Saturday I went a saw a movie, The Monkey. It was based on a Stephen King story I read way back in the early 90s. I have always been a fan of his material I I will always support his movie adaptations in the theater. I was really curious how the hell this story could be adapted to film but I liked the director and trusted his judgement. The movie was absurd in a good way. I laughed out loud a few times. The deaths were just hilarious and unrealistically funny. I’d say it was really only loosely based upon the story by King and I was okay with that. I don’t know if a better film could be made from the source material. Yes, it was a horror but it was also a damn comedy for people that are into the genre. Cheers!!!
National Margarita Day! After the movie I dropped off some groceries to my mom and picked up Yvette. NMD is our day. You see, it should have been our first date but I was too foolish to see she might have been hinting that I take her out. What I did do is bring her a premixed margarita and went out to get my own. Yeah, idiot. Our first date ended up being a month later on her birthday but it should have been on NMD. Anyways, we have ever since celebrated the day by going out and getting a margarita and joking about how dense I was at the time.
Sunday was a beautiful day. The sun was out and the warmth was nourishing to us all after the cold streak that we endured. Yvette and I spent the majority of the day running around to various stores gathering what we might need for the weeks meals and whatever household furnishings that we might need. I think most the town was actually stepping out of hibernation because it was rather busy. Witnessed some utterly stupid driving. Hard to imagine how these peoples event were able to obtain a drivers permit for the roads. Scary.
That night I was a grilling machine. Noah and Nadia came over for the feast. I had 3 1/2 pounds of chicken thighs, 2 sausage links, okra and a nice pasta salad that Yvette made. Noah brought some Boudin. I had honestly never prepared that. It’s a rice sausage and it did cook a little funny compared to what I am accustomed to grilling. Rather tasty when complete. It was a fun night and I do enjoy the family feast. It’s good to have them over and I was so excited about grilling all week long now that we have the weather for it.
The week started off as they typically do. Sometimes I feel like I’m living the movie Groundhog Day. Wake and repeat. That’s almost how work is these days. At least the job I was doing on Monday kept me out of the office and driving around town paying various bills throughout the day. It was beautiful with highs reaching the 80s. I joked that it was kind of hot after a week of fringed temps.
Tuesday was a weird day. For one thing, I think I might have over medicated myself during the early morning hours. Gabapentin. I take one before bed every night to help with the neuropathy but I am pretty sure I woke up and took another in the middle of the night thinking that I missed my dosage because my head was high in the clouds. I know how that feels because I’ve accidentally done it before. It’s a weird feeling to be there but not really there.
The day started with a request from a service tech to find him a capacitor. We had a conversation and he told me exactly where I needed to go to find the device. Well after driving across town and circling the said location looking for the place with my eyes and my google I finally parked and went into a neighboring business to ask them where I needed to go. Turns out the establishment went out of business years ago. Wow. I knew a little back story on this tech because his wife and my mother are friends. The poor mans mind is slipping. It made me sad more than anything else. I have lived that life with my father. I really liked this tech and this was the first time seeing first hand that he was starting to slip mentally.
Hump day I woke up feeling amazing after a wonderful nights sleep. I had a lot of motivation and “want to”. I powered through the Damone morning and took no prisoners. I even had a morning meeting that was about 40 min of my life I will never have returned. After lunch, my day took a dark depressing detour into hell. Some people. I hate having a seesaw of a day. I still count the day as a positive. You can’t let people get you down and you can’t hold expectations high of anyone.
That evening after cooking I made myself a drink and sat outside for a good while to just relax and enjoy my evening. Disconnect from everything. I am still trying to become a person that isn’t living alone. I spent the last 3 years living alone and the last 2 months living with people so at times I still need that alone time. I don’t know how anyone would think that could change overnight. Lord, it took me a while to figure out living alone, why would it not take me a a second to live with people again.
The transition was so much smoother than I thought it would be. Honestly, as an introvert I have always needed some alone time. I love having this house full of folk, but that does not change me and me needing a little time to adjust and find my me time. It is easy though. Everyone that knows me seems to think that I am doing a really good job. I think I am doing a good job. You introverts can relate. We don’t have to be around people. We feel good in our own skin, but we love people and also love being around them. It makes no sense to someone that isn’t one of us.
It helps that my family are such wonderful people to be around. I just love them. The little girl brings so much joy every time she smiles. I became a family man and I love it. It isn’t always easy, of course. Decisions I use to make on my own don’t always work. I must consider how the others will feel or be affected by what I decide.
For example: cooking. Deciding on meals. Cooking is not as simple. There is a picky eater under the roof. I like to experiment and constantly try new things. I get bored of the same things all the time. Often at work when I have downtime I am looking at new recipes on the internet. In the past I would decide on dinner right at the moment I found a recipe that called my name. Not so much anymore. I need to make sure everyone will like it. My new challenge is looking for meals that we all agree on and it’s been rather fun. The kids also have meals that they like to have in rotations, so I’m adjusting to that as well. Sometimes it would be months before I would eat the same meal again. I still make sure to have a couple “new” meals a week. Often that means two meals are being cooked on a given night but that’s no big deal.
Friday finally rolled around and I think everyone was ready for it. I had only a handful of things that I needed to take care of to complete my work load for the week and I was thankful for that. Well that easy landing didn’t happen. I maxed out my work card and it could no longer be used to complete my job until I had my limit bumped, which was eventually done. It was no problem staying busy because of all the strange unplanned BS that kept coming up during the day. Oh yeah, we had an earthquake. It sounded like someone was breaking into my house. What a day. Weird as it was I kind of liked it and it made 5o’clock roll right on.
After work I made a trip to purchase some patio chairs, pick up some med and I cooked for us. A drink felt good. Cheers and happy Friday!!
So one of my favorite actors passed away. Gene Hackman. Always looked the same in every movie through every year. Movies that have impacted my life and mean much to me over the years would be Superman, Unforgiven, The Replacements, The Royal Tenenbaums and The French Connection. Such a talented actor that always made a movie good. Rest in peace.
Jalapeño
A weird take on a breakfast burger. I usually use chorizo mixed with beef but I had some breakfast sausage. It wasn’t something that I’ll be making again.
Marry Me Chicken Orzo.
Breakfast mini open faced omelette w/ jalapeño poppers, pigs in a blanket and tots.
Sunday I made chicken thigh, sausage, grilled okra and Yvette made a pasta salad. It was a family feast.
I grilled some Caribbean pork ribeyes with some sweet ginger broccoli as the side.
Homemade ginger sauce!!! Hibachi steak, shrimp, chicken and veggies. I had steamed rice and Yvette made fried. Family dinner.
Fish tacos.
Chicken fried steak by Yvette.
Creole Cajun pasta with shrimp and sausage.
En Fuego 