An Unexpected Johnnie Day

So I skipped out on dinner at Lisa's last night. But I felt much better this morning. Which means I'm up for being around people again LOL. And so I decided I'd join the Lisa household for breakfast. On my way over there I saw the familiar long line in front of that hole-in-wall donut shop adjacent from the corner McDonald's. Primo's Donuts turned out to be the name of the place. I always wondered what the big attraction was. Nothing tells you a place is good more than a nice long line outside, especially one that always has one every day. And so quite spontaneously I got in line for that donut shop, and decided to bring croissants and donuts for everyone for breakfast. It turned out to be a winner. Turns out the donuts were great! The croissants were great! Clearly will not be the last time I get in that line for sure. And so with that I had breakfast at Lisa's and I made sure to take a picture of the nice china she had to use. Just Lisa being Lisa. The surprise this morning was that she had made plans to go on a hike with Heidi her friend who she hadn't talked to in quite some time. And she asked me to watch Johnnie until she got back this evening. Now THAT is a surprise in my favor. I get a Johnnie day on a Saturday Lisa isn't working. And so off we went to go do our shopping rounds for this Saturday morning. First stop: Mitsuwa for my frozen Asian food. Then Whole Foods for lamb stew cutlets, then Ralphs for Lisa's Progresso soup and pancake mix. Too bad you can't get all in one store. But that's ok. Just that by the time we got to the apartment, it was nearly 10:30 already. Of course Johnnie had to go watch something right?  This time it was the Tigger Movie. And really I was just killing time until it was lunchtime already, and time to head out to get him Panda Express for lunch. And then I just wanted to chill on the couch again. And Little Bug and I basically just sat there dad-and-son just hanging out on the couch on a lazy Saturday. Why do we need to do anything? Johnnie just bounces and bounces as he burns off energy at will anyway. Any time I can get him to sit still and chill is good. And I managed to work in a 25 minute nap too actually. I wasn't really intending to, I just got so relaxed on the couch that I closed my eyes and when I woke up, Johnnie was jumping up and down - predictably - at my feet on the couch.  It was 6 PM by the time Lisa came by and picked Johnnie up. By then I had given him dinner, making him udon per his request. We shared some pumpkin pie for dessert too, a product of a whim of stopping by Marie Callenders on the way home from Ralphs this morning. Hey I felt like eating pie alright? And Johnnie? his deal was to get white chocolate cookies and cream Hershey's. I've never heard of THAT. It would end up being his "present" for Lisa for tonight LOL. For my dinner I started to clean out all the food I had been buying over the weeks and freezing but not actually eating. There was that baked cod from Trader Joe's. Vegetable fried rice... Trader Joe's too. And let's not forget the garden vegetable soup. Yep, it was time to clear out these things instead of cooking up something new or buying some fast food. I was actually going to replace them when I was last at Trader Joe's... but I thought maybe I should eat them up FIRST. And so it was that right after Lisa picked up Johnnie, I finally took stock of the apartment and decided right then and there to clean it. Even just half of it would be ok. And so I did the living room, not only swept it but mopped it up too. And then I mopped up the kitchen, remembering full well the spots that the dog pee'd on last week. And so it was that I did get that "something accomplished" feeling in once and for all. And I finally took the long hot shower that I didn't take from yesterday. It was much needed. And when I got done I sank to the couch and realized that I was still stuck on thinking that I had to get something done today with my Saturday. And that's when I reminded myself that, in fact, it was a 3-day weekend and this was Day 1 and it was perfectly ok that I did nothing. These times of the pandemic SELF CARE is front and center most important for us all. And if that meant taking a day where I shut myself off and did nothing, then so be it. And even then I still cleaned the apartment, and I still put in 11,800 steps today so it was not like I did totally nothing either. What I liked most about today was that I got quality time with Johnnie and the dog was not with us. Very important because he's starting to display behavior patterns that I know he picked up from Lisa. He uses words like "I know you're disappointed", or panics when I tell him to rush, or yells when he "loses" at something. I know he didn't learn any of those from me. And so I feel it's important that I provide a counter-balance to all these tendencies I'm sure he's picking up with Lisa. And that was what today was about. Still all good.