Tag: food

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Half Asleep

I slept for nearly 12 hours last night, though I woke up a couple times with a pretty bad headache. Once I got around, I felt much better for the rest. Someone tagged me in a lost dog post on the Nextdoor app, but upon checking, both of our dogs were still home. They had gotten into more stuff again, so I’m having to deal with random chewed up garbage all the time.

Summer was working from home, and I was pretty hungry for some lunch, so I ended up going to Burger King to get a big bag of food. Eaddie was already awake but wasn’t hungry, so Summer and I were the only two that ate any of it. I had the best shower I’d had in a week and then took the dogs for a walk to my parents’ house to help Dad move the refrigerator out of its little nook so he could investigate a hiss and some possible steam. The dogs did pretty well, and weren’t completely chaotic when tied up to the deck. Stilgar took a dip in his pool when we got back, and then I tried to do a little bit of training with them while they were hungry.

Noah came back over after work, since he’s been driving our Pathfinder. Eaddie spent most of the day in her room while Summer worked. I eventually had to go back to help Dad move the refrigerator back into place, but I just took the Onewheel instead of walking the dogs again. Mom was hungry, so they decided to get some Taco Villa. I went with Dad to pick that up, and then headed back home in the dark after we ate.

Everyone went to bed pretty early after that. The kids took the dogs out for another walk while I was gone, so even they were pretty tired and just slept on the porch.

It’s all just noise.

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Give It a Rest

I slept in a little bit today, but didn’t want to miss seeing any animals. That was kind of the point of staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was the first one up and spotted an addox in the field outside our room. I woke the girls up to show them my picture, and it wasn’t long before we saw some giraffe as well. We eventually got everyone rolled out of bed to try and swim for a bit, but then we smelled breakfast cooking at Boma, the restaurant downstairs from the lobby. We were able to walk up and get a seat nearly immediately, and the buffet was incredible. There was some pretty typical breakfast stuff, but a lot of new African things to try as well. I particularly loved the orange, passion fruit, and guava juice blend, as well as the stewed tomatoes. I stuffed myself silly, and then we went outside to swim under some direct sunlight.

I didn’t want to stay out and burn, so we weren’t out terribly long. We came back to the room and the girls played on their phones. I started to doze a little bit, but never took a proper nap. We went back outside for a little bit at one point, but eventually had to start making our way to the Beach Club Resort for our reservation at the Cape May Cafe. I wasn’t prepared for another buffet, but the girls were hungry again since they hadn’t eaten much at the first one.

We took the bus to Hollywood Studios, the Skyliner to EPCOT, and then a boat to the resort, where we had some time to kill in some rocking chairs by their pool before it was time to eat. There, some of the food was super good, but then I was disappointed by some others. I guess most of the seafood I had was pretty good, but I could only eat so many fried calamari. The pork loin and prime rib(?) were both pretty tough and unenjoyable. I did really like the clam chowder, and the glaze they used on their salmon was super good. I wished I liked the taste of salmon more, because they were really thick cuts.

After stuffing myself again, we headed straight back to Hollywood Studios by boat, and then took the bus back to our own resort where we went out for another dip in the pool. Eaddie joined us at the side of the pool for a little bit, but then went back upstairs. Summer and I goofed around in the water for a little while, and then headed back up for bed.

You’re a nuisance to my plans.

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Dusted and Busted

It was super hard to wake up for a second day in a row with only a couple hours of sub-optimal sleep. We didn’t make it out of the room quite as quickly as yesterday, but we still got there for park open. Summer scored us really early virtual queue tickets to the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coaster, so we ended up cancelling our breakfast reservation at Akershus and tried to be first in line. They didn’t actually open that ride until 8:40 though, and recommended we try something else for our early hours. We didn’t want to walk far, so we just stopped next door for some Starbucks and then came back.

The whole ride seemed pretty out of place for EPCOT, but it was super cool nonetheless. We were so early that there wasn’t a queue at all yet, and in fact we were the only three people on our train. The ride was incredible, and I only partially jokingly asked if we could stay on for another ride. The first guy said we didn’t want to know what was behind the door that led back to the start of the ride, but then another woman asked if we wanted to ride again, and took us through a staff door and loaded us on the back of the next train, which only two other people were on. After riding both first and last cars, I think the rear was my preferred. It really was an excellent experience, and getting to ride twice, back-to-back, was super special.

