Tag: Traditions

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Iced to See You

I got up shortly after Summer this morning. I thought she was going to make waffles, but we used all of the milk for hot chocolate yesterday. Eaddie got up and went to her father’s for a little while, so Summer and I just got to decompress a bit. I assembled her birdbath, and it felt quite a bit cheaper than I expected. The main basin was crooked, so I’ll have to try and get a replacement part.

We kind of grazed most of the day, so we never really got a good meal. It was dreary and wet all day, but I really wanted to get the dogs out for a run, so I did. The ground was wet, but I managed to stay mostly dry this time. We went by the basin and Stilgar wanted to get all of the geese floating in the flooded pond. We went around the block to get past the water, stopped to see Dad, and eventually made it home again.

Eaddie headed home a little early so we could decorate cookies, and Dad ended up being able to come over, along with Eli, who stayed after while we watched a movie. I wanted to watch the new animated The Grinch, but Eaddie protested so I started Bad Santa. I don’t think anyone really cared for how it started, and Eaddie wanted to watch Dear Santa after we saw a trailer flash by. It was pretty low-budget, but not completely awful.

Summer sat and cross-stitched the whole time, and then everyone went to bed once the movie was over. I had been pretty tired, but somehow dragged the night out an extra couple of hours. I don’t know where the time goes.

Who’s ever heard of a Who, anyway?

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Those Christmas Lights

Summer got me up around nine this morning so I could get the turkey going. To my surprise, we were approved for the zero percent loan for my new car with a low down payment, so I took care of that and made the final payment before I got started. Then I kept Summer nearby because I wasn’t sure what I was going to need at any given moment. I used my new grinder to grind the spices down for the injection. It worked better, but still ended up clogging. I think it had more to do with the fact that the butter was solidifying in the syringe since the turkey was still cold inside. We eventually got it on the smoker though, and then it was a race to get everything else going. I oiled and salted the potatoes and threw them on the grill as well.

Summer did a bunch of other cleaning and worked on her deviled eggs. I took a shower and then pulled the potatoes off the grill so I could gut them, mash that up, and re-smoke them. We were getting down to the wire, but had a reasonably good morning until I got a text that Mom wasn’t coming. I had my hands full of potatoes, so I had Summer call Dad on speakerphone. I instantly blew my top at her because she wanted to blame my blood pressure, but changing plans at the last minute was what really got me hot.

I got the potatoes back on the smoker and cranked up the heat a bit, which turned out to be a big mistake. I guess there was still some grease at the bottom that caught fire, and my temperature shot up from my set 350ºF to over 500. We pulled the potatoes off and Summer finished them in the oven. I was going to drive over to talk to Mom, but just then Kevin showed up, followed by Julie with various things to unload from the car. Dad wasn’t far behind with even more stuff.

We got everything settled and then I took Dad’s car to go talk to Mom, since he and Julie were parked behind us. I talked to her briefly and apologized for blowing up, but reminded her that a big reason that I agreed to buy our house was so we would have room to entertain the family for the holidays, in a house with as little travel from theirs as possible. It didn’t take much more for her to come back with me, but she insisted that she didn’t want to stay long.

Noah was running behind in the most characteristically unpredictable way, so the seven of us ate. I thought all the food turned out pretty good. After that, we took a break to open presents. Eaddie had the biggest haul and wanted to know what she did to deserve to be so spoiled, but I think everyone felt pretty satisfied. After that, it was a bit of a struggle to decide what to do. I wanted to either watch Red One or start on some dessert, but Summer was busy cleaning up in the kitchen and became unresponsive to anything I asked. Julie ended up putting on Elf and they watched that while a few of us got some dessert.

Dad took Mom home, and Eaddie had Eli come over for some presents. Then they put on the Michael Jordan documentary series or whatever on the TV again. Noah finally showed up at some point and ate food and opened presents. I wasn’t terribly upset that he didn’t end up staying the night. Once everyone else left, the girls and I watched Red One together before bed. We all really enjoyed it for being so creative and unexpected.

I wrapped up the night by making some more turkey soup from the new bones we had. I was up pretty late waiting for it to cool down enough to refrigerate, but I was happy to be done with it right away instead of letting the bones sit for weeks.

Light up the street.

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Sleeping Hours

I slept super late today. Eaddie was awake and texted our group chat from across the house, which woke me up. I got out of bed and baked a frozen breakfast pizza for us. She wanted to go out to find some more yarn for her crochet, so I took a shower and then took the dogs out for a run to Walgreens.

It had started to sprinkle a little bit as I stepped outside, but I figured it was light enough that we should go ahead and run. I just left the dogs outside the store with my Onewheel while I went inside. That ended up being a little bit of an event, because they couldn’t give me my prescription up front. I had to go back to the back, but they weren’t sure what would happen since they cancelled and re-shelved my medicine. After a quick call to someone else, they decided I would probably just get a refund for that portion of the order, so I went back to the front to get my other stuff and then left.

