Saturday was weird. I woke up in a good mood and got a fairly late start to the day. I ran some errands. It was bloody hot. Yvette ran her own errands. She wasn’t having the good day that I was. Shame, really. I grabbed stuff for dinner and a pineapple I later carved for Teegan. My main goals for the day was to clean the bathrooms and get some home defense to fight off the roaches that have gotten bold with the weather. I usually try and keep up with that but I ran out and had been busy with other things. Not that the roaches were bad, but still. I’d rather not see any.

The evening approached quickly. It’s crazy how fast a day will fly by when you are doing things that you enjoy. That evening the weather changed on a dime.The wind picked up and it went from 94 degrees to a mere 54. I was determined to grill and already had all the fixings for it. Be damned if the weather was not grilling weather anymore. I made some yummy teriyaki chicken and pineapple fried rice. Good stuff for Yvette, Tee and I. It was still so quiet in the house without the little girl.

I put on a horror movie. Final Destination 5. I had really only seen the first 2 in the franchise. It’s all about the elaborate deaths. Very little substance. I have to say, I rather enjoyed this one. Just good dumb entertainment that you don’t need to think about.

Super Bowl LIX. The 59. Chiefs vs Eagles. I hate the Eagles so of course I’m going for the Chiefs. I mean, I already like them well enough. I am a loyal Mahomes fan. He did go to Texas Tech. I watched the game at Yvette’s parents and they all hate Mahomes. That’s what happens when you are a winner, everyone gets tired of hearing about you. He has already had 3 Super Bowel wins so it was easy to hate on him. They made all sorts of treats for the game. Ribs, pulled pork. The list goes on. I think the game is more show than an actual sporting event. It was fun for everyone though.

There is something to be said about being the only person at a party going for a team. I was the sole Chief fan. Boy did I get shit from the family. I had fun and can take it. I’m not that big a fan so I really didn’t care. I understand the hate. They were sick the Chiefs and Majomes. I suppose I was the same way towards the Patriots when they were winning. Tom Brady the worst player on earth and I really only didn’t like him or the team because I was tired of hearing about them winning all the time. Well the game was boring and one sided. The Chiefs got spanked. I ate too well and was getting sleepy from the lack of excitement. We left a little under 3 min left of the game and one more score was made but it still didn’t matter.

Once home it was packing time for the first college tour. Here we come University of Texas. I have to say I have always hated UT but it Tee ends up going I will quickly become a fan.

Monday we worked through lunch and took off at 4 to hit the road. Work was a little crazy short staffed but we managed. The road was something crazy. Of course the weather had to turn on us. It was damp and really foggy all the way to Austin. I mean, unreal fog. We got to town hungry and went for wings with my brother and his girlfriend. Had a couple beers and came back to their place to crash. The tours started early the next morning.

Of course that Tuesday morning was a day forecast for heavy showers. 1-2 inches. Typical. Rain or shine the tour must go on. I mean, these are scheduled far in advance and people travel great distances to attend them, of course they continue. I thought it will be an interesting time dancing in the rain. I had foreseen this and packed us all umbrellas and what I hoped was a real rain jacket. My university supplied it as one but I never really put it to the test. I will report back. I must admit the idea of wearing another university’s apparel on a university tour seemed lame. It was either that or get wet. Oh well.

We actually got pretty lucky when it came to the actual campus tour. It stopped raining about 5 min before and started up again about 5 min before it ended. We really didn’t get all that wet. The tour guide was good. We saw some nice landmarks and got a nice feel for the university. It was interesting seeing a tour for another campus. I need to talk to my people in Admissions. I actually liked the weather being how it was. We wished we could have seen more than the buildings that we were able to see but we did not get that luxury with the rain. The only time we actually got wet was when we went out on our to find the University Co-Op & bookstore. Our feet were drenched.

The drive back was not as bad. It was heavy rain for about 30 min but lessened up and eventually just became a heavy due. We passed on lunch for a little joint out of town about half-way home called Cooper’s BBQ. Fantastic food. Teegan had never been and I think he was at first not sure what to make of the place. It’s a Texas staple and of course he liked it. We tired a little bit of everything. Chicken, pork tenderloin & ribs, chopped brisket. The works. We left bloated, happy and impressed..

I was pretty excited for Teegan. I honestly am excited abut the prospect of him attending UT. It is a good school, despite all the terrible things I have said about it over the years. It’s also much closer to us and it has my brother and a pretty campus. I know her has not made up his mind yet, and that is a good thing. I hope that I can help with whatever he finally decides upon. I am proud of him. He is a smart kid with dedication and options that I never had. Upon 24 hours later getting home we just got a damn pizza for dinner. What a 24 hours.

Wednesday rolled around and it was back to work. I talked about the trip and everyone seemed kind of excited for us. I actually had a good day back at work in the middle of the week. Yvette once again was not having a good day. I think she has too much going on and needs to mellow out some or we need a vacation. I hate seeing her so wound up tight. Relaxation is central to a healthy life. I found a bit of booze helps me. Call me an alcoholic, but I feel much better and healthier being relaxed. I don’t need a heart attack from stress. Anyways, we had hopes after work to look at a car for Teegan. A car that we had been speaking to the dealership about. Well, 3 min before we left they send a text that they sold it. Fuck. Let’s add to Yvette’s stress. We went to HEB for some dinner and I went to get my Cholesterol meds. We all ate. I guess it was a good evening. A lot of “What can one do”? Nothing. You can take life into your hands but life will never be in your hands. Just learn to roll with it. Stress is one of the most common causes of death, BTW.

Thursday was rocky. Don’t ask me why, but it was. I never understand all things. It was fucking cold again. 22 degrees when I woke up and never made it past 44. I went about the day just waiting for the evening. Yvette had her service awards and I honestly couldn’t wait to attend it with her. I never went to my own but I was happy for her and excited to go with her. I like doing things with my wife that I never did before. I did some digging to see if she would be in front of people and sure enough she would. She wanted to know how she needed to look. She needn’t worry because she was the most stunning woman to walk across that stage. We had a nice little meal and complimentary drinks. We sat at a table with a bunch of IT guys. Some I have know for 20 years. It was funny, honestly. I saw some people I had no idea had been there so long, and others I thought had been there longer. I think we both needed the evening. A fine distraction from some of the cards felt in life and the bullshit that it carries. I do love this woman.

