Month: May 2019

This week started with a Monday holiday. It is finally half over. Why the hell is it taking so long? I’m not in a hurry, but come on. Next week is the last week of school. After that, no more 530am calls. No making of lunch. I get a long vacay. So maybe I am in a hurry.

This morning I got the workout I missed yesterday because Best Buy employs loser morons running an ultra lo tech appointment system. Different kind of workout. I went 4 sets of 10 reps and 8 exercises. I actually swear a little and may have breathed hard. New for me. Trainer says his goal is to get me doing that every time. Good luck.

I raced home after. In the Fit. Got showered and ready. The only appointment I have today is with a concrete guy at the house at 5. Last estimate. Still waiting on one price. Hurry up.

Left for the office by 915. Crazy, ain’t it? Way early for me. Nothing waiting at the office. Except people and work. Instead of going to the office, I went to Sharif Jewelers to get a pair of Emily’s earrings repaired. I buy lots of jewelry there and they treat me right. I like that. They fixed it while I waited which is nice. I looked at all the pre owned luxury watches they have on consignment. I saw nothing I liked for me. Though I did see a blingy diamond covered watch that screamed out Emily’s name. I sent Marika a picture , her response “it screams Emily”. I can pick em. They had three that I think she would like. But one of those was muy precioso, and no. If I get one it’s gonna be less. With lots of diamond bling. Cuz she likes that. I gave Emily a nice Rolex a few years ago. She gave it to Marika when Marika graduates college. Nice, right? Gives it away? Like wtf? It was hers but still. Maybe I will get her one.

To the office. Finally. Everyone is in today. They have work to. Which is why I get paid.

All I hear d about was the poisonous light coming from the fluorescent lights. I like them. I did not make the building. And I don’t care. But, anything for employee harmony. I bought them incandescent desk lamps. Old fashioned non digital light. What a bunch of crap.

So, I did as much work as I could stand. Which was amazingly very little. I hate my work. A lot. Managed a few things just have no passion for the job at the moment. Or at all.

I spent about four hours working today. I think that’s enough. So at 3 I left and went to the jewelry store and bought the blingy watch for Emily. It’s just that easy.

Off to home. Meet the concrete guy, number 4, at home to get yet another estimate. Number 4. Trip home was fine especially since it’s kinda early. I got to the house by 430 and the guy was already there. Turns out he showed up early cuz he wanted to go fishing with his grandson and he was just hoping I would be early too. Which I was, 30 mins early.

This guy took a quick look, ID’d all the problems and wrote an estimate right on the spot. And it is the lowest so far. And he is recommended by a contractor I worked with. Seems good. And he can be fine 10 days from now. Others are six weeks out. Yikes.

I like him and the price. But I have one more estimate in the way. I can hold for that.

Emily got home long after all this. After I fixed dinner. Everything. And she likes the watch. I guessed right. Hurray for me.

Well, I did get to talk to Marika at dinner. She called. Not much going on. Wanted to let her know she guessed right on the watch as well. Not to tough.

Dinner was good if I must say so. I do. Not too special, just good.

We are watching a little bad TV as is our habit. Hope to be in bed soon. It’s looking likely.

A good thing today. It’s Tuesday but it’s the first day of the week. So only four days and we started with Taco Tuesday. This is good. Emily was in Woodland at her Dr. X-ray of her smashed wing. Dr not sure if it’s broken. She has to go back in a couple days. More X-rays. But, the positive part, the uptake – we get Salvadoran food for taco Tuesday. Is that awesome? Yes. Since Marika left Santa Rosa we no longer go to Don Julio’s there. Greatest Salvadoran food ever. And we have not been there in well over a year. So, today was a joy. We had pupusas and nachos a la salvador. Just fantastic. I must tell Emily to get her next X-ray on a Tuesday.

The only other excitement was I had a Belorussian contractor come by and bid on my kitchen and the concrete work. He returned the concrete estimate in one day. He is the current leader, price wise. He is also recommended by someone we know. Anyhow, Dimitri (Dima) came by. His father in law, Sergei, came too. We had a nice walk around through the two jobs. Guy seems very serious. No smiles. No laughing. And I tried hard. Did not break him down till he was on the way out. He did have several good ideas on how to accomplish what I wanted to do. Also thought running the new gas line would be easy. I like easy. Rhymes with cheap. As cheap as the concrete bid was, I hope the kitchen is too.

