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Good Vibrations

I got up this morning and made bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. It all slowed down quite a bit from there after my tummy got the rumblies. We wanted to get some more cleaning up done around the house, but we ended up just mentally rearranging furniture instead. I do think it helped to visualize an end result though, since we’ll have so much furniture to manage.

Julie called in the afternoon and wanted to chat about our vacation. I think our usual flow of conversation escalation made Summer a little wide-eyed, but it was nothing new for us.

Eventually we went to the Neighborhood Market for something healthy to whip up for dinner. On the way out of the parking lot, Mom and Dad were pulling in and invited us over for curry. We continued on to get the girls from their grandparents’ house, then went on to my parents’ since I wasn’t in the mood to argue with the universe’s obvious plans for us.

We didn’t have to wait very long for my parents to get back, but we dug out Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur and started a game anyway. When they did get home, dinner was actually ready to dish out, so we didn’t waste any time eating. Afterward, we finished our game where the reluctant-to-play Eaddie ended up winning the game.

I dropped the girls off at home at the end of the evening, then headed back home to go to sleep with the cat. He curled right up next to me, so I didn’t have the heart to put him outside again.

Might as well get the carpet cleaner ready…

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Saturdate

I went to sleep super late last night after staying up with the cat to let him eat as much as he was willing. My alarm was set for just about six hours later, and I climbed out of bed to get ready for our day date in Little Rock.

Before I could get through my morning cleanup routine, Mark wanted to have a remote session to answer a few questions. What I thought was going to be a 15 minute call turned into just over an hour. I was worried we weren’t going to have time to get lunch before the matinee, but it actually worked out perfectly.

I picked Summer up and we went to Yesterday’s in Morrilton for lunch. I figured it was pretty good food from somewhere we never go, and it would put us outside of Little Rock far enough that we’d be hungry for some popcorn in the theater. My catfish and Summer’s salmon were both pretty great, and she recognized our server as a student from the junior high, which was novel enough.

We got to the Pramenade with just enough time to drive the strip, park, and enjoy just a couple minutes of blue skies before going into the nearly empty IMAX. I need to remember the seating layout better, because the online seating chart didn’t make it clear to me where my favorite seats were. Since the place was basically a ghost town, we hopped on down to our usual seats, which were really too close for comfort, but gave us a handrail to put up our feet.

Tenet was great, though a little over-loud. Some of the dialog was difficult to understand just due to the volume alone. Summer was on edge for most of it, but we enjoyed its usual Nolan-level of mind bendiness. Re-reading the plot later helped put some pieces together for me, of course.

After the movie, we went by Sam’s just to do a little shopping before we headed home. We stopped in Conway for some Rita’s Italian ice and had a nice little chat at one of the outdoor tables. When we got back home, we stopped at her house for a change of clothes, then came to my house for the evening.

What’s happened happened, which is an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world. It’s not an excuse to do nothing.

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Cannot Stop the Battery

I got really angry with the cat this morning for giving me fits about his medicine. It was the last day for the antibacterial, and I was just completely over dealing with him. I was nearly ready to strangle him to death.

When I got to work, I had to gather up 10 more devices to ship back for the old lease. Josh stopped in again to pick up some papers he left the other day. Otherwise I wasn’t super productive. I left around lunch time with my small chicken box of laptops, and caught up with Ben at the shop.

He wanted to go to lunch and I was craving a burger, so we went to CJ’s and chatted a while. Then we went by The UPS Store to try and ship my laptops. We hadn’t considered the regulations on shipping batteries, and were turned away for having too many in the box. I ended up back at the high school, where I stuffed two laptops into each of five depot kits that were really designed for a single laptop in each. Hopefully they don’t say anything about that, because I’m tired of packing things.

After work, I went straight home to check on the cat and give him his antidepressants. He actually ate a little bit of food through the evening, but he kept making this weird grinding sound with either his mouth or throat. I guess I’ll have to bring that video to the vet next time.

Summer ended up staying home with the kids because the girls are incapable of keeping their rooms tidy. They waste so much time “cleaning” their rooms that I don’t know how they make time for anything else.

