Tag: family

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Good Mourning

I woke up several times with a pounding headache last night, and then I was the first one up in the morning even after sleeping in for a little while. I took a shower and eventually headed home to change before picking up some donuts and coming back to the girls. Summer and I had to go to the store for some flowers for Lelan’s altar for Bác Vân, so we sent Eaddie to my parents’ house to pick up some stuff separately.

Eaddie beat all of us there, we arrived just behind Dad and Doug, and then Mom came along way later. Lelan already had most of the food done, but waiting for Mom to shower and show up an hour late put us behind. Randall and Danielle were already there, and Julie and Kevin eventually showed up. Eaddie had to go to band practice, so she left before we could eat.

We had a good meal and great conversation. Julie talked about flying a lot. Eaddie finally finished and showed up just after food had been mostly put away, but I made her a bowl with some of everything. Summer left early to start some laundry, and after Lelan finished cleaning everything up, she and Stephen, my parents, and I went to the cemetery.

I dropped Eaddie off at the house and then took Julie the sticky rice pot she forgot at Lelan’s, and then we were at the grave for a little while to burn incense and arrange fake flowers. We chatted there for a while before everyone parted ways.

Earlier, Summer had gotten a text from her old landlord about the couple of things we left behind, and the state of the property. She had been in the home for nearly a decade, without a lease, and she wanted us to do a better job of cleaning and mowing. Summer had no expectation of getting her deposit back, and was even ghosted when she asked about only paying for half a month of rent, so she just paid for the full month. Even Lelan thought the text was a little silly, but I still had to go to the house anyway to get the plant cages that I forgot.

While I was there, I started to move the TV stand and cabinet we left in the house. Then I noticed the neighbors outside, so I walked over and asked if they wanted any of that stuff. They were super stoned stoked to get free stuff, so I put it outside and told them to take the grill and chairs out back as well.

When I got back to Summer’s, I got on a roll cleaning up some things and did a load of laundry. The dryer made an awful racket, so I wondered if something was jostled in the move. I’ll need to take it apart and check sooner than later. Eaddie came out to vent about English class for a bit, and then it was off to bed, late as usual.

Filian obligations fulfilled.

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New Digs, Who Dis

I very nearly called in to work today because I was still in so much pain from moving yesterday. Even driving in to work was a struggle, but I felt better after some coffee at my desk. Kim wasn’t much use to anyone today, and she wasn’t ashamed about it. She didn’t feel the need to be there if the kids weren’t, but there were still work orders that could have been closed.

Todd said Harry called him over the weekend with some trouble with his PlayStation and the internet. Since the school pays for the superintendent’s house and internet, I guess that’s my job. It really seemed like we had a rogue DHCP server somewhere after the trouble I had last week, but I didn’t have much luck finding it. I spent all day learning about that stuff, but still didn’t feel accomplished in anything.

I was pretty hungry by quitting time, so I ran home and finished my hot wings. Then Mom and Dad came over to look at my drippy refrigerator water line. We went next door briefly so Mom could look through Bác Vân’s stuff, and then we met the girls at Morelos for dinner.

The serving sizes were awesome, but the food was super salty. We ate, and then I went with the girls to the car wash, and then Walmart for a shower curtain for Eaddie. When we left there, we stopped by the old house to get a couple of things, and then they dropped me back at my house to get a couple more things.

I met them at the new house and tried to get a few things done before bed. Summer helped me move the grills around outside, I fixed the refrigerator shelving and messed with the shower in the master bath. Then I realized I didn’t have a laptop to take care of the blog. Summer had hers in the car, so I made do.

Floor bed

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Moving Right Along

I made a quick rice and egg breakfast for everyone this morning, and then headed to the new house to start on carpets. The girls came along a little while later and started moving Eaddie’s stuff over. The afternoon went by quite a bit slower than it felt, which was good on account of how much carpet there is left to clean.

Eaddie’s friend from down the block came over at some point and helped the girls bring some stuff over. Once I was at a stopping point and Eaddie was satisfied with what she had brought, the three of us went to La Huerta for dinner. The food was good, but the service and what we were served was a bit inconsistent.

When we got back to the house, Summer went home while Eaddie and I cleaned up at the new house. Once I was ready for bed, we went back to the house where Eaddie loaded up one last trip so she could stay the night. I dug a bunch of stuff out of the trash that was thrown out by accident, and then wound down pretty quickly after that. There’s not a ton of stuff left to move from Summer’s, and we’re getting close to needing a truck. Hopefully the rest won’t be too terribly difficult, because after that I’ll have all of my belongings to move.