Valentine’s Day. I wanted this to be special. It was a long busy week. I had this day and night planned for a while. All our years together had just been me cooking a romantic dinner at my house, as it was back in those days. Well it really wasn’t anymore. It wasn’t a place we could just spend time alone now that the kids also share a roof. Looks like we needed to go out. Also, I was excited about finally taking Yvette out for V-Day. I had reservations made a month ago.

We got dressed up. Her in a dress and I in a suit. The dinner was a 4 course meal with only two entree options. The environment was beautiful. I think that might have been the most relaxed dress up dinner we have ever had. It was a lot of damn fun. My mom made a damn fine cheese cake to finish off the evening. I over did the carbs with that damn danish. Oh well. Once a year.

Happy Valentine’s Day and happy Friday!!!

Jalapeño

Breakfast baked potato. Sunny egg, bacon, cheese w/ green onion & jalapeño.

For dinner I made some Pineapple fried rice and teriyaki chicken thighs on the grill.

Traditional English Breakfast.

Pluckers in Austin. Buffalo lemon pepper chicken.

Yvette made chili and I made noodles. Cincinnati chili.

Campus service awards. Yvette was up for her 5 year and we attended. This was the first time I had ever been to one of these events. I skipped mine. I will say the food was rather nice and the open bar even better.

Happy Valentine’s Day. Yvette and I had a 4 course meal.

The weekend was rather nice. The usual chores around the house. I was finally willing to venture outside and take care of some long overdue yard work such as cleaning the patio and trimming plant life back. It had been rather cold throughout most of January and February ushered in some much desired warmer weather. I think we all rather enjoyed the warm sun. Alaya really seemed to like it.

I went to go see a horror movie in the theater solo. It has been a little while since I had done that? Maybe a month, haha. “Companion”. I had high anticipation s of it being a good film. The reviews were in and the score was high. I picked a spot to watch the film and once entering the theater realizes I didn’t like the spot. I found another one and kept my fingers crossed that no one would come claim the seat. I was in luck. The movie began. I was not thrilled. I had seen to many previews and knew to many plot twist. That’s the problem with movie previews. I was not happy with the movie. It was kind of lame. The story could have been good but they failed it. I left thinking I wasted time and money. I wondered how it had such a high score.

That Saturday moon and Venus. What a treat that was. On my way home I also noticed some doors on a campus building wide opened. Two hours later they were still opened. I sure did call the campus police and notify them. I felt it was my duty. How the hell no one noticed or reported before blows my fucking mind. Bad security? I just hope no one snuck into the building. I assume it was negligence on someone a part. Clearly whomever was allowed into the building that day did not double check to make sure the doors were all closed and locked. Oops. Yvette sent some emails to some people she also felt needed to know. It’s all been reported now.

Yvette and I thought we might have an evening to ourselves but we were wrong. Lola and the baby came back and we made a fire and we cooked some s’mores. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. I cooked many of them and ate more than I needed. Alaya was loving the warm e[weather. She liked looking at the fire dance away in the pit. It was a beautiful evening. I like the way this week looks. I want to grill as much as possible.

Sunday I woke up and made a feast. I made ham, mushroom chipotle cheese omelets with some hash brown tots and pigs in a blanket. It was a meal that everyone seemed to enjoy. Even Alaya had a good time with it. Of course, it was Groundhog Day so I had to watch the classic movie with Bill Murray. It was the first of many viewings of the movie that Sunday. BTW, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. That means we have 6 more weeks of winter. It sure didn’t feel like that Sunday. It reached 81 degrees and the forecast ahead looked even warmer. That really means nothing here in the great state of Texas.

Noah decided it would be a good day to have a fish fry. He had a LOT of catfish from his fishing venture and brought it all over to Yvette’s parents to fry up. We had fired fish, shrimp, hush puppies, slaw and corn. Oh, some fires for good measure. For some reason Yvette thought that I didn’t like catfish. So the misunderstanding comes from the fact that I will not pay for catfish. Maybe I am a fish snob, but I will not fork over cash for those bottom feeders. This does not mean that I do not like them. Honestly, Yvette probably had never seen me eat catfish. I will also say that knowing where the fish came from makes them taste better. It was a lot of fun. We also decorated some valentine cake. I made a heart for Yvette. I guess this is a valentine tradition that I missed that they do every year. As proof in the below picture, I am a little rusty when it comes to decorating a cake.

That night I was having Noah and Nadia over for some brisket and sliders. I was all prepped for the meal. I have to say that at the time the thought of food was rather repulsive. I was so bloated and had eaten so much during the day. I ran the store and grabbed food for the week and went out to my moms to grab some frozen steak we would need. Came back home and started the food. The brisket had cooked for 8 hours and was fantastic. The sliders turned out fantastic with the Hawaiian rolls. Everything was great. I was o happy they came over for dinner. It was only fair. Noah provided the catfish that we had for lunch. He spent 3 weeks out on the lake catching those bottom feeders. It was a lot of fun an and I determined we need to do this more often. What a heck of a Sunday.

Monday morning and a very warm week ahead. Unseasonable warm weather for the first week of February. I damn, I am not acclimated for this heat. The week prior I was freezing wearing wool socks. Oh well. The weather is a trip. The day was mostly pain free. I started it with a yummy cinnamon roll. I had to deal with the same dumbass in our campus garage ordering parts from vendors that are not in our system for tax exemption. I don’t understand why no one gets onto him for this. No supervision . I was able to get it worked out with our purchasing department and eventually I paid for the item. I was happy to be out of the office driving around with my windows down enjoying the nice weather.

After work we went to the grocery store and started our own little leftover dinners. We had enough stuff to feed everyone but we had to make multiple meals. I made a weird red enchilada dish with some brisket. It was okay but not perfect. Yvette made some junk chicken with leftover rotisserie. That might have been the best dish. Lola had some black beans and sausage. After that I went and had a drink and visited with my friend Art. He wanted to hear about my weird hotdog brunch and talk about paying off his home. I miss this guy. Always has been a good friend. I wish Yvette would come with me for once but she is busy. One day I will drag her along. At home we all joked and watched a little TV. It was a damn good Monday.

It’s crazy we have all been under the same roof for a month. It flies by so fast. I think I transitioned from living alone to sharing a roof with 4 people pretty well. I must admit that I was a little scared but that turned out to be a little unfounded. I’m sure, if anything, I might be the difficult one. I am a bit OCD about the kitchen being clean and I pick up constantly. I can’t help it. I drive myself nuts in that regard. I’m sure that constantly moving stuff might be a little annoying. What can I do? I guess it keeps them on their toes. Where did Jordan out my hoodie this time? How is the kitchen already clean and we haven’t even had our dinner yet? Yes, I clean the kitchen while I am cooking. I don’t like the dishes after I eat. I am weird.