That’s all I had that happened Tuesday that I am able to remember. Kinda sad. But, currently, all I care about is getting my house in order. All other things are not so important.

Wednesday is really packed. Especially in the am. I am supposed to meet my trainer at 730, then I have an 8-12 window for the appliance people to survey my kitchen, at 9 I have the last concrete guy coming to bid. At 10 esthetician’s and haircut in Dixon. She, busy. So how did that go? At 9 I called the concrete guy, he said oh yeah how bout tomorrow at 5? Dick. Ok. I then called the fucking asshole morons at Best Buy about my appliance appointment. My confirm email said I would receive a phone call. I didn’t. So I called. I spoke to three people in the next 30 minutes. All wanting me off the phone. Two directly lied to me. The last one told me how the system worked and even though I made an appointment it never “automatically “ became a work order. An appointment with no one coming, basically. He apologized. Like that helps. He had no fault and he has to say sorry. He made me another appointment and pushed it through to work order status while I was on the phone. Has to call esthetician and barber and reschedule till the afternoon. The whole schedule and nothing got done. I missed my workout too.

I went to work. Stopped to treat myself to coffee. Got in about 11 and I have to leave at 215 for postponed appts. Lovely. I hate all these people. And none even care.

So, work. Boring. Nothing going on. Carol asked for a raise. She just graduated. Wants more. Don’t we all. Short conversation. We had discussed all this last month and I knew what was coming. I just did not put it in place so I could delay spending the money.

I kicked her out the office door so I could leave for Dixon and get my hairs plucked and cut. The usual. I look fantastic now. Becky and Rachel are. It’s doing well. Rachel’s baby daddy left her last month but she has regained her strength. Nice to see.

My buddy Jim saw my car in town and called me. Just to make sure I knew I was seen. Like I never stop by.

Went home. An hour and a half drive. I had to stop and pee on my way it took so long. Got the mail when I arrived. Cool news, little Ashley Sanford (Doug and Shelley) is getting married!! She was Michaels best friend growing up. They lived next door to us on Monk Ct. The wedding is in October in Ohio. That is tough. But, we are still going. Not sure about Marika but I will show up alone if I have too. Just to witness. I have already shined my shoes.

Not much else there. I did text out the news to the entire family. Not that any pay attention. But I forced it.

Randy is back after five days in Bakersfield. His fiancée graduated from college and he surprised her by showing up. She cried so he wins. Anyway, one more for dinner.

I am in charge of dinner tonight. Leftovers it is. I got the baked fried chicken and the enchiladas. And a nice salad. Perfect. And wine, since it’s there.

Well folks, that’s my excitement. I did not watch bad TV. For a change. Or good TV. We went to bed early. Then 55 minutes of blogging. I am gonna sleep. Now.

Ok. Today looks much more exciting that yesterday. Thank god. Sunday was a snore fest, which I am sure you can relate to. Days tend to run into each other with no one thing making them stand apart from the last. I do like the boredom for the most part, but I live with a woman who wants some excitement in her day. Why, I don’t know.

She has decided today we will go to REI in Roseville to exchange her new spin shoes. She claims they are “wrong” and the clips don’t fit. Hence need for exchange.

I recommended skipping this task, it being 3rd day of a holiday weekend and there would be lots o’ traffic. My suggestion was voted down, 1 – 0.

She also thought while there we could hit the grocers for today’s festivity’s. Btw, Bobby and Renee are coming for dinner with a late add on of his son Chris. I am making Osso Buco and had 4 shanks. Need one more for added guest. With this, I did need to hit grocers. I did mention Auburn has several fine markets, but again, 1 – 0.

Traffic to Roseville, horrendous. Took forever. REI, line at cashier had an easy 100 people in it. Big sale, last day. Could find 0 help on shoes. We stood around for 15 mins until Emily realized we needed to leave. About time.

To Winco, my favorite grocery store. Got everything we needed. And today they had a pile of shanks in the meat dept. so we got all we wanted. At Winco prices. Which are far better than any store in Auburn.

