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That’s a Lye

Traffic was bad in Dardanelle this morning, so I just barely squeaked into work on time. They did some more testing first thing in the morning, and then I had to spend some time deciphering the audio mixer in the auditorium. We had a big lunch because the cafeteria had extra fajitas, but they weren’t very good. I barely got started on it when FedEx showed up with another lab of desktop computers. Those will be in the way for the foreseeable future.

I ended up staying a bit late just because I felt like I made some progress in figuring out the sound system. Then I went to feed the fish and wash my car before heading home. The bathroom sink completely stopped up this morning, out of the blue, so I poured some boiling water down the drain, hoping that would help.

Failing that, I went to my parents’ house and ate some turkey soup before returning home with some lye and a plastic drain weasel. The drain didn’t budge, so I let it sit overnight. Summer fell asleep really early after working late, and Eaddie spent all night practicing flute before going to sleep. I fought with Arvest’s mortgage site for a while before giving up. I swear the “make a payment” button only appears at certain times of the day, and it’s a load of crap. I went to bed frustrated, but before midnight, which was an accomplishment all on its own.

Shut up and take my money. No, seriously. Take it. You stupid bank.

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Taco Twiceday

I was a little bit late to work this morning after fighting with the garage door. Somehow the sensor on Summer’s side of the garage got knocked about 45 degrees off. I thought maybe she got the charge cable tangled up, but yet she was able to close the garage when she left before me, so I don’t know what happened. Maybe it just slowly vibrated out of alignment.

Kids were back today, but it was pretty quiet aside from some ACT testing they did around lunch time. I wished it had been a bit louder outside, like it normally is, since Blake was in there and could have seen how ridiculous it is that I’m expected to work on the other side of that door.

The afternoon dragged on again, and I had to down a Red Bull to make it to quitting time. I went to feed the fish, and then picked up some Taco John’s on the way home. Eaddie was still at school, but Summer wanted some. Eaddie made it home after we finished eating, so I went back out to pick up the vacuum cleaner that Dad fixed, and then got her some tacos.

I really tried to get to bed a bit earlier, but it just didn’t happen. It’s been easy to get distracted by just about anything lately. These short days are killing me.

We have to go lower!

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TenWheels

We had a PD day at work, but Russellville kids were back in school. They had a speaker there in the morning, so they kept coming to get me to fix audio issues. I didn’t actually fix anything myself, but I guess they felt better having me around. Eaddie called and said the Murano smelled like something was burning, but the temperature gauge looked okay. She said nothing seemed wrong otherwise, so I told her to take it easy and listen and smell for bad things on the way to school. Hopefully it was just the heater while she was defrosting.

Kim went to the doctor for a couple hours in the middle of the day, and then brought Taco Bell back for us since the cafeteria was closed. The afternoon dragged on, and I didn’t feel like I accomplished anything at all. I did order a Onewheel while they were still on sale for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I talked myself into getting the biggest, fastest one, which may have been a mistake. I just thought my extra weight would benefit from the extra power, and aftermarket prices seemed to hold pretty well. I couldn’t tell if that was true for the higher-end models, but the idea isn’t to sell it anyway.

After work, I went to feed the fish. Eaddie wanted 50-cent corn dogs, and Summer was home from work really early, so I stopped at Sonic on the way home. Eaddie and I ate a couple dogs, and then I went to my parents’ house by myself since they both had work or homework to do. Dad and I grazed over leftovers and I left pretty stuffed.

The girls were both wound down by the time I got back home, so I spent a little more money and eventually made it to bed.

These are expensive months.

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Holiday Crash

Eaddie nearly stayed up all night, but was probably the most spry of any of us all day. I did my best not to sleep too late, and made Summer a coffee when she got up. They went for a quick shopping trip while I had a shower, and then we all went to my parents’ house to eat some leftovers. Julie and Kevin showed up to do the same, and then we took Eaddie home to rake leaves while Summer and I went to the old house to get my wheelbarrow.

It had a bad tire, so we went to Lowe’s to shop around, and then Harbor Freight to pick up a replacement wheel. It was dark by the time we got back to the house, and we all sat around waiting for my parents to call for dinner. Summer and I watched the first episode of Secret Invasion, and I didn’t much love it, but I think the universe is just getting too big for me to wrap my head around it.