The middle of the week Tee wasn’t feeling so hot so we got him a doctor’s appointment. He doesn’t go tot the doctor so Yvette said he must not be feeling well. Yvette took him after lunch and they did all the test for all the fun things that are going around like crazy. Unfortunately he tested positive for the flu. He even had the vaccine. Bummer. It wasn’t a terrible case but I know he wasn’t feeling well. Poor guy. Lola loaded up the baby to find safer grounds and Yvette and I bunkered down with the boy. I figure at this point what the hell. I have been sharing a roof with him and I have been all over the filthy campus. If he gives me the flu, it happens. Let’s hope we both dodge the bullet.

I am such a routine guy. I hate that but I will admit it. Waking up Thursday to Teegan, Yvette, Lola and the baby getting ready for the day threw me off . I even slept in 20 min past my alarm. It just felt so weird. Funny that a little over a moth ago that was just my everyday routine. Boy how they change and we adapt. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I would normally had made breakfast for Yvette and I but I didn’t feel the need since it was just me. I have frozen food at work I can eat. I think the dogs were even thrown off by the quiet. They were just kind of standing around waiting to see what I was doing like, what is going on here?

I had my doctor call me in some preventative Tamaflu. Hopefully I will not need it. Hopefully no one will need it. The day was another busy one and made kind of boring with the lack of Yvette on campus. Staff senate called me to see if I wanted to join a committee to nominate people for awards. Sounds an awful lot like bullshit and they really couldn’t answer my questions on how much time it would entail but I said I would think about it. Turns out Yvette is on it already so I might just say yes and let them know I can’t guarantee that I can commit my time to it but she can be my eyes and ears and fill me in later. After work it was once again a very quiet house. Teegan was bored. We made some dinner and just relaxed. It was wild how quiet it was.

Friday I woke up 30 min late. What the hell! My alarm was set and didn’t go off and my internal alarm didn’t wake me up. Oh well. I was rushed but I always manage. It does not take me that long to get going if I really want to. I generally just don’t want to. I had no want to.

The day was generally full of bullshit. I had some seriously stupid questions asked of me at some seriously stupid times. I mean, my god does no one think ahead on the campus. Shouldn’t a room on campus be furnished weeks before some foreign exchange students arrive and not a couple hours? Shouldn’t that call be made before 4PM on a Friday? Besides, why is that my problem when it’s not my department?? I was irritated at the end of the my day. I was happy to get home to my wife.

Happy Friday!!

jalapeño

Saturday I tried something very different and maybe rather weird. I made an open faced cheese omelette, bacon wrapped SAM’s hotdog, toasted a bun and drizzled with a little hollandaise sauce. The result was rather fantastic.

Pork tenderloin with a raspberry chipotle sauce, sautéed yellow potatoes and some broccolini.

Ham chipotle mushroom cheese omelet w/ tots and pigs in a blanket.

Noah had a catfish fry over at Yvette’s parents.

Brisket, sliders, sausage, potato salad and beans.

Brisket enchilada over rice w/ black beans.

Steak bites in garlic & butter with rice. The others had baked potato.

Steak fajita bowls. I made this meal specifically for Lola but because she wanted to make sure the baby avoided the flu she wasn’t around to eat it.

Shake & Bake pork chops w/ a Dijon garlic cream sauce, balsamic feta carrots and buttery green beans.

Korean BBQ chicken thigh I made into a bowl with kimchi and seafood salad.

Saturday I got up and made some breakfast. It was a lazy morning. I cleaned the floors and played some Zelda. It wasn’t until after noon that I finally ventured out. I went to Sam’s for some gas and some chicken. I made a brutal trip to HEB. The place was packed. Later I rant o Pinkies to get some vodka for a pasta sauce I was making on Sunday and I grabbed a little tequila for Yvette and I. It was a nice of TV and the couch to ourselves. Nothing special but just a fun night together. We started and finished the first season of The Righteous Gemstones. Great show on HBO.

Sunday I woke up and made some breakfast. Later my mom took us all out to eat. It was cold again and I honestly didn’t want to do anything but play my game. I have come a long way in combat. I had taken out 2 of the 4 King Gleeoks. Big troublesome bastards that I was initially terrified to attack. A regular Gleeok was hard enough, but these kings had each of the elemental attacks of the three lesser Gleeoks These enemies have been popping up in the Zelda games since the early 1980’s. Real terror. I remember running from these beast when I first encountered one way back in July. It was an ice Gleeok and I was able to creep by unnoticed. That was my strategy for most the game. Eventually I found the nerve to face on that happened to be blacking a bridge that I needed to pass. The battle was epic and I died many times. Eventually I found a strategy and upon defeating my foe I realized my weapons stash was depleted. I knew I needed a better plan for the future. At this point in the game I am about as powerful as I can be and the kings hold the key to an item that I need otherwise I’d give them a hard pass. It’s not a game requirement but rather a goal. Fuck them!

I do not understand how the hours after lunch flew by as quickly as they did. I guess we finished up at 3:30 so not much time was left in the day before dark fell upon us. We did some shopping, I did my Sunday mother son visit. I watched some football. Before I knew it the weekend was over.

With a new week upon us and me probably out of the office most of the time, I was ready to go. My coworkers were having a Monday but I wasn’t having any of that. The morning wasn’t very busy but the after noon flew right on by. I asked an important question to my fellow staff senate Friday and we had a meeting Monday where I wished it had been addressed but it was not. I was unable to attend the meeting. Apparently the officers think they can make changed behind closed doors without the approval or votes of the other members. They decided to do away with online meeting and make it all physical attendance. I think this is total BS because not all of us are able to just pack up and attend what is generally a pointless meeting. How did they up and make that decision without anyone else’s say?

Tuesday some assface dumped 20 cats on the campus. In carriers. Out in the cold. The were conveniently in a location without cameras, which also brings a little questions. I drove by and saw the carriers and it had to be at least $300 worth. Crazy stuff. The week was kind of weird. Weird things like that.

I was touched this week that Teegan confided in me about a dance he was going to over the weekend, Saturday. I said something to Yvette about him not being with us Saturday night and she had no idea. He only told me. I was excited for him and asked if he needed his suit to go to the dry cleaner. It was last worn at his mother’s and my wedding. It was a pretty cool thing that he told me before anyone e else. Love the kid.

