Just a Quick Grocery Day Note…

Dad was very overjoyed I got those Marie Callendar’s meals.  I got 14 meals tonight which will give me two a day to eat.

“You can’t cook, clean up, and do all of that,” he told me with very little faith in my cooking and cleaning abilities. “I was thoroughly glad you got those meals.”

The total came to $79 dollars which made me wince, but my father didn’t flinch.

I also got five gallons of diet tea instead of four as I would always run out by the end of the week.

“You didn’t spend too much,” my father said assuaging my worries as we walked to our cars. “I think you did good tonight with what you got. You got a lot of food for your dollar.”

My two diet destroying splurges were four king sized Hershey’s milk chocolate bars. They were on sale for .99 cents each. Boy, am I going to relish those.  I have a sweet tooth that can’t be denied.  I also got some Hostess chocolate cupcakes as well – an old childhood weakness of mine.

Photo Credit:   http://abcnews.go.com/Business/supermarkets-introduce-personalized-pricing/story?id=21010246

The Well Traveled Andrew…

My injection of Risperdal Consta was at 9am this morning.  Dad woke me up at 1am last night with a phone call to remind me.  He had almost forgotten as well.  The injection went without a hitch and I feel better today – more of my old self. It was just a little painful.

My nurse, Adia, was super nice as always bless her sweet little heart.  She is such a very pretty lady.  She was telling me that my mother had taught her in school and that she had graduated high school with my sister. 

“I’m a Lanett girl born and bred,” she told me with a warm smile.

Mom was waiting on me when I arrived home. She had let herself in with her key. She was bragging on me about how clean my house was.  Especially the bathroom.   I had to take her to the Books-a-Million in Auburn.  It was fixing to get very stormy so I told her we had to hurry lest we get caught in a mess.  We also got me a game time card for Warcraft at Best Buy which now gives me 4 months of game play.  My first free month is almost over.

Our last stop was Sonic for chocolate shakes.  I threw caution to the wind and we both got two large chocolate shakes and sat in the parking lot drinking them. Mom and I are both supposed to be on a diet.  The shakes were completely divine.

I then heard thunder in the distance and we quickly got on the road aka the interstate.  We just narrowly escaped a big storm as we sped up the highway at a careless 80 mph.  Mom’s car may just be a lowly Honda Civic, but that car will scoot. It began to sprinkle as soon as I pulled up in front of my house and gave the reigns to my mother. 

My injection makes me very drowsy the day I get it and I crashed in the bed for many hours.  I woke up and it was 6:30pm tonight. Le sigh!  I hope I fall sleep at my usual 11pm time.

Now, we have to go buy groceries.  Dad will probably be here around 8:30pm for that endeavor.  It is going to be a Marie Callender’s and bologna sandwich themed night tonight. I’m tired of cooking and cleaning up after it to be honest.

Mr. Early Arrives to Our Surprise…

I was laying on the bed giving Maggie some affection and attention when there was a loud knock on the front door.  I looked at the clock and it read 8:20pm.  I thought it was someone wanting to cut my grass before dark fell.  It was my father and Maggie didn’t even get a chance to perform her usual revelry.  She was caught off guard.

“Let’s go grocery shopping tomorrow night,” dad said after we sat down on my couch. “I want to go home early.  I barely made it through work today.”

I was fine with that.  I didn’t much want to go through that whole rigmarole myself tonight.  The worst part of buying groceries for me is unloading them when I get home and putting them away.

“I am getting in my recliner with a cold diet Coke and watching what your mother calls the Hitler channel,” dad told me as he handed me my crazy meds. 

I chuckled as I gulped down all 12 pills in one swallow.  The Hitler channel or History channel as it is more commonly called will put my mother to sleep on the couch.  I personally enjoy seeing shows about the Luftwaffe – the German air force.  

So, I’ve got some water beginning to warm on the stove and we are going to have some condensed chicken noodle soup and garlicky breadsticks for supper.  Maggie’s now out in the backyard venting her vicious frustrations for the evening.  Something or someone has got her knickers in a complete twist.

To the Bookstore We Go…

Mom just called me and wants me to take her to the bookstore in Auburn tomorrow.  I look forward to spending some quality time with the Matriarch of the family and it will be like old times.  We are leaving at 10am.  I am also getting another 3 month game time card for WarCraft.  She is trying to get up enough books to last until my father arrives back home from driving one of my brother’s car from San Diego she said.  My father leaves Thursday.

