Saturday I woke up to feed my little monster dogs (more on them later). It was a nice gloomy morning so I decided to lay my ass back down. It’s cold and not like I have the liberty of going out to do anything. I’m burnt out of doing housework. One can only suffer so much.

Speaking of the dogs, they are absolute heathens right now. Hazel barks at nothing all the fucking time and Owen has been getting into things. First he would get in my shower and eat my soap. Not he is bold enough to jump up on my kitchen counters. He gets into my packages that come through the mail. My girlfriends purse was pillaged. Her Christmas present was destroyed. I don’t know what to do. Why suddenly start this behavior I don’t know. It’s as if after my month stuck at home they just decided to go nuts when I went back to work. They are driving me crazy and leaving a bad impression. I sadly have to close them in a room when I go to work or else I’ll come home to some mess. I hate doing that. Any suggestions?

I love my dogs and they get good attention from me. Could it be the girlfriend? Do you think it’s a jealousy issue? I don’t know. They both seem to like her. She has been stopping buy for over 2 month or longer. (I think longer but November was a little foggy for me after the head trauma). Hazel has taken to walking around with one of her toys and crying like it’s a child she needs to keep safe. Owen follows me everywhere. He must be by my side like a guardian dog. These are my children…

The weekend was nice. Saturday was a little boring. I went on a walk out of boredom. After a long week stuck at home I was easily bored and getting my vehicle back will be great. I decided to make a pizza have a date. Girlfriend was willing to partake. We had fun. We ate. We laughed. We watched “You’ve Got Mail” and fell asleep on the couch. Unfortunately my blood sugar dropped and my alarm went off and we woke and I had to find sugar. Ah life, but what a night it was. The dogs mostly gave us peace.

My mother and I have basically had lunch together every Sunday since the divorce. Some days I miss making my Sunday brunch. This Sunday was one of those. Nonetheless we went out and had a good time. I was tired because my fucking dogs woke me up before the sun had even risen.

We had some wild weather swings this week. 80 one day, 40 the next. Big surprise to me was that it rained both Tuesday & Wednesday mornings. I was not expecting the precipitation. Made for some nice gloomy mornings.

I don’t know if I mentioned how much walking I’m doing again. Kind of have no choice not being able to drive. I hate to bum a ride. Anyhow, I’m getting about 4 miles a day. I hope I partially keep it up once the vehicle is back.

Randomly I started playing an old school vibe TMNT game on my Nintendo Switch when we were iced over. This week I really got into it. Reminds me of one of my favorite games growing up and seeing the characters all these years later has been a real treat. I was obsessed with the Turtles growing up. I woke up Saturday morning to watch the carton and I had an entire box full of the action figures. Talk about some good old nostalgia. What a treat.

National Pizza Day happened to be Thursday so what better than to share a nice pie for lunch. I called it in and we picked it up and brought it hope for lunch. Local restaurant. It was a real treat of a lunch.

Friday was the longest day of the week. At least the end was near. We were having a dinner/movie date night at my house. I was cooking something that seemed comfortable and good on a cold night. The movie was a romantic. Your Pl e or Mine. I do like Reese Witherspoon. One of these days I’ll get her to watch some of the weir d stuff that I’m into but until then I’ll just take however I can get my time with her.

Happy weekend!!!

Jalapeño

Pizza topped with cheese, pepperoni, jalapeño, black olive, sun dried tomato & spinach w/ salad. Date night.

Brisket an slaw.

Grilled fried rice and bibigo chicken thigh.

Tortilla soup.

Spicy chicken stir fry w/ broccoli.

Coconut chicken curry w/ sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms & spinach over sticky rice.

Golden Chicken and mushrooms over sticky rice.

Someone watching me? Most people just drove around the random barstool in front of my house. At one point it just vanished.

Well unexpectedly we basically had the entire week off work. They cancelled Monday at 11 and Tuesday-Thursday. Yes, we did indeed get some bad weather. Things did ice over.

Monday wasn’t really so bad. I had which will hopefully be my final CT scan. I started some pot roast in the slow cooker and had dinner with my sweet girlfriend and her some. I think it was a hit. The rest of the week was just stuck indoors. I spent a lot of time on the phone. It was okay but I wanted some interaction. I guess after being home for a month due to doctors orders I kind of like people. Haha.

Friday was the neurologist. View those results. I can’t believe I went to work on a Friday and that would be the only day I worked. The visit was good. It took longer than usual because I wasn’t the only on the rescheduled due to bad weather. Result is I might be able to drive by mid month. Fingers crossed. Friday really felt like Monday.

Jalapeño

Chicken& rice.

Grilled cheese with tomato soup.

Mac and cheese w/ green beans.

Eggplant parmigiana & green beans.