Heading back to house, got a call from Bob. They were already there. Great. We were an easy twenty out, traffic uphill not so bad, but still had to leave guests on the porch the whole time.

I was driving and I pushed the pedal down to get there. Unfortunately, my lovely bride can not handle it when I drive fast. She doesn’t mind when she does it, just not me. Annoying.

We did finally get home. They were standing in the driveway. Greetings all around. These are our first official guests in the new house. Took 3 months to be ready enough. But it’s good enough.

It was after 2 and I had not started the dinner. Osso Buco is actually a very easy meal. Pan sear the shanks for 5 mins a side. Place a layer of carriers, celery and onion in the Dutch oven. Head a sauce of wine, broth and spices. Shanks in veg. Sauce in Dutch oven. Dutch to real oven, cook 3 or 4 hours. No need to look in on them. Easy peasy. And they come out fabulous. But it’s after two and I want to eat at a reasonable hour so I had to get all in oven. So I pushed it.

Once that was in the oven, I had nothing but time. So, cocktails and rich snacks and wine and sitting around. For a few hours while we waited. Like I said, it’s easy peasy.

Nice to finally enjoy a social hour sitting around my new house. There has been nothing for quite some time. I am looking forward to summer like this. And summer is upon us if it would just stop raining.

Well, I must pay myself on the back, again. My Osso Buco was fabulous. And I did not need to say so myself. I prepare a creamy polenta, feta cheese does it, to place in the bottom of each dish. Put some sauce on that. Place large cut, well cooked veg on that with the shank on top. Stacked tall. I read once that people like tall food. Who knows? The meal was a hit. We pulled a couple bottles of cab from our rather extensive collection and it was dinner. Made it to the table by 630. Still had enough sunlight for the view. A nice day had by all.

We finished up, sat around drinking wine, ate a little dessert, and that was the day. Work tomorrow so no staying to late. For them, time to roll home half drunk and way full. We just had to make it to bed. A much shorter and easier walk. I think I would rather be retired so I could skip the next day work thing.

The middle day. Not much of a fun day but at least no work tomorrow.

Today spent the whole day working on the house and cleaning. Doesn’t that sound fun? Well it is fun if you like working and cleaning. I don’t. I think Emily does but she won’t take ownership of that.

The whole day was utterly non blogworthy. The biggest news, no Sunday paper, again. I have contacted the paper again, twice. I would tell you nothing gets done but that seems obvious. I get emails promising action from some ESL graduate. Probably in the Philippines where there call center is at. I may need to go to the main office in SF in person. I just don’t know.

So today was so boring I can’t even remember what what we did. At all and it’s all not Tuesday morning. Emily is not here to remind me which makes it even more difficult.

Emily did work in her shoe shed, and we did laundry. That thrills. I can’t even say what we ate for dinner. Sad.

So, it’s the first day of a three day weekend. Memorial Day. We have no plans except for the kind of plans new home owners make. Like cleaning and putting away and sorting through crap as part of cleaning and throwing away. It also involves going to the hardware store several times. We just got back. I know most people go camping and picnics and stuff. Not us, at least not this year.

As part of my clean up I am Marie Kondo-ing my clothes drawers. I am using the Konmari method. For those unclear in what this means, Marie shows you how to fold your clothes in order to be more efficient and give you a better life. She is a bit over the top. A big bit. Perhaps she has an incredible eye for neatness details. Or just at the top of the OCD scale. Tough to say. In spite of all this, I have redone my folding method, saved a little room and become more zen like. Sure. Marie says you should talk to your clothes while you fold. Thank them for all they do. I don’t follow that part. I am too sane for that. But it is part of the theme today.

We at least had a special breakfast. I had ordered 5 dozen donuts for Emily. She had a class event. Our local donut shop forgot to make and box the 5 doz glazed. So they gave mixture instead. And she had a dozen left after event. Shazam! Breakfast is served! They are very good. Haven’t eaten that many donuts in awhile. Plenty left for tomorrow.

I have a few chores planned for today. I am free to do what I want because Emily has gone to school to work for several hours. First up, finish the shed. I tried to use nippers to cut off the nails poking through the roof. Unfortunately, they don’t cut flush. I am giving up on doing anything about it. I did finish off the clothes poles. So I call it done. I stuck a fork in it. The shed is now hers.

