Tag: food

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Fire in the Hole

I made French omelets for Summer, Eaddie, and myself this morning after practicing last week. Summer’s turned out the best. Eaddie’s wasn’t bad, but was just overstuffed. Mine completely crumbled. They were delicious and creamy though. The secret seemed to be the very low heat.

Autumn had plans all day, so she left. I didn’t wait too long to go home, because I wanted to try and tackle some more of the back yard. I finally remembered to take my old fireworks box out for burning, and it lit up fairly nicely. Doug came over to give me another nut bread they brought home from the casino, and then a little while later, Bác Vân came to offer lunch. I declined, and tried to keep busy.

I started the first fire in the leftover hole from the first tree we cut down years and years ago, hoping to fill it in with the ash. Then I tried to start another fire in a big pile where a couple large tree branches fell. That one caught for a little bit, but then just immediately died. I got a bit of the high weeds cut, but there are some woody plants in the mix as well, so I really need some loppers and a good shovel to dig out stumps.

After a while, I felt a sudden sickness in my belly, so I brought everything in for the day. I wanted to start a load of laundry before taking a shower, so I got that going and finished cleaning up just in time to make it back up to Summer’s for dinner.

She made a really great Mongolian beef that Eaddie and I scarfed down, and then we had some frozen key lime pie that Autumn brought home “for me” a while back. We watched a few episodes of Modern Family until they were ready to wind down. Then Summer and I watched a Seinfeld Netflix special before going to sleep.

What’s the deal with pitch?!?

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Grilled for Mothers

I woke up a couple minutes before my alarm and got out of bed so we could go downtown for the girls’ 5K. Summer got the others up, and we went down behind the city mall where people were gathering at the starting line. As soon as the girls were ready to queue up, I started walking back toward the car to get away from the loud music. It was a relatively small crowd, so I just didn’t want to stand around waiting all alone.

Ian spotted me as he walked up, and stopped to talk at me for the duration of the race. We watched everyone take off down El Paso, and he stood next to me as I leaned against a light pole. He didn’t really have anything useful to say, and just mirrored complaints I had been hearing for weeks.

Summer finished in good time. Eaddie was farther behind than I expected. Autumn took nearly an hour. Summer wanted to wait for the awards ceremony, which was good because Eaddie won third place in her division, and then Summer won second in hers. We dropped Autumn off at home after that, and then went to Stoby’s for some breakfast. I was quite happy with the “Blast” with the biscuit, hash browns, and all of the proteins with a side of gravy. It even came out to less than the eggs Benedict that Summer and Eaddie had.

After we ate, we went to Walmart to get everything I needed for twice-baked potatoes. Then we headed back to the house so I could cook them before dinner with my parents. Autumn left to take Adam to the Clarksville aquatic center, so we were free to enjoy ourselves. I baked some bacon and then got the potatoes into the oven before taking a shower. Then I gutted the potatoes and mashed everything together with some butter, sour cream, bacon, green onions, and cheese.

Once the potatoes were done, we loaded up and headed towards my parents’ house, with a brief stop at my house to change shirts. My parents had all kinds of stuff to grill, but none of it was ready yet. The charcoal was nearly ready though, so I raced to get things prepped and started cooking.

Julie and Kevin came over and we had steak, potatoes, squash and zucchini, corn, fried shrimp, and a couple plates full of smoked sausages that nobody touched. It was a lot of food, and it exhausted me for the day. We hung out for a little while after dinner and continued to watch some Vietnamese girl harvest bamboo shoots on YouTube. Autumn brought Adam over to deliver graduation tickets, and evidently asked if she could have a pool party for her birthday. I could have told her the pool wouldn’t be ready by then, but I guess she felt like she’d have better luck bypassing everyone else.

We ended up leaving before them, as Dad showed Adam his camera collection. We made it home and everyone went straight to their rooms. I fought sleep long enough to finish my own chores, and then it was off to bed.

Next time, I’ll use the stand mixer.

