Talk About Feeling

It was pretty brisk getting home this morning, but I did it. Work was really quiet, and I just spent most of the morning trying to catch myself back up mentally. I took a moment to do my wellness questionnaire, and made an appointment for my wellness visit the same day as Summer’s dentist appointment.

I took a late lunch and brought Summer a Baconator since I knew she could really use a lunch break after returning to work. Then I went by the shop for a little while, but Ben wasn’t there to chat. I went back to the high school to wrap up, and the afternoon went by really quickly.

The girls had karate, so I ran home to change and to take a peek at the Grom to see what kind of damage we were looking at. The handlebars seem a smidge off, and the headlight leans left a bit now. The right handlebar stop seems not to work, but I couldn’t tell why. Hopefully the damage isn’t too bad, but maybe I’ll feel more confident working on a tiny, cheap bike that isn’t also my main ride.

After getting the girls to karate, I went by my parents’ house for some fish soup. They had already eaten, so I just ate on my own. Dad had some comments for me that required some thought, so after eating and heading back home, I decided to go back up to Summer’s for the evening.

The girls were all winding down, but Summer brought them in to chat, and we kind of just made sure everyone was happy. Maybe there are assumed guidelines to the whole step-thing that I don’t adhere to, or maybe it’s a lack of anyone else seeing the interactions of my family in their own home. Maybe they’ve underestimated how long we’ve all been around each other in such close quarters. At the end of the day, the Captain’s got to go with his gut.

No complaints from the crew tonight.

Two Tired to Ride

Autumn came into the bedroom this morning and almost immediately pitched a fit about wanting to go to their father’s today. We had plans to go out for a bike ride, and she wasn’t about to settle for not getting her way. Summer ended up letting them go for a couple hours anyway, then got up to make breakfast. Eaddie had cooked all but one of the eggs though, so I just made some tiny bacon sandwiches out of some sliced “everything” bread.

Once the girls left, I went home to get the bikes mounted to the car, then showered. I suggested that Summer should talk to Nick about Autumn’s behavior lately, so they ended up getting to my house over an hour later than I was expecting them. The girls were behaving pretty well by then though, so it was a pleasant enough drive up to Washburn Park.

The girls took off without us, so Summer and I caught up to them at the other end. My front tire still had a pretty bad leak, but I made the round. On the way back to the car, I split off from Autumn while Eaddie and Summer picked up the rear. I beat them all back after taking a bit of a break at the pump station.

This little bitty kid came up the hill after us, having beat his family to the car as well. Just before they got there, he climbed up onto the trunk of their car and said he was going to pretend to sleep. He played completely dead while his dad picked him up. Summer said he cracked a smirk when I ratted him out, but I missed it.

After the ride, we went to my parents’ house for dinner. Autumn had a tiny bowl of bún bò Huế to go along with the rest of us, which made me happy. We looked at a couple houses online after seeing the one on Inglewood put up a realtor sign. We couldn’t find its listing though.

When we got back to the house, Summer helped me unload the bikes, then went home with the girls. I put my car on the battery charger, then came in for a quiet evening by myself.

The Natural State

Turn It, Leave It, Stop, Format It.

It rained most of the day, which didn’t help me get out of bed. I seriously contemplated calling in for a half sick day, but I knew I had work orders I wanted to close out. It still ended up not being a very productive day, and I left more confused than when I got there.

Greg came by in the morning to deliver an iPad and chat for a bit. Then I met him, Josh, and Zach at Brangus for lunch. The afternoon seemed to drag on forever while I fought my new flash drives and their intermittent read-only status.

After work, I ran by Leonard’s to look for an o-ring for my paintball tank. They had the typical black ones in my size, but I couldn’t find any urethane ones that were recommended. I made a quick stop by the shop to deliver some stuff from the high school, then went on to my parents’ house for some leftovers.

The girls got home shortly after I did, and were shocked at the state of the living room. Eaddie was loud all night, looking for attention, while Autumn was in a noticeable funk. We spent some time talking about our feelings, and I hope it helped, but they all need to learn to let it out more often.

Trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it.

Say, “No” to “No!”

I decided to go in for a half day today since I had a few things I wanted to take care of before the three-day weekend. Everyone started at the shop, but then I was off to the high school. I stopped at Casey’s for a free slice, then got to work on testing printer deployment to users instead of computers. It took me way longer than I expected, and I think the point of failure was initially drivers. By the afternoon, I had it working on at least one computer.

I left a while after lunch time once I reached a stopping point. I cleaned up some leftovers at home before trying to earn some loot boxes in Overwatch. It was pretty frustrating to work so hard for them, only to get almost exclusively duplicate items. Eventually I started working on cleaning up a bit around the house before Summer was ready to get gas.

I met her at Shell to use my 30¢ discount, then came home again to continue cleaning until she brought the girls over for the evening. We had planned to go to Harbor Freight, but I think picking up dinner took a bit longer than expected. On top of that, the girls had gotten a bit too comfortable in their disobedience and needed some firm direction. You know you’re off track when they start suggesting their own punishments. It will only get more strict from here.

We ate our Popeye’s and put off Harbor Freight for the following morning. I got a little distracted while the girls watched some TV, and then we called it a night.

Go ahead and add the number to Child Protective Services to your contact list, because you’re gonna need them if you act like that again.