We’re getting there.

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In Longsight

I made leftover tacos for brunch for everyone before going home to shower. Summer loaded up some things to take to the house, and I dropped the clean bean pan off at Ridgewood before meeting her there. I didn’t really get into much before heading home to shower, but eventually met her back at the house with a few more things. I pretty quickly got frustrated with what cleaning she had missed and how she had unpacked things. I tried to get her to bring things over and let me help organize, but instead she just ended up putting things in my way constantly.

The afternoon flew by, and we ended up coming home late. I made some rice and fried some fresh onion to eat with the leftover brisket, and then she went to bed. Eaddie got home late after taking the Model S across town for most of the afternoon. I was pretty frustrated that she hadn’t really packed anything up from her room, but maybe I can get them properly motivated tomorrow.

Just follow orders.

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79% Deployed

Today was another relatively dull day of scattered students coming in for Chromebooks. We did get down to the elementary for a bit, so I was glad to close out some of those work orders. At one point I had a pretty bad anxiety attack. My vision went dark, and I got super dizzy and sweaty really fast. It took me a little while to shake that one off.

I finally got an answer from Entergy, but not the one I was looking for. I suppose it will let me focus on the school a little harder, but it was disappointing all the same. Summer said Splash was hiring for another IT person, but that work sounds very entry-level with nowhere to go.

I stopped by Casey’s after work, but they didn’t have the coffee I wanted, so I continued home to clean up a bit. Mom had some phở to clean up, so I ran across town to eat and then chatted with them for a bit before heading up to Summer’s.

Eaddie helped me fill out the family calendar with all of her band events, and I went through the house baiting for ants again. Then it was off to bed.

So close, yet so far.

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Same Furniture; Different Sales Tactics

I didn’t sleep great last night, but at least the length of sleep was nice after feeling highly irritated all night. Summer went to the gym and I went home after climbing my way out of a coffee grinding rabbit hole, so I could shower before a day of shopping. Mom wanted to go look at some furniture, so they met us at Summer’s house and we went to Hank’s, Good Deal Charlie, Sofa City, Peters, failed at Stroud’s because they were closed, and finally Cleo’s. Afterward, we ran through the junk shop briefly before I learned that Julie and Kevin were already waiting for us at Brown’s.

I had brought the car down to that side of the mall, so we took Mom while Dad went to get his car, and met him at the restaurant. Summer wanted to take him out for an early birthday dinner, so we stuffed ourselves silly in the hot back room. Every one of us was sweating back there, and the place was packed. The food was good, but I didn’t realize how badly I overdid it until we got home.

Eaddie disappeared to her room for the rest of the night, and Summer and I eventually ended up on the couch together, and I put on Thor: Love and Thunder. We got about halfway through before she needed a break, and then we finished it in the bedroom before she went to sleep. I got up and dug my way down the furniture rabbit hole. It’s all a racket, but I’d like to find the sweet spot between long-lasting and expensive, or cheap and disposable.

You bet I’m gonna haggle you.

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Transform and Roll Out

I forgot my watch this morning and had to run back home for it. That got me to work right on time after following a slowpoke. Kim was a little bit late, but that gave me time to make a coffee and get into moving some Chromebooks around in Google Admin. I basically spent the entire day building out carts, expecting to roll them out to the classrooms. When we did finally start to deliver three finished carts, we realized that none of those teachers were there. I should be able to get most of them done tomorrow though, now that everything is put together.

It was incredibly hot outside, which didn’t affect me indoors until our air unit started blowing warm air. By the time I left, it was getting pretty toasty inside. I got home and changed, but then had to head right up to Summer’s house for dinner. Noah came over, and Eaddie invited Eli for a spaghetti dinner. Then we played a couple games of Uno afterward.

It was still hot outside in the evening, but I tried to go out and fix Noah’s tailgate handle in the dark. As luck would have it, we didn’t have the socket we needed, so we’ll have to try again at my house later, hopefully when even the dark doesn’t make me sweat.

I was getting ready for bed when I happened to think of the heat and the hungry, thirsty hummingbirds, so I made some more nectar and then went to bed.

