Tag: food

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Good Vibrations

I got up this morning and made bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. It all slowed down quite a bit from there after my tummy got the rumblies. We wanted to get some more cleaning up done around the house, but we ended up just mentally rearranging furniture instead. I do think it helped to visualize an end result though, since we’ll have so much furniture to manage.

Julie called in the afternoon and wanted to chat about our vacation. I think our usual flow of conversation escalation made Summer a little wide-eyed, but it was nothing new for us.

Eventually we went to the Neighborhood Market for something healthy to whip up for dinner. On the way out of the parking lot, Mom and Dad were pulling in and invited us over for curry. We continued on to get the girls from their grandparents’ house, then went on to my parents’ since I wasn’t in the mood to argue with the universe’s obvious plans for us.

We didn’t have to wait very long for my parents to get back, but we dug out Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur and started a game anyway. When they did get home, dinner was actually ready to dish out, so we didn’t waste any time eating. Afterward, we finished our game where the reluctant-to-play Eaddie ended up winning the game.

I dropped the girls off at home at the end of the evening, then headed back home to go to sleep with the cat. He curled right up next to me, so I didn’t have the heart to put him outside again.

Might as well get the carpet cleaner ready…

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My Cat is on Antidepressants

I got up this morning to some more lovely work to do on the carpet. I put the cat out and continued to get ready for work. I went to the shop to sign some paperwork before going to the high school. I stopped for an expiring free slice of pizza, then stuck my nose in some deployment packages, only coming up for air for a late lunch.

Summer met me at Foodie’s, and we had a couple giros. I didn’t find my lamb to be very filling at all, but the waitress warned us about “chewy” steak. Summer really liked hers, but didn’t finish. When I got back from lunch, I continued doing more of the same.

At the end of the day, I called the vet to see what else I could do for Split. Finally, she said it may just be his time to go, as though it was her idea in the first place. I was aggravated, but decided to give some appetite stimulants a try. She prescribed him some Mirtazapine, which evidently is an antidepressant, and said it should take effect within about half an hour to hopefully make him eat something.

I had trouble giving him both medications today, but we made it work. It did seem to bring him around the food more, but he still didn’t seem very interested. He licked a little bit of gravy, and ate one treat. He kept digging in the dry food silo as well, as though he wanted something fresh from up top. I guess I should try a small bag of some other dry food to see if he takes to it.

When the girls got out of karate, I met them and Noah at my parents’ house for dinner. Nova was there again, and it was just a night of leftovers after the Great Labor Day Cook-off of 2020. I made it home a bit later than I wanted, and spent the rest of the night cleaning carpet. Split did seem a little more lively late at night, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing.

Fear is the mind-killer.

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Bake and Fry and Grill, Oh My!

We got up this morning and had the last of the eggs. I’ve really enjoyed frying eggs. They’re so simple, and so delicious. Summer left for the gym while I got baked potatoes ready for dinner with my parents. For as little as I actually did, I was still just completely beat.

The cat refused to eat anything again, which has been wearing on me more than anything else. He tried to throw up his medicine today, but Summer said it just came out foamy. I don’t know what else to do.

I had to run to Walmart for some stuff for the twice-baked potatoes, then came home to load everything up and head to my parents’ house. The girls were back home, so they beat me there and were playing in the pool. I got there and started frying bacon for the potatoes. Everything came together reasonably well, but there were just so many people there with the girls, Julie, and Nova.

Afterward, I came straight home and tried to bring the cat in. He immediately went and had diarrhea in the tub, which really was the best possible scenario. He also dumped water all over the kitchen floor though, so I just kept running around after him, trying to clean up. He has me absolutely ragged. Every day, I wish they had just put him out of both of our misery.

The vet never asks about your quality of life.

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Small Drive

We slept in super late today and got up for lunch at Cici’s. I had another incredible spinach alfredo pizza with all the extra toppings on top. The kids filled up, and we headed back home so they could go ride their bikes for a while. Afterward, Summer took the girls home and Noah to work.

A little while later, my parents brought Nova over to borrow a laptop for college. When I asked about it, it sounded like something that I should be able to fix pretty easily, so they left to retrieve it. I had to remove just under 20 screws to get to it, but determined that the hard drive was bad. Luckily I had a spare to donate, and we got her up and running again.