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Day 4 of Travel

I got up this morning and immediately started getting ready for my fourth day of travel. I stopped by the election commission headquarters on the way home and voted in the school board election. Then I continued home to get ready for my interview in Maumelle. I made it down the interstate fast enough that I got off early and drove through town to save a little bit of range. Of course the navigation was faulty, so I had to make a block, but I got there with plenty of time.

I only had to wait a couple minutes for them to come interview me. I talked to Tim and Ryan to first determine whether I could talk to humans, and then whether I could talk to computers. After Tim left, I felt much less confident in my answers, simply because Ryan was really looking for specific examples of projects I had completed. The work I’ve done for the past several years has been so sporadic that I really didn’t have any good solo examples. After we finished talking, he left me with a paper test and a pen, and I had to write out answers to the best of my ability. Once I finished that, I had to place it on the receptionist’s desk and basically walked out waving to the guys that were in their offices with headsets on.

Mitch was at Blake’s apartment, so I went there next to change and then take Mitch to a late lunch. As we did that, he told me that I was invited to dinner with Blake, but I didn’t realize it was at his girlfriend’s house and that she was cooking. We had lunch at The Fold, which had some killer fancy tacos which were a bit pricy, but the guacamole and cheese dip plate seemed really reasonable in comparison. Both the food and service were excellent.

We struggled to come up with a solid plan after that, so we went to Franklin’s Charging Station after that to get a little bit of free juice while we waited to go to dinner. I showed Mitch my Steam Deck while we sat in the air conditioning. After a while, I decided we would head on over to Justina’s house since I wasn’t sure how traffic would be. We actually arrived before either of them, but then she pulled in right behind us. Her two boys and their dog were all over the place while she started cooking dinner. Blake eventually showed up and we took turns playing Mario Party with one of the boys.

After dinner, we played a tiny game of Uno, and then another game called Forbidden Island. It was a cooperative game with tiles that were spaced out randomly. It was a little scattered at times, but eventually I had a fair grasp of how to strategize. We just barely won, but I thought it was a lot of fun.

As the kids went to bed, we parted ways. I took Mitch to another friend’s ritzy apartment complex with agate code and literal fire on the road sign. The amenities sounded pretty intense as well. We said our goodbyes, and I made the lone trip home in the dark. Just past Conway, I could barely make out a black tire in the middle of the black road. It appeared to be a whole tire, so I called 911 after failing to reach the state police using the short code on the road signs. They connected me to the state police, and I let the officer there know what I had seen so they could try and get it out of the road before someone got hurt.

I made it home safely, swapped cars, and then headed up to Summer’s for bedtime. Everyone was long asleep, so I finished up quickly and went to bed.

I just want my job back.

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I am Groot

The girls didn’t seem to feel great this morning, but we had to get to Little Rock for our movie. I went home to shower and then came back to pick them up. Neither of them were very hungry yet, so we decided to stop in and see Gary first. Eaddie waited in the car while Summer and I went into the rehab clinic, only to learn that we’d have to make our way over to the main hospital where he had been since surgery the day before.

We chatted for a while through his pain. It was probably the worst I’d seen him yet, but even then he was still in pretty good spirits. I had hoped he might stick around the hospital a while longer, but he seemed to really want to go home the next day.

From there, we went straight to the Promenade to try and find some food before our movie. Unfortunately we only had about an hour to kill, and both Big Orange and Local Lime had long wait times. I was surprised, because it was already well into the afternoon. We ended up going to Maggie Moo’s for some ice cream instead, but that made the girls feel even worse without any real food in their bellies. We ended up going to McDonald’s to split a snack combo I found in the app.

We made it to our movie with plenty of time, and I was surprised again at how empty the theater was for opening weekend. I just can’t believe 3D is so unpopular. It makes all the difference in the world to me. On the other hand, maybe the 2D showings are just as sparse. I wouldn’t know, because I always go the premium route whenever possible.

I kind of expected the movie to have some back story for some of the characters, but I absolutely didn’t expect any of what we saw. It started off on an emotional tone, and then immediately jumped right into heavy action. There were several parts where I got a little bored, or at least physically uncomfortable or restless due to my seat. Then the heavy emotional scenes hit, and it made the whole movie a lot better for me. It definitely felt different than anything we’d seen before though.