We continued running through the neighborhoods for nearly four and a half miles before we got home. Luckily it didn’t really rain too much. The ground got a little bit wet, but it wasn’t so bad that my pants got soaked. The girls were home when we got back, so I tried to clean up a bit so Summer could bake cookies.

Eaddie and I ran to the Neighborhood Market for some stuff we needed for Christmas dinner, and also for dinner tonight. I got some noodles and stuff to finish making the turkey soup. Eaddie wanted to try a Ramune soda with the glass marble seal, but then proceeded to throw away the plastic ring that lets you open the drink. We got to my parents’ house to pick up some potatoes, and luckily I was able to pop it open with a chopstick.

Once we got home for the night, I made the turkey soup while Summer finished up cookies. Eaddie and I were the only ones that ate, but we thought the soup was good. Summer wrapped up some more stuff, and then everyone wound down pretty quickly to go to bed.

Not quite yet.

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Cleaning Dash

I woke up pretty early this morning and fed the dogs before I got to work cleaning up the house. With my parents’ house in disarray from the water damage, we’ll have the most room to have Christmas here, but there hasn’t been a flat surface anywhere in the entire house for weeks. I had a ton of projects to finish, and precisely one day to complete most of it.

I did a fair job, but I just kept unearthing more and more stuff. Between periods of cleaning, I kept an eye on my blood pressure. Then I’d take breaks to pump out some Vine reviews as I got those particular things cleaned up and out of the way.

Dad texted that Mom was making bún thang, but I didn’t realize that she was only just starting. I took a shower and kept on cleaning. Summer came home from the gym and took a shower, but then complained about feeling lightheaded, so I took her blood pressure again before I left.

The dogs chewed up more of the water hose at some point last night, and I assumed it was because they hadn’t been out on a run, so I knew I needed to get them out. I took the Onewheel to my parents’ house, hoping the wet ground wouldn’t affect me too bad, but it did. My entire leg and shoe were soaked by the time I got there.

I left them in the pen and went in to eat, then took them back home so I could continue cleaning up. It was also our only weekend to really be home as a family, so we had to decorate the Christmas trees. The girls did most of that because I started to feel a little off for some reason. I never did get to the old house like I planned, but Eaddie and I will be the only ones on an extended Christmas break, so I guess that’s my time.

As I got ready for bed, I got a tiny bill from my first ER visit at Baptist Health for $11. It looked like there was also a “pending” insurance payment of nearly $4k, but I also know I’m on a high deductible plan. Hopefully that’s not “pending” a denial before it’s passed along to me, but I have a feeling that it is. I guess we’ll wait and see, but I’ll be really surprised if I’m only responsible for $11 for that visit, when St. Mary’s took $300 for doing basically nothing.

I guess that was my calculated risk to take, so hopefully I still came out ahead over time.

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Over Pressure

I woke up to some pretty good numbers, and the lump in my chest was gone. I just had to keep that up for a drive to Fort Smith, and things would be peachy. I took it a little bit too easy all morning, because I was late getting showered and over to my parents’ house to pick them up.

Eaddie had rehearsal with her quintet, so Summer, my parents, and I headed to Fort Smith for the magic club Christmas potluck. It was pretty rainy most of the way, but we made it with plenty of time. I could feel my body tensing up the entire drive, so I knew my numbers would be high when we got there. I was at about 142/89 when we stopped, so I ended up taking a clonidine as soon as we got inside to try and bring myself back down. That may have actually worked against me, because by the time we left I was above 160/100. My heart started racing a couple hours before that, and I couldn’t get it to slow down all night.

I had Summer drive us home while I tried to get myself calmed down. I felt reasonably relaxed in the back seat, but my heart just kept beating hard. We stopped in Ozark to charge, and I jumped around a little bit outside, thinking that maybe I could burn off some adrenaline. I felt okay for the most part. My heart was just trying to beat out of my chest.

We dropped my parents off and made it home, where I kept relatively active the rest of the night. I had several Vine packages to unbox and photograph, which means I need to get some more reviews done. I tinkered with some stuff in the car for a bit, and ended up taking apart the USB console because it had some soda spilled in it. Summer did her nails, and we waited for Eaddie to get home from watching Wicked for something like the third time. I eventually took another clonidine and did some breathing exercises in bed to try and calm myself down. My heart rate came down a bit, but my blood pressure never really did. I just had to wrap things up and get to bed.

I feel like Jason Statham in “Crank.”

