Tag: family

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P is for Parked

I woke up an hour earlier than a workday today so we could get Summer to Little Rock for her exercise event. I still felt pretty sour from last night, but I made it work. We stopped to get breakfast from McDonald’s in Conway, and I just ate mine once we got to Little Rock.

It was a really small crowd of people there. In fact, it was only five teams of five competing. I dropped Summer off and went to Kroger for some bottled water and a bathroom, and then went back and waited for five hours for them to finish. I took the time to test my Pixel Buds battery life some more, and I’m still getting wildly different battery life reported from each earbud. I wouldn’t expect them to be regularly 25% off from one another.

Summer had a blast, and when they finished, we went right around the block to a ghost town Red Lobster. The manager came out to seat us and complained about his lack of staff. He said they were down to three servers for the day, and it showed during our over-two hour visit. At least the food was pretty decent.

When we finished there, I drove us across town to hunt for a deal at Home Depot. The guy that helped us was very kind, but in the end it was up to Summer and me to roam aimlessly until we just happened upon a strip of them near the electrical boxes.

Our nest stop was Target for some gifts, and then Kohl’s to blow some rewards cash. We just picked up a few little things, but I was more or less satisfied enough to head home. Traffic was awful the entire way though, and it just cemented my absolute loathing for the holidays. I was tense the entire trip back.

The girls got home from their grandparents’ house shortly after we got home. Eaddie made first chair at all-region, and evidently she completely obliterated the competition. Autumn was bitter, and we had to have a sit-down talk with her, again. I just told her she needed to put enough work into getting good at something so we could be proud of her for any reason at all, instead of just making everyone hate her.

Eaddie and I ended the night with a couple episodes of House. I was exhausted, but still didn’t actually get to bed until after midnight.

Well that was… ill advised.

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Cleanup Checkup

The kids all made it to school and work this morning, which let Summer and me sleep in a bit. Summer left to shop for an ugly sweater while I cleaned up at home. Then we went to her follow-up appointment at the clinic. The doctor and nurse went on about how much tissue they serrated-ice-cream-scooped out of her, but it was all benign, so hopefully the procedure will have the desired result.

It was a quick appointment, and we were hungry, so our next stop was New China for lunch. I didn’t have a single grain of rice, and it made me feel weird about the visit, but I also didn’t feel super stuffed when we left. We headed back home and lounged around for a while before getting back up to clean up outside. I was surprised I still had hot coals in the fire pit, but I guess we did burn a lot of wood, so there was a lot of ash to insulate them.

When we finished outside, Summer went home to do some cleaning of her own while I filed paperwork inside. Then she and Eaddie came back over to get me for Autumn’s band concert in the evening. We got there early because Autumn did a poor job of informing us of the event, so we caught the last middle school band before the high school started.

Surprisingly, some of the middle school sounded better than the worst junior high band from the other day. The high school only had two bands, which were fine. The symphonic band seemed to be cheating with the pieces they had for their trip to Carnegie Hall. There were constantly so many notes that they masked any possible mistakes throughout the performance.

Eaddie went with Autumn to a group IHOP meet after the concert, so Summer dropped me off and I wound down for the day by testing my Pixel Buds and catching up on normal computery stuff that I do every day.

Three down, half to go.

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Fire Roasted Egg Rolls

We didn’t sleep too late today, because Summer had a video call for work and Mollie texted with some computer trouble as she was trying to work from home. I got dressed and went to her house to try and help, but I kept having trouble getting the laptop to connect to her home network. I finally just took the laptop to the shop to let it talk on our network for a bit, and then took a hotspot back to her so she wouldn’t have to worry about it connecting to her network.

When I got home, I started cleaning house and washing dishes. It looked a lot better by the time I was finished, and then I took a shower while I waited for Summer to show up. She baked a delicious chocolate cake for Suzanne’s birthday. When she got there, we went to Walmart for a few last minute things, and then went to her house to pick up the cake.

Once back home, I started the fire pit and we waited for Suzanne and Trent to show up. Noah came over pretty early, and the girls showed up once they finished packing at home. It was a fun night by the fire. Bác Vân and Doug were making fresh egg rolls, so she had me take a bunch to everyone at the house. They seemed a bit undercooked, so I crisped a couple of them up over the fire and they turned out great.

Autumn went to bed predictably early, and probably questionably clean. I think at this point I just always assume she hasn’t showered when we’ve told her to. Noah and Eaddie started watching House tonight, and stayed up a bit later, but went to sleep once Suzanne and Trent left, and Summer and I went to bed.

Easy to forget that it’s a school night.

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Burn it Down

Summer and I woke up super early, but with just enough time to get dressed and drive to the hospital. Her ablation wouldn’t actually take place for a couple hours, but we had to be there at six to start her on the medication before surgery. I waited patiently in the dark, playing on my phone. It could have been less comfortable, but they weren’t great digs.

My right Pixel Bud died while the left was still around 70%, and I’ve only got a few days of warranty left. That will require some testing, like right now. We finally left the hospital around 11 and went to Rose Drug to pick up her prescription. Then we stopped by KFC to pick up lunch on the way back home.