I do have more planned, stop worrying. I have concrete contractor #2 coming by to take a look at my job and give me an estimate. I hope to get the foundations done in the next four weeks.

The concrete guy, Jeff, got here a little after nine. Funny thing, I was in Petaluma yesterday. Jeff concrete guy grew up there and went to Petaluma High. He also lived in Santa Rosa which Marika did as well. He arrived driving in a white sedan which I told him will get him kicked out of the contractors club. While we walked around and I showed him the job we had a nice talk about Petaluma and Bodega and all the other places we have in common. Auburn too. Unfortunately we won’t have his bid till next week. And I have two more next week.

Took Jeff about 30 minutes to check out the job. Which left me plenty of time to unpack the shed so then I can unpack the car into the shed. In other words, all of Marikas crap is still in my car. I need to put it in the shed. The shed is full. So, I need to unpack the shed and throw some away and repack the shed leaving enough room in the shed for all the new crap. Took a couple three hours to get it all done but I managed. The dresser seemed heavier today than yesterday. I nominate me for father of the decade. In spite of all evidence to the contrary, I finished the job. And the shed was much better off once I was done.

Emily returned at about the time I finished the moving/packing thing. Just in time so she did not have to help. Another of her nefarious plans.

Not much else got done for the rest of the day. Did some sitting around with bad TV. That’s always a fan favorite.

We decided on leftovers for dinner. Mostly cuz the meat I pulled from the freezer was still frozen at dinnertime. And frozen does not work for dinner.

What to do? Emily made quick enchiladas out of leftovers in the fridge. Very resourceful. They were really good too. We can make a first run meal tomorrow. Tonight belongs to yesterday.

After dinner, some bad TV. No leftovers there. That’s it for the evening. No drama. Just bed.

It’s Saturday. 3 day Memorial Day Weekend. This pleases me.

What doesn’t please me is how my last blog post in progress has disappeared from my account. My host, Bluehost, periodically deletes one of my unposted posts. It’s really annoying when you have been working your fingers to the bone to post and your so called host, whom I pay, deletes it. And no they can’t get it back and yes they always blame me. So I am restarting. I hate Bluehost.

So back to today. Or maybe yesterday. Friday. My day started at 445. Am. I got up early so I could have a quick drive to Petaluma which is about 2 hours from us. Why, you say. Well, before my daughter ran off to Hawaii for no real reason, she had been living in Petaluma. Had a job at a winery. And a free place to live. In Petaluma. Recently owner of said place said to Marika, via text, get your shit out of here by the 1st. And she is in Hawaii. So I, dad of the year, went there to move her shit out. Without her help. Of course.

Drive to Petaluma it is. Drive was amazingly peaceful with almost zero traffic. Go figure. Hour 45. Not so bad.

Marika only had one room so not much stuff. I forgot the bathroom, it turns out, will have to return. Mary told me much later that Marika had more shampoo than a drugstore, all in the shower. I missed the shower too.

There was a six drawer dresser, full. And heavy. Good thing I brought my truck, the 09 Honda Fit. It has 55 cu ft of cargo capacity. More than a Chevy Suburban. The dresser fit in back easily. I did have to remove the drawers to move the dresser. Too heavy. I slipped them back in before putting it all into the car. The balance of the pack up was clothing. In containers so not too difficult. I was there less than an hour.

The trip back was, again, void of traffic. I do not understand. Friday is getaway day for the first weekend of summer and no one was getting away.

It took me about an hour to get to the office. And I was not driving extra fast.

Work was boring and obtuse. Check that off the list. I won’t bore you with the horrid little details. I did manage to do a tax return. For money. Helps keep the lights on. Then off to home.

Traffic, finally!, was very light. Fooled you. I don’t get it. I got home very quickly for a change.

Wanted to see how Emily was faring. She had called earlier from school. The hatch on her car had collapsed on her arm and pinned it. She said it hurt and was bruised. She iced and took analgesics.

When I got home she had her arm wrapped in an ice pack. Seemed ok. She wants to wait and see if she needs an X-ray. The arm is purple and swollen. Very attractive. In an ultimate fighter sort of way.

