Tending the Dumber Slumbered

We got up this morning and decided on a cheapish Burger King lunch for the horde. Summer left for the gym, and after a bit I took the kids up to her house so they could shed their collective stench. I had gotten a call earlier in the morning that my final(?) pair of trial contacts had come in, so I stopped to get them on the way home. Then I spent the afternoon cleaning house.

I found myself getting bitter over the careless, wasteful, and generally unsanitary nature of the kids, but they’ve grown into their filthy habits without regard for the types of things that matter to me. I shouldn’t have much room to gripe on account of my own lifestyle, but so much of what irks me comes from a lack of consideration or respect. Sometimes I feel like I just have to step around them and ignore what they’ve done as I clean up after them, but ultimately it just makes me want them around less.

Summer eventually brought them all over again, along with a bunch of stuff for dinner. We left them here watching The Simpsons against my better judgement, while Summer and I went to Walmart to pick up groceries for New Year’s Eve. Hopefully it’s a fun time for everyone. We should have plenty of snacks, but I still think I’ll end up getting more vegetables.

We made salads and sloppy joes for dinner, then finished The Lord of the Rings saga with The Return of the King. Overall it was a better night than last. I even put together a shoe rack to bring some order to my entryway.

It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.

You Don’t Know Jackfruit

I got up and finished some leftovers this morning while the girls were mostly off doing their own things. Summer squirmed with back pain all day, while Autumn was laid out playing the helpless card all day. She assured us she was well enough to go out to McDonald’s with her father, though.

I left to shower, then picked up Noah to go to my parents’ house. They had gotten another jackfruit from Uncle Giao for Christmas, and wanted my help picking it apart. It wasn’t too bad – just tedious, but didn’t taste quite ripe yet in spite of its smell. We only pulled half of it apart before wrapping up the other half for later. The hope was that it would ripen a bit before our next go at it. I had some leftover ham on rolls, and then we headed back to my house to meet up with the girls. Autumn had tipped over backwards coming down the stairs at their house, so they didn’t want to fuss over coming to my parents’ place first.

Noah wanted to get some snacks for everyone while we watched The Two Towers, so I took him by the Neighborhood Market. He said he couldn’t find French onion dip there, so I also took him by Kroger for some of that before finally making it home. The girls were already finishing up a movie there, and then we put on The Lord of the Rings. The extended edition clocked in at just under four hours, but it took us significantly longer to watch with breaks and such. Summer and Autumn were long ready for bed. The other two stayed up and watched TV as I went to bed myself.

That stuff really sticks with you…

Fellowship of the Inconsiderate

Summer left us for work this morning. I eventually got up and snuck over to the girls who were laying in the floor watching YouTube videos until Noah woke up. Once they started making a little noise, he got up and we finished The Fellowship of the Ring. The extended version was so incredibly long, and the fan club credits ran about 15 minutes long themselves. I even made some popcorn for us all.

After the movie, we gathered everyone up and headed back to their house so they could clean up. The girls were reluctant to do anything, so Noah took charge and prodded them along to getting anything done at all. Summer eventually got home after shutting down early for Christmas, and really got things moving. I noticed that one of the girls had stuck an earring into the cork handle on my electric kettle, which set me off. Summer got mad at me for flipping my shit, but I can’t stand that kind of destructive disrespect. I’m about one more incident from taking my toys back home.

They all finally used up the gingerbread house I’d had on top of my refrigerator for the past 16 or so years, and then decorated cookies. I needed a shower and some time away from their shrieking, so I had a drink and a time-out while they finished. Summer’s parents eventually came over with a crate full of gifts for everyone, and then left with Noah and Autumn for the evening. I guess we’ll figure out tomorrow when it gets here.

Summer went to bed with a headache, so Eaddie and I played some Mario Kart before settling in for about an episode and a half of Luke Cage. She started to fall asleep, so we called it a night.

Disappointed Narwhal disapproves.

Getting Baked for Family

I got to sleep in a little today while Summer went off to work. The kids were all up playing Mario Kart when I finally got around. Noah and I finished up some salad stuff, and then Eaddie and I shared what was left of Veronica’s tamales. Summer had me bake the cookies so they’d be cool for decorating in the evening. Eaddie wanted to help at first, but didn’t really commit. Once they were done, I headed home to start cleaning up the house for everyone to stay the night.

Everything cleaned up relatively easily, but I’ve still got a ton of clutter that needs to be managed. I definitely had to skimp in the evening as Summer finished up work and I had to pick up some groceries for Christmas dinner. Walmart had been extremely busy the past few times I’d been, but had surprisingly calmed down a bunch for the evening. Erica yelled out at me as I was running out the door and said she still wasn’t having any of the crowd.

