Tag: family

Uncategorised

Unmake the Bed

Something sapped me yesterday, because I was sleepy all morning today. I slept super late and then got up to some black coffee, and I made tuna pitas for the kids. Eaddie asked about moving the bed again, but there still wasn’t a place to put it in the spare room. I don’t think anyone else realized how small that room really was, and certainly no one was super motivated to actually unpack what had already been moved.

The kids left every single light on in the outhouse after they got rid of the cat, and I had to send them back out to bring all the blankets and pillows into the house. It seems like things are always left half-finished, and they tell me I’m being mean regardless of how, or how many times I point that out. I assembled the little aquarium stand I bought years ago, and eventually got Eaddie to go through some of the stuff in the spare room.

Noah spent some time online looking for work. He’s been couch-surfing for a little while, which meant his truck has been parked in our driveway long enough for me to find the new tailgate handle we bought for him several months ago, and replace it. Unfortunately, Summer lost the accompanying trim screws that I had been keeping with the handle, so I couldn’t truly complete the job. With the tailgate more or less functional, we cleaned all the trash out of the bed of the truck, and took a tarp and some straps to the old house to load up my bed.

We got everything into the spare room and I started washing all of the bedding before I started dinner. Noah mentioned possibly taking Eaddie out to eat, but he had also been talking about trying to save up money while he doesn’t have a job. I don’t know whether he had considered the cost of food and smokes over time, but it didn’t seem well-prioritized. I reminded him that I had everything for burritos, so that at least took care of dinner.

Summer got home late and tired, but we had to have a family discussion. Eaddie had been a bit contrary for a few days, and mentioned earlier in the day that she had given our address to Beth so she could send gifts. I knew the adults would have to talk first, so Summer and I caught up, then brought Noah in to discuss his plans and expectations. Finally we brought Eaddie in to wrap it all up, but Noah went for a walk because he preferred to keep his conversations one-on-one with her, even though he mirrored our own concerns about Beth.

The family talk was kind of more of the same that we’ve all heard before. I’m a mean, old man that has to have his way, and I never compliment the girls. The floors are still dirty, and I’m the only one that notices the “handwash only” stamped on the bottom of the dishes. I wonder if I’d be happier if I didn’t care about anything.

I’m going to need a specific example of what constitutes a compliment if they don’t count when they’re in response to accomplishing expectations that were previously set.

Uncategorised

Holiday Beef with the Grill

I was the first one out of bed this morning, and started early on cleaning the potatoes to be baked. Eaddie came in from a night outside with the cat, and I made her and myself a couple breakfast croissants. Then I got the potatoes baking in the oven so I could shower and get ready for everyone else to show up.

Kevin and Julie were the first to arrive. Dad brought over the bacon for the potatoes, but had to go back to get Mom. Noah showed up out of nowhere, which was a little bit of a surprise in spite of the fact that we were expecting him.

I had a lot of trouble with the potatoes because they weren’t completely baked through, and I had to put them back into the oven after they had cooled off a bit. When I finally did get around to starting the grill, I couldn’t figure out why the coals wouldn’t light. We all just kind of assumed it was the humidity from the rain, but over an hour later, multiple attempts at lighting more oily rags, and even a guest appearance from the leaf blower, I realized the blower fan was blocked by the bag of charcoal I had under the grill. Once I removed that, the temperature shot up from 140 up to 500 degrees pretty quickly.

Everyone had already given up and started eating salads, but I got the steaks and eventually the vegetables onto the grill once it was hot enough, and everything turned out pretty good. I got lucky with the grates being close enough that I didn’t even have to use a special pan with the squash and zucchini. I lost a couple asparagus, but retrieved some of them later. The steaks cooked a lot faster than I expected, so they went beyond the medium rare I was targeting. I guess the thermometer lied, because I definitely found a cooler spot in the one I measured.

Everyone enjoyed the food, we had a nice fire in the fireplace, and everyone but Mom participated in the cookie decorating tradition. It was a lot of fun, but I only get through a couple of cookies before I’m done, especially after a long day of cooking.