Good lord the campus was a cesspool of sickness. The employees are dropping like flies. Students are unable to attend classes. Empty desk and closed offices. It’s the flue, COVID & strep. A bad trio. I saw the lines at the pharmacies and the empty grocery stores. They even went as far as opening up the drive through tastings again, which were only last open during the pandemic. I hate so many people sick. Myself and the family have seemed to dodge the bullet. I am still getting over the gunk that I have had for a bout a month now so you bet I have been getting nasty looks from people when I have a runny nose and I cough. I can only assure them that the antibiotics did the job so many times. It takes me forever to kick the symptoms. Oh well.

Friday was sort of nice. It warmed up nicely. I had time to go stomping through my old grounds on campus. I saw an old friend, Moose. He was a young lad when I started working 13 yeas ago and now he is 17. The kids were cleaning out his tank when I stopped by to saw hello. The turtle was a little happy with that. I found my favorite section of the campus library and somehow located on of my favorite books on the subject of geological catastrophe. It was a mellow Friday. The week went by in a blur. It’s amazing how quick a busy week ends up being. We had a good week. Lots of crazy work and good times.

That night we watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. What a hell of a movie. I had seen it years ago and forgot how good it was. Great acting, story and setting. What a movie by one of my favorite directors, David Fincher. I love Danial Craig . I can’t believe the movie is 14 years old now. Christ. It came out in December 2011. The year I started working on campus. I feel so old. That was only yesterday. Boy has my life changed a lot in those years.

Happy Friday!!

Jalapeño

Chorizo potato hash with a sunny side egg.

BBG pork country ribs, jalapeño sausage, spicy slaw and baked beans.

Grilled sausage, hash browns and scrambled chest eggs.

Orzo alla vodka w/chicken. A vodka sauce I made with some basil and spinach. It was a fun experiment. I’ve never made my own vodka sauce and I really wasn’t sure how it should taste. Good start. Everyone seemed to like it. The pasta was sure different.

Chicken Alfredo lasagna rolls w/ green beans and a spinach salad.

Yvette made some BBQ pulled pork stuffed potato’s and I made a jalapeño cream corn. Yummy meal.

Pizza and wing night. I made a supreme and a Hawaiian pizza and baked some wings. All good.

Okinawa taco rice. A dish that shows two cultures can come together and create great things.

Chicken thigh bulgolgi noodles w/ kimchi & pot stickers.

Saturday was kind of a lazy morning. We had a late start and I made some breakfast. Once all showered and dressed Yvette and I made a venture to the store. It was a circus. Damn all the people preparing for the cold, the football games and the long weekend.

The night was football and burgers. I prepared some meat and took orders. At first it was simply Yvette and I. We had some mushroom swiss bourbon bacon burgers. The Chiefs and the Texans. I was torn. I like both teams but I had to go for my state boys, The Texans. They lost. The next game was The Commanders vs the Lions. Damn good game. Yvette and I had a little tequila and treated it like a date night while the kids were gone.

Davids Lynch passed away. One of my all time favorite film artist and directors. The man that made weird films. Great weird films. Dark weird films with love. So much love. Lost Hightways, Blue Velvet, and so much more. Twin Peaks might be his Opus. It makes me was a good pie. Christ, I loved this guys work. I was uttering sad., I decided to look up some obscure work of his and I started watching it. RIP.

Sunday might have been the laziest day that I’ve had in a long time, and it was nice. I woke up with a raspy ass voice. Damn that wind and dirt on Friday. I was getting over all my aliments. Anywho, we slept in and made a late breakfast. I grilled some e burgers, grilled in the bitter cold. We put some football on and we relaxed some more. At some point I decided to go get some more mucus meds for my nose and throat. I bought a little more than that. Essentials. I came home for a bit and watched a little more football before running off to visit with my mother. I need to have a Sunday lunch with her soon, it’s been a little while.

I guess this free trail to YouTube TV was worth the 6 NFL games that we were able to watch from the comfort of our couch. I really enjoyed the LA Rams the two games in which I watch. These Play off games have been pretty amazing, sans ref calls. The refs can eat crow. I mean, I really wanted the Texans to win against the Chiefs even though I had been going for the Chiefs all year, but the Chiefs won after some bullshit calls by the refs or lack of calls. That’s been a problem all damn season. Bastards.

National Popcorn Day!! I was told to find a big container that we could eat out of and go to one of the local movie theater and they would give me a good price for popcorn. I honestly wasn’t too excited about this idea because it made no sense and I sure felt silly walking into the place with a bucket to be filled with popcorn. Was this a joke? I found a bucket and I dragged my happy ass to the moves. I was not alone. I would say at least 100 people were there while I was just for popcorn. The guy I was standing next to was in the same shoes I was in. He was trying to get out of it and told his wife that he had no containers that he felt were big enough that he felt safe eating out of. His wife went to the fridge and emptied out a drawer and cleaned it up for him and handed it to him and told him to get pop corn.The entire thing was a trip. Lots of people with trick or treat buckets and just random BS to gather popcorn. I really wonder what the size limit was. Walking out with my full bucket I had a smile on my face. I passed 3 young ladies walking in with very similar buckets as mine and I just gave them a thumbs up. I felt like I was a part of something specials.

Monday was MLK Day so we didn’t have work. We were better off because it was damn cold. Lower 20s when I woke up at 8. Everyone in the house was staying cozy in bed so I got up and made some biscuits and hatch chili sausage gravy. A nice warm meal for a cold cold morning. I made an eBay sale. I was originally planning on going to a funeral for a coworker that passed away but decided against it. The cold played a big part in that decision but so did my wellness factor. I was stuffy and had a slight cough. No reason to be that guy at the funeral.

We didn’t want to venture out into the cold but eventually we had to. We made a trip to Sam’s for some essentials. Not really but sort of really. We also picked up a pizza while there for a late lunch. That done I made a quick trip to the grocery store and went to my mothers to visit a little while before coming home and making some curry which I wasn’t sure anyone would eat but Yvette and I. Teegan did eat some. We stayed warm the rest of the night and watch them National Championship college football game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. The Game looked in favor of the Buckeyes but The Irish came back and made it a hell of a game. The type of game I like to see. I would call this could fucking weekend a success.

