Tag: cleanup on aisle 5

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Three Meal Day

We had three meals planned for today, so we had to get up in time to squeeze them all in. First it was Honey Bunches of Oats in maple bacon donut, and then chicken and waffle flavors. The maple was good, but I couldn’t catch much bacon other than the little flecks that looked like bacon bits stuck to the donut Os. The chicken and waffles had at least a bit of the fried chicken breading flavor. Both were good, and I’d eat them any time.

It was finally Eaddie’s day to learn how to mow the lawn, and Autumn was made to follow her around in case she got sucked into the blades. Summer and I watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica, and I fried a few fresh corn chips followed by some chicken strips for sandwiches. My sandwich was probably about three times the size I needed, but they were super delicious on the assorted bread bag we picked up. I guess Eaddie worked up an appetite mowing, because she ate two sandwiches and then another handful of strips. Autumn skimped as usual, even on a super plain bread-and-chicken sandwich. At least they successfully took turns mowing their huge lawn.

I finally picked myself up in the afternoon and headed home while Summer went to the gym. I was exhausted and wanted to nap once I got there, but got myself motivated enough to move some fish around, and then to mow my own lawn. I still love my battery powered lawn mower so much, and had even more juice left at the end of this round than last time. My back yard has grown up really badly though, and I need to burn all of the yard waste that’s back there soon.

Dinner time rolled around and I wasn’t hungry, but I knew I wasn’t going to be any more use at home with as tired as I was. Summer had the leftover chicken tacos warming up, so I went up to her place to catch the tail end of dinner. I couldn’t help but eat a number of tacos again, and then she let the girls stay up late to watch an episode of Parks and Rec with us. Then we watched a couple more without them before heading off to bed.

You just have to believe in your placebo!

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People That Do Things

I sort of halfway got to sleep in just a little bit today, but it wasn’t much. The girls went home while I showered and got the bike rack mounted. I had forgotten how heavy and cumbersome that thing is, and it makes me wish I had a better way to store it than boxing it back up in the retail package. It really is the most secure, uniform shape that way though.

Noah and Eaddie stayed behind, so it was just Summer, Autumn, and myself again heading to Little Rock. We went straight to Dick’s and met with Ryan, who I had spoken to over the phone. He threw the bike up and checked the breaks and a couple things, but evidently didn’t tighten the handlebars or air up the tires, and one of the valve stem caps was missing. Of course we didn’t notice any of this until we got home and tried to ride them.

While in Little Rock, we tried to find somewhere to go for lunch and ended up at Hooter’s right around the corner. The girls kept being super apologetic about how slow they were and how behind the kitchen was, but I honestly didn’t really even notice it at all, especially for a Mother’s Day crowd. Autumn thought she could handle the heat of the wings, but she ended up struggling to eat. Summer lucked out and got a free salad for Mother’s Day.

We stopped in Conway on the way home to get the last bike. As we walked into Dick’s, we found they had lost power, so they let us shop around under the emergency lighting. Taylor met up with us and tried to talk me into biting the bullet on a new bike for myself with his n+1=x where n is the number of bikes I have, and x is the number of bikes I need. I passed, deciding instead to hoard my money for another day.

When we got home, I ordered some Domino’s for dinner and picked it up on the way to my parents’ house. Summer took the kids to her mother’s to visit for a bit on the way, and eventually we all made it to dinner with my parents. Julie got her own broccoli crust pizza from Brick Oven. I mostly ate salad, but had a slice of Hawaiian and a slice of Julie’s chicken bacon ranch that wasn’t bad. After we finished eating, we went outside and let everyone try riding the new bikes in the street a bit. That’s when we found Summer’s had not been put together completely, or at least not tightly enough.

They headed home, and I took the bikes home to try and clean out the garage enough to store them. I managed, but only because of how much junk I had that I could rearrange. Trying to store them with another vehicle in the garage will prove to be more difficult unless one of those vehicles is a Miata. Time will tell, I suppose.

Kleer the mind.

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Roller Coaster! Of Blooooooood. (say what?)

The Catapult Health Clinic was at the middle school today, and I had my visit scheduled first thing in the morning. They seemed to be running a little slow, so it took me a few minutes to get in, but it wasn’t any worse than going to my doctor’s office. The difference is that they had me do all the paperwork right there with them while they sampled my blood. That’s about the time that shit got cray.

My first blood pressure reading was 188/122. I’ve never paid particular attention to those goals, so for me it was business as usual. The second reading was 170/111, which was more than 10 points off of the first reading, so I got a third at 186/127. That’s when a different nurse came over with an alarmed look on his face. He called the first girl back over and asked what they should do, and she replied that the video chat nurse would probably just talk to me about it. After a brief wait to go behind the video chat curtain, a nurse practitioner video chatted with me and brought up a warning/disclaimer to call my doctor immediately.