Chicken thigh, asparagus, yellow squash, tomato, onion & jalapeño thrown into the slow cooker. Served over sushi rice and side of avocado.

My leftover from last night over egg noodles. This might be the better way to eat this meal.

The first month of 2023 is almost behind us. How the fuck did that already happen?

We have a pet. His name is Birdie. Birdie is in love with himself. He can’t stop looking in the mirror. Ever since coming back to work I have seen Birdie admire himself to the point of obsession. He can’t look away. Does he have an emotional attachment to his reflection, I wonder? Is he dim to the point that he believes his reflection is another bird he must joust with? Whatever the case, Birdie has become an amusement for our office. We come and go and Birdie is always by his mirror. If Birdie is happy so are we. If Birdie leaves we will forever be saddened.

Well we finally had a few days which it actually did feel like winter. Rain!! About time if you ask me. I want a little bit of season. I finally was able to light up my fire place. How I miss that. Can’t not like some soup weather. My girlfriend seemed to enjoy it as well. I don’t know how to make a small batch of this soup so it was nice to have someone to eat it with me. It’s probably been since my wife was still under my roof that I last made it. I call it green chili chicken & dumplings. It’s prepared in a slow cooker and it cooks for 7 hours. I don’t consider it that spicy but I guess it does have some heat. It has not quenched my soup cooking appetite though.

People are so damn strange. I’ve had some weird encounters with them this last go round. My ex randomly attacked me via text message. That was a real treat. It seems I serve no purpose in her life and she blocked me every way she could. I have only tried to be civil. What can you do. Damn shame really. I had a question I needed to ask her about a recipe that she once cooked all the time and I had to figure it out all on my own. I think I succeeded. But damn, people. I’m still not sure what that was about. It was early so I’m thinking she was still drunk from the night before. I know how it goes.

Not much to write about this week really. I took Monday off because why the heck not. The rest of the week was just a typical week. Two retirement parties I attended. Crappy free food. It is what it is.

I should mention I am having disciplinary issues with one of my dogs, Owen. He has taken to getting things off my kitchen counter and eating/destroying them. It all started, oddly enough, with him eating my bars of soap out of my shower. Don’t even understand why he would be doing that. What is the appeal. I had to start closing the door to my bathroom and eventually I got a shower rack. He still tried. He destroyed a gift I had for my girlfriend. He also took her purse off the counter and raffled through it one morning. He has gotten ahold of packages. Destroyed my mail. He didn’t use to do any of this until I went back to work after my long month off. I don’t know if it’s some sort of separation anxiety but I don’t know what to do with him. I have taken to closing him up in a bedroom but I really hate doing that. If anyone has any suggestions please share with me. If he wasn’t so damn sweet I might be looking for him a new home or seeing if the ex-wife wanted him. It’s getting expensive and frustrating to say the least.

Jalapeño

Asian chicken thigh.

Teriyaki meatballs.

Chicken & dumplings.

Bekah’s chicken & veggies. This was the first time in 14 years of eating this meal that I actually made it myself.

Hawaiian burger.

The burger again.

So it’s a new year. I guess that’s a good enough time to reboot my blog, which has been dormant for months. 2023 has already started out as an improvement to the last. Especially the ending. I was hospitalized, forced to stay home for a month and finally told that I can’t drive for at least 3 months. I still can’t drive.(Although not driving has warranted me certain time with a special person). I had a Intracranial Hemorrhage (brain bleed) from falling down because my blood sugar was out of control. Due to this I started having seizures which led to more falling down.(I also did bite a dime size chunk off my tongue which wasn’t cool). I was a stubborn goat and refused to go to the hospital until it was almost too late. I almost died. So 4 days in the ICU. The first day I was on a ventilator. Somehow I managed to remove it with my tongue. The nurse said she had never seen that happen. Bless the nurses and some nursing students. They witnessed a lot of me. My doctor said “He fell down a LOT. What a joy. I was frequent to ripping out my IV’s. They had to restrain me and place some IV’s in my feet. I got to become a pet to some of the nurses. Some found me fun because I was able to communicate. One was partial to taking me on walks. Damn walker. I hated that thing but I couldn’t walk without it. I recovered much faster than they originally though. There was talk of me being shipped out of town but I was able to walk myself out of the hospital. Talks of physical therapy. It’s not over. I still have some memory issues. Particularly with names. I’m still going to have at least one more CAT scan. I do not miss that hospital food. Now I’m on a pump and seriously watching what I eat.