So it seems the fat orange imbecile is once again President of the United States. This rich orange bigot racist asshole that has nothing but ignorance and hate in his heart. This man unfit to trim his own fucking toenails let alone wipe his own ass has somehow been elected to run a power house country. More likely to destroy a country. His fat ass managed to bring us many steps backwards during his first term. Boy am I excited to see where he brings us next. This guy spews nothing but garbage and hate. The best part is that somehow, like the biblical Satan, he has tricked the mass into thinking he is Gods vessel. I suppose the people never watched any of the Omen movies? I’m sorry. I have been raised in a church/god loving family and I see nothing but evil and hatred when I look at Trump. How anyone can think he has anything to do with the lord, I must ask, what is it you see? Think of what the Bible preaches and compare it to what this man says and what he stands for. For those working class people that think he even knows a damn thing about you, just remember this man has put our lively hood in the hands of some of the most detached wealthy people in the world. People that view you as nothing but insects. You are disposable if it means earning a dime. This is the man that you voted for. Utter trash. Trash. An emaressment to the office of president. If there is a judgment when we reach the afterlife this man will no be passing through the pearly gates. This man will be cast down into the abysmal fires of hell. He will reside in Judecca, the ninth circle of hell, reserved for those that have committed utter treachery and betrayal against loved ones, friends and country. I hope that he enjoyed his finally audience in Satan himself. Fuck this man.

I had to let that rant out. I don’t like politicians in general but I absolutely don’t like that man. Gormless freak.

Wednesday. Hump day, so quick on a short week. It was slow and cold and our morning meeting was late and pointless. I was stuck in the office and I had very little to do. Lunch rolled around and I frilled Yvette a Sam’s hotdog and I made some spicy ramen noodles with chicken and snap peas. The rest of the say was just as exciting if not maybe even more so. I wanted to pull my hair out I was so happy to be there. At least the afternoon was shorter. After work it was just running to the store for our dinner while Yvette cooked. We watched some Yellowjackets. It was a quiet evening. It was nice ending to a quiet day.

Thursday. Heck.The mornings this week were brutal. I actually had thermals on, both bottoms and tops, every day. Mostly an uneventful day. What did I do at work? NOTHING! It was terrible. After work I went to the groceries and I went to my mom’s. I cooked a meal for the family and it was a hit. Yvette and I watched a show and we crashed. Friday was basically more of the same, which was BS. I hate long short weeks. At least we had fun and made a warm pretty fire.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Jalapeño

Breakfast pizza. Bacon, egg and cheese with a country gravy sauce.

Mushroom Swiss bourbon burgers.

French toast and sausage.

Barbacoa bake with Spanish rice.

Biscuits & gravy w/ a sunny side egg. I added sausage and hatch chilis to the gravy.

Green chicken Thai curry with bamboo shoots, sugar snap peas, zucchini, red bell peppers, basil and sticky rice.

Tuesday Yvette made some yummy Chicken sausage gumbo. I started eating before I was able to take a picture. Real bummer because it was really damn good.

Yvette made chicken tetrazzini with some side salad.

Steak with a rotini pasta and a Parmesan garlic sauce that I made. Steamed broccoli on the side.

Hibachi steak & shrimp w/ veggies and sushi rice.

Saturday was a lazy day. We slept in. One major reason fro that is Tee and I stayed up until after 2 watching a movie. A great movie. Ferrari vs Ford. Great cast and just great script. I was happy my first viewing was with him. Anyways, I slept in. I finally woke up and made some brunch for us and I ran off to the post office and shipped off some eBay. I needed to make some money. After that I went bake home and Yvette and I got the kids some lunch. Late lunch. After that we ran some errands and eventually came back home and made some epic dinner. Noah and Nadia came over and had dinner as well. I was a nice evening., We babysat. I like these nights.

Lola is 20!!! Happy birthday! Sunday was the birthday. We were hosting and this was the first time I had ever had more than 6 people at the house let alone the 15 or so we were suppose to have. I was anxious. Probably a lot more than I was letting on. I had been thinking about it all week along. I hate that I do that. The day was finally here and I felt sick with fear. We had a lot of prep to do and It took time. Cleaning for a party is work. Well we got the place looking good and people began to arrive.

The party was a hit. The food was great, people had fun. I watched some football with her dad. IT was mostly just family and I was happy to finally have them at the house. I just never had a guest and I always freak out about it but I always have fun. It just takes me a while to relax. I’m just not that person. I was happy for Lola. I think she had a good birthday. A birthday worth having and I’m glad she wanted it at our house.

Jalapeño o

Breakfast Nachos. Chorizo, egg, peppers and onion topped with cheese and a verde sauce,

Surfs & Turf chimichurri with a loaded baked potato,

Creamy cheesy hamburger potato soup.

Yvette made shrimp Po Boy.

Yvette made her lasagna. It’s a real treat.

Chicken cheese enchilada casserole.

Steak fajita bowl.

Monday was the day of the move in to my house. First I dropped of my car because I needed four new tires. Who the fuck ever wants to buy tires? It’s just another life necessity. I waited till after the wedding and Christmas to do it even though I had really pushed the life out of my old tires. To the point it was rather dangerous to be driving on them. The people at Discount were appalled, I could tell. At least I had good life out of them.

The rest of the day was moving back and forth. Back and forth. Lots of fun, really. It’s amazing how quick the time went.

New Year’s Eve was more moving. I made a trip to Goodwill to offload a large amount of clothes. When I got there they had a line of people dropping off. It was crazy. Out with the old and in with the new, being it a new year. A pretty good resolution. I also made a big purchase of a door and trim. We were having a couple buddies of mine put in a door for us. They would give a good discount if I supplied the material. With will give Tee some more privacy in his second room.

With us mostly settled for the time being, we went to her parents for dinner and drinks. To break in the new year. I was really tired but I managed to stay up will about 2. I know. Happy New Year!!! Goodbye 2024, hello 2025.

The new year started off with Yvette’s grandparents 73rd wedding anniversary. The family gathered for food and pictures and good times. After lunch Yvette and Lola crashed out and Tee and I managed to watched the end of the Texas/Arizona State bowl game. We thought it was over. Oh hell no…. Arizona tied it up and Texas made some terrible kicks back to back. The poor kicker. It went into double overtime. It was a damn good game.

With that done I went to my mother’s to visit with my nephews again, as they were leaving the next day. I sure love them. We talked Zelda and I showed him the path to the Wind Temple. He showed me some things I had never thought to do. It was fun. Love the kids.

That night Yvette and I cooked together in the kitchen for the first time. It was a real treat and a memory I will cherish.

Good lord I was away from my house for 5 hours on Thursday running around the damn town. The one major accomplishment was removing my ex wife from the deed and title to my house. It took a little time and paper work and money and BS but it was done. I did this primarily for Yvette but I really needed to do it a long time ago. It feels good to have it done.