I Really Like Her, But…

I am chatting with this sweet Southern lady on Facebook.  She lives in LaGrange just 25 minutes away from me.  We’ve had some really good chats and are getting to know each other, but the relationship is progressing painfully slow.  My mother taught her in school and has fond memories of her – that she was a good student.  The only warning signs are that she is 42 and still lives with her parents.  She has also been married 3 times.  I am willing to overlook all of that as I’ve had a failed marriage as well and am coddled by my parents also.  I guess she is waiting for me to ask her out.  I really want to lose another 10 pounds before we meet.  I sent her a picture of myself today taken in my bathroom mirror and she said I looked very handsome.  Oh, I am really just not good at this sort of thing at all.  It gets my social anxieties all in a twist.

I Think I Spotted Another Jackalope the Other Day!

  The Jackalope (Lepus-temperamentalus) is one of the rarest animals in the world. A cross between an extinct pygmy-deer and a species of killer-rabbit, they are extremely shy unless approached.   Known by the ancients as "deerbunnies", it wasn't until the early 1960's that the modern more fearsome "jackalope" name was adopted.
    It is written that you can extract a Jackalope's milk as it sleeps belly up at night. The milk is believed to be medicinal and can be used for a variety of afflictions. The truth is these creatures are aggressive and unpredictable, and should not be provoked for any reason!
   The government wants you to believe they aren't real, but there are many who believe. The evidence is mounting!

Can You Believe this is Marie Calendar’s?

The is what I had for brunch.  This meal didn’t look very appetizing in it’s original packaging so I plated it up, and boy did it make a difference.  It is breaded chicken tenderloins, scalloped potatoes, glazed carrots, and green beans.  It tasted pretty decent as well despite being in my freezer for months.

Tonight is grocery night.  All I have left from last week is a 12 pack of Ramen noodles.  I think I am just going to get Marie Calendars meals instead of trying to cook this week.  Cleaning up the kitchen gets old and my dish washer is broken.  It leaks all onto my kitchen floor.

Vulgar, My Father Was…

Well, heir Charlie and mien father have just left after bringing medications and food.  KFC was out of chicken (how does KFC run out of chicken?) so they brought me a Whopper, gigantic Coke, and fries instead.  That’s what mom always gets anyway so they didn’t have to go out of their way.   I’m not a big Whopper fan, but beggars can’t be choosers as the old saying goes. It sure looks sloppy to the right there ------>  They also skimped me on the fries. 

Maggie put on a grand show of affection like no other tonight she was so glad to see the dynamic duo.  I was glad to see them as well.  It was getting close to 9pm and I thought they would never show. Charlie and dad had been trimming Charlie’s shrubbery all afternoon.

Dad was being vulgar tonight, and Charlie said he was about to go throw up in my trashcan.  Dad loves to do that to Charlie. Dad was talking about a woman’s anatomy.

“You had two kids,” he told Charlie. “You had to be ‘getting it on’ to make them.”

“Shut up John now dammit!” Charlie rebuked disgusted

Maggie was hungry and was wondering if we would get around to her very own ritual.  Charlie gave her a big bowl of kibble while I filled her big ceramic bowl with fresh water.  Maggie was starving and ate all her food in a hurry.  I put some more in the bowl in case she got hungry again overnight. 

Happy Birthday Dearest Maggie!

If my memory serves me correctly, today was the day my father brought Maggie home to me seven years ago.  He had been walking out at the rest area on the interstate.  He heard whimpering coming from a trashcan he was passing.  He looked inside and there was a puppy someone had thrown away into the trash.  He picked her out of the trashcan and brought her to me.  She could fit in my father’s hand.  Mom named her Maggie as she traditionally names all our pets.  Maggie was anemic being eaten alive with fleas and needed to be inoculated and spayed.  We had her out at the Veterinarian the next day were they diligently worked to get all the fleas off.  She has been a wonderful little companion to me over these years. I always say that Maggie was the best thing my father has ever done for me and Charlie will say it, too. 

The Biscuit Bringer Has Come and Gone…

Charlie has come and gone for our Sunday morning biscuit ritual.  In the sack he gave me were two sausage and egg biscuits, some packets of mustard, and a hash brown.

“I’ll see you tonight,” Charlie said as Maggie barked over joyously.  “I love you, too, Maggie!”