The kids ambushed Summer when she got home, so she called in an order for some pizza. I was pretty early to get them, but it was fun watching the make line and I chatted a bit with who I presume was the shift leader about my nostalgia from my first job working in pizza. With pizzas in hand, I made my way up to Summer’s where the kids were mostly practicing being in the way. We ultimately decided to put off decorating cookies until tomorrow so we could get started watching The Fellowship of the Ring with Noah. The kids decorated the tree and then we were off.

Summer went straight to bed. Autumn watched, I’m estimating the first 30 seconds of the film before she passed out. Eaddie made it a bit farther. Noah was aggravated after spending two day swatching Harry Potter when Autumn wouldn’t provide him the same courtesy. We eventually called it quits just as we made it to Rivendell.

Bah Humbug, now that’s too strong!

I’ll Never Forget About Larry

Summer had to work this morning, which allowed for me to sleep in a while. With Thanksgiving break nearly over, I let myself get a pretty slow start to the day. I had to get the girls from their friend’s house, but first I stopped by the Ridgewood Brothers to try and snag some brisket. Grant handed me a cube of it out the window as I approached, and it just melted in my mouth. I picked up a couple pounds along with some sides, picked up the girls, and took them home.

Summer got home just a bit after us, we ate, and then left the girls to clean house while we went shopping. My first stop was Bath & Body Works, where I dragged her around the store sniffing soaps. I had a coupon, a need for fancy foaming soaps, and a complete lack of shame for being the one that wanted to go shopping there.

Next we stopped at my house for just a moment before heading to Walmart for groceries and other shopping list things I needed. I ended up grabbing one of those Black Friday pressure washers that Julie was going on about, since they had a pallet of them left over. I wish we could have spent a little more time looking, but we had to get back before Harry got to the house.

When we got there, the girls were inside giggling about how he was driving up and down the road trying to find their house, rather than trying to help direct him to the place. Summer started cooking most of the meal, and I changed the oil for some sweet potato fries. The kids played the Switch a bit before wandering back through the house. Dinner was simple and good, though I was still pretty full from the late BBQ lunch.

We played a couple quick rounds of Stuff Happens and Uno before the girls settled in to watch The Conjuring. Eaddie was probably the most excited to watch a scary movie, but I knew the game. Harry ended up having to leave before the movie was over, so Autumn went to her room for the night while I helped Eaddie finish the movie. Once that was over, she beat me in some Mario Kart before awkwardly snuggling to some Luke Cage. She started to fall asleep in the middle of the second episode, so that was the end of the day.

Just trying to make up for lost time…

Look at the Skies, They Have Stars in Their Eyes

I didn’t sleep in very long today, but I was still slow to get around. It could be the cold making me sluggish too, but I still felt a little lame most of the day. I played Lumino City on my phone for a while and really enjoyed the cute handcrafted feel of it all. Then I played some more Oxygen Not Included until it was time to go up to Summer’s. We had some leftover salad she brought home from Venezia’s, and then watched the new “live action” Lady and the Tramp. It was definitely a more flawed animation than The Lion King, but it was still pretty spooky. You can’t trust anything to be real any more.

Remember that night time we were having?
Cell phone cameras are creepy…

I Am Shrimp Mother

I was so happy to get to sleep in a bit today. When we did wake up, we sat in bed and watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica. After that, I went home to get ready for the evening. I was supposed to meet Ronda, Mollie, Erica, and Leslie at Fat Daddy’s, but Erica wanted to push it back an hour and then Ronda cancelled on us entirely, so we just gave up for this weekend.

I spent the rest of the afternoon into the evening taking care of my aquariums and giving everyone a full chemistry check. I learned a bit more about the red cherry shrimp and how to sex them, and now I’m thinking I inadvertently split up the males and females. Apparently the males can be less colorful, and those are the ones I put in the Imagitarium, while the ones in the old shrimp tank all appear to be female.

Summer decided to make a wonderful dinner for us all since I wasn’t going to be out for the evening, so once I got everything packed up, I headed up to her house for the evening. She grilled some chicken, squash, and zucchini, and roasted some itty bitty potatoes. Noah brought his new dog over, and the girls had the old mattress in the floor to lay around. Noah wanted to watch a scary movie after dinner, and I had been wanting to watch I Am Mother since it came out, so we settled for the suspense right before bed.

Do you ever feel like murdering robots?

Simulating Africa

I slept in pretty late today. When I woke up, Summer and Autumn were finishing up Harry Potter, and Eaddie was still asleep. I warmed up some leftover tacos for lunch, and then Eaddie and I watched some Daredevil while Summer took Autumn to her Law Enforcement Explorers program.

