Tag: food

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COVID Springs and Corona Falls

I got up as early as I could will myself out of bed this morning and got ready for a day out of town. The girls were ready and waiting for me, so I picked them up and we stopped at Arby’s for lunch before hitting the road. We ate at the park across the street, then I had to send off some pirate mail, and finally we were off to Magic Springs.

The drive always seems faster than Little Rock just because it’s more fun going through the mountains. Summer informed me an hour into the drive that she didn’t bring her swim suit, so we stopped by Walmart in the Village so she could buy another one. They didn’t have a great selection, but we pieced one together that worked well.

The parking lot seemed absolutely packed when we got to Magic Springs, but I got pretty lucky with a spot close to the gate. We made our way through the season pass processing for Autumn, got all of our souvenir bottles, and started down the hill toward the roller coasters. We got down to the bottom and realized that they had signs up on a lot of the rides that masks were required, and they didn’t hand any out at the front, so we had to walk all the way back up to the car.

By that time, we were all so hot that we just wanted to go to the water park, so we rented a locker and got changed, then made our way around to the lazy river. That thing was packed to capacity, and they were limiting people to one loop at a time since there was a line of people waiting for tubes. I never could really figure out why they offered tube rentals, since they have tubes available at all the slides. They weren’t allowed in the wave pool, so I don’t even know where else they were relevant.

Eaddie got a nose bleed on a trip to the restrooms, so I hung out with her for a while, then Autumn and I went to go get some drinks. They loaded two $5 coupons on each of our passes as a means of compensation since they refused to refund anyone due to the pandemic. I assumed it was $10 that spent like cash, but it was a use or lose it in one transaction. The girl at the counter was so nice that she ended up just giving us four drinks for free so I didn’t have to go back for money or burn my coupons.

We spent a little time in the wave pool, then did another water slide before changing and going back to the roller coasters. It was much cooler by that time in the afternoon, and we had a pretty good time. Pretty much nobody was social distancing though, so I’m pretty certain we all have COVID now. We could hear the concert in the background, but none of us had any interest in staying late for some fellow named Zach Williams.

By the end of the day we had all worked up some pretty good appetites, so I found a restaurant called Colorado Grill. We made our way across town and had some of the best chips and salsa I’ve ever had. The fajitas were amazing, and the girls had a couple huge burritos that looked really great too. Our fajitas came with some barbecue ribs on top that seemed kind of pointless. I would have preferred more fajita stuff, especially after I rolled a saucy rib down my shirt and onto my pants.

On the way out of town, we stopped by the fountain to fill up some water bottles. Shelby spotted me and stopped to say hi, and then we headed straight home and off to bed.

I knew we should have stopped for a funnel cake.

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Sitting in an Office and Doing Stuff

It was way cooler outside today after all the rain, so I decided to take the bike in to work. They didn’t really need me for group work, so I stayed at the shop and worked on things in my office. It was really quiet all day, and I only took a break to pick up lunch with the guys.

We had Tacos 4 Ever again, and this time I tried the nachos. At first I was worried that they looked small, but they really packed a lot into that foil dish. The chips got soggy too, so there wasn’t a lot of air taking up space where the precious food could go. It was packed densely with lots of meat and flavor.

I spent most of the afternoon tinkering with the wiki again, and I think I’ve been fighting incompatible versions with the VisualEditor extension. I stayed late again just because I felt like I was making a little bit of progress, and then Ben ran me off again.

The ride home was nice and I wished I could have just ridden off somewhere, but I had to get home and out of work clothes. Then I just didn’t feel like getting back out, so I played some Overwatch and sold some turnips on someone else’s island.

Eventually I made it up to Summer’s for the evening, and the girls were back home from their father’s. Summer was already in bed though, so I just laid around with her until my own bedtime.

Make sure your output correlates with the input.

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Cafeteria-Style

Autumn really wanted to go to Conway to do some shopping today, so I went home to clean up while Summer got her nails done. Then I picked everyone up and we headed out of town. Autumn wanted to look up hairstyles in the back, so Eaddie played DJ up front with me.

We started at Target and milled all around the place. I was a little worried that we’d need masks to get in places, but nobody brought any. It really wasn’t terribly crowded though, and most other people out and about weren’t wearing masks either. After maybe an hour or so, we left with basically just some toiletries.

The next stop was Kohl’s where we hit up the clearance racks. There wasn’t much for me, but the girls got a few things. Then we stopped by Dick’s for just a bit. I wanted to go to Best Buy, but they were straight-up closed with bars behind the door.

By the time we finished checking out, everyone was pretty hungry. I decided to try Pizza Ranch again since I had gotten an email recently that they were open again. They gave us masks to wear any time we were walking around, and then the buffet was served cafeteria-style. The food was surprisingly fresh considering there was only one other party there when we arrived, and I only saw two more come in before we left.