I went to Oakland to do some work and told the girls about my experience, so Leslie took my blood pressure again at 183/114. Nearly an hour later, I had relaxed it down to 174/114. I was less concerned, but already coerced into calling my doctor. I could have gone in right at lunch time, but I was already hangry at that point, so I scheduled a visit for 2 in the afternoon and went with a big group to lunch at Western Sizzlin where I had an incredibly unhealthy salad. It could have been better.

After lunch, the doctor visit went relatively well. They had renovated most of the building, and pretty well removed my old doctor’s name and replaced pretty much every comfort of familiarity. I hated watching the reel of healthcare advertisements in the lobby. At least everything else looked cleaner and less dingy than before. The first nurse got my blood pressure at 160/90 in both arms and said it wasn’t that bad, and blamed the high numbers on the auto-cuffs we had used all morning. A short wait later, the ARNP came in and basically said the same, but then followed that she was prescribing some low dosage blood pressure medication. I’ve officially made it to the stage in life where I’m kept artificially alive. Also, I have ringworm.

I went straight back to the junior high after my visit was over, and had Chrystal take my blood pressure again. She had a manual cuff like the doctor’s office, and came up with 182/110, which served only to confuse me more. Convinced that Death was following me around, I continued on with the rest of my day. Summer left to go to the gym, and I took the girls to Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions before going to my parents’ house for dinner.

My parents seemed not to be too concerned with me getting medication, and leftovers were good. All I had left to do was research my new drugs.

Until I got home.

Bulk item pickup day apparently didn’t include tires or televisions, so both were left in my front lawn. The CRT TV chassis appeared to be split open, so of course it fell completely apart as soon as I touched it. The glass immediately shattered, half on the grass and half on my driveway. I would have preferred to sweep it off of only the driveway, but that would have left me feeling less defeated. My new, concerned neighbor laughed at my response that I was okay, but contemplating life.

We’ll try again tomorrow.

Blood pressure’s like a roller coaster baby, baby. I’m gonna die.

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I Could Chair Less

I haven’t been able to sleep in much this weekend for some reason. I don’t know if it’s just too bright outside or if it’s because of the head cold, but it’s been tiring and annoying feeling so drained. Summer headed home to get her chores done while I spent all morning preparing potatoes to bake in the afternoon.

The girls came home all gross, cranky, and uncooperative because they were tired and apparently good personal hygiene is out of fashion. The twice baked potatoes ended up taking me quite a bit longer to make than I expected too, but I still had them finished right as the girls walked in the door. We made it to my parent’s house about an hour late, so everyone had already started eating without us. The girls weren’t very hungry anyway since they ate with their dad, but Summer and I filled up.

Julie made keto food and said she made cauliflower rice. It was cauliflower, and I don’t get why these people have to call it by the wrong name. I guess if I eliminated a food group, I’d be a little crazy too. As they were leaving, Mr. Houston said he moved in next door, so that will be new I guess. Nobody stuck around for very long after dinner, and we weren’t an exception. Summer and I had to get back to move some furniture out of my house.

Bulk item pickup comes twice a year, and I refused to miss it this time around. I set calendar reminders for both Summer and myself, and we planned to move at least one couch out of the house. We ended up moving three. I no longer have a huge amount of seating, but it seems like nobody comes around these days anyway. It was nice to get rid of so much stuff all at once. Random scrappers came by and picked up two lawn mowers as quickly as I put them out. The rest I suppose will sit until morning. I’ll probably continue to feel guilty about trashing old shoes and boots for the rest of my life, but it made Summer feel better. I really should have cleaned them up and donated them, but it hadn’t happened in this many years, so I guess it was just as well for them to be thrown away.

Cleaning the cat box has become a total nightmare, and I had to do a load of laundry before bed. I guess change will feel better eventually, but right now it’s hard not to feel a little jarred.

Sofa, so good.

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Mow, Mow, Mow your Moat

We got up this morning at a pretty reasonable hour and finished the first season of Battlestar Galactica. Afterward, my parents came by and discussed getting rid of my Fieros, much to my annoyance. I guess it would ultimately probably be best, but I do miss driving them, and I can’t shake the feeling that I should have them fixed up again.

