Do You Make Some Really Good Potato Salad? Yes? Can We Be Friends?

http://www.simplypotatos.com/

Mein Charlie surprised me and just arrived spreading 4th of July tidings of great joy.  Charlie will stop by for a visit with food and gluttony will ensue.

Charlie brought me two of his signature grilled hamburgers and a large Tupperware bowl of Janice's potato salad.

"What is your secret about such great tasting burgers?" I asked Charlie.

"I marinate the ground chuck overnight in Lea and Perrin's Worcestershire sauce," Charlie replied.

Intimacy Revealed...

I drove up to La Grange to get Laura Valentine's day. I grew more nervous with every mile that passed. I really am not good with this sort of matter. She met me at the door while I was holding a heart-shaped box of Whitman's chocolate and a card. On the card, I wrote, "I care about you very much and consider you a very good friend. Happy Valentines! You're Special!" She appreciated the sentiment and gave me a very heartfelt hug.

"You kids have a good time," Laura's mother told us.

I smiled -- thanking Laura's mother.

"I am 42 years old momma!" Laura replied with a huff.

Undeterred, she asked me what was my ex-wife's favorite restaurant in Newnan, Georgia. I had talked about it before to her and said we were going sometime soon.

"Ah, you're speaking of Fire Dragon. It is a Thai and Malaysian food restaurant."

It was another 30-minute drive up the interstate to Newnan towards Atlanta. I had to help Laura order as the food listed sounded kind of ambiguous and Laura wasn't familiar with Thai food. I ordered us both the Beef Khao Soi with pickled cabbage. A dish I was familiar with. Our food was hot and delicious. Laura was thrilled to have something culinarily "different".

On the drive back to Laura's house, she grabbed my hand and held it for the rest of the way. I blushed and said, "That felt nice".

Laura insisted on paying for our meal.

"You're my Valentine's today," she said. "I am treating you!"

It embarrassed me when it was time to pay and Laura reached down her chest and pulled two twenty dollar bills out of her bra to pay for our meal.  I've seen Helen do that as well.

Escape Plan Alpha is in Effect...

We ate a traditional Southern New Year's Day meal at my brother's house today.  I was smart and just told my father I would meet them down in Auburn.  Dad wanted me to ride with him and my mother. I knew they would stay for hours and I would want to drive home after the meal. I guess I committed a social faux pas by eating and then running. Say goodnight and go, Gracie! Oh, well. Five years ago I wouldn't have even attempted this sojourn in social anxiety.

My sister-in-law is a fantastic cook and we had peppercorn encrusted pork loin, turnip greens, black-eyed peas, and spicy Mexican cornbread. White wine was also freely flowing, but I didn't even feel tempted at all.

image credit: http://blog.exploregeorgia.org/nine-places-to-nab-a-traditional-southern-new-years-day-meal/

Happy New Year to You All...

It seems like a warzone going on outside my windows with all the firecrackers and firework displays going off. Luckily, the fireworks don't even faze my Maggie.  Many dogs are terribly frightened by fireworks.  Same goes with thunder and lightning.

image credit:  http://www.happynewyearquotes-2015.com/happy-new-year-banner-png.html

A Christmas Story Favorite of Mine...

Merry Christmas From the Royal Family and Buckingham Palace...

Merry Christmas...

Thank You For this Little Bit of Instant Bliss...

Well, I just made a very rare appearance at my Parent's house on Christmas Eve.  There was a large crowd of people there which I feared the most.  Dad was busy in the kitchen with my sister getting a meal together.  "Let's put the casseroles in," I heard my sister say to my father as I stood by the sink in the kitchen.  My stomach grumbled at the prospect. I have never met a casserole I didn't like.  My sister-in-law had made my late grandmother's traditional oyster casserole. Bliss!

"Thank you for coming," dad told me very sincerely. "I know it took a lot of courage for you to do this."

"Social anxiety has made me miss out on so many Christmases with the family," I told my father. "But I am getting better."

"Barbara has been the best money I have ever spent on you," dad said speaking of my therapist.

"Maggie's been the best thing you have ever done for me," I told my father with a warm smile.

I mingled for a few short minutes, then I delivered my presents for the kids and soon headed back home.

"I am going to make sure you have a super big plate of food," my father told me as I was leaving. "I will bring it tonight along with your Christmas presents, and your medications."

I had a very convoluted drive home with so many bridges around us washed out.  I had to drive through my old childhood neighborhood on the other side of town to make it successfully back to my house.

Right now, we are in a torrential downpour with lots of thunder and lightning.  The power clicked off for about 10 minutes and then clicked back on. I pray the power doesn't go out for a lengthy period of time.

