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.

Wednesday was a busy day for me. I woke up at 7 and my damn dog Owen had eaten 3 loafs of my mom’s bread and crapped on the floor. I didn’t start the day well, to say the least. I brought Yvette and Lola some burritos. Yvette wasn’t so sure she could really eat yet. She was till a little flimsy from the bug she’s been kicking. We set out to get our marriage license and the damn clerks office was already closed for the holiday. They told us on the phone they would be open until 2. Rude.

We ran some errands and knocked out a few more things we needed for the wedding. I could tell that Yvette was overdoing it by the time we were finished. I brought her home and carried in the groceries. I needed to go meal prep for Thanksgiving and finish putting up my outdoor Christmas decorations. . I had a pea salad to make the night before. Thawed the frozen peas, chopped up red onion and sharp cheddar cheese and grilled some bacon. The sauce was a mixture of sour cream, mayo, black pepper, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar. Damn. I was excited about the addition to the spread. I like to introduce new sides. It keeps the meal fresh. This year I’m bring two new dishes. Hope they are both well received.

After the meal was prepped I met up with my mother and brother for some food and drinks. It’s always a good to see my brother. I went back to my mother’s and hung out for a little while before going home to my slumber.

Thanks giving I woke up early and went to hang out with the kids and Yvette. She had a ham going for the lunch festivities with her family. I always look forward to being with them, which is kind of the opposite of my last situation. Today’s turkey day starts at her brothers. Thanks giving us such chore for me these days with the diabetes. We had our lunch and my blood sky rocketed, as it does. It’s once a year so I never can really accurately prepare for how much insulin I’ll need. It doesn’t matter. Sure, it doesn’t feel great to have sugar swings like that but it’s part of my life and I’ll be damned if it will infringe upon my fun.

2 1/2 hours later I left to go make my next side for the next meal that was to be at 6:30. I was roasted carrots wrapped in bacon and glazed with maple syrup and sriracha sauce. This was another new idea I had been wanted to try ever since my friend Paul started talking about making this months ago. It took a little over an hour to prepare and cook, which gave me more time to digest lunch. Hard to fit all this food. Once it was done I went back out to my mother’s. Yvette, the kids and the sweet baby came along and we all had a Thanksgiving dinner. Somehow we all survived eating so much. We watched some football and had a good ole time.

Friday I slept in and made a little breakfast. I had some eBay sales I needed to get out. Lucky my mother has a printer for the packing labels. I ran into a guy working the post office that I had not seen since pre-covid. He use to work at the downtown location and I guess moved to the south side office. It was nice seeing him. He was always trying to get me to leave the college and come work for the USPS. Anyhow, he had 27 days left before retirement. Lucky man. He was going to be moving out of state to be near his grandchildren.

After leaving the post office I made a quick run to get Yvette a Christmas present. I had an idea and I couldn’t pass up the Black Friday sale. I hated having to go on Black Friday but goodness lord if it didn’t save me a good penny.

Yvette, my mother and brother and I all went to see Wicked. We couldn’t all sit together but oh well. The movie surprised me. I fully went into it expecting to hate it. Almost 3 hours of a musical. Nope. I was taken by the acting and the story. I actually liked is e of the musical numbers. I have to say I had a jolly good time. It was made better by the company of Yvette. I was actually looking forward to the second half and even asked when it was coming out. Next November, it seems.

After the movie Yvette and I went to dinner at Chilis and split an appetizer. We talked wedding and the movie and just stuff. It was a nice little date night after a holiday. Those are some of the best. When you get to spend some time with just each other. Love this woman and can’t wait to be able to call her my wife.

Saturday was all about putting away fall decor and putting up Christmas, sans tree. It’s always a little bittersweet switching the home decor. I love fall. I keep the decorations up for 3 months kicking off September 1st. As much as I do love Christmas, the decorations are only up for a month. I just don’t get as much out of them. I have a modest amount compared to the abundance of fall decor. Anyways, I put up everything but the tree.

After putting up Christmas I ran some errands around town. Now that Black Friday was behind us the stores were much less crazy. I got some paint to start the trim and doors in Teegan’s room. I also found some really good Christmas candles on sale 2 for the price of one. I needed some holiday scents. After running around I made a brief stop by the store and went out to my moms to assemble the drink cart for the wedding cocktail hour. that was fun and I think should be practical for what we need it for.

Once home i put together two Christmas tree we are using for the wedding. I needed to make sure that they would light up. What a bummer that would be if they didn’t. Satisfied with that I made a little Mongolian beef stir-fry over some rice. It was a cozy evening and I was tired from all the holiday excitement.

