Tag: health

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You Must Restore Your Qi

I got up this morning and made some more egg sandwiches, only this time I added some sliced American cheese for the extra melty texture. The girls got around shortly after I did, and started on schoolwork. Summer was feeling a bit better, but still sore from the wreck. She made an appointment at the dentist to check out her chipped teeth, and tried to proactively schedule an appointment with the doctor to remove her stitches.

It was overall a pretty quiet morning, otherwise. Ben evidently had to spend some time at the high school, so he took care of a few work orders for me. I took Summer to her dentist appointment in the afternoon, and we filled out paperwork in the car until they called us in. The weather was perfectly cool and sunny for that, so we just relaxed with the windows down.

The exam didn’t really take long at all, since they just checked out the damage and scheduled a visit for the end of next week. It’s a bit of a bummer that she’ll have to wait that long, but at least she’s not experiencing any real pain with her teeth. She was super hungry afterward, and craving Chinese, so we stopped by New China only to find out they were still not open for dine-in.

We stopped by the house and got Eaddie, then went to Mulan’s for dinner. Autumn had eaten a snack earlier, and had to get ready for an Explorers meeting, so we left her at home to get ready. After dinner, I dropped Summer off, and Eaddie went with me to drop Autumn off at Bona Dea.

Eaddie and I drove across the street and walked along the bank of the lake for a bit. I tried to get artsy with my Pixel’s camera and a low sun, but the best pictures didn’t happen until later. We drove up and around Washburn Park before finally ending up at the main entrance of Bona Dea for a walk around the Rabbit Run. She really wanted to do the “obstacle” course, so we walked around as the sun went down. Autumn’s crew eventually jogged past us, but still had plenty of lecturing to do before they would be done.

When we finished the trail, I could see the sunset was giving off some pretty good color, so we went back across the street and took some more photos that came out pretty well. Then we went back to get Autumn, and stopped at Subway to get her dinner on the way home.

Summer was already in bed, and the girls weren’t up much longer either. Summer’s going back to work in the morning, so hopefully she won’t be in too much pain for it.

Now just do a high kick over your head!

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20th Percentile

Autumn helped with a few more laptop handouts this morning during the makeup day, and I pretty much stayed in my office. I ended up making a breakthrough in my printer madness, and was able to successfully deploy multiple printers. That will cut down a bunch of my work orders next week.

Autumn wanted to go to Cici’s for lunch, so we invited Allen and Josh along as well. Zach replied to the group text and said we shouldn’t eat together, and that’s when Ben sent out an email calling out a mandatory quarantine for 80% of our department. Heather and I are the only two that remain, and I think I know how that works out by now.

We continued on to Cici’s by ourselves, then went to the shop to pick up a bunch of Chromebook chargers that needed to be delivered to the elementary schools. Ben and Melinda were still there, but not for long. We made a big loop around town, from Sequoyah to Dwight, then on to London and Center Valley. We came back into town and got Crawford and Oakland before going back to the high school. I wrapped up a few quick work orders, and then we left.

Before we went home, we stopped by The UPS Store to pick up our chicken boxes. Then we stopped at my house for Autumn’s band stuff before taking the chicken boxes up to my office. I dropped her off at practice and came back to watch a couple episodes of Jessica Jones with Eaddie. Then I picked Autumn up again, and took both of the girls to their house for the night.

I tried to spend a little time there, but then wanted to get back to Split. He seems a lot better with the company, though he’s still barely eating anything. I don’t really know when enough is enough, but now at least I have the weekend.

Maybe if they had watched more Fox News, they wouldn’t have gotten the coronavirus.

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Quarantine Away from Home

Eaddie really didn’t want to go to Little Rock with us for Autumn’s appointment, but today she actually behaved really well in spite of her frustration. Summer got up and made eggs and corned beef hash for breakfast, and then we all got ready to leave. My trolling motor came in for the boat, so I stopped by the house to bring it inside, and then we hit the road.

I wasn’t sure what traffic to expect on a Tuesday at lunch time, but it wasn’t awful. There were still lots of cars on the highway, and Waze had my route all kinds of jacked up, but we made it with time to spare. Rather than drag everyone in, I dropped Summer and Autumn off at the entrance, then parked and sat in the car with Eaddie. She spent the whole time on her phone, and I ended up video calling Suzanne to check in. She took me along on her walk around the neighborhood until Autumn was finished.

We didn’t even bother trying to do anything else in Little Rock, and headed back to Conway instead. Eaddie stayed in the car again while the three of us went in to Sam’s for some supplies. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at the types of people that were there, or the change in behavior. There still wasn’t any toilet paper to be had, but at least it was quiet.

When we left, I ordered a couple pizzas from Old Chicago, and we took them home to eat. I wasn’t really impressed with the pizzas, and the restaurant was eerily quiet. It’s always been a treat to dine in there, but for 30 bucks after a BOGO deal, I would have preferred Pizza Hut.