Cannot kill the bat-ter-y!

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Please Listen Carefully as Our Menu Options Have Not Changed

Summer took Noah to school this morning before I got out of the house. I had to struggle with the cat some more to get his medicine down, but we’ve only got one more day of that. Then it’s down to just the antidepressants.

My day at work was a little scattered, a little frustrating, and a little successful. I had more work to do in SCCM, but had to take a break to run down to the arena for a couple things. One of those things was to re-record their phone IVR message. Johnny was great at recording it, and the playback sounded fine, but when I got all the way back to my office, I realized it had reverted back to the old message. I did this a couple more times until we realized it was the WAV file that it wouldn’t, or couldn’t overwrite. I had done it before, but Ben had run into the issue before and just incremented the file name. Josh joked(?) that our solution was likely documented somewhere in the official Avaya manual.

I ended up working through lunch, and then stayed late, so after work I went straight to my parents’ for some leftover spaghetti. Summer had a late work meeting and then a softball game in Conway, so I went by the shop to see her for a little bit first. Then it was home for the evening. I even had a little success getting the cat to nibble on some kibble.

We just need enough to make a poopie that won’t sink into the carpet.

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Plan It

I picked up a free breakfast burrito from Taco John’s on the way to work this morning, and they loaded me up with Potato Olés. I didn’t even finish either of them, so I’ll have breakfast ready for me tomorrow.

I spent almost all day working on an engineering deployment package because I couldn’t get the detection method to work. Summer wanted to go out to Stoby’s for lunch, so when Noah got out of class, we met her there. Later in the afternoon, I finally figured out why my deployment wasn’t working, and got it pushed out.

Summer took Split some different dry food to see if he would take to it, and we thought he was. When I got home, I realized he had just pushed the bowl around and spilled a bunch of it all over the ground. It really seemed like he was eating for a bit though.

I started cleaning the carpet again when Summer came over for the evening. Then Julie called and wanted to talk about our Disney trip, which aggravated me because I prefer to communicate in writing. The kids eventually showed up with some leftover fajitas, but they had spilled them all over Eaddie’s clothes, so I had to start a load of laundry for them.

My body feels relatively ragged, and I’m a different kind of exhausted than I’ve ever felt before. I need a break before I break.

We’ll be in touch.

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My Cat is on Antidepressants

I got up this morning to some more lovely work to do on the carpet. I put the cat out and continued to get ready for work. I went to the shop to sign some paperwork before going to the high school. I stopped for an expiring free slice of pizza, then stuck my nose in some deployment packages, only coming up for air for a late lunch.

Summer met me at Foodie’s, and we had a couple giros. I didn’t find my lamb to be very filling at all, but the waitress warned us about “chewy” steak. Summer really liked hers, but didn’t finish. When I got back from lunch, I continued doing more of the same.

At the end of the day, I called the vet to see what else I could do for Split. Finally, she said it may just be his time to go, as though it was her idea in the first place. I was aggravated, but decided to give some appetite stimulants a try. She prescribed him some Mirtazapine, which evidently is an antidepressant, and said it should take effect within about half an hour to hopefully make him eat something.

I had trouble giving him both medications today, but we made it work. It did seem to bring him around the food more, but he still didn’t seem very interested. He licked a little bit of gravy, and ate one treat. He kept digging in the dry food silo as well, as though he wanted something fresh from up top. I guess I should try a small bag of some other dry food to see if he takes to it.

When the girls got out of karate, I met them and Noah at my parents’ house for dinner. Nova was there again, and it was just a night of leftovers after the Great Labor Day Cook-off of 2020. I made it home a bit later than I wanted, and spent the rest of the night cleaning carpet. Split did seem a little more lively late at night, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing.

Fear is the mind-killer.

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Bake and Fry and Grill, Oh My!

We got up this morning and had the last of the eggs. I’ve really enjoyed frying eggs. They’re so simple, and so delicious. Summer left for the gym while I got baked potatoes ready for dinner with my parents. For as little as I actually did, I was still just completely beat.

The cat refused to eat anything again, which has been wearing on me more than anything else. He tried to throw up his medicine today, but Summer said it just came out foamy. I don’t know what else to do.

