Tag: Step Kids

Xmas Eve

Are we all ready? Tomorrow is xmas. It is xmas eve. It’s time to get the last minute details wrapped up. Dot those holiday i’s and cross those holiday t’s.

I need to hit a couple of stores. One being a gas station and another being a grocery store. Good times. I don’t expect humongous, insane crowds or anything*.

My step son has been here for days. My step daughter will be here tonight, but not until super late. Maybe even after midnight. She has a gig in Vermont and can’t come home until after. Both kids will be here for xmas morning though and that’s what counts.

Now that the holiday is actually here, can I start feeling a little xmas spirit? I mean before it’s too late? I don’t know… tomorrow will suffice if that’s all I get. HoHoHo and shit.

*Yeah, that’s sarcasm. You could tell that by the context, right?

Cellar Dweller

My step son, Harry, is home! He was here when I got home from work last night and it was wonderful having him around. Having kids here makes me happy.

Him being home today means that I am working from the office desk in the cellar instead of the desk in his room. I am a cellar dweller again while he’s home. Today is Friday and I am working from home. Next week I will be in the office on Monday and then I am off for xmas eve, xmas day, and I took a vacation day for the day after xmas. So one day working in the cellar is all I need. I can handle it. Not that there’s any difficulty working in the cellar, I just like being upstairs more. That’s all.

I do have one thing planned for my lunch break down here in the cellar where no one can see me…

I setup a gift wrapping station. Let’s see how much of the remaining pile of presents I can get through while I eat my chicken patty and fries. Bring on the work day so I can get to it. Two working days left before Santa comes. Still much to do in that little amount of time. Let’s do this thing!

Write Something

I feel this almost overwhelming need to write something today, but I don’t have anything to write about. Usually I when the drive gets annoyingly persistent I can come up with something to prattle on about, but today I am drawing a blank.

The Bruins won. That’s two wins in a row on a road trip that started out awful. I think the last game of the trip is in Edmonton tomorrow night. Can they beat the Oilers? I would say probably not, but I didn’t expect them to beat Calgary last night either so what do I know.

I keep seeing the Boston Red Sox mentioned as potential destinations for big name free agent players. Unfortunately I heard the same thing over and over again during last year’s off season and we landed exactly zero big name free agents. We’ve made a big trade to get a potential ace starting pitcher. Will that be a sign of better things to come this winter? Who knows.

Harry is coming to stay with us this weekend. He was supposed to be coming over on Friday at some point but now he’s coming on Thursday! For those of you reading this at some future date allow me to clarify by stating that Thursday is tomorrow! Nice! I am working in the office tomorrow so I have to move some of my stuff out of his room before he comes over. When he’s home his room is… ya know… his room. When he’s not home, his room is my office. The only thing I need to move is a backpack and some camera stuff that is sitting on the day bed, and a table I have been using as a gift wrapping station. All of that needs to move down cellar to the space I use as an office when he’s home.

What else… what else… anything else? I don’t know. My lunch break is over. I have a meeting in about half an hour. I think I need to wrap this one up. Will it scratch today’s weird “write something, you dope” itch?

Probably not.

My Eye is a Jerk

Today is day three on the antibiotics. I thought things were improving yesterday, but then it got even more annoying for a while last night.

It’s a stye. I had one on my right eye. It was on the outside of the lower lid and it didn’t bother me at all. Now I have one on my left eye on the inside of the lower lid and it’s driving me bonkers. It hurts a little. It’s itchy at times. It stings now and then. Sometimes it is all three at once. It feels a little better when I dunk a face cloth in hot water and put it on my eye for a minute or two. That’s nice.

The antibiotics they gave me are a cream that I have to put onto my lower lid and then blink into my eye. Four times a day. Don’t humans blink to get stuff out of their eyes? I can’t tell if I am getting any of the goop anywhere near where it needs to be. I put some on 57 minutes ago and my eye is bugging the hell out of me. Is that the sign that it’s working? Maybe.

It’s Monday. I am working from home. I am still exhausted from our weekend on the road. The concert on Saturday was wonderful. Yeah, my step daughter singing with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. On my “things that you will be so proud about you will nearly explode” bingo card that they gave me when I was a teenager, I never in a million years would have expected to hit on that square. She’s amazing. Enough said.

My step son is about to go into finals week on his first semester of his senior year in college. Once he gets through the next week or so he will be one final exam week away from graduation. Talk about being proud. Words cannot describe it.