Once my parents had some sweet potato and shrimp ready, we went to eat pretty quickly before coming home to get ready for bed. Eaddie left her purse there, so Dad walked it over to us, and then it was off to sleep before going back to work.

Not completely opposed to the Whataplane.

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Ready for Takeoff

I got up early today so we could go hiking on Petit Jean with Tom, Angela, Brandan, and Nikolle. They brought Cutie along as well, and she really enjoyed running around outside. I thought Eaddie was going as well, but she stayed home and slept instead. Summer and I met the others at the Cedar Falls Overlook. That was barely a walk at all, and then we went to the lodge for a restroom break before going to the Bear Cave Trail. That was more climbing than walking, but I think they had fun. Our last stop was the gravesite, and I let Tom drive the Model 3. We weren’t there long before we had to get back to town because Uncle Rick’s family made it into the airport.

I raced home with Summer and had Eaddie load the Model Y for us so we could do a quick swap and go. We loaded up some food and went to get some ice, and met everyone at the airport. Julie rented a big room there where everyone could sit and eat, but everyone eventually spread out across the whole building and outside, particularly while Kevin was giving airplane rides.

I finally got to go flying with him, and it was exactly what I had imagined. I’ve always wanted to fly, but never put any effort into it. The regulations and formalities just sort of made it less fun, which was sort of the same way I felt about ham radio. We flew along the river toward Petit Jean, which was way faster than driving earlier that morning. We scared some birds, skated on some water, and got eye-level with a buddy of his that had flown to a sandbar for a night of camping. I got to fly while we climbed for a while, and then he took over for a couple maneuvers before we landed.

I was the last one in the air, so I got to see the beautiful sunset. The girls had left earlier because Summer was feeling sick and Eaddie wanted to go to the movies with some friends, so they didn’t get to see any of it. I also got brave enough to try out Kevin’s Onewheel, and did way better than I expected. I tripped up trying to get off a couple times, but didn’t fall until I had already ridden around with a little bit of speed. When I did finally fall, I think it was because I was trying to start out on a slightly sloped surface.

Dad finished up the night at the airport with a short magic show, and then everyone helped us load up to go home. Julie and Kevin locked up at the airport, and my parents and I waited for everyone else to make it back to their house to pack some food for their trip home. Then once they left, Dad took me home.

Summer was in bed, and Eaddie and Eli were at the house watching TV, so I showed them a clip from my flight before going to the office to research Onewheels and EUCs. It was tempting to order one at Black Friday prices, but I don’t guess I’d really have much occasion to ride one. It really was fun, though.

The Need for Speed!

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Hostgiving

Summer got up this morning and started prepping her food for hosting Thanksgiving. The fireplace kit I ordered came in a day late, but just in time for us to put it together and get wood loaded onto it. Kevin called just as I was finishing up, and I met him at the old house to load up the old sofa to bring to the new house. Since he had room in the truck, I also had him dump the old mattress I still had in the garage.

We unloaded the sofa really quickly, and Eaddie vacuumed so we could get it placed in the sunroom. I got a fire going, and people eventually started showing up. All of the out-of-towners came in first, so we had to rush everyone else. Mom and Dad brought Doug, and then Julie and Kevin showed up with most of the hot food.

It was a really great time, and we clearly had way more usable room to spread out than if we had been at my parents’ house. We did have one chaotic moment with a flooded bathroom, so I spent some time mopping up in there, but it was still a great first time to host a big family event.

Once everyone had enough socialization for the day, the girls and I cleaned up the kitchen and dining areas and settled in for the night. They did a really great job getting everything clean in a really short amount of time. I felt like I hit a brick wall, but still dawdled a bit before making it to bed.

That was a lot of potatoes.

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Three South, Five and a Half North

I thought I would be stressing over the last minute moves today, but I decided to take a different approach. We had enough cleaned up and ready to go, and I decided against trying to wall mount my nice TV in a rush. My stud finder was going nuts anyway, so I’m not sure if there’s something else already in the wall anyway. I’ll have to investigate further.

I ran to my old house to pick up an assortment of things. While I was there, I cleared a path for the sofa in case we would have time to fetch it. I brought a rake home so Eaddie could clean up the front yard while I blew off the deck with the leaf blower. Summer spent all day prepping food and cleaning up around the kitchen. I tried fixing the craft ice maker in the refrigerator, but it appeared to be an issue with the gears in the motor. Before we knew it, the sun went down and family started coming in.

