Christmas tree lighting was a crazy time. Beautiful except for the actual fake tree. Yvette and he daughter and I went for a little bit before we bailed to make some dinner. Tuesday dinner date.

Yvette and I went to graze the food and enjoy the beverages at a campus event on campus. Great Colleges to Work For. Nice open bar. I had wine, scotch and a beer. She had some wine. We visited with people we knew. The food was good. I didn’t have dinner that night, really. I made some Queso upon request of Yvette’s daughter. It was fun spending time mostly alone with her.

It was a wild week. Busy at work and I still don’t feel muy bueno. Not to mention a lot of wild stuff outside of work. It was also a damn good thing in many ways. Things that needed testing. Very important.

I hope all of you had a happy Friday.

Jalapeño.

Monday night menudo. Yvette’s family’s treat.

Real ravioli. Not the canned stuff.

Sweet chili chicken with hoisin zucchini.

Hibachi with Yvette and her family.

Slept in late. Woke up to a gloomy Saturday. It was perfect. I got up and made Yvette and I some Eggs Benedict. She woke up right as I was finishing. I had a surprise trip to Midas to drop of her daughters car and it was off to the movies for a solo horror outing. Thanksgiving. I had been waiting for this movie since 2007. 16 years coming. It was based off a fake trailer for the Grindhouse movies Death Proof & Planet Terror. It was the slasher movie that the holiday season needed. I had a beer and pizza and kicked back and enjoyed. After the movie I played some Zelda. It was a nice Saturday.

It was a 2 1/2 word week. A breeze. Most people were gone. I made my “happy thanksgiving” rounds. I tried to stay busy.

Thanksgiving was fun this year. Different. I spent the days with Yvette. Had lunch with her family. It was a great time. I’m lucky to like all the family.

Jalapeño

Eggs Benedict. I add some green sauce to the hollandaise sauce. We enjoyed our brunch.

Deconstructed chicken pot pie.

Biscuits and gravy. Breakfast for dinner.

Work potluck.

Shrimp & corn bisque.

Orange chicken with broccoli.

Thanksgiving!!! Yvette’s family.

Friday fried chicken & beans and sauerkraut mix I made.

Monday was so nice and gloomy. Rain!!!! I didn’t want to get out of bed.

The week wasn’t anything special. I was stuck in the office, PT killed me, but the nights were great. Love my Yvette. We had dinner together 3 times and once as a family.

I was on office duties so work was rather lame. It was really slow. Not much to talk about because little was done. Friday night Yvette and I went to the campus ring ceremony to support her student worker, but otherwise that was a about it. Nothing to write home about.

Happy Friday!!!!

Jalapeño

Lasagna soup. Yvette and I enjoyed it.

Coconut shrimp and some other goodies.

Egg Roll Bowl. I cooked for 6!! Yvette’s kids. I made enough except for rice. Everyone went back for seconds.

Lasagna and Italian green beans. I know, I like lasagna.

Date night cooking. Shrimp & sausage creole.

Monday I woke up sick as can been. I guess that 5 day expired chicken thigh was an awful idea. It made me squeamish for a couple days. I really didn’t start feeling better and like myself until Thursday.

Wednesday night I had my MRI for my back. Yvette was sweet enough to come with me. I was going to reward her with a dinner date afterwards. The MRI is a noisy machine. Even with soothing music on the headphones it was hell. Also very claustrophobic. I tried to think happy thoughts and keep my eyes closed. Yvette said it was about 30 min.

Thursday’s PT session damn near had me faint. The pain was real. When Yvette picked me up I probably looked like I want to cry. It was that bad. Never a good sign when they say “today I want to try something a little different with you”. Fuck that shit. I know it’s helping but damn. I’m over this shit.

Thursday was also a 16th birthday. Her boy started the day taking his driving test. In the rain. I know he was nervous but the rain was also a benefit. It was an extra learning experience. He passed and got his license to drive. He also could not make up his mind where to eat that night. Think he changed his mind 4 times.

Friday morning I just wanted to stay in bed. It was a gloomy day with a little precipitation. It did not move fast.

Happy Friday!!!

Jalapeño

Beef and broccoli with the kids and Yvette.

Morning ham and chipotle cheese omelet .

Spicy chicken thigh with some veggies. This meal gave me food poisoning. It was a little overdue. I was a fool.

Chef Boyardee lasagna and green beans. Not bad.

