Tag: Step Kids

Sunday Morning Thoughts

The Bruins won game one of their second round series last night. The Maple Leafs lost game six of their first round series last night. A Bruins win and a Leaf’s first round lost sounds about normal to me.

What else is going on? It’s a dad weekend for the kids but they are coming over for lunch to celebrate our Anniversary. Jen and I just came back from the bakery. There will be cake. Oh, such cake.

I need to shave, but the Bruins are in the playoffs. Oh, what to do.

I don’t know what brought it on, but a couple of weeks ago I had the urge to watch a little Mystery Science Theater 3000. I joined a Facebook fan group too. I knew that Netflix had dropped the current incarnation of the show, but I did not know that on the day I joined that BookFayce group they were kicking off a Kick Starter (hehe pun) campaign to fan fund a new season. They hit their goal on the first day. How cool is that? It made me want to watch the show even more.

Last night I went looking around to see which streaming services had episodes. Netflix used to, but now they only have the Netflix version of the show. Hulu had the movie. HBO had nuttin’, but that was expected. Amazon Prime Video had a bunch but I was signed in as me and our Prime account is Jen’s. I tried to log in as her but got prompted for two factor authentication and just gave up.

Last night, just before bed, as the Bruins game was wrapping up, someone posted a list of free streaming services that had episodes. What the hell, let’s check one out. I downloaded the Pluto TV app on my iPhone. Not only do they have episodes, but they have a continuous channel that only runs MST3K episodes. Jackpot! WOOHOO! Turns out they have a channel for RiffTrax episodes too! (RiffTrax is made up of former MST3K writers and they riff on movies in the same way. It’s basically MST3K without the cut scenes… or maybe they have cut scenes too… I can’t remember. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes) Safe to say I am going to be using the Pluto TV app pretty frequently for a while.

Nana sitting over night tonight into tomorrow. Packing up the cars and having a little Memorial Day cookout after I get home tomorrow. Driving to Vermont and helping Bellana move in on Tuesday. It’s gonna be a busy couple of days and that doesn’t even include the Bruins tomorrow night and oodles of MST3K.

Addendum: I edited the post. I originally said that Pluto TV had a Cinematic Titanic channel. It doesn’t. It’s RiffTrax. I fixed it. Also, they have a desktop app for Mac too!

Crazy Long Weekend

I’m 67 minutes away from a long weekend. Lots going on, and I am going to miss almost all of it.

I’m Nana sitting tonight so I will be at my mom’s house until dinner time tomorrow. That means I will miss out on Massachusetts declaring that the global pandemic over and opening up the entire state. Bad move? Likely.

Sunday I will be home for most of the day, which is good because it’s our wedding anniversary. 12 years. 12 wonderful, happy years. Sure 2020 and the first half of 2021 have licked balls, but marriage wise it’s still been incredible. The kids are at their dad’s this weekend, but we’re going to steal them for a while so they can help us celebrate. We’re not doing anything special, just being together. I’m willing to bet that at some point later in the year we will do something more substantial to celebrate. Covid has pretty much taken two anniversaries from us, so we need to do something significant to make up for it.

As for Sunday night and the holiday on Monday, I am Nana sitting again. But wait, Robert. Isn’t that a day early? Why yes, yes it is. Me covering Sunday night/Monday lets my brother go to my niece’s soccer games and it lets me do something on Tuesday. But Robert, Tuesday isn’t a day off, it’s a three day weekend not a four day weekend, isn’t it?

I booked a vacation day for Tuesday so that I can drive back up to Vermont to help my Step Daughter move into her first apartment. Pardon me, I’ve got something in my eye. No, I’m not crying, you’re crying.

I still need to pack up some stuff for tonight and tomorrow, including my MacBook. I want to mix a song or two or three tonight or tomorrow. I want to wrap up May’s Record Every Month entry. I also have an episode of That Pedal Show to watch. I don’t have a Star Wars The Bad Batch to watch because I picked that off before work this morning. I might try to watch some MST3K because I’ve been kinda in the mood for that lately. Mostly though I’ll just be missing Jen and the kids like crazy, because that’s what I mostly do while I’m at my parents. Le Sigh.

Lunch Break

Ready for a lunch break post?

I still can’t get to the editor on a Vivaldi non-private browser window on my work laptop. It works in a private window and it works on Vivaldi on every other computer in my personal computing universe. What up?

I’ve had a couple of good nights sleep lately, but I still feel tired. I think the Covid is finally wearing my out. I put all new parts onto my breathing machine last night, which was nice, and I slept like the dead for over seven hours, which was nice, but I’m still tired today.

Did I mention the Bruins advanced to the second round? I think I need to start watching the Penguins/Islanders series. I don’t like either team, but the Bruins looked like world beaters in the first round so I’m cautiously optimistic about all possible opponents.

Music, right? I want to do car music tomorrow morning, but I don’t have anything written. There are two songs from this month that are ready for lyrics, and three more from the past couple of months too. I have to write ’em before I sings ’em though. I’m hoping that tonight before bed I’ll be able to sneak some writing in. I’m doing a challenge to record at least one song every month and I have one for this month that’s ready to mix. I just don’t know if it’s as good as some of the other things I’ve worked on this month. We’ll see.

Also music: The recording nook right now has the Vox AC15 plugged into the normal channel and the pedals are a Klon Klone, a Rat klone, and a Muff klone. I think I need to swap out the Rat for something else, and I’m not 100% sure I like the AC15 on it’s own. Maybe it’s time for the Bassbreaker 15 to come back. What I really want is my Deluxe Reverb, but it’s still at the band’s rehearsal room at our bass players house. What to do, what to do. Tone, am I right?

