Tag: family

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Pixar 2020: What if Black People Had Feelings?

I got some really good sleep last night, then woke up to pay some bills. Then I started researching some Samsung phones to decide whether to take advantage of a deal on Google Fi. While I was in the middle of that, Dad and Uncle Giao came over and dumped a bunch of old tech junk. Then Uncle Giao asked for me to find him a laptop and set it up with a Vietnamese keyboard. Everyone surrounded me, insisting that I could just “download it or something.”

Once they all left, I got a shower and headed to Summer’s for the evening. She ordered Domino’s after having to work all day, so I picked it up on the way. After we finished eating, Autumn put on Soul, which was at least better than Incredibles 2 in my opinion. Maybe I was just tired when we saw that in the theater, but I hadn’t dozed off at the movies in a looong time.

All this house does is sleep.

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Six of One, a Dozen of the Other

Things were pretty quiet today. Mike came in and talked at me for a while in the morning until he had to leave for an early lunch. I took a late lunch and then just ate it at the junior high since they had some work that needed to be done.

Evidently Zach, Greg, and Ben all had to quarantine again, so it’s just the relative newbies and me until Gary gets back next week. Fortunately it’s a pretty good time of year to be short, so I don’t think it will get too stressful. I finished most of what needed to be done at the junior high, but then I had to go to the high school to get the girls because Eaddie didn’t get my message to stay at the junior high.

We dropped Eaddie off at her flute lesson, and then Autumn and I finished the day at the junior high. When Eaddie was done, we got their karate gear from Summer at her shop, and I dropped them off. Then I went to my parents’ house for dinner and to crunch some numbers.

We wrapped up just in time for me to get the girls. Michael was there, I guess donating a bunch of weight lifting stuff, so I helped him unload. Then I took the girls to pick up some flowers to take home to Summer. It was an even quieter night, with everyone off doing their own thing. We watched a very little bit of YouTube with Eaddie, and then it was bedtime for everyone.

The indian shoots his arrow at the smaller, weaker number.

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Don’t Look Up

It was really frosty out this morning, but I made it back for a true full day at work. I was catching up with Karen in the library when Julie called to say Bác Tran was blowing up her phone to check on Bác Vân. I got a hold of Doug without too much trouble and confirmed that Dad and Lelan were already on the way. When I got into my office, I found the bucket I had placed above the drop ceiling had crashed through the tile and shattered when it hit the cubbies, dumping rainwater all over everything. I wouldn’t have expected to get that much water there, but it did rain for a really long time.

I took a late lunch to run by the post office, then just grabbed some Tropical Smoothie on the way back to the shop. I spent most of the afternoon there catching up with Ben and boxing up the three laptops we had ready to ship off to the depot repair center. I did eventually make it back to the high school to wrap up the day and pick up the girls.

We got home and Eaddie took off on her bike just before another guy came by to check out the renovations we want to make to the bathrooms. This guy was a recommendation from Julie, and he seemed much less sales-y than the previous group. He wasn’t pushy at all and basically said he was just there to complete exactly what we wanted and nothing more, which I appreciated. I think the quote will probably come back quite a bit cheaper because of that. He also name-dropped my superintendent, who is on an entirely different reality of a pay grade, and I wasn’t quite certain how I felt about it.

Once they left, I took the girls home and started prepping stuff for salads. Summer arrived shortly thereafter and we ate, then watched an episode of Glee. Eaddie and I heard something that sounded like it was running across the roof, and we came out to discover two cats that appeared to have difficulty finding a way down. I’m not sure how they got up in the first place, but it just sort of made me mad that they’ve been hanging around, tearing things up.

At least it’s a rental?

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A Wonder We’ve Made It This Far

I picked up some semi-disappointing biscuits from Hardee’s for breakfast this morning before our trip to Conway. They just seemed like they weren’t quite as “loaded” as they should have been. The biscuits themselves, however, were perfect as always.

The girls loaded up in the cold, misty rain, and we made it to Conway just in time to grab snacks and take our seats before the previews started. The girls didn’t really remember the first Wonder Woman movie, and we probably should have watched it last night instead of The Dark Knight Rises for a refresher. I thought this one was entertaining, but the story seemed weak. I would have liked to see more building up of the villain and where he came from. In contrast, I didn’t find the flashback to baby Diana to be very important at all.

After the movie and with some protest, we went to Kohl’s to look around. I got a mooing chip clip that was on clearance for what should have been regular price, so that was worth the trip by itself. The girls all wanted to eat by then, and of course couldn’t agree on a place to go, so I picked Mike’s Place as a treat. I figured Autumn could get the steak she wanted, and Eaddie could get something aquatic.