After we ate, Summer had a little workout while I looked up a manual for her Bowflex. I figured out how to get some more features out of it, so she was happier with her improved workout away from the gym. Then we went to my house and rode bikes to the high school so I could water my plant. The doors were physically locked, so rather than continue looking for another way in after the announcement that one of the staff there tested positive for COVID-19, we headed back home where I continued to clean out the garage while Summer went for a run.

When we got back to her house, she made some pico de gallo and I started some refried beans in the Instant Pot. She went to bed before I even got the pot sealed, but when it was done and I got them mashed up, I got Eaddie out of her room to try them. Then I made us a couple little baby bean burritos before we sat down to a couple episodes of Luke Cage.

So long as nobody got the coronavirus, I’d call today a success.

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A Healthy Alternative to Netflix and Chips

Summer left for work this morning, and I slept in with the kids. It was nice being at home for a change, though things were frustratingly cluttered. Summer wanted me to take her to the doctor for her leg pain, so I ran by Sonic to get the kids some 99-cent cheese sticks before taking her to Millard Henry. I didn’t want to go inside on account of the pandemic, so instead I sat in the car playing Plague Inc. While I sat there, I saw a couple girls pull up in another car, and the one driving reached down to hide some trash under her car before they got out. I should have honked or something, but instead I spent the next few minutes fantasizing about fetching the trash and sticking it under her windshield wipers. In the end, inaction won and the environment lost.

After a bit over an hour, Summer came out and we ran by Rose Drug before I took her back to work. Next up was figuring out a late lunch or early dinner for the kids. I went to Walmart and loaded my arms up with some hamburger meat and steaks, some lunch meat and cheese, a couple loaves of French bread, and a bin of spring mix for balance. I went home and made an epic sandwich that left everyone relatively healthily fed. Even Summer wanted some, so I took her one before coming back home and getting the bikes out.

Noah and Eaddie were both super excited to get out of the house. Autumn took a little extra convincing as usual, but she ended up having fun. We all rode to the high school and raced through the park and around the campus. Eaddie kept losing her hat in the wind because she refused to wear it backwards. Autumn was predictably sluggish, but the others just kept taking off with all their pent-up energy.

It was pretty hot out, so we all made it back to the house a bit sweaty. I had trouble getting the garage door open, and the girls ended up in the shady back yard for a bit. Eventually we did get in, and the kids went back to The Simpsons. Summer came over after running 5k at the park, then took the girls home. Noah wanted to ride to his friend’s house, so I took the time to clean house a bit before getting a shower and then taking him back up to Summer’s for the evening.

Summer was ready to pass out on the couch, but we watched Ronny Chieng’s Netflix special while I had a salad and a little pasta for dinner. By the time I got to Autumn’s chocolate cake for dessert, she had passed smooth out, so I put her to bed and then watched one of Tom Segura’s specials with Noah until bedtime.

Self quarantining has me biking, planting tomatoes, and eating at home. What a concept.

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Exploring the Wastelands

We slept in quite a while today, and then I left for home to clean up and take care of the cat. I moved a couple bettas around because Murderface was looking pretty lame. It never could recover from the face tumors or whatever was going on there. Hopefully being in some circulating water would make a difference, but I had to sacrifice the betta I had there and put her in a stagnant cup, at least temporarily.

Once everything was sorted there, I went back up the hill to pick up Summer so we could venture out into the wild for supplies. What I thought was going to be a relatively small supply run ended up being a really long and expensive shopping trip with little regard for how much stuff I was touching with my bare hands. Of course any time they tell you not to touch your face, it itches like crazy. We filled our cart to the brim, possibly because we were shopping on mostly empty stomachs. Then for the first time in forever, we went to a cashier instead of self checkout. Summer even went to get a second cart to lessen the burden of re-packing the cart with bagged goods. Our cashier was in good spirits, and in true fashion, I was right on the money in guessing how much our total would be.

When we got back to the house, the kids helped unload the car and Autumn started making some pizza dough. Then they set up a badminton net and started playing outside, and it was great to see them outside of the house without any screens in front of their eyes. I had a blast hand-tossing the dough into individual pizzas for everyone to make, and after not too much longer we all got to chow down.

Summer and I went out to join the kids, and I even got in on some badminton myself. I was always pretty good with a shuttlecock. I’m no Olympic bronze medalist, but I held my own against the girlfriend of pure gristle. I was even undefeated against multiple children at once, even when Eaddie tried using a baseball bat.

As the daylight dwindled, the kids came in cranky from having to tear everything back down, and Summer and I snuggled up to Her with the Joker and Black Widow.

Ben and Mike’s Pizza Emporium

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Work Away From Home

I slept in a little bit today, but continued on working from home. The kids were up just minding their own business for the most part, so I had a little sandwich for lunch while I manually trudged through duplicate accounts in Web Help Desk. The day went by pretty quickly, but slowed down quite a bit in the evening. We finally got a bit of an official statement on what’s expected of us during the pandemic, and it looks like I’ll be out again all next week working from home. Summer’s still going to work herself, which only makes me angrier when she goes on about not feeling well. Keeping the kids cooped up seems at least half pointless if she’s going to keep going out in it. Part of me wonders if I should just truly self-quarantine at home.

