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Foreward

I did not sleep well at all last night, after tossing and turning for about an hour after I finished pumping out the basement. It was pretty foggy and warm out, and I was early to work again. I started with an AeroPress that simply took too long to make, and then I spent most of the day writing. At first, it was documenting and requesting a buyback for my car. Then it was documenting the work that I’ve done, will do, and hope to continue doing, so that I could present it to the Super Intendent Bros.

Kim had to leave for a little bit in the afternoon to unstuck her husband’s truck from the mud. I just continued my work in quiet. Then we finished the day casing up some iPads. I was surprised, but thankful that Kim stayed a little late to finish the job.

I made a quick drive home and loaded a few more things into the car to take to the new house. I unpacked what I had, and then went outside to check the basement again. No surprise, it was flooded again. Only about half what it was last night, but still annoyingly deep to wade through in my short boots. I had the genius idea to use my little remote switch, so I can leave the pump plugged in and turn it on from outside the door. That should take care of my concerns until we can plumb the stupid thing in permanently.

The girls went to bed fairly early, so I tried cleaning up a little more around the house. Noah had stunk up multiple rooms of the house, and left an entire couch cushion covered in chewed up fingernails. I couldn’t be sure that some of them weren’t toenails, as big as they were. I’m done with his inconsiderate, disrespectful, and neglectful ways in our home, and he’s only been here three nights. No sense in doing that again.

Just grow up.

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Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

It was rainy all day, so I don’t know what I expected. I got to work early, and Kim got to yapping. Otherwise it was relatively quiet all day. I was a little scattered when trying to dig into a project, so I had basically zero feeling of accomplishment all day. When I left work, I got a message from the Tesla service center that said I had 48 hours to return the loaner vehicle before I would be charged a rental fee. That felt a little dirty after they had my car in service for 31 days. I wished I had known the details of the lemon laws much earlier.

I continued straight home to pick up Eaddie, and we went to my parents’ house so Dad could practice taking some photos before her school dance. She fussed every time we brought it up, but when we finally got there, we had a little bit of fun with it. Noah got to the house just as we got back home, and I left to get some more things from the old house.

I stopped for some tacos on the way back home, and Noah and I ate. Then I tried unpacking and organizing a little bit while everyone else settled in for the night. Just before bed, I finally went out back to check the basement for water. I should have gone out days ago, because there was another foot of water in there. Unfortunately, my boots were only waterproof up to half that height. I can’t believe the seller said they had only used the sump like three times in their time in the home, because I’ve used it that many times in less than a month. I’ve got to plumb that thing in somehow.

I’ll never understand how some kids seem to hate showers. Frakin nasty.

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Freeze In

School was out again in case of freezing rain, but I think the temperature rose enough to continue melting what ice had accumulated. I got up and tried to make French omelets, but had some trouble remembering when to stop messing with the egg. Eaddie didn’t want an omelet anyway, so I scrambled hers first, then did the same for Summer. By the time I got mine made, I could at least roll it into an ugly egg tube. I’ll remember better for next time.

Summer worked all day, and Eaddie spent most of the day in her bedroom. I cleaned up a bit and then had a bath in the afternoon. The Tesla service center didn’t seem interested in talking much about the lemon law after having my car for so long, so I wrote an email to the attorney general’s office to see if I would even have a case. Noah came back over after work, and Eaddie took him to Brick Oven. I did more dishes, and wound down pretty early so I could make it back to work in the rain the next morning.

Bubble, bubble, grumble tumble

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Stationary Turkey

I cleaned up the kitchen this morning, and had a burrito to finish up all of that stuff. I had put a turkey breast in the refrigerator last night, but it was still frozen this morning. I pulled it out and eventually got it thawed enough to stick it on the rotisserie I got a while back. Summer went to the gym, and then came back to take Eaddie dress shopping for her upcoming dance. The rotisserie didn’t work quite right, and appeared to be used, which was why I got it at a discount on Amazon. Unfortunately the motor sounded like it was skipping gears, at least in part because of my poor balancing. I ended up stopping it and letting the bird cook breast-side up.