Soon, Put Out Your Cookies and Your Milk...

Two more days and Santa will arrive.  I hope you all were good and won't get any lumps of coal. I might get a few lumps myself. That overspending at the grocery store can get you in lots of trouble.

When I was a child, the Christmas Holidays were an extremely cherished two-week respite from that hell hole called public education.  At least, I didn't get picked on too much despite being a strange little fellow.  I had a reputation of cockpunching or kicking you in the balls if you pushed me too hard or slighted me. Yeah, I unabashedly played dirty pool.

Dad told me just to buy gifts for my nephew and three nieces and not for the whole family.  I got them all some cool stuff I hope they will enjoy.  I got them the kind of things I would want as a kid at Christmas.  Grant is going to love the four "action packed" Star Wars figures I got him. Lily loves soccer so she got a new soccer ball. Olivia got two Barbies. Kathleen got Star Wars Legos.

Dad's mom and her sisters always gave us socks and underwear for Christmas which can depress a little 8-year-old kid. I still have emotional scars from childhood when one Christmas I got a knitted scarf.

image credit:  http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/12/how-to-instantly-own-the-worlds-coolest-star-wars-action-figure-collection/

The Christmas Tree is Up and Decorated...

Dad was being lackadaisical about me getting a Christmas tree.  I took matters in my own hands, withdrew $50 out of my account at the teller, and drove to Ponder's Plant Nursery to get my tree.  It barely fit in the back of my car, but I got her home and decorated.  I got a good deal as well.  Mike at Ponder's let me have the tree for $30.  

A Day Late and a Dollar Short...

Is anybody else's Windows Live Writer not working?  Mine says not supported when I try to upload a blog post to blogger.  Frustrating as that is an awesome program to author a blog with.

"Merry Christmas!" He Says With a Sigh...

Dad postponed Christmas Tree procurement until Wednesday. Charlie has their truck in Dadeville. I told my father it will fit in my car with the rear seats folded down, but he said he didn't want to mess up my car with pine needles. He really just wants to relax today since it is his day off.  I know what is going on. I don't blame him. He has to work ten hours tomorrow.  He wants to drink wine and listen to NPR.

"Be patient," he told me over the phone. "You are going to get a Christmas tree."

He also grilled me on how I am doing today.

"You've already called me three times today," he said. "Are you okay?"

I know what he was thinking.  Shades of my mother, Martha.  Mom can call you five times in an hour is something pressing is on her mind.

"I just feel really anxious and impatient today," I replied. "Impetuous is a better word."

I used all my Christmas lights on hand to decorate inside and out and needed to buy some more for my tree.  I ran over to Fred's Super Dollar a moment ago and their Christmas aisle looked like a wasteland with an odd duckling ornament scattered about. It also looked like a tornado went through and took everything with it.  I am going to check Family Dollar and Dollar General to see if they have Christmas lights.  My last resort will be to go to Wal-Mart which looks more and more likely as the day progresses.  I really don't want to go all the way down to Wal-Mart if I can help it. I bet it is extremely crowded due to Christmas revelers shopping.

I am feeling really anxious and nervous today for some reason. I have a long wait until 9pm and grocery shopping time and that has a lot to do with my feeling such a way. It seems as if I am always waiting on someone else to get something done.  I do have a lot to look forward tonight I keep telling myself.  I can't wait to get more eggnog, Pop-Tarts, milk, and a Manwich with crispy crinkle cut fries is calling my name. I need comfort foods today.  I've also decided I am going to make mom's lasagna this week.

image credit:  http://seankerrigan.com/five-months-after-hurricane-sandy/

Have You Been Naughty or Nice?

I’ve been pretty nice except for last week when I knocked on my own door just to see Maggie come clamoring for visitors.  I shouldn’t cry wolf like that, but it made me smile. Yes, it was sadistic and no, I don’t do that all the time. 

Christmas is coming and it is my favorite time of the year.  Yards and homes are lit in festive lights and decorations.  Elaborate wreaths are hanging from doors, and then there is the 100 pound behemoth that is my parent’s artificial Christmas tree.  Yes, we got the tree up this afternoon and it looks beautiful.  Dad and I both struggled, the old men we are, to get it out of storage in the basement and up all the stairs to the front living room. 

The Secretary’s job was to hang the ornaments. Dad kept calling her Santa’s little helper which tickled my funny bone.

“At that rate, Martha, it will be tomorrow before you get all the ornaments on,” my father said jokingly. 

“Oh, shut up, Johnny,” my mother replied with a guffaw.  