Gremlins. My first Christmas/horror film of the season. I mean, what a classic to start the season with. I’ve seen this film as long as I can remember. My parents had little restraint on what I could watch as a kid and besides, this is a good wholesome film. It kind of made me a little sad. I sure miss my dad this time of year.

Sunday Sunday. The holiday week is wrapping up. I slept in to 8:30 and made a little breakfast for myself. I had some potatoes and some chorizo. What to make. Oh, corn tortillas. Let’s make some chorizo con papas. Such a fantastic simple meal. I had thought about adding eggs but in the end figured they might deduct some from the flavor. Keeping things simple can be the best policy.

Mostly I just relaxed, played Zelda and had my coffee. it was cold outside. I made a major discovery within the game. I am well on my path to the end and that really worries me. What can I do to prolong this great experience longer? I have only a few side quest left, sadly. What a great game and I will be sad.

Once the coffee kicked in I started cleaning like crazy. My floors. Dusting areas I have probably never dusted. That’s really rather gross, come to think about it. I found out the kids wanted to put up tree decorations so I climbed into the attic and got down the tree. I later decided to get down a second tree. Now I had 3 trees in my living area. Can’t really have too many, can you?

After that I went to Yvette’s once I realized the time. I was supposed to have lunch at her place. I had to reheat my meal. It was still good. I loaded up some of her Christmas stuff and headed to the store and then to my mother’s to grab the left over turkey so we could use it that night for dinner.

Next up was our final meeting with the Pastor Bill for the wedding. Our final couples counseling. Very exciting. We had a good and very informative session and a mini wedding rehearsals. He helped us with some wedding details we hadn’t even thought of yet and it’s was only a week away. Haha. He is a good friend. I trust a man that has officiated over 300+ weddings. Once that was done we went back to the house and made dinner. The kids put up ornaments and we had a nice dinner and watched a great movie.

The Christmas Chronicles. This new classic came out in 2018 and stars on of my favorite actors ever in what just might be the best Santa Claus ever, Kurt Russell. It’s has that good Christmas spirit that is needed. Funny, sweet and hits the spot. I love it. With the tree lit up and Christmas all around me with the family I was feeling a little warm inside.

Happy Thanksgiving Holiday!!

Saturday I woke up a little stuffy. Damn that. Annoying. I took a hot shower to clear up, popped some pills and downed some coffee. I was about to let this crud stop me from enjoying my weekend. I had a busy Saturday and I’d be damned if it let a little crud get in my way.

Made a simple breakfast. I guess we were going to the early RamJam at 11 so I rushed off to the post office to mail off my $200 item and then I went and filled up all my 5 gallon water jugs. I needed to go by the store later but that could wait. This might be the last tail gate we have this year. Honestly if they were not playing so well, we wouldn’t have even had one Saturday. Alas, they lost the game. 14-24. It was a good season. At least I got my last taste of those delicious ribs. Oh how I’ll miss thee. Till next years. When that was done it was a few errands before the movie with Teegan.

Gladiator 2. We prepped by watching the first one the night before. Good times. I was more excited about taking him to the movie than the movie itself. Just exciting. The movie ended up being rather good. Great spectacle. Good acting. Good villains. Nice to see a few familiar faces from the original. What it was lacking was the heart that beat throughout the first film. That film had an emotional impact that this film didn’t. It still was better than I was expecting with some truly amazing moments. We both left happy.

Sunday I woke up somewhere around seven and proceeded to make breakfast. I made a quick grocery list for the short cooking week. I kept having to remind myself that I only work 2 days. Monday & Tuesday. I was kind of in a medicated haze. I thinking I over served myself allergy/cold meds. A single DayQuil fucks me up so I’m not sure what I was thinking by taking 2. I also took a Mucinex. I didn’t even feel bad, just a little scratchy throat and congestion. It’s that time of year.

I brought Yvette and the kids some donuts from a new place in town that they seem to like. It’s utter torture for me to walk into a donut shop. The smell alone. I can’t eat any of that good stuff anymore. Back I. The pre-diabetic days I could eat so many. Pig out on them. Anyhow, enough about my pains. They seemed happy. Yvette was still feeling like crap so it took a little breakfast burden away from her. I hate seeing her not feeling well.

After that I went and met my mother for lunch. It was a good time. I arrived a little early and before I knew it my neighbor that owns the place had already poured me a tequila shot. This used to be the norm. Oh well. The meal was fantastic. We had a good time with good conversation.