After the cookies, people started filing out. Eaddie talked about pulling an all-nighter to try and catch Santa Claus, but Summer went straight to bed. Eaddie spent a little time with the cat, but it was loud and rainy, and we found the leak in the roof over the bathroom, so she ended up coming inside. I had been tired for hours, with smoke-filled eyes, so it wasn’t long before I made it to bed too.

Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws!

Uncategorised

Caturday

Summer made breakfast this morning, and then spent most of the day baking cookies. I went outside a few times to try and acclimate the cat that Eaddie wasn’t babysitting. I even put on some cartoons for it to try and mask the other creepy outside-building sounds. Eaddie left once or twice for a concert at Tech, and I took the Onewheel to my parents’ house to check out the Christmas steaks.

Later in the evening, the three of us watched the first episode of the second season of Loki, and then Eaddie went to spend the night in the outhouse with the cat while Summer and I went to bed.

One of Three, Down

Uncategorised

What’s New, Tom Jones?

Eaddie wanted to cat-sit for a friend, and the best this mean, old man could compromise was to let her keep it in the shed out back. Eli came over, and they went to get it. Summer was finally ready to go do a little shopping today, but that ended up being a bit of chaos. I should have known better than to brave the stores two days before Christmas.

We skipped Harbor Freight because I didn’t have a coupon. We went to Lowe’s to try and find a tree skirt, but they had precious little left. We wandered some more of the store, but didn’t get much. Next was TJ Maxx, which was an absolute zoo. The parking lot was completely full, and the checkout line wrapped toward around and about halfway toward the back of the store. Walmart wasn’t much better, but we made it out with a couple hundred bucks worth of groceries for the week. It took us much longer to get out than in. On the way home, we stopped by the old house to pick up a few more things, including a radiator to warm up the outhouse.

The kids were in and out of the house to tend to the cat while Summer made dinner. She kept telling me the ham wouldn’t take long to heat, but in the end we had cold, slimy ham and lumpy instant potatoes with some of her usual Brussels sprouts. I was able to save the potatoes, but only after everyone else had their food. I’ll have to warm the ham up better the next time we eat it.

Afterward we went out to try and coax the cat out of the corner. Eaddie made a pallet to sleep on, but gave up and came inside. She was upset with me for most of the night because I wouldn’t let her bring the cat inside, so next time there won’t be a compromise.

Always the bad guy.

Uncategorised

Like a Bull in a Chinese Shop

I had a plan today, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone else. Eaddie went to school all day just to hang out, but later said she was trapped in a small room with a dead phone. That sounded a lot like childhood to me. Summer made the two of us cheese and spinach omelets for breakfast, and then she left for the gym while I cleaned up. She ended up having to take a work call in the parking lot, and that was when we lost her to work for the rest of the day.

She spent the afternoon trying to source a Veloster motor, so I went out on the Onewheel. I thought I was doing fairly well, but I got a death-wobble coming down the hill again, and spilled the beans. I tumbled a bit, but not as much as the board, which went end-for-end for nearly the width of the street. I still can’t figure out what went wrong. I was having trouble slowing down, and I don’t know if my ankles just didn’t have the strength to keep the board steady, or if the tire needed to lose a pound of pressure. I’ve always had a little trouble steering on sloped surfaces too.

I came back inside and put tiny ornaments on Eaddie’s little Christmas tree before she got home, and eventually we decided to go to New China for dinner. We ate, I gave an impromptu fortune-speech on wasting kindness, and I shared some malaphors. Then we went straight home for the night.

Eaddie spent a bit of the evening cleaning to make a space for a whole-ass Christmas tree in her room, but then she wanted mine. I told her she could have hers which screamed “CHRISTMAS” in bold, schizophrenic, epileptic lights, because I had a matching pair of the tree I liked, which would bookend the home theater nicely. She claimed the extra 4-inch diameter made the garish tree an impossible fit, and made a fat joke about me not being able to fit through the door opening, so I chased her across the house and then went online to publish the sixth-most embarrassing photo I could find of her.