It’s Friday so we decided to eat out. We always eat out Friday. I picked a bbq place we had not yet been to (Emily does not like to pick). Near Old Town. Guess what? Absolutely no one there. No traffic, no people. It’s invasion of the body snatchers. Maybe.

No matter. Brisket, ribs, beans, Mac salad, cole slaw. It was really good and we have left overs. Mid day meal. For me. The great thing about bbq is it’s already cooked. With no one there, the food was ready in under two minutes. My day is all about things working out.

Back to home. Emily of course turned on the TV. And fell asleep immediately. We sat for awhile till she woke and declared “I’m going to bed”. Then she fell back asleep for a few. Then it happened again and I shut off the TV. The lights. Put the dog out. Emily got up and went to bed. Me too

Sometimes I need to entertain myself. If you blog everyday you can hit a dry spell of thoughts. Of course, I am manic so I do have a lot of thoughts but mania also has confused thoughts. Those don’t translate to the page well.

Today, Wednesday morning 645am, and all is quiet. Going to workout in twenty. The new habit is reasonably well formed. Four days a week for about an hour. So far, results are mixed. I am sore all week, don’t workout fri thru sun. Feel great mon morn and back to it for four days and sore again. Gained a little weight, we can only hope that’s pure muscle, but it doesn’t show. Yet.

Have not spoken of Tuesday or Monday as of yet. Published a blog post last night because I was tired of writing it. Sometimes that helps to free my mind when a post is gone. Like kicking your kid out of the house, it’s good and bad. Mostly good. For you.

Monday back to gym and back to work day. For the first time ever, I did box jumps. A box jump involves a standing jump onto a tall box. Well named. They suck. Involves a little trepidation and strength. What if I fail is the first thought. Next thought, if I make it I just have to keep going. 20 inches tall is damn tall. I did 80 of them. In sets of 10. I still don’t like them. The balance of the workout was nothing special.

Went home. Shower and shave and off to work. Again, work is dull, especially in May. Two days later and I can not tell you what I did all day. I suppose any job is that way. Emily is a teacher, and year over year, there is nothing new. Just the educational activities which really don’t change much. She seems to remember her years by the special students and parents who make her job better. They aren’t forgotten. They make her job worthwhile.

Time for the gym and I just got a text that trainer is ten late.

Good news for those of you paying attention, no box jumps today. Other forms of torture, yes. Extra long workout by a few minutes. After the workout I used the fancy electronic scale to measure my weight and BMI and a few other things I don’t care about. The outtake, my muscle mass is up, fat is down, in the month since I last measured. So that’s good. I will have to measure again in another month.

Back home did the usual clean up, dress up, go to work. Rain is finally gone so today I took the race car to work. Got to take her out once in awhile so she remembers me.

Had a pleasant drive. Fast and smooth. Been so long since I had her out I forgot how nice my race car is.

Work was nothing special. I had made an appointment with a client on the drive to work. She came by about an hour after I got to the office. And sat there for two hours while I tried to finish her tax return. After 15 minutes of her haranguing me about buying a house and how impossible it was to finance because no one would help her, I connected her with my broker of 25 years. She figured out how to get her financed in under 10 minutes. And I got no high five.

After she finally left, I got back to work. Mostly wasted my time because I am not, it turns out, really interested in working today. My mind wants to be elsewhere. And it is.

I still managed to waste another three hours before I left. Emily is going to be late anyway and it turned out I was driving home in front of her most of the way. She has stopped in Roseville to get spin shoes. I passed her there. I stopped at Safeway to pick up Rx and dinner. And bread and meat for sandwiches because my diet now allows me to eat a real lunch. And bread and meat makes a real lunch. For a change.

I found that the counter inside the grocer that sells Chinese food will put out tubs of leftover Chinese at close. Today I was the recipient of good luck, there were several tubs o’ Chinese food to choose from. The checker told me they go fast and she closed her register when I told her there were several and ran to buy some. Some people don’t get out enough.

Home. Dinner. Yay, today I am hungry. Why, I don’t know. I ate my share as did Em. Nothing special for all the excitement the grocery clerk showed. But a nice change.

Tonight a spate of decent TV. Live performances of old classic TV shows. Then we went to bed. Nice day.

That’s because it’s Friday.

Yesterday not so thrilling. Well, not as scintillating as usual.