At some point in all of this, I wandered around outside with the cat for a bit and lubricated my sliding glass door, which helped way more than I thought it would. Then I went next door and did the same for Bác Vân after such a positive result. Split seemed to be quite a bit better, and definitely had more energy than the past few days.

Both girls decided to stay the night with their grandparents, so Summer eventually made it back over by herself. We got sucked into some couple’s YouTube channel where they were building a beautiful A-frame house. I ran to Arby’s for a couple French Dip and Swiss sandwiches, and then it was a pretty late night to bed.

If they can do that in 20 minutes, imagine what we could do in 45!

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iPood

I was a total wreck of exhaustion this morning. I thought I slept well, but I felt broken and weary as I climbed out of bed. I moped around a bit and had a shower, but I could still barely move, so it was up to a bottle of Bawls to get me moving.

I started at the high school, but pretty quickly ended up at the shop so I could ship off a piece of server equipment for Gary. Then I went down to the shop to learn that I would be setting up iPads all day. I finished 40 of them in total, and delivered them to Crawford as I left at the end of the day.

When I got home, I called the vet to try and get an appointment for Split, but the good doctor was quarantined. We may be able to wait the week, but as time passes I feel less confident in that.

Mom made phở and spring rolls for dinner, so the girls met me there to eat. Then it was back home for a very short evening before bed.

This day in the past, the baby was still a little atrophy.

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Bickerdoodles

Summer and I got up this morning and had leftover waffles and eggs for breakfast. Then she tried to motivate the kids out of bed to clean up the house while she went to the gym. I left as the girls started bickering at each other. I gave Noah permission to knock them around if needed, and headed home to try and clean up a little bit.

Noah had to work, so Summer brought the girls over after dropping him off. Then she and Eaddie went out for a bike ride in the heat while Autumn stayed inside and watched multiple screens as usual. I cleaned more carpet, because that’s my life now. When they got back from their ride, Summer took them home to prepare dinner.

I eventually made it back up the hill, just in time to eat. Summer grilled some pork chops to go with an asparagus, mushroom, tomato, and mozzarella dish, and some mashed potatoes. It was nice to have a well-rounded meal again. Afterward she watched a couple episodes of Glee until everyone scattered to their rooms.

But they don’t look like pigs’ tails.

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Work Orders

Autumn came in today and crunched through imaging student laptops while I started running around the building taking care of things I’d been putting off. It won’t take long for the workload to explode, so I’ve got to make time for those things now.

We went to the shop to get Allen, then met Josh at Subway for lunch. Then we went back to the high school for more of the same. Kyle came by to help out later in the afternoon, which was great because Summer had to take Autumn to physical therapy. I finally wrapped up the docking station deployment, so that’s a huge load off my back.

After work, I got Autumn and went by Walgreens to ship some packages for work and get my blood pressure meds. Then we stopped by Superfast to see what Summer and Eaddie were up to. Eaddie had gone to work with her in the morning, and was looking a bit bored when we got there, so she came home with us.

Autumn landed in front of the TV. Eaddie really wanted to ride her bike but couldn’t get Autumn to go with her. I let her ride around the neighborhood by herself while I worked on the garage a little bit. I ended up slicing my thumb open on a piece of metal hanging out of the back of an old computer.

Summer hit the gym after work, so I took the girls to Walmart for more wet cat food and some stuff to make barbecue nachos. The girls ordered pizza courtesy of their father, so Summer and I had some killer nachos instead. I completely forgot to put barbecue sauce on them because of how good the white cheese dip was.

Autumn mowed just a little bit of the lawn before she ate. Then Eaddie and I watched the first episode of the last season of Jessica Jones before everyone wandered off to bed.

It’s reality. I accept it and proceed accordingly.

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The Best Laid Schemes

Summer took the girls home this morning so she could get her nails done. I made plans to pick up some Ridgewood Brothers BBQ for lunch with my parents, then made it across town early enough to be the first person in line. They hooked me up with some incredible banana pudding, but I forgot to tell them what sides I wanted with my Hog Trough, and ended up having to go back for them later in the afternoon.

Uncle Giao came down with Erica to help move Nova into a dorm at Tech, so my parents ended up bailing on lunch with us and went to Linh instead. Summer brought the girls back and we ate a super late lunch at my house.