All weekend I’ve had a visitor at my house. Miss Chicken. What do you do when a chicken gets out of someone’s yard and decides to call your driveway home? I just thought on Saturday I wouldn’t see her again but she was there all day Sunday as well. I worried that something would get her.

Thanksgiving week. Only a two day work week. Many people decided those two days were better spent as vacation days because the campus was dead. Yvette took a sick day because she is still under the weather. Real bummer. I don’t like seeing her sick. Really, she never gets sick. Her not being at work is kind of sad, honestly. Weird, right?

Tuesday was more of the same. A sick Yvette and a slow boring work day. I honestly just played Zelda during the morning. I picked up some yummy tortilla soup from Chick-fil-A for lunch and brought it to Yvette. The afternoon I had a little more to do but not much. I even volunteered to help with other people’s work just so I wasn’t sitting around. Terrible is the time leading up to the holidays.

That night after work a went to do a little Thanksgiving shopping and I gathered my belongings for a night out. At my mom’s. I was dog sitting. I figured it would be easier to load my dogs up than pick her up and all they need to stay at my house. It felt very much like a Tuesday and the start to a holiday. I was going to cook but got lazy and since I was at my mom’s it seemed like extra work. Just get the usual Thai food carry out. I chilled and watched some BS while playing Zelda.

Jalapeño.

Chorizo con papas breakfast tacos.

Beer Bratwurst with a bed of honey mustard potato’s, pepper and onion served with some fresh slaw.

Chorizo con papas w/ over easy eggs.

BBQ chicken stuffed baked potato.

Sesame chicken

I was going to cook bout decided to save that for a meal tomorrow. Lunch. Since I was dog sitting at my mom’s and the night was cold I opted for some Thai from down the street. I guess that’s just my new thing when I stay at her house.

Saturday I got up early and made some breakfast, enjoyed my coffee and played some Zelda. After the leisure time I went off to the post office to drop off an eBay package. I made another sale. My first vinyl. I was a little intimidated on packing it because I’ve had some arrive in bad condition. Afterwards I went and picked up Yvette and it was off to Sam’s to pick up the gender reveal cup cakes. What a deal. We did some more shopping and then went back to her house to decorate the cakes. Blue and pink pumpkins.

I went home to chill a little bit and relax. Unexpectedly, I think my doggy Owen had a seizure while I was there. It scared the shit out of me. He tried to get off the couch and fell down. He couldn’t get his legs to work. He couldn’t walk on my floor so I got him outside. He still was on the verge of falling over. He was shaking and drooling and his tail was between his legs. I held him and he just kept his head between my legs. After what seemed like a lifetime he stopped shaking and his tail started wagging. It was so weird. He was chasing a squirrel not 2 minuets later. I guess I need to bring him to the vet. I was about to bring him to the ER for dogs but he was just fine. I worried about it the rest of the day. Hate when something happens to my dogs.

Ram Jam was on the agenda next. This might be the last one unless they make the playoff games. Honestly it was the most tame one yet. I thought because of how nice a day it was and how it could be the last it would bring more people out. They didn’t even have free shirts. Oh well. We had fun even though we couldn’t stay for the whole time. We had a gender reveal.

Yep. The oldest son, Noah and his dear Nadia are having a baby. I loved being a part of this. It’s such an honor. I still get taken back by how much I get included. I love it. Well I got to hold one of the reveal confetti canons. Guess what? IT’S A BOY!!!! Holy shit. I got teary eyes again like I did with Lola’s almost a year ago. I didn’t see that coming. I was so happy for them. We had a nice time and some very good food. It was an eventful Saturday.

Sunday I woke up and it was already cloudy and a little damp outside. Damn. I needed to clean up the mess made from that last big rain. It had finally dried out about. I made a breakfast and I got to work. I filled up a trash cans worth with still more to do later. Yuck. The price one pays for living at the bottom of a hill.

For lunch my mother took Teegan, Yvette and I out for lunch. It was a belated birthday lunch for Tee. I arrived late and found my mom and Tee. I’m glad they really like and feel comfortable together. They asked where Yvette was. I was thinking the same thing. She was later dropped off by Lola. We had a nice little lunch and good conversation as we tend to do.

At 3 we met with Bill the Officiator. The mad making us husband & wife. I have known the guy for years. Damn near 20 years. Hard to believe but it’s true. My mom worked with him when he was the Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church. Yvette had never met him. I warned her and so did my mom that he is a character. Well we went to talk. I figured he wanted some ideas what we wanted from him and we would be gone in 15 min or so. I was wrong. He was I control for this. It was a get to k ow “US” scenario. Asked about which parent we were most like. Wheat our families were like. All sorts of things about us. Building a character profile. Figuring out who “WE” were. It was almost 2 hours, and we were not done!! We were to meet again on Wednesday after work. Haha. It was like a couples sessions, I guess. It was a lot of fun though.

