Now I Have to Go

There is going to be a ton of back story to this one. You’ve been warned.

My maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Bridget Murphy. Her friends called her Bride, or Bridie. She had a bunch of kids (five, but one passed as an infant) and those kids all had kids of their own and two of those kids had a lot of kids of their own. That means I have roughly 25,000 first cousins (I exaggerate of course, but only a little). Many of us are on a Facebook Messenger chat thread together.

One of my zillion first cousins’ daughter got married this weekend. It was a destination wedding. The destination was in Ireland. Glorious! Some of my cousins have been sending photos from the trip to the Messenger thread. One of them just sent something that changed my personal mindset about visiting Ireland. How so?

I have always wanted to visit Ireland but now… now I HAVE TO VISIT IRELAND!

The photo was of a store front. The name of the store:

Bridie Murphy’s Home Bakery.

Yes, I now have to go to Ireland. I have to go to the land where Bridie Murphy’s Home Bakery exists. It is a must. It is a moral imperative. It has to happen.

I Want to Go Home

I want to go home. I’m in the office, 44 miles away. Tonight I want to cook dinner for my beautiful bride and then move some furniture around to make room for a new couch. I got seven hours of sleep last night so I am not terribly tired right now (and it feels weird) so I know I will have the energy to pull it all off. I just wish I were at home so I could just punch out of work and do it all without having the long drive home wedged into the middle of everything. Blah.

Here’s another cat photo that I took this morning before I left for work just because Robin the cat is adorable and she was very willing to pose for the camera today.


Unrelated question… the band Facebook chat left off with hoping we could all get together at some point after the first weekend in January. The first weekend in January is now over. How long should I wait before I start the discussion up again? How soon is too soon? Should I wait three days as if it were a kind of first date thing? Do the same stupid rules apply? I don’t want to sound too eager even though I am SUPER eager to get the band moving again. I want to play. I want to gig. I want, want, want.

The Day So Far

The car has new breaks and new tires.

A couch has been purchased and a delivery has been scheduled.

My step son is home safe and sound even though I’d much rather he were still here with us. The nest is empty once again. Boo.

All that remains is to go grocery shopping and to cook dinner. I think I’ll get started on that now.

Good Morning

My step son is going to be leaving us pretty soon. I’m sad. The potential for a bummer mix of a day is pretty high. I’ll try to make the most of it. We’ll see.

We had plans for today but I think we’re going to scrap them, or completely alter them, or flat our replace them. I don’t know. Maybe I should just go back to sleep. That would be fun, eh? It’s almost 8:00am. Time for a nap! WOOHOO!

Missed Opportunity

Today is our last full day with my step son Harry in the house. He’s heading back to Vermont in the morning so he can go to work in the afternoon.

I’m sad that he’s leaving. I’m even sadder that today is an in the office day and I’m going to be away from home until dinner time.

Crud.

Up Next

Let’s see here… we did Halloween, then we did Thanksgiving twice, then we decorated the house for xmas, then we did xmas, then we did New Years… what’s next?

I’ll tell you what’s next… Florida. Jen has a milestone birthday in early February. Jen’s mother has a milestone birthday too. Yeah, screw it, let’s go to Disney World. Bellana is going to come with us this time. Harry’s in the middle of his last semester in college so he can’t come, but back in February of 2020 we went to Disney World while Harry was on school vacation and Bellana wasn’t, so this trip will even the score.

We’re not going until late in the month so there is plenty of time for me to post old photos from previous Disney trips to psyche everyone up for it. There is also plenty of time for me and Jen to binge every Disney YouTube channel that exists to prep for everything that is to come.

Up next for us on the huge event schedule… Disney World 2025-A*!

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*Why is it 2025-A you ask? Because there will be a Disney World 2025-B trip over the summer, that’s why. We are out of control. Out Of Control.

Plans Change… or I Got Them Wrong

I thought we were going to have both kids at the house until Sunday. Why did I think that? I was wrong.

Harry is leaving on Saturday. I’m not sure what time of day. Bellana’s leaving today. Boo. Sometime this morning she’s going to head back to Vermont to go to work this afternoon.

As always, I am sad when one of the kids leaves, but also really happy that they were here at all. They are adults now and both live their own lives and I respect that. I just love them both so much that I selfishly want them around all the time.

New Years Day

How’s your New Years Day going? I slept late. I didn’t fall asleep until 2:00am and I woke up at a little after 7:00am… so I slept REALLY late and am still completely exhausted. Hooray.

The only definite item on today’s agenda is taking down all of the xmas decorations. I can’t wait! I’m so excited for that. I love how much my family loves xmas, but I also love it when we put it away for another year. I want my house back, you know?

HoHoHappy New Year!

Tradition

Last year on New Years Eve my family huddled around the warm glowing warming glow of the television and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

This year we made that viewing a holiday tradition by watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry’s expulsion hearing is wrapping up right now.

Worst line in the entire series: Padfoot, are you barking mad? You have to know the story to know why that’s such a terrible line. Just take my word for it.

New Years Eve Bonus!

The plan was to have dinner with the whole family after Jen and I finished work for the day. Then my step daughter, Bellana, was going to head back to Vermont. After that we, meaning me, my wife Jen, and my step son Harry, would ring in the New Year together by probably watching a movie or something. Harry was planning to go back to Vermont on Sunday so we’d have him here for the rest of the week.

Now things have changed! Bellana’s Vermont plans have fallen through and she is staying with us until Sunday too! BONUS!

Our Happy New Years Eve plans just got happier! Both kids are here for the holiday! Awesome!