That night I cooked some stir-fry and egg rolls. Teegan and I watched Furioso. A Mad Max movie.

Friday arrived and we ran around town shopping for specials and returning items. It was fun. I do like my time with this woman. I mean, I guess we really didn’t get after it early. We got up and ate breakfast and then we chilled checking email and paying bills. Sad that it’s the last Friday of the winter vacation. That stings just a little.

Jalapeño.

Scrambled eggs with some sausage patties.

Chicken sausage gumbo.

Guiso, potato and beans with a fried egg.

New Year’s Eve breakfast. Chorizo potato breakfast taco.

New Years Eve menudo. Yummy. Her parents can cook.

73rd wedding anniversary lunch. Chicken fried steak, chicken fingers, mashed potato and green beans.

Black eye peas, red enchilada steak topped with an egg, chicken quesadillas and some rice I vacuum sealed after our wedding. This was Yvette and I working together in the kitchen. She didn’t think the steak would pass with the kids.

Egg Benedict.

Broccoli beef stir fry w/ sushi rice.

Breakfast quesadilla with chorizo egg and cheese. .

Buffalo chicken pasta. Yvette made this treat. With a Greek salad.

Saturday I woke up and made us some green chili cheese omelette with hash browns. We cleaned and got ready. We had a full day. Make tamales with her parents and my mother. Yes, my mother was joining us this year. It was a good 4 hours of labor and it was fun. The times flies and they did turn out great. I love this new tradition.

That night the kids came over and lola put together a play pin for Alaya. Teegan and I but mostly Teegan changed out some door handles. My interior house had no locks and I knew they would like locks for their rooms. I made an attempt to change the locks but my eyes are terrible and I could not see what kind of bit I needed. His youthful eyes could help. For the most part it went rather smoothly. We watched some movies and it was a good night.

The Grinch. I had never seen this version and it is now my favorite. What was I missing. Such a beautiful film with such an age old classic story. I couldn’t believe I had never seen this version.

The Ice Harvest. this is a dark Christmas movie and one of my mother’s and my favorites. It’s a crime movie. A mob lawyer decides to steal 2 million from his boss on Christmas Eve. It doesn’t work out that well. It’s a good story with a great cast and some real laughs. Just good fun. Not all Christmas movies need to be wholesome.

Sunday Yvette and I got right on the painting again. We got in a groove and lost complete track of time. She had things to do. I decided to meet my mother for lunch and we had a nice visit. I ran a few errands after and went right back to the painting. I also changed the door knob on our bedroom while I was at it. I think I finished the doors. I went to my mother to drop off our frozen wedding cake and I went back to the house for more painting. It was a productive day.

The start of the holiday leave. Since we are all off work I had a painter coming over to do a small job for us, paint the closet door. I’m sure we could have done it but it would have been a tedious sucker. I wanted a professional and I found a guy for a good price. What was suppose to be a short job wasn’t so simple for him. It took much of the day forcing me to find things to do around the house.

My first task was clean my closet. I needed to sort through my shirts. I had way too many that never would see the light of day. It’s hard for me because I Ford shirts. I have memories with so many. When I was finished I freezer up a lot of space. At least 75 shirts to send to a thrift store for someone else to enjoy.

Next I worked in my eBay store. I found a lot of very old Nintendo NES & SNES games from the 80s and 90s. I posted about 15 games and some I had offers within 30 min. Working on the store probably took about an hour. You have to research the prices to make sure you don’t ask for too low.

Next up was yard work. I fixed a few loose fence pickets, partial stump removal and I decided to take and bag leaves. It was a beautiful day so what better time. Not like I could go anywhere and it needed to be done. I cleaned up really good. I’m sure glad leaves are only a few times a year.

With that done I proceeded to organize and clean up my garage. This was in serious need. It was driving me made how nothing was arranged by type. So I made an electric section, plumbing section, paint section, carpenter section, automotive section, irrigation section and tool sections. This will help me greatly. I also cleared up space by tossing junk away. Out of sight out of mind for way too long.

Completed, I worked on cleaning out our cleaning/entry closet. It was a mess. I threw a bunch of empty or mostly empty products away and cleaned the hell out of it. It was scary. Once that was done and I had what was useful left, I organized. It looked like a new closet. I was impressed. This closet was a mess from my ex wife and I never got around to it. I didn’t want to. It now looks great. Yvette will be impressed.

The painter finally finished the job and it looked great. I felt bad because the extra time he required wasn’t his fault. It was the paint he was painting over. I understood because I had painted the doors the day before and it wasn’t an easy task. I gave him a little extra money and got his card for work in the future.

It was a long day stuck at home but I accomplished much.

Christmas Eve!! I woke up and made myself some coffee and French toast. I went to drop off my clothes to a thrift store and ran some final Christmas errands. The grocery store mainly. I also made some hot sauce for the Christmas Eve Tamale feast. Yvette brought me a LOT of meat so I spent some time vacuum sealing most of it. The roast was too big.

After that I ran some groceries out to my moms and then I. Headed home to get ready. Christmas Eve candle light service. This was my first time to go to Yvette’s church with her and my first Baptist candle lighting. To be Frank’s, it was the first church service I had attended in. About 10 years, at least. It was fun and different and I told Yvette I would go with her on Christmas Eve. A new tradition. She was rather shocked when I told her I wanted to go. I think it made her happy.

I went out to my mother’s to enjoy the tamales that we made on Saturday. It was just her, my brother and I. We also made queso and my mom cooked beans for 6 hours. We had drinks, per usual. My mom made a few martinis. I had some scotch and beers. We watched Bad Santa. Had to work that into Christmas. Haha. What a terribly great hard R rated Christmas movie. This was followed with Die Hard. A family tradition started Christmas Eve with my father years and years ago. It must be honors. It was a nice Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas. Busy busy. We woke up and opened presents with the kids. Next I ran to my mother’s for tradition, chocolate and biscuits. After that I went to Yvette’s parents for Christmas lunch and some more presents and football. I was the only Kansas Chiefs fan and they won. After that I went to my mom’s again to help cook dinner. Yvette and the kids came over around 6-7 for some dinner. My diabetes was bad and it was a rollercoaster ride but I had a pretty damn good day. I was exhausted when I made it home.

The following day we were all lazy and didn’t want to get out of bed, but we had to. We had one more Christmas at her parents to be with her brother and his family. He had to work on Christmas Day so he had to make up. Sucks for him to be working and away from the family on that special day. It comes with being a firefighter. They’re mad some Caldo and it was just what I needed. My tummy was a little off from all the rich foods and my diabetes was still out of whack. It was yummy.