Summer pretty much slept the rest of the day, so I played a lot of Don’t Starve. I eventually took a shower, and then she did the same so we could go to Eaddie’s Christmas concert. We stopped by KFC on the way to pick up the fries they forgot to give me with our lunch order. Then we went to my house for a few minutes before the concert.

I walked around the house to inspect for the cause of the crashing sound on my security camera overnight, but couldn’t find anything. Then we headed to the Performing Arts Center for the concert. Noah surprised us with his presence, and we sat through one terrible performance, one that should have been the worst of the night, and then Eaddie’s band, which was still worse than I anticipated.

I think the problem is that being around Eaddie, my expectations have been misguided. I assume everyone is as good as her, considering that she’s in the best of three different bands. That’s simply not the case. Even the smallest, best band that she is in, is full of people that can’t keep time or hit notes. Hopefully they beat that out of them in high school, but I think I’m more looking forward to the college years.

After the concert, Noah was going to come stay the night. He didn’t make it before everyone was off to bed though. Even I couldn’t stay up any longer after such an early morning.

That’s a helluva way to celebrate Pearl Harbor Day.

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Tropical Christmas Cookies

I got around this morning and went to Walmart and to get gas on my way to Summer’s. She baked lemon cookies for the kids to decorate when Noah got out of work. Eaddie was still in bed, so I was more or less left to my own devices for most of the day. When Autumn left the TV, I played some more Don’t Starve, which has been fun playing a little more casually on the couch.

Summer made a big pot of chicken alfredo, and we ate when Noah arrived. Then they decorated the tree while Summer made colored icing. It didn’t seem like anyone was really in the mood to do any of that stuff this early, especially with highs in the mid 70s this past week. Our weekends are pretty booked up until Christmas though, so we made do.

When Noah left, Eaddie went to finish up homework while Autumn did chores. I played my game some more, but ultimately died. C’est la vie. I needed to warm back up to the mechanics anyway.

You don’t keep it this warm in here even during the summer!

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Ye Olde Parade

I took the R1 to work today, and it was pretty frosty on the way in, but it was very close to perfect in the afternoon. I got distracted helping others in the morning until lunch time. Brody has been wanting to go to Nonna Bella’s for a while, so five of us went there and discovered that they have pretty good lunch specials. When we finished there, I went by Oakland and plugged a bunch of things back into a surge protector. It’s the silly things that really keep me going.

On the subject of silly things, I got TWO compliments on my mass emails today after sending out the meeting minutes in medieval English. It wasn’t a long email, which made it that much better that people cared enough to notice and write back.

We left work early so we could get out of the way of the parade. I went by Casey’s to try and score a free water, but they were out. From there, I went home to get dinner ready for the girls. Summer brought them over before they had to be back to school, and we had leftover burgers and hot dogs. Then she took Eaddie to the junior high while I took Autumn to the high school.

We met back up at Big Poppa’s since there was still room to park for the parade. I brought a couple camp chairs, and we sat at the edge of the road to talk until they officially closed the side street. Then we moved our chairs up into the street to watch the parade.

The parade itself was really spread out, and we were just on the tail end of where the bands stopped playing. We didn’t even hear them play further down the road, so we didn’t get to see either of the girls do anything cool. We ended up leaving early, and I went home to wait for Autumn to finish at the high school.

When we finally got up to Summer’s, she was already in bed. I stayed up late to help Eaddie with her math homework. I could really relate to how frustrated she was getting, but at least it was geometry, which is a subject I could really visualize.

On your guard, knave!

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A Thankful Hurrah

Summer got up and made pancakes for breakfast this morning. Eaddie stayed in her room most of the day, and I played Firewatch on the TV over my Steam Link for a little while with relatively good results. Autumn finally made it back home, but hadn’t showered since she was last with us. I really just don’t understand how she can go that long carrying her stench so often.

I eventually headed home to start a fire out back, and prep the new grill for dinner. The fire caught pretty nicely and rolled all evening once the girls came over. Summer and I ran to Walmart to get burgers for a quick dinner, and I finally got to cook on the charcoal side of the grill.

I was actually a tiny bit disappointed, because the two halves aren’t connected at all, so there’s really no heat transmission between the charcoal and propane sides. That meant the grilling surface was actually pretty small. I struggled to get all twelve burgers on at once, not to mention the four hot dogs that Autumn didn’t want to cook over the open fire out back. I did like the grates and the general build quality though, so hopefully it lasts a while. I’ll have to get some propane to try out the other half, but that will be convenient for a quick cook.

After we ate, the girls all came outside and we roasted some marshmallows. When we finished, I helped Autumn prep her bicycle for her ride to school in the morning since she still hasn’t earned her right to the car again. Then everyone was off to bed to wrap up our first holiday break for the year.

You are here, and it’s beautiful, and escaping isn’t always something bad.