It was too late to go anywhere else since the virus has everything closing around eight, so we headed back home. Autumn really wanted to stay at my house, so we planned to let them clean and pack before heading over. It wasn’t but a few minutes later that she came back around and said she was sleepy and just wanted to go to bed, so we stayed in. Eaddie and I watched a couple episodes of The Punisher until things started to get pretty good, and then it was off to bed.

But why no fried chicken pizza???

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2:1

Today was really quiet because Ben was upstairs again for more of whatever they were doing. It wasn’t quite as noisy this time, but we could tell they were doing something. I spent most of the day learning about Microsoft’s licensing structure, and trying to figure out how to wipe the 1,300ish laptops I have for resale.

Zach said the district is trying to go 1:1 everywhere, and I think the buyback price on the old high school lease is perfect for a trickle-down of older technology. The laptops are still working great, and were generally underutilized anyway. Lower grades would have lower requirements, so keeping the old Windows devices would save just over $100,000 over the cost of new, less capable Chromebooks. Nobody seems to really care what I think though.

Greg wanted Mexican for lunch, and I suggested we try the new food truck by the railroad tracks. It was rainy, but light enough that we didn’t mind running out to place our orders, and the guy even brought it all out to us pretty quickly. It took less time than even ordering at a brick and mortar restaurant. My torta Cubana was both huge and delicious, but messy. I should have used a fork and knife. The burritos looked pretty good too.

After work, I went home and tried cleaning out the washing machine with some vinegar, and then later some baking soda. I just let it chug along while I played some Overwatch. Eventually I made it up to Summer’s for the evening, just in time for bed.

Never tell me the ratio.

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This is Normal

Summer got up this morning and started prepping for lunch with my parents. The girls took turns being moody for a bit, but did fine for lunch. Summer made grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, some fresh broccoli salad stuff, and some guacamole that we barely got to for the appetizer. Then she had a pound cake made for strawberry shortcake for dessert.

My parents hung out for just a little while, but then went home to make bánh bao. The girls decided they wanted to spend a couple nights with their father rather than go help, so when they left, I headed home to start cleaning house.

I got a bunch of old laundry done, but still have loads [pun intended] more left to do. Summer eventually came over and watched TV while I worked. Suzanne called at some point and said she thought they heard gunshots from protests happening downtown, but I couldn’t ever find any evidence of it, nor could I hear any noise from outside over my laundry. It seemed like the most action we got were some guys open-carrying rifles around town.

Tomorrow everyone is back to work at the office, but we’re sort of left to our own devices to help with social distancing. It’s been nice spending so much time at home, and I’m in no way looking forward to going back.

Surely homesteading isn’t that hard.

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Cover

We slept in a bit this morning before getting out of the house. Summer decided she wanted to plan a dinner with my parents, so she went home to clean and prep while I took the girls to my parents’ house to clean the pool cover.

Eaddie was with me, but we had to retrieve Autumn from her grandparents’ house. We got things started, but then the girls started fussing about being hungry, so I went to Tropical Smoothie and Wendy’s, because I guess I’m enabling that behavior now. I also went by their house to get Autumn’s swimsuit and give Summer a smoothie.

When I got back to my parents’ house, we let the girls take a break and eat, but then I had to take my parents to my house to check out some vinyl siding samples. The contractor that came to see us didn’t actually have any samples, but he did have a ring of chips to hold up, and I still preferred the dark brown to match with the non-primary color of my brick. He said he agreed, but you can never trust a salesperson.

When we finally got back to my parents’ house, the girls were out back swimming. They said it wasn’t too terribly cold, but we had to get the pool cover finished. They took turns scrubbing and hosing the thing down, and then Dad and I flipped and dried it before folding it back up for storage.

Summer forgot that we still had to eat dinner tonight as well before having my parents over tomorrow, so the kids and I agreed on Wendy’s. I customized all of the burgers, which seemed to completely confuse everyone there. I guess the way those customizations show up is pretty easily misinterpreted. We made do with what we got though, then Summer, Eaddie, and I watched an out-of-season episode of Glee before Summer went to bed. Then Eaddie and I finished the last few episodes of the Daredevil series that left me a little confused and disappointed, but overall satisfied with the show.

Do I really want to research the manufacturing differences in vinyl?

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Slow Start; Quick Finish

I slept so well last night that I really didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. It took me a while to get going, and Eaddie basically slept until the last minute. I eventually got around to making an “everything” Italian loaf egg sandwich to take to Summer for what was supposed to be brunch but ended up being a late lunch. It felt super hot outside in the sun, and traffic was awful again. I miss the early days of the pandemic.

After lunch, we went by Julie’s to help take her TV off the wall so Suddenlink could check out why her internet keeps dropping out throughout the day. While we were there, we heat-pressed half of the flags I made, to cure the ink. The other half I wanted to experiment with water to get the paint to flow to both sides of the flag. Hopefully that will keep me from having to come up with a way to screen print the reverse side as well.