After the movie, I convinced the girls to stop for some food. we tried a place called Ocean’s At Arthurs, but Summer didn’t want to get out of the car after she saw that they had valet parking. I would have given it a try anyway, but it really might have been upscale enough that we’d look pretty rough going in. We ended up at a hole in the wall called Lazy Pete’s Fish and Shrimp instead, and the food was awesome. It didn’t look like much at all, but it really was great.

We made it back home and I let Summer take the Murano to her house while Eaddie decided whether she still wanted to go to the hot air balloon show. She ultimately decided against it, so I took Summer’s car to the wash and then we headed home for the night. The girls both went to bed, so I laid down with Summer for a bit. That was when I got a sudden surprise call from Mitch, who said he was coming to Little Rock via a “MEGABUS.” We only talked briefly since he was going to be on the bus for the next six or so hours, and I got to bed.

I am Groot!

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A Real Ham

We got around this morning and I made tuna pitas for everyone. Then after a while, Summer took Eaddie shopping for some shoes while I took a shower. When they got back, we had to go to the store for something to go with the ham that Summer wanted to bake for dinner. Autumn came home eventually, and fussed about wanting to spend the day with Adam, and then fussed about him not liking me, and how awkward he would feel if he came over for dinner.

Autumn eventually gave in to taking Eaddie shopping when she got Adam. Summer and I made a relatively quick trip to my house, then Walmart, and then back to my house because she wanted another muffin tin. Then she started cooking as soon as we got back to her house. I scheduled another visit with Alisha, so we’ll check out the house again tomorrow afternoon.

We had a really nice dinner, and then Eaddie and I went to the bedroom to watch an episode of Breaking Bad. As we finished, Summer came in wanting to go to bed, so she kicked us out to Eaddie’s room where she and I watched one more episode, trying to ignore the loud music and giggles coming out of Autumn’s room because Summer is incapable of firmly telling her she can’t take her boyfriend in there.

Eaddie had enough after the second episode, so she went to bed and I cleaned up in the kitchen. Adam left when his father picked him up, and eventually I made it to bed.

Exclusion Solution

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Solidifying

I had quite a bit more energy this morning, but still felt pretty squeamish inside. I was hungry for sure, so I cleaned up some leftover sloppy joes and then soaked in the bath for quite a while. When I was finally ready to get back into some clothes, I headed home for a much-needed shower to scrub down the rest of myself.

After my shower, I felt worse again for a little while, so I had to cool off and rest for a bit. Then I got dressed and went back to River Valley Tinting and Glass to talk to the guys about the two scratches on the trim. They insisted that they wouldn’t have had any tools anywhere near the trim, but there has been absolutely nothing else anywhere on or around the car that could have produced two identical scratches in the corner above the window. After denying any damage, the guy pointed out a bubble that he wanted to fix on the passenger side, and then I pointed out a spot with some dust on the driver side, so they scheduled me to do a complete strip and re-tint on Wednesday.

From there, I went to Leonard’s to pick up some nylon washers to protect Summer’s new license plate. It’s only temporary, but hopefully her custom plate won’t take much longer. As I was walking in, I ran into Tom and chatted with him briefly about the troubles I had with the head dog. He wished me well, and I picked up the washers I needed so I could mount the new plate in the parking lot.

When I headed back home, the light at 4th and Knoxville was broken and would never change from red for the eastbound traffic, so everyone had to take turns running the light while the westbound got a protected turn. Then I waited at home for Summer to finish at the gym so I could meet her at Walmart for dinner materials.

As I was walking toward the store, I ran into Dylan and got a big hug from him. I tried to get the Cliff’s Notes for the past decade, but even that was abridged. His son is apparently playing Smash Brothers competitively for money, and he’s working at Rockline. Summer parked right by us, so I introduced them and we carried on our way.