Once the turkey was cooking, I ran to the old house to feed the fish and pick up a few more things, including some more fire wood. When I got back, the turkey was about done and Summer was finishing up some mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. The turkey was a bit tough and dry, but tasted good and had a nice, crispy skin. Too much went wrong, so I have lots of ideas on how to make it juicier next time.

I cleaned up the kitchen, and then Noah showed up late and ate a ton of food. An incoming ice storm had us out of school the next day, so I started a fire and we watched two episodes of The Brothers Sun. Then Summer went to bed and the kids put on trash YouTube while they stared at their phones on the couch.

I don’t think they understand how much it infuriates me when they do that on my nice TV. They literally don’t make 3D TVs at all any more, and this is the best one they ever made. I’d really like to preserve it for high quality shows, instead of just letting it burn in slowly while they’re not even watching it.

We had the bedroom ready for Noah, but he slept on the couch again after blowing through like four cans of soda. I don’t think that kid drinks water at all, and I wish he’d quit just helping himself to our stuff whenever he comes over. It frustrated me the last time he came over, when he said I was micromanaging, because he doesn’t understand that we simply want him to respect our home and our things. It’s hard enough teaching the girls how to care about having and maintaining nice things, and then he comes over like some kind of entitled vagrant.

Tomorrow won’t be much fun, but at least there’s no school.

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Unbox Therapy

I woke up pretty early today, and it was warm enough in bed all night that it didn’t feel cold to be wandering around the house. I played my daily puzzles on the couch until Summer got up, and then I made myself a coffee. I took that with me as I set up the Steam Deck in the sunroom, where Summer showed me that one of my plants had leaked water on the table, so I had to clean that up.

Summer went to the gym and I put on some music while I did the dishes and started going through boxes to unpack and arrange some things. I had a shower, and then fixed the bedroom door into the nook where the screws were stripped out of the hinges, and also the spring-loaded pegs that keep the sunroom doors shut. For a brief moment I thought I might go out on the Onewheel for a bit, but it seemed really cold.

I had a burger in the afternoon, and then kept picking at random things. Eaddie was at a robotics tournament all day, so Summer and I settled down to watch John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch. Eaddie got home partway through that, but then left for a while longer before coming home and going to her room for the night. After the show, Summer went to bed and I watched Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The Spider-Verse movies are incredible, and it’s a shame Sony hasn’t been able to really nail any of their other Marvel properties the same way.

When I go home, I stay off 285

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Future Proofing

We couldn’t make it a full week off for snow and ice, so it was back to work this morning. There were a couple spots with some ice near the house, but then roads were clear until Ola, where you could see some residual black ice. It looked like Dardanelle was still out, because that place was a relative ghost town.

Kim was somewhere doing non-work things, but came to the office after a while before leaving to do more non-work things. Evidently they had a frozen, blocked, or crushed pipe somewhere in the new house, and Roto-Rooter was coming out to find their septic tank. I had a pretty quiet day to myself, except for Jalen coming in a few times for help setting up his new Hudl basketball camera. Then I spent the afternoon plotting my budget to hopefully have something reasonable to present to the superintendent when I ask for more money to sign another contract. Of course, it could all go out the window if he just decides he’d rather hire somebody else. It’s a good time to look for work.

I got a notification on the way home that service on my car was finished, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I should have messaged them to try and negotiate something earlier. I figured that waiting longer would give me a better chance to get something out of it, but I hadn’t accounted for sudden and sneaky repairs. I had a suspicion that they started yesterday, but then I got a low tire notification today that really made me think they were working on it.

It was another quick trip to the old house for another carload of boxes to take home. Eaddie was on the way out the door, so I was left to unload myself. Summer was home shortly after that, and looked unfrazzled enough for a dinner out. I called Mom to see if they wanted to go, but they were already eating, so Summer and I went to Mulan’s.

When we got back, we watched a standup special from some guy named Dusty Slay on Netflix. It was fine. Eaddie had a late curfew, and came to talk to me for a little while when she made it home. Then it was off to bed.

It’s been a long week.