That evening I watched a little football, tried on my wedding outfit for my mother to see how it all came together as one looks good if I must say so my self. It was a rainy night and I decided against grilling and picked up some take out lo mien noodles. Winning decision. They hit the spot. Finished up all my meal prepping and listened to it rain with my dogs. Hazel even took a seat on the bench next to me. On the tv I had old episodes of The Simpsons playing. That’s a relaxing evening.

Monday I had a rondevue with the vampires. It was the follow up visit from my experimental flu vaccine and they wanted to run test on my blood to see how it was affected. They took a whooping 15 vials of my red. Hungry. At least I don’t have a problem with needles and my blood. It was the easiest $50 I’ve made in a long time. I hope I get called back for more test. Money money.

Staff senate was a fucking bore. This one guy keeps harping on one issue every time. He was present today to address it AGAIN for the 4 time. I think the majority of us are tired of hearing it. He wants a portion of campus named after a secretary that worked there for 40 years. Yes, that’s impressive but isn’t really that big a deal. No one will know who she is. Just buy a bronze plaque and be happy with that. It’s just horrible listening to this guy on the subject over and over. What should have been a 30 min meeting lasted an hour and likely would have kept going had they not tabled the motion for a later date. Great. I will not be going to that. I don’t know what this guy wants by brining it up. We don’t have the strength to make what he wants happen. I generally skip these meeting and watch them from the office but I made the poor decision to attend this one in person. Poor choice.

Tuesday morning I woke up around 3:30 and fought to go back to sleep until about 5 when I just gave up. I made a nice omelet, had some coffee, cleaned my floors, played Zelda and watch the weather channel. It was going to be a long day. Yvette pointed out when I picked her up for work that I’d already been awake for 4 hours. Ouch, she was right.

If any blessing was to be had for the day it was that I was very busy. I could never keep up. This was nice because otherwise I’d have been fighting to stay awake. Just think, by 5 I’d been awake for almost 14 hours. That’s a day for me and I generally go to sleep at about 15 hour after waking up. What the hell!

After work I dropped off my wedding shirt to have it pressed and lightly starched. I was pooped. I was going to my mother and couldn’t help think about how big a chore making dinner would be. Normally I’m not like that. I eventually decided to do some catty out. While waiting for my order I had myself a beer and entered the relax zone. I knew I had made the right choice. Maybe not financially but a paycheck was coming soon. I wanted nothing more than to play more Zelda and hopefully not get off my couch.

Wednesday was much better. I woke up with 9 hours of sleep and felt alive once again. Work was steady so I didn’t have any down time. Yvette had a luncheon on campus so we ate at work outside. A nice day for a picnic. After work we had our officiator. It was once again fun. Lots of laughs. I even got him to show me how to tie a tie. I’ve always liked this guy. Afterwards Yvette and I went to HEB and came back to my house for some slow cooker chicken and dumplings. Good meal, great day.

We had our first frost this week. It’s finally dipping into the 30s. What a week it’s been. I like that cold.

Friday was the day of miscommunication. It pissed me off because it all had to do with me somehow. First, someone flat out lied to my boss about me doing something which I explained was not true. After lisenting to my account he said it made sense because he didn’t think what was told to him really did. Second, a dumb lady on campus who has a history of doing dumb shit told us one thing and expected another so I was attacked by AP at the end of the day because they were expecting something from me which I knew nothing about yet this dumb lady told them I was going to provide them with. This also went back to my boss because I didn’t do this thing I didn’t know about. He understood that one because he k owes this dumb lady and knew it was on her from the get go. I was done with the week. At least Yvette and I had a nice Asian lunch date. The Asian Market by campus. The spicy beef soup was amazing and actually sort of hot. The lady working warned me. Haha. I make meals with more heat.

That night I made egg roll stir fry for Yvette and Teegan. It was yummy and after dinner Tee and I watched some Gladiator. Great movie. We bought tickets for the sequel for Saturday. Should be good fun. The evening made up for the days BS. Happy Friday!

Jalapeño.

Saturday breakfast of eggs, bacon and hash browns.

Breakfast quesadillas. Bacon, peppers, eggs and cheese. Sausage.

Dinner noodles. Asian noodles. Chicken lo mien.

Citrus chicken with a cheesy squash and rice.

Need tips with gravy and cheesy mashed potato’s.

Chicken and dumplings. First soup weather.