The rest of the day was some tough bouncing back and forth, partially to hit rides, and partially to make our lunch reservation at Space 220. Overall the food was great, but the experience was fairly middling. The screen for the “space window” could have been way better, and we were seated too close and too far to one side for it to be even noticeable at all.

By the time we got back to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, the reported wait time was like 160 minutes. I think we actually got through in just under an hour though. The ride was super cute, but we kind of thought it was more kiddy-cute than something we really cared to ride repeatedly.

We squabbled a bit in pain as we decided how to attack the rest of the afternoon and evening. I really wanted to at least experience the new Frozen ride, and we eventually made it. Eaddie and I both came away with the exact same thought, that Disney has started relying too heavily on projections for their rides. We preferred actual animatronics, and felt the projections just took away from the experience.

Overall, I think most of the things we’ve experienced this trip have been disappointments, and I’m definitely falling out of love with Disney. There are just an intolerable number of people here, and everything feels like a blatant money grab. The only other highlight for the day was really the special fireworks display over the United States pavilion. Julie and Kevin missed it because they went to the front of the park, but we watched from right next to the pavilion and it was intense.

We all made it back to the resort without too much trouble, but a little worse for wear. Everyone’s feet were hurting pretty badly. I have a pinky-toe that’s more blister than toe. The girls crashed pretty quickly, but I didn’t get to sleep until late because I kept trying to wake Noah up off of our couch at home by playing music over my speakers remotely. Then I had trouble stopping them when he finally woke up. I just wish he’d leave, because I’m tired of him blatantly disrespecting us.

Wake me up before you verti-gogo!

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On Leash

I rode the Onewheel around the block this morning and found the dogs playing in someone’s garden on the corner of Ridgewood. They ran after me full-speed when they saw me, and heard me blowing the dog whistle I got from Dad. They ran all the way home, and though they hesitated to go back into the gate, they laid down on the porch like they might just rest a while. Unfortunately they were gone again by the time I left for work, and I didn’t see them as I drove away.

Shortly after I got to work, I got a notification from the same girl that posted about them on Nextdoor, and she said they were seen on Tanglewood. I sent the girls after them, and I guess they had some help from at least one neighbor who straight-up carried Muad’Dib over to Summer. Stilgar had to be fetched from the end of the road, and for some reason Summer thought it would be best to load him into the Model Y instead of just have him follow her home in the rain.

I did a bunch of Disney planning and took care of some things I’d been needing to do. Keith found me an old pallet that I could take home to mend the fence, and I eventually left that ghost town. I fed the fish and then went home to clean up. Julie called to settle a bet with Kevin, and my blog came to her rescue. I told Kevin I would have erased his name for half the price of losing the bet. Maybe now Julie understands the value I get from journaling everything.

Eaddie was out with friends, so I asked Summer if she wanted to go try the pork steaks at Ridgewood Brothers. As we were leaving, we noticed she had another crack spreading up her windshield from a pretty big impact spot in the bottom-right, so we added that to her air conditioning service appointment. Grant was at the restaurant running a full crew for a mostly empty dining room. The pork steak was good, but I don’t think ours were glazed properly when they were served. If they were, then we still needed more because they were pretty dry. Of course they were huge, thick cuts of lean meat that had been smoked and then finished on a grill. They weren’t overly tough or difficult to eat, but they would have been great with a cup of glaze for dipping.

When we got back home, we decided to take the dogs out for a walk to my parents’ house. It went pretty well until we got there and I let Stilgar off of his leash. Summer just dropped Muad’Dib’s, and he took off after a cat under the porch. I got angry and she tried to just leave me there alone, which made me even angrier. I got her to come back and help, and she saw Muad’Dib gnawing on something under the porch. We were worried it was the cat, but we were pretty sure it was just the leash. When they finally came back out, I hosed a bunch of mud off of the leash and gave them some water before we headed back home.

She went to the bedroom after that, and I took care of some things before eventually getting to bed myself. I’m constantly sleep deprived, angry, frustrated, depressed, and just about any other negative emotion there is. I’m hoping a vacation will help, but I’m already stressed about traveling, and worried about what the dogs will get into while we’re gone. Summer informing me that she’s paying Noah to come house-sit while we’re gone only made me feel worse about the situation, and angry that she didn’t consult me first. Telling me that she was going to “set some ground rules” was not the consolation she thought it might be.

I’ll have them longer.

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Nobody Asked You Patrice!