I knew Robert had quite a bit of trouble with green wood yesterday, but I didn’t expect to taste the difference in the meat. The smokiness just wasn’t there the way it usually is, and all the meats seemed a bit drier and less flavorful than we’d ever had before. We did finally get some burnt ends though, and they were super rich, fatty, and juicy. Honestly, I think I would actually prefer them left on the brisket, but that may not make sense when you’re serving by the slice. Overall, I hate to say it was SubparBQ, but the expectations at this point are so impossibly high, and everyone deserves an off-day. They’re still my number one pick hands-down, and I’m not even playing favorites.

After we ate, Summer left for her hair appointment. Eventually I got the girls loaded up and we went to my parents’ house to swim for a while. Summer took forever to meet us there, but her highlights looked great. We sat around for a while talking to Mom about cars, then eventually made it back to my house for the evening.

Eaddie and I stopped along the way to get some Dairy Queen for everyone, then they watched some TV for a bit before getting up and exploring the house a bit to make plans for The Great Cleanout. There’s a lot to do, but everyone seemed genuinely excited about it, which felt pretty good. I dug out my box of greenman suits, and Eaddie danced around the living room for a bit. I got some intense stomach cramps from all the laughing.

Autumn was the first to crash as usual. Then Summer went to bed while Eaddie watched some TV and I poked around the internet until the yawning took control.

Nothing can stop it cause you’ve just gotta ride ride ride ride ride!

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Ruby Steaks

Twoscore ago, my parents made the brilliant choice to hitch up and start a life together. Julie was out of town, but Summer and I thought it would be fun to grill some steaks for them after the letdown of the year yesterday at Logan’s. She left to go to the gym and mow the lawn while I cleaned up a bit at home. The girls would be back in time for dinner, so we had their father drop them off at my parents’ house.

When she was ready, I picked Summer up and we headed to Walmart for a quick run-through for the meats. My parents had everything for mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, and some other vegetables, so we got steaks, kielbasas, some smoked cheddar sausages for Autumn, and then some frozen shrimp at the last minute.

I had a little trouble with the heat on the grill, and I think I overcooked Mom’s strip steaks. The others seemed to come out a nice, pink, medium rare. I had a porterhouse all to myself, and the tenderloin side just melted in my mouth. I knew I ate too much, but I had some making up to do after those sirloin atrocities from yesterday.

We didn’t stick around too long since the kids were exhausted. Summer still felt pretty nauseous, so we headed back to their house where she climbed straight into bed. Eaddie and I stayed up a little while playing more iMessage games, and eventually I headed to bed.

Without you, none of this would have been necessary.

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Logan’s Roadkill

Summer and I decided to run to Conway today instead of going all the way to Hot Springs. I was hoping to score a deal on some Nest cameras, among other things. She went to the gym while I got ready at home. I accidentally spilled a bunch of water in the kitchen and had to clean it up first, so I took a frustration break in Overwatch before we headed out.

Our first stop was Logan’s Roadhouse for a late lunch because we were both super hungry. It was the absolute worst food I’ve ever had from a Logan’s. I let them talk me into a choice sirloin that I could barely even cut with a serrated knife, much less chew. Worse yet, the steak didn’t even have any flavor. It was truly awful. Even the potato was bad, with Summer feeling like they were overcooked and dry, and me thinking the opposite that they were undercooked. The service was great, but I wasn’t going to send the food back. I just cut my steak into tiny little pieces, mixed it up with the potato and A1, and swallowed it whole.

Our next stop was Home Depot to see if they had my Nest cameras. We wandered around the store for a bit and ultimately ended up at a register with a piece of paper off of a tear-off calendar-like display. I went to talk to the manager as she got into the locker to look for the goods, and she was the polar opposite of helpful. She didn’t seem to understand a word I was saying, and just had a completely garbage attitude. Maybe it was the masks, because I know I was sick of mine just from our first store visit.

Next up was Kohl’s to burn a $5 reward, bringing a blouse for Summer down to just over a buck. This was our first win of the day, but the mask was really wearing on me by this point. Our next stop was Sam’s, where we just picked up a couple small things and left. On our way out of the shopping center, we decided to stop at Rita’s Italian Ice. This was our second win of the day, because the custard and Italian ice were both amazing.

On the way home, I remembered wanting to get a carwash, so we stopped by Splash and got a quick detail. They were pretty dead, so they had the job done faster than I could pepper my lunch potato.

Summer didn’t feel great most of the afternoon, so when we got home, I put on Fun with Dick and Jane until she was ready to go to bed. Then I played some iMessage games with Eaddie to end the night.

Now all I can think about is an actually-tasty steak.