Tag: Traditions

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Wrap It Up

I slept in pretty late today and woke up with a little bit of anxiety about it. I kept feeling like I had missed something important, but we didn’t have anything going on until the evening. Summer was at work, and the girls were up watching TV. I motivated myself just enough to win a game of Into the Breach before heading home.

I had to get presents wrapped and take a shower before coming back for dinner and gifting with the kids. I’d done better work in the past, but I got pretty good by the last gift. When I got back up to the house, Noah was already there but nobody was hungry. I ate a little, and then we opened presents. It was still a very different process than when I was growing up, but I can’t say I have a preference for either way.

Noah left shortly after gifting and eventually getting some food. Then Summer went to bed and I finished the last season of Jessica Jones with Eaddie. I’m not sure what’s next, but I’m kind of glad that chapter is over after all this time.

Now I can practice before going back to the grind.

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Oh, Danny Blanket

We got up this morning and finished up some old leftover breakfast pizza, then Summer left for the gym and to start baking a mountain of cookies for the family to decorate later in the evening. I laid back for most of the morning, then took a shower before heading out.

I stopped by Harbor Freight first, just to pick up a couple quick things with a 30% off coupon. The kids were all huddled around the living room TV watching YouTube compilation garbage when I got there, and Summer was trying to finish up the icing for the cookies.

Noah was in a hurry to get out of there, and then the girls wanted to open one present each. Autumn was happy with a wax warmer she picked out, and Eaddie got a blanket that I’m pretty sure sends you straight to Hell. We sat for a little while in the living room just listening to the “winter” playlist I found, and watching the photo slideshow on the TV, featuring up-to-the-minute photos even from decorating cookies tonight.

Eventually Summer went to bed and settled in. I watched a couple episodes of Jessica Jones with Eaddie, mostly just trying to wrap up the final season after all this time.

Why is that kid so weird?

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Lotería!

Summer got up this morning and made some delicious eggs scrambled with a variety of peppers and onions for breakfast. Then she picked up Autumn from her Explorers camp trip before we went to Walmart to pick up what we needed for her work Friendsgiving dinner.

When we got back, she started on her broccoli salad, and then I got the ham started in the oven and took a shower while they went to get Eaddie from her friend’s house. Everything finished up right on time, and one of Summer’s employees dropped off her foster kid to hang out with the girls while we all attended the party.

We had a really good time. Everyone put together a really great dinner party with lots of good food. Summer got to announce her two promotions at the shop, and made a heartwarming speech that had everyone’s hushed attention. Then we gambled quarters in a game of Lotería, which was a lot like Bingo with tarot cards.

We were the first to go, partly so the rest of the crew could enjoy themselves and partly so we could get back to the kids. Everyone settled in for the evening and I headed home just to make my morning a bit easier after getting all gussied up today. My blood pressure seems to be high in the evenings after being low throughout most of the day. The clinic cancelled my last appointment and declined my medication refill though, so that’ll have to be a discussion once I get a little closer to the bottom of the bottle.

Just keep cleaning. Just keep cleaning. Just keep cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. What do we do? We clean, clean!

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Don’t Carve

Summer got a portion of her loans forgiven today, which was a great start to the day. I made it to work just in time to squeeze in for our morning training, and then Kyle and I were sent to the junior high to do work orders. Virtual Fridays at the high school actually give me a pretty good break anyway, so it at least seems possible to keep work orders under control.

I left Kyle to service laptops while I visited a couple rooms and closed out individual work orders. I spent the majority of my time in the library just so I had some office space to use. Then when lunch time rolled around, we headed back to the shop to meet up with most everyone. The high school had burgers grilled by First State Bank, so we headed that direction.

When we got to the high school, we rode all around trying to find a grill outside, but after fist-bumping the superintendent from my Shadow, we found the food inside. He actually came and sat near us, which could have gone either way, but it wasn’t long before Mary Beth came to occupy his attention.

I spent most of the afternoon there at the high school, but ended up back at the shop just in time to see Ben’s email that we could leave early to go vote. I ended up sticking around until after four just chatting with him about life, politics, and everything anyway. When we did finally leave, I just missed him in finding out my battery had gotten too weak to start the bike. Luckily I had access to the tools, could strip the bike, and then get a jump from Jared, who happened to be right there chatting with someone else.

On the way home, I stopped by the shop to see Summer, and then we went to my house to get the car before getting gas and picking up the kids to go to my parents’ house. We already had the pumpkins there, so as soon as Julie showed up, the kids got to carving. Mom was the only one that refused to participate, and I was honestly really surprised at how well every single one of us did. Even after Autumn’s broke and was left looking like an upside down helmet, I could make it resemble a tiny house at the right angle.

I tried, for the first time, doing some shading by not carving all the way through the pumpkin. I hand-sketched a shadow monster from the game Don’t Starve, then used an Xacto carving knife to slowly dig deeper and deeper into the pumpkin until there was just a thin layer of flesh inside.

We took a bunch of pictures and then picked at some leftovers before heading home for the evening. Hopefully the slugs won’t devour our pumpkins overnight, so we can have some to eat later.

Have fun, damnit!

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Rabbit Seeds

BUTT STUFF

Summer and Autumn made biscuits and gravy with eggs for brunch this morning. Then we all colored some eggs for Easter. It didn’t take long because we only had around 20 eggs between the four of us. I guess we could have made more. I think Dad used to make a few dozen for us when we were growing up, so we always had gallon ice cream buckets of eggs for weeks after Easter.