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One Day Shy

I must have been pretty cozy this morning, because I slept super late. I got up at like 10:30 and made a burger. Eaddie didn’t come out of her room until much later, so I played some more Oxygen Not Included for a while. It looked like they finally got my car into service, which was almost a bummer after psyching myself up to have it bought back. I guess there’s still a chance, but the lack of a new Model 3 Performance means I wouldn’t be able to turn right around and get a replacement anyway.

Eventually Eaddie came out and went straight to the shower. With the weather this cold and the water pressure this high, we really can’t get more than one shower out of a tank of hot water, so I waited for a while after that before taking one myself.

By that time, it was too late to get across town to try and swap out my CO2 tank, so I organized the pantry a bit to see what other foods we might be able to have for dinner. Most of the old and forgotten stuff has been rotated out, so maybe we can maintain good foods now. The position of the fridge against the left wall still makes it extremely difficult to use its freezer, but we’re stuck with it for the foreseeable future.

Summer made it home, but continued to work except for the bit of time I made her get up for dinner. Then I paid bills and tried to figure out whether Eaddie’s credit card charges were legitimate.

FFS, pay attention, folks.

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Long Frozen

I had another burger for brunch today, and then continued my game of Oxygen Not Included before Eaddie got out of bed. Summer was back to work, but came home earlier than I expected. I was going to cook an old, frozen pork butt for dinner, just to get it out of the freezer. It wasn’t done for the late lunch time that Summer made it home, so she ended up eating leftovers.

I had to go outside to check the sump room again, and ran it for a few minutes. It wasn’t flooded like before, but there was enough water to let me know that this is going to be a recurring thing, and not the “once or twice” we were led to believe.

Afterward, I decided to get out and make a bank deposit, and then go across town to feed my fish and bring another carload of stuff home. It was still all stuff that had somewhere to go in the new house, so I won’t be unpacking things forever. The roads were still pretty icy on the way home, and I actually slid down the driveway just a couple inches as I pulled back in.

The pork was tough when I got it out of the Instant Pot, so I put it in to cook for another round and it came out much more tender. Eaddie wanted rice, so I made a pot and then we ate together. Summer was having trouble with her back, so she went to bed early. I thought Eaddie and I would watch some TV, but it was cold and dark, and everyone went to their rooms. I played a little more of my game, but tried not to stay up too late.

Ah, me booty!

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Iced Onion

Eaddie slept on the couch last night, but got up to shower once Summer and I were up. Summer went to work for a while, so I did some laundry and organized things around the house. I had a leftover burger for lunch, and surprisingly, one of the ceramic plates cracked from the heat of the burger. I don’t know if the temperature difference between the hot, microwaved burger and the cold kitchen counter was all it took, or if there was some other factor. I just heard a couple little “tink” sounds and then noticed a very faint crack across the middle.

Eaddie seemed to be a bit bored herself, and I caught her staring at a closed door. I played a little bit of Oxygen Not Included, and then when Summer got home from work, she made chicken and dumplings for dinner. We watched Glass Onion before the girls went to bed, and I lost a bunch of time to the internet.

I’m very bad at dumb things.

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Snowplace Like Home

We got about three or four inches of snow yesterday, and the house was COLD. I sealed off a bunch of rooms just to localize some of the heat, but our gas bill was over $200 for last month. This month will be worse. The girls got up and we had some of my bean soup before going outside for a walk around the block. The neighborhood roads were packed with snow and ice, but we never got out into civilization.

When we got back to the house, I went out back to check on the basement. It was good timing, because the water level was back up to nearly the same height as before. I ran the sump and looked around for ideas on how to dispose of the water. It may be easy enough just to get it into the sewage line without having to pump it outside. Unfortunately it looks like the basement won’t be a good home for any electronic equipment.

Summer eventually made some tomato soup for Eaddie, but we all ate dinner separately. Later in the evening we played a round of Phase 10, and then the girls watched some Young Sheldon. I wasn’t into that at all, so I got on the computer for a while. With the roads in this condition, we’ve got another snow day away from school tomorrow. After the stress of working an entire week after a three week vacation, it really was a relief.