Tag: family

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Mostly Wasteful

We got up and out of bed just in time for lunch today. I had a pretty bad headache again, but it worked itself out without too much trouble. Summer made a quick skillet pasta meal while Autumn baked a frozen pizza. Then she spent all afternoon cleaning up the house and making big piles of stuff to donate or discard. Most of the time I wish that came easier for me, but on the other hand I’m always happy to need something that I happened to save from long ago. It’s those small victories that really get me through life.

I made it home to do some more laundry and dishes, and play with the aquariums some more. My 55 gallon tank was overheated because the heater wouldn’t turn off, so I unplugged it for the rest of the day. The girls came over when they finished so we could go to my parents’ house for more leftovers. I was under the impression that they had more left to eat than they really did, but I kept digging out older and older food to eat. I finished up some burrito stuff, Eaddie had an eggroll salad, Autumn grudgingly ate more rice and ham, but liked the egg rolls. Summer wasn’t feeling great and just ate what was left when the other two couldn’t finish their bowls. I brought an aquarium worm along for Dad to look at under a microscope, but it didn’t look like much. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the other flat one that I was more interested in seeing.

The girls went to sit in the living room together and started watching YouTube with shared earbuds, which made it all the more confusing when they started bickering in the middle of a game of Super Mario Party when we got back to my house. We decided they were cranky and tired, so everyone went straight to sleep. I made it to bed by 2.

I’m just upset I forgot to change my hat.

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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.

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That’s What She Said

I took the morning off but decided to work in the afternoon. I ran by Burger King to get Summer some lunch on my way in. Nobody else was there, so I headed on to Oakland to pull some old cable out of the ceiling in a couple rooms. Zach let me know that central office was closing a couple hours early, so I really only had to work an hour and a half before getting off.

Brice eventually showed up back at the shop and we ended up chatting for a couple hours about how terrible and corrupt and stupid the place is. Then he said the school board overturned the limit and hired him on at step nine when everyone before has always limited to step five, and we both just kind of sighed again at the whole “you can only get ahead if you know somebody” after he had gone on about how he goes to church with the district CFO.

I eventually made it back home and waited for Summer to get off work so we could go to my parents’ for dinner. The girls were staying another night with their friends, so it was just the two of us joining my parents for egg roll salads. Then we ran to Walmart to hunt for a big stock pot that I could use to cook up some apple pie moonshine. They had a cheap looking one that was super dented up, but they were only willing to come off the price by a couple dollars, so I decided to go back and just get a different brand of pot that looked to be of slightly better quality.

Back home, I got everything mixed up and cooking while we watched the last two episodes of The Office. I don’t remember where I stopped watching before back when the show was actually running, but I definitely know that I didn’t finish, so it was nice to wrap the whole thing up. They did a really good job of recapping the show too, to show how everyone had grown and changed. Now it’s time to find something new to watch.

I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.

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Kids Are Just Bums You Can’t Berate

Somehow I managed to beat the kids out of bed today. Summer was working at the shop, so I was in charge of keeping them alive again. I figured letting them sleep was probably my best chance. When they finally did wake up, I warmed up some leftover brats for them. It was surprisingly fuss-less all day, but they were completely enthralled by Criminal Minds.

Summer called after a little while and had me take her some eggrolls I had just warmed. Neither of the girls cared enough to leave the house, so I just dropped off the food and returned right back home. I didn’t try very hard to get them to do anything, so I just kind of milled around cleaning up my own things while they binged their show. I tried making some stock from an old leftover chicken carcass, but added too much water and was left with the LaCroix equivalent of chicken soup. Eventually I got a shower so I could take them home to do the same, but was told they wanted to spend the night with a friend, so Summer came to get them instead.

After only a little attitude, we agreed to go to my parents’ house for dinner as we had previously arranged, and then Summer took the girls home to clean up. I followed behind to take them to their friend after they finished cleaning up, and then Summer met me back at my house after her workout. I got a little Into the Breach in before we watched a couple episodes of The Office. I cooked down my soup too, but I think this time I boiled off too much of the water and was left with a muddy looking broth. It tasted alright, but still seemed not worth the effort. I’ll have to try that again, only better somehow.

It’s a great play about crushed dreams.

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Too Many Pandacorns

I slept in too late today to take Summer some lunch while she was working at the shop, so I spent the day cleaning up after the cats and fish. I moved more snails over to the 55-gallon tank too, but I’ll need to bring the PH up so the acidity doesn’t eat away at their shells. I let myself get sucked down the rabbit hole for a while on that one.

After a while, I loaded up Breath of the Wild on the TV and played until I had to get ready for dinner. Summer came over after a workout and a shower, we picked the girls up, and we went to my parents’ house for some leftovers. Zach invited us up to play a card game they got called Unstable Unicorns, so we picked Gary up as well and headed to Doverland.

The seven of us played for nearly four hours before Eaddie finally won. We were pretty severely gimped because Zach and Sara insisted that you couldn’t play an upgrade card unless you had a basic unicorn card in your stable, and then all of my unicorns were turned into pandas for the entire game. I very nearly won though, and I feel like I did win in spirit even if it was only because I had a proper understanding of the rules.

Past midnight, we headed back to town in the pouring rain, dropped Gary off, then made it back to my house to go to sleep. All the girls passed right out, and I joined them after a couple more hours.

You think the hard way is your ally, but you merely adopted the challenge!

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Merry Chrysler

Summer and I got up and woke the girls up for breakfast this morning. She made blueberry pancakes, and then the girls wanted to be artsy in their rooms while Summer played Torchlight II and I played Zelda. Eventually I had to head home to get ready for dinner at my parents’ house.

