Tag: family

Uncategorised

Family Assembled

We slept in a while today after a long day yesterday. Summer got up, and I followed to make breakfast croissants. Then Eaddie got up and they spent the day together cleaning up the porch and assembling planters I had gotten from Amazon Vine. We originally had plans to have Mother’s Day with Eli’s family, but several of them couldn’t come down, so they wanted to try for another time.

The day went by pretty quickly, but it felt good to get so much done. There’s more to clean up, but we have at least a little more space now than before. We wanted to do something with my mom, but they didn’t want to go out to dinner with everyone else in town, so Summer and I went to Popeye’s to pick up some chicken.

Eaddie went to visit her grandparents while we waited in the longest line I’d ever seen at that restaurant. The drive-through was wrapped around the building and there was another line inside, but they did a fantastic job of working through all the orders.

We made it to my parents’ house, and then Julie responded that they had been napping all day, but they’d end up coming to visit. Eaddie showed up late as well, so we didn’t wait for her to eat. It was a good time, and then Eaddie took Summer home. I followed a little later and let Muad’Dib run off some energy before driving him the last couple blocks.

We ended the evening watching some of the Kevin Hart roast on Netflix, but we didn’t start early enough to finish it. I was proud of Summer for staying up as late as she did, but we had to get sleep before work.

Motherhood takes many forms.

Uncategorised

Sad Grad

Summer got up early for Run Like Yell in Dardanelle. I originally said I would go, but she insisted that I didn’t have to, and I didn’t sleep great. Of course I couldn’t really sleep after she left, so I got up and made myself a croissant sandwich. I burned the bread and set off the alarms, and then Eaddie got up and left to play at graduation. After that, I repotted a plant and watered the rest. Summer showered, then I followed suit before we left to meet the girls at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Muad’Dib did reasonably well there, and we stuffed ourselves with junk food again. Autumn fussed about not being able to eat much, and then about her relationship, so the conversation started going in circles a bit. I tried not to be too involved, but it really served as a reminder of the past drama we always had to endure. Eaddie showed up late after rehearsal, ate a bit, and then I think she left with Autumn while Summer and I took Muad’Dib to stay with my parents.

It didn’t take Muad’Dib long to break out of the back yard, and then Summer kept calling at him to go back, which of course drew him to jump on my car. I yelled about it, so she got quite for a while. We made it to graduation nearly an hour early and found seats in the second row. It wasn’t terribly long after everything finally started that I got an alert that Muad’Dib had left his safe zone.

I panicked and got up to call Dad, who didn’t answer. Mom answered, but didn’t have a clue where he was. I couldn’t tell if Dad had taken him out for a walk or if he had left to look for him. I also couldn’t send a screenshot of the GPS location because my phone got hot and started acting jittery. I got most of the way back to the car when the location finally updated to show Muad’Dib back near my parents’ house, but Dad still wasn’t answering. I waited a while and eventually felt good enough to go back inside.

We watched Autumn walk, and Summer kept yelling at other people she recognized. I kept feeling like she needed to go back to education if she wanted to feel happy about that kind of stuff again, but we’ve also gotten used to bigger paychecks.

They finally wrapped things up and we met the girls outside in the sun. I got pretty warm and was annoyed that we kept having to wander around looking for kids that were doing their own family things, and hadn’t asked to meet anywhere in particular. We got some pictures, but Summer wanted specific group shots. I ended up sitting in the car for some of that. When the girls all finally caught up with one another, she called me to drive over to them. Then Autumn started fussing about Adam some more. I said my peace and then wandered off to chase my car, which was driving around on “Smart” Summon in an annoying pattern without crossing parking lines.

I finally got Summer into the car, and the kids allegedly left to go meet up with Noah. I dropped Summer off at home so she could rest before going to a team meeting at work, and then took the Onewheel to retrieve Muad’Dib. We sat inside for a little while, then Mom came out to look at her plants. We helped a very little bit before riding back home. Summer called just as we got there because Autumn wanted to tell me I helped motivate her to break up with Adam. I just told her to keep pushing herself to be better and do the right thing.

Summer eventually made it home and we watched a YouTube video about digging for supercritical geothermal. Then she went to bed and I followed for just a little bit before going off to do my own thing. I was up later than I wanted to be, and had an anxiety attack at one point while playing on my phone. Eaddie eventually made it home near midnight, and then I went to bed as well.