I didn’t know he was here until I heard Maggie squeal and start barking.

I was just looking online and each sausage and egg biscuit has a whopping 510 calories. Ouch!  The hashbrown has a much more reasonable 150 calories. That makes this breakfast over a 1000 calories.  Looks like I won’t be eating lunch or supper tonight.

It has Been a Stormy Day Today…

More storms rolling in from the west…

There are Country Cooks in the Kitchen Tonight…

The potato salad was a special request from me for my father.  Mom also put lots of peppery and spicy hot sauce on my turnip greens just like I like it, fiery hot.  We have company in town – one of my father’s cousins and her son are staying over waiting for a flight to Denver.  Atlanta’s airport is just 45 minutes from my parent’s house.  She said she wanted a “down home” cooked meal and my father delivered.  I was thankful the pork tenderloin wasn’t the marinated in peppercorns kind.  It was just marinated in garlic and a light brine.

 

 

 

 

Dessert was red velvet cake with a butter nut cream icing.  Charlie’s sister, Polly, made it.

Poor Wonky Me!

I woke up at 6:45am with an awful headache.  I never get headaches, but this one was a bugger. I felt like I had a night out drinking and was sobering up.   I took three Excedrin which have caffeine in them and soon went back to bed after playing WarCraft for an hour.  I chalked it up to a caffeine deficiency headache. 

11pm rolled around and I was still laying in the bed as Maggie groomed herself noisily next to me – a lot of grunts and snorting going on as she digged at her cooties.  I begrudgingly got up and put on some clothes.  Luckily, my headache was mostly gone, but I was still feeling a little wonky. 

I headed straight to the kitchen as soon as I had gotten woke up good.  My beloved cold pizza awaited me in a box.  I tell you and I am not exaggerating that Johnny’s pizza has to be some of the best pizza in the South.  I felt much better with something on my stomach although it was terrible for my diet.  Sometimes, you just have to revel in defeat and not victory.  I have lost 5 pounds to my credit.

I then called mom to see if she would put out my Helen to-go plates along with my sodas.  The drive to my parent’s house was quick and painless – no traffic to contend with.  I greedily grabbed my armful of drinks and containers of food, and then headed home. Helen had cooked fried pork cutlets, spinach and sliced boiled eggs,  cut lake green beans, deviled eggs, cornbread, and yellow corn niblets.  As you can see, it is not very photogenic, but it tasted delicious.

Photo credit:  http://www.everywherefare.com/kotlet-schabowy-polish-breaded-pork-cutlets/

This Cracked Me Up! This Guy Knows No Shame…

Celebrate LGBT Equality

by Kevin Barbieux  aka “The Homeless Guy”

Today's Supreme Court decision to allow LGBT people to marry in the United States is a major move forward in the social acceptance of all people who have historically been marginalized by society.  Celebrate this historic day by sending a donation to thehomelessguy@gmail.com via PayPal

Pipe and Christina…

Pipe, my parent’s house was built in 1929.  My bedroom growing up was the old servant’s quarters in the basement.  It is a really unique house and has a lot of character. 

Christina,  I so wish to help mom, but I don’t know how to go about it.  My father is such a hardheaded fellow and would not allow me to intervene. Do you have any suggestions on how to go about this?  I would appreciate your insight.

It’s All Uncommonly Good Around Here…

I thought my father would never ever arrive tonight.  He didn’t arrive until almost 10:30pm.  I hesitated to call his cellphone as he says I keep up with him like my mother does.  When he arrived, he was in an uncommonly good mood due to pizza and beer.

“You’re not much one to drink beer,” I told him amused.

“I had me some cold Coronas with my pizza,” he replied. “Ole!”

I laughed wholeheartedly.   I shouldn’t have, but my father’s mood was contagious.  He was being silly.

Dad had also brought me a big pizza box of leftover New York Style pizza from Johnny’s in downtown West Point. I was very, very grateful for this gift.  Johnny’s has excellent pizza – expensive and very delicious.  I am going to save it for breakfast in the morning.

We took my many medications and then dad wanted me to look up the Queen’s state visit to Germany on my iPad.  He is obsessed with the British Monarchy. To be honest, I am pretty smitten with them myself.  I pulled up the official webpage of the British Monarchy and he must’ve read it for ten minutes while Maggie vied for his attention.