As I was leaving, dad asked me if I was okay.  I seemed out of sorts.

“My mind is racing at 100mph,” I told my father rather frantically. “I got excited about the tree.  I just want to go home and lay down.”

“It was that Strattera,” he said. “I knew we shouldn’t have given it to you.”

We went ahead and took my medications for the day.  Hopefully 4mg of Klonopin will slow me down as it should.

We will get my Christmas tree this weekend at Ponder’s Plant Nursery as I prefer a live tree and the accompanying cedar scent that permeates the house. I’ve already put lights around all the windows in the front of the house, though. I like to go stand out in the front yard and admire them at dark fall.  

photo credit:  http://www.oldmillcommunity.com/announcements/christmas-tree-pick-ups-the-first-two-weeks-in-january/

The Cookie Monster in Me…

They Brought Me A Big Bag of Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies!

That thrilled me to no end! My cousin Jean’s chocolate chips cookies are some of the best I have ever eaten.

Change of Venue…

“Let’s go get us a cold drink!” my father exclaimed after the medication ritual and Maggie’s ritual. “I am dying for a big ass Diet Coke with ice!”

“Awesome!” I replied as we left my house for dad’s warm Honda out at the road. 

Dad handed me a $1 and 52¢ – the correct change to buy the two drinks.  We pulled into Circle K’s parking lot and a fellow was aggressively hawking his latest rap CD.

“No thanks!” I said to him with a smile.

“But good luck in your efforts!” I added encouragingly!

I fixed dad a 32oz. Diet Coke with just a little over half full with ice as he requested and I got my tasty SoBe Citrus drink I am so enamored with at the moment. Dad and I both agreed it was a good ending to a Thanksgiving day.

“It is the little things in life that can be the most pleasurable,” my father told me before driving away.

I had to agree with him as I took a bug slurp of delicious SoBe and headed inside out of the cold.

Thanks Goes Out to You Dear Mom…

When I got inside good and situated, I made a point of calling my mother and telling her thanks for being so diligent about getting me a plateful of wonderful Thanksgiving fixins.  Dad said she was obsessed that I got a good meal on thanksgiving day.  My father would be aloof about such matters.  I have more food that I could ever eat at one sitting.

Photo Credit:  https://www.zagat.com/b/miami/5-ways-to-celebrate-chocolate-chip-cookie-day

Photo Credit: http://linpepco.com/products/

Banner Credit: http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Thanksgiving/beingthankful.htm

Not Far Off the Mark–9:38pm…

Well, I was pretty right about my father’s arrival much to my own chagrin.  He just has left after the medication ritual and Maggie's ritual.  I knew it would be at least 9pm. He was jovial and happy and that is a good thing and what matters the most I guess. I think we had a few glasses of wine tonight.

I kept hoping he would bring me an exquisite to-go steak from The Hunter’s Pub as he has often done in the past, but alas, he didn’t tonight only to very mild disappointment. You can’t expect to squeeze blood out of every turnip every time.  They do have some extremely scrumptious steaks, though.

It will be beef and cabbage soup once again tonight.  I am going to cook a big pan of crunchy on the edges cornbread using the last of my Bavarian style buttermilk. The oven will be at 500° degrees and that oil has got to be smokin’ in the pan before I pour in the batter.

No worries, though, about turkey day.  Mom is bringing me a big plate of food from my brother’s house tomorrow and Charlie is bringing a plate of Janice’s Thanksgiving vittles as well late in the afternoon.

Photo Credit:  http://fairwaypacking.com/dry-aged-beef-37/28-day-dry-aged-usda-prime-ribeye.html

You Know Your Beauty Shines Within…

That goes out to all the women I’ve loved and lost…

Well, the holidays are here and that can make it hard on us mentally addled and introverted folk, and quite awkward as well I might add.

“I would invite you to your brother’s house for Thanksgiving, but there will be a lot a drinking going on,” my father told me the other night.

To be honest, I really didn’t want to go so it let me off the hook.  Too much social mingling for me for one day and they will literally have a bar set up for drinks. A few shots of tequila or whiskey might tempt me.  That would open up Pandora’s box as far as I am concerned.

Tonight, Dad’s taking some of his cousins out to eat.  I tried to get him to bring my medications on the way to the restaurant. My mother was getting aggravated at my father’s nonchalant attitude about it all.

“Oh, we won’t be that long,” he said to me at 6pm which are usually his famous last words. “I’ll try to come as soon as I can.”

Translated, that meant he will probably be here around 10pm tonight.  I have no control of these things so I try not to let them worry me.  It is almost 8pm and I feel okay as far as withdrawal is concerned.  Mom wanted him to turn around and come by my house.  No can do, Martha!