Last night was Emily’s first day back in a new gym. She took a spin class. Which means Bill makes dinner. I was home before all, cleaned up the dog poop, turned on lights. Started to cook. I had stopped at the market to pick up something and decided on burgers. Love them. Could eat them every day but some people would complain.

Half way thru prep, Emily got home. Wow did she look ride hard and put away wet. I thought she might collapse. Sent her to the showers.

Returned to cooking. Found some sweet potato fries and some “chunks o carbs”? in the freezer and added those to the mix. Pulled the Asian salad leftovers too. And fresh made burgers. Love it. And a bottle of wine still good and open. I’m a chef.

That’s it guys. Ate and Emily was headed to bed. So me too

Friday morning the shed guy knocked on the door at 830 sharp. Ready to go. He says I gotta stay till they are done. I have been watching for an hour. They are fast as hell. Shed looks good. She will be thrilled. A sign of progress. And tomorrow, furniture!! arrives in the am!! We are moving along. We could get completely moved in.

This is a tough slog waiting on the guys. Boring. I want to go to work. Sort of. And get done there so I can start a weeks end. Where to eat dinner?

The morning was all about the shed. Since I was waiting for them to finish, I pretty much just watched them work. All morning. Fun to see it go up so quickly. I can tell Emily will love it. I love it.

The entire process took 2 1/2 hours to complete. I think that’s fast. The Russian shed crew was friendly and polite and very jovial in there work. I can’t speak Russian so it’s possible they were talking about me. Don’t care. They finished. I signed off and we all left. I went to work.

Do you mind if I skip work? There was very little going on, almost nothing worth talking about. Make that nothing.

By your silence I assume you all affirm. Thank you.

On the way home I had a phone discussion with Emily. The usual Friday talk – where to go for dinner. We could not decide and put it off till I got home.

Home. Said hello to the Mrs, kicked the dog, slapped the cats. Dropped my stuff. Friday. Just kidding on the dog and cats, sheesh. Emily does love the shed. A given. We are going to put up shelves and rods tomorrow, like a real closet. I am sure it’s a two day project, maybe longer. Lots going on tomorrow.

We did decide, finally, where to go. To Meadow Vista and the Tin Lantern. A favorite. I did text our houseguest, Randy, to join us. He is on his way back from work in Grass Valley. He responded with a “will meet you there” and Em and I left. Btw my text back, “we will be at the bar”. We have to meet at the bar, we have no reservation and this place is hopping on Friday nights.

Quick aside, our guest Randy. He is a PA, or at least finishing his PA training, and his rotation for work puts him in a hospital in GV. He called several weeks back and asked if he could bunk here for six weeks and we said sure. We have known Randy since he was 8 years old. Long time. He is 33. His sister is my sister in law, married to Emily’s ne’er do well brother. I would not let HIM stay here 6 minutes. Over the years I have seen Randy many times. Bought a house from him, distressed sale. Randy is the President of a corporation that does quite a few things. I consult in all projects, he gets paid and me too. Symbiotic relationship. Anyway, decent guy, he kind of fell into this family. I think he will be a fine PA.

Back to the Tin Lantern. The place is busy every night but Friday’s is more so. We arrived at 7 and I immediately made a reservation for 3. Randy is on his way. The next available res was 830. We had already found space at the bar for two so we had that.

Cocktail time. I ordered what I know is good which is their special Old Fashion. I call the booze, I think my choice is better. Emily ordered some crazy spicy pineapple margarita which I did not like so much. Good thing I’m not drinking it.

Tonight no one at the bar was really very outgoing. Kept to themselves. So, talked to bartender and each other. Randy got in a little after 730. I can’t remember what drink he had, might of been Emily’s concoction. Something I would never drink. I suggested to the two of them we eat at the bar. Thumbs down from the boss. We are waiting. I ordered a glass of red wine to carry to dinner. Our table was ready early, near 815.

I know the menu well. So all I asked of the waitress was a quick recitation of the specials. Nothing there, I ordered the filet. Comes with taters & veg. A personal favorite. Emily did not go far afield, she ordered her fave, ribeye with chimichurri sauce. Randy went rogue, salmon. Yuck. Though he said it was excellent. I still can’t stand it. Dinner was fantastic. Very nice.