Once my parents left, Summer went to the gym and Bác Vân helped me with some yard work. We trimmed a bunch of branches and cleaned up the front yard so Summer could mow when she got back. It was pretty soggy in some places, but we got it all done and the yard looks a lot better. I’ll have to clear a bunch of brush in the back, but hopefully that won’t be too terrible. The mower seems to do a great job of mulching, and the single battery lasted almost exactly long enough to do both the front and back of the house. I’m sure when it’s thicker, I’ll probably have to bring out the second battery, but for now I’m very pleased.

After all that yard work was done, we came in to shower and then met my parents at Kroger to use some fuel points before going to New China for dinner. Nearly my entire body cramped up from all of the yard work, but I managed to work them out well enough to go eat. When we finished there, we went to Walmart to pick up some things for Easter dinner tomorrow, and then wandered around the store for a while to hunt for deals. We picked up a couple snow scrapers for just pennies, so I call it a win.

Summer went to bed pretty much as soon as we got home, and I played some Overwatch with Clint until bedtime.

…and some Sour Patch Kids and a Coke can!

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‘Cause I am Barely Breathing

Summer had a 5k and quiz bowl tournament to attend today, so I slept in a little bit. It really wasn’t too late though, before I got up and started trying to motivate myself to clean house. I felt my head cold grow all day long, and I just kept feeling worse and worse, but I didn’t want the day to be a total loss. I ate my week old Firehouse sandwich that was dry and not delicious. Then I started cleaning up around the kitchen and vacuumed the living room.

I wanted to get the big pieces picked up before Ronda and Steven came over to drop off some stuff she picked up for me, but I guess they had more deliveries to make and didn’t stick around long. She got me a reptile double lamp and a nice little aquarium with an overly intricate filtration system in the back. I think it will make a nice home for Murderface in the near future.

I went ahead and moved Blue over to the community tank and she seemed to do fine there. I also noticed she only has one ventral fin, and I’m not sure she’ll grow a second one back. It looked like it could have been a birth defect. I watched her for quite a while to make sure she settled in well, and nobody really seemed to take any notice. The heavy plant coverage should help her find a home in there anyway.

When Summer got home, she took a shower before we strapped in for a Battlestar marathon. I got up to make some instant phở for dinner because neither of us were too keen on getting out, and it was rainy anyway. We got a few episodes watched before my head stopped functioning and she was ready to pass out. I loaded up on what meds I could and hoped for the best.

Hamburger

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Evasive Tax Form

The weather was supposed to be nice again today, but it was still super cold on the bike in the morning. I went back and forth between Oakland and the shop a few times trying to fix some issues before testing season arrives. It was still a mostly mellow morning though. I did run into Michael, who asked about borrowing my home theater speakers for a Dancing Through the Decades dance in a couple weeks. I just didn’t feel comfortable loading them up and bringing them out for use in public though.

I met Zach and Allen at Morellos for lunch, where I vowed to eat too many chips. I had been hungry all morning, and I absolutely loaded myself with fajitas and chips. Allen left us super early as usual, and Zach and I both still got to the shop separately, and well before our lunch hour was over. I really don’t know what his anxiety is about.

I tried to get some tablets reset at the junior high before school let out, but I didn’t get them all done before Jason wanted Brice and me to help Amanda mount a touch panel. At first I thought we were all four going to be there, but evidently he helped Amanda deliver the touch panel, and we were to swap it with a previously mounted television and then bring that back to the shop. I got pretty annoyed at Brice, because Jason emailed us early in the morning with a scheduled time of 3:00, so I left my tablets unfinished to meet at the shop. Brice took an extra 30 minutes to get there, and then we still had to drive to the middle school. On top of that, Gary seemed to be bored at the shop, and Ben was going to be at the middle school to continue his walkthrough. It just felt like everyone was either already there or available to help, and I was annoyed that I couldn’t get my work done. It didn’t help that I was mad at myself for forgetting to complete a work order yesterday, but I really didn’t get any heads-up for that one anyway.

After work, I came home to gather some things before going to Lowe’s to hunt down some light bulbs. I didn’t even see a compatible LED like I’ve been getting from Walmart, but they had one single-pack incandescent for a little more than the LEDs cost. Hopefully it won’t burn out after just a couple days though. I wish I knew what the problem was. I went ahead and picked up a new fluorescent bulb for the 35 gallon bow-front tank as well since it’s been out for years. There were only a couple cashiers, and after waiting in line for quite a while, my guy couldn’t scan a gift card correctly and I ended up getting out of line to check the balance. Once I confirmed what I knew, I got back into the next shortest line and checked out without incident.