We finally fed and watered a grateful Maggie and he was on his way.

“Love you, son!” he said walking down the front steps of my house.

Now it is time for the nitty gritty.  Do I stay up late playing WarCraft, or do I join Maggie in the bed?  Both endeavors would be enjoyable.

Coincidences of the Grateful Kind…

I drove over to my parent’s house to get my sodas a moment ago.  Mom didn’t leave my sodas out on the porch like she usually does which was very odd.  The whole situation was strange because the garage door to dad’s BMW was up.  I walked through the garage and climbed the steps to the second story of the house.

“Mom?” I said very loudly as I walked down the hall towards my mother’s bedroom.

“I’m in here,” mom said weakly from the front living room.

I could barely hear her.  I opened the door to the front living room and mom had fallen to the floor.  I rushed over to her and helped her get up.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Do you have any broken bones?”

“My knee is bleeding,” mom told me, “but I think I am okay.  If you didn’t come along to help me up then I would’ve been in a mess.”

I stayed for a few moments to make sure my mother was okay.  She was walking fine in a few moments after getting up.  We bandaged her knee and then I reluctantly headed back home. 

“Helen will be here soon,” mom said. “I will be fine.  I will call you when Helen has your supper plate ready.”

Fire in the Manor…

Mom called me at 7am this morning.  I moaned as I was abruptly awakened by the raucous din of the phone and I walked out of my bedroom to answer it which resides in my hall. Maggie jumped off the bed and followed me.  She gets excited when the phone rings for some reason.

“I just turned on the light switch to my room and fire shot out from it,” she said urgently. “What should I do?”

Luckily, mom didn’t get burned.

“Go wake up dad!” I told her in an excitable manner. “It could burn down the house!”

I called mom back a moment ago and they have an electrician there now to fix the problem.

“He’s also going to fix our doorbell which has never worked right,” mom told me. “I am sitting in the dark because the power is off.”

“Is today Thursday?” my mother then asked over her cellphone.

“It is Friday morning, mom,” I told her flabbergasted. “Helen comes to fix dinner at noon.”

“What is Helen cooking?” she asked.

“All I know is that we are having fried pork cutlets and whole kernel corn,” I replied.

With that said, mom and I got off the phone.  I then immediately called mom back to remind her that her hair dresser’s appointment is at 1pm.  She thanked me profusely.

Photo credit:   http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/208728129

Hah!!!

Unfortunately, You Get What You Pay For…

Rita said…

I am interested in the Dell computer that your dad purchased recently. Is it a desktop or a laptop? Can you tell me a little about it? For someone who does lots of word processing, photographs, etc., do you think it would be worth it? I am interested in where he purchased it and if I might be able to buy it locally in Denver.

Rita, this is what my father bought:  Dell $299.99 desktop.   He bought it from Dell online and had it shipped to his house.  I haven’t used it so I couldn’t really say how good of a computer it is.  My father seems happy with it.  Most times, though, you get what you pay for when it comes to computers. 

My big beef with this computer is that it only has 4 GB of memory.  I would, at least, upgrade it to 8 GB of memory.  I would also upgrade the 500 GB hard drive to at least 1 terabyte.  The processor is also dubious.  They say a four core processor comes with it, but they don’t say what type.  I would, at least, get a quad core i5 processor. 

McGruff is Back!

“I thought you didn’t work here anymore,” I told McGruff relieved when it was my turn to get checked out.

Fred’s was hopping busy today.  I had to wait ten minutes in line in order to get checked out and they had two registers open for business.

“I never left.  You must’ve just missed me,” she said.

I placed a small box of Fred’s brand 24 pack Benadryl on the counter and she scanned it.

“It will be $2.60 honey,” she replied as I readied to swipe my debit card.

“The price sticker on the shelf says $1.85,” I told her. “That price must be wrong.”

She told me to walk back to the pharmaceuticals aisle and show her the price after she got the manager to void out the sale.

“You’re right,” she said. “The scanned price is wrong.”

She rung me up again and the price was a much more manageable $2.05.  I told her I was glad to see her and had missed her.  You could almost see her grumpy old heart melt.

Photo Credit:    http://www.nerdwallet.com/dealfinder/black-friday/freds-super-dollar

May You Yawn in Peace…

I was starving when I woke up this morning at 6:45am.  I stood in the kitchen peering into my refrigerator trying to decide what to eat.  My sweet tooth was giving me a very hard time so I ate two Activia yogurts.  After eating, I stood on the scales in my bathroom and I have lost another two pounds.  Mom said she could already tell I’ve lost some weight. 

