Weird Week Coming Up

Happy Monday, everyone. Mondays suck, but what can you do?

This week is gonna be a weird one for us here at the Inside the Red Head’s Head family. Yup.

First off, contractors. Yet another contractor is coming to the house today. Just routine maintenance. It’s not even 8:00am and by all rights I should be in the shower right now but I am not because the contractor just told us he’s on his way. He may even be done before I start the work day. How crazy is that?

There are two contractors on the books for tomorrow. One is coming to fix a leak in our dishwasher. I am so mad about that leak that I cannot even think straight, but fingers crossed it will be back to normal tomorrow. The question of whether I will ever trust it again is still outstanding. The other contractor scheduled for tomorrow was for the same issue. I have to cancel it, but it’s the same service that is coming today and I had this nasty feeling that if I cancelled Tuesday’s appointment they would accidentally cancel Monday’s and hijinx would ensue.

Contractor visits are just one of the weird things going on this week. The other has to do with a hotel. Jen’s company is running a conference this week in Boston. They booked rooms for their staff and that includes my beloved bride. I took a half day off of work today so that I could bring her to the hotel in time for whatever they have planned this afternoon. I am hoping that I will be able to squat at the hotel with her at night, though I have to work from home tomorrow (see above) and I have to work in the office for the rest of the week. The end result is, I am going to be doing a lot of Boston driving this week. I am okay with that… I just need to know where to go, you know? Jen has the details so it will be fine.

Other than that… my step son was here yesterday but he’s already left to go back to Vermont. He is on spring break this week but he is scheduled to work a ton. No extended visit this time but I am very happy to have seen him yesterday. I do love it when my step kids are here.

It’s now 8:00am. The contractor called about 25 minutes ago saying he was on his way. Here’s hoping he gets here soon and can wrap up the job quickly. Fingers eternally crossed.

On the Ground

My step son’s plane landed a little over an hour ago. My wife went to the airport to pick him up and they are on their way home now.

Another happy landing! The plane is on the ground, safe and sound. Welcome back to Earth, Harry!

Happy Friday

Happy Friday, everyone. Hopefully Friday has meaning for most if not all of us. It has extra meaning for me this week. Starting this month my company has changed it’s hybrid work requirements. Where it used to be that we had to be in the office for 20% of each pay period (basically one day each week), as of March 1st we have to be in the office for 40% of each pay period (basically twice per week). Today is my first, second day of a week. None of us our happy with this, but it’s a whole ton better than being back 80%, which is what we had prior to the pandemic shut down. Oh well. I’ll deal with it. I am still coming in every Wednesday. My group has Wednesdays as a mandate and the second day each week is at everyone’s personal discretion. I am sort of planning on making Mondays my regular second day, just to get it over with, but that didn’t work this week due to the contractors working in the kitchen. Friday was the only day that worked for me. Fortunately there was zero traffic today. I made the 40 mile drive to the office in 45 minutes. If only it were like that every morning.

In other news, the kids are on the ground. Bellana’s flight landed in Georgia (the US state, not the European country) before I went to sleep last night. Harry’s first flight landed in London well after I nodded off for the night, and his connecting flight landed in Scotland before I woke up this morning. All is well on both of those fronts. Here’s hoping they both have a great time on their trips.

I am taking advantage of the fact that I am 40 miles from home right now to make my way to IKEA after work. IKEA is about 60 miles from home, but only 20 miles from work. I will head down there as soon as I am free and go to the returns department and bring back a great big pile of stuff that IKEA included in our kitchen redesign blue print that we didn’t end up needing. There is a lot of stuff to return. A lot of stuff. If I get it all done tonight then we don’t have to worry about it, and with the money we get back maybe I’ll be able to afford a hair cut this weekend because damn, do I need a hair cut!

Anyway, here’s today’s photo-a-day picture. I took it before I did my workout this morning at about 5:40am. It’s only 9:14am now but it’s already felt like a long day.

190/365

Tomorrow

So the plan for tomorrow, a sort of random vacation day in the middle of the week.

We have a ton of stuff that we bought for the kitchen remodel that we didn’t end up needing. Some from Home Depot, some from Lowe’s, and some from Wal-Mart. I plan on spending a nice chunk of the morning returning as much of that crap as I can. I thought about going to IKEA to return some of the mountain of leftover stuff we need to bring back but the receipts are all confused. We have to work it all out before we bring stuff back.

When I get home it will be about time to head to the airport. Both kids should be here by the time we need to leave. One, Harry, is here already. The other, Bellana, will be cutting it close but there should be enough time. It’s going to work out so that I can drive them both into the city at the same time. Originally I thought I would be playing Robbie the Airport Shuttle Guy twice, but now it looks like we can consolidate the two down to one. Nice.

After that I will go home again and make dinner for the love of my life and then hang out, missing the kids, until bed time.

Busy day on tap, yes it is. It should be fun.

Day Off Tomorrow

I took a vacation day tomorrow. Nice!

Both kids are going on Spring Break trips, and they are both leaving tomorrow, and they are both flying out of Boston Logan Airport. I am going to drive them both. Just call me Robbie the airport shuttle.

My step son is coming here tonight. My step daughter won’t be here until tomorrow. We won’t have a lot of time to hang with them before they jet off to more exciting places, but I’ll take what we get. I do love it when my step kids are here. Even when it’s only for a few minutes.

Forgotten Roll of Film

I thought my film camera was empty. I was going to put my last roll of black and white film into it and test drive it with Dad’s cheap zoom lens.

Turns out I was wrong. I put a roll of color film into my camera on our last day at Disney World and then never took a single shot. I put Dad’s lens on it, but I’ll have to wait for 36 shots before I load another black and white roll.

It’s supposed to snow all day tomorrow, though no accumulation thankfully, but it’s supposed to be sunny out on Sunday at dawn. I’m thinking of taking the new mirrorless camera and one, if not both, film camera out that morning. Possibly to the ocean for some sunrise pics. My film camera has 36 shots left. Dad’s has 20.

In other news, Harry is on the way. He’s somewhere in New Hampshire though he hasn’t reached route 93 yet. He’ll be here in a couple of hours, I think. Drive safe, Harry!

Mini-Split Success

We have a new, functioning mini-split HVAC unit in the primary bedroom. Say goodbye to overnight frostbite! I just went into the room to move the furniture back into place and there was actual warm air coming out of the wall unit. It’s been so long! Oh happy day!

When the AC staff left I was able to let the cats out of prison. We put them, and their food and water, and their litter boxes into Bellana’s bedroom and closed the door tight. We didn’t want them getting in the way or running out the door or anything like that so we locked them up. While I was upstairs just now they were sitting on the cat tree and I got to spend 10 seconds petting them and apologizing to them and researching whether or not they hated me now. They don’t. We’re still buds, all three of us.

I just checked the Find My app. Harry hasn’t left Burlington yet. I’m not sure what time we’re supposed to be expecting him, but given that it’s 3:00pm and he’s three hours away, I’d say sometime after 6:00pm. That’s called, “math,” kids. Respect it. It can do shit for you. Bellana is spending Spring Break with friends in the confederacy. She’s well on her way and currently somewhere in the wilds of Pennsylvania. I wish she was coming here too, but she’s going to have a good trip so I’m happy for her.

Okay, I got a super late start to my lunch break today but it’s over now so I need to get back to work. Until next time, my readers and only friends. Good day.