Tag: Family

Christmas Eve Eve

It’s christmas Eve Eve. The last work day before a three day Santa Clausy weekend. The work days have been quiet this week and I am thankful. Remind me to mention it next Thanksgiving.

My father is home from the rehab hospital. Did I mention that yesterday? I can’t remember.

There’s supposed to be an ass kicker of a rain storm going on outside right now. When I got out of bed around 5:40 (an hour ago) I looked outside and it didn’t seem too bad. I might sneak over to CVS after they open and see if I can get a padded mailing envelop and a sharpie or two. I have something to ship to Minnesota and it is bugging me that I haven’t taken care of it yet. I also finished my test roll of film that combines my Nikon camera with Dad’s Pentax lens. I want to send that roll off for developing to make sure the combo works before I take it to Florida. I might take the lens that came with my camera from ebay too even though it’s in pretty rough shape. Maybe alternate days? Dad’s lens the first time we go to a specific park and mine the second? Who knows.

I just finished a (simulated) four mile run. If I had actually run four miles my legs would have fallen off and my head would have exploded. You know how it is.

Christmas Eve is a big day ’round these parts. We have a little family get together every non-Covid year. This year, in the spirit of hybrid work environments, we’re having a sort of hybrid christmas eve get together. That just means the guest list is smaller and there won’t be as much food consumed. The food thing doesn’t have anything to do with the guest list, it just means I don’t have a stomach anymore. I would also like to visit both of my parents, if I can. I would also like to take Dad’s camera to the ocean, maybe. I would also like to clean the kitchen and the bathrooms and the living room a little, but that won’t take a lot of time. We’ll see if I can get to any of that stuff.

Today, apart from the usual work day stuff, I want to bake cookies and make Tewksbury Tweets. We made the dough for the cookies yesterday, but it needs to sit in the ‘fridge before going in the oven. I wanted to make some Tweets, but there was a cat documentary on Netflix and you know how that is, right?

Okay, time to eat some breakfast and take a shower and do all of that boring morning stuff that doesn’t make for a good blog entry but I often write about anyway because I am a stinking rank amateur at this stuff.

Discharge Tomorrow?

My father has been in a rehab hospital for weeks now. Today we got some good news. He is very likely coming home tomorrow. We’re not 100% sure, but it’s looking that way. Oh, what a relief.

Changing the subject, dinner last night was meatballs and gnocchi. It was delicious. Today for lunch I had leftover meatballs. Again, delicious. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast and they gave me a little trouble. Not a lot, but enough to make me pause for a while in the middle of the meal. Lunch? No trouble at all. 3.9 ounces of meatballs without issue. Oh, what a relief.

I think I have one more person to get an xmas present for. Not sure when I am going to take care of that. Tonight after dinner maybe? Depends on what else is going on. I should try to play guitar tonight but I kinda don’t see it happening. I should do what ever needs to be done outside of the house today though, as we’re going to get spanked by a huge storm over the next couple of days. Yeah, I should go out tonight. Shit. I don’t want to. Oh well.

I really want to go out to shoot some pictures tomorrow. I don’t think the storm will hit until later in the day. I should have gone this morning though because it was sort of sunny and tomorrow will likely be cloudy. I wonder if the weather will be clear on Saturday. Should I go to the ocean for sunrise on Christmas Eve? That would be fun.

Okay. Lunch break is over. Clicking that little blue publish button now. Until next time, my reader(s) and only friend(s).

They’ve Left for the Week

Well, the kids have gone back to their dad’s for the week. They’ll come back for our family christmas eve thing and stay over for christmas morning. I am sad that they’re gone, and even more sad that I was in a meeting when they left and couldn’t run upstairs to say goodbye. Blah to my bad timing.

The kids leaving is also the official start of Jen and I being a one car household. The Mazda has been transferred to Bellana. It’s her car now. That leaves us with our Kia hybrid and… that’s it. Tomorrow will be the first day that the single car thing gets weird. I have to go into the office for at least half of the work day. That means Jen will be at home and the only car will be 40 miles away. There will also be a day next month when we both have to go into the office. We’ve carpooled before, but never with us working in the buildings we currently work in. I expect I will drop her off at her office on the way to mine, mostly because mine is further away.

I expect we’ll replace the car sometime after the weather improves. Maybe in the early spring. I’d like to get another hybrid. Really, I’d like to get an electric car, but that’s out of our budget. We might be able to handle a second hybrid, but it will be okay if we go with something else. I’m down for another Nissan Altima. I really loved that car. Or maybe a Buick Le Sabre. I had one of those and really loved it too. Then again, the closest I’ve ever come to having a truly bad ass set of wheels was a 1982 Thunderbird. I could go for another T-Bird. Heh, yeah right.

I miss the kids. We’re going to order some Japanese take out for dinner to try and cheer ourselves up. Sign me up for some Sashimi.

Oil Light Blues

Remember the posts over the last couple of days where I wrote about transferring one of our cars to Bellana and how I was getting all of the routine maintenance done first so that it would be in good shape for her?

Last night we took that car our for a drive around town to look at xmas lights. The oil pressure light came on.

What the ever loving fuck?

I’m going to bring it back to Valvoline this morning and ask them exactly that question. If they don’t see anything wrong I’m going to bring it to the dealer, though Lowell is a long drive with an oil light on.

Shit.

New Winter Jacket

I finally went out and bought a new winter jacket last night. I was getting tired of wearing a coat that was two sizes too big, and there is snow in the forecast. I am going to need some warmth, you know?

The jacket was absurdly expensive. I mean… wow, was that expensive. Also, when I got it home I found that there is still a security tag attached to the pocket. I guess I have to bring it back and have it removed. Ugh. Shopping in a store is almost unbearable. Shopping in a store in a huge mall 10 days before Christmas is so far beyond the pale that I can’t put it into words.