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The Lump

I slept really late today, and my blood pressure wasn’t ever particularly good. Summer was gone for a run in Vilonia, and Eaddie was at a robotics tournament all day. I felt like I had a lump at the bottom of my throat or the top of my chest, almost like someone was sitting on me all day. Dad got me on a three-way call with his old friend Ben for some medical advice, and it was mostly the same stuff I’ve heard. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an immediate answer, much less a fix, for what ails me.

Summer came home, bathed, and started cleaning up for Christmas. We got the trees out, but she set them all up herself. She put one in Eaddie’s room like we talked about last year, and then put the two matching ones in the living room. I really wanted to help, and I didn’t exactly feel “bad,” but I didn’t feel good.

I eventually got showered and took the dogs for a run to my parents’ house. Mom warmed up some phở for me because she thought I might be sick of spaghetti or mango soup for some reason. It was good, and I wasn’t terribly bothered by my throat. That had been more of a general discomfort all day.

After I ate, I took the dogs on a night run through the basin and back home. My neck flashlight went out just as I was trying to clean up some poop, but luckily it was mostly solid. We got back home and I fed the dogs, who immediately went back to the squirrel they had killed earlier in the day. I asked Summer to dispose of it, but she forgot while she was wrapping presents, and I didn’t feel like chasing them down in the yard in the dark.

Eaddie came home and was excited about the tree in her room. Summer wound down with another bath and went to bed. My blood pressure went up again for seemingly no reason, so I took a clonidine and laid down with Summer for a while. I got the chills and couldn’t stop shivering under the heated blanket, but I eventually dozed off for a little bit. Once my heart rate went back down, I finished up my nightly routine and went to bed.

Jitters

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Hypertensed

I got up this morning and tested my blood pressure at 119/69, which had me hopeful. Summer was going to stay home with me, but ended up going to work for a while. I took the time to shower and relax a bit before I took the dogs out on a run to Walgreens to get my prescriptions filled. They found a persimmon tree along the way, so I fed them a couple that were hanging low enough for me to reach. Maybe we’ll get a tree out of it next year.

I went ahead and took them back around our normal circuit, though they weren’t behaving super well. In addition, Stilgar had eaten my old cat water jug, which angered me. We made it back home after some tugging along, and I continued my research to pick a new primary care physician. I also waited forever for Summer to finish doing work from home so we could pick up my prescriptions.

I started feeling a little hot behind the ears in the afternoon, and noticed that my pressure was climbing again. Sensing my urgency, Summer got up and we went to get my medicine. I continued to feel slightly worse, so we decided to swing by the Conway Regional clinic to see what they were like. There I encountered two familiar faces: Monalisa, who I don’t think I’d seen since my time at Asurion, and Lelan’s friend Cindy. Mona got me set up with new patient paperwork, which frustrated me further. It’s 2024. Get an iPad.

I think if I had known they were open in the evenings at no additional cost, I would have made my decision a lot earlier to go there instead of the local Baptist Health clinic. My only real gripe was about the lady that took me back and did my notes before the nurse practitioner saw me. She kept yapping loudly in my ear as I was trying to calm myself for her to take my blood pressure. It actually increased noticeably in the time I was in the room with her. The practitioner, Crystal, was wonderful. She came in early and gave me half the dosage of clonidine that I received in the ER the night before, and my pressure started coming down. We talked to her for a bit, she wrote me a prescription for some clonidine to take home, and we scheduled a full workup for January so I can get an early start on my high deductible.

We ran back to Walgreens for the additional meds, then ran home to change for the Christmas parade. My heated vest made me feel pretty fluffy, but it worked – at least around the collar. The body elements could have been warmer, but I couldn’t figure out a way to adjust just the neck. We made it across town and found a space in front of a tree where nobody had sat down. I hated to show up late and then get the best seat in the house, but the guy next to us encouraged us. We waited for Eaddie to pass, then crossed the street again to leave. I didn’t much care for interrupting the parade, but there was noone there to stop us, and Summer insisted.

From there, we went by Kroger for some bananas before I took us to Ridgewood for some food. I spotted Grant and chased him around back where he was trimming some brisket. I talked with him for a little bit, and I think we had a good moment to break through some concerns I had. He walked me through the restaurant and I got some food, and then we headed home.

Summer went straight for a bath while I mostly tried to relax. I kept watching my blood pressure since I couldn’t start a new cycle of meds until the next day. I was concerned that only getting half the dosage of amlodipine wouldn’t be enough, but maybe the addition of metoprolol will make up the difference. Time will tell, but for now, I guess I’m carrying three bottles with me.

Just, like, chill out, man.

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Newly Guests

Summer went to Conway for a run this morning, so I got up to take a shower before she got back home. When she did get home, she said she decided to subscribe to the monthly Full Self Driving for me for Christmas. I felt like that was a fair compromise for her wanting to get me something, and me not wanting to receive anything. Even if I don’t commute in the long term, we can always cancel the subscription.