Our server was fantastic, but I didn’t love my fish. Autumn’s $30 New York strip looked to be cooked to perfection, but she turned her nose up at it after about three bites. Then she tried to convince us that her palate was sophisticated enough to identify and appreciate different cuts and qualities of beef, and that she didn’t want it because it wasn’t good. Astoundingly, I managed to bury whatever beast those comments normally would have unleashed, and we boxed up her leftovers for my breakfast.

Both of the girls’ behavior really started to slide from that point on, as we went to walk Target, and then Best Buy. They cried about staying one more night at my house, and I got to try my hand at Good Cop again. Their attitudes really seem to be habits learned from always getting their way, and again I can feel my strict hand at parenting tightening its grip.

Such is the cost of making a better people.

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Standard Fair

Summer had to work today but didn’t go in until late morning. I had some cereal for breakfast that I only regretted a little. The girls were to do chores all day to get the house back into shape, and Autumn did pretty well on her own. Eaddie wasn’t having any of it, and required more persuasion.

In the afternoon, Julie had us over for traditional New Year’s fixings. On the way out, I said something to try and correct some misinformation, but ended up just striking a nerve again. More on that later. A little while after we got back to the house, Autumn left with her father to go shopping and get some food. Eaddie didn’t feel like going, so I helped her clean under her bed. Eventually Summer got home from work and took Autumn to the gym with her. I went home to clean up before they followed me over.

Julie offered me the leftover ham bone, so I went to pick it up and she yelled at me some more about how life isn’t fair. It really got me aggravated with the whole family feud to the point that I’m going to have to settle it once and for all with some quick number crunching. It’s easy to cry foul when you’re using imagined statistics.

Back home, the girls arrived with some Tropical Smoothie, and I made some popcorn for the Dark Knight finale. Autumn spent a lot of the movie confused. Summer spent most of it behind her hands. Eaddie and I really loved it. I hated not getting to follow the Robin story line, but at least it was wrapped up in a nice little trilogy.

It’s not your year yet.

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A Stroll Down Memory Frames

It just rained and rained and rained today. Everyone pretty much stayed at the shop since it was just a half day. Somehow we got on the subject of my blog, and Ben started Googling for it. He happened across my old highschool site and the Cow Patty Link of the Week section. A little Wayback Machine later, and we got to experience the early Angelfire web of yore.

I got one more HP lesson done, and then Ben had me run to Staples to get some badge holders. They were a buck a piece for 40, so I ran by Lowe’s instead, and then finally Walmart where I found some for just under two bucks for a dozen.

That got me to the end of the work day, so I went home and waited for Summer to get off, and then we went to Leonard’s to spend a coupon I had been saving. She got a mortar and pestle, which was sold in a set, so I’m still not sure which one is the mortar and which one is the pestle, and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.

I had another coupon for Mulan’s, so we met my parents for a New Year’s Eve dinner. Then I took Summer back to her car so she could go home, and I waited until it was time to get the girls from their friends’ house. Eventually with them in tow, we went up the hill and waited for midnight.

Autumn came into the bedroom and played Monopoly on Stadia with Summer and me. We finished up right in time to not see anything happen, because we don’t pay for live television and we didn’t properly coordinate any kind of streaming service. Somehow, one of the neighbors managed to light a few fireworks in the downpour though, so it wasn’t completely anticlimactic.

Maybe all this rain will help put out this dumpster fire.

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Don’t Quote Me on That

It rained all day long today, but that just kept it from feeling too frigid. Mike and I cleaned up the office some more, then met Greg and Ben at Las Palmas for lunch. Afterward, we started our “training” so we could do HP self maintainer claims.

After work, I had to get home and continue cleaning before my parents came over with the guys from Father and Sons Construction & Remodeling Co. to look at the bathrooms. I felt pretty happy with where I got, and then had a moment to breathe before they got here because they were running behind.

We went from needing six walls hung and tiled, to having both bathrooms completely stripped and remodeled, paint everywhere, new cabinets with sinks and fixtures, and new windows all around the house. It felt very much like a sales pitch at first, and I quickly became very agitated. Finally looking at some of their previous work, I feel more confident that I could do the majority of the work and then just hire someone for plumbing and laying tile when I’m ready.

They were here for about an hour and a half before everyone left. Then I waited around for Summer to come over, since the girls were staying the night with their friends. She picked up some food from Spices and we ate, then went to bed.

All this talking is driving me crazy.

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Christmas Bills

With Christmas presents handled the night before, I got up today to all three girls wandering and cleaning house in preparation for some time away. Summer was in the kitchen making her contributions for dinner with the family, and the girls were cleaning up so they could spend some time with their father.