Lightning at the End of the Tunnel

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Like Cici’s, but Good

We got up a little bit early this morning and I took a shower so we could take a trip to Greenbrier and Conway. We stopped in Conway for Summer’s backpack first, and then she had to do inventory at the Greenbrier lube. Eaddie and I helped count things so we could finish faster. Then I entered most of it into the computer until I started having trouble deciphering Summer’s notations. Once we finished that, we headed back to Conway and went to Larry’s Pizza, which was incredible. I thought it was reasonably priced, and they had a great variety. The “pizza parade” where they walked fresh pies around the restaurant was really neat, but if you missed that, I think whatever was left would go to the bar.

After eating too much of some really great pizza, we went to Target. Eaddie tried on some swim suits, but we didn’t end up buying anything. I ran into Danielle and her parents, and she fussed about the school district and having her department gutted. I had to kind of giggle inside a little bit because I think most people thought they were overstaffed and overpaid anyway.

Next we hit up TJ Maxx and Kohl’s, but still didn’t buy anything. Summer’s car was struggling to run the air conditioner, so I had to send another service message to get an update. I hate that there’s no way to guarantee a mobile service appointment, and they’re slow to switch it from a local appointment. It’s also never clear if we have to drop the car off for multiple days, or if we can wait in the lobby, since it’s such a long drive.

By the time we finished shopping, it was time to run across town for our movie. We originally wanted to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, but the fact that it was no longer in XD upset me. We decided to watch Blue Beetle instead, which didn’t really impress us much until the final act. It was alright, but it just wasn’t great. At least the graphics weren’t as bad as The Flash.

We made it back home and Noah came over to visit for a while. The new house had been delisted on Zillow, and for some reason some old pictures from the previous owner started showing up, so we got to see it with some different furniture in it. The kids left to go eat, Summer went to bed, and I wrapped up reasonably quickly.

You should know by now.

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Why Fi, Man

Just as I left for work this morning, I noticed my newest chip in the windshield had turned into a crack spreading toward the middle of the glass. We just haven’t had any luck with these cars, and it doesn’t make any sense. I always try to give plenty of space on the highway, and I never pick up rocks the way I have in this car. Summer’s enormous rock had to be a freak of nature, but I wasn’t there to witness that one.

I barely made it on time, on account of the school traffic in Dardanelle. Cars were backed up way down the road, all at 7:30 in the morning. I don’t know if school just starts earlier there, or if people are just stupid. I’m not ruling out a combination of both.

Kim was already there, since she had to take her kids to school. I jumped right into things, and the whole day really flew by. Early on, I had to call Progressive to confirm our insurance information, and then passed that information along to our loan ladies. Everyone wanted to blame someone else, and it all seemed rather silly.

Kim had lunch duty and then got some food, while I snacked a little bit throughout the day. I should have had a Soylent instead of chips and such, but I just didn’t. Later in the afternoon, we went down to the elementary to suss out a potential wireless issue. Spending all day Friday in the Ubiquiti system made me a little more comfortable, so we reset one access point and removed two redundant ones.

Just as we got back to the office, Missy called to say that we should be on track for our closing date, and finalized some stuff for our loan. Apparently we’re still waiting for the appraiser for some reason or another. Then I left work a little late just because I was getting into things. I started some laundry once I got home, and then headed up to Summer’s as quickly as I could. She had a surprise dinner ready for us when when Eaddie got home from band practice and I finished my laundry. We had grilled pork chops, steamed some carrots, and mashed potatoes that all turned out really good. Then Eaddie went out to mow a bit before dark, so I did the dishes.

Summer was feeling emotional, possibly from her medication, so I tried talking to her for a bit, and encouraged her to talk more with her doctor. She eventually fell asleep, and I wrapped up my usual routine.

Needs coffee.

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Hell-o

I didn’t get to sleep until after three in the morning, so I had to fight to keep from sleeping in too late this morning. We lounged around for a bit, and then Mom said she had bún bò Huế for lunch. The girls drove separately so I could go home to charge and clean up afterward. The five of us ate and hung out for a little bit before going about our day.

I wanted to do a bit of laundry, but got sidetracked while cleaning up the laundry room. I ought to have time this week to get some laundry done though. The afternoon flew by, and then Mom had egg rolls for dinner, so I went to pick up Summer to go eat. Eaddie was out mowing the lawn and wrote “HELLO” in big letters on the front lawn. The slope of the yard made it a little difficult to make out some of the letters, but she did a good job.

Eaddie wanted to stay behind to finish up, so Summer and I went to eat. My parents were out watering the garden the whole time, so we ate and then left so we could get ready for the work week. I stopped for a car wash on the way back to Summer’s, and then I warmed up some egg rolls we brought back for Eaddie. It wasn’t long before everyone crashed after that.

No teacher, no cry.