I had to run to Walmart for some stuff for the twice-baked potatoes, then came home to load everything up and head to my parents’ house. The girls were back home, so they beat me there and were playing in the pool. I got there and started frying bacon for the potatoes. Everything came together reasonably well, but there were just so many people there with the girls, Julie, and Nova.

Afterward, I came straight home and tried to bring the cat in. He immediately went and had diarrhea in the tub, which really was the best possible scenario. He also dumped water all over the kitchen floor though, so I just kept running around after him, trying to clean up. He has me absolutely ragged. Every day, I wish they had just put him out of both of our misery.

The vet never asks about your quality of life.

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Sunday Runday

I got up and made eggs for breakfast again this morning. The slow cooker barbecue chicken burned a bit and seemed dry, but I didn’t really think forward enough to actually turn it off. I tried to start cleaning the garage while Summer went to the gym with Noah.

It was pretty overwhelming to find a place where I could dig in enough make enough room to rearrange things. I paced around quite a bit at first. Summer eventually came back with Noah and we made a late lunch out of the barbecue chicken. It tasted alright, but you could really tell it was overcooked.

After lunch, Noah went to take a nap while Summer and I tried to tackle the garage together. By that time it started to get pretty warm out there, and I got crankier the hotter I got, and the more she pushed to motivate me. Then I got a text from Mark and realized I had to get cleaned up before I could go meet him.

After my shower, Summer took Noah to work and I left for Mark’s office. He had some new questions for me, and I felt good about what we accomplished in just over an hour. Before I left, he urged me to vote to keep the penny sales tax.

From there, I picked Summer up and we went to my parents’ house for bún bò Huế. Nova was there too, and I guess Dad had taken her out practice driving before ending up there. We stayed a little while, but eventually left as I seemed to be allergic to something there. My head stopped up and started to throb until we got back home.

Summer and I settled in pretty quickly, spending a little time to talk about our feelings some more before bed. Communication is easy if you just suck it up and do it.

When someone asks if you want a parachute, the answer is always, “yes!”

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!YOHA

I got up this morning and made some delicious egg sandwiches for breakfast. Summer left to get the Lit’l Smokies and smoked sausage started in the slow cooker while I got dishes cleaned and took a shower at home.

The afternoon was quite a bit slower than I expected it to be, but I sorely needed the time to just relax. Eventually Summer got back and we headed up to Travis’s for his pirate-themed birthday party.

John and Melissa were already there, but Veronica bailed on us as usual. Travis’s mother seemed to be doing pretty well, and a good, quiet time was had by all. The girls got into some temporary tattoos, and would have tried making full sleeves if we hadn’t come out to chat.

After the party, we came back home and settled in. Noah called to chat about his feelings for a bit, and gave me the best compliment I could ever hope for. I spent the rest of the night boiling the hell out of some chicken breast for the cat, but he probably won’t eat it anyway.

Do what you want, cause a pirate is free. You are a pirate!

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Over the Week

Split Lip didn’t want to eat again this morning, so I put him outside with some food for the day. I went straight to the high school and tried to find focus there, but I think ultimately I was just too frustrated and mentally exhausted to do much good.

Zach came by the office for a little while and mentioned something about lunch. Then when lunch time finally came around, he said Dale was eating with us at Brangus. I met them there, and got a big table for all of us but Allen, Heather, and Melinda. Then after lunch, Dale came by the high school to scavenge a power supply from my shelf. I walked around the building a little bit with him so he could spook the library and chat with the conservative cop-folk.

The afternoon went by relatively quickly, but it helped that Zach told us to leave at three. I still ended up staying until about four, but at least I wasn’t motivated to stay any later than that. I went home and finally got the cat to eat a little bit while I played some Overwtach.

When Summer finally came over, we went to get some gas, then to Walmart to browse around and pick out some stuff for Travis’s pirate-themed birthday party tomorrow. We got home late and hungry, so we just ate some leftovers out of the fridge, then watched a couple episodes of Cobra Kai before bed.

I wish the cat would stop democrating all over the carpet.