I found someone over the course of time since I have been out of the hospital. I am a lucky guy. To be fair, I had gone out on multiple dates with her before we actually started seeing each other but I was just too damn slow (edit: cowardly) to make a move. I’ve liked her for a while. I knew she cared when she came to see me in the hospital with my mother. I came out of a fog to her sitting next to my mother. I made a face and thought “oh shit” and passed back out. I was first in mild shock because I didn’t want her to see me like I was. I wonder how much she saw.( Unfortunatly many saw a lot of me). She came back to visit me two more times. After having a near death experience you start to realize that you should take hold of your life. If you have feelings for someone, let them know. You might not get another chance. So I kissed her one night after dinner. I should have kissed her months before. Now I have a girlfriend. I’m happy. I always found her attractive but I was married and never even thought a thing. Why would I? I can now. It’s weird how life works out. Maybe this will be “the one”? Who fucking knows. Follow the heart where it takes you. She makes me feel alive while before I was feeling empty.

Btw, I’m not editing the cuss words. Fuck. Damn. Shit. Bastard. Bitch. Etc.

So I am back at work after the long month stuck mostly at home. Because I can’t drive or lift anything over 30lbs I am basically forced to be THE office guy, which you all know I FUCKING HATE. I miss getting out on the campus and seeing friends. I miss getting out on the town doing business with people for the campus. My coworkers have taken me out to see some people and it was great. They have been so good to me. Hopefully I will be cleared soon. Fingers crossed. I’m sure it gets a little old for the people that are shuttling me around and running certain errand for me. Bless them all for what they have done.

Only a couple weeks back at work and the Christmas vacation begins. It was a shorter one than I’m used to but that was okay with me considering I’d been off the entire month of November recovering. The break began with a trip to Houston to be with all the family. It’s a long trip & I hate Houston but what else would I do? Skip Christmas and be all alone. I was also sad that I would be away from my girlfriend but I turns out I would see plenty of her when I got back in town. Besides, it was only 4 days. I finally was able to meet the youngest nephew. He was a real joy. The trip was rather fun all around. My sleeping arrangement was a little lame, the bottom bunk bed. Oh well, the kids had fun burying me in stuffed animals every morning. Had some good meals and good drinks. Saw some people I have missed seeing. It was a nice change. The ride back was not. After Houston I still had the oldest two nephews to entertain. They wore my mother and I out. So much energy. After some time with them I would see my lady. It was nice spending full days with her. I even was invited to her family New Years Eve party. They can cook for me any day. The break ended and work was slow waiting for the student to come back and the semester to begin.

I have gotten to walking again due to the lack of vehicle mobility. Good for my legs. I feel so much better than I did before my hospital stay. It’s nice. I was eating on campus since I can’t really make it home and back in the hour. Lucky for me the weather has been agreeable.

One other thing I should mention is how much fun it is to cook for someone again. Someone that had never had my meals. Someone that each meal is a first time experience. She really seems to enjoy them. So the meals are fun again.

I’m posting a load of food pictures since it’s been so long. No descriptionsb.

Jalapeno!!!!!!!!

I think of the old days and my Bekah is always on my mind. 14 years. It’s been a year since she left. Movement’s like waves. She doesn’t live here anymore. Time is an ocean. Love her. Life. Oh well. Lots has changed. Some better and some worse.

Is living death in slow motion. Yes it is. People age in a way like a good wine or they go skunk like a bad beer. I’m writing that down and those are my words and they are fucking true. 😂. Getting old feels like loosing control and I don’t like it.

We are pretty much always alone, correct. The love I’ve had wasn’t ever taken for granted. Really though, we are on our own. Companionship might not be so much part of the human nature other than breeding. We lack a form. We are beast of confusion. Can’t live alone yet not with someone. Walking alone is hard. It’s also hard with someone.

There is someone on the campus I like. I am afraid. I guess you do what you do. Moving on. A heart beating, it fully keeps going. I’m willing to go through that door. Open.

Surrounded by the night. Sleep eludes me. Punch me in the face. I need a magic cape.

After such poetic prose let me get natural.

Happy Birthday Hazel!!!

Friday the week finally found it’s end. Because our campus Admissions program botched a tour for Yvette’s daughter, I was able to get in contact with my connections in the nursing department for a private tour. At 3 o’clock we met at HHS. The tour was spectacular. It was almost like it was staged. 40 min later a young lady was excited. I couldn’t have been happier to have helped. I was pretty much sold on the nursing program. It was very detailed. I made an impact on a child’s future decision. Just the light on her face made me smile.

That was it for the week. I went and got drinks and dinner with Mystery Girl # 5 and went home to rest. Cheers!!!

Jalapeño

Saturday I was surprised with a burrito from Jamie and than because of conversation I Lao wanted Menudo. Great morning for food.

Chili Mack and cheese with the green beans.

Raw tun, seaweed salad and no rice poke.

Street tacos from the campus UC

First air fry attempt. Chicken leg quarters.

Yelp. In my 13 years (that I know) as a diabetic I had my first big FUCK. I passed out, busted my head and lost around 30 min.

