Tag: family

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Let’s Table It for Now

Summer got up and made us a simple sausage and egg breakfast with toast. I started cleaning up the dining table so we would have room for cookies, and did that all through the afternoon. I tried my best not to just hide things away somewhere else, and put stuff where it actually needed to go. Eaddie left to have Christmas with Eli’s family, and Summer made some homemade dog biscuits, followed by cookies for us to decorate.

I eventually had a shower and took Muad’Dib for a run. Mom made duck soup, so I ate with them before everyone came over to decorate cookies. Noah showed up much later than he told us, and Eaddie followed. Dad came over a little after I got back, and we got to the cookies.

Dad left after we got tired of decorating cookies, and then Eaddie had Summer open up one of her presents. It was Phase 10 Tiles, which was a take on the original, except with little plastic tiles instead of cards. We played a few rounds of that, but Noah couldn’t wrap his head around the gameplay and we ended up quitting halfway through.

Noah and the girls opened presents after that, and it wasn’t long before Summer was ready for bed. Muad’Dib seemed pretty tired too. Eaddie took Noah somewhere, and then it was off to sleep.

It was like Christmas all year long.

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Not Quite Quiet

I expected fewer people at work today as the holiday approached, but after a particularly quiet morning, I began to see a few more people. It was a big day for emails as I communicated back and forth with Aptean about an open ticket, and Chris about some email filtering shenanigans, several times throughout the day.

Nothing sounded good for lunch, so I had a McRib and then rode out the afternoon. Summer had to close the lube, so I took Muad’Dib for a run as soon as we got back to town. We visited my parents just before they left to go shopping. Then I cleaned up some leftovers before Summer got home. She showered and I warmed up some pizza for her.

I wanted to talk to her and Eaddie together about their desire to have Autumn over to decorate cookies, but Summer pressed and we had it out. I didn’t feel good about the outcome, but I don’t think there was a way to. We both vented until we were exhausted, and then she went to bed. Eaddie was out with Eli and Ceci and wanted to come over to watch Stranger Things, but ended up not coming. Then Eaddie texted me and asked if Muad’Dib could stay home from work tomorrow. We had a good laugh as Summer suggested he call in sick.

Someone’s gotta put kibble in the bowl.

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Hammer and Chisel

I got up this morning and actually got showered fairly early. Eaddie had the community concert in the evening, and Summer wanted to do some shopping. I wanted to take Muad’Dib, so we went to PetSmart first to pick up some more food. Then we put him in the car while we quickly poked our heads into Belk. They didn’t have what we wanted, so we drove over to JCPenney. From there, I got Muad’Dib out and we walked up the strip. Summer stopped at Shoe Carnival, and then we walked a little further up before returning to the car.

We were pretty hungry by then, and I was actually hungry enough to eat Italian, so we tried to stop at Italian Garden. Muad’Dib got super whiney, so we let him out to run a bit first. That was my mistake, because I should have had Summer queue us first. By the time we got in the door, she said there were a few people waiting. They quoted her ten minutes, but we decided to leave. I made a quick pass downtown to see if the taco place down there was open, but they weren’t. Feeling my frustration steadily growing, I took us to the house and warmed up some pizza and other leftovers.

Summer went to the gym and I started chipping away at the dining room table. I got a little bit of stuff moved, but there was just so much to put away properly. Summer eventually made it back, and I took Muad’Dib for a run while it was a little warmer out. Mom made curry, but it wasn’t ready when Muad’Dib ran us straight there. We continued around our reverse route for a while and then turned around just a couple blocks from our house to go back to my parents’.

I ate and then we started rolling back to the house. I got to the end of the road when my board threw a charge error again, but I was able to limp it most of the way home. I did carry it for about a block total, mostly just to make it up the hills. By then it was about time to get ready for the concert. We put Muad’Dib out back and then picked up Dad, and made our way to Witherspoon.

We sat near the back with Eli’s family, and Salvadore talked to me until we finally sat down. Summer wanted to sit by Shaana, so Dad and I just sat at the end of the aisle. The music was pretty typical for a Christmas concert. On the way out, Summer had us walk all the way around the building to avoid Gerald, which seemed a bit ironic considering the heat I’ve gotten for wanting to avoid Autumn lately.

We dropped Dad off and then got back to the house so I could give Muad’Dib a bath. He did wonderfully, and even stayed in the tub for me while I fetched the blow dryer. I gave him a good vacuuming afterward and pulled off a bunch of hair. Then it was a rush to bed.

Payout for tricks!