Once I was ready, I picked everyone up at Summer’s parents’ house since the girls would be staying the night there. We were the first to arrive at my parents’ house, followed by Bác Vân and Doug, then Julie. Dinner was really good, though I forgot to bring the leftover potato salad. We had plenty of everything else though, so we didn’t really miss it. Julie got on another rant about why America is fat after Bác Vân tried to tell me not to drink so much so fast.

After dinner, we played a little bit of Overcooked II with Julie before switching to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. As stressful as that was at moments, everyone seemed to find something they were good enough at that we could successfully defuse bombs with screen looking. Next up will have to be true handheld mode so nobody else can see the bomb.

We dropped the girls off, then Summer and I made it back to my house and watched a few episodes of The Office. She’s determined to finish the series over break, and then we’ll have to decide on what to watch next. I’ve got such a backlog that it very nearly stresses me out, but there are also other shows I’d like to rewatch with her. Decisions, decisions.

And a happy emu tear!

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Recreational Frustration

Summer took the kids home this morning and I eventually got around to doing some last minute deal hunting. First up was Shoe Carnival where they had advertised a free $10 gift card with the purchase of a $50 gift card. I couldn’t find any terms anywhere online, so I had to go to the store and read a sign that the bonus gift card would only be valid for a couple weeks, which made this one a bust for me.

Next I went to Walmart to hunt down an old, discontinued SKU for a Google Home Mini and Chromecast bundle. They had several of the newer SKU boxes in stock, but I couldn’t find any of the old cheap ones. The place was a zoo, but I managed to make it around to the groceries for a few things I needed before I left.

The last stop was Taco Bell to spend my last $5 bonus gift card before it turned into a pumpkin overnight. I just sat and decompressed over a taco salad before making my way up to Summer’s.

When I got there, she was baking cookies for the kids to decorate. Eaddie didn’t make as much of a mess as I expected her to, and we all had a good time. I made a Patrick starfish and a Thanos.

After the cookies, they all played Super Mario Party while I fought with trying to set parental management on Eaddie’s iPhone. It was super frustrating that we weren’t there to set it up properly from the beginning, and none of them really paid close enough attention to anything to really use it to its full potential. I eventually just gave up and played some Overcooked 2 with the others. That game stressed us all out, but I think Summer got it the worst. Eaddie was tired and useless. Autumn was the same, though less annoying about it.

Eventually the girls settled in and we called it a night. I played Breath of the Wild for way too long before I gave in to sleep.

You’re gonna sit down and have fun whether you like it or not!

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Harry Peter

Jesica came over today with shrimp bread and twice baked potato casserole. I almost didn’t wake up early enough, but I managed to squeeze a shower in just in time. When she got here, the three of us went to Walmart to find something for us to cook. We landed on brats that I cooked on the George Foreman Grill, and we started the day on year three with the Prisoner of Azkaban. We made it all the way through to The Half-Blood Prince before Nick returned the girls. Eaddie got Autumn’s old phone, so she was on it for a while. Then Noah wanted to come over too, so I picked him up and we finished the movie.

Once it was over, Jesica gave up on the last two movies and headed out. I ended the night playing a couple episodes of Con Man until Summer was ready for bed. I had a bunch of coffee earlier, and kept eating the same stuff over and over again, so I felt a little weird and sleep deprived by the time everyone else went to bed. Tomorrow should be quite a bit different.

Binge all the things!

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Sup, Cuz?

My cousin Michelle and her family hosted a big multi-family Christmas gathering today in Bismarck. The girls came along with us, so I brought the Switch dock and we played Super Mario Party the whole way down.

It was a pretty good time, but there were so many people there that everyone pretty much just sat at their own table and ate. Most of the socialization seemed to happen among people that already saw each other pretty regularly. It wasn’t much of a surprise though since we hardly see any of those 3.7 million cousins on that side of the family. I think they’re all pretty close for the most part, but I know I have trouble keeping up with any of them.

Dad did a little magic show, and then Uncle Rick played some piano. We finished the night with Dirty Santa. Dad brought a couple gifts, so we put Autumn and Eaddie into the ring of 37 people. Eaddie didn’t really want the sign she stole from Autumn, so they decided to give it to someone else that commented about it.

The trip home was a little more Mario Party, and then Eaddie played Mario Odyssey the rest of the way. Summer got a little case of the Christmas blues, but I think we turned it around pretty well with some house cleaning and getting ready for Jesica to come over tomorrow. The girls went to spend the night with their father for Christmas, but they’ll be back tomorrow night. I hear there’ll be cookies.

HEY! It’s another Christmas song!

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Solstice with the Mostice

The kids got up and started watching Criminal Minds this morning. They got hungry, so I threw on some ramen while Summer went to take care of some school stuff and work out. After she got back, she took them home and I eventually got cleaned up enough to leave the house.

I stopped by Davis’ Pet Store on the way to Summer’s house because I wanted to pick up a few more baby snails while she had them. She gave me another tiny little ram’s horn style baby as well, but we weren’t sure what kind it really was.

When I got to Summer’s, she was in the middle of doing laundry and cooking food for my family’s potluck tomorrow. I warmed up some leftovers for us, and once she was done with everything we watched a couple episodes of The Office. When Nick brought the kids back, Noah started tearing the house apart looking for the ring he lost the other day. Autumn holed herself up in her room with her new phone, and Eaddie generally bummed around complaining about how she also lost her tablet several days ago but nobody would help her find it.

Summer wanted to play some Diablo, but I couldn’t get the family plan email invite to show up on her account, so she ended up falling asleep. I played Super Mario Party with Noah and Eaddie until they went to bed as well.

Today literally went by so fast!