No dessert, hope I did not disappoint. Coffee only.

Quick trip home and off to bed. Always whipped on Friday night.

Saturday was a big day. Furniture is coming today. 3 months wait. Over. Sposed to be in at 830. Except, no. I got a call. The driver says they have a semi trailer and can’t make it up to my house. Not good. Auburn is not a city for big trucks. Unless turning around is not important. Anyhow, driver says he is going to rent a U haul and make 3 trips. And call when he is on the way. Great. My morning is getting shot to hell.

The furniture guys did finally show up, an hour after scheduled time. Guys are friendly, but direct. They got some stuff unloaded on first go. Brought the coffee table in. Uber cool coffee table. A Teak root cut into a square with a glass top. Nice. They left the nightstands, boxed up, outside and left to bring another load.

Turnaround was about an hour, what happens when you screw up. They came back a second time and unloaded the credenza and dresser. All looks good. So far. One of the guys, Mike, stayed behind to put the credenza together while the other two went for the last load. Turns out, Mike had no tools with him, left in semi truck. So he sat around and waited for the guys to get back and hoped they brought the tools with them.

In about 45 mins, the other two showed up with the last piece, our new couch. They had the tools. A win. They got the couch off loaded, put the doors on the credenza and were ready to leave. Which is when I discovered damage on the sofa. The frame was gouged and the finish was applied very poorly. The delivery guys said not our problem. I had to call seller. So I took pics of all, texted them to owner of furniture store and now it’s his problem.

It was close to noon when they finally finished the delivery. About 3 hours. I wish they had known what the hell was going on. It would have sped things up a fair piece.

Now a start to our day. Today is the day we outfit our new shed and make it a closet. Em and I headed off to Home Depot, only game in Auburn, to get shelves and closet rods. The shed needs to be a closet. Clothes and shoes go in the closet. So shelves and rods are de riguer. Fortunately, HD has all this crap in their closet organizer aisle. Sadly, they have far too much to choose from which makes figuring it out very difficult. And neither of us is a magician of closet space. My magic comes elsewhere.

Well, after staring at this overwhelming assortment of Konmari-like organizers, we bought four large wire shelf units and one short, one long closet rod with all the hardware you need to install. Now all I need is a day and a half to put it all in place. Oh yeah, one more thing, when my Russian friend nailed the shingles to the roof sheathing, their nails intruded about a quarter inch through the sheathing. So I had about 100 “shiners” going through the radiant barrier. Seems counter productive. There is a foam backed metal tape available to ameliorate this. Negative is how long it takes to stick it up. That’s the half day extra in the remod process. I mean, I am excited about improvements, but the time and energy I have to put in it sucks.

I was able to get the shelves up by dinner time Saturday evening. I did start mid afternoon after furniture and hardware store so there was not much time left in the day. See, I have a good excuse.

I left my closet party and went to light the bbq. We have pork loin steaks to grill up. I had marinated them earlier in the day. Mixture of bourbon, maple sugar, soy sauce and spices. I thought it quite tasty. Of course I am a big fan of both bourbon and maple. I don’t remember what else we had. Today is Tuesday and that was Saturday so maybe there is room to forgive my memory.

After dinner we snoozed in front of the TV before going to bed and snoozing there.

Sunday and plenty of work. I spent a good portion of the day coming close to finishing the shed closet. The metal backed foam tape is a pain in the ass to install. Quite the time eater. Hanging the brackets for the closet rods was a pain in the ass as well just not as time consuming. Had one serious problem – no drill/driver. Mine is still buried in storage somewhere. What to do? Go to the hardware store and buy a new cheap model for today’s job. Glad I did because it would be a lot of work without one. I had also bought one in Vacaville when we last moved for the same reason. So I have two temporary drills and the permanent one. Permanently lost perhaps.

Did manage the bracket install, for tall and short hanging clothes. The screws provided were cheap as hell and easily stripped. Always fun getting those out of the wood. I had purchased extra screws just for this reason. In spite of all these issues, rods are up. Shelf up top of brackets in place.

Once done with rods, only ceiling cover left to do. Tedious work, cutting tape to size and fitting over each shiner as I go. I realized, quite quickly, that this job stinks and I hate it. So I decided to quit and go do something else. Like folding clothes the Konmari way into my brand new dresser. That works.