She Pulled My Heart Out and Stomped that Sucker Flat…

It supremely crushes my heart to see Wendy on Facebook. She is on there all the time – sometimes late, late into the night.  I want to delete her as a friend to spare myself the pain and heartbreak, but I keep hoping she will try and make contact with me once again.  I wish it were just a simple cooling off period.  I really had my heart set on this lady and I guess I was wrong.

“You can find someone much, much better than her if you try,” my father callously told me tonight.

The problem is that I don’t want to find anyone else.  I am tired of searching and I thought I had found the one.  The right one. I felt so connected to her.  We had this symbiosis thing going for us.  Our torrid relationship ended about as quick as it started. 

All Hallows Eve…

I didn’t get a lot of trick or treaters as I had planned.  My front lights were on and my pumpkin was brightly lit. They just didn’t show. 

My brother and my sister thankfully stopped by with a vanload of a nephew and nieces.  They each got a Snickers bar or a peanut butter cup. I am eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup as I write this. Yummy to my tummy. I should gain back all those pounds I lost when feeling so mentally ill. I have a lot of expensive candy left. 

All Hallows Eve…

Now, that is too awesome. A Star Wars Death Star carved pumpkin------------------->

Well, here we are.  We are at the place on the calendar named Halloween.  I am passing out copious amounts of full size Snickers bars and Reese’s cups tonight. 

I hurriedly carved a very traditional pumpkin last night and then had to hunt for a candle holder and candles that fit in my pumpkin.  That could only mean Wal-Mart.  Now that is taken care of, all I have to do is wait for the kiddies to arrive late this afternoon mostly before it gets dark.  I expect to get lots of kids from the surrounding neighborhoods that are very poor.  I know they will appreciate the candy the most. 

When I was a kid, we ran through the neighborhoods unfettered in our costumes.  Now?  Trick or treating is done by cars and supervised by parents it seems.  I know my sister’s and my brother’s children will be by here tonight.  I look forward to seeing them.

Are any of you excited about Christmas?  Johnny Otis doesn’t mind if I spend a little extra money on the grandkids.  I am also going to have a grand Christmas myself with the Dolby Digital sound system I am getting for my gaming computer.  I can’t wait to watch a Blu-ray movie in all its Dolby Digital glory on this computer.

photo credit:  http://www.fantasypumpkins.com/

photo credit #2:  http://www.2moroit.co.nz/product-logitech_z906_surround_speaker_5.1_thx_certified-14735

Holiday? What Holiday? Oh, That Holiday…

Sometimes it feels as if I live in a big encapsulated vacuum.  It just dawned on me that it is Labor Day.  I got to thinking it was awful strange that nobody in my family has called all day. They were also not answering their phones.  The family unit must be at my sister’s house in Alexander City grilling out by the lake.  All I can realistically hope for is a nice big plate of good food on my father’s return and then we will go and get my groceries. 

Photo credit:   http://www.4th-of-july-2015.com/happy-labor-day-2015-images-pictures-wallpapers.html

Maybe She’s Going to be Happy…

I hope so, even though my father and I made a bet that she would be home within a month.  Dad says two weeks tops.

“And don’t you go and get her as well,” he told me sternly with an angry looking stare. “She’ll find a way home without you.”

Laura called me for a chat yesterday.  She seemed chipper and upbeat. I was glad she was okay and sounded well.  I finally figured out what kind of vibe all of this was giving me, though.  They are all like 40ish teenagers in high school dating and breaking up. It is like some teen drama I got roped into participating in.

My Family's Last Day at Yellowstone…

We survived camping in Yellowstone for three nights. I am more than ready for a warm, comfy bed and a hot shower. We had a great time in Yellowstone. Driving 15 hours over the next two days.

Don’t You Just Love it When UPS Pulls Up in Front of Your House?

UPS – the new Santa Claus…

I’ve been eagerly awaiting some computer parts these past few days.  I bought a new bracket for the power supply in my blogging computer.  It is now securely fastened to the frame of my computer case. It was just sitting on the floor of the enclosure and it was bugging the hell out of me. Mainly because it was such an expensive power supply that needed to be secured.   I also bought a really nice, new heat sink and fan for the processor in my blogging computer as well.  My processor temperatures dropped almost 20 degrees Celsius at idle. I was just using the stock Intel heat sink and fan, and as usual they suck.  This allowed me to overclock my processor to 4.8 GHz and it is completely stable.  I also got two DVI to HDMI cables which I needed the most. 

Photo Credit:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Parcel_Service