Taking an Undeserved Day Off
Sunday, May 11, 2008
14 Days Until Bolder Boulder

Taking a day off from exercise after the terrible run I had on Saturday was inexcusable but I easily convinced myself that, although my time was horrendous, I had completed the route and deserved a day off. I got very little argument from myself and didn’t run or do the LifeCycle.

I had only gotten 3½ hours of sleep because I fell asleep at about 12:30 am and got up before 4:00 am. I had planned to go back to sleep after putting laundry in the dryer and doing another load. Once I opened my office door and started working however, there was no chance of my going to sleep.

I worked on show-related assignments, spoke at length to my sister in Ithaca, New York, wished my Mother a Happy Mother’s Day, and took care of the dogs – all before getting up Holly and her friend Kayla. The girls had to finish some chores while I made breakfast and then I had promised to take them to the Mall. It never would have occurred to me, while growing up, that a trip to the Mall or to any store, could be construed as a reward but, hey, times change.

After driving Holly and Kayla to the Mall, I sat inside and read newspapers while they shopped. At first they seemed to not be getting along but, as they went to different stores, they began to have a good time. They were done early and we were about to leave when they decided to shop some more.

At first Holly only had $2 and initially refused the $20 I offered her for doing her chores (poorly, I might add). She was amazingly stubborn – to the point of harming her self-interest. She wanted me to pay her more and Kayla lobbied hard for her (Kayla had come with $80 from money she had earned babysitting) but I wouldn’t back down. They started at $80, got all the way down to $25, and eventually took the $20. That was good for another hour of shopping.

The girls were hungry so we ended up going to the food court. I wanted to go to another restaurant but this ended up being better anyway because Kayla’s parents came to meet us at the Mall. This was great because it meant I didn’t need to drive Kayla home to the Lowry neighborhood – a good 35 minutes away from the Mall.

At the food court, the girls wanted to get food from Subway so I ended up eating a ham and cheese submarine sandwich with American cheese, lettuce, mustard, and mayonnaise. This was the second half of a foot-long sub I ordered per Kayla’s instructions. I also got some chips and two large cups of lemonade. The oatmeal raisin cookie was fabulous. So much for Jared’s dieting…

We finally got home and I went back to work. Holly took out the dogs and was hungry again. At Holly’s request, I made yet another pizza – that was a record three in less than 30 hours and we waited for Joel to arrive. We all ate pizza together. Then the kids played outside with the dogs while I worked some more. I had to prepare some materials for tomorrow’s “live” call-in television program with Governor Ritter and also get ready for an unusually large number of visitors we expected to have.

The day ended with a giant milkshake made out of Breyer’s Extra Creamy Vanilla ice cream, powdered walnuts, Dannon vanilla yogurt, and whole milk. I knew the extra 2,000 calories was a bad idea but it was such a nice way to end the eating day.