I finally made it up to Summer’s for just a spot of dinner and to visit. They had already eaten since I was still a bit full from lunch anyway. Summer and I went to the other room to talk about her offer from the shop, and I tried to help her calculate the value of her time. It really could go either way, depending on her negotiation. The best part is just that she has multiple options for now and in the future, so I tend not to fret too much over her choice. I spent a bit of time trying to buy tickets for Shazam, but had to give up after I met a hidden order limit that required a call to guest services to explain.

Eventually I headed back home for the evening and tried to take care of the aquariums a bit. Once that was done, I spent the rest of the night cleaning with the purpose of finding my W-2. I just couldn’t find it anywhere, and I started to get really aggravated. I felt good about getting so much stuff cleaned up and thrown out, but I was going crazy not remembering where I had put it. Eventually I found it in the living room, but didn’t have enough time to actually file my taxes. I guess there’s still tomorrow.

At least I got my watch shipped off.

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Here in my Garage

Today was the last day of spring break, and therefore it was a day of cleaning up. Summer gathered her things so we could pick up the girls, and on the way out I spotted a mail carrier driving toward my neighborhood. I was expecting my plants that were delayed from yesterday, so we came around the block to wait for it. Summer couldn’t find her keys, so we took the time to unpack her bag and look for them. The mail carrier never came though. I eventually had to give up, and we went to get the girls and take them on home. Just as we pulled in to Summer’s parents’ house, I saw that my package had been delivered, so I dropped the girls off and headed straight back home.

To my surprise and some disappointment, I didn’t receive my aquarium plants. It was actually my Momentum Smart Garage Door Opener that was delivered. I started cleaning up, took a shower, and then ran next door to borrow the extension ladder so I could get into the attic. It was a painfully easy installation, even considering I had to run power above the ceiling. I got the camera set up and hooked up the opener cables so I could open the garage door from my phone. By that time, Summer had dinner about ready, so I headed to her house.

She grilled some chicken to go with some mashed potatoes and cheesy squash and zucchinis that turned out really great. The cheese was probably a bit much, but it was so good broiled and browned the way she made it. Eaddie wanted to watch an episode of Parks and Rec, so after dinner we watched one episode before I headed home to complete some laundry before bed.

While the laundry was going, I got dishes done, and then started messing around with my TeamSpeak server some more. I think all that’s left is to test it with multiple outside connections. Everything looks great so far though.

Vi sitter här i Venten

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Pick Up Sticks

I slept super well last night after such a long day. I could have slept longer, but I knew I had to make myself wake up before noon. I jumped right into anything I came across, bouncing from one project to another. I got the cat box and betta tank cleaned, did a load of laundry, messed with a new file server a bit, and then sunk a bunch of time into deciding on a CO₂ setup for making soda water at home. I expected the equipment to be relatively standardized, and I guess it probably is, but finding components to build a “fill station” seemed needlessly more complicated than just paying $35 for a dual valve fill station on Amazon.

Eventually I got to a stopping point and Summer came over so we could get some food. Nothing sounded particularly good, but I knew I wanted lots of vegetables, so we ended up going to New China. The food seemed better than average for them, and I felt good after eating slightly differently than my usual pattern there. Afterward we went to Walmart and killed a few hours wandering around. I tried looking for any random deals around the store, but the real prize was the tiny Tabasco bottles out of the Freeosk machine. Though we did end up going back in for some more clearanced pumpkin pie apple cider after we tasted it in the car.

When we got back home, Summer pretty well crashed while I did some more laundry and messed with the file server. I’m not having any luck though, so I think this will have to sit until tomorrow.

Out, damned spot!

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Wormageddon

I got up pretty early considering how late I went to sleep. I finished up the apple pie moonshine and bottled it up, and Summer left to pick up the girls to go home. Then I spent the whole day doing laundry, dishes, and cleaning up the aquariums. I did a pretty big water change in the 55 gallon tank, and afterward I had microscopic worms floating around everywhere. I kicked them up out of the gravel and then they either floated around or started crawling straight up the side of the glass. It was pretty gross, but I don’t know whether they’d hurt any fish I put in there, otherwise I’d try to do that just to have some predators to thin them out.

Eventually I got showered in time for dinner and picked the girls up to go to my parents’ house. They ended up chatting with Dad for a while about band stuff, but then we had to head back home. I borrowed a magnifying glass to try and identify the two types of worms I’ve seen, and even a couple film canisters and pipettes to try and collect some specimens.

When we got back to Summer’s, the girls all went to cleaning house and I met up with Clint to play a little Overwatch since he had a rare moment to spend online. Overall the matches were pretty disappointing, but I felt like we did pretty well, and it was lots of fun to play again. I think I’ll have to come up with a better solution than Bluetooth earbuds for the laptop though.

Night Owl status.