To Do List

DON’T BE SICK (not 100% by any stretch right now, but optimistic about my prognosis)
Jen and I need to pick up our new glasses. Progressive and transitions? That’s crazy!
Drive to Vermont
Hear my step daughter sing with the VSO! Wicked!!
Continue to not be nauseous or vomit. Very important. Also, no stomach pains. Pretty please.

Birthday Party

Jen and I just got home from a mini birthday party for my father. We booked the assisted living facility’s little dining room and had cupcakes and pie for his birthday. I brought a cupcake from the sugar free bakery so that I could play along. I only took one picture and it has an underage nephew in it so I won’t share it. All three of my nephews and my niece were all there. I really love seeing them. The two oldest kids are in high school now. They are so grown up. Having everyone there made me especially miss my kids, Harry and Bellana. They are both in Vermont while we’re all in Massachusetts. I miss them all the time, but I especially miss them during little family get togethers.

Other than that it was a nice little birthday party for my dad. 83 years old and still going strong. Many happy returns, Dad.

Duplexiversary

On this day in 2008, 16 years ago, Jen and I moved in together. We rented a duplex in Methuen that had three bedrooms. Well… one bedroom might have started it’s life as a big closet, but it was a bedroom in theory by the time we moved in.

I don’t have a lot of pictures of the building. Why? I have pictures of people hanging out in various rooms, but very few of the external. The only good one I could find is actually the back of the house. The left half of this building was our half.

Easter Dinner and Brunch 010 — The kids were so little!!!!!

Note, the neighbors who lived in the right half of the duplex had access to that third floor, and rumor has it there was a hot tub up there. We didn’t have any access to the third floor at all. I think it was actually the attic. The other tenant also had a lot more basement space, but what we had was enough. I recorded a lot of RPM Challenge stuff in that tiny little basement space.

We moved in on April 19th. One month and one day later I proposed to Jen, right there in that tiny little back yard by that very gas grill.

Good times. Good times.

Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping

First there was a plant that belonged to my step kids’ step mother’s mother. When she passed away, their step mother took the plant home with her.

When my step daughter, Bellana, got her own place she took a clipping of that plant and used it to grow a new plant for her apartment. She named the plant Burt. I don’t know if the original plant had a name or not.

During the early days of the Covid lockdown Bellana took her plant, Burt, to our house. While it was with us, Bellana gave us a clipping to grow another plant. We named ours Bertha. Bertha is now gigantic and still growing, but much of her early growth is dying off. The plant is alive, but it doesn’t seem terribly happy. I got nervous about the plant’s prognosis so I did a thing.

I took another clipping and put it into a glass of water. Nothing happened for what seemed like a very long time and I was afraid that I was going to fail in my attempt to keep Bertha alive forever. Then, late last week, a new root grew! Then a second new root! Excellent! The new clipping is alive!

A few minutes ago I put it into a pot full of potting soil. Will it survive the transfer? I hope so, but I have no way to know. It has plenty of soil, food, and water. I will watch it like a hawk to make sure it doesn’t lack for anything until it proves to me that it’s thriving. After that I’ll just treat it like a normal plant and let it grow like crazy the way Bertha did.

Say hello to the new baby plant. I have decided to name it Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping, which I will probably just shorten to Bertie Botts Every Flavor Plant… or maybe just Bertie.

Wish our new green friend luck!

Mondays Suck, But We All Knew That

Yup… Monday… blah.

How’s everyone doing? Did you have a good weekend? I was sick all weekend, but it was okay. My step son was here. That was awesome.

I feel a little better today. It’s been the cold from hell ever since last Tuesday afternoon, but today I feel like I am starting to come out of it. I’m still stuffy and sneezing and coughing, but not nearly as bad as I was. I still don’t feel well enough to be comfortable going into the office. I think this week will be Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe Friday. I only went in once last week because of being sick. Maybe I’ll go in an extra day this week to make up for it. We’ll see.

The kitchen remodel will hopefully officially come to an end tomorrow. The contractor is coming back one more time to hang some shelves over the new tile. That’s the only thing left to do, though our dishwasher is acting up. It might be shitting the proverbial bed. Nice timing, eh? Get the kitchen remodeled and immediately have to buy a new appliance. Yeah, because we have money for that! Sheesh! Is the universe trying to tell us something?*

Okay. I need to blow my nose, read some work email, and then make lunch. Hopefully you are all having a good Monday even though Mondays as a rule suck. That’s okay though. Mondays sucking is not a surprise to anyone who lives in a place where Monday is the start of the work week.

*No, the universe is not trying to tell us something. It doesn’t give a shit about us one way or the other. Why? Because it is not sentient in any way. It’s just a universe. It’s just a really, really, really big collection of stuff. It doesn’t have feelings. It’s not intelligent. It’s just stuff.

Still Sick: No End in Sight

The head cold persists. Today will be the fourth full day with it and I think it might be the worst day yet.

Yup, I’m still sick.

My wife had it last week and I have it this week. For both of us, with the exception of our one experience with Covid-19, this is the only real bug we’ve caught since the lock downs started four years ago. We have no idea where it came from, but it has turned out to be a persistent little sucker.

In four days I have plowed through two full boxes of tissues. I just started on box number three. Last night before bed I casually mentioned to Jen that I wished when I blew my nose that something substantial would come out. Well, I got my wish. What was the nasal equivalent of an annoyingly dripping faucet yesterday has turned into a gushing rush of snotty awfulness today… too much information? Probably.

The upside to this is that Harry is home! Bellana has been home since Tuesday and has already gone back to Vermont. Harry is staying with us today and heading back to school tomorrow. I’m really happy to have him here, I just wish I wasn’t so sick so we could hang out together. As it is I am keeping my distance from everyone. I don’t have Covid, but we’ve learned some things since the lock down started four years ago, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep Harry healthy. I’d hate for him to be sick when he starts school again next week.

Okay, there’s your update. My box of tissues and I are going to sit in the corner of the living room in our vegetative state for a while. I have a couple of songs that are ready to mix. Maybe I’ll mess with one for a while.

Too paraphrase U2, Achoo-babie.

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!

Flying

My step son woke up this morning in Scotland. He’ll sleep tonight at our house. He’s already part way through quite the travel journey today.

I used flightaware.com to watch his first flight, from Aberdeen, Scotland to London, England. In less than five minutes he is scheduled to take off on his second flight of the day. This one from London to Boston. He’ll land sometime around 9:00pm, or a little before then.

As is always the case when one of the kids is traveling by air, I am nervous. Hell, I’m always nervous, but like the good American who comes from Irish immigrants, I suppress my nerves and emotions and just bottle them up until I explode. See the collected works of Dennis Leary for more stereotypical information on this stereotype that is probably not accurate but sometimes feels like it is.

Yeah, I am nervous. I watched the first connecting flight circle Heathrow airport a couple of times and I started getting scared that there was something going on in London. Nope. Just a busy day at the ol’ airport. Everything is fine. Everything went fine. All is well.

Flightaware says the plane is taxiing for take off. I’m not superstitious, but I (figuratively) have my fingers crossed. Here’s hoping for the best.

Safe flight, Harry. See you on the ground, back home in the good old U.S. of A.

Morning Cats

The cats don’t tend to visit me while I am working, but for some reason they did today. Maybe they know I am in my step son’s bed room and he’s flying home from the UK today. He is currently in the air, on his way to London to grab a connecting flight to Boston. Can the cats sense that?

Anyway, I took some pic because that’s what I do.