I spent some time folding my clothes. Just like famous clothing folder Marie Kondo. Got all the way through my underwear and a few other things. Folding her way is difficult. And I can’t say it is saving any space. But I am trying it.

It was near dinnertime when I quit for the day. No more folds. No more shed.

We fried up some chopped pork and threw it on a very robust garden salad for our dinner. Add in. A little wine and we were done. Nice slow dinner, mostly drinking wine.

After such a long day, we went to bed pretty quickly after dinner. I was worn out. Folding does that.

Been here before. Done it before. Doing it again.

The morning was the same yet it’s a new same. Now, add workout to coffee, feed animals, feed us, make coffee, pack lunch. You may have found the am already full. Well, it’s fuller.

I hit the gym. And it hit back. Harder. I need a lifestyle that has more “gym” in it so I don’t have to go to a gym. Not sure what that would be. Today I caused pain with exercise. That is a sign of good things happening. Trainers tell you that. Their lifestyle has a lot of gym in it. Maybe that? No. An hour of my life today in the gym. An hour more added to the end? Senseless.

Left gym. Bye. Home to shower and shave. And get dressed for the day. No going to work naked.

Made a stop at Home Depot. They sell Tuff Sheds in their parking lot. Turns out they are much cheaper than the factory outlet across the street. Discounts. No sales tax. Free paint. Very nice. I ordered a shed for Emily. She needs more closet space, really. It’s gonna be right outside the back door to hold all her overflow of shoes and clothes. A true she shed. Was a crazy burst of activity. Had to design and order the shed out front, go inside the store, apply for credit ($200 discount) and complete purchase. Back outside to office and arrange delivery. Will be here Friday morning. Only two days. The guy across the road is six weeks. And sales tax

Concrete guy was coming this morning. I had to go back home to meet him. He is pouring a foundation for the shop and garage. Nice guy. Knows enough about the county to get this shit done. I’m not getting a permit. Mostly because I truly hate the extortionist motherfuckers at planning in Placer County. No more tribute flows from me to them. Anyway, county told me they don’t get involved in these things unless someone complains. And actually told me to build with no permit. Still want it to code if someone does complain. So mr concrete will be sending a bid in a couple days. Low I hope.

Received first of many texts about my shed. Reasonably incomprehensible messages. When I got the third one I called. Gal said, ya, hard to understand aren’t they? I confirmed the appointment with her.

Went to work. Usual drive. It is getting monotonous.

Read through my mail. Only thing of note was a love letter from the CA Board of Accountancy (assholes) telling me about my peer review. I had my lawyer respond, he does not yell and scream like some of us. All regulators need to die. Painfully. Spit roast?

Had a normal work day, for a moment. Only a moment because I have a lunch date with Tony and Hal. We need to discuss the buyout of Tony’s company. More of us pushing Tony to do what is in his financial best interest. But, a conversation still.

The place we are eating is an old school joint. Food is old school too, not too great. But, Tony has a 300 bottle wine locker here. We had a nice ‘04 Bordeaux, which seems special but is really just a nice bottle. I go with awesome cuz I don’t drink that well very often.

Outcome of meeting is unclear. Although we gradually are getting him to do what we want him to do. Which will make all richer.

After lunch, more work day. Usual paper pushed and filed. God, I love accounting.

I was released to home for good behavior just after 5. And I thought my behavior was awful. I spoke to Emily on the way home and decided to pick up dinner for us. Stopped by the market and got some grab and go food. The okie term would be git n go, but I’m only part okie. They had premade Calzones. Winner. Picked up a tub of yogurt too, since starting tomorrow I can add dairy back to my diet. One cup a day. I get a real breakfast now.

Not much else to report. Not such a bad day. Still raining.

Tuesday woke early. So did I. Not sleeping well. Why?

The morning. Same. Always.

Workout. Alone. No trainer. He was in the building. Firing off abuse from across the room. It helps. I’m stronger. Incrementally.

Work. I didn’t. Sat. Wasting part of my life. A large part. Why?

Work ends. Some life returns. Why?

Home. I’m so glad. Dinner. God loves Mexican food. Me too.

Time for bed. I’m exhausted. Why?