it was home where I planned to finish out my work day. No traffic on 270S and 670W. I made excellent time. Arrived home by 240pm. It wouldn't be long before Jacob was home from school. I got busy with work as soon as I got my laptop fired up. I had a couple issues begging my attention since mid-morning. I worked on those for the duration of the day.

Jacob & Bella were home from school at their usual times. Mindy was home near her usual time, too. We were having leftovers for dinner and we had lots of them, including pizza, subs, pork, chicken and still more. I wasn't hungry, however, having just finished a big lunch at 145pm. Add to it, I don't usually eat like that midday so I was good for a while.

Mindy worked on Xmas tasks before and after running Bella to gymnastics. It's fair to say that both of us are feeling a little stressed over Xmas with all the pressure that comes along with making sure all the gifts are purchased, wrapped/prepped and no one is left out. It's fun at first, but becomes a bit overwhelming the last week. HV will be a welcome sight, indeed.

Worked on addressing and then stuffing Xmas cards next, or until it was time to fetch the Bella Left the house around 717pm. Arrived just as she was getting back into street clothes. Cuttin' it close! She asked if we could stop at Wendy's. Nope, not tonight. She asked not again. Once home, at her request, I made her a plate of nachos and cheese. It was Bella who took me the finer art of ensuring that there's cheese on each chip. According to Bella, the first step is to sprinkle shredded cheese on the empty paper plate. Then, add half the chips before adding more cheese. Add the rest of the chips then top the entire plate with more cheese.

Mindy and I spent the next hour or two building Xmas gift baskets/boxes. Two will need shipped out. We built those differently than we might've otherwise. I was impressed with the final product, Mindy excels at making the baskets look incredible. On the other hand, I am good at sourcing items for the baskets. We're a good team! We finished 4 of 6. By the time we knocked off, I was pooped. We cleaned up our mess then headed for bed.