Summer came out to watch TV with me, but Eaddie didn’t join us, so we didn’t watch anything we had planned. Instead, the two of us watched Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery. When she left for bed, I watched Godzilla vs. Kong turned up to 11. Somehow, Eaddie fell asleep to that after saying she wanted to pull an all-nighter. I guess the best laid plans are paved with good intentions.

We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.

Uncategorised

I’m Yellin Timber

I woke up really early today after a long night, and didn’t really feel the need to go back to sleep. I made Summer a coffee when she got up, and she eventually pushed me to get cleaned up so we could go to the store. She wanted to make Chicken Florentine, which appears to be capitalized for some reason. She and Eaddie set up the Christmas tree while I was in the shower, and then Summer and I went to Walmart to shop around a bit.

I was pretty hungry, so the first thing we did was stop and try the new Krispy Krunch Chicken inside the Walmart. The chicken strips were awesome, but the jambalaya was pretty dry and lackluster. Once we finished there, we picked up some Dirty Santa gifts for her work parties, and then got stuff for food.

We stopped by the old house on the way home so I could feed the fish and grab a few glasses out of the cabinet. Then Eaddie started baking some pumpkin muffins when we got back. Summer cleaned up a bit around the house and then helped with the baking. It was a little late by the time they finished, and Summer had to sit down for a little while and wanted me to try and execute her dinner plans.

I wasn’t thrilled with that since I wasn’t really excited about the meal anyway. Then we realized she had forgotten to pick up sundried tomatoes. It hadn’t been a very good day, and this just made me crankier, so I decided I wasn’t cooking.

After a while, Summer got up to cook herself, so I prepared to go back out to the store. Just as I was getting dressed, I heard the loud crash of the Christmas tree falling behind the TV and smashing at least one ornament into shards all around the area and into the back of one of my subwoofers. I spent a while cleaning that up, and we eventually disassembled everything to throw the tree and its broken stand away.

Dinner was actually very good, though the amount of cream in the sauce nearly caused me trouble. Eaddie’s muffins turned out pretty sandy, but I think she was at least taking those to school so they shouldn’t sit around the house. The girls went to bed and I stayed up for some peace to myself before bed.

Talk to me, ooh-ooh, talk to me.

Uncategorised

Dear Eight-Pound, Six-Ounce, Newborn Infant Jesus

Sleeping was fairly uncomfortable with a weepy bit of road rash on the inside of my left ankle. I couldn’t believe the tire had gotten me as badly as it had, but I guess it just accelerated into me yesterday. I slept in pretty late, and got up to find Summer doing her nails. I spread some sauerkraut and mustard on a waffle and ate the last brat that was in the fridge. I thought the waffle might be a little more satisfying as bread, but it was pretty grainy.

I took a shower in the afternoon so we could go shopping, but Summer remembered that we were going to watch Christmas with The Chosen at UEC with Dad. Eaddie and I were hungry and she wanted cheese, so the three of us went to Cici’s for a late lunch before the movie.

We got to the theater just in time to find seats, and I was a little bit surprised at how empty the theater was. I guess all the church groups probably went to see it early. Some of the people sitting in front of us had snuck some really loud snack packaging into the theater, which struck me as a little ironic considering the forbidden nature of the act. The “movie” itself was about half music videos, with a few quick scenes of some dirty shepherds and a dirty messiah infant. I don’t know about Dad, but it wasn’t what any of the rest of us thought it would be.

After the movie, we headed home and Summer and I watched some TV. I started with a little YouTube, and then we ended up watching Rock-a-Doodle, which was shortish and relatively fun. Eaddie hid in her room all night, and I stayed up late configuring the old, original Pixel I bought for use as a photo backer-upper. Hopefully it plays nicely with the special photo and video editing features of my newer Pixel 8 Pro.

Don’t even know a word yet, but still omnipotent, with your golden diapers.

Uncategorised

Deep Dried Chicken

I got up this morning and made a couple caramel lattes for us. The magic club was having their Christmas party in Fort Smith, so I prompted Summer and we got ready to go. Eaddie stayed behind since she traveled all day yesterday. We took Summer’s car to get Dad, loaded up, and headed west. We were the first ones to the venue, which was the Riverfront Pavilion instead of the amphitheater building we normally use. Evidently there was a scheduling conflict, so they upgraded us.