I caught the dogs in the act of digging under the fence this morning, and in spite of being in trouble, they were super excited to see me. I gave them some pets and treats with the hopes that they would stick around, and tried to cover up their start of a new hole, but they got out again while I was in the shower. As I was walking out the door, a new neighbor stopped to let us know. Summer woke up and got the front door just as I was discovering they weren’t in the back yard. Luckily we were able to get them back inside without too much trouble, but they were pretty high-energy.

There was no time for breakfast, and traffic was stupid. I got to work a little over 10 minutes late, but again, the place was mostly a ghost town. I submitted my vacation request form, though technically my contract will be over by then, and they don’t have to hire me again. I’m playing this one by ear. I ended up in Blake’s office and chatted with him for a while, and then a guy came in with three big bags of sweet corn for the school. I eventually got some for the office, and then took some home at the end of the day.

Other than that, my big human interaction was when Troy stopped by and actually sat down and chatted with me a little bit. I thought that was kind of neat, but I’m sure he mostly just needed a break from the heat. I eventually headed home and fed the fish.

I got to the house just as Summer was finishing up dinner. She thought it would be a good idea to cut up the leftover dried chicken and form patties with egg and bread crumbs. They were even dryer than the chicken was by itself, and it made no sense at all. I rolled the grill out and cooked some corn while I played with the dogs for a while. It sprinkled with a little thunder in the distance, and the dogs stuck around on the porch. It was really nice that we didn’t have to hunt for them at all today.

I wish they were trained well enough to take to work.

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Ngày Giỗ

I got up super early this morning so I could get the ribs smoking. I checked on the dogs first though, and couldn’t find them within a block of the house. Summer didn’t feel well, and had me run to the store for some medicine, along with the smoked sausages I needed for the gathering.

I eventually just had to give up on the dogs so I could get the fire started, but fortunately the coals lit up perfectly. I used some rubs that I’d had for a while, and then made my own Asian-inspired glaze since Mom wouldn’t give me the char siu seasoning last night. I was pretty liberal with the rub, but light on the glaze.

The neighbor from a couple houses down knocked on the door and said the dogs were on her front porch, but that Stilgar wouldn’t move for her. I was worried he had gotten sick like Chani, but when I rode over there, he hopped right up. He was a little bit slow, but it was also super hot outside.

We were the first ones to arrive at Lelan’s house, and she was ahead with her own cooking, so we just had to wait for everyone else to show up. Mom and Dad were last, and still had to go back for the rice that they forgot. It was a good time, and afterward we ran home briefly to drop Summer off, and then met everyone at the cemetery.

After playing with the trees there, Lelan and Stephen came over to see our house. They seemed to like it, and had some advice on who to contact for some of the issues we’ve had. Once everyone left, I cleaned up the smoker stuff, and then went to my parents’ house for a dip in the pool. I was exhausted, and the water was the perfect temperature to cool down after a long day.

I rode home with my towel oh my back like a cape, and played with the dogs for a bit while Suzanne was poking her head over the fence to look at them. Hopefully the bricks Summer placed by the fence will discourage them from digging so much, but I’m sure the battle isn’t won yet.

With summer school out of the way, doldrum season is here. But vacation soon.

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Seven Trains Later

Both of the dogs were gone this morning, and I found the front gate open. I assumed the neighbor accidentally didn’t close it all the way, so I took the Onewheel around the block and found them not far away, running through the streets. As soon as they saw me, they came running and I just rode home with them right behind. I thought it was a pretty good response, but Muad’dib eventually disappeared again in the afternoon.

I spent the morning cleaning up the creeping vines on the fence, so the gate was much more accessible. Then I trimmed the rose bushes so they weren’t sticking out over the walkway. Our backyard neighbor Josh handed me a bag of homegrown blueberries from their garden and we traded phone numbers. I continued to sweat profusely as the sun got higher, so I came inside for a shower. After the shower, I heard a water leak alarm and found the water heater standing in a pan full of water.

The rest of the afternoon was a bit of a jumble. Dad came over to take a look at the tank with me, and we started draining it. I warmed up some leftover roast beef for lunch when Summer got home, and then Dad came back over so we could pull the old tank out. We really wanted to go tankless, but the earliest anyone could come even look at it was Monday. We figured we could deal with cold showers for a few days, but needed to replace the washer in the shutoff valve, so we went to Leonard’s for that. Then Dad had to leave for his old friend Dave’s art show.