My parents had turkey soup and egg rolls, so the girls walked while I caught up to them in the car. Summer got to cook egg rolls, so she and Eaddie spent most of their time out back. John, Thea, and her mother were the first to arrive. Mom got upset after we tried to corral everyone to the dinner table and gave up, but Eaddie and I were hungry and there weren’t enough seats for everyone anyway.

The girls tired early, before the others arrived, so I took them home. When I got back, everyone else had finally arrived. I could tell they were exhausted from the drive, but they humored us and came over for a little bit of food and company.

Julie gave me some dry goods to take home, and I stayed until everyone else was ready to head out. Then I went home and calibrated my speakers for their new home. I hate that my subwoofer went out so suddenly and unexpectedly, but maybe it’s a sign.

Why, no!

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Won’t Stand for This

I got up really early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I took my jump start on the day and made steak, eggs, and hashbrowns for breakfast. Eaddie said she really liked it, but I thought the steak was pretty middling. I took a shower, and then we went out to look for a TV stand at several places. We tried West Main Gallery, but they were closed. Then we went to CJ’s Consignment and found one really small one that might work. We went by Stroud’s and Cleo’s again, but they didn’t really have anything we liked. Our last stop was Sofa City before we gave up and went to the old house to load up the last of the speakers.

Once we got the speakers into the house, we went back out to try Hilltop Mall, but they didn’t have anything either. There was a new name attached to the old Bargain Barn, so we stopped there on the way to Walmart and found nothing. We made it into a busy Walmart and found one that might work, but we had to judge based on a tiny picture on the box because they didn’t have one out on display.

Summer got back to town, so we went and saw her at the wash. She reminded us about River Valley Furniture, so we checked them out and were subsequently directed to the old Staples building where they had a warehouse of furniture to sell. They didn’t have a single thing that would fit my receiver, so we finally just went back to my house to get my old TV stand. That didn’t really take as long as I thought it would, and we made it home so I could start cooking some beef tacos in the Instant Pot.

Once the food was started, I took Summer back out to the Neighborhood Market to do her grocery shopping. Then we went to Kroger for some fire wood before going to my parents’ house to pick up what groceries they got for Summer. Finally we made it home, and Eaddie and I ate while Summer boiled eggs.

I ended the night by assembling the home theater, and was disappointed to see that one of my subwoofers wouldn’t power on. It worked the last time I used them, so I don’t know if I broke something in moving, or if it got hit by lightning, or if it was just dumb luck to go through another subwoofer. I got the amp out of it, and maybe Dad will be able to find the bad part.

Smooooooth.

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Big, Bad, Meanie

The carpet was still really wet today, so I didn’t even bother starting in the other room. I guess I’ll just have to get that later. I made corned beef hash, eggs, and hashbrowns for breakfast, and then Eaddie asked to take her flute to the shop because it was leaking air. When she didn’t come back home, I got on to her for going to Eli’s house without asking, and she fussed at me over being parented.

I had a shower and went to the old house to clean up anything I could fit into the car. I got two subwoofers, the receiver, and the speaker cables loaded up before Mom called for help finishing up the shrimp soup. I went to eat, and then made it home to unload everything.

Summer got home from another long day at work, and she was stressed over how awful people are. I don’t know how she can still act surprised after all this time. I continued picking up around the house, and when Eaddie got home, we cleaned the chairs in the dining room.

Eaddie came to the office and watched some of Tech’s concert on YouTube with me before bed. I finished cleaning up a few things, and eventually made it to bed late again.

It’s a condition.

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Griffed

Summer went in to work late today because of some rain. I tried not to sleep too late myself, and continued running wash cycles to try and clean out the washing machine. After making a leftover burrito and taking a shower, Grant texted to get our address. I was kind of in limbo for the rest of the afternoon, waiting to see if he would show up.

Summer came home early since there wasn’t anything going on at the shops. I eventually started cleaning the carpet along the television wall, having given up on Grant. Then he texted that he was coming, followed shortly thereafter by another text that he wasn’t. Eaddie had a game night with some friends, so I just kept cleaning carpets into the evening.

When I finished cleaning my area, I dug some food out for Summer to see what she had rotting in the fridge. She cleaned up some newer leftovers and I went to my office for a while before coming back out to clean and organize some of the stuff in the pantry. Then I made some ramen noodles before retiring to the office for the rest of the evening until bed.

I pick all of them.