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Peppers, Partners, and Puppers

Summer texted me a picture of a rat we caught while I was on my way to work this morning, and fortunately she didn’t fuss about having to take it out to the park for release. We got to work and I was tossed into a few different things throughout the day, so of course I felt just as scattered as ever. Hopefully I can represent well at the staff meeting tomorrow.

On her way back from Little Rock, I met Summer at Ortega’s for an all-you-can-eat lunch, which was the extent of our recognizing eight years together. I think it’s the longest either of us have been in a relationship, and maybe it shows.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and then we made it home for a run as the sun set. Summer got back to the house just before us, and then we laid down on the couch together for the first time in months since the ceiling collapsed, and watched a MKBHD video, followed by a Babish video. Then she went to bed while I cleaned up and finished some Vine reviews.

You’re welcome.

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Undust

Eaddie went to Little Rock with Eli’s family today, so Summer and I spent the day cleaning and resetting the living room. I finally had a path to get to my plants again, so I took care of all of those, then cleaned and dusted things as they came back into the living room. I couldn’t believe the TV didn’t take any real damage. It looked like the frame might have been slightly bent where it came down and hit the center channel speaker below it, chipping the wood slightly in the process. Otherwise, the corner that took the full weight of the ceiling drywall appeared fine.

After Summer finished at the gym, we set up a couple outdoor Christmas tree lights. Then I took Muad’Dib out for an early run. I was super hungry when we got back, and Summer agreed that Chinese sounded great, so we went to New China. Muad’Dib was mad at me for making him sit in the car and pouted a bit when we got back.

I couldn’t find my lalst few speaker wires all day, but finally found them behind some of Summer’s stuff in the bedroom, so I was able to get the home theater set back up before bed. Everything seemed to be working great as far as I could tell.

Finally, if not a win, at least a reset.

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Deal With It

Eaddie left early this morning, dressed up for something. Summer and I had coffee and then started to reset the living room. We had an appointment to take Muad’Dib for pictures with Santa, but then Summer told me she wanted to have Autumn come over to decorate cookies and we ended up unpacking a lot of other stuff instead.

I cancelled the appointment and took a shower late, but then Eaddie and Eli came to the house and we met them at PetSmart where we could just walk up to what was one of the worst Santas I’ve ever seen. They were informal to say the least, but they gave him a little treat and snapped a couple poor pictures with my phone. Then we wandered the store for a little bit to see if Muad’Dib wanted a treat. He sniffed the bones a little bit, but all he really wanted was a guinea pig, and Summer wouldn’t let him have one. I suggested that if we got two, he could have unlimited treats for free, but that didn’t work either.

We took him outside to take a break from all the excitement for a little bit, and then we ended up going to Point Remove with the kids. We got a large charcuterie board, some drinks, and eventually a pizza. I saw Amber and Brian there for a Christmas party they were having for their runners club, and one of the ladies came down and convinced Summer to sign up for a membership or something.

Muad’Dib was perfect under the table and off the leash the whole time. I took him outside, and he was perfectly behaved the entire time. People loved his ugly sweater and Max antler. We were there for a little while because they were quite busy with a couple parties going, and seemingly very understaffed.

When we finally got back to the house, I cleaned up some more stuff to set up the living room. Summer went to bed. I wasn’t very motivated, and I couldn’t find my two longest speaker wires anyway, but I got a little bit done. Afterward I did some more reviews and had an anxiety attack before bed..

whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth

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Chillin’ Out Max

I had the hardest time staying focused today. I was completely worthless.

Everyone from upstairs was out doing something else for most of the afternoon, so it was super quiet. I picked up Arby’s and ate it in my office, which probably made the afternoon drag even worse.

The drive home was awful and slow, too. Someone was cruising along below 50, which caused a massive stretch of cars to slow down as people had to slowly get around them. That lasted for about a third of the entire distance of the drive.

My parents weren’t home, so Muad’Dib and I just did a quick run around the block before Summer got home. Then we loaded up and went downtown to see what the festivities were about.

The depot area was completely packed with people, and Muad’Dib got a ton of attention with his little Max reindeer antler on, but he also quickly got overstimulated by how many people were around. He did fantastically off-leash, but I eventually hooked him up when we tried to go further into the crowd. Eaddie came by with some friends and sang us one carol before that, and then we ended up leaving just to get out of the crowd.

While we were there, I ran into Brandon, Kara, and Sheri, and talked to each of them for a little while. Then we went to Zaxby’s for some dinner and went back to the house.