Ramen for my tummy.

Finally had my appetite back. Yvette and I went out on a date after my MRI. Fish and shrimp tacos.

Birthday boy turned 16 and passed his drivers test. Time to celebrate. We all went to Craving Crab. The food was excellent but the service was shit. I got the spicy Cajun shrimp. Scarfed it down before I could get a picture but I had enough for lunch leftovers.

Tonight for Yvette and the 16 year old it was seared tuna, kimchi, seaweed salad & Japanese cucumber salad w/ sushi rice.

The homecoming parade was fun. It was kind of emotional seeing Yvette’s daughter in the parade float. The morning couldn’t have been nicer. RamJam was a buffet of food. Everywhere I turned something else was being offered. I also believe I took advantage of probably 4 free beers. Yvette had a hard seltzer and 2 glasses of wine. It’s a fun family experience. I think her daughter likes the “privilege” of being able to hang out inside the building. You have to have that alumni status. All the free shit, it’s already paid for itself.

Finally some much needed rain. Good lord did we need it. It was so nice and gloomy on Wednesday that I really considered staying home. We had 2.5 inches at my house. Such a beautiful day.

Thursday I woke up around 4 and couldn’t go back to sleep. I really thought about calling in the morning but didn’t. I was hurting like hell. It was all my back and foot. I also knew I had physical therapy and it was going to be brutal. You know that tired feeling when your eye twitches all day. That was me. I wasn’t wrong about the PT. It kicked my ass HARD. I was spent and actually felt a little sick.

That evening it was off to the last home town football game of the season. He little boys team only lost 22-28 but damn if it wasn’t a fun game to watch. It was a long day and I really felt like I was to beat up to attend but I pull myself together and made it just after halftime. Im glad that I did.

Happy Friday!!!

Jalapeño

Homecoming ram jam food. Run and egg roll.

Pulled pork tacos with pickled red onion and jalapeño.

Pulled pork sandwich w/ Mac & cheese salad.

Chimichurri steak & scalloped potatoes. Yvette graced me with her presents.

Biscuits & spicy sausage gravy w/ sunny side eggs.

Salmon with a white win butter sauce and some broccoli cheese rice. Might not look great but Yvette and her boy loved it.

Saturday was busy for me. I was all over the town. Many errands knocked out. Picked up some finishing touches on my Halloween outfit. Once all was complete I finally made it home to cook. I made dinner and brought it over to Yvette’s to eat. It was a great day.

Halloween. Last year I was fucked. I was hospitalized. I don’t remember a damn thing. This year I wanted it to be better. It was better.

My mom made us a spooky cheese cake. Amazing. So I was a clown and Yvette was a bumble bee. The kids looked great as Luigi and Wednesday Adam’s. They handed out most the candy. The night was special for multiple reasons. I wasn’t going to the ICU like the year before, and I proposed. As a clown. To a bumble bee. Whom I love. She said yes. She is my best friend and meeting her, I wouldn’t have thought this is where we would end up. It was such a great moment that I shall not forget. Halloween how it should be. It was special. I have a fiancé and I love her so much. Very special week. Long time coming. I always planned on Halloween.

The rest of the week was great. It was amazing seeing the reaction people had to the news. Happy Friday!!!!

Jalapeño

Ground beef fajita bowl. Seasoned meat, red, yellow green bell peppers, jalapeño and onion. Served over lettuce and topped with cheese, pico and sound cream. New recipe. Fantastic.

Chili & jalapeño corn bread.

Frito pie.

Cincinnati Chili.

Pad Kra Kao. Hot as hell.

Friday date night chicken stir-fry. I just threw some shit together.

What a Saturday. I woke up and it was Hazel’s 8th birthday. I had to get her some treats and a toy. I can’t believe it’s been 8 years that I’ve been blessed with her. She has saved my life mentally and she has driven me nuts. I suppose that’s what children also do at times? I’m so happy to have her.

Following that celebration I made some eggs and waited for the eclipse. We don’t get these all that often. So all last week I distributed eclipse glasses. I hope they went to good use because they were worth it. The ring of fire. Yvette and I went to the campus and viewed. It was really spectacular. I can say it was the best that I’ve seen. We both spent the better part of 2 hours walking around the campus. The sun coming through the trees was amazing. I didn’t expect that. Look at the picture below. Afterwards we snagged some food right near campus. What a morning. We had a great day together.

