Slithery Little Sneaky Snake

There was absolutely nothing new at work today. We had people in and out for testing, Kenny came to socialize for a while, and then Kim disappeared for a while in the afternoon. It was cold in the morning, but only a little chilly after work. I stopped at Casey’s again for my freebie, went home to feed the fish, and then washed the car before heading home.

My replacement craft ice maker showed up, and I knew I needed to snake my drain, so I cleaned up some leftovers and then got to work. Dad came over and we snaked the drain. Unfortunately we couldn’t test it without putting it back together, which was the bigger chore. We ran to the old house to pick up a new faucet that I had, but then I decided against installing it for now. We’ll have to wait for the silicone to dry before we can test it.

I got the ice maker installed just as Summer got home. She was overworked to tears, so we got her to bed. Eaddie got home late after a concert, but I never even saw her. I got most of the new TV stand put together and started to rewire the receiver, but it got late and I had to wind down quickly to get to bed.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll ride.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Let’s Table That

We woke up reasonably early today, but it took us a little bit to get started. Summer went to the gym while I messed with things around the house. After she got back, we met Julie and Kevin at my old house to get the dining room table and futon. For some reason I thought he had a short truck bed, but everything fit perfectly and we got it all set up at home.

Eaddie made it home, but then left to spend the day with friends. Summer and I went to Ridgewood Brothers to try their baked potato, and Grant made us some extra special ones. He seemed a little off, so I invited him to the house after work. At first he said he couldn’t, but on the way out he asked if I was off tomorrow, so hopefully he comes around.

After that, we went to Lowe’s to exchange the toilet seat we got yesterday. We compared it with another new one in the box, and it was painfully obvious that the one we got yesterday was a return. From there, we picked up a couple things I forgot from the old house, and then made it home where I spent the rest of the evening casually cleaning, organizing, fixing, and generally trying to stay productive. Summer didn’t feel well, so she did a puzzle and watched TV all evening until bed. My big accomplishment was doing a deep clean on the washing machine, because it was smelling pretty bad. I don’t think the girls had ever cleaned it, so it was very mildewy.

I’m going to make this place into a home, one light bulb at a time.

No

I got out of the house quite early this morning, so I went to Hardee’s for a chicken biscuit. I get really frustrated when I’m asked if I want to tip at fast food establishments, because they just handed my food over the counter. The Nashville Hot Chicken Biscuit was okay though.

I tried to focus on Jamf when I got to work, but that made me sleepy. Then other less important things kept drawing focus, and we ended the afternoon with about 15 minutes of network downtime where I couldn’t even talk to my own switches. I don’t know what happened.

While I was driving home, I got a call from the Rockline recruiter to say they were pursuing their other candidate, which suited me fine. I went to the old house to get my old pot holders and feed the fish, and then I ran by Harbor Freight to ask about ordering a tool chest before finally going home to Summer, who had spent the evening cooking a nice dinner.

After we ate, I had her help me shove everything to one side of the living room, and I spent the next five hours shampooing carpets again. The water kept coming up black until the very end, but I kind of figure we’ll do it again after hosting for the holidays anyway. Or maybe I’ll give up on this house and move onto my fantasy sailboat. I could use a change of scenery.

Absolutely Knot

Corn Dogs with Catch Up

I ran a little early this morning and made some coffee at work. Kim walked in a little late, but said she had been there talking to Toby, so who was I to argue? We spent a while chatting and catching up on work, the conference, and everything else. I didn’t get to focus on any big stuff, but I got her wrangled into closing some old work orders while I went to the elementary building to round up the spare Chromebook cart we had stuck in the closet there. I wish I could remember what I was planning to do, but inventory down there has been so scattered anyway.

I went to the old house after work and charged for a little bit while I fed the fish and took a little break. Then I went to Taco John’s for some dinner before heading home. The girls would be out late, so I just ate by myself and then started cleaning up in the living room. I plotted out the new couch setup, and I think it will be really nice in that space. In fact, I don’t think the 15-foot one we originally liked would have fit quite as well. It wouldn’t have been bad, but it just wouldn’t have allowed as much room to walk around it. Either couch makes the room feel small.

Slow your rolling tool chest.

That’s No Mop

Summer had a 5k this morning, followed by some work in Conway. I got around to cleaning up the laundry room so we could move the spare refrigerator there. Eaddie left for Fall Fest with Eli, and I just stayed behind and mopped that one room nearly a dozen times. Summer bought one of those spinning mops, and I had an absolute fit with it. The handle was too short to begin with, but then it kept sliding down as I would try to scrub the floor. The bucket didn’t hold enough water to get very many passes in, so I just kept soaking up the floor a bunch and then pulling that water back up.

At one point, the spinner broke and I had the worst time trying to rip the thing apart. I nearly ripped it apart in anger and threw the thing away. I did eventually get it back together and got into a little bit of a groove with it, but I still think it’s inferior. It’s impossible to scrub the floor with it. The mop handle itself is just insufficient.

The water got between the wood tiles and kept coming up through the cracks for the rest of the day. Dad came over to help me move the refrigerator, and Eaddie and Eli showed up just in time to help manage the doors while we twisted the refrigerator through the door. Then Summer showed up while Dad ran home to get a set of standard Allen wrenches. She disappeared to unwind while Dad and I got the treadmill apart and moved to the office.

Summer got the fridge cleaned up and I put the shelves back in. It was already pretty late, but I was really hungry, so I picked up some Wendy’s. The girls behind the counter looked like they were having fun, but they were also being pretty inefficient. They got the food out eventually though. Eaddie was home by the time I got back, and chatted with us while we ate. Then everyone went to bed while I fought with one of our Fitbit Aria 2 scales that quit syncing weights.

I’m going to be furious if this refrigerator dies now.