Summer lost an earring, but we never did find it. People were filling in pretty quickly by then, so we got the food laid out, tables set, and had our lunch and a show. The best performer by far was a younger guy I hadn’t seen before with a great linking rings routine. Everything else was fairly predictable for the occasion. At the end of it all, everyone left as quickly as they had arrived, and we were the last ones out.

We stopped in Ozark to charge for just a bit, and then made it home fairly early. We dropped Dad off and came home to find Eaddie doing laundry. Summer did some work in bed and I watched an interesting and long Smarter Every Day video which was a speech that Destin gave to some folks in the Artemis program. I shouldn’t have dawdled so long and gone to bed early instead.

Apparently milk ratios are a key technicality.

Uncategorised

Short Parade

After going to bed super early last night, I woke up around midnight thinking I had shut off my alarm. I was halfway through getting ready for work when I realized the sun wasn’t coming out, so I crawled back into bed and snoozed through a couple of alarms as I laid in bed awake. That got me to work a few minutes early, but not for much good.

I was by myself for most of the day because Kim had to take Jase to the doctor, where she learned that he had a ruptured eardrum. After that, he spent most of the day in the office with us. She left again in the afternoon to get a prescription, so I carried on until finally leaving just a few minutes early.

I stopped to feed the fish, and then went to Harbor Freight to buy one of the smaller tool chests with Dad’s coupon for 25% off. It was still a pricy cabinet, but I guess that’s what you get for buying the latest model. Hopefully they release a nice hutch to fit on top, but even without, I think it’ll fit the space better than if we had crammed a cabinet into the room that was a whole foot longer.

Without a truck to take the thing home, I arranged for them to hold it and I went to AT&T to see if Kevin was there. He was, but said I couldn’t borrow his truck because he had to go to the parade right after work. He was riding his bike in the parade, but said he could probably help tomorrow.

By that time, people were already gathering along the sides of the street. I made it home through the traffic, changed clothes, picked up Dad, and made it across town to park for the parade just in time to meet Summer there after getting back from Greenbrier. Somehow she didn’t notice that it was me parking in the road right in front of her, so she parked a block away and walked over to us. I had brought my Onewheel, but after feeling a little wobbly in the middle of the street and bailing off, I decided to stick it back in the trunk.

Eaddie was the first band in the parade, so we got our pictures of her and left. We didn’t even get to see Kevin riding with the mountain bike club. I took Dad to his house and then beat Summer home. I cleaned up some leftovers and made Summer a bowl of some corned beef. Eaddie made it home pretty late, and everyone went to bed early.

You sass that hoopy?

Uncategorised

TenWheels

We had a PD day at work, but Russellville kids were back in school. They had a speaker there in the morning, so they kept coming to get me to fix audio issues. I didn’t actually fix anything myself, but I guess they felt better having me around. Eaddie called and said the Murano smelled like something was burning, but the temperature gauge looked okay. She said nothing seemed wrong otherwise, so I told her to take it easy and listen and smell for bad things on the way to school. Hopefully it was just the heater while she was defrosting.

Kim went to the doctor for a couple hours in the middle of the day, and then brought Taco Bell back for us since the cafeteria was closed. The afternoon dragged on, and I didn’t feel like I accomplished anything at all. I did order a Onewheel while they were still on sale for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I talked myself into getting the biggest, fastest one, which may have been a mistake. I just thought my extra weight would benefit from the extra power, and aftermarket prices seemed to hold pretty well. I couldn’t tell if that was true for the higher-end models, but the idea isn’t to sell it anyway.

After work, I went to feed the fish. Eaddie wanted 50-cent corn dogs, and Summer was home from work really early, so I stopped at Sonic on the way home. Eaddie and I ate a couple dogs, and then I went to my parents’ house by myself since they both had work or homework to do. Dad and I grazed over leftovers and I left pretty stuffed.

The girls were both wound down by the time I got back home, so I spent a little more money and eventually made it to bed.

These are expensive months.