Yeah, both of our kids are amazing. How can you be pissed off about a stye in your eye when you have two kids like this in your life? Amazing!

Today’s Agenda

So Robert, what’s the plan for this fine December Saturday?

Oh nothing…

First I pick up the antibiotic cream stuff that was prescribed for the mess that is my left eye (ouch). Then I put some clothes in a backpack and maybe some gas in the car and maybe pack up some protein bars and snacks and water bottles. You know, like you do.

Then Jen and I hop into the car and mosey on up to New Hampshire to pick up my mother in law. Then we mosey on over to Vermont to meet up with the kids.

Then, later tonight, it’s nothing special. We just go to see my step daughter, Bellana, perform with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra again. They are doing a string of holiday shows this weekend and tonight’s the night for us. She’s in the chorus. You know, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Nothing special.

(Your humble narrator takes a moment to squeal with pride and glee)

I mean… is your step daughter in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus? No? Oh. Groovy.

Road trip!

Lunch Break

It’s Wednesday afternoon. My lunch break is coming to an end. If I were to sneak a post in before getting back to work, what would I write about?

I have no idea. My mind is a blank! So I guess we stream of consciousness this sucker? Ready… Go!

The Bruins beat the Red Wings last night. They play the Blackhawks tonight. Two teams that aren’t very good. Theoretically we should beat them both pretty easily. Last night they needed overtime to squeak out a win. Tonight? I’m almost afraid to watch.

If I could watch, that is. The NESN app is being a jerk. Well, I don’t know if it’s NESN or FiOS. I think it’s FiOS. It tells me I’m signed in, but when I try to watch something it tells me I’m not signed in and then won’t let me sign in. Maybe during tonight’s game I’ll pop in a single air pod and listen to the radio broadcast. I’m following each game but I am not listening to the goings on and I am starting to feel very much out of touch. I feel like I am too old and easily distracted to really give my full energy to a team that isn’t very good… lately they have been better but… yeah. They are currently in third place in the division so they are higher than a wild card seed for the playoffs. That’s good. Let’s keep it up, folks.

Current television binge watching projects:

  • Star Wars Skeleton Crew season 1
  • Silo season 2
  • What We Do in the Shadows season… 6? I think it’s 6. Only a couple more episodes before the series ends for good. All I can say is, BAT!
  • Better Call Saul season five. Two seasons left.
  • Gotham season 1. I hear it gets easier once you get past the first season. Here’s hoping that rumor is accurate. I want to watch this show but some of the episodes have been tough. Some of the acting is really bad. I don’t want to give any names because I am afraid Will Smith might slap me at the Oscars. Sorry. Just calling them as I see them.
  • Dark season 3. This one is a slog. I am having a really hard time getting through it, but I am determined to finish it.
  • Black Mirror. I don’t remember what season I am on, but I am having a hard time sticking with it.
  • Doctor Who, rewatching the last season to prep for this year’s xmas special.
  • The Walking Dead season 3. Rewatching along with the The ‘Cast of Us podcast. I fell behind by one week but I am caught up on both the show and the podcast now.

Seriously, does anyone really believe that Juan Soto is going to sign with the Red Sox? Seriously?

We are going to Vermont this weekend. I want to bring my new/ancient film camera but I can’t really see a time or place where I could use it. Maybe. We’ll see. I did order my first roll of 120 color film yesterday. It won’t be delivered until after we get back though. Oh well.

I have to buy a gift for our work yankee swap. It’s Tuesday. Holy crap that came up fast. Yikes.

Okay. Back to work, Robert.

Empty Nest

And just like that, our very full nest is an empty nest again. Harry left this afternoon and Bellana left a few minutes ago. They are both heading home to Vermont.

It was a wonderful weekend and I loved every second of it, but now I am sad. Jen and I will have dinner together and I’ll probably be pretty mushy and lovey (no spoilers) because I know she’s sad the kids are gone too.

Getting old sucks but it’s better than the alternative.

December

Good morning and welcome to December. Ugh. If I were looking on the bright side I’d say something like, one day closer to spring… but we haven’t even hit winter yet. December sucks.

Thanksgiving Part Two was a huge success. Dinner was fabulous, thanks to my wife. The xmas decorations are all up. I plugged in the lights on the outside of the house (that I never took down after last year) and a couple of short strands are out. I’ll have to figure out what to do about that. We had the annual Muppets Christmas Carol viewing. We did not manage to get a watch of Elf in, but maybe we save that for xmas eve?