“You’re losing your weight in your midsection,” she told me yesterday. “You were almost getting a beer belly.”

Dieting is hard as you feel deprived and hungry all the time. 

The house was very eerily quiet this morning.  Maggie hadn’t stirred yet so I went to seek her out.  She was still curled up on the bed asleep.  It was cool and dark in my bedroom with a temperature of 77 degrees – perfect for a morning of sleeping in.  My biological clock told me otherwise, though. 

Scathing Rebukes…

An old friend of mine wrote publically on my Facebook page about the Lori fiasco in a complete about face.  She tried to say the past 15 years of my writings were all a lie – that George and Ferret were a figment of my imagination. It was completely over the top and melodramatic to the extreme.

“You could be some 80 year old lady with a cat and not a 43 year old man with a dog,” she said.

I certainly didn’t appreciate her posting all that in a public place where my family could read it.  She should have taken it to my email or my blog comments.  I sadly had to unfriend her. 

If George and the gang weren’t real then I would still be writing about them to this day.  Those were the days I was getting over 2000 readers a day and making over $200 dollars a month with my Google Adsense ads.  One month I made $260. It was the pinnacle of my blog. Why would I quit writing about them if they were fictional? Why would I give up all the money I was making and let my blog fall into relative obscurity? I assure you 95% of what is on this blog is real. That whole Lori deal was a terrible and misguided decision on my part to bring in newer readers, and boy did it backfire.  Things almost spiraled out of control and I apologize sincerely to all of you who have remained loyal to me.

The Tendrils of Time…

“Do you think I am like my mother?” my father sincerely asked me tonight as we sat on the couch.

Dad’s deceased mother is very heavily revered within our family.  I dare say to the lofty heights of a Mother Teresa.

“Very much so,” I replied willingly. “You put your grandchildren first and lavish them with love and affection.”

Dad handed me my handful of nightly crazy meds and I gulped them all down with a big swig of Sprite Zero.

“You did great with the kids today,” dad told me. “Charlie said you were going to be alright and I am beginning to believe him.”

I smiled as dad handed me two more Clonazepam and a Coureg – both for anxiety.

Dad left to go buy his household’s groceries.  I made sure to tell him that Maggie needed more kibble.  I escaped into my computer room with Maggie following right behind me for my nightly rituals.  Maggie jumped up on the bed and made herself comfortable.  My medications will take effect at 10:45pm.

Photo credit:    https://goodtimestories.wordpress.com/tag/mother-teresas-home-for-children/

The Tide Ebbs and Flows…

I had one of my good days today – a day in which I could be social and join in on all the family activities.  Dad had to babysit my niece and nephew again and implored me to come and help entertain.  A fear years ago, this would have struck severe fear into the heart of this old reclusive soul.  I took my iPad and we spent a good hour looking at clips from all the Star Wars movies I had downloaded onto it.

The kids and I then walked down into downtown West Point and got a waffle cone of ice cream.  We were all unanimous in that we picked rocky road chocolate as our ice cream of choice.

The kids marveled as we stepped into Georgia just a few feet down from my parent’s house. 

“You mean this line is Georgia?” my little nephew Grant asked.

“You are now in Georgia,” I replied.

Grant straddled the line and proudly said, “I am in Georgia and Alabama at the same time!”

It’s just like men to be always drawing lines in the sand.  Everything is dibbled up into parcels and parts – race and creed.

This morning, I had put some center cut pork chops in a dish to marinade them in Worcestershire sauce all day.  I grilled them on my little hibachi grill after the storms passed this evening.  I gave in and gave Maggie a pork chop and it was country come to town.   I also cooked a big batch of my mother’s beef lo mien to freeze for leaner times.  Like I’ve said in the past, it is either feast or famine around here many weeks.  

Photo credit:   http://www.scottcochrane.com/index.php/2015/01/22/the-power-of-drawing-a-leadership-line-in-the-sand/

Andrew's Christmas Dreams…

Why in the World Do You Need Two Heads of Cabbage?

They are for my mother’s beef lo mien recipe.  I am making it twice this week thus the need for two heads of cabbage.  The cabbage takes forever to wilt, though, so you have to be patient with this recipe.

