My walk with Loki tonight.
Loki
Finding Balance
Today was one of those days that started right, when right to craptastic, and then ended just as it began. Allow me to elaborate.
Jess and I slept in this morning. We were up semi-late the night before and since both of us had late shifts today, there was no need to get up. When we did finally wake up, we just laid in bed for another 30 minutes or so cuddling and talking. It was nice because there was no immediate reason to get up and leave one another. After we got up, we had a little breakfast, took a shower, and then I had to head to work.
Work was would be the craptastic part I was talking about. It wasn’t as bad as some nights, but it was just one of those night you wanted to finish and forget about. I left work, picked up some eats (a nice salad) and came home.
Once home I talked with my wife for a bit while downloading some new music. I have been in a musical rut lately, and needed something new and fresh. Since we just got done with watching season 2 of ‘Mad Men’, I decided to pick up some music from he 50s and 60s. After searching, I finally decided on some Frank Sinatra. I have never really listened to Sinatra before, so this would be new and fresh to me. I loaded the album onto my iPhone, grabbed the leash, and took Loki for a walk. It was nice to be outside late at night (about midnight), listening to some good music, and spending some time with the pooch. After about a 30 minute walk, we returned. Both the walk and the music were very good and just what I needed.
I am now off to bed with my wife. We have another baby Dr. appointment in the morning, followed by another full night of work. But alas, I have Wednesday and Thursday off. Maybe good things really do come to those who wait.
The Week In Review
This week has had moments of sheer awesomeness, and moments of total suckage.
I had this past weekend off, and I had a most awesome weekend. Jess and I spent Saturday afternoon at Claws N Paws animal park. We got to feed some of the animals and walk around in near perfect weather. After we left the park, we grabbed a bite to eat at a diner and then headed to a bar to meet some of our friends for drinks.
Sunday was a nice relaxing day as well. Jess had work in the early afternoon, so I took Loki to Kirby Park in the morning and we went for a nice 4mi walk. He loved walking someplace new! Afterwards, we came back to the house, and then met Jess at my parent’s house for a Mother’s Day cookout. All good there.
Monday wasn’t too bad at work. There was lot’s to do, but that’s just the status quo. When things started to suck was Monday night when I could feel myself getting sick. It ended up being a quite annoying stomach bug. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say it was nasty.
Tuesday saw me not wanting to get up to go to work. I was feeling like crap, but I was ignoring it for the most part since we were having an ultrasound that day. Also, I was only working ½ a day at work, so again, not too bad there. The ultrasound ended up being totally amazing! The first picture we got of the baby was him waving at the monitor. I guess I kind of just have it away there, but yes, we found out we are having a boy! We are officially having a baby boy named Jackson Shafer in October. Here are some pictures of him from Tuesday’s ultrasound.
Tuesday night I was feeling pretty sick. I woke up Wednesday and felt even worse. I ended up getting up at 7:30am, calling off, and going back to bed. I did not wake up again until 3:30pm. I pretty much spent the day lounging and trying to keep things down. I was finally starting to feel a little better around midnight, so I decided this would be a good time to head to bed. It was around then that I heard tires screeching and a bunch of bangs. Long story short, a drunk driver hit my sister’s car, bounced off of it, and ended up buried in the neighbor’s bushes. I got to spend the next hour with the cops instead of sleeping. Oh joy.
Thursday saw me waking up feeling just as crappy as I did on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I was out of sick time and needed to go in. However, on my way in I made an agreement with myself that I would take it easy and not let myself get stressed out. I am happy to report that I was able to do just that. I had a great night, got some stuff done, and did not stress out once. I came home to a very domesticated wife who had gone on a baby clothes shopping spree. Showing me her bounty, she went to bed and I retired to the couch to watch some Stargate Atlantis. After 1 ½ episodes, I ended up falling asleep. I woke up, and hauled my ass to bed for the night.
That brings us to today. Today hasn’t been that bad so far. Then again, I have only been awake for about 90 minutes or so. I close once again tonight (2-11) which is no surprise there. It seems all I do anymore is close. My only regret about closing tonight is that it’s beautiful out and I would love to take Loki for another walk at Kirby Park. Unfortunately, he’s going to have to wait until Sunday for such a thing to happen.
I can say with certainty that life is good!
End Of A Great Weekend
This weekend was a rarity – one that was both relaxing and productive.
It all started on Saturday morning. While Jess was finishing up some schoolwork, I decided to make us some breakfast. Looking at what was available in our stores, I decided to make some egg and bacon sandwiches on English Muffins. They were quite tasty! After breakfast was done, we showered and headed to my parent’s house for the day. Saturday was my mother’s birthday so we all got together and spent the day with her. It was nice to just sit around and talk with the family without watching the clock or needed to be somewhere else. After about 6 hours we left and came home. We settled in for the night on the couch and watched ‘Role Models’ (hilarious!) and started the first disc of ‘Mad Men’.
Today we woke up to beautiful blue skies with more sun then we have seen in weeks. Knowing it was going to be in the 60s, I wanted to get some yard work done. Jess on the other hand, had some schoolwork she needed to get done and wanted to clean up the house a bit. I headed out before she did and started retrieving some landscape timbers I had purchased about 2 years ago and had in storage in my sister’s garage. After all 10 8ft timbers has been retrieved and relocated to my yard, I decided some lunch was in order. When I came in, I saw Jess lying on the couch. Apparently while I was gone she had gotten really sick to her stomach and had thrown up. She decided to take it today since she was not feeling well. I couldn’t have agreed more and left her be. After lunch, I decided to go to Tractor Supply to pick up a new pair of work gloves. I have a really nice pair that has apparently disappeared into thin air since I have been unable to find them for 2 weeks. Normally I wouldn’t care too much except that I got a nice 1/2in sliver in my palm while getting the timbers out of my sister’s garage. I was not willing to chance getting another one. I decided since I was a really nice day out to take Loki with me.
A few minutes later, with new gloves in hand, I started my project for the day. I was torn between working on the garden (reframing, turning it over) or coming up with a solution for Loki sneaking under our chain link fence. I decided to work on a solution for Loki. What I came up with was basically a miniature retaining wall. I got about ½ way through the project when I suddenly ran out of rebar. I thought I had enough, but I was sorely mistaken. I was then off to Lowe’s, Loki in the shotgun seat. When I got there, I saw my new store manager. She had seen Loki when he was still a puppy, so she came over and was playing with him though the car window for a few minutes. Taking Loki out of the spotlight, I we headed back into the store and I grabbed the extra pieces of rebar that I needed. About 90 minutes later, my wall was complete. I am rather happy with the way it turned out. It’s structurally sound, inexpensive to make (less than $25), and only took about 3 hours from start to finish.
After I was done, Jess finally came outside. She was starting to feel a little better, so she brought her laptop outside and did some of her schoolwork while I cleaned up the tools in the yard and reattached the chain link fence. After that, I put some chicken in the oven for dinner while I cleaned out my car and took a shower.
Afterwards, I made some vegetables and my famous fried rice. We had dinner and watched some more ‘Mad Men’.
This was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. Now I get to start my last week at my current/old store. Hopefully everything should go smoothly and I will be able to leave with a clean conscience.