Eaddie got home a little after that, and we all got ready to go to Chris’s house for Thanksgiving. I loaded up the drinks and Summer brought her broccoli salad and some deviled eggs, and we headed up the hill. We arrived at a full house just behind my parents, and I think Julie and Kevin were the last to arrive. The only other people I knew there besides Lelan and Steven were Seth and Danielle.

The inebriated Chris gave a little speech and then we all got to eating. We found the proper dining room table and crowded around that with some other strangers. Julie got into a fight over Disney Adults with the one small, loud-mouthed child that showed up. It was a fine time.

After we ate, Lelan was making rounds and stopped by to talk. I ended up taking her and Kevin for a ride with FSD. Kevin babysat in the driver’s seat, and we rode to the Neighborhood Market and back. As we made our final turn, the car took a left in front of a blind hill and then stopped in the middle of the lane when an oncoming car appeared. Kevin gunned it and we all got out to kiss the ground.

We stayed for a little longer, and then the girls had to get home. I took the dogs for a run before it got dark, and we caught my parents just as they got home. Then I spent the evening sending texts and submitting Vine reviews. My bedtime shifted way too much, so this weekend will be a treat trying to get it turned back around.

Like Thanksgiving in a hotel lobby.

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Let’s Carve a Smile on that Face

It was a quiet, slow drive in today. I had a little note from Randy in my chair, thanking me for being a part of the team. I figure he was required to write it, but it was nice all the same, and the words felt genuine because they mirrored the comments he’s made to me ever since I started.

The guys came and went, but mostly went, leaving me alone for lunch. I went to Rally’s and had a pretty disappointing burger because they were out of bacon without any recourse for my prepaid online order. I ate it at my desk and waited for others to come around.

Randy texted and asked me to take care of a printer issue upstairs, so I rebuilt that from scratch. The HP printer has an incredibly annoying requirement to read a PIN from a hidden label inside the machine in order to get to the remote settings. It was clear that the initial deployment wasn’t done correctly, or at least not completely. She shouldn’t have any more issues now though.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly as we tackled various puzzles. I left a little bit late, and traffic was relatively light but unnecessarily slow. I got stuck under the speed limit for a few miles, and then got behind a gravel truck that was spewing pebbles through Conway.

Eaddie and Eli were practicing their instruments when I got home. I immediately took the dogs out for their run, ran through my parents’ yard, around the basin, and back home. They did pretty well and got their hot dogs afterward. Then I jumped right into making burritos for dinner.

I got pretty heated at Summer and the kids after I called to them several times. Evidently it’s my fault for not explaining to them that I won’t call them unless I want them to come to me. Nobody offered to help; nobody said they were on the way; nobody said thanks; nobody told me to pound sand.

I ate and excused myself to try and wrap up the rest of my evening. Dad eventually showed up to eat, and then we got to carving pumpkins. The mallet and “cookie cutters” I got from Amazon Vine were ridiculed at first, but ended up being a “hit” once they started using them. They were difficult to extract, but with some care, they worked really well. We got everyone cleaned up and shuffled off, and I made a speed run for bed.

Burrito Stuff

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Ngày Giỗ

I got up super early this morning so I could get the ribs smoking. I checked on the dogs first though, and couldn’t find them within a block of the house. Summer didn’t feel well, and had me run to the store for some medicine, along with the smoked sausages I needed for the gathering.

I eventually just had to give up on the dogs so I could get the fire started, but fortunately the coals lit up perfectly. I used some rubs that I’d had for a while, and then made my own Asian-inspired glaze since Mom wouldn’t give me the char siu seasoning last night. I was pretty liberal with the rub, but light on the glaze.

The neighbor from a couple houses down knocked on the door and said the dogs were on her front porch, but that Stilgar wouldn’t move for her. I was worried he had gotten sick like Chani, but when I rode over there, he hopped right up. He was a little bit slow, but it was also super hot outside.

We were the first ones to arrive at Lelan’s house, and she was ahead with her own cooking, so we just had to wait for everyone else to show up. Mom and Dad were last, and still had to go back for the rice that they forgot. It was a good time, and afterward we ran home briefly to drop Summer off, and then met everyone at the cemetery.

After playing with the trees there, Lelan and Stephen came over to see our house. They seemed to like it, and had some advice on who to contact for some of the issues we’ve had. Once everyone left, I cleaned up the smoker stuff, and then went to my parents’ house for a dip in the pool. I was exhausted, and the water was the perfect temperature to cool down after a long day.

I rode home with my towel oh my back like a cape, and played with the dogs for a bit while Suzanne was poking her head over the fence to look at them. Hopefully the bricks Summer placed by the fence will discourage them from digging so much, but I’m sure the battle isn’t won yet.

With summer school out of the way, doldrum season is here. But vacation soon.