 

Adding an animated radar to your blog...

Some Things on the Grocery List…

• Two heads of cabbage
• 2 pounds of lean ground chuck
• Two canisters of La Choy chow mien noodles
• One large bottle of Kikkoman's Soy Sauce
• Bananas and Ambrosia Apples
• Two packages of cooked white rice (Uncle Ben’s)
• 4 gallons of Milo’s diet tea with Splenda
• One twelve pack of Ramen noodles (emergency rations)
• 8 pack of Hershey’s milk chocolate bars (Just kidding; I wish!)

 

Things I Need to Do For My Blog Friends…

I need to get Helen’s macaroni and cheese recipe and get it on the blog. I would like to get her meatloaf recipe as well.  I also need to show Amelia how to put a radar animated GIF on her webpage or blog. (thinking of making a how to video for this)

The Four Way Disaster Waiting to Happen…

There are these two streets below my parent’s house that are pretty dangerous.  People are always ignoring the stop signs and blowing straight through the intersection.  I’ve almost gotten hit a few times myself.  I now always stop and look both ways before entering the intersection even though I have the right of way.  Well, it finally happened – a big car crash where someone ran the stop sign and hit this guy in a Ford truck.  The truck was totaled after ending up hitting a telephone pole in the driver’s efforts to miss the oncoming car.

I gawked a little bit, but then headed on to my parent’s house to get my sodas this morning.  My sweet Helen was already sitting on the porch puffing on a Newport when I arrived. She was early for work. I didn’t dawdle, though, eager to get home and get my sodas in the freezer to get them cold fast. 

Charlie did something very kind last night. He’s always doing kind things for me. He bakes chocolate pies every few weeks and he brought me two slices late last night. They are his specialty. It must’ve been 10pm when he arrived not long after my father had left. It thrilled Maggie to death to see him. I hadn’t eaten much all day and decided it would be okay to eat them despite my being on a diet.  I have a terrible sweet tooth and Charlie’s pies are just scrumptious.   Charlie then left to take some more chocolate pie to his sister Polly who lives a few blocks over from me. Charlie is the embodiment of altruism and more people should follow his lead including me.

Photo credit:  http://healthyrecipesblogs.com/2011/12/20/chocolate-pie-chocolate-pie-crust/

James Horner, Film Composer for 'Titanic' and 'Braveheart,' Dies in Plane Crash…

James Horner, the consummate film composer known for his heart-tugging scores for Field of Dreams, Braveheart and Titanic, for which he won two Academy Awards, died Monday in a plane crash near Santa Barbara. He was 61.

This is so very sad for me.  He was one of my favorite composers along with John Williams who composed the Star Wars theme.  I was listening to the Avatar soundtrack just last night.  Rumor has it that he was working on the Avatar 2 soundtrack at his death. 

This is Charlie…

To quell any confusion about my father’s photo being Charlie, I bring you Charlie and Maggie.

Sleepy Boy Says Hi…

Well, I managed to sleep the day away.  I woke up initially at 4:30am and went back to bed at 11am and then went back to bed at 3pm and slept until 8pm.  I pretty much wasted my day sleeping.  I certainly feel good tonight and well rested, but will I sleep when 11pm rolls around?  Today is an example on how I can easily get on a stay up all night schedule which is the bane of my existence. 

Now it is time for the waiting game on when my father will bring my meds.  Charlie and dad are currently over at the river house looking at all the new windows that were installed according to my mother.  That river house has been a project of love for my father.  He says he has wanted that house ever since he saw it for the first time years ago.  He made an offer and they accepted and the rest was history.

I did get to see my sister’s kids around lunch.  We used dad’s iPad to watch cartoons and to visit Nickelodeon which had some online games you could play. I also brought over my Nintendo GameCube so they could play it some.  I had a SpongeBob Square Pants party game they enjoyed – ya gotta love SpongeBob.  Dad was overjoyed that I kept them entertained while he fixed the midday meal.  I did get a piece of my parent’s chocolate cake and it was delicious.  Mom and dad bitched, moaned and argued through the whole process, but the cake turned out great. 

I almost forgot, but tonight is grocery night. It just immediately dawned on me.  I am making my mother’s beef lo mien this week I have decided.  I will also once again get that Milo’s diet tea.  I’ve already lost three pounds on my new diet.  Let’s keep that weight coming off!  I want to get down to 175 by the end of the summer.