We ran into Bác Vân and Doug separately while we were wandering the store. They caught up to us at checkout and I helped them use the self-checkout, and then we headed up to Summer’s so she could start cooking. I helped clean fruits and veggies, and Summer cooked pork chops and mashed potatoes with Brussels sprouts.

The girls made it back home after dropping Eaddie’s bike back at my house, and we had a good dinner. Eaddie and Summer were talking about composing music, so I shared a video of Ben Folds composing a song live. Then everyone quickly disappeared to their bedrooms while I cried over the three-hour Linkin Park and Friends live stream from six years ago.

May your love never end, and if you need a friend, there’s a seat here alongside me.

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Fluid Loss

I woke up super early on Saturday so I could get home to shower before taking Eaddie and a couple of her classmates to Conway for National History Day. We barely got everything loaded up into the car because it was so wide, but we managed. I dropped the girls off at the UCA College of Business building and then left to find some breakfast. I ended up at McDonald’s for a cheap breakfast sandwich and coffee, and then started toward Little Rock to see Gary. He had three hours of physical therapy though, which meant I had to kill about half of my morning before I could actually see him.

I ended up going to Walmart, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Target, and Home Depot before Gary finally texted that he was all done. For all the walking around and shopping I had done, I really only picked up a couple packages of nuts for him as a snack, and then a really nice feeling pen flashlight as a cheeky gift. I also found a cover for the Masterbuilt Gravity 800 that was on clearance, so I picked it up figuring that I might just flip it on eBay since I already have a cover for mine.

I made my way across town to the rehab clinic where they moved Gary, and visited with him for a couple hours. He thought he was ready to pass out pretty early, but by the time I got there he said he was feeling alright. It’ll be another couple weeks before he can go into surgery to reconstruct his knee, but they already worked on his elbow. Eventually I was ready for a late lunch, and headed back toward Conway to eat before I had to get the girls.

I decided on Long John Silvers since I could actually get it fresh and eat there. The entire hour I was in the restaurant, I only saw a couple other people show up. The employees always outnumbered me, and none of them looked super excited to be there. The food was super good though, and tasted really fresh. Some guy rolled in on a knee scooter with a bum, or possibly missing leg, and sat at a table next to be in a fully open restaurant. He kept trying to sell me a couple deep well sockets that he said were his only possessions.

Eaddie finally texted me that they were done just as I was leaving the restaurant, which was a relief since she had somehow turned on airplane mode a few hours earlier, and I wasn’t able to see her location. I got the girls home, and by that time had started to feel a little sick to the stomach, but I had no clue what I was about to experience.

I took a bath after not feeling so great, but then once I tried to go to bed, I had trouble sleeping and had to get up about every hour to go to the bathroom again. During one of my earlier visits, I felt an inkling that throwing up might help me feel better, and I probably lost about a gallon of fluids that way. Overnight, I had lost about six pounds.

Summer let me lay around in bed all day, and went to Walmart to get a bunch of Pedialyte and Gatorade. It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that I felt well enough to make some rice and egg. I finished watching Nope and then fell asleep again for a while. Summer had spent the day resting on the couch, and Eaddie had left for most of the day to watch a band concert and then help her grandmother with some gardening. Joshua texted to prompt me to schedule an interview, so I booked that for Thursday to make sure I’ll be completely over whatever killed my weekend. Summer was in bed by the time Eaddie made it back home, and then everyone was off to sleep again.

Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!

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Off the Job

I woke up pretty early today and started doing a little research before leaving. Summer wanted me to swing by to see her after she finished at the gym, and then I went to 10 Box to get some almond milk. I tried the almond and coconut this time, and it was a little bit weird with my cereal, but I’m just glad I can eat a bowl without being sick for the rest of the day.

I also did some laundry while I put together some more damning evidence, and then took a shower so I could head up to Summer’s for the evening. I quickly applied for another job before I left the house, but there’s some kind of test I’ll need to take for it tomorrow.

The girls were at the high school for most of the evening for some band event. Summer came home while I was cooking her ground turkey into taco meat, and said she went through the touchless wash in Morrilton, and that her right wheels got scratched on the guide rails. The company will fix them, but I don’t know if that means replacing the wheels or just grinding them down and repainting.