Our kids are still here. They are both going back to Vermont today. One is going after breakfast, the other after dinner-ish. I love every second we can get with them here. I selfishly hate to see them leave but we are actually going to see them again next week. There’s something huge brewing in Bellana’s world and next weekend is when it hits. We’ll be there for it.

Until then, tomorrow I go back to work after a glorious five day weekend and I am sad about that. What can you do. I’ll be in the office which is making it feel worse, but oh well.

December is here. I put it off for as long as possible. Oh well, what can you do.

Are Things Looking Up?

So the Boston Bruins. They fired their head coach last week and replaced him (on an interim basis) with their long time assistant coach. They’ve played two games since the change. How are they doing?

Well they won both of those games. That’s super good news, right? Hooray and huzzah and all that happy crappy. Of course in those two wins they have scored a grand total of three goals. So… yeah. Let’s just say I am clutching at that bright side with all that I have. They don’t play again until Tuesday (the day after tomorrow) so we’ll have to wait and see for more information. Finger crossed that they both have turned a corner from their shitty play pre-coaching change, and that they remember how to score goals. That might be a lot to ask.

What else is going on. Bellana, my step daughter, was here last night. She just left. It was great to see her, as always. Harry, my step son was supposed to be coming over tomorrow but instead he’s coming tonight! Awesome! We’re going to see both kids today! Bonus!

Jen made French Toast this morning. I didn’t have any. There is nothing in the recipe that I can’t have but I was still nervous about trying it. Next time I will. I realized that my issue with French Toast boils down to maple syrup. I don’t want to have French Toast without having maple syrup on it… so now I have to go on a quest to find a decent sugar free maple syrup. I fear that might be a lot to ask for, but we’ll see.

What else. I haven’t done my morning exercise yet. I got up early enough to do it but other stuff came up and I had to push it off for a while. It is 9:44am right now. I’m thinking I’ll try to do it after lunch. I also need to go grocery shopping again today. I did a little bit yesterday, but today is shopping-for-Thanksgiving-veggies day. I’ll be going out to do that after I post this. Most important (not really, but… really) is that I MUST play guitar today. Preferably through a speaker and not just through headphones. I need to move the air today. Not at an ear bleeding volume, but at some kind of lower volume. It’s a must.

Okay. Time to start getting some shit done around here.

In closing, here’s a cat.

85/365

Meta Can Kiss My Liberal Ass

Allow me to start this post with a broad statement. I will then change the subject for a while before returning to explain the broad statement.

Hey Meta (facebook, instagram, whatever)… FUCK YOU.

Now, I’ve spent the day getting shit done. I cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned all the floors, fixed the bed in my step daughter’s room because she’s sleeping here tonight, moved my office from the desk in my step son’s room to the desk in the cellar because he’ll be here on Monday which is the next day I will work from home. I also went grocery shopping and I may or may not have stopped at the sugar free bakery in Salem too top it all off.

My step daughter, Bellana will be here later tonight. She’s staying over but heading back to Vermont tomorrow. The day after tomorrow my step son, Harry will be here and he’s staying for a few days. The house is as ready as it gets. Jen and I are as ready as we get. Bring on the kids! WOOHOO!

Now, allow me to restate the initial thesis of this post. Meta can go fuck itself. It can fuck itself right in it’s mother fucking eye.

In the months leading up to the election any time I was on a Meta social network service and I saw any post from anyone anywhere that was even the tiniest bit pro trump/maga/nazi/fascist/white supremacist/racist/bigoted anything I blocked the user. No questions, just blocked the fuck out of the racist/fascist fuckers. Good riddance.

Today I went on instagram. Every single add I saw (roughly one out of every three posts is an add, which is FUCKING INSULTING regardless of the content) was maga related. ALL OF THEM. Every single add. It made me physically sick. So much for the algorithm showing me adds based on my viewing habits, right? Nope. This was just a fascist friendly company shoving nazi propaganda into my face. This was worse than fox news. This was fucking evil. I blocked almost every sponsored account. I didn’t block them all. Why? BECAUSE INSTAGRAM WOULDN’T FUCKING LET ME.

Fuck you, meta you fascist fucks. Fuck you zuckerberg you nazi mother fucker.