No Groceries Tonight…

Dad just left. We decided not to get groceries tonight much to his chagrin.  I just didn’t feel like going through that rigmarole tonight, although I had to endure a ton of peer pressure from my father.

“Your mother is going to have a fit,” he said as his foremost worry. “She’ll ask me a hundred questions about why you didn’t go.”

I have plenty of Ramen noodle soup to get me through tomorrow night.  I might feel like I am back in college.

Me Playing World of WarCraft…

My Hopes Were Almost Hopelessly Dashed…

I called my father about the weather around 8pm.  I was also surreptitiously trying to find out how far along they were with the Sunday Night Chicken ritual.  My hopes were dashed when I heard my nephew talking in the background.  They were still in Alex City.  My heart sunk low as I hung up the phone.  It is an hour drive back from my sister’s house and it would probably be 10pm before dad and Charlie arrived with my medications.

I sat back down at the computer for awhile and Maggie then started to squeal and bark that a family member was here.  To my complete surprise and shock, it was Charlie with my medications and my grilled chicken dinner.

“I called your daddy and told him that was too long for you to have to wait,” Charlie said. “And I took upon myself to do the medication ritual and to go get your Sunday meal.”

I thanked Charlie extremely profusely over and over.  I was elated.  I was having a pity party when he arrived.  What a wonderful sound that Maggie made signaling the cavalry was here.

Charlie can’t come without cleaning.  I had already took out all my trash bags to the road so Charlie wouldn’t have to do that tonight.  Charlie still found things to do.  He swept my laundry room floor and we found my backdoor key that had been missing for months, and then he cleaned my glass stove top with some polish they recommend.  He was surprised I had the polish. I can thank mom for that as she got me some fearing I was going to scratch my stove.

There were a few more heartfelt hugs and Maggie got her lot of mucho attention.  Soon, Charlie was on his way to take Horsefly his evening dinner of chicken fingers.

Photo Credit:  http://qa.kfc.com/about/news/2013/061713.asp

Happy Father’s Day…

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father. I couldn't have achieved what I have in life without his help and guidance.

Dad just called me and I told him Happy Father’s Day.  He wanted to tell me how proud he was of me for what I’ve accomplished these past few years. It made me feel like a million bucks I tell ya.  He’s not much one for praise – especially not for me.

“Ten years ago, you would be drunk somewhere and wouldn’t even know it was father’s day,” he told me.

I got him a funny card and some of his favorite cologne.

My parents are headed to my sister’s house for father’s day.  I told dad not to forget to bring me back a piece of that chocolate cake!

The Sunday Morning Arrival of Charlie…

Yes, today is biscuit day and I am especially hungry.  I almost thought of cancelling biscuit day for me since I am on a diet and Maggie no longer gets a biscuit.  Those biscuits are so calorie loaded.  Well, I decided I can treat myself once a week.  I am especially keen on getting that giant Coca-Cola without ice.  The only time I get caffeine these days is once a week now with Charlie’s Coke he brings me.  He asked me a few weeks ago if I would like orange juice or a soda, and I said soda.

This morning I have been working on getting all four of my computer monitors hooked up to my computers and working.  Both computers now have extended desktops.  Dad calls this my command center in my computer room. My brother calls it the bunker. I need to do more neatening and straightening, though.  It is kind of in a mess at the moment with wires and cords running everywhere.   That’s where zip ties come in handy. 

The Charles Meister Has Left the Premises…

Charlie gave me a big hug this morning as I told him happy father’s day.  Maggie was going nuts to see him so Charlie stepped inside to pet her.

“You know you are like my second father,” I told him.

“What do you want for supper?” Charlie then asked.

“Just get me whatever is easiest on you,” I replied.

“Charlie?” I then asked as he walked to his car. “Get me the grilled chicken and a diet Coke instead of sweet tea.”

Charlie replied that he could already tell that I’ve lost a few pounds.  My scales show it as well.

Throwing Up My Hands in Huge Relief and Defeat…

You all were right about giving Maggie so much people food.  It was inadvertently making her sick.  After over a week of no people food, her allergies and fungal skin condition have completely cleared up.  I deserve a very big I told you so. I also need to say thank you! Now, I am going to go feed and water Maggie for the night.  Maggie has her rituals as well.  She will then get on the bed and wait until eleven when I go to sleep.