We ate, heard some fireworks in the distance, and then went to bed. I found Spider-Man: Homecoming on the Roku Channel and watched that while Muad’Dib and Summer both fell asleep, snoring in my arms. I must have been burned out, because I just felt dead.

No brakes.

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Technically, It Was Great

I got up and made eggs on toast again for breakfast, and it turned out a little better than last time, though we were short on eggs. The day went by quickly, and we had to get to Witherspoon for Eaddie’s concert. I didn’t want to leave Muad’Dib in the house, nor did I want to put him back outside after his bath, so we took him along to get Dad and then went to the concert. Summer wouldn’t let me dress him up in a trench coat to sneak him in, so he had to sit in the car for nearly two hours. He hated it, but was well behaved when he came out.

We dropped Dad off and then I took him for a quick run while it was still light out. Summer baked a frozen pizza for dinner, and then we took Muad’Dib to the other house to try and fetch my other slow cooker. Unfortunately we couldn’t get in because the internet was out and I couldn’t open the garage.

From there, we went to Walmart to do some quick shopping. Summer got a bunch of stuff to make chili for work and home, but we had to stop at the Neighborhood Market to get some missing ingredients. I waited outside and ran around with Muad’Dib while she ran in, and then we got back home where I tried to pound out some reviews before bed.

Definitely not snoozeworthy though.

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60% of Postmodern Jukebox

Summer left for a race in Vilonia this morning. I tried to sleep in a little bit since I would be driving late, but still had to get up and clean my car for the trip. First, I made some eggs over sourdough, and then made some for Summer as she came in. Then I stripped the seat cover out of the back of my car and did a deep clean with a vacuum and a blower, washed the windows, and wiped down all of the surfaces to try and keep Mom from having an allergic reaction.

I finally had a chance to take my shower, then took Muad’Dib for a quick and early run before we went to pick up my parents. We barely made it to Ozark before Summer had to stop. I went ahead and charged partway so we could get up to Viet Buffet in Rogers and then back down. I was worried there would be a wait, but we actually got right in. Everyone really enjoyed it, and though it wasn’t all just like Mom made, it was probably the most authentic I had seen anywhere, and they had all the greats.

From there, we made it to the Ozark Music Hall and actually got to park right outside. The concert was far from sold out, but the seats I got us on the balcony were right behind a speaker on stage-right. About a third, to a half of the stage was covered up, and I was livid. We probably could have gone down to the floor, but Mom didn’t want to move. Summer and I ended up moving to the empty reserved section right next to us at the end of the stage. Nobody said a word to us, and we could finally see the show.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and since we were able to charge while we were at the show, we were able to make it all the way home without stopping. We dropped my parents off at home, then Summer dove straight into bed. Eaddie had given Muad’Dib a bath, but he seemed to be shedding some dandruff or crumbs of some kind, so I wanted to give him another one. I ended up getting frustrated at a bunch of little things that were left undone, and gave up for the night.

What a bunch of geezers.

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Apple Fraud

Today started out a bit better for me, but Summer got called in to work early due to having multiple people out sick. I got a message on my drive in that the scanners weren’t working, and it took me far too long to reach the conclusion of restarting the printers. It didn’t make much sense that two separate devices had the same failure complaining about the SMTP server not having enough resources, but surely as I restarted them, they immediately started working again.

At some point I got a text about a possible fraudulent charge from Apple on my Discover card, so I reached out to Eaddie and got a predictable amount of help. I wasn’t terribly worried about it, and figured I would resolve it later. At some other point, I had a quick anxiety attack that spaced me out for just a moment.

Jacob from Tesla Mobile Service showed up somewhere in the middle of all of that and cleaned the inside of my windshield in front of my cameras. The wipers still came on erroneously, but I no longer had warnings about the camera being obstructed.

I had some cheap McDonald’s for lunch, and then the afternoon was dead silent because everyone upstairs was gone. We didn’t see another soul all day, aside from following one car out of the gate. We had a relaxing drive home and then went for a quick run. I found my heated vest, so I was much more comfortable. We visited my parents, I had a little bowl of some turkey soup and scalloped potatoes, and then we continued back to the house.

Julie texted to remind me that she had a loaf of bread for us, so Muad’Dib and I rode across town to get that. We visited very briefly before heading back to the house, and I sat down with Eaddie to review some charges. There were several attempted Apple charges that I contested, and of course now I’ll have to get a new card number. It will be annoying, but was probably necessary after all three of the girls had access to that card number at some point in time.

Can’t write or rewind.