With that done, Eaddie and I headed back home and watched some more Daredevil until Summer got off work and came to get her. They went home to clean up while I did the same, and then they picked up Slim Chickens for dinner on the way back here.

The chicken was pretty decent, but I think for my money, Zaxby’s has better sauces. I put on the 2003 Daredevil movie for us to watch, and Eaddie just kept groaning through the entire thing, which really made it all worthwhile. She did find a lot of parallels though, and insisted we watch the first episode of the Netflix series when the movie was over.

After that, Summer went to bed and we watched a few more episodes, ending with a really horrible one with a pointless flashback to an already established-well-enough character. Being this close to the end, it really aggravated me that they wasted a whole episode to that.

Gravy. Gravy would make it all better.

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Done in the Sun

Today was day two, or three if you count the seniors a couple weeks ago, of sitting out in the sun collecting student laptops. Yesterday was slow, but today was slower most of the day. We did get a couple rushes that made up for it, but there are still a ton of devices left to be returned.

I started the morning with Gary, then got Zach, and Ben for a little bit in the afternoon. We had Stoby’s again for lunch since evidently it was convenient and easy. I had the same Cajun pasta with broccoli, but this time I remembered to ask for cheese dip.

We stayed pretty busy at the end, so it took me another half hour to get packed up and get out of there. I went home for just a little bit to take a cool shower, and then Autumn called asking if I could take her shopping for stuff to make dinner. It wasn’t until I actually got up to their house that she said their father was coming to dinner.

Walmart was pretty busy, but we got what we needed and got out. She made burgers while I made fresh-cut fries. She wanted to make fried pickles and onion rings, but I was afraid to fry the pickles before anything else because I wasn’t sure if the flavor would linger.

Summer got home and came in with another tiny baby bunny, but this time it was younger with closed eyes and some flesh wounds. She didn’t want to take care of it or end it, so she took it to a coworker that might have better lunch.

Dinner turned out really great in spite of how exhausted I was. Then Autumn fed the bunny we kept, and it actually took to the bottle really well. I laid with it for a little while as I finished up my chores in Animal Crossing, and then we all went to bed.

At least they breed like rabbits.

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Ridgewood Gang

I woke up a bit before Summer this morning and played some Animal Crossing. When she got up, she had to run to the shop to help with their bay door that wouldn’t open again. Then when she returned, we went to the Ridgewood Brothers’ BBQ and waited in line for roughly an hour.

Social distancing had the line wrapped way around the back of the parking lot, but either way there were quite a few people there. Brandie was there just in front of the last person in line, so we chatted for a little bit. It was overcast but still warm to be out in line like that, so I’m thinking it’s preorders from here on out. We picked up a Hog Trough with some friends-benefits, as well as three giant beef ribs, which were my favorite of the day. Still didn’t get any burnt ends though.

When we finally got through the line, we stopped by to pick up the girls from their friends’ house. Then we went up the hill to eat. Summer developed a headache and napped for a while, and I just laid in bed with her watching YouTube for a frustratingly long time. I didn’t have any other plans, but it would have been nice not to burn an entire day just sitting around doing nothing.

Eventually she felt good enough to leave again, so we went back to my house so she could get her car. I immediately discovered the cat had chewed up the top of my avocado sprout, which sent me into even more of a rage. Summer went back home while I cooled off at home for a while. It wasn’t productive, but I did eventually get a shower that helped.

When I got back to their house, the girls were all finishing up Frozen II. Then we watched an episode of Game of Thrones before bed.

Three words: Bone Wind Chime

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Happy Mother’steak

I beat everyone else up this morning and ordered some breakfast pizzas for Summer to pick up while I took my shower. The kids finished watching Back to the Future Part III, and then I took them to Walmart so they could get something for Summer while I picked up what I needed for our family dinner.

They all went outside to play cards in the weather while I baked potatoes. Then Eaddie and Noah wanted to ride bikes to my parents’ house, so Summer took them while I drove with Autumn.

The kids wanted to swim in spite of our warnings that the water was ice cold, so they ran around outside while Julie and I got things cooking inside. Summer helped me scoop potatoes out so I could twice-bake them, and Dad got the charcoal going so Julie could grill the steaks she picked up at the butcher in Centerville.

Dinner was pretty great, though I had the same frustrations I always have with steak dinners. The steaks always end up cold by the time we get salads and everything else ready to eat. That’s why I prefer to eat the salad while I’m cooking everything else, and then have my steak right off of the grill.

Eaddie and Noah really wanted to ride around on the bikes some more after dinner, so Summer finally relented and let them ride to Sequoyah until we were ready to leave. Then she rode out to them while Autumn and I drove everything else back home.

Summer dropped Noah off and took Eaddie home, then Autumn and I followed after some cleanup at my house. Then we watched an episode of Iron Fist before bed.

I’m glad we could all make time to meat like this.