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House Sitting

Summer took the Murano to Little Rock for the Chenal lube’s soft open, so I was more or less stuck at home with Eaddie all day. She didn’t leave her room until mid afternoon, which left me to poke around the kitchen and tinker with anything that would hold my attention. When Eaddie did finally come out, I had forgotten about the chores she was supposed to do, and we just started watching House.

I took a shower as Summer came back into town and went to the gym. Then we went to my parents’ house for some leftovers from Thanksgiving. Eaddie was supposed to go, but copped an attitude. It’s good to know my PM Sensor works so well, I guess. We ate with Dad, then went to my house for a few minutes so I could pick up some things.

When we got back to Summer’s, she went to bed and worked on her laptop. Eaddie was doing laundry, but after that was done we watched a few more episodes before bed. It won’t be long until we finish the show, so we’ll need to decide what’s next.

Gift Card Juggling for the Holidays

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Sleepsgiving

The girls went to Conway this morning for the Turkey Trot while I slept in. I just barely caught up on my sleep time when the cat turned my CPAP off, and the girls arrived back home shortly thereafter. I just showered there while Summer made some green beans, and then we went to my parents’ house and waited for Julie to arrive with the food she had cooked.

Bác Vân and Doug were there, along with Dad’s college friend Dave. Julie showed up exhausted from working nights on outage, but left without eating. The food was fine, but it wasn’t worth dragging herself out like that after not getting any sleep. We all ate, and then Mom joined us for a game of UNO FLIP!

Autumn left to go to her father’s, and then we took Eaddie home so she could clean house before her boyfriend could come over the next day. Summer developed a pretty bad headache and went right to bed. Eaddie cleaned, and then watched House with me on her breaks. I was tired, but stayed up a bit to look for deals. Otherwise it was a quiet, boring evening.

Shoppers are coming….

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Watermelon Sugar Is a Helluva Drug

I got up early this morning and went home to get ready for a day in Little Rock with Summer and Eaddie. Summer dropped Autumn off with her parents since she got in trouble last night, and then Summer had to do some more work setting up the new lube shop on Chenal. We hung out at the shop for just a little bit before meeting a couple of her coworkers at U.S. Pizza Co.

The service was pretty slow, but mostly when we were waiting to pay and leave. The pizza wasn’t bad, but reminded me of a worse Brick Oven. We really didn’t get why the others liked it so much, but at least Splash paid.

Afterward, Eaddie and I dropped Summer off back at the shop and then made our way across town to get the car washed inside and out. There were over half a dozen people standing around outside, so they had us done in mere minutes. I didn’t have a plan as we pulled out, so I ended up turning down a residential street. I’ve never seen so many leaves in my entire life. The entire street had a wall of fallen leaves that were all raked up to the edge of the street. I’m guessing they have street sweepers that come along and suck them up later. It was hilly and leafy and pretty, but much too dense of a neighborhood for me.

Eaddie decided she wanted ice cream, so we went to The Original ScoopDog and sat in the car to eat. Neither of us could finish our treats, so we drove back across town to Summer and let her finish them off. Then she dropped us off at the AMC for Eternals. Eaddie hadn’t seen it, I didn’t mind watching it again, and we needed to kill some time before their concert.

After the movie, we struggled to settle on a place to eat, and were also worried about how much time they had before they needed to be at the Simmons Arena. Chuy’s was out because of a relatively small wait, so we ultimately decided on Wendy’s. Summer found one near the arena, but the lobby wasn’t open, so they ate in the car. Then I dropped them off at the arena for Harry Styles.

The rest of the night was just me killing time. I went by the liquor store where I picked up a habanero whiskey a couple years ago, but unfortunately I couldn’t find it again, and I don’t think they carry it any more. I hung out in the parking lot there for just a few minutes before migrating to McDonald’s.

Again, I brought a bunch of things to keep myself entertained, and used absolutely none of them. I didn’t even use my earbuds because I felt super uncomfortable sitting around in that neighborhood. There were far too many people on foot around there, and every single lobby appeared to be closed. I just played on my phone and drank a bottled mojito until I noticed one of the employees writing down license plate numbers.

I gave her a minute to get back inside and then drove on to a gas station for a bottle of water and restroom break. The restroom was super gross, and of course the only soap was a bar that had fallen into the sink and was stopping up the drain. I tried hanging out in the parking lot there for a bit, but got pretty sketched out when some guy started crawling around on the ground right outside my window. He appeared to be using a crayon or something to draw on the concrete, but then he rolled over onto the ground and started “washing his hands” with leaves that had blown up against the curb. I decided to move on, driving up the road a bit and then coming back to settle into a dark Taco Bell.

Eventually Summer let me know they were almost done with the encore, so I moved further down the street to the Shell station near the onramp to the highway. There was even more foot traffic there, so I didn’t hang out long before going back across the street to the Wendy’s next to the McDonald’s where I started. It wasn’t but a minute after I pulled in that they walked up, so we loaded up and headed home.

I had to stop by my house for a package first, but then we went up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn was staying the night with her grandparents, and the other two went straight to bed after a long day. I don’t think I’ll do this again.

I really hate the city.