I went out to my mom’s after that for a little while. I suppose it was about 3. I was suppose to meet my brother and an old high school friend that I had not seen in a long damn time. He went a little early, I waited. I didn’t want drinks at 3. I did eventually go and I had a good time. It was nice to catch up and talk about the old days. Talk about what everyone else is doing. Have you seen so and so. All good fun. All the same, I was talking to my wife. I do miss her when I am not with her. I think that is a good thing.

After that I went to my mothers for leftovers and hung out a while. I went home. Lola had a “friend” come over. I applaud that. It was another great day. I must say the moth of December was fast. I loved Christmas this year but I also was very happy it was over.

Friday was here. I have no idea how the hell a week went by. I went and had keys made for the kids and I painted. Damn the painting. Window and trim. I’m over painting. I tried to keep Yvette on the phone most of the time. I needed company. I pretty much did the room all on my own except for a day of doors. My mom gave me a little call letting me know that my youngest brother and his family would be in town in about an hour and I lost track of time and was still late to see the kids. They were waiting on me to open their presents form Yvette and I. The Mario & Luigi Lego’s were a hit. So were the many Vaders that Jackson got. Good fun. After the presents we went to eat. Yvette took a break from her Elf hunt mission to join us. In the end she found the elf. It was a success story. I went BACK to my mother’s after dinner and hung out for a little while longer. After my mother’s I painted some more. Damn the painting. It was a very busy week and I have to say that I am exhausted. I sure hope everyone had a very great Christmas! I never saw Elf or Love Actually. Merry Christmas!!

Jalapeño. Lots of food for the holidays.

Lobster mac n cheese.

BRUNCH!! Japanese breakfast with steamed rice, steak and a sunny side egg.

Chicken street tacos.

BRUNCH!!! Chorizo potato hash.

Yvette made Junk Chicken.

BRUNCH!!! French toast.

We ate the tamales made on Saturday. I had one with queso, another with my homemade hot sauce and the last with some hot sauce my brother brought home. Good meal. My diabetes didn’t agree.

BRUNCH!! Christmas tradition. Chocolate and biscuits.

Christmas dinner brisket bourguignon, brussels & asparagus casserole.

Sausage jalapeño breakfast tacos.

BRUNCH!! Hard boiled eggs with some sriracha.

Christmas dinner at Cork & Pig with my brother and his family. Yvette out ordered me. I got the beef rib.

Saturday I had a little situation I needed to take care of. Yvette was dog sitting her oldest son’s pump and the bigger one killed a cat. Poor cat. I don’t think it suffered long. I went over and bagged the poor little critter. Really hope it wasn’t someone’s pet. Didn’t have a collar. I hate that.

After that disgusting deed was done I made us some breakfast. Teegan is taking culinary arts and his final is making an omelette. Well, he had never made one. I showed him the best method to make a delicious presentable omelette. I hope he aces the exam. For Yvette and I it was steak, over easy eggs and roasted potatoes.

After breakfast and dumping the dead feline I went home and worked in the yard. I’ve needed to do that for a little while. Been busy with the wedding, Thanksgiving and other obligations. Once that was behind me I went and ran quick errands before getting ready for the graduation. The girl was all decked out. I was so happy for her. After that appearance Yvette and I went our separate ways to run our own errands before graduation parties.

The first party was basically just a dinner. Yvette’s dad cooked for it so yummy it was. The second was also dinner, but these kids liked to drink. They somehow managed to lasso me into drinking games and shot gunning a beer. It was fun. We left after midnight. All in all a good damn day.

Sunday we slept in. I started moving around 9 and started the grill, made coffee and cleaned the floors. Breakfast was a cheese omelette and brisket/cream cheese stuffed bacon wrapped jalapeños. One of Yvette’s favorites. I never would have really thought them as a breakfast side but they work great. After breakfast I started my dinner. I needed to sear some boneless bork ribs before I tossed them in the slow cooker. That accomplished, I ran errand while Yvette moseyed on over to her parents to have a lunch and hang out. I had things to do. It was a busy day. I started painting the doors to Teegan’s room but gave up when I realized that the paint I was covering would need to be neutralized before. Oh well. I still accomplished a lot.

Monday was a Monday. I was so tired from the weekend and I had very little to do making it very hard to stay awake. It dragged on and on and on. Once I finally got off I ran to the post office to drop off some eBay sales. After that it was a quick run to the store and a trip to my mother’s. She just got back into town so we chatted a bit.

I had an appointment with some plumbers. Damn bathroom sink. The news was not good. A quote will be made, so the next thing I did was call my insurance agent. That conversation also ended in more bad news. I was on a roll here. It’s times like these I wish I had a millions of dollars at my disposal. Alas, I do not. I explored other options and called around looking for other ideas. It’s just a damn sink.

Wednesday was the day of work Christmas parties. One vendor which we spend a LOT of money with had brisket, sausage, beans and potato’s. I grabbed a plate to go. We had our own work Christmas party going as well. I also loaded up. Looked like Yvette and I were all set for lunch.

That night Teegan and I watched a new holiday thriller called “Carry-On”. The story was set on Christmas Eve in an airport focusing on one unfortunate TSA agent and his very bad night. Basically he has to allow a passenger on the plane or his pregnant girlfriend will be killed. Jason Bateman did a great job as the antagonist. It was actually a rather great little film and we both enjoyed watching it.

Thursday morning vampires. I dropped Yvette off at work and had my date with the vampires. I hate my labs and I really dislike the doctor’s visits. I get bad anxiety over what the results might be. It’s just who I am. I had a really long day. Excited and love my life but I need to do so much it’s heavy on me and I’m stressed all to hell.

One thing. I’m so happy to not be alone for the holidays. I’m so happy that I have the family that I have and the new family that I found. Yvette is an amazing woman who became an amazing wife. I remember a lonely holiday. I remember how lonely lonely can feel.

Friday the day was long but I was busy. I ran around town with my Santa hat. No one was on the campus. I worked through lunch until 3 and had my doctor’s appointment. Rushed tot hat and had great results. Next I rushed home to meet a guy about installing an interior door. Finished that and started dinner for us.

“A Very Merry Christmas”. Yvette and I watched this little short hour Christmas special. I try and watch it every year. It’s fun. Nothing special. A little musical.

Happy Friday!!!

Jalapeño.

Seared and slow cooked boneless pork ribs with spicy slaw, deviled eggs and pickled okra.

Grilled ground beef street tacos.