It is raining out today. It’s going to rain all day today and most of the day tomorrow and at some point it’s going to turn to snow as well. Yippee. No film shooting this morning. I need to go out and run a couple of errands before work. Today would be the perfect day to bring a camera with me, but nope. Rain. I mean I’ll still bring a camera with me, it will just be a digital camera, not a film camera. Blah.

On an infinitely more positive note, the kids are coming home this weekend. The storm is going to be worse in Vermont so we expect them to ride it out up there and come home when it’s clear. That means we don’t have an ETA yet, but their Christmas break starts after today’s classes. Come on home, you two!

Nine days until christmas.

15 days until New Years Eve.

16 days until New Years Day.

19 days until we leave for Florida.

With the holiday in the mix, it’s only 14 days until I go on vacation.

I am so ready. So very ready.

Oh, Ya Big Baby

I was going to go out shooting some film this morning, but after I finished my morning faux joggin’ I completely wussed out. Why? I just don’t wanna go out in the cold. You big baby.

I did something to my shoulder today and I have no idea what. It hurts. Why? I didn’t do anything to deserve it, other than being 51 years old when stuff just randomly starts breaking down.

We’re supposed to get a huge storm sometime tomorrow, I think. I don’t know if it’s rain or snow or both. It might mess up some plans for the weekend, but I can’t tell one way or another yet. I hate snow. I really, really hate snow.

The kids are coming home this weekend. Bellana’s car is dead so we will be selling her (“selling”) one of ours. I want to get it tuned up for her. There’s a software recall and I have an appointment to get that done on Saturday. I want to get an oil change too, and have the tires checked. They should be fine but let’s make sure. The other car needs an oil change too and the wiper blades are falling off. So this weekend’s theme is kids and cars, to start with at least.

Did I mention that I’ve lost 200 pounds since January? I was on cloud nine all day long yesterday. I still am. I even went to the facebook to gloat a little. People are asking for before/after pics. I might give the people what they want. I gloated on post.news too. I was the first person on that network to use the hash tag #GastricBypass, but a few fellow surgical survivors said hello. That made me happy.

We are 20 days away from leaving for Florida. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to travel for the first time in almost three years. I can’t wait to spend two whole weeks with the kids. I can’t wait to experience Disney World with the love of my life once again. Did I ever mention that my original plan for proposing to Jen involved the World Showcase at Epcot? In the end I did it at home because I just couldn’t wait anymore, but we did reenact the proposal I had in mind when we took a trip there with Larry and Nawal a few weeks later. Also, and this is very important, I can’t wait to be warm. I know it is not going to be scorching, but it is going to be a whole hell of a lot warmer there than it is here.

I feel like I should have 100 other things to write about this morning, but I’m drawing blanks left and right. My shoulder is really bugging me. I think I pulled a muscle or something. It’s annoying the crap out of me. I’ll get over it, someday. Mostly I’m just really happy that I don’t have to drive into the office today. I am working from home for the rest of this week and the first three days next week. I have to go in next Thursday but hopefully that will only be for half of the day. Starting next month though (after I get back from Florida) we will be going into the office on Wednesdays. Every Wednesday for the foreseeable future. That’s seriously depressing, but I’ll rise above it, somehow.

Okay. I am going to finish my breakfast and then spend half an hour or so gazing longingly at my weight tracking spreadsheet. Specifically the Total Since the First Check In cell where the number is over 200. Ah, what a thing that is.

Mom

I am freaking out a little right now. The freaking out is 100% irrational but it’s there nonetheless.

My father just called me. The nursing home my mother is in called him to let him know that my mother has Covid-19.

She’s as vaccinated and boosted as a human can get and I am absolutely positive that she will beat it and recover… but I am still panicking right now. Shit shit shit, my mother has Covid.

Various Updates

We just got off the call with Dad’s rehab facility. Good news all around. There are a couple of things they will follow up on and get back to us. He’s not ready to go home yet, but he is at a point where they can bring his assisted living facility staff into the discussion to see if they can handle his needs.

My stomach still feels like sh-sh-sh-shite. I haven’t eaten anything today and it’s not the kind of thing where I am wondering if I am sick or just hungry. Nope, I’m just sick. Harry had a stomach bug on Sunday. I’m wondering if that’s what I have now. Not so much a couple of meals gone wrong, but just a bug.

I left work at 2:00pm. I wanted to try to stick it out for the day but my boss let me off the hook. I probably should have left earlier. I was no good to anyone. I’m already questioning whether I will be able to pull off work tomorrow. It’s starting to look like a good thing we cancelled the New York plans. I need to be over this before Sunday when we go to Bellana’s concert in Vermont.

I would say I am starting to get into the first season of Pennyworth. I am still not sure though. The whole Aleister Crowley storyline… Crowley died in 1947 so if this takes place in some weird version of 60’s London, then he would have been in his 90’s. There’s a new episode of Titans today that I haven’t watched yet. That’s the better show, I think, but I’m having trouble getting into the new season. Oh, DC on HBO… how you vex me.

In closing, Penguins:

DSC_0010

I Am So Tired of This

Just found out that two staff members at the rehab facility my father is currently stuck in have tested positive for Covid-19.

I am so sick of this shit. Not just the Covid, but the whole situation. I just want my parents to be healthy again and I want them to go home. My mother never will, but my father could. Ugh. I just want them both to be better.

We have a call with the facility tomorrow. That was booked before the Covid scare. I don’t know if my father was exposed or not. If he was they will be testing him right now.

I just want this shit to end. I want our world back again.