I was waiting in line at Chick fil A wanting “yogurt”. feeling fine and focused. As I was leaving I started feeling really dizzy and light headed. I was by the vending machines so I would get a sprite. NONE of the f***er’s would take my f***king card. I panicked and tried to eat my yogurt but my hands were to Shakey and I dropped it. The rest I do not remember. I apparently fell on my head. Not sure how long I was there. The next thing I know is I’m in a chair being asked if I was okay. I said yes. He said “ you have yogurt all over yourself and you are missing a lens from your glasses. The campus cops were called. 4 people were involved. One of them knew I was diabetic so they got me sugar. It eventually leveled me out. They really pushed an ambulance but no. It amazing how many people heard the next day. It’s a bit embarrassing having something like that happen in public and the alternative would be being alone.

I don’t know what happened. My new device did not alert me. (Turns out I sort of screwed the pooch calibrating it so it was reading substantially off) I had a lump on my head, a hurt jaw and some broken pride. How many people saw me and what the hell was I doing. It was terrifying.

Saturday my date and I finally were able to eat at this new place called Urban Salt. We had been trying to go since March and the stars finally aligned. I had so much fun out with her. I mean, I laughed until my face hurt. I don’t know why we waited 2 months between our last date. Even if it goes no where serious, Mystery Girl # 4 and I have a lot of fun together. That’s what matters, right? She wouldn’t keep coming out with me if she wasn’t also having a good time. She is a busy woman but I’ll try and get her out with me sooner the next time.

I’m finally a cyborg. I have a machine attached to my belly. It’s so cool being able to see where my levels are at in real time. It’s already helpful. Thanks to Yvette for really pushing me. I don’t know why I hesitated so long.

Happy birthday to my friend The Slovak!! 37. I took a half day to celebrate with her. We didn’t get to do it last year due to circumstances but usually it’s a yearly tradition. Some people love birthdays. We went and had appetizers at one place and had lunch at another. Some drinks, of course. I told staff it was her bday and they did their thing.

Jalapeño.

Pork ribs.

Buffalo wings. They were not good. Should have grilled.

Seared tuna and seaweed. Yum!

Meatloaf meatballs and stuffed mushrooms.

It was my office week and it was terrible. I could not sleep for the life of me. Tuesday I came in with 3 hours of sleep. How do you think I functioned. Everything was super bright and my head was in a fog. I barely made it. I was the model example of exhaustion. I’m tired all the time. It also appears all my coworkers are suffering from sleep disorders. My boss is doing a sleep study as we speak. Yvette suggest I do the same. My latest problem isn’t going to sleep but waking up around 2am and not going back to sleep.

After many failed attempts at trying to get a Dexcon glucose monitoring device my good friend Yvette badgered me into taking the action upon myself. She was a convincing inspiration. The mother bear in her came out. Boy can her honesty be brutal. I spent about 2 hours of my life on the phone getting bounced around by insurance, doctors nurses & pharmacy. After time spent digging it was revealed to be an error on my doctors office. A code was changed from pharmacy benefit to medical benefit. I still don’t have the device because I need my doctors nurse to call me back. No was was I paying close to a grand out of pocket. At this time in my life I really need the device. I have way to many swings and my A1C is a disgrace. Mud.

Friday came unceremoniously. Slow day. The weekend was here. Hope everyone has a great time.

Jalapeño

Crab cake eggs Benedict.

Spaghetti squash and meatballs

Tikka masala.

Burger Patty.

Chicken okra pepper stir-fry.

Wonton ginger soy chicken tacos.

Why are short weeks so damn LONG!! I swear it last a life time. I was busy so it should have moved. The belly up gator pictured below pretty much summed up my week.

I have all my fall decor up. It’s made my mood all the better. Fall is my favorite.

Never had much time to write any so I’m leaning it at this.

Jalapeño

Chicken fired steak Topped with shrimp. Amazing

Jalapeño stuffed Bell Pepper.

Brisket.

Chipotle beef and squash.

Chicken cordon blu.

Seared tuna and seaweed.

Spicy ginger soy salad.

Some people are hard to put together. Figuring them out… motives.

F***ing pumpkin spice. Bulls***!

Our tiny little town finally received its much needed rain. A collective sigh of relief. Not only the rain, it was nice and cool. You have to understand it had been month since good rain and the temps had been over 100 degrees. Everyone was in a better mood.

Friday. It was a really busy nice week. I didn’t have much time to work on this blog. Someone got a nice purse. I got drenched and killed a golf car. Almost ran down by a crazy driver. Friday I took a walk in the rain. Wonderful funny day.

Jalapeño.

Sesame chicken.

BBQ pulled chicken, fried okra and corn.

Chorizo omelet.

Chorizo bunless burger.

Chorizo egg tacos.

Chili for the first time of the year. If was a cool cloudy day.