Eventually she took Eaddie to the gym and I went home to clean up before movie time with the family. I cleaned up the aquariums a bit, and added some more water to acclimate the new cherry red shrimp. After my shower, I went to pick the girls up, and we met my family at UEC for The Lion King to celebrate Julie’s birthday.

The seats felt better but narrower, and the place was packed with little children. Even more annoying were the young adults that seemed to be eating out of the loudest packaging possible, and the asshat that left their phone LED notification flash on during the movie. The kid in the ridiculous cowboy hat next to me smelled like he hadn’t had a shower in a while, and provided a running commentary. I spent most of the movie admiring the animation and daydreaming about how everything we see is a lie. There’s no going back now. It’s inevitable.

Autumn called during the movie to say that she needed a proper shoe shine brush and blanket for the week, so we went to the Neighborhood Market to try and find the brush. Failing that, we grabbed a blanket from their house and dropped it off at the dorm. Finally, I dropped the girls off at their house and headed home to test my aquariums’ chemistry before dropping the new shrimp in and going to bed.

So much DMV business to do, so little time…

Wrapping Phase Three

I had tickets for Spider-Man: Far From Home today, but Summer had to work in the morning. I left to clean up at home first, then came back to get the girls up. They were more or less ready to go, so we waited just a little while until Summer got home, then we left for Conway.

Summer wanted to try a place downtown called Poke Hula. Autumn disagreed with the choice, and after seeing a menu I don’t think anyone else really favored it either, so we ate at Señor Tequila next door instead. The food was good, but exactly like seemingly every other Mexican restaurant on the planet. I felt the portions were a little small too, but we still all left full and happy after splitting churros and ice cream.

We had some time to kill before the movie, so I took us to Game Point to browse around for a bit. Autumn picked up a few buttons, and then we were off to Cinemark. I brought my clip-on 3D glasses, and though they worked well enough, I definitely felt like I had more shadowing from the lenses not being dark enough. The movie was absolutely amazing. I thought they did an incredible job with Mysterio based on what I knew about him. After reading up more on the actual comic book character, I think the plot twist was less unexpected, but I still personally really enjoyed it. I’m glad they left the universe so wide open, so they really can go anywhere from here.

After the movie, we went to Sam’s for a while where the girls became restless and irritable. I wanted to stop by the café for a super cheap dinner on the way out, so Autumn got a slice of pizza, Summer and I got hot dogs, and Eaddie refused to eat anything. Then I stopped by Petco to pick up some shrimp on our way home. When we got back to town, I dropped Summer and Autumn off at home before taking the shrimp home to acclimate. Then Eaddie and I went to my parents’ house so she could eat before I took her back home for bed.

Bitch, please. You’ve been to space!

Revengers: Endgame

They’ve almost completely filled in the hole they dug to replace our parking lot. I was surprised both at how deep they dug, and how quickly they completed that much work. We had a super small crew today, so Jason took all four of us out to Center Valley to do some moving of equipment. He and Brice rolled together for most of it, while I wandered around with Allen and Amanda. They’re getting a bunch of new cubbies for the kids like most other elementaries have, so there were several rooms with technology that had to be relocated.

It was a pretty solid, yet relaxed day of work. We all went to Old South for lunch on Allen’s suggestion, and the place was absolutely packed. I saw Mr. Mathis walking in, and was a little surprised that he remembered and recognized me, and asked about my sister as well. The service was a bit slow on account of how many people they had crammed into the building, but was otherwise good. My pork chop was unremarkable, but the sweet potato was a good choice.

Daleism: They must not be rich, otherwise they’d have a covered Porchia.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with more of the same until quitting time. Evidently nobody did a walkthrough of the building and gave Allen a work order for it, so Jason and Brice spent the last bit of time there doing that. When I left work, I went home to my hot house and changed before going to Asurion to pick up Josh.

Somehow, Josh had avoided any spoilers from Endgame after all this time, so I was excited to take him to see it. We wanted to eat a little bit of something before the movie, so we went to Chipotle first and split a burrito. Then it was straight to the Cinemark in a perfect amount of time to grab our collectible posters and stow them in the car before finding our seats. We both made it through the entire movie without getting up, and even a little longer since we stayed for the extra scenes at the end. The movie of course was great, but I thought the extra clip was a bit lame. I wish we had gotten the one with Morgan Stark instead.

After the movie, we went to Old Chicago for a proper dinner, and then headed back home. I turned my portable A/C down super low to hopefully cool the house a bit overnight, and then headed up to Summer’s for the evening.

Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn’t always roll that way.