Ronda and Steven were cooking at their new food truck, so we wanted to go support their soft-open. We took that food back home to eat, and then tried to catch Dad at the art show. He was already gone, but we wandered around the gallery with wide eyes. I told Summer he was good, but I don’t think she believed me when I told her how good.

After that, we went shopping for a couple things at the house, and we also looked for some better dog collars and leashes. Walmart didn’t have what we were looking for, so we went to T.J.Maxx and found a leash and a squeaky toy. Perhaps we should have waited, because Ross actually had a better selection. Five Below had nothing. It was all garbage.

We ran home and I met up with Dad again to try and pick up a super cheap tank heater that was on clearance at Lowe’s, but they couldn’t find it on the floor. We grabbed a plug for the hot water line instead, and sealed that off so we could at least turn on water to the house without it coming out uncontrollably from the wrong pipes. I tried to track down the faulty mixer that was letting cold water back up through the hot lines, but gave up about halfway through the house.

I was exhausted and sticky by the end of the day, but at least cold showers are on the table again, and I can wash my hands after petting the dogs. Hopefully they’ll stick around for a walk in the morning.

When it rains, it leaks some more.

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Crabby

I woke up early to try and beat the pups before they got out, but I was still too late. I wandered around outside a bit and then saw them right outside the gate. The neighbor said they had been in their front yard all morning, so I shuffled them back inside. They were out of food, so I got dressed and went to the Neighborhood Market for some more. I picked up some breakfast sausage as well, and made myself some eggs and a bagel to go with it. Summer wasn’t ready to eat when she finally woke up, so I just took a shower and got ready to meet my parents for their trip to Fort Smith.

The first order of business was to drop off some mint at the Midland Market Oriental food store. Then we dropped Mom off for a nail appointment and then I went with Dad to the magic club meeting. They had a show-and-tell with their assorted magic wands and canes, and the disappearing cane stole the show. I ended up holding Larry’s phone so Patrick could see things in a video call. Mom finished up, and we were eventually the first ones to leave so we could get her.

Our next stop was Red Lobster where I could finally get the crab and lobster I had dreamed of all week long. The restaurant was pretty empty for being dinner time, but the food was great. It really makes me sad that they’re doing so poorly, because I’ve always loved eating there.

Afterward we went to a couple Oriental food stores, but Truong Son was closed and we ended up back at Midland for what we needed. It was a super short trip though, and then we headed home.

Eaddie and Eli were out front with the dogs, who all had bright, new collars of blue, red, and pink. I was pretty frustrated, because Summer and I had just talked about how we needed to have a family conversation about the dogs when I got back, and here they were making purchases without me. On top of that, I found that Muad’dib and Stilgar both had choke collars, which was absolutely not what I wanted for them. Chani’s was too big, and I later found her with her with the collar strapped between her jaw and the back of her teeth so she couldn’t close her mouth.

I made Eaddie clean her room and then tried cleaning up some random things myself. I finished up some of Allen’s wine as the girls wrapped up their evenings, and eventually got to bed.

Half thoughts and half naughts.

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Dreg Lobster

I woke up really early a few times this morning and saw the dogs were still outside, but the girls were fast asleep. I had hoped they would eventually wake up and take the dogs to the Liberty dog wash like they promised after not taking them last night, but it just never happened. The last time I woke up and was ready to stay awake, the girls still hadn’t budged and the dogs were gone. I made a quick circle around the block, and even ran back by the garage sale, but didn’t see them. I came back home because it started sprinkling and just fumed over half-finished tasks.

Summer wanted to come home from work on Friday and work in the yard, but the fence wasn’t repaired. The girls wanted to bathe the dogs outside and left the hose and a bunch of flea and tick shampoo sitting out on the ground in the sun. More soap and some rubber gloves were up on the deck, but the gloves had been torn up, along with the foam handle on the hose sprayer. If I hadn’t made Eaddie take care of it before she went to bed, she would have still had suitcases in her floor from her band trip. I was sick of it.

I sat on the porch until Summer finally came out, and I lit her up for it all. She took the Pathfinder around the block and ended up finding the dogs just as I took the Onewheel back out again between raindrops. She got them home but wanted to take them straight to the wash with Eaddie, so I loaded up and drove separately to meet them. She really wanted to get a leash so we could obey the rules of the wash, so I stopped by my parents’ house and got an old choke collar and some rope from Dad.