Tapatio’s with Conchitas.

Egg-roll Stir-fry.

The weekend was nice. I brought the kids some McDonalds sausage biscuits and hung out a bit before gathering up my dogs and some stuff to go dog sit. I wanted to drop off my pups with my mom early and not deal with it later. They will have fun.

It was Tee’s birthday. The boy is 17. He acts so much older. Love him. He wanted to go to Cielo for a burrito baby. I got him some Pokemon card. Yep, he wanted them. Makes me love him even more. He wanted lunch because he had dinner plans with friends. Good for him.

Someone kicked on of Yvette’s fence picket out from the alley and the dog got out Saturday while I was there. I decided while I was at Lowe’s I would but a picket. Damn vandals. Should be an easy fix.

I was dog sitting at my mom’s because my place was a mess after all that rain. I love the rain but until I get grass it’s always going to be an issue with a mess. I picked up some to-go food and had a beer next door while I waited. I had not been to both locations in years. They were different places back then. Brought me to some weird memory lanes. My dad. My old friends. My ex wife. Hastings. It’s always funny to go to a location you have not been to in many years. Anyway, I brought my food to my moms and ate and watched the dogs and watched some horror. I really wished Yvette was with me.

I had the best intentions of sleeping in at least till 9 on Sunday, but my mom’s dog Molly had other plans. I was assaulted with barks before 7am. I fought for a while but eventually couldn’t take it anymore so I tossed in the towel. I left my dogs and went home to make breakfast. MY intention was to clean the yard but it was still not dry enough. Damn shame. What I did notice was that just those 24 sheets of grass made a difference with the run off. My lower patio was much less a mess than it would have been otherwise. I need to just go ahead and buy more. 2025 will be the year.

We went and had some lunch at her parents. Guiso. Yummy guiso. She also made a noodle dish that was delightful but I don’t know what it was. I ran errands the rest of the day and I fixed Yvette’s fence. Someone kicked a few pickets out and on Saturday one of the dogs finally figured out that they could get out. It was an easy fix. The biggest surprise was how much fencing material has gone up. Lord.

That evening I went and got my dogs and just chilled. .

Veterans Day we had to go to work. It was a damn long day. I was on office duty and tethered to the damn place and couldn’t get out. I hate that. Same bitch, different Monday. The clock moved at a snail pace. I wanted to scream and the damn thing by the time 5 arrived.

Tuesday things got moving with the wedding. Decided against a keg due to prices and likely too much beer. Just look for beer specials. Bought 90 beers for starters. I also talked to the Pastor officiating us. We set up a time to kind of gather a game plan and figure out what we all want. I was happy with this development. He is a great man and I look forward and am honored to have him marry us.

For dinner Tuesday Lola invited me to go have eat with her, the baby and Yvette. To say I was moved by that is an understatement. I had something at home I could have made but I wasn’t going to pass this moment up. I was touched. Love that kid. We went and had a little Mexican food/ steak. I had the Mexican food, they had the steak and fries. Haha. It was a nice time.

Hump day! After work we took Teegan to go test drive a car. It’s about time he had one of his own. He liked a Jeep Compass. I thought it was a nice car and it was exciting to be with him for his first test drive. It can be a little nervous with the sales man sitting with you. I think he did well. Very exciting g for him.

The rest of the week was a bore and I couldn’t wait for Friday. I’ve been a bird in a cage cooped up. It’s sad. It’s been the opposite of exciting. A little work drama in my general area but not my department. It was comical. We plowed through the week. I did get the final piece that was the puzzle of fitting my wedding attire together. I felt good about that.

Dinner on Friday was so much fun. I made pizza bowls, requested by the kids. Teegan and I watch John Wick 4, Lola and her friend put together their baby crib, while Yvette and the baby bounced between rooms and various places to sleep. The dumb ass baby’s daddy eventually came over. I’ll have to get okay with him. Anyways… it was a great night.

Happy Friday!!

Jalapeño.

Chicken chow mien from a place I hadn’t heard great things about. The crab Rangoon was great.

Breakfast bowl. Eggs, sausage, red bell, onion, green chilies, mushrooms and gravy. It was delightful.

Pot roast with potato’s, green beans and a mushroom gravy.

Italian nachos!!

Dinner out. I had some sort of steak tacos. Oh my lord they were delicious. It wasn’t even what I wanted. They were out of what I wanted. This turned out to be much better.

Brisket street tacos. I really have been wanting tacos.

Ginger soy sriracha chicken over rice. Yummy.

Pizza bowls with the family. The kids wanted it. Fun night.