I joked that the girls would have to play Russian roulette to find a single raw egg I had hidden in the batch. Just seconds later, Autumn accidentally cracked one that completely fell apart with a raw yolk, and we discovered that the eggs hadn’t cooked all the way through for some reason. We had a couple different sizes of eggs all mixed together, but didn’t figure that made all the difference. A week or two ago we had frozen eggs because the refrigerator was too cold, so maybe that was the problem. In any case, I ended up boiling them again to make sure they were all done, and the colors all faded to a uniform pink.

We thought briefly about going to my house for the night, but in the end we left the kids home and Summer went with me for a workout while I took care of the cat and cleaned up at home. She was surprised by how much of a workout she got from doing the P90X yoga video.

When we got back to their house, I made a big “everything” French loaf sandwich that everyone devoured, and then played some Animal Crossing until bed.

The wind is always better on the hilltop.

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Prime Age

It was cool enough this morning that I didn’t want to ride in to work again, but it didn’t take long for the sun to come out and make me regret it. I spent pretty much all day messing with 1:1 laptops, so I found myself tired, bored, and generally wanting to hang myself.

Allen was still craving KFC, but I convinced him and a bunch of others to ride with me to Brown’s Catfish for my birthday meal. I don’t know why everyone’s too bashful to actually accumulate rewards points, but I only got four bucks worth myself after my discount.

After lunch was more of the same, and I just wanted to leave more than anything else. Eventually I did, and instead of taking advantage of the day, I just went home and played some Overwatch until Summer got home. Then I stopped by Arby’s to use another birthday coupon to get her some food on the way up. I ran into Scott and Jodi there, and I hadn’t seen them in forever. I felt a little awkward just because my brain was tired. I had already started to wind down from interacting with people for the day, so I had a hard time forming small talk.

When I got to Summer’s, everyone had already wound down for the day. Summer had a rough one, so she was pretty much done for the evening. We watched what was left of her baking show, and then everyone went to bed.

Hopefully only halfway through the primes.

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Little John Mountain

We got up a little early this morning so we could have a day up on Petit Jean. Summer took Autumn to get things to make sandwiches while I went home to clean up. Then the girls and my dad met at my house so we could drive up the mountain. We went up the back way and stopped at the bear cave trail first, where we had lunch in the back of the car. It was cool, but great weather to be out in the wilderness. We climbed up on some of the rocks where we found some chiseled out steps, and I collected a few mosses, and Dad took a bunch of pictures of nature. Autumn didn’t originally want to go at all, but once we were there she insisted that her knee was fine to continue trailblazing and climbing up rock faces.

The next stop was Mather Lodge to clean up a bit, and then we continued to the Cedar Falls overlook. As the day progressed, it seemed to get windier and cooler, but the rain never showed up. Summer wanted to go to a new coffee shop on the mountain, so we had some drinks while the girls played Scrabble. Then it was off to the Petit Jean gravesite. That’s where it was the coldest with the most wind. I don’t think Eaddie really put anything together in her head for the homework she had on the subject, but it was still a nice day to get out of doors. It was personally very aggravating to feel how I’ve aged since I last spent any significant amount of time hiking, and I think Dad felt the same way. I guess the best thing any of us can do is keep at it to maintain dexterity.

We took the interstate back home, which felt quite a bit longer, and definitely more boring. Dad and Summer each went home while the girls stayed with me to watch TV while I started some laundry. Once that was done, Summer came back and we met my parents at Bocadillo for a birthday dinner and ice cream. Mom didn’t seem too happy that it wasn’t the same type of Mexican place they usually visit, but I thought it was good. Afterward we got some dessert and I split a strawberry and cream funnel cake with Summer and Eaddie that was just divine.

With this year’s birthday plans out of the way, I took the girls back to their car and went to Amanda’s to check on her cats one last time. Then it was back home to finish up some laundry before bed.

I’ve really taken a lichen to you.

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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.

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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!

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Christmas with the Distants

We got up this morning to make the trip down to Bismark for Dad’s family Christmas bash. I ran home to take care of the cat and clean up, then headed back to Summer’s to make the broccoli casserole. I was running a bit behind, which was exacerbated by a rice cooker that wouldn’t stay on. In a weird chain of choices, I ended up using another rice cooker’s power cord to weigh down the switch so the rice would finish cooking.

Once that was done, the girls loaded up and we headed to pick up Dad and make our way down to the church. We took the highway through Little Rock on the way down since I hadn’t realized it was just down past Hot Springs and that we would need something for Eaddie’s car sickness. It ended up taking about the same amount of time, but traffic was super bad and the drive was terribly boring, plus it added about another 40 miles to the trip.

It was a super small showing this year, though since it was potluck style, we still ended up with plenty to eat. I’m still not exactly sure why I went back for seconds, but I definitely should have cut back instead. Dad did a little magic, and then almost everyone else there played Dirty Santa until it was time to clean up and head home.

I wanted to take Highway 7 back home, so I let Google Maps guide me around the outskirts of Hot Springs where we stopped at one of about 300 Dollar Generals to get some Dramamine for all three of the girls. We made good time coming back, and the drive was miles shorter and better. The girls took turns falling asleep until we dropped Dad off, and as soon as we got home, everyone shuffled off to bed.

Ah, Kohl’s Cash, you tricky bastard!