Homecoming week. Yvette, her daughter and I went to the Blue & Gold Bash. If you are a constant reader you probably know what time talking about. It was, as usual, a good amount of fun. I was a little hindered by pain so I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I’d have liked. The students all seemed to have a hoot. I love homecoming week.

The Thursday football game was set out of town so I missed it. I saw video of Yvette’s son making an interception. Other than that I was told it wasn’t a pretty watch and they lost. Can’t win them all I suppose.

Friday came along. I knew it would be a slow afternoon so I brought my Nintendo Switch so I could play some Zelda at the end of the day. I was right. A drag…. That evening we had the homecoming bonfire. They only started stacking the pallets that very same day. It was not a very big stack. I don’t know who dropped the ball. It actually looked pretty good. I met Yvette’s daughter. Yvette was at the high school game.

Happy Friday!

Jalapeño

Buffalo drum stick with Mac and cheese and slaw. Yvette and her daughter came over. We had a little feast. The Mac and cheese was damn amazing.

Hamburger helper with mushrooms and spinach.

Stuffed bell pepper with beans.

A very tired in pain me decided to make easy comfort food. Sausage, beans & rice. Of course the jalapeño.

Breakfast for dinner. Spicy sausage with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce garnished with jalapeño and a side of hash browns.

Teriyaki shrimp with grilled veggies and grilled fried rice. I also made a ginger sauce.

It was a hard week for me. I knew 4 people that all passed away.

Carla. A friend of mine. Cancer. Damn it. We all knew it was coming but just not over night. At least she is no longer suffering. I will forever miss her hugs and embracing me as a friend when I was going through my divorce. She was a real ray of light and the world is a little dimmer without her here.

Shawn. A man that worked with my mother for years and years. He taught me so much when I moved into my house. I knew nothing about electrical work before him teaching me. He fought through lung cancer but the wear it did on his lungs was to much. They eventually failed him.

Meema Gwen. I’ve know her my entire life. She was 104 when she passed away. That’s a long life. It’s sad but not as surprising as the others

RIP my friends.

Thursday was me going through the ringer. Physical therapy, football game and the state picnic. The PT was by far the hardest session yet. It all involved me standing. It was pain personified. I collapses into my car after the session. The rest of the work day was a blur. I hurt and I could have passed out at any moment.

After work I had the football game and the state picnic. I got off work and ran home to feed the dogs before heading out to the game. I’ll admit, I took some Aleve and had a beer while there. My body was a wreck. I hurt in places that I’ve never hurt. This was the first time since 1999 weight training classes in high school that I actually felt sick from overdoing physical activity. The game I didn’t want to miss but damn if it wasn’t painful. They won again. Maybe I’m good luck?

The state picnic was good. I needed the free beer to relax my muscle’s. The food was good. We somehow missed the brisket but I guess it was a little late. I saw people I work with regularly. Bob, my recently retired coworker. Bob won a $100 gift card at the state picnic. He also walked away with 30lbs of brisket. Yvette and I were wondering how the hell that worked since he wasn’t employed by the state anymore. He was also drunk.

Happy Friday the 13th!!!!

This part is not PC but I’m going to quote it was best I can. Best thing I’ve heard at the bar from some random guy: “Wait a second. Am I retarded? Is that’s what’s wrong with me? 42 years old and just realizing I’m a retard. Is that why people are nice and always waving at me? Wave to the retard. Be nice to him. I’m fucking retarded, aren’t I? That’s why my life has been so hard. I’m retarded and didn’t know it. Explains a lot of my hardships. I’m a fucking retard”. I can’t tell you why the man had this sudden epiphany, but it was funny being a fly on the wall to observe. I was trying not to morn Carla.

Jalapeño

Saturday Yvette and I just had an appetizer night. Ceviche, jalapeño poppers, bbq weenies and chips & Queso.

Zucchini noodles and a meat sauce.

Yvette made a meal! Buffalo Garbage chicken. It’s chicken inside a pizza crust. Damn good meal.

Lemon asparagus chicken stir fry. Yvette seemed to like it.

Spicy chicken breast with Queso rice & a salad.

Thee state picnic with Yvette and her family. It was after the game and the bastards stopped serving the brisket. Oh well, I was still a good free meal with free beer.

Date night w/ Yvette!! One of the things I look most forward to. The kids were not with us tonight so we at and watched Anthony Bourdain. Creamy Alfredo with mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and Italian sausage.