Hamburger salad.

Chicken Parmesan with fresh green beans and fettuccini.

Spicy crab poke.

Teriyaki chicken lettuce wraps with rice.

Monday morning I woke up feeling like a new man. Maybe I was a new man? I woke up a married man. It felt great. I sure was in a good mood. It was nice having the stress of putting together our own wedding behind us. Everything worked out perfectly in the end. Sure, it had some surprises but what wedding doesn’t, I suppose? It was a new week of a new chapter in life and I was very excited.

Yvette and Teegan had a date in Dallas Monday night to watch the Cincinnati Bengals play the Cowboys. We were all going for the Bengals. Fuck them Boys!! I might should have gone but I didn’t want to hang out in the hotel room all night while they were at the game. They have had this in the works for a long time. I was excited for them. Teegan and her have seen these tow match up many of times now. The Bengals are their team. It’s good they keep this tradition. I know she had hesitation being that it was right after the wedding but honestly I was all for them going and having a good time. My feels were not hurt. The game was a damn good one from the little I was able to watch. I was actually jealous. I’ve gotten much more into football this year. I was NOT when they bought the tickets. Haha. The Bengals!! YAY!!! The Cowboys lost in glorious fashion. They keep finding new ways to lose. I was happy for Teegan. They saw a really good close game.

The week was weird with weather. So our wedding day the temps were cloudy, wet and in the 50s. The next day in the 60s with full sun. Monday it reached the mid 70s. Tuesday it was back to cloudy and cold with a high in the 40s. Yikes. The low Wednesday morning was in the 20s. Why don’t we jump back to the 70s to end cap the week. The rollercoaster ride is something else. Good thing I just finished my antibiotics and am seemingly well.

Our dating anniversary was on Tuesday so I made reservations to go out and have a nice dinner. BIGA Bistro. We went once before way back in August and had a nice dinner. It’s a fine dining establishment so I felt what better time to go. Unfortunately when we got there the Resturant was closed. Or so we thought. They moved locations but didn’t have any notifications saying so. I called and called with no answer and was a little pissed. We went down the street to another nice location I had not been in year and she had never been. Peasant Village. My parents went there every week on a date night. Anyhow, the food was good and we had fun. We do the best. After dinner we built a fire and had a nice toasty night.

It seemed that we were not just yet done with the woman that rented us the venue for the wedding. She was still insisting upon money for a service that was never in the contract that we did not agree upon. A service which my guest did most of the work anyways. I stopped communicating with her after the BS she pulled the morning of our wedding claiming that we still owed money when we should have been all squared. I was going to let Yvette bite into her on this one. This woman is an example as to how not to run a business.

With Thanksgiving being so late and our wedding the following weekend, Christmas has just snuck right up on me. I still had gifts that I needed to purchase. It was hard to wrap my mind around the fall semester coming to a close but finals were underway and graduation was looming. Maybe the time accelerated due to all the wedding anxiety. I don’t know. What I knew is I needed to get it in my head that the holiday was here. Listening to Christmas music all day was helping.

I will say that the campus is winding down quick. Come Friday it was a ghost town. We all like the little quiet after the busy end of semester. I decided to hand out my candy canes with my Santa hat, as tradition. I’m a

“Fatman” is the Christmas movie of the night. I found this to be an entertaining watch. A hit is placed on Santa by a sniveling little rich shit who received a lump of coal. Of course, Santa happens to be a bad ass and we get some cool action scenes involving elf’s with guns. Who doesn’t want that? Mel Gibso and Walton Goggins are always epic.

Friday. My goodness was it ever slow. I had to find things to do to keep myself busy. I did what I traditionally do, give out candy canes across the campus. I like doing that and it’s amazing the smiles people give back. It’s my way to say thanks to all the kind people across the university.

That night I made dinner and we cooked S’mores inside. It was a nice end cap to a nice week. Happy Friday!!!

Jalapeño

Spicy lasagna with some green beans.

Leftover wedding reception chicken fajita meat and veggies with Spanish rice. I was too busy over the weekend setting up and having fun to ever make it to the grocery store. This was a fantastic meal, nonetheless.

Date night dinner. Surf n turf with mashed potato and spinach.

Yvette made chili and cornbread. Unfortunately it was so good I devoured it without a picture.

Meatball Ramen.

Chimichurri steak with grilled potatoes and salad.

Monday was a drag. I mean it was long as can be. We did a few wedding things after work. I started to feel like maybe I was finally coming down with that bug going around. I was exhausted. I went by fast though.

That night it was time for a real Christmas horror movie. “Silent Night”. As gruesome as it was hilarious. Well someone dressed like Santa is killing people in a town that host a Santa dress up festival. So who did it. Well the sorry is actually pretty good and rather good. What can I say, I watch it every year.

Tree lighting was a lot of fun. Yvette and I met Lola, her friend and the little girl. It’s a good campus tradition. I have probably attended everyone since 2018. I actually met Yvette at the 2019 tree lighting. What a deal that was for us. Who knew back then. Lucky me. So Tuesdays lighting was much larger than those days. They even had a train. The sweet girl was entertained. It was just a really good experience.

Wednesday was crazy at work. The morning was too much. I don’t know why. We also had wedding things going on. Trying to work out all the final touches. Paying the dumb venue owner what we owe. I also had to go get the mimosa tower. I just ordered some carry out food and a few beers after that and went home with my borrowed tower. I felt I owed them for letting me have the tower so I bought food and a drink. I needed the drink. It was a damn day.

Thursday was kind of an anxiety filled day. Not for the reason you would think, the wedding, but because Yvette and I were going to the Symphony Christmas party. This was a suit and tie event for the most part and it was right before the wedding. It was also a days notice for us which left me scrambling to not look like a bum. I have my wedding attire but I needed something else. It all worked out and we both looked rather great. We received complements. The food was fantastic and the music stunning. The wine was delicious. It was what we both needed. A little moment to relax. I was a beautiful night.

Friday, happy Friday! I went to work for half the day and really didn’t do a whole lot. I might as well have taken the entire day. The second half of the day I took care of wedding things. It was a very busy day. A good day. My brothers made it into town. I might sign off for a bit. No wedding blog. That’s all ours and the quest. Again, happy Friday!!!

Jalapeño

Grilled Japanese BBQ steak with some teriyaki mushrooms and sriracha asparagus.

Teriyaki lil smokies with pineapples and rice.

While running wedding errands I picked up some food from one of my stops that happened to also deal out food. Braised beef rib quesadillas. Fantastic.