Dinner was alright, for as annoyed as I felt while making it. I hated the lettuce wraps before, but having proper taco seasoning and some corn tortillas made all the difference. Then I laid on the couch with her and watched TV for a while, feeling sad and frustrated, but still less stressed than yesterday.

The girls got home really late, and Eaddie talked to us for a bit and then ate before going to bed. It was really hot inside, so I ended up switching on the air conditioner, and then it was off to bed.

If I hurt my knuckles when I punch you in the face…

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Sassy Blue

I set an alarm for this morning, and we got up early for our trip to Kansas City. The girls went to school and I took a shower so we could head to the bank for a cashier’s check. Centennial Bank couldn’t connect through Plaid, so we had to do it the old fashioned way. The lady that helped us got excited when we told her it was for a car, so she came out to see mine as we left.

Summer drove us all the way to Joplin while I worked on my hearing rebuttal, and we stopped at the Undercliff Bar and Grill just in time for lunch. I had seen online that they had a Tesla charger, so I asked our server for permission to charge. She wasn’t sure it was for guests, but she was quick to call the owner to verify and I got us charging. She was super friendly, it was a really neat restaurant, and the food was great.

Summer insisted that she could continue driving to our next stop in Nevada for a supercharge. We wandered through the Casey’s for a while until we had plenty to get into Kansas City. Then I drove us the rest of the way. We arrived really early, but I talked to a couple people that were able to get my car charged, and then started our delivery process early. It took a while, but we finally got to inspect the vehicle. Unfortunately we found a couple paint defects, and the touchup paint they applied looked pretty awful, but they notated the account so we could take it to a local body shop.

We parked my car at the back of the lot and got Summer’s floor mats installed. Then she drove us to Ikea to wander through the store. We shared a plate of Swedish Meatballs and picked up a package of cookies on the way out. Then I drove us to a Red Robin near our hotel. It was in a beautiful shopping area that was built up to look like an old downtown square. It would have been neat to spend an evening out there, but we were both exhausted and ready for bed.

I got us to the hotel, and the girl at the front desk was slammed with check-ins. They were booked solid, and it seemed like there were people out everywhere. It’s a shame we won’t have much time to explore tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to at least seeing our movie.

I’ve acclimated, and it’s loud again!

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Better Than Rock

Summer took Autumn to the gym this morning while I cleaned up some corned beef with Eaddie. Once they made it back, I headed home to clean up so Summer and I could go to the movies. Eaddie wanted to ride her bike, so Summer brought her over to do that while we were out. Bác Vân also had some kind of nut bread and a couple bánh bao for me.

When we got to the movies, we learned that Shazam! Fury of the Gods was showing in one of the tiny auditoriums for that showing, so we had to kill an hour before coming back at four. We ended up going back to get the Tesla, and then washed it before going for a drive around town. We made it up north, and then around to the marina before finally ending back up at UEC.

We were the only two people in Auditorium 5, which was awesome, but also kind of depressing for how much we really enjoyed the movie. I have no idea why it got such a bad rap, because we thought it was really solid story, and a great family flick.

Eaddie just barely beat us home after riding all around town, and we took her to BFD for dinner and ice cream. They were super busy, and the service and food were both actually really good this time. It always seems like lunch is really hit-or-miss, but dinner was great. We all got our fill.

Once we got back to the house, the girls headed home. Autumn had gone to Adam’s for dinner, but then got herself into trouble again for generally being awful and changing up her story to fit whatever she wanted to do. When I tried to head up to their house, the Pathfinder wouldn’t start. I tried poking around under the hood, but couldn’t tell much. It just acted like it was completely out of gas, but it appeared to have half a tank and drove fine earlier in the day.

I poked around a bit at my house for a while, and eventually just took the Model 3 up to the girls, who all appeared to have been in bed for a while before I got there. I was a bit restless again, but tried to go to bed before midnight.

What an absolute lack of previews.