The weekend was great. Saturday was a busy day. We slept in until around 10 and she left to get her youngest kid whom I was paying to mow my damn yard. I hate this back. I left to grab all 3 of us some burritos. He wanted tapatios. He mowed and I did the weed eating. That itself kind of hurt. Fucking back.

We we to Sam’s and I ended up buying more that I planned. We god some bunt cake for a first birthday. Yes, an 18 year old had her first ever birthday celebration. Jehovah’s Witness. She is old enough to make up her mind so she wanted a birthday. 4 of us went out to eat and celebrate. It was so cute. I and Yvette’s daughter (I think) got the entire restaurant to sing happy birthday. After that her and I went and had some cocktails down town and then we came to my house and chilled out. What a great day.

Sunday I slept in and had brunch with my mom. Lazy day. Yvette brought me some of her parents menudo. My stupid back decided it wanted to scream. It was a painful great day.

The days were so much nicer this week. We had overcast skies and cooler days. It finally felt like fall. Unfortunately, the football game was out of town so I missed it. Would have been a good week to sit in the stadium.

Physical therapy…. Thursday’s are just going to suck for the next 6 months. This Thursday was pretty hard. He ended the session a little early because he could tell I had had enough. Sterling is a good guy. Maybe a little too cheerful while hurting me. I really hope this work out and is worth all the pain involved.

Friday was beautiful outside. I love that it feels like fall, finally. I spent to good time on the golf car. Yvette did our first mail run in a while and it was great. Once off work I came home and relaxed before dinner. I started cooking and my guest showed up a little early. That was fine because the meal was quick. We all had a good time (I think) and enjoyed the food. I was afraid that I didn’t have enough ingredients and I had more than enough. They all had leftovers. What a night.

Happy Friday!!!!

Jalapeño.

Leftover chicken enchilada.

Teriyaki chicken thing with a veggie stir fry.

Beef bulgolgi with kimchi & sticky rice. this was a request by Yvette.

Chicken soft tacos for National Taco Day.

Sloppin chicken with grilled okra and corn.

Pizza bowls!!! Yvette and the two youngest joined for this adventure. It was really good.

Training our new employee is still going well. I took him with me this week to get a feel for the purchasing aspect of the job. He had his first experience spending the university’s money. I really like him and hope he sticks around for a little while at least. I am aware he is retired and does not need the job for a living so he could bounce at any time.

Week two of having good blood sugar. I feel so so so much better. My back and nerve pain not so much. More physical therapy. I’m really hoping this is worth my pain. It helped for a few days and I think I over did it. I’d really like to be capable of mowing my own yard again. My damn neighbor made a comment about it. Dude, Yvette and her daughter would beat my ass if I tried to mow my yard right now. Besides, I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. Damn back.

Thursday’s physical therapy kicked my ass. At one point I seriously thought I was going to cry. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk myself out of the building. Talk about torture. Damn sadist. It really zapped all the energy out of the rest of my day. It was a good thing there wasn’t a football game after work. That might have been a real struggle. After work I went to my mothers for a second. All I really wanted to do is hit my couch and play Zelda. I did indeed play some Zelda though.

Friday, finally. Bittersweet day. Bob was retiring. I didn’t know how I felt. Maybe a little sad. Worked with him for about 13 years. We had a small group of people all working together and just this year 3 of them have left. You get accustomed to seeing the same person almost everyday. I might have had my issues with Bob at times but I still liked the guy. Things will not be the same with out him. Not only was he knowledgeable(34 year on the job) but he also game us plenty of stories. The words that would come out of his mouth some days. Good lord. I could write a book. I truly hope he has a great retirement. Never thought I’d say it, but I’ll miss him.

Happy Friday!!! Dinner with Yvette and kids. They must have liked it because they had seconds. We got the telescope out and looked at the moon. Great night.

Jalapeño.

Stuffed salmon with broccoli cheese.

Steak and veggies.

Ground beef stir fry. The veggies included are asparagus, red bell, jalapeño, onion. Topped with green onion and bean sprouts over a little rice to give it texture.

Ground beef street tacos.

Armadillo eggs with grilled okra.

Shrimp tacos. I was almost so tired from PT that I was going to bypass even cooking. I manned up and cooked.

Dinner with the family. Yvette and the kids came over and we had a chicken enchilada “casserole”. Yvette made the Spanish rice.