She went straight to bed when she got home, so I brought out some leftovers for us to pick at. Then we watched Hitch until she was ready to go to sleep. I watched a couple episodes of Patriot Act, then played some Overwatch, and finally went to bed myself.

Maybe I’ll die from it.

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Hunker Down

I slept in just a very little bit today, but got up for a full day of work from home. It was mostly pretty dull with the usual amount of just different kinds of distractions. I have to watch out for eating when I’m just bored, but otherwise I actually feel like I eat healthier just because I’m not restricted to some artificial construct of time. The kids did their work, or at least pretended well enough for someone only barely paying attention. Noah left with some friends again. Summer left work early, and I went home to take care of a few things before coming back for dinner.

I got frustrated that we let my Colton’s birthday coupon expire after talking about going out for two weeks. Autumn made a pretty good chicken Alfredo dinner though, and I loaded up with a pretty good looking salad. The kids ate and then ran off to whatever electronics were distracting them in the moment. Summer went down with a headache, so I laid with her for a while, eventually watching a couple episodes of Master of None to wrap up the first season. Somehow we outlasted the kids, who were all off to bed before the show was over.

Two more weeks of home schooling, and we’ve just had our first tornado drill. This is fine. Everything is fine.

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Playing Work

I got up earlier this morning and trudged out a bunch of laptops to do some work. It was a little difficult to focus on some things, but honestly it probably wasn’t much worse than usual. I definitely noticed network latency in just about everything I did, but I attributed that to being at Summer’s with her ISP-issued equipment. At the end of the day, I got some important things done, and made myself useful and productive.

Noah and Eaddie sat quietly by themselves most of the day. I had to prod Eaddie to start on her homework, but Noah at least got his laptop out on his own. I don’t have a clue whether he actually did any work, but I still struggle with how to motivate any of them.

Summer got home later than she wanted, and I started cooking tilapia for fish tacos. She made some avocado sauce, and I pan fried the fish on the fly for the freshest tacos ever. Autumn was dropped off after having eaten, so the kids all went back to the television, and Summer and I watched an episode of Master of None before bed.

Get comfortable. We’ll be here a while.

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Homemaker

Summer left for work again this morning, leaving me with a house full of kids. Autumn was the only one up before me, and she was in her room doing schoolwork. I started sauteing a roast to put into the crock pot for dinner, and around the time I really had my hands full, Eaddie got up and tried to ask for help on some of her work. I got frustrated with her when she didn’t want to put any work into learning how to do it, and I basically had to dictate an email to her teacher because she wouldn’t type it herself.

Noah eventually left with a friend, which finally killed the highly-inappropriate Hell’s Kitchen episodes that had been playing all morning. By the time I was ready to leave, Autumn had called Summer to see if she could stay with her grandparents for the evening. I guessed correctly that she just wasn’t happy with what we planned for dinner. I left to take Summer some coffee, then went home to clean up a bit. On the way back up, I stopped by the high school to get my work laptop as well as a couple test units since Ben approved me for some work from home.

Autumn didn’t even get close to finishing her chores before she left, so that’ll be trouble with Mom tomorrow. Noah got into a little trouble himself after leaving town and coming back super late. At least Eaddie and Summer really enjoyed the roast. I could tell I went a bit too heavy on the potatoes. The juice was great with some fresh sliced bread, and it may warm up well with the potatoes for later.

Eaddie joined Summer and me in bed for an episode of Glee before Summer had to crash for work. Then I tinkered on the computer until the kids went to bed.

I can’t tell if it’s coronavirus, or if it’s snot.

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Coronavirus

We got up this morning and Autumn tried scrambling some eggs because she suddenly has an interest in a culinary class at votech. She basically protested the entire time Summer was telling her to cook breakfast, and she hates every food, but I’m trying to be positive and supportive. I took Noah to work and then went home for a while. Evidently I was exhausted, because I laid down and napped for a few hours before waking up pretty disoriented. I got progressively more phlegmy as the day went on, but hoped it was my usual allergy/CPAP combo.

I played a little Overwatch to wake up, cleaned up after the cat, and took a shower before heading back up to Summer’s. She made some chicken spaghetti since Walmart was completely out of ground beef, and it turned out really great. I helped by making some garlic bread, and all the kids seemed to really like the meal. After we ate, Autumn wanted to play some Monopoly, so we went a few rounds until Summer had to go to bed.

I stayed up and played a little Overwatch to earn some loot boxes while Noah and Eaddie stayed up watching scary movies. By the time I was ready for bed, I had quite a bit of junk in the top of my chest making me constantly clear my throat. Hopefully this isn’t the end of us all.

It’s funny how the “essential” employees that have to work all week during the pandemic closure are paid the least.