Late night drops!

Uncategorised

Apps on Apps

The latest version of Autopilot hasn’t been maintaining speed, which has made my rides a little more annoying. We got in today with an acceptance that modern Outlook simply could not support collaborative contacts. It was difficult to get much traction anywhere else, which made the day drag on a bit. It was cool outside around lunch time, so I decided to let Muad’Dib sit in the car while I got some Wendy’s.

Eaddie and I had been trying to come up with a plan for Mother’s Day, and since she was done with school, I wanted to at least take them to dinner somewhere with Muad’Dib. Summer would actually be home early, so we had a plan.

I left work and actually passed Eaddie on the way home. We arrived together and found Summer just out of the shower, and then we all loaded up to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. They had endless appetizers which, to my surprise, you could mix and match for one price. We went through a few rounds of those and stuffed ourselves on chicken. It was probably the best experience we’ve ever had at Buffalo Wild Wings, ever. Muad’Dib did great, and got some snacks from a table of Eaddie’s friends next to us.

I took Muad’Dib for a chilly run when we got back to the house. We briefly saw my parents, and then Eaddie was gone when we made it back to the house. Summer was in bed, so I wound down quickly for some good sleep to round out the week.

Old school; new school; no school!

Uncategorised

Scanned if You Do; Scanned if You Don’t

I felt mildly rumbly in the tumbly for much of the day, but it wasn’t bad. I brought along another griddle cake sandwich for lunch, which got cold sitting on the table while I chatted with the ladies downstairs for a bit. I ended up down there a lot to resolve some scanning woes, but also to discuss redundancies in processes and other meaningless paperwork nonsense.

What wasn’t spent fighting scanners was spent fighting an utter lack of support from Microsoft for collaborative address booking. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, we found some time between a bit of rain to go to Sonic for a small, quick lunch. I picked up some fries from McDonald’s on the way back because it was a bit too small for me, but Muad’Dib got a handful of those too.

The afternoon was relatively short, and then we made it home after fighting autopilot and its newly developed habit of dropping speed. Summer was making a stuffed spaghetti squash and chicken dinner for us, which was relatively delicious. She had been in her feelings all day, and it never got much better. I ended up having to leave for a run with Muad’Dib after she started fussing about work some more.

Muad’Dib ran exceptionally well because it got quite chilly out. We made it to my parents’ house pretty quickly, but he slowed down a bit just before that. We didn’t visit long before making it home where we found Summer winding down for bed. I got cleaned up and did the same.

S’more o’ that!

Uncategorised

May the Fifth Be With You

I had an anxiety attack just as I was getting my backpack out of the car this morning, which makes two days in a row. I haven’t been tracking them for very long, but hopefully it helps the next time I go to the doctor. We got upstairs and things were pretty quiet. I spent all day fighting Microsoft documentation and trying to figure out a good way to create a collaborative address book for certain staff members. Outside of that, Charles had trouble with the network in the maintenance shop, so I had to cycle power to those switches in order so they would come back up without trying to mesh with one another.

We met Summer at Ortega’s, and the board didn’t list their usual all-you-can-eat. Instead, they had a double order of fajitas with a free T-shirt for not much more than we would have spent anyway. We shared that and had leftovers to go. Service was pretty good today too, but I also wasn’t depending on refills either.

The afternoon was more frustration with Microsoft until quitting time. Evidently Microsoft just doesn’t have a good method to collaborate on contacts without a bunch of extra effort, depending on which of the six versions of Outlook you’re using. Summer took Muad’Dib home with her at lunch, so it was quiet and lonely for the last part of the day since Janice left early.

Summer was working and watching TV when I got home. I cleaned up and eventually took Muad’Dib for a run. He did really great for part of it, but got slow about halfway through. I ended up eating spring rolls when we got to my parents’ house, and then tried to wind down quickly back at the house.

~mocha chocolata ya ya~

Uncategorised

Trimming the Bushes

We slept in a little bit today because Muad’Dib was snuggled up in my arms. The girls got up and hung out for a while without me while I cleaned up a bit. I didn’t feel terrible from the ice cream last night, but I didn’t feel great either. Summer eventually went out to mow while I got showered, and then I made egg and summer sausage croissants for brunch. After we ate, I went out afterward to help trim a bunch of growth around the property. We got rid of most of a tree that had been growing at the corner of the shed, and spent a bunch of time trimming the rose bushes.

