Aching Monday

First Order of Business in the Morning - Big Bear Hugs

Mondays are bad enough but coming down off the high of seeing the New Jersey trio just exacerbated the downside. I’ve often kidded my Favorite Son on his proclivity for injuring himself (he once sustained a knee injury playing whiffle ball) but I have to admit he gets it from me. I rarely undertake a do it yourself project without doing something to myself, usually with exsanguination involved. I mention this because I seem to have injured myself while performed grandfather duty.

Getting guidance from the Boss

I can deny my granddaughter nothing. During our trek to and from NYC on Saturday she couldn’t see me from her car seat because I was sitting up front. After I heard her calling out for “Ampa” I twisted around in my seat and extended my hand back so she could see I was close. Something in my torso region didn’t appreciate this grandfatherly gesture. I’ve been experiencing a sharp pain in my side ever since that I expected to go away in a day or so. A day or so later and it hasn’t improved. Middle age just plain sucks.

Those Fabulous Pink Boots

This is frustrating because with the improving weather I’d hoped to return to the back yard this week to start on the final phase of the terracing project. Until this muscle pull or whatever the hell it is resolves I’m dead in the water. I don’t think lugging several hundred concrete blocks up a hill would be therapeutic. I used to heal a lot faster.

Saturday Birthday Party

My Favorite Panamanian and I were out last night to the local home improvement store (who says I don’t know how to charm my lady). She was there to decide on paint color for the remodeled kitchen and living room while I was trying to invent a way to thwart Buddy the Escape Artist from opening the basement door. I was done in approximately two minutes. We left the store two hours later. I won’t say my wife is indecisive but you can connect the dots. To her credit, it wasn’t just the paint colors although that was excruciating in and of itself. She also wants to put a back splash in above the new granite counters and unfortunately the store had a lot of options. She kept asking my opinion for some odd reason despite the fact she knows I have absolutely no sense of style. I think she was trying to be inclusive. Anyone who knows me can imagine my state of mind going into the second hour. On the upside the simple door wedges I brought home seems to have initially prevented the Wonder Pooch from opening the basement door, so, progress.

Success!  Door Wedge - 1 Buddy - 0

We did sneak in a FaceTime call with Wingman and the First Blog Reader. Wingman has taken over this duty from my daughter because she now uses the Facetime hour for commuting. Wingman still makes some rookie mistakes with our granddaughter around the IPad. I hadn’t realized how adept my daughter had become at keeping the constantly in motion granddaughter on the screen. They reported a case of bad pizza may have laid them a bit low yesterday so ours wasn’t the only subpar Monday. You’ll notice from today’s photos, stolen from my wife’s phone, that I did have some fun with the Frist Blog Reader over the past weekend.

Walking on Grampa

And the Plop

She has a trick that she’s perfected with Wingman where she’ll step up onto your chest and then with a devilish grin suddenly plop down, hoping to catch you between breaths. She’s also a bona fide expert at the shoulder ride which probably wasn’t smartest thing for me to be doing Sunday morning with my hurting side but she’s impossible to resist. She also likes to pull you up into a sitting position only to push you back down - so she had me doing sit-ups for the first time since I retired from the Army.

Sit-Up Drill

C'Mon Grampa You've got Some More in You!