The kids are at their dad’s for the next couple of days. I miss them already. Harry went to school this morning and Bellana just left a minute ago. I am sad. I want them here 24/7 because I am greedy and selfish. Crud.

I should do some sunrise pics soon. I don’t know what my nana-sitting schedule is like off the top of my head, but there is a holiday weekend coming up. There’s also a wedding anniversary for someone coming up too. I wonder who?

Okay, fat boy, back to work.

Moving Day

Did you figure out what I was doing today? Did I telegraph it enough? Bellana, my step daughter, moved out of her dorm today and I helped. 3+ hours in both directions, Methuen, MA to Burlington, VT and back. The scenery on that drive is pretty fantastic if you get a chance to look at it. It was kinda tough to do while driving though.

This was coming off a rest area somewhere in New Hampshire, just before the Vermont border.

Of course the state line would be under construction. Figures.

I wasn’t there to sight see though. This is the only view of the campus that I managed.

We’ll be back in a couple of months. Next time we’ll have two students there.

Lunch Break

I’m a little late with my lunch time musings today. I’ll keep it shortish.

My step daughter is heading into final exams soon. I remember college finals. I don’t remember them as happy experiences. Good luck, Bellana. We’re going up to Vermont next week to help her move out of the dorm. I should exercise before we go. I’m going to need all the prep I can get.

My step son is taking an Advanced Placement (AP) test today. I never took an AP class in high school. You know what AP is, right? You take an advanced class in high school, then at the end of the year you take a standardized test on the subject. If you score high enough, the class credits count toward your college degree. Cool. He took an AP Physics test last week that lasted four hours. Can you imagine? I think he has three more, counting today’s. Here’s hoping it’s less grueling than last week. Yikes. He graduates from high school in a month. That sound you hear is me bursting with pride.

My mother has had the TV on all day. She watched a little of the Red Sox game on NESN last night and hasn’t changed the channel. They just aired a documentary on my first baseball hero, Carl Yastrzemski. Triple Crown in 1967… three batting titles… 400 career home runs… 3,000 career hits… first ballot hall of famer… and zero World Series titles. He had two cracks at it and lost in seven games each time. 1967 against the Cardinals. 1975 against the Reds. If only we could turn back the clock and get him that ring. Of course, if we could do that we would have to do it for Ted Williams too. Sometimes the universe just drops the ball.

Okay. It’s 2:00. I just gave my mother her meds. Time to wrap this up. Talk to you later, folks.

Friday Dinner on Thursday

We have a little thing going on in 2021. Friday dinner with Jen and Harry is burgers and fries with a side of super hero tv shows.

Unfortunately this week Friday is a nana sitting night and I won’t be here for dinner. Harry suggested we do burgers and fries and super hero tv today instead.

If I haven’t said this before let me say it now. My step son is really good people.

Reminiscing

My wife and I were just reminiscing about the time when my now 18 year old step son was four years old and I was at their apartment at bed time for the first time and he taught me how the light switch in his bedroom worked.

(Click) lights on.

(Click) lights off.

It was the single most adorable thing that’s ever happened.

My Step Son is More Awesome Than Yours

With all of the pre-fab furniture assembly on this weekend’s agenda, Jen figured it would be a good idea to offer Harry some money in exchange for getting a jump on things tonight. He was up for it and as I type this he is in the dining room putting together a humongous pantry that’s bigger than he is. It might be bigger than me.

Sure there’s a little bit of a bribe involved, but that doesn’t change the fact that my step son is awesome for doing this. He pretty much rules. My step son is absolutely more awesome than yours. It’s a certifiable fact.

Birthday Part 2

I don’t know if I’ve told this story here or not… I’ve probably told it 100 times but I can’t even remember what I had for lunch yesterday never mind if I wrote a blog post about something that happened 14 years ago or not.

Back in 2007 when Jen and I first started dating, she had a rule that we needed to stick to. Anyone she dated had to be around for six months before they were allowed to meet the kids. I liked that rule, not because I was insanely nervous about meeting the kids (I was, of course) but because it was a sign to me that she cared more about them than anything in the world including any potential new relationships she might find herself in. It meant that the kids came first, and she wasn’t going to let them get attached to someone who might not be around for the long haul.

Six months later we were still going strong and the day came when I was to meet Bellana and Harry. The plan was to go to a Chuck E Cheese near my office in Framingham after work. Obviously I was terrified. I had zero experience with kids and if they hated me right off the bat it was all going to be over for me and Jen. She told me that Bellana (age six) was a little more outgoing and probably would be more interested in me. Harry (age four) was a little more shy and would probably clam up.

We met outside of the building so that we could all go in together. It went exactly the opposite of how we expected. Bellana hid behind her mother and was very shy. Harry, with all the confidence in the world, walked right up to me and asked if I wanted to see a paper he had worked on in pre-school that morning. He was completely fearless.

By the end of the evening both kids seemed comfortable with me and I was already loving them. They accepted me right away, and they accepted the idea of me and their mother being together right away. I can’t thank them enough for that. Even now, 14 years later, I am pretty stunned at how well that night went. I will never forget it, and I will also never forget that Harry was the first one to welcome me into the family. I love both of those kids more than I ever dreamed I could love anyone.

Once again, happy 18th birthday, Harry.

Birthday

Today is my step son Harry’s 18th birthday. I am so proud of him. He has grown up to be a fine man. He is smart, he is kind, he is caring, he is considerate, he is funny, he is charming, he is woke like a boss (which is nice). The last year has been a complete shit show but he’s managing it well. He’s going to be leaving for college in August and that is painful to think about so I don’t think about it, for now. I love him more than I can express and I can’t wait to see the great things he accomplishes in the future. Happy Birthday, Harry.