While we were out there, I must have gotten overheated in the sun or something, because I felt terrible when we came inside. I just had to sit down for a while to recover while Summer showered. It wasn’t even terribly hot out, but I felt sick.

Summer got some laundry going, and Eaddie went with us to my parents’ house for spring rolls for dinner. Summer had to go to work to let the guys at the wash know that they would have a new manager starting with them this week because she was being assigned solely to the lube. Eaddie and I finished eating, then let Muad’Dib run home next to us. He didn’t really want to come inside, so I took him for a quick run around the block on the Onewheel.

Summer got home, then Eaddie left to shop for some yarn. I cleaned up a little more, and then it was time for bed.

I’m pretty sure I need that to live.

Uncategorised

Frog Lick Mornings

We had to get up around my usual worktime alarm so we could get to Conway for Summer’s Toadsuck 10k. I actually felt pretty decent, and we got out of the house just in time. She already had her race packet, so we found a nearby parking space and dropped her off at the starting line, and then Muad’Dib and I rode around on the Onewheel for a little over an hour.

I was hungry enough to find some food, so we rolled a few blocks away to a Chick-fil-A. We were basically able to stay on campus streets for almost all of it, so there was no fear of traffic. I placed a curbside delivery to my black Lamborghini golf cart, and then sat at the tables on the patio to eat, once one of the employees unchained the chairs.

We had just a little bit of time to roll around the nearby trail before making it back to the finish line. Summer couldn’t find the showers because we didn’t read the description well enough, but she got changed and then we headed to the original Stoby’s to meet Randy and Russ for breakfast.

The restaurant was packed, but they had space on the patio to seat us almost immediately. The kitchen was backed up though, so it took us forever to get food. Our waitress gave us a 50% discount for waiting, which was awesome since we were just enjoying our time anyway.

After that, Summer and I went a few blocks away to Toadsuck downtown. She decided she wanted to donate blood, so Muad’Dib and I rolled into the crowd to find Ben and his family. Muad’Dib was a little bit excitable, but overall did great. Something caught his attention hard at one point though, and he took off away from me without turning back. I ended up having to zap him, and then he came right back. We got lots of compliments, so it was a good time. Ben’s family caught up to him and they wondered on while I went back to fetch Summer. We went into the mob, but quickly decided it was too much for Muad’Dib, so we made it back to the car and made one last pass through Sam’s Club before heading home.

Dad was having trouble with the lights at the old house, so Muad’Dib and I left Summer to go check things out. Mom was on another push for me to get everything out of the house, so I looked over some stuff. I think the garage will be the worst of it, because I had so much room to store things without parking two cars inside.

I was exhausted and probably dehydrated, so we made it back home for a bit. I started to get really hungry, and then Eaddie came home from her trip to Little Rock to check out the National Guard band. The three of us decided to go to La Huerta for dinner, but their patio was full. We ended up walking next door to the Gogi BBQ House food truck. I had seen a huge mob of people there earlier, so I figured it must be good.

Eaddie got some tacos and Summer and I had different bowls with chicken, pork, rice, and a couple of fresh sides. The kale I had tasted nutty and was delicious. We really liked everything. Afterward, we went to Las Delicias for some ice cream. It looked like they were training a bunch of employees, but they let us bring Muad’Dib inside and we had some pretty good ice cream before heading back home.

The three of us enjoyed some time on the couch together doing some tone deafness tests. Then Summer went to bed and Eaddie wanted me to watch the first episode of Invincible with her. I knew it looked interesting, but was afraid to start something new with such a big backlog on my watch list, especially leading up to Doomsday. It was a pretty good episode though, and it’ll be nice if she wants to watch more with me.

Puperfect!

Uncategorised

Tip Cow WTF!

I made it out a little early in spite of waking up feeling completely dead, so we stopped at Hardee’s for a surprisingly good prime rib biscuit. We were immediately greeted by Roxy, who I had forgotten. Janice brought her once before, and I don’t remember Muad’Dib being quite as bothered by her last time. They nipped at each other a little bit, which was dangerous since she was roughly the size of a squirrel.