The wash would only start with a $10 payment for 10 minutes, but you could add five more minutes for $4. Since we only got one dog out of the car at a time, we just started three different sessions. Muad’dib was the first to go, and the most upset by the whole process. He also hated the leash, but would behave fine without it, so we eventually got him finished and back into the car. When we took Chani, someone had peed on the tarp, so we threw a towel in to soak it up before it got onto the upholstery. By the time we finally got Stilgar, someone had pooped as well, and it wasn’t at all solid.

We had occupied the only working bath out of the two in the room for just over thirty minutes while it rained outside. Another guy came in and talked to us while we worked, and then wanted to show off his giant dog as we left. Once we got the dogs back inside the fence, we cleaned up the car and the tarp, and made sure they had plenty of food. Nobody was permanently emotionally scarred by the bathing, and I pulled a few more ticks before we went inside to clean up ourselves.

We left for Little Rock about three hours later than I wanted, so we’d be late for lunch. Eaddie was feeling sick from lack of food, so we stopped at the Morrilton Drive Inn, which had new owners and was now called Nooner’s Diner. We had some fried pickles and mushrooms, which didn’t seem like a good idea for an upset stomach, but it got us on the road again. It wasn’t anywhere near a typical meal time by the time we got to Red Lobster, so I wasn’t completely confident we would actually get to go back for a second meal, but I still ordered something other than what I really wanted. I figured the crab pasta would be filling enough to get us through some shopping. I hated it. At least the girls liked their food.

I expressed some pretty strong feelings when Eaddie said Autumn had texted her asking to trade vehicles so she could have the Pathfinder, so Summer held a grudge against me for most of the rest of the day. I just can’t abide terrible people, and that whole family is rotten in spite of any good deeds in the past. There’s no one-time-saves-all in my Book.

After we ate, the girls wanted to stop at Ross, but then didn’t want to actually shop for anything, so we left and went to Shoe Carnival. They didn’t have a whole lot that interested me, and what they did have was too expensive. I finally found a pair on clearance that I thought would suit my needs, and after coupons I only paid $10.

Next up was Old Navy, where Eaddie actually got excited to try on some clothes. I was feeling so parched that I couldn’t wait to find a fountain, so I bought a $3.50 Dasani, but I would have let myself die of thirst if I had known the price before I cracked the top.

I took us to Kohl’s after that, and it seemed like about half the store was a clearance section for the ladies, so Eaddie looked everywhere and tried on a bunch of things again. At least they had a bottle filler, and I drank several more full bottles while I waited.

Finally, I took us to Baskin-Robbins for some ice cream. I was pretty disappointed in the portions for the price, but it was tasty. I couldn’t convince the girls to go to Red Lobster again, so we headed home where the puppies were all still waiting for us. Eaddie and I played with them for a bit, and all of their fur felt way better after their bath in the morning. Hopefully the ticks fall away and everyone will be happy. The girls went to bed pretty quickly, but of course I still had chores.

Maybe we just need a morning walk.

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Boys Club Movies

Summer still had to go to Conway to pick up stuff for work, so we decided to rush there to catch a movie as well. I got tickets for IF, as well as a couple coupons for Kohl’s and Shoe Carnival, and we were off. I let her drive so I could plot the most efficient course along the way, and we ended up at Kohl’s first. They didn’t have anything that I really wanted, so I picked up another bath mat instead.

We had some time left on the Shoe Carnival coupon, but not so much time before the movie, so I got us to Splash first. Summer ran in to do her thing, and then we got to the theater with plenty of time for snacks. I got irritated by the lady that jumped ahead of us in line so she could order for her seven hundred million people, and then found them in the same auditorium as us, but fortunately their kids were quiet.

The trailers didn’t really give away any important plot details, so the first part of the movie was a bit of fresh story, and I wasn’t really sure where it was going. I found the reveals to be predictable, but otherwise it was a fun, sweet, feel-good movie. We really enjoyed it.

Dad started grilling pork chops as we were driving home, and we made it to their house just in time to set the table. Julie and Kevin came over a little later, but just visited and then took food to go. Julie misread my response to her vacation offer the other day, so we won’t be going to the beach on Labor Day, but I also didn’t get the new job I was anticipating, so it’s just as well.

Summer really wanted to get home to finish up some yard work, so we got home with a little bit of daylight left. I got some more laundry done, and before I knew it, I was two hours late to bed.

Oh, to be a star.