Evidently the turkey was a little slower to cook than expected, so we had plenty of time to get everything done and ready to go by the early afternoon. We headed on to my parents’ house and waited for the main course to arrive. I spent most of my time fighting with the wireless to get a new Chromecast with Google TV to work for them so Mom wouldn’t have to keep using her phone as an unreliable remote. It was more frustrating than dealing with my defective Belkin WeMo light switch a month or two ago.

Julie eventually showed up with the turkey, and Bác Vân and Doug braved the Coronavirus to come see everyone. It was a good time, but I think too much effort was made to keep the conversations with feelings to a minimum. There’s no reason everyone should be walking on eggshells after this long together.

After we ate, Summer dropped the girls off and Julie tried to start Soul. I had to interrupt so we could get food packed and get out of there before too late. As soon as we got back home, I remembered that Amanda asked me to check in on her cats, so I ran back across town to do that before coming home. It’s been a super spendy season, so I had to spendy a bit of time moving the ol’ numbers around, but I think the pandemic has actually cut my living expenses so that I already had more than enough saved up to cover all these amazing deals I keep finding.

Now if only going to work actually paid more than not going, I’d feel a lot better about this.

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Wrap It Up

I slept in pretty late today and woke up with a little bit of anxiety about it. I kept feeling like I had missed something important, but we didn’t have anything going on until the evening. Summer was at work, and the girls were up watching TV. I motivated myself just enough to win a game of Into the Breach before heading home.

I had to get presents wrapped and take a shower before coming back for dinner and gifting with the kids. I’d done better work in the past, but I got pretty good by the last gift. When I got back up to the house, Noah was already there but nobody was hungry. I ate a little, and then we opened presents. It was still a very different process than when I was growing up, but I can’t say I have a preference for either way.

Noah left shortly after gifting and eventually getting some food. Then Summer went to bed and I finished the last season of Jessica Jones with Eaddie. I’m not sure what’s next, but I’m kind of glad that chapter is over after all this time.

Now I can practice before going back to the grind.

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On Time Management

Summer worked again today, which left me on kid duty. We had a fair amount of stuff to get done, but I only knew about a tenth of it before I went home to shower. Sara and Zach invited us over for cards in the evening, so we had to get dinner made so Summer could eat as soon as she got home.

I got a call from someone about my extended leave from work due to COVID while I was in the shower. Summer wanted me to pick up lunch for her, so I couldn’t call back until later. I also had to call the eye clinic to order my contacts so they could put them on this year’s insurance. That was a quick call, and then I grabbed some Burger King for Summer.

As soon as I left there, I had to get Autumn and take her to therapy. On the way out, I got stuck for about 15 minutes by a train before I could get home to make my other call. As soon as that was done, I ran to Walmart to get everything for tonight’s dinner and Christmas.

Of course Walmart was a freaking zoo, and I was stressing pretty hard physically just to get out of there. I kept coughing all over the place, which got me lots of looks from the increasing number of maskless people wandering the aisles. As soon as I could get out, I picked up Autumn and we headed home to cook as quickly as we could.

Autumn wanted to make ratatouille out of some squash and zucchini they got from their friends’ mother. Instead of looking up a recipe that would also use the fresh tomatoes they got, she had me buy a can of tomato paste. She also completely missed the fact that she was supposed to do something with the chicken breasts we thawed out several days ago, so suddenly that was my problem.

Things escalated when she wanted to cut all of the vegetables with a steak knife instead of one of the half dozen chef knives she’s brought home this year. It took her forever to slice anything, and I made an entire chicken casserole and had it in the oven, AND pan fried some leftover chicken that wouldn’t fit in the casserole, all before she even finished slicing her vegetables. I kept giving her instructions that she continued to ignore until I blew up at her and she stormed off to her room.

Once I had all the food at least cooking, we made our apologies. I got some gas while we waited for the food to cook, and then we actually had a really delicious, modified ratatouille with mozzarella instead of mascarpone for dinner. Unfortunately the casserole was too big to have cooked all the way through before we had to go, but it will make a great dinner tomorrow when all the kids are here to open presents.

We got up to Zach and Sara’s place quite a bit later than we wanted, and played a couple games of Unstable Unicorns with them and Gary. Their girls just wandered around harassing the cats most of the night. I know Summer was tired, but Autumn and I at least had a great time, and Eaddie got to eat a bunch of little hot dogs.

As soon as we made it back home, the usual suspects shuffled off to bed. I stayed up until the casserole was cool enough to put in the fridge, and Eaddie came out to watch an episode of Jessica Jones with me. As soon as it was over, it was finally bedtime.

Presentation only matters when time allows, and it turns out you can eat the eggplant skin.