I tinkered with stuff intermittently, and finally figured out some domain configuration for myself. I finally put together a sassy tip screen to whip out when I do things for others. I even made a landing page for Julie and Kevin, but Julie wasn’t ready to publish anything and wanted to wait until later.

When lunch came around, we went to Sonic for a big burger, chicken bites, and cheese sticks. Muad’Dib sat next to me like a good boy and got lots of everything. It felt like a good afternoon, so I treated myself with a cherry limeade as we headed back to work.

The afternoon was short on account of how late we ate. I ran into some annoying traffic parked in the left lane, but we made it home. Summer had to leave for a team meeting, and then I got a call from Dad who had sprung a water leak at the old house. I raced over with a tool to help shut it off, but completely forgot about meeting Julie to do their lawn. I guess Dad didn’t think anything of it either, because afterward I went to vacuum my car and then was going to wait for Summer to finish her team meeting so we could find dinner.

Julie texted angry, so I raced home with my weedeater to grab some batteries, then got to my parents’ house to find her bossing Kevin around with his trimmer. I pulled a few weeds, but the work was done. We cleaned up, they left, and then I went home to wait for Summer.

I thought she was heading home from her meeting, but she sat in her car for a while as I raced Muad’Dib around the block. We got back just as she did, only to learn that she wasn’t hungry anyway. I ate my leftover KFC, and then did some cleaning up before bed.

Oh, gods…

Uncategorised

More People; More Dogs

We got to work this morning and were surprised by the arrival of some of the sales team, who were apparently there for a couple days of training. That got Muad’Dib a little over-excited, so I had to shoo him upstairs, but it allowed me the opportunity to check on some remote devices that I would otherwise not be able to visually inspect.

It wasn’t until later when we left for lunch that I realized we had a new dog on site. Amanda walked him out, and Muad’Dib was laser-focused on him. I couldn’t tell if they were going to get along, but I had to get to Ortega’s to meet Summer, so we didn’t get to let them play.

Lunch was a little off for service again, but overall it was good food. It started to sprinkle a bit when we were leaving, but that didn’t seem to last long. When we got back, Scott said something about Elizabeth’s dog, and that was when I realized that the dog we encountered was the same, grown-up version of the tiny little handful we saw just weeks ago. We met him again later when we were called down for birthday cake, and Muad’Dib kept growing and barking at him, so they didn’t get to play.

The afternoon was relatively short, but I forgot to leave early to make it to therapy. We managed to get there just a couple minutes late, and had a relatively good session even if we were mostly off the rails. We had plans for spring rolls at my parents’ house after that, so we only stopped by the house to change.

Dad would likely have to have surgery for his torn rotator cuff, but otherwise he was still moving around mostly fine. We ate and visited, then got home in time to watch a little Netflix before bed.

“magic”

Uncategorised

In the Drink

Work was uneventful today. It seemed pretty quiet, and there was still some cleanup inside from the picnic over the weekend. I just quietly hummed along, trying to clean up a bunch of old reading I had saved while learning my way around Intune.

We went to lunch just a shade early because we were already downstairs to help Amanda with the check scanner. We just went to Taco Bell since they had a $2 discount on select combos. I was pretty disappointed in my Cantina Chicken Burrito, so we ended up stopping by Sonic for a 99-cent corn dog before going back to work.

The afternoon was more of the same as I tuned into some music for a bit to wrap up the day. Summer would be home around the same time I’d get back to town, and Eaddie was there when we got there, so I was hoping I could take them both out to dinner. We never see Eaddie any more, but she had another sorority meeting in the evening.

Summer didn’t feel great, but I got her dressed and she decided on Burger King for dinner. As we drove by the new one, we noticed they didn’t have outdoor seating, so we continued on to Freddy’s. The food was surprisingly good, but as always I was disappointed in the amount of fries and the overall value for the price. We finished up with a custard, then went to my parents’ house to drop off the pool cleaner I got them.

Mom and Dad were preparing to shop, so we didn’t stay long. Muad’Dib chased after what was presumably a possum after hearing some walkers comment on it earlier. It was just seconds before we heard the splash of him jumping into the creek, so he had to run home next to the car and then have a bath.

Summer went to bed, and I gave Muad’Dib a good bath. It was hot and humid, but I spent some time cleaning up the dining area and put away the things that still hadn’t been stowed from the picnic, and then it was off to bed.

Ick Season.